Priority One at Starbase 12

Posted on Friday, 2 April 2021 - 1:24pm by Captain Barret Stillwater & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley
Edited on on Tuesday, 6 April 2021 - 2:23pm

Mission: Operation: Peace or P'Jem
Location: Beta Quadrant: Starbase 12
Timeline: MD 1 - 11:35

Founded in 2161, the United Federation of Planets began as a successor to the Coalition of Planets, shouldered by the Tellarites, Vulcans, Andorians, and Humans. For almost 250 years those core species worked together in unison, going to war in tangent against the Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, and Dominion. They fended off Borg invasion after Borg invasion. Now, centuries of peace and prosperity had been shattered carelessly and unprovoked.

"Come," came the swift response from an evidentially and reasonably agitated woman. Seated at her desk, eyes previously laser-focused on the screen before her was the recently minted Beta Quadrant Commander, Admiral Edith Mae Jemison. She was an intellectual woman, young to reach the echelons of Starfleet brass, but her crass wit and sarcasm won over the hearts of many starship Captain's.

Captain Stillwater crossed the threshold of the woman's office. She had worn several uniforms over the years, but even now she had a hat or two. Other than being the Commander for the Beta Quadrant, she was also the Commanding Officer of Starbase 12, more colloquially known as 'the station commander,' but the day-to-day operations of Starbase 12 were handled by her Executive Officer.

Admiral Jemison's role as Quadrant Commander was hers alone to bear. Nevertheless, she was assisted by her aide-de-camp, the Admiral's equivalent of a Yeoman except for a fine officer from Starfleet Administrative Operations. "Captain Barret Stillwater of the USS Standing Bear," he said extending his arm across the woman's desk. "I came as soon as I received your priority one message, Admiral."

Stillwater looked over and shot a glance at the aide-de-camp, a man with a rank just beneath Stillwater's, a Commander. The two exchanged a silent nod, quiet pleasantries. The aide-de-camp handed the Admiral a PaDD before sidestepping Stillwater and leaving the Quadrant Commander's office.

"The fleet appreciates your hasty arrival, Captain." The Admiral shook her head as she skimmed the PaDD. "I'm sure you have been receiving small breadcrumbs of information pertaining to the priority one summons that brought you here."

Barret nodded. He cleared his throat and spoke frankly. "Breadcrumbs, yes, but I still feel lost entirely. This has to do with the safety and security of the quadrant?"

"Not just mine, Captain. The quadrants with full emphasis on plurality." The woman reached across her desk and handed him the PaDD. "That's a summary of a dozen incident reports in the past few days. You'll notice a common theme."

Stillwater's bottom lip quivered slightly. "All were incidents with Andorian vessels. What are their planetary defense forces doing so far outside of the Andoria sector? Were they dispatched and deployed?"

"Not by any order of Admiral Snu'Pi of the 7th Fleet, nor any of the fleets' Chiefs of Fleet Operations, not by myself, and not by anyone above my head."

Barret grew concerned. "That's highly irregular, especially for the Andorians. They are as line and file as you can get."

"Except now," the Admiral countered. "Starfleet Intelligence has been discreetly monitoring the Andorians for the past several months. The findings aren't completed yet, but the provisional reports are not promising."

Stillwater had taken a seat and knew he should brace himself. "How bad is it?"

Admiral Jemison scoffed and groaned. "I'll need something stronger than raktajino after today's end. There's been murmuring of the Andorians being displeased with the Federation. We know that much. They haven't been quiet about that."

"Still there's more to it than that?" Stillwater knew that there had to be. The fact that Andorian vessels were leaving their sector and not cargo vessels were breaking from the norm.

The Admiral sipped her mug of coffee and sat it aside. "Logistics and Operations compared notes. The Andorians have been increasing starship production for 'defense' purposes at a rate that exceeds orders. We don't even know where they have been getting the additional resources to do so nor where they are stashing the number of ships we suspect they have."

Stillwater wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. "What hell has gotten into them?" The Captain shook his head. "They are staging something by the sound of it."

"Yes," replied the Admiral swiftly. "Ergo the priority one message. We are discreetly relocating starships and reallocating resources, off the record. Only the top brass and the President are aware and orchestrating matters."

"You need the Standing Bear?"

Admiral Jemison nodded. "More so that we need you and Commander Soral. Your combined years working along Romulan space and experience with the Romulan refugee colonies will come in handy. We are concerned an attack by the Andorians is unavoidably and will happen sooner rather than later. We are going to be sending more starships to sector 001 and reinforce the Vulcan system. We are preparing for an Andorian assault on the Romulan colony worlds around the Vulcan system, or more disconcerting, an outright onslaught against Vulcan itself."

"Son of a-" Stillwater cleared his throat. "Attacking Vulcan would be ludicrous. They are breaking from the Federation...over what?"

Edith Mae Jemison sighed. "Over lack of resources, lack of response, and likely a bit of Andorian arrogance." She shook her head. "Quite frankly, Captain, we don't know for certain, but our relationship with the Andorians has been strained since the Synthetics attacked Utopia Planitia fleet yards." The Admiral took back the PaDD, tapped away for a moment, and handed it back to Stillwater.

"Your orders, Captain Stillwater. I recommend briefing your First Officer and whoever you determine is essential to know, but I would keep it to a minimum for now."

Stillwater stood from his seat, PaDD in hand and mind swarming with alarming thoughts. "Understood, Admiral."

"Dismissed, Captain, and God speed to you and your crew."

Captain Stillwater stepped outside of the Admiral's office and made his way through the starbase's large central operations center. Starbase 12 was a massive space dock type starbase, capable of receiving, repairing, and even constructing dozens of starships. It had historical significance as the hull of the USS Enterprise-E was constructed at Starbase 12. He was sure his crew was taking the amenities and history of the starbase in.

Stepping onto the lift, he instructed it to take him down several decks. He tapped his communications badge "Stillwater to Kingsley," he said sternly. He did not want to give any indication of worry in his voice, but it was difficult to mask the severity of what he now knew.

There was only a heartbeat’s pause before he heard the science officer’s voice. “Kingsley here, sir.”

"Lieutenant, I need you to track down Commander Soral, Lieutenant Vali, and Lieutenant Kolani. The four of you are needed back on the Standing Bear, Lieutenant Zilth and I will meet you there at 13:00 hours."

You could almost hear the curiosity bubbling through, “of course. I’ll make sure they are back aboard. Is there anything else you need sir?” She wondered if he could tell she was fighting an urge to bombard him with questions.

"Possibly...Commander Soral is overseeing transfer requests I believe," Stillwater said. "Can you inform him that I would prefer he hold off on any Andorians for the time being?"

“I will be sure to pass that along,” Kingsley said, brow furrowed as she sat up a little straighter. It was an unusual request, or at least to her mind it was. And he sounded... off. As her mother would say. “Sir, is everything okay?”

He neglected to give her answers to that. "Stillwater out," he replied swiftly, terminating the comm channel.

 

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