Something Wicked This Way Comes
Posted on 27 Jun 2016 @ 6:40pm by Commodore Juliana Terlexa & Captain Vaanika Suresh & Captain Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Catherine Cooper
2,719 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Risky Business
Location: Undisclosed
Timeline: MD 2 || 0800 hours
Dramatis personae
Commorode Juliana Terlexa - Played by Bast
Captain Vaanika Suresh - Played by Bast
Commander Malcolm Wright - Played by Geisler
Commodore Maria Williams - Played by Casey
Captain Brigitta Müller - Played by Camila
Captain Helena Soroys - Played by Corwin
Captain Archibald Davenport - Played by Cooper
Captain Tass Pol - USS Nelson - Played by Davis
Commander Malcolm Wright, like several of his Consortium counterparts, had "inherited" his starship, the Prometheus-class USS Vanguard. To him, it never made sense for the peace loving Vulcan to be sitting in the command chair.
Still, as he entered the holodeck, which simulated a large and vacant briefing room, Malcolm couldn't help but feel like he was about to be on trial. Out of the engineered takeover of 36 out of Task Force Nine's starships, a high percentage had failed. And the Consortium had since only managed to intercept and destroy two Starfleet ships since then. He'd worked closely with Terlexa for years, carefully plotting the plan for his task group and the Vanguard.
And it didn't take an educated person to notice that Consortium forces were floundering. No one was listening to their rightful head, Terlexa. Many were still following their programmed orders. Perhaps they should have used other means of conversion, even doing more intense brainwashing like the Tal Shiar would have.
The situation was not hopeless. They had the superior firepower and numbers. It was only a matter of time before Starfleet fell. And hopefully this meeting would solidify that plan. Malcolm tapped a button at his seat to enable the holoprojector. It wouldn't be long before everyone else joined.
Captain Brigitta Müller of the USS Renown appeared in the holodeck and nodded to Wright. "It's good to see that you've finally gotten what you deserve, Commander," she said. "Now for the others to make their appearances."
Captain Helena Soroys of the USS T'Pava, a Miranda class ship, appeared next to Müller. "Commander Wright, Captain Müller," She said as curtly as any one person could be. "Will this take long? I've got places to be."
"We all do Captain, I doubt this meeting would have been called on a whim." Captain Archibald Davenport of the USS Invincible had appeared. He was a tall, aristocratic looking man with a vaguely Earth British accent. His short, light brown hair neat and in its place much like the rest of his person. His tone was of one merely stating a point as he nodded to Malcolm and the others.
"Captain Davenport," greeted Vaanika Suresh, sitting down with her ever-present cup of tea. "I see you're still holding your own in that old Excelsior-class of yours."
Danvenport nodded politely to the Suresh. He wasn't entirely sure she wasn't having a dig at his command but responded reasonably, "Yes well when something is of quality as is ones crew, it rather stands the time of time." Said the man who regularly wore boot daggers. Just because it was old did not mean it wasn't solid. And his ship had been rebuilt with a few tricks his crafty engineers could think up. He had been an engineer himself and not an original command officer so was able understand his ships abilities even more clearly. The trick was knowing how to get the best out of your ship and crew. In addition to the classic idea of how to turn an enemies strengths into weaknesses, something that had helped Davenport and his crew survive this long.
"As long as you can trust your crew, that is," said Suresh, leaning back in her chair.
Malcolm watched as other Captains appeared in the room. Still yet to appear were both Commodores affiliated with the Consortium. "Davenport. Suresh. Soroys. Müeller," he greeted, nodding to those who were sitting near him.
He returned the nod, "Sir." he said his poker face giving nothing away as he looked for clues to their situation in the Commodore's body language but he was too well trained and Davenport got little.
It was that point that Commodore Maria Williams materialized in the area, and looked at the gathered group. "Captain's." She greeted. "It's good to see you all here." She was still angry, having lost track of Adam Casey, but she would track him down before too long.
Tass Pol from the Nelson materialized in the holodeck just on time for the scheduled meeting. He personally did not enjoy having to use the holodeck for these gatherings as his empathic abilities were pretty much useless, and he was forced to read people the 'old fashioned way' by visual ques. He looked around the room shortly after he materialized, and stood behind a seat "Greetings, glad to see nothing has begun yet." He looked over to Williams "Ma'am", with a nod.
Appearing fashionably late in the briefing, the last to arrive, Commodore Terlexa materialized at the open end of the circle, flanked by her trusted First Officer, Commander Stanton.
She ran her eyes over each of the assembled commanding officers, and smiled. But there was no warmth in that smile. "Welcome," she said. "It is good to see you all. First let me say how proud I am of our success. In a very short period of time, our forces have managed to gain control over sixty percent of the Fleet here in the Gamma Quadrant. We control some of the most powerful Starships in the quadrant. We control vital areas, essential to Starfleet operations in the sector. And most important of all, we control the wormhole."
She walked around the circle, eyeing each of them in turn. "And yet, through all our successes, one victory remains out of reach. Adislo. Where is Admiral Adislo? Most likely cowering on Starbase Unity, with his lackeys, Cameron and O'Connell."
Müller looked at Commodore Terlexa and arched an eyebrow. "Would it seem likely that they would all be in the same place?" she asked. "If I were them, I would place myself on other ships and stay out of the way while giving orders."
"Indeed it would," conceded Terlexa. "But we have had agents on every loyalist ship, and none has reported the presence of either of them. We know Cameron and O'Connell are on Unity, that information has been confirmed by our agents in place. But Adislo... His whereabouts remain a mystery."
Davenport didn't tend to speak unless he actively had something to say preferring to observe and gather information. A normally careful man, he disliked this...lack of intel. "What are Adislo's priorities?" Davenport finally asked, "If we understand the man then we can better focus on where he's likely to be and double our efforts to find him. It's possible he's on a civilian vessel or hidden in a safehouse. Barring that its down to tracking what ships left the area after the securing of Deep Space 11...." He didn't add that the second plan could get messy, he was not fond of pointing out what everyone already knew. There had been some chaos after the attack and a few smaller vessels may have gotten loose. The only other point beside that was the Admiral never left the station but really how likely that was true? He wouldn't even dignify that with being spoken aloud.
"The man is a coward, but an intelligent one. He knows all about hiding, I'm sure of it." Maria said. "But if he is on Unity, then we need to find a way to infiltrate." She said.
"Cameron will have Unity well protected by now," Malcolm remarked. "And if O'Connell is there, you can bet their repairs are done by now. If the Ottawa had more support," he said, looking in Captain Vark Na Ith's direction, "then Unity wouldn't be a problem." Malcolm was referring to Vark's blatant disregard for orders and chased after the USS Arizona instead of being there to support the Ottawa as she faced Unity alone. "The O'Carroll wouldn't have overpowered her so quickly."
"More than once I've had missions impaired because of petty vendetta's and pricked egos. If I hadn't managed to call back the USS Hammerhead, he'd have gone off on a wild goose chase after some ghost sensor readings, seeing Adislo's behind every patch of space. He's just a man..." Said in a precise, clipped but somewhat disgusted tone of one who hates ineffective actions and people.
"And I've seen plenty of missions fail because of incompetence. Right now, none of you are impressing me, and frankly, if you can't do the job, tell us now and we'll replace you." Maria said. "I've had enough of excuses. We are meant to be taking complete control, but all I see are children playing games."
Danvenport's eyes narrowed and he bristled. He also stiffened at her words. He'd done his job. Everything he was asked. It wasn't his fault when intel wasn't what they said, he'd done the best he could. He was a willing member of the plan as his father had been. They would crush the weak Starfleet and take over, the power would be theirs. This he was promised. He didn't attack the Commodore, she held too much power for that and he wasn't stupid, he did want to defend himself in such a way as to not seem childish but he could see the Commodore gearing up for a Flag Officer verbal beat down and wasn't entirely sure she'd be up for him pointing out logic. And maybe she was right to do so but he certainly resented that he and other CO's, who had been doing their jobs, got lumped in. He hated blanket blame. So he frowned but said nothing unwilling to draw her ire unless needed.
"Maybe if our beloved leader would take a more active role in coming up with ideas instead of placing blame, then we would have taken control by now. Do you honestly think that replacing your active officers is going to inspire anyone to want to listen to you?" Soroys asked. Commodore or not, Helena was not about to sit back idly and allow accusations to be thrown around without saying something.
“Especially on some of the smaller ships. Some of us do not have the luxury of hundreds of crew members. Everyone notices when someone gets reassigned. Its tough to make competent decisions when my senior, and loyal officers keep getting reassigned because someone thinks the bigger ships need the better crew.” Tass didn’t need to make it known he was talking about his tactical officer being reassigned. He had long believed it was because the leadership deemed a Saber class ship of less priority, and not needing some of the top officers.
Müller watched the sniping and crossed her arms. "Can we get on with this meeting, please? I for one am wasting time that could be spent doing effective things."
Danvenport spoke up, "Yes Commodore perhaps we should move on the main thrust of the meeting.". His body language was still somewhat tense, he didn't care for officers who railed in public but for better or worse she was in charge....until and unless someone more ruthless managed to get to her.
"Indeed," said Terlexa, her voice sharp and stern. "This bickering is pointless. Commander Wright, I am personally tasking you with discovering the whereabouts of Admiral Adislo. Use whatever resources you require."
Malcolm winced. A Commander tasked with finding a Rear Admiral. He would not enjoy tolerating the failure his fellow captains was having, but he had no idea where to start either.
Her eyes moved to the other assembled officers. "Now as for the rest of you, we need to begin laying down our plans to attack Unity, and crush the Starfleet presence with one swift stroke."
Davenport thought, "Finally. Now we're getting somewhere." as he waited to see what the plan would be to finally crush Starfleet.
"Starfleet is consolidating," Malcolm spoke up. "We need to strike before they can concentrate their forces on any of our positions."
"Not until we're ready. Do none of you ever play chess? You get your opponent's pieces where you want them before you strike. One mistake will set us back years. We can not afford to make that mistake." Maria said, looking at the man.
"Yes but if they strike in force, if they unite properly and gain a coherent strategy that will set us back years as well. I know chess and allowing your opponent the time they need to counter you is usually unwise..." Davenport pointed out in a reasonable tone. "Where is it you're hoping to herd them?" He asked not sure they were obeying the Commodore's attempt to put them where she wanted them. He'd been an engineer and so tended to cut to the heart of a problem with practicality.
"That's why we need to weaken them before they manage to regroup and unite," spoke up Terlexa. "Our intelligence reports indicate that several ships are still isolated, cut off from the main fleet, either out of contact with Unity or still licking the wounds left over from our teams' failed attempts to take over. They are vulnerable. We need to adopt a wolfpack strategy, and hunt them down. That's why I'm ordering the Ticonderoga, Agamemnon and the Antares to consolidate into Wolfpack Group One. The Kingfisher, the Hastings, and the Cairo will make up Group Two. Regroup, seek out and destroy isolated loyalist ships.
"At last report, the Pinnacle was isolated near Yadera Prime." She turned her eyes toward the commanding officers of the Ticonderoga, Agamemnon and the newly-repaired Antares. "Seek it out, and destroy it."
She turned to the commanding officers of the second wolfpack group. "The Perseus is near Rakhar. At last report, they were having difficulty restoring Warp power, which was disabled by our agents."
She turned toward Davenport and Müller. "The Hopkins is still orbiting Yolvanda III. I don't have to tell you what an asset it would be to have an Olympic-class medical ship in our hands... or at the very least, out of Starfleet's hands."
Davenport nodded, he wasn't pleased with the assignment but he well knew there were many keys to weaken Starfleet and giving them one less place to coordinate medical responses was valid. His confidence rose a little, he always felt better with a clear plan and taking a hospital ship should be easy work. He could do with a break considering.
Müller nodded. "It would indeed," she agreed and glanced at Davenport. "It should be easy to take a Medical ship. Contact me ASAP and we'll make plans to take it from them."
Finally, she looked at Suresh and Kylar, the commanding officers of her fast Intrepid-class assets. "Chimera and Cochrane, you already have your orders. Carry them out as swiftly as possible. I have no doubt that Starfleet will be on your tail."
Suresh exchanged looks with Kylar, the Cochrane's commanding officer, and both nodded. Their ships were already well under way to the nebula, and everything was proceeding according to plan.
"As for the rest of you," said Terlexa, "your orders are unchanged. The protection of Deep Space 11 is vital, if we are to prevent Starfleet reinforcements from coming through the wormhole. Our friends in the Gamma Quadrant may help us in this endeavor. Those of you currently assigned to Deep Space 11, will initiate a patrol route within a three light-year radius around the Station. The rest of you are to regroup at Gavara, where Commodore Williams is planning the assault on Unity, to crush Starfleet once and for all."
Malcolm shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Terlexa's orders meant that he would be looking for Adislo alone with no support from the Task Force. Surely, she knew this task was impossible! Nevertheless, he knew what he'd gotten himself into, and with the tools at his disposal, he would find the Admiral, or die trying.
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