=/\= Padassa Station =/\=
The USS Titan arrived at Padassa Station, and assumed
position to begin mass transport of the marines and their
equipment as soon as permission was granted. For Richard
Sharpe however, he had to go aboard first, with his staff,
to meet Admiral Guzman, face to face, as well as anyone else
he needed to be introduced to.
Dusting off his uniform, he led his team onto the
transporter padd of one of the standard transporter rooms.
With him were Major Westbourne, Marine Lieutenant Daniels,
Lieutenant Colonel Strayer and Sergeant Major Harper. Once
on the pad, he nodded to the ensign, and they transported
over to Padassa.
Once notified about the soon-to-happen arrival of the USS
Titan with General Sharpe and his marine troops, Shane
called Major Kinn and both the Klingon and Quorum
Ambassadors. All together will meet the General and his
staff. It was Padassa command centre that was chosen for the
meeting, it was both large enough and representative. The
command centre was manned by Klingons mostly, but a few
humans and quorum folks were present as well.
Shane gave a nod to a Lieutenant behind a comm. console who
immediately send green light to the Titan. After just a few
seconds ... a small party of green clad marines appeared in
the typical blue-ish transporter beam effect. It was Shane
who spoke first: "General Sharpe, it's nice to meet you in
person at last. Welcome on Padassa"
Richard stepped off the PADD and stood before the Rear
Admiral. "Admiral Guzman, it is indeed a pleasure." He said,
warmly.
Shane smiled at the tall General and said: "Please let me
introduce both the Klingon Ambassador and Quorum Ambassador.
Ambassadors, this is General Sharpe, Commander of SSF 1st
MEF. He will be in charge of all Starfleet Forces on this
station when I return to UNITY."
"Ambassadors." Richard said, nodding. He had to admit to a
bit of surprise at the news that Shane would be leaving. He
assumed that the Admiral would be staying on, but he said
nothing.
"General," the stoic Commander Kortag'h greeted the marine
flag officer in deep voice, planting his right fist over his
chest in honorary salute.
"Ambassador Sa'Kara is greatly pleased to make your
acquaintance, General Major," Interpreter Hudra said with a
deep bow, unaware that he got the rank wrong.
It was Shane was spoke again: "Gentleman, time is precious
and therefore I will be brief. Details about operation MAGNA
and Klingon and Quorum participation will be relayed to you
shortly. General Sharpe received his orders already and the
part concerning this section is to support Klingon troops in
securing this station, which will remain under Klingon
command. Quorum forces have their own 'space' on Padassa,
where they may deploy their ops centre."
Everyone listened to what the Admiral was saying, so Shane
went on.
"Needles to say," Shane said, "that I hope for a strong
alliance between our forces ...as well as with Erassians
once they arrive. I know there has been some hesitation in
Klingon high council about the current war, but I hope power
struggles won't prevent our honorable Klingon warriors to
strike hard where needed"
"I'll make sure of it," Kortag'h responded. "Any warrior who
disobeys my orders will find himself thrust out of an
airlock."
Looking at the Quorum Ambassador, Shane said to the
spokesman: "Our alliance with the Quorum people is new and
unproven to both sides, but please do not hesitate to
contact General Sharpe with any request for support. The
General will be responsible for deploying ground troops to
any and all Romulan held installations in this sector, so
please coordinate with him the relevance of each such
installation as well as any special needs our Quorum friends
may have"
"Bear in mind, I only brought a Battalion to secure this
station, but if you have further needs, I can contact any of
the regiments within the First Task Force for resources."
Richard said.
====== Some later ======
Once the meeting was over, Shane and Richard walked along a
corridor alone - with their respective guards following
only. It was the personal part of the arrival conversation
between the two flag officers.
"I am sorry to leave you here alone, General" Shane said,
"but Starfleet Command requires my presence on UNITY.
Obviously they think that I am a perfect target for Romulan
galae or Tal'shiar ... and considering the diabolic plan of
Mr. Harker, I cannot blame them."
"Nor I, but surely I'm as valuable a target as yourself." He
said. "But I'm used to it."
"I'd like to ask you to be as gentle with our allies as
possible. We need Klingon support in this war and this is
maybe the only chance we have. Klingon high council is
divided in the question of supporting us in the war and
since the Erassian fleet destroyed one of their mining
colonies a while ago, the support was more the cold from
their side."
"I have good relations with the Klingon's." Richard said.
"And I'm sure I'm more militaristic than you are, which
should please the Erassian military no end. What's this
about an Erassian attack? Anything I need to know?"
"The story behind the Erassian attack on that colony is too
long for now, but let's say that we discovered a connection
between the Romulans and one Klingon General. Captain
Chisulo was send to investigate the matter ... and it ended
in Erassians destroying a whole colony. To be honest, I am
not very surprised about the KLingon hesitation to help us
after such an accident. The fact that we got the Klingons to
help us here could be a break-through in this war and we can
not allow this chance to slip. That's partially the reason
why will this station remain under Klingon control. We do
not need this station, but we need Klingon support."
"How is this going to work?" Richard needed to be sure of
logistics. "I outrank the Klingon representative. I'm also
not going to allow Klingon officers to use my marines as
cannon fodder for their insane lust to go visit their
ancestors in Sto'va'kor."
Nodding Shane said: "Just as you said. You're in charge of
the Alpha group of operation Magna. All Starfleet forces
here follow your orders. Your job on Padassa is to keep this
station secure and out of Romulan grasp. Taking over other
installations in this sector is in your hands, Klingons and
Erassians are welcome to join, but command there is yours."
Richard nodded. "Thank you for clearing that up sir."
"I would not bother much about Klingons using your troops as
cannon fodder. It's usual Klingons who lead the way in epic
battles. They do not need 'meager' humans to fight for them.
Just have them having their fun and fight some Romulans
while you take over all remaining installations. Klingons
will play a more significant role once we will attempt to
strike deeper in Romulan territory"
Again Richard nodded. "I'll bear that in mind. Their space, my space kind of
deal."
"Another point. There is something wrong happening around. I
just found the body of Mr. Harker and Samantha Palmer in a
stasis box here. Weird is that I have a second body of Mr.
Harker in Qashqai's sickbay. Preliminary scans indicate that
none is a clone, so I am stuck with two genuine dead bodies
of the same person. We are dealing with time travel or some
multi-dimension anomaly or something like that ... and none
is good for us. Maybe you could watch for anything unusual
indicating that way"
"We're Starfleet Officer's Admiral, weird is part of the routine, so unusual
should be a walk in the park." Richard said, smiling.
"Well then, we know both what to do, General. One more thing
.." Shane said smiling, "please do not let yourself killed.
If we are going to win this war, I need you on top of the
MEF. I know your experience is rich, but please do not
underestimate Tal'shiar's ability. We are in their space ...
"
"I don't intend to get killed Admiral." Richard said. "I suspect my Sergeant
Major would kill me if I went and got myself killed. I swear he missed his
calling as a mother-hen."
=/\= End Log =/\=
RAdm. Shane Guzman
Task Force CO
1st Task Force
MGen. Richard Sharpe
MEF CO
1st MEF
Klingon & Erassian Ambassador's by Bren (cus he was bored)