Brainstorming

Posted on 09 Jan 2023 @ 9:15pm by Captain Mazal Falk & 2nd Lieutenant Cassandra Mathews & 1st Lieutenant Jasmine Allen & 2nd Lieutenant Jennifer Goodwin & Staff Sergeant Lilliana Hawksley & Lance Corporal Anlon

3,592 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: S3 Episode 5: 95th Regimental Missions
Location: A briefing room on Roosevelt
Timeline: MD: 03

[ON]

Mazal was gaining information as to the targets they would have to face. However, Mazal was definitely needing some others to bounce off ideas or even strategize on the plan of action. Mazal could come up with ideas on her own but, there were people who she felt could come up with possible ideas and even solutions that she might not have thought of. She sent out a call to several particular people. In a way, Mazal could call this a staff meeting, and she'll need all the help she can get in getting this organized.

Tapping on her combadge Mazal sent out a call to 1st Lieutenant Jasmine Allen, Warrant Officer K'Muss, 2nd Lieutenant Jennifer Goodwin, 2nd Lieutenant Cassandra Mathews, Staff Sergeant Lilliana Hawksley, Lance Corporal Anlon, requesting that they come to meet with her, in a briefing room, which had a replicator for them to get some refreshment. Then Mazal waited, holding a cup of peppermint tea in her hand, and taking a sip of it every now and then.

Lilli had checked over supplies, and where everything was in the ship’s sickbay. Receiving Mazal’s call she made her way to the briefing room. Arriving she walked inside offering a warm smile and a salute. “Reporting as requested Lieutenant.”

Cassandra had just finished changing posts at the vault. Upon hearing the summons she changed directions from the barracks and the showers to the lift instead. Part of her wondered if this was about her playing her guitar in the weapons vault. Surely Anderson hadn't ratted her out about it. Or maybe the incident with the bear spray. Hmmm. Well, she would find out soon enough. Straightening her uniform out she finally came through the MXO's door. She saluted. "Second lieutenant Mathews reporting as ordered."

After receiving a hail for Captain Falk Jasmine gathered up her Padd and headed to the briefing room where she was asked to go, after a short walk to the nearest turbo lift and a slightly longer walk after editing the lift on the required deck Jasmine entered the briefing room and walked over to the replicator and got herself a glass of cold water and took a seat near Falk looking at those there "hi there I feel like we will get to know each other over the next few days" she said and looked at the Captain "Captain Falk" she said by way of greeting.

Lance Corporal Anlon was next. He had been off duty, composing a letter home when the summons came. Easily saved, he left the PADD at his bunk, straightened his uniform, and made his way back to the briefing room. “Lance Corporal Anlon, reporting, sir!” he said as he took position next to Lilli, the only other enlisted person who received the summons.

"Lieutenant Allen," Mazal said in return, then turned her attention towards those who have arrived so far. "Thank you for coming." she looked towards the door hoping that K'Muss the Caitian Marine will arrive soon as well as Goodwin.

"I will confess, and it may seem a bit unprofessional of me to do too, but it's going to be strange to be referred to as Captain Falk for the duration of this mission," Mazal stated. "But it is something I don't mind hearing."

Looking at Falk ''it is an old custom Captain, as you were no doubt told that an officer given a Brevet rank is addressed by that rank, it was the same for the Maquis crew that served on the USS Voyager, but they used a different term *shrugs* perhaps if you do a good enough job on this mission the captain might make it permanent'' Allen said.

"It's trust well placed I'm sure. Congratulations. Like the first lieutenant says I hope it sticks." Cassandra offered to feel proud of her friend. It was indeed a bit of good news in the middle of the coming shit storm.

Mazal gave a nod. "I do have some ideas as to how we are going to accomplish our goals, but I also want input as well, hence this meeting. Now just for the others to make it and we'll commence."

Cassandra wondered just how many more they were waiting on. She used the time to study the room and the occupants it already held in its maw.

Goodwin arrived, "Sorry I am late I was having a sprained ankle treated and came as soon as I could." She stated just as she took her place towards the back of the room like she always does.

"Corporal Anlon and Lieutenant Goodwin thank you for coming." Mazal acknowledged their arrival. "Please get yourself something," she added.

“Yes, ma’am.” Taking it also as permission to stand at ease, Anlon went to the replicator and got two cups of tea that he knew Sergeant Hawksley enjoyed. He brought her one and kept the other for himself. “Thought you might like something,” he said.

Lilliana offered Anlon a warm smile. “Thank you, that’s very kind.” She motioned to a nearby seat. “Grab a seat while there’s still one free.”

Anlon raised his teacup to her and took the suggested seat, ready to begin the conversation.

Keeping in step with the room Cassandra tucked herself into a chair after getting herself a nice warm cup of coffee. The strong scent nearly curled her toes as she quietly sat and listened.

When all had arrived, Mazal began. "We will be having quite a bit of ground to cover for taking back what's been taken over by the pirates. Counting us, we've got 455 marines to divide up and storm the castles as it were. And I am thinking of having a few of you take a team of marines to deal with the different areas we need to take back. Or even have a couple of you team up as well. Now there is the old saying of divide and conquer, in part that would be a way to win a siege when going against an enemy, causing a division amongst them. Well, here I am thinking of us dividing into strategic groups and conquering those we will be facing."

Mazal looked at those gathered there. Then focused on Lilli, "Sergeant Hawksley, there are corpsmen who will be at your disposal, as in truth if you do not have them, things will be a bit messy for you to take care of possible wounded."

Lilli nodded as she looked at Mazal. “Thank you, Lieutenant, they’ll be needed if we end up with a lot of wounded. Do you have someone assigned to replace me as Combat medic or shall I choose one of the Corpsmen to go with?”

"It will be someone or several someones you'll be needing to choose as there will be several teams going out," Mazal replied. She had confidence in Lilli's knowledge and know how to figure out who would be the best to send out.

Lilli nodded. “Of course Lieutenant, I’ll get on it as soon as the briefing is over.”

So far Cassandra liked the way the MCO was thinking. It sparked a few ideas. She sipped her coffee remaining respectfully silent until Mazal was finished. Infiltration was an area Cassandra had ample experience with. Her last detachment had been crawling through a jungle planet where some very nasty pirates had been stashing illegal weapons in these impressively camouflaged camps. they'd had dampeners and all other manners of protection and had been dug in for several years before they were revealed because of a distress signal sent by a freighter they had attempted to rob. Or that was the story. The freighter had been owned by a Ferengi. So Cassandra figured it was really more like a business falling out and the weasel had managed to escape alive and set the Federation on his partner as revenge. Still. It had been a little slice of hell. At least these were stations. Older ones to boot from the sounds of it. She sipped her coffee again her head doing a little happy dance as she pondered the situation. Multiple targets spread out so far, she was curious about the station's defensive and offensive capabilities especially considering their ages.

"Suggestions from anyone?" Mazal added.

Cassandra raised a hand. "Yes ma'am a couple. Some of it sorta depends on the layout of the stations and such. The first thing you want to do is disrupt communication between the stations. The whole divide and conquer. They can't talk they can't coordinate a counter-strike. They are blind. So we could send out the fighters to strategically placed disrupters which would also hinder our comms as well most likely as well. But if planned correctly we could then go from station to station taking them on one at a time with our maximum forces.". Cassandra took a sip of her coffee. Finishing it off. Then continued, "Or we could use small infiltration stealth teams to board the stations. Probably an engineer and a computer AI specialist would be nice. But in my experience, a good engineer can always find a way to get shit... Uhm... I mean get things done. Get to the central control system and disarm the defensive and any offensive systems they have. Leaving them open to be transported to a brig, or outer space, or wherever the brass says to I guess. Details." She waved a dismissive hand. "They can use some polish. Once the details come in."

Goodwin simply stays alert and observes while keeping quiet as she does her job and attempts to just go with the flow to keep the peace. She is not a good public speaker and thus she likes to just blend into the background. She is not one to promote herself and she likes being a player on a team instead of in the spotlight.

*Looks at Matthews* "Good suggestions, there, but for the Science Starbases in orbit of Gas giants and the ones on planets with hostile or no atmospheres we will be in EVA suits, so any Padd use will be hindered by the suit gloves, but I cannot go against such a suggestion" Allen said then looked directly at Matthews "we would have to blind the heat sensors too and the DNA ones, all internal sensors will have to be dealt with *Looks at Falk* if we are to have few casualties Captain" she said to Falk.

Cassandra only shrugged. She wasn't sure why EVA suites would matter. The tactical EVAs were a lot more manoeuvrable than the clunky science and engineering variations. Still, Allen had some very good points to rise as well. Yay for teamwork. Hopefully, if they kept passing it around enough everything would fall into place bit by bit. Cassandra went and refilled her coffee waiting to hear anyone else who might want to pick up the ball per se.

Anlon’s own experience was usually better suited to open spaces, ground combat, that sort of thing. Orbital bases and ground facilities on barren airless rocks required a fully different calculus. But he would do his best.

“As early as possible we should secure life support,” he suggested. “Problem with assaults like this is always that the enemy can deny us air. I assume our schematics are accurate? If we can seize or otherwise take full control of life support, then at a minimum we guarantee the air supply isn’t used against us. Best case, and presuming no innocents in the line of fire, we can deny air to the enemy.” He looked at First Lieutenant Allen. “As you said, ma’am, working in EVA is hard. Fighting in it is harder. If we can force it on them, then all the better.”

"This is why I called this meeting, for these amazing ideas. However couldn't there be something rigged up to operate with the gloves to get access to the environmental aspects of said more difficult areas? Maybe something that can press a button and we can activate a pre-programmed protocol to help gain access." Mazal stated.

"Or find a way to do it remotely, something external. We could use an EMP pulse to knock out the main systems and while the system is resetting have our signal sneak in and wreak havoc. It might even panic them enough to get into their dated EVA's" Cassandra suggested.

"That sounds like a plausible plan, though the station outside could have shielding that would withstand emp attacks. This is due to flare-ups that are outside in space. Though there is something that would dampen the energy, an energy dampener which could disable the system. Wonder if we can get engineering to do something like that or even an energy-dampening mine which could shut things down temporarily."

“How many fire teams can we field at once?” Anlon asked. “Or, rather, how many compartments we can strike simultaneously. Find some way to disable the shielding, then EMP, then all at once life support, armoury, command, and any other key systems. Once we secure those, and our opponents are just in corridors, cargo bays, places like that, then it will be easier to clean up, and use our control over power and life support to help us, not hurt us.”

"If we send out a fire team that includes a corpsman, we can put together 91 teams consisting of five people. Some areas may need more than that." Mazal mused for a moment then spoke, "I wonder if we could still use some security codes for some of the stations, especially if they used to be under Starfleet control. If so could make it easier to get inside as well."

Looking at Matthews "If we use the EMP method Cassie we risk our own systems suffering the same fate as our opponents, but shutting down the outer door security locks would be good" Allen said, then she looked at Anlon "we have four transports for our troops so they will be needed for the teams doing the planet-based objectives, but unless we can use some of the shuttles the Roosevelt has it will be hard, Captain?" Allen said looking over at Falk in reference to the shuttles.

"This proves my point exactly once again why I have this meeting happening. I didn't even think of asking for shuttles, as that would help immensely. You see, I have a really weird idea and that is to somehow get Anesthezine gas onto the stations and knock out those we can. This will keep down the number of casualties if any at all, and take the place quickly. I do know that there will be those who probably do not succumb to the gas but, it's an idea that I have. "

"This comes back to my idea about quickly gaining control of the life support system, Captain," Anlon said. "Anaesthesia is a great tool. If we have dispersal devices, they'd be of immense help. But if we don't control the air circulation systems, we can't remove the gas afterwards. We'd be walking into the cloud ourselves."

"If I may insert something here, I agree that taking control of the life support systems would be great. I worked with a few engineers on a past mission and we were able to hack into the system with a drone. Would that work here? Or the drone could be used to syphon the gas out if we can't get full control of the system. Goodwin added to the discussion which for her was outside of her normal character but she actually felt comfortable for once to offer her advice even if it was wrong.

Cassandra listened as the ideas grew and evolved into something of a plan. She loved it. It was proof solid that as a team there was nothing they wouldn't be able to overcome. Having nothing else yet to add at this point she sipped her coffee silently and paid attention.

Mazal's eyes lit up at the idea that was suggested by Goodwin. "Oh, I am liking this quite a bit. Okay, that will be added to the list. This means that I'll be getting with engineering, and medical," Mazal paused and looked at Lilli. "What do you think so far on the usage of Anesthezine to help take over the space outposts and how long do you think it would take to have enough of that for us to use?"

Lilli looked towards Mazal. “I think it’s a good idea, but I’d recommend being able to filtrate it out once it's no longer needed to do its job. As for how long it would take, it would depend on the quantity needed for the size of the outposts. A few hours tops.”

Jasmine listened to what was being said, she knew all too well that even with these measures in place there will be casualties even with the knock-out gas there would be those who would have a severe allergic reaction to it, but thankfully those numbers were small.

"Okay with a semblance of a plan, at least for the first part, it now comes down to figuring out who will be leading a team to go after the orbital stations. And also who will be wanting to team up with each other. Certainly, it would be me to assign people but as you are my think tank, let me hear your ideas as well. Which of you feels like you can lead a team and who wants to be teamed up with another person."

Cassandra again kept to herself. Waiting, watching. Then she felt her hand going up. "I can lead a team if you need me to."

Looks at Mazal "Captain, might I point out that we have that large Deuterium facility on the outermost planet that we will also have to take back, it is an airless rock so EVA suits will be needed" Allen interjected.

"This Deuterium Facility, does it have people living there and is there areas that have life support? If it has been taken by pirates then I really do not see them not staying in their suits twenty-four-seven due to any suit having a limited life support system. Yes EVA Suits will be needed to get in there, and we'll have to fight in them." Mazal responded. She turned her attention towards Cassie. "Okay, You will be one of the team leaders."

Mazal looked at the others, "any of you want to be a head of a team or be partnered up with someone?" Mazal looked at the others.

While waiting for the various answers, Mazal returned to Jasmine's reminder. "I do not intend on ignoring that facility. I am looking at the smaller facilities, I have learned not to ignore small things if a person doesn't take care of the gnats that are swarming it will end up being a decision that will do more harm than good.'

Cassandra nodded in acknowledgement. It had been a couple of years since her last rodeo. Still looking at the plan so far Cassie felt confident that they had a very good shot at getting the stations back with few casualties and less collateral damage. "It's a shame we don't have someone from engineering in here. I bet they could work out the kinks in a jiffy." She said looking into the empty coffee cup with a sigh.

"As it so happens, I will be meeting with Captain Cahill to get her updated as to the possible plans and to see if she's got some added information as well, and maybe even some suggestions too. This is a massive endeavour and it is going to take coordination for all the pieces of these two missions to fit together and to work in tandem." Mazal added.

Cassandra agreed. The more the merrier.

Allen had nothing more to say at this moment in time so she remained silent and just listened to see if there would be any other ideas put forward.

Mazal glanced up at the clock on the wall, and her eyes widened slightly. " Okay, I think that will be it for now. I've got some other details that need to be worked out, but I feel that we've got some great ideas. And I'll be coming back to this once I get the chance. Thanks to all of you for your great ideas." Mazal looked towards Jasmine to see if she had anything more to add. It seemed that Lieutenant didn't have anything more to add, and Mazal gave a nod.

"Okay dismissed," Mazal stated.

Cassandra hung back a moment. Then flashing the MXO a quick thumbs up she wandered out the door to see about checking her gear.

[OFF]







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