Chapter Four - The Briefing

Chapter Four -

Captain Angelica Ryder approached the head of the long briefing room table and gestured to the display behind her. She tapped a few controls on her remote and a 3D image of their ship appeared behind her.

"Crew of the USS Seraph, I want to thank all of you for coming to this briefing. I know some of you are temporary and some of you will be staying with us for as long as Starfleet deems fit to keep you under my command." she said with a broad smile "Now, for starters, I may be your Captain, but I am also an officer just like you. I've been on front lines, behind the scenes and undercover. So don't think all I've done is sit behind a desk or stand behind the lines." she cleared her throat "I know I overheard a few of you questioning my capability as a CO. Probably because I am Admiral Nicholas Ryder's daughter. Maybe because of my relative young age. Or maybe because you simply don't trust any Captain you've never worked with. All those are fine opinions. You're right, I did get my command partially because of who my father was. But I also earned all four of these pips on my own and my record will speak for itself." she looked at her crew "I also know that many of you may deserve more pips and titles than you have. Which is why after this mission, depending on how you all handle yourselves, I may recommend promotions. I may even approve transfers, why? Because I know how it is to be stuck somewhere and you can't go because your CO won't let you go." she cleared her throat "Anyway... I just wanted to clear those things up first." she picked up her padd and displayed the mission briefing on the panel behind her. "Alright, moving right along... this is our mission. We are to retrieve an Ambassador who was captured by a group of Cardassian hold outs, who call themselves... the RAGE. And it has an even sillier acroymn... Commander, what was it again?"

Commander Whitman chuckled, "Rebellion Against Gathered Enemies." he shook his head "I wonder how many meetings it took for them to come up with that one?"

"Right, so... these hold outs, they are still a very dangerous and real threat. So far they have kidnapped ambassadors and various other officials. Bombed settlements, raided supply depots, stolen starships and have tried to keep the war going." Angel said as she pointed to a map of their targets. "Now they've been centered mainly around this area, SO it shouldn't be hard to find where they are keeping our ambassador. We just need to get within range of his bio signature to lock on and then send our extraction team to get him out." she displayed images of the leaders of RAGE "But these men are all very dangerous. They were well decorated soldiers and commanders in the Cardassian Union during the first Cardassian War and during the Dominion War. Gul Dukat himself decorated them at least once or twice."

She turned to her XO, "Commander Whitman, do you want to detail your plan?" Angel smiled, "I read your suggestions, I was very impressed."

"Thank you ma'am... Captain." Marcus nodded his head, giving her a slight smile and turning to face the crew. "Once we find our target, we'll be sending two teams in. One to do the actual extraction and one to keep the fighters at bay. Keep in mind, intel is reporting that there are close to five or six thousand soldiers and militants who are heavily armed on their central base alone. With another few thousand between their Galor class ships, stolen by the way. And they have a number of Hadeki class and Jem'Hadar Bug ships. So, if they engage us, we'll have a nasty fight on our hands." Whitman changed the display to show a few possible scenarios. "We've been given orders not to engage unless we have to. So, my plan was that at first sign of their ships, we drop a shuttle near their sun, out of sensor range and then leave the area. Our teams will be down there on their own, but we only need to stall for time until the Ambassador Garak can secure us the ships we need. RAGE is a Cardassian jurisdiction, not Federation. Once we have our man, we need to go."

"But sir, isn't that area near the Federation controlled part of Cardassian space?" Val inquired

"Its close, but it is within the Cardassian's area, so we have to respect their wishes. They feel bad enough about the hold outs, and having them taken down by Starfleet would demoralize their already shaky populace and military. They need a victory." Angel replied and tapped the table with her fingernail. "But this ship will defend herself, if they attack us, we attack in kind."

"Are there any other questions?" Whitman asked the crew

"Yeah, when do we leave?" Commander Bruce said with a smile "The Seraph is ready to roll on your orders."

"As soon as we're all aboard." Ryder said with a smile "Alright people, your orders will be sent to your padds and I want to say, thank you in advance for all your hard work. Let's get out there!"

Meanwhile - RAGE Central HQ

"Starfleet is sending a ship." Legate Dakar said with a sneer as he looked at his own intel reports.

"Then we will deal with them. Our spies within the Federation told us that our kidnapping their Ambassador would elicit this response. We destroy them and then we blame the provisional government. The Federation will become hostile and then, we'll pick up the scraps and rule Cardassian. Executing all Federation and Klingon and Romulans within our borders. And soon... we will take back all that was ours. Just as our great former leader Gul Dukat had dreamt." the Cardassian removed his cloak to reveal his battered, scarred military uniform and a belt with a number of Starfleet, Klingon, Romulan, Bajoran and even Cardassian badges that he had acquired "I will have more badges for my collection. When the ship they sent arrives, lock onto it, and watch them. I want their logs. Once we know what they know, we will use it in our fight. Then... destroy them, but bring me their command crew."

"As you wish, Gul Morvar. Soon the Federation will fear our RAGE!"

End Chapter Four