Shakedowns and Shakeups
Posted on Wed Oct 30, 2019 @ 2:57pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Commander Cullen Walker & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers
5,482 words; about a 27 minute read
Mission:
Nibiru
Location: USS Victory, Docked at Starbase DQ8
(Note: This takes place four months after the end of the last mission)
Starbase DQ8
CIC
A soft alarm chimed from the communications board, and after setting down his cup of tea Ensign Vorath responded to the incoming message. "Starbase DQ8, this is U.S.S. Victory on final approach. We are requesting permission to approach and enter the docking bay."
The Vulcan officer responded "U.S.S. Victory, this is DQ8 Control. You are cleared for approach on vector alpha nine. Opening docking bay doors."
"Acknowledged DQ8. Approach vector alpha nine. U.S.S. Victory out."
Sending a message to Admiral Markus about the Victory's arrival, the Vulcan officer pulled up the external video display, curious to see the newest starship to enter Starfleet service as it dropped out of warp and began it's slow approach into the docking bay. The U.S.S. Victory, NCC-97571, was the fifth Enigma-class starship to enter service. Equipped with variable geometry nacelles, pioneered on the Charleston class, the Enigma was said to be one of fastest ships in the Fleet.
The Enigma-class was also well protected with Auto-Modulating Metaphasic Shielding. Weapons systems on the other hand were slightly scaled back, mostly due to power allocation needs, but for a ship of it's size the Enigma-class still carried quite a punch and was well-equipped to operate here in the Delta quadrant.
Even with her small size, the Enigma would, in the Vulcan's view, prove to be an effective explorer with a modern sensor suite and science facilities. With the battle fleet, the Enigma-class was an effective scout vessel, able to watch after herself with firepower enough to eliminate any threat its size or smaller and the speed to escape from larger vessels if necessary.
A flash of light drew his gaze, and on the screen the ship appeared as she dropped out of warp. Graceful, her long nacelles, sleek and streamlined hull made this ship a beautiful vessel to behold. Throughout the station, personnel lined up near viewports to get a look at her as she made her approach.
She was coming in with a temporary crew, engineers and personnel whose job was to handle the ships shakedown cruise on her way out to DQ8. Once she docked, they would begin work along side of her permanent crew, members of the last ship to carry the name Victory - damaged during battle with members of the Terran Empire, a surprise in and of itself.
Vorath was confident, the Victory's new crew were just as eager to see their new home as he was to watch the ship approach.
[Station Operations]
Admiral Alan Markus walked into the Operations Center and glanced at the monitors surrounding the room. Commanding a station was a vastly different experience from commanding a starship, but if he could run an empire, he could run a floating city in space. He watched as the new ship came into view and docked inside the station. He heard the clank of the docking clamps and watched the readouts as the ship was scanned.
"Make sure the ship is inspected by our people before it launches," he said to the crewman in front of him. "I don't want them saying we let them leave with the gas cap open."
"Aye, Sir," Ensign Fenway said as he brought up a scan of the ship's interior.
Markus felt a presence next to him and looked over to see a sandy-haired boy of about thirteen watching the new ship as well. "What do you think, Michael?"
"It looks...dangerous," Michael said.
"Is a rock dangerous?" Markus said.
Michael's brow furrowed at the unusual question. "No, a rock just lays on the ground."
"Until someone picks it up and throws it," Markus said. "A rock, a bat, a phaser. None of these things are dangerous without a person to wield them. That ship is only as dangerous as her crew."
"Oh," Michael said as he thought it over. "So is the crew dangerous?"
Markus smiled. "That depends on how you look at it." He turned and led Michael out of Ops, returning to his to-do list.
Walker had been on Station a few days. He didn't bother unpacking his ruck or his crates. He slept in temporary quarters, waiting because the Captain wanted to discuss his transfer with him. His uniform was clean and his steps focused and quiet as he made his way to a place where he could see the Victory dock.
The big ship gracefully entered the docking bay and then began a slow turn until her bow faced the still open docking bay doors. Then, with the assistance of a tug the ship slowly eased into position so that the docking clamps could lock on and hold her in place. Power cables snaked out and were attache by EVA suited workers, and a gangway was extended out to connect to the hull creating an airlock to allow personnel to travel to and from the starship with ease.
Over the next two weeks, personnel would be reporting aboard and getting to work in familiarizing themselves with the ship, as well as assisting with correcting any issues noted during the ship's initial shakedown cruise.
Eric weaved in between the crowd as he made his way towards the docking bay. He had watched the Victory pass by, first glance had left him with undeniable excitement at the prospect of serving on her. Still there was a ping of sadness at leaving his last assignment. “Are you sure you want to do this?” He remembered his CO asking him when he handed him a request to transfer. “I can’t stay here.” He had replied.
Eric snapped himself back to reality, the security check point was just up ahead. what had happen then was a closed chapter, his transfer had been approved and now he found himself on DQ8.
Eric readjusted his bag to a more comfortable position after passing through security and approached a corridor panel on the ship. He reached out to touch the panel “Computer. Recognize Ensign Eric Alexander, Security Investigations Officer. Requesting clearance and quarters assignment.”
The computer responded in the soft female voice. “Ensign Eric Alexander, Security Investigations Officer. Authorization approved. Quarters assignment on Deck 5, crew quarters 5A37.”
“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” Eric said to no one as he headed to his quarters.
Zack and Bryanna passed through security and entered the ship. They stopped at one of the corridor panels. Zack placed his hand on it. "Computer. Recognize Lieutenant Zack Logan, Chief Operations Officer. Requesting clearance and quarters assignment."
The ship's computer responded, the soft female voice gently answering, "Lt. Zack Logan. Chief Operations Officer. Authorization approved. Quarters assignment on Deck 3. Crew quarters 3A27."
Bry touched the panel. "Computer recognize Ensign Bryanna Wakeman, Stellar Cartography. Requesting clearance and quarters assignment."
The computer responded in the soft female voice. "Ensign Bryanna Wakeman, Stellar Cartography. Authorization approved. Quarters assignment on Deck 5. Crew quarters 5A45."
Bry looked at Zack. "I was hoping we'd be closer to each other. I am very disappointed." She wrapped her arm in his and they headed towards the nearest turbolift.
"I'll escort you to your quarters." Zack said.
"Such a gentlemen." she responded.
Walker got a ping on his tablet, "I guess it is time." He went to his temporary quarters and got his ruck and totes. He carried them to the ship. He went to the ship and touched the panel, "Commander Walker, Cullen Owainn. What is my Quarters Assignment?" His transfer said he would get a duty assignment after talking to the Captain.
"Commander Cullen Owainn Walker, voice identification verified. Quarters assignment, deck 3. Room 3A01." the computer told him.
Walker heard the names of the Officers ahead of him, "Logan! Wakeman! Wait up!" he called to them.
Zack and Bryanna stopped when they heard the commander call them.
Walker approached them. He put down his totes down and offered his hand, "Cullen Walker. I am either in Security or Operations. No one has told me yet. Apparently, the Captain wants to tell me herself. What about you two?"
Zack took the hand. "Lieutenant Zack Logan,,,chief of operations, sir."
Bryanna waited until Walker stopped shaking Zack's hand. "Ensign Bryanna Walkman, Stellar Cartography, sir." She new that Zack was now worried that this man was here to take his position.
Walker shook both hands, "I guess it isn't Operations." He grinned, "I am apparently the Captain's Mushroom. You know kept in the dark
My orders were degraded. They are trying to get a retransmission, but I would have been told if I was taking someone's post, so not Operations." He went to pick up his totes. "Nice meeting you. I have to go put my stuff away."
The turbolift stopped at deck 5 where Walkman's assigned quarters were. Zack turned to the commander, "I'm escorting the ensign to her quarters, commander." Bry and Zack stepped off the turbolift. "See you on the bridge, sir." As the doors closed. they started looking for Bry's quarters.
[Victory's bridge]
"The Victory has docked and several of her crew are already coming on board and checking in Captain." the officer at ops informed him.
Miguel stood up from the command chair. The only officer he was really waiting for was Rhea so he could turn command over to her. That is if the Admiralty was able to convince her to take command. He looked around this new bridge, which actually made him gag. What is it about designers that they always wanted to change what worked best. He could tell this was going to give some of the older officers some issues. He already had sent several suggestions for changes for future bridge modules. At least the chair was comfortable. But even with that he couldn't wait until Rhea was sitting in it and not him. "Let me know when Captain Kennit arrives, as well as whoever the new XO is." he ordered and then activated the intraship communications straight to engineering. "Sam, as our regular team starts coming on board start giving them the assignments we talked about. The first priority is to realign the plasma conduits so we can get the power efficiency above 97 percent," he told his assistant chief engineer. Even though he was serving as the ship's acting Captain he was still her chief engineer. And in the few weeks it took them to get here and even the couple of months they were at Starfleet being debriefed on the ship they had both noticed significant changes that needed to be made to get this new ship to it's max.
[Station Corridors]
Nicole had spent most of the day whittling down her honeydo list and was ready to call it a day, but the announcement that their new ship had arrived spurred her on to give it a once over before she went off duty. She stepped out of a turoblift into the corridor, two young children running by. "Sara, Gabrielle, slow down," she admonished. They stopped and looked at her and smiled, Sara apologized and they continued on.
Nicole shook her head at herself. She was becoming like her mother, admonishing the children of others, and walked down the corridor towards the docking ports. A short trip left her on Deck Five of the new ship, and she was already tallying in her head the things she'd need to have altered. When she stepped into Sickbay, however, she was beyond irritated.
Most Federation starships were carpeted. This was done for several reasons, some aesthetic, some practical. In sickbay, carpeting was essential for noise cancellation, proper traction underfoot and to help provide a calming atmosphere with neutral colors. The green tile that greeted her feet was the opposite of what was needed in every way. She listened as her uniform boots clacked on the hard surface and dreaded the thought of her entire staff walking around at once. Patients wouldn't be able to rest with all that racket, and she'd get no work done.
She walked over to a replicator, procured a padd and began making notes about what she would need. She had a feeling the list was going to be extensive.
Xander removed his dress jacket and tossed it aside as he and T'Mira entered his temporary office on the station. Over the course of their stay on the station Xander had been doing some diplomatic work. He'd hoped to get out of that but with the arrival of the new ship he was told that he'd be doing diplomatic work first and then being the ship Chef. He'd done his duty and hated every minute of it and in his off time he'd planned the new ship's restaurant. Today would be the day he transferred on ship with the negotiations complete. He looked over at Lieutenant T'Mira who was diplomatic security and the intelligence officer on the Victory. "Would you like a drink?"
T'Mira shook her head. Over the past weeks, months really, she'd gotten to know Xander Tokai the diplomat. He had a calm disposition to him but across a negotiating table he can be quite intimidating. It was unnerving. "I do not require a drink."
Xander gave a nod. He got himself a water with a twist of lemon and sat down at his desk. "You can go now. I have to prepare for one more coms and then I will be heading to the ship. You should go back to your quarters and pack."
T'Mira stood her ground. "My orders are to ensure you arrive on the Victory. Once I have done this I will return to the station and pack my things."
Xander studied her. She was dedicated to her duties but had been quite withdrawn as of late. "Alright if you'll wait outside I will be ready within the hour."
The hour passed quickly and true to her word T'Mira escorted Xander to his quarters to get his stuff and then to the ship to his new quarters. Once he was safely aboard and going about his business, the restaurant one, she headed back to the station. There would be some light packing left and a few other errands before she reported onboard fully.
Penny was practically skipping when she heard the new ship had arrived. She'd requisitioned a spare tool kit from the station and was dancing to a tune in her head all the way up the turbolift.
She jumped out onto the bridge and skidded to a halt. "Woah....it's huge," she said. Ops and Helm still shared a console at the front, which she was a bit downhearted seeing, but nothing she could do. She could, however, get to know her station and start a rapport with it.
She jumped up the steps to the command deck and headed for the helm, then heard a throat clear. She whirled around and lit up. "Commander!" she said, smiling at Torres. "Isn't it amazing?" she said, bouncing on her toes with excitement. "I've been reading through all the specs and diagrams and I'm pretty familiar with what we can do and even though it's a smaller ship we can hit some serious speed and the weapons will still do some serious damage and I think we've even got enough power to rival a Sovereign-class ship and it's so sleek and so cool with the natural camouflage and stealth painting and how was she flying in did you have any trouble?" She saw the look on his face and shook herself. "Sorry, I know, 'beep beep.' I'm just so excited!" She squealed and clapped, jumping into her chair and spinning around to face him. "You can't tell me you aren't excited too!"
"I am excited." he told her. "Obviously not as excited as you seem to be. But it's a new chance to discover what the quirks of this new engine will be. Every ship has it's own particular issues, or character if you will. Plus this ship is fresh out of the yard so that means it'll have even more issues. But we'll be ship shape in no time I'm sure." he told her.
"Exactly!" Penny said. "Bugs to fix, wrinkles to find, all the little bits that'll give this ship personality! I was talking with the computer earlier and it's so fresh and clean it's like a blank slate, but I can already tell it's going to be a workhorse and not mess around. I'm liking this ship more and more as i explore." She grinned. "How long do you think until she's ready to head out?"
"At least a year to work her completely out. But most of the big stuff should take about a month." he said as he was handed a padd and he began to read what was one it and then signed the device and handed it back to the young officer.
"Would you like an extra pair of hands?" she asked hopefully.
"Not right now, besides you're are going to have your own hands full getting your department together and checking in with anything you need tweaked in the helm." he reminded. "But I know who to look for if I need it."
"Okay," Penny said, trying not to sound disappointed. She looked down and then backup at him. "Commander, do I bother you? "
Miguel raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Why would you ask that?" he asked her.
She shrugged, blushing hard and stepped closer, lowering her voice. "I dunno it's just...when I was acting Ops, it felt like you kept me at arm's length. I'd offer to pitch in and you'd say you guys had it covered. I'd ask for extra work, you'd say you're all good. I know you have a stellar team, but sometimes I like something to keep me busy during the late hours, you know? And I worried I was just in the way, or that you didn't want me there. You're one of the few people who...well...knows me." She bobbed her eyebrows for emphasis. "So I really appreciate you, and I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being a pest or anything." She looked down and smoothed her uniform self-consciously. "If I'm way off base, tell me. I just want to make sure we're good."
"Lieutenant. Don't mistake my desire for my own people to do their work for anything to do with any sort of dislike or some other sort of issue towards you. I am well aware of what you are capable of. But I'm also old school, were I need to be sure my people know what they're doing. Which means they have to do the job, no matter how small it is. A fact that I've told you before, and as I've said before if I need you I know where to go and ask. So yes we are... good." he told her. "Now I think you have a helm to get to know as well as team to make sure they get up to speed on this ships new systems as quickly as possible." he added going back into a pure business mode.
Penny nodded, and gave a small, embarrassed smile. "Aye, Sir," she said. "I appreciate you letting me get that out. I needed to get it off my chest. I'll see you around."
Somewhere on the station, in her quarters: Summers was reading through some manuals regarding the new ship, when her eyebrows began itch. Getting up from her bunk, she proceeded over to a mirror to see hopefully what was the cause of the itch. Upon getting in front of the mirror, she was shocked. Her eyebrows were more pronounced in an upward sweep, and her face had more of a greenish hue. She actually growled and slammed her fist into the mirror. Gathering her wits about her, she went out into the corridors to look for someone from the ship to help with this..what ever it was..'attacking' her.
Having already checked into her cabin, Camille Lévesque took the time to explore her new science labs aboard the new Victory. The old one had adequate lab spaces, but the instant Nicole to her read the phrase Biosafety Level 4 Cold Lab, Camille was eager to get in and start working.
From the observation room on the clean side, itself equipped with a pair of consoles managing lab systems and also useful for research, she looked into the impressive set up. A comprehensive air handling system overhead permitted lab personnel to move around in positive pressure suits, through which they could manipulate the most dangerous pathogens and chemicals on the planet. They made due without one on the last ship, but such a facility would have helped immensely.
She wanted to test it out.
As she made her way towards the small observation room on the clean side of the Cold Laboratory, Vanessa switched her green-eyed attention back and forth between the PADD in her right hand and the cereal bar in her left. The slipstream journey to the Delta Quadrant had effectively locked her entire team out of the biohazard vault, all because the laboratory’s autonomous life support system somehow conflicted with the USS Victory’s primary life support system and ended up brutishly overpowered; ; resulting in failure to establish a negative air pressure inside the Cold Laboratory. It was testing the Canadian’s patience for the better part of four months and, as she grumbled her way into the small observation room with a mouth full of cereal bar, her attention was drawn towards a much smaller blonde-haired woman.
“Can I help you?” Not even bothering to empty her mouth first, Vanessa turned her attention towards Camille with a slightly annoyed impression that matched the tone of her slightly Canadian-accented voice. As her green eyes carefully took in the woman, suspiciously trying to figure out what she was doing in the observation room, the taller Canadian slipped her PADD, along with the empty wrapper of her cereal bar, into one of the large front pockets of the white knee-length FCDC lab coat which she wore over her Starfleet uniform.
Camille smiled at the accent. Canadian. French. Not exactly Québécoise. Acadienne, maybe? Tempered by other places, more so than her own. Lieutenant jg pips on her collar were visible under the lab coat. “Bonjour, Lieutenant. I’m Camille Lévesque. Chief Science Officer. I’m sorry but I haven’t had time to study the new manifest. Are you coming aboard and joining my department?”
Although she raised an eyebrow in slight disapproval of being addressed with her rank, something Vanessa still hadn’t gotten used to in the past four months, she nevertheless smiled upon hearing the woman’s accent. It was definitely recognizable as Canadian and, even though she couldn’t exactly place where Camille was from, Vanessa couldn’t help but feel a little closer to home. “Ah, Doctor Lévesque.” As she spoke, Vanessa shrugged in response to the woman’s question. “It is a matter of perspective. I’ve been here for the last four months, so from my point of view you are actually the one coming aboard to take charge of my department.” Given how there hadn’t really been much of a Science Department to speak of during the slipstream journey to the Delta Quadrant, there was a certain irony in that statement which wasn’t lost in Vanessa’s voice. Between herself and the three Starfleet officers assigned to her team by the Starfleet Board of Sciences, one of whom actually was a cellular microbiologist they had to share with the Medical Department, they were little more than a skeletal complement assigned to get the cold laboratory operational during the journey.
“I take it you are here to visit the cold laboratory?” As she spoke, Vanessa straightened her back and turned a little more serious before shifting her attention towards the currently inoperable cold laboratory on the other side of the observation room windows. “We’ve run into some difficulties in creating negative air pressure, so the biohazard vault remains locked down. We’re still working on it, but I can show you around if you’d like.” Realizing she’d completely forgotten about introductions, Vanessa turned her attention back to Camille. “Oh, I’m Doctor Vanessa West, virology.” Her smile returned while she spoke, and she presented her new department head with a polite nod. “But please, just ‘Doctor’ or ‘Vanessa’ will suffice. It’s only been four months since my commission, and I’m still not really used to my rank.”
Camille nodded at the taller blonde woman as she described her work and the lab. “Understood, Vanessa. And I’m pleased to meet you. I’m fine with Camille generally, unless I’m giving an order or chain of command matters, then Lieutenant or ma’am is more appropriate. But I don’t anticipate a situation when I’m giving orders you don’t want to take will come up often. And please, I’d love to be shown our new facilities. I wish I had them four months ago!”
[Corridor]
Zack stepped of the turbolift on deck 3 and located his quarters. He entered his security code and the doors opened and he walked in. "Oh she is going to be so jealous." His quarters were twice the size of Bry's quarters, for on, he had an actual bedroom. The main living area had a table and 4 chairs, a large couch in another corner, a large monitor on a wall, bare walls where he could hang pictures, a work station and a replicator. In the bedroom was a king sized bed, another work station with a desk and console, a large closet and the bathroom had a sonic shower.
All in all, it was nice to be a bridge officer.
[Bridge]
Walker had to get on a Turbo lift to find 3A01. He finally found it and went inside, "Well this was nicer than I was expecting for a temporary assignment." He put his totes down and took his ruck off, he had been in the Service long enough to know that Starfleet does some weird things. He didn't bother unpacking, just left and went back to the Turbolift, "Bridge." There was a hum and the doors opened and he stepped out onto the bridge and approached the highest ranking officer on the bridge. He stood at ease with his Order padd in his hand.
Zack left his quarters and took the turbolift to the bridge...he wanted to get a look at where he was going to be working. When the doors opened on the bridge, he was surprised, no stunned, at the vastness of the bridge. He had never seen anything like it. Stepping off the bridge, he walked around the perimeter of the bridge, checking all the console. The clean lines of the console was..in a word, amazing. When he finished the perimeter, he walked over to the table at the front of the bridge. Seems that the viewscreen would come from the table. There were other people on the bridge, but they were absorbed in their own world for the most part.
Then finally...he walked to the operations console and sat in the chair. The helm station was next to the ops console, but the chairs seemed to allow one person to man both stations. He already knew what button controlled what.
He couldn't wait to take this baby out for a spin.
Penny's conversation with Torres finished, she returned to the helm, pausing at seeing Ops' occupant filling his seat. She sat down at her own station and pulled up her readouts, arranging her screens as she preferred. Their level of conversation on the previous ship's bridge had been down to a word or two so she respected his boundaries and simply said, "welcome back, Lieutenant," before taking her toolkit and pulling out a tricorder, going over the helm's components.
At first, he didn't hear Penny, so engrossed with the new console. Then he turned to her. "Hello Penny. How was leave? This ship is amazing, isn't it?"
Penny sat up straight in surprise. She quickly calculated the uptick in conversation they just had--*584% increase from previous mean length,* her mind supplied instantly--and did her best to compose herself. "It was nice, thank you. I went to a bachelorette party and a wedding. It was a lot of fun." She looked at the helm. "And yes, it's really impressive. The bridge is huge. Feels like a starbase operations center." She paused and glanced his way. "How was your time off?"
"We had a great time on holiday. We spent 5 days on Risa. Wonderful place. Sandy beaches....blue water.....everything a person could want to do..they have it all." Zack checked his Ops console. A button was flashing. If he remembered the schematics correctly, the light indicated a finished diagnostic report. "Maybe when I retire, I might move to Risa."
"I could see you doing that," she said. "I think you'd enjoy it there." She closed the panel on the helm console and stood up, grabbing her tool kit. "Well, been nice chatting. I've got some shuttles to inspect. See you on duty," she said, giving him a polite smile.
"Yea, okay, see ya." Zack turned his attention back to his console. He ran his hands over the smooth console and smiled. "This is going to be fun."
Miguel had been so busy with the bridge crew that he hadn't noticed the arrival of the new officer until he had finished helping a young engineer with an issue they were having with the recalibration of one of the bridge consoles, specifically the correct tool to use. When he was done he looked around and was a bit taken back when he saw someone bigger than him. "Can I help you Commander?"
Walker offered Torres his Orders. There were a lot of blank spots, entire sections missing, "They are working on getting me a clean copy of my orders, one undamaged by subspace interference. Based on this, I am apparently to relieve the Chief Engineer so he can do the hands on portions of his job. If the Captain gets here before my orders do, she will fill me in on the rest. You are relieved."
Security office-USS Victory-
After arriving at the starbase, having visited his parents in Tokyo, Arashi decided to check out the Security office. He was getting acclimated to the new office as he sat and drank some replicated tea. He took a seat and sent his mother and father a message. "Have you arrived safely at your destination?" His mother asked "Are you eating well?" His father stood next to his mother. Arashi smiled at her. "Yes, okaasan. I got here safely, and I am eating well. I hope that you are doing well." Arashi responded respectfully.
"You have been training the skills that were taught to you as a child?" His father asked "As much as I can and only when I can find the time, otosan. We have been busy saving lives and all." Arashi responded. "You make me proud, my son. You have done honor to our family name and have done honor to yourself." His father said prouldy. "You always have, no matter what decisions you would have made for yourself."
"I am glad that I make you proud, otosan, okaasan." Arashi said. "How are Gisei and Kari? I heard that they want to join Starfleet Academy when they graduate high school." His father looked happy with this question. "Gisei is studying to be an engineer and he will be stugying that when he joins the Academy. Kari is studying Xenobiology when she joins." His father said and sighed. "When they leave, this place will be empty. I will miss you all." Arashi had been listening with some concern and sighed.
"At least it will be quiet. I have got to go now otosan. Tell okaasan, Gisei and Kari that I love them and that I will see them as soon as I can." Arashi said. His father nodded and cut off the communication. He finished his tea and got to work