Reviewing the Facts

Posted on Tue Jun 1st, 2021 @ 2:29pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Rozia & Lieutenant Commander Jason Myers & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison & Lieutenant Commander Calvin Morgan & Lieutenant Roxa Onaix & Lieutenant Veznia MD PSyD & Lieutenant Alexis Aenera

Mission: Pathstone to History
Location: USS Astraea - Conference Lounge

It had only been a few minutes since the senior officers had arrived back on board and Evelyn had basically gone straight to the Conference Room and found her trusty aide along the way. A few moments later, the Chief Petty Officer was in there and replicating carafes of coffee, tea, pastries, savory rolls, everything that could be used to fuel a hungry and possibly cranky group of senior officers. She was still at work as everyone started to arrive.

Evelyn had stopped to check on the bridge console to get an update on things after she'd stopped Lisa and came in with a new PADD and was almost immediately handed a tall mocha cappuccino by the enlisted engineer. "Thanks, Lisa, nice setup." She grinned and snagged a sausage roll she noticed, then a small plate and stacked a few dainties on it before heading to her chair.

The next through the door was Ichiko herself. She noticed that her task was complete... there was quite the spread before her. She went to claim a mug, and then skipped the tea and went directly for the coffee. Standard, run of the mill ISO coffee. She poured herself a mug, braced herself, and took a sip.

"There. All is right in the world." she announced, mostly to herself. It was horrible dirt-flavored bean water, but right now, the humans had the right idea. Don't drink it for flavor, drink it for effect. She hated coffee. She really did, but right now, it was divine.

She turned to those already in the room, "I apologize, but after the last few hours, I needed this more then air. I hate this stuff, but right now, I need it." she stated, a soft smile on her features. Another sip, another wince. It was then that she opted to lighten the dark beverage with some cream and sugar.

Roxa entered the conference room and smelled fresh coffee. Making her way over to the refreshments she gathered a bite to eat and a cup of coffee and took her seat "coffee" she muttered taking a sip and giving a nod to the officers already there.

Calvin came in with a large coffee cup with some liquid already in it. What he wouldn't mention, and topped it off with coffee. Sitting down, more of a controlled fall than anything graceful, his butt made contact with the seat. With a sigh he sipped at his coffee and waited for the meeting to start.

Buck arrived not long after the doctor. He'd discarded his dress uniform jacket, but otherwise remained had not changed. He poured a large coffee and downed it.

"I'll admit, I've got a wonderful Senior Chief, Commander, she does perform miracles." Evelyn had made sure Lisa was out of the room before she'd made mention of it, "Give her an hour and she could probably set something up that's worthy of royalty." She raised her cappuccino in salute, "I know I'm wanting to get to the bottom of what's going on here... A planet appearing out of nowhere?"

"That is apparently that the Dalacari believe has happened," Abigail said as she walked into the conference room and headed straight for a chair. She didn't even bother with her regular chai latte. Dropping into the seat, she activated the holographic display in the center of the table, watching as a representation of a planetary system appeared in front of them. "This is the Vulara System, or, this is what it looked like this morning."

She tapped at a PaDD on the table and the system changed, ever so slightly. Previously empty space was now occupied by a planet, a planet that didn't appear to be affecting anything else. If it wasn't for the fact that the first scan clearly showed the planet was not there previously, one would simply assume that it had always existed. "This is the Vulara system now." She sighed softly and leaned back in her seat, looking around the table.

"That planet is apparently emitting Federation signatures. How the hell does a planet with Federation signatures suddenly appear in the Delta Quadrant?" She cast a cautionary glance at Evelyn. "And don't tell me it's always been there. This has cost us the negotiations with the Dalacari. I need to know what the hell I'm supposed to tell Starfleet."

Almost on cue as an answer, the doors slid open again and Alexis stumbled in, almost falling flat on her face. She was in uniform, technically. Half in would be more accurate as one of her stockings was only barely over a knee and making a good chunk of thigh visible under the skirt. She had her left arm in the jacket and her hair was a wreck, heels held in her left hand while her right flailed to get the jacket on, PADD clenched between her teeth, "Ngh err." She said around the PADD, "Obby ngh gate." She finally managed to corral her hand through the jacket and grabbed the PADD as she stubbed her toe on seemingly nothing on her way to the closest empty chair, "Sorry..." She repeated, cringing from the pain in her toe.

Buck shifted in his seat, taking in the arriving science officer and then back to the captain. He spoke with evident frustration. "With respect, Ma'am. The planet's appearance didn't cost us the negotiations: Ezoi Mathe's authoritarian dick swinging did. If you have to tell Starfleet something, tell them as soon as something they couldn't explain showed up the Dalacari police arrested the nearest convenient suspects and held them prisoner until they could prove their own innocence."

"Well, I'm glad I'm not the worst of wear here," Calvin said, looking at Alexis. "If you need medical help, happy to see you in Sickbay after this." He turned back to the group, his sarcasm yet seriousness still evident. "I'm the wrong side of science to speculate too deeply. But you cannot just make a planet appear without some massive energy, and some insanely intense calculations occurring. If it's a Federation planet, a non Federation entity made it occur," He speculated. "Could also be a humanitarian crisis on that planet depending how it was moved." He took another swig of his coffee before leaning back in his chair.

Evelyn rolled her eyes at the sight of the Science officer, but didn’t acknowledge her arrival at all, “Speaking for the Starfleet Engineering Corps, there is absolutely nothing I know of that could drive one of our planets thousands of light years out to here. If it IS one of ours, it would have to have been something experimental that went out of wack or an accident.”

Alexis just dropped her shoes to the floor and was trying to straighten her uniform jacket as she fidgeted in her seat, “Humanitarian crisis is right.” She grinned briefly at Calvin, “The Dalacari say it’ll affect the orbit of a single planet of theirs, but geologic stresses on the arriving planet might tear it apart. I need a gravitational map of the entire star system including planetary orbits for the next oh.. Two hundred fifty years in each direction from current? At the least, there are going to be major earthquakes on that planet, even if it were intentionally brought here. One can’t precalculate everything in an orbital insertion of this magnitude, unless they have a structural integrity field that wraps the entire planet, which would have to stay up forever. Any delay in natural tectonic shifts will be magnified if they don’t let the pressure ease.” It was shot out of her mouth as if from a machine gun.

This time, Evelyn resisted rolling her eyes at the science officer and took a deep breath, "If we're looking at how they're emanating Federation signatures of technology, we need to look at what we're receiving. If there are comm signals, compare the security protocols to what we have to see if it's one of ours, or if it's perhaps another society that just happens to be similar to our tech level and frequency range? It's a long shot, yes, but it's a possibility."

"And touching on Cmdr. Rozia's comments," Will said, "I'm not even sure what kind of an experiment or accident, at least of the man-made variety, could catapult a Class-M planet across thousands of light years, at least not in one piece. The power requirements alone would be...well, astronomical, if you'll pardon the expression. Admittedly I can't think of anyone back home with that kind of tech."

Ichiko took a breath, "I'm beginning to see what the Dalacari were so worried about." she motioned with her coffee cup to the images and data. "Station security has halted all jamming and suppression of our sensor systems and comm arrays, we should be able to point our ears, so to speak, in the proper direction to pick up something. Or, if there's a Federation ship closer to the anomaly than we are, piggy back off of them." Ichiko looked at the data again, "Cause right now, I know for a fact that the math required to do this, that the power and energy required to do this... that the capacity to do this... is beyond any in the grasp of the peoples in this room. Nevermind just the Federation."

Abigail touched her fingertips to her temples. "Commander Rozia, Lieutenant Aenera and Commander Gunnison and Commander Myers, I want you to work together. As soon as our sensors are online I want to know everything there is to know about this planet. "Commander Rogers, find out what other ships we have that are in that area, we'll need to request someone else go check it out. A planet doesn't just materialise out of thin air, and until we know for sure, we can't rule out the possibility that someone else is trying to sully relations between the Federation and the Dalacari."

"Aye, Captain." Jason responded, still a little perplexed by everything that had happened. How DID a planet just pop in out of nowhere?

Evelyn nodded in response, then stopped as Alexis shook her head in the negative, then in the affirmative as well, "I'm gonna be in my lab," The science officer waved at the others, "No, not because I don't want to work with you guys, I can just set up a better model of the system and run some simulations for what we should expect to see and all that jazz." She put on a dazzling smile, "I'll keep everyone updated on what I find, you guys just focus on the technical side of things, I'll take the science side."

"It's called a team for a reason, Lieutenant." Evelyn bit out, "Not a group project with separate assignments for everyone. We should stick together."

"Recall that there is no 'I' in 'Work Along Your Team To Uncover The Truth And Solve The Mystery That Lay Before Us'." Ichiko 'reminded'.

Veznia had not heard her notification summoning her to the Conference Lounge. She had been trying out a Vulcan meditation technique, and to be honest it wasn't entirely effective given Vez's impatience at most things Vulcan. When she finally noticed the time she hurriedly got to her feet and began to run. "Damn, damn, damn." She said under breath as she sped through the corridors. The Denobulan woman had never run so fast in her life. She ran so fast that she had little control causing her to bounce into walls and crewman alike before making it to the turbo lift. She wheezed. "Deck One." The counsellor placed her hand on the wall of the lift and tried to catch her breath until the doors parted and she power walked to the Conference Lounge doors. She was still visibly out of breath when she entered. "So sorry I'm late." She wheezed, looking around the room for water and settling into a seat near a full pitcher.

"Quite alright Lieutenant," Abigail responded with a polite nod. "Questions or concerns before we continue?" she asked, turning her attention back to the rest of the table.

Still wheezing and trying to catch her breath between sips of water. "Did I miss anything important?" She asked breathily.

"Breaking the workload into teams to try to solve the problem of, essentially, a rogue planet taking up orbit in a system. Currently the Dalacari Security Division believes that the appearance of a planet emitting Federation energy signatures and comm frequencies, and the appearance of a Federation starship... is too grand a coincidence. We've been tasked with investigation." a pause, "From what I remember of Dalacari law, their expectation is simply to clear ourselves of the coincidence. A drone has been stationed on the ship to ensure we don't flee from our service requirement."

"It won't stop us, but it will, oh what's the term.... tattle on us." she paused, "Though, you all know what's expected, and you all know what to do. If there are no further questions?"

"None here." Jason said. "From a security viewpoint, the Dalacari government's behaviour is reasonable but... It just sucks for us. But... I'm hopeful we'll get to the bottom of this and get this sorted out. I hardly believe the Federation is in the business of just hauling planets light years away."

Ichiko turned to Abigail, "Give the word captain."

Abigail nodded slightly. "Alright, you all know what what needs to be done, so go do it. Lieutenant Veznia, if you aren't busy I'd appreciate a moment of your time?"