Pity is Treason (Part 11)

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 Scarlet Cameron, Commodore Zachary O’Connell
Location:	USS O’Carroll
Time:	Mission Day 1, 0923
Author:	Alexander, Greenfelt22
Template:Post

The telltale hailing signal was heard through the bridge speakers. "This is Commodore Zachary O'Connell commanding the USS O'Carroll," he declared, unsure of what to say next. Was he about to speak with another crazed officer or was Unity in worse shape than the O'Carroll. "Starbase Unity, respond please."

Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief, while she definitely was not sure he wasn't working for the Consortium at least he hadn't been identified as working for them yet. "Commodore O'Connell, this Commodore Cameron in command of Unity. It's definitely nice to hear a friendly voice for once today"

Cameron? Zach thought, surprised to hear her voice. Wasn't she supposed to be at DS11? It was pointless in asking if everything was shipshape. Between the damage taken between the starbase and the three starships in O'Connell's purview, something was obviously and terribly amiss. "I'll second that. Today seems to be anything but normal."

"Yes, considering the nature of some of the things we need to discuss I suggest we meet in person to talk things over. Seeing the state the station is currently in it might be best if you beamed me up to the ship" She responded while looking over the disaster that was the command center of the station.

Zach paused, staring at the viewscreen. Too many thoughts circulated in his head. "Stand by."Just as he rose his hand to give the "mute" gesture, Lieutenant Wul silenced the transmission. "Are we secure up here?"

The wounded security closed his eyes for a moment, trying to quickly scan the minds aboard. The Betazoid winced as he did, though it was due to the phaser burns on his torso. Without opening his eyes, Wul nodded to the flag officer.

O'Connell crossed the bridge to stand beside the lieutenant and personally restored his side of the channel. "Cameron, stand by for transport."

"Standing by" She said as she would step away from the other people a bit.

Zach tapped his combadge. "Bridge to Engineering. Jill, need you on the bridge ASAP." It had been a small cost to keep the bridge free of anyone he didn't trust during the conflict, but seeing Wul in his condition meant that a visit to sickbay was in order. "Ensign Turik," Zach said, crossing the bridge to the Engineering station to override the transporter controls, "take Lieutenant Wul to sickbay."

The Vulcan was about to protest, citing regulations about leaving the Commodore alone, but Zach quickly blocked those. "Lieutenant Wul has already taken a hit that was meant for me. I will not see him die today, Ensign."

Zach watched as the Vulcan nodded and moved for the turbolift. He then accessed the transporter controls and established a lock on Commodore Cameron. For once, he was glad as a flag officer to depend on his rusty engineering prowess. "Energizing!" he called out over the open channel to Cameron. He operated the controls, and turned around to the new arrival. For now, only he and Cameron were the only occupants on the bridge. As soon as his wife joined, they'd retire to his Ready Room.

As soon as she had fully materialized Scarlet would step off the pad and approach her colleague. "It's good to see you again O'Connell, I just wish it was under better circumstances" She said as she extended a hand.

He accepted the handshake, and tried to smile. "No joke." At that moment, the turbolift doors opened. Zach flinched, instantly reaching for his phaser, but stopped the moment he recognized his wife and Chief Engineer, Jillian O'Connell. "The bridge is yours, Jill," Zach said with a nod. He knew she'd want more information, but no news would have to wait at this moment. He then led Scarlet to the Ready Room. As soon as the doors closed, he asked, "Just what the hell is going on anyway?"

"That's right, you weren't in range when the Admiral did his original briefing towards the senior staff. You probably do remember Starfleet Intelligence identified a possibly dangerous organization forming within the ranks of Starfleet over the years since the Dominion War. At the time it was considered a minor threat but we severely underestimated them. They have grown to be well integrated into almost every ship and installation we own as you have seen here and while we have some idea we can only guess about their motives."She paused. "What we also knew was that they were planning some kind of massive event, as a precaution the Admiral and I decided to split Task Force command between him on Deep Space 11 and myself on Unity as a security policy. While we weren't sure about what the event would entail the assumption was that there would be some kind of coup and that is just what happened. As far as we can tell most of the Task Force has fallen under their control and we have to consider Deep Space 11 lost. We can only confirm it once communications are restored but we would have gotten some kind of signal already if everything was right there" She continued, visibly worried about the fate of the headquarters.

Zach hadn't planned on sitting, but before he knew it, his chair had wrapped itself around him. "Holy..." he muttered, completely shocked by what she had revealed to him. "It explains a lot," Zach said, working to regain his composure. "At least why my doctor and a small gang tried to kill me and..." He paused, thinking of his XO, whose corpse was still on the bridge. "And why everything suddenly went weird."

"We have all suffered terrible losses today, sadly however we don't really have the time to mourn them. We have to operate assuming this is the final position under our control and defend against any further incursions. There is a long battle ahead of us but we aren't entirely without a fighting chance" Scarlet said, hoping to provide some light at the end of a most likely very long tunnel.

Zach nodded. "Do we have any idea how far this goes?" He started thinking about the Ottawa. He hadn't destroyed the ship, and though it was adrift, it could only be a matter of time before she powered back up to raise more hell.

"We know it has gone into the highest layers of Task Force Command and we have only been able to clear a few Commanding Officers and their senior staffs. Beyond the Task Force it might very well have penetrated Fleet Command though it appears to be more regional than fleet-wide" Scarlet responded.

"What about this sector?" Zach asked. "We'll need to fortify Unity. I also need to check on the Hopkins. Their warp drive went out on our way here to Unity. I have a feeling this... organization had something to do with that too."

"As far as our sensors say this area is clear for now, we can confirm it more definitively once the sensor grid we have been working on comes on-line and gives us an eye into most of what is going on within Task Force space. For now we will need to consolidate the Engineering crews and go over all the repairs needed on Unity, this ship and the Hopkins to get everything back to a fully operational capacity" She said before looking out of the window. "I also suggest once the shields are back that you transfer to Unity. Without internal sabotage it's probably one of the most secure facilities in the Quadrant and assuming the worst has happened we need all Flag Officers in a safe spot"

"Doesn't that just make us easier to kill?" Zach asked, actually half-joking. "Sorry. I'm known for my terrible timing." Sighing, he rose from his seat. "I'd recommend focusing on Unity first. We're not interrible shape. And we'll need to figure out what to do with the Ottawa."

"That seems the best, the most important thing is to get the grid on-line. Once we know what is going on and who is with us we can at the very least secure our position here. Perhaps even mount a counter-offensive" Scarlet said.

"I'll have my Chief Engineer supervise those repairs," Zach offered. "I trust her, and she'll only pick those that she trusts. Depending on the damage, we could have those shields in a couple hours."

"Very well, I believe that settles most of the matters then" Scarlet said.

"Then we'll get to it," Zach said, straightening his posture. "Anything else?"

"Not for now, I will be making my way back to Unity. It is good to see you are still alive"

Read the Next Part

Accreditation

This post was originally written by Greenfelt22 and Alexander for Bravo Fleet and posted on the Bravo Fleet forums. Use of Bravo Fleet's Pity is Treason (Part 11) 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.