PLOT LOG | "Hail the Chief" | SFCinC, CO | FAdm Kerry Malone, Capt Landon Neyes

Posted on Tue Oct 22nd, 2013 @ 10:52pm by Captain Landon Neyes
Edited on on Wed Oct 23rd, 2013 @ 12:01am

1,479 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: In the Dark
Location: USS Vindicator, Captain's RR

=/\= Captain’s Ready-Room, USS Vindicator =/\=

The buzz and commotion of a Starbase was a comforting sort of chaos. Shuttles zipped past on their way to deliver officers to new assignments, or to families down on Earth’s surface. Landon counted more than a dozen every fifteen minutes, all hours of the day and night. Other starships made their way gingerly through the space-lanes, docking or venturing back out into the depths of space. Since the attack on Earth the number of ships in the area had nearly doubled, and Landon could understand why. Yet all the same the activity was infectious, rubbing off on the Vindicator’s crew, the young captain had seen a marked improvement of the crew’s disposition since the attack on Starfleet HQ those weeks ago. The renewed sense of duty hadn’t hindered his unusual ease with putting his feet up for a rest once in a while.

Not unlike his home on Trill, the liveliness and heavy business traffic kept the energy high. His staff was efficient, motivated, and reaffirmed in their efforts to bring the ship back into fighting form. With Starfleet in a sporadic and unstable state, he couldn’t have asked for a better time. Even the Yeoman seemed happier than usual, if it was possible. This morning he found a cup of coffee waiting for him on his ready room desk, still piping hot from where she’d placed it just minutes before. The days felt as if they’d slid past in the weeks since they’d arrived, a perception for which Neyes was grateful.

Reports had managed to creep their way into his ready room on an hourly basis, or quite nearly. The words on the pages seemed to jump incoherently as he read words like, ‘double-shift’ and ‘nearly full capacity’. Other than taking reports, sneaking into departments for surprise ‘inspections’ had taken up some of his time this week. There were still a few to check on, but his general discovery concluded everyone was working too hard. Positive energy or not, they still needed to unwind. Commander Ivanova had suggested to him that he take choice out of the equation for the next couple days. Minds were more likely to make unnecessary errors without proper rest, and there was no reason for it.

He tapped his commbadge and sipped his coffee before speaking in an upbeat tone, “All hands this is the Captain speaking,” a beat of pause hit him as the words once again felt odd to him, “This is a reminder to all crew. Mandatory shore-leave and R&R is required to be cycled into your duty shifts for the next 48 hours. Dept heads are to ensure all staff receives their allotted time in the holodeck, or transport to the surface. If you have questions, please see Commander Ivanova.”

Landon smirked a little, looking into his coffee mischievously as he took a final drink.

The tiny jab at his first officer was short lived, as moments later the chirping sound of his desk comms came to life. His eyes moved, surprised at the sound. No one called him in his office except people he really would rather not speak to on a regular basis. Those people being of course, his superior officers in Starfleet. Alas his Yeoman confirmed the regrettable suspicion, as her voice came cheerfully over the line.

“Sir, you have a message from Starfleet Command coming though.”

A show of impressed satisfaction shone of his face as he replied, “And you already routed it here. Good show, Ms. Ouka. Thank you.”

He tapped the release control on his desk as he took a quick seat, resting his cooling coffee down on his desk out of view. An insignia for the Federation gave way to the image of an Admiral, one which Landon knew by status and name only. They’d probably met once or twice before, but those had been brief meetings while Landon was a Helm officer.

“Hello, Admiral Malone. It’s nice to see you well.” Landon said, waiting a moment to judge the man's reaction.

“Captain Neyes.” Malone said, curtly but politely. In that sort of officious voice that senior admirals tended to take with line officers. He hadn’t meant to use it, but it was becoming more and more frequent. “I trust things aboard Vindicator are going well?” He asked, a little softer and more approachable this time. Now that he was aware that he’d been pompous, he would act more civil.

Landon nodded. He was versed well-enough in handling the turbulelent moods of diplomatic officials. Given his experiences while host with Hyane, there was seldom a beaurocrat he couldn't handle. Getting to the point, he decided not to waste too much time, "Repairs, I'm told, are progressing as can be expected. My guess is I'm going to be told we need to spend a couple days in dock before we get back out on the road. How are things at HQ? If you need more help on the surface, I can have a few teams put together."

“I appreciate the offer, but at this stage, more people won’t improve things. The San Fransisco campus is slowly being repaired, but even now, weeks on, they’re still finding remains – so work has to stop. I feel so cold and heartless thinking how annoying it is finding the remains of the dead all the time – as it slows down construction work by twelve hours each time. They were friends, colleagues… I should feel something… but anyway. No, I have orders for you, Captain.” Malone said.

Torn in an awkward paradigm of wanting to offer condolence, understanding...something, Landon wanted to say anything to help the Admiral's heavy burden. It wasn't within his place, though, and he knew better than to offer something which was probably already refused to someone else prior to this conversation. Landon didn't know Malone, and the best he could offer in support was a compliant, dutiful Captain.

Hopefully Neyes could fit the bill, "Here's hoping it doesn't involve Klingons." Landon teased.

“Well, for that comment, I should send you to bolster Admiral Hark’s fleet.” Kerry smirked. “But as it is, we have an opportunity that Starfleet Command cannot afford to miss out on. Especially after everything that’s happened. A newly discovered planet, Noturi, in the Idran Belt Nebula, has a rather interesting new crude matter. It was discovered by a survey team, and being ill-equipped to do much of anything about it, flagged the report to the Starfleet Sciences Division, who bumped it to the remains of the Diplomatic Corps, who eventually sent it as a priority tasking to Starfleet Operations, and finally this flying turd of an assignment landed on my desk.”

Neyes' brow furrowed, and he mouthed the unfamiliar word, 'turd', as he listened. Landon was still relatively new to Human banter, and it was a job in itself keeping up with their dialects and slang. Nevertheless, he pulled out a PADD and began taking precursory notes as the admiral spoke, to take down his questions he'd need answers to later.

“You are hereby tasked and directed to head to Noturi and secure a trading agreement with the inhabitants of the planet to gain this crude matter. Whilst first contact has been established with these people, there is a full contact report that you are required to read before arriving on the planet. I cannot stress to you how vital it is that you succeed in your mission, Captain. We’re stretched very thin in this war, and gaining these resources could tip the scale – even ever so slightly – in our favour.” Malone said.

It was new. Diplomatic assignments had not been tasked to Neyes, or a ship he'd been on for years now. He was both relieved and disappointed he couldn't do more to help the war effort. Being off the front meant a new direction for the ship, and given the state he was sure the Vindicator would be in for a few more weeks, it was certainly for the best in all respects. It was funny that way, though, the Admiral made it sound like they were doing a god's work by procuring resources.

"I don't suppose we know what the locals want in exchange for access to this 'crude matter'."

“Well, it won’t be technological. They hate all technology, beyond that, its up to you to find out.” Malone said. “As I said, no one’s really been there since first contact, and that was seven years ago.”

Landon frowned at the mention of no technology. "Understood, sir. We won't let you down."

“I have confidence that you won’t. Starfleet out.”

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Fleet Admiral Kerry Malone
Starfleet Commander in Chief
Starfleet Command

Captain Landon Neyes
Commanding Officer
USS Vindicator

 

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