The Captain's Briefs

Posted on 30 Aug 2017 @ 1:48pm by Captain Harvey Geisler & Commander Thiago Teixeira & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant David Moreau Jr

2,080 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Finnean Crisis
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 6 || 0900 Hours

Joey lead the way to the Captain's Ready Room, a place she was all too familiar with, having spent her down time here with him while he was working on a couple occasions. This time, though, she was more than a little nervous about seeing him... especially after what happened much earlier that morning. However, she was a professional, and prided herself on being able to push her personal feelings aside to handle duty related matters, and this time would be no different.

Lieutenant Corwin checked Joey just before she extended a hand to press the sensor for the chime. There were many things to discuss before more digging into what was actually going on in this forsaken place could happen. She just found herself hoping he wouldn't be too angry about them not getting Yuki or the probe. And while that was a serious blow, they did manage to get all Starfleet personnel off the surface and back where they belonged.

"If things seem a bit tense, just try to overlook it," she said to David softly. "Everything that's been going on has people a bit on edge."

David wondered why she had felt the need to say that, but shrugged it off. "We're all tense," he said. "We move past it, though."

"Exactly, and now is no different," Joey said, looking back to the door while they waited to be granted entry.

Harvey had only recently retreated to the Ready Room, having spent the last couple of hours on the bridge. Any other time he'd hold a meeting like this in the conference room, but it was about time he really broke in the spacious office. Between the couch, the table and chairs, and the seating near the desk, the Ready Room was certainly large enough to have meetings without the need to occupy the conference room.

He'd taken the opportunity to step into the head to refresh himself before the meeting, thinking he'd have plenty of time. However, just as he splashed a bit of water on his face, he heard the door chime. Harvey shut off the water and patted his face down with a towel before returning to the office. "Come," he said, moving to sit behind the desk.

Joey was the first to walk through the door, but she didn't stop lest the big man behind her run her down. Instead, she moved further into the ready room and looked toward their Commanding Officer. "Captain," she greeted with a respectful nod of her head.

David came in behind Joey with a PADD in one hand and a black rock in the other and took a moment to take in the room at a glance before he approached the desk where the Captain was. "Captain Geisler," he said.

Teixeira approached the doors to Geisler's office just as they were closing. His presence caused them to stop and he slipped past them. "Sorry about that, sir."

Harvey arched an eyebrow, wondering why the XO would apologize for nearly missing his entrance. Rather than saying anything, he gestured towards the two chairs in front of his desk. The person who drew the short stick would have to pull a chair over from the table. "Medical reports that the personnel you recovered are responding well to treatments," he said. "And other teams are recovering the rest from the other dig sites."

Joey chose to remain standing, allowing the two men to have the chairs. "That's good to hear. Some of them were in bad shape," she said, folding her arms across her chest. Seeing the condition those people were in still pissed her off in ways she didn't even think possible. "Yuki was there, but we weren't able to get to her, nor were we able to retrieve the probe." Something that still pissed her off, but getting their people back was a pretty great consolation. "I did manage to plant a couple bugs. I have some of my people monitoring that as we speak." And that was about all she had to report.

Moreau was surprised when Lieutenant Corwin chose to remain standing, so he decided he could do the same. "If it weren't for Lieutenant Corwin's pushing the Selubassari, I doubt if we would have gotten half of what we did," he said as he set the PADD with the tricorder readings he had taken on the planet on the Captain's desk. He held his other hand out and offered the starship commanding officer the chunk of ore that he had pilfered when getting the wounded out. "And I managed to get a sample of whatever it is that they've been digging for on the planet, Sir. It registers as duranium and other foreign metals."

"Foreign?" Harvey asked, leaning forward to pick up the item. It was heavy, and the texture itself felt very brittle. "Duranium's pretty common in the universe, but I don't think there's a trace to be found on Finnea. If there was, I'm certain there'd be some listed among its exports."

"I should say that the other metals were foreign to Finnea," David clarified. "And the Selubassari were rather intent on not letting us see what it was."

"I see," Harvey remarked, turning this object around in his hands. "I don't suppose anyone has any theories as to what this is? Or what it came from."

"A ship, perhaps," Joey suggested, but without having anyone look at it more in depth, anything anyone said was simply speculation. "That would make the most sense considering they were doing everything they could to keep us from seeing it. And let's not forget they have the guts of a Federation probe in their possession. It seems the most logical explanation."

Harvey looked at the object in his hands, still turning it over and over to look at every angle. "We know Finnea was struck long ago by a nearly cataclysmic event," he said at last. "A ship wouldn't be enough to trigger it, but maybe there's something more that we don't know about. Could this be related to the probe?" Of course the question was purely speculation, and he knew no one in the room would have the answers.

She didn't really have any answers... only more questions like she expected there to be. Joey had given her brief the best she could, and that wasn't much to begin with. "Captain, with your permission, I'd like to return to Intel. Maybe the bugs that were planted will provide us with something useful," she stated, though she doubted it. So far, nothing worked, so why would this be any different? There just didn't seem to be a light at the end of this tunnel, and the once optimistic officer was beginning to feel rather defeated.

"It has to be related to the probe," David said. "Why else would they suddenly start digging all over the place looking for this ore so soon after they got their hands on the probe? I say we should send a strike team in under cover of night and retrieve it, Commander Yuki and Couric."

"And then what?" Harvey asked. "Sure we'd have the probe back, assuming that the probe is in that location. There are at least, what... five other dig sites? The Selubassari don't have any reinforcements in this sector, nor do they have a ship in orbit. And what of the Finneans? What was the situation on the ground?"

"I was able to narrow down the location to two sites, and there's a very strong possibility Yuki was at that location according to those who recall seeing a short human female with dark hair. If she's there, that means the probe is with her. I can't see her going to all the trouble of getting the thing off of the da Gama just to allow someone else to take it," the only female in the room piped up. "As for the Finneans, the da Gama personnel didn't want to leave them, but we weren't in any position to take them with us. There has already been mention of a rebellion, and I think it's coming sooner than expected. If this happens, countless lives will be lost. The Selubassari will not hesitate to kill anyone who opposes them. If I hadn't forced their hand, I may have been one of those unlucky enough to suffer that very fate."

Stepping forward to hand Geisler a PADD, Teixeira spoke. "Miller got those readings out of one of the large dig sites."

Harvey set the object on the desk and accepted the PADD. He blinked, noticing the scope of the scans of a rather massive object. He whistled, realizing that this was certainly quite the discovery. Harvey recalled that Finnea had been struck centuries ago by an extinction-level event. It was only by sheer will that the Finneans had survived it at all. Could this... artifact be connected to that event or even the probe that emerged from the Zone. "Duranium, tritanium, magnesite, variethiel..." he said softly, reading off the list. "Could this be--"

The comm system chimed, interrupting his speech. =/\= "Captain to the bridge!" =/\=

He immediately rose from the desk, leaving the PADD and the artifact laying on his desk. Harvey didn't motion for the others to follow, but he assumed that they would. "Report!" the Captain demanded as he approached his chair.

"Sir!" said the stand-in officer at Tactical, "We've just picked up over a hundred shuttles launching from the surface of Finnea."

"Where are they going?" Harvey demanded, wondering why there would suddenly be so much traffic. His gut, however, warned him that something terrible was on the horizon.

"I don't know how to say this sir," he said. "But they're heading straight for Deep Space Fifteen."

Joey was hot on the Captain's heels and relieved the officer at the Intel console. She had a feeling she knew what was going on. "Captain... I think the Finneans have begun their rebellion. It seems the message that I intercepted when I posed as a netgirl was accurate," she said, moving her fingers over the console in front of her. "It almost seems that our presence on the surface to rescue our people was enough incentive for them to take action."

"Indeed," Harvey muttered. He'd been worried that this would happen if they didn't do anything to help the Finneans. Of course, how could they? The Selubassari had everyone's hands tied down for the last few weeks. This was always meant, as it seemed like, that this was about to explode. It was always a matter of time.

The bald hulking Security Chief moved over and took over from the Tactical Officer and double checked the sensor readings. " I suggest we put our shields up and ready weapons, Captain," Moreau said. "Just in case they decided that our lack of help on the surface makes us look like a target to them." Not that they'd have much luck attacking a Century class ship in mere shuttles.

Though he stood next to Geisler, the first officer leaned in closer. "We need to try to defuse this. The Finneans don't stand a chance."

"Agreed," Harvey immediately said, his mind already thinking along the Commander's recommendation. "Red alert, Mister Moreau. "Raise shields and arm phasers. Commander Teixeira, ready the squadron." Harvey resisted the urge to sit down. Depending on how these next few minutes passed would determine if he needed to take his seat. "What is Deep Space Fifteen's reaction to this?"

'Aye, Captain. Red alert." A moment later the bridge lighting became illuminated with red as David activated red alert. "Shields up and phasers are coming online, Sir," he said.

"Deep Space Fifteen is readying for battle, Captain," Joey reported. Even she knew this situation was going to spell disaster if things didn't get under control quickly.

Moving to the station to the left of the command chair, Thiago sent an alert to the squadron and the deck crew to prep for launch. He was still getting used to having a full-size console to himself again after eight years in command. He appreciated the range it gave him, but it still felt strange.

Resistance was futile. Harvey sat in the Command Chair, albeit on the very edge. His options were limited, but he had little time to figure out his best action. Hopefully, this could be done without the loss of life.

~To Be Continued~

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