The Laithan war. Rejoice, Chapter Seven is now here!

[Sionnach Glic]

Okay, the last few bits didn't take as long as I had expected. This is more or less just an introduction for a few new characters, and to test out ground combat. It also sets up events which could become important to the story later on.
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Chapter seven: The Unnameable Chapter

Federation Space- Starbase 21
Stardate: 76867.18

'Any luck?' Asked Dunne, looking over Spencer's shoulder as she typed commands into a console. She uttered a small sigh and gave up.
'It's no good Captain. The security here is like nothing I've ever encountered before. Even the smallest things are encrypted.'
Dunne sighed in frustration and walked over to the main viewscreen, which was showing an image of the facility. Shuttles and repair units were swarming over the Enterprise's hull with an efficiency he had rarely seen before. Nizer seemed to want to get rid of them in a hurry. Dunne turned back to his second in command.
'Any other ideas?'
Spencer shook her head. 'No, Sir, that's everything I can think of.' Dunne nodded in acknowledgement, and looked around the bridge at the rest of the crew.
'Suggestions, people?' There were a few shrugs and muttered replies, but Bray looked thoughtful.
'Captain,' He began slowly. 'There seems to be an unusual amount of security from the outside. We can't even scan the interior with our sensors. But maybe the security is a little lighter on the inside?' Dunne mulled over this for a moment.
'You're suggesting we hack into one of the computers inside?'
'If it lets us know what's going on here, it may be worth a try. You did say yourself that you weren't even sure if Starfleet knew about this place. And with our long range comms down, we should get as much info as we can to let them know.'
'And you have an idea on how we're going to get into one of the most heavily defended places in the Federation?' Dunne asked with a small smile. Bray tended to show his inexperience at times, but to Dunne's surprise the young lieutenant smiled back.
'Actually Captain, I think I do.'

Klingon Space- Planet Q'lo'tos
Stardate:76868.23

'Third platoon! Let's go, into the dropship!' Lieutenant Yaalskan yelled at his troops, waiting until the last of them had embarked before getting in himself.
He entered into a mass of organised chaos, as troops scrambled to get their weapons stowed safely and get into their pre-assigned seats. Yaalskan directed his squads for a moment, helping to get some sort of order instilled, then headed up the few metal steps which led into the cockpit of the dropship. The crew were already engaged in the pre-flight tests of all the systems.
'When do we launch?' He asked the pilot.
'Three minutes. You should get strapped in. Intel says there's going to be a fair bit of resistance where we're dropping you guys off.'
'Great,' Yaalskan hissed sarcastically, and hurried back into the main hold where his troops were already strapped in. As he dropped into the last free seat by the forward hatch, he looked around the room. The troopers of third platoon were dealing with the impending combat in their own individual ways. Some were joking about it, some were muttering prayers to whichever god they wanted to help them, some were running redundant checks on their equipment, and some were acting like they were just going for a nice drive through the park. The intercom crackled as Yaalskan clipped the last restraint into place.
'System checks complete. Permission to launch has been given. Hang on to something back there.' A moment later, the troops were slammed into their seats as the engines flared into life, propelling them out of the kilometre long troop-ship's hanger. Rockets and shells streaked past the cloud of dropships towards targets on the surface. As the ship plummeted into the atmosphere, Yaalskan spoke up above the noise of the ship's descent.
'Okay troops, this should be easy enough. For those of you who slept through the briefing earlier, I'll do a quick run through it again. We'll be dropping into the centre of the main city on this planet. The Eleventh Armoured will be dispatching a squad to meet us near the drop zone. Nine other infantry platoons will deploy near us as well. Two armoured platoons will give us support as we move through the city. Our objectives are to proceed to the palace at the centre, and secure it. In twenty minutes, the rest of the Saightan Eight legion will group at the southern edge of the city, and move up to take the city. Elements of the Thirteenth and Ninety Eight legions are already moving about on the ground, though they'll be too far away to give us much support. Your squad sergeants have the relevant info for every squad, so at least try to keep up with them.'
There was a loud bang from somewhere forward of the shuttle, and the dropship swerved violently.
'Hold tight.' Called one of the crew over the intercom. 'We're taking some heavy ground fire. Two minutes 'till touchdown.'
With Yaalskan now quiet, the troops went back to whatever they had been doing previously, though the tension in the dropship could have been cut with a knife. There was another bang, followed quickly by another.
'One minute from drop zone.'
'Get your weapons ready.' Yaalskan called, pulling out his own rifle and loading it.
'Thirty seconds.'
'Deployment positions.' The troops nearest to the doors on either side of the ship, and at the ramp near the back, unstrapped themselves and took up their positions near the exits.
Outside the shuttle, disruptor fire lanced up at the oncoming swarm of dropships. The shuttle next to Yaalskan's was blown clean out of the sky. The escorting fighters peeled of from the formation, and began hitting these positions with pin point rocket strikes, though several merely succeeded in getting themselves killed.
'Ten seconds .nine eight '
Yaalskan's dropship jerked to a halt above a long street, littered with abandoned vehicles and the occasional civilian who hadn't yet gotten away from all the shooting.
'Five .four '
The dropship hovered above the street for a moment, turreted weapons sweeping back and fort, then deployed a trio of landing skids and began to lower itself towards the ground.
'Three two .one down.'
'All units deploy!'
The hatches on either side of the dropship swung open instantly, within seconds the first troops were down and sprinting to nearby cover. Yaalskan was fifth out of the ship, and immediately jogged over to a broken down vehicle just a few metres away. He dropped down into a crouch behind the vehicle and propped up his rifle over the engine, observing the overlooking windows through his weapon's scope. No movement. A moment later the leader of Yaalskan's platoon's first squad, Sergeant Novosk, dropped down beside him.
'Squads one and two deployed, Sir. Three is deploying now.'
Yaalskan nodded, still watching the street through his scope. There was something moving down the end of the street, but it was too far away to make out. His helmet radio crackled.
'Squad three deployed. Squad four deploying n-'
Suddenly another voice-maybe Yusan's?- burst over the comms.
'Incoming! Rocket to the southwest!'
Yaalskan swore and spun around to look behind him as the dropship's engines flared into life, then immediately threw himself to the ground as some sort of RPG went flying over his head. The rocket impacted on the starboard engine of the shuttle, sending it spinning wildly upwards, it's thrust engines still giving it lift. Flames were billowing from the open hatches. The ship pulled up over the roofs of the nearby buildings, swaying drunkenly, and hovered for a minute, then began spiralling wildly downwards towards the north. The ship spun out of view beyond the rooftops, then a rumble and the sound of something heavy hitting the dirt told the troops it had crashed. Yaalskan swore again and yelled into his helmet radio.
'All squads, report status. Control; this is third platoon reporting the loss of dropships seven. Requesting situational update. Over.'
'Lieutenant, this is control. Elements of the Ninth Armoured have been dispatched to the crash site. Continue with your previously assigned missions. Over.'
'Understood.'
A moment later, Novosk reported back over the comms.
'Fourth squad lost it's entire third fireteam. Lothol and Ranack are dead as well. Honoth is missing. Aside from that no casualties.'
'Injuries?'
'Light. Nothing major.'
Yaalskan looked around. Most of the surviving troops were still picking themselves up off the ground and taking whatever cover they could find.
'Lieutenant?' Called Olos, third squad's sergeant. 'We have contacts moving towards us from the south. Possible hostiles.'
'How far?'
'Almost in weapons range, Sir.'
'Where are you?'
'To the southwest, next to some vehicles a few dozen metres behind you.'
Yaalskan turned around and sprinted to Olos, keeping low, and ducked down next to him and Yusan, the squad sniper. Looking around the edge of the vehicle, he could clearly see what looked like close to two dozen armed hostiles and a couple of small vehicles with weapons bolted onto them lingering in the background. Yaalskan turned to the sergeant.
'You call these 'possible' hostiles?'
Olos just shrugged.
'Okay squads, we have about two squads of hostiles coming from the southwest. Possibly with vehicular support. Squads one and two, move up to where the dropship was and take up positions there. Squads three and four, watch the north for any pincer movement.'
There was a number of vague affirmatives as the various sergeants directed their troops. A couple of troopers, Nills and Turas, dropped down next to Yaalskan, joined a moment later by the squad's machine gunner, Rothe, who immediately began propping his weapon up on the bonnet of the vehicle.
'All squads in position, Sir'. Came Novosk's voice over the comms. 'Awaiting your order.'
'Confirmed, hold for now.' He looked up over the vehicle again. The hostiles were noticeably closer now, well within range, but still hadn't opened fire on the Laithan troops yet. Yaalskan ducked back down and looked around the street behind him, his troops were well concealed, the Klingons probably hadn't noticed them yet. They were sure to notice them in a minute as they got closer, though. Might as well use surprise while we have it. Yaalskan thought.
'Right, all units open fire!' He yelled, his last words almost drowned out by the noise of the weapons fire as his troops opened up almost instantly. He looked up over the front of the vehicle, and propped his rifle up on its engine and began firing at the oncoming crowd. The initial salvo had a devastating effect on the Klingons, the front ranks falling almost instantly and causing chaos. A few shots of wild disruptor fire flew up the street towards the Laithan positions, but they were mostly poorly aimed. Oddly enough, the attack didn't seem to affect the morale of the Klingon troops as much as Yaalskan expected. Instead, they seemed to be doing their best to run towards the gunfire, with only a handful ducking into doorways or behind obstructions to fire off aimed shots. More of them seemed to be joining their initial attackers through lanes and side roads, greatly increasing their numbers. A moment later, what looked like a civilian flatbed truck with a large disruptor bolted on the back roared around a corner in front of the Klingon troops, heading straight for the Laithan positions. Yaalskan ducked down to avoid the streams of fire it was spraying towards him.
'Nills, Vess, kill that technical!' He yelled into the comms.
Next to him, Nills grabbed the one-shot rocket launcher slung over his back and leaned around the side of his cover to get a shot. As the vehicle sped towards them, Nills fired the rocket. It struck the front of the truck, blowing out the driver's cab and shredding the gunner behind it. The vehicle spun around and tipped over, and a moment later the hulk was struck by a second rocket, fired by Vess a second later than Nills, blowing out the middle of the truck and wrenching the wreck in two. The mob of Klingons behind it was quite large now, and the weight of disruptor fire coming towards them was worryingly large.
'Squad two, suppressing fire! Squad one, use your launchers!' Yaalskan yelled into his radio, flipping the switch on his rifle that toggled between the rifle itself and the under slung grenade launcher. Behind him he could hear the sound of troops already firing off their grenades and popped his head and shoulders out of cover and took aim at the oncoming crowd. The grenades landed in the centre of the mob, blowing dozens of them to shreds. The front ranks were still being cut down by squad two's rifle fire, causing a large gap to open up between the front and back rows. Faced with the amount of casualties they had already sustained, the Klingons broke formation and began scattering back away from the Laithan soldiers, a few grenades still following them as they ran. In moments, the street was clear of anything alive.
'Report.' Yaalskan hissed into his radio. 'Did we lose anyone?'
Sergeant Diintriech, second squad's commander, answered first.
'Corporal Kyinsk is dead. Eyneis and Turol took a couple of hits, but they'll be okay for now.'
'Right. Anyone else?'
'Vess took glancing hit.' Olos called. 'But he says he's okay.'
'Right.'
'Orders, Sir?' Novosk asked casually, walking calmly across the street as though it hadn't just been the scene of a shootout.
'Our orders were to meet up with the Eleventh armoured. Only they seem to be a bit late. We'll hold up here for a while, then proceed on towards the objectives.'
Novosk glanced down at the street littered with Klingon bodies, and the wreckage of a technical.
'Never a tank when you need one '

Federation Space: Bajor
Stardate: 76867.18

Admiral Hanley sat in the captain's chair of the USS Prometheus happily. He couldn't even remember how long it had been since he was last on a starship. He seriously regretted ever becoming an admiral.
'Admiral, we have reached Bajor. Dropping out of warp now.' The helmsman reported. A moment later the ship dropped out of warp. The hastily assembled fleet of over a hundred vessels following it immediately.
'Well?' Hanley asked, looking over at the tactical officer. 'What's the situation?'
The officer paused before responding.
'Sir, we're reading nearly one thousand vessels of an unknown design orbiting the planet of Bajor. Several have moved into weapons range of Deep Space Nine.'
'Damn.' Hanley muttered. Unless these ships were worse than the Cardie's old junk heaps, his fleet wouldn't stand a chance...
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Enterprise-F and the Eminence class are the intelectual property of DarkOmen.
48th tactical squadron and Commodore Nizer are the intelectual property of Deepcrush.
The Laithan Imperium, and all characters, ships and equipment are the intelectual property of Rochey.
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Well?

[Captain Seafort]

Excellent!

It had a very Black Hawk Down feel to it, a realistic depiction of the confusion of the firefight, and an officer who was actually controlling his unit's fire. Most un-Trek like, but well written and fascinating. When's chapter 8 expected?

[Sionnach Glic]

Excellent!

Thank you.

It had a very Black Hawk Down feel to it, a realistic depiction of the confusion of the firefight,

Thanks. It seems hours of watching war movies finaly came in good for something.

and an officer who was actually controlling his unit's fire. Most un-Trek like,

I know, I half expected the universe to implode as I wrote those words...

When's chapter 8 expected?

No idea.
Hopefuly no longer than a couple of weeks.

[Thorin]

So the vehicles that were being used as infantry transports in the middle of a battle weren't designed for combat, but the vehicle that was sent to drive round looking for bits of android and was attacked without warning was. How on Earth did you come to that conclusion?

Since when are transports designed for combat? Transport helicopters, transport planes - they don't have weapons. They're there for transport, not to engage in combat. Simple stuff.

The best way to determine a vehicle's purpose is to look at the tasks it usually performs. We have never seen the Argo knowingly sent into a hostile situation. We have heard of hoppers knowlingly sent into a combat situation. Though there is a paucity of evidence logic dictates, based on the limited evidence available, that the hoppers are more likely to be designed for combat (albeit poorly) than the Argo.

Incorrect. We can see by it's design what it was clearly meant to do in conjunction with what it actually does - the Argo was sent to an alien planet that they knew had an unknown population. It has a gun that is designed for no other reason that to engage in combat, as was seen in the way it was used. Transports are not used for combat.

[Captain Seafort]

Since when are transports designed for combat? Transport helicopters, transport planes - they don't have weapons. They're there for transport, not to engage in combat. Simple stuff.

So Hueys aren't designed for combat then? They certainly seem to be involved in a lot of combat in Vietnam, depite initally being unarmed. You could say the same about APCs - they're designed without armament, but they're certainly fight battles. "Designed for transport" and "engaging in combat" are not mutually exclusive.

You're basing your claim that the Argo might have shields on the grounds that it's designed for combat. True, it is. The hoppers are also designed for combat, given that we've only ever heard of them being used as infantry transports or for medevac, but the evidence strongly implies that they are unshielded. Therefore it makes sense to assume that the Argo, a light reconnaissance vehicle (which are typically equally or less heavily armoured than infantry carriers) would also be unshielded.

[Mikey]

I have yet to see an answer to my simple-minded little question: if they were going to put a shield on the Argo vehicle, wouldn't they have started with doors, walls, and windows?

[Thorin]

So Hueys aren't designed for combat then? They certainly seem to be involved in a lot of combat in Vietnam, depite initally being unarmed. You could say the same about APCs - they're designed without armament, but they're certainly fight battles. "Designed for transport" and "engaging in combat" are not mutually exclusive.

Huey's are utility helicopters - something I suspect you know perfectly well. They can do what they need to. They're not mutually exclusive, but the fact that transports don't engage in combat make them exclusive in this case. A shuttlepod has no weapons. It is not designed to fight in any circumstance.

You're basing your claim that the Argo might have shields on the grounds that it's designed for combat. True, it is. The hoppers are also designed for combat, given that we've only ever heard of them being used as infantry transports or for medevac, but the evidence strongly implies that they are unshielded. Therefore it makes sense to assume that the Argo, a light reconnaissance vehicle (which are typically equally or less heavily armoured than infantry carriers) would also be unshielded.

I'm not sure what evidence implies that they are unshielded - but they're not designed to fight. The fact it has no guns shows this. The Argo does have a gun. A big one. I'm basing the claim that the Argo may have a shield on the fact that it is never disproven, and, more importantly, that it logically fits in for a vehicle designed to actually fight, to have some sort of defence. While your shuttlepods, assumedly, never actually say they don't have shields, I'm not sure to what extent they even imply it. The Argo is more similar to a Shuttlecraft - a vehicle designed for transportation and able to defend itself, rather than a shuttlepod, only designed for transportation.

[Mikey]

It seems that you are misinterpreting the idea of being designed specifically to fight with the concept of being designed for usage in and during combat. The hoppers Seafort described are patently made to be used during combat situations, even if they are not intended as fire support vehicles. As far as the Argo ground vehicle, the position of the weapon suggests that it is there as a deterrence to pursuers and as a defensive armament, not as an offensive weapon.

In any event, we have seen time and again that what we think of as "common sense" cannot be applied to make presumptions about what goes on in the minds of Starfleet.

[Thorin]

It seems that you are misinterpreting the idea of being designed specifically to fight with the concept of being designed for usage in and during combat. The hoppers Seafort described are patently made to be used during combat situations, even if they are not intended as fire support vehicles. As far as the Argo ground vehicle, the position of the weapon suggests that it is there as a deterrence to pursuers and as a defensive armament, not as an offensive weapon.

In any event, we have seen time and again that what we think of as "common sense" cannot be applied to make presumptions about what goes on in the minds of Starfleet.

The fact of whether it is offensive or defensive is irrelevant. The fact it is used to actually shoot at enemies is relevant.

[Mikey]

The fact of whether it is offensive or defensive is irrelevant. The fact it is used to actually shoot at enemies is relevant.

The intent of the armament is absolutely relevant - you claimed that no parallel could be drawn between the hoppers and the Argo because the Argo was a combat vehicle and the hoppers weren't. A combat vehicle would have offensive armament, so the Argo isn't one; rather it is more akin to the hoppers - designed not as a fire support or combat unit, but with a high degree of probability of being used during combat situations. The placement of the weapon is relevant because it predicates that statement. Therefore, a parallel between the hoppers and the Argo is in fact quite appropriate.

Or, perhaps you would consider a vehicle with no designed attack function to be a front-line combat unit? Or maybe you believe that the Argo was meant to be driven around in reverse the whole time?

[Granitehewer]

i'm more than happy to list the myriad variants of the huey which are armed/armoured and conducted transport roles, alongside anti-infantry and anti-vehicular capabilities, many transports eg BMPs, Bradleys and Warriors, and other infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personal carriers are multi-role

[Captain Seafort]

Thorin, the fundamental mistake you're making is thinking that the lack of absolute, rock-solid proof that the Argo isn't shielded means that you can claim that it might be shielded. Logical debate doesn't work that way. If you want to claim that it has shields, fine, provide evidence. If you can't do so conceed the argument. Stop this rediculous charade of refusing to accept canon facts because there isn't an explicit character statement.

[Thorin]

The intent of the armament is absolutely relevant - you claimed that no parallel could be drawn between the hoppers and the Argo because the Argo was a combat vehicle and the hoppers weren't. A combat vehicle would have offensive armament, so the Argo isn't one; rather it is more akin to the hoppers - designed not as a fire support or combat unit, but with a high degree of probability of being used during combat situations. The placement of the weapon is relevant because it predicates that statement. Therefore, a parallel between the hoppers and the Argo is in fact quite appropriate.

Of course the Argo isn't designed as a frontline unit, it's a transport unit that expects to run into trouble and as such intends to fight. A hopper may expect to run into trouble, but it does not intend to fight (whether that be running away or whatever). That is why a better parallel can be drawn with a proper shuttlecraft - which is armed with phasers and shields.

Or, perhaps you would consider a vehicle with no designed attack function to be a front-line combat unit? Or maybe you believe that the Argo was meant to be driven around in reverse the whole time?

Of course not - as I said, the Argo intends to fight - whether in retreat or not. A shuttlepod does not. A shuttlecraft, does, however. Which is why a far better comparison is with a shuttlecraft.

[Thorin]

Thorin, the fundamental mistake you're making is thinking that the lack of absolute, rock-solid proof that the Argo isn't shielded means that you can claim that it might be shielded.

Correct. You can claim anything might be. The fact it has a logical placing, and the fact that it fits with Starfleet's policy of shielding armed transport vehicles (shuttlecrafts), makes it a higher chance of happening than candyfloss anti-matter pods - which have no logical placing or fit in with Starfleet's policy (then again... )

If you want to claim that it has shields, fine, provide evidence. If you can't do so conceed the argument. Stop this rediculous charade of refusing to accept canon facts because there isn't an explicit character statement.

I haven't claimed it has shields. Have I?

I have said;
To add some credibility to Starfleet, it is not within the realms of impossibility for the Argo to have forcefield defences. This fits well with Starfleet's policy of shielding armed transports, and also has a logical placing - which is quite obvious - for simply stopping bullets hitting people inside the vehicle.

[Captain Seafort]

You've been quite insistent in claiming that it might have shields in contradiction of the available evidence. You are making the claim for the existence of the shield - the burden of proof is on you. Provide proof or concede.