Final Preparations

Posted on Apr 09, 2016 @ 3:40pm by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane

Mission: Fortress: Earth

"FINAL PREPARATIONS"

(Continued from "Sleepers")

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Captain's Log, supplemental - as our voyage home finally draws to a close, I am faced with the one task that no commanding officer ever wants to do...

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Location: USS Phoenix, en route to sector zero-zero-one
Stardate: [2.16]0409.1940
Scene: Captain's Ready Room, Deck 1 (saucer section)


Michael Turlogh Kane activated his desktop terminal with a feeling of resigned discomfort. Bereavement letters were always difficult to write - although Starfleet tactfully provided several pre-written templates to choose from, it was expected that the commanding officer of the letter's subject write a paragraph or two outlining their personal relationship with the deceased.

Only Kane had had no relationship with Ensign Samantha Perry. She had come aboard at Elandipole, one of the many faces in the great sea of transfers that had happened when the fleet reorganised itself. The Phoenix alone had gained around seven hundred new personnel, and one more or less in any department would not have made much of a difference. From what he understood, she had not formed any personal relationships of her own on board, but that had not stopped her from being one of the more distinctive members of the crew with her Human-Vulcan-Orion-Trill heritage. The child of Starfleet personnel herself, it was truly a tragedy that she had been lost so early in her career. So much potential, dissolved away by the Promethean Device.

Captain and Crewman Perry, on behalf of the crew of this starship, I am deeply saddened by the death of your daughter, Ensign Samantha Perry, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Phoenix. We will never forget her service, nor can we ever repay the debt that this crew owes to your family.

Kane had not been there when the moment came, but he had read the reports of Jake Crichton and Aerdan Jos, both of whom described in grisly detail how the Promethean Device had worked. Some sort of biocide fluid had dissolved Sam Perry and converted her into material that the Promethean Device then used to reconstruct Thomas Varn from one of the fleet's stolen genetic templates. The Promethean Device was reduced to slag now, but the damage was done.

A simple letter cannot ease the pain of losing a child, but I hope you can take some solace in knowing that her brave sacrifice saved the lives of several other members of the away team and was instrumental in the destruction of a Neo-Essentialist bio-weapon. We honour her not only for that sacrifice, but also in knowing that she was the embodiment of the highest and most meritorious standards of service to Starfleet.

Kane paused a moment, recalling the time he had broken the news of Solomon Arn's death to his fiancee. Dido had coughed out angry, useless tears, at first refusing to fully believe it, insisting that there had been some mistake. Samantha Perry's parents would be going through a similar process once they had been notified of her passing, and try as he might, Kane could not find a combination of words that would soften the blow he knew they were going to take.

I extend my heartfelt condolences to you and your family, and duties permitting, will make myself available if you need to make contact with me. Respectfully yours, Captain Michael Turlogh Kane.

It didn't sound right, but nothing would. Kane paused a moment, knowing that when he saved the file to his desktop terminal the computer would automatically send it off into the ether. The matter would be closed, and the last vestige of Samantha Perry's brief life aboard the Phoenix would be gone.

His finger hovered over the control pad. Life goes on, he told himself. It will go on when you are gone too. All we can do is keep moving forward. Soon, we will all be in the fight of our lives, and many more of us might be joining Samantha Perry in the afterlife.

Michael Turlogh Kane pushed the button and sent out the letter.

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Location: USS Century, at the head of the fleet approaching Earth
Scene: Bridge


Rear Admiral Dexter Marxx patiently ran his down the list of readiness reports from the fleet, the final such list of reports before their arrival in the Terran system. One hundred and thirty starships of various classes and configurations, crewed by some ninety-nine thousand personnel, awaited his final orders. If everything went according to plan (and it never did), the fleet would blockade Earth and assess the Neo-Essentialist strengths before deciding on the best course of action to topple Richard Edgerton and his insane organisation.

Since her refit, the Century had been stripped of much of her firepower. Her role in the upcoming confrontation would be that of a command vessel, where the fleet's senior military officers could exercise strategic control over any battle. The USS Demeter and USS Jenner would also be hanging back - the All-Father forbid that the Demeter be destroyed, as it would wipe out the legitimate Federation government in one stroke. The Jenner, being a dedicated hospital ship, would act as a triage unit for any surplus of casualties. The USS Lowe, being an unarmed converted supply freighter, was a non-combatant.

The rest of the fleet - some one hundred and twenty-six starships - were divided into two battlegroups of sixty-three starships each. Both battlegroups were broken down into squadrons that had been designed for multi-role fleet actions - the destroyers would go in first, then the cruisers and their escorts would move to support them. Each battlegroup was to be led by one of the fleet's two Sovereign-class battleships - the USS Monarch and the USS Imperial. Although a design now sixty years old, the Sovereign-class was still well-capable of operating as a command vessel in its own right, and both the Monarch and the Imperial would be responsible for interpreting and executing orders from the Century, the fleet's flagship. In the event that one of the battleships was destroyed, the Century would move forward to take its place, but if both battleships were lost (an event which would only happen if the battle was going very badly), then the fleet would regroup under one command ship.

The Phoenix, though - that was the linchpin. Since her launch nearly two years ago, the Phoenix's existence had been the Federation's trump card that it could not play. Her devastating offensive firepower would be crucial to any fleet action, best used as a dynamic weapon that could respond to where it was needed most. It was thanks to the All-Father that there were no other Phoenix-class starships in existence - its launch had tipped the quadrant's naval balance of power back in favour of the Federation, but it was a curse that she had been too long outside of Starfleet's control. No doubt the Romulans and Dominion were attempting to construct something to rival her, but for right now, the best weapon that the Federation had was not here. He fervently hoped that whatever had delayed the Phoenix had not been fatal.

Idly, Marxx scolled down through the list of starships in each battlegroup. He saw that the Zhukov had been assigned to the Monarch's group, and he remembered Siobhan's visit to him of a few days ago. He paused a moment, recalling holding her in the Century's conference room a few days ago. He had not stopped thinking about her since then, but the thoughts kept getting muddled with his duties the fleet's admiral. There was always some new report to be signed, some new decision to be made, and with their arrival in the Terran system imminent, there was no time for personal feelings, but her confession that she still loved him weighed on his mind more and more.

In a moment of certainty, Marxx promised himself that, as soon as the this was over, he would make the time to love Siobhan again.

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Location: USS Phoenix, as before
Scene: Captain's Ready Room


Jake Crichton reached out and touched the door prompt, glancing at Byte standing next to him as the door gave its insistent tinkle in the next room. They were here to tell the Captain about Byte's mysterious memory problem, and to give voice to their collective worry over it. Jake couldn't shake the notion that Edgerton, under whose authority Byte had been assigned to the Discovery in the first place, had altered the android's programming in some way as to make Byte a threat to everyone on the ship. The android was capable of doing a lot of damage if it went rogue, and although Byte had no access to command level functions, his positronic maxtrix could compute and input likely codes with incredible speed, almost negating the advantage of having them.

[[Enter!]] called Kane's voice from the ready room.

The doors hissed open and Jake and Byte entered. Captain Kane was sitting at his desk, deactivating his desktop terminal from whatever he was working on, turning to give the two arrivals his full attention.

"Commander Crichton, Lieutenant Byte," said Kane. "What can I do for you?"

Jake wasn't sure who should speak first. It was Byte's problem, after all, but he was the senior officer. After a moment, he let it out. "Captain, Lieutenant Byte and I have discovered a possible security breach in his memory banks."

Kane looked at them both, one after the other. His face was inscrutable. "Go on," he said, leaning back in his seat.

"This morning, Lieutenant Byte came to Engineering to report a problem with his diagnostic program," said Jake, trying to keep it in both professional and layman's terms. "Upon examination, I found part of Byte's memory banks that were cordoned off behind some sort of software firewall. Nothing that we could do seemed to circumvent it. Given the situation around Byte's coming aboard, we thought it best to report the problem."

Kane nodded. He didn't seem overly perturbed. "Could it be a virus?" he asked.

{{My software network is completely self-contained behind multiple security redundancies,}} said Byte. {{An outside virus cannot access my systems.}}

"That was our first thought too," said Jake, "but we've exhausted all our options. Short of shutting Byte down to remove any possibility of a future problem, there doesn't seem to be anything I can do, but I don't want to do *that*because none of his other systems are being affected."

"And you don't know what's inside this affected memory bank?" asked Kane, looking at them both.

{{No, Captain. Hence the reason why it is a potential security breach.}}

"It could be an operating program that overrides Byte's current set-up," said Jake earnestly. "Every single one of Byte's systems are accessible except this one. Now that we know that it's there, we need to know what is inside that memory bank."

Kane nodded again. Then he looked Jake directly in the eye. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Mister Crichton. Dismissed."

He didn't say it unkindly, but Jake was still shocked. He had expected more questions, had thought that the Captain would ask for his recommendation at the very least. "Sir?"

"Return to your duties, Commander," repeated Kane, in that same friendly-but-firm tone. "Make sure the Phoenix is ready to face whatever awaits us on Earth."

Jake glanced at Byte, but the android had nothing to say. He looked back at the Captain. "Yes, sir," he said. He lingered another moment, but there was nothing but silence.

Jake Crichton turned around and left both Byte and Kane alone in the ready room, feeling frozen out of something important. He passed through the bridge, seeing Aerdan incline his blue head in greeting, but Jake was still too surprised to reply. He entered the turbolift, wondering what the hell was going on.

Then he remembered the amount of work he still had to do, and of the battle that awaited them, and the worry went away, settling down into the formless dark of his thoughts.

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NRPG: This is my last post before the mission opener! Get cracking if you have posts left, because once we start, we will be moving forward! That means NO BACKPOSTING to the voyage, so get it out of the way now!


Jerome McKee
the Soul of Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Commanding Officer
USS PHOENIX


"He speaks an infinite deal of nothing!"
- Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", Act 1, Scene 1.117

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