Mission Briefing (aka how to be an interstellar taxi service)

Posted on Thu Dec 12, 2013 @ 7:34pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

4,037 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: A Whole New World, Part 2 - Durbatuluk
Location: USS Victory
Timeline: 62538.943 {Wed, 05 Dec 2384 12:45}

[Briefing Room, 1240 hrs]

Entering the briefing room at about 1240, with five minutes to spare Lt. Samantha Raylen took advantage of the open replicator to get a glass of iced tea with lemon, and then a prime spot at the table. Other staff officers were starting to arrive, and she smiled to herself.. feeling a little smug to have beaten Miguel to the briefing room for once.. instead of arriving just before the Captain did for once.

He wouldn't be able to tease her this afternoon at least!

Chief Barnes stepped into the briefing room, not surprised at all to see he wasn't the first to arrive. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant," he greeted, taking a seat at the opposite end of the table.

Sam smiled at the Chief as he arrived, giving him a nod as she answered "Good afternoon Chief.."

Miguel walked into the briefing room and walked over to the replicator. "Extra large Raktajino, extra sweet." he ordered. When the large cup materialized he took a large swig. He immediately felt it's effects kicking in, effects that after his all nighter in the lab he really needed. He then went to go to his seat only to see Raylen sitting there already. He almost let out a growl but just went to one of the other empty chairs and waited for what was next.

As he'd opted to sit somewhat across from her, Sam smirked happily at him and then gave him a light nudge of her boot against his. "You look like something a cat dragged in.. Stayed up all night in the lab with your new toy I take it?" she asked.

He lifted his mug and took a gulp "That I did." As he started to feel more of his senses come back he noticed Chief Barnes. "Afternoon Chief." Miguel greeted.

"Good afternoon, Commander," Thomas replied, taking note of the distance between them. He would be the only enlisted person in the room. Though he had spent time with officers before, his interactions were mostly limited to comings and goings in the transporter room. This was going to be a unique experience for him.

"Here's hoping that Raktajino keeps you awake," Sam told the Engineer. "I doubt the Captain will be amused if you start snoring in the middle of the briefing.."

"If it can't, then I'll have to ask the doc to make something stronger than Klingon coffee to keep me awake for the next few days." he told her as he drank some more of his coffee. "And I don't snore." he added.

Sam just grinned at him over her glass of tea, the Chief Engineer most certainly did snore.. as everyone who had worked long shifts with him during the refit when he'd often take a nap in his office could confirm.

Miguel looked at his assistant and noticed the grin on her face. She had to have been thinking about the 'snoring' that some of the crew would hear when he was napping. Oh if only they knew the truth about that. How their boss was such a prankster that he actually programmed some rather believable snoring into the computer to play while he napped. Of noise never bothered him since he would use ear plugs to cancel the sounds. One of these days he'd have to grow up.... one of these days, but not today.

Alec entered next, he saw the small group already assembled, "Good afternoon everyone." Then with a smile he addressed Miguel, "How's it going with Frank?" (His pet name for the robot they had brought back from the alien ship) "I know you have to be like a kid with a new toy."

"Frank is a rather interesting piece of technology. Not much is left of him of course. But right now we're mapping his power relays to see if we can find out where his power core was. The computer is analyzing the metal he was made of trying to track down how it was made. So far from what we can see the alloy wasn't forged by any means we're familiar with." Miguel told the XO as he took another gulp of his drink of choice. It was at that moment he noticed the new pip on Hunter's collar. "And congratulations... Commander." Miguel said as he lifted up his coffee in a toast.

"If anyone can solve his mysteries, it's you. I'm sure of it." Hunter then added, "Thank you Miguel. It was definitely unexpected."

Yarin trudged into the conference room, his skin a deep green color, four of his six eyes were closed and he had his two upper hands on his temples. he walked very slowly towards the replicator. "Nanander." he said gruffly, he then sent out a broad telepathic message to all those present in the room. Please do not attempt to converse with me until i have had my drink. He then sat down and hoped that the rest of this day would go better.

Alex dragged into the conference room, not even certain he was actually supposed to be there but too sleep deprived to care. After pulling the extra shift to get the new astrometrics data uploaded he'd told himself to go to sleep, but instead stayed up pouring over some sensor readings on the alien ship with nothing of real interest to show for it. "Good morning." He said quietly and to no one in particular as he sat heavily into a chair next to Sam.

"Good afternoon.." Sam answered as she looked over Alex's even more bedraggled appearance than Miguel's. "Wow.. didn't anyone ever tell you guys that sleep is one of those things which is generally considered necessary to stay out of Sickbay?" she asked. "When the doc arrives she's going to take one look at the two of you and probably decide you both have some odd alien flu that requires hours of painful prodding, poking, and injections.."

"What is this 'sleep' you speak of?" Alex asked as he glanced sideways at Sam with a tired grin.

She just laughed a little, "Something you evidently need more of.."

"This is the only cure I need for sleep." Miguel said as he took another gulp of his Raktajino. In truth he was already feeling more awake. He was even starting to verbally spar with Sam, a clear sign that he was returning to his normal self.

"That's because you're addicted to the stuff." Alec teased the CEO. If you ever need a transfusion, that's what their going to use."

Alex went to pick up his own mug of coffee and agree with the Chief Engineer only to realize he'd forgotten it somewhere. He'd also brought the wrong PADD. He definitely needed more sleep, but he'd add that to his to-do list.

Nicole walked in, black bag in hand as always while her other hand was replacing her flask back in her breast pocket. As she walked by Alec she slowed, her nostrils flaring. Her eyebrows bobbed as she resumed her pace to her seat and she stifled a smile. She sat down in her chair and nodded to the others. "Afternoon," she said. "If you all got the sleep I did last night, you have my pity."

"Oh, another member of the 'I don't sleep club' arrives. How come you didn't get any sleep Doc? Sickbay unusually busy?" Alec wondered.

"Somewhat," she said. "And I was up trying to further analyze the mystery murk we've recovered from that ship. It's like drinking something common with a 'secret ingredient' that you can't begin to identify."

Thomas sat quietly, observing the interaction between the officers. It was behavior he expected from enlisted personnel. He was used to some flippancy from officers coming to and fro the transporter room. After all, everyone in the room thus far was human, and this level of candor was to be expected from individuals that knew each other well. Perhaps his surprise was unnatural and this really was common from officers. He was the outsider here, but Thomas knew the more time he spent with the Senior Staff of the Victory, the more perhaps he would feel welcome and bold enough to contribute.

Despite his excited feelings merely an hour ago, the only thing Resh felt now, on his way to the conference lounge, was nervous. On a new ship with a new captain and crew, he didn't know quite what to expect. Captain sh'Lorn on the Kumari kept things fairly relaxed, but Resh knew there were some captains in Starfleet who were very strict about decorum. Without much to go on, he decided to err on the side of caution and assume Captain Kennit was one of them. So before walking through the door, he did a quick check over his uniform and stood up straight as he could. As he entered he saw that the captain hadn't yet arrived, so he turned to Commander Hunter and said, "Ensign Resh th'Cham, reporting for the mission briefing as ordered, sir."

"Oh if that isn't the cutest," Nicole said, barely audibly, her chin resting on her palm, elbow on the table and eyes crinkling with amusement.

Not quite catching what Anderson said, Alec resisted an urge to look at the CMO. Instead he looked at the officer standing in front of him. "Welcome aboard the Victory, Ensign. I'm Commander Hunter, the Victory's XO. And these are......" he started as the Briefing Room doors opened.

The doors to the Briefing Room opened once again, this time it was the Captain who entered. Giving a quick nod to those present, as she walked towards her place at the head of the table she said "Good afternoon.. thank you for being prompt. This briefing shouldn't take too long as our mission orders are fairly straight-forward." Sitting down, she said "First.. as we have two new officers joining us, lets go around the room with introductions shall we?" she asked with a smile. "I'll start. I'm Captain Kennit, commanding officer of this fine ship and quite proud of the exceptional crew we have. Welcome aboard.." she said to the three new officers.

Blackburn had remained silent, taking in each of the gathered officer's looks, body language, and conversations as was a habit she had picked up so far in her time with Starfleet Intelligence. Taking the captain's cue, she nodded and stood. I'm Lieutenant Junior Grade Nina Blackburn, your new Chief Intelligence Officer. She then promptly took her seat again to allow the next officer to introduce themselves.

"I'm Commander Hunter, ship's Executive Officer." Alec said to the other new officer.

"Doctor Anderson," Nicole said, still amused but nodding professionally, "Chief Medical Officer."

"Chief Barnes," Thomas chimed in, looking to the Cardassian and the Andorian. "Transporter Specialist and Chief of the Boat."

"Miguel Torres, Chief Engineer." Miguel said with a nod.

Alex mustered up a not-so-tired smile. "Lieutenant Volos, Stellar Cartography."

Temek had managed to slip into the conference room and take a seat quietly, but listening to the introductions, he decided to just jump in. "Thank you all for the warm welcome. I'm Ensign Temek Dakar. I'm thrilled to join your crew."

And with that, the Captain said "All right, now that we all know one another's names it is time to get down to business. As you are no doubt aware, we have new orders from Starfleet. We have been ordered to respond to a request from the Ráeru Protectorate; a collection of 9 worlds who have entered into a friendly, but restrained agreement with the Federation to provide transport for Heru Imlad, Leader of a powerful religious order called the Naergon, which is viewed as the Foundation of the Ráeru culture."

She touched a control, bringing up a display of the Tarambar system as she said, "we will be traveling to the homeworld of the Ráeru Protectorate, known locally as Tarambar where we'll be taking Heru Imlad. Incidentally the word "Heru" is an honorific, there's a note here which indicates it is a term which is a combination of Father, Priest, and Lord, and his entourage, believed to be a group of 18, and 5 honor guards who protect a religious artifact which is used to carry the implements for the ceremony. We're going to need to provide proper quarters for our guests while aboard, and we will be taking aboard a load of food supplies being shipped to the colony to aid in recovery."

She paused. "Basically, we're going to play taxi." Another pause, then she asked "Any comments? Concerns?"

"I'll want the opportunity to have all the organic material scanned for allergens, bacteria and any other harmful kibbles and bits," Nicole said.

"I still don't see why Command couldn't have used another ship. Why us? Our time could have been in a better way." Alec spoke up.

"The Federation hopes to establish a solid relationship with these people," she answered. "The odds are, we're being sent to make a positive impression .. Somewhere there's a diplomatic officer who thought it would be a good chance to score a few favorable points in the political arena by sending us to help."

"Well if it's diplomacy they want, I'd like to request two weeks furlough," Nicole said, smirking.

"Let him or her come out here and take our place." Alec retorted. "That's their job."

"At least it shouldn't take too horribly long." Volos added. "Unless we're expected to keep the meter running until they wish to return home."

"Are there any environmental requirements that they may require for their quarters?" Miguel asked. If they did it was going to be cutting it close to get it ready for them.

"None that require special preparations," Kennit answered. "I believe they may be more comfortable with a higher temperature but that can be accommodated to suit each individuals preferences.."

Dakar took a deep breath. He was fully trained in shipboard security, of course, but most of his practical experience was more on the tactical side of the department. The fact that his first assignment on the ship would force him out of his comfort zone was probably a blessing in disguise. Eager to get to work, he turned toward the captain. "Will they have any special security requirements, or are we just going with a standard VIP setup?"

"There may be some additional security requests from the Ráeru contingent regarding the artifacts which they will be carrying to the Colony. I don't have any information other than that the artifacts for the ceremony are kept inside a special chest which is carved from a single block of a rare stone which holds additional significance to their culture. I don't know if they will request anything from us or if they will tend it themselves, we'll find out once we reach orbit at Tarambar."

Temek considered that. "We may want to consider temporarily emptying one of the enlisted barracks, one of the smaller ones, and putting the honor guard in there. It won't be quite as luxurious as the guest quarters, but it'll have enough room for all five of them and the artifact."

"That's a good idea," Kennit answered. "Work with Chief Barnes and Lt. Cmdr. Torres to get it done."

Thomas knew immediately which of the barracks could be emptied, and how many excess bunks he had in the other barracks. "I can find room for most of the displaced personnel, but I'll need accommodations for two NCOs. Can we have them bunk with a couple junior officers?"

"Whatever you need to do Chief," the Captain answered. "Though are you certain we don't have enough room in the VIP quarters section?" shaking her head, she said "It doesnt matter. Just make sure we've got somewhere for them to go once they're aboard."

"What kind of distance are we expecting the enlisted personnel to keep?" Thomas asked. He didn't want to deal with any immature behavior, though he didn't expect any, from the lowest levels of the enlisted ranks on board. Thomas mused they'd be busy maintaining the cargo and supplies anyway.

"Business as usual.." the Captain answered. "The Ráeru contingent will be allowed access to the mess hall, holodecks, observation lounge but I want them kept out of restricted areas. They are here as guests of the Federation, but they are not part of the Federation ..at least not yet so we'll treat them with all courtesy but make sure they stay out of areas where they don't belong."

"Given that they're a relatively new species for Federation contact, I'd like to suggest a full tour of Sickbay including a demonstration of what we do," Nicole said, her eyebrows bobbing.

"I'm not sure if they're ready for shaking and rattling of bones Doctor." Alec zinged. An amused smile on his face as he watched the CMO's reaction.

"Of course not," Nicole said archly. "I save those only for my select patients. I'll schedule you for a blood-letting this afternoon." She resisted the urge to lick her lips and instead narrowed her eyes.

Alec shook his head from side to side, his grin growing as the CMO narrowed her eyes, "Sorry to burst your bubble Doc. You will just have to keep the leeches in the jar. However that will give you time to practice your incantations and spells. I'm sure our guests would enjoy that."

"Would have Spectrum turn you into a sodding frog if she were here," Nicole muttered under her breath. What that woman saw in him... Nicole shook her head in wonderment and did her best to ignore him.

Resh sighed quietly to himself. Ferrying dignitaries... so much for exploring the frontier.

"Now now.." the Captain said. "It's not glamorous but it's our job and we'll do it. Once the ceremony is complete we'll bring them back to Tarambar and after that it's back to exploration. It's just a short trip.."

"Short trip." Ale repeated, "I hope you're right Captain. Don't want to make a career out of us playing taxi."

The Captain was struggling to keep a grin from her face as she leaned back in her seat. "No career as an interstellar taxi. . got it. All right.. any one have any other business to bring up?" she asked the gathered officers.

Nicole and Yarin shared a glance. "Captain," she said, "Mister Yarin and I have gone over the samples we've brought back from the ship and we've come to one irrefutable conclusion: we don't have a bloody clue." She sighed in frustration and ran a hand through her hair. "But so far, it doesn't seem to pose any threat to the ship, and I'd like permission to move the samples to Mister Yarin's lab where he can do more in-depth studies on the inorganic material." She looked at Yarin, giving him a chance to second it.

Yarin raised his head from his drink at the sound of his name, the migraine he had been suffering from was starting to subside. "It is true Captain despite our best efforts the inner working of the subject remain a mystery."

The Captain nodded, "Permission granted. Maintain security protocols at at all times and keep me up to date with your progress."

"Yes Ma'am," Nicole said. "I'll have the samples in a biocontainer and transported over once we're done."

"I worked with astrometrics," Alex remembered at the last minute. "Our star charts are now up to date with our scans from the system. Since then I've been looking over sensor readings of that ship and have yet to make much sense of it. I'm hoping to gang up on them with Raylen or Torres soon and see what we can come up with."

"Could you elaborate a bit Mr. Volos? What are you having trouble making sense out of?" Alec asked, wanting to get more particulars if he could.

"Warp engines leave a traceable warp trail, at least for a while, so that's where I started." Volos, like what seemed to be the rest of the crew, was tired, and was already considering making a digital model to explain what he was trying to say. Maybe after a nap. "Knowing the vessel definitely doesn't use a warp drive, the decay patterns make sense and the volume of the trail... well I don't have anything to compare it to. The problem is... there isn't really a trail at all. It's all..." he gestured around with his hands, making a sphere as he tried to explain. "It all seems to be clouded around the ship in a ball and I can't explain why, at least not yet."

"Like when a lehkuhmal'patam leaves a cloud of ink to confuse a predator and makes its escape?" Nicole said. She looked at the others then made an apologetic face. "Sorry, a cephalopod-like creature from my homeworld."

"Of course." Alec replied dryly to the CMO's comment. Then to Volos, "No trail? How is that possible? Do we even know the direction the alien ship was headed?"

Alex shook his head. "No, I don't know, and no. If this is from their engines it's like they were idling them. I don't know enough about the physics principles on which the engines work but I was hoping one of these two could help." He gestured at the Samantha and Miguel. "It's possible the material is somehow gets caught up in their spacial distortion and dropped out once they stop, it could actually be leftover from when their fusion reactor was last online and it's been here longer than we expect, or I could be completely wrong and this has nothing to do with their super-light travel."

"Well then," the Captain answered with a slight smile on her face. "That should keep you busy working on the data you have at hand while we're conveying the Ráeru contingent to their destination. No excuse for being bored.." she added, wagging the index finger of her right hand lightly as she finished speaking.

"Got it everyone?" Alec asked in an amused voice. "No getting bored. Orders are orders after all." he playfully continued. "Maybe we can charge the Raeru by the mile." He pondered.

"Tally ho," Nicole drawled.

Resh's antennae pricked up at the discussion. Maybe he'd get to do some interesting work on this mission after all. "Orders acknowledged sirs, but if I'm going to keep from getting bored, I'm going to need a look at those scans myself." Resh decided he'd also make a point to examine the Victory's recent mission logs to get some context on the mystery ship.

"Get with Mr. Volos or Mr. Yarin," the Captain answered. "They can get you whatever data you wish to review.."

The briefing had Blackburn's mind churning. She remembered a trick used by operatives operating in or near enemy territory. She had even used it once while aboard Starbase 171. "Have you considered that they were using a Warp Pulse tactic?" she asked, leaning forward, clasping her hands on the table.

Now that was something that got Miguel's attention. A warp pulse was a method whereby a starship could attain faster-than-light velocities by field-saturating the nacelles, firing the engines at maximum intensity and then disengaging them, allowing the ship to coast at warp speeds without actively employing the warp engines. "I don't think that's what this is.... but that is some out of the box thinking. I'd say it's worth looking into, just to see if that would be even possible long term." he said.

Alec nodded, " It is good thinking. " Though the fact that there is no warp residue is troubling." He looked at Miguel and Blackburn, "I have every confidence that we'll soon know what they did."

"Look into it..see what you find out.." the Captain added.

Alec said nothing, just looked around the room at the assembled officers. They knew their jobs and what was expected of them. They wouldn't disappoint.

After a moment, the Captain said "Is there anything else? If not.. then we have a job to do and some passengers waiting for us to arrive so that they can come aboard."

"Best taxi in Starfleet." Alec drawled.

 

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