Our Orders

Posted on Tue Apr 16th, 2013 @ 7:43am by Captain Jacob Lambert & Commander Aztala Germond & Lieutenant JG Alex Hansen & Lieutenant Walter Roebuck & Ensign George Ward & Ensign Talva Ren & Ensign Mnheia Annhwi

2,197 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 2 - Whispers in the Clouds
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: Day 1 - 1700

"And we have no idea what happened to them?" he waited patiently for his reply.

"No Commander. We know you are still making the final adjustments to your ship and crew, but we need you to get underway and look for them. They were only supposed to be delivering supplies. That was 37 hours ago, and we have had no communication with them." The captain on the screen looked down to his PADD before speaking again. "We need you to find them. We know that isn't your primary goal in the quadrant, but Gamma Command doesn't want to send out any bigger ships. They believe the Dominion is still up to no good and they want their fleet close to home. Now obviously this is likely just another rumour someone heard at a bar somewhere, but you know how they get."

Jacob smiled at that remark. There had been rumours of a renewed Dominion resurgence since the first month after the war. You just learned to ignore them because Gamma Command would look into it for you. And every time it was discovered that it was just a down on his luck merchant trying to make a quick slip of latinum. Other times a ship would find a Jem'Hadar attack ship on their sensors, call it in and Starfleet would scramble a fleet for a drifting shipwreck.

"So we will start our search at the last recorded position, about 3 hours into the Finnean corridor? They could have broken down and drifted into the Moray Nebula, god knows sensors cant penetrate more than a few hundred metres of it."

"Exactly, that is what we are hoping has happened. You are to proceed at best possible speed, under your ships circumstances, and survey the area where we last had contact. Anything else Commander?

"No Sir, I believe we have received all the information you sent." He checked his console to make sure the data packets had all arrived, which they had. "I will report back if we find anything, Lambert out." He started reading through sensor data from the last known location of the USS Galavant, an excelsior class ship outfitted as a cargo ship. Starfleet Command had elected several such converted ships to deliver cargo as they 'deemed a regular cargo vessel would be at extreme risk' in the Gamma quadrant, given the number of unknowns in this quadrant. Seemed perfectly normal to have a cargo ship more armed than some of the attack ships here. Better let the crew know he thought to himself. He tapped his comm panel on his desk. "Lambert to all department heads, please join me in the conference room in 10 minutes." He tapped the button on his desk then tapped his comm badge. "Lambert to Commander Germond, please join me in the conference room now please.

He walked out of of the closest door to him and into the conference room and sat at the head of the table, still going through the reports sent from Gamma Command. He looked up as the XO walked into the room.

Aztala Germond looks up at the interruption. Thankful she was on the bridge, she quickly stepped around the corner and entered the conference room, the door whooshing properly for once. "Is it safe to assume Starfleet isn't giving us any more time, sir?"

"That is correct. The USS Galavant has disappeared somewhere in the Finnean corridor. They suspect that it is the beginning of a Dominion offensive, which they suspect every time someone loses contact for a few days. Needless to say, we are tasked with finding it, and completing our own repairs on the move." He stood up and walked to the replicator and made himself a cup of tea.

"With as little out of the Dominion as there has been, I'm doubting it's them, at least directly. Do we know much about the Finnean corridor? Any unusual anomalies?" She walked over to the replicator and got herself a drink as well. "Orion Tea Blend 47 warm."

"Oh, without a doubt it is likely not the Dominion. The Finnean corridor passes pretty close to the Moray nebula, which is a class 9. So they may have simply broken down and drifted into the nebula and with sensors limited to a few hundred metres, and communications pretty much non-existent, I would likely say this is the most likely possibility. Basically our orders are to find the Galavant."

"Things sound pretty straightforward then. It'll give us a chance to get a lot of the ship tuned up as well." Sipping at her tea, Aztala Germond takes the seat next to Commander Lambert's left at the conference table.

"My thoughts exactly. Hopefully it will make a good run-down cruise too." He paused as the first of the department heads entered the room.

Roebuck had been on the Bridge awaiting First Lieutenant Croft when the call came from the Captain. Between the tone in Lambert's voice and the 'ten minute' notice before the meeting was due to start, he knew this meant the ship had received orders to depart.

Jonathan tapped the comm on the Tactical panel, "Roebuck here. I'm on my way Sir."

He closed the comm, then finish cleaning up the mess around the replicator. A Petty Officer from Engineering had arrived to fix the replicator itself, and had made more of a mess with his tools and equipment than the replicator had made when it poured liquid all over the deck.

"I'm finished sir." The Petty Officer said to Roebuck as he started cleaning up his tools.

"While you're here, can you have a look the viewer?" Roebuck asked. "It keeps going into diagnostic mode, resets, then goes offline for about ten minutes before going though the cycle all over again."

The Petty Officer nodded before walking over to the viewer. He pulled the access panel off as he got to work.

Roebuck had turned back to the replicator, ordered a raktijno, and this time was pleasantly surprised to receive the beverage he requested. He took a sip of the hot Klingon coffee and let a little smile cross his lips.

He then logged out of the Tactical Station, picked up PADD, and headed for the Conference Room.

When he arrived, he saw the Captain and XO sitting at the table already. Roebuck gave a respectful nod then took a seat to Lambert's right. He took a quick sip of his raktijno, then activated the PADD, ready to take notes.

Talva strode onto the Bridge en route to the Conference Room and scowled at the junior engineer sat hurriedly putting his tools away, "Crewman, this is the Main Bridge, not waste disposal." he observed, "I expect any work we undertake here to be carried out without tools everywhere." Without pausing for a reply he strode onwards, ignoring the sour grimace from his subordinate.

The doors parted to reveal the Conference Room; a number of the senior staff we already present. Talva silently nodded a curt greeting to the Captain before taking his seat and taking up the PADD that sat before it.

Ensign Annhwi logged out of the Operations Console, picked up a few PADD"s and headed for the Conference Room.

Ensign Annhwi also strode into the Conference Room; a number of the the senior staff we already present. Mnheia also nodded a curt greeting to the Captain before taking her seat and taking up the PADD that sat before it as well.

Ensign Ward hurried as he made his way to briefing. Knowing it was his first briefing and that we has in charge of all helm operations only made him more nervous. He only hoped that he didn't expose himself as being as green and fresh as he felt. Making a quick last inspection of uniform and appearance, he strode through the door and took a seat near the end.

Lieutenant Hansen was in her quarters unpacking when she was called up. She finished quickly and then took a turbolift to the bridge. She stepped out and walked into the conference room. So many people she had not met yet. Most of the senior staff had arrived so Alex took an open seat at the end of the table.

Roebuck watched as the rest of the Senior Staff walked in and took their seats, then looked back at the Captain, waiting for the the briefing to begin.

The Commander looked around the room at the assembled staff. This was his first full staff meeting and he wondered how it was going to go. "Thank you all for coming. Now I know the ship is only operating at about 90 percent efficiency, however Gamma Command feels we are ready for our first mission. It should be a simple search and rescue mission. The USS Galavant, one of the Excelsior Cargo runners has failed to arrive at Finnea for its scheduled cargo drop off. Our mission is to head along the Finnean corridor and locate the ship. Now we heard reports that she may have had some equipment malfunctions and merely drifted into the Moray Nebula. Now the Moray nebula is a class 9 nebula which means sensors are severely restricted. The USS Canberra did make a few short range sweets on route to Finnea, but was unable to stop as her cargo was time perishable medical supplies." He let the information sink in for a few seconds.

"Captain," Roebuck spoke up, "what was the Galavant's cargo and does Gamma Command believe the Dominion could be involved?" He wondered if the Dominion, or anyone else, could of targeted the Galavant in order to get their hands on whatever she was carrying.

"It was just standard supplies for the Finnean and the Eden 2 colony's. There was certainly nothing of high value, no restricted materials. Gamma Command always suspects the Dominion to be involved in everything that seems to go wrong. Our standing orders remain that we are to be on the lookout for signs of any resurgence of Dominion activity, but the general consensus is that the Dominion likely are not involved."

"Understood sir." Roebuck replied. He leaned back in the chair and tapped in some notes on his PADD.

"Will the weapons system be 100 operational within the next day or so? And how are the new security personal settling in?"

Roebuck took a deep breath before replying, "We have the issue with the Phaser Safeties repaired and all arrays are online and ready. Torpedoes are loaded, launchers ready, but we haven't had a chance to test the targeting scanners. Diagnostic programs for the scanners is still offline, so we might have to test them manually once we leave drydock Sir.

"Very well. See to the tests when we leave orbit of New Bajor." He watched as the Lieutenant nodded. "How is the computer system coping Talva? I know we have had a few issues with it. Are they all worked out?"

Roebuck nodded to the Captain to acknowledge his orders, but kept quite allowing Talva to answer without interruption.

Talva met the captain's gaze, "Diagnostics appear to be clear, however after some of the recent malfunctions I'm not entirely convinced. The main computer is being trusted with simpler tasks, however critical functions are being routed through the auxiliaries for the moment. Sensor latency will be affected and non-essential systems will likewise be slower to respond."

"Do you have an ETA on how long until we can run critical functions through the main computer core?" Jacob was hoping the answer was only a day or 2 at most. Within a day and a half they were going to reach the last known position of the Galavant.

Talva sighed heavily, "I have people carrying out detailed inspections of each of the processor cores as we speak; there are well in excess of 1,000,000 modules in each of the 2 computer cores; it's not a short task. This type of issue is extremely rare in a modern computer system; usually standard diagnostics will detect and isolate the affected module on the fly. You're looking at 3 days minimum; that's assuming that we're looking at a clear cut failure and nothing more... sinister."

"Ok, there are various other departments with engineering trained crew in them, utilise whoever you need and I will authorise it with the relevant department heads. Just get it done as quickly as you can.

Ensign Ward waited until there was a break. "I need to log some time at the helm. Simulators and holodecks will only take you so far. Every ship has a feel to her. Like changing dance partners. The moves are all the same, but there are subtle differences."

LtCom Germond shifts in her seat a bit to see Ensign Ward a bit better. "We'll need to test out all impulse and thruster systems anyway, and 'dancing' sounds like a good way to do it to me."

"Sounds like a good plan, Lieutenant Commander Germond, see to it. Any other questions?" He waited to see if anyone responded before he ended the briefing.

"Very well. We will depart New Bajor orbit at 1900, make sure you have everything you need aboard. Dismissed."

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