Send-Off

Posted on Thu Feb 24th, 2011 @ 4:41pm by Captain Alexander Gunning & Commander Dietrich Reinhart & Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax & Lieutenant Commander Melissa Daniels M.D.
Edited on on Thu Feb 24th, 2011 @ 8:42pm

Mission: Shore Leave - Archa IV
Location: Conference Room - Starbase 332
Timeline: SL D01 - 1100hrs

[ON]

The Captain had decided to call a large meeting as opposed to keeping his senior staff in the dark. Starfleet Security and Intelligence would be here soon to carry out their inquest into the deaths of the diplomats and the assassin as well as taking the Romulan handler into the custody of the fleet. He had decided that it would be better for his people if they were given the chance to get away from all that.

The choice was simple. Either they could take a vacation for a week on the surface of Archa IV or they could be assigned to a scout mission in the Ritorian Confederacy. Something he was quite sure that no-one, except maybe Commander Von, would have any interest in. He watched with interest as the officers began to arrive. They all carried different weights on their shoulders, not least the Doctor who deserved the rest the most.

She'd been tested, tried and had come out the other side with something of a renewed vigor about her. It was something which pleased Gunning no end. For a while, he had expected to lose her either to herself or to the Broken Spears.

Liarra was one of the first to arrive, still weary from the mad dash back to the station. Their mission was pretty straight forward, but the firefight made things a little hairy before they could be extracted. Fortunately, the returned safely Starbase 332 with no causalities, just in time to catch the assassin. She was ready for a new mission.

Von made a bee-line to her old friend. "Don't you just love peace summits, Alex? They always bring out the best in everyone."

Gunning just chuckled. "They seem to leave everyone covered in blood in my experience."

Samuel entered the conference room, slate-gray canvas duffel bag slung over his left shoulder. He adorned an expression of a composed-frenzy; in the very short time of being on board the starbase, he'd already been dispatched to the Quartermaster, the Medical Bay and now summoned to a Senior Staff briefing in the time span of no more than twenty minutes at most. Not currently a member of the Senior Staff, he wasn't absolutely certain of the need for his presence, but attended none-the-less. Slipping towards the back of the conference room, he attempted to do so in a quiet and unassuming manner so as not to distract from Captain Gunning, who stood at the head of the table poised and ready to speak.

Shinji's arrival into the Conference Room was by no means as stealthy as he could've made it, nor was it robust enough for everyone to notice. For the first time, Shinji finally understood why his collar was grey; it was so that he could blend into the background of the bulkhead so as no to arouse people's attention of himself. Shinji wanted to learn as much as possible, but not at the expense of alienating others to himself. He slowly guided himself into the room and took a seat in the corner beside a potted plant of some sort or another. He made certain not to publicly announce his arrival, nor was he in the mood of keeping quiet. For the most part, he was of the mind of only speaking if spoken to.

Reinhart walked in last, not by choice. He had duties to oversee the arrival of Klingon survey ship, a small, converted Bird of Prey. There was not much to it besides having the appropriate operations staff alerted to supply transfers, diplomatic staff to be verbally assaulted by their thick-browed "allies", and security personnel to oversee the station's Klingon-friendly eateries. As such, Dietrich walked in after completing the arrival ceremonies and took his seat by Captain Gunning's. He turned his attention to the young station CO.

"I'm quite sure you're all expecting the worst from this meeting." Gunning began, intentionally trying to get the meeting off on the wrong foot. "As you all know, a combined team from Starfleet Security and Starfleet Intelligence will be joining us on the station to conduct an inquest into the deaths of the Ambassadors. Now, no-one here is under any kind of suspicion and therefore I feel it would be best to allow you all the chance to get away from the station for a week."

Nilani's curiosity was piqued - she certainly hadn't expected, in the aftermath of such an incident, for Captain Gunning to send his senior staff away... though admittedly, it was for just one week. She wondered what kind of assignment they were being sent on, and began to get excited about the possibility of getting a more in-depth look at some of the stellar phenomena in the vicinity around the station.

Melissa spoke, "So, Starfleet Intelligence wants to clean up their mistake huh? Just tell them to stay away from me. I've had enough of them."

"I'm going to give you two options. Option One: You pack a bag and you beam down to the planet's surface for some R and R, maybe some beach-parties. That sort of thing. Option Two: You join the crew of the USS Thaden, one of our Wallace Class escorts doing a patrol route on the Ritorian border." The Captain looked around the table, expecting a general sense of disgust about option two.

"The choice is yours but I would like you to choose now."

"What sort of route will the Thaden be taking?" Prax asked. Admittedly, the chance for a holiday in the near-paradise that was Archa IV was tempting, but at heart she was a scientist, and wanted to take any opportunity she could to practice her art. The Thaden's route was just a patrol, but then again, it might allow her to get close enough to one of the nebulae around the region to do some detailed study.

"Good question, Lieutenant. The Thaden will be patrolling the neutral space directly to the South West of the station then up towards the Delta Triangle." The Captain replied, with an inkling of what the Science Officer had in her head. He decided referencing the region might gain him a few brownie points. "There should be time to monitor the Tyyan Expanse before it collapses again."

The expanse was a series of subspace distortions contained in a number of nebula which had previously seemed all but impossible to Federation scientists and yet, every few years they'd be detected again.

Nilani broke into a smile. "You're not going to keep me away from a chance to see the Expanse up close and personal, Captain."

"I'll probably tag along too, Captain," the strategic operations officer spoke up. "I've already been going over the Thaden's mission parameters. That route will take them very close to Ritorian space. I wouldn't mind keeping a close eye on their activity so that I can arrange future patrols."

"Okie doke." Gunning replied, noting the names of the officers on his PADD before glancing at the Doctor.

Melissa spoke, "Captain, I need a shuttlecraft."

As usual, Alex was surprised by the Doctor's brevity. "Why?"

"Betazed, there's something I need to do there. Alone." Melissa stated.

"Okay, you'll have it." He replied, knowing it was best not to ask. "We'll get you a Delta Flyer. It'll get you there far quicker."

Melissa spoke, "Thank you Captain, but it is unecessary. My reasons for going to Betazed are personal." It was the place where her family was moved by Broken Spear. She had to decide if she wanted to reconnect with that part of herself.

"You're welcome to it, Doctor. They're hardly rationed." The Captain replied with a reassuring smile.

It was an easy decision: if the captain was staying, he was going to stay. His vacation would come later - when he retired. To be absent for a day meant that the complex dealings of the station's fifty thousand inhabitants might be mismanaged. It was not that there was someone else who could deal with them, it was more that he did not want to catch up with reports after being absent a week. I will stay Reinhart determined.

It couldn't be avoided any longer. Shinji had to speak up about his intentions for the apparent shoreleave coming up for the station. He was already on shoreleave before arriving at the station, and so the thought of taking even more time off wasn't something that sat well with him. "Ahem...considering the nature of the operations ahead of us, I think it would be best for me to remain behind on the station to, uh, 'supervise' the Starfleet Security and Intelligence teams. However, there's some obvious conflict of interest here, and so I shall leave the final decison with the Captain." It was an ingenious plan. Now that Shinji's loyalties were with the station, he could set himself up to be a friend of the senior staff by keeping Starfleet's team in line, supposedly.

"Actually, Lieutenant. If you don't fancy an extended holiday then I'd like you to accompany the patrol. Might be a good way for you to get the lay of the land. You only gain so much from reading reports."

The Captain's suggestion worked well to extinguish the fire in Shinji's heart. He had come up with an incredible plan to ensure his social standing on the starbase, and it was all for naught. Shinji knew that he'd have to try again, only the next time on a smaller scale for increased chances for success. "I can certainly do that for you, Sir."

Samuel took a confident step forward, immediately raising a hand to signal he was taking the initiative to speak next; "Captain, I'm not absolutely certain if my presence on board the starbase is necessitated; if not, I'd appreciate attending the patrol mission." The deep tenor of his voice and its respective cadence was eerily similar to that of his fathers.

"If you wish, Doctor." The Captain replied without missing a beat. "Everyone, this is our new Assistant Chief Medical Officer- Samuel Foster. Also- may I take this opportunity to welcome our new Chief of Intelligence Shinji Matsumoto. Take care of them, all right?"

*Oh no,* thought Shinji. The last thing he wanted was such a blatant introductory period for himself. Thankfully, it was off-set by the Doctor's arrival as well, and so only half of the normal attention would be cast upon him. Shinji lifted up his hand up to about his eye level, gesturing to everyone that he was one of the two mentioned. "Hello everyone..."

Samuel simply nodded to the group, a polite smile handsomely adorning his face. More in-depth introductions were certain to come in the very near future.

Dr. Daniels stared toward Matsumoto's direction. She wondered just how much he was briefed about her in the wake of the Assassin being discovered on the base. She couldn't bring herself to trust an intelligence officer. If they wanted to use her again, they were going to be disappointed.

The XO nodded politely and smiled at the new doctor. As Alec and he "owned" over 10,000 names on the station's manifest, he could meet twenty or thirty "new" personnel a day. It was rare that department heads and assistant heads rotated in though. The German man made an effort to smile as personable as he could. He wouldn't let anyone touch him, though, except Dr. Daniels. Six weeks ago, she had helped him more than any other star fleet doctor with a hush-hush surgery. He was not about to leave a doctor who could help him out like that.

"Okay- that's excellent. All of you who are going out on the Thaden, report to the docking port at twelve-hundred hours. The rest of you- behave yourselves." The Captain exclaimed.

[OFF]

Captain Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer

Commander Dietrich Reinhart
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Liarra Von
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

Lieutenant Nilani Prax
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Melissa Daniels MD
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Samuel Foster M.D.
Asst. Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Shinji Matsumoto
Chief Intelligence Officer