StarDate 241503.16 Joint Log: Commanding and Executive Officers: Commander A. McKeon & Lieutenant Commander I. Valenar

Posted on Mon Mar 16th, 2015 @ 6:35pm by Captain Innovindil Valenar & Captain Alistar McKeon

1,030 words; about a 5 minute read

Despite being awaken in the middle of the night for an urgent meeting, Innovindil had taken the time to make her appearance as presentable as possible. Her hair had been pulled back into a tight ponytail and quickly brushed, and she wore no makeup, but her appearance was as perfect as she could make it on such a short notice. Having served at Starfleet Command and in the Headquarters Building before her assignment to the Endeavour, Innovindil had grown accustomed to late night emergency meetings. She still didn't like them, but it was a requirement of wearing the uniform. It was clear from the worried looks that were on the faces of the Bridge crew on duty that something was going on, and that it was a major situation. Stepping up to the Ready Room doors, Innovindil tapped the door chime and waited.

Alistar hadn't made any attempt to run a comb through his hair or find a fresh uniform. He had dug up his old fresh coffee maker and had started brewing a pot of coffee along with ordering a full breakfast since it was clear that sleep wasn't happening any time soon. There was also the fact that he still had a hangover and the Romulan ale was still winning. At the sound of the door chime, he glanced up from the padd he had been reading long enough to find his coffee mug and call "Enter".

Innovindil stepped into the Ready Room and paused as her nose detected the tell-tell smell of fresh coffee, bacon, eggs, biscuits, toast, two kinds of sausage, sugared ham, hash browns, and fresh butter and her eyebrows rose as she recovered and continued over to the desk. She eyed the serving plate with a worried hunger before she turned her gaze over to the coffee pot.

"Where … how did you manage to get a fresh coffee pot that actually works?" Innovindil asked.

"Help yourself, we're in for a hell of a day," Alistar said as he snagged a piece of bacon and chomped it down. "We picked up a distress signal coming from the Basik system. Apparently, there's a civilian expedition that has gotten into some trouble so naturally we have to go help."

"What kind of trouble?" Innovindil asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee and added a little bit of sugar and creamer. She was still wondering where McKeon had managed to find a coffee maker that worked, since they were rarely used, especially aboard starships. Sitting down in one of the empty chairs, she helped herself to a piece of toast.

"The distress didn't say, but it was just a generalized priority one automatic distress," Alistar answered. "I've been going over everything we have on the system, and there's something that bothers me. The only planet with a habitual atmosphere is a class Q planet. Everything else is class C or D, with one class I planet at the outer edge of the system."

"Why is the expedition even in such a system?" Innovindil asked. Indeed, she was wondering why they would even visit such a star system to begin with. Under normal circumstances, a Starfleet ship would be dispatched to survey uncharted star systems.

"The official statement is that they were doing a survey for the Science Council, but there's no license number or official statement, so either it's a cover story or a lie. It's not part of any university or SciCouncil branch either."

"A private expedition, then?" Innovindil asked as she sipped her coffee.

"It's possible, but why the cover story of being authorized by the Science Council? The whole thing is screwy. They were using an old D59 series 8 surveyor ship, so if they ran into any trouble they would be in big trouble. Those things were made illegal a year after they rolled them down the assembly lines," Alistar sighed. "I sometimes hate my job."

"This is getting of the subject, but how did you manage to get your hair to go in five separate directions and stick out on the sides like that?" Innovindil asked, trying hard to keep her expression neutral as she spoke. One look at her Commanding Officer's expression caused her to smile.

"The next time you decide to find a date for any reason, I'll remember that," Alistar growled. "But I spent the evening with Rhiana."

"The bartender?" Innovindil asked as she tried to place a face with the name. The only one she could think of was the beautiful blonde Romulan civilian. Innovindil's eyebrows rose a quarter of an inch.

"Yes the bartender," Alistar said. "Getting back to this expedition matter. The Q class planet should be our first stop, but I want to check the others as well."

"The best way we could cover that would be to arrive at the edge of the system and perform a sweep of the planetary regions using the primary sensor array. We can have engineering calibrate the lateral sensors to help scan the system as well," Innovindil said.

"Alright," Alistar said. "Have Vaughn get the techs to ready the sensors and put a security and medical team on full standby. If this turns out to be a case of engine trouble, I'm going to launch a quantum torpedo at their ship and tell those civilians to shove off."

"I'll help load the torpedo personally," Innovindil said as she stood. This early in the morning, it was sometimes best to wake everyone up and then tell them personally why their sleep had been interrupted.

"I'll have engineering get on the calibrations right away and then get a team placed on standby in the shuttle bay," she said.

"Very good, dismissed commander," Alistar said. Once Valenar had left his ready room, he tapped his commbadge. "McKeon to bridge. Make a course correction to 205 by 095. Set a course for the Basik system and increase speed to maximum warp."

Outside the view port, the stars changed wildly as the Endeavour banked hard to port and jumped to her maximum cruising speed.

Cmdr Alistar McKeon
CO, USS Endeavour

Lieutenant Commander Innovindil Valenar
Executive Officer
Chief of Security and Tactical
U.S.S. Endeavour

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