[Galaxy] 20 Nov, Joint log, Garroway/Rece

[Robert]

[ Endeavor-A, in orbit of Vulcan ]

It had been a while since Garroway had been in command of a starship. 
Endeavor used to be an NX (or 'Enterprise-class' as they were now being 
called) which made her very familiar.  But refit as /the/ Endeavor, a 
Freedom-class heavy cruiser, she was just different enough that Garroway 
took his time getting used to her.  He had spent most of the journey to 
Vulcan sitting in the Captain's ready room acquainting himself with her 
upgraded systems, which were impressive, but now he sat there reading 
over reports from the fleet.  One,in particular, was troubling.

"Mister Booker," he called into the intercom.  "Get me a channel to 
Command.  I want to speak with Fleet Captain Rece."

"Aye, Admiral," came the reply.  The communications officer, as well as 
most of the crew onboard, had slowly gotten used to the fact that they 
were answering to an Admiral instead of a Captain, but Garroway still 
acted more like a Captain anyway.  "Sending to your Ready Room, Sir," 
the comms officer said after a moment.


[Earth, Starfleet Headquarters]

It was almost dawn at Starfleet Headquarters.

Fleet Captain Rece was busy reading through the last of the reports. 
She figured she was now completely up-to-date on the Romulan situation. 
  Every now and then she would find snippets that belonged to Admiral 
Batenburg - a photograph, a personal note or two.

"Fleet Captain Rece, we have a private transmission from Admiral 
Garroway," a lieutenant informed her over the com.

"Patch it through here," Rece said.

Garroway's countenance flashed on the screen.  "Captain," he greeted 
warily.  "Have you reconsidered yet?"

Rece kept a neutral face.  "Hardly.  How can I help you, Admiral?"

"Just checking in, mainly," Garroway confessed.  "Ambassador Berger has 
things pretty well in hand.  I'm not sure yet if my coming here helped 
much, though.  Ambassador Seral seemed...  what's the word? 'Agreeable' 
to see me? He questioned the wisdom of the new Starfleet Commander 
gallivanting around the cosmos, but admitted that it made a good 
political show for the rest of the Coalition.  It should make an 
impression on the Andorians, especially, but I'm not on Andoria, yet. 
The Vulcans are still leaning on the side of questioning my wisdom."

Rece nodded.  She didn't like the idea of Garroway traveling to 
different planets either, with little to no protection.  If she had it 
her way, she would have a whole army of Starfleet security officers 
protecting him at all times.  But seeing that it was her first few hours 
on the job, it didn't seem like a good idea to disagree with her new 
boss either.  "So are you traveling to Andoria soon?"

"No, Andoria will have to wait," Garroway said somberly.  "These reports 
from New Darwin are concerning, to say the least.  Enemy fleets, 
requests for reinforcements, and we think there's a ship down but we 
can't confirm it, yet.  I won't get there in time to do anything but 
pick up the pieces, and that's if there's anything left."

Rece nodded.  She had heard only half an hour ago about the possibility 
of the Valiant's crash, and of a Naussican attack.  "Unfortunately, any 
other ships we send to assist will also take at least a day to get 
there.  The Challenger is still on assignment, the Meridian is at 
Forrest Outpost and the Yorktown just left Andoria.  Even at maximum 
speed it'll take some time for any of those ships to reach New Darwin."

Garroway shook his head.  "Any ship that /could/ make it has already 
received the hail and would be en route.  Nothing we can do but wait. 
That's a lot of what this job is.  The higher up you go, the more all 
you do is wait for news, good or bad." He sighed softly.  "But out here 
at least I /feel/ like I'm doing something."

Whereas she did not.  "As soon as you have some information, please let 
me know at the earliest opportunity." There were people she knew on New 
Darwin, people she was friends with.

"Don't worry about that, Captain," Garroway said.  "If you decide to 
remain my Fleet Ops commander, we'll be having regular updates and 
discussions." He looked offscreen a moment.  "I need to get going.  Next 
contact will be from New Darwin unless something happens before then."

Rece nodded.  "Understood.  Fleet Captain Rece out."

Garroway leaned back in his seat.  New Darwin had become rather close to 
his heart, having spent several months there before returning to the 
uniform.  If they survived, steps would have to be taken to insure the 
colony had a future during and after the war, and Garroway didn't like 
what it meant he had to do.  But he said a long time ago that he would 
do whatever was necessary, though sometime he wondered how far that 
statement would push him.

"Helm," Garroway said through the intercom.  "Prep a shuttle.  I've got 
one last meeting, then we're going to New Darwin."


-----
RAdm Garroway, Thomas R.
Commander, Starfleet (TFE)

FCapt Tanya Rece
Acting Fleet Operations
Earth Starfleet