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Day 01 [1600 hrs.] Focal Point

Day 01 [1600 hrs.] Focal Point

Captain's Log, stardate 57505.34. In three hours, we will have entered the Azure Nebula, and the time to regroup and find our way forward. As I go through the reports, no matter how I look at it, the mission as been a complete failure. Unless we can learn the decryption key to the simulcast, the whole of the Federation is now thinking that we are exactly the kind of traitors and terrorists Starfleet Command and the media have claimed we've been from the start. Between ourselves and the Asurians, we don't know how many Starfleet officers died in the battle... not to mention the warp core detonation inside Starbase 84.

Which, judging by the sensor logs, could only have been caused by the Resolve's Aerowing shuttle. It's all hearsay at this point, but some claim that it was Captain Kendrick who had commandeered the small ship and attacked the EOC tower. Given the fact that the survivors of the Resolve's crew are aboard, it is unknown what may come of that knowledge. If it was Kendrick's ship that detonated inside the base, I do not know what the reaction from the Resolve's crew may be.

Somehow, we lost Sonja Acreth through a temporal breach on Vector 02. She was the only parasitically joined individual we could study. This makes things more difficult since we cannot secure a means to deal with them in a non-lethal way, and the only proof we have left is the recording of her in the brig. This recording is something that the Resolve's crew needs to see in order to understand our mission, and to join the fight for the truth. A fight, which now may be in question.

Jona Rez - despite his despicable nature - raised a couple of points that might deter the crew from seeing this through. He urged for a silent approach, and even I can see how many of the crew would chose that path merely in order to avoid the risk of a Federation civil war. A war that is inevitable at this point, but one which I had meant to end before it even began with the evidence contained in the simulcast. Now, Jona Rez named us Romulan defectors even more effectively than Starfleet Command could. We are now forsaken, and unless we get the decryption key, no one might heed our word. We are, undoubtedly, worse off now than when we arrived at Starbase 84.

Until we reach the Azure Nebula, and can stand down from battle stations, the rumours of what truly happened during the battle will spread all over the ship. So, in the wake of this catastrophic failure of a mission, I know my Captaincy may be questioned by either of the crews.When we are in the clear, I will have to address them all, and try to make them understand. Yet as I sit here...

...I have no idea how to make them fight on, when we were so close... and lost so many.
- Captain Jien Ives, Commanding Officer, USS Theurgy

[ Captain Jien Ives | CO Ready Room| Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: CanadianVet & Brutus (Info for all)
[Show/Hide]
After finishing his log entry, Captain Jien Ives sat quietly by his desk. He felt numb.

After Stellar Cartography had reported no pursuers within ten lightyears behind them, Ives had let the ship stand down to Yellow Alert, and ceded his chair to Commander Trent. He had withdrawn to his Ready Room to collect his thoughts, sort out all the things that had been reported to him. He had been reading on his armrest, issuing orders about priorities to Stark and speaking with Engineering to know just how bad things looked. He still waited for O'Connell to come up to Deck 01 and give the full report in person, but he let the man take his time about it. He was needed down there.

Yet as he sat there, Thea's hum permeating the eerie silence of defeat, Jien could not help the anger that rose in him like bile in his throat. He slowly got to his feet, walked over to the glass cabinet that held the starship models of the legacy that led up to Thea's construction. Vastly different ships lending to the final achievement. The Prometheus-class at there, the Intrepid, along with the Sovereign-class and the Odyssey-class, which had been commissioned after the Theurgy but still shared the same overall hull composition.

When he reached the glass cabinet, he struck it with the full force of his mimicked frame.

Breathing hard, not from exertion but in ire, he watched the glass clatter over the floor, the golden models toppled over. A second strike cleaved all the glass shelves. A third toppled the cabinet over entirely. Somehow, he was still in control, the cold fury inside rendering his face into stone. The senseless destruction was his focal point, so that he could shed his anger into it. Compartmentalise it. Only when the cabinet settled, he took a deep breath.

"Thea," he said quietly, upper lip still curled. "Would you please ask Mister Trent to join me."

[Yes, Captain.]

To rid the cuts from his hand, and as if trying to sequence out his anger, he changed... into her female form. When Trent arrived, she leaned against the edge of her desk, arms folded underneath her chest. Jaws clenched, she met the Commander's eye. The look being like a kick in the teeth to most, she would still any notion that they were going to speak about the pile of glass and wood that had been the cabinet.

"Would you kindly tell me the precautions that we took to ensure that Jona Rez would not have access to any sensitive systems aboard this ship," she said, voice low and eyes unblinking, "and what kind of security systems were supposed to keep Sonja Acreth from getting out of her holding cell?"

OOC: You will recognise the log entry at the top since I moved it here instead, it being more fitting. CV, recommend having Trent ceding the chair to Stark. This may turn into a Prologue thread instead depending on development.

Re: Epilogue: Focal Point

Reply #1 –
Once the Captain had stood the ship down to Yellow Alert and departed, Trent waited just long enough for the doors to her Ready Room before he started to make his way towards the central chair.  Technically he could have handed to watch to anyone so he could focus on his own work, but there was no telling when they would actually resume a normal watch schedule, and there certainly was much that needed doing.  "Stand down battle stations," he started even as he rounded the chair and seated himself down.  "Set skeleton watches across the ship, relief watch to get some sleep.  Remainder to damage control stations.  Mister Yukimura, take Tactical for now."

Tapping a few controls on the armrest, he looked at the readout, and again he spoke.  "Bridge to Security.  Commander Wenn, have your people ensure our passengers are secure; have medics see to them, and have food and water sent their way for now.  Any casualties of theirs that can't be treated on site, have them beamed the medical for treatment." 

Then, he addressed the helmsman, this Ensign Veradin.  While Trent did not know every person on the ship, he certainly knew this was not one of Theurgy's CONN officers.  "Relief helmsman to the Bridge.  Mister Veradin, thank you for the assist.  For now, please rejoin the rest of the Resolve's senior staff in the conference room. "  And while he was quite polite, quite even, there was no mistaking the XO's tone as being anything like a suggestion. 

But before he could follow up, a light on the left armrest started blinking, and upon hitting the one control, there was a brief text message, summoning him to the Captain's Ready Room.  As he stood, Trent tugged his jacket back into place and addressed the young Chief Operations Officer.  "Miss Stark, Natalie, you have the Bridge."  And with this said, he headed in as summoned. 

Upon entering, he noticed the wreckage of the cabinet, but he said nothing about it.  After all, there was nothing he could do about it just now, and he certainly understood the need to vent at this point.  But there were other matters to address, and Jien Ives certainly didn't waste any time, and that first question was one that could certainly be considered as blame.  But it was one he would answer.  "Captain, when Commander Rez resigned, I kept her clearances active, but only accessible under either your command authorization or mine.  Her access to anything sensitive was under the same kind of encryption and security the ship's command codes.  They are hard to break, but I would suspect Jona Rez certainly had the expertise to do it."

That, at least, was the truth.  And he could not say any more on that subject.

"As for Acreth, she was behind triple forcefields the bulkheads were reinforced; you would have needed some seriously heavy weapons to break through this, and I disabled the safety protocols; she would have incinerated herself before she would have punched through it.  And it was locked from the outside, with nothing even resembling access to the control or the generators accessible from within the cell.  There's no two ways about that one, she got cut loose by someone outside the cell.  It'll take a little while, but I can have someone look through the take of what's left of internal sensors to try and figure it out."

Re: Prologue: Focal Point

Reply #2 –
Listening, remaining silent, Jien only spoke up after Carrigan finished - tone quiet but words clear.

"Thea compiled a briefing to me upon my inquiry, and the report I got from her included the internal sensor readings - all confirming the sequence of events. Doctor Maya - the Vulcan medical officer who you might remember cleansing this crew from the influence of T'Rena - was the one who freed Sonja Acreth from her cell. The vulcan was found unconscious on the floor of the brig, and it appeared like she had been struck down. She is already in custody, awaiting her first interrogation about why she did it. I asked you what kind of security systems were in place on the holding cell because I do not want her to break out and commit further sabotage on this ship."

Saying this, and Trent already having said what was needed to know, Ives pushed away from the edge of her desk and slowly walked towards the view of the streaming stars outside her ready room. "With Maya having done this, I want a full review of her actions aboard. She may have done more than we've learned so far. I asked Thea if Maya - in her medical practice - had any affiliation with Acreth or Edena Rez, but as far as Thea knows, there was no kind of affiliation in medical logs or sensor readings. She didn't treat them, or assist any other doctors in treating them either." Taking a deep breath, Ives voice lowered as she turned around, realising something. A piece of a past puzzle falling into place, even if it was far from an answer to anything. "What she did do, I learned, was to treat Junior Lieutenant Isley right before the Black Opal mission, where he indirectly had Ensign Skye Carver killed. Moreover, she assisted in the subsequent investigation, so she could have covered her tracks with another mind-meld. Even if Isley ended up confessing, I think he did it just to be out of the brig, so I want the case reopened. Quite possibly, we have the answer to Ensign Carver's death at last. Lastly, I also want to know if she had anything to do with Lin Kae's treason."

In the grand scheme of things, it didn't ease any kind of problems the ship now faced, not beyond the fact that a wolf might return to its pack, and their Holographic Specialist might be acquitted from actions that weren't truly his own. Next, after Trent had gotten his orders, Ives moved on to the Vulcan herself.

"Do you think it is possible that Doctor Maya was compromised by her contact with patients that T'Rena had preformed mind-melds on during the mutiny? Like some kind of bleeding effect? Could it even be that T'Rena is the root cause of this defeat as well, since she might have lived on in Maya's mind?" Everyone in Starfleet that took interest in the Enterprise knew of Ambassador Spock and how he'd stored his mind inside another human, so would it be more strange if the same happened between Vulcans?

"I ask... because knowing Edena Rez, she would not have let Jona take over her body with such ease, letting him betray the crew the way he did. She was stronger than that..."

Realising he'd spoken of Edena in the past tense, it finally settled into Ives mind that Edena was gone. The report from Sickbay was that surgery was still underway... but that the Rez symbiont's former host had died. Clenching her jaw shut - pushing it aside for the time being - Ives folded her arms underneath her chest and looked at Commander Trent, who likely not only had his own opinion as a new officer aboard, but probably had an idea about what they ought do next.

Re: Prologue 01: Focal Point [1600 hrs.]

Reply #3 –
An Executive Officer's job was manifold.  He would run the day to day operations of a starship, coordinate department heads, see to overall administration, training and discipline, be responsible for the ship's readiness and be the captain's deputy where he could not be present himself as well as be the Captain's right hand, to ensure those directions were carried out.  That, and he was also a sounding board and advisor, a second head to bounce concepts off of.  And, as Trent listened to what his commanding officer was saying, he let his mind file the information and he started to organize his thoughts as to how he would address that series of concerns. 

"Captain, I'm not going to lie to you but I've only got the basic academic knowledge of mind-melds, let alone Trill joinings so I'm far from an expert on these.  But I do seem to recall from the transcripts of the Isley investigation that Mister Covington did raise some concerns about Doctor Maya's involvement with Chief Isley's treatment before and after the incident, as well as her presence on the investigation.  However, it would seem those concerns were dismissed following his confession."  There was no accusation in the man's words.  After all, why follow a line of inquiry, even one that may be considered far-fetched, if there was a confession made?  They were short on time and patience, and a resolution had been needed at the time, so they found one.

"But I'll see that investigation re-opened in light of new information.  However, I can safely say that Ensign Lin did not act under effect from a mind-meld.  When I held his summary hearing, it became clear his 'betrayal' is the result of the amounts of stress he was under; he's young, and frankly no one can be prepared for what this crew's been through.  In layman's terms, Captain, he lost his shit, if you'll forgive my language.  Much like I did when I lost the Harrier.  And for now he's on tight duty scheduling, mandatory counseling, severely restricted privileges, the only recreational facility he can access at will is the gym, and I assigned him extra work with Miss McMillan's holographic therapy animal program."  When he mentioned the Radiant's name and work, there was a slight shift to Trent's voice, a sign that maybe, just maybe, he was rather fond of that somewhat odd member of their crew.  "She has a rather... sunny disposition and I think if anyone could use spending time in her company and something like a therapy animal right now, Lin Kae is near the front of the line." 

Extra work, that had always been a favourite measure when trying to maintain discipline or assign some punishment.  But while Carrigan Trent had earned the reputation of being a stark disciplinarian when he took command of the Harrier, it was not his way to assign additional duties on a whim; there was always a reason behind it, and in this case it was to try and ease the young Bajoran's mind, while keeping him busy enough he wouldn't have too much time to resent his situation. 

But the, the topic had to change to his predecessor.  It would have been hard to miss the change in tone regarding Edena Rez.  And while Trent knew she was sent to Sickbay for emergency surgery, he had not known she hadn't made it.  But now, he knew for certain.  And given how closely he had come to work with Jien Ives in such a short time, he could only imagine just how much closer he would have been with the Trill.  "Captain, my understanding of Commander Rez' situation is far from complete, but I was given to understand her joining was less than ideal, and at times her previous hosts could take over.  And that during the mutiny, Jona was sympathetic to Vasser."  There were no nice ways to say what he had to say, so Trent has elected to remain professional on the matter.  Truth is, he hardly got to know the officer whose shoes he was now filling, having been largely outside the chain of command as the Intelligence Officer before the mutiny, and only inserting himself into it when he announced he was assuming command in Captain Ives' name until properly relieved.  "I know you want to think the best about Edena, and I can't blame you for it.  But what Jona Rez was saying?  It was eerily similar to his position when he was in agreement with Vasser.  I'm afraid that in this case, he might have been able to overwhelm Edena's will, and their combined expertise was sufficient to override the security around the message."

"I know it's not what you would rather hear, Captain and I don't really enjoy telling you this, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't."

Re: Prologue 01: Focal Point | Day 01 [1600 hrs.]

Reply #4 –
While she listened to Trent talking about Lin Kae and his opinion about the half-Bajoran specialist, Jien made no comment beyond a very faint smile at the mentioning of the Radiant they had aboard. Another enigmatic species that had surfaced in their midst, just like the Asurian that has been hiding aboard the Harbinger. It was the pun about Heather McMillan's 'sunny' disposition had made Jien smile, but it was the thought about Dyan Cardamone and the Asurians that made the smile vanish.

She did not know what was true about Lin Kae. Perhaps Trent was right about him, but she would still have Wenn Cinn follow up on the possibility that he, like Isley, might have been a victim to Doctor Maya's abilities. She would give the young genius that much faith because all that he had done for the crew before his sudden act of treason on the bridge that day.

Pushing aside the thought about the Asurians for the time being, she listened to what Trent thought about Edena Rez too, and again, she still kept her hope that Edena's shortcomings weren't her own, and that T'Rena - through Maya - had furthered Vasser's will. It all was speculative to begin with, and she knew too little about the motives behind Jona Rez siding with Vasser during the mutiny, but she would get her answers. It might not be the answers she liked, but she'd still have them nonetheless. She made no comment on what Trent said, merely nodding slowly.

"Thea has said Dyan Cardamone made it back alive," she said next, remaining where she stood. "Yet she also said the Petty Officer lost her whole family at Starbase 84. Thea recommended counselling, not questioning. She does not want to take my calls, but we still need to re-establish contact with the Asurians and the Sheromi. The problem is that we do not possess the means to contact them. Only Cardamone do. I fear that the longer it takes before we reach their Monarch... the less flattering our retreat would appear to them. There might be survivors, and their reports might say anything about us. Needless to day, survivors or not, they must have seen the simulcast, and they could think we lied to them about our true cause."

Pausing, Ives considered what ought to be done. In the end, they needed Cardamone. "I want someone to speak with her, and try to make her cooperate. Do it yourself if you have to, if you don't find someone she trusts more than us. She must come to the Flag Bridge and make another call to her people, lest we might have a new enemy in the Asurians. I know it won't be an easy thing - the timing for her poor - but we might be facing a diplomatic incident."

Having said as much, Ives' thoughts led to the diplomatic delegation that had served on the Theurgy at Romulus, and a person she had seen a lot of herself in when she'd sat in on his lectures. He was the first of her original senior staff to be lost when they fled Earth, and since then, the rest of his officers had either died or taken up duties elsewhere on the ship. Yet as the situation with the Asurians had come up, not to mention the challenge of integrating the Resolve's crew into their departments, Jien had another order to give.

"Secondly, if we picked up what we needed in terms of medical supplies at the Black Opal... I want Nicole Howard taken out of stasis today. I have seen the reports from Sickbay - fully aware what Nicander and his team is going through - but we need him back as soon as possible." Having said this, she realised as she looked at Trent that he might not know whom she was talking about. Of course he wouldn't know. It had become easy to forget Carrigan was a recent addition aboard. "Lieutenant Commander Howard was our Chief Engineering Officer, and our top priority is the repairs so that we might survive another battle, and let the mission continue. She might need to recover, not able to conduct any repairs herself for some time, but her insight will be invaluable."

What Ives didn't say, was that she had a personal reason for wanting to have her back...

Re: Prologue 01: Focal Point | Day 01 [1600 hrs.]

Reply #5 –
[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark| Main Bridge | USS Theurgy - Vector 01 ]

Natalie was still reeling from the battle, the retreat, the betrayal and just...everything. She stole another glance at the man next to her - trill, she thought, judging by the spots. Like Edena Rez - the likely now late Rez. Christ, what a mess, she told herself, shaking her head. She still hadn't managed to get that used to S'iti, the Cardassian who had been gunned down not long before, and now she had someone from the Resolve riding shotgun. The poor man. To be lost, and come back to....this?

She was broken out of her reprieve by the sound of Cmdr. Trent's voice calling her name. She blinked those blue eyes of hers a few times, turned to face him. His words registered belatedly, and she gave a slow nod. He wanted her in command. Wenn was still dealing with his troops...she was the most senior officer on tbe bridge. Never mind how rattled she felt just then, she couldn't allow anyone to see that..

"Aye sir," she acknowledged the orders, and stood up. Just as Trent had adjusted his jacket, so too did Natalie, tugging her own down and padding across the bridge, taking the step up to the Captains chair and settling into the lone seat on the dais. One of her relief officers, a wiry Bolian male took her old station, as the First Officer left the bridge for the Captains ready room, and the Trill pilot left the bridge, on Cmdr Trent's order. At least the chair was comfortable.

"Steady as she goes," Natalie gave the order, easing back into the chair and crossing one pant clad leg over the other. Not for the first time, she stared down at her legs and pondered a skirt. Of all the things to find herself thinking of in the aftermath of the battle, something as inane as what uniform to wear....she shook her head from side to side, as if disgusted with herself. From there, she began to tap out a serioes of commands into the arm rest, bringing up the status reports from the various ship departments.

Re: Prologue 01: Focal Point | Day 01 [1600 hrs.]

Reply #6 –
As soon as the conversation about suspicions and Commander Rez came to an end, the topic switched to their Asurian allies.  That would be a thorny subject all right.  There had been no time to discuss their capabilities, let alone explore their doctrine.  And if Trent had known about their more aggressive nature, he would have done things much differently to keep them closer to the vectors he had tasked them to protect.  But what was done was done, and there would be no changing that. 

Now, as the Captain had said, they needed to do some damage control with Petty Officer Cardamone and her people.  And if she did not answer to the Captain's own calls, then it might warrant taking some time to deal with that.  "I'll have Commander Wenn pay her a visit, but I'll give her some time to herself first; she will need some time to process before we can hope for her to be receptive at at all."  Trent was no counselor, but he did understand that kind of trauma, the loss that came with it.  Granted, though, he'd never had to watch his whole family get wiped from existence.  And, frankly, he would probably have nightmares of his own involving his futilely screaming in his headset for the Asurians to go to warp...

But then there was talk of resuscitating someone from stasis.  So far as the XO knew, they indeed had fully replenished their medical stores at Black Opal and then some.  In fact, it was fair to say that the resupply operations had more in common with a locusts descending upon a field, and what they could not take with them, such as immense quantities of ordnance, had been destroyed as they could not be allowed to be used against them or to fall in Romulan hands.  But at least before he could ask who that individual was, the Captain filled in that blank.  "I'll be sure to pass it on to Doctor Nicander, and to make it a priority." 

There was often some dispute as to what took precedence: operational requirements or medical ethics.  One thing for certain, Trent did not relish having to get into that debate.

But then, he risked a question of his own.  It might be considered forward given their short acquaintance, let alone his tenure as XO.  But unless he had rather poorly judged their relationship, theirs had been one forged in the fires of crisis and tempered in battle.  "All things considered, Captain, we did fairly well, getting out of that mess.  But I feel it's my place to ask, not as your XO but as another commander who's known personal defeat in battle, how are you doing?"

Re: Prologue 01: Focal Point | Day 01 [1600 hrs.]

Reply #7 –
Indeed, while the getaway had - with some monentary complications with their warp field - been successful, it was perhaps the only thing that they could claim a success about the mission. The question was not what she thought about the mission, however, even if Jien had in mind to list all the things that had gone awry. She suspected the question had something to do with the debris of glass and wood by the bulkhead, but Jien did not look at it.

"Fear not, I am all here," she said quietly, but while succinct in her tone, it was not a warning to stay away from that line of inquiry, "I just bleed with my crew today, stabbed in our collective back as we are. Not only were we denied possible redemption in the eyes of the Federation, but made scapegoats by a long dead Starfleet Intelligence officer that somehow thought he had the right to condemn us all to death at the hands of the enemy. Why? Oh, he had an idea that whispering the truth about the enemy might be more efficient. He thought he knew the right people, and just wanted to preserve the image of Starfleet Command for sake of the public opinion. It was the first thing we tried before we fled Earth, and we failed because they have eyes and ears everywhere. In his arrogance, he fed us to the flames!"

Her words were of a cold fire, like burning ice, and she did not move from where she stood. "As if that isn't enough, we have lost Sonja Acreth - the only means we had in which we could find a way to exorcise the parasites from the hosts. Whatever saved scans might show, we have no means in which to test any methods we can learn. All the preparations, months of being hunted by our own, with desperate hope for an end to it all right within our grasp. Instead, we lost hundreds of people in this defeat, worse than when we evacuated from Theta Eridani IV, Thea is a wreck and we got nothing to show for it! We might even have made outselves enemies to the only allies we had!"

Taking a deep breath, Jien looked out towards the streaming stars. "So you will forgive me if I let myself bleed a little bit with our crew today..."

Re: Prologue 01: Focal Point | Day 01 [1600 hrs.]

Reply #8 –
As the Captain spoke, all Trent could do was nod. 

He certainly understood how Ives was feeling, for he too had come out the far end of a disastrous battle; granted the stakes of the engagement in which the Harrier was lost had not been nearly as high as those of the operation at Starbase 84, but he certainly could relate.  But one thing he would not do just yet was going to interrupt as she vented her frustrations. 

After all, there was no one else on board she could do so with. 

But once she made her way to the windows?  That was different.  Trent walked around the desk, broken glass and splintered wood crunching under his feet as he came to stand next to his commanding officer.  His hand, his good hand, came up and in an uncharacteristic display of familiarity, he rested it upon her shoulder.  "Captain, Jien..."  he took a deep breath of his own.  "Do you remember the man you met in this very room what feels like ten lifetimes ago?  I'm the last person who's in any position to criticize you for letting yourself bleed.  I know what it's like to command, and how it feels to lose people.  I'm your XO, and if you ever need to talk, I'm right here."

Re: Prologue 01: Focal Point | Day 01 [1600 hrs.]

Reply #9 –
When reminded about their first meeting - second if counting when one of the Archeron's Runabouts landed aboard, carrying both Wenn Cinn and Carrigan Trent - Jien remembered something she'd said.

"You own the truth, do you?" she said quietly, but not about to mock him in his convictions. Remaining where she stood, she regarded him for a moment before speaking again, words not cutting, but quite firm. "Tell me, how do you honour the dead by making yourself self-righteously craven? Is it truly - your obvious fear of failure aside - better to never chance saving countless civilian lives in battle against Federation enemies because you happen to have commanded a starship that was ambushed? Is it better to never fly again because you happen to crash a shuttle? Is it true that it is better to never walk again because you happen to stumble and hit your head?"

In the aftermath of this particular battle, when the truth had been squandered and sent all across Federation space, it seemed more evident than ever that 'truth' was a fickle thing. Yet even more importantly, it reminded her to take her own advise, as hard as it might seem to her when both she and her crew were still bleeding. She felt his hand upon her shoulder, and its reminder that she did not shoulder command completely on her own, but that in Trent, at least, she had someone that would remain loyal. She took a deep breath, folding her arms again, looking at the stars whisking by together with him.

"Thank you," she said quietly, then she raised a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "It would seem that I was right. No one truly owns the truth. A lesson now bitterly learned."

Having said this, she stepped away from Trent and the view, heading towards her desk. As much as she would like for Trent to stay, and to talk more, they did not have that kind of luxury. "Stark can handle the bridge. You got your orders, and time is scarce. Go to the department heads and get their help to sort out the status of the ship. We still don't know how bad things are, and until we do... we'll have no chance to prepare for another engagement. Dismissed.... and I meant it. Thank you."

She said the last two words with a faint smile, despite it all.

Re: Prologue 01: Focal Point | Day 01 [1600 hrs.]

Reply #10 –
"Already done, Captain," he softly replied when he was instructed to start detailing department heads to the duties of setting Theurgy to rights after the battle.  Securing after an engagement was always a lengthy process, for every system and component needed to be checked in case the on-board sensors did not detect the damage automatically, ordnance had to be squared away and the full extent of damage had to be catalogued, prioritized and seen to, casualties needed to be addressed, and the countless tasks and reports needed doing and filing. 

At least, Trent now had a staff of his own to assist him with this part of his job and he was confident Yukimura was assisting Arisaka in the filling out of the Tactical department's paperwork as well as his report from being in command of a vector during the engagement, and that Dewitt was dealing with the administrative matters that normally would clutter his desk, freeing him to deal with more pressing issues, and where he could not delegate his authority. 

But that hardly meant it left him with little to do; if the additional Starfleet personnel they had just picked up weren't involved, he would be unlikely to get something resembling a decent night's sleep to begin with; with that particular issue, he would be lucky to get any sleep at all and would have to rely on stimulants to see him through the next day or so. 

"Also, the shield modifications so we can survive in the nebula are ready to go.  Good news is, their power consumption is low enough we can run only one out of four shield emitters and maintain coverage so we can effect repairs, so we can cycle them every few hours and not degrade any of the emitters.  Unfortunately, the new harmonics are leaving our shields completely useless in battle."  Indeed, that had been an engineering issue they had run into when the plan to hide in the Azure Nebula for an extended period had been decided upon; the particularly intense levels of Delta and Thermionic radiation that would interfere with sensors and hide them from outside observation were such that the navigational deflector would not be sufficient to handle them on their own and would have to be supplemented by the shields; however, the harmonics required for an extended stay were incompatible with those that were used in combat and trying to combine them in any way led, in simulations, to a complete collapse of the shield bubble that would leave them completely vulnerable to incoming fire and radiation for at least a good half hour.  Therefore, if they intended to survive in the hostile environment of the nebula without the unusually high levels of radiation starting to break down everything in the ship, technology and crew alike, within a few hours they had to sacrifice their ability to fight in anything but the outermost areas of the nebula... where sensors might pick them up from the outside. 

Being dismissed, he gave the shoulder under his hand just enough of a squeeze to remind the Captain that indeed he would be there for her any time she needed him, and then he withdrew his hand.  "I'll keep you apprised of any changes, and I'll start on reviewing the Resolve's senior staff, see where we can employ some of them; I hope we can find someone to take over at Tactical at the very least.  I will let you know what I find."

And, with this said, the XO went back to work.
 
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