Darkness of Oblivion – Part 3: Liberation of the Phoenix Colony

Hunt was sitting on the bridge of the Achillies “Hunt hailing fleet vessels. We are 5 lifhgtyears out. Yasushi cloak your ship. Red Star and Delta Orion, the Vulcan controlled ships seem to be on the far side of the planet, so we should have the element of surprise. We will communicate through a tight particle beam. That way the enemy can't monitor our communications. Yasushi when you get into the atmosphere take out the capital city's communications array, that way they can't call for help. We will be jamming all communications up here. Good luck to all of you. Admiral Out.” All ships responded “Yes sir.”

“Mr. Uditar, you heard the man. Cloak the ship and prepare for atmospheric entry.” Yaushi said on the bridge of the Horton.

Dr. Meadow Coren was standing next to him since there wasn't much to do down in sickbay...yet.

The bridge went dark as the ship cloaked “How long till we get there Jason?” Yasushi asked his helmsman.

Jason turned his chair around and said “Just a few minutes.”

Jason then spun his chair back around.

Yasushi got up and walked over to the science station to look at the long range scans of the capital city.

Much of the population was in their homes, but there was a large concentration of lifesigns inside the Colony headquarters. He was able to pickup all the commbadge signals there.

He got up and looked over at Dr. Coren staring at the view screen “Meadow would you mind manning the Science Station? All you have to do is send the coordinates of the colonists to Commander Uditar in the transporter room for beam up, and say something if there is any ships or fighters coming at us.” Yasushi said and smiled.

She nodded, walked over and sat down at the console. Yasushi walked back over to the Captain's chair and sat down. “Jason, when we get to 100,000 kilometers of the planet drop out of warp and go in at maximum impulse. I don't wanna get detected too early and alert them. Wait for the other ships to engage the ships in orbit before we go into the atmosphere. When you do go in...go in by one of the poles, the magnetic field should mask us from any sensors when we decloak. After we're in the atmosphere we can recloak and there won't be any problems.”

Jason acknowledged “Aye sir.”

On the brdige of the Delta Orion, Captain Ishikawa received a transmission from the USS Wrath of Achillies “Captain I want you to go after the two Vulcan transports. They don't seem to have any weapon systems, so they should be much of a challenge...take you their engines and communications array, then go after the Nebula Class. Mr. Solomon and I are going to attack the Soverign class. As we don't yet know why the Vulcans are doing this I would like to keep the loss of life to a minimum, so just diable the ship. Go after her warp engines first then her communications array. A Nebula Class shouldn't be all that taxing for a Defiant Class ship. Good Luck”

Captain Ishikawa nodded and said “Understood sir. I will not fail.” then the transmisison ended.

Admiral Hunt then hailed Mr. Solomon “I assume that you heard that? You understand that we need to keep the loss of life to a minimum until we can determine why this is happening to the Vulcans.”

Mr. Solomon nodded and said “Yes, its important that we keep the image that we are compassionate. Public image will be important in the coming months. I plan on running for President of the Federation once this fiasco is over with.”

James leaned forward in his chair “If I win...I don't plan on forgetting what you did for the Federation.”

Hunt smiled and said “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

Hunt leaned back in his chair and said “Until then Captain.” and closed the channel.

Hunt got up and looked around the bridge of his ship. He was a little anxous about the battle, but even more concerned with the after math. At this point the Federation has no leadership, so reshaping the face of the quadrant should be interesting. He sat back down in his chair. “Flagship Achilies hailg all staship if flight group alpha. Drop out of warp and assume a standard Avalon formation. As soon as we make contact with the ships break formation and engage ship in maneuver Kirk Epsilon 4.”

Lieutenant Jacobs said “The Delta Orion and the Red Star have acknowledged the order sir. Captain Yasushi's ship seems to have dropped out of warp.”

Hunt smiled and said “He's dropping out early as to not attract any attention to himself. He has his own plan, and he's thought it out quite well.”

Hunt got up and said “Okay Lieutenant throttle back, take us out of warp. Red alert! All hands battle stations!” The bridge dimmed and Hunt paced around as the formation of ship slowly banked around the planet to reveal the ships in synchronous orbit. “They don't seem to have noticed us yet, but I'm sure that will change very quickly.” said Lieutenant Commander Zak Kol from the tactical console.

Hunt sat back down in his seat and said “Load quantum torpedoes in all torpedo launchers. See if you can pump a little more juice into the phasers, we could use it to break through the sovereign's shields. This is Admiral Hunt hailing all ships...break formation and begin the attack!”

On the bridge of the Horton, Yasushi watched as the ships disappeared behind the planet, and small flashes of light reflected of the planet's atmosphere.

“They must have engaged the Vulcans...Okay Jason, full impulse! Set course for the southern pole of the planet. When we star to enter the atmosphere decloak the ship after we reach an altitude of 2 kilometers above the surface recloak the ship and make your way to the capital city.

Two photon torpedoes from the Sovereign class hit the Achillies ventral shields. The Achiles preformed a tight banking turn away from the soverign and fired two quantum torpedoes, one of them missed bu the other planted a good impact on the starboard dorsal shields.

Hunt tapped the controls on his chair and opened a hailing frequency to the Red Star “Captain Solomon, focus your fire just aft of the impulse drives. If we can take out the Sovereign's shield generators we wouldn't have much to worry about.”

“Acknowledged Admiral.” Solomon responded. The view screen focused on the Red Star making her attack run on the Sovereign. She fired 6 shots from her ventral phasers weakening the Sovereign's dorsal shields. The Red Star pulled up and fired 2 photon torpedoes from her aft launchers and they both impacted on the dorsal shields of the Sovereign right where they were supposed to.

The Achillies went into a steep climb and then did a 180 degree roll to level her out, Flying straight at the Sovereign the Achillies launched 5 quantum torpedoes at the Sovereign and quickly pulled out of the maneuver. All of the torpedoes impacted on the spine of the ship and her shields went down. The Red Star went for another pass at the Sovereign's dorsal sensor array, communications array, and warp nacelles.

“The Sovereign had taken heavy damage, her shields are offline, warp engines are down, short range sensors are offline, subspace radio, and her port impulse engine seems to have suffered a torpedo hit, so that's offline as well.” Zak reported from the tactical console.

“There doesn't seem to be any immediate threat from the Sovereign, I suggest we focus our attention on the Transports. Captain Ishikawa seems to have the Nebula pretty well occupied.” he added.

Hunt stood up and said “I agree. Open a channel with the Red Star.” there was an audible beep and then he continued “Mr. Solomon, I suggest we take out the warp engines and communications arrays on the transports.”

Mr. Solomon replied “Yes, the Delta Orion seems to be having quite a bit of fun with the Nebula, no point in spoiling their party.” and the channel closed

The Horton uncloaked and began to enter the atmosphere, at full impulse the ships shields were burning away the atmosphere around them leaving an orange streak across the sky that glistened on the polar ice. Lieutenant Fox leveled the ship off at 2 kilometers and recloaked the ship. “We should be at the city in a minute and 27 seconds” he announced.

Yasushi turned his chair towards he science console and asked Meadow “Have the sensors picked up any fighters or patrols in the atmosphere?”

She replied while still looking at the display “No. doesn't seem to be any activity around, but the defense guns around the city are charged and prepped to fire.”

Yasushi turned to the tactical station and ordered “When we get within range decloack the ship and disable the defense guns. After they're all disabled destroy the communications array.” The lieutenant and the station nodded and said “Aye sir.”


The tops of the highest buildings became visable on the horizon as the Horton flew at high speed towards the capital city of the phoenix colony

“Bridge to Commander Uditar...Are you ready down in the transporter room?” Yasushi asked his chief engineer.

“Yes sir, as soon as you get done destroying the defense guns I'll lower the shields and beam up the senior staff of the colony.” Yasushi smiled and said “Good! Meadow will be sending you the coordinates momentarily.”

Yasushi got up and walked over to the science station “Have you been able to walk onto their commbadge signals?” He asked her.

She tapped a few of the controls on the console and siad “Yes, in fact it looks like all of them are in the basement of the Federation Complex...In fact there seems to be a large concentration of humans and a few other species there.” She brought up a 3d representation of the sensor readings.

“It looks like the Vulcan are using the maintenance catwalks above the basement floor to post their guards, and the colonists are on the floor. We should just be able to beam the whole lot up in one shot, there are quite a few people down there...close to 350. If you could remove all the cargo from bays 2 and 3 there would be plenty of room to set up comfortable triage facilities.”

Yasushi accessed the cargo manifest, “Well that wasn't too difficult...Cargo bay 3 is already empty, and Cargo bay 2 only has medical supplies in it, I'm beaming half the medical supplies from bay 2 to bay 3. Now you should have medical supplies already in both cargo bays” Yasushi looked up from the console and smiled at her. She was still working at the console and didn't notice.

“I've sent the transport coordinates to Commander Uditar.” she said and tapped the comm panel and said “Dr Coren to Commander Uditar. I have special instructions for the beam up procedures.”

Commander Uditar responded “Yes Doctor, go ahead.”

She tapped the controls on the science station looking at all the sensor data and “Beam all the colony leadership directly to sickbay...along with all the children. The rest of the colonists can be beamed to cargo bays 2 and 3.”

Commander Uditar replied “Okay, is there anything else?”

Yasushi spoke up “Commander I want you to grab two Vulcans and beam them to the brig. We need to find out what's going on, and this is probably the only way that we're going to do it.”

Commander Uditar acknowledged “Understood. I'll start beaming everyone up when we're in range and I can drop the shields. Transporter room out.”

Meadow got up and said “I'm going to go to sickbay and get things ready there. I'll be there if you need anything.”

Yasushi walked back over and sat down in the Captain's chair and said “Okay. We should be out of this soon.” He heard her get in the turbolift and leave the bridge.

The officer at the tactical station said “We are within firing range of all the guns. Slow the ship down and I can take all the guns out in more or lees one shot.”

Lieutenant Fox at the helm complied. The tactical officer decloaked the ship and with a few quick bursts from the Horton's ventral phaser arrays the guns were taken out. With another phaser blast the communications tower atop the Governor's Office Building had plummeted to the ground. Besides the communications satellite in orbit, it was the only other transmitter capable of transmitting a message farther than a few light years from the colony.

“Dropping shields and beginning transport.” Commander Uditar's voice said over the comm.

“Sir we have a message coming in from the Admiral Hunt.” Jason said. “Put it on the view screen.” Yasushi said.

Admiral Hunt appeared on the screen “Captain, the space portion of the battle has been won. How are you doing down there?” He asked

“We are beaming the a good portion of the colonists up now, and all of the command staff. Looks like we made out better than expected.” Yasushi answered and smiled.

Hunt replied “Good, I suggest that you return to orbit rather than land on the surface, it'll waste less time since there isn't much of a threat up here anymore.”

Yasushi nodded and said “Yes that's probably the better idea.” Hunt closed the channel.

Commander Uditar's voice came over the comm again “Transport complete. Let's go!” Jason heard that and immediately started moving the ship out of the atmosphere.

The beam up was directly to sick bay and the cargo bays. Dr. Meadow Coren, the notorious sex kitten suddenly changed from flirty and even flighty to 100% business. These people required immediately medical care. In many cases, they had been held in squalid conditions, even to the point of being deprived of food and water.

The worst of these situations were those applied to Vice Admiral Nicole Branson and Commodore Vincent Viceroy who were savagely beaten and even worse physically and emotionally tormented.

Meadow set to work on getting them immersed in fluid tanks designed for dermatological regeneration and to treat broken bones through amniotic fluid regeneration. Meadow wanted to ensure that their physical wounds were healed. This was the priority. Treating the emotional wounds would be far more difficult.

Meadow set immediately to triage management. She had to ensure that all the patients were cared for. She also began to search through the Faculty listings at the Omega Academy to see if everyone could be accounted for. She was soon assisted by Dr. Skylight Greene, Chief Resident, Dr. Leonard McCoy Teaching Hospital on the Colony. Dr. Greene had actually been an instructor for Meadow when she was in med school.

Meadow soon discovered Brenna Montgomery, the infamous student who sparked some of the rebellious history of the Phoenix Federation. She took her over to the glass to see her mother, Nicole Branson in the fluid. Brenna screams, “Is she dead?”

“No, sweetie, she is healing… quickly. Like being in a mother’s womb.”, Meadow smiled.

“Or being in a cloning tube.”, Brenna responded, reminded of her own growth.

Meadow smiled. She was a smart little thing.

“Brenna!!”, a voice came from across the room.

Meadow recognized the voice. She turned to see Dr. Orchid Coren, her half sister and a scientist on the Pheonix Colony. Meadow did not know what to do. She knew Orchid but not super well, but she respected her accomplishments. Orchid looked at Meadow for a long time.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”, Orchid finally broke the silence.

“We need to get everyone through triage and to be treated accordingly. I realize a cargo bay is not a hospital, but it is the best we can do with this many people.”, Meadow explained. She sounded so professional.

Orchid started to move from person to person in the room. She came to a small green bag. She slowly opened the bag. Her worst fears were realized. It was a baby. She pulled it out. It was NOT Trista but her heart was beating in a fever.

Orchid held the dead baby and cried. This is what had become of the Phoenix Federation, dead in its infancy.

Meadow heard Orchid crying. She left the amniotic bio-chambers and rushed to Orchid. She sat with her and just held her for a moment.

“I too had a baby, Meadow. The Vulcans took her.”, Orchid cried.

Skye came walking over carrying a baby, “Dr. Coren?”

Both girls looked up, “Yes.”

Meadow smiled and stood up. She slowly pulled back the blanket. Orchid stood up, “Trista.”

The tiny baby looked up at the two girls. Her face lit up with a joy that only come from a mother’s love. She could not speak. She was too young. She did not have to. Her very appearance said more than anyone could.

Brenna came walking over, “There you are. I have been looking everywhere for you.”

Children have a way of putting things in their simplest form. Peace is what we have been looking for… everywhere.

Posted by:

Captain Yasushi Yamamoto
Task Force Typhon Commanding Officer
Star Fleet Liberation Forces
Phoenix Federation

Phoenix Colony Liberation

With sincere thank you to Admiral William Hunt, Private Citizen James Solomon and the ships in the liberation task force. We are eternally grateful.