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A script for Star Trek, The Next Generation whic
Preface,
This work is in response to the, in my opinion, unrealistically peaceful nature
of the Star Trek Universe as depicted in Star Trek: The Next Generation. I
have taken the events in the history and have extended them in a way that i
feel is more logical, considering the political and economic circumstances as
shown us in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
television series. All comments on the story are welcomed at
mattweed@edith.princeton.edu. And now, on with the story!
SUPER-DREADNOUGHT Part I: Chapter I
By:
Matthew A. Weed
Command Log: Stardate 56215.4: Admiral William McGinnis,
Commanding USS Ticonderoga reporting: We will be ready to launch this new ship
in less than a day. The ship is the latest in Federation design, and
unfortunately, its powers may not be sufficient to successfully prosecute our
mission. I will command this vessel in her first, and hopefully not last,
mission. If we succeed, the quadrant will be safe. If not, all of the
civilizations in the area are likely to fall to The Borg.
Admiral McGinnis shut off the recorder, and prepared to leave his quarters.
Where the old Mycenae-class ships had been powerfully armed and heavily
shielded for their times, this ship was the best- armed, best-shielded ship in
space, without exception. "Their times,", god... he thought to himself, it
was only thirteen years since he had taken command of the new defender-class
ship called Mycenae. Although the ship had been built as a warning to the
Federation's enemies, with far heavier weapons than anything of its time,
compared with this new vessel, Mycenae was a light-cruiser at best.
It had been a long thirteen-year period, highlighted by the Borg attack on the
Klingon home system, which had brought the Klingons to their decision to break
the treaty of Algeron. Their fleet had barely defeated the single Borg cube,
and had suffered staggering losses in the effort. Now, they were building up
their forces in preparation for an offensive against Borg territory.
The Romulans, not believing the Klingons' effort would end against the Borg had
also exceeded treaty limitations with their newest ships, and, fearing that it
would be left behind, the Federation had begun building a new fleet, with the
new Ticonderoga class as its centerpiece.
These ships carried phase-cloaking technology, a new hyper- accelerated
collimator ring dcapable of three times the destructive output of the old
Mycenae-class technology, rapid-fire phaser batteries with independent power
supplies, contained-plasma torpedoes, tripple shielding, and, most importantly,
a back-up forced quantum singularity generator, capable of fifteen-minute
bursts of power, sufficient to power the ships' vastly powerfful weapons and
shielding. Each of these ships could handle twenty of the old war- bird class
ships, given proper circumstances... The question, simply put, was could they
handle a single (or more likely), multiple Borg ships.
McGinnis sighed as he left his quarters, it wasn't really his job to worry
about design specs. His job was to go to the Klingon home world, in order to
meet with Gouron in order to plan allied strategy, against both Borg and
Romulans. Starfleet hoped that this brand new ship would be as powerful a sign
of commitment as the presence of Jean-luc Picard's Enterprise had been in the
first battle, four years previously. Unfortunately, Enterprise had been
destroyed in the battle, and it was rumored that some of the ship's officers
had been taken by the Borg. McGinnis sincerely hoped, for their sakes, that
they had not.
The bridge doors opened, admitting him to Ticonderoga's heavily armored command
center. "Admiral on the Bridge," said Lieutenant-commander Walter Schultz,
Tactical officer, and third-in-command.
"At ease, ... report on status of our undocking preparations?" said McGinnis as
he moved to the center seat.
"All systems have been checked, all power conduates and back-up systems show
clear, computer is on-line, weapons at standby, warp drive is available,
phase-cloak is available, and torpedoes are still being loaded sir.", said
Captain Data, who had been loaned to McGinnis' command after Starfleet realized
that there were no officers aboard Ticonderoga who had any significant
experience with the Borg. Such experience, it was thought, would be critical,
particularly in the planned meetings with the Klingon Command.
"Thank you, Captain. Operations, do you have a listing of the other ships that
will rendezvous with us at the Klingon Capitol?"
"Sir, Starfleet reports that they can not give us a complete list, but three
task forces are expected to arrive within twenty-four hours after our arrival.
They will be commanded by captains Shelby and Stromgren, and Rear-Admiral De
L'hotel. They expect a minimum total of four dreadnought-class, five
cruiser-class, and eleven support vessels. All have had the new sensor
modifications installed, and most are carrying phase-cloaking devices.
However, they will be able to provide comparatively little fire-support, and
the Klingons have allready suggested that this vessel is the only one in which
they are interested."
"I see, the smaller ships may prove a liability, but I really don't like the
Klingons' dismissal of them out-of-hand. Commander, forward the information
concerning our fleet strength to the Klingon council, and tell Gouron that I
will want to discuss the use of the smaller ships with him immediately on our
arrival." "Aye sir," replied Janet Anders as she turned back to her console.
McGinnis sat back in his chair, thinking about the tremendous change that had
come over Ms. Anders over the last few years. She had come aboard Mycenae a
young lieutenant junior-grade, who was impatient for results, believing that
things could be had if you wanted them badly enough. The last years had molded
her into a fine officer, patient, cunning, and compassionate. Assuming that
all of them survived the upcoming mission, she would make a fine ship's
commander. However, more important matters awaited them at the moment.
"Mr. Data, what is the current report on our earliest possible departure time?"
"Assuming that all of the loading is proceeding at the projected rate, we
should be able to depart the dock in thirteen hours, eight minutes fifteen
seconds." "Thank you, ms. Anders, please have dock ready to clear us in
fourteen hours. Until then, I want all of you to take added time off, because
after we leave dock, I suspect that none of us will be getting much rest for
quite some time."
At this moment, a lieutenant from engineering hastened onto the Bridge, and
reported that engineering com systems were down; that this was related to a
slight instability in the quantum core; and that Commander Macleod thought
that repairs would take about four hours. Until the repairs were complete, it
would be imposssible to generate anything more than 25% power from the
auxiliary generator.
"Lieutenant, Tell him that since we won't need the added power until after we
leave Klingon space, I suspect that he can fix the problem in transit. If he
has further concerns, have him report to me directly, and make sure that
someone finds a work-around for the comlinks, since the optical controllers
aren't up yet, we're totally dependent on our communicators."
"Aye Sir," she said as she rushed ack into the turbolift.
"Unless anyone has other concerns, I'm going to be in my quarters, you can
reach me there, ...Mr. Data, you have the bridge." said McGinnis. He rose and
left the Bridge, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that all was in order
before he left.
SUPER-DREADNOUGHT: Part I: Chapter II:
McGinnis turned over in his sleep, and then snapped wide awake. He reached
over to hit the com switch, opening a channel to the Bridge.
"McGinnis here," he said.
"Sir, you asked for notification when we were one hour from launch," replied
Data's voice.
"Thank you, I'll be up in thirty minutes, I want all senior staff on the Bridge
at that time."
"Yes sir, I will ensure that everyone is here." "McGinnis out."
After a quick shower and change of uniform, McGinnis left his quarters for a
quick snack on his way to the Bridge. Ever since the dimentional transit
several years previously, he had always been too nervous to eat full meals
during his ships' first voyages. He had been a young, inexperienced commander
then, and the physical and psychological stress of that mission had been quite
enough for an entire lifetime. Most of his crew had spent a number of weeks in
hospital, and it had been more than six months before they had been permitted
to return to duty.
***
The doors of rec-1 opened silently as he approached, and he was just as glad.
Although Alpha shift would be going on duty any minute, the room was somewhat
crowded with crew as they either relaxed or lined up to throw their dishes into
the recyclers.
McGinnis moved quickly to the bank of replicators placed near the door.
Although the bar was open, he didn't have time to chat, and he didn't want to
interrupt the other shifts' relaxation with his uniformed presence. Though he
didn't usually demand tremendous dicipline from his crew when they were
off-duty, seeing him in uniform often caused all of his crew to treat him with
what other commanders called "Captain on the Bridge" manners. Now, there was
no reason for it, and so he tried to avoid bothering them, while still gauging
their stress level as the ship's launch time approached.
After ordering a quick BLT and salad, he turned to leave, so that he could eat
in his small ready-room, located a short distance from the main bridge. Just
before he could slip out the door, a young crewmember moved to intercept him.
"Sir," she asked somewhat timidly, "I was wondering, what do you think our
chances are?" McGinnis looked at the slender young woman,whose face was lined
with stress.
"Chances of what? ensign, he asked, knowing full-well what she meant.
"Of surviving our mission against the Borg."
"Well, that isn't our mission as yet, Although the Klingons plan to attack, I
haven't received orders to help them yet, and we're still hoping to keep them
from going. I think we've got a good shot."
"I hope so, sir, I want to come back from this."
McGinnis sighed to himself, wondering for the thousandth time, why Starfleet
Command had insisted on sending mere kids on this mission, and on this ship.
Kids deserved the chance to grow up, and this ship wasn't meant to keep them
out of danger. It might be the best protection ever built once there, but it
was always best to avoid battle whenever possible. Even if that avoidance
meant threatening the other side with guaranteed destruction, a threat that
this ship was quite capable of backing up. "Ensign, we all want to come back,
and I, for one, feel that not coming back is simply unacceptable. You know
your duties well, so do them to the best of your ability, and we all will have
a better chance of getting back."
"Ay sir," she said, still somewhat unconvinced. McGinnis made a mental note to
check with Commander MacLeod to see how she was doing when they reached the
Klingon home planet.
He quickly left Rec-1, and entered the turbolift.
"Conference 1," he said and the turbolift began a sideways motion.
***
After his small meal, McGinnis rose and walked down the slightly curved
corridor that led to the main bridge entrance.
"Admiral on the Bridge," said Data as he rose from the command chair and moved
to the first officer's station located in the semi-circle of stations
surrounding the central well of the bridge. "At ease," said McGinnis as he sat
in his chair, placed at the center of the semi-circle of stations; "All
stations report." "All computer systems show green, all processors on line,
security board is green, all auxiliary systems available," said Data. "Weapons
control systems show green, main ring, rapid fire phasers, auxiliary
collimators and plasma torpedoes at standby. Phase cloak at standy, all
shields show ready for activation." said Schultz. "Helm and nav systems show
ready," said Thale, the Andorian lieutenant at helm/nav station. "Engineering
systems all show green, except for the auxiliary generator," said Commander
Anders. "All communications systems show green, save main communications in
the engineering hull, but optical links are now up." "All sensors available,
all science departments reporting ready for launch," came T 'mayek's report
from the science station.
"Good, I want to brief you all on the upcoming mission. As you know, the
Klingon fleet has been built up to levels not seen since the Klingon/Federation
hostilities ended seventy years ago. Their build-up is in direct response to
the Borg attack on their space more than four years ago. Nearly sixty vessels
were lost, and a period of political instability has ensued. Many of the
Klingons' internal political problems are still on, so be ready for surprises.
House Durass has been pressuring for a renewal of the old Klingon/Romulan
alliance, and their views are being heard, particularly due to the fact that
Federation assistance, in the Klingon view, was limited. As you know, we lost
less than ten ships in those actions, including two defender-class ships and
the flagship. This vessel, along with a large number of other ships is to
proceed to The Klingon home planet in order to show them that we will support
their offensive against the Borg should that become necessary.
"Since Captain Picard's death, there have been few officers whom the Klingons
respect. Largely because of our successful prosecution of the campaign against
the Cardassians last year, we have been ordered to head the fleet with this new
ship, in order to attempt to convince the Klingons to hold their attack. This
is my intention, but I want all of you to know that I think it unlikely that we
shall succeed, and I want all crewmembers to begin full testing of the new
armor suits that we are carrying. Should we come into contact with the Borg, I
suspect that they will be necessary. This ship is well equipped, and its
technology is different than anything that we have confronted the Borg with in
the past. However, this does not mean that you should be over-confident, or
that you should expect that we will give quarter to the Borg, should be succeed
in doing significant damage to any Borg forces that we should meet. If we can
do so, we will destroy their ships without question, and there will be no
exceptions made.
"Until further notice, all of us, plus Commander MacLeod will be on stacked
shifts duty, so that at least two command-chain officers are on duty at all
times. We are going into an unstable situation in the Klingon Empire, and I
need say nothing more about the Borg. Are there any questions?"
"Yes, Sir," replied Data, "Will we be trying to capture Borg technology?"
"Yes, my orders do provide for that possibility, and that is much of the reason
for the training in the new armor suits. We will only try to get Borg
hardware, no Borg "members", will be taken, as I don't want to risk having the
rest of the Collective tracing our location through any prisoners that we may
take." There was a pause, while all of the officers sat considering what they
had just heard. Despite that fact that most of them were from defense command,
and not exploration or science headquarters, talk of all-out war was uncommon.
Furthermore, talk of breaking every treaty and moral regulation that governed
the Federation's many civilizations was a bit hard to digest. However, the
Borg were an unusual enemy, and if they were to be defeated, unusual methods
would clearly be necessary. "Are there any further questions?" ... "Very well,
we are now less than half an hour from departure, so please double check all
systems, and notify me when you are ready. I will be in engineering. Mr.
Data, you have the conn." *** McGinnis entered the ship's great engineering
deck. The room, one of the largest pressurized contained-volume structures
ever build in space, was nearly half a kilometer long, a tenth that broad, and
twenty meters deep. The great main energizer ran much of the length of the
room, a glowing crystaline tube that split at the saucer-end of the engineering
hull into a rough Y-shape with a great ball at the apex of the three sections.
Beyond this ball, the entire hull began to narrow until it was closed off by
another ball-shaped structure, the ship's primary auxiliary power generator,
the forced quantum core.
It was toward this end of the room that McGinnis movwed, in search of Robert
MacLeod, the ship's chief engineer. Finally, after some searching, McGinnis
found him working near the main control pannel for the auxiliary power core.
"Chief, we're less than half an hour from launch, and I'd like you to be on the
bridge when we depart if possible." MacLeod turned to his commander, and one of
his closest friends. "William, you know that I'd not miss it if I could, but
these repairs are going to require my main attention for at least another two
or three hours, and with the schedule that we have to keep, I'd like to get
them done before we get to Klingon space." "If I didn't know you better, I'd
think that you were having some kind of a premonition," said McGinnis with a
small smile. "No, no premonition, just the expectation that we won't get to the
Klingon home planet without trouble. Borg, Romulans, its really all the same,
they may operate differently, but their intentions are more-or-less the same;
and as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to let a cranky system make today my
day to die. Especially when I have the ability to fix it." "Very well, but
don't over work yourself now, I suspect that all of us will have more than our
fair share of work over the next weeks." "Agreed, and the more that I can do to
ensure that the work's in the hands of tactical, the happier I'll be." "Well,
good luck, and at least try to watch the departure on the monitors, we have
optical up, in case your staff was avoiding you." "As a matter of fact," said
MacLeod, now grinning too, "Lieutenant Furgisson did say something about that,
I'll have to make sure that she doesn't talk to me while I'm working, something
like another officer I know."
"Allright, Allright, I'm going," said McGinnis laughing. "I'll see you later,"
replied MacLeod turning back to his work.
McGinnis left engineering, satisfied that the work there was proceeding well,
and that MacLeod wasn't driving his staff too hard. With the high level of
automation, there were comparatively few jobs for the crew to carry out
directly, and so as long as the dcomputer-controlled repair systems were
functioning, the ship could be handled by as few as two crewmembers, with
little loss in efficiency. However, some engineers, MacLeod included, liked to
have their people check the computers' work, while it was progressing. This
often meant that the engineering staff was run ragged during the ship's
barely-completed construction phase. McGinnis had heard some of the younger
engineers say that they were looking forwardc to the mission, simply so that
they would have to do less work. he hoped, for everyone's sake, that they
would be proven right.
The turbolift doors opened, and McGinnis stepped in. "Weapons-control center,"
he said to the computer. The lift accelerated sideways as it travelled nearly
the entire length of the engineering hull. It then shot up at a flat angle,
passing the ship's plasma torpedo bays, through the dorsal connecting main and
engineering hulls, and then began to decellerate as it entered the main hull
through one of the struts connecting it to the mega-collimator ring surrounding
it. The doors opened, allowing access to the airlock that was one of the four
physical access points to this room, the most heavily shielded location aboard
ship.
McGinnis entered the smallish room, which was about the size of the main
bridge. Computer stations ringed the entire room, allowing interface with any
of the ship's seven-dozen weapons and defensive systems. When in battle, a
full staff was located here, in order to take over from the Bridge, should it
be compromised in any way. Between the nearly two-meter thick armor,
transporter shielding, and built-in phaser defenses, this room was considered
nearly impregnible to anything short of the Borg, and even these would need
time to break into this room.
McGinnis sat at the main status board, and requested a full computer and
weapons status check. Almost immediately the dcomputer responded with a report
far more detailed than that obtainable from the Bridge. It showed that all
primary, secondary, and distributed computer systems were fully available,
weapons were all operable at maximum efficiency, and that primary, auxiliary,
and secondary shielding was all available. All power transfer systems were
clear, and all switching hardware was available, should it become necessary.
Beyond its architectural benefits, the room's equipment was voice-controllable,
making it possible for a very small number of people to handle the task of
fighting the ship, should that become necessary. McGinnis had never fully
understood why such capabilities weren't a part of the Bridge as well, but the
"standard" explanation that such controls might loose efficiency in the higher
activity of the Bridge would have to do.
After completing the status check, he returned to the Bridge, and saw that
there were about ten minutes before launch.
"Admiral on the Bridge," said Data as he returned to his station.
"At ease," said McGinnis somewhat absently. "All stations, a brief final word
before we go. This is the newest in Federation technology, and espite the
problems that we are still having with the quantum generator, I am highly
confident in this ship's ability to handle anything thrown at her. As no other
ships are scheduled for departure, and we are loaded and ready to go, I suggest
that we get under way.... Helm, stand by thrusters, engage navigational
deflectors. ... Ops, notify dock control that we are departing early, and that
this vessel, USS Ticonderoga, NX4000, is hereby commissioned by me, as of
Stardate 56217.4" "Aye Sir," replied Thale and Anders. "Dock reports clear for
launch, and congratulations. They wish us good luck sir," said Cmdr Anders.
"Helm, ahead one quarter maneuvering power, as soon as we exit dock, come to
128.35 mark 23, and set main velocity at warp 9. ... Tactical, engage phased
cloaking device immediately." "Phased cloak is now engaged," replied Walter
Schultz. "We are now clearing dock, entering course 128.35 mark 23, our
velocity is set at warp 9." "Mr. Thale, ... You may proceed," replied McGinnis.
The ship, already invisible, accelerated to warp 9, on its way to beginning a
mission that would probably be critical to Federation history for the remainder
of the century.
SUPER-DREADNOUGHT: Part I: Chapter III
Commander's personal Log: Stardate 56229.3 Starship USS Ticonderoga:
Admiral William McGinnis recording.
We are now two days out of construction dock, and insofar as we can tell,
no ships observed our departure. As only Gouron and the three Federation
task force commanders know of this ship's existence, I am relieved by this. We
are still several hours from the Klingon home planet, and as all systems have
continued to function perfectly for the last forty hours, the tension aboard
ship seems to be decreasing by the hour. This, of course, will soon change, as
we are about to enter the most difficult part of this mission. If I succeed in
convincing Gouron to hold off in his attack, all sides will have more time to
prepare. If I do not, we may be facing the Borg before the Federation is ready
for a war on this scale.
Because we have been very fortunate over the last seventy years, we may have
become too complacent, too ready to expect that our enemies can be argued into
taking our view of things. The only exceptions to this are the Cardassians,
who are not a threat to the Federation anymore, and the Romulans, who are so
weakened by political turmoil, that they pose little threat most of the time.
The Borg, however, are another matter.
Even with the loss of the collective now under the leadership of "Hugh", and
the losses encurred at Sol, and in the Klingon war, they still pose an
overwhelming threat. Why they haven't tried a more concerted attack is beyond
me. So far, they have, apparently viewed us as "irrelevant," with only our
technology as "relevant,". What happens if they suddenly come to the
understanding that if they are to get our tech, they will have to kill us all.
Then we will become "relevant," and I do not look forward to that day. The
question, simply put, is whether the Klingons' planned offensive will make us
"relevant," or not.
***
McGinnis sat back, wondering what needed to be done. With a crew of less
than 400, many of the duties that went along with being a commander of a
Mycenae or Galaxy-class ship were unnecessary aboard this vessel. There
were two reasons for the small crew. Firstly, the ship's tremendous
automation, something that had been designed into her with the Borg in
mind. The second, put simply, was that this ship's living quarters were
not large, as the equipment that supported the weapons, computers, and
shielding of this vessel, plus extremely heavy structural members took up
tremendous amounts of space in a hull barely larger than a Galaxy-Class ship.
McGinnis rose quickly, remembering that he would have training in the new
suits of heavy-duty armor, with which this ship was equipped.
Like so many other parts of the ship, this was new equipment insofar as
"regular" starfleet personel were concerned. The suits were full-body
units, with a small back-pack nuclear reactor, mounting locks for various
beam and missile weapons, and a small shield generator. It was hoped that
these would allow the crew increased survivability and effectiveness should it
become possible to transport aboard a Borg ship.
During his ruminations, McGinnis had put his suit on, left his quarters, and
proceeded to Holo-1. His suit was all white, with a phaser rifle bracketted on
his right wrist, a head-mounted laser canon, and a grenade launcher, that for
on-board excercises, would fire simulated sonic grenades, since the real
article would wreck both holo-simulator and user, shield or not.
The holo-simulator's doors opened silently, allowing McGinnis an unrestricted
view of the combat already taking place. Several of his security crew were in
their armor, blasting a contingent of simulated borg that had apparently tried
to beam into engineering. McGinnis entered the battle, arm-mounted
phaser-rifle flaring. He quickly found that the Borg hadadapted to this weapon
already, and that heavier blasts would be required. Unfortunately, his armor
was in its default configuration, meaning that its heaviest beam weapons were
not available. He fired the head-mounted laser canon, whose raw output was
many times that of the phaser. However, because it was an inefficient energy
weapon, he could do little but rock the simulated Borg soldiers. The security
crew, meanwhile, had been firing their plasma canon, and their heavy graviton
weapons. These could punch through the shielding available on the Borg units,
but the combined firepower of all ten security suits was required to breech the
shielding on one Borg soldier.
However, it appeared, assuming that Federation intelligence was correct, that
the average units could be defeated, even at their maximum adaptive efficiency.
McGinnis smiled under his helmet, for although this was not a total victory,
and a larger team of Borg would be able to defeat his crew, it did appear that
effective offensive and defensive action would be possible against the Borg for
the first time. This was decidedly the best news that he'd had all week!
After a few minutes, his crew had defeated the remaining Borg, whose attempts
to capture McGinnis had failed due to his suit's shielding. Again, this was
fortunate, since a sufficient number of them would have been able to break
through, but, in limited action, the suits' shielding would do exactly what
Starfleet Engineering had hoped that it would do: save the wearer from
absorption.
At this point, the holosimulator shut down suddenly, the lighting went red, and
the ship-wide klaxons went off.
"Red Alert, Red alert!, this ship is now on red alert, ... Commanding officer
to the bridge." said the computer.
"McGinnisz to Bridge," said The Admiral as he struck his com badge.
"Sir, we have a cloaked ship on scan, signature suggests that its Romulan!",
replied Lt.Cmdr Anders' voice.
"On my way," replied McGinnis, not even wasting time to disguard his armor.
***
The Bridge doors opened, and McGinnis, now minus his helmet, moved quickly to
his chair. Data, who had been anticipating his arrival had already vacated the
command chair, and was sitting at his post. "Ops, tight beam transmission to
the Klingon home world," prepare a subspace buoy for immediate launch."
"Aye Sir," replied Anders, "Buoy ready, Klingon council chamber now on main
visual."
The transmission was rather scrambled as transmissions from phase-cloaked
ships were extremely difficult to keep balanced. However, Gouron's
battlehardened face could be clearly distinguished behind the snow.
"Gouron, I am William McGinnis, Admiral in command of the United Starship
Ticonderoga. We are some four hours from your planet, and have encountered a
cloaked Romulan vessel. As this ship carries the best in Federation
technology, I thought that I should offer the honor of destroying the Romulan
to you, before I took action."
"Admiral," replied Gouron, "Consider the Romulan's appearance as a test of your
vessel's capability, and your crew's honor. You are welcomed to destroy the
trespasser, I hope that your arrival is not overly delayed."
"Understood, I will contact you before our arrival at your planet," McGinnis
out.
After this communication, McGinnis turned his mind to the destruction of the
unidentified Romulan ship.
***
For Cmdr Tomaluk, it was another routine supply mission, deep within Klingon
space. His vessel and crew had made the trip at least twenty times, and it had
always gone flawlessly. This run included parts for a new disruptor array, and
some other spares that were needed by Family Durass' secret fleet. After Cmdr
Sela's failure against Picard, the Romulan high command had decided that
sending ships through singly was better than trying to send an entire fleet
across the Klingon/Romulan border at once. Tomaluk, and his fellow commanders'
recent success in delivering supplies was ample proof of the correctness of the
plan.
"Commander, I have a disturbance off our port bow, bearing 43 mark 12," said
the young female navigator.
"Scan it," snapped Tomaluk, coming out of his chair.
"It appears to be a subspace anomoly, growing in intensity as time passes,"
said the science officer.
"Cloaked ship?", demanded Tomaluk.
His answer came as a huge Federation-style ship appeared practically on top of
his own vessel. "Decloak...." he said, but the sentence never got the chance to
complete itself.
***
"Sir, decloaking in three ... two... one..." said Schultz at tactical.
"Weapons, weapons control, auxiliary and secondary energy production systems on
line, awaiting full charging cycle. We'll have to blanket the area, since we
aren't exactly sure where the Romulan ship is."
"Understood, you may clear the computer to fire when ready," said McGinnis,
hoping that the new, and largely untested, systems would work as well as
Mycenae's weapons control systems always had.
"Firing now!" said Schultz.
Phaser bolts erupted from nearly twenty rapid-fire phaser batteries, and almost
immediately thereafter, contained-plasma torpedoes flashed from the forward
tubes. These weapons brought the Romulan ship out of cloak, effectively
rendering the ship totally visible. power systems weren't affected, but this
was of little import for long. Ticonderoga's main mega-collimator ring flared
blue-white for less than a second, and then a brilliant white lance of energy
connected the two vessels, disintegrating the entire Romulan ship on impact.
Ten seconds after the firing had started, Ticonderoga was back on course for
the Klingon home world, and the phase-cloak was coming back on-line.
"Sir, the Romulan ship has been neutralized, and it got no message off before
its destruction. Because they were cloaked, they weren't able to handle our
fire. I report that all weapons and weapons-control sensors functioned ...
great!" said Schultz.
"Excellent Mr. Schultz,log your report, and stand down from red alert.
... Helm, increase velocity to warp 9.5, and give me a new eta for the
Klingon Capitol."
"Sir, at warp 9.5, we will arrive in-system in forty-seven minutes."
"Very well, Ops, get me Gouron on a double-secured channel, main viewer." A
moment passed while Commander Anders sent the transmission.Finally, the
link was established, and she turned to the Admiral.
"Sir, Gouron on main viewer." Because Ticonderoga was much closer to the
powerful receivers on the Klingon homeworld, the transmission was clearer, but
one could still see snow from time to time.
"Admiral, I did not expect that you would be contacting me so soon, how was the
battle with the Romulan invader?"
McGinnis' reply was quite concise, "Short, and quite successful."
"Excellent news, Admiral, I look forward to seeing the first Federation warship
in living memory."
"I look forward to giving you a tour of this vessel. We will arrive in your
star system in approximately forty minutes, earth time. Am I to follow any
unusual procedures once there?"
"I am told that your vessel has the ability to set down in deep water?"
"Affirmative, however we assumed that we would be ordered into orbit on
arrival."
"No, we can provide better security for your ship at the special construction
facility in the southern ocean." McGinnis had heard stories about this facility
from previous Federation officers who had visited there. It was a huge dome
built under water, and was primarily intended to facilitate the construction
of the new birds of prey. However, if what he had heard was true, it could
easily accommodate twenty full-sized Klingon battle cruisers.
"Understood, I will have to contact your trafic control computers."
"We must contact your ship."
"Unfortunately, the new cloaking device makes it nearly impossible to receive
incoming hails, so it will be necessary to contact your system."
"Very well, I like the philosophy of commitment behind your vessel, Admiral,"
said Gouron.
"Yes, our inability to receive new orders does mean that once this ship is
under cloak, Star Fleet is effectively committed to the use of this vessel.
If it is better for your controllers, we can partially decloak, and receive
transmissions, but we will be scannable on some wavelengths."
"Admiral, Too many dishonorable people now serve house Durass, and their
masters. There will be many interested eyes turned skyward over the next
few days. You are wise to remain fully invisible."
"Understood, once we are docked, I will contact you, but for now, I offer
you the hospitality of this vessel at 1800 hours, Starfleet Standard Time, for
a meal and tour of inspection."
"I accept your invitation, and look forward to meeting the man who defeated the
Cardassian fleet at Bajor."
"Gouron, the honor is mine, I shall see you at 1800."
"Understood, Gouron out." With this, the screen changed to the running tactical
view of Klingon space as Ticonderoga continued to streak toward the Klingon
Capital.
"Commander Anders, contact Klingon central traffic and tell them that we will
need a course as Gouron directed."
"Aye sir, already in progress," she said a bit distractedly as she continued to
try to contact the main traffic control center.
As much as anything else, her difficulties were directly related to the fact
that the ship was still out of communications range with the mainly in-system
traffic net.
"Sir, I can't contact them as yet, it'll be about half an hour before we can
get to them."
"Very well, keep trying and when you get through, conact me, I'll be in my
quarters, Mr. Data, you have the Bridge."
***
Even before McGinnis could get to this quarters, the ship-wide intercom had
announced in Data's voice, "Admiral to the Bridge, please." On his return to
the Bridge, McGinnis retook his chair, and turned to his first officer.
"Mr. Data, you asked for me."
"Yes, Sir. As you can see, our long-range sensors have just begun to image the
Klingon home-world. Apparently, preparations and construction are far greater
than Star Fleet had been told previously. I have at least 100 long-range
warship-class vessels on scan, including some of types not previously known."
McGinnis stared at Data in shock. If this were true, then Gouron's position
versus those in his government who didn't trust the Federation was far worse
than had been previously thought. Usually, limited information was passed back
and forth on most projects, even secret projects like Ticonderoga's
construction. However, information on new classes of ships, and build-ups of
the proportion being reported had not been passed to him before their departure
two days previously.
"Very well, scan everything, and before we get into the system, send a full
report to Defense Command HQ, and copy it to the Federation Council,
Starfleet Commander, and Admiral Gellico at Star Fleet Operations."
"Aye Sir, continuing scan. We are now four minutes from optimal reporting
range, but it'll be very hard to get a message out without shutting off the
phase-cloak."
"I know, so send it aboard a probe, we can't afford to decloak, especially as
unstable as the situation on the planet appears to be."
"Downloading and copying data as it comes in, we are three minutes, thirty
seconds from launch," said Data. "Preparing probe for launch," said Anders from
her station. "Aft firing tube is clear for launch, charging cycle beginning,"
said Schultz as he began the process of charging the torpedo launcher to send a
communications uoy back to Federation space at warp 9.9. This would mean that
Star Fleet Command would get the news in less than three hours, assuming no one
decided to destroy the probe on the way out.
A couple of minutes passed, and then Data's voice broke the silence
prevalent on the Bridge.
"Information package ready for download. I have included some side notes
on what we have received, and all is ready for launch."
"Very well, launch buoy," said McGinnis. "buoy away," replied Schultz. The
viewer shifted to an aft-directed shot of the small tubular object streaking
away from the ship. All anyone could hope for now was that it would arrive in
Federation space in time For Starfleet to analyze the data, and hopefully send
a second force of ships. There could be little question that the Klingons were
on the war path, and that they would expect their Federation allies to send a
comparable force of their own. The approximately twenty-one ships that had
been promised were simply not enough.
"Sir, we are now one minute from sub-light speed, and should be able to contact
Klingon in-system traffic control," said Thale.
"Ms. Anders, please contact Klingon control, and request a vector."
"Aye Sir."
Moments later, she turned to McGinnis. "Sir, they're telling us to lock into
their standard traffic net, and that their guide computers will bring us in."
"That's standard procedure, allow the link, ... helm, come to sub-light speed."
The great ship decellerated from high-warp, and most of the crew sat back to
enjoy the ride. It wasn't often that they could simply sweep along, not
concerned about accidents, enemies, or other things. Both Data and McGinnis
were busy admiring the view outside, both natural and artificial. The planet
was dry as compared with Earth, but there was still noticeable surface water.
Orbital space was full of activity, both military and civilian. There was a
truly staggering armada through which Ticonderoga was passing. No one was
concerned about some of the close passes, simply because while phase-cloaked,
the ship could not occupy the same space as the vessels that it was passing.
If hull contact occurred, crews on both ships would think that they had seen a
ghost image, rather than anything else.
As the journey continued, McGinnis turned his attention to the ocean
toward which Ticonderoga was proceeding. As they drew closer, it became
quite clear that there was no traffic in the entire basin, and this
confirmed the importance that the Klingons put on their underwater base.
Then the ship slowed, the computers apparently programmed to expect that damage
would occur if a ship were to hit the surface too hard. Clearly, guiding ships
in, even new Federation Starships was not considered a sufficiently honorable
task for a living Klingon to perform.
The great ship passed through the surface of the water, and then a
communication came in from the on-duty computer tech maintaining the traffic
control net.
"Federation ship, we can do no more for you, proceed to the base under your own
navigation systems. May your stay here be successful."
"Understood, our nav computer is taking over now."
With that the channel closed and Ticonderoga was on its own.
"Helm, set course for the Klingon base, thrusters at one-quarter."
"Aye Sir."
Within ten minutes, the great ship was decellerating toward the massive
under-water doors, which were as large, or larger, than those on Earth-1.
Then, the doors opened, and Ticonderoga passed through, and into open air.
"Sir, I have a message from the base commander."
"Put it on, commander."
"Federation ship, you are to proceed to the fourth bay on your right, decloak
and moor there."
"Understood, Ticonderoga out."
The ship slowed, then turned toward its docking bay. As the turn was
completed, the cloak was shut down, giving the base commander a full view
of the mighty starship as it swept into the largest docking bay in the
facility. The ship was quite impressive to say the least. As long as the
Mycenae-class defender, but twice as deep, and with a far larger collimator
ring surrounding the main hull. The multiple weapons implacements showed that
the ship was, indeed, built for action. As it moved to meet the gangway, the
great ship seemed to shudder for just a moment before coming to rest. With
this action, the waiting Klingons could come aboard.
SUPER-DREADNOUGHT: Part I: Chapter IV:
The doors at Ticonderoga's end of the gangway opened silently, admitting Kern
and his aide de campe. He had only been on one other Federation vessel, and it
was immediately clear that this ship was nothing like Picard's Enterprise. Its
corridors were narrower, there were gratings on the floor, not the carpet that
covered many of Enterprise's corridors. The structural members looked far
heavier, and the over-all air of the ship was decidedly ... military.
His attention turned to the tall human who was standing before him. "Admiral
McGinnis, I am Kern, son of Mog, Commander of this construction facility. I am
honored to meet you."
"Kern, Son of Mog, I am Admiral William McGinnis, and your presence here honors
us. ... Welcome to USS Ticonderoga. ... Would you like a brief tour of the
vessel?"
"Yes, I would."
"Very well, I am expecting Gouron within the hour, but I shall take you for a
brief tour before he arrives."
***
After his tour, Kern was even more impressed with the ship than he had when it
appeared immediately outside his window. Although the computers ran too much
of it, making it difficult for a warrior to fight an honorable battle,if the
data on the fight with the Romulan ship were true, they had proven themselves
worth it.
"Admiral, I am very impressed, I was not certain that the Federation was
capable of building a true warship, after James T. Kirk's retirement. It is
good to see that it is not as complacent as many Klingons would like to think."
"We haven't built many ships with a fully military purpose in a long time, and
despite my own successes, I would hope that this ship will be the last.
However, I believe that those like Picard had taken Star Fleet too far toward
peace and exploration, and had forgotten that we are also supposed to protect
and defend the members of the Federation. One wonders whether we would have
been able to do so had the Romulans, Cardassians, and Ferengi decided to cause
trouble at the same time."
"Personally, I doubt that you could have."
"Fortunately, we won't have the opportunity to find out. With the Cardassian
military defeated, and the Ferengi talking peaceful profitiering, those
problems should be solving themselves. However, the Romulans are beginning to
pose a serious threat to both of us, and the Borg..."
"Yes, The Borg. Is the Federation going to send a larger fleet, now that you
have seen The Klingon commitment to defending our people?"
"I haven't gotten a response to my report of your enhanced fleet strength, so I
can't say for sure. ... We had better get to the transporter room, Gouron
should be here any moment."
At this moment, Data's voice rang over mcGinnis' communicator. "Bridge to
Admiral McGinnis."
"McGinnis here."
"Sir, Gouron reports his readiness to come aboard, he also wants to know where
Kern is, as he wasn't at the base landing pad to meet him."
"What!?!," said Gouron, ..."He was to beam to this ship, not come by shuttle."
"Well, let's get to the gangway before he waits any more," replied McGinnis,
now beginning to understand how Gouron had managed to keep his somewhat
difficult seat atop the Klingon Council.
Moments later they arrived at the ship's end of the gangway. The computer
sounded honors, and Gouron stepped aboard.
"Gouron, I am Admiral William McGinnis, welcome aboard."
"It is an honor to meet you Admiral, I am pleased to have the responsibility of
thanking you for your removal of the Cardassians from space."
"I am glad that they don't pose a threat to us in the current crisis, but
their weakened state may make them easy for the Romulans to pick off, should
they choose to do so."
"Yes, that's true, and if they do,I trust that you will be able to defeat
them again."
"Yes, I believe so, assuming that Federation forces aren't weakened by our
current operations."
"It will be hard, but honor is never won by men who are afraid to take
chances."
"True, but you know that I must tell you that Star Fleet Command would rather
that the Klingon Empire wait to launch this offensive, The Federation has many
ships under construction, but the fleet construction program won't get into
full productivity until next year."
"That may be true for you, but we are ready to get ourr due revenge, and we
would not appreciate it if the Federation refused to help us in our war against
The Borg."
"I am well aware of that, and I am ordered to offer you all possible assistance
in your operations."
"I am pleased, we will be launching three days from today, so if you are able
to strengthen your forces, you hae time to contact your commanders."
"I shall do so immediately after dinner, and our tour. ... Shall we go to
the observation deck?"
"Very well..."
***
After dinner, and the usual conversation that occurs at such occasions, Gouron
called for everyone's attention.
"This has ben a fine meal. We are quite impressed by the Gach, it is difficult
to get food of this quality in the finest restaurants of the Empire. However,
our time here is not meant to be spent eating. We are here to see this mighty
new starship and to talk about the final defeat of our common enemy. Admiral,
I would like to see this ship of yours, and then to discuss our strategy,
understanding that the size of the Federation contribution to our efforts has
not been decided."
"An excellent plan, Gouron if you and your staff will follow me." The party
departed the observation bubble, located at the junction of the aft-most
support strut and the mega-collimator ring. It proceeded to the weapons
control center, which was almost too small to hold the ten Klingon and
Federation officers.
"Computer, render a three-dimentional schematic of this vessel, highlighting
weapons, defenses, power production, computer and structural items."
The computer immediately brought a hologram of the ship on line, with the
specified systems highlighted.
"As you can see, we have fifty-seven rapid-fire particle phaser batteries, each
is powered by separate fusion reactors, capable of providing all the energy
that these systems can use. The reactors can also be used as secondary power
supplies for the ship, should main or auxiliary power be knocked out. The ship
has seven contained-plasma torpedo tubes, each has fifty missiles, whose range
is twice that of the standard Federation photon torpedo. The plasma in the
warheads powers the warp sustainer coil, so at maximum range, the torpedoes
have half as much destructive potential as at launch. At launch, they have
eighty megatons standard yield. The ship has four phaser collimators located
on each face of the engineering hull, each is as powerful as a Galaxy-class
starship's main phaser collimators. The main weapon of this ship, as
with the mycenae-class defender, is the phased collimator ring that
surrounds the main hull. The ring has three times the destructive
potential of the Mycenae-class ships' main weaponry, making it nearly
twenty times as powerful as a galaxy-class ship's weapons.
"The ship has tripple shielding, which is operable in a two-layered
configuration, meaning that we can maintain shielding if the Borg should break
one layer. We can make repairs while the other layers are being worked over by
enemy weapons. The system is energy-expensive, and we have installed a new
main energizer with greater output than has been seen previously to support
this added energy demand. There is also an experimental short-duration forced
quantum core for emergency power generation, should the main systems and the
secondary fusion reactors be over-taxed. It can provide fifty percent of main
power for four hours, and with all of this power production, we can operate
every single weapons and defensive system aboard the ship at the same time.
The benefits of such a multi-redundant scheme have always been obvious, but
until recently, there has not been incentive to build such vessels. As you are
aware, we also carry the new Federation phase-cloaking technology, which
precludes use of our weapons while operational, simply because we can't hit
anything while under phase-cloak. We also carry computer-control systems,
power distribution systems, and communications relays. that are more redundant
than anything previously seen in a Federation starship."
"This is a very impressive design, how do you manage to fit so much into a hull
this size?"
"Quite simply, crew quarters are extremely tight, and we use robotic systems to
do as much work as is technically possible. This saves us nearly a thousand
crewmembers, with all of the support systems that they require. The crew is
only 400 strong."
"I assume that you have a internal defensive plan similar to that aboard the
defender-class ships?"
"Yes, if lifeforms of a type designated as "enemy" by the command staff invade
the ship, the computer has the ability to use force fields and phaser
collimators to neutralize any boarding party."
"Admiral, this is the greatest development in military technology in the last
thirty years, and I commend you on the fact that the Federation chose you to
command it in its first, and most honorable mission."
"Thank you, I was much honored by their decision to wave the rules against flag
officers commanmding single unit ships. My orders state that this vessel is to
act independently of the main fleet when I feel necessary. The remainder of
Federation forces will be under the command of your fleet, as our only other
fleet-rank officer has only recently received his admiral's commission."
"Excellent, I would like to see your other facilities."
"If you will follow me, ... Computer, end holo simulation." As they left, the
schematic of the ship disappeared. After travelling through the sick-bay,
bridge, and engineering deck the party arrived at one of the holodecks.
"We use these for training, simulation, and research, more than recreation,
although limited recreational programming is available. I believe that there
is a simulation running here that you may be interested in. ... Computer,
access holodeck thirteen, open doors." The group was met with a particle blast
from a blue-suited security member, whose bolt had just barely missed a borg
soldier attempting to access one of the slots common in the corridor walls of
their ships. The reason for the miss became obvious as another Borg soldier
slammed the security man aside. The security began using their grenade
launchers, destroying Borg soldiers right an left. The sonics couldn't be used
aboard Ticonderoga, even in self-defense, they were simply too powrful.
However, since the simulation was of a landing on a Borg ship, anything went.
The simulated grenades destroyed huge chunks of material, killing the Borg
soldiers as they approached. Finally simulated force fields came up, which
kept the grenades from doing much damage. The security party then dropped a
small "package", and called for emergency beam-out. The package was a kilogram
of antimatter, and the blast from this destroyed a huge chunk of the Borg
vessel. McGinnis watched the proceedings, thinking to himself that at this
point the ship would be moving toward the Borg ship in hopes of breaking
through the subspace field in order to come out of phase-cloak in this huge
cavity and rip the cube apart from the inside.
"An impressive battle Admiral, what was its purpose?" said Gouron, reminding
him of the presence of the Klingon observers.
"We hope to send landing parties aboard Borg vessels and then open a large
enough cavity to allow a starship to enter and blow the Borg ships apart from
the inside. The armor and shielding that the security troops wear will
hopefull allow us to survive for periods of time aboard the Borg ships. our
simulation runs suggest that the armor will also allow us to repel large
parties of Borg boarders, should they break our shielding. We will, of
coursse, destroy the ship before its capture, but if we can live to fight
another day..."
"Yes, an admirable philosophy," replied Gouron. "Can you produce suits like
these for our warriors?"
"No, but I can send the specifications to your manufacturing people so that you
can build them yourselves, should this be acceptable."
"That is fine, I shall tell them to expect the information."
"Very well, shall we adjourn for this evening, I must confer with Star Fleet
Command, and you doubtless have preparations to make."
"Very well, however, we must talk about strategy tomorrow, as soon as you know
how many ships the Federation can contribute."
"Then I shall take you back to the gangway, and we will see each other
tomorrow. I will await your transmission as to what time is convenient for
you."
The party returned to the gangway, and Gouron turned to salute the ship as he
left. His departing words to McGinnis were: "I shall contact you tomorrow, I
look forward to another meeting."
SUPER-DREADNOUGHT: Part I: Chapter V:
McGinnis walked onto the Bridge, noting the comparative quiet of third shift.
Only a young lieutenant junior-grade was there, sitting at the engineering
station, looking at the station as if she would rather be anywhere else.
"Lieutenant, raise Star Fleet Command, Admiral Jellico for me."
"Yes, Sir!," she said, her shocked look showing him that she had not seen him
enter the room. She moved to the ops station, punched a number of keys and
then turned to McGinnis.
"Sir, their response is in code, Admiral's eyes only."
"Very well, ... take fifteen minutes, I'll talk with them here, don't worry
about the duty, I'll call you when I'm ready for you to resume your duties."
"Yes, Sir," she said and quietly left through the starboard-side turbo-lift.
McGinnis moved to Ops, and worked the controls of the console for a
moment. Then the image of Defense Fleet Commander Jellico appeared on
the main viewer.
"William, its good to see that you've gotten to the Klingon Capital without
difficulty. We have your information about fleet strength, and believe that
this is simply a stronger deployment of forces than we had originally expected.
The new classes of ships are a surprise, but considering our own work, I'm not
surprised that the Klingons have some new technology, and the analysts think
that the reason for their not having told us has something to do with the
pressure being put on Gouron by those in the faction supporting house Durass.
You will have to be very careful, I think that the political situation there is
as unstable as its been in the last fifteen years."
"Thanks for the warning, Admiral, I would say that Gouron's worried about his
situation as well. However, as I'm sure you're aware, I need to know what
ships you can send me, our current commitment isn't going to be enough, from a
political standpoint, if the klingons are really going to invest this much of
their fleet in the upcomming operations."
"William, don't think that I haven't considered that already. Exploration and
science commands are determined to keep as many of their ships as possible, but
I've collected another thirty-two ships, mostly of the new victorious-class
light cruiser and Versailles-Class destroyers. Its not a lot, but these ships
do carry phase-cloaking technology, and the Victorious-Class ships do have
contained-plasma torpedoes. I'm sending the technical specs on a parallel
frequency."
McGinnis saw the data flash into the computers, and decided that he could read
it much later.
"Sir, as we both suspected, the Klingons are going ahead with the mission, and
are impatient as hell to leave. When will the new ships be here?"
"I expect, day after tomorrow. If not then, they'll be there the day after
that for sure."
"Thanks for the help, and next time you see her, tell Admiral Stephenson that
I'm eternally indebted to her for the assistance from the rest of Star Fleet."
"I'm sure that she'll be interested in your opinion, William, but face it, most
of the people around here still think tat we're back in the golden age. They
don't understand that peace comes at a price, and that the price becomes a lot
higher when those defending the rest of us aren't supported properly."
"That's for bloody certain, replied McGinnis," some of the tension surrounding
the mission boiling out of him as he spoke with his old mentor.
"Well, I suppose that I'd better let you get back to making preparations with
Gouron. Good luck, William, I wish that I could be there with you, I hate
missing out on this kind of a mission."
"I know, and I wish that you could be here too, I'd like to have a full admiral
in command of the Federation Fleet, since I'll be out on independent work most
of the time. De l'hotel is good, but he's still not fully experienced with
fleet ops, and I'm afraid that the Klingons will push us into taking
unnecessary risks."
"Don't worry, Guy's a tremendous ship commander, and the Klingon Command
respects him a great deal after the firsbattle of four years ago, I think that
he'll be fine."
"I hope so, I'll be out of touch most of the time. In any case, we'll launch
three days from now, and I'll send you reports as we progress."
"Excellent, I look forward to your news, Star Fleet out."
"Ticonderoga clear."
With this the main viewer returned to its image of the docking bay. McGinnis
struck the com unit, and called the young lieutenant back to her late-night
duties. On her return, he left the bridge to look over the specs for the
victorious and Versailles class ships.
***
By the afternoon of the next day, McGinnis felt ready to meet with Gouron. The
discussions were, as a diplomat would say, "frank,". The main issues focused
on the new lighter ships, and the diployment of Ticonderoga.
"Your new light vessels aren't properly equipped for this kind of a mission.
Their weapons are too light, and they are barely more powerful than our birds
of prey, which are much more maneuverable."
"I know that, but their shielding is much better, and in the case of the light
cruisers, they have weapons with better range than anything else in
the fleet. I wanted more firepower from the Federation too, but Fleet Admiral
Stephenson refused to force the exploration command to send the battle sections
of our galaxy class ships, and the nebulas are needed for border patrolls along
the Romulan border. As I told you yesterday, Star Fleet is not ready for this
mission, and won't be for at least a year."
"Admiral, understand that I do not blame you for this, but it does not look
good, your lack of support. I will agree to the inclusion of these ships,
despite the fact that I am certain that they will prove excellent targets for
the Borg ships. Hopefully the light cruisers can do someting, but your
destroyers, in my opinion, are useless."
"We shall have to see," said McGinnis somewhat coolly."
"Now, to the other matter. I do not like the fact that the most powerful ship
in the attack force will not be with the rest of the fleet."
"I specifically directed that it be that way. Ticonderoga isn't built to be a
fleet-line vessel. The weapons have too much range, and with all of the
technology aboard, if we're overmatched, any other ship, or group of ships,
will be outdone too."
"That is your opinion Admiral, I am not in favor of having any of the ships
away from the main body of the fleet."
"I understand your concerns, but this class of ship is built to be a
high-speed, long-range, heavily-armed, scouting and intervention vessel.
I am not stupid, I am far from certain that we will be able to handle a Borg
cube alone, but I do think that I can get more information on diployments,
communications, and distribution than any other vessel, Federation or Klingon,
simply because The Ticonderoga-class ships are better-able to survive away from
the fleet than any other vessels. I don't intend to be so far away as to be
out of range of assistance should it become necessary, but without a scouting
force, we will be flying blind."
"Yes, and that's what the bird of prey was built to do. Your ship is
one-of-a-kind, while those ships are easily replaced."
"Yes, and if they're caught against a Borg vessel, they will not be able to
outrun it, they have no chance of militarily defeating it, and their crews will
be committing suicide. My crew may actually manage to get back to fight
another battle."
"Perhaps you're right, senseless death in battle has no honor, but if you go
alone, you must agree to some form of communications schedule."
"That is dangerous, as the Borg will doubtless monitor for communication, once
they realize that a major force is in the field."
"True, so I suggest that you only contact the fleet when you are leaving a
system, and only discuss details of your movement if it seems safe to both you
and our commander."
"That should be alright, he and I will work out the details, if that is
acceptable to you."
"Yes, that will be acceptable."
***
The next two days flew by in a mad rush of arriving Federation starships,
tactical meetings, and final preparations for departure. Finally the fleet of
one hundred and fifty-seven vessels, all classes and all types was ready to
depart. Only the new, and as of yet, secret Federation ship was not in
formation.
***
"Mr. Thale, prepare to engage thrusters."
"All systems on standby, navigational computer is ready for launch."
"Very well, unlatch docking clamps."
"Docking clamps unlatched, umbilical now separated."
"Thrusters aft, 1% power."
"Thrusters, Aye."
The ship slid slowly away from its docking position, its thrusters and
anti-grav fields moving it through the open air of the great under-sea
facility. Most of the crew was looking forward to getting started, they
had not been trained to wait, and finally, the waiting was over.
"Sir, we have now cleared the docking bay, now orienting for egress."
"Very well, as soon as our plain of egress has been achieved, set thrusters to
100% forward."
"Aye, thrusters will be at 100% forward in thirty seconds, we will depart
this facility in fourty-six seconds under current course."
The ship continued to turn, its huge size was, quite simply, staggering to the
Klingon on-lookers, who were getting their first good look at the mighty new
Federation vessel. As Kern had three days earlier, all of them stared, almost
surprised that the Federation was still capable of building true warships.
"Egress in ten seconds," announced Thale.
"Ops, bring all structural support fields on line," said McGinnis.
"Fields on line,AE said Janet Anders from her station.
"We have cleared dock," came Thale's announcement.
"Very well, notify the Klingon Commander that we're on our way, navigational
deflectors on full, one quarter impulse power."
"Nav shields up, setting departure course at 113 mark 16, quarter impulse."
The mighty ship rose, sweeping out of the waters, with an enormous blast of
steam and shot skyward on the near-invisible emissions of her mighty impulse
drive. At this point, there was no reason to be cloaked, since everyone would
be getting a look at the ship over the next few weeks anyhow. Speed was far
more important on this part of the mission than stealth, and McGinnis was not
planning to waste power on unnecessary diversions until the time came. Then,
his eye, like everyone else's was caught by the picture framed by the
forward-looking main viewer.
The armada had everything imaginable, from destroyers to dreadnought-class
ships, and more Klingon battle cruisers than any of them had ever seen. The
Klingons also had some new super-heavy ships, clearly heavier than the
Mycenae-class defender, but not equal to Ticonderoga. Birds of prey, and other
small Klingon ships flitted about the larger ships, all quite beyond easy
counting for the unassisted observer.
"Wow," was Walter Schultz's only comment as he transferred the image on his
monitor on to the main viewer. "Sir, this is the fleet, I've *never* seen that
many ships in one place at one time."
"Yeah, that's what I call a fleet ..." replied Robert MacLeod as he gaped at
the view from his position, leaning on the back of McGinnis' command chair.
"I think that this is the biggest concentration of military hardware ever seen,
and I'm really quite sure that this mission isn't going to be boring," Thale
contributed.
"Yes, its big, so let's get up there before they all get bored and start firing
on *us*!," said McGinnis with a smile.
"Agreed, sir ... accelerating to one-half impulse power."
"Lieutenant, as soon as we're clear of the atmosphere, bring us to full
impulse, set course for the front of the fleet."
"Aye Sir."
"Commander Anders, get me the commander of Klingon forces."
"Aye Sir, Kalis coming up the main screen."
The viewscreen flashed to the image of a surprisingly old Klingon, his skin
looked so leathery that McGinnis thought that it must've been tanned at some
point.
"Lord Commander Kalis, I am Admiral William McGinnis, and this is the
Federation Starship Ticonderoga. We are operational, and ready to leave the
system."
"Admiral, it is good to speak with you, your vessel is quite impressive.
All Federation ships are here, according to Admiral De L'hotel, and so we are
leaving the system immediately, course 257 mark 129. Our speed will be warp
eight."
"Understood, I'll stay with the fleet until we reach the border, then I'll go
into silent running, and scout around as best I can."
"Very well, Admiral, Let us leave, and may our mission be completed by
victory."
"Sir, there is honor in our cause, and necessity as our companion, I expect
nothing less than victory, ... Ticonderoga out."
The screen darkened, returning to its view of the fleet, which now lay spread
out behind Ticonderoga and the Klingon battlecruiser that served as their
command ship. Then space flared white for a moment, as all of the ships in the
fleet accelerated into war space.
*********************************
SUPER-DREADNOUGHT: Part II: Chapter VI.
Command Log: Stardate 56318.2: Admiral William McGinnis, Commanding USS
Ticonderoga, reporting. It has been nearly two weeks since we left the
Klingon home system. The journey has been uneventful, all ships in the fleet
are functioning perfectly, and we have been taking advantage of this transit
time to continue fleet training, and setting up the command chain. This ship
continues to function perfectly, and we are now crossing the edge of explored
territory, moving toward Borg space. We will soon go to silent running, and
will be out of touch with the main fleet except in emergency, or at our
pre-determined contact times.
Morale remains high, largely due to an extremely heavy training schedule,
both of which I expect will be important in the next days as our activity
level drops sharply. I am now turning to the last open-air duties that I
can perform for the time being.
"Commander, a channel to Starfleet Command, please."
"Channel open, sir" replied Anders. "Admiral Jellico is responding."
"Admiral, I am making my last report before engaging silent running, do you
have any news or last orders that I should know about?"
"William, yes I do. The Romulans have been attacked by a single Borg cube,
demanding that they take them to sector 001. We assume that the Borg are only
partially aware of the political situation in Alpha quadrant. All planetary
defense forces are on full alert in the Federation, and I have been asked to
take command of all Star Fleet Operations. I want you to continue your
mission, The Romulans were able to defeat the Borg, and Gouron has taken
advantage of the situation. Klingon forces attacked them with about everything
left in their Home fleet. The Romulans took extremely heavy losses, so I
suspect that the Klingons will be able to defeat them, and repay them for the
help to house Durass, which has been almost completely silent during this whole
business. We're worried about that, so you should probably keep an eye on
anyone that you or Kalis doesn't trust."
"There are a few commanders, but most of them are loyal to the mission, if not
the government. I'll tell Kalis, but I'm leaving the fleet within the hour."
"Yes, that's right, I had forgotten. In any case, Federation space is secure,
although the Ferengi are trying to cross our space to supply materiel to both
sides. All scientific missions have been called off, and a combined
Starfleet-planetary forces fleet is in the triangle, should anything spill
over."
"If you need resources, now's the time to tell us."
"No, don't worry, I'll expect to hear good news from you in a few months."
"I intend to deliver, until then, I'm glad I've got my job, and not yours."
"Hell, I'm glad you've got your job and not mine, I'd take your job in a
second, risk and all."
"Well, when I get back you can have it if you want, but for now, I'm planning
to keep it for awhile."
"Good plan, and I'll hear from you as you get the chance."
"Agreed, Ticonderoga out."
The viewer changed, almost immediately, to the image of Kalis.
"Admiral, I know that you are about to leave us, I wish you honor and success."
"Thank you Kalis, I have news from Star Fleet. They say that the Romulans have
been attacked by the Borg, and that they took heavy losses. Gouron has taken
advantage of the situation, and has attacked the remainder of Romulan forces.
House Durass is surprisingly quiet on the issue, and Star Fleet is concerned
that they're planning something. Admiral Jellico, who is now Chief of Fleet
Operations, suggested that it would be prudent to keep an eye on any commanders
that you think may be disloyal."
"Thank you for the news, we are already out of range of our home transmitters.
I suspect that the few commanders that I do not trust are as unaware as I was.
We will be following our current course, unless a change becomes necessary. I
expect, from what we know of them, that we will arrive in Borg Territory within
a week at our current velocity."
"We will be travelling a similar course, but will be at something near warp
9.5, so I expect to get to their space much more quickly. I am going to see if
there are any notable civilizations along the way, and should we run across
any, I may see if I can enlist their help. Otherwise, I will notify you of any
systems that should be avoided due to limited-technology inhabitants, or Borg
outposts. We have opened some windows in the phase-cloak, so you can contact
us on the low-frequency subspace band, but only on the data-transmission
frequencies. We can't clear the high-frequency interference from the
phase-cloak, except for our scanner frequencies."
"Understood, at least we can contact you, should battle come to us before you
find honor in this war."
"Very well, is there anything else I should know?"
"No, except that all Klingons hope that your assistance will result in the end
of the Borg threat."
"I hope that we can do that, and not only for the Klingon Empire."
"Yes, your Federation will benefit as well."
"Good luck, I'll contact you within the week," said McGinnis.
"May you also have good fortune, I shall await your news," replied the Klingon
commander.
With this, the transmission ended, and Ticonderoga's viewer returned to the
view of the space in front of the ship.
"Commander Schultz, are we ready to engage phase-cloak?"
"Aye Sir, phase-cloak shows ready."
"Very well, engage cloaking device."
The bridge shimmered around them for a moment, and then everything returned to
normal.
"Phase-cloak engaged, it is functioning perfectly," announced Schultz with his
characteristic ferile smile.
"Lieutenant Thale, set course 41 mark 8, velocity warp 9.45, and engage when
ready."
"Turning to course 41 mark 8, and accelerating. ... Velocity is now warp 9.4,
and course is 41 mark 8."
"Very well, we have some time, people, I suggest that you get some relief, and
rest for a while before we start passing those systems on the long-range
scan," said McGinnis referring to the strategic view that was running in a
corner of the main viewer. "We'll have to be at our peak then, and we'll be in
scanning range of those systems in a couple of hours. Until then, Mr. Data,
you have the bridge," McGinnis said as he rose from the command chair.
SUPER-DREADNOUGHT: Part II: Chapter VII:
Command Log: STardate 56324.6: Admiral William McGinnis reporting:
We have been away from the main fleet for nearly two days, and despite some
interesting star mapping, there have been no signs of spacefaring
civilizations, and no signs of the Borg. The first I take as interesting, the
second ... only time can tell.
Our best calculations indicate that we are now in territory which has been
considered "owned", by the Borg for some time. Our systems are all functioning
perfectly, and all we can do is continue to explore the edges of their
territory until something comes up.
"Helm, change course, to 063 mark 16, continue warp 9." Said McGinnis.
"Our course is now 063 mark 16, our speed continues at warp 9," replied Thale.
"Ops, anything on sensors or communications?"
"Sir, we will pass a class G star in four minutes, our best knowledge says that
this is just outside Borg territory. Long-range scanners suggest a system of
planets surrounding the star, with two in its golden zone. Planet 5 seems to
have high-energy radio signals coming from it, but no sub-space waves
reported."
"Well, let's have a quick look, this system may be one that requires watching
in case the Borg decide to show interest in these beings. Theirs is the first
technology that we've seen since we left Klingon space. ... Helm, change course
to intercept the orgbit of the fifth planet, decellerate to maximum impulse in
two minutes, and bring us into a stellar orbit that will hold us 1 million
kilometers from the planet, its rotation will allow us a scan. I don't want to
orbit, as I want to leave quickly should any news come in from the fleet."
"Aye Sir, changing course, 314 mark 356. Our velocity is warp 9, with
decelleration in 1 minute 45 seconds."
"Excellent, ... Ops, begin scans of the system, get what information you can
despite phase-cloak interference."
"Sir, scanning is already in progress. We can't get much concerning life forms,
but it would appear, from planetary albedo, light variation and other data,
that there is a civilization on the fifth planet. Its technology is
approximately equivalent to Earth at approximately the year 2030. There appear
to be some small space stations, but nothing of major importance."
"Importance to us, maybe, but to them ... its the beginnings of exploring
their system, their neighborhood, and, given enough time, their galaxy. I hope
that we can give them that opportunity."
Nods of agreement were the crew's only response. They all turned to, working
to bring the ship into a distant position from which it could observe activity
on, and near, the planet.
"Sir, we are now in a far observatory orbit, we can only intercept limited
comunications from the planet, and as it has no moon, long-range signals are
few in number. They are transmitting the typical long-range pre-contact
signals characteristic of most civilizations at their level of development,"
said T'mayek from Science.
"Thank you Lt.Cmdr, continue to analyze the information as it comes in.
"Sir! I have powerful sub-space distortions, characteristic of Borg scouting
cubes," snapped Walter Schultz from his station.
"Tactical, red alert, bring all defensive systems on-line, ... engineering,
transfer power control to weapons-control computers, standard defense protocol.
All departments, suit your crewmembers up, and prepare for emergency defense
protocol."
"We are now at standard defense protocol, situation, red alert. All
departments report that they will be at the specified levels of preparedness
within the minute," said Schultz. A brief pause ensued, then: "The Board now
shows green," Schultz continued.
"Good, since this is a scout, we certainly can take advantage of them. Their
total ability is likely about equal to that of this ship, so we'll have to be
smart about this, but if we can knock their ship out before they can get
warning back to the collective, we may be able to get the first battle on *our*
terms. Ops, the second we come out of cloak, blanket the area with a
full-power jamming transmission. ... Helm, set course for close-in orbit of
the planet, I want to know the second that they beam their landing parties down
to the planet. Tactical, ready main ring to fire on their transmitter arrays,
I want plasma torpedoes immediately after that strike, to knock out any
secondary transmitters. We'll not get a second chance to do this, so make
every shot count. If you think that the rapid-fire weapons can do something,
use them too, but make sure that you've got enough power on line to handle the
draw."
"Sir, everything's set here, and we're in luck, because the technology is
so limited, it looks like this ship is the true scouting borg ship, like the
one that Picard met in the first "Hugh", contact. This means that its dropped
its shielding to assimilate the technology, especially since they seem to view
the planet's weapons capabilities as "irrelevant". Of course, so would I...."
reported Schultz.
"Understood, that should mean that we can get them before they're aware of our
presence. ... However, in case we're not successful, stand by all transverters,
we'll give them another surprise. ... Tactical, engineering, get together,
strip a few photon torpedoes down , so that we can beam them into the Borg
ship."
"Aye Sir," replied Schultz from his station, and MacLeod from main engineering.
McGinnis seethed. There was nothing that could be done to stop the
carnage that was occurring on the main viewscreen. The borg ship had begun
cutting the space stations apart, and after a little pittiful laser fire, and a
few nuclear missile launches, (all of which were quite effectively stopped by
Borg weapons fire), the planet seemed to be going down without a fight. Of
course, they had had no idea that beings existed outside their system, and even
if they had, they couldn't have imagined the Borg, not even in their worst
nightmares. All that the crew could do was hurry its preparations, and hope
that they could finish them in time to save something of the civilization on
the planet.
"All preparations ready sir," reported MacLeod from engineering. "We have
fourteen photon warheads ready for transversion as soon as your orders come
through."
"Good, get ready for action down there." ... "All decks, we're going in." The
ship moved, still phase-cloaked toward the small Borg scout, whose 2.5 million
tons was about a sixth Ticonderoga's mass. The great star ship moved quickly
and quietly toward its unsuspecting prey.
"Tactical, bring weapons computers on line, you may decloak and fire when
ready."
With this order, the ship's systems were all switched to command and tactical
consoles only. The rest of the crew became highly-interested bystanders in
this battle where surprise and firepower were their only advantages. The Borg
collective was as surprised as any unemotional system could get, as a huge
white vessel of a design only somewhat similar to designs reported to the
Collective appeared before their ship. They didn't have time to make note of
the fact that they hadn't been offered the chance to surrender or desist, a
step characteristic of the vessels of the mid-sized organic power calling
itself the United Federation of Planets.
What did happen, was a terrific blast of phased energy, followed, almost
immediately, by twenty high-powered explosives of a type not recorded
previously, which ripped into the already weakend super-structure. In short,
the cube was blasted into four large chunks. Each had some power left, but
these sections were quickly dealt with by the smaller phased energy weapons
surrounding the forward section of the ship before they could attempt to
recombine. ... No transmissions reached the collective about this loss. Its
conclusions would have to be drawn later.
Meanwhile, Ticonderoga now stood, victorious in its first battle against the
Borg. It orbitted the world, and McGinnis was now trying to decide whether
going down to kill the few Borg soldiers on the ground would be considered a
violation of the prime directive. ... <As if sitting in close orbit, out of
cloak, after having used newrly two gigatons of explosive to destroy an
attacking ship, wasn't violation enough.> This stark fact, alone, determined
his strategy.
"McGinnis to Lieutenant Thompson. Take all the security people that you need,
and the ground attack shuttles, and kill any borg that you see. If you need
fire support, contact tactical."
"Aye Sir, we'll launch in fifteen minutes," replied the young lieutenant from
her station in engineering.
"Thank you, move as quickly as you can, I suspect that any borg that are down
there will be seriously impared by the loss of their collective consciousness,
but they may still be able to do some damage."
"I know, we'll stop them cold."
"Good, lieutenant, that's what I want to hear," replied McGinnis.
"Ops, get me a channel to Kalis," snapped McGinnis, turning his attention
to Janet Anders' station.
"Breaking subspace silence, it'll take a bit before I can get them," she said.
"Take your time, I suspect that it'll take a bit before the Borg get too
interested in the system, it was a small ship, so they probably won't be in too
much of a hurry to find out what happened, especially if Kalis has been keeping
them as busy as I suspect."
***
Several minutes passed, and then the four small attack craft departed
Ticonderoga's landing bay, set in the aft section of the engineering hull. At
almost the same moment, Cmdr Anders turned from her station. "Sir, I have
Kalis, voice only."
"Put it through," replied McGinnis as his attention shifted from the image of
the four small ships to the other matter at hand. "Cmdr Schultz, keep tactical
control over the attack force, you have clearance to fire the rapid-fire
weapons should that become necessary, speak with me if you need any more
firepower."
With this, McGinnis waved to Anders to open the channel.
"Admiral, the fact that you are in contact would suggest that you have had
battle with The Borg. I hope that your battle went well."
"Thank you Kalis, it was utterly successful, and to the best of our knowledge,
the Borg vessel that we destroyed didn't get a communication concerning this
vessel off to their command point. The ship was small, we had surprise on our
side, and they never really had a chance. The residual Borg resistance is
being dealt with as we speak, and I believe that the planet which we are
orbiting is now, again, free of Borg influence. However, as we discussed, they
will doubtless become more interested in this planet, now that a collection
mission has been destroyed. Can you send support?"
"Yes, I can send you help, but I can not come personally, as we, too, have had
contact, and I believe that it is best to make them fight a two-front battle
for now."
"You have seen action, what happened?"
"We encountered a large cube only hours after you left the fleet. It was
moving toward Klingon home space, and after your news concerning the situation
there, it was obvious that battle was necessary. We struck from cloak, with
the Federation ships decloaking to assist. The ship was surprised, and
suffered critical damage in our first volley. However, they did get a message
off to the center of their space, the content of which is unknown. We managed
to destroy more than they could create, and to keep the field down.
Ultimately, after many Klingon and Federation crews died in honor, we were able
to completely dismantle the cube. All live Borg were destroyed, and their
technology is being taken back to allied space for study. I have only
ninety-six ships, as thirty-five were destroyed, and ten more are taking the
pieces of the Borg vessel to The Klingon Capital, where it will be studied by
Starfleet and Klingon teams."
"Well, your losses were less than ours were at Wolf 359, or at Klins'hai. Any
tactics of which I should be aware?"
"Yes, we are now using task forces, dependent on one heavy ship. The heavy
ship is used to destroy the Borg cube, while the small ships interrupt the
tractor beam, and disrupt the cutting beams and other weapons. The tactic is
expensive, and risky, but losses are justified by the victories that we have
won. We have had two other battles, each resulted in victory, using no more
than two task groups per Borg cube. Each time, we lost seven small ships to
battle, and in our most recent engagement, we also lost the dreadnought
Confederation. Admiral De L'hotel is alive, as he was in conference with me
when battle began."
"I see, I suggest that you send me the remains of the task group with the
dreadnought Confederation, and another full task group. I suggest that we
plan to meet in three weeks time, with whatever forces we have remaining. In
the mean time, I will be setting a trap for the Borg here, and hopefully
getting their interest. Anything that you can do to that will get their
attention, as far from my current position as possible, will be appreciated, as
I think that their response to the loss here, may be somewhat weakened. I
don't think that we can handle more than one full-sized cube after what you've
told me."
"I think this is a good plan, I will continue to slash at their communications
where possible. As I have told you, there have been a few messages sent by the
cubes that we have defeated, we have a general idea of the location of the
system toward which these were directed. I suggest this as a meeting point,
but it will take nearly four weeks for the main fleet to get there, if we start
out immediately. I, therefore, want to collect the fleet there at Federation
stardate ... 56490.0 with your ship scouting the area before hand. If you
haven't had contact with the Borg before you have to leave, order your ships to
meet the main fleet at these coordinates."
McGinnis glanced to Anders, who nodded, telling him that she had received
the coordinates.
"Very well, I have the coordinates, and will look forward to speaking with you
Then."
"As you humans say, good luck, Admiral, and may your battles end in victory.
Kalis out!"
" Victory to you, Kalis, Ticonderoga out." McGinnis turned to Schultz, to ask
for news aabout the attack craft. The commander anticipated the question, and
flashed a schematic of the planet up in a corner of the main viewer.
"Sir, only a few Borg soldiers beamed down before our strike, and most of
them have been neutralized. As we have seen before, they have great trouble
dealing with the loss of their connection to the collective. Lieutenant
Thompson says that she'll be back aboard within the hour," was his brief
report.
"Well, said McGinnis, good news all round. As soon as they're back aboard,
engage cloaking device, I don't want the Borg to catch us with our pants down."
Everyone on the bridge returned back to their duties, while Schultz's
schematic flashed up markers where the latest Borg soldier had been
neutralized. After some time, Schultz turned to McGinnis, to report the
completion of the mission.
"Sir, Lieutenant Thompson reports success, they're coming in, no losses, no
damage."
"Good, have her report to me in conference-1 as soon as she's able."
"Sir, I have some disturbing infformation," said T'mayek.
"Report," said McGinnnis, a look of concern on his features.
"Unfortunately, we did not cut the Borg link before they got complete
information on this planet back to their information nexus. This means that
the next Borg cube will know where the "useful" areas of the planet are."
"That is unfortunate, but not necessarily surprising. We won't be able to
respond immediately, so hopefully the next attack will show how efficient Borg
information analysis is. ... I will be in conference-1 awaiting Ms. Thompson.
Mr. Data, you have the Bridge."
With this, McGinnis rose and walked down the short corridor that led to
conference-1, where he would hear the reports concerning the level of damage
done to the planet and those living on it.
SUPER-DREADNOUGHT: Part II: Chapter VIII.
Command Log: Stardate 56331.6: William McGinnis, Commanding USS
Ticonderoga reporting:
We have haed an uneventful few days, while we await the reinforcements from the
main fleet. However, as we enter the fourth day in orbit, I must admit to
growing concern. Federation experience with the Borg scouting cubes is limited
to a brief encounter that USS Enterprise had with one nearly fifteen years ago.
The "Hugh" incident, as it is now known, only taught us that the Borg tend to
send larger ships to check on missing vessels within a few days after their
disappearance. I must, therefore, assume that we will meet a larger cube at
any time. With our reinforcements still two days away, I must admit to some
nervousness.
Despite this, I have set the crew on two/thirds duty shifts, with extra
training in the battle gear. This gives them some added rest, and provides
some variation in our routine. We have had no contact with those inhabiting
the planet below us, and I must hope that their civilization will be able to
withstand its rather rude entrance into galaxy-level politics. Of course,
should the Borg come again, as I suspect they will, they may be taken out of
galactic politics almost as suddenly as they entered it.
The crew's morale seems high, largely due to our victory and due to the active
training routine. I expect that we will maintain our routine until the fleet
arrives. After that, I would like to patroll the surrounding systems, looking
for previous activity, either on the part of the Borg, or non-borg
civilizations.
McGinnis turned the recorder off, having dispatched his duty to Command.
He had to wonder, sometimes, why they asked captains to record the damnable
things. Especially on missions like this, when the actions that the commanding
officer would be held responsible for would not occur over periods of time
lengthy enough to record logs. The bridge events recorder would be a much more
appropriate way of reconstructing ships' activities, and the decisions which
these activities depended on.
His musings were interrupted by the voice of Robert MacLeod.
"MacLeod to McGinnis."
"McGinnis here," he replied to the air.
"I have a message from Kalis, he reports that a messenger ship has come from
Klingon space, reporting that the Romulan Empire has asked for Federation
protection against the Klingons. He says that Gouron has promised to cease his
attacks, if the Romulans will allow inspections of their border bases, in order
to ensure that house durass doesn't receive covert Romulan assistance.< | |
