Some Assembly Required | Part I

Posted on Sunday, 14 November 2021 - 1:09am by Captain Pippa Whitley & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali & Lieutenant K'Var & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Lieutenant JG Hayashi Hamura & Ensign Oriana Skye Sety

Mission: Operation: Mirror of Madness
Location: USS Standing Bear | Deck 01 | Briefing Room
Timeline: 2394

ON:

The Briefing Room of the USS Standing Bear was small though its layout was similar to that of an Intrepid class or the smaller Nova class. Still, it beat what Pippa had tongue-and-cheek memories of from her time aboard a Defiant class. The technology on the Standing Bear was top notch, but already the starship had a reputation for getting a whipping. The amount of repairs and time spent docked at a station or Starbase was alarming. It was, however, to be expected when on border patrol missions, skimming the border and patrolling trade routes and shipping lanes that were frequented by pirates and marauder more than Admirals at the gentleman's lounges on Free Cloud.

Captain Whitley had only met some members of her Senior Staff, others had only recently made it back to the starship, having been recalled under her orders. Pippa had called in a few favors and twisted some arms as well to get the Stanfing Bear ready to roll out. Before they could do that though, Pippa needed to run the mission by her inner circle.

She entered the Bridfing Room, greeted by faces of the crew that she would cone to know, but in this moment...at this point in time, they were strangers to her except for those she had already made brief acquaintances with when she came aboard. "Ensign," she said with a polite nod to Oriana who had accompanied her in town. Pippa gestured to a seat at the table, inviting the young woman to take it.

Oriana smiled at the new Captain and took her seat ready to take notes of the meeting. Pippa was a different kind of Captain, it seemed. A good different.

The Captain grabbed a teacup from the centre of the table and poured some tea from the kettle that had been resting on the table, nothing replicated in that regard. Pippa had come aboard well stocked in the finest darjeeling that she could get her hands on. It helped to know the best tea supplier around, Lieutenant Commander Brott of Bellwether Station.

"Please, don't hold back on my account. Help yourself to tea, coffee, anything from the replicator. We shall start this meeting in ten minutes promptly. Do get settled in."

Ryan had yet to meet the new Captain. Since they'd been recalled he had been busy running test on Emerick, keeping tabs on T'Lanna, and dealing with the paperwork any stop over inevitably caused. He arrived to the briefing on time at leas; but his appearance was not quite Starfleet Standard. He hadn't had a chance to get a haircut, so his blond hair was just hitting his eyes. His labcoat needed to be pressed, and there was a small stain of jelly on the right wrist. He spotted the tea, and almost made a bee line for it, but stopped and nodded to the new Captain. "Doctor Rose, ma'am." He introduced himself.

"Best surgical hands this side of the galaxy," Pippa replied. "Or so I have been told. I hope never to have to find out from firsthand experience, but I do look forward to having you under my command, Doctor Rose. You have the look of a physician, skillful and sleep deprived."

Ryan gave a slightly embarrassed smile; then did make for the tea. "A pleasure to meet you." He poured himself a tea then sat down.

Hamura, who'd been up half the night in Engineering, trotted into the meeting. They looked around looking a little shabby for the wear. Not bothering to ask or adhere to social graces Hamura headed to the replicator. "Extra large, coffee, strongest brew on file, hot, two creams no sugar." Normally fascinated by the process of materialization Hamura had to look away, the molecular swirling made them dizzy.

Grabbing the coffee they moved to an empty seat. This was going to be a long day, Hamura just hoped that last nights...medical issues didn't say hi in the meeting, the last thing that they needed was the new cappy to tag them out.

Pippa took a rectangular case out from her pocket and then placed her spectacles on, covering her eyes. As half-Efrosian, she was at a bit of a disposition. Her eyesight was piss-poor to say the least, but Efrosians tended to have a preference to wear glasses rather than contacts or undergo any sort of corrective surgery or optical implants. It was a matter or pride in a sense though also tradition. Former Federation President Ra-ghoratreii had been a bit of a trendsetter in the 2290s with his own spectacles.

The Captain picked up a PADD and skimmed through the important bits of information. "It appears as though we have approval to embark once this meeting has reached completion."

Adrianna quickly waddled in, taking a seat, "apologies, I was finishing a meeting on the base." Her maternity uniform was fitting nicely but she longed for leggings and something baggy.

Pippa smiled at the woman. "Don't over do it," the half-Efrosian said cautiously. "I am sure the Doctor agrees, but I would rather you take it slow and steady. You must be pretty far along?"

Adrianna chuckled a little and got comfy in her seat with some water, "due date isn't soon enough. Due Christmas, captain."

Ryan knew the remark from the Captain was rhetorical, but he gave Adrianna a doctorly once over regardless. She looked exactly what she was, pregnant. Her waddle was actually a good sign, and Ryan made a note to see her after the meeting to just have a quick verbal check up.

T’Lanna entered the room next, a PADD in hand for taking notes. She offered Pippa an apologetic gaze as she moved to a seat. “Apologies Captain, I had to feed Jayce before I left he gets very grumpy if he doesn’t get his feed on time. I was also catching up on my Counselling paperwork.”

Oriana took the opportunity of the distractions to lean over to Hamura. "Haya … are you alright?"

Hamura smiled weakly. "Always, when you're with me."

Oriana blushed slightly but wasn't distracted. The worry was there.

Entering the room already nursing a strong black coffee and studying the latest results from the diagnostics on the new equipment, Lieutenant Kingsley glanced up as she entered the room and slipped into her customary seat. “Captain,” she offered with a nod. “Installation work is finished and diagnostics are showing no issues so far.”

Hamura smiled, they figured that Alex would be all business.

The newly assigned Chief Tactical and Security Officer hadn't been aboard the ship long. K'Var entered the briefing room and took note of those assembled ahead of her. She quickly settled in and gave a polite nod to the Commanding Officer and the others around the table.

"Thank you," Pippa replied to her Acting First Officer. "If everyone is settled in. I know you know one another quite well but now. Though as you can see we do have a new face joining us," the Captain said gesturing to the Caitian.

"Lieutenant K'Var has come aboard to serve as Chief Tactical Officer," Pippa announced. "If you are all settled in, we will get this briefing underway."

“Welcome aboard,” Alex said as she nodded towards the newest crew member. Turning her gaze back to their CO, she added, “I think everyone is eager to get underway.”

Hamura just gave a nod.

T’Lanna offered K’Var a polite smile. “Welcome aboard Lieutenant.”

K'Var returned a nod with her eyes slightly closed. Almost a silent way to say "thank you" for the warm welcome.

"Then underway we will get," echoed Pippa. The Captain gestured to a small holo projector located towards the centre of the table. All eyes could be drawn to the glowing holo-projected sphere, a globular representation of Vulcan. "A planet you are all familiar with."

=END=