A Brief Briefing (part 2)
Posted on Wed Aug 29th, 2012 @ 12:13pm by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Eamon Lynx & Lieutenant T'Lada & Lieutenant Commander Damion Wolfe
Edited on on Wed Aug 29th, 2012 @ 12:44pm
1,144 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission: The Enemy Within: Lying in Wait
[CONTINUED]
[OLD]
Sam checked her chronometer. Five minutes. She stood and looked at each of her senior staff. She tapped her PADD and a three-dimensional holographic image of Tiberius IV appeared above the conference table. "Tiberius IV is near Starbase Typhon. It's a desert planet. Some of you were here when we first explored it. The sand is deep and deadly. There are numerous volcanic rock formations that lead to underground lakes. Fifteen minutes ago the USS Columbia sent out a distress call. It is believed the ship crashed on the planet. Our job is to rescue the crew. The nature of the sand is such that nothing can be scanned through it so finding the ship will be difficult. Any questions?"
[NEW]
"Has there been any communications from the crew?" Damon asked.
"Not since the distress call. Athena tried to make contact, but there is no response."
"What size of an area are we looking at searching?"
"We have the trajectory before they entered the planet's atmosphere. Beyond that, we don't know. Probably a path 20 kilometers wide and maybe 100 kilometers long. It all depends on if the trajectory changed when they hit the atmosphere."
"Let's hope some of the debris landed on a solid surface." Damon said with a shake of his head.
Sam's gaze met Damon's. "Agreed." They both remembered what it was like the last time they went to the desert planet.
"Sand shoes is a must I recommend." Eamon said with a grin. "I'll get a search pattern formed after checking the exact trajectory details from the sensor logs."
"Very good. Thank you," Sam said. "And welcome aboard." She'd yet to formally meet her new Chief Security Officer. Levue had been sent planetside for an extended break. Starfleet felt they would benefit from some time relaxing before coming back to duty. Stran, having bonded with Levue, chose to go with her.
"Starfleet Intelligence hasn't been able to gather anything. They sent two units to investigate and they haven't returned." Damion said out loud as he finally spoke up after hearing the chatter. He looked around the room at the others, keeping his eye contact limited. "As a side note, they would like us to find out what happened to these units. If possible, they would like them back and if not, then they simple want to know what happened. To comfort the families."
Sam nodded. "We'll do what we can, Lieutenant. Thank you."
The doors opened. A rather slight Vulcan woman entered. Her demeanor was calm, and quiet, but there was a slight tinge of green to her cheeks, showing the woman's embarrassment, just slightly. "Ah. At last. I presume this is the briefing room? I appear to be slightly misplaced." The woman said, softly. "I was given directions by a nice man from Security. Regardless, I am Lieutenant T'Lada. I was told to report as Chief Science Officer." She added.
Sam raised an eyebrow. She'd heard nothing of a new Chief. She picked up her PADD and scanned through it. Ah. The transfer came through less than an hour ago. "It looks like you're right on time," she said smiling at the scientist. "Welcome aboard and have a seat. All the information you need is on the PADD."
"Of course." She said, with a nod. She took a seat, and read it over, within about a minute, but said nothing, unsure of how to best add, to what.
"Lieutenant Wolfe just informed us that we may be looking for Intel ships as well," Sam said. "We'll be leaving for Tiberius IV within half an hour."
She looked around the room. "Any more questions?"
"One." T'Lada said. "If I am reading these geographical scans correctly, and it's entirely plausible I am not, since Geology, and Geography are not among my stronger fields, however, it would seem that this planet would be an appropriate place to hide, if one did not want to be found, would it not?"
"It does have that quality," Eamon agreed and nodded to T'Lada. "Welcome aboard Lieutenant." The gold skinned, bronze Trill-like spotted, pointy eared Chief of Security smiled at the Vulcan.
Damion looked over to the new science chief and raised a brow. Something suddenly hit in him that made him snap at her. "I hope your not suggesting that the missing Intelligence Agents are hiding." He rose from his chair, slamming his hands against the table. "Because that would be a serious accusation!"
"Aren't they trained to hide if they are in danger?" Eamon asked hoping to take the direction of the conversation somewhere else.
"More to the point," T'Lada said, with a calm voice, "I would like to clarify myself, since our slightly intellectually stunted intelligence officer appears to have missed the larger picture. In no way, did I implicate our intelligence forces. I was stipulating that anyone could have hidden anything within such an environment. Following a different chain of thought, I do not believe you are privy to every minute detail that Starfleet Intelligence is privy to, so it may, very well be, something Starfleet Intel related, but all of this is besides the point I am attempting to make, Lieutenant Intelligence man who seems far too brash for his duty-post. As Chief Science Officer, it is my job to digest the scientific data provided to me, very similar to your position. I do not, however have to make wild accusations, as the data in my field will speak for itself. I meant precisely what I said. This planet's environmental factors make it difficult to detect anything that may be hidden there in plain sight. I made no reference to either Starfleet Intelligence, nor any other opposing intelligence force, such as the Tal Shiar, or numerous other Intelligence task forces. I made no accusation, I simply stated the facts. Your outburst was unnecessary, and exceedingly unwelcome, in a professional environment. Admittedly, this is my first staff briefing, however, I have always been led to believe that the communication of information, between departments, in such a forum as this, is just such a professional environment. I do believe you owe myself, and the other members of this briefing an apology." She finished, without raising her tone of voice, or changing her facial expression. She appeared serene, and calm, and utterly Vulcan. Without changing her tone of voice, she nodded to Eamon. "Apologies for not accepting, and returning your social constructs, post haste, however I do not place them above duty-related information. Greetings, and salutations, Lieutenant. I believe the appropriate, if profession-unlikely phrase is 'peace, and long life'."
(To be continued...)
Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer
Captain Damon Raine
Executive Officer
Lieutenant Eamon Lynx
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
Lieutenant Damion Wolfe
Chief Intelligence Officer
Lieutenant T'Lada
Chief Science Officer
RSS Feed