Vulcan Aftermath and Aftershocks

Posted on Fri May 23rd, 2025 @ 5:15pm by Major Marcus Ming & Rear Admiral Rebecca Talon

1,680 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Mission 9: When the Stars Went Silent
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Two Days After the Battle of Vulcan

Marcus took another look at himself in the mirror located in his quarters. It still was a bit surreal that after Vulcan, anyone would get a promotion. Sure, Bravo and Charlie did their job, but they lost a lot of ships and not many fewer pilots. Zero Jem'Hadar fighters or pilots escaped the carnage. 15 Federation ships survived between Bravo and Charlie groups. McPherson....Sweet, amazing McPherson was gone with her ship. His stalwart and fierce XO lost her ship and was physically beaten to utter hell. Despite the overall loss in the engagement, somehow, there was a win, albeit minor.

Shaking his head, Major Marcus Ming straightened out his green tunic and a jacket completely similar to the last one, except the green stripe across the shoulders/chest and the Major's insignia on the collar, which he slipped on as he left his quarters. The jacket hid the d'k tahg he carried in his belt at the small of his back. He also kept a Type 1 phaser in his jacket. He was a Marine as well as a pilot now, so he felt a heightened sense of being on guard even on the Denver.

Radiating the sense of a man on a mission, he all but marched to the nearest turbo lift. Alone at the moment, he said, "Bridge."

The trip to the auxiliary control was only a few decks and was quick. When the doors opened, he stepped out and looked around, smiling at a familiar face or two. After a moment, he headed to the Captain's Ready room, which the computer had located for her moments before. He stepped up to the door and activated the door chip.

"Enter," a thin voice replied from the panel.

Once he heard the summons Major David Ming stepped through and stopped coming to attention. He said simply but in a way very heart felt, "Glad to see you, Captain. It's also good to be home."

He fell to parade rest and said with a more subdued voice, harboring sadness though much less than he felt inside, "I wish there were more good news coming with me, though. Don't know if you have heard, but we lost a Knight. It was McPhearson. Sh'iv used her ship to ram another. She survived but was badly hurt. She came home with us and has medical orders to rest for a few more days. She's expected to make a full recovery except for her lost antenna....She was lucky, all things considered."

"At ease, Major," Rebecca said. "You're giving me a headache with all that pomp." There was a tease in her tone. "We've lost a ton of people for sure. Sorry about your officer."

"It was a blow to all of us. McPhearson was liked by all the knights. She was a top-notch pilot to boot. I'll be requesting a replacement in the next 24-48 hours. It's my first time notifying loved ones of a death. I hope to all that is holy I never get used to it even if it does hurt like hell," Ming said as he went at ease. His voice was much more subdued than usual.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at that. How had he never had a death in his command until now?

"What can I do for you, Mr. Ming?"

"At the risk of overstating the obvious the Federation is getting it's own arse handed to it. I'm neither general nor admiral, so I lack the overall knowledge to suggest a realistic game plan beyond generalization. The fleet brass has proven it has the will to attack. It seems like their game plans never play out; however, we're mostly racking up costly losses and very few wins. Either the tactics are falling flat, or else their intel is wrong, assuming it's not a combination of both. That has to change if we're going to survive as a civilization, which I am sure you are aware," Marcus started.

He paused for a heartbeat before going on, "I'd like to propose two things. 1) An infiltration mission for intel. I'd suggest a combination of marine and fleet detachment with infiltration, combat and hacking specializations at a target to be selected in the immediate future after research to select the quary. 2) A tactical review of past missions and conflicts to aid in the planning of a new operation with an actual real chance at success. I usually don't like to do end runs around Fleet command ,but the standard procedures just ain't hacking it as we've seen time and time again. It's time to rework the game plan before we lose this war. Respectfully, of course."

Rebecca considered that momentarily and reclined into her chair, steepling her hands. "These are all solid ideas, but unfortunately, I don't have flag bars on my collar. These are requests above my pay grade, so to speak, and with the Q breathing down our necks... well, I don't rightly know the right answer for that." She sighed, shaking her head. He wasn't wrong. They were doing something wrong, the Q aside. "Get me a full plan of action report and I'll run it up to Admiral T'rel with my endorsement."

"Q...Never met one, but I sure as hell know of them. Rather sorry I never had the honor. That aside, I will be glad to put together that proposal. Not to sound insubordinate, but what if the Admiralty opts to disregard the plan and continue on the same road to ruin? Something has to change, or we will lose this war. That prospect scares me more than pretty much anything I can imagine," Marcus said more thoughtfully than anything else.

Rebecca stood and handed him a PADD, the weariness etched into her expression. "Major, we’re already losing this war. This morning, the Cardassian Third and Fourth Orders arrived at Vulcan. As of 0800, Vulcan High Command surrendered to the Dominion. Ten minutes later, the bulk of the Dominion fleet moved on Tellar Prime.

"With the Seventh and Fourth Fleets still in disarray and the First and Second Fleets tied up defending Earth, Starfleet Intelligence anticipates the fall of Tellar by the end of the day—and Andoria by the end of the week."

Ming pursed his lips. After a moment, he replied, "I'll have plans drawn out in 90 minutes. One is for the admiralty, where we have support. A second is if we need to act on our own, should the admiralty drag their feet? I'm not in love with going rogue, but we must draw a line before they take any more of our worlds and murder more of our people."

Rebecca crossed her arms and leaned into her left hip. "I like the idea of gaining more intelligence. They seem to know us a little too well, but I am not ever going to endorse a suicide mission. I know you are willing to take on the Dominion fleet alone, but I will not stand behind that, and right now, there's no Federation fleet to back you up."

"I appreciate that," Ming said honestly before continuing with a predatory smile, "If we're not expecting support, I would say something more sneaky than direct would be in line. Leaving presents behind at crucial junctures while we extract information, for example. Leaving cloaked mines near their ship's hulls. Things like that. If we can disable assets and sow confusion on top of getting intel more's the better I think. They don't always play fair, so why the hell should we?"

That was a fair point and Rebecca dropped into her seat shuffling through a pile of PADDs and after entering her command codes she extended it to Marcus. "To plan something you need all the available information. Here's the latest Intelligence. SFI is making overtures for an alliance with another power. They have narrowed it to the Tholians, Breen, or Tzynkathy."

"I'm unsure I would bet on the Breen to come to our aid. They're still, in large part, a mystery and random enough that I'd personally keep an eye on 'em. Of the remaining two, I'd bet real gold pressed latinum, the Tholians would be the ones to join up. Our turmulterous past aside I think we can appeal to their enlightened self interest. They get a big bullseye on their silicate equvilents of a butt if the Federation loses. Hopefully, they all toe the line, but we'll have to see," Marcus finished as he continued to scan the materials.

He read for a moment more with some occasional scrolls. Shaking his head, "Well, this isn't the prettiest picture I have seen but there may be a few chinks in their armor. Gimme a couple of hours and I'll get creative. It might be a bit crazy, but I do believe you'll like what I come up with either way. Do I have permission to include a few folks from other departments with my proposal?"

"Permission granted," Rebecca replied without hesitation.

Marcus nodded. One reason he admired Captain Talon was that she knew how to get things done. He said, "I'll get right on it. I already have much of the plan laid out in my head so give me about 2 hours to get it into writing and knock out the kinks. This intel is definately useful toward that end. Dunno if you want to tap the appropriate department heads for people or if that'll be on me but that is your call captain."

"You know what you need. Get with Commander Nalim if you need to move crew schedules." Rebecca said already returning to work. With being one of the few 7th Fleet ships to survive, she had been given command of Task Force 28 by Admiral T'Rel, and the workload piled on.

Marcus knew a dismissal when he saw one. "I'll get right on it Captain," he said before offering a nod and slipping out of the readyroom and b-lining it to his own to start on the proposals. They both had pleanty of work ahead of them.

 

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