CHAPTER 9
"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.
- Winston Churchill – Earth (Human)
IMPERIAL DOSADI ASSAULT CARRIER ISS DELOS, IN ORBIT OVER DOSAD
MAY, 2310
Wilkes saluted as Admiral Nolin walked into Engineering. "Good morning, sir!" The man was old – over 90. But despite an entirely grey face and missing teeth, he still had a powerful personality. He studied Wilkes.
"Wilkes. Can you get this old girl to fight again?"
He smiled, "Yes, sir. I pretty much started my career on her, it seems only fitting that I'd finish up with her too. And this is better than seeing her broken down for parts."
The old cat gripped his shoulder. "I remember first meeting you. Always knew there was something special about you. It's always better to go and meet Loreth rather than making her come to you." They walked down the lines of engineers. Most were either still in training or long since retired with a scattering of serving NCO's stiffening their ranks. But there would be no families aboard any of the assault fleet this time.
"What's our overall status?" the admiral asked.
"Well, we're a little short on dilithium but we've got enough to get there and fight like hell for a while, at least. We've got a full load of the old Countach anti-ship and Lynx anti-fighter drones, and a full load out of photon torpedoes. The new fighters don't fit in our launch tubes, so we're flying them straight off the decks. We can charge them, but we've got no facilities for handling or storing the Federation's new Avenger or Dart missiles so they get what they're loaded with and that's it. They can generate their own Hellraisers though."
"What's a Hellraiser?" he asked.
"A sort of mini-photon torpedo. Warhead yield is in between a Dart and an Avenger, but they can keep shooting them like a phaser as long as they've got charge. And the Nighthawk's carry a lot more charge than our old Tomcats did.
"We'll be short on food and most of the crew facilities aren't working any more. But we don't have a full crew anyway, so that's not that big of a deal. It's pretty much a one way trip, sir."
Nolin grinned at the younger, old man. "But what a story we'll make, Wilkes!"
"Speaking of which, sir, Nollos wants you to use this for your pre-battle speech."
"I don't always do that, Wilkes."
"Sir, you've done that before every fight I've ever been in with you." he laughed.
Nolin glowered at him with a wink, "So what is it?"
"It's a speech some general gave before a battle in ancient Earth history. She said it'll push a lot of buttons with a lot of the races in the Federation and the Klingons will love it. I guess the general was really outnumbered and was supposed to lose, but won anyway."
"She wants you to time it so that you're starting that five minutes before we drop out of warp."
Nolin studied the paper. "This is Shakespeare, Wilkes."
"Oh. I thought it was something historical."
"You're from Earth and you don't know Shakespeare? This is one of his greatest works."
Wilkes laughed, "I didn't spend much time reading old plays, sir."
He looked at his Chief Engineer and shook his head. He sighed and admitted, "This is going to be a disaster for your family, Wilkes."
"Maybe, sir. But it's who we are."
Nolin gripped his arm. "I won't waste them, Wilkes. But I may have to spend them."
He nodded. "I understand. Honor above all, sir."
The old cat's eyes lit up and for just a moment, Wilkes saw his commander as he was in his prime. "Honor above all, Wilkes." and he turned and strode out of the Engineering spaces.
"I might be in my sixties, but I still remember my way around this old boat!" Corin thought as he walked into the old east living pod. There were people putting gear down and trying to make the space as livable as possible. A lot of them were just kits, he thought. He let his eyes track through the large space. The plants had long since died and a lot of the ceiling panels no longer worked, leaving dropouts in the blue 'sky'. There were a fair number of old Delos hands here, helping the kits figure out what to do. He wondered how many of the young ones had even been in space before.
There were nowhere near as many as there should be to give the Delos a full crew, but they had enough he thought. He moved towards a knot of kits who were supposed to be his deck crewmen and began getting them squared away.
Eletha ran her hand down the edge of her old console in the Delos' disruptor targeting section. Power began to flood the various stations and she could hear the equipment spinning up. There was a young trainee standing behind her who said, "It looks a lot different than what we trained on."
She grinned at the other veteran sitting at the console to her right. "Well, this takes more skill than that newfangled crap they've got you playing with now." She stood up, "Have a seat and I'll run you through the differences. You've got about two weeks to learn how to shoot straight and as long as I'm in command of this section, you will shoot straight."
IMPERIAL DOSADI ASSAULT TRANSPORT ISS K'PATH, IN ORBIT OVER DOSAD
MAY, 2310
Imperial Marine Crewman Arlos leaned over and whispered to his friend. "Where did they find that old fossil?"
His friend watched the old Storm Leader in her heavy battle armor inspecting the other Marines two ranks in front of her. "I dunno. And what's with that pink heart on her helmet?"
The elderly man to her right elbowed her into silence as Sooth continued her inspection of the troops who would be leading the assault into Eletha. When she had finished her inspection she moved back to her center position and a very old Commander limped in. She saluted and said, "I think we're ready, sir."
He scanned over the assembled troops. "How many of you haven't even finished your training yet?"
About half of the hands went up.
"And how many of you haven't been in armor for over a decade?"
About a third of the rest of the hands went up.
"And how many of you think this is the most fucked up, idiotic, stupid operation ever conceived by any military planner ever?"
There was some laughter and all the hands went up.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why it's going to work." He began limping down the front rank. "The Cardassians aren't going to be expecting anything like this. Everything about this plan goes against common sense, good military planning, and plain old decency!" Another set of chuckles.
"We are going to hit those bastards with a level of violence unseen since the dawn of history. The speed and raw power of our attack will confuse them, confound them and seriously fuck them UP!" There were some ragged cheers.
"No matter what you think of your training, your skills, or your physical ability, what will carry you through this fight is courage. No matter what happens I want you to think ATTACK! Your every thought must be on taking the fight to them, through them, and over them. If you stop, I want it only to be long enough to pull out their bloody fucking guts and carry them forward like a banner!"
He returned to his position at the head of his formation. "Give up on thoughts of going home. They will keep you from reaching it. Let the Cardassians spend their time wishing they were going to go home. You spend your time making sure they DON'T go home and at the end of the day, YOU will be."
He let his eyes scan across the collection of Marines assembled in front of him. "Spend the next two weeks well. When we get to Eletha, I want you moving so fast in your excitement to get at those bastards, you run me right the hell over. DISMISSED!"
As the troops filed out he turned to his senior NCO. "How many of them do you think will make it home, Sooth?"
She watched them walking out. "If Admiral Nolin's plan goes well and the orbital battle goes well and we get some air support, maybe half. Mostly the younger ones."
"And if it doesn't go well upstairs?"
She looked at him and shook her head.
CARDASSIAN BATTLESHIP GALOR, IN ORBIT OVER ELETHA
MAY, 2310
"Sir, " the sensory officer spoke up. " It's evidently time for our daily jammer drop. They're here again."
Legate Dukat sighed. "This is getting tiresome, which I expect is their goal. To leave us off-balance and jumpy. Gul Tennekt, raise the alert level. It makes good drill, I suppose. And launch the fighters to go shoot them down again. At least it makes good target practice for them."
The officer smiled. "Very considerate of the Dosadi to send us live targets and help us to train our ECM crews." he turned to his sensor officer. "How many this time?"
"Looks like six, sir. High orbit this time, even distribution."
"That seems to be one of their favorites. I'll worry when it's something different."
Dukat thought that he should worry about that which he became complacent about. But then, that was the obvious purpose of repeating a pattern – get your enemy used to it so they no longer saw it as a threat. But, the Dosadi never did anything that was expected or obvious, so the Gul was likely correct. Unless that was what they wanted him to think. Surely, that's what their intent was; To have him looking for patterns within patterns. That way lay madness. In any case, their reinforcements were barely two weeks out and all the intelligence they had on Dosadi Fleet movements were that they were still scrambling to try to get a force together.
Impressively, they would be able to bring a sizable fleet from their front-line units to attack him in only five months from when they had taken Eletha – a month sooner than anyone thought was possible. And a month too late to have any chance at all.
FEDERATION INFORMATION NETWORK
MAY, 2310
People across the galaxy had begun watching a series of specials on the fight for the planet of Eletha. The past several days had seen both the Dosadi and the Cardassian sides presented with an even hand by Argus reporter Jonathon Nelson. In truth, most Federation citizens sided with the Dosadi claims – if the planet had ever been Cardassian, it was now far removed from their space and the fact that a Dosadi colony had been there for several years lent weight to their claim.
The most recently released presentation had been on a terribly cute little black furred Dosadi child who had been rescued from the Cardassian assault by a battle-scarred old troop that she had become attached to. Intermixed with the interview Nelson had conducted were the sensor-logs from Corin's Raider team and their scouting of Songte and Korel and the many civilian bodies scattered about. Despite Nelson's cautioning that the images presented were solely from the Dosadi point of view and that all evidence pointed to their civilian population defending itself ferociously, those who watched it felt that there was little excuse for elite military forces to be slaughtering civilians.
Throughout the Argus network, no matter what they were viewing, people's data feeds were interrupted with a 'FLASH'. What they saw was a dirty tan planet, the blue tint of it's atmosphere curving off above it and a voice they had become accustomed to:
"This is Jonathon Nelson reporting live for Argus. I have been granted unprecedented access to an active military operation. The Dosadi High Command have allowed me – as a neutral non-combatant - to broadcast live and unedited everything I see while I accompany Raider Team Six as they begin the Battle for Eletha. In seconds we will be diving off of a cloaked, Raider-class starship and falling into the planet as they begin the attack!
"We will be pushing unedited sensor feeds from several Dosadi starships, ground combatants and my own POV cameras...Wait, they're beginning..." Several Dosadi in stiff, pale-blue wing-suits shuffled into view and dove off the edge of the hangar bay. "Oh shit, I hate this!" They saw the view tilt wildly, spin briefly and stabilize as Nelson jumped free from the Tarak and begin his free-fall to the ground, 30 kilometers below.
There was a sudden cut away and they were looking into the face of a very old Dosadi in his puss-in-boots dress uniform. He was looking directly into the camera and spoke clearly despite his age. "My comrades, both new and old, before we enter battle, I wish to repeat to you a speech written by the great Earth playwright, William Shakespeare. King Henry and his men faced impossible odds, and like us, fear gnawed at their hearts as the time approached. And like us, those long ago men hoped to find immortality in memory. And in their courage, and valor, they found it.
"In his fear, one great captain wished for more men to even the odds. This was the King's reply:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my cousin, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say "These wounds I had on Crispian's day."
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."
He paused. "Honor above all." and the view cut again to a different feed on the Delos' bridge, looking forward from above and behind the old admiral. The streaking stars of warp travel suddenly stopped and the screen resolved into a dirty tan planet, terrifyingly close, as alarms began screaming and dozens of Cardassian ships cluttered the image.
"FIRE!"
CARDASSIAN BATTLESHIP GALOR, IN ORBIT OVER ELETHA
MAY, 2310
"Here we go again, sir." the Galor's sensory officer chuckled. "Shall I launch the fighters?"
Legate Dukat waved his hand at the man. "Yes. Anything unique about it this time?"
"No, sir. As usual, even distribution, six jammers, high-orbit. The fighters will be there in just about 5 minutes."
The communications officer interrupted, "Legate Dukat, we're receiving a hail from the frigate Kanvek."
"Are they having sensor troubles again?"
"Apparently, sir."
Dukat sighed. "On screen."
"Sir!" the frigate's commander saluted.
"What is it this time, Gul? More sensor ghosts?"
"Sir, these aren't ghosts. We've cross-checked with the cruiser Sartan and run a diagnostic."
"Well what is it then?"
"We don't know. But we tracked 18 different bird-sized objects suddenly appear on our sensors and fall into the planet's gravity well."
"You're telling me that a flock of birds appeared in space and then flew down into the planet? Any sign of a cloaked vessel? Increase scanning power."
"I don't know what they were, sir. We lost them after a few minutes."
Dukat's ECM officer spoke up, "Sir, this jamming is different. It's not responding to our countermeasures this time."
"They changed it?"
"Yes, sir."
"How long until the fighters engage them?"
"Two minutes, sir."
"Raise the alert..." his order dissolved into a shout as a Dosadi heavy cruiser dropped out of warp directly in front of the Galor, diving downward, and immediately began to fire every weapon aboard. In the tightly packed orbits, they could hardly miss.
"SHIELDS! RAISE THE SHIELDS!" he screamed above the explosions wracking the Galor. "Evasive action!" collision alarms were sounding throughout the fleet as 70 Dosadi warships dropped out of warp inside the Cardassian formation and instantly opened fire. Several explosions were visible as some of the Dosadi vessels collided with Cardassian starships moments after they appeared, scattering lethal shrapnel throughout the Cardassian fleet.
T'ELESH, DOSAD
MAY, 2310
Yun, Ri, Feros, and S'eth were watching the Argus stream on little Rileeta's rescue. Almost every time Ri came on the screen she would squeal and ask again how many people were watching.
Yun said to Feros, "Thank you again for letting us stay with you while they're away doing whatever horrid thing it is that they do. I know Corin had worked out having Ri stay with you, but I don't know what I would have done with myself. I don't have any close friends here yet, other than Corin."
Feros hooked her tail around Yun's, "Our mates may be the part of the team that goes and fights, but we're the part of the team that stays and take care of everything else. We've all found that it's easier to stay in groups. Usually by the time they come back, we've all ended up at each other's place more than once."
"How do you deal with this? They just go...and you never know when or if they are going to come back. Look at those pictures! It's horror after horror and they're surrounded by the enemy! Just like those Cardassians were, I can't believe they don't get caught!"
The younger woman said, "You just have to have faith, Yun. If you're going to go any further with your relationship with Corin, you have to just believe he'll come back. When you start wondering what it is they're doing or what risks they're taking and thinking that they might not come home, it gets to be too much. It's better to not know, usually.
"This is more than I've ever seen about what they really do. They won't talk about it, you know that, right?"
"No, well, I guess I knew Soldiers kept secrets, but they don't even tell you what they do on missions?"
"They don't. You just have to finish patching up all the new holes and let them cuddle their kits and pretend it's normal. And don't mention the nightmares."
"Nightmares?"
"Doesn't Corin have nightmares when he's at home? He does here, sometimes."
"I don't know, I guess. We haven't spent that many nights together and he doesn't sleep as much as I think he should."
Feros nodded knowingly. "He does, then. You don't need to mention them. Trion's mate says she wakes up screaming a lot. He and their kits just let her get up and walk around until she's ready to go back to bed again."
Yun was appalled. "I don't know if I can do this."
"A lot of people can't. It's..." she sighed. "A lot of days I wonder why I fell in love with Veth. And when he comes home bloody and broken, I hate Corin for taking him into those places over and over again. And then I'm thankful that he almost always brings them home again, and I see S'eth and him playing, or when I hold her, or him...it's worth it."
"Almost always?"
Her expression saddened. "They do lose people sometimes. Corin's team has the lowest fatal-casualty rate of any of the Raider teams though. In fifteen years he's only lost four. It kills him every time. He blames himself no matter what happened."
"Why do they do this? There has to be a better way."
Feros studied her. "Not in this world, Yun. Our people need to defend ourselves from others who want what we have, or who hate us. We need to find and keep resources so that we can live. There is evil and there are those in the same situation that we're in, but who for one reason or another are in competition with us. The teams..."
S'eth interrupted, "Mommy? Isn't that daddy's team? He said number six."
They stopped and watched the holo-display. A group of Dosadi in wing-suits dove out an opening into a field of blue and tan and they heard Nelson's voice say "Oh, shit I hate this!" and dive after them.
Messages started popping up on her PADD almost immediately after that.
IMPERIAL DOSADI RAIDER ISS BALEOS, IN ORBIT OVER ELETHA
MAY, 2310
Nollos sat at a console in the packed shuttlecraft. The SWACS were designed to control hundreds of fighters and seeking weapons and to provide enhanced sensor information to a fleet. This one had been modified to act instead as a production studio able to send tight-beam transmissions to a relay satellite.
With her was a team of four Dosadi specialists and two of her fellow bards. Their job was to weave all of the different sensor threads together to tell a compelling story. According to the Emperor himself, their job was vital to the future of the Imperium. She shook her head. She wasn't military. She was an artist. Yet here she was in charge of six people in a battle. Well, in charge of the story, anyway. The military people made all the other decisions.
She really hoped they were as good as her brother was, because according to the plan, they were going to be just sitting out there all by themselves for about fifteen minutes hoping no one noticed them. The main Argus stream on Rileeta looked good though, she smiled to herself. Nelson was right about her – she was going to break hearts across the galaxy. Well, the Vulcans and the Klingons wouldn't care for her much, but they were freaks anyway.
The driver, or pilot or captain or whatever he was, called back, "EmCon." and she made sure all her transmitters were off. Why did the military have to have code words for everything? Why not just say "Turn it all off!" Her stomach lurched and the shuttlecraft scooted slowly out of the back of the ship, directly over the blindingly white pole of the planet below them. And she started to see Nelson's sensor feed coming across her console. Showtime!
"Okay, get ready to cut in to the main feed – Erelan, cue up the background music for Nolin's speech. They are going to eat this up! Get ready to cut to the ships when they show up, we're going to have a lot of feeds, so sing out if something interesting's going on in one. Let's make this a show no one will ever forget."
IMPERIAL DOSADI ASSAULT CARRIER ISS DELOS, ARRIVING, ELETHA
MAY, 2310
Heather sat in the cockpit of her Nighthawk, waiting for the ship to drop out of warp. They weren't even supposed to wait for a launch order – just go as soon as the big bay doors opened up, and do so as fast as they possibly could. Their only orders: Destroy everything in sight.
Her uncle Corin gave her a snappy salute and she returned it. The ground crews were pulling charging cables and coolant hoses back out of the way, hauling the heavy extensions back into the bays. The fighters were packed nearly on top of each other – the Delos was never designed to launch fighters like this. But here they were. She touched a control on her console and her fighter started broadcasting her favorite battle music.
"Heather, you ever gonna let us have a fight in peace and quiet?" came Paavo's voice followed by Inga's laugh.
"Why Flight Leader Puurunen, you know you would get lonely if you didn't have my music! Whoops – doors coming open, retarders to full, throttles to 10 percent. As soon as you clear the bay, squadron leaders, go for the heavies. Plenty for everybody, so don't get selfish and don't get stupid. Shields and screens to maximum. Weapons free. On my mark, go to full military thrust by squadron, follow me out..." The doors finished opening and she said, "mark, mark, mark!" and her fighter soared out of the Delos into insanity.
T'ELESH, DOSAD
MAY, 2310
No one was talking. The images on the screen were coming in rapid fire jump cuts. The exterior shots were the strangest of all since there was absolute silence. Green lines crossing everywhere. The bright white streaks of missiles or disruptors. Burning ships leaving trails of plasma and debris across the black of space and the tan of the planet. Here and there, the ugly red and yellow flowers of death. These scenes were interspersed with images from the bridge of one ship or another, some afire, all involving men and women shouting incomprehensible rapid-fire orders involving courses or speeds or status. But over and over again the word "FIRE!" Once a feed flashed with a hideous reddish-yellow cloud billowing across it to the sounds of screams and then went dark.
Another jump, to a long space filled with the black, angular shapes of Federation fighters, suddenly racing out into space and the screen cut again and this time the image rolled nauseatingly as the fighter maneuvered hard. Neither Yun nor Feros recognized the voice calmly issuing orders, but back on Earth, the Wilkes family did.
So did a respectable number of people across the Federation who were avid followers of Starfleet. More than one drew puzzled stares when they shouted out "The Angel of Orias!"
There was a steady stream of commentary from a male voice, calmly explaining the battle and what could be expected, what weapons were being used and their effects. A banner scrolled around the base of the holo-images reminding viewers that this was live and was taking place on a planet called 'Eletha'. Not many people paid much attention to the voice-over – the images were far too compelling by themselves.
CARDASSIAN BATTLESHIP GALOR, MANEUVERING OVER ELETHA
MAY, 2310
"They're insane!" Legate Dukat screamed as he tried to find some order in the battle that raged around his flagship.
His sensor officer yelled back, "There's too many in too close! I can't track anything there's shit everywhere!" The technical term for it is 'saturation'. It involves throwing so many weapons at a defender that their systems and operators are so overloaded that they are unable to function efficiently. He knew the term, of course. But knowing a term, and knowing what to do about it when it happens to you are two different things.
The ECM officer yelled, "We need to take out those damn jammer pods Where are our fighters?!"
"Call the reinforcements from the Torelli Nebula! Immediately!" How many ships do they have? Where did they come from?"
"I can't tell! They're everywhere! Every time we shoot them we risk hitting our own ships – There's shit blowing up everywhere I can't even tell who's it is!"
"Helm! Get us out of this mess! Raise orbit by 100,000 km!"
His defense operator spun in his chair, "Their fighters – we can't track on them! They aren't where the sensors say they are!"
"What are those?!"
The science officer answered him, "Federation Nighthawks, sir. They have a screening system somewhat like a cloak – it doesn't hide it, it just degrades our sensors enough to make a hit much less..." the Galor rocked again from a series of explosions and they saw one of the jet-black fighters flash across her main view screen like a shadow in the dark. "...likely. They also are firing a new torpedo type."
"Where the hell are our reserves?!"
T'ELESH, DOSAD
MAY, 2310
The holo-images changed again, and they were watching a cluster of low buildings come racing up at them. Nelson's voice spoke again, straining with effort, "That...that's our target...They're shooting!" and they watched phasers reaching up, trying to find the descending team.
S'eth and Rileeta were plastered onto the older women, eyes wide.
Feros said, "They can't. They can't show this. They can't."
They watched three of the team hit the ground and engage defenders before they even collapsed their para-wings. Nelson hit the ground with a loud "OOF!" and the view staggered. By the time he was looking towards the building again, they could see all six of the Raiders moving and firing and he was sprinting to catch up.
Something exploded near them and a shower of dirt and debris rained down on Nelson, the image now just dirt for a second, and then back to the team. Veth was bleeding from a tear in his left arm, but he turned to look at Nelson and yelled, "Move!"
S'eth whimpered, "Mommy...Daddy's hurt..."
The view centered on Corin, a bloody gash down his face and most of his right ear missing. His bush hat was gone. "Veth! Blow the damn door!" He raised his plasma rifle and fired two shots at something out of view.
Rileeta whined and gripped Yun harder.
"Right, Cap!"
Yun had her hand over her mouth and was shaking her head back and forth. Nelson was speaking again, in between deep, rapid breaths, "We...we're going to...attack into this...air defense...center...That will allow...The transports and...fighters to..."
"GET CLEAR!" And everyone hit the dirt. Nelson tried to raise his head to get a look at the door but the view filled with Ason's hand and he yelled,
"Keep your head down you fucking moron!" as a roar washed over them all. The view juggled again as Nelson got to his feet, following the sprinting commandos into the Cardassian air defense sector command post. Yun couldn't understand why they weren't all dead a dozen times over as Cardassian troops or technicians would pop up only to be instantly engaged by the smoothly moving group. They looked like they were gliding through the building, their weapons scanning back and forth like machines.
And the view jumped again.
IMPERIAL DOSADI ASSAULT TRANSPORT ISS K'PATH, IN ORBIT OVER DOSAD
MAY, 2310
The transports had dropped out of warp almost inside Eletha's atmosphere. They hit at a much higher speed than they were designed to do and their hulls began to overheat. The pilot of the K'Path watched the damage indicators begin to light up and looked at his partner. "Don't think we're going to be taking off again."
"Nope."
The big, boxy ship was leaving a trail like a meteor across the sky. He hoped the Raider teams were on time and on target for taking out the air defenses. They had good shields, but there was only so much they could take.
"Shields, maximum forward." the pilot ordered.
"Got it...Sensor lock. They're tracking us."
"Evasive."
Seconds passed as the battleforce of over 1,000 Imperial Marines rocked back and forth while the ship tried to make itself as difficult a target as possible. The ship lurched as air-defense phasers began to hit her. There were thirty of the big transports dropping out of orbit, but two of them were engaged and destroyed by Cardassian starships, leaving an obscene spray of thousands of fireballs across the sky.
"I don't think the Raiders made it." the pilot commented with all the emotion of a man mentioning that the bus was late.
"Nope."
"Red-light the Marines. They got a better chance out than in."
"Too high, too fast."
"That's why I said red-light, not green. We'll wait as long as we can."
His co-pilot flipped a switch.
Sooth watched the visor on her helmet flash with a red jump-warning indicator. She checked the repeater feed and shook her head. The jump-harness on their battle armor wouldn't get them down from this high and at the speed they were going, they'd be torn apart. She stood up, "On Your FEET!" And began walking down the lines of troops as they stood in formation by the trap doors that would drop them from the transport. She glanced at one young trooper. She checked her visor display. "Arlos, isn't it?"
"Yes, Storm Leader!" he sounded off.
"Ever jump before?"
"No, Storm Leader!"
"Won't be able to say that much longer. Tell you what, you stick by this old fossil and we'll get you home, all right?"
He stiffened to attention.
Sooth laughed, "Even old fossils still have good hearing, Crewman." She clapped him on the shoulder of his blue-grey and tan mottled battle armor. She raised her voice, her suit automatically amplifying her words, "Just keep moving, and keep shooting. Assault THROUGH the objective, do not stop ON it. Destroy it and move into defensive positions. We'll re-group and move on to any other objectives after that. When in doubt, shoot."
She went back to her spot, listening to the transport ring from the ground fire. And then the defenders fell silent.
T'ELESH, DOSAD
MAY, 2310
Feros said, "That was Corin's mother. She's in her SIXTIES! They can't make her do a combat jump!"
But the view was changing again, back to the battle in orbit.
Yun asked, "Wait...What happened? Wasn't the team supposed to destroy the people shooting at them?"
"I don't know! There's too much going on! I don't know how anyone can keep track of this!" Feros said, frustrated.
The commentator was speaking, "After an initial success, the battle is turning against the Dosadi. Not enough ships, outnumbered more three to one, even with the Federation's loan of a wing of fighters. Casualties are mounting, and there simply aren't enough ships, not enough firepower to deal with the Cardassian fleet."
The holo-image was full of burning, exploding ships. The blue-grey Dosadi ships were dwindling while the gold-colored stingray-shaped Cardassian ships were still everywhere. But there were far fewer big ships than there had been.
Aboard the SWACS, Nollos waved her hand emphatically at the Force Leader providing the commentary.
"We are desperate. We rely on our friends, the one power in the galaxy who can always be counted upon by those in terrible need. Where are our allies? Where is Starfleet?"
The view jumped again to the bridge of the Federation heavy cruiser USS Excelsior. The streaking stars stopped again, this time with a view down into the raging battle over Eletha. Captain Crajjik ordered "FIRE!" and the ten ships of the Starfleet task force engaged the Cardassian fleet from behind. More than a few Federation citizens cheered as the view shifted, showing the pearly-white starships riding to the rescue. All that was missing was a bugler blowing charge.
Yun, Feros, and the kits watched nearly two dozen Cardassian starships silently explode, while the remaining Dosadi vessels renewed their attack with a lunatic ferocity.
CARDASSIAN BATTLESHIP GALOR, MANEUVERING OVER ELETHA
MAY, 2310
The defense officer screamed "Federation starships!"
Legate Dukat now understood why his reinforcements hadn't arrived. Somehow the Federation knew of his hidden base in the Torelli Nebula. There was little that could be done now. They were caught between the fires of the Dosadi fleet still rampaging inside his own formations and the Federation starships above them. But, perhaps if he could destroy the Federation vessels, he could still salvage the situation. He opened his mouth to issue his orders and the helmsman shouted,
"Sir! Sir! That ship! It's on a collision course!"
The main view screen shifted and showed a Dosadi assault carrier, shedding pieces from her hull and burning fiercely, accelerating towards him, every weapon still functioning firing directly at him. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. It kept growing larger as collision alarms began to scream.
Gul Tennekt was shouting something at him, not that it mattered. The damn thing was hideous. It was like watching a portal to hell opening in front of him. And the stars shifted into a blur as Tennekt ordered the Galor into an emergency warp jump, out of the fight and racing away from Eletha as fast as the badly damaged battleship could go. It would be many minutes before they could get any response out of Dukat, his eyes still locked on the empty screen.
IMPERIAL DOSADI ASSAULT CARRIER ISS DELOS, MANEUVERING, ELETHA
MAY, 2310
Nolin hauled himself off the deck and onto his hands and knees. Most of the bridge was destroyed. He reached up to the panel on his command chair, "Wilkes! Dammit Wilkes, I need you!'
There was a crackling sound and Wilkes' coughing voice came through. "We're still here Admiral. We've got about five minutes before we blow up though and not a damn thing we can do to stop it. The intermix controls are gone. No damage control available. We've lost both flight decks, main deflector's gone, aft weapons pods destroyed...About all we can do is shoot and scoot."
Nolin looked at the part of his tactical hologram that was still working. Directly in front of him were a pair of the new Galor-class battleships. The Cardassian commanders would be there. He hit the panel again. "All hands, I'm proud of you. All weapons, engage forward. Wilkes, ramming speed! Everyone else, abandon ship." He moved to the helm console and gently moved the dead youngster who had been manning that station. He stroked her fur as the whine of the engines got louder. "You did so well, little one."
He smiled as he watched the battleship swell in the view screen, streaks of missiles, phasers, and disruptors racing from the battered Delos into the enemy ship. He was purring as the range closed.
In disruptor targeting, Eletha waved smoke away from the console. The old veteran who had been at that station was unconscious on the floor, burns all over his upper body from a power conduit that had let go. The trainee was clearly terrified. "Just keep the pipper on that ship, all right? Watch the drift – you have to compensate."
He stared at her, his eyes open wide, "We're going to die."
"Yup. So let's make it count." She knew her mate, Corin, must be dead. The east hangar pod had been almost blown off the ship. But this poor boy had probably never had a chance to find a mate. She smiled at him comfortingly. "At this point, nothing matters but style." She put her hand on his, "Just keep the tracking on them and we'll do this together." She fired the disruptor banks again.
T'ELESH, DOSAD
MAY, 2310
The holo-image was showing Nolin's smiling face with a split-screen showing the Delos' main view screen. When the Galor leapt into warp, Nolin spat with rage, "COWARDS!" and altered his course towards the second battleship.
They had no chance to evade the charging 20,000 tons of near-wreckage. She had been hidden in the sensor shadow of the Galor and her crew barely had time to note they were under attack before the Delos slammed into her forward hull.
S'eth and Ri had their faces buried in Feros and Yun's fur. Yun was in tears as the feed from the Delos' bridge went dark, and the view jumped again. She just kept saying "No." over and over again. They needed to turn this off. This was horrible beyond words. Why was this allowed to be shown?"
It would be almost a day before Ceena and Tir learned of their parents' fate aboard their old carrier.
Back on Earth, Mrs. Wilkes had collapsed in tears while Rollin and Nina tried to console the old woman. Neither of them wanted to approach her husband who's expression was all the warning they needed. It was one thing to learn that your son had been killed in battle. It was quite another to watch it happen live in front of you.
But Nelson was speaking again.
"We...we've taken control of the center." he shifted his view around the room as Veth quickly planted explosives on the various panels and slapped detonators into the clay-like substance. Soral was moving from man to man, treating what wounds he could while Ason was firing a heavy plasma auto-cannon out the window at something out of sight.
"As I understand it, this means that..." he ducked, and there was a loud bang and a spray of debris flew through the image. "...sorry. That the Cardassian air-defenses are no longer working or not working as well or something. The Dosadi are bringing in a lot of Marines to take back the planet and this means they can land safely."
He looked at Trion, the Strike Leader's left arm shattered below the elbow. She scowled at him, "What are you looking at, Nelson? Find someone pretty to show all your fans."
"As you can tell, the Cardassian Soldiers are fighting hard. I'm told they are from the First and Ninth Orders. The Team Leader, Lieutenant Commander Corin has referred to them as, and I apologize to my gentler viewers, "God damn lizards out of hell." He focused on Corin's face, the right side of his head a bloody mess. For my Cardassian viewers, you can be proud of your Soldiers...We're moving again, I don't know to...oh...they're going to blow it up." And the view began to bounce as Nelson ran behind the team.
Another jump.
Aboard the SWACS, Erelan watched Nollos. "You OK, Nollos?" She just shook her head, her hands moving over the controls in front of her, adjusting levels and monitoring the incoming feeds that she was weaving together.
The tech behind them asked, "What's up, Erelan?"
"Her father, aunt, and uncle were on that ship that just ran into the other one and that dude with the messed up face is her brother. Her sister's in charge of all the fighters and her mother's that old Marine lady."
Yun couldn't take her eyes off of the holo-display. Every image was only adding to a collection of things she wished she had never seen, that she wished she never even knew existed, but she couldn't stop watching. It was a kaleidoscope of horrors.
Now, there were lines of Dosadi Marines dropping through holes in the floor of the ship they were in – she saw Sooth's helmet, with it's pink heart, drop out, second in line. The feed stayed with the interior of the K'Path, shifting to the flight deck, the view shaking as the two men were working furiously at their controls.
The pilot said, "Anything?"
"Nope. We're fucked."
"Ah, screw it. Aim for something big."
And the view jumped to a view of clear blue sky through a faceplate with a data display on it. The banner scrolling around the base of the holo-display said "LIVE FEED - STORM LEADER SOOTH – DOSADI IMPERIAL MARINES – LIVE FEED" She looked down and Yun and Feros could see what looked like a group of armored vehicles coming up fast and lines of Cardassian troops frantically running towards them. A quick glance to the right and there was a smoke trail leading into the ground with a terrific flash of light and the screen darkened until she looked back down and the view tumbled and rolled as she hit dirt.
They could see her plasma rifle come up through her faceplate and hear the ripping sound of two rounds tearing into running Cardassians. Just in front of her, the Commander was hobbling forward, his bad leg slowing his advance. He too was engaging the on-rushing men of the Ninth Order, attempting to keep them from reaching their vehicles.
Yun screamed as a Cardassian phaser hit him in the head, his now-headless body collapsing forward onto it's front. The view panned rapidly left and right and they could see the Marines hesitate.
Sooth shouted "FOLLOW ME!" and charged the oncoming troops, firing as she advanced at a strange, gliding run.
Something hit the faceplate, creating a web of cracks in the lower right corner of the holo-image. There was another impact that caused the scene to jump, and she yelled again, "KEEP FIRING!"
They could see that the Cardassians hadn't managed to reach their vehicles – those who had been closest were the first to die. The remainder were now running away. Sooth led her Marines through the vehicles ordering "Alpha, start blowing these damn tanks up, Everybody else, three-sixty security. Where the hell's the rest of the officers?!"
The young Marine Sooth had been teasing in the K'Path came into view. "Storm Leader, you're hit!"
The sixty-year old Sooth answered, "No shit. Where's the XO? Where are the company commanders?"
They could see him fussing with something, she glanced down once and they saw that there was a blackened hole in her lower right side, a bloody streak down her leg armor. She looked up as another pair of Dosadi came up, "XO's dead, Storm Leader, I've got "Lieutenant Leean here. Delta CO."
Sooth hissed, "Dammit Arlos, leave that alone, that hurts like hell. Lieutenant, looks like you're in charge." Other company commanders, some merely Force Leaders who had to step up, had arrived.
The officer was struggling. "We...we should..." She looked left and right, hesitating.
"May I make a recommendation, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, Storm, what have you got in mind?"
"The briefing said their reinforcements are going to be coming from that direction. Infantry. We've got their vehicles; Wish we could use them! I'd put most of the battalion along that ridge, put the rest in a circle around the park here, but be ready to turn 'em around if we get overrun. They've got a lot more troops than we do."
"Yes. Yes, that's a good idea. We'll do it that way." The other leaders nodded and began to disperse their troops.
The young officer looked at Sooth. The viewers saw her looking down. "That's a hell of a hole, Storm."
"I've had worse."
"You're kidding. Aren't you?"
"Nope. Still hurts like hell." she laughed. "First jump?"
"Yeah. It's a lot different than I thought."
"There's no real way to train for it. Arlos, if you keep stuffing that shit in that hole I'm going to rip your god damn arms off."
Arlos' helmet came back into view. "It's packed anyway, Storm Leader. That should keep it from bleeding more."
"Mother hen." she snorted. "Fine, you're with me from here on out. Stay close to me, if I need errands run, you're it and you'd better run like hell when I tell you to."
"Lieutenant, we got ripped up on that drop, but we can't let them through here. We need to keep blowing these tanks up until they're gone and we need to stay in this blocking position. If those men get through us, they'll be coming right into the rear of the rest of our troops.
"You are going to be scared so bad you're going to want to pee yourself but won't be able to. It's going to look like everyone is dead. No matter what happens, you keep yelling orders loud and strong. Don't let anyone know you're scared. We'll win if you can hold here. But it's on you."
The other Marine turned and looked at the troops taking defensive positions along the ridge and the view jumped again.
The image in the holo-display rolled back and forth and spun quickly as the fighter dodged debris. Heather's calm voice came through again. "All right people, time to go help the dirty ones. Follow me down, switch IFF to ground forces, shields full front." The tan planet suddenly swung up to fill the screen and began to grow larger as her fighter dove down onto Eletha.
FEDERATION HEAVY CRUISER USS EXCELSIOR, MANUEVERING, ELETHA
MAY, 2310
The view screen showed the remaining Cardassian vessels warping out or trying to run away at impulse power, and not getting very far. The heavy ships were gone – broken pieces of cruisers and battleships falling slowly into Eletha, adding to the glowing fireballs filling her skies. But the cost had been crushing; of the 70 combat vessels the Dosadi brought with them, 45 were gone.
Captain Crajjik finally reached the ranking Dosadi commander aboard the heavy cruiser Thelet and the ancient cat's face appeared to waver some. Flames were visible behind him with crews actively fighting the fire. "Captain Hurtal, it appears you're in command."
"From what we can tell, yes. There wasn't much need for fleet command or control once we came out of warp." he laughed. "Just keep shooting until there's nothing left to shoot at. Thank you, Captain for all you have done here today."
"Looks like we were late, Captain. Both battleships destroyed, all three carriers..."
"They were old ships, Captain. They died valiantly and with great honor. Had it not been for your destruction of the Cardassian base in the nebula and then arriving here...The price would have been far higher. The people of Dosad will never forget you."
"We're starting to retrieve as many escape pods as we can. There's so much debris – some of them were destroyed in collisions." The watchers saw Crajjik studying his opposite number. "Captain...How old are you?"
He laughed, "What is age but a number? I'm 97 and one of the oldest Dosadi alive. But I can still fight as you can see."
"Can you even stand on your own, Captain?"
"I don't need to stand to fight my ship as I did forty years ago. Look at your helmsmen, Captain, they are little more than kits."
Crajjik smiled, "They're also your kinsmen, Captain. We have a number of cadets aboard for training and they got carried along. Once things settled down, we put them back at their stations."
"Kinsmen?"
"They are one quarter Dosadi, Captain; Twins. Their mother is the Wing Commander for the fighters engaged here today."
And the view cut again.
Nelson's voice was pitching higher as he talked. There was a constant roar punctuated by explosions. "We...they...the Cardassians are counter-attacking. They appear desperate to retake this command post. I don't know how many there are, it looks like thousands!" He poked his head up a little from behind the rock he was sheltering behind.
There was a road leading out of a narrow pass in a rocky hill. Advancing up the hill in rushes were great numbers of Cardassian Soldiers in their black and grey uniforms. He scanned left and right, taking in what was left of Raider Team Six.
Trion was on the far left, her left arm useless now and her right leg torn and bloody., She was still firing her plasma rifle, one handed with it wedged into a crack in the rocks. Veth was next in line, bleeding heavily from multiple wounds, his plasma rifle a smashed chunk of metal and plastic next to him, and firing a hand phaser. Ason laying prone almost in the middle of the path, his heavy plasma auto-cannon stuttering and discharging blue-white streaks of energy into the enemy ranks. Corin next to him, blood everywhere, firing wherever Ason wasn't.
Soral was down, dead or unconscious, no one could tell, but young Trellos was covering the medic's body with her own, alternating between firing her rifle and shouting into her comm gear, "We need some fucking air support right fucking now or we are all going to die! There's an entire god damn division coming up the road! They're in the open! Send us some god damn air support!"
And then the artillery began to impact. Trellos and Soral vanished in the fountain of dirt and Nelson ducked further into his rock. More rounds were hitting above them and behind them. He looked again at where the medic had been and saw Trellos, her active camouflage battle dress in shreds, throw down the smashed communications gear she had been using, "FUCK!" She grabbed Soral and dragged him further into what cover there was.
Corin yelled "Fall back! 100 meters back to those rocks – hold them from there. I'll cover you! Ason, get Veth, Trellos, take Soral."
Trion crawled backwards as best she could, "Cap, bring the damn..." and she realized what he had said. Another photon-mortar hit just behind them, showering everyone with clods of dirt and pebbles. "God dammit, Cap!"
Nelson watched as he looked over his shoulder at the mobile team members who were starting to fall back.
S'eth screamed when she saw her father's limp form over Ason's muscular shoulders as he ran past. Feros was motionless, her mouth hanging open and Yun felt like she was going to throw up.
Corin grinned, the expression made grotesque from the injuries to his head. "Knee's gone, Storm. I'm good here. Tell Yun and Ri I'm sorry. I tried." And went back to firing Ason's auto-cannon. Nelson looked at Corin's leg which had been shredded well above the knee.
Trion hesitated for a moment, looking at her CO. Her friend. She glanced at the Cardassians; The only thing slowing them down at all was the constant fire from the auto-cannon. And she got to her feet and retreated, as ordered, grabbing Nelson. "C'mon damn you."
He shook her grip off. "I'm staying. I've got good cover. I'm neutral." Another bang and spray of dirt.
She said, "Your call, reporter-man." She paused for a heartbeat. "You did good, Nelson." and hobbled off after the survivors of Team Six.
The view zoomed in on the back of Corin's head and shoulders, coming from behind him so that the viewers could almost see down the auto-cannon. The blue-white streaks tracked back and forth along the Cardassian troops creating a fearful butchery. But they were finding the range, and when he was engaging one side, the other was advancing, closing the distance up the slope.
And the view jumped again.
The view screen was a confused, dim smear of blue-grey splotches with a web of cracks across it. There was the sound – now familiar – of a Dosadi plasma rifle firing again and again. The banner at the bottom of the screen indicated that the video feed was from Storm Leader Sooth, but there wasn't much to see. "Ge...get...off...of me, you...damn...kit" came Sooth's voice.
The view lightened and Yun and Feros could see Arlos roll slightly onto his side now, a hand appearing and fumbling at an ammo pouch for another magazine. "Everyone ran, Storm Leader!"
The view bounced left and right as Arlos fired again, but he had shifted position enough so that the image showed his side and a blue sky overhead with fireballs streaming across it. "f...fall...back...idiot. Can...t hold them yourself" she slurred.
"You said stick with you!" more shots.
"Go find a...girl...have kits...gimme that...rifle..."
"I'm not leaving you!" more shots.
And the view jumped again, this time the scroll at the bottom of the holo-viewer said
CREWMAN R'AWN – DOSADI IMPERIAL MARINES
"...can't just leave them alone out there you god damn honorless cowards!" she screamed, her view scanning across a dozen Marines crouching behind cover. The view quickly panned around and showed two bloody troopers in armor laying in a shallow hole, perhaps a fifty meters to their front, and past them a hundred Cardassians advancing in rushes toward them.
She looked down again and kicked the person in front of her, "ALL of you! ON YOUR FUCKING FEET OR I WILL SHOOT YOU MYSELF! FOLLOW ME!" And the view spun past the group of Marines starting to rise up and began to bounce as she screamed something unintelligible and began firing at the now very surprised Cardassian line while running forward.
Later, Yun thought it took forever for the young woman to cover the short distance to where Arlos was laying prone on Sooth, finally diving into the hole next to him. Tears were streaming down her face and Ri had crawled into her lap and was chewing on her own tail.
S'eth asked "Mommy...is daddy dead?"
But the view jumped again.
All they could see was dirt for a moment and then Nelson looked up again. Corin was struggling to crawl half onto a rock. The auto-cannon had been blown to pieces and his right arm was nothing but bloody shreds of raw meat. He was groping for his hand phaser, but couldn't find it. After a second's fruitless search, he drew the little silenced caseless-ammo pistol with his left hand.
Nelson watched it jump several times, and when Corin fired again there was the most terrifying screaming sound he had ever heard.
The display rolling around the holo-display showed the ground coming up fast. A single blinking numeral six in a circle was blinking red just below the center of the screen. The top half was cluttered with small green rectangles with an X connecting the corners. Further down was a cluster of other sixes, so merged together as to be almost unreadable. Heather's calm voice came through the speakers again: "Wide dispersion, cut it as close as you can, stay low and do NOT pop up. Break to your own side, I'm coming left, get separation then come back around. Watch the friendlies."
There was a half second pause and the display shook while streams of green light and pulses of bright white raced away from the diving fighter into the ground. Very few people at home could follow any of the symbology on the display or make out anything in the clouds rising up as the three Nighthawks began their strafing run.
And the view jumped again.
Nelson looked up as three fighters dove out of the sky directly at him. For a moment, he thought he was going to die as they opened fire, but instead, a series of cracking explosions began a dozen or so meters in front of him and continued on into the distance. He tracked along with the leader as the Nighthawk shrieked past and into the distance, banking tightly to the left and vanishing.
Aboard the SWACS, Nollos moved her fingers on her control screen, zooming the image and slowing the feed just enough so the words painted on the Federation fighter's nose were readable, and then returning to full speed as the Broken Angel soared past and away.
Arlos and his friend R'Awn tried to crawl even further into their hole as a half dozen Nighthawks came dropping out of the sky and began to obliterate the Cardassian troops advancing on them. When it became obvious that the survivors were trying to retreat, they turned their attention to the old NCO they had been protecting.
Arlos shook her shoulder, "Storm Leader?" There was no response.
R'Awn yelled "MEDIC!" and tore into her own first aid kit to try to treat the wounds they could see since Sooth's kit was exhausted.
Civilians are generally not prepared for the realities of combat. This was a unique glimpse into the world of the combat Soldier and it was more than many people could take. Many turned off the terrible images of violence and gore. Many more found the images and narrative too imposing to turn away.
But the images that came to truly define the battle for many came at the end. Nelson, peering up out of cover saw the remaining Cardassian troops running as fast as they could. The three warbirds screaming after them again and again. He jumped out of his hole and ran to what was left of Corin. Displays across the galaxy showed a burned, blasted, and battered warrior, still holding his empty pistol in his remaining hand.
Nelson took his ruck off, quickly tearing into the medical supplies he had been carrying as a neutral. With a strength of purpose he never knew he had, he began to tie-off, close-up, and treat Corin's many injuries. Corin finally gasped out in a hoarse whisper, "too...stupid...to...run?"
"I'm not the one that was laying in the open Corin." he finished tying off a tourniquet on the stump of his arm. "Just remember, there's no place in this galaxy you can hide from me, Corin. I'll get my story." While he worked he asked Corin, "Why do they call you Cap? You're not a Captain?"
Struggling to breath, Corin answered, "Not...Standard...Dosadi...Sh...short for...Capiolos...Means nuts...crazy."
Nelson laughed, "Fits you." He checked over his work quickly. "I didn't complete all your medic training, but I think that'll hold you until a real medic gets to you." But the old Soldier was unconscious. Nelson stood up and surveyed the hill and the path leading towards the Cardassian casualties. He began to jog towards the many bodies he could see.
Nollos left his feed live while he began to treat the Cardassian wounded, one after another. She would cut away for the occasional analysis or commentary or other live feed, but again and again she returned to the human in Dosadi active-camouflage battle dress making his way across the battlefield, treating Cardassian wounded.
Feros and Yun were in shock. They kept asking each other, "Is he alive?" Both kept hoping the feed would return to their loved ones so they would have some idea of their status. For hours, they left the display playing, listening to endless commentaries and discussions and the endless, awful replays.
But no answer came.
In the following days, both the Federation and the Klingon Empire stated that they would guarantee the Imperium's borders against any incursion by any other power. Both they, the Hydrans, the Tholians, and the Gorn formally recognized the Dosadi claim on Eletha. In little more than an hour, the Dosadi had achieved a stunning military and political victory against overwhelming odds.
It would be nearly two weeks before the first wounded survivors began to arrive back on Dosad and over a month before front line Fleet elements were able to arrive to replace the obsolete vessels with their retiree/trainee crews who had paid such a dreadful price.
Weeks of worry for thousands of families; at least for those who had not seen their loved ones die in front of their eyes. For the families of Raider Team Six, it was a miserable time. They were fairly sure that Trion, Ason, and Trellos had survived, but they didn't know.