<USS Avalon> "Asylum on Hold"

Asylum on Hold
By Captain Keith Ketchum and Admiral Mordecai Pew

"Ambassador," Mordecai Pew spoke as patiently as possible, "I have already 
assured you of my confidence in the Avalon's abilities to handle this 
situation. Due to interference on sub-space channels, we've had some difficulty 
staying in contact, but I expect to be put in touch with Ketchum at any time 
now for an update. Pew out."

The Starfleet insignia showed itself once again in the center of the screen and 
Admiral Pew ran an aged hand over his grizzled features.

Tapping a button on his desk, the Admiral called his yeoman. "Jason, how long 
until I get a channel with the Avalon?"

"Any moment now, sir."

"Very well." Pew sat back in his chair, fingers steepled across his chest and 
waited.

The Ensign running the comm called down to Ketchum's office, "Captain, I have 
Admiral Pew on secure channel for you."

"It's about time", Keith tapped the comm, "Put him through."

The screen on his desk changed from what he was reviewing to the Admiral's 
face, "Admiral, what can I do for you?"

"Captain Ketchum," came the stern voice over comm followed by the Admiral's 
kind, but no-nonsense face. "My apologies for the delay. We've had some 
sub-space interference." Clearing his throat, he got directly down to business. 
"So, has the Romulan been returned to the Empire? And did you complete the 
mission of figuring out what he was working on?"

"The Romulan has asked for asylum, Admiral, of which at this point I have 
provided it temporarily, waiting for further input from command." Keith paused 
for a moment, "As for your second question, we determined based on reports I 
was just reading that he was working on viral agents, one of which 'attacked' 
several crewmembers and caused a quarantine. They have since been inoculated. 
It is the recommendation of one of the scientists that studied the items, of 
which I concur, that the Romulan and his 'cargo' be taken to Omicron IV for 
study by members of viral studies."

The news dropped Pew's chair right out from under him. Why couldn't things ever 
go as planned? He had a feeling it may turn out something like this. "Help me 
out here, Ketchum. No doubt the Romulans know we have him in custody. They're 
probably monitoring sub-space communications. We can't take the chance they 
haven't anyway." He sighed, trying not to show his frustrations. "If we don't 
return that scientist, this could create an incident for Starfleet in general. 
And I don't want to see that happen."

"Admiral, he has asked for Political Asylum, that alone should allow us some 
lee-way with the Romulans. Also based on his work, I think that returning him 
would create an incident for the whole of the Federation. I don't want to see 
that happen. We?ve only seen one of the viral strains and its effects, that 
doesn?t account for the other seventeen, Sir." He hoped the extra ?Sir? on the 
end would show that he wasn?t backing down. "I could see that this could end up 
in the Federation Council, or take it directly to Admiral Rhee for her thoughts 
on it, I would not have a problem with that, Sir. I have informed T?Pex that I 
would try to do what I could on this matter." 

"No, no, I see how you don't have much choice right now. In your shoes, I'm 
sure I'd do the same. Send me all your reports and files from your crew, 
especially information on this virus. Set course for Omicron IV for now. 
Slowly. I've got to do a little politicking, but you'll hear back from me 
within twenty-four hours. Pew out."

Reaching over for the Comm, "Bridge, change course to take us to Omicron IV, 
warp one." Before they could answer he closed the comm. Turning to his console, 
he encrypted the files and reports with a triple encryption, and sent to Pew 
directly. Again, he would wait. 


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