Sojourner Depositions

Posted on Tue May 22nd, 2012 @ 3:34pm by Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax & Captain Alexander Gunning
Edited on on Sun Oct 28th, 2012 @ 5:18pm

Mission: The Mystery Men of Mira
Location: Starfleet Tactical Conference Room [Cestus III: 11th Fleet Headquarters]
Timeline: MD04: 0900hrs.

[ON]

Gunning felt ill-at-ease as he watched Nilani stand up at the front of the room to give her version of events. The Admirals present must have had plenty of time to read their reports and draw their own conclusions but here they were, before anything more could be done, having to give yet another presentation on the Battle of Thane.

Roman Sanchez, Commanding Officer of the 11th Fleet, leant back in his leather chair, at the centre of a trio of Admirals, his hands interlaced over his stomach as he focused his gaze upon the officers who had traveled from Starbase 332 to provide this briefing. "Commanders, Captain;" he began. "We've already read your reports, so let's keep this brief. Lieutenant Commander Prax; you were commanding the USS Metis during the operation in question. Please, give us your recounting of the mission first."

The Commander of Starbase 332 had already spoken to Admiral Sanchez on arrival but had never met the other two, one, a yellow-trimmed Rear Admirals from Starfleet Tactical and the other wearing the Violet of the Starfleet Diplomatic Corps. One he recognized as Rear Admiral Ren Alesi, a man who wasn't much older than he was but had already reached the top table of Starfleet Diplomacy. Gunning's memory wasn't great but he vaguely remembered that he had jumped about three ranks during the Dominion War. The other Admiral was unknown to him besides her name, Thelian zh'Zathro, an Andorian.

Alesi nodded towards Lieutenant Commander Prax as an encouragement. His interest was not to assign blame but to work out what Starfleet's next move would be regarding the Sojourner threat in Galactic South. His colleague, Admiral zh'Zathro had her idea; a typically Andorian idea if he was to be xenophobic about it. Blockade and sanction the Sojourners to nip their growth in the bud. Alesi noted that she had stopped short of suggesting that they take back the system by force.

zh'Zathro sat quietly, her hands clasped with her elbows resting on the table. Her right antenna twitched slightly, as it was prone to do when she was deeply focused. The Sojourners offered to be an unique threat. While relations with the Ritorians were not exactly rosey, to use a human term, they were at least understandable. Their close borders would naturally ruffle a few feathers. The Sojourners, however, seemed to come out of nowhere, and she needed to everything they could in the event of further aggression.

The Diplomat knew that there would be delegates at the next day's conference who would have Gunning and his people court martialed on some trumped up charge if they could and he knew that the testimony they would give himself, Admirals Sanchez and zh'Zathro would allow them to help. After all, Starfleet couldn't afford to sit in an ivory tower.

Nilani, standing in front of the three Admirals with her hands clasped firmly in the small of her back, recounted the highlights of her point of view from the bridge of the Nova-class starship. "The Metis warped ahead of the rest of the task group to scout the system. That's when we realized that we weren't likely to be dealing with the Ritorians, and we returned to the task group to report our findings.

"When the task group arrived in-system, Captain Gunning attempted to hail the lead ship, and ascertain what their purpose in the system was. After Thane's leader informed us of their intention to secede from the Federation's protection, the Captain informed them it will take some time to confirm with Command. It was shortly after that that the Soujourners opened fire on us. I ordered the Metis to keep moving and use strafing tactics to try and minimize the damage to the ship, but we were out gunned and out numbered. The ship took too much damage, and we suffered a warp core breach. Thankfully, the USS Vesta was able to beam the surviving crew out in time."

Alesi nodded sagely at the mention of the USS Vesta. He had been delighted to see the old-style grit and determination of Starfleet come out in their new ship. The initial test run might have been an unmitigated disaster but there was hope for the ship and her Captain yet.

The Andorian remained quiet, images of the events running through her mind. So far she didn't have the information she wanted to hear. She took a few notes on her PADD and then leaned back in her chair. She wasn't exactly satisfied with Prax's testimony. Something about being told that Starfleet was outgunned didn't settle well with her.

Alesi looked at his PADD briefly before turning a wide smile to Commander Liarra Von who had been commanding the USS Jackal on the day in question. His thick French accent, seemingly untouched by decades in Starfleet cut through the palpable silence in the room. "I believe it is your turn, Commander."

Liarra gave Nilani a little nod as the other Trill retook her seat. Von moved to the front of the room, her hands clasped behind her back so that the admirals didn't see her fidget. "As Commander Prax stated, the Metis moved ahead of the Jackal and the Antietam for reconnaissance. The Jackal took up a defensive position near the flagship. Our fighters had already been deployed. After the Metis reported back, we approached the Thane system. There we were confronted by five ships: one Cardassian Galor class, one Klingon Bird-of-Prey class, two Miranda classes, and one Excelsior class, all repainted a blood red. The Starfleet ships were similar to those recently stolen from the salvage yard, though there were no discernible markings that could verify them. We were hailed by the lead ship, the Excelsior class, and were confronted by the Regent of Thane and an unidentified woman, presumably either a leader or an otherwise important figure in the Sojourners. Together, they announced that Thane was seceding and becoming a protectorate of the Sojourners. A diplomatic solution was attempted, but the enemy would not have it and opened fire. The opposing ships launched their own fighters as we attempted to retaliate."

Liarra paused a moment to catch her breath and let her account of the battle sink in. "We had scored some minor victories at first, destroying the Bird-of-Prey and damaging the Miranda class ships, before the Sojourner reinforcements arrived. They brought in two more ships, another Miranda and another Bird-of-Prey, both of them blood red as well. The enemy seemed to have a good understanding of our capabilities, and outright targeted the Metis primarily. They must have identified her as the weakest fighter of the three of us, and tried to take her out first. The Jackal attempted to help, but we found ourselves on the far side of the battlefield, and would not be able to make the intercept quickly enough to make a difference. Instead, we focused on the enemy, destroying one of the Miranda class vessels before the Vesta arrived. Her arrival gave us a better chance, but at that point we had already taken too many hits. The Metis was destroyed only a few minutes later, and Captain Gunning signaled for the retreat. The Jackal hung back with the Vesta, helping provide cover for the fighters and the Antietam before jumping to warp ourselves. No Sojourner ships pursued."

Admiral zh'Zathro was a little more satisfied with Von's testimony. She was far more interested in the Sojourner's tactics and military capability. Her antennae twitched far more excitedly as she thought. "Thank you, Commander. I appreciate the details on the complement of the enemy fleet."

The Commanding Officer of the Antietam didn't need any coercing from the floor to give his two cents. It had been a long time since he had sat in the centre chair of that ship and she was now repaired and under a new Commander, one Aidan Danar. He wondered how she was getting on with the battle-scarred carrier as he reached the display board at the head of the table.

"All right, I don't want to retrace the ground covered by my Command Team too much so I'll keep this brief." He began. "We were around two hours out from our destination when we first realised that we weren't dealing with the Ritorian Confederacy. As you already know, that information came thanks to the bravery of the Metis' crew who managed to take a scan of the area before we warped in. We didn't know what we were facing so when we arrived, we made an effort to contact the lead vessel."

Gunning took a moment and examined the faces of the Admirals he was briefing. Alesi's smile had been unflinching since the moment he had taken his seat. It was somewhat unnerving.

"After a short exchange with the leader of Thane, as detailed in my report, I requested that we be allowed the leave the USS Jackal as a sentinel while the diplomatic request for cessation was processed. It was at that point that the Sojourner vessels fired upon us." He hesitated for a moment, considering the phrasing of his next comment. "We were ill-equipped to deal with a battle situation. I concede that our eagerness to move out may have counted towards that but the vessels that we went with were unable to hold their own in a skirmish like that; regardless of what we may or may not have done."

Admiral Alesi nodded his acknowledgement of the comment. It was obvious that Starfleet Tactical had as well. They had already reassigned a larger garrison vessel, the USS Carthage as a replacement for the Metis and diverted an entire battalion of marines to the Archanis sector. He got the impression that they had no intention of giving any ground.

zh'Zathro nodded as well. "I agree that the fleet assembled was ill prepared for what they were facing. Tell me, Captain, if you were to run into the Sojourners again, do you think that you will be ready? Since you faced them first hand, would you have any recommendations for how to confront them in the future?"

"They fight dirty." Gunning admitted. "If we're going to fight them then I don't see it being in major fleet engagements, especially if we're not going to attempt to retake the Thane system."

The looks of the Admiralty told him that they weren't. "They came from the Vinarian Syndicate; I don't see any reason that they wouldn't fight like the Vinarian Syndicate. Small skirmish groups that will pounch on merchant shipping. We're going to need the capability to better defend civilian shipping in the region. That's coupled with the need for a larger deterrent presence in the area."

Gunning's words hung heavy in the air as the admiralty began to realise exactly what they were letting themselves in for.

[OFF]

Captain Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer

Commander Liarra Von
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax
Chief Science Officer
Starbase 332

Admiral Roman Sanchez [NPC: Prax]
Pegasus Fleet Commanding Officer

Rear Admiral Ren Alesi
Starfleet Diplomatic Corps

Rear Admiral Thelian zh'Zathro
Starfleet Tactical