Striding through the corridors, Captain Nitus made her way to the astrometrics lab, where members of her senior staff had gathered to formulate a plan on how they would liberate the system. As she approached the lab, the doors opened with a sharp hiss, letting the discussion inside flow out. No one batted an eye in her direction as she moved to the periphery of the room. In the center were the assembled members of the staff, who were engaged in a heated discussion around a holo projection of the D’Deridex system. The imposing presence of Commander K’Tal and the measured appearance of Commander T’Soni opposite the petite stature of Lieutenant Commander Alessa Reno and the gathered expression of Lieutenant Commander Mason Hill.

“Commander, I must agree with the counselor,” the chief operations officer said as he folded his arms around himself. “If we attack the dilithium mining facilities, we cut off what is fueling their occupation, opening them up to an attack on D’Deridex V.”

K’Tal sighed. Despite the vast knowledge the cybernetically augmented Human had. He still had much to learn about fighting a war. “Listen,” he exhaled sharply. “You both weren’t in Starfleet during the Dominion War, but we were. You don’t know how to fight against an unrelenting force that wants to rule us all. Taking out the Vaadwaur’s mining facilities will only cause the forces defending them to move to the other planets, such as D’Deridex V. This will decrease our likelihood of success and increase the numbers of the opposition. We must ensure they are considered in our planning.”

Reno shook her head. The commander made a skillful argument, but he was too focused on seeing this as an all-out war. She had spent every second since they arrived in the system compiling a psychological analysis of the enemy. Going as far as to know the names of every ship commander. But even with all that knowledge, they were still only one ship with three phaser arrays, two forward torpedo launchers, and forty torpedoes at the ready, against an enemy that had a thousand times that and more.

“Commander, that’s my point,” she said coolly. K’Tal raised an eyebrow at her as she pressed on. “We aren’t fighting an all-out war where we can easily coordinate with the rest of the fleet. Where can we reach out to neighboring powers for help. We are on our own; all we can do is our best. We should send all available small craft to deal with the force at six, seven, and eight. And another thing, Commander, I was alive when the Dominion attacked my home. I’ve known the casualties of war since I was five years old.”

“Is that so?”

Everyone turned sharply towards the far corner where the voice came from.

“Who goes there?” questioned the menacing Klingon, switching from strategist to security officer in the blink of an eye. “This is a private meeting.”

As his eye focused on the direction the sound came from, something caught his eye. Looking at it, he saw four pips glistening in the light as the figure approached them. Stepping into the full light, Captain Nitus revealed herself to her senior staff. She looked around at the assembled tactical, operations, and science officers.

“Captain,” called out the Vulcan first officer. “I was not aware you would be joining us.”

“I know. I just wanted to check on my team’s progress,” she said smoothly as a smirk played at her lips. “It would seem you all are still struggling on where even to begin.” It would seem you all are still struggling with where to begin.”

“My apolo…” T’Soni said her tone a soft but still somehow monotonous.

Nitus raised her hand, cutting the Vulcan off. “It’s alright, Commander. I’ve come up with my own.” She said as she approached the projection pillar and placed a chip into one of the slots.

“Ma’am?” questioned the Klingon chief tactical and security officer.

“To be honest, I used this as a means to have you all work together,” she said, looking at the department heads before shifting focus to the various deputies and other key planning members. “To see how well or how badly you would collaborate and compromise. It would seem after this liberation, we need to have more staff activities.” She looked to T’Soni as she finished speaking, sharing a silent conversation with their eyes.

“Agreed, Captain,” she stated as she moved to stand beside the Romulan, her hands clasped behind her back.

“You were in on this,” asked Lieutenant J.G. Enzo D’Antonio. The chief flight control officer wasn’t surprised, as the captain and the commander had done something similar to this before, but not while they were in the middle of a life-or-death situation. Where the lives of the entire ship were at stake.

“It depends on what you’re asking, Lieutenant,” started T’Soni as she watched the young officer’s facial expressions shift. Although she did not express emotion after growing up surrounded by different races, she learned how to tell when they were expressing which emotion. “The Captain approached me with a larger idea of having the entire senior staff work together to come up with a plan, but I thought it too cumbersome to do so.”

“How’d they do?” asked Nitus, as he waited for T’Soni to finish talking.

“It needs… how many activities did you have planned?” she asked

Nitus looked at her, confused at first. They had already discussed how many exercises they would do. Then a realization hit. “If I didn’t know any better. I would think you just made a joke, Number One.”

“You said you have a plan,” interrupted K’Tal. “We still have a system to liberate.”

“Yes,” Nitus said as she pressed a button on the pillar, changing it to show three boxes with the words one, two, and three. “The liberation will be split into three phases. Phase one is prep, phase two is execution, and phase three is clean up.”

“What’s pha…”

“I’m getting there Commander be patient,” uttered Nitus before the Klingon could even get another word out. “Within phase one we will try to locate any Republic Navy survivors and bring them into the fold, set mines across the asteroid belt with a concentration near the Underspace aperture and the primary lanes of travel between the fifth and sixth planet that I have identified. Then finally we will prepare for phase two. In phase two we’ll be sending just the runabouts to planets six, seven, and eight; Commander K’Tal as a part of preparations in phase one. I need you to create two hazard teams.”

The Klingon raised his hand as he spoke, “I have two questions.”

“Go ahead.”

“What’s their mission and can I lead one?”

“I’m getting there and no,” she said matter of factly as she turned her attention back to the others. “Anyways, phase two will commence with the seizing of a small freighter as well as its Mansa-class escort. I have verified that they pass through the asteroid belt every two days. The next pass is in ten hours. Using the freighter, hazard team alpha will board the orbital station above D’Deridex V and take out the orbital defenses. Once alpha has made it on board, bravo will use the Mansa to make landfall on the planet and make their way to the garrison on the ground just outside of the capital city. After alpha has set charges and bravo is ready for assault, the Paramount will arrive and land an away team led by myself to cap…”

The youngest of the gathered officers looked over at her with surprise. “The away team will be led by whom?” he questioned her. This was a surprise to him given Starfleet’s strict rules on captains joining away teams.

“Captain with all due respect,” K’Tal said calmly as he moved to stand beside the young lieutenant. “You’re not going planetside during an engagement. Your place is on the bridge overlooking the entire operation.”

Nitus looked around the room at the officers gathered and they all showed the same expression. One of support for what the Klingon just said and if the Captain was being honest with herself she knew this was a long shot. Since the turn of the 24th century Starfleet has been clear on Captain’s joining away teams. But this wasn’t the 2300s this was 2402 and those were two entirely different worlds. But also she had an Ace hip her slave. “I’m not going down the by myself. Commander K’Tal will accompany. Number One I trust you will be able to handle the space battle?”

“Of course, Captain,” she said monotonously.

“The away team has two objectives; the top priority is to capture the leader of the occupation, Admiral Toros while a secondary objective is to free any captured civilians.”

Stepping forward, Lieutenant Commander Reno held a PADD in hand. She had been her since the start of planning working or arguing with K’Tal on what their first move should be but that’s not the only work she was tasked with completing. “Captain, if I may?”

Nitus looked over nodding as she stepped away from the center. “By all means Commander.”

Stepping into the center of the room, she inserted something into the projection stack. “At the captain’s request, I have completed a full psychological analysis of Toros and his top lieutenants.” The chart displaying the phases changed to show a photo of Toros and six other photos all of them blurry.

“To make a long story short, whatever you think of the Dominion, he is worse,” she started as she looked at K’Tal then everyone else. “Toros is disciplined and almost scholarly in the way he conducts himself and his officers. Order and control are his striving principles. His approach has had mixed support amongst his subordinates with the younger ones seeming to support his approach while older ones think he is too koch on a scholar.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked the Klingon strategist.

“As far as I can tell he has been researching Romulan society and cultural norms.”

“I’m just glad to know it’s not just be the Commander interrupts,” Nitus said smirking. The other chuckled at her remark. “Proceed counselor.”

“Toros is dispassionate and believes in obeying protocol no matter what. But that all pales in comparison to his use of… psychological warfare,” she said sheepishly. The once humorous quickly turned mournful at the sound of those two words.

“Are you certain, Alessa?” Nitus said her face was no longer humorous as it once was, now overshadowed with sadness.

The Betazoid remained silent as she pressed a button on the PADD she had been holding. A video started on the projector showing two guards and a civilian on the stairs in front of the administrative building in the capital city. The guards were covered head to toe in the usual brown colors of Vaadawuar soldiers. The civilian was a child not over the age of sixteen. From the right side of the projection, Toros walks into frame.

“Citizens of D’Deridex, I am Admiral Toros, the governor of this system under the forgiving rule of the Supremacy. It saddens me that I must do this, but if I don’t, how will you learn? Due to the continued resistance across this planet, I feel it is necessary to make an example,” he said, his voice slow and measured. He nodded to the soldiers behind as he moved out of frame. There were now four guards on the stage, and at first glance, it is seen as a little excessive for just one person, but when they raised their weapons, they didn’t point them at the child; instead, they aimed at the crowd and opened fire.

Toros raised his hand as he stepped back into the frame, signaling for them the stop. “This is the price for resistance. Continued action against my forces will increase the punishment. Good morrow, citizens.”

The video ended.

“Public executions, environmental devastation, starvation sieges if it’s meant to destroy hearts and minds he has and will do it,” Alessa said, her voice breaking mid sentence. As a Betazoid she could feel the emotions of everyone in the room. The overwhelming feeling nearly brought her to tears.

“What… what about his subordinates?” asked K’Tal. The Klingon officer knew how to fight war and this wasn’t it. He had seen psychological warfare be conducted by the Dominion and even the Cardassians to an effect but this was like nothing he had ever seen.

“As I stated before,” Reno responded as she wiped her nose. “Some of the older ones find him to be too much of a scholar while the younger ones think he is a Napoleon. But make no mistake his inner circle are ruthless. All of them are hand-picked and have a strong sense of loyalty. They are rarely seen but when they are a force to be reckoned with.”

“Any names we should watch out for?” Nitus asked, her expression was hard, but the counselor could see under that. On the outside, she displayed leadership and determination, but on the inside, she was broken.

“Torid, Gavrek, Torek, Sireva, Maltras and Drava; those are his top lieutenants. Torid and Drava are overseeing the operations of the Dilithium mining. Gavrek oversees planetary operations from D’Deridex IV while Maltras oversees fleet positioning.

“You said five names, what about the third and fourth ones?” asked Lieutenant D’Antonio.

“Torek and Sireva,” she responded as a clearer image of the two displayed. “They are twins and rightfully so. Every bit of psyop conducted by Toros comes from their troubled minds. They also happen to act as Toros’ unofficial bodyguards.”

“Is that all, counselor?” Nitus asked her. Reno nodded in return. “Okay, then everyone I know this mission is daunting, but once the Vancouver arrives we won’t be alone. We…” she started as the intercom crackled to life, interrupting her.

“Senior staff to the bridge,” the watch officer said, her voice steady.

Nitus tapped her combadge as she turned towards the door. “Report,” she stated.

“Detecting four ships on approach,” they reported.

“Copy on our way,” she said in response as she headed to the nearest turbolift to the bridge. Once there they exited and moved towards their respective stations. “How far are they,” Nitus said as she moved to the command center.

“About 53 km away,” Lieutenant JG D’Antonio said as he took a seat at his station relieving the officer who was there.

“Ms Lovar, hail them,” she said calmly.

“Can’t get a signal,” the El-Aurian responded with irritation evident in her voice. “There’s too much interference.”

“Time?” she questioned turning to the science station.

“Seven minutes till sensor range,” Lieutenant Jackson stated.

“Mr. D’Antonio moves us behind a rock but with scanning abilities,” she stated, issuing her orders. “I don’t want to start a fight we can’t win or potentially attack any of the remaining Republic forces.”

“Aye, ma’am,” she said smoothly. “Moving aft and starboard to the nearest low density asteroid.” The ship’s maneuvering thrusters roared to life as they pushed the ship into position. Just before they koat visual T’Soni spotted a green hulls on approach.

“Commander is…” started T’Soni.

“Ms Lovar, hail them,” Nitus said, interrupting her.

“Aye…,” she started pausing before she continued “They’re already hailing us. The squadron’s leader is on the line.”

Nitus looked at T’Soni and they only shared a silent conversation. They are both hesitant to take the call but they know in the upcoming battle they will need all the help they can get. “Put them through,” she said firmly. The screen flickered and the stock expression of Admiral Teldon filled the screen. Nitus face fell as she realized it was her half sibling who was the squadron commander.

As he eyed Nitus a smirk created on his face. “Hello sister.”