Operation Homeward Bound

Posted on Tue Feb 25th, 2020 @ 4:48am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Captain Winfield Hood & Captain Jelane 'Firefly' Shiqwue & Lieutenant Commander Larim Myles & Lieutenant Commander Vaebn tr'Hwersuil & Lieutenant Elen Diari & Staff Warrant Officer Jennifer Masters - Calhoun & Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke & Major Cornelius Tremble & Brigadier General Francis 'Judge' Sobel & Glinn Kalim

5,672 words; about a 28 minute read

Mission: Episode 9 - Empok's End
Location: Operational Briefing Center - Camp McCoy SFMC
Timeline: MD004 2000 hrs

The past day and a half had been nothing but a blur for both Tyler Malbrooke and Winfield Hood. The old friends and bumped into each other as they headed for the briefing. Not much was exchanged between the two save for the inside joke of raising their rachtajino cups to each other as an acknowledgement. It was not that they were angry simply put they were tired and resolute in what needed to be done. The Marine installation offered little comforts and supplies had to be rationed. Both Captains knew that they were lucky to be walking together, lucky to be alive.

They entered the lecture hall which would serve as the situation room. Tyler smiled weakly to his friend. “Winfield no one saw this coming. No one could… They got us both, got everyone.”

Hood did not return his friend’s sentiment. “Tyler it is… was my job to see to it that this did not happen. I should have known, should have seen. I lost a lot of good people today. People who did not have to die, should not of had to die.” Both men fell silent as they took seats toward the front.

Captain Jelane Shiqwue had taken up the task of serving as Sobel’s Aide De Camp. That is until the erstwhile Vulcan that usually held that job could be found. She rather enjoyed tending to and assisting the General. It gave her something to do while in camp, she was a pilot and should be shooting at enemies, not sitting on her laurels. At the moment she was setting out pitchers of water and coffee as ordered by the General. “Sirs, help yourself to your seats and any refreshment you would like. The General will be with you shortly.”

Colonel Ijaan walked into the room a bit uneasy for her taste. Ellie was a marine, this should be a walk in the park for her. This wasn’t the Paranormal universe, and these certainly weren’t the Crescent they were dealing with. But as the reigning skipper of the Ottawa and now the Ottawa A, she knew of losses. During her time in the Paranormal universe she experienced more losses than anyone could imagine, so she understood completely what the Empok Nor CO was going through. She looked to the two starfleet captains sitting in the front. She walked up to them and then stood to attention. “Captains, my condolences.”

Having followed the Marine that was in front of him and the conference room and followed her over to the other officers and came to a stop beside her,“ Colonel, Captain’s” replied James as he offered his hand, He continued “I take it this fleet is here for what as I haven't been told why to come, we just did,” as his XO had set the ship towards this area.

Ellie turned around. “I am sorry, captain, to have you been rushed to the station Empok nor, while we were taking supplies at Deep Space 9, but we received a call for any close by vessels. It was a distress call from Captain Hood, we had to act quickly, which is why I put the call through to your XO. I guess there wasn’t much time to explain. No time to react either, we had to cover those outgoing vessels that were leaving. From what I could tell there were Cardassians vessels and Maquis…” She turned to the captains behind her. “....raiders?” She took in a deep breath. “I am guessing this briefing is going to explain what is going on here.”

“Maquis,” replied James looking back at the Colonel, he continued, “we got a distress call to come here, as this was a turn up for the books, as questions started to flow through his mind. oO And one big one was why the Maquis helping the Cardassians Oo as he knew that they were a disgruntled officers that had turned back on Starfleet.

“Well, I guess, we’re just going to have to see what the briefing is going to cough up, am I right, Captain?” Ellie turned to the other Captains. “Captains,” She nodded to them and then pointed to some of the chairs. “Can I get you anything, Captain Stewart, while we wait for everyone to arrive?”

Jon Grant of the Feynman walked over to the group “Captain Hood”, addressing the group, as he didn’t know any of them “Your quartermaster, has been able to get through to one of the nearby starbases,using our comms, he’s told me there’s two supply ships incoming, and should be here within six hours. Any specialised things, well, talk to him to get them ordered”.

Tyler and Winfield looked at the gathering officers, and it was Hood who broke their silence. He knew that Tyler felt the loss of Empok Nor just as much as he did. “There is no need to apologize. If you did not come to our aid countless civilians and members of my crew would have perished. So for that I thank you both and everyone else that is here. As to this meeting yes Captain Stewart here is partially correct. It is not just the Maquis, but the Obsidian Order as well. That is really what has caused this the unification of two unlikely sects. However, this meeting will be talking more about our return. If you think for one minute that I am going to allow them to keep that station you have another thing coming.”

Ameri walked into the room to hear what Hood had to say. She was both convicted and relieved at his words. They needed to fight for each and every loss and injured and take back what was theirs, to make the losses be vindicated if nothing else.

“Whatever I can do, Captain Hood,” Ameri spoke as she took a seat. “I am more than willing, I think I speak for the crew of the Pioneer when I say we are ready to do what it takes to take back what is ours.” She took a deep breath. “We are sorry for your loss, all of us knew someone there but I know you feel it even more so.”

Brigadier General N.M.I. Sobel emerged from a small office off of the conference hall followed by a small knot of officers.

Looking around only briefly, the General walked to the head of the table as his officer’s found seats and considered things. The general was now clad in a standard issued jump suit and beret and he looked tired.

And slightly pissed.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we’ll get started and if there’s more personnel left to file in, they’ll have to catch up.

Jennifer Masters wasn’t nervous at all, that was until she walked into the briefing room. She had never seen so many people gathered in one place. She looked around and then just took a seat at the table. She hoped she would see some other familiar faces. She wore her intelligence uniform and had the Staff warrant officer’s rank pinned on her collar. She smiled at people passing by her.

“Though I wish it were under different circumstances, welcome to Camp McCoy. What we have in the way of supplies is at your disposal. These marines,” he said, gesturing to the officer’s that had emerged with him, “Are Colonel Woods the Brigade Executive Officer, Colonel Sanders, the Brigades Regimental landing group’s commander, Major Roi, my S2 Intelligence officer. Major Shuk, my S4 Logistics officer, and Captain Tremble, Pioneer’s detachment commander.”

“You all know, or know of each other, I assume. I’m General Sobel, the Brigade commander and we’re here to plan on retaking Empok Nor. The short of that plan is obviously two fold. Captain Shiqwue, activate the holo-tank please.”

At his words, his acting aide-de-camp lowered the lights in the conference room and a three dimensional representation of Empok Nor and the surrounding space appeared. “Obviously, Fleet will need to punch us a hole back in that system and deal with their battleships. Whether we want to include boarding actions within those operations is something we’ll need to decide.

The holo image briefly blinked red and points of light attached to tags identifying Cardassian and Maquis ships moving around the station. “Once we have a hole, the Brigade will effect a landing to retake the station. Preliminarily, we’ll use battle suited marines to breach and spearhead the initial landing, followed up by Colonel Sanders Regiment, approximately 800 to 1000 marines all told.”

The hologram changed. The station itself glowed red and then the holo shrank and the lights came up. “That’s the quick and dirty. There’s lots of planning to do to get this right. I will tell you that our Regimental S3 planning officers are projecting losses to be at 50-70% for my Marines going in. I want to bring that down, but the Federation has indicated that the cost is acceptable.”

Sobel’s tone was dry at that and he then gestured to the room, “And now the floor is open.”

Jon looked round the group, “General, if they’re of any use at all, the company of Marine Commandos on board my ship are at your complete disposal.”

Captain Titus Knight walked through the door. He had spent a good twenty minutes speaking with the quartermaster of the camp about bringing some of the substantial supplies that the U.S.S. Tianlong had at its disposal. The ship was a floating base in a sense and had the capacity to stay in deep space longer than most others. But even if she had the capacity, she was not used for exploration, she was a ‘show of strength’ kind of ship. His Yeoman, a young woman with fire red hair was behind him. She was essential for the smooth running of a ship with several thousand souls onboard.

Titus was wearing the standard captains uniform with the exception of a cap on his head with the U.S.S. Tianlong printed on its face. “Sirs, ma’ams.” he nodded as a greeting. Even if he had a higher rank than some of the people in the room, it was still good enough for him. Unlike everyone else, Titus didn’t take a seat, he preferred to stand and now stood in a perfect ‘at-ease’ stance to the side of the door.

Hayley nodded politely to those present as she stood alongside Titus. She had come equipped with a PADD to take any necessary notes for Titus, she wanted to make sure she had any details he needed to hand at a moments notice.

“Where is Captain Knight sitting?” Domingo asked, as he was closely behind Hayley. By his side was Riley, his own personal Yeoman. They had been discussing tactical strategies with Titus, prior to entering the room. When Domingo got a call he had to take from Starfleet Command. They kindly informed him that they would not be getting reinforcements.

"I don't think he's that worried at the moment Sir" Hayley turned to look at Titus who was still quite happily standing. "The Captain prefers to stand rather than sit."

“He does play by his own rules, doesn’t he?” Domingo asked, as he noticed Riley trying to get his attention. He motioned a moment to her, as he waited for Hayley to respond.

Riley looked around the room, seeing a couple open seats at the end. “Would you like to sit there, Admiral or stand here with Captain Titus?”

“Sitting down, is fine with me.” Domingo said, as he allowed Riley to lead them. He wondered what plan Captain Malbrooke, and Captain Hood had devised. And how much support they would need from Port Royale and New Haven.

Riley led the way over to their seats, leaving the open seat to the isle for the Admiral. She looked around the room and then back to her boss.

“I realized the enormity of what was happening when you first informed me, sir,” Riley said quietly. “But all those present here just made it even more real.”

Kalim sat off to one side of the meeting hall. No one seemed to want to sit around him, and he did not blame them. Some of his people had showed their true colors and he above everyone wanted some sort of revenge. He stood boldly and faced Sobel first the look on the Cardassian’s face was one that said let me speak.

He turned to everyone assembled and saw that the only sympathetic face was his commanding officer Captain Hood. “Ladies and Gentlemen what I am about to tell you is a secret of my people and my government. However, it is something that I think will help alleviate the losses that you have taken, and are about to take. Cardassians are cold blooded beings. Much like reptiles of Earth. As such if it gets below a certain temperature it will render my species incapable of fighting. I believe that if you can get someone to manipulate the environmental controls to bring the station temperature below that breaking point. It will cut their forces in half.”

Not being a department head, Lieutenant Hermia O’Rourke was not required to be at this meeting, so for the moment she was content to just listen to the others present.

The marine identified as Captain Tremble smiled grimly. “Well, that’s easy then. We hole the station in half a dozen places with suited marines and vent all atmosphere, violently, from several places. A nice cold dip into the black should really cut their numbers.”

Sobel quickly stood and said, “As you were, Captain. That’s not what we’re here for and I’ll remind you we still may have personnel aboard…”

Neil shrugged and audibled, “Aye aye, sir.,” and went quiet, his eyes meeting, then looking away from the Brigadiers.

Colonel Ijaan looked up the smaller image on her padd of the station and the surrounding area. Being a marine herself she gave her a tactical advantage in the center seat. “General, I would definitely propose that we send in the marine carrier with the Tianglong fighters. They have a wider arrange close to the station and can cover the marines before they board. I think the rest of us can cover you and punch a whole for you through the Cardassian and Maquis forces. I am also not opposed in having their environment changed on the station, but we would need someone to hack into the station’s system for that.”

Doctor Ballston listened intently from the back as he heard the recommendations and idea. His face was sullen and rightfully so. As of yet he did not know the fate of his family or the Azzian Ambassador who had traveled all this way to try and work out whatever differences they may have had though he doubted those were the reasons for the assault.

The physician was in prepared as was his staff the utility belt about his waist was packed and his tricorder was ready for service. In his hand was a med kit knowing he was going to need it once a decision had been made.

Elen put her hand on his shoulder “Ricky, This is Mandy, the Feynman’s Medical examiner, she’s got some good news for you, if you’ll excuse me,''as she pushed closer to the front of the group.

“Dr, Ballston, Mandy Wallenczech”, the Dark haired woman introduced herself “We’ve got multiple sightings of little Abigail being evacuated from the station, and I have most of my crew on the look out for her here, so we should be able to get her to you soon, just with all the people here, taking a little bit of time, but from all reports, she’s safe.”

Richard nodded at the woman “that is good to know, thank you Doctor,.” He drew in a deep breath, “perhaps we can verify those reports, soon.”

Elen made her way to the front of the rabble, “You asked for a hacker of environmental systems ? Well, I volunteer. If someone can fly me in, probably in a shuttle pod on the z-axis, as that’s the least defended, I can get the place colder than Sunday on Breen within fifteen minutes.”

Hayley stood listening before speaking up. "Excuse me but…" She looked around those present including Titus. "I'd like to volunteer to help as well, I was top of my Academy year in computer skills, I can get into any computer system. It might come in handy to have two of us working on those systems."

“Sure. “ El replied “Better keep the group small though, yeah, we all want to go and bash some heads, but we can’t all go at once. They might notice.”

Hermia walked forward. “I suggest we pump an anesthetic into Empok Nor’s ventilation system to deal with the Cardassians’ Maquis allies. The one I have in mind will affect humans, Betazoids and Bajorians, but have no effect on Vulcans or Klingons.” She said.

Ameri listened and took notes for herself. She agreed with Captain Tremble and though she knew their interest was to take the base back, blood was boiling for some of them and that couldn’t be helped. They would act as officers during this fight but if the Cardassians resisted they wouldn’t be opposed to ending them.

Tyler had been listening closely to what everyone was saying. He enjoyed the enthusiasm, which he shared. The enthusiasm showed that no one was ready to give up on their home. He rose from the dais of officers. “The basics of the plan would be as follows. The Churchill, Tianglong, Ottawa, and Tianjin will be taking on the Raiders and the Cardassian fleet. This should allow the Pioneer to punch through to the station. We will drop off Captain Tremble and The Cure along with the other boarding teams will be dropped off. Once they are in the Pioneer will fall back and join the fleet.”

Tyler kept the fact that he had a team already inside close to the vest. He was not going to reveal that unless it had to be revealed. Niel would be told when the time was right. However, outside of that he did not want to risk anyone else knowing.

Sobel let the all of the comments, ideas, suggestions and tactical recommendations wash through the room for a few minutes. People were keyed up and needed a chance to vent but there wasn’t all that much time for it now. After a few minutes he stood and rapped on the lectern with his Academy ring.

“All right, let’s rein it in. There are some very good ideas being floated about. We’ll be taking them all into consideration, using what works and leaving the rest in a box for the next time.”

He nodded to his aide and the Captain activated the holo field which grew larger as the lights dimmed again. “Space superiority is not my specialty, but it is my requirement. I will leave the details of that to Admiral Martinez and you starship Captains. The landing is my responsibility. Pioneer will ensure our breaching teams get in and gets the Order and Maquis thinking about something else. Thirty seconds after they hit the station, the Brigade Landing Team will warp in.”

The holo image of the station that had appeared, with a representation of the Pioneer fighting it’s way to Empok Nor was followed by vessels which popped into the hologram. “Five Anaconda assault shuttles towing ten PEARL’s will bring in the Brigade.” The hologram closed in to show black painted craft towing equally dark hued, round landing craft begin to encircle, then swarm the station at the same moment.

“They put the Brigade aboard en-mass, activating their shielding and weapon systems to push the enemy further away from the station. For your information, each of the PEARL’s are fitted with the same shield generators and phaser emitters, just fewer, as the Pioneer. Once this is all over, the Anaconda’s will dis-embark and transport the Marines back to Camp McCoy while the PEARLS remain in place until Empoc’s own weaponry can come back on line.”

“Once aboard,” the General continued and the hologram shrunk to show a close up, overhead view of the station, “The Marines and boarding teams will begin clearing the station, corridor by corridor and compartment by compartment until it’s been completely swept clean.”

“The breaching team, lead by Captain Tremble and The Cure will be responsible for securing Operations, Engineering, and Security. Captain Tremble?”

Slightly surprised, Neil glanced around the room then squared his shoulders and stepped up to the table. “Aye sir. The Cure, mounted in MARVEL-EAS suits will make entry and set up the Primary LZ. Rifle team three will secure the LZ. Rifle team two under Sergeant Flarn will move out to secure Engineering while the Command team will secure Operations. TheCure’s going to be sowing a lot of chaos as we go and not stopping for anything. Rifle two has the most important job, taking out the transporter inhibitors and weapon systems. Once that’s done, we’ll transport security teams in to make sure those objectives are held.”

Tremble stepped back and Sobel nodded. “The rest will be mop up. There will be no ‘containment’. The Order and the Maquis either give up or go down. The Federation has already agreed with my assessment that there will be no negotiating with these criminals.”

Sobel let that sink in for a few beats, then looked to the Starship Captains. “The last item I have is the need for triage/medical coverage. The Brigade medical detachment was diverted months ago and will not be in place for this, so we will be in need of your ship’s medical bays.”

“Feynman’s available completely for primary triage. We’re under armed compared to the other ships, so happy to be a med ship. Captain Hood, if your medical team wishes to come onboard at their own convenience” Jon answered.

Captain Titus took this moment to add his thoughts. “You won’t be under armed as much as you think Commander.” he began, he reached around for his yeoman to give him her PADD and once he had it he stepped up to the table, with a few commands. On the holographic projector on the tabled changed, each and every ship in the fleet appeared in a row. “I will be assigning two of my squadrons to each ship, ten in each. One of these squadrons will be composed of Jabelin-class superiority fighters to deal with any softer targets and fighters. The other…” he paused and the holographic image changed again. “Will be these, the Gryphon class fighter. What’s different about these are they will be mounting Tetreon weaponry. Meaning they will be shield killers, so that you with the bigger firepower can deal with them faster. They will also be packing micro-plasma torpedoes to damage them over time since a fighter will have a hard time dealing larger damage in one go as you all know.” he tapped the PADD again and the hologram went back to the previous setting. “I will, however, ask that you provide them with some cover if they need a moment to replenish their shields. Losing them to early will not help us.” Titus added before stepping back to the spot next to his yeoman, he didn’t want to lose any fighters and pilots, but it was combat and that was inevitable.

Ellie looked to Titus, “So aside from the other ships shooting at Maquis and Cardassians, you want us to babysit 12 of your fighters as well? I am not even sure there is enough reaction time. Have you seen how many maquis raiders and Cardassians warships there were when we got to Empok Nor? I am a marine, I wouldn’t shy away from a battle, it’s just not manageable.”

Titus smiled. “Not at all. In fact you have it backwards. They are there to babysit you, keep mines, fighters and even aid with the softening of targets for the big girls and boys to deal with them. But because they are soft targets, I would like to use your stronger shields and thicker armor to help protect them. As they protect you. The more time we give the infiltration team, the higher our chances to succeed. Or am I wrong?” The carrier captain didn’t blame those who were sceptible, in fact a true melding of minds accept good and bad facts to weed out the worse to obtain the best chances.

Her only command before the Insignia class Ottawa-A was the Steamrunner Ottawa. So she wasn’t really used to working with fighters. Back in the paranormal universe, during the war with the alternate Crescent she had seen them. Ellie nodded to the captain. “Your strategy has merit, Captain, but you have to understand if we are unable to get to your fighters in time, the fighter in question will have to get within the shielding of the larger ships themselves. I can assume they can do that?”

“Of course. All I wanted to hear was that you allow my fighters to take safe haven from the bigger targets until their own shields recharge. Since they are smaller, they shouldn’t take long to do so. As soon as they are ready, they will head out again. They will not cower, just an extra layer of protection. As said, you will have twenty fighters protecting you, one set of ten will deal with mines and smaller targets light fighters and transports. The other set will kill shields and set targets on fire with plasma. They are there to assist you and guard you, nothing more, nothing less.”

Ellie nodded. “Very well, Captain. I know the Churchill can add additional fighters to that number. The Ottawa currently has one fighter pilot. We were on our way to New Haven Starbase where our fighters are awaiting us. Perhaps you would be so kind as to give our fighter some work, she is eager to get out there.” She smiled at Titus. She then turned over to the General. “I also think it might be a good idea to bring the fighters under one command. This way the fighters won’t be in each other's way and gives the commanders of the bigger ships the time to organise their own ship.”

Richard’s eyes searched for the blue of medical among the meetings participants. There weren’t nearly as many. It was to be expected as in war it was the warriors that made the plans and the healers that picked up the pieces. He drew in a deep breath looking rather determined. It was war again and the doctor was no stranger to it.

“You look concerned Captain.” Quinn suggested, as he walked up next to him, and placed his hand on his shoulder. Quinn had just walked over to support his friend. He was curious, if Tyler would talk about what was on his mind.

Tyler stood there stroking his chin as he listened to everyone make suggestions. “If I look concerned it is because I am concerned Number One…” He said with a weak smile on his face. “There does not seem to be an easy win for us in this one. We are going to lose a lot and all for a station that is not technically ours to begin with…” He exhaled heavily through his nose and turned to face his first officer, his friend. “...I just wonder if it is all going to be worth it. To commit so many resources, so many lives to this endeavour.”

“That is the question that haunts us both my friend. Do we allow the New Maquis a foothold into Cardassian space. Our alliance with them is already fragile enough.” Quinn said, as he started to think about Starfleet’s perspective on non federation worlds getting support.”I believe if we do nothing, our own moral consciousness will not allow us to move on.” Quinn suggested. As he thought to Picard and how he must have felt in 2385.

The words of Jean Luc Picard rang out in Tyler's head as Quinn spoke. Tyler nodded in agreement even though there was a frown on his face. "The ends always justify the means. Peace is worth any cost. Thanks for the reminder Number One."

Frank N.M.I Sobel watched, but mainly listened as the briefing broke down into a discordinat fair as the individual commands began formulating a battle plan to take back Empok Nor with the least amount of casualties. Records showed these ships hadn’t fought in concert before and with a short timetable, risks went up.

Mistakes would be made.

Finally, though as the voices grew louder and more personnel began to circulate, he decided to call the brief to end. Standing, the General moved to the lectern and waited. It took a while but within a few minutes people noticed and silence began falling throughout the room.

As all eyes finally tracked to him, Frank smiled and said. “This will be an event remembered throughout the quadrant in perpetuity. Allies fighting together to overcome common foes.”

He didn’t add that if the Cardassians could keep their house in order, none of this was would be necessary. There were bigger considerations.

“What we have started here needs to be boiled down and formed into a cohesive plan. We don’t have weeks to plan it or do much Simming of it. But, that’s the task we’ve been handed. This room and McCoy’s facilities, such as they are, are at your disposal. For now, perhaps we should break into individual components to finalize the three aspects of this mission.”

The Marine General looked over the assembled personnel, “I will leave space superiority and containment to the Fleet, channeled through Captain Malbrooke and the Pioneer, as Flag ship.” Sobel looked to Malbrooke then and said, “Captain, I’d like to move on the station in 48 hours, before they burrow in too far. A second part to this is we have a chance to isolate more of their assets and defeat them in detail, instead of hunting them down over the next months.”

As his words sank in he smiled again. “I mentioned before that this battle will go down in history. To be sure, it is one we all will carry forward with us and we owe it to ourselves and our comrades to do everything we can to make it a success. I have faith in all of you, your commands and crews to get my Marines to Empok Nor so that we can do our job. Thank you and your crews in advance.”

After a few beats, Sobel took a step back and he nodded to his aide, who brought up the holo-tank’s image of Empok Nor and the Maquis and Order ships moving about her, his eyes studying the images once more.

A Joint Post By

Rear Admiral Domingo Martinez
Commanding Officer, USS Tianjin