Been a while, but sneak peek at Chapter 4...
Posted: 2003-06-14 03:46pm
Admiral Beniga stared out of the window of his quarters, musing over the passage of time; how it changed things. Two months had so far gone by, with the important acquisition of a data rod providing the Empire with a vast amount of information on the Federation.
There was simply no conceivable way for the Federation to threaten the Empire. For that matter, there was no way for anyone in this galaxy to threaten the Empire, save perhaps, for a race called the Borg, but they were far removed from Federation territory, and Beniga had purposely ordered his scout ships to avoid the theorised location of Borg space. Emperor’s Hand and Relic, the Raven’s support frigates had scoured a number of areas, though Relic had at one stage needed to return to the Raven to take on parts for repairs, after venturing into territory controlled by a government called the Dominion. The Captain’s report indicated that the Dominion jealously guarded its space, with their ships opening fire almost the moment they spotted the frigate. Several enemy ships had been destroyed, but holes were being punched in Relic’s shields, so she withdrew. Beniga was preparing a full report for Lord Vader, and tomorrow morning would consult Captain Picard on the matter. He had noted from the data rod that Jade had obtained that the Federation had past dealings with the Dominion- dealings that more often than not left Starfleet with a bloodied nose. The soldier in Beniga dearly wanted to request reinforcements from Vader, to teach the Dominion a powerful lesson for daring to harm an Imperial vessel, and his mind mulled the thought over and over, seeing the potential to win favour in the Federation’s eyes.
And making such gestures would probably help alleviate some of the recent tension between the Imperials and Starfleet forces on Deep Space Nine. Beniga suspected that the Federation had completed it’s scans and evaluations of his ship, having treaded carefully for so long, so as to avoid provoking an attack. Now they knew what Beniga knew- that a war would be a one-sided slaughter.
The Klingons too, had backed off, maintaining their bluster from afar. It was likely that they had not bothered to take the same precautions the Federation took when it came to first contact- they were warriors first and diplomats second, which was unfortunate for them; one day such qualities would lead them to ruin, when they said hello with disrupters to the wrong people.
Diplomacy was moving proceedings at a steady, if slow pace. The Federation was keen to send a group of it’s own diplomats to Imperial space, and the Empire was making noises as to creating a permanent base of operations in Federation space. The official reason was to begin setting up trade and a proper place to exchange ideas. There were also plans for Imperial news services to broadcast stories and programmes from various worlds. There was even the possibility of tourists visiting the Federation (though these would naturally be screened before travelling- the Empire didn’t need any rebels to tarnish it’s image before the Federation).
Unofficially, the outpost would be used by agents and spies, to spread dissent and paint the picture of danger everywhere, malevolent empires, evil races, disruptive governments… the combination of favourable media reports and benevolent diplomatic pressure, and the phantom fear of enemies everywhere, would persuade the people of the Federation to see that the Empire could help them, be good for them. The threat of war would give the Empire an excuse to send in more ships and more personnel, to ‘help’ its new friends, the good people of the Federation. Before they knew it, those new friends would be firmly in the palm of the Empire’s hand.
There was simply no conceivable way for the Federation to threaten the Empire. For that matter, there was no way for anyone in this galaxy to threaten the Empire, save perhaps, for a race called the Borg, but they were far removed from Federation territory, and Beniga had purposely ordered his scout ships to avoid the theorised location of Borg space. Emperor’s Hand and Relic, the Raven’s support frigates had scoured a number of areas, though Relic had at one stage needed to return to the Raven to take on parts for repairs, after venturing into territory controlled by a government called the Dominion. The Captain’s report indicated that the Dominion jealously guarded its space, with their ships opening fire almost the moment they spotted the frigate. Several enemy ships had been destroyed, but holes were being punched in Relic’s shields, so she withdrew. Beniga was preparing a full report for Lord Vader, and tomorrow morning would consult Captain Picard on the matter. He had noted from the data rod that Jade had obtained that the Federation had past dealings with the Dominion- dealings that more often than not left Starfleet with a bloodied nose. The soldier in Beniga dearly wanted to request reinforcements from Vader, to teach the Dominion a powerful lesson for daring to harm an Imperial vessel, and his mind mulled the thought over and over, seeing the potential to win favour in the Federation’s eyes.
And making such gestures would probably help alleviate some of the recent tension between the Imperials and Starfleet forces on Deep Space Nine. Beniga suspected that the Federation had completed it’s scans and evaluations of his ship, having treaded carefully for so long, so as to avoid provoking an attack. Now they knew what Beniga knew- that a war would be a one-sided slaughter.
The Klingons too, had backed off, maintaining their bluster from afar. It was likely that they had not bothered to take the same precautions the Federation took when it came to first contact- they were warriors first and diplomats second, which was unfortunate for them; one day such qualities would lead them to ruin, when they said hello with disrupters to the wrong people.
Diplomacy was moving proceedings at a steady, if slow pace. The Federation was keen to send a group of it’s own diplomats to Imperial space, and the Empire was making noises as to creating a permanent base of operations in Federation space. The official reason was to begin setting up trade and a proper place to exchange ideas. There were also plans for Imperial news services to broadcast stories and programmes from various worlds. There was even the possibility of tourists visiting the Federation (though these would naturally be screened before travelling- the Empire didn’t need any rebels to tarnish it’s image before the Federation).
Unofficially, the outpost would be used by agents and spies, to spread dissent and paint the picture of danger everywhere, malevolent empires, evil races, disruptive governments… the combination of favourable media reports and benevolent diplomatic pressure, and the phantom fear of enemies everywhere, would persuade the people of the Federation to see that the Empire could help them, be good for them. The threat of war would give the Empire an excuse to send in more ships and more personnel, to ‘help’ its new friends, the good people of the Federation. Before they knew it, those new friends would be firmly in the palm of the Empire’s hand.