Red Alert!

Posted on Sat Jan 28th, 2017 @ 10:40pm by Brigadier General Christopher Mitchell & Commander Andrew Knight & Lieutenant JG Lexxa Sereion

Mission: Another Day in Paradise
Location: Starbase 900
Timeline: Immediately before the Borg attack

ON:

===== Fighter No. 2681-015 | Call sign: Drifter =====

Colonel Christopher Mitchell sat back in the cockpit of his Valkyrie and yawned. Normally, he didn't afford himself that luxury since his squadron commanders might think that he was getting old and beginning to slow down. Every day was a battle to fly faster and cleaner than the other guy and set the standard all over again. Tilting the stick to keep himself level, he checked his sensor display and saw that the squadron was flying in a strict delta formation and matching his every course correction. Opening a channel, he spoke to his pilots. "As always, there shouldn't be any traffic today so stick to your section leaders and your flight path, if all goes well we'll be home in time for breakfast. Drifter, out."

Continuing a slow revolution around the massive docking rings, Christopher kept his head on a swivel. Even though the base was on lockdown for routine maintenance, there was almost always something that ended up triggering a tactical alert. The previous day, a large cluster of irradiated ferrous dust was dumped just outside of the base perimeter, causing a launch of the alert fighters and a search for the culprit. Keeping a close eye on his sensors, he continued on a steady course, banking to starboard to begin another patrol of the outer perimeter. One of the squadron leaders, Lieutenant Commander Harrold 'Lobo' Wulff was flying his port wing and trying to concentrate as well.

"Drifter. Lobo. Anything on your side?" Wulff inquired.

"Negative, Lobo. Dust and echoes-" Christopher was interrupted as his sensors beeped at him briefly, then stopped as a contact appeared on his sensor, illuminating his cockpit in an eerie shade of crimson then disappeared. "-scratch that. Did you see that contact?"

There was a momentary silence as Lobo looked down at his sensor display. "I did but where-" Wulff's transmission cut out. Locking his eyes forward, Christopher saw small green pinpricks of light against the blackness of space. Almost like a lot of someones or somethings were dropping out of warp. A cold sense of dread permeated him down to his bones as his sensor screen illuminated with four contacts that were giving off transwarp signatures. Looking out of the cockpit transparisteel, he could see them moving closer slowly and could begin to make out three distinctly cube shaped objects along with a single sphere drifting closer with an almost mechanical precision. The dread in his heart only grew, turning into a hot and nauseating wave of fear.

"Damn! Lobo, we gotta warn the base. I think these are Borg. Peel off!" Christopher stopped as his communications channel was flooded with static and then silence- they were being jammed. Pushing hard to starboard on the stick, he activated his afterburners and pushed forward on the stick. Switching to the emergency channel, he began speaking while trying to maintain his cool and hoping that someone would receive it.

"Krypter! Krypter! Krypter! This is Drifter, I'm detecting multiple Borg signatures and request that we go to full combat alert! Stand by to receive sensor logs. “Flipping a couple of switches, he began to transmit. As he did so, he saw small points of energy begin to coalesce and shift, then they arced out towards the base, striking it below the docking platforms.


=====Starbase 900 Operations Center=====

Drew stifled a yawn as he took a sip of his fourth cup of coffee. He was on his final leg of the sixteen hour Duty Officer of the Watch and was looking forward to a hot breakfast, shower and sleep. He was making the hourly duty log entry when the enlisted technician at the communications called for him. "Sir, incoming transmission from the CAP."

Drew hit a button at his console and feed of the communication began to play over the speaker. He blinked several times and turned to the operations specialist manning the sensor. "Sensors confirm report."

The ops specialist checked the reading on his monitor. "Confirmed sir. Subspace distortions bearing 280 mark 125, distance 150 million kilometers. The distortions are consistent with Borg transwarp technology."

Drew slapped his hand down on the general quarters button. Alert klaxons went off as he ordered the communications specialist to put him on the base wide circuit. "All hands to battle stations! Incoming Borg forces on approach! This is not a drill! I say again, this is not a drill!"

Lieutenant Junior Grade Danny Stearn, the Engineering Officer of the Watch felt the first hit register as a faint vibration in the deckplates that grew. "Sir, we're being fired upon! Engineering plants 203 through 208 reporting light damage and buckling bulkheads. Permission to away Damage Control Teams?"

Drew looked at a duty board and nodded. "Dispatch Teams 4 through 7 to handle it."


======Marine Barracks, Deck 132, Starbase 900======

Sirens begin to echo through Ja'xon's quarters, awakening him. Instinct and his training immediately take over, as he jumps out of bed instantly recognizing the situation. Within seconds the Marine is dressed and out the door, armed with his personal phaser and multiple knives. Personnel had to store rifles in the armory.

"Let's go Marines!" He shouted through the halls making sure his men were on the move. If the sirens didn't manage to awaken the Marines, then the shout of their half Klingon Platoon Sergeant definitely did. Ja'xon knows his squad leaders will have their teams up and on the move.

He taps on his com badge, "Sergeant Ja'xon to Squad Leaders." He receives their acknowledgments, "I am going to go ahead to the armory, make sure there won't be any hold ups for you, and then I will be heading to Ops and gather whatever Intel is available. Ensure your men are go to go, no idea what we could be getting in to." Four confirmations answer him. Good, he thought, questions at the wrong time only slows us down.

Ja'xon is grateful that whoever assigned the location of the Marine detachment had enough common sense to put the armory close to the barracks. He was able to make it there and retrieve his weapon in great time. Having his main weapon in hand brought a greater sense of security to Ja'xon.

Now he needed to figure out what in the hell was going on. Ja'xon found his way to the nearest lift and stepped in as the doors opened, "To Ops Center."


=====Cara's Quarters=====

Cara sat straight up in bed at the first bleat of the klaxon sounded. Before she even opened her eyes the sound of Lt. Knight's announcement echoed through her quarters. Her eyes snapped open to the pulsating red light bars built into the ceiling. The Borg. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph," she said to the empty room as she jumped out of bed and grabbed her emergency jumpsuit from the chair and began putting it on. With one boot on and the other in her hand, Cara dashed out of her quarters, fighting to put her boot on as she ran.


=====Café/Promenade=====

Alexxa and her identical twin Lexxa Sereion sat across from one another, comfortably nestled in a café on the promenade. The two were raised on a transport ship and were as close as two siblings could be. They had sat in their father’s lap as he piloted the transport vessel before either of them could walk. From their father’s lap they grew, and because they grew up in space the two enlisted into Starfleet, hungry to advance their passion passed on to them by their father – a passion rooted in their desire to pass their days flying out against the stars. They went through all their classes together and upon graduation they strived to find postings together – and one month ago they wound up on Starbase 900 – snuggled deeply inside The Delta Quadrant; an area of space neither of them had flown before.

For Alexxa the past few months had proved fruitful; she was a proud member of the Fighter pilots which made up the 900’s defenses. In this way, she was unlike her sister Lexxa who had always performed better and preferred flying a starship. Lexxa simply hated being grounded to a Starbase; but, Alexxa was enjoying it to the fullest – a perfect fit of sorts. She had already learned more in the past month from her squad commander than all her years at the Academy. This was no doubt where she wanted to be. Even if her sister wasn’t pleased; she was still happy to have her, if even to have lunch with and to listen to her complain.

Alexxa looked over at her identical twin as she munched on a carrot stick, “When does your shift start?”

“1400, yours?” Lexxa asked as she took a bite from her Caesar salad.

“1600. Finally, our rotations overlap. I might see you during drills.”

“Drills? More drills? We came half way across the galaxy and here we are stuck on this steel rock flying drills! We might as well have stayed home with father to pull cargo. Starfleet was meant to be exciting!”

Alexxa shook her head at his sister and sighed, “always the pessimist!”

“You know its true Alexxa, we sit down in dock, tinker with our flyer and then do a fly by. Day in, day out. We could be out there you know? In space, going boldly!”

Alexxa smirked, “Tinker with your flyer? Is that what you call drooling over Lieutenant Williams?” Alexxa giggled now as she stood up and walked behind her seated sister. She wrapped her arms around her wearing a huge warm smile, “I’ve seen you, you can’t hide it.” He nuzzled her face against her sister’s, “Oh come on sis, it isn’t too bad. Look at all we learned? Look at what we are flying. It isn’t daddy’s old rust bucket. We are on the final frontier here. Something exciting is right around the corner!” She let go of her sister and walked towards the door, “Come on, let’s go boldly onto the holodeck and go snowshoeing before shift.”

Lexxa laughed lightly back at her sister as he followed her…

The two of them frozen upon hearing the security announcement, the red klaxons flashed against their cheeks. The women’s stomachs sunk to their toes as they looked at each other like deers in the headlights. “You had to screw it up and challenge the Delta Quadrant didn’t you? Come on let’s get down to the hanger bay!” Alexxa said as he took off down toward the bay, she didn’t stop for her sister’s response until she heard it. A loud crash – a crash so piercing that it took Alexxa to her stomach. She blinked as she worked desperately to get her bearings – the whole scene fell silent after the blast. Alexxa’s only thought now was her sister who was behind her; she rolled to the side to look back – seeing only a pile of debris where her sister had stood only moments before. “NO!” Her lips moved but she couldn’t hear her voice, only feel the sensation of the tears that dripped over her cheeks.


=====Shuttlecraft/Fighter Maintenance Bay=====

"It's either broke or it isn't, Ensign," Senior Chief Podolsky told the part of Grace that wasn't stuck in the open panel of the shuttlecraft the two were servicing.

"Actually, it's both, at least until I can access the array in question," Grace said as she crawled out of the open panel. "Can you hand me that hyperspanner?" Grace asked.

Podolsky handed Grace the tool she asked for. Grace took the tool in question and promptly disappeared back into the shuttlecraft. The Senior Chief had taken an immediate liking to the recent Academy graduate, who had only recently been assigned to SB900. More than a few newly commissioned officers assigned to engineering felt as if maintenance positions were beneath them, wanting positions where the newly commissioned officer could make an "impact." Grace, on the other hand, dove happily into her newly assigned duty of servicing and maintaining the various auxiliary vessels assigned to SB900. She even told Podosky that it was like starting her career as a "Chief Engineer in Scale."

And conversations with Ensign Dark Wolf were always interesting.

"What do you mean it being both, Ensign?" he asked.

"Got it!" Grace yelled from inside the shuttlecraft. When she reemerged, there was a broad smile and smudges on her face. "We can put this one back in the mix."

Grace brushed off her coveralls as she continued, "You know, quantum superimposition. Until I could get to that array, or at least get an accurate readout on it, it was simultan---"

Grace's explanation was interrupted by a klaxon sounding, followed by an announcement of "All hands to battle stations! Incoming Borg forces on approach! This is not a drill! I say again, this is not a drill!"

Grace and Podolsky exchanged looks, before Grace said, "Let's get to the flight deck, Senior Chief. Those fighters are going to need every hand they can get."

"Right behind you, Ensign," Podolsky answered as the two trotted to the flight deck.


=====Family Quarters of Austin, Meredith and Ashley Knight=====

Ashley was deep in slumber when the klaxon sounded. She woke partially and thrust an arm out to slam down on the alarm clock that sat on her night table. She pulled a pillow over her head to muffle the noise when that failed to stop the offending alarm. She was just beginning to drift back to sleep when she felt arms grab her. She blinked at the flashing red lights illuminating the face of her mother hovering over her.

Meredith was shaking Ashley vigorously. Her face a mask of barely contained panic. "Ashley you have to get up right now and get dressed."

Ashley rubbed sleep out of her eyes as she sat up. She had never seen the pulsating flash of the starbase. "Wha...what's going on mom?"

Meredith was at Ashley's closet, already pulling out a travel bag and tossing it onto her daughter’s dresser. "Get dressed and pack some clothes for a few days. Meet me in the living room in two minutes and I'll explain."

Ashley hesitated for only a moment as she watched her mom dash out the door to her bedroom. She jumped up and threw on a blouse, jeans and shoes. She packed two additional sets of clothing into her bag and was about to rush out the door when she spotted her stuffed chimpanzee on the floor amidst the pile of bed covers. She grabbed the toy and shoved it into the bag. "Come on Monkey Bunkey." She then rushed out to the living room to meet her mom.


=====Starbase 900 Operations Center=====

Drew was correlating incoming data on the approaching Borg forces. Numbers, velocity, vectors of approach and estimated time to weapons range. He heard the doors to the turbolift open. He looked up, expecting to see the base commander or one of the other members of the senior staff. Instead he noticed a marine noncom step out into Ops.

"Lieutenant," Ja'xon said as he stepped off the lift, "How many Borg vessels have been reported so far?" The marine, dressed for battle, crouched behind Lt. Knight hoping to find some answers on the view screen the officer was looking at. "Any word from Marine Command? I haven't been able to get in to contact with anyone along my chain of command."

Drew remembered Sergeant Ja'xon from some of the joint training exercises the marines have done with his special warfare troop. He gestured to the deployment board. "Reports are just coming in Sergeant Ja'xon. Any word from Captain Hiller (interim Marine Company Commander)?"

Ja'xon looked over the reports and didn't see anything. "First and Second platoons were out doing training exercises, running through boarding drills." This meant that each platoon manned a ship and rotated infiltrating the other. "Lieutenant Marrah," his platoon commander, "mentioned that all of Marine command may be out observing this training exercise."

Jumping to the worst case scenario, typically, was not how Ja'xon worked. He always goes for the most realistic scenario, it just so happens that the two are looking to be one in the same this time. "Do you see any friendly vessels on our scanners? They have to be out there somewhere."

Drew keyed in a command at the main operations table and a holographic image of Starbase 900 and nearby space appeared in the air above the table. There on the edge of the holo display was a force of Starfleet vessels that appeared to be traveling at warp to their location. The 20 Borg vessels, though closer, were approaching at a much slower velocity at impulse speeds.


=====Medical Deck=====

Cara dashed through the doors of the Emergency Room and looked around for the ACMO...who was normally in charge of the medical department's second shift. He was already standing in the center of the room, giving orders.

Seeing his boss arrive, Dr. Markham said, "First response teams are already at their stations. I'll handle triage and King is firing up the medical transporter."

"Thanks, Lance," Cara said with a grateful smile. "Where's Mac?" she asked, looking around for her head nurse (who, in her opinion, actually ran things.)

"Waiting on comm checks from our First Responders," Mac called out from behind the nurses' station counter.

Cara smiled. "I want to secure the Wards and shut down power to any unoccupied rooms and units," she said.

"I already sent security to Ward 1 and 2, Peds and ICU," Lance said. "There's no one in the Burn Unit or Iso and Surgical is shutting down all but two suites so all power can be diverted to where it is most needed. It'll be easier for security to control things up there."

Cara clapped Dr. Markham on the shoulder. "Good job, Lance. Thank you," she said. As the last of the off duty personnel filed through the doors and the teams of First Responders began reporting in Cara tapped her combadge and said, "Nichols to Ops...Medical is ready and standing by," then she shrugged and said to everyone waiting, "now we wait. It's the Borg. This could get ugly so be ready for anything."


=====Operations Center=====

Drew was standing at the communications station when the call from Medical came in. The communications specialist was already swamped fielding a number of other incoming transmission, so he responded himself. "Acknowledged Doctor Nichols. Prepare for incoming wounded, but... also start preparations for an evacuation." He keyed in a duty command code. "I've set Emergency Transporter Seven for your discretion. USS Hopper is on standby as the evacuation ship for Medical and Engineering Departments."

"Acknowledged," came Cara's voice.

Commander Austin Knight, Starbase 900's Chief of Staff and third in command, stepped off the turbolift onto the Ops Deck. "Report!

Drew turned to his brother and gestured to the tactical threat board. He made a quick and concise report and assessment of the situation.

Austin moved his eyes back and forth across the board, absorbing the information as Drew gave the brief report. "Drew. I want you to report to the bridge of the Zumwalt. Get her out there to support the combat air patrol and buy us some time until the relief force arrives."

Drew's brow knit, but he nodded to his brother. "Yes sir."

Austin turned to Ja'xon. "Sergeant, are you familiar with starship tactical systems?"

"Familiar enough, sir." He said in response, "Though, I do not like the idea of leaving my men. At this moment we have just one platoon of Marines left to defend the entire base." Ja'xon turned to Commander Knight, "Given current circumstances, sir, I believe my orders must come from you." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, "I see two options. Option 1: We split up my men between the Zumwalt and the base. Those onboard the ship will act as security, tactical, and defense against any Borg who find their way on the ship. Those staying here will defend Starbase 900 with their lives. Option 2: And this is the one I prefer, all of my men come with me on the Zumwalt and we officially announce evacuation." He stops again, knowing that suggesting something like this doesn't come lightly. "Sir, my Marine's primary duty is to defend the men and women on this base. A job typically done with many platoons and support staff. As of right now, I can say with 100% certainty that we have ONE platoon. One against all of this." He motioned to the view screen showing the rapidly approaching Borg cubes.

"What are your orders, sir?"

Austin looked towards the screens and back towards the Sergeant awaiting his order. He wasn't a Tactical Officer, he was simply an Operations Officer who had gotten lucky. "We need to defend this base to the last. If we lose it, the Federation's presence in the quadrant is lost. Let's take Option One and effective now, you're a Second Lieutenant. Inform the security teams that they now report to you-" Austin was interrupted as the base rocked and he was thrown to the deck. Grabbing onto a rail, he pulled himself back up. "Now go. We need to defend this place."

Turning back to the console, he pointed to the Tactical Officer. "Raise shields and target everything we have at the Borg fleet and prepare to fire on my command." Hopping over the rail, he looked over the flight control officer's shoulder. "What's the status on the Air Wing?"

The flight control officer, a Lieutenant Junior Grade Maxwell Stearn spoke up. "Sir, the Air Wing is deployed and is covering the evac shuttles- wait, I'm detecting additional contacts entering our space. Their giving off Borg signatures but their smaller and faster than anything I've seen before!"

Austin nodded. "Who's leading the CAP right now?"

"Checking now, sir." Lieutenant Stearns fingers drifted and danced across the control. "It appears to be Colonel Mitchell, sir. He led the patrol earlier this morning."

Austin nodded. "Understood. Send him the signatures."

The newly appointed Marine officer took off towards the lift as he began to quickly give orders to his men via com link, "Squads 1 and 2, report to the USS Zumwalt and await my orders." He paused, not ready to give his next order as it could be the last these men will ever receive, "Squads 3 and 4 will be staying here to defend this base, repel as many Borg drones as you can. Give them hell, Marines."

Drew was right alongside the field promoted marine officer. He'd sent messages to his own special warfare platoons during the chaos that had been the Operations Center. "Come on Lieutenant Ja'xon. We have a Defiant-class vessel to get into this fight she was specifically designed for."


=====Medical Deck=====

Nurse Meredith Knight and her daughter Ashley entered the Med Center. She parked Ashley in a chair in the waiting area and rushed over to her night shift counterpart. "Hey Mac. What still needs to be readied?"

Mac was about to answer Meredeth when Cara clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Listen up, everyone. We need to start evacuations. I need ten of you to go upstairs and help with evacuating the inpatients," she said. Several people raised their hands to volunteer so Cara waved them off. "Go. We're evacuating to the Hopper. See you guys there," then as the volunteers rushed off, she turned her attention back to the group that stayed. "As patients come in, stabilize and get them to either our transporter or transporter 7. There are 20 hover gurneys in the storage room for the non-ambulatory patients. Mac...secure the medicine room. Lock her down. Meredeth...transfer all current patient charts to Intel so they can secure them in their super-secret database thingy. Ensign King...reprogram our transporter's destination to the Hopper's Sickbay. Lance...release 5 at a time to go get their personal belongings. Each group of 5...report back here once you have what you're going to take with you. Unless things start to come apart. Then just get to the transporter room or an escape pod."

Ashley rose from her seat in the waiting area and approached Meredith. "Mom, is there anything I can do to help?"

Meredith looked around at the controlled chaos that was the Medical Center and shook her head. She turned back to Ashley and grabbed her daughter's arms. She shook her head and then pointed to the bags by Ashley's chair. "Not here, but you can get our bags and go to docking port two. Your dad and I will be along as soon as possible. OK?"

Ashley nodded. She knew the weekly emergency evacuation protocol drills were supposed to prepare all those who worked and lived in the Delta Quadrant, but she couldn't help being a bit apprehensive in light this was not a drill. "Don't be long." She knew that medical personnel would be busy with evacuation prep, so she didn't tarry any longer. She returned to the waiting area and hoisted a bag onto each shoulder and then grabbed the last one. She exited the Medical Center and left for the Hopper.

Meredith returned to the Nurse's station and began keying in the commands that would send copies of the medical records the Sickbay computer aboard the Hopper. She looked at the rate of data transfer. "Doctor Nichols, it will take about 20 minutes to complete the file transfer."


====== Fighter No. 2681-015 | Call sign: Drifter ======

Christopher was jinking left and right trying to avoid arcing green beams of weapons fire from a Borg sphere that made his hair stand on end. Momentarily blinded, he kept flying forward and saw a miniature of an explosion blossom out of the corner of his eye- another one of his people lost. Pulling back on the stick, Chris climbed rapidly then spiraled back down, his microphasers firing out concentrated nadion bursts. Tweaking the stick, he was now on a strafing run with spurts of green flame erupting from the ship where his phasers were hitting. Feeling a shudder that sent him rolling, he saw a gray blur out of the corner of his eye. Once he managed to stabilize his fighter, he could see that it looked organic with what appeared to be tentacles on its aft end and metallic sharp edges that left a green trail as it streaked through space. This was something he had never seen before, so the only logical choice was to chase it and hopefully blow it away.


=====All Communication Channels: Originating from Borg cubes=====

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

: OFF