Risk vs. Reward (Part 1 of 5)

Posted on 22 Aug 2013 @ 7:41pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Lieutenant Ammar Fahad & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley & Ensign S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Ensign Natalie Chevalier & Ensign Ariadne Fleming & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Tarishiana Barel & Chief Petty Officer K8 Yellow
Edited on on 22 Aug 2013 @ 7:44pm

2,110 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD 02 - 2350 hrs

[ON]

Late in the evening just as many crew members were heading to bed and others were reporting to Gamma shift or about to depart from Beta, the Orion captain's voice suddenly sounded through the ship's intraship comm speakers on all of the Nova Class' decks. "Attention all Galileo officers and senior staff: report to the observation lounge in fifteen minutes for a situational briefing. All capable Venture personnel, please report to your department's stations."


Fifteen minutes later...

Pacing back and forth at the head of the briefing table with a PADD in her hand, Lirha waited in the large observation lounge alongside her XO for her crew's twenty or so officers and senior enlisted personnel to join them. It would be a tight fit, but she was sure the room was big enough to accommodate everyone. It had to be, because the information she was going to present was extremely important, and there was not much time to waste if they were to accomplish their new mission - the details of which she still needed to present.

Glancing over at John with an anxious look in her eyes, she turned towards the five large windows which lined one side of the lounge and proceeded to stare out into space. The various blue hues of the Setisar Nebula seemed to slowly swirl and collide with each other, a reminder of the dense stellar dust, gasses, and cosmic material which composed the expansive cloud. Pieces of USS Venture's debris could still be seen floating around, but it slightly comforted Lirha to know that all of the escape pods and their survivors had now been rescued and were safe aboard her ship. At least, for now.

John had seen combat many times, more than he would care to think about, but the reality of their situation this time was a very different one. Their enemy was a law unto themselves, and far more devious and destructive than anything else known to the Federation. Standing with his arms clasped behind his back, the XO could see his captain's nervousness from her body language. He was no xenobiologist, but he could tell the signs of fear in pretty much any species.

"Captain...ma'am - it will be alright. Don't show the crew that you are nervous, otherwise it will reflect in them."

The XO's voice snapped the Orion from her thoughts and she looked back over at him with a forced smile betrayed by her severe green eyes. "If our rescue attempt does not succeed...it could be the end of us. I do not want to become a mindless drone." she replied, stating her biggest fear of the new mission they were about to embark upon.

"Captain...I'll destroy this ship and everyone on it before I let one nanoprobe get into one of our crew's bloodstream - trust me?"

Although a crude and last-resort option, Lirha nodded at John with a solemn look. Death was never something she would ever willingly accept, except if it meant salvation from a life of assimilated Borg servitude. She couldn't help but think of her younger sister, Nesh, who would never be able to pursue her art career or enjoy life as it was meant to be if she was assimilated. The thought sent chills through her neck and spine.

This can't be good, Victoria thought bitterly as she hurried down the corridor to the observation lounge. The captain had sounded so somber over the comm and that was troubling. Victoria just knew that something horrible had happened and it made her stomach clench just thinking about the possibilities. Swallowing her fears and putting on a brave face she entered the observation lounge.

For once, Nat's appearance was relatively orderly: she'd given the arboretum a skip after dinner, and had instead been catching up on reading in her quarters came through. As such, she showed up looking strangely professional: clean uniform, more or less tidy hair, no mud or twigs or splashes of pondwater. She was in danger of impersonating a Starfleet officer. Recognising Victoria, she headed over to join her and await the rest of the Science crew.

Amynta walked in, her hair made up again as well as her face. She looked around, taking in the faces before she took a seat, her features almost cold. She knew what this would be about. She had submitted her report after all, with the findings.

Allyndra had put the EMH back in charge though the poor programme really needed to be offline for awhile but there was little to do about it now. Fortunately, most of the people deemed walking wounded had been released and it was now ops problem to find the room. Sickbay held more than a few but even there, some had been moved from critical to stable. Unfortunately the scene of a few containers with that long shape now had a few occupants. The casualties of space and this incident. All these thoughts and more went through her head as she made her way to where the Captain had requested a meeting. She found a spot near a wall and leaned back into it to listen.

Walking in with Allyndra was Lieutenant Andreus Kohl. Self-indulgently, he was thinking about how this would have been his very first briefing as a member of the senior staff. His tenure hadn't even lasted long enough to manage that much, and now everyone would know. He flushed slightly beneath his beard. He followed Allyndra to stand against the bulkhead. If the Chief wasn't taking her rightful spot at the table, Kohl wasn't about to do it for her.

Tarishiana was a bit more slow moving then she had been the last time she was aboard the Galileo. The fact that she had fallen asleep on the couch in her quarters wasn't helping matters. She arrived to the already quite crowded room and surveyed for the best location to squeeze her not so small self into.

Dea entered the Observation lounge tired. So far her department had been scrambling with rescue activities and routine ship duties. Nodding to the others she and took her usual seat. At the moment she really didn't care about her appearance other than to straighten her uniform as much as possible.

When Mor'an arrived at the lounge, there were already quite a few people present. She slipped in and stood to the side, waiting quietly for her captain to begin. Mor'an looked up at Lirha and saw the anxiety in her eyes, despite the fact that she was trying to hide it. Mor'an wished there was something that she could do to ease everyone's minds, but right now all she was able to do was give a word of reassurance to whomever needed it.

Ammar woke groggily to the sound of a summons. He had been asleep for nearly ten hours. The previous days had been hellish, and he had gotten virtually no sleep in that entire time.

He had met briefly with both a doctor and a counselor. They had cleared him for duty, at least after he got at least eight hours of sleep. He had also met briefly with Captain Saalm. It had been a hurried meeting, but she had also cleared him for duty.

The bags under Fahad's eyes were even more defined than usual. Stress and sleep deprivation would do that. He quickly pulled on a uniform and rushed to the nearest turbolift. It took mere moments to traverse the small ship and arrive at the observation lounge where he gratefully slumped into a chair along one of the long sides.

Quinn walked into the room with a PADD and two filthy, greasy hands that he was attempting to wipe on his trousers.

S'Ranna padded in with a grumpy frown on her whiskered face. She had been tucking into bed for the night when the Captain's message had come through, and she had not had time to change: as such, rather than her official Starfleet uniform, she was dressed in a pale blue onesie, decorated with small cartoon faces from a popular Caitian holonovel; a hole in the back allowed her tail free, but it bore none of her usual carved bone ring ornaments, and was swishing about showing her displeasure. She sat down in the briefing room, crossing her paws over her chest and sternly twizzling with her whiskers.

Dea nodded to S'Ranna briefly before turning her attention in Lirha's direction. Paying close attention to the Captain's words. Recent events still weighed heavily on her mind but she did her best to set that aside.

Scarlet Blake rubbed her forehead with the side of her thumb as she moved in, having managed to grab a coffee en route. It had been a fairly sleepless few days, first on the Runabout, and then the investigation. She took a sip of thankfully hot coffee as she moved to take up a seat. She already knew a lot of what was going to be said here, but it didn't stop the tension in the air.

Aria walked in, her hair back and her eyes observing the others. She sat down, taking a deeper breath. It had been a lot going on. All she knew was that her Chief wasn't able to be here so she was instead.

Jared stepped on to the bridge a few minutes early for his shift. Tardiness had never been an issue with him and he was trying to work on the area that had proved his downfall in the past, his impetuousness. His uniform was crisp and clean and he had finished his mocha just before climbing into the turbo lift.

Delainey entered a bit later, having stopped by sickbay quickly to make sure the patients still being treated were resting comfortably. With Scarlet trying to juggle all her responsibilities, Carlisle wanted to cover things as best she could. Carrying a large raktajino, Delainey recalled the last time she was this tired, she was a medical resident.

Ariadne walked slowly to Observation, pensive and troubled. She knew this couldn't be normal--especially after the discovery of the Venture. What's left of it, rather, she reminded herself ruefully. But, let's try to see the good, she repeated to herself her mother's advice. The summons came the end of her shift; meaning, she actually heard it this time

Once Lirha was satisfied that all personnel had arrived and were situated in their respective positions, she moved forward in front of the large wall-mounted LCARS screen and began to address all those who were assembled. "I understand it is late, but we have recently recovered important information, and now our mission has changed." she prefaced, then tapped a button on her PADD to link it to the display.

"This is footage we have recently recovered from USS Venture's data recorder. It shows what happened to their ship, as well as their final moments." she added solemnly.

Lirha input several brief commands then suddenly, video footage which had been previously retrieved from USS Venture's data logs showing its final moments was displayed. The troubling scene which she had viewed in the science lab earlier in the day began to play, and she remained silent while watching the rest of her ship's officers view the ambush which had destroyed the Galaxy Class' stardrive.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

LtJG Ammar Fahad
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

ENS S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh
Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

CPO K8 Yellow
Transporter Chief
USS Galileo
[NPC - T'Srrr'Kharh]

Lt. Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Aria Rice
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lt. Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Ensign Natalie Chevalier
Ecologist
USS Galileo

Ensign Im'er Mor'an
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Master Chief Petty Officer Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Commander Scarlet Blake
Chief Counsellor/2XO
USS Galileo

LT.(jg) Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Tarishiana Barel
Science Corps Technician
USS Galileo

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