Regrouping at Gavara

Posted on 02 Oct 2024 @ 11:35am by Commodore (Brevet) Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Ranul Frex & Lieutenant T’Mari Rael

4,450 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Shattered Unity
Location: Gavara Colony
Timeline: June 21, 2390 || 1100 hours

Four days ago, all ships in Task Group Belvedere received orders from its command ship, the USS Black Hawk, to advance to Yellow Alert and provide hourly check-ins.

Two days ago, a new order forced each ship to abandon their current mission to dive deep into the pirate threat and return to Gavara for regroup and redeploy.

And now, the day of curiosity had arrived. In just a few minutes, the Command teams of each of Belvedere's starships would learn the full and ugly truth: Life as they knew it was about to change drastically.

First, Geisler had had the audacity to have his Yeoman call to order him around, then he had learned that O'Connell had promoted him to Commodore. It galled in Captain Graham Holmes's gut like eating a bad Romulan Giant Mollusk, which he hated almost as much as he hated Geisler. The Sovereign class Endurance was being yanked one way, then ordered back to Gavara. He would take this incompetence up with O'Connell once he was able to and make sure that one Harvey Geisler never saw the bridge of a starship again.

The Victorious had recently lost it’s Captain, and being thrown into the Command spot had come as a surprise to Ariana Monroe. It wasn’t like she’d been First Officer for that long either, but here she was being called to a meeting wondering what in the hell she and her crew were about to be faced with. Walking off the bridge of the Galaxy Class Dreadnought she headed for the transporter room, fingers crossed she wasn’t about to be assigned somewhere else.

The Challenger had been running routine patrols along Dominion Space when she got the call to return. Along the route back towards the meeting, Captain Ahern read the reports, even the classified ones, about what had happened and what was going on with everything. Nothing was concrete and it was scary to think that there might have been some Dominion connection to the whole situation. He was hoping that there wouldn't be another war started with this, but knew that even changelings have their own problems. Once in range, Ahren head to the transporter room to head over and see what they knew.

Captain Graham Holmes paced outside of the conference room before he managed to get his blood down to a simmer, then punched the panel and entered. He was ready to tear Geisler and his bothersome Yeoman a new one, but he would see what O'Connell saw in the man first.

Ariana was next to enter the room, feeling somewhat out of place as she entered. She wasn’t going to be pushed around though, she was ready to stand her ground if she had to. She nodded politely as she entered before taking a seat.

Captain Mari Solvbakken of the USS Valcour entered the conference room after Commander Monroe, having arrived by shuttle roughly an hour before she and the other Belvedere commanding officers were scheduled to meet with Commodore Geisler. She could feel the tension in the air, and while it was uncomfortable for sure, there were far more important things to worry about.

Over the next few minutes, the room began to fill more and more as Commanding and Executive Officers from the task group assembled. The mood in the briefing room continued to sour as each of these officers shared their bewilderment that this was happening. Well, whatever this was anyway.

The doors to the room opened yet again, this time revealing the command team from the USS Black Hawk. As Harvey motioned to Commander Reynolds to find a seat, he didn't have to be a telepath to feel the intense heat from all of the stares in the room. He'd chaired many briefings like this before, but never as a Captain. In fact, even as he reflected, he realized that his last briefing of this magnitude was more than five years ago as the Director of Medicinal Research aboard Starbase 211. Harvey realized that the temperature of the room was no different today than it was then.

Taking that realization in stride, Harvey approached the podium beside the large viewscreen at the front of the room. He placed an isolinear chip into the control pad, but did not load its contents. "Any questions before we begin?" he asked the room.

“I think we probably all have the same question” Ariana looked around those gathered at the table before looking back at Geisler. “Why is it we’ve all been summoned here?”

"Very well," Harvey calmly said. He tapped a button on the podium and the viewscreen jumped to life with an image of Starbase Unity. Not the station in its most current state, but a file photo taken a few weeks ago. "I think you are all familiar with Starbase Unity. At least, as it was just three days ago."

The Commodore tapped another button. The image changed, this time to one from the Black Hawk's forward sensor array. The asteroid was still there, but pitted with dark weapons scars while flanked with tonnes and tonnes of debris. "This is what Unity currently looks like."

Ariana was horrified by what she was seeing. “Do we know who is responsible for this? What about the crew of Unity?”

"Commander Monroe, please let Commodore Geisler speak," Graham said while glaring at the Commander before he looked back at Geisler. "What information have you been able to gather?"

Captain Solvbakken looked at what was left of Unity. Despite having seen it before, it still filled her with shock and disbelief, and even now, a sinking feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. Three days. This happened three days ago, and as she understood it, there still wasn't anything to go on. Still, she looked to the Commodore and awaited answers to the questions already asked.

Captain Ahern put his hand over his mouth while he looked over the images of what happened to Starbase Unity. It was a bit of a shock, especially since his ship had just re-fuled there a few days prior to the incident that eventually destroyed the base. When Ahern finally found his voice again, he looked back at the Commodore and asked, "Have we got any clues about what might have happened to the Starbase or who might've been behind it?"

Harvey shook his head. "We know very little. Whoever it is strikes hard, strikes fast, and does so with surgical precision. All four of Unity's support and patrol ships were taken out quickly. Bridges and computer cores vaporized. What makes this event even more shocking is that this isn't the first attack. The yellow alert issued four days ago, and the order to report in hourly, was as a result of this."

The Commodore pressed a button to display the image of a battered Akira-class starship. Its nacelles were gone, as were its bridge and other sensitive areas along the hull. "You've no doubt noticed that Commander T'Freja is not with us today. She perished four days ago along with nearly two hundred others when the Gaittithe fell to the same kind of attack."

"We really need to figure out what is going on here before more of us suffer the same fate," Solvbakken said.

"Agreed," Harvey remarked. "The last time the Federation saw anything like this was in 2364 when several outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone mysteriously disappeared, almost scooped off the surface. It would be another year before the Enterprise encountered the Borg and another year after that for Starfleet to link the Borg to those colonies. It's very possible that we're looking at a similar threat here."

"Do we think that it could be related to the Borg in some way? While they're more native the the Delta Quadrant, they could have spilled over into the Gamma Quadrant and made their way this way? Or even that species that Voyager encountered that were battling the Borg all those years ago. Species 8472? Maybe them?" Ahern asked Harvey, worried about the destructive power of the Borg and Species 8472.

The Commodore shook his head. "Every species or power has a footprint. Ours is a unique warp and phaser signature. The Klingons and Romulans have different engine wakes and disruptor markings. We've learned Borg footprints very well over the last decade, and this doesn't match theirs. We did find a footprint..."

Another button was pressed and the viewer changed to that of a energy signature. "Our experience with polaron technology has been limited to the Jem'Hadar and select Delta quadrant species. This does match anything on record at this time. And, while it does bear some similarities to Dominion technology, there are too many differences."

“Perhaps the Dominion have got their hands on something new, or have found themselves an ally we have yet to encounter.” Ariana mused as she looked at the energy signature on the viewer. “Whoever they are they seem to have a plan of action, we just need to discover what it is so we can get ahead of it.”

"The Dominion may not be involved at all," Mari stated. "They seem to make sure no one stays alive to be able to identify them. But, in order to discover a plan of action, we need some kind of clue, and none of those have been forthcoming. All we get are more questions."

“Are there any survivors Sir?” Ariana looked towards Harvey. “It’s a stretch but if there are survivors, there are ways of retrieving memories. Before I was thrown into command I was a Counsellor, and I’m also a Betazoid. I wouldn’t normally recommend memory retrieval techniques, but if there are survivors hidden memories could provide important details.”

"Captain Solvbakken is correct," Harvey acknowledged, nodding to the Captain of the Valcour. "Well, at least the Dominion is denying involvement. They've had their fair share of rogue Jem'Hadar in the last decade, but rogue elements wouldn't explain the existence of this signature."

Looking to Commander Monroe, whom Harvey wasn't surprised didn't bear the rank of Captain for commanding a Galaxy. "We have hundreds of survivors. As we speak, the Black Hawk, Valcour, and Perseus are offloading all survivors here at Gavara for medical attention and reassignment. You are welcome to interview them, however not a single soul has been able to shed any light thus far."

"What Delta Quadrant species have this kind of polaron technology?" Graham asked. "And what would they be doing here in the Gamma Quadrant? Has any other species been attacked? Where did you get your information?" He shot one question after another at Geisler.

Harvey frowned, struggling to contain his temper. It was no secret that Graham had it out for him, especially since the news of his field promotion. With narrowed eyes and a steady tone, he answered, "My crew has had the last four days to investigate and study these energy signatures. Therefore, we've had time to review Voyager's encounters with the technology and compare our findings with theirs. If this is indeed a Delta Quadrant species coming to visit, then its someone we haven't before encountered."

Mari shot a look toward Graham. She had a feeling he was going to be trouble. "Captain Holmes," she began, hoping to keep things civil. "Perhaps, instead of bombarding Commodore Geisler with questions, you might like to stick with the rest of us and help figure out possible solutions?" She took a breath before continuing. "What happened with Unity, her four support vessels and the Gaittithe appears to be the only incidents at present. Of course, that could change at any point if we don't stay focused."

"So what you're saying is that you don't know anything," Graham said to Giesler, then looked at Captain Solvbakken. "Did you think that asking questions might be a way to find answers, Captain?" He asked. "If I recall, you were asking some just a minute ago of your own. You want solutions, you need answers. I say we take this to the stars and go after whoever is doing this."

Harvey chuckled. In some ways he liked Graham's style, but deep down he knew that it was merely a fool's boasting. "It's that irrational thinking that's why we're here. There's a human saying, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.' For now, we can only assume that whatever is out there, it's capable of silent and deadly strikes, taking you out quicker than you can even react. What we need is a strategy, especially if we are to keep whatever this is from encroaching on Gavara. With Unity gone, this is now the front line."

There was nothing to go off of but a whole lot of speculation, and what she was about to say was no different. "What if we're looking at this all wrong? What if the Dominion are the ones being put on notice? What if whoever is responsible is trying to prove themselves formidable by thinning out the Federation's presence in the Gamma Quadrant and move in?"

"If the Dominion is being put on notice, then they're not talking about it." Harvey changed the display again, bringing up the destroyed Jem'hadar ship. "Our ships were surgically hit. The Dominion vessel... not all of their critical areas were hit. In fact, an away team from my ship was able to get to their bridge and found a Vorta survivor. If anything, this suggests that whoever our mysterious attackers are, they are more familiar with the Federation than they are the Jem'hadar."

"Has your crew had the chance to question the Vorta survivor yet? Were they able to give any new information to you about who might've come and attacked the Starbase?" Captain Ahern asked, curious to if the Vorta was awake and giving any new information to the crew yet or not.

"The Vorta suffered a minor head injury during the battle. She, unfortunately, doesn't remember much." Harvey nodded at Ahern, adding, "The Dominion has a representative on the way to retrieve the survivor. They are due to arrive this evening."

"And we definitely don't want to do anything to ruffle any feathers where the Dominion are concerned," Mari stated with a frown. "At this point, without anything to go on, we might have to consider options we may not necessarily like."

Graham looked at the others. "We're going to need a bail ship loaded with false cargo and put the word out." he said. "Then we lay a trap."

Harvey looked in Graham's direction. For a moment, he was about to rebut whatever had come out of the man's mouth, but paused. "Honestly," he said at last, "that idea has some merit. One of the things we'll have here when we leave the meeting is a new deployment plan throughout the neighboring sectors. I imagine Gavara will be the next target, but we can't keep all of our resources here. Gamma Command is sending a few elements to our front line to help deploy a sensor network and see if we can't work out some early detection. At this point, we're obviously grasping at straws."

Captain Solvbakken listened as the others spoke. Those were good ideas, but they could take things a step further, and given the circumstances, probably should. "Perhaps, we should also consider some undercover work in different locations," she suggested. "The only problem with that would be figuring out the best locations."

"Thankfully, we already have an in with one of the local pirate gangs," Harvey stated. "And if any of you have any leads or contacts you've collected over the last few months, now's the time to give them a good shake. Make sure you have details on those on my desk by this evening."

“Let’s hope something gives us a break” Ariana sighed. “I’ll check in with the Counselling staff who will be dealing with the survivors, if they hear anything they should be able to tell us without breaking any confidentiality clauses.”

"Well, how about some of the other local species that have more advanced technology? Some of them have come by this way on their way to the wormhole, I'm sure. If we haven't made contact with them, we might want to reach out to them sometime soon and see if any of them might have some information that could lead us down another possible road of figuring this all out," Ahren offered up, thinking about every possible angle of figuring this whole thing out.

Harvey considered the thought for a moment, then replied, "Exploring diplomatic channels with neighboring species and powers is a good idea. The Challenger's own stature is perfectly suited for such an initiative, but I will insist that you be escorted along the border."

The Commodore then tapped the 'advance' button on his keypad. "That brings me to my next point, which is next steps. It is obvious that we don't know what we're dealing with, and we haven't been able to see or recover anything actionable. I mentioned that Gamma Command is sending up some reinforcements and supplies to our new front line, which is here." Harvey gestured to a very obvious line that stretched from Gavara past New Risa and then to Altair. "Two Defiants and a Wallenburg filled to the brim with probes. We'll need to set up a sensor network along this line, and it should hopefully act as an early warning system for this mysterious force. All of our science vessels that are operating past this line are being recalled to assist with this effort as well. We'll split into squadrons of four vessels each to make the deployments."

"Is there any chance the Dominion might work with us in some way if they're not behind the attacks?" Mari asked.

"Nothing has been said as of yet," Harvey replied. "Then again, the Dominion has been known to stand quiet until action is taken, so I guess it's wait and see."

Captain Solvbakken nodded her head. She didn't like any of this, but the entire situation was well beyond their control. As the Commodore said, all they could do was reinforce their new front line and try to lure the unknown enemy out. "I will do what I can to get the word out once we're ready on the trap front. I would also like to volunteer myself to captain said trap should no one else step up."

Graham spoke up. "What are you going to be doing while the rest of us are out there setting up this network, Commodore?" he asked. "I'll be more than happy to lead a group."

"Well, another thing is that when we set up the sensor net, we'll have to make sure that it scans for cloaked vessels, like Picard's task force did during the Klingon Civil War in the 2360's. Just in case this new foe is coming through undetected because they're cloaked before making an attack and recloaking immediately afterwards. But, I'd love to lead the USS Challanger to see about that, sir," Ahren replied, thinking about how Picard used that tactic back in the day.

“I have a ship with a number of Betazoid crew onboard, it’s going to seem unusual but I’m going to put them to use alongside the ship’s sensors.” Ariana offered. “Where sensors and technology can be fooled, the senses of individuals with abilities like my own aren’t so easily fooled or avoided. We can cast our own net of sorts.”

"Well, if we did that, it would be prudent to have all of our telepathic crews come aboard other vessels to spread them out and cast that net as far as possible. Make sure that they can't get around us all," Ahren replied as he listened to Ariana's plan and thought about what could be the best possible allocation of crew resources.

"That wouldn't be as effective as you think," voiced Captain Rada of the Prince of Wales. "Betazoids cannot read all species, and many of us learned the hard way that their empathic abilities weren't able to detect changelings or Jem'hadar."

Commander Pol of the Nelson chimed in next, "But we Betazoids can at least try. Just because it doesn't work on some doesn't mean that it won't work on these mysterious attackers."

"True enough," Harvey added. Then to Captain Ahren, Harvey confirmed, "That's exactly what I was thinking with the sensor net. I was going to be asking for a volunteer shortly to head up that mission, and it seems that the Challenger would be excellent in supervising the deployment between Gavara and New Risa. Commander Monroe, the Victorious will be leading the deployment between New Risa and Altair.

"And Captain Holmes," the Commodore continued, shifting his gaze to the Captain who found him so unfavorable. "The more I think about it, the more I'm fond of your trap idea. I'll have you and Captain Solvbakken join me on this endeavor to see if we can't lure this attacker to us instead of whatever their next target is."

Mari nodded her head. "Understood, Commodore."

"Understood, Commodore," Graham said, clearly not happy, but he'd be where he could keep an eye on Geisler.

Ariana nodded. “I’ll arrange for spare Betazoid members of my crew to join any ships who need them.”

"Thank you, Commander," Harvey said with a nod. "I have a couple of housekeeping things before I deliver an official change to our mandate and standing orders. Regarding the sensor net, the Brandenburg will supervise the deployment between Gavara and our listening post along the Dominion border. Perseus and O'Carroll, you'll assist the Challenger. Vadess and Prince of Wales, you are with Brandeburg. That leaves Nelson and Belgrade with Victorious. These assignments also define our group's squadrons. Additional ships are coming up from Gamma Command, and they'll be sorted across the squadrons by this time tomorrow. Each squadron will have a science ship from Archimedes for the probe deployment, then the science ship will fall back to New Bajor."

Then to Monroe, Harvey added, "Our personnel shortage means that we have a lack of available qualified commanding officers. With a Galaxy Dreadnought on the front lines, we need to project a strong image as much as possible. Therefore, you, Miss Monroe, will be breveted to Captain until either a suitable CO is found or you prove yourself capable."

Ariana was shocked but didn’t let it show. “Thank you Sir! I won’t let you down.”

Commodore Geisler tapped a button to clear the viewscreen. "Now to standing orders. We don't know who's out there, but we do know they work fast. Collecting information is our top priority. Each squadron is to designate a courier. At the first appearance of our mysterious enemy, the courier is to immediately leave the field of battle and transmit any and all information regarding the attacker's appearance to our sensor network. And, on that note, all ships in a squadron are to remain within the vicinity of your short-range sensors. This will allow you to respond quickly if one of you is attacked, but also keep you spread out enough to avoid a repeat of what happened with Unity. Yellow alert remains in effect, and the hourly check-in procedure will change. Squadron ships will update the squadron leader every hour, and the squadron leader will report to the Black Hawk within five minutes after." With that, Harvey paused for questions.

Captain Solvbakken didn't like that they had nothing to go on regarding their unknown foe. She took in what the Commodore had to say, but didn't have any questions currently. It was all pretty self explanatory. "I just hope that everyone remains safe, and with any luck, we'll know who attacked Unity and the others soon without any further casualties."

"Something that we could do is the courier ships, upon reading the mysterious readings, should instantly jump to warp 1 and take those sensor readings en route. Hopefully, before something else happens like it did at Unity, we'll have the sensors deployed and get more information than we've gotten thus far," Ahren offered up, hoping to alleviate some of the fears that the various COs were having.

"Great suggestion," Harvey acknowledged to Captain Ahren. "When you return to your ship, draft up that protocol and send it over to me for review before it gets distributed to the task group."

"It seems like we have a plan that has some great potential," Mari stated. "I'll hold off on briefing my senior staff until the details have been worked out."

"Well, thank you Commodore. Was there anything else that you needed from me before we all headed back to our ships, sir?" Ahren asked, getting up from his seat and looking over at Harvey.

The Commodore shook his head. "Not at this time. Squadrons assigned to probe deployments are to immediately assemble and get started. Everyone else is to stand by for orders. If there are no further questions, then you all are dismissed."

Captain Solvbakken rose to her feet and gave a respectful nod toward Harvey. "Commodore, I will be in touch. Stay safe. The rest of you as well," she said. And, with that, she made her way out to get back to the Valcour to get things set in motion.

"Thank you, Commodore. I'll be in touch as well and let you know how everything is going on our end. If you need anything from us, just let us know," Ahren replied with a smile before heading out of the conference room.

Ariana offered a warm smile as she stood to leave. She hadn’t expected to leave with the rank of Captain, but she would earn the right to be wearing it.

Commodore Geisler did not linger more than he needed to. He slipped out a back door, not at all eager to pay the colony's administrator a visit to discuss defensive plans and emergency scenarios. Days like today just reminded him that he preferred the Captain's chair over flying a desk. For the first time, he actually prayed that the Commodore's pip would not be made permanent.

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