[Galaxy] [GXY] 14 Aug 2161 :: Admiral Garroway's Office :: Admiral Thomas Garroway, Commodore Adrianne Sheppard :: "Preemption"

[Kate Nicholson]

~~~~~

// San Francisco, Earth Starfleet Command, Commander's office ///

Commodore Adrianne Sheppard's shoulder length bob of dark hair swayed as she
sat down in the chair in Admiral Thomas Garroway's office. The door shut
behind her and she allowed herself the indulgence of a deep sigh, and her
blue eyes meet those of Garroway. "We knew it would come to this ...sooner
or later, didn't we ...You've seen the latest from Intrepid and Yorktown?
Meridian has recalled their crew from shore leave. The Romulans seem to be
behind every tree in the forest."

Garroway looked up at Sheppard.  The woman had recently replaced Commodore
Douglass Michaels at Fleet Operations, and just as she'd been read-in to all
the official briefs, the hammer fell.  "Not what you expected when you took
the job, is it?" he asked wearily.  "When I moved Doug over to Fleet
Services to manage our flagging logistics, I thought we'd have more time for
you to settle in.  But time is a luxury I should've known better than to
count on."  He stood from behind the desk.  "Let's go to the 'War Room' and
you can brief me on our status."

Sheppard nodded, stood and followed the Admiral out of the office.

The "War Room" was the central Command Control & Communications array for
Starfleet Command, which also had updated astrometric and stellar
cartography encyclopedias programmed into the various stations.  Large
view-screens covered several walls, along with various situation tables
spread around.  The three-dimensional model of space hovered over the
primary, central table. The outer rim of the table amounted to a ring of
various monitors and keyboards. Across the walls were currently displayed
large diagrams of various sectors of space. Occasionally, in sequence, the
images would change, shifting to another vector perspective.

"Please bring up Cheron," Sheppard asked the controller. "This is where the
Constitution's intelligence places a hot spot. It was not fully clear if
there are ships there, massing for battle, or if it is some other logistical
location, but its HOT. We do have the cover of a dark nebula, the Coalsack
Nebula, from which we could hide and watch," she suggested.

Garroway considered the Constitution a moment.  Not long ago he had
coordinated the heavy cruiser with it's Intelligence and MACO complement to
support New Darwin in their present counterattack.  It was one of many
events for which he awaited an update, but it happened to press on him more
than others.  He tried to put it out of mind, momentarily at least.  "Have
you dispatched any ships to take a peek?"

Sheppard nodded and pointed to points on the star map. "Challenger is
returning from her parley at Qo'noS. She's here. A disaster /that/ was.
We're lucky were getting her and that crew back intact. I've dispatched
orders to Capt Spearling to head for the Coalsack. Pulling Meridian to be on
course for there, too, as well as Luddington, Mir, and Shenandoah. What more
did you get from Constitution's intell recovery?"

"Captain Whittaker will be joining us shortly," Garroway replied as he
considered the ships being assembled.  The Luddington was Commodore
Michaels' old ship.  She was a small and fast Sol-class destroyer.  Mir was
Captain Killburn's Neptune-class frigate before he finally retired. Last was
Shenandoah, the old, refit NX-02 that Fleet Captain Hawke kept from being
mothballed in order to be the fleet's "field commander" as it were.  But now
Hawke was on Endeavor coordinating Sol defenses, and this might be the
Shenandoah's last ride.  So there were all new captains on those ships, so
Spearling and Finney would have to lead the charge. Garroway looked at
Sheppard, realizing she'd said something. "Hmm?"

"Intrepid, Admiral," she repeated, pointing to a new feed on the table
monitor. "We've completed the decryption of the Intrepid's last
transmission. Lt Colquitt has patched it to you."

Garroway looked at the new data.  Intrepid had been following a load of
Romulan dilithium and has determined the destination.  Whatever is there
will be quite a find, to be sure.  Intrepid will need backup. "What's
Yorktown's status?"

"They have rendezvoused with Intrepid as we speak. They have significant,
but repairable battle damage from their Romulan encounter. Intrepid is
pitching in on damage repair, engineering and medical. They also have an
Andorian contingent of four cruisers, standing off their bow ready to fight
for us," she replied.

They were interrupted by a new officer, a captain in gold piping. "Admiral,"
he greeted.  "Commodore," he nodded to Sheppard.  "You sent for me?"

Garroway nodded.  "Captain Whittaker, I need you to read-in Commodore
Sheppard on Constitution's intel grab.  Answer any questions she may have.
It looks like we'll be repositioning the fleet, so we need to cover all the
angles."

"Aye, Sir," Whittaker said and turned to Sheppard.  "You're already familiar
with the Constitution's run-in with a Romulan warbird?"

"I am," Adrianne confirmed.

"The Constitution recorded some solid details on their ship construction,
weapons arrays, comms capabilities, and especially battle tactics that were
worth a few scuffs in our girl's paint.  We've battled the Romlans directly
before, but Constitution managed some excellent scans that confirmed
significant data such as crew compliment, armament, and warp core
configuration.  She happened across the most common class of Romulan
warship," detailed Whittaker, "and her new data -- added to what we've
already gathered -- has us dialed in pretty tightly on Romulan military
capabilities.  Of interest at /this/ juncture, however, are some
communications interceptions just prior to contact, which we have managed to
decrypt."

"And?" the Commodore replied.

"The Romulans are planning attacks. Targeting is a little grey, but they are
needing fuel and resupply arrangements. That's where this remote Xantia
System is mentioned. Intrepid followed a massive cargo ship, with a handy
Romulan escort moving into that system. We believe there may be a shipyard
or at least a supply depot of some kind there. The Yorktown has gathered
some intel that also lends credibility to that analysys. Yorktown, Intrepid
and the four Andorian cruisers have been routed to that Xantia system.

"The Yorktown's discovery that a cloaking device seems to require massive
energy from dilithium," Whittaker continued, "confirms our suspicion that
they have Gamma Sagittarri II in their sites.  The Admiral has rerouted
Constitution to that system, where they are apparently battling Klingons on
the ground. Comms from there are currently very sketchy."

Garroway checked his watch.  "I'm expecting a communique from New Darwin in
another couple of hours," he said.  "After that, Constitution will shortly
be on-site and we can get more timely updates."

Whittaker nodded, then returned his attention to the Commodore.  "But the
big news is Cheron. My analysts insist there's a major assault force
rendezvousing there.  I've prepared a report regarding a preemptive strike
option, with minimum necessary assets and currently available resources."

"You don't think they will suspect we have intercepted that information and
have changed their plans?" asked Adrianne.

"They seem to be pretty confident of their encryption security. We've
managed to stay ahead of their code shifts, and it appears from other
intercepts that they haven't changed that coding any more often than before
our little skirmish," replied Whittaker. "In my personal opinion, I believe
they don't think we're smart enough to catch on."

"I'm nervous about committing too much to Cheron and finding out that's a
subterfuge. What do you think Admiral?" Sheppard turned to Garroway.

"I think we have no choice," Garroway shrugged.  "We can't afford to ignore
the possibility that it's on the level.  Yes, we'll be committing a
significant share of military resources, but we /have/ to stay proactive
this time around.  If we let them get the initiative, we'll be facing the
possibility of another protracted war.  They're already working on long-term
projects like adapting our Augment program, so we know they're looking for a
war of attrition that just whittles us away. We were lucky to have shaken
the Romulan's foundations last time and gain the Armistice.  They'll be
ready for us this time, so if we have to take every opportunity we can get
to keep this thing moving /our/ way."

It all made perfect sense to Sheppard, as much as she wanted there to be a
different solution to the situation. "Ok. I agree," she said with
commitment. "I just hoped the two of you saw it differently. Thanks for your
honesty. It's time to act."

"If I can't be honest about this," Garroway said as he gestured to the fleet
data on the situation table, "I don' t need to be wearing this rank."  He
looked at Sheppard and Whittaker.  "Let's get to it."


-----
Adm Garroway, Thomas R.
Commander, Starfleet

Commodore Adrianne Sheppard
Fleet Operations Officer
Starfleet