241506.30 Plot Log: Cmdr Alistar McKeon
Posted on Wed Jul 1st, 2015 @ 4:32am by Captain Alistar McKeon
812 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission: Midnight on the Firing Line
The loud annoying buzzer from the comm woke Alistar from blessed sleep and dragged him back into the land and universe of the living and painfully awake. Wondering who really wanted their head rolling around the deck for waking him in the middle of the night, Alistar growled as he reached out and tapped the comm.
"What?"
The voice that answered was NOT the voice of the watch officer, or any officer on the Endeavour for that matter.
"Nice to see that you like having your sleep disturbed too, Commander," the voice of Admiral Greer said in a chuckle. Alistar shot up in his bed and started rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Admiral, nice of you to call and all, but we're still...." Alistar glanced at the clock and estimated the Endeavour's ETA to Lambda Hydrae quickly. "Roughly 7 hours from arriving at the neutral zone."
"Well, expect to be on your toes when your get there. Council member Kur'vagh just launched a full scale coup three hours ago and ousted Martok's government. Alistar, I'm talking about a full scale cleansing. They've arrested Martok's family and executed most of the High Council and their families," Greer said over the comm.
"Are they f**king insane?!" Alistar snapped, forgetting that he was talking to a Starfleet flag officer. "Is he trying to start a civil war?"
"Believe me, I've been watching the live feeds from time to time ever since this started. It's not pretty. If there were any field commanders who were going to stay out of it before, that's forced them to pick a side. But even with half the Klingon military on his side, Martok has one hell of a fight in front of him. Kur’vagh has a large personal military force that no one knew anything about and his supporters are using the fact that Martok slipped away as grounds for Kur'vagh to step up as a strong central leader that the Empire needs. They're also screaming for an all out war with both the Romulans who are too weak to fight the Klingons and the Federation who they have stated to be a meddling state of weaker races who are afraid and too cowardly to stand and fight the might of the Empire head on," Greer said.
Alistar laughed an ugly dark and emotional sound that stated his opinion on the matter. "Are you moving towards the Neutral Zone?" he asked.
"No, I've been instructed to wait for orders from Starfleet Command, which I'm afraid will be too long in coming. The Romulans are scrambling everything they can to the Neutral Zone, but it's damned little. Al, they just don't have the ships. The Romulan government has issued a statement saying that if any Klingon ship crosses the Neutral Zone with hostile intentions they will declare open war against the Klingons. I'm afraid your situation is the only advantage we have right now."
"Oh, I'm not going to like this, am I?" Alistar said darkly.
"Alistar, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to do the impossible. I'm ordering the Endeavour to hold the line and not let any Klingons cross the Neutral Zone at any cost. You are authorized to use any means at your disposal in order to carry out these orders, including the use of deadly force and any extreme measures you think are needed. I'm trying to get any and all the support I can, but for right now I'm afraid you're on the firing line alone," Greer said.
"I understand," Alistar said, trying not to choke as he said the words. "Sir, with your permission, I'd like to formally state that sending one ship to do the work of an entire fleet is bullshit, sir."
"I agree, and I wish it wasn't coming down to this. Do what you can, Commander. Is that clear?"
"Aye, Admiral," Alistar said.
"Greer out. Godspeed, Commander."
Alistar sat on the edge of his bed for a long time, his brain working to keep pace with what was going on. It was not pleasant. He had the Endeavour to lax off of battle stations the day before, and now it seemed that battle was exactly where the Endeavour was headed towards. With a sigh he reached out and tapped the comm again.
"Bridge, McKeon. What's our exact ETA to Lambda Hydrae?"
"Five and a half hours, Sir."
Alistar nodded. "Go to general quarters, resound battle stations, and inform lieutenant Silvisi that I'll meet her in my ready room in three hours."
"Aye Sir."
Seconds after the comm channel closed the GQ alarm and battle stations alarms rang out. Alistar sighed and lay down. He might as well try to get a few hours of sleep, because he had a feeling that soon there would be no sleep at all.
Cmdr Alistar McKeon
CO, USS Endeavour
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