Bravo Fleet
The Archanis Campaign
[Task Force 72 Operations Center, Starbase 72]
The Operations Center that made up a larger portion of Deck 5 was a den of activity. Ever since the Task Force has been restructured, the large compartment had seen near constant use. Shifting from specific theatre operations to a much more broad sweeping and oftentimes intangible had demanded a great deal more manpower to be devoted to supporting the vessels that fell under the Task Force’s purview. Many who worked in the Operations Center lamented the far more lax ops tempo of their former mission. Captain Jonathan Bastin was among those who felt that way about it.
Captain Bastin sat in his office, a spacious compartment within the Operations Center, walled off by transparent partitions that could be made to shift to a solid color when the need for privacy came about. The first few times the feature had activated on its own, Bastin had found himself flinching in confusion over the sudden narrowing of his field of vision. Now, however, as the walls began to fill up with a slate grey appearance, Bastin wasn’t overly bothered by the change. Instead, he lifted his eyes from the reports he was reading to the holographic screen that had materialized at the far end of his desk.
“Captain Bastin, I do hope I’m not catching you at a bad time,” the face displayed before him said by way of a greeting.
Bastin sank back into his chair, “Not at all, Admiral Beckett. Just the usual never-ending tide of reports that come with the territory.”
“I can imagine,” the Admiral chuckled before frowning, “I’m afraid what I have for you will only add to that tide. Have you been keeping up with affairs around the Klingon border?”
“I’ve heard a few rumors, but nothing concrete… why do you ask?” Bastin felt his own face drawing down into a frown.
“Preliminary reports indicate that the Hunters of D’Ghor have begun raiding vessels and planets around the Archanis Sector. We’ve been getting everything from distress signals to out-right condemnations from the locals over the situation and how we are responding to it,” the Admiral explained with a severe tone.
“That doesn’t sound like something we can realistically be blamed for being unprepared for…” Bastin sighed, “Though I suppose the logic of it doesn’t mean a whole lot to the people who are suffering from these unprovoked attacks.”
“Precisely,” Beckett nodded, “Whether we were caught off guard and blindsided by this turn of events, the people in the Archanis Sector expect us to respond. How we do so will have a resounding impact of how Starfleet and the Federation as a whole are viewed for a long time to come. Which brings me to the topic at hand. I’d like for Task Force 72 to send whatever resources they can to assist us. I know you aren’t exactly flush with them, given the most recent developments inside the Cardassian Union, but we need a diplomatic presence around Archanis. Even one ship could make the difference, especially when our enemy isn’t so well defined as they have been in the past.”
“I suppose there’s something to be said for going up against an adversary that’s well known. At least if this were the Borg or the old Romulan Empire… we’d at least have some warning and a plan to respond to the threat as it develops…” Bastin complained as he drummed his fingers against the desk.
“It isn’t the best scenario one could hope for, I admit. But that is what we’re dealing with at the moment and we have to do the best we can to prevent this from blowing up out of proportion. Do what you can to help us, Jon… We need all the help we can get,” the Admiral said, summarizing the situation as an indicator that the communication had reached its conclusion.
“I’ll start moving things around, Admiral. Bastin out.”
When the screen flitted back to the Federation seal before disappearing entirely, the walls of Bastin’s office began to turn transparent once more, prompting him to leave his chair and walk out onto the floor where he could begin making the announcement.
“Listen up,” Bastin said, his voice just below an outright yell, “We’ve got a situation in the Archanis Sector and Starfleet needs us to move manpower and material to support their efforts. Currently, it is believed an extremist group is running raids on the Federation side of the Klingon border, which means either they aren’t organized to any significant degree yet… or they want us to think they aren’t. Either way, time is our enemy just as much as these extremists are. I need a logistics brief on our expendable supplies, and I need a headcount of all the ships we have that aren’t deployed on critical diplomatic missions at the moment. Relevant section heads need to be in the conference room in one hour to discuss this.”
A great many heads bobbed at the instructions being handed out, though in the chaos that was the normal ops tempo of the room, most of the nods went unnoticed. Bastin didn’t waste a great deal of time worrying whether people had understood his orders or not. They were a competent enough group of men and women, which meant even that small bit of information would be more than enough for the various departments to begin working on the problem presented to them. His biggest concern at the moment was how many ships he could conceivably send to the Archanis region, and what they could hope to contribute to proceedings. Time, the great enemy, would reveal the answers to those questions, though only after the events had already unfolded…
I realize the above is something of a ‘repeat’, but I wanted to highlight our involvement in the Fleet wide story arch. Whether folks have been following it regularly or if this is the first time they’re coming across it, it is a great opportunity to not only contribute to a wider story, but also a chance for people to see writing from folks that you might not have written with before. There are a lot of talented folks working hard to write excellent stories, and the Fleet wide plot line that is the Archanis Campaign it a great venue to highlight that.
January in Brief
The month of January was a bit on the quiet side for Task Force 72, a few LOAs from the staff made it a rather news free month, which we apologize for. No matter how hard we all try to escape it, real life comes knocking and we can’t always ignore it. This is partly why I’ve squished two months worth of reports together, since this would be abysmally short and not worth anyone’s read if I didn’t. We did, however, have a couple of good pieces of news come out of January in the form of a couple of promotions.
- Our Task Force Executive Officer, Kitahashi, was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in the wake of his hard work over the past few months.
- We also had a new Ensign joining us, as Ens. M’Ressa aka Summer Dawn joined the Task Force.
February in Brief
The month of February has seen our staff numbers grow. Angel joins us as our Task Group 21 Commanding Officer. She has been working hard to get folk the activity recognition they deserve, and has so far done an awesome job at it. We’re happy to have her helping us out. February also saw the kick off of the Archanis Campaign, which has so far generated some very good content from across the Fleet, as I mentioned previously. I can only imagine how things will develop as time goes one, and I’m looking forward to it. February also saw a promotion in the midst of it.
- After being our TG21CO for only a few days (if that), Angel was promoted to Lieutenant Commander, reflecting the hard work she’s put in since joining Bravo Fleet.
Going forward, it is my hope that I will be able to highlight more of what our Task Force members have done, both in the Fleet wide campaign, and just in general. We are, after all, a community, and highlighting folks who are doing good things out there will only help bring us together, I think. If you know of someone in Task Force 72 that might need a mention, please let on of us in the Task Force Staff know. As much as I wish I could, I can’t be everywhere and I can’t see everything that people do out there. Until next time…
-Captain Jonathan A. Bastin
Commanding Officer, Task Force 72