Messenger of the Gods

Posted on Thu Mar 12th, 2020 @ 5:56am by Captain Astrid "Alex" Yamaguchi & Commander Yuri Denisov & Commander William Hague & Commander Victoria "Vicki" Cameron & Commander Sasha Behl & Lieutenant Commander Candace DeCoste & Lieutenant Commander Michael Jankowski & Lieutenant Commander James De Poix & Major Matthew "Monkman" Gideon & Lieutenant Commander Don Henson & Commodore Korelii MacRae & Command Master Chief Petty Officer Laurel Takashima & Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mitchell & Lieutenant Colonel Michael Pallara & Colonel Miranda 'Coop' Cooper

Mission: Mission 88: We Must have Bloody Noses and Crack'd Crowns
Location: USS Hermes - Near the Morska System
Timeline: 0900Hrs - June 1st, 2392

Captain Korelii McKnight smiled, there was something dark and downright unpleasant in this woman these days and all who knew her, knew why this was so. "You okay skipper?" Commander Yuri Denisov inquired in a soft tone of voice.

"I've been better," McKnight responded, in the same tone. "I was just thinking of Torilla. Did she suffer while she died?." she paused. "Or was it quick?" she shrugged, the manner of which indicated she didn't care. "Anyway, the Klingons will pay for killing her."

"Wasn't she your lost sister or something like that?" Denisov pressed. "I had heard stories but I don't know for certain," he added.

"Yes, Yuri. She and I had the same parents, she is my full sibling." McKnight confirmed it. "That's not widely known, however." she paused. "My husband serves with her and he tells me nothing but good things about my sister. The woman I never knew was my sister until recently."

"I'm sorry skipper. I never had the chance to know Torilla. From what I heard on her, I wish I had." Denisov sighed. "How is Daniel these days?"

"He's alright. He's back at Starbase Twelve along with most of the crew of the Courageous, while they wait for a new assignment, apparently, Commander Morales just got advanced to Captain and their crew is remaining together." McKnight answered. "At least last I heard anyway." she paused. "Let's move on..." Korelli was eager to get on with the day's work and her true objective. The Klingon base in the Morska system.

"Yes." Denisov agreed with her, he knew what was making her so focused on this goal and why she was so determined to get this done and as such, they were at war so he was going to help things along. "Alright. Well, we have the information regarding the Morska System for your review skipper."

Korelii McKnight smiled before she rose to her feet before she moved to the large holotable near the back of the bridge where the rest of her senior officers were already clustered. "What do we have?" the tall female inquired of those already gathered, while the mother within pushed the thoughts of her husband and children away.

Lt Commander Candace DeCoste smiled. "The Klingons have four bases in the system. Locations are here, here, here and over here." she indicated two of the inner planets, a gas giant and one Kuiper belt world with her delicate looking fingers as she did so.

"Plenty of sensor coverage there but there is one gap. Located here and it'll last about four hours because this base will swing around on this moon and block it," commented Commander Sasha Behl, a gentle smile on her face. "The gap will open six hours later so we can move a small force in and hit the system," she added.

"Why should we be subtle about it?" Korelii McKnight inquired.

Commander Victoria 'Vicki' Cameron regarded her skipper as she spoke. "Because we're an Armored Fleet Carrier and not a battleship," she explained. "We can't be blunt about this, we need to show a little subtlety."

"We have two battleships and two battlecruisers. We can detail one to hit each base. We'll provide fighter cover and the rest of the fleet will break up into four groups, one for each capital ship and us." Commander Denisov explained his plan. "Break the force up equally. We can then board the Klingons bases and take them, or just destroy them at our leisure."

Lieutenant Henson nodded his head. "We can set up a rallying point here." he selected a location between planets five and six. "There is an excellent gap here." he paused. "If there are Klingon forces in the system, they will jump here." he paused. "We will need two extra warships to come with us because I have an idea."

Captain McKnight raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead, Lieutenant."

Don Henson turned Lt Commander James De Poix. "How good is your aim?" he commented with a smile. "We jump in here with our escorts going somewhere, anywhere else. So we're alone... The Klingons will attack us as they'll see an unescorted armored fleet carrier as an almost irresistible target, then we wait for them to come to us. Once they attack, we will turn so our bow faces them with our fighter hanger bays facing away from the enemy, to that end, we will launch every last bird we have beforehand. We'll deploy all our remaining support craft at that point, making it look like we've been caught in a trap. one of their making and not ours."

Commander Denisov regarded the younger male officer before him. "This plan is either insane or downright brilliant. Proceed please?"

"Yes. please do." Miranda 'Coop' Cooper inquired in a rather dry tone. "What will you be doing while all of my guys look incompetent?"

"You won't be looking incompetent Flight Commodore," Henson responded in the same tone. "You'll be allowing the Klingons to think the Hermes is helpless," he explained. "Once the trap is sprung. Your entire starfighter force will drop in along with our group of ships, we'll take the Klingon by surprise from two sides and catch them in the act."

"Ahh, a deception." Command Master Chief Petty Officer Laurel Takashima commented in a soft tone. "You realize that this, like all deceptions, is vulnerable to being exploited by a more experienced commander?."

"I know," Henson responded quietly. "I never said that this plan was a guarantee."

"No. But that said. I do like it." McKnight commented. "You know how this maneuver of yours will work right?"

"I should. I devised it." Henson paused as De Poix spoke up. "We should rotate so our dorsal will face the largest group of enemy ships, presenting the maximum number of weapons to bear on the enemy forces."

Henson nodded. "We could." he paused. "The forward and aft weapons, I was going to save those in case we got flanked."

Commander William Hague nodded his head. "Simple but effective. If we pull this off, we can almost take on several enemy ships alone. Any ideas as to what you'll call this?"

"I was going to consider it being called the Hermes Maneuver."

McKnight chuckled softly as did a few others. "If this works, they'll remember this as the Henson Maneuver. You devised it so you should claim credit for it."

"I'm taking an awfully large chance with a ship that's not mine, skipper," Henson responded quietly.

"Yes. That's true." McKnight agreed. "Let's do it," McKnight answered, silencing the debate. "We'll draw off the Klingon force to this location, upon arrival. Sasha, I want you to send out a general hail on long range sensors. Say something that will be sure to piss off every Klingon in range and make them come for us."

Behl nodded her head. "Works for me. I can arrange a few things for you."

Major Matthew "Monkman" Gideon smiled. "When the Klingons shields go down. I can have some of my guys be ready to board their ships to cause confusion."

"No. We want to neutralize those ships quickly. I will need your guys here to help security for when we ourselves get boarded."

Commander Victoria 'Vicki' Cameron smiled. "Once on site, I'll divert all of our FTL power to the shields and make them nice and strong," she explained. "I can also bring a few of our backup shield generators online but we should evacuate all our sections of the ship. This fight is going to get stupid."

"Do it," McKnight ordered. "Anything else?"

There was nothing else and all present, knew it. "Alright, we attack in one hour. Let's go prepare for it. Don, go see if your tactic works and get back to me." McKnight added before the meeting broke up.