Unwelcome News
Posted on Wed Jul 29th, 2015 @ 5:23pm by Fleet Admiral Mike K`Wor Bremer
1,156 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Episode 89 - Futility's Return
Location: Bremers' Quarters
Timeline: MD1 2347hrs
ON:
Bremer was in his Quarters. Christopher was in bed and Janice was in the shower. K’Wor and Becca had both gone their assigned Quarters and Mike was glad to have his oldest kids back on the Station again…even if it was just for summer break at Starfleet Academy.
Mike had already showered and was ready for bed. It was late, 2347 hours, and Mike yawned as he climbed into the bed. A moment later Janice came out of the bathroom in a towel while using another to dry her hair. She smiled at her Husband, but the all too familiar beep of the comm changed the smile to a frown.
“Ops to Fleet Admiral Bremer.”
Mike took a deep breath as he sat up, and tapped his commbadge laying on the side table, “Bremer here.”
“Sir, this is Ensign Wells. We’ve received a message from the USS Houston...Sir you need to hear this.” The young Ensign’s voice sounded shaky, even scared.
“I’m on my way.” Mike replied as he closed the comm.
Janice sat down on the bed, “It’s always something.” She wasn’t happy about being disturbed so late at night. She understood it was part of the job...she’d been there before as a General in the Starfleet Marines...but she still didn’t like it.
A few minutes later Mike was in Ops. He didn’t bother changing into a uniform, instead he’d just grabbed a robe. “Report” Mike ordered as he entered Ops.
Lieutenant JG Clayton stepped forward, “Sir, we received a partial message from the USS Houston, audio only.” Clayton also seemed nervous and didn’t explain further, he just tapped in a few commands on the Communications panel to play the message.
“...shhhh... arbase 400, this is...ssshhh...S Houston. Requesting assistance, lo...sshhh...sector . We’re under attack by Borg vessels. We’re lo...sshhhh...shields and our engines are dam...sshhhhhh...” The transmission cut off from the Houston, but then another sound could be heard that even sent a chill up Bremer’s back. “Resistance is futile.”
“Lieutenant Clayton, wake up the Senior Staff and advise them to meet me in Tactical Operations in ten minutes. Send a copy of this transmission to Fleet Admiral Sevlek and advise him Starbase 400 will send ships to investigate. Also alert the standby crews on the Pegasus, Essex, Yorktown, and Venator to be ready to depart within the hour, and have the Durga, Lexington, and Vanguard standing by to provide support.” Mike ordered as he headed for his Office to get a uniform on.
Ten minutes later, Mike was in Tactical Operations in front of the big screen. It displayed a map of the entire Beta Quadrant, marking territory belonging to the Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and others. A small dot flashed where Starbase 400 was located, and other where the last known position of the USS Houston was, in open space a few light years beyond Federation territory.
Mike waited for everyone to arrive before speaking, “All right, listen up. I know it’s late, but that couldn’t be helped. We received a communication from the USS Houston less than thirty minutes ago.” He knew his serious tone would let everyone there know that a problem had arisen as he tapped a button on the display to play the message for everyone present to hear.
“...shhhh... arbase 400, this is...ssshhh...S Houston. Requesting assistance, lo...sshhh...sector . We’re under attack by Borg vessels. We’re lo...sshhhh...shields and our engines are dam...sshhhhhh...” The transmission cut off from the Houston, but then the chilling, “Resistance is futile” was heard before the transmission was cut off.
Like everyone else there, Mike had believed the Borg Collective to be ‘gone’, annihilated and absorbed into the Caeliar Gestalt in late 2381 after the brief but violent and costly war with the Federation. “We know there are some liberated Borg ships and crews out there, but most have been non-hostile, even helpful to Federation ships on their rare encounters, like the Borg that was known as Hugh and his ‘Liberated’ group of Borg that broke away from the Collective as well as the Drones once a part of the Unimatrix Zero that Voyager was able to help break away.” He glanced at Sevlek a moment, “Starfleet Intelligence also believes a small Collective or two might be out there somewhere that has also broken from the main Collective sometime in the past, but this has never been confirmed...but we’re going to find out.”
Mike paused a moment, looked around, then continued, “The Pegasus, Essex, Yorktown, and Venator will depart within the hour and proceed to the Houston’s last known position. We’ll investigate the situation and report back to Starfleet. The Durga, Lexington, and Vanguard will be standing by to assist if needed. All other vessels from Starbase 400 will take up defensive positons in the Kaleb System and the Station itself will be on Yellow Alert. All vessels assigned to the Ares Regional Operational Area will also be on Yellow Alert ready to defend the Federation border as needed. We’ll also send the Klingons and Romulans our data, just in case.”
Mike tapped another button on the wall display and ship assignments appeared. “We depart within the hour.”
Without saying anything else, Mike ended the meeting and walked out of Tactical Operations and headed straight for the Pegasus.
Once on board the Pegasus, Mike headed to the Bridge. While the standby crew hurried around to make sure the ship was ready to go, Mike stood as Tactical and looked over all information on the USS Houston, the sector she was in, and known Klingon and Romulan ship deployments close to that side of their territory. He didn’t need to look over any Borg data, he knew that information all too well as he started to rub his temple.
As he walked down the ramp to the Captain’s Chair, Mike’s thoughts drifted back to 2380 and his last encounter with the Borg. Much like had happened to Jean-Luc Picard, Mike had been captured and assimilated by the Borg. Instead of just helping them destroy a Federation/Klingon Fleet, Mike had helped them to them fight off the Pegasus-B and Yorktown before helping the Borg destroy the defenses of Zerian and assimilate hundreds of thousands of its population before the Pegasus, Yorktown, and others showed up to stop them and recover Mike in a daring rescue. Following several surgeries, Mike had retired from Starfleet and was plagued by nightmares of the events, until he was recalled for the incident with Governor Malor.
Mike brushed the memories aside and looked over the readiness of the ship, waiting for the rest of the ship’s Staff to arrive aboard the Pegasus and other ships that were preparing to depart.
Tbc....
OOC: Events mentioned above reference Episode 57
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