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Fanfiction: Spiked
patrickngo
Member Posts: 9,954 Arc User
Prologue: Prisoner.
11 July, 2407 Starbase 24
“Commander Qua, I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re going to have to come with me.”
There’s nothing like stepping out of the shower right into the face of a four man security team. The Lieutenant had a Centauri A accent, and his team were all humans, and half of them were male.
“The hell? I just got in!” She wasn’t fully awake yet, and the Lieutenant leading the detail grabbed her arm.
Reflexes are reflexes. She hit him, and the two men flanking him stunned her.
She came to consciousness again, being bodily dragged, held up by her arms and naked as the day she was born, through the base corridors to a cell on the Brig level.
They didn’t even tell me what the charges are!
“...dodged the proverbial bullet, Captain,” Ling Matsuo, Federation Security Agency, commented in the observation room overlooking the brig where Commander (Promotable) Janice O’Neill-Qua was being held. “We intercepted a number of encrypted messages directed at Commander Qua while she was still aboard ship, those messages have headers in common with several dozen recorded desertions throughout Starfleet.”
“So there’s no question then, she’s a bloody spy for the Klinks!” Captain Miguel Hightower asserted.
“Suspected spy, captain,” Matsuo urged soothingly. “She’s just a suspected spy until we get a confession from her. It’s good you’re such a wise man, cooperating immediately with a sister agency.”
“After what the Klnks did on Rabaul? Oh, you have no idea!” Hightower sipped his coffee. “How many others, you think? Were her crew in on it?”
“They were betrayed just like we were, Captain. The Federation can’t afford moles.”
“Mind if I give my Intel officer a go at cracking her first, before you transfer her to Starbase One?” the commander of Starbase 24 asked.
“That’s...actually a good idea. Internal Starfleet regulations offer options unavailable to a civilian agency even under the Security Act, and it might be possible your man can flip her, and get her working for us again.”
“Commander Burgher, you’re free to begin,” Captain Hightower ordered.
“Aye sir.”
Ganalda Station, Hromi Front…
“...a strong blow against the Federation can turn my front line around!” General K’Hugh, son of K’Lek, insisted.
“It’s a waste of resources,” General B’Sanos stated. “Let us consider for a moment, right now, Admiral Alcott’s advance has penetrated your front all the way back to one system short of Ganalda itself, they have effectively severed our occupation zones, with a salient eleven systems deep and four to twelve light years wide. You’re proposing a rear-line strike on Starfleet’s main terminal in the Pi Canis sector, an area that is already well-fortified and used to fighting KDF forces, with an emplaced defense-in-depth that is not being run by a dewy eyed idealist, what is the strategic objective?”
“It works for you,” K’Hugh insisted. “Why would it not work for me?”
“Because your forces lack discipline,” B’Sanos snarled. “Half your operational fleet is on loan from the Orions. The rest are undisciplined and green. Your father sent your best warriors to support the Yan-Isleh, and the regulars you have remaining grew too comfortable in garrison, crushing peasants instead of preparing to fight soldiers.”
“There were uprisings!!”
“Because you failed to follow the simple guidelines laid out before you!” the one-armed general, commander of the Second Fleet, rose and leaned forward, his mechanical prosthetic gripping the table with the crackling sound of breaking wood and marble. “What is the strategic value of assaulting Starbase 24?”
“Denying Alcott support and replacements,” K’Hugh growled back.
B’Sanos paused. “That… is actually a valid point. Starfleet is sending what would be replacement units from their core fleet to Gamma Orionis, a blow to their major logistics center in Pi Canis could be enough to cripple them… but what’s the long term strategy, K’Hugh, son of K’Lek?”
K’Hugh sighed, and actually took a moment to think. “Breathing room,” he said. “Starfleet is after my zone, because they think they sense weakness.”
“That’s right,” B’Sanos agreed. “So a show of strength, of health… how will you exploit the gain?”
“What?”
“Always Be Advancing,” B’Sanos told him. “While they’ve been harrowing you, my forces have advanced nine systems laterally. Four were gained without firing a shot. Three were achieved by shifting elements along the galactic z-axis, I have K-7 encircled on three sides, leaving them potentially in a vise. What is your secondary and tertiary objective?”
“You… you’re not arguing against my plan?”
“No, it’s a good plan,” B’Sanos stated, sitting back down. “But. It needs to be more than a gambit, it needs to be a strategy or I’ll throw my weight in with allied houses to kill the move and get you ordered to the Kinshaya border.”
The noble-born officer offered a few opinions, and B’Sanos made a few suggestions to increase the older man’s confidence, but in the end, it was a predetermined thing.
The strike on Starbase 24 wouldn’t do anything that K’Hugh hoped, that much B’Sanos was certain of, but it would accomplish one of his strategic objectives, and the sacrifice would eliminate a rival for General Klag’s support.
He was certain of this, because K’Hugh’s forces were undisciplined, noble-led rabble compared to the razor sharpness of Second Fleet. When the Chancellor had called for warriors, B’Sanos resisted the urge of Glory, and sent his worst officers. Retaining his most competent personnel, while commands all along the border were shipping the cream of their best candidates and warriors off to the meatgrinder of Gamma Orionis.
He’d chosen, instead, to sacrifice good ships, the most advanced vessels in his command, crewing them with those that met his standard for ‘merely adequate’.
“...your humans,” K’Hugh finished.
Dammit, idle thoughts! “What now?”
“I was saying, it could be a useful test for those colonist forces of yours; proof that they are, in fact, free of Federation control.”
B’Sanos stared for a moment, then, laughed. “They’re far from ready,” he stated. “You need competent, fully trained warriors to press such an ambitious assault operation. My advisors tell me they’re barely able to avoid running into each other during formation exercises!”
Dammit!
“General, it’s a good field test,” General Klag noted. “One or two of them, enough to prove their commitment, from each of the protectorate’s colonies. Enough that they can’t back out if peace breaks out… and you undersell them, I happen to know they’ve been excellent trainees.” The Commanding General of the entire Hromi sector said it blandly, but it was a rebuke. “Select ships, it’s time they filled their Tithe to the Empire. I want to see their performance against Federation forces.”
“I don’t,” B’Sanos replied seriously. “If we use the Moabites overtly against the Federation, I guarantee you their days are numbered: I’d bet my bat’leth that even the Bajorans would vote to put down their rebellion by force.”
“All the better,” K’Hugh said, grinning. “Then we can have a truly glorious war.”
“I have a second reason, a ‘sweetener’ to why you’re going to do this,” General Klag interrupted before B’Sanos could reply. “Intelligence places a possible target of interest on Starbase 24. We believe there is a Qa’meH’quv on the station.”
“I need to run it then,” B’Sanos stated.
“No, you’ve made a convincing argument for why this mission should be carried out by Third Fleet,” the senior General stated. “You can have an advisor with your… janissaries, but this is definitely General K’Hugh’s operation, and that’s final.”
Part One: Operation: Hearts of Stone.
Ia Drang Shipyard, Moab III…
General B’Sanos stopped in on his way back from Ganalda. “I need a ship. For a special mission.”
“What kind of mission?” Defense Minister Saul Moskowitz asked. “Keeping in mind, we’re still working up crews.”
“Close the door, Colonel, it’s getting crowded,” B’Sanos stated. “The Klingon Defense force requires a ship, from the stock I’ve provided you, with a crew, provided by you. The target is in the Pi Canis sector, it is a Federation installation.”
“Pi Canis...that’s..a pretty big area,” Saul noted. “With quite a few Starfleet installations, lots of defensive units. Will we be operating alone?”
“No. Your ship will be seconded to Third Fleet, under General K’Hugh..but I am permitted to provide you with..advisors.”
Saul nodded, “I knew this was coming, General, I didn’t think it’d be this soon, especially with both sides observing a reduction in hostilities. What’s the target?”
“Starbase 24, but that is not all that I require,” B’Sanos said, as he clasped his hands behind his back. “You’re familiar with the origins of the current war?”
“I know that a lot of the political juice behind it has to do with the threat of infiltration from Fluidic Space,” Saul admitted. “I know it’s got roots in the Gorn conflict, and that that isn’t all that it’s about.”
“You’re at least as well informed as anyone who watched the news over the last twenty years would be. Let me fill in blanks for you,” B’Sanos said. “Klingon Intelligence has reason to believe that high levels of the Federation Government are, as was the case with the Gorn, infiltrated and under the control of these invaders from fluidic space. We know this, because we captured some, and interrogated them. We have reason to believe that a prominent enemy infiltrator may be on Starbase 24. I want your people to capture or kill it. That is your core mission. If you can do neither, you are to find the first excuse and withdraw.”
Saul paused, “What??”
“You heard me. The mission to take Starbase 24 is bound to fail. I don’t like wasting assets, but politics requires that I sacrifice some of your people to maintain the long range strategy. It is hoped, that by participating in the assault, bridges to the Federation will be gutted and burnt. That your people will be forced into reliance on the Empire-and that’s not my preferred strategy. When it goes bad, and it will, withdraw in good order, and report your findings to me, personally. I can shield you from kickback, but only if you’re alive to shield.”
“What do I need to know about these...Fluidics...that hasn’t been made public?”
“Stronger than a Gorn Hodch, telepathic, shape-shifting, naturally armored or hardened against energy weapons, until you pierce the hide, at which point, they’re vulnerable to radiation. We found that using isotopes on blades could keep them from shifting to repair damage, or force them into their natural form,” B’Sanos stated. “Organically, they’re hard to detect, but telepathy or empaths can find them, I’ll be loaning you a pair of Ferasans and a pair of Letheans for this job. Locate and capture, or eliminate. Capture is preferred, but elimination is suitable-and get a recording of it.”
“Right. I’ll put my S-2 and S-3 sections on planning this mission. Will one of the Norghs be sufficient?”
“Eminently,” B’Sanos told him. “Who do you have in mind for mission commander?”
“I’ll be going,” Saul said firmly. “I've fought shapeshifters before, during the Dominion war. I also know Starfleet protocols and defensive ops in the area.”
“Then I repeat my instruction, Commander; If the mission looks like it’s going bad, get out of there.”
“When’s the rendezvous with Third Fleet?” Saul asked.
“Soon,” B’Sanos nodded to an aide, who handed a reader device to the Moabite officer.
“Then I guess I need to get to work.”
B’Sanos left without a further word, transporting out of the building mid-step.
Saul sat down, and began reviewing the mission orders.
11 July, 2407 Starbase 24
“Commander Qua, I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re going to have to come with me.”
There’s nothing like stepping out of the shower right into the face of a four man security team. The Lieutenant had a Centauri A accent, and his team were all humans, and half of them were male.
“The hell? I just got in!” She wasn’t fully awake yet, and the Lieutenant leading the detail grabbed her arm.
Reflexes are reflexes. She hit him, and the two men flanking him stunned her.
She came to consciousness again, being bodily dragged, held up by her arms and naked as the day she was born, through the base corridors to a cell on the Brig level.
They didn’t even tell me what the charges are!
* * *
“...dodged the proverbial bullet, Captain,” Ling Matsuo, Federation Security Agency, commented in the observation room overlooking the brig where Commander (Promotable) Janice O’Neill-Qua was being held. “We intercepted a number of encrypted messages directed at Commander Qua while she was still aboard ship, those messages have headers in common with several dozen recorded desertions throughout Starfleet.”
“So there’s no question then, she’s a bloody spy for the Klinks!” Captain Miguel Hightower asserted.
“Suspected spy, captain,” Matsuo urged soothingly. “She’s just a suspected spy until we get a confession from her. It’s good you’re such a wise man, cooperating immediately with a sister agency.”
“After what the Klnks did on Rabaul? Oh, you have no idea!” Hightower sipped his coffee. “How many others, you think? Were her crew in on it?”
“They were betrayed just like we were, Captain. The Federation can’t afford moles.”
“Mind if I give my Intel officer a go at cracking her first, before you transfer her to Starbase One?” the commander of Starbase 24 asked.
“That’s...actually a good idea. Internal Starfleet regulations offer options unavailable to a civilian agency even under the Security Act, and it might be possible your man can flip her, and get her working for us again.”
“Commander Burgher, you’re free to begin,” Captain Hightower ordered.
“Aye sir.”
Ganalda Station, Hromi Front…
“...a strong blow against the Federation can turn my front line around!” General K’Hugh, son of K’Lek, insisted.
“It’s a waste of resources,” General B’Sanos stated. “Let us consider for a moment, right now, Admiral Alcott’s advance has penetrated your front all the way back to one system short of Ganalda itself, they have effectively severed our occupation zones, with a salient eleven systems deep and four to twelve light years wide. You’re proposing a rear-line strike on Starfleet’s main terminal in the Pi Canis sector, an area that is already well-fortified and used to fighting KDF forces, with an emplaced defense-in-depth that is not being run by a dewy eyed idealist, what is the strategic objective?”
“It works for you,” K’Hugh insisted. “Why would it not work for me?”
“Because your forces lack discipline,” B’Sanos snarled. “Half your operational fleet is on loan from the Orions. The rest are undisciplined and green. Your father sent your best warriors to support the Yan-Isleh, and the regulars you have remaining grew too comfortable in garrison, crushing peasants instead of preparing to fight soldiers.”
“There were uprisings!!”
“Because you failed to follow the simple guidelines laid out before you!” the one-armed general, commander of the Second Fleet, rose and leaned forward, his mechanical prosthetic gripping the table with the crackling sound of breaking wood and marble. “What is the strategic value of assaulting Starbase 24?”
“Denying Alcott support and replacements,” K’Hugh growled back.
B’Sanos paused. “That… is actually a valid point. Starfleet is sending what would be replacement units from their core fleet to Gamma Orionis, a blow to their major logistics center in Pi Canis could be enough to cripple them… but what’s the long term strategy, K’Hugh, son of K’Lek?”
K’Hugh sighed, and actually took a moment to think. “Breathing room,” he said. “Starfleet is after my zone, because they think they sense weakness.”
“That’s right,” B’Sanos agreed. “So a show of strength, of health… how will you exploit the gain?”
“What?”
“Always Be Advancing,” B’Sanos told him. “While they’ve been harrowing you, my forces have advanced nine systems laterally. Four were gained without firing a shot. Three were achieved by shifting elements along the galactic z-axis, I have K-7 encircled on three sides, leaving them potentially in a vise. What is your secondary and tertiary objective?”
“You… you’re not arguing against my plan?”
“No, it’s a good plan,” B’Sanos stated, sitting back down. “But. It needs to be more than a gambit, it needs to be a strategy or I’ll throw my weight in with allied houses to kill the move and get you ordered to the Kinshaya border.”
The noble-born officer offered a few opinions, and B’Sanos made a few suggestions to increase the older man’s confidence, but in the end, it was a predetermined thing.
The strike on Starbase 24 wouldn’t do anything that K’Hugh hoped, that much B’Sanos was certain of, but it would accomplish one of his strategic objectives, and the sacrifice would eliminate a rival for General Klag’s support.
He was certain of this, because K’Hugh’s forces were undisciplined, noble-led rabble compared to the razor sharpness of Second Fleet. When the Chancellor had called for warriors, B’Sanos resisted the urge of Glory, and sent his worst officers. Retaining his most competent personnel, while commands all along the border were shipping the cream of their best candidates and warriors off to the meatgrinder of Gamma Orionis.
He’d chosen, instead, to sacrifice good ships, the most advanced vessels in his command, crewing them with those that met his standard for ‘merely adequate’.
“...your humans,” K’Hugh finished.
Dammit, idle thoughts! “What now?”
“I was saying, it could be a useful test for those colonist forces of yours; proof that they are, in fact, free of Federation control.”
B’Sanos stared for a moment, then, laughed. “They’re far from ready,” he stated. “You need competent, fully trained warriors to press such an ambitious assault operation. My advisors tell me they’re barely able to avoid running into each other during formation exercises!”
Dammit!
“General, it’s a good field test,” General Klag noted. “One or two of them, enough to prove their commitment, from each of the protectorate’s colonies. Enough that they can’t back out if peace breaks out… and you undersell them, I happen to know they’ve been excellent trainees.” The Commanding General of the entire Hromi sector said it blandly, but it was a rebuke. “Select ships, it’s time they filled their Tithe to the Empire. I want to see their performance against Federation forces.”
“I don’t,” B’Sanos replied seriously. “If we use the Moabites overtly against the Federation, I guarantee you their days are numbered: I’d bet my bat’leth that even the Bajorans would vote to put down their rebellion by force.”
“All the better,” K’Hugh said, grinning. “Then we can have a truly glorious war.”
“I have a second reason, a ‘sweetener’ to why you’re going to do this,” General Klag interrupted before B’Sanos could reply. “Intelligence places a possible target of interest on Starbase 24. We believe there is a Qa’meH’quv on the station.”
“I need to run it then,” B’Sanos stated.
“No, you’ve made a convincing argument for why this mission should be carried out by Third Fleet,” the senior General stated. “You can have an advisor with your… janissaries, but this is definitely General K’Hugh’s operation, and that’s final.”
Here's the elite squad, the special command
Secret assassins, a few chosen men
Heaven may cry, heed the call
Ready to die, it's the thrill of the race
Guardians when terror is showing its face
You can try, you can hide, it's suicide
You're all going down
Fight fire with fire; attack by surprise
They live though they're destined to die
They’re always the first to fight
This is unconventional warfare step out of the light
Heroes of our time
They’re always the first to fight
They’re always the first to fight
This is unconventional warfare step out of the light
Heroes of our time
They’re always the first to fight
A flirt with the danger, a life on the edge
The soldiers of anger; to serve and protect
A force always ready to strike
Hunting the monsters walking this earth
All lost in this chaos, we pray for rebirth
Shall this war end all wars
Or is this just the way of the world
Come killer angels; head for the light
Prepare for the venomous bite
Here’s the elite squad, the special command
Secret assassins, a few chosen men
A force always ready to strike
Fight fire with fire; attack by surprise
Prepare for the venomous bite
Civil War, “First to Fight”
Secret assassins, a few chosen men
Heaven may cry, heed the call
Ready to die, it's the thrill of the race
Guardians when terror is showing its face
You can try, you can hide, it's suicide
You're all going down
Fight fire with fire; attack by surprise
They live though they're destined to die
They’re always the first to fight
This is unconventional warfare step out of the light
Heroes of our time
They’re always the first to fight
They’re always the first to fight
This is unconventional warfare step out of the light
Heroes of our time
They’re always the first to fight
A flirt with the danger, a life on the edge
The soldiers of anger; to serve and protect
A force always ready to strike
Hunting the monsters walking this earth
All lost in this chaos, we pray for rebirth
Shall this war end all wars
Or is this just the way of the world
Come killer angels; head for the light
Prepare for the venomous bite
Here’s the elite squad, the special command
Secret assassins, a few chosen men
A force always ready to strike
Fight fire with fire; attack by surprise
Prepare for the venomous bite
Civil War, “First to Fight”
Part One: Operation: Hearts of Stone.
Ia Drang Shipyard, Moab III…
General B’Sanos stopped in on his way back from Ganalda. “I need a ship. For a special mission.”
“What kind of mission?” Defense Minister Saul Moskowitz asked. “Keeping in mind, we’re still working up crews.”
“Close the door, Colonel, it’s getting crowded,” B’Sanos stated. “The Klingon Defense force requires a ship, from the stock I’ve provided you, with a crew, provided by you. The target is in the Pi Canis sector, it is a Federation installation.”
“Pi Canis...that’s..a pretty big area,” Saul noted. “With quite a few Starfleet installations, lots of defensive units. Will we be operating alone?”
“No. Your ship will be seconded to Third Fleet, under General K’Hugh..but I am permitted to provide you with..advisors.”
Saul nodded, “I knew this was coming, General, I didn’t think it’d be this soon, especially with both sides observing a reduction in hostilities. What’s the target?”
“Starbase 24, but that is not all that I require,” B’Sanos said, as he clasped his hands behind his back. “You’re familiar with the origins of the current war?”
“I know that a lot of the political juice behind it has to do with the threat of infiltration from Fluidic Space,” Saul admitted. “I know it’s got roots in the Gorn conflict, and that that isn’t all that it’s about.”
“You’re at least as well informed as anyone who watched the news over the last twenty years would be. Let me fill in blanks for you,” B’Sanos said. “Klingon Intelligence has reason to believe that high levels of the Federation Government are, as was the case with the Gorn, infiltrated and under the control of these invaders from fluidic space. We know this, because we captured some, and interrogated them. We have reason to believe that a prominent enemy infiltrator may be on Starbase 24. I want your people to capture or kill it. That is your core mission. If you can do neither, you are to find the first excuse and withdraw.”
Saul paused, “What??”
“You heard me. The mission to take Starbase 24 is bound to fail. I don’t like wasting assets, but politics requires that I sacrifice some of your people to maintain the long range strategy. It is hoped, that by participating in the assault, bridges to the Federation will be gutted and burnt. That your people will be forced into reliance on the Empire-and that’s not my preferred strategy. When it goes bad, and it will, withdraw in good order, and report your findings to me, personally. I can shield you from kickback, but only if you’re alive to shield.”
“What do I need to know about these...Fluidics...that hasn’t been made public?”
“Stronger than a Gorn Hodch, telepathic, shape-shifting, naturally armored or hardened against energy weapons, until you pierce the hide, at which point, they’re vulnerable to radiation. We found that using isotopes on blades could keep them from shifting to repair damage, or force them into their natural form,” B’Sanos stated. “Organically, they’re hard to detect, but telepathy or empaths can find them, I’ll be loaning you a pair of Ferasans and a pair of Letheans for this job. Locate and capture, or eliminate. Capture is preferred, but elimination is suitable-and get a recording of it.”
“Right. I’ll put my S-2 and S-3 sections on planning this mission. Will one of the Norghs be sufficient?”
“Eminently,” B’Sanos told him. “Who do you have in mind for mission commander?”
“I’ll be going,” Saul said firmly. “I've fought shapeshifters before, during the Dominion war. I also know Starfleet protocols and defensive ops in the area.”
“Then I repeat my instruction, Commander; If the mission looks like it’s going bad, get out of there.”
“When’s the rendezvous with Third Fleet?” Saul asked.
“Soon,” B’Sanos nodded to an aide, who handed a reader device to the Moabite officer.
“Then I guess I need to get to work.”
B’Sanos left without a further word, transporting out of the building mid-step.
Saul sat down, and began reviewing the mission orders.
Nature doesn't HAVE to be nice, or polite.
Free Hong Kong.
Free Hong Kong.
Post edited by starswordc on
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— Sabaton, "Great War"
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I'm enjoying it quite a lot. I hate to think of the fates of some of my characters in that universe, though - a Ferengi captain with a discommendated Klingon first officer wouldn't have fared well under the Quinndine...
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/