[Galaxy] Solar News Network, SNNLink, Mitreena Four Special Interview

[Anna H.]

// Cochrane Arena, San Francisco, Earth \\
 
As Sasha entered the antechamber that SNN had taken over for
interviews, she shut the door quickly behind her. It shut out the
noise completely -- the raucous celebration going on outside this room
would not interfere at all with the interviews. Smoothing her uniform
over her hips, she looked at the technicians as they readied their
equipment for more recordings. A mixed group of women and men, all
Humans (not surprising, at least -- not at this point), they kept up a
steady chatter of tech-ese as they placed cameras at various angles
and tweaked sound devices.
 
The room itself was fairly large, with numerous windows that ran along
the outer curving wall. The ceiling was high, and was festooned with
curving arches and buttresses. A fussy-looking man spotted her as she
stood near the door. He approached and said, "Captain Spearling?",
checking a datapad as he spoke.
 
"Yes."
 
"Good good. I'm Roger Pedacter, I'll be directing this recording.
Won't you come along over here and let make-up take a look at you?" He
smiled a toothy smile and took her by the elbow, leading her off to a
smaller room attached to the main antechamber by a narrow arched door.
Once there, he ushered her inside and then disappeared.
 
"Goodness me," said a Denobulan woman who lingered inside the room.
"We won't need to do much for you, I can tell from over here that your
skin is just /gorgeous/!" She fluttered over and fussed a while with
Sasha's hair, touched up her lips with rosy color, then bade her
return to the main room.
 
--
 
For all his attempts to avoid confrontation Ethan had not been able
to get out of this one. As he wandered through the crowds in the
post-signing celebration meeting lots of new people and catching up
with some old, he had been approached by an attractive young lady.
Doing the polite thing by offering her a drink he hadn't noticed the
Solar News Network ID badge until a split second too late. He found
himself roped into giving an interview with a pass handed to him and
instruction to 'get back stage' at a specific time. He reluctantly
agreed. The women then left; leaving her drink untouched.
 
In the aftermath of this he had decided to honour the agreement and
found himself sitting in a busy interview area. A reasonable sized
sofa would sit three, four at a squeeze, so he positioned himself on
the far left cushion and waited for his interviewer to turn up. He
tried to ignore the slightly sluggish feeling one usually associates
with having consumed a few alcoholic beverages.
 
As Sasha re-entered, she recognized Captain Armstrong from photos
she'd seen of the Intrepid crew. A smile bloomed on her face as she
approached him, hand out. "Captain Armstrong, I presume?" she asked,
still smiling. His grip was strong. She liked how his black hair
spiked every which way, as though he'd just come in from sailing in a
gale.
 
"Captain Spearling of the Challenger." Ethan stood up with a smile and
shook the approaching woman's hand. "I see they got to you, as well."
he gestured toward the news staff. "I'm glad to see you if only so I
don't have to fly this one solo" he raised an eyebrow.
 
Sasha's voice was hushed. "My thoughts exactly. Did they feed you
any topics? I mean, besides a couple obvious guesses, I have no idea
what they're going to ask." She looked over at Mr. Pedacter, who was
'directing' the techs while the make-up girl powdered his nose.
 
"I've got nothing." Ethan shrugged looking around casually to see if
the woman who invited him in the first place was anywhere to be seen.
"Still, I'm sure we can handle it. I've recently discovered a new
skill for making things up as I go along," he grinned wryly.
 
Roger approached, clapping his hands together briskly. "All right,
all right, everyone! Let's get settled! Mitreena is heading our way,
and she has a limited amount of time for this!" Sasha and Ethan
smirked at each other -- as though /their/ time was limitless. Sasha
shrugged and walked over to sit in one of the comfortable chairs that
surrounded a low table on the 'set'.
 
Ethan followed Captain Spearling from the waiting area through to the
main set. He remembered seeing the reporter Mitreena on the television
back at Starfleet Command earlier in the day. It seemed a little
strange he would now be meeting her face-to-face. But then it had
been a historic few hours.
 
"Coffee?" A young Human page.
 
"Definitely," Sasha said. "Black." It had been a long day and looked
to be an even longer night.
 
"Coffee, no thanks. I try not to drink the stuff at night" Ethan
rejected the request.
 
Mitreena Four swept into the room. The dimunitive Denobulan woman
entered the room, shushed her agent and aide and shut the door in
their faces, and then hurried over to where Ethan and Sasha waited --
brushing past Roger Pedacter and ignoring him in the process. She
gushed, "I'm /so/ glad you could both make it ... thank you /so/ much
for agreeing to be interviewed."
 
"Yes. You're welcome, Ms. Four," Sasha murmured. "Sasha Spearling,
of the Challenger." She shook hands with Mitreena. The glittering
Denobulan made Sasha feel positively plain in comparison, with her
bejeweled gown and upswept 'do.
 
Ethan couldn't say much at first, he just sat there and smiled as the
life and soul of the party arrived. "Captain Armstrong, Intrepid," he
eventually replied as Mitreena shimmered in front of him,
orchestrating the room with her moves.
 
"I'm honored ... honored," Mitreena said, seating herself. "Roger ...
Roger, let's start, all right? These people can't waste time here,
they have very important jobs to get back to." She smiled at Ethan
and Sasha -- but mostly at Ethan.
 
Sasha pressed her lips together to hold back a chuckle. Pleased to see
his smile reciprocated, Ethan felt that perhaps this wouldn't be so
bad after all.
 
"ALL RIGHT EVERYONE!" Roger Pedacter yelled. "Camera ... move in ...
good good ... yes, that's right ... tighten it up. GOOD! All right,
Mitreena, ready?" Ms. Four nodded. "All right then .... Three ...
two ...." He then held up one finger, then pointed at Mitreena as the
camlights went to red.
 
"Good evening. This is the Solar News Network, and I'm Mitreena
Four." A pause for a smile. "With me this evening are two of Star
Fleet's finest: Captain Ethan Armstrong, commanding officer of the
NX-07 Intrepid ... and Captain Sasha Spearling, commanding officer of
the FCL-04 Challenger. Captains -- welcome and thank you for being
with us this evening."
 
Sasha nodded her head benignly, a small smile on her lips. John would
want dignity from her in this situation ... she'd give it to him in
spades. Ethan suddenly realised he was probably being recorded,
possibly live, and that some of the crew would most likely be
watching. He straightened himself up and removed the grin, replacing
it with a stern but relaxed expression.
 
"First let me begin by saying how much I respect and admire you for
what you do.  And I'm certain the viewers out there feel the same
way," Mitreena said, smiling at the two officers /and/ into the
camera.
 
"Thank you, Mitreena."  Was this how it was going to go? Sasha fought
the urge to sigh.
 
"I consider myself very fortunate to serve on Intrepid, exploring
space. That remains our core mission despite recent activities. The
respect of others is appreciated and an added bonus but we'll keep
doing our jobs even without it," Ethan replied.
 
"Thank you, Captain Armstrong. Now .. we know that the Intrepid was
instrumental in cutting the Romulan supply lines.  What can you tell
us about that?"
 
"We were diverted from our mission to help a colony in the Algosi
system. From there we got on the trail of a missing cargo freighter
and pulling that thread unravelled a path which eventual lead us to
the Romulans. Given the escalating situation in the Cheron system we
were authorised to push on and destroy a Romulan shipyard, if
possible, to reduce their chances of sending reinforcements. With the
help of our allies the Andorians, the Interplanetary Enforcement Unit,
and the starship Yorktown, we succeeded."
 
Sasha sipped her coffee and listened to Ethan.  She kept her face
benign, her hands steady on the thick mug, as she listened, nodding
occasionally.
 
"Captain Armstrong, that must have been an amazing experience.  I wish
you could tell us more, but I definitely understand why you can't,"
Ms. Four said to Ethan.
 
"I can only say I am proud of my crew's performance and I am glad our
actions helped the war effort and force a Romulan retreat," he looked
briefly at the cameras as he spoke.
 
"Captain Spearling ... we understand that the Challenger was facing an
altogether different set of circumstances.  We've been told that your
ship -- along with the Meridian -- was in command at the Coalsack Dark
Nebula in the Battle of Cheron.  Will you share with us please ...
what was that like?" Mitreena was intense, solemn again, leaning
forward in her chair.
 
"I'll tell you what I can," Sasha said, "although as you must know,
much of it is classified."  She set down her coffee mug.  "The
Romulans were massing near Cheron, with what we now know must have
surely been most, if not all, of their entire fleet.  The intel was
good, as we discovered when we arrived on the opposite side of the
nebula.  Our allies worked with us to ascertain their numbers and
movements, and when we had that information -- due to some excellent
scouting -- we all met to lay down our plans.  Keeping a /very/ low
profile, we began our attack fully supported by our allies, surprised
the Romulans, and were ultimately successful."
 
"You leave a lot out, we know this and we know why ... but I'm sure it
wasn't nearly that cut and dried?" Mitreena knew a hold-back when she
heard one.
 
"No, of course it wasn't, Ms. Four," Sasha said.  "I tell you what I
can.  You, and the viewers, have I'm sure watched enough Tri-D to have
an idea what such a battle must be like.  Our allies were the key,
both during the battle and after.  Loss of life and materiel was
/greatly/ reduced, since we had their help and support."  No way was
Sasha mentioning the nukes.  Technically nuclear weapons were frowned
upon, if not outright outlawed ... although out at the edge of the
quadrant laws were spotty.  That would probably change now.
 
"Yes, of course," Mitreena murmured.  "And now that such inter-species
cooperation will be taken to the next step -- with the United
Federation of Planets -- we present a much stronger front to our
enemies."  She didn't allow time for response to this but just
ploughed on ahead.  "Your ships are currently in Space Dock," she
continued.  "What's going on? Captain Armstrong?"
 
"Most of the NX fleet is undergoing repairs and upgrades as you'd
expect. You may have read from recent engineering corp reports that
they've developed a better warp core for the NX class frame which
could take us to warp 6. Along with better defensive and offensive
capabilities and improvements in sensors. Pretty much every system is
getting some kind of improvement." Ethan explained. "This is a major
refit designed to take the fleet to the next level and give us some
parity with the rest of our Federation allies."
 
Sasha let Ethan handle that one, sipping her coffee and nodding when
it looked like her agreement was called for.
 
"Interesting!" Mitreena sang out.  "So then -- what's next? After all
the pomp and circumstance is done and the Federation begins its
important work ... what's next for Star Fleet? Captain Spearling?"
 
Holding her mug between her hands, Sasha looked at Mitreena.  "Star
Fleet will continue as the spaceborne arm of the Federation,
especially as it concerns near-Sol activities.  I look for the Alien
Exchange Program to evolve and accelerate as relations between our
species firm and strengthen ... which will result in the evolution of
the Fleet."  She smiled.  "That's my prediction, Mitreena."
 
"Ah-hah," Mitreena said, smiling back.  "Captain Armstrong -- what's
next specifically for the Intrepid?"
 
"Give us a couple of months and Intrepid will be heading out of the
solar system faster than anyone has gone before, on a new mission of
exploration. Boldly going where no-one has gone before. At least,
that's the intention," Ethan smiled.  The camera panned out. The screen went dark.  This has been a special report, brought to you by the Solar News Network!
                  Stay tuned, stay informed, stay involved!  Your host:
Ms. Mitreena Four
SNN Reporter
  <apb Anna>==================
Captain Sasha Spearling
Commanding Officer
FCL-04 Challenger==================Captain Ethan Armstrong
Commanding Officer
ESS Inrepid, NX-07
 		 	   		  
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