From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Jan 10 2008 - 23:42:35 PST
=The First Step?=
(cont'd from "Aftermath")
LOCATION: GATEWAY Station
SCENE: CEO's Office
STARDATE: [2.8]0110.2223
With some slight exertion, Jake Crichton managed to pull the doors to his new office (which hadn't functioned since after the *first* Dominion attack on the station) apart, and sighed audibly when he saw the damage the room had sustained during the attack. The desk was covered with debris, and the chair behind it was overturned, its structure bent and twisted from the huge, metal beam that had fallen on it.
"Still looks better than a lot of the rest of the station," Ensign Thierry Gonzalez, aCEO of GATEWAY Station, offered.
"Don't remind me," Crichton muttered. He moved to the desk, swept its surface clear of dust and debris, and picked the chair up. He plopped down in it, but its bent frame left him sitting at a slight tilt, the chair creaking loudly in complaint at the sudden load. Crichton sighed again, then looked at Ensign Gonzalez.
"All right," he said. "Lets get started."
Gonzalez laid the PADD he was carrying on the desk in front of Crichton, his expression grim.
"We have a lot of work to do, sir," he said. "We hadn't finished repairing the station from the first Dominion attack. The second attack not only re-damaged most of what we had started to repair, but it opened a lot more wounds, too. We're running on minimal power, and life-support isn't even functioning on Decks 3, 5, and 9 through 12 in the Entertainment Module. We have massive hull-breaches on Decks 2, 5, 7, and 14 in the Operations Module, and on Decks-"
"Nevermind," Crichton said, waving off the rest of Gonzalez's report. "Our primary focus needs to be restoration of main power. With the Federation fleet here, the Dominion won't risk another direct assault, at least not for awhile. Once we have main power back online, the rest of the repairs will-"
[[Commander Davidson to senior officers,]] came the voice of Daisy Davidson suddenly over the comm. [[Report to Operations.]]
"I can hold down the fort here, sir," Gonzalez said.
"Thanks, Gonzo," Crichton said, smiling approvingly at the nickname he had chosen for his aCEO. Ensign Thierry Gonzalez raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but didn't object.
"We'll get started on restoring main power," 'Gonzo' said as Crichton stood and made for the door. "I'll have a report waiting for you when you're out of your meeting."
------------------------------------------------------------
SCENE: Operations
The senior officers of GATEWAY Station- or, at least, the *surviving* senior officers- stood around Operations, doing their best to ignore the extensive damage, broken viewscreens, and blown-out consoles still covering most of the room. Main power was still offline, so GATEWAY was running on emergency power, and the room was lit by reddish lights, giving the scene an almost infernal appearance. Crichton reflected that it seemed to fit- with all that the GATEWAY had gone through in the past few days, it was easy to imagine an aura of foreboding doom surrounding it.
In addition to GATEWAY's senior staff, Col. Bret Maverick was also there, leaning against a console with his arms crossed, a grim look on his face. Standing in front of him, looking equally as grim, was Commander Daisy Davidson, clearly still adjusting to her new role of CO of GATEWAY, her eyes fixed on the floor a few feet in front of her.
"Thank you all for coming," she said, not moving her eyes from the spot on the floor where they were fixed. "I'm afraid I have some bad news, but it probably won't be much of a surprise to any of you. As of 0945 hours this morning, the Federation has officially declared war on the Dominion."
There was no audible or visible reaction to this news, but it was clear it had an impact. Several of the assembled officers shifted their weight or coughed nervously, but no one spoke.
"Naturally, this raises some questions as to GATEWAY's new role here in the Gamma Quadrant," Daisy continued. "For all intents and purposes, GATEWAY Station marks the division between Federation and Dominion space, which places us all on the front lines of this war."
"Which, unfortunately, makes you a prime target for the Dominion," Maverick cut in. "If the Dominion ever hopes to kick the Federation out of this quadrant, they're going to have to come through GATEWAY Station. And that means they'll come through *you*."
"Colonel Maverick is right," Daisy said. "Which is why I've called you all here today. Certainly, GATEWAY is not in the best shape, and certainly not prepared to serve as the forward base-camp for an offensive against the Dominion. There are going to be... *must* be... some major changes in procedure and the day-to-day operation on this station."
"As of this point," Lt. Cmdr. Kor started, "GATEWAY Station is on a war-footing. Our main priority is ensuring the defense of the station itself. Thankfully, the reopening of the wormhole and the arrival of the Federation fleet has bought us some time, but Starfleet can't afford to commit such a large percentage of its operational forces to the defense of a single space-station, no matter its importance. Because of that, we are going to be forced to come up with countermeasures and early-warning systems as a defense against another attack."
"I believe the subspace-distortion bubbles are still a valid idea," Lt. Yao said. "Our recent experience with them demonstrates their potential, but there is the long-term stability of the subspace field in this quadrant to consider. Left indefinately, its possible they could do long term damage to the subspace field in this area."
Daisy nodded. "Mr. Crichton?"
"Now that our lines of supply are restored, its entirely possible we can construct some type of conventional mine as a way to hold-off any further Dominion attacks," Crichton said. "On the other hand, that *is* a tactic we used against the Dominion during the last war. There's every reason to believe that the Dominion has developed some kind of countermeasure against another minefield."
"So what do you recommend?"
"I think Lt. Yao is correct," Crichton said. "Further research and experimentation will be required, but I think the subspace rifts are definitely something to keep in mind. We can use conventional mines until then."
"Alright," Daisy nodded. "Now we need to discuss operations aboard the station itself. Of course, defense against possible changeling infiltration must be a top priority."
"Obviously, GATEWAY will still function as a hub of commerce in the Gamma Quadrant," Kor said. "However, the amount of commercial traffic aboard the station will necessarily be reduced. Most merchants are not willing to operate in the middle of a warzone. From that, I think we can estimate an overall reduction in the number of civilians aboard the station at any given time. While the civilian population will still be too high to make mandatory screenings of everyone practical, I think that screening anyone entering a sensitive area is not only feasible, but vital in the face of possible sabotage by changeling spies."
"I'm not sure I'm ready to post security officers at every door and hallway to administer blood-tests," Daisy said. "No matter what our situation, GATEWAY was never meant to be a military outpost."
"I understand," Kor nodded, "but for areas of vital importance, such as Operations, Sickbay, Main Engineering, etc., we can't afford to be lax in our security measures."
"Very well," Daisy nodded after a moment. "We will require mandatory blood-tests for all personnel entering sensitive areas, at least until we can be sure that the station is secure against infiltration."
"We're going to need some significant manpower to support a system like that," Crichton said. "And after surviving *two* Dominion attacks, we're a little bit short on that front."
"The Federation is aware of GATEWAY's situation," Maverick said. "Several of the ships dispatched in the recent wave of reinforcements are here to assist in repairs to the station itself, and we have several transport-ships en route to boost GATEWAY's crew compliment. Believe me, Lieutenant, the Federation is not going to leave GATEWAY high and dry in the face of our new conflict with the Dominion."
"About that," Crichton said. "Any word on what exactly caused all of this? I mean, we might not have been on the best terms with the Dominion, but last time I checked, we were a good way off from outright war."
"Starfleet's attempts to contact the Dominion have so far been in vain," Daisy explained. "We know they're receiving our messages, but they don't seem to be in any hurry to respond to them. It appears that they have totally cut-off communication with the Federation."
"It gets worse," Maverick said. "There have been reports- only rumors so far, nothing substantiated- that Dominion ships have been seen operating *inside* of Federation territory."
"How could they have made it through the wormhole without the Federation noticing?" Yao asked.
"They couldn't have," Maverick said with a frown. "Unless they're in possession of cloaking technology that we aren't aware of."
"Or they've been planning this for some time," Daisy said. "It's marginally possible that the Dominion has been planning this new war for several years. They could have slowly been seeding the Alpha Quadrant with Dominion ships or bases in preparation of this day. If that's the case, our situation is a great deal more severe than we had initially thought."
All this new information was like a punch to the gut to the assembled crew. The thought that this war had been planned from the start, that GATEWAY's situation had only been a convenient excuse to start it, was disturbing. If it was true, it meant that the Dominion had been preparing for this war for a long time, while the Federation had been distracted by other conflicts. Given the number of years since the *last* Dominion war, it was possible that the Dominion had taken the time to assemble a force large enough to sweep through the Alpha Quadrant totally unopposed.
Crichton doubted it, though. If the Dominion had the forces to sweep the Alpha Quadrant, they *certainly* would have had enough ships to spare to take GATEWAY Station. And yet, both of their attacks had been averted by the sudden arrival of reinforcements. Clearly the Dominion wanted GATEWAY Station, but they didn't seem to have enough ships committed to taking it.
"There's another possibly," Crichton said. "If the Dominion has been planning this new war for years, they certainly would have planned far enough ahead to make the capture of GATEWAY Station almost a formality."
"What are you suggesting, Lieutenant?" Maverick asked.
"If those reports are true," Crichton said, "..if the Dominion *is* operating behind our lines already, I think we have to consider the possibility that they have some kind of back-door into the Alpha Quadrant."
Nobody spoke after that. The thought was sickening- that the Dominion had another way into the Alpha Quadrant that didn't require use of the wormhole. If it were true, there was no telling the amount of damage the Dominion might do...
"Whether that's true or not, it isn't our problem," Daisy said. "Our job is to ensure the safety of GATEWAY Station and the surrounding space. With the fleet on our doorstep, we've been given a grace-period to get this station back in operational condition. We can't let any other considerations get in the way of that goal.
"I understand that I am new to this position," Daisy continued. "And I understand that some of you may still have doubts about my... ability to lead you. I must ask you, for the time being, to put that aside as well. We all have a job to do, and it is vital that we *do* it. I know that none of us asked for any of this, and I know that many of you would like nothing more than to return home. But, for the sake of the Federation and its trillions of inhabitants, I must ask you to remain a little longer. I must ask you to dedicate yourselves to her safety. Because I assure you- if GATEWAY falls, this war is lost."
The meeting ended a few minutes later. There was a smattering of further discussion about the operations of GATEWAY, of what could be expected under the stewardship of Commander Daisy Davidson, but most of the discussion had ended. To their credit, everyone present left the meeting with a deep sense of commitment to the Federation and the war-effort. And yet, as the assembled senior staff filed out to return to their respective stations and duties, Daisy Davidson had call to wonder how history would record their actions here today.
Would this all be remembered as the first step to another victory against the Dominion? Or would history record all of their actions as futile acts of desperation against an unstoppable enemy?
==============================================================
NRPG: Again, sorry its been awhile. I've been working a lot lately since I've been on a break from school, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to post. School starts again on Monday, though, so that probably means I'll have a lot of time spent sitting between classes with nothing to do but post, so hopefully my posting rate will increase in the coming weeks.
Anyway, I wanted to say that, even as a relative newcomer to the FRPG, I'm proud of everyone for the spike in posting. I went from being pretty much the only one posting to being someone who's posting very little compared to the rest of the crew, and I'm glad that the new storyline and the change in management has inspired everyone to put fingers to keyboards once again. Lets all try to keep this momentum going into our future missions, as I'm sure the new Dominion War will offer no shortage of potential story ideas.
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jake Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station
---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Oct 11 2008 - 03:10:19 PDT