The Long Wait - Part 1

Posted on 28 Jul 2011 @ 8:57pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Lieutenant Lucas Mason

1,637 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M8: The Kzinti War!!!!
Location: In hight orbit over Mercer

Da`nal stood at the front of the bridge watching the planet below. This waiting was intolerable but their mission was too important to risk being overzealous. He grinned slightly at the footsteps that drew closer, even on the the carpets surface of the bridge he could make out the foot falls of his XO. There was another with him...unfamiliar but confident...most be the Major.

"What can I do for you gentlement?"

Don just indicated with a nod, that it was the major who wanted to speak to the Captain, grimacing slightly as a headache he had had over the last few days, returned suddelly, nearly causing to blink.

"Sir, request permission to begin the embarkation process." Stone shifted a little....he had alot of anxious energy and wanted to get solid earth under his feet again.

Turning to face the man he shook his head. He was about to deny the request outright, but instead consulted his officers; Silonez still looked a bit haggered but he had alot to do over the last few days but things weren't over yet. 'Mr. Silonez, is there any indication that the Kzinti ships will dipurse any time soon and give us the opening we need?"

"Projections put the Kzinti fleet in a state of redeployment, and repair yards appear to be working double and triple shifts to get damaged ships back into service, our best reports indicate that the Kzinti may be prepairing a new offensive, so we may have to make our move before the majority of the kzinti fleet is ready to return to service, and based on the data that is availible three days is all we have before another offensive begins."

Glancing over at Silonez, "Aren't you a ray of sunshine." Turning back to the Captain. "Sir, I'd like to start moving my men onto thier ships and getting them strapped in, so you can pull the trigger when you see an opening."

Da`nal's mind was swimming; ~How were they able to consrtuct a ship yard over Mercer so quickly?? ~ If possible they had to damage the ship yard. They couldn't use the defense platform because it was to far from the drop zone. But as soon as the platform was deployed the shipyard would go on alert and they would be unable to do any kind of damage.

He had over 200 Marines at his disposal. Did he use them to strike the ship yard or continue with the plan at hand? If they managed to cripple the station it could seriously disrupt their operations. However they had no intel on the yards internal layout. If they took active scans their sensor sweeps would be detected. He had his orders, but this new ship yard had been an unknown. What to do???

Don's mind was equally boggled at the speed of their progress. "How the hell are they able to do that?" he asked no one in particular. "Captain, if I may... I advise we go for it...." he said. He knew they didn't have enough information. "It is risky, but worth it.... if we dont' do anything, they just continue, Sir. This gives us a chance to slow them down..."

"Helm begin moving us into deployment position; take us there slow and steady. Major, give the order for your troop placement."

Stone nodded and tapped his comm badge.

=A="Stone to Velez, the ball's about to drop, lets get ready to start the party.=^=

Lucas identified the optimal drop point and slowly brought the ship into position. "Sir, we have arrived at deployment position."

"Hold here, Major before you join your troops I need to have a final word in my ready room; Don, Silonez if you both could join us."

"Sure thing." Stone followed the Da'nal as he made his way across the bridge to the Ready room, the whole time rubbing his hand firmly with his thumb...lossening the muscles in this hands and cracking his knuckles...a tick most likely...one of many pre-combat rituals career soldiers partake in out of habbit and rarely consciously.

"Commander Patil you have the bridge."

Tika stood quickly from her new position at Strategic Operations. "Aye, sir." She said, moving gracefully toward the center chair.

Don got up and followed them to Da'nal's ready room, glancing at Tika as they passed each other. This was not a hangover headache, it was a little worse. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to focus.

[Ready Room]

As they entered the room Da`nal turned and faced the other officers. The presence of the ship yard was un expected. Having a forward repair base was strategic and a tactical advantage for prolonged engagements, but how were they able to ccunstruct it so quickly and get it operational? The biggest problem was that when this operation was being put together they had known nothing about it. Had they known a larger operation would have been needed.

Da`nal could not launch the current operation with that ship yard in orbit. As soon as the Marines made there presence known the Kzinti would have all the resources they needed to obliterate them and any Romulans and civilians they managed to recruit.

"Mr Silonez what kind of damage would one Gaurdian platform do to that station before it could get its defenses up and take out the platform?"

"If we pick our shots right we can have the station on the edge of reactor failure, or at the very minimum we can delay the time it takes them to raise there sheilds." Silonez commented.

Don looked towards Da'nal, pursing his lips. "Captain, orders were given before there was intelligence on this stituation..." he said quietly. He stepped to the side, as if giving the captain space to make the decision.


Da`nal turned and walked toward the window and stared down at the planet below; he could not allow this station to remain. Turning back to his officers. "I am about to commit a direct violation of Admiral L'Berr's orders.

Stone stiffened. This obviously didn't sit well with him at all. He took a step forward and pulled himself up straight. "Sir, if you intend to countermand a direct order from the Admiral, I must respectfully request that you dispatch the Marine Force prior to any action which deviates from the Admirals orders. I will not myself, nor any of my Marines be party to what is essentially mutiny during time of war."

The word mutiny almost stuck in his throat.

Don had nothing against Stone, but the implication of the word was too much fo him to bear and he exploded, his temper now frayed with the pain. "Mutiny!?" Don exclaimed. "Typical marine!" Don said with venom. This was exactly why he left the marines. "Follows orders blindly..." he continued, but with a stare and a hand from Da'nal, he shut his mouth.

"You of course are free to command your Marine Detachment as assigned as you see fit, but the remainder of the volunteers and mission specialists, unless part of your crew, are under MY command and you are responsible for their safe delivery to orbit. I ask you now, not to take any measures to endanger that duty or my mission."

The right side of Da`nal's mouth curled at the Major's reply and he stepped closer to the Marine, tapping his commbadge, =^= Lt. Mackenzie to the Readyroom immediately; Da`nal out.=^= He didn't wait for a reply and focused on the Major.

The muscles in Stones neck and face twitched as he clentched and set his jaw. He expression remained blank as the CO advanced on him.

"Your dedication to duty is honorable Major but a great man once said that 'men cannot blindly follow orders'. An officer of your rank should know this, and I have no intention of deploying any operation to the surface with that ship yard in orbit. You accuse me of Mutiny...would you rather I leave that ship yard intact with all its warriors to be deployed to the surface once you make your first move?! And once you, your men and mine have been eliminated what then? The Kzinti will use those ships ot attack syatem after system to kill tens...hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions more."

Sarah entered a few moments later, tieing her hair back "you sent for me sir?" she asked, taking a quick look around at the other officers.

The Klingon raised his hand to cut the Major off. "No Major this 'mutiny' as you put it will be mine alone to deal with as this ship was ordered not to engage the enemy. It is that order I will be violating in order to protect the Federation and save lives, your included Major and you can interpret that however you see fit. Now as the Talon and Dynasty craft and their pilots are Starfleet I will use them as I see fit; after the order to enter the atmosphere is given they are your to command and not until then."

Stone loosened his jaw a bit, "You are right about that much sir, but Marine officers don't usually make up their own orders, no matter the situation and the timeline described is plenty of time to seek a change of mission order from the Admiral via subspace. Send one of the cloaked ships out of system and have them relay a message so it isn't detected. I've seen alot in my time sir, and you are right...I do know better, but to adapt doesn't always mean to disobey. Either way sir, if you choose to continue on this course of action, I'd ask that my formal protest be entered into the record on the ships log."


TBC

 

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