Fleet Opening Mission: To Our Future

[Connor Blake]

ON

STARBASE THRINACIA
Conference Room Alpha
1326 Hours

~Wow this girl needs a serious confidence boost, but what?~ Connor asked himself. "I certainly hope it does as well Captain. Yes we'll have another meeting tomorrow to finalise everything on the command deck," he replied to Melanie then smiled. "One more thing that I'd like for you to keep in mind is that everyone here was chosen by Admiral Malloway to be apart of this fleet one reason or another."

TAG Melanie

"We'll leave in 48 hours so you have time for anything you need to sort out Captain Trane." Connor replied to the Braveheart commanding officer.

TAG Trane

Connor turned to Zack and smiled. "Captain Gillibrand of the Independence, perhaps you would like a scouting mission as I'm sure there are systems nearby on the other side of the gateway?" He offered and gestured to both the Agamemnon's commanding officers as well. "Fleet Captain Martize, same offer to you however in different direction from the gateway's exit aperture." The starbase executive officer said to the task force CO.

TAG Zack and Martize

OFF

[Melanie Woodcroft]

STARBASE THRINACIA
Conference Room Alpha

Melanie nodded. "yeah i know sir.. and i know what youre probably thinking.. how can i think something like that about myself when i'm in this fleet and got chosen. Its simple.. my past.." she said shrugging at him. "its all happened before, so its not all new to me. What will be new if it actually doesnt happen here.. you know what happened in my past? Just hope it does though cause i like this fleet. I just want to be a part of something and be seen for it is all. all my hard work and everything. Its not been reconized or anything in other fleets. Its either not seen or i get passed by things. so far this place has changed that opinion. I"m just hoping it changes it fully and my attitude towards myself when it comes to my work here." she responded sitting back down and starts to look through things. "you did for one thing by asking me to escort you through the gate, which im honored to do sir." she added to him smiling.

TAG

[Zack Gillibrand]

Starbase Thrinacia
Conference Room Alpha
1329 hours


Zack listened closely to the exchange between Commander Blake and Captain Woodcroft.  He actually felt bad for the younger woman, being in such a prominent position and having been brow-beaten by her superiors so badly that she was unsure of herself and tentative at best.  He remembered how he had felt just after he had been given command of the Vermillion in 2382--Vice Admiral Stovek had done everything in his power to make Zack feel inferior and unworthy of his promotion.  Thankfully, the crotchety old Vulcan had retired after a few months and his replacement, Rear Admiral Martinez, had been a much better mentor.  Zack hoped sincerely that this young woman would find the validation she seemed to need in her new position.

Commander Blake then addressed Zack directly.  Zack was not terribly thrilled about delaying his mission to the Hopi Expanse; it had been handed down to him by Admiral Malloway, as part of the Federation's continuing effort to chart and explore all of the sectors within its territorial boundaries.  Sector 575 was completely unexplored, mostly due to heavy gravimetric interference from a red hypergiant star and a set of binary pulsars.  Conversely, Zack was also excited about the prospect of being one of the first vessels to go through the Gateway--and maybe, if it was timed just right, they could find an exit aperture that would put him and his crew closer to the Hopi Expanse and cut their travel time.  Otherwise, the Independence crew was looking at a trip of eleven days each way at warp factor seven.

"The Independence has already been issued a set of orders, Commander," said Zack as he swiveled his chair to face the station XO.  "However, I would be open to a 'scratch my back, I scratch yours' type of situation.  If we could program the gateway exit aperture to come out closer to the Hopi Expanse in sector 575, then my crew and I will be happy to oblige.  My ship is not built to sustain high warp velocities for long periods, so I would welcome not having to tax the engines that much for eleven straight days.  We can discuss it and iron out details following the ceremonies this evening if you'd like."

[tag: Connor]

[Steve Malloway]

Starbase Thrinacia
Conference Room Alpha
1329 hours

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if you please?" Steve interjected as Zack finished, stepping forwards once to have all eyes dart to him. "This is a debrief, not a planning discussion. Commander," Looking to Connor, he continued, "I have already issued the Independence with orders and approved Captain Gillibrands departure and necessary arrangements. The Thunderstorm and Braveheart are more than enough as well as capable." He turned to face the Commanders and Execs once more, his gaze catching a Commodore sat near to the front. I recognise that officer. Despite this, he turned his attention back to the masses.

"Any and all information can be sought from either myself or Vice Admiral Morgan should you need it. Further files are classified to a need-to-know basis and require our authorisation." This was becoming tedious now, he hated briefings. Especially when he knew there was a party-come-send-off-come-booze-up looming not long after - something he much preferred; to socialise than sit in meetings. Why he'd given up command of a starship he never knew. "To summarise, as I know we're all itching to delve into the many bottles of Romulan Ale this evening. The USS Braveheart will be escorted by the Thunderstorm through our fist official testing of the Gateway, where Commander Blake will oversee the installation of the relay station at the other end. Captain Woodcroft," He faced Melanie with a reassuring nod, "I'm leaving the assignment of Gateway codes down to you for any and all ships going through. Make sure you bring my Fleet back to me." He winked, once again turning to the crowd.

He was proud to see the eager faces looking back at him, the sea of red collars sat silent and still as they waited for the Admiral to continue. He felt like being cruel to them and dragging on a little, but he'd chosen these officers for one reason above everything else; he knew they were perfect for him to work alongside, and know alongside. "I expect to see each and every one of you at the ceremony this evening where we will be unveiling the Gateway to the rest of the Fleet and crews, and I remind you that certain information is classified. Dismissed." He snapped himself almost to an attention posture before turning to John. "That includes you too, Spiced." He mocked, smirking at his old friend.

TAG: John/Anyone

OOC: Apologies on 1) Late replies due to real life commitments, and 2) the crappy post - writer's block, even after having drafted something mentally on the way home!

N.B: (Means something similar to Please Note) You SHOULD all have received a communique from Commodore Wilkinson recently in regards to posting - quality, length and posting one post per character, not in the same. PLEASE ADHERE TO THIS! Posts will be removed if they do not meet these requirements - if you need another copy, email me!

[Jack Whillis]

USS Braveheart
Airlock
1320 hours

Jack walked through the airlock and aproached the Ensign on watch. "Permision to come aboard?" he asked handing over his orders. The ensign looked them over then looked at a padd of his own before making a couple of entries on the data padd then handing it pack to him.

"Permission granted sir," he said. "I have put the location of your quarters on there so you can drop off your personal effects. The CO and XO are on the station in a meeting with the other bigwigs of the fleet, but Commander Targus is aboard, she is the CAG so you will want to meet her as you are a fighter jock." Jack took the Padd back and with a final nod left to find his quarters.

Jack's Quarters
1330 hours

Jack entered his quarters after getting turned arround on his way and looked arround. It was a little cramped but nothing else to be expected for a junior officer. He opened his duffel bag and started putting his items into drawers. He hung his flight suit in the closet along with his dress uniform. He then removed a katana and the stand it would sit on and placed it ontop of his dresser before turning to the bathroom to give himself a once over and final shave. He might be cocky but he new first impressions were everything, and atleast on the first meeting Jack wanted to look perfect. admiring himself in the mirror when he was done he gave the image a lopsided smile and left the quarters to see if he could locate the CAG.

TAG: anyone (on the braveheart who wants to meet the new guy)

[Melanie Woodcroft]

Starbase Thrinacia
Conference Room Alpha

Melanie watched the admiral and blushed a bit when he winked at her and her eyes went wide slightly when he looked directly at her approving her suggestion and putting it on her to do. wow.. She has the assigment all to herself and he's counting on her to bring the fleet back to her. double wow. she didnt know if he was just saying it to be nice and bring up her spirits but it worked. She was being counted on as the escort for the braveheart as well. Maybe she was wrong about this. Maybe she actually was seen and noticed for her work, Specially by blake and Malloway. She nodded to him slightly and things started to form in her mind. As she watched the admiral she sort of stared at him, realizing how cute he was and she blushed more. Someone as cute as that has faith in her. And he was head of the fleet. She knew she had to do more than her best now. she had to go above and beyond like she never had before. And she was going to do that and wow these people.

TAG

[Emma Wilkinson]

(Emma Wilkinson)

STARBASE THRINACIA
Conference Room Alpha
13:30 Hours

Once everyone had stopped talking amongst themselves and been bought back to order, Admiral Malloway clarified a few extra assignments. It looked like two ships would be going through the gateway, to see just what was out there. She looked over her shoulder at all the faces, they were wide eyed with fascination, and intrigue.

After finishing with the individual assignments and summing everything up, the Admiral dismissed the hall full of officers. The Briefing was over. Soon the room would be empty once more, and everyone would move off to their individual duties once more, before the unveiling later in the day, and the party to follow. Many hated social events, especially when it was dress uniform, but Emma didn’t mind it was just another part of the job. After being to the number of parties that she had attended during her career either in or out of dress uniform, it was simply another part of the job.

Normally the social side of parties didn’t really interest Emma, as normally she didn’t know that many people and was simply there because she was ordered. This time however, was one of the exceptions to the rule, this time she would be catching up with old friends and she couldn’t wait.

Emma stood with the rest of the officers, wondering to herself for a few seconds, before turning and filing out with the others. She would leave saying hi to the Admiral for when they were at the party and would have time to talk and catch up with each other, after all, it had been quite and while and catching up would therefore take time.

(Tag all)

[Ethan Trane]

Starbase Thrinacea
Conference Room Alpha
1330 Hours

Ethan sat as the Admiral called order to everyone. Somehow most attendees had begun mini meetings in the middle of the debriefing. Ethan chuckled to himself as he thought about everyone conversing while the Admiralty stood there watching. As some order was restored, the loud chats became quiet hushes. Looking around the room, Ethan noticed most eyes back on center stage, with only a few whispers here and there.

He still had questions about the trip through the gateway, but would wait to see what answers were given first. While he was eager and ready to get through, and begin the mission, he wanted to be able to meet the crew, both old and new, in his new capacity as the Captain.

While thinking on that topic, he realized he was more nervous about that meeting than he had been with this meeting. He knew he would get through it, what he didn’t know was how many, if any, feelings would be hurt. His aim was to run things with a lax atmosphere, unless a whip actually needed to be cracked.

His thoughts elsewhere, he was brought back to the meeting by the Admiral announcing his expectations of seeing everyone at the briefing. One thing Ethan knew was he and his crew would be there. Though he wouldn’t be able to partake like he would want, he would partake never-the-less. He still had time to worry about the details of the party. For now, he would return to the Braveheart and check on the status of both the ship and his crew. With any luck, both would be ready for departure when they were scheduled to depart.

Turning to Jemma, he said, “I’m going to the ship to check on things, we have some time before the briefing, you can do what you want until then. Consider it the last of the free time before the party and mission.” With a smile, Ethan turned with the intent to leave.

TAG: Jemma, anyone who needs me before I exit stage left

[John Morgan]

Starbase Thrinicia
Conference Room alpha
1330 Hours.

"I expect to see each and every one of you at the ceremony this evening where we will be unveiling the Gateway to the rest of the Fleet and crews, and I remind you that certain information is classified. Dismissed." He snapped himself almost to an attention posture before turning to John. "That includes you too, Spiced." He mocked, smirking at his old friend.

John coughed and replied, “You imply such a thing?”, then paused for a moment.

“Well I will try”, John finally joked. John then turned to the audience of the briefing. “If you do have any other small questions, I will remain here for 10 minutes or so. After that you may bother me in my office. Otherwise, I shall see you all this evening.” John informed the command staff.

It seems the debriefing went better than expected, the command staff didn't just sit around like lemmings, as he has seen in briefings in the past, but actually engaged in a meaningful manner.
This could be a good omen for the future, John thought as everyone began their departure from the briefing room. It did seem to go off to a slight tangents however, as Steve did point out. But now the y know what could lie ahead.

John certainly could not wait for the ships to pass through the gate, for his personally over-sited the modifications on the gate. He hopes that the skill of everyone who worked under is enough to ensure the ships return and not end up on the other side of the galaxy with no way to return. Many months of planning and hard work, is throttling towards the moment when the two ships will head into the gate.

The ships entering through, their command staff will certainly will want to ensure their ship and their crews are ready as they can be. The thought of going through a gateway with the slightest uncertainty that they may not be able to return is daunting to anyone. We hope we do not end up with a new Voyager. Voyager did obtain a vast amount of information about the Delta Quadrant. However, there crew spent years in a medium range exploration vessel, with no support from their people.  John however did not think this scenario will repeated, from looking at the people who entered today and their records, they should be able to complete this mission without fail.

John waited as the the attendees exited the room, or for when anyone had any questions.

Tag: Anyone.
OOC: Sorry for such a shoddy post.

[Steve Malloway]

OOC: Posting as Ret. Capt. Donald McGriff

IC:

Starbase Thrinacea
Conference Room Alpha
1330 Hours

As the Admirals finished up, Retired Captain McGriff remained in his seat for a moment to watch some of the Commanding Officers and their counterparts leave. For once he had no urgency to get away as he had nowhere in particular to be. No command, no nothing. Well, save for the transport back to Earth but that wasnt just yet. The room began to get a little less busier as they filed out, the air becoming somewhat easier to breathe as the musk of all the uniforms and bodies in such a small environment dwindled, and for some reason the emblem of the Federation on the very back wall seemed to become that much brighter.

"Consider it the last of the free time before the party and mission." Donald blinked to bring his attention away from the emblem he was caught by. No longer would he be defending her citizens, or doing the duties he had become accustomed to. He had half expected to feel sorry for himself, or regret his decision to leave - but nothing of the sort. He looked at the voice, Ethan's, how had been in converse with Jemma at the time and slightly smiled as he stood up by them. He knew even though he was stepping out of the lights, there were those others that would fill the positions well. Better.

"Captain, Commander." Donald interjected to catch Ethan before he wandered out. "I'm due on a transport back to Earth within the hour." He offered his hand to them both and shook. "I wish you both all the best, make the Braveheart proud." Before either could reply he nodded his head once as a goodbye, and turned to walk from the room. His destination: luggage hold, then the transport to Earth. His vineyard awaited him.

TAG: Anyone if they wish before I skiddadle Donald to the shadows... for now XD