The Well Oiled Machine
Posted on Tue Sep 9th, 2014 @ 11:07am by Lieutenant Yzhara & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Augustus Deakin & Commander Titus Livius Drusus PhD
Edited on on Tue Sep 9th, 2014 @ 11:19am
Mission:
Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Thieves
Location: Main Operations [Deck 12, Starbase 332]
Timeline: MD10: 1800hrs.
Main Operations on Deck 12 of Starbase 332 was a hive of activity. With the arrival of the N'Veci ships in addition to the ongoing repairs to the station exterior, coupled with the normal running of the base and the sudden arrival of a new garrison vessel, the USS Montreal there were hundreds of black-uniformed personnel running around.
Jordan Gunning stepped off the turbolift, flanked by his new companions and nodded to Lieutenant Nvaiden who was housed in the Strategic Operations roundel directly in front of the lift. Operations fanned out to either side of them as staff busied themselves in the six round 'pods' which housed all of the major systems.
One could easily become lost during peak hours, despite the room itself being comparatively small. Due to the size of the base, most departments operated from their own areas and only sent personnel up to monitor systems and provide reports. This was not one of those quiet days.
Yzhara's antennae twitched at all of the commotion. This was not her first time on the station, but it was her first time in Main Operations, the nerve center of Starbase 332. The size of the room was deceptive for such a large station. Not much larger than I standard starship bridge, the efficiency of the design was impressive. The Aenar woman gazed around the room with her blank stare, using her mind to "see" the surrounding environment. For those not used to her, the empty gaze could be a bit disconcerting.
Drusus was impressed by what he saw. He had mostly served aboard starships, so it was a rare treat to see the inner workings of a Starbase like this. His gaze swept over the round workstations and quickly settled on the science stations off to the right. "Impressive," he said with an approving nod.
"Isn't it?" Gunning said as he turned around on the spot. "We can control every major area on the station from here and- if the need should arise- isolate major systems and route them through here too. There are five such units throughout the station which can be activated in the event of the others going down. You won't be surprised to hear that they're by far and away the most secure rooms on the station. They can only be activated by a three-stage authorisation."
"That's quite a lot of redundancy," Drusus said, arching an eyebrow and turning to Gunning. "Have you ever needed to activate them?"
"I believe they were activated during the bombing but I wasn't assigned here at that time." Gunning said with the same level of flippancy that had become standard for those talking about the attack which had blown out hundreds of decks and killed numerous personnel, including his brother. "It's good to know that they're there if needed."
"Hopefully they aren't needed very often," Lieutenant Yzhara added. "Are the back up operation centers typically manned during normal operation, just in case there is an emergency? I would imagine the attack took everyone by surprise, so I wonder how quickly personnel were able to switch over primary functions."
Gunning nodded sagely, trying not to give away the fact that Security hadn't run a switchover drill in months. "Every system is controlled by one of these roundels or pods with the exception of the Dockmasters who have their own master station over in the corner there."
Yzhara smirked. "Ah, yes, the dockmasters. They probably don't like me much. I don't really like flying on autopilot, even while in spacedock. I guess they're afraid that I'll hit something. Little do they know, I'm only blind in both eyes."
Suddenly Ops was a blur of activity as proximity alarms went off, seemingly from every roundel. Gunning made a quick check for a higher ranking officer and was disappointed not to find one. On his current level of sleep, he was skeptical about how much he had left to offer.
"Commander, we've got more ships dropping out of warp near PB-Alpha." Lieutenant Nvaiden reported from Gunning's own department. Proximity Buoy Alpha was the furthest proximity sensor point available to Starbase 332 and was the one which had picked up the N'Veci.
Gunning craned his neck to check the screen. "Punch it up to the table. Dockmasters, assign as many docking berths as you can to cleared ships and let's get them inside. We don't know what could have been chasing the N'Veci."
Nvaiden's deft touch brought a reading from the buoy onto the sprawling holographic display on the main situation table in the centre of Ops. The ships were closing but not at any great speed. "Scramble fighters."
"Operations, this is 'Pythons' Flight Control," said a voice through the internal comm system. "We have fighters on an intercept. We should have visual confirmation on the incoming ships in a few minutes. Over."
Yzhara observed the orchestrated chaos around her. This did not seem to be the usual operating level for the operations center. Instead, everyone seemed to be moving at an accelerated rate. She took a glance at the sensor readings coming in. Singe ships or small convoys probably didn't provide this much excitement, but the fact that a larger group was dropping out of warp from the same direction as the N'Veci refugees docked down below raised some concerns.
The comm came to life again, this time a different voice. "Operations, this is Squad Lead. We're picking up twelve ships, heavily damaged. Markings indicate that they could be Kintarran."
Nvaiden confirmed the readings that were being relayed from the fighters. "Commander, I agree. They appear to be Kintarran in origin. Kintarra was one of the systems hit around the same time as N'Vec. It could be more refugees."
Drusus watched with growing interest as their tour guide suddenly became the officer in charge. "They didn't mention refugees when we set out from Cestus," he said quietly as he made an effort to stay out of the way but still stay close enough for Gunning to hear him. "They're fleeing Sojourner attack?"
"Seems that way." Gunning said quietly as he pulled the holographic display to a tighter zoom, displaying the individual ships. "They seem to be greater in numbers than the N'Veci."
Nvaiden nodded. "Seems to be. N'Vec and Kintarra are pretty much on par technologically, although these ships look to be just a little bigger. We'll see if that translates to more passengers."
"Prepare a shuttle bay to receive the ships." Gunning said, lifting his head to look at the dockmaster's station before returning to the holographic display on the situation table which was running a helpful calculation of how much space each ship would need to land. "Squad lead, this is Commander Gunning. Move Kintarran ships inside the perimeter and hold them at inspection buoy Delta."
Gunning signaled to Nvaiden with a hand gesture telling him to redirect one of the Grommet-class inspection vessels to check on the Kintarran ships. "Now, provided they pass the inspection," he said, addressing no-one in particular, "we'll be able to assign them a bay to land in."
"Aye, Commander," Nvaiden acknowledged. The Lieutenant's hands moved over his controls, routing commands to various departments. "We've got a ship on an intercept course. It should be waiting for them when the Kintarran ships reach buoy Delta."
"Okay." Gunning replied, wringing his hands and watching the sensor as the Grommet-class appeared on the scanner before replying to his Assistant. "Continue to monitor the sensors and the comm traffic. Inform Commander Ratchford that the Kintarran ships are incoming."
"Aye, Commander," Nvaiden acknowledged.
Yzhara just stood back and watched. Even at their heightened level of activity, the crew was operating like a well oiled machine. Everyone knew their job, and knew the procedures. It was as impressive to her as the station itself.
"Right then," Gunning clapped his hands together as he turned to his guests, all hints of tiredness have lifted from him as the adrenaline coursed. "Step this way and I'll show you the view out of the main port."
Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
Lieutenant Commander Titus Drusus [PNPC: Deakin]
Acting Chief Science Officer
Starbase 332
Lieutenant Yzhara [PNPC: Von]
Chief Flight Operations
USS Montreal
