Hammer Fleet

Chapter 1. "And so it begins..."

USS Hammer, Fleet Ops, Somewhere in Cardassian Territory
Day 1, 06:00

"Status report, all vessels check in."

Andrews voice was steady and even, despite the tension of the moment. Hammer Fleet had just dropped out of Warp in Cardassian Space and although the advanced sensors of the Mars Class vessels in the Fleet had detected no enemy ships nearby, noone was taking any chances.

At the Ops console, Commander Jimmy James sat and acknowledged the reports of each Hammer Fleet vessel. The last ship reported in and James turned to Admiral Andrews.

"Sir, all vessels have checked in. Initial scans have been confirmed, no vessels of any kind are in the immediate area. It appears we've arrived undetected. Recommend we find somewhere to belly up."

Andrews reply was fast.

"Thanks Ops, transmit course data for waypoint Gamma."

"Aye Sir. Transmitting."

"Bridge, this is Andrews, come right to to 342 Mark 7, set speed Warp 2."

"Bridge Aye, coming right to 342 Mark 7. Speed set for Warp 2. On your mark Admiral."

Andrews glanced at James, who nodded to confirmed the rest of the Fleet was ready to move.

"Engage!"

A slight lurch was felt throughout the Hammer as the ship attained Warp Speed. Andrews sat back in the command chair and picked up a PADD, he began rechecking his course calculations. Some 2 hours at Warp 2 would bring the Fleet to an area that Andrews had designated as Gamma 1. Gamma 1 was a long abandoned belt of asteroids that had once been a thriving Cardassian mining operation. The Admiral felt that the asteroid belt would provide a viable hiding and staging area for the Fleet whilst they gathered their intelligence and planned their offensive moves.

Connor thought back to his meeting with Starfleet Command....

"Andrews, your brief is to infiltrate Cardassian Territory, define to the best of your abilities the Cardassian Defenses and Capabilities and systematically wipe them out. You are to remain on station until recalled or the Fleet is unable to continue with it's task. Never again will the Cardassians threaten the security of Federation Territories in that quadrant. The invasion and occupation of Starbase 968 was unforgiveable."

Back on the bridge of the Hammer, Andrews smiled, it was not often that a Starfleet Admiral was given carte blanche to wage war upon someone, but that was what he had been given. Command had been given a serious headache when the Cardassians occupied Starbase 968, they had decided to make sure it would never happen again.

Andrews stood and nodded to Commander James..

"Jimmy, you have the bridge, I'll be in my ready room. Maintain position and let me know when we are half an hour out from Gamma 1."

"Aye Sir."

Andrews left Fleet Ops and headed for his ready room.

USS Iwo Jima, Marine Holodeck 1, Somewhere in Cardassian Territory
Day 1, 06:00

Master Chief Vinny Roche completed his walk down the line of marines, checking equipment and loads. The marines were outfitted in Zero G combat suits in preparation for the day's exercise.

Roche moved to the front of the 8 man squad.

"OK people, today's exercise is entitled 'Sabre' and will involve you attempting to board and secure a Cardassian J-Class Station's Operations Centre. You'll be launched in Standard Marine Assault Torpedoes and you should have impact approximately three decks below Ops. There will be no power functioning on the station and your impact will cause loss of pressure, hence the G suits. Resistance is unknown although to be expected."

"Team Alpha completed the exercise earlier on this morning, scoring 92%, I expect you to surpass that. Any questions ?"

The marines had all been fully briefed earlier and each knew what his or her task would be, Accordingly, there were no questions for Master Chief Roche.

"Very well. Exercise begins in 1 minute. Computer, initiate program Jupiter 7."

Roche exited the Holodeck as it shimmered and took on the appearance of a Marine Assault Torpedo.

A unique invention, shunned even by the Klingons as suicidal, the Assault Torpedo was true to it's name..A massive conical tube capable of seating 8 fully loaded marines and launching for impact with the external hulls of ships and stations. The torpedo exploded against the hull and used the force of the explosion to bury it's way inside. Once in, the marines, if they'd survived the impact, would cut their way out of the torpedo then disperse and carry out the mission they'd been assigned.

Back in the Holodeck, the simulation had begun, the 8 marines were heavily strapped and forced into their oversized seats. The torpedo was then 'fired' from the Mother ship...They headed in toward the target at optimum speed...

<< 10 Seconds to impact >>

SLAM!

The torpedo smashed into the hull of the Starbase, accelerating through the outer and inner walls and coming to a grinding halt, a cutter appeared and an exit hole was made for the marines to deploy from. Still slightly shaken from the impact they began to disperse and carry out their assigned tasks.

USS Chicago, Primary Sensors, Somewhere in Cardassian Territory
Day 1, 06:00

Lieutenant Rogh completed his sweep of the surrounding space and began another. He was the senior sensor officer on board the USS Chicago. Most starships had an Ops Officer, whose duty was to look after the sensor arrays, but the Chicago was not any normal starship, she was, essentially, an intelligence gathering vehicle, able to remain undetected from almost anyone. It was said that even Q would not know a Chicago was there until it hit him on the head.

The ship contained multiple sensor arrays equipped with the best technology Starfleet could lay their hands on. The job of Chicago and her sister ship, the Detroit was to provide sufficient early warning of the approach of any non-Starfleet vessel to the Fleet. This was a job for which she was easily adequate.

Rogh checked the main status board and noticed the course change. The Chicago was the last ship of the Fleet to leave for the new destination, her positioning meaning that Rogh and his team would now be checking for any vessels that may be trailing the Fleet to it's destination.

USS Hammer, Fleet Ops, Gamma 1
Day 1, 09:00

"Outer permimeter has been established, we are in individual defensive orbits. The Fleet is spread over a 200 Kilometer radius."

James finished briefing Andrews, who nodded and motioned for him to return to his position.

"Very well. Signal all ships to launch comm. bouys, from now on, we work in complete silence. All ship to ship comms. must be via the bouys, unless we are under attack."

"Aye Sir." James moved to initiate the order Fleet-Wide.

Comm. bouys were probes, converted to read and send light signals sent in Morse Code, a language developed in the 20th century.. A line of bouys was strung throughout the Gamma 1 area. Each ship would send a signal to the bouy nearest it and this would be relayed throughout the entire network to all of the other ships. Whilst not as quick as normal comm. traffic the use of the bouys was a silent and secret as it was possible to be.

"Sir, bouys in place. All test messages A1."

"Outstanding, proceed with deployment of intel teams and convene a meeting of all CO's on board the Iwo Jima in 2 hours time."

"Aye Sir."

The Fleet carried many small Cardassian Ships and these along with several surgically altered strike teams would disperse throughout the territory defined by Andrews and would then report back their findings.

Andrews steepled his fingers and sat back in his chair...

~ And so it begins.... ~