What theories may come...

Posted on Thu Jun 2nd, 2011 @ 3:46pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Captain Bastion Castillo & Lieutenant Xishaal Idrani & Lieutenant Serran & Lieutenant JG Tristan Harrington & Lieutenant JG Toshie Minamoto & 1st Lieutenant Lukas DeVries

Mission: Shore Leave 2; Picking Up the Pieces
Location: Conference Room, Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: Following 'Trouble in our own backyard... '

Upon his return to the Arizona, Commodore Nathan Cowell decided it was high time he got the senior staff together, both old and new, to hash out the details of the rather detail devoid mission he'd been handed down. Nathan had also taken the liberty of calling upon their resident Section 31 refugee, given that the old man had a hunch that he might have some inkling as to what might be going on behind the scenes. As with almost every meeting Nathan had called since taking command of the Prometheus-class vessel, Nathan was at the head of the table prior to the crew being able to report. It wasn't that Nathan was incredibly fast or the crew overly slow, the old man simply called the staff while within the confines of the Conference Room, thereby guaranteeing his arrival would be the first.

The Commodore leaned back in his chair as he waited for the first of the crew to arrive, looking out into the rather sparse docking bay that the Arizona was currently berthed in. Starbase 900 was a major stopping point, but the repair berthing didn't see nearly as much traffic as other stations. It wasn't a matter of the Delta Quadrant being overly safe, it was more a matter of the limited resources the Federation was willing to divert to the area given how little they still understood about the area surrounding the Task Force's headquarters. It was a boon in that it freed up the engineering staff of the station to assist in repair operations, but a bane in that their understanding of the area surrounding Starbase 900 was slow to expand. Nathan chuckled at the notion that the entire venture was a two-edged sword that he and his crew would likely have to balance upon more than they would have liked...

Hearing the summons, Ensign Marcus Schenk checked his appearance and uniform and left his office after getting his PADD, securing it behind him. Heading to the turbolift, he rode to the bridge and headed for the Conference room. It was his first conference as a member of the senior staff and he didn't know how the other higher ranked staff would take that a mere Ensign was in charge of a department. Tapping the console, he waited for the chirp to announce his arrival, then walked in.

Seeing that he was the first person to arrive other than the Commodore, he gave the ultimate senior officer a respectful nod. "Commodore."

"Shrek," Nathan remarked as he watched the youngest of his senior staff take a seat. Granted, Nathan knew the boy's name now, but it just didn't seem right not using his nickname, since he'd gone to all the trouble of coming up with one for him.

A few moments later, Lieutenant Xishaal appeared in the doorway as it slid open. ducking her head slightly as she entered, her antennae began to reorient themselves as she stepped inside the room "...Commodore Cowell," she announced with a nod of her head, clutched to her chest was a PADD that she transferred to her left hand as she proceeded to pull a chair out before sitting down. Turning her head to the young Ensign also seated at the table she wondered where she had seen the man before "...Forgive me, I do not believe we have met..." she asked.

Marc twitched at getting called 'Shrek', but he acknowledged that whatever the Commodore decided to call people, that was their official name in his mind. Turning his head as the woman came in, he nodded at her. "Ensign Marc Schenk. I'm the Acting Chief of Intelligence."

Her eyes brightened at the pronunciation of his name and smiled openly "...ooohh..Shh-ehn-Keh" Xishaal cooed softly"..... such an interesting surname for a human! More common on my world!.." The Andorian woman leaned forward to look closer at the Ensign "...hmm...., no you're a pink skin through and through...too bad though.." She shrugged her shoulders "..blue would be such a better color on you than pink." she added with a slight wink to the El-Aurian.

Shorty after that LTJG Minamoto stepped through the doorway of the conference room. The young engineer had a frazzled look about her right now, seemingly not having gotten a chance to rest since she came on board, or even change her uniform since she was in Engineering last time, crawling through the bowels of the ship. In her hand was a PADD and she was going over it even as she walked. Pausing for a moment, she looked around the room and noted who was here, the only familiar face being the Commodore's since she had been stuck working to get the ship ready to go again.

Toshie moves to the nearest chair, about halfway down on side of the table, and nods to the Andorian and the other human as she sits, placing the PADD on the table in front of her.

Nathan took notice of the Engineer's arrival and decided to ask her before the majority of his staff got there so he'd at least have some manner of time table in mind before the meeting got started.

"Ms Minamoto, how are we looking as far as the repairs are concerned? Are we going to need a few more days to get road worthy or have we gotten past the docking dependence now?" the Commodore asked.

Toshie looked up at the Commodore, not expecting to be called on that quickly. She reached for her PADD before answering him. "Unfortunately a few more days, Sir. Right now we have the lower port and starboard warp conduits torn out and we're installing new ones, which are currently covering a good chunk of the hangar floor. Shield generators are being installed too. We're still trying to pick up the pieces down there, nearly every system has to be gone over with a fine-toothed comb." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, gathering in a loose ponytail. "Once we get the lower nacelles back up and running and get the majority of the upper ones installed, I can give you at least warp 4.5, maybe 5 and we can complete the refit while underway. My teams are working double-shifts down there, Sir, but we'll get it done."

"How long until we can make a run to the other side of the solar system?" Nathan pressed her.

Toshie leaned back in her seat for a moment as she considered. "Give my teams and I twelve hours to get the lower nacelles running and we can. As is, we can limp at low-warp on the saucer nacelle, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"I can live with twelve hours..." the old man said as he sank back in his chair for a moment, "You've got twenty-four, do what you can in that time and we'll just live with it while you finish the job up."

"Thanks you, Sir. She'll be ready to go by then at the latest." Toshie typed something on her PADD, sending orders to her engineering teams. "The Starbase personnel have been very helpful so far. We wouldn't have been able to get where we are right now without them." She looked at her PADD for a moment, "One other thing, we might have some brief power flickers and problems while we reinitialize the lower section computer core, but those shouldn't be a problem, Sir."

"Hazards of the job, I suppose..." Nathan shrugged it off, "But thanks for the warning."

Toshie nodded to the Commodore and picked up her PADD again, sitting back in her chair and going over up to the minute updates from her teams while she waited for the briefing to begin.

Bastion arrived at this point a look of mild discontent on his face and took his seat, "Good day Commodore." Bastion said

Soon after Captain Bastion had arrived at the conference room Lieutenant Serran stepped in, hearing the Strategic Operations Officer greet Commodore Cowell. The doctor waited until the pleasantries, such as they could be called pleasant in any sense of the word where the Commodore was involved, had passed between the two officers before he himself took a seat and greeted the ship's commander.

"Commodore," Serran bowed his head in Cowell's direction before looking around the table at some of the old and new faces.

Tristan slipped past an engineering crew diligently working on a series of relays strewn across the corridor. He'd been waiting patiently at starbase 900 for the Arizona for the past week and when she finally arrived the image that filled the viewing port in the berthing dock was vastly different then what he'd been imagining. The sleek elegant lines of a Prometheus class starship had been violated by dozens of pockets of damage. It had looked like the Arizona had just spent a tour in hell.

His new quarters hadn't fared much better. In fact he'd only been allowed entry into that particular section of the ship an hour before the senior staff meeting had been announced.

Finally arriving to the entry of the conference room he straightened his uniform one last time, arranged his face with its most confident look and strode with purpose through the door. Inside a number of officers - all of whom he did not know - had already gathered. Most were in deep concentration looking over their reports one last time before the meeting began. He spotted a seat near the end of the long table and quietly slipped into it. Looking up he saw that the Commodore had taken notice of his arrival. Tristan gave him a curt nod. "Sir."

Nathan wasn't entirely sure who the newcomer was, but most likely given the red uniform, Starfleet had decided to give them a New Flight Control Chief rather than let Ensign Akron take over. 'Just as well,' the Commodore mused silently, 'Paul probably needs a little more experience anyway.' Doc Cowell nodded to the man and did an inventory in his head of who was left. The three Marines, one his First Officer, one his Security Chief, and the other a stowaway of sorts, had yet to arrive. Everyone else was accounted for, which was rather odd given the normal punctuality of Marines over the general slothfulness of most Fleet officers. 'Just one of those Arizona oddities...' Nathan lamented privately.

Toshie looked up from her PADD, taking in the new officers who had entered the room, the crew she would be working with. It always sucked not knowing anyone at a conference table, but she would manage. Get through the meeting, get back down to the engine room and try to finish piecing the ship back together.

The young Intel Ensign watched the others coming into the room, still trying to figure out the blue skinned woman's comment. Perhaps she thought he would make an attractive member of her species; he couldn't say. Other than the Commodore, he knew no one in the room and he knew that it would make things a little difficult on him. Picking up his PADD, he scanned the crew manifest and attempted to match faces to names while he waited for the meeting to commence.

Once the majority of the Senior Staff had arrived, baring Colonel and Lieutenant DeVries, who Nathan had a bad feeling would be delayed for some reason or another... as well as the ship's new First Officer whom Nathan had only met briefly, the Commodore decided it was time to start things off.

"Thanks everyone for showing up in good time. I think with only one exception, I know everyone, so let's not waste time with introductions. About a half hour ago, I was in a meeting with our Task Force head, who handed me a mission that makes me extremely weary. As most of you don't know, this system we're in belongs to a group who call themselves the Archadian Confederacy. We built this here Starbase on their property with their blessing because they wanted our protection and support. That was back in '84. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, the Archadians cut off all contact with us. Why is this a problem we have to solve? Well... much to my dismay, I'm second to the big cheese in this area... in fact, if it weren't for him, I'd be the highest ranking Starfleet officer in the Delta Quadrant... which means I have to play diplomat..." Nathan grumbled, "So, even though we're only shlepping over to the other side of the solar system, this is a big deal. Right now, I need some theories, thoughts, anything you might throw out there as to what could be the reason for this sudden silence. Oh, and natural disasters have been ruled out already, so don't bother."

Before anyone had a chance to throw out there idea's Tristan cleared his throat and sat forward in his chair. Like the Commodore had said, time for introductions later. "If I may sir. I had time to go over alot of reading about this area on the trip in. The Archadians are a people split between to major casts. The 'haves' and 'have nots'. Its a sitiuation ripe for civil unrest."

Turning his gaze from the head of the table he swept his eyes over the rest gathered at the table so not to make it look as though he was trying to exclude them. "Perhaps the sudden communications loss could be the result of revolution or...civil war?"

Ensign Schenk sat at the table, listening to the other officers offer their opinions and theories as to what may have happened to the Archadians. Something didn't match; if it was a civil war, there still would not explain why all communication would have been cut. He looked at his PADD and the data that he had access to of The Jathlin Arm where the Archadian system was. There were a number of planets and species that were known in the small area that the Federation had explored. Going down the list one by one, he began to eliminate the ones that would not benefit by doing this. The more he looked into it, the more worried he became that it was no one that the Federation had any time of alliance with. Swallowing, he looked at the Commodore and waited for his turn to speak.

"Commodore, I believe that the cease of all communications is not due to a conflict between the casts of Archadia. They are a protectorate of the Federation and would have called upon our aid. I also believe that if it were the Borg that they would have made our presence known openly. My suggestion is that we send in a probe to see if we can detect any energy signatures or other data that we can use for analysis."

"Pink skin, I believe your theory although a decent starting point, needs someone whose specialty is politics and diplomacy to help support it..." Xishaal replied to the as yet unknown officer, "Shh-Ehn-Ke presents a good option to find out about what external forces could be at work Commodore. These Archadians, their placement is of vital tactical significance to the Federation and to anyone else looking to gain access to the Alpha Quadrant or to the Delta Quadrant yes?" She replied. "Caste systems tend to be hard to overcome and barring some ecological catastrophe, the so called, leadership caste is even harder to uproot! Look to your own history for proof of this..." Xishaal added.

Ensign Schenk glared at the woman, "In case you forgot, Blue Skin, my name - as I introduced myself to you earlier, is Ensign Marcus Schenk. Politics and diplomacy have nothing to do with an exploratory probe. What I am suggesting is actually finding out something more than sitting here tossing out theories and insults."

"But of course you did Ensign... Your point was well understood, sending a probe is a good idea isn't it? Or did you actually suggest that there may be political forces that are the cause of whatever reason why all communication was lost?" Xishaal smiled at the young man. "...not too worry, I understand your frustration, however, having a diplomatic officer with a better understanding of the local historical context and not whatever is written in a general survey report has everything to do with finding out what the problems are.."

Xishaal, not upset by being referred to as a blue skin simply smiled at the Ensign and in turn, focused her attention to the unknown officer who had suggested that political unrest within the group to be the culprit. "Now then, in your reading, was there any mention of contacts with other aliens? I ask because perhaps there is something to you mentioning their reason for wanting protection..."

Nathan interrupted the flow of the meeting suddenly with a slam of his hand against the table, "Alright, time out..."

The forcefulness of the man's actions startled pretty much everyone but the Vulcan, though his eyebrow did twitch a bit at the sound. When the room was sufficiently silent, the Commodore spoke again.

"I don't mind you people being liberal with your ideas, but I'm not going to have this meeting turn into a kindergarten playground. If you want to throw insults and what have you, get the fuck out. If you want to exchange ideas, sit the hell down and stop acting like children," the old man grumbled forcefully, "I swear... Every damn boat I command, I get one or two of you kids that just can't get along... I'm going to start breaking out the damn paddle and whippin' up on some asses. Might do some of you some damn good! Now is everyone clear on what's expected?"

The bobbing of heads was all Nathan really cared to see, and when he saw it, he changed the subject, "Now then, getting back to the subject, Lieutenant Harrington has a point. The most logical reason for them suddenly cutting off ties is some manner of political unrest, and I'm glad he brought it up. If anyone, whether they be ally or enemy, wanted to take advantage of this situation, the Archadians would be the first and best place to start. Despite them not being the most advanced critters out here, they own this turf, and short of a hostile take over, what they say goes. If they say we need to leave, the Federation and their liberal politicians are going to cry bloody murder until we're out of the system. We lose this foothold, we can kiss the Delta Quadrant goodbye."

Nathan rose from his chair and started to walk around the room behind each of the officers, "Let's boil this down to the bone, shall we? Regardless of who's doing what, we're in deep shit if we don't make it right. If they need help, we have to give it. If they are being manipulated, we need to fix that shit quick, fast, and in a hurry. If there is unrest, we need to stamp it out. Do you see the theme here, people? No matter what we're up against, we have to handle business. That is what this crew is known for, that is our calling card, and that's what is expected of us. I give less than a shit who has what theories... You could all be wrong, you could all be right... That doesn't mean a damn if we don't plan for everything!"

Nathan stopped behind Lieutenant Harrington, "Now, if we were to explore your suggestion, what would you suggest be a good starting point for us to plan our courses of action?"

Looking to Ensign Shenk first, Xishaal responded "...Ensigns Shh-ehn-kis's plan of sending a probe a head of the Arizona and perhaps a shuttle with an..observation team to get a feel of the situation on the ground and possibly make contact with the local government would be preferable. The probe would let us know if there are any hostile forces in system and a team on the ground could make contact..."

"My apologies, Commodore," Ensign Schenk said, directing his attention to the Old Man, "I do agree with the Lieutenant on the possibility of a civil war. I also agree that we need to get someone in that area and on the ground to see exactly what is going on." He picked up his PADD and once more began to go over the list of likely suspects that the Delta Quadrant had to offer.

"It could also expose us to high risk. If the team or the shuttle get caught, or the probe backtracked to us we'd find ourselves in not such a nice position," Bastion said.

Nathan chuckled at the zealousness of his crew, "All of which are good points I suppose..."

The Commodore made for his chair and sank back down, "But what we need is solutions now. We could talk this problem until we're all blue in the face... with one exception... But we're never going to get anywhere if we don't think of what we can do to correct what might be wrong."

"...is it agreed then that we are in the business of putting ourselves in harms way from time to time? Yes? Then with a lack of information, we can understand that sensors will only tell us so much information, personnel on the ground, whatever the situation is, will give us that information we need to assess our next course of action.." Xishaal replied matter of factly "...I move for putting a team on the ground! Waiting gives us nothing and we risk loosing much.."

Toshie quietly listened as the others argued, then the Commodore interrupted them. She leaned forward on the table and sighed, "The replacement parts and repair work on the ship hasn't been tested yet, so I can't give you any guarantees how she'll fare in combat if it comes to that. It will also be a few days until we get the upper nacelles running, so I wouldn't plan on going to warp with the ship separated. However, we're fully operational with probes and shuttles if need be, or will be by the time we leave dock. As for the mission, we can have a runabout prepped for a team or, if we really want to make an entrance, we can always land the lower section of the ship with the other two in orbit while we finish refitting."

Xishaal listened thoughtfully to the Engineers comments before speaking up. "The ship isn't ready for combat, we won't be able to go to warp for a few days still and yet an option would be to land a portion of the ship on a possible combat zone?" Xishaal asked "...The shuttles were ready, long before I left Flight Control. It would appear that given our current capabilities, sending a team in advance of the Arizona is our best option at present....Commodore?"

Though the staff had picked up and rolled with his initial 'shot in the dark' he had no with to interrupt them. To be honest his time studying on his trip here was spent in operational PADD's about the Prometheus Class starship, the information about the Archadians had been a last minute read.

As the conversation turned to putting feet on the ground. "If that's the course we do take sir I have more then enough experience piloting in combat situations...if that's what we are ultimately looking at. Also to add to our Andorian colleague's comment, I believe she may be half right. A civil war on the scale that could cut off a planetary governments communications so abruptly simply doesn't happen on a whim. It would have had to of been outside forces that pushed it so fast."

Ensign Schenk looked up after a few more minutes of studying the information on his PADD. "At this point, Commodore, it could be anyone and sitting here speculating doesn't seem to be doing much. The ship isn't ready for combat and the Chief Engineer seems to think it's going to take a few more days to get up to warp. I'd like to suggest a covert mission in, and I volunteer myself and my department to do that job. We have to know what is going on, Sir."

Toshie rubbed at the bridge of her nose for a moment, "Twelve hours and we can proceed at warp, just twelve hours. The lower nacelles are almost up and running. My teams are laying the last of the replacement plasma conduits in the pylons now then we just need to perform calibrations and systems checks. The upper nacelles are still down, but we can run the ship on two just fine." She leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table, "Weapons systems are up and running, shields will be soon. We had to focus on getting warp drive operational." Her head turned to the Commodore, "The ship will be ready when you need her, Sir."

Nathan nodded to the Engineer and sank back in his chair, giving himself a moment to formulate some semblance of a plan of action. He knew there would be risks involved no matter what he decided to do. There were as many unknown variables as there were stars in the sky at the moment, not exactly favorable odds when one considered the sensitivity of the situation. All in all, there was no perfect way to handle the situation, so Nathan rested on the one solution that fit the majority of his needs at the moment.

"Alright, here's what I want and how I want it. Mr. Harrington, I need you and Miss Idrani to get the two runabouts we have aboard prepped and ready to go. Shouldn't take more than a few hours, yes?" the Commodore began, giving both officers equal attention before moving on, "Mr. Serran, I either need a volunteer from your section, or you yourself, on the away mission as well, just in case. Never know what might get tossed at us. Plus a level head never hurt anyone. Mr. Schenk, I want you and Halsey on the mission as well... can't have everyone preoccupied with sucking up to the locals, never get any good dirt that way. Ms. Minamoto, continue with the repairs, and report to the First Officer when they're complete. Since the Marines didn't bother to show, I'll need someone to get with security or our new Marine detachment and secure me an escort squad."

"You sir?" Ens. Schenk piped up inquisitively.

"Yes, me... Someone has to schmooze the locals, might as well be me," Nathan replied flatly.

"Sir, I believe that wouldn't be overly wise, we don't know what's going on down there and putting yourself in that kind of danger would..." the Ensign began before he took notice of the glare he was being given. It was enough to silence him and cause him to sink back in his seat just a bit.

"You done?" the Commodore grumbled.

Ens. Schenk simply nodded and Nathan returned to the matter at hand, "Anyone else who wants to go needs to have their ass on one of the shuttles no later than five minutes before launch... which I figure we'll say is two hours from now. Everyone good with that? Yes? Good, now go make this shit happen."

With that, the Commodore stood and made his exit, not waiting for anyone else to get up before him...