Backlog | "Beta Beta" | Vindicator Beta Crew

Posted on Tue Apr 22nd, 2014 @ 12:12am by Lieutenant JG Teá Black & Captain Landon Neyes & Lieutenant Commander Isaias Kerensky-Markell & Lieutenant JG Lynda Howard & Lieutenant JG Reiki Greyhead & Ensign Tiffany Bartlett

2,069 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

=/\= Briefing room, Deck one =/\=

Leaving the ship for the first time on a lengthy away mission was had stretched Landon's faculties to the max. Readying the ship was proving more difficult than he'd imagined, and it wasn't helping that most if not all of the senior staff and experienced crew were coming with him to the planet's surface. Neyes smiled as he waited for the few shift leaders he'd asked to come meet him. The matter of handling the ship's functions for a few days was, hopefully, not too great a task to ask of these young officers.

Lt(Jg). Kai O'Brien a recent transfer from the USS Pendragon to join the Helm station of the Vindicator. She hadn't execpted to be making her way to the Briefing room so soon though but here she was. Taking a breath she made her way inside to take a seat.

Ens. Kenzi Dyson, was nervous about the meeting she was called to Kenzi had been idle in engineering since having finished her work so she was nervous. Her silver grey eyes looked about as she entered the briefing room.

When Ltjg Greyhead stepped out of the turbo lift and entered the corridor he was sure to enjoy the full attention of almost everyone within sight at least for a few seconds. The 6 feet high feline OPS crewman who smoothly walked on his hind legs without causing any sound sure was an eye-catcher.

A small group of crewmen passed him and stepped into the turbolift behind him.

“Another pussycat on its way up the job ladder.” Some angry voice whispered whose owner clearly thought he would not be overheard.

Little could he know that Greyheard could understand every word of it. Before this he had also heard the man’s uniform rustle as he had moved closer to his crewmate and he could hear both of their hearts beating a strong rhythm without any signs of fear. Instead of feeling offended, which simply was not his nature, he felt relieved at the lack of fear. He hated it when others felt frightened or even nervous around him because this made him hungry.

The door sensor of the briefing room detected him and made a chirping sound. “Ltjg Reiki Greyhead, operations. May I come in?” The universal translator did the speaking for him using a young human man’s voice. Greyhead only produced a low growling sound in the back of his throat. At least that was what his native tongue sounded like to most people.

He heard a voice from inside and the doors opened. He entered, carrying his long fluffy tail close to his body so that it would not get trapped in the closing doors.

Then he stood, wearing full uniform, the silver grey fur of his head shining in the artificial light, his eyes almost shut as a friendly sign that he did not stare at anyone and repeated his name and position. This time he did it for real and pronounced it himself in standard Federation. He was taught that it was a matter of politeness to speak the universal language in meetings, but because of his mouth and long rough tongue he was hard to understand and probably looked as if he was coughing up a hairball.

Tripae was already in the briefing room placing Tea in charge of the TiC (tactical information center). Nodding to the tall feline she realized that she was the highest ranked officer in the room and yet not the CDO. Which for her she didn't mind she was better as an advisor than anything else.

Kai O'Brien was use to the diversity on board a ship gave a smile of welcome to the feline officer that had jut entered the room.

Kenzi Dyson on the other hand was nervous and too busy taking everything in to really be able to relax she wondered why she was even at this meeting and bit her lower lip tugging at it with her teeth...

Isa would walk into the briefing room awkwardly stopping at the entrance to take in the sight of all of the officers present. His own appearance would be a bit dishevelled. He would be holding a small pile of PADDs in his right hand.

To further he already noticeable entrance, one of the PADDs would fall to the ground. Grumbling to himself, Isa quickly picked up the dropped PADD and made his way quickly to one of the empty seats around the conference table.

Ltjg Greyhead returned a courteous nod at Ltjg O’Brien since he did not have the right face muscle to generate something that would look like a smile. He chose to sit next to her and discretely tried to keep a little away from this nervous person. As a purely physical reaction to the smell, his blood pressure and heart rate had already gone up.
But for the moment he found this refreshing rather than distracting.

Neyes held up a PaDD as he reviewed the officers sitting before him. "Hello everyone. We've got a busy day ahead of us, so let's get started."

When everybody had taken a seat, he first turned to the two highest ranking officers: “Capt Neyes and Capt Lione, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to attend this meeting.” He briefly looked in everyone’s face and continued: “Officers, thank you for coming! I would like to start with status reports from all departments, so that we are all on the same level of information. – LtCmdr Kerensky-Markell would you like to start?”

Landon nodded in agreement, "Excellent." Normally thinking of leaving the ship to hang in space over a largely unknown world would have far-and-away been out of the question for Neyes. This was in essence his fist mission away from command as the CO of the Vindicator, and he needed it to go smoothly. The questionable method of putting junior officers in charge with near-exclusive run of the ship was a little unorthodox, but after seeing their service records Landon had decided it was worth the trouble it might incur later on. Besides, who knew, maybe one of them would become a Senior Officer one day.

"Currently I have my junior helm staff running various types of scenario simulations on the holodecks. Some of them are more combat based then others, which I've incorporated security and tactical into. It's been good educational experience so far." Isa took a breath before shuffling through a PADD of two.

"We've also been toying with the idea of modifying a shuttlecraft and testing it to see if we can overcome the technological challenges we've encountered from the planet. It has been an interdisciplinary effort between flight, engineering and ops." He looked up at the officers around the room.

"So far.... We haven't produced anything promising... We'll keep trying though!"

Ltjg Greyhead took careful notes on his PADD of what had been said. “Capt Lione, would you please inform us of the tactical and security status of the ship? Do the weapons function as required? Do you need any resources from engineering, science or medical?

What about traffic in this sector? Did any spaceships come close to our position? Did you detect any evidence of military activity?”

"Almost all those things should be covered, Captain Lione, but I am interested to hear about your plans for the fighters while we're on the surface." Landon inserted himself.

"We're planning on some flight games, flight simulations and getting all the green pilots up to par with the rest of the squadron." Tripae said narrowing her eyes as she watched the naval officer. "As for Marine intelligence.....we're busily working on our assignments."

Ltjg Greyhead nodded and again took notes. “Ens Dyson, please give us the report for your department. How much is the ship affected by the planet’s disturbances in the orbit we are in? Do you recommend any special safety measures either for the ship or when beaming people on the planet?

Are there any ongoing repairs or systems on the ship which are out of order?”

Kenzi looked up at the table around her realizing that she had been asked a question and swallowed nervously trying to gather her thoughts to give the report that was asked of her. Then she remembered the padd in her hands and looked to it now to go over her notes before looking back at everyone. it was obvious she's never given a report before.

"I...the.." Her voice squeaked slightly so she stopped took a sip of water and tried again. "As far as we can tell there are only a few problems that need to be worked due to the planets orbit. There are always repairs being done to a ship of this size and systems that are being worked on to make sure everything is in working order or up to date. Thankfully there is nothing major that I know of being worked on. The only thing I can say safety wise is take the same precautions That are already set." Kenzi said trying to keep her nervous feelings out of her voice.

“Thank you, Ens Dyson. Please inform me if you need anything or if I can be of any assistance to you.” Ltjg Greyhead was a little unsure who to turn to for the last pieces of information.

“Do we have reports coming in from Science and Medical? Are there any relevant new insights about the planet, the bodies and minds of the Noturans? Do we have enough crew members, especially in security, who are fit to work at these exceedingly cold temperatures? I expect that out of duties numbers because of physical or psychical conditions are low? Do the planet’s disturbances pose a medical risk to any crew members?”

Landon cut him off, smiling at his enthusiasm "Thank you, Mr. Greyhead. I'm sure I'll get to hear a lot about the status of this ship from you after I return. The purpose of this meeting is, as you have demonstrated well, to familiarize you all with the ship's operation, and to pass on the responsibility of her care to you while myself and the Senior staff are in the surface, with the exception of our Chief Helm officer. We will be largely out of communication's range for the next several days.

"The crude matter on the planet it interfering with a variety of our systems, and in no small way has that affected the damned communication's systems. Transporters are functional, but problematic, so use them sparingly even in orbit."

Ms. Bartlett will be assuming Beta shift command and acting XO for the duration, while Mr. Keresnky-Markell will be assuming direct command of the ship. They both have my best confidence, so please respond to their orders as you would my own. If Commander Markell is unavailable at any time, see Ms. Bartlett just as you would myself or Commander Ivanova."

This system is home to only one species, and the only interesting thing in it other than them is the belt of electromagnetic ore-infused asteroids about 2 million kilometers away. They shouldn't pose too much problems for you, but keep an eye on it. A few asteroids seem to come loose once and a while."

"Any questions so far?", Landon asked the group.

Ltjg Greyhead straightened himself up: "Understood Sir. There aren't any questions as far as I'm concerned."

Isa merely looked at the Captain and shook his head, indicating he had none as well.

"No sir, no questions." Kai said having listened to everything.

Kenzi simply shook her head before taking another sip of her water. since her throat and mouth was dry quite parched really...

"Good. My runabout leaves shortly. Please see to your departments and keep the ship in one piece while we're gone. You won't be able to communicate with us for any reliable length of time, so you'll largely be on your own." Landon nodded to the beta-crew.

"Thank you, all. Dismissed." Neyes said.

Kenzi and Kai stood to leave to head back to their stations and prepare.

= END LOG =

Ens. Kenzi Dyson
Helm Officer
USS Vindicator
(APB Lynda)

Lt.(Jg) Kai O'Brien
Engineer
USS Vindicator
(APB Lynda)

Lt.(Jg) Reiki Greyhead
Acting Operations Officer
USS Vindicator
(APB Sina deLaar)

MCapt Tripae "Overwatch" Lione
Chief Combat Information Officer (npc by Aza)
USS Vindicator

 

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