Crisis Arising

Posted on 13 Feb 2018 @ 7:37am by Lieutenant Commander Geraldine "Geri" Severide & Lieutenant Commander Magdalena "Maggie" Doyl & Fleet Admiral Sho'Thor & Vice Admiral Nathan West

1,553 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Starfleet Command Headquarters
Timeline: ED8: 0800 Hrs

ON:
Word had spread quickly since the altercation between the USS Archer and the sixth fleet ship dubbed Imperium. Starfleet Engineering and R&D had been alerted once the specifications to this new dreadnaught had been transmitted and technicians and engineers alike worked to dissect the inner workings of the massive goliath.

At Starfleet Headquarters, several members of the highest ranks of Starfleet assembled to discuss the course of action on this newest threat. The Archer, in it's final act of defiance had bought earth valuable time. From last accounts, the Imperium was heavily damaged and would require repairs. The task now, was to determine how Starfleet would defend earth when the Imperium finally came.

Sho'Thor entered the conference room where the other heads of various departments of the Fleet were waiting. The information he had gotten so far had him worried. The reports he had read along with the eye witness testimony of the bridge crew, which had been expressed back to Earth by the fastest escorts that had responded to the distress call was disturbing. He moved to the head of the table and sat down as Admiral West, chief of Intelligence moved to the far wall where the large display was showing an image of the Federation emblem.

Admiral Lawless, the Chief of Starfleet Operations entered the room following Sho'Thor. She had spent the better part of the last hour discussing the reallocation of fleet deployments following the Imperium's incursion. The department had run several simulations based on the Intelligence provided by the Archer, and needless to say the outcomes were grim. The Imperium made it to earth, every time....

Admiral T'sanala of Starfleet Science looked sober as she walked in and took a seat. She'd spent all her time since hearing the news looking at the potential harm a ship like that could cause and she was deeply concerned. She nodded to the others and took her seat.

West picked up the PADD that lay on the far end of the long table and pressed the button to cause the lights to dim and the holographic projector in the center of the table to spring to life. The image of a sovereign class ship, far to large and looking like it had been dreamed up by a fevered warmongering mind. The ship was based on the sovereign class ship with proportions larger than an Excalibur and armaments of sheer numbers that it would take a fleet to damage. West breathed in as he looked down at the PADD began to speak.

"Ladies and gentilemen we are here to discuss the new threat that the 6th fleet had fielded. From the sensor logs of the USS Archer and what we have of the battle scans that were saved we can tell that the ship is 821 meters wide by 440 meters high and 1599 meters long. The displacement of the ship is unknown as sensor scans were dampened significantly during the running skirmish. From what we have learned from those scans the Imperium, which is what the commanding officer referred to the ship as, has a massive number of weapons. At the very least it has upwards of 18 phaser arrays, 6 multi fire phaser strippers and 12 torpedo launchers. These are only the weapons arrays that were witnessed being fired." West paused for this information to sink in.

"From what we have gathered, the only reason as many of the crew of the Archer survived was because her Captain ordered an abandon ship and set the star drive section to self destruct. He used guile and subterfuge to mask the true intent of his attack, a kamakasi run." he paused again to take a sip of water from the cup at the end of the table, "The Engineering Corp has run the numbers and come to the conclusion that it would take a medium to large fleet working in unison to bring down the Imperium as the shielding system is some kind of modified absorbing shield array. This meaning that a percentage of energy weapons fire directed at the ship is absorbed and redirected back into the shield array reducing the effectiveness of energy weapons and increasing the resilience of the Imperium's defensive systems. Tactical analysis of of Impierium suggests best possible course of action is to focus on kinetic weapons." He coughed and stepped aside and pressed a button to play the exchange between Admiral Severide and Captain Franklin as well as the battle video recorded from the Archer before it's self immolation.

"Is there any way we can disable it from the inside?" T'sanala asked. "If we could gain access to the computer or get a spy on board, it would save hundreds of lives."

West thought "There are options for that which SFI is currently investigating. One such is using his daughter, Lieutenant Commander Severide who is currently assigned to the Redemption."

T'sanala nodded. "If they are putting so much stock in their weapons, there is a chance they are careless in other ways."

Sho'Thor listened to the soft muttering of the officers around him as T'sanala and West spoke about the possibility of covertly finding a chink in the armor of the Sovereign dreadnaught. His attention was again focused on West as he responded.

"Given the cost currently paid to find out the intelligence we currently have on the ship, which was garnered because the Admiral was careless, overconfident or just wanted to toy with the Archer makes me cautious about finding a weakness we can exploit that requires head to head assaults. Given the amount of firepower that the dreadnaught demonstrated they could have destroyed the Archer with all hands aboard and not provided us with any intel until the ship was pressing on to Sol."

T'sanala was hoping to avoid a head-to-head assault. As a scientist, she always looked for the unknown, the back doors. It may not be possible in this instance, but it was always worth exploring before making a final decision.

"Admiral." Lawless piped up after having quietly listened to the exchanges. "I have re-deployed the seventh and ninth fleets in light of the Imperium's appearance. I have run simulations involving direct conflict with the Imperium given what we know." She sighed. "I'm not going to lie, we will take heavy losses but I am confident the Imperium will be brought down."

Thor looked at Lawless, "What scenario do we have with the best outcome?"

"Our best scenario is making our stand here. Starbase 001 can act as a firebase while the seventh and ninth fleets engage the Imperium in a direct assault. In this scenario, we are looking at seventy percent losses." Lawless replied somberly as her mind already began to grieve for the lost vessels.

Thor looked to the Admiral over Personell and assignments "Contact Captain Barron of the Falcon, have him bring the ship back in and prepare to be transferred to the Atonement. We'll launch that ship to support the Seventh and Ninth fleets in their guard against the Imperium."

"Of course sir." Lawless nodded acknowledgingly.

West watched the exchange and cleared his throat "The other course of action that I alluded to when Admiral T'sanala asked about covert actions. I suggest that we attempt to insert Lieutenant Commander Severide into Sixth Fleet so she might be able to gain the intelligence were needing to help combat the Imperium efficiently."

"How can we be sure she won't turn on us? It seems like that name carries a nature of instability." Lawless countered.

"To put it bluntly, she hates her father and would do anything to get even with him." West said as he looked at Lawless.

Lawless furled her brows together, curious of the statement. "Forgive me, why would her father let her anywhere near him? I'm sure he'd not ignorant to her feelings of him."

"Let me work that out, I know her father he served under me when I took over SFI. I know what drives him. We can make her irresistible to him."

"With the prospect of a 70% loss, Admiral West's suggestion holds merit," T'senala said.

West nodded "If we're able to get her inserted into the Sixth we may be able to gain the intell we need to put an end to the Imperium threat, possibly even the war."

Lawless remained quiet as she leaned back into her chair, eyes locked on West. She didn't like this idea one bit, and the part about making her irresistible to her father. What did that even mean?

T'sanala was relieved. She wasn't keen on what they were about to do to Severide, but it was far preferable to the losses they would sustain in a direct assault and saving lives had to count for something.

Thor nodded as it seemed the briefing was over.

"Very well Admiral West your free to begin putting your plan in to action. Admiral Grayson, get Captain Barron on the Atonement and get it launched to buttress or defences." With that Thor stood and left the conference room.


OFF:


Sho'Thor
Fleet Admiral
Chief of Star Fleet Operations
Star Fleet HQ, Earth

&

Nathan West
Vice-Admiral
Chief of Star Fleet Intelligence/Master of the Company
Star Fleet HQ, Earth

&

Admiral Lisa Lawless
Chief of Starfleet Operations
Starfleet HQ, Earth

&

Admiral T'sanala
Chief of Starfleet Science
Starfleet Headquarters, Earth

 

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