The Chimes at Midnight
Posted on Wed May 13th, 2020 @ 10:19pm by Commodore Wilkan Targaryen & Commander Galatea & Administrator Weyoun 12 & Captain Nathan Bishop & Commander Ash Randall & Lieutenant Commander T'Lisha "Hawkeye" Bishara & Patton O'Sullivan & Lieutenant Commander Chire & Lieutenant Commander Lily Snow PhD, MD & Lieutenant Gareb th'Endilev
3,219 words; about a 16 minute read
Mission:
Genesis
Location: USS Enterprise
Timeline: 2430-01-09, 10:00
Admiral William Teagarden stood in the center of the Bridge of the newly reminted USS Enterprise watching the stars streak by in the wink of an eye. He took in a deep breath and let it gently escape from his lungs, centering himself in the here and now as best he could. The last few minutes had been nerve wracking, frightening, but they were soon to be at the end of one journey and perhaps starting a new one.
He looked at Galatea, who quickly confirmed his suspicions with a single nod of her hawkish features. The CO of the vessel knew that, for the hologram at least, this was a return to her most basic. He knew that she was in her element with this mission, returning to her true form. She was about to go into combat for the first time in years and she was excited for it.
"Take us to impulse, Commander," Admiral Teagarden ordered standing behind the Helm and Ops workstations. "Let's go to Full Alert."
“Yes Admiral,” Patton brought their weapons on line as well as bringing them to full alert.
The tenseness was now causing Chire to move and think quicker, the fight or flight response actually helping her speed as she moved quickly, making sure that everything was working properly and watching for the slightest signs of change in the other ships. She was very grateful in the moment that she had settled things with Dylan and that there was nothing between them that she should have to regret if she had any time to think before her life ended, if that was to be her fate.
On the viewscreen an unusual situation was brewing. Weyoun's Battleship hovered in place in battle against another ship, but featured another Dominion vessel as a makeshift shield in a tractor beam. The more dangerous adversary was their opponent: a massive starship that William had never seen before. Multiple energy pulses slammed into the Dominion vessel, ripping through its hull like a warm knife through butter. William took another breath as he stood firmly looking at the viewscreen.
"Looks like Ash may've called this one," he said with a wink to his Chief Engineer. "Let's get a tactical analysis of the ships out there. I want to know who has the tactical superiority in this one." He had a distinct feeling that whoever the enemy was they had the edge in this one. Weyoun was, after all, using a stricken Dominion vessel as a shield against the opponent.
Ash looked to the Admiral. "The Dominion Battleship, as big and as heavily armed as it is, is more designed to sit at a distance and engage opponents from behind an escort screen. Toe-to-toe, without the advantage of a surprise attack, it won't fare well against any ship of comparable size." Ash commented and sighed. "Weyoun appears to be learning of that reality in real time." She continued, and looked to Galatea. "Enterprise, on the other hand, was specifically designed to be a brawler." She added, and then looked to the Admiral. "And, so is the ship currently kicking Weyoun's ass." She observed, quietly. The Engineer left the rest of here thoughts unsaid, at the moment. The unknown ship had already engaged and defeated one battleship and was well on the way to turning a second one into a debris field. Assuming the Dominion was familiar with the capabilities of the enemy they faced, it spoke volumes of the relative capabilities. The unknown ship was equipped to destroy Dominion ships and the Dominion had not adapted.
Lily remained quiet as she was scanning everything possible. She was making notes on the hostile vessel and the surrounding system.
Teagarden kept his arms crossed as he watched the carnage outside unfold. "It's strange to see a Dominion vessel take a beating like that."
"I've had worse times." Ash commented.
"Once we're over the magnetic pole full stop," Teagarden ordered.
"Understood sir," T'Lisha said.
Gareb looked on from the rear of the bridge. His mouth was slightly ajar as hed never seen anything like it before. And understandable since he spent the vast majority of his time in sickbay. He did know one thing however. After the battle, sickbay would be busy. "I hope my jem hadar anatomy knowledge is up to snuff." he mumbled.
"It doesn't look like Weyoun plans on giving you the opportunity find out." The chief engineer mused.
"Heh." The andorian said, letting out a little laugh. "You're probably right."
William whispered to his First Officer, "Thoughts Exec?"
Bishop didn't rush an answer for answer sake. He thought on the question, "I never thought I'd see a Dominion battleship being ripped to shreds. The other is they seem to be fighting over the world below them. Could it have some significance?" Bishop continued, "Also perhaps we're looking at this from the wrong point of view. What if the Dominion is protecting a world they see as their own and this alien ship is the aggressor, the invader if you will?"
The Admiral sat, thinking carefully over what was being suggested. The evidence certainly supported it. "Astute observation, Captain. What is it about this world they could be fighting over? What are our sensors telling us, Commander?" The Admiral asked as the ship hung over the magnetic pole of the planet below.
"The planet is a warm, wet world featuring extensive jungles, rain forests, and swamps. 2.9 Million people." Lily said.
"That's not a lot of people," William commented absently. He turned to his Acting Tactical Officer, "Begin programming targeting solutions, Commander."
"Yes Sir," Patton immediately followed the orders given. He was going to be damn ready for whatever he needed to do.
T'Lisha wasted no time in inputting battle coordinates and escape vectors.
Galatea stood, arms crossed, as she looked at the viewscreen and the carnage on it. She sighed, "So we're just going to sit here?"
"We're going to observe," the Admiral answered from his chair. "We need to be certain about what is going on before we go in, guns blazing, and potentially making the Federation a target. If we make an error then we could plunge the entire Federation into war. I'm not a fan of that."
"But to just sit here and do nothing while we watch the Dominion ship get torn to pieces. They were once an enemy, now they need our help. Any action that we take here could also strengthen the Federation." She smiled as she said the next part, "Need I remind that this ship's predecessor's actions at Narrendra 3 finalized the establishment of the Federation/Klingon Alliance?"
"The Dominion is not an ally of the Federation and should not be thought of as an ally in any decision to intervene or not to intervene here. I believe the question is not whether we should help the Dominion but whether we should be seeking to avoid hostilities with an unknown species in a first contact situation." Ash observed while she studied the properties of the anti-proton beam weapons in use by the unknown ship so she could formulate a set of shield mods to pass onto Chire for consideration. "There is something dark and devious at work here, Admiral." The Chief Engineer added.
"Admiral, I'm detecting some energy pulses from the unknown vessel." Lily said studying her readings.
The Admiral didn't get a chance to address Ash, instead he turned to the Science Officer, "See if you can get an interpretation of..."
He was interrupted by alarms blaring throughout the Bridge. Weyoun's Battleship had plunged the other Jem'Hadar ship into the unidentified craft. The angular Jem'Hadar ship ripped and tore at the alien vessel, but it was already too late. From the forward hatch of the unidentified ship a disturbingly beautiful projectile surrounded in crimson energy came racing for them. They had no time to react.
Weyoun's voice filtered through, "Federation vessel move away!"
"Whoa!! "T'Lisha hollered as she watched in horror. Her hands danced over the console trying to put some distance between the planet and Enterprise.
William watched as the projectile slammed into the atmosphere of the planet Rakhar below, producing a massive explosion that nearly reached the Enterprise in orbit. Immediately the explosion began to radiate outward across the surface, tearing the planet's surface to pieces as the energy rippled over it. Just as quickly the energy began to change the devastation into something amazing. The particles began to reconfigure and merge together, creating primitive flora and fauna as the energy began to dissipate. The atmosphere shimmered as the new matrix took hold.
"What the Hell just happened?" Admiral Teagarden asked staring at the screen.
"A Genesis Wave?" Bishop asked in shock at what he and the rest of the bridge crew had seen. "Or something very close to it." He added still staring at the view screen.
"What is that?" Chire asked, not having heard the term before.
The Chief Engineer of the Enterprise had watched the effects of the weapon in absolute calm. She'd seen Genesis at work, in person, and this was very, very similar. "It's a bit more efficient than Genesis I think." She commented. "Guess we can go from first contact to public enemy though, to be honest, I'm not seeing a whole lot of difference between this new threat and the Dominion." Ash observed while she glanced over the sensor scans of the before/after effect of the device. "There weren't a lot of people down there. However, there were indications of there, recently, being a population 500 times larger, at least. This lot just finished what the Dominion started." She stated.
"So the Dominion tried to kill these people," Galatea interrupted, "and now whoever these people are they just finished the job for them? If this is how the Dominion treats their friends are we sure we want to pursue this?" She said it being cute, but knew the seriousness of the sitauation.
A series of beeps came from her workstation, "The Dominion vessel has sent out a distress call on wideband frequencies, Admiral."
Admiral Teagarden sat there, staring at the readings and the new planet below them. He took another deep breath, knowing full well that everyone on the Bridge was looking to him for guidance at this point. For some plan. From what he could see only one existed.
"Set course to intercept the unidentified vessel," he ordered. "Full power to shields, program a targeting solution on the unidentified vessel. We're going in..."
"Course set to intercept unidentified vessel sir", T'Lisha said quickly.
Ash responded to the orders with a couple of slow nods. "Admiral, I suggest we fight fire with fire on the defensive side. Shields are going to be, marginally, effective against their weaponry. We can minimize hull and internal damage from the anti-proton beams with, anti -proton, hull sheathing. We'll have more crew injury from getting bounced around but we won't end up like the Dominion Battleship after a few exchanges." The Chief Engineer suggested.
It wasn't as much a concern as they anticipated it being. As they approached the unidentified vessel pivoted on its axis, jumping to warp and fleeing the scene.
"Weyoun is hailing, Admiral," Galatea announced from her workstation.
"On screen."
On the viewer Weyoun, Commander of the Dominion Battleship, appeared before them. He was injured, consoles were exploding around him, and the bridge of the Battleship was dark except for the emergency lights. "Admiral, a little late to help, but I appreciate that you came nonetheless.
"Do you have lifesupport?" William went right to business.
"We're losing multiple systems, Admiral. We have an overload in our intermix chamber. We're at risk of a warp core breach."
He felt a sigh coming, but found a way to hold it back. If the Jem'Hadar ship had a breach they wouldn't be able to prevent its destruction and everyone aboard the ship would die. If they brought the survivors over it was possible that they would overrun the Enterprise's defenses. He couldn't escape his sigh, "Prepare to evacuate to the Enterprise."
"Thank you, Admiral. Your actions will not be forgotten."
As the screen went blank the Admiral exclaimed, "Damn. Begin preparations to transfer the Dominion survivors aboard our ship. Let me know when they're all aboard and 20 credits says Weyoun complains before thanking me for the rescue when they're aboard."
"Admiral, I would like to volunteer to help the medical staff if needed." Chire was fascinated about all species and has not had much opportunity to view anyone from the Dominion up close. "That is, if I can be spared here of course." She didn't want to be neglectful of her duties.
William nodded, "I'm sure Doctor Porter could use the help. Go. Let's get security down there too."
"Yes sir," Chire said as she tapped in the request to the console before standing and leaving her station. She looked back at the bridge crew for a moment and then entered the turbolift.
“I am in it Captain,” O’Sullivan replied and headed off the bridge behind Chire. He was already calling for a couple teams.
The Admiral approached the exit, "Captain, you have the Bridge. Let's see what we can find out about this."
Bishop nodded moved to the center seat and sat down, "Maintain red alert. Security accompany the Admiral as he visits Weyoun."
"Captain Bishop if that was the Genesis wave, maybe we should be asking ourselves is where the hell did they get the technology from? The Genesis project is a top secrete hush hush thing", T'Lisha said.
"And excellent question T'Lisha. My first guess would be they either have a spy inside the Federation or they stole the information. Yet the realty is they have the information if it is indeed the Genesis Wave. If it isn't it's damn close." Bishop replied grimly.
"That would mean......and if you are right, someone has access to the highest level of security inside the federation. Spy or, god forbid, one of the Federations own is a traitor. If the technology was stolen, then who would have gained the largest amount of latinum for selling it?" T'Lisha said.
"Perhaps we should not speculate on how they acquired the technology," the holographic AI interjected, "But rather begin efforts to find a means of defense against it? There has to be some option available," she looked at Commander Snow, "Would you be interested in collaborating, Commander?"
Commander Randall considered the direction of the current conversation and whether she should chime in. The technology of the Genesis wave, while a deep, dark, secret within the Federation, was nothing new and had, quite obviously, been used by the Preservers to create a number of duplicate worlds for the species they had gathered. That others would have thought of, developed, and deployed the technology should come as no surprise. The Gorn had a version of Genesis. The Tuansee sighed, inwardly.
"Would anyone care to surmise how the Preservers could create an exact duplicate of a planet?" She asked, and let the question sort of hang in the air for a second or two. "The Genesis Wave was developed by Federation Scientists nearly 2 hundred years ago. The concept is not unique nor is it outside the capabilities of a host of species to, independently, develop. You would hope that, any species advanced enough to develop it, would be mature enough NOT to. Anything is possible. But, is it a good idea?" The Chief Engineer questioned and looked to Commander Snow. "Daystrom has some, classified, research on the subject of how to defend against a weapon based upon the Genesis wave." Ash advised here. "It might be useful." She added.
The holographic AI of the ship nodded, "I'm certain that it will. Perhaps, however, we should keep speculation to the minimum for the time being and focus on the task at hand, especially with the Jem'Hadar on board." She took a simulated breath and looked at the debris before them, "For all our sakes. I for one don't want to be singing 'Hail the Conquering Dominion'.
Data for any potential scans on the region:
Planetary Data
Planet Name: Rakhar
Class: Class M
System Data: Rakhar orbits a K-class Main Sequence star and is the 4th planet in a system of 11 worlds. It features two small moons that orbit in a binary orbit around the meridian of the planet.
Gravity: .91 G
Year and Day: The planet takes 411 days to orbit its parent star and a typical day lasts 21.25 hours.
Atmosphere: Oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere.
Hydrosphere: 64% of the surface of the world is covered in water.
Climate: The planet Rakhar is a warm, wet world featuring extensive jungles, rain forests, and swamps.
Sapient Species: 2.9 Million Rakhari due to the employment of the Quickening by the Dominion.
Technology Classification: Level 5/6 - Despite having obtained FTL capability, many of the capacities of a Level 6 civilization have not been obtained. Advanced alloys and composites are common, computers, rudimentary energy and nuclear weapons are available.
Government: Oligarchy - A small ruling class, primarily based upon hereditary, manages the governmental needs of the Rakhari. The Rakhari have a repressive government and employ capital punishment against those who speak out against their government.
Culture: Primarily the Rakhari are xenophobic and have proven that they were reluctant to have contact with any species from the Alpha Quadrant. The Rakhari have a repressive government and employ capital punishment against those who speak out against their government. Rakhari practice polygamous marriage, with multiple spouses and shared children common, and they have a mythological system that incorporates Changelings in their history. Nonetheless, until having been conquered by the Dominion, they believed the existence of Changelings to be apocryphal.
Affiliation: The Dominion conquered the Rakhari in the early 25th century through the application of a genetic virus known as the Quickening.
Resources: Rakhar is a resource poor world; however, deposits of latinum have been detected by scans employed by the Ferengi during the mid-24th Century. Due to the outbreak of the Dominion War the Ferengi were never able to act on efforts to mine the resource.
Places of Note: Nehelik Province was an area in the southern hemisphere of the planet.
Ship Facilities: Rakhar features limited support facilities for interstellar craft due to the xenophobic nature of their species.
Other Details: Prior to the application of the Quickening by the Dominion to establish control of the Rakhari, the planet featured a diverse population of over 1.7 billion.
Tactical Analysis: Dominion Battleship
Affiliation: Dominion
Type: Command Battleship
Dimesions: Length: 1,282 meters; Beam: 1,048 meters; Height: 324 meters
Crew: 3,500
Armament: Polaron Beam Cannons, Torpedoes
Defense: Deflector shields
Maximum Speed: Warp 9.6
Auxiliary craft: Jem'Hadar Attack Fighters
Tactical Analysis: Unidentified Battleship
Affiliation: Unknown
Type: Battleship
Dimesions: Length: 1,372 meters; Beam: 596 meters; Height: 296 meters
Crew: 3,000
Armament: Anti-Proton Beam Cannons, Torpedoes
Defense: Deflector shields
Maximum Speed: Unknown
Auxiliary craft: 100 Support Fighters
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