Re: Day 02 [1415 hrs.] Putting Her Back Together
Reply #28 –
[ Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez | Bridge | USS Theurgy ]
After his speech earlier that morning, Lieutenant Commander Marquez had systematically visited some of Vector 01's vital decks to evaluate what variables he had to work with. He was housed here, but there was more to see than he could bother anyone else for a tour for, so he switched seats with Lieutenant JG Arisaka as he made his initial evaluation, which was as much for his own sake as well as those he commanded; he wanted them to see he was one of them and wanted to personally encourage them to do their best without interrupting their at-hand missions. Content with what he learned on his inspection, he casually looked around every corner, somewhat on the hunt for potential Devoted.
A report in the Torpedo bay by the new chief had given Marquez the opportunity to visit Vector 02 to read about his new torpedo arsenal. Marquez internally grinned when LtJg Arisaka gave him a brief summary on the subject before informing Marquez that the incumbent warrant officer in charge of torpedo control had been recently replaced, so the Chief Tactical officer took the time to talk to the new WO, Hirrentz.
Striker hitched a ride on the first shuttlecraft to the second Vector, taking in the impressive signt of the "Sword"; the vector alone was an impressive vessel in and of itself, particularly given its strike carrier heritage. Over a decade ago, Striker would've loved to have been a Runabout pilot on one of these, but his helmsman days were over, even if he'd assimilated his callsign into his official name registry.
During the ride over, he didn't announce himself until he'd found the section tactical office, identifying Hirrentz, who was hurriedly busy issuing orders to the department noncoms.
"Move it, people, you heard the CTO! Forth! Onward! And secure the warheads, we don't want any of these cult of whackos getting ahold of the ordnance-- what are you doing, new guy, there's a situation here, grab a toolkit or get the hell outta here."
Marquez' back was turned as he faced a wall panel with a readout of the worker bees and shuttlepods between the vectors. When called out, he casually turned around,"Sorry." Marquez turned around to face the Warrant Officer. "I'm new here." His accent was identifiable at once. Hirrentz tried to compose himself and apologize, but Marquez instead offered handshake and received a quick one. "I'm Striker Marquez, Chief Tac. You're doing a good job, Mister Hirrentz, and time is currency. You'll find I'm a greedy sum'bitch in that regard-- but I share with everone."
"Aye sir, how can I help you." Hirrentz stifled a chuckle at his new boss's blunt sense of humor, but was all business.
"From what I gather about these torpedoes, they may be vulnerable to sabotage or theft. In case you haven't been informed, we've received multiple reports of mutineers loyal to Lieutenant Morali. They're cultists, so they can't be reasoned with. I don't know if you've ever taken a counter-terrorist course, but please understand that ordnance safety is a top priority during threats like this. The opposing force might have an endgame to spite our attempts to stop them." Marquez was neutral but clear, he knew this was Hirrentz's first job on the assignment, but had to act in the ship's interest. "Report anything out of the ordinary immediately: Suspicious crew, unauthorized access, even vandalism-- cultists love graffiti."
"Understood, sir." The Warrant officer affirmed-- when just then, there was a sudden rocking of the vessel with the faint sound of what could only be the audible equivalent of a thunderclap.
"What the hell!?" Marquez at once got to a monitor and reviewed the external sensors, seeing only the aftermath of some sort of detonation and a fluidic mass of energy blanketing the ship. A torpedo detonation? Striker rewound the footage and noticed an explosion in the nebula and magnified as effects of the detonation seemed to spread a cloud over Vector 01; he grimaced at the thought of several vulnerable crewmates, some of them likely to be Resolve survivors out there, and more than that, if the explosion had been detected by any of their pursuers.... but the next minute happened more suddenly than he expected.
The Yellow Alert had been activated, and the alarms in the office went off. "Hirrentz. There's no time, just get me your torpedo reports; I gotta rule out this was one of ours-- if it -was- a cultist, this may have been to get our attention." Striker stated while the Warrant officer got to work at once, producing the most updated information about the Theurgy torpedo manifest and report. Still witnessing the explosion from the ship's external sensors, Marquez nodded when the ranking Torpedo officer provided him with the padd at the same instance the ship's computer summoned him.
[Lieutenant Commander Marquez,] said the ship's A.I. in a disembodied voice on the intercom, [Captain Ives has requested your presence on the Main Bridge.]
Marquez reactively responded, [Acknowledged, Computer. Lock onto my location and energize when ready.] Marquez concluded his observation, tucked his padd into his arm, adding "Carry on, Warrant Officer." before he pinged Thea on his combadge.
[Acknowledged, please stand by,] replied the A.I. [Transporter protocol initiated. Establishing transporter lock. Energising.] The transporter beam hummed a high pitch as the transporter beam collected the Chief Tactical Officer out of Vector 02 to the area outside Vector 01's second deck, from the indicator outside the nearby turbolift, which he strode into as soon as the diamond-like transporter beam subsided.
A moment later, he was in the security checkpoint outside the bridge, passing Arisaka and a Bajoran security officer. He had only a moment to make note of them as they strode past in a hurry, but nodded to Arisaka, adressing the lieutenant by his surname as they passed; Arisaka returned the favor.
Marquez arrived on the bridge and made his way to Captain Ives' side overhearing the statements made to the CO. In the moments following his beam-in, he made a note of Hirrentz's reports (and those of his predecessor, who seemed to be plainly disorganized for someone of such an important role); but the suspicious discrepancies had been highlighted in orange, rather than the otherwise-uniform blue font, making it clear something was afoot. The orange discrepancies were moved squarely to the top of the torpedo manifest. As he feared by looking out on the Tactical display, which replayed the same grizzly blast earlier, there were too many lives out there, and Marquez wondered how many could get beamed out if the explosion had been detected by someone else.
Those people and vessels could be picked off for sport if one of Sankolov's ships appeared-- unless of course Striker were to leap over to his seat and engage if so ordered. For now, the imminent threat stemmed from the voice outside.
"Captain." Marquez reported to her in the tone of a murmur so he too could hear the saboteur's claims. If it were up to him, Striker would've triangulated the speaker and beamed him somewhere to have this discussion where he could get answers instead of threats. Clenching his jaw as he listened to the Devoted representative, there was a part of the CTO who wanted to simply send a statement to the devoted with the tap of a phaser console, but the Padd in his hand contained a more effective weapon against them, or so he hoped: information.
[Lieutenant Commander Marquez, there is a channel for you from Master Chief O'Connell in Engineering.] Marquez responded to the Ship's A.I. by responding from his workstation, opting for an earpiece than a full screen.
"Striker here, what's going on?" Earpieces were practical, and could be just as soon configured to various frequencies and channels. The appreciacion for the device lasted only the moment it took Striker to activate it before O'Connell briefed him.
Topic: Day 02 [1415 hrs.] Putting Her Back Together (Read 12933 times)
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