====== Shane's office, 1TF Command level, SB
234: UNITY ======
Shane cursed the day and it was not for the last time.
Two days ago he spend all this duty time with reading and
signing PADDs. One would say … "oho … a few pads to
read, where's the problem?", but the problem was that
the "few" turned to thirty one! And that were only
matters from a single week … that passed the basic filter
in the TF Operations center … and 2nd level filter on
Pakosii's desk. Shane made once the try to count how many
"matters of importance" were send to him within a week.
The count was a terrible 117! He could consider himself
lucky that only 31 made it really to his desk.
Again, one could say that important things have to be cared
for … but the pain here is the word "important". Some
clerk in Federation bureau of medicine, department human
nutrition, sub department of experimental food control finds
out that the usage of Vulcan weed racio musli bars can
affect one's dexterity in cumulative effect of adrenaline
… and the Federation Bureau of Medicine immediately issues
a directive limited the usage of those Vulcan weed musli
bars for Special Forces branch. Since the Bureau can't
issue orders for military units … the direction hit's
the desk of a branch's Commander who has to sign it and
send to all units in his chain of command.
Trouble was that 80% of all PADDs on Shane's desk were of
a similar nature.
But the last two days were different. First there was the
surprise and devastating attack of Romulan forces on V'Tar
II. Romulans shocked all Federation with the use of Thalaron
weapon, that destroyed all life there within seconds.
Thalaron weapons were forbidden and any research, usage or
ownership of such weapons within the Federation was punished
with long years sentences. Romulans already were about to
use Thalaron weapon against the Federation two decades back
… during the time of Preator Shinzon. Shinzon was defeated
by the valiant crew of USS Enterprise and the new Romulan
government promised to abandon all research in this field.
In was generally believed that the Romulans lost all
interest in Thalaron weaponry … but only till the horrible
waste landing of V'Tar II. During the time when Federation
highest officials were discussing the matter, Starfleet
Command authorized SSF 1st Task Force to launch a responding
action towards the Romulans. Yesterday, Shane charged
Chisulo, his Tactical Advisor with preparing detailed battle
plans and today he's got them. Chisulo proposed a Tasf
Force utilizing a rather new operation tactics. Starfleet
was always lacking decent fighter abilities and always
concentrated on capital ships. It was just quite recently
that SSF gave an OK to a new doctrine – Fighter power and
Chisulo suggested putting that doctrine to a test. His Task
Force consisted of six ships + the newly commissioned USS
Detector.
Shane thought briefly back about the launching of the
Detector. He had unfortunately little time to attend the
ceremony in person, but from what he head it was a nice
event … except the 'unbreakable' bottle of wine. Shane
wondered if the wine was really as old as the Detector …
what could mean that the wine was already QUITE thick and
the high viscosity could adhere the glass of the bottle
together. On an another note, Shane was a bit amused to
learn where the old emitter from the Qashqai ended … in
the Detector. Let's be honest … being a flag officer has
its advantages … and getting fast new parts for one's
personal ship was among them.
Special Forces Command approved Chisulo's plan quickly –
it was evident that great pressure was produces by Starfleet
highest brass to punish the brutal Thalaron attack. There
was nothing much Shane could do here more, he prepared
orders for the requested ships and charged Chisulo with
command over the little Task Force.
Aside of the great tragedy on V'Tar II, Chisulo was lucky
that it happened. His previous actions on Narendra mission
caused a LOT of trouble for the Federation/Klingon Empire
relations. A great uproar sounded through all the empire and
a lot of voices called for breaking the alliance with the
Federation. Federation officials tried to explain that it
was not Starfleet but Erassian Alliance who bombarded their
colony, but Klingons were reluctant to listen … and many
were longing for a war. A court martial was about to be
prepared to judge over Captain Chisulo, but this new
Thalaron crisis was just the perfect "cover" to get
Chisulo out of the base. Shane and SSF Command would so gain
more time to settle the matter or at least it would be
enough time for the most hot heads to cool somewhat down.
Shane cursed the day and it was not for the last time.
Adding pain to injury, heavy encrypted orders from Starfleet
Intelligence HQ (approved by SSF Command, General Kira
herself) arrived yesterday. The source for those orders were
the findings made by USS Chimera on her pervious mission
regarding the compromised listening outpost at the Rom/Fed
borders. As Chimera discovered, important data were relayed
by the outpost outside of federation borders. Further
investigation by SFI revealed that the target of those
transmissions lied within Erassian territory. A SFI scout
ship was send to enter Erassian territory and pursue the
investigation, but was stopped by Erassian forces and denied
passage rights.
Of course, this fact was rather suspicious and put the
(still not ink dry) Mutual Defense Treaty between the
Alliance and the Federation in danger. SFI decided that this
needs urgent investigation and for reasons only half
explained, requested Task Force Command and the Chimera to
lead that case. Shane was ordered to assemble a small task
force of four ships led by the Chimera to negotiate with the
Erassians and continue on with the investigation into the
third lead.
The mission's objectives (as outlines by Captain Mercer,
head of Standard Intelligence were simple:
(1) Negotiate passage through Erassian space. Avoid
conflict. (2) Investigate the destination of the third
transmission.
Since Shane already assigned ships to Chisulo's Task
Force, he needed some time to find fitting ships (both
suitable for such a mission and still close enough for a
quick launch).
Taskgroup:
Group: [Name (Class) – Commanding Officer]
1. USS Chimera-B (Century) – Captain Cropa Rojac
2. USS Magellan-D (Sovereign) – Captain Frederick Mayo
3. USS Eagle-B (Katana-b) – Commander Typhon
4. USS Rapier (Saber) – Commander Hank Telson
Now, Shane needed a Task Force Commander. He himself could
not leave SB 234 and this mission was of great importance,
so the final decision fall on LtColonel PontBrillant,
Shane's 2nd in Command.
Till now, Shane did not see his 2nd in Command performing in
action and this was the ideal case. The mission was
important, troubles sure to expect and risks were great …
just a ground for a Fleet level officer to prove his
qualities. With experienced ship COs like Captain Rojac on
his side, Shane did not fear for the Colonel or for the
mission … much.
It took him another half an hour to prepare orders for each
of the 4 ship's captains. Each ship received a priority
one message and the task force was scheduled to leave SB 234
within 24 hours. Shane send dedicated messages to Captain
Rojac and Colonel PontBrillant asking them to appear in his
office … ASAP!
====== End of log ======
Commodore Shane Guzman
CO, 1st Task Force, SSF Command
CO, SB 234: UNITY
