Rashanar Revisited

Posted on Tue Feb 21st, 2017 @ 2:37pm by Fleet Admiral Mike K`Wor Bremer & Commander Jonathan Roebuck IV & Lieutenant Commander Rann & Admiral Deela T'Lar & Captain Andre DaSilvor & Brigadier General David Hurd Sr & Captain Jack Solomon & Major Edward Maxwell

2,127 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 94 - Return to Rashanar
Location: Starbase 400
Timeline: MD1 1015hrs

ON:

Mike sat in his office reading over a message he’d just received from Starfleet Command. After years of sitting, Starfleet wanted to finish the clearing of the Rashanar Battle Site. The Rashanar Battle Site was an area of space in the Rashanar Sector inside Federation territory where Federation Alliance and Dominion forces fought each other at the Battle of Rashanar in late 2375. Following the battle, the battle site was strewn with hundreds of derelict starships that became held in place by the artificial gravity generators on each ship creating a gravity field at the center of the site. An antimatter asteroid also roamed the battle site, created from waste antimatter from all the starships.

Following the war, the site became a scavenger’s paradise, with Ferengi, Orions, and Androssi picking over the wreckages. When the USS Juno was assigned to the region in 2377 to collect bodies, its crew soon named the site the "boneyard", and claimed that the area was haunted. Their claims were proved correct as the area was haunted by a shape-shifting ship from another dimension that prayed on starships. The creature was destroyed by the USS Enterprise-E in 2378, and clearing of the site commenced but was halted in 2381 due the looming Borg threat. Now, with things stable again in the region, Starfleet wanted to finish recovering the bodies, as well as any data recorders from the lost ships, and anything else that needed to stay out of the hands of Pirates. They knew Pirates from the Omerta and K’Val Pirate groups operating within the Triangle had recently been in the Boneyard as well as some Orion and Ferengi scavengers.

Mike finished tapping in some notes on his PADD and tapped his commbadge. “Admiral T’Lar, Captain DaSilvor, Commander Solomon, Doctor Thr’elanon, Commander Roebuck, Colonel Hurd, Major Maxwell please report to Tactical Operations.”

Grabbing his Pistol belt, Hurd tapped his combadge on the way out of his office door and said, "Understood".

Ed scowled as he retrieved a Padd from his desk. That summons, and the brass in it, spoke volumes. Another deployment was on the horizon and not far off. "On my way." He responded as he left his office.

Andre was on board the Conqueror when the call came through, so he handed control over to his new XO and headed over to the meeting room.

Admiral T'Lar arrived next. When she walked in, she nodded to both Bremer, and Hurd. She also saw a new face, DaSilvor. She stopped and addressed him, "Welcome aboard Starbase 400 Captain." Andre straightened but didn't come to full attention. He was unsure of protocol on the Starbase, but thought it best to show due deference to senior officers, "Thank you, Admiral".

They didn't engage in any small talk, instead moving to take their seats ready for Admiral Bremer's briefing.

Having completed his latest check on how the Pegasus refit was progressing, Jack got the call from the Admiral and made his way over to the meeting in Tactical Operations. Upon entering the room, he saw Deela and nodded to her as well as seeing Hurd and a new officer he didn't recognize.

"Admiral, Colonel," Jack said, nodding to Admiral Bremer and Colonel Hurd as he took a seat at the table and waiting for the briefing to begin.

Ed kept quiet as he walked into the room, merely nodding to those already assembled as he took his seat. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the possibility of deploying again so soon

A few minutes later the called Officers were on Deck Two of section A1 inside Tactical Operations, a larger version of the Tactical Astrometerics facility on larger vessels like the Pegasus. Sometimes called the CIC, this room was often manned by Intel Officers monitoring sensor readings, ship movements, fleet deployments, monitor communications, and analyzing intelligence scans. Large wall mounted displays showed a lot of info while in the middle of the room a holographic much like the one in Ops sat displaying additional info or could be configured to show anything on the wall displays too as needed. Commander Rann was sitting at one of the conference tables at the rear of the room working on a report.

Mike walked to the front, standing in front of the largest of the displays. It had been a long time since Mike gave a mission briefing in the Combat Information Center like this. He looked at the Officers, then started. “The Battle of Rashanar was fought between the Federation Alliance and the Dominion-Cardassian-Breen alliance in the Rashanar Sector in late 2375. During the battle every starship fought to the death, leaving their crews dead and the hulks of the ships hanging in space in a ‘boneyard’.” Mike was sure they all already knew this, but is wanted to give a little background before jumping into the orders. “Some of the ships lost there were the Galaxy Class USS Asgard, Ambassador class USS Hickok, Ambassador Class USS Seattle, the Klingon Negh’var class IKS K’Ralla, and the Romulan D’Deridex class IRW Rom'drex. Most of you know Starfleet attempted to recover the bodies and clear the boneyard not long after the war but stopped in 2381 when the Borg Invasion occurred. Now, Starfleet wants to finish the job. They want us to go in first, clear out any pirates and scavengers they might be trying to recover weapons and tech and start the recovery process of bodies and any ship data recorders that have survived.” Mike looked around the room to let the first bit of into sink in.

Mike tapped a button on is PADD and the larger wall display that showed a map of the Ares Operational Theater zoomed in an ‘up’ slightly to show the battle site. “We’re sending several ships, and newly arrived Captain DaSilvor will be mission commander aboard the USS Conqueror. Commander Solomon will command the Ark Royal with two full Engineering teams and will coordinate all tech and data recorder recovery. Doctor Thr’elanon will command the medical ship USS Mercy and will coordinate recovery of any bodies. Commander Roebuck will command the USS Kearsarge and coordinate recovery of any salvageable weapons systems and torpedoes. Colonel Hurd will command the new USS Falcon and provide escort in case any pirates or scavengers don’t leave the area when you arrive. Major Maxwell will take two flights of fighters embarked aboard the Conqueror for training. They’ll sweep the area to help probe for anything recoverable and as pirate deterrence. Questions?"

Deela continued to sit comfortably, being her usual quiet self during a briefing. She found Bremer to be thorough in his briefings and successful in conveying the information to the crew. She looked around the room, observing the faces of those in the room, their questions already forming in their mind.

Andre looked around the room. He was happy with the mission and could call a briefing with the ship CO's on the way to Rashanar. He had heard of Rashanar, but had never been to that sector, so would have to check with navigation to see what the journey time would be. He was already forming ideas about the fighters and how to use them in this mission. He had no idea if Major Maxwell had taken a group of fighters into an asteroid belt, but this would be good practice. The Conqueror would link up with the Falcon for the defense of the group while they worked. He looked back to the Admiral, "None from me, Admiral. Only, when do we start?"

“As soon as everyone and all ships are ready.” Mike replied.

Colonel Hurd, standing near the back, said, "Permission to speak Admiral?"

Mike nodded, “Go ahead Colonel.”

Walking a little bit further up in the room, Hurd said, "Computer, magnify section A2, Grid 401 of the Rashinar Battle Site" A few seconds later the requested image zoomed in on the hulk of a Sovereign Class ship. It hung dead in space, several hull breaches visible, scorch marks covering its hull and missing one nacelle. Speaking up, Hurd said, "This is the U.S.S. Paris Island, registry NCC-76345." "She was crewed by an all Starfleet Marine Crew, and her CO, Colonel Jackson Mitchell was a close friend and mentor of mine." Turning to face everyone assembled, he continued, "I would consider it a great honor if, in addition to my aforementioned duties, I were allowed to board her, recover her data recorders, begin body recovery and see if she can be salvaged or is far to badly damaged." Hurd fell silent, looking in the faces of those in the room.

Mike glanced at T'Lar then DaSilvor before replying. "Granted." He then looked around the room, "Any other questions?"

"One more sir", Hurd said.

Mike nodded, "Go ahead."

"Well Admiral, its two things now that I think of it, I'm sorry about that." "What are our Rules of Engagement and Use of Force perimeters, and also, if the Paris Island can be salvaged, do I have permission to tow it back here?"

Mike let out a breath as he thought for a moment. "Let's try to warn off any pirates or scavengers first. If they engage you, you have permission to defend yourself...but try to damage and drive them off before having to destroy them. As far as the Paris Island, she was previously marked, along with all other vessels are un-repairable. However the Starfleet Corps of Engineers never made it to the area she's in before operations were stopped. Assess the ship, get a full damage report if possible, and we'll turn it over to the Corps of Engineers when they arrive a few days later."

Andre looked over at the Admiral, "Will the Corps of Engineers have an escort when they arrive or do The Conqueror and Falcon stay to cover them? If we are only going to drive off any raiders, then as soon as we leave they will come back. Unless the CoE has their own defense force, they could be at risk of attack."

Mike looked over at DaSilvor, "It's my understanding they will have their own escort and ships. I'll verify and let you know as soon and they confirm either way."

Well, that certainly answered that. Ed kept his scowl internal and fought the strong urge to shake his head. He'd have to see if they even had any nuggets to send out. Even without nuggets, he was limited on what he could send out and still maintain a coherent fighter presence in local space.

"Admiral, if I may?" He said speaking up at last.

"Go ahead Major." Mike replied.

"We're down two squadrons here already and it's looking like we won't be getting any replacements anytime soon. Now we're sending out most of another squadron. I'm on medical grounding as well as several more pilots. All I can do on this mission is sit in flight ops and direct the flights. We're going to be stretching things thin here."

Mike nodded, "Thank you for your honesty. Before you arrived, many of our pilots had don't a lot of sitting themselves. I want them to stay sharp. The Boneyard has some dense areas starships can't go, so we'll need our fighters to get into their areas. It would also be a good training op for the younger pilots." Mike paused a moment, "And truthfully, there's nothing for them to do around the station right now. Leave any injured pilots here to recover. If all you have ready to fly is a single flight, then so be it, but I'm sure there's at least eight that either missed out on the Arcanus mission or need to brush up on their skills."

Mike then passed out a PADD to each one gathered, it listed the ship assignments for the mission.
___
Rashanar Mission:
USS Conqueror:
CO-Captain DaSilvor (Mission Commander)
XO-Commander Lokran
CTac-Lieutenant Coolidge-DaSilvor
CSec-Lieutenant Hurd Jr.
CSCI-Lieutenant Gilmore
Fighter CO-Major Maxwell
Pilot-1stLt Alexander
Pilot-1stLt Gunther

USS Falcon:
CO-Colonel Hurd Sr.
XO-Major McMichaels
CS/T-Major Lennox
CEO-Captain Casion

USS Ark Royal:
CO-Commander Solomon
Engineering Team 1 Leader-Lieutenant Sullivan
Engineering Team 2 Leader-Lieutenant Commander Croesus
Engineering Team 3 Leader-Staff Warrent Officer Blackthorne
Engineering Officer (Team 1)-Lieutenant Quan
Engineering Officer (Team 2)-Lieutenant JG Dye Heron
Engineering Officer (Team 3)-Lieutenant JG Robinson

USS Kearsarge:
CO-Commander Roebuck
XO-First Ramata'tar
CS/T-Ensign Krall
CSCI-Lieutenant Cole
COps-Lieutenant Archer
CONN-Chief Petty Officer Branson

USS Mercy:
CO-Lieutenant Thr'elanon
CONN-Ensign Regan
CS/T-Lieutenant Locke
Medical Officer-Lieutenant Commander Mclintock
Medical Officer-Ensign Ashley
___

Mike let everyone read over the PADDs, then he dismissed them. "All right every, plan to depart tomorrow morning. Get your ships readied and if there's anyone else you want to go along let me know and I'll assign them. Dismissed."


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