We had just received the go ahead from Commander Foro, the gas was ready. Risi was overseeing the first phases of the withdrawal from the command post at the station next to mine. I was currently hunched over the holographic map of the western approach, watching as the three red blinking lights that represented our three assault teams moved into position. We were on schedule. In a few moments, the attack would begin, and Risi’s withdrawal could begin. The plan was to return in force once the gas had settled and take as many of the Klingon mercenaries’ prisoner as we possibly could. That way we could remove the Klingons deniable troops from play and either force them back to the negotiation table or force them to escalate to a conflict that could risk starting another war.
“Masks on everyone!” Commander Foro had sent one of her team back to observe the deployment from the command post. Lieutenant Kohl, an Arcadian, was currently standing next to Lieutenant Risi and had just given the order. I immediately stopped watching the display, slipped the bulky rebreather over my face and tightened the straps. This was it. I keyed the open transmit button on the display to begin receiving the inter-team communications to better keep track of the battle. Commander Fanes' voice came over the link, tinny through the small speakers.
“Ok Bray, you’re up, give 'em hell!” Commander Glov Gronnahk grunted an affirmative over the link, but all sound was momentarily drowned out by the roar of both the Baumgartner and the Savitskya taking off from behind us. There goes the air support. Now I had nothing to do but wait. Once again, I found myself playing with the fire selector of my phaser, though I indulged this time. The waiting was unbearable, made worse by how alone and useless I felt at this moment.
“Withdrawals started, phase one is a go, phase two will begin as soon as Commander Fanes team makes contact.” Risi called out. Good, at least everything was on track.
“Commander Foro reports everything is ready on her end, they’ve begun flooding the above ground irrigation channels, ready to open on your order ma’am.” It took me a moment to realize Lieutenant Kohl was speaking to me. I turned to respond to her, but the distant sound of weapons fire snapped my attention back to the holographic readout.
“Contact. Looks like the bastards have been busy too.” It was Bray’s voice. I quickly scanned the table. His team was exactly where we expected them to be by the time they started taking fire. So far so good. He continued. “Crewman Adare’s hit, but it's not too bad, sending him back. Savitskaya, if you would please.”
“Copy Commander, stand clear.” Ensign Grant's voice replied over the speaker. The weapons fire intensified outside for a moment as the shuttle strafed the hill with its phasers. I heard Ensign Grant whoop over the still open line.
“Good shooting Savitskaya!” Commander Glov Gronnahk called over the link. “Give them another pass and we should be able to take this hill.” Ensign Grant acknowledged the order and another phaser barrage added to the growing cacophony of battle. Another few minutes passed and I was almost ready to head outside with a pair of viewfinders when Bray's voice came over the comm.
“Objective secured, Ensign Bakshi, quit being so lazy and get those launchers into position. Marcus you can go any time now.” I thumbed the transmit switch.
“Great job Commander, keep teams two and three covered.”
“On it Captain, if some people would move their asses!” He replied. I smiled. Bray was in his element in high stress situations, though it did bring out some of his more abrasive Tellarite traits.
“Commander Fane to Captain Zh’kaarrin, we’re stepping off now.” Marcus added. I wished him luck and let go of the transmit button. Risi called out that the second phase of the withdrawal was starting. This was us at our weakest, in a few minutes only a thin line of personnel with rebreathers would be holding the perimeter.
“Savitskaya or Baumgartner, emergency.” Shit that was Bray again. “They just tried to retake the hill, we have multiple fragmentation and impact casualties. We need an emergency medevac for two of them.”
“Baumgartner here, coming in Commander, keep us covered.” I wished we had had time to tie some of the colony’s personal transporters to pull the wounded out, but we lacked the local sensor equipment required for that kind of precision targeting. We would have to make do with our shuttles and the risks that came with. I had ordered the Popovich to be kept in reserve for this exact duty, but we hadn't seen any sign of Klingon air assets since the dogfight with the Baumgartner, so I wanted it to stay put for now. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I hated being so far back from the action especially when things began to spiral. I could hear Bray and Ensign Yukimura exchanging details for the pickup when Commander Fanes' voice cut across them.
“Contact! Shit, we’re too far out. Savitskaya, we need a hand.” I checked the map. Commander Fanes' team was still over a hundred meters from where they had anticipated making contact. “We’ll designate a target for you with a tricorder, stand by...” I waited as the seconds ticked by, holding my breath.
“Designated! Go Grant!” Marcus called.
“I see it, looks like they've set up some kind of emplacement. Coming in.” Ensign Grant replied. A third blast of high intensity phaser fire came over the link and a moment later Grant's voice came over it again. “Got it!”
“Confirmed Ensign, we’re advancing, great job!” Commander Fane responded. That felt too close. I started circling around the map to burn off some of my nervous energy. The Baumgartner was moving again, its marker was heading back towards the colony and our hospital. The injuries must have been bad, to warrant the six-minute round trip back to the S.M.A.S.H hospital. I wondered who had been hurt.
“Lieutenant Risi, what is the status of phase two?” I asked, mostly to give myself something else to focus on instead of the battle.
“Twenty two percent ma’am.” His deep voice was muted by the mask he wore, causing some of his words to blend. That put it only slightly behind schedule. Good. That meant the teams pressing the attack would only need to buy us another twenty-five minutes or so. I checked the clock on the display, twelve minutes had passed since we had put our masks on.
“We’ve hit their main line.” Commander Fane was back on the line. “Phenna you’re up.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Acknowledged Commander.” Her clipped, accented voice replied. “Stepping off.” All three of our teams were committed now.
“Bray, we could use your photon launchers right about now.” Marcus continued.
“Give us a minute, they’ve made another run at the hill. Oh hell, targs again. Standby. “
“Standing by Commander.” Marcus responded. “Savitskaya, can you give us a hand, the bastards aren't falling back.” Here it was, the point in any battle where things started to go wrong. I cursed at how early it had come.
“Roger that Commander,” Before Ensign Grant could continue the contact alarm sounded from the holographic display. A trio of fast-moving aerial assets had entered scanning range. “Scratch that, I’ve got three bogeys inbound on me.” I could hear the shuttle's impulse engines kick up to maximum over the connection. “Sorry commander, I’m going to be busy for a bit.
“Understood Ensign, good luck.” Marcus replied. My desire to see what was going on with my own eyes got the better of me and I left the confines of the command post. I knew this was a mistake, but at that moment I didn't care. I mounted a ladder bolted to the side of the building and climbed to the roof. It was hard to see without any equipment, but I could make out three distinct battle zones. To my left was the hill Brays troops were on. I could, even at this distance, see the criss-crossing of phaser and disruptor bolts and well as the occasional explosion. To my right I could see Chief Phenna’s team engaging. The position they were attacking had mounted some kind of heavy automatic disruptor and I could see it firing streams of energy at the direction of her advance. The center looked the worst. Columns of smoke stretched across their entire sectors and I could just make out movement along their line of advance. I squinted but couldn't make out any more detail. The wind momentarily picked up and the roof of the command post was washed with a spray of hot particulate matter. A side effect of sustained automatic heavy disruptor fire, it was composed of partially vaporized matter which stunk of ozone. Even at this distance the largest pieces singed my uniform and burned my exposed skin. A grim reminder of the power of the weapons my crew were currently facing down.
“Captain, you need to come back inside.” I turned to look behind me. Risi was clinging to the ladder with just his head and shoulders visible. I realized I had made a mistake. My desire to understand what was actually going on had blinded me to my need to lead. With a nod I joined him on the ladder and headed back inside. The command post was a hive of activity in our brief absence. Junior officers had filled in for us and stepped back to resume their duties as we took up our stations. I glanced over the comm traffic logs and checked the clock again. Eight minutes had passed since I had last checked, which meant that our teams only needed to buy us seventeen more minutes. The comm traffic logs painted a bleak picture. Chief Phenna had called for casualty evacuation, one dead and three critical. The Popovich was responding but it was still three minutes out. The Baumgartner had returned as well and had joined the aerial battle against the raptors. The one silver lining was that Commander Glov Gronnahk’s team had repelled the counterattack on the hill and were providing fire support for the other teams.
“Status on the withdrawal?” I called out again.
“Just over fifty percent.” Risi replied, “Should finish ahead of schedule.” I didn't know how we had made up the time difference, but I didn’t care.
“Splash one!” Ensign Yukimura’s voice came over the table speakers and the command post erupted in cheers as one of the red blips representing a Ki’Tang blinked out of existence. I could not have been prouder of my shuttle pilots then at this moment. They had taken to the mission of air cover with both skill and gusto and were making the Klingons pay. Our good spirits at Ensign Yukimura’s kill were to be short-lived.
“Team one, this is a general fallback order, break contact and fall back to rally point two.” Commander Fane’s voice echoed from the speakers. The remaining cheers and celebrations died away. I thumbed the send key.
“Sitrep Commander.”
“We’re being flanked, either they had a reserve we didn’t know about or.” An explosion downed out the rest of his response and caused the line to fill with static for a moment. I held my breath.
“Shit that was close, Kerensky pick up Rogriss, we need to move.” His voice was strained now, likely from an injury. “Sorry about that captain, it looks like they have mortars. Team one is too exposed so we’re falling back to the second rally point. How much more time do you need?” I glanced at the clock again. Somehow it had only been three minutes.
“We still need another fourteen minutes before we’re ready.” I replied, my voice frantic. I picked up the headset attached to the table. This next part would call for private comms. I spoke softly into the mouthpiece.
“Marcus, we can't let them advance or they will be out of range of the gas.” His reply took a moment.
“I know, Niah, I know. Somehow, we’ll hold them at rally point two. I’ll buy you the time we need.” I could hear the concern in his voice. No, it was more than concern, it was fear. The last legs of team one's attack were over open ground, which is where they were now, rally point two was a collection of low berms about thirty meters behind them. The available cover was sparse, and our forces risked being overwhelmed.
“Good luck Commander and thank you.” I added the thank you after a moment's hesitation.
“Right.” He bellowed and I pulled the headset off reflexively at the sudden volume increase, thumbing the table back to general broadcast. “Let's do this properly, fall back in teams, and lay down fire before you move. Bray give us everything you can on their line for as long as you can. Peters, grab that med kit.” The clipped replies of Commander Glov Gronnahk and Marcus’s team leaders echoed back on comms. The sounds of the withdrawal filled the next few minutes as team one made it back to the rally point. They had not escaped unscathed however, and in that brief time both Ensign Rojis and Petty Officer Pereria were killed by disruptor fire and another four crewmembers were seriously injured. Another set of names added to the list of victims claimed by my choices. We still needed nine minutes.
“Ok team one dig in here, we fall back anymore and they’ll be out of range of the gas!” Marcus’s voice shouted over the background noise. “The captain needs at least ten more minutes. What do you say we buy her another twenty?” A chorus of cheers could be heard over the link. I was baffled at their response, sure I was the captain, but that made me their leader through a decree of Starfleet Command, not because I deserved it. I was responsible for the danger everyone on New Jerusalem found themselves in. Hell, my choices had already killed so many of them already and were killing them now!
Despite all of that, here so far away from the power and authority of Starfleet, my crew still rallied to the idea of me. Perhaps I wasn't such a terrible captain? Perhaps my crew wanted to stay and fight here as much as I did? If that was the case I was so proud of them. Heedless of my current inner turmoil, Commander Fane continued.
“Saviskaya, Baumgartner, can you cover us?”
“Negative Commander.” Ensign Yukimura responded. “I’ve taken damage to my port nacelle and am venting drive plasma, returning to the spaceport.”
“Confirmed Baumgartner.” Ensign Grant chimed in. “I’ll cover you and keep these flyers off of the ground teams.”
Copy both of you, we’ll manage, good luck.” Commander Fane replied, the sound of phaser fire nearly drowning him out on the link. I watched the dot symbolizing the Baumgartner break off from the Savitskya and set a course back for the space port. The Klingons and their mercenaries’ numbers were finally starting to overwhelm us. I paced over to one of the displays that showed a live sensor feed of the battlefield and called up team one's position. A ragged line of Starfleet officers lay on the berms of rally point two, returning fire at an advancing line of what appeared to be Naussican mercenaries led by a trio of Klingon officers. The Naussicans were laying down such a blizzard of disruptor fire it was a miracle that they hadn’t already cut down my crew. The fire from the Klingon lines continued rising in intensity while the returning phaser bolts continued to decrease. Commander Fane’s team was still holding on through sheer determination and I watched helplessly while they struggled for a few more long, agonizing minutes.
“Team one calling Captain Zh’kaarrin.” My heart sank. That meant Marcus wanted to talk directly to me. I sprinted back to the display and drew the headset back to my ear.
“Marcus I’m here!” I could hear my voice shake with anxiety.
“They’ll be on us in seconds, deploy the gas now and let us take our chances with the rebreathers.” I didn't want to deploy it yet, but I also knew better than to argue. Seconds mattered right now. I moved the headset away from my head.
“Lieutenant Kohl. Deploy the gas now!” I yelled and to her credit, she sent the command before replying with a “yes ma’am.” I moved the headset back into position.
“It's done Marcus.” I said but only static answered me. I turned to the officers staffing the bank of sensor readout where I had stood only a moment earlier. “Someone give me a status report on team one right now!”
“We’ve lost their bio readings!” called one of the medics. Additional officers started calling out status reports, but I couldn't hear them over the sudden pounding of my heartbeat in my ears. I had just killed my first officer and his entire team. I dropped the headset and it clattered to the floor. Silently I walked back over to the sensor readout and pulled up the same feed from before. The screen showed the same position but where my officers had laid only Naussicans stood. One of the Klingons pointed to the sensor tower that was broadcasting this feed back to our command post. With a clipped command a squad of Naussicans raised their disruptors and fired. The feed went dead.