Drums of War (Part 7)

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
Location:	Starbase Unity
Date:	August 2388
Template:Post

For the first time in months, Zachary sat in the center chair aboard the Akira-class USS O’Carroll. It’d been months since he’d even stepped on board the ship. in fact, he’d been pulled off at the behest of Commodore Cameron, her claiming it was for his own safety. With the danger the ship had faced in the last few months, he didn’t disagree with her.

With this conflict, however, Zach felt helpless aboard the Starbase. Between Captain Corbin and Commodore Cameron, there was little Zach could do. And, with the last minute change of tactics, from an all out defense to just trying to stretch the battle, he’d elected to transfer his flag to the place he was the most comfortable and useful.

But the months apart had already taken its toll. Half of the O’Carroll’s senior staff had been replaced. He’d become accustomed to the former Dominion installation’s aesthetics, making this full Starfleet design almost foreign to him. Hopefully, this wouldn’t be a feeling that would last forever.

“Signal from the Perseus,” came Lieutenant Wul’s voice behind him. “They’re ready.”

Zachary muttered an acknowledgement. He’d removed six ships from the Starbase’s defenses and paired them into different strike forces. Each one had taken a position just over a hundred astronomical units from the Starbase. With the strong magnetic field in the asteroid field, the Consortium sensors would be disrupted enough to mask their location. Each ship was a mere thirty seconds away from the battle at high warp, and with the hit and run tactics they’d planned, this would make for a near-perfect defense.

If only they actually had enough ships to defend the Starbase. At this rate, they’d barely make it until the Dominion fleet arrived.

“Engineering?” Zachary asked, adjusting his posture in the chair. “Standby for Emergency Warp.”

“Acknowledged!” came his wife’s voice over the comm. There was no point in both O’Connells being on the bridge during this. If something were to happen, at least one of them would survive for their son’s sake.

“Helm,” the Commodore said before inhaling a deep breath. “Engage.”

Instantly, the O’Carroll jumped to warp. Each second felt like a minute as she neared the battlefield. When she emerged from warp, Zachary rose from his chair, not in authority, but surprise. In front of him was the Consortium fleet, each of their weapons ablaze. The starbase was embedded deep into the massive asteroid, but that didn’t stop the Consortium from unleashing everything they had on the asteroid itself. Sooner or later, those blasts would make it through and who knew what would happen then.

“Target their left flank,” Zachary ordered, selecting the group of three ships directly in front of them. “Fire!”

“Firing,” said the Lieutenant, unleashing a full load of quantum torpedoes. The blue warheads sprung out of the Akira-class’s weapons pod, striking the rear quarters of the Karnack and the Rhodes.

“Go for their engines!” Zachary called out, walking towards the helm to stand beside it. While he could have just as easily asked for their shields and weapons to be targeted, Zach wouldn’t put it past the Consortium to resort to kamikaze tactics.

Phaser beams lanced out from the O’Carroll as she sped towards the Consortium fleet, along with a few extra photon torpedoes. In another minute, the ship would be on top of the Consortium.

“The Karnack’s shields are down to fifty percent!” called out Lieutenant Relva at Ops. “We scored one hit on the Rhodes’ port nacelle. Minor warp field fluctuations only.”

“Mister Wul,” Zachary said with a smile. The Rhodes was only one ship of the many, but if these tactics could pull off this kind of success, then there could be some hope after all. “Concentrate all fire on that nacelle. Take it out.”

“Aye, sir,” the Lieutenant happily replied. Within seconds, more phaser beams shot out towards the nacelle, followed by three photon torpedoes. For a moment, cheers were all that could be heard on the bridge when the nacelle exploded, only to be quickly silenced when everyone realized the gravity of their actions. Not only were they firing on their brethren, they were willfully endangering everyone’s lives.

“Standby rear photons,” Zachary ordered, choosing not to let the actions of his bridge crew phase him. It was time for their goodbye. “Helm, escape pattern delta.” As the ship ducked under the Consortium fleet, photon torpedoes shot out of the rear launchers from the weapons pod, impacting different ships as the O’Carroll shot by.

“How’s the Perseus?” the Commodore asked Lieutenant Phrlax, the Science Chief who’d Zachary assigned to monitor the movements of the attack groups as they warped in and out.

“They’ve received significant damage to their primary hull,” the Denobulan lamented. “Their weapons had little effect, but Captain Soroca will be initiating MVAM and return with the warp capable sections.”

Zachary grunted. He had a sickening feeling their success was a fluke, but he still wished that the other ships would have just as much luck as he.

As the O’Carroll jumped to warp, Lieutenant Relva shouted, “Commodore! Sensors are detecting the sh’Paveress is breaking formation from the Consortium fleet.” He looked up to the Commodore. “Sir, they’re pursuing us.”

“Of course,” Zach said with a smile. Disabling the Rhodes and pulling away the Nebula-class sh’Pavress… Two less ships to continue the assault on Unity. That at least would help buy some time. And, hopefully, his tough little Akira would stand up against an assault from one twice its size.

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 7) 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.