Trouble On The Way (Part 2)

Posted on Sun Mar 31st, 2024 @ 3:33am by Commander Patricia Cooke & Lieutenant Charlotte E. "Charlie" Yeager & Lieutenant Commander Tsukasa Izumi & Lieutenant Commander Drauc ie-Jia'anKahr & Lieutenant Raazym & Lieutenant JG Eradaar Ezazzan
Edited on on Sun Apr 28th, 2024 @ 5:57am

1,714 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: I-402
Location: Conference Room, Deck 1
Timeline: After 'Trouble On The Way (Part 1)'

Previously, on Star Trek: Missouri:

Charlie was one of the last into the room. She had informed Commander Cooke that she would be late to the meeting, as her kids needed tending to.

"Sorry I'm late, Captain." Charlie nodded. "Screaming toddlers needed calming down."

Patricia nodded sympathetically. With everything everyone on the ship had been through, no doubt things had been especially stressful for the kids.

And now, the continuation:

Finally the doors of the conference room opened and in walked Captain Misaka. She was closely followed by a Caitian woman and the two commander's of the Missouri. She opted to stand, allowing Patricia and Tsukasa to take their normal seats.

As Patricia made her way into the conference room, she held in her hand a PADD containing notes from Admiral Soryuu's briefing. When she reached her normal seat, instead of sitting down, Patricia remained standing.

"I know we've been through a lot in recent days." Patricia prefaced the start of the briefing. "But we know that I-400 stops for no one. Not even Lieutenants Kogami and Sidney, who at this hour still lay comatose in sickbay. Thanks to the efforts of the Ermiana, we know that System HW-35 wasn't the only place I-400 has swiped Dilithium from, and while we still don't know what she plans to use the bulk of it for, intel suggests I-400 may have set aside a small amount for a different purpose:"

Drauc sat back and listened to the briefing and most importantly the comment on the Dilithium. He could think of half a dozen reasons why the I-400 would want the Dilithium, everything from super weapons to manufacturing. He did not wish to interrupt the briefing though.

Patricia then turned to Lahki.

"Doctor, have you been in contact with your friends in Starfleet Medical lately?" She asked. "The ones developing that brand new biobed?"

Lahki nodded. "I have, yes. Why? The science council hasn't approved it yet, but...one of my friends' husbands is on the Council and I can maybe pull some strings...." she said.

"Well, Doctor; you'd better warn them while you still can:" Commander S'Mira of the Ermiana stepped forward. "Intel suggests that they are I-400's next target:"

Commander S'Mira placed a PADD on the table for everyone to view.

"It's believed that I-400 might have discovered an obscure scientific hypothesis from the 2380s about bonding Dilithium to organic tissue:" The Caitian explained. "And with a biobed as advanced as the cradle, no doubt I-400 might be looking to turn a hypothesis into reality:"

S'Mira gazed upon the faces of the Missouri's senior staff.

"I can see by the high ranks in this room that nobody here got their job through luck:" She said. "So, I'm sure I don't need to spell out what could happen if I-400 were to construct an organic body for itself, even if it's composition was only partially organic."

"Maybe they'll taste better when I bite into them," quipped Eradaar.

Raazym cleared his throat. "Um, I realize I'm the new face here, and therefore I might be oversimplifying things.... but if I-400 is as dangerous as you've said, why not destroy this 'cradle'? It can always be rebuilt later, once the threat has been contained?"

Drauc spoke up in a calm flat inflection. "That would not solve the issue, Lieutenant. Simply destroying the 'cradle' does not destroy the information, or blueprints, pertaining to the 'cradle'. With such information any reasonably intelligence could recreate the biobed."

"Precisely, Commander:" S'Mira agreed. "Dismantling the physical cradle only does so much: In order to be thorough, every last trace of it would need to be completely purged from the LCARS network. Not only would we potentially lose years of research and development on this biobed, with I-400 loose in the network, what's to say she doesn't backup the blueprints to recreate the cradle anyway?"

"So, with that off the table, our orders from Starfleet are clear:" Patricia said. "Admiral Soryuu wishes for us to secure the cradle by any means necessary." She turned to Drauc. "Commander; I understand there was a problem with the slipstream drive earlier?"

Drauc did not even blink at the question. "You would be correct; the Quantum Slipstream Drive was flooded with tachyon particles. The main slipstream console then began phasing in and out. As to where it was phasing to is hard to speculate without recreating the incident. I have since then had my entire engineering team dismantle the slipstream console, searching for any damage or abnormalities, it would appear several of the Bio-neural gel packs have been damaged. I and several of my Quantum Slipstream Drive engineers have studied and ran every conceivable test, other than an actual usage, and have found the benamite crystals have fractures. In my conclusion I believe the USS Missouri can have the..." here he paused, his right eyebrow going up "...one hour forty-six point 57 minutes. Once the supply transfer is completed."

"Then make it so:" Patricia said. "We're going to need all the help we can get with our next assignment:"

Patricia then turned to her gathered senior staff.

"I'm sure by now, you've noticed the Caitian overstepping her boundaries and hijacking my briefing:" She said. "She is Commander S'Mira of the USS Ermiana. The Ermiana was supposed to simply deliver the supplies and crew we left behind in our rush to get out of spacedock. However, the Ermiana's captain has taken it upon herself to turn our assignment into a competition."

Patricia turned to Captain Misaka. "Captain Misaka?" She said, motioning that the older captain had the floor:

Misaka stepped forward. "The Ermiana will also be looking for the cradle," she started simply. "Starfleet has assigned us to the same mission you have. They want progress and that's why I am here." She paused for a few moments. "It seems you were not having much success on your own, so the decision was made to have a more senior Commander and experienced crew join the mission in hopes of the cradle be found sooner than later."

"In other words, we've been assigned a babysitter." Patricia grumbled.

Raazym shifted in his seat, but stayed silent. As an operations manager, he didn't think assigning two crews to the exact same task was an efficient allocation of resources, especially when he was getting the sense that finding the cradle was going to turn into some kind of race instead of a coordinated effort. It also created an animosity that their enemy could turn to it's advantage. However, he allowed that there could be a bigger picture he couldn't see just yet - best to hold his tongue and bring his concerns to the captain privately.

Drauc took in the plan being proposed "Excuse me but is that not a waste of resources. Shouldn't one ship be assigned to find I-400 and the other to the 'cradle'. This would be a more logical use of the resources involved." he said in a stern, flat voice.

"Starfleet assigned this ship to that duty." Misaka said in response as she looked at the engineer. "But it seems that another ship is needed. Afterall, you have spent several days sitting in the middle of an asteroid field." She looked over at Commander Cooke, an expression of disappointment on her face.

"So, Starfleet has decided that due to the risk of this 'cradle'. We have better chances with two ships searching for it. Space is very big, and there are lots of places to hide." Misaka said. After her little speech she turned to look at Patricia.

"I will leave you with your staff. Have your Operstions officer ready to recieve the supplies we have brought you." She said to her simply. "The Ermiana will be departing on a search of the star systems we have discussed as soon as your supplies and crew are aboard."

With that Captain Misaka turned and headed towards the door. "Commander..." she said to S'Mira, an indication for her to leave with her.

Nodding, the Caitian woman turned and followed her superior officer out of the room.

Patricia watched the Ermiana's command staff leave the room. A look of contempt was evident on the young commander's face. If that bitch thought they were faking it, then she was more than welcome to stop by sickbay on the way out and say hello to the two comatose officers that Patricia let get hurt on her watch:

When Patricia turned back to her senior officers, she forced her complexion back to one that was happy-go-lucky, even if it masked the way she truly felt.

"Well, you heard her:" She said. "Let's get back to work: If that relic from a bygone era thinks she's going to beat us to the cradle, well... She's really going to be in for a shock. I want you all to submit departmental readiness reports within the hour. Dismissed."

Drauc looked at the captain "Captain I gave a false report earlier, we can have the slipstream back up and running in forty-six point 57 minutes. The benamite crystals were not damaged, it was just a work around to claim it on my damage report, to get some for spares. We only need the Bio-neural gel packs to bring the drive online." With that statement he got up from the table, collected his PaDD and made his way towards engineering.

A smirk spread on Patricia's face. While lying was a very un-Vulcan-like thing to do (in that Vulcans never lie), she was pleased to hear that they'd be operational sooner than originally planned.

"Then make it so, Commander." Patricia responded. "As soon as Ermiana sets off, we are on the clock."

Posting by

Commander Patricia Cooke
Commanding Officer
USS Missouri

&

Lieutenant Commander Tsukasa Izumi
Executive Officer
USS Missouri

&

Major Achilles Aurelius
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Missouri

&

Lieutenant Commander Lahki Bakshi
Chief Medical Officer
USS Missouri

&

Lieutenant Commander Drauc ie-Jia'anKahr
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Missouri

&

Lieutenant Raazym
Chief Operations Officer
USS Missouri

&

Lieutenant Charlotte E. "Charlie" Yeager
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Missouri

&

Lieutenant JG Eradaar Ezazzan
Chief Counselor
USS Missouri

With special guest stars

Captain Mikoto Misaka
Commanding Officer
USS Ermiana

&

Commander S'Mira
Executive Officer
USS Ermiana

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