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Kari
| | Posted on Monday, November 25, 2002 - 08:26 pm: | |
Rear Admiral Henry Evelyn "Evie" Charles Blagrove, commander, Second Battle Squadron, died aboard HMS Royal Oak when a Kreigsmarine uboat slipped through the seemingly impenetrable defenses of Scapa Flow. It was a fact LCdr. Kari Ma’Aru couldn’t help but remember every time she pondered their own Admiral’s mysterious away mission.
Sure, the focus of the defensive strategies now in place in the Longshot System centered around the “Churchill Barriers” which were built in Scapa Flow as a direct response to the submarine threat. But that didn’t mean the next wily attacker wouldn’t find his own way in.
The resemblances between the British Port and the current system were actually rather numerous. The islands in the flow acted to greatly reduce the number of possible approach routes much in the same manner as the radiation throughout Longshot. Combined strong tides correlating to the difficulties of accurately piloting a starship though those corridors and a significant amount of patrol craft in both cases ready to rush to any weakness in the lines, and one is left with a strategic plan that was very simple to convert to the current situation.
Still, a uboat did get by and the Pfhor have the ability to attack in numbers that go beyond even Hitler’s wildest fantasies, thus providing Ma’Aru and many others with incentive to scour through all available tactical maps and plans, trying to find any possible weaknesses, and time was quickly running out.
Kari had just gotten used to the Churchill’s new Command Information Center and the last Defender ship had just gone through the catapult. They were on their own now and there was no sense watching them too closely. She turned her attention to more pressing matters.
The three explosions were very troubling. A preliminary analysis had determined that the force of the blast was primarily inwards, indicating that it wasn’t something inside exploding but rather a collision or possibly some type of implosion. Sensor scans didn’t show anything in the area before the explosions, and there was no sign of transport, warp, of fold. Cloaking was a possibility, but the helm officers on the ships would have noticed the effects of another large ship that close by, and if it was a mine then the deflector shields would have given some warning before impact. Unless it was moving very quickly…
There were already two ships dispatched to scan the impact areas and until their science officers revealed any more data she didn’t want to speculate farther.
She glanced back at the tactical map. Immedietly noticing a rather large hole in the defensive lines, it didn’t take her long to find the problem. The Challenger had fallen back to within transporter range of the Thonos to pick up their new CO. She was just about to suggest that the surrounding ships shirt to take up the slack when she noticed them doing exactly that. Obviously, one of the nearby COs had noticed the gap and moved to close it. She considered recommending that a reprimand be issued to the Thonos for leaving its post but decided against it – probably not best to burden the new CO with something he wasn’t even directly responsible for.
She would have to keep a close watch on him, though, especially since it was her recommendation which put him in the captain’s chair. The coming engagement would certainly put that ship to the test. All reports on the new captain scored him very highly as a leader but made no mention of tactical skills, a speculation confirmed by his less than average scores on strategic aptitude tests. He probably wasn’t the best person to put into a combat situation with so little notice…
There was something else to that – a year and a half on Coronado and Kari was finally feeling confident in her ability to ‘read’ the expressions and intentions of those around her. When she had made the suggestion to Lora Kor she had noticed something; she could see in his eyes that he was a bit disappointed (it was directly related to her suggestion) and was sure that if she volunteered to take the position then he would have given it to her – he probably even wanted her to do so. If anyone had asked she probably would have said yes, if only to have the command of the new ship, for only a short while.
She took a few minutes to consider the possibilities; the elation of having being in control was soon overshadowed by the fear of responsibility and failure. She wouldn’t have an XO as perfect as the alternate Marcy to fall back on and she doubted her ability to lead the crew of a ship.
Still, Kor’s endorsement, even if it was mostly imagined, meant a lot to her. Kari truly respected the Trill’s opinion – he had proven himself to her numerous times already and had earned her trust on most matters.
She still had doubts about his current mission, though.
Inspiration Music: ((I’m hoping on this bandwagon while the gettin’s good =))
Mindless Self Indulgence – Cocaine and Toupees
Kraftwerk – Computerliebe
Aphex Twin – Children Talking (Title inspiration) |
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