Commodore Christiansen's blockade was complete. Several of the stronger classes of several major Alpha & Beta Quadrant races' vessels had corraled the Talarians. Decomissioned vessels from every warp-faring race in the alpha & beta quadrants that had been hijacked, bought, or, gambled & lost to a sleight of hand stood between Starfleet & a solution. A tense stand-off had staved off any further Talarian suicide attacks for the moment, but the Daikyu's Helmsperson still kept a healthy distance from the closest ship in the event it should attempt to ram them or self-destruct. The Daikyu's resident M.A.C.O.'s were belowdecks, busy being fitted for Hazard Suits & small arms.
This was supposed to be about capturing & de-programming a rightfully upset bunch of alienated former facists. Starfleet Intelligence had sacreligiously destroyed a place of worship, & ousted their previous dictator...and that was when things went from bad to
worse. The formula to a successful coup was usually to win over the dictator's former supporters, rather than try to replace them in the ensuing change of regime.
Black Fleet's orders were clear.
"Do not use lethal force, unless desperately necessary as a dead last option."
Christiansen was in command of the
U.S.S. Daikyu; a
Sovereign-Class mothership with a
Rapier-Class gunship in place of its contemporary saucer section,
Intrepid-Class stardrive-section nacelles & a
Prometheus-Class attitude.
The
U.S.S. Olympuswas right next to them; an Entente-Class dreadnaught, so the chances were slim the Talarians would bother to sneeze without permission let alone offer resistance.
If the Talarians made the first move, the Daikyu would separate. The
Rapier-Class saucer section was assigned to slalom through the opposition, firing all four forward phaser cannons to collapse enemy shields; meanwhile, the mothership would follow-up on its emmisary by involuntarily transporting off & replacing the Talarian crews with MACO's while commandeering the Talarian vessels. The
Olympus's job was to offer cover-fire while their shields fluxuate to beam aboard prisoners or MACO casualties.
The Talarian combatants would be deposited in the mothership's forcefield reinforced cargo bays & have counselors on stand-by. The reception teams would include triage medics, food, blankets & medicine. The ships captured by the Starfleet Alliance would be returned to their respective homeworlds; or, failling that, summarily stripped for useful components & scuttled, considering the deplorable shape of the post-Dominion War supply-lines.
A prisoner exchange would be arranged sooner or later, and, after a cooling-off period, negotiations & reparations would hopefully begin.
If you want to hear more...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/black_fleet
