Unanticipated Change

Posted on Fri Jan 13th, 2012 @ 3:20pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Provisional Lieutenant Commander Narayn Ballard & Lieutenant Commander Aeitos th'Ralik [PNPC] & Lieutenant JG Michael Watters & Petty Officer 2nd Class Sophie Blaise

Mission: Deep Space 19
Location: USS Endeavour - Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD01 1100hrs

Benjamin sat at the head of the conference table and surveyed the people present. Most of his senior staff were present - Commanders Ballard and th'Ralik had beamed back over from the station, as had Lieutenant Scott, who though he wasn't a member of the senior staff as such, Benjamin considered to be senior enough and of enough authority within the engineering teams to warrant a presence in the room. Doctor Jerome was seated at the table, along with Lieutenants Watters and Stott. His yeoman Sophie was also there, standing just to the side of his own chair. Though she was the only non-commissioned officer in the room, he had come to rely on her organisational skills over the past couple of weeks, and knew that aside from keeping notes on this meeting, she was about to get as much more work as he was in the days to come.

The captain leant back in his chair, feeling it pivot under him as his body weight shifted. Bringing his hands together on his stomach in what was all-together a much more informal way of sitting, he addressed the officers he had brought together. "I have just received our new orders from Starfleet," he informed them. "All of our assignments have been formally transferred to the newly-classified Deep Space 19," he gestured at the station they had discovered out of the windows, "with orders to bring it to operational status as much as possible, in preparation for a more permanent garrison from Starfleet to occupy it." He fell quiet, waiting for the officers present to start asking him their questions about these relatively simple orders. He knew that many of them wouldn't particularly like the nature of the temporary reassignment, much as he didn't like it, and he wanted to hear what they had to say. "You may all speak freely," he commented, assuaging them of the fear of being reprimanded for speaking out of turn.

There was a moment of silence as those seated around the table tried to process what the captain had just told them. Michael, for his part, was reminded of his first conversation with Captain Byrne and the reservations he had already expressed about his assignment to the Endeavour. It was likely many of those seated around the conference table found themselves faced with similar reservations about being assigned to this new deep space outpost. Regardless of how temporary the assignment was supposed to be, it still seemed like they were being tied down...asked to babysit the station until Starfleet could find the time and resources to appoint a suitable compliment of personnel. This didn't sound like something he would be very interested in, but being the first to speak in a situation like this was not something Michael was used to doing either. He had certainly been part of several team and departmental briefings before. This, however, was the first time he was really being given a say in something as the head of his own department.

Sophie didn't really understand the resentment some of her crew mates seemed to have towards the assignment. She was aware that this wasn't the most traditional way of exploring the universe, but they were still looking at some unknown object in space. And the mystery that seemed to surround this space station intrigued her endlessly. She was curious about her environment by nature, so from the moment she had seen it she had many questions about its origins, function, and its original inhabitants.Her hope was that some of the people gathered here could answer her questions eventually, but for now she just waited for them to speak; her questions would come later if they knew more about it.

She smiled as she realized that serving on a science vessel for a couple of years probably also had its effect on her. After a few months of studying intergalactic dust, it was very easy to get excited about things like this. She looked around, scanning the faces of the officers she could see and trying to find hints of excitement or enthusiasm on any of them. They couldn't possibly all dislike being here. It wasn't every day that you found an unknown space station and had the opportunity to investigate it.

Ballard sat with a level of resignation and complacency that he had not felt since he left the Vinarian Syndicate. He clasped his hands on the desk and sat in silence as the Captain spoke. He would soon be leaving this crew and going onward and a twinge struck him in the throat every time he thought about it. Soon there would be someone else sitting on the Captain's right and getting the opportunity to explore the depths of this station and discover its secrets.

"I must say, I envy you the opportunity." Ballard finally said in a hushed tone. "This station could be the jewel in the Federation's scientific and engineering crown. It's a wonderful chance to really get stuck in and uncover an entirely new civilization."

His words sounded like the well-rehearsed pep-talk of a First Officer and more the better, it was less likely someone would pick up on what he'd actually said. His thumbs began to move over one-another, allowing him something to focus his attention on rather than what he felt to be a deafening silence in the room.

Michael found his own attention drifting toward the station barely visible through the observation lounge's large viewports. Despite the fact it bore no resemblance to the abandoned facility he was remembering, he could not help but feel as if Starfleet's plans to assume control of the station were a bit hasty. They knew next to nothing about the station or the people who created it which meant they were likely looking at an uphill battle to restore it to operational status. It also seemed a bit presumptuous to think they could even begin to secure the facility without knowing more about why it was abandoned in the first place. So many unanswered questions, he thought to himself, I suppose now is as good a time as any...

"With all due respect," Michael began slowly, "this all seems a bit rushed to me. I may not be a field scientist or an engineering specialist, but I know that I have a lot more questions than answers about that station right now and I usually like to make sure a few of those questions are answered before I go rushing into something. We know the station was abandoned, but do we know why? I'd hate to turn on all the lights only to find out someone messed up when they built the place."

"That is what we are here to find out," the captain said, putting in the effort to make his voice sound as it normally would during a mission briefing. He paused, let out an internal sigh, and continued. "Most of you know me by now, and those who don't yet soon will. I am an explorer at heart; I love the chance that we're going to get here; to study something so old, so massive and so well intact is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I know a lot of you feel the same way. This is exactly what we joined Starfleet for." He took a few moments to look around at their faces in turn, and judge their expressions. "Now I know that a lot of you signed up for a starship assignment. Well, so did I, but Starfleet obviously thinks that that station sitting out there is of a high enough importance in this region that they want us to secure and occupy it ASAP. I can assure you that when our task is done here, we will be back aboard the Endeavour and out exploring, but until then we're going to do Starfleet a damn fine job, just like we always do."

He was pleased to see that his little impromptu speech had altered the expressions of most of the faces of the officer's present, and noticed out the corner of his eye how his yeoman stood that little bit taller as he spoke. Hopefully he had filled them with more excitement about the task at hand than he felt himself, though he pushed those feelings down deep, to be dealt with at a more appropriate time. "Any more questions?" he asked them.

Sophie smiled contently at the Captain's eloquence. He seemed to have pointed everyone in the same direction again, whether they liked this mission or felt held back by it. She quickly made a few notes of it, for later reference, either for him or her. She wanted to remember this. After that she looked up from the padd and faced the others again, ready to add what they had to say to her notes.

The Captain nodded, satisfied with the way the briefing had gone. "I want all available personnel tasked with getting the station secured and operational. Commander th'Ralik, your priority will be to find and turn on that power generator you say is in that thing somewhere. Lieutenant Watters, I want you to ensure nobody moves about the station outside of the secured areas without a security escort until we can be certain that the station is empty. Commander Ballard, I want you to organise a roster for a skeleton crew for the Endeavour. We'll still use her as our living spaces until the station can be made habitable, at which point the majority of the crew will move over, for efficiency's sake." He took a deep breath and looked around the room yet again. Each of the faces before him now was resolutely determined, though he noticed the very slight difference in his XO's body language, and wondered as to what the cause might be. "Dismissed," he told them all, resolving to finding out about it after the immediate tasks had been completed.

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Captain Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer

Prov. Lt. Commander Narayn Ballard
First Officer

Lt. Commander Aeitos th'Ralik (NPC)
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant JG Michael Watters
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Petty Officer Sophie Blaise
Captain's Yeoman

USS Endeavour NCC-86105