Testing the Waters

Posted on Wed Mar 4th, 2015 @ 5:01pm by Commodore Kathleen O'Shea & Lieutenant Commander Adria "Tempest" Desoro & Lieutenant Commander Maurelle Valentine & Master Chief Petty Officer Allison Wilshire

Mission: Bloodpath
Location: Taranok IV-Pheonix Base

"Ma'am, we need you in Ops." The runner disappeared before Aria could even recognize the person that had made the announcement.

Adria made her way to Ops. During all her years of active duty she'd witnessed a lot of technological advances and additions to make life easier and more efficient when operating away from home. Entering the designated Cerberus Module, "Lieutenant Commander Desoro reporting as ordered."

"I'd say you outrank me, sir." The young Lieutenant stated without turning from the console. "We are getting...well, hit's on the outer sensor grid that we installed yesterday. From the signature and operational pattern, I'd say it's enemy fighters probing our defenses." As she spoke a soft chime sounded from her console, and a pair of red blips appeared very briefly. "There...you see? Been getting that for about twenty minutes now."

Taking a closer look at the telemetry. "Keep tracking it. We have a fighter patrol of our own up. I can task them to intercept but we don't want them to get an idea of our own patterns if we can avoid it. As usual we'll further assistance ready to launch on short notice if needed. Until we have a valid reason to change our current approach our main goal is to keep them guessing as long as possible what we're capable of."

Adria continued, "In the mean time make sure Intel has an eye on this as well. I'll keep command in the loop. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"Nothing other than this, Commander. So far it's been relatively qui..." An alarm started sounding loudly from the display console. "Tracking multiple contacts inbound! Looks like...yes, firming up now. Contacts appear to be anti-sensor missiles...6 total inbounds in three flights of two. Headed for the north remote sensor stations. Contact in..." The data feed from sites 11, 12, and 14 went dead. "We're blind, sir. Thirteen is the only one left and..." The feed went dark from 13 as well. "Scratch that. We're blind North, sir."

The look on Adria's face said it all. "Launch the alert 5's. I'll notify command. We need to close those holes and get our sensor feeds back up ASAP. We need to fortify our perimeters better and can't allow them to take advantage of the weakness they created in our defense net."

A nearby explosion shook the Module, a good indication that things were escalating rapidly. "I think they are serious this time. Reports coming in of ground forces 2 kilometers north of the base and closing. Air strikes seem limited to taking out the monitoring network at this time. But..." She didn't need to say more. They all knew the next logical move.

A young Lieutenant with a gray collar would be the next to enter the module. As he rushed through door placing his hand on a wall leaning into it while he caught his breath. "You folks need to get out of here immediately. The reports are wrong, the force is much larger we are gonna get overrun unless we retreat."

Lieutenant Sterling looked up from his console at the new arrival. "That's not really an option. It would take a couple of days to get people out of here. We have over ten thousand refugees alone here, not counting Starfleet personnel from various commands, and the Taranok military and public service personnel. Plus the infrastructure we have in place here...ain't gonna happen."

"Then I'd suggest you find a way to turn them into Marines because that's the only way we are getting out of here alive." The Lieutenant in gray replied.

An Ensign wearing the insignia of Combat Operations came over to them and held out a weapon. "Will these help? There are four cases of them sitting outside. I just happened to recognize the inventory markings on them." The weapon he presented to them was a Marine TR-116a. "There are several ammo cases as well. Looks like a good mix of types. Each case has twelve of these in them. There is also a case of smoke grenades as well. One hundred count if I remember correctly. Looks like we got the Marines weapons...just forgot the Marines."

The Lieutenant looked first at the rifle and then to the Ensign wide-eyed in disbelief. "Seems like you have enough 'Marines' out there no more ill-suited then the mess coming towards you. Ensign you just might have saved our hides." He gave the Ensign a pat on the shoulder and a smile of gratitude.

Adria nodded, "Those will do nicely. Our goal is to do our best to drive them back as much as possible. We'll need all hands on the ground to assist."

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Meanwhile around a kilometer to the north, about 70 Vidiian ground troops were making their way towards the enemy base of operations. At least that was what they had been told. And only 12 of the group were combat soldiers. The rest were chosen from every other specialty department that had made planetfall after the initial wave. Most were construction engineers and of all things, science personnel.

"This is a load of snafret. We don't belong here. I'm not anymore of a soldier than you are."

Arunes only grunted in agreement. That was all he could spare while still trying to figure out the weapon that had been thrown into his hands as he had arrived for a new assignment briefing.

A big steaming load of snafret.

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Looking at the assembled group Adria knew she had to do her best to lead be a good leader on the ground as well as in the air. "From what I'm seeing they've left holes for us to exploit. This attack doesn't appear to be well coordinated and we can use that to our advantage."

"Plus we have the high ground. That is, as long as we move now." The Ensign added. "That, with coordinated air assist should do us well. What air assets do we have now?"

Carefully considering his words, "We have two squadrons heavily engaged. Our alert five's just launched so I can easily task them to cover us."

"As long as the enemy air assets are occupied, they cannot effect the ground action. That is a tactical win for us in this case." Another NCO appeared dragging another large case behind him. "these might help as well, sirs."

Allison had walked in just behind the man dragging the case, and she made her way over to where he had dropped it and quickly opened the lid, having to input a secure code to do so. That could only mean...

"Yes, this should do nicely." She lifted one of the weapons out and tossed it to Valentine. It was one of the new Mark 24 Personal Single Shot Grenade Launchers. There were 6 in the case, along with 96 anti-personnel grenades in the trays below it. "I didn't even realize that we had sent any of these here."

The look in Adria's eye said it all, "Wonderful. I had no clue we had any of them on hand either. Good find."

A pair of distant explosions drove home the importance of the timeline they were up against. Sterling looked at his console. Several streams of data were flowing in now. "Just a hair over a kilometer on the ground troops now. The air action has moved off to the northeast."

"Cool we need a full inventory of stuff as soon as we can get it. Right now however our main objective is to drive these guys back. The sooner we're in motion the better," Adria replied checking her weapon. Not bothering to look back as she moved for the doorway. "Let's move it people we're running out of time."

The assembled team quickly started to grab equipment and issue calls for additional personnel as they exited the Operations Center. None of them had any idea of what to expect, but they all held on to the same thought.

Some of them would not be coming back.

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O'Shea as multiple NPCs
Starbase 80 & Taranok IV

Lt Commander Adria "Tempest" Desoro
220th CAG
Starbase 80 (Currently on Taranok IV)

Lieutenant Commander Maurelle Valentine
Chief Intelligence Officer
Starbase 80

Master Chief Petty Officer Allison Wilshire
Command Master Chief
Starbase 80