From: V. Rahul Chandra (vrccan_at_gmail.com)
Date: Sun Apr 13 2008 - 23:52:51 PDT
========== “Firestorm” Continued from Taylor’s “117” ========== Location: FARLAS PRIME Stardate: 2424 [2.8] 0414.0105 Scene: Unknown As the changelings coalesced into one form, it was apparent that the thoughts of the majority were in a place that was very different from the previous meeting. It was hard to blame the dissenters from their change of heart however, as events on the planet had pushed things in the direction that the changelings did not want to see. **The revote that took place with the support of the Chancellor has failed,** commented one changeling. **Our primary mission can not succeed. We have no choice now but to proceed with the back up plan.** There was a slight rumbling of unease under the surface as many present still believed in the mission that had been assigned to them by The Great Link. However, as conversation took place between the different beings at instantaneous speed, the dissenters eventually won over all opposition. **Very well,** replied one voice. **We shall commence with the back up plan. Everyone has their instructions and you are to carry them out without question. Is that understood?** A chorus of affirmative responses followed this voice, at which point the mass pool of organic matter began to separate into different individual masses. ========== Time Index: The next morning Scene: Chancellor’s Office L’Tal and Grithir were seated in the Chancellor’s office, both drinking a glass of wine. “The compromise legislation failed to pass,” L’Tal commented ruefully. “It appears as it this issue of interstellar intervention will not be going away anytime soon.” “I believe you are right about that Chancellor,” Grithir replied. “I believe that when it comes to the safety of our planet, the people want swift and decisive action. They saw through the legislation as being nothing more than political cover. If you believe that the aliens present a threat to our planet, then you should act. If you do not believe that, then there is no reason to continue this debate further.” L’Tal sighed, shaking his head. “It was not meant as political cover,” he answered. Before he could continue further however, a knock on his door diverted the attention of both men. A few moments later, the door opened and a very shocked looking Ramy walked into the room. “What is it Ramy?” L’Tal asked, his irritation at having been disturbed waging an internal battle with his curiosity at what could have spooked his assistant so much. “An urgent report from our astronomers,” Ramy replied, handing a folder to the Chancellor. L’Tal took the folder, read through the contents briefly and then went pale himself as the full realization of what he was reading dawned on him. “Chancellor?” Grithir asked, intrigued by the reaction. “Our scientists have been continuing their observation of the planet,” Ramy answered. “And in the last cycle of telescope shots they were able to come up with this.” He handed a picture over to Grithir, who viewed it and them jumped up to a standing position. “My god!” Grithir exclaimed, clearly agitated. “But this spaceship is gigantic!” “According to our best scientific minds,” L’Tal continued, his eyes vacantly staring out the window. “The only reason one would require a ship that large is for conquest.” He sighed, turning his face back to stare at the senator. “It would appear that you were right Grithir,” he said. “Our only hope is to launch the fleet now,” Grithir answered. “Our plasma drives will allow the ships to get far enough away from the planet that an immediate confrontation will be put off. In the meantime, we can build up our ground defences and get all non-military personnel into the underground bunkers.” When a few moments had passed, Grithir leaned on the desk, staring across pointedly at the Chancellor. “It is no longer the time for a political debate,” he said. “You must give the executive order for combat.” L’Tal looked up at the Senator for a long moment, not saying anything. When he finally spoke, it was with the voice of a defeated man. “Send your ships,” he muttered, closing his eyes. “Thank you Chancellor,” Grithir answered, turning around and exiting the office. ========== Time Index: Six hours later Scene: Hog’s Head Pub “We’ve got a problem,” Kenta stated unceremoniously once everyone was present. “Just about twenty minutes ago, a number of ships left the surface.” The other members of the away team looked at the Captain, momentarily stunned by the swift turnaround in events. “I thought the revote had been struck down by the Senate,” Tanith commented. “It had,” Kenta said grimly. “From what I saw on the news however, it appears as if new intelligence has come out which has resulted in the Chancellor making an executive decision to authorize the launch.” “Does that mean the Prime Directive is out the window?” Catherine asked. “Yes and no,” Kenta answered. “While this launch has happened, there is nothing to guarantee that there still aren’t changelings on the planet. So we can either collect our ship and chase after the launched craft, or we can stay here and continue our mission.” “I say we stay here,” Maverick commented. “The PATRIOT can deal with a handful of primitive vessels and if we blow our cover now there’s no way to know how long it will take Starfleet Intelligence to get someone back here if it turns out that the changelings were not on those vessels.” Kenta looked around the table and slowly saw everyone nod their head in agreement. “Very well,” he said. “We’ll stay for now.” =========== Time Index: One Hour Later Location: USS PATRIOT Scene: Main Bridge “Sir!” came the surprised call from the operations station. “I am picking up multiple warp signatures on a direct intercept course for us!” “Warp signatures?” Jeff asked, looking up from his chair with a look of confusion on his face. “Can you identify them?” “Their design specifications appear to be in line with the information Starfleet Intelligence gave us regarding the Farlasian spacecraft,” came the reply. “However, we were told by Intelligence that those spacecraft only had sub light capability.” “Apparently we were told wrong,” Jeff muttered to himself grimly, standing up out of his chair. “Are they within visual range?” “Yes sir.” “On screen,” he said. From the pictures that appeared on the screen of the PATRIOT’s bridge, the ships certainly did appear to be the Farlasian vessels that Jeff and the rest of the crew had read up on. “Put us in between the planet’s surface and those ships,” Jeff ordered. “And open a channel to the planet.” ============== Time Index: Simultaneously Location: FEDERATION COLONY Scene: Defence HQ [[PATRIOT to surface.]] Daniel tapped a button on a console. “Surface here, Clarkson speaking,” he said. [[We’ve identified several vessels that match the Farlasian specifications,]] Jeff reported. [[So get your squads ready down there, because there might be action soon.]] “Acknowledged,” Daniel replied. “Surface out.” Without pausing for breath, he continued. “All squads, this is central command. Stay alert at your defensive positions and relay in reports every half hour. We are at ground condition yellow. Another communication will be by within the hour advising of further status.” ============== Location: USS PATRIOT Scene: Main Bridge “The ships are coming out of warp now sir. We are in between them and the planet.” “Excellent,” Jeff said. “Hail the lead vessel.” “They do not appear to have visual communication ability,” came the reply from ops. “However, I do believe I can get an audio only link established.” “Good enough,” Jeff answered. “Unidentified vessel. You are in Federation territory, please explain your presence and identify yourself.” A few moments of tense silence passed on the bridge before a reply crackled across the channel. [[Who are you?!]] the voice demanded. Jeff exchanged a look with the operations officer, before speaking again. “I am Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gorman, First Officer of the USS PATRIOT. We are the flagship of the United Federation of Planets, the same organization that is in control of the planet you are now heading to.” [[Then your intentions towards us are hostile!]] “Not at all,” Jeff replied. “If you would let me explain…” [[Nobody would build a ship as big as yours for any reason other than conquest!]] “That is not true,” Jeff answered, resisting the irritation that was starting to build inside him. “The Federation does not build warships that frequently and the PATRIOT certainly is not one. Our missions are scientific and diplomatic far more than they are military in nature.” [[Then why are you blocking our path to the planet?]] the voice on the other end demanded. “Before I answer that question,” Jeff replied. “I request that you identify yourself and your ships.” A short pause followed. [[My name is Senator Grithir,]] the man replied. [[I am the head of the Farlasian Expeditionary Force, sent from the planet FARLAS to scour the nearby planet of the hostile presence. I am acting with the permission of my Chancellor and my actions are to defend the planetary security and sovereignty of FARLAS.]] “The Federation is no threat to FARLAS,” Jeff answered. “We have a rule called the Prime Directive that prohibits us from contact with species before they have achieved a certain level of technology. Until this moment, we were not aware that you possessed that level of technology.” [[It is fortuitous that we did,]] Grithir replied. [[Otherwise we would not have been able to defend our friends and families against your cowardly attack.]] “We have no intention of attacking your planet!” Jeff shot back, getting annoyed. “Your perceptions regarding the Federation and its people are incorrect. They have been tainted by another power that we are at war with.” [[You’re lying,]] Grithir answered. “I am doing no such thing,” Jeff replied. “And I can prove it to you if you give me a chance. There are bound to be members of either your governmental body or maybe even your own crew that are not what they appear. Our doctors have the means to determine their true identities.” Another pause, this time a longer one, followed this statement. [[And how do I know you’re being sincere?]] Grithir asked. “As you said yourself Senator,” Jeff answered. “Our ship is far more powerful than yours. I could clearly destroy you and your fleet without the PATRIOT even having to raise its primary defensive shielding. And indeed, if you make a move on the planet, that is exactly what I will do in order to protect the lives of Federation citizens. But if you agree to peacefully land on the planet and submit your crew to medical examination by my people, we can avert unnecessary bloodshed.” A long period of silence passed, during which Jeff silently checked with the ops officer to make sure the link was still open. [[We will accede to your demands in light of your tactical advantage,]] Grithir said. [[However…]] anything else the Senator might have been about to say was cut off by the link going dead. “Sir!” the ops officer announced urgently. “The lead ship has broken off from the pack and is now attempting to circumvent our position. The other ships are closing to attack range.” Jeff swore under his breath. “Raise shields!” he commanded, sitting back down in his chair. “Ready phasers. Can you get a transporter lock on the people in the ships?” “Negative sir. Their hull appears to have been enriched with a material that is blocking our transporters.” “What about a tractor beam?” Jeff asked. “Unable to get a lock,” came the reply from tactical. “The pack ships are firing energy weapons at us.” The bridge shook with the impact and Jeff had to hang onto the armrests in order to avoid being thrown from the chair. “Primitive weapons eh?” he muttered under his breath, righting himself in his chair. “Return fire, target their weapons,” he ordered. “And then re-orientate our position so that we are blocking the lead ship from getting down to the planet.” “It’s too late sir,” came the report from ops. “The ship has entered the upper atmosphere. We can’t get a lock on them.” Jeff swore to himself. “Well, keep the other ships occupied and prepare boarding parties with medical teams to detect changelings on each one. Find a way past their hull and do it quickly!” As a chorus of affirmatives were stated in reply to his series of orders, Jeff tapped his comm. Badge. “PATRIOT to planet,” he said. “You’re about to have company.” ========= Time Index: An hour later Scene: Observation Lounge “We’re just waiting for Major Clarkson to show up now,” Jeff said to Dustin, who was pacing back and forth along the length of the observation lounge. Just as he said the words, the doors to the lounge open and the marine walked into the room. “All of the Farlasian native soldiers have been tended to and are ready to return to their ships,” Clarkson reported. “Security was able to ascertain from ship and planet scans combined with interrogation information that the reason your signal to the Senator cut off was because of the actions of a changeling that had been masquerading as an aide to the Chancellor. Senator Grithir was able to corroborate that evidence by recalling several instances on FARLAS PRIME where he saw the two of them together.” “And the colony?” Dustin asked. Daniel smiled slightly. “For the most part,” he said. “The Farlasian soldiers were so shocked by the actions of the aide taking control of the lead ship that they were in no state to fight. The changeling that had taken the aide’s form landed the ship right in the middle of our defensive perimeter and in the crossfire we were able to quickly neutralize all of the Farlasian defence and through their reactions to our phasers also very quickly discover who the changeling infiltrators were.” “The same thing happened when we boarded the ships,” Jeff answered. “Once we circumvented their hull design with our transporters, the Farlasian soldiers were pretty easy to take out. I doubt most of them even knew what was going on.” “Senator Grithir seemed quite ashamed of the whole situation,” Daniel observed. “I had a chat with him in sickbay.” “One can hardly blame him,” Jeff replied. “We counted thirty-five changeling infiltrators in the thousand-person assault force that was scattered over the ships in their fleet. There’s nothing that would prevent more from being on the planet and even if there weren’t there’s nothing to have prevented those changelings from shifting form from a political one to a soldier-like one to be in this force. Also, we have evidence that the changelings introduced advanced technology in the form of warp drive and advanced alloy creation into Farlasian society, claiming scientific breakthroughs to pass them off as natural. Frankly, if I were the Senator, I’d be one confused person right about now.” “So what’s going to happen?” Dustin asked. Jeff shrugged his shoulders. “We’re going to escort the Farlasians back to their planet, get our own people back and wait for a ship from Starfleet Intelligence to get to the area. It’s going to be left up to the intel boys to clean up this mess, but I would be very surprised if they took all of the technology away from the Farlasians. The contamination has already happened, so I think the best that can be done now is to minimize its overall impact in whatever way they can.” Daniel nodded, before turning to Dustin. “I’ll be staying on the surface with you until the PATRIOT comes back for me,” he stated. “There was some damage on the planet that we need to repair and I’d like to train some of your colonists so that they can defend the colony in case something else happens before Starfleet can send you some defence forces.” “Any help you can offer us would be greatly appreciated,” Dustin said gratefully. “Thank you Major.” “We’ll be at FARLAS PRIME for a few days,” Jeff said to Daniel. “And we’re leaving in the hour. But we’ll be back to collect you on our way back to EARTH for debrief and some proper repairs.” Daniel grinned. “Sounds good,” he said. “A few days away from you navy types will do me good.” ============== NRPG: And that brings us to the end of this mission. Some details have been glossed over in the interests of time and space, so if you’re wondering about anything that you think was missing, just use your own imagination to fill it in ;) We’ll be in R&R for the next week or so and Naomi will be running the next mission starting sometime next weekend, at her discretion. The mission will not be related to the war, but more than that I’ll leave up to her to explain via her posting. =============== Rahul Chandra <vrccan_at_gmail.com> Playing… Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gorman, MD Executive Officer USS PATRIOT & Major Daniel Clarkson, MD Marine Executive Officer USS PATRIOT No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.13/1376 - Release Date: 13/04/2008 1:45 PM From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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