Joint Fleet Log || FAdm Malone, Adm Hark, Cncllr Ch'Krang & LtGen Tayor || "Advantage Starfleet, Match Point."

Posted on 241409.10 @ 11:18pm by Fleet Admiral Kerry Malone & Admiral Alexander Hark & Lieutenant General Alan Taylor & Chancellor Ch'Krang House of Ch'Krang

Mission: Insurrection [Fleet Plot]
Location: Qo'noS

=/\= Council Chambers, Klingon Great Hall, Qo'noS =/\=

The chamber was dimly lit, candles flickered across the walls and forced shadows to dance as the Chancellor sat at the head of the table, a mug of bloodwine sat before him and was occasionally quaffed to be refilled from the barrel that sat next to his seat.

"Xander!" the Klingon roared as he heard the doors slide open and saw the greying Human Admiral step through the door, the deck plating rang out under his footsteps as he moved to the seat to the left of the great warrior.

"Chancellor, its been a while, I trust you are keeping well?" Hark asked as he took his seat and slid a padd out of his jacket, placing it down on the table, glancing around at his security escorts who flanked the door, awaiting the arrival of the other members of this meeting, Malone had requested it but hadn't said why and the Ticonderoga was settling into orbit, the number of Starfleet ships had grown slightly in the last few days, but not nearly enough for any major action against their tormentors.

"Well enough, well enough," Ch'Krang replied as he hammered his mug on the table, the sign for a second to be placed before the Human by one of the Klingons aides, "This is going to be an interesting meeting, if it has anything to do with the information coming out of the Federation."

It was at this moment that Malone entered the Great Hall, flanked as he was by his own security detail. He moved with determined, yet obviously haggered steps towards the chair at the opposite end of the table from the Chancellor. The war had had a very visible and obvious toll on the Commander-in-Chief, and it had aged him by at least ten years since the outbreak.

"Good Evening, Chancellor." Kerry said, courteously, bowing at the hip just prior to sitting down on the ornate chair.

"Fleet Admiral." the Klingon greeted with a bow of his head and a salute with his mug, "Please, feel free to demand your own barrel, my house is your house."

Not far behind Malone was General Alan Taylor, the Commandant of the Marine Corps. He entered the Hall, flanked by his own small detail. The numerous attempts on his life in the past few months had made extra protection necessary.

"Chancellor." Taylor said after entering. "It is an honor to finally be able to see the Great Hall." He seemed less weary than Malone, yet the lines etched on his face still belied the stress he had to be under these days.

The Klingon again greeted the Human with the same salute, "General, it is good of you to join us," he said before turning to look at Malone and giving him a nod, "It would seem all who need to be here, are."

"Very well, let us begin." Malone said. "Admiral Hark, would you care to outline for us your report?"

"Well," the greying Human began as he stood and tapped a button that bought up a holographic display from the centre of the table, "We've received information through various intelligence sources that point to... disturbances that we may be able to take advantage of within the Federation."

Another press bought up the systems surrounding Sol, Vulcan and Andoria, Tellar and a few select others, member worlds which made up the core planets of the United Federation of Planets, "Several days ago, we received word that the Vanguard controlled ship, identified as the Pendragon, broke through a Federation fleet after springing a trap on them, we managed to salvage some measure of recording from the communications network." Hark reported, tapping the button again and bringing up a few seconds of broken visual recording, clearly showing the colossal Excalibur-refit Class ship streaking away from the battle.

"Typical Vokar." Malone muttered. "Explain these disturbances, Admiral."

"News has come from our sources indicating that the Pendragon has been sighted in orbit of Andoria, Tellar and Vulcan, since their visits, there have been large scale uprisings and public displays of... dissatisfaction with the current leadership of the Federation." Hark continued as he tapped another button and bought up still images of demonstrations being faced down by massed security forces, "Whatever the Vanguard are doing is playing right into our advantage, the Federation are distracted."

"I imagine, given my experiences with the Vanguard, that this was their intention all along. Whether its to our long-term benefit to have the Vanguard around, will be for time to tell. But given these developments - Admiral Hark here has proposed a somewhat... bold... strategy. Admiral?" Malone said, turning the meeting back to Hark.

"As I said, the Federation are distracted, their people are crying out for the way things used to be, we would be fools if we did not take advantage of this." Hark replied as he tapped another button and bought up the listings of the fleet resources they had on hand, "We have strength enough to get in and re-assert control over the council, we'll need to identify key targets for elimination, we cannot afford to lay siege to Earth, we have to keep the people on our side."

"I would prefer not to win by sheer force of arms, Xander. We need to win the hearts and minds of the people, and revert back to the way things should be - but obviously with significant differences. The Federation First members should be made to stand trial, not executed. No offence Chancellor, but Starfleet are not Klingon warriors." Malone said.

"Sheer force of arms is not what I am suggesting, we will need some measure of protection from any counter action against us, but when we have boots on the ground, we can always use non-lethal force and take them into custody," Hark replied with a slight smile, "What we do need to do though, is make sure we target the right people to bring it to a swift end."

"Talking of boots on the ground, General Taylor, what are our options in regards to putting assault units on Federation worlds?" Malone asked, turning his focus to Taylor.

"Our options are virtually unlimited. For various reasons, we retained the vast majority of marine assets after the coup, only losing a few units in varying areas, such as General Clarke getting his hands on a Vesuvius class carrier and siding with UFP forces. You just tell me where, when, and how many, Admiral." Taylor replied.

"Chancellor, for any operation to have a chance at success, I'm going to be in need of your forces. Starfleet forces are far and few between, and I'll need Klingon squadrons to bolster my own." Malone said.

"You have them," Ch'Krang replied with a nod, "My son will lead our forces, he is a brilliant tactician and a former Starfleet Officer, so he is well versed in your methods."

"Do I know your son, Chancellor?" Malone asked.

"Possibly not," the Klingon replied as he let out a light rumble of laughter, "He's Captain Ch'Tan, Commanding the IKS Ya'Vang and the Third and Fourth Squadrons of the House of Ch'Krang."

"Very well, what I propose is this." Malone said, activating a holo-projector that was installed in the middle of the table. "Welcome to Operation Full Moon. We're going to divide our forces, and attack simultaneously in several critical areas, to throw our enemies off balance."

"A careful study of the UFP's tactics over the last few months has shown that they have not been able to retain any commanders with any great tactical skill or ability. Indeed, it seems that commands are given on political grounds, rather than ability." Malone said, trying not to look at the Klingon Chancellor when he said that, knowing that often as not, that was true in the KDF.

"So, with this in mind, I propose to make use of the Vanguard's initiative, and capitalize on their work." Malone explained. "We will send five fleets out, comprised of both Starfleet and Klingon Defense Force vessels, to Vulcan, Andor, Alpha Centari, Tellar Prime and Earth. These constitute the five founding worlds of the Federation, and are the lynch-pin of Federation politics. If we control these worlds, the other systems will fall into line. The war is being fought along psychological and ideological lines, so the outlying systems have not really been overly affected by the conflict."

"Once the fleets have arrived in their respective systems, they will overpower the defenders, and deploy marines onto the surface to take control of the government and military sectors." Malone said. "I consider ground conflict to be extremely light on most of the targets, with mostly arrests being made rather than actual fighting. Earth will be a different story, but I'll get to that."

"Once we have secured the planets, the UFP Government should fall." Malone explained. "Especially if we take Earth, and capture the executive branch as well as the Starfleet hierarchy, which has been severely crippled thanks to a raid by General Sharpe, who took out Starfleet Communications."

"The assault on Earth itself will be strategic and targeted to avoid collateral damage. There will be no orbital bombardments or anything of the sort. This will be strike-teams deployed at key locations, and killing or capturing key targets on the target list. Once these targets have been secured, the war will pretty much be over. There will be some mopping up to do, as fanatics fight on, but the majority of it will be finished." Malone said, showing the diagram of attacks on the holo-projector.

"I will be leading the assault on Earth from the Ticonderoga. Xander, you'll have command of the forces taking Vulcan. Taylor, I'm giving you Andor's command. The other two will be sorted soon. I need marine units for each of the five fleets, as large a mobile formation as you can find to attach. The largest of which will be attached to the Earth bound fleet." Malone said. "Any questions gentlemen?"

"I would assume that you do not wish to see Klingon troops supplementing your own?" the Chancellor asked as he placed the mug down on the table.

"I would prefer not, Chancellor." Malone said, calmly, but directly. "This needs to be seen as a liberation, not an invasion. Further, since I'm not expecting any violence, I would prefer not to put Klingon warriors into a situation where they lust for battle, and do not get it. Such impotency is likely to cause issues in and of themselves."

Malone then turned to Taylor. "General, can you get me as many special operations capable units as possible for this operation?"

"Of course, Admiral. I'll need to do some work before I can give you a reasonable estimate on what that number might be. We do of course, still have Sharpe and Towers in play." Taylor replied.

"Oh good grief." Malone sighed. "I suppose we'd better use that arrogant son of a bitch." Turning to Xander, he posed the next question. "Admiral, how long until we can deploy the fleets?"

"I'm sure we can rally enough ships to form our fleets within a week, maybe less if we're using some of the Klingon ships to transport units," Hark replied with a slight smile as he leant forward, his elbows on the table, "We have a golden opportunity, we cannot afford any mistakes."

Malone nodded. "Agreed. You have five days, gentlemen, then I'm taking the fight to the UFP. Make it happen."

(End Log.)

Fleet Admiral Kerry Malone
Commander in Chief, Starfleet Rebel Forces

Admiral Alexander 'Xander' Hark
Chief of Staff, Starfleet Rebel Forces

Chancellor Ch'Krang, House of Ch'Krang
Chancellor of the Klingon Empire

Lieutenant General Alan Taylor
Useless Marine, Starfleet Rebel Forces