Posted by Captain Chris Taggart (Captain) in Pre Sim: CE’s Arrival - Captains Quarters

Posted by Commander Stovik (XO) in Pre Sim: CE’s Arrival - Captains Quarters

Posted by Lieutenant Gage Whitney (CE) in Pre Sim: CE’s Arrival - Captains Quarters
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<SNIP!>

“It appears it is the collected archives of the majority of knowledge that Vulcan has amassed. It is housed in a very durable vault so the Admiral is quite hopeful that it is still intact despite the planet’s destruction.”The elderly Vulcan’s voice remained even and calm despite his matter of factly speaking of his home world’s destruction. Only deep in his eyes was it apparent how this affected him.

Commander Stovik

He’d wondered from time to time in the 12 years since Vulcans destruction what he would do if Earth had been destroyed. What would his family have done if the Xindi had been successful a century earlier? He put such thoughts out of his mind and returned to the task at hand “Given the method use to fracture the core of the planet, I would likely be somewhat less hopeful than the Admiral. This was also 10 years ago. Why has it taken this long for your people to attempt to retrieve the archive?”

Whitney (CE)

Stovik shook his head soberly, “I do not know, Lieutenant. I had assumed that we had lost all our history and knowledge with Vulcan’s destruction.” The lines on his ancient face deepened as he allowed the other man to see a glimpse of the grief within. His eyes looked far away at something in the distance, perhaps back to that fateful day 10 years ago.

Then his eyes suddenly sharpened and his gaze returned to Whitney.”That is not for us to question though, we will go and ascertain what we can.” He paused a moment as he studied the CE before him again.” I must admit to some curiosity, Lieutenant. You have had a stellar career as a ship designer, this ship class to be specific. What has lead you to wish to serve on her?”

Commander Stovik

He felt a flutter of sympathy as something approaching pain seemed to cross the officers face. He maintained the neutrality of his face, knowing enough of Vulcans to understand that emotional outbursts or commentary were rarely appreciated. He cleared his throat again, more out of reflex as it gave him a moment to consider the situation “There’s nothing too particularly profound about it, Commander. Starfleet Engineering has approved the initial draft of a refit for the Kurtzman. It was… Pointed out… to me, that in order to produce a refit worthy of the time, effort and resources, it would behove me to experience the reality of the original design after extended deep space duty. I didn’t choose the Chernov, that was just the only ship in class with an engineering position open, but it’s a lucky choice given its age and some of the more straining missions in its history… Tell me, Commander, while I appreciate that Starfleet has made some effort to protect the Vulcan debris field from raiders, what makes the High Council believe that even had it survived the planet’s destruction, this archive has not long since been looted?”

Whitney (CE)

This man was persistent, Stovik thought briefly to himself. Well good officers asked the hard questions. “Old Vulcan is very deep within the Sol system and close to Earth. I am assuming there has been somewhat of a watch on the area. But I do not know that for sure, as I said we will ascertain that once we arrive. “ He nodded his head then before he addressed the other part of Whitney’s statement. “Logical, it would certainly assist you with the refit design to see the ship in action yourself. Do you have any questions for me, Lieutenant, in regards to your position or department?”

Commander Stovik

He shook his head in the negative “I’ll need the full specifications for this archive. Unique materials, structure, size, power source. If it survived a planetary explosion, I have no doubt it is composed of unique and detectable materials. I assume our secretive Vulcan guests can provide that data? “

Whitney(CE)

Stovik’s brow rose. So much for trying to keep their guests presence quiet, he must remember this was a mostly human ship. Human gossip spread at the speed of wildfire even when commanded not to speak of things.
He frowned, for the security guards to have spoken when ordered not too was a breach of command never mind etiquette. He would need to speak with the Armory Chief. Of course, there was also the possibility that their guests were seen in the corridors before they reached the VIP quarters.
“We have not been given the specifics of the vault or their content. I will see to it that we get the specifications we need. Lieutenant, the presence of our ‘guests’ is not to be spoken of.” He said in warning.
“Why they are being so secretive, I do not know but we must respect their wishes.”

Commander Stovik

His eyebrow raised in surprise. He had heard of three Vulcan guests almost immediately as they boarded. Efforts hadn’t exactly been made to empty corridors in their presence and even a ship of 500 had more than its fair share of gossips “I will maintain their secrecy of course, although I feel that particular ship has long since sailed, Commander. I’d certainly appreciate any information they can give me. Whatever or why-ever they wish to maintain their secrecy, I at least will need full access to those specifications to adjust and calibrate the sensors to scan for a technological needle in a haystack. I’ll also either need the entire main shuttlebay if this thing is as big as one would think”

Whitney (CE)

Stovik nodded as he rose,”Of course. I will see to it that you have what you need. Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. I look forward to working with you.” He said as he walked toward the door. He still needed to finish moving his things out of the Captain’s cabin and to here. Not that there was a lot of it but he wanted to get the move down before they got into the thick of things with this mission.

Commander Stovik

He nodded his agreement, beginning to move with the Commander towards the door, as it parted to deposit a rather peculiar looking fellow wearing Captains bars.

Just as Stovik opened the door Chris was there with some of Stoviks things helping him move. The Chief would notice a man in his late 30’s with an eye patch and dark raven black hair and a cybernetic arm holding some boxes.

Chris didn’t see Chief Whitney. “Perfect timing sir! Where would you like these? They came from your bedroom. Also sir, I said we didn’t have to switch rooms right now. They are pretty much the same. “

Captain Chris Taggart CO

“I felt it would assist both ours and the crews ability to settle into the unusual command change easier, Captain.” Stovik said equanimity. “On the couch will suffice.” He added stepping out of the way so Taggart could move past him.

“Yes sir. ” he then went to the couch, his couch. The one he spent many nights on. Looking longley at it.

He cleared his throat, not wanting to be seen to eavesdrop on this rather awkward conversation

Whitney (CE)

“This is our new Chief Engineer, Captain, Lieutenant Gage Whitney. He has just arrived and I have brought him up to date with the mission parameters.”

Commander Stovik

Chris smiled and wiped his clean hands clean again on his pants. He put it out to shake the man’s hand. “Please to meet you Chief! I’m Chris Taggart. Do you like to be called chief or do you prefer something different?”

He gladly took the proffered hand with a smile, his voice chipper “Chief will suffice, thank you Captain. It’s what i’ve grown quite accustomed to over the years at UP”

“I do have something to all of you and sorry it is so soon. Where we are going they have already detected a decloaked Romulan ship. Is there something that you can do to try to detect them when they are cloaked. There is also an Orion ship there. “

Captain Chris Taggart CO

He frowned, scratching the side of his cheek with his right hand as his eyes grew distant. It was all too suddenly all too real. Taking a position aboard a ship of the line was one thing, but actually facing the possibility of a violent encounter with a species as unfamiliar as the Romulans was an entirely different matter. His flipped his hand out, his voice thoughtful “Honestly, I would be tempted to say no. We know virtually nothing about the Romulans. We haven’t had a verified encounter in nearly a century as far as I know. Our exposure to cloaking devices up to this point has involved the Klingons and Suliban. The NX Enterprise used a quantum beacon to detect suliban cloaks, but it didn’t seem particularly effective against Romulans. Our sensors are fairly easily calibrated to emit the same range of frequencies used by the original beacon, and they’re significantly more powerful, but I can’t guarantee any results.”

Whitney (CE)