Drums of War (Part 5)

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:	Commander Jillian O’Connell & USS O’Carroll Bridge Crew
Location:	USS O'Carroll
Date:	August 2388
Author:	Greenfelt22
Template:Post

Commander Jillian O’Connell couldn’t bear to remain seated. When the O’Carroll and the Thunderchild left Starbase Unity, they had just under two days before the Consortium arrived at Unity. Now, they had only sixteen hours. Jillian had chosen a location a just under a light year from Unity, inside the Hikarian Nebula. Sensors had always proven sketchy, but going around it would add six hours to their trip.

This would be her best chance of slowing down the fleet.

“Commander,” announced the Betazoid Tactical Chief. “Our shuttles are returning to the flight deck.”

“How many does that make now?” she asked, inquiring as to how many mines they’d set.

“Fifteen hundred from us,” he reported. “Thunderchild reports they’ve laid twelve hundred.”

“Any reason for the--”

The Betazoid was already beginning the answer to her unfinished question. “They discovered a manufacturing defect in the detonators. There’s no way they would have blown.”

Jill sighed. “Okay, let’s get ready for the next round. Let’s get those shuttles loaded as fast as possible.”

“Commander!” called out the Denobulan Phrlax at the science station. “Our probes are picking up activity.”

“On screen,” she ordered, turning to look at the screen. They’d placed four Class Four probes near the other side of the nebula and had been sending back video feeds to the O’Carroll. Even passive sensor scans would have been detected by the formerly friendly Starfleet vessels.

The screen changed and displayed multiple flashes of light. Over a dozen ships dropped out of warp. Seconds later, she watched as the two Akiras unleashed all of their fighters. Jill knew they weren’t detected, and the fighters were launched only to make sure the path was clear.

“Fall back,” she ordered. “We can’t let them see us.”

Instantly, the O’Carroll and the Thunderchild withdrew to the other side of the nebula, leaving behind additional Class Four probes to watch what was about to happen. The nature of the nebula forced all ships to travel through it at impulse power. The density of the dust and particles were enough to overwhelm the deflectors of a Galaxy-class starship.

As soon as they were in normal space, both ships swung around to face the nebula. Though the video feed had been reported on standby, Jill hadn’t ordered it to replace the view on the screen. Despite who’d been branded as the enemy, the last thing she wanted anyone to see was their willful damage to their former comrades. In fact, as she stood behind the helm, she couldn’t help but wonder how deep the Consortium had corrupted those ships. It couldn’t be more than twenty or thirty percent.

How many would die in this conflict that no one could stop? How many would die without knowing the truth? The only thought more sickening to the answers to those questions was the possibility of never seeing her newborn son ever again. Zach and her had decided months ago that if something had ever happened, they’d send their son to safety, far away from here. The Olympic-class Hopkins was the best place he could be, even though he’d be alone for days (hopefully it was just days and not eternity) without his parents.

Her thoughts were interrupted by flashes of light, cascading like an intense lightning storm, inside the nebula. Even though vacuum did not carry sound, she could swear that she could hear the explosions.

After a minute, the flashes stopped. “Video feed,” Jill requested. Her wish was granted instantly.

And a frown just as quickly conquered her face. The Consortium fleet remained still. Save for a managed Prometheus hull, there wasn’t any visible damage. Jill didn’t have to be Betazoid to feel a wave of despair ripple across the bridge. “Helm,” she said softly. “Set a course for Unity. En… Engage at Maximum Warp immediately.”

Without waiting to hear the defeated reply, Jill rushed over to the sensor station to playback the video feed. One of the fighters, likely one that was staying ahead as a scout, tripped the first mine. The Consortium fleet stopped instantly, save for the USS Vanguard, which immediately went into multi-vector mode to dismantle the minefield.

And it had done so with the assistance of the fighters. Whoever was in charge of the Vanguard’s primary hull seemed to be a bit reckless, especially since it flew too close to the minefield and was torn apart by all of the explosions.

Jill hung her head. Everyone knew this was a long shot and it had little chance of succeeding. Ten minutes was all that had bought Unity. All she could do now was hope those ten minutes were worth it.

Read the Next Part

Accreditation

This post was originally written by Greenfelt22 for Bravo Fleet and posted on the Bravo Fleet forums. Use of Bravo Fleet's Drums of War (Part 5) 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.