Star Trek: Iliad

[east]

Stardate 56946.25
The Daystrom Institute of Technology (Remote campus Rigel III)

It was the dead of night and two men worked hurriedly through the halls of the institute's basement. The archived works of hundreds of scientists abound. The two Vulcan men wore Starfleet uniforms and had been greeted through several checkpoints, till they had gotten to this room. Now they walked hurriedly through the dead of night, trying to quickly finish their task before morning came and the next shift would do a count of the inventory. Getting to this vault had been a three-month endeavor, and now extracting their prize was a task they had mere minutes to accomplish.

Using a phaser to cut away at the sheets of metal that hid the shielding controls, the two men had to work quickly as from the moment they fired the weapon a silent alarm was triggered, and security would be sent to investigate. The two men broke past the last piece of security as they were finally able to crack the vault. Reaching in they affixed a combadge to the old, dusty torpedo. It had sat here for almost a hundred years.

As Starfleet security rounded a corner they would watch as the two men were transported away, along with their prize.


56947.4
Dry Dock Utopia Fleet Yards, Mars

It was seven in the morning, and Captain Nellis Keoh was just waking up. Today was the day, The Odyssey was getting its crew together for its first real shake-down. He had been knee-deep in profiles and reassignment letters, the paperwork of building a crew. Outside the window of his bedroom, he could see the Odyssey-B, the last few pieces of its hull coming together. Today at 0:900 it would be leaving the dry dock for the very first time. Walking over to his replicator he couldn't take his eyes off of the ship that would soon be his.

Everyone wanted the captain's chair. People didn't join Starfleet to make commanders, or to be on a starbase. People joined Starfleet for the dream of command, Nellis hadn't been an exception to that rule. He had joined Starfleet years ago because he wanted to explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations. And there was his ticket to that dream. The Odyssey sat, tilting gracefully to one side. "Cola, cold."

Some people liked hot coffee in the morning or drank Tea. Nellis had discovered the human soft drink Cola in his years in the academy, it had a bit more sugar content, but just as much cafeene as coffee, and sipping on the cold drink the carbonation added fizz to it that other morning brews couldn't compare too in his mind. Then came the priority message, Nellis hadn't gotten dressed yet, and yet his personal computer was already blinking with words like 'priority' and 'Admiral.'

He turned on the message, giving his authorization codes, but kept his side of the video feed dark. "Captain Keoh, I'm sorry for the early hour."

"Admiral, my apologies for not turning on my camera, I haven't had a moment to get decent just yet."

"I suggest you get decent rather quickly Captain, your deployment is being moved up. There was a theft of Starfleet technology last night, and your ship is assigned to retrieve it or destroy it. Your ship departs in half an hour." The Admiral cut off the feed, and sent him the mission file, he glanced over words like 'classified' and 'incredibly dangerous' that much was very clear, but he wanted to know what would cause so much of a stir. He got a video feed from the archives of the Daystrum institute, the two Vulcan men breaking into the vault, and seeing the dusty torpedo they absconded with.

There was a subspace variance from orbit that would indicate a cloaked ship leaving at warp speeds. Making the two thieves, most likely Romulan infiltrators.

Keoh set down his drink, and quickly got about getting showered, and dressed. Heading to the nearest transporter bay. "Senior officers to the meeting room, deck one. Our departure is being moved up."

 

[captain_bond]

Lieutenant Commander Alexander "Alex" Stephens, Second/Operations Officer, had been on the Odyssey for a few days now, overseeing the final finishing touches on basically every system. They were all well under Starfleet spec, but he hoped the Chief Engineer and he, between the two of them, would be able to get things up to snuff before their departure. When Captain Nellis' call came over the comm, he groaned before tapping his combadge. "Acknowledged, sir. Stephens out." Scratch that: I PRAY that we'll get things up to snuff before the Breen or the Tzenkethi blow a hole in our hull the size of Texas. He stood up with a heavy sigh from the Ops console on the Bridge, or more accurately, from where he was kneeling at an access panel on it, configuring everything just the way he wanted (which was still within protocol, mind, but the standard layout bothered him. Hopefully the Captain wouldn't mind.) At any rate, he put his tools away, made sure that his brown hair was straight in a shiny-looking wall panel, and entered the conference room, waiting for Nellis and the others to arrive.

 

[Ahlanna]

Main Shuttle Bay

U.S.S. Odyssey

Commander Zasha had nothing against youth. Caves below, by Starfleet standards she was pretty far under the median herself. Sure, she’d had an extra few years of ‘seasoning’ over your average Academy grad … they started preparing for their career at 18, maybe 17. Not like in the Resistance, where an innocent childlike face was a serious asset. But still, she had been … shocked wasn’t quite the right term, more surprised – to have been promoted so soon. Starfleet wasn’t as flexible as the militia. They didn’t tend to care much for descriptors such as ‘fast’ or ‘unorthodox’. And for this posting in particular!

You didn’t exactly have a queue for assignment to a Sovereign-class, but there was an informal one. And true, her creds from the Agamemnon doubtless were a significant factor. But lots of people had served on a Sovereign, and there were no more than one or two XO spots opening in any given year. Surely someone had been ahead of her. Unless, of course, the Minister had been meddling again. No matter how much he claimed otherwise, Ikire had a sneaking suspicion that the fellow had been easing her path. And of course, her own Councillor, from Bajor, would doubtless have been easy for him to rope in.

Well, what of it? So she cut in line. It wasn’t like it was her idea. And you had to admit, Captain ‘Gildenspoon’ was even more of a seniority-appropriate reach. Something was up. Ikire wasn’t sure what it was, but the ship’s compliment was heavy on the Academy; not so much from the battlefronts.

Of course, this does help with getting crewed up. Rather than a trickle here or there, small craft disembarked them by the score. The shuttle bay was positively crawling with fresh faced not-quite-cadets-anymore. Ikire walked between the various groups with a warm smile on her face, politely herding the stragglers. Gear was the second officer’s problem – and Ikire didn’t begrudge him that at all – but Crew was her deal.

“Welcome to Odyssey, Midshipman. Security? Ensign Dubranov is handling your induction. Right over there.”​

“Whoa there, save it for the Romulans! Pretty crowded on the deck here, I’m sure he didn’t mean to step on your tail. But lets try to be more careful, Crewman, hmm?”​

“It’s fine, petty officer, procedures aside, I think the warp drive can handle a small care package. If she can get it in her locker – and it passes bioscreen, of course – then we’re good.”​

“At ease, crewman. Your arm might fall off at this rate. You don’t need to salute everyone in the entire shuttle bay. Welcome to Odyssey. Engineering crew are gathering right over there.”​

​

Everything was coming along reasonably well here, even with the sudden press of shuttles. They had been crewing up for a couple of days, but this morning it was almost as if command was trying to cram everyone on they could …

The thought is cut off by a summons from the captain. Moved up? Well, OK. It wasn’t exactly her plan for the day, but flexibility was kind of her thing. She did hope ops had enough time to get the gear on, though.

After a quick stop at the various gathering areas to let the supervisors know they were on their own with the crowd, she turns and strides out for the turbolift. Thankfully, it’s not that far.

​

 

[Silverbird]

Utopia Fleet Yards
Passenger Bay, Earth <-> Mars Shuttle

Reflected sunlight gleamed off the hull of the U.S.S. Odyssey as the shuttle passed overhead, the pilot gifting their passengers an outstanding view of Starfleet’s newest vessel as they made their way to dock. T’Vara stared silently out the window, sharp eyes drinking in every curve, every crevasse and blinking light as the ship slowly came to life. From her vantage point the vessel was alive with activity, a handful of tiny, barely perceptible engineers crawling over the hull to perform final checks as shuttles came and went from every available bay. In under an hour, T’vara knew she’d be aboard one of them; and from there to her quarters, and then to the bridge of her new home.

“A beautiful ship, isn’t she?” Her seatmate spoke up by the Lieutenant's side, an appreciative whistle to his voice. T’Vara spared him a quick glance; he was an older Human man, his hair thoroughly greyed and his face wrinkled. A civilian engineer, by the look of his clothing. “Simply beautiful. Sovereign-class; one of only sixteen like it, you know.”

“I do,” the Vulcan replied softly, though she realized it hadn’t really been a question. She turned back towards the window, but an amused chuckle from her companion drew her attention his way again. She fixed him with a quizzical stare, head tilted questioningly as she tried to determine what he’d found so funny.

“I’ve seen that look before,” the man answered her wordless query with a wide, toothy grin. “She’s your first, isn’t it? Your first ship, that is.” He nodded out the window, leaning past the T’Vara for a better look, and shook his head whistfully. “Ah, you really do never forget your first.”

The Vulcan followed his gaze out the window, to the bold, black lettering across the Odyssey’s hull.

“Indeed,” she agreed.

—

“No, thank you; I will be quite fine by myself.”

After shrugging off her companion’s offer of help — and after nodding farewell — T’Vara made her way down the shuttle’s loading ramp and onto the deck of the station proper. She was still dressed in the uniform she’d received upon graduation while she awaited her posting, the two-tone grey design with just a hint of Science blue peeking out beneath her new rank pips. In either hand she was holding a piece of luggage, but they hardly encumbered her. Her left held the handle of a relatively small, rectangular metal suitcase, and her right a larger polycarbonate case that protected her violin. By her count, there was 43 minutes until her group was scheduled to board the Odyssey; plenty of time to find the appropriate shuttlebay, and perhaps even enough for a brief meal or to start reviewing—

“Lieutenant T’Vara?”

The question cut across T’Vara’s planning, and the Vulcan found her way barred by a young ensign carrying several PADDs tucked under her arm. T’Vara answered her question with a nod, and the ensign offered one to her — along with a combadge. “Change of schedule. You’re required to report to the Odyssey immediately.”

The Vulcan set down her luggage, took the offered items, and looked quickly over the PADD’s screen. It didn’t give any hint to the reasoning behind the change; just confirmed what the ensign had already said.

“Very well,” T’Vara returned to the PADD with a nod, then clipped the combadge into place. The insignia sat proudly against her chest. She picked up her luggage once more. “Please direct me to the nearest transporter station.”

 

[ChrisGabriel]

The Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards was like a dream for P'rmess. She really didn't know how she got there, seemingly gallivanting through the galaxy while working with old and new technology to fix the problems after the Dominion War. Seeing that her engineering crew somehow got some Breen technology on their side, it was not that surprising that they was called to the shipyards for debriefing. After they helped a dissident group of Borg - or more like a group of ex-Borg who was having problems with reactivation and getting absorbed back into the collective - the higher ups wanted to see to them personally.

Yet, the tall orange catgirl could fulfill her curiosity of the planning and making of starship architecture finally. It was enlightening creating working life support from scratch not just for possibly thousands of people, but making sure that the different needs of the races of the Federation - and even possible outside visitors - was met easily. But there was a shortage of lead engineers and she was enrolled to help more. No wonder she was in an orange jumpsuit with a brown hat, leading a group of A500 synthetics.

Working overtime on board the Odessey, she could be found finishing crew and officer quarters to be the best for their occupants. While the workers of the shipyard made everything work and to specifications, P'rmess took her overtime to tweak the environmental controls to the assigned people even before they arrived. She even took up to send them a survey about what their preferences was if they was from mixed races. Unfortunately she did not had high enough clearance to get to see medical records or know anything about the mayority of the senior officers until they was ready to transfer aboard.

So, when the news of the departure time coming up much faster reached her, her desperate meowing could be heard - instead of the almost accepted cursing Engineers was known for.

P'rmess did not knew that she was made part of the crew with her acceptance of working on the ship. Nor did she knew that her experience and the rumour of the 'housekeeping gifts' she left within the finished cabins reached the higher ranks. She hazily remembered working along some higher ranking academy graduate real officers from the engineering track, and even a Lt. Commander who personally knew the legend Miles O'Brien, whose technical treaties was her favorite reading.

Not that she read that much, but one could not be an Engineer and not have manuals and drawings clutter around their den. Hers was in the nose of the ship, in the primary hull, where the life suport was. They wanted to put her into some temporary quarters in the secondary hull, but both place was under the same numerical and the later one still out of order. Something she did not hurry to fix, and nobody cared for the small S letter instead of the P trying to tell which hull she had her cabin in as long as she did not occupied one that was being filled with personel. She was qualified and the highest ranking technician working with the Life Support anyway.

Not being a senior officer per say, P'rmess was still namely an assistant to the chief engineer - and that was something the Odessey did not had other than the Operations Officer making sure everything was all right. She was among the indignant engineers sending messages, and unfortunately one of the highest ranking on the ship, with the others pushing her to the front to confront the senior officers.

So, orange cat in an orange uniform - without the brown hard hat - recently groomed would be the last to arrive to the meeting room with the numerous pads from various engineer departments. If the door opened for her, she wouldn't stay out, not used to knocking or chiming in while working.

 

[LeaT]

Ensign Leata was already at her post on the bridge when the summons of senior officers went out. Being a mere ensign she didn't have her schedule interrupted by the sudden schedule change. Unlike the vast majority of the biological crew, she had few affairs to set in order prior to an extended duty assignment to deep space. The closest thing she had to family was her father of sorts, but Lt Cmdr. Data had been destroyed the year before. She wasn't sure quite what to think about her father's demise. Theoretically Soong type androids could be expected to survive indefinitely, but clearly they could be destroyed. The Daystrom institute had offered her their best approximation of the 'emotion chip' but she had declined, at least for now. It hardly seemed worth the trouble.

She had run all the Sovereign Class piloting simulations available with every challenge the training staff at Utopia Fleet Yards could throw at her. The idea of a computer simulation actually stumping her was somewhat novel, after all piloting a starship was largely just a big math problem and few computers could match her positronic brain for sheer number crunching. Eventually the training staff at the fleet yard became bored with the exercise and suggested she get 'settled' in her new quarters. She arrived on board with a standard issue footlocker and nothing else. After all what besides a few extra uniforms did she need? She was settled almost as soon as she entered the cabin. Looking around she saw a living area in the center of the dwelling, which held a personal workstation, couch, replicator, and a small dining area. She couldn't help but think it was a waste of space, the workstation being the only nominally useful thing to her and she would have better access to the core computer at the helm. The bedroom and bathroom seemed even less useful to her. She briefly puzzled over the idea that this would be called 'the head' on a vessel, which given her knowledge of biologicals, seemed poorly named.

Reporting for duty was a bit more challenging than she had imagined the formality to be, namely due to the officer she should report to wasn't on board yet. She of course knew every deck of the ship from the plans she had downloaded, though she did note a handful of 'as built' modifications that had yet to be incorporated into the official plans of the ship. She found the helm and reported into the computer of the still dry docked ship. Had she a sense of humor she might have been amused to find that she had a duty schedule that had her on watch a mere third of the day. She was used to being the only helmsman on the smuggling craft she had last piloted. What would she ever do with all that extra time?

As it turned out though, she would be at the helm of the Odyssey when the surprise briefing was completed and the senior officers emerged.

 

[east]

It was probably the fastest shower Nellis had ever taken, He almost had to double-check that he was actually wearing clothes as he made it aboard his ship. He wasn't even the first one to make it into the conference room, but thankfully he wasn't the last either. He did a quick head count once they were starting to gather. He was still getting live updates on the status of his crew, and no chief medical officer was assigned currently, if worst came to worst there was always the EMH Mark three in the buffer they would just have to make due. The chief tactical officer was running late, or perhaps not even aboard yet, they would just have to be caught up to speed or show up to the meeting as it went. The longer they delayed their departure the worse the situation could become. "Good to see everyone could make it on such short notice."

The engineer arrived last. "Ah P'rmess please take a seat, I have the unfortunate honor to tell you that you will be the acting chief engineer for our ship for the time being." Though if she did well he would probably petition to keep her as chief engineer, it was better in his mind to have a list of consistent names. That was one reason why his science officer had been an old friend from the academy.

"Under normal circumstances, the launch of a ship like ours would be an event, a celebration of the accomplishments of our engineers, a chance for the admiralty to admire the new coats of paint, and a day or two to shake down any and all unforeseen problems she may have had in her construction. Unfortunately... we don't have that luxury this time around. As of oh-seven-hundred last night a cloaked vessel departed from the Remote Campus of the Daystrom institute on Rigal three with stolen Federation technology. Our ship is not just the newest in the fleet, it also has new sensor arrays which should make finding a cloaked vessel easier for us. Our job is to retrieve the stolen technology at all costs."

Nellis had a bit of a shiver, this was the first time he was directing a meeting of upper staff. He had been a commander, sitting in a chair similar to the one that Zasha was sitting in now, but this was his ship, it was his briefing, if he beefed it now it would be his problem. He took a deep breath. "The following information is considered classified and on a need-to-know basis. Since our situation is a time sensitive one, and we were given short notice to launch our ship with a skeletal crew I have chosen to speak to each of you so that you can run your departments with this information in mind. I will now show you the device that had been stolen."

Keoh tapped at his console and remotely displayed some of the files he had been given outlining the federation technology that had been stolen. The files were old, slightly corroded from time, and the video played out like it was made from an older format, the demonstration video looked almost comical by today's standard, as Doctor Carol Markus explained her life's work. Nellis leaned back in his chair waiting for the presentation to stop. "The original genesis device turned a nebula and a starship into a planet in a little under an hour. Which then decayed and destroyed itself a little over a month later due to the use of an unstable protomatter. But Markus didn't just build one device, they had three by the time the program was shut down, the second was dismantled when the federation signed The Khitomir Accords with the Klingons, and the third was put into cold storage on Rigal three. Now almost ninety years later it's been stolen. While Markus believed that this was a device for terraforming, in its current state it's a weapon of mass destruction that if used will erase all life on a planet within minutes, there would be no chance for an evacuation, no time for a plea for help."

 

[ChrisGabriel]

The big orange engineer sputtered, maybe even meowed in low voice, but was surprised enough to sit down - with her tail between her legs, so she was basically sitting on it. She only flinched a little, ears out sideways flattened under her fluffy mane. Staying silent and thinking it through, but focusing more on what the captain was saying. She could not stop herself however asking out half loudly "Then we are coming right back, right?" not really waiting for an answer, it was more of a voiced hope and wish.

"Oh magnificent crreatorrr..." P'rmess finally groaned as the presentation was over, but shut up to hear what more the captain wanted to speak about. "The Odessey is not rready forr a prrolonged mission orr a fight within its intended capabilities!" she finally had to say it. "While life supporrt and sensorrs are up, they didn't had their trial run, there is not enough engineers for the three full shifts, and the ablative armor is missing in large patches! Maybe we can jumpstart the regenerative shielding when needed, but the Breen energy dissipating upgrade won't be ready. Also, the labs are kind of missing the small stuff, as in science wont have their reagents and components, even if the hardware is installed." she started to read and put aside some padds that was in a heap in her hands. "The emergency transporters are down, the holosuites still have some kind of glitch which is possible spreading to the holodecks, we are missing some of our deuterium, the hydroponics is empty and we have no quantum torpedoes. At least as of today morning... A miriad of other things, but those can be done on the fly, if we do not go above warp eight."

She growled, pushing the pads forward on the table "At least three more days and a shake down cruise is needed to have Odyssey ready for any exploration or operations mission. And we would need help with any scientific investigation too. Engineering can give you sensors and two shifts, but without external support, all what is hundred percent doable is reduced power mode."

P'rmess then pulled back, feeling like she spoke too much, and anyway, she was just an assistant, she had no idea what a chief engineer could and could not do in circumstances like this.

 

[captain_bond]

Commander Stephens spoke up. "P'rmess, shut down the holodecks and holosuites for now. Same for hydroponics. Focus on essential systems first. As Chief O'Brien would say, holosuites won't get the shields online. The science labs also seem non-essential, at least for the current mission. I'll search the crew manifest, send anyone who knows the right end of a spanner to use. If they worked on their folks' hover-car, one of us will find something for them to do. But, Captain, we can not ship out of Spacedock without ablative armor or quantum torpedoes. Not if we might be going up against the Romulans. That is my professional opinion and I stand by it, sir. We can't do this without shields and weapons at full capacity. Same with sensors and life support. The engines are first on the list of secondary priorities. I'll go to Command myself if I must, but they might as well be sending us out there to die with the ship in the state that P'rmess described. Unless things have improved without either of us knowing?"

 

[Ahlanna]

"When Renta Baris found his supply cache plundered, their target's timetable bumped up, and triple screening at the spaceport entrance, did he pack it in?"

Whereas others seemed to be getting more concerned and stressed by the tight timeline, a thin and grim smile had crept onto Commander Zasha's lips. "Or did he steal a Cardy enviro suit, sneak into the cargo compartment, and use a tetryon core, a bottle of izarian whiskey, and some improvised cleaning supplies to blast a hole in the side mid-flight – costing the Cardies a whole month of ore?"

One hand rests on the table as she speaks. "We musn't forget - there are potentially billions of lives on the line here. Command is counting on us."

"Of course, we have a duty not to cause harm to the crew – and if we expect to blow up when entering warp, then we'll push back on command's timeline. However," and now she leans forward slightly, "... we should at least try. Three systems are absolutely crucial: the warp core, the navigational deflector, and generalized life support. If those can't be assured, then yes, we should push for a delay."

"But we are not being asked to repel a Borg invasion. We're being sent on an investigation mission – inside Federation space. Travelling to Rigel will take time - during which we can work on the ship's readiness - and Rigel itself has several colonized worlds, and therefore potential to supply some of our needs. And once we arrive, it's unlikely we encounter hostility. Our quarry has likely run, and even if they have not, why would they attack and reveal themselves so deep within Federation borders?"

Punching up some information on her PADD, her head tilts slightly to the right, causing her Bajoran ear jewelry to dangle a bit, "We should compile a list of requisitions to send to Rigel. At the very least, we'll need science supplies so we can come up with a way to track either this ship, or the stolen … 'genesis' thingamabob."

​

 

[LeaT]

Though Ensign Leata was not in the staff briefing, it didn't take her long at the helm to get the gist of the problems being discussed. She had no idea of their mission but the ship's status was nowhere near to starfleet specifications for even a simple shakedown cruise. Logic dictated that the sudden acceleration of their departure schedule meant something important, and considering the risk to the crew, probably dangerous as well. The simulators had been remarkably close in layout but the feel of the actual ship was different in a way Leata had trouble quantifying. Though it might have had something to do with the many status sensors that were showing limited to no functionality. Even the most sadistic trainers had provided her a piloting scenario with this many potential issues that might require helm correction to compensate at a moment's notice.

As she idly considered the headings to various destinations her new captain would soon have her setting, she calculated the probability of several catastrophic scenarios that might befall their ship. Rigal was one of 1,237 possible destinations she was contemplating. Their odds of reaching Rigal safely were inversely proportional to the warp speed and up through a rather leisurely warp 5 the chances of significant mishap that would delay their ETA was a solid 12.7538%, scenarios where loss of life was expected were a reasonable 3.28973 x 10 to the -7th % however at warp 8 she estimated delay at 37.2897%, and loss of life at 7.58963 x 10 to the -4th %, and catastrophic loss of the ship at 2.398739 x 10 to the -8th %. At each warp factor above 8 things only got worse. All of this assumed no one was shooting at them.

She considered whether she would share such information with the captain but often found humans resented such highly quantified probabilities. Besides, smugglers often operated with less than optimal ship conditions, then again, a lot of them didn't make it to their destinations either. 'A ship in a port is safe, but that's not what ships were made for' her first Captain often said, usually when they were doing something with a high probability of failure.

 

[Silverbird]

“Device,” T’Vara supplied helpfully. This wasn’t her first time hearing of such a thing; Dr. Marcus’ research had been foundational to Professor Gideon Seyetik’s work on reigniting dead stars, which itself had been a key part of T’Vara’s own research. Perhaps that was why she had been chosen as Chief Science Officer for this mission — but no, that couldn’t be the case. Their ship’s roster had been decided long before the theft took place. In any event, this was the first time she’d heard of the Federation actually building such a device, yet alone the fact that one still existed! That was certainly alarming news — though perhaps not as alarming as the state of their ship.

Still, the Vulcan was the picture of professional calm. While she appreciated P’rmess and the Lieutenant Commander’s concerns, she found herself agreeing with their XO — even if she had to guess who Renta Baris might have been, and the intended conclusion of her anecdote. As far as the Science Officer was concerned, while Starfleet Command may not have been entirely Vulcan, they were also not entirely blind to logic; they surely would not have assigned their ship a mission that was beyond their capability to handle.

“As long as the replicators are online, we will be able to fabricate most of the supplies that the science labs will require,” she said, doing her best to back up Commander Zasha’s words. “I will draw up a list of the rest. Meanwhile, I will work with — Engineer P’rmess, was it? — on configuring our sensors to best detect the subspace disturbances that can indicate cloaked ships, as well as anything else Engineering requires assistance with.”

T’Vara inclined her head to acknowledge P’rmess as she spoke. She’d never met a Caitian before, and the acting chief engineer seemed interesting, if a little stressed right now. The Vulcan was looking forward to working with her.

If she had her own way, T’Vara would have liked to have seen the holodecks operational; having heard their mission, there were several simulations that she would have quite liked to run. However, it seemed quite unlikely that those would really be a priority, and so instead she turned her attention to a problem that did seem solvable.

“Captain.” The Vulcan turned in her chair to face Nellis. It had been a few years since they’d last seen each other, and she was struck by how much he’d changed — grown — since that time. She hadn’t anticipated that their first meeting would be such a weighty briefing, or that it’d come so suddenly; she was acutely aware of the fact that she was still in the wrong uniform, and the neat pile of luggage sitting beside her chair. “Do we have any further information on the break-in which might be of use in identifying the individuals involved? Access logs, for example, or methods used to defeat security. Romulans do seem like the most likely culprits, but they are not the only possibility.”

Mercenaries, pirates, professional thieves; there were many groups that would love to get their hands on such dangerous technology if they knew were to find it, and the Romulans were not the only civilization with access to cloaking technology.

 

[east]

There was a bit of shock for Nellis, hearing how little they had on board, and just how their tactical readiness would be affected. No armor was a big issue, and Commander Stephens seemed about ready to strike the entire mission, unfortunately, Nellis didn't have that option, before he could say it, his executive officer went off, and spoke to just about everything Nellis could have, honestly he had no notes, and he was glad to find that his views on the situation aligned so well with his second in command. "By all means Commander Stephans you can petition Starfleet Command, but they are well aware that they are launching a ship early, and that we may not have everything we need. I'm sure if they had another option than to send a ship that was only half built then they would."

T'Vara asked for more information on the break-in, and he shrugged. "I imagine security will have a more full report on the break-in by the time we have gotten to the Rigel system, but at this point, I can offer no further hard evidence, but my intuition tells me it's not like the Romulans to do something so brazen, and with their own boarders in strife after the recent insurrection by Praetor Shinzon, why steal something as old and destructive as the Genesis Device? Surely there are easier ways for the Star Empire to destroy a planet than cross the neutral zone."

"What we know for sure is that two people in Starfleet uniforms, with Vulcan appearances, and clearance codes stole the device, and hightailed it out of the system with a cloaked ship, once we track down this ship we can ask what their plans were," Nellis said with a slight nod as he got to his feet.

"For now, we will have to build the ship as we fly, and focus on getting our regenerative shielding online, if we have no armor that shielding and our secondary hull will be the only defense we have, We have plenty of Photon torpedoes, and last I checked those still pack a punch if we need to blow something up. since warp 8 is sketchy, we will use our cruising speed of warp 6, while this is an urgent situation it will buy us time if anything in the warp core goes wrong. For now, our meeting is adjourned." He shifted his uniform a little and brushed his bright red hair, for a first meeting he thought went very well. His officers seemed to be the exact kind of voice of reason that he needed around him, he was a little bit proud of how they conducted themselves.

He also kept his eyes from straying too much towards P'rmess the Caitian Kazinti mix was probably one of the most stunning women he had ever seen, and while he would never admit it she seemed soft and he wanted to pet her. Thoughts a captain really shouldn't have.

Stepping out onto the bridge he finally got to take the actual captain's chair, It was still ridged, fresh from installation it felt like no one had even tested the thing for his comfort or Lumbar support. "Ensign Leata, get us clearance to leave drydock and set a course for Rigel three at warp six."

There was a moment as he fiddled with the control consol on his chair before a familiar whistle went through the ship and Nellis spoke using the ship-wide communications array. "Attention all hands, we are about to depart for the Rigel system, The next few days will be difficult, we are a skeleton crew on a very large ship, that we need to build as we fly. I need every able-bodied officer who has held a hydro spanner, or taken academy day classes, anyone who thinks that they know how to rotate an EPS conduit or fix an Isolinear chip, please report to engineering immediately for assignments and technical manuals."

"A ship such as ours should have been a celebration to launch, and when we get back from our mission, I promise we will all share a drink to our success. For now, we must go into the breach, there is a lot of work to be done, we are Starfleet, and The Odyssey we set forth upon will be one grand adventure after the next. It will be stressful, it could be dangerous, but it's what each and every one of us was trained for. I know the bar will be set high, and I know you all will rise to meet the challenge."

He cut the coms. Immediately after that massive speech he buried his hands in his face feeling an intense blush come over him, it took him a moment to regain his composure. Their first time being a captain, getting to set the tone of their voyage, first major speech, he just checked off like eight things from his bucket list.

He took several calming breaths and looked again at Leata. Then to the viewscreen, "Set sail."

 

[ChrisGabriel]

After the captain adjourned the meeting, licking her snout the orange furry woman pushed a PADD towards the male Commander, Stephens. "Here. The shopping list to the bare minimum to get the green light in normal cases. But sensors and life support for the areas in use should be all ready. Warp should be okay working too at normal cruising speed, but would need some nursing to reach any higher for now and keep at it, even then there could be burps in the warp bubble if you take it to warp nine." she leaned back, playing with her tail that swayed up from between her legs. "Holosuites and emergency transporters will stay offline for now, but we have basic hull integrity and shielding, and the normal photon torpedoes. Can't get the missing plating or torpedoes elsewhere, unless there is a secret military shipyard waiting for us out there?"

She was already missing the remainder of the engineering staff not aboard, mostly the chief engineer, as the bayoran commander was freaking her out a little. She wanted to play with that jewelry in her ear and lick those ridges, but P'rmess was sure that it wouldn't be proper to even mention it. Would surely create a misunderstanding.

Hearing the announcment through the com's, P'rmess meowed a little with disdain "Great! Now all the engineering dropouts and wanna be mechanics will flood engineering! I better make sure to find something they can play with to keep them from being under foot... Maybe they can fiddle with the 'suites or do clean up." Standing up she was already planning how to best utilize the personel, now, that the staff of Utopia Planitia would depart hastily. "Can we keep some of the A500 synths? Would be a big help if we get to some hidden cache of armour plating or to handle the heavy lifting properly where needed." that was probably a big no, but she had to try. Those was easy to please and worked diligently, and no living being could work within the engine pods while they was online, even less under warp...

Looking at the remainder of the command staff, the newly minted Chief Engineer - still considering herself Assistant - waited for any of them to have questions or orders before she hurried back to the heart of the ship, Engineering.

And she would really run on all fours and even bump off from walls if the turbolift wasn't more efficient to transport someone from the ready room to the engineering straight away.

 

[captain_bond]

When the Captain dismissed everyone, Alex nodded. They weren't gonna be going anywhere if they were gonna blow up as soon as they hit Warp 1 anyways. Before they left the conference room, he walked up to P'rmess. "I read your file. You got this, Chief. Now get down to Engineering and make this girl purr for us, eh?" He cracked a smile. "We get back in one piece and I'll introduce you to Miles. How's that sound?"

When the Caitian answered, he smiled and dismissed her then exited to the Bridge and was just in time for the Captain's speech. When he was finished, Stephens walked over to the center seat and said, in a low voice, "Thank you for taking my suggestion to heart, Sir. And I apologize for the way I acted. I'm only looking out for the crew and the ship." When the Captain answered and, presumably, dismissed him, he would turn around and clap his hands excitedly. "Right, you heard the man! Let's snap to it, get her ready to get underway!" He practically jumped into the Ops station and his fingers flew over the console as he proceeded to make sure his instructions were being carried out.

 

[LeaT]

Ensign Leata gave a precise "Aye Sir" and began to work through the protocol departure. Utopia yard was expecting their departure so she was easily able to send the signals with a few deft strokes of her fingers and listen to the Captain's speech while updating their survival probability.

She had little need of emotional support but she recognized the organics need for such superficial communication. She did however glean a few pieces of new information from the performance.

She was quite confident right up until the order. Her finger hesitated a moment. "Set sail?". Her face was a blank expression for just an instant before she showed understanding. "Ah yes, a primitive form of human travel. Colloquially meaning to begin."

Her finger dropped, engaging thrusters to slowly move them from their mooring and move the ship to a safe distance to engage the warp engine.

 

[Ahlanna]

As a last minute shuttle had brought over another load of torpedoes, necessitating the tactical officer's supervision to secure the devices, Commander Zasha steps to that station. "Bridge to Shuttlebays, secure decks for immediate departure."

"Captain, I suggest we begin deleting construction yard command codes. It will take some time to make sure we get them all purged from the computer – tedious work over days most likely, but at the very least, we can immediately remove the dry dock command staff's priority access. You will have to give voice-authorization."

A quick check of the hull integrity shows the dockyard workers must have finished securing that last bit of hull section while they were in the meeting. Still, she didn't trust it until Odyssey personnel had a chance to confirm everything was locked down tight. "Computer, evacuate sections 17 to 19 on decks 3 and 4, then engage emergency bulkheads in case of depressurization."

Turning briefly to the Master System Display, she sends a chirp to Engineering, "Bring all reactors, except the warp core, to cruising levels."

"Captain, I recommend we proceed to a safe distance from the docks, then conduct a brief, yet vigorous, assessment of the thrusters, dampeners, deflector and point-defense phasers. If we have any maneuverability or inertia issues it is best to find out before we crash into something … there is a cluster of heavy debris in the asteroid belt from a recent mining accident that should pose a modestly challenging obstacle field."

Left unsaid is that it would also allow the command staff to get a practical assessment of the crew's performance. "I suggest Lieutenant T'Vara for the sensors and in-flight assessment of the exercise, Commander Stephens for the point-defense and requesting power level adjustments from Engineering, and of course Ensign Leata to handle the actual maneuvers and inertial dampeners."

With a moment's pause, a slight grin forms on the Bajoran's lips, "Ensign, are you familiar with the concept of 'rolling the ship'?"

 

[captain_bond]

"I'd be inclined to agree with Commander Zasha, Captain. A brief field test in our backyard will be better than the alternative. Ma'am, I can handle both the point-defense phasers and the power transfers from the Ops console, as soon as you transfer control." At the Bajoran's question towards Ensign Leata, Stephens turned back towards the viewscreen to hide the smile that was forming on his face, and he decided to deflect a little by touching on a different, but recent subject. "I have a brother who was on the team piloting those mining drones. I swear, you guys think Starfleet chews you out when you fuck up. You have not met my brother's boss in the Sol Mining Group." He chuckled as he remembered the look on his brother's face when he called.

 

[Silverbird]

It was unfortunate that the crew didn’t have any further information about the break-in available, but T’Vara supposed that, as the Captain had suggested, the crime was still fresh. The Science Officer nodded once to indicate her understanding, and then fell silent for what remained of the meeting. The Captain’s intuition aligned well with her own reasoning, and she’d be sure to dwell on the question further later, but without further data it’d just be speculation; not the most logical use of her time, when there was so much else to do.

As the meeting adjourned, T’Vara joined the other officers headed onto the bridge, leaving her luggage behind. A trip to her cabin to deposit her belongings and change her uniform was high on the Vulcan’s list of priorities, but it wasn’t quite at the top just yet. She had no intention of missing the ship’s launch — and there were plenty of regulations that would label a loose suitcase or violin on the bridge as a hazard. She’d retrieve them later. For now, she took her place at the science station and began to quietly familiarize herself with the controls. She’d been studying the manuals since learning of her assignment, but hadn’t had much opportunity to log time in a simulator just yet. Still, her training was serving her well; it didn’t take T’Vara long to identify at least the core functionality she’d require.

She looked away from her console as Captain Keoh began his speech, clasping her hands behind her back and turning her attention wholly towards him. His words were, it seemed to her, well chosen, though some perhaps a touch unnecessary; she doubted the crew needed to be bribed with promises of alcohol to perform at their best. The speech reminded her, again, of how much he had changed — at least until he sat back down and buried his head in his hands. That was more like the cadet she remembered. Despite his slightly younger age, Nellis had been the senior student during their time at the Academy, and in many ways she’d looked up to him, but he’d also always had that youthful, bashful exuberance. She'd found it in turns endearing and frustrating.

It reminded her, in fact, that she wanted to have a word with him — but before she could approach, she saw their Second Officer make a similar decision, and she decided it could wait. She gave the viewscreen one last long look as the Odyssey began to take its first silent steps out of the docking structure, and then she turned her attention back to her console.

Despite the problems plaguing the ship, their sensors, at least, seemed to be functioning properly. It was likely a product of the ship’s enhancements; these were one of their key new systems, and as such seemed to have received a great deal of attention. T’Vara performed a few quick, high-level diagnostics to confirm all was to her satisfaction, then glanced up to their Bajoran Commander.

“All sensors nominal, Commander,” she stated. “Ready to begin on your mark.”

Catching Commander Stephen’s remark about the Mining Group, she also glanced his way for a moment before returning to her readouts. “I can not imagine they are worse than a Vulcan parent, Sir,” she said, matter-of-factly. It was impossible to tell if she was serious; her expression didn’t so much as hint at a smile before she turned back down to her console.

 

[east]

He nodded towards Leata, but his order to depart was delayed at the suggestion of his first officer, he looked to Zasha for a moment. She brought up a good idea of testing their battle readiness. Though he did think that the ordering of evacuations and sealing off the bulkheads was a bit over-cautious, they weren't about to fly into battle, and their secondary hull was still very much intact, it was only the ablative armor that was missing which would have been a third outer coating. He chewed on some of her suggestions. "I'm not sure we should delete those just yet. We will be returning to dry dock upon our successful mission for our armor and to actually have the ship finished. Deleting them now just means that they will have to be reinstalled and updated once we return, and they don't hold a major security threat."

While it was a bit unorthodox to leave them in place, he didn't see an urgency to delete them considering they would be returning within a few days if this mission went well. "Commander Stephens you have control of tactical." He said as he transferred control. "However I would like to point out to all of you, that firing weapons inside of the Sol System is very prohibited, best to keep the point defense on the lowest possible setting, do not damage anything in the asteroid belt."

He had a feeling this could get him in trouble, the Sol system was a hub of constant traffic civilians and Starfleet. Nellis really didn't want to be that guy to start a six-ship pileup, but he did trust Leata's flying abilities. They were an android, and probably the only one aboard with the reaction speed able to calculate a route that would keep them, and everyone around them safe. Hearing the comment about Vulcan parentage he looked at T'Vara. "If any of you scratch my ship before she's even finished construction you will find out how badly I can chew you out, I will make you all wish you were Klingons dying in battle by the time I'm done."

"But you have my permission, lets throw her through her paces."

 

[ChrisGabriel]

"At once, Lieutenant Commander!" P'rmess saluted Alexander Stephens, and bounced away not really waiting for his dismissal,seeing that the Captain already finished the meeting. Being the first in the turbolift and soon gone. The door to Engineering just opened in front of her with the words from Commander Zasha leaving the few non-engineers in there looking around and someone with a chef hat even starting to reach out towards a console...

"Stop, do not touch that!" the orange engineer hissed, then commented on it further "The reactors are already idling, they can't do anything that would overtax them with cruising, it is all automatic. Now, stand left, if you have a degree in engineering, stand right, if you ever worked with EPS conduits while they was under power, and stand behind me if you think you know what a KLS stabilizer is. The others, go and find any real engineers in uniforms around your work area, quarters, or the shortest route between them, ask what you can do for them."

Then she proceeded to check the degrees of anyone who said they had one on the closest station. "Chef Ramsey, could you help me by instructing anyone else who comes to help to follow my previous directive?" Feeling the ship shudder as the clamps released it, and hearing the change of the pitch in the system, P'rmess hurriedly checked the last commands from the shipyard, to see who they left on the ship, or what new data had arrived from the time before the meeting, when she collated the data to the PADD's - which she left in the meeting room on the table.

"Okay. Now, Miss Jill, choose someone from the other side, and head to the nearest personnel transporter room. Do a level two diagnostic, then head to the next, leave the cargo and emergency ones alone. All six should be okay, and show no error messages, at least nothing without transporting things outside those six rooms. Lets meet at cargo transporter three in ... two hours? Call for me, ACE P'rmess, if you think you need to fix something before that. ... And choose your tools now from the office." gesturing towards the storage room looking Chief's office.

"Ensign Durac, I see you took a course in hologames engineering, go and check the holosuites on deck four, they have some glitch, all eight of them locked out of the system for now, keep it that way. Take someone from the other side and a handheld computer, one of them should be under the table in the offcie there... You two have four hours, and canuse your own holo-collection for diagnostic purposes only... Try a level three diagnostic first, but we hadn't found anything, so make sure you do not find anything either, before we go to level one on them, again... Lets meet up at holodeck three on deck nine afterwards."

She sent the others in pairs to help out the Tactical Department, and see if they could help with the phasers, torpedo lauchers, and deflector shields. Maybe taking them for a level two diagnostics for a quarter hour would make the higher ups realize, not to send bored people to help with engineering...

P'rmess herself would be going to hug the warp core, and look after it like it was a newborn kitten who opened its eyes for the first time.

Leaving the Chef in the door of Engineering to help redirect the stragglers who wanted to help, sending them out to the shuttle bays to see if everything was secured and put away. Anyone who came or called after that would be directed to start checking the lifeboats...

In two hours P'rmess would be brave enough to leave the warp core alone and go meet up with Miss Jill and check the cargo transporters with the duo. If everything went right, in four hours she would be off duty, and meeting with Ensign Durac, to call all the other helpers too for a meeting in that holodeck.

 

[LeaT]

Piloting the supposedly state of the art starship was actually one of the easier elements of Ensign Leata's job. The laws of physics were constant and well behaved and while at times computationally intensive, she was imminently qualified in her inherently unbiased opinion. But the sorting out of superfluous banter among the young bridge crew from actual orders and questions required a social nuance that often defied her programming. She had similar trouble in her time with the smugglers however they were notoriously lax in discipline so while it was somewhat more complicated to follow their meaning, their expectations of discipline were well below starfleet standards so she could pretty much fly the ship as she pleased. She doubted such latitude could be expected here.

She was at least relieved to get a direct question from the first officer, once she had debated with the captain over their immediate plans. "Aye Ma'am, rolling the ship and 357 other tactical maneuvers from the starfleet manuals along with 23 unauthorized tactics, 14 of which I have used in space to avoid pursuit or damage." She had found it was sometimes best to provide context to her answers though some might think she was bragging. In open space, rolling the ship was a non-issue as there was no real up or down or even sideways. So she felt at liberty to roll the ship, her right hand operating the thrusters, her left hand the inertial dampers. The result was an imperceptible rotation of the ship, the only indication being the view screen as the distant asteroid belt rotated perfectly about a pinpoint of asteroid which stayed centered like the North Star on earth.

"What is your pleasure Captain? Proceed to warp or maneuver drill Sir?" She asked, wondering if a human helmsmen would have a preference. Even in simulations she noticed many of her classmates experiencing what appeared to be a spectrum of emotions while doing challenging maneuvers. Like others of her model, she had an emotion chip. She had experimented with it, but had found it easier to work without the distractions. She had no idea how humans and other organics dealt with such overwhelming data, perhaps some day she would try it again, but not today.

 

[captain_bond]

Stephens sighed. "If I wanted full Tactical control, I would have just used the main console, behind which is the Engineering station. Commander, if you wouldn't mind?" He restored normal Ops functionality and rose from his seat, gesturing for the First Officer to take his place as he walked to the aft of the bridge, chuckling at Leata's perfectly android response to the First Officer's question. "Ensign Leata, there's a Professor at the Academy who will tell you that you remind him of an old friend. Let me know if you'd like me to introduce you when we get back to Earth. Anyway, let's put our game faces on, we're coming up on the debris field." When the Bajoran woman hopefully took the Ops station so that they didn't waste any more time playing 'musical tactical control' the Human took his place behind the Tactical station and adjusted the point-defense phasers, making sure they were at minimum setting. "Weapons charged and ready," he intoned professionally before he turned his attention to the Engineering station. "Power levels nominal," he said, setting up an alarm to alert him to fluctuations before turning around back to the Tactical console.

 

[ChrisGabriel]

After some back and forth COMmunication with Miss Jill's duo and sending over an engineer who was more into transporters to them, they did meet at the most quirky cargo transporter. It took some work and a broken nail from P'rmess to take it apart and put it back together the right way. With some plasma rerouting and a replicated energy converter, it went through a level two test, but would have to be taken for a level one before she let it be used for anything else than raw material where the form was not prominent, just the mass.

Putting an alert into the system and onto the controls of Cargo Transporter Three, P'rmess took a walkaround to check on the other engineers, and ease them into her being choosen to be the Chief Engineer for now. Also taking a stock of the new fixes and remaining problems. It was surpisingly green lit, with only a handful of yellow needing attention. Other than the physically missing parts, ofcourse, but those was not really Engineering problem.

So, finally P'rmess and her ragtag band of makeshift engineers with some real ones coming off shift arrived at Holodeck three, and proceeded to diagnose it with Ensign Durac. Basically they ran the Valhalla Mead Hall program, to be merry, and make sure the safety protocols worked. She even went claw to axe with a big red bearded brute, only forgetting herself a little when she won because the axe only hurt her enough to get her motor running.

What came after that was under the try out of privacy screen, as P'rmess gave the dude what he would have won if it was for real.

 

[east]

Nellis was in all honesty a bit nervous about this idea. They were still in the sol system, and the viewscreen showed a lot of mining traffic, clusters of asteroids, and civilian ships going about in crazy but preplanned routes. There was a lot of potentials for any drills to go poorly. Still, he had the ultimate call, and he sat back in his chair, trying to act the part of the reserved and collected captain. The final call was on him after all. If he were more cautious then he would call this off, order them to warp, and tell them to pick a system closer to Rigel 3 so they could do this test on the way.

But if there really was anything cataclysmically wrong with the ship, it would be for the best to know now before they ended up in a situation where they had to go on full impulse only to find out that the engines would explode. "Ensign Leata you have the wheel, put her through the drill but for all of us try to break as few regulations as possible." It seemed almost impossible to do so all things considered.

He eased up a little. "There are only sixteen Sovereign-class ships in active duty, most of them are on long-range exploration missions, or defending the border in more dangerous locations, most of the people in the Sol sector have only ever seen holographic imaging of a ship like ours, hopefully, that means we can get away with giving the people a bit of a light show." He spoke out loud to himself at the moment, but his eyes kept straying towards his second in command, this had been her idea after all, and he would know by the end of this if he was in trouble. He really didn't want to start his captaincy by getting a ton of citations, but the test had to be done to assess how the ship was handled.

Part of him didn't want to be on the bridge, the words plausible deniability rang in his head, but deserting his post to avoid a few citations felt cowardly when he was supposed to be in charge of one of the most powerful ships in the fleet, and he definitely didn't want to find himself in charge of a California or worse a Miranda class vessel.