Mass Trek

Chapter 29: Arrival on Virmire

10015: A GALAXY? How the HELL did they pull that off?

20225: Petrovsky led a raid on one of our facilities and downloaded the plans we had stored in our computer core. The attack was so sudden our crew couldn't purge the core fast enough.

10015: And where did they get the resources to build the thing?

20225: We're still working on that. The IHC doesn't have the resources to support such an operation. My best lead is the lost shipyards of Avros.

10015: A lost Krogan shipyard? That can't reproduce our tech!

20225: It doesn't have to. Cerberus can and all they need is a place to build and the resources to do it. It was said the Avros shipyards was within easy reach of a wealth of resources.

10015: But why a Galaxy? They could build several cruisers for the resources that building a Galaxy-class eats up.

20225: Petrovsky has been campaigning to get Cerberus build more threatening ships and, from what I've seen, the Elbrus is NOT an explorer. She's purpose built for war.

10015: This is a serious problem. Section 31 has never had such a failure.

20225: It gets worse. Cerberus has fielded a new class of starship. Some sort of fast-attack destroyer that looks to be on par with the Defiant-class. They built the same hull configuration of the old NV-class but built with more modern pieces. Obviously, the Elbrus wasn't the only thing Avros is pumping out.

10015: Do you have any more intel on them?

20225: Like I said, on par with the Defiant-class. Firepower. Maneuverability. Shielding. All it's missing is ablative armor.

10015: Damn it. We've got to warn Hackett.

~Mass Trek~

The Normandy's stealth systems were engaged immediately upon dropping out of warp. Anyone that detected that the relay had brought a ship out of transwarp would not be able to detect the Normandy, though the ship was not cloaked by any means; she was almost invisible against the background radiation prevalent throughout the system because it minimized its power levels and shield modulation.

On the darkened bridge, Shepard's brilliant green eyes scoured the screen from where she sat in the center chair. Her fingers drummed softly on the arm of the chair. "Status?" She asked as her eyes did not leave the image of the system before her.

"Stealth systems engaged," Ashely reported. "We're running dark." She checked the passive sensors. "Though I don't think anyone is looking."

Garrus glanced over at her from his spot beside Shepard. "What? That goes against every defensive strategy I can think of."

Presley turned from his console. "My readings confirm that. If Saren is here, he's not expecting company."

"He's let his guard down," Wrex commented from the back of the bridge where he leaned against a bulkhead. "Gives us the advantage."

"Let's not waste it. Joker, take us in but don't draw any attention to us."

"Aye, Commander. Flying casual," Joker replied as he typed in the commands.

Liara scoured over the readings displayed on a console. "There's a Geth destroyer on the other side of the system. It looks like it's escorting a cargo ship out of the system. It looks like their headed to another system on the cluster."

"I have them," Ashley added. "They really are moving away from us. Looks like Saren's base was just re-supplied."

"Any other ships in the system?" Shepard asked.

"None that we can detect without giving away our presence with an active scan," Ashley pointed out.

Shepard refrained from sighing. She hated this lack of intel. "Joker, ETA?"

"Three hours, fifteen minutes," the helmsman immediately answered.

"Alright people. Keep your eyes open," Shepard instructed.

~Mass Trek~

The Leonidas did indeed look like an NV-class, except its nacelles looked they had been taken from a Miranda-class. The way the vessel maneuvered when it met up with the Athens, where it broke off from its strike group and circled around the larger Excelsior-class and settled alongside, Miranda could tell it was a formidable vessel. The additional cannons at the end of the wings that branched off the nacelles added to the vessel's lethality. Miranda also eyed the phaser strips that left no blind spot in the vessel's firing arc. The deflector at the front of the ship's saucer glowed a threatening red.

LCDR Bethel examined the vessel on the viewscreen alongside Miranda, his arms crossed and a critical eye engaged in his personal analysis of the vessel. However, one did not need to hear his voice articulate his opinion to discover what he thought; it was evident on his face. Miranda could tell, from a glance out of the corner of her eye, that he saw the niche that the new class filled, but he preferred cruisers like the Athens.

"The Leonidas is of the new Spartan-class," Miranda explained as she recalled all the literature on the ship the Illusive Man had sent her. "Designed for both solo and swarm tactics. Our answer to the Defiant-class."

"We couldn't be a bit more creative?" Bethel inquired as he turned to return to his center chair. "We're just reusing hull designs."

"We have to remind ourselves of the advances we made on our own, in spite of alien interference," Miranda reminded him. "And it helps keep us below the radar and the heat on the Federation."

Bethel took his seat in the Captain's chair. "That's all well and good, but won't we be utilizing aliens to continue to advance humanity once we attain supremacy?"

"We still need to remember how far we came on our own," Miranda reiterated as she turned back to the viewscreen.

Bethel took a moment to admire Miranda's fantastic backside before he turned to the communications station. "Is Mister Taylor prepared to beam over?"

"Yes sir," the comms officer replied. "The Captain of the Leonidas has green-lit the transfer."

"Proceed," Bethel granted as he turned back to the helm. "Set a course for Aegina Station. Best possible speed."

Miranda patently waited for the confirmation of Jacob's safe transfer before she excused herself to return to her quarters. She doubted she'd be needed for the remainder of the voyage.

Once she was inside her quarters, she stripped down and scrubbed herself clean in the sonic shower. She looked forward to actual soap and water, but that would only come when she was at a 'shore' facility on a planet; even stations only had sonic showers… with the exception of the CO's personal bathroom.

She wrapped a robe around her and settled down at her console to finish some paperwork and catch up on her correspondence. She was pleased to find an update on Oriana from Niket but chose to set it aside for later when her work was caught up. She had to file her official report that Jacob had transferred to the Leonidas and she was once more traveling alone; she considered requesting another assistant but decided to forego companionship, both personal and professional, and work alone for the time being.

She filed an addendum to her report on the battle with the Section 31 ship, which had been requested by the Illusive Man after he had reviewed the original report. That report was probably the reason Jacob was transferred, she supposed, even though his meta-phasic torpedo idea was not used in the battle. Jacob had a tactical mind from his time in the IHC navy and was easily caught up with the more advanced tech that Cerberus used to be able to come up with viable tactics. He'd be a valued bridge officer and, perhaps, an excellent captain one day. Her addendum specifically dealt with Jacob's tactical recommendations that he had made to her in the past, which was quite the list.

Once her addendum was finished she sent off to the comms department; they would take the message, store it temporarily, and send it when the next scheduled data transfer like all the non-essential communication going off ship. There were half a dozen other bits of paperwork she had to complete, three of which were not exactly difficult but were time-consuming. The other three needed her to bring up reports from onboard officers and reference them to complete her work.

With her last obligation complete, she stood up and moved to her dresser. She selected the soft, comfy flannel pajamas she had brought aboard rather than the sexy lingerie she put on when she shared a bed. As she dressed, she remembered when Jacob had caught her wearing the pajamas before; he had commented that she made them look good and that it was interesting to see this side of her.

She brought up the message from Niket before she retired for her bed. Once she had made herself comfortable, she caught herself up on the activities of her sister. Granted, she knew everything that Oriana was doing before Niket could inform her, but the way that Niket wrote about Oriana's activities, triumph or failure, made it more human for her. He did have a certain flair with words.

She finally drifted off to sleep on the third reading of Niket's well-written account, the datapad still displaying the words that were, currently, her only source of happiness.

~Mass Trek~

Despite appearances, the Federation was actually being quite proactive about the Batarians on the other side of the wormhole. Being that the edges of the Hegemony's space lay multiple sectors away from the Gamma Quadrant side of the wormhole, patrol missions through the wormhole were easily performed on a regular basis without incident with the Batarians. The multiple missions also presented a forward presence in the quadrant to deter the four-eyed race from any further attacks on Bajor.

This kind of operations also made it easy for the Defiant to sneak through the wormhole in the shadow of a larger ship, like the Crazy Horse which was on its way to relieve its fellow Excelsior-class starship, the Fearless. Once out of the wormhole, the Defiant cloaked and broke formation with the Crazy Horse, no communications shared between the two in order to preserve the secrecy of the Defiant's mission.

Commander Sisko steepled his fingers in front of him, his eyes locked on the viewscreen. He watched as the Crazy Horse propel herself away at impulse until both she and the Defiant had reached a safe distance from each other before she launched herself into faster-than-light travel.

"Alright people, we have two weeks before the Crazy Horse returns from patrol. I want to be here waiting for them. Dax, lay in a course for Batarian space. Warp seven."

"Ready when you are, Benjamin."

"Engage." He turned his chair to face Odo, who stood behind and to the right of the conn. "Did your contacts at Starfleet Intelligence give you any more information on these Hegemony fleet movements?"

"Only that Hegemony fleets that enter the Omarion Nebula never make it out again," Odo explained. "Or the systems beyond it, for that matter. It seems that someone won't let the Batarians expand beyond a certain point."

"A faction we haven't heard of yet?" O'Brien asked from the engineering console. "Maybe we can make some friends since we have a mutual enemy."

Kira looked over from the tactical console. "I wasn't aware the Federation was at war with the Hegemony."

"We're not exactly at peace, either," Dax pointed out. "We may have a treaty with them, but we don't trust them to be faithful to it. Hence the patrols."

"What's the difference between the treaty with the Batarians and the one with the Cardassians?" Kira asked. "Starfleet's presence by the wormhole was minimal until the attack on Bajor."

"Your guess is as good as mine, Major," Sisko replied as he again turned his chair. "Captains may have to double as diplomats in certain circumstances, but I am far from a career politician." He opted to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. "What do we know of the Omarion Nebula?"

"It's your standard interstellar gas cloud," Dax quipped as she double checked with the computer. "It's still beyond what we've explored of the Gamma Quadrant, even with deep space probes."

Odo had tuned out of the conversation when the topic had turned to politics and opted to turn his attention to the image of the Omarion Nebula on a screen off to the side. He was inexplicably drawn to it with a passion beyond his usual obsession with justice and order. He didn't understand why it seemed to call to him; his mind was captivated by it, hooked on the image before him.

He did not know what drew him, but he was determined to find out.

~Mass Trek~

Captain Kirrahe was completely flummoxed when Commander Shepard and her two companions appeared in the middle of his camp. Granted, he had been informed they were on their way down, but the suddenness of their arrival surprised him.

His team was in the same boat. Weapons had been drawn, but Shepard had been quick to identify herself and put the team at ease. Kirrahe had to shake himself out of his stupor.

"Commander Shepard. Welcome. I am Captain Kirrahe, STG," he informed her as he reached out to shake her hand.

Shepard took the proffered hand. "Captain. Our sensors detected some interesting readings from your camp." There was a mild hint of concern in her voice.

"We've gutted our long-range shuttle to convert our fusion reactor into a bomb," Kirrahe explained as he gestured to the vehicle under camouflage netting.

"And that confirms those readings," Shepard replied. "Why did you convert your reactor into a nuclear weapon?"

Kirrahe gave Wrex a wary look before he replied in a lower voice. "Because Saren has created a cure to genophage and given it to the krogan clones that he has grown here."

Wrex had better hearing than Kirrahe had expected and turned his attention from around from his survey of the camp perimeter. "He has, heh?"

Kirrahe pointed at Wrex. "Keep your Krogan under control, Commander."

"If Wrex was going to be a problem, Captain, then I wouldn't have brought him. He has proven to be a valued member of my team."

"And I doubt his 'cure' for the genophage would benefit the krogan," Wrex added. "We won't bow the knee to him." Wrex eyed the spire in the distance. "You know if he's here? We've got a pool going on who makes the kill shot."

Kirrahe blinked in surprise before he refocused himself. "Well, glad that is settled." He waved in the direction of the shuttle. "The shuttle is still self-propelled, but only on thrusters and limited at that. We need the anti-air defenses down."

Shepard eyed the forest around them. "I can see why you'd have to fly above the trees; the foliage is too thick around here for that stealth shuttle to fly through." She craned her neck around and up to look at Garrus. "Think it'll be able to make the trip?"

Garrus tapped his visor and gave the shuttle a couple of look overs. "It's good work, considering that this really isn't their forte. It won't be able to take a lot of damage. Judging by what we saw from orbit, the shuttle would go down with a single hit."

"So, the plan is to take down the anti-air defenses, park the shuttle in the middle of the compound, and blow it to hell," Shepard assessed.

Kirrahe nodded his assent. "Exactly right, Commander. And, seeing as you have some sort of teleportation technology, that makes our exit a little less… problematic."

"With no disrespect intended to you or your team, but I'd like a few engineers and my weapons expert to look over the bomb," Shepard politely requested. "A few fresh pairs of eyes might spot something you missed."

"That's perfectly fine, Commander. I will need to speak with the fleet's Admiral about the plan."

"The Council didn't send a fleet, Captain. They only sent us."

"But our message-"

"Was garbled to hell and back. We couldn't make out anything."

Kirrahe groaned. "Then what's going to deal with the dreadnaught?"

"There wasn't one in orbit, nor in the system."

Kirrahe barked at one of his men and gave a command in a language Shepard didn't understand; the translator didn't pick up on it. The agent tapped a few controls, eyed the results, and called out his report.

"Hmm… well, I don't trust it to not appear when we least expect it." He gestured at his command center. "We'll have to make do without. We have a tentative plan, but there's still a lot of planning to do."

Shepard matched his pace to the center. "Let's get to it then."