The Pirates of the Fleet

Posted on Wed Feb 26th, 2020 @ 1:28pm by Commander Tressa Brislan-Antilles & Lieutenant Commander Meslina Amakawa & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi & Commodore Siaxx "Bluemoon" Dvald-Vaxx MD & Commander Luhanna Wintersnow & Jillian "Phoenix" Sullivan & Major Daisy Rohr-McKnight
Edited on on Wed Feb 26th, 2020 @ 1:28pm

Mission: Mission 15: Old Ghosts
Location: Various Locations - USS Roanoke
Timeline: 0800Hrs, December 9th, 2390

True to the crew, early morning meetings were not something the more seasoned veterans of Roanoke enjoyed. But it was a meeting that had to happen.

The ship was due to depart spacedock in no less than thirty-six hours. And now was the dreaded status report on a ship she dearly loved. She knew once her staff piled in and started talking about the state of the ship and the crew, that it was not going to be a fun gathering.

As such, Zara sat in her chair at the head of the table and began to light one of her lesser intoxicating brands of cigars and waited for the staff to arrive.

The doors opened and in walked a rather exotic alien women, she had dark skin with cyan eyes, a tail and hooves. "Mmm... Keptin." she greeted Tane who was smelling something that was foul to her.

She selected a seat as Lt Commander Siaxx Dvald came in next, followed by Torilla Yamaguchi who looked disgruntled as normal, she was now showing signs of being pregnant.

Siaxx went over to the replicator as she ordered herself something to eat and drink, regardless what anyone else thought of it.

Torilla sighed softly before she in turn got herself something to eat and drink, she then sat down at the table.

Teval walked in next, and immediately smelling the cigar, he sat as far away from Tane as he could, though he still had a look of disgust. Ra'Vak came in next, though didn't say anything as he was still a bit tired.

Torilla winced as the smell was starting to bother her. "Captain... I can't be around second hand smoke as it'll harm my babies... could I ask you to put that out?" she inquired.

"Oh... yeah." Zara put out the cigar with great reluctance. "Sorry about that."

Torilla could feel the smaller woman's nervousness radiating from her like steam from a put of boiling water.

Daisy entered still working out details on her PADD. She avoided eye contact with Torilla as she took her seat.

Wintersnow looked around the room as she could feel the unease and the tensions rising. She let out a soft sigh.

Within minutes of sitting down, Ra'Vak started dozing off, as he had been up all night helping sort out the computer core problems. Teval's tail tapped the floor in impatience.

Torilla closed her eyes as she was tired, she had also been up most of the night with her new feline companion, Rachael had the larger of the two while Torilla had the smaller of them with her. All she wanted to do was sleep.

"Wow... Looks like shit in here," Phoneix mused as she entered to see a half-dead senior staff. "Then again, with the computer not knowin' how ta count and the hanger bay being overrun by all the rejects from a pettin' zoo, one couldn' really blame us."

Torilla arched an eyebrow. "The computer systems on this ship are in serious need of an overhaul." she commented with her eyes closed. "Also... I don't like the Torpedo ordinance we've been getting... looks like the dregs of the starbase, anything they didn't want, they gave to us." she commented.

Jacen followed in on the heels of Phoenix, a PaDD in hand as he looked every bit as scruffy as most everyone on the crew of Starfleet's own Barge of the Damned had come to expect from the chief of security. The holstered phaser pistol strapped to his thigh slapped lightly against his leg while the buckles and attachment clips jangled a little. He had even taken to wearing his black and white checkered shemagh scarf wrapped around his neck.

He looked up and nodded to the gathered senior staff, recognizing some from other meetings and others just from their files. He took a seat near Zara and gave a nod and slight, brief smile to the Trill Captain.

Doctor Tressa Brislan entered with her latte in hand and smiled at her colleagues. "Good morning," she said brightly, taking her seat.

Meslina came into the room and looked around the room at all the others that have already gathered. "Sorry I'm late," she said to Zane. Moving to an empty seat she sat down and would look around to see the people that she would be serving with on this mission.

The door opened and in came Siaxx, she was wearing her regular uniform with the skirt, she selected a chair near the replicator as she made herself comfortable.

"Let's start with the shit list of problems still unresolved," Zara began with a sigh.

"Whomever gave us these fighters was a total moron." Teval commented in an annoyed voice. "Four of the Valkyries are in such bad shape that I don't think my repair crew can fix them, and 32 need a lot of work before they are operational, and there may be more that are irreparably damaged, as my crews still haven't finished fully evaluating all of 2nd wings fighters. On top of that we have a major cardassian vole infestation, and so far we've only managed to kill about 20 of them, and I know that there was more than that. Also thanks to the idiocy of a couple marines, some may have escaped the pod and into the rest of the ship. Also the two fat ass Bremers are never allowed near the pod again."

"Yeah... I don't want either of those fools near my fighter again," Zara agreed as she jotted the verbal reports down into her PADD.

Ra'Vak voiced his concerns next," I don't think we can keep this ship running for more than maybe two years, before this ship breaks down completely, and even then I cant guarantee that we won't have a breakdown so bad within that time that we won't even be able to leave space dock on our own power. This ship is long overdue for an overhaul, and getting it up to efficient standards will probably require a two or three year overhaul."

"I suppose I could pitch a fit with the station CO, and force some engineers to come over here. They could probably get the fighters ready. Not really sure about the other things," Zara noted regrettably. "Anyone else want to report something?"

"Whats going to be harder to maintain..." Torilla shrugged. "The ships systems... or the crews morale.." she commented. "members of this crew are convinced that they are going to end their careers on this ship... and the reputation of this ship doesn't help any."

"Well this is the last stop for most people," Zara shrugged, but then amended, "Though that doesn't mean folks should think they'll be stuck here, I suppose."

"Fives and I have started working on a good routine to retune the skills of our shit pilots. Cause I ain't into suckin' very much," Phoenix retorted rather offensively.

"We need to get some good traction going then," Zara nodded, making more notes in her PADD. "Completing missions should help with a majority of those morale issues... I think."

Meslina considered everything that was being discussed around the table before she said anything, "since I just arrived here I haven't had the chance to really look over my post to see if there could be any major issues or concerns as of yet."

"Morale, ladies and gentlemen, always flows from the top down," Tressa said. "If the crew feels that they are simply tolerated and easily replaced then they will only do just enough to stay out of trouble...but if they feel that they were hand-picked, and a part of a team with clear purpose and a plan, then you will see them give their best. They will not want to disappoint or be the reason for failure."

Torilla slowly smiled as she realized that Tressa was right, she also now understood that her choice for her unborn daughter to be named for Tressa was the correct one. "Amen....So... Ideas on how we go about this?"

"Well this ship is part of the Independent Fleet Operations unit, under direct command of Rear Admiral Jonas Brooks," Zara spoke with a small eye roll at that. "Technically out purpose is to fill the void no one else is filling. Turning that broad mission statement of IFO's shouldn't be too hard to do. Might take some mulling over on my part, unless you folks have a good suggestion?"

Daisy spoke up. "One of my units was the 11th Special Service Marines. We were just a counter insurgency unit. We did the dirty work of the Federation and the Romulan Empire. The odd part is when people heard our title they thought we were an elite unit." Daisy explained.

"Maybe we can turn 'Independent Fleet Operations' into a positive title. We do the job that regular Star Fleet can't handle." Daisy told the group. Daisy thought a second and ended "just a suggestion."

"I'm not fully aware of what is meant by all this but if I had to make an input I would have to agree with Daisy on this." Meslina said after a while.

"That is an excellent suggestion, Captain," Tressa said with a nod towards Rohr. "That is what we are missing, that would tie us together and give us purpose."

"It would also help us turn the name Roanoke into something that we can make others respect.." Torilla added.

"Also it would help improve moral aboard the ship if we are not labeled as the Barge of the Damned." Meslina put in looking at Jacen in order to verify the title.

Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow. "The other nicknames I keep hearing is 'this rickety barge' or 'the floating dutchman.'." Torilla added. "We need to give this crew their pride back... give them something worth believing in, worth fighting for.... and something worth their respect."

"Well it doesn't help that HQ gave us a mission to pick up war garbage along the RNZ," Zara sighed irritably. "But I concede on all points."

"Sickbay is undermanned." Siaxx responded bluntly. "I have about half my normal staff and its exhausting the rest of us.." she commented.

"You should be at full staff by the time we leave dock," Tane promised the Bolian woman.

"My people are overworked and unappreciated." Siaxx commented

Torilla raised a hand to her lips to cover the smile that was forming, it wasn't often she got to see someone mouth off to the Captain in front of the senior staff, nobody on four hundred ever did that which was why that base had its lousy reputation.

"Science in itself is working fine but... its about half the size of what it should be." Wintersnow addressed the gathering as she looked around the room, memorizing names and faces as she went.

Torilla regarded the exotic looking woman. "Thats only because we don't have the science facilities that the usual Nebula class ship her, I'm Sorry Commander."

"Ahh.. fair enough.." Luhanna responded. "I did notice that I half fewer science labs.. which suits me fine.. only one lab will do."

"This is also a dedicated fleet carrier, so many of the diplomatic suites, gathering halls, and support staff offices for those type of situations, were taken out of this design, long before they started putting the support frames on this bird," Tane told to staff. "Science is more geared for the R&D than planetary sciences side of things, regrettably."

Wintersnow nodded her head as a smile appeared on her lips. "Then I'd like to spread my wings a little more so to speak..." he Draenei explained. "Science doesn't help me all that much... I'd like to get some command experience so eventually I can transfer to the command track and at some point down the road." Luhanna was talking years to decades here, not months to years like most would. "I can go for Exec of my own ship and eventually my own command."

Phoenix rolled her eyes at that. Why anyone would want to command a bunch of idealistic fools, was anyone's guess.

"I can't promise a lot of bridge time, mostly because we have a few of you already requesting command training and hours," Tane spoke as diplomatically. "As it is, the appointment of our second officer was based on need. And right now, given the extensive ground missions we'll be getting into, having a tactical officer that understand ground-base situations, makes the best sense. That is why Lieutenant Commander Jacen Saint is here by appointed to the position of Second Officer."

Wintersnow merely shrugged. "I'm prepared to wait another sixty years... or six hundred if needed." she then shrugged her shoulders a second time. "My lifespan is several times what humans is..."

"I think that we can arrange a rotating training schedule for those officers desiring to gain command hours with a qualified command officer." Jacen suggested and focusing intently on his PaDD instead of anyone else around the table.

"So yeah," Zara began to transition. "HQ wants to to pick war debris off the RNZ line. That's pretty much our mission. So the details are to scan the area, make sure no unwanted guests are close by. Unless there are any other objections, I'll dismiss you guys."