"Anatomy of a War" - Alt-Trekverse Fic

[Steve]

Command Complex, Cardassia Prime, Cardassian Union
18:50 GST


Sitting alone quietly in his office, Legate Kelataza was looking over the minutae related to his position when Yatar entered. "We have the latest estimates, Legate. We have confirmed the destruction of three hundred and fifty warships as well as Jemik and Akarel naval posts."
"Any good news?"
"Telkur managed to blunt the enemy strike against it. Gul Ikaral was launching his ships in response to the torpoeding of a patrol when the enemy strike fell. We even managed to cripple and force the surrender of one of their carrier's escort vessels. The crew is being prepared for transfer to military interrogation...."
"No." Kelataza immediately brought up a template on his computer screen and began writing an order. "I want all POWs to be treated under the terms of the Solaran Conventions."
Yatar stared at him a moment. "Sir, interrogation of officers could reveal their planning to us. And there is the possibility of learning technological secrets from them."
Kelataza shook his head. "The Alliance signed the Solaran Conventions."
"Ink on a page!", Yatar shouted. "They are enemies! They do not deserve mercy, so why do you wish to forgo interrogation and mollycoddle them?! What do you expect..."
"What I expect you to do, Gul Hergata, is your duty!" Kelataza jumped from his chair. "You wish to be Legate, but you have this disturbing tendency to ignore the long-term. Now, you want us to ignore the Solaran Conventions as we did with the Federation. I suppose you also want us to keep as many of them as possible for Gul Madred's ongoing operation?"
"I see no reason why not to."
"You fool! Perhaps you've forgotten how this war is going so far. The Alliance appears far better prepared for war than the Federation has ever been. Now we've lost over half of one of our key attack fleets." Kelataza let out an irritated sigh. "Our reserves have not been fully rebuilt from the last decade of war, you know that. The industries are being refurbished and our economy is being rebuilt. We couldn't afford war, which I will remind you is why we attacked Gytep in the first place! To embarrass the Alliance, undermine the Bajoran resistance movements, and gain some breathing space. Now we are at war, Gul Hergata, and I am not confident that Cardassia will be victorious. We must plan for the possibility of a negotiated and equal peace. Because of the nature of the Alliance's government, it's not wise if we send their soldiers home abused from interrogations and labor. It could harm those negotiations."
Yatar seemed to think of a protest, but decided not to. "I have sent out orders to the other frontier fleets and they are detaching half of their strength to Cardassia Prime. Reserve Fleet will be deployed in two weeks' time to replace 3rd Fleet on the frontier facing the Ferengi. And 2nd Fleet is being pulled off the Tsen'kethi border to reinforce the remnants of 1st Fleet. We expect to have another eight hundred warships in total on site within two weeks, and nearly fifteen hundred in a month's time."
"Fifteen hundred ships, with nearly four hundred already lost, is a sizable portion of our fleet, Gul Hergata. I hope for all of our sakes that they are not lost."
"Of course, Legate. Though...." Yatar paused a moment to ensure his wording was proper. "Someone will have to take the blame for this fiasco."
"You want to pin it on Torcet?"
"He has few allies in the higher echelons. He would be the easiest to remove."
"But we are at war, Gul Hergata. Moving on him now will demoralize and anger the field personnel of the military, who look up to Torcet as one of them. No. For now, no blame will be assigned. If need be, we'll wait until after the war, and see how Torcet's planned counterattack works out."
"Of course, Gul." Yatar walked out.
It was no secret amongst Central Command that Yatar wanted to be Kelataza's successor. Kelataza himself was well aware of it and seemed to favor Yatar, though there were the occasional rumors that Kelataza preferred Relim Torcet despite their political differences. Yatar had heard the rumors and had to admit they had validity. Kelataza liked to think he was a patriot and would do what was best for Cardassia. As such, he admired a man like Torcet, who rose through the ranks through field service and command without any clear political ambitions.
Moving against Relim Torcet would be dangerous. But if Yatar could manipulate Kelataza properly, well, for all of Kelataza's pretenses he still loved his job and life. Giving up Torcet as a scapegoat could be palatable. Then Yatar would wait for the trial and the military backlash, and present himself as the voice of dissent. Kelataza had ordered and he, a subordinate, had obeyed. The backlash would focus on Kelataza and pave the way for Yatar to secure his place as the next Legate.
Smiling thinly to himself, Yatar thought of the matter fully. Even in war, the intrigues and machinations of the government still continued. It made him think of a favored saying amongst the Cardassian upper echelons.
"Even in a crisis, you can always find a knife in someone's back."

[CJvR]

Miscalculations happen. Just ask the Cardassians. :twisted:

Using SF against the Alliance could have some serious unforseen effects since a large number of it's officers hold the Federation's Cardassian policy in absolute contempt. Most likely a significant number in SF will gleefully cheer the Alliance on.

[Wired_Grenadier]

I take it that quite a good number of SF frontline personnel will leave for teh Alliance once the war is over.

[Junghalli]

That can be a rather dangerous assumption to make. Pacifists can be surprisingly violent if you challenge their pre-packaged world view. A successful war on Cardassia will impact directly on PAPALs political powerbase and they won't take that without reacting.

Pity for them they've spent the last couple of decades systematically castrating the Federation's military.

[Steve]

CDS Yevarak, Near the Alliance-Cardassian Border
19:15 GST


Seated on Yevarak, at the head of five hundred warships, 4th Rank Gul Lukal kept his focus on the tactical display as the flying wedge of Cardassia's Bajoran Sector Fleet came within five minutes of penetrating the Alliance border.
There had been a disaster with 1st Fleet. Lukal didn't know what, but he knew it had given him this chance to win personal glory and recognition. The Alliance fleet was on the other side of the border, gathering it's forces and preparing to attack. He would now blunt that attack. The ships under his command had newer models and better supply than other Sector Fleets did thanks to it's proximity to the Federation. Yeverak was a Model 7 Galor-class ship, as were a third of the Galor-class warships now leading the central squadrons of his fleet. A couple dozen Keldons and another couple dozen Dorkarak-class cruisers led the lighter screening ships of the fleet.
"Status on the jamming?"
"Still heavy, Sir." Glin Ekar Lekel shook his head. "The newer sensor packages have some visibility, but they're throwing so much radiation into subspace that it's effecting it for at least forty on our side of the border."
"Do you have anything on sensors?"
"I have a handful of their border cutters off our line of advance." Ekar looked up. "Do you want me to vector in ships to destroy them?"
"No, we won't split the formation for small fry. Just keep scanning, I want to find their main fleet."



DNS Pearl Harbor, 2 AU from the Nadir Point of the Zygola System, Near the Alliance-Cardassian Border
19:21 GST


Seated in the belly of the massive superdreadnought Pearl Harbor, Admiral Kentworth's focus was on the large strategic display showing the approaching Cardassian fleet. Due to jamming, only the dedicated electronic warfare cruiser, the Marathon-class DNS Chalons, could see them without much difficulty, but that would change in approximately twenty seconds, when the Cardassian vessels would come close enough that both sides could start to see the other with subspace sensors despite the jamming.
The anticipated number of the Cardassian fleet had stabilized to between 475 and 525 warships. Kentworth had gathered the entirety of Task Force 5.2 and it's four battle squadrons. Pearl Harbor was assigned to Squadron 5.2.1, consisting of two Battle Divisions - her's was Battle Division 5 - with four battleships and a dreadnought or superdreadnought in both, as was the ideal organization of battleship squadrons in the Stellar Navy (though not yet met due to a relative shortage of dreadnoughts). Aside from the thirty-five battleships, four dreadnoughts, and Pearl Harbor, the four squadrons each had an additional two heavy destroyers and eight destroyers to act as immediate screens. The additional two squadrons were composed primarily of further destroyer divisions, though Squadron 5.2.6 had a division of missile ships claimed from the mothball yards of Alliance member nations in Universe SE-1.

Task Force 5.1 was present with two squadrons, more cruisers and destroyers for the screening flanks of the fleet. A third squadron - this one with a Battle Division that included the task force's flagship, the superdreadnought DNS Tikvah - would be coming into formation momentarily, giving the fleet a grand total of 180 warships. Between the other three squadrons of TF 5.1 and the half of TF 5.4 that had been called in, Kentworth still had at least 120 ships en route to reinforce his numerically-inferior force.



At about 19:21:49 GST, the sensors on the Alliance fleet began to show the incoming contacts. By 19:22:04, the Cardassian fleet began to see them as well. They were three minutes from engagement range at this point. It was like they had stumbled into each other in the dark. Both fleets went to final combat alert as the final three minutes ticked down.

Due to the different orientations of the fleets, the approaching Cardassian flying wedge was "vertical" compared to the Alliance fleet. The perfect triangle of the Cardassian fleet began to alter a little as the heavy warships came further up in the formation and the lighter warships filtered to the tail, altering it to a hammerhead formation. Kentworth arranged his fleet in a simple wall formation orientated now to directly oppose the hammerhead, presenting his port broadside to the oncoming Cardassian fleet with the lighter warships on the wings and "outward".
At 19:25:03, the Cardassian fleet dropped out of warp at a range of three light seconds, a literal last minute stop from Lukal's desire to get "right down their throat". Immediately the fifteen missile cruisers and destroyers in Kentworth's fleet opened fire. Long-range missiles of American, Russian, British, and Japanese make raced from their launchers and toward the Cardassian fleet at max speed. The Cardassians opened fire on the approaching missiles. They had some success and blunted the salvo, but a number of missiles crashed into the defensive shields of the Cardassian heavy ships that were leading the fleet. None were destroyed, but a number took hull damage and serious shield loss.

When the range came down to two light seconds, another salvo of missiles erupted from the missile ships. There was less time to intercept now. Two Galor-class ships lost their bows and bridges. A Dorkarak exploded into fragments, as did a Neperek and an Ikvak.
At half a million kilometers, the Cardassians finally fired back even as the Alliance cruisers and destroyers opened fire with their torpedo launchers. Most of the Cardassian shots missed due to the wider nature of the Alliance formation and it's good ECM. The Alliance's torpedoes were quicker in closing the distance, and though some missed, others hit their targets. The Alliance fleet took no losses, but the Cardassians were now down ten ships.
One of Lukal's subordinates recommended spreading the fleet, but Lukal resisted the idea because he wanted a solid, firm formation that could, once in range, concentrate firepower on the heavy warships of the Alliance fleet.

He paid for that mistake when they came within a light second. The Alliance fleet's main weapons opened up now. The firepower of the thirty-two 310cm particle cannons on the Pearl Harbor - mounted in eight quad-cannon turrets with four on the dorsal side and four on the ventral - joined the broadsides of the other capital ships, filling space between them and the Cardassian fleet with particle and laser fire. Intense beams of gamma radiation, x-rays, and tightly-packed and energized particles proved more devastating than the most advanced Federation phaser or Klingon disruptor had ever been. Lukal only had a few moments to consider his mistake, because four of the Pearl Harbor's 310s struck Yevarak at once on her bow shields. The shields collapsed before the beams dissipated and four distinct spears of blue light carved through the hull plating of the Yevarak, slicing her to pieces in the moment before her anti-matter fuel containment was lost and she was mostly vaporized.

With Lukal's death, command reverted to 5th Rank Gul Rocel of the Turcek. She gave the order to spread formation while a gamma ray sliced partially through her ship's damaged starboard wing. The Cardassian fleet did, now down to 450 warships that had not yet suffered critical damage. It was down another ten vessels, mostly lighter ones exposed by the loss of the heavy ships in front of them, when the fleet entered optimum range for it's main weapons. A flurry of photon torpedoes and white-yellowish compressor beams finally retaliated for the savage onslaught of the Alliance fleet. The Alliance fleet's point-defense opened up. Rapid pulses of particle fire went out to meet the enemy torpedoes and over a third were destroyed.

Within moments, shouts were filling Kentworth's command center, which hadn't yet stopped shaking. Pearl Harbor's first and second layers of deflectors were overwhelmed - the third was down to forty-two percent. The cries of assistants varied. "The Agincourt has been hit!" "Jean Bart has lost Turrets A and F!" "Maryland has lost main power!" The Cardassian counterattack had been focused on their line ships, striking all and damaging several. Maryland, an American (Universe SE-1) California-class fast battleship, was running on her fusion reactors now that her matter-antimatter reactor had been SCRAMed. Battleships Jean Bart, Idaho, and Durango had lost weapons. The new Missouri-class Normandie had lost her port warp field generator. Aside from these losses to their capital ships, Kentworth noted the destruction of four destroyers that had been close enough to be targeted by the Cardassians and the damaging of a number of other ships. His fleet was effectively down to 172 warships.

The numbers on both sides fell as the Cardassian drew to within a hundred thousand kilometers. Kentworth ordered his fleet to seperate into two halves and move to otherside of the Cardassian fleet. This move was a gambit, as it would further divide a fleet already outnumbered.
When the Cardassians were at 30,000 kilometers, the order was given. The Alliance wall split into two, the lighter ships on the outsides - now the lead formations - racing forward to relink on the other side of the Cardassian fleet. As they did so, they opened fire on the lighter ships that were in the "tail" of the Cardassian fleet, gaining the better of them due to their superior broadside arcs. Rocel saw the maneuver as her fleet's head began to pass by and ordered the tail to disperse. She had gotten her fleet into "melee" range and intended to press that advantage.

But the order could not pass down quickly enough. Kentworth's gambit paid off as he forced Rocel's fleet to run the gauntlet of his battle wall's crossfire. The lead units took enough losses; another twenty heavier ships exploded and several more suffered debilitating damage. The lighter fleet units were slaughtered en masse as they tried to break of the tail. The destroyers' shields didn't even blink for a moment when struck with the 310s on the Pearl Harbor or the 290cm particle cannons on her lighter companions; the solid beams simply cut right through and sliced apart the entire ship.
The slaughter would have been worse if Rocel had not spread the fleet and if she had not ordered their dispersal. As it was, an astounding 70 Cardassian destroyers were destroyed or severely damaged, a sobering reminder of how helpless such vessels were against the main guns of an enemy battle line.
Rocel dispersed the fleet now and ordered them to concentrate their fire on the lighter Alliance ships, seeking to match Kentworth in using her heavy warships to slaughter lighter enemy ships. The former head of the Cardassian fleet twisted "up" and "down", moving toward the light ships that were coalescing at the re-joining of the Alliance fleet while the light ships simply scattered to avoid the Alliance battleships' guns. They fired at the lighter Alliance ships and succeeded in killing several. A dozen more destroyers were lost to Kentworth, with a few cruisers.

One particularly devastating blow now came as a couple of battered Cardassian destroyers, their warp drives destroyed, made suicide runs on the battleship Agincourt. Agincourt's weapons destroyed one of her attackers, but the range ensured that the other came into range and thus plunged into her weakened port side. The detonation of the ship's reactor and fuel created a cataclysmic explosion that shattered the Agincourt's armored keel and tore the ship in two. Other destroyers decided to emulate this and caused a critical distraction to the battle line.
Kentworth now ordered that the destroyers withdraw away from the oncoming Cardassian battleships and toward the other side, to prevent those destroyers that were partially crippled in the gauntlet from further hurting his battle wall with suicide attacks. This had the further help of getting them out of the line of fire, while the Alliance battleships focused on their Cardassian opposites.

By 19:35:06, the two fleets had suffered heavy loss. The Alliance fleet was down to 122 combat effective warships. The Cardassians had over two and a half times that number, with 358 ships still combat capable. At this moment, sensors confirmed the approach of Squadrons 5.1.4 and 5.1.6. Another forty vessels, led by the dreadnought Florida, entered the fray at 19:38:15, with the numbers now down to 119 Alliance, 350 Cardassian. Florida and the four battleships in her division made an impressive entry to the fight, causing the scattering of the Cardassian destroyers that had moved against Rocel's orders to intercept her squadron. Squadron 5.1.6, approaching from Zygola's heliopause, came out of warp at a slight distance so that her five missile ships, led by the missile cruiser Admiral Gorshkov, could have plenty of room to fire. The missile ships let out an impressive barrage, beckoning the missile ship division already with Kentworth's fleet to move out toward them.

Gul Rocel now perished; Turcek was struck by two Russian Sunburns from Gorshkov, one of which hitting close enough to the bow that the detonation of the 700 megaton anti-matter warhead vaporized Turcek's bridge. The command of the fleet relegated, officially, to 5th Rank Gul Jetain of the Udupar, but in truth most of the 5th Rank Guls began to command his or her own squadron as he or she saw fit due to the wildly-disorganized nature of the Cardassian fleet.
Jetain's authority still allowed him to go after Florida and her squadron with fifty-one ships. Which became fifty ships, then forty-nine, then forty-seven...

Concentrating firepower on the lighter ships in the squadron, Jetain's detachment wiped out an entire destroyer division as well as another destroyer and cruiser, damaging two destroyers and another three cruisers. This was in line with Jetain's entire strategy, which now depended upon killing as many of the Alliance's light ships as he could since he could see that the Alliance's advantage in technology was too great at the moment to focus on the capital ships.
Light warships in his unit, meanwhile, concentrated on staying close range with the Florida and her comrades, since they were larger, slower, and easy to keep up with. A storm of torpedoes was unleashed on the battle division while it's heavy weapons carved up Cardassian ships. The battleship Maine took a few hits to her port side that exposed a fair portion of the ship to space.

On Pearl Harbor, Kentworth was knocked about against his harness from another strong hit to Pearl Harbor's port side. The fourth and final deflector layer had been compromised and the last few photon torpedoes had exploded on the superdreadnought's hardened armor. It's weapons lashed out at the offenders and sliced apart four destroyers while damaging a cruiser and a Galor. The Galor exploded a moment later when the battleship Kenyatta's particle cannons sliced clean through it.
This was the difficult element of commanding large fleets in battle. For all of the data relay capabilities of the fleet, a single human mind had to be ultimately responsible for large-scale tactics and strategy in a fleet of dozens and even hundreds of warships. Simultaneously considering the positions of so many warships and their status took a toll on even the brightest mind. Kentworth had a migraine coming on while considering the situation of the Florida and her beleaguered squadron. He ordered Squadron 5.1.6 to send her next missile barrage against the forces attacking Florida and her reduced squadron.

Sensors on both fleets now showed the close approach of ten warp contacts. A number which soon grew. Kentworth's screens confirmed the new contacts as BatCarDivs (Battle Carrier Divisions) 9 and 12; the battle carriers Kestrel and Benjamin Disraeli, each with one hundred and forty combat starfighters. Now a swarm of A-12 Marauders and FB-34 Avengers, one hundred and twenty in all, were incoming.
They came into range with the combat effective numbers of the fleets standing at 138 Alliance, 304 Cardassian. Kentworth ordered the fighters down upon the Cardassian vessels most damaged, including their Galors and remaining Keldons. Several Cardassian destroyer squadrons moved to intercept the incoming fighters. A squadron of the A-12s broke off from the main body, engaging the intercepting Cardassians at six hundred thousand kilometers with long-range ASM-6 Harpoons. The destroyers broke off to try and evade the incoming missiles; those that refused managed to kill a few Alliance fighters before they were literally blown out of the way by the vanguard squadron of Avengers. The squadrons engaged as they came into range.

This was the final straw. As Jetain saw another twenty friendly contacts wink out, he knew that the battle was lost. The fleet's orders had been to inflict as much damage on the Alliance fleet as possible, and he had certainly done so despite the clear technological disadvantage. He gave the retreat order.
Not all squadron commanders obeyed, of course. Some feared the Obsidian Order more than they feared the odds, even as their comrades were snuffed out by the enemy's superior power. Quite a few ships were lost now from failed suicide runs. Some runs succeeded better. A nearly-crippled Galor collided with the Rodney and ripped it apart with the resulting explosion. Tikvah took two destroyers in her side and lost main power. Pearl Harbor was nearly hit too, if not for the battleship Ostfriesland maneuvering herself to take the blow for the flagship.

Jetain managed to clear the reformed, battered Alliance wall and coalesced together with a small force of about 120 ships, with several dozen more moving to meet with him. Some of the vessels had taken damage to their warp drives and needed time to bring them online. Jetain gave them five minutes, during which the Cardassian fleet raced at maximum impulse away from the Alliance fleet.
Kentworth saw their retreat and ordered a limited pursuit. The Stellar Navy couldn't grow capital ships on trees and he'd already lost a number; better to preserve them and let the cruisers and destroyers harrass the enemy fleet while it attempted to regroup and escape.
Then he saw the contacts on his screen.


Jetain's fleet was only two minutes from warp when half of Task Force 5.4 showed up, including one of it's battle squadrons. The Tirpitz-class dreadnoughts Karol Wojtyla and Vaclav Havel opened fire with their 290cm particle cannons. Though there were only sixty ships in Jetain's way, he ordered his larger fleet to disperse, attempt evasive maneuvers, and warp out as quickly as it could. He had just finished sending the order when the Udupar was hit by most of Vaclav Havel's broadside. The shields of the Galor-class vessel held up for a moment before eight particle beams and two streams of pulse phaser fire forced their way through and vaporized the front third of the Udupar.
At this point, so many of the Cardassian vessels had been badly damaged and suffered shield loss that even with the dispersal order, three dozen more Cardassian warships were destroyed or completely crippled. Some of those who had now suffered crippling damage to their warp drives remained behind, opening fire on the Alliance fleet while their comrades could flee.
Multiple bursts of Cherenkov radiation filled the area as Cardassian ships - in singles, pairs, trios, or entire divisions and squadrons - made their getaway. Barely two hundred would do so. Kentworth ordered limited in-warp pursuit to the border and commanded the rest of the fleet to secure from combat and prepare search-and-rescue operations.


Half an hour later, Admiral Kentworth was still in the command center. The Cardassian fleet of 500 had been reduced to 205. 5th Fleet had destroyed or crippled 295 warships. The cripples on both sides still had survivors, which were being tended to as quickly as the surviving Alliance ships could do so.
The Alliance fleet had taken a battering. Kentworth considered the losses. The outright loss of seven battleships. Over a dozen had some kind of debilitating damage, including the superdreadnought Tikvah. Dozens of cruisers and destroyers. The current count was that out of the 220 Alliance warships that took part in the majority of the battle (not counting Vice Admiral White's three squadrons that had arrived late, which only lost two destroyers to crippling damage from torpedo hits), only about 128 were still operational.

Still, that meant that the loss ratio of 295 to 92 was 3.2 to 1 in favor of the Alliance fleet, which had been outnumbered. In this engagement, quality had overcome quantity in both technology and certain operational doctrines. Thanks to the Cardassians' failure to properly protect their flagships, Kentworth's fleet had been easily able to determine their identity from the heightened short-range comm traffic and had concentrated fire on them with devastating effect. As a result, command confusion in the Cardassian fleet had further impaired their ability to inflict damage, though Kentworth had to consider his real losses were going to be further prohibitive from having so many ships in need of extensive repair. In real terms, he had probably lost just over half of 5th Fleet for the next month, as well as thousands of experienced crew and hundreds of officers, including starship captains, division commanders, and two squadron-commanding Line Admirals; Zhao Bei-Ling and Bart Matthews, lost on the Agincourt and Massachusetts respectively.

A Petty Officer brought Kentworth a cup of rich Turkish coffee. He gladly accepted it and began to drink the rich fluid, needing it to stay awake and keep himself focused on the command. It would take hours, perhaps a day or two, to fully complete the cleanup of the battle. Even with entire ships having been vaporized, millions, perhaps billions of tons of debris was left, as well as charred corpses and other jetsam. And giant yardships would be needed to partially rebuild the warp drives of many crippled vessels so that they could be brought back in for full repair, as well as hospital ships to tend to survivors and transports to ferry them back home for re-assignment or, in the case of Cardies, transfer to POW facilities.
Kentworth thought of these annoyances, these seemingly-trivial affairs of a battle's aftermath, and sighed, "C'est la guerre."

[Steve]

San Francisco, Earth, United Federation of Planets
20:12 GST


The Federation Council was in full emergency session, originally planned as part of the continuing appointment of Tobis but now to discuss the war between the Alliance and the Cardassian Union.
Though the Party Committee had already decided Tobis was to be the temporary Chairman, the problem was that the Council included individuals with a different idea. Several speakers had already called for the restoration of Deborah Miller, who had previously been President from 2350 to 2356 before being removed at the onset of war with the Tsen'kethi. A vote to confirm Tobis had fallen precisely from this pro-Miller faction, which was divided between actual PAPAL members and old bureaucrats who still had friends in the government bureaucracy that longed for a return to Miller and her laissez-faire approach to government oversight.
But after war had been declared, the Council stopped it's debate and ratified Tobis' Presidency within an hour. They'd recessed and returned for his swearing in and acceptance speech, and the debate had immediately turned to the war.
The current speaker was Yvette Jospin of Mars. A petite woman of recent French, Spanish, and Chinese origin, she was one of the youngest members of the Federation Council at thirty-one, her parents being higher-ranking bureaucrats of the Idealogue Party. The card-carrying Paxist was speaking as loud and as clear as her high voice allowed with sounding like inaudible squeaking. "It is impossible to think that after so many centuries of struggle, Humanity from these other universes could still fail to find true civilization as we have. They have chosen war over peace for an offense that cannot be undone, and for the deaths of a few thousand they will now slaughter millions. This is unjust and evil. The Alliance is unworthy of any gesture of respect, diplomatic or otherwise. We must condemn this war in the strongest of terms. We must make clear that we will not tolerate this behavior."
When Jospin was done, Tobis recognized the next speaker; Sirak of Vulcan. A member of the small Surakist Social Enlightenment Party, Sirak and his party comrades were the remaining independent influence of Sirok's New Way, which had been forcibly absorbed into what became the Idealogue Party by President Jirvshk a quarter of a century before. "Fellow Councilmembers," Sirak began, speaking in what seemed the stereotypical Vulcan reserve, "I call upon you to consider logically the course you wish to take."
"You disagree with the Alliance's war with Cardassia, and rightfully so, for it is illogical to be violent when a deed has been committed and cannot be undone. But you fail to understand that you are not dealing with a government that will be swayed by your strong words of disapproval. To force the Alliance to make peace, to restraint their violent impulses, you must prove yourself willing to act to counter them. Violence is an obvious solution, but not preferable to a non-violent one. Logically, the solution would be nothing less than a complete embargo of the Alliance. The Council should approve a resolution to forbid Alliance ships from entering Federation space and to forbid the movement of Alliance goods unless approved by our government. Because of their position, this will significantly impair the Alliance's trade with the Alpha Quadrant. Other measures should be taken to bring our preferred trading partners into this embargo, with the ultimate goal of completely severing the Alliance from the economic life of the Alpha Quadrant. By doing so, you will remove their primary purpose for a presence here, instigating their merchants and trading companies to oppose the government, and the Federation will be able to dictate terms to President Mamatmas' government to restore their trade. That is the appropriate response to this situation, and Vulcan moves that it be accepted."
Tobis looked to the woman with her hand raised. "Representative Hallworth, you have an objection?"
"For all of his devotion to logic, Representative Sirak is advising us improperly," Tabitha Hallworth of Alpha Centauri complained. "If we do something so rash and provocative, we may very well end up at war with the Alliance ourselves! Do you think that mad man Mamatmas will hesitate for a moment to send even more military force into our quadrant to fight us?"
"Fighting a two front war from such an exposed and undefendable position is not wise strategy and is illogical," Sirak replied.
"You're dealing with militants! Aggressive Humans who never had a Eugenics War or a Post-Atomic Horror to teach them the evils of total war! You can't assume they'll act logically, Representative Sirak!"
"I have faith that Starfleet is capable of defending itself adequately, especially since we would be fighting with Cardassia as our ally, freeing up our forces facing the ceasefire line."
The argument didn't last much longer, and Tobis called for a vote on Sirak's measure. It didn't pass, though the margin was cut close and it could pass with a later push. Sirak had been clever in wording it, since it would allow the government to continue buying Alliance goods and materials for the DEM and BLN, unlike the failed embargo resolution after the Alliance intervention in Kelos. This meant the Party Central Committee would not be in such a hurry to ensure it's defeat.
With Sirak's vote having failed, a vote was finally passed for a "strongly worded" condemnation of the Alliance declaration of war and a plea to both governments to cease the war and negotiate before "more lives were lost".

[dragon]

San Francisco, Earth, United Federation of Planets
20:12 GST

Snip "It is impossible to think that after so many centuries of struggle, Humanity from these other universes could still fail to find true civilization as we have. They have chosen war over peace for an offense that cannot be undone, and for the deaths of a few thousand they will now slaughter millions. This is unjust and evil. The Alliance is unworthy of any gesture of respect, diplomatic or otherwise. We must condemn this war in the strongest of terms. We must make clear that we will not tolerate this behavior." snip

Sounds just like the federation and their holier than thou altittude.

[CJvR]

Most amusing display of selfrighteous federal arrogance, and that was only from the DoW... When the casualty figures start dropping in and the news of the Alliance's infrastructur strikes things should get even more amusing.

Even if the Cardassians have reserves they have effectively lost the war. With both their main border fleets smashed along with much of the military infrastructure and industrial assets the frontier regions are essentially lost. When the cavalry arrive they will operate without bases and supply lines running all the way back to Cardassia. As bad as the Alliance battleline was battered the Cardassians suffered even worse and the Alliance still have their carrier strike groups and enough heavies and stealths to wreck whatever bases & units that remains.

The Klingons will get itchy trigger fingers after the Cardassian disaster, the urge to join this war for the glory (and conquest oppertunity) should be hard to resist for them. Although the Klingons are not much of an improvement on Cardassians the Alliance would probably look the other way as long as the Klingons didn't get in the way of their operations.

The Romulans will probably not be delighted at the apperance of military competence in the Human race considering what happened the last time the Humans displayed such skills. The Federations hostility towards the Alliance should delight them though, the enemy of my enemy... Even if the Federation enforces it's embargo I think the Romulans would do their very best to keep the Alliance intrested in remaining.

[Steve]

Most amusing display of selfrighteous federal arrogance, and that was only from the DoW... When the casualty figures start dropping in and the news of the Alliance's infrastructur strikes things should get even more amusing.

There will be many spoiled pairs of underwear in San Francisco when the news hits. Within five hours of declaring war, the Alliance did more damage to the Cardassian war machine than the Federation ever did.

Even if the Cardassians have reserves they have effectively lost the war. With both their main border fleets smashed along with much of the military infrastructure and industrial assets the frontier regions are essentially lost. When the cavalry arrive they will operate without bases and supply lines running all the way back to Cardassia. As bad as the Alliance battleline was battered the Cardassians suffered even worse and the Alliance still have their carrier strike groups and enough heavies and stealths to wreck whatever bases & units that remains.

They are moving up reinforcements, but you are right that this will essentially allow the Alliance to run rampant in the region for the better part of a month.

I anticipate one more naval battle within the next week when the Federation Frontier Fleet and the Home Fleet move up into the area, since they'll by necessity take up positions at Bajor with the survivors of that fleet. After that, about a week or so into December, will see the attack you can all see coming: the landings on Bajor.

Of course, by then both sides will have more naval assets in the region and you'll see a heavy increase in naval battles. I want to do at least one which is more in line with the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in that it'll be considered one big battle which was divided up into two or more smaller battles between different elements of the opposing fleets.

The Klingons will get itchy trigger fingers after the Cardassian disaster, the urge to join this war for the glory (and conquest oppertunity) should be hard to resist for them. Although the Klingons are not much of an improvement on Cardassians the Alliance would probably look the other way as long as the Klingons didn't get in the way of their operations.

The Klingons have their own problems. At this point in canon, they're having their Succession Crisis for the Chancellory of the High Council which, as in canon, will lead to the Klingon Civil War between the forces loyal to Gowron and the forces on the side of the Duras Sisters. (The TNG 4th-5th Season cliffhanger).

The Romulans will probably not be delighted at the apperance of military competence in the Human race considering what happened the last time the Humans displayed such skills. The Federations hostility towards the Alliance should delight them though, the enemy of my enemy... Even if the Federation enforces it's embargo I think the Romulans would do their very best to keep the Alliance intrested in remaining.

Right now they're content to watch and wait. But they'll get more ornery when political developments lead to the ADN getting a toehold in the Triangle region (Romulan-Klingon-Federation triborder area) and the Two Worlds are within range of Bomber Command.

[CJvR]

This could alter the dynamics of the Klingon civil war quite a bit. The Romulans will be involved but the Federation can't help being rather badly distracted. It could reverse the outcome even.

[Junghalli]

Boy, do you make the Federation sound like a bunch of pussywipped idiots! The Alliance is creaming their traditional enemies and they're upset about it?
You know, I bet there are some intelligent, craven Feds who are going to be quite delighted at this. The Alliance is doing their work for them. I'm sure it's occurred to more than a few of them that if they play their cards right they can turn the Alliance into their catspaws. They have a militarily powerful ally that, with a little luck (and maybe a little help from Section 31 ) they can sick on every enemy the Federation has one by one. Inshallah the Romulans, Tzen'kethi, Klingons etc. are all going down and their good little allies will do all the sweating and bleeding and dying for them.
It's a brilliantly fiendish plan if I do say so myself.

[Duken]

After that, about a week or so into December, will see the attack you can all see coming: the landings on Bajor.

Please say that the real humans (the Alliance) have a competent army to go with the competent navy.

[CJvR]

Boy, do you make the Federation sound like a bunch of pussywipped idiots! The Alliance is creaming their traditional enemies and they're upset about it?

The Feds are run by the equivalent of the Democratic Underground's more serious nutjobs.

[Zed Snardbody]

snip

And how do you propose to turn the ADN into this delightful little client state? Relations have already been sullied due to earlier incidents.

[Junghalli]

And how do you propose to turn the ADN into this delightful little client state? Relations have already been sullied due to earlier incidents.

Mmm, that's true. They'd have to be patient, wait a couple of years until tempers have cooled, then start ingratiating themselves with the ADN. Then when they two governments are on friendly terms they have the Section 31 Shadow Fleet blow up an Alliance outpost somewhere and plant evidence pointing at the Romulans having done it... Even that might not be neccessary, really, if the Romulans do something stupid on their own.
I didn't say it would be easy. All I said was I can't believe the possibility hasn't occurred to some of the Feds by now.

[Zed Snardbody]

The problem seems to be however, the only people to think of such things are on the fringe, of not just politics, but of the fleet.

The UFP more than likely is Reganistic in thier view of the ADN as an evil empire. The UFP aborted attempts to enter ADN treaties and organistation seems to be on the grounds of dominating them to bring them "into the light".

The will and mindset is not there to take advantage of an alliance in that manner.

Starfleet is armed only out of the view that it's a neccesary evil, and when they are armed, its with ineffective swiss army nives of phasers and lack luster photon torpedos. A raw powered weapon like the carrdasian weapons may have been of much more use against the borg.

The UFP leadership seems to be extreemly isolationist, content to sit and dirrect and take no action as long as they are not threatened. Even when they are, as evidenced by the cardasin war, they will take whatever terms they can, even when it means shafting their own citizens.

[Steve]

Washington D.C., Earth, Alliance of Democratic Nations
Universe Designate HE-1
22:00 GST


The President and other senior Security Committee members were standing in the upper tier of the Strategic Command Amphitheater and observing the display of the Colonial Zone. Markers showed the position of various units and individual ships, currently set to only showing naval assets. "We have confirmed overall losses to be ninety-four warships so far, Mister President," General Lewis Rashad - senior overseer of the SCA - stated. "Casualty figures are still coming in, but they are looking to be twenty to thirty-five thousand wounded and dead."
Mamatmas nodded silently. "What news do we have from the carriers?"
"All six task forces have returned to Alliance space with varying losses, mostly in fighters. The Lexington lost one of her escorting destroyers at Telkur, which is currently our only loss in ships." Rashad tapped a few keys to highlight the carriers' position. Lexington was returning to New Liberty Star Base. Enterprise and Kaga were heading toward Zygola. Akagi and Intrepid were heading toward Kelos. Finally, Audacious was linking up with one of the planetary assault groups that had gathered ten light years from the border. "New Liberty Command has dispatched tenders to replenish the depleted complements of each carrier. We'll be sending new pilots out in a few cases in the next couple of days."
"Any confirmation on inflicted losses?"
"Still compiling all of the flight recorder and sensor data, Mister President. Considering the reports we've been given, at least three hundred Cardassian ships were destroyed. Their posts at Kemar, Akarel, Jemik, and Ubatal are also gone, and the other two took damage. It is our opinion that the thread posed by the Cardassian fleet has been effectively neutralized."
"Very good, General. I'd like further information as it becomes available."
"Of course, Sir."
With that said, Mamatmas returned to the elevator to take them back to the ground levels. Marshal Longwell and Minister Rathbone were with him at this point. "Next is the offensive to seize the five systems we have claim to?"
"Yes, Mister President. Now that we have confirmed the destruction of their attack fleet and have cleared our flank with the successful action at Zygola, we have sent the orders to commence with the second phase of Santorini. Operations should begin commencing at zero-thirty GST," Longwell remarked.
"Seven-thirty, then," was Mamatmas' reply, speaking in terms of local time.
"Yes. Also, local command has asked permission to move up the time schedule so that the third phase, the seizing of the other border systems, will commence by sixteen hundred GST tomorrow. That's enough time to get the remaining divisions embarked and to get ships redeployed, Sir, but I'd like to recommend that we wait until zero-three-hundred on the 25th. That will give us time to deploy the Okinawa and her battle group to join the operation."
"What does the SPS think?"
"Five-three vote in favor of sixteen hundred tomorrow, Sir."
"Arrange a larger scale meeting with them. Hear their arguments and then decide which way to go, but I don't have to remind you that we want to hit the Cardies as quickly and as strongly as we can. No holding back unless it's absolutely necessary. We've given them the mother of all sucker punches and now we have to bring themd own before they can recover and make this a fight again."
"Of course, Mister President."

[CJvR]

I hope for the Cardassians sake that they havn't placed to many KZ & forgotten POW camps along the frontiers. Not that Bajor itself wont be bad enough PR wise...

[Steve]

Command Complex, Cardassia Prime, Cardassian Union
Universe Designate ST-3
23:01 GST


Relim Torcet sipped at a glass of hot otekar and let the strong taste last for a moment for swallowing. He was long familiar with the powerful caffeine drink, the method of choice in the military for remaining awake at crisis times. His eyes, long dried of the tears he'd shed for Harak, were constantly on his display.
Never in his most fevered nightmares had Relim believed such an astounding disaster possible. The loss total for 1st Fleet had now reached four hundred ships. Four naval posts had been ruined. 1st Fleet was effectively out of action and would be so until reserves could be assigned. The disaster was furthered by the fact that 1st Fleet had included many of Cardassia's newest ships, which would make them rely increasingly on ships that had proven inferior to even the Federation.
And it was worse. The Bajoran Sector Fleet had managed to do decently enough against such a powerful foe, but they had lost over half their strength and with many surviving ships in need of repair. The squadron at Chin'toka had been reduced to not even a third of it's power between the enemy attack and Iltacek's "probe" (which Relim suspected had been intended as an all-out attack, but again Cardassia's intelligence had failed the military in warning them of Alliance system defenses). And with the losses in transports and escorts to cloaked enemy ships and the vessels that had been torpedoed in a few minor skirmishes between border forces, Cardassia had lost over seven hundred warships in less than ten hours of warfare. It was a staggering blow, nearly wiping out what reserve Cardassia could count on in an emergency and denying it so many critical regional assets.
And now this. On Relim's screen was the most recent list by Central Command of damage done by Alliance stealth craft in their attacks on the industrial and resource infrastructure of the systems on or near the border. Felvar, Orkal, Melra, Diyalar, and over twenty more systems had been attacked. For all of it's humanitarian talk, the Alliance had proven it could be quite ruthless in war, attacking strategic targets in those systems with kiloton-rated nuclear weaponry. Lunar and asteroid mining facilities had been wiped out completely, as had orbital facilities, two minor shipyards, five military supply complexes and another dozen or so supply depots, and every industrial complex of value. The number of dead had already neared one million and the damage to production - military and civilian - would take quite a while to fully assess, but it was certainly a harsh loss.
In their arrogance, Relim's leaders had assumed that the Alliance was all bluster and as weak as the Federation in terms of willingness to wage war fully. Now that illusion, as pleasing as it may have been, was forever shattered. Within hours of declaring war, the Alliance had done far more damage to Cardassia's war machine than any of her enemies had ever managed.
There was nothing that could be done now, save to grieve for those lost and to work even harder to protect Cardassia from her new enemy, a very powerful one indeed. Relim took another drink and began thinking of how to work around this disaster. Complaining about it would bring him nothing, so he concentrated on what needed to be done to counter the Alliance's moves.
Briefly Relim put himself into the Alliance's position. He knew that the Alliance, through it's own decisions, would make the liberation of Bajor a clear goal of the war. He felt them welcome to it. Bajor was a net loss to Cardassia, drawing in far more resources than it's worth. Let the Alliance have the planet; Cardassia had already stripped much of it bare of it's mineral wealth. Of course, he also knew the Central Command would demand a fight to keep it on the principles of the situation.
So clearly the Alliance would want to take Bajor. But would they move right on it? Relim's instinct told him no. Bajor was still closely guarded and it would take a short time for the damage to regional industrial output to effect the Cardassian presence there. A smarter startegy would be to squeeze the local Cardassian forces off from supply while preparing for a full invasion.
It was true that the Alliance had been bold in it's opening strike, but even factoring in boldness, there was a collection of more tempting targets for them:the border systems. They would want to establish a buffer zone of occupied space and systems, knowing full well that Cardassia had more ships to move up. Only then would they want to invade Bajor.
Relim began reading over reports on the disposition of forces. The Federation Frontier Fleet would be in range soon. With the survivors of 1st Fleet and reinforcements from Home Fleet, they could attempt another naval action, this time not just a spoiling attack. That would have to be the course of action; give their forces a week to fully gather and launch a counter-strike.
While working on his plan, Relim asked his secretary to get him his liaison with the Obsidian Order. If he was to work a new plan, he wanted the best intel on the Alliance's ship positions. That would be critical to any hope of victory....



San Francisco, Earth, United Federation of Planets
24 November 2153 AST
00:15 GST



Tobis was in a meeting with Starfleet Command when the latest reports from the new conflict arrived for Admiral Dayton. Dayton read over the PADD his aide handed him and Tobis felt his stomach twist painfully when Dayton's jaw lowered and his eyes began to widen. "Admiral Dayton?" Matthews eyed Dayton closely. "Is something wrong?"
"Sir, Starfleet Intelligence just went over our latest data from Cardassia. And, well..." Dayton swallowed. "The Cardassian naval facilities at Akarel, Kemar, Ubatal, and Jemik were wiped away completely. We're not sure of exact losses in terms of ships, but the Cardassians have actually panicked enough to send some remarks over unencrypted channels. Current estimated losses at three hundred ships, we expect as many as four hundred and fifty."
There was a silence throughout the room. "From what, Admiral Dayton?" Tobis tried to control the look of utter shock on his face. "Those systems are twenty, thirty light years from the Alliance border. If those warships of their's had tried to...."
"Apparently, their carriers were responsible, President Tobis." Dayton looked further down the information on the PADD. "And not five hours ago, there was a battle in the Zygola system. The Cardassians, after these strikes on their naval posts, launched what appears to be a desperation attack against the Alliance Colonial Zone with the Bajoran Sector Fleet. We received data logs from merchant ships in the vicinity, sir. The visuals are quite stunning, and we've estimated losses to be about three hundred Cardassian ships and a hundred and fifteen Alliance."
"Are they playable?"
"They will be soon. But...."
"But what? What is it, Dayton?!"
Dayton swallowed and looked at his assembled peers and colleagues. "Among these recent updates are reports from our agents on the ground. The Alliance used some of it's stealth craft to launch attacks on infrastructure targets in the border systems. Mining posts, industrial complexes, refineries, shipyards, military supply depots, they attacked everything of value with nuclear weapons. Over twenty-five systems were hit. This is a severe blow to their regional infrastructure, Mister President. There were no apparent attempts to attack cities and the like, but I'd say there's a million dead Cardassians now, and two dozen star systems who's worth to the Cardassian Union has been utterly ruined."
The color drained from pretty much every face in the room. Tobis' stomach wrenched violently and one of the admirals, Admiral Donald Teller of Operations, got up from the table and barely got to a disposal bin in time to throw up. "The war has just begun," Matthews said with a thin-sounding, weak voice. "And... and the Alliance has done all of this already?"
"My God...." Admiral Williamson of Starfleet Security rested his head of gray hair into a hand. "They just wiped out enough ships to represent a fifth of Starfleet."
"Mister President, we need to get confirmation on all of this before we can act on it," Dayton said. "You need to be diplomatic and cautious."
Tobis nodded stiffly. This development threw everything out the window. Where once the threat of a united Cardassian-Federation front served as a reasonable deterrent, well, that was over with.
The Cardassians, one of the most feared military powers in the Alpha Quadrant, had just had their heads and asses handed to them on a silver platter. There could no longer be a threat of Cardassian and Starfleet forces linking up at New Liberty to force the Alliance to accept a peaceful solution to the Bajoran Problem. Tobis' heart froze when he imagined just how the Alliance's attack would have effected the Federation. Every system forty light years from the border utterly devastated, fifty precious starships swept away by the Alliance fleet as so many boats swept by a tsunami, and the prosperity of the Federation threatened while the Alliance's forces rampage throughout her worlds, bringing fire and ruin where there was once peace and happiness. The very thoughts of the Alliance devastating the Federation as it was devastating Cardassia chilled Tobis' very soul. He couldn't let that happen.
Of course, something had to be done. The Quadrant-wide reaction would be immense, of course. Tobis had to wonder just how effective Federation influence could be in counteracting what could be a very strong surge in pro-Alliance sentiments. The Alliance had now humbled mighty Cardassia and the other races and states would probably not care much for all of those dead and innocent Cardassians, since most societies in the Alpha Quadrant were not as socially enlightened or progressive as the Federation. They would see the Alliance's opening attacks as a gesture of great strength and would regard the Alliance with awe, fear, and respect. Tobis wanted neither. He wanted Mamatmas and every other senior member of the Alliance government in a penal colony. He wanted them to pay reparations for these brutal attacks. He wanted them to stop sheltering those Bajoran troublemakers, who had now helped to spark a war as he always feared they would.
Tobis wanted a lot of things. But right now, his desire to punish the Alliance for launching such vicious attacks on Cardassia was outweighed by his terror at the thought of the Alliance doing the same thing to the Federation.
He knew Torskani would hold a similar view to the one in his mind: villify the Alliance but do nothing that could bring the Federation into the war. And Tobis would follow that to the letter.

[CJvR]

Gul Torcet have one round left. He better make it count, provided he can dodge the daggers long enough to aim properly. After a total disaster like this the Cardassians have to be looking for an out. Reasonable terms if Torcet pull off a win or draw and some sort of face saving surrender if he fails.

I hope the average UPF admiral have a bit more backbone than that! Although such "barbarians" are probably not promoted to the highest levels of command under this administration. It should be intresting to see the Pacifist turn crusaders.
The UPF isn't immediatly threatened by a similar strike though. They don't have the military infrastructure to hammer and their frontier regions are far less valuable to the UPF than the Cardassian rim was to the Cardies. Nice political re-write for "the border defences are so pathetic that there hardly are any tragets worth attacking".

[Trogdor]

I can't wait for the Alliance to finish with Cardassia and turn to the Feds. Of course, that war might very well be different. After all, the Feds' border colonies have little love for the centeral government of the UFP. The Alliance might get them to defect to their side, leaving just the core worlds. And even without a war, the core worlds of the UFP would collapse economically without the colonies.

[Duken]

And even without a war, the core worlds of the UFP would collapse economically without the colonies.

But where would the fun be in that? We wouldn't be able to read about a certain Lieutenant leading his army down the main street of Paris.

He wanted Mamatmas and every other senior member of the Alliance government in a penal colony. He wanted them to pay reparations for these brutal attacks.

No bloody likely, unless he can prove they used nukes of overly sufficent yeild and wiped out a mass of civilians.

[Steve]

Well, there were masses of civilians who were working in those industrial complexes and other facilities.

[CJvR]

Well, there were masses of civilians who were working in those industrial complexes and other facilities.

The military-industrial infrastructure have never been considered out of bounds even when striking it will cause collateral damage. Although we might have become more "civilized" in TNG so that anything containing a civilian is off limits...

[Steve]

Dolan, New Liberty, ADN Colonial Zone
01:30 GST


The town of Dolan, on New Liberty's main continent about four hundred kilometers from the planetary capitol of Wexford, had been initially founded before First Contact by Bajoran refugees in the Federation. With the flood of Bajorans who moved into the Colonial Zone after the Alliance purchased it after First Contact with the Federation, the town's population boomed and was now roughly sixty-five thousand Bajorans and about six hundred Humans, mostly temporary occupants living in the town to work on construction projects and education matters. The town's mayor and city commission were all Bajorans, as was the town police chief and all but a handful of the police force.
Now many of those thousands of Bajorans were standing at the sidewalks, windows, and even rooftops of the buildings along Dolan's main street, part of Highway 1 (which stretched for two thousand kilometers between Wexford and the main seaside community at Parker City). Along the width of the four lane road was a military parade. A proud martial tune filled the air as the 6,000 plus men and women of the 1st Brigade, 555th Division marched through the streets. The reconstituted 555th Division - the Fighting Five Fifty-Fifth - now included the three brigades of Bajoran volunteers that had enlisted in the Alliance Army since the establishment of the Colonial Zone. And all 20,000 men and women of the division were on their way to war after this previously-scheduled parade, the first public showing of the Bajoran units in the Alliance Army, which now had special significance as the Bajorans here believed the liberation of their homeworld was at hand.
The marching band was playing a Human march, Semper Fidelis - "Always Faithful" - as they had already finished with a Bajoran tune. The flags of the Alliance and for a unified free Bajor flew proudly amongst the honor guards of the brigade, with the brigade's CO - Brigadier Juanita Rodriguez - standing tall and proud in a vehicle at the head of her troops. The crowds cheered the soldiers on, hanging banners in Bajoran exhorting them to go and free their beloved homeworld and to end their exile. Some onlookers screamed names as they recognized neighbors, co-workers, or even family amongst the proud ranks in green. Children waved small flags, some adults larger ones, and there was a general positive energy in the air, the energy of a people who finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
Behind the 1st Brigade came the 435th Armored Battalion, also composed almost entirely of Bajorans. Their tanks - a collection of M90 Pattons - were painted in camoflogue colors. The vehicle commanders saluted the crowd as the tanks rumbled by, to the delightful cheers of the people of Dolan.
The images were being spread across the known Multiverse on the news. There were newspaper reporters present as well. A British reporter to the Times later remarked that "the Bajoran troops of the Alliance carried themselves proudly, honouring the reputation of the Army with their disciplined rank." A German from AGC-1 praised them as "looking indistinguishable from any unit of the German Army I have seen before. They are the best of their race." An American of the same universe would write, "They have a reputation as a hard-working people, farmers and artisans alike, and are clearly amongst the best material in all the cosmos for making armies."
"There is an energy in the air," stated a report. "And I truly pity Cardassia, for that energy will soon be applied against them."