A Fleet at War
Posted on 30 Nov 2017 @ 10:43am by Fleet Admiral Sho'Thor
1,742 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Errand of Mercy
Location: Admiral Thor's Office, Star Fleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth
Timeline: ED5: 1500
ON:
-Thor's Office-
Thor sat behind his desk, and put thumbed off the computer in front of him. He knew what he had to do and it turned his stomach to do it, Vulcan's may suppress their emotions like none other but this next order he was about to send out to all forward ships caused a biological reaction. He stood and headed to the replicator. "Computer, Vulcan herb tea Shora four, serve at temperature recommended by recipe. Also grape juice." a half a heartbeat later after the flash of light had subsided the steaming cup of tea, and glass of grape juice sat in the replicator nich. He took them both and slowly moved back to his desk. He sat back down gingerly as he sipped the scalding liquid, as he placed the juice across from him on the other side of his desk. He sighed softly to himself as the mix of floral and earthy herbs splashed into his stomach and helped to relax the muscles.
"Captain Shib, please come into my office and bring your PADD." Thor said a half a second later the Captain's gruff voice could be heard acknowledging the request. Shib, a tall Andorian officer entered Thor's office. He had picked Shib for his aide-de-camp when he had returned to active duty, or more Shib requested the post. Shib had served with Thor when he had held the post of Chief of Star Fleet Operations previously. That was one reason why, when Thor returned from retirement to take back the CSFO position Shib requested a transfer from command to be the Admiral's aide. Thor trusted the man and his outlook on things.
"Shib, take a seat, I want your honest thought on a matter that I've been mulling over since the 6th broke away and the government was destroyed." his eyes watched the andorian as he easily came to rest in the chair across from Thor. Shib watched the Admiral as he reached out and picked up the glass of juice and took a quick sip, unconsciously.
"Always sir." the andorian said in his rumbling bass voice.
"I want to know, what you think, about removing the families off of front line ships that are more likely to be caught up in this war we're in. Do you think I should, given the mission and purpose of Star Fleet?" Thor asked as he leaned back and sipped the tea again.
The andorian growled softly in his chest and took a moment to think before responding.
"Sir, with all due respect, I don't know why you haven't yanked every civilian off of every ship already. The way things are going we're going to need every ship available to fight the three different fronts we're going to have to face. You have the 6th fleet along the former Romulan boarder, you have the Bajoran separatists that have taken over DS9 and the surrounding areas, and you have the Confederacy of the Underdark that can pop up damned near anywhere. It's unsafe for a mission non-critical civilian to be on any of our ships right now, especially the Galaxy, Sovereign and Excalibur class ships that have whole families on them." he paused "Look at what happened when the Yorktown got destroyed by the 6th fleet. They had six families on board, we lost everyone. I understand your worry about our exploration mandate but we also have a mandate to protect the Federation, every officer and enlisted man takes that oath, the families did not. We should get the civilians off the ships and if there is more than two family members on any given ship we need to split them too. We don't want one ship going down and a family to put up three or four gold stars on their yard because we didn't think through what having them all on one ship could do." Shib's rumbling voice stopped as he took another long drink of the grape juice and waited as Thor thought over his words. The Admiral had stood about halfway through his response and had moved to look out the window of his office at the crater which had once been the Federation Senate and Congressional Hall. They were still removing the wreckage from that terrible day. There was a long silence, which his aide-de-camp was used to as the only noise to be heard was the sound of their combined slow breathing.
"Very well Captain, draft a new general order and send it to all ships, any ship currently assigned to front line action will return to Earth or the closest available space station to off load their unessential civilian personnel. I want you to go through and research which ships have individuals of first and second consanguinity assigned to them and move them off, with the proviso that no more than two familial members are allowed on one ship at any given time. We don't want a repeat of the Yorktown. Second line ships will be allowed to keep unessential civilian personnel but Captains will be required to come up with a contingency plan to off load them should they have time and know that they are going into harms way." Thor paused for a long moment "Let not this be the measure of our legacy." he whispered softly to himself as he turned and nodded for the Captain to depart.
Shib looked at the Admiral and said in reply "Sir, we are Star Fleet, while our mission is always peaceful we are the military arm of the Federation. It is a poor Commander that thinks peace time actions are suitable for wartime theaters. It is our sworn duty to protect and safeguard the lives of the citizenry of the Federation. It would be dishonorable to leave them on the ships when we know they will see action. Our legacy shall be that of keeping our citizens safe. Let the sheepdogs go do their duty, and the sheep bleat away in comfortable ignorance."
-Azura's Quarters, 2305-
The soft pinging of a communique from Star Fleet could be heard in his quarters. It was soft enough as to not wake anyone else up but Azura with his hightened Vulcan hearing. He wasn't asleep, he had been sitting on the couch thinking about his wife and child and what this war could take from him. The room was dark and he pushed himself up from the couch to read what had been sent.
He padded over to the computer terminal and spun it around on the desk, thumbing it on quickly. The icon at the bottom right of the screen pulsed letting him know, now visually, that he had a message. He raised an eyebrow and called out to the computer.
"Computer, show communique."
Department of Star Fleet
Office of the Chief of Star Fleet Operations
1 Star Fleet Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94129
Star Fleet Mandate and order pertaining to Civilian Personnel
From: Chief of Star Fleet Operations
Subj: CIVILIAN PERSONNEL ON STAR FLEET VESSELS
1. Purpose. To establish wartime policy regarding civilian personnel serving, being quartered, or transported by Star Fleet vessels in time of war.
2. Cancellation. None
3. Scope. This instruction applies to all Star Fleet Vessels that transport or house civilian personnel.
4. Discussion. It has become increasingly important for all Star Fleet vessels to be prepared for battle maneuvers during wartime. As all Star Fleet vessels may be required to enter into battle maneuvers policies and directives must be put into place to safeguard the wellness and continued lives of civilian personnel currently assigned, quartered, or being transported by Star Fleet vessels.
5. Policy. All non-mission critical civilian personnel shall be removed from Star Fleet vessels and shall be safeguarded when transportation is needed.
a. Vessels deemed as front line ships shall have all non-mission critical civilian personnel removed from them to ensure their safety in times of war.
b. Vessels deemed as support ships may, at the discretion of the Commanding Officer, leave non-mission critical civilian personnel on their ships or may remove them. If the Commanding Officer of any support ship keeps their non-mission critical civilian personnel on board then the commanding staff shall be mandated to draw up a contingency plan that outlines how they will, if caught in a battle maneuver safeguard the lives of their civilian population. This contingency plan shall be submitted to Star Fleet Headquarters, Office of Strategic Planning, to be approved.
Sho'Thor
Fleet Admiral, Star Fleet
Chief of Star Fleet Operations
He blinked quickly, he knew what this meant as another message pinged into his inbox titled "Disposition of service members of first and second consanguinity on Star Fleet vessels".
"Holy shit." he blurted out as the fullness of both of those messages rocked him. They were taking the families off the ships, they were turning the fleet into an fighting force. He sank moved quickly to sink down into his desk chair as he thought of what that meant. He wondered if Admiral Sisko had a hand in this, everyone old enough remembered the embitterment the senior officer had at the loss of his wife. If this order had been in effect his wife might still have been alive today.
He slammed his balled up fist down on the desk making all of the assorted knicknacks jump and jinggle with the explosion of force. That sound was not calibrated to keep those slumbering asleep, and a soft hickkup of noise could be heard from his room that morphed into the growing wail of a child.
"Dammit." he fumed at himself inwardly he had woken Savannah. He pushed himself up and closed his eyes forcing his emotional control to reassert it's self. He was still teetering on the ragged edge since this mission had started even though his sessions with the General had been going well. He calmed himself before moving to pick up his child and comfort her.
"Shhhhhh, little one I'm here." he kissed her forehead and brushed her mind with positive, protective thoughts as he walked her across the quarters humming to himself as much as to her.
"What will do I little one? I know the Redemption is a front line ship." he whispered. "What will I do?"
OFF:
Sho'Thor
Fleet Admiral
Chief of Star Fleet Operations
Star Fleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth
&
Shib
Captain
Aide-de-Camp, Chief of Star Fleet Operations
Star Fleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth
&
Azura Ashcart
Captain
Commanding Officer
USS Redemption
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