Getting Underway

Posted on Fri Dec 5th, 2014 @ 3:26am by Fleet Admiral Mike K`Wor Bremer & Lieutenant Nick Archer & Colonel Danny Lennox & Major General Thomas Jackson & Commander Jonathan Coleman & Captain Torilla Yamaguchi & Commander Tressa Brislan & Lieutenant Colonel Jillian "Phoenix" Sullivan & Captain Jack Solomon & Lieutenant Nuala Takabe & Lieutenant Zhao Quan & Lieutenant Ariel Gilmore & Ensign Sarah Ashley & Master Warrant Officer Gaius Aquila & Lieutenant Catherine Mclintock & Lieutenant JG Dye Heron & Lieutenant JG Thy'kor Shrok & Ensign Brandy Ragen & Ensign Manuel Vega & Chief Warrant Officer Xelonul Blackthorne & Sergeant Major Jo Ann Worth & Gunnery Sergeant Marcus Ermey & Gunnery Sergeant Agtx & Sergeant George Ann Worth

2,044 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 87 - Disaster
Location: Various, Relief Force Ships
Timeline: MD1, 1155 hours, Following 'Memories...'

On:

USS Ark Royal

Commander Coleman had gotten ready the night before to make sure that he was ready to command the fleet that was heading out to the planet Hunter II. The planet, according to Deep Space 14, had been hit by a comet or other planetary debris. Commander Coleman read into the planet's history and had the science teams work on making sure that all the teams were able to do what they needed to do.

Coleman walked onto the bridge of the Ark Royal and stood next to the command chair. He looked over at his communication officer and said, "Open a channel to the fleet."

Jack sat at the Operations Station on the bridge, having completed final checks with the various department heads on board the Ark Royal. Knowing he would need to see these updates, Jack had a PADD ready for Commander Coleman. He had fallen back into the XO position with some ease and also working at Operations left him in his comfort zone. Hearing the turbolift doors open, he turned to see Commander Coleman walk onto the bridge and give the order for a fleetwide comm channel. Jack typed in the command into the Ops panel.

"Channel to the fleet open, sir" Jack responded.

Down in engineering Zhao Quan was familiarising himself with the layout of the ship, when he heard the sound of the ships intercom opening. He look around to see other crew members stop what they were doing to hear the announcement.

He had already been to engineering, but wanted a quick look around the ship while things were still at the "lull before the storm" stage.

Takabe had her travel pack over her shoulder. She had just got back to SB 400 and now she was outbound again.


USS Venator - Main Bridge

Lt Commander Torilla Yamaguchi was standing next to the Ops station as she was going over the present state of her command, she arched an eyebrow as she scowled at the PADD before she handed it back to the Ensign. "Alright... Take that to Lieutenant Lee after she reports for duty in the Engine room."

"Yessir." the smaller man looked up at the intimidating alien woman who's species he'd forgotten about as he hurried away as Torilla watched her new senior staff begin to arrive.

She waited until they were all present, then she would spill the beans all at once. "Morning folks. We have a rather serious crisis on our hands and we plus three other ships assigned here are tasked with dealing with it..." Torilla paused a moment, she didn't want to overwhelm people with her brute force way of getting things done.

Captain K'Temoc had taken her aside and he had explained a few things to her, she was putting it into practice as she smiled, something that looked odd on her face. "Chief, good to see you again..." she commented to Chief Branson. "I need you and Lieutenant Lee". Torilla nodded to the woman who'm she didn't know. "To go over the various support craft aboard... make sure they have what we need to do this..." she commented.

"Ms Nechayev, you'll probably help with security planetside if and when we get there... but we have another assignment.... we're going to patrol the border area between the Hunster system and the border area.." Torilla looked down as she tapped a few keys, she brought up the location indicated on the view screen. "as you can see... Starfleet has good cause to be concerned.... we're to ensure the Krazzle doesn't start anything while the Relief mission is going on.... Commander Coleman is the mission commander so we';ll be receiving orders from him..."

"Yes sir." Nechayev said to confirm she heard what was pointed her direction.

"Lieutenant Archer... You'll be serving as my mission exec for this assignment, I keep hearing good things about you... command tells me you're up for a change of pace... we can learn new things together..." Yamaguchi was clearly comfortable with admitting that she was new to the Captain's chair.

Nick nodded to the Commander, "Yes ma'am." He then took a seat at Ops and started looking over the Venator's system status, general readiness, and power allocation.

Yamaguchi turned to the smallest person in the room. "Ensign Amakawa, You'll be handling communications as well as Strategic Operations... If someone along the boarder twitches funny, I wanna know about it. alright?"

"Understood ma'am, you can count on me" Meslina said as she looked up at Torilla. "Also ma'am if I may suggest that I make some back-up plans in case anything does occur we will have some ideas of what we would do, that's something I have experience with on my other assignments."

Yamaguchi nodded. "Sounds like a wise plan. Your five best ideas in two hours.." she added. "Also.. one more thing... I'm a little more democratic that you might be used to.... there is no need to announce me when I show up, I'd greatly prefer that nobody aboard ship did, I find it distracting... " Yamaguchi explained. "Now we got forty minutes to make this girl ready to fly... are there any questions?" Yamaguchi inquired with an odd smile.

The older woman paused as there was silence before Yamaguchi added "Alright... Then lets go to work... departure stations." she turned and went over to her command chair. "Mr Archer, Hail the Ark Royal and let them know that we're ready to depart."


USS Mercy - Sickbay

Ensign Sarah Ashley checked and rechecked her checklist. This was her first gig as head nurse and her first away mission, she didn’t want to blow it. She made sure all the supplies were properly put away, and she had gone over the nursing schedules to be sure they were right. She knew that anything could happen on a mission but the basics just couldn’t be ignored. Her concern was if things went south would they have the proper supplies. As far as she could tell, they had everything they had asked for.

She signed off on the report, “Ensign Ashley to Drs. Brislan and Romans,” she waited for the acknowledgement, “I am pleased to report, nursing staff and supplies are ship shape and ready to go. I am submitting schedules and checklists now. Ashley out.” She smiled, turning to the computer terminal she logged her first official report as head nurse on the USS Mercy. The excitement was not out of her system yet and she bounced up and down on her toes a couple of times.

"Thank you Ensign," Doctor Brislan replied. She took a deep breath as Ashley's reports popped up on her padd. She realized that this was the first time that she would not be on the front lines; as acting Captain of the Mercy Tressa was not a first responder. She looked around the bridge and momentarily felt like a fish out of water.


USS Saratoga

The Saratoga was one crowded ship. Between the ship's crew, one line regiment, an armored company, two MARSOC Teams, and star fighters, it was fortunate that this Akira Class starship was adapted to Marine operations. Otherwise there would not be any room for everyone. The Saratoga was not an exploration vessel.

Colonel Jackson finally managed to step into the Bridge of this ship. Major T'Lyn manned the XO's position, and the star fleet bridge crew went about their tasks.

"Are we ready to get underway Major?"

"Yes Colonel all systems are a go," T'Lyn stated looking at him as she was in the XO seat ready to get underway. She was glad to be leaving Starbase 400 for once and actually doing something for once.

The lower decks were bustling with activity. Chief Aquila was assuring that the two MARSOC Teams were situated, and ready for the voyage. He was grateful to the Colonel that he was given a few minutes to say his goodbyes to Holly. While parting for a mission was a situational norm for his line of work, it was not easy to do.

Everyone else was doing their part to assure their detachments were ready to go.

Corporal Vaal headed the staging area for her unit. In her pack she had standard items on the packing list. She also carried extra application tape, cord, and the ubiquitous multi-tool. One very non military item she carried was her coffee press and coffee beans she bought on the promenade. She would need the extra surge of caffeine in the coming days.

"All the fighters are safely tucked in," Phoenix sounded off from a secondary tactical console, where she sat in the chair with her feet propped up against the wall, eating an apple rather loudly.


SB400 - docking bays

Saith watched the coordinating of ships coming and going. She wanted to be there when her colleagues left for their mission. She also wanted to be there when Ra'Graline arrived. She had gotten a nap in between her dossier and now, so she felt much better. At least she reasoned she would be able to be somewhat pleasant when their guests arrived. She looked at the ETA timer they had running; with a sigh she sat in a chair near the terminal watching the officers do their jobs quickly and efficiently. For her, it was now a waiting game.


USS Ark Royal

When Coleman heard Jack say the channel to the fleet was open, he got up from the Command Chair and walked a little bit forward, to get closer to the viewscreen.

"This is Commander Coleman to the fleet. Prepare for departure in T-Minus five minutes. Have all operation managers coordinate with Lieutenant Solomon on the Ark Royal. I don't need to remind everyone of the importance of this mission. Millions of lives are at stake here, so lets do this right. Coleman out."

Coleman looked over at Jack and said, "Alright, you'll be the one helping to coordinate the fleet throughout the mission and I want steady updates, alright Solomon? Also, lets make sure that they remember the name, Ark Royal guys. Lets get ready." Coleman gave a sly grin after he finished.

Jack nodded as Coleman gave him the orders. He knew co-ordinating the fleet wouldn't be easy but he had experience of that responsibility previously. "Aye, sir. Don't worry, no one will forget the name Ark Royal," Jack responded. He turned back to the Operations Console and sent out orders to all ships to make sure that they were teady for depature as per Commander Coleman's orders. Jack looked over at the helmsman and nodded to them.

"Helm, Seal the airlock and then clear all moorings. Once we are clear of the station, bring thrusters at station keeping until the fleet is ready," Jack ordered.

After the meeting with Jack Solomon, Quan was back in engineering examining the transporter configuration. Installing more buffers would be a challenge but was possible in the time available. He decided that they would take one transporter room out at a time keeping the maximum available at anyone time. That way if anything happened the ship would have the best chance of getting people evacuated.

He looked up at the ceiling thinking. He still couldn't understand why Commander Coleman was playing games by placing the lowest ranking officer in charge. Of the three officers in engineering, Soloman was, in terms of rank and seniority junior to both himself and Wooldridge. Was he deliberately trying to create dissent in the ranks?

He looked back down at the display deciding to deal with it later.


USS Venator

On the USS Venator, Torilla Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow as the order was given. "All stations report?" she inquired.

Once everyone reported ready, Yamaguchi added, "Seal the airlock and clear all moorings, thrusters at station keeping." Yamaguchi commented.


USS Ark Royal

Jack confirmed that the fleet was ready to leave and head out on its mission and confirmed this to Commander Coleman. "Sir, the fleet is ready to leave at your command," he reported.

After a few more moments, the relief force undocked and headed out of Starbase 400 in route to Hunster III.


tbc......

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