Drums of War (Part 4)

ORIGINAL WRITING This page was originally published elsewhere as part of a joint sim or fleet effort. It has been duplicated here for posterity.

Characters:	Commodore Zachary O'Connell & Captain Kala Deion
Location:	Starbase Unity
Date:	August 2388
Author:	Greenfelt22, Kai
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The Consortium had become a real thorn in Starfleet's side of late and they were what had brought Captain Kala Deion to Starbase Unity. He had been on the Starbase for over a month now, having been involved in a series of meetings and judiciary panels ever since he had arrived. When any Starfleet Captain lost their ship, it was standard procedure for their to be a full inquiry and this had been no exception. Captain Kala had been in command of the USS Hastings, an Akira Class vessel, when he had gone on away mission to Teplan II. During the mission, his executive officer had led a mutiny and marooned the Captain and several officers on the planet before taking the ship into Consortium held territory. The Bajoran commanding officer and his people had been helped off of the planet by the natives there and managed to gain passage to Starbase Unity. After a month long inquiry and countless meetings, Captain Kala had finally been authorised to return to active duty, but with no new vessels arriving in the Quadrant, the Captain had been temporarily assigned to Starbase Unity.

Entering Station Ops in search of the Task Force Executive Officer, the Captain rubbed his nose ridges and looked around the room.

Across the room, Commodore Zachary O'Connell sighed when he looked at the PADD Commander Kane gave him for review. "Run the simulations again," he told the Strategic Operations officer. "We have to find something that will work."

As she reluctantly nodded at the impossible task, Zachary looked up to see a Bajoran Captain approach. "Captain Kala," he greeted, his tone rather discouraged. Of course, if anyone had a smile on their faces after six terrible battle drills, Zachary would assume they were Consortium at this point.

"Commodore," the Bajoran nodded as he stepped over to the command table that the Commodore was stood at as he directed the simulations. "Can I assist you in any way?

"You can, Deion," Zachary said with a sigh. "You can give me some good news." The Commodore hadn't heard any thing he marked as good or uplifting for a few days now.

"You won't want this then..." Captain Kala frowned as he waved the data PADD he had been carrying. He'd been given the task of informing the Commodore of some news regarding three of their ships, but it wouldn't be pleasant. "We've made contact with the Starship Nogura. They report their mission as a success and that both the Nelson and the Odyssey are under loyalist control once again."

Zachary looked up from the table, a spark in his eyes. "You're kidding?" he asked immediately. "That... that is incredible." He had to admit, the moment the Nogura was sent on its mission, he wasn't sure if they'd be coming back. But, having three ships back in their arsenal would improve their odds against the Consortium.

It was then that the Commodore noticed the frown on the Bajoran's face, and heard the words he started with. "What's wrong, Captain?"

"The good news has come at a heavy price," the Bajoran sighed as he finally handed over the data PADD that he had been gripping. "I'm sorry to report that Captain Azulas has been killed in the line of duty," he told before trying to get something positive out of his news. "The report shows that they have been able to keep the Azulas symbiont alive, ready for a new host. Their first officer is in command and all three vessel are on their way here. It'll be a little over forty-eight hours until they arrive," he concluded.

The Bajoran's frown became contagious as he took the PADD and skimmed over the contents. In a moment, his skimming took to reading. He'd only spoken to the Captain a couple of times, but he'd made it a point to get to know the Captains under his purview. Tossing the PADD onto the middle of the table, he gruffed, "I can't wait until Terlexa and the rest of the Consortium are behind a brig forcefield. We have lost too many good people."

"Absolutely sir," the Bajoran agreed, standing beside the Task Force Executive Officer. "So, what happens now?"

"Aside from preparing Unity for the inevitable?" replied Zachary, his tone sarcastic thanks to the grim past few weeks. He was sure everyone else missed the enthusiasm the Commodore was known for showing. "I'm going to have to figure out a new Commanding Officer for the Nogura. I doubt Commander Kane is ready."

"I'm sure you'll make the right choice sir," the Bajoran nodded as he pulled up a review of the last battle drill. "Maybe we could replicate some automated weapons platforms to boost our weapons capability. We could use an authentication system to prevent them attacking friendly vessels."

"Don't forget, Captain, that the Consortium are cut from the same cloth that we are," O'Connell reminded Kala. "Whatever we use is going to have to have a level of encryption that transcends traditional Starfleet methods."

"Another option could be self-replicating mines. We could mine a large area around the station," the Bajoran suggested as he pulled up a schematic of the area around the station. "All we would need to do is leave a corridor for ships to navigate through which could be easily defended..."

Before Zachary had a chance to respond, a sensor officer called out, "Commodore O'Connell!"

"What is it?" he asked, turning to look at the technician who ran over to the command table and began to access the controls. He could tell from the man's movements that something was amiss. His greatest fears were confirmed when he noticed the station's Strategic Operations Officer run back into the Operations Center as well.

"It's Gavara, sir!" Kane said, nearly throwing herself at the table. "The network has detected movement."

"Spit it out, Commander," Zachary said. His mind already assumed the worst.

"The Consortium fleet, sir. They've left. And they're heading this way."

"Whatever you want us to do sir, we need to get it done quickly," Kala told as he ran a hand through his blonde locks. "I'll have the ships in the area form a defensive perimeter. I'd recommend we have the Kumari, Maketu and Perseus form up as a rapid strike force. We could have them intercept the fleet before it reaches us, give us some extra time to get reinforcements in," he added, not moving until his superior gave him the go ahead.

"It'll only buy a few minutes at most," Zachary countered. Three ships against an oncoming swarm from Gavara was suicide, and several simulations proved that. "What if they can deploy these mines you're talking about?" he asked, thinking the Akira-class O'Carroll and her flight deck would make for an excellent place to put mines as they were constructed. "That could be enough to slow them down."

"Let's have the O'Carroll and Thunderchild deploy the mines and send the Kumari with them as an escort. The rest can set up a defence perimeter should the mines fail," deep down the Bajoran knew the mines would do nothing but slow them down, but it was something at least.

Zachary admired the Captain's authoritative thinking and initiative. He felt a small twinge in his gut about sending the O'Carroll, especially since his wife commanded the Akira-class ship. This, however, was Starfleet's darkest hour since the Consortium Conflict began. It would not be a respecter of persons. "Send them within the hour," he ordered. "Also send a communique to all Federation starships. All those within a sector are to fall back to Unity."

Kala looked at the Strategic Operations Officer and gave a nod, a simple signal to get started. "And the others?" He soon asked.

"The others..." the Commodore repeated. "The others are to make for Kylata. They'll be all that's left should we fail."

The Captain stood beside his leader and nodded as he composed the orders for the remaining vessels in the group. "According to our sensors, we've got fifteen vessels in the sector that could be here in time," the Bajoran revealed before glancing at the Terran, "but it's going to be squeaky bum time sir." He smiled as he tried to add in a tinge of humour to try and coat the fact that the ships might not make it in time.

"Then we make every second count," Zachary ordered. They had two days before the fleet arrived. They had to make the most of it.

Read the Next Part

Accreditation

This post was originally written by Greenfelt22 and Kai for Bravo Fleet and posted on the Bravo Fleet forums. Use of Bravo Fleet's Drums of War (Part 4) is permitted under the Creative Commons 4.0 License and has been modified to suit the story and purposes of the USS Black Hawk Star Trek Role-Playing Simulation.