Security Department Briefing

Posted on 28 Mar 2014 @ 10:22am by Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Commander Luke Wyatt & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Amon Mormont & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Petty Officer 1st Class Taryn Galepsie & Petty Officer 1st Class Camibree Christoph

2,637 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Security Office
Timeline: MD -07 - 1030 hrs

ON:

After Lt. Rhodes had returned from the Senior Officer Briefing, he went into the Security Office, to his office, and sat down at his desk. Pulling up on the display he looked at the current roster of security personnel, along with their bios and history. He had read through them before, but wanted a refresher. He considered what changes would be necessary when they arrived at Lyshan III.

He looked up, and not to his surprise, Christoph stood in the door. She always seemed to be one step ahead of him. He wondered if she was part Betazoid or something.

"What-cha got there Chief?" Bree asked cheerfully.

He smiled back without really answering the questions, "Call a department briefing for 10:30."

"Is this about our mission?" She asked expectantly.

He had always found her curiosity a bit overwhelming, but never in the wrong. "Yes. Now get on it."

"Aye aye." She replied playfully and turned about and walked away from the Chief's office door.

Theron crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "I should bring in Wyatt to help with this."


[10:30]

All security personnel had been called to report and had squeezed into the security area; standing room only. Crucial areas were monitored via link for this short time.

SCPO Wyatt stepped to the Chief's door and reported, "Morning Chief." Wyatt said, it was clear he had just woken up. Luke had bags under his eyes and the resilient tough of hair that under no circumstance would lay flat stuck up behind his ear.

Theron looked up, "All right Senior Chief, let us get this taken care of."

"It's good to be back, don't you think?" He said standing in the door. Luke found that he and Theron had a mutual respect for each other even despite the young chief's age. Luke could have imagined some of the things Theron said and done came from decades of experience and more importantly he knew what he wanted from his department.

"Yes Senior Chief." Theron said very positively, "Yes it is."

The two men walked out and in front of the gathered group. Lt. Rhodes looked from one side to the other slowly, looking and recognizing each face. The group quieted as their Chief surveyed the assembled.

Gabriel Stark stood with his weight on one leg, hip slightly jutted with it as he folded his arms comfortably. It had been a hell of a ride on shoreleave. Club to club, pub to pub, party to party. But he was still kind of tender and delicate from it; it seemed like he had a never ending hangover.

Master Warrant Officer Amon Mormont let out a breath as he moved to stand beside Stark. He was tired too...just too much of everything. And yet, here they were, for another stretch. Not that he minded much. It was part of it all.

Standing at the front of the group and feeling comfortable, "This is going to be brief." Lt. Rhodes began, "We will be touching on the issues with our current mission to Lyshan IIII.

"I've heard a few thing's mostly rumours and word of mouth, but it would be nice to hear it in full." Wyatt said first, he was never afraid to speak up and by the sound of what people had been saying this was going to be an interesting, but most likely uneventful mission.

Theron glanced slightly toward the Chief and down in trifling disapproval of the Senior Chief's opinion. Theron had never been the type of person to convey everything about a situation. His philosophy had always been rather Tandaran and only providing to personnel the minimum information necessary for them to complete their task; to focus on that task without distraction of the larger philosophical or political issue. But, Theron reconsidered, A good base of information can provide more confidence for the team and in their leadership.

Lt. Rhodes looked across his security team assembled and informed, "We will not be going to Deep Space 9 as expected, but directly to Lyshan III, where a mining colony is currently experiencing some unknown phenomena, which is disrupting the mining operations."

"Unknown phenomena?" Gabriel asked with a frown, trying to find out more. 'Unknown phenomena' could mean anything from miracles to space monsters.

"Unknown, yes," replied Rhodes. "The Science Team will be determining what this phenomena is, and how best to deal with it." He paused for a moment. "Our role is to protect them while we are there."

"I know this should be out of the question, but I feel it needs to be asked. So we can work on a card alpha, but if things get prickly what then?" Wyatt asked, "Oh, and by card alpha I mean Standard operation procedure. S.O.P. for short."

Theron knew exactly what Wyatt meant by card alpha. He understood that the Chief was just trying to be clear and inform the troops present. Rhodes thought, I think this arrangement is going to work well. "Good question Chief." He took a step forward placing his hands on his hips and looking across the room, very seriously Rhodes said, "Our main purpose is to safeguard our people while down on the planet. Our secondary role here is to advise and assist the standing police force to deal with any issue; be it an emergency recovery situation or an uncontrollable mob violence issue."

Wyatt nodded along as Rhodes spoke, "Since our last engagement was with the Borg and shoreleave still in our thoughts I'd like to recommend that we conduct holo simulations and brush out any cobwebs we all might have with regards to rioting control." The last thing they needed was to forget something a cause a civil riot.

"Sounds good." Rhodes commented. Taking on a serious face again he said, "I need you to all understand . . . we are here to help these people; not provoke them, and definitely not fight them."

Gabriel had to force himself not to groan out loud at the mention of holo training. He had yet to be a part of a department wide holo training that something didn't go wrong in. Smaller groups worked well, as did extra holograms, but there was just something about the whole department training together in one go...and cross training as a whole department with another one, just forget it. Sanity out the airlock. "Why would we provoke of fight them?" he asked with confusion, unsure why it would be a point of concern somewhere like a mining colony.

Luke decided to take some of the heat of Rhodes and spoke up first. "Because these people are agitated, stressed and when they are combined with being frightened it makes them unpredictable. We've got to be prepared for the most unlikely situation. It's just a precaution." He turned to Rhodes to see if he had anything to add.

Rhodes nodded back to the Chief then said to the group, "You have been trained in many different tactics; most of it is for security of this vessel and for hostile boarding." He paused for a moment then added, "If we are called upon, we want to be able to back up the current security forces and be prepared to deal with and suppress large groups of people with minimal casualties. We do that by everyone knowing the procedures."

PO Christoph raised a hand interrupting the Chief.

"Yes, Bree." Rhodes called to her.

Putting her hand down, Christoph asked, "Who are we talking about? What is the make-up of the miners and how many of them are there?"

Theron was pleased by the competency of the question, "This is a joint Federation-Cardassian facility. My understanding is that things have been going very well, under the circumstances."

"How many miners are there?" the question was called out by the back of the room.

Rhode replied, "The complement of the mine is about 300 to 350 staff and miners."

Christoph continued with the questions, "And how many security forces are in place, that we will be backing up?"

Theron's nose flared slightly as he felt he was under obligation to answer the question, "In addition to the standard complement of security at the mine, the Cardassians have dispatched a Galor Class vessel to respond to this issue." He wanted to say 'crisis', but did not want to escalate the conversation taking place in his security office. "They should arrive at Lyshan III several days before we do. They ususally carry 24 marines and 10-16 security personnel."

Theron then heard from the back of the room, "I hope we wont have to fight them." but could not tell who had said it.

Rhodes became very furious and tried to not let it show, but it did anyway. He was tired of all this explanation. He took a step forward and said loudly, "That will be enough of that kind of talk!!!" He paced to the right and then back to center. "When we arrive at Lyshan III we will be the security for any personnel that goes down to the surface. . . . .And, when and if we are called upon, we WILL assist in securing the facility. I do not want to hear any more negative comments out of this department. . . . Is that understood !! "

Gabriel arched an eyebrow at the sudden outburst, looking across to Amon with mild surprise. A good way to start a mission where keeping calm was key....shout at the staff. His hand went to his collar, his fingers sliding under it to touch the chain and pendant briefly. He straightened up, his eyes on Amon, eyebrows lifted. Cardassians, undefined phenomena and a department head belting loud enough to make any tenor jealous before they were even out on mission....fun, fun, fun.

Camibree Christoph glanced over her shoulder with a serious face, looking back to see which of the mongrels made that comment. She would have nothing to do with that negative attitude.

Amon looked at them for a moment, his features firm. He lifted his chin slightly and looked at his Chief. "You're too young to have seen it," he said, his voice soft. "But the Cardassians are very intelligent and good fighters. And merciless. If there is a situation where we are required to...use violence in order to secure the facility and if those we are fighting with are Cardassian. Well. I advice everyone to watch their backs firmly and watch their team. Because the Cardassians are vicious and damned good at what they do when it comes to fighting."

Rhodes still stood strong at the front of the group. He looked around at the faces to get the reaction from the Master Warrant Officer's statement. "Mr. Mormont is very correct. We will use all discretion in following our orders, but understand . . . but we will not let anyone get the upper hand if things go poorly."

Rhodes glanced at Senior Chief Wyatt, then said to the group. "The Senior Chief will be contacting groups for holo-deck training. If there are any further questions, I will be in my office." He paused for a moment. Chair started to rustle, "One more thing." Rhodes proclaimed and everyone went silent, "Welcome back to the Galileo! My door is always open."

Amon watched Rhodes with a look of near disbelief before he shook his head and walked out. Different day, same ship and same stupid contradictions. The holodeck training would not be enough. He knew that himself. It would not be enough if there was a fight, if the Cardassians got the upper hand in a hostile situation. And a few hours make belief on the holodeck would not change anything. And the outburst of the Chief Security Officer felt...out of place. Suddenly he felt himself missing Rice. Who would have thought it, he was actually missing the little firecracker. With a weak smile he headed to his quarters. He was in desperate need for some sleep.

Luke shook his head, he understood where Rhodes was coming from but also felt the resentment in the room towards his outburst before anyone left Luke quickly fired of one last question. "Before you all leave I'd like to ask one questions besides myself and Mr. Amon. Which of you have seen someone killed at the hands of the dominion or a Cardassian?" He let the question linger. "I have. I have seen dozens of my friends die and or get injured, myself injured included and yet why am I the only one thankful that we have a bit of help? If it was a Cardassian ship that came and rescued us from the Borg cube a few months back would you still hold the same thought?" He shrugged, his voice stayed in the low, hushed tone it usually was during briefs. "Just think about that before wondering why the chief acted as he did, I'll contact you about training tomorrow." On those words he slowly left towards the door.

Gabriel sighed, shaking his head as he pushed himself forward to walk. It was like school all over again. The whole class being nagged at for one idiot's wisecrack. Still, at least it wasn't prison. That had been less fun. Not for the first time, he lamented not being an officer. "Wait up!" he called to Amon, running to catch him up, throwing an arm around the other man's shoulders as they walked the corridor. He groaned, shaking his head. "Holodeck training. Save me, Amon, save me....call in sick for me," he chuckled softly, his face on his shoulder before becoming serious. "Don't worry, Amon. It won't be that bad. The Cardassians have no room for maneuver anymore," he whispered to him, knowing it couldn't be easy for a Dominion War vet to be sent to help out Cardassians. "One day at a time, hm? One glorious day at a time...with a beer at the end of it..."

Amon smiled at that, looking at Gabriel before wrapping his arm around him as they walked. "I need a pint of vodka if I am going to stomach this," he said before the smile died. "This won't be straight forward, Gabriel. No matter what is said, the reality is that it might turn very ugly very soon. After all, every mission we have been on this far has ended up like that..." the smile returned and he met Gabriel's eyes. "I'm jinxed, that's why."

Theron watched as the majority of the Security Personnel exited from the security office. He looked down somberly, considering the reaction of some of the team members. He thought he had worked through his anger issues, but apparently not fully. He realized that raising his voice may not have been the best reaction to the negative opinion that had been given.

Lt. Rhodes looked up to see Petty Officer Christoph still sitting there looking at him. "Yes Bree, was there something else?"

Christoph stood and said calmly, "No sir. I just wanted you to know that that opinion you heard was from a very small minority."

"Thank you Bree." Rhodes replied then nudged his head toward the door. "You should get out of here. You have a few hours until your shift starts."

She nodded and walked out without saying another word.

Theron appreciated the support. He would need it in the coming weeks.

OFF:


PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]

MWO Amon Mormont
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Markos]

SPO Luke Wyatt
Security officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

PO1 Camibree Christoph
Security
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Rhodes]

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