From: V. Rahul Chandra (vrccan_at_gmail.com)
Date: Tue Apr 01 2008 - 17:16:32 PDT
========= “The Plot Thickens” Continued from Naomi’s “Cat Burglars” ========= Location: FEDERATION COLONY Stardate: 2424 [2.8] 0401.1958 Scene: Administrative Building “I’m very relieved that you were able to get here so quickly,” Dustin confided in Jeff, not for the first time. “The war has taken away many of the resources that a frontier Federation colony would normally receive. We have minimal defensive installations and no planetary defenders.” “How many people are on this colony right now?” Jeff asked. The two men were standing in one of the corridors of the administrative building of the colony, waiting for Major Clarkson. He was to size up the defences of the colony, such as they were and then report back to Gorman with his recommendations. “We have exactly 208 people on the colony right now,” Dustin replied. “To be perfectly honest, I was a bit surprised that the Federation Council didn’t pull the plug on the assignment. The colony ship was initially supposed to have 10,000 settlers and another 500 marines to form a ground defence network. Instead, we set out with just 1000 from the nearby starbase.” “If I was a betting man,” Jeff answered grimly. “I’d say that the Council went ahead with the mission because they wanted the positive PR to offset the news about the war. A frontier Federation Colony being founded at the same time as a war with the Dominion is going on is big news and it’s news that would really play well on the home front.” “Is the council really that political?” Dustin asked, shocked. “They can be if they need to be,” Gorman answered with a nod of his head. “So what skills do your 208 colonists possess?” “Mostly agrarian skills,” Dustin answered. “The plan was changed to one where an initial group of colonists would establish the agricultural base for the rest of the colonists to use when they came later. With the Dominion still safely contained on the other side of the wormhole, Starfleet didn’t think that this would be a problem.” “Well, Starfleet apparently forgot about the changelings,” Jeff muttered to himself as Daniel appeared at the end of the corridor and quickly made his way over to the two men. “Have you had a chance to review our defences?” Dustin asked. Daniel gave a humourless chuckle. “Calling them defences is being charitable,” he replied. “You haven’t really given me much to work with.” “I know,” Dustin admitted. “We don’t even have any bunker networks or other defensive installations. Hell, we don’t even have the ability to shoot at something in orbit.” “Don’t remind me,” Daniel said grimly, before turning to Jeff. “How long do I have to prepare the defences?” “The sooner, the better,” Jeff answered. “While the Farlasians are still a sub-light species, I wouldn’t put it past the changelings to have brought some technology with them to the planet. We need to prepare for that eventuality and that means you need to get the defences up as soon as possible.” “I was afraid you were going to say that,” Daniel answered, a frown on his face. “I’ll return to the ship and see what we have in storage and give you a report within the hour. In the meantime, I would recommend that we arm all of the colonists that know how to use weapons and evacuate the rest to the PATRIOT.” “I think that’s a good idea,” Dustin agreed, fishing about in his pockets for a PADD. “I did some asking around when we were contacted by Starfleet Intelligence. About 25 of the colonists have been formally trained in the use of basic phased weapons, although I was able to confirm 105 of the colonists are somewhat proficient in the use of hand phasers.” “Not a lot,” Daniel commented. “But it’ll have to do.” “Okay,” Jeff said. “Let’s get to work.” ============ NRPG: Just covering a bit more of the build up at the colony as the PATRIOT and her remaining crew attempt to prepare for as many eventualities as they can. On another note, since posting has been slow so far this mission, I’m going to cut it off at approximately one month rather than extending it further. To that end, expect the mission closer to be posted around the weekend of April 12th and 13th. I’ll be posting again soon and will start pushing things towards a conclusion, something I suggest that everyone start doing if they get a chance. ============= Rahul Chandra <vrccan_at_gmail.com> Playing… Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gorman, MD Executive Officer USS PATRIOT & Major Daniel Clarkson, MD Marine Executive Officer USS PATRIOT No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.3/1354 - Release Date: 01/04/2008 5:38 AM From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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