Recovery and Demolition

Posted on Thu Sep 17th, 2015 @ 3:07pm by Major General Thomas Jackson & Master Warrant Officer Gaius Aquila & Fleet Admiral Mike K`Wor Bremer & Commodore Leon `Lee` Pike & Commodore Andrew Clifford & Commander Jonathan Coleman & Captain R'nard Lokran & Major Percival 'Percy' Morris & Lieutenant Nuala Takabe & Commodore Alexandra Harrison & Commander Jonathan Roebuck IV & Lieutenant Nick Archer & Lieutenant Zhao Quan & Lieutenant Ariel Gilmore & Colonel Danny Lennox & Master Chief Petty Officer Mark Branson & Sergeant Maal son of Torg & First Ramata`tar & Lieutenant JG Frank Doyle & Sergeant Major Jo Ann Worth & Gunnery Sergeant Marcus Ermey & Gunnery Sergeant Agtx & 1st Lieutenant Taz & Corporal Warner Schmidt
Edited on on Mon Sep 21st, 2015 @ 4:26pm

7,029 words; about a 35 minute read

Mission: Episode 89 - Futility's Return
Location: Various (Space and Grenarisa III surface)
Timeline: MD2 1505hrs, Following 'Worry, Wait, and Scheme'

ON:

Pegasus, Bridge

Bremer watched at the middle section of the Venator exploded. “Harrison, remodulate our phasers.”

"Yes sir." Alex complied but it was proving difficult as she was having to remodulate every ten seconds or so.

The Pegasus suddenly shook from a hit. “Admiral, the Borg seem to be concentrating their fire now.” The Pegasus shook from another hit. “Aft shields are down to fifty-three percent.”

“Lee, assist Alex, cover our ass. Alex, put everything we’ve got into the Sphere the Venator attacked.” Bremer ordered.

You've got it." Alex was getting frustrated but she continued to fire everything she had.

Lee nodded:"Aye sir" He sent a message to Alex in her mind:"Calm down Imzadi, you know the Borg are tough."

“Takabe, send out a rotating EM pulse, see if it’ll interrupt the Borg’s inter-link frequency. Even if we can shut down their hive mind locally and cause them some chaos for a few minutes it’ll buy us time to knock out a few more of their shields.” Bremer ordered of his Science Officer as the Pegasus shook from more hits.

"Admiral, I would like to try something a little unorthodox." Takabe replied. "I would like to send out a signal relay probe near the lead Borg sphere. The probe would amplify, delay, and redirect communications between to Borg vessels. The spheres would get incorrect or contradictory orders from the lead sphere." Nuala explained.

"The Borg will eventually figure out what the probe is doing." Takabe continued. "But in the meantime it will buy us some time as they remain inactive."

Bremer nodded, "Any advantage. Do it."


Yorktown, Bridge

“Full impulse, let’s try to take a little heat off the Pegasus again. “Saith, target the closest Probe with extreme prejudice.” K’Temoc ordered.

By this time, anticipating the order, Saith's "yes sir" followed K'Temoc's order immediately as he gave it. She kept the barrage up, rotating the weapons banks to keep a steady stream of fire on the probe instead of a hit and a break. Her boards indicated the Yorktown's weapons were being a bit overtasked, but there was nothing she could do about it. At least Engineering had all phaser banks up again.

“Holly, how’s our shields holding up?” K’Temoc asked.

Gillo gave a concerned look, the suddenly, the Borg's attacks became erratic, it was clear Takabe's plan was working. K’Temoc stood and talked up behind the Flight Control Officer, “Adjust our course, bring us in fast and tight.” He looked back over at Saith. “Wait til we’re close in before firing again.”


USS Essex Bridge

"Damn." Deela and her crew saw a part of the Venator explode. "R'nard, whatever it takes."

"I'll give it all I've got." said R'nard. He fired on all cylinders, making sure to change frequencies randomly.

Andrew walked around to R'nards console and watched as he threw everything the Essex had at the Borg. "We need a bigger weapon!", Andrew muttered and paused for a second, thinking. He looked over at the Admiral, "I need a runabout, but I'm afraid you won't be getting it back, Admiral". As he spoke he went to a spare console and started setting up the parameters for a runabout to ram the most powerful Borg Sphere.

"Interesting." Deela liked his unique idea but purposely losing one of their runabouts, she wasn't crazy about it. The Borg were getting the best of them and they had already lost a part of the Venator.

"The Borg are getting too good at beating our attempts at weapon re-modulation. The only way I can think of to get through them is with such a large amount of energy that modulation has no effect. I want to ram one of the spheres with a runabout at high sublight speed. It is unlikely to work at warp speed because the ship is not actually moving in real space. Hit it 0.99c and relativity has an affect. It would be like hitting the sphere with a small moon." Andrew stood waiting for the Admiral to make her decision, but continued to programme a runabout for ramming.

"It would not be my first choice but it would produce a nice explosion. Alright, go ahead but use one of the older ones. Admiral Bremer might even think that we have a few marbles loose." Deela looked at the screen again, watching the Yorktown move in closer. "This is certainly going to be one for the books."

Andrew nodded and replied, "I hope that basic high school physics will be too old tech for the Borg to worry about. In the event that this doesn't work it will be the most expensive firework display that Starfleet has seen in a long time." As he finished speaking he tapped a key on the console.

The rear hanger doors opened and the runabout shot out already on full impulse. As he watched his console display, "Helm, the shuttle is going to be coming back right beneath us, I don't want the Borg to see it until it is too late. Please don't get in its way".

The helm officer replied sardonically, "I'll try not to, Sir."

After 1 minute 30 seconds the runabout reversed course. "It's on its way back" he shouted. The runabout came straight back in towards the Borg sphere that Andrew had targeted, passing so close to the Essex that it almost grazed the shields. Less than a second later it impacted the shields of the Borg sphere.

At the point of impact the the runabout was traveling at 0.5c and although the relativistic effects weren't as pronounced as Clifford was hoping for the fact that the runabout struck the sphere at over 90,000 miles per second gave it an enormous amount of energy. As the shields of the runabout struck the shields of the sphere it caused a huge power surge within the spheres power grid that resulted in whole portions of the sphere being instantly blacked out. Then as the hull of the runabout struck the hull of the sphere the runabout completely disintegrated, including the magnetic bottles containing the anti-matter for its warp nacells. The resulting explosion as matter and anti-matter came into contact was more akin to an exploding sun.

Andrew and the rest of the bridge crew watched in silence as the glow faded, there was nothing left of the Borg Sphere or several probes that were close to it.

"Mr. Clifford." She paused for a moment, "Captain Clifford!" The bridge crew sprang back into action, "Well done! Mr. R'nard, let u...let's resume assisting the others." Deela sat back in her chair. This fight seemed bring back the feelings she had buried from another time.

It took several seconds for Andrew to return to the present, and it was the sounds of the Admirals voice shouting at him that brought him back, "Sorry Admiral". He started shouting orders, "Helm, form up on the Venator and keep close to them. They are vulnerable now that they have lost their middle section. R'nard, hit any targets of opportunity, but assisting the Venator is priority. Damage Control, report!"

"Understood." said R'nard, as he focused on several targets.


Pegasus, Bridge

Bremer smiled as the Sphere along with a few Probes exploded. A moment later the Pegasus's, Yorktown's, and Korok's Sphere's weapons finally cut though the Borg Sphere they were firing on and it also exploded.


Planet Surface

As the successive platoons from 2/327th Marines beamed into the Landing Zone, they all rushed to the edges of the perimeter to take over security positions from the MARSOC Marines. The heavy weapons detachment set up their mortars as soon as they could. The last company of the first unit of Marines finished beaming down. A Gunnery Sergeant let Captain Lennox know that all of his unit was now on the ground. There was still no sign from the Borg.

Lennox looked over his unit. "Don't fire right away. They Borg will ignore us until they consider us a threat and we don't want them adapting to our weapons too fast. We have prisoners to rescue and the Houston's computer cores to recover. Let's move, First Platoon on me."


USS Saratoga

As the battle took place overhead, the Saratoga was still unnoticed by the Borg. "Major Morris, we have a signal from the 327th. Their beam in is complete, and are awaiting us to launch the shuttles."

Morris nodded to operations. "Thank you. Saratoga to 1st Marine, you are clear deploy all shuttles. We are a go. Good luck out there!"

Percy remained seated. "As soon as we're clear, take us to yellow alert, ready shields and weapons, set auxiliary power to boost communications and sensors." The crew got to work as the checkins from the away teams came in and the assault began.

Commander Coleman was sitting down in the runabout that was going to ferry him down to the planet to pick up the missing computer core. He looked over his console and made sure that every last little thing was perfect.

Once the fleet of shuttles began their departure, he began to scan the surface, to make sure that he could pinpoint the exact location of the core. The Runabout began to shake as phaser fire and photon torpedoes began flying around them. It took him a few moments to get through the interference, before he could find it, but he did.

"Coleman to fleet. I've found the Computer Core and I'm transmitting the coordinates to everyone. We need to get to that point ASAP. Coleman out."


Planet Surface

Jackson's shuttle was touching down as Coleman's transmission was received. Explosions could be heard outside the shuttle. "Jackson to Coleman, good job! You can land at the LZ and link up with us."

T'Lyn and her groups shuttle landed and linked up with Jackson and the others.

One by one, the armored group exited their shuttles. Zaiya's tank was one of the first off. Zaiya turned on her com system. "All Black units this is Black 6, well will form up in line formation immediately at the rally point that was fed into your computers. Do not dally or hit any infantry. Black 6 out." She ordered as the grav tank moved to the rally point.

Jackson watched at Marines ran to their assigned APCs.

Coleman guided his shuttle towards the meeting point of Jackson and the rest of the Marines. He knew that it was going to be dangerous going into the landing site was going to be, but he trusted Jackson and the rest of the marines that were guiding him and his team into the landing site.

Coleman pressed a few commands into his console and saw the Borg base in the distance. He also had where the computer core was being store within the base and kept a constant eye on it, making sure that he could go in and snatch it in a heartbeat.

Coleman pressed his combadge, "Whenever you're ready General. I'd say lets do it."

=/\=Jackson to Saratoga. We now have a hot LZ. Request fire on the Borg Base, and fire on the ground between the LZ and the Base.=/\=

=/\= We're on it, general. =/\= Percy's voice could be heard from over the comm and before the channel was cut one could hear him start to bark the order.

Most of the Borg fire was directed to the incoming shuttles, but some of it started to hit the Landing Zone, causing Marines to scurry for cover. Him and his team made their way to the shuttle holding their Recon Vehicles. They took the pair of vehicles behind some rocks, and waited. He looked at his Gunnery Sergeant. "Gunny, we are holding off on the recon for now. The Saratoga is laying our route to waste."

=/\=Jackson to all ground commanders, let me know when you are ready to advance. We can't stay in this LZ for long.=/\=

"My team is ready sir," T'Lyn stated looking around.

"Zaiya to General Jackson, the armor is on line and await your order to attack. We will assault the Borg lines and punch a hole through them for the infantry to follow." Zaiya replied to Jax.

Coleman pressed his combadge, "Our teams are ready and hunkered down. You don't have to worry about us."

A message came in from Lennox's battalion, indicating that they were ready.

Jackson was happy with the speed his units readied themselves in.

Within but a moment of the call and their checkins sudden beams of fire came shooting out of the sky. The Saratoga was not setup with a tactical pod - after all, she had to transport most of the 1st Division. But she still had plenty of weaponry. The phasers began drawing lines like a surgeon, cutting through the base walls and through the surrounding hills and land area. Just as sudden, several photon torpedoes slammed down on the Borg base, and they were followed by a few tricobolts that concussed the entire area - even the Marines would have to be careful with their footing. The base took a beating, although it would not be safe to completely run her down from orbit.

=/\= Saratoga to Jackson. =/\= A couple slaps and yeah's could be heard behind his voice. =/\= We've cleared a path - make it count! =/\=

=/\=Jackson to Saratoga, thank you.=/\=

As a result of the Saratoga's fire, the incoming Borg fire was reduced to only isolated instances. Marines were thankful that the Borg Base was not fully operational.

Jackson observed his formed up battalions. =/\=All units stand by. Raider 16, scouts out!=/\=

Giaus gave a hand signal, and both Scout Vehicles took off with great speed. The four wheeled vehicles were made for the kind of mixed terrain they now sped over. Giaus gave the other vehicle a hand signal, and the two scouts split up, each assuming an opposite side of the attack route. So far, the only thing observed were craters, some damaged Borg emplacements, and dead drones. At their current speed, it did not take long for them to reach halfway to the objective, now only 10 kilometers away. =/\=Raider 16 to Sheepdog 6, we are passing point Beta. No contact at this time.=/\=

With Aquila's signal, Jackson, who sat in his console in the Command Vehicle, keyed the comm panel. =/\=Sheepdog 6 to all units. We will move in the following order. 1st Armor, 14th Marines, then the 327th Marines with the Engineers. Commence attack at this time, repeat, Commence Attack!=/\=

Zaiya opened the armor signal net. "All Black units this is Black 6, advance and engage! I say again, advance and engage! Remember to stay in your fire lanes!"

Aquila's luck changes in an instant as both his, and the other scout vehicle ground to a halt. Within visual distance appeared to be a line of the Borg's version of defensive positions. There were too many drones to count. Second later, Borg fire struck all around them. "Contact front, 300 meters!" The scout vehicles took evasive action at the gunners returned fire with their phaser cannons. They knew the tanks would be coming up soon. =/\=Raider 16 to Black 6, we have a Borg defensive line 300 meters to our front=/\= The humming of the tanks could be heard behind them. "Gunny, we can't do much good here in the middle. We'll take cover until the main body gets here. Then we enter the nearest breach." After taking cover, Giaus took and sent images of some holes that were on the Borg Base.

The tanks started to move forward and saturated the Borg lines with phaser fire. Borg warriors were falling in groups. In a few pockets, Borg that were still functional clustered together and formed phaser resistant shields. The Somme class tanks reacted by firing microtorps at the clusters. The torps would explode and send up Borg like metallic rag dolls. As the tanks rolled over the Borgs previous positions all that was left were twitching and sputtering mechanical parts.

"Black 6 to Sheepdog 6, we have breached the Borg lines and are headed towards the Borg base." Zaiya relayed to Jax.

Jackson quickly studies the images Aquila sent him. He relayed them to the unit commanders, so that those holes could be exploited. Then the comm sounded off with Zaiya's message.

=/\=Sheepdog 6 to Black 6, once you reach 500 meters from the base, establish a perimeter to cover the Infantry.=/\=

"Black 6 to Sheepdog 6, we are in position now and are forming a perimeter." Zaiya told Jackson.

=/\=Major T'Lyn, you can roll past the tanks, and enter the base. There are holes your men could use for entry=/\=

"Understood sir," T'Lyn replied as they rolled passed the tanks.

As soon as the first unit of Marines were close enough to dismount their APC's, Aquila and his people got off their Scout Vehicles, and made their way into the nearest hole on the base wall, compliments of the Saratoga. Things were clear for the first 50 meters, then drones started advancing on the MARSOC Marines. Aquila's rifle was set to automatically remodulate after every three shots, a nice feature on the new rifles. But a team member scored first blood by firing his photonic launcher into the corridor, knocking Giaus, and quite a few drones down. Giaus got up, and started firing his weapon at any Borg he could see, striking many with good effect. =/\=Raider 1 to all units, encountering heavy contact.=/\= The team continued to fight their way in as regular Marines started to enter the base.

=/\=Captain Lennox and Commander Coleman, you can follow up T'Lyn's entry, secure the base, and find that computer core. =/\=

Lennox tapped his commbadge, "Acknowledged, we're moving in."

Coleman gave a nod to the marines who were helping him. They followed the path that the various squadrons used to get in and landed within the 500 meter mark of the base. When the ship was secure, the marines and Coleman stocked up on their supplies, including several phasers.

Coleman also grabbed his engineering tricorder and computer access kit, which he'd use in order to see what was on the computer core, that it was so important that the Borg snatch it from a ship that they'd already assimilated.

It didn't take long for Coleman, his team, and the marines guarding him to make it to the base. They saw several dead Borg drones along the exterior of the base that had perished during the attack. A quick shiver came over him, but he kept going.

The base itself didn't look much better than the Borg outside of. It was intact, but it looked like the several worlds the Borg had attacked in their final days in 2381. He grabbed his tricorder out and began to scan for the Computer Core and it was right where he located it.

Coleman tapped his combadge and said, "Coleman to Jackson, it's right where it should be. Is the base secure yet?"

Maal had his phaser rifle out shooting down Borg as they went.

Jackson was happy that the casualties were light up to this point. =/\=Jackson to Coleman, the base is not secure, but you can follow the Infantry in, just be careful. Your team won't do the computer core any good if you are either dead, or become new drones.=/\=

Coleman smiled and chuckled, as he said, "Don't worry, Jax. Your marines are doing very well. Just worry about covering your own ass back there."

Meanwhile deeper within the base, Aquia's team was pinned down at a four way intersection. Two of his teammates were down as they defended themselves from a four way attack. Gunny advised him that the computer core signal was very close. To make things worse, they were fresh out of grenades. =/\=Raider 1 to any unit, we are in trouble, sending you my coordinates=/\=

T'Lyn helped keep the drones at bay for the time being, "Understood Aquila, my team will keep fire away from you." T'Lyn stated as she and her team provided cover fire and playing a diversion.

As if an act of divinity was involved, phaser fire started to pounce on the advancing drone on one side of Aquila's perimeter, giving his team an avenue of escape.

"Thank you for opening the door Major." The team took the way out, carrying the wounded and the bodies of fellow team members.

At the tank perimeter sat the Command Vehicle. =/\=Hang on Giaus, someone will get to you. Just hold on alittle longer.=/\= Jackson signaled their coordinates to the other Marines, but he was frustrated that he had to stay in the command vehicle. He wanted to be in the thick of the fighting, but he had to lead, and he needed the equipment in the vehicle to do it. Suddenly the vehicle shook violently from an impact from a polaron beam, and everything went black.

The Command Vehicle was on its side, and on fire.

Maal saw the command vehicle on fire and ran over to it to quickly assist, he tapped his comm badge as he went:"This is Sgt. Maal, the command vehicle is on fire. I repeat the command vehicle is on fire." Maal slung his rifle back over his shoulder. He reached over the door trying to open it, realizing it was stuck, grabbing hold of it he forced it open with all of his strength.

"Destroy that weapons station!" Zaiya shouted over the armor comm net. "Get that Medical track up here now!" It was then that another beam hit on of the light tanks. The tank exploded and the turret shot up into the air. The other tanks fired on the Borg weapon and there was a large explosion as heavy phasers and microtorps hit their target. Pieces of metal fell around the tanks as the Borg weapons was destroyed.

"Black 1 this is Black 6, we are going to assist the recovery of the command vehicle. You have command of the armor until we are done. Black 2, find out which vehicle was destroyed and search for survivors and report back." Zaiya then turned on her internal com net. "Lance Corporal Garcia, bring us over to the command vehicle. Stay inside as Sergeant Lo and I assist the recovery effort." As the Somme tank move to the burning wreck, Lo and Zaiya quickly dismounted. The took a crew rescue kit with them.

Maal managed to remove the door and tossed it aside, the big Klingon then reached into the vehicle grabbing hold of General Jackson, he started pulling the man out of the burning vehicle.

Jackson was semi-concious. Fragments from the command vehicle pierced his body, resulting in a dangerous loss of blood. He reached up to the Klingon and grabbed him by the body armor, "Sergeant, Major T'lyn is in command now..." Jackson then passed out.

She heard that the General was injured and that she was in charge now, she and her team got to work trying to secure the area.

Maal nodded to Jackson but didn't move, doing his best to help the General.

Lennox and a small team had finally made it into the Borg facility. Several of his Marines were down, Corpsmen were taken care of them as they were beamed up to the Saratoga.

The small team with Lennox had used the larger base assault as a diversion to get inside the facility and it had worked well. As Sergeant Taz led the way they were mostly ignored by the Borg. Most of the Drones were in their alcoves working together to defend the base...firing its weapons, regenerating defenses, and trying to adapt to the Marines' weapons.

"Lieutenant Omert?" Lennox asked one of his Marines.

"I have several bio signs ahead, one hundred meters then left ten. It's a sealed room, no Borg present, but they have transport inhibitors in place. We'll need to get them back to at least this point before beaming." The Lieutenant replied.

"Taz, nice and smooth." Lennox added.

The Krazzle nodded as he moved forward. A few moments later, the Marines arrived outside the room. "Lieutenant Omert, open it up. Sergeant, defensive formation." Lennox ordered. Most of the Marines took up positions to secure the area while the Lieutenant pulled a plasma cutter from his pouch. He started to cut through the bulkhead and at first the Borg ignored the Marine.

But then, several Drones stepped away from their alcoves.

"Sssirr, we have incoming." Taz advised. "Thrree...fourr Drronesss apprroching."

The seconds ticked by as the Borg approached. "Hold your fire." Lennox said as calmly as he could.

Finally, with a loud thud, the cut away portion of the bulkhead fell to the deck. Lennox then quickly stepped inside. "I'm Captain Lennox of Starbase 400."

"Captain, thank God. I'm Commander Fernandez, XO of the Houston." A short slender woman said as she stepped forward.

"We need to move, now." Lennox said as he handed her a spare sidearm.

"We have wounded, but we'll carry them." Fernandez replied as the handful of survivors moved forward. About the same moment, they could hear weapons fire as Taz's men dropped the approaching Drones. “I don’t know why the Borg didn’t assimilate us right away, they just put us in here and ignored us.”

Lennox stepped out, "Side arms."

Without hesitation, the Marines handed their Type-II phasers to members of the Houston, about the same time a few more Drones separated from their alcoves and started to advance on Lennox and his team.

"Marines, let's move" Lennox ordered.

With a few Drones behind them and more in front, the Marines moved forward. They were able to drop a few more before the Borg started to adapt. Even with the auto-modulation settings of the Type-4B Phaser Rifle, the Borg were getting the upper hand when suddenly Lennox's commbadge chirped twice.

"Cover!" Lennox said as the Marines and survivors quickly ducked against one of the bulkheads. As they did, a localized electromagnetic pulse went off, stunning the Drones in the area, a second later two photon grenades exploded and vaporized some of the Drones while deactivating others and even ripping limbs off of a few more.

As the smoke cleared Sergeants Agtx, Ermey, Corporal Schmidt, and three other Marines joined Lennox's team.

"We have more Drones inbound Captain." Ermey reported.

"We need another way out." Lennox added.

"Sir, the room to our right seems to be some kind of cargo hold. The far wall is an exterior wall." Lieutenant Omert added.

Lennox pointed as Lieutenant Omert started cutting into the bulkhead. "Once we're through Corporal use that Photon Rifle and make us an exit."

With the hole in the bulkhead complete, Schmidt stepped through, took aim, and fired his photon rifle. Two hits later, an exit was made.

"Incoming!" Fernandez alerted everyone.

"Sergeant, get these people to safety" Lennox ordered Ermey.

Agtx led the way followed by the Houston's survivors then Ermey, Schmidt, and the rest of their team.

"Taz, go." Lennox added, sending his Sergeant along with Ermey's group.

Lennox and the remaining Marines took defensive positions and fired on the Drones. After a few shots, the Borg had adapted again.

"Fall back." Lennox ordered. His men started backing up slowly, still trying to give covering fire.

As the Borg approached a young Private tripped and fell the ground. The Lieutenant stopped to help him, but both were quickly grabbed by Drones. The Drones wasted no time as they tubules penetrated the skin of the Private and Lieutenant and filled their blood streams with nanoprobes.

Lennox looked back to see the last of his Marine team and the Houston's survivors beamed up to the Saratoga. He then looked back as Lieutenant Omert's eyes met his. He could see the pain in the Andorian's eyes. Lennox tried to smile at his friend one more time, took aim, and fired his phaser rifle hitting Omert in the chest and killing him. He then did the same to the Private.

Lennox then pulled the pins on his two photon grenades and tossed them into the cargo bay as he ran out. As the grenades exploded Lennox was beamed up to the Saratoga.

Several meters behind the team, Commander Coleman heard what he thought was phaser fire in front of him. His team and their escorts started heading towards it, since it was in the direction of the computer core. Jackson and Bremer had warned him not to get into harm's way, but he was going to be damned if he didn't help out a fellow officer in trouble.

They got to the corner around from where the attack was happening. The marine in front gave a fist in the air, which Coleman knew to be the hold still motion. They stopped and Coleman and the marine in charge looked around the corner, phasers at the ready.

Coleman whispered, "Looks like four to five drones coming at our team. Do you think a wide spread from our phasers would work in knocking at least one or two of them down and drawing some of their attacks?"

The marine nodded and they modulated their phasers to do the most widespread damage possible. Then, on the count of three, Coleman and the marine fired and drew some of the Borg drones' attack.

It knocked out two of the Borg drones that were attacking and it drew some of the attacks away from Lennox's team.

Meanwhile, Aquila and his team finally emerged from the base. They carried the bodies of four team members with them. Aquila himself had a broken rifle slung in front of him, and a bloodied knife in his hand. "Gunny, have the team beamed out. I am going to the command vehicle!"


Pegasus, Bridge

Following the destruction of the Borg ships, the Federation vessels had taken up defensive positions around the planet while they were all working on repairs.

"Admiral, we've received an encrypted data stream, it's marked for your eyes only. The Essex received the same marked for Admiral T'Lar." Archer reported.

Mike nodded, "Lee you have the Bridge."

Lee nodded:"Aye sir." He stood up and went over sitting in the command chair.

Mike walked into his Ready Room quickly, tapped a button on his desk, and the monitor came to life. He tapped in the decryption key and quickly read over the intel from the Gladiator.

"What the hell is that Sphere doing out there?" Mike said to himself.

After reading the data, Mike closed the message, saved, and re-encrypted it. He then typed up a quick message to Starbase 400 and a slightly more detailed one for Fleet Admiral Sevlek. Mike kept both reports brief, he didn’t even include a casualty report...especially since Marines were still on the ground. He advised both that the Borg Collective vessels they had encountered had been eliminated with, that the mid-section of the Venator had been destroyed, Korok’s liberated Borg had lost a few ships, the rest of the Starfleet task force was holding in a defensive formation while working on their own repairs, and that Marines were on the planet. Mike then headed back to the Bridge.

"Contact all vessels, our Task Force and Korok's and get damage reports." Mike ordered.

Lee stood up when he spotted Admiral Bremer then returned to his seat.


USS Essex Bridge

After Deela was informed of the data stream, she gave some orders, "See if the other ships need help with repairs. If you need me. I'll be in my ready room." Deela entered her ready room, sat down and leaned back in her chair. She stared at the monitor for a few minutes before reading the data. A few minutes more passed, "Encrypted. It can't be good." Once read, she sighed and shook her head, asking herself the same question as Bremer.

On the bridge, Andrew walked over to the engineering console and looked over Jack Solomans shoulder. The ship had taken a lot of punishment again, but the repairs were proceeding smoothly. R'nard was focusing on getting the weapons and shields recharged and was directing repairs to the tactical systems. With the Admiral off the bridge and the ships now in a defensive positions around the planet it all seemed very quiet. A group of technicians came onto the bridge to carry out repairs on some of the consoles that had overloaded during the battle.
He tapped his badge, "Clifford to sickbay. Status, please."

"Sickbay here, Sir. We have 4 dead and 30 injured. Most are returned to duty but 3 will be here for a while." Andrew euphoria at winning the battle evapourated, "Understood sickbay Clifford out."

With that the Admiral returned to the bridge, and Andrew updated her on the repairs and numbers of dead and injured. He never offered any comment about the battle. People had been killed and injured, what comment could be made.


USS Saratoga

Once the survivors of the USS Houston were aboard they were taken to Cargo Bay Three which had been turned into a triage unit for incoming wounded Marines. Fernandez thanked Lennox and his team again as a nurse tended to her.

“Gunny” Lennox said to Ermey after the Commander walked off, “Remain here with the team, just make sure none of our wounded and none of the Houston’s crew show any signs of assimilation.”

“Doesn’t assimilation happen almost immediately sir?” Schmidt asked.

“Has in the past, but I want to make sure this new collective doesn’t have any new tricks. I don’t expect trouble, but just be watchful and also keep an eye out for any combative patients that are in shock.” Lennox replied.

“Agtx, you’re with me, we’re going to the Bridge to report in.” Lennox added as he and the big Gorn Sergeant headed for the Bridge.

A few moments later they arrived, still in their full battle gear. Lennox looked around for the General, but he didn’t see him. Instead Major Morris was in command. Lennox nodded to Agtx who took a position beside the turbolift doors as he walked over to the Major.

“Major, Captain Lennox reporting in.”

"Ah Captain," replied Percy. "Sounds like quite a firefight down there." The Saratoga had been sending pulses and torpedoes at random intervals when called for, but was otherwise beaming supplies and injured folks to and from the planet surface. She was an orbital headquarters, in essence. It meant she stayed out of the fight, but it meant she was incredibly important.

"Everyone alright... relatively speaking?" Morris had been reading some of the reports, but he wanted to hear for himself.

The young Marine manning Ops was monitoring comm traffic when he overheard the news. He swung his seat around, "Major, I think the General is down!"

The news hit them in the face like a brick, interrupting their chat. Morris furled his brow and looked at the officer. "What do you mean down? Get a comm channel open - find his badge, force it on."

There was a chime but the operations officer looked back. "I am picking it up, but I cannot get through to it."

Morris shook his head in disbelief. His fists tightened, sweat beaded up on his forehead, and if he'd have had the capacity steam would have vented from his head. He was not about to let his boss die, weeks into his new posting. "All hands," he said as the channel opened to all senior marine personnel on the Saratoga. "We've got a general to return!"

Percy was standing at this point. "Lennox, you have the bridge until Major T'Lyn or the general or I return."

"Aye Sir." Lennox replied, stepping forward.

"I'm going to find my boss." Percy headed for the turbolift. "Have a medic meet me in transporter room one." And he left without waiting for verification.


Planet Surface

Giaus replaced his rifle from a pile of rifles that no longer had owners. Then to his horror, he saw the destroyed Command Vehicle. He ran as fast as he could until he saw a large Klingon Marine tending to his friend Thomas Jackson. "Jax!" There was no response from the General. "Where the hell is the Corpsman?!?" He took Jackson's hand, and he knew he could not hear him, but he spoke anyway. "Just hold on Jax." He started to tear off Jackson's body armor, and used the General's own IFAK to treat some of his wounds." The whole time, he awaited a transporter beam to wisk them away.

Maal heard a voice turned his phaser rifle out, seeing another Marine:"The Corpsman should be arriving shortly" He stood guard, watching for any sign of Borg.

"Thank the gods!" Giaus replied as he stayed close to the General.

It was not hard for the Saratoga to get a lock on Jackson, but before beaming him up to the ship they needed to verify his status. Since the ship had been monitoring the 1st Marines throughout, they knew right where to safely plant Morris and the others. He went over to where Jackson was laying, with a large Klingon guarding his body with a rifle. Percy's weapons were holstered and he held out his hands.

"Whoa, Major Percy Morris here." He tilted his head forward. "I have a marine medic."

Maal turned looking directly at the Major then nodded:"General Jackson is badly wounded, he has several pieces of shrapnel embedded into his body." He took a step back getting out of the medic's way.

Reluctantly, Aquila stepped back, and watched the medics work on his best friend.

Worth stepped right in and got to work, continuing the efforts already put in place - namely pressure and some basic pain medication from a hypo. "Let's get him back to the Saratoga - transporter would be best, directly to sickbay."

Morris nodded and tapped his badge. =/\= Saratoga, this is Morris. Two to beam directly to sickbay. =/\=

As the beam took Worth and Jackson to sickbay on the Saratoga, Morris stayed briefly behind to double-check the area. He would thank Maal and the others, and then head back to the ship himself.

Giaus wanted to be with Jackson, but he had to make sure his team was accounted for. Once that was done, he beamed up.


Pegasus, Bridge

Bremer had gotten the word regarding Jackson’s injuries and while the Medical Staffs and facilities were good aboard the ships in the Task Force, he needed the care of the Starbase’s medical facilities. However there was a problem. With the mid-section of the Venator destroyed there was no way she could rejoin so Slipstream was out for her. Also, the Yorktown had suffered damage to her Slipstream systems too, and Mike didn’t like the idea of leaving any of his ships behind. It would take days for them to return to Starbase 400 at standard warp speeds.

“Admiral, General Korok is hailing.” Archer announced from Ops.

“On screen.” Mike replied as he stood.

“K’Wor...that was a glorious battle!” Korok smiled for a moment before continuing, “We lost three of our Probes but managed to beam off most of their crews.” He paused a moment to check a readout. “Tell your Science Officer that her relay probe she used to disrupt the Borg interlink frequencies locally was a brilliant idea. One of our crewmembers was able to assimilate the technology and have used it to cut off the five thousand drones the Collective beamed over to repair the damaged Tactical Cube. We believe we can liberate them entirely from the Collective as we have been, then we plan to repair the Tactical Cube and use it as part of our Liberated fleet.”

Mike smiled, “That’s great General. If any of those former Drones are from Federation member worlds and they wish to return, please let us know.”

Korok gave a respectful nod, “It will be done.” He checked another read out then added, “Your Marines did an excellent job on the Borg facility. We will further dismantle it before we depart. We’ll also set up a surveillance probe in orbit to alert us if the Borg should return.”

Mike nodded. With his Marines beamed back up to the Saratoga, Phoenix’s fighters having just landed, the recovered computer cores stored for their trip to Starbase 400, and the recovered prisoners resting it was time for the Task Force to return home. “General, thank you for your help, however we need to depart.”

“Two of your vessels aren’t capable of more than Warp 7 right now, it will take your Task Force days to return to return to Starbase 400, but we have another idea."



Less than an hour later, edge of the Kalab System

A greenish annomily started to form in space.


Starbase 400, Ops

The Officer sitting at Ops suddenly spoke up with a tone of panic in his voice. "General Hurd! I have a Borg transwarp conduit forming just outside the Kalab System! Our support ships are responding. I'm picking up seven ships!"


Edge of the Kalab System

The Starships Lexington, Durga, Vanguard, Princeton, Laffey, and Constantinople dropped out of warp a few hundred kilometers from the opening transwarp conduit. Suddently a Borg Sphere came into sight as it exited. As the defending Federation ships moved in and prepared to fire, from behind the Sphere came the Pegsaus, Essex, Yorktown, Saratoga, and the remaining two sections of the Venator.

"Pegasus to all ships, hold you fire!" Bremer said over all Federation channels. "Pegasus to Starbase 400, we have wounded and damage to all vessels. Requesting permission to dock."

Once the reply came in from Starbase 400, the Pegasus's task force headed for the Station while the Lexington, Durga, Vanguard, Princeton, Laffey, and Constantinople resumed their patrol routes.

"Bremer to Korok, thanks for the ride General." Bremer said over comms.

"Qapla' K'Wor. Until we meet again." Korok replied before his Sphere reengaged it's transwarp engines and returned to the former Borg base to finish their work there.

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