Bureaucratic Woes

Posted on Sun Apr 13, 2025 @ 10:21pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit

427 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: A Lost Endeavour
Location: Earth

Location: Starbase 1, Earth orbit
Admiral Charles Vance walked at a brisk pace down the corridor, his eyes sweeping the crowded passageway searching for someone. Spying his quarry, he picked up his pace and called out “Commander Stetson! A moment!”
Rolling his eyes, Commander Lee Stetson – ostensibly a member of Starfleet’s Fleet Operations System Command sighed slightly in annoyance, and turned. “Sir?” he asked politely, though there was in his eyes a look of barely masked annoyance.
Approaching the Commander, Admiral Vance was not blind the look on the other man’s face however, he’d come to accept a certain level of arrogance from officer’s in Stetson’s position. A ranking officer in Fleet Operations true, but his true roll was within the ranks of the clandestine Section 31. “Has there been any news from the Vanguard or the Ticonderoga?”

“No sir. Still nothing since the message which indicated that there had been a rise in activity from the Emerald Chain along the Outer Reach. Captain Melrose on the Ticonderoga reported that they were responding to a distress call from a civilian cargo vessel which had been attacked by the Emerald Chain, nothing since. Captain Desmond on the Vanguard reported two days ago that they had reached their assigned patrol region, and we don’t expect another report for at least another 3 days.” Stetson answered smoothly.
Vance frowned. “That’s it?”

Stetson cocked his head slightly, “You know better than that. You were in the briefing the same as I was. We don’t have enough information to make a determination on exactly what the Emerald Chain are up to. The last thing we need to do is make the situation between Starfleet and the Emerald Chain any more tense that it already is.”

“We are dangerously low on dilithium supplies. I have four ships in port which can’t be deployed because we have to ration fuel. If the reports are correct, the Emerald Chain is responsible for the missing ships and hijacking shipments which leaves us vulnerable.”
“I assure you Admiral, everything which can be done to protect the shipping routes is being done.” Stetson answered. “We have an asset on patrol now which has the ability to handle any Emerald Chain vessel which they might encounter.”

“I hope so.” Vance replied. “If the intelligence we have is correct, and the Emerald Chain is planning an attack against us, right now with our fleet deployed and our defensive ships here limited by fuel needs.. we would be hard pressed to hold them off.”

tbc

 

RSS Feed