A Briefing to Forget

Posted on Mon Jun 10th, 2019 @ 12:45am by Captain Kelly O'Connor & Lieutenant Commander Magnus Grey & Lieutenant Iona Vrell & Lieutenant Raine MacLeod & Lieutenant Shri Thais & Lieutenant JG Brian Pendragon & Lieutenant JG Liliane Olivier

1,967 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 7 - Aenerth for an Earth
Location: Meeting Room
Timeline: 2296/02/17 - 1030

America launched with her new crew. One of the more amusing sites on the bridge, though nobody dared laugh at O'Connor was that she had to hop into the chair to sit in it. Her feet did not touch the floor. She gave the orders to depart from the Starbase and they did so. O'Connor seemed bored and unenthusiastic about returning to space. Perhaps the only person that understood the reason was Commander Grey, but she did not mention anything to him and he said nothing.

Once they had left and entered a cruising speed of Warp 5, O'Connor called out on the comm, =^= All senior staff, please meet me in the meeting room for a briefing on our mission. =^=

When Thorvaar heard the command in Engineering, he turned to Pendragon and said, "Go on. You know that the Captain likes you best. You go to the briefing. She'll excuse me."

"Wait, what? Me? But it's for senior staff. I'm just..." but it was too late, Thorvaar had already strode away. Brian sighed, folding up on himself then locked his workstation and headed for the meeting room.

In the meantime, O'Connor scooched herself to the end of the Captain's chair and pushed herself off with a small bounce. She headed to the meeting room and waited for her crew to arrive.

Glancing up from the science station on the bridge, Shri did wonder what was going on with the briefing. Granted, they did have a mission to go over anyways, right? Nodding to her replacement, she followed O'Connor to the meeting room.

Magnus had been in his office, reviewing crew work schedules when he heard the Captain’s call. He turned off his computer and pushed away from his desk. A moment later, he found himself in the briefing room. He nodded to the Captain and gave Shri a warm smile.

Liliane slid out of her seat at the helm as an ensign replaced her. With a bounce in her step that betrayed the general enthusiasm of her personality and a smile on her face to match, she followed the other officers into the meeting room. She took a seat near the end but after only a couple of minutes, her right leg began to shake and she crossed it over her left in an attempt to keep it still.

Raine waited for her replacement to arrive before joining the rest of the senior staff in the Briefing Room. The likelihood of something happening was remote but she wasn't one to take chances with the safety of the ship and its crew. Especially not so she'd be the first in the room rather than near the last. When he arrived, promptly enough to indicate that he'd double-timed it, she nodded her approval; she turned her station over quickly because really, nothing had happened that was worth noting. She headed into the briefing room and circled the table to find a spot that gave her a view of the room and the door, the only entry point. Not as good as standing to one side, within protective reach of the Captain and the First Officer, but it would have to do. She waited, along with the rest of the senior staff, for the captain to speak her mind and spent her time idly constructing defense and attack scenarios. Most were improbable but one or two might be interesting to use as a training exercise.

With a groan, Iona had pushed herself out of her office and toward the meeting room. She hated meetings. Though, she was sure it would be anything but dull with O'Connor, but still, she hated meetings. A few minutes after the call to meet, she stepped through the doors of the meeting room and nodded to everyone already there. Taking a seat near the door, she smiled at Magnus and Shri.

As Brian approached the meeting room, he had to swerve to avoid a passing Tellarite crewman and overbalanced, resulting in him entering the meeting room barely preventing himself from falling in face first. He steadied himself, blushing furiously and collapsed into the nearest available seat.

Without fanfare or introduction, O'Connor started. "Our newest mission is apparently straightforward and simple. We're going to investigate a planet that is seeking admission to the Federation." O'Connor pointedly looked at Pendragon for his reaction.

Brian blinked, wondering why on earth that seemed to be aimed at him, unless it was the last time, when... yeah... that... Still, it wasn't like he'd be picked for the diplomatic team again. Ever.

"Unless any of you know a Vulcan/Romulan/Betazoid hybrid that is the subject of mind control, this should be a relatively straight forward mission," she told the group while staring at Brian meaningfully. "The planet is called Aenerth and the people Aenerthans. They cracked the warp barrier about 50 years ago and as far as we can tell, look mostly like us. Their ears are ridged and they are slightly stockier than us due to a 1.1G environment compared to Earth, but otherwise, there appears to be nothing spectacular about them or this mission. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Well, I sure hope they know how to party," Liliane said and swiveled slightly back and forth in her chair. She paused in her movement, realizing she had spoken her thoughts out loud. "I mean no, Captain. It's all perfectly clear," she added quickly. She glanced down to the end of the table. "I do want to ask what exactly are we going to be doing?"

Shri listened to the information, having done only a little research on Aenerth, but now knew she had to do quite a bit more before they got there. "No questions here, Captain."

O'Connor answered Liliane, "We're going to be polite snoops, in short, Lieutenant Olivier. Find people from the planet. Meet with them. Talk to them. Get to know them and their culture and report back. Of course, we will have expected meetings with the officials but they will not show us anything that we want to see, I suspect."

Liliane grinned. "Sounds like a party to me," she quipped. She spun in her chair to face the Captain, "Don't worry, I'll behave."

"Um... if I may?" Brian cautiously raised a hand, then remember he wasn't at school. "Do we have any information on their customs and traditions? Things the team will need to know to avoid doing if they don't want to end up arrested... or married... or worse...?"

Magnus couldn’t help but smile at the young engineer. “That will be my job, Mr. Pendragon. I have all relevant information on laws, customs, and traditions. All part of Aenerth’s Federation membership application. Communications department will be synthesizing this information down into an easy-to-read briefing note.” He looked over to Raine. “Ms. MacLeod, I’ll want your help with some of that.” He then grinned at the Captain. “And someone will need to share this Vulcan/Romulan/Betazoid story with me.”

"I agree with Commander Grey, I would like to hear this Vulcan/Romulan/Betazoid story as well," Iona said with a grin. "And do we have any information on their medical facilities and advancements? I'd like to go over it before we get there to make sure we're not bringing any mild-to-us germs that could prove deadly to these people."

"Aye, Sir," Raine said. Briefing memos weren't a particular strong point for her but getting access to the original information was worth the effort. She could appreciate the idea of being a polite snoop and that, at least, was something she could do well. Always better doing than writing about it.

O'Connor spoke again, "As far as I am aware, they are not as technologically advanced as we are. Their medical facilities are not likely to be much help to you, Vrell, but take a look anyways. Everything seems to indicate, though, that they immune systems and microbiological and viral natives are similarly related. Prior contacts have not reported any issues. As to the Vulcan/Romulan/Betazoid, I will leave that to Mr. Pendragon to tell if he desires. Though, I suspect that he does not wish to remember it anymore than I do."

She then looked at Pendragon and seriously asked, "Worse than being married? Honestly, you're getting more cynical than I now, Pendragon."

"I can think of a lot of things worse than getting married..." Brian replied, trying not to shudder at the thought of the previous cultural contact missions he had been on to date. Between honest misunderstandings, mind control and subsequent consent issues he'd not been back on duty long since finishing his counselling sessions to the satisfaction of the then CMO, but he still wasn't keen on airing his... experiences... unless it was really necessary.

"Any other questions?" O'Connor asked her crew.

"None from me," Iona shook her head. This would be an interesting encounter. There would be a lot of investigation on her part to see just how medically advanced they were. As thoughts ran through her head, she sat back and waited for everyone else to either ask their questions or state their lack of, so the meeting could come to an end sooner.

"No, Captain," Raine answered. Wasn't much more that she could say at this point. Whole lot of unknowns but that's what made it all interesting. Finding the answers rather than getting them handed to her.

Shri shook her head, "Nothing at all from me."

"No questions," Brian confirmed, grimly.

Liliane glanced down at all the faces before she too shrugged. "I guess not from me either," she said. It was a lie, she most definitely had questions. And not in direction relation to the mission, but she'd figure out something.

Magnus shook his head, as he had no questions. “Olivier, when you get back to your station, check our course and speed and report on the time to Aenerth. Thais, retrieve library information on Aenerth and send it to my department. MacLeod, you’re with me. Pendragon, don’t think you’ve gotten out of sharing this story with me sometime.”

The moment that Magnus started issuing orders, O'Connor furrowed her brows. Brian had seen that look before. O'Connor would wait, but she was going to erupt. Curtly, O'Connor replied, "You're all dismissed except for you, Mr. Grey." Her tone darkened on the word, "Mister," having purposely omitted Magnus' rank.

Iona caught the look and dropping of rank. She knew when to get the hell out of Dodge, so she stood and nodded her goodbyes to everyone. One final look at Magnus and then O'Connor and Iona practically scurried out the door. 'Whatever's going on, not going to be pretty,' she thought as she headed for the lift.

"I'll be on the Bridge," Raine said and exited the room. The tension in the room didn't bother her particularly. For one, it wasn't directed at her and for another, she didn't get the sense that the situation required intervention on her part. And too, she'd be on the Bridge where she'd be close enough to respond quickly if their proved to be need. She walked up to her station and motioned for the officer there to remain in place.

Brian didn't fancy staying for the firework display, even though it would probably be popcorn-worthy. He addressed Magnus, "I and the others involved all filed mission reports, sir. If you have any questions after you have reviewed those, by all means let me know... Ma'am..." he knodded to O'Connor and beat a swift retreat, hoping the XO could glean all he wanted without Brian actually having to explain it in detail...

O'Connor watched as her crew chiefs and Brian departed. Now, she could happily unload upon the Executive Officer.

 

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