2-11-2
Robert and Julia were on the bridge when notification came of a ship locking onto their drive. "Put them on, Lieutenant," Robert said to Jupap, the Alakin ops officer manning that station.
The holo-viewscreen activated and showed orbital space ahead. A vortex of green energy formed ahead of them. The vessel that came out was of Federation design, a large saucer with a drive section, nacelles slung below said section, and a triangular pod section above the saucer. Unlike the Galaxy-class ships this vessel, clearly of similar design, was compact, with few empty spaces within the dimensions of the ship.
Ensign al-Rashad spoke up at the Sensors/Science station. "The vessel is a Starfleet Nebula-class starship. Identification code reads her as Starship Lexington."
"We are being hailed."
Robert nodded. "Put them on."
Initially the screen was taken up by a man of African complexion. "This is Captain Gilaad Ben Zoma, commanding the Federation Starship Lexington." Robert thought there was a hint of Hebrew in the incoming captain's accent.
"Captain Robert Dale, Alliance Starship Aurora," Robert answered. "We were informed a Federation ship would be jumping in. I'm a little surprised myself. The front is just a few parsecs away and I've never heard of Federation ships coming this far into the liberated systems."
Ben Zoma nodded. "President Jaresh-Inyo personally authorized this mission on behalf of Starfleet Medical. We're carrying an expert to provide a technical solution to the need for medical personnel here." Ben Zoma nodded to someone off-screen.
The man who stepped into the field beside Ben Zoma was a Caucasian man, with a balding head and the look of a middle-aged man. He had the gold of engineering and operations on the shoulders of his Starfleet uniform and, peculiarly, no rank insignia pips. "This is Doctor Lewis Zimmerman. I am the Director of Holographic Imaging and Programming for Starfleet's Jupiter Station. With the permission of Starfleet Medical and your Alliance's Health and Medical Review Office, I'm here to install hardware for emergency medical holograms in the field hospitals. Now, I'll need your best technical personnel to report to my command."
Robert and Julia exchanged looks. "I wasn't made aware of this, Doctor…"
"I'm sure you'll find the order was transmitted this morning, after I finished speaking with Health Secretary Keneerk," Zimmerman said, interrupting Robert with maximum bluntness. "In the meantime, Captain, I am on a tight schedule and can't be delayed."
Julia was already looking at the log of command-level messages at her station. She highlighted one and read it. Robert knew what it likely said even before she turned to him and breathed a sigh. "It's here," she said. "Right from Admiral Maran."
"Right." Robert nodded. "Well, I'll have my Engineering and Operations staff put together a team to join you."
"Excellent. I expect to see them when I beam down in an hour. Zimmerman out."
The look on Ben Zoma's face was almost apologetic after Zimmerman stepped out of the viewer's range. "I'll have my people inform you when Doctor Zimmerman and his current team transport down. Which of your hospitals could use the help first?"
"Field Hospital Charlie," Julia said. "They have the highest patient load."
"Relay the coordinates and I'll send down additional supplies as well," Ben Zoma said. "I'm going to keep my ship at Yellow Alert for the duration of our time here."
"I don't blame you," Robert said. "We're at our highest non-combat alert as well. And I doubt Nazi warships will be picky about targets if they show up."
"I didn't think so. Lexington out." Ben Zoma's face disappeared from the screen.
Robert sat in his chair and keyed the intercom. "Jarod, Scotty, you've got an hour to put together a technical team to beam down and work with some Federation muckety-muck."
"I'll put together some people and beam down with them," Jarod volunteered.
"Aye, I'll have Tom set it up."
"Don't forget, everyone goes down with sidearms and field action uniforms," Julia said. "We're close enough to the front that I don't want anyone taking any chances."
Jarod answered, "I'll pass it on."
When the connection cut Robert gave Julia a bemused look. "And you wonder why they call you a mother hen. Are you going to be this way to your crew when you become a captain?"
That won him a playful glare.
Night was falling outside of Field Hospital Charlie. Only a thin sliver of light remained on the western horizon, obscured toward the southwest by a distant chain of mountains. Within the Hospital lights came on, bright white in their quality, while the ongoing work of tending to the sick and injured continued.
It was Leo's turn to be on watch in the Intensive Care ward. These were the worst cases, where starvation, malnutrition, and injury from accident and abuse and neglect had brought the occupants to the brink of death.
Leo found himself, after his first rounds, standing in the section for the fourteen year old girl who had been transferred the prior day. Her vitals were weak. He looked over the readout from the biobed and noted all of the failing organs, the damaged flesh and injuries, and felt a chill go down his spine at the thought of what she had suffered at the hands of other Human beings.
He stepped past the drapes and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "I don't know what your name is," he murmured. "But I want you to know… I'll do whatever I can so that you can live. So you can… get better from this, and have the future you deserve." Leo blinked back a tear as his mind wandered yet again, focusing on the future that had died in the Aurora medbay's OR.
There was, of course, no reaction. The girl was comatose.
There was movement that disturbed the cream-colored drapes. Leo looked up to see the interloper. Doctor Franklin was now standing where he'd been standing before. "Hey," said the older physician.
"Hey," Leo answered.
"I thought you'd be here," Franklin said. He looked to the girl and a clear, deep sadness came to his eyes. "We received a positive genetic match for the patient."
"Oh?" Leo felt his stomach churn. It was clear the news wasn't good.
"Four matches." Franklin shook his head. "All from the remains unearthed in the Retzoff mass grave."
"Matches already?", Leo asked. "Then they must have been at the top of the grave."
"They were. I checked the reports… the sample numbers matched with the newest remains. Probably some of those executed before your troops could secure the camp." Franklin shook his head. "It's… hard to imagine that we, as a species, can leave our homeworld, settle countless planets in the galaxy… and still treat one another like this."
"We're dealing with the most evil Human ideology to ever exist," said Leo. He swallowed. "Seeing things like this… I honestly hope I never have any of those SS men in my medbay."
"Because you don't want to treat them?"
"Because I'm afraid I wouldn't." Leo sighed. "I'm afraid I would break every oath and promise I've made as a physician."
"Right." Franklin nodded. "And we don't want to become anything like them."
"Any luck finding her name?", Leo asked.
Franklin shook his head. "Nothing yet. Judging by the reports she was one of the few survivors from the barracks they assigned her too. And the SS records were corrupted by a data virus."
"Intentional." Leo sighed.
"You know…" Franklin began. "I've had my share of cases that went bad. People who might have lived who didn't. Sometimes it was just chance, sometimes they did something they shouldn't have…" The images of an entire section of Babylon-5 filled with dead Markab came to him. "...but my greatest failure was a child patient I had during my first year on B5. He was from a species that was just making contact with the galaxy. He had a… condition that was killing him that I could heal with a surgical operation." The details were clearly vague, and Leo understood that he would have said it in just about as many words to maintain confidential details.
Leo noticed the old pain on Franklin's face. "What happened?" he asked gently.
"Well, his people had a cultural taboo against the cutting of the body," Franklin answered. "They were willing to let him die because they believed that if I cut open the body, he would lose his soul."
"And they kept you from saving him?" Leo asked.
Franklin shook his head. And Leo immediately understood what happened. A clear sympathy appeared in his expression. "You did what you thought was right," Leo said. But he knew that wouldn't be enough.
"I violated the Code of Ethics," Franklin answered. "And for nothing."
"It seems they violated something more when they murdered their own son."
Franklin didn't put much energy into his nod of acknowledgement. "To their minds he wasn't their son anymore. Just a soulless husk that thought it was alive."
"Still…" Leo shook his head.
They remained silent for several seconds. Once it was clear that neither had anything to say on the conversation material, Leo asked, "I figured you would be moving on by now. I know you're here to inspect things for Earthdome, but that should only be a day or two of your time, right?"
"True. And I'm due on Harris Station next week for a conference with all of the various medical organizations to go over the distribution of medical supplies. However, Earthdome wants me to stay until Dr. Zimmerman gets his holographic system ready." Franklin made a wistful shake of his head. "It seems some people at Earthdome are interested in Starfleet's emergency medical hologram technology."
"I've heard those things have terrible bedside manners."
"Just one of the many things I'll have to evaluate." Franklin checked his watch. "I've got a meeting to go to with the Field Hospitals' Administration. I'll see you for lunch tomorrow?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah. Have a good evening." He sat and waited some time after Franklin walked away. He finally stood up and moved on, ready to begin another set of rounds.
Dreams are tricky things. Typically, people start forgetting them as they wake up, which could be an advantage when you're dealing with nightmares.
But for Leo, the nightmares that came that night refused to fade away once he was awake. He was back in the Intensive Care ward with that nameless fourteen year old survivor from the camp. Her vitals had started dropping and everything he did, no matter how medically sound, no matter how much it should have worked, failed.
And then, as the monitors let off the loud tone warning of a stopped heart, her eyes snapped open and looked at him with anger. "You let me die," the girl said, in an indeterminate accent. "Just as you let Joshua Marik die."
That part of the nightmare stuck with Leo the strongest. He stepped out of his shower and looked to his fogged up mirror. A hand wiped away the film of moisture and revealed his reflection. His brown eyes betrayed how tired he felt. Remnant water from the shower slowly dripped its way down his skin, little reflective dots on the dark surface.
He stared at his reflection as the nightmare again ran its course through his mind and his heart. Slowly, quietly, his hand moved toward the toothbrush. Only after gripping it did he re-focus his mind on the immediate needs of his hygiene. He had morning rounds in one of the normal care wards coming; he would need breakfast before going down.
Breakfast, and a good cup of coffee.
Andre Faqin was also sitting down to a nice breakfast, better than some of his fellow citizens were eating.
It was partway through this meal that he heard the tone and went to his basement. The comm device was flashing. His heart was hammering as he hit the accept key.
The face that appeared was Standartenführer Fassbinder. "Ah, Faqin," he said. "As you have served the Reich well, I wanted to give you proper warning. I suggest you not arrive at work today. Remain in your basement."
Faqin immediately knew what that meant. "So you are coming?"
"The attack will commence soon, yes. And I would hate for you to be trapped in it."
"Thank you, Herr Standartenführer."
When Leo arrived at Transporter Station 2, medical kit in hand and his white doctor's lab coat over his black-with-blue-trim uniform, he was met by Jarod, Tom, and Lucy. "Good morning," he said to them. "Coming down too?"
"We're heading back to Field Hospital Charlie today," Jarod answered for them. "Zimmerman's going to be at Alpha today setting up there, but he wants us to finish installing all of the holo-emitters in the wards of Charlie."
"All of the wards?" asked Leo. "Even the Intensive and Critical ones?"
"I'm going to be the one in Critical, so yeah," Lucy said, arms crossed. Leo noted that the three were in their field action uniforms, not standard duty uniforms, and with pulse pistols in holsters on their hips. Lucy additionally carried the hilt to a lakesh on the other hip.
"And who authorized him to do this? We can't have technical personnel stomping around all day among our most vulnerable patients."
"Apparently he's got every big medical bigwig you can find signing off on him doing this." Jarod shook his head. "I'll handle Intensive Care, though, so you don't need to worry about that."
Leo sighed. At least Jarod, who knew something of medicine given his multiple talents, would know how to accommodate the needs of the Intensive Care ward. "Alright. I can see you don't have a choice in this." Leo went up to the transporter pad. "Let's get to work," he said, with little enthusiasm.
The day was getting past the equivalent of noon locally - roughly two hours ahead of noon for the Aurora crew's clock - when Leo reported to the transfer ward. Doctors Chakwas and T'Perro were already at work, going over the patient files and giving them final checkups before the orderlies moved them on toward the transporter station. Leo activated the medical omnitool and pulled the hand scanner out of his pocket. He started work on his first patient, a man in his thirties, and quickly verified the patient was ready for transfer to a dedicated facility elsewhere. With a nod an orderly started pushing the man's stretcher bed away.
"How much longer are you going to be here, Doctor Gillam?", Chakwas asked.
"Until the Aurora is called away, I imagine," Leo replied. "Maybe in a few days at the pace we're going. You?"
"I'm on my way back to Grodni 3 with this load," she answered. "The Systems Alliance has recalled me to testify before Parliament on the conditions here. And I have preparations to make for my new posting."
"So you're going to be the senior attending physician for the trip back on the Lumwe."
"It'll keep me busy. It's a two week trip back to Alliance space, after all."
"Right." Leo scanned his next patient, a twenty year old male. He noted, with concern, signs of organ failure. An extra look verified that the case had yet to be serious. This put Leo in the position of making a judgment on whether to keep the man here, in the hopes of further stabilizing him, or sending him on to the ship for transfer to the full facilities at the Grodni 3 Medical Complex. After a quick check on the patient's vitals, Leo made his decision and flagged the patient for special care on the Lumwe.
For a moment he was struck by how just that little decision could yet make a huge difference. If he was wrong, he increased the man's risk of dying while in transit. The Lumwe was a state of the art Alliance hospital ship, true, but hospital ships could carry only so much medical gear or staff. It was the difference between a point five percent chance of death and a one percent chance - still low, low enough to be considered safe, but double his chance of dying compared to the Field Hospital with its greater number of medical support staff (not counting Zimmerman's impending holographic doctors).
On the other hand, if he kept the man needlessly and the planet was subjected to an attack…
"It is going to be interesting, being posted to a vessel again," Chakwas said, taking Leo out of his thoughts. He looked over at the older woman as she examined a sixteen year old boy. Another orderly was already bringing up Leo's next patient, a twenty-five year old female.
"Oh? What kind?"
"A new frigate," Chakwas replied. "It's from a joint project with the Turians. The Normandy."
"From what I've heard, your frigates are just as spartan as our attack ships," Leo noted.
"Yes, but it will still come with the best medical gear we can equip it with." Chakwas smiled. "And the crew is going to be rather small. Just a few dozen people. I won't have much of a staff, maybe a nurse and an orderly, but I'll get to know the crew more easily."
That drew a nod of agreement from Leo as he finished the last scan on his current patient, the twenty-something woman. Her paled skin had a brown tint to it, and her features made Leo think she was Latin American mestizo, or perhaps straight up Native American. Healed internal injuries, lingering malnutrition… and something Leo hadn't expected to see. "Doctor Chakwas, what do you make of this?" WIth a tap on his omnitool Leo projected the data over to hers.
Chakwas looked down at the amber hard-light surrounding her left forearm, a contrast to the blue used for the Alliance's new omnitools, and examined the readings he sent. Her expression changed to one of shock. "How was that missed…?"
The girl looked up and asked something. It wasn't in English, but Leo's translator device kicked in and gave him the proper translation: "What is it?"
"You're pregnant," Leo answered.
His patient's eyes widened in shock.
"It looks like she's about six to eight weeks along," Chakwas confirmed. "That would put the time of conception somewhere between three to five weeks before the camp was liberated."
It was clear that the woman had no idea of her condition. She stared off into space with a resigned look. As if the universe, or multiverse, was out to hurt her personally.
Leo had a sick, terrible feeling in his stomach. For form's sake, he asked a question he was sure had an unhappy answer. "Do you know where the father is? Do you want us to find him?"
The answer was a single word that confirmed Leo's suspicions. "No."
Leo looked back to Chakwas. "With her physical condition, pregnancy is dangerous."
"I know. But I can't justify leaving her here." Chakwas walked over and took the girl's hand. "I'll see to it that her condition is noted and I will assume control of her treatment. She'll be fine, Doctor Gillam."
Leo could see Chakwas was convinced. He nodded. "Okay." He cleared the patient for transfer to the Lumwe and went on to the next. "I wonder how we missed that?"
"The first medical teams examining the Retzoff survivors were exhausted by the time I got here two weeks ago," Chakwas pointed out. "I'll have to look on her chart, but I suspect we'll find that one of the younger physicians was responsible. He or she was exhausted, sleep-deprived…"
"It's easy to make a mistake then," Leo agreed. "Especially with emotions as they'd be, seeing that camp for the first time. And maybe, if it was one of the non-Human doctors, they might have not recognized the earliest stage of Human pregnancy."
"Also possible." Chakwas was already at work on her next patient. "Practicing medicine inevitably leads to moments that can leave a physician emotionally compromised. Practicing medicine in this situation, seeing these people…" Chakwas shook her head. A grim look crossed her face, drawn and tired as it looked. "I can't help but wonder what went through the minds of the camp's medical staff. We know they had one. How could a doctor taught to heal accept such widespread abuse?"
"No one is ever the villain in their own eyes," Leo said. He was already scanning the next patient. This one, a male of somewhere between sixteen and twenty, had a thousand yard stare and an expression that bordered on catatonia. Leo touched the young man's shoulder and said, "You're doing just fine. And you're never coming back to this place." Once an orderly moved the patient on, Leo continued to speak to Chakwas. "As far as those SS doctors are concerned, their obligation to medicine begins and ends with what the SS and its leaders says it is."
"Those men aren't real doctors," Chakwas hissed.
"We know that, but they think they are." Leo shook his head. "There's the scary thing about this kind of thing, about Nazism and all of the other systems like theirs. They twist and corrupt everything, every institution, every occupation, to accept their cruelty. Doctors aren't immune to it. Nobody is. It's why we have to win this war."
They finished their current pair of patients. While the ward wasn't empty, it was clear they had reduced the population of the ward by a significant amount.
"I'd better get my bags," Chakwas said. She extended a hand toward Leo. "Take care, Doctor Gillam. I look forward to seeing you again sometime."
"Good luck on your new posting, Doctor Chakwas," Leo answered.
Jarod, Lucy, and Tom Barnes gathered in the Standard Care Ward for the test. "I hope this is worth all of the time and work we put into it," Barnes muttered.
"Hold on, it's Zimmerman." Jarod keyed his omnitool. Zimmerman appeared on the screen it was projecting, clearly back on the Lexington. "Doctor?"
"I've completed the testing at the other sites," said Zimmerman. "How is your progress?"
"I was just about to turn it on," Jarod said.
"Then, by all means, do so."
Hiding his slight irritation at Zimmerman's ego, Jarod looked up. "Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram program."
A holographic figure formed from nothingness, clad in a Starfleet uniform with medical blue on the shoulders. Jarod was not the least bit surprised to see that the figure was the striking image of Zimmerman himself. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency," the hologram stated.
"This is a hardware test," Lucy said.
"Ah. Of course." Much to the surprise of the others there was a hint of impatience and irritation at this fact in the hologram's voice. "And how, precisely, did you intend to test me?"
"Let's start with a standard medical scan," Zimmerman said.
"Okay, start with me," said Lucy.
The EMH picked up a Starfleet medical tricorder from a nearby rack. He pulled the scanner piece from the end of it and ran it over Lucy, from head to stomach, while looking at the display. "No medical issues detected. All organs functioning properly. Body mass is well into acceptable levels. Congratulations, young lady, you are the picture of health. Although I am noticing an above-normal level of stress indicators."
"I've been in a hospital full of concentration camp survivors for two days," Lucy replied. A frown crossed her face.
"Ah. And there are some peculiarities in your body's bio-electric levels. I recommend you get a full workup to identify the cause of the issue."
"Let's see one more scan," Zimmerman said. "And allow the EMH to select his subject."
"Right."
The EMH nodded to Zimmerman and Jarod and looked between him and Barnes. The latter crossed his arms and frowned when the EMH turned his tricorder toward him.
"Well. Hrm. I'm reading glucose levels above recommended levels, and quite a few chemicals in your digestive system… what precisely have you been imbibing?"
"Soda," Barnes answered. He held up his canteen. "Pop."
The EMH scanned the canteen. An expression of disgust came to his face. "Sir, I must recommend you get rid of that substance immediately. Remove it from your diet."
"Leo's been on me for years to cut back on soda, and it didn't work for him either," Barnes retorted. "So why don't you go frak…" He stopped at seeing Jarod's intent look. "Right, a test."
"Well, if you want to go on poisoning yourself, that's fine by me."
Lucy shook her head. "Okay, this thing is way too acerbic. Are we really going to inflict its personality on these people? They've suffered enough."
"I may make some tweaks to the personality algorithms," Zimmerman conceded.
"What about the ethics programming, Doctor?" Jarod was looking at the screen with concern. "This thing had no problems blurting out medical information about Lieutenant Lucero and Lieutenant Barnes. That's not ethical in medicine."
Zimmerman fidgeted. "Yes, well, that may be an artifact of the testing mode. He has to demonstrate his knowledge and ability as a medical doctor, and that means speaking about what he is examining."
"Sounds like a pretty damned bad bug if you ask me," Barnes grumbled. "I wouldn't want to be treated by this thing."
"I'll have you know that I am composed from the medical knowledge of Starfleet's finest doctors," the EMH protested. "My ability to make accurate medical judgements is unequaled."
"And that might be the only thing you're good for, you frakking…"
"Okay, the test is done," Jarod said, interrupting them. "Computer, disengage EMH."
The holographic counterpart of Zimmerman faded away into thin air.
"I'll get to work on final coding updates," Zimmerman said. "I should have them for you before the Lexington departs tomorrow."
"Thank you. Jarod out."
"Well, at least we're done with that," Barnes sighed. "I just want to get back to my real job."
"You said it," Lucy sighed.
There was something in her voice that told Jarod she was being the most affected by what they were dealing with. With her abilities, Jarod wasn't surprised. She could sense the misery and fear and loss from the camp survivors directly. He wondered, briefly, if she felt such things like they actually belonged to her in the first place?
"Well, we'd better finish up down here," said Jarod. "Let's run some more equipment tests before we call it a day."
Robert was finishing up daily paperwork in his office when he got the call. Admiral Drelini appeared. The Dorei woman, one of the Alliance's best field admirals and commander of the 9th Fleet, went right to business. "The Reich has launched a counter-offensive adjacent to your current sector. They appear to be attempting to retake the Pleiades Cluster and their major colonies on Alpina and New Westphalia."
Robert nodded. It explained some of his nervousness lately, the feeling of something being about to happen, which was common enough when you were on the front of a war. "Do you need anything from the Aurora?"
"We need to make sure all civilian vessels are gone from the area of New Brittany. Issue an immediate Level One evacuation order. All non-combat ships are to jump to safety elsewhere, regardless of previously-planned destination. As soon as this operation is complete I want you to withdraw the Aurora to rendezvous with the Epaminondas Battle Group at Delta Korva. We'll need every available combat ship for the counter-attack."
"We'll get on that immediately, Admiral. Dale out." Robert immediately hit the intercom key on his desk. "Bridge, we just received an evacuation order from Command. I want all medical personnel and patients evacuated from the Field Hospitals immediately. Bring all transporters online and have Koenig launch to assist the evacuation. Launch our runabouts too if you must."
"Acknowledged, Captain," Jupap replied.
Robert got up from his seat and went out to the bridge. "Go to Code Yellow and standby for shields," he ordered, and the officers present went to work on it. Julia, Angel, and Cat were the only senior officers on the bridge given all of the officers sent down to New Brittany or off-duty. Julia moved over to her chair while Robert assumed his. "Put the fighters on standby."
"Is it bad?" asked Julia.
"The Nazis are striking toward Pleiades," Robert replied. "Drelini wants an evacuation of non-combat personnel from New Brittany."
"Incoming signal from the Lexington," said Jupap.
"Put Ben Zoma on."
The Starfleet captain appeared on the screen. "We've heard of your evacuation order, Captain," Ben Zoma stated. "I've ordered my transporter crews to assist. We'll take on as many patients and medical staff as we can."
"Thank you, Captain." Robert nodded. "Your help is apprec-".
Before he could finish, Caterina spoke up. "Captain, I've got warp signatures on long range sensors," she said. "They're consistent with anti-matter pulse drives."
Robert turned away from Ben Zoma's image to face Cat. Julia did the same. "What's their course, Lieutenant?"
Cat was already making that determination. And the answer was easy to guess given the look on her face. "They're on their way here. They'll be in range in about forty minutes."
"They must be racing in at maximum warp to get here that fast," Julia observed.
Robert was already turning back to Ben Zoma. "Did you get that, Captain?"
"Yes," he answered. "We have already commenced the evacuation."
"We're doing the same. I want to get you and the hospital ships out of here before the enemy enters range."
"Have your science officers keep a close eye on their short-range sensors," Julia added. "They might have sent cloaked attack ships ahead of their main force."
"We're already running regular sensor sweeps. I will keep you informed if we find anything."
Robert returned to his seat. By the time he did so Ben Zoma's image was gone from the holo-viewscreen. "We'll need to do the same. Jupap, set the jump drive for…" He considered his options for a moment. "...Charing Station, C502. We'll start jumping hospital ships out if we need to."
"Doing so now."
"The evacuation?" he asked Julia.
She nodded back after checking her station. "Already underway."
That was it for the moment. All they could do was watch and wait.
The short timetable being given for the evacuation had made one thing abundantly clear: they were not going to get everyone out.
Leo hated that thought. If the planet fell to the enemy, the hospital patients would go right back to the inhumane conditions the Nazis had kept them in, if they weren't murdered out of hand. But they just didn't have the time to get everyone out. Especially Critical and Intensive Care patients, who were in delicate, even fragile, conditions that defied the use of transporters or shuttle flights. They were left with no choice at the moment but to focus on getting the more-stable patients to safety.
The chaos in the Standard Care Ward was barely contained as patients were secured to their beds and rolled out. A babble of frightened and uncertain voices threatened to overwhelm the necessary verbal communication between doctors and orderlies that kept the evacuation going. Leo finished securing straps to keep a middle-aged woman secure on her bed even as she weakly resisted. "No," she pleaded. "Please."
"This is for your own safety," Leo assured her. "They'll come off as soon as you're on a ship."
"No… I don't want to be tied down," continued the protest.
"I promise you, it's just to keep you from falling off, they will come off once you're safely on a ship." Leo could say no more as an orderly, a Tellarite volunteer, came along and began pushing the bed away. He moved on to his next patient.
"How is it going?" Leo looked to his left. Franklin was now standing beside him.
"I think we can clear the Standard Ward," Leo answered. "Where's Doctor Jankowski?"
"He's already on the Halwell. I'm going up to the Renari with the next evacuation load."
Leo frowned. "Who's staying behind to watch the patients we can't get out?"
"T'Perro and Crusher have volunteered." Franklin had a guilty look on his face. The unspoken fact is that he would have done the same if he could, but he was undoubtedly operating under orders from Earthdome to vacate the front if he was at risk of death or capture. "With a small staff."
"I'll stay too," Leo said.
"Are you sure about that? Two doctors will be…"
"...not nearly enough, and you know that," Leo pointed out. He nodded to an orderly to move his next patient onward.
And Franklin did know it. Just as Leo knew that this was dangerous, one of the most dangerous decisions he'd ever made. There were only so many friendly troops on the planet, there was no telling how many enemy troops would be landing, and no telling when, or if, the Alliance could return in force. His own survival was much more likely if he agreed to evacuate.
But that was something Leo simply couldn't do. Even thinking about it brought that poor fourteen year old in Intensive Care back to his mind. She, and many others, would live or die based on his decisions in the coming hour.
"Okay," Franklin said. "I'll inform the others."
"He's going to what?!"
Leo's decision, relayed by Jarod, made Robert want to beam down and knock sense into his friend. "He does know there's no telling when we can get back to get him out, right?"
"He knows," Jarod replied.
"Don't tell me you're all staying with him," Julia sighed.
"Of course not. You need us up there. We're preparing to beam back up as soon as the last evac shuttle launches."
Once the channel cut Robert shook his head. "He's being stubborn," he grumbled.
Julia replied with a nod. "I know. And at the same time, he's doing something he is convinced is right."
"Yeah."
"Cat, status on those Nazi ships coming in?"
"Eighteen minutes out," Cat answered. I've been analyzing the warp signatures' power source. It's not good news."
"How many ships?"
"Somewhere between eight to ten." She looked at him with clear worry on her face. "And one of them is a dreadnought."
"If that's true, we'll need the Epaminondas and her battle group to retake the planet," Julia said.
"Assuming that's where Relini wants us."
"I'm staying too."
Jarod and Barnes looked at Lucy as she said those words. Neither sighed or reacted negatively to her announcement. Both understood it. "Keep an eye on Leo's back then?" Jarod asked.
"Of course," she said. "I'll keep an eye on him. If we can get out on our own, we will. If not…"
"We'll be back for you," insisted Barnes.
"Only five minutes until those Nazi ships make orbit." Jarod's hand movements brought the blue light of his omnitool to life. He tapped the hard-light key for his comms. "Jarod to Aurora, two to beam up. Lieutenant Lucero is staying."
"Understood, Commander. Transport is imminent."
Lucy nodded and swallowed. She had the feeling she needed to be here, to help Leo and the others survive, but that didn't mean she was eager to be stuck on a planet full of Nazis. If Meridina had beamed down, she would feel a whole lot better about this…
This won't be the first time you've been in a fight without her, Lucy reminded herself. You can do this. You did this on Gamma Piratus, and you're even better now.
That was the thought she kept in her head even as Jarod and Barnes were pulled away by twin columns of light.
The minutes continued on. One by one the various civilian ships in orbit - cargo ships and hospital ships - made the jump to warp. Some of the planetary elite fled in interstellar-capable yachts, clearly hoping to escape the fighting and any Nazi revenge should the planet fall back to their hands.
Jarod stepped onto the bridge. "Tom's already on his way to the Koenig," he said, making a beeline for Ops. Jupap immediately relinquished the post and went to his backup post along the starboard side of the bridge at Communications. Nick Locarno had already reported to the helm, meaning the entire bridge crew was now gathered.
"Where's Lucy?" Julia asked.
"She decided to stay with Leo and watch his back," Jarod answered. "So did Nasri."
"I hope General Chaganam has his troops ready to protect that hospital," Robert murmured.
Julia looked over at a data screen. "It looks like he's got the Turians' 8th Regiment and a division of Dorei troops in the area. A regiment of the Free Worlds Legionnaires is going to hold New Rennes. A hundred or so freelance mercenaries." A slight smirk crossed Julia's face. "I wonder if Massani is down there."
Before Robert could ask who she was talking about, Cat spoke up. "Enemy ships coming out of warp."
As she spoke, the holographic tactical map by Julia lit up. The planet dominated the picture while eight angry red markers now blipped into existence. Robert frowned. The enemy had come out of warp in a position to try and pin them against New Brittany. Whomever it was, they didn't want the Aurora and the other ships to escape.
"Not just any Reich ships," Julia murmured, now looking at the holo-viewscreen. Robert did the same thing and frowned, recognizing the familiar dark coloring adorning the Reich warships instead of the customary gunmetal gray.
"The SS," he said. As he did so, his mind went back over two months to 452TD and the Nazi trap during the failed raid operation. SS ships showed up at the end to try and trap us too. He felt a sudden suspicion that the timing of that attack had not been a matter of luck.
"The dreadnought's IFF code is reading as the Baldur von Schirach," Jarod said. "It was one of the ships heavily damaged at the Battle of New Pommern three months ago."
Before Robert could inquire further, a voice came from the bridge speakers. "This is Captain Gilaad Ben Zoma of the Federation Starship Lexington to Reich warships. As the Federation is militarily neutral in this conflict and my ship is here for medical and humanitarian operations only, I must formerly request that you…"
The Nazis, unsurprisingly, didn't even let the Starfleet captain finish his pro forma request. Robert suspected even Ben Zoma knew they wouldn't, but went through the motions to leave no doubt in the Federation as to what occurred.
The Schirach fired its bow super-disruptor assembly into the Nebula-class ship's shields. The large green energy beams slammed savagely into the blue energy shields protecting the Federation starship. The Lexington's shields bore the blast without failing. "Their shields are down to thirty-two percent," Jarod said.
"Link us with Ben Zoma. We're going for the weak spot in their formation." Robert looked to Julia. "Combat launch the Koenig."
Julia nodded. She knew how he thought, that he hadn't wanted to risk the Koenig being crippled if he could avoid it, but the situation would require the extra firepower to make sure they all got out. "Koenig is combat launching," she confirmed. Although no one could see it directly, everyone could image the sight of the attack ship forcefully decoupling itself from the airlock and flying backward from its protective dock in the back of the primary hull. "The other ships are signaling readiness to follow our lead."
Robert was already looking over his tactical display. The Aurora and Lexington were joined by a Dorei starbird, two Colonial Confederation destroyers, and a wing of Turian frigates supporting their ground troops. "Hold the Colonial and Turian ships back to protect the remaining civilians as best as they can. I want that starbird with us to blow away that Nazi cruiser." He identified a Nazi ship anchoring the enemy formation over the North Pole of New Brittany. "Let's go!"
Even by this point shots were being exchanged with the Nazi ships. The fire grew furiously as the Aurora and her ad hoc formation plunged toward the enemy. The enemy superdreadnought fired again, this time skimming the shields of the Aurora near one of her nacelles. Indeed, it quickly became obvious that the bulk of enemy fire wasn't at the helpless civilian ships or their lighter protectors, it was at the Aurora. We're the target, Robert realized. They're after us. Maybe this whole operation is after us.
At Angel's command, azure and amber energy lashed out at their foes, joined by the furious amber energy pulses coming from the Koenig's pulse phaser cannons. The enemy cruiser ahead took the hits on the shields and kept firing back. The Lexington joined in on the attack with her phasers and a barrage of photon torpedoes. The Dorei starbird beside them fired purple-hued plasma cannons into the enemy light cruiser adjacent to their main target, causing red shields to flare while silver-white solar torpedoes from the Alliance-affiliated ships smashed against both targets.
The range grew close, and Robert was afraid the enemy cruiser might very well ram them to stop them, but as they approached the last kilometer Angel's fire found its mark. Thick pulses of sapphire energy from the Aurora's pulse plasma cannon battery hammered down the shields of the enemy Sedan-class cruiser and began blasting into the armored hull. As a spread of solar torpedoes threatened to break the enemy ship in half, the phasers and photon torpedoes on the Lexington found their targets in the enemy ship's drive section. The SS cruiser was reduced to flaming debris as the Aurora and the other ships flew past.
They didn't get away unscathed. Missiles from the other enemy ships converged on one of the Colonial Confederation destroyers until its shields nearly disappeared. A thick emerald beam from a second enemy heavy cruiser moving up behind them speared the rear engine section and blew the destroyer apart. "Missiles inbound on the Serene Care," Jarod said. "She's trying to evade but…"
Robert could only watch in horror as missile after missile found the hospital ship, carrying thousands of sick and wounded patients and medical staff with her crew. Her shields took the hits with bursts of blue light. But with more shots incoming there was no way they could get to warp before taking a deadly blow. One missile hit finally found hull, blowing debris from the rear of the ship. Another missile came in, looking very much like a kill shot…
....and struck the Turian frigate that threw itself in front of the beleaguered hospital ship. The mass effect shields, backed by deflector shielding, absorbed the first missile and then another.
But they couldn't absorb the super-disruptor blast from the enemy superdreadnought. The thick emerald beam speared the Turian ship and blew it apart. The same beam grazed the hospital ship, sending more flame and debris from its wounded hull.
"Serene Calm reports that their warp systems are damaged, they're not sure they can make it to warp."
"We're on it," Zack's voice said. The Koenig swept in above the hospital ship. A ribbon of blue light emerged from the ventral hull of the attack vessel and gripped the bow of the Serene Calm. "We've got them in tow. IU jump in three, two, one…"
The Koenig created a swirling green vortex of light in front of it and pulled the larger Serene Calm into the vortex as more fire converged on their location. They were gone mere seconds before another disruptor shot struck the vortex wall with enough energy to violently collapse the jump point.
One by one, the remaining friendly ships jumped to warp speed. The Aurora and Lexington waited until they were all gone before they did the same. "Any sign of pursuit?" Julia asked.
Caterina took a moment to respond. "No. I'm not reading them going to warp. It looks like they know they can't catch us."
"They could catch the hospital ships," Jarod pointed out. He turned in his chair and looked at Robert and Julia with a furrowed brow. "But not us."
"And we're the ones they're after," Robert said. "452TD, now this… That has to be the reason."
"We'll report this to Maran." Julia couldn't keep the worry off her face for another reason. "And hopefully, we'll be going back soon to get Leo, Nasri, and Lucy back."
"Hopefully," Robert agreed.
On the bridge of the von Schirach, Fassbinder watched with irritation as the Aurora successfully escaped into warp.
"The enemy ships are out of range." The report was from one of the bridge officers.
"Did the enemy abandon their ground troops?" asked Oberführer Wolfgang Schiller, the dreadnought's commander.
"Ja. I am reading troop concentrations around New Rennes and Renardville. The enemy is generating a theater shield covering both sites."
"They will not endure our firepower for long. Prepare for orbital bombardment."
Fassbinder felt a wave of irritation at that. Schiller was being impatient. He spoke up immediately. "Herr Oberführer, with all respect, our orders are to preserve the planet."
"Why? The Bretons aren't Aryans anyway." Schiller's expression showed his frustration. "We need our troops for other worlds."
"Our orders came directly from Oberst-Gruppenführer Kranefuss. The planet must be taken intact. The Reich needs its food supplies untouched."
Schiller's face briefly twisted into anger before he restored control of himself. "I do not recall asking for your 'advice', Standartenführer. I do not need you to tell me how to run my ship!"
Fassbinder bristled at having his place questioned. But he could not afford a fight with Schiller. "My apologies, Oberführer, I overstepped my bounds."
Mollified, Schiller returned his gaze back to the screen. "If not for the illustrious Oberst-Gruppenführer, I would already be bombing this wretched planet to rubble. But I am aware of them and will follow them. Comms, inform Gruppenführer Fischer that we are ready to deploy his troops."
"Jawohl."
Fassbinder waited for another moment before saying, with great care, "With your permission, Oberführer, I will leave to join our landing forces."
"Very well. Make sure I am kept informed."
"Jawohl."
"You are dismissed."
With that permission, Fassbinder left the bridge to find transport down to the planet.
The holo-viewscreen activated and showed orbital space ahead. A vortex of green energy formed ahead of them. The vessel that came out was of Federation design, a large saucer with a drive section, nacelles slung below said section, and a triangular pod section above the saucer. Unlike the Galaxy-class ships this vessel, clearly of similar design, was compact, with few empty spaces within the dimensions of the ship.
Ensign al-Rashad spoke up at the Sensors/Science station. "The vessel is a Starfleet Nebula-class starship. Identification code reads her as Starship Lexington."
"We are being hailed."
Robert nodded. "Put them on."
Initially the screen was taken up by a man of African complexion. "This is Captain Gilaad Ben Zoma, commanding the Federation Starship Lexington." Robert thought there was a hint of Hebrew in the incoming captain's accent.
"Captain Robert Dale, Alliance Starship Aurora," Robert answered. "We were informed a Federation ship would be jumping in. I'm a little surprised myself. The front is just a few parsecs away and I've never heard of Federation ships coming this far into the liberated systems."
Ben Zoma nodded. "President Jaresh-Inyo personally authorized this mission on behalf of Starfleet Medical. We're carrying an expert to provide a technical solution to the need for medical personnel here." Ben Zoma nodded to someone off-screen.
The man who stepped into the field beside Ben Zoma was a Caucasian man, with a balding head and the look of a middle-aged man. He had the gold of engineering and operations on the shoulders of his Starfleet uniform and, peculiarly, no rank insignia pips. "This is Doctor Lewis Zimmerman. I am the Director of Holographic Imaging and Programming for Starfleet's Jupiter Station. With the permission of Starfleet Medical and your Alliance's Health and Medical Review Office, I'm here to install hardware for emergency medical holograms in the field hospitals. Now, I'll need your best technical personnel to report to my command."
Robert and Julia exchanged looks. "I wasn't made aware of this, Doctor…"
"I'm sure you'll find the order was transmitted this morning, after I finished speaking with Health Secretary Keneerk," Zimmerman said, interrupting Robert with maximum bluntness. "In the meantime, Captain, I am on a tight schedule and can't be delayed."
Julia was already looking at the log of command-level messages at her station. She highlighted one and read it. Robert knew what it likely said even before she turned to him and breathed a sigh. "It's here," she said. "Right from Admiral Maran."
"Right." Robert nodded. "Well, I'll have my Engineering and Operations staff put together a team to join you."
"Excellent. I expect to see them when I beam down in an hour. Zimmerman out."
The look on Ben Zoma's face was almost apologetic after Zimmerman stepped out of the viewer's range. "I'll have my people inform you when Doctor Zimmerman and his current team transport down. Which of your hospitals could use the help first?"
"Field Hospital Charlie," Julia said. "They have the highest patient load."
"Relay the coordinates and I'll send down additional supplies as well," Ben Zoma said. "I'm going to keep my ship at Yellow Alert for the duration of our time here."
"I don't blame you," Robert said. "We're at our highest non-combat alert as well. And I doubt Nazi warships will be picky about targets if they show up."
"I didn't think so. Lexington out." Ben Zoma's face disappeared from the screen.
Robert sat in his chair and keyed the intercom. "Jarod, Scotty, you've got an hour to put together a technical team to beam down and work with some Federation muckety-muck."
"I'll put together some people and beam down with them," Jarod volunteered.
"Aye, I'll have Tom set it up."
"Don't forget, everyone goes down with sidearms and field action uniforms," Julia said. "We're close enough to the front that I don't want anyone taking any chances."
Jarod answered, "I'll pass it on."
When the connection cut Robert gave Julia a bemused look. "And you wonder why they call you a mother hen. Are you going to be this way to your crew when you become a captain?"
That won him a playful glare.
Night was falling outside of Field Hospital Charlie. Only a thin sliver of light remained on the western horizon, obscured toward the southwest by a distant chain of mountains. Within the Hospital lights came on, bright white in their quality, while the ongoing work of tending to the sick and injured continued.
It was Leo's turn to be on watch in the Intensive Care ward. These were the worst cases, where starvation, malnutrition, and injury from accident and abuse and neglect had brought the occupants to the brink of death.
Leo found himself, after his first rounds, standing in the section for the fourteen year old girl who had been transferred the prior day. Her vitals were weak. He looked over the readout from the biobed and noted all of the failing organs, the damaged flesh and injuries, and felt a chill go down his spine at the thought of what she had suffered at the hands of other Human beings.
He stepped past the drapes and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "I don't know what your name is," he murmured. "But I want you to know… I'll do whatever I can so that you can live. So you can… get better from this, and have the future you deserve." Leo blinked back a tear as his mind wandered yet again, focusing on the future that had died in the Aurora medbay's OR.
There was, of course, no reaction. The girl was comatose.
There was movement that disturbed the cream-colored drapes. Leo looked up to see the interloper. Doctor Franklin was now standing where he'd been standing before. "Hey," said the older physician.
"Hey," Leo answered.
"I thought you'd be here," Franklin said. He looked to the girl and a clear, deep sadness came to his eyes. "We received a positive genetic match for the patient."
"Oh?" Leo felt his stomach churn. It was clear the news wasn't good.
"Four matches." Franklin shook his head. "All from the remains unearthed in the Retzoff mass grave."
"Matches already?", Leo asked. "Then they must have been at the top of the grave."
"They were. I checked the reports… the sample numbers matched with the newest remains. Probably some of those executed before your troops could secure the camp." Franklin shook his head. "It's… hard to imagine that we, as a species, can leave our homeworld, settle countless planets in the galaxy… and still treat one another like this."
"We're dealing with the most evil Human ideology to ever exist," said Leo. He swallowed. "Seeing things like this… I honestly hope I never have any of those SS men in my medbay."
"Because you don't want to treat them?"
"Because I'm afraid I wouldn't." Leo sighed. "I'm afraid I would break every oath and promise I've made as a physician."
"Right." Franklin nodded. "And we don't want to become anything like them."
"Any luck finding her name?", Leo asked.
Franklin shook his head. "Nothing yet. Judging by the reports she was one of the few survivors from the barracks they assigned her too. And the SS records were corrupted by a data virus."
"Intentional." Leo sighed.
"You know…" Franklin began. "I've had my share of cases that went bad. People who might have lived who didn't. Sometimes it was just chance, sometimes they did something they shouldn't have…" The images of an entire section of Babylon-5 filled with dead Markab came to him. "...but my greatest failure was a child patient I had during my first year on B5. He was from a species that was just making contact with the galaxy. He had a… condition that was killing him that I could heal with a surgical operation." The details were clearly vague, and Leo understood that he would have said it in just about as many words to maintain confidential details.
Leo noticed the old pain on Franklin's face. "What happened?" he asked gently.
"Well, his people had a cultural taboo against the cutting of the body," Franklin answered. "They were willing to let him die because they believed that if I cut open the body, he would lose his soul."
"And they kept you from saving him?" Leo asked.
Franklin shook his head. And Leo immediately understood what happened. A clear sympathy appeared in his expression. "You did what you thought was right," Leo said. But he knew that wouldn't be enough.
"I violated the Code of Ethics," Franklin answered. "And for nothing."
"It seems they violated something more when they murdered their own son."
Franklin didn't put much energy into his nod of acknowledgement. "To their minds he wasn't their son anymore. Just a soulless husk that thought it was alive."
"Still…" Leo shook his head.
They remained silent for several seconds. Once it was clear that neither had anything to say on the conversation material, Leo asked, "I figured you would be moving on by now. I know you're here to inspect things for Earthdome, but that should only be a day or two of your time, right?"
"True. And I'm due on Harris Station next week for a conference with all of the various medical organizations to go over the distribution of medical supplies. However, Earthdome wants me to stay until Dr. Zimmerman gets his holographic system ready." Franklin made a wistful shake of his head. "It seems some people at Earthdome are interested in Starfleet's emergency medical hologram technology."
"I've heard those things have terrible bedside manners."
"Just one of the many things I'll have to evaluate." Franklin checked his watch. "I've got a meeting to go to with the Field Hospitals' Administration. I'll see you for lunch tomorrow?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah. Have a good evening." He sat and waited some time after Franklin walked away. He finally stood up and moved on, ready to begin another set of rounds.
Dreams are tricky things. Typically, people start forgetting them as they wake up, which could be an advantage when you're dealing with nightmares.
But for Leo, the nightmares that came that night refused to fade away once he was awake. He was back in the Intensive Care ward with that nameless fourteen year old survivor from the camp. Her vitals had started dropping and everything he did, no matter how medically sound, no matter how much it should have worked, failed.
And then, as the monitors let off the loud tone warning of a stopped heart, her eyes snapped open and looked at him with anger. "You let me die," the girl said, in an indeterminate accent. "Just as you let Joshua Marik die."
That part of the nightmare stuck with Leo the strongest. He stepped out of his shower and looked to his fogged up mirror. A hand wiped away the film of moisture and revealed his reflection. His brown eyes betrayed how tired he felt. Remnant water from the shower slowly dripped its way down his skin, little reflective dots on the dark surface.
He stared at his reflection as the nightmare again ran its course through his mind and his heart. Slowly, quietly, his hand moved toward the toothbrush. Only after gripping it did he re-focus his mind on the immediate needs of his hygiene. He had morning rounds in one of the normal care wards coming; he would need breakfast before going down.
Breakfast, and a good cup of coffee.
Andre Faqin was also sitting down to a nice breakfast, better than some of his fellow citizens were eating.
It was partway through this meal that he heard the tone and went to his basement. The comm device was flashing. His heart was hammering as he hit the accept key.
The face that appeared was Standartenführer Fassbinder. "Ah, Faqin," he said. "As you have served the Reich well, I wanted to give you proper warning. I suggest you not arrive at work today. Remain in your basement."
Faqin immediately knew what that meant. "So you are coming?"
"The attack will commence soon, yes. And I would hate for you to be trapped in it."
"Thank you, Herr Standartenführer."
When Leo arrived at Transporter Station 2, medical kit in hand and his white doctor's lab coat over his black-with-blue-trim uniform, he was met by Jarod, Tom, and Lucy. "Good morning," he said to them. "Coming down too?"
"We're heading back to Field Hospital Charlie today," Jarod answered for them. "Zimmerman's going to be at Alpha today setting up there, but he wants us to finish installing all of the holo-emitters in the wards of Charlie."
"All of the wards?" asked Leo. "Even the Intensive and Critical ones?"
"I'm going to be the one in Critical, so yeah," Lucy said, arms crossed. Leo noted that the three were in their field action uniforms, not standard duty uniforms, and with pulse pistols in holsters on their hips. Lucy additionally carried the hilt to a lakesh on the other hip.
"And who authorized him to do this? We can't have technical personnel stomping around all day among our most vulnerable patients."
"Apparently he's got every big medical bigwig you can find signing off on him doing this." Jarod shook his head. "I'll handle Intensive Care, though, so you don't need to worry about that."
Leo sighed. At least Jarod, who knew something of medicine given his multiple talents, would know how to accommodate the needs of the Intensive Care ward. "Alright. I can see you don't have a choice in this." Leo went up to the transporter pad. "Let's get to work," he said, with little enthusiasm.
The day was getting past the equivalent of noon locally - roughly two hours ahead of noon for the Aurora crew's clock - when Leo reported to the transfer ward. Doctors Chakwas and T'Perro were already at work, going over the patient files and giving them final checkups before the orderlies moved them on toward the transporter station. Leo activated the medical omnitool and pulled the hand scanner out of his pocket. He started work on his first patient, a man in his thirties, and quickly verified the patient was ready for transfer to a dedicated facility elsewhere. With a nod an orderly started pushing the man's stretcher bed away.
"How much longer are you going to be here, Doctor Gillam?", Chakwas asked.
"Until the Aurora is called away, I imagine," Leo replied. "Maybe in a few days at the pace we're going. You?"
"I'm on my way back to Grodni 3 with this load," she answered. "The Systems Alliance has recalled me to testify before Parliament on the conditions here. And I have preparations to make for my new posting."
"So you're going to be the senior attending physician for the trip back on the Lumwe."
"It'll keep me busy. It's a two week trip back to Alliance space, after all."
"Right." Leo scanned his next patient, a twenty year old male. He noted, with concern, signs of organ failure. An extra look verified that the case had yet to be serious. This put Leo in the position of making a judgment on whether to keep the man here, in the hopes of further stabilizing him, or sending him on to the ship for transfer to the full facilities at the Grodni 3 Medical Complex. After a quick check on the patient's vitals, Leo made his decision and flagged the patient for special care on the Lumwe.
For a moment he was struck by how just that little decision could yet make a huge difference. If he was wrong, he increased the man's risk of dying while in transit. The Lumwe was a state of the art Alliance hospital ship, true, but hospital ships could carry only so much medical gear or staff. It was the difference between a point five percent chance of death and a one percent chance - still low, low enough to be considered safe, but double his chance of dying compared to the Field Hospital with its greater number of medical support staff (not counting Zimmerman's impending holographic doctors).
On the other hand, if he kept the man needlessly and the planet was subjected to an attack…
"It is going to be interesting, being posted to a vessel again," Chakwas said, taking Leo out of his thoughts. He looked over at the older woman as she examined a sixteen year old boy. Another orderly was already bringing up Leo's next patient, a twenty-five year old female.
"Oh? What kind?"
"A new frigate," Chakwas replied. "It's from a joint project with the Turians. The Normandy."
"From what I've heard, your frigates are just as spartan as our attack ships," Leo noted.
"Yes, but it will still come with the best medical gear we can equip it with." Chakwas smiled. "And the crew is going to be rather small. Just a few dozen people. I won't have much of a staff, maybe a nurse and an orderly, but I'll get to know the crew more easily."
That drew a nod of agreement from Leo as he finished the last scan on his current patient, the twenty-something woman. Her paled skin had a brown tint to it, and her features made Leo think she was Latin American mestizo, or perhaps straight up Native American. Healed internal injuries, lingering malnutrition… and something Leo hadn't expected to see. "Doctor Chakwas, what do you make of this?" WIth a tap on his omnitool Leo projected the data over to hers.
Chakwas looked down at the amber hard-light surrounding her left forearm, a contrast to the blue used for the Alliance's new omnitools, and examined the readings he sent. Her expression changed to one of shock. "How was that missed…?"
The girl looked up and asked something. It wasn't in English, but Leo's translator device kicked in and gave him the proper translation: "What is it?"
"You're pregnant," Leo answered.
His patient's eyes widened in shock.
"It looks like she's about six to eight weeks along," Chakwas confirmed. "That would put the time of conception somewhere between three to five weeks before the camp was liberated."
It was clear that the woman had no idea of her condition. She stared off into space with a resigned look. As if the universe, or multiverse, was out to hurt her personally.
Leo had a sick, terrible feeling in his stomach. For form's sake, he asked a question he was sure had an unhappy answer. "Do you know where the father is? Do you want us to find him?"
The answer was a single word that confirmed Leo's suspicions. "No."
Leo looked back to Chakwas. "With her physical condition, pregnancy is dangerous."
"I know. But I can't justify leaving her here." Chakwas walked over and took the girl's hand. "I'll see to it that her condition is noted and I will assume control of her treatment. She'll be fine, Doctor Gillam."
Leo could see Chakwas was convinced. He nodded. "Okay." He cleared the patient for transfer to the Lumwe and went on to the next. "I wonder how we missed that?"
"The first medical teams examining the Retzoff survivors were exhausted by the time I got here two weeks ago," Chakwas pointed out. "I'll have to look on her chart, but I suspect we'll find that one of the younger physicians was responsible. He or she was exhausted, sleep-deprived…"
"It's easy to make a mistake then," Leo agreed. "Especially with emotions as they'd be, seeing that camp for the first time. And maybe, if it was one of the non-Human doctors, they might have not recognized the earliest stage of Human pregnancy."
"Also possible." Chakwas was already at work on her next patient. "Practicing medicine inevitably leads to moments that can leave a physician emotionally compromised. Practicing medicine in this situation, seeing these people…" Chakwas shook her head. A grim look crossed her face, drawn and tired as it looked. "I can't help but wonder what went through the minds of the camp's medical staff. We know they had one. How could a doctor taught to heal accept such widespread abuse?"
"No one is ever the villain in their own eyes," Leo said. He was already scanning the next patient. This one, a male of somewhere between sixteen and twenty, had a thousand yard stare and an expression that bordered on catatonia. Leo touched the young man's shoulder and said, "You're doing just fine. And you're never coming back to this place." Once an orderly moved the patient on, Leo continued to speak to Chakwas. "As far as those SS doctors are concerned, their obligation to medicine begins and ends with what the SS and its leaders says it is."
"Those men aren't real doctors," Chakwas hissed.
"We know that, but they think they are." Leo shook his head. "There's the scary thing about this kind of thing, about Nazism and all of the other systems like theirs. They twist and corrupt everything, every institution, every occupation, to accept their cruelty. Doctors aren't immune to it. Nobody is. It's why we have to win this war."
They finished their current pair of patients. While the ward wasn't empty, it was clear they had reduced the population of the ward by a significant amount.
"I'd better get my bags," Chakwas said. She extended a hand toward Leo. "Take care, Doctor Gillam. I look forward to seeing you again sometime."
"Good luck on your new posting, Doctor Chakwas," Leo answered.
Jarod, Lucy, and Tom Barnes gathered in the Standard Care Ward for the test. "I hope this is worth all of the time and work we put into it," Barnes muttered.
"Hold on, it's Zimmerman." Jarod keyed his omnitool. Zimmerman appeared on the screen it was projecting, clearly back on the Lexington. "Doctor?"
"I've completed the testing at the other sites," said Zimmerman. "How is your progress?"
"I was just about to turn it on," Jarod said.
"Then, by all means, do so."
Hiding his slight irritation at Zimmerman's ego, Jarod looked up. "Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram program."
A holographic figure formed from nothingness, clad in a Starfleet uniform with medical blue on the shoulders. Jarod was not the least bit surprised to see that the figure was the striking image of Zimmerman himself. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency," the hologram stated.
"This is a hardware test," Lucy said.
"Ah. Of course." Much to the surprise of the others there was a hint of impatience and irritation at this fact in the hologram's voice. "And how, precisely, did you intend to test me?"
"Let's start with a standard medical scan," Zimmerman said.
"Okay, start with me," said Lucy.
The EMH picked up a Starfleet medical tricorder from a nearby rack. He pulled the scanner piece from the end of it and ran it over Lucy, from head to stomach, while looking at the display. "No medical issues detected. All organs functioning properly. Body mass is well into acceptable levels. Congratulations, young lady, you are the picture of health. Although I am noticing an above-normal level of stress indicators."
"I've been in a hospital full of concentration camp survivors for two days," Lucy replied. A frown crossed her face.
"Ah. And there are some peculiarities in your body's bio-electric levels. I recommend you get a full workup to identify the cause of the issue."
"Let's see one more scan," Zimmerman said. "And allow the EMH to select his subject."
"Right."
The EMH nodded to Zimmerman and Jarod and looked between him and Barnes. The latter crossed his arms and frowned when the EMH turned his tricorder toward him.
"Well. Hrm. I'm reading glucose levels above recommended levels, and quite a few chemicals in your digestive system… what precisely have you been imbibing?"
"Soda," Barnes answered. He held up his canteen. "Pop."
The EMH scanned the canteen. An expression of disgust came to his face. "Sir, I must recommend you get rid of that substance immediately. Remove it from your diet."
"Leo's been on me for years to cut back on soda, and it didn't work for him either," Barnes retorted. "So why don't you go frak…" He stopped at seeing Jarod's intent look. "Right, a test."
"Well, if you want to go on poisoning yourself, that's fine by me."
Lucy shook her head. "Okay, this thing is way too acerbic. Are we really going to inflict its personality on these people? They've suffered enough."
"I may make some tweaks to the personality algorithms," Zimmerman conceded.
"What about the ethics programming, Doctor?" Jarod was looking at the screen with concern. "This thing had no problems blurting out medical information about Lieutenant Lucero and Lieutenant Barnes. That's not ethical in medicine."
Zimmerman fidgeted. "Yes, well, that may be an artifact of the testing mode. He has to demonstrate his knowledge and ability as a medical doctor, and that means speaking about what he is examining."
"Sounds like a pretty damned bad bug if you ask me," Barnes grumbled. "I wouldn't want to be treated by this thing."
"I'll have you know that I am composed from the medical knowledge of Starfleet's finest doctors," the EMH protested. "My ability to make accurate medical judgements is unequaled."
"And that might be the only thing you're good for, you frakking…"
"Okay, the test is done," Jarod said, interrupting them. "Computer, disengage EMH."
The holographic counterpart of Zimmerman faded away into thin air.
"I'll get to work on final coding updates," Zimmerman said. "I should have them for you before the Lexington departs tomorrow."
"Thank you. Jarod out."
"Well, at least we're done with that," Barnes sighed. "I just want to get back to my real job."
"You said it," Lucy sighed.
There was something in her voice that told Jarod she was being the most affected by what they were dealing with. With her abilities, Jarod wasn't surprised. She could sense the misery and fear and loss from the camp survivors directly. He wondered, briefly, if she felt such things like they actually belonged to her in the first place?
"Well, we'd better finish up down here," said Jarod. "Let's run some more equipment tests before we call it a day."
Robert was finishing up daily paperwork in his office when he got the call. Admiral Drelini appeared. The Dorei woman, one of the Alliance's best field admirals and commander of the 9th Fleet, went right to business. "The Reich has launched a counter-offensive adjacent to your current sector. They appear to be attempting to retake the Pleiades Cluster and their major colonies on Alpina and New Westphalia."
Robert nodded. It explained some of his nervousness lately, the feeling of something being about to happen, which was common enough when you were on the front of a war. "Do you need anything from the Aurora?"
"We need to make sure all civilian vessels are gone from the area of New Brittany. Issue an immediate Level One evacuation order. All non-combat ships are to jump to safety elsewhere, regardless of previously-planned destination. As soon as this operation is complete I want you to withdraw the Aurora to rendezvous with the Epaminondas Battle Group at Delta Korva. We'll need every available combat ship for the counter-attack."
"We'll get on that immediately, Admiral. Dale out." Robert immediately hit the intercom key on his desk. "Bridge, we just received an evacuation order from Command. I want all medical personnel and patients evacuated from the Field Hospitals immediately. Bring all transporters online and have Koenig launch to assist the evacuation. Launch our runabouts too if you must."
"Acknowledged, Captain," Jupap replied.
Robert got up from his seat and went out to the bridge. "Go to Code Yellow and standby for shields," he ordered, and the officers present went to work on it. Julia, Angel, and Cat were the only senior officers on the bridge given all of the officers sent down to New Brittany or off-duty. Julia moved over to her chair while Robert assumed his. "Put the fighters on standby."
"Is it bad?" asked Julia.
"The Nazis are striking toward Pleiades," Robert replied. "Drelini wants an evacuation of non-combat personnel from New Brittany."
"Incoming signal from the Lexington," said Jupap.
"Put Ben Zoma on."
The Starfleet captain appeared on the screen. "We've heard of your evacuation order, Captain," Ben Zoma stated. "I've ordered my transporter crews to assist. We'll take on as many patients and medical staff as we can."
"Thank you, Captain." Robert nodded. "Your help is apprec-".
Before he could finish, Caterina spoke up. "Captain, I've got warp signatures on long range sensors," she said. "They're consistent with anti-matter pulse drives."
Robert turned away from Ben Zoma's image to face Cat. Julia did the same. "What's their course, Lieutenant?"
Cat was already making that determination. And the answer was easy to guess given the look on her face. "They're on their way here. They'll be in range in about forty minutes."
"They must be racing in at maximum warp to get here that fast," Julia observed.
Robert was already turning back to Ben Zoma. "Did you get that, Captain?"
"Yes," he answered. "We have already commenced the evacuation."
"We're doing the same. I want to get you and the hospital ships out of here before the enemy enters range."
"Have your science officers keep a close eye on their short-range sensors," Julia added. "They might have sent cloaked attack ships ahead of their main force."
"We're already running regular sensor sweeps. I will keep you informed if we find anything."
Robert returned to his seat. By the time he did so Ben Zoma's image was gone from the holo-viewscreen. "We'll need to do the same. Jupap, set the jump drive for…" He considered his options for a moment. "...Charing Station, C502. We'll start jumping hospital ships out if we need to."
"Doing so now."
"The evacuation?" he asked Julia.
She nodded back after checking her station. "Already underway."
That was it for the moment. All they could do was watch and wait.
The short timetable being given for the evacuation had made one thing abundantly clear: they were not going to get everyone out.
Leo hated that thought. If the planet fell to the enemy, the hospital patients would go right back to the inhumane conditions the Nazis had kept them in, if they weren't murdered out of hand. But they just didn't have the time to get everyone out. Especially Critical and Intensive Care patients, who were in delicate, even fragile, conditions that defied the use of transporters or shuttle flights. They were left with no choice at the moment but to focus on getting the more-stable patients to safety.
The chaos in the Standard Care Ward was barely contained as patients were secured to their beds and rolled out. A babble of frightened and uncertain voices threatened to overwhelm the necessary verbal communication between doctors and orderlies that kept the evacuation going. Leo finished securing straps to keep a middle-aged woman secure on her bed even as she weakly resisted. "No," she pleaded. "Please."
"This is for your own safety," Leo assured her. "They'll come off as soon as you're on a ship."
"No… I don't want to be tied down," continued the protest.
"I promise you, it's just to keep you from falling off, they will come off once you're safely on a ship." Leo could say no more as an orderly, a Tellarite volunteer, came along and began pushing the bed away. He moved on to his next patient.
"How is it going?" Leo looked to his left. Franklin was now standing beside him.
"I think we can clear the Standard Ward," Leo answered. "Where's Doctor Jankowski?"
"He's already on the Halwell. I'm going up to the Renari with the next evacuation load."
Leo frowned. "Who's staying behind to watch the patients we can't get out?"
"T'Perro and Crusher have volunteered." Franklin had a guilty look on his face. The unspoken fact is that he would have done the same if he could, but he was undoubtedly operating under orders from Earthdome to vacate the front if he was at risk of death or capture. "With a small staff."
"I'll stay too," Leo said.
"Are you sure about that? Two doctors will be…"
"...not nearly enough, and you know that," Leo pointed out. He nodded to an orderly to move his next patient onward.
And Franklin did know it. Just as Leo knew that this was dangerous, one of the most dangerous decisions he'd ever made. There were only so many friendly troops on the planet, there was no telling how many enemy troops would be landing, and no telling when, or if, the Alliance could return in force. His own survival was much more likely if he agreed to evacuate.
But that was something Leo simply couldn't do. Even thinking about it brought that poor fourteen year old in Intensive Care back to his mind. She, and many others, would live or die based on his decisions in the coming hour.
"Okay," Franklin said. "I'll inform the others."
"He's going to what?!"
Leo's decision, relayed by Jarod, made Robert want to beam down and knock sense into his friend. "He does know there's no telling when we can get back to get him out, right?"
"He knows," Jarod replied.
"Don't tell me you're all staying with him," Julia sighed.
"Of course not. You need us up there. We're preparing to beam back up as soon as the last evac shuttle launches."
Once the channel cut Robert shook his head. "He's being stubborn," he grumbled.
Julia replied with a nod. "I know. And at the same time, he's doing something he is convinced is right."
"Yeah."
"Cat, status on those Nazi ships coming in?"
"Eighteen minutes out," Cat answered. I've been analyzing the warp signatures' power source. It's not good news."
"How many ships?"
"Somewhere between eight to ten." She looked at him with clear worry on her face. "And one of them is a dreadnought."
"If that's true, we'll need the Epaminondas and her battle group to retake the planet," Julia said.
"Assuming that's where Relini wants us."
"I'm staying too."
Jarod and Barnes looked at Lucy as she said those words. Neither sighed or reacted negatively to her announcement. Both understood it. "Keep an eye on Leo's back then?" Jarod asked.
"Of course," she said. "I'll keep an eye on him. If we can get out on our own, we will. If not…"
"We'll be back for you," insisted Barnes.
"Only five minutes until those Nazi ships make orbit." Jarod's hand movements brought the blue light of his omnitool to life. He tapped the hard-light key for his comms. "Jarod to Aurora, two to beam up. Lieutenant Lucero is staying."
"Understood, Commander. Transport is imminent."
Lucy nodded and swallowed. She had the feeling she needed to be here, to help Leo and the others survive, but that didn't mean she was eager to be stuck on a planet full of Nazis. If Meridina had beamed down, she would feel a whole lot better about this…
This won't be the first time you've been in a fight without her, Lucy reminded herself. You can do this. You did this on Gamma Piratus, and you're even better now.
That was the thought she kept in her head even as Jarod and Barnes were pulled away by twin columns of light.
The minutes continued on. One by one the various civilian ships in orbit - cargo ships and hospital ships - made the jump to warp. Some of the planetary elite fled in interstellar-capable yachts, clearly hoping to escape the fighting and any Nazi revenge should the planet fall back to their hands.
Jarod stepped onto the bridge. "Tom's already on his way to the Koenig," he said, making a beeline for Ops. Jupap immediately relinquished the post and went to his backup post along the starboard side of the bridge at Communications. Nick Locarno had already reported to the helm, meaning the entire bridge crew was now gathered.
"Where's Lucy?" Julia asked.
"She decided to stay with Leo and watch his back," Jarod answered. "So did Nasri."
"I hope General Chaganam has his troops ready to protect that hospital," Robert murmured.
Julia looked over at a data screen. "It looks like he's got the Turians' 8th Regiment and a division of Dorei troops in the area. A regiment of the Free Worlds Legionnaires is going to hold New Rennes. A hundred or so freelance mercenaries." A slight smirk crossed Julia's face. "I wonder if Massani is down there."
Before Robert could ask who she was talking about, Cat spoke up. "Enemy ships coming out of warp."
As she spoke, the holographic tactical map by Julia lit up. The planet dominated the picture while eight angry red markers now blipped into existence. Robert frowned. The enemy had come out of warp in a position to try and pin them against New Brittany. Whomever it was, they didn't want the Aurora and the other ships to escape.
"Not just any Reich ships," Julia murmured, now looking at the holo-viewscreen. Robert did the same thing and frowned, recognizing the familiar dark coloring adorning the Reich warships instead of the customary gunmetal gray.
"The SS," he said. As he did so, his mind went back over two months to 452TD and the Nazi trap during the failed raid operation. SS ships showed up at the end to try and trap us too. He felt a sudden suspicion that the timing of that attack had not been a matter of luck.
"The dreadnought's IFF code is reading as the Baldur von Schirach," Jarod said. "It was one of the ships heavily damaged at the Battle of New Pommern three months ago."
Before Robert could inquire further, a voice came from the bridge speakers. "This is Captain Gilaad Ben Zoma of the Federation Starship Lexington to Reich warships. As the Federation is militarily neutral in this conflict and my ship is here for medical and humanitarian operations only, I must formerly request that you…"
The Nazis, unsurprisingly, didn't even let the Starfleet captain finish his pro forma request. Robert suspected even Ben Zoma knew they wouldn't, but went through the motions to leave no doubt in the Federation as to what occurred.
The Schirach fired its bow super-disruptor assembly into the Nebula-class ship's shields. The large green energy beams slammed savagely into the blue energy shields protecting the Federation starship. The Lexington's shields bore the blast without failing. "Their shields are down to thirty-two percent," Jarod said.
"Link us with Ben Zoma. We're going for the weak spot in their formation." Robert looked to Julia. "Combat launch the Koenig."
Julia nodded. She knew how he thought, that he hadn't wanted to risk the Koenig being crippled if he could avoid it, but the situation would require the extra firepower to make sure they all got out. "Koenig is combat launching," she confirmed. Although no one could see it directly, everyone could image the sight of the attack ship forcefully decoupling itself from the airlock and flying backward from its protective dock in the back of the primary hull. "The other ships are signaling readiness to follow our lead."
Robert was already looking over his tactical display. The Aurora and Lexington were joined by a Dorei starbird, two Colonial Confederation destroyers, and a wing of Turian frigates supporting their ground troops. "Hold the Colonial and Turian ships back to protect the remaining civilians as best as they can. I want that starbird with us to blow away that Nazi cruiser." He identified a Nazi ship anchoring the enemy formation over the North Pole of New Brittany. "Let's go!"
Even by this point shots were being exchanged with the Nazi ships. The fire grew furiously as the Aurora and her ad hoc formation plunged toward the enemy. The enemy superdreadnought fired again, this time skimming the shields of the Aurora near one of her nacelles. Indeed, it quickly became obvious that the bulk of enemy fire wasn't at the helpless civilian ships or their lighter protectors, it was at the Aurora. We're the target, Robert realized. They're after us. Maybe this whole operation is after us.
At Angel's command, azure and amber energy lashed out at their foes, joined by the furious amber energy pulses coming from the Koenig's pulse phaser cannons. The enemy cruiser ahead took the hits on the shields and kept firing back. The Lexington joined in on the attack with her phasers and a barrage of photon torpedoes. The Dorei starbird beside them fired purple-hued plasma cannons into the enemy light cruiser adjacent to their main target, causing red shields to flare while silver-white solar torpedoes from the Alliance-affiliated ships smashed against both targets.
The range grew close, and Robert was afraid the enemy cruiser might very well ram them to stop them, but as they approached the last kilometer Angel's fire found its mark. Thick pulses of sapphire energy from the Aurora's pulse plasma cannon battery hammered down the shields of the enemy Sedan-class cruiser and began blasting into the armored hull. As a spread of solar torpedoes threatened to break the enemy ship in half, the phasers and photon torpedoes on the Lexington found their targets in the enemy ship's drive section. The SS cruiser was reduced to flaming debris as the Aurora and the other ships flew past.
They didn't get away unscathed. Missiles from the other enemy ships converged on one of the Colonial Confederation destroyers until its shields nearly disappeared. A thick emerald beam from a second enemy heavy cruiser moving up behind them speared the rear engine section and blew the destroyer apart. "Missiles inbound on the Serene Care," Jarod said. "She's trying to evade but…"
Robert could only watch in horror as missile after missile found the hospital ship, carrying thousands of sick and wounded patients and medical staff with her crew. Her shields took the hits with bursts of blue light. But with more shots incoming there was no way they could get to warp before taking a deadly blow. One missile hit finally found hull, blowing debris from the rear of the ship. Another missile came in, looking very much like a kill shot…
....and struck the Turian frigate that threw itself in front of the beleaguered hospital ship. The mass effect shields, backed by deflector shielding, absorbed the first missile and then another.
But they couldn't absorb the super-disruptor blast from the enemy superdreadnought. The thick emerald beam speared the Turian ship and blew it apart. The same beam grazed the hospital ship, sending more flame and debris from its wounded hull.
"Serene Calm reports that their warp systems are damaged, they're not sure they can make it to warp."
"We're on it," Zack's voice said. The Koenig swept in above the hospital ship. A ribbon of blue light emerged from the ventral hull of the attack vessel and gripped the bow of the Serene Calm. "We've got them in tow. IU jump in three, two, one…"
The Koenig created a swirling green vortex of light in front of it and pulled the larger Serene Calm into the vortex as more fire converged on their location. They were gone mere seconds before another disruptor shot struck the vortex wall with enough energy to violently collapse the jump point.
One by one, the remaining friendly ships jumped to warp speed. The Aurora and Lexington waited until they were all gone before they did the same. "Any sign of pursuit?" Julia asked.
Caterina took a moment to respond. "No. I'm not reading them going to warp. It looks like they know they can't catch us."
"They could catch the hospital ships," Jarod pointed out. He turned in his chair and looked at Robert and Julia with a furrowed brow. "But not us."
"And we're the ones they're after," Robert said. "452TD, now this… That has to be the reason."
"We'll report this to Maran." Julia couldn't keep the worry off her face for another reason. "And hopefully, we'll be going back soon to get Leo, Nasri, and Lucy back."
"Hopefully," Robert agreed.
On the bridge of the von Schirach, Fassbinder watched with irritation as the Aurora successfully escaped into warp.
"The enemy ships are out of range." The report was from one of the bridge officers.
"Did the enemy abandon their ground troops?" asked Oberführer Wolfgang Schiller, the dreadnought's commander.
"Ja. I am reading troop concentrations around New Rennes and Renardville. The enemy is generating a theater shield covering both sites."
"They will not endure our firepower for long. Prepare for orbital bombardment."
Fassbinder felt a wave of irritation at that. Schiller was being impatient. He spoke up immediately. "Herr Oberführer, with all respect, our orders are to preserve the planet."
"Why? The Bretons aren't Aryans anyway." Schiller's expression showed his frustration. "We need our troops for other worlds."
"Our orders came directly from Oberst-Gruppenführer Kranefuss. The planet must be taken intact. The Reich needs its food supplies untouched."
Schiller's face briefly twisted into anger before he restored control of himself. "I do not recall asking for your 'advice', Standartenführer. I do not need you to tell me how to run my ship!"
Fassbinder bristled at having his place questioned. But he could not afford a fight with Schiller. "My apologies, Oberführer, I overstepped my bounds."
Mollified, Schiller returned his gaze back to the screen. "If not for the illustrious Oberst-Gruppenführer, I would already be bombing this wretched planet to rubble. But I am aware of them and will follow them. Comms, inform Gruppenführer Fischer that we are ready to deploy his troops."
"Jawohl."
Fassbinder waited for another moment before saying, with great care, "With your permission, Oberführer, I will leave to join our landing forces."
"Very well. Make sure I am kept informed."
"Jawohl."
"You are dismissed."
With that permission, Fassbinder left the bridge to find transport down to the planet.