Captain's Log, stardate 8091.8, Captain Edward Matthews commanding. Today was the first faltering steps towards peace with the Klingons. It took a while for the Klingon Bird of Prey to decloak, I suspect that they were ensuring that we were alone. Sizing up their possible target? No. I want to believe that the Klingons are wanting to open dialogue as much as we are.

My first impressions of the Klingon party is that they were strictly following orders: they didn't want to be here. The meeting was given as much time as was needed, but our Klingon guests were concluded once they had finished a tour of the ship and spoken just long enough to be able to say they met with us.

I for one hope that this is the beginning of the road to peace, but there is the nagging reminder of the nature of Klingons to-date, and the long history between the Federation and the Klingons. Indeed, I can trace the history back at least as far as Broken Bow, Oklahoma. May history judge us more favourably than I would myself right now.

The U.S.S. Emden in 2284, fresh from shakedown, was immediately assigned to the first faltering steps to peeace between the Klingon Empre and the Federation. The Bird of Prey K'lora met with the U.S.S. Emden over a classified Class M planet somewhere bordering the Klingon Neutral Zone. The meeting was one of formalities, with both sides weary of the other. Starfleet sent their two resident experts - Captain Edwards [son of a distinguished diplomat] and Lt. Commander Ilani [a rising star of Starfleet diplomacy] - as Commanding Officer and Second Officer respectively of the brand new Miranda class ship. The meeting was well balanced in that the Emden was more than adequately able to defend herself from a Bird-of-Prey, and this prehaps was not lost upon the Klingons. As well as the Captain's log, Lt. Commander Ilani kept a personal log of her own over the meetings.

Personal log, stardate 8091.8, Lieutenant (j.g) Ilani recording: Today was the first meeting with representatives from the Klingon Empire. The images that I got from our guests empathically were ones conveying frustration at being ordered to come here. They are proud warriors, and they wish to convey that aura of power to all who meet them.

The psyche information that has been collated so far on the Klingons suggests a race more intent on fighting and conquering than development and progression. More data on subject races of the Empire is required to enrich this field of knowledge.

The meeting today had an edge of hostility to it. However, the mere presence of the Klingons shows us that they mean to go through with this. Only future meetings will show whether this is the case or not.

Events mostly shrouded in secrecy of 2285 soon put the peace initiative in jeopardy. The U.S.S. Grissom was destroyed with all but one of the crew perishing. Strong words were exchanged with the Klingon Ambassador, Kamarag, and the Federation seriously contemplated where this left Klingon-Federation relations. A planned meeting between the Klingons and the Federation was planned for shortly after the destruction of the Grissom, most involved in the initiative held their breaths as the U.S.S. Emden was again sent to rendezvous.

Captain's log, Stardate 8220.8. As per the warning from Starfleet Intelligence, following the loss of U.S.S. Grissom we were on a Yellow Alert footing. However, the Klingon Ambassador to Earth has made it known in light of recent events, the Klingon Cruiser will not be meeting with us after all. As to how I feel about this... I don't feel much. I haven't since I heard about J.T.'s loss.

The sentiments seem to have been shared by the rest of the Emden crew. Some of the logs are not repeatable here, some of the crew knowing those on the U.S.S. Grissom, feeling diplomacy was not appropriate after that. Lt. Commander Ilani still kept up hope:

Lieutenant (j.g) Ilani, personal log, stardate 8220.9. The tension levels have reduced slightly with the cancelling of our meeting with the Klingons today. I think our arrival at Starbase 11 won't be soon enough. It has been an emotional time on the Emden - and the rest of the fleet - and I feel we need to step back and put all of this into perspective before jumping to conclusions.

In 2286, after the 'Whaleprobe Crisis', the U.S.S. Emden was again sent to rendezvous with the Klingons. Peace talks were happening on a more common basis, and the Emden was the ship of choice for the role, working out of starbase 11 and spending the rest of the time studying Klingon culture as best as possible. This meeting, however, was not going to go as expected. The tables this time were turned:

Captain's log, stardate 8396.5. We went to our Neutral Zone rendezvous to be met by a D-7 class battlecruiser. They may be over twenty years old, but there is still an air of threatening menace about those cruisers. Commander K'tagga was only too pleased to invite us onto his ship. There was something about his cordial, smiling nature that put me on edge to begin with.

It was after the meal - if I dare use that word - that the good commander dropped his bombshell on me: the Klingons are aware that the Organians have gone. We have been keeping that secret since Captain Kirk and the Enterprise-A went to petition against the Klingon incursion which led to the loss of the Grissom last year. Kirk and his landing party found a deserted planet. It seems they left us years ago. Maybe as little as months after our encounter with them twenty years ago. We knew that Klingon Intelligence would find out, we just hoped we had more time.

The Klingons knew they had the upper hand for this meeting, although to his credit, the commander did not press the issue to the point of it being a contentious issue. I calmly pointed out to him that the Organians had foreseen this very kind of meeting between our two peoples and they had expressed twenty years ago that they foresaw the time when we would be friends. Indeed, that speech seems to have hit a note with the commander - he actually almost seemed impressed with it. We left the meeting on a higher note than we entered it and so I think today we have made some progress, although the door has now been opened for the Klingons to cross the Neutral Zone unhindered by Organian intervention.

Things were to improve greatly by the next year with the successful hostage situation resolution on Nimbus III. This was to be the venue for the U.S.S. Emden meetings for the next two years with the Klingon Representative, General Koord speaking on behalf of the Klingons. The Emden was seen as the ship of choice by now, and the Klingons came to see the continual use of the same ship as either a spy ship or a sign that the Federation weren't going to pull out any surprises.

Captain's log, stardate 8459.7. Nimbus III is hot, dusty and as backwater as worlds come. However, in diplomatic terms, this world is the best. In one location - in neutral space - we have representatives from the three major governments of the Beta Quadrant and we are able to discuss progress with them. In light of the poor condition of this planet, we are to conduct regular shuttle runs from starbase 11, with the U.S.S. Diana helping us in this matter. Koord seems like a resonable man and having spoken to him, he seems as wise as he is able to consume alcohol. Lt. Commander Ilani is spending a lot of time on the planet, getting to talk to Koord uninterrupted is providiing her with a great insight into the Klingon culture. Unfortunately it seems the good old general wishes to reciprocate this openness with the Lt. Commander.

From this point, relations between the Federation and Klingon governments improved, with progress made on the Neutral Zone issue and diplomatic ties between the two governments became stronger, with a period of detente developing. By 2289 the U.S.S. Emden was ordered back to starbase 11 for a refit, whilst the U.S.S. Courageous was to take over the mission to develop relations between the Klingons and the Federation. The Emden crew were partially reassigned, with Ilani promoted to rank Commander and given the role of Executive Officer aboard the Miranda class U.S.S. Courageous.

The senior crew for the U.S.S. Emden 2284 - 89 were:

Commanding Officer: Captain Edward Matthews

Executive Officer: Commander Maxim Driuchenko

Junior Science Officer: Lieutenant (j.g) Ilani

Miranda class Light Cruiser specifics:

Primary Hull:

01 Main Bridge, Ready Room

02 Executive Deck - First and Second Officers offices and Briefing room.

03 Senior Crew Quarters, Junior Crew Quarters, Crew Quarters, Social Sciences Department

04 VIP lounge, Officers Quarters, Arboretum, Quartermasters office, Mathematics and statistics laboratories, aeronautics and aquanautics labs, Main Deflector, Main Impulse Drive, Deuterium Tanks, Main Engineering

05 Officers mess, Gym, Swimming pool, Crew Quarters

06 Crewman and NCO quarters, Food synthesis equipment, Primary navigational deflector, Shuttlebays

07 Main deck - Sickbay, Transporter Room

08 Docking level - Docking ports, Aux fire control, Fabrication facility, Laundry, Reclamation, Anti-matter Storage, Cargo

09 Computer laboratory, Intelligence department, Temperature regulation Cargo

10 Circuit breaker deck Cargo

11 Main Sensor Array, Navigation dome

Length: 233 metres

Beam: 142 metres

Height: 58 metres

Crew: 223 [23 officers, 200 enlisted]

Cruising Warp 7 [OCU]

Max Warp 11 [OCU]

Maximum Speed: Warp 9.2 for 12 hours (new scale)

Armament: 6 dual type-7 phaser banks; 2 pulse phaser cannons; 4 photon torpedo launchers

Defences: Deflector shields

Author's Notes:

When was it that I really became a fan of the Miranda class? Not as you might think when the Reliant and Saratoga were seen in the feature films II and IV respectively. It was really when I saw the U.S.S. Lantree and especially the Brattain [seen here being prepared for the episode of TNG 'Night Terrors', incorrectly named the U.S.S. Brittain]. The Miranda class has shown itself in the movies, TNG and Deep Space Nine to be a versatile medium sized vessel, one that along with the Oberth class, Constellation and Saladin class I see as making up the bulk of the Starfleet. I have to concede after seeing 'Night Terrors' that I prefer the rollbar-fitted version.

One of the challenges of creating a character for yourself in a story is keeping their feet on the floor whilst developing them. Numerous times my friend Nick Cook has stopped me from getting ahead of myself and promoting my character too fast. One of the things we have agreed on is that chances are, most Starfleet personnel will actually serve on a small to medium sized starship such as a Miranda class. Hawkins will be assigned to such ships for the majority of his career, his placing on the Sheffield demonstrates this.