Choices

As Fleet Captain Samji stood and considered all the different points of view, and hearing the various officers offering up their service and their lives to save this one man, his pride in this Fleet and what they could accomplish returned as a great counterpoint to his disappointment of their earlier reaction.

He remained silent, but was deep in thought, considering all the options. His strategic mind was on overdrive, considering all the angles. He now knew that whatever choice he made, they would support, but if he was wrong, the entire Galaxy hung in the balance. It was too much pressure for a newly minted Fleet Captain, and so after offering up all their opinions, the officers, seeing how he struggled, had to sit in silence for what seemed like hours... each silently hoping that their suggestion would be the one to be taken. Then the voice of Mister Lire broke his concentration. Samji held out a hand to silence him and anyone else that would speak. The officer's valid suggestion that many in the room were acting too much with their emotions was drowned out by his clear frustration and petulance at the importance of this meeting. Samji was concerned that he either hadn't given his subordinates clear instructions to carry out in the two hours he was away or that he felt that they were incapable of doing their job. Without clear planning, the mission they all faced would be chaos... despite the best efforts of the Engineer to repair and improve the Alsea... and chaos was just what all their enemies were hoping for.

First, he considered the Lotus, the first ship to be offered up to the cause. Not for a strike team, but for diplomacy. Captain Gould's record was clear, but Samji agreed with Kheren. Out of any of the three factions threatening them, the Horizon's Children were the least likely to respond to diplomacy. They had already seen plenty of evidence of how their religious devotion and fanaticism would blind them to any attempt at diplomacy. They did not want to make a deal. They were in it for one thing, and one thing only: to allow the Horizon to "remake" the Universe into what they believed was the Preservers' new gift to the faithful.

Captain Gould's diplomacy skills would need to be used to bring one of the other factions to their side... but who? Based on his lineage and history the obvious choice would be the Romulans. But he considered the benefit in his approaching the Klingons. Would it not show a very clear sign to the Klingons that they were serious about peace to have not only the Flagship Captain of Lotus Fleet, but a Vulcan and Romulan hybrid present their case? Besides, the Alsea was the only clear choice to deal with a Romulan Scimitar and he had his doubts that not even Gould could fully convince Admiral Tomalak of the error of his ways, especially if Sela was with him on board.

But what about Rivers' offer of the Alsea to deliver the strike team to the Horizon's Children? Certainly the full force of that single ship would be enough to overpower anything the Children had obtained. Their most powerful ship being a Cardassian Galor or similar with support from old Mirandas, Defiants, and even smaller fighters, so the Alsea was way too powerful to waste there. After all, the Childrens' tactic was to strike from within, so sending the Alsea to their base of operations with a potential sleeper agent ready to hand her over to the enemy was a definite wrong move. It was also clear that Rivers was acting somewhat out of emotion. It struck him for a moment that this could potentially sound like pre-twenty-first-century sexism, but he pushed the thought aside. A man could and would just as easily act out of emotion too, but in this case it just so happened to be a woman. However, he realized then that if it were logical to send the Alsea, he would... and so the matter of her intent was moot.

The remaining ships were easy. The Artemis was obviously not even a choice to begin with. The Spectre could act as a cruiser and, with its DYCEP, a tactical assault vessel against the most powerful of their enemies. That left the McKenzie... and Mister Sorripto. Just like Rachele Rivers, he was acting on his emotions, and wasn't fit for the job... not to mention he wasn't a Security Officer, despite his Cardassian abilities. Samji, however, had no doubt that both of them would be critical for trying to turn the wayward officer once he was safely back in Starfleet's hands, and he wanted at least one of them there. Samji would send the McKenzie and Sorripto would be there for Sisko if and when they extracted him. But, hoping the officer's professionalism would win out over his wrath, Samji would send someone else in instead.

"First of all, Mister Lire's question was somewhat stepped on, so I will address that first. I am sorry Commander, but I am not an Engineer, so I don't know the specifics. All I know is that the ship has the ability to somehow safely navigate one of the Azimuth Horizon's tendrils and arrive intact on the other side. What I do know is that it is a bit more graceful than the brute force method using metaphasic shielding that is our current best option."

"I can help with that, Sir," came a gruff voice from an area near to where many of the Starbase personnel were seated. Many turned to look for the owner of the voice, only to see a level, gradually sloping plane of heads. A few officers around the voice slouched down in their seats and pulled their head down between their shoulders so that the speaker could be finally be seen to be standing in front of his. "Our engineers have been furiously studying the vessel since it arrived," said Lieutenant Commander Marksus Sangliar. "Meet me after this briefing, Sir," he added, in deference to Mister Lire's age and experience despite their being of equal rank, "and I will explain in more detail."

"Good. Thank you Mister Sangliar," Samji said, seeing the Engineer shrug and take his seat again and disappearing among the mass of heads of taller beings around him.

"About this discussion on who should rescue Mister Sisko. The bottom line is that unless anyone else has a better suggestion, all our ships will need to keep moving to contain this Anomaly. I will go over our preliminary plan soon, but please just keep that fact in mind as we discuss strategy," Samji asked of his officers... trying to adjust their thinking toward more of a dynamic, 'us versus them' strategy instead of a static, 'me versus you' one. "It is possible that we will contain the Anomaly and never get the chance to rescue him. Unfortunately for him and some of you here, that will have to be a valid option to take into account."

"You will each be assigned to a faction, but this is just a preliminary attempt to balance our forces. There may come a time where the Captains will have to decide what's best: diplomacy, fight, or lead."

He explained each of these three tactics further. "Diplomacy; should always be the first thing we try. Failing that, you may need to fight. If it is your assigned faction, you will be expected to fight if you think that the battle can be won. If it can't be won without support, or if it is not your faction, and you are engaged in other responsibilities, your best response will be to lead. Lead the enemy to one of our ships assigned to them. This will be our base tactic, but I expect all tacticians between ships to discuss strategies above and beyond, after this briefing."

"The McKenzie will be assigned to the Horizon's Children. The McKenzie is a first strike ship and it will not survive an all-out assault. Therefore, we need all the other ships taking on the big guys: the Romulans and the Klingons. Once the lead ship is identified, and we can confirm it is holding Mister Sisko, and the opportunity presents itself, the McKenzie will go in with a Marine strike team."

"Lieutenant Commander Sorripto, the McKenzie will need you at your post", he said apologetically, "or she may fail. If she fails, the rescue is meaningless."

Samji further explained to the confused looks in the crowd at the mention of Earth Marines... something that hadn't existed for over two centuries. "Some of you may know that since the Borg War, Earth has been concerned with its own security. The Vulcans, Andorians, and many others have always had their own defense force protecting each planet separate from Starfleet, and Earth has decided it was time to take some of the burden of protecting the planet off of Starfleet's shoulders by doing the same. With the recent events, they have assigned a detachment to Starbase 10 to upgrade its security with an option to use them on specialized search and rescue missions. The Wisconsin and the Republic will also be assigned to the Horizon's Children and will wait in the shadows until it is time to cover the McKenzie's escape."

"The Lotus and Spectre will be assigned to the Klingons," Samji continued, and nodding to Captain Gould and addressing his inevitable argument, he explained, "If you feel you could be up to the task, Captain, I want your diplomatic efforts focused on the opportunity of turning the biggest military force of the three to our side. If you can get past Ja'rod's anger, I believe you might be able to convince him of the logic of working together to contain the Anomaly for good, for the benefit of both sides."

"Finally, the Alsea and the Artemis will be assigned to the Romulans." He explained his reasoning there simply. "The Alsea has the most firepower and the Artemis will stand up to the biggest beating. If they bring in a Scimitar, both ships will be needed to take it down."

Predicting several backlashes, Samji said, "This is my decision and my orders." He relied on their professionalism as Starfleet Officers and the chain of command to then get them smoothly to the explanation of the Azimuth Horizon and the preliminary plan he spoke of.