Office of the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer
January 2, 2385 1135 hours
Adrian had moved out of the office, but that was the furthest thing from Lieutenant General Jordyn Mormar’s mind.
Right now, his mind was focused on the three ships confirmed to be approaching Gateway. Ever since their first encounter with the Divine Alliance, where they had unilaterally declared war on the Sizemore without so much as a friendly greeting, they had been the enigma. Why their ships couldn’t travel beyond this natural border in space in between the five sectors and the rest of the galaxy, their seemingly endless numbers of ships, even their biology was a mystery. The only things that were known were that they wanted the Federation to join their religion… or suffer the consequences.
And for people like Jordyn, this was unacceptable.
“Are your ships making for the Gateway?” Jordyn was asking.
“Yes, sir,” Colonel Rae Ann Worth, commanding Caesius Marine Base proper, responded from the split-screen conference. “The Bellona, Lexington and Salvation are all crewing up as we speak, ETA to the gate less than an hour. The Revelations and Exploration are out on patrol and are at least sixteen hours away at maximum warp.”
Jordyn nodded. “You seem to carry the maximum amount of firepower at your station at all times. I like that.”
Rae Ann shrugged. “It’s what we do, sir.”
Jordyn smirked slightly at that, then addressed the other commanding officers. “The rest of you, I know your ships are a ways out and cannot support us in time. It is my hope that you will be able to turn around and help with defense as soon as possible; all ships within M90 have been alerted to the presence of Divine ships within our area of operations. If they do cross the gateway… then God help us all. Every ship currently on exploration and science missions is hereby suspended from said mission and is reassigned to get their asses back here on the double. Break warp speed records, I don’t care, this is vital defense of the entire Milky Way Galaxy; if the Divine Alliance get through the gate… there’s no telling what kind of havoc they will wreak upon the Federation.
“We will update you with information as we get it. Task Force 17 Command Out.”
The screens all went black, revealing the Federation logo, and Jordyn hit his call button. “Crewman Princeton, in my office, please.” A moment later, the crewman was bounding into the room. Youthful exuberance, he thought to himself. Wait until you’re older kid, you won’t do that anymore. “Crewman, I need a list of all personnel in this office, and I need their personal phaser tactical rating by 1300 hours. Put the office on Yellow Alert; I was phasers on everybody’s belts, defensive perimeters set up, and the Office Emergency Defense Plans on my desk within the hour.”
“Yes, sir,” Keri responded, turning around and heading to the turbolift again.
And now for the hardest part… the old warrior thought to himself. The waiting.
