Sheridan Mission 12: "Carraya"

The Sheridan along with other vessels of the 4th Fleet were recalled to Starbade Delta for a strategic conference when a distress call came in from the Carraya system reporting they were under attack by Klingon forces. The Omega-4 Rapid response Group, along with the USS Ticonderoga and the SFMC vessel, USS Lejuene were dispatched to lend assistance.

Upon arrival the group found a significant Klingon force present. The Sheridan was ordered to help in the retaking of an orbital base, COB-1 with the USS Armstrong as support. Once their COS and other forces were beamed to the base, the destroyer was called to assist the USS Philadelphia which had been attacked and damaged. The Sheridan managed to beat off an attack by Klingon vessels as the Philadephia dealt with being boarded by Klingon hybrids.

After a fierce battle, in which the Lejuene was lost. All Starfleet forces regained control of the Carraya system and were then recalled to Starbase Delta where they received repairs.

Captains' Logs

Captain Quill Dramar

Stardate 21101.25

Personal log, Stardate 21101.25, Captain Quillian Dramar Recording

The Sheridan, along with the rest of the Omega-4 battle group, the Ticonderoga, and the Lejeune, are enroute to the Carrayan System. We are responding to an emergency plea for help from an official within the Carrayan government. They system is apparently under attack from an unknown assailant, though SITREPs indicate the Klingons are the likely culprits. Admiral Grayson held a holo-conference, which included the command staff of the ships in the battle group, to discuss our response.

The plan was for a worst case scenario in which Klingons have taken control of the system. As for the Sheridan crew, Lieutenant Commander P’Taka will work to find holes in carrayan defenses. I will be working on a way to apply the randomly modulated sensor algorithm we developed at One-Five-Seven and applying on a larger scale. We will arrive at the system in two and a half days.

End Log

Crew Logs

First Officer

LCdr Alex Ankar

Stardate 21104.20

First Officer's Log Stardate 21104.20, Lieutenant Commander Alex Ankar recording.

[Our mission to answer the distress call of Carraya has come to an end with moderate success. As things stand, we are currently returning to Star Base Delta with the reclaimed USS Armstrong with final repairs and diagnostics of our damaged deflector array currently keeping Lieutenant Kane and his engineers busy.

After a briefing with the other command staff of the 4th Fleet (along with my previous station, the USS Ticonderoga), it became apparent that the proposed scale of the attack on Carraya had severed communications and that details from intelligence sources were sparse. Whatever the threat was, it must have come from either Klingon, DRR or RSE sectors. The one word that seemed to be on each senior officer's lips was: Klingons. The notion of the Imperial government ordering such an insurrection was highly unlikely, but it was plausible that a rogue fleet had made the move to overthrow the now independent world of Carraya. We were throwing ourselves into a joint objectives mission - both recon and, potentially, counter-attack - with little information on our enemy and the uncertainty of what we would find when we reached the source of the distress calls. It was to be an excellent test of the 4th Fleet's tactical resources as a rapid response unit.

The Sheridan's orders were twofold: using her advanced sensors to coordinate in the search for cloaked vessels and then initiate the primary assault and get security forces on board COB-1, the orbital base around Carraya. The preparations went smoothly enough, with our science and engineering departments working hard to modify the sensors to organise the randomly modulating algorithm required to enable more efficient detection of any vessels operating under a cloaking device. Similarly, Lieutenant Commander Ptaka took stock of the security detachments to ensure a smooth assault operation on the orbital base. By the time the final preparations had been made, we had reached the rim of the Carrayan system, along with the rest of the 4th Fleet and the Ticonderoga, to discover the presence of unauthorised non-goverment Klingon vessels - apparently under the command of one 'Lothal', pronouncing himself as the new governor and making no effort to disguise the fact that his intentions were to take the planet by force and then 'kill us all'. Our fears that the Klingon government was incapable of keeping a firm leash on all its subordinates were fully confirmed and the fleet was about to find itself in a full scale battle.

With the bulk of the 4th's heavy warships engaged in combat, we pressed forward to the orbital base where we brought down its defences without incident and proceeded to successfully beam the security forces over to secure and maintain control of COB-1. Then something strange happened. At the same time that sensors detected the Philadephia was under heavy attack, large amounts of antiproton and antineutrinos coagulated with some form of charged ion particle to create a dampening field of some sort around her, absorbing sensor, shielding and communications emmisions. As a result we were getting strange readings on the other Federation ships - in some cases, entire sections of vessels disappeared completely from scanning view. We were redeployed immediately to assist the Philadelphia and attempt to neutralise - or at least examine - the dampening effect.

This led to a curious moral rift amongst the Sheridan's crew. Leaving the main battle would also mean leaving our security forces on board COB-1 without any support or guarantee of escape via transporter. These thoughts were echoed in an entirely unprofessional and insubordinate manner by our Chief Medical Officer - Lieutenant Commander Gadling - when he stole a shuttlecraft, taking two nurses with him, and informed us that he was going to stay with the security forces. We had no intention of jeopardising our mission to save an entire ship in order to save just one very stubborn medical officer, and so we continued on our course to the asteroid field where the Philadelphia was. I had only met Gadling once prior to this incident, and he had been drunk and disorderly, interrupting my first meeting with a fresh security Midshipman. Needless to say that my current professional opinion of our Chief Medical Officer is sour at best.

During the journey to the asteroid field, a Klingon destroyer decloaked and appeared to be towing the USS Armstrong. She had gone missing after the effects of the dampening field had become apparent and it was comforting to see her again, but the vessel had most likely been attacked and boarded and was now a victim of the enemy warship. The destroyer relinquished its grip on the scout and headed for us, where we fought a close quarters battle, resulting in the destroyer disengaging, thanks to some excellent work from our tactical officers on the bridge. The Sheridan had been damaged significantly, but we continued regardless to the Philadephia.

Next up on the list was the dampening field, with a theory conducted by our newest science officer - Nox - and our Chief Engineer, to use the deflector dish to fire a graviton burst in an attempt to neutralise its effects. The biggest fear was that the dish would overload, taking it out of action and leaving us crippled. And that was exactly what happened. However, the dampening field no longer appeared active and communications were established with the Philadelphia - confirming her damage and then leaving her to make vital repairs.

Turning our attention back to the USS Armstrong, she had been left floating in space without power and with no life-signs aboard - just a collection of lifepods further away. With our own repairs being made on the deflector dish, we were reduced to a crawl through the asteroid field until we could make contact with the lifepods. Once this was achieved, the surviving crew - led by the highest ranking officer, Chief Engineer Lieutenant Sounssa - told us of how the Armstrong had been attacked and the senior staff had ordered the evacuation of the ship as they attempted to set the auto-destruct. In a race against time, we transported the engineer and a small team to their dormant vessel in EV suits where, once the auto-destruct had been cancelled and power restored, the rest of the crew could return.

With the Armstrong restored, our orders were to return to Star Base Delta at best speed.

We had played our part in the reclamation of Carraya, but the greatest role has been performed by the 17 Star Fleet lives lost during this mission - 9 during the firefight with the destroyer and a further 8 in the deflector blast. May they rest in peace amongst the stars.

End log.]

Security

COS LCdr Katrina Ptaka

Stardate 21104.14

Chief of Security log Stardate 21104.14, Lieutenant Commander Karina Ptaka recording.

[And so once again I have returned to Carraya, and once again I have survived to tell the tale. But I have been fortunate where others have not. This mission has cost so many lives, by way of example we have lost the USS Lejune was lost with all hand's, and an entire Carrayan city was destroyed as a result of its plummet from close orbit. It tares my heart that my beautiful world seems fated to suffer so much. But I am rambling... let me begin again.]

[It all started with a distress call that was received from the Carrayan provisional government. Our information was poor, but it was clear from the message that the newly independent Carraya was under attack and that the Federation must honour its commitments to defend it. A task force was assembled under the command of Admiral Thomas Grayson and the Sheridan was assigned to take part. As time was short Admiral Grayson held a command conference en route through the use of holo conferencing. As the Sheridan's second officer, and a expert on Carrayan matters, I was invited by Captain Dramar to attend. As was our new First Officer Lieutenant Commander Ankar.]

[The discussion was intense, I remember there being a general feeling that it was probably the Imperial Klingons who were once again responsible for the attack. This later proved not to be true. To the best of my understanding it was some sort of rogue Klingon faction but I cannot confirm that. In any rate we based our discussion on Klingon tactics and the defences that Carraya had been known to possess in the past. I remember thinking that our intelligence was extremely poor. And while this is often the case in military operations; experience has taught me that it is never a good sign.]

[The Captain of the Pegasus proposed that his Lt Cruiser should be sent to reconnoitre the enemy. This was normally an intelligent suggestion but I objected to it on the grounds that the enemy had cloaking technology available to them. It would be a simple mater for the enemy to ambush a lone ship and thus we stood to gain little from such an operation other than emphasising that hostile forces were indeed abroad in the Carrayan system. Thankfully the Admiral and several others around the conference table seemed to agree with me and the idea was vetoed. The Pegasus was to suffer badly in its later engagement with the enemy in any case, but I firmly believe that this decision saved her from being lost with all hands.]

[The other discussion that took place was regarding how the task force should approach Carraya. I was almost alone in recommending that the flotilla should approach in close formation in order to provide mutual defensive support against cloaked attackers. Experience has taught me that the benefits of such a plan are two fold. First the massed sensors of such a group is much more likely to detect cloaked ships, secondly as the ships are able to offer supporting fire when an ambush occurs. This in turn means that enemy ships must attack en-mass or be destroyed shortly after they emerge by the weight of enemy fire. And because they need larger numbers they become even easier to detect before their assault. It's an imperfect system but its better than risking defeat in detail and it works equally well against the Klingon massed ambush as it does the Romulan hit and run approach. I also recommended that our fighters be employed to harass enemy ships that revealed themselves thus preventing them dropping their shields and re-cloaking. This was a trick I had used unmanned drones to achieve during my defence of Carraya and had seen repeated during the recent Romulan War in my time aboard the Enterprise.]

[Rather than follow my suggestions for the formation the Admiral, somewhat irrationally I thought at the time, decided on an attack across a broad front. With hindsight his decision was crucial as it dramatically reduced the casualties taken by the fleet. The enemy deployed an exotic field weapon which neutralized many of our ship systems including shields, the field was detonated affected a considerable volume of space. Certainly large enough to encompass a mutually supporting fleet. We would have been annihilated if attacked in formation whilst under the influence of this weapon. Thankfully only a few of our ships were caught in it, including the Pegasus, were caught in it. Resulting losses, although very heavy, were not total. Looking back on this I wonder whether the Admiral was party to intelligence that he did not share with us. Or perhaps it was merely happy chance that he preferred a broad front approach. Either way it is fortunate that he and not I was in charge.]

[Once that decision was made talk turned to the broader details of the plan. We were all given our tasks, I was assigned to operate with the marine and security assault forces, and then the meeting was over. Later those of us involved in the assault operation held further discussions and I was honoured with the command of 51 strong security contingents from each of the the USS Nova, the USS Ticonderoga, and the USS Sheridan whose objective was to secure Carrayan Orbital Base 1. I believe my selection was based as much upon my knowledge of the station and my reputation and contacts within the Carrayan populace, as it was my experience as a commander of assault troops.]

[My plan for the assault was simple enough. The Ticonderoga contingent was tasked with securing main engineering. The Nova's people to simulate an attack on the enemies command centre and isolate it in the process. They were not intended to press their attack home as it was my expectation was that it would be there that the resistance was fiercest. The intention was that they should entirely occupy the enemies intention. Whilst this was going on I would attempt to seize a hidden secondary command centre which I had caused to be built aboard the station before the first Imperial invasion. This was an asset that we had never put into use and it was my hope to use it to gain control of the station and rally resistance against this current wave of invaders.]

[The Sheridan, the Nova (which was hosting the Ticonderoga's detachment) and the USS Lejune, made their approach to COB-1. The Lejune, a marine assault carrier, was tasked with the capture of several surface objectives on the planet below. They say that no plan survives contact with the enemy. It soon became apparent that this would be true in this case as well as sensors detected the remains of what appeared to be the majority of the base's population in space near the station. As a Carrayan myself I cannot begin to describe how that news made me feel; although perhaps 'coldly furious' might be close.]

[The second indication that all was not as we expected it to be was when the stations shields collapsed after a very short bombardment indeed. However there was no time to change our plans and so our assault began. In reality there was no real resistance, from amongst my forces we lost a total of two dead and one injured. Amongst the defenders of the station we killed three armed Klingons, who I believe were part of the original invading force, a Klingon civilian who had decided to die honourably against our unexpected invasion, and a Carrayan who had been unfortunate enough to discover our Nova detachment as it advanced to isolate the command centre. It soon became apparent to me that there was no battle to be fought and so I ordered a ceasefire and decided to attempt a personal negotiation with the Station's personnel.]

[At first the defenders stunned and restrained me, perhaps thinking to make me hostage. But ultimately my effort proved successful. With Admiral Grayson's approval I negotiated a more permanent truce and the Carrayan faction agreed to our use of the base's repair facilities prior to our withdrawal. We were beginning to organise this process when fate again took an unexpected turn. I had ordered the detachment from the Nova to investigate a research facility upon the station. The Carrayans seemed very anxious about it and were reluctant to share any information. Eventually the Admiral ordered that the research module be isolated and conducted a thorough scan from the Nova. I still don't know what was found there, but whatever it was must have been very dangerous to the planet below as the Nova severed the research module from the station and using tractor beams dragged it at warp speed into deep space. Upon the Nova's return all plans were abandoned and Grayson ordered a full withdrawal from the system. As the Sheridan was busy elsewhere my people were beamed aboard the Nova.]

[I immediately reported to the Admiral in the Nova's operations centre where one final drama was yet to be enacted. The Lejune had been lost under circumstances I have yet to understand but from what I have heard involve a mysterious Klingon battleship which then disappeared. In any event our forces were now trapped on the surface by a Transport inhibitor shield that had been installed around the palace precinct during my time as commander in chief. Unfortunately for our people overwhelming numbers of Carrayan troops were now closing in and we could not rescue them. Fortunately a combination of my local knowledge and the expertise of a combined operations team were able to find a way to utilize 'back door' codes that I had been given by the devices manufacturers and we were able to rescue our people just in time.]

[And so ended our mission to Carraya and I have now rejoined the Sheridan's crew at Starbase Delta. I am sad to say that the Sheridan too has suffered loss during my absence and more of my friends and colleagues are dead. Soon I will be attending a ceremony where we will honour both the living and the fallen in this Carrayan expedition. But I cannot help but feel we are celebrating defeat. For me there remain two many unknowns to be able to draw any conclusions. All I know is that once again Carraya has paid dearly, and this time the Federation did too. I still don't know who the enemy really was. Perhaps one day I will find out; but for now all I can do is prey my family and friends upon Carraya have survived!]

[End Log.]

Engineering

CE Lt Chris Kane

Stardate 21105.03

Chief Engineer’s log Stardate 21105.03, Lieutenant Kane recording.

The Fourth Fleet was called out to a distress call from the planet Carraya saying that it was being invaded, once we got there each ship in the fleet was given there specific orders, the Sheridan's to reach COB-1 orbitting Carraya. We eventually gotthere after having a run in with a Klingon patrol. Lieutenant Commander Ptaka led a team onto COB-1 and completed it with success.

Meanwhle we lost sensor readings on two ships within the fourth fleet the USS Armstrong and the USS Philadelphia due to the effect of a dampening field. Our mission objective changed to try and find away of neutralising the dampenig field and regaining contact to the two ships. On our way to the dampening field a Klingon Destroyer decloaked with the USS Armstrong in tow, but as soon as it spotted us it released the USS Armstrong ad came towards us.

The Klingon vessel damaged the Sheridan, and after enhanced sensor readings from Engneering on the destroyers design it showed no known configuration to any other Klingon vessels, it was armed to the teeth and had an unusually large warp core, which then gave me an idea. My idea was to use the deflector dish to create a tachyon beam directed towards the Klingon vessel, to bring down the shields surrounding the warp core, and then fire a torpedo through he hole to hit the Klingon vessels warp core. Unfortunately, there was a high chance of the deflector being destroyed, that, and also the Science department, especially a Midshipman Nox had created a calculation to allow a deflector burst of some sort to neutralise the effect.

By this time the Klingon vessel had started to retreat, so we used the deflector to try and neutralise the effects of the dampening field. It worked but also caused major damage to the deflector, which caused the deaths of 8 crew members and injured 19 others. I regret the loss of life, some where friends, but I know it sounds heartless but the lives of those 8 crewmembers saved many others. When you think back, I should have ordered an evacuation of that section due to the high probability of the Defelctor dish being damaged. Once that happened myself and two other engineers made our way to the Deflector control room and started repairs.

We finished repairs and where then able to go to Warp. We have finally arrived at Starbase Delta and now I believe I have a new Engineer joining my ranks.

End Log.

Medical

Ens Derrick Boorman

Stardate 21105.03

Personal Log Stardate 21105.03, Ensign Derrick Boorman recording.

[This marks the end of a mission that will generate mixed emotions in hindsight I'm sure. But right now all I can think about is the image of an engineering officer laying on a surgical bed, her dead eyes boring into me and reminding me that there was something that I missed.

This mission bought the kind of human carnage to my doorstep on a scale that I never saw in my previous life. In contrast to any thoughts I may have harboured after the end of the last mission, I now know that this was my baptism of fire, my own personal Kobayashi Maru if you will.

I would like to use this log to make a note of my dissatisfaction at the actions of my superior officer LCdr Gadling. He abandoned his post to steal a shuttle and go sightseeing for all I know, a topic that I have already mentioned to the FO. Leaving just a handful of officers to deal with the casualities of battle, a part of me almost demands recognition for my part in holding things together but that seems callous in view of the men and women we lost. Let this log show that the crewmen that I served with worked tirelessly and with great courage to ease the burden of the suffering...and let me also take this opportunity to pay tribute to those who are no longer with us. I feel the burden of a personality responsibility on my shoulders, one that has me searching my mind and my conscious to see if there was anything else I could have done.

I have been thinking about what to put in this log entry for a while, and now that I am here and recalling the details I have rather lost my appetite for an eloquent ramble through events past. Instead I just want to knock it all on the head and recharge. One thing is for sure though, my fresh faced days are behind me now, I feel like I have aged 20 years and the memories of what we had to deal with have jaded my outlook both of my job and my surroundings. But I guess I am still fatigued from it all, I need to digest it all, take some R&R and move on.

I really ought to catch up with my family but I will leave that for later. The word is that my sister has been promoted again, ahead of me again. Of course I am happy for her but I can't help but get competitive.

Right, I'm going to turn in for a few hours before I head to SBD. There is a formal promotion and medal event scheduled that I really ought to turn out for. Depending on how that goes I shall make another entry at a later date.

End log.]