Senior Staff Briefing - Part II

Posted on Tue 4th Oct, 2016 @ 3:24pm by Colonel Horatio Drake & Commander Zachary Hunt & Major Kyle Green & Lieutenant David Anthony & Lieutenant Ricardo Shepard & Commander Jasmine Collins-Keller & Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Lieutenant Sianna Dal

1,266 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Cloak & Dagger
Location: Deck 14: Senior Officer's Conference Room
Timeline: 0720 Hours

Rico jumped out of his chair and made his way over to where Addams had fallen onto the floor. He tapped his comm badge, =^= "Medical Emergency Senior Officers conference room." He then placed his fingers on her neck to check her pulse. "OK, she is breathing. Jade can you get her some water?"

Jade poured and brought a glass immediately, but there was really no way for it to be of use. The doctor was clearly out cold.

Shepard then focused back on Addams and started talking to her. "Doc, are you still with us? Are you ok?"

A wild mix of emotions lanced through Paul's brain as the faint sensor image of a Federation starship came onscreen. Suddenly, he was swallowed up in a flare of shock, hope, relief, and desperate questioning that tore through his shields as if they were tissue paper, bringing nausea in their wake. It was as if he knew everything important that there was to know about Chlamydia Addams' emotional state in one searing moment.

Not. My. Feelings, Paul told himself as he gripped the edge of the conference table to keep from splatting forward onto it. A single word filled his awareness until it and the accompanying emotions abruptly vanished. Then everything else burst into surprised and anxious chaos around him.

"Archimedes," he muttered aloud. "She was trying to say the name of the ship."

Drake tapped his comm. badge, "Medical Team to the Senior Staff Briefing Room, on the double".

"Lieutenant Graves?", he asked. What was going on here?

Paul took a deep breath and let it out slowly before returning his attention to Colonel Drake. "Dr. Addams believes the Intrepid-class ship detected on the sensors might be or is the Archimedes, sir. Didn't that ship go missing a while back?"

He found his beverage cup and took a hasty swallow, indifferent to its temperature. The feel of the hot chai rushing down his throat anchored him to his body and allowed him to focus on his own feelings rather than those of everyone else in the room. That gave him time to re-establish his shields and attend to the rest of the meeting.

The sparkle of an annular confinement beam appeared, and two corpsmen appeared via transporter. They knelt over the unconscious doctor, cradled in Shepard's arms. "BP depressed," one of them said, using a Feinberg scanner. "Looks like Syncope." He looked at Shepard. "I'm taking her to sickbay. Are you coming, sir?"

Shepard looked over to the Colonel to make sure it was ok for him to miss the rest of the briefing. "Sir, if it's ok with you, I will make sure she gets there safely and promptly return for the rest of the briefing."

"I'm going, too," Jade said. "It's possible another woman will make things easier when she comes out of this." Privately, she thought, Besides, there's a fascinating story here to collect.

Drake nodded at both of them at they shimmered away.

Paul waited until the medical team had departed with Dr. Addams, the civilian woman, and Shepard before turning back to Drake. "So our task is to determine whether this mysterious Federation ship is behind the attacks on the Romulans and, if it is, to forestall its ability to commit any further such attacks?"

Jasmine walked into the briefing two minutes too late to be aware of any of the previous incident. It was probably a good thing that she missed the chaos as she was already upset with herself for being late. "Oh my," She gasped seeing only a few members of the staff in the room. She'd thought for sure she'd be the last to arrive. "Sir, my apologies." She managed as she slipped into her seat before getting up the nerve to ask. "Have I missed the entire briefing?"

"We have barely begun ..." There was a note of reproach to Sianna Dal's tone, a hint of displeasure at a most unprofessional display, "Prior to a minor interruption. I presume we will be continuing now."

Drake nodded at the newcomer, whom he hadn't yet met, before replying to Graves. "Quite so, Lieutenant. Witness statements and a warp signature reading from a long range communication relay near Romulan space, do point towards an Intrepid Class. Now, there were suggestions that this may be a rogue element, a maquis-esque style display... however all active service Intrepid classes have been accounted for. There are still two that are listed as missing, presumed destroyed, from the Dominion War... but this was well two decades ago... the chances of it being one of them are slim". Drake stated, glancing at Hunt.

Hunt glanced back at Drake and moved his head in a sort of half nod. He was impressed by the way Drake came across and continued to listen, "As you all know warp signatures are not an exact science. The neutrino emissions produce a warp signature, in direct correlation to the precise position of the warp nacelles. That being said, the warp signature of one ship to the next, in the same class, could be indistinguishable. To make matters worse, the Intrepid class has one of the most confusing signatures due to the re-positioning of their warp nacelles."

He allowed the remaining Senior Staff to digest what they had just been told.

"Furthermore, it has come to my attention that the Renown... Vanguard's garrisoned Defiant Class... is, quite literally, sitting in mothballs with extensive maintenance required. As a result, Starfleet has granted us the use of the USS Repulse... an original Miranda Class ship... something that should have been decommissioned many years ago. However, I have been assured that it hasn't been without it's upgrades."

Well... you wanted a ship-of-the-line, he mused to himself.

"I shall be taking her out along with Lieutenants, Graves, Anthony, Collins and Hizik to try and ascertain the source of these attacks and, hopefully, put an end to them. Are there any questions?"

"How soon will we be departing, Colonel? I have a dead aquarium in my office, so I won't be seeing patients in there until it's removed," Paul said.

Despite the seriousness of the briefing and the potential diplomatic fall out that their actions, or inactions, could have... the comment brought a smile to Drake's face, "A dead... Ah... we'll be departing at zero six hundred tomorrow, Lieutenant. That is, presuming the Repulse is still
capable of space flight." He said the last sentence under his breath and he straightened his PADD on the table and deactiviated the display.

Anthony spoke up, "Sir, with your permission I would like to be excused. I need to check on the status of the repairs and upgrades in ops. Then I will proceed over to the Repulse and see what we can get up and running in the way of shields, weapons and sensors. Looks like a long night."

"Please, Mr. Anthony" Drake nodded towards to officer, impresed at his enthusiasm.

The briefing concluded and on that note the Senior Crew started filtering out, leaving Drake and Hunt alone. There was a silence at first between the pair before Hunt expressed his concerns, "Sir, are you sure it's wise leaving Vanguard so soon? It might not be the best option presently."

The silence continued.

Drake picked up his PADD and, now empty, coffee cup. "I'm sure you can keep things moving around here, Commander?"

Hunt muttered a 'hmm' under his breath, not bothering to argue his point anymore. He walked out the room leaving Drake alone.

 

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