Session 1

Posted on Mon Jul 15th, 2019 @ 11:31am by Lieutenant Aemilia "Millie" Stepanova & Captain Henry Crow

Mission: Side Stories
Location: Holodeck 2
Timeline: Directly after Unexpected Company

"My plan is to find a way to manipulate my mother into a position of weakness so I can stop her from interfering with my plans."

Millie nodded. "And what plans is she interfering with?"

He appeared to hesitate but at this point he was already in neck deep. "A hostile takeover of our company."

If Millie had any thoughts on the matter, her face never betrayed them. "So, tell me about your current role within the company. What do you do? What are your responsibilities?"

"Senior Vice President. I run a contingent of special forces to advance our corporate interests shall we say. I've been heir apparent all of my life though my sister Melissa complicates things at times. But she's not any kind of threat given her history."

"I didn't know you had a sister." Millie gave a slight smile. "Are you close?"

"Not especially. I have my thing and she has hers...namely narcotics."

Concern fluttered across Millie's face. "I'm sorry to hear that. Has it been going on long?"

"About sixty of your years."

"So, she is much older than you?"

"No, she's younger. Due to my father's race merging with my mother who is human our aging is slowed but not as long as my father. He's roughly 700 of your years. For your purposes I'd have been born in 2270."

"Odd. You don't look a day over seventy-five." A smirk played at the corner of her lips.

"Age is what has brought these plans to the forefront. My father has for some time been showing signs of mental decay. My mother has been essentially running the show from the shadows....no pun intended. It should be me."

Another glimmer of concern. "I'm sorry to hear about your father. It has to be a hard thing to watch."

"Only because of the man he was. I've seen him wield more power than anyone you have ever met. And now he just sits there. The advisers and military council consults my mother, she makes decisions and he sits there. An empty shell, just holding a chair which belongs to me."

Millie nodded. "It is hard to see a parent become someone we no longer recognize."

"So I need a way to open her up to making a mistake. So that when I make my move the military council will side with me and then all will be as it should."

Another nod. "Have you sat down and talked with her about your desire to succeed your father within the company?"

"Of course not. She would never cede that willingly and as long as the military is with her it's foolish to stick your neck out." He finished his glass, pouring another. "My family's business wasn't always an empire. My grandfather was just a simple businessman whose factory produced simple goods. My father met my mother when he came to Earth many centuries ago. He was drawn by the prospect for war profit. Your world seemed to explode every generation and he had begun to co-opt the factories to stop making simple machines and wanted to begin making weapons. It was like an open buffet to a glutton."

"And what changes do you hope to make within the company, once you have succeeded your father?" Millie reached over, picking up her drink once again.

"Expand. There are always opportunities to increase our profitability. Always more resources that need mined or manufactured. We've been stagnant for over a decade. I personally have identified over six worlds with rich resources who would be perfect for us."

"Have you begun business negotiations with the leaders of these planets?" Millie swirled the tiny umbrella floating in her drink. "Perhaps coming to your mother with a business plan--"

"No, no, that's not how it works. We've had a gameplan that works every time for years. One of my father's best ideas. We start my infiltrating this world with our loyalists. Now it depends on that kind of world government there is. Monarchy versus democracy and all that. But one way or another we either cause a revolution to name a new monarch or we export enough of our people to vote in a new leader who is loyal to us, sparing no expense mind you. If it's a world government, simple enough. If it is a multi-government world, well our puppet is suddenly supplied with a massive military budget and we conquer. Once the world is ours we've added billions of workers, untold riches and materials and sometimes most important a new expansion for our military which expands our borders. It's quite brilliant." He was so proud of their well oiled machine.

"Oh." Millie quietly sipped her drink. "That's...disappointing."

"Disappointing?" It's nearly foolproof. We only had one time it didn't work."

Millie shrugged. "I guess I expected something a little...different."

"Conquer from within. Make them think we are the glorious new friends. I remember as a child riding in the parades through the capital cities with everyone happy to see us."

Another shrug from the counselor. "Well, I can understand now why your mother doesn't wish to expand any further."

"She has no vision! She only wants to pretend to be some kind of queen because of grandiose dreams of her childhood and her family lineage."

Millie took another sip from her drink. "Or, perhaps, it is because your father's business plan is flawed."

"His plan is fine." The tone was sharp. "It's worked for four centuries except one occasion and do you know what happened that one time? He wanted a world, despretely for their raw materials and they wouldn't sell. They wouldn't elect our people. They refuse him. So he launched a PK15. A PK15 is a long range missile based on Starfleet technology which had been stolen. PK stands for planet killer. The missile is loaded with its own shields and warp engine. It is launched and then appears in the target's atmosphere. When it impacts, the warhead causes all matter to be broken down at the molecular level. My father destroyed everything he wanted because they said no. That is power."

Millie sighed, standing, swirling her drink in her hand. "For all that Patricia's said about your little empire, I guess I just expected there to be more...skill involved. But this?" She gestured in the general direction of James' holographic figure. "It's almost like...the ancient Romans and the Ferengi all rolled into one."

"Now that's low. But Romans....I kind of like that. And Patricia could have had all this. If I still had her by my side I could just send her to murder all the generals and install my own people in a coup. Watching her in action was like a...ballet. I'm sure you appreciate that. And knowing I trained her to do it. It's like a proud father."

Millie turned, leaning back against the post of the holodeck's beach cabana. "I'm not so sure I would wish for your empire to be like Earth's greatest expansion failure. Every empire attempt, from Rome, to Germany and the Axis powers, to the Borg and countless of other planetary histories have failed, all for the same reason. They were too large to manage by one single entity."

"All of those met enemies stronger than they were. Our military has no equal."

Another sip from her drink. "It wouldn't take one large enemy. You'd be surprised how one small crisis can bring down an entire community." Millie shrugged. "A thorn in the lion's paw, so to speak."

"And how exactly does that help me find my mother's weakness?"

A smirk played at the corner of Millie's lips. "You become the mouse."

He finished his glass, but looked unsure.

Millie saw the uneasy look on his face. She gave a gentle sigh. "Come, sit." She gestured to the chairs she had been sitting in before. "Tell me what is on your mind."

He slowly sat. "And how am I this mouse?"

"Think about it." Millie seated herself in the adjacent chair. "Your empire, for hundreds of years, has been a roaring beast. Attacking, threatening, conquering, overthrowing worlds...and at what cost? How much is lost in lives and resources each time you conquer a new world? A ballpark number?"

"Probably 40% of the population..the ones who are too old to work or infirmed."

A sadness lingered on her face. "Millions? Millions of lives?"

"Those who cannot contribute are...dismissed."

"And how are we to judge contributions that have yet to be created?" Millie blinked back the moisture gathering in the corner of her eyes. "Or to place the value on what a person can or cannot contribute?"

"If you can't work the fields or the mines or the factories. If you can't be melded into military service then what good are these people to me?"

"They are mathematicians, musicians, artists, scientists!" Millie blinked her eyes again. "Some of the greatest minds on Earth also struggled with a mental or physical disability." She leaned forward in her chair. "I think you're wasting your greatest resource."

His expression was dark before a woman's voice in the background spoke up. "Sir, you're going to be late."

James looked to the side at something Millie couldn't see and nodded. "This will have to wait for another time."

Millie nodded. "I look forward to our next appointment," she stated, putting emphasis on that last word.

He turned his head to the unseen woman and his holographic form fizzled away.

Millie gave a sigh, reaching up to rub at the bridge of her nose. She...wasn't entirely sure what to make of the encounter. But, for now, at least Patricia, Chance, and their family would be left alone...not that she could tell them about it.

She dressed, gave an apologetic look to Mourib, and sighed once more. "Computer, end program."

Lieutenant JG Aemilia "Millie" Stepanova
Chief Counselor, USS Mercutio