Riding to the Rescue
Posted on Sun Mar 31st, 2024 @ 2:29am by Ensign Eimi Santiago & Captain Paul Griffon & Commander Lucy Sharpe & Lieutenant Bryan Mundy & Lieutenant Scion
3,446 words; about a 17 minute read
Mission:
Rescue Interruptus
Location: USS Athena
Timeline: MD1, 0800/0900
Captain's log, stardate 67106.8664, Captain Paul Griffon reporting,
"We've had to launch the Athena two weeks earlier than expected due to a small, undetected asteroid getting through the prevention screens on Aramal III. The asteroid impacted very close to the second largest city on the northern continent. Luckily the asteroid had broken up a fair amount before impact. We will be joining the Venture, the Galveston, the Merlin, and the Sev'Rak along with a couple of civilian ships to assist with recovery.
Our sudden departure will test some of my lower ranking officers. Having followed many of their short careers, I truly believe they are up to the task.
End log.
Captain Griffon tapped the comm. button on the computer panel in his office.
"All senior staff, please meet in conference room 1 at 0900 today", Griffon said and then went back to more of the briefing he had been given on the mission.
Conference Room 1, 0900
Eimi looked around and nodded to herself and the padd the crewman had presented here. "Good. I think that covers almost everything."
There was still much to do, more inventory to take. But inventory was always a priority as they continuously used supplies. She still needed an assistant but one would arrive or so she hoped. Otherwise, she would assign one of the others to fill that function. Eimi herself had the engineering department add some lab items and an extra workstation in the chief officer's office. It now looked almost like any other lab on the ship. She would function better there than a formal space. It still contained all the necessary computer terminals, but it was so much less formal and much more functional.
Her pocket beeped at her. "Chiaki, tell me "She said as she handed the padd back to the crewman.
"Staff Meeting, Required. Conference Room one at oh nine hundred." The little beetle responded.
Eimi replied "Chiaki, current time."
The little beetle replied "oh eight fifty-five"
Eimi nodded and started to walk. On the way she gathered one padd from the corner of her workstation and slid out the door, it hissed shut behind her and headed towards conference room one. She had seen the deck plans of the Athena and did not take her time. Eimi stood outside the conference room and barely paused before she entered.
Scion had been putting the finishing touches on her office, so she'd be ready for departure. When she had five minutes before the briefing, she grabbed a PADD and headed for the briefing room. She was looking forward to serving under Captain Griffon.
When she walked into the room she took a quick look around, noting the seating arrangement and those who arrived before her. Then she found a place by the wall where she could see the captain, the other senior staff, and the doors. In her occupation, it was always better to be observant.
Dr. Eskei was awake early and reviewing the crew records when the call arrived. She enjoyed the medical bay she created, several medicinal plants situated according to Feng Chua teachings and providing a relaxing aroma to room. She spent three hours reviewing records and already discovered several interesting stories of past wounds among the enlisted. The doctor shut down the computer files and grabbed a note Padd for the meeting.
As she entered the corridor before pausing. The loss of the pleasant scents brought the young doctor down, not being familiar with the ship made things worse "Computer, please light my way to conference room 1" as several lights blinked along the floor edges, the doctor followed the trail.
Outside of the door Eskei mumbled 'I'm probably the last one here. way to go doctor', she tugged her uniform tight before stepping through the sliding door.
Eimi had stepped into the conference room and paused only briefly there as well. She noted the table and took a random seat. As the door hissed open and closed a few times Eimi had turned to greet each in turn, "Good morning" Then she turned back towards the head of the table.
The head of the table Eimi noted was vacant, both Captain Grffon and Commander Sharpe had yet to arrive.
They weren't kept waiting for very long longer as the ship XO - Lucy Sharpe arrived still clutching a cup of strong coffee. The cup was a near permeant fixture to the human's arm as it fueled her day and often especially since leaving dock in a hurry the nights too.
"Morning," she glanced around the occupants noting their attendance before pulling out her customary seat. "Please sit, Griffon will be here shortly." Her gaze lingered on Scion who'd decided to remain standing.
Eimi turned slightly and saw that Commander Sharpe had indeed arrived. "Good morning, Commander." Eimi replied and turned back to the padd in her hand as she waited for the Captain. Small talk was not exactly her best trait, but she was not afraid of speaking either. Her thumb slid the screen to the left and she tapped on a spot and studied what she was looking at.
"Ensign," Sharpe acknowledged with a salute of her coffee cup.
Scion noted the other arrivals as they walked through the door. Most she recognized from their computer files. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Commander Sharp, but once she took her seat, she continued to look over a report on her PADD.
There were more to show up before the captain. An Andorian, who was about 5'11" came in and just walked over and sat in the chair next to Eimi. He had a stern face and did not say anything.
A few moments later a male who looked Bajoran and another man, who was humanoid but had the slight features of a Risan came in.
"Ha, this is the first of many department head meetings for me", the man said to the Risan as he sat down a few chairs away from Commander Sharpe. The Risan sat next to him.
The next through the door was a short, female Tellarite. She grunted, "This better be good." as she sat down next to Scion.
"If nothing else, it'll be interesting," Scion replied. "Briefings, especially first briefings, generally are." At least she thought so. But then, she was as interested in watching the other crew members interact as she was the briefing itself.
Eimi felt like there were eyes on her for a long moment or two and she tried to ignore it, but it tickled at the back of her mind. A weird sense that she felt like she was being watched.
Another figure slid into the room before the door slid closed. A grey furred female Caitian slid into the chair next to Dr. Eskei. With a smile she said, "Hi, I'm Sayla."
"Doctor Eskei", she replied and went back to her padd.
Eimi glanced at the man who sat down next to her and then back at the PADD and spoke. "Was the temperature in your quarters adequate enough to get a restful amount of sleep?"
The Andorian looked at Eimi and gruffly said, "Yes." and looked back at his PADD.
After a moment he looked back at her and said, "My apologies, I have served mainly on Andorian ships and small talk is not a strong suit of mine. I am Ghin Lotar, and I work in security."
"I am in Science and you can call me Eimi Santiago my last assignment was a planet side colony." Eimi glanced back at the Andorian and was about to ask another question when someone across the table spoke.
"You know what?", the Bajoran across the table said. "I think this is a great idea, Lieutenant Lotar. We are going to be working together, we should at least know each other's names. I've only been here a day, so I've had no time to meet anyone outside my department. So, say your name, what you do, and any little trivia about yourself you want to share. When you are done, the person to your left goes next."
He paused, smiled, and then continued, "I am Ensign Jonas Wran, and I typically am one of the pilots of the ship. This is my first time on a Prometheus class ship. Although I've done some holo-deck training. As far as trivia goes, I love blueberry pie."
He looked over to Sharpe.
The Commander wanted to snort at Wran's 'icebreaking' idea but resisted the temptation to rebuke it. They'd all been thrown together very last minute, herself included it made sense to introduce themselves officially. "Commander Lucy Sharpe," she begun. "First Officer, I have a kyu green belt in kickboxing."
The Andorian spoke up and said, "As some of you may have heard, I am Ghin Lotar. I am the assistant security chief." He paused, looking a bit awkward when thinking about a trivial item and then said, "I have a pet girhal."
He then looked to Santiago and said, "You're next."
Eimi hated these types of things, they reminded her of her childhood and harassment she always received afterwards. "Eimi Santiago, those of you closest to Lieutenant Lotar and I may have heard. I am in the science department. As for something about myself." She paused in thought for a quiet moment and then replied with an odd blush that was uncharacteristic of her. "My favorite movie of all time is a movie from the Terran year of 1954 called White Christmas ." Eimi then looked to her left.
It was Scion's turn. She looked around the table and smiled. "I'm Scion and I'm in intelligence. Something about me... I like woodcarving and I picked my own name when I was a child." She'd actually watched White Christmas and enjoyed it, although she liked The Court Jester better.
Eimi curiously queried Scion "Are you an orphan then, since you picked your own name?" Eimi was puzzled as to how a child could choose their own name when most were named by parents or guardians.
"Yes. I was passed around several foster homes, then ended up living on the streets. That's when I picked my own name," Scion replied.
Eimi nodded in agreement "Streets can be rough. It is interesting name." Eimi had not thought about choosing her own name. She used the one basically assigned to her. Eimi also thought that perhaps when or if the opportunity arose, she maybe would speak with Scion more about the name selection and what made her choose the specific name, Scion.
The Caitian, Sayla, spoke up next and said, "I am Sayla Lazar. I'm the Assistant Operations Chief. Hmm, something about me. I was born with two tails and had to have an operation to remove one or my balance would have been very off." She looked at the Tellarite and said, "Your turn."
The Tellarite frowned and said, "I'm Toras Flait, number two in engineering. Something about me is I don't like telling things about myself to people I don't really know."
"I'll go next", the Risan man next to Jonas said with a simple smile. "I am Emric Jintar, I work in Strategic Operations. As far as something about me goes, my parents own a resort on Risa. If we ever get that way, we can visit."
He looked to Eskei and said, "I believe you are the last."
"I'm Doctor Eskei", she said simply and did not offer anything else about herself.
In the Hallway
As Bryan approached the meeting room, he was a bit dismayed as the captain was arriving at the conference room before him. Never good to be the last one in the room. It couldn't be helped though, the inspection of the new type of torpedoes being loaded took longer than expected.
"Cutting it close aren't you, Lieutenant?", Captain Griffon asked.
"Sorry, captain. But I think I still have 30 seconds before the time we were required to be here, sir." Mundy moved to an empty chair and sat.
Griffon entered the room and sat down at the head of the table.
"Good morning, all", he said. "I hope you are all getting settled. That said, Starfleet has decided to disrupt us from getting the Athena truly space worthy."
Activating the view screen, he pulled up a star map of a four-planet system.
"This is the Aramal system", he continued. "The third planet has a relatively large populace of around twenty million. There are three continents. A distress call was received two days ago. Apparently, a relatively small asteroid made it past their early detection satellites and impacted on the northern continent, thirty kilometers from the largest city on the continent, Baran. Current extent of the damage is currently unknown. As one of the closest ships in the sector, the Athena along with the Venture, Galveston, Merlin, and Sev'Rak are being dispatched to the system to assist in the recovery operations. Before I continue to what we all will be doing, are there any questions?"
"Will Command send any other ships to assist us, Captain?", asked Mundy.
"Beyond the ones we are joining up with, I'm not sure", Griffon responded. "I imagine in the future the Corps of Engineers will get here, but with all the chaos in the region, we have to assume the five crews will be it for a while."
"Do you want intel to look for additional information on the system? I might be able to get a bit more than what the computer has," Scion asked next.
"I always like to have more information", the captain answered. "I will have an assignment before that, for you and Lieutenant Mundy when we get there, which will be relatively quickly once we get out of space dock I hope."
Eimi looked up from the padd in her hand "The data is not showing how big the actual asteroid is that hit near the city. Have they already had continued plate shifting that could cause repeated earthquakes? Disruption of the planet enough to cause seasonal shifts? Is this asteroid a lone piece of rock or is it the start of a virtual flood of them?" The answer Griffon would give could determine different strategies that they would need to put into place. Reinforce the defenses of the planet or evacuate. What did one do with thousand, perhaps billions of people. Move then to the opposite side of the planet until the barrage passed? ~ oh shit ~ is what Eimi thought about it all.
"We have gotten any more communication since the original distress call two days ago Ensign", Griffon said. "I am sure they haven't had time."
"What is known about the local inhabitants?" Sharpe asked her knowledge of Aramal III a little lacking.
"The planet is most inhabited by most races you might find on Federation core worlds", the captain replied. "It was founded by about 2000 Human colonists from another colony world, Bertor, about 100 years ago. Since then, they've had influxes of other people and there is now a population of about twenty million spread over three continents."
The captain waited for any more questions, with no one asking more, he continued.
"Given the Athena's tactical nature, we are being given over-watch duties", the captain said. "But that also leaves our hands free to tend to items the rescue teams might not think of."
He looked at Mundy and Scion and continued, "Catastrophe brings out the best and the worst in people. While the other crews coordinate the ones bringing their best, Lieutenants Mundy and Scion, I want you to be planet-side keeping an eye out for those bringing their worst, thieves, looters, maybe worse. General thieves and thugs, notify the planetary security teams. Those who seem they might be a bit more interesting, shall we say, feel free to intercept. If need be, either me or Commander Sharpe will deal with local law enforcement if they give you issues about it. Questions?"
"No questions." That was a life Scion knew all too well. At least she would know what to look for--and where. She knew all too well how important law enforcement was during this crucial time.
"Are we allowed to use phasers to deter looting, Captain?" Mundy asked.
"Follow standard crowd control protocol, phasers as a last resort, unless being attacked", the captain replied with a nod. "There is enough confusion going on there. No need for us to add more."
"Ensign Santiago", Griffon said. "You brought up so good questions earlier. Ones that we should find answers to. Before you do that, I have a question that I believe is a little more pressing. I want you to work with Ensign Lazar to figure out how the hell an asteroid slipped by the early warning satellites and nearly replaced a city of six hundred thousand with a crater."
"Yes captain" Santiago replied in a preoccupied manner.
"Doctor Eskei", the captain said. "I want you to coordinate with the Galveston, which is a medical frigate, in aiding the wounded. If you need to go or send people planet side to help you are free as long as we have two senior medical staff on board."
"Understood", the doctor replied simply.
"Commander Sharpe, I want you to coordinate teams and assist where needed. Myself and Lieutenant Jintar will keep in contact with the local authorities and ships in the group", Griffon said. "Questions?"
The XO nodded mutely at the assignment. "How long till we depart?"
"We will be leaving at 1100 hours", Griffon answered. "I've already given the recall notice to staff on the station."
The captain looked around the tabled and asked, "Any other questions?"
Ensign Santiago looked up and met the Captains eyes. "No, Sir. None at the..." Eimi paused "Actually Sir, I do have one."
"By all means Ensign", Griffon said. "Shoot."
"What is our ETA?" Eimi asked. It would determine how much time each of them had to create a plan and put it into place for each of their given assignments.
"Using the slip-stream, it won't take long", Griffon answered. "Once we leave dock, the slip stream will get us there in about 5 minutes tops."
"One other thing Captain." Eimi turned towards Mundy and with a gesture of a hand. "Your other mission requirement, if you choose to accept it, that is. Please, inform us your name, your department and one thing we do not know about you."
Mundy looked at Eimi. "I am Lieutenant Bryan Mundy, Security Chief and Second Officer. And if you want to know something about me, please ask a direct question and I will answer it."
Eimi took it almost as a challenge, she was used to bullies and this person seemed not so much very different then that. "I did ask you a direct question. Lieutenant Bryan Mundy, Security Chief and Second Officer. Inform us of one thing we do not know about you." Eimi placed her hand to her chest "I like the old Terran movie White Christmas," Eimi moved her hand towards Jintar, Emric's family owns a Risan resort. Eimi leaned forwards slightly and turned to look at Scion "Scion named herself." She then gestured towards Sharpe "Our first officer has a green belt for kick boxing" she then gestured towards Mundy. "Your turn"
Mundy looked at her. He's never walked away from a challenge. "I like to play Dabo and Dom-Jot, and I usually win."
Griffon chuckled and then said with a smile, "As we are sharing, you will often hear me humming, the song, Modern Major General, a song from an Earth musical play called Pirates of Penzance. He then turned a bit more serious.
"I know some of you have not had a lot of experience being in command of a department. That said, I trust you all to get the job done", Griffon continued. "Lieutenant Flait, do checks on the slip-stream drive. I want to get there fast. Ensign Wran, get us a course charted for the systems. Make sure to take any gravity fluctuations that the impact may have had into account. Commander Sharpe, get us underway at 1100 hours. I unfortunately will be stuck in a meeting then. Alright, we all have enough to do. Dismissed."
Scion nodded. There was a lot to do before they arrived, and she wanted to know where to start looking for illicit activity before they got there.
A Joint Post by
---
Captain Griffon
Commanding Officer
Commander Lucy Sharpe
First Officer
Lieutenant Bryon Mundy
Chief of Security/Tactical
2nd Officer
Lieutenant Scion
Chief Intelligence Officer
Ensign Eimi Santiago
Chief Science Officer
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