<Meridian - Clearing>
Appearing in a field next to a table and a planted flag Rayek had to contain a bit of a smirk. "It feels like something is missing.. but I can't quite place it." he remarked in humour.
As typical for him, Rayek made sure to glance about. It was especially notable this time because Rayek had been informed ahead of time that there would be shooters on site. It was uncomfortable for the Romulan to 'feel' the cross hairs on him and not be able to do anything about them.
His first scan about showed only the Captain, Wessex and himself. No sign of any shooters.. which Rayek knew as inaccurate. It was concerning that his skills of detection had fallen so much.
A second study of the area... pointed out to him areas that he would have used to hide.
He confirmed two locations but couldn't see to find a three or forth.
He was glad that Tess had seemed to foregone the meeting... but no after a moment a holographic emitter padd appeared on the table. Rayek frowned and moved forward to inspect it wondering if it was from Kurros - perhaps even implanted with a bomb. But no, even as he reached for it, it activated and displayed a persons face and head in holographic 3D. His wife.
Rayek smothered is concerned reaction as a husband and tried to maintain just the demeanor of one of Katra's officers. "Commander," he greeted, "Kurros has yet to arrive"
As Rayek materialised and inspected the table and flag, Paul beamed and spread his previously-crossed arms in an expansive demonstration of '
voila!'! The wood table and limited technology was almost exactly how he had described his plan to Captain Solluk.
Almost exactly.
It was fair to say Wessex was a
little frustrated that the holocom was present, as the purpose of the surroundings and basic functionality of the meeting environment was that there would be no technology in the immediate vicinity that this Kurros could take advantage of or somehow co-opt. But Commander t'Lhoell had wanted to be present, as was her right as First Officer, if not in person So, to keep the plan as pure to the original concept as possible, Paul had arranged for this limited two-way communications link. Or as described to him, a "
you mean a narrowband quanta-entangled subspace hololink, sir?"
He had stared at the Science and Engineering officers whom he had approached with his notion, and repeated his request with a face of mixed bafflement and patience. "
Speaking tube". It was an old naval device, no more advanced than two self-sealing stembolt tins and a line of fibre - just a metal tube connecting two rooms. The officers had looked at each other with almost pity, nodding that they understood, and got to work.
The device now linking between Tess and the table on Meridian was essentially the same concept. An isolated, paired device that did not rely on any of
Katra's,
Kir'Shara's or Meridian infrastructure to send . It was the best that he could manage, but was working as he had intended. He only hoped even this wouldn't be something the representative could utilise for his own gain.
He watched as the Romulan Second Officer scanned the horizon for his concealed snipers, and while he noted the tell-tale signs of Rayek spotting one, and perhaps two, of their locations, he was comforted that the continued search suggested the remainder was hidden to even the seasoned Starfleet officer. That had
some promise that Kurros wouldn't nearly quite so observant.
The final stage in the plan, and would be at the direct discretion of Captain Solluk, would be the orchestration of the transporter signal whisking the new arrival off his small ship - by prior agreement - and then bouncing it across various relays to assess any biological and technological threats, as much as the filters could detect, then finally depositing him at the meeting location. The transport would be only a few seconds longer than a standard transmat, but there was a risk it
could be construed as an act of 'roughing up a delegate' rather than the precautionary measure it was intended. Thus, its activation would be down to his Commanding Officer with input from Chief Diplomatic Officer Beja, when the time came.