New Mission - Part Three

Posted on Mon Feb 24th, 2020 @ 12:24am by Division Admiral Thomas Lasky & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi & Commodore Siaxx "Bluemoon" Dvald-Vaxx MD

Mission: Mission 8: Hope Found and then Lost
Location: Various Locations - USS Yorktown
Timeline: 0800Hrs - April 1st, 2389

L'Verrem bowed his head slightly and closed his eyes, then straightened back up and looked at Bremer. "I look forward our destination, Admiral Michael K'Wor Bremer," he said as his tail swished slightly in contentment.

Bremer nodded to L'Verrem, then looked back at the whole group.

"Admiral T'Lar will be in Command of the Essex and she has duty assignments for everyone, and I will be commanding the overall mission. Questions?"

Saith spoke up. "Do we have any more information on what 'strange readings' might mean?" she hated ambiguity.

Bremer shook his head, "Unfortunately, no. The USS Searcher is a Miranda class ship, her sensors aren't the best the fleet to begin with, before the system malfunctions. Their Science Officer believed the readings were Tetryon based, but they weren't able to confirm."

Deela glanced around, thinking about how different everything felt, especially without Captain Clifford serving beside her. She was thankful that a familiar face was serving beside her on this mission. With the exception of Brislan, Lokran and Solomon, everyone else was new, not to Starbase 400 but to the USS Essex. She would have to get used to a new crew and that was fine with her. Deela welcomed this new mission as it would keep her mind off of the very recent death of her husband.

Deela's attention moved back to the mission at hand. She started to think about what Bremer said about the energy readings coming from the planet which made her think about a similar situation that happened a long time ago. She spoke up, "Did they detect any other ships in the vicinity of the planet that did not belong there?"

Bremer shook his head, "Negative, not even an artificial satellite in orbit. We're really heading into the dark on this one."

"Are we are using duck-blind protocols?" Phoenix asked.

"Possibly." Bremer replied, "If we have to beam down. It's going to depend on the situation. We will evaluate when we arrive."

Bremer then glanced at La Baron, "As soon as we drop from Slipstream at the edge of the system, I want to cloak the Essex right away. Keep the ship from being detected by any tracking systems they might have."

L'Verrem briefly scanned around the bridge his ears swiveling independently as he took in the sights and sounds. He familiarized himself with the location of the stations, then made his way to the science station, his bare foot pads landing softly on the deck plates in stark contrast to his shipmates who had the burden of having to protect their feet with cumbersome shoes. He felt subtle vibrations through the deck plates. Each ship he had been on had a distinctive feel and smell. He knew when the engineers had tinkered with the immensely powerful reactor of a ship he had been on before because the vibration changed enough for his Caitian senses to detect. This ship was no different. It felt different from other Intrepid-Class vessels he had been on. As he arrived at the science station, he wondered what modifications the engineers had made to this vessel. He placed his paws on the console and activated it, his ears now pointed directly at it in full attention. Satisfied with the self diagnostic cycle had found no errors, he returned his attention to the bridge's center.

Deela stood up and walked over to her Chief Science Officer, "Captain L'Verrem. I'd like to officially welcome you to Starbase 400 and aboard the Essex."

L'Verrem heard her approach and pointed an ear at her, then turned to face her. He bowed his head once again. He looked back up and placed his palms upward, claws retracted, in the traditional Caitian greeting. He then said "Peace be between us, Vice Admiral Deela T'Lar. I am honored to be assigned here. I greatly anticipate our journey. This will be my first time aboard a ship capable of entering the quantum slipstream. The experience will be...interesting."

"I am honored as well. And I have to agree that it will be interesting." She observed him for a moment, "Anything you need, let me know. Carry on."

"I believe I shall begin with reviewing the sensor logs of the USS Searcher. I am curious to see if the energy source can be identified before we arrive. It might provide us clues to its origin."

"Good idea. Let me know what you find." Deela turned and walked over to La Baron next, "Ready for a ten hour trip Ensign?"

After the Admiral's briefing, Jack made his way to the Ops Station and began running a level one diagnostic on the sensor array's on board the Essex and he ran a second level one diagnostic on the primary and secondary power flow regulators. He didn't want any issues to pop up during the mission, however he also knew better than that when a new ship left port.

As the computer reported back both completed diagnostics with no issues, he looked across at Deela and was glad to be serving on board a starship again with her. With the recent bad news they had both suffered, a mission off base would allow them both to focus a little more on something different.

Tressa touched Deela's arm gently; in the hustle and bustle of life she had not been able to express her sympathy to her friend.

"What can I do for you?" she asked. "Is there anything you need?"

"Tressa, thank you but I'm good for now. If I need anything, I'll let you know. I do want to say that I am happy that we will be serving together again. It almost seems like old times, almost." Deela smiled.

"Yes it does," the doctor replied, smiling back. "Another adventure together."

"Well, you'd better get to Sickbay. We should be leaving shortly." Deela watched her leave.

Deela scanned the bridge for her Chief Engineer, "Commander Coleman, I need you to personally go over the ship's systems one more time before we depart. I do not want any problems when we go into slipstream or try to cloak." She didn't like leaving things to chance.

Coleman nodded before saying, "Aye, aye ma'am. The system check shouldn't take longer than 20 minutes and we should be underway. Anything else you need before I begin the system check?"

Deela shook her head, "Not at this time. Once you have finished, please let me know. I'd like to depart in thirty minutes."

R'nard had entered in his usual manner, silent and unnoticed. "I have no questions, ma'am." he said. "I am ready.

Roebuck came aboard the Essex and headed for the Bridge. He stayed back out of the way while Admiral Bremer briefed the Officers that were going on the mission.

Once done, he walked over to the Admiral. “Sir, I wanted to let you know the new First Marine Division XO and Assistant Chief Science Officer have arrived a few moments ago.”

Mike nodded, “Very good. Let the Major settled in aboard the Station before he’s thrown into the fire, however the Yorktown could use a Science Officer on her trial run.” He smirked.

“Aye sir.” Roebuck replied, handing Bremer a PADD. “Here's Major Thomas Jackson's and Lieutenant JG Nuala Takabe's Starfleet Records and information.”

Mike took the PADD, and handed another to Roebuck. “Admiral Sevlek will be Acting-CO while T’Lar and I are away, you’ll serve as his XO. Here’s the duty assignments and some orders for Sevlek.”

Roebuck took the PADD and nodded, “Understood, we’ll be here when you get back.” With that, he turned and left the Essex and headed back to Starbase 400’s Ops.

Lieutenant (JG) William Keikeya Jr. had gotten up eager for his new assignment that started today. He quickly wen through his morning routine of breakfast, showering, shaving and dawning a crisp clean uniform. He packed up what he needed and proceeded to board the USS Essex and went to the quartermaster for his temporary quarters on the Essex. He hoped for a chance to show off his Diplomatic skills to his new CO otherwise he'd basically be a spectator on yet another Starfleet mission. Once he settled in he proceeded to the Bridge to report for duty.

Billy approached the Center Chair to the Officer in Charge and offered his PADD with his orders, "Lieutenant (JG) William Keikeya Jr. reporting for duty as Diplomatic Officer."

Deela looked up at the new officer, "Welcome aboard Lieutenant. Since you missed the briefing, go see Admiral Bremer so he can bring you up to speed."

"Thank you, Ma'am," replied Billy. He added, "Thank you." He then went in search of Admiral Bremer.