Joint Plot Log | Gen. Sharpe & Col. Towers | "The Marine Invasion"

Posted on 241410.30 @ 4:56pm by General Richard Sharpe & Colonel Adam Towers

Mission: Insurrection [Fleet Plot]
Location: England
Timeline: Following "Never Look Back"

= Safe House, Nottingham, England =

"Towers!" Sharpe bellowed from his room, summoning the erstwhile Colonel of marines.

"Sharpe!" Towers roared back as he walked into the room.

"Oh good, you're still here." Richard said, in his usual sarcastic manner. They'd been cooped up in this safe-house for weeks, without being able to go outside all that much. There really wasn't anywhere Towers *could* go. "Just had a message from Admiral Malone, thought you might want to know."

"Am I allowed to know, papa?" Towers put on the voice of a lisping child. They had essentially been told "Go here. Stay put. Shut up." and Towers knew even less about what was going on than Sharpe did, which was grating on his nerves.

Richard rolled his eyes. Towers had been sulky at being kept in the dark over operational details. This had been Malone's decision, in case they'd been captured. Sharpe didn't know much more than Towers did, a fact he'd done well to disguise from his colleague. "As a matter of fact, you are allowed to know." He said, producing the message on the computer console - the one and only operational console in the entire house. The message simply read "The President has been ousted. He and his followers are held up in Sandringham estate, armed and prepared to fight it out. The 5th MEU is being deployed to your location. Your orders - subdue defenders and arrest government officials. RoE forbids the use of deadly force against class one targets, outlined below." The list showed key government ministers, including the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, and others.

"Well that takes all the fun out of it. I've been looking forward to shooting a class one." Towers said as he read over the message.

"I imagine the Federation Council want to shoot him instead." Sharpe sighed. "In any case, we've been casing out Sandringham for weeks, and given that Malone is giving us your unit - this should be interesting."

Towers ignored the fact that the 5th wasn't technically his unit... they would be as soon as they got here. Colson would be itching to hand over the reins.

"Yeah, and Sandringham is a real bitch. What's the plan, General?" Towers asked, looking through some of the rest of the data.

"Considering that we need to neutralize the estate, and it is a sprawling thousand acre area, protected with the latest in Federation security measures - not to mention things we probably aren't aware of - its going to be, as you put it, a bitch." Sharpe said, then looked at the console as the proximity alarm went off. "Either they found us, or the 5th just arrived."

Towers listened for a moment. "It's the 5th. I hear Colson roaring orders down there. Let's go say hello."

Sharpe and Towers exited the safe-house, to find the assembled might of a full MEU arranged in the field outside the house. "Well, looks like Malone wanted to do this with as much firepower as possible... look, he even brought your tanks."

"Tanks are fun." Towers said as Colonel Colson walked up to the pair.

"Taking it back, Towers?" He asked.

"Yes. You're demoted back to Major. Get the hell out of my unit." Towers replied. Both men chuckled and shook hands.

"Zach? Thanks for watching over them." Towers said quietly. The other man nodded as he turned away.

The Colonel rubbed his hands together after Colson left. "Well, what the hell are we waiting for? Let's go blow some shit up."

"Do you suppose we should use some kind of tactic or strategy?" Sharpe teased the Colonel, who was happier now than he had been for months. "Or do you just want to knock on the door with Mister Tank here?"

"I don't see why not. They're scared in there, demoralized. They know the end is coming. What's more frightening than kicking the door down?" Towers asked.

"Men who have nothing to lose tend to fight somewhat more aggressively than would otherwise be prudent." Sharpe replied. "Plus, I suspect you're wanting some revenge on them for the tanks we had to face at Starfleet Headquarters."

"They have their lives to lose. I suspect a great deal of those fools are waiting for a chance to surrender. As for the fanatics? That's why we have tanks. And air support." Towers said.

"Perhaps you should show me your plan of attack, Colonel, and we'll see what you propose." Sharpe said, activating a holo-map of the Sandringham estate.

"Sandringham is mostly open fields, which tankers love. I think what we need to do is capture the farmhouses and set up artillery positions at each, so we can pummel the defensive shield around the estate itself. Once it drops or they surrender, we send in the infantry." Towers said.

"I would also suggest strafing runs by the fighter-bombers as well. If anything, they'll have a psychologically crippling effect on the defenders." Sharpe said. "As well as help to lower the shield. I would also suggest making sure that they can see the tanks from wherever they are inside the grounds. Encircling and besieging is the oldest form of warfare known to man, and its worked because of its sheer psychological effects on the defenders."

"We won't have much of a choice on that ground. Tanks are tough to hide, and the only big cover is the barns which will be hiding the artillery pieces. I'll get Dubrillion and Grey to make a nice encirclement." Towers said.

"You have any airborne sensor craft?" Sharpe asked, then looked at Towers' puzzled expression. "Chances are, they've made improvements, and if there's a network of tunnels for escape, we should be aware of it. Or any bunkers."

Towers frowned. "Well how did you find me in those Cardassian tunnels? IR?"

"Deep penetrating sensor scans from specially modified runabouts doing flyovers." Sharpe replied.

"Can we replicate those modifications with the MEU's fighter craft?" Towers asked.

"I doubt they'd be as effective as dedicated craft." Sharpe surmised. "But something is better than nothing."

"Well, unless we can get some modified runabouts down here fairly quickly, we'll have to live with it. Simple plan usually works best." Towers said.

"Agreed." Sharpe said. "Better go brief your people."

Towers nodded, saluted, and left. It took the MEU only about twenty minutes to get fully prepared and ready to move out. Infantry were suited up and situated in light transport vehicles or riding on the tanks, which were also ready for action. Mobile artillery waited for their move orders, and fighters were beginning their own preparations for aerial runs.

Sharpe surveyed the preparations, then went to the top floor of one of the farm buildings and looked out at the 'nut' they had to crack. This would be one hell of a fight, and hopefully, the very last in this war. He waved down to Towers to commence his operations.

Towers put two fingers in his mouth and blew a loud whistle before giving the hand signal to move out. Units began to spread outwards. They would approach the grounds in force before splitting off to attack the farm houses. Towers had given strict orders that the houses were not be shelled, as they needed to be intact to provide cover for the artillery and the infantry.

Almost on cue, the hazy bubble of a defense shield popped up over the main building, but it would not extend farther.

Several comm units were broadcasting demands of surrender towards the manor, trying on multiple frequencies to ensure that the message got through... if the sight of a battalion of tanks wasn't convincing enough.

Being almost surplus to requirements, Sharpe observed from a high vantage point the way things were progressing. Since it was just one MEU, having a full General present was somewhat redundant, but he was here, and when they stormed the house - he would go in with the troops. Otherwise, he was going to stay out of Towers' way.

The barns themselves were not heavily defended, as the defenders had pulled inside the heavy shield protecting the house. It took the fast moving units of the MEU less than ten minutes to clear out the handful of stragglers and Towers quickly ordered the artillery units to be brought up from where they were waiting at the back.

The house itself was quiet, though Towers could see activity in the shield as people buzzed around, preparing for what they knew was coming. He had made no effort to hide the big guns coming up towards the barns. The defenders couldn't do anything about them without dropping the shield. Most of the tactics were meant to be psychologically damaging in nature. Given the circumstances, Towers would have liked to avoid more bloodshed.

The pieces were in position, all that was required was the order to fire. Given that he was the ranking officer on the scene, that order would have to come from Sharpe. Towers could, of course, give that order, but Richard knew that Towers wouldn't give it without Sharpe's approval. After climbing down from his vantage point, Sharpe arranged for himself to be brought up to the front, and he jumped out of the LSV as it pulled up beside Towers.

By this point, both men were wearing marine combat BDU's in forest green motif. Sharpe had opted to wear a rank patch on the front of his uniform, and he crunched on the gravel as he walked over to Towers, carrying his enhanced battlefield ocular viewer in his hand. "Any signs of them putting up a fight, Colonel?" Sharpe asked, as he stepped beside his field commander.

"Nope. They've just gone turtle so far. They probably think we can't get through that shield of theirs."

What Towers couldn't know was that the interim leader of the Federation Council had been in contact with Sharpe - as soon as he'd found out who was leading the attempt to seize the Presidential mansion, and had insisted that they not fire on the historic building unless absolutely imperative. He also tried to constrain the RoE's further, but at this point, Sharpe pretended communications issues, and shot the communications downlink.

"Well, given the RoE's, I guess its only sporting to offer them a peaceful surrender first." Sharpe said, bringing his viewer up to his eyes to survey the target in detail from a distance. "I suspect the Federation Council won't be very happy if we fire shells at the Presidential mansion. I'm sure the next President would like to live in it."

"If I remember my history lessons correctly, the White House was rebuilt at least once. They can do the same here." Towers said.

"Quite." Sharpe smirked. "Never the less, this is a political operation, and the Interim President would like it if we didn't blow up a 'historic residence'. So, if you'd be so kind - can you open up a channel to these rogues, so I can offer them a chance to walk out?"

"We've been trying since we began, but perhaps you have the magic touch, General." Towers grinned at the irony of that statement, and ordered a comm officer to try another channel.

"This is General Richard Sharpe, commanding the marine forces besieging your house." Sharpe said, into the comm. "By order of the Federation Council, if you surrender peacefully, and in good order - you will receive a fair and just trial."

There was silence.

"If however, you resist us, I promise you - we will get in, and we will pursue you with extreme prejudice." Sharpe said, his tone firm. "You have ten minutes." He closed the channel, then examined his wrist-watch, a classic timepiece from the twenty-first century.

"Probably the most diplomacy I've ever seen you use, General." Towers remarked.

"Just following the RoE's to the letter, Colonel." Sharpe said, looking out at the shield bubble. "Not that I care all that much, but it will look great when they make a movie of this."

Towers snorted. "Yeah, great. What grizzled, washed up actor gets to play the role of the heroic General Sharpe?"

Ten minutes passed, and no answer from inside. At the exact tick of ten minutes, Richard nodded to Towers, giving him the go-ahead to begin his operations.

"Stubborn bastards." Towers said. He looked back behind to a particular officer and gave him a nod. That nod traveled to a Captain, to a pair of Lieutenants, and down the line. Eight seconds later the ground rumbled and shook as SFMC artillery batteries opened up. Dozens of high yield projectiles, roughly equivalent to a starship torpedo, arced up and impacted the shield bubble, turning it a hazy blue as it absorbed the energy without yielding.

Towers gestured for them to continue. "Pour it on 'em." He yelled.

The artillery hammered into the shield using high yield tricobalt munitions - as specifically instructed to do so by Sharpe. Fighter-Bombers screeched overhead, and fired their micro-quantum torpedoes in a salvo spread, ahead of the heavy bombers that dropped the massive Mk XIV Tricobalt torpedoes onto the shield.

Inside the shield, the remaining security forces were getting more and more nervous as the power grid fluctuated with the intense bombardment of the shield dome. Officers nervously looked up each time something impacted on the shield, wondering which would be the killer blow.

Outside, special turrets were being brought forward. These were towed into the field by vehicles, and deployed close to the shield. These were Tetryon Beam Turrets, specifically designed to deal with shielded targets - and neutralize the shield power.

"I brought you a Thanksgiving present, Colonel." Sharpe said, pointing at the turrets being deployed.

Towers looked back. "Oh, well that just takes all the fun out of it. Ah well. Best we get it over with then." He sent a Lieutenant to deal with the crews and get them coordinated.

"Where did you get them?" Towers asked. Tetryon cannons were not standard issue for Federation units.

"I had a Ferengi friend who owes me a few favours for dealings in the past. He provided these to us for 'a modest fee'. I'm quite sure he'll fleece me for them later, but for now, we get to 'try before we buy'." Sharpe said, watching the preparations.

"I've never heard of a Ferengi allowing that. I assume you have to sign over your children if we lose any of them?" Towers asked, watching.

"No, its more a case that I saved his life from some of his creditors - and terminated their pursuit in my usual way. He feels indebted to me, but he is still a Ferengi. So its not free - but he knew my need." Sharpe said, then still not looking at Towers, he smirked. "I also promised him that he could have his pick of the 'huwmon female marines'."

Towers snorted. "So he gets to pick which one of them tears one of his ears off?" The cannons seemed ready to fire, and simply waited for the command. They would likely be able to take down the weakened shield in seconds.

"Pretty much." Sharpe replied. "But he made the deal, and he thought he got one over on me. I never said that the female would do what he wanted, just that he got to pick one." He smiled. "Give the order to fire, at your convenience, Colonel, then prepare to storm the estate."

Towers raised his hand and gestured towards the mansion. In unison, the cannons opened fire. The artillery units remained silent so that no stray shot would slip through the shield and kill half the occupants.

It did indeed take only seconds before the shield dome began to crackle, fizzle, and shrink. Activity inside suddenly got very hectic, and Towers nodded to Sharpe before moving forward with his own infantry which had been waiting the whole time. They walked slowly, and would continue to do so until they were fired on.

Sharpe followed Towers down the hill to the troops, falling into step. "You didn't think you'd get to have all the fun, did you?" Richard smirked. "I'll keep out of the way, but I want to be there when we take down Hutchins. I owe that gentleman..."

A phaser blast lanced out from an upper floor window, going overhead, but it was enough to give Towers justification to bellow for the charge. He unslung the bat'leth from his back and gestured towards the mansion.

"By the way, General, I may have had my earplugs in when ROEs were being discussed." He said, breaking into a sprint before Sharpe could respond. Near to a thousand other infantry in a ring around the estate followed Towers' lead.

Richard chuckled at the comment, and charged in after the marines. At the very least, he'd try to keep Towers from killing anyone important. The phaser fire was intense, but strangely sporadic. The defenders were scared witless of the marines, and they had their backs up against the wall.

A tank rolled through the gateway, levelling the defences there, and marines poured through the multiple breaches in the old brick walls as the tanks drove through into the sprawling gardens. The gardener of the estate would probably cry in the morning when he saw what the tracked vehicles were doing to his lawns, flower beds, shrubs and flora.

Marines stomped into the grounds, screaming at the defenders to surrender. It was a testament to the level of their training that it didn't become a wholesale slaughter.

Towers himself was a one man "I surrender" crew, as the less experienced soldiers were absolutely terrified of the Klingon weapon he held, particularly after he had been forced to kill someone with it. The sight of the blood dripping off the metal was enough to make any green soldier... greener.

Eventually, the fight which began in earnest, was over remarkably quickly. The defenders really didn't have the heart to fight, and when faced with a heavily disciplined and overwhelming force, they folded like a cheap suit. Sharpe walked over to Towers, "Colonel, assign a unit to process the prisoners. I want a platoon with me when we enter the house. Remember, we're taking prisoners alive, even if they fight back."

Towers carried out those orders, leaving Mathieson in command of the MEU while he brought Sharpe one of his more experienced platoons. Grim faced and with weapons ready, they were prepared to finish this. Towers made sure they knew what the job was before nodding to Sharpe that they were ready.

Sharpe nodded to Towers, "Shaped charge on the door, Colonel. I want to breach, not blow up the house."

Towers gave him a look of disappointment before digging into his bag. It was kind of a procedural no-no to have a Colonel in charge of an MEU carrying a sack of demolitions around, but nobody in the MEU, even the demo trained ones, had close to the experience that Towers did with explosives.

Fitting the small, blobby device to the door, Towers nodded. "Ready."

"Do it." Sharpe instructed, as they took their positions.

The bomb detonated loudly. Being a shaped charge, instead of shredding the door, it just took out what it needed to. The largely intact door had cracked into two big pieces and been blown off it's hinges.

Rifles up, the marines moved through the smoky remains of the front door. A few security personnel fired at them, but the highly trained marines snapped on the incoming fire, and returned fire, hitting their targets - sending the security people sprawling backwards.

Richard used hand signals as they proceeded down the corridor, one hand always on his rifle, the other issuing instructions for a fire-team to breach into a room as they passed it. Occasionally, they'd take fire from somewhere, but it became more and more sporadic as they took out protection details. Sharpe remained at the head of the marine assault detail, as they made their way through Sandringham House.

They moved up the stairs in tactical formation, taking out defenders. One marine fell to a well aimed shot, but the shooter got three back in his face. They proceeded up to the first floor, again breaking off into teams to search the rooms. On this level were grand bedrooms, rather than reception rooms, and the second floor would have smaller rooms still.

Sharpe had studied the floor-plans of this place, and he knew that the President's private study was on this floor, rather than the ground floor, and that statistically, it would be the best defended room in the house. It had only been a year since Sandringham had become the Presidential mansion, and they'd not completed a Presidential bunker in the basement yet - but they had made structural alterations to the house in the key rooms.

One thing they had decided not to change were the decorative doors.

The team arrived outside the room that Sharpe knew to be the study. There had been two sentries here, but two snap-shots from Towers had neutralized them in short order. They'd already arrested five people on the lower floors, but so far, Hutchins had eluded them.

Consulting his tactical tri-corder, Sharpe scanned the room. It was protected by a scattering field, and deflected scans. Given that this kind of assault was the one thing that the people who designed the security of this place had feared - it was a poor showing of their planning. Clearly they didn't anticipate marines.

Sharpe used hand signals to instruct Towers to place a shaped charge on the door to breach it, then instructed the team to provide cover.

Towers did so quickly and the explosives went off on his command, with everyone ready to breach.

The decorative oak doors, with reinforced duranium cores, blew internally as the lock was breached. Smoke and debris filled the doorway, obscuring the view for a few seconds. Hutchins was crouched behind his desk, his intimate advisors in the room as well - instructed to fall back here by their head of security.

Through the smoke, Sharpe strolled into the room, flanked by Towers. Sharpe held is rifle up on his shoulder casually, as if walking in the park. "Good Afternoon, Mister President." Sharpe smirked.

"Sharpe!" Hutchins growled.

"Mister President, by order of the Federation Council, you are under arrest for crimes against the Federation, murder, treason and being a general douche-bag." Sharpe replied, dropping the rifle so that he held it comfortably. "Please come quietly."

Hutchins let out a string of profanity at the two marines.

Sharpe looked at Towers. "I tried, you saw that."

"Yeah you gave it the ol' college try." Towers said wryly.

Richard smiled, turned his rifle to face Hutchins and fired, sending the well dressed man sprawling backwards to collapse in a heap inside the fireplace.

"That felt surprisingly good." Sharpe grinned.

"I hope that was on stun." Towers remarked.

Richard nodded. "Please, take out the trash, Colonel. President Sa'vak would like his house clean and tidy when he moves in."

"With pleasure, General." Towers grabbed Hutchins by a boot and dragged him out with all the care one would afford to a sack of manure.

The other marines detained and removed the remaining high level prisoners from the room, where they would be handed over to the civilian authorities for processing and eventual trial. They left, leaving Sharpe alone inside the Presidential study. The smoke was still lingering, as it clung to the ceiling and wafted around.

Moving over to a terminal at the Presidents desk, Sharpe activated a channel to Starfleet Command. "Sharpe to Command, Operation Castration has been completed. Hutchins is all yours."

= End Log =

General Richard Sharpe
Commander, Operation "Castration"

Colonel Adam Towers
CO, 5th MEU
Willing participant in Operation "Castration"