[snip]

After a brief moment to her self after the crowd left the briefing room, Layanna made her way to the bridge. She never had been one for a crowd especially if they were cramped into a tight space. As she stepped onto the bridge she left her panic and anxiety behind the closing door.

As she stepped onto the bridge she looked to the Lieutenant “ETA to Unity?”

The NE at the helm turned to the new XO as the Merrimack cleared Deep Space K-5 and leapt to warp, “..Uh at warp one? about 8 months and some weeks.” She said glancing side long at Cross from her earlier orders. “..if we increased to warp 6 we would be there in about 3 days.” she added.

“Take us to warp 6” she said as she turned her attention to Cross

On hearing the XO ,Cross literally jumped off the Captain’s chair and gave her a curt nod ‘’Estimated time of arrival to Unity? Actually we are just leaving I have made contact with the CE guess now the bridge is yours ‘’.
‘’We have already met so, let skip the introduction and I’ll brief you on the mission’‘.

The doctor took a deep breath ‘’Apparently some of the colony left and went on to stay on the planet Unity, obviously if we go there and they are fine but doing illegal things by Federation law, we can not impose the Federation’s law on them. The Prime Directive would apply there. As for issues with unknown threats then either try to establish First contact, or failing that what information we can gather then retreat. Or if too dangerous to do simply retreat. As for them being fine, but inflamed by us showing up and checking in, then leave what we provided on a nearby asteroid in system and depart peacefully. If say we get there and its a matter of a broken long range communication buoy they couldn’t fix, offer to help, if refused, then depart, or if accepted help where possible. We will be the lead point of decision out there, our call goes, and Star fleet will support us given they are not Federation members. We simply are providing a check in at the request of concerned Federation members. The fact we don’t know what is going on is why we’re being send there, a S&R response ship would not have the defenses for a true threat, nor a probe the scanners to fully analyze the situation and provide timely response. If upon arrival and fully evaluating the situation we feel threatened or not able to handle any emergencies leave, or call in the calvary for support. A response say in a disaster would be about 2 days once we arrive ‘’.

“So we’re doing a wellness check” she said as she took in the information that Cross had given her. “Do we have any information on the people of unity other than what we already know?” She asked

‘’Kind of ‘’ Cross replied ‘’Cmdr , I gave you all the information given to us by the Commodore …guess we’ll find out once we arrive ‘’ the CMO responded.
Cross was hoping they’ll find the people there happy ,joyful ,content and merry and wave the crew goodbye.

Lance had left the briefing room along with everyone else, he wasn’t strictly on the night-shift but now he was far to awake for sleep. So he figured he’d cover the NE on the science station so they could have their break. It wasn’t really the CSO’s job to cover meal breaks but he was not a typical CSO. The NE seemed pleased enough, night shifts were dull but night-shift whilst docked at a star base were even worse, and any excuse to break the monotony was gladly recieved.

Lance took the station and read through the collection of reports, decided they were pointless and instead read through his own notes he’d taken in the briefing. There was a new Commander he didn’t recognise, but in fairness crewmember came and went at a Starbase, there was also a good chance he’d missed a briefing informed crew of new officers coming aboard.

He listened to the Doctor explaining the briefing following long with his own notes. Till he came to the big question mark he’d drawn. “Doctor wouldn’t you say sending us is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut? I mean doing a “wellness check”.” He did in fact do the air quotes, “with a ship this size? Sending us just in case they are doing something dodgy… ever think we didn’t get the full story?”

Layanna looked at Lance “my thoughts exactly Lieutenant.” She inwardly sighed so as not to show her apprehension to the situation.

At some point after his recovery, Captain Glen made his way to the Bridge, but the the three day journey to the Unity system was otherwise uneventful.

• Glen, CO