Team Huddle

Posted on Thu May 30th, 2024 @ 9:58pm by Commander Jennifer Baldric & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Ensign Kitiuas Thenis & 2nd Lieutenant Connor McQueen & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Lost in Space
Location: Briefing room
Timeline: Day two

Commander Jennifer Baldric strode into the briefing room with a steaming mug in her hand, rejuvenated from a few hours sleep and a brain break. She had ordered everyone to take some rest and was hoping they would reconvene with a renewed energy.

Savar entered the briefing room a few moments later. Seeing Baldric already here he greeted her, "Commander Baldric, good morning to you. I trust you were able to get some rest as well as relax?" He posed as he moved to his customary seat.

"I did actually, a few hours sleep was good, I'm hoping everyone else took the opportunity to do the same" Baldric commented as she sipped the coffee in her hand. Over the next few minutes the rest of the team trickled in.

Kit came stumbling in to the briefing room, she had spent a significant amount of her free time catching and classifying each of her arachnid’s brought on board before the mishap. She did not trust the lab assistant to do the job, especially after he had to go to the sick bay after being bitten by the Red-Legged Widow she had acquired. She carried a mug of Papalla juice. She quickly found a seat.

Dean found himself to the Briefing room about 'on time' this time. Though he was...yes, he was sporting a shiner, and a slightly bruised jaw, which they knew was harder to do than speak of. Just taking a seat quietly.

Bonnie entered, her badge on upside down and a single tuft of hair was standing out of the side of her head, bouncing on its curly nature. She couldn't tame it and she had tried. Just as she made to take her seat, a sock, which was stuck to her pants, fell upon the floor. Stopping in her tracks, she bent over to pick up the sock when her butt bumped into a decorative art piece which promptly fell with a clatter.

Dying inside, she began to pick it up and fix it, causing it to clatter and chime with each movement. It was a symbolic piece, made of metal, which represented a planet with three moons and two suns, as if that mattered. Once done, she took her seat across from Dean, looked him dead in the eye and asked "Oy, what happened to you?"

Just then, Thriss entered the briefing room holding a large stack of PADDs in his hands. He carefully sat them in front of an empty seat and sat down. He also noticed Dean's jaw and raised an eyebrow for a moment, but didn't say anything.

Dean happened to see that coming, though he wasn't close enough, not exactly to catch the piece before it hit the deck. Unfortunate, at least it looked like he was going to attempt it before he settled back down. Looking now across the table at Bonnie, "Hologram... of myself cranked up."

Scowling, Bonnie replied under her breath, "Serves you right. I told you to be more careful." She then turned to address Baldric, "Sorry Commander, rough night's sleep, or rather lack of." Her eyes rolled to the side as she though of how little sleep she got. Specifically when she had just finally gotten to sleep the ship was tossed apparently due to a whale pod and some crazy person at the helm.

Connor had waited just inside the briefing room until the comical interaction had died down a bit, and when it was safe he made it to his seat. Placing a PADD down in front of him and crossed his hands on top of the table.

Aurora arrived to find everyone already present, she was having a somewhat rough time with morning sickness which she was trying not to let affect her work. “Sorry I’m late Commander” she offered a brief smile and took her seat next to Savar.

Baldric watched the interaction curiously, not knowing of Bonnie's clumsiness or Dean's affection for her.

"I am pleased to hear that. We all need to be well-rested and mentally sharp as we deal with the current situation. We dare not make any miscalculations." Savar replied.

Jennifer chuckled a little "it would be hard to make the situation worse than it currently is but I do get your point. We are safe for the moment" she assured him.

Turning her attention to the assembled team she addressed with gratitude. "You are the brightest minds on this ship, if there's anyone who can get us out of this mess, it's you"

She paused as they digested her opening comments. "So far we have a few theories on the table, including some...whales...space whales that we encountered this morning."

Savar's face remained a neutral mask as he looked at House's bruised jaw and black eye though the thought of what happened crossed his mind.

“Space whales? I thought I sensed something out of the ordinary this morning.” Aurora smiled as she pulled out a ginger biscuit politely snapping a piece off and eating it.

"You sensed them?" Baldric replied with an eyebrow raised. "Could you communicate with them do you think?" Her mind went into overdrive, recalling the historical even where Spock communed with Whales to save Earth from a giant space probe.

"I know what we are dealing with. And I know the frequency we could try," Dean smiled and looked up.

Aurora looked surprised. “Communicate with whales?” She looked curiously at Savar, then back at Baldric. “To be honest I have absolutely no idea, I’ve never tried anything like it.”

Kit looked up bleary eyed and responded. "There is historical precedence. The esteemed Ambassador Spock successfully mind-melded with a Terran whale, a humpback I believe. I have a theory those we have encountered may be responsible for the space probe sent to Earth in or around 2286, of course he first established the meld in earth's past. In theory any of the PSI species could most likely establish contact, though the consequence of such contact is unknown to me."

Jennifer looked between Aurora and Dean. "So we can communicate with them, either telepathically via another means?" She prompted. "Essentially I want to ask them if they can take us home"

Aurora gave a shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t know if they’d understand us.”

"Failing to establish any meaningful communication with the whales, what are our other options?" She looked around the room at the other officers.

"The, um, deflector adjustments which will allow us to enter the slip-bridge are almost complete." Bonnie said, as she spoke despite her reluctance. "Engineering reported they would be done within the hour if we still want to attempt a Transwarp jump through the edge of Fluidic space."

Jenna, who was sitting off to Jennifer's side piped up, her words not directed but generalized. "It's the most solid option at this point. We've not found another subspace eddie yet. Though, to be fair, we didn't really find the first one that brought us here, just sorta grabbed us." She sat back and sipped her orange juice then nodded to Ronson her approval.

"Have the simulations been run successfully?" Baldric asked cautiously, not wanting to give the crew false hope. She didn't want to risk a disaster. She looked towards Thriss and Bonnie before returning her gaze to Jenna.

"Um..." Bonnie started before she realized it was a rhetorical and Baldric had already shift the focus of the conversation to the other option. They had, in fact, only been able to run a dozen or so sims and only one of them had yielded anything plausible. Most ended in destruction of the ship or an eternity of travel to reach their destination. She sighed as she retracked her interjection.

"We can keep searching whilst the team finishes up with the preparations. There could be more eddies ou there, we just haven't found them yet" she advised "and we will continue to attempt communication with the whales and try to figure out how they travel. " She nodded towards Dean and Aurora.

Aurora looked at Dean curious as to how exactly they were going to achieve the feat of talking with the whales.

"Any further questions?" Baldric asked, casting her eyes around the assembled officers.

"I see that curiosity," Dean smiled lightly to Aurora. "I'm just guessing but considering history, we know that Earth was saved by Captain Kirk and crew by having to bring humpback whales to our time. Which means we have recorded whale song and the frequencies they use. Also an understanding of how they communicate considering some Starships have dolphins and we can understand them. So..."

Savar had listened long enough, "I am willing to try and communicate with the space whales. I see no reason why I could not. I can go out in an EVA suit and make contact with them. Aurora can monitor me,"

intrigued, Jenna piped up, now fully focused on the idea. "It is feasible. And the experience would be one of a kind." Her hands twisted to show she meant sort of, "I mean if you discount talking to real whales, V-Ger and if I remember correctly a Silicone based sentient life form called the Horta."

"It is indeed feasible Commander and I am willing to attempt to communicate with the whales." Savar answered firmly.

"Get on it, and in the meantime we'll continue working towards the slip-bridge theory, hopefully one of the two endeavors will yield a result" Baldric dared to allow a flicker of hope to ignite.

"I volunteer the new guy to pilot us out to the whale pod." Jenna said gesturing to Lieutenant McQueen with a smile on her face. "Heard he was a fair pilot." She added in jest.

"Very good Commander Ramthorne. We will put Lt. McQueen's piloting skills to the test." Savar replied before addressing Baldric. "Commander Baldric, who will be accompanying Lieutenant McQueen and myself out for this meeting?"

Nodding as he tried to suppress his surprise, Connor leaned forward. “Of course Commander, it would be my pleasure. If I may recommend bringing either another soldier or security personal.. just in case?”

"Commander House and Lt. Commander Vali will round out the team, providing a broad array of skills. You may also take Ronson" Baldric replied. "The rest of us will prepare the ship and crew for the Slip-bridge." There was a moment as the meeting naturally drew to a close. "Dismissed"

Ronson let out a small 'eep' from behind Baldric as he stood next to the fresh pot of brew. Jenna smiled as she couldn't quite tell if was a fearful or excited 'eep'. Standing, she nodded to Savar and Baldric in turn. "Good meeting." She said before popping a grape into her mouth and walking back to the bridge where she would prep to get another close-up with the beasties of the deep.

Savar looked to Aurora, House and McQueen. "I suggest we take this time to prepare the shuttle and gather whatever other equipment we may need for this meeting."

As Connor stood from his chair he nodded to Savar, “Agreed Commander, I’ll get geared up down in Marine country and meet you in the shuttle bay. If there is nothing else?”

Kit suddenly jerked awake. She sheepishly looked about praying to the Thousand Gods no one noticed that she dozed off during the meeting. She really needed a good meal and some sleep time under the UV lights above her bed. She wondered how much of the meeting she had missed.

The crew filed out and Commander Baldric exhaled slowly, making a note to check in with Kit later who had seemed distracted and vacant during the meeting. It was imperative that everyone was looking after themselves. Picking up her coffee and gave a wry smile at the irony of picking up Captain Kaylens coffee habit and headed back to the bridge.