Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!in.100proofnews.com!in.100proofnews.com!tiscali!newsfeed1.ip.tiscali.net!news-out.tin.it!news-in.tin.it!news3.tin.it.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: From: RAdm Amy DaSilva Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current,alt.startrek.role-playing,alt.startrek.creative,alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise,alt.startrek.vulcan,uk.media.tv.sf.startrek Subject: Starfleet - The First Era Lines: 101 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=us-ascii User-Agent: Turnpike/6.02-U () Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 08:26:51 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 82.52.165.180 X-Complaints-To: "Please send abuse reports to abuse@tin.it and technical notifications to newsmaster@tin.it" X-Trace: news3.tin.it 1101025611 82.52.165.180 (Sun, 21 Nov 2004 09:26:51 MET) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 09:26:51 MET Organization: TIN Xref: news.earthlink.net rec.arts.startrek.current:388973 alt.startrek.role-playing:9084 alt.startrek.creative:161394 alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise:295021 uk.media.tv.sf.startrek:250392 X-Received-Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 00:26:53 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) ////////// Jupiter Station - Command Centre /////////// Suzanna sat at her station in the Command Centre, the Nautilus had left about 48 hours earlier and although they'd had regular updates so far, she was concerned. She also wished she was on the ship with them. Knowing what she knew, the little it was, she knew this mission was important. "Ma'am..." The voice of the armoury office that manned the tactical station clearly had a level of excitement in it that Suzanna looked towards him. "What is it, Ensign?" She asked. "I'm picking up a vessel on long range sensors, it just appeared. Transponders indicate it is Enterprise." "Enterprise?" Suzanna got to her feet, "On screen, maximum magnification." "They are sending out a general hail." The Communications Officer called out. "Tell them... Welcome home." Suzanna said; her eyes glued to the viewscreen. "Flight ops... send out a welcoming party... any vessel docked here that wants to accompany them to Earth gets clearance." Quickly she toggled the comm switch to station wide, including the Academy. "Batenburg to all hands. If you are near a view port... I suggest you look outside. Enterprise has returned home." She turned the comm off again and just stood silently, almost at attention. She stood there, watching on the viewscreen as the first NX class ship that had gone into deep space, and then later to the Delphic Expanse for this crucial mission after the Xindi attack, returned. One by one, the officers on the command centre got to their feet as well. The crew of the Enterprise couldn't see the silent standing ovation, but the sentiment and respect wasn't any less for it "Oh my...." it was a quiet mumble, underneath her breath as she saw the damage that Enterprise had as she approached Jupiter Station. Watching the damaged ship approach and from the opposite direction a flotilla of smaller ships streaming out of seemingly nowhere approach the vessel, to escort her on the last stretch of its long journey home. Once the ship had gone past, the Communications officer spoke up again."Captain... SNN is broadcasting from here." She sent the signal the view screen for the final part of the report. "Enterprise will be returning to Earth Orbit within the next two hours... Starfleet has announced that Captain Archer and the senior staff of Enterprise will be returning to Starfleet Headquarters via Shuttle Pod at 2200 Sol Standard Time. They will address Mankind from there, and SNN will be there to cover their triumphant return for our viewers and listeners... for now, this is Billy Wright of the Interstellar Division, LIVE from Jupiter Station signing off, Good Night..." "Make sure everyone is aware of that and give people the opportunity to watch it." Suzanna ordered. /////////////// Later - Captain's Quarters /////////// She sat on the couch, her feet on the low coffee table, reading datapads until it was time. The fact that Enterprise was back was such good news on so many levels. It meant the threat from the Xindi was gone. If only Thomas Garroway could have been here with her. To share this moment. But since he had been promoted, she'd barely had the chance to talk to him besides a short congratulation. Which was more than understandable, it was a huge job he'd been promoted into. When it was 2200, she turned the viewscreen on and selected the SNN channel. How she wished she could have been in that stadium, there with the rest of the crowd to watch the shuttle pod arrive. It seemed selfish to think that, considering she'd had the privilege of seeing Enterprise arrive first hand already. After the welcome by the admiralty, she watched Captain Archer walk up to the lectern. "I've been told people are calling us heroes. When it comes to my crew, you won't get any argument from me. But I think it's important that we remember the heroes that aren't with us, the 27 crewmen that didn't make it back. Without their sacrifice I wouldn't be standing here right now. None of us would. But I'm sure that I speak on behalf of my entire crew when I say, it's good to be home." -- =/\= FCapt Suzanna Batenburg =/\= Commanding officer Jupiter Station - Starfleet: The First Era "Everything fits, otherwise we will make it fit." http://jupiterstation.blankespoor.org/ -- =/\= RAdm Amy DaSilva =/\= Fleet Commander Starfleet: The First Era http://www.firstera.net "There is a first for Everything!!" email: blanhe2@blankespoor.nospam.org (take the nospam out to reach me ;) ) NewMessage: Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newsswing.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!news.glorb.com!transit.nntp.hccnet.nl!transit1.nntp.hccnet.nl!border2.nntp.ams.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news-out.tin.it!news-in.tin.it!news3.tin.it.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: From: RAdm Amy DaSilva Reply-To: RAdm Amy DaSilva Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current,alt.startrek.role-playing,alt.startrek.creative,alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise,alt.startrek.vulcan,uk.media.tv.sf.startrek Subject: Starfleet - The First Era - "Hide and Seek" Act 2 Lines: 214 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=us-ascii User-Agent: Turnpike/6.04-U () Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 11:13:29 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 82.52.157.20 X-Complaints-To: "Please send abuse reports to abuse@tin.it and technical notifications to newsmaster@tin.it" X-Trace: news3.tin.it 1103368409 82.52.157.20 (Sat, 18 Dec 2004 12:13:29 MET) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 12:13:29 MET Organization: TIN Xref: news.earthlink.net rec.arts.startrek.current:390167 alt.startrek.role-playing:9109 alt.startrek.creative:161617 alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise:304317 uk.media.tv.sf.startrek:250917 X-Received-Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 03:13:32 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) "Hide and Seek" Story by Suzanna Star Trek and related names are registered trademarks of Paramount Pictures, Inc. This original work of fiction is written strictly for non-profit and is solely for the entertainment of its author and readers. Copyright 2004, by The First Era http://www.firstera.net >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you want to join TFE and be part of the plot, please fill in the application form at: http://www.firstera.net/SignUp/signup.htm >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Act 2: Into the deep end... /////// Starfleet Command HQ //////////// Amy walked into her anteroom of her office. "Commander Washbourne, please request that Captain Palmer and Fleet Captain Garroway join me as soon as they can." "Aye, Ma'am." The reply was crisp and to the point, Washbourne, Amy knew had a high security clearance and knew what to keep secret. The Meridian and Nautilus had returned to Jupiter Station twenty-four hours earlier, after that, the Grandlord and Sub-Commander Suzhran had travelled on to Earth where they had spoken at length with the Admiral Forrest and the Earth President. That had been followed by the meeting that Amy had just returned from. Everything was still highly classified, but wheels were being set in motion. It was now up to Amy to brief and discuss with Palmer and Garroway. [A few moments later...] Palmer had been in her office reading the latest readiness report on the new science and research facility at New Berlin on Luna when Washbourne contacted her. It was nice only having to hop a tram when the Admiral called, instead of a shuttle pod, Palmer mused. After exchanging pleasantries with the commander in the antechamber, Palmer was ushered inside the Admiral's office. "Admiral DaSilva, you wanted to see me?" Palmer asked. "Captain," Amy smiles and stood up, to greet Palmer. "Thank you for coming so quickly. I will wait before going into details until Fleet Captain Garroway is here as well, but the Nautilus returned, and they brought the zGillibian Grandlord with them." "So all went well, then?" Palmer asked "The Nautilus found the damaged ship, and while they were tending to wounded and trying to assist with repairs, their attackers returned to finish the job." Amy started to explain. "In the end the zGillibian ship was destroyed by the hostile alien ship that rammed it in a kamikaze manoeuvre. Thankfully, the Meridian had arrived to assist by that time and was able to transport the Starfleet crew off and save a couple of the zGillibians including the Grandlord." "Kamikaze? So we may surmise that either our enemy is fanatical, or desperate. Neither of those options spells good news for our side. Is the Grandlord here on Earth?" Palmer inquired, lacing her fingers over her crossed knee. At that moment, Washbourne chimed again and Garroway appeared. "Fleet Captain Garroway. Thank you for coming on such short notice." Amy walked towards Thomas and shook his hand in greeting, then gestured for him to follow as she walked to the couches. "Please have a seat, both of you. I was just filling in Lilly on the zGillibian situation." Amy quickly repeated what she had told Palmer as she sat down herself. "I would agree with your assessment," she said to Palmer as she finished. "They are either fanatical or desperate and so far, each encounter with them, they have either died or committed suicide before we could even try to talk to them. The end result being the same... we don't know anything about their motives apart from the fact that they want to kill every last zGillibian and go to great lengths to do so." Amy paused, "and to answer your other question, yes, the Grandlord is now on Earth. I just came from the latest meeting with her and Admiral Forrest." Lilly understood that by bringing the Grandlord to Earth, the debate over whether to help the ZGillibians was over. We were in for penny and pound. "Did she give us any idea what we're up against?" "Basically, there are three large ships on a direct intercept course with the zGillibian homeworld. By now, they are six weeks away. The Council of Elders is making preparations for evacuations, which should be starting soon, they also want to put up a defence of some sort and have asked for our assistance. They have never really stood up and fought or defended themselves until two years ago when they ran into the Yorktown." Amy explained. "Evacuations. Six weeks. Hmmm. How did Meridian and Nautilus fair against the X alien ship tactically," Lilly asked, chewing on her lip in thought. "Based on the description and sensor data that we found, what attacked the zGillibian ship was a small sleeper ship. The zGillibians were barely a match; above all, what they seem to lack is good tactical knowledge, although they have learned a lot in the two years since the encounter with the Yorktown. The three ships that are en route are of the size that they ran into two years ago, it took a lot of effort of the zGillibian ship, and two NX class ships, one of whom had some form of modified torpedoes, to gain the upper hand against that one." Amy said and paused. Even if all ten Earth ships were present, which was not possible within the six-week limit, they might have a chance. Lilly nodded thoughtfully, then said, "Respectfully ma'am, the NX fleet is much more powerful that it was two years ago. Add to the number of NX in range the recent upgrade in the cruising speed of the Neptune class ships, and our growing Sol class fleet, and we can project enough firepower in one sector to make even the Vulcans raise an eyebrow." The truth of it was that Lilly was aching to ride out and meet these three ships in battle. It had been almost a year since she'd put her mind to the test in combat. The only test that really mattered. So long that, while she had not forgotten the urge, it had crawled away, hidden deep inside of her. Garroway recognized the look in his old XO's eyes and could not hide his disappointment. "Unfortunately, force may be an option in this case. But rather than scuttle Earth's defences by re-enacting the charge of the Light Brigade, I think we need to look for other options, other possibilities. We still know next to nothing about these aliens. We don't know their deeper motivations, and we don't know their capabilities. If we haven't stood pat over the last two years, who's to say they have?" Lilly's thick brow furrowed. Garroway was a very smart man, and always had been, but only an engineer could really understand how remarkable the technological advances of the last twenty years had been. The advancement was almost unprecedented in Human history, and showed little sign of slowing down. But ultimately he was right. She couldn't argue for leaving Earth unprotected. "And yet, even the Grandlord knows little about them. Not even a name. I'm all for gathering intelligence, and we've been trying, but so far no one who is willing to talk has known anything. In the absence of useable intelligence, we have to field what we can and hope that it's enough. That's what allies do for one another, and like it or not, the zGillibians are now our allies. Not the Vulcans' ally, or the Denobulans' but ours, and we will be judged as a species by our actions towards them." Garroway hated being lectured, especially when it was on a topic he had already given a lot of thought to. He also knew that debating Palmer was like debating a concrete encyclopaedia, only less fruitful. "All I'm concerned about is keeping the population of two planets from being wiped out, the zGillibians and ours. Everything else is secondary." Lilly nodded. Her silence prompted him to continue. "Someone is going to have to attempt to intercept them. Try to open negotiations, and if those fail, test their defences and try to draw them away. If we can delay them enough for the zGillibians to get establish their own defences, then we won't have to bear all the casualties by ourselves." Without missing a beat, Lilly said, "I volunteer to open negotiations with them..." "It is good to hear this discussion, a similar discussion took place with the Command Council as well." Amy said. She had been silently listening and observing. Both Palmer and Garroway were very experienced officers and she valued their input and point of view. "The Federation President when addressing the Command Council said that we have to support our allies but they need to pitch in. The President is also not ready to give up on negotiations and wants to give them another chance to back down. At the same time, can't leave Earth defenceless. Admiral Forrest's orders were to see it done." "Admiral Forrest wants to send a ship to scout and see if there is a possibility to talk. Opening negotiations is only possible if the other party is interested in talking. So far, every attempt to talk with them has failed. They either shot at us, or they committed suicide. Besides of that, the Admiral wants Fleet Ops to prepare a task force to go to the zGillibian homeworld, with a variety of tasks, ranging from helping evacuation, helping to train zGillibian COs on combat manoeuvres and prepare strategic defences in the system etc." Amy explained. Palmer seemed very keen to go, and Amy knew she was a very good tactician, she also knew that Palmer had been very seriously injured and comatose not all that long ago. Nor did she have a ship at her disposal at this point in time. "Unfortunately, Captain Palmer... I need your expertise here in charge of Sol Defences and as part of the strategic staff here. Captain Garroway, start working on a plan for deployment of the NX fleet, work with Captain Palmer. I want to have a meeting with the NX Commanders in thirty six hours to give them orders." Amy knew both Palmer and Garroway would have to work together for part of the plans being put into place. And she had a lot of work ahead to, with little sleep at least until the meeting was over and the orders given. Then, there would be the calm before the storm... =/\= Captain Lilly Palmer =/\= Fleet Services Commander Starfleet Command, San Francisco "Neither Man or nation can exist without a sublime idea." -- =/\= RAdm Amy DaSilva =/\= Fleet Commander Starfleet: The First Era http://www.firstera.net "There is a first for Everything!!" email: blanhe2@blankespoor.nospam.org (take the nospam out to reach me ;) ) NewMessage: