"Condition Pre-Con One."

[FredM 0]

ORIGIN: Task Force BSA QP0 Flagship Tjan

DATE: 11294 15 Yraunaj

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Werin leaned forward on the giant sensor diagram before him and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Within a few moments, he moved his hand to cover a yawn and shook his head ever so slightly. The gnat of their past had indeed returned and sadly were becoming a thorn in the Fleet Admiral's side. While it's true he might have had trouble sleeping for a while, perhaps it would have been easier to simply obliterate all life within the Sol star group all those months ago. Now, the man who's age would later be determined to be that of fifty at this point, was growing impatient.

 

His orders had been simple, the message clear. "Intercept the Terran vessel. Determine purpose and maintain the integrity of project Cold Stone at all costs," it had stated. The footnote on the transmission from Rear Admiral Morval had also contained a warning for his friend. "While diplomatic relations have improved slightly, and the Terrans being puppets of the Vulcan High Command seems no longer plausible, this species' true motivation remains unclear. Despite all efforts, relations may be sacrificed to maintain the integrity of Cold Stone. The greater good outweighs any potential benefit the Prime Minister sees with the Terrans," it had stated in the secure, classified and never logged transmission.

 

Yet oddly enough, Werin did not desire to have to return to the table of armageddon to obliterate an entire species. Such was not why he had entered the Andorian Navy so many years ago. This was something Morval knew and likely why his footnote had been worded the way it was. Unseen to most, especially the far left radicals of the military and government, the order gave the Fleet Admiral almost autonomous authority to do whatever he saw appropriate. There was simply one condition: Cold Stone could not be compromised.

 

Outside of upper levels of command, most in the Andorian Navy had no clue what Project Cold Stone was. The location of the facility appeared on only three charts in the entire government. One was on the official report handed to the Prime Minister each evening by Rear Admiral Morval, the copy the Chief of Military Operations kept for his own records and finally the copy the Chairman of Andorian Intelligence Operations, the CAIO, utilized. Not even half of the Captains within the naval fleet even knew about the project, others only knew of it in name and nothing more. Even now, on the giant computerized sensor diagram before Werin, the planetoid below them looked like any other minus a purple dot with a label "MILI." The abbreviation, meaning the computer had confirmed the location of an Andorian Military Intelligence facility of some kind, was one half the crew had only read about in manuals and heard about during their days in the Academy.

 

The tall Andorian always at the Admiral's side smirked slightly, looking at one of the monitors above the giant sensor table. "They are...curious creatures, I will admit," he stated calmly. Werin glanced up and looked at the display, showing the two Terran engineers pacing in the ready room he had left them ten minutes earlier. Their discussion had been brief and would continue soon, but other maters had required the Andorian's attention. Given the items within the room, there was almost no damage which could be conducted. True, the giant seal of the Andorian Navy could be defaced, but Werin believed it to be a small price to pay for the small diplomatic effort one could see in not putting the two in the brig. Besides, if they did get out of hand, the four guards outside would quickly solve the problem. He was surprised, however, neither had even touched the tray of food he had ordered brought in from the galley. "Likely think it's poisoned," he told himself with a sigh.

 

"Sir," a Lieutenant from the communication's alcove said as he turned from the two crewmen before him, "Third platoon reports they have secured two armed intruders at coordinates six-five-nine by zero-zero-eight-three." On the forward viewer, a map of the surface appeared with a blinking blip. The response caused an immediate, though slightly unintentional, reaction by Werin. The Admiral started to rub the bridge of his nose again, his antenna moving down. "Dopian....why do they bite the antenna which tries to save them?" he muttered. Listening in on an earpiece, the Lieutenant squinted his eyes slightly as he listened to the rest of the transmission from the surface. "Reports there is presently some type of attempted standoff...something about the Terrans falling for the sick in the rear trick," he finished.

 

The Admiral shook his head and glanced to his left, "Remind them lethal force is not authorized. They are to bring them here." This prompted the tall Andorian to tilt his head slightly and whisper, "Sir, you are aware that given their proximity to the base..." The rest of the sentence was not required. Werin simply patted him on his shoulder and turned towards the stairs that would take him out of the pit, eventually off the bridge. "I know. Communications, send a secured general hail to all Andorian units in the system. Set condition pre-con one. Then, contact our people on that gnat over there and get a status report," he said just as he passed the bulkhead and started his way back to the conference room.

 

The Lieutenant at communications raised his antenna in reply and slowly looked towards the figure still standing near the center sensor display. As if telepathic, the taller of the two nodded slightly and moved towards the junior officer. Within the Andorian Military, to move to a pre-con status was to change from being prepared for solely tactical operations to having a primary goal of retrieval. Condition one would tell any ships within range to prepare to take aboard Andorian personnel and equipment. To planet based installations, it would mean to lockdown their facility and prepare for possible evacuation. It was a protocol designed primarily for the evacuation of diplomatic facilities in time of war. The curious thing was, almost no one knew who or what they would be retrieving.