Notice Of Eviction

Posted on Mon Apr 18th, 2022 @ 12:21am by Captain Benjamin Ingram Dr & Lieutenant Commander Mara Ricci & Lieutenant Commander Jillian Toomey & Lieutenant Commander Meilin Jiang & Major Tatiana Skobelova & Major Samuel Braddock & Lieutenant Commander Amie Cerys & Commander Calida & Lieutenant T'Niam

Mission: S2:4: If Not Like A Mirror
Location: Canopus Station, Confrence Room
Timeline: MD-2 10.30

Ingram tapped a finger against the rim of his tea cup as the holographic presentation wound to a close. What was left was the coloured star cloud of Messier 4, with its narrow hourglass core of Reciprocity space cushioned form below by the Myriad and above by the malignant mass of the Concordance.

And as the holographic map rotated in the air, it brought into focus the curling tendril of the Concordance advance towards the edge of Messier 4: a path that would lead them right to Carpathia and Canopus Station. On one hand Ingram had to give the Reciprocity points for changing the course of the hurricane by tempting the Concordance into advancing away from their space.

Of course, that same point landed squarely in the loss column for Starfleet in Messier 4 so there was that.

"THeir estimates put the Concordance discovering Carpathia's current state of occupation at somewhere around four months, as a minimum," Ingram said before taking a fortifying sip of his tea. "After that, we'll just be waiting for them to arrive at warp three. But like a landslide that slow reaction and speed are not to be underestimated."

He put the cup back down.

"Thoughts?" he asked the assembled senior staff.

Unfortunately, anything Mara thought about the situation was unhelpful. If seemed to her that the best course of action would be to eliminate the Concordance, but nobody knew how to do that and even if they did, genocide was frowned upon. Although, could it really be called genocide if the concordance wasn’t a particular race or species? There had to be a term for killing everyone in a religious sect.

You’re getting side tracked, Mara, she told herself. “Some sort of cloak?” she suggested unhelpfully.

Tatiana thought for a moment. "We could set up a decoy site. Install a power plant and broadcast a lot of noise to the Concordance. Maybe run some harassing fighter runs from the decoy site? That way, they would triangulate to the decoy site and assume that is were Canopus Station is. We could have ships there to fight them on our terms. If we have to retreat, so what? We lost a decoy site. The time the Concordance was also misdirected will give us time to evacuate civilians from Canopus Station." She suggested.

"Evacuate to where? Without a companion Phase Space Accelerator to the one in the Milky Way we have no means of evacuating them to a safe harbour. And until the Reciprocity outline the sort of support they are willing to provide, a decoy might well be in our best interests in the short term," Ingram said.

Sam addressed Tatiana as well. "My fighters would also need somewhere to base from. We can't c

Amie sat and listened. She'd heard it all already, and still didn't like it. As she listened, she was reading over the intel she'd managed to her hands on.

"We could retask the Peel Tower stations, instead of forming a perimeter around Carpathia they could become defensive stations ideally suited for supporting long-range fighter sorties and Fleet operations," Ingram mused. "Major Braddock, get an outline to me of what your people would need logistically speaking to operate for a protracted period away from the station. Munitions, supplies, fuel. Worst case scenario we'll find a Class M or L and land a cargo shuttle on it to act as a FOB."

Somehow the acronym sounded wrong coming from Ingram's usual precise dictation.

Sam tapped the PADD sitting in front of him. "Already done, sir. Marine Expeditionary Ops Guidelines has a complete Tee,Oh, and Ee. Sending the three week version to you now with a few extras." With a deft swipe of his finger, he sent the request to Ingram.

"Major Skobelova you and Commander Cerys both saw the Concordance on the ground. We're not in a position to fight an army, but surgical strikes might be in our wheelhouse. What sort of material support would you need from the Station to make that sort of intel lead strike viable?" Ingram asked.

"We would only use either platoon or company level raids. For that, some Arrow class runabouts configured as transports would do. Also, maybe a few Danube class runabouts configured as either gunboats, medivac, or AWACs in support would be helpful." Tatiana replied.

"I believe Major Braddocks Air Wing can fill in some of those gaps," Ingram said. He played his fingers over the conference table's surface and flicked a data file towards the Marine. "I also think the SFMCS Normandy has a few toys in its well deck for Starfleet's Misguided Children."

"I'll have Chief Mathias check the mission pod inventory and dust some things off. I can also take a little trip to the Normandy for an inventory." Turning to Tatiana and Amie "You're welcome to join me if you'd like."

Looking up, Cerys nodded, "Sounds about right. At least based on what it was that I saw there. Doesn't mean something else can't come up, but their recommendations I agree with."

"I'd like to see what the Normandy is willing to offer up. We don't have any concrete objectives, so it's a bit of a guessing game." Tatiana added.

He then turned to the other end of the table.

"Commander Meilin, Mara, I want an action plan put in place for the decoy station. It'll need to be convincing, but obviously, we do not have the resources to make a mock-up of the station life-sized. So thoughts and theories as to how we do that would be appreciated," he said. He then turned to Toomey. "And you Commander get to become the fairy godmother you never wanted to be: make all of it happen. Push down road blocks, blow through barricades, and get them all what they need to make this happen. If Grissom's OSI Task Force have something you need, you have my seal of approval as Station Administer to...'requisition' I think is a polite turn of phrase."

JT smiled as she was given carte blanche to do whatever needed done, including pilfering OSI stuff. Her smile got even wider at his seal of approval. "Yes, Sir," she said, still beaming. "I'll make it look so real that even you won't know the difference."

"The five colors blind the eye," Meilin quoted aloud. "I recommend a solid-state facade of the station filled in by holograms and perhaps traces of the intrusive nanites. Between the remnant nanite presence and the lower technical performance of Concordance sensors, it may be possible to hold them in a protracted siege where they believe the station's shields and hull plating are withstanding an onslaught well beyond their true capability. If there is a way to transmit the Wire-Wolves virus to their vanguard, that may prove to our benefit as well."

“I like the way you think,” replied Mara with a wicked grin. She would go over all the data they had on the subject to see if it were possible.

"Also keep in mind the lower-tech standard of their sensors. They might need to get close enough to see our deception with visual sensors, which would make any sort of purely technical decoy a problem," Ingram mused.

"Dr T'Naim, I need you to figure out how best to deliver this information to the Refugee Coalition. The Casstualli have only just arrived and now we're going to ask them to move to a safer refuge, and the Xilosian's are once more in the path of the forest fire that burned their world to radioactive cinders. I want to avoid panic from both our technological allies and from the risk of having actual civil unrest on the station with over four thousand civilians in fear for their lives. Congratulations, you've just become our Chief Moral Officer," Ingram said with a thin watery smile.

The part Vulcan counsellor nodded.

"And as for you Mr Lu'kat, I want you locked in the comm's room with the Phase Space Accerlator day and night making damn sure every possible avenue for accelerating manufacturing the Beta Phase Space Accelerator is being made. If the Federation Council is dragging its feet, rope in Calidia to get them to pick up the pace. If the Cardassian Union is the one dragging things out for the sack of a concession, I want to see a little of that Cardassian ruthlessness I have heard so much about but seen so little," Ingram stated.

He looked around the table.

"We have months at best, but we have talented people to make us the one resource every great moment in history requires: time. Our soldiers can buy us time. Our ingenuity can use that time to make lures and decoys. And our charm and guile can use the distraction of our cunning to win us either an exit or a fastness we can set our flag upon in confidence. Are there any questions?"

"No, Sir," JT said while filling a PADD with a long list of things she would need, things she wanted, and things she could sell at the Rish Enclave at some point.

"For the record, if I am to regret any of the carte blanche I have given you all, I will at least be alive to regret," Ingram said with a sigh.

“When have you ever regretted giving Commander Jiang and me carte blanche?” Mara asked Ingram with a wink.

"The Rish Enclave, the Sleepers Bazaar: it's a short list, but I'd prefer we not add to it," Ingram said.

"Having no regrets is one benefit among many of honest dealings," Meilin mused aloud. If she were to indulge in pride, it would be hidden beneath the taciturn facade along with a touch of smugness.

"Said the kettle to the pot," Ingram said levelly.

“But who’s the kettle and who’s the pot?” Mara mused.

Meilin closed her eyes and smirked. It was beneath her to join in among others who insisted on demeaning themselves in pursuit of doing so to others.