Isn't this peachy?

Posted on Sat Nov 16th, 2024 @ 3:00pm by Captain Velasaria Azumé & Commander Roscoe Mayhew & Lieutenant Commander Dr. Jeremiah McEntyre, M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Ingram Dr & Lieutenant Jennifer Matthews

2,874 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Mission 2: Bad Moon Rising
Location: Ward Room, Deep Space K17

Vel tugged uncomfortably at her tunic, the soft cotton suddenly feeling very warm and restrictive around her neck. This was it, her first staff briefing since becoming Captain, and the first time many of the Senior Staff would be meeting one another. Trying to set the tone early, Vel had made sure that there was time for refreshments and for the briefing itself. She wanted the crew to get to know one another, start forming those bonds. It was something she felt had been lacking from her first time coming aboard Amaterasu as Chief Science Officer. It would be interesting to see this group come together, and what they'd make of their first mission returning to service. Some of these personalities were certainly going to mesh in.... Unique ways.

Stepping into the ward room she was pleased with what she saw, giving an affirming nod to the pair of Stewards who were just finishing up putting out small plates and getting refreshments ready. At the back of the room was a set of lunge chairs and couches, a counter along the back wall held small snacks from various worlds along with light refreshments. In the front was the actual meeting area, the standard long table with chairs for all, and a screen for reviewing data. Vel had been in the room yesterday to practice her opening remarks, at the time the room had felt so large and intimidating. Now seeing the flowers on the table and the stack of tiny sandwiches at the back, it felt a lot more welcoming.

Perusing through the various offerings while she waited for the others to arrive, Vel was sad to see there were any offerings from Orion, but then again their cuisine was hard to come by these days.

Jenni arrived in the ward room next. She was not unfamiliar with the starbase, though she had seen little of it in the last few days. The engineer paused for a moment just on the other side of the portal. As the doors closed behind her, she took note of the refreshments, the furniture, and the overall ambiance of the space. This would be her first-ever meeting as a department head and a member of the senior staff. In that moment, she wondered if future meetings would be like this, or if the Captain was trying to make a good impression on the newcomers.

Time, Jenni thought, would tell.

The engineer stepped further in the room and nodded at Azumé. "Captain," she greeted formally.

"Pardon me," Ingram said as he stepped around the engineer. "Far be it from me to suggest standing just shy of the aperture is a less than common social practice."

Vel returned Jenni's greeting, gesturing for the lieutenant to come in and enjoy the refreshments.

The scientist made a quick study of the table and took the opposite head of the table to where the captain would sit. He began to call up data sets on his terminal screen, effectively ignoring one and all.

Mayhew had been standing at the window, staring idly into the void in search of patience for what was about to happen. Finding none and hearing voices of senior staff beginning to assemble, he turned around with a sigh and walked over to the conference table.

Seeing the new science officer in his seat, Mayhew's mouth said, "Pardon me," but his stony facial expression was far more volatile. He nodded to one of the seats closer to the captain. "I'm sure your name is somewhere over there."

"And I am sure there are no names here," Ingram said, looking up after he'd finalised setting up his display to his liking. When he noticed Mayhew, and the Commander's rank star on his lapel, his tone modified only slightly. "Really Commander? We're explorers of the void, adventurers. Surely comradery bypasses the locker room swagger huum?"

Mayhew didn't repeat himself. Rather, he pointed at any empty seat and glowered until Ingram complied.

The Caitian doctor was the next to arrive, coming up besides the young woman in engineering yellow. Jeremiah McEntyre, M.D. had seen this look of nervous anxiety from his own children growing up.

"I wouldn't worry about him. He seems to be projecting his own worries under a veneer of overconfidence." The Caitian reassured Jenni with a gentle smile and a reassuring purr.

"No?" Jenni asked, looking over to the newly arrived Caitian. She took note of the soft green turtleneck he wore and the higher rank on his shoulder. She considered the fact that she was likely the youngest and lowest ranked of all of the senior staff. Hopefully that just meant more time in the engine room and not on the bridge.

And, she had also hoped that not all of the officers would be like the bold and stubborn Mayhew. Time would tell on that.

"Jenni Matthews," she introduced herself to the doctor. "Chief Engineer."

The Caitian gives a courteous nod. "Jeremiah McEntyre. I'm please to meet ya." He greets, his accent deep and rugged, tinged with age with a subtle purr in the back registers of his voice.

"I don't know about you, young miss, but I hope there is coffee. Setting up sickbay has been quite the endeavor."

Jenni thought that Jeremiah was an awfully human name for a Caitian, but it was not something she was going to verbalize. "I think I saw a carafe at the refreshments table," she said, guiding the doctor over there. She selected a cup of jasmine tea for herself.

"I'll see you're sickbay and raise you my science department, quite lamentable but in a way therapeutic. Like irrigating a wound, deburring it," Ingram said from 'his' chair. "Half gutted from the accident, it's almost like setting up afresh."

Jeremiah tilts his head in a very cat like manner. "I take it from the smugness, you are Dr. Benjamin Ingram, Ph.D.? Your reputation preceeds you, sir."

"And yours as well. I hear you broke the heart of the Phlox Centre's medical director with your departure to shipboard service. But it is good to see that another learned colleague sits in the bleachers," Ingram said with the sort of modesty that was so false it was said to come from the planet Temu. He thought for a moment, before adding an item to a mental requisition list. 'Gravimetric Atomic Sensing Laser'. If you're going to get a red dot, it might as well be one from the top shelf of the pet store.

"and also to the disapproval of my children as well." Jeremiah added, going over to the carafe of coffee and pouring himself some into a ceramic "U.S.S. Amaterasu" cup.

"Yes...Not a blight I've been stricken with," Benjie said, before throwing a hand up. "Not that I'm suggesting in the slightest that they are not miracles of cellular replication. Merely not favourite instar's of carbon-based life in my opinion."

"I'm fortunate to have been an empty nester. My children are grown, one is about to enter the medical service himself, my daughter is finishing her own Ph.D in advanced computer sciences. I'm very proud of them." Jeremiah turned with his cup of coffee resting on a saucer before walking over to a chair and sitting across from Benjamin at the long conference table.

"Computer science, that's...nice," Ingram said proving himself the masterful diplomat.

"Though my oldest grandson, has expressed interest in the Security Service. I think he want's to follow in the steps of our ancestor, a MACO."

"You must be so proud," Ingram said with as much artificial sincerity as he could safely dose the room with.

The elder Caitian would only smile at this remark before turning to observe the group.

"You make it sound like I left you with nothing but an empty office, and an adjunct, Commander." Vel teased as she made her way to the table, a small plate and a mug of tarkalian tea in hand. Pleased to see her staff interacting, even if it was a bit of a pissing match she hoped it was a sign things would get smoother soon. Not yet taking her seat to give the others time to meet, Vel waited near one of the windows taking a nibble of her snacks as a few more officers and Senior Enlisted strolled in.

"Not as far off the mark as you might expect. After all, I am stepping into your shoes and making the department work to my metrics. It will have...growing pains," Ingram said with a cold smile. "But thank you for the adjuant, very informative. Perky, I think, is the adjective to use."

"I am Commander Roscoe Mayhew." It was an abrupt statement that jarringly broke the flow of conversation, just as it was intended. "You all know who I am. I trust nobody will forget it. Do your duty, embrace oversight, and we'll get along just fine."

"Right, thank you for getting us started." Vel said with a polite not and a tight smile. "Please take your seats. For those that don't know Commander Mayhew is our Executive Officer as well as managing our General Operations Department. Questions, concerns, or needs to get things done will go to the Commander."

"I am Captain Velesaria Azumé, I am your Commanding Officer and former Chief of Sciences. For those of you who are new, I am just as honored to serve with you all as I am with those of us who were aboard for the accident. Her gaze flicked to Clare, Jenni and a few others around the table. "I know things seem to be quite tense right now, like we're on the edge of another war. I won't lie to you and say everything is green skies going forward."

Mayhew sniffed but said nothing, allowing her to continue.

Jenni looked up from her tea and glanced at Mayhew for the briefest of moments. Tense wouldn't have been the word she would have used, but she supposed it was apt enough."

"But I am a Scientist, and an Explorer. I know many of you all are as well. I intend to do my best to ensure we carry out that mission above all others as we hear back out into the unknown." Looking round the table once more, Vel took the moment. "Does anyone have any questions before we get started with the briefing?"

One thousand yard stare and several seconds later, Mayhew came back to the room and shook his head.

Jenni ignored the XO and kept her eye on Captain Azumé. She had no questions or comments and was instead eager to get to the main course. Jenni sipped her tea before placing the ceramic cup back on its saucer.

"Our mission..." Benjamin said, raising a hand. "Will it be purely scientific and exploratory? Or will it be more focused on the current geo-spatial-political climate? I ask only because I have a list of potential transfer orders I wish to publish, and I would not want to call away valuable scientific assets if we're just going to be patrolling the same cubic light year for the next six months."

"Our primary mission will be Scientific." Azume said as she activated the large viewer on the wall. "We will be heading into the deep Alpha Quadrant, our first stop will be what Starfleet Command has designed the Kalandra Sector, it's toward the edge of the Trill Frontier Zone." The map of the larger Alpha Quadrant zoomed in until it focused on the area of space labeled Kalandra Sector.

"We will begin with a planetary survey, in Kalandra, find other points of interest for the follow up survey vessels to focus their attention on. After that we will continue deeper and map the surrounding sectors." The map expanded and moved further into uncharted territory, before showing a dotted yellow line some light-years away.

"There is however a secondary nature to our mission yes. For those of you who've kept up with news will know we've encountered a new species in the last few years, the Cardassians. We are to attempt to determine where their space and borders ends. Other survey vessels nearer Betazed have run into ships from their Union. Some have been cordial and others violent. Starfleet wants us to find out more of them and their sphere of influence as we make diplomatic inroads into this area of space." Azumé paused to let the information shed presented sink in and answer any questions.

"A planetary survey with a side order of diplomatic espionage," Benjamin said through thin lips. "How exciting. We expand the sphere of scientific knowledge, and apply a little more ink to the map as it were."

He did not, in fact, sound that excited.

"Not espionage Commander, but we do need to know more about these people. If for no other reason than, the ships that follow us won't be able to stand up to a fight as well as Amaterasu." Vel offered. She understood his reluctance and even his cynicism as a fellow Scientist. But she was also a realist, and now a Captain, she didn't have the luxury of cynicism.

"So basically like every mission ever for a Starfleet ship of the line," Mayhew summarized with a condescending growl. "We are the best. Time to prove it."

"Ahhh chest-thumping, it's just like being back at the Academy, listening to roar of the Parrises squares match. Ad Astra and all that," Ingram said with a wistful chuckle. "I'll be sure to remember your name when I'm looking for volunteers to put down sample flags during our survey, put that team spirit to work huum?"

Mayhew narrowed his eyes at Benjie. "If you're looking for someone to piss on your grave, then by all means keep talking. Until then, I think I'll take a second look at your department's resource allocations to make sure you have just everything you need. Can't be too thorough on this type of mission."

Jenni remained silent in her seat, sipping her tea as those with higher ranks traded jabs and insults. In this moment, Jenni found herself slightly regretting that she accepted her promotion.

"I'm Dr. Jeremiah McEntrye, Ship's Surgeon. I'm happy to say that Sickbay is nearly squared away. I'm still waiting on staff, but for now, it shouldn't be a problem handing things on my own. It'll be like the old days." Jeremiah commented, before taking another sip of coffee.

"I'm glad to hear it Doctor, thank you." Vel glanced between the two other members of the Senior Staff, hoping they could refocus. "Hopefully we won't need your full resource anytime soon, but I'd also prefer not to leave space dock without them. If anyone is still waiting on personnel transfers please let me know as soon as you can. Starfleet Command is already eager for us to get back underway."

"I trust we'll keep to not severely injuring ourselves for the foreseeable future" The caitian say, sipping on his coffee.

Jenni smiled and chuckled at the doctor's comment. She, of all those in the room, could not promise that her engineers would not get injured. Now, severely injured... she could promise that that would not happen, just so long as the ship didn't run across another cloaked minefield or some sort of other disaster. "We can only do our best, doctor," she offered with a slight bob of her head.

"The best we can do is lay down our lives for the mission," Mayhew said. "Let's not forget that. We are the models for it with our subordinates. Be the one they know will die for them and they will die for you." He swept his cold eyes across everyone in the room, even Vel, and quietly projected that same pledge to them. "What's a little severe injury compared to that solemn honor?" His stone face nearly smirked at that.

"Well I can't deny that any here will sacrifice themselves for one another or our crew. But I personally would much prefer, at least as a first option that we live for one another as a first choice." Vel looked around at the assembled officers. Many of them were experienced enough like her to have fought in at least one of the recent conflicts of not the actual war 30 years ago.

"The Amaterasu is only a little over a year old at this point, her story full of loss, and unfulfilled dreams. It's easy to see this as a harbinger of what comes next. It's up to us, here and now to change that. I don't intend for our last mission to be all Amaterasu is remembered for we will go forward and make our mark on the Federation."

"The Admiralty has a fire lit under them to launch and that means we do too. For those of you working on personnel transfers you'll have top priority from Operations. If you need help let me or the XO know and we'll make sure you have the people, and equipment you need."

"Any further questions or concerns we'll address in time. But for now Dismissed."

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