The Plan

Posted on Sunday August 16th, 2026 @ 5:10pm by Commodore Carol Hogan & Lieutenant Commander Rodney Horton & Lieutenant Commander Josie Boone & Major Markurius Savage & Lieutenant Commander Deezell Vox & Lieutenant D'ana Hunter & Lieutenant JG Relka Mor & Lieutenant JG Summer Wyse & Ensign Vira Sorrin

5,332 words; about a 27 minute read

Mission: VFY S9, E1: We Have A Home
Location: Starbase Port Royale, Conference Room 1

Carol was already in the conference room, as she reviewed her notes as she waited for the rest of the senior staff to arrive. As she waited, she took a small sip from her coffee.

Rodney came in behind her and took a seat next to her. He set his cup of coffee. "Morning Commodore."

"Glad you can make it number one, how is that wife of yours doing?" Carol asked, he knew that her delegation should be heading back to the Soccra system.

"She is good, Commodore." Rodney said with a smile. He had enjoyed his time with her. They both knew time together was precious and they hadn't wasted on moment. "She is on her way back home."

"Well I hope that she has and uneventful trip."'carol suggested to him. The best course of action for an empress is, to have a safe and boring flight home."

"Thank you." Rodney said quietly. He was hoping that as well.

Jo walked in. "Morning, all"

Dee strolled into the conference room, a cortado in her right hand in an elegant double layered glass with a glass handle. She smiled and nodded to Carol as she took a seat.

"Good morning Commodore."

"Good morning commander, how's the family and husband?" Carol said, has she asked, she started thinking about Anastasia her own daughter in about how Ian was doing her long-term boyfriend.

"Oh all is good. The kids are settling in well to their new home. No trouble from my husband but he always good so I rarely have anything to complain about."

"I'm glad to hear your commander, I'm also glad to see that you handled your new assignment, beyond my expectations." Carol said, telling her basically that she is very proud of her, but in a way that didn't really allow for much conversation about it. Because other officers started to walk into the conference room.

"Thank you Commodore. " Dee smiled.

Carol just grinned, has she looked to the door. She had a feeling from the distance sound who was coming. And this person definitely love to make an approach. He was also her resident bad boy, which sounded cool, however became a logistical and an administration type of nightmare.

The sound of slow paced heavy boots came through the door before it slid open. Major Savage walked in with steps that held decades of experience and the memories of some dark shit. He wasn't wearing the standard uniform, something that he had heard a few officers tell him to fix over the few days he had been onboard. He didn't display any ranks so it was only natural that people would think him a civilian. Without a word he walked to an empty chair, his back straight and his fingers laced before him. A single nod was given to the Commodore.

"Major you definitely know how to make your presence felt." Carol said, with a warm smile on her face that she looked over to Major Savage.

The major was very much stone faced as he looked at the commodore, he had heard many times that the way he more or less marched everywhere in his own calm cadence made people nervous. "Commodore Hogan. would you prefer that I was sneaking about the station instead?"

"I would not be surprised, if you did. But thank you for using the front door." Carol said, with a teasing grin on her face. She knew he was trying to adapt, and she appreciated it.

Savage looked at her for a long moment before he looked around the room with the same stone face expression, really looking this time. There was only one door. "I could have entered through the view-port." he looked at the window out into space. It was one of the prime weaknesses of any space structure or space ship. Even if there where emergency shields that would pop into place, some ports where simply a force field itself. To him that was just asking for trouble, if power fluctuated, then you would have a whole in your hull into open space.

"That would have been a site to see, and slightly terrifying at the same time. A marine coming through the viewport." Carol suggested with the warm grin on her face. *As I said major he definitely know how to make an entrance."

Savage thought for a moment as he looked more closely at the viewport. "I will speak with R&D about combat space suits, breaching charges and other things that could be used for that kind of work." the old marine said.

"There's a trade dealer, I think you should work with. Or at least have a conversation with him. His name is John Eagle." Carol suggested to him, and she went on to say. "He has been developing body armor technology, he could be a good resource."

Savage turned his face to look at the Commodore, again this civilian was brought up in places where he shouldn't be. He was an antique dealer for crap's sake. How can this single man have this kind of pull with the upper command of this command group. Either this man was someone very high up couldn't function without or he had some shady connections. "I rather keep our tech in house ma'am."

"Just here I'm out at least, his tech is a little bit better than ours." Carol suggested to him. He wasn't going to order major Savage to reach out to him, but she was strongly encourage him to.

Savage couldn't believe what he was hearing, if this person had better tech than the federation, he should be pressured to hand over the tech to help with the war effort. But in the end, he couldn't display his displeasure now and he would have to talk to the Commodore later. So he simply left the comment unanswered.

Carol wasn't going to push the conversation right now, there will be another time for them to finish discussing JJ Eagle. For the moment they are about ready to have a staff briefing.

Commander Boone, there's fresh coffee on the table or there's a replicator right over against that bulkhead. Please get yourself a beverage we're going to be here for a bit." Carol ordered, as she saw Josie enter. She watched her new operations officer grab a beverage and have a seat.

Summer was next through the door. “Good Morning everyone” she smiled warmly as she moved around to a seat and sat down.

"Counselor, I've been meaning to catch up with you. I heard your reputation is proceeding you on the station already." Carol pointed out to her, with a warm smile.

“Really?” Summer smiled. “Do I have a reputation onboard station already? That was quick.”

"Agreed, but that's not necessarily A bad thing." Carol pointed out to her with a warm smile. "I really appreciate how fast the crew is opened up to you, and how you adapted to your new situation. I can't thank you enough."

“It’s what I do, and I should be thanking all of you for accepting me.” Summer added with a smile.

Dee sat at the large table. She sipped her strong Trill coffee, as she glanced through her padd, whilst waiting for things to commence.

"Miss Sorren, thank you for joining us." Carol said, wondering how Vira was settling into her new role as Chief Logistics officer of Port Royale.

"It's been a rewarding challenging Commodore." Vira suggested, as she grabbed a drink of water, and then took a seat at the table. Feeling a little overwhelmed since she was a low ranking ensign.

D'ana walked in, padd in hand, making notes. She glanced up briefly, looking for an empty seat, then moved towards one and sat down, sitting back and crossing her legs. She nodded to the others, then looked at the commodore.

"Miss Hunter, how's your day going so far?" Carol asked, trying to get a feel for how her or Orion officer was doing this fine day.

Relka, on the other hand, made her entrance with her hands and cuffs of her sleeves wet. Knowing her line of work, that's not always a good sign.

"Crewman hurt himself on the holodeck." She explained, simply, as she found a seat. "So I had to patch him up."

"That's very commendable Ms Mor." Carol started to say, but then she looked back over to D'Ana, as she made visual eye contact letting her know that she hadn't forgotten about her, and the question that she had asked her.

"Seeing as my teams are on schedule, my day, thus far, is going well, Commodore, thank you," D'ana said, evenly.

Carol just grinned, as she waited for Relka to respond. Carol new she was stalling a little bit. The two them exchanged some nice pleasantries as she continued on with the briefing.

A notification appeared on Deezell's padd. She glanced at it, read the message and groaned audibly enough that someone would have heard her, which was not her intent.

“Problem?” Summer asked curiously concerned at the quiet groan that had emanated from Dee.

"Just my mother being a nuisance. I did advise her that I would let her know when a visit would be ok but instead of waiting, she and my father have set off and are on route. "

"Oh I see, we should prepare for their arrival then." Carol said, wanting this to go smoothly. Even though Summer may not want them there, this was an opportunity for the Federation to strengthen their relationship with the Drax Empire.

"Indeed. I do apologize in advance." Dee replied.

“Well if you need anything please let help let me know” Summer smiled at Dee.

"How come Commander?" Carol asked, wondering what Dee was up to? She was a little concerned that her station commander of Taneran was already apologizing for actions she has not taken.

" My mother can be somewhat interfering sometimes and I would have preferred to have planned for her visit rather than I be unannounced as it is."

Dee explained.

"Does she have any supplies I need to know about, Commander?" Vira asked, hoping she would say no. But fearing she would say yes.

"Supplies? My parents tend to pack light."

"That's good to hear, the Red Kite has attacked several ships trying to make deliveries to the Fleet Yards." Vira suggested to Dee.

"I'm sorry, what?" That name made her skin crawl. She felt nauseous as her mind flashed back to her ordeal aboard that ship. Trapped. Not strong enough to defend herself, betrayed by someone she thought was a friend of Raekwon, her previous host.

" I need to get my parents to stay away. If that ship and that man are anywhere near here." she gritted her teeth feeling somewhat nauseous.

Carol had no idea that Dee wanted to investigate this ship. She looked to Dee and then at the others. "I was going to dispatch the USS Athena to investigate the Red Kite sightings. Hopefully their presence in the area will scare off the Red Kite."

'Scared off? she thought. 'For what Jurlan did, he wants to be blown up.' She takes a deep breath. 'No, you know that's only what you want, not what is right,' she reminded herself before she turned to respond to Carol.

"Commodore, I agree that the Athena’s presence alone could intimidate the Red Kite. But intimidation isn’t enough. They must be brought to justice for their countless crimes."

"Ideally that would be the outcome that we would all desire, but right now the security of the Federation is more at stake. Chasing down the Red Kite could potentially leave us open and have our other shipping lanes be attacked. So we have to approach it smartly. I'm going to have the Athena attempt to capture the Red Kite." She started to explain.

"If successful, I am wondering whether or not to face Jurlan, but only with security present and him being behind the strongest forcefield we have." Dee commented.

"Were not taking any chances, he has been a menace to the fleet yards for a while now, and to starfleet even longer. We are putting a stop to his reign of terror. Once and for all." Carol pointed out to her.

"Good.". Was all she said. She had to bite her tongue from saying anything more as to what she wanted to do to Jurlan.

She then looked to Savage. "Major, once we capture our guest, I will hope your forces will be ready to deal with his special accommodations?" Carol asked, knowing that this pirate was a legend at escaping.

He looked at the Commodore. "If you mean hitting his base hard. I would need at least six months to get the teams ready." Savage answered truthfully.

Before Carol could comment, Dee interjected. "Jurlan doesn't have a ground base as such. He jumps between safe ports on stations and worlds, but the Red Kite is his main base of operations. "

Savage thought for a moment, if he had the trained men and women he would be able to help with what was requested. But at this moment, he didn't even have the training facility needed to fast track the training. He could use standard security teams, they had solid basic training. But being rapid responders needed much finer skills and 'muscle memory', the men and women would need specialized training and equipment. "My assessment still stands, going faster increase the risk of failure and casualties." he said, he had been reprimanded in the past for his attitude towards his superiors. He turned to Dee. "Knowing the main base is a good start; I can mold the training to increase success. Removing a main hub could force him to take risks and make mistakes. Not to mention it could hold a wealth of information."

"I wish I could give you more, but that's all I have," Dee commented.

Carol then took a deep breath. "As important as Jurlan is, he is not the main reason for this meeting today. I want to discuss business." Carol started to say. "Miss Hunter, is the Corps of Engineers ready?" Carol asked; she was getting requests for maintenance, starship construction, and refits.

"Yes, Ma'am," D'ana said. "All locations are staffed and ready, inventory has been triple checked, and all teams are ready to begin work. "I've begun prioritizing work requests and we can begin most of the primary jobs immediately."

"Being near the front lines, several ships are reporting battle damaged. How quickly can we repair critical components and get them back out in the front lines?" Carol asked, as several transfer requests poured through the main monitor. Carol knew that several ships would not be fully operational. She was looking at the corps of engineers to become starship triage doctors, and get the ships back in the fight as soon as possible.

D'ana's eyes watched the list, scanning quickly. "Twenty-four hours for the most heavily damaged," she said. "Some of the others could be done in half a day if we have teams working a little overtime. With some luck, we might be able to avoid that, but I'd rather overestimate and be sure they're done correctly, especially when we're still shaking everything here down."

"Thank you Lieutenant, most officers would have told me it was impossible. But I think you see the bigger picture. This goes for everyone in this room. We are war, we do not have the luxury of time and triple checking everything. If we are going to win this war, we need ships and people. I am going to be asking the impossible of everyone, and everyone will need to find a way to make the impossible become possible." Carol told everyone.

"So long as no one tells me no when I ask for more people or supplies," D'ana said with a wry smile, "nothing will be impossible."

"If they do, Inform me." Rodney spoke up. "I will handle it." He hadn't said a lot but he was assessing the officers, learning how they functioned in a meeting setting.

"Whatever R&D can do to assist, please let me and my team know," Dee added.

"We're going to need more carriers, have your team start looking at the mothball Fleet, we need to bring them up to specs. Even if it means an overhaul." Carol said, in her mind she was thinking they definitely needed more carriers and more escorts, but the carriers were a bigger concern at this point because the Klingon Empire had more carriers than they did at the stage.

" Yes ma'am. On it." She tapped into her padd a quick message to all her team to start looking at all the ships in the mothball fleet, but to give priority to any ship capable of acting as a carrier and/or escort.

"Thank you Commander." Carol said, as she continues on. "Like Lieutenant Hunter, make sure to work with ASBD, any modifications that you make let's make sure they get put into the new ships, as soon as possible."

"Absolutely. Got it. " Dee responded , updating her team message.

"Understood," D'ana said.

"Now that's settled, we have seen increased activity across the border. The 35th Fleet and the 37th Fleet are holding the Klingons to the front lines. We need to find new technologies. I have ordered the 3rd Tactical Wing to escort to the Soccra Delegation to the border of the Alpha Quadrant. I have ordered the USS Athena to track down pirates attacking our shipping lanes; they will be backed up by the 6th Task Group, if needed, and I have hired mercenaries to acquire new technology for the war efforts." Carol started to explain, purposely being vague about the mercenaries part.

"Sounds like you have covered all the bases, and then some, ma'am." Dee responded.

I hope your right, Commander." Carol said, as she looked to the rest of the crew, hoping someone would say something or ask questions.

D'ana raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but kept her own counsel, making notes on her padd.

"It sounds as if we have the perimeter taken care of." Rodney spoke up. "I would suggest that we make certain all on the station are prepared as well. No one wants to think about the war coming on board but it already has once, we all need to be at the ready."

"We have a good perimeter, but I don't want us to get comfortable. Starting immediately we're going to have continuous patrols. Any chef attempting to enter our various space will be subjugated to questioning. Anyone not cooperating will be referred to the RRT as they provide security for the entire area." Carol said, he then looked at a Major Savage. She took a deep breath and then continued on. "Klingons might try to circumvent our defenses by cloaking and sneaking in with shipment lines, even though they haven't attacked our shipping lines yet, it is very possible they're doing reconnaissance missions. But our proximity being very close to the border, I would be surprised if they weren't."

Major Savage was starting to regret taking this assignment in some ways. On the good side, making a special team for special operations and quick responses was exciting and something he knew the federation needed. Klingons where warriors at heart and he had seen that marines and standard Security often not being able to take on the more disciplined races. The only thing that he could see that leveled out the field was the advantage of the technology that the federation had over the Klingons. The federation had some of the best engineers in the galaxy, if a new threat poped up, it wouldn't take to long before a counter-measure would be found. But this place was using mercenaries to get tech. "If I get the resources and manpower necessary. the RRT will be ready in six months."

"That's a long time. Any way to shorten the time?" Carol asked, hoping there might be a faster way. The Federation needed to take the fight to the Klingon Empire.

Major Savage looked at the Commodore with a long, stony stare. Waited for a good five seconds before he answered. "No. You want these men and women to be trained right? Even if I run every man and woman with 20-hour shifts with the most hellish training regimen, it would not bring faster results. It would increase the dropout rate. We are talking about building muscle memory in several fields. The field medics will need specialised trauma training. Specialised tools need to be developed. The ONLY way I might ring something like... 20 units ready to first phase in..." the major started to calculate in his head; even this would bring its issues. Not to mention if he pushed the people too much, how would he be able to reward the men and women for working hard? Drilling them with the hellish training for a week and then giving them lighter training and some R&R to mentally recover would take six months. He wasn't even sure he had the facilities needed to train them all. He needed a holo-environment of a scale that dwarfed the largest in the federation. "Two months is if you bring in 20 highly experienced Marine veterans. I am talking men and women who have at least 15 years of active duty under their belts. I might be able to bend their ingrained experience into a passable unit. But I doubt they would like to follow the rules; they are usually very cynical, rough, and probably bend the Geneva Protocol of 2155 to get the job done, if not outright break it," he added. He understood the predicament of the Commodore; she truly was in a bad place. But he had to speak the truth.

"We can't hold out for six months, so I'll get you the marines you requested. In the meantime, we need to keep the Klingons in space." Carol advised her senior staff. The Federation is losing territory daily to the Empire. They are too fortified in the Beta Quadrant. We were overconfident in the Alpha Quadrant. We lost a lot of ships and experienced personnel. Ships we can build, technology we can add, but experience is what we desperately need. I need the RRT operational in two months. In the meantime, I will utilise every asset I have to keep the Klingons at bay. I have reached out to Captain Tom Paris; he will teach us how to dogfight in close-quarters combat with starships. His team is unmatched in wargames." Carol said, not really liking her options. But war meant taking chances. She waited to see if anyone had anything to say.

“I can’t promise anything, Commodore, but I could put it to my government and see if they could add their expertise to this fight,” Summer added. “They won’t take a direct part in fighting, but we do have pilots who could help with training. It all depends if my government will step in or not.”

"We utilise all our assets," Rodney spoke up. "Even those who may not be totally on board with the Federation. We need numbers and a joint union."

“I could always find a few telepaths to help; I have my own back doors that my government isn’t aware of.” Summer smiled.

"I appreciate your willingness to help, Lieutenant Wyse. Glad to see our allies stepping up. On that note, I have recently spoken with Admiral Quinn; he promises Andorians, Caitians and Tellarites are sending fleets of ships. Once they arrive, I'll need R&D to retrofit their ships with Starfleet weaponry. Until we can properly train ground crews, we will continue to take heavy losses with planet incursions." Carol suggested. Even the Marines needed a refresher; the Klingon Empire were a society based on battle. Based on conquest, they thrived on both.

“I can’t swear that my people will step up, but I can try”, Summer added. “I’ll do whatever I can personally as well.”

"Commander Horton is right; we need every ship we can get. We need to increase our training methods if we plan to go head-to-head with the Klingon Empire." During the Dominion War, they were our allies and were able to fight off the Dominion forces from overrunning a planet.

"We need to give Major Salvage's team two months. I am open to ideas. My first thought: new training programs and smaller ships designed to bulk up our fleets. I am even willing to consider holographic crews. I am wary after the Texas class fiasco back in the 80's.

Dee scrolled through her padd. "Commodore, I am not sure if this is of any help, but my team do have a couple of experimental weapons technologies, currently in the design phase, that may give us an advantage if we can fit them to the ships we have. As they are still in the design and development stage, their power requirements are still very much on the hazy side. I am planning to use the USS Bushido as a test bed for one of these weapons, which we have nicknamed the Devastator. It's a rapid-fire quantum torpedo launcher, but the torpedoes are a quarter of the size of the regular torpedoes with the same yield. We are currently aiming for it to be able to fire 20 of these torpedoes in 60 seconds, with a magazine holding 60, giving it either three separate bursts of 20 or the whole lot in 3 minutes. "

"How long would it take you to create a prototype on the Bushido?" Carol asked, as she looked over to Dee. She was reviewing the files and noticed there were similarities in the operating systems of the Algonquin-class starships and the Sabre-class starship designs. Could Dee retrofit this design with the weapons platform prototype she was talking about?

"We have a working prototype at the moment which I should be able to fit to the Bushido in about 24 hours. The issue isn't really the fitting but the system integrations. That might take a little longer, maybe another day or so. The Devastator has a bit of a kickback, so there are some modifications needed to allow the ship to absorb it without affecting other systems."

Dee replied.

Vira took notes; those new torpedoes would have to be ordered, and it would be her job to order them. "I can make the request, and if we can keep the Red Kite away from the weapons, we can get them to Starbase Taneran. They would be coming from the Sherman System." Vira said, knowing they had an overabundance of weapons supply.

"Consider it done. I am activating all resources we have, we are going to get this fleet yards operational, even if the Klingons and pirates are not happy about it. I am going to have a meeting later on with all of our tactical wings. We are not going to win this war, with staying bottle neck in the fleet yards." Carol said with a conviction in her eyes.

Savage listened, the micro torpedo was an interesting idea. Not that he was much of a space officer. But there was one thing that his decades in the marines would still apply to space. "If we need time, there is a tactic that always work with ground combat. When you are facing a superior force." Savage began. "No matter how large and powerful an enemy is, there is a linchpin that holds everything together." he paused again. "Supplies. If you disrupt their supply line with guerilla tactics. Small escorts like a group of Saber Classes, disable the supply ships and then retreat. This minimize our risks and force the Klingons to dedicate forces to protect their supply lines, that would lessen the burden on the front line. Not to mention hit them hard when it comes to morale. They are a warrior race and fighting those who run before a glorious combat can start, it will anger them a great deal. And... if the pirates learn that crippled supply ships are available after a raid of ours, I don't think they would be able to stay away. If the pirates are not quick enough, the klingons will have to deal with them. Maybe even dedicate more resources to deal with the pirates. If not, well. At least we are choking the lifeline of the klingons." the old marine said, he knew there were more details that would have to be hammered out. "It would be excellent training for lower rank officers, command a smaller ship."

"It would make my job easier, if the pirates were not attacking our shipping lanes. I have had several venders say they will not deliver, unless the Federation provides escorts to their fleet to guarantee their crews safety." Vira suggested at the staff meeting.

"How long would it take to teach our crews close combat fighting and guerilla warfare?" Carol asked, trusting Savage's judgement. She was ready to take the fight to the pirates and to the Klingons.

Savage looked at Carol. "A few hours of briefing them. Just make sure you tell them that the whole point is not to destroy the enemy. It is simply to harass the supply-lines. No boarding, no complicated or sustained combat. Simply bring down the shields and destroy warp and/or impulse engines. Then you leave. The entire point is to drain their resources while keeping your own. If the force is to big, then do not attack or bring in more. If we have some tech that can bring down shields faster, it would be far more efficient and that would be less time being exposed. Besides, even if we don't disable the ship and we leave to safeguard our forces, that will spread word to the klingons that we are attacking supply lines. Either they don't care and we can continue attacking their ships, OR they commit more and more forces to protect them." he looked at Vira. "Maybe you can spread a roomer that the federation is going to attack supply-lines. I am sure both pirates and the Klingons have spies here. Would work in your favour. Easier target for pirates so they keep ours alone for a while. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I do Major, that is a wonderful idea." Carol said, as she took a moment, then went on. "When i speak to my tactical wing commanders, I'll mention your plan, and we will implement it immediately."

"You have to work with what you have. When you are on the ground and you don't have the greater machine behind you, you do what you must. Even steal your enemies resources. That in itself has psychological effect on the enemy. Of course, you need to be vigilant because it can be used against you. If the enemy start setting up ambushes, poisoning resources, placing trackers on the resources. That is the beauty of ship combat, you have more than enough time to leave if things gets to bad. Of course, you should have several evacuation points that isn't near the main meetup point, if you are bleeding, you want to stop the bleeding so you don't let the enemy track you back. Just make sure you make it a hard line that your men and women return. Equipment can be fixed and stolen. Manpower when alone is your most precious resource."

Vira listened closely, the idea of guerilla warfare seemed a little barbaric but maybe the Major was right, taking the fight to the pirates, could help her get her supplies in and on time for a change.

Carol finished up the meeting. She felt like they had a good start. Now it was time to start her plan to slow down the klingon attacks, stop the pirates and to gain new federation technology.

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