Keeping it Briefing

Posted on Sat Jul 31st, 2021 @ 9:25am by Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Rozia & Lieutenant Commander Jason Myers & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Lieutenant Naomi McLaren & Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison & Lieutenant Commander Calvin Morgan & Lieutenant Roxa Onaix & Lieutenant Veznia MD PSyD

Mission: Pathstone to History
Location: Conference Room A

"Rogers to all senior staff." The doors to the Captain's Ready Room had hardly hissed closed behind him and Buck had tapped his comm badge. "Assemble for a senior staff briefing in conference room A in twenty minutes. Rogers out."

If the setup Buck had prepared for the briefing could be summed up in one word it would be minimalist. Just a few pitchers of water spaced evenly apart on the conference table and glasses in front of seats. None of the usual pastries or extras. The shunning of unnecessary excess a testimony to both the poverty the Lt. Commander grew up in and his service in armed forces of centuries past. Buck dropped into his chair and looked to the door waiting for the rest to arrive.

Evelyn was the first one there, PADD in hand as she bustled through the door and made a beeline for her seat. She hesitated for just a moment as she noted the just the water on the table and her hand quivered as she resisted reaching for her commbadge to ask Lisa to come up. But no, Commander Rogers had a reason for doing it this way and it WAS his briefing he was running, so go with what was there. She smiled at him as she slipped into her seat, "Good afternoon, sir, I hope you're doing well today?"

Buck gave Evelyn a small smile. "Keepin' on keepin' on, Commander. How's things with you?"

"Oh, you know, making sure the ship doesn't blow up for no reason at all." She chuckled, "Making a few fixes, helping with routine work, the normal." Evelyn shook her head slightly, "Engineers doing engineer things."

Will arrived at the conference room. "Hope I didn't miss anything," he said.

"Nope, not at all," Evelyn smiled at Will, "Just waitin' on everyone to get here. Since I've got you two, anything going wrong that needs fixing? After all, I'm now a captive audience."

Jason walked in immediately after. "Uh oh... Have I missed all the fun?" he asked as he took a seat

Lieutenant Onaix was the next through the door, she gave a polite nod as she entered the room and took a seat next to Jason. She offered another polite nod to the man sitting beside her and turned her attention to the Captain.

Calvin sauntered in, lab coat wrinkled from work, sleeves partially pushed up. He took a seat quietly, passively working himself into the socializing.

For someone who's Starfleet life revolved around schedules and appointments, Veznia always seemed to be running late. Despite twenty minutes of warning, she settled into a pot of Spice Tea and allowed herself to get a little too relaxed. So much so that she didn't check the time until just a few minutes before she was to be in the Conference Room. Once again she ran through the corridors to catch a turbolift. For Veznia, even a short jaunt took her breath away. She hurriedly joined her comrade with only a minute to spare. The Denobulan took a seat, her breathing was shallow and she looked red in the face. "Hello.. all." She said forcing a smile as she reached for a water pitcher.

Ichiko was among the last to arrive, sharp as always. Accompanying her were the proverbial guests of honor: Alia Vass, the Dalacari diplomat. and Fleetmaster Diasan Goki. "Madam Diplomat. Fleetmaster." she led them to the conference table, and offered each of them their seats before joining them. Nothing close to a position of prestige with the crew, but they were far from the end of the table. In fact, Ichiko took the seat furthest from the Captain's chair, perhaps in deference.

Abigail entered the conference lounge, glancing around and taking note of the fact that their visitors had already arrived and were seated. "Fleetmaster Goki, Alia, thank you for joining us at such short notice, hopefully we haven't taken you from anything more important." A slight pause as she set a bundle of PaDD's on the table. "I do hope you find our hospitality as welcoming as you have extended to us, sans house arrest of course," her mouth quirked in a slight smile.

"Fleetmaster Goki, I would like to thank the Ts'usugi for allowing us access to the buoy network again, it certainly helped us get the information we needed in a much more expedient fashion. Unfortunately we have no easy way to establish more extensive communications with Starfleet Command at this time." Abigail offered a nod of appreciation to Goki as she spoke.

The dignitaries each gave a nod in some fashion, Goki's more reserved than Alia's. "We're very grateful for your hospitalist, Captain Laurens." the Dalacari was the first to respond, and Goki agreed, "It's a credit to your people, we're honored to have been welcomed aboard."

The delegation listened as Abigail explained, and Goki gave a nod. "You'll understand that without a formal agreement uniting our peoples, arranging for buoy rations to be extended to your people may be problematic. We'll do everything in our power, on all sides, to ensure that once that matter is resolved, there will be few things standing in the way of preparing the network for your arrival." he paused, a smirk forming on his features, "On an unrelated note, Ichiko Gail." he turned and fixed her with a glance.

"It's been too long since you last contacted your family. The home moons worry when a Daughter of Ts'usu goes quiet for so long. I can only imagine that you're using your rations responsibly, but hording them does no one any justice. Therefore, effective immediately, I'm instructing the network to double your buoy rations to ensure that such a slight does not occur again."

"Of course, tracking such a transmission would be difficult. Time consuming. So, who knows where your call would go." and to that, Ichiko could only offer a deep bow. "I understand."

The Denobulan counselor watched the exchange with fascination. She hadn't had much interaction with the Commander, and thus knew very little about her culture. She made a mental note to try and schedule time with the XO to learn more.

Abigail waited until the exchange between Goki and Ichiko had finished before she activated a viewscreen on the wall. "Thanks to Commander Gail I was able to make contact with Starfleet Command. A lot of the information provided has been restricted to level 10 clearance, which would normally exclude my senior staff and any outside parties. Given the current situation, I feel it's in all our best interests to resolve this as quickly as possible, so I've made the decision to override restrictions. That said, discretion is still most appreciated."

She stopped speaking long enough to bring up an image of the rogue planet that had been sourced from the Dalacari earlier. "This is the planet that recently appeared here, the one bearing federation signatures." Another pause, a few taps and another image appeared next to it. "This is Ivaldi III. Previously the third planet in the Ivaldi system." Another pause, again more taps and the images changed. "As you can see, aside from structural changes, the planets are essentially identical. There is no doubt that the two planets are one and the same."

Sinking slowly into her seat, Abigial glanced at the PaDD on the table in front of her then back up at the screen, bringing up sensor data from the anomaly that had been recorded. "Ivaldi III was presumed destroyed in an unknown anomaly four years ago."

The delegates absorbed the information presented to them, and finally found the words to speak... "Fascinating." whispered Alia. "Terrifying." hushed Goki. It was silence for another few moments before Alia spoke, "I'll contact the division of security, and have your record cleared immediately. And have your status reinstated." she commented, her twin continuing, "As far as I am concerned, you're not some forward observation ship for some ... planet transport."

Goki gave a nod, "I concur. I won't retract the steps taken that brought us here, but I do apologize for the hurdles along the way. I hope we can eventually put this matter behind us, and work together again on the path to cooperation."

Naomi hadn't said much, "From what I could tell based on sensor readings and my own educated guesswork, the planetary system where it is at was affected greatly with the presence of Ivaldi Three." She pointed out, "Scientifically speaking it is plausible for a planet to be moved a short distance or become a rogue planet, but to be moved into a system that already exists... It should be almost impossible."

"Well, based upon the available information," Will said, "I'd say someone figured out how to make it possible. Either that, or somehow they're very, very lucky."

Abigail gave a slight nod. "Unfortunately the system is too unstable right now for anyone to get even remotely close to the planet, and communication is impossible. The USS Ticonderoga is the closest Federation ship, they have been redirected to the system to try and offer any kind of assistance they can as soon as they are able. I will also make all data we have about the planet and the anomaly available to both of you. While it is sensitive data, this is a sensitive situation. Your thinking engines might be able to glean more from it than we were able to." She paused for a moment. "At this stage, I believe there is little more any of us can do except wait."

The mention of the planet being lost in time caused Buck's ears to prick up. "I know it's only a jump of four years, but it would be a good idea to have a Temporal Displacement Councillor on hand when we try to make contact with Ivaldi III."

"We have no way to get one from Starfleet Command, but perhaps that could be something the Dalcari may be able to assist with when the timing is right," Abigail suggested quietly. "If not, well, Captain Darian will do the best he can under existing circumstances."

"Without information of how the jump happened, there could be potential short and long term medical issues we will have to find and potentially account for as well," Calvin added in.

"I'm sure we have not even started to scratch the surface of the possible implications that may be experienced by any survivors." Abigail paused and sighed softly. "I'm sure there's going to be just as much confusion and uncertainty for them once we're able to make contact. The Ticonderoga will keep us informed of any updates, but based on the initial scans that the Dalacari provided us, it could be several weeks at least before the interference clears enough for us to safely make contact with them."

Lips pursed in thought, Evelyn tapped the table twice, "We could modify a probe to upgrade the shielding and send it into orbit over one of their settlements to use it as a comm relay. Without a closer look at the interference, I couldn't guarantee it working, but it could boost our signal to make comm contact with them."

After a pause, Fleetmaster Goki raised his hand, even pausing for a moment to be recognized. He was a guest here, afterall. "If I may? Shipmaster Laurens, with the matter regarding your presence and the sudden appearance of this rogue planet having been put well on the way to resolution, might I make a suggestion?"

"Your crew is quite ingenious. A credit to their training and the academy that produced them. These suggestions and plans of attack, as it were, are well crafted but I fear they're are a few too many to really keep track of accurately for proper use. Besides, it'll be the station administrator that implements these rather then either of us. Alia has duties to attend to, and I'm certain there's something requiring my attention waiting back for me. A parade, or a baby blessing ceremony." he joked.

"Would your department heads mind placing these suggestions and recommendations down into a report, to forward to the station administrator?" the black furred rabbit inquired.

Abigail nodded slightly. "That's a good idea," she stated. "I'm sure Fleet Master Goki can ensure that the information reaches the Ticonderoga. Due to our... circumstances..." she paused, having chosen her words carefully. "Command has given us other orders, we will be departing Dalacar in the morning. If no one else has any questions or concerns, I think we can lay this to rest, at least for the moment."

Leaving it a moment for any further questions, Abigail gave another quick nod. "Thank you everyone, you may leave. Commander Gail, Fleetmaster Goki and Alia, if it is okay, I would like your presence for a few moments longer?"

"Of course." said Alia, and Goki gave a nod. Ichiko also gave a nod, "Certainly."