The call from command wasn’t too helpful, though vague assurances of more support were made, the decision about what to do in response to the Ferengi was made far more simple though. Atleast that was something. The chat with the CO of Soval was more frank and to the point. The TF72 emissary ship would increase to their maximum warp and arrive within the hour instead of the next day. Incidently they’d arrive almost exactly as the time limit of Dergans ultimatum to the Ferengi elapsed.

The next comms call on the docket was to the Culver City. The Hoffmeister was currently on route to rendevous with Irrawaddy. There was still not further signs of aggression from the Ferengi, no communication either though.

“Captain K’Lev. I’m sure you’re aware of the incident that just occurred.” Tyler said from the co-pilots seat of one of the Blythe’s shuttles. A smear of ash was visible on one side of his forehead and the shoulder of his uniform showed signs of a plasma burn.

“Slivin told us that the Blythe was downed by a Ferengi shuttle, but that’s about it,” K’lev replied.  “It’s good to see you made it, captain.”

“We were able to evacuate everyone and alter our entry course to avoid causing a mass casualty situation on the ground in the Dergan capital district. What appears to have been a rogue Ferengi Sub-Daimon attacked us. Sadly he was able to destroy a few of our escape pods before the Slivin arrived on the scene. My chief engineer and one of the Klingon officers have come up with a way for us to detect which of these Ferengi shuttles has the illegal Breen weapons mounted on them whether they are activated or not. I am sending you coordinates of a nearby system we suspect that one of those shuttles may be operating it.” Tyler tapped a few button on his console and sent the info.

“Due to the seriousness of the risk of having vessels armed with that type of device, and the Ferengi’s actions here, command has authorized us to destroy any Ferengi shuttle we find that is armed with the device. Due to the devastatingly effective nature of the device, they have authorized invoking General Order 13.”

“Shoot on sight, sir?” K’lev, being new to the big chair, had actually brushed up on the General Orders a few times since taking over the Culver City.  General Order 13 was reserved for dire situations or used when hunting down the most dangerous criminals.

“Yes, Captain. Starfleet considers this a very measured and proportionate response to their aggression; whether it was a Ferengi Sub-Daimon acting on his own or not, we can’t allow them to be flying around the Expanse with that type of firepower.” Tyler finished.

K’lev nodded.  Though he didn’t say it aloud, invoking General Order 13 suited him just fine; it would both protect Blythe’s survivors – along with Slivin and Culver City themselves, from this dangerous weapon, and allow him to get back at the Consortium for the downing of Culver City’s sister ship.  “We’ve recieved the data, and we’ll get started right away.  We’ve also got an engineering team standing by, to help with stabilization and repairs; if you’d like, sir, we can go ahead and beam them down before we head off.”