Sacrifice

Posted on Wed Jan 29th, 2020 @ 9:14pm by Fleet Admiral Mike K`Wor Bremer & General Janice Fultian-Bremer

2,289 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 103 - In The Darkest Days...
Location: USS Calidorn / USS Durga
Timeline: 1120hrs MD2

ON:

USS Calidorn

On board the USS Calidorn Mike sat in the quarters that had been assigned to him for the slow trip home. The field repairs to the Calidorn’s engines hadn’t held and the ship was creeping along as impulse while work on going.

Jarovik had sent Mike the latest from Starfleet Intelligence for him to look over. After a shower and putting on a fresh uniform Mike pulled up the report while he sipped on a cup of coffee. While he was sweating it out on Peloi a lot had happened. The good news was over fifty Federation and Klingon ships that were assigned to Gamma Quadrant exploration had been reassigned to the Alpha Quadrant once the Dominion started protecting Alliance colonies in exchange for the Alliance keeping the Typhon Pact out of the Gamma Quadrant. Mike was happy the deal with the Dominion had been a success. The report also mentioned Picard was re-retiring and returning to his chateau on Earth.

Then, there was some bad news. Romulan and Krazzle forces had captured the Narendra system and K’Vak Station from the Klingons. This closed the Raeyan Corridor and isolated the Raeyan Expansion Area from the rest of the Federation. The Klingons were planning a counterattack and requested Federation assistance. In response to this, and because of the near total loss of the Fifth Combined Fleet, Starfleet was assigning the Federation Second Fleet to the Beta Quadrant and two task forces would be sent into Klingon space to help try and retake Narendra and K’Vak.

Then, there was other news. Janice and the USS Durga was leading a Federation/Klingon/Cardassian task force to raid the Typhon Pact's supply depot and drydocks on Uniroth, just inside Romulan Star Empire territory. The base at Uniroth was the location of the Typhon Pact’s efforts to push into Federation space and where the last attack on DS6 had come from. Mike was proud of his wife, she was a Marine, a warrior, and that meant she wouldn’t turn from a fight. That being said he was also worried. This war had come on fast and had already taken an ugly turn for the worst. Mike also knew there was no way the Calidorn could get there to help, or get him back to SB400 in time to get the Pegasus there to help. They also couldn't risk sending a subspace message with the state that the ship was in. He just prayed she would be safe and would return to him soon.


USS Durga, Bridge

“Did you isolate it yet?” Janice asked.

“Yes ma’am, the power drain was in the holodeck sub-system. We’ve shut it down and routed the power to the shields and SIF.” The Lieutenant at Ops replied.

“General, we’re here.” The Lieutenant at Flight Control announced.

“Drop us out of warp, raised shields and ready weapons.” Janice ordered as she stood. “Harry, signal our Cardassian comrades and tell them to fire.”

“Yes ma’am.” Ensign Stemba replied from the Mission Ops station.

“Cardassian dreadnought missiles away. ETA to impact, thirty seconds.” The Commander at Tactical reported.

“Della, increase speed to full impulse, Martian, fire on any targets of opportunity.” Janice ordered.

The Ronin class USS Durga increased speed. She was closely followed by two Defiant class ships, a Klingon Vorcha, and a Cardassian Galor class destroyer. One of the dreadnought missiles was destroyed by Uniroth’s defense grid, and another was damaged and knocked off course but managed to hit an orbital dry dock and destroy it, the other four hit their targets and knocked out the orbital weapons grid’s targeting and communication’s arrays.

The main force of Cardassian ships then moved in, targeting the disruptor arrays themselves and destroyed several dozen in a matter of minutes. They cleared a path for ten Klingon Birds of Prey to swoop in and attack the supply depot on the planet. Their pulse disruptors ripped into the storage facility, weapons facility, and replicator buildings. In orbit, the Durga and her escorts moved in and attacked the drydocks. They caught three Romulan Warbirds docked and went after them first. The Durga’s twin phaser cannons ripped into the powerless Warbirds. A couple of quantum torpedoes later and they along with the drydocks they were in were destroyed.

As the attack progressed, the Romulan defenses came back on line and blazed forth disruptor and plasma torpedoes onto the attackers. The Birds of Prey that were in the atmosphere firing on the base were soon under fire themselves. Six were destroyed before the other four retreated back into space. Two of the Klingon Vorcha’ Class Attackcruisers then opened fire on the base from orbit. They managed to destroy one ground based defensive disruptor and caused severe damage to the weapons storage facility. A glorious battle raged!

Several Romulan ships responded to the attack and were engaged by the Cardassians. The thirty one Cardassian ships fought hard against the incoming Warbirds and helped hold them off long enough for the Starfleet ships to finish destroying the support base and repair facilities orbiting the planet.

The Durga had taken light damage herself. Janice finally took a seat back in her chair, “Our job is done, signal all ships to fall back to Federation space. Warp eight.”

Moments passed and the Federation Alliance ships broke off. One Miranda class ship was destroyed by a late arriving Valdore type Warbird but the rest of the surviving attack force warped away toward DS6.


Two hours later, USS Durga, Bridge

Once back in Federation space the Durga turned away from the rest of the returning attack force and set course for Starbase 400. Of the fifty-eight ships in the attack force, forty-nine returned to Federation territory. The Durga then jumped to slipstream to make the trip home faster. However about forty-five minutes into the trip the tactical panel beeped.

“General, we’re picking up a Romulan/Krazzle troop convoy in route Argelius. They have limited escort, two Warbirds and two Krazzle cruisers. The transports are capable of carrying over fifty thousand Romulan and Krazzle ground troops.” Martian reported from tactical.

Janice thought for a moment. “Any other ships within range?”

“No ma’am. Closest ships wouldn’t arrive until after they get to Argelius.” Martian replied.

“Alter out course, drop us out of slipstream as close as you can to them. We’ll get in a few hits to their transports and try to eliminate them before their escorts have time to respond.” Janice ordered.

After what seemed like five endless minutes the Durga dropped out of slipstream less than four hundred kilometers from the convoy. She fired several quantum torpedoes at the troop ships followed by a spread of photon torpedoes at the closest escort ship, a Krazzle Gramal class cruiser. The last two transports in the convoy exploded while the Gramal went dead in the water.

“Troop ships are continuing on course, the remaining escorts are raising shields and charging weapons.” Martian reported.

“How many fighters do we have aboard?” Janice asked.

“Ten.” Martian replied.

“Launch them, target the transports’ warp engines. Helm, attack pattern Omega, target the lead ship. Fire all phasers and Hellfire torpedoes.” Janice ordered as she stood.

The Durga turned to startboard as her phasers flared at the approaching ships. Then several green Hellfire torpedoes burst from her torpedo turret. Five of them hit the lead Warbird and ripped holes in it nose section. The Durga’s twin phaser cannons and pulse phaser cannons then opened fire and punched through the Warbird’s damaged shields and the vessel exploded.

“Della, get us closer to the transports. We have to take them out.” Janice said.

“We’re at full impulse now, it’ll take a little time.” Della replied.

“We don’t have it, they’re getting closer to the planet and our fighters are getting picked off quickly by them.” Janice replied as the Durga shook from another hit.

“I can warp jump us, a two second burst at warp 3 would get us in range of the lead transport.” Della replied.

Janice nodded, “Do it.”

Della tapped in a few commands as the Durga shook again. “That was a direct hit to our port nacelle, it’s venting.”

“A jump with a damaged nacelle could…” The Lieutenant at Ops started.

“Do it Della.” Janice ordered.

“Yes ma’am.” Della replied as she tapped a final command.

The Durga jumped to warp for a moment then out and back to impulse. As her phasers fired at the closest transport her port nacelle exploded. The drive plasma stalled the impulse and warp engines of the nearby transports making them easy targets. Slowly the Durga moved, firing all her weapons on the transports, destroying them one by one.

“This is for all those Marines you bastards have killed.” Janice said as transport after transports was hit, caught fire, and exploded. Then the Durga took a massive hit as the remaining Warbird arrived. Janice was tossed to the deck but managed to pull herself up to her chair. “Damage report.”

“All transports destroyed or adrift. All of our fighters have been destroyed.” The Durga took another hit, then another from the remaining Krazzle cruiser as it arrived. “Shields are down to ten percent. Aft torpedo launchers are offline. Phasers arrays down to twenty percent.” Martian reported. "Phaser cannons and pulse phasers are offline."

“Engineering took a direct hit, the warp core’s containment field is ruptured and there’s no one alive in Engineering to fix it.” The Lieutenant at Ops reported nervously. “We have hull breaches across multiple decks and EPS conduits are out all over the ship. Shuttle bays are offline and life support is failing.”

“Keep firing on the transports, make sure none get away.” Janice said as the ship was hit again. She tapped a few buttons then spoke quietly. “Mike, I’m sorry. I hope you found K’Wor and he’s alive. Give him, Becca, and Christopher my love. I love you.”

Janice stood and handed Della an iso-chip. “All hands, report to your escape pods.”

“Ma’am?” Della asked.

“Give this to Mike, Fleet Admiral Bremer. Now get to your pod.” Janice said as she patted Della on the back.

The Durga took a few more hits, but her last salvo destroyed the final transport. “Weapons are down.” Martian reported.

“And I can’t even throw any rocks at them.” Janice added, an in joke regarding the shuttle bay being offline and not able to release shuttles at the attackers. “Get to your pod.”

Martian nodded but the ship was hit with another blast and the Tactical panel exploded, killing Commander Martian.

Janice looked at the Ops panel as the escape pods started to launch. The Krazzle ship started firing on them and Janice made a growling sound.

She tapped in a few commands and rerouted the last of the life support power to the tractor beams and locked them onto the Romulan and Krazzle ships. Not only did the beams deflect the enemy’s fire but also prevented them from going after the pods as they headed toward Argelius and safety.

Several alarms on the active bridge consoles started to beep as the ship was hit again. Power to one of the phaser arrays was restored after she rerouted it and Janice fired off another blast at the Krazzle ship, then one at the Romulan vessel. The Ops panel beeped again, showing her the warp core was critical and in the process of a breach. Janice closed her eyes and thought of her family as the USS Durga exploded. The energy from the explosion destroyed the Romulan Warbird and the Krazzle cruiser as well, allowing the escape pods to get to Argelius safely.


USS Calidorn, two hours later

The warp engines to the small ship had been repaired enough to get them to Starbase 400 and they would finally arrive there in several hours.

Mike was asleep in his quarters, trying to get a little rest before getting back to the station. He was awoken when the door buzzer sounded.

“Enter.” Mike said as he sat up.

K’Temoc walked in slowly holding a PADD. It was obvious he was upset.

“What’s wrong.” Mike asked.

K’Temoc took a deep breath. “This just came in from Starfleet Command.” He handed Mike the PADD.

Mike tapped a button to reveal the message and as he read he slowly stood. It spoke of the successful raid on Uniroth, its supply depot and dry-docks, but then it talked about the thwarted invasion of Argelius and how the Durga managed to destroy the attack force. The report went on to tell how the Durga was a heroic ship and was destroyed by a core breach caused by the battle against the Romulans and Krazzle ships that were bound for Argelius. It continued on, describing Janice as a hero that had sacrificed her life to protect Federation civilians and her remaining crew that had evacuated the USS Durga.

Mike paused for a moment, his breathing getting harder, faster. After a second he threw the PADD against the far wall and yelled out a mighty roar, releasing hurt, anger, sorrow, rage, and sadness all at once. He then looked at his brother, his eyes were red and full of hate, and his face was showing his pure anger while his breathing continued at a rapid pace. After a moment Mike could feel his heart breaking as a tear ran down his cheek. Mike then embraced his younger brother and allowed himself to break down into tears.


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