Fleet Opening Mission: To Our Future

[Steve Malloway]

POSTING AS LT GREGREZ, CEO USS BRAVEHEART

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USS BRAVEHEART, docked with Starbase Thrinacia
Main Engineering
1259 hours

Well, he HAD intended to report in. BUT, two things had gone wrong; one - his PADD wasnt up-to-date and it would seem the Commanding Officer had changed over suddenly from a Captain Donald McGriff to a Captain Ethan Trane, and two - said ACTUAL Captain he was after had beggered off to some meeting with the big do-bo's from Command.

Well, it wasnt all doom and gloom as it meant that Michael could escape to Engineering and really caress his new lady's thi- nacelles. He grinned, cutting himself off as he looked at the Ensign stood before him.

"So, you thought that would be more efficient?" Michael asked the Ensign, folding his arms across his chest slowly. "Use your noggin next time, OK? The next time I walk in and find you with your face pressed deeper between those two conduits than a really lonely bachelor on a stag-do, I will go completely mental. Understood?" The Ensign nodded, scattering as Michael flicked his hand at him as a sign to scoot. He turned to the Assistant Chief and rolled his eyes. "Are they ALL like that? 'Cos if they are, I'm gonna need to be sedated by the Doc if they mess with the engines without thinking. Thats all I need - to blow the ship sky-high before even meeting with the CO."

"Relax, they're not all as immature as him."

"Not ALL?" Michael fell back into his chair heavily and rubbed at his forehead. "11 years I've been doing this and he's the first one to almost not only singe his eyebrows off, but singe the inner hull of the Starbase at the same time... Eesh... Anyways, I'm not officially due to be on-duty till 1600 hours, so in the meantime, here's the deal." He looked at the Asst. Chief again. "I'm gonna disappear to the Starbase for a quick munch, while I'm gone you tell that lot to mind my paintwork. Done?" He received a sharp nod and a grin. "Good, I'll see you all later."

STARBASE THRINACIA
Promenade
1226 hours

"Hmm... I'll have 2 Bacon Double Cheeseburgers, 3 large fries and a Large Chocolate Milkshake."

"Takeout?"

"Are you kidding? It's just me." Michael winked at the server behind her counter. "OK, save one of those fries and I'll have that when I go." He grinned, turning away to look at the tables in the Restaurant and spotted a vacant one on the far wall. Always farthest away? Awesome. As far as it may have seemed, it wasnt overly; the trip through the various officers and civilians seemed to last all of the blink of an eye if Michael was honest, sitting into the booth's leather chair. It squeaked lightly and he turned to look at a small boy grinning at him. "It was the chair." He smirked, sliding along the shiney fabric to the end of the table nearest the wall. It was actually quite comfy.

TAG: ANyone

[Ethan Trane]

Starbase Thrinacea
Conference Room Alpha
1305 Hours

Ethan took his seat, watching as a few late stragglers entered, and made their way to empty seats. He was excited to get the briefing underway, being his first one, and also so he could finally see exactly what happened in these things. He had heard stories about them, but doubted the validity of what he had heard. The Admiral approached the podium and began his speech.

Ethan listened as the Admiral spoke about a gateway. Sure, he had heard of them, his knowledge wasn’t very extensive on them, but from what he remembered, the gateway was the around the size of a door. It would be something big enough for a person to step through, here, the Admiral had mentioned the gateway being a bit bigger than a galaxy class!

Ethan’s eyes opened a bit wider, followed by his ears. This was not something he wanted to miss. Having been involved in Starfleet long enough, he figured either something was coming through the gateway, or someone with a ship the size of the Galaxy class was going through. Running through his mind, he tried to remember the overall size of the Galaxy class compared to his Sovereign. He was pretty sure they were similar in length, but he thought the galaxy was a bit taller.

Though he had put together in his mind the fact that the Braveheart would most likely fit through, there had to be more than a few other Co’s here that had ships that would fit through as well. Would this be merely a defensive mission where those that fit through would monitor this side of the gateway, ready to chase whatever came through? Or would this be an offensive where all those who fit through would go through to explore the other side?

Feeling his mind slipping into a daydream, Ethan shook it off, bringing his focus back to the briefing. They would all find out in due time what the mission, if any at all, would be. He hoped he would get something a bit more relaxed for his first mission. Going through a Gateway, traveling tens of thousands of lightyears, and not knowing when or if you were coming back put his heart on a faster beating path. Suddenly, for Ethan, things were moving a whole lot faster than they were before he had been promoted and assigned to the Captaincy.

[Zack Gillibrand]

Starbase Thrinacia
Conference Room Alpha
1305 hours


After watching the last of the attendees trickle in, Admiral Malloway had begun the briefing.  Zack had tried to pay attention closely to the very beginning, but soon his mind had wandered...until he heard the words "Iconian Gateway."  That had immediately brought his focus to the briefing fully.  At the mention of the Gateway, others' eyes had gone wide and there was immediately a palpable tension in the atmosphere of the Conference Room. 

Zack was no historian, but he was familiar with some of the legends and facts surrounding the enigmatic Iconian race.  Historical records indicated that they were technologically advanced far beyond Federation and Allied capabilities, and that their civilization had ceased to exist some 200,000 years ago.  The USS Yamato had discovered the location of the Iconian homeworld in 2365; unfortunately the location was in the Romulan Neutral Zone, and the Yamato had been destroyed by an invasive Iconian computer program.  The Enterprise had visited Iconia and determined that the fabled Gateways, the technology that had given the Iconians the name "Demons of Air and Darkness", were indeed real.  Said discovery had been a remarkable archaeological find, even including the fact that the Enterprise had been forced to wipe both its own and the Yamato's logs in the process.  Years later, an Iconian outpost had been discovered in the Vandros system in the Gamma Quadrant.  The legends surrounding the Iconians seemed to be growing more and more true with each passing discovery.

When Admiral Malloway had mentioned the approximate dimensions of the Gateway, Zack had not worried for his ship; the Independence was small enough that it would fit through the Gateway with plenty of room to spare.  Such a piece of technology would be an amazingly powerful exploratory and scientific resource, allowing transit to systems that so far had been well out of reach.  Not to mention its potential usefulness as a tactical resource.  Countless scenarios played out in Zack's mind, but there was one burning question that he absolutely needed to know the answer to immediately.  He raised his hand tentatively, and the Admiral acknowledged him.

"Admiral," began Zack. "This is obviously an amazing discovery and a remarkable feat of ingenuity on our part.  Do we know what the maximum range of the Gateway is? And also, is there a delay between Gateway activations?  Some pieces of technology need time to recharge and reorient themselves and I'm wondering if the Gateway has that."

{tag: Admiral Marshmalloway }

[Draco Targus]

(OOC: Sorry Steve if Draco isnt allowed in the Briefing)

IC:

Conferance Room Alpha
1235 Hrs


It had been just under two hours since Draco had made it to the Station and already he was in a Fleet briefing. If the Commanding officer with the fleet had relized the level of importance that was involved with this briefing most of them would be scared as Cadets on the first day in San Fran. As He approached the door to the conferance room Draco adjusted his color and check to be sure that he had all his uniform in order. After being sure he entered the room and survied the officers already in attendance. Geeze. they just keep getting younger He thought to himself as he walked through teh crowd and took a seat to teh rear of teh room. Granted as an Admiral he should be at the head of the room , but being an old pilot the hard learned habit to be out of teh view of others incase of an emergancy transport was needed still lingered.

Some of the Captains in the room Draco KNew from fitness reports or by family members that had come throught he ranks with him. After sitting for a couple of minutes he stood up and walked over to teh replicator and ordered up a cup of earl Grey tea , hot. Takeing his drink he turned to notice Steve walk in and step up to the podium. With a nod of aknowladgement Draco took his seat and waited for the briefing to begin..

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if I could ask you to take your seats, we'll get underway. I remind you this briefing is classified." His voice almost echoing across the room as he pressed the presentation button; an image of the United Federation of Planets Defence Fleet emblem prominant in all it's glory flashed upon the main presentation viewer across the back wall behind him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I will keep this as brief as possible, but there is quite a bit to take in. If at any time anyone has any questions, then do speak up." He paused, just incase and nodded to John to begin the presentation; who did so with a single tap to a button. The emblem was replaced with one of the very few images of the Gateway. An extremely thin 'edge' had been constructed around the rim of the gateway, with a docking station and command centre attached to its left-hand side, simple in design, yet boasted an elegance. "This, is your latest toy. By Starfleet database reference you would all probably be familiar with the name Iconian Gateway," he turned to look upon the Commanders, "however much bigger than those previously discovered. It measures mere meters bigger than a Galaxy Class vessel." Again he paused, the murmurs from those present hissing across the expanse, dying again as they noticed the Admiral's waiting posture. "Station Iconia has been tasked with monitoring the activity of the Gateway-"

"Sir?"

Steve zipped his line of sight across the Captain who's hand had shot up and spoke forth. "Yes, Captain Joly."

"My apologies for interupting, but can you define 'monitoring'? Noone, on our records atleast, has managed to keep a stable gateway open, let alone been able to monitor their activity."

"No no, Captain, I did say any questions by all means." Steve replied firstly, tapping a button to change the image to specifications of what seemed to be Starfleet transporter technology, mixed with Borg counterparts, and various other sensor techniques and commodities. "From working with many of you for 2 or so years now, I think it is safe to say that many of you realise I am not a whizz in the Science department; therefore I wont lie to you - I dont know the ins and outs of how this thing works, nor will I lie and say it is fully-operational. It is desperately-so in its infant stages. All I know is that the technology you see before you has all been adapted, connected and utilised in ways that enable us to keep a somewhat steady gateway open. I say somewhat, the longest period of time has been 3 days - but that was with nothing sent through. Seven of Nine, whom I am sure you are all aware of, was able to help us in many ways due to her vast knowledge of alien species technology and has become one of the leading co-ordinators of this project. So basically, if something goes wrong you lot cant blame me... maybe Vice Admiral Morgan if you push it, but I'm clean." He allowed for a small murmur of laughter as he looked this way and that at the Commanders in the room. "Before we continue, are there any questions? No matter how small, they may be of use to others, and myself if I miss anything."

"Admiral," began another young Captain from the other side of the room. "This is obviously an amazing discovery and a remarkable feat of ingenuity on our part.  Do we know what the maximum range of the Gateway is? And also, is there a delay between Gateway activations?  Some pieces of technology need time to recharge and reorient themselves and I'm wondering if the Gateway has that."

Draco grinned in pleasure that although the Captains might be getting younger, the same drive and since of adventure still thrived within these young pups as it did with his generation. Sitting back in the chair he crossed his arms and waited to hear how much was known that hadn't been relayed tot eh rest of command. Other than a hand full of senior officers ( 3 that he could think of) on the station Draco was sure he was the only person that had knowledge of teh gate before the briefing.

TAG: ALL

OOC: I Copied in a few of teh tags as well within this post

[Emma Wilkinson]

Emma Wilkinson

Starbase Thrinacea
Conference Room Alpha
1245 Hours

Emma didn’t know that many people aboard the base, and those she knew who were around…she hadn’t spotted yet. She took a seat near the head of the table on the left hand side, sat back, and simply observed. It was one of her skill sets, she wasn’t one for getting in the middle of things particularly, she preferred to watch, taking in usefull information. It generally worked, it helped her assess people and situations. It was one of the reasons she was in the position she was in. She had a logical approach to situations, which was generally helpful in her line of work.

After the room had filled quite considerably, and about five minutes had passed, Admiral Steve Malloway walked into the room. A small smile crossed her lips as she recognised him, he had changed a lot since they had last seen each other many years ago, but then again she probably had too. She didn’t move, she simply melted into the background of noise and commotion that was around her.

As steve moved over to talk to another officer, Emma suddenly recognised John Morgan as the man he was talking to. Another smile crept over Emma’s lips, as she wondered if either of them would recognise her. Steve had a quick word with John before calling everyone to take a seat, Emma straightened herself in her seat as everyone around her made to sit down and not be the last one, and waited for the briefing to start.

Once things had got underway and the main aspects of the gateway had been laid out, Steve opened up to the floor. Emma generally found that most people asked the questions she came up with, so for the time being sat back and listened to the questions and answers in turn, absorbing all the information she could, and taking notes on the PADD she had with her for such a reason.

Tag All

[Steve Malloway]

OOC: Apologies on taking time to reply; had a manic weekend!

IC:

STARBASE THRINACIA
Conference Room Alpha
1308 hours

"A good question Captain Gillibrand." Steve replied, moving his gaze to look at Zack. "We're unsure at this time on the exact range of the Gateway, but we do know this;" he paused, standing upright from the podium to clasp his hands together infront of him, "from records we have and the tests we have ran, there have been locations we've seen through the gateway that do not match anything on our records. This obviously leads us to assume they're beyond our current reach using warp capable vessels. We have also catalogued, be it due to the sheer size of the gateway herself we believe, that the 'end-point' does not open lower than atmospheric travel. It has been suggested that this Gateway in particular was used for such travel of Iconian vessels, rather than the smaller ones for merely just people."

Steve allowed for a moment as a few more murmurs of discussion passed through Commanders, and he walked slowly to stand infront of the podium, looking upwards at the staff looking down the lecture-hall type setup. "As for recharge, thats still an unknown. Like I said on the tech's infancy they havent looked into this - but I can safely say it recharges between the follow-up to previous activations and their test debriefs. The shortest period between activation was just short of 44 hours - added to the fact that we ourselves arent powering the gateway, just our own bits and pieces that are attempting to control the 'end-point'.... I understand that this is all very confusing for everyone, as the details are still sketchy and I myself still dont fully understand this, but... I'm eager for it to be put to use." He stopped infront of the podium, looking out at the masses. It was invigourating to see so many eager eyes looking down at him and he allowed for a small smile. "Ladies and Gentlemen I joined Starfleet almost 31 years ago... with a desire to explore, a drive to delve further than I ever thought possible, a wanting, a need to find an answer to so many questions. Today, this dream I had could be realised. And not only by me, but by yourselves and your crews. I've pushed the early activation and use fo this Gateway," He gestured with a full-length arm behind him to the screen of the specifications, "so that YOU and YOUR CREWS can really do the jobs I know you love so much. We're here not just to protect what we already have, but to explore beyond what we already have. The excitement and adventure that I know awaits us further down our own yellowbrick road is a drive that I have pushing through my veins. Yes, this may be a premature move on my part to get the Gateway project into full-swing... but hell, if we arent here to traverse the unknown, what are we here for?" He stopped, looking out at the crowd, awaiting anything; a comment, a jibe, a question. The floor was theirs, regardless for now if he hadnt finished the debrief.

TAG: Anyone with anything? Any questions/comments before we hit the next bit of a debrief? lol

[Emma Wilkinson]

Jemma Grax
Starbase Thrinacea
Conference Room Alpha
1315 Hours

Jemma sat listening to all the questions being asked about the new ‘gateway,’ and tried to wrap her head around everything. It certainly sounded interesting…where would it lead…what would they find…? Jemma enjoyed a challenge though, and anything Command wanted to throw at them, she would tackle it like any other.

Once several questions had been asked, and more information was given from the admiral, he proceeded to walk out from behind the stand and continued. Jemma had a question in mind that no-one seemed to be asking so, she raised her hand and waited to catch the Admiral’s gaze. Once she had she asked…

“How many ships are going through the gateway sir? Is one ship going through before re-evaluation, or is it running to the point of simply, go through and go forth?” She finished waiting for a response.

Tag Admiral Sir

[Steve Malloway]

Starbase Thrinacia
Conference Room Alpha
1316 Hours

Moments after finishing his little speech, a hand caught his eye and Steve turned his gaze to the Commander, nodding his head for her to speak.

"How many ships are going through the gateway sir? Is one ship going through before re-evaluation, or is it running to the point of simply, go through and go forth?"

"For now I will only permit select crews from the Fleet to proceed through - those whom I feel will handle the situation the best based on the experience and knowledge at their disposal, additionally evaluated against the capability of the vessel." Steve paused, reaching behind him over the podium to grab a PADD he had waiting there, and again turned to face everyone. "For now only Taskforce 354, Taskgroup Alpha vessels will be permitted to traverse through, as well as any vessels under the command of myself and the Senior Fleet Command Team. The Agamemnon, Thunderstorm, Braveheart, Angels Flight and Independence are all permitted to use the gateway under supervision of the Fleet Commanding Officer, Fleet Executive Officer, Chief of Fleet Operations or Fleet Chief of Staff. I know some of the Commanding Officers within said list already have their orders, so don't feel rushed. Due to the nature of how young our Gateway is I will only permit, at most, 2 of our ships to go through."

"Admiral, will the rest of us get the chance?" Another Commander called out.

"Aye, you will." He paused, looking to the rest of the Command Staff. "I wont hold off long for the rest of you, but until this technology is somewhat stable it will be slow going. We have the best minds working to make this flawless, so patience is a virtue." Another hand rose from the crowd and Steve acknowlegded them with a nod.

"Sir... This is certainly a formidable discovery we have in our hands here... something I understand that will help our exploration even more. But, have we thought of defence too?"

"Defence, Lieutenant Commander?" Steve asked the young XO.

"Whilst we are able to open these gateways as we are, whats to stop someone opening from their end and coming through to us?"

Steve smiled, it was a true question indeed. They had no idea what could very well come through to their sector, let alone what they could end up going through into. "Again an unknown, but its the same as if we went through. Foremost we are Ambassadors to the United Federation of Planets, and we dont want a conflict that is for sure. If you go through to combat, you have orders to return immediately; no matter what. Should something come through to our end - Thrinacia will be ready, and there is always a fighting spirit among my teams here." The XO nodded, it would seem they were satisfied... for now. "Has anyone anything else?"

TAG: Anyone?

[Melanie Woodcroft]

Starbase Thrinacia
Conference Room Alpha

Melanie listened to all of them and when the question came up about the defense something popped into her head. she raised her hand slightly and when she was acknowledged she looked around.

"i have an idea.. maybe each of our ships should have a code that is sent to Thrinacia so they know its us.. and when we go through.. maybe we can send a probe before we go through on the other end, to make sure its safe for us.. maybe something that can send us news feeds or updates on whats going on there.." she suggested. It wasn't all she was thinking but it was a start. the wheels in her head were turning.

TAG

[Connor Blake]

Starbase Thrinacia
Conference Room Alpha

Connor was a little upset with the relay station having not been already set up on the other side of the Gateway as per standard procedure with wormholes. Though many considered the Gateway could have multiple exits locations which only gods knew where. "Admiral if I may," he spoke up, "I have a team working on getting a relay station just on the other side which will send us feeds and sensor logs unfortunately only when the Gateway is active but the station is not ready yet and we'll need a ship to go position it. Any takers?" Connor asked.

taggy