Departing Spacedock
Posted on 20 Apr 2012 @ 12:40pm by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Petty Officer 3rd Class Laine Cruz & Lieutenant JG Kestra Orexil & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington III (KIA) & Tarishiana Barel
Edited on on 20 Apr 2012 @ 12:43pm
2,917 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: Starbase 234, USS Galileo
Timeline: MD 02 - 1610 hrs
[ON]
With Galileo's new equipment and personnel safely stowed away, the six-hour resupply had finally come to completion, and the crew now awaited the final word from their captain for departure from Starbase 234. In addition to the various upgrades and ship had received, there had also been new developments in the mission. Commander Saalm and her command staff had attended a volatile briefing several hours prior in which they discussed the Klingon Empire's growing aggressiveness, and it's correlation to the missing USS Petersham. It appeared that whatever the reason for her disappearance, time was working against them, and they needed to make haste if they were to reach Starbase 152 on schedule.
Lirha stepped out of the turbolift and moved to the center of the bridge, taking note of the personnel around her. It was 1610 hours, normally the beginning of Beta Shift, but because of Galileo's impending departure, many of the Alpha Shift personnel had stuck around to oversee the final preparations. As such, the bridge was relatively crowded, and the decibel level was high as various crew chatted away with each other and worked to complete various tasks.
A tall blond petty officer spotted the captain from across the circular room and rushed up to her with several PADDs of various sizes tucked under her arm. "Captain," she began, "I have the updated torpedo and probe manifests you requested." she said, and pulled a PADD out to hand to Lirha.
"Thank you, Miss Cruz." the captain replied, taking the rectangular data pad and looking over it.
"Also, here's the latest activity reports from our listening posts in the sector." the young woman added, pulling another PADD out and handing it to the captain. "And there's a Priority One communique waiting for you in your ready room." the petty officer added with a shy smile.
Lirha returned the smile and nodded politely to dismiss the yeoman. She clipped the PADDs to her belt for further review, wondering who might have sent her a Priority One message at such an inopportune time.
Entering onto the bridge from the ever-faithful turbolift, John was not surprised to see that most of the senior staff had already assembled. For a moment he had felt it odd to see his CO on the bridge outside of her normal shift patterns, but John knew from their earlier meetings that when there was a launch going on, she'd make sure she was in the right place. Heading down to the centre chair, John had to remind himself for a moment that right now, there was no need for him to be there, and quickly sidestepped to the XO's chair and settled on in.
"Ready when you are Captain" He looked up towards his captain before tapping a few commands into his own console, checking that the necessary repairs, installations and requisitions were showing as successfully completed.
"Time to get back on the road...."
"Indeed, Commander." Lirha replied. "We're not getting any younger." she added with a small smile.
Reaching down to tap a button on her chair's console, she opened a comm link throughout the ship. "All crew prepare for departure. Department Heads report to your stations and report status." she said, then waited patiently as several junior personnel scurried off the bridge and to their designated assignments.
Dea emerged out of the turbolift and onto the bridge just as the Captain issued her orders. Turning her attention to Lirha as she took her place at the Flight Control console. "Flight Ops is ready Captain. All systems are green. We're good to go."
"Very good, Lieutenant. Standby one-quarter thrusters on my mark." she replied, then waited for the remaining bridge crew to respond.
Kestra felt the shift on the bridge as Saalm entered even before the yeoman began to thrust information at the Captain. The yeoman's energy was contagious and not just because Kestra was being vigorously assaulted by the woman's anticipation. It was a brand new ship to the Betazoid, a brand new crew, and she was eager to be off the station sooner rather than later. She triple checked her console and reported in order of priority, "Torpedoes installed, deflector shields have been tested and green-lighted. All tactical systems are ready when you are, captain."
Remington turned away from the wall console and pulled up the primary control configuration for ops on his console. "Operations reports ready, captain," he said, glancing her way with a serious expression.
Mor'an swiveled her chair around to face the captain. "M'lady," she said calmly, "Mission operations are at the ready."
Tarishiana wouldn't have missed the launch for anything, well almost anything. She sat at her station tapping a few controls on the display. Once the reports came back green she turned in her chair. "Science reports ready, Captain." She stated as professionally as she could muster with her current level of nervous energy.
Evelyn was reviewing scans taken by starfleet spy satellites along the Klingon Neutral Zone, she turned form her station to look at the Captain, "There are no unusual activity in the Zone."
Meanwhile, in Sickbay...
Pola ducked as another item went flying across her head. She wasn't totally certain what had just happened. Herself and the staff had activated the EMH in order to make sure he was working well and then the thing went awol. One minute he had been saying, "What is your medical emergency." and the next he had started picking up random objects and throwing them at her and her staff.
"Computer, deactivate EMH." Pola waited for the computer to reply as a tricorder sailed over her head and hit the wall behind her."You are not authorised to carry out that command." Pola listened to the computer in disbelief, "What do you mean I am not authorised to deactivate the EMH?" Pola winched as she heard a clatter from the farside of sickbay. "You do not have clearance to deactivate the EMH."
The recently installed hologram was obviously not performing as it should. Looking around the room, the collection of photons and forcefields did not understand why the bipedal organics were cowering behind sickbay consoles, surely this was not an effective use of their time? Reaching down, it began to collect the small medical instruments located across a small metal tray, knowing full well that any doctor would need these in order to perform their duties. With the doctors currently hiding behind consoles for no reason, he felt no other option but to propel them towards their general area. Hyposprays, thrombic modulators, medical tricorders, they were all useful gadgets afterall!
Finding herself pinned down and unable to get to the primary console to deactivate the EMH manually, the Doctor was forced to go with option two, =^=Doctor Ni Dhuinn to Lieutenant Commander Remmington; we are having an issue with the EMH in sickbay, would you be able to come down please?=^=
Remington's voice came over the comm in a low voice. =/\=What seems to be the problem, doctor?=/\= he asked inquisitively, =/\=We're preparing for launch.=/\=
Pola looked at her commbadge at she tried to figure out the best way to explain this,"Commander, the EMH has decided to wreck havoc in sickbay and the computer is refusing to recognise my command to shut it off. I can't get to the primary console as I'm pinned down." The Doctor winced at her description but it was the truth.
"Standby, doctor."
Back on the Bridge...
Remington winced. He contemplated not bothering the captain with the EMH problem but thought she should at least be made aware of it. "Captain, Sickbay reports a serious malfunction with the EMH. I'm shutting it down from here." He turned around to the computer controls behind him and quickly went to deactivate the EMH programming.
Lirha turned to face the lieutenant commander and sighed, running a hand over her brow impatiently. "Very well. I want you to run a diagnostic and send someone down to Sickbay as soon as we get underway." she said in the hope of correcting the problem on the fly.
"Aye, captain," Remington replied, performing an override command on the EMH program to shut it down.
Back in Sickbay...
=/\=Operations to sickbay,=/\= Remington's voice came in, =/\=It should be shut down now. Everything all right?=/\=
As Remington's voice came over the comm, Pola noticed that silence seemed to have descended on sickbay. Carefully peering over the top of the biobed, the Doctor found that the EMH was nowhere to be seen. =^=That seems to have worked. Once someone is available, can you arrange for someone to come back to sickbay to establish what the issue is and see if it can be fixed?=^=
=/\=Of course, doctor. Ops out.=/\=
Pola climbed to her feet and stood surveying the mess the sickbay was currently in. Thankfully initial valuation seemed to show it was only instruments thrown around, the damage was all superficial. "Is everyone ok?" Hearing a chorus of yes, the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "Doctor Hilyer is going to blow a fuse when he sees this." Shaking her head, Pola set about the task of getting a clean-up organised.
Down in Main Engineering...
Quinn tapped his combadge, =/\= Quinn to Bridge. We have an issue going on right now. I'm currently inside the dilithium articulation frame. The stabilizer matrix decoupled. I shouldn't be in here for more than fifteen minutes, or so.......No, Willis!=/\= The interference from the chamber cut off the transmission. "Peers! Get to the bridge and take the MSD station up there annd monitor my progress."
"Going!" she replied, taking off at a sprint. In the corridor on the way to the turbo lift, she flattened herself against the walls to avoid crashing into people, hurled herself into the lift, and then waited awkwardly for the ride to the bridge. When the doors opened, she catapulted out again, screeching to a halt a few steps onto the bridge and walking quickly to the MSD. "Chief's in the articulation frame, Captain. Interference with the comms in there, so I'm going to keep you updated from here." She searched the console - exceedingly grateful she'd spent a few hours figuring out the new layout - and pulled up a line feed into the room. It was a hard-line ODN visual relay, no sound, but it was better than nothing. Between the vid feed and the notifications on the console, she was confident she could keep the Captain up to speed until the solution was found. Gone was the meek, awkward girl; with a task to do and the knowledge of how to do it, her shoulders straightened, her nerves were steel, and her focus was sharp.
Lirha stood on the bridge having just heard the report from her chief engineer. Cursing under her breath, she turned at the sound of the turbolift doors opening and took sight of the assistant chief engineer running to the bridge's engineering console. Hearing her status report was a relief, as the problem didn't appear to be serious. The captain nodded in approval. "Keep me posted, Miss Peers. We need to get underway and we can't afford to be delayed." she said.
"Yes, Captain," she agreed, carefully monitoring the console. She was a moody ship for being so new. Lilou was beginning to think it would behoove the engineering department to begin careful diagnostics of every system on board just to avoid any further 'accidental' complications. Beta testing a brand new research vessel through Klingon territory didn't seem like the wisest plan Starfleet had ever come up with.
Five Minutes Later...
Quinn looked up to the live feed to the bridge engineering console and gave two thumbs up through his survival suit. All mains were registering as operating at optimal performance.
Peers smiled and turned back over her shoulder, "Mains are in the green, Captain. We are ready for departure."
Galileo's nacelles which were previously dormant while in standby mode began to illuminate, casting a soft blue glow across the ship's shiny hull, and the bussard collectors began their slow and cloud-like red swirl. With full power now surging through her systems, the small Nova Class starship came back to life.
"Excellent." Lirha replied, finally satisfied that all systems were operating properly. She took a seat in her chair at the center of the bridge and glanced down at her PADD before looking back up. "Mister Remington, contact the dock master and clear us for departure." she ordered.
"Aye, captain," Will replied, opening a frequency to the station.
"Galileo to Starbase control, requesting permission to depart system."
A man's voice came over the comm at his station. =/\=Galileo, this is Starbase control. Course coordinates transferred to navcom, you are clear to begin undocking protocol and departure. Have a safe voyage.=/\=
"Captain, we are cleared to leave the system. Helm should have received coordinates for departure."
"Thank you, Commander." the Orion captain replied, then turned her attention towards the young Ta'rkan woman standing next to him. "Cadet Im'er, seal all external hatches and retract the umbilicals."
"Aye, ma'am," Mor'an replied, turning to her console. A moment later her voice drifted across the bridge. "External hatches sealed and umbilicals retracted, ma'am."
With a final deep breath, Lirha folded her hands in her lap and crossed her legs comfortably. "Take us out, Lieutenant Mialin." she said
"Aye Ma'am," Dea touched a few controls on her console. Elegantly but slowly in a controlled manner Galileo began to exit the spacedock bay that had been holding the ship. Monitoring their progress both visually and from the data being fed to her console. Once Dea was satisfied they were safely away from the structure. "Captain we're clear of the dock."
The small survey vessel passed through the outer doors and into the depths of space, ready to depart on the next part of her journey. With fully stocked torpedo and probe compliments, deflector systems upgrades and over fifty new personnel, she was well-prepared for the upcoming mission.
Lirha tapped several buttons on the console attached to her armrest. The blue alert lighting which had pulsed through the bridge during departure suddenly went dark, and the overhead lights came on as the ship returned to Green Alert. Once Galileo reached safe distance, the captain gave the order.
"Set a course for the Neutral Zone, maximum warp." she said, then paused briefly to glance over at her XO and around the bridge. "Engage." she said finally.
With a nod Dea Input the correct flight path into the computer. "Maximum warp engaged. On course for the Neutral Zone," she reported checking Galileo's vector closely. "Course and speed are accurate Captain." Even though things looked good Lieutenant Mialin continued to monitor the helm systems carefully for any discrepancies.
Galileo's nacelles flared and her hull elongated, stretching into a thin blur as the small vessel snapped forward into warp with a flash. At warp 8.5, it would be a little over six hours before the crew reached the Neutral Zone, and every minute of time was needed for preparation.
Several minutes passed on the bridge as the crew settled into their various stations, and Lirha finally relinquished command of her chair. "Commander, you have the bridge. I'll be in the conference room." she said to her XO, standing up and heading towards one of the side doors. "Lieutenants Orexil and Mialin, please join me." she added as she walked off the bridge and into the small briefing room. There was no time to waste and she wanted to get her new staff up to speed as soon as possible.
"Aye ma'am, the Bridge is mine" John acknowledged as he rose from his usual chair and reseated himself in the appropriate position. Taking a moment to enter his access codes to bring the command interfaces in the arm panels online, he briefly reviewed the current state of the ship.
"Of course," Kestra murmured, nodding to the burly half-Klingon who'd been carefully following every touch she'd made to the console. "Ruktah, keep an eye on the systems. If there's a downgrade during warp, I want to know about it."
"Aye, Chief," he rumbled.
With a quick accepting smile, Kestra left the console to him and followed the captain into the small briefing room.
"Aye Captain," Dea ordered another Flight Control officer to the bridge to take over. Once her replacement arrived she headed for the small briefing room, "Lieutenant Mialin reporting as ordered."
To Be Continued...
[OFF]
--
CMDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo
LCDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo
LCDR Chauncey (Will) Remington III
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo
LTJG Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo
LTJG Evelyn Coleman
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo
LTJG Kestra Orexil
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo
LTJG Pola Ni Dhuinn, M.D.
Asst. Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by McCarthy
CDT(SR) Im'er Mor'an
Red Squad Cadet
USS Galileo
CWO Markum Quinn
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
MWO Lilou Peers
Asst. Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
MWO Tarishiana Barel
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo
PO3 Laine Cruz
Yeoman
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Saalm
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