FROM: Captain O’Conner, Frank - 7th Fleet Expeditionary Force
TO: Starfleet Command, Admiral Anderson, James
Subject: Altarian Siege of Drakis IV
Admiral. As always it’s a pleasure to send anything your way. It’s Frank- Yada yada- OH Funny thing. So about twelve hours ago a large fleet of supposedly derelict rust buckets made a B-line to Drakis IV- you know… That Orion Slaver planet out in the middle of no where? Get this, gets better. That 11th Fleet AWOL crew that took the AIS Gathering Storm from Megellen to Dromund System in KDF territory was captured by the slavers. The Storm wasn’t even armed- per Omega Protocol. Apparently the damn thing was powered by it. Some Iconian warp core… thing. Gwen has more on that if you like the science word vomit. (I keep not paying attention to her and just stare at her eyes.) I’m getting off topic aren’t I? Anyway. The Orions had been torturing the crew of the Storm, Commanded by Commander Nocte Sarris. They killed those weaker psionic bugs as a show of force. According to your son, Bill is doing fine by the way. 287 days without a workplace accident occurring, it sent a psionc tear through their hivemind link. This inadvertly cause their Princess on Dromund to slip into a coma. Short and sweet summary? The Orions kicked a literal hornet’s nest and the Hornets were none too happy about it, let me tell ya: Three Carriers, one with no life support. Five Cruisers, actually using their Omega warp cores too- I was locked out for a moment, damned protocols… About ten frigates and a myriad of small craft. Even if they were decaying those ships tore right through the Drakis orbital defenses, fleet, and right into the Pirate strongholds. I couldn’t even do a damn thing too! The Cheyenne is a tough girl. Honest. But I’m not dancing with all that fire power they brought to bear. At least they answered my hails.
The invasion force was lead by a ‘Praetorian Petra’, Protector of the Princess apparently. She explained the situation. It wasn’t that she lead them too, just… directed them. The bugs were ina frenzy and didn’t take to commands well unless it involved their crusade: Kill whatever harms their queen bee. With prejudice too. Petra said that until they pacified the world there was no stopping this invasion. Thankfully we have a bug on our ship who helped out, Lieutenant Ghramis. Apparently, the only person the bugs invading listened to was none other than Nocte. I put together an away team, several MACOS, and I went down there to try and find Nocte. We found her in a prison with the other survivors of the Storm, missing her right arm. Admiral. It was bad down there. I half considered letting the bugs do their thing. Starving men, women. They weren’t feeding them, they weren’t even medically tending to them. Those that could fight would be thrown into an arena. Those that couldn’t needed a use: Sold into slavery, used as indentured servants- You know how Orion Slavers are. We were able to beam back and get the Storm’s crew care but Nocte didn’t allow us to transport her. I know her from when she was a Vice Admiral within the 7th Fleet. She got demoted at the Solonae Sphere for breaking Rear Admiral Whitcomb’s back for damning half the fleed to that Fortress. She stole a phaser pistol and literally limped out into the chaos of the invasion. It only took moments for her own people to find her before we could. They used her as a moral boost and she pushed them.
Suffice to say, technology and training-wise. Altarians are on point. There were no survivors and little to no casualties on prisoners or slaves. Or even on their part. Since these were Imperial Altarians, aligned with the Klingon Empire, I had no jurisdiction over them. Drakis is also in KDF space. The bugs did let us take the slaves and prisoners kept by the Orions.
Listen, James. I’ve fought through everything to this point. The Dominion resurgence, the Voth, the Vaadwaur. Iconians. Hell even the Tzenkethi and those… nasty bugs. I turned the other way when the Altarians started executing the Orions that surrendered. I’m not even ashamed. Thankfully the Starfleet Altarians, as well as Nocte herself, chose to not take part in that. They came home with us. From the reports the slaves gave us… it was even worse than we thought it was initially.
Summary: Drakis IV is now under the control of House Graw of the Klingon Empire through the extension of their vassal species, the Altarian. It’s fate beyond that is unclear. Federation survivors are receiving care and aid appropriate to their wounds. Former Orion slaves are being transported to DS9 to be under the care and supervision of Captain Kurland and the Bajorans. Cardassian elements are taking advantage of the drop on piracy from the Orion Slavers along with the Ferengi and other commercial vessels. Moral of the story? Don’t step on bugs. The KDF have also seized the Altarian vessels and are safely decommissioning them in accordance of the Omega Protocol. That’s the last time they’ll pull that stunt.
Frank out.