So much for the shake down...
Posted on 18 Jul 2010 @ 4:20pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal
1,588 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
M6: Blood of the Innocent
Location: Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD 1 - 2205 to 2220
OLD:
=^= All Hands Yellow Alert. Senior Officers report the Observation lounge. =^=
[Bridge]
"Helm set a course for the Altarian system and engage at Warp 9." Da'nal saw the apprehension on the faces of the personnel standing in for those normally on duty. Apprehension or not they knew the order and their duty and carried it out.
"Aye sir! Altering course...increasing to Warp 9."
"ETA?"
Shaking her head the officer filling in at Conn turned to the Captain. "Seven hours sir."
~Seven hours....and we are the closest.~ "Activate the Saucer Section's warp core and increase to Emergency as soon as it's online."
"Yyes yes sir."
Turning sharply he head to the observation lounge via his ready room to look over what information he could before his officers arrived.
Silonez had just finished up with the latest pile of files when the page came, has the turbo lift sped up to the main briefing room he thought long and hard about a few things, including a message from home he had gotten earlier. "Whats going on skipper?"
"Nothing good..."
Anara paused in the middle of eating her second helping of cake when she heard the announcement. She excused herself from the room and left the gym. Then she made her way down the hallway to the turbolift. She went to Deck 1 and entered the observation lounge with confident steps.
She gave a nod of acknowledgment to those inside and took a seat in the middle of the table.
Da`nal sat impatiently waiting on the rest of his officers as he read the Ballard's orders. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, '...facilitate the final negotiation for the ending of hostilities in the system and make recommendations on the application for Federation membership.' He looked up to see who had arrived before returning to his PADD.
The newlyweds arrived together, both nodding to everyone in the room. John and Jess sat down beside each other and began waiting for others to arrive. Underneath the table the couple held hands, John felt that her touch was actually very pleasant and soothing.
Jess sat next to John letting their touching hands keep her calm.
Caecus had received the page en route to the bridge, he stepped off the lift and made his way to the lounge and drew a couple of curious glances at his civilian wardrobe as one of the senior officers, he entered the lounge and handed the Captain a PaDD that he produced from the pocket of his white lab coat "Full work up on Sickbay and staff, ready for your review and stamp of approval Captain." he sat down and situated himself before turning his attention to the newly wed couple and let an apologetic smile form on his face "I'm sorry I missed the ceremony, but my congratulations and may you have a long and healthy life together."
"Thank you." John smiled back, "It was a....surprise to us to say the least." John glance at Da'nal for a moment, "And thank you Captain, it was a pleasant surprise." Turning back to Caecus, "If I had a patio and a solar grill like I had on earth and at some of the other land based assignments, I would invite the whole crew for a cook out. There is nothing like a good BBQ'd meal. I will talk to the kitchen and make sure that ones that didn't get cake will receive a piece, there is a lot left."
Jess nodded and Caecus with a shy smile "Thank you sir."
Caecus returned the smile before replying "Your most welcome Lieutenant, though I'm not sir anymore...I work for a living now."
Da`nal nodded at the Major with a grin then gave the PADD a glance, he would review it fully once the briefing was over. "Thank you Doctor and before I forget I need to talk with you later about one of your staff."
Hannah made her way quickly into the observation lounge, hoping she wouldn't be the last person there. "Sorry I'm late," she apologised as she took a seat.
Da`nal was curious, but took he junior officers arrive in stride. "Glad you could make it, but where is Lt. Kage?"
"He's been injured, sir," Hannah replied. "I'm just filling in for him until he gets back on his feet again."
He glanced over to the doctor, who was equally unaware, then returned his gaze to the Ensign he nodded, "Very well."
Now that everyone had arrived Da`nal cleared his throat as he looked up from the PADD showing their ETA as it counted down.
"If you already hadn't guessed we have been diverted from our shake down cruise to DS5. WE are currently at our top, emergency, velocity to the Altarian system. Details are incomplete but it seem the USS Ballard has come under attack of some kind. The only communication was a brief distress call from a junior officer. There has been no further communications.
"The Ballard was there to facilitate the final negotiation between the inhabitants of the system; the Kyari and the Laruc.
"Mrs. Kelan, Lt. Eircson; I need to know what kind of situation we are getting into. What kind of bad blood might still exist or could this be the work of someone else.
"I'll pull the files as soon as we get out of here, but from what I can recall it doesn't take much to set things off in this case, the region has been in a near total state of war for a while." Silonez said
Da`nal continued, "Major, make sure your Marines are ready. If the ship has been taken it will be our duty to either retake the vessel or destroy it. If that action is not necessary coordination with security to help secure the ship," as he nodded in Kage's/Miss Dawson's direction.
"Yes sir, we will use one of the holodecks to run drills on various scenarios for a Galaxy class Star ship. Security is welcome to view and or participate in the moc exercises. Is there any chance of getting some command codes so we can view the inside of the ship if its intact?"
"If the ship has been taken we have the vessels transponder codes.
"Doctor your role is obvious," Hefting the PADD he had given him on his arrival. "I take it sickbay is ready?"
"Absolutely Captain, I'll have triage teams waiting to accompany the Marines and set up in the shuttlebays as well as the transporter rooms." Caecus replied in a clipped tone, his body language giving away no hint of apprehension if he felt it.
"We should have approximately 4 hours till we arrive in the system...questions?"
Anara listened carefully to what was going on in the meeting. There didn't seem to be much information to go on from, but sometimes that just meant more fun for other departments. She looked around to see if anyone had any questions.
Jess shook her head "My team is up and running in engineering sir ... I'm still on orders to rest ... They know what they are doing and can contact me in an emergency, I'll get there if I have to sir."
John gave Jessica a sideways look, "If for some ungodly reason you need to go to work in Engineering, I will send someone to watch over you. I don't want you to get hurt because you pass out or fall. I have a hovercraft mechanic that can watch you and she might even be able to give you a hand. The Captain has the final word if you need to go."
Nodding at that Jess smiled gratefully at John "I promise not to ditch my bodyguard if I have to go ... I don't want to make you worry."
"Oh, if you have to go, you won't be able to ditch her, she is fast and she is smart." John smiled." I don't foresee you needing to go."
Silonez looked at the two officers and began to think about telling them to leave the love in for a less serious situation, but changed his thoughts to the mission at hand "do we have a status report on the Ballard?"
Da`nal voiced what his Intel Chief was thinking. "We have an emegency situation here...everyone here knows there jobs, if our Chief Engineer needs assistance that is why she has her assistant. I can understand your concern for your wife, but we all have duties to preform, so lets keep the personal exchanges where they belong." Looking back to Silonez, "to answer your question; no we do not."
"I'll pull up schematics on the ships of both sides, in case we need to shoot back." Silonez said as entered some notes into a PADD.
"Good idea...that should certainly help tactical. Be sure to get that data to them."
Looking down at the updated ETA as it jump as their speed increased with the additional power of the "3rd" warp core. He clinched his teeth as now they had even less time, but he looked back to his officers, "We should be arriving in 3 hours and 17 minutes.
"Don, at one hour out take the ship to battle stations."
Don nodded, "Aye sir."
"Doctor that matter I mentioned can wait for now....Dismissed."
------------------------------------------------
Captain Da`nal
CO
Major John Cole
Marine CO
Lieutenant Jessica Cole
CEO
Lieutenant Silones Eircson
CIO
Lieutenant Meru Anara
CSO
Ensign Hannah Dawson
ACSEC/TAC
Caecus Romehl Ret Adm.
CMO
RSS Feed