>"I can't say for certain, as she may be busy. Howeverrr, I will
endeavourrr to get thrrrough. While I trrry to get herrr, perrrhaps you
should go in. He is rrready forrr you."
"Thank you," replied Kitanya, and took Aurelius inside.
>"Admirrral," she said, with a polite, but perfunctory bow. She looked at
him, seeing how he was after her absence, trying to tell if this was a
good
day or a bad day for him.
>
> She could tell that his day had started early, but other than that it
was a good day. "Admiral Kitanya, Captain. Commander M'Rrenn said that
you needed to speak with me about an urgent matter."
"Yes, sirrr. It's something Captain Aurrrelius herrre pointed out to me,
and it could have serrrious rrramifications forrr the Federrration."
>M'Rrenn interrupted, "I am sorry to interrrrupt, sirrr, but Admirrral
t'Llhweiirrr is online. Vice Admirrral Kitanya has rrrequested herrr to
join in the conversation."
>
> Lasiter now seeming as if he knew that his day was heading downward,
replied. "Very well. Put her through on the big screen. Join us
please."
Then turning to those in his office, "Shall we move over to the good
seats
and begin." Lasiter said directing them to the arrangement of cushy sofas
and chairs that faced the large view screen off to the side in his office.
Kit went first, sitting down and connecting the PADD to the screen, so
that
t'Llwheiir could see what she was pointing out.
>As they sat down, M'Rrenn entered and t'Llhweiir appeared on the screen.
>
> "Welcome Admiral", Lasiter said to the screen. "Admiral Kitanya,
please
begin."
"Thank you, sirrr. As you know, we face two serrrious crrrises, one being the
Venasians, the otherrr being the felinids. Although rrright now, both seem confined
to theirrr immediate facts, I believe that therrre is a connection between the two
events, and if so, the Federrration could be on the verrrge of a full-scale,
two-frrronted warrr that we arrre not yet rrready to fight.
"The Venasians arrre everrrywherrre. Therrre has just been a hostile militarrry coup,
yet the population seems strrrangely accepting, even on theirrr colony worrrlds
located in the borrrderrs of each majorrr powerrr. As Captain Aurrrelius herrre
pointed out, they'rrre lving in ourrr backyarrrd. They also know that Federrration
and Starrrfleet affairrrs arrre in disarrray, leaving us vulnerrrable. Secondly, we
have the
felinids. Having just rrreturrned frrrom that frrront and fought them, they arrre
forrrmidable enemies, beings of honorrr, prrride and bloodlust. We have discoverrred
that they arrre bioengineerrred Caitians, crrreated to be fierrrce, insatiable killing
machines. They posess high-powerrred weapons and advanced-design spacecrrraft that we
believe they themselves
do not have the ability to make, norrr do they use them effectively. All of this
leads us to believe that they arrre shock trrroops, prrrovided with theirrr
materrrials of warrr by a morrre highly advanced powerrr, which given the amount of
rrresourrces necessarrry to build these ships, must be
a goverrrnment. These rrraids on the Klingon/Federrration borrrderr smack of a
prrroving grrround, somewherrre forrr that goverrnment to test out theirr newly brrred
trrroops that won't rrraise much suspicion, as they'll be seen as a nuisance;
rrraiderrs looking forrr a quick crrredit. But someone crrreated them, someone with
advanced bioengineerrring
capabilities and advanced spacecrraft ans weapons technology."
Then she put up the Intell picture of the group of enemies. "Admirrral t'Llwheiirrr,
this picturrre came frrrom one of yourrr operrratives. The being next to the
Venasian, believed to be Generrral Aamon, is not a Caitian, it is a felinid." She put
up the other pictures of felinids on
the screen as comparison to prove her point. "Now, the Carrdassians we know; the
technology used by the felinids isn;t coming frrrom them orrr we'd have rrrecognized
it. But we know little of Venasian technology, except that it is highly advanced. So
if the felinids and the Venasians arrre connected... The timerrr has begun its
countdown, and we don't know when it's set to explode."
Lasiter said nothing. He simply starred at the images on the screen. He starred very
closely at the felinids, reflecting what this would mean to the Federation.
M'Rrenn starred too. His eyes narrowing, and tail starting to whip as Kitanya's did
with Aurellius. He was visably unnerved at the news, but only Kitanya could tell just
how much so. If M'Rrenn was to be a gauge for the rest of the Caitian populous, when
this got out there was going to be riots.
"We have time.", Lasiter finally said breaking the silence. "General Aamon will need
time to solidify his position and the support for his people. Personally, I just do
not believe that the Venasian public will just accept this. They have a rich history
and a deep love and devotion to tradition. This coup will slap many Venasians in the
face, and they will not just sit by. That is, if given a reason not to. The General
will also have to solidify recognition and legitamacy from the powers in this
quadrant, and that too will take some time. Until both of those happen, there will
not be a two front war. I estimate that we have a year to 18 months, if we are lucky,
before it begins. 6 to 9 months if we are not.", he spoke as if he were having an
academic discussion.
"So what do we have? M'Rrenn..." he said tapping his aide on the shoulder to bring
his attenetion back to the group.
Taking a second or two to refocus himself, "Well, on the down side, we have 9
operrrational fleets, and 4 of those need serrrious worrrk beforrre they can be
rrrrelied upon in any majorrr action. We have a questionable Starrrflet Command,
complete with corrrruption and fifedoms thrrroughout the fleet. Our rrreserrrve
forrrces are quickly aging, and the moth-ball fleet will take a minimum of 5 months to
get the best ships back into serrrvice. On the upside, the 6th Fleet is well on it's
way to rrrecoverrry under the command of Vice Admirrral Michael Sinclairrr, and if
need be 9th Fleet can sparrre a few ships to bolsterrr some of the weakerrr fleets.
There is LCMR Garrribaldi's anti-corrrruption task forrrce, which if given anotherrr
month or two could knock out some of the dead wood arrround the fleet. Sirrr, yourrr
calls to those key commands has incrrreased yourrr rrrespect amoung some commanderrrs,
which will help in uniting the fleet, and quelling the fifedoms. Therrre is also the
searrrch forrr a new home planet for the Venasians. As I underrrstand it we have two
prrrospects, one that Admirrral Bedrrru is dealing with and one otherrr. If eitherrr
of them worrrk out, we just may have the rrreason forrr the currrrently quiet and
passive Venassian populous to change theirrr minds."
Lasiter nodded, then turned to t'Llhweiir, "What about Intell?"
"Other than the report that Admiral Kitanya mentioned we have nothing more to offer.
While we have been watching the Venasians, we can only learn som much as they
communicate, quite often, through their telepathic link. We are watching, and
anything that comes in will be relayed at once. As for the Felinids, well as that was
regarded as an internal matter- crime not an enemy force, Intell has largely stayed
out of that matter. However, there are a few deep cover operatives that we do have in
place."
Lasiter again nodded, "What about Spec Ops?"
{response}
*****
Chris
GM- SPD & JSOC
