"In Check"

[Cosmo Rex 0]

Ambassador Neptune Rex

Chief Liaison to Andoria

SD 0407.13

 

>Begin<

 

Neptune sat sullenly in the darkness of his office. He wasn’t alone though. An elder man, two younger ones, and woman were setting across the desk from him.

 

The elder man looked concerned. “Neptune, have you gotten any response from your message to the Andorian Fleet.”

 

“No Vice-Admiral I haven’t.”

 

One of the younger men, he was dressed in a Starfleet Uniform, spoke up. “What exactly does that mean?”

 

“It means at least three things,” the Vice-Admiral said before Neptune or anyone else could answer. “It means he doesn’t trust you, I know I wouldn’t. And it means they know as much as we do about the t’Kel.”

 

One of the two younger men, he was also in uniform, titled his head. “You said three things, that’s only two?”

 

Neptune frowned. “It means they are planning to attack.”

 

“How do you know that?” the woman, also in uniform , finally spoke.

 

“Think of it this way,” the Vice-Admiral said. “Your in the woods, hunting deer, and you see one. You reach to pick up your gun, but the deer sees you. What do you do? Do you keep reaching and scare the deer off? Or do you stay silent and wait till he looks away to get your gun and shoot him?”

 

He didn’t need an answer everyone in the room knew what he meant.

 

“Then what’s next?” the woman said.

 

“We should tell the Vulcans to bring their entire fleet and mobilize ours,” one of the younger men said. “We have to show them that we aren’t pushovers.”

 

“Yeah, this aggression can’t go unchecked,” the other one chimed.

 

The Vice-Admiral shook his head to them. Neptune did as well. “No gentlemen. This is a game of chess,” he said calmly. “And they have us in check…”

 

“And when your in check, you can’t move,” the female finished for him.

 

“That’s correct Commander. All you can do is move out of check. And that’s what we should do.”

 

The Vice-Admiral nodded in agreement. “I am going to suggest to Starfleet that we stand all of our vessels down from battle stations…”

 

“You can’t be serious!”

 

“Yes Captain Thomas, I am. To be frank, the Andorians can clean our clocks when ever they want to.”

 

The younger man nodded in resignation, he was all to aware of that.

 

“I would suggest Mr. Rex that you relay to our Vulcan counterparts that they too should withdraw from the Sol System.”

 

“Agreed, maybe then the Andorians will be willing to talk.”

 

The Vice-Admiral stood up. “Alright, we all agree that this conversation never took place, Captains, Commander we have work to do. Ambassador Rex, good luck.”

 

The party before him stood and quickly exited into the shadows of the dark room. Neptune sighed and placed his hands on his temples. He had never had a great responsibility than he had now. In his actions the fate of humanity rested.

 

He turned to the computer consol and began writing a message to the Vulcan Fleet. What he was about to do was a dangerous, but calculated move. He just hoped he wasn’t setting himself up for checkmate.

 

---

 

Vice-Admiral Colt Monroe, or the ‘Slippery Dog’ as he would come to be known during the Romulan Wars, was no stranger to dangerous situations. He was tall man, with white hair and had a look that could make a Vulcan’s blood run cold.

 

For 20 years he had been an agent/administrator of Starfleet Intelligence, and was one of the most respected men in the Fleet. But right now, that didn’t matter.

 

He watched out the transport window as it neared the San Francisco Head Quarters of Starfleet. What he was about to ask…no tell them to do wasn’t going to go over all to well—but it was his—no Earth’s only option for survival.

 

He looked over to his young staff, Captains Thomas and Nelson and Commander Lenin. For their sake, for the world’s sake, he hoped this worked.

 

 

>End<

Edited July 15, 2004 by Cosmo Rex