The Federation and Starfleet admitted to not believing that Dr. Tchilack could build a station without the use of industrial replication. Xact was told that it was a test of his engineering skills but in fact, Starfleet wanted to continue to limit the influence of the King's Fleet in the region.
Xact and Zek made deals with every Klingon underground trader in the region to get the necessary parts to build a station. The station was dark and clunky like the wej'veQ. The parts were from every remnant station in the Klingon buffer states. The Klingon traders began to call it "drift", vI'lech because they felt it would never turn on or worse yet would drift away from orbit around Reykja Penthe and just become more space junk to avoid in the region already marred from ships in the Klingon civil war, the Klingon Cardassian War and the recent Romulan incursion under D'Vreenak Suran.
Starfleet was very surprised when the station not only turned on but survived shakedown. Starfleet was not thrilled and requested that the station command be approved by their authority. Despite her history in two times as Commander in Chief, Starfleet recommended the command be given to Admiral Monica Montgomery.
Vincent was not thrilled with the influence but understood, perhaps better than anyone, the power structure of the regional fleet authority. Vincent went to Deveniss, his Chief of Staff with the Starfleet Order. Deveniss was his usual roll with the flow self agreeing to serve as Executive Officer aboard the newly christened peD vI'lech, the snow drift. In his words, it would give him more time to devote to his duties as Chief of Staff.
Vincent was grateful for the ease of his colleague in this transition. Vincent went to the surface to meet with Admiral Tan about moving back into command of the wej'veQ. Tan was excited at the new opportunity. There is always a rub. Vincent then told Tan that Starfleet was not keen about a Romulan as Executive Officer of the King's Fleet main station. Tan was upset by the concern raised around Saehir Marrus.
Tan was like Deveniss. He understood how the game was played. He knew that you cannot city hall. Tan began packing for the wej'veQ. He had spoken to Deveniss about having Commander Marrus take command of the refugee processing facility.
When Deveniss heard about the sheer racism demonstrated by Starfleet, he would have none of that. Saehir Marrus is an interplanetary icon who flew the Branson Bisect in the IRW Princess Diana. She deserved better. Captain John Warren had already raised concerned about Commander Autumn Laree in her role working with Captain Velvet Sanders. John had tried to move her but Autumn was always running back to the tactical station aboard the Snake. Deveniss used this as an opportunity to make a statement about her behaviour and his return to spending more time in the role of Chief of Staff. Deveniss named Saehir Marrus as commanding officer of the Selayan Viper.
It was also a chance to demonstrate to Starfleet that the King's Fleet command knew their position as a regional fleet authority but that Starfleet would not dictate to the Fleet how it was going to operate. Well done, Deveniss!
Posted By:
Admiral Vincent Viceroy
Commander in Chief
King's Fleet
Admiral Deveniss
Chief of Staff
King's Fleet
