[deuZige]

Captain'slog Supplemental.

Some time before arriving at the mining base conference.

“I think the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place. As Ialready suspected the recall to Starbase and our re-fit there to return much of the Netherlandsto an improved version of the Norway-class fascilities.”

Atthe beginning of the Netherlands'sservice near and in the tri-national border area the Norway class hadgotten much of her science equipment and diplomatic fascilitiesreplaced with hardware and facilities useful in dealing withpatrolling borders, intercepting smugglers,catching or dispatching pirates.

Everythingneeded to operate in a devastatedarea of space mainly occupied and frequented by the less ethicallyendowed individuals in the universe.

Butas soon as the Netherlands had docked the engineering teams hadswarmed her to re-fit her. Alot of her science equipment had been replaced, with newer versions,for the most part. Her 'honorguard' or “shinies” as the regular security department officersreferred to them had been reinstated as well as her stellarcartography lab.

Shehad her conference hall re-purposedagain, to accommodate storage area's and a logistics operationscontrol center. From it the Netherlands could serve as as a hub andcontrol center for coordinatingthe transportation and distribution of a lot of resources through alot of different ships, people and locations.

Theyhad made the Netherlands a bleeding edge top of the line advancedversion of the Norway class, and of-course Arend was ridiculouslyhappy with her re-fit, but it had spawned concern for Arend at thesame time.

Re-fitswere a large investment of resources in a ship. Not somethingStarfleet was in the habit of doing for its own sake. And knowing ashe did like few others how tense and complicated the situation alongthe Romulan border had become sincethe events that had thrown the Romulans into so much turmoil.

Hehad just not expected to be part of whatever solution Starfleet hadconjured up to deal with it. He had expected to be asked to spearheadthe efforts to inventory and re-distribute the resources in the areasand stop the shortages which often proved the ignition forinsurrections and rebellions which only served to further weaken theRomulan's government's ability to recover from the disasters that hadbefallen it.

Butreality is that he was now almost at a conference in an old miningbase inside Romulan territory where 5 Starfleet vessels were to meeta Romulan delegations and conjurup an all encompassing solution to the border problems.

Andthe other Starfleet vessels weren't just run of the mill shipseither. A Sovereign class, a Nova class, an Exelsior, and even anAkira carrier made up the others in the task-force which theNetherlands now belonged to. Enoughfirepower combined to tip the scale in many of the grand battlesfought in the epic wars the Federation's history.

Atask force in which the Netherlands was the one that just didn't fitin with the others. Certainly not with the logistics operationscontrol center with which she had been outfitted.

Whilethe other ships bristled with the strappings for projecting massiveforce onto a large area of space quickly the Netherlands had themeans to quickly survey, inventory andanalyze theavailable resources across vast swaths of space, orchestrate the mosteffective redistribution of those resources possible. Sure, it wouldtake a very brave starship captain to try to pose a threat to theNetherlands, and a very powerful one to actually be one.

Hertwo fighters gave her the ability to project some power of her ownbeyond her energy and projectile weapons and said weapons wereimpressive indeed for a ship her size but were insignificant whencompared with, for example, the 40 fighters, tens of torpedolaunchers and phasers with which the Akira had been endowed.

“Obviouslythe Norway-class's original purpose, diplomatic and scientificmissions, will not be part of our mission profile, nor will combat beour purpose. What will be our purpose in the task-force I don't know.I can only hope that this shall be revealed at the conference withthe Romulans.” Arend told the Log-recorder, shaking himself out ofhis inner thoughts.

“Ihave decided to attend the conference accompanied by our diplomaticofficer. His extensive knowledge of both Romulan and Klingon culturesand natures should prove usefull, as well as his insights in theFederation's political relations with both factions at this time. Itis almost as if the conference we'll attend was organized to tailorto Amard Neeuq's unique qualifications.” Arend said.

Heleaned back then with a sigh and, deciding there was nothing morereally to say, ordered the computer to end the log entry. He wouldn't like to admit it, not even to himself, but Arend was beginning to wonder if he had the capabilities required to lead the crew of the Netherlands to acomplishing whatever it was Starfleet required of her.