A Different Kind Of Court Battle
Posted on Thu Sep 15th, 2022 @ 7:36am by Captain Marc Kidd & Commander Abernathy Rice PhD & Lieutenant Jonathan Corwin & Lieutenant Commander Faith Benson & Lieutenant Commander Viessa Kenobi & Lt JG Adalyn O'Rourke Ph.D. & Ensign Cihl Theidi & Ensign Nala Rider
Edited on on Thu Sep 15th, 2022 @ 7:57am
3,733 words; about a 19 minute read
Mission:
The Hunt Begins
Location: Bridge - Deck 3 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD002 0200 hrs
Marc had been woken minutes before in his quarters. Lieutenant Commander Ral did not present a good prognosis of what was to come. The Artemis' hunt would have to wait, for the time being they were to go to battle. He tapped his comm badge. "Commander Rice to the Ready Room." Marc resolutely zipped his uniform and made for the Ready Room himself.
"And so it begins," Abe commented; he was glad he was nearby. Stepping into the nearest lift, "deck one," he ordered.
There was a small part of Marc that appreciated that he and his XO traveled at the same pace. They both arrived at the Ready Room nearly simultaneously. Marc headed to the replicator and ordered up a tray of coffee with all the trimmings. He set it on his desk and sat down. "Abe... May I call you Abe?" he asked, realizing he said it without asking. "Have a seat there is much to discuss and less time to discuss it in."
Abe nodded, "most people do," the Commander nodded. He truly didn't care, "I only protest when my brother is around for fun. I've been hearing scuttlebutt around the station. Is it true the Breen are heading here?" He may have slipped that he was in contact with his brother. He didn't want Kidd to think he was going over his head.
"Unfortunately, that is not a rumor and is the reason I asked you here..." Marc began and handed a PADD to Abe. "These are our orders from Commodore Rice and the expectations as set forth from Poseidon's Strategic Operations Officer. It seems that the scientists have to go to war. We are being pressganged to join the fight as it were. In the interest of total honesty. I am a detective and I am not sure I am cut out for this sort of mission."
"You know my background Sir," Abe read over the orders. To be blunt, he was completely taken back. Their ship was neither prepped nor ready for a mission, and relatively no one on the ship really had the background for this. "If my brother sent this down," Abe added, "after..." he paused, "I'll leave that alone that's not my story but this," he shook the padd, "means that they need everyone and this is going to be very south."
"Agreed... The projections are not good. Currently all that there is to defend the station is ourselves and a Romulan Warbird that the Romulan Ambassador has assigned to the task. Lieutenant Ral's projections for the size of the Breen fleet appear to be more than we can handle. Dunno who they pissed off but the Breen are not happy. The best we can do is hold out and keep the crew alive." Marc ran his hand through his hair as he spoke. This day just went from bad to worse.
"That's not much to go off of," Abe replied, "I hope my brother is gathering more ships. A fleet of Breen ship, we're going to need more." Abe looked out the window at the blank starfield. "I can see why he is using us, all available hands, but we are honestly not in a condition for this. We're going to need a lot of help."
"Help is indeed what we are going to need and I hope we get it. I think the best we can do now is get out there and show the crew that we are confident. Something we should start now, join me on the bridge." Marc rose and clapped Abe on the shoulder. They may have not been ready for this but they would certainly put up a fight for the ages.
***Bridge***
As Marc and Abe took their stations, Kidd opened a shipwide channel. "Attention all personnel this is the Captain. Go to Yellow Alert. Senior Staff to the Bridge..." His voice trailed off as he realized that they still did not have a science officer. "...Ensign Rider report to the bridge as well."
Nala tumbled out of bed at the Captain's announcement, then had to pick her jaw up off the floor at his requesting HER presence on the Bridge as well! "Welp, when the Captain says jump, you say how high," Nala thought as she scrambled into a uniform and raced to the turbo lift. A few minutes later, Nala stepped onto the Bridge, which was awash with Yellow Alert lights and milling Senior Staff. Nala gulped, and quickly walked over to the Captain. "Ensign Rider reporting as ordered, Sir," Nala said, saluting.
Faith was already on her way, though she'd stopped by her quarters to grab a quick snack. She'd just been walking around the ship, doing some kind of checks. Of what? Only she'd know. Stepping out of the turbolift and on to the Bridge. She stepped over to her station and logged in.
Marc acknowledged the two new arrivals with a smile and a nod. The smile covered the trepidation that was within. "Ensign I am afraid I am going to have to press you into service. Your record shows that you are cleared for bridge duty and we have no Science Officer at the moment. So you are it. Please take the Science station."
"Aye, aye, Sir! (Gulp! I'm so underdressed to be up here! Deep breath, Nala. If the Captain has confidence in you, then you need to have confidence in yourself!) Alright, let's do this," Nala twisted her red hair into a loose braid as she walked over to the Science station, sat down, and started familiarizing herself with the console's settings.
Viessa arrived on the bridge looking as prim and proper as she always did. She was always prepared for the unknown. Uniform pressed and ready to go. Her hair was easily manageable and thrown into a pony tail and her face always had that quality appearance of natural beauty. "What is going on?" she asked calmly as she approached the centre stage.
Coming from the same distance away, Adalyn arrived on the doctor's heels. Although she wasn't as green to Starfleet life as she used to be, there was still a part of her that wouldn't quite get used to being called upon for bridge duty. O'Rourke was used to providing guidance to juries and lawyers, but it would never compare to providing guidance to commanding officers. "I imagine we'll find out soon enough," O'Rourke answered just loud enough for the doctor to hear. She couldn't blame her for being curious. Adalyn was curious too.
Abe looked up from the terminal in front of him long enough to acknowledge the arrivals, "orders coming in from the station, Captain," he turned the screen to face Marc. "Lieutenant Ral is very detailed," he nodded as Marc started to review the information.
A few minutes later Jonathan stepped out of the turbolift. " Permission to come onto the bridge. " He requested and awaited an answer.
"Granted Mr Corwin..." Marc looked around and saw that some people were still missing. However, he decided he should get the proverbial show on the road. "Ladies and gentlemen I have just received orders from Lieutenant Ral of Strategic Operations on the station. We are to shove off from the dock within the hour and take up station keeping at coordinates 335 mark seven. Their in conjunction with the Romulan Warbird Glan'To we are to engage the Breen and defend the station at all costs. I know that none of us signed up for a detail like this, we are scientists and criminologists. But the fleet needs us and we go when called. Doc Kenobi I need Sick Bay ready to triage all wounded. The Glan'To is an Ambassadorial ship and although the Romulans came ready to defend they did not stock their Sick Bay. So we will have to take care of their wounded as well." Marc paused for a moment to let that all sink in and turned toward Abe. "Anything to add Number One."
"I realize we are not fully staffed, and frankly this is a very odd assignment for a new vessel, but we all have been trained for the just in case," he smiled, "and the just in case is here. Don't be afraid to ask for help, and don't think you are alone. We are only as strong as our weakest link."
"I have a question." Viessa moved forward and for some strange reason raised her hand much like a child in a classroom asking permission to speak. Others on the bridge turned to face her and with faces with wonder as if to ask what could she possibly have to question about the order their Captain had given. "How we plan on getting injured Romulans to my medical bay when we are in the middle of a fight? Surely lowering even a small part of our shield would be dangerous for all involved, Romulans included." she asked purely thinking of the safety of everyone.
Faith gave a glance up from her console a moment, to look to Viessa. "That's easy. We both use our transporters set to the same shield frequencies. It'll be like they aren't there. While at the same time, working perfectly fine against any attacks."
Marc smiled and thought that he loved when a crew came together and knew their jobs. This impending battle may allow this crew to bond quicker than expected. That is something good that can at least come out of this. Marc thought as he looked around the Bridge.
"A fairly simple and elegant solution." Viessa nodded. In truth she didn't know much outside of a medical bay, her life honed in healing, but it was nice to hear the solution to the shield query was not a difficult one to overcome. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I'll need to brush up on Romulan anatomy..." she added, the last part more for herself.
Nala gulped. We're gonna do WHAT!? The Breen!? He's so right, I did NOT sign up for this...but this is part of Starfleet's job, and I'm a Starfleet Officer and...well, not OFFICER yet, but this IS my job and I'm going to do it! Nala thought to herself, tightening her grip on the console to stop the slight trembling of her hands.
Abe looked over his shoulder to the Ensign, "Ensign," Abe looked over to Rider, "take a deep breath, Nala. Just focus on the assignment at hand and don't worry about the things you can't control." Abe knew that look, he would have shared that look if not for his experience. This was definitely not what any of them thought they would be doing when they reported to the ship.
Nala did as instructed, nodding her thanks to the Commander as the breath surprisingly DID calm her.
He turned back to the bridge, "There will be little time to react once we push off. So, if you need something from the station to get this ship operational, steal it; I don't care. If you run into red tape, I know someone who might be able to help." He didn't want to name-drop, but he could call Tommy for a few favors if needed.
"The Artemis has to be battle ready in the next thirty minutes. Now what kind of status do we all stand in." Marc asked as he cast his eyes about the bridge.
Faith frowned a little bit, "Well..according to this we've got four phaser emitters that haven't been installed, there's all but ten torpedoes, the rest are suppose to arrive on Tuesday. Half of the cells force field emitters aren't working." That was already a lot, she didn't want to mention that the environmental systems in her office weren't working.
Marc ran his hand through his hair, he had to expect that this was only the tip of the iceberg. "Lieutenant, it sounds to me like you have your work cut out for you. You will have to have the next hour to get the phaser emitters installed, and contact Lieutenant Daynah Ral on Poseidon to get the rest of the compliment of torpedoes. I don't care if she has to make them herself. She wants us fighting she knows what to get. As for the rest it will have to wait."
"Sir? I don't know if this is a top priority, but it kinda looks like I'm missing half my console. Seeing as how this is a different type of ship than the Appomattox, it might look this way on purpose?" Nala realized she had put her hand up like a child in class and quickly returned it to her lap, blushing slightly.
Jonathan spoke up. " Captain, A question if I may? We've been ordered to station keeping coordinates 335 mark 7 and there are Breen known to be in the area. I'm assuming that Starfleet Intelligence has very solid data in believing that the Breen will be attacking Star Base Poseidon. The Breen are known to howl and saber rattle at their displeasures, Do we know the reason of what may have triggered the attack? "
Abe looked to the Officer, "I would imagine a fleet-level moment like this; their information is relatively solid. From what I have heard, the station has been in a quasi-battle with the Breen for some time. There have been numerous bombings, attacks on businesses, and even a murder recently of a Bolian nanite expert. Something here has the Breen upset. According to all reports, this has been going on for over a year; judging from the Intel I've seen, whatever has their interest is reaching its apex very, very soon.
Marc nodded his head in agreement with all that the XO said. "Ensign Rider get Engineering up here on the double to finish your console. They have three hours to get it done. Mr Corwin, Ms Miller I believe there will not be much use for your services during this. However, as officers I would like you to make sure that the crew is calm and ready to fight. Do what you can."
Faith sighed and started with getting the message sent over to the Poseidon about those torpedoes. Considering now she had to lock out of her station and head to the turbolift to light a fire under the station engineering staff about those phaser emitters.
"Aye, Captain. Ensign Rider to Engineering, I need someone to come to the Bridge who knows how to finish installing a Science Console," "You need us to do WHAT!? Of all the..." Nala put her hand over her comm badge as the voice went off in most likely a string of curses in another language. "I wasn't finished. Now, if you're done getting excited down there, I need that repair finished in three hours," another string of curses was heard. "Yesh, Dude, not my fault they can't figure out how to do one level at a time instead of willy nilly all over the place," Nala thought.
Jonathan nodded. " Aye Captain. Keep the crew calm and help out where needed. Understood. We'll do what we can Sir . "
"Ok then... Now that we have that sorted out. Are there any further questions?" Marc spoke as he could feel the tension rising all over the ship. He wished he had something to say that would alleviate the tension but he felt the same way as the rest of the crew. They were unequipped and unprepared for battle.
She paused a moment. Turning around, steps from the turbolift. Faith looked over those on the Bridge and let her violet eyes settle on Marc. "Just because my race is called a race of listeners, doesn't mean we don't see also. We see many things in fact. Some I won't try to get into right now." Stepping back into the Bridge a little more. "I can see all of the tension coming off of all of you like the plague. There's no reason to hide it or act brave. This is what we signed up for. My people are suppose to be mostly peaceful. We can only define our destiny by our choices. No matter what is thrown at us. Right now, I don't see fear driving you. Your emotions, our emotions. Your over thinking, our over thinking," pausing.
Faith moved around the Bridge a little as she talked, so she could make eye contact with each one of them. "Are our worst enemy. If you don't know how to focus them. How long have we been pushed for just such a thing like this? Years. Captain? How long have you dealt with situations and made the choices you have to earn that rank?" Motions upwards with her hands, "This ship?" Looking to Nala, "How about you? So much time to learn just the tiniest thing in someone's face. We may not all know each other intimately, but we are here. We will. Every travel has a beginning, and this is ours. Together. As one. Lets get after it and be prepared, because we are." Her last look back to Marc as she stepped back to the turbolift. Pausing so the doors didn't open yet. Hopefully that was what he'd wanted to try to say.
"Dang, that girl sure knows how to hit the nail on the head," Nala thought, taking a deep, calming breath and rotating her shoulders. "We're gonna get through this and we're gonna kick butt! Uh, Sir," Nala hadn't realized she had spoken out loud until someone snickered. Nala turned to the turbolift to see two Engineers had just stepped onto the Bridge. They walked over to Nala's station and started fixing the console, but not before BOTH of them nudged her from either side. Nala just ignored them. For one thing, they were higher in rank than she was and for another, she was replaying Lt. Faith's encouraging message in her mind.
As the turbolift doors slid open the visage of a young Ensign appeared in the center of the lift car. Tugging lightly on his operations gold uniform, Ensign Cihl Theidi looked carefully at the Bridge before him, quickly surveying each of the personnel present and making mental notes of each of them. The Ventaxian Engineer was quickly alerted to the fact that most of them looked relatively young, like he, almost as if they were pressed into service just as he had been. While he was not opposed to the adventure that lay before him, he wondered about the capabilities of the others before him. He had graduated second in his class from Starfleet Academy - only missing a single question in all the years of his study - and had his choice of assignments. While others may question his choice, he was still resolved that he had made the best one.
"Ensign Cihl Theidi reporting as ordered," he announced as he stepped onto the Bridge near the Doctor.
"Welcome to the Artemis Ensign," Abe nodded, "you're just in time for our first mission," he gestured to the Captain. Abe couldn't help but think to himself that the Ensign picked a poor time to report in if only his last transport could have been a few hours late. But they did need an Engineer if they stood any chance of making it through his attack.
While Faith's speech was moving the sight of the Ensign was indeed a sight for sore eyes. Marc stood and faced his Security Chief. "Thanks Lieutenant I think your words were just what we may have needed. Ensign welcome aboard, I am afraid you have your work cut out for you. You were just the man we were waiting for. We have about three hours to get this ship ready for battle. I would say lets start with Science console."
At least it seemed that Faith's words were felt by some of them. "You're welcome, Captain. If you'll excuse me, I have a Lieutenant to call and jump down their throat." Stepping into the Turbolift. Headed for her office so she could get what they needed on her departments end done.
Jonathan looked about the bridge. " I've got a free hand here if anyone needs some help. "
The Ventaxian Chief Engineer looked over at the Officer making the offer, "Thank you, but I believe that I can manage." He unslung his Engineering Kit and walked toward the Science Station as he had been directed, certain that the Captain would be able to make use of the other officer. "Three hours time is insufficient to prepare the ship for full combat; however, we will manage."
"Thank you Ensign..." Marc stood in silence for a moment as everyone set about their tasks. "I know that we did not sign up for this. However, this is what the fleet needs from us. Now we will show them what it means to be on the hunt."
Nala nodded her thanks to the Ensign, gulped a little, then nodded her head in resolution. If the Breen wanted a fight, then a fight was what they were going to get.
A Joint Post By
Captain Marc Kidd
Commanding Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Commander Abernathy Rice PhD
Executive Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Faith Benson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Viessa Kenobi
Chief Medical Officer/Medical Examiner, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Jonathan Corwin
Defense Council, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Commander Kelly Miller
JAG Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Junior Grade R'Nosin
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Junior Grade Adalyn O'Rourke
Ship's Counselor/Profiler, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Ensign Cihl Theidi
Chief Engineer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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