[snip}

Following Stella’s announcements for the crew to return to the USS Merrimack for imminent departure, and for all DH’s to attend a mission briefing in the Briefing Room, Captain Glen left the Bridge and headed for the Briefing Room. He still hadn’t located Yeoman Hopkins, so he had asked another yeoman to prepare and set up the room for the meeting. Hopefully, all the DHs had already read and digested their individual reports sent earlier by Admiral Stone.

Cross made her way to the briefing room, she was hoping to be the first to enter for the simple reason of not seeing the other D’H’s looking at her . On entering the CMO gave a nod to the Captain and sat down making sure the table hid most of her bulging stomach .

<<<>>>Stella had heard about the captain’s Yeoman not being available, so she took it upon herself to step in. At the moment all she had to do was to keep track of any communications from the station to the Merrimac which at this point would all be for Captain Glenn. She could do any little thing like this remotely and away from her station. After all, the captain would be at the meeting so she could forward any messages to him there. After making a stop at the Dragon she was soon loaded up and walking into the meeting room. She began unloading the cart. She smiled as she did. She didn’t really think that the captain had realized that the time he wanted the meeting would be during a lunch time for most of crew. For this reason, she had gotten everyone some small chicken salad sandwiches on triangular slices of French bread. Then there were the drinks, tea both hot and cold along with coffee. And then a small bowl of cookies for those with a sweet tooth. She looked at the table and nodded her head. “That looks good enough to me. ” She said speaking aloud to herself. ” I might become a Yeoman yet. ” She laughed.

Cross sat silent observing Stella, her thoughts went back to what she was told had happened during the last mission and how she had reacted to a simple joke from Hunter ,no wonder he never wanted a partner cause in his own words he did not want any drama in his life . The CMO found herself agreeing with Hunter’s logic.

Glen was next to arrive. He thanked Stella for preparing the room, and for the tea and coffee, something he would never have remembered. He started to prepare the data card for his presentation, brief though it would be, as all the information had already been sent directly to the DHs themsleves.

M’Mera entered the Briefing room, head down, reading the padd in her hand which had the mission orders on it. As she cleared the doors she glanced up and saw the Captain, Dr. Cross and Lt. Jg Gagnon. Her wide eyes paused on Stella for a blinked, as if in confusion. Then she seemed to smell the food as her nose raised and sniffed. Then she snorted a bit in disgust before addressing the Captain.

“Grreetingss, Captain. I’m jusst digessting the misssion brief.” She made her way over to one side of the table and took her seat. She had been excited at first at the thought of the food but unfortunately there wasn’t much there that a Caitian would eat. She consoled herself with pouring herself a bit of the cream that was meant for the coffee and tea and sipped on that.

“Good! But the information is quite limited, I thought, for such a large area of space on the Federation’s borders, and a space-faring civilisation with a threat capability!”

Cross jaw dropped seeing M’Mera drinking some of the cream meant for tea and coffee , then rolled her eyes .

• I bet the Caitian’s have a similar DNA to cats found on Earth * she thought to herself . Cross said nothing she was wise enough to know not to make a Catian offended and enraged .
  She wondered who’ll enter next.

Glen looked at the time and it was passed 12.00 already.

“I’m going to start now,” Glen said, “Even if we aren’t all here yet, because I want the Merrimack to get underway as soon as possible. First, Lance Malone is leaving us and I have decided to promote Elyss Zavey to CSO. This mission’s objectives are largely mapping and scientific measurements and we need someone with experience in those areas to lead that team. I think she is the right person for that position. I’m hoping that you have all read your Department briefings, so I’m not going to repeat those, but just to add that we will need to ensure that all collected data is accurately recorded and analysed, and we may encounter unforeseen challenges requiring swift, informed decisions.”

“I’ve already had the Navigator working on a course that will most efficiently cover the whole region in the optimum time. I think it would be best if I just answer any questions you have that weren’t in the briefings, or if something wasn’t very clear,” Glen added.

Cross stood up ‘’ Captain the engineering dept is taking care of establishing a bio-containment field plus Vey’lan samples in the empty cargo bay which medical has used many times in the past. One wrong move , one human error would be catastrophic if the containment field is in sickbay ‘’. Cross did no need to elaborate further for she knew the Captain would totally understand.

“Good!” Glen replied, “I’ve asked him to organise the structural alterations to Jeffries Tubes, corridors and to Sickbay that you previously discussed with me, and we’ve taken aboard the building materials he requires to do that. I’m sorry it wasn’t possible to have that done at DS-K5 but the Admiral made these new orders urgent and we had to leave immediately.”

’’ Captain, its imperative that any away team would follow the protocol of putting on a bio-hazard gear for their protection and the rest of the crew’’ .

“I agree,” replied the Captain. “We can also use site-to-site emergency transport to your Sickbay transporter. I’m not sure we have made the best use of that in the past.”

The CMO had one last thing to say ‘’ I want to congratulate Lt Zavey on her promotion and hope that both her dept and mine shall work together on the up coming mission ‘’.

Cross CMO.
- Glen, CO

M’Mera sat forward, “I will be sstarrting the ssecurity deparrtment on drrillss forr boarderr defensse prrotocolss. Photon torrpedoe bayss arre on sstandby and I will be ssetting ourr phasserr arrrayss forr varriable yield. Thesse prreparrationss should asssisst uss, if we rrun into thesse Sshiarrianss.”

Looking down at her padd she continued, “I have rrapid rressponsse teamss on sstandby for Engineerring and all key turrboliftss to the brridge. I can also rreinforrce key acesss pointss with multiphassic sshieldss. We arre prreparred forr any aggrressive movess.”

Lt. M’Mera COS

Elyss came through the door as the Captain was speaking, having only just received word of her promotion and order to attend the DH meeting. “Ummm, thank you for the new position, Sir. As far as the Science department, we’ve prepared a dozen synchronized tachyon and graviton pulse probes for immediate launch as we near the Veytan Aperture–more will be prepared as the mission progresses. I’ve pulled everyone off of individual projects and have assigned the lab on deck 9 to record particle emissions for quantum gravity modeling and look for anything that might explain the Shiarain interest in the area. The lab on deck 10 will be devoting their time to the study of the Vey’lan, behavior, feeding patterns and communication. Of course, I’ll be on the bridge qoordinating and reporting.”

Lieutenant Junior Grade Elyss Zavey
Chief Science Officer USS Merrimack

With all the DHs briefings concluded, Glen would first ask for any questions, before finishing off the meeting, and then getting the Merrimack underway.

The room had fallen into a thoughtful silence. “Does anyone have any further questions about the next mission?” Glen asked.

He waited for any replies and answered them.

<reply>

Once the room fell silent again, Glen said,” If there are no more questions then we’ve been tasked with this mission to explore this strange Sector, make contact with new worlds and new civilisations, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate what those high-sounding words really mean.”

Glen glanced around at his crew, searching each face for any sign of uncertainty or anticipation. Satisfied that everyone was ready, he gave a small, encouraging nod.
All that remained was for them to prepare to embark, each member must mentally steel themselves for the unknown challenges and discoveries that awaited beyond familiar stars. The journey ahead promised not just adventure, but the chance to embody the very ideals they represented, forging connections that could shape the future for all.

“Very well, you are all dismissed,” said Glen.

Glen then left for the Bridge.

• Glen, CO