Burdened With Purpose - Part II

Posted on Monday January 31st, 2022 @ 10:25pm by Lieutenant Commander Curzon Bennett & Lieutenant Steven Edgeware
Edited on on Monday January 31st, 2022 @ 10:31pm

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: USS Oberon - Conference Room
Timeline: MD03 0900

::ON::

Lieutenant Trensu was in the office when Distrek walked in. Trensu looked up at him. Distrek just grinds. "I see you are barred in work again," Distrek said almost sarcastically. "Ambassador, what brings you here?" asked Trensu looking back down at some Padds. Distrek chuckled knowing Trensus reaction to what he was going to say. "Staff meeting with the CO and XO maybe?" Trensue looked at the time display on the screen. "Dam, I lost track of time." He dropped the Padds in his hands a pick up a few others." let go," said Trensu.

Distrek and Trensu stoped to get a Coffee from a Replicator before entering the briefing Room. They walked in first Trensu then Distrek. Trensu looked around the room he was next to last out of the officers to arrive. "Ladies and gentlemen, sorry for my tardiness," he said as he walked to a chair.

Distrek was not too formal "I am never late unless the CO says I am." He said with a smile Distrek sat in a chair towards the back of the room so as not to get in the way of the other officers. He was there as an adviser and had no real commission as an officer.

Brolga arrived at the briefing a bit later than he would have liked. The Klingon entered the room, nodded at the Commanders, and made his way to his seat without further ado.

Sakaan slipped in to the rear of the room, just inside the door to the Bridge to hear the briefing.

Seeing they were all seated, Bennett got to his feet once more, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before beginning with quiet authority. 'I'd like to call our first briefing to order,' he said in a steady voice, clenching a fist behind his back to quell his nervousness. 'The majority of you here, and the majority of the crew in fact, are the survivors who were on the Pathfinder when Deep Space Three disappeared.' Bennett paused and straightened his tunic, 'this is not a coincidence.'

A cold feeling came over Steven as he heard the mention of there old posting. He still remembered the feeling he had. When the Pathfinder returned to find empty space. Were the station should of been.

'Commodore Phelon has explicitly stated that Starfleet are gambling that we, as a crew, will be the ones best able to solve the mystery of Deep Space Three's disappearance. Fleet brass are of the opinion that, as you were the ones who spent the longest in the vicinity of the Shackleton Expanse, the Oberon alone will have the requisite experience and familiarity with the area to be able to uncover the answers we seek. That is our current, primary mission.

'The Oberon was chosen as the ship with that in mind. She's a powerful science vessel - one of the best in the fleet. The Luna class can also hold her own against most ships we'll encounter out there. The area around Armagosa and the Federation frontier there has only gotten more unstable in the months since The Disappearance.'

Bennett looked around the room, eyeing each of the officers present. 'I'll take questions before I proceed further. I or Lieutenant Sakaan,' he pointed to the Vulcan at the rear of the room, 'will answer them to the best of our abilities.'

Steven lifted his hand to speak.

“Will our counselling sessions still go ahead?” he asked.

'Counselling will most assuredly still be going ahead,' replied Bennett reassuringly. He had read the personnel files, of course, and understood that some were still having trouble coping with the disappearance of an entire starbase. 'The Counsellor and their team are due to arrive before launch tomorrow.'

“That is good to hear. I include myself of course.” Steven said

Lieutenant Trensu waited for his turn. just listening to the others ask questions. It was good to see the other officers and that a lot of the officers made it off the DS3 station. "Sir, I know the Chief of Security has not reported in. I know the department is close to being ready we just got the last of the Phasers, Phaser rifles today, and loaded them onto the ship. I have on hand Photon Torpedoes I have 90 out of 100, Quantum Torpedoes 30 out of 60, Probes 85 out of 100, Tri-Cobalt Devices 2, I am missing the chief and am 5 enlisted short. Just want to know if I am getting the rest of the equipment, Arms, and personnel in before launch? The mission folder is veg on a lot of things. Are we not taking a full complement of arms out with us?" asked Trensu.

Bennett shook his head, 'we will be launching with a full complement of armaments I'm happy to say. Starfleet won't be sending us off into deep space undermanned or undergunned. Commander Miller has seen to that admirably,' he indicated Miller with his hand. 'We'll be out there on our own for the most part - tensions with the Klingons and Romulan factions mean we're the only ship the fleet can spare for the moment.'

"I was just making sure the staff had the information and what we had on hand. I will talk to the Yard armory and see what the holdup is," replied Trensu.

'Thank you, Lieutenant. And I daresay you'll find a new set of orders on your PADD within a few hours, Chief,' Bennett smiled widely at the first opportunity he had to convey a promotion. 'The Chief of Security who was to take up station has been waylaid. You will be the Chief going forward. Congratulations.'

Trensu was quiet for a momint. Trensu knew it was coming at some point but was surprised that it happened this quick. He smiled "Thank you sir" replied Trensu. "So does that mean I get a pay rase?" He said jokingly. "I will let my department know it will be ready for launch sir," added Trensu.

Lieutenant JG Talerian Maxx quietly listened to the others talk and do introductions as he quietly sipped his coffee. He noticed they each had a particular manner of talking and doing things. However it didn't seem that any one them had a bad attitude. He was hoping they could work well like on DS3 before everything went south. Perhaps they might even learn what happened to the Star Base. As he enjoyed his coffee he glanced at Lieutenant Sakaan the Mission Advisor again. She had very pretty hazel eyes, long light brown hair, and a smoking Vulcan body. Granted she acted interested in him, but he lived long enough to know that some things just don't happen in this big universe. Since many people have big dreams they want to achieve, a chance meeting ends up as a chance meeting. Then he was snapped out of his deep thoughts as the CO began the meeting.

Jason's usual notes were more of a to do list this time, he looked around thinking some meaningful ideas might be brought forward.

The Commanding Officer looked around the table. 'Any further questions before we proceed?'

Maxx shook his head no as he sipped his coffee.

Bennett nodded, 'very well then.' He keyed a few commands into the console at the head of the table, and the screen behind him flickered to life, showing the Oberon in orbit around Betazed and describing a route to the far reaches of the Beta Quadrant, and the Shackleton Expanse. Two points of light blinked on the map, the first, and the last stop on the route was the Armagosa system. The second was Hope's Landing, just beyond what was Klingon and Romulan space, and now bitterly contested between the three factions.

'Our immediate mission is to escort a small convoy of relief supplies and parts to Hope's Landing.' Flicking another command into the console, the Commanding Officer brought up a data file on the planet. 'It's small, and sparsely populated, even though it's one of our oldest colonies the other side of the two Empires. She's still not really self-sufficient after a hundred years or so of settlement, and we're heading out on a routine convoy to resupply the colony. It's a rocky planet, quite close to the system's primary as you can see, so they mostly live inside a few domes.'

'Once we drop those supplies off, we'll be heading to Armagosa to begin our investigation,' he concluded simply before sighing.

'As I see it there are two main issues, the first is the transports themselves,' he flicked a through to another holo-image, this time of the transports. 'As you can see, they're mid-century design, can barely make Warp Five and have a lot of wear and tear on them. It's three weeks at least to Hope's Landing at that speed, and you can believe something can go wrong with the transports. We'll need Operations and Engineering at the top of their game to make sure we all get there in one piece.'

'The second issue is crossing Klingon space,' Bennett stated with a grimace. 'We're all still bound by the Khitomer Accords, but as I'm sure you know, the Klingons have become increasingly aggressive over the last decade or so - Warriors who believe they missed out on achieving honour during the Dominion War have come of age and they're pushing the envelope pretty far.'

'Deep Space Three was meant to help keep the peace, but with its disappearance, the Klingons have become bolder in the Beta Quadrant, particularly the armed forces of the Minor Houses. The High Chancellor claims to be powerless to stop them, but we think it's more convenient for him to feign weakness and allow them to run amok. So far there haven't been any direct attack on Starfleet vessels, it's mostly raiding shipping lanes and aggressively pursuing Romulan-aligned vessels, but this may change.'

'We will be the sole protection for this convoy. Questions?'

Steven raised his hand.

“Do we know what happened to the Klingons on Deep Space Three? Only if their still alive I had a blood bound with one of them. It might help or not.” Steven said.

Sakaan piped up from the rear of the room, 'Starfleet Intelligence does not believe that there were Klingon or Romulan survivors from the Disappearance. At least, there has been no chatter that indicated there were.' She looked at Bennett with a raised eyebrow, almost as if challenging him to note her interruption.

He merely smiled, 'that is the assessment of Starfleet Intelligence Doctor Edgeware.'

“Now that’s a play on words,” Steven said under his breath.

“That is a shame.” Edgeware said a bit louder.

Lieutenant JG Talerian Maxx calmly sipped his coffee as he noticed the eye contact with Bennett and Sakaan. He wondered if they had a past story that did not end well or if they just saw things differently. This could pose a problem if they had issues and he tried to date her. Then he remembered that Klingons had a big issue with Tribbles. Perhaps if he tricked them into beaming a crate of Tribbles onto their ship they could cause a bit of chaos and escape a nasty fight. He smirked at the idea but kept it to himself.

'The Klingons are ... not happy,' Bennett conceded in reply to Edgeware's comment. He waved an arm in Sakaan's direction. 'We've been advised to be vigilant, regardless of the Accords when crossing Klingon space. They've developed a taste for blood and battle since the collapse of the Romulan Empire, and the current Emperor seems ... disinclined to curtail their activities.'

'Stafleet Intelligence deems it only a matter of time before a Minor House runs amok and attacks a Federation or Starfleet ship in search of honor and glory,' Sakaan concluded from her spot.

The new Security chief smiled "We have to be vigilant, The sensors on this ship should pick them up if they get close. For their cloak ships, I have a few surprises in store for them. We just have to play it cool and hope we don't get an overly aggressive Klingon," added Trensu.

Destrek sitting in the back had said nothing up until this point He had some clout in the Klingon Empire. He spoke up "Some of the minor Houses will be out to make a name for themselves. The House of PaCh PIn'a' does have some strong ties with the bigger houses - if things get out of control I might persuade them to help us," said Ambassador Destrek.

'If it comes to that, we'll appreciate all the help we can get,' replied Bennett, nodding in the Ambassador's direction. 'We'll be almost a month in space before we hit port at the colony - I suggest you use that time to get to know the ship better.' He straightened up, grinning, 'if you've not served aboard one before, they're a wonderful ship. Designed to house the most diverse crew Starfleet can muster. And cater to that diversity.'

He looked about the table. 'Now, I'm sure you each have work to do to get your departments up to speed, and shipshape ready for launch. I suggest you go do so. Dismissed.'

Standing Trensu walked around to where Ambassador Destrek was now standing. walking up to him. "Show off, what do you think Kal-nar your wonderful wife will say if you call on her to show up?" asked Trensu. Destrek smiled and answered, "Don't know you know her." Trensu grind "be for or after she hits you," Trensu said jokingly.

Destrek gave a chuckle "you might not be too far off. I have not seen her since. DS3 when she drooped by right after I got there. Before you say it yes I let her know I was ok on our way here." said Destrek.

Trensu looked at him more seriously "Do you think her house is one of the Klingons houses that would trade or attack a federation ship?" asked Trensu.

Destrek thought for a moment. "Unlikely, they are friendly to the federation. But can't say what they would do against others. They are not happy with the Romulans and Vulcans," replied Destrek.

Trensu looked over to the Captian and XO then back at Destrek "is she still in command?" asked Trensu.

"Yes three K'vort-class ships that's her squadron," answered Destrek," Trensu eyebrow raised, "Three now? she has moved up," replied Trensu.

Changing the subject Destrek asked, "you coming by for our traditional drink?"

Trensu grinned. "Of course," he answered.

Smiling, Destrek said "good since it is a new ship I think the CO and OX should come too. what do you think?"

The Security Chief responded, "Sure I am fine with that. I have to get going - got a department to get ready - if you get bored stop by."

Destrek smiled "see you Trensu."

Jason looked at some notes "I'll start shaking some trees with intelligence trying to get a read on what the actual Klingon response will be."

“I used to have some sway with the Klingons maybe I could help?” Steven said.

'Please see what you can do,' replied Bennett with a nod. Feeling a sense of satisfaction, he watched the senior staff depart.

::OFF::

Lieutenant Commander Curzon Bennett
Commanding Officer
USS Oberon

Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Miller
Executive Officer
USS Oberon

Lieutenant Ahkhsu Trensu
Chief of Security & Tactical
USS Oberon

Lieutenant Dr Steven Edgeware
Chief Medical Officer
USS Oberon

Lieutenant JG Talerian Maxx
Chief Science Officer
USS Oberon

Lieutenant JG Jason Elliot
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Oberon

Eiban Destrek (NPC)
Federation Ambassador
USS Oberon

Lieutenant Sakaan
Mission Adviser
USS Oberon