The Meeting" (Part 2 of 2)

Commander Harris had just gotten done showering and was getting dressed when he remembered hearing the doors open in the middle of the night. He zipped up his red shirt and was a little more confused to what caused the doors to open. He went over to his desk and picked up the PADD he pressed a few buttons and the information came on the small screen.

<Last known upgrade to the *USS Utopia* was May 2, 2357.>

Grant threw the PADD down and tried hard to remember the information he read after the download before he left the room. Space dock upgrade for the USS Utopia is for level nine, eyes only. Grant knew something was wrong so he asked the computer. "Computer what is the computer upgrades of the Federation Starship *USS Utopia*, Norway class."

<That information top secret>

"What the hell is going on ?"

Grant knew something was up so he tried to solve it logically by not losing his cool.

"Grant what is wrong ?" Nex said walking out of the sonic shower.

Grant had his hands on his hips, a gesture that Grant learned from Captain Sisko when they served together building and testing the *Defiant* used when he was frustrated and angry.

"Computer what is the information on my PADD that I down loaded yesterday ?."

<Working.... task complete ! The information is incomplete and corrupted.>

Grant was starting to put two and two together. "Computer when was the door last opened."

<03:49 hrs>

Grant grew angry and slammed his fist down on the desk glass top, cracking it in several places. Nex jumped when she saw Grant lose it and felt a little scared. "Damn it to hell " Harris said as he tapped his com badge.

"Security. Report to my quarters, NOW!"

Harris looked down at the PADD disgusted. "In all my years ! Never has someone sabotaged my reports."

In the conference room, Commander Harris was still brewing over what happened. He still wasn't too happy at his findings because of the long time he spent, over six hours, studying the information proving to be vague and producing more questions. He was not in the habit of making incomplete reports, but given the circumstances and the lack of information, he had no choice.

Sitting at the table in his chair, the senior staff had assembled and Harris looked over each one as they stared at the Captain. Captain Devore sat in his chair looking over the static displays and sensor logs that Lieutenant Toran had presented him just before they came into the conference room The waiting and anxiety built up inside of Harris. This lack of information was something that he really hated and to top it off.. it really was of very little use. This anxiety caused Harris' palms to sweat, as waited for the order to discuss the data. Finally the captain put down his PADDs and looked up with a smile, "Mister Harris please report on your findings."

Grant stood up and spoke. The stress in his voice made him sound like a frustrated Klingon that lost his Honor "Sir, I was only to access limited information. Admiral Beard's security clearance wasn't all that high two years ago. However, all I was able to do was to ascertain that the original *Utopia* was declared MIA shortly after dropping off my old unit on that fateful mission." Harris looked at the captain to make sure that he understood which planet and which mission he was referring to. Devore looked at Harris and nodded. "Four years, later the ship somehow showed up for a refit on Starbase 123 and the crew was replaced by 145 Intel officers and a marine detachment. Up to now, the *Utopia* had been presumed destroyed, but I guess we proved that wrong. That is all the information I have been able to find."

Devore was a little confused. "Grant, why were Intel officers placed in command of the *Utopia*?"

"Sir there is no telling."

Devore wrinkled his brow. He didn't know what was going on and this mystery had just created in more ambiguity, but with the destruction of the ship, answers were destroyed it. He leaned back in his chair and grunted. Sierra who sat at the end of the table, saw her husband and smiled. *The same mannerisms!* She thought.

"Okay. Is that all ? Do any of you have anything you care to add about the *Utopia*?" Devore said. "Captain Phanan? Oh I am sorry. This is Marine Captain Phanan. He was assigned to the *Utopia* then I guess we seemed to inherit him. He is now a part of our crew and responsible for ground forces and deployment tactics. Captain Phanan... You are to report to Lieutenant Toran, but on away missions you hold command answerable to Commander Harris and myself. You both are equal however your job duties are totally different. Mr. Toran is responsible for shipwide security, while you Jon, are responsible for landing party security. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Captain Phanan said. "I guess we can do that right, Lieutenant."

"Maybe." Toran said.

"Well old man.. it has to be that way. I guess if it might make you more comfortable, why don't wear this." Devore said sliding along the table a black pip.

"Sir?" Toran asked picking up the pick.

"Well you are chief of security, I guess that may be appropriate." Devore said. Toran said nothing and put the pip on and smiled. "So Commander Toran, do you have anything to add."

"No sir!"

"Good. Anyway now that is done, Captain Phanan..."

"No problem captain," Phanan said in amazement. He never saw such an unorthodox method of promoting.

"I mean about the *Utopia*." Devore said with a smile.

"Oh. Well sir I don't really have too much to add from what the XO had to say. He was right except that the *Utopia* was here in the Beta Quadrant for some reason very secret. I wasn't kept in the loop, just to protect the crew. They were for the most part a bunch of egghead pansies." The senior staff laughed.

"Captain Phanan, " Lieutenant Rashad began. "Do you have any idea what that mission was?"

"Lieutenant.. Not a clue."

"Very well. Anyone else have anything they want to add?" Devore asked.

Ambrose stood up and said, " Sir I have came up with an idea that might help in our defense against hostiles. Especially if we are so badly crippled, atleast we'll have something to protect us."

"You have my attention, Ensign. Proceed!" Devore said smiling.

Kirk walked over the view screen and pressed a few buttons. A ship design came on screen. "Sirs. I present the Hellcat- fighter escort and scout vessel."

"Impressive, Mr. Ambrose," Lieutenant Barker said.

"The Hellcat is over half the strength of a Defiant class starship but is smaller and about 23 meters bigger then a runabout. She has two decks with total number of 7 crew members- five bridge officers, one medical officer and one person for engineering that can be monitored from the bridge with direct access to engineering."

"I like it, Ensign." Hansen said.

"She can be armed with plasma phaser banks on the side of the warp engines and two micro-quantum torpedoes. The ventral plating will house a phaser bank...."

"Armed to the hilt, huh?" Commander Toran said.

"Yes sir. She'll have a max. speed of warp 8 and refractive shielding."

"Ensign...you have done a good job in theory. We could really use a ship like this, but the question is how long would it take to build it?" Devore asked.

"The Hellcat will take nine weeks to build and possibly one week to test in the field. The down side is we must refit the main cargo bay to store the ship."

Devore smiled and looked at Harris who was nodding his head in approval to Ambrose. It was apparent that Harris spoke to him about presenting it for he had covered all the major bases. The questions were answered before they could be asked.

"Fine I give nine weeks to build this vessel Ensign. You are in command of this project and may assign as many people that you need, however on their spare time only. You will be given 4 days to redo the cargo bay and are placed on temporary duty to build this so don't worry about helm duties."

Kirk smiled. "Yes sir."

Ambrose returned to his seat and immediately tried to develop a plan of attack on what to do next.