Presidio [Part I]

Posted on Mon Jan 30th, 2023 @ 8:28am by Captain Robert Burke

1,072 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: Starfleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth
Timeline: 2295

::ON::

[Starfleet Headquarters, 2295]

Robert Burke had been to Starfleet Headquarters numerous times before. Usually to mop up after Excelsior or Enterprise, he thought wryly. Sitting crosslegged outside of the briefing room on floor sixty-eight of the imposing main building of Starfleet Command, this was a situation that had more than a whisper of déjà vu.

Wiping off a speck of dust from his uniform trousers the fastidious Commander observed that it was in this very room that he had waited to be assigned his first command, the Oberth-class USS Pennant, a decade or so before. He had been a young Commanding Officer. Too young perhaps, he acknowledged with an awkward shift of his glasses.

But it had led him here.

Adjusting his grip, Burke brought up his data slate. The latest versions were smaller than ever, a vast improvement over the versions he had started out with earlier in his career. One day they would probably fit in the palm of his hand. It had been some six months since he had left his last command.

He had had a lot to think about.

Flicking a glance at his wrist chronometer, he threw a look at the young Yeoman who manned the desk. The Vulcan was deeply buried in their work, typing at speed as they worked on whatever paper the admiralty had requested them write up.

Probably a position paper on the Tholian problem. With the Federation flagship, Enterprise-B, still undergoing repairs following the damage that had led to the loss of James T. Kirk, the Tholians had been testing the Federation’s border. I imagine that’s why I’m here. They need someone to patrol the frontier between us. Burke sighed, ran a hand over his bald scalp. Figures they’d need the Templeton for that.
His Miranda-class command, the Templeton, had been laid up in the newly-completed Utopia Planitia yards orbiting Mars. It was Starfleet Engineering’s pet project, a vast construction yard they reckoned could supply Starfleet with the ability to develop, test and manufacture starships for the fleet well into the twenty-fifth century.

Burke was just glad that his ship was in good hands. The Kappa Persei ambush had pushed his ship and crew to the limits. The Templeton had barely patched herself up enough to make it to Starbase Eleven for preliminary repairs. Having to tractor the ship across half the Alpha Quadrant to the Sol system had bruised his ego no end.

They had arrived six months ago, and he had not been in uniform since.

He had split his time between his homeworld, Titan, and Earth until a priority message had landed on his desk in the form of Admiral Uduikue’s Yeoman. The pugnacious Tellarite had left the Titanian under no illusions that he was to report to the Admiralty at his earliest convenience.
The shuttle had waited just long enough for him to pack an overnight bag.

His uniform felt snug around the middle, Burke observed as he finally returned his attention to his data slate, accessing the latest reports on the Tholians. He had settled on border patrol for his next tour. It was the most logical assignment he could think of receiving.
The minutes dragged on as he found himself struggling to concentrate.

With a hiss, the door to the briefing room opened, allowing an Andorian lieutenant to exit. They barely glanced at their surroundings as they hurried off into the bowels of Starfleet HQ. Burke suppressed a sigh. I suppose I made them wait long enough myself.
Eventually a shadow fell across his data slate.

‘Commander Burke?’ the tones were clipped, precise, but feminine. Looking up, Burke was faced with an older Deltan Yeoman with soft brown eyes. He raised an eyebrow as he uncrossed his leg. ‘Yeoman?’

‘The Admirals will see you now.’

Admirals. Burke raised his second eyebrow. He had expected a Starfleet Operations briefing from an analyst. A commander at best. Multiple admirals. Now this is something entirely new, he thought.
Getting to his feet, he tugged on his maroon uniform jacket, getting it to hang off his frame more comfortably. Following the Yeoman through the mahogany double doors with frosted glass circles inscribed by the Starfleet delta, Burke let out a quiet whistle as he stepped into a classified briefing room.

The room was standard San Francisco fare. Grey concrete walls pierced by wide windows that let in the North California sun, that light with a peculiar quality of unreality, a long wooden desk in oval shape with more chairs than necessary for this briefing, and a large briefing screen showing the flag of the United Federation of Planets dominated the wood-panelled wall at the back of the room.
He could tell the briefing was classified as the wide windows were frosted, and the tell-tale sign of a forcefield had tingled against his skin as he had stepped across the threshold. This is … intriguing, he thought, interest piqued by the three admirals sat at the head of the table directly opposite himself.

Uduikue was the first to acknowledge Burke, lifting a hand from where he was leaning against the tabletop, the Kenyan with close-cropped greying hair swept his arm through the air to indicated a seating place halfway along the table. ‘Please, take a seat and join us, Commander Burke,’ he said in his deep voice. ‘We have much to discuss.’

Burke nodded warily, walking up the side of the table and taking his place in the designated space. I can’t place those other admirals, he thought. To Uduike’s left, a Vulcan admiral with steel-grey hair regarded him with a serene look on his green-tinged face. To Uduike’s right the Andorian sat with her hand in her chin, dark eyes regarding him critically as her antennae undulated as if in a gentle breeze.
At least if Admiral Nogura is absent it means it’s not a combat mission. Burke smiled, the Old Man must be fretting now Starfleet has finished off most of her adversaries. The smile dimmed, not a mission to the Tholians either, then. He was truly outside charted space here.

‘Something amuses you, Commander?’ the Vulcan admiral observed in a not-quite-icy voice.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

 

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