Staff Meeting (Part 2)

Posted on Sat Jun 17th, 2023 @ 5:43pm by

2,354 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Mission 4 - Like a Thunderbolt
Location: Briefing Room, Command and Control
Timeline: MD05 - 1300

"I am Lieutenant junior grade Fischer Mencowicz, Logistics Specialist assigned Faltan Station," Mencowicz said, answering the question from the Caitain commander. Because, as he'd been told - time and time and time and numerous times before that - to not answer questions is considered 'rude' and she was a ranking officer. "I have been serving in that capacity at this assignment for three months, two weeks, four days seventeen hours and forty-eight seconds. I am able to provide you with a full personnel complement and roster as of this time if you wish to familiarize yourself with those assigned to this station, Commander. I will even code it to match those assigned since construction began, those assigned temporarily for construction, newly assigned crew due to this stage of completion of this station, crew currently assigned and waiting completion of other stages of construction, crew transferred to this base from Faltan Base and those assigned but not yet arrived or checked into their duty assignments. Such as the operations chief. He is due to arrive Tuesday." Mencowicz availed himself of another mug of coffee with cream and sugar as he spoke.

Ronan slotted a glance at Mencowicz, traveled to M'Mira, and thought about the old Earth notion of herding cats and how that seemed applicable here and in that moment, he profoundly missed his former shipmates. "When Faltan Base was evacuated, nothing was done to prevent it being taken over by the Falteans. If they haven't already, they will soon ... so we need to get down there. Make it worthless to them and, provided Science and Medical has a way to do it safely, maybe take some samples of whatever it was that killed all those people."

M'Mira had already heard this intent in her private meeting with Ronan and Ba'zra and she just sank lower into her chair. She was not certain who Mencowicz was or where he came from but he was as annoying as he was efficient. But, if he made her job easier, so much the better. More cat naps for her.

From her corner, Fee quietly cleared her throat, and then, in a near-whisper, "I have already coordinated with Medical. We have a plan in place for when we can get some samples." She said. "That means that...Well. You don't care, do you? Sor-Sorry," she moved back against the wall again. "I'll have some results to share with the team soon." She let out a breath she'd been holding. Someone say something to take the heat off of her, please!!! Why didn't the Vissians have Gods or Prophets or something she could pray to?!

M'Mira looked at Fee. So many new people! How can we get to be cohesive and function so quickly when we do not even know who we all are?

Ba'zra growled at Fee, her voice purposely louder than need be. "Lieutenant Drylo, if you have something to say, you need to say it so all can here. As a former science officer, I want to be able to verify your conclusions and words, so speak up!"

Ronan, whose hearing was excellent, turned to listen to his chief scientist but was unable to even formulate a question before Baz pounced, no doubt about a half a second before his second officer did.

Fee looked to the woman. "Sorry, ma'am. I was under the impression that Klingons had excellent hearing. Perhaps Dr. Harrison here can take a look at your ears," she said, in a flat tone. She meant it sincerely, while others might've been sarcastic. Sarcasm wasn't apart of Vissian culture, though. Her voice WAS an octave higher. To Captain Channe, she turned. "Later, I plan to get some samples...I am following a hunch that perhaps it's a mold or something that's somehow making it into the food supply or the air somehow. Then I am going to run a Kepler experiment-sorry. As I stated, I will have those results for you as soon as I can," she said, shrinking back away. "Commander, Ma'am, you're welcome to come down to the labs to see what I-we-are doing if you'd like." She said, in an effort to appear convivial, whatever that meant for the diminutive redhead. How she'd ever gotten this far in her career with her temperament was anyone's guess.

Ronan, speaking in a gentler tone to the Lieutenant, asked, "I'm assuming the entire away team will need to take special precautions. How many will you be able to outfit?"

She considered for a moment. "We could probably do four safely. I'd prefer as many non-Humanoids as we can round up, IF my theory is correct, which, unfortunately, I won't know until after we get samples... it's a well-researched guess that the things that affect Humans and your nearest relatives affect non-Humanoids less. Or not at all. I'd recommend full EV suits, and isolation gowns over them. Could I have one security person, too? Maybe myself and Ensign Back from Science-she's Klingon-and one of you three?"

"No, no, no!" Mencowicz said, his hands twitching as his fingers drummed on the edge of the conference table. He wanted his holographic information system but all he had was this ridiculous slow and static PaDD with him. "No! Your reasoning is flawed," he said as he stood and grabbed the pitcher of coffee, the contents much reduced due to his consumption. It didn't stop coffee from dribbling as his fingers continued to twitch while he attempted to pour another full mug. "You would be correct that substances affect those with closely related genetic groups as populated across the galaxy by the Ancients but that would be substances. You have already guessed that the dangerous substance used was natural in origin? But that would require a spontaneous genesis of the substance since Faltan Base was there for some time without anyone being affected. Then we must consider the Sysiphian consideration that the substance, after spontaneously generating, has become so ubiquitously volatile that it is immediately affecting those genomic traits that are so closely resembled among certain Ancient originated species." He hastily slurped hot coffee, unaware of the burn on his tongue or that it was not sweetened nor had cream added. He needed the coffee. "The odds of such happening would stagger even the Children of Hephaestus with their...logically it would be...but it fails to consider that the substance in question is not Gaian in origin but rather Aresian." He looked around the room, unaware of how quickly he spoke, how his voice was an octave higher than previous. He sloshed more coffee trying to refill the mug. "It is used as a weapon therefore the Children of Hephaestus would conclude it is more logically artificially generated rather than natural. In such case we cannot safely or reasonably presume that it is not harmful to those who are not descended of the Ancients."

He set his mug back on the counter, realizing the pitcher of coffee was now empty. He eyed what had been spilled with regret. "Bringing the samples and people back to the station safely is a lot easier to accomplish then going down one track without consideration of the Pandorian evils let loose upon the galaxy."

Ba'zra was certain that she was going to kill Lieutenant Drylo if she ever got the chance. How DARE she insult her hearing? If Ronan had not spoken before her, she knew that she would have leapt across the table and gouged her heart out. Because she could not do that, she took out her Daqtagh and started flipping it in the air for everyone to see. Somehow, she always caught it at the hilt.

Feeva looked curiously at Mencowicz. "Who are "the Children of Hesphestus?" She glanced around. Was that some weird Human colloquialism she hadn't heard yet? "The only children I am aware of here on Faltan Station are Dr. Harrison's two girls."

Kara sat taking in everything that was being said. Right now she didn’t have much to add to the proceedings, instead she listened to what was being discussed.

"Computer, find the on duty JAG officer and have them report to the conference room in the CNC," Ronan said. "Mencowicz," Ronan said, his tone rising slightly, as his gaze raked over the coffee-addled form of his, 'stars help him', operations officer, "Sit down and be quiet. Ponder the notion that just because you think it, doesn't mean it should pour out of your mouth unfiltered."

He turned his attention back to his Chief Science Officer, who looked as though she wanted to fade into the bulkhead and his voice gentled at once. "Lieutenant, if what you have is four, then we'll make that work. However, along with samples, we're going to need to remove anything from the base that we don't want the Falteans to have. Baz, could four do it or should we consider a second team right after the first finishes?"

Fee nodded. "More EV suits can be replicated; I am more concerned about safety measures. The fewer people exposed is better. I will defer to your decision," she said, simply.

Mencowicz upended the pitcher in the desperate attempt to get whatever drops may be left. "It would be a waste of time, resources and manpower to replicate more EV suits." he said. His thoughts were going flat. So flat. He was losing the roundness, the dimensions of his thinking. He twitched his fingers on the table again, as if running them over the static control panels. "It would upset the timelines on getting the station operational, make it slow down to switch over industrial replicators to uselessly replicate more EV suits. We have plenty, plenty...more than enough...suits!" Despite the captain's earlier statement, he stood rapidly and moved to the replicator in the room and ordered a Mencowicz coffee order three and practically danced in front of the slot as the computer filled the order and a new pitcher appeared. "We are a station under construction. We have lots of EV suits and limited resources."

"Mencowicz," Ronan bellowed. "Get out. If you can't control yourself, then you have no place here. Consider yourself on report; see the First Officer after we conclude this meeting."

Fee was about to tell him that it wasn't the number of EV suits, but rather the number of personnel when the Captain interrupted. She shrank back a little, then got herself together, stepping forward to listen. It took some time for her to get comfortable with people but once she was clear about how they operated, she was quick to interact. She LOVED her job and while she wasn't one to share a lot about herself, she could be counted on to overshare about what the Science Department was doing.

"I agree with you, Lieutenant Drylo. We don't know enough about how this works and I'd rather limit the exposure. A team of four it is. Baz, take the Minotaur to get you in range but watch out for their orbital defenses. Beam down, get the samples, and get out. Once that's done, we can send a second team down. I need someone from engineering up here."

Mencowicz held the pitcher to his chest, feeling the satisfying, comforting warmth against him. His face broke into a large, happy smile. "I can leave, really?" He didn't wait for an answer but moved quickly to the door. He just arrived at it, and they automatically opened before he turned back to where he was sitting. He grabbed the mug and cradled it to his chest as well. "I get to leave!" he sounded happy as he then moved quickly out the door.

Roger watched the young Warrant Officer with interest. Someone was going to need to address that coffee situation-STAT. He would send a note to the CO, calling the man in for his onboarding exams, AND they could discuss it then. Here and now wasn't the right time. He'd remained mostly silent; this was mostly the Science Department's show.

Ba'zra stopped flipping her Daqtagh and stabbed it into the table the moment that Mencowicz left the room. "We will have no more nonsense in here," she growled, baring her pearly white human teeth. "Four, it is Captain." While Ronan had the privilege of calling her Baz in public and private, she would not breach protocol in front of these people and as far as she could tell, they were all just as useless as the Caitian Commander. Herding cats. How in the world are Ronan and I going to have kids with these nincompoops? I trust none of them. "First I must deal with Mencowicz, as he is on report. After that, I expect you, Drylo, at the Minotaur." She gave Drylo a vicious grin.

Dramin seemed a little bit confused as to why the human seemed so eager to leave as he walked through the door. He was ignorant of the drama that'd just gone down in the room, of course, having been swamped with research work before the page came through, and he'd jogged all the way here. Somehow or other without knocking anyone down.

"Ensign Dramin, reporting as asked." He said meekly as he stepped towards an empty chair at the table. The meeting seemed to be a senior staff gathering by the looks of it; which still didn't explain why his presence was needed. Had the man he'd just passed in the hallway committed some kind of offence? "How may I assist?"

Fee's eyes grew wide at Dramin's entrance. A KELPIAN? She'd never seen one in the wild before!! Of course, she'd never seen another Vissian outside of Vissia, either, but this wasn't the same. She was nearly ready to cross the room to chat with him, but quickly found her manners, and instead, took a seat at the table, having calmed her nerves enough at this point. The Captain's reassurance's that she was correct had helped. Her deep breathing exercises helped, too.

 

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