The Scream In The Dark
Posted on Tue Sep 27th, 2022 @ 7:35am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Brigadier General Francis 'Judge' Sobel
Edited on on Tue Sep 27th, 2022 @ 7:49am
1,232 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Back To Basics - Empok Nor Episode 3
Location: General Sobel's Quarters - Empok Nor
Timeline: MD001 2230 hrs
The past thirty minutes had been a blur for Daynah. She received the orders from the Admiral and had been gathering resources ever since. Most starships were too far away to make a difference. However, they did have the Artemis in dock and Ambassador Loval offered his ship to help protect the station. However, that was not enough, it was no where near enough. She paced her office as the various ships and their positions showed on the large wrap around screen. A blip on the screen caught her attention. It was green and shaped like the insignia for the Starfleet Marine Corps, just below it read "5845th Marine Transport Squadron, 2738th Marine Fighter Squadron General Francis Sobel Commanding" Everything froze in the moment and she could feel both herself and Ral breathing a sigh of relief. "Computer open a channel to Empok Nor General Sobel." A small chime indicated that the computer responded and the logo of the Federation appeared on her screen. She hoped that the General would forgive the lateness of the call.
At his com's sound, Frank opened his eyes and just lay there getting his bearings for a moment. The time was laminated softly in the corner of the room and his brow furrowed. Beside him, Tempest stirred and he felt her hand on his shoulder.
Grasping her fingers, he kissed them, softly, "Just the comm. Go back to sleep."
"Mmmpfhh," Tempest murmured groggily, but her brain registered his words and she slid back into sleep.
Slipping from beneath the sheets, he regarded his lovely wife of sixteen years and then walked bare footed through their quarters to his personnel office and slid into a chair. Rubbing at his eyes, he pulled up the routing information on the call.
Sighing as he noted the authorizations and then activated the comm suite's security protocols. Lastly he touched a screen to his right and a mug of steaming hot cocoa appeared on the replicator plate.
Finally, he ordered the computer to put the comm traffic through and settled back into his chair.
"Sobel here."
The disheveled Trill mustered to attention even though her uniform was out of place and hair mussed. "Sir, my apologies for waking you at this late hour, however, I would not have done so if it were not dire. I am Lieutenant Daynah Ral Strategic Operations for Poseidon Station. We have just received intelligence that in about sixteen hours a Breen attack force will bear down on this station. I am formally requesting air support from your unit."
Scratching idly above his left ear, Frank glanced over the tell-tales from the feed and said. "Breen? I'm not aware of any threat assessments from their sectors that would indicate something like that, Lieutenant. You're SO for Poseidon...where's your Commanding Officer and what did you do to irritate off the Breen?"
"I am requesting this on behalf of Commodore Rice, and under his order..." Truth was Daynah had not spoken to the Commodore about this as of yet. However, she felt that he would not mind and time was as ever of the essence. "...I apologize on his behalf as he is planning for the impeding battle. As to what was done to irritate the Breen it seems that the Federation took a Breen scientist who had committed crimes against Federation citizens into custody. They did not take too kindly to that and here we are. I am afraid that the intelligence here in the Gamma Quadrant may have not reached you all the way in the Trivas Sector. We have been monitoring a buildup of Breen forces for some time. However, we were never able to ascertain what they were for. That is until now. At the moment we have one Luna Class starship to defend the station. The Marine Unit known as The Kingsmen are here as well however, they do not have a fighter contingent. The Kingsmen will be used as boarding parties to attempt to take over Breen vessels."
Frank sat for a few minutes, digesting this as he regarded the Trill and finally said, "Very well, Lieutenant. I hope your scientist is worth the effort." He brought up a feed and then looked back to the monitor and said, "Right now, the 2738th and the 5891st Attack Squadron's are both up to par, which would give you 16 Peregrine III's. The 5845th Transport, minus the PEARLS's and the general purpose shuttles....we can spare the Anaconda assault shuttles.."
Trailing off and making notes to himself, he glanced at Daynah. "How about manpower...those birds don't have to go empty. I no longer have any suited elements, but if your station is preparing for an assault, 3rd Platoon combat engineers with their landing ship might come in handy."
"Yes sir I would agree. Having combat engineers on hand would be something of a boon. We are evacuating civilian personnel from the station to the planet Aquil. It is possible that your engineers can assist in setting up shelters for them until we can get them back aboard the station. General I want to personally thank you and your people in advance. It seems that most of the fleet is tied up and cannot respond. Your Marines are going to be the difference in this battle." There was still a lot of work to do and Daynah knew it. However, she could not help but feel like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders.
Sobel waived at the screen and said, "It's what we do, Lieutenant. "Since you're running evacuations, I'll include my drop ships and a security contingent . The PEARLS can be landed in configuration to set up a base camp for your evacuated personnel with their own power suites, medical bays, replicator's and stores...and they have shielding and weapons arrays for dealing with everything up to orbital capital ships. For a while anyway."
"I am sure that will be a boon for us sir. If there ever is a time that we can return the favor I believe I can speak for the Commodore when I say we would not hesitate." For the first time since this all began Daynah smiled. She actually felt like herself as a weight lifted off her shoulders. Mentally she took a note to talk with Colonel Patton about creating a Marine flight element to The Kingsmen.
Glancing thoughtfully through the holographic link, Frank settled back in his chair and said. "I'll keep that in mind, Lieutenant. I wish you well in your defense...and I'll finish this out with an old adage that's suited me well through the years, "Honorable combat is for Klingons when they think someone is watching. We're Marines. It never hurts to cheat."
The part of Daynah that was Alaryc Ral laughed heartily at the comment from the General. Outwardly she allowed a soft laugh and a demure smile. A small amount of relief washed over her as the thought that Starfleet Marines were now inbound. We will get through this yet. She thought as the channel closed.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Daynah Ral
Strategic Operations Officer, Poseidon Station
Brigadier General Francis Sobel
Commanding Officer, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
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