[VIP Quarters - USS Jupiter]
It was a strange thing, being onboard a Federation starship and having
absolutely no authority whatsoever. It was a position Kanryth had not been in
for many a year. The Jupiter had been Kanryths flagship prior to her abrupt
retirement at Alphosa, and Starfleet had been accomodating enough to assign
the ship to political protection duty for the duration of her campaign. It was
a perk afforded to any officially endorsed candidate, though most chose not to
utilise it.
Kanryth leaned back in her chair, looking across her desk and out through the
windows at the stars. One of the cornerstones of her campaign was running on
her vast experience in Starfleet and so far it was paying off. After three
days providing interviews and speaking appearances throughout the Alphosa
sector the Jupiter had taken Kanryth on a whirlwind tour of the neighbouring
Yadalla sector.
While Alphosa had fell to the Klingons, the Yadalla sector was the site where
Starfleet finally managed to draw a line against the combined forces of the
Klingon and Romulan Empires close to a decade ago. A battle in which a certain
Commodore Kanryth had been heavily involved in, and that had been just the
first of many attempts by various hostile forces to seize control of Yadalla.
Starfleet had stopped every such attempt, and the people of Yadalla knew this
all too well. Living in a niche between the Klingon and Romulan empires, this
was a population who knew all too well how quickly peace treaties and
alliances could fall apart.
Shaking her head slightly at the memory, Kanryth glanced over at one of the
several aides helping to run her campaign. "Mark, are the public opinion polls
in from Yadalla yet? I need the figures from Acamar and Regulus too, we need
to know how much of a base we can count on before we start scheduling
appearances."
�Not yet.� Mark answered shifting PADDs around; when he found the right one
he glanced at it and then looked at Kanryth �mmm, well currently in Acamar
system popular opinion favors the president of Bolarus, Ahel Barat, 38 percent
to your current 33 percent. The other two candidates are distant third and
fourth with Councilor Kaznali having 16 percent and President Bedford with
only a 13 percent favorable opinion.� He shifted the stack around again
�currently Regulus is a much tighter race. Barat leads with 41 percent
favorable and you trail within the margin of error at 40 percent. Kaznali and
Bedford are split evenly and both seem to have given up on both Acamar and
Regulus. Barat seems to have Regulus as a point of focus and has scheduled a
few speeches in the Regulus system.�
Kanryth nodded slightly as she considered the positions, her schedule, and how
likely she was to tip either of the votes. "Regulus is too close for me to
just hand it to Barat. We'll need as many high profile appearances as possible
to tip the balance. Allocate three days to Regulus and one to Acamar," Kanryth
said thoughtfully. "Now run me through the Federation-wide estimates. I'll
only be able to visit a small number of systems on the way back to Earth; I
need to know how we're doing on the back of the subspace editions of the
appearances to date in relation to the other candidates."
�Right now Federation wide you are trailing Barat 40 percent to 32 percent.
The other two candidates are sharing the bottom rung with Kaznali at 14
percent. We have sent a feeler to speak with Kaznali to gauge his interest in
possibly becoming your Vice Presidential candidate.� Mark shifted his PADDs
again �according to some of our advisors, Barat�s campaign has been attempting
to dig up dirt on you and your family. How do you want to approach this issue
Morgana?�
"In the same way any other politician would," she said flatly. "Start
gathering information on Barat. There's very little he can throw at me that
will stick, but on the chance that he makes the attempt I want something solid
that I can reply with." She eyed Mark. "And when I say solid I mean legitimate
and verifiable, I won't get involved in broadsides of unfounded accusations."
The former Admiral stood up and paced to the windows. "And set up a meeting
with Kaznali. Unless your 'feeler' comes back with a definitive refusal i'd
like to make the offer personally."
�I already have people on it. I�ll make sure anything we get is solid.� Mark
tapped on one of the PADDs and then set it aside grabbing another �As for the
meeting, I understand your motive Morgana, but we�ll have to organize it
discreetly. If everything goes well we can overtake Barat in the polls.�
"You'll have to organise it discreetly," Kanryth corrected him. Barat was
clearly in the lead but there was still time for Kanryth to pull in enough
votes to win on her own, if only just, however bringing Kaznali on as her Vice
President would allow her to win by a clear margin as opposed to the skin of
her teeth.
Mark nodded his head �yes, I�ll make sure it�s discreet.� He fixed his
statement �is there anything else you need Morgana? Otherwise I will try to
get a hold of our feelers and try to find out how their meeting with Kaznali
went.�
Kanryth shook her head. "No, that's all for now Mark. Let me know as soon as
you know how it went."
=========================
Admiral Morgana Kanryth Ret.
Presidential Candidate
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