Imperial Shards

Posted on Sunday, 10 May 2020 - 6:41pm by Commander DeVala Victrix Ph.D & Commander Soral & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali & Lieutenant Raith Kolani & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley

Mission: Operation: Recall
Location: USS Fontana | Deck 01 | Conference Room
Timeline: 2393 MD 4

Lieutenant Commander DeVala Victrix had exited her suite through her Ready Room after having summoned several members of the Senior Staff and SCPO Muniz to the Conference Room for an immediate briefing as well as to attend to some ship business. She had scheduled the meeting and personally sent the notifications, giving enough time for all of them to put aside whatever it was they were doing and proceed to the conference room for the scheduled meeting. Victrix waited for the last minute so that she was not sitting there waiting for all of them to show up. She would come in last and start the meeting.

As she poured out onto the bridge, she noticed Soral had proceeded towards the conference room. Good, that should mean they are all there she thought having a look around the bridge. Lieutenant Commander J'Loni Mo'Bri, Chief Engineer was exiting the turbolift. She too had been summoned up from Main Engineering, but not to attend the briefing. "Commander Mo'Bri, you have the bridge for about an hour" Victrix said swiftly with a PaDD in hand as she walked across the bridge and headed towards the hallway to the entrance of the deck one conference room.

Working at the Operations Station and building his requirements for the repairs and maintenance that would be required over the next few days, Raith got the message about the meeting and followed Captain Victrix into the Conference Room. As they walked in, Raith took a seat at the table whilst the rest of the summoned senior staff were due to arrive.

The Commanding Officer of the USS Fontana entered the room and made her way to the 'head' of the table. Three seats were placed on either side of the table. "Have a seat ladies and gentlemen" she said placing the PaDD down upon the table and heading over to the replicator, ordering herself a hot mug of coffee and taking a sip as she looked towards the back wall where an illuminated display show a planet and some geological information. Victrix knew it to be one of several planets that had been narrowed down as options.

"The Romulan Star Empire is long since deceased," she said taking her seat. "However, that has not meant the end of the Romulans as you are all aware. We settled as many as we could on worlds that would take them in. Earth graciously took a lot of Romulan refugees. Planets such as Vashti acted as the central hub for the relocation efforts" she continued. "Planets like Arnth," Victrix gestured up to the displayed planet "Were planets outside the blast zone belonging to the Romulan Star Empire and took refugees as well, and though the Empire is no more, imperial shards still remain."

Soral had entered the room just before Victrix. He'd poured himself a coffee and had taken the seat to the right of the CO. He bad brought up a data PaDD that was blank. As the commander swept into the room like an Amazonian Goddess all fell silent. She had a way about her. He found himself, not for the first time, thinking she'd make a great Federation President. She had a flourish to her. He stayed silent letting her words sink in. He kept his thoughts to himself with respect to those who traveled beneath the raptor's wing.

Ryan had actually been one of the first to arrive. He'd had a chance to get a glass of water, and organize an empty PaDD so he could take notes on the briefing.

From her seat beside Doctor Rose, Lieutenant Kingsey listened intently. Curious to know more. She recognised the planets on the display from the shortlist she had provided Vali. Clearly the Lieutenant and Commander had been busy. She took a sip of her herbal tea.

T’Lanna had entered the conference room and headed straight for the replicator, getting herself a ginger tea to settle her stomach and try to wake herself up somewhat. She’d been burning the midnight oil as the old saying went, between Counselling appointments, getting information on Eyelaya, trying to find Stillwater and a passionate night with Raith. It didn’t help that morning sickness had kicked in too. She sat in a spare seat next to Ryan, offering a smile to everyone present as she put her PADD down on the table and sipped her drink.

Muniz had already been seated by the time the command officers arrived, but he had not minded having a few moments to bashfully admire Doctor Rose, if only for a few minutes before the others had started to arrive. He sat at the table in relative silence as the Commanding Officer made her introduction. He had been invited to the meeting and suspected that it was due to his background in the Geological sciences. He knew about some of the planets in question, the classification they had, and what the climates were like in various regions as well as any natural disasters an away team should be mindful of. The Romulans had not been as generous as the Federation when it came to their colonies; The Empire rarely placed seismic reducers or weather control devices on planets of low importance.

"I've seen more engagement from a lecture hall of first-year cadets, people. You look like you're all holding onto full bladders" quipped DeVala Victrix as she looked around the table at her officers and Muniz. "This is a mission briefing, not a sermon by the lakeside or a Presidential fireside 'chats'. I take questions and respond" she added.

Alex had to admit, her style was unconventional. "Do we think these worlds are the most likely places to go looking?" she piped up as she leaned past Doctor Rose to look at Victrix.

Soral had taken a few notes. "I believe we can rule out a few worlds right off." He added.

Victrix nodded to Soral and shifted her glance over to Alex. "We were able to start narrowing down planets thanks to Lieutenant Vali's profiling of Stillwater and the algorithm that our attache Rhydian il'Vastam developed. From there, we had to use some old school logic and reasoning to make further deductions. Unfortunately, that has still left us with several planets."

"Indeed. Which planet's are left?" He wondered which they had eliminated. Based on her response he had a suggestion he just wondered if it would be too bold.

T’Lanna was simply observing responses, that and trying not to fall asleep or turn green at the gills. “We had to give consideration to worlds that we know have very little, or preferably no, Federation presence. Stillwater wouldn’t be likely to be on any planet where he’d encounter anything or anyone linked with the Federation. I’ve based my facts on the worlds where Romulan and possibly ex-Borg refugees might be.”

"Indeed. How many worlds have you narrowed it down to?" He asked.

Victrix took another sip of coffee, sat it down, and sighed. "Twenty-four" she replied. "However, we are still working on trimming that number down to a more manageable number, and if we're lucky...one of those narrowed down planets will be our needle in a haystack" she added.

"May I suggest we send out two people per shuttle to search each planet. I take it that Stillwater would not be pleased to have a federation ship show up. Perhaps if we make contact in a small team we may have a better chance of convincing him to return also we can cover more planets this way."

Victrix was happy to hear they were of a similar mindset. "I am looking into that as an option, though I may up that number to three" she countered.

“I did already suggest that maybe my presence with a party might help if we do find Captain Stillwater.” T’Lanna looked at Victrix then back at those around the table. “He’s sympathetic towards the Romulans and I’ve no doubt most likely the ex-b’s as well. My being an ex-b may go some way towards gaining some ground with him.”

Lieutenant Commander Victrix nodded.

Alex frowned, “if that is the case then it would make sense for you to remain in a central location until he is located. Then you can join the relevant team. If we go with the splitting up option, that is.”

T’Lanna nodded. “That’s a logical suggestion.” She was surprised at herself for sounding so much like a typical Vulcan, which she was normally anything but.

"Fact of the matter is people, we're cutting through what was Romulan space. Some of the planets we are searching were once part of the Romulan Star Empire, others were colony worlds, and some had refugees sent to them. It would help matters if we had Vulcanoid representation on said search and contact teams. I agree with the use of shuttles so long as we are able to focus our attention into a region of space. The Fontana would try to remain centrally fixed and disperse the shuttles to planets" she stated.

Victrix looked over to her Chief Operations Officer. "Lieutenant Kolani, can you work with engineering and flight control to have the four shuttles and the runabout ready" she inquired.

Raith pulled up the specs of the Runabout and the Shuttle CLasses on his PADD that he had brought with him. After making a few calculations, he nodded his agreement. "Despite the repairs that are on ongoing, I can have a team from Operations and from Engineering working round the clock to make sure that the Runabout and the various Shuttlecraft ready to go. Any assistance from Flight Control would also be appreciated," he explained.

"Once the Runabout and the Shuttlecraft are ready and prepped to go, they should be in an ideal position to be able to follow out any courses and actions you require to go out and search for Captain Stillwater. I'll stay on board the Fontana and keep an eye on things from here with the sensors. I can setup a direct data link between the ship, the Runabout and the various Shuttlecraft," he concluded.

Her attention shifted to medical. She suspected Doctor Rose was remaining relatively quiet due to the stronger personalities in the room and the fact that this was not really a medical matter; However, Victrix had more up her sleeve than just locating Stillwater. "Doctor Rose, I will need you to coordinate with our supply officer and go through the medical inventories of the cargo bays" she said with a pleasant smile. "It's a small gesture, but without the Romulan Empire, many of these outer worlds and colonies have lacked sufficient support including medical supplies. I plan to make some humanitarian deliveries" she explained.

"Life out here was hard enough even before the fall of their empire; They were ignored. 'Out of sight, out of mind' was a policy all too common. We have Romulans out here living reduced lives because of Tuvan Syndrome, Terothka virus, and common illnesses that we have medicines and vaccinations for" she added.

Ryan nodded. "Excellent Captain. We'll see what support we can provide with medical supplies and divide them up between the shuttles." Ryan was already mentally going through what he knew to be on hand, and then theorizing about what they could get away with replicating without taxing the ships energy supply too far.

Soral looked at Kolani. "Use Lieutenant Yolen. He knows the department well." Turning back to Victrix he said, "Five teams should do it. I suggest that we all go civilian and I can speak with the few Vulcan's on board we might blend better." He said making it clear that he wished to go on this away team.

"Some of the planets that we have widdled ourselves down to are outside of Romulan and Federation space. They sit in the Triangle sector, a no man's land of systems with little to no affiliation" Victrix stated. "Some of these worlds used to be Federation colonies, but they fell to the wayside and broke off from the Federation. Likewise with the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingons."

"So be prepared for anything?" Alex mused. Imagining the task of having a goodwill gesture even accepted by the colonies would be something.

Soral sighed. "We need to hide as much of our Federation as we can. Federation shuttles will not be liked however can we make the shuttles look distressed? This way we can come up with plausible cover stories." He looked at Victrix and said something he knew Alex would kick him for later. "I suggest you yourself, Lieutenant Vali and Lieutenant Kingsley stay here."

“Apologies, Commander,” Alex spike up, her voice deceptively calm, “I thought you just said we stay aboard? For what purpose? Lieutenant Vali has already agreed to - until she needs to help with contacting Stillwater.”

"Logic Lieutenant. Stillwater I more likely to respond to Lieutenant Vali. She should be central. Commander Victrix had people skills beyond critique and she will be needed for the contact with Vali. You, Lieutenant, are not only a good pilot but have a mind for puzzles and an ability to narrow down the planets as we are going thus it will make our search shorter. When the time comes to make contact you too would be useful. You three," he pointed to them. "Have an exuberance that Stillwater will respect and find hard to resist. It is logical." He felt like patting himself on the back for that one. It was all true but he left out the fact that he did not want Alex anywhere near danger.

“Quite,” came the less than thrilled response from the science chief.

Lieutenant Commander Victrix cleared her throat. She was reclaiming attention to be drawn upon her. "We're not a science ship. Our Science Department is sparse, to say the least. I appreciate everyone's vested interests in where they would be most valuable, but the simple fact we are going to be heading down planetside indicates to me that science personnel should be utilized that way" Victrix stated. "When more data comes in and we narrow down our search areas a bit further, you all will be made aware," she said swiftly. "Lieutenant Commander Soral and I will discuss the shuttle teams further at that point. For now, I say we finalize repairs and proceed across...well, what was the neutral zone."

Soral gave a nod. He didn't miss the look Victrix shot him. Nor did he miss the look Alex shot him. The words dog house entered his mind.

T’Lanna simply remained quiet, she could see and feel that Alex wasn’t very happy at Soran’s suggestion. She would wait and see what the final determination was.

Victrix looked around the room. There definitely was some 'tension' between her Chief Science Officer and the Executive Officer. Where the hell was this tension when I walked into their blissfulness she thought of recently showing up to talk to Soral, but Alex was there wearing Soral's shirt. "If anyone has any additional questions speak now or forever hold your peace" Victrix stated. "Or at least raise them when more information comes in" she further stated.

"Captain." Ryan spoke up.

"Yes, Doctor?" she was glad to take a question from the Chief Medical Officer.

"I'd like permission to check the emitters on the shuttles, and run any updates that Emerick might need. The power requirements should be minimal."

Victrix honestly had never thought too much about the emergency medical hologram. He was a tool to be used as needed though Eyelaya had brought up feelings for the program. It left Victrix baffled. She had never taken into consideration using him for the mission ahead. "Huh," was her initial response. "I imagine the shuttles can be equipped with emitters if they are not already," she said. "I agree the power requirements would be minimal...though he'd only be useful within the shuttle and...maybe the immediate vicinity around the shuttle" Vixtrix pondered. This was not her area of speciality.

She immediately turned her head and focused her attention on the Chief Operations Officer. "Lieutenant Kolani...any insight?"

"Well, we already re-fitted one of the shuttles that was used on the Away Mission and that was outfitted with extra power generators, in-house shielding and extra exterior shields. We also re-enforced the sensor pallets and the Shuttlecraft made it out in one piece," Rairth explained to explain the robustness of the modifications he'd made and also the strength of the Shuttlecraft.

"So, with that being said, I see no issue in getting emitters fitted inside the Shuttlecraft and also some extra shielded power generators that will provide a working area outside of the shuttle for... around 100 metres. If that's acceptable, I'll have my teams work on installing them at the same time of prepping the various craft for their new away missions."

Raith was already adding the work to his list and made a note to consult with both Lt Yolen and also Lieutenant Commander J'Loni. Already he was starting to feel like he was becoming a miracle worker on board such a small starship, but that was ok with him. It also gave him some time to consider recent events, knowing that he needed to clear his head after the experience on the Away Mission.

T’Lanna smiled at Raith as their glances met for a moment, she’d come to love him in a very short space of time. Their relationship felt right and she was looking forward to them having a future together.

Victrix shot a quick look at the Ship's Psychologist. "Lieutenant Vali, if you could remain after the briefing. I need to see you."

“Yes, Commander” T’Lanna nodded.

Soral studied Victrix. He waited to be dismissed hoping he could avoid Alex's wrath.

Victrix stood from her seat and gave a short clapping of her hands. "You know the basics of what's going on people. Some of you have your orders, the rest of you see what you can do to help move things along. Once Engineering and Operations feel comfortable pushing forward we'll increase speed through this region of space. Dismissed."

Standing, Alex followed Soral towards the door. “We need to talk,” she whispered.

"Indeed." He motioned for her to precede him out of the room.

Alvaro Muniz awkwardly scurried out of the room. Good luck getting out of the dog house, amigo he thought to himself in reference to the clear tension between the Chief Science Officer and Executive Officer.