PLOT - Joint Duty Log | Capt Ivanova, LtCmdr Waterhouse, Cmdr Dahe'el, Cmdr Archer, Cmdr PontBrillant, LtCmdr Neyes, Cmdr Grant, Lt Rotek, LtJG Roswell - "To Hell and Back, pt I"

Posted on Tue Sep 30th, 2014 @ 8:28am by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Vlimar PontBrillant & Commander Logan Grant, PhD. & Commander James Archer & Commander Tristan Neyes PhD. & Lieutenant Commander Rotek & Lieutenant JG Saia Roswell

1,972 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Are You Touched?

Irritated.

That was the perfect word to describe Captain Ivanova's mood that morning as she sat at the head of the table, a steaming hot mug of raktajino sitting on the glass top to her left and her legs crossed as she watched her staff slowly trickle in one by one. The breaking news from the planet's surface had come by way of a quick report from Commander Grant and it hadn't left the spirited redhead with any warm fuzzies. It was a catastrophe of epic proportions and now with the Klingons having shown their interest, she knew it could spiral down to Hell in a hand basket at the drop of a hat. She sighed heavily, looking over to her first officer and knowing well enough just how trapped the woman must have felt. Stuck between Starfleet and her family. The meeting wouldn't be easy.

Amelia sat waiting for the circus to begin, a large mug of tea steeping in front of her. The cinnamon and orange in it tickled her nose, but she was so lost in thought it didn't provoke the usual smile. She'd intended to just talk Noah down, convince him to come back to the ship of his own free will... But then Vlimar had insisted on arresting him. Nevermind that the prime directive did not apply at all to civilians. In fact Starfleet was bound on what they could do with a civilian. Amelia couldn't even remember what nonsense the Frenchman had ultimately charged her brother with. At that point she'd been seeing red and trying to figure out how to clean things up.

Most of his people had come up to the ship when the away team beamed back, but a couple had dug in their heels and insisted on staying. Amelia had at least insisted that Vlimar couldn't arrest them too. Most who came aboard were suffering little sniffles and things that only a doctor's attention could really care for, but Noah had all the immunities and inoculations afforded him growing up a fleet brat, and that had kept him healthy through the whole ordeal.

Amelia could only imagine what Noah would be in for when he finally saw their parents again... and she wasn't sure which prospect was worse for him: their mother yelling at him; or their father lecturing him in that calm, collected, 'I'm disappointed in you' manner that he'd perfected on his way up the ranks. That was even assuming find a way back down to the planet in the end, and Amelia wasn't sure he was going to agree to leave without some major arm twisting. Regardless, she'd had a headache since arriving back on the ship.

Tristan was already seated near Amelia, with the usual PaDD in hand. Having never experienced the tension of this command team under some amount of pressure, he was interested to see how they would handle their new roles as leaders of the Vindicator. This was Rochelle's first mission as Captain of the ship, and from what he understood it was rapidly dissolving before their very eyes.

Rotek entered the room, nodded to everyone and sat down quickly. He had been very busy in Sickbay and was eager to get back to work.

Saia had her coffee and a PaDD in hand, looking over it with concentration as she waited for it to begin.

Logan had been one of the first to arrive and quickly took up residence in a seat close to Tristan. The PADD he carried was activated once he'd settled in and he skimmed through it as he waited for the meeting to begin. He'd transferred his report to Tristan and Rochelle earlier that morning.

Almar was ever present at these meetings, keeping himself to himself and normally buried in a stack of padds, his ears were ever listening though, for the prompts that would indicate his input was needed.

"How many additional people are currently on board?" Tristan asked, trying to get the ball rolling.

"Forty refugees and one Starfleet officer for forty-one total." Rochelle replied as she took up her coffee for a sip, "Most of them are exhibiting symptoms of exposure, a degree of malnutrition and a low grade respiratory virus, according to preliminary reports anyway." She said as she flicked on her PADD and scrolled through. Finding what she needed, affirmation of conditions, her eyes quickly found Rotek. "Medical will need to patch them up as best they can while we deal with the stragglers below. Right now my chief concern is the fact that Krogoth has already expressed Klingon sentiments of ownership over the planet and the fact that a rather primitive race's evolutionary path has been..." She sought a word, her left hand rolling on its wrist as she thought, "poisoned, for lack of a better word."

Nodding, Rotek replied "I'm working on it Captain. Thankfully so far there haven't been any fatalities. I will keep you apprised of my progress."

Vlimar had entered the room at the same time as Rochelle was explaining the situation. He quietly laid his tea cup on the table and sat down, putting his had, slowly, silently, on the table in front of him. "We have put the leader of the group under arrest and is now being under surveillance by our investigative teams. We are investigating the matter as we speak," he stated, giving a quick update on the situation of Noah and his cult.

Tristan frowned, "On what grounds are we holding Mr. Waterhouse?"

The shine in Logan's emerald eyes betrayed his amusement at the news that Noah had been arrested, but concern soon furrowed his brow as he waited for Vlimar's explanation to come. Noah had been a lot of things, namely a pain in the Kiwi's ass, but he was far from a criminal even if his views and actions went against the Prime Directive. The lucky little bastard, being a civilian, was exempt from those laws.

Saia had looked up hearing the words refugees. She frowned in sympathy, understanding their situation a bit. She looked down and thought as she looked at the PaDD and then to the medical personnel, "Sciences is ready to step in and assist as you need."

Nodding to Roswell, Rotek replied "Thank you Lieutenant. Any assistance would be appreciated."

James, not one for sitting due his long stints in shuttle crafts, was standing near the replicator, "Not to sound paranoid, but while Doc is checking out these refugees, we need to closely screen their DNA and provide the results to Intel so we can do a thorough background check. We don't know who's who." James took a sip of his iced tea, a habit he'd inherited from his father, "As for Mr. Waterhouse, release him from custody. Holding a citizen of the Federation on 'suspicion' is something performed by the Cardassian Empire and the last time I checked, most of us are not Cardassian." James smirked as he glanced at the Chief Engineer, "No offense."

A look of disgust was all that Almar dared to offer the comment from the intelligence officer, he'd heard it all before and had it much worse when he had visited Earth last.

Tristan's steel-blue eyes locked onto Archer, failing to appreciate his rude attempt to mask the comment, "We really should let Commander PontBrillant answer my question." His voice was soft, but carried the warning of how dangerously close the conversation was to veering off-focus. Not to mention how close Archer was to already landing himself in a mess of psych evaluations for xenophobic remarks.

Vlimar eyed James, slowly shaking his head. "Mr. Waterhouse is currently under our custody for impeding with our investigation. Although I respect the opinion of Commander Archer and his Intelligence-based assessment, however our security risk analysis required the arrest of Mr. Waterhouse at the time of the events, as per the report which have been available to all, which I invite you to read," stated the Commander, calmly. "However, at this time, Mr. Waterhouse's detention can be terminated, as our investigation have advanced far enough that such obstruction is inconsequential."

The Captain's eyes flashed in a heavy mixture of warning and mild irritation as she listened to the Commanders speak and nodded along with them as they each defined their points. "I agree with Commander Archer. We really don't have anything concrete to hold him on or try him on at this point considering the Prime Directive does not apply to civilians, and with J.A.G. now sniffing around this ship, we don't need to give them any ammunition." She replied, leaning back in her seat and lifting her raktajino to her lips. "Unless Commander Grant wants to say he was kidnapped or something, let Mr. Waterhouse go... For now." She shrugged gently, setting the drink down, "We have a lot bigger issues to deal with than one misbegotten kid."

Vlimar nodded and immediately tapped on the PADD some instruction for Ensign Charlton relating to Mr. Waterhouse.

"Like what are we going to do about the aliens?" Amelia jumped in. She'd wanted to comment on the things being said about her brother, but in the end her best bet was to stay back because she was biased. Weigh in if it veered to far the wrong way, but for now it was going a direction where splitting hairs would cause more harm than good.

Neyes nodded immediately, "I agree. The population on the surface has to be our priority. What have the Klingons said about them? Do they even know they're there?"

"We haven't informed them yet," Amelia answered. "We wanted to have a complete picture to present to Krogoth first."

Saia nodded to as Neyes spoke agreeing. She looked at Amelia then, "I sent you the data and findings the scanners found. Do we need to do field research?"

"If you could assemble a team, we'll get you a security detail assigned," Amelia returned, looking to Vlimar to confirm he would start considering who to send.

Saia nodded and looked at Vlimar as well. She didn't even realize what she had asked until it was agreed to. She just hoped this went better than the last time she was on an away team. She shuddered in sensory memory of feeling nearly frozen to death.

Vlimar nodded instantly. He already knew that he would assign Lt. Ebonheart & Lt. R'heil for this specific duty. "Understood," he replied, letting the rest of the meeting continue its course.

"The Klingons will be informed when we have something ironclad to inform them of." The Captain shifted in her seat, perching forward to steer the conversation, "I'm inclined to send someone down from counseling as well — but it appears that we have someone aboard with all the information we need on the race's psychology. The information we need is purely biological at this point as we go about trying to figure out damage control." Her eyes immediately flitted over to where a tall, dark haired man sat beside Tristan as she powered up the PADD her yeoman had cheerfully handed her earlier that morning. On it read Logan's report, scrolling languidly across the device with intricate details concerning the behavior of the little creatures Noah Waterhouse had brainwashed.

=/\= TO BE CONTINUED =/\=

Captain Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC-78213-E

Lt Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Commander James Archer
Starfleet Intelligence
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Commander Vlimar PontBrillant
Strategic Operations Commander
USS Vindicator - NCC-78213-E

Lt. Commander Tristan Neyes, PhD.
Chief Counseling Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Commander Logan Grant
Counselor
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Lieutenant Rotek
Chief Medical Officer
USS Vindicator-NCC-78123-E

Lt (jg) Saia Roswell
Chief Science Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

 

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