New mission briefing.

Posted on Saturday June 25th, 2022 @ 8:14pm by Lieutenant Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Commander Niali Deval Dr & Lieutenant Steven Edgeware & Lieutenant Jordan Chase & Lieutenant JG Talerian Maxx

Mission: New Worlds
Location: Conference Room, USS Obereon.
Timeline: Current.

Finchley took his seat at the right hand of the Captains chair and watched as the Senior Staff filed into the Conference Room.

Niali moved from her seat on the bridge into the conference room nodding to Finchley as she took her seat at the opposite end of the table. From there she had a good view of the rest of the Senior staff. Finchley had been ‘off over the last couple of days and, although he said nothing she thought it might be the upcoming mission. If any of the other senior staff had ‘misgivings’ she should be able to tell and possibly help. She placed her PaDD down on the table with click and waited for their new mission information.

It was a much happier Chief Medical Officer that had arrived to the meeting. Finchley had kept his word and now all the bio beds were finally properly calibrated.As he entered the room carrying a mug of his favourite coffee Steven took his seat.

“ A good day to you all” he said raising his mug to the group in the room.

Lieutenant JG Talerian Maxx had just finished his breakfast and was taking his coffee to the turbo lift. After a few floors he arrived on the bridge and saw people moving to the conference room and followed them in. Maxx smiled and nodded as he found a chair and sat down before sipping his coffee and then popping his neck before looking at his data PaDD to finish reading his reports while he waited for the meeting to start.

Jason strolled in, a rather excessively large cup of steaming coffee in one hand, two pads in the other, he took a seat at the far end of the table, his thoughts were awash of the data collected on the Shackleton expanse. As he sat he connected his pad to the video display showing a rough tactical map that had been plotted by Chief Karadis Jason looked to his notes, then dimed the screen until the briefing was to start.

Though not part of the Senior Staff, Karadis being part of the Intelligence team, entered the room and took a seat next to her boss, Lt Elliot. She had a few PADD's with her also, and laying them on the table, she sat back awaiting the beginning of the mission brief.

Niali caught Karadis’ eye and smiled.

Karadis, on catching Niali's eye and seeing her smile, smiled back...she would need to book herself in for her Counselling session, it was something she definitely looked forward to.

Ensign Grant walked into the meeting with her PADD, she wasn't drinking coffee however, She had brought a juice box with her, it was Dr Edgewear’s personal formula. she even looked like she had been gaining a little weight and her head was covered in peach fuzz, her hair had started growing back thanks to the doctors careful ministrations. She looked less like she had been in a concentration camp and more like a twelve year old girl at summer camp, albeit one with a buzz cut. She took her seat and waiting for the briefing to start. At least she looked alive and not like the walking dead. She was definitely on the road to recovery. She looked even more like a little kid sipping on her juice box.

Lieutenant Chase entered, stopping short in surprise at the amount of people already gathered for the meeting. Glancing at her watch, she had actually thought she'd left much earlier than she had. Shaking her head to herself, she quietly slipped into an open chair, giving a small smile and nod to those present as she activated the PADD she held to begin reviewing some reports.

Ensign Roberts entered the Conference Room and walked around the table, leant down and whispered something in Finchley's ear. On hearing what she said, he looked up at her sharply and asked "When?"

Roberts bent down again to reply.

Finchley frowned, looked back at Roberts, and replied "Thank you, Ensign."

Roberts nodded, then turned and left.

The Ambassador walked in giving a nod to the officers. He turned and walked to one side and sat in his chair towards the back of the room. Destrek was there more as an adviser than part of the command team so he never sat at the table.

Trensu walked by the replicator "Black tea, hot" the cup appeared he picked it up and glanced at the PADD in his hands, he looked at the bridge as he walked though Trensu knew the staff were in the briefing room.

The door slid open and the staff was assembled, walking in he went straight to the front of the table laying down the PADD "Good morning," Trensu said. He activated the viewer on the wall. Trensu turned to the department heads. "I hope you all enjoyed your R and R." He took a sip of his tea and smiled at the Officers. "The USS Oberon is ordered to go and shore up relations with the Akaru on Vein II. They have only just developed warp technologies and are meeting visitors from beyond the Expanse. We are to meet with the Akaru Prime Minister Spenn Malvor and his staff.

There is some unrest within the Akaru government and they asked for the Federation's help. They have an application in to join the Federation. The Federation had put that on hold because of their two tier citizenship and slavery problem. We are to help them get passed that and meet the Federation's qualification standards. Starfleet thinks the Klingons have their hands in this too. So we should be aware they might show up. Starfleet said they would update us as information comes in." informed Trensu.

Trensu Looked at Elliot and Karadis." Lieutenant Elliot and Chief Karadis You have the Intelligence report on the Expanse and the Akaru, You have the floor," requested Trensu sitting in his chair.

The lights dimed as Jason stood, a two dimensional map appeared on the screen, "The Shackleton expanse is a wedge shaped area between the Romulan and Klingon empires, that is largely unexplored by anyone." the map display shifted as if on cue to reflect Jason's initial statement, "The main inhabitants of the expanse are a Vulcanoid species known as the Akaru, they are highly xenophobic in past, and have taken extreme measures to ensure their territory wasn't intruded upon, as the captain said they in recent months have reached out too the federation too open formal contact, and expand those relations."

"Our efforts are clearly a sign of our past interactions versus the other encounters with the rest of the quadrant, the few reports we have of direct contact indicate as mentioned by the captain that there is now a cultural shift that according too traders who work the few routes, that this drive for change is being lead by the current leadership." Pausing for the next batch of images too appear "The Current Prime minister Spenn Malvor has been in power approximately two earth years now and has been a massive force behind much of the change, while most of the systems and territory have welcomed the changes there has been both resistance and pressure for more change."

"With most politically sensitive missions like this we must be aware of the past and most dangerous missions, USS Kosmos was in the expanse approximately ten years ago and was significantly damaged." Pausing as the video records of the Kosmos played. "The Akura despite their limited warp capacity have a significant weapons and shield technology advances that we could find ourselves vastly out gunned." A new image rolled up on screen, "One final note on this portion of the briefing, most reports including the limited civilian content show a bonified want too shed the xenophobic past and become part of the larger galaxy." Jason saw the images Chief Karadis included in here presentation scroll up "Chief Karadis will continue with information collected by the Klingon empire and other sources."

Karadis stood up. She was unaccustomed to speaking with a group of Senior officers in a mission briefing, but began talking.

"Eight years ago, the Klingon Empire sent seven Warbirds into the Shackleton Expanse, their primary goal was to go to the planet Vein II to 'persuade' them to ally with Empire" Karadis said, "They only got three quarters of the way to their objective when they were met by an Akaru ship. None of the Warbirds survived the battle. The little we know about the ensuing fight can be taken from this clip"

She pressed a button on her PADD, and in the middle of the table a scene from hell appeared. The Klingon bridge was smashed, most of the crew lay dead or dying, and a single officer was shouting in Klingon and banging the console in front of him, trying to coax the ships weapons online so as to fire back. A giant explosion sounded, and the clip ended in static.

"The Klingon officer was shouting that it was a good day to die, especially against such an honorable opponent whose 'warp ray' had stopped all seven ships," Karadis said "Unfortunately, we have no exterior footage, so whatever this 'warp ray' is, it's deadly. The only information I could get about Romulan activity in the Expanse was that two of their scout ships, sent a year apart, never returned and neither of them reported being attacked, they just disappeared."

Steven knew Klingons very well. He had become blood brothers with them in the past. So he knew for a Klingon to say that phase. Meant the warrior was not expecting to live.

Maxx sipped his coffee as he recalled his past lives as Chiara Maxx and Cole Maxx. Chiara Maxx was a famous female diplomat and translator for the Trill Government. She had several meetings with Klingons and learned gambling from one of them. Over time she gained a reputation for being gambler but, that was mainly used when gaining intel and connections. On the other hand Cole Maxx was a gifted and competitive natural athlete with a passion for martial arts and competitive gymnastics. He gained a lot of respect for defeating other Klingons in competition. He was even presented a bat'leth along with a trophy to prove his standing. Its still hanging on his wall in his quarters as a reminder of his many accomplishments. Maxx sipped his coffee as he quietly listened to everyone else.

With that, she sat down, closed the video, and awaited any questions or comments that she and Lt Elliot may be asked or for someone else to add something to the briefing.

“Chief, was there any attempt on the part of the Klingon Empire to examine debris from the ships to possibly assess what sort of weapon it was?” Niali asked.

"I have no information that says any other Klingon ships were sent there Lieutenant" Karadis answered.

“So we do not have any information as to whether this weapon belongs to the ruling government or possibly a disparate faction, we have been asked there so why do we not ask diplomatically if there is any danger to us from this weapon? It would seem logical.” Again Niali spoke up.

"It does Sir" Karadis replied "however, what if this is a rogue faction? From the little, we know, and there's unrest in the government we've just been told, this could be a warning from that faction to make it Nye impossible for anyone to want to come to the Prime Ministers' aid."

Trensu was impressed by the report, he knew without doubt why they were picked for this mission. Trensu sat back in his chair thinking about the information given so far. Trensu's expertise was weapons but in all the centuries he had been alive had heard little of anything like this. "Lieutenant Elliot and Chief Karadis, Have you crossed this information with the DS3 attack that almost knocked out the systems. From a tactical side I see similarities," asked Trensu.

"There's been no reports that I've come across that say the Akaru have ever ventured anywhere outside their own territory Captain" Karadis replied, looking at Jason.

Jason added, "Their territory consists of three systems they settled at some point in the last two centuries, plus one known space station that has been the lone hub for trade with outsiders, they seem to have a very active relationship with a group that has no clear name, the majority of their ships have runic markings that appear to be a derivative of an unused earth text, these ships do periodically appear at starbases on the federation side of the expanse, I'm attempting to reach out to this group with no success."

A crewman quietly entered handed Jason a pad and exited; he looked at the message, frowned, and hit the delete out of habit. "The escort ship 'Star Vision' will be on station when we arrive at the border, That's the translation for the record, I'm trying to get a linguistics break down of their language, along with any social morays we should be aware of, I'm of the understanding position titles are similar too federation culture, with some slight formality similar to Vulcans, questions?"

Trensu took a drink of his tea "Not at this time. does anyone have questions for Lieutenant Elliot or Chief Karadis?" asked Trensu.

“In the next 24 hours, I will put together everything we know about the Akaru and possible ways to approach them culturally. I have a great deal of psychological input from the Vulcan point of view and we may be able to use this in our communications.” Said Niali.

Trensu looked at the officers "if we know their hearts and minds it would help. The sudden motivation to join the Federation has me somewhat worried. I think Starfleet has the same worry that's another reason to put the application to join on hold. I see now that this is also fact finding mission as well as a diplomatic mission." said Trensu. "Ambassador, do you have anything to add/ you have said nothing so far," commented Trensu.

Ambassador Destrek looked at the other officers stood and walked over to the table to address them. "I have been authorized to offer them specific support. I have connections to the Klingon Empire and that's no secret as my wife is Commander of a Klingon Warbird squadron. I do know that a loss like losing seven ships would be much talked about. Though they died with honour in battle the loss of that many ships would be, let us say embarrassing. I will find out what houses were involved or others close to them. I don't think The house I have ties to, does." The Ambassador told the officers.

Maxx sipped his coffee again as he was collecting a lot on intel on this mission and was curious what his part would be when the time came. So far it seemed more political than scientific at the moment. He looked around the room to see who was doing what for the moment.

"Now with all that information Lieutenant Chase how do you think we should proceed with diplomacy?" asked the Captain.

"I've sent a message ahead to say that Lieutenant Chase would be helping to open diplomatic discussions as soon as we arrive Sir" Finchley said to the Captain.

Steven raised a hand.

“ I have some contacts in the Klingon Empire. With your permission, I could do some digging.” Steven suggested

"I can't see the harm in it myself" Finchley replied, looking at Trensu "however, I think it would be a good idea to liaise with Lt Elliot and Chief Karadis beforehand, just so you don't unintentionally contact or question the same Klingons twice, that would make it look rather suspicious. Captain?"

"Agreed we must not let on that we are traveling there. Even Ambassador Destrek has been careful with seeking information. know I want people to go through Lt Elliot and Chief Karadis. This way we don't keep hitting the same sources and make things less suspicious" answered Trensu.

“ Agreed,” Steven said

Jason was making notes "Keep the inquiries discrete, I've already started to draw attention with the few files I requested."

“As we have been sitting here I have been researching Trill and intelligence services archive and I have found something interesting. Five years ago a Trill named Arle Destra was conducting some experiments just outside the Shackleton expanse when she came into contact with a small craft carrying an unconscious being she did not recognize. The craft was also something she had never come across. It was designed like nothing on record, at least Trill records and the metal/substance it was made of appeared to be in constant state of flux. The being was mostly Vulcanoid in appearance.” Niali sighed, “the rest of her report is redacted but I can use my contacts to restore some parts of it. Unfortunately Arle Destra herself went missing about a year later and has been presumed dead.”

"Actually, that's why Ensign Roberts just came in to see me" Finchley said, turning to Niali "There's a small ship on long range scanners and it has Trill markings, but we can't raise anyone."

“Arle” Niali breathed, “we must find that ship, Captain, Commander? Arle is my sister.”

"We have no idea who it is, we can't raise anyone, however, we will be passing by very close to where it is" Finchley replied.

“If it is Arle’s ship than it may hold information that might be of help to us.” She stopped speaking for a minute “I mourned my sister a long time ago”.

"There's always been hope I would imagine that she would be found one day?" Finchley said.

Niali smiled, “her ship was not built for long periods of survival, unless she found a friendly planet to set down on and in the Expanse I would not surmise that to be true, no If she is in there she is dead, at least I would have a body to bury. Arle was a dedicated scientist giving up having what others would call a normal life. The Destra symbiont was a very old one and was mourned as such on Trill no, Arle is dead.” She stood, excuse me please and left the room.

Finchley watched Niali go. As much as he wanted to go after her and console her, the briefing was the important thing right now, so he looked back at the Senior Officers gathered.

Maxx watched his fellow Trill Niali get emotional from the topic of Arle’s ship. He could understand her loss and pain but he was in no position to help her unless he was part of the team to investigate the ship. He sipped his coffee in silence. He then looked at Finchley who spoke up.

"Does anyone have any other questions regarding the mission, if so, speak up now please" he said.

Jo looked at him there really wasn't anything she could add from an operations perspective without more pertinent information.

"No Sir no questions at this time," Jo replied.

Jason looked around the room, he had decided to go reach out to some contacts from one of his father's notebooks, knowing the emotions that the counselor was feeling plus the risks that this mission he finally spoke, "I'm going to reach out to some 'other' contacts Captain." trying to vacate.

Trensu looked at the officers then Finchley "Number One, let's plot an intercept course, but be cautious. We don't know what has happened to that ship and I would like full scans before we bring it in." Trensu looked at the officers again. "let us bring this briefing to a close. Everyone to their stations let's check this shuttle out" said Trensu with an approving smile.

"You heard the Captain's orders" Finchley said to the assembled crew "Dismissed."


Lieutenant Commander Ahkhsu Trensu
Commanding Officer
USS Oberon
&
Lieutenant Commander Finchley Kerr
Executive Officer
USS Oberon
&
Lieutenant Niali Korial Dr
Second Officer
USS Oberon
&
Lieutenant Dr Steven Edgware
Chief Medical Officer
USS Oberon
&
Lieutenant Jordan Chase
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Oberon
&
Lieutenant Jason Elliot
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Oberon
&
Lieutenant JG Lisa Creed
Chief Operations Officer
USS Oberon
&
Lieutenant JG Telarian Maxx
Chief Science Officer
USS Oberon
&
Ensign Jo Anne Grant
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Oberon