The Grand Tour (Part 1 of 3)

Posted on 22 Mar 2013 @ 9:16pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Trija Natyal & Raifi Zaren & Justin Baker

3,958 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Various
Timeline: MD 03 - 1455 hrs

[ON]

After a wonderful lunch in the mess hall with her ship's newest intelligence crewman, Lirha now found herself back in her office and once again sitting at her desk, staring idly at the blank LCARS terminal in front of her. All of her work was finished for the day and there was only an hour or so left before the end of her duty shift. A quick glance at the chronometer revealed it to be exactly 1455, and Lirha quickly remembered that she was scheduled to give a quick tour and interview to the Press Corps before the end of alpha shift. Now was as good a time as ever to rendezvous with them, she decided, and stood from her chair as she tapped her commbadge.

"Captain Saalm to Miss Natyal, I am on my way to the observation lounge to begin the tour. I will see you all there in five minutes." she said, then made her way out of her office, across the bridge, and into the turbolift.

"Natyal here. Understood. We're ready when you are." The Betazoid tapped off the commbadge she'd been given and leaned back against the long table. She had to admit there was a certain appeal to being out in space, looking at the stars as they streaked past. She didn't want to live here, though. Her feet needed ground, solid ground, earth, roots. And then there was Kestra, whose strangled whisper cries she'd been hearing in and out. Kestra. She had to figure out a way to get her cousin back. But she wasn't focused on that now. She had a plan in motion and she'd be damned if Kestra wasn't going to be helped. She put it out of her mind and straightened up as Saalm entered the room.

Zaren was sitting in the observation lounge, idly twisting his ring around his little finger as he stared out into the stars. He'd gathered a lot of information over the last couple of days, though he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do with it all just yet. An idea was gelling, slowly, in his brain, but it hadn't firmly cemented itself yet. Stories usually jumped out at him the second he was in a new place. But here... there was a sense of withholding. Everywhere he went. He hadn't asked for a single interview on the record and they still watched him like he was going to steal their candy. It was an uncomfortable feeling and an unfamiliar one as well. He was used to being where he was needed. Where he was wanted. Getting the message out about events that needed talking about. This one did, but none of the officers on this ship seemed to agree with him and that was strange to him. Surely officers of a research vessel should want to have their stories told? He looked up as the door opened and the Orion strolled inside. "Captain Saalm," he smiled warmly, offering her his hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Lirha walked into the observation lounge with a swish of the large door then took a quick glance at the two Press Corps members who were present. She was familiar with both of their resumes but had not personally met them...until now. Watching as a very tattooed Trill man approached her, the captain quickly identified him as Raifi Zaren, the team's journalist. "Hello Mister Zaren. Likewise." she said politely enough, and extended her green hand to shake his offered one.

Trija stepped forward next, offering a smile of her own, this time more genuine. "Captain Saalm, greetings from the Federation News Network. I'm the assistant producer Trija Natyal and I'll be coordinating our team here on the Galileo." She held out her hand. "I'll try to make this as painless as possible for all of you. I know you are all very busy with the discovery of Rojar."

"Hello Miss Natyal." Lirha replied with a professional nod, then shook the woman's hand. Natyal's black eyes revealed her to indeed be a Betazoid as was mentioned in her file, but her hair was so...blue. And striking. The captain's eyes lingered on it for a short moment, after which she cleared her throat and returned the smile with one of her own. "Not to worry, I do not find discomfort in dealing with the press as some of the other crew members might. And luckily, we have not yet arrived at the Rojar system. I am currently as unoccupied as you will probably find me." she added with a little jest. "And the rest of your team?" she asked, wondering where they might be. "I trust they will arrive soon?"

"Just working on making a grand entrance, of course," Jool said as she entered the room. "Captain Saalm, it is a pleasure to meet you."

An attractive gold-skinned woman entered the lounge dressed in dark leather who Lirha identified as Jool Fenta, one of the more popular reporters currently floating around FNN. "Hello, Miss Fenta." the captain replied politely.

"Well, at least one commanding officer on this ship can be gracious," Jool said as she moved to Saalm, extending a hand in greeting. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Captain."

Lirha nodded and gave the woman a small smile as she took the offered hand and shook it. "Likewise." she replied, bending the truth a little. It wasn't that she didn't want to be working with the press, but to say she was actively looking forward to the interviews and their presence on Galileo was not exactly accurate. However as the ship's commanding officer, Lirha had a job to do, one which didn't afford her the luxury of letting her personal feelings get in the way. And in a strange sense, Lirha was secretly looking forward to getting a little face time on camera. "Has your stay on Galileo been comfortable so far?" she asked, glancing between Jool and the rest of the press team.

"It's a lovely little ship," Jool said, "as comfortable and nice as the larger, capital ships. But, I'm wondering why the crew has such hostility towards our team? Between Zaren and I, you have two of the finest and most respected journalists in the Federation aboard, yet people act as if we're going to jump out of their closets and snatch their children." She smiled as she laughed softly. "Well, Naytal might but that's only to bestow grandmotherly affection on them."

Trija could tell the captain was lying, but she knew how this gig was supposed to work, and only nodded in turn. "Like Ms. Fenta has said, our stay has been accommodating." She replaced her hands behind her back in formality. "Our cameraman Mr. Baker should be here shortly. After which we can get started."

Having just entered the lounge, Justin still had his eye piece for his camera's pushed back to the top of his head. He was aware that his time with Evelyn had overrun but given the footage he had gotten, he wasn't disappointed in anyway. Approaching the group of reporters, the Orion woman was hard to miss.

Edging closer, he heard the last of Jool's words. Wincing as he heard the underlying implication, his eyes located those of their producer before he joined the group and moved his attention to the Orion.

Trija just shrugged an eyebrow at him. That was Fenta for you.

"Captain, I hope that you will accept my sincere apologises, I got tied up with some filming I was doing. I think if us cameramen actually turned up early, or ontime, for an event it might mark the end of the world."

Lirha waved her green hand to dismiss the notion of inconvenience. "Not to worry, Mister Baker, there will still be plenty of time to continue filming." she replied with a grin to the tall, long-haired cameraman. The entire press team now appeared to be assembled, which meant that now was a good a time as ever to begin the tour.

"Well," the captain began as she thought of the most efficient way to show the team the various areas of interest on her ship, "I suppose we should head down to Deck Seven where we can begin the tour in main engineering? It will be easier to work our way up through the ship from there," she suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Zaren agreed with a perfectly contented shrug and tapped his recorder on the PADD on, rolling his stylus between his fingers. "Do you spend a lot of time down there?"

"Not as much as some of the other personnel." Lirha answered over her shoulder as she walked towards the exit. "Our engineers spend almost their entire duty shifts in the bowels of the ship, but my duties are usually relegated to the upper decks, specifically the bridge." she added, then waved her hand to indicate for the entire press team to follow her. It was a short walk from the observation lounge to the turbolift.

Trija had a device of her own, and was following behind them silently, jotting down shorthand notes with her stylus while they spoke. She was behind Justin, allowing them to do their work without interfering, but keeping tabs on what was happening and what was being said.

"Of course," Zaren murmured. "I assume we'll be seeing where you work specifically later on, but before we get to that, maybe you could explain a little bit about the differences between a Nova class and, say, the USS Venture that we're flying along side. I mean, beyond the obvious size difference." Jool would do what Jool did and dredge the juice out of this tour, and he was grateful for that. It put him in the role of information gathering, which was what he preferred a great deal of the time. And it would allow Jool to do what she was best at. He hadn't been lying when he'd said he understood the role Jool played on their team. She was excellent and useful; if she could get her ego under control in private, she would find herself shooting to the glittering heights she yearned for far more quickly.

Lirha nodded as the tattooed journalist inquired about the differences between the two starships. "Yes, there are obvious size differences between the two ship classes, but that size difference is very important to a starship's function and usefulness. The Nova Class starship was originally designed as a survey and scout vessel, and is equipped with the most advanced sensor arrays in the fleet. Our primary mission objectives are ongoing scientific research and the study of alien lifeforms. We are a small yet very specialized vessel and most of our systems and personnel are optimized to perform those duties very well, however we lack certain capabilities of other larger starships." she explained, then stepped forward into the turbolift as the doors swished open. "Deck Seven." she said to the computer, then turned back to Zaren and continued to answer his question.

"For example, Venture is a Galaxy Class explorer, one of the largest in Starfleet. Because of her much larger space frame, facilities, and crew compliment, she is able to perform a much wider variety of missions than Galileo, including extended exploration, force projection, search and rescue, and policy/diplomacy functions just to name a few. Venture has almost ten times the resources of Galileo and is therefore able to deploy for years at a time without returning to port. Nova Classes, on the other hand, must resupply every three months because we simply don't have enough space to store the necessary provisions and supplies for that long of a period," she added, then stepped out of the lift as it came to a halt.

"So then even your crew would be considered more specialized than, continuing the example, the Venture? Which may give you more leeway in the officers you have serving on board Galileo?" Jool asked as she continued taking notes.

"Yes," Lirha nodded, glancing at the gold-skinned woman, "Our crew is optimized to perform Galileo's primary objectives which are mostly related to science and research. Almost one-third of the entire crew works in the science department, including a sizable compliment of civilian scientists." she answered, then proceeded down the winding corridor and towards main engineering.

Trija looked up as they walked into the engineering core. She never did like starships. They felt recycled and, stale, to her. But the minds here were alive, vibrant. Resonant in pain, just a little, but they were slowly getting back on track. Engineering had an odd feel to it, she couldn't place. She observed the warp core in fascination. She jotted down a quick question and forwarded it to Zaren. Role of civilians aboard Starfleet vessels? Pros/cons? Sell it to the public. Starfleet is not dangerous.

While the others talked, Justin remained as silent as his boss Trija was. All of the time, Remo was controlled by his specific hand movements as he captured the conversation and people on camera. A lot of the editing would be carried out later in the evening, the function of this part was capturing what he could so he would have more film to play around with. It helped that the Captain was soft on the eyes, it was something he would be able to work with easily in the editing to make the piece appealing to their audience.

Zaren glanced at the note, then shifted his gaze warmly to the captain once more. "Are there other departments that host civilians on board?"

Lirha nodded her head in reply. "Most of our civilians belong to the science department, however we occasionally take on technicians and other specialists within our support department." she explained, then turned towards the large pulsing warp core and gave a wave of her green hand.

"This is main engineering, the heart of our ship. As you can see, the room and the core itself is actually quite small, especially when compared with other starships. This is because during production testing for the Nova Class prototype, it was discovered that there were occasional overload malfunctions resulting from the standard TPG core. The Corps of Engineers spent months investigating the problem and finally concluded that the warp care was too powerful to successfully integrate with most of the ship's functions, and they ultimately decided to use a smaller, more compact F-Type core which was more stable and efficient for the ship's design."

"Was that part of the reason the ship crashed onto Vega?" Jool asked, bored, as she looked around the room. "Engine problems?"

The Orion captain shook her head and her dark hair bobbed across her shoulders. She knew they would come eventually; Questions about her previous assignment which were off-limits to even some of the ship's highest-ranking officers. "Unfortunately, the details of Galileo's previous mission are classified." she answered. "But I can assure you, our warp core is in perfect working condition."

Jool laughed softly. "Of course it is, Captain. Okay, so we're not going to be crashing into any of these newly discovered planets, that's good to know." She kept everything outward light and airy, but she noticed the subtle shifts in body language as Saalm answered. So, the crash into Vega had something to do with the last mission and that was classified. What would cause an entire starship to lose control and crash into a planet? Why did the Captain go to a civilian medical facility for treatment instead of her own medical staff? The questions were there, juicy and salivating and she wanted to have the answers. "Speaking of the newly discovered planets, I certainly hope that we'll be able to conduct interviews with the science specialists in their natural environments - as they're working...oh, what is the term Starfleet uses - 'planetside'?"

"Yes, I am sure we can arrange something for your entire team, if they are interested." Lirha answered. There would no doubt be a few opportunities for planetary expeditions, and she was not opposed to the idea of the press participating. As long as there were no present dangers.

"We're interested," Trija interjected wryly, writing a notation on her PADD.

Turning back towards the warp core, Lirha finished explaining the layout of main engineering. "As I was saying, the warp core is quite stable and provides Galileo with most of her power output. Everything from replicators to holodecks, to phaser and shield systems are all generated from within this room. In addition, the deuterium reactors in Galileo's main impulse engine are also able to provide supplementary power and can run the entire ship for a short period, if needed. Main engineering is also one of two command centers on the ship, and all major systems can be rerouted to and accessed from this secure room in the event of an emergency or catastrophic damage to the bridge." she said, then stepped to the side to allow the press team a good look at the small multi-chambered room.

Zaren glanced at Justin to make sure he was getting good angles on the core and the room. Rather, to make sure he wasn't standing in Justin's shot. He knew the cameraman would get the best angles; he couldn't help that. "How often does that happen - having to use this room as a command center?"

Smiling in appreciation at Zaren, Justin's full focus was still on the situation at hand and try to get as much footage as possible. Although quality was required, he also needed to get quantity. This film could be used through out the piece which would be edited together.

"It depends on the circumstances but usually not often," the captain answered. So far in Galileo's adventures she had not had to transfer control to main engineering, but it was a contingency for which all Starfleet officers were prepared, especially commanding officers.

"Are there any other questions about engineering before we move on?" she politely asked the team.

The Trill looked around the room one final time, smiled, and checked in with the others.

"I'm wondering, Captain, since we're here. And mind you, I'm probably being just a nervous nellie so please forgive me," Jool said, smiling self-deprecatingly while her emerald eyes scanned the engineering department. "But this system's star has captured a gas giant in the goldilocks zone, to support life as we know it. It seems then that the gravity well of the star is very powerful. If an emergency arises, will these engines be powerful enough to allow Galileo to quickly escape the system and into warp?"

Lirha couldn't help but grin at the perceptive question, and she realized that Jool (and perhaps the rest of the team) had done their homework before coming aboard Galileo. "That is an excellent question." she began to answer, "The planet you are referring to is designated Rojar II and indeed lies within the star's habitable zone. Rojar II is a Class S gas supergiant, and initial scans show it to be roughly 50 times the size of a traditional gas giant. It is so large, in fact, that it may turn into a star itself one day after it reaches the end of its life-cycle." she said, then paused to push a dark lock of hair out of her eyes and back behind her ear as she continued.

"As with any planetary body of that size, it generates an immense gravitational field, one which we think has absorbed over a hundred moons and various satellites over the past billion or so years. Starfleet ships unfortunately cannot go to warp within a planet's gravity well, so we would first need to clear the gravimetric forces at impulse power before attempting to leave the system. But Galileo is a fast ship at sub-light speeds, and I have no doubt that we will be able to escape any possible threats in time, should they arise."

"That's good to know," Jool said. "I have some more questions regarding threats, but that can wait for later, especially if we're going to see the security areas. Maybe your elusive security chief will be available to answer questions regarding that?"

Jool made a few notes, "But, there's been some criticism for the way Starfleet has announced the mineral wealth of this system, making it a target for pirates, smugglers and criminals of all sorts. Aside from this being former Borg space, what do you think of Starfleet making this area contested before anybody really knows what may or may not be contained here?"

Trija sighed, and wrote another note. Tone it down, Jool. We need her on our side.

Justin found himself blinking at all of the questions Jool was asking. Although the information was very relevant he was starting to wonder if she was gathering information for the audience they would be addressing or for something more.

Clearing her throat, Lirha did her best to remain diplomatic and give a reasoned answer to Jool's political question. The captain hadn't given much thought to Starfleet's revelation of the system and its resources, mostly because such types of politics were outside of her influence and control. "I believe that eventually someone would, or already possibly has discovered the system. I unfortunately cannot comment on the political actions of the UFP, but I think Starfleet has everyone's best interests at heart." she answered.

Jool nodded. She'd been around long enough to understand non-answers when they were given. She would have follow up questions regarding that later. "That - humming - from the engines, is that deliberately melodic or just a happy circumstance?" Jool asked.

"It is soothing, indeed." Lirha replied with another quick glance at the large warp core. The gentle humming and rumbling of the ship's core was a comforting feeling for the captain, especially at night when she laid down to get some rest. "Would you care to visit the ship's sweet spot?" she proposed with a playful glint in her green eyes.

Jool's eyes shone as she turned to the Captain. "Yes! I love reduced gravity, it's so much fun!"

Lirha looked at the other members of the press team and raised her eyebrows, wondering if any of them also wanted to see the unique area.

Zaren looked at Trija longingly with puppy-like pleading.

Justin just remained stoic. At the end of the day he was here to film, he would have other times to enjoy himself with various activities but this was not one of those moments.

Trija waved her hand permissively. "Go ahead," she tilted her head wryly, knowing Zaren and Jool would have fun, if no one else. They were reporters. That was part of the job, sometimes. Personal experiences. The public enjoyed watching people have fun, as well. Knowing that Starfleet could be lighthearted was a good angle for their story.

"Very well," Lirha said, then turned on her heels and began to head out of main engineering. "Follow me."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Raifi Zaren
Journalist, FNN
USS Galileo
(pNPC Lilou Peers)

Trija Natyal
Assistant Producer, FNN
USS Galileo
(PNPC Liyar)

Justin Baker
Cameraman, FNN
USS Galileo
(PNPC Pola Ni Dhuinn)

Jool Fenta
Reporter, FNN
USS Galileo
(PNPC Jeremy Stone)

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