Preparations
Posted on Sun Feb 19th, 2017 @ 2:40am by Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant JG Fe'cia Niatra & Lieutenant Élan Val & Lieutenant Isha t'Veralan & Lieutenant JG Zoe Ellija & Ensign Sarleya D'Nal'khiy
960 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission: The Kingdom of Shadows
Isabella muffled a yawn as she worked through the stack of paperwork on her desk. With the Endeavour still undergoing repairs, both she and Captain McKeon had been given temporary offices on the shipyard station until the repair teams had finished repairs. However, along with the transitional classes and her usual workload, she had to help go through the list of suitable candidates who were to be transferred to the Endeavour to replace the crew that hadn’t survived the passage or had decided to pursue other options in this new timeline. And naturally, the Endeavour crew had been offered assignments to assist them with the transitional period. One of the assignment offers caught Isabella’s eye as she skimmed through the list. Pausing, she read the mission briefing closely before she set the Padd down and tapped her commbadge.
“Dei`Silvisi to Crewman Ellija, Lieutenants Val, T’Veralan, Niatra, and Ensign D’Nal’khiy, please report to briefing lounge four in ten minutes,” Isabella said before she signed off.
~~~ Ten minutes later, Briefing Lounge Four ~~~
With the authorization and flight plan requests approved and in hand along with the mission outline, Isabella walked into Briefing Lounge Four. The senior ranking science officers and the most recently assigned helmsman assigned to the Endeavour were already waiting. She nodded towards them with a friendly smile as she walked to the head of the table and sat down. “Good morning, everyone. I’ve called you here today because we’ve been given an assignment. We’ll be taking the runabout Nighthawk to Beta Circini for a standard charting and survey mission. It’s a typical white type F-II star with at least one planet in its solar system that’s been recorded, roughly nine light years from here. Our orders are to scan and survey the solar system and chart and catalogue any additional planets that may be there. If there are any planets that happen to catch our eye, we’re authorized to take a closer look. Any questions?”
“Why are we taking a runabout?” Sarleya asked. As the most junior officer present, she felt slightly out of place asking the question. “It’ll take several days for us just to get there on a runabout.”
“At warp factor five which is the normal maximum rated cruising speed for a runabout, it will take fifteen and a half days to get there,” Zoe said. “Plus another fifteen days to get back, and however long it will take to complete the survey. My guess is that can take up to ten days.”
Isabella stared at the young, scarred crewman for a moment before she shook her head and nodded in agreement. “Crewman Ellija is correct. Our mission profile is estimated to take at least forty days. But, since repairs to the Endeavour are estimated to take at least another sixty days, we were delegated to this assignment. The Nighthawk is the only craft that is here at the station that Crewman Ellija is currently qualified to pilot, and is currently the only craft that is outfitted for such a mission.”
“Well, if we have no choice, then we have no other choice,” Isha t’Veralan said. Instead of sitting, the tall, slim Romulan woman was leaning against the bulkhead. “It will also give us time to learn how to work together better, since we’re all going to be doing that anyway once the Endeavour has been released for active duty once more.”
“I happen to agree, and it’ll get us out of here. No offense, Commander, but Val and I have both felt cooped up since we got here,” Élan said.
“I’m in agreement as well,” Fe’cia said with a flicker of her ears. “But, shouldn’t we bring a security escort along with us? This system is both unknown and not previously explored, and nine light years is a long distance if we should get into any trouble.”
“The security threat rating for this mission was estimated to be very low, so Starfleet decided against dispatching a security detail,” Isabella replied with a clearly unhappy tone in her voice. “The official reply to my concern was that a single runabout outfitted for an extended survey mission crewed by six trained Starfleet personnel should be enough to handle any obstacle that the mission would encounter during the operation.”
“That sounds like a bunch of worms wiggling out of sending a properly manned expedition into an unknown solar system,” Isha said with disgust in her voice. “Science missions are always unpredictable, especially under these circumstances.”
“I agree,” Élan said. “Commander, there’s simply too many unknowns involved in this mission. As chief science officer, I must insist that all Starfleet protocols be observed. As with all away missions heading into an unknown situation, each mission team must be assigned one trained Starfleet security officer or crewman. I’d even insist on a trained medical professional to be added as well.”
“Ma’am, a runabout can accommodate up to fifteen people for an extended period of time. Upping the personnel involved in the mission to eight or nine isn’t going to break the resources on the craft,” Zoe said as she rubbed the scars that ran down the left side of her face absently. “I’d feel a lot better if we had someone who could carry a phaser rifle and do more than basic first aid added to the team as well.”
Isabella nodded. “Alright, I’ll task someone from medical and security to be added to the detail as well. I want everyone to gear up and meet me in the shipyard shuttle bay in twenty minutes. We’ll depart shortly after then. Dismissed.”
To be continued…
RSS Feed