The Briefing

Posted on Sun Oct 19th, 2014 @ 4:40pm by

1,426 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 87 - Disaster
Location: Engineering Conference, Deck 1017
Timeline: 10 Minutes after Disater and Unwelcome Guests

Jack was on duty at his station at the reactor condults when the tannoy blared overhead.

"announcement, announcement, all departmental heads engineering attend immediate briefing in Conference Engineering, I repeat all departmental heads engineering attend immediate briefing in Conference Engineering, thank you"

Walshie turned to jack after the tannoy had silenced and said "wonder what that's about then"

Jack noticed LT-CDR Sek marching towards the exit and replied "I guess we're going to find out in a minute mate"

Just then Travers strolled up to them and said "I just heard some news from up top, apparently there's an environmental disaster on a nearby planet, Hunster II I think they said, and apparently we're the nearest SB that can assist"

Jack said "any reports of damage or population injuries?" Travers said "no they didn’t specify who they are, not when I was up there anyway"

Suddenly a young AB ran past, nearly knocking Travers to the deck. Travers got up and growled at him "OI this is engineering, not a playground, what do you think you're playing at?" the AB got up wild-eyed and stammered "s-s-sorry sir, there been a asteroid strike on the federation colony of Hunster II, massive damage, tidal waves, hundreds injured, we got to get a taskforce going, I was just going to get the ships ready sir"

Jack said urgently "which ships young man?" the AB replied "Commander Coleman's the mission commander so Ark Royal's going, medics are needed so Mercy probably, her escort the Venator and the Saratoga whi......"

Walshie chimed in "the Saratoga's a marine ship, why would she be going" "beats me sir" said the AB, looking more harassed then ever after being grilled by three superiors: "but I have to get going sir , those ships need moving out". As he sprinted away, Travers looked at the other two and said "well that was rather interesting."

10 minutes after this altercation, the tannoy boomed out again “May I have your attention please, squads Charlie Baker, Alpha Delta, Baker Tango, Sierra Foxtrot, Mike November, Delta Echo and Juliet India please report to Conference centre 1. This is not a drill. Thank you”

The three looked at each other, their faces growing ever wilder as realisation dawned on them. Then Walsh squeaked “we’re going aren’t we?” Jack looked at him and slowly nodded his head, a beaming smile across his face. “Yes Paul, we’re going”. Jack then swung into action. Looking up at secondary condult station 3, he spotted Watson, cupped his round his mouth and, completely forgetting his communicator, shouted, ”DELTA ECHO SQUAD, FORM UP ON ME RIGHT NOW” to Travers he said “do you know where Dye is”. Travers replied “no sir I think he was in the conference already”. Jack shrugged his shoulders and said “oh right, we’ll meet him there then” he then addressed the newly-arrived panting forms of Truman and Watson. “Right boys we’re all here, follow me, we’re going to a conference”. Watson exclaimed “OH JOY.”

10 minutes later: Engineering Conference Centre, Deck 1027
Jack and his men arrived at the conference and were immediately ushered into some seats. He took a seat next to Dye and said “sounds like it’s all going off around here”. Dye replied with “yeah, I go away for 2 weeks and look what happens”. At the front of the room was Commander Coleman, his XO Engineering, LT-CDR Lo’ren plus all three watch commanders on SB 400, plus their 2IC’s. Coleman then stood up and addressed the room.

“Good afternoon. As you can probably tell, I haven’t called all of you together for tea and biscuits. We have a major situation brewing. Ensign, if you please” a young Ensign appeared from nowhere and flicked on the main viewer. Coleman continued “this is Hunster II, a fledging Federation colony located near the Krazzle border in Federation space, between Cannopus and Kovar. At 09:38 this morning a major event occurred on the planet. The initial reports coming from the planets high command say the colony experienced a 9:2 magnitude earthquake which has triggered an initial planet-wide tsunami warning. However they then sent a garbled transmission shortly afterwards regarding reports of an asteroid strike on the planet, although that is not confirmed yet. Now there is a Miranda Class in the orbit of the planet conducting basic medical and humanitarian aid but something much more is needed then her: US” he then walked to the second view screen which displayed technical information.

“Our mission is to provide immediate medical and humanitarian aid to the citizens of the planet and to assess and repair any damage to the structures and powers sources of the colony. I have been appointed as mission commander by Admiral Bremer and will be conducting OPS from orbit or the ground, depending on the situation when we get there. Ensign.” the ensign again pressed a button and changed the second view screen to show ship information.

“I will be using the Ark as my Flagship and the centre of all engineering projects and that’s where all you will be based. The full squadron will be the Ark as CIC, Mercy handling the medical effort, her personal escort Venator and the Saratoga, as the marines will be indispensible on the ground.” He turned and faced the group directly. “That is the overview. Now this is your tasks. The squads will be deployed on the ground, running repairs and diagnostics of all systems. They will also take turn manning the Ark’s engines when off duties. Now I will not lie to you, you will be seeing destruction most of you have never seen before. It is also highly likely that you will encounter severe and possibly fatally injured casualties while you conduct your duties. If there is anyone here who does not think they will perform under such conditions raise your hand.” Jack surveyed the room. Not one hand went up.

“Good”. Said Coleman. “Now in terms of personnel, LT-CDR Lo’ren will take command of 400 in my stead. Alpha watch will be commanded by LT Baxter, Beta watch by LT F’lox and Gamma watch by LT-CDR Sek. And even our venerable SWO Blackthorne will be coming with us”. At this a cheer went up around the room. even Coleman himself chuckled and said “all right, all right settle down. All the provisions and tactical gear are now being loaded into the ships as we speak. The only thing you guys have to pack is yourselves. Now, before we begin, are there any questions?”

LT Baxter raised his hand “sir, what’s the population of the planet?” Coleman looked at his PADD and replied “at last census Tony, there were 28,000 down there”. Dye then put his hand up, much to the surprise of jack. “Sir, is there any definite figures on damage and casualties as yet?” “We’ll know when we get there Dye, all we know is that there IS damage and there IS casualties, but figures we don’t know” came the reply. “Sir”, said an AB in the corner, “how long will be out there”. “Well” said Coleman, “this is a fluid deployment so there is no fixed time we’re going to be out there for. Could be 2 weeks or 2 months, we don't know yet. “One from me sir” said CPO Hartley “What are the risks of the Krazzle launching an attack on the place. I hear there’s been growing tensions in the area for a while”. “You hear a lot of things Hartley” said Coleman “we believe the risk to be minimal but it’s better to be safe then dead”. At this the room went quiet as all the questions had been answered. Coleman continued “you have all been issued your assignments for this trip. So let’s get cracking then guys, dust-offs at 10:30, be on board by then. Dismissed."

Briefing over, everyone started filtering out of the room to get their gear. Jack met up with the squad as they leisurely walked to their own quarters. His own thoughts were wrapped around the question of; what would it be like down there? This was jack’s fist SB 400 OP and was quite worried, although he was never going to show it. But it could be worse, when collecting his gear, Walshie declared “should I take my teddy or not?”

NB. Hi guys, this is my first mission log so go easy on me please. Also feel free to edit and tag is necessary. Hope everyone is well. Jack.

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