Morgan Shackelford was starting to wish the Borg would materialize in this very room and spray plasma fire over everyone in it, himself included. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger as he listened to his ‘distinguished’ colleague droll on towards the inevitable conclusion.
“Mr. Shackelford, I will ask you simply, did you order the Code Black protocol to be enacted at Kinkaid Station?”
Shackelford stared at the prosecutor, unblinking. “I gave the final authorization and verified the sequence codes for Captain Greenhaven.”
“And you were not present in the system during this time?”
“I was not.”
“Where were you, and what were you doing?” The prosecutor stared down at a sheaf of papers in his hand, waiting for the reply.
Shackelford cleared his throat. “I was in the Regulus Block, fighting Borg.” It was everything he could do not to lose his cool and insert a string of obscenities.
The prosecutor looked up from his papers. “According to records, you were not fighting Borg so much as you were organizing a search effort for the Ticonderoga. Were you not ordered to abandon this search?”
“I was.”
“And yet you continued?”
“I did.”
“So you feel you can decide which orders to follow, and which to ignore.” It was not a question. The prosecutor turned and moved back towards his seat.
“These protocols were ordered by Admiral Shackelford, who was not even present during the initial attack. An attack that was ultimately repelled. Kinkaid Station was never under threat of capture, and the self-destruction of the station was an egregious error in judgment given by an officer who constantly demonstrates a willful disregard for the authority of his commanders.”
Shackelford stared down at the clenched fists he held in his lap. He spoke seemingly to no one. “Have you ever commanded men in combat?”
The court stood silent.
“You haven’t. It’s plain as day to someone who has. You never have, and you never will. You will never have the honor of being second guessed on life or death decisions by lesser men.” He stared ice cold daggers into the prosecutor. “You might be able to take me out of the field and put me behind a desk, but no one in this universe will ever risk taking you out from behind a desk and put you into the field. Your decision making progress was analyzed a long time ago – and you were found lacking."
The judge leaned over, looking down on the man who would very soon be the former Chief of Staff, 7th Fleet. “That will be all, Admiral.”
Shackelford stood and straightened his uniform.
*******
Don stood in the open doorway holding a bottle of Romulan Ale with a huge grin on his face. “Good evening, Captain!” His voice bellowed.
“Good evening, Admiral.” Shackelford had not been expecting anyone. “Isn’t that illegal?” He eyed the bottle in Don’s hand.
“It’s good to be the Admiral,” Van Wormer said through his giant grin. “Now, are you going to invite me in so we can consume the evidence?”
Shackelford stepped out of the doorway, moving into an open kitchen area and grabbing some glasses down from a cabinet. “To what do I owe this pleasure, sir?”
Don poured the Ale into the glasses. “We’re celebrating your new orders.” He raised his glass. “To the Tico, wherever she may be.”
“To the Tico.”
Both men downed their beverage in a swift gulp. “My orders, sir?”
“Shack, I am terribly sorry about this whole mess.”
It was Shackelford’s turn to fill the glasses. “It … It was for the best sir. Me, I just get a demotion and a shitty assignment somewhere quiet. If it had been Greenhaven in that chair, they would have eaten him alive. Captains don’t get special considerations. They get thrown in the brig. We talked about this, sir.”
“That we did.” Don stared at the bottom of his glass, and raised it again. “To Greenhaven and Kinkaid.”
Two empty glasses hit the counter top a few moments later.
“Well Captain, as I said, about that shitty assignment…”
Shackelford braced himself. “Sir?”
“Starfleet is in trouble, Shack. I can’t lie to you about that. The Borg hurt us, hurt us real bad, and invasion forces continue to trickle through every sector. They seem to be massing again. Command thinks they’re going to hit Deferi. Hard. The concern is they may be going for planetary assimilation this time.”
Shackelford’s eyes widened. He knew the implications of that kind of a Borg foothold that close to the Federation.
“Starfleet is a lot of things, Shack, but they aren’t stupid. There’s an outstanding combat vessel with a well-trained crew sitting in spacedock without a captain.” Don poured another round as he spoke.
“Good captains are hard to come by these days.” He looked up at Shackelford and raised his glass. “To the Valley Forge.”
((Once Phase 2 goes to Holodeck, this thread will be unlocked and orders will be issued.))
Last edited by sparrow794 on 06/07/12 13:34; edited 1 time in total
"Captain?...."
I turn to face Lt. Carson as she starts running through pre-launch checklists. "Yes Lieutenant?"
"New orders coming in.."
"What? We haven't even left.." I sigh. "I'll take them in my ready room. I get out of my chair and straighten my uniform as I walk through the door to my ready room. "Coffee, light cream and sugar" I say as I walk past the replicator. I grab the cup and sit down at my desk. I hit the comm button on the screen and the face of Admiral Shackleford appears onscreen. "Hello there, Admiral. Didn't expect a call from you today."
Shackleford gives me a quizzing look. "You haven't heard?" He asks.
"Heard what?"
Shackleford twists his neck to show 5 pips on his collar instead of of the a Rear Admiral's double block.
"Cause of Kinkaid?" I ask.. already knowing the answer.
"Yup"
"Marcus?"
"I took the brunt of it so he's OK. Anyways, that's not the reason I need to talk to you. Command thinks the Borg are going to hit Defera, the Deferi home world, and the are sending every able ship, including yours."
"Hmmm, doesn't matter that my ship just got done with 7 weeks worth of repairs in 3..." I say, not liking heading right back into battle without at least making sure everything is up to par.
"That's how it is Mercer. Do all your checking in route. There's a squad of 4 commandos heading there as well that will be under you command on the ground when you get there."
"Understood"
"Good luck, Shackleford out."
The screen goes black as I stare at it..... "No rest for the weary.." I think to myself. I hit my combage... "Mercer to the bridge.."
"Carson here sir."
"Begin launch sequence. Once we are clear of space doors, plot a course for Deferi space at maximum warp."
"Deferi space, sir? But I thought..."
"I'll explain everything on route. Mercer out." I pick up the PADD on my desk and start to fill out ground teams and sort supplies...
*****************
We had arrived at Defera earlier then expected, because of the new Borg enhanced warp engines, only to find it already under attack by the Borg. I was standing in front of my MACO team, 3 Commanders and a LT. The Lt. was shaking a little, so a put a hand on his shoulder. "First time fighting them?" I asked
"Yess .. sir"
I looked at everyone else "Have any of you fought them before?"
Two of the men shook their heads in the negative, but the third said, "I have sir. I was on board the Khitomer when the Borg where attacking Vega Colony."
"Good" I returned to standing in front of them. "Listen up! I've been fighting the Borg for years. Small incursions, large scale attacks, you name it. I know a lot about them and how they act. Listen when I'm telling you something and follow my orders and you won't get a scratch on you." All four stood at attention and saluted "Yes, sir!"
*****************
We had entered the Power Plant twenty minutes ago and had already fixed all the coolant leaks and just had one more generated to shut down. We moved quickly weaving through the drones who were going about their business. We had almost had an incident with the Lt. when we first entered, but I was able to calm him down, and he has been a trooper every since. We entered the final generator room ... with no Borg in sight.
"Stay sharp... Something isn't right" I said to the team as we took postions around the room. "Lt. go deactivate the console."
"Yes, sir."
I kept my weapon trained on him as I gave an order to the rest of the squad. "Everyone group up. I'm not liking this..."
My suspicion was correct. As soon as the Lt. put a finger on the console a Borg drone beamed in and started to reach up to assimilate him. I disintegrated him before the Lt. could react.
"Shut that console down!" I yelled at him as more drones beamed in. We moved in a half moon formation around the Lt. and the console.
"Remodulating!" I heard one of the team shout. I turned just in time to kill a drone that was about to knock him out.
"Done!" I heard the Lt. say behind me.
"Great now we just have.. to.. " I stop mid-sentence as the Borg start to back off. "What the...?" The Borg all beam out leaving us in an empty room. We hear something beam in behind the central pillar and wait to see what's coming. ..... ...... ....... .......
"ELIT....!!" Was all he could say as one of the commanders was flung back by a plasma blast, his PSG barely saving his life. He got up and re grouped with us as the Elite Tactical Drone rounded the corner.
"SPREAD OUT!" I yell as all five of us surround the drone and return fire from behind whatever cover we could find. The drone blew away the Lt.'s cover, and instead of finding new cover the Lt. charged the drown landing a flying leg kick in the drone's chest knocking it down.
"GRENADE!" I hear someone yell from behind cover and watch as it sails in the air and lands square on the drone just as the Lt. gets up and starts to run off. BOOM! The drone gets blown into bits and pieces.. one of which gets stuck to the Lt. who freaks as he takes the hand of his back and tosses it. We stay in cover for a minute waiting for more Borg but none show. We all gather in the center of the room the 4 of us looking at the Lt.
"Holy... Shit..." I say to him as I pat him on the back and the others do the same boosting his confidence cause ... hell he deserved it.
"Come on let's get back to the camp and report our success" ....
A lot has happened since my last log entry. I have to admit I'm getting bad at keeping up with these things. Especially since I'm having to do a detailed report to Command every week.
For awhile I had nothing to report anyways. The crew got rotated back to the Sol System for some much needed R&R after the major push by the borg. I was shocked at that news, I honestly believed the ship loss would keep us on the front. Turns out we only suffered a 7% ship loss across Starfleet. My guess is it was low due to use getting better fighting them, the fact our numbers are greater then ever with all these "small" wars, or the Klingon's helped take care of the blow.
Seems with all my Borg fighting, 7th Command saw it fit to make me a Fleet Captain of Tactical Operations. Guess you kill enough Borg, you kinda become an expert on the thing. Normally I'd turn something like this down, but in the 7th your office is your own ship. Anything to further keep me in the ship named after my place of birth is a good thing.
The biggest surprisewas getting back to the ship. I was told she was going to under-go refit and that was the main reason we we're called back. Well turns out they gave us a new ship. The Sao Paulo class. Personally its a Defiant with bigger badder teeth. I figured they would paint a big giant A on the hull but there wasn't one. While looking out a viewport at the new North Carolina the other day, an engineer who I figured had worked on her asked me if I was wondering that. He just simply told me they were told not due to the fact the first one was never destroyed. Comforting huh? Word was that North Carolina itself was trying to get it's first Starfleet vessel named after them to go along with they're collection of ships from over the centuries.
Our first order out of dry dock is to head to Defera. Seems that the borg intel says thats where they're going.
//:End Log, Fleet Captain Huckabee, CO U.S.S. North Carolina>>
We arrived at Defera 2 days ago. We weren't the only ones. There were Federation ships lined across the planet's orbit. The odd thing was no Borg ships. Immediately we were hailed. I was to bring a small team with me to the surface. Seems the Borg decided to attack Defera. First the Breen, now the Borg? These Deferi just can't catch a break.
My team was sent to the city to aid where we could. I decided to take our shuttle down in case we had to get out of there. I told my first officer Eliza to keep the ship at yellow alert and under no circumstances to lower those shields. I couldn't believe the size of the probe stuck in the surface of Defera.
We touched down to find that Omega Force had already set up a base camp and a perimeter. On our way to the system I was informed that 7th Fleet was joining Omega Force, a joint effort of the Federation and Klingon Empire to deal with the Borg. Finally we had caught a break and the Klinks saw that best way to take down a common enemy was join your common victims.
We were sent into the city right away. The fighting was fierce. Between maintaining the turrets and trying to save the locals it was a nightmare. Unfortunately we had to turn our weapons on a few unlucky Deferi. We fought on the front for a good 24 hours before my team was told to fall back and return to camp. I lost 2 of my men. S'okk, my Catian ensign, was able to get good shots in before they could become fully assimilated.
For now the crew is standing by with elements of Omega Fleet, with some ships of the 7th with us, to respond where needed. I was told when leaving the plant to expect to return at any moments notice to help out with a team.
//:End Log, Fleet Captain Huckabee, CO U.S.S. North Carolina>>
Shackelford leaned back in his captains chair, running his hands over the armrest consoles. It was good to be back aboard the Valley Forge. There was a short period of time during the investigation where he thought he might never be back in this chair again.
"We are dropping out of warp, Captain."
The viewscreen came to life, revealing what initially appeared to be a tranquil, life sustaining M-class world. Shackelford knew better.
Defera.
He had been receiving all manner of status and battle reports during the voyage here. The information was mixed. In some places, Borg had established footholds, and were using their base camps to assault various urban areas. The deferi militia, with the aid of Starfleet MACO units, was holding - but casualties and assimilations among the military were high. Fortunately, up to this point, the civilians had been spared the brunt of the horror.
"Communications coming in, Captain."
"Open a channel, Ensign."
The viewscreen flickered and changed to an image of a Klingon warrior.
"Welcome to Omega Force, Valley Forge. Your reputation precedes you - We'll be glad to have your assistance."
A red light started blinking on the console of Shackelfords captain's chair, indicating he was receiving an encoded priority message. He was going to have to cut the diplomacy short, which was fine by him. He wasn't entirely comfortable coordinating military operations with people who were also his enemies in other parts of the galaxy.
He grimaced as he spoke. "Glad we could make it, General D'Vak. Let us know where we can help. Valley Forge out."
The viewscreen reverted back to standard view, Defera appearing once again.
"I'll be in my ready room. You have the conn, number one."
*******
Shackelford sat down at his desk and his monitor came to life. Admiral Van Wormer showed up on it almost immediately.
"Shack, I thought you'd want to see this right away. We received this transmission roughly an hour ago."
The monitor switched over to a haunting image he had seen once before when this whole nightmare started.
Shackelford watched intently, trying to take in every word.
When the communication ceased, Van Wormer came back on screen. "I know you probably want to move on this right away, but for now, your orders are to assist with the efforts on Defera."
Shackelford sat stone faced, not saying a word.
"I hate it when you do that, Shack. Give me some time to try and track the origin. I promise that as soon as I know something, I will dispatch the Valley Forge right away."
Shackelford could only respond with a half hearted "Yes sir," before the Admiral's visage faded from the screen.
((Participants are asked to continue posting about their characters experiences involving the Borg invasion of Defera.))
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