— Chapter 26 —
Now that the participating members of the Federation were assembled at Delta Vega, the time had come to move on to the Sol sytem in preparation for defending Earth. However, a brief delay was imposed upon the fleet by a ceremony, requested by the Klingons. Tucker stood for Humans there, R'Haen for the Romulans, Zarre-Tal for the Andorians, and K'mpec for the Klingons… even Issivik, the Tholian Commander, attended the ceremony in a Tholian EV(Environmental Suit) suit, a pressurized carapace of steel alloy which radiated a noticeable heat despite a measure of insulation, and it was on Delta Vega that each commanding officer swore a personal vow to stand with the others in facing the Gorn.
An hour after the conclusion of that ceremony, the Federation fleet left Vulcan's system for Earth, leaving behind close to fifty thousand people on Delta Vega, the population of Echo One, and these people took to the ground, heading for caves deep within the planet's mantle. These caves were far too deep beneath the surface for Gorn sensors to pick them out from space, yet even if the Gorn landed infantry troops on Echo One to root out any of the Bands left behind, the ground had long since been prepared for such an eventuality.
The caves beneath Echo One were deep and they branched out for three hundred miles or more in every direction through a labyrinth of tunnels so twisted and confusing that only proper mapping over the course of nine months had made sense of them all, and so there was plenty of room to fall back if the Gorn chose to enter the tunnels. What's more, there were numerous hardened places which bristled with crew served weapons, even more numerous places laced with long concealed payloads which might release poison gas, or bring the ceiling down on reptilian heads, or simply kill the Gorn through shrapnel and concussion.
That's not to say that there wasn't a healthy measure of trepidation at the thought of facing the Gorn, but every person here was well armed and disciplined, and what's more, Zarre-Tal, the Andorian Emperor ordered 2,000 Imperial Guards to the caves to stiffen the resistance among the largely civilian force left behind on Delta Vega, if necessary.
"The Federation fleet is on its way here now, Mr. President," said Admiral Forrest, standing in the Oval Office along with Rear-Admirals Davis and Ryan, all three men stone-faced as Sanders preened for a press conference expected within the hour. "I urge accommodation with this Federation fleet, and cooperation in defense of Earth."
"Forrest," said Sanders, "I gave the Bands their chance to come in from the cold, and they spit in my face! And there'll be no need to defend Earth. The Gorn will deal. That 'intel' package sent by Tucker, with a purported holy mission in which the Gorn attempt to cleanse the universe is nothing but a load of crap to get support for his cause on Earth."
"Mr. President—"
"Forrest, enough," said Sanders. "Listen, the Vulcans meddled into other people's business with the Gorn, as they always have, and the Gorn took exception to that. We haven't done a damned thing to the Gorn. They've got no beef with us."
"My professional opinion is that you're mistaken, Mr. President," said Forrest. "Are you willing to gamble with billions of lives if you're mistaken, Mr. President?"
"I'm not mistaken, Forrest," said Sanders. "These ragtag Bands—"
"These ragtag Bands outnumber my own ships by a factor of three to one, sir," said Forrest. "What's more the technological improvements they've made to their ship—'
"Be that as it may, Admiral," said Sanders, "these Bands are falling back to Earth not to defend it, but to force our hand, to draw the Gorn here in order to make us active participants in their conflict against the Hegemony. That won't happen on my watch. Now, are you ready to carry out your orders?"
"What you're doing is a mistake, Mr. President. A grave mistake. For the last time, I urge you order StarFleet to defend Earth in conjunction with the Federation fleet. Anything else is a mista—"
"Ryan," said Sanders, looking past Forrest to that Rear-Admiral. "Are you ready to carry out my orders?"
"No, sir," said Ryan. "Admiral Forrest is corre—"
"What about you, Davis?"
"I will carry out the lawful orders of my President, sir," said Davis.
Forrest felt nothing but the keenest disappointment at hearing Davis' words, for if all three of them had stood together Sanders may have been swayed from his course, but now…
"Forrest, Ryan, you're dismissed," said Sanders. "Davis will take point here."
"Yes, sir," said Forrest, and moments later Forrest left the Oval Office with Ryan in tow.
It was four days later that the Federation fleet dropped out of high warp at Eris, the once mysterious Planet X whose orbit lay beyond that of Pluto, discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory-based team led by Mike Brown, and from there, the fleet headed directly for Earth at Warp 1, giving the aliens in the Federation fleet a chance to scan the system and build detailed maps, in case they'd have to fight in this particular region soon.
An hour later, in passing Pluto's moon, Charon, the Bands spotted a small mining outpost of a few hundred people, and three Vagos ships dropped behind to offer the miners a lift off that ball of rock and ice, lest they be discovered by the Gorn. Two and a half hours later the armada passed Neptune, and 40 Tholian ships fell back assuming orbit round Neptune's colonized moon of Triton, and the process was repeated when the armada passed Saturn's moon Titan, then once more when the armada passed Jupiter and 160 Tholians fell back to assume orbit round Jupiter's moons of Io, Europa, Ganymed and Callisto. The armada eventually passed Mars and 40 more Tholians fell back, leaving 160 Tholians still with the Federation armada, and eventually the Federation armada reached Earth… where they were met by close to 700 StarFleet vessels, their shields powered, their weapons hot.
"Jesus Christ," said Admiral Davis on seeing the Federation armada draw close from the Bridge of his flagship, Dauntless.
Davis' trepidation was understandable, for the Federation fleet numbered some 10,000 ships give or take a few… and as the the Federation ships approached Dauntless, the Imperial Guards and the 5 Andorian Bands, the Romulans, Klingons and Tholians dropped back at Trip's request, leaving the 12 Human and Vulcan Bands to approach the StarFleet formation with their shield powered, their weapons hot.
"Hail Tek'Xzen," said Davis, for the admiral knew that to be Tucker's ship.
A moment later Davis had a view of Tek'Xzen's Bridge with Tucker sitting in the captain's chair, and it irked Davis that this StarFleet deserter commanded a ship grander than his own.
"This is an open transmission, Tucker," said Davis, "for you and the rest of the people you brought with you. EarthGov's president, Sanders, orders you to leave the Sol system. You and your kind are already outlawed here. As for the other species, they may wish to avoid openly antagonizing a government and a people which may one day be a valued ally."
"Who are you?" said Tucker.
Now Tucker's tone irritated Davis, as if he, an admiral, should justify himself to such as this man, but Davis said, "I am Admiral Davis, Tucker, and I'm in charge of th—"
"What happened to Admiral Forrest?"
Davis breathed deeply, suppressing his annoyance at being interrupted by this… this adventurer, and said, "Admiral Forrest has resigned his commission, Tucker. I'm in charge of StarFleet now."
"So long as you're willing to fight the Gorn, Admiral," said Trip, "and so long as you're willing to adopt our plan, you're welcome to titular command of this armada, and credit for our success on Earth."
"President Sanders wishes to hold parley with the Gorn."
"The Gorn won't be here for seven days or so," said Trip. "If Sanders wants to parley with the Gorn, let him take a ship and go meet them outside the Sol system. If he succeeds in his negotiations he'll win his next election in a landslide, and if he fails, the defense of this system does not suffer."
"Your suggestion has merit, Tucker," said Davis, "and I'll suggest it to the President. Hold."
Minutes later Davis' comm stream resumed.
"No good, Tucker," said Davis. "President Sanders says you don't make the rules, and now, for the last time, I'm ordering you to disperse and leave the Sol system."
"Or what?"
"Or we'll attack and drive you off," said Davis. "I know you outnumber us, but I command military vessels, one and all, versus your upgraded merchant ships. StarFleet hasn't been exactly idle the past five years."
"Does Tek'Xzen seem like a merchant ship to you?"
"My computer tells me that there are 1,709 ships in the 12 Bands facing me right now," said Davis. "Of those, 16% are reconditioned Vulcan ships, and they'll be a tough nut to crack. The rest of your ships, not so much. Unless your allies save your ass, and thus declare war on Earth, I think I'll win."
"Well, we're about to find out if you really mean to push the issue," said Trip, "though I'd advise against it, for Earth's sake, Davis."
"Admiral Davis," said Davis.
"Is the President listening to our comm stream?" said Trip.
A moment's delay, then a new voice came on the line, and Sanders said, "I'm here."
"You don't want to do this, Mr. President," said Trip.
"No, you don't want to do this, Tucker," said Sanders, "and I'll remind you that most of you have families on Earth. Shame to see them 'detained' indefinitely, due to your actions. They might be a security risk, you see."
"If we leave Sol system now our families are dead when the Gorn get here," said Trip. "You know we all believe that, so threats against our families mean nothing… and if you make that sort of move, Sanders, you'd better hope that we don't win, or I'll hold you and your family responsible."
"Go fuck yourself, Tucker," said Sanders. "Admiral Davis, you have your orders. Disperse this rabble."
"The President's gone, Tucker," said Davis, though Trip had heard the subtle click as well. "Last chance."
Who knows what might have happened had Tucker truly had a chance to consider things once more, but a hothead on Davis' side which video recordings later proved to be Captain Thomas, commanding the Chimera, ordered a salvo of the ship's phaser cannons fired at Tek'Xzen, even as the Chimera launched a volley of photon torpedoes at the Uhlan flagship.
A half dozen Uhlans returned fire almost immediately and in turn two dozen StarFleet vessels responded to that attack, and so on, until those 12 Bands and StarFleet were violently at each other's throats, and all that within the span of a minute.