The Shot Heard Around the Quadrant - Part 1
Posted on Sun Sep 24, 2023 @ 12:29am by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander N'Evran & Commander Amia Telamon M.D. & Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Means III & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant T'Lul & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant JG Anson Lee & Civilian 'Arrival' Geral Lasuma & Charghwl'IH of the House of Soval & Civilian Dorian Torel & Civilian Hydel Turvan
Edited on on Mon Sep 25, 2023 @ 9:57pm
2,427 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Deep Space Five / Pangaea
Timeline: MD58
[ON]
Xi’Cadia
Seventy Starfleet vessels were staged in orbit or near the planet Xi’Cadia. They had managed to establish the blockade, but at a hefty cost. They had lost twenty-five ships due to Cardassian booby traps and direct fighting. Many of the ships in the small fleet had sustained quite a bit of damage.
“Here’s hoping intel gets the word out to the insurgents of the battle”, Admiral Garrison said aboard the bridge of his ship, the Zulu, a sovereign class vessel.
“I am sure they will manage sir”, Commander N’Evran, who was the temporary XO of the ship. “The channel to Admiral Elbagir has been established.”
“On-screen”, Garrison replied and then said, “Admiral.”, to the woman who was on screen.
"Peter," the fleet admiral gave him a brief nod. "Are you ready?"
"We are prepared Admiral", Garrison replied. "The Klingons have confirmed that the Romulans will not interfere, but whether they join the fight, is another story."
"Probably the best we could hope for." She replied. "You may commence the attack. Good Luck."
--
Annora and a portion of the boarding team waited in a converted cargo bay on the Callisto. They were first on deck to set foot on DS5 as soon as the fleet could punch a hole in the shields. In the interim, she was standing against a bulkhead with the gear and rifle right next to her for quick access. Annora looked up from the Data Padd she was reading as Sgt Balthana walked up. He was one of 4 Marines assigned to retake the station; the rest were to help their fellow troops on the planet's surface.
"Reading anything good ma'am?"
Annora lowered the padd.
"Just reviewing the infantry handbook. Don't expect to glean anything new, but it helps keep the mind focused as we wait. I think I prefer planetary assaults to this. Enter orbit, load up the dropships and rocket to the surface."
"I get it. It's the standing around waiting that gets to you. Gives you time to second guess your battle plans even though you've rehearsed them a dozen times over."
Balthana remembered sitting on transports during the Dominion War while en-route to the next occupied planet. It was slightly different now as a Senior NCO, but the base feeling was the same.
En route to DS5/Pangaea
Charg sat in command of his house's flag ship at the lead of a fleet of Klingon warships. He had divided his ships into four wings of fifteen ships, each a mix of Vor’Cha and K'T'Inga class battleships, K'Vort and B'Rel Birds of Prey each lead by a Negh'Var class warship.
Intermixed with wings two and three were additional birds of prey tasked with the retaking of the Pangaean surface. They would break off towards the planet's surface upon his order.
He recalled his time as Starfleet officer and how apprehensive his shipmates would be before an attack. However, from his warriors he sensed only anticipation. He had spoken to those, on his ship, assigned to board the station and had vowed if there was a way he would join them, nut he knew that was unlikely. His duty was to lead the overall Klingon attack and there was honor enough in that. Grinning he looked to his right where he had his weapons within reach; just in case the opportunity presented itself.
USS Zulu
"Acknowledged Admiral", Garrison replied to Admiral Albigair's last command and cut the communication off.
He laughed looking at N'Evran and said, "Ever the politician. Seems your Alpha Quadrant plan irritated the Cardassians a bit."
"I will make sure to send them an apology card and fruit basket when this is over", N'Evran replied wryly.
"Make sure you send them my love too", Garrison quipped.
N'Evran simply nodded and said, "All ships of the attack force report green across the board."
Garrison pressed a button on his control panel opening a fleet-wide communication channel.
"All ships, proceed to targets on my mark, 3,2,1, mark."
With that, the Zulu and the rest of the fleet tasked with taking back Deep Space 5 jumped into warp. Soon they would engage in battle for what could be control of time and space itself, let alone their way of life as they knew it.
---
The Zulu and the rest of the fleet dropped out of warp an hour later. Sensors and communications were being jammed by the Cardassians. They had anticipated this, but the extent of the jamming was greater than expected. Now all they could do was follow the plan and adapt.
"Scopes are giving trustworthy readings only intermittently Admiral", N'Evran said.
"Let's hope the Vulcans can break through it", Garrison replied. "Launch fighters and support craft. Prepare the ion micro-torpedoes."
Sarek
Aboard the Sarek, T'gan turned to Captain Solan. "I believe if we can swing around the sun and approach Pangea from that direction, we will be able to improve communications. And if not, Commander Wells has been monitoring the Cardassians and may be of assistance."
The captain nodded. "The Vulcana and Seenity will accompany us. Inform the rest of the fleet."
T'gan nodded and sent a message using Starfleet encryption to the Zulu. "We are attempting to take out Cardassian communications on Pangaea." It was logical to assume that the Cardassians where using the planet as well as the station and if they could make a surprise attack there, it would give the rest of the coalition a better chance to succeed.
USS Zulu
"Someone see what they can do about clearing comms or at least give the Cardassians the same problem," Garrison decided, frowning at the tactical readouts at his panel.
"Aye, Admiral”, N’Evran said.
He tapped the comm. button on his station panel, "Boarding party Alpha, prepare to launch. Be advised, you will have limited, to no sensor readings and no comm's once you launch. Get to the boarding coordinates as soon as possible. You will have approximately four minutes to get to the station and board before station shields become live again. Good luck."
The bosun's whistle pierced the nervous chatter in the cargo hold, informing the teams to prepare for action. Across the room, people set aside whatever they were doing and grabbed their gear. Once that was done, each person teamed up with a teammate for a final buddy check of their setup. This was all done in the practiced manner of those who had repeatedly drilled such actions.
The Zulu moved along, the Conn Officer piloting well under the circumstances. N'Evran shifted slightly in his chair and squeezed one of the arms of his chair.
"Something wrong XO?", Garrison asked N'Evran, knowing full well that his XO wanted to be flying the ship.
"Starfleet needs to make more comfortable command stations", N'Evran responded.
"If you are ever fully comfortable while in Command my friend, it is time to retire", Garrison said with a chuckle.
The ship rocked as phaser fire from the station and a Cardassian fighter hit it.
"Shields at eighty-five percent, but holding", the tactical officer said.
"Hrmm, well they can hit us, so I guess we are in range", Garrison said with a smile. "Tactical target the station, best guess."
"Firing salvo one", the officer said.
The three torpedoes with low yield ion charges streaked away from the Zulu. Moments later, two of the torpedoes continued past the station. One, however, hit the station where they needed it too.
"Fire salvo two, target the impact", Garrison commanded as soon as he saw the torpedo's impact.
"Fire two", the officer replied.
All three torpedoes flew true, hitting the station. Moments later the station lost its geo-synchronous orbit with the portal site. It would be a tight window, but at least the Klingons and the Federation fighter escorts could start their landing sequence without getting targeted so much by the station.
Klingon Fleet
The 4 Klingon wings of Charghwl's fleet dropped from warp one after 60 warships strong. To their left the station and to their right Pangaea. "Wings 2 & 3 break to the planet and get the ground assault through the Cardassian forces; once they are through destroy all Cardassian ships in orbit then join the main fleet!
"Wings 1 and 4 engage all Cardassian ships and prepare for boarding operation! QAPLA!"
DS5 - Arboretum
Angharad was in the arboretum, trying not to draw too much attention as she ate her breakfast burrito one handed, her other turning her lighter over and over in her fingers. Staring out one of the huge windows, she saw a small flare of light, something anyone who had lived a long time on the space station recognized - the sign of a ship coming out of warp. Then another, and another, and another. They just kept coming. She dropped the burrito, fumbling for the communicator in her pocket. "T'Lul. T'lul! You need to look out of any windows on the west side!"
DS5 - Deck 67
Dorian had managed to link up with the few remaining Marines that hadn't been killed or captured and they were planning some sabotage to be coordinated with T'lul and her associates when the station was hit. Everyone had kept their footing but knew exactly what had happened. "Looks like the cavalry is here."
Sgt Major Valez looked to Dorian as the Marines geared up with whatever weapons they had. We won't be able to get to Engineering, but we can get to the primary and secondary shield generators for the upper section of the station. We need to make sure those shields are either taken offline or stay offline so our forces can beam onboard!"
Dorian was already moving. "Go!" With the attack underway he had another mission.
DS5 – Promenade
As the station rocked with incoming fire from the Federation fleet, Saul Hogan was glad his restaurant was currently empty. As soon as he learned war had been declared, he'd started making preparations for just such an occasion.
"Wegom, close up shop. Pauer, help me dig some gear out from the back. We've laid low for now, but it's time to officially join the resistance."
Moving to the small storeroom, Saul motioned to a stack of crates.
"We'll have to move stuff to get to the bottom crates."
Once the bottom row was revealed, two crates stamped with the logo of the Global Gastronomy company were opened. Inside one was several older hand phasers and 2 med-kits. The other crate contained power cells for the phasers.
"Let's go harass some Cardassians. At the moment let's stick with hit and run attacks. If we run into more friendlies, we can adjust our plan accordingly."
---
Lasuma was in his company’s landing bay help to oversee the offloading of the cargo shipments that the Cardassians had allowed to return to the station. He stood by, with the freighters Captain as several Cardassians with scanners verified the shipments, periodically comparing their scans with the manifest. Across the bay the repair crews that were to begin work on the promenade were undergoing their own series of inspections.
That's when the station was hit. Had the bay doors still been open they would have been able to see the ships continuing to drop out of warp and the battle that had begun.
Before the initial shock appeared on the Cardassian's faces than several of the repair crew had sprung into action. Taking out the Cardassians in the bay and while the rest opened container and started assembling what had to be weapons or other gear one quickly moved to Geral. "Sha'rae sends her respects."
"And you are?"
"Rayner, one of Dorian's former squad mates."
"Your team in a part of the assault then?"
"No, just a lucky coincidence. Sha'rae thought we could help with the resistance you were supplying. but as you can tell things have already started so we will just skip the infiltration and go straight to our primary targets."
Turning to the freighter's captain. "Mind if we use your transporter? We got some trouble to cause."
Geral chuckled. "A squad of undetectable Angosians running around...that's a lot of trouble."
Everyone that was remaining on the station rushed to the freighter's transporter while the rest secured themselves on the ship as the bay doors began to open. Once the transports were complete the freighter was going to make a run for it.
Geral materialized in his shop with two Cardassian weapons he had acquired from the fallen troops in the bay. Even this early there were people on the promenade, waving them into his shop. "Get in here!"
Outside DS5
Even as Charghwl had spoken to his other wing commanders the station came into view and the space around it was set ablaze with phaser, disruptor fire, torpedo launches and explosions.
USS Zulu
N'Evran tapped the comm. button again, "Boarding parties, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, launch!"
All around him, Lt. Lee felt everyone tense. The low-grade adrenaline that had been there since they'd started their approach spiked into heart-pounding anticipation. He adjusted his grip on his phaser rifle to compensate for the sudden sweat on his palms. Something from one of his Academy instructors passed through his mind. Don't forget to breathe.
Annora looked around at her 3 teammates as well as those from groups. Everyone had their game face on, as their shuttle rocketed towards the station. As soon as the shields were disrupted, they would beam aboard to begin properly retaking DS5.
Klingon Fleet
The order had been given and Federation transport had been launched. "Provide covering fire for those transports and begin transporting our troops the second there is hole in the shields. Target Operations, engineering, and secure all critical areas. And remember...I WANT TURVAN ALIVE!"
…To Be Continued< /i>
[OFF]
A Joint Post By
---
Commander N’Evran
Executive Officer
Admiral Peter Garrison, Fleet Commander
USS Zulu
NPC by Commander N’Evran
Jason Haines, Resident Pain in the Butt
Deep Space 5
PNPC by Commander N’Evran
LtCol Nicholas Means
Marine CO to DS5
Chrarghwl'IH of the House of Soval
Klingon Ambassador
PNPC by LtCol. Means
Geral Lasuma
Owner Lasuma Enterprises
PNCP by LtCol. Means
Doren Torel
Henchman/Body Guard for Geral Lasuma
PNPC by LtCol. Means
T'gan
Temporal Scientist
Deep Space 5 and Sarek
NPC by Alanna Wells
Captain Solan
Sarek Commander
NPC by Alanna Wells
Lt. Jg. Anson Lee
Eventual Assistant Chief Security Officer
Lt Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer
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