The Colony Senior Staff Meets

Posted on Sun Jun 28th, 2015 @ 12:39am by Lieutenant Commander Antos Lev & Lieutenant Commander Gaelan Tor & Lieutenant Tobin Ayo & Lieutenant Isi Nighthawk & Commander Adara Gunnar & Lieutenant Lance Tyler & Marine Captain Olex & 1st Lieutenant Eva Watson

Mission: Further Challenges

* Deck 6 - Large Briefing Room *

“Are you sure she said this room?” Eva asked as they entered a very large briefing room, hence the name.

“Yes, Eva,” Olex answered as she strode in. “I guess we’re a bit early. And remember, you’re here to listen this time. I’ll do all of the talking. This is a senior staff meeting but I cleared it with Commander Antos since he knows I’m ‘grooming’ you, of sorts.”

“Seen and not heard. Got it.”

“I just want you watching and listening,” Olex continued. “There will be times when I won’t be available for a senior staff meeting and you’ll need to stand in.” She looked around the room noting just how big and somewhat luxurious it was. “I guess we won’t have anything this nice at the colony,” she muttered.

“Seriously doubt it,” Eva replied taking in the full length of the mahogany table, as well as the very soft-looking chairs along the sides and ends.

The doors opened and a large blonde man entered, moving at a hurried pace. He had several padds in hand and several steps in he noted the two women and stopped.

“Hi,” he greeted them and smiled as he resumed walking and reached the table. “I am lt. Tobin Ayo, Chief Engineer.” He offered his hand to Olex, then realized it was full of padds and deposited them on the table. Once done, he tried again.

“Captain Olex, Marine commander,” she said. She and Tobin turned to Eva who just stood there. Olex sighed. “You can introduce yourself, Lieutenant. I meant just during the meeting.”

With an awkward nod to Olex, she shook Tobin’s hand. “Lieutenant Eva Watson, Marine XO. It’s nice to meet you.”

“My pleasure. I’ve seen your names of course but I’ve been buried in construction details and haven’t had much time to look up anyone. I’m glad to be working with you though. It’s definitely going to be an adventure.”

“I certainly hope it will be,” Olex replied. “I requested this posting hoping we would see something. I tire of nothing but drills over and over again.”

“I’m sure if the rebels out that way have anything to do with it you just might,” Tobin answered.

Behind him the doors opened once more and Commander Antos entered along with a woman in diplomatic purple. Lev reached Tobin and clapped him on the shoulder. “Glad you made it. I see you’ve met Captain Olex and Lt. Watson.” He nodded to them, then indicated the woman. “Captain, Lieutenant, this is Lt. Commander Tor, Chief Diplomatic Officer.”

Olex gave a nod. “Commander.”

“Hello,” Eva replied. “Other than the construction crews, I’d say you might be busiest person at the colony.”

Tor smiled at both. “It’s nice to meet you both, and yes, I suspect the dull moments there will be few and far between. There’s a lot to be said for that and I’m looking forward to it. It has been pointed out that we’re making history here and that sort of undertaking never comes without its excitement.”

The door opened again and an exceptionally happy, short-haired dog loped into the room and stopped, sniffing the air. When he moved, he made a beeline for the Andorian in the room, still sniffing hard. He started at her boots and moved up her legs to her knees.

Olex looked down at the dog, her antennae twitching. “And just who might you be?” she asked, not expecting it to reply, but she had learned early on that interacting with people’s pets as if they were able to speak back to you seemed the acceptable way to approach them. If only the technology existed to adapt the universal translators to help understand animals.

Cody wiggled he was wagging his tail so hard; when Olex acknowledged him, he wiggled just that much harder before giving her another sniff and hopping into a play stance, front legs splayed wide.

"Cody," Adara admonished the dog as she entered the room, a tall man with long dark hair at her side. The dog went over and plopped his butt down in a corner. "Hello, everyone, I'm Commander Gunnar, your new CO," Adara introduced herself, looking at each person in the room.

“Commander, I am Captain Olex, this is my XO, 1st Lieutenant Eva Watson. I hope you don’t mind her sitting in with us. I’m training her in the ways of senior staff activities. I like my second to be able to fill in if needed.”

"I don't mind. It's a good idea," the Commander said. Gesturing to the man with her, she added, "And this is Lieutenant Isi Nighthawk, the Colony's doctor. We already know Antos, Tor and Tobin. I believe we're missing just one."

Isi smiled at the assembled group. “Captain Olex, Lt. Watson, it’s nice to meet you.” He glanced to the rest and his smile widened. “I am glad to see the transports managed to get you all here in one piece.” He took a seat and turned to look at Adara.

The doors swished open again to reveal a tall officer in security attire. He’d cast a quick glance around before greeting all the participants “Good morning.” he said, then recognizing Commander Gunnar he presented himself, “Lieutenant Tyler, Sir.”

"Lieutenant Tyler, good to meet you." Adara nodded at the newcomer and took a seat, "Welcome, everyone,as most of us know, the Colony's foundations have been laid and construction's progressing along. Tobin, Tor and I will be taking a tour of the area in the next few days, then Tobin will be overseeing construction. What's our timeline, Tobin?"

“I’ve spent the last two days with the designer, Dr. Sala, going over everything,” Tobin responded. “The designs are complete and the plan is to get the senior staff quarters and the necessary areas up first. Junior officers will be in transitional housing for a few weeks while their quarters are being built in phase two. Once all the residential areas and the operational facilities are complete, then the extras will be added, such as the lake and the park.” He pressed the panel on the table before him and a three dimensional holographic rendering popped up in the center of the table. “As you can see, it’s not your typical utilitarian pop-up architecture. Much of this style borrows from several of the native species in the area and designed to be pleasing to the eye as well as functional. Since we are all we’re going to have out there, we wanted it to feel like home, not a cargo bay.”

Lev leaned forward, studying the image as it slowly rotated. Finally, he nodded. “It’s beautiful. I think it’s a great compromise, especially since there will be civilians out there, eventually - once it’s self-sustaining that is, which will be a little while. When do you plan to be staying on-site, Tobin?”

“I’ll have a better idea once I see it, but my guess now is in two weeks. Since the residences are all separate houses, I don’t have to wait for an entire building to be finished. We’ve arranged for mine to be the first done so I can stay and oversee things there and coordinate with Dr. Sala who will be here.”

“I can come out as needed, too," Lev answered. “Depending on what Commander Gunnar requires here.”

"We'll see as we go along," she said. "Captain Olex, you'll likely need to be among the first living on the Colony. You'll need fighters and equipment to protect against the rebels. Make your assessment and send me your request." She looked at the others. "We have a few strange things, known strange things, to discuss. One is our Science officer... which is really a hologram. All tricorder information will relay to its program."

Tobin spoke up once more. “I will be doing some maintenance on that hologram tomorrow in Holodeck 9. We are fine-tuning its ability to move between the colony grounds and the computer here, enabling the ability to work with the extended science team here at a moment’s notice. The colony facilities will have holo-emitters throughout so that he is not restricted to the science labs.”

“Excellent,” Lev commented. He referred to his padd and then looked to Adara. “We are also still minus an Intel officer but there are several possibilities that we can discuss later.”

Adara shifted slightly, touching her leg to Isi's, Intel? On a Colony? Aloud, she said, "For now, I'd rather allocate resources to Security and the Marines. At least until the Colony's civilian population rivals Starfleet's population."

Lev nodded and made a note in his padd.

Isi shifted and glanced to Adara. In a conflict zone, you’ll need to know all you can. Then he spoke aloud. “Those of you going out early, there is one biological warning. The survey team from 900 encountered a large flower whose pollen seems to induce paranoia, visions, and erratic behavior. I’ve sent all the info to you so you’ll be able to identify it and know the areas where it is to be found. Science here is working on a means to neutralize the effects, likely a preventive via hypospray that should be ready before any of you go to take up residence.” He smiled for a moment. “Oddly, it seems to prefer males, though a female Intel officer got caught in the crossfire. There were no reports of it spreading in the wind. According to Lt. Leto, it seemed to purposely blow the pollen onto Lt. Marcinko. So gentlemen, beware.”

Adara glanced at Cody, who was still sitting in the corner like a bad student. "The garden and park Sala’s team has designed will not have those flowers. We'll need to be wary of any other flora beyond the Colony's boundaries and that shouldn't be included in the park's plantings."

“Science shows no other hostile flora and this particular one seems to be in some areas rather remote from the colony’s location,” Isi replied, “which is good so it shouldn’t be encroaching on the colony itself.”

Tor spoke up next, once Isi was finished. “I have sent a report to everyone outlining the current rebel activity, as provided by Intel here. As it stands now, Charu is not in the direct path of the conflict between them and the Tynusian Empire, but random passes have been reported. A complete list of those has been forwarded to you, Captain Olex.”

The Andorian nodded. “A question regarding this hostile flora,” she said. “Since my teams will likely be doing quite a bit of scouting, will this holographic science man be outfitted with a mobile holographic projector so that it might go with us? I’d much prefer to have it with us to identify anything immediately that may be cause for alarm, also since it wouldn’t be affected by anything that would potentially harm an organic being.”

“I can certainly make that happen Captain,” Tobin answered. “Once science is done, you’ll be immune to its effects anyway but no need tempting fate is there?”

“Agreed,” Olex replied, “but we also don’t know what else is out there. If there is one harmful plant there may be others that we won’t be inoculated against until we’ve identified them. The hologram would be very handy in those situations.”

“I’ll see to that,”Tobin replied and made some notes in his padd.

“We will be on Ozum later this week,” Tor informed them all. “I’ll check the surveys there as well and see if there’s anything else noted on the other continents since exploration is a given.”

Olex nodded again but said nothing. Science really wasn’t her thing but keeping her marines safe while scouting the outlying areas of the new colony was and she couldn’t have them falling ill, or dying, simply because they didn’t know what the plants, or even undiscovered animals there, would do.

Adara softened slightly on the hologram as CSO in light of the conversation. Slightly. "We haven't yet set a time for our tour of the area, so Tobin, Tor and I should be on-station tomorrow. I'll send a notification out before we leave; we'll be available via comms either way, so don't hesitate to contact me if you need something. Any remaining questions or concerns?"

“The junior officers and enlisted information is coming in so if there’s a problem, Let me know,” Lev commented. “But that’s it for me.” When the rest shook their heads, he smiled at Adara.

"Then meeting adjourned," Adara said, dismissing the officers.

***********************
Commander Adara Gunnar
Lt. Commander Antos Lev
Lt. Commander Gaelan Tor
Lt. Isi Nighthawk
Lt. Tobin Ayo
Lt. Lance Tyler
Marine Captain Olex
1st Lt. Eva Watson
Lt. Lance Tyler