Mission Briefing

Posted on 20 Feb 2019 @ 10:45pm by Captain Jasmine Somers FCapt & Captain Maia Sterling & Lieutenant Commander Alexanderia Cahill & Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd & Lieutenant Paul Winchester & Lieutenant Commander Cody Parker & Lieutenant Lamia ‘Mia’ Kildare & Lieutenant Serina "Reaper" Donovan

4,571 words; about a 23 minute read

Mission: S03 Ep 01: Family Of Slaves (Main Story)
Location: Marine Briefing Room - Marine Country
Timeline: Mission 1 S3 -Day 3

[ON]

After a couple of days downtime and meeting the new officers a returning officer, Jasmine, arrives in the Marine Briefing Room in Marine Country, it was the larger of the two briefing rooms and most of all it had a better mission holo-projector for mission briefings, she had tasked the enlisted crew to set up the room to her specifications and they did an excellent job, she looked up to see who had just entered, it was her newly minted Chief Intelligence Officer Paul Winchester, she smiled at him.

“Hi Paul, you nervous about having to brief the crew?” she asked.

“A little bit I suppose,” replied Paul looking back at her, he continued, “This would be my first briefing as Chief Intelligence Officer and for a mission.” He had copies of the file that Paula had sent him. He thought oO This is going to be fun Oo as he heard the doors open, he noticed a young woman he hadn’t met yet.

Somers looked in the direction and nodded in response to Arderne, she then looked back to Winchester “that is Lieutenant Lamia Arderne, she is the new Chief of Operations on the U.S.S. Tomcat, as for the briefing, you will do well” she said with a warm smile.

“Ah, I’d better get to know her,” replied Paul looking back at Somers, He continued, “I also heard we have a New CAG,” as he knew that he would have to hand the keys over to the new officer at some point.

“Yes, of course, you will need to brief Lieutenant Donovan – no relation to our major – on the Combat Air Wing before handing things over to her,” Somers said.

“Of course, I will Captain,” replied Paul knowing full well that now his days in the cockpit were truly over and that his life as a spook was now underway. He thought oO Now for my first mission briefing, Oo as he watched the Lieutenant take her seat.

Lamia was feeling understandably nervous as she arrived at the Marine Briefing Room, she wanted to make a good impression. Walking inside she nodded politely to Captain Somers, “Captain” and smiled warmly at the Lieutenant she hadn’t yet had the chance to meet. “Lieutenant.” She walked over to a seat and sat down waiting for more arrivals.

“Good Morning Lieutenant…” Paul said as he could see that she was as nervous as he was. He hoped that his nerves didn’t show in the Briefing, as he knew that he might have to do more of these.

Lamia smiled as she nodded politely, she was glad she wasn’t the only one feeling nervous, she could sense how nervous he was a mile away. She sat back in her seat and waited to see who would arrive next.

Serina walked quickly to the marine briefing room praying she was not the last one to arrive. With a cup of steaming coffee in one hand and a PADD in the other, she walked in. “Morning all…” she said, taking a seat quickly.

First Officer Sterling walked in with a PADD and placed it on the table then got a cup of coffee. She took her place but was kinda tired. She had been working on upgrading the new sensor specs as well as working on Officer/Crew Evals. She was anxious to get back out into space. She greeted the officers present and chatted.

Doctor Aldana 365 felt flustered as s/he arrived outside the marine briefing room; PADD in hand. S/he had never been here before and didn’t like the computer making it obvious as s/he followed its directions. At least s/he had Sombra with hir. The canid sat as s/he knelt in front of him just outside of the room. S/he gave him a quick hug, “good boy,” before standing together, and they entered.

Aldana looked around, unsure where to sit. S/he decided on a seat midway between the head and foot of the table, to the left of the head of the table. S/he glanced around at all who had entered and smiled weakly, wondering if anyone would start up a conversation with hir before they started. S/he wondered briefly where the others from Aldana’s department were.

Meanwhile, Sombra took his customary spot under the table at ‘Alpha’s’ feet.

Cody walked in carrying his PADD and a glass of sweet tea. Glancing around the room he went to his seat. He was a bit nervous about his first meeting in his new role as Mission Advisor.

Taggert came into the briefing room, uniform perfect, hair in a bun on the back of her head; she had bangs styled with two golden strands framing either side of her face. She had apparently not been the only one to think to bring a drink into the meeting. With her PADD, she had a nice, vacuum-insulated tall steel mug of coffee, with cream and sugar, of course. It helped wake her up and take the edge off when she had just taken her pheromone blocker from the doctor.

Iria was one of the last to arrive in the Marine briefing room. She had a cup of peppermint hot chocolate in one hand and a PADD in the other. She gave everyone a bright smile of greeting as she found a seat.

Dodd showed up a minute or two after Walon. He was holding a Denobulan hot chocolate in one hand and a cronut and his PADD in the other. He took a seat closest to an entrance as most of the seats were already full. Once he was seated, he took a sip of his hot chocolate and acknowledged Winchester at the head of the room.

While waiting for the briefing to start, Serina was going over the morning schedule of her pilots for flight simulations. She made sure that Martinson was included in the exercises.

Lamia sat simply observing the crew as they arrived, she always hated being one of the newbies at staff meetings it always made her feel like she was something being observed under a microscope. She sat back and waited for the meeting to start.

Iria glanced over her shoulder and winked playfully at Remy before she turned back around and sipped her peppermint hot chocolate. ~~I missed you at breakfast this morning, hope everything is okay in engineering?~~ she sent to Remy.

~~ I missed you as well, had to get some updates in engineering prior to his briefing. All is okay, so dinner tonight? ~~ Dodd replied to Iria and then winked at her before glancing down at his PADD with a huge grin on his face.

~~Lasagna okay with you?~~ Iria sent back to Remy with a smile as she glanced over her shoulder again. She winked back at him then turned her attention to the briefing room where Captain Somers stood with Winchester.

~~ Yeah, that sounds really good. Can’t wait, so I will be over right after I feed Rocky his meal. ~~ Dodd replied to Iria with another grin and then fiddled with his PADD.

~~Sounds like a plan, see you later!~~ Iria sent back to Remy as she got settled to pay attention to the briefing that was going to start soon. It was a delicate balance of play, flirting and getting herself focused for work.

Lamia looked in Iria’s direction, she couldn’t help but pick up on her use of telepathy, and who it was directed towards, but she wasn’t going to pry in on the conversation. Instead, she raised her mental walls a little more.

When all were present Somers cleared her throat “okay people, our new Chief Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Winchester, will be at the head of this mission briefing.”

“Thank you, Captain,” replied Paul as he looked around the room, He continued, “You may open the PADDs in front of you,” He finished “This is a triple tier Mission and by that I mean this is one Mission with three parts,” as he kept his gaze upon everyone.

Chiming in “Okay Lieutenant let’s hear it” Somers said looking at the PADD.

Nicci furrowed her brow, her arched eyebrows showing her mild confusion. oO I wonder what this might entail. Oo she thought.

Iria sat still listening with curiosity rolling off of her; a mission with three parts could be taxing in many ways for those involved. She had a suspicion the counselling department was going to get very busy before too long.

Serina sat listening, oO Three parts? Oh, joy! Oo she thought. How was she supposed to handle this? Now she was formulating questions in her head.

oO Three parts and I can sense the tension in this room. Oo Dodd thought to himself as everyone reacted before the details were even presented.

Aldana just silently synched up the PADD in front of hir with the PADD s/he brought. S/he brought up the file attachments and began to peruse them briefly – noticing a few profile images of some beautiful young ladies – but put hir PADD away after a time so s/he wouldn’t be distracted when s/he was otherwise supposed to be listening.

“The Mission, in the first part, is to disrupt a trade route of Orion smugglers within the Cetus system to who-knows-where,” Paul started looking again around the room at the assembled officers, “The Intel we have is that they are smuggling heavy duty weapons that they are selling to the highest bidder” he continued speaking as he knew the third part would be a bombshell. He continued “but that is not all,” he paused before finishing “some 16-year-old girls have been kidnapped and are being sold into slavery as cover for the weapons trade.”

Lamia looked at Winchester in surprise. A three-part mission was a lot, but rescuing girls was going to be a tricky task in itself.

Iria muttered a curse under her breath, she had a soft spot for kids and teenagers were still kids if bigger and tendency to act tough.

oO Oh shit…Oo Nicci thought, as her pulse quickened. She felt it quicken and her face go pale. She just hoped no one else noticed. It had barely been what…14, 18 months since she escaped the Orions? They’d stolen her entire identity and replaced her body and were on their way to replacing her mind before Starfleet rescued her.

Somers looked over at Taggert a little concerned, the young woman looked a little unnerved at the news, she would need to speak to Walon about it and see if the Isisian could help in some way.

Aldana saw the blonde female in a mustard uniform go white, but s/he’d not interacted with her much, so s/he was curious what was going on. oO Could she have been a victim of abduction? Maybe by the Orions too? Oo

Dodd knew Taggert would be concerned with her past with the Orions. He hoped she would be able to not get too upset in the briefing as he would let her take time to get her frustration out. oO Only hope Nicci can make it through this without any undue stress. Oo Dodd thought.

Iria glanced over at Nicci and offered a reassuring smile, she would make sure to check with her later after the briefing.

Nicci sensed Iria looking, and saw her kind smile, giving her one back, with a small nod.

“The PADDs in front of you give you details of what is needed from each department,” continued Paul looking back at his fellow officers “Any questions?” he asked them.

On cue, Aldana picked up hir PADD again and began to peruse it.

“Do you have a plan in mind for the rescue of the kidnapped girls?” Lamia looked at Winchester.

“At this moment in time we don’t know how many girls are on the ship,” replied Paul looking back at the Ops Officer, he finished, “but we must get them back.”

Lamia nodded. She could only surmise that no specific plan was currently in place for rescuing however many slave girls there might be.

“Do we have an idea of how long they’d been separated from their families and friends?” Iria asked speaking up for once as concern rolled off of her.

Paul replied to Iria’s question, “No we don’t, all the information that I have is what you have,” he looked around the room, “My sources tell me that this might have been going on a long time,” as he knew from what Paula had hinted at that this was something big.

Iria frowned but nodded as she glanced at the PADD it didn’t have much to go on yet. His words that implied it was a long time in progressing that what had her next comment hovering at the front of her thoughts, oO~~Why are we just now finding out about this if it’s a long time in happening?~~Oo. That thought bothered her on many levels.

“So, do we have any information about the classification of the types of weapons that are involved in this mission? Also, do we know the races of the girls involved in the kidnapping?” Dodd asked of the girls to see in any data about a telepathic species in the group.

“All I know is that they are 16-year-olds and that they don’t disserve this, and we need to get them home,” replied Paul looking at Dodd, he continued, “as for the weapons; let’s just say that they are the top of the line heavy weapons,” as he knew Dodd was thinking about tactics.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. I know you are working with the information you have, just wanted to know if engineering needed to start work on portable damping fields and ways to help protect our crew from weapons-related issues.” Dodd replied.

“Do we know what type of ships or fighters we are up against? Also, do we know the class ship the girls are on? I don’t want any of my people to make a mistake out there,” Serinna said.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Taggert said, her voice slowly regaining its confidence as she spoke. She managed to hide the quiver of her voice by the end of the first sentence, as getting into ship classes and engineering focused her mind on what she knew. “We know of the Dreamrunner-class, Darkstar, Wanderer, Guardian-class, and dozens of other more modern classes. If we can get even an inkling of what they’re using, we can plan a way around their armaments, shields, defences, and the like.”

“That we don’t know,” replied Paul as he could understand the view from the new CAG as he would have asked the same question himself. He continued, “for all, we know it could just be a fighter and a few escorts,”

“A few fighters and a few escorts? That is an understatement Lt. Winchester. There has got to be a way of finding out about what they have”, said Serina.

*clears her throat* “Lieutenant, I know the departmental jobs are on the PADDs, but you might want to cover them in brief, as I find that usually helps” Somers said to Paul.

“Thank you Captain,” replied Paul as he looked around the room, he said “Operations, I want you to be the centre of coordinating each department making sure they have everything they need,” as he knew they knew what to do, he continued “Security and Marines are to work together on this one.”

Lamia nodded in acknowledgement as Winchester told her what he needed from Ops. She’d make sure everything ran smoothly.

With that Winchester continued.

“Fighters are to have a rotation of a CAP around the ship when we get near to the point of interest with a mixture of Klingon and Federation pilots,” he looked back at Serina giving her the nod. He continued “Medical and counsellors be ready for casualties and help for the girls and also have Sombra and Luuna on standby if needed,” as he knew the dogs might be useful to calm the girls down.

Doctor Aldana nodded. “I’m sure the ‘guyzos’ will be excited to be involved in any way they can help. Thank you for thinking of them.”

Sombra heard his name and poked his head up into ‘Alpha’s’ lap to see what was going on. He gazed over at the head of the room.

"The help they can give is comforting to the girls once we get them back," replied Paul as he knew that the Girls might need some coxing out to talk.

~Okay, down now, goof.~

Sombra returned to his place.

Dr Cahill came in apologized for being late to the Captain. “I had an emergency in sickbay a couple of our Klingon friends decided to see who the best Klingon was, so I had to separate them and treat them. They will be OK, but you know how strong headed they can be sometimes.”

She took her seat and checked the PADD. “Trouble with the Orions again huh. Looks like it was a good thing I overstocked with medical supplies. I remember the last fight with them, we were extremely lucky.” Cahill finished. “I sent Aldana ahead only reason I stayed was to help Dr Pierce get them taken care of. And then order security take them to the Brig till went get close to our destination.”

She saw a new crew member to the Tomcat “I am Dr. Cahill, CMO and 2 XO on the Tomcat. You must be Lamia.”

Lamia nodded and smiled, keeping her voice low so as not to interrupt the meeting. “That’s me, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Commander.”

“I will let you all get to know the new crew at the conclusion of the meeting,” Somers said softly with a smile, as she returned to the PADD reading as Winchester continued.

Dr Cahill winked at Captain Somers; then looked at the mission notes. “Question Captain will there be any other Starfleet ships in the sector or are we on our own on this one?

“Last time we ran into three Orion Battle Cruisers you remember, and we had our hands full. Sounds like a real handful to take on too.” Cahill paused, “Also if there is a rescue mission, I think someone from sickbay should go along in case they need medical assistance. No telling what may have happened to them since they were kidnapped, Captain.”

Cahill looked at Iria, “You know I can fight in the trenches as good as any Marine you have.”

Iria blinked in confusion at Doctor Cahill’s statement directed at her, “Doctor Cahill, are you feeling alright because I am and have only been a counsellor and sometimes relief medical officer, I know nothing about Marines other than we have a very well-rounded complement of them on the ship. You were fortunate in joining the previous mission with some of the newer ones, so you would know more than I would.”

“You know you are the only medical officer on the Tomcat that can relieve me of my duties Iria,” Cahill replied.

Iria again, looked at Taggert sitting next to her and squeezed her hand. Then whispered to her, “Come see me if you need anything.” she was still slightly puzzled by Cahill’s statement and behaviour but now wasn’t the time to question. It was a briefing about weapons, slavery and best ways of shutting the apparent ring down.

What Serina was waiting for was the answer to her question about what types of fighters and firepower were they up against. She had to have some idea to get her pilots ready for possible combat, something she was sure was to happen when dealing with Orions and the Syndicate. They were bound to use the girls as shields so she would have to know how to get around that aspect without losing lives.

Lamia had sat taking in what was being said and what was being felt by those sitting around the table. She looked at Winchester. “Lieutenant you did say that as of yet, we have no idea how many girls are on the ship? I know we have ships sensors, but what about putting those of us aboard with telepathic and empathic abilities to use?” She looked briefly at Dodd having met him earlier, before looking back at Winchester. “Our abilities can be a unique way to get insight without having to rely on sensor sweeps that can be detected. Plus, if you must send a boarding party you wouldn’t have to rely on tricorders for data, just send a telepath or empath along instead.”

“That Might be an idea, but with Orions, you never know what they might try,” replied Paul, as he didn’t want them to get ahold of one, oO or could the girls have that gift, if so, could that be why they were taken Oo he wondered. He finished, “any other questions?”

Speaking up the Captain added, “all effort will be made to rescue those girls and get them back home to their families. Also, this will be one of those missions, where, if you are fired upon you are permitted to return fire. Lieutenant Donovan, I want you to work with Lieutenant Arderne and work out a ROTA for the pilots and to organize prepared CAP around the ship when we are stationary, also work out rapid response with fighters. Lieutenant Arderne I want you to get with First Lieutenant Delfin our CoS/MCO and work out RRT units for this ship as if we get boarded, I want internal defences ready, understood?” Somers said.

Lamia made a quick note of the orders she’d been given on her PADD just to be sure. “Yes Captain”

Cody listened quietly to the briefing, mulling over the details and the mission variables. A three-tiered mission – though not unheard of – could be rather tricky and slightly complicated. “Lieutenant Winchester, I am Lieutenant Parker, the new mission advisor, I apologize for not meeting you sooner. I do have a question sir if I may proceed?” Cody paused a moment for affirmation before continuing.

“Sir you stated this would be a three-tiered mission. In the discussion, you stated the first priority is to disrupt the Orion trade of weapons and women. Is the rescue of the women and the recovery of the weapons each one of the three tiers or is there more to this?”

"If you still have questions come to seek me out after, I say this is a three-tiered mission, I do not know much more until I have a look at the rest of it" Winchester answered with a smile.

What Lt. Parker just said caught Serina’s ear and brought her head up quickly. oO There is more to this Oo Keeping her attention now was completely undivided to the balance of the briefing.

“So far I’ve heard the first part of this mission is to interrupt the Orion trade operations in the Cetus system and rescue some teenage girls from slavery. Who are these girls and how are we going to disrupt this illegal trading operation? We are one ship, we can’t blockade the system with one ship. Also, how many ships are in this syndicate operation? Secondly, what is the second and third part of this mission? Has Starfleet Intelligence infiltrated this particular syndicate?” Commander Sterling asked.

“Lt. Winchester, does Starfleet Intelligence have any idea of the types of ships the Orion Syndicate have or are using for their operation? I don’t mind telling you this, but I have been up against a number of the Orions’ ships in the past. Small freighters, raiders hijacked from the Marquis, Cardassian so-called fighters, and they did considerable damage back then, but now I am assuming that these ships have been upgraded as have ours. The damage here would be far worse than originally anticipated. I agree with Commander Sterling, in that Starfleet Intelligence should have an operative in the Orions’ camp. I also agree that I have only heard one part and not three unless there is more that hasn’t been revealed as yet”, Serina stated.

Aldana felt amused at the other’s for bringing the focus back to the full mission after so many of them had focused solely on these adolescents oO Hey that’s right, we have dragged this meeting way off course by dwelling on one tier. Winchester should have returned our focus to the other tiers of this mission. Oo

“Captain, I will work on the ROTA with OPS and as far as CAP is concerned, I will have three squadrons on a rotation schedule, Squadron 1, patrol, Squadron 2 prepped for when 1 returns 2 takes off immediately as 1 is landing. Basically, as one is landing two is taking off and so on. This way the ship is constantly protected,” Serina said.

"Right that's all I have for now," replied Paul he continued," you all will receive updates as I get them and what is relevant to your departments," he looked back around the room, he finished "And Engineering, I'd like the updates on the status of the engines as they are a priority for this mission,"

Iria sat quietly as she made some notes, listening to the meeting as it was flowing from the next side of focus to another but in the end, her job was the same. Being aware of the mental wellbeing of the crew and the eventual girls who had been taken from their homes, family, friends, school and other daily activities that shaped up to a teenager’s life. The slave training-trading was going to be havoc on their mental state, she would have to be very careful with how they were treated when rescued.

Stepping forward and speaking loudly "okay people, we have all we need to get this mission started, from here on in It will be up to Lieutenant Parker our Mission Advisor to see if he can find anything we have missed, so after launch, he will be working with Lieutenant Winchester to squeeze out all remaining information on our mission, as forewarned, is forearmed, so get to your posts we leave within the hour, dismissed" Somers said and watched them all leave the briefing room.

[OFF]

Captain Jasmine Somers
Commander Officer
USS Tomcat

Commander Maia Sterling
First Officer/Chief Science Officer
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Commander Alexanderia Cahill MD
Chief Medical Officer/2XO
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Remington Dodd
Chief Engineer
USS Tomcat

Lt. Jg Iria Walon
Chief Counsellor
USS Tomcat

Lt. Jg Nicole Taggert
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Tomcat

Lt. Jg Amiri Aldana 365 D.V.M., M.D
Assistant Chief Medical Officer/Counsellor
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant JG Paul Winchester
Intelligence/HCO
USS Tomcat

1st Lieutenant Eleonorrhea (Butch) Delfin
MCO/CoS
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant JG Serina 'Reaper' Donovan
CAG/Raider 1
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant JG Lamia 'Mia' Arderne
Chief Operations Officer
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Jg Cody Parker
Mission Adviser
USS Tomcat

 

RSS Feed