NRPG: This isn't quite the style I'm used to compiling in. Then again, neither am I used to compile some eighty posts :O) I Think I have it all in order, anyway :OÞ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stardate: 2378.08.15 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================== ( Starfleet Command, Holodeck 2, Lieutenant (sg) Drew Brannigan, 2378.08.15.0600 ) ========================================================== NRPG: It's nice to be here with you all! 8-) RPG: Drew had been running his favourite holodeck program all night. Since getting his 3-day leave the previous day, he had only gone to his quarters to collect some clothing before booking the holodeck for the entire duration of his leave. He had loaded his favourite program from his own database. Not only was it his favourite, it was also the best one he had yet designed and it was the one program he took with him wherever he happened to be stationed. The program was a re-creation of his home town, albeit with a few minor modifications. The program was designed to keep itself automatically updated to the time of year on Earth. It replicated his home town perfectly. Everything was here, from the school he was educated in to the home he had lived in all his life. Even his neighbours and relations had been re-created with precise details. Currently he was sitting on the end of the wooden dock that sat on the small lake about three miles from his home. His parents had owned a cabin there when he was a child but it had been sold when they opened their hotel. In this re-creation his parents had not sold the cabin and he passed some time there now again, when he could get away from his duties. With the holodeck locked there was no-one around to disturb him. He sat in the chilly morning air, sipping on a mug of coffee, and staring out over the calm surface of the lake. The lake was so calm that it's surface almost resembled polished glass. A bird's plaintive cry called to him from over the lake. As his eyes searched the sky for the call's owner he heard the familiar, and unwelcome, tone of a communication being piped into the holodeck program. =/\= Operations to Lieutenant Brannigan. Sorry to intrude upon your leave, sir, but there is an urgent message for you from the CINCSCI. =/\= Drew sighed heavily, his breath misting in cold morning air, and drained his coffee. He stood up and began walking back toward the cabin. " Computer, arch! " The arch appeared between him and the cabin. He stepped into it and accessed the control panel. =/\= Very well, put it through here. =/\= The screen showed the familiar Starfleet crest for an instant, then it blinked out to be replaced by the visage of the CINCSCI. =/\= Drew =/\=, he began with a smile, =/\= I'm sorry to have to do this to you. I know how much you hate being disturbed during your holodeck-leave time but something has come up. I need to see you right away. Your leave is over. =/\= =/\= I'll be right up, sir! =/\= When the conversation with the Admiral had ended the arch had also disappeared. Drew now stood on the steps of the cabin and faced the lake again. Once again the plaintive cry drifted over to him, carried on the slight breeze that had stirred up and was rustling through the leaves of the trees. This time, though, he managed to find the owner. High above the lake, and watching the forest floor beside it, a kestrel hovered on the morning breeze looking for its first meal of the day. How Drew longed that he was the kestrel, free to do what he wanted when he wanted. Finally he turned his back on the lake, went into the cabin and packed his bag, again. When he had packed he stepped out back onto the dock and ended the program. He went straight to the turbolift on exiting the holodeck and headed to the CINCSCI's office, as he wanted to see him 'right away'. ========================================================== ( Starfleet Command, CINCSCI's Office, Lieutenant (sg) Drew Brannigan, 2378.08.15.0610 ) ========================================================== Drew stood before the desk, his bag having been deposited on the floor near the door as he entered, and glowered at the Admiral. " No point putting that puss-face on with me! I know you too well, Drew, for that! A position has become available that will suit you down to the ground. You are being transferred to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards as Chief Science Officer, effective immediately! " " Well I guess that it is a good enough reason to cut short my leave. Thank you sir! " " Report there as soon as you can to the CO, Fleet-Admiral Jopek " " Aye, sir! " Drew then returned to his quarters and packed his belongings into his travel bag. He replicated a fresh uniform and after a quick shower and shave, put it on. He made sure that his holodeck program was downloaded and stored safely in his bag. That done, he took one last, quick look around and headed out to the shuttlepad where the CINCSCI had arranged for transport. ========================================================== ( Shuttlecraft Tolkien, Approaching Utopia Planitia, Lieutenant (sg) Drew Brannigan, 2378.08.15.0645 ) ========================================================== On their approach to the Fleet Yards Drew had been asked by the shuttle's pilot if he wanted to go in by the direct route or the scenic route. With a rueful smile he had decided on the latter. Drew had sat and grinned like the proverbial Cheshire cat as the pilot expertly, and deftly, maneuvered the little craft around the construction yards and the ships within. Drew had, as everyone had, heard of the Fleet Yards and seen them in data streams but he had never actually seen them with his own eyes. The sheer scale of the yards could never be gathered by looking at an image of them. One had to actually be there to witness its massive size and grandeur. " Spectacular ", he had breathed as the shuttle floated past the last of the construction yards and approached the Orbital Command Center. A moment later and they were docked. Drew grabbed his bag and his papers and exited the shuttle. After his identification had been verified, he was cleared for access. He entered the nearest turbolift and ordered it to take him to Admiral Jopek's office. ========================================================== (Starfleet Academy - San Francisco, outside Academy offices - Ensign Ralth Ra'Kir - Stardate 2378.08.15 1050) =========================================================== "Hey! Ralth!" Walking out from the offices, feeling acutely the strange bit of brass of his rank as an ensign on hs collar, Ralth turned to find out who had been calling him. He saw cadet Hendrikson, Lin, rushing at him, again at a stumbling pace but this time keeping her footing better. Smiling embarassedly he lifted his hand in greeting as she skidded to a halt. "What's this? They made you an ensign, Ralth?" Her eyes opened in surprise and delight, but there might have been just little of a jealous tint to them. "Yah, they are sending me to the Utopia Planitia shipyards. The Admiral said they need more hands there in a hurry. I guess I'll be learning my job there." He shook his head, a dumbfounded look on his face. "Oh, but that's terrific! I heard the new commander there, Admiral Jopek, is a really good CO. My father served under him somewhere, I think. He once said that the admiral was 'Tight as a boot, but fair'. I wish I'd be going to an assignment like that, It'd sure beat the classes here. I'd be a real engineer in no time!" Hendrikson sighed, but then cheered up. "At least it's not more then a few hours ride out, you'll be able to get vacation time on Earth, too!" Ralth shrugged. "Well, I guess so.." She laughed. "Haven't you been around us humans long enough to notice when you are being asked out for a date?" Ralths eyes widened but he recovered quickly and laughed lightly. "Not apparently. My species handle these things... Differently. But if our schedules match, why not? Although I have a feeling it'll have to wait quite a bit." Lin grinned infectiously and clapped her hands. "It's a deal. Now, you go get yourself out to Mars before they dump you, Ensign." She winked and turned, sprinting off into a run. ~Probably alredy late from her next class.~ Ralth shrugged, still smiling, and turned to head towards the landing pad. ========================================================== (USS Tasman, Personal Quarters, COUNS Lt Cmdr Eleni Rodos, 15:00) ========================================================== Eleni finished her packing. The Tasman had just arrived back in the Sol system after a four-year deep-space exploration mission and she was looking forward to the six weeks leave she had coming to her during the overhaul the ship was due to get. There would be plenty of time to visit her family on Betazed, and she was looking forward to that immensely. As she fastened the last box, she looked around for Tao, her Siamese cat. As usual, he was hiding under the bed. He hated moving! She coaxed him out and was just fastening his harness when the doorchime sounded. "Come in!" she called from the bedroom, expecting it to be the crewman to take her boxes. She heard the whish of the door and someone came in. "The boxes are all ready and labeled," she said, still struggling with the last buckle as Tao squirmed crossly. "Eleni?" Eleni looked out in surprise. It was Alex Dubois, the Tasman's captain. "I'm sorry, Sir. I was expecting the crewman to take my things." "So I gathered." Alex grinned. "Eleni, I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news but I'm afraid you've been reassigned." "What?" Eleni exclaimed, coming into the living area still clutching a very annoyed Tao. "I'm afraid so. The order just came through." Alex sounded very apologetic. Almost too apologetic for a mere reassignment, Eleni thought. "So when I get back from leave I'm to join another ship?" she said. "Uhh, no, not exactly. You're being reassigned to the new Jupiter class starbase in orbit of Mars. And you have to report in to Admiral Jopek tomorrow." "I'm being assigned to the new base at Utopia Planitia?" Eleni asked before his final sentence sank in. Then it did. "TOMORROW?" "I'm afraid so." Dubois sounded apologetic. "But - what about my leave?" Dubois shook his head. "I'm sorry, Eleni." He handed her a PADD. "These are your orders. I'll inform the quartermasters office that your things are to be transferred to the base instead of into storage." Eleni looked at the PADD then back at Dubois. "I suppose it's no good requesting permission to stay on the Tasman?" she asked. "I'm afraid not. It's not a matter of choice, but necessity." Eleni looked at him. She didn't need to lower her mental defenses and use her empathic abilities to know that Alex Dubois had certainly tried to keep her on his ship, and to get her the leave she would have had. It was right there in his voice and in his face. "I see," she said quietly. "Then I suppose I'd better be on my way." "There's a shuttle to take you to temporary quarters overnight, then you'll be collected from there tomorrow to go to your new base." "This all seems a bit - rushed," Eleni said. "I thought the new base wasn't coming on-line for some time?" "It wasn't," Dubois replied grimly. "At least, not before the terrorist attack." Eleni nodded. Even the Tasman had heard about that. Two of her engineering crew had known people who'd been killed and she had been busy with them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mission: Beginnings, Day 1 Stardate: 2378.08.16 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================== (Starbase 001, Temporary Quarters - TAC/SC - Lt(SG) Dario Marsland - 10:15) ========================================================== =/\= Operations to Marsland. You awake yet buddy? =/\= came the call that shattered the silence. In the relative dark of the small bedroom a pair of bodies stirred. One, a tall tanned human male, began to fumble for the small communication device that had emitted the disturbance whilst the other, a dark-haired Betazoid female, simply rolled over and continued sleeping. =/\= Come on Dario, you've got fifteen minutes until your shuttle leaves and you DON'T want to be late! =/\= "Fifteen minutes! Christ! Why didn't you wake me earlier?" cried Dario as he fell out of bed. =/\= What am I? Your mother! Thirteen minutes and I'll collect you, Johnstone out! =/\= Bleary-eyed, Dario made his way to the sonic shower after a quick glimpse back to the sleeping figure in his bed. It had been a wild farewell party organized for him by his best buddy, and wake up service, Roger Johnstone. ~ If only I'd asked her name. ~ lamented the hung-over officer as he activated the shower. ========================================================== (Starbase 001, Temporary Quarters - TAC/SC - Lt(SG) Dario Marsland - 10:27) =========================================================== Emerging from his bedroom as refreshed and presentable as he could manage Dario found his guest helping herself to a coffee. "Morning Lieutenant" greeted the young woman with a mischievous smile. "Ah, morning." "Commander, but you can call me Aleia. I can tell this isn't the first time you've made introductions on the morning after." All Dario could was blush as the Commander moved closer. "Don't worry, it's not the first time for me either" purred Aleia as she took him in her arms and gave him a passionate kiss. Just as Dario tried to push away the familiar blue-white light and tingling feeling of being transported engulfed his body. The female officer jerked away with a look of shock on her face that soon turned to a wry smile. "Inappropriate use of transporters eh? You're a naughtier boy than I thought." ========================================================= (Transport Shuttle Geneva - Enroute to Utopia Planitia - 10:37) ========================================================= Despite his poor reputation when it came to dealings with the opposite sex, Dario Marsland was regarded as one of the brightest young stars in Starfleet Security. Ever since his graduation from Starfleet Academy he had worked his way through the ranks on a variety of ships and bases. He had come face-to-face with every major threat to the Federation in recent times including the Borg and Breen invasions of Sector 001, and the Dominion during the war. Having had such a large amount of personal experience in the events that had left Starfleet in it's current 'weakened' state, Dario felt an intense amount of motivation with regards to his new assignment. The attack just three months ago upon Utopia Planitia had sent shockwaves throughout the Federation and Dario was determined it would never be repeated. A quick glimpse out the viewport showed Dario that they were nearing their destination. Dozens of shipyards and literally hundreds of construction vehicles floated by and with a gentle bank the shuttle made it's final approach to Starbase TBA, the focal point of the massive operation that built, repaired, and re-fitted the vast Federation defence fleet as well as developed much of the new technology that enhanced the fleet. ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, CO's Office, CO, FltAdm Jopek - 10.40) ========================================================== Admiral Jopek was onboard his new command, watching the graphical display on his computer terminal. The graphic was showing him the locations of everything in Martian orbit, all the shuttles, starships, shipyards and satellites. The door chime activated and the Admiral answered automatically. "Come.", the Vulcan said. "Admiral, Capt Jenna Rulestaad reporting as ordered.", reported the Vulcan looking woman. "Captain, welcome aboard.", greeted the Vulcan, without emotion. A PADD passed between then and Jopek studied it for a moment before continuing. "I see here you are from Strategic Operations, Captain, to bring you up to date, the task force from Earth has departed and they should be here early tomorrow. I want you to look at what can be done with getting the Mars Defense Perimeter up and running, Starfleet believes we need more than a few fighters we had previously. Liase with the Advance Technology Groups to see what we can do." "Now, unless you have anything for me - I suggest you beam down to the surface and have a look around the new facilities." NRPG: Anything from the Trout? RPG: "Carry on, Captain - Dismissed." ========================================================== (Starbase TBA - Admirals Office - Capt. Jenna Rulestaad - 10.40) ========================================================== "Captain, welcome aboard" Jenna took half a second to size up the admiral while she was standing at parade attention, then handed him a PADD with her transfer orders. Jopek took it and gave it the once over. "I see here you are from Strategic Operations, Captain, to bring you up to date, the task force from Earth has departed and they should be here early tomorrow." Jenna nodded at that, she was already aware of it. I want you to look at what can be done with getting the Mars Defense Perimeter up and running, Starfleet believes we need more than a few fighters we had previously. Liase with the Advance Technology Groups to see what we can do." "Now, unless you have anything for me - I suggest you beam down to the surface and have a look around the new facilities." Jenna put her hands behind her back. "Advanced technologies, Tactical Command and the Yard engineers will be contacted by myself within the hour, Sir. Never again will we be caught so undefended." She took back her PADD, and placed it under her arm. "It will be most, enlightening, working here. Sir." "Carry on, Captain - Dismissed." Jenna nodded, and turned on her heel to exit, all trim and proper. Ops was busy, officers running everywhere in the place that could easily pass as a football stadium with seats in the playing field. There was a base center of command near the middle of it all, where the head of the place could command. With all the outlying support, it amazed Jenna that such a place could run efficiently. The logistics of commanding Fifty thousand personnel, with workers shuttling in every day, was nothing short of breathtaking from a pure command standpoint. From a more abstract point of view, it was nothing. Jenna had overseen the strategic movement of millions. From Marines to starships and their crews. She had her finger on fleets and ground forces alike, but she was never in direct command like Jopek was here. She shrugged, and headed back to the turbolift so she could take another twenty minute hike back to the cargobay. ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, CO's Office, CO, FltAdm Jopek - 11:00) ========================================================== "Lt Newton, reporting for duty sir," he handed the admiral his copy of his orders. "Thank you Lieutenant." Reading the PADD for a moment, the Admiral continued. "You are the head of the Theoretical Science Group? Welcome aboard. We have state-of-the-art facilities on the Martian surface, waiting to be used and they will be. Mr. Newton, we have 15 starships inbound and due to arrive tomorrow, they are all going to need a great deal of help from your team, they need their deflector arrays and databases installed, but I want you to get the USS Firebrande up and running as soon as possible. That ship has been assigned to us and we are going to need a warp capable starship available." "Your teams are waiting for you, the majority of which won't be Starfleet Officers, most are civilians, as will be most of the 'Think Tank'. I hope that won't be a problem?" NRPG: Anything from Mr. Newton can go here! RPG: "Carry on, Lt - if you need anything, don't hesitate to come and see me - dismissed." ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, Admirals ready room, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 11:04) ========================================================== Steve opened the door and entered the admiral's office and stood to attention before he spoke, "Lt Newton, reporting for duty sir," he handed the admiral his copy of his orders. "Thank you Lieutenant." Replied Jopek, as he started to read the padd. "You are the head of the Theoretical Science Group? Welcome aboard. We have state-of-the-art facilities on the Martian surface, waiting to be used and they will be." "Mr Newton, we have 15 Starships inbound and due to arrive tomorrow, they are all going to need a great deal of help from your team, they need their deflector arrays and databases installed, but I want you to get the USS Firebrande up and running as soon as possible. That ship has been assigned to us and we are going to need a warp capable Starship available." "Your teams are waiting for you, the majority of which won't be Starfleet Officers, most are civilians, as will be most of the 'Think Tank'. I hope that won't be a problem?" "I will make sure that won't be a problem admiral." "Carry on, Lt - if you need anything, don't hesitate to come and see me - dismissed." He turned around and made his way out of the office. ========================================================== (Mars, Main Research Facility, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 11:15) ========================================================== Steve had decided to make his way straight to the research facility located several kilometres under ground. Starfleet command obviously didn't want to lose any more research due to attacks on Mars or the Utopia yards. He had hoped for a few days to allow him to feel his way into this new role, but that wasn't going to happen. As the transport cycle came to a close, a young Vulcan woman approached him wearing civilian clothing, "Lt Newton we have been expecting you." Steve had not been expecting a welcoming committee, "May I ask who you are." "I'm Miss Sa'Pel, your personal assistant." Steve had remembered reading her bio earlier that morning or had it been late the previous night, "Will you take me on a tour of our new facilities." "Of course," she replied, as she lead him out of the main transporter room and to one of the three large holodecks in the facility. "The facility contains 3 large holodecks which allows us to test any new systems before we begin construction. Starfleet command believes that it will especially be beneficial for us during the development of new classes of Starship." Steve was impressed with the size of the holodeck which could easily house any Starship he had ever encountered and in his mind the holodecks were pretty impressive and just showed how important this facility and the Utopia yards were to Starfleet. "I would think so Sa'Pel, especially towards the end of the design stage, as it will allow us to test all systems together in a finished model of the Starship." As they exited the large holodeck she continued, "We have 16 standard size holodecks for the testing of individual systems, as well as theoretical work." They had taken the turbo lift down several more levels and entered a room containing a computer core, "We have several computer cores across two are used to store all our data and to control our facilities and no one outside of this facility has access to that data, another two cores store the current version of the Federation database." What about the other three?" He asked. "One is used for the development of the new LCARS system, the second for the development of the latest version of the Federation database and the third for the testing of new or improved computer hardware specifications, those three cores are in the computer research level." He looked down at his watch and realised that time was moving on and he needed to get to his office, "The tour of the rest of the facility will have to wait, but will you please continue to tell me about the rest of the facilities we have." They left the room containing the core and made their way over to the entrance of another turbo lift. "Ourselves along with the Utopia yard Starbase have the best equipped labs in Starfleet capable of carrying out research in many scientific areas from Astro physics to quantum mechanics." The turbo lift had taken them to another area which contained a large office with about 30 people working in it, ahead of him their was another corridor, at one side their was a smaller office, "This is the main Admin. area of the Theoretical science research group, the head of each section has an area." With that they turned around and made their way to the turbolift, TSO level." She explained, "This level is only accessible to us two and the heads of each section, as a security precaution." As the turbo lift door open he found himself in a small reception area which lead to three doors, "The one on the left is your office sir, the one in the middle is a small conference room allowing you to hold meetings with the section heads, my office is to the right." "Thank you for the tour, I'm going to take a quick look at my office before I go and settle in." ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, CO's Office, CO, FltAdm Jopek -11.30) ========================================================== "Sir, Lieutenant Drew Brannigan reporting aboard as your Chief Science Officer!" "Thank you Mr. Brannigan, welcome aboard." After accessing the computer database for a moment, Jopek looked up at the new CSO. "At the moment, you are the second highest ranking officer in this stations command structure. I need you to take command of Operations and get me an update on the building of this facility. I'll be out shortly; I have a few more things to do here. "As CSO, I need you to co-ordinate the teams on this station as well as the Scientific activities in the rest of the facilities in orbit, all 29 of them. You are going to have to co-ordinate with the Theoretical Science Officer as well, but, while he is handling development of starship advances for the next generation of ships, I want you to work on the facilities we currently have, see what we have to work with and get your teams working on what they might need, and start developing it." "This will take several hundred members of your Science Teams to develop, I am sure you can put them to good work, most of our workers arrive over the next few days." NRPG: Anything to add? RPG: "Dismissed, anything else I can do for you, just ask - carry on!" As the CSO left the office, Jopek realized that across every base and facility, the same thing was going on, people were reporting in to their new jobs and getting assignments. Over 50,000 people would be arriving over the next few days, that alone was an amazing achievement. ========================================================== (Mars, Primary Administration District - Strategic Operations - Capt. Jenna Rulestaad - 1130) ========================================================== Jenna poked her identification card into the slot provided, and said allowed. "Captain Jenna Rulestaad. Authorization Rulestaad, Omega Seven Foxtrot Seven" The triple sealed blast doors before her opened, and she walked into the immense place that was to become her new home. Strategic Operations had outposts all over the Shipyards. There were working offices in the Shipyard Administration offices so Stratops could do its part in design, and there was also a small outpost in the Advanced Technology Unit for the same purpose. Jenna was fairly certain there would be a small set of working offices on the new Starbase once it was completed, but *THIS* was the true home of Stratops here at UP. A thrice sealed and hardened set of rooms set four hundred feet under the ground in case of attack. The place was huge, a duplicate setup from Strategic Operations on Earth, set here in full operation just in case Earth was ever destroyed. In such a case, Jenna would command Stratops Fleetwide until such time as she was replaced by the Commander in Chief, or the council. As it was, it played an important part just because of the tactical and strategic significance of Utopia Planitia, all fleet development. And now, she commanded the place. Jenna scanned the area, feeling like a Queen seeing her castle for the first time. She stood in the main situation center, above her was a overlooking control room that she would use. The main Situation map was contained in this room, it stood thirty feet tall and four hundred feet wide, and outlined strategic developments in known space. The control room above it was once again shielded, and overlooked everything in the Main Situation Center from its glassed enclosure. That was where here office was, and where all primary decisions were made. There were hallways branching everywhere, with color coding for what they led to. All in all, there were some five hundred rooms here at Primary Strategic Operations, the place *was* a castle! And at her command, it could be locked down so that only her and a upper level admiral could exit or enter. Meaning, that only the Starfleet Gods and herself could hope to survive an attempt to enter in time of war or emergency. Jenna noticed people looking at her, then looking back to their screens. She smiled slightly as the Tellarite beside her grunted, "Looks scared, they do." Jenna nodded. The staff she had sent before her must have whipped any shock into shape real quick. She was getting looks, but none of it contained surprise. She walked slowly down the walkways with her hands behind her back, taking in faces and the setup. Her eyes darted here and there, taking in who was working and who was gawking at her. Those who had their attention from their screens for more then two seconds would find themselves ousted from Stratops in a matter of hours, never to return. She walked up the metal stairway to the Observation/Command Rooms instead of taking the lift, so she could get a good long look at the complex as a whole. Once she reached the outer command doors, she repeated the same words she had to get into Stratops itself, then walked in as the inner blast door slid open. Inside, where twenty men and women, manning essential communications and keeping their eyes on new developments and important broadcasts. She stood at the door for a moment, as the Tellarite walked passed her and bellowed in his bass voice. "CO ON DECK!" None of the twenty did anything more then raise a hand to confirm they heard. ~Good~ she thought. ~One point in their favor, they are all trained and conditioned.~ She almost found the thought sad. Her first order of business as Commander of Stratops would have been to kick a slacker out the door here in the command center if they had taken their attention from their important duties. On the other hand, maybe she wouldn't have to weed her command staff like a witchhunt. The old commander of Stratops here might just have known what he was doing. She said in a light voice. "Effective Immediately, By order of Starfleet Command, I hereby take command of Strategic Operations and all contained therein. Computer, transfer all command protocols and command codes to my name. Authorization, Jenna Rulestaad Omega Seven Foxtrot Seven. " A Commander at the command terminal tapped a few buttons, then motioned for a alternate to take the console. Dorkin himself took the seat, as the commander stood and nodded. "Computer, transfer all command protocols and command codes to Captain Jenna Rulestaad. Authorization, Richard Marlin One Alpha Tango Seven." <> "Strategic Operations is yours, Captain." "Very well." She replied. Without wasting any time, she said "Location of the heads of the Advanced Technology Units, Tactical Command and Yard/Orbital Operations?" <> Jenna chewed on that for a moment, "ETA for the two missing officers to arrive?" <> After taking a deep sigh, Jenna said "Address the following message to all previously named with a memo attached that it should be delivered once the missing officers report." <> "To all previously address, from Captain Jenna Rulestaad... head of Strategic Operations at Utopia Planitia. I am hereby ordering a staff meeting at 1400 hours to address several concerns. We will meet here at Strategic Operations main center, you will be expected promptly. Capt. Rulestaad out." Jenna thought a moment, then said "Send message, priority one." <> Jenna nodded, then looked at Dorkin. "Lets start an inspection of this place, see what we need to fix." ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, Main Shuttlebay - TAC/SC - Lt(SG) Dario Marsland - 11:30) ========================================================== Dario disembarked the transport shuttle with a spring in his step. Although he knew that his first duty should be to report to his new Commanding Officer, there was something he just had to do first. Following the map provided to him by the PADD in his hand, Dario made his way through the quieter areas of the base. He noticed with some alarm that only a few levels of the base were actually operational, obviously Starfleet's desire to have Utopia Planitia servicing the fleet was greater than it's desire to provide it's officers with a fully-functional home. Finding a deserted corridor, Dario put down his pack and withdrew a small metal box. Pushing a button on the box he calmly placed it on the floor and began to walk away. When he was no more than ten metres away the box gave a whine before exploding in a shower of smoke and sparks. Glancing quickly at his wristwatch, Dario turned back towards the slightly charred site of the explosion and waited. (1 minute and 3 seconds later.) Dario looked up as the familiar buzz of the transporter filled the air. "Freeze! Don't move!" cried the newly materialised Security Officer as he pointed his phaser at Dario. "I've been waiting," stated Dario coolly. "Far too long!" A confused looked crossed the face of the Security Officer. "Just what do you think you're doing here? Sabotage is a severe offence and you're coming with me." "Please son," began Dario "I set this device off over one minute before you arrived. If I was really a saboteur would I have been waiting for you?" "Save your stories for the Acting Security Chief, he'll be the one deciding your fate." "No, I'll be the one deciding his fate. Computer, please identify myself and my position." =/\= You are Lieutenant Senior Grade Dario Marsland, Chief of Security and Tactical Operations. =/\= An even more confused look appeared on the officer's face. "But." he murmured. "Don't worry, you'll just have to go tell your fellow security officers that the party's over. Starting at 0600 tomorrow morning you'll all be working like you've never worked before. If this is any indication of standards on this base, you've all got a lot to learn. What was you're name anyway Ensign?" "Ah, Tomas Everson, sir!" "I'll see you bright and early Tomas." "Yes sir." Tapping his comm badge, the new Security Chief gave his officer a smile. "Lt Marsland to Transporter Room One, please beam me directly to Fleet Admiral Jopek's current location." ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, Operations, CO, FltAdm Jopek - 11.45) ========================================================== Looking around, the place seemed half deserted, but the Admiral spotted Lt. Brannigan running around like there was no tomorrow. The Admiral sat down at the nearest terminal and got to work. He was attempting to sort out the mess of arriving and departing traffic, the personnel in Orbit Operations were short handed and Jopek decided to give them a hand. ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, Operations - TAC/SC - Lt(SG) Dario Marsland - 11:45) ========================================================== Dario materialised in the centre of the Operations centre. Numerous startled officers looked around and some even reached for their phasers. The central figure of the room, obviously the Vulcan CO Jopek, simply raised an eyebrow. "Good morning Admiral," greeted Dario. "Lt Dario Marsland, Security Chief, reporting for duty." ========================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, Operations, Admiral Jopek - 11.45) ========================================================== Beaming in to the centre of Valhalla Operations, Jopek watched the new officer materialise. "Good morning Admiral, Lt Dario Marsland, Security Chief, reporting for duty." Admiral Jopek regarded the man for a moment before saying, "Mr. Marsland, in my office, please." ========================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, Admiral Jopek - 11.47) ========================================================== "Lt, have a seat for a moment. I need this station secure as fast as possible and I also want the USS Firebrande to be secure too, let the other staff worry about the rest of Utopia Planitia for now. Three months ago, this group managed to deal a massive blow to the Starfleet, we can't let it happen again." Jopek sat down at his desk before continuing. "As soon as we are settled and the Firebrande is ready, I will be sending a few of you out to find out more about what Starfleet Intelligence is calling 'A rogue', Dominion outfit. There is a good chance that SFI are coming here as well, be prepared for that, Mr. Marsland." The Admiral passed a PADD to the Security Chief. "This is all the information we have on this group, looks like they aren't too happy about the Dominion stopping the war between our two peoples. The Federation fleet is a mess and it's up to Utopia Planitia to get it back up to speed. By our estimates, it'll take a year to do that." Standing once more, Jopek concluded. "Consult with Captain Jenna Rulestaad; she is the Strategic Operations Officer and will be able to bring you up to speed on the big picture. but for now, your priorities are clear. Any questions, Lt?" NRPG: Mr. Marsland? RPG: "Carry on, dismissed." ========================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, TAC/SC, Lt(SG) Marsland - 11:48) ========================================================== Dario listened intently as the Admiral gave him his orders and the information on the 'rogue' Dominion group. He only gave the PADD given to him by the Admiral a quick glance, there'd be time for more study later. "Any questions, Lt?" asked the CO. "None sir. It looks like there's plenty for me and my people to get on with." "Carry on, dismissed" said the Admiral with a wave of his hand. Dario quickly exited the room. ========================================================== (Otono Medical Center, Surgery 2, CMO Maxwell - 12.40 ========================================================== "Neural stimulator! GO!" The body jerked softly as the brain was stimulated. Eyes went to the monitor. Nothing. "On my mark, GO!" Once more the body moved slightly. There was a beep from the monitor, and then silence. "Son of a...Defibrillator!" The staff moved quickly, snapping one onto the body and setting it. "On my mark...charge!" There was a whine. "Clear!" The body jerked more pronounced this time. A beep began slowly. The officers in the room looked and watched as the dead heart came alive once more. There were sighs all over. "We're not finished yet. Get him stabilized and into intensive care as soon as you can. Report on my desk. Get to work." Doctor Maxwell Alexander Cambridge slammed through the door leading into the hallway, ripping off his mask and gloves, feeling and hearing the snap of the plastic hand covers. He pulled his surgery hat off and threw them promptly into the trash, his mind already on matters at hand. He had been at work for nearly three hours and had so far dealt with two broken legs, one heart attack, two accidents and one near death. It was not a pretty day. "Delta Team, report to Surgery 3...Delta Team report to Surgery 3..." Cambridge whipped out his PADD and began to look over the information that was beginning to collect with him. So far, there had been four security calls, two serious. The workday had begun and already reports were coming in from the medical outposts in space of injuries. "Damned idiots..." "Chief to Surgery 4! Chief to Surgery 4!" Maxwell took off running, taking corners at a glance, arriving at the room. He blasted through the door, finding things not looking good. "Get me fourteen units of blood...she's losing it fast!" The woman on the table had a very blank look on her face, her eyes staring at the light above her, almost as if dead. "Report!" There was a shuffle as one officer began to talk. "Came in half and hour ago. She was on a shuttle from a Starbase. No one gave her permission to leave and all we have is her ID." The CMO frowned and moved closer. She had a gash in her side and blood stains were everywhere. Her face was puffy, several bruises all over. Something stopped his heart. "Lisa Gurran..." The Surgeon looked up, his eyes meeting Maxwell's. He knew something was up. "We've got her stabilized...but she's losing a hell of a lot of blood..." Cambridge moved in closer, his eyes running over the stats and information. She had escaped from the Starbase and managed to come here, once more into the command of Maxwell. "Hold...I've got it! Internal bleeding! Compensating!" There was a pause in the room as the two medical officers worked quickly to stop the blood from flowing and killing the woman they held on their table. Maxwell watched the monitor as her vitals improved as the doctors worked quickly. A moment later they both looked up/ "She's clear!" They stepped back, their hands in the air as two surgeons swept in, pulling in stations and random equipment to begin to seal and heal the young woman. The head surgeon beckoned the Chief outside. The door closed and there was silence between the two of them in the white walled hallway. "What happened to her?" They began to walk as the man sighed deeply. "She was beaten severaly, and it looks like she escaped...barely. She was found one hour ago on a shuttle from the same station you came from. She was unconscious and near death. They brought her here and we worked to stabilize her before her condition dropped. That's when you walked in. She's lucky to be alive Chief." Maxwell nodded and stopped. "Let me know her condition when you have a moment?" The officer nodded and walked away. The CMO turned and walked to his office. It was located directly in the middle of the first floor, in a expansive area surrounded by main sickbay. "Alpha team to Critical Care...Alpha Team to Critical..." The pages continued as he entered the office. There was a pile of PADDS on the desk demanding his attention. He ignored them and moved quickly, grabbing his PADD Clipboard and out the door. He had to work on figuring out the Medical Center and little time to do it in. "Sir! Message from the Admiral!" Cambridge turned and was handed a PADD, stating for him to make his way to the Starbase as soon as he could. ~When I have a chance~ Checking his list, Maxwell found that he actually did need to visit the Starbase and examine the medical faciltites. Hell, he hadn't even got the full information on Otono. He headed directly to the shuttlebase and found that he actually had his own personal shuttle with alarms, sirens and lights. ~Special~ Boarding the vessel, Cambridge started the ship up and headed for the Starbase ======================================================== (Starbase TBA, Shuttle Bay 24, Docking Bay 109, COUNS Lt Cmdr Eleni Rodos, 13:00) ========================================================== Eleni stepped off the shuttle, Tao in her arms complaining loudly. One of the officers walked over to her, and Eleni handed over the PADD Dubois had given her. "Lt Commander Eleni Rodos, taking up the position of Counselor," she announced. "Permission to come aboard, Lt?" He read the PADD carefully, taking his time. Eleni waited patiently. After what had happened this was no less than she had expected. Eventually he satisfied himself that everything was in order and handed the PADD back to her. "Welcome aboard, Commander Rodos. The Admiral is expecting you." ~Now?~ "May I go to my quarters first?" The Lieutenant looked a bit nonplussed. His orders were to send all new senior officers straight to the Admiral but on the other hand his orders hadn't covered the possibility that said officers might arrive carrying livestock restrained only by a small leash. "Well the orders were quite specific..." he began. "Perhaps you could put him in a box for the time being?" he added hopefully. Eleni bared her teeth in a not-too-nice grin. "Only if you have a couple of hours to spare. He HATES to be confined .That's why I have him on the leash. Don't worry, I'll find someone to hold him whilst I see the Admiral. Which way do I go?" ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, CO's Office, CO, FltAdm Jopek - 13.20) ========================================================== More and more personnel were arriving and Admiral Jopek managed to get back to his own pile of paperwork, unfortunately, his pile was just blank PADDs. It was up to him to come up with the plans and ideas that kept Utopia Planitia operational and the plans to get the starship production back on track. The door chime went off once more. "Come in." An aide brought in a young woman, who was dressed in civilian clothes. "Admiral, I am pleased to introduce, Dr. Tanya Leigh Dervin." "Thank you, Lt. come in, please Doctor.", said the Admiral, as he accessed the file on the new Warp Technologies Officer. "Impressive Doctor, welcome to Utopia Planitia. Thank you for taking a moment to see me, as a civilian, I realise that you may not care for following Starfleet rules and regulations but this base is operated by Starfleet, you are here at our invitation. We have state of the art facilities on the surface of Mars, and they are yours, to do with what you want, how you want, when you want. However for time to time, I may have a priority project for you to work on, something that Starfleet needs urgently developed. Also, you will have to follow our rules of procedure and the command chain, and in order to make this easier for everyone, we've assigned a rank to all the civilian personnel operating throughout Utopia Planita. You, for instance, are ranked Lt (Sg). In addition, you will all be required to wear a uniform, the same uniform as everyone else in Starfleet. I trust this is acceptable?" Jopek sat back in his chair, Starfleet had made it clear that civilians were the very best source of knowledge and experience and that Starfleet should make as much of use of them as they could, even though their history wasn't the best when they worked on joint projects in the past. NRPG: Dive in here Katherine! RPG: "Dismissed then, Doctor - I shall be down to the surface soon, I haven't had the chance to inspect the new facilities yet." The Admiral looked back at his computer, if this was going to work, they all had to work together. =^= Admiral, this is Otono Medical Centre, please come in =^= "Jopek here, go ahead." =^= We thought you would like to know that CMO has arrived, Dr. Cambridge. =^= "Thank you, please ask the Doctor to beam up to the station and report to my office as soon as he can, Jopek out." It sounded like the CMO had got to work, already. Jopek had to get down to the planet but for right now, he was need here, the station was running with less than a skeleton staff, and there were still holes in the station. He has to attend to those first. ========================================================== (Starbase TBS, CO's office, Dr. Tanya Leigh Dervin, 13.22) ========================================================== Tanya had entered the admiral's office, and had been introduced by the lieutenant that was escorting her. The Admiral had called up her files; "Impressive Doctor, welcome to Utopia Planitia. Thank you for taking a moment to see me, as a civilian, I realize that you may not care for following Starfleet rules and regulations but this base is operated by Starfleet, you are here at our invitation. We have state of the art facilities on the surface of Mars, and they are yours to do with what you want, how you want, when you want." ~Right, that much we knew...but, I can tell there's a catch...~ Tanya reasoned as she stood in what might be deemed as attentional posture, but her being a civilian it wasn't something that looked completely natural on her. "However for time to time, I may have a priority project for you to work on, something that Starfleet needs urgently developed. Also, you will have to follow our rules of procedure and the command chain," ~Command chain??~ "and in order to make this easier for everyone, we've assigned a rank to all the civilian personnel operating throughout Utopia Planitia. You, for instance, are ranked Lt (Sg)." ~Lt (Sg) where does that come in? what? rank?~ Tanya was becoming more confused by the minute, there was only one field of expertise she had in this life and that rested with starships, not with the people who flew them, not with the organizations that constructed them, and all of this was quite new to her. "In addition, you will all be required to wear a uniform, the same uniform as everyone else in Starfleet." ~UNIFORM? THIS IS NUTS? Ok, Tanya, keep a cool head, after all they only have the most STATE OF THE ART FACILITIES known in the galaxy, and come on, think about it, it's not like they're going to just let you roam about... you're going to have to play by their rules....GRRR~ "I trust this is acceptable?" ~I'll bet the uniform is hot, itchy and uncomfortable.~ Tanya looked at the Admiral who sat across from her. She was about to protest, but suddenly for some reason or another thought better of herself. Granted a uniform and being part of some silly command chain wasn't her idea of fun, no her idea of fun was 'playing' in the most state of the art laboratories known to mankind, and that came with an admission ticket, of two purple pips and a purple and black jumpsuit. So instead, Tanya's face was unemotional as she looked over at the Admiral and said. "Yes that's acceptable, I would like to thank you for inviting me to Utopia Planitia" she paused, immediately forgetting what 'rank' the person in front of her was, ~hmm, maybe sir'll do it.~ she thought, "sir, I am honoured to be part of this project." <> Tanya nodded as she was turning to leave. "Thank you again." And she and her golden brown case of equipment were gone. ~UNIFORM? RANK? Ha, that's funny~ she thought, wondering exactly how her uniform and rank would fit into the whole grand scheme of things, but those ponderances didn't last very long, because she was soon consumed once again in her world of warp driveless propulsion having all ideas of her new situation in the chain of command and a Starfleet capacity vanish. Inevitably, someone would point out her short comings, and she'd just sigh, smile and nod, and then forget exactly what they'd just said. She didn't have a mind for details of command structure, and other such nonsense, she was a scientist whose sole purpose in life was to make the impossible possible. ~Alright, now... to the labs.~ Tanya looked around herself, suddenly realising that she had no idea how to get to a transporter room. She asked crewmember after crewmember and finally she was given directions to a transporter room on the Starbase. ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, A Transporter Room, Dr. Tanya Dervin, 13.30) ========================================================== Tanya walked in, still carrying her large golden brown case with the greatest of care, and looked at the transport attendant. "Please transport me and this piece of equipment to the Science and research facility. "Um, ma'am, you need a security clearance for that." The transport attendant stated firmly. "Do I look like some riff raff of the street of Jupiter colony?" The woman asked facetious. The transport attendant looked at her and tried not to smile as he thought ~well the possibility had crossed my mind.~ "Ma'am, as far as security protocol is concerned, there should be no beaming of persons that are not currently possessing clearance to that facility for security reasons. It is NOT a tourist attraction." Tanya scowled at the transport attendant. "and do I look like a tourist?" she said evenly. At this point, Dr. Tanya Dervin was dressed in a multicoloured pair of silk flowing pants with a brown top bodice, she had a giant golden brown suitcase in her hand, her red hair flowed in curls tied back in a waterfall and fell just in-between her shoulder blades. She had a strap around her neck that held a device or two, and frankly she did look like a tourist. "Ma'am I'm afraid if you give me any more trouble I'll be forced to call security." "Security?" ~their facility their rules~ she began chanting to herself, seeing that she wasn't going to be gaining admission to the surface anytime soon. "Yes security. Those facilities are for authorized personnel only." the attendant stated. ~Ok, how to play the cards...~ "Ok, lieutenant?" Tanya guessed at his rank. "Ensign." He corrected her. "Whatever, Ensign, mmm, ok, look, I know I look like a civilian, well I am a civilian, I'm not a Starfleet person at all, BUT, I am authorized to be on the planet." The attendant was reaching towards his commbadge, Tanya guessed it was for the purpose of summoning security. ~Great, just great~ "WAIT!" she exploded. The shocked attendant moved his hand back away from his commbadge. "Look at this, does it mean something to you???" Tanya quickly but carefully set down her golden brown case and then proceeded towards the transport attendant with the PADD she'd just been given back from the Vulcan on the OPS deck. The transporter attendant looked through the PADD, these were orders for the civilian in front of him to become the new Warp Technologies Officer. ~SO she is authorized.~ He thought to himself. "Where's your uniform?" he asked her. "LOOK, I just got here, okay, and I wanted to put this somewhere safe," she gestured to the brown case that she was carrying. "I promise I'll get all of that stuff together, soon. But I just came out of that person in the ops deck the one who you give your orders to's office." "The Admiral?" The transporter attendant suggested. Tanya shrugged, "Yes, I think him." She nodded. "Now please Lieutenant-" "Ensign" he corrected her a second time. "whatever." she shrugged dismissively, "Can you please let me go down to the facility so that I may store this there, and then I'll get the uniform and rank stuff all together." ~If I can find someone to tell me how to...~ she wondered, but wasn't drastically concerned, things had a way of resolving themselves. The Ensign sighed. "Alright, but next time have a uniform ok?" Tanya nodded. "yes, I will, I just need to stow this stuff, really, I've not even found out where I'm living yet." The Ensign keyed in the controls as Tanya stepped on the transport pad. "Thank you sir." Tanya said, trying to be polite in the only way she knew how. The Ensign just shook his head as he watched her molecules vanish in a blue haze, she was certainly going to make life interesting for the officers she worked with, either that or they'd throw her off the station within a week. ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, CMO Maxwell - 13.35 ========================================================== The shuttle soon arrived. Deciding that transporting himself was out of the question, Maxwell docked the shuttle, named the USS Otono, and exited heading directly for the Admirals office. He soon found it and quickly hit the 'call' button, patiently waiting. ======================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, Admiral Jopek - 13.35) ========================================================== "Come in.", said Jopek in response to the door chime. A young man came through the door and announced himself. "Dr. Cambridge reporting as ordered, Admiral." Looking at the Human for a moment, the Admiral remembered that Maxwell Cambridge was the Chief Medical Officer and that he was reported on the surface already. "Doctor, welcome aboard, I heard that you were in surgery, nothing too serious I hope? Did you get a chance to have a look at the new Otono Centre? Is there anything you need?" NRPG: Reply from the good CMO! RPG: "Very well, I'll see what I can do, dismissed and thanks for coming to see me." Almost bolting out the door, the CMO didn't waste anytime getting back to work and so did Jopek; he went back to his simulation of the arriving ships. Some of which were nearly complete, some of them weren't nearly space worthy. Once more, his door chime went off. "Lt Commander Eleni Rodos reporting for duty, Sir!" she said. Before the Admiral could reply, a muffled sound, more or less discernible as a mixture of angry Siamese cat yowl and human yell of pain, could be heard through the door. "Is that your cat, Commander?", sniffed the Vulcan. NRPG: Reply from Liz RPG: "Counsellor, welcome aboard. Have a seat, please." Jopek watched Counsellor Rodos cross the room and have seat. "I don't envy your job, Counsellor, this base of Operations has over 100,000 people in it and around it, and their mental health is now your responsibility. You have a large staff and I suggest your beam down to the Otono Medical Centre and sort out your staff and offices." NRPG: Reply from Liz RPG: "Any questions, Commander?", asked the Admiral but before she could answer, a message was beeping away on his terminal and he activated it while the Counsellor was waiting for her leave. 'To all previously address, from Captain Jenna Rulestaad... head of Strategic Operations at Utopia Planitia. I am hereby ordering a staff meeting at 1400 hours to address several concerns. We will meet here at Strategic Operations main centre, you will be expected promptly. Capt. Rulestaad out.' "Come with me, Counsellor - looks like we are scheduled to be elsewhere at 14.00." ========================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, CMO Cambridge - 13.36) ========================================================== "Come in.", said Jopek in response to the door chime. The CMO entered the doorway, careful of his head. "Dr. Cambridge reporting as ordered, Admiral." "Doctor, welcome aboard, I heard that you were in surgery, nothing too serious I hope? Did you get a chance to have a look at the new Otono Centre? Is there anything you need?" Cambridge looked around the office for a moment, distracted as his eyes looked at the man's collections and what not. "We've had a few major injuries. I do have to report that I will end up putting people in upper command positions on a temporary basis. Right now, we don't have any command staff besides me. I have in mind several officers that would do the job until we receive specialized staffing in the area." The doctor quickly pulled out a PADD and handed it over to the Admiral. "I don't intend to fully staff the command section, just have it skeleton crewed and ready to go." "Well, for Assistant Chief in Charge of Surgery, I have Doctor Kenneth Stone. He's been covering that department since the attack." Cambridge nodded. "Understood. Then, I've named three other Assistant Chief's. On in charge of Research on the top floor, one in charge of Overnight Care and the last as a backup/relief." Maxwell smiled, knowing that was the next question coming. "I will in charge of Otono Central, otherwise known as main sickbay. I am also, as usual, responsible for all the medical facilities and reports therein. I will be on call at all times. I intend to visit the outposts as soon as I get a moment as well as run procedures through the officers out there. My next question would be about the sickbay on station here, sir. Is it functional?" ====================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, FLTCO, Admiral Jopek - 13.36) ========================================================== The Doctor was giving his report to the Admiral, so far, the CMO had detailed several transfers that was within his sphere of influence and didn't concern the Admiral too much, but Jopek made a note of them anyway. "My next question would be about the sickbay on station here, sir. Is it functional?", he asked. Pressing a few buttons, the Admiral checked the schedule. "A temporary unit has been fitted by the maintenance teams, but the real one arrives with the fleet tomorrow morning. It will then be beamed into place. I suggest you are on hand tomorrow to oversee its installation." Leaving, Dr. Cambridge seemed happy with the replies. Building a massive facility from the ground up was never going to be easy, for any of them. ========================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, CMO Kurtz - 13.39) ====================================================== "My next question would be about the sickbay on station here, sir. Is it functional?", he asked. Pressing a few buttons, the Admiral checked the schedule. "A temporary unit has been fitted by the maintenance teams, but the real one arrives with the fleet tomorrow morning. It will then be beamed into place. I suggest you are on hand tomorrow to oversee its installation." "Mac" nodded, his eyes checking over the PADD in his hands. He had a medical center to watch over. "I'll be there, watching it every step of the way. Good Day sir..." And with that, Dr. Maxwell Alexander Cambridge moved quickly out the door and into the Starbase. He quickly moved to the port where his medical shuttle was. He sat down in the chair and began to warm the shuttle up. He tuned the COMM to medical frequencies. =^=Injured officer on Starbase Valhalla, massive internal bleeding. Shuttle Erin dispatched, medical staff on scene=^= Cambridge flicked on his lights and began to accelerate out of the port. The end of the workday was closing in and the afternoon injury run was starting. =^=Worker reports two men trapped on pylons, dispatching shuttle Enron, injuries reported.=^= The Shuttle Seahawk accelerated, entering the planet. Quickly, he dropped the shuttle onto the Otono Docks, running from the shuttle. "Chief to all heads. Reports on the 5, I need an idea of how we're handling. End Message." The comm closed and Maxwell rushed into a turbolift. It flew quickly down to the first floor. Cambridge walked out, snapping a PADD out of his side clip. ========================================================== (Starbase TBA, Outside Admiral Jopek's office, COUNS Lt Cmdr Eleni Rodos, 13:40) ========================================================== Eleni looked at the Admiral's aide, and explained her problem. "So if you wouldn't mind holding on to him for me?" she asked, smiling nicely. The aide nodded. "I don't mind, I like cats!" "He's quite well behaved on the whole. Just don't rub his fur the wrong way, he hates that. And if he rolls on his back -" But the rest of her warning was lost as a buzzer sounded. "You should go in now," the aide said. "Thank you. Be good, Tao," Eleni added sternly as she walked to the door. =========================================================== (Starbase TBA, Admiral Jopek's office, COUNS Lt Cmdr Eleni Rodos, 13:41) =========================================================== Eleni walked over to the Vulcan sitting behind the desk and came to attention. "Lt Commander Eleni Rodos reporting for duty, Sir!" she said. Before the Admiral could reply, a muffled sound, more or less discernible as a mixture of angry Siamese cat yowl and human yell of pain, could be heard through the door. ~oops~ ============================================================ (Research facility, Head Office Complex, Dr. Tanya Dervin, 13.42) ============================================================ After beaming down, Tanya had been asked for her clearance or authorization several times. ~Ok, I get the point, one uniform coming up, as soon as I get a free moment~ she thought in annoyance, she simply wanted to store her devi ces in her office. Just as she crossed the threshold of the office complex a young woman came running towards her. "I'm afraid you can't enter there ma'am." Tanya looked at her and sighed, this had been one day of people telling her she couldn't go here or there or there, then after looking at her PADD, they were like ok, but get a uniform SOON. ~So the uniform's the key to this place~ she reasoned. "Look, lieutenant, ensign, commander, whoever, I was told this was my office, I'm sorry I don't have my uniform yet, I'm Dr. Tanya Leigh Dervin and I've just reported in to the" Tanya paused ~what was his rank again?~ "the Admiral" she said slowly, "and I wanted to put this stuff in my office before I got everything in order, it's very sensitive equipment." The young woman's face dropped as she took the proffered PADD. "Ah, Dr. Dervin, welcome. I'm your assistant. Lesia Vetaniauk, please this office is yours." she pointed to one of the offices in the complex. "Thank you Miss Vetaniauk." Tanya said. She was totally unaware that she would be getting an assistant at all. "Please call me Tanya I don't stand on formality... well at least I never did before, although apparently there's some getting used to I've got to do." she looked at Lesia's wearing of a Starfleet style uniform that was purple and had a grey turtleneck underneath. Tanya walked into her office, but just as she was entering she almost ran into another officer. "By the stars of Zeilous prime." she exclaimed. <> "Oh, hello, I'm Dr. Tanya Dervin." she answered. "I understand we will be working together." <> "Oh, excuse me, I've just got to put this in my office, it's terribly heavy, and I've been carting it around for a long time." Tanya said as she moved towards her office. Finally she was able to set it down, it had arrived, safe and sound. Tanya smiled. But that smile turned into a frown, as she looked at the monitor on her desk, it had a blinking light. Tanya tapped it. "Computer play message" Tanya directed. A woman's voice filled Tanya's office ~JUST GREAT... a staff meeting... and not even for my staff.~ Tanya rolled her eyes. "Computer time" she called out. Tanya rolled her eyes. She rushed back out to the main area and looked for her assistant again. "Um, Miss Vetaniauk" she called. "Yes," the voice answered from behind her, Tanya jumped almost a foot not expecting a voice behind her so soon. "I need to get to a staff meeting in, Strategic Operations main centre, how do I get there fast?" Tanya listened as Lesia gave her the instructions on where to go. "Fantastic." Tanya said as she began to hurry out the door. "Hey can you make sure no one goes in my office while I'm gone." Tanya called back. Lesia just shook her head after Tanya ~right, and she thinks security is a problem...this is going to be one interesting assignment~ Lesia thought. =================================================================== (Mars, Research Facility, Head Office Complex, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 13:45) =================================================================== Steve left his office in a rush he wanted to get as much information together as he could before a meeting called by a captain Rulestaad, at the same time that he started to make preparations for the upgrading of any ships which arrived for a refit or upgrade. ~ Why didn't this captain give me time to prepare for this bloody meeting, ~ he was thinking to himself as he almost collided with a woman who was rushing towards another office, "By the stars of Zeilous prime." She exclaimed. "Sorry about that, we both seemed to be in a rush," he then offered her his hand, "I'm Lt Steve Newton," "Oh, hello, I'm Dr. Tanya Dervin." she answered. "I understand we will be working together." "Yes we will doctor, and I for one am looking forward to working with you." "Oh, excuse me, I've just got to put this in my office, it's terribly heavy, and I've been carting it around for a long time." Tanya said as she moved towards her office. With that Steve made his way over to his assistant office to get a list of current projects and how they were all progressing. =================================================================== (Otono Medical Center, CMO Kurtz - 13.48) =============================================================== "Computer, message to all department heads. Begin." The CMO walked down the halls towards on of his many offices, this one located in Otono Central. "This is the Chief Medical Officer, just letting you all know that we're are starting several new programs here at Otono. One, we will be working with your officers should they get sick. By tomorrow, and I say tomorrow with all hope, we will have sickbay facilities on the Starbase. This station will deal with critical cases. After that point, they will most likely transferred down here to Otono if it is required. Second, I would request you reinforce safety to your crews, as we have dealt with more injuries today than I like to see. Third, I will expect to see ALL of you, and I mean Chief's, for a physical as soon as possible, with me.. That's an order. Fourth, that is all. Have a nice night. End message. Deliver in text to all heads of departments." There was a beep and the message went through. Arriving at his office, the CMO sat down in the circular dome and checked his roster over. Doctor Jamie Turnsil, Interim ACMO Research and Development, Otono Discovery Centre. Doctor Kenneth Stone, Interim ACMO Surgery, Otono Storm Centre. Doctor Nathan Duytsa, Interim ACMO Otono Care. Doctor Rhea Lyoit, Interim ACMO, available. Until he had more permanent staffing, this would be who would be under his command. They had all been notified the day before he had arrived and most were working in their departments. Cambridge understood how hard it was to shift from one part of the Otono building to another. There was a beep and "Mac" sighed. The reports were coming in from the department chiefs. Lyoit entered the office. She was 5'2, a small officer next to the 6'5 Chief. "Doctor Rhea Lyoit sir. Reporting." Cambridge looked up. She was 36, a new doctor to the fleets. She was a pixie, her eyes bright blue, her freckles dabbed across her nose and cheeks. "Welcome aboard Doctor, take a seat." Cambridge ran over the figures. Several thousand had come through getting physicals, checking out illness and generally getting simple help. The outposts had handled the demand well, but the absence of the Starbase facility was glaring. Tomorrow was another day. "Well, shall we start rounds?" Rhea looked puzzled. "Rounds...ah hell, just follow me." =================================================================== (Mars, Main Administration Complex - Strategic Operations, Conference Room 1, Admiral Jopek - 1402) =================================================================== They beamed into the large complex just outside the main conference room, as they entered, Jopek caught site of Captain Rulestaad, preparing for her meeting. The Admiral took position near the back of the room. "Counselor, why don't you go and introduce yourself and head for the front of the room?" As she left, Jopek waited for the briefing to begin. =================================================================== (Starbase TBA, Strategic Operations main centre, Dr. Tanya Dervin, 14.05) =================================================================== Tanya ran into the corridor just outside the main ops centre. She took a second to catch her breath before she stepped in. ==================================================================== (Mars, Main Administration Complex - Strategic Operations, Conference Room 1 - Capt. Rulestaad/ Dr Dervin - 1410) ==================================================================== Jenna tapped her fingers against the table, very lightly, as the rest of the people in the conference room looked bored. There were two people missing, the head of Warp Technologies and Advanced Science. Everyone else had shown on time, if not early. With no warning, the outer door slid open and Jenna caught sight of an Ensign pointing the way in. However, what walked in was not what Jenna had expected in her Wildest Dreams. Tanya rushed into the room that some lieutenant or commander or ensign or whatever, someone in a gold uniform had shown her to it. She walked in briskly, her head high and her hair cascading down her back. Jenna sat forward in her chair, and in a calm voice that belied the anger she was feeling said, "Who are you, and what are you doing in MY Strategic Ops center in that attire, with that attitude and," She checked the chronometer, "This late, if you are supposed to be here." Tanya looked at the woman who obviously by her conduct attire and demeanor had to be in charge, either that or, Tanya reasoned, she was planning some form of glactic domination. "I am Dr. Tanya Dervin," Tanya began figuring that she did owe somewhat of an apology for her lateness. "My apologies for my tardiness." she stated crisply. ~Civilian, Dr Dervin.~ "Dr Dervin, of Warp Technologies I assume. Just arrived, I do hope you are not planning on making this example of your character the model for how all your days here at Utopia Planitia will be. There are rules and regulations that even people with Temporary rank must follow, as I am assuming you were commissioned already." She raised an eyebrow, and gestured to a seat with some impatience. Tanya nodded. "Yes, Warp Technologies." she answered watching the woman infront of her as she spoke. Tanya noticed that she had pointed ears and no doubt had vulcan blood running through her veins. "I assure you tardiness and unpreparedness is not customary to my character, neither is failure, but I do not control the scheduling and layout of this establishment and so in this case have found myself prey to its will." She stated with an air of confidence as she sat in the indicated position. Jenna was unimpressed. "You were invited, and accepted, the chance to become... 'prey to its will'. I suggest you become aquatinted with Starfleet procedure in regards to temporary commission, before the day is out." Tanya regarded the woman as she spoke with disdain. She felt her own eyes narrow and felt her stomach churn. ~Ok, think fast....ah!~ Tanya looked the woman directly in the eye, and with discernible facial expression spouted off, "Yes, sir" evenly. Jenna nodded slightly, then turned from her to the rest of the group. "We will give our wayward department head five more minutes, before I send a security team after him." =============================================================== (Mars, Main Admission Complex, Strategic Operations, Conference room 1, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 14:15) =============================================================== He entered the conference room and looked around for the fool of a captain who had organized a meeting so close to his arrival and saw the fire and anger in her eyes. It had been a long time since he had attended a meeting like this, most of the meetings at the academy had been a lot more relax, maybe he had gone soft during that period. ~ but I've still only had an hour or so to get the data together. ~ "Sorry for being late sir," he said as he stood to attention =============================================================== (Mars, MMC - Strategic Operations, CR 1 - Capt. Jenna Rulestaad - 1415) =============================================================== "Sorry for being late sir," Jenna put her hands on the table before her, looked at the empty seat next to Dr. Dervin, then looked back at him. *THIS* was an officer in the Fleet, not someone with a temporary commission. This was a man who should have known better. ~It is people like this that cause the Federation problems. I hope he is a better scientist then he is Starfleet officer.~ NRPG: No hard feelings, Sean... just how she is :O) RPG: She folded her hands together as the Lt took his seat. Also in attendance was a woman in Blues that had the pips for Lt Commander and Admiral Jopek, both of which were a surprise to her. This was just a preliminary meeting for the rebuilding of the defense fleet near Sol, but with the power here, they could quite likely take it further. She stood up, and assumed her vulcan calm before the group. "Welcome to Strategic Operations." she said simply. "You are, all with the exception of the Admiral and Commander there, " she gestured to Jopek and the woman in blues. "either intimately tied to the defense of the Federation and Sol system, or scientists and engineers." She looked at the entire head council of the Advanced Technology unit, made up of the heads of Engineering, Science and Warp Development. She then moved her eyes to the head of Yard and Orbital Operations. Her eyes darted past the head of Tactical Command, and laid to rest briefly on Admiral Jopek. "As you may or might not know, Utopia Planitia has been tasked with rebuilding the Mars Defense Parameter. "This might sound mundane, or like a minor challenge. However, what we had before is not good enough, we are not merely going to rebuild what we had before. New weapons, vessels, procedures... all have to be created." She leaned forward to the table, and pushed a button. A small clip from one of the tactical cameras on the Firebrande started playing. And the view was that of the destruction of the shipyards months previously, with no editing. Nothing was cut out, the sheer destruction of the shipyards was shown to everyone who looked at it. While it played, Jenna said "What was before had passed away. It has been tested with fire and war and found lacking. I have been personally charged with protecting this station and Sol system in general, and I was ordered not to fail." She broke her vulcan calm for the first time by slapping the table hard. "And I will NOT fail!" She slipped back into her chair again, like a wraith, and folded her hands together before her again, back in perfect calm. "This is a preliminary meeting, with you... the heads of development and defense. We will be working close for the next few months, working to create a system of defense that is absolutely second to none." She looked at the three members of the Advanced Technologies unit. "You are the developers, you design and create technologies. You are going to be playing one of the biggest parts." She paused, and started tapping her firstfingers together. "Between the three of you, you command more genius in creation and science then anywhere else in the Federation. It is up to you, to properly motivate your departments." (reply TSO, WTO if desired) She looked at the Yard and Orbital Ops officer. "You build the vessels, you protect them until they are ready to be born and test their wings. I will require of you, secrecy and the utmost quality. This is our homes we are protecting... not just a shipyard." She looked at everyone, "I say that again. We are building the MDP, which is Sol System Defense! The same defense which failed badly when Earth was attacked in the Dominion war, the same defense that failed when a mere splinter group attacked and practically destroyed Utopia Planitia. We are protecting people, and planets. Our government is in this system...." "We are doing nothing less then safeguarding the Federation itself, and all the Federation stands for." She broke off, and sat strait backed into her chair. "Are their any questions thus far, or may we begin?" =============================================================== (Mars, Main Admission Complex, Strategic Operations, Conference room 1, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 14:17) =============================================================== "Sorry for being late sir," he said as he stood to attention He thought that he could see a flash of anger in her eyes, but choose to ignore her for a start she outranked him and he didn't want to start of badly with anyone that he would have to work closely with. Her face seemed to become calm as she started the meeting, ""Welcome to Strategic Operations." she said simply. "You are, all with the exception of the Admiral and Commander there, " she gestured to Jopek and the woman in blues. "either intimately tied to the defense of the Federation and Sol system, or scientists and engineers." She then looked around at all their colleagues in the room and Steve took her lead and looked at the other officers who were in the room. "As you may or might not know, Utopia Planitia has been tasked with rebuilding the Mars Defense Parameter." "This might sound mundane, or like a minor challenge. However, what we had before is not good enough, we are not merely going to rebuild what we had before. New weapons, vessels, procedures... all have to be created." He watched the video of the attack by the Jem'Hadar fraction who had attacked the yards only a few months earlier, it brought back memories of the battles he had been involved in and the many comrades he had lost during the recent Dominion war. "What was before had passed away. It has been tested with fire and war and found lacking. I have been personally charged with protecting this station and Sol system in general, and I was ordered not to fail." ~ The whole Federation was tested by fire and war, but we survived and I don't want to ever be involved in such a desperate fight...... ~ his own thoughts were interrupted as she banged the table. ""And I will NOT fail!" She then seemed to become calm again as she slid back into her chair, ""This is a preliminary meeting, with you... the heads of development and defense. We will be working close for the next few months, working to create a system of defense that is absolutely second to none." She then looked at him and his two other colleagues responsible for the development of new technologies, ""You are the developers, you design and create technologies. You are going to be playing one of the biggest parts." She paused, and started tapping her first fingers together. "Between the three of you, you command more genius in creation and science then anywhere else in the Federation. It is up to you, to properly motivate your departments." "Captain, you have no need to worry about motivation, I fought in the Dominion war and lost many colleagues again and I am well aware of what Starfleet wants. Some systems will be able to come on-line then others and all I ask for is patience, as we will not rush though incomplete systems. ""You build the vessels, you protect them until they are ready to be born and test their wings. I will require of you, secrecy and the utmost quality. This is our homes we are protecting... not just a shipyard." ""I say that again. We are building the MDP, which is Sol System Defense! The same defense which failed badly when Earth was attacked in the Dominion war, the same defense that failed when a mere splinter group attacked and practically destroyed Utopia Planitia. We are protecting people, and planets. Our government is in this system...." "We are doing nothing less then safeguarding the Federation itself, and all the Federation stands for." ~ This should be nothing more then our last line of defense. ~ She sat back down again and asked, ""Are their any questions thus far, or may we begin?" Not exactly a question sir, but an observation. The problem with the Mars defense zone is that the defense of Earth wasn't a high priority until the first Borg invasion in 2367. If we are to defend Sol system we need to reconsider everything from the design of new sensors to the deployment of Starfleet vessels." He then turned his attention to the Admiral, "sir, we should also consider the deployment of any system defense strategies that we develop for the Sol system for the star systems of other major Federation members such as the Vulcan." He sat back down and wondered how Jopek and the captain who was clearly under stress would reply. =============================================================== (Mars, MMC, Strategic Operations, Dr. Tanya Leigh Dervin, 14.16) =============================================================== Tanya sat in silence watching the 'queen' as she conducted her meeting. Someone else was late as well, but somehow, they didn't get as hard a time as Tanya had. She watched carefully as the woman who presided over the Strat Ops department sat down, briefly, before standing to begin her meeting. "Welcome to Strategic Operations." she said simply. "You are all, with the exception of the Admiral and Commander there," she gestured to a woman in a blue uniform and the Vulcan that Tanya had met earlier on in the day. The meeting conductor continued, "either intimately tied to the defense of the Federation and Sol system, or scientists and engineers." The woman glared around the room. Tanya was bored, her mind was wandering, she could think of nothing better to do except to be setting up her lab, but instead she was in a meeting, and after this meeting she would waste more time as she had to get a uniform of sorts, and then do whatever else to become 'protocol acceptable'. She sighed. "As you may or might not know, Utopia Planitia has been tasked with rebuilding the Mars Defense Perimeter. This might sound mundane, or like a minor challenge. However what we had before is not good enough, we are not merely going to rebuild what we had before. New weapons, vessels, procedures... all have to be created." ~Yes, and perhaps we could create some of them if we weren't stuck in this meeting..~ Tanya thought irratatedly. But then the woman pressed a button and the entire room fell silent as everyone watched the destruction of the previous fleet. It made Tanya's stomach churn. ~That is awful~ The woman continued speaking. "What was before had passed away. It has been tested with fire and war and found lacking. I have been personally charged with protecting this station and Sol system in general, and I was ordered not to fail." And then she slapped the table with an emotional outburst that was extremely uncommon amongst Vulcans. "And I will NOT fail!" ~I think her uniform is too tight~ Tanya reasoned ~if I put one on, is it going to make me that irrational?~ Not that Tanya condoned failure, as a matter of fact, she did not tolerate it either, for one instant, but there was something about this woman who was conducting the meeting, that made Tanya think for sure that something was too tight somewhere and that there was a superfluous amount of blood rushing to her brain causing her to be irrational, and really uptight. The woman sat. "This is a preliminary meeting, with you... the heads of development and defense. We will be working close for the next few months, working to create a system of defense is absolutely second to none." "You," the woman said as she looked at the members of the Advanced Tech unit, "are the developers, you design and create technologies. You are going to be playing one of the biggest parts." The woman paused "Between the three of you, you command more genius in creation and science then anywhere else in the Federation. It's up to you to properly motivate your departments." ~Great, motivational factor number one, NO MORE STAFF MEETINGS~ Tanya thought, but kept her ideas and thoughts and boredom firmly in check. Whilst she began to run simulations in her head and think of things that she wanted to do. However the TSO had something to contribute. "Captain, you have no need to worry about motivation, I fought in the Dominion war and lost many colleagues again and I am well aware of what Starfleet wants. Some systems will be able to come on-line then others and all I ask for is patience, as we will not rush though incomplete systems." Tanya nodded, the TSO had a point, Tanya hadn't considered the possibility that they would be rushed through their work. That would simply be unacceptable. The woman continued, "You build the vessels, you protect them until they are ready to be born and test their wings. I will require of you, secrecy and the utmost quality. This is our homes we are protecting.... not just a shipyard." She looked at everyone, "I say that again. We are building the MDP, which is Sol System Defense! The same defense which failed badly when Earth was attacked in the Dominion war, the same defense that failed when a mere splinter group attacked and practically destroyed Utopia Planitia. We are protecting people, and planets. Our government is in this system...." "We are doing nothing less then safeguarding the Federation itself, and all the Federation stands for." She broke off, and sat back harshly into her chair. "Are their any questions thus far, or may we begin?" Again the TSO spoke up; "Not exactly a question sir, but an observation. The problem with the Mars defense zone is that the defense of Earth wasn't a high priority until the first Borg invasion in 2367. If we are to defend Sol system we need to reconsider everything from the design of new sensors to the deployment of Starfleet vessels." He then turned towards the Admiral, "sir, we should also consider the deployment of any system defense strategies that we develop for the Sol system for the star systems of other major Federation members such as the Vulcan." Tanya watched the TSO's question, but in all truth, she really didn't have a mind for this sort of stratagisticbabble she was there for one purpose to develop starships and other technologies, and if they'd continue to keep her in this meeting which regarded the safety of the universe, she was never going to get anything done. =============================================================== (Mars, MMC, Strategic Operations, CR 1, FLTCO, Admiral Jopek - 14.20) =============================================================== Captain Rulestaad has begun her introduction and had broken off to take questions. The TSO, Lt. Newton wanted to contribute. "Not exactly a question sir, but an observation. The problem with the Mars defense zone is that the defense of Earth wasn't a high priority until the first Borg invasion in 2367. If we are to defend Sol system we need to reconsider everything from the design of new sensors to the deployment of Starfleet vessels." Turning to face the Admiral, Steve continued. "Sir, we should also consider the deployment of any system defense strategies that we develop for the Sol system for the star systems of other major Federation members such as the Vulcan." "I agree, Lieutenant, but this is Captain Rulestaad briefing. Rest assured, she will be talking to you, getting your ideas, plans and suggestions at a later date, for now, let's finish this preliminary briefing as we all have a lot of work to do.", said Admiral Jopek. =============================================================== (Mars, MMC, Strategic Operations, CR 1, Captain Rulestaad - 14.20) =============================================================== "Not exactly a question sir, but an observation. The problem with the Mars defense zone is that the defense of Earth wasn't a high priority until the first Borg invasion in 2367. If we are to defend Sol system we need to reconsider everything from the design of new sensors to the deployment of Starfleet vessels." Turning to face the Admiral, the science officer continued. "Sir, we should also consider the deployment of any system defense strategies that we develop for the Sol system for the star systems of other major Federation members such as the Vulcan." "I agree, Lieutenant, but this is Captain Rulestaad briefing. Rest assured, she will be talking to you, getting your ideas, plans and suggestions at a later date, for now, let's finish this preliminary briefing as we all have a lot of work to do.", Rulestaad considered for a moment, then nodded. "I believe, Lieutenant, that you caught the gist of my entire point. Everything has to change, be it by redesign or from scratch." She tapped her knuckles on the table. "Weapons, shields, sensors, intersystem warp and engine design... everything needs to be re-evaluated. Which is the very first thing I am ordering, a strategic evaluation with Advanced Technologies imput, to see what can be done in the quickest possible timetable and still be acceptable to the situation." She paused and considered for a moment. :"Handling strategy and coordinating with other star systems is my part in this stage of the endeavor, and is already being handled." She crossed her hands before her. "You have an uncommonly clear mind for a pure scientist, but don't let that go to your head." she sternly warned. =============================================================== (Starbase TBA, Science Lab, CSO, Lt Brannigan, 1500) =============================================================== NRPG: Guys, I was thinking that because one of the first Earth vehicles to visit Mars was the Viking lander, would 'Starbase Valhalla' be too much? RPG: Drew finally managed to get out of the hustle and bustle of the Operations room. After getting his gear stowed in his quarters an checking the layout of the station he set off to check out the facilities offered by this new posting. He entered the Science Lab and got a few welcoming nods from the Science officers already at work there. He introduced himself to his staff, gave the usual perky speech and asked each of them for 110% effort. Then he went into *his* lab, what would become in the future, his sanctum sanctorum. The centre of the room is dominated by a large workbench with a raised central dais. Inset are several display panels, currently blank, that can be modified to run analyses, display works in progress or simple inventories or diagnostic displays. On each of the four walls of the room are mounted other monitors and display panels. They are arranged on adjustable platforms so that they could be accessed in either the seated or standing positions. Although it is a small area to work in (and one Drew prefers) it is by no means cramped. It is tiny when compared to the main laboratory, which, is much larger. In addition to the installation of wall-mounted display panels and control stations, there are a number of freestanding work consoles dedicated to specific scientific functions. Accessed by a single sliding door from the main laboratory there is an adjoining second room. This room contains a high security isolation chamber for the more dangerous experiments or for study of dangerous materials. This room contains a number of specialized scientific equipment, including a circular high-intensity forcefield generation unit. Sitting at the central workstation in his lab Drew called up the details of the currently on-going projects on the myriad display screens. As he sat there glancing, but not actually looking at the screens, he recalled the Admiral's words from their earlier meeting. "As CSO, I need you to co-ordinate the teams on this station as well as the Scientific activities in the rest of the facilities in orbit, all 29 of them. You are going to have to co-ordinate with the Theoretical Science Officer as well, but, while he is handling development of starship advances for the next generation of ships, I want you to work on the facilities we currently have, see what we have to work with and get your teams working on what they might need, and start developing it." He quickly accessed the Fleet Yards' duty roster and found the name he searched for. He accessed the comms and put a call through to the Mars Research Facility. =/\= Lt Brannigan to Lt Newton. Would you care to have a late lunch with me to get acquainted? I believe we will be working together here. =/\= ============================================================ (utopia planitia,outside admirals office,acmo ensign(jg) lesley summers,15:00hrs) ============================================================ lesley took a deep breath it took sometime to get out of the academy but she was finally here. ~ i hope i don't make a fool of myself on my first day ~ she knocked and waited for a reply she heard some one said "enter" she then walked in ============================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, FLTCO, Admiral Jopek - 15.00) ============================================================ "ACMO Ensign Lesley Summers reporting for duty.", said the new arrival. "Ensign, welcome aboard.", the Admiral said as he looked over the duty schedule. "ACMO, excellent. the CMO was in earlier, please go and report to him, Lt. Cambridge is probably back on the surface at the Otono Medical Centre, he will get you started, any problems, let me know." NRPG: Any questions? RPG: "Very well, Dismissed then Ensign.", said the Admiral, going back to work. ============================================================ (Mars, Research Complex, Admin section, TSO Office, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 15:03) ============================================================ He was feeling exhausted, it had been a long first day what with the flight out to Mars from Earth and the information he had try to cram into his mind during the tour of their facility and then their was the meeting. He had just finished replicating a cup of Erle grey when his comm badge beeped. =/\= Lt Brannigan to Lt Newton. Would you care to have a late lunch with me to get acquainted? I believe we will be working together here. =/\= That name seemed familiar so he made his way over to his terminal which displayed the Lt's detail. ~ His the CSO, hopefully this will allow me to relax. ~ "I would imagine that it's extremely likely that we will be working together and would very much like to have lunch with you. Where and when would you like to meet?" ============================================================= (Starbase Valhalla, CSO, Lt Drew Brannigan, 1503) ============================================================= =/\= I would imagine that it's extremely likely that we will be working together and would very much like to have lunch with you. Where and when would you like to meet? =/\= =/\= Actually, I have not been to Mars in some time. I would like to come down and visit the old place again, if that's ok by you? How does right now sound? =/\= Drew was delighted that he would be meeting his colleague in an informal setting. He found that they tended to produce better working relationships, friendships and trust than the stiff formality of business lunches. He also hated that! Whenever possible Drew had meetings, even staff meetings as the need arose, around food. He found that he informal setting put people at ease that bit quicker and that the best results came from a team that was relaxed and happy. He knew, as did every Starfleet officer, that theirs was a very dangerous and stress-filled job - moreso here at Utopia Planitia. Especially now, in light of the recent devastation. Drew brought nothing with him to the transporter room. He didn't want to be encumbered with padds. =================================================================== (utopia planitia,outside admirals office,acmo ensign(jg) lesley summers,15:03hrs) =================================================================== she walked across the room to the table where the admiral was sitting. "acmo ensign lesley summers reporting for duty" =================================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, acmo,lesley summers - 15.04) =================================================================== "ACMO Ensign Lesley Summers reporting for duty.", said the new arrival. "Ensign, welcome aboard.", the Admiral said as he looked over the duty schedule. "ACMO, excellent... the CMO was in earlier, please go and report to him, Lt. Cambridge is probably back on the surface at the Otono Medical Centre, he will get you started, any problems, let me know." "Very well, Dismissed then Ensign.", said the Admiral, going back to work. "thankyou sir" leslwy said she then turned and left.she made her way to the Otono Medical Centre. =================================================================== (Mars, Research Complex, Admin section, TSO Office, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 15:04) =================================================================== "I would imagine that it's extremely likely that we will be working together and would very much like to have lunch with you. Where and when would you like to meet?" =/\= Actually, I have not been to Mars in some time. I would like to come down and visit the old place again, if that's ok by you? How does right now sound? =/\= "That sounds like a good idea, I will meet you shortly. Newton out." ================================================================ (Mars, Research Complex Transporter Room, CSO Lt Drew Brannigan, 1505) ================================================================ The transporter pattern coalesced on the padd and Drew found himself once again on Mars. He had not been here since his Academy days and looked forward to see the changes. A Lieutenant approached him as he stepped off the padd. " Lieutenant Newton I presume? I am Lt Brannigan. Call me Drew! How are you? " ==================================================================== (Mars, Research Complex, Admin section, TSO Office, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 15:07) ===================================================================== He entered the transporter room just as the transporter cycle ended, he made his over to greet the Lt as he stepped of the pad assuming that he was Utopia yards CSO. " Lieutenant Newton I presume? I am Lt Brannigan. Call me Drew! How are you?" "Pleasure to meet you Drew, you may call me Steve. We are currently in the research complex, we could either eat here in the officers mess or we could leave the complex and head towards one of the colonies?" ====================================================================== (otono medical centre,cmo office , acmo, lesley summers - 15.30) ====================================================================== she buzzed the bell and waited until someone said "enter" "acmo lesley summers reporting for duty sir" leslay said ====================================================================== (Otono Medical Centre, CMO Office CMO Maxwell Cambridge - 15.30) =================================================================== Lieutenant Maxwell Alexander Cambridge sat his desk, working through personal shifts and trying to make sense of all the reports that had come in the last half hour. Most had been from the Starbase informing him they were already having problems with the power and connections that had seemed fine before the installation. For now, there was not much they could do, but make a bug list for the Engineers to deal with and work on. Cambridge had heard a CEO had been assigned to the station, or something to that effect, but he hadn't any time to find out. Add to that the injuries coming in from workers who were just starting their jobs for the first time and it became one hell of a day. =^= Verano Medical Centre to Chief Cambridge!-^= They had taken to calling her that, to supplement the Otono Medical Centre. He opened the channel. =^=Sir, we've had another power brownout. We're trying to do our best up here, but this is getting insane! =^= "I agree Ensign. I'll get engineering on the horn immediately. Mac out." Mac sat back and sighed deeply. He'd heard his was getting an Assistant Chief Medical officer, but he hadn't seen or heard of the person since the report made its way to him when had been on the station early this morning. Suddenly the door beeped. Maxwell sighed deeply, hoping this wasn't another problem. "Enter..." A young woman entered the room. She was short, but cute. "ACMO Lesley Summers reporting for duty sir" "Welcome aboard Ensign. Welcome to Otono Medical Centre. Have you found it to be your liking so far?" Cambridge nodded. "Well, if you're ready for duty I would like to start you off in Otono Central..." "Well, what I want you to do is to take charge of it for today. Mostly what I have Assistant Chief's do is to take charge of a department. You will be able to handle it, correct?" "I have no doubt in your abilities. Report there as soon as you can. You will find Doctor Rhea Lyoit there, you can relieve her and get reports from here. Any questions/" After he had answered the officer's questions, he dismissed her, turning his attention back to the mountain of reports. ====================================================================== (Utopia Planitia - Approaching Starbase Valhalla, Runabout 112-7B - Ensign Ralth Ra'Kir - 2378.08.16 1700) ====================================================================== Ralth sat in the runabouts comfortable pilot chair, staring at the approaching figure of Starbase Valhalla. It was a massive creation, not dwarfed in the least by the huge starship construction yards that could take a Galaxy-class vessel whole. ~Well, at least the accommodations will be nice.~ Ralth mused to himself. ~An installation of that size must have good recreational facilities. Of course, It's a base and not a starship, but it's a start. I just wish I knew what they were thinking. It's frustrating not to be able to take the command courses and advanced training, and maybe one day get a starship to command. I wonder if I'm just being shoveled off to a boring assignment, if they only wanted to get rid of me?~ Ralths hands twitched on the controls, but he took a deep breath, forcing himself to think before jumping to conclusions. ~No, if my grades were too low I'd not been 'turbolifted' to ensign and sent to an assistant position. They probably believe I'll learn all I need here, on the job. But why...~ The realization opened his eyes wide. He was running blind! Even Starfleet didn't know what kind of skills might be required of him on this position, and so they had not trained him as an engineer or operations expert or security, just in case those skills and training would be wasted on this assignment. They just took him, looking at his non-Starfleet acquired skills and his basic scores and had been assured that he'd be able to handle all that would be required of him. His face lit up in a smile, realizing that the Starfleet had trusted him with an important position and held faith in him to succeed in it. He suddenly had to resist the urge to spin the runabout in a tight spin of joy and to almost bite his tongue to keep from yowling out a triumphant cry. He sobered instantly as he realized his mistake. ~I'm not going to make this assignment at all if I can't keep my emotions in check. Now look sharp, Ensign. No use of getting all hyped up about a job of piling PADD's and checking production reports.~ His mantra of self-reproach was cut short by the beep of the comm. =^= Runabout 112-7B, this is Valhalla control. Your landing pattern is clear. You are cleared to land on bay 3. Please be advised that levels (insert levels) are restricted to key personnel only. Welcome to Utopia Planitia. =^= The voice over the comm was distinctively female, deep and almost purring. Ralth made a mental note to check if whoever was his flight operator might be a Caitian too. He clicked open the comm channel. =^= Valhalla control, this is runabout 112-7B, I copy. We are in pattern and approaching. See you on deck. =^= Smiling lightly Ralth set the runabout to the landing pad and walked out, giving the PADD detailing the ships needed recalibrations to the engineers who came to take care of the ship. ~One task down, about a thousand new ones to come.~ Taking a note to refresh the starbases floorplan from a nearby terminal and headed out towards nearest turbolift. =============================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, Weapons Control Room - 17:29) =============================================================== Dario had spent the better part of six hours touring the inhabital areas of Starbase Valhalla. With a keen eye he had gone over every detail from a security poit of view, he did not like what he had seen at all. Sure, the basic procedures were being adhered to and the security forces were stationed where they were supposed to be, but that just simply wasn't enough. It wasn't enough three months ago when the rogue Dominion sabouters had struck so it sure wasn't enough now. Giving a heavy sigh, Dario decided it was time to eat. Then perhaps he could vent some frustration in the gym. =============================================================== (Utopia Planitia - Starbase Valhalla, Command staff offices, outside Admiral Jopek's office - Ensign Ralth Ra'Kir - 1800) =============================================================== ~Well, here goes nothing.~ Ralth suppressed his hands urge to shake as he pressed the doorchime, but his tail lashing agitatedly was hardly unnoticeable. "Enter." The voice from inside was utterly Vulcan, every unnecessary piece of emotion clipped away leaving speech a simple communication channel. The door slipped open and Ralth entered, coming to attention immediately. "Ensign Ralth Ra'Kir reporrting for duty, Sir!" ================================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office, FLTCO, Admiral Jopek - 18.00) ================================================================ "Enter.", said the Admiral. Starfleet had indicated that the new round of new officers were going to be reporting in, and the unknown cat-like who came through the door was unknown to the Admiral. "Ensign Ralth Ra'Kir reporting for duty, Sir!" Accessing his computer, Jopek quickly ascertained the status of the new Ensign. "Welcome to Starbase Valhalla, Ensign, I see here you are assigned as our Assistant Operations Officer. Starfleet has told me that the Operations Officer, Lt. Martin Black, will arrive tomorrow morning with a fleet of 15 ships that have been undergoing construction at Earth." "This station is only partly built, most decks aren't even close to being ready. However, as soon as we the majority of the crew onboard, we can get on with the hard work of making it complete." Jopek stepped out of his chair and headed to the other side of the desk. "Ensign, get some rest. All senior officers from the fleet will be reporting here at about 09.00, report back here then." NRPG: Any reply from our new AOPS is welcome! RPG: "Dismissed, carry on Ensign.", said the Admiral, returning to his desk. A short time later, another preverbal knock at the Admiral's door had another new Ensign entering the CO's office. "Ensign Taz River, Assistant Chief Engineering Officer reporting for duty, Sir." "Ensign, welcome aboard.", he said and after a moment of checking his computer, the Admiral continued. "Indeed, you are the new ACEO; very good, the majority of the station is not operational at this time, you are going to be very busy in the coming weeks and months Ensign, but its late, so find your quarters. I'll be down to engineering tomorrow and I expect a preliminary report on the station's facilities." "Any questions Ensign?" NRPG: Anything? RPG: "Very well, dismissed Ensign.", said the Admiral, once more turning to his computer screen to update the roster once more. Before a few moments passed, the door chime went off once more. "Come.", said Jopek. "Ensign Anne Therriault reporting for duty, sir.", reported the new Ensign. "At ease, Ensign.", said the Admiral, consulting his computer. "Ah, you are the new Theoretical Engineering Officer, very good, Ensign." Standing once more, the Admiral headed over to his couch and offered a seat to the new Ensign (Senior Grade). "Ensign, as the TEO, you have a massive brief in front of you, you have facilities on the Martian surface that are second-to-none, you have a dedicated team of Engineers and you have the brief of designing new ships, and a great deal of the ship systems that we produce here at Utopia Planitia." "Get to know the WTO - Warp Technologies Officer and the TSO - Theoretical Science Officer, your teams will be working closely together. Now, that's enough of that, you probably want to get on to your offices. I expect a report on your projects and what you have planned. Oh yes, we have 15 starships arriving from Earth tomorrow, all in various states of repair and construction, you should also get together with the Operations Officer." "So, I will see you tomorrow, Ensign. dismissed for now.", said the Admiral, standing up. NRPG: Anything from the TEO? RPG: A little later on, another visitor to the Admiral was at the door. "Come in.", he said. "Cadet Nauen Reporting for duty, Sir!" "Welcome, you are an Ensign now, Mr. Nauen.", said the Admiral, correcting the Ensign while he was checking his roster. "I see you are our new Assistant Security Chief, good. please report to Lt. Marsland, the chief of Security, he'll be around and he will get you started. That can wait till tomorrow, Ensign, settle in first." "Any questions, Ensign?", asked the Admiral looking up once more. NRPG: Anything from the ASC/TAC? RPG: "Dismissed then Ensign." The Admiral stood up and headed back into Operations to see what was going on; at the moment, it felt like the quiet before the storm. ================================================================ (VALHALLA: Main Ops, Ensign Therriault - 18:00) ================================================================ The newly promoted Ensign Anne Therriault stepped off of the shuttle, valise over her shoulder, and looked around her new home. It was her first time on a space station, or even in space, and she felt overwhelmed by thought of all those people in such a small space. An ensign stepped up in front of her, "Ensign Therriault?" The redhead grimaced as she listened to the young man butcher the pronunciation of her name, "It's Therriault. Terry-ault." "I apologize. The admiral requested that I show you to his office." "That's fine. Thank you." He turned and began to walk quickly away and the young woman had to hurry to catch up with him. During the walk, she tried to make small talk, but the young man was sullen and barely spoke a word to her. She finally gave up and followed the young man in silence. ~I hope everyone isn't as stoic and quiet as this guy!~ she thought to herself. The ensign stopped at a door and motioned towards it, "This is the Admiral's office." He pressed a button on the keypad beside the door and a voice from the inside beckoned them, "Enter!" The door swished opened and Anne stepped inside. The eyes of the Admiral turned upon her expectantly and she quickly saluted, "Ensign Anne Therriault reporting for duty, sir." =========================================================== (Mars, Main Admin Complex - Strategic Operations, Conference Room 1 - Captain Jenna Rulestaad - 1820) =========================================================== Jenna sat for a long time following the meeting, writing creation notes and drafting Code 1 top secret messages to other Stratops departments within thirty light years, more or less ordering them to cooperate for they were about to become part of Sol defense. She sat back in her chair once the drafts were done, and stared hard at the wall, working plans in her head and silently hoping that the scientists of Utopia Planitia were up to the task of rebuilding the defense fleet. She cracked her neck and frowned as the doors opened. Her strait, right eyebrow shot up a perfect millimeter as she recognized her Second officer, Shondar Dorkin. She put her hands behind her head, and said "What do you want you pig headed, grimy excuse for a civilian?" Dorkin snorted, and leaned on the table "I am truly sorry my MIGHTY Lord!" he bellowed, and went to his knees in mock bow. Jenna frowned at that, this was going to be one of those 'lets kill him' days. "What is it, you ball of fur?" "The head of Advanced Engineering has been replaced, his replacement has already arrived and reported." Jenna let her face melt into an emotionless pit, as she folded her hands before her. "Indeed, well.. she will be clueless as to what task I've put before them, I shall have to remedy this situation." She stood up, and tapped her badge as she began to walk for the door. "Captain Rulestaad to the new Advanced Engineering Head. Report to Main Strategic Operations on Mars in one half hour, and do not be late." (reply Therriault if desired) "Rulestaad out." She tapped her badge again and walked through the open door with Dorkin just behind her. "If you think you can think this far ahead, get this Advanced Engineering officer clearance to be in here." Dorkin snorted, but said nothing. Jenna walked up to Main Ops, and waited for the officer to arrive. ====================================================================== (Mars, Main Admin Complex - Ensign Anne Therriault - 1740) ====================================================================== Ensign Therriault had barely stepped into her quarters and dropped the bag from her shoulder before she noticed the blinking light on the computer, notifying her of a message waiting for her. After a long day of traveling, she was exhausted and the bed called to her, but she knew she had better get that message. Always a compromiser, she laid down on the bed and called to the computer, "Computer, play message." She closed her eyes but a moment last, the sound of a sharp commanding voice had them back open. The message was short and no where as sweet as it could of been, "Captain Rulestaad to the new Advanced Engineering Head. Report to Main Strategic Operations on Mars in one half hour, and do not be late." "Computer, when was this message sent?" The computer's voice answered back quickly, "1822" "And the time now." "1842." She shot up off of the bed, feeling a shot of adrenaline shoot through her blood vessels. 10 minutes to find the Main Strategic something-or-rather where the Captain was. "Computer, display a map with directions to the Main Strategic..." her voice faltered as she tried to remember what the message has said. The computer whirled on anyway, displaying a map of the base with a line showing the shortest way to the Main Strategic Operations area. She quickly committed the map to her short term memory, ran a brush through her hair, splashed some water on her face and quickly exited her quarters. ===================================================================== (Mars, Main Admin Complex - Strategic Operations - Ensign Anne Therriault - 1847) ===================================================================== Anne stood and waited patiently for the 3 blast doors to open. She was surprised to see a triple door setup but could see the uses for it. The place with built like a fort and she felt very safe in it. After the door opened, she stepped into the cavernous room beyond and stopped to gawk at her surrounding. It had to be one of the largest but crowded rooms she had been in, in a long time. After a moment of surveying her surroundings, she walked up to a young man sitting near by. "Excuse me. Where can I find Captain Rulestaad?" He pointed towards the upstairs' control room, "Her office is upstairs." "Thanks." She turned to walk up the stairs but the young man stopped her, "I should warn you, the Vulcan's on the warpath today. She's probably got the head of her last victim sitting on a stick in her office." Anne frowned at the man, checking to see the ensign pip on his collar, "If I were you, Ensign, I'd watch what you say about your commanding officer." He shrugged and turned back to his station, "It's your head." She walked up the stairs and entered Main Ops. She looked around the small room and noticed a Vulcan sitting at a center chair, overlooking some reports. She threaded her way through the few people in the room to stand beside the Vulcan's chair. "Captain Rulestaad? Ensign Anne Therriault, TEO, reporting as ordered." =========================================================================== (Mars, MAC- Strat Ops, Main Ops - Stratops Captain Jenna Rulestaad - 1847) =========================================================================== "Captain Rulestaad? Ensign Anne Therriault, TEO, reporting as ordered." Jenna kept her hands on her desk, and watched the Strategic Situation Map on the far wall of Main Ops... right over the Ensign's right shoulder. She kept a watch on the ensign in her peripheral vision, watching to see if she would get fidgety. After two solid minutes of silence, Jenna turned her full attention to the Ensign, then moved her eyes down to the seat beside the ensign and back up at her. The ensign seemed to catch the hint, because she sat down without a word. Jenna folded her hands together, and looked the ensign up and down with her eyes, keeping her head immobile and her face passive. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when her lids opened again her eyeballs came up snake-eyes. "You were actually on time, congratulations, you preformed one of the most basic functions of being an officer better then half the officers that arrived at an earlier meeting." (reply if desired) Jenna sat back in her chair with her fingers steepled and brought her right eyebrow up exactly two millimeters. "Your arrival was a bit unexpected, there was no mention of it in our notes. However, it doesn't come as a surprise... every other officer has been replaced nearly, so the head of Engineering in Advanced Technologies should be no exception. What it *does* mean is you are a few hours behind in what is happening." She broke off, and pushed a PADD across her desk. "We are completely redesigning the Mars Defense Perimeter. New weapons, sensors, vessels, defenses, you name it... its all going back to the drawing board and will come out second to none." She gave a heartless smile, "Am I making myself perfectly clear so far?" (reply Anne) "I am heading this project, loosely. If it moves to slow for my liking, I will take full command over Orbital Ops and Advanced Technologies head, I have such authority from Starfleet. It will be your job to work with the rest of Advanced Technologies, Yard Ops and Tactical Command in order to get from drawing board to testing in the least possible time. We have been attacked once, indications are that the Dominion is restless and the "Splinter Group' that attacked us might have had their backing." She narrowed her eyes. "I don't have to tell you what that means, we are an immobile target along with Earth, and ripe for the plucking. That is unacceptable, and I will book no failure." ====================================================================== (Mars, MAC- Strat Ops, Main Ops - Stratops - Ensign Anne Therriault - 1747) ====================================================================== The ensign watched and listened to the Vulcan carefully while she spoke. She could hear the determination in the commanding officer's voice and she knew that she meant business. ~This would not be the time to screw up.~ the thought nervously. When the Vulcan finished her speech, the young ensign nodded, "That is 100% crystal clear, sir. I will make plans to meet with the Warp Technologies Officer and Theoretical Science Officer first thing tomorrow morning," she picked up the PADD that had been at her, "Is there anything else, sir?" ======================================================================= (Mars, MAC- Strat Ops, Main Office - Stratops Captain Jenna Rulestaad - 1848) ======================================================================= "That is 100% crystal clear, sir. I will make plans to meet with the Warp Technologies Officer and Theoretical Science Officer first thing tomorrow morning," the officer picked up the PADD and added, "Is there anything else, sir?" Jenna sat forward in her chair once more and cocked her head slightly to the side. "Yes, report back to me any progress or concerns. Dismissed." (reply Anne) Jenna watched the Advanced Engineering head leave, and tapped her fingernails on the desk for a moment. ~An Ensign heading the entire department. Starfleet had best be shaking loose the best brains from the tree, because they are most certainly not shaking loose the age.~ ======================================================================= (Mars, MAC - Stratops, Control Center - Astratops Commander Shondar Dorkin - 1850) ======================================================================= "Yes you pea-brained, Luckless, hairless, long eared, small-silly-putty- brained poor excuse for a biped, knuckle dragging, stinkin, knee crawlin, cammode huggin, natural born fool, big eyed, bigger eared, half deaf, ignorant, badly formed, dutyless, small nosed little Gutpard!" Shondar paused to take a breath while the Lt Commander before him stared at him with an open mouth and big Wide eyes. "I meant exactly when I said when I told you earlier that you were NOT to take your eyes from your station and stare at the incoming women whom happen to belong to another department!" The LT Cmdr started to sputter, "But, you never... I wasn't..." "D*mn STRAIT you weren't watching your monitors! What if enemy communication had taken place and you hadn't noticed it! What if it was happening right NOW and you weren't watching! LEARN TO SPEAK WITHOUT MOVING YOUR EYES!" The Lt Commander sputtered for a few more seconds, then locked eyes with his console. Shondar gave a smug grunt, and leaned back in his chair again. "We have to work on both your manners and your sense of duty boy!" He gave a look at the fifty year old man before him, who was turning beat red with either anger or embarrassment. Neither one concerned Shondar, he gave no slack to people because they might have a few years... not when it came to duty and responsibility. The Ensign that had entered the Captains office walked past them on her way out, and Shondar called out loudly "Don't get caught in the door on your way out! I hate having to send janitors to clean up blood and gore!" ============================ End of Stardate 2378.08.16 ============================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mission: Beginnings, Day 2 Stardate: 2378.08.17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ======================================================================= (Starbase Valhalla, Main Operations, FLTCO, Admiral Jopek - 03.30) ======================================================================= The USS Magellan was hailing; it wasn't hard to miss them on sensors. The fleet of 15 starships in various stages of completion was closing on the orbital facilities of Utopia Planitia. =^= This is the Federation Starship Magellan, requesting permission to deploy the fleet into their assigned locations. =^= "Welcome to Utopia Planitia, permission granted. Please liase with Orbit Operations. Can all assigned personnel report to their duty stations at 07.00 and all senior officers report to me at 09.00? Valhalla out." Jopek closed the communications channel, the core construction fleet had arrived, all these ships mounted up to years of work and dedication. ======================================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, Corridors - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0706) ======================================================================== He'd called the duty operations officer and asked him to come down to the Magellan's docking bay so that he might get a 'guided tour' or the station. Not that there was much to see, but it all served him in good stead. He made as much polite conversation as possible, but sooner or later it had to come down to business. "I've been reviewing our orders; which bay is the USS Firebrande in?" The other officer looked slightly confused, as though he'd never heard those words before. Martin had obviously caught him off-balance. "Bay 17, although in a..." The other's mouth hung open as Martin said, "I want her moved to Bay 30." "Sir, we don't have a Bay 30." Martin stopped his relatively fast pace, causing the other officer to take a couple of steps ahead and then have to backtrack. During all this Martin stood there, patient as the sea, arms folded, and eventually, when the other came back to him he said, "Wrong, as of now we no longer have a Bay 13 - I've never liked that number - so you can see that should give us a Bay 30. Any problems?" "No, sir." ============================================================= (Starbase Valhalla, TAC/SC's Office - 0715) ============================================================= Dario was just putting the final touches on his memo to the security team when the door chime sounded. "Enter!" called the TAC/SC as he sent the memo on it's way. He looked up to see a vulcan male standing before him wearing a security uniform. "Well?" he asked. "Ensign Nauen reporting for duty, sir!" announced the officer. "Ah, yes, Mr Nauen. Welcome to Utopia Planitia and most importantly to my security department. Make no mistake Ensign, you're going to have your work cut out for you here but by the look of your Academy report you're a cut above the rest." "Thank you sir" replied the vulcan. "But for now," continued Marsland "we'll start with a little walk. I want you to head over to the USS Firebrande and take a bit of a tour before reporting back to me on the state of security onboard. I need to know how easy it would be for someone to get up to mischief there. Any questions Ensign?" ============================================================= (Starbase Valhalla, Operations - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0858) ============================================================= Martin had spent most of the last hour walking around the starbase, attempting to grow familiar with it's half-finished state. It wasn't working. ~Starfleet must be mad! There's no heart to... anything!~ The duty officer in Orbital Operations had assigned each of his ships a docking bay, but they were quite simply the wrong ones. There was no other way to put it. Yes, the starbase is barely more than a hull and some deckplates, yes, most systems aren't operating at capacity yet, yes, a lot of functions would have to be delegated to the outposts on Mars, but surely that's no reason for this level of chaos. Still, perhaps the Vulcan CO would be able to bring some order to the station. Either that, or Martin would be forced to impose his own particular brand of order. He smiled briefly as the thought of his last encounter with his staff entered his mind... but the smile faded as the Admiral approached. "Lieutenant Martin Black, Chief of Operations, reporting for duty, sir." =============================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, Main Operations Office, FLTCO, Admiral Jopek - 09.00) =============================================================== Admiral Jopek caught an officer approaching him, as he did so, he stopped and the new Lieutenant brought himself to attention. "Lieutenant Martin Black, Chief of Operations, reporting for duty, sir." "Mr. Black, welcome to Utopia Planitia and Starbase Valhalla, follow me to my officer would you?", said the Admiral, heading towards his private chambers. ================================================================ (Mars, Main Research Facility, Admin Facility, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 09:00) ================================================================ He had decided to call a meeting for the heads of each resource group for 13:00 hrs later that afternoon, as he hoped that would give him enough time to read what each resource group were working on and how it would fit in with the aims expressed by Starfleet command. If their first aim was to improve the security of the Sol system and the other core Federation members, they would need to develop a new type of sensor system which would be able to detect any ship entering the system. If they failed to identify any attackers no weapons system no matter how advanced they were would not be effective. "Computer display information on the current sensors employed in Mars defense parameter." ================================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, Main Operations Office, FLTCO, Admiral Jopek - 09.05) ================================================================ "Have a seat, Lieutenant. would you care for something?", he asked, heading toward the personal replicator he had in the corner of the room. After collecting the beverages, Jopek took a seat and looked directly at the new Operations Officer. "Lieutenant, one of the most important jobs on this station is OPS, as you well know. Somehow, you have to co-ordinate the systems on all the facilities of Utopia Planitia, including the Starships, spacedocks and this station. The specialists we have are all excellent but they are just that, specialists, some are going to be fitting new warp cores to the ships, some are going to be installing computer cores and its up to you department to make the systems in-between this vital systems work together." He took a sip of Vulcan tea before continuing. "Then of course, we have Starbase Valhalla and the USS Firebrande. I want both of them operational as soon as possible, of course. but it won't be easy." "Anyway, you know all of this, what can I do to help you, Mr. Black?", asked the Admiral, sitting back in his couch seat. NRPG: Reply from OPS here! RPG: "Very good, keep me informed with your progress, the Firebrande is a higher priority, as soon as we have a lead on the rebel Dominion forces that sabotaged Utopia Planitia three months ago, we are going to find them and see what threat they pose." "Oh, one finally, your Assistant Operations Officer is here, Ensign Ralth Ra'Kir, make good use of him. anything further?" NRPG: Reply from OPS here! RPG: "Dismissed then, we are relying on your skills, Lieutenant. Good luck." As he left, the Admiral returned to his desk to continue his report to Starfleet. As soon as the station was running again, they had new orders for the crew, and a mission, but that would have to wait, Utopia Planitia was vulnerable and so was Earth, Admiral Jopek was going to make it secure again. ========================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, CO's Office - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0906) ========================================================== The Admiral lead the way into his office and immediately headed toward the replicator in the far wall. "Have a seat, Lieutenant. would you care for something?" he asked. "Hot chocolate, thank you, sir." Martin made a mental note to have the replicator and other systems in this room given a full diagnostic as soon as possible as his CO brought the drinks over to his desk. "Lieutenant, one of the most important jobs on this station is OPS, as you well know. Somehow, you have to co-ordinate the systems on all the facilities of Utopia Planitia, including the Starships, spacedocks and this station. The specialists we have are all excellent but they are just that, specialists, some are going to be fitting new warp cores to the ships, some are going to be installing computer cores and its up to you department to make the systems in-between this vital systems work together." The Admiral took a sip of Vulcan tea, and Martin took the liberty of using the silence to enjoy his own beverage before the Vulcan started back up again, "Then of course, we have Starbase Valhalla and the USS Firebrande. I want both of them operational as soon as possible, of course. but it won't be easy. "Anyway, you know all of this, what can I do to help you, Mr. Black?" "To be honest Admiral the most helpful thing you can do is give me a clear-cut list of priorities and then stay out of my way while I'm following through your orders." Noticing the unusual nature of his statement, the Betazoid quickly rushed into his next sentence, "Although I realise it's not likely to happen that way around sir. Your priorities are always changing, that's the nature of a starbase this size, and that means my priorities must change just as quickly." "I was going to begin a visual inspection of the facilities as soon as possible, so that I'm looking at the whole picture from day one." (NRPG: Sorry, no pun intended!) "Very good, keep me informed with your progress, the Firebrande is a higher priority, as soon as we have a lead on the rebel Dominion forces that sabotaged Utopia Planitia three months ago, we are going to find them and see what threat they pose." Martin nodded, he'd already expected as much, sipping his not-so-hot chocolate, allowing the Admiral to continue, "Oh, one finally, your Assistant Operations Officer is here, Ensign Ralth Ra'Kir, make good use of him. anything further?" "No, sir. I'm sure there will be, but for now it's best if I just get down to work." He flashed the Admiral a smile, which obviously wasn't reciprocated. The effect was that the thoughts behind his smile faded instantly, even if his face was somewhat slower to catch on. "Dismissed then, we are relying on your skills, Lieutenant. Good luck." Turning to leave, Martin said, "Thank you sir." ================================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, Operations - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0928) ================================================================ "Lieutenant Black to Ensign Ra'Kir; report to my office on deck 23." Stepping into Ops, and for the first time feeling the true pulse of the starbase running beneath his feet, Martin became all-business. Heading for the turbolift he threw himself at the problem, and forcing it to expand to its full size so that he could puncture it's heart and get everything settled. "Computer, are there any messages for Operations?" ================================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, Turbolift - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0930) ================================================================ << Affirmative; message from Ensign Nauen, message from Orbital Operations Officer Yamoto; message from docking yard three; message from USS Magellan; message from...>> "Play messages from Ensign Nauen and USS Magellan." <> Martin sighed and placed several new items on his list of things to do. <> ================================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, Corridoes, Deck 23 - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0935) ================================================================ "Computer, relay the following message to all personnel and all personal quarters - civilian, crew or otherwise: This is station Operations Officer Martin Black. Personal replicators are to be deemed non-functional until a member of the operations department has personally run a diagnostic and declared your replicator fit for use... ================================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, OPS's Office - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0938) ================================================================ "...We will be starting with the facilities at the replimat - so I suggest you consider them as a good source of a healthy meal - and then working our way through all inhabited quarters. Apologies for the inconvenience, but I wouldn't want anyone to accidentally suffer any injury external or... internal due to the failings of a fledgling station. Operations out." Just as he finished dictating the message, and allowed the computer to send it to the thousands or stations he'd requested, the towering figure of a Caitian walked through his door. "Ensign Ra'Kir reporting as order, sir." "At ease, Ensign... We're all friends in this office... Take a seat." He paused to allow the ensign to sit down before continuing, "Ensign, you've been here slightly longer than I have, and I already have a bad feeling about the state of this starbase. What's your opinion so far?" (Reply Ra'Kir) "Hmmm... Put simply, the two of us are charged with the smooth-running of this starbase, as well as the seven orbital docking yards, and an assortment of other facilities that all come under the name 'Utopia Planitia'. I arrived with fifteen starships, and three of them are still awaiting a functioning docking bay. Replicators are down, and it's going to take a manual recalibration of each unit to ensure their safety. I'd be surprised if there weren't similar bugs in the life-support systems." "I'm going to call a meeting of ourselves and all seven orbital operations officers at 1100hrs, but in the meantime I suggest we begin clearing up the mess we've been given. Your first task is to have the replimat and all other public restaurants and eateries declared ready for business. Contact Engineering and see if they can spare someone to help you out. I'll be attempting to get those three starships docked." "Any questions?" (Reply Ra'Kir) "Welcome aboard, Ensign. Dismissed, and remember to be back here for 1100hrs." =================================================================== (Mars, Main Research Facility, Admin Facility, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 14:00) =================================================================== All the heads of the various departments which made up part of his larger department and Steve was feeling nervous some of them were of an higher rank then him, many were civilians, but every single one of them was experts in their fields. As he stood up to address them he could feel the dryness in his mouth and the butterflies fluttering in his stomach, "Good afternoon, I hope to meet with you all individually to discuss the projects that your departments are working on, however I have called this meeting to discuss the first major project that we have been given." He pressed a few buttons and a map of the Sol system appeared on the screen, "Starfleet command is concerned about how easily it is for the enemies of the Federation to penetrate the Mars Defense Parameter and we have been ordered to develop new systems for this purpose." "We will look at designing new defensive systems, but no defensive systems is no good if we can't detect and identify the attacker and it would be even better if we could identify an attacker before they attack." He pressed another button on the screen, "To detect cloaked ships entering the inner Sol system we would need to develop a tachyon grid and I was wondering if we could incorporate our sensors into the grid?" ===================================================================== (Starbase Valhalla - Corridors - Ensign Okada Kazuko - 1730) ===================================================================== ~One unfinished corridor looks like another unfinished corridor...~ Kazuko thought while looking at her padd with the map. She prided herself on being able to navagate around without an escort, but this time she truly was lost. ~And whom ever drew this map should have their eyes examined...~ Kazuko stopped walking for a moment and looked down both sides of the corridor. There were people working on the station, but other than that, she could see no difference between the sides. ~Great, this is perfect...I can't find the way to the mess hall...or to my quarters...or to my office...This is just peachy...~ Kazuko walked a few more paces down the corridor, ~I could always sit here and wait for someone to find me...that's what they tell children...~ She smiled at that prospect, but her smile faded after a moment. ~But I'm not a child...no matter what my parents think.~ She walked up to a comm terminal and touched it. It flickered at her touch then went out. ~Even better...the computers are out down here...Oh I really shouldn't have gotten out of bed...~ Kazuko looked around one more time and then sat down in the center of the corridor. ~Eventually someone will walk down this corridor until then I am not moving...I wonder if I have any Sushi left...~ She looked into her carry-on and ate slowly. She had no idea how long she would be stuck there... ====================================================================== (Mar's Research Facilities - TEO Office - Ensign Anne Therriault - 18:00) ====================================================================== After her meeting with the captain, Anne suddenly had a burst of energy and she knew from experience that it was useless trying to sleep in that condition. So, she found her way to her office in the research wing of the base. Besides for the mumbling coming the warp technologies office, the area was desolent. When she first entered her office, she stepped out and double checked the label on the door. ~This can't be my office.~ She stepped in again and shook her head. The office was in shambles. It looked as though it has been used for storage during the previous 3 months, a small pile of boxes still sat in the middle of the room. Dust and debris littered every surface and there was even a huge crack in the table and a burned out spot on one of the walls where it looked like a phaser had discharged. ~It looks like someone had a good fight in here,~ she thought at she fingered the crack in the desk. She found a working PADD sitting on the table, a note on it from Maintenance dated 3 days before, "Promise to return tomorrow to finish." "Whatever," she sighed, slamming the PADD onto the table, "What a mess." But never the one to be discouraged, she requested that the computer refile the request for maintenance to finish their job before she rolled up her sleeves and began to clean up the room so she could work in it until Maintenance got in gear. She shoved the debris and boxes into a corner and cleaned a good portion of the desk off with the palm of her hand, quickly covering herself with a layer of dust. "Computer," she called, "Replicate a cup of coffee, hot, no sugar, extra cream." The computer beeped and the replicator spit out a cup filled with coffee. She sat down with a sigh which was answered with a groan from the chair, followed by a loud CRACK. She leaped up in time to see the arm fall off, hitting the floor with a clang. "You've got to be kidding," she sighed. After trading the chair for a good chair from an unused office, she began to work on the computer issue. The desk unit looked as though someone had punched it and she knew immediately that she would have to wait till morning to get a working desk unit from Supply. ~Who had this office last? A deranged Klingon?~ She turned towards the wall unit but it also didn't work. She knelt down and opened up the maintenance access panel below the unit and began look through the innards, the computer diagnostic checklist taught in the academy running through her head. 30 minutes later, when she exhausted the checklist, she closed the panel and stood up, mumbling to herself. "Stupid computer. What does it take to get this console to work correctly?" She stabbed at the keys to emphasize her point. The console flickered on for a moment, but 2 seconds later, it beeped and flickered back out. Anne kicked the bottom of the console, leaving a small dent with her boot, and to her surprise, the unit came back on. She stared at it for a moment in shock before mumbling, "As my engineering professor used to say, if it doesn't work, kick it." =================================================================== (Starbase Valhalla - Corridors - Ensign Okada Kazuko - 1930) =================================================================== Kazuko stared at her chronometer for what seemed like forever. ~Two hours.and not a single person has walked down this corridor. I am never getting out of here.~ She looked up at the dead terminal and frowned. "Maybe I should have stuck with science. If I had my tools, then you would be working and I wouldn't still be here." She opened her carryon and looked though it for the hundredth time. She pulled out her chopsticks and looked at them then to the terminal, "I'm an engineer.and you are a piece of technology.when I say 'Jump', you are supposed to say. 'Working'!" She walked over to the terminal and pulled open the interface. With her chopsticks she started rooting around, looking for the problem. After ten minutes she laughed, "Perfect.Bad power cell. Just perfect." She slumped down again and thought about her problems, when the solution hit her. "Of course.Pachinko!" She jumped back up again and grabbed her game out of her bag. Making a makeshift link between it and the terminal she turned on the terminal and cried out happily as it lit up. "Computer, Show me a way off this deck. preferably towards the Mess hall." It had been hours since she had something to eat and she felt that if that problem could be over come then nothing was as bad as this. came the reply. "Don't tell me you don't have a navigation program in there!" She said shocked, but before it could reply, the power died again and she was alone, this time not even her Pachinko game to keep her company. ~Perfect.~ She rammed her fist into the terminal leaving an impression before sliding down the wall; she then proceeded to bang her head into the wall for awhile before sleep claimed her. What she didn't know was her tampering with the terminal was seen up on the command deck. ===================================================== (Starbase Valhalla - Corridors - Ensign Okada Kazuko - 1935) ====================================================== Kazuko woke with a start and a growing pain in her side. She blinked and sat up slowly. "Ow..." Kazuko said while rubbing her side. She looked up and blinked again. Standing all around her were four security officers with phaser riffles pointed directly at her head, "What's the big idea?!" "Who are you and what are you doing in the corridor?" The tallest man said. "Who are you and what are you doing sticking a phaser riffle in my face?" She answered sarcastically. The officer was not amused; he adjusted the setting on his weapon once and tried his question again. "What the hell are you doing in my corridor?" He asked his teeth grating trying to keep from firing first and asking questions later. "Well, I was walking down your corridor and saw this place and thought to myself, it looks cozy...so why not, I sat down, thought I'd get a little shut eye..." She said with a snicker, "What do you think? I'm lost." "So you felt the need to sabotage the computer..." He asked his weapon still at ready. "I wasn't sabotaging it; I was trying to fix it. If It had been working I could have found my way. If you couldn't tell I am an engineer..." She said honestly, her traces of sarcasm long gone. He slowly lowered his weapon and nodded to the other three. "I can handle it from here." He said. The other three disappeared in a transporter beam and he turned back to her. "Where are you supposed to be, Ensign?" "I'm looking for the YEO office..." She answered cautiously. He blinked and asked her, "The YEO office? You're looking for the Yard Engineering Office?" He leaned against the wall and laughed wholeheartedly. Kazuko tilted her head slightly and gave him a weird look. "What is so funny?" She asked as he dried his eyes and calmed down some. "Do you even know that you are on the wrong base?" He asked as her face went red. "I am?" "The YEO Office is down on Mars, in the YEO Wing..." He said as she started pounding her head into the bulkhead, "Wait a minute, that doesn't mean you have to hurt yourself..." He said while thinking, ~Maybe her internal computer isn't working either...a trip to sickbay might be in order.~ "What's the quickest way for me to get to the YEO office?" She said with a sigh, "I'm overdo already." "Maybe you should see a doctor first?" He said while standing up. "No...no, I'm fine. Just point me in the right direction and let me be on my way..." Kazuko said while putting her things back into her carry-on. "Can I, at least, escort you to the transporter room?" He asked while slinging his weapon onto his back. She looked at him for another moment and nodded slowly, "It would be better to save me from being lost again. I thank you." =============================================== (Mars - Orbital/Yard Engineering Wing, Chief YEO Office - Ensign Okada Kazuko - 2000) ================================================ Kazuko walked into the office and watched as the door closed before she cried out happily, "I'm here. FINALLY!" ================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, OPS's Office - OPS Lt Martin Black - 2001) ================================================ The Betazoid materialised in the centre of his office, and immediately moved to sit down in his chair. His legs ached, his arms ached, his back ached. In fact there was very little about Martin Black that didn't ache. Still, there was one last thing to be taken care of... "Computer; is the Yard Engineering Officer aboard yet?" <> "Thank you. Finally something that runs to schedule in this place! Lieutenant Black to Ensign Okada." He waited for the Ensign to acknowledge the signal before continuing, "Ensign, you and I are going to be working very closely together over the coming months. I'd like to meet and discuss some plans with you, if that's ok. The Replimat in say... fifteen minutes." (Reply Okada) ================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, Turbolift - OPS Lt Martin Black - 2009) ================================================ The doors closed and the swoosh was immediately placed by the pleasant hum of a working turbolift - that was one system that seemed to be functioning normally aboard this swiss cheese space station. "Lieutenant Black to Ensign Ra'Kir; I'm on my way to the Replimat to have dinner with our new Yard Engineering Officer. I'd be a good idea if you could join us as we're going to be working closely together, the three of us." (Reply Ra'Kir) ================================================ (Starbase Valhalla, Replimat - OPS Lt Martin Black - 2012) ================================================ Martin arrived a good five minute early, an assortment of PADDs in his arms, and a sense of purpose that could fell several large Klingons - at least he liked to think so. Picking a free table, Martin sat down. He got up once to fetch himself a drink - nothing exotic, just a mild stimulant with a nice chocolately flavour - and then continued to wait for his guests to arrive. ===================================================== End of Stardate 2378.08.18 ===================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mission: Beginnings, Day 3 Stardate: 2378.08.18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ======================================================================= (Main Research Facility, WTO's Office, Dr. Tanya Dervin, 02.37) ======================================================================= "EUREKA!!" Tanya screamed. "I've GOT IT" Her voice echoed throughout the building. The night staff were doing maintenance and there were some other researchers who worked best at night, but by and large the building was not nearly as crowded as it was during the day. Not that it would matter of course to Dr.Dervin, Tanya didn't much care what others thought about her. She cared about her work, and that was it. Had anyone actually looked into their office, they would have found Dr. Dervin, clad in bright yellow fuzzy pyjamas (her thought being that she only had to wear her uniform, which was shoved in an office drawer somewhere, during duty hours). She still ported her rank insignia thought, because apparently that's what contained her security protocols. The little mini ship had been ready to go three hours earlier. But the field generators were giving her much grief, for some reason there was a 0.60 degree of phase variance in the emitters that caused the particle wave to tork to the side, and cause it to shift course completely unpredictably. She knew it had to be corrected and she had found the problem. There was in the phase inverter chamber, right before the emitter, a rather small brown thing. It appeared to be.... a..... ~cockroach?!?~ Tanya quickly replicated a pair of tweezers and fished the bug out. When she'd finally extracted it, it turned out to be quite large... it was ~a cockroach all right....but...~ then she noticed something else about it... it had.... ~cybernetic implants?!?!? A Borg Cockroach?!?!~ It was odd... It had lodged itself within the phase inversion chamber so that it could receive power directly from its antennae feeders. She shook her head...this was bizarre... ~where did it come from?~ she wondered. Tanya, now over marvelling at the tiny critter was eager to dispose of it. But it existed the possibility that this was someone's creation. And so Tanya fed into the replicator specifications for a tiny box that had a power flow matrix the same as the bug had been finding inside the field generator. She then put the little bug inside it's 'cage.' Then she replicated a piece of paper that bore the words, "Lose something?" She then took the bug in cage and placed it on the TSO's desk in his office. ~Now, back to what's important.~ Tanya began to repair the damage that the tiny bug had made in her field generator. "YES YES YES!!!!!!" She exclaimed as her instruments proclaimed that everything was functioning. "And, now to test!" she proclaimed triumphantly. She looked at her chronometer it was 0302. Her stomach grumbled loudly. ~hmm, I'm quite hungry. But I want to do my test....~ Tanya thought to herself. "I know!" she went over to the replicator and replicated herself a gigantic Lemon Meringue pie. ~hmm, excellent, snack time!~ she thought. Taking the pie, a fork, and her equipment on an anti-grav stretcher, Tanya proceeded to the giant oval testing grounds. ======================================================================= (Mars Surface, Giant Oval Testing Room, Dr. Dervin, 03.15) ======================================================================= The stretcher arrived with its odd contents, two field generators, a mini generator, Lemon Meringue pie, and fork. Tanya set its settings to mere hover. She then began to lift the generators off the anti grav unit. She placed one on the side of the oval. Then she was picking up the other, intending to place it on the other side. However, she realized that it would be indeed too time consuming to walk all the way to the end of this vast room. This made Tanya fill with excitement. Never before had she been able to access such a testing facility and now, here she was, able to use this at any time in any manner that she saw fit, she recalled the admiral's words. Instead, Tanya initialized the dissipation selection on the generator and then transported it to the coordinates across the room. Then Tanya turned her attention to the mini ship and the new generator. It could be said that this sort of warp driveless propulsion was one of Tanya's pet projects, as a matter of fact it was her Key pet project. She'd invested years of her life coming up with the design of the starship and the frequency of the waves, and despite the abhorred facilities she'd had for her work, she had still been able to make some relatively good accomplishments, those had lead her entirely here. ~Utopia Planitia~ she reflected in awe as she looked around the massive structure. This was amazing, fantastic and unbelievable, perhaps now she'd be able to see how well things would work. The ship was online, it was initialized, ready to go. Tanya had brought online the equipment to measure the ships internal systems and log them. "Computer, prepare for test one!" Tanya stated. it monotonously chatted back at her. "Alright, then" she picked up her remote activator for the field generator and then transported herself, the pie, the fork and remote over to the dissipation generator. She placed her pie on the table that was three feet from the generator, she savagely plunged her fork into the pie, so that she could taste the contents from within. ~hmmmn, nothing like Lemon Meringue pie at 3 am ~ she thought to herself. "Alright computer, run diagnostic on the mini-ship 'tiny fly'." the computer chirped back at her. "Fantastic." Tanya took a deep breath, ~Ok, here we go.....~ she put her fork down into her cream pie, slightly off centre, so it looked almost as if someone had put a flag pole off centre on the top of a mammoth mountain of creamy substances. Then Tanya went over and quadruple checked the dissipation field generator. Everything was in working order, finally. Standing behind the generator, Tanya initiated the field generation sequence. A bright light was seen from the far far end of the oval, as the field generator began to commence its initiation sequence. And several noises began to fill the oval as the sequence was initiated and the little ship was off, it was on its way to the other side, where the dissipation generator was commencing its dissipation sequence. The whole test went at first at lightening speed, but as the dissipation wave impacted the wave carrying the mini-ship, time seemed to slow as disaster ensued. The wave was set at the correct trajectory, yet when the dissipation wave encountered the carrier wave, it caused it to dissipate but only one half of the stream. The other half, was diverted, the miniship began to go in a different trajectory, it was heading right towards the table with the lemon meringue pie. ~Uh oh.. oh my...~ It all happened so fast, the ship crashed into the handle of the fork, which caused an overload in its systems, it overloaded the ship exploded and with the extra sucrose catalyst of the pie, it turned into a flaming ball which due to the inertia that the mini ship was carrying crashed into the circuitry panel lining the wall. And then the explosion of all explosions ensued as that panel of computer components exploded, then the next and the next. "Computer, there's a fire, DO SOMETHING" Tanya screamed Tanya looked at the oval dome shaped ceiling... ~Why now, a finicky computer.. just what I need~ "Computer, initiate fire suppression protocols" Tanya screamed over the explosion sounds coming from behind her. ~This doesn't look good...not at all....~ Tanya was running as fast as she could as the panels were sequentially blowing themselves out from around the room. The fire suppression protocols came online... and also so did an array of alarms. ~I think this spells trouble...~ Tanya worried as she ran towards the exit. Already coolant was raining throughout the room and force fields were being established to attempt to prevent the spread. ~next time, maybe I'll have key lime pie...~ ======================================================================== (Otono Medical Centre, Dr. Maxwell Cambridge, 03:48) ==================================================================== Cambridge walked through the sickbay, watching the machines. It was early yet and most injuries came in the later morning, early afternoon. He nodded to several of the medical officers on duty. He was already dealing with more complaints from the Verano Medical Centre on Valhalla. The original temporary sickbay had experienced brownouts, but Cambridge thought that had been fixed when the new sickbay was installed yesterday. Now, reports were still coming in from the medical staff on board the station. ~Engineering will be hearing from me very shortly and I'll let them know how I feel~ Maxwell did his rounds to several patients and was about to head upstairs to Otono Stormwatch until he was stopped by alarms. "ALERT...FIRE AND EXPLOSION ACTIVITY IN REASEARCH LABS...ALERT..." It only took the doctor a few milliseconds to begin running for the turbolift. On the way, he stabbed his commbadge. "Chief to Otono Docks, have my emergency shuttle ready with medkit, STAT!" Jumping into the turbolift, the CMO activated the emergency code. The turbolift slammed into an upward dive, arriving quickly at the docks. Maxwell jumped out and ran to his shuttle, jumping in and starting her up, now even waiting for the back door to close quickly. Slamming the impulse engines into full, Maxwell lit the shuttle up with lights and sirens. The shuttle screamed through the sky, arriving at the Research Center a moment later. The shuttle had not even stopped fully when Mac jumped out the door and slammed himself straight to the entrance. He quickly followed the alarms to the source, finding an officer outside the door looking a bit meek. Chief Medical Officer Maxwell Cambridge, not out breath yet, looked to her and then to the fire raging inside what looked like a research dome. Raising an eyebrow he growled. "Explanation, officer?" ===================================================================== (Mar's Research Facilities - TEO Office - Ensign Anne Therriault - 03:50) ======================================================================== Ensign Therriault woke with a start. She picked her head up from her arms and looked around, noting the dirty surroundings of her office around her. ~Must of fallen asleep,~ she thought to herself, sitting up. For the first time, she noticed the red warning lights flashing. "Computer, what's going on?" Anne sighed, wishing that computers were a little more dynamic in their understanding of how people react in situations, "Why are we on red alert?" ~Fire? Research lab?~ Anne rose, slipping the PADD that she had been working on into her pocket. She stepped out of her office to see a trickle of personnel running down the hallway. She keyed up a map of the area on her PADD and hurried in the direction of the reported flames. She came along a young red-headed woman standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall, a mask over her face. She hurried over to her. "Are you OK? What happened?" ===================================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, OPS's Quarters - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0352) ======================================================================== *** He flew through open space with the practiced grace of the swallows from Earth. The red planet blossomed beneath him, and in a fit of panic he fought the tremendous gravity well he suddenly found himself caught in. He began slowing down, his velocity reduced to almost nothing, and then pulled back through nothing and into a reverse motion. Over his shoulder he could see the immense shadow of Mars, but it was too much for his mind to control. Arms and legs flailing he attempted to fly away, but the arms of the planet reached out from their dusty surface and grasped at him, finding purchase on those same arms and legs... Pulling him back... down... towards the planet... alarms sounding in his ears... and a comm-badge... comm-badge? *** Martin awoke with a start and immediately thrust himself into an upright position. His comm-badge squeebled again and this time the sound was followed by a voice... =/\=Sir,=/\= it said, partially drowned out by the multitude of alarms in the background, =/\=we're getting some disturbing signals of an explosion from the surface...=/\= Swinging his legs around to dangle over the edge of the bed, Martin let out an exasperated sigh. "It's a big place, crewman. *Where* on the surface?" =/\=The research facilities, sir. I'm also reading fires on at least two decks. Sensor readings are erratic, we'd only just got half of them operational...=/\= "Ok, crewman, I'll be there momentarily." He closed the channel and proceeded to dress before heading out to sort out this latest mess. ======================================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, Main Operations - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0357) ======================================================================== The operations deck was a mass of tangled sound. Entire consoles were still dark, awaiting completion, but those that were operational were flashing in a way that left no mistake - there was trouble afoot. Taking his station he called up the best sensor data they had on the situation developing on Mars. As each new piece of information fell into place on his shoulders he felt himself longing for them to find someone else, and proceeded to do the only thing he could do: "Operations to Admiral Jopek; sir, I'm sorry to wake you, but we've got a situation developing on Mars." (Reply Jopek) "It appears there's been some sort of explosion within the research facilities." (Reply Jopek) "Understood, sir. Operations out." He closed one channel, and simultaneously opened another, "Starbase Valhalla to anyone inside the Martian Research Facilities. Come in Mars." ======================================================================== (USS Tchikovsky - 'Combat Country', CCE Personal Quarters - Lt Michelle Roberts- 0400) ======================================================================== Michelle sat down hard in the chair by her bed, and kicked her feet up on the desk as she picked up a PADD. "Personal Log, Stardate 23780818" "I've been reassigned, from Here on the Tchikovsky to an advisory position on the base of Utopia Planitia. Officially, I'm on 'loan' from 1st fleet, 2nd division and my squad of the Fallen Angels to a six month temp position as Combat Engineering Advisor to the Advanced Engineering Department of UP. Unofficially, I'm being placed on hold from both squad and training so that the fleet eggheads can decide if I'm mentally and physically stable enough to continue leading my squadron." The PADD she had been holding clattered on the desk, and Michelle ran her hands through her hair and down her neck, coming to a stop at the base of her neck as she looked upwards at the ceiling. "Granted, this place has been attacked, and would be an excellent duty station for my squadron, but it isn't my squad that's going, just me. And there is already a full CE squad here, and I've heard good things about them. I'm just going to sit on my butt for six months and have any suggestions I make get ignored by some Science type that loves to design theoretical technology, but doesn't want to listen on how to make is safer or easier to defend and mend. If such things had been listened to, half the problems I've been called to correct would never have happened. The USS Avalon would still be in one piece and many good people would still be available for a drink at the local cantina." "I have serious misgivings about my current assignment and the situation in which I have been assigned. I am a woman of action, not of words and design. Tactics and Strategy are the only things I put on paper and plan ahead of time, the only studying I do anymore are on fully released designs that I need to learn so I can mend and protect. Going into an office setting each and every day is going to kill me, if I dont kill someone first. If I were at least part of the engineering rotation here, it would be ok. But UP is bustling with engineering crewman of every size, style and model... my presence is unnecessary and I would only be in the way." Michelle frowned, and rubbed her temples. "Note to self, to hell with Starfleet! I shoulda joined the Merchant Marine. End Log." Michelle opened her eyes, and found herself rubbing the arm patch on her uniform, on the right shoulder. The emblum of the Fallen Angels had been secure in its place for many, many years... she was the oldest surviving member from when it had been created long ago on the Dagger. There were new faces now, and new missions...but thier purpose remained the same, to defend what they were called upon to mend. Michelle stood up and gathered up her small pack. She was tired of waiting, if the Advanced Engineering head didnt want her to report this early, then said Department head would have given her a time to report. ======================================================================== (Mars, Outside the Oval Testing room, Dr. Tanya Leigh Dervin, 04.03) ======================================================================== Tanya had finally made it out of the oval testing room, and had managed to somewhat secure the area inside. She was shaking, the whole experience to her had been somewhat disconcerting. She coughed a couple times, to try and clear the smoke from her lungs. She looked down at her bright yellow fuzzy pyjamas which were now quite torn and ruined. Just then she herd a voice say, "Explanation, officer?" Tanya looked and saw a man dressed in a blue Starfleet uniform glaring back at her. "I--I--" Tanya coughed some more. "There was a slight difficulty with the test that was being performed and, it had some disastrous results. Lieutenant, Commander, Ensign, or whatever." she stated, trying to sound official in some capacity. <> ========================================================================== (Mars, Outside the Oval Testing room, Dr. Mac Cambridge, CMO, 04.05) ====================================================================== "Explanation, officer?" "I--I--" Tanya coughed some more. "There was a slight difficulty with the test that was being performed and, it had some disastrous results. Lieutenant, Commander, Ensign, or whatever." 6'5 tall Maxwell Cambridge looked from the woman to the smoldering mess that was slowly being cleaned up. He looked again to her, an eyebrow raised. "Lieutenant Senior Grade Maxwell Alexander Cambridge, Chief Medical Officer for Utopia Planetia." He took a breath and just looked at the woman for a moment, gauging her reaction. He slowly smiled. "But you can call me Mac. Chief o' Medical. You?" Cambridge nodded, pulling out a medical tricorder, running it over her. "Does your job description include getting the attention of the CMO and setting of alarms all over the place/" Closing the tricorder, Maxwell pulled out another tool, this one a rod with a blinking light. He ran it over her chest, one eye on her and the other on the scanning unit. "Could be a regular occurrence? Somehow I don't think normal circumstances set off whatever happened in there..." He clicked off the scanning unit and pulled a hypos pray out, checking the amount. "Pie? Who would of thunk pie would result in near death experience/" Quickly he stabbed the hypo spray into the woman's arm and pulled it back, deftly setting is back into its case. "Well, that's that. Your lungs are going to be a bit more clearer for about an hour or so, just to make sure that nothing causes you trouble. Now, the alarm went off up at Valhalla. You may want to alert somebody up there. Meanwhile, I'm gonna check in your disaster area, just to make sure it's all clear. You should probably sit down for a second...oh and breath through this..." Cambridge handed her a mask. "That'll clear out any smoke you've got left. I'll be in the next room for a moment." ================================================================== (Mars, Outside the Oval Testing room, WTO Dr. Dervin, 04.07) ================================================================== Tanya looked at the tall man before her, he began to speak. "Lieutenant Senior Grade Maxwell Alexander Cambridge, Chief Medical Officer of Utopia Planitia." Tanya looked at him with utter confusion. He smiled, "But you can call me Mac. Chief o'Medical. You?" "Dr. Tanya Leigh Dervin, call me Tanya though, I'm a civilian, and the Warp Technologies officer." The CMO nodded, and passed a Tricorder over her. She coughed slightly. "Does your job description include getting the attention of the CMO and setting off alarms all over the place?" Tanya looked at him, "um, I don't think that there was anything written in my job description, per say... but... you know there's always room for revisions." she smiled faintly. He scanned her some more with some other devices. "Could be a regular occurrence? Somehow I don't think normal circumstances set off whatever happened in there..." Tanya chuckled, "Well not entirely normal circumstances, I was really really hungry, and so I took a pie in with me and set it down on a table aside from my experiment, it should have been fine...but apparently not." she answered. "Pie? Who would of thunk pie would result in near death experience?" "Near Death? nah! Near death is another story entirely!" she tried to smile. Tanya felt a hypospray release the contents into her body. "Well, that's that. Your lungs are going to be a bit more clearer for about an hour or so, just to make sure that nothing causes you trouble. Now, the alarm went off up at Valhalla. You may want to alert somebody up there. Meanwhile, I'm gonna check in your disaster area, just to make sure it's all clear. You should probably sit down for a second... oh and breath through this..." Tanya accepted a mask from his hand. "That'll clear out any smoke you've got left. I'll be in the next room for a moment." Tanya looked at him her eyes wide. "I'd be careful if I were you, that pie I think has caused a little more damage than meets the eye." <> As Tanya sat on the floor, breathing through her mask, she herd the comm system spark to life. =^= Starbase Valhalla to anyone inside the Martian Research Facilities. Come in Mars. =^= ~uh oh~ Tanya touched a comm panel on the wall. "Erm, Hi, this is Tanya Dervin, in the Research facility, how can I help?" she asked. ================================================================== (Starbase Valhalla, Main Operations - OPS Lt Martin Black - 0411) ================================================================== =/\=Erm, hi, this is Tanya Dervin, in the research facility, how can I help?=/\= The words seemed to tumble out of her mouth, but Martin decided to leave a decision as whether it was shock, or just a nervous disposition until a less tense time. Turning his attention to the obvious matter in hand, Martin said, "What are you people doing down there? We're reading some sort of explosion!" Martin never knew what to do with his eyes when talking through a comm-badge. (Reply Dervin) As Dr Dervin's replies came through the station's speakers his eyes drifted around the command deck... "Who else is down there? Do you require medical assistance?" ...The viewscreen was still the most obvious choice for viewing material, and he adjusted the locator to show a hemi-disc of Mars stretching across about a third of the screen. (Reply Dervin) In his mind he focussed on the red glow, and allowed himself the small fancy of imagining he was actually looking down on the disembodied voice of Dr Dervin. "Oh... Good... I'll inform the Admiral. I would expect a Security team to be investigating this pretty soon. Valhalla out. Oh, and Doctor? Congratulations!" As he closed the comm-channel, not entirely certain what she would make of his last statements, he heard the turbolift doors open, and the near-silent foot-steps confirmed his guesses. The Admiral had arrived. "Sir, the explosion seems contained for now. Dr Tanya Dervin - the scientist who was on-scene - says there were no casualties, although Dr Cambridge is already on sight and investigating further after ensuring her safety." He wanted to add that he had been ten seconds away from calling the Security Chief and sending a team down to the surface, but that was the CO's responsibility now that he was the ranking officer on-deck. Silently running further sensor sweeps - attempting to find the life-sign of Dr Cambridge - he awaited his orders. ================================================================== (Mars Research Facilities, Outside the Oval Testing Room, WTO Dr. Dervin, 04.17) ================================================================== Tanya had finished communicating with the OPS officer, and she didn't feel entierly herself. Just then she saw another woman approaching her position. ~Boy alarms go off, and everyone comes...go figure~ she was going to see what she could do about circumventing such systems. "Are you OK? What happened?" "Um, there was a pie incident. Do I know you?" Tanya asked the woman. <> "Ah, I see, welcome! I'm Dr. Tanya Dervin, the WTO. I see you're a Starfleet officer?" <> "Yes, I'm a civilian, I don't really get the whole Starfleet thing." she admitted while she took another breath into her mask. ===================================================================== (Mars Research Facilities, Outside the Oval Testing Room, Ensign Anne Therriault, 04.17) ===================================================================== Anne slumped against the wall beside the woman and sighed, slightly out of breath, "I'm Ensign Anne Therriault, Theoretical Engineering Officer. I just got in yesterday." "Ah, I see, welcome! I'm Dr. Tanya Dervin, the WTO. I see you're a Starfleet officer?" The two shook hands, "Yes, I'm an ensign, senior grade." "I'm a civilian, I don't really get the whole Starfleet thing." she admitted while she took another breath into her mask. Anne shrugged, "There's nothing wrong with that. You'll get used to it quickly. There's one rule you should always follow when dealing with Starfleet officers: Always make the boss look good." <> Anne laughed, sitting down beside her on the floor, "Speaking about the boss, I was supposed to meet with you today, just not this early. I had an exciting meeting with our fearless leader, Captain Rulestaad, yesterday afternoon. She wanted you and I and the TSO to meet to discuss our goals and such." ======================================================================= (Mars, Outside the Oval Testing Room, WTO Dervin, 04.18) ======================================================================= Tanya watched as the woman shrugged, "There's nothing wrong with that. You'll get used to it quickly. There's one rule you should always follow when dealing with Starfleet officers: Always make the boss look good." Tanya laughed..."Yes, that works well, as long as you're not the one responsible. I'm afraid in this case, yeah, I've caused a little bit of trouble. But it was all in the name of science!" Anne laughed, "Speaking about the boss, I was supposed to meet with you today, just not this early. I had an exciting meeting with our fearless leader, Captain Rulestaad, yesterday afternoon. She wanted you and I and the TSO to meet to discuss our goals and such." Tanya's face dropped when the woman mentioned Captain Rulestaad. "Oh, how lovely." she said in sarcastic tones. She too had met with Captain Rulestaad two days ago, and the fact that she was able to avoid her for the past two days had made Tanya one happy WTO. Her first incident with the Stratops captain hadn't been a great one, and it was relatively true, first impressions did count for a lot. <> "Well I think it's safe to say my number one goal is not to make any more labs explode..." Tanya said. "Honest it wasn't my fault, how could I have known that a pie could cause so much damage." <> "Hmm, I wonder how the Doctor's doing in there?" Tanya wondered, as she'd not seen him since he'd gone inside to 'investigate'. ======================================================================= (Mars, MAC - Outside Stratops, En Route to StoS Transport room - Captain Rulestaad - 04.19) ======================================================================= Jenna made her way swiftly to where the computer said there had been a fire warning. Terrorism alarms by the half dozen had gone off at once in Stratops, but they had been quickly downgraded. Jenna had tapped her badge to all incoming/outgoing transmissions from the area, and was aware that the Admiral knew (or would know) of the situation. However, she was ranking on the Planets surface, it was her unpleasant duty to go find out just what had happened and why. She almost looked forward to it. She turned the corner and walked into the site-to-site transporter sub room. The chief looked up at her for a moment, and nodded. "Advanced Technologies, Warp Technologies lab area. Testing room five." The chief nodded again, and Jenna straited her back. ======================================================================= (Mars, Outside the Oval Testing Room, Ensign Anne Therriault, 04.20) ======================================================================= "Oh, how lovely." Anne nodded, "I know. She's a real character. You won't believe the warning I got from some ensign in Ops. She's a real firecracker." "Well I think it's safe to say my number one goal is not to make any more labs explode..." Tanya said. "Honest it wasn't my fault, how could I have known that a pie could cause so much damage." "A pie? Wow! It did all that? How did it happen? Spontaneous combustion or something? And what does a pie have to do with Warp Technologies?" <> "I'm sorry. I'm all questions this evening...oops, I mean morning. It's been a long night," Anne stood and stared into the small window that overlooked the fiery lab, "Was there anyone else in there? I hope not. The lab's pretty much gone." ========================================================================= (Mars, Outside the Oval Testing Room, Leut SG Chief Mac Cambridge, 04.21) ===================================================================== Cambridge had quickly activated the fire suppression system into full activity on the fire affected decks. He had found no one injured, but had spent most of his moment or two getting the computer to move forward. He had begun a report of the incident and was working on the fire suppression system itself and had discovered, for some odd reason that the queue systems were not operating correctly and had not been engaged to activate at the sign of a fire. "What a wonderful engineering team we have. First it's Verano, and now this." He muttered to himself, kicking pieces of debris as he moved around the room. Taking out his tricorder, he double checked the room and nodded to himself, affirming what he already knew. His job was done. Quickly, he packed up his bag and briskly walked out the door, noticing that security was beginning to move in, along with damage control and repair teams. He caught the tail end of a conversation. "Hmm, I wonder how the Doctor's doing in there?" "Well, never fear warp technologies officer, I'm on top of the situation. The fire's down and I think there's some remains of the pie in there, but I wouldn't recommend eating them. One other thing, if you experience anything out of the ordinary with your health, do make a visit...but I think you'll recover with no problems. Good luck ma'am and try some strawberry rhubarb pie next time." The CMO quickly nodded and made his way out the door, smiling to himself. It was a good day so far and it was only early in the morning. =^=Otono Medical Center to Chief Cambridge, we have a incoming hail coming in sir, top priority...=^= Maxwell entered the shuttle, shutting off the lights and siren, closing the door. "Understood...patch it through to my shuttle..." Taking a seat, the CMO began to power the shuttle systems up. The view screen to his right flickered with the symbol of Starfleet and then a face appeared. Mac grinned as his brother, Jefferson Steven Cambridge grinned on the other side of the screen. "Jefferson! How are ya? I haven't talked to you in awhile!" The younger brother laughed. =^=Something like that Chief. Say, I was just calling say good luck at your station!=^= Cambridge moved his hands across the boards in front of him, forcing the shuttle to lift off and into the air. He set a course for Otono. He needed to find Summers. "Well, she's been good to me so far. We had a fire a few moments ago and the Otono Centre never ceases to amaze with the injuries I see and hear about. How's the ship?" The shuttle shook a bit as it struggled to force its weight into the air above, finally reaching a smooth compromise. =^=She's well as can be. We've had a few injuries in a few clashes with small pirate gangs, but nothing big. Right now we're working with a colony to help rebuild and repair their home after it suffered a earthquake. Hey, good luck. I've got a physical coming in, so I will talk to ya later Chief!=^= Cambridge nodded as the channel closed. "Cambridge to Otono Medical Centre, coming in." A few moments later the CMO was in his office, looking at reports. "Computer, record message to Ensign Lesley Summers. Please report to Verano Medical Centre on the Starbase Valhalla and begin work there. I expect reports every hour on patients. If you have questions, get back to me. I'm at Otono for now. Cambridge out." The Chief closed the channel, sitting at his desk and beginging to run through the morning reports. ============================================================================ (Mars Research Facilities, Outside the Oval Testing Room, Captain Rulestaad - 04.21) ============================================================================ Jenna appeared on another PADD, just outside of Advanced Warp Technologies main testing area. She took a breath, and followed the security that was starting to arrive. Smoke still wisped around, not yet cleared by the environmental systems. It made her nose itch, but she determined that she would Not sneeze here. She turned a corner, and came to a small group of standing people, on what appeared to be the tail end of a conversation. "Hmm, I wonder how the Doctor's doing in there?" A figure in medical blues emerged, and responded as Jenna stopped five feet from them and assumed loose attention. "... Good luck ma'am and try some strawberry rhubarb pie next time." Jenna raised an eyebrow at the comment the doctor made, and watched him walk away. After a proper five seconds, in a low voice she said "Just what was going on here, make your explanation snappy and to the point." She waved forward a security ensign with a Tricorder and said "Record this." She focused all her attention on the Warp Technologies head, and waited. ==================================================================== (Mars, Outside the Oval Testing Room, Ensign Anne Therriault, 04.22) ==================================================================== Ensign Therriault stepped back from the door in time for the doctor to bustle through the doorway. She stayed out of the way while he checked his patient one more time and then started down the hallway. Suddenly, the sound of a transporter made her turn and to her suprise, she saw the vulcan captian slowly take shape on the transporter pad nearby. ~Oh shit!~ She took a step back, hoping to hide in the shadows of the dark hallway. ~If only she wasn't standing in the middle of the hallway with half a security detail! I maybe could of snuck by her,~ she leaned against the wall, hoping that she blended in with the grey paint. The silence was broken by the Captain's quiet, calm voice, "Just what was going on here, make your explanation snappy and to the point." She waved forward a security ensign with a Tricorder and said "Record this." ~Heads are going to roll this morning.~ Her thoughts were interupted by the PADD in her pocket beeping. She silence it with a bump of the hip but knew that her position was already given away. ========================================================= (Mars, Research Complex, Outside Oval Testing room, TSO, Lt sg Newton, 04:22) ========================================================= Steve had headed straight to the research facilities main control room to find out what had caused all the alarms to go off and he had stayed their until the situation had calmed down. He had headed straight to the oval testing room which had been the centre of the explosion just behind the half Vulcan, half Human captain who he had only met a couple of days earlier. As he made his way over to join them, "Just what was going on here, make your explanation snappy and to the point." He watched as a young security Ensign was waved over "Record this." He was interested in hearing this story himself, "with all due respect captain, wouldn't this conversation be better in my office and with your permission I would like to start a full investigation." ========================================================== (Mars, Research Complex, Outside Oval Testing room, Captain Rulestaad, 04:23) ========================================================== "with all due respect captain, wouldn't this conversation be better in my office and with your permission I would like to start a full investigation." Rulestaad noted the position of the new Advanced Engineering Ensign, and didnt bother to look the Advanced Science head. " This conversation is just fine here, on the scene of the incident, request noted and denied. Permission granted to begin a full investigation in accord with Station security. You are dismissed!" She moved her eyes to look at Newton for a moment, then She narrowed her eyes at the WTO. "Begin." ========================================================== (Mars, Research Complex - Outside Oval Testing room - Lt Roberts- 04:24) ========================================================== Michelle dropped her back on the ground and blinked her eyes against the slight bit of smoke that caused them to water. "Well now, who burned what in the kitchen" Before here were several officers, one of which was her new commanding officer, if only she could pick out which one. There was a woman with her back facing Michelle that was doing the speaking, and she didnt sound happy. Whoever or whatever she was, she nearly sounded like she was boardering on Insubordinent with her clipped orders. She crossed her arms, and decided to wait out whatever was going on so she could report in. =========================================================== (Mars, Research Complex, Outside the Oval Testing room, WTO Dervin, 04.20) ============================================================ Tanya was leaning against the wall. The Doctor had just emerged, wished her better luck and bade her a different flavour. Then the entire atmosphere of the section changed as the Stratops woman whom Tanya'd 'met' a couple of days earlier at the staff meeting. And it was someone that she would have loved to avoid. Unfortunately, she had no such luck. The Rulestaad woman's wrath could be felt as she stomped through the corridors and finally rested in front of Tanya. She raised her eyebrow and looked squarely at Tanya. In a low voice, controlled and clipped, she spoke, "Just what was going on here, make your explanation snappy and to the point." She then waved to another officer with a Tricorder in hand, "Record this." she commanded. Tanya looked at the woman with disdain. What business did she have being here. So there had been a small problem. Tanya would see that it was repaired, and if Starfleet couldn't spare the resources to do it then she'd do it herself. That was the way things were. There was no need for this woman, and her wrath, there was no need for any of this. Tanya just looked back at the woman with an icy glare. Tanya was just about to give the woman a piece of her mind, when the TSO spoke up. "with all due respect Captain, wouldn't this conversation be better in my office and with your permission I would like to start a full investigation." Tanya watched as the Rulestaad's eyes were glued to her. "This conversation is just fine here, on the scene of the incident, request noted and denied. Permission granted to begin a full investigation in accord with Station security. You are dismissed." ~Who does she think she is?~ Tanya watched as the people lining the hallways seemed to part with the ice queen's command, as people were cowering away from her wrath. ~This is ludicrous~. Rulestaad's eyes narrowed and looked at Tanya while she stated. "Begin" Tanya looked back at Rulestaad, her own eyes narrowing in a very clipped, stern short Tone, Tanya explained, "My apologies sir, if you were awakened." her tone dripping with saccharin and not a note of sincerity contained within it. "An experiment had a slight trajectory malfunction. It shall be corrected. I will see to the repairs of the room, SIR." Tanya said with a mocking salute. ============================================================= (Mars, Research Complex - Outside the Oval Testing room, Capt. Rulestaad - 04.24) ============================================================= "Begin" Rulestaad brought her arms out from behind her as the WTO began to speak. "My apologies sir, if you were awakened." Jenna noted the sarcasm, and glanced at the security officer to make sure he was recording."An experiment had a slight trajectory malfunction. It shall be corrected. I will see to the repairs of the room, SIR." The finishing salute, is what brought Jenna out of logic and into emotion. She took two steps forward, right into the Doctors face and said very quietly and with the hint of something dangerous, "You will keep a civil tongue in your head, Doctor... or I will see to it that you never work in the field again. What's more, you will give proper respect to your superior officers. You are now part of the fleet, temporary that you might be, and subject to Military justice. Disobey my orders now, and I will have you locked away in a dark cell so long you will forget there ever was such a thing as sunlight, that is my promise to you as a Captain in Starfleet and as head of Strategic Ops here at Utopia. Never forget it, and quickly learn exactly how a Starfleet, albeit temporary, officer is supposed to behave." She brought up a finger, "One more bit of sarcasm, one more bit of insolence, and I will have you placed in confinement on charges of Conduct Unbecoming." She took two steps back again, and said slightly louder, yet still quiet. "Give me the details of the accident so that a report might be filed, without the sarcasm this time and as much in detail as you could possibly muster." A seconds pause, "And there will be no need for you to dirty your hands with such mundane tasks as matinence, that is why we have Engineers." ============================================================== (Mars, Research Complex, Outside the Oval Testing room, WTO Dervin, 04.28) ============================================================== Tanya noticed a visible change in the Ice Queen's demeanor. "You will keep a civil tongue in your head, Doctor... or I will see to it that you never work in this field again." ~Mind control, really~ Tanya mused, her expression bland, and not changing. "What's more, you will give proper respect to your superior officers. You are now part of the fleet, temporary that you might be, and subject to Military justice. Disobey my orders now, and I will have you locked away in a dark cell so long as you will forget there ever was such a thing as sunlight, that is my promise to you as a Captain in Starfleet and as head of Strategic Ops here at Utopia. Never forget it, and quickly learn exactly how a Starfleet, albeit temporary, officer is supposed to behave." Tanya watched as she moved her finger and pointed it towards Tanya. "One more bit of sarcasm, one more bit of insolence and I will have you placed in confinement charges of Conduct Unbecoming." ~Has a nice ring to it~ Tanya let pass through her head. Still nothing graced her facial features, she remained deadpan, emotionless. Having grown up on Vulcan, and having attended the Vulcan education system, Tanya was not stranger to dealing with the logical sort, in a variety of different situations. Tanya watched the ice queen take two steps back and then, slightly louder, yet still intensely quiet, she commanded; "Give me the details of the accident so that a report might be filed, without the sarcasm this time and as much in detail as you could possibly muster." Then she paused. "And there will be no need for you to dirty your hands with such mundane tasks as maintenance, that is why we have Engineers." Tanya looked at the woman, she could feel her air of disdain beginning to creep into her facial features, she relaxed them, and made her face, straight, taught, and dead pan. She then stood three feet from the Captain, and looked her directly in the eye, and began to recite monotonously, with not even the smallest hint of sarcasm, every detail leading up to the present event, all the while not tearing her eyes from the Captains. "For the record, this is temporary officer rank Lieutenant senior grade, Warp Technologies Officer Dr. Tanya Leigh Dervin reporting to Stratops officer Captain Jenna Rulestaad the events by which the spontaneous combustion of the panels within the science lap, also known as the oval testing room hath occurred during this period of time from 03.00 -04.00 at the Mars Research facility which is adjacent and functioning as the subsection of the Utopia Planitia shipyards." Tanya took a breath, not relaxing a single muscle while maintains her gaze directly into Captain Rulestaad's green eyes. "It was during this chronological time frame that I, Dr. Tanya Leigh Dervin was beginning testing on the newest model of Subspace Carrier waves in an effort to further the subsequent development of the warp driveless travel at warp speed. The test in question was to be conducted in the oval testing room. In accordance with the chronological time and subsequent biorhythms of my person, it was also coincidentally at a time where I required sustenance to ensure that I would not pass out or any other such medical hazard to my person or my duty." Tanya paused. "As a direct result, a nutrient supplement containing a large amount of saccharine was replicated for my consumption to prevent such aforementioned hazards and was brought with the devices in question to conduct the test in question to the room in question." ~that's a lot of questions~ Tanya did not permit herself to smile, or flinch. She continued her recitation for the Captain, standing three feet from her person, and her own eyes glued expressionless and phased right into the ice queen's. "It was then that the test parameters were established. The two subspace field generators that were configured to operate at a bandwidth of 0.06 were set into alignment with each other. One ship, that was made of titanium and duraniam casing that complies fully with the mini-ship testing standards as accorded by the scientists experiment provision protocol, chapter 101343 subsection 48 was to be used in the forthcoming experiment." Again Tanya breathed. Still her composure remained. "And so in accordance with all other stipulations of the experiment I set out to accomplish my test. The saccharin substance for personal upkeep and bodily maintenance was placed at a distance three metres from the test sight, which would keep it firmly out of the hazardous field of the test. I would like to add, at this point, that a person's body, is the same and that the saccharin substance was no closer nor further than any onlookers would have been. " Tanya breathed...her eyes, still fixed into Rulestaads, she'd not moved a muscle. "However, as the Subspace carrier wave, designed to dissipate the initial carrier wave was approaching the phase variance between the two waves, that is absolutely mandatory in order that the wave be completely dissipated, thus brining the ship to a hault, caused a minor trajectory change. It was that trajectory change that altered the course of the ship as it essentially flew towards the saccharin substance, and connected with a metal device that was long and had four prongs that was initially designed for the consumption of cet saccharin substance, yielding a connection between the power relays within the mini ship that were recorded as to be functioning within acceptable standards judged by the scientists experiment provision protocol, article 1679405, subsection 12. As a result, the fusion of cet metal substance with the power relays caused there to be a conduction of the power source into the saccharin substance, causing an ignition which in turn, called forth the combustion of cet saccharin substance. However, judging by Newton, and not the TSO Newton, but by accordance of the original earth physicist Newton also coincidentally by L'Vark, of Vulcan, and T'Keth of Qo'noS and several other such physicists, the conclusion was brought forth that a body at rest tends to remain at rest unless it is otherwise moved by some body of greater force acting upon it. In the scenario in question, the mini ship, adhering to all protocols of the Scientists Experiments Provision Protocol, was carrying such great inertia that when it's velocity acted upon the resting body of the saccharin substance, it caused the now combusting material to be altered in both speed and course. Thus causing its subsequent collision with the control panels within the facility. Sir." Tanya tore her gaze from the Captain and looked over at the Ensign. "Did you get that?" Her eyes then rested back on Rulestaad, and with perfect calm, control and emotionless expression, she looked at her. "Do you have any questions sir, or may I be dismissed?" ============================== End of Compile ==============================