The Next Step

Posted on 17 Jun 2015 @ 2:49pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander C. Kos & Commander Jayla Kij & Commander Terry Walsh & Lieutenant Hictus Dicon & Lieutenant Kyan Reza & Lieutenant Avery Stuart Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Perei

2,468 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Answers
Location: Briefing Room
Timeline: MD 8 - 1300 hours

Harvey sat alone in the briefing room. The crew had done a fine job getting the Black Hawk up and running again. It was time to get moving, even if the ship was operating at sixty percent efficiency. He'd summoned his officers to the Briefing Room, and for the first time, he sat waiting for them to arrive.

In front of him, a yellow isolinear chip rested on the table. He'd found it precisely where Emily had indicated. The information it contained was staggering. He didn't want to believe any of it, and if he even wanted to, he wasn't sure what was truth or fiction. So much evidence. So little hard facts.

He loved a good mystery, but this one needed a bigger clue. That was why he was already resolved in their destination. And it was time to assemble his team. He'd invited a few other members of the crew to join the Senior Staff in this briefing, a select couple individuals who would be instrumental in the days to come.

These days were busy ones, and despite having to go to a meeting, Ethan was glad for the reprieve. With a PaDD in hand, he entered the briefing room and took a seat at the chair he typically occupied which was two chairs down from the head of the table. "Hello, Captain," Ethan greeted. Typically he was always ready with a smile, but he was too exhausted. Plus, the last couple of days had troubled him greatly. He had a feeling it would for a long time to come.

"Mister O'Donnell," Harvey greeted, his tone low and bare of emotion. He did not turn to look at the man, though his eyes glanced upward as Ethan sat down.

Perei walked towards the briefing room with one of the cadets who had been aboard the ship. They quietly discussed why use hydroponics versus the soil. "Well, gasses for plants can be generated in whatever formula is necessary." Perei explained as she paused by the door she was unsure as to why she had been summoned to this meeting when Lieutenant Rogers, her department head, was to attend as well. "I must attend this." She tilted her head toward the door. "Head back to hydroponics and assist Crewman Waters. Our conversation can be continued at a later time." Perei entered the room and glanced around to see who had already arrived. She smiled slightly at the Captain and motioned with her dark head. A nod of her head in recognition and a slight bow she did the same with Ethan. "Hello Captain. Hello Lieutenant O'Donnell" She found a seat and sat down. She placed a PADD on the table before her to take notes.

Managing somewhat of a friendly smile, Ethan tipped his head at the other lieutenant. "Hello, Lieutenant."

"Perei," Harvey said, looking at the El-Aurian/Vulcan hybrid as she sat down. "Welcome."

"Thank you, Captain." Perei replied dutifully

Jayla hurried to the briefing room, worried she'd be late. She'd been going over some files she'd been able to recover and trying to fill in the missing letters and decipher what had been in the often truncated notes and had looked up to realize that she had only five minutes to get to the briefing. "Oh, good," she said as she entered the room. "I'm not late after all. Good afternoon," she added to the three gathered. "How's your shoulder?" she added to the Captain.

"Fine," Harvey said, looking up at the doctor. With all of the ups and downs he was seeming to do, perhaps he would need something for his neck next. His mind was still on the briefing he was about to start.

Mac walked into the briefing room, steaming cup of coffee in hand. She'd been working for far too long, and without sleep. The caffeine from the coffee was supplementing the three other cups she'd had in the last hour. "Sorry if I'm late."

Dicon strode into the briefing room, his shoulders crisscrossed with bandoleers of engineering tools. At his hip was a portable plasma cutter (his second today) and on the other him, a diagnostic computer core. "Captain, please forgive my appearance, we are working on the Computer Mainframe and well we are going to start a partial reboot once this briefing is over". He sat down heavily before withdrawing a ration pack from somewhere on his person, laying it in front of him neatly.

Terry had just been down on the flight deck checking on the support craft. The runabouts had several panels open and parts appeared missing. But everything else was coming along fine. It was all in the reports he had for the briefing. The fact that he had been requested to attend the briefing was, in and of itself, a surprise though. Lieutenant O’Donnell would be able to field most of the questions, but he surmised it had something to do with the support craft.

Lieutenant Walsh entered the room and noticed that he was most certainly not early. He nodded to everyone in general and made his way around the table, taking a seat next to his department head.

Avery took a slow deep breath before entering the briefing room. She'd been busy tending to traumatized crewmembers and needed a minute to steady herself before she mentally transitioned to the staff meeting. Of course, those she talked to were grateful crew loyal to the Captain had managed to retake the ship, but many were also understandably shaken that people who purported to be loyal to Starfleet and the Captain had been able to fly under the radar for so long. Frankly, Avery was shaken herself. It was a rational, but if anyone were expected to be able to root out trouble, it would be Avery and her department.

As she took her seat, her thoughts continue to be at war with one another. On the one hand, she knew she wasn't expected to be clairvoyant, but on the other, she still felt guilty. She offered a polite nod to those who met her eyes, but was otherwise quiet.

Perei nodded a polite greeting to each of the personnel as they each entered and took their place. When finished she turned to center her attention on the Captain but wondered where Lt. Rogers was. He had not mentioned that he would not be able to attend.

Lieutenant Reza arrived and smoothly slipped into the room, finding the nearest empty seat that she could find. She flashed a small smile at the Captain before pulling out a PaDD to study some security patterns.

Harvey looked up again from the isolinear chip to find his staff assembled in the room, along with a few new faces. He straightened in his chair and looked at a couple key faces in the room. Kos first, then Dicon, then Reza. "Thank you, Commander Kos and Lieutenant Dicon for your quick work in stabilizing this ship. I dare not ask how the computer is doing, but I do ask that you get it finished as quickly as possible."

Looking now at Dicon, Harvey asked, "When can we have warp speed, Mr. Dicon? Or much less, get underway?"

"I have had six people working on the impulse drive manifolds, helm control is still out but that is not too hard to fix, I'll have that done inside the next four hours. I can't say about warp though, they really did a number on the core computers there, and I am trying to get some control back but the best guess I can give is two day's maybe one and half." Dicon looked quite annoyed by the time he finished.

"Ms. Reza," Harvey then asked, turning to the red-skinned Chief of Security. "Security status?"

Lieutenant Reza's focus was taken away from the PaDD before her and locked onto the Captain who had sent the question her way. "We're....uh let's just say that I am presently retraining our security personnel to better improve their readiness and response times."

Harvey nodded. Sighing, he clutched the isolinear chip and stood up. Without saying a word, he walked over to the viewing screen and inserted the chip in a nearby slot. A small set of controls and options appeared and Harvey tapped one of the buttons, prompting an extremely vague map to appear on the screen. "This is what Emily Carter showed us when we first prepared to enter this sector."

He tapped a different button. The map suddenly became quite detailed, showing Syndicate movements and various affiliations and details throughout the sector. "This is what she was sitting on."

Ethan's eyes went wide, when his gaze took in what he was looking at. A million questions were going through his mind at the moment. "And this is accurate? I mean could this be a ruse to throw us off, to halt the mission?"

Perei's eyebrows puckered slightly over her brown eyes as she studied the schematic then her eyebrows smoothed once again. Her face passive in thought.

Avery nodded in response to Ethan's question. "Given what she's already done, obviously we can't discount that possibility."

"Unfortunately, we still don't know the difference between fact and fiction. We've suffered a great setback, but our mission is still on." He tapped another button, and the screen changed to highlight and zoom into a planet not far from their position. "The X'annon's flight logs indicating that this was a frequent destination. Most of the indentured servants found aboard her came from this planet. So that's where we'll be going."

Crossing his arms, he paused for a moment before continuing. "However, The Black Hawk is in no condition to go anywhere. Even if she could, in our weakened state, I do not wish to put her into a position that we can't get out of, or lose at a second attempt at a boarding. I, therefore, will be leading an Away Team to this planet. Jayla, Perei, you'll be tagging along. Reza, so will you and a couple members of security so select your best. Mr. Walsh, you'll be flying. Our goal will be to collect whatever intel we can, and get out of here."

Mackenzie's eyes popped open. Did Harvey just say he's leading the away team? she asked herself. We will have words about this, she thought, knowing that having such a discussion in front of the crew was a bad idea.

Perei nodded with a quick nod of her head in acknowledgement of being brought along on the mission. Once more though she wondered where Lieutenant Rogers was and why would he not attend the Captain.

Dicon raised his hand "Captain, while I may still be working on fixing the Black Hawk, this ship will not stand much above impulse speeds. I should suggest that if you intend to take a shuttle, I can't guarantee even communications with your team."

"Nothing is guaranteed, Mr. Dicon," Harvey replied, his voice nearly stern. "Nonetheless, that is noted. All the more reason why I'm keeping you and Mr. Sherman back. I would recommend sending an Engineer you can spare in case the Away Team has some in-flight troubles."

Terry had been staring at the screen. The planet was not far from their current position, so any of the shuttles could work. But he would need a shuttle large enough for himself and at least six other crew members. “Sir,” he said, “I recommend we take the Type 11 Personnel Shuttle. It would fit the entire away team and have the speed and weapons necessary in case we need them.”

"Use the Tigris," Mac chimed in. "I've got enough of the primary core back online that we can stop using the Tigris' core. It's better armed and has more capabilities, including sensors."

That sounded good to Terry. “Okay, you’ve got it Commander. The Tigris it is.” He made a note on the PADD to start prepping the Tigris for flight as soon as it was released.

Avery didn't like the notion the captain would be leading this away team anymore than it appeared the XO did. She couldn't help but wonder if he was doing so to compensate for feeling helpless when the ship was taken out of his control. She made a mental note to speak with him privately when the meeting was over, and she reminded herself to be particularly tactful. No doubt the XO would take the more direct approach as was understandable, but if Avery spoke to him after she did, she didn't want to pile on.

"Make sure you account for anything," Harvey warned, looking specifically at Reza. "Though I don't want to show up looking for a fight."

Reza smirked at the Captain's 'subtle' remark. She looked at him with an agreeing nod. "Understood, Sir. You do not have to worry about me. I like to blend in to a crowd....not stand out which I know sounds odd given how I look."

Looking back at his First Officer, Harvey thought of asking her to prepare the Mississippi for a last minute rescue effort should it be needed. Hopefully, the Black Hawk would be ready to go by then. Instead, he looked back at the assortment of senior staff and junior officers. He hoped it wasn't necessary to tell those who weren't going on the mission that their focus was to get the Black Hawk fully operational again.

"You all have your orders," Harvey told them. "If there are no questions, then you are dismissed. We leave in one hour."

Perei waited to see if anyone would have questions before she just stood and departed. When the others departed she left with them and returned to the science department and gathered what she thought she would need for their trip.

At the mention of questions, Ethan glanced around to see if there was anyone who had any. Everything seemed pretty straight forward. After a few beats of silence passed, he stood as the others did, and departed the briefing room just as the others had.

Terry wasn’t far behind the rest of the crew as they were heading out. He had no questions and was eager to get down to the Tigris.

Jayla headed out in the direction of Sick Bay. She needed to get a med kit ready and she didn't want to just bring a standard one with her; they suddenly seemed inadequate.

Though her eyes were locked firmly on Harvey, Mackenzie was aware of the other officers leaving the room. She remained in her seat, her eyes boring holes in Geisler's head.

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