From: Erik (felldoh_at_voyager.net)
Date: Tue Dec 04 2007 - 01:10:50 PST
"Hasty Preparations" continued from "94" Location: UTOPIA PLANITIA Stardate: 2.71204.0408 Scene: Holosuite 5 [[Admiral Jarett to Captain Kenta.]] Ben smiled at the word Captain and wiped his forehead with a towel. It had been three days since the COUNTERSTRIKE arrived at UTOPIA PLANITIA, and he was still getting calls like this regularly. The Admiral in question changed, but with one or two exceptions they all wanted to same thing. No one was very happy with his report, and they all wanted to question him personally, as if they thought they could get something out of him the others hadn't. He would have sighed if he hadn't been breathing so heavily. The trip to RESTIIN II had at least one benefit. He couldn't speak for the others, but returning to normal gravity had made him feel stronger than he'd felt in years. Because of that, and all the free time he had between meetings with Admirals since he'd been forbidden to leave the shipyard, except for a few hours to celebrate his promotion with his family, He'd been subjecting himself to a rigorous workout regimen, and he was in the middle of one now. He enjoyed the feeling of exertion. Being completely spent at the end of a hard workout had always been one of his favorite feelings. He gave himself a moment to regulate his breathing before finally answering. "Kenta here." "Captain, your presence is required in meeting room 038, level 4, at 1200 hours." "Understood, Kenta out." A quick check of the chronometer confirmed he had about 40 minutes before the meeting. Just enough time for a cool down sparring session, and a sonic shower. =/\= Scene: Meeting Room 038 "Welcome, Captain." Jarret began, offering his hand. He was a tall man and used to command, but clearly past his prime with greying hair and a body that was not as fit as it once had been. "Congratulations on your promotion, there are some at command who think it's over due." "Thank you, sir" "Are you alright," The admiral continued, concerned. "You look exhausted." "It's nothing, sir." Ben answered, almost guiltily "You caught me at the end of a workout." "Ah," He nodded and motioned Ben towards the table and chairs waiting or them. "You know, I admire men like you. Most officers of your stature start to let the physical requirements slide because they know they can. Hell, when I was promoted to captain I could just barely get the minimum passing score on the physical fitness test. I bet you still get a citation every quarter." "Perfect 300 on my last two tests, sir." Ben answered, proud of the achievement. "And what about the time before that?" "The distance run did me in. I missed my time by 55 seconds." "Ha. Very impressive, Captain." The admiral laughed as he took his seat. "But I didn't call you here to talk about fitness." "No, sir." "And I'm not here to talk about your last mission either. This is something far more important." He leaned forward in his chair and spoke deliberately. "I assume you're aware of the incident with the Bajoran worm hole 3 months ago?" "I heard that it closed, it was all over Fedcomm, but I didn't pay much attention to the details." "It didn't just close, it's gone. Collapsed in on itself. The Bajorans say it has something to do with the End Times, and that the prophets have abandoned them for being unworthy, It's a bloody mess. And that's just on this side of the wormhole." "What's happened to GATEWAY?" Ben asked. He had been to the Federation's outpost in the Gamma quadrant twice in his career, and neither time was a pleasant memory. "That's exactly the point, we don't know. When the wormhole first closed we sent a ship to GATEWAY at transwarp, and hoped they'd do the same. If they sent a ship it didn't arrive, and our ship should have been back with a report a month ago." "What do you think happened." "Well, there's no way to know for sure, but we have some intel." Jarett answered. "The borg were in contact with GATEWAY shortly after the wormhole closed, they didn't say anything at the time, but they've recently given us a report on the situation at that time. The Dominion had blockaded the station for reasons unclear. GATEWAY is completed surrounded by Dominion territory, and even though we've maintained a stable relationship with them since their civil war we are by no means friendly. It's possible that with the closing of the wormhole they saw their chance to reclaim what was once theirs. If they had intercepted our messenger ships we would have no way of knowing." "GATEWAY wouldn't stand much chance taking on the Dominion by herself." Ben stated flatly. "She could already have been destroyed or surrendered by now." "It's possible, but the Dominion have never been quick to jump to open conflict. Our hope is that they are still maneuvering and haven't yet resorted to force. From their point of view there probably isn't much reason to hurry. " "True." "There is something else you should know." The Admiral said, somewhat ominously. "Tell me, how well do you know Captain Michael Kane?" "We worked together for a short time while he was still the security chief aboard the CENTURY, but that was a long time ago." "Kane has an almost unique record among starship captains. He spent most of his career in charge of a deep space ship with minimal contact with the Federation, and his crew sustained very heavy casualties while he was out there. It's given him a rare philosophy on being a CO." The admiral paused for a moment, and seemed to decide that was enough delicacy and it was time to be out it. "There are those at command who are concerned that upon the wormhole closing he may have gone rogue. If that's true he will send no messengers to the Federation, and any we send to him will be commandeered to serve the interests of GATEWAY, his interests." "That's a serious charge." Ben replied, surprised to hear the theory. "Made by serious men, in a serious situation." Jarett continued. "The Borg reported that they offered to ferry everyone on the station back to FEDERATION space. They claim Kane refused the offer without giving explanation, and did not allow anyone else to be transported. Suspicious behavior for a man in his position don't you think?" "You think he's going to try and rule GATEWAY as an independent power?" Ben asked, a bit incredulous. "We just don't know." Jarett answered. "And that's the problem. Discovering what's become of GATEWAY is now Starfleet's first priority. We've arranged for the Borg to transport a small fleet for us, they can do in minutes what takes our ships a month. The PATRIOT will be the flagship, and you will be in command of the mission." "When do we leave." Ben asked, feeling both proud and apprehensive about being chosen. "Tomorrow morning." He answered simply. "But I thought the upgrade wasn't going to be completed for another month." Ben replied, shocked. "We've rushed production, she'll be a workable ship. Don't worry." Jarett said with a smile before turning serious again. "You've got to understand how tenuous our position is, Captain. Our fleet has to be small enough not to provoke the Dominion if they have remained neutral, and powerful enough to defend GATEWAY if they haven't. We wanted to send the ILLIAD, but there was some concern that the Dominion might see her as a threat by herself. The PATRIOT is the next best thing. Not as big, but she packs more punch than anything else we've got." "Alright." Ben agreed. "What else do I need to know?" =/\= Location: USS PATRIOT Scene: MOC Time Index: 20 minutes out from UTOPIA PLANITIA "I'm sorry to have called you all back so early. I know everyone was looking forward to a nice long leave, but something's come up and we're the only ship Command trust to handle it." Ben began. He wanted to keep the meeting brief, there was a lot to do. "Before we begin you'll notice we're without our chief engineer or operations officer. They've both been transferred to Starfleet engineering to try to reverse engineer some of Iconian technology we encountered. There isn't time to replace them, so we'll have to get along without them for now. We also are still without an Executive Officer so Colonel Maverick will be filling that role until further notice." Ben moved on to briefly explain the situation with GATEWAY, everyone had heard about wormhole closing so their weren't any questions. He explained that a fleet of seven ships, including themselves, would be rendezvousing at DS3 where they would await the arrival of a small Borg craft which would take them to GATEWAY. "The Borg don't wish to become directly involved in the politics of the gamma quadrant at this time, so the vessel will not be remaining with us. They have agreed to ferry us in and give Starfleet a status report, but that's it. We'll have to come back the long way, which means we'll be out of contact a minimum of a month, and that's if everything is fine when we get there, which it probably won't be. It could be much longer." Ben said honestly, and then continued in a softer voice. "This mission is not classified, so I'd advise all of you to speak with your families while you can." "There is one more thing before you're dismissed." Ben added, businesslike again. "The PATRIOT has just undergone a major refit. They had to rush the job to get in done in time for this mission, and we won't have time for a shakedown cruise. There may still be a few bugs in the system, and I want them found before we leave Federation space. We've got a few days at most at DS3 before then, so I want your crews working around the clock running every test you can think of. If something isn't going to work right I want to know about it. Any questions?" No one spoke. "Good, dismissed." As the officers stood and started for the door Ben spoke again. "Colonel, stay for a moment please." "What is it?" Mav asked, turning back. "I had an opportunity to speak with General Varns. He was very impressed with your actions on RESTIIN. He asked me to give you this." He handed the marine a small box. Mav opened it to reveal a small medal, shaped like a star with thirteen points, and the symbol of the UFP in the center. The Federation Medal of Honor. "I didn't think you'd appreciate a fancy ceremony, but you have permission to wear it on your duty uniform for a couple days if you'd like to brag." Ben added with a smile. "Thank you, Captain." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NRPG: Sorry this got delayed a little, I've spent the weekend making plans for a joint mission with Gateway station. They are getting things ready for us to come in, and they plan is to have us arriving at the station next weekend. In the meantime, take time to pass your exams, or feel free to post about some of the tests your department is running, or some of the new equipment you got. Taylor has done excellent work on our new design which is up on the website. Also as to our continued lack of an EXO character. Rahul's character on Gateway will eventually fill that position, so we decided it was best to leave it empty until the story provides for that. Beth: The wormhole closing was prophesied on Bajor as a part of the End Times when the Bajorans would be Judged by the Prophets, and if found unworthy the prophets would abandon our plane of existence. Since all of the Bajoran orbs disappeared at the same time the wormhole collapsed many Bajorans fear this has come to pass. The prophecy is unclear about what the fate of Bajorans will be after the prophets leave them. Tam will have been aware of this for three months if she follows news from home. How does she feel about this? How does she feel about going to Gateway, which had become an important religious site as the home of the 11th orb? Alix: One of the new things the PAT has is a squadron of new fighters operated by navel personnel. The pilots have been assigned already trained, but they fall under Tanith's supervision. Perhaps she will want to run tests on the new craft to see what they are capable of? Erik Walz Commander Benjamin Kenta Commanding Officer USS PATRIOT 5781-A & Lt. Seloron Junior ACT Instructor Starfleet Academy, Earth From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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