Plans for the Future

Posted on Mon Jan 10th, 2022 @ 3:26am by Commander Jennifer Baldric & Commander Finchley Kerr & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Sandra "Phantom" Risa & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant Niali Korial MD & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Gamma Quadrant
Location: Briefing Room

The request for a senior staff meeting was for 0830 hours the next morning, giving the away team time to rest and the Sunfire time to move out from the Ion Cloud.

"Good Morning" Jennifer greeted as she walked into the group of assembled officers and took one of the vacant seat. Whilst she was aware of the general orders for the Sunfire in the Gamma Quadrant - this meeting was to set their next mission goal. Which hopefully would be interesting.

"Well that was certainly interesting..." Dean gave a raised eyebrow and then nodded. "Good morning, Commander."

Arriving at the meeting ahead of her husband Aurora offered a warm smile. “Good Morning everyone.” She’d been up early thanks to their son wanting his morning feed earlier than usual. She stifled a yawn as she took her seat.

Niali took a deep breath before she entered the room, this would be the first time she had met the majority of the senior staff, this was always the most difficult time for her. She entered and looked around for an empty chair smiling and nodding at those who looked at her. “Good morning” she said looking around.

Aurora looked towards the new arrival, she was obviously nervous. “Good Morning” she smiled warmly motioning to an empty seat nearby.

“Thank you.” Niali smiled and internally thanked her companion. “I am Niali the new CMO, pleased to meet you.

“I’m Aurora Vali, Chief Counsellor it’s nice to meet you too Doctor.”

Finchley walked into the meeting and mumbled "Watcha" to all who were there as he headed straight to the replicator. He hadn't slept well, something about the First Contact meeting on the platform bothered him and it had kept him awake till the small hours of the morning. Ordering an Earl Grey tea, he took it and walked to a vacant seat and sat down.

Dean gave a glance to those coming in. Giving each a nod. Giving his attention to Niali, "Welcome aboard, Doctor. Dean House, Chief Tactical Officer."

Meanwhile Dr Sarah Wilson paged the briefing room " Sickbay to Briefing Room... ahh.... Commander Savar has been found unconscious and was beamed to sickbay. I'll let you know more as I know figure out what's going on. I've placed him in stasis due to the critical nature of his condition until further notice"

Jennifer looked around the room, eyes wide. So the Captain was off the ship, now the acting Captain had taken ill, there was no current second officer. Before things turned to hell in a handbasket she stepped up.

" I'll be taking over as acting command officer until either Captain Kaylen returns, or Commander Savar recovers" She stated" I will have the Admiralty ratify the decision as soon as this meeting is over. " She knew it was a ballsy move - to come in as a newcomer, albeit with rank and take over a vessel who's CO's were either absent or incapacitated. " I will advise on whom the acting XO and acting second officer will be after contacting the admiralty and reviewing the ship's personnel records." Jennifer spoke firmly in a tone she often used when taking control of a dangerous situation.

Bonnie gave a look around the table, already feeling intimidated. Then she half raised her hand and then lowered it again awkwardly. "So, are we still going to track down and figure out why the Cardassians were in the Ion cloud or has our mission changed?" She was genuinely curious to know how a change in leadership would effect a constantly evolving mission. "Oh, and S'thenosis was seen grumbling about being late for the hearing. What should we tell her?"

" Who's S'Thenosis?" Baldric looked blankly at the young computer technician. She knew the Sunfire's general mission to seek the Dominion's status after the war, but couldn't ignore the Cardassians involvement in the ion cloud either.

"Oh, uh, Commodore S'thenosis. She, uh, came on board to prepare for a judicial hearing for Commander Savar. I think it will happen in about three weeks and she's been pacing the observation lounge floor in her mental stupor. "

" Sooooo the Captain's off the ship, the Commander who is now in stasis was also due before a judicial hearing in three weeks and we have a Commodore on board?" Jennifer tried REALLY hard not to let her jaw hit the floor. Just what had she jumped into?

Dean pursed his lips a little, "Welcome to the Sunfire, Commander. Weird and odd is what we do."

" It would appear that way - is there anything else outside the norm that I should know about?" She asked, half out of jest, half seriously.

Aurora had barely paid attention to what was asked, she was sitting shocked at the news about Savar, why hadn’t she felt something was wrong? Had he been hiding something from her? What had happened?

"Counsellor, are you alright?" Balric's fierce gaze softened for a few moments, being unaware of the relationship.

Aurora’s gaze turned towards Balric. “Oh I err...” She paused. “I’m sorry Commander, it’s just...Savar, he’s my husband.”

Niali had been quiet all this time but it seemed like no one knew what was going on. She stood, “excuse me everyone” she said loudly putting her hands on her hips, “What in hells name is going on on this ship?”

"I would be very interested in finding that out" Jennifer glanced towards the ships CMO. "But for now we should continue on our mission deeper into the Gamma Quadrant. Does anyone have any concerns with this?"

Niali stood again. "As CMO I know very little about this ship and it’s crew. I have not been able to see the Captain nor the XO so I would appreciate a lowdown on our mission, either now or privately in your office.”

"Please join me in the ready room directly after this" Baldric nodded, trying to wrap her head around the current situation. "I also need to confer with the Admiralty as to the current chain of command"

Finchley waited till the CMO and CO had finished talking and then spoke up, saying "Captain, once the meetings finished, I'd appreciate some time to update you on some information passed on to me regarding what happened when we were previously in the Gamma Quadrant, it may, and I use that word advisedly, have a baring on our continuation in this Quadrant."

"Of course. For now, we launch the bouys along the ion cloud and hold position until confer with the Admiralty. I'll call a secondary meeting once everything has been finalised" Baldric addressed the assembled officers.

Dean just looked back and forth for now at the interactions. Raising an eyebrow at Niali's outburst. A musing look on his face. Turning to look to Finchely a moment. Curious as to why all of them weren't just updated now on it, since they would need to know as well. Speaking up. "Shouldn't we all just be given the information, sirs? We are the Senior staff. being in the dark isn't helpful."

"Some of the information was still being corroborated, I should have that information once the meeting is finished" Finchley replied to Dean "As a Senior Officer, you will realise that until you have verification on something, you wait till you have all the facts then act accordingly. I won't give a report till I have all the facts, and as I just said, it may have a baring, it's not certain, however, I wanted to make the Captain aware of that. Citing that I'm keeping you in the dark isn't helpful, it's actually the opposite, if you have a problem, take it up with the Captain and make an official complaint" he finished.

"If it's important enough to have a bearing on our future mission, we need to hear it. I can then inform the Admiralty and they can decide if it's up to us or another vessel to deal with" Baldric confirmed.

"As I just said Sir, till I have all the information corroborated, it's merely partial information and I won't deliver half a report to anyone" Finchley replied to Baldric "When I have the completed information, I'll bring it to you for your interpretation on whether or not it gets passed onto the Senior Staff Sir, either by yourself or if you'd rather I do it, I shall."

Aurora had been surprised by the new MD’s outburst as well. “Forgive me but is there a problem with my being married to the Executive Officer of this ship?” She looked at Niali then at Baldric. “There hasn’t been up until now, so I’d like to know if that has changed?”

"No-one said there was an issue with your marriage Counsellor" Baldric said carefully "I believe the doctor was referring to the somewhat chaotic position we find ourselves in"

It was silent for a brief moment, the confusion was wrapped around a tight ball of tension like an old fashion series of rubber bands wrapped around a watermelon. "Well, Dean and I can coordinate the warning bouys. We may have to tether them due to astroidal drift, but that shouldn't take more than a few hours." She commented before giving Dean a look as if she were sorry she had volunteered him without his permission.

"I would appreciate that Lt....."Jennifer looked a little lost as she racked her brain to find the young computer tech's personnel file in her brain.

Aurora offered Niali an apologetic glance. She would catch up with her once the meeting was done.

" Alright, we'll reconvene after I've spoken with the Admiralty. Dismissed" Jennifer sood and watched as she Sunfire's senior staff filed out of the room. Now the interesting part was about to begin.