Joint Log | FAdm. Malone & Adm. Hark | "Long Distance Relationships"

Posted on 241502.28 @ 2:30am by Admiral Alexander Hark & Fleet Admiral Kerry Malone

Mission: The Fight For Peace [GQ Plot]

=/\= USS Sutherland =/\=

Deciding that it was probably in his best interests to do so, it was time to inform Starfleet Command of what was going on in the Gamma Quadrant. This had been tricky prior to now, since there was no starbase with an advanced communications array to allow for instant communication with the Alpha Quadrant. That had been somwhat rectified with the installation of the communications array around Xonnel, and he was now able to communicate directly with Starfleet Command.

Even so, it was restricted to official use only for the time being, and Malone was one such official. Having gotten dressed into his standard admirals variant duty uniform, he sat down behind his temporary desk aboard the Sutherland. "Computer, activate secure channel with Starfleet Command, attention of Admiral Hark, authorization Malone Alpha Five Seven Nine Alpha Tango."

That code in and of itself would get him a direct line with the Commander-in-Chief, and bypass the usual crap at Starfleet Communications. Only Quadrant Commanders and a select few officers had direct line access to the top man in Starfleet.

After routing through a couple of different points, the transmission found itself arriving at the desk of Admiral Hark onboard the USS Illustrious as it sped towards Atlantis Prime, the greying Admiral looked up from the book that he had been using to pass the time and down at the screen as it flickered and annoyed him with the insistant beep.

"Fleet Admiral Malone for you sir." his Aide replied after recieving the questioning look from Xander.

"Very well," he replied with a slight smile as he bought himself to sit upright, smoothed his hair down and placed the book by the side of the monitor, a thumb tapped down on one of the buttons nearest to him to open the channel, "Kerry, I'm glad to see the Gamma Quadrant hasn't killed you yet, I assume this means the communications rebuild is progressing well?"

"Well, a civilian group built an array over Xonnel, which was pretty helpful." Malone answered. "And no, you're not lucky enough for me to be dead yet. I thought I'd touch base with you, let you know what's going on out here, as I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later."

"When someone says something like that to me, Kerry, it's normally a preface to something I am not going to like." Xander replied as he tilted his head to the side slightly and raised an eyebrow, "So, what is it you want to tell me that I'm not going to like?"

"You might get a formal protest from the Krigoran Government about Starfleet... 'intervention'... on their planet." Malone said, trying to phrase it well. Having held Hark's job until fairly recently, he knew what the man would be thinking. He was trying to break it in as gently as possible.

"How many men have you sent?" Hark replied with a slight sigh as he looked up to the ceiling for a moment and then back at the screen, "And who's commanding?"

"Well, as you well know - Krigora was being used as a hide-out for pirates and criminal elements that have run rampant in this sector since the war broke out." Malone said. "I asked General Sharpe to deal with the situation..." This was an answer to both questions at the same time.

It was only instinct but Hark's palm found his face and moved down slowly, a sigh grew into a groan as a mug of tea was place before him by his Aide, he picked the steaming mug up for a second and took a sip before turning his attention back to Malone, "At least you can't be blamed of doing half a job... Sharpe is... certain to get the job done." he replied as he chuckled to himself inwardly, "Thank you for letting me know, at least when the Federation Council find out I can at least attempt to appear like I knew about it had been ordered."

"I approved of his plan, even if I had reservations about him deploying a heavy division to invade a sovereign power. He had the right idea anyway." Malone replied. "Expect some flak from London about it anyway, but it'll all be done by the time they hear about it. On a happier note, USS Medusa and USS Crazyhorse have been located, and they've been brought back into the fleet under my command."

"At least there is some good news," Xander replied with a light smile as he leant back in the chair and took another sip of his tea, "You certainly like to bring me all the fun stuff to deal with, I expect to see debriefing reports on my desk."

"I'm sure you will." Kerry replied. "I know how much you love reports after all."

"It'll give me something to read once all this fun and excitement is over," Hark replied quickly as he ran his hands up the stack of paperwork deposited on his desk earlier, it was a chore but it had to be done sometime, "Kerry, can I trust you not to invade every sovereign world you come across?"

"Oh yes, I'll only invade every other one, just for you, Xander." Malone smirked. "You insisted on keeping Sharpe reactivated, Xander, these are the risks you take. You knew what he was like when you kept him on. He's a maverick, but he's one of the good guys. But he has all the tact and grace of a hippo in a tu-tu."

"He's effective, thats why I like keeping him around," Xander replied with another chuckle, "Just try and make sure we don't cause too many problems, the last thing we need are the Romulans or the Breen getting nervous about us becoming as Imperialistic as the Klingons."

"Well, we're not invading to occupy and re-colonize. Once we're done, we'll leave. Either way, its the Gamma Quadrant, what do they care? The biggest investment they have over here is a shared listening post near the Bajoran wormhole." Malone sighed.

"You know as well as I do how fragile politics are," Xander replied quickly, his mug of tea disappearing out of shot and back to the desk, "All it takes is for one faction to get the wrong impression and we end up with yet another war to fight which while we have the Klingons on side, is something we don't have to be too worried about, it's something I'd like to avoid."

"Well, from my intelligence briefings, the Romulans are dealing with their own internal politics right now to give a crap about what we're doing out here. The Breen are very insular as it comes anyway, but we'll try to tone down the rhetoric around here. I'd rather not invade planets or fight anyone, but there's a lot of lawlessness out here since the civil war broke out, and we're going to have to show people in the DMZ some stick before we give them some carrot. Only way to restore order out here is to remind people that Federation starships are not fair game." Malone said. "I'll keep you aprised, but I have a good idea of how to keep things in-line. I'm about all out of desire to fight another war, Xander, so if you keep things calm on your side of the wormhole, I'll keep them calm on mine."

"Once I'm done with the Atlanteans I fully intend on restoring our science and exploration efforts, you know... back in the good old days when Captain's used to just wave in a general direction and say 'Out there, thatta' way.'" Xander replied with a light chuckle, "I'd like to see a bit more of that."

"I think most of the fleet would too." Malone replied. "I spent my entire C-in-Cship lurching from one major crisis to the next, without a chance to do the things I really wanted to. I really hope you get your chance. The politics of the post-war period will not be fun, my friend. I just hope you have the luxury of sending what few ships we have left out on exploration missions."

"Not just the ships we have left, the Versailles shipyards have been reactivated, Utopia Planetia and Jupiter station are at full capacity, as are the rest of our facilities that weren't lost completely during the wars," Xander replied with a bow of the head, "We're replacing ships as fast as we can and the refit schedule is through the roof, anyway, I don't want to bore you with the details of your old job," he added quickly, "Just try and stay out of too much trouble, Kerry,"

"Well, that just sucks the fun out of my job, doesn't it?" Malone smiled. "Have a pleasant trip with Atlantia, Xander."

Xander just smiled and nodded in reply as he cut off the communication and leant back in the chair, the mug retrieved and warming his hands as he waited for the inevitable call from the bridge.

(End Log.)

Admiral Alexander 'Xander' Hark
Commander in Chief of Starfleet
United Federation of Planets

&

Fleet Admiral Kerry Malone
Gamma Quadrant Commander