Senior Staff Conversation

Posted on Thu May 28th, 2020 @ 8:36am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Captain Gary Taylor & Lieutenant Commander Aurelia Taylor & Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Ensign Kara Hoffman & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik & Lieutenant Casper Thornhill & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani

Mission: Season 3: Episode 4: Cause and Effect
Location: Briefing Room
Timeline: MD 7 - 18h00
3413 words - 6.8 OF Standard Post Measure

IC

At 18h00, the senior staff were summoned to the briefing room, along with Varis and Ensign Derani. It was not the best time but Phoenix needed to get people on the same page.

The briefing room was set up and waiting for them to arrive.

Gary was on the bridge when the summons went out. Leaving the bridge to a junior officer he proceeded to the briefing room. Entering he saw he was the first to arrive. Not even Phoenix had arrived yet. So he went to his customary seat and sat down in the first chair on the right and awaited for the others to arrive.

Gallia followed Taylor off the bridge into the briefing room, wondering what the Captain was going to tell them. What in Hell can happen next? I mean, there isnae much else whet can go wrong at this point.

Lia was down in the ship with Imik when she got the message, after excusing herself she made her way to the briefing room. As she entered she noticed Gary, brushing her self off she spoke. "Oh hi, any clue what this is all about? I've had to leave Imik with a rescue squad to come here, Hello Gallia do you know why we're here?" She sat down opposite Gary, "Sorry for the smell, but it's not pretty down below right now".

Alicia arrived at the briefing PADD in hand, walking over to the replicator she got herself a drink of juice before heading over to a seat. “Good Evening everyone” She smiled warmly as she sat down.

Arrianna entered the conference room and moved to sit down. She carried a stack of PADDs consisting of all the data on this time that she and Miraj had collected.

"Hello Lia, Gallia, Hello Counselor.." Gary replied. "Don't worry about the smell Lia. That's what sonic showers are for. Just make sure you give yourself a good scrubbing." A glint of merriment in his eyes. "In fact I'll be more than happy to volunteer to scrub your back."

"Blessed Tirielle, Commander." Arri noted playfully with a smirk. "If we don't maintain some form of professionalism, even in this mess, Lovejoy and his cronies will show up for another evaluation, then I'll have to figure out a constructive and subtle way to get rid of them."

Lia now spun to face Arri, "If you have nothing constructive to say, I suggest you remain quiet. This situation is bad enough, without the Senior Staff sniping at each other". She looked at the others, "We need to present a united front, the crew will be looking at us to lead them out of this. We can't do that if we can't keep a civil tongue in our heads, do I make myself clear?"

"That's quiet enough Commander Holmes." Gary said sharply. The senior staff is united. You are the one making a scene. Do I make myself clear?"

At that moment, the doors opened on Miraj, who was already feeling slightly intimidated by the invitation to join the senior staff meeting, and she could feel the tension in the room, the silence amongst the officers deafening. She edged in, looking for Commander Brett. Not seeing the other woman, she choose the nearest corner to sit in. "Er, hi."

"Perfectly, Commander Taylor. Perfectly, pardon my thinking about other people". She looked around at the others, "Seems Security is in the dog house, no change there then".

Gary didn't take the bait. He simply ignored Lia. Instead he greeted Miraj. "Hello Ensign, welcome to the group. As you can see we're just one big, happy family."

The door slid open again as the ship's MD stepped through. The gorn was clearly shattered as he finished what was left of a ration pack. He said nothing simply collapsing into his chair.
Next, Naxea entered, glancing at the officers present. "So exactly what the hell happened?" she asked as she sat down in her chair.

"Nothing but the usual, Major. We're just one big functional yet dysfunctional crew here. More like family than crew." Arri noted.

"Ahh, bloody hell." Gallia lowered her head and swore, this was not what she wanted to deal with at that moment.

Casper has entered from the Intelligence Blister, he had been monitoring things down on the planet trying to record as much of it as possible for the historians when they get back to their timeline. He took a seat quietly noticing that everyone was not in a happy mood and the tension in the room you could cut with a butter knife.

Varis walked into the Briefing Room and tossed his portfolio on the table in front of his seat. He was amazed at the situation that the ship was in. It confirmed all of what he was told about Pheonix back before he took this assignment. However, here they were and he was going to have to make sure that they all had a home to go back to. He exhaled heavily through his nose as he looked around the room. He smiled and nodded curtly at all of the officers present. Varis knew that he was not wanted or liked by those in the room. However, he also knew that he would be getting them all home.

Tag Thornhill

Anje came in from the embassy, a padd in her hand from the FIS requesting any information she obtained from Ambassador Zhukov regarding Aubrey Tate. She notice tension when she walked into the room, like she'd just missed a fight of some variety and was rather glad she had, "Umm, hi." She managed to the assembled officers, none of whom seemed happy to be there.

Kara entered the briefing room, nursing a hot cup of coffee. She nodded to everyone as she entered, taking a sip from her mug periodically. She opted to remain quiet for now.

Phoenix entered as the last arrived and she sighed, having heard everything thanks to Avalon.

"You know" She said almost conversationally as she walked to her chair. "There are days when I consider taking myself back in time, 3 or so years, hitting Admiral Sharr over his head with a baseball bat and exchanging myself for him so that HE could be dealing with this crew!" She slapped a PADD Down on the Table. "Believe me when I say this, I am over the snipping, the sarcastic remarks and the bickering. You are all adults and we have a major issue right now, so lets all act like we are adults please." Without waiting for a reply she hit a button.

"We are in Sol System, Year 1664. Ensign Derani has moved us from orbit around Jupiter to the Rings of Saturn. We have time traveled, obviously due to the VOID and at this current moment, we have numerous injured and several dead. And the ship," here a holo of the ship appeared. "well, lets just say, she has been worse but its bad. Lieutenant Hoffman, your team is working overtime I know. We appreciate it. If your team requires additional personnel, ask."

Kara nodded. "Thank you Captain. A few additional hands would be helpful, I'll have a list ready for you by the end of today."

"At this stage, our goal is to avoid contact with the Humans of Earth and any other space-faring race out there. Commander Salannis an Vantar has been working with her team to give you all a run down on the current historical situation both on Earth and the Galaxy at large."

Lia looked at Phoenix, "Sorry Captain". Was all she said. Lia then looked at Arri, "Sorry Commander, I was out of order".

"Accepted Commander." Arri stated calmly.

Phoenix looked at Arri and waved her to speak.

"The world you are going to visit, is quite primitive to our standards. Society is mainly stratafied between the ruling class and serfdom. Aggressive colonization has run rampant, and this society has not yet addressed the issues of chattel slavery. However, it is imperative we keep our presence to a minimum."

Arri continued. "Despite the very primitive nature of humans during this time, this time is the birthplace of the Earth that mediated centuries of disputes between Vulcan, Andor, and Tellar, and championed the very personal liberties in the Federation Charter. But in this time, Earth is on the verge of a social, religious, and philosophical enlightenment. Scientists like Galileo are proposing hypotheses that contradict the common view that the Earth is the center of the universe. A philosopher named John Locke would propose that an individual had the right to 'life, liberty, and property,' and at the royal academy in the United Kingdom. Sir. Issac Newton is creating mathematics we still use today to calculate motion."

She brought up the several events on the main conference room screen. "However, even with all this progress in the fields of Science and Reason, this is a world that is still in transition. Religious leaders like Martin Luther are proposing that faith in their deities rather than blind obediance is the pathway to salvation. This is causing a great upheaval between religious sects, but also paved the way for the rejection of religious extremism by later humans. In essence, if it became common knowledge that 'aliens from the sky were invading their world.' It would create new paranoia the radical religious institutions of the time would capitalize upon." Arri summarized. "In essence, if we interrupt earth, we may never be able to repair cultural contamination of this magnitude. And our future, would be very different."

Alicia shook her head. “Try explaining those of us onboard who aren’t Human.”

Arri nodded. "We won't be able to. We'd be seen as servants of their underworld deity and promptly burned at the stake."

"Then failure to get the hell out of here, and back where we belong. Isn't an option, I for one don't intend to watch friends die in that way". Lia looked around at the assembled staff, "I'm not implying anyone here would do so, but we're a crew, a family. So I suggest we work out a plan of action, in bloody quick order".

Miraj raised a hand. "Warp ten sling shot?" She asked hopefully. The young hybrid had wanted to do one ever since her big brother had told her the story of how Hikaru Sulu had taken a Klingon Warbird back in time to save the earth.

Lia turned to the young Ensign, "Nice idea Ensign, but first we have to get this bird flying first. She's not exactly in a fit condition to attempt that kind of manoeuvre, not until we fix her that is".

Gary listened as first Arri explained the earth they found themselves staring at. Then as Miraj and Lia tossed ideas back and forth. Finally he spoke up. "First things first. We find out for sure how bad we're hurt, then go about repairing the damages. If we need to go to Earth, then we go in small away teams with contact to a minimum or not at all. We don't need the locals going nuts about demons from the sky."

Arri spoke. "We can find resources for repair components on the outer moons of the outer system gas giants. And I have a feasible plan for a return to our time." She mentioned. "In 2373, the Borg attempted to use a temporal rift to go back in time to assimilate Earth during what Temporal Affairs calls the First Contact Incident. I think we can reproduce this rift so we can return to the exact same time we left. I'm not confident a return trip through the void is feasible. The void anomaly is, for the lack of a better word; unstable.

"Pardon my ignorance, but just how do we produce this rift? As I remember, didn't the Enterprise have to piggyback a Borg ship?" Lia was unsure how they could reproduce the rift, but she was prepared to listen.

Kara chimed in. "Um, not for nothing but, how, EXACTLY." she paused for a moment with her emphasis on the word "exactly." She continued a few seconds later. "Are we supposed to use borg similar techniques, to enter some void, when the ship is in the current shape she's in. We're not going anywhere for at least a few days at minimum.We don't even have the warp core back online. I'll need a full breakdown of your plan before I even attempt a simulation. Our crew, passengers, all of us, were dragged here. It is engineering's responsibility to ensure everyone's safety. Please, I don't mean to speak out of line but..." She looked to the Captain. For the first time Kara's face asked ~help me out here~

"We have to be precise. If we enter the void again. Lets just say we'd end up anywhere. We'd end up placing our ship in crew in fate's hands... Which is a very uncomfortable thought." Arri explained.

"Beggin' the Captain's pardon, but permission to turn Ops over to Lt. Morgan an' refarm the READ team to render assistance to Chief Engineer Hoffman?" Gallia asked, sure, she was missing a critical component of the READ team with her NCOIC having moved up and out, but Sami could do Liorga's job in a pinch, "Lest ye'd rather Cdr. Brett resume her old postin', ma'am."

Phoenix took a breath. "Before we plan to return we need the ship in one piece that means all hands on deck for that. And no plan will be imitated without full consultation from all departments. Mr Varis has made it clear we cannot impact the timeline and so any sort of maneuver will need to be done somewhere, where there is no other civilization. "

Pausing, Phoenix looked at Varis. "Mr Varis?"

Varis had been taking notes and writing furiously in his portfolio. He was so into his own thoughts and note taking that he almost missed the Captain calling his name. His eyes looked up and toward the Captain. "Hmmmm...?" After a short pause he realized that everyone waited for him to chime in as it were. "The timeline is paramout, it is more important that this ship or any one of our lives. Without the preservation of time there will be no home for us to return to. That said I would suggest the following. Any materials needed to repair the ship should be replicated and if they cannot be then they should be mined on the moons of the Jovian planets and out of view of the telescopes of the time, as Commander Salannis an Vantar recommends. Secondly if an away team is going to go to Earth it should be done under..." His voice trailed off and he exhaled heavily through his nose again. He hated having to utter these next words. "...My command. I cannot stress that any visit to Earth should only be done if our situation is dire, and only with the full consent of the Captain and myself."

Varis looked around the room as he spoke. He had to make sure that they all understood that the timeline was above them all, and he would not allow them to disturb it.

"I agree with Mister Varis. This is a Temporal Affairs matter, but I also recommend that I serve as Varis' second." She noted. "True it's a Temporal Affairs mission, but people going on it are Starfleet Officers, and a clear chain of command must be maintained."

Varis nodded his agreement with the Commander. At the moment it seemed that the Science Chief and he would get along fairly well.

Kara took out her PADD from her jacket pocket as Varis and the Captain had been speaking. She checked down the list of materials she would need. "Captain, Mister Varis. I made a list of materials we need to collect. If it's agreeable, I'd like to ask permission to take a shuttle and conduct a small mining operation to acquire what we need. We already have a cargobay which was repurposed into a refinery for just such occassions. The engine cooling conduits and plasma injectors require small amounts of rare trace elements in order to function effectively. Without them, we would be putting our warp drive at risk." She explained. "I believe there should be, if i'm correct a cluster of astroids orbiting Hyperion, moon of Saturn, where I could collect the materials." She paused. "I did my homework for once."

"Be that as it may, Lieutenant Hoffman, landing a shuttle on an asteroid to try and mine it in flight is ridiculously dangerous." Gallia offered, fighting to keep her emotions out of it, though the fact was it was Kara, her Kara, and she was terrified.

"I can do it." Miraj said simply. "I've landed on speeding asteroids plenty of times." Asteroids, floating space junk, burnt out wrecks that could collapse at any moment, and a comet, for a dare. "Its not that hard. I've done worse."

"You would have to do it staying out of sight of Earth. They maybe technologically behind us but we cannot be spotted." Phoenix said calmly. "If you think you can Ensign, You will assist the Engineers in that. 09h00 tomorrow suit?"

Lia had been listening to the others planning and staying hidden as they repaired the ship, now she had an idea. "I've just thought of something, somewhere we haven't thought about". She looked over to Phoenix, "Alpha Centauri, I think we could make it. And all this time contamination wouldn't matter, because we'd be to far away from Earth to be spotted". She looked at the other as she continued, "It's about 4.34 light years away, and it has several M class planets". Lia now waited to see just how that suggestion would go down, surely it had some merit?

"With all due respect, Commander, settling on Alpha Centauri is less like a plan and more like something we would do when our plan failed." Gallia stated, she didn't relish the idea of living and dying centuries before her birth, let alone having to watch her daughter do it, "I do think it's something we should keep on the back burner, in case we do reach a point where there's no way we can get back, but let's not colonize Ancient Alpha Centauri just yet."

"I'm sorry, Lia, but I've got to agree with Gallia on this one." Anje said, feeling bad about not being able to back Lia on this, "I mean, at least for now, I want to focus every effort on getting home. We can always go live in the AC later if we have to."

"I concur." Arrianna noted. Looking at Anje.

Lia shook her head, "I wasn't proposing founding a colony, I was thinking about certain minerals and metal ores which we get our hands on more easily. And certainly a safer way than removing them from Earth, but it was just an idea".

"That I can surely get behind." Gallia smiled, happy to know Lia hadn't given up on them getting home.

Phoenix took a breath. "Ok, let me lay this out. Lieutenant Hoffman, get your engineering team together, Ensign Derani will be your pilot."

"Aye Captain, I'll have my team ready." She remained calm externally, But internally she was screaming with excitement. Her first proper away mission since joining the Elysium.

"Yes ma'am," Miraj replied, and gave Kara a grin. "When do you want to leave?"

Kara smiled wide, and nodded to the captain. "09:30 If fine with me. I'll get all our equipment ready and sent down to the shutle bay for loading as soon as possible. Oh and, than kyou Captain."

"All other departments are to supply crew to Engineering and Operations where possible. Medical is also to be suplimented. And Counseling I want reports on any crew who are coming in, who maybe seen as a risk to the timeline. I know this timeline is fragile. Anyone contacting Earth without permission from both Mr Varis and Myself will be punished severely. And I am not talking time in the brig." She let it hang there. "Make sure your teams are aware of this."

Alicia nodded. “I’ll make sure the Counselling department keep you up-to-date on any worries or concerns. I’ll have reports on your desk on a regular basis.”

"IF there is nothing, else, lets get back to work shall we?"