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<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>~~Bridge~~<BR><BR>After having a filling lunch, Rog returned to the
Bridge. Just as he stepped<BR>onto the Bridge, Baxter said, "Sir, we received
this communication from<BR>the Apollo." Rog took a look and said, "Thanks
Baxter. Ask the senior<BR>officers and Capt. Mason to report to the Bridge for
a briefing." Baxter<BR>nodded and replied, "Aye sir."<BR><BR>He went to the
situation table and waited for his staff to arrive. From what<BR>he'd just
read, their target looked like a tough nut to crack. It was an<BR>orbital
space station with docking facilities. That meant using pods and<BR>possibly
the transporter. Very risky indeed.<BR><BR>Zoe stepped onto the bridge just as
the announcement for senior staff went<BR>out. She grinned at the comm
station. "Looks like you need to hold the fort<BR>a little while longer
Baxter.", she said as she headed back to the situation<BR>table and joined
Roger.<BR><BR>Katrina arrived a few minutes later from the science lab. She
nodded at<BR>Roger and took her seat.<BR><BR>Dr. Martin arrived shortly after
stepping back to join the others.<BR><BR>Timo meandered in after a while and
headed over to stand next to Zoe. He<BR>nodded to Dr. Martin as he stepped
into the situation room. "Dr. Martin, I<BR>presume?"<BR><BR>Odessa nodded.
"Lt. Vanhanen I presume?", she added with a grin recognizing<BR>him from his
medical report. Odessa had made an effort to at least make<BR>herself familiar
with the senior staff's medical history before things<BR>started getting
'busy'.<BR><BR>Rog smiled as most of his staff had arrived. He knew that Ian
was a little<BR>under the weather and might not show up. If that happened,
he'd brief him<BR>later. Now they just had to wait for Capt. Mason.<BR><BR>As
if on cue, the MACO walked from the turbolift and joined the meeting
in<BR>short order. His soldier's camouflage setting him immediately out
of place,<BR>he nodded to all present as if he belonged nowhere else.
"My apologies if<BR>you had to wait, Sir," he said to Finney.<BR><BR>Rog
replied, "Not at all captain." Looking around at his staff, he then<BR>tapped
a button to bring up a map of the Theta Ara system. He said, "I've<BR>just
received word from Capt. Westlake of the Apollo confirming our target.<BR>The
Romulans base is an orbital space station with docking facilities.
Its<BR>location is above Theta Ara III. Since we're dealing with a space
station<BR>rather than a target on the planets surface, this will be a tough
nut to<BR>crack. In order to get our Armory personnel as well as Capt.
Mason's<BR>detachment over to the target, I feel we'll have to use all four of
our<BR>pods. That is, the two pods we normally use as well as the two normally
in<BR>storage. The Apollo, Venus and Morningstar, will have to do likewise.
Once<BR>we're aboard the station, Capt. Mason you will establish a foothold
for the<BR>Armory personnel who will hold the station. You are then to look
for any<BR>intelligence information and make a final determination as to the
fate of<BR>the station itself.<BR><BR>"Comments, suggestions
people?"<BR><BR>"Does Starfleet have any idea how many Romulans will be on
board?" Katrina<BR>asked. <BR><BR>Rog replied, "No, I'm afraid not. Shouldn't
be too many. As it used to be a<BR>waystation, it probably isn't too big of a
place."<BR><BR>"If I may, Sir?" Mason interjected. At Finney's go-ahead,
the MACO tried to<BR>elaborate some. "Your Captain is correct. We
don't know exactly what we'll<BR>find since Intelligence has only *just*
identified the location. Since we<BR>know it is a covert strategic
planning and rally point, there is sure to be<BR>a security contingent --
small but probably a little better trained than<BR>most. However, that's
largely *my* concern. Once my MACOs establish a<BR>foothold we can relay
more detailed information as to the defensive<BR>manpower. 'Recon in
force' as it were. Commander Fraiser and I have<BR>already been drilling
our respective personnel on the exchange of real<BR>estate to insure that each
objective -- engineering, command center,<BR>computer core -- stay secured
once taken.<BR><BR>"Starfleet's primary concern," he continued, "would be the
possibility of<BR>point-defense batteries retrofitted to the station, and any
ships<BR>maintaining a defensive perimeter. Once given the green light,
I have a few<BR>specific ideas on how to get my and Commander Fraiser's men
onboard. But<BR>first you've got to get us to that
point."<BR><BR>"Sir.", Zoe piped in. "I know I'm not on the helm anymore but I
have a<BR>suggestion. We could use the planet itself to cover the approach of
our<BR>pods. We could come in at the far side of the planet, launch our pods.
The<BR>pods can enter the atmosphere of the planet and use it for cover while
the<BR>larger ships divert the station's attention away. The pods can then
sneak in<BR>from underneath. It will give them the element of surprise and
maybe give<BR>the MACO's enough time to get a foothold. Just my two cents
Sir."<BR><BR>Rog nodded and replied,"Good thinking Sanderson. What do you
think of that<BR>captain?"<BR><BR>"The strategy is sound," he nodded.
"Provided your ships can make a pass or<BR>two around the back and insure it's
safe for the pods to approach.<BR>Otherwise, we'll be little more than clay
pigeons."<BR><BR>"I could modify de trusters on de pods," Timo offered. "I
tink I could give as much as a ten percent boost to deir max power. It vould
use up a lot of fuel, but could allow dem to sprint in and close de distance
rapidly on approach to de station. It vould give even more chance to maintain
de element of surprise."<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> Rog replied,"I'm sure that can be arranged captain. As for the
point defense batteries, I'm sure the Task Force's weapons will be able to take
care of them. Hopefully, we'll be able to surprise them enough, that they won't
send a fleet of large vessels our way. Still they may have a number of scout
vessels in the area, so we must be prepared for anything." Looking at his staff,
he said,"Well if anyone has something else to day, now's the time. If not, I
think we all have preparations to get underway."</DIV>
<DIV>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</DIV>
<DIV>A Joint Log by</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Cmdr. Roger Finney</DIV>
<DIV>A/CO</DIV>
<DIV>NX-06 Meridian</DIV>
<DIV>&</DIV>
<DIV>Cmdr. Katrina Davidson</DIV>
<DIV>A/XO/CSO</DIV>
<DIV>NX-06 Meridian</DIV>
<DIV>&</DIV>
<DIV>Lt. Timo Vanhanen</DIV>
<DIV>CEO</DIV>
<DIV>NX-06 Meridian</DIV>
<DIV>&</DIV>
<DIV>Lt.(jg) Zoe Sanderson</DIV>
<DIV>Comms</DIV>
<DIV>NX-06 Meridian</DIV>
<DIV>&</DIV>
<DIV>Lt. Odessa Martin(NPC)</DIV>
<DIV>CMO</DIV>
<DIV>NX-06 Meridian</DIV>
<DIV>apb</DIV>
<DIV>Lt.(jg)Zoe Sanderson</DIV>
<DIV>Comms</DIV>
<DIV>NX-06 Meridian</DIV>
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