Runner Up 4 20209.14

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Unity by Lt[JG] Jeff Revere

© 2002 by Federation Space and the author pen named Jeff Revere


"Our colony on Telsa Prime has been receiving hostility from Romulan extremists. The Romulan government has denied any involvement in the attacks, but we now have enough evidence to suspect they have ordered the attacks."

The room was quiet as VAdm. Valgar gave his briefing. Capt. Thomas Haul sat at the far end of the briefing table, listening intently. The Odysseus had been on Sol defense for two months, a task unsuited for a Prometheus-class combat vessel.

"Heavy damage has been dealt to the science station orbiting the planet and to the colony itself. Almost all the ships protecting the system have been destroyed. Therefore we are dispatching a number of cargo ships, accompanied by a small fleet, to repair and defend the colony until an automated defense system can be completed."

“Why so many combat vessels?” an Andorian Commodore asked, “It’s only one colony, we should only need about 5, why 20?” The Andorian gave the Admiral a look of suspicion. Haul only grinned at the question. Trying to get me stuck here forever, Dartese?

“The reason being…” Valgar responded, “Is that the system defense fleet that has nearly been wiped out originally contained 8 ships, now they have 1.” The Bolian gave Dartese a stare that would have silenced a drunken Klingon.

“If I might ask sir,” another Cmdr. spoke, “What is so important about this colony and station that it can’t simply be moved to a safer location?”

“What makes the colony so important, Cmdr. Harris,” Valgar responded to the human, “…is that it is right on the border. Rumors are flying through the Federation that a growing alliance exists between the Romulans and the Carddasians. We need the colony so we can set up an outpost to watch the Romulan Star Empire in case they launch an invasion.”

“True, I have heard these rumors,” Capt. Dell Marx, a Betazoid chimed, “I’ve heard another version of them: the alliance is between the Dominion and the Cardassians, not the Romulans. Who knows? Maybe it’s both?”

“What I think is important here, is that the Federation be protected,” Capt. William Savage of the Sanctuary said, “Even if there is know alliance at all, the Romulans have been attacking Federation citizens, destroyed 7 ships, we have to defend ourselves.”

“Gentlemen, can we please get down to business,” Admiral Valgar stood, “I know that the information about the possible alliance is important but we must move quickly,” This seemed to silence everyone in the room, “Now then. I’ll be leading the fleet with Cmdr. Dartese as my first officer, Captain~”

“Uh…sir?” Harris spoke up again, “What ship will you be taking on this? You’re an Admiral…”

The Bolian sighed, “I’ll be aboard the Washington. It’s a Galaxy Dreadnought-class ship that just finished a refit. A Captain hasn’t been chosen yet so I’m going to take on this mission.” Harris sat back in his chair, with a disappointed look on his face.

“Yes Patrick, you won’t have command of the fleet. Now…” Valgar gave all the officers in the room his classic stare, “In charge of long range defense will be Capt. Thomas Haul on the Odysseus and Capt. William Savage of the Sanctuary...two Prometheus-class ships…for speed. In charge of scout operations will be Cdr. James K. Stein, on the Freedom. In charge of Outer system defense will be Cmdr. Harris on the Cornwallis. And in charge of planetary defense will be Capt. Dell Marx, on the newly restored Soyuz-class vessel, the U.S.S. Atlanta. Any questions? Good. You’re dismissed.”

Haul walked out of the briefing room and was approached by his first officer, Keith Lionheart, “Well? The assignment?” The commander asked.

“Another system defense,” the hybrid answered, “Of course this one has actually seen some action.” Haul gave a sigh, “You know Keith, sometimes I wish my Vulcan side took a bit more precedence. There’s one emotion I could do without.”

“Sir?” Cdr. Lionheart asked.

Haul looked up at his friend and grinned, “Boredom…”

“Captain on the bridge,” the helmsman of the Freedom stood, followed by the other crewman.

“You know, this technically isn’t a bridge…” Cdr. Stein, taking the command chair, “More like a tightly pack ops station. The ship only has 3 decks.” All the crewmen sat back at their stations, understanding their commander’s “at ease.” “I don’t even have a ready room…” The atmosphere aboard the Freedom was unlike any in Star Fleet. Cdr. James Kirk Stein, always the explorer, never let his crew treat him like a superior. So…they saluted him every chance they got.

“What’s the status of the fleet?” James asked his ops officer.

“The Gates and the Douglas were late out of space dock, but will be arriving in a few moments. We’re standing by for warp 8.”

“Open a channel to the Valiant and the Concord,” James ordered.

“Channel open…”

“This is Cdr. James K. Stein of the Freedom, I’ll be leading our scout group,” he began, “I want to position ourselves in a triangle on the outside of the fleet. We’ll get maximum sensor range that way. Stein out. Helm…”

“Ok,” the helmsman said, “I’ve positioned us just in front of the Washington sir. We’ve got the Gates coming in to our right. We’re ready for warp 8…”

“Alrighty,” James sighed, “Synchronize with the fleet and engage.” Watching the view screen they went to warp.

“Helm, back us off a little, I don’t want to knick one of the cargo ships,” Capt. Dell Marx ordered aboard the Atlanta.

“Yes, sir,” the helmsman replied.

“Lt. Quinn, how far out are we?” Marx asked his ops officer.

“Only about an hour,” Quinn responded.

An hour? It’s felt like shorter than that. Marx sat down next to his first officer, LCdr. T’Lan and sighed, “This is going to be a long mission, but relaxing. The occasion battle, but most of the time sitting in one spot making scans.”

“Might I remind you captain,” the Vulcan said, “That the Soyuz-class was designed for system defense. I doubt our restored variant is much different. Most of our mission will be…this relaxing.”

“Sir,” the helmsman interrupted Marx date invitation, “I’m receiving a message from the Nightingale.”

“On screen,” Marx said.

“This Cdr. Steven Collie, you’re flying a little close there,” the stern human said.

“Yes, we know Commander, I just gave the order to move a little 5 seconds ago. Just trying to do my job. The fleet is assigned to protect you during this mission, the Soyuz class vassals especially.”

“We apologize for our rudeness,” T’Lan stood formally, “We’ll move further away.

“Very well, captain,” Collie said sounding slightly agitated, “Collie out.”

Wonderful, we have to put up with him for a month….

“Helm, time?” Cmdr. Patrick Harris asked the half Klingon.

“It’s 1400 hours and we’re 1 ½ hour out of space dock,” the ensign replied.

We can’t go much further than 2 hours. Harris thought as he turned to his first officer, Capt. Leo Goland “Send the message to the crew, we’ll start now.”

“Right,” Goland answered, “You realize what this means for you?”

“I know, but it’s worth it…” Harris sighed, then turned back the helmsman, “Ensign, could you come with me down to cargo bay 2 to prepare some away team supplies?”

“Yes sir,” the ensign answered, standing from her chair. Harris walked out onto the turbo lift with the ensign and the doors closed. Goland stood from his command chair and began giving orders.

“Seal off the bridge, and send the message to our fleet,” he began

“Sir, we’re getting a message from the Andoria,” the ops officer reported.

“Put it threw,” Goland ordered.

On the screen came a human captain, “This Capt. Yulia Brock, what’s going on.” Goland gave her a blank stare, “We’re reading weapons fire coming from your ship and others throughout the fleet. Where’s Capt. Harris?”

“Uh… the captain is taking care of something at the moment. Ops, scan the ship for weapons fire…” Goland was giving Capt. Brock a look of confusion.

“Nothing sir,” the ops officer reported.

“Well, maybe your sensor are malfunctioning…” Goland suggested.

“Maybe,” Capt. Brock said in monotone voice, “Brock out.”

Goland gave a loud sigh, “Jam the communications aboard the Andoria and tell the fleet we’re ready…”

Captain Haul stepped onto the bridge of the Odysseus, and asked for a report.

“We’re still traveling at warp 8 sir, we’re about 2 hours out, and…” the ops officer took a pause, “Sir! A few ships in the back just dropped out of the warp, I’m detecting weapons fire.” Suddenly the ship rocked and everyone was tossed to the floor.

“Helm!?” Haul shouted.

“Sorry sir, the Washington just stopped, the we nearly hit it,” the helmsman reported.

“Captain!” Cdr. Lionheart climbed back into his command chair, “We’re the only ones still at warp, I’m detecting weapons fire coming from, everywhere. It’s like a civil war… total chaos!”

“All stop, find I want to know who’s fighting who!” Haul began to spout orders. What the heck is going on?

“I’m reading the Sanctuary and the Cornwallis exchanging phaser blasts and it seems all 3 Defiant-class ships have engaged the Washington,” the ops officer replied, “Everything else is a blur. Too many ships…”

No way would Will would open fire… “Open a channel to the Sanctuary,” Haul ordered. On the view screen appeared Captain William Savage.

“The Cornwallis just turned on us, and we don’t know who else to engage…I’m ordering a multi-vector attack, I have to cut transmission. Find out what’s going on!” Suddenly Savage was cut off by his own communications-system’s division. Great. Add two more blips to the sensors…

“Captain,” Cdr. Lionheart addressed Capt. Haul, “I think we should get LCdr. Mesa down here to work on our sensors. This is obviously organized some how. There must be a way to see who the aggressors are.”

“Agreed,” Haul responded, “Capt. Haul to LCdr. Mesa: Alicia, we need you to work on the sensors.”

[Aye sir.] Came a young woman’s voice.

If anyone can fix this, it’s her.

A few moments later a Trill science officer stepped onto the bridge, “Captain?”

“The fleet just split in two. We’ve got a major battle going on. The problem is we don’t know who’s who,” Haul quickly explained, “Find something about the sensor signature of the Cornwallis that’s different from ours. You can also use the Defiant class ships as we’ve identified them too.”

“I thought you had a challenge, Captain,” Mesa smiled, “Just give me a few minutes.”

“Keith, open a channel to Earth,” Haul ordered.

“Yes sir~” the commander cut himself short, “All transmissions to Earth are being blocked by two of the scout vessels. The…Valiant and the Concord.”

“You here that Alicia, you’ve got 2 more ships to reference,” Haul told the CSO.

“A few more minutes, sir…” Alicia was then distracted by a blinking light, “Sir, I’m receiving a distress call from the Andoria, it’s a bit fuzzy but I’ll patch it through.”

Captain Brock appeared on the view screen, with the image cutting in and out of focus, “This Captain Yulia Brock of the Andoria, if this message is getting through, help us. I’ve been ambushed by the Douglas and the Flare, I don’t know why the attacked, but they are the same class ships and therefore have twice our fire power. Help us…Commander, automate that mess~” Suddenly the message ended.

Yulia… “Helm, bring us about and head for the Andoria, we can’t let any ships get destroy before we know what’s going on,” Haul’s “leadership” side was beginning to leak out, “Red Alert. All hands to battle stations…”

“Helm, change maneuvers!” Capt. Marx ordered from his chair, “Change every 40 seconds, keep them on the their toes.” The Atlanta had been attack by 2 of the other Soyuz class ships at the beginning of the battle, unfortunately, the didn’t know which of the other 3 were attacking. Why would they attack? We have to keep these cargo ships safe…

“Sir there’s a distress call coming in from Andoria, but I can’t patch it throught…” T’Lan reported, “We’re too close to the scout vessels, if we back away…”

“We’re not leaving the cargo vessels defenseless!” Marx shouted as the ship rocked again, “Return fire to whichever ship just hit us!”

“Shields at 58%!” the Tactical officer shouted. If only we knew who to strike back at… We need to get a message through to Earth…

“T’Lan, are there any ships not in combat?” Marx asked.

“Only 2, the Odysseus wasn’t attack and stopped about 30 seconds after we did, and the Freedom is near the Washington avoiding fire from Gates…”

“Contact the Freedom, we know the Defiant-class ships are part of the attacking group.”

“Channel open.”

Cdr. Stein showed up on the view screen, looking shocked, “If you calling for help, I don’t think my ship is fit for combat…” the commander joked.

“You will against these ships,” Marx responded with a smile, “I need you to take out those scout vessels so we can get a clear transmission to Earth. Can you do that?” The rocked again and the tactical officer reported shields at 51%

“I think I can,” the commander said, “Stein out…”

“You heard him. Helm, zigzag through the fleet and get to the other scout ships…” James ordered, and then turned back to humor, “To think, I was supposed to lead this guys…”

The Freedom jumped between ship after ship until it was directly behind the Concord. The pulse phasers on board struck with pinpoint accuracy and the Concord suddenly jumped into action at the attack. The Valiant too, moved into action and went in pursuit of the Freedom.

Inside the Freedom, the crew was feeling the effects of all loops and spins. “Reroute power to initial dampeners or else we’ll to sick to steer!” James yelled at he felt his body flip upside-down while still being help down to his chair by artificial gravity. Thank goodness for the zero-G training…

“Shields at 65%” tactical reported.

“What ship is that ahead?” James asked in a yell. The ops officer reported it to be the Flare, engaging the Odysseus, which had just arrived to the battle. “Screw the ship around its warp nacelles, that ought to shake them!”

“Sir?” the helm officer gave him a look of “are you nuts!?!”

“Do it…we’ll come about and hit them close range in their communications and propulsion,” James reassured, “That should disable the transmission jam…” That should disable the transmission jam… James watched the view screen as the Freedom spun itself around and around the Flare’s warp nacelles, and the Concord followed. When the spin stopped the Freedom spun around and faced the Concord head on. Phasers fired and the Concord went spinning into the distance, adrift. Suddenly the ship rocked violently and more crewman were tossed to the ground

“Report!” James shouted, climbing back into his chair.

“One of the multi vector attachments of the Sanctuary was just destroyed…” the helmsman replied, “The lower star-drive section.”

“Got it!” LCdr. Mesa exclaimed aboard the Odysseus. The ship rocked again, but this time not from weapons fire, “A piece of the Sanctuary just blew, it looks like the lower star-drive detachment.”

Why would they attack and kill us? Oh… at least Will wasn’t aboard that section. Haul was racked by his thoughts then remember the “I got it!” “Alicia! You got what?”

“Sorry sir…there’s a 3 digit difference in the Cornwallis and other attacking ships. They digits are… S…3…” Alicia paused, looking as though in shock, “…1”

“S,3,1?” Haul was as much in shock as everyone else, “Section 31…? Open a channel to the fleet and transmit the sensor modifications.” Haul ordered.

“Channel open,” the Comm. Officer reported.

“This is Capt. Thomas Haul of the Odysseus, do not destroy any ships! I repeat do not destroy the attacking ships,” Haul talked quickly, “You’ll understand when you receive the sensor mods…” They would have locked up the non-human crew…What do they hope to accomplish? And how did they get this many members grouped together… “Open a channel to the Freedom,” Haul waited as Cdr. Stein appeared on the view screen.

“Is this true, Tom?” Stein asked, “Section thirty~”

“Look, James, I have no time to talk~” the ship rocked as his took phaser fire, “Get back to Earth and alert them of our situation.”

“Ok, good luck!” the commander said as his image cut off.

“Captain!” Cdr. Lionheart exclaimed staring at his command console, “The Cornwallis has broken away, its setting pursuit course after the Freedom.”

“Follow them, and tell the remainder of the Sanctuary to aid the Andoria,” Haul said. At the end of his statement he cracked a smile.

“Thomas?” Cdr. Lionheart looked up at him bewildered.

“I just realized that we finally got our combat assignment…” Haul almost laughed, but his face returned back to its command expression, “Too bad we’re fighting against the Federation.”

Cmdr. Harris stood behind the command chairs, watching the current events unfold, “Well, Leo, looks like we have a chase,” he smiled

“Yes, a chase I intend to win!” Capt. Goland laughed, “Maximum warp, don’t let the Odysseus within weapons range!”

Harris continued to stand, not taking a seat. As he stood, his mind burned with hopes, doubts, and questions… I relinquished my command to him… why is this bothering my so much? Our dream will come true, a little power is the price I paid. Everyone must have one, shouldn’t they?

“How long will it take us to catch up with the Freedom?” Goland asked the replaced helmsman.

“It should take us around an hour, they’re ship is small, but fast. They also accelerated faster than us,” the human replied.

“What of the Odysseus?”

“Again, it’ll take them around an hour to catch us. And it should take just over an hour to reach Earth at maximum warp…”

Harris remained quiet, listening. We overpower the Odysseus, as long as we can keep them from separating, we should reach the Freedom in time.

“Report!” Capt. Marx shouted, as a console overloaded behind him.

“Shields at 34% captain,” T’Lan responded, “I suggest we retriet, they over power us…”

“I’m not leaving those cargo ships behind,” Marx yelled, “Power up the phaser turret!”

“Sir, that weapon is untested for this class of vessal,” T’Lan argued, “It would be illogical to~”

“Frankly, at this moment commander, logic is the last thing on my mind,” Marx replied, with a stern look on his face. He turned to his tactical officer, “Target their propulsion systems and charge the turret.”

“Captain!“ T’Lan shouted again, “The phaser turret is only authorized for use on the Galaxy-Dreadnought vessels, we don’t know if we’ll disable them or destroy ourselves~”

“Listen! Your objection is noted, and if you want to argue anymore I’ll have you removed from the bridge!” Marx was angry. Surges of emotion coming from the other crewman on the bridge were effecting him, but this was the only way…

“How long ‘til we’re in weapons range?” Haul asked Cdr. Lionheart, looking a little anxious.

“Well, it looks like we’ve got a minute and a half, but we have to come out of warp in 40 seconds or we could crash into Pluto or something…” Lionheart finished with a strike of humor, the last they would see for the day.

“Captain,” LCdr. Mesa looked up from her console, “The Cornwallis will reach the Freedom in 50 seconds. We’re to far back.”

Haul sat and thought as quickly as he could. Then came to the only conclusion he could find, “Load the torpedo bays and go to manual targeting.”

“Sir?” the tactical officer raise an eyebrow.

“Overload the torpedo launcher so we can get better range,” Haul explained, “Fire a burst of quantum torpedoes when we drop of warp. The momentum from the light speeds combine with the overload should be enough to get the torpedoes to the Cornwallis.”

“Sir, with that much speed, there’s a good chance those torpedoes will fly right by the Cornwallis,” Lionheart pointed out.

“That’s a risk we have to take, they’re jamming our communications…” Haul sighed.

There was a moment of silence on the bridge, until Mesa announced, “Dropping out of warp in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1~”

“Now lieutenant!” Haul shouted to the tactical officer. As the view screen showed 4 blue glows launch from the ship, the crew was shaken as the power surge from the overloads torpedo bay course threw the ship.

“Well!?” Haul shouted crawling off the ground.

“3 torpedoes missed the forth was a direct hit, it slowed them down,” the tactical officer said in awe.

“Long range sensors and torpedo launchers are down, but we still have phasers,” LCdr. Mesa sighed.

“Continue course,” Haul ordered. Come on James! The ship continued its until they reached Earth.

“The Freedom has taken cover behind Star Base 1,” Lionheart reported, and then looked up in horror, “The Cornwallis is continuing into the atmosphere. They’re headed for San Francisco.” Haul’s heart dropped to his stomach.

The Federation Council…

“Continue pursuit and prepare to fire phasers!” Haul ordered. The ship rocked as it hit the atmosphere. When the rocking stopped they saw the landscape of Midwest America, only a moment away from San Francisco at their speed. Phaser fire blasted between the 2 ships as they raced towards Federation Headquarters.

“Quantum torpedo, brace for impact!” Mesa shouted crabbing the rails to her left. The ships shook, but stayed on course, “Captain, if we go to multi-vector assault we could heard them towards the Pacific.” Haul stopped to think, but this was the only way.

“Do it!” Haul agreed, “All hands this is the captain prepare for multi-vector assault. Computer,” there was a chime, “Transport Cdr. Lionheart and LCdr. Mesa to their respectable battle bridges.”

[Acknowledged.] The was a blue light and Lionheart and Mesa were gone.

“Captain we’re over California!” the helmsman reported, “ 5 seconds to San Francisco.” The ship suddenly rocked as they split into 3 parts and swarmed the Cornwallis. Watching the view screen Haul saw Federation Headquarters and watched as it moved to the far right of the image.

“It’s working sir!” tactical reported as the ship rocked again, “Shields at 34%” The lieutenant looked down at his console, “The upper stardrive just took a quantum torpedo and their going down into the Pacific!”

“Haul to Mesa,” the captain shouted, “Break off and begin emergency transports from Cdr. Lionheart’s section.”

“Captain the Cornwallis is loosing shields!” tactical shouted.

“Target their weapons array!” Haul ordered. The view screen showed a phaser blast hit the Cornwallis, but it also showed a single torpedo escape its rear launcher.

“It’s headed for Headquarters!” Ops shouted, “Impact in~”

Suddenly there was an explosion from behind and the Odysseus lurched forward. Sparks in the bridge flew and Haul nearly thrown from his chair again.

“What was that!” he yelled.

“The…the Freedom sir,” the Ops officer was shaking, “I’m detecting 3 of the 4 escape pods cleared the explosion…” The bridge was quiet, but only for a moment, “Sir the Cornwallis is retreating back into space!”

James would have been the last one to leave… He… “Captain?”

“Pursuit course!” Haul command, pushing his feeling to the side, “And make sure they don’t get away.”

“Aye sir!”

What was left of the Odysseus raced back through the atmosphere and broke out to a chilling discovery, “I’m detecting multiple ships coming out of warp…all have the S31 signature…” Haul heart sank deeper as he considered the scenario… It can’t end like this…it can’t…

“Prepare the auto destruct sequence…authorization Haul-Alpha-2-Beta,” Haul turned the the tactical officer.

“Aye sir,” he nodded, “Computer, authorization Smith-Gamma-5-Charlie.”

“Computer, initiate immediate autodestruct on my mark,” Haul sighed, he turned the bridge officers still there, “I want everyone transported to the surface…no more innocent lives will be lost today.” No one said a word. They knew they couldn’t talk the captain out of it. All they could do was hope. The Ops officer hit a few buttons and every person aboard the remainder of the Odysseus was taken to the surface, leaving only Capt. Thomas Haul…and his thoughts.

Haul continued to watch as the Cornwallis disappeared into the wave of ships coming in. An audio only message came through as the lead ship locked the Odysseus in a tractor beam.

“Deactivate your weapons and prepare to have your vessel confiscated!” the order was clear: one Haul couldn’t follow.

“Computer…” he sighed, “Mark.”

“Here lies a memorial to Capt. Thomas Haul and Cdr. James Kirk Stein,” a voice could be heard through the rain, “They were heroes…” a man wearing a Star Fleet dress uniform stood, and smiled, “It’s simple, appropriate, and most importantly…true.” Capt Dell Marx turned the 2 officers next to him…Captains Yulia Brock and William Savage, “Remember them, they were heroes…”

Over the course of the next 6 months, Star Fleet successfully crushed the “S31 Rebellion.” Their goal, was to set up an entirely separate human government, centered on Earth. Their main battle fleet was gathering near Earth, utilizing crew shuffling and volunteering for “close to home” missions of little important. After the Odysseus’ self-destruct, the convoy heading toward Telsa Prime arrived and finished off the remainder of the S31 Fleet. Now the RCD has launched an attack on the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, and Gorn Confederation. But the Federation has been unified by this rebellion more than ever thought possible, Section 31 won’t return until long after the General war, and Federation will remain in this state for the remainder of it… remain in Unity.