Government in uncertain times

After the final push out of Kazon territory, the many disparate groups represented amongst the convoy of refugees insisted upon a plan. Continuance in the face of thousands more light years of travel meant that the current system of one or two people deciding the entirety of everyone’s fate was not a sustainable plan long term. In matters of security or the like, there were obvious reasons to default to a single person. But for matters of daily life, more hands were needed. And so, as her last act as representative for the Sikarian people, Eudana proposed a council of captains.

Each ship in the convoy receives a voice on the council, serving as a vote on some matters as well as a means of alerting the fleet at large to problems, concerns, or possibilities. When the council was formed, some captains were a given, however others had to decide upon a leader now that there was time to breathe.

Now entering a full year of practice, the council is working with the senior officers of the Odyssey to create formal agreements and treaties in order to further strengthen the fleet’s efficiency and morale.

Council Members

USS Odyssey, the Federation Frigate

The sole veto vote upon the council, the Odyssey’s voice speaks for the humans in the Alpha Quadrant. It also speaks for Starfleet, the Federation, and the various and sundry members represented in ones and twos within the crew. This voice resides with Captain Tchang, who is the ranking member of any official government present.

The Odyssey is the best-equipped combat ship in the fleet, and has the most direct space-faring experience. They are the experts that are shepherding the refugee fleet. Fortunately, Starfleet and the Sikarian Canon are guided by very similar principles, and so the bulk of the refugees see the Odyssey as a ship of heroes. That means that largely, what Tchang says will go.

I.R.W. Tiro, the Romulan Scout Ship

Originally afforded an informal vote on technicality, after the Romulan Conspiracy revealed the powerlessness felt by a small contingent of unsung thinkers, the Romulan seat on the council is now a formal one, confirmed by the council out of mutual respect.

Selveth speaks for the Romulans. Mercifully, the Romulans have few demands and often have unique insight, given the amount of scientific (and intelligence) experience in the group.

veS’targ, the Commandeered Raider

The stolen Kazon raider appropriated and staffed by the Klingons of the convoy serves as the means by which they are able to represent their interests within the fleet. As the highest ranking of his warriors left, Plogh is considered captain of the ship, and is invited to all of the council meetings.

The Klingons and the raider are considered by the council to have a secondary say in matters of fleet security – meaning that the Odyssey can entrust them with the protection of the fleet if needed, and they will make the most sound tactical decision available. Strict instructions have been made against blazes of glory unless critically necessary.

Z.S.C Jaret, the Cruiser

The Jaret is a new addition to the fleet, and with enough firepower to rival the Odyssey, the defensively-built Zahl ship is taking to its role as the shepherd of the rest of the Sikarian ships very seriously. Carela Tann, originally a criminal and rackeeter, took command of the ship during the fleet’s “Year of Hell” with the Krenim, and when timeline manipulation pulled the fleet out of the fire, the entities doing the manipulating left the ship in her hands.

Tann has almost two thousand refugees aboard her ship, all training to become militia in defense of the fleet. Their voice in the fleet is largely as a supporting one to that of the Odyssey and ves’Targ’s defensive advice, with occasional snark that Tann hasn’t fully divested herself of since becoming “a respectable captain”.

S.S. Posel, the Pleasure Barge

Voted in by popular write-in, the playwright Vavel has been named captain of the pleasure barge. He is a political analyst and playwright, and has a great deal of academic experience in the matters of leadership. He and his two adult children survived the surface of Sikaris III – his partner, sadly, did not.

With more than half the refugees aboard, the Posel is seen somewhat as the center of the populace. It was where the fleet was governed from the Sikarian side before, and so the Posel’s captain wields much sway with the bulk of the refugees. The Posel deals primarily with the wellbeing of the refugees as a whole.

S.S. Harge, the Colony Ship

Diena Otel is a manager of schedules and routines, not of starships. However, as the senior employee left aboard during the evacuation, captaincy fell to her. She and her crew are becoming increasingly convinced of the possibility of employing their ship to create a real home, rather than dragging the remnants of their people piecemeal across the galaxy.

The Harge contains the other large concentration of refugees, and as time has passed, they’ve begun organizing on ideological lines. Many on the colony ship are finding the search for a new home appealing. Regardless, Otel and her faction refuse to further divide the fleet, and instead simply vote conservatively in matters of using resources.

S.S. Marce, the Survey Ship

Fassil was a reasonable choice, since he had a strong hand in managerial concerns and was a planetary scientist trapped aboard a starship. He was middle-aged, balding, and carried himself as though he was perpetually troubled. He had grown into his role speaking for the ship, leaning into logistics and research focuses as topics of interest within the council. He was lost along with most of his ship’s senior staff in “Freedom of the Mind”. Currently, the Marce’s vote is in question, as the ship’s future is unclear and its crew is currently working aboard the Klingon-led warship.

As the primary collection of non-Federation scientists in the convoy, Marce is the de facto vote for Sikarian scientific concerns. This doesn’t mean that they are heeded in every circumstance, but appropriate weight is given Fassil’s agenda items.

S.S. Senel, the Cargo Freighter

Carrying the bulk of the fleet’s cargo that has either strict requirements or nowhere else to go, the Senel used to be the center of the fleet’s black market. It is still utilized heavily in that role, but the captain who ran it has set down the reins, allowing for a power vacuum that was manipulated while the fleet flew on quietly.

A woman named Aldena Solis, a former cargo hauler crewperson, has taken over captaincy of the Senel. She is late-middle-aged and taciturn, but has organized much of the Senel’s inventory in order to expedite requests for assistance. This might be simply because she prefers to be left alone, though.

S.S. Alanel, the Ghost Ship

This is seen by most in the fleet as the last place left for a person to go. Naderen has made clear his intention to work with the fleet as a whole, and was among the first to take up Tchang’s offer of a berth aboard. But to say that the Alanel is much more beyond a prison for most within is giving it perhaps too much credit.

This is a function of the fleet’s regard for the vessel as much as those who have opted to shelter within it. But while it is a ship of misunderstood, sometimes dark people, it is also a thousand Sikarian lives, and Naderen is keen to bring that up whenever a council member might forget.

S.S. Miton, the Privately-owned Transport

Technically, there’s no reason for Goull, the ship’s actual captain, to stay with the convoy. Most of the refugees he’s sheltered aboard are friends or acquaintances, despite having stuffed his bunks to the rafters. He could part, take his extended family, and ply his own way down the space lanes. But he doesn’t, and the prevailing theory is because he is a populist, and he enjoys being helpful to the refugees that were once his people.

Miton’s holds carry much of the luxury goods that the Sikarian people could use for trade, so much of what Kanel Goull brings to the council is wealth. Starfleet does not interact with wealth in the same way, so much of their dealings with Goull have gone less-than-smoothly. He has also opted to take over the contraband trade within the fleet after the Senel ‘went straight’, which he openly acknowledges. He plys his trade far more openly than Carela, who preferred to keep her actions out of Starfleet’s eyeline out of mutual respect. Goull lacks this respect, and so the black market has exploded somewhat.