Fire From the Sky

Posted on Fri Jun 17th, 2022 @ 11:35am by Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Troy Marshall & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Chief Petty Officer Noah Reed & Captain Fergus Williams & Lieutenant JG Melissa Jones & Callie Marshall

Mission: S1 Episode 2: Caretaker, Part II
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 8 at 0700
1733 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

The Shadow Fleet, three ships strong, exited warp directly over Ocampa, the health of the solar system be damned. The image of the Vengeance and the orange hulls of the Predators almost evoked a sense that intense music should be playing in the background. One might almost feel the intensity of feeling aboard from the outside as the streamed toward the planet.

Bridge, ISS Vengeance
On the Bridge, Captain Petrov sat alone in the command area, his Executive Officer recently mourned and his Acting XO manning his station. Red alert was activated, but there was no reason, as Ocampa was completely undefended. The Vengeance, along with the Kazon, had destroyed their home fleet. The remaining ships left to them were cut off from direction by their home world by the presence of Kazon personnel on the planet. The rest of their ships had been destroyed around the Array, but one could only but assume they still held the surface and the underground.

"Johnathan, put us in orbit over their energy receiver. We've got a present just for them. Andrea, scan it. Tell me what you find." Ivan said, still looking forward, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Aye, Captain!" He replied energetically. "It would be my pleasure, Sir!" His fingers flew over his controls and the powerful warship instantly responded to his whims, the thrusters adjusting her positioning, to allow for optimal use of the her weaponry upon the planet below.

Less han twenty seconds after recording the command, Joh athan spoke up again. "In geostationary position over the target, Captain!"

“Aye Sir!” Andrea looked at her screen running a full scan of the planet. “Sensors are detecting approximately 50 Kazon on the surface and approximately 130 underground. According to what I’m seeing there are in excess of 52 Million Ocampa underground.”

"Good....good." Ivan said, standing up and turning around to face the tactical station. "Lieutenant Marshall, have your men carefully load one of our two Thelaron Torpedoes into the forward tubes. Enlist the help of engineering if you need to. Let me know when it is ready and safe to launch."

Just as he had said Callie was at her husband-to-be’s side, she wanted to see what was about to happen, to put the nightmare of what had happened to her and the crew behind them.

Troy contacted the Torpedo Division Officer and relayed Captain Petrov's orders. He could guess what the Captain had in mind and had zero reservations about destroying the Ocampa civilization. They deserved as much for what they had done to Callie and Kassandra.

"Andrea, shipwide." Ivan said gruffly.

Andrea nodded. “You’re on Sir.”

"Crew of the ISS Vengeance, this is your Captain. Get to a screen, now, and watch closely. I have something to show you all. I want you to burn it into your memory; I want you to replay it over and over in your imagination." He said, and then waited while the crew was following his orders, activating the nearest screens and setting them to mirror the main viewer. "The Caretaker served these creatures, doing their bidding. Everything that has happened to us is their fault; all of it lays at the hands of the Ocampa, greedy to extend their meaningless little lives. Well, my friends, today their dream dies!"

Ivan's eyes were cold and hard as ice. He looked on, no feeling left in them anymore.

"But as we turn every last fucking one of them to vapor, we have naught but to thank them...for they have brought Terran Glory to the Delta Quadrant. Watch as we revenge ourselves, and know that one day, all people with bow before the greatness of our Empire!"

Johnathan grinned a feral grin at the image of the Ocampan homeworld, which was on theain viewer. He wished they had a way to watch those creatures die horribly as the torpedo released its destructive payload.

In Sickbay Dana stood looking at the monitor along with the rest of the Sickbay staff, she wasn’t sure if she agreed with an extermination or not, but either way it was going to happen.

Also in sickbay, Doctor Reed stood by Petty Officer Monroe although he quickly bored of the speech. He had heard similar things his whole career. The important thing was that the captain followed through and sent a message to the other species in the region. Reed turned and walked back to his office after giving Monroe a wordless glance.

Shipwide was still on, but Ivan was no longer addressing the crew, instead he turned to the tactical station and waited with an almost childlike patience for news. All the while, his steely eyes were resting on Troy as he worked.

Troy’s console alerted him when the weapon was prepared for launch. He looked up. "Captain, the weapon is prepared and loaded in torpedo tube one. Give the word and it shall be deployed."

"Good." Ivan said, turning around. "Let's spread Ocampa's legs a bit. It will make things easier for us. Set phasers to cutting mode and direct it at their energy receiver. I want you to bore down into their planet until you expose them completely to our power. Fire when ready."

Troy brought the main phaser cannon on line and fired a sustained blast. It took a little less than a minute for the main phaser cannon to bore deep into the surface of the planet.

The Captain stood calm and silent. The hole was open. There was nothing standing between them and vengeance, pure and sweet. But he paused and waited for no one knew what, and the silence on the ship was like music. The galaxy seemed to wait with them.

Callie was clenching her hands into fists as the she level of emotion from Petrov, and the crew bore past her mental defences. Emotion levels were off the chart.

Johnathan sat forward slightly in his seat, his eyes not blinking, as he waited to watch the pla etc die.

Melissa stared at the Ocampa world. She had no love for these cowardly little things. They were almost too petty for pity. "I will not miss these ungrateful... insidious... treacherous little creatures."

"FIRE!" Ivan shouted, his fists clenched at his sides.

Troy depressed the button to fire the torpedo. The device sped away to burrow beneath the surface and detonate with an unparalleled destructive capability.

They didn't benefit from any explosions accept on sensors, and no doubt many of the Ocampa and Kazon did die in the initial blast, but the first sign that detonation had occurred was a billow of smoke, green and acrid, pouring out of the hole they had made with their phasers. It surfaced and spread, quickly around the whole planet, like green die dropped into a cup of water. Only when the whole of Ocampa was colored, did Ivan raise his fist in the air for the Terran salute.

"GLORY TO THE EMPIRE! " he shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes mad. He looked around at his crew and said it again. "GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!!"

Callie was sitting with her head in her hands not only did she have the crew’s emotions, but she also had the whole swathe of emotions radiating from the millions on the planet below.

" GLORY TO THE EMPIRE." Rang out the marines from their briefing room where they'd been watching the show from the viewscreen.

"GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!" Rhen shouted with pride as he raised his right fist in the air.

"GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!" Johnathan shouted as he punched the air with his right fist.

"GLORY TO THE EMPIRE" Melissa said once. Keeping her hands behind her. But a part of her was not as enthusiastic about this. They were an insidious people though. Perhaps it was enough to bomb them back to the stone age, so they could understand what it was like to survive. But these creatures were not worthy of surviving.

Troy simply smiled. He rendered the Terran Imperial salute. "GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!!!"

After several minutes of celebrations, Ivan started to make the rounds, shaking hands with everyone on his bridge. The anger and frustration he'd been carrying for the past several days was gone, and he seemed happy as a clam. Once he had shaken every hand, he raised his own to silence the room.

"Good work, everyone. We will honor the lost by continuing our work to get home." he said, then turned his eyes to his acting XO. "Troy, onward home."

And then he turned and made his way to the Ready Room.

Troy took the starboard chair in the command area and gestured for Callie to sit in the portable seat.

Callie had stood up from where she’d sat when Ivan had gone around the bridge shaking hands, with the demise of a lot of the Ocampa the pressures on her senses had eased. As Troy motioned for her to sit she took her seat at his side.

Rhen moved over to replace Troy at tactical settleing into the chair. "Hope they all die in agony for what they did to Callie and Kass, Chief."

Troy looked over his shoulder at Rhen and nodded in agreement. "Today the Delta Quadrant has gotten a taste of the true might the Terran Empire can muster. He returned gaze back to the screen. "Helm, resume course for home."

Johnathan nodded as he spun back around at his console. "Aye, Sir." The image on the viewscreen shifted again, this time from planet to stars, then the stars stretched and flashed, indicating that the ship had jumped to warp. "Course holding steady to sector Zero-Zero-One. Speed, warp five. At current speed, barring any major delays, ETA to Spacedock One, ninety-seven years, three months, one week, two days."

Troy turned to Melissa at the Bridge Engineering monitor console. "Lieutenant Jones, how long before we have a complete battle damage assessment report?"

Melissa closed her eyes fr a moment and then spoke. "Thirty minutes, forty-five Seconds."

Troy settled into the Captain's Chair and activated the shipwide communications system. "All hands this is the Acting XO. Secure from battle stations and set the normal maneuvering watch. Perform battle damage assessments and report those to Lieutenant Jones. That is all." It was now time to start the long journey home.

END