Chapter 4: Encounter with the CIS
"Admiral's Log, Stardate 458217.646. Following a magnetic wave survey of the Parvenian System, we have detected a group of signals which we cannot immediately identify. We are now in orbit above the planet of Utapau, which seems to be the source of these signals."
The Enterprise had finally reached the Parvenian System and was in orbit around the planet of Utapau. Jim was in his quarters when he heard Kara's voice over the ships intercom.
"Jim, are you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Is something wrong, Kara?" Jim replied.
"You'd better get up on the bridge. There's something you really need to see." Kara said in a concerned voice.
When Jim arrived on the bridge, he received some strange news.
"Ah, admiral. You've arrived. There is something interesting that I want you to take a look at." Data said as he pulled up two maps.
"Well, what is it?" Jim asked.
"This first map shows the signals that were picked up by Starfleet." Data explained. "And these are our current sensor readings." Data pulled up a visual scan of the ships short range sensor readings. Jim was surprised to see that the number of signals had increased dramatically.
"Data, how many of these new signals are there?" Jim asked with a look of disbelief on his face.
"Sensors are reading about one thousand new signals." Data replied.
The whole crew started whispering among themselves. Jim sat back in the captain's chair and wondered what this might be, or rather hoped what it might not be. Jim knew about the actions of the CIS in this system and he knew that they were hostile against the Federation. He just hoped that this wasn't a making of the CIS. Jim turned to his second lieutenant, Ayel, a Romulan who defected to the Federation after his wife was found guilty of a crime she didn't commit and sentenced to death.
"Suggestions, lieutenant?" Jim asked.
"I suggest that the Enterprise should take a closer look at these signals." Ayel replied.
"How do you propose we do that?" Jim asked.
"Well, land on the surface." Ayel replied.
Jim was silent for a few moments but then countered his lieutenant's suggestion.
"No. I suggest we send a five-man squad down to the surface to do a little poking around."
"Only five men?" Ayel said. "Sir, why so few when the Enterprise is so much more heavily equipped?"
"Because a five-man squad is much less likely to be detected than a ship the size of the Enterprise." Data replied.
"Precisely. I want them to get in, assess the condition of the planet and get out without being seen." Jim said. Ayel thought about it for a minute then finally agreed. Five men were selected to be beamed down to the surface of Utapau.
"Transporter room, this is Admiral Kavannagh."
"Aye, sir." the voice on the other end said.
"I want you to keep a lock on those men while they're down there, just in case they run into trouble."
"Aye, sir. We'll keep a lock on them."
The squad was sent down to the surface of Utapau. Among them was Commander Robert Archer, the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the famous Admiral Jonathan Archer, the first commander of the USS Enterprise. Jim had told him several times that it was an honor to have the descendant of the famous admiral aboard the Enterprise. The readings on the radar left the commander confused. In the direction of the signals, there was nothing but a giant sinkhole.
"Commander Archer to USS Enterprise. Come in."
"Enterprise, Admiral Kavannagh. Go ahead."
"Sir, this is a bit confusing. We're looking in the direction of the signals, but there's nothing there."
"Hold on one moment." There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Archer, are you still there?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, we're still here."
"In front of you, there should be a large sinkhole, a couple miles in diameter."
"Yes, sir, there is."
"The signals should be in there."
"In the sinkhole sir?"
"Yes. Haven't you ever heard about Utapau. It's famous for its huge sinkholes lined with cities."
Robert Archer looked down into the sinkhole and couldn't believe his eyes. It was lined with a huge city. He and the rest of the squad cautiously began their descent into the sinkhole. They began to move where the bulk of the signals were coming from. When they finally made it, what they saw shocked them.
Oh my God, Archer thought.
"Robert, what's going on down there?" Jim said over the intercom.
"Sir, it's the CIS. These signals are the Droid Army."
Jim's eyes widened. He realized what he feared was true. The CIS had taken over Utapau.
"There's another thing, sir. There are two new droids." Archer said.
"Alright. Scan them and bring me a visual. We need to get you back on the ship and we need to get the hell out of here. The Federation has to know about this."
Archer managed to get a visual scan of the new droids, just before setting off the alarm.
"Sir, they've detected us!"
"Transporter room, beam them up now!" Jim yelled into the intercom.
"Aye, sir!"
The five men were beamed back on board, but not before two of the members were shot by a droid sniper.
"Admiral, the squad has returned. Two are wounded."
"What!" Jim exclaimed. "Data, take the Conn." Jim ordered as he and Kara headed to the medical bay. They were relieved to find out that their wounds were minor.
"Robert, follow me to my quarters. Kara, I want you to head back to the bridge." Jim said.
Kara headed back and Robert followed Jim.
"Alright, so do you have the visuals?" Jim asked.
"Right here, Jim." but before Robert could bring them up, Data's voice was heard on the intercom.
"Admiral, you are needed on the bridge."
"What is it?" asked Jim.
"Jim, you need to get up here now." Kara said.
Jim and Robert rushed back to the command bridge. When they got there, they looked out the front view and saw a huge CIS flagship, about the same size of the Enterprise. It was armed with a grid of automatic turret defenses and the bridge was set on top of a tower near the ship's aft.
"Admiral, we're being hailed" Ayel said.
"On screen." Jim said.
Ayel brought up the hailing screen. On the other end was a battle droid, who happened to be the commander of the ship.
"I am Admiral James Kavannagh of the USS Enterprise. To whom am I speaking?"
"I am OOM-9.1 of the Confederacy of Independent Systems." replied the droid in its typical monotone voice.
"Very well OOM-9.1. The presence of your army here is a direct violation of Federation Order 49.09. If you do not withdraw, I shall be forced to-"
"We do not answer to the Federation. If anyone is to withdraw, shall be you." and with that, the conversation ended.
"Sir, the enemy vessel is assuming an attack posture." Data said in his calm voice. "They have locked onto us, sir."
"Shields up! Red alert! Battle stations! Arm phasers! Fire at will, lieutenant." Jim ordered.
"Aye, sir!" replied Ayel.
With that, the battle began. Both ships began firing at one another, both struggling to damage the other. The two ships alone couldn't do any damage. Their shields were simply too strong. When Jim realized this, he decided to change tactics.
"All pilots report to the hangar area. Prep your ships for battle."
Every fighter and bomber pilot headed straight for the hangar. There they received their briefing. The plan was for the fighters to protect the bombers as they went in the disable the enemy ship's shields. Once the shields were down, a gunship would carry a landing party inside to disable the auto-turret mainframe. From there it was straight forward: hit the enemy ship as hard as possible. The fighter pilots were tasked with destroying enemy bombers that attempted to attack the Enterprise. As soon as the briefing was finished, all pilots rushed to their ships and launched…and so did the CIS.
Soon, it became a huge combat zone, both sides trying their hardest to destroy their enemies. The bombers took heavy fire from the auto-turret defenses on the CIS flagship, but still managed to bring down the shields.
"Sir, their shields are down." said Data.
"Excellent. Launch the landing party and shut down those auto turrets. Prepare to fire photon torpedoes." Jim ordered. The gunships were off and the helmsman brought the ship into an attack posture as the crew awaited the order to finish off the Separatist ship. It was rough, but the gunships managed to hold together and land inside the enemy hangar.
They managed to clear out the hangar and destroy all remaining spacecraft with ease, but fighting through the rest of the ship was a nightmare. The ship was heavily guarded and trying to fight through it was like trying to tunnel through a mountain with nothing but a sledge hammer.
Once the defenses were cleared, the saboteurs placed time bombs on the auto-turret defense mainframe. The landing party quickly ran back to the gunships. As they entered the ships, there was a large explosion and the auto turrets fell silent.
"1st Platoon to Enterprise, come in"
"Enterprise, Admiral Kavannagh, go ahead number one."
"The auto turrets are now offline. Repeat, the auto turrets are now offline."
"Copy that, now get off of that ship. There's gonna be a big firework show in just a few minutes."
"Right, we're going."
The troops boarded the gunships and got out a quickly as possible.
"Fire photon torpedoes!" Jim ordered. With that a huge barrage of photon torpedoes pounded the Separatist ship.
"Sir, I am receiving strange readings from the enemy vessel." Data said. "I believe their reactor is about to go critical." As soon as Data finished speaking, there was a massive explosion from the enemy flagship. The ship broke in half as it fell towards the planet's surface.
"Yee-hah!" Jim exclaimed. "Alright men, arm phasers and let's clean up the rest of the…"
Jim stopped short as he looked out the frontal view of the ship and saw a whole fleet of ships just like the one they just destroyed. Suddenly, a CIS Strike Bomber dropped its payload on the Enterprise and the whole ship shook, knocking Jim, Ayel, Kara and Data to the floor. Ayel quickly got back up and assessed the damage.
"Sir, our shields are down!" Ayel shouted.
"Admiral, I am reading about twenty-five enemy vessels and multiple incoming targets. I believe they have launched their fighters, sir." Data said.
Jim's eyes widened and he tightly grasped the captain's chair. Oh, God.