[G-CRR] Capt. Egan Manno: Astrofori One

[Tony]

(( Captain's Ready Room ))

:: To tell the truth, the very last thing Cassie wanted an hour before a few hours before the Garuda arrived at Deep Space 10 for shore leave was a clandestine call from an admiral, especially Admiral Moday. Not that she knew it was clandestine, of course, but she was willing to make the assumption -- especially since it came in about two minutes after the long-range sensors had picked up an unusual hive of activity at their farthest reaches. Cassie sighed, getting it out of her system before she acknowledged the call: They hadn't just been Federation ships out there. Sensors had revealed Cardassian signatures, Kubarey ships, and even something that was likely to be Breen. Plus there was an enormous signature in the middle of it all that refused any sort of identification whatsoever. It would at least be, she thought, a nice change to get a full explanation -- if she was about to get one. ::

MODAY: Captain, I've been calling for several minutes.

EGAN MANNO: Admiral, I've been trying to figure out why you're calling for several minutes.

:: For a moment, he looked rather taken aback at that, but then he laughed. ::

MODAY: Good! That means that the Garuda's sensors are working at peak efficiency. Tell me, Captain, what did you see?

:: Cassie didn't much appreciate leading questions, so she answered without words: A sensor echo, captured a few moments before, of the activity in a distant star system. Moday glanced down and she knew he'd received it, because his nod was appreciative. ::

MODAY: Better than I expected. Well, you may as well great your new base of operations.

:: Cassie's eyes widened involuntarily and she caught a glimpse of her surprised self reflected in the monitor. ::

EGAN MANNO: Admiral, we have Deep Space Ten on sensors. Nothing's happened to it, and I've received confirmation that Commodore Westhaven is still in temporary command.

MODAY: All true. But we've been working on this project for a while now, en route and otherwise, though only in the last two weeks has the thing come online as anything more than a potentially anomalous moon for your mass detectors. 

EGAN MANNO: Admiral. What is it?

MODAY: Astrofori One. The first station of its kind, Captain Egan Manno. You see, your success with the Cardassians aboard DSX -- their Creshan'na Riyas...

:: Cassie almost snorted at that. "Success" was a widely generous term for the first few months of joint operation of the station. ::

MODAY: ...was only the first step in a larger plan. We've been working for months -- years, with some -- to establish a neutral base for all the spacefaring governments in the Corridor, to help foster collaboration, experimentation, and easy idea exchange. Our best diplomats, including Ambassador and now-Presidential-Candidate Ventu, have been working hard to make sure that this works. And you're to be our commander in the field, Captain. Admiral Jaxx will be contacting you soon to tell you more about that.

:: Jaxx? Her Jaxx? Which was to say, Andrus Jaxx, the man who she'd known for years -- and who certainly hadn't let slip anything about this to her? She was about to ask, but then her mouth changed its mind midway: He still hadn't answered her first question. ::

EGAN MANNO: But Deep Space Ten--

MODAY: --will remain operational, though I'm estimating that about 75% of its current traffic and trade will be rerouted through Astrofori One. You'll return to DSX as planned, but subsequently you'll dock at Astrofori and operate out of that. In fact, if your people want to begin scanning it in more detail, they should. It'll officially come online in about three weeks, but it's pretty much ready to go now.

:: "Pretty much" was no guarantee, in her experience, but she also imagined that the engineers and the diplomats wouldn't be able to wait to get aboard and explore, especially if it was a completely new design. ::

EGAN MANNO: It is completely new, isn't it?

MODAY: Completely. In orbit around the closest star to DSX's Eta Corvi, Gamma Camelopardalis. Built in cooperation with many species and governments, as I said, most of whom will also have representatives aboard the stations, even if they're not official diplomats or ambassadors: the Cardassians, the Breen, the Kubarey, the Tholians -- and a few newer species, too: the Dennermé, the Taredge, the Community....

EGAN MANNO: You weren't joking about the collaboration.

MODAY: No, I wasn't. That's the most important part, Captain: This is an experimental alliance with many powers with whom we don't have years and years of strong relations, so expect it to be difficult. 

:: There were many more questions she wanted to ask, but before she could, Moday shook his head, as though he knew what would be coming. Which he probably did, given that he knew she always asked a lot. ::

MODAY: Jaxx will answer more of your questions. For now, I just wanted to prepare you for what's coming. Be ready, Captain. Starfleet Command, out.

:: Be ready. Right. Those were words she'd spoken many times herself to field commanders, but she recognized now how inadequate they were as preparation. With a sigh to equal the one before she'd begun speaking to Moday, she tapped her comm badge. ::

EGAN MANNO: =/\= This is Captain Egan Manno. As soon as the Garuda arrives at Deep Space Ten, all personnel are released on shore leave. ::beat:: However, there's more you should know about nearby developments.... =/\=

( OOC: Assume that the ellipsis [...] imply that all characters now know what Moday told Egan Manno in this sim. )

( OOC 2: I realize now that Eta Corvi is a lot closer to Earth than I intended, and that these two named stars aren't very close at all, so ... maybe Starfleet's renamed stars in the future? Take my astronomy with a grain of salt ;-) )

Tag! and TBC!

Captain Cassandra Egan Manno

CO, USS Garuda