Deception: The lesser part of Valour – Imbued with memories fond. . . (part II)
by Alderman Dorian Gabriel
Post Details
This was hell, or at least the closet that Dorian was going to get to it while he was still alive. It had been 2 days since Dorian received orders from the Chief Tactical, and default last surviving Bridge officer, De'Lann to gather up the remaining officers and supplies and begin the march to the fallen Cardassian vessel to access its communications and evacuation equipment. Hopefully they could use it to contact any remaining/surviving Starfleet ships in the area.
They had managed to link up with a great majority of the officers that had managed to survive the crash landing and were scattered throughout the immediate area of the colony. Unfortunately, they had also come across the devastating effects of the Dominion's prior attack on the colony. Bodies laid strewn about the streets and sidewalks of the colony. It was obvious that basic medical and sanitary functions had deteriorated within the colony.
"What the hell happened here?" Gabriel asked De'Lann as the ragged convoy continued to make their way across the terrain.
"Early Starfleet reports state that the Dominion immediate swept into the system and began to bombard the populated planets. This was a lightly protected area before the war so it wasn't a problem for them to obliterate any of the orbital defenses or Starfleet patrols in the area." De'Lann said.
"Once they were sure that the civilians couldn't put up a fight they began to launch a biological agent into the atmosphere. As you can see, the Dominion did their homework on human physiology." The Lieutenant Commander stated as they past by a man that laid in the middle of the street clinging to what appeared to be carrying-bottle of some sort.
" The initial agent had a 87% fatality rate, additionally they targeted any water treatment supplies or facilities just to make sure the survivors wouldn't be able to live to tell the story." he added.
"What took us so long to respond!? These are Federation citizens! How could we let 87% of them die before we got here?" Gabriel responded righteously.
"I agree Lieutenant, but it took Starfleet time to mobilize an appropriate response. Obviously our response wasn't appropriate enough though." He replied as memories of the 7th Fleet's defeat began to flood his memory. In a matter of hours, 94 ships were destroyed or severely damaged. Those that weren't immediately destroyed were engaged in running fire-fights as they tried to regroup and launch some sort of counter-offensive. The last thing the Camelot received before it went down along with its two Dominion dance-mates was a general retreat order.
He stopped at looked at the twin moons that were slowly beginning to align and set, signaling that darkness was soon coming. He began to wonder if his wife and daughters had received word on the status of the 7th Fleet yet. Hopefully not, he didn't want to needlessly worry them if he didn't need to.
"Then the icing on the cake came when they launched EMP discharges into the atmosphere to stop any type of communication between the colony and any other party. We figured that the colony was lost by the time the 7th Fleet had arrived. " De'Lann said as he wiped blood from the side of his face. The long walk had been filled with sporadic fire-fights with different Jem'Hadar scouting parties. Casualties had been frequent, but still the officers marched onward.
"Commander, I think we've found our way off this rock!" an nearby Crewman shouted as he peered over an upcoming ridge.
The gathered crew looked out over the ridge and saw the downed vessel. Ruptures and fractures riddled the structure of the ship, but it was exactly where they expected it to be and it appeared that it still had some life to it.
"Yer right Crewman Talms. That's our ticket out of here." De'Lann responded as he walked forward and began to scan the immediate area. "Ensign TeDen, lead a group down to the ship and start working on how to access the auxiliary hatch and get us inside. Lieutenant," he ordered.
"Yes, sir?" Gabriel said as he stepped up. "I want you to AGGUH----" The Commander's sentence was cut short as a phaser blast seared through his uniform and straight through his chest.
"Commander!" Gabriel shouted as the senior officer's limp form fell into his arms. "Damnit!" Gabriel shouted as he tried to rag the man into a safer position as he saw the origin of the phaser blast.
A contingent of Jem'Hadar had spotted the group and had opened fired. From the looks of the sporadic shots and the anxious movements, it was obvious that the soldiers were suffering from withdraw of their Kitracel White. Gabriel had seen holo-vids of those soldiers and knew that they were much more efficient and disciplined. If they were at full strength they would've wiped out the group of officers before they had a chance to know what was going on.
"Ensigns Binteen, R'Nare, Tiddar, lay down cover fire for us!" Gabriel said as he took fire and returned fire. "The rest of you, get the wounded down to the ship and get the hatch open." He ordered. With the loss of De'Lann, Gabriel was forced to take charge of the survivors or else nobody would be leaving their alive.
"Secure the parameter so we can fall back!" Gabriel shouted as he began to head towards vessel. Fortunately, the crew that had managed to get to the ship had accessed the auxiliary hatch and had begun to move the wounder officers inside the ship for better covering.
Once inside, Gabriel tried to catch is breathe and figure out a new plan. According to the scant intelligence they had on the Cruiser, Gabriel believed that the ship still had its communications buoy and several escape pods, hopefully there was enough for all of the crew members.
"I want one team to secure this vessel, deal with any survivors that might still be around. I want another team to head to the escape deck or whatever the equivalent is and try to access the communications buoy, we'll use those get a message out to any ships and get the hell outta here. The rest of you, form up on me while we take the bridge!" Gabriel said to the gathered officers who nodded their acknowledgment.
Gabriel's group made their way to the bridge at a controlled pace. It was obvious that the crew onboard did not have a lot of time to evacuate before the ship went down. The stench of death permeated the walls of the vessel. It was obvious the the environmental controls were not going to be of any use to the Starfleet crew. Not that it mattered considering the amount of breaches and fractures the vessel suffered during its crash landing, this ship would never leave the ground and even if it did it would never survive the upper orbit of the planet.
Once the group had managed to get the door open they observed the bodies that still manned their stations. "Soldiers to the very end" Gabriel said as he and the other officers began to move the bodies away from their consoles. The bridge itself was of very little use since it took the brunt of the crash. It was Gabriel's hope that the other teams were able to get communications online and coordinate some type of plan.
=*= "Gabriel! Gabriel! We got comms working, but only in a limited area." a voice rang out thru the crackling comms.
=*= "Good job! Now we can try to rally everybody togeth--" Gabriel was cut off before he could finish.
=*= " . .and we can get the hell outta here! We found the escape pods, there's more than enough. It seems the Cardies didn't get a chance to use them before they crashed." the excited voice of Ensign Jun'teel interrupted.
Before Gabriel could issue another order he was interrupted by the female officer standing next to him on the bridge. "Lieutenant, I'm picking something up on short-range sensors." She said as she stood over the sparking console. "I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it's moving towards the parameter, fast!" she said.
=*= "Gabriel to Ensign Binteen! What the hell is going on out there?" Gabriel shouted into the nearest working comm unit.
=*= "Lieutenant! We've got civilians coming towards our position! I'm reading between 50 to 70 - - " the ensign responded before his comm unit was forced away.
=*= "Please! Help us! You can't leave us here! We've been without food, water, or help since the Dominion first arrived. My baby is dying and we other place to go--" the frantic voice said as Binteen was able to wrestle away his unit.
=*= "Lieutenant! Gimme some options! What do we do? I'm reading another detachment of Jem'Hadar no more than 2 kliks away from our position and it's headed this way." he added.
Gabriel looked down at the shattered console beside him. He had to make a decision. He looked up at the officers around him, they too were waiting for him to make a decision that would affect all of their lives. He didn't know how many Jem'Hadar remained on the planet, nor did he know how many Civilians were rushing towards this location. More than likely, they noticed the Starfleet officers marching towards the vessel and they decided to follow them in search for supplies. Those people needed help, but he knew what had to be done.
=*= "Binteen, have *just* your team fall back to the ship, ASAP!" Gabriel said as he began to move to a nearby panel.
"Fall back? What about the civil--" the younger officer on the bridge stated in protest.
"The civilians are dead, you know it just as well as I do." Gabriel stated "We don't know who is and who isn't infected by that virus and we don't have the supplies to maintain everyone onboard this vessel." Gabriel added.
"So what? You are just gonna leave them here?" she asked incredulously.
"No, once we get word to Starfleet, we can get a rescue ship to come back for them. But right now we don't have many options!" Gabriel said as he downloaded the protocols to his Padd. He looked up and saw Binteen's team finally arrived on the ship, but they were joined by several disruptor blasts signaling that the Jem'Hadar troops were not far behind.
"Alright! Everybody to the escape boats. We'll fire the communication buoy first then launch ourselves, we should be able to breach he EMP field that is blanketing the planet." He said as he and his surviving crew began to head towards the escape deck. He knew what else he had in-store, a plan that he figured would not go over well with the rest of the crew, so he decided to not tell them until everyone was secured in the pods.
"Let's go, let's go!" He said as he began the launch sequence for the communications buoy. "If we hurry, we can get a message out to Starfleet and they can come back for the civilians." Dorian said to the crew as they entered the pods. It was hard, but he tried his hardest to ignore the banging on the hull that was coming from the civilians outside of the vessel. It was obvious that they were intent on getting inside of the vessel and away from the oncoming hoards of Jem'Hadar soldiers.
Dorian took a few minutes to gather himself before he placed the Padd on the console and pressed several buttons. Fortunately, the Padd possessed an algorithm that was able to override the fail-safe codes for the vessels Warp Core. If the planned worked successfully, the ship would be of no use to the Jem'Hadar soldiers, and unfortunately, they wouldn't be of any use to the survivors either. He couldn't allow the ship to fall into the hands of the Jem'Hadar soldiers, there was no telling what could be done, hopefully Starfleet would be able to re-take the system within the upcoming weeks. If not. . .then God have mercy on their souls.
With a deep sigh he pressed the launch button as the remaining escape pods were launched from the Galor-class vessel and into the upper stratosphere. Now came the hard part . . .
The wait . . .
Dorian Gabriel
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deep Space Five
by Alderman Dorian Gabriel
Post Details
| Title | Imbued with memories fond. . . (part II) | |
| Mission | Deception: The lesser part of Valour | |
| Author(s) | Alderman Dorian Gabriel | |
| Posted | Sat Dec 13, 2008 @ 8:58am | |
| Location | 3rd planet of the Tyra system | |
| Timeline | Early 2374, shortly after the ambush of the 7th fleet. |
They had managed to link up with a great majority of the officers that had managed to survive the crash landing and were scattered throughout the immediate area of the colony. Unfortunately, they had also come across the devastating effects of the Dominion's prior attack on the colony. Bodies laid strewn about the streets and sidewalks of the colony. It was obvious that basic medical and sanitary functions had deteriorated within the colony.
"What the hell happened here?" Gabriel asked De'Lann as the ragged convoy continued to make their way across the terrain.
"Early Starfleet reports state that the Dominion immediate swept into the system and began to bombard the populated planets. This was a lightly protected area before the war so it wasn't a problem for them to obliterate any of the orbital defenses or Starfleet patrols in the area." De'Lann said.
"Once they were sure that the civilians couldn't put up a fight they began to launch a biological agent into the atmosphere. As you can see, the Dominion did their homework on human physiology." The Lieutenant Commander stated as they past by a man that laid in the middle of the street clinging to what appeared to be carrying-bottle of some sort.
" The initial agent had a 87% fatality rate, additionally they targeted any water treatment supplies or facilities just to make sure the survivors wouldn't be able to live to tell the story." he added.
"What took us so long to respond!? These are Federation citizens! How could we let 87% of them die before we got here?" Gabriel responded righteously.
"I agree Lieutenant, but it took Starfleet time to mobilize an appropriate response. Obviously our response wasn't appropriate enough though." He replied as memories of the 7th Fleet's defeat began to flood his memory. In a matter of hours, 94 ships were destroyed or severely damaged. Those that weren't immediately destroyed were engaged in running fire-fights as they tried to regroup and launch some sort of counter-offensive. The last thing the Camelot received before it went down along with its two Dominion dance-mates was a general retreat order.
He stopped at looked at the twin moons that were slowly beginning to align and set, signaling that darkness was soon coming. He began to wonder if his wife and daughters had received word on the status of the 7th Fleet yet. Hopefully not, he didn't want to needlessly worry them if he didn't need to.
"Then the icing on the cake came when they launched EMP discharges into the atmosphere to stop any type of communication between the colony and any other party. We figured that the colony was lost by the time the 7th Fleet had arrived. " De'Lann said as he wiped blood from the side of his face. The long walk had been filled with sporadic fire-fights with different Jem'Hadar scouting parties. Casualties had been frequent, but still the officers marched onward.
"Commander, I think we've found our way off this rock!" an nearby Crewman shouted as he peered over an upcoming ridge.
The gathered crew looked out over the ridge and saw the downed vessel. Ruptures and fractures riddled the structure of the ship, but it was exactly where they expected it to be and it appeared that it still had some life to it.
"Yer right Crewman Talms. That's our ticket out of here." De'Lann responded as he walked forward and began to scan the immediate area. "Ensign TeDen, lead a group down to the ship and start working on how to access the auxiliary hatch and get us inside. Lieutenant," he ordered.
"Yes, sir?" Gabriel said as he stepped up. "I want you to AGGUH----" The Commander's sentence was cut short as a phaser blast seared through his uniform and straight through his chest.
"Commander!" Gabriel shouted as the senior officer's limp form fell into his arms. "Damnit!" Gabriel shouted as he tried to rag the man into a safer position as he saw the origin of the phaser blast.
A contingent of Jem'Hadar had spotted the group and had opened fired. From the looks of the sporadic shots and the anxious movements, it was obvious that the soldiers were suffering from withdraw of their Kitracel White. Gabriel had seen holo-vids of those soldiers and knew that they were much more efficient and disciplined. If they were at full strength they would've wiped out the group of officers before they had a chance to know what was going on.
"Ensigns Binteen, R'Nare, Tiddar, lay down cover fire for us!" Gabriel said as he took fire and returned fire. "The rest of you, get the wounded down to the ship and get the hatch open." He ordered. With the loss of De'Lann, Gabriel was forced to take charge of the survivors or else nobody would be leaving their alive.
"Secure the parameter so we can fall back!" Gabriel shouted as he began to head towards vessel. Fortunately, the crew that had managed to get to the ship had accessed the auxiliary hatch and had begun to move the wounder officers inside the ship for better covering.
Once inside, Gabriel tried to catch is breathe and figure out a new plan. According to the scant intelligence they had on the Cruiser, Gabriel believed that the ship still had its communications buoy and several escape pods, hopefully there was enough for all of the crew members.
"I want one team to secure this vessel, deal with any survivors that might still be around. I want another team to head to the escape deck or whatever the equivalent is and try to access the communications buoy, we'll use those get a message out to any ships and get the hell outta here. The rest of you, form up on me while we take the bridge!" Gabriel said to the gathered officers who nodded their acknowledgment.
Gabriel's group made their way to the bridge at a controlled pace. It was obvious that the crew onboard did not have a lot of time to evacuate before the ship went down. The stench of death permeated the walls of the vessel. It was obvious the the environmental controls were not going to be of any use to the Starfleet crew. Not that it mattered considering the amount of breaches and fractures the vessel suffered during its crash landing, this ship would never leave the ground and even if it did it would never survive the upper orbit of the planet.
Once the group had managed to get the door open they observed the bodies that still manned their stations. "Soldiers to the very end" Gabriel said as he and the other officers began to move the bodies away from their consoles. The bridge itself was of very little use since it took the brunt of the crash. It was Gabriel's hope that the other teams were able to get communications online and coordinate some type of plan.
=*= "Gabriel! Gabriel! We got comms working, but only in a limited area." a voice rang out thru the crackling comms.
=*= "Good job! Now we can try to rally everybody togeth--" Gabriel was cut off before he could finish.
=*= " . .and we can get the hell outta here! We found the escape pods, there's more than enough. It seems the Cardies didn't get a chance to use them before they crashed." the excited voice of Ensign Jun'teel interrupted.
Before Gabriel could issue another order he was interrupted by the female officer standing next to him on the bridge. "Lieutenant, I'm picking something up on short-range sensors." She said as she stood over the sparking console. "I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it's moving towards the parameter, fast!" she said.
=*= "Gabriel to Ensign Binteen! What the hell is going on out there?" Gabriel shouted into the nearest working comm unit.
=*= "Lieutenant! We've got civilians coming towards our position! I'm reading between 50 to 70 - - " the ensign responded before his comm unit was forced away.
=*= "Please! Help us! You can't leave us here! We've been without food, water, or help since the Dominion first arrived. My baby is dying and we other place to go--" the frantic voice said as Binteen was able to wrestle away his unit.
=*= "Lieutenant! Gimme some options! What do we do? I'm reading another detachment of Jem'Hadar no more than 2 kliks away from our position and it's headed this way." he added.
Gabriel looked down at the shattered console beside him. He had to make a decision. He looked up at the officers around him, they too were waiting for him to make a decision that would affect all of their lives. He didn't know how many Jem'Hadar remained on the planet, nor did he know how many Civilians were rushing towards this location. More than likely, they noticed the Starfleet officers marching towards the vessel and they decided to follow them in search for supplies. Those people needed help, but he knew what had to be done.
=*= "Binteen, have *just* your team fall back to the ship, ASAP!" Gabriel said as he began to move to a nearby panel.
"Fall back? What about the civil--" the younger officer on the bridge stated in protest.
"The civilians are dead, you know it just as well as I do." Gabriel stated "We don't know who is and who isn't infected by that virus and we don't have the supplies to maintain everyone onboard this vessel." Gabriel added.
"So what? You are just gonna leave them here?" she asked incredulously.
"No, once we get word to Starfleet, we can get a rescue ship to come back for them. But right now we don't have many options!" Gabriel said as he downloaded the protocols to his Padd. He looked up and saw Binteen's team finally arrived on the ship, but they were joined by several disruptor blasts signaling that the Jem'Hadar troops were not far behind.
"Alright! Everybody to the escape boats. We'll fire the communication buoy first then launch ourselves, we should be able to breach he EMP field that is blanketing the planet." He said as he and his surviving crew began to head towards the escape deck. He knew what else he had in-store, a plan that he figured would not go over well with the rest of the crew, so he decided to not tell them until everyone was secured in the pods.
"Let's go, let's go!" He said as he began the launch sequence for the communications buoy. "If we hurry, we can get a message out to Starfleet and they can come back for the civilians." Dorian said to the crew as they entered the pods. It was hard, but he tried his hardest to ignore the banging on the hull that was coming from the civilians outside of the vessel. It was obvious that they were intent on getting inside of the vessel and away from the oncoming hoards of Jem'Hadar soldiers.
Dorian took a few minutes to gather himself before he placed the Padd on the console and pressed several buttons. Fortunately, the Padd possessed an algorithm that was able to override the fail-safe codes for the vessels Warp Core. If the planned worked successfully, the ship would be of no use to the Jem'Hadar soldiers, and unfortunately, they wouldn't be of any use to the survivors either. He couldn't allow the ship to fall into the hands of the Jem'Hadar soldiers, there was no telling what could be done, hopefully Starfleet would be able to re-take the system within the upcoming weeks. If not. . .then God have mercy on their souls.
With a deep sigh he pressed the launch button as the remaining escape pods were launched from the Galor-class vessel and into the upper stratosphere. Now came the hard part . . .
The wait . . .
Dorian Gabriel
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deep Space Five