Preparing for the Defense

Posted on Wed Mar 11th, 2020 @ 2:46am by Fleet Admiral Naiya Ray

Mission: Mission 84: The Ghastly Echoes of Vietnam
Location: Halan'goren City Center - Gorn Command Center
Timeline: 0700Hrs - April 28th, 2392

For a few days now, Shipmaster Thorag Darkson had shunned sleep in order to prepare the defense of the city as best he could. For the past several weeks the Gorn Hegemony had been reeling from the Klingon invasion and now they were gathering for a truly massive force with which to invade and conquer his capital city of Halan'goren.

What had disgusted him the most was not the fact that the Klingon military but the fact that every single prisoner that was taken had been murdered in various ways, all of which were equally gruesome and that any female captured was generally carted off into slavery after being abused for the pleasure of the Klingon troops. He brushed the thought away and returned to his maps. He estimated the enemy to be no less than two days away from reaching Halan'goren.

Being amongst the commanders responsible for the defense of the city and its population, he had done his best to evacuate its population further to the East. But he would need more than two weeks to complete the evacuation.

"I hope I am not interrupting anything, shipmaster?" Darkson lifted his head from the maps spread out on the table. He recognized his old friend Goran Slamdrake. "Absolutely not, old friend. I’m just trying to do the best I can with what I’ve got. Somehow I need to prepare to defend this city against the invaders."

Slamdrake moved closer to the table to view the maps. ‘What kind of forces do we have available for the defense?" he inquired of his own friend.

Darkson rubbed his eyes. ‘Right now we have about eighty-six thousand men supported by about twenty-six hundred artillery pieces and roughly eight hundred tanks of various types. As for air support, we have almost five hundred aircraft’ Slamdrake smiled then turned serious. ‘What about the Klingons?" he inquired.

Darkson took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. "Their troops will be half a million or so. Four thousand artillery pieces of various styles." he paused. "About five thousand tanks of various types in addition to over forty thousand combat skimmers we've heard." he paused a moment. "They have about six hundred aircraft of various types." he paused. "However we have the advantage in defensives... the Klingons don't have a lot of guided ordinances so they will likely leave us plenty of debris and hiding places to fight with." Darkson regarded his old friend. "All of these numbers is just their first wave... They will respond with overwhelming numbers in an attempt to take the city and capture our Queen." he rumbled. "Final numbers points to Klingon numbers somewhere about six and a half million troops, along with six thousand more tanks." he paused. "Another fifty thousand combat skimmers and more aircraft. Probably another several hundred." Darkson regarded his old friend. "I can see them committing all of their forces on Gornar for this campaign."

Slamdrake took out a bottle of grolla juice from his belt and produced two shot glasses from seemingly out of nowhere. ‘Then let’s drink to our soldiers and the Hegemony." He gave the glass to Darkson and they both emptied their glasses. "We will make them bleed." he paused. "If we are to die here then we will make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance," he growled softly. "At least by our allies."

Slamdrake nodded his massive head. "Well, we shall see how this battle goes.." The colonel moved over to the window and looked in the distance. He knew the size of the force now advancing towards him and his beloved city. He turned back to his friend "The die is cast. Perfect for our situation" Slamdrake smiled, saluted and then left the room.

As he went back to his maps, Darkson pondered on what he just said "Ich'nay All'Orah Borah." as he growled softly, returning his attention to his work.