Posted by Commander Balfor Kolar (XO/CSO) in Main Sim: Ready Room

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Todd Nyman (Diplomatic Officer / CNS) in Main Sim: Ready Room

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Llakar Harel (Chief of Operations) in Main Sim: Ready Room
Posted by… suppressed (21) by the Post Ghost! 👻
After his conversation with Admiral Vass, Capt. Colter immediately called a briefing with his department heads. As he waited, he again went over the notes from the admiral. . . .

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO USS Saracen

The notes were rather sparse at present. There was a brief tactical report from Commander Jacob’s second team who had discovered the remains of the team in the barren ice fields of Javor VI, their bodies torn apart from the battle. There were heavily redacted specs for the relay station and information on the handful of colonies in the system.

The largest colony on Javor III served as the central command centre for both the regions colonies and the covert relay station. There were close to 1000 colonists in the main city of Kallos, who were mostly scientists and their families studying the indigenous wildlife and resources. There was a small security force on the planet but not enough to repel a large scale assault so they were reliant on their planetary defense system which comprised of a network of orbiting satellites. There was also a state of the art medical centre with several smaller clinics dotted throughout the inhabited areas of the colony.

• GM

Balfor had been waiting for some action. Down time was nice but it could also drive one mad with bordem. Entering the office, he gave the CO a nod. “Did command finally find something for us to do,” he asked.

Kolar XO

“Yes, they did,” the CO replied, “and we’re going to have our hands full on this one. Highly covert, very tactical. There has been a number of Starfleet personnel deaths on this one. We need to get this taken care of before there are more. Hope you’re up to date on your weapon certifications, Kolar. I’ve got a feeling we’re going to need them.”

He looked at the chronometer on the wall, waiting for the rest of his command team to join them.

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO USS Saracen

Lt. Valharra walked in with a Raktajino in one hand, a Pad in the other. “Hello Everyone, sounds like we have an interesting mission.” He stated.
Lt. Valharra, Chief Intelligence Officer

“Here’s hopin’, Chief.” Hudson slipped through the door behind Valhara. Andrew had been doing his best to get to know everyone since coming onboard, but his own busy schedule had prevented the familiarity he’d been hoping for. He had a hot cup of tea in his left hand and what looked like a heavily reinforced Tactical PADD in the other. Settling next to the Intel Chief, Hudson went back to reviewing the morning brief from the Delta Shift Section Lead.

“Get comfortable, Ly. This may take a while,” Colter replied.

Ally walked in with her large cup of coffee and took a seat at the table. “Gentlemen,” she said with a nod to each one.

Ally Scott CMO

Hudson felt his eyes rise to meet the CMO’s and with only the slightest of blushes, nodded. “Mornin’ Ally”

“Morning Hudson,” she countered back with a winsome smile. “I warned you I was good with darts. Maybe you will think about that next time you are looking for a friendly game in the lounge.” They had both been in the lounge and they both played darts but her comment made it appear as if she was a hustler. Instead it was more a situation about her still not being able to hit the broad side of a barn except it was with pointy objects instead of phaser bolts.

Ally Scott CMO

“Doctor, I hope you’re up to date on your in-th-field medical techniques.. I’m hoping against it, but this mission may get a little bloody.”

“Always. I attended a conference last year called No tricorder and only rubber gloves…go. It was quite informative and perfect for the feild. By the way thank you Sirs,” she nodded to Balfor and Colter. “I submitted the invoices for your signatures.” Taking a sip of her coffee, Ally assumed from their faces they did not see the cost. Starfleet had free ones but the civilian in-services were always better and and in better locations.

Balfor nodded at the CO. He had been an XO for a long time but this command was very different. On the Olinski he tended to send out the pilots and most missions were space side. On the Saracen, it was turning out to be more dirt side.

Kolar XO

Commander Nyman, settled in, entered the room a joined the table on the side with his back to the wall. Bright blue uniform, pulled back golden hair, and green eyes that observed the room before stepping inside. He slipped in quietly, his nerves still not quite settled from the transfer process. Change was never easy. Even if it was for the better.

Lt. Cmdr. Harel stepped into the ready room quietly, offering a nod of acknowledgment as he entered. Without fanfare or hesitation, he found an open seat and settled in.

This was his first mission aboard the Saracen, and though the uniform was familiar, everything else was new—new ship, new command structure, new rhythms. Around him, the senior staff moved and spoke with the ease of long-standing camaraderie. They were already a team, possibly even a family, with an intuitive grasp of one another’s strengths, blind spots, and unspoken habits.

Harel knew the unspoken truth of being the new officer at the table: observe, absorb, and adapt—quickly. He sat tall but unassuming, ready to listen, ready to learn, ready to earn his place.

DaVinci took his seat at the head of the table. “I’m going to get started. The others will have to join in. First thing–this mission is ulrta secure and covert, a need to know, even within your own departments.. I’ve the conn already plot a course to our destination, the Javoran Expanse. Once there we’;; rendvouz with Cmdr.------“

NE Goodspeed paced nervously outside the ready room door. He had not been having a good day so far. It had started with an impromptu visit to sickbay after he had tripped over a chair leg getting ready for his shift so he had turned up 15 minutes late. He had then recalibrated the sensor array but misplaced a decimal point and had called a red alert for what turned out to be an asteroid only marginally bigger than a pebble. So far he had managed to avoid the Captain but he now had the dubious pleasure of interrupting him in the middle of a briefing. He glanced back to his console which was still flashing the call waiting signal but during his recalibration he had somehow managed to disable internal comms. Gulping nervously he pressed the door chime.

“Enter,” Colter replied.

“I…uh…um…sorry to interrupt Captain, sir…” he bumbled sheepishly, trying to avoid the Captain’s gaze. “There’s an incoming signal from a Captain…Commander I mean…Greenbay? Greenmay…Greeklay…” he muttered, fumbling to remember the name. there goes my chance at promotion in this lifetime he thought to himself, still desperately trying not to make eye contact.

• GM

“Cmdr. Greenway? Why didn’t you just pipe it in here, ensign? Never mind. I got it. Return to your post, ensign. And get me an ETA for Javor III at maximum cruising speed..”

NE Goodspeed felt his cheeks turning a shade of bright red as a bead of nervous sweat rolled down his forehead. “I…uh…um…yes sir!” He replied with a forced smile as he turned quickly to head back to the bridge, whacking his shoulder on the door frame and letting out a slight whimper. He took two steps back towards the bridge before realising he already knew the answer. He turned and reentered the room, standing to attention in a very awkward fashion. “Sirs, we will be arriving at Javor III in 14 months…” he said confidently then tutted to himself and shook his head. “I mean hours, we will be arriving in 14 hours at maximum warp…” he added sheepishly, desperately trying to avoid eye contact, his face now bright scarlet with embarrassment.

The CO turned his attention back to his senior staff. “Speaking of Cmdr. Greenway. . . .”

Lt. Cmdr. Harel remained seated, posture impeccable, eyes following the flustered ensign’s exit and re-entrance without so much as a shift in expression.

In truth, he’d seen far worse under far higher stakes. A stumble in a briefing room was nothing compared to sprinting across collapsing decks or freezing under fire.

But still, as the young officer fumbled through numbers and words like they were warp equations in a blender, Harel’s eyes softened ever so slightly.

Not pity—never that. Just… recognition. The kind that comes from experience. The kind that understood what it felt like to be the one everyone was watching, unsure whether you were about to impress or implode.

When Goodspeed finally delivered the corrected ETA and tried to vanish into the floor, Harel flicked his gaze to the far bulkhead and adjusted the cuff of his sleeve—an understated gesture, but enough to hide the faint, knowing smile tugging at the edge of his mouth.

He said nothing. He didn’t need to.

Hitting the comm on his desk, he answered. =^=Cmdr. Greenway, this is Captain Colter. I’ve just started the briefing with my command staff. The Saracen is just about to depart for Javor III. What can I do for you, Cmdr.=^=

OOC: I’ve having a hard time finding a place to add the mission, so just read it in this link and we’ll say, we already went over it. You add any questions to the end of the thread. https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf5/saracen/posts/273724/

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO USS Saracen

<bump>

Andrew had been in the kid’s shoes and refused to be a jerk & smirk at his misfortunes.

Andrew James “AJ” Hudson

The screen sprang to life to reveal a middle-aged woman with a weary expression. A lock of chestnut brown hair was flopped over her face which bore the look of someone who had seen far too much and was running purely on adrenaline and her sense of duty. Her tired eyes betrayed the fact that she had barely slept as she broke into a weak smile.

=^= Thank you Captain, just hearing you are on your way is a great sense of relief. We have been hit 3 times in the past week and have sustained many casualties but we’re holding together for the moment. As I’m sure you’re aware, our covert relay station is under enemy control currently so I am sending coordinates and a flight plan for the safest path to get to us, providing they haven’t reprogrammed it yet that is, =^= she added with a look of dread in her eyes.

Colter looked at the new coordinates and flight plan and transferred them to the helm.

Harel’s eyes flicked to the screen as the transmission began, his expression unchanged but not unmoved.

He had seen that look before—the hollow fatigue, the kind that sleep couldn’t fix. The woman on the screen didn’t need rescuing so much as relief, something deeper than reinforcements. Something Starfleet rarely had the bandwidth to provide.

Three attacks in one week.

His gaze drifted momentarily to the coordinates scrolling across his display. Routing, relays, enemy control—technical problems, yes, but they all stemmed from something more primal: fear, desperation, chaos. He’d chased that pattern from colony to colony after the collapse of the Neutral Zone. And now, it had found its way here.

He tilted his head slightly, considering the woman’s tone—brave, composed, but threadbare. The last reserves of strength stretched tight.

The kind of strength you learn only after everything else has failed.

No words from him. Not yet. Just quiet observation.

The mission was clear. But the stakes were clearer.

And Llakar Harel, for all his calm exterior, was already calculating how to carry the weight of what they might find.

=^= We welcome any assistance you can give us. We have a good crew in our command centre but the majority of our colonists are scientists and families and they have taken heavy casualties so we are pretty thin on the ground. We will require some medical assistance if you’re able to and our engineering team has been flat out trying to keep up with repairs so I’m sure they would appreciate some extra hands. =^= Greenway paused for a moment and ran her fingers through her somewhat unkempt hair.

“I’ve got a crack team of engineers and Dr. Scott is one of the best. All will be at your disposal,” DaVinci replied.

=^= I wish I could give your more information on our adversaries but I’m afraid our encounters with them so far have been somewhat disastrous so we have very little to go on. =^= she added solemnly.

• GM

“Send us everything you have. Anything could be helpful, we can fill in the blanks the more information we get.

Kolar XO

He took note of the women’s expression. She was exhausted. Seemingly way in over her head regarding the situation. But that wasn’t her fault. It was a science outpost with children and families. They usually were not prepared nor equipped to handle such an attack.

|Lt. Cmdr. Nyman, Diplomatic Officer / CNS|

Enemy control. Medical assistance. Casualties. Words like those used to light a fire in him. Once, they would’ve marked his cue to gear up and lead the away team without hesitation—first boots on the ground, last one out. That had been his wheelhouse, his identity as Chief of Security.

But now?

Now, as Chief of Operations, the equation had changed. His duty was different—broader, less visceral, more strategic. He knew where he was needed most, and odds were that meant staying shipside. Coordinating systems, keeping the power flowing, ensuring the ship could fight, fly, and recover the people who did go down.

The uniform hadn’t changed, but the perspective had. And that, he was still adjusting to.

-Lt. Cmdr. Harel
Chief of Operations

“Still no one claiming responsibility for the attacks, commander??? It doesn’t seem to be an act of straight terrorism then. Whoever is involved here has a much bigger plan.”

His comm beeped with a message from the helm with a new ETA based on Greenways flight path. “Our ETA is XXXXXX, Commander. Anybody else have further questions for her?”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO USS Saracen

Harel listened intently, his posture straight and composed, but his mind already turning gears.

Unknown enemy force.

Elite coordination.

Familiarity with Starfleet protocol.

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard of enemies using Starfleet’s own playbook against them. But something about the silence—the lack of demands, the surgical efficiency—itched at the back of his brain. This wasn’t about spectacle. This was about control.

Relay Station Epsilon was the kind of infrastructure you didn’t hit unless you knew exactly what it was for.

Harel’s dark eyes flicked toward the screen as the coordinates updated. The woman from Javor III looked ragged, resolute. He admired that. The frontier did that to people. Hardened them. Or burned them out.

He leaned forward slightly, resting one elbow on the table.

“Sir,” he said, voice calm but firm, “if this force managed to access or disrupt Epsilon, we should assume they may also have corrupted other parts of our comms network. I’d like permission to initiate a systems integrity audit of our encrypted subspace relays—both shipboard and in our operating range—before we arrive. Just in case they left any breadcrumbs or traps.”

There was no paranoia in his tone—just practical caution. You didn’t spend time on the Apollo and Leviathan without learning the hard way: the ones who moved in shadows often left echoes.

And Llakar Harel made a habit of listening for echoes.

-Lt. Cmdr. Harel
Chief of Operations

Hudson’s past as a Chief of Security, and both the only son & baby brother to two of the finest fighter pilots in the history of Starfleet, he too found the itch that something just wasn’t right. As Harel spoke, his own mind began moving a couple of steps further forward than the rest of the room. Without even thinking, he pulled out the heavy, high-security PADD that tied him into the Saracen’s powerful War Room and, with a few taps, began to bring the systems online.

“Captain…” Andrew spoke up the second Harel’s final words left his lips. “… I concur with Commander Harel’s assessment. I have already switched the Tactical suite to randomized search patterns and would like to bring the War Room fully online to prevent any…” The young Lieutenant Commander nodded across the table to the Ops Chief. “… unexpected guests making unannounced visits.”

Andrew James “AJ” Hudson

Harel’s eyes tracked the security chief as he spoke—calm, measured, professional. There was an edge of caution in his tone, one that Harel understood too well.

He folded his arms loosely over his chest, posture still but alert, and let the words settle into the air like static.

A response without bravado. No posturing. Just clarity. It was a good sign.

In his mind, he marked the man as someone who knew how to read a room—and more importantly, how to navigate one without setting off mines. Useful.

But something else caught in Harel’s thoughts—a flicker of recognition. That quiet dread in the chief’s voice when discussing infiltration… it mirrored Harel’s own. The unease that came not from fear, but from familiarity.

He didn’t let it show on his face, but beneath the calm, his thoughts began reshuffling. Patterns, timing, protocol breaches. How deep might it run?

His gaze drifted toward the captain, still waiting.

The quiet before the storm had always been the part Harel listened to most carefully.

-Lt. Cmdr. Harel
Chief of Operations

DaVinci finished his briefing and his eyes scanned the faces of those in the ready room. In Kolar,. Dr. Scott and Hudson, he had all the trust in the world. They had been together since he took command, had been through hell together and had come back as a tighter crew for it. The others, Nyman, Harel, Valharra, and Thienna were the wild cards in this situation.

Lt. Thienna, he was slightly aware of more than what it said in his personal files. DaVinci had spoken to the Tactical Chief’s former CO, Capt. Remy Boudreaux, formerly of the Wolverine. Remy had given Thienna a good report.

The CO’s own Intel clearance had given him a clear picture of the other three. They were all very good at their jobs, but they hadn’t yet had a chance to gel with the rest of the crew, or the JO’s in their respective departments. Well, he thought, nothing better than a trial by fire

The CO leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.

“So that’s the situation people. Hopefully, by the time we reach our destination, Cmdr. Greenway will have some more updates available along with intel we can use. Again, this is a highly classified mission. Everything is need to know. I trust you’ll keep that confidence with your JO’s.”

“Any questions?”

Captain Daniel “DaVinci” Colter
CO USS Saracen

Harel sat quietly, hands clasped on the table top in the practiced posture of patience he’d cultivated over years of duty. But as the conversation moved forward—strategic allocations, personnel assignments, away teams—he felt the distinct sensation of being overlooked.

He had made his request clearly. Concisely. Respectfully.

And yet, it had gone unanswered.

Not refused. Not acknowledged. Just… ignored.

His brows furrowed slightly, more in thought than offense. He wasn’t one to assume ill intent, especially not from a commanding officer in the middle of a briefing. But something gnawed at him—the knowledge that on Turkana IV, silence was an answer. Often a fatal one.

But this wasn’t Turkana IV. This was Starfleet. And here, clarity mattered.

He leaned forward, just enough to signal his intent to speak, and cleared his throat softly.

“Captain,” he said with measured calm, “I understand we’re dealing with a lot of information at once—but I wanted to respectfully ask permission again to initiate a systems integrity audit of our encrypted subspace relays.”

He kept his tone neutral, but his eyes searched the CO’s face for any flicker of recognition.

-Lt. Cmdr. Harel
Chief of Operations

The question was addressed to the CO but something as logical as this had Kolar speak up. “Agreed. Anyone has a question just say we had a random piece of space debris hit our Starboard phase dampener and we did a full calibration.” It was plausible

Nyman also had additional questions, ones the Captain clearly couldn’t answer yet. Questions about motive. About the capabilities of these assailants. What could did they stand to gain? And what were they willing to give up?

He waited until after Harel’s concern had been acknowledged,

“If we can get a positive ID on any of these attackers, it might not be a bad idea to spend some resources building a psychological profile. It might help us figure out their motives, or maybe a weakness we can exploit.”

|Lt. Cmdr. Nyman, Diplomatic Officer / CNS|

“Agreed. Run the images through the central database of Federation citizens and see if we get any hits. I doubt they were upstanding citizens but never know where you might find a lead.”

Kolar XO

“And I’ll make sure my Away Team people are familiar, just in case.” Hudson added as a bit of an afterthought. “I’ll have the Criminal Analysis team run their faces through recog once we are done here.” AJ had a bad feeling he’d be living in the War Room for a while

Andrew James “AJ” Hudson