StarDate 241508.27 Joint Log: Commanding, Executive, Chief Helm, and Chief Security/Tactical Officers

Posted on Fri Aug 28th, 2015 @ 3:39am by Captain Alistar McKeon & Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant Commander Akira-Ri Sato & Lieutenant JG Daniel Holland

1,944 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Midnight on the Firing Line

As she stepped out of Stellar Cartography with Lieutenant Holland, Akira was deep in thought. There were several things in the Lambda Hydrae system that could be used to the Endeavour’s advantage, but at the same time the Klingons could use the same advantages as well. The clear and definite outcome of any fight would come down to how the Endeavour was handled, and although she was sure that the Commanding Officer could handle commanding the Endeavour to victory, she wanted to make sure he knew as much as possible. Tapping her comm.-badge, Akira spoke as she started towards the turbo-lift.

“Sato to McKeon and dei`Silvisi. Lieutenant Holland and I would like to present our report on our preparations,” she said.

Alistar was still sitting in the forward lounge when his commbadge beeped with the voice of Lt Sato. Not really wanting to move, he tapped his commbadge and grumbled. "McKeon here, meet me in the forward observation lounge for the debriefing," he said.

Akira frowned as she listened to the Commander’s response. A tactical debriefing between senior officers was usually conducted in either a briefing room or the Commanding Officer’s ready room, or anywhere that was private. A lounge was far from private, and she was having a hard time trying to understand why Commander McKeon would want to be briefed there. She didn’t question it, though. With an absent minded shrug, Akira started off towards the turbo-lift.

Holland took a deep breath and looked at Lieutenant as they headed for the forward observation lounge. She seemed calm and professional and that was reassuring to the more junior lieutenant. Being a typical pilot meant that he had confidence in spades when it came to his own job, but he was more than a little nervous presenting their plan to the CO. This was the first time he had really been involved in planning something that would affect more than just his own department. It was a solid plan and he was confident in it. Still...he took another breath and ran over the plan's scenarios in his head one more time.

Isabella frowned as she listened to the commanding officer’s summons to the forward observation lounge. Official or formal meetings were usually conducted in the briefing room or the captain’s ready room, but from the time she had been executive officer on the Endeavour Isabella had learned that little about what Commander McKeon did was normal. The lounge, however, was not a location she would expect for a tactical briefing, even from McKeon, although Isabella should have expected it. Without replying, she headed to the lounge, taking a moment to pause at the doors leading into the room. She had never visited any of the social gathering places on the ship in all of her time aboard, and she mentally scolded herself for not doing so. The brief moment passed and Isabella headed over to where Commander McKeon was sitting.

“I must admit that there are some things that you do that catch me off guard,” the short Italian officer said as she sat down at the table.

"Always be unpredictable, it will keep your enemies from being able to guess what you're going to do next," Alistar quoted with a hint of a smile.

The doors to the forward observation lounge hissed open as Akira and Lieutenant Holland stepped through them. Seeing that both the Commanding and Executive Officers were already present and sitting down at a table, she led the way over towards them and braced to attention.

“Sir, Lieutenants Sato and Holland reporting for our briefing,” Akira said.

"At ease and sit down, the both of you," Alistar said as he waved his hand to dismiss any formalities. There was a reason he had called them to the lounge and not a conference room. "So, what have the two of you come up with?"

Akira hesitated for a brief moment before she finally slowly eased herself into a chair and set her Padd on the table before her. She waited until Lieutenant Holland had sat down before she nodded.

“I believe Lieutenant Holland should present his report first,” Akira said.

"Aye, ma'am," Holland said with a nod and tapped at his PADD to bring up the display of the Lambda Hydraea system, "We considered a lot of options and certainly the Lambda Hydraea has plenty to offer in terms of features for tactical advantage. The outer gas giants are an option, but one of last resort; the gravitational forces, hazardous atmospheric storms in the upper atmosphere will put both us and the Klingons at a disadvantage. The rings of one the gas giants were also considered but discarded as we didn't think the Klingons would come close enough to them to be of any tactical benefit. There would be no need for them to expose themselves that way as the rings are not extensive enough for us to break contact." He tapped at the PADD again and the display changed to show the system's main asteroid belt. He slid the PADD over to the CO and XO, "In the end, we chose this as our battleground, assuming of course, we have to fight. It is not so thick and dense that navigation would be a problem, but it is large enough that we can hide inside it and force the Klingons to follow us in if they want to maintain a sensor lock on us. Even then, the manoeuvres required inside the belt means they would periodically lose us before acquiring us. This presents an opportunity to employ a variety of potential tactical options. If they don't follow us in, we can break contact and the density and size of the belt, it stretches all the way around the system, will allow us to evade or engage at out discretion." He glanced at Sato and smiled, "If they follow us in, that will make things more interesting. The field is fairly dense, but it is also stable, allowing a starship to manoeuvre through it fairly easily. It is composed of metals, some radioactive, ice and rock. If we disrupt things in our wake, using a combination of weapons fire, and perhaps employing the tractor beam, and the Klingons followed us in under cloak. Things would suddenly get very, very interesting for those Klingon helmsmen. I'm also betting they can kiss their cloaks goodbye. Ensign Valenar also believes she can calibrate the sensors to get fast locks on any Klingon ships that are revealed despite the muck we'll be stirring up behind us." Holland bit his lip and ended with a sober admission, "It's not a perfect plan. Things can go wrong, but I do believe that even if things don't go our way, this plan gives us options either to buy more time by withdrawing and hiding or striking back from any point along the star system's elliptical." Holland glanced at Sato again, checking if she had anything to add.

“Wait, are you proposing that we maneuver the Endeavour into an asteroid field that has asteroids made up of radioactive materials?” Isabella asked, her expression one of concern. She wasn’t a tactical or helm officer by training, and she was sure that a skilled pilot could easily maneuver even a ship like the Endeavour through a stable field with little difficulty, but the idea wasn’t one that settled too well in her mind.

"That is exactly what we're proposing, ma'am," Holland told the XO with a firm nod. "Under normal circumstances?" He shook his head, "No, this plan would probably not be the best option. It's aggressive and there is an element of risk. There are other options, but if Lambda Hydraea is where we have to go and where we have to fight? This is how we'd do it. It's the best of a lot of dangerous options. It plays to our strengths and exploits their weaknesses."

“Ma’am, I understand how our plan seems to be somewhat . . . unorthodox, and highly dangerous, but we’re a single ship with no way to call for re-enforcements and we know that we’ll be outnumbered if the Klingons attack. If we fight out in the open, the Klingons can surround us and wear us down. Normally, this sort of plan wouldn’t work with most Starfleet ships because it would be suicide due to the fact that most Starfleet ships simply don’t have the maneuverability capabilities, but the Endeavour is an Intrepid class, the second most maneuverable starship the Federation has ever built. It’s risky, but if we don’t take full advantage of what’s there, then we’re only going to delay our defeat,” Akira said, trying not to sound as if she was forcing the issue. She fully understood the Executive Officer’s concern, but there was a time that the risks simply didn’t come into play.

"I have to agree with their conclusions," Alistar said as he nodded and leaned back in his chair. He had already studied the data on the Lambda Hydrae system and thought over a number of different outcomes, and the asteroid field was the best choice for victory. If there was a sure way to tell what exactly the Klingons were bringing to the fight, he would be able to make a better plan, but for now he had to assume that the Endeavour would be evenly matched. "We'll make every attempt to use the open space near the field, but if it comes to it we'll withdraw into the asteroid belt for cover. Good job, both of you. I'm going to be counting on both of you to keep the ship in the fight if it comes down to one. You two up for it?"

The prospect of a battle ahead was not a pleasant one. Holland was determined to do his duty to defend the Federation and its interests, but he hoped that this was not going to be the first skirmish in a new war. Of course, such considerations were way above his pay grade and it was not what the captain had asked. Holland nodded firmly, "If we're called to fight, the helm will answer. You can count on it, sir."

"My department and I are ready, Sir," Akira said, fully confident that Security and Tactical was indeed ready for anything that the Endeavour would face in both the distant and not so distant future.

Alistar nodded and tapped the padd on the table beside him. He was impressed at how well the crew had come together on preparing the Endeavour for her first fight. He was certain that when it came down to a shooting match, the Endeavour and her crew would give it their all. "All right, then. Let's get ready to show the Klingons how Starfleet officers fight. Man your stations. And good work," he said.

"Aye, aye, sir," Holland said and, being dismissed, he rose from his seat and headed for the door. That had all gone fairly well, but as the classic saying warned, 'no plan survives contact with the enemy' and Holland doubted that this plan would be any different.

“Yes, Sir,” Akira said, unable to hide the enthusiasm at the expectation of battle and pride and confidence in her ship and fellow crew mates as she spoke. She stood, braced to attention, and gave her commanding officers both a sharp salute before she turned and followed Lieutenant Holland from the lounge.


Cmdr Alistar McKeon, CO

Lt Isabella dei'Silvisi, XO

LtJG Daniel Holland, CHelm

Lt Akira Sato, CSEC/TAC

 

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