On The Road Again

Posted on Thu Sep 4th, 2014 @ 8:43am by Captain Jacob Lambert & Commander Aztala Germond & Lieutenant Colonel Elena Wright & Major Elizabeth Beasley & Lieutenant Archibald Harrington V & Lieutenant Trishna Durani & Lieutenant Walter Roebuck & Lieutenant Olivia Dawn & Lieutenant Gloranna Kaire M.D.(G.P./G.S.)

1,451 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 4 - Parallels
Location: Briefing Room
Timeline: Day 1 - 0900

Jacob sat on the head chair of the briefing room table waiting for the senior officers to arrive.

One of the first officers to arrive was Lieutenant Roebuck. He was reading over a PADD with a list of names, not as many he’d hoped for, but that was okay, he had a Security Staff now...minus an Assistant Chief.

Roebuck looked up from the PADD, “Captain, good morning.” Then he took a seat the Lambert’s right, two seats down to leave one open for the ship’s XO.

Second to arrive was the ship's former XO and current Strategic Operations officer, the beautiful Orion Aztala Germond. She took a seat opposite Roebuck, leaning her cane against the conference table. "Good morning to the both of you. I'm glad there are at least a couple familiar faces on board at least."

Roebuck smirked at Germond's comment. "Likewise Commander."

Lieutenant Archibald Harrington carried a PADD under his arm with a cup of tea in the other. He entered the briefing room and took a seat beside the Orion Strategic Operations Officer. He generally addressed the room with, "Good morning." Before taking a sip of his tea.

Following just after Archibald Elena entered the room and took the seat that was left open for her to the right of the Captain. "Good morning" She said to no one in particular.

0900 wasn't particularly early, or really early at all depending on what duty shift you worked. But as far as Trish was concerned anything before say 1200 was too early for anything. On the other hand, it could be much worse. The Captain could've wanted the briefing to be at 0600 for example.

So when Trishna entered, a black metal cup of almond coffee in one hand, a PADD in the other, she didn't say 'good morning'. It was morning. By definition there could be nothing good about it. The exceptions being that you'd stayed up so late, you ended up sleeping through most of it, and breakfast foods. So instead she simply gave a polite nod, and a took seat on the side where you could look out the window. Her dark brown hair was up in a loose bun, but other than that little was different about her appearance. And so she sat back, relaxed, and waited with everyone else for the rest of the staff to file in and for the meeting to really start.

Jacob looked to those who had already arrived. "Just a couple more to arrive." How is everyone this morning? Can I get anyone anything to eat?" He asked after noticing everyone was already drinking.

"Thank you Captain but I've already had breakfast" She responded with a smile. "I'm doing well"

Slipping to her native tongue and letting the UT pick up the translations, Aztala said something along the lines of "The breakfast was delicious." Switching back to English, she continued. "I've already eaten. Thank you, Captain. This morning has been better than most for me. How are you doing?" She spoke with one of her patented reserved smiles - kind, yet somewhat secretive. She considered it bad manners to drink in a setting like this, let alone eat.

"Quite well thank you." said Jacob to Aztala.

"No thank you sir." Roebuck respectfully replied.

Gloranna rushed in, a cup of dark tea in one hand and in the other a PADD and half eaten croissant. She took a seat near the end of the table and glance around, taking time to pause on each individual who had not been in for a physical yet, "Morning all."

"Morning Doctor," Harrington greeted the Doctor. He looked over to the Captain, "Since you've offered sir, I'll have a full English breakfast and a large cup of coffee. Black. Actually make that an espresso."

Elizabeth walked into the briefing in her Marine garb. She had three PADDs that she was shuffling through as she walked in that her First Sergeant had just handed her. They had their briefing as she made her way to this one. Liz's hair was pulled back in a very tight ponytail. In fact it was so tight it gave her a slight headache. "Greetings," she chime as she took her seat furthest from the Captain.

Jacob cleared his throat indicating he was ready to start the briefing.

"Thank you all for joining me. I'm sure you are all aware that we have been here at DS11 for quite a few weeks while we recovered from..." he paused for a moment collecting his thoughts, remembering those who died. "Everything that happened. Well we have our orders. Theres a planet on the other side of the Finnean Convergence Zone, just beyond DS15. Our long range sensor buoys picked up power signatures on the planet. It could be interference with the buoys, but Gamma Command wants us to go and check it out." Jacob finished his summary and waited for questions.

"Any ships been detected in the area, Dominion or otherwise sir?" Roebuck asked, thinking about the ship and crew's safety.

"None, with the exception of Starfleet patrols. All we know is that there are now power signatures on the planets, but again, they may not even exist and might just be errors. Which is the reason we are going to check it out."

Elena listened carefully to what all parties had to say, having already read the basics prior and with not too many questions she opted to let others speak.

Archibald pressed in some calculations into his PADD, "That's a one and a half week trip at warp factor four." He looked around the room for a goldenrod tunic. "What is the status of our warp drive? Seems like we'll need to get there sooner. Can we handle fifteen and a half hour trek at warp factor 9?"

Ollie looked over at Archibald and let out a snort. "That is like asking an old Model T to go 200 km/h. I can muster enough power but I will have to take it from somewhere, most likely secondary systems. As for Plasma outflow she will be able to handle it."

Elizabeth listened to everyone discuss the journey and the threats. She was quickly calculating in her head the event of things that could happen. She would have to send at least a fire-team down with the away team, if not go herself. "While I agree we should make this a priority, why rush to a malfunctioning buoys. Let's slow down a bit. Why not take three days to get there. That gives us time to run some drills and allows us to gather more information from the buoy and other patrols in the area."

Elizabeth couldn't help but ramble on. She hated when people ran into a situation they didn't understand or know anything about. There was no notable risk to a population and there was only a possibility that these readings could be true. She also knew that she needed time to run practice with her crew. They needed to be able to effectively do their jobs, but also cross train to other areas on the ship.

Jacob looked to the Marine CO. "You make a good point Major. It would also allow us to better ready the Unification should we encounter any unknowns. Gives us a chance to see if all the new systems are up and running at 100%."

"I'm inclined to agree with the Major." Aztala interjected. "We do need time to prepare. However, our time is limited so I recommend we not take more than is necessary to get there. There's only one other Federation ship that will be in communication range of us while out there and only for about 5 days, if the worst were to happen." She almost said 'again' at the end, but suppressed the urge quickly, giving a knowing look to the captain instead.

Elena considered what the Marine CO had to say, she had a point about going in without full tactical awareness however there was also a certain need for speed. "I appreciate your concern Major and I do agree however from what I've seen of our Marines they are in excellent form. I suggest we remain our current speed but at the same time plan in additional drills and for now have our Marines focus on these drills exclusively" she said.

Jacob sat there listening to his officers suggestions. "Agreed. Lieutenant Harrison, maintain current speed, for now at least. Major Beasley, work with Lieutenant Roebuck and organise drills with both the security department and the marines. Colonel Wright, coordinate the drills, and you have the bridge. I will be in my ready room." He stood up. "Dismissed."

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