Drums of War (Part 2)

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 5, 2388
Author:	Greenfelt22
Template:Post

Klaxons screamed their incessant warnings throughout the corridors. Personnel ran through the corridors, and among them was Commodore Zachary O’Connell. He’d just gotten off his shift when the alarms sounded. Were the [i]O’Carroll[/i] not out on patrol, Zach would have loved to spend some time with his wife and son. This drill would have made that impossible, as she would have been scrambling back to her own command chair.

In front of the Commodore, a petty officer tripped, spilling the contents of a crate he was carrying. “Not a good time, Petty Officer,” Zachary warned, leaning down to pick up a EPS relay that was rolling on the floor in front of him. He didn’t want to trip on it and wind up in sickbay, nor did he wish that on any of the base personnel.

“Sorry, sir,” the embarrassed non-commissioned officer replied, catching the relay that the flag officer tossed to him.

The klaxons did not give Zachary the opportunity to stay and help. His attention was required in Ops, especially because of the reason why the klaxons were blaring.

He dodged person after person. And, after what seemed like an eternity, he arrived in Ops. “Report!” he demanded, thinking this was a fine time to deal with this while Cameron was out of touch.

“Eleven warp contacts!” called out the station’s Chief of Operations, Commander Niro Nassir. “Tianamen, Brazil, sh’Paveress, Sovereign… dropping out of warp bearing three-four-four, mark zero-three-seven. Vanguard, Rhodes, Karnack, Dark Horse… bearing zero-six-zero, mark three-five-five. And Hamilton, Triumph and T’Pava bearing zero-zero-zero, mark zero-five-five.”

Zach let loose a choice expletive. “The Consortium pulled from the wormhole blockade,” he muttered. Instantly, he regretted sending off the Nogura and not recalling the Vindex when he had the chance. “Order the O’Carroll, Perseus, Kumari and Ottawa to intercept the Dark Horse and its group.”

“Raise Unity’s defenses!” shouted the station’s Betazoid commander, Captain Malia Corbin, as she entered Ops. “No offense, Commodore, but I’m going to need you to stand near Strategic Operations.” She didn’t want him interfering with Unity’s operations during the defensive.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he sternly replied, cementing his grip on the center pool table. “You know how this works, Captain. I coordinate the primary defensive and you keep those shields up and batteries firing.”

Of course, they both knew there was much more to it than that. A comm channel opened in the room, followed by the voice of the Andorian Marine CO. “ch’Nuillan to Ops! Marines are in standby formation near expected beam-in points. A team is en route to fortify Ops now.”

“Prepare to stand your ground, Colonel,” Malia called back. “The Consortium cannot have this base. Corbin out.”

“Very inspiring,” Zach muttered, watching the sensor contacts on the pool table. “A trident formation,” he observed.

“It’s a smart move,” Commander Kane observed. “And we’re doing exactly what they want us to do. Pull resources from our defense so that Unity is more of a target.”

“Which I don’t appreciate,” said the station’s commander. “Unity is an asteroid. We have no maneuverability. Or any mobility for that matter.”

“But the asteroid’s composition and size will protect us from a lot,” reminded Zachary. “We just have to keep them away from our shielded areas, and the starfighters, the Callisto and the Akihito will take care of that.”

“Commodore!” called out the station’s Intelligence Chief, a Lieutenant Colonel Tigan. She cradled an earpiece as she attempted to sort out all of the communication between the starships. “The O’Carroll reports that they’re in position and are about to engage.”

Zach looked down at the pool table, regretting that his wife was commanding a ship that likely wouldn’t survive this assault. “Acknowledged,” he replied, watching the sensor contacts.

“The Brazil is in firing range!” called out Commander Nassir. If the Brazil was within range, so would the rest of the ships in its group.

Reports of damage on both sides began to flood in as Captain Corbin gave the order to fire at will. Zach watched the contacts on the pool table fly about as he began to issue orders of his own.

Orders flew back and forth for the next few minutes. Their forces were quickly overwhelmed, and the base crippled. With a frown, he looked up to Captain Corbin and simply said, “Call it.”

She nodded in reply, tapping her badge. “All hands, this is Captain Corbin. Stand down. The drill is complete. Department Heads, submit readiness reports to the Executive Officer.” With a sigh, she added, “Good job everyone.”

Zachary sighed. That made two poorly executed drills in the last two days. Hopefully, they’d get this base to shape up by the time the real threat arrived.

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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 2) 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.