Almost time..
Posted on Sat Nov 30, 2019 @ 9:30am by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Commander Cullen Walker & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers
3,008 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Nibiru
Location: USS Victory
Seated at a table in the officer's lounge, Captain Kennit plucked a fresh grape from the fruit salad provided with her lunch and popped it into her mouth. The fresh fruit had come from one of the containers diverted from the station below them, held in stasis so that the fruit tasted as fresh as if it had just been plucked from the vine. She'd finally capitulated to the growling in her stomach and left the bridge to get something to eat, if only to stop Anderson from giving her that look every time her stomach rumbled...
The Victory remained secure in its berth,
Plucking another bit of fresh fruit, this time a plump bright red strawberry, Rhea had to admit... The fresh fruit was delicious! She had fresh olives as well, brought from home on Earth.
As she ate, her attention gravitated back to the stack of PaDDs containing the latest information on the ships current status. They were getting close to having the issues identified during the initial shakedown cruise resolved. She had a number of prospective course headings under consideration for the ship’s first official outing once the final cert checks had been signed off and the ships status was changed to active duty. Each potential course took them back toward the Terran Empire. She’d already decided, their initial course would return to that nebula..
Victory’s powerful sensors would hopefully give some answers regarding that explosion..
But, that was for another day.
Today, she needed to deal with her ship. And with a blowhard General.. and yes. Lt. Taggart.
After breakfast.
She was going to need to have a private conversation with her new XO as well, he’d need to know what was going on. What they were going to be looking so very hard for..
Walker was in the lounge/mess hall. He was eating alone. Oatmeal with maple and brown sugar, toast, a banana, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and a glass of milk.
T'Mira sat at the bar area eating a dish that the diplomat called pancakes. It had chocolate on it and was rather sweet but she liked it. She decided that this would be her breakfast of choice from now on.
Xander, for his part, stood back and watched her. He could not figure out why he was drawn to her. She was more prickly then a cactus but there were moments when he almost got a real glimpse of T'Mira and who she was and she intrigued him.
Zack was in the Operations office, looking over the crew reports concerning ongoing repairs. The starbase has loaned the ship some teams to assist with the repairs and upgrades, but when the repairs were nearly complete, Zack had the starbase teams sent back, letting his people finish up. On his desk sat a holophoto of Wakeman, and on his computer was an image of the new bridge.
Bryanna Wakeman was in the stellar cartography lab, looking over the improvements that had been made. She was happy with the upgrades, since the new lab was going to be a real improvement over the old ship. As she sat at her desk, she was surprising Zack in his quarters tonight.
The dining area was growing crowded fast, and Kennit was feeling decidedly anti-social at the moment. So, since she expected the General to descend on them shortly, she finished up her breakfast and after placing the tray into a recycler she was about to leave when she noticed the XO had entered. Walking to where he sat, she said “Good morning Number One. I won’t keep you too long as you’re eating, I wanted to advise you that General Mitchell is planning a visit sometime today. So be aware of the pending pain in the neck. Also, I have a matter to discuss with you which is of a classified nature. It can wait until we have a moment to be able to sit and talk it over.”
Walker pushed the chair out opposite of him with his foot. He had just put the peanut butter in his mouth, so his mouth was full. He motioned to the chair. He took a drink of milk. "Sorry about that. Have a seat."
She smiled slightly and shook her head, “Enjoy your breakfast. I need to go prepare for our visitor later today..”
With that, she left the mess hall to the officers there eating and getting ready for the day.
Walker pulled the chair back in with his foot and finished eating. He took his tray back to reclamation. On his way out, he stopped by T'Mira, "Hello Cousin. Those look like pancakes."
She sighed, "They are. This is the first I am trying them. I like the chocolate part. The rest of it....is bland."
Xander's mouth dropped open as he hovered closer. "Bland?"
T'Mira's lip twitched. "Yes. But do not be hard on yourself. I am sure you will improve." She stood and walked out leaving Xander staring after her.
Walker laughed, "That is harsh." He looked at Xander, "I am sure they might be okay."
Xander plated another round of pancakes and put them in front of Walker. He was feeling quite agitated. "Okay you try these!" He still stared at the door through which T'Mira left.
Walker sat down, "I guess I won't be eating lunch later." He laughed and picked up a fork, "My opinion won't give you a good reference point. I have lived on MREs and Rations." He ate several bites.
"Well?" Xander asked.
Walker pretty much inhaled the pancakes. "They are much better than the replicators. They aren't Grammy Walker's, but really good. I might ask for these for dinner."
For the last several weeks the engineering team had been working 12 plus hour shifts getting the new Victory's engines to the CEO's specifications. They had been worked hard, but the payoff for them was well worth it. Miguel was in main engineering looking over the systems report when he got a series of trouble alarms. What shocked him wasn't that there were trouble alarms, but their location. "Who in the blue hell was working on the Science Lab's autonomous life support system?!" Since none of his engineers seemed to know what he was talking about he decided to check the repair logs himself. After some research he discovered who the culprit was. He prepared a rather scathing report about scientists keeping to what they're good at and leave fixing things to the Engineering department. If the engineering department wasn't able to get to it in time he recommended using Lt. Naroot, and if not her, then the Operations department. When he was done he attached the repair log showing who had damaged the system as well as when the science department could expect a repair team from engineering. When done he sent it to the head of the Science department. Then he got up from his chair and made his way to his quarters he needed some sleep.
A report came in on his computer screen. There was something wrong in one of the science lab's autonomous life support system. Zack was going to assign it to Penny, but since he was available, he decided he'd do it himself.
He grabbed a repair kit and headed to the science lab.
Zack entered the science lab and looked around. He walked over to the console that controlled the labs life support system, and ran his tricorder over it.
“Oh good!” Camille appeared from her office when she heard Zack come in. “We’ve been doing everything we can to get life support in the BSL4 to work but it’s baffling the Starbase personnel. But I trust you more than I trust them.”
"I can understand how you feel, Lieutenant." Zack waved his tricorder over the console and frowned. "This could either be done in a few minutes or a few hours. Looks like I'll have to pull circuits and test them individually. I hope you weren't in a hurry. Don't know how those desk jockeys missed this."
"People in the field invariably know more about the equipment they use than even the people who designed it," Camille remarked. "Can I help?"
"Have you ever done any repair work, Lieutenant?" Zack pulled out a circuit and started testing it.
“I’ve done some maintenance on most types of lab equipment, including BSL4 air handling systems,” she answered. “In grad school, they taught us to be responsible for our systems. Major things we’d call building maintenance, but I can do a lot of simpler repair tasks.”
"Then that's what I'll ask you to do." Zack pulled out a component from the console, then ran his tricorder over it, then replaced it. "That's all you have to do." He handed her his tricorder, which was already adjusted for the task.
The doors opened and Bryanna walked in. "I've been looking for you, Zack. I thought we were having dinner tonight."
"Ensign Wakeman, Lieutenant Levesque." Zack introduced them. "Sorry about dinner....been stuck on this job."
“We’ve met,” Camille said to Zack. “She does work for me, after all.” She turned to Bryanna. “But I wasn’t sure if you’d be assigned to the new Victory. Good to see you again, Ensign.”
Bryanna nodded, "And nice to see you again, lieutenant." She gave Camille a smile.
Zack pulled out a component and scanned it. "Damn...here's the problem. Those imbeciles installed a faulty J87/K12 module instead of a new one. Idiots." Zack closed his repair kit and picked it up. "I'll need to check ship's stores and if we don't have a replacement, I'll have to replicate a new one."
“How long will that take?” Camille asked. “I’m hoping to have this up and running before we leave DQ8.”
Zack nodded. "If we have one in stores, maybe 10 minutes. If I have to replicate one, 30 minutes."
"Excellent!" Camille grinned widely and adjusted her glasses. "You're a miracle worker, Zack. Once this is installed, we'll be back in business! Thank you so much!"
Zack called out, "Computer, check ship's inventory for a J87 slash K12 module." The computer responded, in it's, what he felt, was a crude metallic female voice, "There is a J87 slash K12 module in stock." Zack smiled at the 2 women. "Computer. Transport one J87 slash K12 module to my location." Within seconds, the module appeared on the console.
It took Zack 30 seconds to install the new module. "You're good to go, lieutenant."
TAG/End this interaction? Okay with me.
Nicole walked into Sickbay and took a few steps, savoring the quiet. The tile was gone, replaced by quiet, comforting carpeting. She inhaled it's scent, a mixture of fabric and cleaning chemicals and nodded in approval. She looked around briefly, noting the other changes that had been made. Her office was enclosed now with a transparent wall that she could darken for privacy, a better dividing wall to separate the public waiting area from the hospital side, double the anti-grav gurneys now lined the walls, and a bit more storage space here and there.
It was packed, but it was efficient, and it reminded her of her hospital at home. As she came up to the doors to the central hospital area, she paused, smoothed her uniform, and stepped inside.
The first thing she saw was Maggie at the front of the crowd, her green eyes sparkling with excitement. Nicole smiled at her enthusiasm, in spite of wanting to appear stern and commanding authority. Several people fell silent as they realized their boss was in the room and she gave the ones in the back a moment to compose themselves. It was a rare time to have all three shifts together at the same time, but the launch of a new ship and crew was one of the times it was necessary.
"Thank you all for being here," she said. "I know some of you are staying up past your bedtime, so I will be brief. To those of you who are new to this crew, welcome. I hope your time here will be well served and beneficial to yourself and the rest of the crew. To those of you who were with us previously, welcome back, and thank you for having faith in us to brave space again on this team. I have high standards for you all, but also high hopes. It is my intention to have us operating as the best Sickbay in the fleet, and I will be relying on all of you to help."
She paused a moment to let the recruitment speech stuff sink in, then pressed on. "We are fifty people in a crew of over two-hundred. That's more than four people for each of us to attend to. Those people that pass you in the corridor, sit with you in the mess hall, sleep with you in your beds, they are not just your shipmates; they are your patients. They have placed their trust, their very lives, in our hands, with the understanding that nothing short of death will prevent us from trying to keep them alive. Do not take that responsibility lightly."
She paused again. "I know I have been working you hard over the last few weeks. Sickbay is finally put together, we are supplied, checked, double checked, and ready to function. Some of you questioned why we were trying to 'beat the clock' even though there was no deadline. The answer is this: you can plan, you can set deadlines, you can anticipate all you want, but sometimes you just don't have enough time to drag your feet. So when you do get down time, appreciate it. As of this moment, with the exception of the voluntary skeleton crew, you all have the next 48 hours off. Go settle in to your quarters, relax, and get ready for the launch. Dismissed!"
There was a slight cheer at the mention of time off, then a murmur of conversation which quickly died down as 90% of them left Sickbay. Nicole nodded a Maggie who sat down at her station and walked into her own office, sitting behind her desk and putting her feet up.
Security office
Arashi had gone over the armory after getting the run of the ship. He wasn't entirely sure of where things were just yet but he was working on securing the new ship's vital areas. He needed to have a talk with his ensigns but that would have to wait. He also had to have his security team qualify on the phaser rifles. Ever since he started this job, he started feeling the constant need to improve, to do this thing right and it showed in his dedication.
Tanner came in and handed Arashi a PADD. "What is it now?" Arashi asked "It seems that the security force on board want to have more training. They feel that they can do better but they need help in getting there. I wrote up a training sequence for the staff but I thought that I should run it by you first." Tanner said. Arashi looked it over and sighed. "This is a good idea but we are going to need help with this training. I will have talk to someone about this" He said and Tanner nodded in agreement.
Arashi walked over to the replicator and replicate himself a bowl of warm miso soup. It always seemed to relax him after a day of work in the rice paddies at him and it definitely helped him to relax now. He got back to work as Tanner left to do his rounds "This is going to be a good tour." he said and left to do his rounds as well.
T'Mira had left Xander and her cousin and had made her way towards her office. Prior to getting to her destination she stopped at the security office. She stopped a young ensign. "I am looking for the CSO. Is he in?"
Tanner got Arashi's attention and pointed T'Mira to him "That would be me. I am Arashi Tanaka. What can I do for you?" He said as he set his miso soup down at his work station.
T'Mira gave a nod. "Lieutenant T'Mira Intelligence Chief. I would like to speak to you about entering into a bargain."
"A pleasure to meet you lieutenant. As long as it isn't against the law or effects the ship in a negative fashion, I don't see why not. What would this deal entail?" Arashi said, curious as to the contents of the deal.
T'Mira stopped short of taking a big dramatic breath. "As you know I am the Chief Intel officer. I also function as Chief Diplomatic guard. I am skilled in several forms of hand to hand combat as well as other means of combat. I have thought security training as well as martial arts classes. I wish to offer my services as trainer for any of your staff that wish it. In return I would like to ... assist with security if the captain permits and you are amenable to it, of course."
Arashi thought for a moment and looked to Tanner. "Sounds good to me boss. We could use the training and it would help us in our duties." Tanner said. Arashi turned to T'Mira and smiled. "It seems that we have a deal. We just need to see where our training needs to be focused. I am going to be having my staff qualifying with weapons first and if you could give them advice on that, I would appreciate it very much." Arashi said.
A small smile played on her lips and was gone. "Excellent. I would be honoured to assist."
Arashi nodded and typed information in to the padd. "If you'll excuse me, I have other duties to attend to." He said and then left the office to see to his duties.
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