SD 241507.27: Senior officer briefing

Posted on Tue Jul 28th, 2015 @ 4:00am by Captain Alistar McKeon & Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant Commander Akira-Ri Sato & Lieutenant JG Daniel Holland & Lieutenant Jera'turak Ros
Edited on on Tue Jul 28th, 2015 @ 4:10am

2,400 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Midnight on the Firing Line

With Silvisi on his heels, Alistar walked into the senior officer briefing lounge. Naturally, they were the first two arrive, since Alistar hadn't really given everyone much time to arrive. Like the rest of the ship, the room was dark and lit only by the trim lighting and the alert lights. There was also the light from the view port, which let the light from the passing stars in, which wasn't much at the moment. Sitting down in his chair, Alistar leaned abck and waited for everyone else to arrive.

Isabella walked into the senior officer’s briefing room a step behind Commander McKeon, having followed him from the ready room. She was still trying to hide her concern over the attack by the Klingon ships, but while she was worried over that she was also concerned that the attack on the Endeavour could hint towards a larger attack, either against the Endeavour or even the joint Starfleet and Romulan defense force stationed near the Neutral Zone. Having a medical background and being raised by a pair of doctors, Isabella knew all too well the costs of combat. She didn’t like to admit it, but there wasn’t a nonviolent solution to the situation, and that alone wasn’t making her any happier. As she took her seat, Isabella sighed and stared out the view port at the passing stars as she waited.

Holland tried his best not to run but still to hurry. He did not want to be the last to arrive and, in the end, he started to do a really strange looking run-walk as a compromise. It drew a few strange looks from passing crewmen, and eventually Holland grinned at one of them and said, "New workout routine. It's all the rage on Andoria at the moment."

As he approached the senior officer briefing lounge he slowed and walked through the door with a deceptively casual stroll. He noticed that the CO and XO were already present and he nodded to them each in turn, "Sir. Ma'am." Then took his seat and waited in the slightly awkward silence. So, this is what they mean by 'tension so thick you could cut it with a knife'

Isabella glanced towards the doorway at the sound of the soft hiss that indicated the doors opening or closing. She frowned slightly at the lieutenant whom she didn’t recognize right away. It took her several moments before she remembered his name from a list of transfers that had arrived shortly before the Endeavour had departed Deep Space Five.

“Lieutenant Holland, isn’t it?” she asked.

"That's correct, ma'am," Holland replied with a nod and tried not to look like a guilty schoolboy. He knew that he probably should have made the effort to report to the XO as well when coming aboard, "I came aboard at DS5. I apologize for not reporting to you sooner. Things have been...a lot more interesting than I had expected."

“Interesting is one word that best describes the Endeavour,” Isabella said with a smile as she remembered the first time she had boarded the Endeavour. “But I hope that you’re settling in aboard the ship without too much difficulty.”

"Thank you, ma'am," Holland replied, relieved that the XO did not seem to upset at his lack of courtesy, "The department is coming along nicely and the Endevour is a dream come true. I've always wanted to serve on an Intrepid class starship and here I am, her senior helmsman. I hope nobody pinches me."

“I hope your enthusiasm rubs off on some of the crew,” Isabella said with a smile. Indeed, she was still excited to serve aboard the Endeavour, but she hadn’t had time to truly enjoy everything since she had been promoted to executive officer. The Endeavour had barely had barely been launched before the ship and her crew had been thrown into not just one but two crisis situations. It took her a few seconds to shake off her thoughts and turn her attention back to the present. Giving Holland a smile, Isabella nodded. “I’m glad that you’re settling in well, though.”

Akira had been asleep in her quarters when the Klingons had attacked the ship, and the fact that she had missed the fight altogether had ticked her off. As Chief of Security and Tactical, her place during a crisis situation was on the bridge, not stumbling across her quarters trying to get there. She had received the call to report to the briefing lounge, but before she did so she stopped by the Security office and checked in. After issuing orders to step up internal defenses, Akira headed on to the briefing lounge without further incident. Stepping through the doors, she noticed that Commander McKeon and Lieutenant dei`Silvisi were already there, as well as a Lieutenant she didn’t recognize. Giving the new Officer a professional nod, Akira sat down in her chair and waited.

Jera was the last to arrive, since she had the longest distance to come from and she hadn't been in engineering when the summonings to the meeting had been announced. Fortunately, there had been no damage done to the ship, but she hadn't had time to check everything. As she walked into the briefing room Jera took her seat as quickly as she could.

Alistar waited until the acting chief ops, chief medical and chief science officers arrived. They had barely had time to settle in their chairs when Ros arrived, and once the CEO had sat down he leaned forward in his chair. "Alright people, in case you're wondering, we just had an introduction to the Klingon Empire by a pair of birds of prey who are we can only guess are loyalists to the new regime. Since the Federation considers the new regime to be an outlaw dictator who has staged an illegal coup, then that means the ships that attacked us are enemies to the Federation. We're heading back to Lambda Hydraea, but our long range comms are being jammed which means that one or more ships are following us. Since we can't detect anything, that means they're cloaked, and a cloaked Klingon ship means that someone is about to get attacked. I fully expect an attack shortly after we arrived at Lambda Hydraea, so we'll have to act fast. Helm, get with science and go over the sensor records. If there's anything in that system we can use to our advantage, I want to know. Tactical and security, I want to be able to defend the ship inside and out. Get everyone trained on how to fight Klingons. Ops, engineering, go over every power relay and subsystem. Klingons like to call for help when they're attacking a dangerous target, and the fact that we got away probably isn't setting to well with those attack ship commanders. They're going to call in anything they can to take us down, so be prepared for battle damage. Medical, I'm afraid you're going to have to be prepared for casulties. Set up field stations in secured locations. Security can provide guards, and science can provide extra medics."

With a sigh, Alistar nodded as he finished speaking. Looking around at the gathered officers, he nodded. "Anyone want to comment, feel free," he said.

Holland looked around the table, not wanting to interrupt one of the more senior officers if they wanted to speak, before he cleared his throat, "Are the Klingons aware of our destination, sir? Could there perhaps be an ambush waiting?"

Akira nodded her head in agreement. It wasn’t an uncommon tactic for any species to try to plan an ambush, and the Endeavour had no stealth capabilities that would allow the ship to simply slip away like the Klingons.

“Commander, I have to agree. The Klingons have the advantage over us. They already outnumber us at least two to one, plus they have cloaking devices. Add that to the fact that we really don’t know how many enemy ships were in the sector to begin with and the fact that we’re heading straight back to a star system we’ve already been in, and anyone with half a brain can plan an ambush for us,” Akira said.

"And the Klingons are many things, but not stupid," Holland agreed with a grimace, "If there is to be an ambush, I'd much rather be the one doing the ambushing, sir."

Alistar nodded and finally leaned forward in his chair. "Actually, I'm counting on that the Klingons will or already have set up an ambush in Lambda Hydraea for us," he said.

Isabella blinked at the commander’s blatant and open confession. To say that the simple statement came as a complete surprise was an understatement, especially since she as the executive officer should had at least told about her commanding officer’s plan. She quickly dismissed her anger, knowing that Commander McKeon had most likely put this plan together within minutes of the Endeavour’s escape from the two Klingon attack ships less than half an hour before. Silently, Isabella took a deep breath and slowly released it as she tried to think of why the Endeavour’s captain would willingly allow his ship to fly into a known ambush.

Akira almost shook her head, but she kept her reaction to herself. She had a burning desire to give the Klingons some payback for attacking the Endeavour, but at the same time she also wanted to avoid getting into a known ambush. To her, it sounded like the Commander was being border-line reckless, but it wasn’t her place to say it. Her job was to follow orders.

“How can you be sure that the Klingons will even set up an ambush at our destination?” she asked.


"It's simply a logical reaction for Klingons," Alistar explained. "But, We have recent sensor data on the system, that's why I want to know every inch and everything there is to know about the entire system before we get back. The Klingons are more than likely hoping that we're not expecting a fight. They're also not very good at thinking about their surroundings when they get focused on taking down an enemy. I plan to use that."

“Commander, there is another option available to us,” Isabella said. “There is a joint task force of Starfleet and Romulan ships based at Tanome Sar. We could alter course and join us with the fleet there, then return in force to Lambda Hydrae.”

"Would that not provoke them into attacking early, ma'am?" Holland asked with a raised eyebrow, "I mean, right now, they must be waiting because they figure we are heading right at their ambush. They'll wait because they believe that they will gain an advantage doing so. If they think we're going to bring friends to the party, they may just kick this thing off early and attack now. Yeah, their chances will be a lot lower than the ambush scenario, but if they don't jump us and we get support, that's their whole plan down the drain and they lose."

“We don’t even know if they had a plan. For all intents and purposes, the ships that attacked us could have been a random patrol that was trying to drive us away. A pair of B’rel class Birds of Prey against an Intrepid class star ship isn’t much of a fight, and even the Klingons know that. The Endeavour could take on a dozen ships of that class and not even be anywhere close to being a threat. Our tactical and defensive systems simply outclass the majority of what the Klingons have, at least on anything smaller than their newer heavy cruisers. And what they have that we can’t outfight, we can simply outrun,” Akira said.

"Oh, I don't disagree, ma'am," Holland responded to the Chief Tactical Officer with a wry smile, "But I had an instructor at the Academy that always cautioned me against doing three things." He held up a finger each time as he counted them, "Assuming that our technology will always be superior, that our enemies will be idiots and that assumptions are facts. Yes, we should be able to take them, or run away if we can't. Surely the klingons are well aware of this? And, that being the case, I'd be very worried about what exactly they think it is that would give them an advantage."

"Mr Holland is correct on his points," Alistar said, giving the chief helm officer a nod of approval as he spoke. "On the level, our tactical systems can match or outshine anything the Klingons have. But, the Klingons know this. For all we know, they could have a Vor'cha or even a Negh'var class ship out there just waiting for us. Intelligence indicates that the Klingons won't cross the neutral zone unless they move in force, and I'm hoping that's correct. If it is, then Lambda Hydraea should be a safe system to regroup. At least, for now. At any rate, I want us to be as prepared as possible. We'll be there in five hours, so we have that long to preapre for anything that's waiting for us there. Let's get to work. Dismissed." Standing, Alistar nodded to the gathered officers as they stood and began to file out of the briefing room.

There was nothing about this situation that Holland liked, but it was the one they found themselves in. He rose with the other officers already mentally going through the tasks ahead of him.

Isabella suppressed a sigh as she remained in her chair and watched as the other officers stood and began to file out of the room. She offered a friendly smile and a nod of her head towards the departing officers as they passed by where she sat, but otherwise she kept quiet.

Alistar watched as the officers left the room, then he turned and noticed Silvisi still sitting in her chair. Whispering a quiet "Oh shit", he sat back down and waited until the doors slid shut behind the departing officers



Cmdr Alistar McKeon
CO, USS Endeavour

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Lieutenant JG Daniel Holland
Chief Helm, USS Endeavour

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Lieutenant Isabella dei`Silvisi
Executive Officer

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Lt Jera'turak Ros
Chief Engineer

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Lt Akira Sato
CSEC/TAC

 

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