Regional Briefing
Posted on Sat Jan 25th, 2014 @ 1:11pm by Commander Brian Ratchford & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Colonel Edward Maxwell
Mission:
Picking Up the Pieces
Location: Commander Ratchford's Office
It would take some getting used to, this new posting. Ed had spent his carrier on either planetary installations or starships. On planets there weren't decks, just a few stories and separate buildings. Starships didn't have more than 20 or 25 decks, the one's he had served on anyways. This place had thousands of decks. The turbolift ride from the shuttle bay to Ops seemed like it took forever. Ed shook his head as he finally reached his destination and got out of the turbolift. This would definitely require some adjustments.
He figured it would make the most sense to get an overall regional briefing to get the most information to help him dial in his patrols and Squadron assignments. The XO had enough to do running the day to day work of the place and overseeing the overall repairs. Security was stretched thin as it was by the sounds of it, from what the Captain had told him. No need to take up more of their time when they had too much on their plate as it was. That left Strategic Operations to give him the information he needed. Which of course made sense, since they gave alot of the information to the other departments anyways, so he may as well get it straight from the source.
Since he had no idea what the man actually looked like, official record photo's were notorious for being inaccurate, he decided to just find him the old fashioned way. "I'm looking for a Commander Jordan Gunning." He announced loudly, figuring it would be the easiest way to find him.
"You've found him!" The call came up from the faraway console in the corner of Ops. Gunning was assisting relief Dockmaster Ensign Aartr with a particularly damaged Cardassian Union freighter. "Get a full damage report on that freighter and get it to Lieutenant O'Donnell."
The Commander weaved his way through the throng of activity towards the voice who had called on him from by the turbolift. "What can I do for you?"
"Major Ed Maxwell, the station's new CAG." Ed explained as he offered the man his hand. "Call me Major, Ed, Reaper, whichever floats your boat." He said with a smile. "I was hoping you could bring me up to speed on the regional situation."
"Ahh, right. Nice to meet you Major." It was. Jordan had been waiting on the new Air Group Commander for some time. Mason was good but she was too green for the demands of the job- especially in this situation. He offered his hand for the man to shake. "Commander Jordan Gunning- Strategic Ops."
"Pleasure to meet you Commander." Ed nodded. "Figured I'd get briefed before I wade into the mess I have waiting for me. Taking an almost completely inexperienced Wing and turning it into a group of top flight pilots."
"I'm just on my way to brief Commander Ratchford on Sector Security, why don't you join me?"
"Love to. I should meet the XO anyways." Ed agreed and fell in beside the man.
The short walk to the XO's office took them by the Intelligence Roundel where Lieutenant Nvaiden worked tirelessly to ensure that no-one had more up to date information on the sector than they did. A man of few words, he simply passed a PADD to Gunning as he passed.
"I'd introduce you to my Deputy but I'm not sure you'd ever get a word out of him." He said, nodding backwards as they walked.
"Some of the best Deputies I've worked with are seen, but seldom heard, especially Intel types." Ed chuckled.
Just as the two reached the door to the XO's office, the door opened in front of them as the man who owned it stepped out, presumably looking to see whether Gunning was coming to brief him or not. "Ah, Commander, good." he said, trying to hide the awkwardness of them both approaching the door at the same time with the impression that he knew Gunning would be there at that point in time. "And you must be Major Maxwell?" There was a moment's pause between the rank and the name, as Brian searched his memory for the most likely candidate. The only other Major assigned to the station and likely to be with Gunning was the station's marine commander. Since to his knowledge Griffiths hadn't had a gender change since their last meeting, the logical assumption was for the new lead for the fighter group.
"Correct sir." Ed agreed hiding the surprise of having the man damn near walk out the door and straight into them. "I'll be your new CAG. As I've told Commander Gunning, you can call me Major, Ed, or Reaper. I answer to them all."
"Good to see you, Commander. I feel like you've been stuck in here for days." Gunning smirked as they were ushered into the room. Commander Ratchford had been up to his eyes in Deakin and O'Donnell's requisition orders and had been all but posted missing from Ops. "Major Maxwell was hoping to get himself up to speed so I thought he might be able to sit in on our meeting."
"That suits me fine," Brian answered, moving aside to let the two into his office. "I've been hoping I'd get the opportunity to go over a few things with you Major after you reported aboard, and this seems like the perfect opportunity. Take a seat."
Gunning crossed to the replicator which sat on the right hand side of Ratchford's desk and, playing the host, ordered himself a short coffee. "Anyone else for anything?"
"Black tea, hot." Ed said as he took a seat in one of the office's chairs. "So would you like to go over things now Commander, or after the briefing?"
"Why don't we roll them into one?" Brian asked, turning and asking Gunning for a fruit juice. "The Commander can bring us up to speed on the state of play in the sector, and then we can work in the fighter patrols and training programme to fit."
"Well, I don't have much to offer beyond the last briefing." Jordan stated as he returned with a small tray of drinks. "You'll probably be aware that we've had some proximity issues recently, Major. In that we're in proximity to a gaggle of people who are trying to kill us, meaning that we've had to up both sector-wide patrols and perimeter patrols. Whether these would be particularly effective in the event of another attack but it's serving as a deterrent at least."
Ed was quiet and thoughtful for several moments as he took in what he was hearing. The vast majority of the fighter pilots stationed here were green rookies when it came to experience. It was disturbing to think that he, as one individual pilot, had more experience than an entire squadron. Asking them to stretch themselves even further and still try to get in the training they needed was asking for quite abit. It was asking too much of the pilots in his opinion.
"If what we want is deterrent. than maybe we don't need to stretch ourselves nearly as thin as I've been worried about." Ed said and leaned forward, interlocking his fingers over his knees. "We can still carry a big stick, but not necessarily stretch my pilots to the breaking point. As I'm sure you both know, the majority of the Air Wing are green, rookie pilots. You can't ask them to do nearly what you can ask veteran pilots to do. The question in turn becomes how are we fixed for holo emitters?"
"You'd need to check with Lieutenant Deakin, but I don't think we lost too many in the attack." Gunning wracked his brains. "He should be able to requisition you some if you're in need."
"So if we can set it up, we won't need to send out entire squadrons, just a flight or two at a time. Place holo emitters on them and suddenly we can have an entire squadron on patrol while we work on getting the rookies trained up."
"It sounds like a plan. With the Jackal patrolling at least once every couple of days too, it should make the Sojourners think twice about a direct assault until we can get the station back to one hundred percent. Can the power systems on the fighters handle the power drain of running a constant holoprogram though? I've not worked with the technology much, but I thought that the kind of emitters you would need to make the holograms work in space take up more power than the ones used inside a room." Brian honestly hadn't worked with the technology much at all, but he knew that most holo-projections worked best when using at least two projectors on opposite sides - spatial holo projections needed to do the job while projecting from only one angle.
Jordan threw up his hands incredulously. "Don't look at me! It is a good idea though."
"Isn't that what we have a Chief Engineer for?" Ed asked with a smirk. "Besides, if we can get emitters on the hull of the station, we can use the stations power grid. For every three or four holo's we'll have a real bird out there."
"I'll leave you two to speak with the lieutenant about getting the emitters installed, then," Brian said, glad to see that their meeting was already proving productive. "Now, what about the training situation? I've never been comfortable knowing that almost the entire squadron is raw, but what sort of resources are you going to need to get them up to scratch?"
"Not a single squadron Commander." Ed sighed and shook his head before correcting the man. "From my understanding, a minimum of 75% of the entire Wing is green. It's safe to say I myself have more experience than almost an entire squadron."
"OK, well we're going to have to work with what we have I'm afraid." Brian made a mental note to remember to use the correct terminology when talking about squadrons and wings. His previous postings had all been far to small to have any fighters on at all, with the exception of Vesta, which just wasn't designed to carry them. "What's your plan of action for getting them up to snuff?"
"I can't say until I speak with Blaze after this meeting." Ed shrugged, referring to Lieutenant Mason by her callsign, as pilots did. "You're welcome to sit on our meeting Commander. It'll save us all some time instead of me being briefed and then coming to find you and brief you."
"I think that'll be a good idea," Ratchford said, nodding at the suggestion. Turning back more towards Gunning, he asked, "What about other sector news? Are there any ships or colonies that could do with some support from the station? The Jackal is resupplied from our last outing, or it may be good experience for some of Maxwell's pilots if the need isn't too close to the border."
"There are a number of small requests which are being serviced by the logistics vessels but I did receive a request for medical assistance from Foiya Three, a small colony world. They've reported an outbreak of flu within the colony but there's something allowing the strain to mutate. I've passed the report over to Medical, I can transmit it across."
"I don't want to send out any of the nuggets until i've had a chance to look over the training logs and see them in action for myself. If I can spare any veterans I'll send them out as your flight support." Ed said with a negative shake of his head. "Like I said, its very likely I've got more stick time than an entire squadron. I know I most likely have more combat experience. This will be the first time I've had a peaceful posting in years. Theoretically."
"It doesn't sound like something that your boys would be able to help with anyway, Major," Brian said, though he was appreciative of the offer. "The Jackal's sickbay is a bit too limited to be of much use either. I'll speak to the Captain about taking the Carthage out there with Doctor Keller. Where about is Foiva Three in relation to the border?" He still didn't know most of the local systems and their placements as well as he would have liked, and knew that at some point he was going to have to try and memorise what worlds are likely to be in danger zones and which were more safe.
Gunning consulted his notes quickly. "Foiva Three would place you about four lightyears out from the Sojourner Border."
"Hmm. It's close, but it could just be by coincidence. The Carthage should be able to handle herself if there's any trouble. Either of you have anything else for the agenda?"
Ed shook his head. "Not until I talk to Blaze. After that, if someone talks to Engineering maybe we can get a feel for what the hell we can actually do to increase readiness in the sector."
Gunning was already on his feet and making for the door. "I've got nothing. I'll have the Carthage crew placed on stand by should you decide to take her out there. Sorry to run out on you- I'd better check that Ensign Aartr didn't bring that Freighter into the central docking system."
"On that note." Ed chuckled as he stood up and recycled his mug from his tea. "I'll head down to the Flight Offices and see Blaze. Join us when you're ready Commander." He said to Ratchford and followed Gunning out the door.
Commander Brian Ratchford
First Officer
Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
&
Major Edward Maxwell
Commander, Air Group
Starbase 332
