Star Trek: Theurgy

[2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

June 04, 2023, 10:40:39 PM

Stardate 57498.4
February 15, 2381
10:00 hrs

[Captain Rebecca Anders | Conference Room | Deck 1 | USS Aurora]
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’Captain’s log, stardate 57498.4. Following scheduled routine maintenance at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, the USS Aurora is assigned to rendezvous with the USS Ranger at the edge of the Traxis Badlands. As they were chasing a smuggler far outside the boundaries charted Traxis Run, the sole safe route through the Traxis Badlands, the Ranger made an interesting discovery for which the Aurora is uniquely qualified.

Our rushed departure from the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards leaves us without the expertise of our Executive Officer however. Commander Took has yet to return from his temporary assignment aboard the USS Osceola and will rendezvous with us at Starbase 39-Sierra after our mission is complete. Further changes to our crew come in the form of our Chief of Security; Lieutenant Commander Bryce Walker has been promoted to the rank of Commander and reassigned to the USS Franconia as her new Executive Officer. Starfleet Command assigned Lieutenant Amilee Monroe to the USS Aurora to replace him as our new Chief of Security. With the absence of Commander Took, Lieutenant Monroe has seniority amongst my staff and, as such, I have seen fit to assign her the duties of Executive Officer, pro tem. It will be a good test of her abilities, and I am curious to see how she will develop herself in this temporary new role.

Due to the nature of our mission we also took aboard several scientific specialists whose fields of expertise will hopefully prove beneficial.’

As she stood behind her seat, the blue eyes of Captain Rebecca Anders calmly gazed over the faces of her senior staff and the various scientific specialists. Amongst these specialists were geologists, astronomers and even a hydrologist to supplement the Aurora’s Science Department on this mission. What each of these specialists had in common, both with each other and with the assembled senior staff, was that no one was fully briefed on the sensitive nature of their mission. In fact, the nature of their mission was so confidential that Rebecca hadn’t even directly mentioned it in her logs since the Aurora’s departure from Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards; instead deliberately choosing to remain vague about their destination.

Until now, at least. After spending over a week at Warp 6, the USS Aurora was about to rendezvous with the USS Ranger near the edge of the Traxis Badlands and it was time to fully brief the assembled senior staff and their scientific guests. With a soft cough, the blonde-haired Captain spoke up. ”Good morning everyone.” As she spoke, Rebecca’s slightly German-accented voice accentuated the polite smile on her face. An attempt at sympathy towards those assembled here before her, who had spent over a week in the proverbial dark. ”Before we begin I would like to thank each and every one of you for your professionalism and dedication in these past couple of days. I understand if any of you might have concerns about our current mission, or rather about being kept in the dark given how we are normally much more open about the nature of our missions.” Rebecca slowly began to make her way from the narrow side of the conference table, where her own seat was placed, to the much broader opposite side of the table where the holographic projector was mounted and the additional seats of their guests were placed. In doing so, she passed the seats of Lieutenant Amilee Monroe, the Executive Officer pro tem, Lieutenant Junior Grade Hailey Bennion, the Chief Operations Officer, and Ensign Lucy Hunt, the Chief CONN Officer, and gently placed her left hand onto each of their headrests in passing.

”We are assigned to rendezvous with the USS Ranger near the edge of the Traxis Badlands.” As she spoke, the holographic projector on the broad side of the table came to life and displayed the part of space known as the Traxis Badlands. It covered a part of Federation space and, from there, snaked its way through the Romulan Neutral Zone all the way to the borders of the Romulan Star Empire itself. ”Two weeks ago, the USS Ranger was on a short-range patrol along the only charted route through the Traxis Badlands, a corridor known as the Traxis Run.” The holographic display changed and now brightly highlighted a narrow corridor that snaked its way through the nebula. ”Given the hazardous nature of the Badlands and the fact that Starfleet can’t cross into the Romulan Neutral Zone, this area of space is popular amongst smugglers. During her last patrol, the USS Ranger encountered an incoming unidentified freighter travelling along the Traxis Run. When she tried to intercept the freighter for a routine cargo inspection, the freighter left the Traxis Run and made an attempt to lose her inside the Badlands. The freighter succeeded in doing so and, when the Ranger made an attempt to pick up their trail once more, she instead found this.”

With those words, the holographic display changed once more and displayed the rough outline of a planet instead. ”I present to you, the aptly named Traxis Prime. Courtesy of the Ranger and her preliminary scans. It is a world that shouldn’t be there, and Starfleet has no idea how it got there or how long Traxis Prime has even been inside the Traxis Badlands to begin with. The Ranger’s preliminary scans indicate that this planet has all the infrastructure necessary for a technological civilization to thrive. It has massive urban areas linked by an extensive surface transport network, but the planet seems to be totally abandoned with no signs of extant sentient life whatsoever.” Turning away from the projection, Captain Anders made her way back to the narrow side of the table and began to lean against the backrest of her seat while looking at those assembled in the conference room. ”Our mission is to perform a planetary survey and hopefully discover what happened on that planet.” The smile suddenly disappeared from her face however and, when Rebecca spoke up once more, her voice was a little softer which gave it a somewhat darker intent that matched her facial expression. ”I would like to remind everyone in this room that the presence of a potentially habitable world deep inside the Traxis Badlands, so close to the Romulan Neutral Zone, is a matter of concern to Starfleet. What we have discussed here will stay aboard this ship, so please remind those within your respective departments to be discreet about this as well.” Then, as if she flipped a switch, the polite smile returned to the face of the German Commanding Officer and the volume of her voice returned to further amplify the smile. ”Are there any questions thus far?”

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #1 – July 06, 2023, 04:32:28 AM

[Ens. Lucy Hunt | Observation Lounge | Deck 01 | USS Aurora] Attn: @Eirual @Griff @Ellen Fitz @Nesota Kynnovan
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Stifling a yawn, Lucy Hunt resisted the urge to rub her face, sure that no amount of hastily applied makeup had been able to hide the bags under her eyes. She hadn’t slept well the night before, and hoped it hadn’t shown on her face now. Idly, the dark haired Ensign stirred a small stick in her replicated cup of raktajino as she watched the last few stragglers join the group around the table. A lot of eggheads rounded the table, interspersed between the members of the senior staff, of which there was a new face. She sipped the bitter brew and winced. Lucy was a tea girl herself, but this morning called for stronger stuff.

One cup full of pure, distilled glory, guaranteed to wake you up and announce the fact to all the warriors in Sto-Vo-Kor she mused, the sarcasm doing nothing to help improve the exhaustion, though the Klingon rocket fuel was starting to do its job. Setting the cup down, she allowed a tired smile to pass her lips. Sure, staying up late had been stupid, but earlier the previous day, the comm's array had managed to snag a packet for her from Cestus III. There was no way she was going to wait to watch the start of the three-game series between her hometown team, the Port Shangri-La Seagulls and their dreaded rival (and, not that she would ever admit, arguably the best team in the league) the Pike City Pioneers. She'd made it through the first game (A win for Pike City, curses!) And half of the second before she'd passed out, managing to wake up with half an hour to collect herself before her shift.

Like the rest of the gathered crew, Lucy was curious as to what the mission they had been assigned was. As Chief Flight Control Officer, she had a vague notion of what lay ahead of them, but that was still a massive amount of space that contained a myriad of options. Certainly she could narrow it down to a few dozen parsecs, but not so much as to place a qualified bet. She'd just been given a general heading and speed when they cleared the SOL system after their stopover at Utopia Planitia, and had held that course for over a week.

Basic Bitch flying, as they called it back at the Academy. No one had called it that, but Lucy insisted that had been the case and wasn't going to take any flack over it. Certainly not in the confines of her own head. The sentiment stood though. Course locked in and aside from minor deviations here and there (due in part to fluctuation in gravitational forces, and the appearance of a rogue comet in the middle of the highly traveled space lane) the last week had been...boring. Everyone was curious, no one knew anything, theories were a slip of latinum a dozen, and flying was just...so...dull.

Her eyes followed Captain Anders, straightening up slightly as the older blonde woman lightly tapped the back of her headrest as she passed, getting the meeting started. Shimmying her mug from one hand to another, she narrowed her eyes at the display that snapped into view. Nothing basic about flying in the Traxis Badlands, she privately mused. Her focus sharpened, as Lucy bit her bottom lip. She didn't know a whole lot about these particular Badlands, though there were similarities to the ones out near Bajoran space, and all the problems those had caused Starfleet with the Maquis would manifest similarly out here, with smugglers.

Which the Captain just pointed out, she noted, sympathizing with whoever was the pilot on the Ranger. She doubted that they were being brought in to assist in tracking down smugglers though. Not with all the specialists around the table.

Ensign Hunt was far from the only one that did a double take as the display changed to show a planet that had no right to be where it was. Her eyebrows crawled up towards her hairline, and she heard someone swear softly under their breath - but not as soft as they thought. Excitement bubbled up among the assembled officers, and the sense of sleep deprivation was finally chased away from Lucy. A rogue planet, in an unstable region of space, mere lightyears from the Romulan Neutral zone.

No wonder Captain Anders has been so tight-lipped about this. Looking around the table, Ensign Hunt waited to see who would ask the first question. When no one ventured forth at first, the dark haired human woman raised a hand up, elbow on the table to draw the Captain's gaze, and then proceeded with what seemed to her to be the obvious concern.

"Captain, given that you have mentioned there is only one established safe route through the Traxis Badlands...how far off the Run are we talking about needing to fly? Has the Ranger charted a course? Or are we going to be flying blind into this?"

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #2 – August 08, 2023, 06:21:17 AM

[Lt. Amilee Monroe | Conference Room | Deck 1 | USS Aurora]

Lt. Amilee Monroe had been enjoying some much deserved leave while her current ship underwent repairs. She had hoped her camping trip would have lasted longer than two days. She just started a fire in the fire pit to prepare her dinner when she’d been notified to report in to SF.  It was then that she was informed she was being transferred to the USS Aurora as their new Chief of Security, effective immediately, and was expected to report aboard within five hours. So much for relaxing. But the promotion was a nice surprise.

 That was just over a week ago. By the time she’d reported in all her gear had been transferred to the new ship and she was informed she’d be acting as the First Officer as well. The part of this she really was not happy with was being kept in the dark as to why she was all but Shanghaied at the start of her leave and placed on the Aurora in such haste. Apparently she, and everyone else in the room were about to find out.

Amiee watched as the captain made her way around the room, briefly touching the headrests of the seats. It almost reminded her of a game she had seen small children playing called ‘duck, duck, goose’. She had to stifle a chuckle at the thought of ‘who’s going to be the goose?” popped into her thoughts. As the Captain spoke Amiee listened carefully. She had already known they were to rendezvous with the Ranger, but its location had been held back. Although by the current course she had pretty much guessed where that would be. The area known as the Traxis Badlands appeared on the holoscreen as she had expected.

What she hadn’t expected was the outline of a planet appearing on the screen within the badlands. She leaned forward to look closer as the captain relayed the pertinent information. She glanced to her left as someone swore loud enough to be heard, but soft enough to make it more of a whispered thought that escaped. She agreed with the sentiment and nodded to herself ever so slightly.

  Traxis Prime... an unknown celestial body, and apparently it had, at one time, sustained an advanced technological society. The fact that they were now on their way to survey this planet, caused a shiver to weave its way down her spine.  She’d almost decided their mission was something along those lines due to the crew compliment they were carrying.  Amiee had no trouble understanding Starfleet’s concerns about this planet and its location. Such an unknown planet could easily be used for Romulan forces to use a forward operating base and we might never have known about it. It was now imperative they gathered as much information as possible as to the origin of the planet, and its inhabitants past or present, if any.

She also knew the USS Ranger was not equipped to handle such a task. They were tasked with patrolling the border and watching out for pirates and smugglers in the area.

Amiee was studying the narrow path designated as the Traxis Run. Apparently, there were other areas within the badlands that a ship could navigate, as evidenced by what was now on the screen. She would be happier if they’d also had the Ranger’s flight path shown on the holoscreen but that was not the case.  Her first thought was how she would organize the team to make sure the planet was safe before the scientists would be allowed to set foot on it.

While she was debating in her mind as to who would be on said team, Ensign Hunt asked the first question, or rather the first three questions. All of them valid for the survival of the ship and crew And all of them also on her own growing list of questions.  She turned to look at Captain Anders and awaited her reply before she posed any of her questions.

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #3 – August 15, 2023, 12:44:26 PM

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt | Conference Room | Deck 1 | USS Aurura ] Attn. @Nesota Kynnovan @Eirual @Brutus

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Likely more than anyone in the room, Alistair Leavitt felt distinctly out of place. Unlike everyone else, he wasn't actually part of the Aurora's crew, but rather simply a passenger on his way to a different ship and mission. Nevertheless, with the Eclipse still over a hundred lightyears away, Alistair was distinctly unemployed and (inevitably) bored. Two years of relentless training and work at the Department of Temporal Investigations had developed a habit for hard work that was hard to break. Besides that, the leisure facilities of such a small ship as the Aurora were quite limited.

Alistair had volunteered to stand duty shifts and help out in general, of course, but he was mostly extraneous. Lieutenant Bennion was very capable; the only work that she'd been able to offer was refining the ship's extensive sensor software suite, as well as the cyberwarfare suite, in the extremely unlikely event that they encountered the renegade Theurgy and its rampant AI.

 Thus, present at the briefing purely through respect for his rank and having volunteered, Alistair had deliberately chosen a seat at the far end of the table from the captain, knowing that his contribution would likely be minimal. Thus, though he paid close attention, Alistair remained quiet. If his opinion or services were needed, someone would ask, although he knew that the likelihood that his skills in computing or temporal mechanics would be useful was unlikely indeed.

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #4 – August 30, 2023, 11:41:27 PM

[Captain Rebecca Anders | Conference Room | Deck 1 | USS Aurora]
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And

Lieutenant Junior Grade Hailey Bennion
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When she heard the voice of Lucy Hunt, Captain Anders turned her blue-eyed attention towards the brunette Ensign. ”Those are excellent questions, Ensign.” As she spoke, her German-accented voice still amplified the warm, welcoming smile on her face. Ensign Lucy Hunt was, in Rebecca Anders’ opinion, one of the most gifted pilots she had ever worked with during her Starfleet career; she didn’t just pilot the USS Aurora, but she danced with the ship instead. Maybe the young Chief CONN Officer was a little roguish and definitely needed a little polishing, but Rebecca mostly attributed the young brunette’s enthusiasm to a passion for her job and the lack of recreational facilities aboard the USS Aurora. Most young Academy graduates much preferred serving on the Odyssey-class or even the new Theurgy-class after all, and a Nova-class ship without a holodeck ranked preciously low on the list of most new officers and enlisted personnel. The one big advantage the USS Aurora had over those much larger ship was cohesion and esprit de corps amongst the crew, and in those regards Rebecca repeatedly noticed that Lucy’s enthusiasm to find alternative sources of entertainment worked contagious amongst the crew and definitely boosted morale.

”Traxis Prime isn’t located far away from the Traxis Run, but we’ll have to be careful as we approach.” As it was, every Starfleet Officer assigned to the Romulan Neutral Zone knew about the hellish conditions within the Traxis Badlands; the nebula was home to severe plasma storms which wreaked havoc on sensor suites to the point where ships were limited to the use of short range sensors at best. The Traxis Run, the only charted route throughout the Badlands, used an extensive array of sensor buoys to safely guide ships through the storms and even those were regularly checked to make sure that they were still functioning. It went without saying that traveling outside the Traxis Run was a dangerous and slow journey which would take them some time. ”As to your other questions, the USS Ranger was searching for that freighter when they stumbled onto Traxis Prime. They were flying a search pattern, mindful of any plasma storms they encountered along the way, so their charted course wouldn’t be of much use to us.” While the Ranger had charted their course back from Traxis Prime, Rebecca only remembered too well that Captain Shohl, in the conference call between Sector Command, the USS Aurora and the USS Ranger, reported how his ship sustained damage from a rogue plasma storm as they made their way out of the nebula. That particular information wasn’t something that would really improve the mood or the mission however, so Captain Anders chose not to speak up about it. ”We’ll be flying this on the edge of our seat, but do remember that the Aurora is equipped with an advanced sensor suite.” Captain Anders noticed how the Chief Operations Officer slightly raised her hand, and she nodded in the direction of Lieutenant Junior Grade Hailey Bennion. ”Lieutenant?”

Upon given a turn to speak, Lieutenant Junior Grade Hailey Bennion smiled and cleared her throat by coughing softly before speaking up. ”Well, in regards to flying blind… you already mentioned it just now, but we do have the advantage of our advanced sensor suite where the USS Ranger did not. I’ve been working with Lieutenant Leavitt,” As she spoke, Hailey turned her attention over towards Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt and presented him with one of her beaming, bubbly smiles. The Lieutenant had offered to help out and, always eager to learn more, the red-haired Chief Operations Officer had been following the man around more closely than his own shadow; a feature she took great pride in. ”Once we reach the Traxis Badlands, we should be able to calibrate the sensor suite based on the surroundings. We might be able to boost its effectiveness even further if we reroute excess power from the warp engines.” She then turned her attention to the brunette Ensign sitting next to her and smiled just as happily. ”We’ll clear up your eyesight!”

Captain Anders couldn’t help but grin at that last comment and nodded in response as she turned her attention to Lieutenant Leavitt. ”Thank you for the initiative, Lieutenant Leavitt.” She then turned her attention back to Lieutenant Junior Grade Bennion. ”I’d like you and Lieutenant Leavitt to work with Ensign Hunt and Lieutenant Ondrušek down in Engineering, Lieutenant Bennion. It’s a good idea, please see that you get the excess power you need.” She presented the Chief Operations Officer with a friendly nod before turning her attention to Lieutenant Amilee Monroe, her very new Executive Officer.

”Lieutenant Monroe, I believe this is your first official briefing with the senior staff.” While Captain Anders had introduced the new Executive Officer on the very first day, this was the first actual briefing which the blonde American was a part of. ”Once again, welcome to the ship.” Before Lieutenant Amilee Monroe had arrived aboard to replace Lieutenant Commander Bryce Walker, Rebecca read through the woman’s personnel record to learn more about her; what she’d read definitely impressed her, and she was curious to see how ‘Aimee’ would develop herself under the new responsibilities of an Acting Executive Officer. ”Since we don’t really know what we’ll expect in the Traxis Badlands, Starfleet Command decided to assign one of the liaison officers from Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards to this mission.” It was a good decision, given how the Nova-class was designed and built at Utopia Planitia as well, but Lieutenant James Harding had managed to start off on the wrong foot right from the very start. The Canadian Engineer came across as so very overconfident that it bordered sheer arrogance and, from the very first day, the man began to compile a list of everything that could be improved upon aboard the ship. The worst part was that he somehow managed to pull Lieutenant Junior Grade Jiří Ondrušek, her Chief Engineer, along with him and it hadn’t escaped Captain Anders’ attention that both men were absent from the briefing. Hence the slight hint of annoyance in her voice as she addressed Lieutenant Monroe. ”Would you be so kind to track down Lieutenants Harding and Ondrušek to bring them up to speed about everything we discussed here?” While she didn’t specifically mention it out loud, it was clear to anyone who read between the lines or even looked into Rebecca’s blue eyes that she pretty much meant to add “and please do sternly remind them that senior staff briefings are mandatory”. A part of her was actually looking forward to seeing how the American Executive Officer would handle these matters of crew discipline.

With that being said, Captain Anders turned her attention towards the conference room in general. ”As a general reminder, we’re due to arrive at the Traxis Badlands tomorrow morning, roughly halfway through the Alpha shift if I’m not mistaken.” The timing worked out great, in no small part because it meant that most of the senior staff would be on duty and no one had to be roused. ”With that being said, are there any further questions?”

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #5 – August 31, 2023, 12:36:32 AM

[Lt. Amilee Monroe | Conference Room | Deck 1 | USS Aurora]

It had not gone unnoticed that  certain senior officers were not present as the Captain fielded questions as the table seemed particularly empty.  She was still trying to place the names of who was missing when she heard her name and turned to the captain.  “Yes, Ma’am, it is. And I thank you again for the welcome. As we are headed into what is essentially uncharted territory, I am pleased that Ensign Hunt will be at the controls.” She turned to the Ensign with a small nod, “I have been looking at your file and I am very impressed with your flight ratings.” She turned towards Alistar and LtJG Bennion, “I believe what the two of you have been working on will provide the ship with an unmatched capacity to navigate the Traxis Nebula. However,” She paused a moment and looked down at the PADD on the table before her, “There is still much we do not know about that area, so you will most likely be required to maintain a constant vigil. I would suggest you determine a schedule so that one of you is always on duty once we enter the nebula.”

Amiee nodded, obviously not quite pleased, about the fact that one of Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards liaison officers was aboard. In her limited experience, those officers caused more chaos than they were worth. They just didn’t fully understand what the ships actually went through during a routine mission. They might improve one thing, but it usually came at the cost of something else. She turned back to the captain again just as she opened her mouth to convey her thoughts, Anders beat her to it.

She was tasked with locating Lieutenants Harding and Ondrušek and providing a briefing for them. She tried to keep the smirk from her lips as she also suspected she would be expected to ream the both of them for failing to attend this meeting. After all, it was the Executive Officer’s duty to exact discipline when crew did not follow orders. She wondered just how much of a hard-ass she would need to be to get it through their skull that these meetings are not optional.  "Aye, Captain," Was her simple reply.

As the Captain wound down the meeting, Amilee did have one question, “We are looking for a planet. However, all indications are that there are unsavory operators in the area as well. What are our orders pertaining to engagement with these… Pirates?”

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #6 – September 27, 2023, 04:48:05 AM

[Captain Rebecca Anders | Conference Room | Deck 1 | USS Aurora]
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Attn: @Brutus, @Eirual, @Griff  and everyone else who wants to join! Just send me a PM if you are interested.

The question of pirates was a good one and Captain Anders briefly turned her blue eyes towards the planet which was holographically displayed above the briefing room table. They were practically charging in blind, not knowing what was waiting for them on Traxis Prime or even how the planet came to be there in the first place; maybe the planet had been there for centuries and developed a thriving community of pirates, smugglers and other criminals over the many years. As she pondered those possibilities, it didn’t fail to escape Rebecca’s attention that the Conference Room had grown quiet and she turned her attention back towards Lieutenant Monroe again. ”That’s a good question, Lieutenant.”

A small, approving smile began to adorn the Captain’s face as she spoke. ”The simple fact is that we don’t really know what’s waiting for us on the planet. Like I said, the USS Ranger only performed a preliminary scan of Traxis Prime before she retreated out of the Badlands to report her findings to Starfleet Command.” Rebecca knew that everyone who would read between the lines could easily figure out that they might be walking straight into an ambush and, as a result, her smile became much more reassuring. ”That’s why we have you though.” While it might place a huge burden on the shoulders of Lieutenant Monroe, Rebecca had read the woman’s personnel file thoroughly enough to know that Amilee was one of those people who thrived under pressure; a person not unlike herself, a Scientist rapidly elevated to a Command-level position and forged in the fires of the Dominion War. ”You’ll be leading on-site security for the duration of our survey, Lieutenant. Since we don’t know what we’re walking into exactly, your rules of engagement will limit you to return fire only.” Rebecca’s blue eyes locked with Amilee Monroe’s equally blue ones. In that brief moment of eye contact, it was as if the Captain wanted to stress that particular fact. Don’t shoot if unless you’re absolutely sure that you won’t rile up the entire planet against you. ”So please don’t engage unless you have to. If you’re forced into an engagement however, the USS Ranger will be in orbit and standing by to deploy additional security teams at your discretion.”

With a small smile, Captain Anders turned her attention back to the Conference Room in general. ”If there are no further questions I’d like to end the briefing.”

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #7 – October 09, 2023, 12:45:35 AM

[Ens. Lucy Hunt | Observation Lounge | Deck 01 | USS Aurora] Attn: @Nesota Kynnovan @Griff @Eirual
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The native of Cestus III did her best not to preen like a favored student being praised by their professor. She'd known enough of those types back at the Academy to not want to be accused of that here and now. Even if it was rewarding to be told by the Captain that she'd scored a point, as it were. Relieved that she hadn't asked anything out of turn, she sat back into her seat and watched Captain Anders as the blonde pondered an answer. This did not stop her from smiling, however, and even though she was leaning back now, her posture screamed attentiveness.

Her smile fell away slightly at the revelation that the Rangers prior course was going to be less than helpful. "At least we have the coordinates where they found it at. Given the conditions of the ruins on the planet its not like the place is bouncing around all willy-nilly. Its position would have to be relatively stable within the nebula to have not turned everything to rubble."

Optimism, Ensign, optimism! The maxim well in place, she listened intently as Lt. jg Bennion gave an update about the sensors, and nodded. Inside a soup like the Traxis Badlands, there was no way that Lucy would be pushing the warp engines to their maximum. Bleeding off power from those to feed the sensors would be a much necessary trade off. "As long as you can make sure I see the plasma storms, Lieutenant, I'll fly rings around them," she boldly promised. She followed up her cocksure confidence with an equally cocky grin. Flying through the Traxis Badlands along the Traxis run would not be a walk in the park. Going off the run was going to be thrilling.

Edge of my seat is where I thrive, oh Captain my Captain.

Turning her attention to the acting XO, Lucy took the new face in, watching as the Captain offered her a warm welcome before putting the spotlight on the other woman. Which seemed to manifest in an assignment to track down two missing Lieutenant's who had not shown up to the briefing and run them through the situation at hand. Judging by the look that passed over the XO's face, Lucy did not want to be either of those Lieutenants. No way, no how. Resisting the urge to take a little pleasure at other officers soon to be discomfort and pain (especially since Lt. Monroe gave her such a vote of confidence), the dark haired human let her eyes sweep over the assembled staff as she noted the planned arrival time. During her shift, of course, which meant she wouldn't have to shuffle duty stations around to be on hand when they arrived.

Aloud, all she said was, "Thanks, Lieutenant," quickly and quietly into the brief pause the other woman made, inserting the comment just as swiftly as she planned to insert the ship into the wilds tomorrow.

Frowning, Hunt leaned forward again to get a better track on the pirate topic. She pursed her lips and listened, a look of relief washing over her face when she learned that the Ranger would be remaining on point with them to help provide cover and additional security. That was welcome news. The Aurora was armed, of course, but not heavily so. Not even moderately so, truth be told. Lightly was being kind. She could fly circles around Nausicaan's or Orions any day of the week, but all they needed was one or two lucky shots. And in the middle of a murky mess like the Traxis Badlands, Lucy would be ducking and weaving not only the potential pirates, but the space itself around her.

Not that she wouldn't rise to the occasion, of course. But it was better to have backup on hand and not have to worry about it. "If you could get the Ranger to provide all the data it has on the ship they were tracking, I can try to keep an eye out for anything that looks like it while we're making our entry to the Badlands. Sometimes in a soup like this, other passing ships leave literal, visible wakes."

Obviously, the XO/Security Chief as well as the Operations geeks would be doing the heavy lifting when it came to scanning, but she had her own navigational sensors to put to use while she was flying the ship about.

As the meeting was breaking out, Lucy made a note to herself, standing along with the others. There was no way she could stay up half way through third shift watching baseball tonight. She'd just have to catch a few innings of the already in progress game during her lunch break!

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #8 – October 10, 2023, 11:35:19 PM

[Captain Rebecca Anders | Conference Room | Deck 1 | USS Aurora]
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And

Lieutenant Junior Grade Hailey Bennion
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When Rebecca looked around the conference room, she noticed that her senior staff was ready for the briefing to come to an end as well; there weren’t really any further questions and people seemed eager (or at the very least ready) to return to their stations. With a nod and a friendly, warm smile that only further accentuated the look on her face, the Captain spoke up once more. ”Alright, that settles it. We’ll reconvene in orbit around Traxis Prime. The notes of this briefing will be forwarded to your personal PADDs for review in preparation of traversing the Traxis Badlands. Dismissed everyone.” While she spoke, Rebecca glanced towards her acting Executive Officer and couldn’t help but smile; in her personnel file, Lieutenant Amilee Monroe was described as an efficient Officer who inspired (and demanded) the officers under her care to give it their very best. She genuinely hoped that the woman would have a similar effect on her Czech Chief Engineer and create a little bit of professional distance between Lieutenant Harding and Lieutenant Junior Grade Ondrušek. She was a little worried about the young Jiří Ondrušek if she had to be completely honest, because he was a very dedicated and enthusiastic Engineer who normally never slacked on his duties (and especially didn’t skip staff briefings like this), but somehow fell in with a bad crowd in the form of an arrogant liaison Officer from Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. There was little doubt in Rebecca’s mind that Amilee Monroe would set the two errant Lieutenants straight again though and, as she rose from her seat in preparation to leave the conference room and return to the Bridge, she presented the blonde-haired acting Executive Officer with a friendly nod. ”Lieutenant.”

While Captain Anders rose from her seat, Lieutenant Junior Grade Hailey Bennion turned her attention towards the Chief CONN Officer and smiled. ”Don’t worry Lucy, we’ll make sure you see the plasma storms.” As she spoke she gestured towards their guest, Lieutenant AIistair Leavitt, and smiled enthusiastically. ”Lieutenant Leavitt knows his business as well, it’s been fun working with him thus far!” It was true as well; thanks to Alistair’s help, Hailey and her team managed to recalibrate the Aurora’s sensors and boost the accuracy of the long range sensors by quite a margin. That had been a fun thing to work on. Still smiling, Hailey rose from her seat and turned her attention towards both Hailey, Alistair and Amber Beale, the Chief Science Officer who had been silently listening to the briefing from her seat. ”So, are you all watching the game tonight?” Given how they were posted aboard a small ship without holodeck facilities, the crew of the USS Aurora had to come up with alternative forms of entertainment. One of those, at least for the fifteen officers that were part of the ship’s normal crew complement, was a game night in the Officer’s Mess on Deck 2; by using an old holographic projector, the officers could watch sports games and enjoy themselves by kicking back and (unofficially) betting replicator rations on the outcomes. Along with working out in the Workout Room and simply watching the stars from the Lateral Observation Lounge, those were amongst Hailey’s favourite means of enjoying herself aboard the ship.

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #9 – November 02, 2023, 01:49:03 AM

[Lieutenant James Harding | Engineering Bay (Distribution) | Deck 6 | USS Aurora]
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The distribution level of Aurora’s Engineering Bay was a relatively small room, accessible only through access ladders located on either the Deuterium Injector Engineering Bay on Deck 5 or the main level of the Engineering Bay on Deck 7. Aside from being relatively small, it was also an uncomfortably warm room; the distribution level was poorly ventilated in case of emergencies and, combined with the residual heat which radiated from the large distribution chamber of the warp core, it was not exactly a place that was frequently visited by the Engineering staff for prolonged durations.

Despite that, the two Lieutenants who were standing at their respective work stations on either side of the room had been here for quite a while; running diagnostics and comparing the results to the guidelines on their PADDs. Lieutenant James Harding, the senior of the two, briefly took off his diagnostic glasses and wiped his brow with his right sleeve. ”Ondrušek, what are your readings showing?” His Canadian-accented voice had a haughty undertone as he spoke, one which was only further accentuated by the somewhat scornfully arrogant look on his face while he put his glasses back on and returned his deep blue-eyed attention to the PADD in his left hand. While Jiří Ondrušek wasn’t unfriendly and even showed aptitude as an Engineer, James knew that Chief Engineers often had a habit of taking the requirements of shipyards as simple recommendations. As such, it had been his idea to climb up to the distribution levels in order to ensure that the warp core was still running at the levels set by Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. The readings looked quite adequate thus far, with only minor deviations which fell well within normal operating parameters, and even though the Czech Chief Engineer had initially insisted that they were expected at a senior staff briefing instead, the younger man was now double-checking the diagnostics just as James had asked him to.

”The deuterium flow shows a minor fluctuation of 1.3% above the recommended parameters, Lieutenant.” As the Lieutenant Junior Grade spoke up, James frowned and briefly looked up from his PADD to think. ”A 1.3% fluctuation? Even though the antimatter flow has a deviation of .6% above standard operating parameters?” The brown-haired Lieutenant turned around to look at the other man, who was standing on the opposite side of the small room, and articulated his words a little slower just to be absolutely sure that the Czech Lieutenant Junior Grade heard him correctly. He was completely oblivious that it only made him sound like he was speaking to a child as opposed to an experienced Chief Engineer, and James also failed to notice the annoyed way in which Jiří Ondrušek grit his teeth. ”At what intervals?” James watched how the Chief Engineer turned back around to look at his console, likely to double-check his readings, but before the other man could speak up James had already let out a sigh and began to make his way over towards the other side of the room. ”Let me have a look.”

As he approached the diagnostic console for the deuterium injection, James saw how the Chief Engineer stepped away from the console. While he only attempted to help and maybe even teach the younger man something, he once again missed the frustrated look on Ondrušek’s face. ”Those deuterium fluctuations might indicate a minor misalignment in the manifolds… the warp core sometimes needs just a little bit more deuterium in order to maintain a consistent output.” James began to input commands into the diagnostic console to pull up the deuterium flow and, while he voiced his thoughts out loud, momentarily forgot about Jiří Ondrušek’s existence. At least until the Chief Engineer spoke up with a mildly frustrated ”It’s only a 1.3% fluctuation though, these are the things that are handled during C-grade visits to shipyards.”. Misunderstanding the Czech’s frustration for confusion, James shook his head and continued to input commands, running advanced diagnostics on each distribution manifold while speaking up himself on a somewhat annoyed tone; once again completely missing the condescending tone of his own voice. ”Lieutenant, I was transferred to this ship for a reason. Whatever that might be, I want to make sure that this ship is up to Utopia Planitia standards before we encounter said reason so we can improvise if necessary.”

While he focused his attention back onto his diagnostics, James could just vaguely hear the Chief Engineer mutter something about knowing that reason if they’d attended the senior staff briefing. Without offering the man as much as a glance, James spoke up once more time with a semi-annoyed ”Lieutenant, I work best in silence. Thank you.” What James completely failed to realize was that the Chief Engineer only tolerated him because, only days before he came aboard, Captain Anders had asked Lieutenant Junior Grade Ondrušek to show him around and work together to ensure the success of their mission. In combination with James’ higher rank that left Jiří at an awkward crossroads on where to draw the line and throw him out of the Engineering Bay but, if Lieutenant Harding had seen the way in which the Czech Chief Engineer grit his teeth once again, he would’ve realized how perilously close he was to getting thrown out.

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #10 – December 04, 2023, 07:38:34 PM

[Lt Amilee Monroe | Engineering Bay (Distribution) | Deck 6 | USS Aurora ]

Amilee left the conference with quick strides and entered the turbolift. “Engineering” She called out and then called out “Computer locate Lieutenants Harding and Ondrušek!” The computer responded, “Lt Harding and Lt Ondrušek are currently on Deck 6 in the distribution level of the engineering bay.” Amilee frowned. She had studied the schematics of the Aurora and had seen the small section of the ship designated as distribution level. She also had determined only two possible access points. One on deck 5 and one on deck 7, either way it was necessary to use an access ladder to enter the desired location on Deck 6.  She exited the turbolift on Deck 7 and entered Main Engineering, pausing to get her bearings then made her way to the access hatch for deck 6’s distribution level.

She looked into the area before her feet reached close enough to step onto the deck. Seeing Lt Harding at one of the controls and talking about variances, while Lt Ondrušek was standing nearby with a decidedly unhappy look on his face. She watched for another moment, then heard the Liaison officer say something about working in quiet. Amilee decided his quiet was about to end as she climbed the last few rungs of the ladder.

  Reaching the top of the ladder she made her presence known rather loudly, “Lieutenants, what part of REQUIRED ATTENDANCE to a briefing did you NOT understand? Do you often disregard orders given by your commanding officers or is this something new?” Her eyes fixed on the liaison officer, “Lt Harding, you may not be an official member of this crew, but you were given a direct order and failed to obey it. If I had my way you would both be immediately transferred to another vessel! But as that is not possible, I may just allow you both to spend time in the brig for insubordination!”

She looked between the two officers, “Now, both of you get your asses down this ladder and into the Chief’s office. Since you deemed it unnecessary to attend the briefing you are getting a shortened version of it now. Oh! And since you missed the official introduction, I am Lt Amilee Monroe, the chief of Security as well as the Acting XO, Now move it!”

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #11 – December 04, 2023, 10:22:28 PM

[Lieutenant James Harding | Engineering Bay (Distribution) | Deck 6 | USS Aurora]
Attn: @Brutus, @Eirual, @Griff and everyone else who wants to join! Just send me a PM if you are interested.

When an unknown voice suddenly spoke up, and quite loudly at that, James was startled so much that he almost fell backwards onto the deck. He quickly turned around and noticed that the source of the noise was a blonde-haired officer whose yellow uniform either made her an Engineer, an Operations Officer or a Security Officer. The brown-haired Canadian could feel his heart beating in his throat while he tried to regain his composure and, while he could hear how Jiří Ondrušek spoke a few startled curses in his native tongue, James realized that neither an Engineer nor an Operations Officer would ever risk startling them like that; they would respect the sensitive nature of their work in the Distribution Bay and either leave them in peace or contact them using their commbadges instead.

That, James realized, could only mean that the blonde-haired officer in front of them was a Security Officer. Upon realizing that, the initially startled expression on James’ face was replaced by a somewhat upset smirk; in part because he struggled to understand why this blonde-haired woman even interrupted them in the first place, but also because he simply couldn’t understand why she had chosen to startle them like this. When the woman, who identified herself as Lieutenant Amilee Monroe (the Chief of Security and Acting XO), told them to move it, James just stared at her with that same upset look of disbelief on his face. ”Yes, I’m sure it’s a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Monroe.” While he spoke, the somewhat condescending tone of his Canadian-accented voice only further accentuated the upset look on his face and somehow managed to make it look like a sort of arrogance of which James genuinely wasn’t aware. ”I was transferred to this ship to prepare her for the kind of stress that far exceeds the designs of Utopia Planitia so, wherever we are going, I’m certain that it must be important. Otherwise they wouldn’t have assigned me to this ship.”

While he spoke, James turned around and began to focus on his console again. ”Right now I’m carrying out the orders that were given to me by Starfleet Shipyard Operations.” Once again, without even realizing it, James managed to sound much more arrogant and condescending than he’d ever meant to be. On the other side of the room, Jiří Ondrušek began to hesitate on the wisdom of the ongoing events and instead kept facing Lieutenant Monroe; at that moment it became obvious how James had even managed to persuade the Chief Engineer to follow him as opposed to attending the senior staff briefing. All of this happened behind James’ back though, so he was oblivious to this as well. ”Give me a couple of minutes to finish up here and I’ll be all yours, we really have to get the power distribution up to shipyard standards before we can properly start our stress tests.”

Re: [2381] USS Aurora: The Memories of Nobody

Reply #12 – March 13, 2024, 08:53:41 PM

[Lt Amilee Monroe | Engineering Bay (Distribution) | Deck 6 | USS Aurora ]

There were two things that really pissed Amilee off. And Both were being displayed by this liaison officer. The first was his total dismissal of the direct orders, and the second was his arrogant and dismissive demeanor. “Mister, you have ten seconds to get your ass out of there before I shoot it and have you transported to the brig, “ she stated as she pulled a phaser and aimed it at James.

“You were given two direct orders that you have ignored. That’s blatant insubordination. Don’t add another charge of possible sabotage to that.” She glared at the officer and almost wished he would ignore her because it would feel so good to send his arrogant ass to the brig for the remainder of this tour. “ 7 seconds, now Mister Harding!”