Year 2405, Unidentified system in the Gorn Hegemony
"Will this prattle never end?" Ocard thought to himself, idly tapping on his command chair.
Although his vessel was the only ship of Cardassian make at the meeting, Ocard's Badi Dea was just one of many independent vessels, most of which were Gorn vessels that had fled during the Klingon Empire's invasion, that had been assembled for what had been billed as "a major undertaking in the history of the Gorn," which he'd translated as "opportunity to make lots of money while others took bigger risks" and was slowly coming to realize to have meant "I hate Klingons and I want you to go shoot them for free."
Ocard had been the majority of his life outside of the modern Gorn Hegemony. He'd been born in a system the Gorn traditionally claimed but didn't own at the time, his career as a slave/raider had occurred mainly in Romulan space, and he'd never actually seen the "glorious jewel" of the racial homeworld, Gornar. His current location was as close as he'd gotten to Gornar and he was slowly finding less and less to be interested in.
He muted his own transmitter. "This is a waste of time. There's no profit in fighting a revolution that's doomed before it's even begun."
Chief Engineer Mulea snorted and looked up from monitoring the other vessels. "Nobody joins a revolution to make money. Freedom fighters are expected to be free, dumb fighters."
Ocard chortled. The Orion woman's quips were as precisely-tuned as impulse engines she gushed over. For the latest time, the Gorn pirate considered himself lucky to have her on his crew. He continued listening to the speaker, some Gorn general who'd been sensible enough to warp his Balaur dreadnought away from Gorn space the moment the KDF approached the border in force, go on and on about how it was the duty of each captain and his crew to help overthrow the obviously-useless royal family and expel the Klingons from the Hegemony while they were distracted with their war with the Federation. A stirring speech, Ocard supposed based on how many other captains were cheering for their host.
"Helmsman, turn us about and set course for Alhena," Ocard ordered. "We need to top off our tanks and I hear they just got a fresh load of Deuterium in."
The helmsman, a fellow Gorn, hesitated before standing up. "Sir, this meeting is important for our race! We need to be a part of this!"
Ocard wondered if he should kill the helmsman for insubordination, but stood before his claws scratched his chair. He calmly stepped forward, placed his hands on the shorter Gorn's shoulders, and looked him in the eye.
"This resistance is doomed to fail, sailor," Ocard stated, looking him in the eye. "You've got a cowardly general trying to rally other cowards, desperate fools, and beings like us who have never even seen Gornar into fighting a bunch of war-mongering savages when even the legitimate ruler has accepted Klingon oversight. There's no profit for us, so I say we get back to what will actually benefit us."
The helmsman, struggling not to be intimidated, took a step back. "Then I respectfully resign my post and wish to be beamed to the surface."
Ocard nodded. Crew members jumped ship frequently when they felt they were rich enough or because they were spies who needed to report to their masters. "Then go talk to the purser, get your take, and get off my ship. In fact..."
Ocard stood up and straight and switched on the shipwide conn. "Attention, crewmembers. I understand that this event has significant personal interest for many of you. I, however, see no reason to become involved in this Gorn Revolution. Any crew members - not just Gorn - who wishes to be a part of this resistance movement is free to collect his due and find passage aboard another vessel. You all have an hour to make your arrangement and get out."
Over the course of the hour, power consumption indicated that 35 crew members, mostly Gorns, had jumped ship. Ocard wished them well, but did not expect most of them to see 2406. Maybe not even the second half of 2405.
"I'm rather surprised none of you jumped ship," Ocard remarked to his bridge crew as the Badi Dea left the meeting.
Talash, Rlim, and Gthath had immediately come to the bridge following Ocard's declaration, reporting on the ones most likely to leave. Who was gone didn't matter though; only who stayed behind.
"Eh...we feel about the same as you do, sir," Gthath said with a shrug. "Gornar never wanted the best for us, so why should we care about it?"
"You'd never make it without us anyway," Rlim added. "I doubt you can even drive a hovercar, let alone a starship."
"And I'm still waiting to get a gold-plated falchion," Talash gave as his reason to stay.
"Good enough for me." Ocard turned to his Orion chief engineer. "Anything you'd like to add?"
"Only that I'm glad you didn't break one of my consoles with poor S'thar's face," Mulea answered. "Or I'd be taking the repairs out of your Risa fund."
Ocard snorted at the thought of actually taking a vacation to the resort world deep in Federation space.
"Alright, alright, union break's over," Ocard growled melodramatically. "Now get us to Alhena's fuel pumps or you're all getting out to push."
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