Chapter 23 – Battle Lines
Orion Cartel Dreadnought Godfather, Peter O’tole’s personal suite
“Damn it you aren’t listening to me!” Peter shouted at the com screen. “I feel quite strongly that even with this gift the militaries of the Grand Alliance will not support your war. You are giving away a priceless advantage to them on the very slim chance that it will sway them to joining your crusade. I have met with these people, you have not. I’m telling you straight you won’t win them over with this.”
“The Council of Five has interpreted things differently.” The Meskeen on the other end of the scrambled tight beam com said, secondary eyelids nictitating across his unnervingly solid black eyes. Peter was skilled in hiding his emotion from others, one had to be in his line of work, but inside he was repulsed by the amphibian ISC representative. “And in the end, their allegiance will not matter one way or the other. If they choose to resist the gift of harmony we offer them freely, they will be brought into peace and fellowship along similar means as the Terran Empire.”
“Oh they’ll resist, have no doubt about that! You might have their politicians eating out of your hand, but their military leaders are something else. They have just gotten out from under one set of overlords, and they aren’t about to take on another set no matter how much help you offer them.”
The Meskeen hissed, a sound like a snake and cat combined. “After so long operating together, you still do not understand. We are not overlords, we are liberators!” He began to recite something that Peter had heard many times before. He had always felt that it was mere lip service to a hollow reasoning for conquest before, but now he saw for the first time that the ISC actually believed it. “A peaceful, harmonious and well ordered universe is the right of all sentient species. Civilizations collapse when that right is violated, therefore it must be protected at all costs. This unending war that has consumed over half the galaxy for hundreds of years must and will stop. The misguided peoples of the Alpha and Beta quadrants will be made to see the error of their ways and come to embrace the harmony we offer. Once they understand, they will accept it without resistance, for all life seeks this harmony weather they realize it or not.”
Peter could merely stare at the being, realizing for perhaps the first time just how alien he truly was. When he had first been approached with their offer of a mutually beneficial alliance in 2371 he had only seen the power they held. And in the long years since, he had never fully understood his partners. Never understood them till now. Shaking his frown creased face, the Orion Cartel head replied, “Just remember who warned you ahead of time when this all blows up in your face.” And with that Peter cut the communication. For a long time, he just sat there in his lavish quarters, alone, mulling over the epiphany that had struck him. What he had dismissed as harmless rhetoric was now seen in a new and more realistic light. The ISC the lions share of the Galactic Unity, were true believers of their dogma. Even the Terran Empire, convinced of their own superiority, were not as united by a common belief set as the ISC were. There was nothing more dangerous than a fundamentalist willing to compel his viewpoint on others through force of arms. And he was in with just such a group up to his eyebrows, using the influence and support to eliminate his rivals and take over the Cartel.
“Damn.” He swore softly. He had taken the tiger by the tail eagerly enough, not realizing at the time just what it was, and helped release it on the unsuspecting galaxy, intent on coming along for the ride. For the life of him, Peter didn’t know how to now let go, not without getting eaten in the process.
Grand Alliance Combined Command Council, Location Classified
The holodisplay above the assembled multi species command council swirled into life. On it, a composite sensor display of the Mirak Homeworld and its defending fleet and installations kicked into motion. One of the sensor contacts was highlighted.
“This, Ladies and Gentlemen,” Zathoran, High Admiral of the Lyran Star Empire and his species delegate to the Combined Command Council, said, “was a Terran starship operating under phase cloak in our home star. With the new sensor systems recently given to us by the Galactic Unity, we found the previously elusive prey as easy to track as a mortally wounded Raknar squealing on the savanna. As you are all aware, normal subspace sensors do not have the fidelity to pick out anything useful from the phase cloak domain. Despite years of working on the problem, none of our peoples, not even the hated Terrans, have managed to produce a sensor system sensitive enough to sniff out hiding vessels. The GU has, and has given us all numerous examples of the technology.” Zathoran pressed a button on the holodisplay’s controller, causing the scene above him to advance at a faster pace. The blue dot of the phase cloaked Imperial vessel scurried in system. A Lyran patrol had subtly altered its course to cause themselves and the Imperial to intercept. It was at this point that Zathoran paused and zoomed in on the relevant portion of space.
What had been mere dots designating starships with slowly fading lines behind them representing their past courses expanded to small 3D representations of actual starships. They were a squadron of Cruisers. The Imperial contact resolved itself into a ghosted
Intrepid class. It was colored in the ebon black and crimson of Section 31, likely one of their SIGINT/ELINT birds on a spy mission. Zathoran pressed the play button on the control.
“It was at this point that we activated the device. As we were told, it forced the Terran vessel from phase cloak. We proceeded to latch our fangs around its throat. It died swiftly.” On the holodisplay, the Lyran Cruisers birthed a storm of emerald splinters from their disruptor banks, and each speared the helpless
Intrepid with an ESG lance. Then the holodisplay dissolved and Zathoran sat down in his chair.
Worf stood and approached the daisies at the head of the oval table. “This concludes the final report on the new sensor systems and anti phase cloak device. It is now clear that all our experiences with the systems are similar, and that they work 100% of the times they have so far been used. Are there any questions?” None of the delegates made an attempt to speak, so Worf continued. “All right, on to new business. The GU has expanded their assault on the Terrans. They now control at least 100 Terran worlds and are encroaching further into Terran space with each passing moment.” Many of the delegates smiled at this, or did their race’s equivalent. The Gorn representative remained totally impassive except for a raspy hissing sound coming past his pointed teeth.
“While I to am heartened by the Terrans current predicament, I am worried that the GU’s success will inevitably harm our own independence. Have you looked at the broadcasts that they have begun sending? That, combined with their strong insistence that we join them has given me cause for concern. While they can fight alone, they are almost ordering us to join them or else. I am sure that you have all received further communication from the Orion Cartel to this effect. I for one did not pay the price in blood to overthrow the Terrans from our space only to become the obedient lapdogs of the Galactic Unity. The Klingon Empire is no ones servant.” The Romulan and Ferengi delegates were nodding with concerned frowns on their faces.
Peter O’tole strode into the meeting hall just then, bearing a concerned frown of his own. “You have all by now seen the power of the Galactic Unity. You have first hand evidence of their technical superiority. You have all seen the speed at which they are plunging into Terran space. I am here one last time to ask for you to add your peoples strength to ours and bring peace to the Alpha and Beta Quadrants after centuries of suffering and warfare.”
“I cannot speak for the others, but the Klingon Empire does not agree with your master’s policies. They will turn us into shadows of ourselves, if we are to remain as an independent entity at all. In a way, they are worse than the Terrans. At least they were open in their methods. Your masters seek to bring everyone into their line of thinking weather they desire to be or not. They hide their intentions with gifts of aid and speeches of brotherhood, but they have no respect for our rights to do as we choose. We have taken our freedom back after centuries of being slaves. We will not blindly give that hard won freedom away, not even to those that slay our enemies.”
Many of the delegates voiced their agreement with Worf’s speech, just as O’tole predicted they would. “I am not so sure your governments would so quickly dismiss the Galactic Unities proposal, especially after all the assistance they have given your people through me. Think carefully on this.” He cautioned.
“I have. I have thought of nothing else since your masters revealed themselves from the shadows. And I am even inclined to agree with you. The High Council is weak willed, overly grateful to those who gave us the means to rise up against the Terrans. They are blinded by it, and cannot see that the Galactic Unity is as great a threat to us as the Terrans are. But that is why they are politicians. I speak for the military, and they follow ME. The Klingon Empire will not join in your masters’ war with the Terrans, nor will they join the Galactic Unity as long as it remains dedicated to its final aims for all peoples.”
“The Romulan Star Empire also declines to support the Galactic Unity as we do not find it in our best interests to do so.” Jarok said
On it went till every Grand Alliance officer said basically the same thing. Unlike O’tole, they saw the GU for what it truly was and what it would inevitably do to them. They had made their choice to fight for their freedom rather than give it away with a whimper, just as O’tole thought they would.
“Very well, you have made your choice!” O’tole spat. “Just be prepared for the consequences.” Peter spun on his heel and stormed out of the room, furious that a bunch of military leaders could see so easily what had been lying hidden under his nose for years.
ISS Athena, Second Fleet Flagship, Sol System
Capt. Vic McDermott staggered across his quarters and into the adjacent personal bathroom, one of the perks of rank. He fell to his knees and his hand flailed along the wall till it hit the flush mounted control. A portion of the wall slid back and a toilet was pushed out just in time to receive Vic’s offering. When he was finally finished, Vic grabbed a towel to wipe off his face. Never get into a drinking contest where the drink of choice was something that smokes all by itself, is bioluminescent, and that tastes like it should be scouring EPS conduits, he thought to himself. It was a promise he had made many times in the past, and one that he always seemed to break, especially when the substance in question had as much kick as the mystery brew from last night did.
And since Vic knew that he would eventually break his promise to himself once the memory of the aftermath faded sufficiently, it explained why he was so good at recovering from an all night bender. The old adage practice makes perfect fit his situation to a tee. He went over the sink and ran a few liberal swigs of water around his mouth in an attempt to clean out the sickly aftertaste of vomit from it. Its use finished, the toilet pulled itself quietly back into the wall. The thought of what would happen to that vomit almost made him throw up again, but he swallowed it back down. By the time he or another member of the crew would see any form of it again, it would be so thoroughly broken down into its component parts as to be virtually unrecognizable, thank God. Just the same, he forced himself to think of something a little more appetizing. He approached the rooms replicator.
“Computer, one McDermott Morning After Breakfast.” He growled at the idiot savant. The machine computed his command for a second, then in a transporter like whirl assembled a tall glass filled with Vic’s special brew.
“What the hell is that?” Cmdr. Jessica Evron said as she sauntered out from the bedroom wearing only a smile. In spite of his hammering headache, slightly off kilter balance and the foul aftertaste inhabiting his mouth, Vic managed a smile.
“That, my love,” he said, taking hold of the bubbling sludge green concoction, “is all you need to get over a hangover in one convenient package. Want to try some?” Vic swung the glass towards Jessica. One of the larger bubbles on the top popped with a wet slurp that sounded like it belonged in a bog and not something the human body should be ingesting.
Jessica’s face screwed up at the looks of the drink, but she had to admit that it actually smelled decent, a mixture of peppermint and apples. “No way are you gonna get me to drink that sludge. And if you didn’t drink that rocket fuel you wouldn’t need to drink this either.”
“Pardon me for enjoying a wee drop of the creature every now and then, unlike you and your Synthehol tap water.” Then Vic tipped the glass back and drank its contents in three consecutive gulps. His eyes and squinted shut and his mouth reacted as if it had bitten into something sour, but Vic could already fell his headache and residual tipsiness dissipating. “Now as much as I love arguing with you, we better get dressed. We go on duty in 15 minutes.”
ISS Athena, Flag Bridge
The near fully assembled ranks of Second Fleet enfolded around their Flagship on T’var’s holodisplay. Her fleet had finally been built up to pre-Imperial/Borg war strength, even more powerful in some areas. All of her ancient
Ark Royal class carriers had been replaced by the new
Excaliburs, many fresh from their acceptance trials. The same was true for many of her
Wraiths and
Sovereigns, the most recent additions forming up even now after completing their acceptance trials mere hours before.
The massive display of Imperial engineering and power cruised past the Starfleet Museum, new contrasting with old. Everything from egg like captured hulls of Romulan ships and the Terran ones they faced in the original Terran/Romulan war, to the
NX class, to the venerable
Constitution class, had a showing in the ranks of old warriors. And like those ships of old, Second Fleet was shipping out from her home stars to go make war on the Empire’s enemies. It wasn’t against the Grand Alliance powers as had been originally planned when Second Fleet began to build up. A new enemy had arisen, and they would have to be dealt with first before the others could be dealt with.
[AUTHORS NOTE: Some of the ships in the Imperial Museum are from here:
http://www.starfleet-museum.org/index.htm
I figure they look like early starships Earth would make, so I included em. Hope you like em.]
, but it wasn't by any means the primary reason I used those figures.
Spanky. If you have anything to say about me, KEEP IT OUT OF THIS THREAD.
