> > "Of course. That all seems to be very reasonable. Then it
seems
> >as if the proposal is moving forward. May I ask when Admiral Lasiter
will
> >be informed, and when the final word could be expected?" he asked.....
>
> "I will speak with Admirrral Lasiterrr this afterrrnoon, afterrr the
> meeting with Admirrral Rrrenaud. Hopefully, he will give the final go
> ahead, and we can get this underrrway. Howeverrr, in the meantime, I was
> hoping to ask you a few questions."
>
"Quick action... this is not like the Starfleet Command that I am
used to. Perhaps I should have spoken to you sooner.... Go ahead and ask
anything you like Admiral. I am at your service..." he replied with a
heavy coating of flattery in his voice.
>
> "Well, mostly, I wonderrred if you could tell me what you didn't put in
the
> rrreporrts, excellently prrreparred though they werrre," she asked.
>
"All that can be proven or backed up is in the report as are some of
the prevailing theories that the evidence can support, Admiral. I do not
know how much more I can add." Black replied.
>
> "My mate worrrked in intelligence and I know therrre arrre a lot of things
> you don't say in the offical rrreporrts, like opinions and feelings that
> may not have an evidentiarrry basis. But a good operrrative's intuition
> can be as good as someone else's solid facts, and that's what I want to
> know. What arrre the hunches, the feelings you didn't put in, and what
> arrre the issues you feel you need to addrrress beforrre you think this
> operrration can be a success."
>
"I see, well....." the statement was broken by the swishing sound of
a door opening and then closing. As if someone had just left his office.
"Admiral, I want to apologize to you. I had a member of the
task force here who is a bigger pain in the ass than the species that we are
dealing with. Certain facads must be maintained here. One of a great
schmoozer and sweet talker just happens to be mine, and one that I can
happily get rid of for this conversation. I apologize for being
condesenting and patranizing. That is not really my style, nor did you
deserve that. I am sorry, sir.
But to answer your questions, all theories that the evidence
supports is in the reports. That is true. However, my going theory is not
supported by the evidence, and it goes a little like this.... These aliens
are a master of ambush and pack tactics. That suggests that they are
intelligent. Any good starship CO can tell you that coordinated wolfpack
style tactics are hard to pull off, but not impossible. These beings are
able to do that flawlessly. The strongest evidence of that is that they are
able to do this with a collection of pirates, thugs, and raiders not their
own forces. If it were their own forces one could say that it was practice,
but that is not the case. They are able to take out convoys guraded by
Border Patrol cutters and by Starfleet starships. I am not comfortable with
the fact that a band of pirate rabble are capable of doing this. The joint
task force is happy to believe that the pirates are just highly organized
around the feline species. My instincts are saying that there is much more
to it than that. My instincts say that using the pirates is little more
than a cover. A cover to build an end point to their rift technology to
open a stable opening to our part of the universe and to begin the work of
destabilizing the defences in this area for a major invasion. The
destabilizing efforts will allow them to establish a better foot hold here.
They are intelligent, so to underestimate them would be dangerous, no fatal.
To sum up, we have a big problem on our hands. Possibly the next
big war will be here, and we are definately not prepared."
{thoughts?}
