Emergency Briefing

Posted on 06 Oct 2013 @ 2:02pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Ammar Fahad & Commander Norvi Stace & Lieutenant JG Michaela Young & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Alexander Iella & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos

3,959 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD 03 - 0430 hrs

[ON]

Blake took a long, deep breath as she sat slowly in the chair at the head of the large table in the observation lounge. She was alone in there, where the Captain should be sitting. Her breath tightened at that thought. It was wrong. She closed her eyes with a frown, rubbing the back of her throbbing head. It was the first moment of quiet she'd caught. Had she really just negotiated with the borg?

She finally pressed her commbadge, getting a grip back on the task at hand, taking a brisk breath to wake herself up to it. =^= All senior staff, please report to the Observation Lounge. =^=

Mor'an received the summons from Blake and immediately made her way to the Observation Lounge. When she arrived she relayed that she as the first to do so. With a nod of greeting in Blake's direction, Mor'an took her seat and waited for the others to arrive.

Dea made her way to the observation lounge. As she crossed to an empty chair she briefly greeted Blake and Mor'an. Once seated Dea placed the PADD in her hand on the table in front of her.

Allyndra dragged herself, almost literally she was tired, sore and she could not remember the last time she had really consumed something nourishing. There had been no time for anything but a quick bit of tea, coffee or other drink. Reaching the lounge, she grabbed another cup of highly sweetened tea at the replicator and dropped into a seat. A few sips and then she closed her eyes waiting for things to begin.

Quinn entered the room wearing a scowl on his face. He was trying hard to keep his focus on his duty, but he was still dealing with the traumatic personal issue of Tarish being assimilated and the probable loss of their unborn child.

Fahad entered on Quinn's heels. His uniform was, once more, rumpled and dirty. He'd never even found the time to get one made that actually fit him. He threw himself into a chair on the far side of the table. There was a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it.

Quinn looked over at Fahad. "Good work down there and fast thinking, Sir. You probably saved the ship."

The balding man shook his head, "I did my part, but I wouldn't have been able to pull things together without your help, Chief. Thank you."

Theron Rhodes entered the lounge. He had just come through the ship, up 2 levels. The strain of the sights of the damaged ship, hurt and dying crew, and Borg walking unabated about the ship weighed heavy on him and could probably be seen on his face. Guilt also played a role, since he had not even been present nor helped during the attack. In some ways, his voice would carry no weight to the other crew members that had lived through the battle. The Chief of Security walked into the group laden down with other weapons; a Tandaran Scivous blade sheathed at his left side, a Klingon Mevak in his right boot, and a Romulan officer's sword on his back with the hilt peeking over his right shoulder. He wanted to be prepared when it was time to fight again. He walked in quietly, took a seat, and set his PADD on the table.

Alex let out a sigh as he tried to calm his hair by running a hand through it. It had been such a short time from being rescued by the Galileo, officially joining the crew, to the attack, and now to this meeting. The crew's morale was officially below as far as he thought possible, not to mention the ships state of disrepair and the Drones still on board putting fear into many's hearts. Entering the Lounge, Alex just kind of nodded at everyone before grabbing a seat since he hadn't really officially met most of the people in the room yet.

Stace then entered the lounge, looking about the some familiar, some unfamiliar faces as she politely nodded her arrival to the people that noticed her. She located an empty chair and, data PADD in hand, took it silently, waiting for the briefing to come to order. Her hair was still cast about her face in a loose and dishevelled manner; the bulk of the strands held by a clip as the wisps cascading down covered the majority of her distinguished Trill markings. She couldn't deny that she was shaking out of fear and adrenaline. Even the thought of the sight of deactivated drones laying about this tiny ship caused her skin to crawl. This wasn't her first encounter with the Borg, and her intolerance seemed to line her concerned face outwardly.

Amynta looked almost angry as she walked in. But she had gotten herself together and looked physically untouched by it all. But yes. She did look mighty angry and annoyed.

Jacob made his way in. He was disheveled and bruised but completely at the ready if those annoying zombie wanna-bes wanted to try and assimilate the rest of his colleagues. He was ready to rip each one of the drones into pieces.

Scarlet watched all of the officers for a long moment, just taking them in. The tiredness, the pain in some that had been injured or knew those who had been. Energy and morale was well and truly down. And she couldn't blame them. She felt exactly the same, under her cool features. Their Captain was half way to being assimilated. Their XO was....who knew. They'd taken *their* commanders. And it made her angry.

"Thank you for coming," Scarlet started with a quiet but firm voice, making eye contact with each person as she spoke. "I know many of you are exhausted, or injured," her eyes lingered on Allyndra at that and she nodded to her, respecting her for coming when she had been so badly hurt. "We're in bad shape. No one expected or could have imagined we would be in a situation like this..." she shook her head with a frown. Negotiating with the borg. She had actually negotiated with the borg, it was surreal. "But we're still holding together, despite the odds. Right now, I think that makes us the best damned crew around, so I need you to keep being the best damned crew around just a little bit longer."

Scarlet paused, pulling the padd on the table closer as she brought up what information she had, but she suspected it wasn't up to date. "Okay, so what's our status?"

Ammar leaned forward. "I've got my people assessing damage and working out repair priorities. We'd like to work with Operations to ensure we get vital systems functioning fully over the next twelve hours or so, and work on secondary systems after that."

Mor'an cleared her throat and addressed the room in a level voice. "I can speak for my whole department when I say that we would all be more than willing to do whatever we possibly can to assist Lt. Fahad and his team with repairs."

Dea looked at the other present. Without thinking she shifted position a bit and that served as a reminder that she wasn't fully healed yet. "Flight Control has a lot of repairs ahead. Between the main bridge console and the Marina we have our hands full. Virginia is a total loss. It's also safe to say I probably shouldn't be back on duty yet, like a lot of us, but we really don't have much of a choice right now, so I'm doing what I can to not over do it."

Scarlet nodded to her, meeting Dea's eyes. "I appreciate it, Mialin. We need you right now, but make sure you don't push too hard. That goes for everyone. We need you still working and on your feet, not burned out and off them." She looked back to Dea, nodding firmly. "Concentrate efforts on the bridge for now," she added. She didn't like their ship being at the complete mercy of a borg tractor beam.

Allyndra blinked. Had she dosed away? There was talk already starting and she felt sheepish but refocused. There were reports coming in and she had to get to hers as well. She waited while others talked and listened uniformly to the damage. She had one bright spot in all hers as well.

As the Commander looked to her she nodded. "Twenty dead, twenty four known assimilated including Holliday, sixteen missing unaccounted and presumed either dead or assimilated. I will not bother with the rest of the casualty list. However, there is one bright spot, we have the Captain and the 'scissors' have not reversed her condition but neither has it progressed.
Beyound that medical replicators are going on the fritz and we are having trouble coming up with supplies and resources."

Scarlet's heart beat faster as she heard the casualty report. Her features remained neutral, but her jaw tightened with anger. And those things were still on their decks. At least Lirha was stabilised for now. It was the best news anyone had had for ages. "Brilliant. If you have any extra hands to work on those 'scissors', that could be vital right now, but obviously the patients come first."

Quinn looked up at Scarlet. "If need be, ma'am, I can float around and help where needed with repairs, be it on the Bridge or in Engineering."

"Actually, Quinn, it sounds like they could do with a hand down in Sickbay," Scarlet nodded back to Allyndra. "See if you can help get their replicators up and running again, it's critical we can get the medical supplies we need."

Theron felt it was his turn to speak. He thought it best to be as technical as possible; because of injuries, deaths, and Borg assimilation had taken so many.

After clearing his throat, the Chief Tactical Officer spoke up, "Shields are at 12 percent. There are only 2 of the phaser arrays still operational, both on the port side." He glanced over to the helmsman. He thought it typical that a helmsman would keep the target on their starboard side during an engagement. Looking back at the commander, "Both forward torpedo launchers have been destroyed. The rear one is functional, but the targeting system is sporadic at best."

Jacob's voice was filled with both anger and sorrow, "We've taken a beating, we've taken a really tough beating to be sure, but we are holding together by mere threads and that speaks to the toughness and determination of this crew. My fellow scientists as well as everyone here has proven that the whole "resistance is futile" baloney is just that: baloney. With all that said, it is the attitudes of these Borg are unlike just about anything encountered by the Federation with exception of the incident the USS Enterprise encountered in 2366 with the Borg drone who eventually became an individual. We have, in my estimation, some either rogue Borg or some other undocumented breakaway Borg collective. All of this data and what has transpired is very curious, confusing and intriguing to be sure..."

Allyndra nodded at that. "As Lieutenant Pendelton has already mentioned, we have our minds, our talents. Also, this has not been like other encounters exactly, there is more to this group than just gather and assimilate. If possible though, I would urge that we all put our minds together while the time is afforded us and prepare while we see what this particular Collective has to offer."

Her attention turned to the science officers sitting there. "If I might, after this meeting there is another idea I would like to pass by you and your staff."

Stace cut in, but respectfully nodded to Pendleton as she took the mantle. "I don't need to add to the list of power-outages and repairs that are currently hindering this ship but suffice it to say that the science department is pretty buggered." She snorted as she tried, most likely unsuccessfully, to lighten the mood. "I haven't had chance to get to know you all as I'd like, but we all know this isn't the time for lengthy introductions. But I'm Lieutenant Norvi Stace and I'm assisting with the science team as one of the Venture crew." She paused and smiled, nodding her head about the room. "Working with one of the Operations teams, I've managed to get partial astrometrics sensors working. It's not a great deal, but..." and Stace activated the PADD in her hand, sliding it over to Blake, "it looks like this is where the Borg are taking us."

Blake took the padd to look over with a frown. It had been one of the key questions she'd wanted to address in the meeting. Where the hell they were being taken. "What's there?"

"A Class D-type nebula called the Setisar Nebula," Stace replied, looking towards Blake with her wide, green eyes. "We're headed straight for it, Commander." She sighed and then continued her report. "At this distance and our current state of power, I can't give you much else. It wasn't fully charted when the Persephone discovered it. The nebula has pockets of debris scattered right the way throughout it but I did manage to pull this up from the astrometric archives."

Stace took the PADD back and tapped a few hapless commands into its surrounding case. She smiled as she did so and said out aloud, "These briefings are usually a lot easier when you have a functioning display screen." She found what she was looking for and then retuned the PADD back to Blake. "Our current trajectory cuts through three anomalies previous detailed by superficial scans from the Persephone whilst in the nebula. Two...aren't worth mentioning, but the third and final one is that: The Setisar Solar System. We might be able to find out more en route, but this is all we have until then."

"Use the time we have en route to try and get sensors ready to work on the nebula," Scarlet nodded to her firmly. "I want to be able to see any nasty surprises before we're pushed right into it."

"Already in place, Commander," came Stace's nodded reply.

Alex cleared his throat as he raised his hand. " 'llo everyone. You don't all know me actually, I'm Alexander Iella, the new chef or all around everything man. The Captain appointed me as a Civilian liaison and the Head Chef." He gave everyone a look for a moment before continuing, "The crew's morale is so low, I dont think I have ever seen a crews Morale this low. With the loss of the Venture and a large chunk of her crew, the overcrowding and now the Borg attack everyone is so just... down."

He gave a grim look at everyone in the room trying to gauge their reactions. "Myself and the Chaplin had an idea the other day that we had been preparing for, a crew wide Barbeque on the holodeck in a calm relaxing setting. With the recent... well everything, I think that we should continue with the plan. People need something to look forward to and relax."

Rhodes turned his head slowly toward Alexander Iella in disbelief. How dare he think we should party at a time like this. We need to prepare to take back our ship and crew. He thought angrily. Theron then looked down in his own disappointment for still being so aggressive. He may be ready to take on the Borg, but others who had dealt with the attack may, just maybe, want, may even need, some down time with food and laughter to better prepare for what was coming. He looked with a hopeful look on his face as he thought, Possibly even use it as a distraction against the Borg.

Ammar looked to Mor'an and leaned forward, "Mr. Iella, given the shaky power situation we're working with right now, running replicators is a tricky proposition. Holographic tech, with the exception of the EMH is, quite frankly, not even on the list right now."

Allyndra could not help but sigh that the idea was more or less shot down. She hated those kinds of functions. There was usually so little she could feast upon that it was embarrassing to her.

"Well first, the Holodeck power systems themselves are separate from the power grid to begin with. Unless there is a hole in the system it should work anyways. I can conduct the repairs myself if need be, I do have the experience in engineering to do it. As for the food.. I had actually replicated it all the other day after myself and the Chaplin talked about it. Either way the food I replicated will be cooked within the next few days, why not use it to help the crew, low morale will only hurt us more than we already are." Alex replied in a calm voice, He knew there would be objections to his idea, especially considering the circumstances of what had been happening.

Mor'an hesitated for a single heartbeat before speaking. "I think we need to focus on repairing the vital parts of the ship," she said, her voice low but clear. "I understand that crew morale is low, but at the same time the crew understands that there are more important things to focus on. We cannot afford to sacrifice the man-power, the time or the supplies to fix anything that is not absolutely necessary. I do not believe that powering the Holodeck is an absolute necessity."

Scarlet nodded, sitting back with a frown as she cut in quickly to make the final decision on the holodeck suggestion. She felt better knowing that they had Alex, Delainey and the Chaplain to help with crew morale while she kept her eyes on command for the moment. She hoped either way it wouldn't be for too long. They all wanted their CO and XO back where they belonged. "Once we've got the ship back up and running and the Borg off, we can definitely look at it," just the thought of their ship being beholden to the Borg because it was in such a sorry state made anger spark through her again. "But for now, Iella, you know you'd be doing a great service if you could manage to get food and drink delivered down to areas of the ship where people are working on repairs? And in Sickbay? So they don't have to step away in the middle of work to ensure they're getting energy back into them."

"Respectfully, I'd think it would do more good now then it would later." He said with a sigh, "But if we aren't going to use it, I think my talents might be better used helping engineering. I wasn't always a chef, before being joined I was a Engineer at the Trill academy."

"Get the food delivered first; they're going to need it to keep up on overtime," Scarlet assured, knowing all too well it might not be popular to grab food on the go while continuing to work instead of having proper breaks, but frankly, they didn't have that luxury until they got the ship stabilised enough not to depend on the Borg. "After that, you can join the Engineering efforts wherever an extra pair of hands are needed."

Scarlet made a few notes on her padd after everything she'd heard and put together, silent for just a couple of moments. She finally took a tight breath and sat back, looking around the table. "Of course, the elephant in the room we're not talking about are those drones still onboard," she shook her head with a frown, absently rubbing the back of it where it throbbed. It hadn't been easy 'negotiating' with Borg to let them stay. Hell, it had been completely surreal negotiating with Borg, full stop.

"We need to make sure everyone keeps their heads," Scarlet glanced around each officer. "Starting with us. It won't be easy, every instinct will be telling us to shoot, stab, rage against them. We can't give them any excuse to back out of this...agreement," she knew that had to sound just as crazy to everyone else. Having an agreement with the Borg.

Rhodes sat looking at his clasped hands, Yes. It was going to be very hard not to take off their heads. He knew he would have to encourage and remind his troops to stand down and take a wait and see approach.

Allyndra spoke up, "What about pursuing a complete deassimilation of the Captain?"

Scarlet nodded, frowning as she rubbed over her brow with the side of her thumb. "If you can do it safely, absolutely. That goes for other crew in the same position, but the Captain is a priority," she said it out loud, unafraid to sound callous. They needed their Captain back as soon as possible. She was a priority.

Quinn sat quietly, literally sick to his stomach for what the Borg did to his family. He would find a way to kill them all...every last one of them. He didn't know how long it would take, but he would make sure he did it.

Dea wanted nothing more than to throw all the Borg drones on the ship out the nearest airlock. There was no way she'd get over the urge to want them dead preferably by her own hand if the opportunity presented itself.

Ammar was as sickened as anyone else by the Borg, but his disgust was tempered with fascination. Their engineering prowess was impossible to deny. There was so incredibly much he could learn from them. Not that he wanted to get close enough to do so, but still.

"Do we know if we have a time frame before de-assimilation becomes untenable for full recovery?" Scarlet asked Allyndra, not knowing much on the medical side of the Borg. What she really wanted to know was how long they had to get Holliday and the others back from the Borg before they wouldn't be themselves any longer when undergoing de-assimilation.

"Currently unknown. The 'scissors' if just infected up to three hours seem to prevent, past that time, slow. We have not tried with a fully assimilated person. There are references that the 'Voyager' managed, but I will have to reference that later."

Scarlet took a deep, tight breath, her mind moving a thousand thoughts a minute as it went over and over everything; taking everything she'd been told in, and checking there was nothing else she needed. Her head pained for the effort but the core of anger in her kept the steel in her too. "For now, we're going to be on Orange Alert, to make sure we preserve what power we can for the priority repairs. Is there anything else?"

Looking around to make sure everyone had finished, Scarlet gave a brisk nod, pressing her hands down onto the table. "Good. Dismissed. Let's get it back together..."


[OFF]

--

Lieutenant JG Ammar Fahad
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Allyndra illm Warraquim
CMO
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Commander Scarlet Blake
Chief Counsellor/2XO
USS Galileo

Master Chief Petty Officer Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Norvi Stace
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

LT Jacob Pendleton
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Im'er Mor'an
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Alexander Iella
Head Chef
USS Galileo

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