The Briefing

Posted on Fri Aug 19, 2016 @ 10:41pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Captain Madelina Weisz & Lieutenant Commander Arrda & Lieutenant Lukiz Smyth & Lieutenant Martha Cusack & Lieutenant Commander Alex Rho & Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Barnes & Lieutenant Akash Misra & Dasha Washburn & Lieutenant Dalton McNamara

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD 1 || 1600 Hours

=^=All senior officers report to the Ready Room=^= Michael announced as he sat in his Ready Room, a mug of Raktajino sitting on the LCARS table edge. He had everything that he had gotten from Admiral Grant displayed already up on the table. The map of the Orion Sector and the planets of Farius Prime, New Sydney and Stamerisin the Orion Sector were up and he reviewed them as he waited for his crew to arrive.

Douglas had always been an early riser; even before the Draft that had turned him into an Enforcer, he had loved to watch the sun rise. It had been one of the joys shared with first Arreith, then with Dekotah, and now -- when they were on a planet to see it -- with Danielle. That last made him smile, the thought of his wife. In his over one thousand years of life, she was only the third person to fill his heart with such love and beauty, to make him want to paint again, to draw and design, to build something beautiful for her.

He shook himself out of his thoughts forcibly. There was a briefing he needed to attend now, and this was not helping him focus. Clearing his mind the way Teleth Norr had taught him in Enforcer training so long ago, he refilled his mug of Marai coffee, put the lid on it and headed to the Ready Room as ordered. On arrival, he tapped the door chime and awaited the order to enter.

"Enter!" Michael called as the doors slid open on his activation of the sensor from the table.

Alex had rather enjoyed the tour of the Intelligence Center and Complex. This new ship-of-the-line had everything that an Intel officer could dream of and more. And that was including the Mnemonic Clothing he was currently wearing. As the Chief of the department, he was allotted a set even though there weren't that many to go around. Granted, there were more available that what there had been several years ago, but not by much.

He had been sitting in his office, with the clothing set to his uniform, for about ten minutes. He was halfway through a warm cup of Katheka when the message from the Captain came through. He smiled and nodded, "Time to make an appearance." He grabbed a PADD from his desk and put the cup in the recycler. A few moments later, he arrived on the vast Bridge and walked up to the Ready Room door. Smirking, the Intelligence Chief knocked on the doors instead of pressing the chime. Always keep them on their toes, he thought to himself.

Tom arrived just as the Intelligence Chief rapped his fist on the door. The Intelligence Chief's action certain made him inquisitive as Tom assumed the Captain would have contacted him or Engineering immediately about the faulty chime. "Does the chime not work?" he asked the Lieutenant, pulling his tricorder out to take a closer look at the small panel beside the door.

Alex didn't have a chance to respond before the door slid open in front of him.

Michael looked up when he heard the knock and raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me that things are breaking already," he said as he activated the door sensor from the table and watched it slide open. "Okay...that works. Now why are people knocking?" He waited to see who would come in.

"People are knocking because they know it drives you and others insane, Captain," Maddy said with a smile as she entered the Ready Room, knocking as she moved past him. Of course, she was doing it for the very reason she'd just mentioned. "And some of us just dare to be different." She moved over to her chair and settled down, crossing her legs the second she was situated.

Michael laughed at his Executive Officer and made a note to replace the seat of her chair with an item he had found in the database called a Whoopie Cushion. "You're right, Commander," he said. "And I look forward to each new encounter."

Tom blinked, looking at the XO as she passed him and Lieutenant Rho. The chime wasn't broken? Fighting back a sigh, he closed his tricorder and entered the room to find a seat at the table. Way to look like a fool in front of the Captain, Barnes.

Alex walked in behind Tom and, in the hopes of alleviating the concern and confusion he felt in the room, spoke up. "It was I that knocked, Captain. You see, I learned a long time ago that when the expected becomes the norm, we become complacent and the unexpected takes us by surprise. Even in our safest confines, we should always be ready for the simplest deviation from the norm, ready for the unexpected. And as the Commander said, some of us are just different."

"This is true, Lieutenant," Michael said as he waited for others to show up.

Lt. Akash Misra strolled into the briefing room, silently taking note of the officers present. He looked for a chair away from the largest concentration of people and sat down quietly, nodding at the other officers as he did so.

Lieutenant Dalton McNamara, the acting Chief Science Officer entered the room before the doors closed and moved to the table, nodding to the others. "Good afternoon," he said as he took a seat, a PADD in hand.

As James entered the room, he made a note of everyone there. He had been busy settling his troops in, and so far they were exceeding his expectations. His wife was busy converting a larger room to family quarters with the help of engineering, because if there was one thing James valued, it was being in the same area as his men. As he sat down, he nodded his greeting to the Captain, and sat back in the chair, getting himself comfortable.

The custom holographic emitters built into the LCARS table hummed and Lieutenant Washburn appeared at a seat between Rho and Barnes and gave a nod. "Sorry for being late, Captain," she said.

"It's fine, Doctor," Michael said and looked at Barnes. "Can you do a diagnostic for the Doctor's holographic subroutines?" he asked. "We don't need the Doctor showing up late for a surgery."

Tom nodded at the Captain to confirm the request. Hopefully the Captain really didn't think the doctor was late due to subroutines. Perhaps it was something in sickbay that kept the good EMH. "Doc, can we check that right after the meeting?"

"I assure you that my subroutines are in working order," Doctor Washburn said, invoking what doctors had insisted for centuries.

"I'm sure they are," Tom replied, looking away from the attractive hologram and back at the table where the Captain had already pulled up information about the Orion sector. In all of the places he'd been in the galaxy, the Orion sector was not one of them. Somehow, it didn't scream adventure. Rather, it calmly stated danger and caution. And now, it seemed they were about to go there.

Alex had been watching and listening to the exchange. The fact that the ship's doctor suddenly appeared next to him instead of walking through the door was interesting. "So, we're leaving dock without a Chief Medical Officer?"

Dasha looked at Rho. "I beg your pardon, but I have access to treatments and procedures which an ordinary doctor would require precious research time to look up in unusual circumstances," she said. "And if it were not for patient-Doctor confidentiality, I could say a few things about you."

Lukiz Smyth remained silent as he entered the ready room and took the remaining vacant spot.

Martha entered the briefing room silently and stood at the back of the room. She almost immediately saw somebody that she recognised from the past - but she chose to keep the pleasantries of catching up to one side for the time being. Right now she was focused on the mission briefing.

"Enough," Michael said as the Marine and Engineer entered the room and took their seats. "We have our orders." He waited for everyone to pay attention.

Douglas had been silently watching the interplay between the other officers. The statements by the Chief of Intelligence about being prepared for the unexpected seemed like common sense to him, but then what was common sense to a Marai Enforcer might not be so to most Starfleet officers. Perhaps they should have a course at the Academy titled Common Sense Is Not So Common, he thought to himself with a mental chuckle.

The rest of the interchange troubled him a bit. Not the captain's asking the Operations Chief to go over the EMH's subroutines, but the reaction of the Intelligence Officer. The captain had a good point, but the Intelligence Officer seemed to be operating from the perspective that AI was not a real person, not a proper officer. In truth, AI was a relatively new concept in Starfleet, so he should cut the man some slack. Not that he had planned to say anything; he hadn't. But he did make a mental note to himself to find out just how sophisticated an AI the EMH was compared to what he knew as AI. Later, when time permitted.

The captain's statement that they had their orders drew Douglas' attention to him. The tone the captain had used did not give him the impression of someone who was happy. He could not tell, however, whether the unhappiness was due to the orders or to something else. He let it go and took up his PADD to make any necessary notes as the captain talked.

When the Captain saw he had everyone's attention, he looked from face to face and took a breath. "We're being sent to the Orion Sector," he said. "To be specific, Orion Sector Tactical Command was attacked and fell silent after the attack was reported. This command was tasked with the responsibility of conducting tactical operational missions in the Orion sector. We have no information on who did it, why it was done, or any further contact. We're going in blind with no information to an area that is rife with pirates and we will not have backup. " He paused to let the small amount of information sink in.

Tom leaned back in his chair and frowned. He hadn't transcribed a single note on his PADD, though he did imprint several mental notes, including the need to keep the ship at full operational status. If he were a tactical officer, he might argue that sending a capital ship into the Orion Sector may come across as a show of force or an escalation move. But, he was neither. He'd let his twenty-plus years of experience speak for themselves and leave the appropriate discussions with the appropriate people.

The Orion Sector, he thought, it's been several years.... The Ullian-by-birth sat in his chair and made a few notes on the PADD. If they were going into the Orion Sector, he would have to brush up on his Orion and Trader Tongue. No sense in looking like a complete Starfleet buffoon by relying on the Universal Translator all the time. Especially with pirates thrown into the mix. "Captain," he said speaking up as a thought struck him, "why are we going in blind? Did our orders not come with any intelligence reports?" Alex not only found that to be odd, but unsettling.

"None," Michael said. "We're going to be on our own on this, but I have faith in the crew of the Triumphant." He paused again to look at all the new faces and the only one that he knew in the form of Commander Weisz. "I want you to assemble a small team of your best infiltration specialists, Lieutenant Rho. Lieutenant Mallory, assemble a small team of personnel from Security. I'll assign a couple language specialists to the team once you get them together."

Douglas was "old-school" Enforcer; he despised going into a situation with little to no intelligence on it. The idea made him extremely uncomfortable, but he kept that to himself, not showing any sign of it in his outer manner. This was one of those situations where that trained Neutrality came into good use.

He had many tactical questions that, normally, he would have addressed. The problem here was that the captain had no information to give, so there was no point in asking them. He nodded to the captain. "Aye, captain." was all he said for now, but he was already going over the dossiers of his department to determine who would best serve on this mission.

Alex nodded and made some notes on his PADD. "I will have the team assembled as soon as possible, Captain." His plan was not only to check out the personnel files, but after he did, to watch the ones he narrowed down. He wanted to see how they worked at their job and training and research in the Intel Center, too. It still bothered him that the powers that be didn't give any intelligence along with the mission orders.

"Chief Barnes, I want you to put your best communication specialists on getting any and all messages from the Orion Sector. Work with Lieutenant Rho's department if any are encrypted and get a linguist from the pool if you need them," Michael continued.

"Of course, Captain," Tom said with a nod. This was where being a Senior Officer would have perks. No need to deal with the red tape of paperwork. He could just order the additional resources to the transceiver, as well as the necessary personnel. A smirk crept onto his mouth. He certainly was going to enjoy this position.

Michael turned his attention to Doctor Washburn. "I want your department producing anti-Orion pheromone shots for everyone," he said. "Odds are good that we'll be interacting with them sooner or later and I don't want any member of the crew falling under their sway."

"Of course, Captain," Dasha said and paused for a moment. "I have just given the orders to my staff to begin synthesizing the antidote."

The Captain nodded and looked at the others he hadn't addressed yet. "Everyone else, be ready for anything and everything. We're dealing with pirates and they don't use orthodox methods. Make sure we don't lose warp power and be ready for on the spot maneuvers, Lieutenant Mishra."

"Aye, captain," the lieutenant said softly. "It'll be nice to see what this ship can do." He gave a slight smile and leaned back in his chair, ready for whatever came ahead.

Michael looked back at the Senior Chief Petty Officer who was in charge of Operations. "I almost forgot. Lieutenant Mallory has provided us with the replicator codes for a new type of armored uniform. I know I'm asking a lot of your department but these uniforms will provide some protection from phaser fire. Concentrate on department heads and Command first, then get as many of them out as you can for every department that you can."

Tom raised an eyebrow as he looked over to the security chief. Armored Uniform? he thought, thinking first of Kevlar once worn by law enforcement decades ago. The last thing Tom wanted to do was walk around with a bulky uniform all day. Still, orders were orders. "Aye, Captain," he said, almost hesitantly. He'd reserve judgment for when he saw the specs.

Michael started to say something, then stopped when his Executive Officer started to speak. He had been wondering when she was going to say something and he wanted to hear what she had to say.

Maddy looked around the table at the faces present. This had to be one of the more quieter briefings she'd witnessed in all of her Starfleet career. "I've seen livelier briefings slap Admiral Grant on his forehead. Wake up, people. We're a rather large ship going into the Orion Sector, which can be taken as a threat. We have zero information, and we need ideas. This is where you all need to start being vocal," the Commander said, unable to keep silent any longer.

Tom looked up in a bit of surprise to the Commander as she made her statement. He'd seen his share of bold officers, but how the hell were they supposed to generate ideas with no information. A thought, however, did occur to him. "We're already a threat to the sector," he proposed. "If Tactical Command was silenced, what makes anyone think the air will change when a city shows up? If the Triumphant shows up, don't you think we'd be an automatic target?"

"Which is why I want to send in a small team of Intel and Security personnel and you will be monitoring all messages from the sector, Mister Barnes," Michael said. "We also have an Aquarius Class Escort docked which can be taken in and maintain a low profile." He moved his hands over the LCARS and transferred the information on the new uniforms to Barnes' spot at the table.

The Ops Chief ignored the new information for the moment. "We're talking about a sector that has managed to stay ahead of the Federation for a couple hundred years," he pointed out. "Starfleet has many listening posts in the area, and if we're not picking something up... Captain, this smells like a either a trap or someone trying to force our every move."

"Do you wish to contact Admiral Grant and tell him this, Chief?" Michael asked as he looked directly at the Operations Chief.

Now you've done it... thought Thomas. Not only did he manage to annoy the Captain, but he certainly made an impression for himself. And it wasn't a positive one either. "No, sir," he said in a quiet tone.

James looked up from the notes he had been making throughout the entire meeting. "Captain, if I might make a few recommendations, I'd like to work with Lt. Mallory in dealing with a few issues, including ensuring the civilians aboard are aware of emergency stations, as well as posting armed marines and security officers at all times at all key locations, and a few non key locations. If the worst happens, it never hurts to be prepared." James said. "Additionally, whilst we're in Orion Space, I think we should secure all consoles and key areas of the ship. I've faced the Syndicate before, and I've found there's no such thing as being too ready."

"Good idea, Colonel Racktor," Michael said. "Everyone aboard is aware of the protocols, but seeing Marines and Security working together will ensure that the morale stays high. Questions, anyone?"

Under normal circumstances, Douglas would have presented ideas; but there was really nothing to work with to formulate cogent ones, so he had remained silent. Racktor had a good one though that was not dependent upon the information -- or lack thereof -- that they had about their end destination. His dark eyes flicked to the marine for a moment in study then away.

Martha simply listened quietly as the briefing went on. She had often preferred to observe quietly and only speak when it was necessary - and today was another of those days. She had yet to go over the schematics of the Orion vessels but she intended to before the Triumphant departed for Orion space. She hadn't dealt with the Orion before - but Martha knew they wouldn't exactly be pushovers.

"Captain," finally Lieutenant Smyth spoke up, the Engineer having remained silent until now. "I'd like to go over the schematics of this new armour with my esteemed colleagues from Science and Tactical. If there is any chance we can improve them, it might well be worth it," the Trill spoke.

"After we get underway, we'll be too busy for that. You'll get your chance," Michael told the Engineer. "Get the schematics from Mister Barnes but hold off on trying to make improvements for the time being. How does our engines look?"

"As you wish, Captain," the Engineer nodded, "engines are working at full capacity. I have my propulsion and warp theory specialists monitoring them at all times. Should there be any problems, we'll identify them quickly."

Michael nodded and turned his attention to the LCARS table which displayed information on several planets in the Orion Sector. "We're likely to encounter trouble from a number of locations and if the Orions, if it was them, took prisoners from Tactical Command, they're probably on either Stameris which has a huge slave market, Farius Prime which is rumored to be the headquarters of the Orion Syndicate, or on New Sydney, but that's doubtful. In the event that prisoners have been taken, the odds are good that we'll be going there. The moment the Triumphant is seen, the moment trouble is going to start. I want everyone to work in teams and to report in every fifteen minutes. Make sure your department personnel follow that. Are there any questions?"

Douglas had many questions; it was simply that the captain had no answers. So he merely shook his head silently and mulled over the planetary choices. Those three were indeed the likeliest candidates. He doubted the Syndicate would take any prisoners back to their headquarters planet as that would be tactically unsound, creating a trail that could be followed right to their door. But then, one never knew about other life forms and why they did what they did.

The other side of that was that they could not be sure that any prisoners were taken. That was yet to be ascertained once they reached their destination. But assuming that they were, the most likely place for them to be taken would have been first New Sydney for questioning somewhere that the Federation had no jurisdiction and then, should they survive that, to Stemaris for selling on the thriving slave market there. Either way, it made sense that the Admiral was so hot to get them there yesterday.

"No?" The Captain arched an eyebrow as the silence stretched on for nearly a full minute before he looked over to Commander Weisz. "Do you have anything to add, Commander?"

Douglas made some notes on his PADD and listened to see if anyone else had anything to say or ask. He was as surprised as the captain that no one had any questions. But maybe they were following his logic; why ask questions the officers above you don't have answers to. Maybe not, but one just never knew with alien life forms... even ones they had lived among for centuries.

"No, but this briefing has been pretty informative," Commander Weisz said, looking over the faces present, but she kept her own a neutral mask. She hoped they'd all do their parts to impress her as time progressed, but at that present moment, she wasn't. Time would tell all.

Michael nodded. "Then everyone is dismissed," he said. "Get to your departments and get them ready as you can."

Douglas could hear something underlying the commander's tone, but he could not identify it. She was good at the Neutrality. He wondered where she had learned it; Starfleet did not exactly teach its people to be that level of Neutral. He glanced at her when she spoke, but her face gave him no hint to her thoughts. That same elusive something was in her eyes, but he could no more identify it there than he had been able to in her voice, so he let it go and rose and exited.

First, he needed to prepare his department; then he needed to meet with the Marine commander... in that order so that his people were prepared for working alongside the Marines this closely.