The Political Tightrope

Posted on 18 May 2026 @ 4:12pm by Captain Brynhild Kleim

857 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Unity
Location: Ready Room, USS Odin
Timeline: Current

Unity Station was on lockdown.

There was no keeping a murder quiet for long, even less so if you actually wanted to investigate it. The Starfleet ships would have to work in coordination with the civilian security service of the starbase, which was a predominantly Sal'kiiran force, although there were a few Starfleet officers as inter-group liaisons.

The meeting that Captain Kleim needed to have now was the sort that no captain ever wanted to have. In truth, few ever did.

Lucky her.

Governor Nya, given the option, chose to come aboard the USS Odin. She was accompanied by another Arrkun that Brynna had to guess was some kind of personal guard. The human could only hope this was standard procedure and not a sudden sign that all trust was gone between the two groups, so shortly after arriving.

"Thank you for coming, Governor," Brynna greeted as the women met in her ready room. She offered both of them a seat, but as expected, the guard remained on her feet. The governor say, however, and Brynna sat in the armchair beside the couch.

"My condolences on the loss of your executive officer," Nya said immediately, naturally cool in tone but not insincere. "I know that it must be a terrible, and very shocking, circumstance."

"Yes. Yes, it is," Brynna agreed, inwardly thinking that both of those words were wild understatements. "I appreciate your cooperation to help us investigate this. I hope that we can find the culprit as quickly and quietly as possible."

Nya inclined her pale head slightly. "As do I. What do you know so far?"

Brynna felt that knee-jerk reaction to not reveal anything. Anyone could be a suspect, at least in on it, but then she caught herself. She couldn't be like that with everyone and had to trust somewhat. Still, she wasn't going to just toss her entire hand on the table for anyone. "Not much yet, I'm afraid. Our doctor is conducting the autopsy. We have absolutely no doubt, however, that this was a murder. It was a clearly violent encounter."

The governor listened, somehow both placid and intent. She nodded thoughtfully. "This is the station's security chief," she said, gesturing at the tall woman standing beside the door, "Chief Kyrana. You and your chiefs of security can liaise directly with her for the investigation. We have our own security staff on alert, and the area where it happened will remained preserved and isolated until this is concluded."

"Thank you," the captain said. "As a matter of protocol, my security staff would like to talk to any of your staff who was attending the party, see if they saw anything."

Something flashed through the governor's eyes, but she inclined her head. "Of course. Chief Kyrana will make sure they are available to you." She paused, glancing off to one side as if thinking something over. "If you suspect any one of my people, I would start with any Chaarans on the station."

Brynna's brow lifted very slightly. "Why is that, Governor?"

"The Chaarans are the...most volatile among us," the Arrkun explained with obvious caution around the words she chose. "They were also not particularly interested in the alliance between the Kiir System and the Federation."

"I see." The captain thought through this for a moment. "So, there were particular groups among the Chaarans who were vocal against this?"

"No," Nya replied. "The Chaarans do not have groups. They are fiercely independent."

Something about this didn't sit right with Brynna, although she knew that she had to step very carefully in all things political...and speaking with the governor of the full civilian population of the new darling (starbase) of the UFP was political and delicate in no small way. "So, just, any Chaaran in general should be looked at?" She kept her tone as flat as possible.

Nya shrugged slightly. "It is a piece of advice. Take it for what it's worth. Chief Kyrana would be willing to question them, if you like. There are not many on the station. The Chaarans typically do not even like to leave Sal'kiir."

Brynna smiled politely. "Thank you for the offer. If we find anything that suggests a Sal'kiiran was involved, I will let you know and we will go from there. For now, it is all too preliminary. We don't have a guess as to the killer yet, but we will keep you apprised."

After Governor Nya and Chief Kyrana left, the USS Odin's captain stood in the ready room with a cup of coffee that she had forgotten about long enough for it to go cold. She reflected on how everything on this ship had changed so dramatically and in such a short period of time, and she tried to analyze the feeling in her gut after that meeting.

It wasn't that she suspected the women of being part of the murder, but there was a sense of something at work within the Sal'kiiran people. She didn't like the feeling of it and suspected it was going to make everything even more of a mess than she already knew it was...

 

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