Be Prepared

Posted on Tue Mar 2nd, 2021 @ 9:41pm by Captain Solin Edral & Commander Kreitenne R'tanya & Lieutenant Colonel William Christensen-Wright SFMC & Lieutenant Daniel Ryci

1,663 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: [OS] A New Dawn
Location: Ourea Station; Station Operations
Timeline: MD11 || 1315

"Commander R'tanya, I got a report this morning that some of the field generators on the planet where slightly out of alignment with some others. Can you have some engineers assigned to rectify that problem? I really need a day where I don't have to deal with Governor Idrad." A small smile passed over his face as a few officers within earshot heard what he said. He suddenly stiffened up. "I mean that with the utmost respect, of course." His smile flickered again.

There were times she wondered why she ever accepted a promotion to Commander, much less a position as First Officer in such a remote location of the Delta Quadrant. And, in those times, she found herself wanting a command position of her own so that some of that grunt work could be offloaded to her own Exec.

"The engineering teams are still working on our other priority issues," Krietenne informed the Captain. "But I can grab an Operations detail and take a look at them personally. I did help with their deployment after all."

"If you could. I'm also hopeful that the remaining defence systems will be online with a few days. For now, we have enough ships in the sector. Captain Carthen wants to send the Binary on small exploratory assignment. Only a few light-years away, but we want to see if there are any problem areas around the system."

Kreitenne considered the Nova-class starship for a moment and its capabilities. "Makes sense to me, sir. But if there is trouble, she should warp back as fast as she can. We know the Vaudwaur can disrupt communications easily, but the high warp speed showing up on our sensors can be part of our early warning system."

"Definitely. I think any warning system is usually a good thing. They appear to still be able to appear, with very little warning, except for a rise in antileptons. But that's usually a minute or two before any of the underspace anomalies appear."

"Fair enough. Anything else I need to consider before taking a team down to the colony?" she asked the Captain.

"Nothing off the top of my head. Just keep everyone on their toes." He walked around the operations centre, before standing at the centre console by the Tactical station, he glanced around at the various officers on deck, and some of the consoles that were still not functional. He was walking past the tactical console when it started to beep.

"Report Ensign." He asked.

"Sir, sensors are detecting increasing levels of antileptons. They are in very small quantities, barely registering. Had we not added an alert for them, our sensors wouldn't have even picked them up."

Edral looked to Commander Kreitenne. "Go, now. Use the emergency room. If this is an attack like before, we'll lose communications, consider yourself in charge of Starfleet forces until further notice. Liaise with the Governor's office I'll inform Governor Idrad of the situation."

"Understood, Captain." Kreitenne nodded and ran off for the entrance for the nearby transporter room. Just before she arrived at the door, however, she stopped at an equipment locker to snatch a phaser rifle, pistol, and tricorder. Somehow, as she attached these items to her uniform, she managed to hit her combadge and summon an Operations team to beam down to the surface.

Kreitenne stormed into the transporter room after that. "One to beam down to the Governor's office!" she shouted as she ran past the operator, shouting the command to energize the moment she reached the platform.

"Red alert, all hands to battle stations. Aisha, inform the fleet and see if you can let Admiral Paka know."

"Aye, Sir." Her being an AI, she could do the several things required at once. "Communications sent, Vesta Protocol has been initiated. Ships are moving into formation. around the station, and above the colony."

Edral tapped the console in front of him. "Senior officers report to designated positions. Commander Anon, beam down with the teams to the colony and report to Commander R'tanya. Colonal Christensen-Wright, Lieutenant Ryci, report to Operations.

It didn't take long for the Marine to emerge from the turbolift. He assumed that the event they had been preparing for was here and William wasn't entirely convinced that they were prepared enough for what was to come. Taking a seat at the Mission Ops station, William quickly brought himself up to speed.

The Captain noted that Colonel Christensen-Wright was at his station. "Aisha, ship status. Colonel, make sure every ship is communicating with us. I want everything coordinated from here."

"Ships have moved into pre-programmed locations to ensure the station does not have any blind spots." She paused then her head tilted slightly. "Antileptons are increasing. Based upon previous sensor readings from the other two attacks, I would estimate approximately 2 minutes till the Vaadwaur appear."

Daniel said to Captain edral "My team is ready to take on the Vaadwaur, Sir"

The Captain nodded to the Lieutenant.

The Colonel's fingers danced across his console as he established datalink and voice comm channels to the ships surrounding the station. "Links established," William announced as the clock ticked down towards the emergence of the enemy ships.

Edral looked to the Colonel. "All our blind spots covered? Don't launch the fighters, but have them on hot standby. Same with the runabouts. I want them there if we need them."

Christensen double checked the incoming datalink. "Our blind spots are covered, sir." The Colonel reported. "Our ships are feeding their incoming sensor data directly to us, filling in the station's sensor blind spots."

His fingers tapped out another series of commands. "Fighter and runabouts confirmed on hot standby."

"I guess this is it then. Aisha, open a channel to all ships, and broadcast station-wide." The AI nodded in return. "This is Captain Edral, you all have your orders, we must stop the Vaadwaur here, and protect the colony below. Coordinate all tactical scans with us. Red alert, go to battle stations, Edral out." The lights in the Operations center shifted to a darker hue, and the hum of previously dormant shield generators dotted around the periphery of the room filled the air with a slightly metallic taste.

Outside the station, the USS Maggiore and Pinciana had already jumped away in Slipstream, to separate coordinates that even the Captain's wouldn't know till they dropped out of it, by which time it could be hundreds of lightyears away.

The USS Pequod and USS Chang Teh were both in synchronous orbits of the station, and the USS Binary and both Defiant-class USS Loki and Narcissus were the fast responders, covering any areas that the station and larger ships couldn't cover. The fighters and runabouts were ready to launch if needed, but they were being kept behind for now.

"Sir," one of the tactical officers called out. "Subspace rifts forming, bearing three-two-five, mark two-zero."

Aisha spoke next. "Captain, they have locked on to every ship simultaneously. They are firing some kind of photonic pulse. I'm blind, sensor arrays have overloaded."

Edral looked over to the other officers. "Report!"

"We've lost the sensor data from the Task Group." Christensen announced. He glanced around at the young officer working at the science station. "We'll have to reinitialise the sensors. That'll take around half a minute."

"What are they up to? Aisha, had any ships opened fire before we were hit by the pulses?" The Captain asked, with a sense of urgency.

"No, Captain. As soon as they had a lock on every ship, the blinded us all at the same time. Subspace communications are also down."

A look of panic washed over the Captain's face. "The Colony. I need communications now!"

Aisha, while outwardly looking like she was just standing there, was busy at work throughout the computer system. Once her eye colour changed back from the glowing blue, she looked at the Captain. "I have activated the emergency RF frequencies, but the signal strength is not the best."

The Captain nodded in return. "Ourea Station to Colony Command. All orbital assets are temporarily blinded, we believe they may be landing troops. Be prepared." He paused and looked to Aisha.

"The message has been sent, but I do not know if it was received. Sensors should be coming back online now, communications are still being blocked." The station shuddered, as a barrage of pulse beams hit the station.

The lights flickered again, while the various tactical officers targetted ships in their firing sectors. With a few weapon systems still not operational, there was a blindspot beneath the station, which was being covered by the Pequod and the Loki. They had already taken some minor damage, from the constant barrage of pulses to them. "Target the ships that are closing on the colony. They are our priority. And will someone please get me communications? We need to know what’s…"

"Captain, sensors detecting six landing craft entering the atmosphere, to the northeast of the colony. Unknown number of troops. Sensor resolution still not at 100%."

"Dam. Launch the fighters, have them try and intercept the landing craft." The Captain called out.

Christensen quickly sent the launch order and within ninety seconds reported, "Fighters launched. They're moving to intercept."

Aisha spoke next. "The Binary has sustained damage to their weapon systems, they are attempting to pull back to the station, but they are being attacked by several fighters. Pequod shields are down to 73% but holding. They are providing cover for our phaser blind spot."

"First priority, once this is over, is to get the weapon systems fully operational. Have the Loki cover the Binary." The captain grabbed for a handrail on the console in front of him as the station shuddered under another barrage. Status on the landing craft?"

"They are within the atmosphere, sensors are still spotty in places," Aisha replied. "But they appear to have landed."

 

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