First Meeting of the Chiefs

Posted on Sat Sep 8th, 2018 @ 8:08pm by Captain Cynthia Jackson & Lieutenant Commander Charlotte Hudson & Lieutenant Naryi Avonavi & Lieutenant Azelya Korr & Lieutenant Cole Dering M.D. & Lieutenant JG Alastair Hallewell II

1,747 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Klingons on Starboard Bow
Location: Briefing Room
Timeline: 2261.186 1600

Now that Legacy was cruising towards the Klingon Neutral Zone, it was time to inform the Chiefs of their mission and get their thoughts. The Klingon Neutral Zone was somewhere between 75 and 100 light years away, depending on the location. Kronos was 115 light years away. So many questions ran through Cindy's head. Hopefully, the Chiefs could help sort them out.

Before she had left for the briefing room, she had called out on the comm for all Chiefs and her XO to meet in the briefing room. She waited for everyone to arrive.

Bec had retreated to her office after they'd launched and sighed when Jackson called for the briefing. She'd barely begun going over the reports from the crew and really didn't feel like being social at that moment. However, duty called. And so, she grabbed a cup of coffee and headed for the briefing room. Once there, she nodded to Jackson and took her seat.

For perhaps the umpteenth time, Naryi resolved to do something about the bulky electronic clipboards that had replaced the smaller Personal Access Display Devices commonly in use throughout Starfleet during the first seventy years of the Federation's existence. Granted, the electronic clipboard's greater size allowed for the incorporation of duotronic enhancers and thus greater processing power and connectivity, but Naryi considered the clipboard, and especially the stylus, to be poorly designed.

This and about a half-dozen other engineering-oriented musings were going through Naryi's head as she entered the briefing room, with one of the said electronic clipboards in her right hand. Naryi gave her new commanding officer a nod and a small smile before taking a seat at the far end of the table.

The doors whisked aside once more moments later, Azelya making her way into the briefing in the middle of pinning her bushy curls up behind her head. A leather phaser holder, complete with a fresh off the rack standard unit was now strapped to her side, a stark reminder that they had now been deployed.

Finishing with her hair in the first few strides, she nodded to all gathered so far, fighting to stay calm, cool and collected as her brain raced with possibilities of what their first mission may entail. Moving around the table she went for the nearest seat with a friendly face, finding herself taking a seat on one side of Bec.

Bec had smiled at Avonavi when she came in, but gave Korr a smirk when the security chief sat down beside her. She also gave a polite nod of greeting, not trusting herself not to say something flirty and get herself into trouble already.

As each of the ladies came in, Cindy flashed them a winning smile, her green eyes sparkling. She felt very confident in these chiefs. However, such confidence was about to disappear.

As the door to the briefing room opened, it was impossible to miss the sight of Alastair chastising one of his department personnel. With a stern look and voice, it looked as if a parent was disciplining their child.

"I expect competency in my department, all operations will be conducted in a orderly and professional manner. I also fully expect that any and all activities in my department be relayed through the chain of command and I will be informed about them BEFORE they occur. Failure to comply with this will result in my referring you to the captain for disciplinary action. Am I fully understood?"

The crewman swallowed hard before weakly saying "Yes sir."

"You're dismissed, do things the proper way the next time."

He sat as the doors closed, shaking his head in exasperation while speaking quietly. The only two words that were genuinely discernible were "Fools" and "Incompetent"

Science had been Cindy's department before she took the command path. She was quite sure that she had never heard one of her commanding officers ever speak to her in the way that Alistair spoke to his department's officers. However, for now, there was nothing to be done for it and obviously Starfleet had faith in him, so he had to have a good side, right? Her eyes darkened slightly but she gave him a courtesy nod.

"Now where is our good Doctor?" she asked curiously. "Hopefully he did not get gobbled up in a case of measles." Cindy laughed lightly at her very small joke.

As if on cue, the doors slid open and Cole walked in, slowing down in his tracks as he took in all the ladies. I love my job, he thought. "Hi," was all he said as he took his place at the table.

Bec raised her eyebrows at Hallewell's antics and the Doctor's comments, but said nothing. She would have to make sure to keep an eye on both men. The fact they were both good looking didn't hurt, either. A small half smirk formed on her face as she thought about this.

Cindy observed that the men were the last two in the room. She wondered if that had any significance.

When everyone was seated, Cindy started the briefing. "Our first mission is to investigate the reasons for two starbases, K-4 and K-5 having gone communications silent. Nothing has been heard from either base in two days." She placed a map of the Federation Space and the Klingon Neutral Zone on the screen. "As you can see, these starbases are strategically placed near the Borderlands and Klingon Neutral Zone. Thoughts?"

"Do we have access to the starbases databases?" Bec asked, wondering if maybe there'd be clues left in their logs. "Or at the very least, their logs?"

"All communication went dark two days ago, according to the materials I received from Admiral Wheeler. No transmissions of any kind. So, no logs were sent. We do have access to their transmissions, databases and logs from before then."

"Are there any nearby natural phenomena that would hamper communications from the starbases?" Naryi asked "I'm an engineer, not an astrophysicist, and I realize it's a stretch, particularly in light of the strategic locations of the two starbases. But there are spatial events that could prevent subspace communications."

"Both of the Starbases were built near asteroid fields and while sometimes that has caused communications to be staticky or intermittent, there is no record of communications ever going dark for this long," Cindy answered simply.

"I would suggest we go over the logs and databases that we do have, see if they've mentioned anything suspicious," Bec volunteered. "Maybe get a computer specialist to see if there's been any tampering?"

"That is an idea. Perhaps you could get your department on that, Naryi. Maybe get some assistance from Azelya too." Cindy audibly hmmmed as she thought. "Lieutenant Hallewell, Naryi brought up a very good point regarding natural phenomena by K-4 and K-5. I want you and your department to see if there's anything new or unscheduled in that area."

She paused for a moment, feeling like something might still be missing. Nothing could be this easy, could it? "Any other speculation? Thoughts?"

"Ensign Wang in my division should be able to handle any programming forensics," Naryi offered. "She isn't what one would consider 'regular Starfleet issue," Naryi explained. "She was recruited from the University of Hong Kong just after receiving her doctorate."

Alastair sat straighter in his seat before answering. "About a century ago members of the prototype Enterprise were abducted near the Borderland, some were captured by Orions and sold as slaves. If I recall correctly those Orions were driven off, but it is possible that they have set up illicit activities again. While it's unlikely that the entire crew has been abducted, it cannot be ruled out as a possibility until we have evidence to the contrary. A Bird-of-Prey was also abducted by augmented individuals around that time, but that shouldn't be an issue. The law does not exist in a region such as this, so it is unpredictable in terms of potential behavior."

"So, your hypothesis, Mr. Hallewell, is that perhaps Orions are to blame for these attacks, not Klingons as the Admiral suspects?" She nodded approvingly. "Any ideas for testing that theory?"

Bec tilted her head to the side slightly as Hallewell gave his theory. Despite the man's brashness, it was a solid idea. She was glad that Jackson had spoken up first though, she had wanted to express her thoughts on the theory, but didn't want to step on her CO's toes. Instead she looked between Jackson and Hallewell, nodding as she did.

The science chief thought a moment, a slight eyebrow raise as he ran several ideas through his head all at once.

"If they were indeed attacked, a scan for residual particles would be in order. The results of those scans may not give us an exact answer, but would begin to narrow down possibilities. Depending on the quantity or residual particles, if there are any, may lend itself towards some conclusions as well as Klingon vessels are typically better armed than the average. If we could also determine any amount of plasma exhaust from impulse engines, it may lend a clue to the quantity of vessels that participated."

He sat back in his seat a bit.

"That would, of course, be a moot point if the cause happens to be a scientific phenomenon but my department and I will determine what those are on the way to the objective and/or upon our arrival."

While Cindy had not been impressed with Hallewells' demeanor on her first impression or even her second, she had to admit that Hallewell had good ideas. He knew their field. "Look into it," Cindy merely answered. "I want to know everything there is to know about this situation before we arrive at K-4."

Looking at her Chiefs, she once again asked, "Any other thoughts?"

"Of course, I'd be interested in the medical logs of both bases," Cole spoke up, and in thinking about it, "As well as any common traffic between the two within the past week."

Cindy nodded. She had not considered that perhaps there might be a medical malady or plague that caused the inhabitants to stop contact. "That's a very good idea, Doctor. Search the logs and let me know if you find anything unusual about anyone's medical condition or unusual behaviors."

She looked around for more questions and seeing none said, "Good work, team! Let's solve this mystery! You're all dismissed except you, Bec. Get to work!"

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