72 Round Table
Posted on Sat May 8th, 2021 @ 5:11am by Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant Serra V'lon & Cornelius Warner MS
Edited on on Sat May 8th, 2021 @ 5:11am
3,047 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
What Lies Ahead, Between, and Behind
Location: USS Arcadia Conference Room / Captain's Office
Taking a deep breath, David walked into his senior conference room, which was larger than the previous starship he was on. The Odyssey class was shiny and much more advanced. With that came the holographic technology that was on each and every deck, specifically this room, medical bay, engineering, and his ready room. They were specifically connected through dedicated processors, which were connected to the subspace communication arrays. That being said, it allowed the chance to have meetings in a holographic manner. So when Admiral Minawara called a meeting of the command staff in the sector made up of his task force, David went ahead and placed the Arcadia as the perfect location for their meeting.
It didn't take long before the Odyssey class had dropped out of slipstream in deep space, almost in the middle of the active ships and colonies, allowing for low latency, for the best results. Moving to the long oak table, he tapped a couple commands into the holographic readout to confirm the deep space array was active and ready when the other commanding officers and their executive officers joined as well, leaving it up to their leaders.
Haumea's holographic station buzzed to life, with the sight of a giant, fluffy white and black malamute as opposed to the commanding officer of the aforementioned colony. "Who's that?" The large dog spun his head toward the left, and his form disappeared from holographic view. It was soon replaced with the dark-haired mess of a captain, Luka Mahone. "Apologies, sir. Lugh enjoys saying hello."
"It's all good," Hawkins replied as he picked up his mug of coffee from the table and took a sip of it. "I have a pet as well. But he is more protective than friendly. Kind of trained that way."
The holographic image of the tall, bald captain of the Athena appeared in place just seconds after Luka. Taking a moment to adjust to the surroundings, he offered a nod at the other two captains already there. "Good morning. Captain Kane, USS Athena. I don't think we've met. You must be Captain Hawkins?"
"I am," David replied as he nodded to the man out of respect as he tried to remember all the commanders that he hadn't met yet in the task force. "I have heard a little about you. From what I have gathered, you command and conquer the battlefield very well. From a Marine standpoint, I respect your skills both as a fighter and commander. Plus, that ship may be smaller than the past couple ships I have commanded, but it ain't a weak one, that is for sure."
Another shimmer appeared in the conference room, much larger than the others, and the massive form of an Orion male with a shaved head appeared. He wore a very loud tropical shirt, however, and a pair of sunglasses pushed up on his shaved head, rather than a Starfleet uniform.
“Apologies,” Captain Tan’ato Tejera rumbled in his bass voice as he looked around. “Still wrapping things up here on Risa.”
"Size isn't everything," Kane responded to David, smirking a little as the massive Orion shimmered into being next to him. "Captain Tejera. Good to see you again. Hopefully we won't have to deal with murderous androids this time, hmm?"
“Better than Rowa’ni terrorists while on R&R,” the big Orion said with a sigh, sipping some umbrella drink.
"Murderous androids... sounds fun," David smirked as he looked over at his XO. She had her years behind her, but she seemed a little distant in ways. He made a mental note to make sure to have a weekly walk through the Arcadia with her and get to know her even more.
Ajani was in her own conference room. It had been designed that everything in it was holographic, so she had ordered the computer to load in the Arcadia's room. The room resolved around her, as did those captains who had beaten her there. She knew a few from her entry interview when she joined Task Force 72 upon gaining command of the Eagle. Of course she knew the TFXO. Taking a step forward to her chair of choice, she reached up to push a stray lock of hair out from her eye and realized that she hadn't changed since the battle. They had taken so much damage that Ajani had been as hip deep in the repairs as her crew.
Carter looked down. Her jacket was open about half way, her sleeves rolled up, her hands and forearms were covered in streaks of soot, and she guessed so was her face. Well, she thought, bugger all I can do about it now. She took her seat with grace and not a hint of self-consciousness about her appearance.
"Commander Carter, I see you have been keeping busy. It's good to see you again, even if it's in a holo-communication," David admitted as he stood behind his seat.
The last shimmer took place as the sound of boots on deck came through the holographic projections, and the form of Rear Admiral Minawara came into being. He fidgeted with the cuff of his uniform, pulling the coat taut. Coming to rest at the head of the table, he offered a smile. His eyes glanced about, some faces he knew well, others he was still yet to get to know. "Hello, everyone. I wanted to thank you for taking some time out of your busy days and vacations," he said, nodding to Captain Tejera. "Captain Hawkins and I were hoping to get a chance to get everyone on the same page, to discuss what challenges are about, and to make sure that any complications are dealt with." He sat down himself finally, the holospace aboard the Vesta forming the chair for him to get comfortable. "It will also let me know if I need to reallocate any resources, or clear docktime at Esquimalt for you to use. But I'll let David start with that."
Nodding to their supervisor, David looked around the table at the supervision and took in a deep breath before taking his own seat. Looking over the data before him, he had already started working down the list of those he had visited in person with the Arcadia "I know most of you do not know me, which is fine. It happens, as we are all quite busy. I have been reassigned from the Gladiator to the Arcadia as her new commanding officer.
"While my crew and I continue to get used to her, we have started making our rounds in the sector to assist those in our task force, as we know Esquimalt can be a way out of normal travel. So you can see Arcadia, for the time being, a ship that can assist with resupplying or topping you and your ship’s supplies off in the field. At the same time, it is giving me the chance to meet you all in person, if time allows. So with that being said, as the admiral has stated, it will assist in making sure he is able to reallocate any resources in your way to make sure you are all taken care of if needed. That being said, we will go around the room with a quick mission status report, and if you need a quick top off by the us in the field, or if you need some more deep extensive repair and supply work," Captain Hawkins ended off as he looked back at his list. "We can start with the Eagle, Commander Carter?"
Ajani nodded. She pulled a tablet out of a pocket and set it upon the table. "For the last week we have been hunting pirates in Cardassian space." She threw up a holo screen showing their actions. "Last night we finished off the last of them, The Devil's Brew, and the Potomac has taken our prisoners to Esquimalt station for processing." She sighed a little. "We also discovered their sponsor, well, a possible one, at any rate. We think it was a Pact effort to undermine our efforts with the Cardassians." She hesitated.
“The Cardassians give you any trouble?” Tan’ato asked. “They’re tetchy about Starfleet in their space. Were these Orion pirates, or unaffiliated with the Syndicate?” He’d grown up under a Syndicate pirate queen, so he knew how tough they could be.
Carter shrugged. "No trouble, no help either." She cocked her head. "Well, nothing official, at any rate." She took his appearance in her stride. "And the evidence doesn't point towards the Syndicate. I think this was possibly an isolated situation. We uncovered evidence that a Romulan admiral was assassinated, and this was used as the basis of a pay back situation."
"That sounds about in line for all parties involved," the admiral said as he listened and watched. "And Captain Tejera, how about you? How has the Nightingale been getting on?"
“We’re finishing up our interrupted R&R on Risa. Unfortunately my staff aren’t going to get their continuing education credits since the medical conference was interrupted by the Rowa’ni terrorist attack, but we managed to spoil their plans.” Tan’ato sipped his umbrella drink. “We caught a few of the Black Orchids, but many got away in the jungles. It’s nearly impossible to find them there. We think we put back their bioweapon research significantly though. Once the report is done, I’ll send it in to Starfleet Intelligence. Now we’re waiting for a load of ryetelin to arrive and be loaded before we head off to Renewed Providence to treat an outbreak of Rigellian fever.”
Taking it in, Hawkins thought of the idea of a fully staffed medical ship out there on its own handling outbreaks and medical emergencies. He knew that there weren't that many of those specialty classes like the Nightingale, so they knew it took a special group of personnel to make that mission a reality for the people of the Federation. He took a mental note to try and have the Arcadia make a round in their way at some point in time. But for now, they had a list of items to check off. "Sounds like you have your hands full, even with a round of R&R at Risa. May need to make a stop by there at some point."
Tan’ato gave a wry smile. “You could say that,” he said, sipping his umbrella drink.
"Moving on to Captain Kane, how is the Athena and the brotherhood?" Hawkins asked as he took in hand his coffee mug. The steam was still rolling out of it, but not as intense. He took another sip from his warm liquid and relaxed a little bit while he listened to the bold man who was next in line.
Kane cleared his throat, leaning forward. "We're on course to the Iuvat system, ETA thirty-six hours." He paused, glancing around the faces. Some of them he knew well. Others not so much. "Some of you may already be aware of the loss with all hands of the USS Pico three weeks ago in the Badlands. Starfleet is actively seeking leads on a Breen fleet captain known as Sen Tekk, who seems to have taken matters into his own hands and has begun a campaign against Federation assets. My intelligence officer believes that he may have commandeered a former Dominion cloning facility near Rondac, which is where he is staging his attacks from." In his mind's eye he recalled the moments leading up to the loss of the Pico, and the vengeful Breen's message. "I'd encourage all of you to watch your backs out there."
David thought this through for a moment as he spoke up. "I thought that all the former Dominion cloning facilities were destroyed in accordance with the surrender agreement?" he asked as he pondered the idea of such threats still out there. He had seen the battles at the end of the war, which had truly changed what Starfleet and her core values for so long. Now it was a different, more evolved entity, but still tried to keep its mission statement intact.
"Well," Luka began, a hand on his dog's head to prevent a giant malamute face from appearing in the hologram again. "While I can't say we're having this much excitement, I can say the team keeps discovering little things by accident." He let out a nervous chuckle. "Though I will say our orbitals are well protected. Between the assignment of the Atala's team and the Marines from Falkirk, I feel like we're safe-guarded, at least from any stray threats that rumble toward us. Not that any have yet, but at least we're well-protected. We have more excitement on the ground. I guess we should have seen accidental discoveries coming, but I also didn't expect anyone to stumble on anything during a weapons demonstration. Some of the more harmless caverns have been scoured for anything unpredictable and cleared for a little civilian activity. That's about as exciting as it's been over here."
"Sounds almost relaxing," David remarked as he took a breath and looked around the holographic commanders. "As for the Arcadia, we have already started our rounds to the task force to assist where we can with resupplies and a helping hand where needed. I have also sent my executive officer and a team to Sucarro III to finalize the approval process of the Sucarians required for admission to the United Federation of Planets.
"If you have supplies or personnel you need transported to you from our home station, we will be making another round back to them here soon once we pick up our team from the Sucarian homeworld." The captain paused as he looked at his notes for a moment before sighing. "There was one other thing. We came upon the U.S.S. T'sul, and she had taken some damage. Their executive officer, along with my security officer, have started the investigation. All indications have pointed to a bomb, which has taken the life of a handful of crew members and civilian personnel. This isn't the first report we have gotten of a planted bomb or other types of attacks taking people's lives in the sector."
“Anyone claim responsibility?” Tan’ato asked.
David looked at the large Orion and shook his head. "Nothing at the moment. But I am hoping that the investigation answers some questions. So far, this was an inside job, and well planned out. Even Medical is having a hard time with their medical examination."
Rubbing at the stubble that he'd been ignoring, Yoshi nodded thoughtfully in regards to his second's comments. "Keep us posted. If someone is planting bombs on starships, I'd like to make sure we address that well. Keep your own sweeps just to be sure and--" he was cut off by something being said outside of the holoprojectors pick up, or at least outside of what the Rear Admiral had positioned them to hear. His eyes rolled, and he shook his head, before waving a dismissive hand to whoever was off visuals. "And like that the duty of a flag officer is never complete," he said, his tone a hair sour. "Captain Hawkins, I'll leave the rest of the meeting you, I have to go deal with an unexpected delegation on my doorstep." Pausing, he looked to the gathered personnel, and smiled briefly. "I won't get a chance to say this again for a while, I'm sure. I am proud to work with all of you, and my office is always open if you need to reach me, though I plan to spend as little time on this station as I can afford. So call the Vesta, I'm sure I'll be around. And one last thing," he said as he stood. "Take some time to relax, that goes double for medical ships that are supposed to be enjoying a pleasure planet. Until next time, captains," Minawara concluded before walking off screen to the left, his avatar fading from existence.
Hawkins gave a simple nod to the admiral. He knew the struggles of dealing with constant workload. And with the new ship that was now under his command, it was even more prevalent. Even though he wanted to take a moment to relax, his focus was back on his fellow commanders which were now all looking at him. Before speaking, he took a deep breath and let it out as he kept standing from the admiral's dismissal.
"All I have is if you can't get a hold of the Vesta, or she is further out than the Arcadia, we are just a call away. You are all more than capable commanders and fine crews. But experience has shown us all, don't be afraid of calling in backup or need a top off on supplies. Other than that, it is good to meet you all," David finished as he nodded all around. "Till next time."
“Good day, Commander,” Tan’ato said as a naked young blonde Human woman with slightly pointed ears and an excellent tan with no lines romped up from the beach behind Tan’ato, calling, “Captain!” Tan turned. “Petty Officer Ahlgren! I am on a conference holo!” He turned back to the others on the call as the young woman said, “Oops!” behind him.
“My apologies,” Tejera said. “I had best see what my yeoman needs.” He turned away, leaving the field of vision to the naked Petty Officer Hayden Ahlgren as she said, “Captain, I just wanted to ask, since I missed the Academy entrance exams because of the crisis, when I could next--” before his holocam closed down.
Luka's cheeks twinged with heat, but he chose to ignore what he just witnessed. "Ah- before I go, if you're all in the market for a good dog, Haumea is about to be home to an Earth arctic dog breeder. Just drop me a line. I'm sure we won't have any issue matching you with a good dog." He looked off camera, frowning. "... Current dogs non-withstanding. Apologies, I have to make sure this one doesn't slobber all over my next guest. We'll be in touch!" And the line to Haumea was shut down.
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