Posted by Commander Balfor Kolar (XO/CSO) in Ready Room (Tag all Department heads)

Posted by Lieutenant Sheleah Ruby (Diplomatic Officer / CNS) in Ready Room (Tag all Department heads)

Posted by Lieutenant Allison Scott (CMO) in Ready Room (Tag all Department heads)
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Colter sat at the head of the table, staring at the monitor in front of him. The screen was paused with the image of a Federation starship at the beginning stages of an explosion . . . .

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO/CIO USS Saracen

Harri blinked at the image. Whilst it was still too early to tell, it looked like the explosion was of sufficient power to cause some significant damage, if not destroy the ship.

“That isn’t good,” she said, more to herself than anyone else.

Lt. Cmdr. Sato
Chief Engineer

Sheleah slid into a seat a few chairs down the right hand side of the table from the Captain. She watched the screen intently for a few seconds before shaking her head. Not good indeed she thought.

• Sheleah, CNS/DO

“A possible act of terrorism on a Starfleet ship . . . .I’ll explain more in depth when the rest get here.”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO/CIO USS Saracen

“That would be damn near impossible....” Nicholas muttered in shock. “Even with our security protocols, it’s hard to believe that someone could have pulled something like that off on a starship.” Lieutenant Foster stared back at the screen intently, thinking about possibly running a few drills of his own to avoid something like that happening on the Saracen.

Lieutenant Nicholas Foster
Chief of Security

Ally didn’t want to start listing off the ways to kill a crew. It was not too difficult with a little planning and far less mess than they were discussing. Not wanting to sound like a lunatic she kept her thoughts to herself.

Ally Scott CMO

The captain leaned forward, clasping his hands together and resting his elbows on the table.

“Ten days ago, the Saracen delivered a package to the USS Quicksilver, an Avenger-class destroyer orbiting the planet Caere. That package was the Quicksilver’s newly appointed CO, Capt. Shevna (See Captain’s log. . . .https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf5/saracen/posts/247375/).”

“Caere recently petitioned the Federation to become its’ newest member. The Quicksilver was there to provide support to the USS Hokkaido. The Hokkaido is on her way to start the process and negotiations.”

“At 0430 hours ship time, I received a priority one message from Starfleet Intelligence. This was not directed to the CO of the Saracen, but to Agent Colter of Intel. What you’re seein is the end of the message I got. That,” he said indicating the monitor, “is the beginning of the end of the Quicksilver. Intel wants us to investigate what happened while keeping it quiet until we have some answers. It’s believed that there is a certain part of Caere’s population that doesn’t want to join the Federation.”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO/CIO USS Saracen

Sheleah noted the difference in uses of title when it came to what the Captain was explaining. Obviously, Starfleet wanted things done a specific way for specific reasons. She didn’t really like that because layers of information had a way of getting all tangled up and that was usually not a good thing. It wasn’t her job to complain about such things, just to keep them straight.

• Sheleah, CNS/DO

“Do we have any more footage?” Sato asked. Whilst she could see what part of the ship was the source of the explosion, seeing the pattern of the explosion would reveal more about how it was done.

Lt. Cmdr. Sato
Chief Engineer

DaVinci hit the replay button on the console. Before it began to play, he added, “The Caerean military generously offered to clean up the debris field before it scattered too much. They were able to retrieve the black box from Quicksilver. This is what was recorded just before the explosion. . . . .”

---

The scene shifted to a birds-eye view of the Quicksilvers’ bridge, Capt. Shevna in the center seat.

“Standard orbit achieved, Captain,” reported the helmsman.

“Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Maintain position,” Shevna ordered. “Ens. Bell, contact the capitol and let them know I’m coming down with a small retinue to make sure everything is ready to go for the Hokkaido’s arrival. Also, have Lt. Dillon and a small security team, as well as Dr. Hook meet me in Transporter room One.”

“Aye, Sir,” Bell replied.

As Shevna moved toward the turbolift, Bell called out anxiously. “Captain, wait!! I’ve just picked up an unauthorized transport from the ship to the surface.”

“What?? Who was it? To where on the surfa-------“

The screen went blaze white as the explosion ripped through the Quicksilver,. A moment later, the screen shifted to the Quicksilver floating peacefully in orbit , the next, a chain reaction of explosions starting mid-ship and extending out toward both bow and stern, ripping through the ship, destroying it.

“That last bit was provided by a satellite not too far from the Quicksilver. No escape pods were seen. All hands reported lost. . . except for whoever beamed off the ship. . . . “

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO/CIO USS Saracen

“If you don’t mind, Captain, I would like to take a further look at the data from the black box to see if there are any indications as to what caused the explosion,” she said, “and to whether there is any clue to the escapee.”

Lt. Cmdr. Sato
Chief Engineer

“Of course, Commander,” DaVinci replied. “When we reach Caere, I’d also like you to investigate the debris collected by the Caereans. Mr. Foster, work with Cmdr. Balfor, put a team together and do some investigating within the administration. Find out who would be opposed to joining the Federation.”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO/CIO USS Saracen

The Security Chief nodded in return. “Someone should also look over the manifest list, too,” He stated, “As gruesome as it sounds, science or medical can collect any organic material left in space and cross them off the list.” Nicholas cringed at his own words, but simple forensics could get them one step closer to finding out who beamed off the ship.

Lieutenant Nicholas Foster
Chief of Security

Ally nodded. Bits of bodies didn’t bother her as much as most people. She was also taking samples of something so whether is was from someone dead, alive, or off a hunk of metal didn’t matter.

Ally Scott CMO

“We’ll have science run a sweep of the area and try to collect . . . some,” the CO replied.

Sheleah was glad to see the crew working together to solve this interesting situation. Sighing she glanced up and realized she could contribute something to this conversation.

“I would like to have a look at the personnel files of anybody associated with the ship. I might be able to develop a psychological profile of everybody there that would help us define the situation more clearly. You never know when it might come in handy.”

• Sheleah, CNS/DO

“Good as place as any to start, Counselor. I’d also like you to accompany Balfor and Foster to the planet. There may be a need for some diplomacy in their investigation.”

Sheleah nodded, time to find a kitty sitter. Looks like this was going to be a busy one.

• Sheleah, CNS/DO

“I’ll also look into beefing up our security protocols on the Saracen as a precaution,” The Security Chief stated. Nicholas couldn’t imagine someone doing this to a Starfleet vessel, but didn’t put it past a sleeper cell to do so.

Lieutenant Nicholas Foster
Chief of Security

“Good idea, Lt. Try not to take too long, though. The longer this investigation goes on, the harder it’ll be to keep it under wraps.”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO/CIO USS Saracen

“Yes Sir,” Balfor nodded to the CO and then made eye contact with each of the people named for the away team he was leading. Diplomacy was far less fun than most away missions but exceedingly more fun than swabbing for forensics or sitting around waiting for lab results.

Kolar XO

DaVinci nodded to his XO. “You know what to do, people. If there are no more question, let’s make this happen.”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO/CIO USS Saracen