A Hard Left Turn

Posted on Thu Oct 10th, 2024 @ 11:04pm by Captain Alistar McKeon

999 words; about a 5 minute read

The bone snarling alarm woke Alistar from a rare deep sleep. Rolling over with a groan, he looked at the time and groaned again as his eyes registered that it was 0230. Sitting up, he reached out and tapped the control panel built into the nightstand. "Yes?" he growled.

"Sorry to disturb you captain, but we have a priority one incoming from Starfleet Command. It's being transmitted in the clear," the officer on duty reported.

Alistar felt the last bit of sleepy hangover instantly fade as his mind registered. Starfleet Command never sent out priority one, and never in the clear. "Put it through," he said as he threw the covers off and hit the floor at a quick run.

"Captain McKeon," a familiar voice said.

"Admiral Weber," Alistar said as he grabbed a clean uniform from his closet and started getting dressed.

"I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour captain, but I'm calling all commanding officers in for an emergency situation. Report to Starfleet Command immediately. I've already had transport coordinates sent to the Endeavour," Admiral Weber said.

"On my way," Alistar said as he slipped his boots on and grabbed his uniform jacket. He dressed in what could only be a new record and hurried to the transporter room. Walking quickly into the transporter room, he nodded stiffly towards the officer on duty.

"The coordinates check out, Ensign?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir, Starfleet Command, 5th floor," the transporter officer replied.

Alistar almost paused on his way to the transporter pad, but he recovered and continued. "Energize," he said.

The transporter beam released Alistar in an anteroom. Beyond the open double doors, he could see the conference room beyond and gulped as he walked in. Every commanding officer in the immediate region was present, and while it wasn't many it was still impressive. Twenty captains in all were present, along with Admiral Weber and three other flag officers he didn't recognize. When Weber noticed McKeon, he nodded and stood.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take a seat," the admiral said. As everyone sat down, the admiral leaned forward and rested on the table. Alistar frowned as he noticed that Weber looked pale. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good.

"Captains, twenty minutes ago we received confirmation that the USS Federation and her escorts were destroyed while returning from a major diplomatic conference on Starbase 11. The Federation president, members of the cabinet and several members of the Federation senate were killed along with all crew members of all ten ships of the Federation's escort squadron."

Admiral Weber paused and looked around the room as the news began to settle into the officers gathered around the table. Alistar felt a painful shock and stared at the admiral as his words began to register. To his left, one captain snarled and half stood before he regained his composure and sat back down. Beside him, a raven haired woman lifted her hand.

"Sir, is the vice president safe? And do we know who conducted this attack?" she asked.

"The vice president is being brought from vacation in Alaska to be sworn in, and at the moment the answer to the second question is no," Weber answered. "Orders from the incoming president have already been processed. She's ordered higher security measures for key sectors for which the Arcadia, Gorgon, Lexington, and Carolina are tasked for. The Medusa and Okinawa are tasked to security patrols and the majority of the other ships present will be tasked to a security task force. However, I've spoken with the incoming president and I'm afraid she's also ordered us to investigate the attack. Which brings me to the Endeavour. Captain McKeon, I know your orders were to conduct a shakedown cruise, however you're going to have to break your ship in the hard way."

Alistar could feel the eyes of the other captains turn towards him, and he tried to look calm and somewhat collected like the others, however like them he was failing. "Yes, Sir?" he asked.

"Endeavour will depart for Starbase 11 immediately. Investigate this attack and try to find out who conducted this attack and why," Admiral Weber ordered.

"Sir, I regret to report that Endeavour is still short of having a full crew compliment by nearly 150 officers," Alistar said.

The admiral nodded and glanced down at a padd. "We have a solution of sorts. We have nearly 150 senior year cadets who have been waiting to take their midshipman cruise. We're routing them to Endeavour to fill out your roster."

"Cadets?" Alistar felt something dark start to rise, and he fought to keep that dark side contained. "Sir, Endeavour might just very well end up in a fight for her very survival and you want me to take cadets who haven't been on an actual starship before?"

"Half your crew are ensigns who just graduated," Weber pointed out. "I'm sorry, but there's no debate on this matter."

Alistar nodded and leaned back in his chair. He had, at least, learned when he needed to shut his mouth. He didn't like it, but there was clearly no debating this either. "Yes sir," he finally managed.

"Details have been transmitted to the Endeavour. The cadets will start arriving at 0500 hours. I want the Endeavour at warp by 0700. Everyone else, your orders will be transmitted to your ships within the hour. Dismissed."

Alistar stood, still feeling numb, and made his way to the door. Once out in the hallway, he tapped his commbadge.

"McKeon to Endeavour, one to beam up."

The familiar tingle of the transporter grabbed him once more and released him back in the transporter room aboard Endeavour. Alistar felt older, and he knew that it was simply the shock of the Admiral's news echoing through his mind. Alistar sighed and tapped his commbadge again.

"Red alert, all hands to stations. Senior officers to the briefing room in half an hour," he said before he slowly started towards the door. It was going to be a long day.

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