Commander Norm S. Payton MC FAD
H.N.S. Lyra , Regulus-class Cruiser, Esexia Yards
In orbit of Sibbe I, Sibbe System, Slipway #3
March 7, 2037
" Sir, another relay for you is coming in"
The five foot and eight inch frame with very short blonde hair that was occupying the captain's chair in the center of the bridge and reading over the number of documents he had to review sighed and set the one in his hand down, onto a considerable pile at the base of the chair. " Who is is it Ensign? "
" Lieutenant Commander Radcliff sir, from the Mira."
" On screen "
The view screen was suddenly filled with the image of the young man who had his grey jacket removed, instead his white button down shirt displayed with proper rank symbols. " Commander Payton, we've had yet another malfunction. The 1st feedback capacitor on the first engine shorted out an hour ago and the flow regulator on our second is about to fail, and my CEO is forbidding me from doing anything in considerable impulse speeds. We're going to need another day and coordinate with the ship-"
" Radcliff, this expedition was supposed to set out months ago, and we've had a delay nearly every week with some form of a break. Tell your CEO to use his onboard replicators, do a patch job and replicate extra replacements for when it needs a new patch and we will not be delayed. The Task Force will leave in approximately twenty minutes and you will be ready."
Norman nodded at his Ensign who terminated the connection immediately " Ensign, send out the Task Force alert that we will be moving in five minutes, despite the protests. Is the colony transports ready? "
" Aye sir, they report to be in good order and ready "
Norm mumbled something under his breath about how he wished the Navy's ships were like that, but he instead picked up the document he had been reading before, a official protest filed by Commander Thorun, the commander of the Ursa; really unsurprising, every one of the nine Regulus-class cruisers assigned to the Metis Task Force had had a severe series of engineering break downs following their initial work ups, hence why this expedition was now four months behind schedule.
To any sensible individual, the quandary was a political one. The Regulus-class was new, it had just been introduced over the last three years, but it also came just three years after the introduction of the Stormage-class heavy cruiser, which distinguished itself remarkably during the Polidan War. However, the issue was, the Stormage was expensive, costing about 1.2 billion less pounds then then 3 Regulus's cost, and in addition, it was a domestic design. She was flat, her hull painted dark grey near black in color and had two distinctive hangars on her sides, near her aft, while in comparison, one look at the Lyra screamed Starfleet. In true, the Regulus was influenced by a number of Starfleet designs and currently preferred by the SecNav, the civilian head of the Navy, because the man worshiped the Federation like idols, like many of the government.
Following the Federation's material assistance program which ultimately was what helped the Imperial Navy, what it was called back then, to reform and rebuild and eventually also what resulted in the Sacking of Polidan which concluded the war and since then, every academic, shipwright and naval officer had been divided into two main camps: those who thought they should try to emulate the Federation and viewed them as Gods, hence the Regulus class and why the Minerva class stilled served, and those who wanted Hibernia to be Hibernia. Personally, Norm didn't care as long as his ship didn't decompress in the middle of the journey.
His planned mission was a lengthy one, would take about three months in warp max speeds to reach the Metis System, which was tagged for colonization. He would assist and protect the colonization effort on arrival and then await further instructions, something he relished, considering conflicting orders was a fad within the Admiralty now, but, honestly, it couldn't get much worse, right?
Fleet Admiral Dalen Kaegor G.S.H. with Pendant D.S.C. V.C. S.S.
Kearny Hall, City of Engleton, Eire
Compared to the chaotic and uncertainty plaguing the officers aboard the Lyra and her fellow vessels, Admiral Kaegor was having a similar and different day, in that he was uncertain on how the meeting following this dedication ceremony would go, and annoyed at the upcoming fight.
The ceremony was for Kearny Hall, the new massive decorative structure designed to house the Royal Diplomatic Corps and the new headquarters of the Royal Navy, and was named for the U.S.S. Kearny, a Oberth-class Federation vessel destroyed in the Polidan War, named such to as a reminder that not aliens were hostile, and as Prime Minister Corwin's way to show once more, after doing so uncountable times, how much he thought the Federation to be the Gods themselves. Rory Corwin, the man that Kaegor had clashed with for the entirety of the last year since the man had been elected on the heels of this "Federation is better then us, follow them" sentiment that had risen up in the period of rebuilding. Following the emergence of the Kingdom from the ashes of the old Empire and the initial settlement of the Eire system, which was still being conducted on Eire III and IV, this had come to head, as well as a counter-position that while the Federation were valuable allies, they weren't all-knowing. Kaegor belonged to the latter, and everyone else it seemed to the former.
Kaegor had arrived early to the dedication, beating most of the civilians expected to attend however after about five minutes most of the military members began filing in. Granted, some were retired, invited because they were veterans and had served in battles that Federation starships had fought in or some such, and some like the tall man with brown hair, that was beginning to lose it's darkness in the man's age, were still very much active, as obvious my the man's Admiral uniform. The man was hugged by Kaegor as he reached him before the two began talking " Charles, so good of you to make it. I've been following the action reports from the Gemini System, seems like you guys are finally managing to bring about the end of the Valtese's unofficial skirmishes there for once and all."
Charles Desolace, one of the celebrated heroes to come out of the Polidan War, smiled as he replied "Eh, perhaps. Finicky bastards they are, those damn cruisers have their's have incredible firepower. Lost two Minerva's last week to them, and even my own Sterling has gotten some rough handling, but hopefully she's getting some well deserved rest while I'm away. How are things with SecNav? "
Most of the Admiralty, hell most senior officers, knew of the fight that had been occurring between the civilian appointed officials in the Department of the Navy and the military officers who actually staffed her vessels and commanded it. Principally, ship design and construction; the SecNav proposed a piece of legislation last week proposing increasing the production of the Regulus-class from the initial 15 ship batch to a second batch of 45 more, all of which would be used to replace all Stormage-class's still in service. In counter, Kaegor had begged Parliament to order an additional 20 Stormage cruisers and scrap all Regulus's, which he and most senior officers stingy referred to as "clunkbuckets". Sure, they had a nice four phaser array spread of weaponry, but her power systems could only afford to fire two of them full strength, and that was if it was working. On the flip side, they costed a billion pounds less then the Stormage and looked like a Federation vessel, which gave it public backing.
"It's well, we're having a conference today. Metis Expedition left, o, two hours ago, finally, but even then, we're behind in our deployments to Talac and sensor probes have registered unknown contacts coming closer and closer on her, and all I can post out there is 3 Centurions who deserve to be retired already. In addition to that, I'm also supposed to support the Green and Red Lines, and we were supposed to be able to have enough ships for the Federation to turn over their starbase near Yol to us, but that won't happen if we can't get ship production moving."
The two ceased their conversation as they noted the large motorcade approaching from the large avenue that ran perpendicular to the Hall, carrying with it the Prime Minister and several of his Party lackey's, who all exited their vehicles to much fanfare as they made their way to the large stage in front of the hall, where once there, Prime Minister Corwin gripped both sides of the podium and began what was assuredly a speech he didn't write. " Citizens of Hibernia, today we are gathered here today for the dedication and official opening of Kearny Hall, our new Navy headquarters as well as headquarters for the Royal Diplomatic Corps, which marks a significant chapter as we move forward in our rebuilding efforts. We've colonized three planets in our new home system, as well as Hueris in our old, the Talac system moves forward and soon the Metis system will join us as well as we expand out to gather resources and provide land for our growing populace - all of this, thanks to the assistance of our friends at the Federation of Planets. Today also marks near the seven year mark when the U.S.S. Kearny, captained by the heroic Captain T'Lum, made contact with the I.S.S. Sagittarius, and later sacrificed itself to help save that same vessel. It was from that moment forward that we cemented our special and strong friendship, from the time that the legendary Captain Morris and the Carpathia arrived or Admiral Do's genius tactical know-how which allowed ourselves to build up for the counter attack that eventually won the war. My government hopes to officially conclude our rebuilding process by this winter, and in addition to this, when Parliament reconvenes from it's summer vacation in September, I aim to begin considerations for applying for Federation membership.."
The rest of the speech was lost on Kaegor, after the bomb that Corwin dropped. Now he had two fights to fight, and one was against people he considered his friends, something he was in short supply of these days.
