Stardate -169164.38
Vulcan High Command
Planet Vulcan

T'Vlas listened as the Intelligence Directorate Commander who had barely made her escape from the debacle at the Stameris system finished her report on the events on the planet itself, which had been a complete and utter disaster from the point of view of himself and the rest of the High Command. Indeed the escape of Commander T'Pol itself from analyst's reports was due only to fast reaction times of the Commander and the fortunate status that at least some of the Vulcan vessels having survived the initial blow of the Pact Starfleet's entry into Stameris.

Of course the whole situation that was arising in the Orion sector was very disturbing as the Pact had initiated a series of raids on Coalition freighters and allied convoys in the past standard month and now this defeat of the one of the larger concentrations of Coridanite forces which was in all likelihood force diversion of a not inconsequential number of Vulcan starships to the sector to firm up their allies forces, at a time as their forces were beginning to work up for what was hoped to a major push to break the Pact, or suffer the risk of their shipbuilding capacity been constrained at a critical time by a resource bottleneck from the raids.

What was most worrying from his point of view, and that of that his military advisors, was the near invincibility of the relatively small number of Human forces recorded from the sensor data brought by the surviving fleet and Commander T'Pol from the planet, all indications were that less than a freighters worth of Human armoured soldiers, most likely less than a hundred soldiers in total, had been not only overwhelm a Vulcan garrison twenty times its size; but also apparently able to do so at its ease.

Stameris had been thought a secure system from which to expand Vulcan influence over the violent and savage Orion colonies, thereby bringing peace and stability to that from, and bring about the end of the barbaric practice of slavery which had recently begun to target members of the Coalition while ignoring the Pact species; from intelligence reports this was due to a combination of fear of the savage Pact forces and its tolerance of the supposed Orion "cultural traditions", as if lesser species barbaric customs mattered against those of civilised species like the Vulkhansu. Plus till now it had put the less advanced Coridanite and Mazarite starships to good use, freeing up the more powerful Vulcan models for frontline duties, but now they were overcome with emotion and were increasingly fearful of attack from this Human "ghost fleet" in the Orion sector.

"Thank you for your report Commander. We shall take it under consideration during our discussions" he said to her, she bowed to him and exited the Council room.

When she had left the room he turned to Admiral T'Vron and the rest of the High Command and asked

"Admiral, what has been the analysis of these Human systems and how will these events effect our upcoming offensive operations against the Pact? And what strategies have yourself and your subordinates devised to combat these new Starfleet raids?"

The upcoming offensives were vital for the victory of the Coalition and included the remaining Xindi forces, desperate for any respite under the Human pressure, and the possibility of derailment of these operations would be politically damaging to T'Vlas even with his increased power through the new legislation; something he could ill afford with the possibility of Unification so close on the horizon.

"Honoured Administrator"

The Admiral started with a slight bow to T'Vlas "as the Commander has reported the superiority of Human ground forces over own infantry is both confirmed but also cannot be easily overcome in the short term. From all reports, including Commander T'Pols, the Human forces possess advantages based upon multiple combat factors that are not easily duplicable by ourselves. The combat armour observed in Stameris and in several previous smaller engagements, possesses strong resistance to both kinetic and energy based weaponry as well as utilising an active camouflage stealth system in several cases that has proven resistant to tracking by either visual cues or by our sensors other than a short range motion tracker system developed from the civilian sector.

Their small arms weapons system is also multi-platform unit, we have observed both kinetic based rounds, disruptor usage and an electrical based stun system, we also believe based upon the reaction times and lack of visible adjustment of the small arms by Human soldiers seen in several of the fire fights that the weaponry itself are telepathically controlled in several, or perhaps all, instances.

The greatest difficulty in studying these systems has been our inability to capture anything other than fragments due to the self-destruct inbuilt into nearly all Human, and lately Pact, technology. Inspite of this we have begun a rapid program into personal shielding equipped combat armour, though this will take months to achieve a workable prototype, along with developing an improved particle weapon for our infantry based upon the IK-9A5 anti-vehicle weapon which whilst both heavy and unwieldy has so far proved the only infantry weapon capable of damaging the Human combat armours."

The Admiral paused slight before continuing "unfortunately due to the timeframe of planned operations new platforms will not be available during the offensive, and while my staff have begun scouring Vulcan and the primary colonies for IK9A5's to equip the entirety of the ground forces for the operation we will either be forced to only occupying enemy colonies where orbital control is secure for long term support or to destroy enemy orbital launch facilities from space and bypass these planets in terms of ground assault till our own capacities match those of the Pact in ground combat.

As discussed the appearance of a large Starfleet force within the Orion sector will require diversion of several taskforces worth of combat starships from either the offensive fleet or from the Home Fleet; currently my analysts are studying which scenario will be the least detrimental in terms of force ratios while still being sufficient to defeat Pact forces in theatre.

Logically though the diversion of Starfleet forces to the Orion will also serve to reduce forces available to stop our operations post capture of Paan Mokar. Our forces build up continues and overall the recent attacks will not affect either the timeline of the planned operations nor significantly impact the force ratios of both sides. Currently the primary constraint has been on the working up of a sufficient force of the new Surak class battleships which are essential for success at Paan . Mokar"

The Administrator nodded at the Admiral's reply, while not exactly what he desired to hear T'Vron had proven both honest in his position and opinions offered while been most importantly loyal unlike many of the Ministers he had been forced to remove from the Council such as Kuvak, who was thankfully enjoying his retirement at his home under close observation of the Intelligence Directorate.

"And has the new starship class proven as successful as projected and will it be available in the numbers required from the operational plans?"

"Yes Honoured Administrator we estimate forty-eight Suraks will be available for the operation with another twenty-three constructed within half a standard year to replace any losses. In terms of performance, while we have not yet had a combat test due to the necessity of retaining operational secrecy the overall performance has been within expected parameters, we have estimated defensive capabilities to match those of the heaviest Starfleet vessels, the Human Nova class starship, though this has required a significant size increase versus these starships to account for thicker armour belts.

Offensive capacity is expected to be excess of the Nova class by dramatically increasing the number of weapons ports such photonic torpedoes in a barrage format, though this has of course limited the production numbers due to the resource investment. My staff and I are confident that with these numbers we can take the initial objectives and overrun down the defending forces with our superior numbers, long range sensors and warp capacity. The majority of forces observed in Paan Mokar appear to Andorian models lacking the alternative FTL systems seen in Human starships and newer Starfleet vessels with nothing heavier, apart from a number of the newer NX-01 battle cruisers, than the Kumari class with the positioning and force structure of the defenders offering the logical conclusion of reliance on the established minefield and then on a fighting retreat.

With clearing of the minefield and other defensive structures within the expected parameters we should be able to prevent this withdrawal by forcing a running engagement; we also estimate our new tactics and formations rather than the more individual tactics of previous battles will offset the technical superiority of the Starfleet vessels." The Admiral replied.

"And you are confident of successfully clearing the defensive lines in the Paan Mokar system in the planned timeframe? Several of the other Admirals have expressed the concern that this may be illogical based on previous engagements with Starfleet forces and the capabilities observed?" T'Vlas enquired curious as many of the older, less trustworthy, Admirals and advisors scorned T'Vron's operational plan, which was a serious break with Vulcan military tradition and appeared to mimic that of their Human enemies in several means.

"Yes Honoured Administrator I do. With all due respect to those Admirals of the High Command the traditional methodologies have failed in engagements with the Human X-Com and new Starfleet, it would be illogical to continue with these. Enemy usage of converted civilian freighters in suicide runs against hardened positions as well as aggressive usage of their starships shielding systems and armour belts in combat has successfully implemented and observed in several engagements, logically we must utilise these tactics as necessary.

Combined with our superior sensor technology I intend to disguise the initial strike to clear the minefield and defensive stations with losses estimated to be amongst the largely obsolete haulage freighters and remotely controlled drones modelled off those seen from X-Com vessels, while allowing a breakthrough into industrialised colonial worlds of Andoria or Earth depending on long range sensor returns by utilising our superior Warp drive over those Starfleet forces equipped with Warp drives.

We must utilise these advantages to eliminate the primary fleet strength of Starfleet by decisive battle and then cut the internal trade and resource routes of the Pact species which will either force them to seek acceptance of our terms in the short term or place our forces in the position to launch a decisive blow on either Andor or Earth to end the war."

"And what is your estimation of the successful implementation of our Xindi allies element of the plan?" T'Vlas enquired.

"Honoured Administrator, I regret the Xindi forces are unlikely to achieve their operational objectives judging from the performance and numbers observed from Starfleet in the Orion sector, indeed they will probably be luckly to survive the engagements dependent on Starfleet forces in their sector. From our operational standpoint informing them of these finding would be illogical as their actions will divert significant Starfleet forces at the moment of decisive battle, though this is of course within the prerogative of the Administrator and the Council" the Admiral answered with a bow.

"Their sacrifice will be remembered Admiral. Their actions will allow us to save their species from extinction in the end, even if they do not release it yet" he replied hiding a smile. While eliminating a potential rival for limited cost he thought.

Starfleet Headquarters
Earth, Sol System
Combat Date 2154.0607

"Not what we expected from our forward defence of Weythan" Commander Shras stated to the combined senior leadership of Starfleet who had all been summoned for this emergency meeting in the wake of the devastating defeat suffered at Weythan and dual offensive from the Vulcan and Xindi fleets.

It was Rear Admiral Archer of the 6th Fleet that was first to inquire into the details of the problems "How did this happen? We've been planning the defence of that system for months now and have had multiple contingency plans in place for a coordinated withdrawal, not in having virtually the entire 2nd Fleet annihilated for little gain in the process"

Shras nodded "Yes and we appear to have underestimated our Vulcan enemy in regards our defence strategy, this Admiral T'Vron is actually competent and seems unbound from the usual lack of imagination and aggression we've seen from the Military Directorate of the knife ears throughout the war."

He sighed "and we concentrated too much of the warp only Imperial Guard vessels into 2nd Fleet and not enough heavy units like the Nova class and NX-01's. The Vulcans managed to clear the minefields and the defensive stations by means of freighter "fireships" similar to what we saw from X-Com at Earth then swept forward in disciplined formations, unlike the usual individual manoeuvring we normally see, spearheaded by a new heavy class starship that outgunned our units in Weythan quite easily on a one to one basis"

Bringing up an image of Vulcan Battleship that had been observed on the holo-screens, looking very much the bastard child of a Nova class battleship and the Vulcan D'Kyr class, in the breakthrough and its estimated capabilitie.

"Unknown Class. It seems heavily influenced by the Nova Class from the very un-Vulcan like blocky design and possessing of in-depth photonic torpedo launchers barrage capable particle weapons batteries. We had nothing heavier than Kumari's in system and these vessels have greater firepower than a Nova from all reports."

He adjusted the tactical display to show the actions seen during the the battle and the attempted withdrawal by the Starfleet forces.

"As we can see here" indicating a force of four dozen Vulcan battleships breaking through the centre of the defensive screen

"The Vulcans appear to have finally learned to make use of disciplined formations and bring to bear their numerically superiority to bring their firepower unto our forces in a rolling advance. Admiral Shjra's formation was disrupted by this heavy force then the Vulcan D'Kyrs and D'Vyryr's moved forward in their wake into the disrupted defensive lines allowing them to wedge apart the defence force into three separate forces. Admiral Shjra then attempted to stage a fighting retreat but the Vulcans contrary to previous engagements initiated an aggressive pursuit even into the secondary minefield and fall-back line"

He indicated the Vulcan forces changing formation during the pursuit to bring the maximum firepower to bear forward while utilising the heavier battleships to soak up fire from the mines and fall-back defences.

"They took casualties but smashed through the fallback stop line in less than ninety seven seconds and proceeded to utilise their superior warp drives to maintain contact with the Admiral's forces till their destruction in the Dekendi system. Only 24% of 2nd Fleet based around the two task-forces of wormhole drive starships managed to escape destruction by retreating to the Thelka system"

Which meant the effective gutting of a significant part of the Imperial Guard element of the new Starfleet, much like that of X-Com in the aftermath of the Battle of Earth, with the loss of over two hundred and fifty of the most modern pre-war Andorian starships including the majority of the fleets battlecruiser type starships.

"I'm surprised the Vulcan's haven't moved more quickly in the event of the breakthrough like they did at Wolf towards Earth at the start of the war." asked Archer again speaking for the others.

"Its unusual all our analysts agree. Admiral T'Vron advanced swiftly and aggressively to destroy 2nd Fleet then stopped for several hours and started to secure the these four systems" he brought up the map of the sector around Weythan

"By bringing in defensive space stations and what long range sensors thing are mine-layers. Yesterday he did the same sweeping forward a half dozen systems and beginning to secure several vital ones with defenses. All indications are he's aiming for Andor itself and attempting to force us to give decisive battle while securing his rear areas in the event of fallback to prevent our usage of wormhole drives to cut off a retreat.

We have also detected over five hundred Xindi starships gathering around this system which we suspect to be one of the last major Xindi bases labelled Azati Prime from our intelligence reports. We're looking at a simultaneous offensive by both T'Vron and the Xindi then in the next seventy two hour period, with this five hundred starship force to push us out of the Delphic Expanse and draw away our mobile reserves while the Vulcan Fleet of just over a nine hundred starships moves towards Andor to destroy its industry or at the very least stand astride our logistics routes and cripple our war effort and manufacturing capacity"

Admiral Dorian now interjected "Owing to this threat we're going to respond aggressively to this offensive. Its quite apparent the Vulcans have made a significant miscalculation in regards both our starship numbers and in the movement speed of our forces by wormhole drive. Very simply we are going to concentrate all available fleets in a sledgehammer and use this chance to smash the Xindi for good and destroy the bulk of the Vulcan Battle Fleet in the decisive battle they seek as they are moving beyond the capacity of them mutually reinforcing from either the Vulcan Home Fleet or that of the Coridnite forces. As of now the Prussia Protocols are now in effect"

Archer showed a small smile then asked "When do we strike?. And how about the Auxiliary Reserve?"

Referring to the force of starships crewed by non-Pact Alien species, even including a number of members from the so called "Neutral Coalition" such as Tellarites and Risans, which had been kept out of combat situations ,outside of those subordinate to Archer in the Orion spacial sector, for a combination of political and security reasons even if they were officially part of the new Starfleet and wore its uniform.

Dorian looked too Shras who answered "The whole force is been activated. Your own 6th Fleet will match up with the Auxilaries, 1st Fleet from Earth, 4th Fleet from Denobula and the 5th Fleet, which will be a combined fleet of over nine hundred starships including all our NX-01's, 02's and 03s, and form up at Starbase 67, designated Hammer Force on the edge of the Expanse and will then proceed to strike at the Xindi Fleet, destroy it in its entirety and reducing any and all military or industrial infrastructure in the system to atoms while calling for the unconditional surrender of the Xindi.

While this is occurring 3rd Fleet will proceed from Andor to the Corinth system and link up with surviving elements of 2nd Fleet, designate Anvil Force, and attempt to delay the Vulcan forces there till the return of Hammer Force. This will catch the Vulcan Fleet between both forces. Our starships have been superior in performance throughout the war but we have been unable to bring a numerical superiority to bear in a battle since its start – TOMORROW THAT ENDS. Three hours from now you are to move all your forces as directed and begin Operation Prussia"

The discussion ended as the various data packets were forwarded via secured channels to each of the fleet commanders and the various holograms vanished leaving only Shras and Dorian physically present in the secure meeting room.

"Were risking everything on this aren't we?" Shras said to Dorian as the two accepted the responsibility for the course of action about to occur.

"Its a logical gamble. If we win we shatter the power of the Vulcans and the Xindi, and all analysis points to a combination of our technological superiority and finally achieving numerical superiority in a decisive battle" he waved at the air "we'll never have a better chance at this again" he looked slightly depressed "and if the worst occurs...well...then we follow through on Section 31's Project Pestilence. Either way were going to win this war, the only difference is if there's any Vulcans left alive at the end of it and we aren't tried as war criminals by our own people"

Shras nodded gloomily, Section 31 had been the last resort division of X-Com, a black operations division within a secretive black operations organisation, and was now the last resort weapon of the new Starfleet. Even before the assault on Earth X-Com had secretly developed a series of biological and nannite weapon strains for the event of war between the Pact and Coalition and in its aftermath Project Pestilence had developed a truly horrific dual-strain weapon targeting the Vulcan species "in case the worst happened", meaning Earth and Andor were facing total defeat, and most likely extermination, by their enemies. He prayed they would never have to implement it. "Let us hope for every ones sake it doesn't come to that" he replied.

"Don't worry Commander. It won't come to that. We'll smash them tomorrow and the momentum is shifting to us anyway short of a crushing defeat, the Kolari are finally starting to present a coherent military force thanks to Archer and the resources and production capacity of the Ferengi has us outpacing the Vulcans and their allies within the the next six standard months at which point we can finally start initiating Deep Raiding of Vulcan space using the NX-01's. Tellar and its allies is shifting to our side, or at least the threat of their allying with the Vulcans is very low – something we could not have believed only three years ago." Dorian said encouragingly, though he too felt the stress and tension of the operation about to occur.

Shras nodded. He looked once more at the data stream on the holo-globe, Uzaveh the Infinite be with us he thought.

Offices of the Coalition of Planets
Tellar System, Alpha Quadrant
Stardate -169443.83

The Council Chambers were unusually quiet as the sixteen members of the differing species that made up the shrunken, but reformed, Coalition of Planets began its meeting in regards major events of the past standard days in the Pact-Vulcan war and the report of Senior Analyst Naarg of the Tellarite Mining Consortium, and unofficially member of the Tellarite Intelligence Division.

"This meeting will come order. We are now about to hear the report of the battles of the past few standard days and its impact on the Pact-Vulcan War" it was Ambassador Gral of the Tellarite Union, the species most influential within the Coalition since the Vulcan and Xindi betrayal of the organisations ideals almost a year ago, with its powerful fleet and industrial capacity the Coalition represented a credible political force within the quadrant rather than a grouping of fearful and exposed minor species. The Ambassador indicated to Naarg "Senior Analyst please can you summarise these events for the Council"

"Several days ago the Vulcan Military Directorate launched a major offensive aimed at the seizing the disputed Weythan system from the Pact's Starfleet while a mobilisation of the remaining Xindi starships began near Azati Prime for the launching of a further joint offensive that we estimate was aimed at the Andor system. The initial Vulcan offensive actually gained some traction inspite of several of our analysts predictions, been very successful in managing to both secure the system within several hours at the most, and also managing to destroy the large Starfleet defensive force and its defensive minefields that our intelligence sources had confirmed there.

The Vulcan forces then appear to have slowed their advance in the immediate aftermath of the success and began fortifying the seized star systems, and also most likely to enable the Xindi fleet concentration, till now the remaining Xindi fleet having been diffuse and avoiding battle with Starfleet and requiring time to concentrate."

Naarg then tapped on his data-pad and brought up the the estimated fleet numbers and their positing on a stellar map of the quadrants "as we can see here the Vulcans and the Xindi managed to concentrate a significant offensive force on both fronts and from our military advisors indicate this was the projected advance into Pact territory"

Two red arrows then moved from their starting points at Azati Prime and Weythan towards the Andor system and astride the primary freighter routes of the Pact of Andor.

"Most likely the offensives advance was aimed at disrupting the Pact logistics and industrial capacity by interdicting the supply lines between Earth and Andor, and by serving as a blockade force for neutral traders such from us here in the Coalition and from the Ferengi Alliance. This would allow them to cripple the Pact war effort while positioning these forces for an assault on Andor itself as we saw only standard year ago in the Earth Sol system"

Naarg then adjusted the data-pad and the Xindi advance vanished and the Vulcan advanced readjusted showing an advance from the Weythan system to deep within Pact lines at the Corinth system. A new green arrow then curved out from Earth towards the Xindi at Azati Prime.

"What occurred was a massive Starfleet counter offensive that has most definitely from all scenario simulations radically shifted the course of the Vulcan-Pact War, and shown that we have badly underestimated both the industrial capacity of the Pact with the inclusion of pro-Pact neutrals trading capacity and its recent internal upgrade, and also in the utilisation and the integration of the Human FTL systems in the Starfleet for rapid and coordinated fleet movements."

"Was it so decisive? The Vulcan fleet appears to have retreated to Weythan somewhat intact from all reports and the Vulcans still retain the captured systems. I know the surrender of the Xindi will hurt the Vulcans but lets be honest. The Xindi have been on the verge of annihilation, and deservedly so, since their vileness at Earth." asked Xenrendis the Risan Ambassador, who had been one of the first to denounce the genocide attack on Earth and had led the effort to expel the Xindi, and then the Vulcans, from the Coalition to avoid the war with the Pact.

"Most definitely Ambassador the situation has dramatically changed in the past few days, though it will most likely taken several months for it to express itself in significant direct terms on the various battlefields." Naarg replied

"the Starfleet has already shown at Stameris and several other minor systems that Human ground forces quite simply have no equal in the quadrant and have now effectively broken the back of the Vulcan-Xindi alliance." he tapped on the data-pad as the screen displayed now began to display the forces seen at both major engagements

"Here at Azati Prime the Xindi had deployed their entire remaining fleet assets, over five hundred starships and very obviously did not expect the Starfleet response. Using the Human FTL system Starfleet effectively managed to concentrate the majority of its fleets in under twenty six standard hours excluding the forces facing the Vulcan offensive, a force of around a thousand starships of various sizes.

Each of these vessels has displayed significant power advantages of all other species starships since well before the conflict, including our own which are superior one on one to even the best Xindi models observed. The battle was a one sided slaughter over within less than an hour with the annihilation of the entire Xindi fleet and the destruction of every industrial and military installation within the system, I'm frankly surprised there was anyone left senior enough to surrender unconditionally as happened in the aftermath.

What is also apparent from this is the strength of Starfleet, and its level of shipbuilding, has been dramatically underestimated by both ourselves and by the Vulcans. Prior to this we estimate the total Starfleet strength, including that of their auxillary forces such as the Orions and Ferengi raiders at around or just above a thousand starships versus the Vulcans and Xindi's three and half thousand"

Naarg brought up another dataset on the screen of estimated Starfleet forces before and after the battles "We estimate fleet losses for the Pact at Weythan as almost two hundred starships, they deployed a thousand into this combined fleet and left at least another two hundred at Corinth facing the Vulcans. Inferring from this we must assume the fleet strength of Starfleet to be between fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred starships prior to these battles."

Naarg looked around the at the assembled Ambassadors

"And we KNOW the NX-01 Battlecruisers have not yet finished production. As did the Vulcans, which is why they struck now with what they thought to be decisive fleet numbers. We don't know what the losses suffered by Starfleet have been but assuming the difference between best case and worst case scenarios for them we would estimate from a lower case of eleven hundred to an upper case of fifteen hundred remaining.

PRIOR to the entry of the new, more powerful, starships in a few months. This is versus the Vulcan alliance which has lost the Xindi fleet and a significant portion of their offensive forces having been, and are at the END of the majority of their production runs according to all our intelligence from both Vulcan and Coridan"

"They moved their forces between the Xindi and Vulcans in less than a few hours?" another Ambassador asked, this time the Bolian "And how did the Vulcans survive against a superior number of Pact starships. We've seen smaller Pact task-forces practically tear apart Vulcan or allied forces possessing greater numbers on multiple occasions"

Naarg nodded "Yes the movement speed has shown the Humans have either limited their civilian FTL systems till now or deliberately held back their full transit speeds from all species, it also shows Starfleet organisation is not the unintegrated auxiliary force of xenophobic masters many have predicted, we know know from these events and Stameris is that it is a fully integrated multi-species force with a disciplined and rapid chain of command. Even with this FTL, these operations took amazing logistical and tactical coordination from a force that included the Orions of all species, on another note our analysts have upgraded the threat level from the new Orion reformed State and its armed forces."

He tapped on the data-pad bring up a display of the systems between Andor and Weythan and began showing in time lapse the various fleet movements with time stamps "the Vulcan advance continued to the Corinth system in Andorian territory and had begun forcing the Starfleet forces into a fighting retreat when the Combined Fleet arrived in the system. To be honest its a miracle the Vulcan fleet survived the engagement, let alone managed to achieve what can be viewed as a tactical withdrawal, and this must be attributed to the tactical brilliance of the Vulcan Admiral, T'Vron. We ran multiple simulations with our best strategists, including several Zakdorns brought in from outside the Coalition, based on the star system and estimated deployed forces and we cannot achieve as favourable a result as the Vulcans achieved.

Starfleet deployed around twelve hundred starships, almost all technologically superior to those of the Vulcans, against a Vulcan fleet of just under a thousand starships and Admiral T'Vron managed to achieved a fighting withdrawal of at least two thirds of his forces back to the Weythan and the other captured systems. When we have the full details of the battle it will most likely be taught to students in military academies for centuries to come"

"If so many escaped, and this Vulcan Admiral so brilliant why the do you and our other analysts feel they are facing certain defeat?" asked the Bolian further.

"Till now the great advantage we perceived the Vulcans to possess was in their greater numbers and production power versus that of the Pact species, Human and Andorian starships have always been technically superior since the Pact's foundation but their numbers were always significantly less than us or the Vulcans. From what we've seen in the past standard week is that this no longer true, without an outside factor such as ourselves intervening the Pact and its associated neutral associates will outproduce Vulcan, and Coridan, over time.

Within two standard years, perhaps as little as one, Starfleet will have numerical parity with the Vulcans as well as continued technological superiority through their starships and the FTL transit system, no matter how good the Vulcan fleet leadership is in defence or offence the fact is that the Pact will grind them down given time. Disturbingly from our perspective this means the Pact could conceivable defeat us as well as the Vulcans if we had, or do, enter the war against them. All indicators now are that Starfleet will defeat the Vulcans and become the predominant military force within the quadrant, likely within a decade at current build rates" he finished his summary and was motioned to exit the Council room by Ambassador Gral. He bowed to the Ambassadors and exited the chamber.

The atmosphere among the assembled Ambassadors was a mixture of tired and worried from the reports of the last few days with Senior Analyst Naarg's summary been but the latest report, combined with the increasing efforts from Pact propagandists and merchants to access the resources of the Coalition, including several thousand of members of the Coalition species who had enlisted in the new Starfleet from a mixture of adventurism, rage at the attempted genocide or the perceived benefit of Pact Citizenship and associated benefits.

It was Gral who broke the few minutes silence "this puts our response to the requests from the Ferengi for a Free Trade Region between our species into context does it not?"

"Yes it does. As does other events with the Klingons" it was Xenrendis who responded tabbed through the various data-streams on his tablet on Naargs report and the analyst simulations.

"How bad is it getting with Klingon Empire?" the Bolian Ambassador Aldront Byrakt asked.

Gral sighed almost in despair

"Worse everyday, just be thankful your traders don't use those routes. They sense weakness from us and have been making demands since we cut ties with the Vulcans and Xindi, they've impounded over a dozen freighters from the Tellar Mining Corporation and another half dozen from Risan corporations"

Nodding to Xenrendis who indicated the affirmative with a few other Ambassadors indicating similar problems "and the all out warfare on the old trade routes is forcing our ships near to Klingon territory. Which lately is becoming where a Klingon starship Captain feels it is, of those freighters half were most definitely NOT in Klingon territory nor carrying any contraband items, its only been the trade from the Pact thats stopped these attacks from hurting our economies."

"Yes and what worries me is where it's going to stop. The Klingon Empire is getting aggressive and were getting reports of their "scout" ships ranging very far and wide lately, ostensibly to "observe the Vulcan-Human War" but the number of "renegade" Klingon starship Captains also appears to be on the rise near our borders quite suddenly and we've had several starships vanish in the past few months. Including one report of "invisible starships" attacking a convoy with duranium and trinium headed towards Earth." Xenrendis interjected.

"Which brings us back to the Ferengi proposals." Gral said.

The Ferengi species were a new introduction to the region, and due to their introduction being through the Humans who till recently had been friends of the hated blue skinned devils, had been viewed with some suspicion. New or not the Ferengi were aggressive traders and moved eagerly into the new markets either in cooperation with local businesses or in competition and had recently come forward with the proposal for the creation of a so called "United Planets Free Trade Region" between themselves various species such as Axanar, Xyrillia and Arkonians, a veritable whose who of the "friends and semi-allies of Earth"and a series of agreements with the Andorian Empire and United Earth Government in regards secured trade routes and convoy management through their territory, all to be monitored by a Trade Council made up of a representative from each species.

Of course this would significantly boost the Coalition economy by increase trade with these species and having actual safe new trade routes through formerly enemy space – but it would also significantly help the Pact in terms of economy and resources, something the Vulcans would very much not appreciate.

"I think its time we accept them." Aldront said suddenly eliciting surprised gasps from a number of Ambassadors from one planet systems close to the Bolians. The Bolians had been steadfastly opposed to taking sides from the start and this seemed a sudden change.

"I'm surprised to see you say that Aldront" Xenrendis said in curiosity "you didn't like them when they came through a few months ago"

"That was before the Klingons started raiding the starships of our members and the Pact achieved a seemingly decisive advantage in their war. If we want to stay out of this war, not have our economy crumble, and not get embroiled in a war with an aggressive species we need to start changing our trade routes. Agreeing to the proposals should keep the Pact friendly if they win this war and allows our freighters access away from the Klingons, and unlike a few weeks ago the Vulcans are in no position to object" he replied leaving unspoken the fear of the Xindi who seemed violently irrational and quite willing to blow up planets for no apparent reason.

"Yes Vulcan can hardly object now after these events." Gral replied "and we need credits to expand our fleets considering the threat of the Klingons and that of a total Pact victory. We need to position ourselves as neutral broker for when the Vulcans attempt negotiations"

Xenrendis snorted "As if they will. Or the Humans accept. Would you if someone tried to blow up your homeworld"

No I wouldn't Gral thought but lets hope everyone is less argumentative than we Tellarites. "Well the Vulcans are supposed to logical and must have the same analysis we have and I'm sure we can talk to the Humans" I hope. "So shall have a vote on Proposal G-R56-1124"

The vote was 11-4 vote in favour of acceptance considering the only real relevant member, Tellar, was so strongly for it.