The First Strike

Posted on Thu Apr 27, 2023 @ 2:32am by Commander N'Evran

1,004 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Cardassian Space, Alpha Quadrant
Timeline: Present day

[ON]

The twelve ships of the task force assigned to operation ‘take back’ had assembled at Starbase 310 which was only a hop, skip, and a jump to the sector of space that nobody in the Federation or Cardassian Union wanted to speak about willingly. A whole sector of disputed space that had been put into a state of upheaval politically, economically, and geographically. Whole families in both the Cardassian union and Federation had their lives uprooted without any say. The area of space was now known by many as the ‘Raw Deal’.

Given the outbreak of the Dominion war, resources that would normally have been diverted to assist in re-building had to be channeled, on both sides, to fighting the war. After that, the worlds that had seen the worst damage were given priority for repair. All this, making the Raw Deal worse. This, however, would work to the advantage of the task force.

The lead ship of the group, the Galaxy class USS Iota, was commanded by a tough, no-nonsense Tellarite, Captain Grekoth. She had been mentored by Captain Edward Jellico and took to his style easily. It was for this very reason that she had been chosen to lead the task group. She would see the mission through as it was intended.

“XO”, she said. “Signal all ships to proceed to target sites on my mark.”

“Aye, Captain”, replied her Caitian XO who crinkled his nose a bit at referring to the planets as targets. He was a peaceful individual and had found being under the command of the Tellarite not to his liking and was waiting for the next few weeks to be over so he could be off to his next assignment.

“All ships have been reported in and are ready”, the XO said.

“Very well”, Grekoth replied. “Mark in 3,2,1 mark.”

All twelve ships jumped into warp, all ready at red alert. Six in one direction, the other six in a different one.

Argorus Prime

Task group alpha dropped out of warp very close to the planet Argorus Prime as planned. Each ship had an assigned sector around the planet to focus on and they spread out.

The Cardassian satellites were not as undefended as reports indicated.

"Captain, we're in position," the tactical officer reported to the commanding officer of the lead Starfleet ship. “We have incoming automated drone interceptors.”

“Threat potential?”, Grekoth asked.

“Minimal, according to scans.”

"Very well," she responded. "Target the satellites and open fire, leave one satellite operational. Once they are destroyed, I imagine the drones will stop responding."

The six ships began their barrage of phaser fire and torpedoes upon the satellites. The drones tried to engage, but the shielding of the Starfleet vessels.

The Cardassian satellites exploded one by one as the task group continued their assault. The drones began to list as each of the satellites were destroyed.

"Captain, the satellites have been destroyed and the Cardassian forces have been neutralized," the XO reported.

"Good work, everyone," the Grekoth said. "CONN, proceed to the rendezvous point.”


Gorvallan III

Task group beta dropped out of warp near Gorvallan III and began to fan out. As they started their attack, the tactical officer of the lead ship, the Indigo, called out.

“Captain, there are remote drones and there is a squadron of fighters that are coming from the surface, ETA 3 minutes.”

“Very well”, the captain said. “Begin attack, let’s try to get those satellites down quickly and we can give those fighters a warm welcome.”

“Aye, aye”, the tactical officer replied with an almost gleeful tone. In this day and age, ship weapons tended to only get fired during targeting calibration tests.

As the last satellite fell, the tactical officer said, “The Merigold is reporting a shield generator failure, the Cardassians are trying to take advantage of it.”

“Move to intercept”, the captain called out. “Tactical, open fire on the fighters once they are in range.”

As the ship moved closer, the tactical officer managed to destroy two of the fighters as the Merigold tried to outmaneuver the other two, to no avail. The two Cardassian fighters launched a salvo of torpedoes, right before they themselves were destroyed. The salvo had targeted the engines of the defenseless Merigold and the small Defiant class blew up in a brief display of fireworks.

“Damn”, the Captain of the Indigo cursed. After a brief pause, they called out, “Helm, set course to the rendezvous and engage.”


Mining Colony Etrus

The eleven ships of the task force came out roughly a million kilometers from the Etrus dilithium mining colony. It was a mostly automated system, usually with less than thirty individuals working there. Today was different. A Bok’Nar class freighter was protected by two Galor class warships. Due to recent pirate attacks, the Cardassians had been tightening up security on certain types of transports.

“Captain Grekoth”, the Iota’s XO said. “Task force ships are requesting instructions.”

“Damn it”, Grekoth spat. “We will do our job as ordered.”

“Sir, with respect”, the XO said. “We could be starting a major incident if we proceed, we should at least contact Starfleet.”

Grekoth scowled at her XO.

“The Cardassians already started ‘an incident’ when they took over our Starbase”, Grekoth snapped. “Or did you forget about that Commander? “

The Tellarite opened a task force wide communication.

“Artemis, Mirakov, Solaris, attack target designated X1”, Grekoth commanded, marking one of the warships. “Barret, Polaris, Gorgon, attack X2. Attack to disable, but don’t be afraid to defend yourselves. Remainder, proceed on mission.”

Fifteen minutes later the Etrus mining colony lay in ruins. The two Cardassian warships drifted in space trying to get their engines back online. The transport ship had fled the scene. The eleven damaged Starfleet vessels jumped back into warp, heading back to Starbase 310.

“Now the politicians get to play their games”, Grekoth grunted as she shuffled off to her ready room to report to Starfleet.

[OFF]


Various NPC's
By Commander N'Evran

 

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