You Are Who We Thought You Were

Posted on Fri Mar 13th, 2020 @ 6:04pm by Commander Carrie Hawkwood & Fleet Captain Vrr'Srhann'rr 'Siranna' & Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Sparrer
Edited on on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 @ 10:28pm

Mission: Mission 94: Shattered Shields and Crack'd Swords
Location: Palatarr system
Timeline: 0900Hrs - July 26th, 2392

Dessaix sat on the bridge of the Myrina. After much arguing, Dumford finally put his flag on the Hara, at least for this training mission. The 54th Squadron sans the Leopard and Marbot had dropped out of warp. The ships floated aimlessly for about five minutes. It was clear that there was no operational plan. Finally, Dessaix opened her comm channel.

"Commodore Dumford, Your patrolling this system. Your expecting hostiles to appear at any minute. Take appropriate action." Dessaix told him.

"Um...yes Admiral." He told her without any of the previous cockiness. He closed the comm channel. "What formation do I use?" He asked himself. His command chair was completely unfamiliar to him. He pressed a button and red lights started to flash and klaxons wailed. He tried in vain to turn the alert off.

Dessaix came on to the view screen. "Dumford, is everything okay? Your ship went to red alert?"

"Just running a test." Dumford replied as he was still searching for the off switch. A junior officer came up and turned the red alert off. Dumford nodded his head. "Yeah, thanks."

"Commodore," Stonne came over the channel, "Due to the planets being on our port side, may I suggest we form echelon left and head for the center of the system at coordinates 4577-2?"

"Um...Yes, that sounds good." Dumford agreed, glad some one in his command took the lead. "What were those coordinates again?"

"I'll take the lead Commodore, just form up on the Brunswick." Stonne replied.

"Yes..." Dumford told no one in particular. "Form up on the Brunswick and follow him."

The formation moved forwards. They swept past two planets and did not make contact. Then, two ships appeared on the sensor sweep at long range.

"Um...do we shoot at them?" Dumford asked.

"Yes Commodore. Just give us the order." Stonne replied.

"So...should we turn into them and fire phantom torpedoes?" Dumford asked again.

"Do you mean photon torpedoes?" Stonne asked, trying to repress a laugh. "No, not at this range. We will arm them and have them at the ready."

"Yeah...okay...let's do that." Dumford replied.

"Open Fire with phaser banks." Stonne ordered as the destroyers opened up. Most of the shooting hit but as they were at extreme range they just damaged the shields.

"Commander Stonne, I'm the commander of this formation and I'll give the orders on when to fir. Understood?" Dumford attempted to scold Stonne.

"Yes sir." Stonne replied, almost giggling at Dumford's lame request.

Hawkwood was listening to the com chatter with half an ear as she was tuning most of it out. "Steady as she goes helm," she commented gently while she was seated in her command chair. "Wait, what did he just say"? Hawkwood heard Dumford say something to Stonne about proper procedure.

"You have to be kidding me?" Hawkwood commented softly.

Meanwhile, Commodore Castaln Tholo was in the system shaking down his new flagship, the Kelvin class destroyer USS Udaloi. He quickly took notice of Dumfords ineptness at handling only two ships, which caused him to wonder how the hell would he be able to manage his whole squadron of over thirty ships.

The two enemy destroyers started to fire back. Dumford's ship the Hara was hit with a lot of phaser fire. Dumford started to scream. "Stonne, what do I do?"

Stonne groaned in frustration. Even though Dumford's reliance on him was stroking his ego, he was finding it tiring. "You shields will hold. Now, give us the order to photon torpedoes. The Hara and Brunswick at the left vessel and the Krait, LaSalle, and the Prague at the right vessel."

"Yes, do that." Dumford replied.

Meanwhile on the LaSalle, Sexington was following his own agenda. "Helmsman, ignore what the Commodore ordered. I want you to fire at the ship coordinates 872."

"But Captain," The helmsman replied, "We have our firing orders."

"I'm sorry, are you the captain? I was put in command of this ship for a reason, not you. Now do as I say or you'll be written up." Sexington barked. The helmsman just shrugged his shoulders and did was he was told.

The LaSalle opened up with all phasers and photon torpedoes on the Krait. The damage was declared catastrophic and she was dead.

Sexington opened a channel to Hawkwood aboard the Ericsson. "So, I'm not good enough to date? Look who is still alive! IN YOUR FACE!" Sexington shouted, not realizing he destroyed a friendly. "In...your...face."

Hawkwood regarded the display before her, she had a practiced eye as she let out a soft sigh as she simply tapped the display once. Sexington's face suddenly froze. "What can I say." she commented in a dry tone of voice. "You are certainly something else. Sexington." she commented before she terminated the transmission.

"Well then. Shall we resume the battle?" she commented to her crew. "Stand by heavy missiles, target their flanker." Hawkwood smiled. "Fire when ready."