Destination: Drekasta

Posted on Sun Jul 17th, 2011 @ 4:15pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer & Lieutenant Commander Zim Drex & Lieutenant Elizabeth Lynn & Lieutenant Elena Valdez & Lieutenant JG Emily Hamson

Mission: The Fate of the Swiftsure
Location: USS Iapetus - Bridge, Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD05 0930hrs

Having organised all of the major crew transfers he needed - he'd left the more minor crew transfers to Acle, as he always did - and having received reports that their supplies were fully restocked, and the ship was ready to leave, Vorn had decided on their departure time and strolled out of his ready room at exactly the time he had marked. A silent alarm on his computer terminal was a wondrous thing when he needed to be reminded to do something at a set time.

"Helm, set a course for the Safe Passage, and engage," he instructed as he strolled across the bridge. "Alert all crew to report to duty stations, we are making way. All senior officers report to the observation lounge."

"Aye Aye Captain." Acle said, hitting the All-Hands button on the captains chair.

"All hands, all hands, this is the XO. Report to your assigned duty stations and prepare to make way. I say again, all hands to their duty stations. All Senior Officers to the Observation Lounge." Acle said, his voice rang throughout the ship.

Acle stood then, and turned towards the lounge, he paused though and looked to the tatical station first. "Lieutenant Biggins, you have the bridge." Acle said. The formality completed, Acle strode towards the observation lounge.

Vorn was the first into the lounge, having been heading straight for it after leaving his ready room. It had been some time since he had held a pre-mission briefing for his staff like this, and he privately noted the significant change amongst them; Christopher he had promoted to Lieutenant JG upon their arrival in the Delta Quadrant, and a full half of his staff were new faces. He moved around to the head of the table, and waited for each officer to enter the room.

Drex entered swiftly with a PADD in one hand and a Kona/Bolian coffee blend in the other. He rendered a chipper smile and greeting toward the Captain. "Good morning, Captain," as if mornings never fazed the stout Engineer. He then crossed to his chair which was becoming more his own with every briefing. "A new dawn on a new quadrant!" He remarked, lifting the scalding hot coffee to his lips a little too exuberantly. He reacted with a wince. "Mm...I just burnt my tongue."

Emily entered the room next also holding a PADD so sh could make notes during the meeting.
"Good day Captain." She said and nodded at him before she sat down in the nearest chair. Emily felt nervous as the delta quadrant had been her home for many years but most importantly, it was the home of the Borg. She was scared what would happen if they met the Borg, could she act efficient enough if her actions were clouded by fear? What would happen if she were to get captured by the Borg? She couldn't allow herself to think such thoughts and be distracted. She had to be calm, focused and make sure that no one else knew of her fear.

Lieutenant Elizabeth Lynn walked into the room, her eyes floating over the faces before her. She recognized the Captain from her encounter with him. She took not of the Bolian who seemed to be consuming a drink far hotter than he could tolerate. Liz wasn't sure if that was normal for him or if it was an accident... either way he looked rather odd doing it. The Counselor's eyes shifted to the figure of... a liberated Borg? How the hell had she missed that in the FITREPs?! Liz wondered to herself if the woman was scared out of her mind at the prospect of being back in the home turf of the very beings she'd been freed from. It would most likely be something she'd have to ask about when she dragged the Lieutenant into a session in the not too distant future.

The Counselor found a nice seat at the table and sank into it, letting the people mingle and settle as they would without commentary. She just didn't feel up to socializing at the moment, and therefore did not.

Jordan meandered into the Observation Lounge having spent a couple of minutes running over the results of a diagnostic he had been running on one of the Iapetus' phaser arrays. It was well out of whack, somehow and Ensign Lintara probably wasn't the best person to ensure that it went back to within its proper parameters. However, she was the relief officer and he'd just have to trust her.

He took his seat on the Captain's left hand side and nodded across the table, first to Acle and then to the Counselor whom he had barely seen since their conversation in the corridor.

Elena Valdez was the next to enter the room, well fueled up this morning on her second cup of joe. While normally the doctor was not a huge fan of sitting through meetings, she was looking forward to this one. Not only did she want to take a gander at the senior staff she had yet to meet, she was also extremely curious as to the nature of their first mission in the Delta Quadrant. She hoped there would be an away team involved, and that she would get to be on it.

Sara took a seat towards the end of the table, on the opposite side from her captain. From this vantage point, she would be able to see the entire senior staff, and most likely, they would not pay any attention to her. She collected her notes in front of her without a sound, having entered the room with no fanfare whatsoever. She had used the bolian's coffee as a perfect distraction to slip quietly into her seat.

Acle had entered directly after transferring command to the operations officer. He sat immediately to the captain's right. Acle sat straight backed, not showing any emotion other then calm and orderly, but, his eyes surveyed the other staff, missing little. It was interesting to see who conversed, with whom, and in what manner. Some of his old intelligence gathering tricks
worked well in his role as executive officer. The senior staff had never fully worked together, not with the new arrivals, and a smoothly flowing staff ensured a smooth mission... Or so his mentor had said, albeit it in relation to a commando team.

Seeing Jordan directly across from him nod, Acle returned the nod, wondering if the second officer was having the same thoughts as he was.

"All right everybody," Vorn began, now that all of his staff were present. "We've been given our first mission from Task Force 38." He reached down from his standing position behind his chair and touched the control panel embedded into the table's surface, activating the large display monitor on the side wall. The view that occupied the screen was a star chart of a region within The Round Table. "This is one of the star charts provided to us by local merchants of this area. Starfleet has developed a small group of suppliers which have proven trustworthy to us, who have become our regular suppliers."

Krace tapped another control, and an overlay appeared on the star chart, detailing information on the starship Swiftsure, and labelling a location on the star chart. "This is the location where the USS Swiftsure was lost, with all hands. The ensuing investigation revealed that the star chart had been altered in order to hide the spatial disturbance that caused the incident. We have since lost contact with the supplier."

Acle's eyebrow shot up. "Who provided us the false intelligence?" Acle asked. His eyebrow continued to be raised. What seemed like an entire lifetime in counter-intelligence had honed instincts, instincts which were now screaming at him. "Better yet, who was the 'trusty merchant' working for? Who stood to gain from this?"

"That is our mission," Krace replied, in answer to his first officer's expected question. "The supplier is a man named Varro, and he was last seen in the Drekasta system." Tapping another control, the viewscreen switched to display the system itself - composed only of a single star and millions of orbiting asteroids, the image was overlaid in one corner by the image of the supplier. "Starfleet is sending us to find Varro, and determine whether the alterations were made of his own free will, under duress, or by an imposter."

Emily looked at the asteriod belt and remembered it briefly from Starfleet Academy and briefly from the borg though the borg hadn't actually entered the system yet.
"The asteriod field will make it hard for us to make accurate scans of the area and to locate the supplier. I will attempt to increase the accuracy of the sensors." She stated and made a quick note on the PADD she was holding in her hand. "Do you intend on finding the USS Swiftsure aswell?" she asked.

"No," Krace responded. "The Swiftsure was confirmed destroyed with all hands lost. Our mission is solely focussed on Varro."

Jordan spoke. Up until now he had been taking notes and examining the topographical data of the region. There wasn't a huge amount to go on. "Captain, there's a mining outpost built into one of the asteroids. From what our records lead me to believe, it serves as a trading centre for the region as well. It might be a good place to start our search."

Sara checked her notes. "Captain, Starfleet is still new to this quadrant, and we do not have the reputation that we have in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. We may not find the occupants of that trading center very hospitable towards us. According to my intelligence, the Drekasta System is home to thugs, bandits, and pirates. It's likely that a well-maintained vessel like the Iapetus would bring unwanted attention. I recommend that we send an away team using a disguised shuttlecraft, like we used at Pirates Haven. A shuttlecraft would also have an easier time navigating the dense asteroid field."

"I agree," Vorn said, looking down the table at his chief intelligence officer. "To all points aside from the disguise," he added. "Aside from the fact that Starfleet wants to get people in this region to trust us, we may need the help of the outpost's own police forces, if they're willing to give it. We probably won't get very far with that if we start out with deceptions." He didn't mention that he didn't want to start out his tour in the Delta Quadrant with a deception, either. He wanted to be here as an explorer, someone who could find new races, and bring them to trust the Federation, not some sort of roving covert mission hub.

"Jordan, I want you to keep the ship at alert stations whilst we're in the Drekasta system. Mister Cook, the reports of the asteroid field show that it is too dense to be safe to take the Iapetus in very deep, but we may need to conduct an extensive search for Varro. I want you to have all shuttle pilots and their craft ready to go when we get there."

"Aye, sir." Gunning responded simply.

"Zim, I want you and Mister Hunt to work on making sure our sensors will operate as efficiently as possible within the system. I have a feeling that the field will disrupt them in the denser portions."

Drex stopped blowing on his coffee and put it down. "Aye sir. I can modify a series of probes that can relay data between the shuttles and back to us. Since the shuttles don't have as advanced sensor palettes as the Iapetus, it should substantially improve sensor efficiency. We could possibly use Stellar Cartography to overlay the sensor data in real time."

"Do it," Vorn said, giving his authorisation for the idea.

"The situation out there may be a relatively simple assignment, or it may be something that evolves rapidly," Krace said, his tone changing to the one that his longer-serving senior staff would recognise as the one he reserved for his closing comments and motivational boosters. "I want everybody on their toes on this one; it is our first mission in the Delta Quadrant, and I want it to go right."

Conveniently, the comm system chose that moment to beep at them. "Captain, we are approaching the entrance to the Safe Passage."

"If there are no more questions, you're all dismissed," the captain said to the officers in the room. "Mister Cook; I hope you've been practising your piloting skills. 'Safe' is a relative term in the Passage," he finished, grinning.

-------------------------
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer

Commander Acle Walex
First Officer

Lt. Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief of Security

Lt. Commander Sara Archer
Chief Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant Zim Drex
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Elizabeth Lynn
Chief Counsellor

Lieutenant JG Elena Valdez
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Emily Hamson
Chief Science Officer