"Picking Up the Pieces"

[Col. C.E. Harper 0]

Acting Captain MVess JoNs waited patiently for the communications to go through, her claws drumming idly - the only outward sign of her internal agitation and worry - on the arm of the command chair. But, the process took a bit longer then usual what with both Fleet Command and Starbase One compromised by the Soltan attacks.

 

When the picture finally came into view, it was of a blank wall, and... lopsided? Yes, standard Starfleet paneling did not run at a thirty degree angle. There was a brief clatter offscreen somewhere, and then the image tipped slowly back to square. The face of Agincourt's commanding officer entered the frame. "Sorry about that," she said, taking a seat. "Anything not bolted down..."

 

A small smile split the normally dour Caitians panther-like face. "... ended up halfway across the room and in several pieces? Aye." Her expression then went a bit more serious, but not so much as to be off putting. "Acting Captain MVess JoNs, of the USS Yellowjacket. I'm pleased to make your acquantance, but...the circumstances..." the feline trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Gods, the whole universe was fragged.

 

Harper frowned briefly, then her face lit up. "You're related to my resident furry pain-in-the-rump, hmm? Glad to meet you as well. I wish we could be doing so at a cafe somewhere, but we don't have time to swap stories now. Where do we stand?"

 

Left Ear chuckled, the purring sound quite pleasant. "Don't make me laugh, it'll ruin my reputation. Aye, that would be me, and it's all relative." The feline then went into report mode, regarding Harper seriously again. "The Yellowjacket intercepted a communication from one of the joint marine/security contingents dealing with the clean-up on Earth ...to state the obvious? It is not good Colonel."

 

A nimble brown paw entered a series of commands into a data padd. "I'm sending you what we have, but basically, the ground forces are scattered and making the effort to hook up with one another and co ordinate efforts." The Caitian ships commander ignored her personal feelings as best she could and concentrated on the impromptu meeting between fellow ships commanders, but it was difficult; she wanted to ask so badly how the kitten was doing.

 

The colonel's gaze shifted to the side, watching the data stream come in on another screen. She nodded. "I see. How's the Yellowjacket?"

 

JoNs looked away from the viewer for a moment, and then the cat's gaze went back to focus on the marine commanding officer. "Bad. She was retrofitted a few years back from a forty officer capacity to a one hundred and fifteen personnel capacity... we lost ninety crewpeople, including the captain and first officer, and we're pulling help from other ships in the area." Her ears drooped with sadness. "How are you holding up? I'm sure as a ground pounder taking command of a ship, especially during a cluster frag such as this is a bit of a shot to the head?

 

A rueful look crossed Harper's face. "I've had a bit of practice, the past months. Alpha's all right, Gamma took a bit of damage. Beta's the problem -- we had to put it under tow for a bit there. But we won't be in once piece for a while, I think." She ran her hands through her hair -- she'd given up trying to keep it tied back an hour ago -- and sighed. "I'm planning to drop Beta to a skeleton crew while its stabilizers are repaired. If you need more hands, I can send you some. Otherwise they're for dirtside."

 

"I appreciate the offer, but to be quite honest, Earth planet side is where they are needed .... the digital and scanned photos in that information packet are really unsettling."

 

"Once the crew gets the Yellowjacket back up to a working capacity, being a Sabre class, chances are we will be doing supply runs or personnel transport runs. Mainly a support capacity as opposed to patrol runs and such. You need anything Colonel? Just holler, and we'll get it for you ASAP, you have my word on that."

 

"I appreciate it," she said honestly. "We pretty well depleted our torpedo supply, I can tell you. But then I doubt we're alone in that. "

 

"Oh, there is no doubt of that, not with the way this black was lit up. Sadly though, I'm starting to hear of and getting some sketchy reports regarding a few incidents of friendly fire or detonated torpedo explosions that did not go as planned ... those Soltans really caused some bloody havoc here in this solar system with taht little sneak attack of theirs. Overall though, the response fleet got in their and kicked some tail." Her own tail lashed, punctuating the statement.

 

The colonel hid a smile behind her hand. "Uhm, yes. Yes, they did." She cleared her throat slightly. "Heard anything about where the Earth cleanup is being coordinated?"

 

"Well, the sporadic communications that certain ships tuned to the correct frequency pick up basically convey that whats left of Fleet Command is mobilizing any available security or marine squads, and the planetary goverments on the local level are also enacting any reserve civilian units." The brown Cait shifted in her command chair a bit and ran a paw through her hight and tight mane. "I also keep hearing rumors that a chunk of Australia was blown away, so I can only imagine the level of devastation across the entire planet ..." It started lashing again. "... children are gone."

 

"That rumor's a bit exaggerated, fortunately," Harper replied. "But, er... Sydney's harbor is a lot... rounder, now. The city's in chaos, of course. Paris hasn't been this bad since the third world war. And I'm told the Presidio doesn't exist anymore."

 

"... Colonel, I am sorry for your loss. You have any family planetside?"

 

She shook her head. "No-- I'm from one of the colony worlds. But... I'm sure I knew plenty of people at HQ. And the Academy -- stars." She swallowed hard. "I haven't been able to bring myself to look at the personnel lists."

 

"Don't. And if you do, don't eat anything before hand or you'l just make yourself sick." JoNs jumped in at that point, allowing her own fear to get the better of her. "Colonel Harper, my cousin only managed a brief text message to my brother on the Okinawa. Is the kitten alright?"

 

"She's fine. Probably banged up and refusing to go to sickbay, if I know her, but alive and well and breaking sections of my ship." She found a smile from somwhere for the Caitian.

 

Captain JoNs nodded, and wanted to say "Thank you", but the words got stuck in her throat. The serious feline blinked rather rapidly, and her jaw worked. She let loose with a low growl, looked away again, and put a wide paw up in range of the viewer. The gesture was equal parts "wait a moment" and an apology to Harper for momentarily losing it at the happy news.

 

Pretending not to notice, Harper busied herself with a few padds, signing off on the various repair estimates and reports slowly trickling in from all over the ship -- or was that ships?

 

Left Ear finally shook it off. When her gaze swung back to the visual feed linking the two commanders, her eyes were bright and clear. 'Thank you Colonel. And what of your ship sections? will you be remaining here at Earth or moving further out in system? With Command compromised as it is, it would seem we are all on our own with regard to orders and the interpretation of any orders that happen to come over the comms."

 

"With Beta damaged, we can't link back up, so I think we're better off staying in-system for the time being. We can go where we're needed." She pushed the stack of padds aside. "Once we get back in one piece I'm sure we'll wind up doing escort duty."

 

"With your permission? I'll contact your respective commanders of the other Agincourt sections as well, let them though the Yellowjacket can stand by as a supply runner for anything they would need, as well as putting them in touch with the other response ships who will be ferrying supplies or replacement personnel. Those of us with the smaller ships will probably be functioning in this capacity."

 

She nodded briskly, and was quite proud of the fact that her lips didn't so much as twitch. "That sounds like an excellent idea, Commander. Thank you."

 

The brown furred Cait waved a paw. "Not a problem. And please call me Left Ear. We both work for a living."

 

Harper chuckled. "All right, Left Ear. I'll let you get back to that work."

 

"Good luck Colonel." JoNs gave a nod and made a gesture to someone off screen, and the visual link up on her end winked out of existence.