Shipping Out (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 20 Feb 2015 @ 5:06pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Norvi Stace & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Ensign Ibrahim Dragovic & Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Min Zhao & Lieutenant Benice Gyce Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy & Chief Petty Officer Pax Inyo

2,555 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Cargo Bay 1
Timeline: MD 44 - 1120 hrs

[CONTINUED]

Stace turned to Allyndra and arched her eyebrow in an affectionate reaction. "Crew assignments are down to the Commander, here. It's all down to her who she puts where. But I thought that you might have wanted to take over engineering for a spell."

"You do want us to get there right? No just kidding but unless you have an objection Captain," Allyndra decided to use the title now. "I think the good doctor might be best utilized in medical. Since we are temporarily losing our Chief Research Officer I would not mind stretching a bit and trying to think of a 'surprise' for eventual engagement. With your permission of course Captain."

"If we're to use official titles and designations, then I'll have to rely upon your judgements for who is assigned where and where their strengths lie, particularly when it comes to your old stomping ground in Medical." Stace shared a warm smile with both Mott and Allyndra. "And with my responsibilities being on the Bridge, it's not just Research that will suffer, but the whole Science department. But if Mott is our most experienced for the physical welfare of our crew, then consider yourself Acting Chief Medical Officer, Mister Mott."

Allyndra nodded and looked at Mott, "Then you are the Galileo's new acting CMO but please do try to get along with Shirley." Her mind was working on how to detect a cloaked ship and she smiled as an idea played out.

"Well Captain, it will be an interesting exercise. When we have time once we get the briefing and before engagement I think I have a unique way of detecting a cloaked ship no matter how good the cloak. I will pass it by you when the time comes."

All the talk of cloaking devices went in one ear and out the other; for all intents and purposes, Olsam was no longer present. He was daydreaming about being the chief medical officer of the ship. More precisely, he was thinking about lording the power over the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram. He'd no longer be subject to its smug attitude and snippy little comments. He would be in control. He could shut it off. Rewrite its subroutines. Shove it in the storage closet and refuse to let it out. Force it to do his laundry and make him sandwiches and rub his foot while he kicked back in the CMO's chair... Yes. This would be a glorious wargame. A glorious wargame, indeed.

"Then I'll look forward to reading what you have," Stace returned with an interested expression. "I think that this will be a lot of fun for us all."

OPS? T'Vanna arched an eyebrow at that news; she hadn't felt she'd done particularly well during the Kobayashi Maru, and now she's put at OPS yet again? She turned, seeking out Markos, who was going to be in command. "Commander," she said quietly, "I am not certain I am suitable for OPS."

"Tough," Markos said as she met her eyes, holding her eyes. "You better pick it up sharpish, Murray. Can't give better advice than that."

T'Vanna just nodded; she would have to if she wanted to not fail at this. As intelligence officer she was expected to learn the basics of some departments anyway, so why not OPS to start?

Ibrahim had to squint to keep from rolling his eyes. Figures, he thought, I join Starfleet to be an explorer and I get roped into be a pawn in a saber-rattling interstellar pissing contest orchestrated by a bunch of privileged, decrepit reactionaries. From Earth and Qo'noS alike. Not that he was as surprised by the assignment as some were. Science vessels' sensor and communication equipment, though delicate compared to those aboard more robust vessels, had outstanding reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering and command-and-control capabilities. Not to mention the tactical applications: jamming enemy sensors, decoding their shield frequencies to synchronize phaser banks for maximum effect, mitigation of Klingon cloaking technology... He began to tune out his surroundings as his mind explored the possibilities.

While everyone else was milling about, Asahi's brow furrowed, and he moved through the crowd, before finding himself a spot near the front, where he wouldn't have to shout at the Command Staff for his admittedly embarrassing question. "Ma'am, I don't want to go off and assume anything, but if you're transferring flag to Atlas for this, who's your XO in that instance?"

Lirha looked down at the short engineer and answered as best she could remember. "I will have to check the personnel files again, but I believe you are, lieutenant."

Asahi blinked at her multiple times, before nodding and, hesitantly, smiling as sincerely as he possibly could. "Alright Ma'am, just wanted to clarify. Thank you."

Jaana felt relieved and disappointed at the same time after hearing the crew assignments. Relieved that she could stay on the Gally and keep doing her normal job in the science department. But also slightly disappointed that apparently she hadn't done well enough on the Kobayashi simulation. Not that she herself thought she had, but still.

Oren let out an audible sigh, not bothering to hide his frustrations from the people around him. As an archaeologist, Oren's job opportunities on the Galileo felt limited as it was, but now they were participating in "war games"? For the life of him, Oren couldn't see why they would do such a thing. They were a science vessel, for goodness sake! While Oren understood that, in case of extraordinary circumstances, the Galileo was equipped enough to handle minor combat situations, the entire idea of "playing war" with it seemed unnecessary.

Grayson stood there a little stunned for a moment. If the Chief was being transferred off to another ship for this, that would mean he would be left in charge of Engineering. It was something he was always ready for, longed for, felt ready for...but this came as a surprise and suddenly it came all too soon.

Holliday stepped forward to take over proceedings - he might have been reassigned temporarily, but for now this was still his ship, and indeed would be again.

"Another thing - the Klingons are expected to deploy a new kind of cloaking device during this training simulation. Therefore I urge all of you to hit the textbooks, and get yourselves up to speed with recommended battle tactics against a cloaked opponent. We don't know much, but the Klingon style of hit-and-run attacks using an enhanced cloaking device are a very likely contender."

Still carefully listening to the briefing Dea wanted to get all the information she could. Her role required her to understand the larger picture, not just flight control.

Allyndra's mind was already thinking about that and a few things already had come to mind. "Ah, a challenge is it?" She muttered quietly. "My mind is awhirl with the possibilities."

Once the chattering had calmed down, Lirha gave her final set of orders before dismissing the crew. "I expect all of you to uphold the proper presentation and discipline of Starfleet throughout our upcoming trials. Especially during our inevitable diplomatic functions with the KDF," she said, then quickly remembered something rather important. "Also, for any of you who have children or non-serving young adults aboard, they will be required to depart Galileo prior to her departure tomorrow evening. You may check in your children with the starbase's Custodial Care department on Deck 264 and they will be cared for and looked after here at the base until we return and can pick them back up."

"Even nursing babies?" T'Vanna asked, as she raised her hand to draw attention. How long was she going to be parted from her very young daughter?

Lirha nodded, "Especially nursing babies. The very young ones are at the most risk for any accidental injury that might take place during combat exercises," she attempted to explain.

"Admiral, there is no way I am leaving my baby, who is nursing, in the hands of someone I don't know. She's barely three months old!" T'Vanna looked anxious at the very idea of leaving her child behind.

Blake cleared her throat, offering a gentle smile. "I assure you, it will be much safer during such battle scenarios to have your children off the ship than keep them on with the risks, it's in their best interest, to keep them safe, which is the most important thing," she said with a soft tone, but kept her voice loud enough to carry. She didn't want to be apart from Lily anymore than other parents in the room, but she knew she had to put her daughter's safety first, and it was a relatively short period of time.

"If I may," said Tuula, interrupting the chatter with a suggestion, "Raven, our Emergency Babysitting Hologram, is now online. She has over twenty gigaquads of data on childcare practices from around the quadrant, and has been designed specifically to take care of children," Tuula said in a slightly boastful tone. "She can assist with childcare for the children of the Galileo while they are on the starbase, and we can arrange for the children and their parents to meet her this afternoon if it will assuage some of your fears."

Markos arched an eyebrow before biting back a sarcastic laugh. Yes, because of course a hologram could be trusted. Especially one who was built here, not away with R&D or somewhere properly qualified. She was grateful she didn't have any children here...she'd never trust a programme to take care of anything except analysing things. EMH was different, every broken bone or illness had something you could do. A child's tantrum or psychological needs? It took adults years to be able to read small signs to help and all the books contradicted each other.

Min had overheard the conversation between T'Vanna & Adm Saalm. She'd assumed that she'd be able to take her own child aboard the Atlas given the craft was designed to support family's along with crew. That apparently however was not the case. She understood the Admiral's case but also, the thought of leaving her child in the hands of a stranger didn't sit well with her.

Now that the talk of children had thankfully ended, Lirha spoke one final time before sending the crew on their various ways. "Please prepare yourselves for departure as soon as possible and report to your new postings. I will see you all again once we get underway. Dismissed."

As soon as the order for dismissal was given, Andreus Kohl paused for a moment, and then he was moving away from Stace and the others. He was quick to duck and weave his way towards the exit. He had something to investigate. When the senior staff had been first briefed on the NIMBUS operation, Kohl had naturally assumed it would be the essential bridge crew who would be seconded to the other starships. Kohl had assumed he would be left behind with his laboratory and his office and his self-indulgent experiments. If that wasn't the case, Kohl needed to find an LCARS console and a bit of privacy to review the fine print of his transfer orders to the USS Nautilus.

Likewise, Asahi was quick to make a retreat. He felt pressure in the new reassignment, which was likely to be what the others were feeling. It was a lot of responsibility, the Executive Officer position, and the engineer had little to no training in it. Lirha was going to be there, and he expected that she was going to be doing most of 'important' tidbits. That didn't mean he should have been unprepared. There were documents he had to go over and research he had to do.

Pausing, the smaller engineer glanced around the room to scan for his assistant chief, waving a hand to get Grayson's attention. Pointing toward the exit, he mouthed the words 'meet you at the office,' before turning tail and nearly darting out of the cargo bay.

Nodding Grayson quickly followed behind, he knew he would have a good idea what the conversation would be about and had already began to rehearse what he wanted to say in his head. The ship would be alright, it will be in one piece, what help would the Chief need.

Allyndra touched Mott for a moment while others began their retreat. "We need to go to sickbay and go over the transfer." She saw Kohl make a hasty retreat and wondered what that was about but in her own way she needed to suddenly learn a lot more about their new array. It would be critical to her thoughts on detecting a cloaked ship no matter how good it was.

Olsam nodded to Allyndra and fell in step behind her, still turning over thoughts of Shirley in his head. It was, without a doubt, the greatest day of his life.

"I'm headed to the bridge now, Commander Stace," Gyce reported as she tapped her combadge. "Chief Inyo will handle the brig and legwork for security measures. Lieutenant Bencie out."

Pushing away from the wall, Dru quickly cleared out before anybody could grab her. She was staying put so that was something and with Tuula being transferred off ship it meant abit more breathing space in order to process everything. She did need to grab Markus though before he left....

Stace remained behind just for a moment to allow the other officers file out of the cargo bay. A renewed sense of confidence took her over as her memory now jolted back to her days as Janel. A wry smile fluttered across her lips as she fell in line and excited the room.

The Grazerite hung back, waiting to observe who was in the most or least of a rush to get out of the Cargo bay. Pax wasn't sure why but it felt like a little bit of something to keep in mind as she got to know these people and their habits.

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 2nd Class Rebecca Williams
Commanding Officer's Yeoman
USS Galileo

Ensign T'Vanna Murray
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer / Operations Officer
USS Galileo / USS Aventia

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Executive Officer
USS Nautilus

Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Assistant Chief Counsellor
USS Gemini

Lieutenant Asahi Kita
Chief Engineering Officer / Executive Officer
USS Galileo / USS Atlas

Lieutenant Olsam Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutent Min Nicholas
Chief of Operations
USS Galileo

Ensign Jaana Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Wakeham Paul Alasia
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo

LCmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Commander Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer / Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Grayson Jones
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

CPO Pax-Inyo
Master-at-Arms
USS Galileo

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