It Begins (Part VII of VII)
Posted on Sun Feb 21, 2021 @ 11:06pm by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon & Civilian Hydel Turvan
1,792 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Various: Ds5, Pangaea
Timeline: MD04 0430
Previously in
And now the conclusion
Cardassian Compound
"Sir, I've dispatched an entire battalion to take the Portal Complex. Their shield is still holding for the moment. Every element I've sent to take down the shield has been met with...with...what appears to be some transporter system in place," Gul Denat reported through the hazing view screen. "An entire company of my men were suddenly transported to some other part of the planet's surface in the blink of an eye!" he said angrily.
"Task elements of the 2-126th Engineering Battalion to disable their transporter ability and take down that shield," Legate Turvan said as he shifted his gaze towards Gul Vashur, Commander of the 127th.
"The station has begun to scramble their fighters in response to our arrival," Gul Vashur said. "Shall we engage or hold?" she asked. She was fully capable of leading the battle on her own; however, she knew that Hydel wanted to reach some kind of "understanding" with the Federation rather than throwing every asset at them. She understood the sentiment and agreed with it. Why commit all of their forces if the Federation was willing to give up the planet without unnecessary struggle.
"Bring in the Ghemor-class Flight Carriers to respond," Legate Turvan ordered. It was time to show the Federation that Cardassia was not as harmless as they would like to believe. The flight carrier carried a full complement of Hideki-class fighters to respond to the Starfleet fighters that were about to be launched.
"And what of the Klingons?" Gul Denat asked. He knew they would not surrender, but would continue to be a problem and a hurdle to their assault.
"What about the Klingons?" Legate Turvan said through clenched teeth. He had carried an undying hatred of the entire species of animals since their unprovoked invasion of Cardassia in the early 2370's. He had watched as they devastated countless colonies and Cardassian vessels all in the name of an illogical belief that the Detapa Council had been replaced by Founders. Hydel knew that this was his best opportunity to strike back at the rabid dogs.
"What about the Klingons?" he repeated rhetorically. "Fuck the Klingons!" he said as he enunciated each word.
"Gul Vashur, begin orbital bombardment of the Klingon compound immediately," Legate Turvan said, almost with a hint of joy in his voice.
***
Gul Vashur did not need any further instruction as she turned and communicated to Gul Dulvet, commanding gul of the Warship Arvawn, to target the Klingon communication array within their compound and begin an orbital bombardment.
"If they are so much in a hurry to go to Sto'Vo'Kor, then why not help them along their way," Gul Vashur said as he authorized the Arvawn's attack run to obliterate the Klingon building.
Gul Vashur's smirk disappeared as she noticed the furrowed brow on the face of her Tactical Officer.
"Ma'am, the Arvawn is reporting that it cannot get a lock on the Klingons due to ion atmospheric interference.
"Damn!" the Cardassian fleet commander swore. It figured that there would be a heavy concentration of ions in the atmosphere. It would explain why transporting had been ill-advised for all inhabitants on the planet. She knew that trying to have the vessel get closer would result in handing it to Deep Space 5's targeting system in a gift-wrap.
Security Control
As Annora headed towards the offices, she was pleased to see a large number of security personnel gathering. Several who already had their gear were headed towards the turbolifts and their assigned areas. Giving a whistle to get their attention, Annora gave a quick update.
"The Cardassians are out for revenge, and for the moment we're on our own. Until we hear otherwise from Commander Ryan or Captain Soran, our orders are to hold off the attackers. We'll be using secondary comms, so communication will be limited. If you can't get hold of a superior officer, use your best judgement. If anyone else asks for directions, it's really simple, tell them to stand by to repel boarders."
Spotting Petty Officer Tihr, she pulled the Andorian aside. "The Commander wants to ensure there's no civilians milling about on the Promenade. There's not time to sweep all one hundred decks. However, take your team and a second one to sweep the primary areas. Anyone resists, you have permission to stun them and throw them in a shelter."
Gearing up herself, Annora waited until all teams had been given direction before joining the last one led by Ensign Akioika. Their destination was outside the lower docking bay. There was no guarantee the Cardassians would enter from there, but the odds were pretty good.
***
Operations
Caleb turned to T’Lul. “Any idea where the captain is?” he asked her urgently. “Turvan isn’t going to give us a lot of time. We can’t stand against an entire Cardassian fleet. If we try, a lot of people will get hurt an’ killed.” The uncertainty of the situation weighed on his features. “We might have to withdraw,” he said with finality.
"I do not know where the captain is," T'Lul replied, raising her eyebrows. Could the captain actually have taken her advice and taken time off? Could she possibly be on her own? Or with Geral? She said that ship had sailed. So that seemed illogical, despite T'Lul's clear understanding that Geral still wanted her. "It is very curious that she is not here."
Ace ran up into operations. The Assistant Chief Operations Officer asked, "Besides communications being out, what is our status, sir?" He looked around, also surprised not to see the captain.
“Sittin’ ducks,” Caleb said. He looked at the screen again. “Ah’d say we could make this costly for the Cardassians,” he said. “Take out...three of their ships. If we were fully up an’ runnin’. An’ we’d still eventually be boarded an’ lose the station. As we are, at half capacity because of the fungal infection an’ refit, we’ll be lucky ta get two.” How much time did they have? They had people on the planet. His daughter was on the planet.
“How much air support do the Cardassian ground troops have?” Caleb queried. They had somehow smuggled troops onto the planet without the station or colony noticing, but they couldn’t have brought in much support craft. “How many shuttles an’ runabouts do we have available?”
Being a sitting duck is not conducive to my lifestyle, Ace thought to himself. "At least half of our shuttles and runabouts are ready, last I checked. Probably another quarter could be made ready without too much trouble. However, we have to get people to them. We don't have communications at the moment to notify people. What are you thinking, Commander?" Ace asked.
“How many people could we evacuate from the colony?” Caleb asked. “How long would it take? And the Marines?”
T'Vril shook her head. "We can't use transporters, shields are up. There's only a few runabouts down there, to protect the environment. We'd need to get our vessels outside the shields to beam people up. And there are ten battleships out there." She paused. "If there is nothing stopping us, and the last estimate of 2500 is still good? Roughly forty minutes. The problem isn't the ships, it’s coordinating beam outs, so more ships increases the chance of trying to beam someone to two places at once."
T'Lul replied, "I could assist in the recovery efforts, or I could start sorting out quarters for people up here. Either way, they will need a counselor to assist with the transition," she said logically.
Ace asserted, "I could start with some of the evacuations by shuttle and runabout, or assist engineering in getting more of the ships immediately available. I was just on Pangaea recently, and I am no slouch in the pilot's seat."
“Can our fighters effectively screen the runabouts?” Caleb asked. “The big ships won’t want to get close enough to interfere, not under our big guns. That will buy us some time. But Turvan will hold true to his word. Damn!” Caleb cursed, trying to triangulate some way out of the situation. He was in charge here, and had to make the hard decisions, at least until Soran made it to Ops. Where was she?
"I'm not strategic ops or marines," Ace responded. "But, I think we could give them some hell."
Cardassian Compound
"Status report," Legate Turvan said as the holo-projector's display presented Gul Meran and Gul Vashur's faces.
"The Federation Marines have managed to reinforce the Portal Complex with numerous heavily armored vehicles. Three Twenty-seventh Battalion is reporting significant losses between them and that transporting system they have in place. I've ordered them to hold their position just beyond the range of the transporter and continue to prevent any gathering of additional forces," Gul Meran reported begrudgingly. He had anticipated some resistance; however, his intel did not inform him that the Federation had managed to reinforce their forces with armored cavalry capabilities.
"My men are at a significant disadvantage without any armored vehicles of our own, sir," Gul Meran reported. He had an entire light infantry regiment at his disposal. But they would not be able to successfully capture and hold both the Portal Complex and the Federation compound without more support.
"Vashur! Why is the Klingon compound still standing in one piece?" Legate Turvan asked impatiently. He had ordered that those animals become nothing more than floating vapors; however, reports indicated that they were continuing to engage Cardassian ground forces.
Gul Vashur quickly responded, "Warship Arvawn has been unable to get an accurate lock due to the atmospheric interference from the planet," she said. "The vessel would have to take up a geosynchronous orbit to be able to pierce the interference and get a steady lock. Unfortunately, that would put it directly in line with Deep Space 5's main cannons," she said. She was unwilling to throw away the lives of her fleet simply to kill a handful of Klingons.
"I've ordered the carrier Ghemor to dispatch a squadron of Hideki class fighters to the planet surface to deal with the Klingon compound and to reinforce the siege on the Portal Complex," she said contently. "I doubt they'll be able to hold out too much longer after that."
"Very good. If all goes according to plan, I'll be enjoying lunch with ina Federation conference room in due time." Legate Hydel laughed.
To be Continued…
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