Junior Staff Briefing

Posted on 30 Mar 2012 @ 11:21pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Crewman Nazhzhalh & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Petty Officer 3rd Class

2,868 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo, Deck 2, Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD 01 - 0945 hrs

[ON]

Having just concluded the senior staff briefing several minutes ago, Lirha took the time between briefings to acquire another warm cup of hot chocolate and rest her legs for a moment. She took a seat at the head of the large conference table and casually leaned back in the chair, looking at her XO and studying his face for his thoughts. The two of them waited quietly for the junior staff to arrive.

"Lets see how this one goes shall we?" John mentioned in passing as he too headed for the nearby replicator, choosing a cup of coffee for himself in an attempt to get some extra caffeine into his bloodstream. He seemed to be drinking more and more of the stuff these days, but at least it was letting him get the job done. His CO had done remarkably well in the senior officer briefing, and hopefully a repeat performance would be awaiting them.

Lilou ran a hand over her still wet hair and straightened her uniform before approaching the door. Sonic showers were all well and good, but nothig got the feel of borg plasma off like scaldig water. She'd passed Quinn on her way to the observation deck, so she knew that Engineering was covered. Still, she'd rather have been down there being useful than up here being... Well... Not. As the doors to the observation deck drew open, she blinked seeing the XO there. Of course, he would be. It was a briefing and he hasn't technically met her yet, maybe not the other junior staff either. Except she had met him, while she'd been hogging the holodeck, being strangled by a Birg drone, covered in blood. And outside of the holodeck, after a shower and some time, she was suddenly horrified at that first impression. "Captain," she paused. "Sir." Her voice was still raw from the strangling and screaming. "Good morning."

After Lilou, Ziyal bounded in all-arms and legs and not really knowing which was which at this point. He seemed engaged in a myriad of tasks, involving several PADDs which he quickly shoved out of sight as eyes fell upon him. He gave a bit of a sheepish blink and waved one of his free arms. "Hello!" he chirped with his usual good cheer, and he found a spot at the table next to Lilou and sat down, folding himself up carefully so that he didn't take up too much space. He clucked a little to himself, something that wasn't translated by the UT, as he arranged the PADDs he had down on his lap before looking up. "Good morning!" he offered to everyone present.

The Pacifican Oceanology Specialist noticed that the turbolift floor had a few damp areas that were the same size and shape of her webbed feet. "Great!" she said aloud to herself just before the turbolift door opened to the bridge. She walked out of the turbolift and immediately looked down. "Dry, good." She continued her quest to the Briefing Room. As she entered she took note immediately of the XO and Captain. "Ma'am. Sir. I am Petty Officer Third Class, Nexia Alona. I am your enlisted Oceanologist Specialist."

After she addressed both, then she saw another present. They had Warrant Officer Chevrons on her collar. "Good morning Warrant Officer." As she got closer she offered one of her partial-webbed hands. "I am Nexia. Nice to meet your acquaintance."

Mor'an glided into the lounge and, upon seeing the others present, made the customary Ta'rkan gesture of greeting to the entire room. Knowing the XO and CO deserved special acknowledgment, Mor'an bowed to them before taking her seat.

Lilou accepted the offered hand of the oceanologist and gave it a firm shake. "Likewise," she said sincerely, though she winced a little at the roughness of her voice. She'd never met anyone who specialized in oceans; the closest she'd ever been to one had been in the Academy in San Francisco, but she'd never even gone close enough to touch it. "I'm Lilou." Her brows leapt upwards at the casually excitable display Ziyal put on, fighting the twin urges to bury her head in her hands and laugh out loud. She wound up swallowing a smile, her nostrils flaring as she battled for control over her expression. "Hello," she answered him quietly and placed her PADD on the table should she have need of it. She couldn't imagine they'd need to hear anything from her regarding Engineering that they hadn't heard from Quinn, but she never knew.

"Good morning." Lirha said as she got to her feet and addressed the room full of junior staff members. With her PADD in her hand, she walked in front of the large wall-mounted display and nodded politely to the crew assembled before her. "First, I'd like to congratulate you all for a smooth and successful departure from the Fleet Yards. I received a message from HQ several hours ago and Starfleet was extremely impressed with our launch performance." she said, then tapped several buttons on her PADD to link it to the large conference room screen. "I'm sure you have many questions, so I'll try and move this along as quickly as possible." she added, then turned towards the blue and gold Starfleet emblem displayed on the monitor. "I'd like to remind everyone that the contents of this briefing are classified, Level Ten clearance." she said. Level 10 security clearance was reserved for captains' eyes only, but Lirha felt that it was prudent to notify her crew as much as possible regarding the details of their mission.

With a couple taps on her PADD, the screen blinked dark for a moment, then flashed to display a star map of their mission course. "As you can see, our first assignment takes us to Starbase 234 for a short resupply mission, then sends us through Klingon territory on our way to Starbase 152. Our mission is to successfully retrieve an experimental propulsion technology codenamed Project Sienna, and return it to Starbase 001 in the Alpha Quadrant. Not only are we evacuating the project, but the development staff as well, including Doctor Anthony Hardaway and his wife, Rachel." she said, then tapped on her PADD to display side-by-side biographies of the two lead scientists. "Apparently," she continued, "The Klingon Empire has become rather suspicious of Starfleet's activities within the sector, and our Intelligence Committee feels that the project is in jeopardy. We're working against the clock here, so it's important that we arrive at Starbase 152 as quickly as possible." she finished.

"Questions?" she asked, waiting for the inevitable flood of curiosity to manifest itself. Unlike the senior staff briefing, Lirha had kept this one rather brief, preferring to answer questions as they arose instead of divulging too much classified information to members of her junior staff.

Lilou's brows drew together slightly as she studied the star map. It would take them almost eighty-two hours at maximum warp and she was pretty sure there were protocols involved in passing through Klingon territory that would require slowing them down substantially. And then there was the question of why exactly the Klingons would let any Federation vessel through if they were, as Saalm had mentioned, suspicious. What sort of propulsion technology were they working on out there that required this level of secrecy? And why were they doing it all the way in the edges of the Beta Quadrant instead of in the middle of Alpha where there were no major security threats nearby? The wisdom of Federation tactics often eluded her. And bringing up the dangers of running the warp engines at full for that long non-stop seemed like something Quinn would have already mentioned or found a solution to. She raised her hand, "Captain, what happens if we're stopped by Klingon vessels on the way to the target location? What is the ersatz reason for our deployment?"

"We're almost certain to be escorted across their territory, whether we are aware of it or not." the captain replied with a wry grin. "Standard protocol requires the Empire to be notified of all foreign vessels passing through their space. Any ship caught in violation is usually impounded and detained...including the crew. We've been deployed under the guise that we are a survey vessel charting the nearby Z'Tarnis Nebula. Hopefully, the Klingons won't see a small survey ship as much of a threat, so they should leave us alone...for the most part." she said.

Nexia listened intently to the Warrant Officer's question. She too wondered what would happen if they were boarded, but swished the thought fro a moment. "Captain, wouldn't a simple scan show we are leaving with more people than we came with? "

Ziyal rose a hand. Well, two hands, but then lowered one as he remembered one was sufficient. "I can compensate for that! Scanners detect biosigns. It simply requires a biosignal feedback generator. Very simple, very effective!" he clicked excitedly. Ziyal clucked a bit, making a strange sort of high-pitched click to himself before tapping a hand on the table in gesture. "Ooooh, the signatures from Project Sienna might also need to be masked..." He looked curiously at the captain. "Will the project continue somewhere else or is it being abandoned?"

"I don't think Starfleet would send us all the way through Klingon territory and back if they didn't feel that the project has potential." the Orion captain answered, slightly unsure herself of Project Sienna's future. She decided not to elaborate on her statement, as such future plans were well outside of her security clearance. Lirha glanced around the table, waiting for any other questions to be voiced.

"Do we have an exact timeframe in which we must work?" Mor'an asked, speaking for the first time. "You said we must arrive as soon as possible. What will the Klingon Empire be likely to do should we be delayed?" Though she spoke softly, her strong voice carried easily throughout the room.

Lirha looked at the young Ta'rkan cadet and into her clear blue eyes. "Our orders are to retrieve the project and personnel as quickly as possible. If we push our engines and don't have any delays at Starbase two-three-four, we can arrive at the Klingon Neutral Zone within three days. From there, another three days should put us at Starbase one-five-two." she said, answering the first part of Mor'an's question. "We don't know exactly what will happen if we don't arrive in time. Starfleet isn't certain how much the Empire knows, if anything, about the project, which makes predicting their response even more difficult."

Ziyal had to wonder just why the Federation would situate a starbase in such a strategically unwise location. Then again, there were a lot of things about the Alpha quadrant he was still trying to decipher... He kept quiet, a feat that no doubt startled anyone who knew him, merely clicking here and there in agreement or in interest.

Nexia half raised her hand, "Excuse me, ma'am? I was..umm..wondering? If the Klingon ships can cloak from our sensors, and from sight, then how about from sound? I mean, if they are still there, then why not find then with sonar? That's how we do it on Pacifica anyway. If it's still there, then wouldn't sound bounce off if it?" The Petty Officer clearly looked embarrassed by asking what she thought would be a stupid question, but she had found sometimes over-thinking things only made it more complicated.

John so far had remained silent for the entire briefing, as it was, he had already heard most of this before from his briefing alongside the other senior officers, and really was here just to lend his support to the CO as she worked her way through the myriad of questions being put up by the junior officers. Eventually, after letting Saalm handle most of the onslaught, he decided that he should probably try and help out himself.

"Sonar works fine on a planet...but space is a little different...sound doesn't travel in a vacuum remember?" John thought back to spacial physics 101....one of the academy's most hated, yet most neccessary classes, before continuing on with his comment.

"Anyway - the Klingons know better than to try that around one of our science vessels, a simple tachyon sweep would more than alart us to any cloaked vessels nearby. Sadly its not something we want to make a habit of though - if the Klingons were watching, then the last thing we want to be doing is scanning for their ships - then we'd just be giving them a reason to be suspicious of us"

Continuing on, Lirha looked towards her XO and motioned for him to stand up and finish the briefing. "We have a lot of work to do during our upcoming resupply, and only six hours to get it done. Commander Holliday will now brief you on what we need to accomplish." she said, then stepped to the side.

"Yes ma'am" John nodded to his CO before clambering to his feet and heading towards the large display screen in the briefing room. It was pretty much unnecessary for his stage of the mission, but it was always a useful bit of kit to have just in case of any urgent needs to access the database.

"I have broken down the crew into smaller teams, each with a specific objective to work with, Peers, you'll be working alongside Mr Quinn, Mr Remington and Mr Hilyer to get the new Mark X EMH installed and operational, once that's done there are some deflector upgrades to do, again Mr Quinn knows the details, so pay attention to him."

"Yes, sir," Lilou nodded, fighting to contain her anticipation. She'd never installed a hologram before, besides the programming she'd done on the holodeck. But those were sweeping engines filled with random algorithms, not... people. Doctors, especially. She bit her lip to keep from grinning.

Reading down the rather extensive list on his PADD, John moved to the next item on the list before looking back up again at the assembly of staff in front of him.

"Cadet Im'er you'll be working with me, we'll be obtaining and installing our new weapons requisition, spare quantum torpedoes, phaser power cells, things of that nature. Mr Remington will be joining us once he's finished with the Engineering team to work out the finer details, but it'll be good experience for you to get your hands dirty."

"Thank you, sir."Though she wouldn't show it, Mor'an was glad she wouldn't have to work with someone she wasn't familiar with. Also, the idea of weapon installation was a little foreign to her as she had spent little time with weapons other than her dagger.

"Finally, Creman Nazhzhalh and Miss Alona, you'll be working under Master Warrant Officer Barel to get up to speed on Project Sienna, the details aren't overly complex but Starfleet has allowed us access to the basic operating procedures, report to her once we're done here and get to work. Any questions on the above from anyone?"

Nexia smiled at her assignment. She felt honored to be included in such a high priority assignment. "None from me, sir."

The W'qa'arr shook his head excitedly. "No, Captain!" he clicked brightly as he folded his hands over one another and gazed around the room.

"Oh...and one last thing....it has been brought to my attention that we have been assigned a member of the Federation News Service, apparently they're doing a piece on the launch of Starfleet's new baby...needless to say if you get called to say a few words...Sienna is top secret, so not a word to anyone outside of this room and the senior staff, understood?"

Standing to the side, the captain watched as Commander Holliday finished assigning tasks to the junior officers assembled before them. As they slowly nodded in understanding, some with much enthusiasm, she moved to stand next to him and gave him a nod of approval for a well-conducted briefing. "If there are no further questions, you're dismissed." she said, addressing the group in front of her. "We have just under a day to complete our preparations so make sure to work with your department heads. Let's be ready to go to work as soon as we dock."

"Lets get to work people. I want status updates on my desk the minute we dock at the starbase. No excuses, lets make sure our first mission goes according to plan" John echoed the sentiments of his CO before closing down his PADD, and letting his hands join in front of him.

"According plan?" Lirha said to her XO as she watched the junior officers file out of the briefing room, "I never knew there was such a thing in Starfleet..." she mused with a grin.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

MWO Lilou Peers
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

CN Nazhzhalh
Biotechnologist
USS Galileo

CDT(SR) Im'er Mor'an
Red Squad Cadet
USS Galileo

PO3 Nexia Alona
Oceanologist
USS Galileo

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