Posted by Vice Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - Starfleet HQ - Marching Orders
[snip]

=^= Confirm. I’ll be there. =^= Was Marceau’s response.

Half an hour later he had arrived in Commodore Samson’s office as requested, awaiting the Commodore to tell him what it was he was here for.

~ Captain Renault

Once Renault had been checked through the various check points for security and appointment clearance he barely arrived before the half-hour mark that the Commodore wanted. Thankfully once through he entered the Commodore’s office, which oddly was quite small if one considered his rank. The room was rectangular in shape, about 20ft wide by 40 some feet deep. There was the obvious work desk and chair, a pair of dark metal visitor’s chair with padded seat and backing, a small serving table where some coffee pot and cups sat next to a bowl of fresh fruit, and a large 40 inch display screen on the left wall. The right side was adorned by an arrange of pictures from historical records of different planets, stars, and nebulas, as well as it seems some families pictures of the Commodore’s lineage. To tie it all together a small pair of square windows looked out over the entry area below facing the opposite side of HQ.

The Commodore in question was in his late-early 40s. Dark tanned skin, only slightly thinning dark brown hair, he stood around 5‘9-5‘10 in height, but clearly was a man with a physical background as he was quite well muscled and defined, probably someone who still kept up on that now of days even with their desk duties. “..Ah Captain Renault, good, you weren’t late. I was beginning to worry perhaps as the minutes ticked down. I trust security did not give you too much hassle?” he asked.

Once Renault had replied, Samson gestured to the serving tray, “..Please get yourself a cup of water or coffee if you wish same for the fruit. I need to make one quick call to check up on someone who should be here by now..” he said turning back to his desk and hitting a chime switch, =/\= Ensign Marcus? Did Lt Commander Beems arrive yet?=/\= He asked.

=/\= Yes Commodore, Commander Beems should be at your office momentarily he just passed through front security checkpoint =/\= Came the male voiced reply.

=/\= Good, and tell Lieutenant Stickler to stop being such a hard ass on checking in everyone! It’s one thing to be secure but another to be this paranoid, last I checked we don’t have enemies on or near Earth looking to shoot up the place....=/\= Samson said closing the channel.

True enough the door to Samson’s office clicked open and in walked a harried looking Lieutenant Commander ranked woman. She was in her mid-30s, likely of African or Latin descent, stood at a full 5‘11 in height and though mousey in some ways, was someone clearly more of a dedicated ‘egg head’ then someone who worked out alot or saw much movement. This was evidenced by her slightly out of breath state as she no doubt had ran here. “..S…sorry I am late, sir,” She said carrying a folder of papers and a PADD, “..The air traffic over town was tough to get through and I ran late, it won’t happen again!” She said.

Nodding Samson gestured for the woman to relax, and set her things down, “..Come in Beems, let me introduce you to Captain Renault. Captain this is Lt Commander Beems, she is one of Starfleet’s engineer’s in fleet planning and development. As well as a consultant working with several civilian mining corporations that aide Starfleet in our construction and supply efforts..” he said.

Marceau nodded a greeting to the woman he was being introduced to.

Once everyone had taken a seat, Samson first looked to Renault, “..Captain as you no doubt know you were recently promoted and ordered to return to Earth. I asked your former CO to keep the reason under wraps for now, not due to any security matters but I wanted to be the first to surprise you..” He said inserting a data disk and on the large display monitor to the left a sleek arrow like shaped ship came up. “..You are to be given command effective today, of the fifth Lunar Rover class light cruisers. The first four are to be used as prototypes here at Sol. But the SS Sojourner will be the first of the class to get outside the system and help expand Earth’s influence. We’re already prepping your crew, the ship has already been fully stocked and kitted out for up to a years worth of mission duties, your crew will all be boarding this evening into tomorrow to fully take ownership, from dockyard 2 around Luna’s orbit..” he said.

“I’m… I’m getting a ship?” Marceau stuttered, mouth agape, his French accent a bit thicker than normal. It wasn’t the most dignified response a new captain could give. Marceau mentally face-palmed.

Beems smiled to Renault looking envious, “..Congratulations, Captain. These cruisers are really robust I think you’ll find. I must admit to be a bit jealous!” She said.

He cleared his throat. What was a better answer to ‘congratulations, captain,’ than staring like an excited four-year-old? “Ahem… Thank you. This is… unexpected but great news.”

Samson slid over a PADD, “..Your clearance codes, full ship specifications and crew will be found on the included data chips on this PADD. Any questions let us know by 1100 hours in the morning..” He said. Taking out the chip from his desk and putting in another he continued, “..For now though we already got your first mission you’ll be undertaking. I’ll let Lt Commander Beems take over from here..” he said with a nod to the woman.

Marceau took the PaDD with a nod, glad to have something to focus on besides his own nervousness. He read through the ship specifications in detail while he listened to them.

The woman nodded rising looking more at ease on this point, going over to the display screen a series of small windows popped up for further examination. “..Right! So as Commodore Samson said, “I am one of Starfleet’s consultants to civilian sector companies that fill contracts that Starfleet provides for building and such efforts. In this case my uncle is a controlling partner in the Far Horizon’s mining corporation. They have several bases in Sol harvesting different veins of ore. But since Earth wants to expand our influence, they have been expanding themselves using unmanned survey probes for viable systems near to Sol we could claim. About 2 weeks ago we got a promising ping back from Probe-9.” She said expanding one of the windows, which showed a star system with a red colored M-class star, with two planets in its orbit. Only one was identified as being M-Class habitable. “..This is the Wolf-359 star system. Its about just under 7 light years from Sol. No known claims we know of, nor by anyone from the Vulcans, who noted that while the system does have a mineral rich inner planet, and the second planet is Class-M neither was ‘logically viable for anyone to claim’ given their distance from any other trade routes currently. Well Earth plans to claim this system and hopefully setup a mining operation there!” She said.

Adjusting the pictures and scan results she zoomed in on the first planet, “..Planet 1 here on initial survey scans shows several metals near or deeper on the surface, while the quality is perhaps not quite as high as we would like we’re hoping that is more due to Probe-9’s limited scanners then any true result. There is no atmosphere either, so any posts will need suitable habitat structures setup..” She said, then switched to the second planet, “..Planet 2 here on scans is as I said Class-M slightly higher oxygen content then Earth but nothing too troubling. Gravity is about a percent or so lighter then Earth as well. 60% of the planet is landmass and the rest fresh or salt water lakes or oceans. Mixed environmental fauna, a lot like Earth’s northern hemisphere with forests and such, from scans it seems most preferred mining sites are in the three major mountain ranges on the main continent..” She said highlighting this in order. “..Animal life is mostly mixed, nothing too dangerous from what we saw on visual scans, but indications aren’t clear on that so be prepared..” she said.

At this point, Marceau’s attention had drifted up from the PaDD and back to Beems as the explanation of the mission continued. “Sounds interesting. I’m sure we can get better scans once we are closer.”

Samson by this point took over, “..Wolf 359 would be one of Earth’s first efforts in recent years to lay claim to such prime territory near Sol. Your orders will be as follows, 1) Get there and verify the system findings of Probe-9, as well as the planet’s and their potential mineral composites, 2) Land on Planet 2 and setup claim buoys not only in orbit but ground side, so folks passing by will know who owns this strip of land, 3) Ground side we want you to cataloged anything viable, animals, plants, water, air, etc. Especially look for ideal mining posts and colony sites near the three highlighted survey markers, 4) Once you’re done deploy system drones to setup a watch till we can get a larger mining presence setup by our contractors at Far Horizons. Questions so far?” Samson asked.

GM CockRoach

No questions sprang to mind, then again, Marceau was still a bit in shock by the news in the first place. “It seems straightforward. I have until 1100 hours to come up with questions?” He asked, looking between Samson and Beems. He’d been in deep space before, or what Starfleet at the time considered such, on another ship, so at least it wouldn’t be his first time out of the Sol system, but it was still… nerve wracking.

~ Captain Renault