Your Orders, Sir? (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 05 Feb 2012 @ 3:32am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm
Edited on on 10 Feb 2012 @ 5:35am

1,034 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 00 - Pre-Deployment
Location: Starfleet HQ, Briefing Room
Timeline: MD 02 - 0900 hrs

[ON]

A high-pitched repeating noise suddenly blared in her ear and snapped her from her dreams. She reached out and smacked the alarm clock to silence it, then let out a groan as she rolled over in her bed and onto her back. With weary eyes, Lirha looked around her room and noticed the bright sunlight seeping through the edges of her window's blinds. She took a glance at the clock and noticed that it was already 0800 hours. Her first command briefing was scheduled in an hour and she felt like hell. What was supposed to have been a quiet night out the previous evening had turned into an all-night adventure, as Lirha and Jen had hopped from bar to bar until 0300 while consuming copious amounts of Saurian brandy and Romulan ale. Now, she knew, she would pay the price.

She sat up and placed her feet on the ground, then dropped her head into her hands as a painful throbbing sensation pounded through her skull. After a few moments she composed herself and got to her feet, stumbling slowly to the sonic shower and finally collapsed in the corner as the pulse-vibrations sent a soothing feeling through her naked body. She cursed herself for drinking so much the night before and she knew she wouldn't have time to report to the infirmary and take care of her headache before the briefing started. Lirha leaned her head back against the wall with a sigh and slowly passed out.

A soft chirp from the shower's automated timer woke her up and she blinked in confusion, unaware that she had fallen asleep again. She scrambled to her feet, exited the shower, and looked at the clock, which read 0845. "Merka'h", she cursed in her native tongue, knowing that it would be almost impossible to get dressed and take care of her hair before getting to the briefing room in time. With urgency, she rushed to her closet and pulled out a fresh uniform then hastily dressed herself. She stopped briefly in front of the mirror to properly position her rank pips and pulled her hair back into an unorganized pony tail. Grabbing a PADD from her desk, she rushed out of her quarters and towards the briefing room.

--

Lirha arrived outside of the conference room and glanced down at her PADD to check the time. It read 0859. With a sigh of relief, she stepped forward and the grey doors parted with a swish. She stepped inside, then stopped in her tracks as eight senior officers and admirals sat around a large black table staring at her in a hushed silence. She must have misread the time of the briefing on her PADD because the staff appeared to be already in the middle of it, judging from the information displayed on the large wall-mounted LCARS monitor.

"I apologize for my tardiness, I was under the impression the briefing was to start at 0900." she said, suddenly embarrassed and flustered.

"Commander Saalm, thank you for joining us. Please have a seat." said a rear admiral sitting at the head of the table. "Relax, you're not late, we were just going over some information regarding your mission before you arrived."

She nodded and let out a breath of relief then took an empty seat in-between two intelligence officers. She felt a sharp kick on her shin and looked up to see Jen sitting directly across from her with a smug look on her face. Though Lirha might have been able to hide her hangover from the rest of the staff, she certainly wasn't able to fool her old friend. The Orion narrowed her eyes and returned the look with one of her own, a friendly warning for Jen to keep her mouth shut.

"Let's get this over with quickly and smoothly, I have a luncheon with the President of the UFP at noon," said the admiral who had just addressed her. He stood up and moved in front of the large display screen, then pulled up a map of the Beta Quadrant for everyone to see. "Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this mission is classified and the knowledge contained in this briefing room is to stay between us."

Lirha, now slightly intrigued, glanced around at the different faces in the room. After a brief silence, the admiral continued. "Commander Saalm, what do you know about Starbase 152?" he asked bluntly.

"That's one of our primary repair and resupply facility in the outer-Beta Quadrant, right?" she answered slightly unsure.

"No," he started, "That's what we want people to believe. In reality, the facility is a research and development center for most of Starfleet's theoretical technologies."

Lirha paused for a second, slightly confused. "Wouldn't a R&D center be easily identified? Even civilian sensors can tell the difference between research laboratories and supply crates. Let alone the advanced arrays on ships of the line." she asked.

A female Romulan intelligence officer next to her piped up, "Without getting too technical with you, Commander, the starbase uses a complex holographic and sensor refraction system to project false sensor readings and images to passing ships. It's a technology we began developing during the Dominion War and we have found it quite effective in practical use." she said.

"I see," Lirha replied, "So what is so special about this particular R&D facility as opposed to the others here in the Alpha Quadrant?"

The admiral next to the monitor glanced around the room briefly before turning his eyes back to the Orion woman. "This starbase contains Project Sienna and its development staff." he said simply. "I know what your next question is going to be, so I'll turn the floor over to Vice Admiral Reshman, our head of R&D. Admiral?" he said, then sat down and was replaced by an older man.

To be continued...

[OFF]

--

LCDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CAPT Jennifer Rosewell (NPC)
Commanding Officer
USS Kato

LCDR Sanara Lemot (NPC)
Intelligence Advisor
Starfleet Command

RADM Michael Kilby (NPC)
Fleet Strategic Operations
Starfleet Command

VADM Jacob Reshman (NPC)
Fleet Research and Development
Starfleet Command

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