Aftermath of Battle

Posted on 27 Jan 2019 @ 8:49pm by Lieutenant Amiri Aldana 365, D.V.M., M.D. & Captain Akio Tachibana & Commander Juan Zamora (Dec [CDO]-Jan 2389 - TRSNFR to Gorn Dip.) & Commander S’chqenr T’Jedf Tolkath (Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War) & Lieutenant Commander Iria Taltos & Lieutenant Commander Rafe Cassidy (Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War) & Lieutenant Harry Stevens & Ensign Arthur Jones, Son of Ruk (Jan 2389 TRNSFR After Second Battle of XFY) & Major Terrance West & Lieutenant Junior Grade Radun Dran (Dec - Jan 2389 TRNSFR After Second Battle of XFY) & Lieutenant Junior Grade Geneviève "Jenny" Lassonde (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War)
Edited on on 02 Feb 2019 @ 2:10pm

Mission: Ka Hakaka Maikaʻi - The Good Fight
Location: Senior Staff Conference Room - Deck 1
Timeline: 3 Hours After Conclusion of Battle
Tags: Sombra, 3CW4YMF696F

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Soundtrack - Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy Soundtrack - Outlands

[ON]

[Conference Room]

Cassidy was one of the first to make it to the Conference Room. He’d been dead set on having both coffee and pastry to make it through a meeting, made it to a fully-functioning replicator sooner than he’d expected, so ended up in a mostly empty room with a steaming mug and a half-finished croissant.

He peered at the room, swallowed the croissant, and dusted crumbs off the front of his uniform. “I didn’t bring enough for everyone,” he told the room apologetically, and grabbed a seat, closer to the head of the table than he really liked but that was how the chain of command had condemned him.

West looked up from what he was reading and smirked. Cassidy was a young typical pilot-type. He had not worked with him before, yet he seemed… quirky.

Tolkath entered and took a seat at the top of the table to the left of the Captain’s chair. He carried two PADDs which he set down in front of him.

Arthur hurried into the room, still riding his warrior’s high from the battle. “That was glorious! Even if I was stuck on the bridge the entire time.”

Dran followed behind him, constantly checking his nose, and feeling the ridges. “Speak for yourself!”

Iria walked in slowly a frown playing over her features, Kosu was in Sickbay that meant until Kosu was back on duty it was on Iria to get the repairs done, schedule duties to the rest of the engineering teams and hopefully get some word on Kosu’s condition. She sat down and placed her PADD and mug of peppermint hot chocolate on the table before herself.

Jenny strode confidently into the room and took an open seat. She had changed out of her flight suit and into a pristine new uniform. It had become her ritual after every combat to shower off and don clean clothes as soon as possible. It washed away the sweat and the tension and helped her to make a ‘clean start.’

Juan was one of the later arrivals, walking through the door still looking rather more disheveled than usual. He ran a hand nervously through his untidy hair, attempting to smooth it back into place, with limited success. He crossed to the seat at the captain’s right, sitting down heavily and placing his double-size mug of coffee on the conference table.

“Got enough coffee there, Commander?” West remarked.

“That is what I am going to find out Major” Juan replied. “Suddenly I feel like I haven’t slept in years.”

West just smirked and wondered if their XO had ever been in battle before.

Doctor Aldana and Sombra entered from the back of the room. Aldana took hir customary position to the right of Zamora and the stars to hir back.

Meanwhile Sombra took his customary place under the table at his alpha’s feet.

Harry entered the room with a PADD in his hand looking more sad than he had been for the last two hours after having been in his office dictating his letters of condolence to the families of those that had fallen under his charge, He knew that the risk of getting hurt or killed came with the uniform and that those who had fallen knew the risks as well and had made the choice to wear the uniform.

He walked over to the replication unit and tapped in a command for a mug of coffee, he turned to face those that were in the room, He said,” Morning everyone,” as the unit continued to hum whilst making the drink for him.

Akio strode into the room as the rest of the officers rose. This was the first senior staff briefing since the end of the battle. The Hawaii was docked at XFY, yet the crew were largely getting ready for the next evolution, which was preparing for Canterra.

“Please, take your seats,” Akio said gruffly. “Let us start with… Engineering. Lieutenant Taltos?” Akio wondered where Lieutenant Kosu was.

“Hull breach repairs several conduits and Jefferies tubes hatches among other things on the to do list, is growing but I am sure we’ll get everything sorted before too long. We have several folks in Sickbay for various injuries including, Lt Kosu hence my being here.” Iria said everything in an even tone but she was upset and doing her best to not show it.

Akio turned his head to the side where Aldana was sitting. “What is going on with Lieutenant Kosu?” Akio asked as a concerned Captain, or so he hoped.

There had been so much trauma and chaos in sickbay over the past several hours, some of hir own and the other doctor’s cases had started running together. S/he gulped.

Sombra sensed something from ‘Alpha,’ and nuzzled his head into hir lap.

Relieved, Aldana suddenly recalled s/he had a med-PADD in hir hand. S/he consulted it, and finally responded with authority and confidence. “Lieutenant Kosu is still unconscious. She is stable but remains in critical condition. We’ve treated her the best we can, and I have staff monitoring her – among a few others – 26 hours a day. It’s up to her now.”

Akio just nodded for fear his face would betray his emotions.

“Intelligence?” Akio turned to Cortez, still brooding on what the Doctor had said.

The brief from intelligence was brief, yet intelligence officers always seemed to be short.

“Operations?” Akio asked Mr. Ruk.

“We’re working with the different departments to pull needed officers for repair efforts, while also leaving a complement enough to man the department. I’ve contacted command for a supply of new officers, with no response.” Arthur said, “I also am working with departments to see where we’re lacking in supplies. Medical has priority, and we’re doing all we can to get them needed supplies, but extra hands would be nice.”

“Thank you. Check with the other ships in the Battlegroup for supplies. They should be able to help us. If there are critical positions that need to be filled, we can also transfer some personnel off those vessels,” Akio noted.

“Security, you are up.” Akio turned to Stevens.

“We lost several of our Veteran squads today and those that stepped up did us proud,” replied Harry as he looked around the room, He continued, “I will be asking for some R&R for the boys Captain,” as they sure as well earned it.

“Thank you, Mister Stevens. Doctor. How is sickbay holding up after the battle?” Akio asked.

Doctor Aldana blinked and took a breath. “We’re still a little over-whelmed to be honest captain, but we’re managing. I’ve brought on all shifts until further notice and drafted in anyone aboard with first-aid or medical training. Things are settling down gradually as they will with time, but it will be several hours before we can ‘stand down.’”

“I want adequate crew rest. I estimate after we disembark from XFY, normal shift rotations will be feasible,” Akio noted.

“Science?” Akio asked Tolkath.

“There are four main areas of research following on from the boarding action.” Tolkath began “Firstly, data obtained from the vessel itself, confirming it is a design much in advance of previously encountered Gorn craft. As we previously suspected, it was not a type recorded within the data we received from Task Force command prior to arrival in this sector. I do not believe we have been given an answer as to why that was.” He raised an eyebrow at Tachibana.

“You are correct, Mr. Tolkath,” Akio sighed, recalling the interesting meeting he had with Task Force 93’s senior leaders.

“A couple weeks ago, I did have a meeting with Task Force Command and a Captain from Starfleet Operations about our actions during the Battle of Canterra. It was revealed that our ship was used to confirm preliminary assessments that the Gorn had received advanced technology and as an impetus to gather more resources for the theater. In short, Starfleet sent our ship to be destroyed,” Akio paused. “I did not reveal this sooner because such a revelation would have destroyed morale on the ship, and it was not relevant to our mission. Rest assured, Admiral Banda took care of Starfleet’s poor planning for our vessel.”

Cassidy sat up, aghast. “They sent us out there as a sacrificial lamb? Eight hundred lives - hell, scratch that, any lives - to go and gather some damn intel? Brass couldn’t come up with a better plan?”

“That would appear to be a wasteful and ill-conceived strategy,” Tolkath commented dryly.

Juan screwed up his eyes and took a long pull from his coffee, he would have to add this to the list if things to process later. “Agreed, but I don’t believe this changes our current situation. Does this revelation suggest we should not make for Canterra?” He asked, somewhat rhetorically.

“I share your sentiments, Messrs. Tolkath and Cassidy. I can tell you, so did Admiral Banda. While I could not hear what was going on, from what I saw, she was not pleased. It was the rare moment I have seen a senior officer get dressed down. To the task at hand, though, Mr. Zamora is correct,” Akio noted.

The Captain’s revelation hit Jenny hard, she felt a surge of righteous anger welling up inside of her, this was wrong on so many levels. “That’s total horseshit!” She interjected, banging her fist on the table for emphasis. “Since when is it okay to just forget our superiors sending us out to die! I am not okay with this, and I say we stay put until I can get an iron-clad guarantee that we won’t be up against any other disgusting Tal Shiar shit from our ‘own side’!!” She reached up and added quote marks with her fingers.

Akio looked at the Lieutenant as she made her outburst. West smirked and beat Akio to the punch.

“You want me to handle this, or you want to?” West joked with the other officers before continuing. “They’re called orders, Lieutenant, and you’re gonna follow ‘em or else more people are going to die.”

“Major,” Akio started to raise his voice. “We will handle our own officers. There will be no more death if I can help it. I am sorry that Starfleet Command chose to use our ship in that manner, yet Admiral Banda assured me that we would be read into all information pertaining to our mission. I have had several meetings with her and Captain Ramsey, the Gorn Theater Commander, since then. While I share your anger, Lieutenant, your outburst is out of line.”

“Maybe I am Captain…” Jenny replied “…this situation is out of line. You say you have promises that we won’t be sent on any more suicide missions. You’d better be confident in those promises sir, cause I’m counting on you to make sure that what we’re doing out here actually moves us closer to ending this whole shitstorm, we all are–”

Iria opened and closed her mouth, her eyes narrowing to barely show off the two different hues of her iris, she shook her head and started muttering curses under her breath her agreed with Jenny’s words on several levels but adding more chaos to the meeting wouldn’t do her any good, right then.

Dran just scowled, disgusted.

Arthur slammed a fist on the table. “Miserable Peta’Qs in Command! They’d send one of the top ships in the fleet out to die, for what?! This is ridiculous,” Arthur spat out several words in Klingon that would translate to some rather strong profanity in Standard, “I know the Empire is brash, but we’d never do that, that’s dishonorable!”

“That will be enough, Lieutenant Lassonde and Ensign Jones. We all have orders and duties to attend to,” Akio shut down the conversation. “I do not want to hear any more of this and if I hear about rumors of this topic among the crew, I will be issuing reprimands for harming morale.”

Once the meeting had settled down after Tachibana’s revelation Tolkath then continued. “The vessel is, however, a modification of a design observed and recorded by the USS Wyoming, with the addition of a ventral saucer.

“Data indicates the vessel is constructed from advanced materials, previously thought to be beyond known Gorn technology. It has shields which are superior to our own, has heavily armored forward hull plates, as well as a range of offensive and defensive weaponry and is capable of superior speed.

“The lack of previous reports of this class would tend to indicate that the Gorn do yet possess them in significant numbers.

“That the craft was able to assault Xavier and survive against two capital Starfleet ships, our self and the USS Devonshire; plus, the Station defenses and a combined starfighter force; is sufficient demonstration that these are formidable warships.

“That being said; concentrated phaser and torpedo impacts were able to overcome the vessel’s shields and the hull was vulnerable to the new Hammerhead weapon system. But, even after taking heavy damage, the vessel was still capable of departing the combat zone and out running the Devonshire.

“I would recommend an alert be issued, that Starfleet vessels do not attempt to engage Gorn Cruisers of this design alone.”

“I think that would be prudent, Commander, and I have already reported most of our findings to Task Force Command based on your report. I will say that the USS Onnar recently encountered a vessel of the same class as the Rends with Teeth on the outskirts of the Bellatrix Sector. We should really name this class of ship… Rends-class?” Akio thought aloud.

“Perhaps Scindite-class” Tolkath offered “Earth Latin, Rend, Tear up, Lacerate, Rip…“

“What about Mjolnir?” Harry suggested as he leaned back into his chair as he knew that naming the vessel after the God of thunder’s Hammer.

“Apep, or Apophis, the great serpent that is the embodiment of chaos, and seeks to devour the sun, plunging all of creation into darkness.” Juan added his suggestion.

“That one. Apophis-class vessel. That sounds like it fits,” Akio nodded to Zamora. “Please update the logs and reports, Mr. Ruk.”

“Logs and reports updated.” Ruk said, tapping on his PADD.

Tolkath continued “The second area of research is the Gorn shield-penetrating torpedo that was recovered from the Cruiser. Like the Cruiser it is an advanced design using new technological processes but unlike the Cruiser this does not appear to be of solely Gorn manufacture. Initial indications are that a number of the controls and, in particular, the shield penetration technology is from outside of the Hegemony. I am not yet able to say from where, but it could be a Romulan or Klingon system. I would suggest Tactical and Engineering participate in the research going forward.”

“Agreed. I also suspect that our Gorn Doctor revealed the Federation Shield Frequencies used, that allowed the weapon to pierce our shields. The capture of our Doctor solidifies my suspicion that our Doctor was one of their agents. Thoughts, Mr. Stevens?” Akio turned to the young security officer.

“My thoughts Sir,” replied Harry as he had just learned that those in the brass had let those under then take the fall and that those that had fallen were mistreated and not shown the respect, “I would like it noted Sir that the fallen should not be forgotten by the brass and ask them to send the condolences to the families,” he picked up his mug and took a sip of the coffee, He continued,” as for the Gorn Doctor and those that were sent to get him back,” He finished, “I say that we put a program into one of their ships that will give us intel on their movements.”

Akio was a bit perplexed by the out of place comment of condolences, yet he noticed the Ensign seemed… troubled.

“Of course, Mr. Stevens,” the Captain said, “The purpose of this meeting is to solidify reports for my report to headquarters. I expect condolences to be sent by the Admiralty. As for an intelligence program, that does sound risky, yet certainly valuable. I will leave it to you and Engineering to work out.”

Iria sat back, there was a lot to do, Hammerheads would need to be made, getting more details on the Gorn Torpedo as well as the repairs. With the number of folks in Sickbay with injuries it was going to be some LONG shifts for her and the remaining teams, in engineering.

Tolkath continued “Thirdly, and related to the torpedo, which is capable of mounting a range of warheads. I retrieved samples of the substance from the explosion in the Cruiser’s magazine, which affected Lieutenant Kosu. It appears to be a multi-vectored bio-genetic weapon, engineered to incapacitate and kill Humans.” He looked at Tachibana and the other Humans in the room. “Specifically Homo Sapien Humans from Earth…”

He paused to let that sink in. “It is designed to cause a long and lingering death, which causes further disruption to an enemy’s combat capabilities by diverting resources to care for the dying, with an additional psychological factor against morale and the will to fight.

“It would appear it can be vectored as a liquid, an aerosol and, according to post-combat reports from the Devonshire’s Marine contingent, as a gas.” Tolkath reported.

“I would estimate that, untreated, the average adult Human would be incapacitated within minutes and dead within forty to forty-eight hours. It is obviously effective against other Humanoid species, Lieutenant Kosu is a Betazoid, but the greater the genetic disparity with Humans the less effective it is. Vulcans would take approximately eight days to die from exposure, if untreated, for example. It does not appear to have any effect on the Gorn themselves but that has not been tested.

“I defer to Doctor Aldana for the specific effects of the weapon on Human physiology and treatment options and would further suggest research into a vaccine and immunization process.” Tolkath finished.

Aldana had only been half listening, hir thoughts had drifted to Lt. Kosu, and some of the others who were still being attended to in sickbay. Not to mention some of the missing and unaccounted for aboard… including one of hir very own significant others, Luuna. Last time s/he was able to check was several hours ago, but the computer was not able to locate her, and she was not indicated as being in their quarters.

A nudge from Sombra snapped her back to; “…wha? Oh! Right we still need more research. However, a vaccination is hypothetical.”

~Thanks buddy.~ S/he schritchied his under Sombra’s jaw.

~I miss her too.~

“And what about the effects on Human physiology?” Tolkath asked, wondering why the Doctor was unable to provide information on patients under their care.

Aldana reviewed hir PADD. S/he had not personally worked on Lieutenant Kosu given the abundant workload in sickbay at the moment, s/he had been forced to delegate her case to another doctor in hir department, and quickly found what s/he needed to jog hir memory.

Remaining calm and assertive, the Kazarite hybrid looked at Tolkath directly. “We seem to have very little in the database on this weapon, which means we’ve only been able to make direct observation and scans of Ms Kosu herself, but so far as we’ve been able to piece together the weapon seems to attack the nervous system. It seems to cause neural degeneration; the sympathetic nervous system shuts down and loses the ability to keep the body working.”

S/he blinked and looked to the others, resting on the captain’s gaze. “In that way it sounds much like several neural toxins found in nature, but it has DNA, so if it’s a virus it has the potential to be a more complex one. If it’s something else…” s/he trailed off.”

Aldana took a breath. “Doctor Amur is Primary Care Physician,” s/he glanced at the XO, “but Chief Surgeon Ward was assisting.” Finally returning to the one who’d asked, Tolkath, “So far, they’ve been treating the symptoms, once in the body it’s a tricky bastard and seems to be able to camouflage well. If we can get an original sample before it’s affected a host, perhaps we could tag it to track it better.

“There are original samples in Science Laboratory Three, on Deck Eighteen Doctor. I will arrange for you to have access to them” Tolkath replied

The doctor nodded in appreciation to the Vulcan. “Thank you; that would be most helpful.”

Tolkath nodded and continued “Finally, we were able to retrieve a Gorn Raider Shuttle craft during our extraction from the Ventral Saucer’s shuttle bay.” Tolkath explained “It is identical to the craft which carried out the boarding action against the Hawaii. With assistance from Engineering and Flight Control I believe we can convert the craft, it has been assigned the Code Name Aubrey, for our own use.

Cassidy looked like he didn’t get the reference; ancient Earth literature was not his wheelhouse, but he nodded amiably, eyes brightening. “We can get to work figuring out its systems and interface, make what conversions we need for our use. I’ll rustle up the old measuring protocols and programs Beta Antares used when I was a test pilot to get the measure of her.”

“I have a team in pending for the Aubrey, I want to be sure the Hawaii is set and settled before any new projects are completed. Unless I can borrow from the station or something then I can get folks on it faster?” Iria said evenly she was actually very curious about the acquired shuttle, but she wasn’t getting distracted until she was sure the Hawaii was good to go.

“I have no doubt it will prove advantageous in our upcoming mission. Not least in the fact that, since the Cruiser departed before we recovered the craft, the Gorn are unaware that we possess one of their Raider vessels.” He concluded his presentation of the Science department’s activities, sat back and interlocked his fingers on the desktop, adopting a calm expression, with barely the faintest discernible trace of Vulcan smugness.

“A prescient observation, Commander. One of the tasks for Engineering will be to determine if there is some type of transponder technology aboard the craft. No doubt, at some point, they would take inventory of their craft and supposedly report it missing or assume it was lost in the battle,” Akio noted as he took a sip of his tea.

“Thank you, Commander, for a thorough report and well done to you and the rest of the boarding party. Diplomatic?” Akio asked Lieutenant Radun who seemed to be obsessed with his nose.

“Huh? Oh! I’m up!” Dran thought out loud, removing his hand from feeling up his nose. “We’re working on new security features to hopefully prevent future incidents. I’ve also got a detailed report on your desk of events as they happened to me, for future analysis and due to the fact that the bulkheads hurt. A lot.”

“Thank you, Mr. Dran,” Akio tried to cage his anger. “Is your department operational?” Akio wondered what the background of the Bajoran Diplomat was again.

“Well I’m working out of a closet right now, but we’re about 85% operational at the moment.” Dran said, looking around the room. “We’ll try not to get kidnapped next time.”

“Flight Control?” Akio turned to Cassidy.

Cassidy swallowed coffee quickly and put the mug down. “You saw how things went down on the bridge, Skipper, and I’m satisfied with the reports of my pilots on the HILO mission. Overall Hawaii did a good job of evasive flying against the Gorn ship, considering we couldn’t trust our shields to take the brunt of the assault. I’d want to work a bit with Engineering to come up with some power distribution protocols for future engagements, prioritize our maneuverability.” He nodded down the table at Taltos before pressing on.

“Since then, flight control systems are fully functional again, and we’re prioritizing maintenance and repairs on the shuttles, especially the HILO in case of further action. Our priority right now is getting every pilot I’ve got fully acquainted with the navigational charts of the region; I want us knowing every light-second of Canterra before we’re in the field again.”

“Sounds good. I am sure you will be working with Operations to get the lay of the land from what we know of Canterra. Starfighters,” Akio nodded to Lassonde.

Jenny took a deep breath before launching into her explanation. “It was a bit of a mixed bag overall sir, together with the Devonshire’s flyers, we were able to weaken the Gorn ship, but there were a few losses along the way. My flight XO is out of action, and we lost another fighter, though the pilot is safe. We were able to escort the boarding transports to their destination without any major problems, and we were able to prevent considerable damage to the station. We’ll be going over the recordings to see what we can learn, we’ll have a full report to you, and a revised training plan that takes our discoveries into account.”

“I do wonder if our Flight of fighters are enough, considering the last battle,” Akio wondered aloud. “I agree, the Devonshire’s contingent definitely helped. Very good, Lieutenant. And Marines,” Akio turned to the Major who was seated at the other end of the table.

“Sir, we completed our boarding actions and suffered half a dozen casualties across the Battalion. We are transferring personnel and I have obtained some transfers through 93d MEF/G1 for personnel we recovered from the Wyoming MARDET. 1stLt Bolingbroke is promoted to Captain and is our Bravo Company CO now. I am communicating with General Gerard about the ground campaign for Canterra.

“As you know, we also repelled boarders aboard our ship. We did lose our Gorn Doctor yet traded him for a Gorn prisoner of our own. With your permission, I would like him to be interrogated by our personnel,” West concluded.

“Security, do you have any objection?” Akio asked.

“Only I want in on interrogation,” replied Harry as he knew that the sight of Sif being there might make the Prisoner think twice about lying to them.

Akio looked to West who glanced at the Ensign before turning back to the Captain.

“I have no problem with Security officers joining us. Yet our prisoner, our procedures,” West allowed.

Akio was not sure what that meant, yet he nodded, before turning to Commander Zamora.

“XO, do you have anything to add?” Akio turned to Zamora.

“For the most part, the others have covered everything I would have mentioned.” Juan replied, looking into his mug as he swirled the contents. “We have reason to believe that the Gorn are receiving technological assistance from parties unknown. So, although we are limited in resources, and must place our focus on Canterra, I would stress the importance of keeping an eye on the political situation, it holds the potential to transform the nature of our conflict in an instant. Based on a conversation I had before the battle with Mr. Radun, I would consider the Sovereignty of Kahless to be particularly interesting in this regard.”

“Do you have any evidence to support your assessment?” Akio asked, glancing at Dran and Cortez before coming back to the XO.

“Nothing concrete sir, my evidence is purely circumstantial. The SOK are one of a number of factions that might have seen fit to aid the Gorn, but they stand to gain the most from an ongoing conflict. It drains the attention and resources of Starfleet and draws them closer to one of only a few potential allies they might have, while threatening the flank of their enemies in the imperial government. A technology transfer would not have cost them much in material terms, and it fits their established practice of working covertly to build up a base for later, more direct, action.” Juan explained.

“While that is an interesting theory, Commander, unless there is something tangible, I do not think we can rely on that theory. We need to find the evidence,” Akio noted. He tapped some keys on the console before him and a map appeared.



“We have been tasked to lead a Battle Group to Canterra IV and establish ground operations, while the Devonshire leads a separate Battle Group to Canterra III’s moons to disrupt assessed Gorn mining operations.

“The situation of Canterra IV is not known, yet we do expect a space battle. Due to the risk involved, we will be landing personnel during battle as we do not know when the next available ships would be able to be marshaled. Essentially, there is some concern that the ships will not survive, and their cargo needs to make it to the ground.

“Most of the materiel to construct the ground ops is aboard the Adelaide, since it is a Nebula. That is why we will be escorting that vessel at Warp 6, taking us about 23 days. We will be at XFY for a week to conduct repairs. Once in the system of Canterra, we will conduct a long-range scan and determine the best landing site. Despite all attempts, we simply do not know the ground situation. Are there any questions?” Akio asked.

Iria shook her head, she now had a time frame on which to get organized. She now knew she had a week to make sure the ship was back to 100% or better if possible before they moved on to their next encounter. The acquired Aubrey needed to be gone over with a fine-tooth comb, and then made for their use, she would need some pilots to check it too, she was making notes in short hand as the meeting went on.

“What was the situation on Canterra IV before the Gorn invasion?” Tolkath asked “It was a colony world I believe?”

“Correct. Canterra IV is the only habitable planet in the system. It supported a small Federation colony that we know of, which we believe is occupied by the Gorn. Canterra IV is sometimes mis-classed as a Class Y planet as the polar regions exhibit Class Y characteristics. Additional survey teams since this map was originally created have re-classed the planet as a Class L. The surface is still barren for the most part and the atmospheric turbulence is unknown, so our orbit will need to be monitored.”

“That’s fine,” said Cassidy, as if an orbital firefight in changing circumstances was nothing much to worry about. “There are maneuvers and techniques to handle these sorts of circumstances.” He looked at Stevens. “Though might be best I and my pilots run some drills with Tactical, because we probably won’t be able to rely on combat maneuvers as much as we have been if we need to be compensating for atmospheric turbulence all the time.”

“That’s fine with me, as long as there is no sudden changes in the drills,” replied Harry looking back at Cassidy, he continued “and if your Pilots muck up then you take the blame,”As he knew how those flyboys liked to do stupid stuff after a training drill.

“Is there any chance of making contact with the colonists?” Cassidy pressed on, looking at the Captain. “I’m from this neck of the woods – not Canterra, but around – and they’re not the sort to sit tight and wait for the cavalry. I mean, we’ve seen that with the Ekdikos but maybe some of that fighting spirit can work for us.”

“There has been very sporadic communication with the Ekdikos. Intelligence assessments are that there are resistance cells operating, yet after the evacuation from the system, we have not heard from them. Of course, I am not sure if that is a problem of them going silent, or no one was listening,” Akio looked down at the table. The Federation had been sloppy in mobilizing for the Gorn War.

Akio reached into his pockets and pulled out two boxes. He slide one down to Stevens and the other in front of Taltos.

“Your conduct during this battle have been impressive. Congratulations on your promotions. Do not let them get to your heads,” a small smile, the first one during the meeting, appeared on Akio’s face before quickly disappearing.

“Based on her conduct during this battle, Lieutenant Kosu will be nominated for the Starfleet Commendation Medal,” Akio said slowly, trying to keep his voice even.

All too willing to change the subject, Akio turned to Cortez and Aldana, “Starfleet has informed me they are dispatching a new Chief Intelligence Officer and Chief Medical Officer. I do not know who or when, so until that happens, you are Acting Department Heads, yet be forewarned that may be temporary. Is there anything further?”

Doctor Aldana, and Sombra, had been worried about something, but s/he was having a hard time finding a way back into the discussion without being rude. Finally, there was a break in the conversation, and s/he spoke up, “We have some concerns about some missing beings.” S/he looked to the captain.

“We can discuss those offline, after the meeting” Akio said, mindful of the time. He wondered why the Doctor decided to wait until the end of the meeting to bring something like this up.

Akio paused while looking around the room. These were his senior officers. Some of their faces had changed… some were the same. Some were already veterans, yet after that battle, no one was a rookie any longer.

“Very well. Dismissed.”

OFF:

Congratulations to LT Taltos & LTJG Stevens on their promotions!


Akio Tachibana, CAPT, SF
CO

Juan “JJ” Zamora, CDR, SF
XO

Tolkath, CDR, SF
2XO/CSO

Rafe Cassidy, LT, SF
CONN

Geneviève “Jenny” Lassonde, LTJG, SFFC
CO, FLT 801 “Golden Knights”

Radun Dran, LTJG, SF
DIP

Harry Stevens, LTJG, SF
TACSEC

Arthur Jones, Son of Ruk, ENS, SF
OPS

Iria Taltos, LT, SF
ACHENG

Doctor Amiri Aldana 365 D.V.M., M.D., LT, SF
CMO

Terrance “Terry” West, Maj, SFMC
CO, 3d MRBN