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Chapter Three

"What is this all about?" General Gathan demanded as he stormed into the office of council member Sark. "I am a busy man, Sark."

The council member just smiled: "Please have a seat, Gathan."

The general didn't move.

Sark sighed: "You remember the terrorist bombings that have happened in the past few weeks?"

"Of course I do." Gathan said impatiently.

"Well...It turns out that the terrorist group responsible for these attacks was actually a new faction bent on conquering the Empire." Sark said.

"I see," Gathan was getting more interested. "And?"

"And they've assembled an armada...a rather big armada of warships."

"How big is that?" Gathan asked.

"The power of that armada is comparable to the Defense Force's own fleet."

"What?!" Gathan jumped. "That's impossible!"

"Believe it," Sark said. "And they're on route for us..."

"Us?"

"Qo'Nos..." Sark said. "They're headed for Qo'Nos."

Gathan nodded slowly: "I'll assemble the fleet then..."

"I'm not sure what good it will do..." Sark said. "But do it anyhow..."

Gathan nodded and left the office.

* * *

"Doctor Tarses!" Patrickson had a mixed look of surprise and relief on his face. "What's been happening?"

"The River of Blood, sir." Tarses said. "I suppose you've heard of the armada."

"Indeed," The Rear-Admiral said. "It seems that they are much more powerful than we previously imagined."

"Yeah, and that's an understatement..." Tarses sighed. "We couldn't contact you because the Klingons captured the Card...Half of the crew was kept aboard the ship and the other half is still being detained aboard the flagship of the River of Blood's armada. We managed to take back control of the ship and we're now staying near Klingon starbase fifteen."

"I've heard that the Klingon Defense force is bringing all its ships together." Patrickson said. "They are heading towards the River of Blood's armada...The two fleets should collide a few light-years away from Qo'Nos in two hours and a half...We have until then to stop the River of Blood..."

"Why don't we simply let the two fleets 'collide'?" Tarses asked. "Doesn't the Klingon Defense force have enough strength to beat the River of Blood?"

"That's the thing..." Patrickson sighed. "We're not sure...The two fleets have relatively equal strength...We cannot be sure if the Defense Force will prevail..."

"Great..." Tarses frowned deeply. "So what do we do?"

Patrickson rubbed his eyes, a sign of fatigue. After a few seconds he spoke up again: "Since the Federation cannot intervene, we need to send our operatives in."

"Us." Tarses said.

"Yes..." Patrickson nodded. "You are going to have to stop the River of Blood from attaining their goal."

"And how are we going to do that?" Tarses asked skeptically.

Patrickson smiled: "Do not doubt your capabilities, doctor...You are the most trained agents of Starfleet Intelligence; there is no doubt in my mind that you have a chance of succeeding."

"Thank you for your confidence," Tarses said. "Now, what's your plan?"

"Infiltration..." Patrickson said. "I believe it's the only option with an acceptable chance of success. The most trained operatives that were in the group that you saved from the Card will be joined by a group of specially trained infiltration marines. They are on route to your position aboard three stealth shuttles they should be there in about a quarter of an hour. The leader of the marines will supply you with all the technical information you will need."

"I see,"

"Good luck, doctor." Patrickson gave an encouraging smile. "The fate of all of us will soon be on your shoulders."

"Thank you, sir..." Tarses said.

And the admiral blinked off the screen...

* * *

Approximately fifteen minutes later, as Patrickson had said, the three stealth shuttles decloaked alongside the USS-Card. The leader of the elite infiltration marines sent by Starfleet Intelligence beamed over to the Card to speak with Tarses.

The tall, dark-haired man with small eyes stepped onto the bridge where Tarses greeted him. He was wearing a standard black Starfleet marine uniform and

"I'm doctor Simon Tarses," They shook hands. "I'm the last senior member on board."

"Commander Andrew Logan," The man presented himself. "Commanding officer of Starfleet Intelligence infiltration team Alpha, nice to meet you, doctor. Have you chosen your five best operatives to join my team?"

"Yes," Tarses nodded. "I'll be coming along with four of the best tacticians on board."

"Agreed," Logan nodded. "Our primary target will be the flagship of the River of Blood's fleet: the Okarax. The three stealth shuttles will drop us off on board the ship but, unfortunately, they will not be able to stay near the fleet without being detected, they're going to have to move out of transporter range so as not to be found."

"I see," Tarses said. "And how will we do it so that we don't get detected by the Klingon internal sensors?"

"We will inject ourselves with a scrambling substance that Starfleet Intelligence technological research came up with a few months ago...It's a product that scrambles our life signs so that they are undetectable by normal internal sensors, the inconveniences are that high-level scans will still detect us and the effect only lasts fifteen minutes with a 100 ml injection." Logan explained.

"Can't we inject more of the substance for a longer effect?" Tarses asked.

"No," Logan shook his head. "A dose higher than 100 ml would kill us."

"I see," Tarses said. "So we'll have fifteen minutes to do...what?"

"I believe our best bet is to use the time to sabotage the sensors," Logan said. "Then we'll have all the time we'll need to liberate the rest of your crew and to take over the ship."

"Take over the ship..." Tarses repeated with a sigh. "It sounds like an impossible task..."

"A lot of things seem impossible to do, until someone does them." Logan grinned.

Tarses wished he was as confident as the leader of the marines...

* * *

The three stealth shuttles each carried ten marines; Tarses and Logan were aboard the lead ship along with four crewmembers from the Card and four infiltration marines; lieutenant Sharon Davies and ensign Daniel Kaufmann were part of the crewmembers of the Card that had join the team.

"The shuttle will beam us as close to the sensor control room as they can," Logan began. "The ships in the fleet haven't gone to battle alert yet, which is lucky for us, their shields are down and we should be able to beam in without being detected. We'll have to take our injections at the last second before beaming onto the Okarax.

"After we disable the sensors, we'll have to go to the main cargo bay of the Okarax where the rest of your crewmembers are being held. That's three decks above the sensor control room."

"And once we've liberated the rest of the crew, we can take control of the ship...But, if necessary, we destroy it." Tarses had understood the plan. "Right, and while we're doing that...What will the two other shuttles do?"

"Their targets will be the two carriers," Logan said. "The two ships are massive carriers that can hold thirty fighters each. Once they're destroyed, the River of Blood's fleet will have been dealt a serious blow and I doubt they will be able to win against the Klingon Defense force."

"Perfect..." Tarses said, nodding. "But are we sure the Klingons will be able to win against that fleet? Even with one Negh'Var and two carriers less?"

Logan shrugged: "We can never be sure of the outcome of a battle...But most of our projections showed a superior chance of victory in the fleet of the Klingon Defense Force."

"Most of your projections?" Davies frowned skeptically.

Logan nodded: "As I said...We can never be sure of the outcome of a battle..."

* * *

The fleet looked much, much bigger at such close range...The whole infiltration team was standing in the control room of the stealth shuttle looking out the viewscreen at the impressive River of Blood fleet that was still on its course for the Klingon Home world.

"Wow..." One of the marines said.

The infiltration team had just passed around the special chemical and had injected themselves each with 100 ml of it, making them undetectable by any sensors.

The two other stealth shuttles had already set a course for the two Klingon carriers and the shuttle upon which they were stationed was headed for the Okarax.

The specially trained marine stealth pilot was carefully moderating the flight of the shuttle; modulating the fields generated by the ship so as to make sure that they would not be detected by any of the Klingon ships. After a few moments, the shuttle had approached the Okarax enough so that they were in transporter range.

"I'll try to make sure the transporter beam isn't picked up by the Okarax." The pilot said once they were in position. "There's a 50 percent chance that we'll be detected...However, I'll try to fix things up to try to make the beam look like background subspace interference..."

"Good luck," Logan placed a hand on the pilot's shoulder and then walked to the back of the control room where the ten members of the infiltration team were assembled. "Energize..."

* * *

"What's that?" Doksath asked as he heard a beep from the Ops station of the Okarax's bridge.

The lieutenant at Ops said: "I'm not sure...A disturbance at coordinates one-oh....No, wait..."

Doksath sighed: "What is it?"

The lieutenant shook his head: "Nothing, sir...Just subspace noise."

Doksath nodded: "Very well..."

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