And so it begins...

Posted on Sun Jul 14th, 2019 @ 1:55am by Captain Abigail Laurens & Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Lieutenant Alanah Matashi & Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison & Lieutenant Alexis Aenera & Lieutenant Jack Carver & Lieutenant Aleksander Voroshilov & Master Chief Petty Officer Hans-Peter König & Lieutenant Commander Calvin Morgan

Mission: War and Peacekeeping
Location: USS Astraea - Observation Lounge

Abigail sat in the observation lounge, having chosen it instead of the briefing room because of it's ambience, and the views the viewing windows offered. She had had Master Chief Petty Officer König assemble the senior staff for a briefing on their assignment, she had even put out tea, coffee and pastries. Now all she had to do was wait for them to arrive.

Jack was one of the first to arrive. He looked rather tired, though his uniform and hair were impeccable as always. A nod and a smile to Abigail as he took a chair, and poured himself a coffee, also choosing to partake of one of the pastries.

Second to arrive, Calvin walked in zipping up his uniform jacket. He almost forget to grab it as he walked out of Sickbay. "Good..." He paused realizing he didn't know what time of day it was, "Well whatever time of day it is." He grabbed himself coffee, black, and took a seat next to Jack. He held out his hand, "Calvin."

"Jack Carver, commander air group." Jack rose from his seat to meet the greeting with a smile and a strong shake.

Alanah had just got out of a sonic shower after a pretty intense training session with her team. She gave the normal tug on her coat as she walked in. She gave a nod to the people in the room as she grabbed a black coffee and took a seat at the table across from Calvin. "Doc" she said after taking a sip.

Aleksi walked into the room, still recovering from a nap. A plate of syrniki in one hand, another in his mouth, and a mug full of black tea in the other. While he had been hoping for something more substantial time and an odd 'malfunction' prevented him from getting anything that required a knife. Shrugging it off, figuring that he'd approach the Ops officer after the meeting, he sat himself next to the Master Chief, "Morning König. Want a pastry?"

König's eyes narrowed towards Aleksi, "What did you do to it?" The Chief took one anyway.

The next figure though the door put the emphasis on 'figure'. Long ears, longer legs, blonde hair kept under control in a simple pony tail, command red uniform, and then there were her eyes. Green. Deeper than the ocean, lusterless and hollow. Matte painted windows to the soul. There were whispers and enigmas surrounding the Ts'usugi, and upon seeing one, one could guess why.

The daughter of Ts'usu made her way up to the front of the table and took the chair to the captain's right. "Good welcome everyone." she said with a soft smile to her features. "I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting some of you. Ichiko Gail, it's a pleasure to meet the new faces, and to see the old faces again." she claimed some of the tea for her own devices, and snuck a pastry while 'No One Was Looking'.

Alexis swept in with her uniform pristine and absolutely perfect, hair pulled back behind her in a ponytail with a science-blue scrunchie at the nape of her neck, then made a bee-line for the replicator and obtained a french vanilla smelling coffee, light and sweet, before settling herself deep into one of the comfortable chairs around the table, glancing around at the rest of the faces, most of which she didn't recognize. Yet.

Will Gunnison walked into the observation lounge and took a seat. He was, a bit unsurprisingly, one of the last to arrive. He'd already had breakfast with his son, Cole, and had offered to walk him to school, but the lad had declined; at that age, Cole was rapidly becoming independent, and as he'd pointed out, they were on an advanced starship with both personnel and computer terminals at enough points throughout the ship that he could easily ask for directions if he got lost.

"Good morning, everyone," Will said, nodding at the other assembled officers.

Hans walked into the space with a spanner bulging from his right pocket, he had been working in engineering and had forgotten completely about the Captain's meeting. He slid in and grabbed a cup of coffee before finding a seat.

William Rogers was one of the last to arrive. A tall, well built man, he seemed surprised by the number of senior staff members who were already assembled. "Thought we were in the Briefing Room." He offered by way of explanation, with an amused smile, pointing over his shoulder towards the door.

Bert strolled in just shy of late and was quick to grab a tea and a seat. He hadn't meant to let the counseling session go late, but progress was progress and you didn't cut that short. He folded his long legs in under his chair and tried not to look awkward. It wasn't easy.

> tags for anyone who hasn't come in yet. Grab a drink and get comfy! <

Abigail waited until everyone was done with pleasantries and had helped themselves to seats before she started speaking. She felt no need to rush the meeting, there was nothing of actual urgence that she felt had to be disseminated immediately, really this probably could have been handled by simply sending a message to her senior staff, but she wanted the opportunity to make sure everyone knew everyone else. "Don't worry," she said lightly. "I'm not going to make you all introduce yourselves to the table, I'm sure you've had a chance to meet each other already. This is definitely a more informal meeting, so feel free to help yourself to tea or coffee, there's pastries, and if you want anything else the replicator is just there."

>> any responses? <<

"So, as you all might be aware, we actually left the Starbase," she said with a grin. "Our first assignment is actually very simple, just going to be a simple stop and drop. We have Prizio Vilagrassa and his delegates from Trion 8 aboard, we just need to return them to the colony and then we'll be on our way again. As some of you might be aware, Trion 8 is essentially in the middle of civil war. A group of insurgents is contesting political power and both sides have resorted to extreme measures to protect their interests. Both parties were on Starbase 357 meeting with Starfleet for failed peace talks, and now they're going home. Thankfully it seems Starfleet at least had enough sense to not put them both on the same ship, so we have Vilagrassa and his people while Mateu Alos and the delegation of insurgents are on the Zendaya. They departed yesterday, so our paths shouldn't cross in any way. It should really just be a straight forward trip. It'll take us about a week to get there, depending on factors, so, I guess this is where I say sit back and enjoy the ride?" Abigail finished with a smile as she picked up her latte and took a sip. "Any questions? Concerns?" She deliberately didn't glance toward Aleksi, having already discussed this with him, she didn't feel the need to bring their discussions to the table yet.

Jack remained silent, watching and listening. This didn't sound like something involving him. Still, he knew his crew and ships were ready, in case they were needed after all.

Not wanting to speak up, Hans remained quiet, as long as the engines worked and nothing broke down there wasn't anything of relevance he could add to the conversation. Taking a sip of his hot coffee, he scanned the room to see who would speak first.

Alexis looked around with her eyes only, not moving her head at all. She was a science officer, not a diplomat, nor a security officer or a marine. Certainly no one would expect HER to have any questions or concerns! Still, the silence was broken by a voice, "What if the delegates on the Zendaya use the extra day they'll have before we get the Prizio back to Trion 8 to set some sort of trap?" She recognized her own voice speaking without being asked to speak and then suddenly that it was her paranoia talking. "Never mind..." She mumbled incoherently, trying to melt into her chair.

"That's a concern we'll have to look into," Aleksi took another note of his cheese pastry, taking time to swallow before continuing, "There are a few vulnerabilities that we can reasonably mitigate with standard procedures. The problem however is that humans are far from rational creatures, especially when power comes into play," He looked to Abigail, silently asking whether he should continue or let her take the discussion.

"Lieutenant Carver, is that something you're likely to be able to help with?" Abigail asked with a smile. "Are you able to scout and scan the planet before we return to determine relative levels of safety?"

A nod. "I could, yes. Slap a sensor pod on a fighter, launch ahead of the Astraea, do some scans." He gave a nod. "Ship would have to hold at a rendezvous point while I warp in, do my scan and warp back."

"That should be sufficient I would think to alert us to anything that may be a major issues, what do you think Lieutenant Voroshilov?" Abigail asked, suppressing as smile as she turned her attention to the intelligence officer who seemed to be making short work of the pastry collection.

Taking a sip of his black tea, brewed slightly too strong in water too hot, he nodded, “If we have a baseline for what's normal then maybe, at least for an obvious attack. For anything less conventional, IEDs or guerilla raids, prolonged communications interception with the asset being there for a few hours, remaining there aswe roll in, might give us a heads up. Assuming of course they use electronic comms in the first place," there were other complications, mainly that they had no idea who would be talking on what frequencies. Fortunately, he had his deputy to help with that.

"I have basic sensor dampening equipment I could use. Should fool most normal sensors and give me a few hours linger time." Jack piped up. "Problem is, we're heading there on a diplomatic drop-off, and sneaking in to spy on what they're doing might send a wrong message."

"Or the right one," König interjected, "This isn't our fight. They should be thanking us for not making them walk home. We don't want them thinking we trust them."

"So lets just hold over on that until we get closer and we have a better idea of what we might be facing. Lieutenant Rogers, can you track the Zendaya while we're travelling? I want to know straight away if they have any deviations or course corrections or anything else that appears out of the ordinary, or any vessels that they intercept with along the way," Abigail ordered. "We should be close enough to them that you can track them without too many issues."

Bill had his mouth full of a danish when he was given his orders, which he quickly swallowed down. "Aye Ma'am. I'll get right on it." He paused for a swig of coffee. "Is Trion 8 a Federation member world?"

"It's an active civil unrest site." Ichiko said after a chomp and swallow of her pastry. "If we survey the region under the tactics of ensuring a high value target arrives safely, I don't think many would argue. Well, aside from their enemies." A pause, "As for member status, there's currently an allied member, with a request for member consideration, but such a motion is currently suspended pending the resolution of the civil war. If government shifts and the new powers that be don't want Federation interference, we'd have to respect their wishes. Though at the moment the current seat of power was the seat that filled for status."

Jack glanced over at Ichiko as she spoke. "I that's the case I suggest I take four ships and don't go in silent. Taking four fighters sends a message that we're serious, without provoking them too much. I'll announce my intentions to secure the air space for the arrival of the VIP and fly patrol for the arrival of Astraea."

König spoke up, "And if they decide to challenge you do you have a backup plan or are you trying to tell me that one flight can square off against an entire planet?"

The Chief had cut in just as Aleksi had polished off the last syrniki from his plate, trying to think of a more diplomatic way to say what his one time personal demon just said. Instead he decided to add more accelerate the fire der Teufel just lit, "The Government's proven they won't back down from any challenge to their power. You may not get shot down, but I doubt there will be much shock or awe. At best some confusion at an oddly aggressive act, at worst a souring of an already tenuous diplomatic relationship."

"In case they are aggressive it won't matter how many of my fighters I bring. And in case they are aggressive, I have a warp drive and long range communications to warn the ship. But with a civil war below me I'd feel much safer bringing in a little back up rather than none." Jack mused, voice calm.

"Besides, if they do open fire on Starfleet fighters and risk war, I'd rather increase my chances to be able to bring word back to the Astraea. And four fighters stand a far better chance at that than one." Lieutenant Carver added.

Abigail held her hand up without speaking, waiting for silence to settle over them. "Commander Gail and I will speak with Lieutenant Voroshilov and Lieutenant Carver later to determine the best way to handle that particular situation. I don't feel the need to continue down that particular rabbit hole right now. Does anyone else have anything to add or ask? Questions? Concerns? Bad jokes?" she asked with a smile as she glanced around the assembly of senior staff.

"Are we just the taxi on this one?" Bill asked, "Or are we on the hook for a farewell party or the like at the end?"

"We're just supposed to be the taxi. When we get to Trion 8 we stop and drop and then we go on our merry little way." Abigail said with a smile. "No farewell party or anything else, and I'd really like it to stay that way."

Bill grinned, relieved by the apparent lack of complications for the mission. "No argument from me, Ma'am. A hungover VIP just ruins everyone's day."

"Are there any particular requirements they'll need while they're on board?" Will Gunninson asked. "I, for one, would like to make sure there are no diplomatic incidents just because the bath water wasn't the right temperature or something like that."

"No, at this point it's just make sure their replicators work and they should be good. They're free to roam about the ship, within reason of course..." She cast a glance at Alanah. "Please do see if we can keep them out of restricted areas, for safety reasons..." she said, without actually clarifying who's safety she was concerned about. "Other than that, be polite to them if you see them about the ship, offer them assistance if they ask for it and leave them to their own devices until we get there."

Abigail paused, taking a look around. "Well, I guess that's it, thank you folks, and I don't know... have fun?" She said with a smile and a half shrug. "Any other questions, you know where to find me, until then, get back to work," she finished with an easy going grin.