NationStates Jolt Archive

The Dominion War had finally finished three months ago after heavy fighting, for the moment peace reigned throughout the Alpha and Beta quadrants. But the peaceful surface was decieving, for under the surface, the final stages of an old vendetta were about to begin.

Brian MacLeod looked up from where he was seated in the planet side tavern. A familar figure filled the doorway for a moment before it turned and approached the table. Brian stood up, a smile on his face, and shook the newcomer's hand warmly, his metal right hand moved with the ease of one long accustomed to the replacement. "Kur'dak, it's good to see you, I'm glad you could come."

Kur'Dak took his hand, and couldn't help but smile. "I remember when you got that thing on....took three doctors to keep you from simply smashing anything you touched." Kur'Dak released his hand, or, more likely, the hand released Kur'Dak, and he sat down.

Brian settled back into his seat as a waiter brought over a pair of drinks without having to be asked. After a long swallow Brian spoke. "It's good to see you Kur'dak, it's been far too long. But enough pleasentries, down to business. The Federation and the Empire are forming a combined task force to hunt down the remaints of Section 31, it's commanders will be given complete contol over the operation. Starfleet wants me in charge. I told them I'd only accept the position if they offered you the position of at least second in command and that I wouldn't trust anyone else to watch my back out there. So, do you accept the offer Kur'dak?"

Kur'Dak's eyes seem to twinkle, and he leaned forward slightly. "You mean task force as in getting off this station? As in command of a vessel?" he asked. He could barely believe it. He'd thought he would never leave this place.

A year ago, at the height of the Dominion War, he and a small Klingon fleet had helped the Federation destroy a borg cube. Sadly enough, the Kre'Don, his ship, was disabled, and, after being evacuated, destroyed in the fighting. He'd been forced to fly home on a D1 Battlecruiser....which was actually pretty interesting, since the first Admiral of the Klingon Fleet was said to have served on the ship.

When he arrived back, High Command decided against giving him command of a new ship, and put him in charge of all Klingon operations within twenty sectors of Starbase 252. In other words...a desk job. An important desk job, but a desk job nonetheless.

For the past six months he'd been watching federation personell move tiny models of ships across a huge map in the starbase ops center. Not exactly a fun job. The chance to leave it would be simply too good to pass up.

Brian's grin widened. "That's right. I take it from your tone you'll be accepting?"

Kur'Dak grunted. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as we finish this celebratory drink....Admiral."

OOC: Was that Brian promoting him, or had he already been promoted already? I'll rp as the former, but tell me if it's wrong.
IC:
"Admiral? Well, what do you know. It seems our last adventure together will be including a few more bars...." Which type of bar he meant was the real question.

OOC: Oh yeah, anyone else want in? We could use more captains/admirals/anything else you could think of.

"They bumped me to Fleet Admiral for this run, though I at least forced them to only make it a temporary one. And you're going to need at least a Vice Admiral's billet to really be able to command all these Captains."

"That's very true. What caused the fleet's sudden contempt for section 31? I thought they were still supported by the Federation, and for that reason, the Klingons." Kur'Dak could guess the answer though. Someone had publicized evidence that section 31 killed innocents and commited thousands of other dishonorable, and contemptible, acts. So, of course, the Federation probably would have had to disclaim them simply to stop a universal incident.

"Kur'dak, Section 31 has essentially been outside of Federation control for over eighty years. No one did anything, because as far as everyone was concerned, they didn't exist. They have spies and agents throughout Starfleet, many in command positions. Several actions they took during the war revealed their existance, that along with the information I supplied is what has brought us both here."

Kur'Dak sat back. This was getting better by the second. Not only was he getting off this station, but he was fighting with an old friend, against a group of dishonorable P'Tak, to protect the honor of two of the greatest organizations ever. The Klingon Empire (slightly better, of course), and the Federation.

"And what information is that?" he asked.

Brian gave a smile that was not at all pleasent. "Everything."

Kur'Dak frowned slightly. Something seemed strange about the way in which Brian had said everything. "Everything?" he pressed.

"Everything, myself and Sam cashed in all our chips, we yanked all their files, and used all our agents, we have a record of everything they've done since their creation. It cost us most of our intellegence assets, but we know everything they did now, agents they had infiltrated into Starfleet, bases, ships, spacedocks, secret missions, everything. And me and Sam personally dumped it the laps of both the Admiralty and the Federation Council. Let me tell you, there was a lot of housecleaning that took place in the next few weeks as we purged the bastards. And now we're ready to go after the main portion of their organization and finally wipe the bastards from the face of the universe once and for all." The last Brian said in such a way as there could be no doubt as to his determination."

"And where is this main portion?" Kur'Dak asked. "And when do we leave?" It was the second question that more concerned Kur'Dak.

"Section 31 is scattered throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrents, we'll have to hunt down each section and destroy it in turn. As for when we leave, as soon as we finish these drinks is fine, I have a runabout waiting in orbit."

"Well then, why don't we get going? Kur'Dak asked, quickly downing his drink. "Or are we waiting for someone?" he asked.

"Well then, why don't we get going? Kur'Dak asked, quickly downing his drink. "Or are we waiting for someone?" he asked.

Brian pulled out a communicator. "Brian to Dorathy, two to beam up." A moment later they were in the runabout's small transporter room. A moment after that the Dorathy broke orbit and jumped to warp, heading for the fleet renduvous.

Kur'Dak straightened his jacket as he apeared on the ship, and stepped off the transporter platform. Looking around, he took in the less starbase like transporter room. "It's good to be back."

Ahead of him, the ensign nodded at them, and then went to the other side of the transporter room to work on another console.

The Dorathy dropped out of warp in deep space. The sight that greeted them was magnificent, close to two hundred ships, both Klingon and Federation hovered in space, sleek, beautiful and deadly. The Dorathy altered course to head into the depths of the fleet.

Kur'Dak couldn't help but smile. He hadn't seen anything this size since the borg assault...and half of the fleet at that time hadn't made it back.

He turned to Brian. "How many ships are there, in all?"

"We have a hundred and seventy-five here, another twenty-five or so are supposed to arrive within the next few days. But this is probibly the only time we'll see the fleet intact, a good portion of it is going to be on detached duty."

"Very impressive. So, tell me, where are we headed?" Kur'Dak asked, watching as an Akira Class Starship jumped in and joined the formation.

"Very impressive. So, tell me, where are we headed?" Kur'Dak asked, watching as an Akira Class Starship jumped in and joined the formation.

"The USS Fearless, a refited Galaxy class. We don't have any Swordfish with us, they took a heavy beating in the fight with the Borg and the final assault on Cardassia, it's going to be several months before any new ones come out of the yards. You'll be taking command of the Warrior's Blade when it arrives She's only a Vor'Cha class battlecruiser, but she's got a few surprises. Namely she just got out of a Federation Spacedock and has some bells and whistles I'll bet you haven't seen yet. She also has a mixed disruptor/phaser armament and a mixed crew, half Starfleet, half Klingon. She's also got new experimental burst fire quantum torpedo tubes. She can pump out thrity quantum torpedos every five seconds. We also took the liberty of adding ablative armor, increased her shielding, and installed a more powerful and efficent warp core."

Kur'Dak smiled. "Now THAT is what I call a ship. Good on all fronts. And the half/half crew pretty much stops any chance of a mutiny, and also shows just how easily us Klingons and you humans can work together. What's she named?"

"The Warrior's Blade." Brian said. "In return for us being able to do the much of the redesign work, your people got to name it."

"And a beautiful name it is. As for the ship class....frankly, the Kre'Don was always a bit big for my liking. Only knew I could trust around 10 of the crew, and with another three thousand on board, it gets annoying. With a Vor'cha however, getting to trust me crew will be slightly easier." Kur'Dak continued staring out the viewport at the fleet amassed before them. The number of ships was, quite simply, unbelieviable.

The bridge was mostly empty, only Brian, seated at the engineering station, Kur'Dak at the tactical station, and a Lieutenant at the helm, the rest of the crew preparing for their arrival. Something wavered on the viewscreen at the corner of Brian's eye. It took him a second to realise what he was seeing, but when he did years of training overcame his momentary shock. "Helm, emergency evasive, pattern Omega Delta! Vector 315, Heading 074! Shields up! Red Alert!"
Brian followed his own orders, activating the shields and slamming down the red alert button.
As sirens screamed throughout the ship the runabout twisted through a dizzying series of manuvers, momentarily overcoming the runabout's inertal dampers. The first series of shots from the decloaking Saber flashed through space where the Dorathy had been only seconds before.
"Kur'Dak, man the weapons!"
The next series of shots grazed the still charging shields as the runabout shook violently.

Kur'Dak had been standing about a yard from the tactical station when the ship rocked and he heard Brian's yell. Leaping to the control panel, he glanced quickly about the schematics, learning how to use the panel in seconds. Kur'Dak had been a security officer before captain, but he still had learned much about tactical stations.

Looking not at the screen, but instead at his own information, Kur'Dak began targeting the enemy ship, and, looking up at Brian, asked simply "Fire when ready?"

"Hold on." Brian said. "This is the runabout Dorathy, with Admirals MacLeod and Kur'Dak aboard, we are under attack by Section 31, requesting assistance from anyone." While Brian had been calling for help his hands had moved rapidly over the eningering console. "Helm, set up for an attack run. Kur'Dak, I've boosted the power to the phasers, you've got about four shots with an extra thirty percent power to the, I suggest you hit them with phasers and then the micro-quantums for maximum effect."

Kur'Dak nodded. "Done." Looking down, he quickly confirmed that the power had come through, and looked at the enemy ships schematics. Where to shoot became obvious in seconds.

As the ship began it's attack run, the Saber fired again, slamming the ships port shields. As they passed by, Kur'Dak targeted the ship's bridge, targeting three of the blasts straight towards it. As they came towards the rear, Kur'Dak fired the torpedoes and the last phaser shot at the left side warp core, rather then another shot at the bridge.

The phaser hit the shields at the rear of the ship, immediatly taking it down. The torpedoes simultaneously slammed into the warp engine, causing a large explosion. Kur'Dak smiled. The captain had done exactly what could have been predicted. Upon realizing his bridge was being attacked, he had all shields put forwards to keep himself alive. He didn't realize untill it was too late that the true attack had been elsewhere.

Humans, when acting in a self-preserving state, could be so predictable.

Kur'Dak nodded. "Done." Looking down, he quickly confirmed that the power had come through, and looked at the enemy ships schematics. Where to shoot became obvious in seconds.

As the ship began it's attack run, the Saber fired again, slamming the ships port shields. As they passed by, Kur'Dak targeted the ship's bridge, targeting three of the blasts straight towards it. As they came towards the rear, Kur'Dak fired the torpedoes and the last phaser shot at the left side warp core, rather then another shot at the bridge.

The phaser hit the shields at the rear of the ship, immediatly taking it down. The torpedoes simultaneously slammed into the warp engine, causing a large explosion. Kur'Dak smiled. The captain had done exactly what could have been predicted. Upon realizing his bridge was being attacked, he had all shields put forwards to keep himself alive. He didn't realize untill it was too late that the true attack had been elsewhere.

Humans, when acting in a self-preserving state, could be so predictable.

multipost

The helmsman's shout of triumph was cut short as the Saber swung around, this time it didn't even bother firing weapons, it was driving directly at the runabout with every erg of power it's engines could provide. And the runabout didn't mount anything heavy enough to stop a kamikaze.
The runabout couldn't possibly change course fast enought to avoid the incoming ship. Brian diverted all the power to the shields, knowing that it was futile even as he did so. The runabout wouldn't even slow the Saber down when it hit. Brain watched the range drop with an expresionless face. No one was more surprised than him when the Saber suddenly exploded in a brillent flash of light only tens of kilometers from the runabout. Bursting out of the explosion, and itself only just missing the runabout raced a Defiant class ship.
"Dorathy, this is the Hawkeye, sorry for the late save, but it was a long run."
Brian let out a breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding as he hit the comm button. "Hawkeye, perfectly all right. Thanks for the assist. We're proceeding to the Fearless, you care for some escort duty?"
"Our pleasure Admiral."

Kur'Dak frowned. "They should not be able to get that close to us undetected. Surely your fleet, who created these ships, has a way to see through their cloaking screens?"

"We thought we'd finally cracked Section 31's cloaking system, at least at close range. But it looks like they've improved on it, we'll have to make capturing one of their ships so we can find a countermeasure a priority. But what worries me more is that they knew not just when we were arriving, but on which ship. If it turns out there is still somehow a spy in this fleet, I will personnally skin the one responsible alive."

Kur'Dak noticed the helsman jump at the word "skimmed" and couldn't help but smile. "Yes, we will have to find the spy quickly, because if we don't, this entire operation will be at risk. Brain, tell me, who else, besides you and me, are the fleet's commanding officers?"

"You know the Operations officer, that would be Samantha, who's made Captain by the way, our intellegence officer is a Commander Demark, a good man who can think outside the box, and Admiral Ki'lith is taking care of our supply needs, you'd know his reputation better than me. And then there's the two of us, not counting all the ship captains of course."

Kur'Dak grunted. "Of course...and yes, I've heard of the Admiral. One of very few high ranking Klingon fleet personell who isn't trying to get onto the high council. Guess he just likes the military more than power. So...what now, Brian?"

"In a couple days the last of our ships should arrive, after that the plan was to strike a Section 31 base in the Omega 29 system. After that, we move onto the next base and so on until there's nothing left."

"I see. Well, as long as we have some time, assuming the Warrior's Blade has arrived, I'd like to inspect my ship. Perhaps you'd like to come as well.....entirely your choice."

"She's due to arrive sometime tomorrow, and we've both got a lot of work ahead of us until then. We're only taking part of the fleet on the strike missions. The rest will be operating either independently or in small task forces running down individual Section 31 ships and the smaller bases. Which means we have to arrange all of that, and prepare the fleet to assault Omega 29."

Kur'Dak swore. Paperwork. Whatever had happened to the good old days when you just killed the P'Tak, or even honorable warrior, that you were fighting and then got on with it. Nowadays, you had to file paperwork in order to use a transporter, or fire a phaser.

But a new era always brought on new beliefs. Usually better ones, but there are always exceptions. "Ahhh yes. Of course. Perhaps we should adjourn to a conference room and begin the planning somewhere with a larger chart of the Alpha and Beta quadrant?"

"I've had an astrometrics bay set aside for us. And this evening we have a meeting of the senior Captains to flesh out or battle stratagies."

Kur'Dak nodded. "Perhaps we should get started then?" he asked.

"Damn but I hate paper work." Brian said as they got to work.

Two hours later, Kur'Dak looked over the work they had done. Almost the entire fleet had already been assigned to take out certain targets and ships, and yet it seemed they had only hit 3/4 of the total number of Section 31 targets listed. Which wasn't good for a couple reasons. And being outnumbered wasn't the main one.

Turning to Brian, he put his fears into words. "Brian...we don't seem to have enough ships to take out ALL of the section 31 craft in a single swipe...what happens if one gets words to the ships that aren't being attacked, and they run? I mean, it must have taken A LOT to find section 31's full force, if ships can go underground again..."

Two hours later, Kur'Dak looked over the work they had done. Almost the entire fleet had already been assigned to take out certain targets and ships, and yet it seemed they had only hit 3/4 of the total number of Section 31 targets listed. Which wasn't good for a couple reasons. And being outnumbered wasn't the main one.

Turning to Brian, he put his fears into words. "Brian...we don't seem to have enough ships to take out ALL of the section 31 craft in a single swipe...what happens if one gets words to the ships that aren't being attacked, and they run? I mean, it must have taken A LOT to find section 31's full force, if ships can go underground again..."

"I don't know, it's not common knowledge, but this fleet consists of basically every remaining battle worthy ship in the Klingon Empire and Federation that can be spared from normal duties, and that's only by cutting everything else to the bare bone. We'll just have to do the best we can. And there's worse news I just recieved a couple of minutes ago. At some point we have yet to be able to determine, someone gained access to the Lone Wolf's final specs, the plans with all the upgrades and improvements on the origional. We could end up facing a copy of her at anypoint if they've managed to build one."

"I don't know, it's not common knowledge, but this fleet consists of basically every remaining battle worthy ship in the Klingon Empire and Federation that can be spared from normal duties, and that's only by cutting everything else to the bare bone. We'll just have to do the best we can. And there's worse news I just recieved a couple of minutes ago. At some point we have yet to be able to determine, someone gained access to the Lone Wolf's final specs, the plans with all the upgrades and improvements on the origional. We could end up facing a copy of her at anypoint if they've managed to build one."

Kur'Dak's head shot up from where it had been drooped, looking over a supply list. "They have the schematics for a new Lone Wolf?" The prospect was not a good one...hell, a borg cube probably would lose quite a bit of it's punch against a Lone Wolf class ship.

Kur'Dak's head shot up from where it had been drooped, looking over a supply list. "They have the schematics for a new Lone Wolf?" The prospect was not a good one...hell, a borg cube probably would lose quite a bit of it's punch against a Lone Wolf class ship.

Brian nodded. "That's another reason we need to hit hard and fast, there's a good chance it hasn't been completed yet, but even a partially completed version would be quite a handful. If we knew when exactly the plans had been stolen we could take our time, but as it stands..." Brian shrugged and left the obvious unsaid.
"We do have one possible advantage though."

Kur'Dak looked quite doubtfull on the prospect of their being an advantage. But he took the bait. "And that is?" he asked.

OOC: I'm going away over the weekend, so I may not be able to post after your reply to his question, but I'll try.

OOC: No problem.

IC: "Our one advantage is that they don't have Samantha, or rather that they can't have an AI with anything approaching her level of experiance. It took years before her and myself synched with each other and the Wolf to the point where we could use the ship to it's full ability. And if they try to use a human crew, then their difficulties will be even worse. Unlike most programs, an AI takes time to reach it's full potential, particularly when assigned a task like running a starship in combat."

Kur'Dak nodded. "And that's assuming they have an AI, even partially developed. If not, they would HAVE to take out some of the weapons and engines in order to allow more crews quarters. And even if so, they'll need to use the full 18 crew that the ship can fit. In any case...what is our orders towards it? Capture or destroy?"

"It's been left to my descretion. But I say destroy it. It was built in an age of war and suspicion, designed to meet the needs of the time, needs that no longer need to be met. And worse, it is a corrupted clone of a good ship, a ship who's sole embodied what I have fought for my entire life. I've already ordered Samantha to destroy all our remaining records on it. I gave an arm and a piece of my soul to see peace brought to this galaxy, and I will not standby and allow a mockery of my own creation to destroy that peace."

Kur'Dak nodded. "It would be best to destroy it, of that I agree with you. Since we've finished the plans, perhaps we should call a senior fleet staff meeting, in order to go over them with the commander, captain, and admiral?"

"Yes, we should do that, I'll have Captain Gregor make the arrangments."

bump