"Ways & Means" | Gen. Richard Sharpe

Posted on 241406.09 @ 2:51pm by General Richard Sharpe

[USS Hawk]

Sharpe's eight man team sat gathered in the ward room of the Hawk. They formed a small semi-casual grouping around a small display, as Sharpe and Towers stood at the front of the room. Everyone was wearing casual attire, or fatigues with no insignia. Given the nature of the operation, they were going completely dark - there would be no communication with the fleet.

No backup.

No rescue.

True Marine Commandos.

"Thank you all for volunteering." Sharpe began in his crisp English voice. "I appreciate this on a personal level, that you would risk your lives to rescue my daughter."

With the pleasantries dispensed with, he turned to the display, which activated at his touch. "This operation is codenamed 'Grendel'. Whilst rescuing Lieutenant Sharpe is one of our objectives, we have been issued two secondary objectives to achieve."

"We will be infiltrating the Sol System under cover of cloak. Malone's network has arranged for the Tachyon Detection Grid to be under a level 1 diagnostic in the next eight hours, which will bring the grid down for sixteen hours. After this time, the grid will be active, and we'll be detectable. However, we have also been equipped with a transponder from a captured UFP ship - the USS Cooper. Once we are safely in the Sol System, the ship will be using the Cooper's transponder for as long as it can." All this appeared on the screen as lines and displays as he spoke.

"Once we are safely in the Sol System, the ship will approach Earth, and we will be transported down to a safe house in Berlin, Germany. This safe-house has food, supplies and weaponry necessary for a two week deployment." Sharpe explained.

"Colonel Towers and I have discussed this at considerable length, and ultimately we have decided to utilize projectile and melee` based weaponry, due to the unarguable stealth of using bullets rather than phaser beams that can be traced back to the firing point. This will mean that most of our attacks will be kill-shots. I dislike the idea of killing our own, but at this point - it would be safer to assume that the people we're actually targeting are not our 'own'. That being said, extra thought is required before pulling the trigger. That extra second might make or break the moment."

"Now then, to business." He said. "Operation Grendel has its primary objective; the rescue of Lieutenant Sharpe from UFP custody. However, as I stated before, we have two additional objectives. First, we are to secure any intelligence we can gather as to UFP forces, be that intentions, movements, deployments, etc. Secondly, and perhaps far more risky, we are to neutralize by whatever means we can, the main communications hub at Starfleet Headquarters."

"Fleet Command believes that removing this communications hub will severely hinder the command & control capabilities of UFP forces. However, this will be a very hard target to take down - as it is right in the middle of Starfleet Campus." Sharpe activated the screen to show a satellite view of the campus. "The communications hub is this building to the left of Starfleet Tower. It will be heavily guarded and secure. However, it was severely damaged when Starfleet Command was attacked, and is still currently under repairs. An exploitable weak-point is here, where the works are almost complete, the wall can be breached."

Sharpe looked at the team, who really didn't look all that enthused to go charging into Starfleet Command. "I remind you that this is a secondary objective, and we don't need to achieve it, but if we get the chance - we should take a crack at it."

"It is my best guess that Lt Sharpe will be held at the Starfleet Secure Detention Facility, which is located close to Starfleet Command. It is mostly used for high priority prisoners, and at present is being used to house people who were arrested during the purge. If I were them, I would put her here, because no matter the outcome, they can gain benefit from a raid there." Sharpe said, explaining his reasoning. "Its the perfect place for a trap, which is exactly what I believe this to be. They know I'd come for Sarah, and they know for a near fact that Towers would come with me. Given that he and I are at the near top of the most wanted list, it makes sense."

"Further, footage of us shooting at Starfleet personnel - regardless of allegiance, will look good on TV for the UFP." Sharpe said, which elicited a few smirks from the group. "But, even if Sarah isn't there, rescuing detained members of Starfleet is still a mission objective. Once we're in the facility, we will need to tag them with isolinear tags so that the Hawk can extract them."

"In order to achieve our secondary aims, I will be splitting our force in half. So that one team takes on the communications building, whilst the other takes out the prison. I'm hoping that we can recruit a few loyalists to cause as much mayhem as possible on Starfleet Campus, to allow us to perform our mission. If you are able to take down any high-value targets during this raid, you are at complete liberty to do so without authorisation."

"If you are captured, there will be no rescue." Sharpe warned. "I sincerely doubt you'll be treated with the respect and dignity afforded to Federation Citizens under the constitution. If you wish, an implant can be placed into your arm, which if you activate, will release a nerve toxin that will kill you in seconds. That is completely optional, and I leave it to each of you to make that decision."

"We will reach Earth orbit in eight and a half hours. Better go get yourselves sorted. Dismissed."

= End Log =