[Galaxy] [Earth] 2158 August 05 JL RAdm Suzanna Batenburg / Capt Roger Finney

[Suzanna Batenburg]

/////////// Starfleet HQ - San Francisco   ///////////

"Unfortunately, Admiral, the situation is bad."  Commodore  Stirling and
RAdm Batenburg were having their daily update  meeting. "Small  skirmishes
have broken out all over the place.   Almost every ship in  the fleet is
engaged, en route to an engagement,  or keeping a low profile  while they
enact repairs."

Suzanna  nodded gravely, all the ships  were being kept busy. Exploration
was  just not something that there was  time for any more. If the was  any
exploration going on, it was more to find  out what the Romulans  were up
to now. Or one of their pawns. She's spent  many hours trying  to identify
a pattern, something that they would be able  to grab hold  of and use to
their advantage, but nothing so far. The long  thing  went on though, the
more data they would have and then it would be   different. In the mean
time, Starfleet was still struggling to catch  up.  The Romulans had
planned this war, and now they were pulled into  it kicking  and screaming
and totally unprepared.

"We need to  increase capacity  at our shipyards, find ways to build ships
and  supplies for the ships  faster, so that we have back ups. We  should
also look at how we can upgrade  existing ships in the fastest  possible
way."

~~Ready  Room~~

Rog tapped his comm  button and said, "Baxter, get  me Starfleet
Headquarters. I need to  speak with Adm. Batenburg." Baxter  responded,
"Aye sir." Rog had  written up his report of course, but he felt  it was
better to  actually give the report verbally if at all  possible.

/////// HQ  ///////////

"Admiral, Captain Finney is  trying to contact you."  It was the voice of
her aide over the  intercom.

"I hope he has  good news," Suzanna said to Stirling, "Put it  through
down here,  please." She said to her aide and used the remote  control to
activate  the viewscreen at the conference table where she was  sitting
with  Stirling.

"Captain Finney," she said in greeting when  his face  appeared. "How did
your mission go?"

Rog smiled and  replied,  "Admiral, it's good to see you again. Well, it
was a bit more   exciting than I thought it would be. Shortly before
arriving at Vulcan,  we  stopped to pick up an Orion merchant who claimed
to be in  distress.  However, such was not the case. He attempted to
poison the  ambassador as  well as my senior staff. I'm glad to report
that he  failed in his attempt.  The ambassador is fine and has just left
the  Meridian to begin her  diplomatic mission. We failed to capture  the
Orion as he escaped to the  planet's surface and while we made  every
effort to capture him, he eluded  our efforts by being  transported out.
Ma'am we believe he was a Romulan   agent."

"Transported out?" Suzanna listened to the report and was  glad  it all
turned out ok before asking, "did he beam himself out or  did  someone
beam him out?"

Rog hesitated a moment and said,  "Admiral he  was beamed out by the
Romulans. One of their warbirds  appeared out of  nowhere off my port
bow. It was there for only a few  moments and then it  was gone."

"Are the Vulcans helping to try  and capture this Orion?"  Stirling asked.

Rog replied, "No sir.  They seem to be as shocked about  having a Romulan
Bird of Prey appear  over their home planet as we were. The  only warning
we had that it  was going to appear were some fluctuations on   our
sensors."

The last statement made Suzanna look up. "Send  copies  of that to our R&D
people and to the science council,  Captain... that  may be important."
And with that, she also realized  she needed to talk to  Stirling on a
separate issue.

"It  appearing there probably made the  Ambassador's job even  more
difficult," Stirling remarked.

"It is  good timing that  you have finished your mission, Captain."
Suzanna said, "I  have  another one for you. We just got word that there
is a Romulan Bird of   Prey adrift in the Badlands. If we can find out
what is going on with  it,  and perhaps get some information, that would
be great. But beware  that it  may also be a trap." Suzanna said.

"Or it was a genuine  something and  the Romulans may come back themselves
for it to make  sure that no  information was gained from it. We just
don't know."  Stirling added to  it.

Rog nodded and made a note to send the  requested information to the
R&D people. He said, "Admiral,  exactly where in the badlands is this
BOP?  Who found it, one of our  vessels? Ma'am any word on Rommie
activity in the area aside from  this BOP?" He thought that this smelled
of a trap, but if not,  it could prove extremely useful to Starfleet. It
also reminded Rog of the  old  story of the 'Mary Celeste'.

"I will send you a classified  file, we do not have a great deal of
information, but what we have has been  confirmed. It will be for your
eyes only and have the latest encryptions."  Suzanna replied. "Any other
questions, Captain?"

Rog answered, "No  ma'am, I think that's about all I have. It's been good
talking to you again  admiral."

"And you, Captain. May the Great Bird guide you and your crew on your
mission." Suzanna replied. "Batenburg out." The viewscreen changed to
show the Starfleet logo as the connection was cut and Suzanna turned
back to Stirling. "We need to talk about some changes at the top of
Starfleet, Duncan."

Capt. Roger Finney
CO NX-06 Meridian
-- 
RAdm Suzanna Batenburg
Fleet Commander
Starfleet: The First Era
"Everything fits, otherwise we will make it fit."
http://www.firstera.net