Posted by Lieutenant Kastarak (XO/Navigation Officer) in Main Sim: Conference Room

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Quentin “Q” Dawson (Chief Weapons Officer) in Main Sim: Conference Room

Posted by Commander William B. Grey (Chief Science Officer / 2nd Officer) in Main Sim: Conference Room
Posted by… suppressed (18) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It was the same afternoon as Kastarak had been promoted to First Officer and full lieutenant. Earlier this morning (actually, in the middle of the night), the captain had surprised him with this promotion while they were working out in the gym. This was the first time in Kastarak’s Starfleet career that he was wearing a golden shirt – the shirt for command, with lieutenant stripes on his sleeves.

Kastarak had been briefed during the day of the matters ot today’s meeting. He had been in calls with Starfleet command with the captain too, and been briefed on their next orders. The time of patrolling Federation space would soon be over. There would be no honeymoon for Kastarak.

Now, Kastarak had decided to go to the conference room early to set up and prepare. He ensured there would be pots of tea and coffee on the table, and cups and other refreshments along the seats. All department heads had been invited, as had Sara Lovejoy.

Only a few more minutes to go, then the meeting would begin. Who would enter first?

– Lt Kastarak (XO)

Pawl got a summons to a staff meeting but it came from Kasarak He was not aware of the command change as he finished getting ready and headed off towards the conference room. His head swimming with thoughts of KAsarak as his commander now. It was nice he got the promotion but was shocked he never mentioned it. Did something happen to the old xo he pondered as he walked down the corridor. As he closed on the door to the conference room he almost ran into a lonely ensign doing some cleaning chores. “Sorry, Ensign.” Pawl spoke quickly almost falling on the officer as he did a graceful sidestep as he avoided the accident. Moments later the doors opened to the conference room and Pawl slid in like he did a dance step as he stopped just inside the door as they closed behind him. As he tried to recompose himself as he moved towards the table as he finally saw an officer there almost not realizing it was the doctor now in a new uniform. “Well hello, Kass… I Mend Commander?” Pawl was in shock. He barely squeaked out “Congratulations sir!”

Lt Jg Pawl Batario

“Thank you, Pawl,” Kastarak said. He decided to be informal with Pawl, at least until others would arrive. After all, they had been intimate with one another before. Kastarak thought that that could never happen again, as he was now in a position of authority over Pawl. This was complicated. But history cannot be changed, and that too, would be difficult to deal with. He needed to speak with Pawl about this, and with the captain, most likely.

“I was promoted 12 hours ago,” he added. “Would you like some tea? Or coffee? I have other beverages too, and snacks.”

– Lt Kastarak (First Officer)

“You’re most welcome. Kasarak.” noticing the informality of the conversation at present. He felt a complex emotions which was not common for him. but was not going to try to address them now. But he knew things were complicated more now with the promotion but that was not going to stop his friendship either they would have to talk to him later. “I had a feeling that something happened during the night. Some iced tea would be nice. thank you.” pawl said with a smile. “What type of snacks? Sir?” Pawl asked quickly. “I’m trying to keep it casual but the rank change is still a surprise for me.” he said with a smile.

Lt JG Pawl Batario - Chief Engineer

Kastarak listened to Pawl. He could sense a shift in Pawl’s emotions too, or could it be transference originally from himself?

“It is still a new change of events that I am trying to accustom myself to,” said Kastarak, wondering how Pawl finds him in the gold uniform instead of the usual medical blue. “The new chef has made some Scandinavian cinnamon buns. There are some uttaberry pies, too, that the chef procured in your honour. I hope they will be to your liking.”

William followed in shortly after the Chernovs Chief Engineer, in his hands was a PaDD and a cup of Coffee as was usual for staff meetings. He stopped by his usual place on the conference room table and placed his PaDD down before removing the lid of his cup and refilling the coffee “Chief, Lieutenant” He gave each officer a slight nod “I understand congratulations are in order Lieutenant” He said as he closed the lid again before continuing. The news had been extremely welcome, the past few weeks serving as acting XO had been excruciatingly dull, and patrolling was possibly the worst assignment he’d experienced so far. More so welcome since it put to rest rumors the crew had been circulating about him taking the position on a permanent basis. Even if he’d still serve as Science Chief it was the administrative work that he found worst of all since he no longer felt insecure about taking the Conn. “Any news on command pushing you up a grade?” He asked mostly out of curiosity, he knew that there would be sticklers for the Chain of Command about a Commander serving under a Lieutenant but William didn’t care, worst came to worst he could just request a special mission assignment to the Chernov.

CSO, 2O

“Thank you, commander,” Kastarak replied, sensing relief in his second officer. “As for your question, I do not yet know. I have only been in this position for twelve hours.”

William nodded. things tended to move fast on the Chernov, he knew from personal experience that the grade increase would appear out of nowhere. He had a suspicion that “the old man” as some of the Crew liked to call Taggart would delay giving out promotions until it personally inconvenienced him… well that or wait until he could host a party but he wasn’t unsure about the former option.

Kastarak pondered Grey’s question. It was indeed odd, but not unheard of, that the first officer was of a lower rank than the second officer. It could potentially cause problems, especially in emergencies. It would need discussion between him, Grey and Taggart.

Dawson had been working to the last on the debrief, making sure that everything that could be done was. Finally, he settled the report and headed to the conference room.

He was again lacking his normal upbeat nature, the gravity of the situation still weighing on him. After the debrief he was planning to talk with Kas, hoping a session with the counselor would ease his mind, especially now that he could share everything with him.

Dawson entered the conference room and practically did a double take. Kas was near the head of the table in a gold shirt rather than his usual blue. Grey seemed to have taken his previously normal seat as CSO.

“Did I miss something?” Dawson asked slowly as he looked from Grey to Kastarak. Clearly, he had, and he hoped someone would enlighten him before the meeting got underway.

LT. Q Dawson, CWO

“Lieutenant Dawson, welcome. As of twelve hours ago, I am the first officer of this ship,” Kastarak replied flatly. Despite that, he noticed in Dawson a lowered basic mood. Kastarak’s psychomedical instincts were activated, and he had a need to prod, see how Dawson was doing. He stopped himself. Now was not the moment. “Please have a seat.”

Kastarak new that he would have to schedule one-to-ones with the department heads quite soon, to iron out any irregularities. Filling T’Aria shoes would be impossible. Kastarak needed to be himself, yet at the same time, earn the respect of his colleagues in a different position.

He was confident the captain would come soon to settle the situation. Kastarak’s notes were well-prepared, he had a lot to fill in on.

– Lt Kastarak (First Officer)

Q blinked a few times taking in the information that Kastarak had just given him. He had just been speaking to Taggart a few hours ago and he hadn’t mentioned anything about Kas stepping up as first officer. Granted, they had other matters that needed to be discussed.

He was happy for him. It also alleviated some of his tensions about the possibility of Kas leaving as T’Aria had. Taking on the XO position was a great responsibility and showed a commitment to the ship.

William raised an eyebrow at Q “You really should start your day by reading the morning briefs in your inbox” he chided him softly, although there was a hint of humor in his voice, something that was becoming more common with him the last few weeks which greatly discomforted his team. Things had been more relaxed recently so getting caught up during the daily briefing was acceptable but he’d come to understand the importance of building rapport over his years narrowly avoiding the gold shirt.

Q felt his face redden slightly at Grey’s chiding. It was true, he had neglected his morning briefings, having devoted his attention to preparing their strategy for the next mission, and with how to explain to the rest of the ship about his sister. He realized he had developed tunnel vision on this and he needed to widen his gaze or he would miss something else.

“Apologies commander,” Q said, “I had been preoccupied and hadn’t time to look over the briefings. But congratulations Lieutenant. I look forward to working with you.”

“Thank you,” Kastarak replied to Q, “I look forward to a fruitful cooperation.”

After the conversation finished. “Excuse me Commander the chef did an amazing job with the pies.” He said with a smile as he took a saucer with a few pies on them along with the cinnamon roll or two. As he took a seat briefly where he normally would sit during the meetings. He got up again then grabbed a large orange juice from the buffet table then returned to his seat. and started to nibble on a pie.

Lt Jg Pawl Batario - Chief Engineer

CSO, 2O

Dawson looked at the confectionaries laid out on the table and quickly decided his stomach was in too many knots for him to try and eat what he was sure were very good desserts. He took his seat and waited for Taggart to arrive so he could try and work through this debrief.

-Lt. Q. Dawson, CWO

In the quiet moments while the officers were waiting for the CO to appear, Symar went over to Kastarak, “Excellent first briefing Lieutenant, we’ll make a Captain of you yet!” He winked good-naturedly.

-Lieutenant Symar: Chief Medical Officer-

“But, sir,” interjected Kastarak, not understanding the doctor’s remarks. “The briefing has not yet started. We’re waiting for the captain.”

William leaned in to whisper in Kastarak’s ear “Your First Officer now, only the Captain is Sir to you” He pointed to his own stripes “Around the brass you might have to defer to me in the meanwhile but during missions and on the ship you outrank even me” He whispered lower than he would with a human, trusting in the Vulcan ears to convey his message.

The commander made a good point. Kastarak had to set example. “Thank you, Mr Grey, for that reminder” he whispered back. ¨

Kastarak looked down on his pad and made some mental notes. He would have to lead most of the meeting. Now he only needed the captain to arrive, and Ms Lovejoy too.

“Mr Batario,” Kastarak looked at Pawl, “Have you heard from Ms Lovejoy? I sent an invitation to her to join us as well. Her expertise is needed.”

– Lt Kastarak (XO)

CSO, 2O

“No, I haven’t heard a thing ? Commander” Pawl said calmly to the commander “I could go and see if she is ok? Commander?” pawl offered

Lt Jg Pawl Batario - Chief Engineer

“There is no need. If she hasn’t come, she is busy elsewhere. Perhaps there is something acute that requires her attention. You should stay, Mr Batario. I must also add, I am not a commander, I am a lieutenant. You may address me as such or as sir. The commander in here is Mr Grey.”

He was still waiting. It was unusual for the captain to be so late. Perhaps he was in last-minute proceedings with Starfleet. If so, Kastarak could not start with the briefing yet. He needed to improvise.

“Colleagues,” he announced, rose from his seat, and signalled all others to sit. “Before we begin with today’s secret briefing, which we will need the captain’s attendance for, I should like to make an announcement.”

Kastatak looked around at his “new” underlings.

“Over the next few days, I will book you in for one-to-one meetings with me as your new first officer. In that meeting, we will go over your personal goals with your position, any challenges you face at work, as well as the status of your junior officers and crewmen. I trust you will come prepared. I will now take your questions on this matter.”

– Lt Kastarak (First Officer)

William nodded at that, it was the correct move, prepare to take a leadership role and then show that you are in fact in charge. He made a note to have Kastarak meet with him first so they could have a chance to bring him up to speed on the paperwork.

Dawson had remained seated and noted the stirrings in the room. Taggart was running behind and it wasn’t boding well. When Kas began to steer the meeting towards other matters while they waited, Dawson leaned forward.

“I’ve a question, Sir,” he said, realizing for a moment that he hadn’t addressed Kastarak as Sir since their first meeting at his psych eval, “Ahem Sir, will you still be functioning as ship’s counselor or will that role need to be filled at a later date?”

It wasn’t the most pressing question on Dawson’s mind, but it helped distract him from the difficult conversation he was going to have to have with them all when Taggart arrived. He needed to push those thoughts away. He had already resigned himself to this course, and there was no turning back now.

Lt. Q Dawson, CWO

“A replacement for the counselling position will not be ready before we head off for our next mission. Until there is a replacement, I will – as much as my duties as first officer will allow – provide such counselling that cannot wait until we have returned. Our next mission will require a skeleton crew for security reasons, so many other staff will leave us.,” replied Kastarak, knowing full well that Dawon would understand why.

The doors to the conference room opened and in walked Taggart looking a pale. “Finally”. He muttered. Walking past everyone to the front he set a Padd down and looked around. “Please forgive my tardiness. It appears that I came down with something all of a sudden. I’ve been in the bathroom and have taken medication for it but would liked to be checked out by Dr. Symar after this briefing. “

Kastarak rose when the captain entered, and looked at the captain as the captain entered the room. Kastarak’s mind went into full doctor mode, but as he checked out the captain physically, he realized that he himself wore a golden shirt – not a physician. Indeed, Dr Symar would do it, not Kastarak. He noticed in his gut a sudden emotion of grief, of loss, which Kastarak purged. He knew what it meant: he was leaving one part of his identity for exploring a different one.

“First. As you all have realized by now Kastarak is now a Full Lieutenant and the ships newest Executive Officer. I want to make this very clear.” His tone was sharp, professional and serious. ‘He may hold the rank of Lieutenant but he is second in command of this ship and all ALL officers will obey him. If I find out someone is giving him crap then they’ll find themselves on a different ship. Life is measured in moments on this ship as you are all aware. There does not need to have petty bickering added to the mix. He will be taking his courses and once passed, will be raised in rank again. But at the end of the day he will still be lower ranking then Mr.Grey here but that is not uncommon to have some department heads higher rank then the First Officer. I hope I have made myself clear on that matter.” He looked around at room at every being in the directly in the eye before going on.

William raised an eyebrow, the majority of the crew would be aware of his own feelings regarding command and the fact that he’d happily take someone’s orders if he could. He did see potential problems with more junior members of the crew and perhaps anyone fresh from the Academy but he didn’t see the issues with the Senior Staff, mostly because of Kastaraks interpersonal relationships with the other senior staff, something William hadn’t pursued for some time.

Kastarak has not expected the captain to go full-on fatherly here, but it was Taggart’s style, so Kastarak noted that his own surprise was wrong. This is what to be expected.

“Now that that is out of the way. The task at hand. Mr. Dawson will give the actual briefing but I will surmise it here. We are going to deep Klingon space and territory. This is a possible rescue mission and data retrieval mission. I say possible because we do not know if there are any survivors and we do not know if the ship is salvageable or even there. We are going to go in fast and hard and investigate, find and hopefully retrieve Starfleet members and Intel. On a side note, the kings are supposedly making a new kind of ship. If we see them then get as much information as possible and at a last resort, destroy them but again, only if we have to. Our main objective is to get in and get out without them knowing. Now. Mr. Dawson. Please come up here and tell the assembled crew what we’re looking for.”. With that Chris stepped aside and went to the cart to get a cup of coffee and if anyone was looking at the Captain, they would see his hands shaking but not out of fear but out of illness.

Kastarak looked at the captain, with tense eyebrows. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was worried. He hoped the briefing would go quick so that Dr Symar might check the captain out. Or should the briefing be cancelled? Was Kastarak thinking from the point of view of a first officer or a doctor now?

Could the captain’s symptoms wait? Should he interject? In the end, Dr Symar was always the senior doctor, and this remained the case. If the chief physician on board interjected (Kastarak hoped Symar noticed), then as first officer, Kastarak would allow it.

Waiting for Mr Dawson to begin, Kastarak made a mental note of what to say after. After Dawson’s briefing, Kastarak would explain the logistics of it all. He hoped his first briefing would go well.

Captain Chris Taggart CO

– Lt Kastarak XO

William didn’t show any surprise at the announcement, he, of course, had already been briefed on that part of the mission by the Captain before the plan itself was formalized, it did surprise him that Dawson was involved, that and the mission was a S&R in Klingon space. No wonder Starfleet wanted a new XO, they’d need a full chain of command for this. He did make a note to place a wager on if the Captain would miss out on this mission. That thought annoyed him, the protocols then would be hazy and it might force him to take command. He looked at the Vulcan chief Doctor and memorized the route to the nearest escape pod.

CSO, 2O

Dawson cleared his throat, gave the captain a nod, and stood.

“To begin, some of you may have heard about the Husqvarna disappearance,” Dawson did a brief look at Kastarak, sure the XO would see where this was going, “What you may not know is that the Husqvarna disappeared while on a top-secret mission into Klingon Space.” Dawson pressed a few buttons on his PaDD and shared his screen with the large monitor in the room. the image was blurred and grainy, the resolution choppy at best, but there was no denying the large cube floating in space. “This was taken from a long-range reconnaissance probe that had been going near the neutral zone. It managed this single image of the cube, similar to what was seen over Equestria. It was believed that the Klingons were working on a new warship, and so the Husqvarna was sent in to try and gather information. Starfleet lost contact with them after about a week and, since the mission was classified and a violation of our treaties with the Empire, disavowed the ship. Since the Klingons never mentioned finding the ship or Starfleet personnel, it was assumed that the ship was destroyed and all hands lost before the Empire could find any trace of them.”
Dawson took a breath.
“The reason this has come to the Captain’s attention is because my sister, Lt. Clarissa Dawson, was onboard the Husqvarna. Her, the crew and the ship, if possible, will be the objective of this S&R mission. Failing that, we are to find out whatever we can about this cube ship that has been coming up with some frequency now.”

Dawson took this moment to pause so that the other department heads could process what had been said. He’d take questions, comments, and make sure they were all on the same page before delving into the supposed plan of attack. He looked to Kastarak again, searching for support. He wasn’t sure if he wanted it to come from his counselor, his friend, or from his first officer.

Lt. Q Dawson, CWO

Kastarak nodded back to Dawson, giving Dawson a knowing look. It was as empathetic as a Vulcan ordinarily could convey, but Kastarak was confident Dawson would get the gist of it. This mission would be tough on the entire crew, but especially on Dawson. There were so many unknowns here, such as what if Clarissa had not survived – what would that do to Quentin? And what if Clarissa indeed had survived – would she be recognizable to Quentin? How would he react to all the pain accumulated over the years, all the traumas that despite years of therapy still were so hurtful and – at times – debilitating for him?

“Indeed,” said Kastarak, rising from his seat and taking charge of the conversation.

“Earlier today, captain Taggart and I had a call with Starfleet command. With the intelligence we have provided Starfleet about the instances of the so-called cubes, along with the details of the Husqvarna’s plausible relationship with the cubes, we have been ordered to head to Husqvarna’s last coordinates deep in Klingon space. In order to get there, we have been authorized to adapt Romulan cloaking technology onto the Chernov. The cloaking technology is currently at a high-security research base in the Sol system, a moon of Saturn known as Titan. Mr Grey, Mr Batario and Ms Lovejoy will be in charge of adapting the technology, with the support of the base engineers and scientists, onto our ship’s system and making it functional.”

“Meanwhile, in the Sol system, we will drop off about 70% of our crew. Each department head will select which officers and crewmen that can be spared from this mission. It is imperative that we fly with a skeleton crew, as the metaphor goes, to avoid too heavy potential losses for Starfleet should the mission go awry. Our crew will go down from 495 to between 140 and 155 people. That will mean longer shifts and more varied orders for the remaining crew for the duration of the mission.”

Kastarak stopped talking and remained standing, waiting for any comments or questions that he or Dawson might answer.

– Lt Kastarak (First Officer)

William frowned at that, to run a ship of this size properly required a full crew complement, a skeleton crew meant minor maintenance would be placed on the back burner as the Engineer crew had to focus on ship functions. He’d have to unhouse the various experiments his team was running. He’d only to keep three or four of his team and was already going over which expertise would be useful on this assignment. He’d also have to read up on the physics behind cloaking technology, he’d forgo sleep until they arrived home to have time to become a subject matter expert. He glanced at the Captain for a moment, the last time they dealt with a mission surrounding the personal relations of crew members things had gone catastrophically. He quickly looked at Kastarak again “I’d like to point out that going into hostile territory with a skeleton crew is a dangerous choice bordering on stupidity” He said in his usual tone of voice, he said was mostly to have his protests on the record but Command was Command. “This will also be our third Skeleton run and second incursion into Klingon space in a span of two years” That was just a complaint, spending so much time with soldiers meant that William was adopting the soldier’s attitude of complaining just for the sake of complaining.

He moved on to practical matters “Cloaking Technology is fairly simple in use but the disadvantages will likely be greater for use with our systems, returning shields and weapons after decloaking will probably take far longer than ships designed around the use of a cloaking field. With time being an issue there will be little possible in correcting this issue”

CSO, 2O