Stardate 200810.6

ttp://www.star-fleet.com/webb/node/57693 - This is to the current Bridge Situation
http://www.star-fleet.com/webb/node/57692 - This is to the current Shuttle Away Mission
http://www.star-fleet.com/webb/node/58474 - This is at the Shuttle Bay with the Andorian ships

The Vanguard has warped into the V'rill'tee system which is the location of a standoff between Andorian and the V'rill forces. On the brink of war the Federation sent the Vanguard to make sense of the situation and attempt to defuse it. At the center of the conflict is a comet which the V'rill'tee consider holy. A century ago an Andorian survey vessel crashed there. Their crew perished and a small mine they had established there forgotten until recently. They had found a significant deposit of Seletrium, a mineral that helped the Andorians against Den's Syndrome, a debilitating disease afflicting a small percentage of aged Andorians. In the conflict the Andorians attempted to retrieve the bodies of their dead. The V'rill blocked them stating that any violation of holy ground would desecrate it further. Allegedly the V'rill had taken both Andorian and Federation negotiators into protective custody, citing the Andorians were, not in good faith, trying to pass off information to their fleet. Since the discovery of the mine by the Valkyrie the previous year Starfleet had been experiencing sector wide temporal disturbances centering on the V'rill system.

On emerging into the system they found the two armada's facing off against each other in battle readiness. At the point of initial contact of the Vanguard with the two fleets’ Admirals ( Ke ch’ner (Andorian) and A’rpham (Grand Nirl) ) however, an Andorian shuttle and three support fighters were discovered around the region of the comet. This enraged the V'rill'tee who sought to destroy them. Through more luck than anything the fighter and shuttle escaped, crash landing onto the Vanguard. To foster neutrality it was agreed to keep the Andorians on the Vanguard and not to release them to the Andorian fleet. The V'rill Admiral, in the transmission, stated that the Federation was welcome to visit those detained and talk about the situation. Fighters were launched to cover and protect the Vanguard; currently they stand at station with V'rill fighters only meters away. Science is investigating the Valkyrie department log reports for any clues to what happened there on the comet.

As the fleeing Andorians neared the Vanguard the wounded were beamed to sickbay, being treated there. Security was dispatched to sickbay to watch over the wounded; none were to leave. One fighter managed a landing. The other suffered an accident and crashed into the bay; the pilot alive but injured. The shuttle skittered in, damaged, though mostly intact. Engineering and Medical had been called to that bay. There the two departments freed the Andorian pilot; Medical beamed her back to sickbay for treatment. Engineering continued to strive to free the Andorians from the shuttle. The hull had buckled in combat jamming the single hatch. Temporal waves were detected coming from the sacred comet causing peculiar energy fluctuations to ships nearby. As well, glowing beings had been reported on the Vanguard. Science was assigned to look into this.

The Captain made a call for departments to respond to the shuttle bay for an away team. Two emissaries from the Andorian side beamed over to the Vanguard to accompany the diplomatic envoy. One was the Andorian 2nd Officer: Cal ch’non, and a Vulcan Seer named T’ala. Meanwhile, as this was happening a frigate and accompanying dozen fighters arrived to take up rear positions near the comet. These were of the A'V'rill Hegemony - the V'rill Religious Order. The particular frigate was denoted as the "Sa'Min' (pronounced Sah-Meen), and their distinguishing features on the trilobite-like fighter design were deep red glyphs.

As an aside security and the pilots are engaged in a training venture to operate in a more coordinated fashion if needed. This simulation involved a mock infiltration of a pirate base on an Andorian glacier. It first led to a seedy Casino in the outer system based on an asteroid.

Currently the people are:

CO, Lt. Alex Hooper, Doctor Stark, Science officer Sevek, a few NE Officers, and Cal ch'non and T'ala the two emissaries are about to shuttle out to where the diplomats are allegedly held hostage

Engineering is in the shuttle bay trying to get the shuttle open and free the trapped Andorians still inside
Sickbay are finishing up their treatment of the three injured Andorians rescued from the shuttle/fighter
Science is (hopefully) looking at the temporal waves and the images of beings appearing on the ship
Bridge is observing the arrival of new V'rill ships that belong to the V'rill holy order 'the Hegemony'