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ORIGINS: USS Hood July 2009: Difference between revisions
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==USS HOOD: == | ==USS HOOD: == | ||
===by === | ===by Brian Mansur, Steve Apple, and Daniel Belin=== | ||
SD 2260.185 | |||
MD: Day 7, 1145 Hours | |||
Scene: IKS BLOOD OATH, Near Outpost 8 System | |||
The low screech of the bridge's bare metal blast doors heralded the arrival of the fleet commander. | |||
"Report!" demanded Commodore Koreth. | |||
"Federation battlecruiser entering the system," Par'rick proudly replied. "Their shields are down. If they suspect our presence, they are being subtle about it." | |||
"My lord!" the warrior at communications shouted. "Coded transmissions from the enemy vessel. The outpost is responding in kind." | |||
Koreth took his chair. To himself he all but purred, "Standard procedure along the border of course. All is well here, my Federation friends. No ships were seen coming in on the ecliptic behind the sun. Just like the last 3 outposts we destroyed." | |||
The maneuver had been time consuming, but quite worthwhile. Against the local star's glare, the Klingon flotilla was unlikely to be noticed. They needed only to stay below the stellar horizon: away from any line-of-sight to the outpost, until the time was right. | |||
Koreth had to marvel at the Starfleet admiralty. They had built sophisticated listening posts to spot globflies crossing the Neutral Zone. But they had neglected to put inexpensive sensor pickets behind the big ears to watch for just such an incursion, their mistake. Once this operation was completed, no doubt the Federation would correct their far-sightedness. Though not before losing an invaluable battlecruiser. | |||
"We will give them one hour to become complacent. Begin the countdown." | |||
Scene: Outpost 8 Transporter Room | |||
Outpost 8's commander, Lieutenant Yarith, initially felt relief as the landing party coalesced in the transporter room of Outpost 8. She was an attractive brunette, all business, and not in any mood for nonsense. That was why halfway up the steps to greet her guests she did a double take when she realized that the blue shirt on the right was wearing a stylized cowboy hat. It looked to her as if it had been spirited straight out of the Ancient American West. It also completely surprised her that the man patted his chest, hips and thighs in what could only be described as a gesture of relief before stepping down from the platform. | |||
"Uh" she hesitated, "Welcome to Outpost 8 Commander Merrick." | |||
"Cavalry's here L.T." Merrick said with a sly smile to Corbett. "How can we be of service?" | |||
"Ah ha," Yarith laughed dryly. "Don't leave orbit please, sir? I know ..." she caught herself. "Damn it. I knew people at Outpost 5 and certainly don't want to end up like they did." She swallowed hard. "What did you find there?" | |||
"You don't want to be concerning yourself about that just now ma'am," Corbett said, briefly removing his hat in the presence of a lady. "The details can wait a lifetime. Trust me." | |||
Yarith looked at him askance, not sure what to make of this anachronistically chivalrous character. "Um, we're the same rank Lieutenant. You may as well call me Yarith." | |||
"Please, call me Stile ... or Doc if you prefer," he said putting on his most winning smile. | |||
Yarith looked as if she would decline to bother with either for the time being. Merrick stepped in to finish the introductions. | |||
"This is Lieutenant DeSimms. He's our resident ass-kicker. If you care for a hand in security upgrades and a crack planner for ground combat, he'll provide. Given what has been going on, do you have the remote site fully provisioned?" | |||
"Are you kidding, sir? Most of my crew are sleeping there." | |||
DeSimms chimed in. "Nice in theory, but not a good practice actually. Who knows what kind of intel the attackers have." | |||
"What do you suggest?" She asked. | |||
"Equipment depots, weapons stashes, and survival packs in deep cave sites throughout the mountains, the further from the outpost the better. If you get hit hard, you'll need to survive until help arrives and maybe even fight back." | |||
Yarith looked at Merrick. "Why the hell doesn't doctrine provide for this stuff?" | |||
"Yeah, well, having been an outpost commander myself, I'd like to see those books updated too. Merrick said. “DeSimms, you thought about submitting your name to the Bureau to help with a rewrite? Surely a 'Medal of Honor recipient' would carry some weight in the application process." | |||
"Even with the extra help, they don't update it much," DeSimms said. "Mostly because there are so many holes in the doctrine that it would be a full time job patching it up." | |||
“I need the help now,” Yarith said her voice strained and anxious. “So can either of you tell me why the Star Fleet manual doesn’t provide for this kind of scenario.” | |||
Merrick signaled for DeSimms to go start working his magic. Turning back to Yarith, he was more than a little disturbed by her demeanor. He needed to snap her out of this indecisive and dangerous mood in a hurry. "The Star Fleet manual is only a guide, not a how-to book. You're the one in command. We'll give you what you need to survive in case of an attack, but keeping your people alive falls to you." | |||
"That's not very comforting." Yarith said. | |||
"Command never is." Merrick replied. | |||
DeSimms nodded in agreement as he turned to begin a survey of his surroundings. For something that was on the edge of the Federation, on what could easily be the front lines of a war, this base was terrible, he thought to himself. Weapons lockers with no doors on them, bridge controls without security locks, no shielding whatsoever on the communications array, and no planet-side surface-to-space defense systems. It looked to be a very bleak situation if the Klingons decided to attack. However, it was possible to defend it with careful planning and a whole hell of a lot of luck. | |||
"You got anyone in charge of security around here, Lieutenant? I'm going to need to do a bit of work," he asked looking at Yarith. | |||
"I’m sorry, but this base doesn’t have a security officer, just a tactical one." She answered. | |||
There was a collective sigh, and DeSimms looked like he was ready to strangle someone when he realized that the fate of the outpost was dependent almost entirely on the equipment and expertise provided by the HOOD. | |||
"How are your people set for emergency medical supplies?" Corbett asked deflecting the conversation away from security issues. | |||
"I'll have to refer that question to our Corpsmen, Petty Officer Rasden." She answered. "Since we have a lot of logistics and security issues to work out for this place's continued survival, I'll have the appropriate people from my team assemble in our conference room in ten minutes." | |||
“With all due respect, Miss Yarith, but this base is not the most secure, and we don't have much time. We are going to have a lot of preparations on our hands, and I don't want to waste any more time." DeSimms said then looking at Commander Merrick asked, "Permission to beam up to the ship sir! I got to get a hell of a lot of equipment down here.” | |||
“Let’s wait till after the briefing Commander.” Merrick said softly. “There may be equipment stored we don’t know about.” | |||
Scene: Outpost 8 Conference Room | |||
Ten minutes later, DeSimms was back and taking charge of the impromptu conference. Immediately he began outlining the value of the move to the caves just west of the outpost. "As you can see these caves here, overlook this valley." He said gesturing to the map on the view screen in the conference room. "This location should give you a strategic advantage to fire portable phaser cannons and sonic grenades at any attackers. History has shown us that well entrenched defenders can hold off a larger advancing force. From this vantage I see no reason you can't survive until help arrives." | |||
"You know," Corbett whispered to Merrick. "If he wasn't bald he'd be perfect as the poster child for a Star Fleet recruitment pinup." | |||
"Pay attention." Merrick admonished trying to hide his smile at Corbett's remark. "He's good in a fight." | |||
"Let's just hope these people don't have to put his plan into action." Corbett said pushing his hat to the back of his head. | |||
"I agree." Merrick said. | |||
As if he had heard the whispered exchange, DeSimms pointed to Corbett. "Doctor, we're going to need you to set up a triage facility in the cave system. It is deep enough underground that you should be safe from the Klingon ship's attack, but still within the Hoods transporter range. I know a cave may not be the ideal place for a hospital, but it's the safest place out there.” | |||
“I am at your service sar.” Caorbett said to DeSimms as he gave a wink to Yarith. | |||
It took another fifteen minutes to complete the briefing from both a medical and operations stand point. Then, for the next half hour, the landing party helped oversee the beam out of emergency supplies, weapons and personnel to the caves. It went so lightening fast that Merrick wondered if they hadn't set some sort of record. With her people busy at the remote sites, only Yarith and her XO remained to walk the guests back to the transporter room. | |||
"Thank you all" Yarith said. "I feel we're better prepared to defend ourselves already, but I'd feel even safer if you'd remain..." | |||
Merrick heard the shrill beep from his communicator. "Merrick here." He said interrupting the Lieutenant. | |||
"Sean," came Captain Jack Steele's voice. "Rhiana just got a ping from a sensor bounce." | |||
"You think it's a ship sir?" | |||
"She's not sure. She said it was visible for only a moment, so it could just as easily be some sort of artifact. However, given recent events I'm not taking any chances. I'm ordering you and the landing party back to the ship." | |||
"Aye sir, Merrick out." | |||
"I sorry Lieutenant, but you heard the man, it's time we leave. I suggest you and your XO join the rest of your crew and hunker down in the caves for the time being. At least until we track down who's been attacking our outposts." | |||
Submitted Respectfully as a Joint Post,<BR> | |||
by<BR> | |||
<BR> | |||
Brian Mansur<BR> | |||
Commander Merrick<BR> | |||
Executive Officer<BR> | |||
<BR> | |||
Steve Apple<BR> | |||
Lieutenant Commander Corbett<BR> | |||
Chief Medical Officer<BR> | |||
<BR> | |||
and<BR> | |||
<BR> | |||
Daniel Belin<BR> | |||
Lieutenant DeSimms<BR> | |||
Security Officer<BR> | |||
USS HOOD<BR> | |||
<BR> | |||
==USS HOOD: == | ==USS HOOD: == | ||