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<br><div>// Challenger Bridge
\\<font style="" face="Tahoma"><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><br><br><br></font></font>Captain ..." Lt Sattal said, his eyes
rather bleary since his shift was /almost/ over. He was waiting for
Chris Stingley to come relieve him any minute now. First shift started
in about ten minutes.</font><br><br>"Yes, Lieutenant," Sasha said,
looking fresh and perky in the captain's chair. Amazing what 6 hours of
uninterrupted sleep will do for a person.<font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><font style="" face="Tahoma"><br><br></font></font></font>"Got
a tight-beam hail from the Meridian."<font style="" face="Tahoma"><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><br><br></font></font>"Meridian coming up fast, bearing -70 mark 110," T'Lara said from the
science console.</font><font style="" face="Tahoma"><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><br><br></font></font>"Good," Sasha said.
"Sattal, pipe her through." It took a moment, to work out the scramble
code the Meridian was using and to match it, then to route it through the
decoder and get it to the main viewscreen. Sasha looked at the screen as
a friendly-faced young caucasian man blinked into view. He was
smiling. "Captain Roger Finney, I presume?" Sasha asked, smiling
back.</font><font style="font-size:10pt" id="ecxrole_document" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><br><br>=/\= Rog had been looking forward to this meeting. The
Meridian and Challenger were the two most up to date Starfleet vessels in the
allied fleet. This fight would be for all the marbles, so the captains had to
be on the same page. He replied, "Yes, that would be me Capt. Spearling. How
are you this fine day, ready to kill some Rommies?"
=/\=</font></font><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><br><br>"Whatever it takes. And please, call me
Sasha."</font><font style="" face="Tahoma"><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><br><br></font></font>=/\= Rog nodded and
said, "Sure Sasha." =/\=</font><font style="font-size:10pt" id="ecxrole_document" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><br><br>"Come on in
and take lead, if you would," Sasha continued, smiling. "We'll ride your
port nacelle tip." She nodded at Hannah at the Helm. The young
Boatswain nodded back and eyed the Meridian on the screen, her fingers moving
easily over her console.</font></font></font><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><br><br>=/\=
Rog looked at Andre and gave him a nod. =/\=</font></font></font><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><br><br>"Rog, my people tell me that we should arrive at our
destination in about 20 hours ... that's with us keeping out of sight and
slipping in the back door behind the Romulans. Once we get there, I thought we could send out some scouts and see what we're up against. Sound good to you?"
Sasha accepted a cup of coffee from Yuki, who had slipped in behind her.
He moved away as soon as she took it.</font></font></font><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><br><br>=/\=
Rog looked at a PADD and answered, "That matches my calculations as well
Sasha. Sounds good to me. No sense in running into a Rommie trap." He thought,
hmm she has a yeoman. I'll have to see about getting one.
=/\=</font></font></font><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" size="2"><br><br>"Agreed. Did the Promise catch up with you? I know
Captain Burroughs said she had some cargo onboard for the Meridian,
too." Looking into Rog's eyes, she raised her eyebrows. Figuring
he'd have been picked to carry the same load the Challenger had, buried
deep inside the ship.</font></font></font><font style="font-size:10pt" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><br><br>=/\= Rog nodded and replied,
"Why yes it did. The good captain did give some very interesting cargo boxes.
I assume she gave you the same as she did us." =/\=</font><font style="" face="Tahoma"><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><br><br></font></font>"I'm pretty sure she did. Good." The
Challenger "wagged her wingtips" as the Meridian came up alongside and passed
on the starboard side. Hannah tucked the Challenger off the Meridian's port
nacelle, making sure the warp bubbles didn't make contact. Setting
the controls to fly as the Meridian's wingman, Hannah looked over her shoulder
at Sasha and nodded, with a little smile. "Good work, Boats," Sasha
said, then looked up at the main viewscreen again. "Captain Finney, we
are in formation. I know we can get a little bit better speed wiith the
modified warp engines -- but I didn't want to press it when we're going
to be so far from home ... or even a space dock. Captain Burroughs
didn't bring me a spare engine ... did she give you one?" Sasha
grinned at the screen.</font><font style="" face="Tahoma"><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><br><br></font></font>=/\= Rog said,
"Well actually she did give us one." Smiling he said, "Just kidding."
=/\=</font><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><font style="" face="Tahoma"><br><br></font></font></font>Sasha almost spluttered into her cup as she took
a sip of her coffee. She recovered, laughed, and then said, "Looks like
we're all set, for now. Once we hit the Coalsack, we'll get together,
send out our scouts, and then decide what the plan is based on their
findings. All right?"<font style="" face="Tahoma"><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><br><br></font></font>=/\=
Getting serious, Rog replied, "Right, sounds like a plan to me."</font>
=/\=<font style="background-color:transparent;font-size:10pt" color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><br><br>"I think our Coalition partners are deferring to us
in this battle, although I'm not sure why. You hear
anything?"</font><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><font style="" face="Tahoma"><br><br></font></font></font>=/\= Rog answered,
"No, I haven't heard a thing. Though their deferring to us doesn't surprise
me. It seems that we're the main force behind the Coalition itself."
=/\=<font style="" face="Tahoma"><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><br><br></font></font>"Which has never made all that much sense to me,
seeing as how Humans are the /youngsters/ in the galaxy's spacefaring
races. But oh well. That's fine, actually, I don't know how well I
would stomach someone else trying to tell us how to do our job." This
time Sasha /did/ get in a sip of her coffee ... she watched as Rog was handed
a datapad, which he read quickly and handed back. "We'll share any
information we get with you ... this channel and code all right for now?" she
asked when he looked up at her again.</font><font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><font style="" face="Tahoma"><br><br></font></font></font>=/\= Rog hated having to sign reports in the middle
of a conversation. He said, "Of course Sasha. Yes the channel is fine for
now." =/\=<font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><font style="" face="Tahoma"><br><br></font></font></font>"Excellent," Sasha said. "If anything changes
... well, we both know what to do." She smiled.<font style="" color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 10pt;" size="2"><font style="" face="Tahoma"><br><br></font></font></font>=/\= Rog smiled
and said, "We sure do. Meridian out." =/\=<br><br>Sasha signaled to Lt Sattal, who cut the COMMs. She settled back with her cup of coffee, only to find Yuki presenting /her/ with a datapad for her perusal. Setting the cup down, she thanked him and scanned the contents, then thumbed her approval. Okay, what now? Ah, yes. "Lieutenant Sattal, get ahold of LtCommander Cole ... have him meet Commander Hanley and I on F Deck for MACO inspection, ten minutes."<br><br>"Aye, Captain," the young Lieutenant said.<br><br>"Vic," Sasha said, getting up. "Shall we?"<br><br><br>Captain Sasha Spearling<br>Commanding Officer<br>FCL-04 Challenger<br>&<br>Captain Roger Finney<br>Commanding Officer<br>FCL-06 Meridian<br>================<br><br><NPC's, etc, apb Anna and John><br><br><font id="ecxrole_document" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><div><font style="" face="Tahoma"><br><br></font></div>
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