Path: inforamp.net!news.nstn.ca!news.dal.ca!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news-feed.iguide.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!ulowell.uml.edu!news.cs.umb.edu!oitnews.harvard.edu!irs.joslin.harvard.edu!weed From: Mathew Weed Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: New! Defender: (Also The Vortex' Defender) Part III Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 14:16:47 -0500 Organization: Harvard University Office of Information Technology Lines: 447 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: irs.joslin.harvard.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Status: N What's Paramount's is Paramount's, what's ours is copyright 1995-6 Captain's Log: Stardate 52061.6: William McGinnis, Commanding USS Inflexible reporting: We have been out of communication with Starfleet Command for nearly two weeks, and our mission is proceeding as planned. The fact that I have a group of Klingons aboard ship who need to be kept active in order to maintain discipline has forced me to rearrange our plans slightly. I have given orders that Torgul and M'Kenna take the scout, so that they can take their people to one of the planets that has been partly surveyed, so that they can do on-ground battle drills. Fortunately, the planet has no intelligent life, and lots of very large and dangerous predators. I understand that the Klingons are looking forward to getting some exercise. "Mr. Thale, please bring the ship to sublight velocity for undocking of the scout. ... Mr. Sanchez, you're in command of the ground team, so you're with me. Commander T'sommahr, you have the bridge." "Aye sir's" rang around the bridge as the crew responded to McGinnis' orders. Sanchez rose to join McGinnis at the starboard turbolift. As they entered, the younger man turned to his captain, preparing to ask for final orders before detouring to his quarters to pick up his gear. McGinnis, anticipating the question began talking as soon as the lift was moving for deck four and officers' country. "Commander, you shouldn't have that much to worry about on this trip, between the Klingons and Torgul's marines, you'll have plenty of people should you meet up with any of those predators. The scout's transmitters are strong enough to get to us here, should anything critical come up. You should plan to rendezvous in a week at the coordinates that I've given you and the two captains. If the Klingons give you trouble, refer the problem to M'Kenna, she's their commander, and there's no reason why she shouldn't handle discipline along the lines best suited to Klingon warriors. Any questions?" "No Sir," said the young weapons chief; whose second-in-command, Walter Schultz, would be weapons officer until Sanchez' return. "Good," said McGinnis as the turbolift doors opened, I'll see you at the airlock in five minutes." "Aye Sir," replied Sanchez as he ran off to collect his fieldpack and phaser rifle. Meanwhile, McGinnis headed off toward the airlock to make sure that M'Kenna understood the plan. * * * Captain Torgul stared helplessly at twenty one kneeling Klingons, as they chanted something in their native tongue. They had absolutely refused to go any further, until this ritual was complete. In all, the ritual took only two minutes; but it seemed more like two hours to the marines who were eager to get started. Finally, the all shouted KORISS!, and stood. "We can go, now." Captain McKenna said, looking a tad misty eyed. As they stood to one side and watched their troops file through the airlock, Torgul had to ask. "What was that? I scanned every Klingon Cultural source I could get my hands on, when I was told you would be joining us; and I saw nothing like that described." "You won't find it anywhere." "A secret ceremony?" "Just a custom of our platoon. Been doing it since... well, since the first name." "Name?" McKenna leaned against the bulkhead. "Each time we go on a mission, we kinda christen it. We recite the names of all our dead." "All the dead from what?" "From our platoon." Torgul grunted appreciatively. "Not a lucky bunch; are you?" Elise smiled. "Let's just say, we're not timid. Anyway, its a device we use to kinda switch gears. Look at them." At first Torgul wasn't sure what she meant; then she noticed a change had come over the Klingons. The restless, shifty, snarling creatures had been replaced with proud, clear-eyed, cold-looking warriors. Whereas before they looked ready to fight, now they looked ready to do battle. It was a subtle difference, but one Torgul could discern; as she developed the skill of estimating the readiness of her troops. It was hard; reading alien faces. Bit by bit, though, she was catching on. "They call it esprit de corps." Elise said quietly. Smiling, vaguely, she followed her people through the airlock. *** Torgul turned to see her commanding officer staring after McKenna with an odd look on his face. "Esprit de corps," said McGinnis with a grin, and followed McKenna down the access chute to the small armed scout that nestled below the great ship's mighty wing-mounted torpedo launchers. "Captain, a word if you please," said McGinnis after entering the crowded engineering section of the craft. "McGinnis, we've got eight minutes before your launch time, and I don't see your weapons officer," said McKenna, who was more than a bit unhappy with McGinnis' obvious mistrust of her people. "He's on his way, he had a few things to finish up on the bridge. Lt. Schultz will be standing in for him, he needs the experience anyway, and this is a perfect chance for him to learn about departmental command. In any case, I just wanted to be sure that you're up on the plan." "Yeah, we're supposed to go play around on a rock somewhere for a while to let off some steam. Your officers'll be nursemaiding us to make sure that we don't get into any trouble. Meanwhile, you'll be exploring another dead system, just like the thirteen other boring, uncivilized places that we've seen over the past two weeks." "Well, I'd say that you're a bit wrong about the nursemaiding," said McGinnis with a smile. However, when he saw that McKenna wasn't planning on being placated, he decided to lay down the rules. "I want you to follow Mr. Sanchez' orders to the letter, should he feel the need to give any. You and Torgul are in tactical command, but should anything at all come up, Sanchez is responsible, particularly since neither of you have any space based naval combat training. Am I understood?" "Yes, sir!" said McKenna, loudly enough to get the attention of the entire Klingon contingent, along with all of the Starfleet officers who were within earshot of her response. At that moment, Sanchez slid down the chute from the ship, landing on his feet just as the red alert klaxons began to sound. "McGinnis here," "Sir," came T'sommahr's voice over the intership. "...We have just received a report from the Einstein, they are under attack by no less than fifteen small, heavily armed craft, all of similar design." "On my way!", replied McGinnis waving at Sanchez and McKenna to follow him as he shot up into his ship and toward the bridge. "Situation report," he snapped as the turbolift doors opened, and he burst onto the command deck. "Sir, as I reported previously, a number of pirate craft have attacked the Einstein. As you know, the ship has no offensive weapons. It is running, but does not expect to be able to outdistance its pursuit." "Right," replied McGinnis, turning toward Sanchez and McKenna to begin the process of changing their plans. "Captain M'Kenna, obviously we can't let you start your mission for a bit, as a more important situation has arisen, I suggest that you get your people back aboard, and then come back to the bridge for a senior staff meeting in an hour. Bring anyone you want with you, and make sure to tell Captain Torgul as well." "Aye Sir," replied M'Kenna as she left the bridge. "Helm, set a course for the scene of battle," "Sir, I can't get a fix, there is too much ionic interference in that direction. I have a general idea, but can't do any better than that." "Ops?" "I can't do anything here," "Fine. Get in touch with Lewis, and see if they or Watson can get us a better fix." "Aye," replied Anders as she turned back to her board. Several minutes passed, and it became quite obvious that Anders and the bridge crews aboard the two science ships with which she was working were having trouble figuring out a course for the big ship to follow. Before she was able to report success, M'Kenna returned to the bridge, and quickly realized that they still hadn't gone anywhere. "What's the plan?" McGinnis turned to her, only slightly surprised at the speed of her return. In spite of the single discipline problem that she'd had, her troops were, in general, extremely well controlled, and very quick to follow her orders. A clear compliment, in McGinnis' mind at least, to the Klingon warrior ethic. "There isn't one yet," he replied, and then at the tightening of her jaw, "We've not been able to triangulate on the signal yet." McKenna nodded, and took up a position from which she could wait for someone to come up with an answer to their immediate problem. From that point, McGinnis would make the decisions and tell her people what to do. "Sir," Anders said without even turning from her station, "I think that we've got a fix, data is being fed through to the helm." "Good," said McGinnis, eager to get started. "Helm, set course, and engage at maximum sustainable velocity." "Aye Sir," replied Thale. "Course is 186 mark 30, velocity is warp 9.2, and our ETA is fifty-nine minutes." * * * Subcommander Arwein, charged with offensive systems aboard the Romulan startallon class warbird Predator watched with great interest, as the strategic scanners, for which she was also responsible, suddenly began showing her activity that, unless she was at risk of losing her mind, exactly matched the signature of weapons fire. "Commander, I have high-intensity energy bursts range: ... two light years," she said as the data continued to flow in. "Defensive systems, are we cloaked?" "Yes Commander," replied the senior centurion who stood at the defensive systems board. "Very well, helm, set velocity at maximum, and close to one million of the Federation's kilometers, so that we may investigate this unusual activity." "Yes Commander," "Offensive systems, put your scan up on the main screen so that we may all follow the progress of your investigation." Arwein barely hesitated in complying, in spite of her anger at being so openly challenged by her senior officer. She had done nothing, so far as she knew, to be treated this way, however, over the past days, her commander's attitude had, without question, become openly hostile. As the great ship closed on the activity, it became clear that a battle was being waged between several small craft and a somewhat larger Federation-style ship which, interestingly enough, didn't seem to be fighting back. "Offensive systems, why do they not return that fire?" came the commander's cool voice from behind Arwein. "Commander, I believe that the Federation ship is some type of science vessel, probably one of those for which we have been searching for some time. As you know, the ship is not armed, and must be protected by another ship in order to perform in a military situation. However, its shields are respectable, and if the squadron flagship is near by, I have little doubt that they will survive until the fighters can be driven off. Those are powerful ships, but any Federation cruiser or dreadnought would have no problem at all in destroying most of that squadron in moments." "I see," said the commander, who had not known that the Federation did not arm all of its ships. This was an interesting piece of data, and her tattered trust in the weapons officer, whose leadership qualities, and awareness of the Federation's capabilities, were proving to be as great as her own, weakened further. "Commander, I have no other ships or warp fluxes on the strategic scan. If we don't intervene, the Federation craft will be destroyed." said Arwein, as the small fighters' shots began to take notable bites out of the ship's shields, and then its hull. "Then let the human vermin die," replied the commander who sat back in her chair to watch the rest of the unfolding drama before them. Only minutes later, a final volley shattered the hull around the ship's main energizer, and it exploded violently, the tachyon burst temporarily overwhelming Predator's cloak. "Get that device back on line," the commander shouted into her chair's com unit. Arwein, however, did not hear the response, as a tremendously powerful warp flux, moving at very high speed, came onto her long-range scanners, which were not piped through to the main viewscreen after the nearly blinding flash that had signaled the death of nearly two hundred Federation scientists and other crew members. * * * "Decelerating into orbit of the fourth planet of the system," said Thale as a blue-green planet came into focus on the main viewscreen. McGinnis relaxed only slightly on hearing the news, as it meant that the large object that they had scanned for a brief moment an hour ago, had either been a sensor ghost caused by the distance from which they had picked it up, or a very large craft whose intent and commander were unknown. "All right," he sighed. "Take a complete scan of the planet, look for a base or any other kind of suggestion that those craft came from here." Several minutes later, T'sommahr turned from her station, her brow puckered as only a Vulcan's could be. "Sir, I can not break through the interference layer in the planet's atmosphere. It appears to be a natural phenomenon, and is also quite effective at absorbing our scans." "Right," said McGinnis, whose suspicions about the planet had just increased noticeably. "Suggestions?" "Sir, I suggest that we send the scout down there, if we can't use the transporter?" said Sanchez. The Vulcan first officer's negative response to the obvious suggestion worried McGinnis, as it meant that communications would be very difficult. "McKenna, what do you think about all of this?" "I don't like any of the alternatives. If you send us down there, we'll be flyin' blind, against an enemy that seems to be quite able to knock a little ship like that out of the air without a problem, offensive systems or no. Can you bring the ship down there?" "I'd rather not. Since we can't scan for atmospheric disturbance or other natural threats, we won't know that danger's upon us until its right there. We can't maneuver in atmosphere and keep the shields at full power, the ship is simply too heavy. We could cloak, but we face the same problem. I can only go down there, if I know that there's no other way. Unfortunately, the scout does provide another way, risky though it is." "So, should I get ready for a landing operation?" "Yes, take ten of your people, leave me with your second in Command. Torgul will send ten of her people, so you'll have twenty with you. Mr. Sanchez will command the space crew, since he has more tactical knowledge than anyone aboard, save myself. If you're not back aboard in twelve hours, I'll bring the ship in, and we can see from there. Prepare for launch in fifteen minutes." "Aye Sir," replied the two officers as they left in order to collect their people. *** As the troops began to arrange themselves, Torgul let her gaze take in the landscape. The area they were in was fairly flat and wooded (except for where the Einstein's wrecked saucer hull had cleared a trough in the forest). She could make out a ragged blue smudge on the horizon, that she knew to be a mountain range. A dull roar told her the scout ship was lifting off to take a geosynchronis orbit above them, until they were ready to be picked up. Suddenly, the air was full of explosions. "TAKE COVER!" Elise roared, and knocked Torgul to the ground. Stunned, Torgul watched as the scout attempted to get out from under an attack from several ships. The battle continued until they were out of sight, but a dark plume of smoke told them all they needed to know. "LET'S MOVE OUT, PEOPLE!" Elise hollered, hauling Torgul to her feet. "Move out?" Torgul asked. "We can't just go wherever we want. We need to get orders." "You want orders? How 'bout this: Order your ass to beat feet outta here, before whoever chased down that scout ship comes back for us." "But where?" "I'd take those trees, for now." Elise set a brisk pace toward a clump of trees. "Anything to get out of the open. We can figure out where next, once we get under cover." She waited for Torgul's response, but got none. "LADIES!" she addressed the troops. "Make for the treeline on the other side of the wreckage. Squad leaders, I want FULL accountability. MOVE!" Torgul tapped her comm badge. "Captain McGinnis, Captain Torgul. We've come under attack. The scout ship's most likely destroyed. We're going-" Elise snatched the badge right off Torgul's uniform. "Send an engraved invitation, why don'tcha?" she grumbled. She tapped it again. "McGinnis? M'Kenna here." "M'Kenna?" McGinnis' voice sounded mildly irritated. "I don't recall issuing you a comm badge." "Yeah, well; today's just full of surprises. The big one came from a heading of oh-four-seven, continuing on about one-eighty from that. I'd say the scout went down about ten clicks from here. Check your holo-map for area niner-two-six. That's where we're headed. We'll wait twenty to thirty. Radio silence, comms off line. You copy?" "M'Kenna, all we can do is fix on you and trail your lock. We can't scan your location, can't beam you up, and have no idea where we're going. We're on our way, but we'll have to do a raw pick-up operation via transporter before we can do anything else. Do whatever you think is best, we'll find you." "Hurry up, we've got a bunch of 'em down here, and our pea shooters won't do much against those ships; even if they've got only minimal shields. In situations like this, sometimes minutes seem like hours; but sometimes minutes are just minutes." "Got it. McGinnis out." On the ship, McGinnis spared a moment to smile at M'Kenna's nostalgia. That garble about time was old code that told him when she said "twenty to thirty", M'Kenna meant she would take the troops out of the area at 22:30, ship's time. That was in only ten minutes. He had no choice, and no time to waste; he was going to have to take the ship down there. M'Kenna, on the other hand, didn't have time to think about the nostalgic elements of what she'd said. She knew she was in trouble, and not all of her trouble was in the form of small and tough fighter craft. Just under the trees, Elise pulled Torgul aside. "Look;" she whispered harshly. "If you want me to take over, fine. But if you want to do your job, yer gonna have to take some initiative. Jump in there, dammit, and start lookin' like ya got half a clue." "I haven't the experience you do!" Torgul hissed angrily. "You can't expect me to pick this up on the spot!" "Oh yes I can. Now, look; I know Starfleet can't be too much different from the Imperial Army. You take the same classes over and over, till you can recite them verbatim. Well, this is the kinda situation where all that crap comes together and actually gets used. Think! Just think! Get your head outta yer ass, and use yer brain. Now we got exactly seven minutes before we move to our next spot. Look over the terrain, remember your map, and make a decision." "M'Kenna, if you know what we're supposed to do, lets do it! This is real! You can't turn it into a training session!" Elise grinned. "The best training exercise is the kind where you play for keeps, baby. Don't worry; I won't let you get us killed. Now go take charge." Torgul stared at her for a moment. "Why are you doing this?" "So next time, YOU can save MY ass. Now, GO!" Torgul studied her options. The obvious and best choice, was the ravines near the mountains; but they were several kilometers away, and they had to cross flat treeless land to get there. The next best choice, would be to keep moving through the forest in an erratic enough pattern to escape detection. This would only work for a few more hours, though. When the sun set, the ground and rocks would cool. Their heat signature would be like a beacon on any sensor grid. Torgul hoped Captain McGinnis would come through, because NONE of these options sounded good. ****************** If you want parts of this story, plese mail either Matt or Cris and we'll get them to you. If you want more information or the files for the Fall of the Federation, or Vortex of Power Series, please see ftp.gdw.com /pub/startrek/story/tng for Fall of the Federation stuff, and /pub/startrek/story/DS9 (any file including the word Vortex) for Vortex of Power stories. You are also invited to contact Matt or Chris directly. and archer77@ix.netcom.com for VOP. "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all of those other forms that have been tried from time to time." Winston Churchill as quoted on the CBS evening news for Feb 19, 1996 Matthew Weed (617) 432-9023 mweed@count51.med.harvard.edu A.M.Harvard University