1800 – Briefing room Juliet Bravo 2

Kr’Antren stiff in front of the door to the briefing room he had been called to. He felt across the front of his Tunic making sure everything was in order and it was laying correctly. “We’ll here we go.” Said to himself as he chimed to let those inside know someone was at the door.

“”Enter”

“Ahhhh LT Kr’Antren, welcome to Task Force 47 and Deep Space 47. I’m Captain T’Nak. This is Commanders Stevenson and Zittia . Please have a seat so we can brief you on the latest news and intelligence from around the Thomar Expanse. We have received and reviewed your after action reports from your mission concerning Alth’Ndor IV. Unless there is anything you would like to add we will consider those reports and that mission closed. “

“No ma’am I have nothing to add.” as he nodded to the two other officers sitting at the table and took his seat.

For the next 60 minutes or so he was given a “welcome to Task Force 47” briefing which included the task forces policies and guidelines, the Rules of Engagement (ROE) for any interactions with possible adversarial persons/ships. This also included the latest intelligence on potential locations for pirates, the cardassian border, tzenkthi border and the Breen.

“Now Lt, I’m sure you’re wondering about your next mission. Yes, we have decided to keep your crew together along with the new additions you have recently requested and a couple that we recently received but feel,looking through your reports, should make good fits to your crew. First we have to take care of some business.” The captain reached down and picked  something up, looked at it real quick and slid it across the table to Kr’Antren. “Commander Stevenson, what do the regulations say is the penalty for a StarFleet officer being out of uniform.” 

Commander Stevenson starts to chuckle “Hmmm, We’ll know, on a ship it would be the first round of drinks from the officer at the lounge. But on a station, that’s another story, I would have to remember exactly how it’s worded but I believe it something along the lines of “the officer in question shall be required to open a tab at a drinking establishment of their choice for no more than a predetermined amount of time set by the stations command.” Which I believe for DS47 in this instance it would be for 30 minutes.” The three officers faced Kr’Antren and Captain T’Nak raised an eyebrow.

Kr’Antren quickly picked up the box from in front of him, seeing the silver enclosed pip representing his second full one and the rank of Lieutenant. He quickly looked up at the officers reaching to his neck area where his rank pips sat, unlatched the one silver ring and replaced it with the fully filled in pip. 

The three officers gave a quick nod, Commander Stevenson looked across the table to Commander   

Zittia “ Not sure I’ve seen an officer catch on and move so quick, have you?” Commander Zittia’s antenna twitched and twirled around as she looked at Kr’Antren. “Nor have I, but he is caitian and they are known for having quick reflexes. And knowing who his parents are I’m sure he is not what you would call dumb or slow.” Chuckling as she said this. 

Kr’Antren’s ears perked up at the mention of his parents, and looked at the Andorian Commander again trying to picture her face in his memories of his parents’ various staff and acquaintances. Shook his head slightly as he was not able to place her face or name.

At this time a side door opened behind the captain and another LT entered the briefing room carrying a tray with several Padds stacked on it and a few boxes like the one he just received stacked on it placing it beside her on the table. He could only guess that this was the captain’s aide. He also bent down and whispered something to the Captain. “Thankyou Lt. Rockwell.”As she held up a finger, the Lieutenant nodded in acknowledgement and exited the room. 

“Those boxes are based on your requests and recommendations. This PADD” she slides one across the table “is rather interesting in what it holds. The PADD holds two letters of appreciation, one from the Klingon high council and one from the newly formed government of Alth’Ndor IV. Those name both the crew of the Rhyndacus and yourself. It also contains a letter of commendation for Dr. M’Gok, Ensign Tazzeth, LTjg Talibah and yourself from the senate of Alth’Ndor IV. Now this one “slides the next one to him “holds two  letters of commendation for you. One from Colonel M’Gok of the Klingon Imperial Navy and the seat of House M’Gok. The second is from Commander Nijeer of the Romulan Republic Navy.”

Kr’Antren took the PADDS, looked them over quickly confirming the contents and set them to the side. Captain T’Nak stands and approaches the windows overlooking one of the docking arms of DS47. 

“Commander Stevenson, can you take it from here?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” As he stands and begins to walk in front of the viewscreen, then walks over beside Kr’Antren. “Lieutenant, now we have a new issue and concern. You see we can’t have a Raven class ship undertaking missions in the Thomar Expanse especially considering a couple of our neighbors are not too happy we are here. So what do we do about this? “ 

Kr’Antren looks at him, then at the Captain then back at the commander. “Sir, the obvious answer would be to keep the Rhyndacus assigned to missions relatively close to the station or” looks back at the captain 

“Commander, I think he may be catching .” Commander Stevenson started to chuckle “I think your right ma’am”

Captain T’Nak reached up and taped her combadge one time. “Lieutenant, join me over here please.”

“Yes ma’am” he stood and approached the viewing windows beside the captain. She pointed towards the docking arm as a ship was starting to be pulled in by the tractor beams, no running lights were on and the engine nacelles showed no sign of life suggesting that the ship had been brought in by tugs and tractor beams. 

Kr’Antren stood with his hands behind his back. When he started to recognize the ship being brought in, a look of confusion crossed his face, as he turned his head and looked at the captain the confusion mixed with a hint of surprise showed on his face. “Ma’am,  that’s a Reliant class frigate.” He looked on with awe as the ship was brought in for docking, admiring the beauty of her lines knowing that she was the next generation ship in a long line of ships based on the workhorse Miranda class. 

The captain started to chuckle “Why yes, I do believe it is a reliant class Lieutenant. Do you think your crew and you could handle her?” A smile starts to crack her face. 

A smile started to break across Kr’Antrens face as he let out a low whistle. “Yes ma’am. We can handle her. We can definitely handle her. Though I think we’ll need some more crew, there’s only 12 of us right .” He turned and watched as the bridge area and the topside arch came into view and the ship came to a complete stop as the docking procedures finished. 

Captain T’Nak hands the last PADD to him “Lt Kr’Antren, please read the first paragraph aloud.”

Kr’Antren took the PADD from the captain and turned it on, looking over the mentioned paragraph. “I Lieutenant Kr’Antren hereby take command of the USS Osiris (NCC-86401). I assume all duties and responsibilities inherent with that role.“ 

“Command has been given to LT Kr’Antren. All command authorizations have been transferred.” Came the computer’s voice through the PADD.

A small round of applause follows the computer’s acknowledgement of a new commander.  “Lieutenant the PADD holds all of your command information along with the status of the crew. Most are arriving over the next day or two as we receive station and starship personnel.”

Kr’Antren nods at the captain, and takes a deep breath. “Ma’am I need to relay a quick message to the bridge staff. If I may.” He received a nod in the affirmative. He tapped his combadge “Number one, I’m going to need the bridge crew and department heads to stand by.” 

Captain T’Nak looked at the two commanders with a raised eyebrow, received a nod from both and turned back to Lt. Kr’Antren. She looks out at the newly crewed USS Osiris than out amongst the stars in the distance. “I have one more piece of business Lieutenant. Lieutenant Kr’Antren what I did not inform you of was that included in the last two letters of commendation were two letters or recommendation. It seems you made an impression, albeit a quick one, but nonetheless an impression of what the future holds for Star Fleet, Fourth Fleet, Bravo Fleet and this Task Force. To receive a letter from both a Klingon Colonel and a Romulan Republic Commander says something about your character, your leadership abilities and yourself. On top of those recommendations we feel that it does not behoove us to send one of the newest ships of the line into an area that is still truthfully being contested by no less than three other factions under the command of a Lieutenant, just won’t send the right picture to those we are trying to work with. So… Lieutenant Kr’Antren I have decided with the powers granted to me by Starfleet command and fourth fleet to hereby acknowledge those recommendations. I hereby promote you to the rank of LT. Commander with all privileges and responsibilities inherent with that rank.” She reached up and attached the third silvered ring pip to his collar. “Besides we couldn’t have a new Captain hold the same rank as his First officer, as she nodded  to the boxes on the table, now could we?”

A louder round of applause could be heard in the room now as he turned and noticed several  more commanders and Lt. Commanders have entered the briefing room. 

Lt. Cmdr Kr’Antren takes a step back as he starts accepting the line of officers passing by him offering him congratulations on the new command and the promotion. After the other officers have left he turns to the Captain. “Ma’am, is it possible to have the room for the next hour or two. I believe I have some business of my own to take care of.” As he looked over at the stack of boxes on the table and then at the USS Osiris behind him. 

The Captain let’s put a slight laugh and a smile “Yes, I guess you do, don’t you. The room is yours as long as you need it.” She hands him a small remote, once to black out the panels, the next one returns them to normal and gives him a side wink as she also exited  the room. 

Kr’Antren took the remote and put it in his pocket and tapped his combadge “Number one, have all bridge staff and department heads meet me in briefing room Juliet Bravo Two as soon as possible. Don’t want to take up too much of your leave time.”

“On our way sir.”

A few minutes later in Briefing Room Juliet Bravo Two

“Please take a seat, I’m finishing up a few things from Command, I’ll be in there in a minute” Kr’Antren said from the side room. 

The bridge staff and department heads, minus the Chief of Engineering, Chief Flight Control Officer and the Chief of Strategic Operations, each took a seat around the briefing table and  the conversations started to die down as they waited for their captain to finish. 

As Kr’Antren was entering the room the doors opened and a Tellarite strolled into the room slapping a swagger stick against his leg. “Excuse me, I was told by Commander Stevenson that this is the meeting place for the USS Rhyndacus staff. Where is that wet behind the ears blasted god son of mine. Here kitty kitty kitty.” Everyone turned in their seats and looked in amazement at this Lt who just walked in. Chief Kaha let out a squeak and tried to hide.  LTJg Skagath looked over at the sound and noticed Chief Kaha trying to hide her face. “ Do I know you, lass?”

Chief Kaha straightened up, stood and faced the LT. “Class 2386-4 Delta flight, sir.”

Lt Skagath looked at her face, scratched the side of his head. “Recruit Kaha, yes I remember you.” Gives her a sideways glance and a wink. He then walked and took one of the empty seats. “Mind like a steel trap.” As he tapped his head with his swagger stick.

“Lieutenant, who are you and what are you doing in our meeting?” Number One asked as she looked at him.

“Number one, he would be LTJg Skagath, our new Chief of Strategic Operations and Security. Also, sometimes I wonder why mom and dad chose him, he is my godfather.” Kr’Antren said as he walked in carrying the tray from the earlier briefing now with a simple cloth over the top covering the contents. He took a spot a the head of the table. Lt Skagath looks Kr’Antren over and notices something different. Something that was there during their video conference. 

“Hold on lad, how come I wasn’t told or invited.” He points out the Lieutenant Commander pips now on Kr’Antrens collar with the swagger stick. “When did that happen?” Everyone else at the table stares at Kr’Antren and a loud round of applause along with some overly loud congratulatory yelling from the rest of the staff. 

Kr’Antren shakes his head and allows it to go on for a minute. “That happened a few minutes ago, Lieutenant.” Gives Skagath a wink “Well thanks for the lieutenants

 keen sense of observation I might as well change up the script I had laid out.”

“Pathfinders are those whom are selected to be the guiding light that others follow into the unknown. We lay the groundwork that others build upon, building relationships with friends old and new so that those that follow can build upon the friendships started or renewed. We are the light, we are the tip of the spear. Follow us, trust in our light to guide you into new possibilities. That ladies and gentleman is our basic mission statement. We will lead and light the path for others to follow. Sounds simple enough but in reality it will not be so simple or easy. We do not know what lays ahead of us or who we can count on but we do know we have each other. Now many of you I’m sure are asking yourselves the same question I was about 45 minutes ago.  The Rhyndacus is not a ship that says “guiding light”” he lets out a deep breath.” Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new beacon for others to follow. We are no longer the crew of the USS Rhyndacus.” He pushes the remote hidden in his palm with his thumb. As the panels change from black to clear and the lights come on to reveal the docked ship. “We are now the crew of the Reliant class, USS Osiris. Do you guys think we can be the light for others to follow in her?” The bridge staff get up and run to the window panels as one, letting out another round of congratulatory yells and hugs.  They all turn one by one and answer his last question “Yes, sir”

“Good, please take your seats, we shouldn’t be much longer. The rest of the command staff and the crew should be reporting in over the next couple days. I for one have decided to cancel my leave plans so I can get myself up to speed on the Osiris and the Reliant class. She is a new ship so we are her first crew. The rest of you have the option if you so choose. You don’t have to tell me now what you want to do, just pass a message to myself or Number one. We do not have our official orders yet, I figure they will give us a few days to get everyone on board and get her supplied and ready.”

“Now onto the next piece of business.” He pulls the cloth from the tray. “ I have some promotions to take care of, I see. “ looks down at the tray. “I’m not going to waste your leave time by going through everyone one of these individually and reading them off. Some of these were recommended by myself, some are from higher due to service time or other qualifications.Normally, I Would be doing this as part of a ceremony in front of the whole crew, but as you know on the Rhyndacus this is just a few people shy of the full crew. So this will be quick and simple.”

“LTJg Talibah, and LTJg M’Gok  I hereby promote you both to the rank of Lieutenant with all duties, responsibilities and privileges inherent with that rank.” He slides the box to her on his right and across to his CMO.

“Ensign Tazzeth, I hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade with all duties, responsibilities and privileges inherent with that rank.” Passes the box over to his Chief of Science.

He sets a box to the side.

“Chief Kahakuloa Alamea, the Chief Petty Officer board has deemed that you are worthy of promotion to the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer with all duties, responsibilities and privileges inherent with that rank.” Slides the box over to her.

“Petty Officer Stimeck, the Chief Petty Officer board has deemed that you are worthy of promotion to the rank of Chief Petty Officer with all duties, responsibilities and privileges inherent with that rank.” slides the rank of to him.

“Also two letters of commendation have been added to everyone’s dossiers , please pass this on to your departments” 

“If you would like for me to pin those ranks on you versus you doing it yourselves please stay behind. We will reconvene in 48 hours onboard the Osiris. One suggestion: during that time, you may want to move yourselves into your new quarters. Your room assignments should be in your mail folders in the next couple hours. You are dismissed.”

Unbelievably the entire bridge crew stayed to receive their rank officially from their captain. Kr’Antren pinned each of the newly promoted crew and spent a moment giving each one a personal congratulations on their promotion. 

After everyone had left except for Skagath. “Well old man, do you need a box to stand to look at her? She is a thing of beauty is she not.” 

“Aye lad, she is at that. She is indeed.”

“Well, what do you say? Want to join me on my first walk through?”

“What are we waiting for sir, Let’s go look at what this new ship of ours has.”

Stopped at the docking port entrance, Kr’Antren took a deep breath, ears twitching in excitement? Or was it nervousness? Or a combination of the two. This was in truth his first real command with an actual crew that were now his responsibility. Sure the Rhyndacus was a command and was a lovely Starship but everyone in Star Fleet knew that the Raven class commands are meant as a test bed of sorts. 

“Wwweelllll, she ain’t going to do anything if you just stand there, lad. Come on get on with it. I for sure am not stepping on board before you.” Lt Skagath prods his new Captain in the back with his swagger stick, typically he would not do this but seeing as his new captain also happens to be his godson and no one else was around he did not see the harm in it.

“You know we are going to have to figure this out, old man. “ Kr’Antren turned and faced Skagath. 

“Kr’Antren, I know when and when not to. You will not have to worry about that in front of the crew. Well except for that slip a few minutes ago, but let’s chalk that up to tellarite sport and I’ll talk to the rest of the staff about our history and ask them for the one time slip.”

“Sounds ok with me, just make sure it doesn’t happen in front of the crew. I have a feeling after that introduction of yours that most of the staff are looking up our bios and will silently let it pass or even condone it as long as the situation warrants it. “

“Yes, sir.” Kr’Antrem knew that this was a genuine gesture from Skagath not a sarcastic response and nodded.

Kr’Antrem stepped through the docking ring and as he officially entered the Osiris’s threshold he heard the tall tale bosun’s whistle announcing the arrival of the ship’s captain. As the lights went from a low power dimmed mode to full brightness, revealing that the ship was decorated in light tans with similar earth tones as accents. 

“Well Lieutenant, shall we make our way to the bridge. Guess that’s as good a place as any to start. “

Lt. Skagath walks over to a panel on the right hand of the entrance way and taps it. The panel comes to life showing a layout of the ship. “Always good to know where you’re at, especially on a new ship. Don’t want to be walking into the wrong quarters at night.” Kr’Antren raises an eyebrow at this with a slight smile on his face.” Don’t ask sir, it’s not something I want to remember.” Skagath shudders at the memory.

“Looks like the turbo lift is two intersections ahead and to the right from this entrance.” Kr’Antren starts to walk in that direction, however Skagath stays in front of the panel tapping the wall beside it with his swagger stick. “Captain, here is your first lesson from an old Chief, how many crew do you have onboard?”

Kr’Antren stopped and gave him a questioning look. “According to the roster we will have 200 give or take a few.”

“Uh ha, and who is responsible for them?”

“I am”

“Correct, so first lesson. In case you forgot. Your crew and ship come first. Soooo.” Taps beside the panel again. “Since no one is onboard, yet. And this is deck 6, which seems to be the main living space for the crew.” Skagath raises an eyebrow

“I should look to see what the living spaces of my crew are like, which also means checking out the mess areas and a few other areas so I have an understanding of how my crew will be living.”

Skagath lets out a slight chuckle. “Had me worried there for a second, Captain thought I was going to have to thump that noggin of yours to get you thinking again.”

Together they look through one of the enlisted quarters. Noting that it is a shared central space holding a latrine and shower area with a small communal “living room” with a bedroom on each side holding a single bed and a small but adequately sized living space. “Nicer than what we had when I was enlisted. Not sure if you noticed Kr’Antren but the walls have slots discreetly hidden in them for additional beds to be added in case of emergencies. Looked to me like one extra bed per room. That will be good to note in case we need the room.”

“I noticed, hopefully we never need to use them though. Let’s go look at the main mess hall. I saw that there are two smaller ones, one located closer to engineering and one located two decks down in the main work areas.”

They completed a quick walkthrough of the main mess area, one of the smaller gyms on this level and one of the holosuites. 

Finding the main turbo lifts they entered one of them, Kr’Antren took a note of its location on the deck. “Bridge”

Upon entering the bridge, again hearing the bosun’s captain entering whistle emanated from the computer. One of the first things he noticed was that he was slightly higher and overlooking the main bridge area. Skagath whistled in a low tone, almost as if afraid to disturb the moment of a captain seeing his bridge for the first time, as they entered slightly behind Kr’Antren. Stood beside Kr’Antren and took it all in. From this position they could see a seated console to the left and right of them, four stations to the left and right at the bottom of slight ramps each consisting of a group of three and a separate single station. At the end of the two sides flanking the view screen was a circular alcove with two doors in each. The main area was sunken into the floor by a couple steps, the usual three chairs placed against the back half of the circular floor basically just below the two consoles they noticed when they entered. The other half of the circle was centered by the usual double console of the helm and ops combo but one noticeable difference from the norm was that besides these were another console on each side separated from the double console by a small set of steps.

“Well I know where I’m sitting.” As Skagath approached what usually is the Tactical chief console. Kr’Antren held up a hand. 

“On most ships you’re right. But not on the Osiris. Your going to be on that right hand console in the area below. I have found that I like to see who is talking to me without having to break my neck. One of those will be for your number 1 bridge tactical ops crew, the other will be an open console to be filled as warranted for what we have going on. “

Skagath looks at Kr’Antren smiles a big smile and a slight chuckle emanates from him. “More like your father than you realize lad, he had the same “problem”, said he didn’t like having people behind if they did not need to be there.” 

Kr’Antren nodded at this as it made perfect sense to him and how he felt about the same thing. Just something about having people behind you that heightened your senses and made you feel uneasy, especially if there wasn’t a reason for them to be there. 

Kr’Antren took a moment standing in front of the center chair, not quite wanting to sit in it just yet, He nodded as he accepted that this was actually his ship and it will hold his crew. Being in this spot made it all seem real finally.  

He took the three steps out of the center area and walked up the ramp on the left hand side. Entering the alcove at this end of the station and entering the door located it it he entered his new ready room, only this one was for him and him alone. Gone was the briefing table and everything that went with it, instead he entered what was a decent sized room that had a sloping wall directly in front of him with a corner couch under it and along the wall to his left, big enough for about three people to sit. On a small wall to his left was a small replicator built into the wall and around that corner he found a decently sized desk rounded to a curve slightly facing the couch. He did take a seat in this chair, noticed there was plenty of room and not feeling as scrunched in as he felt behind his desk on the Rhyndacus. 

He exited his ready room and reentered the bridge seeing Skagath sitting on the stairs in the central area. “Doesn’t feel right sitting in the seat yet. Your ready room I’m assuming?” As he nodded towards the alcove. 

“Yes, have you looked in the other doorways?” Pointing 

towards the other two alcoves. 

“I went into the one in that alcove” points at the one behind him to his right. “ closest to the stations, It led into a latrine. Which I was kind of happy to find.” Chuckles 

“Was waiting on you to look in the other ones. Though having been around a few ships, I’m going to guess that the other door leading behind those stations over there will lead into a small break room. Which means those other two doors should lead to a room behind the view screen which is typically set up as the command briefing room.”

Kr’Antren heads towards one of those doors, Skagath got up and followed him. Going through the door they entered into a room which as Skagath had guessed was indeed a briefing room situated with a panel on the back of the view screen wall and a table seating seven in the middle of the room with the “head” of the table facing that screen. Behind that chair is a sloping downward roof/wall, the window panels looked out on the saucer of the Osiris. On the wall of the room on the side they entered is a carved “half statue” of a Miranda class ship. Kr’Antren went and looked at this and realised that this must be the first ship of the name.  He looked around the room and then went and stood behind what would be his chair, took a second and then walked out the other door back onto the bridge. 

“Well Old man, I think I’m going to look around a bit and find my quarters, then go grab some of my stuff from the Rhyndacus and stay onboard tonight. You’re free to do what you want, the rest of the staff will be a day or two before they report onboard.” Kr’Antren walks over to one of the consoles and looks up where the captains quarters are located “hmmm looks like number one and I are on deck three. The rest of you are on deck 4.” 

Skagath scratched at his chin and beard “well I think I’m going to find and take a look at the security department area. That being part of my job and all, guess I should know where it is. Have a nice night lad, if you need anything just give me a yell.” Points at his combadge. 

“Will do, Lieutenant” gives a hint of a smirk toward Skagath. 

The next morning Kr’Antren woke a bit earlier than usual, went to a small gym on deck four he had found the night prior. Did his usual cardio routine followed by some weight training. Went back to his quarters, took a shower and prepped for the day. He then picked up his PADD that he placed on his coffee table the night prior and went up to the bridge.

Entering the bridge he was surprised to hear music, rather loud, filling the bridge area. Looking around he saw a rather tall Edosian in yellow, holding what looked like part of a console over the helm/flight control console area and another pair of legs sticking out from underneath. He realized that the two crew members had not heard the whistle and just as likely not noticed his entrance. He decided to take a seat in his center seat and waited. After sitting there for a few seconds something made the Edosian look up when he did he practically dropped the console he was holding up, luckily for the person underneath he had three arms or else the console probably would have ended up on someone’s head. Kr’Antren looked up from the PADD and raised an eyebrow. He watched as the Edosian LTJg said something to the person under the console, hard to hear just what was said due to the music being played. A few minutes later after having finished installing the console in its place another LTjg in yellow stood up, typed something on his PADD which was on the chair beside him. The music stopped as they both looked at each other.

“Ok gentlemen, who wants to explain just what you were doing to my ship?” Kr’Antren looked at his PADD again and had a good idea of who he was talking to.

“Sir, I’m LTJg Eric Mathisson and he is LTJg Darame. We had not been informed that a captain had been assigned to the Osiris. As far as we knew we were the only two assigned crew as of yesterday. “

“Go on.” He looked them both over 

“Well sir, when we brought her to DS47. We had discussed volunteering to be part of her crew over the trip, hen we docked and found that are requests had been granted Darame came to me with an issue, sir.”

Kr’Antren looked over at LT Darame “ Well sir it was an idea had about making the consoles layout work better for me but still not affect their use for anyone else. Being an Edosian I have trained my mind and body to be able to “split” itself. Meaning I can use a part of my brain to control each arm. Basically I can, if I needed to, due three things at once and not miss a beat, so to speak. So normally the consoles are one continuous screen or maybe two. I had asked LT Mathisson if we could basically split the one into three. “

“Hmmmm make sense for your use, but how about everyone else’s?” He gets up from the center chair and walks towards the helm console. He reaches down and activates it, noticing that for him you could not tell a difference in how the console is normally laid out. He then proceeded  to run through a few quick diagnostic checks moving things around as a helmsman would normally do. Looking at the two LT’s  he powers down the console. Than looks at Darame and motioned towards the console. Lt Darame powers up the console and goes through the same basic checks that Kr’Antren did, he then using his left arm changes the configuration of just that panel and opens up what would normally be used by the helm to plot navigation points and map out their course. He then uses that same panel to switch to a stellar cartography layout and starts to run a test on that also.After a few minutes the diagnostics complete and he powers down the console. He turns and looks at Kr’Antren and LT Mathisson. 

Kr’Antren nodded his head and retrieved his PADD from his seat. “Welcome aboard Ltjg Darame and LTjg Mathisson. I’m Lieutenant Commander Kr’Antren. I was given command when my crew and I reported last night.” Typed something on his PADD.”LT’s I’ve already reviewed your files and read through several recommendations entered on your behalves and I just now confirmed the recommendations made to me by command. Ltjg Darame you are now my Chief Flight Control Officer and LTjg Mathisson you are now my Chief Engineer. LTjg Mathisson please don’t make any more changes to my ship without checking with me or my Number one first.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Lt. Mathisson, I made a request last night to command while looking over the roster slots. After reading up and researching the Reliant class and noting that many of its systems are based off of systems built for the Sovereign class I asked for some of the incoming engineering crew to have experience with those systems, meaning you should get some folks that have been on sovereigns in the past. Which I hope will help fill any gaps in the knowledge and experience working on those systems.”

“I would have requested the same, sir. But till you just told me I was not sure of my actual position in the crew.”

“Also, those three stations.” Kr’Antren points at the three stations on the starboard side of the bridge.” are yours. As the crew reports over the next couple of days, figure out who you want filling them. “

“Yes, sir” 

“Lt Mathisson, first off. How do you want to be addressed. Name? Rank, or the proverbial Chief title that most Chief engineers seem to like.” 

“Sir, as you probably read in my files I’m a mustang officer so when you say Chief I’m thinking of a Chief petty officer. So if you don’t mind Eric will work for me in most circumstances and rank in when it’s necessary.”

Kr’Antren nods at this. “Makes sense to me, I’m ok with it Eric. Just so you are aware you’re not the only mustang officer on the command staff. Our Chief of Strategic Operations is also a mustang. He’ll be the tellarite running around waving a swagger stick.”

“I’ll come down to engineering later today, wouldn’t mind getting a briefing on the systems and if there are any requests that need to be made either for personnel or equipment you can pass them to me at that time.” Held up the PADD “ I have the usual briefing and schematics but I want to hear what my chief engineer thinks.”

“Gentlemen, I expect that we should start seeing crew reporting as early as today. The command staff and the rest of the crew from the Rhyndacus should be coming over in the next couple days as I gave them 48 hours shore leave, but I have a feeling some may cut it short to come look at our new command. Staff is quartered on deck 4. You’ll probably get your room assignments any moment from the system. If you want to trade, that’s between you and the rest of the staff. Just make sure it is annotated and updated on the computer. Are there any further questions for me?” 

“Good, please make sure everything is cleaned up.” Points at the console. 

“Yes captain, it’ll be good as new” chuckles” won’t know we were even here.” 

Kr’Antren heads towards his ready room while the two lieutenants finish up their work on the console

Lt. Talibah had spent most of the night studying and researching all that she could on the Reliant class ship and since they were based off of them the Miranda Class of ships. Paying special attention to anything she could find that would give them a leg up on operating the Osiris, taking notes on interesting points from Miranda crews about the various differences that they found with operating the unique impulse engine system. She had also read up on the sovereign and her systems since many of the systems on the reliant class were borrowed from the sovereign class. She was currently sitting at the Bistro Beyond. Quite surprised at not only the coffee they offered but the pastries and the specialty sandwiches that were also on the menu. 

Looking up from her PADD and with a cup of coffee halfway to her mouth she noticed the Doctor, walking on the promenade looking at the various store fronts. “Hey doc, how was your night?”

“Not too bad Tali, how was yours? Or did you sleep at all?” noticing the PADDS spread out in front of the Lieutenant. 

“ I was  able to get a good night’s rest, doc. Only so much reading and note taking to do before one’s mind starts to wander off. Have a seat. You should try the coffee here. It sure beats that replicator coffee and may give Cosmos Coffee on Bravo a run for their money. I overheard some others while I was waiting say that their Raktajino was better than what Cosmos Coffee served. “ 

Dr. M’Gok looked at the quaint little menu on the table and then raised a hand to get one of the serving staff’s attention. “To tell the truth I could go for one of your Turkish coffees extra strong. Trying to figure out a staff for two medical offices has not been easy, more about finding another Medical Officer I can trust to do the job so I don’t have to keep running between the two.” She shakes her head at the thought of having to do just that. Holds up a hand to stop the question she knew was coming next. “Yes, the staff has been assigned already or soon will be, however if I can have a say on who they assign as my other doctor then I’m going to do all I can to get one that is at least somewhat confident and has some experience beyond medschool.”

Lt. Talibah lets out a slight laugh at this statement “I agree with that one.” 

For the next hour or so the two of them sit at the table enjoying their coffees and make small talk about life in general, trying to get to know each other in a different setting. During that time several members of the Osiris staff stopped and said Hi. 

“You know Doc, I think the captain has the right idea. New ship, new crew probably would be smart to get on board and get ourselves situated before the rest of the crew starts showing up. I’m sure some will be arriving today. And besides, wouldn’t you like to see your new medical offices?”

“ I was just thinking the same thing, plenty to do on the ship to get everything in ship shape and besides it’s not like we have been out that long. Though I do want to stop at a couple stores that I saw. Wanted to get some things for the new quarters, make them feel more like home versus a room on a ship. If you know what I mean. “

Lt. Talibah laughs at this as she finishes her cup of Turkish coffee. “I do indeed, so what do you say shopping spree then we go see our new home.”

************

LTJg Shrybaaas stands before one of the panels on deck six, running his fingers along lighted paths on the ships layouts. “Hmmm ok, so my quarters are on deck four, the quickest way to the turbo lift is to come out of my quarters and turn left. Than  to get from the turbolift to the mess hall.”

“Oh, excuse me sir. Just coming on board. Where are the turbo lifts at?”

“Yes, from here go forward past two intersections then turn right and they should be there. I’m new onboard myself. Just figuring out where everything is right now. I’m LTJg Shrybaas the new Chief of Operations.”

“Senior Chief Kaha, sir. She extends a hand. Glad to meet you. It seems like we will be working together. I’m your communications chief and the boatswain. I was the chief of operations when we were on the Rhyndacus. But the new ship required some changes so the captain offered me this position.”

Lt Shrybaas turns towards her and accepts the hand shake but makes it very short, all the while his antennae are actively twisting and turning, sensing his surroundings. “Ah yes. I hope we will make a good team Chief. I’ll meet with you later , on the bridge so we can give over the crew roster and assignments and what I expect from you in your various roles and duties.”

Chief Kaha thinks to herself. “Oh great he is going to be one of those.” As she sensed some uneasiness mixed with some not being sure of the new surroundings and/or people around him, upon feeling that she looked around and realized it was about her as there was no one else around at the moment. “Sir, I could wait and go up with you, if you would like to chat now. Maybe we could at least get started on getting to know each other a bit.”

He looks back at the panel, and nods. “I think I have some idea of how to get from point A to point B. Need to figure out the most efficient routes to get to the various departments I’m in charge of. But yes, we can walk and talk, as they say, as we both are heading in the same direction. I’m gathering you will also be staying on deck four.”

“Yes sir, from what we noticed the captain has assigned all command / bridge staff to quarters on deck four. Guess it makes sense to have us somewhat close if anything happens and we need to get to the bridge fast.”

“Oh and Chief, I am not one of those. What I am though is a LTjg that needs to prove himself to his new captain and his staff. I also realize that you were the person in the spot I’m in now and that for the time being as we start this new journey I will be compared to you and how you operated. I hope we will make a good team chief but I may need some time to loosen up as I have a bit of time to prove myself  to the captain, the staff, to myself and in my mind to you. “

“Sir, all I ask is honesty, truthfulness and an open mind. Listen when others give advice or even criticism and learn from it. Proving yourself will come with time. Don’t worry about that, I’m pretty sure in this region of space it won’t take long. If you don’t mind me saying, I think we just took the first steps in making a good team. So let’s go check in and see what this ship holds for operations so we can put it all together.”

Lt. Shrybaas offers a slight chuckle. “ Chief, I think, no, I believe we will make a great team. Let’s go introduce me, to the captain shall we.”

Chief Kaha laughs at that last bit.

The LT and Chief make there way to the turbolift, using the time to walk and talk and trying to get a feeling for where each of them come from and what led them to this point. 

“Bridge”

“Hey hey hey, hold the door.” As a smallish tellarite comes charging towards the turbolift, swagger stick tucked under his arm. “You guys going up, on the way to the bridge myself.” noticing the Chief and a LTJg whom he has not met yet.

“So Chief, who’s the new light blue guy. Gotta be careful around them you know they say they are meaner than the regular blue skins.”

Oh, what’s that smell, did someone let the farm animals in Chief or did we hold the door for a tellarite, can never tell the two apart you know.” As LT Shrybaas Looks down at LT Skagath.”Remeber little man, it takes two to make a sport out of it. I for one have always found this sport of the tellarite one of the best things to come from your planet.”

Chief Kaha let out a loud laugh as the two LT’s look at each other as broad smiles start to appear on their mouths. “ See Chief what did I tell ya, nothing like a an Aenar to get the blood pumping.” Extends a hand out to LT Shrybaas. “LTJg Skagath Chief of strategic operations.”

Lt Shrybaas takes the LT’s hand and gives it a firm shake “ LTJg Shrybaas Chief of operations. Guess you already know my communications Chief?”

Skagath let out a loud bellow.  “I should trained her. Boy, could I tell you some stories.” He looked over at Chief, who was starting to turn a shade darker than usual. “ but I won’t, unless I need to.” Looked at her again.

“You trained her, I’m not sure I understand.”

“Sir, Lt Skagath was enlisted at one time, he is what they used to call a mustang officer. He was my training instructor for Star fleet basic training many years ago.”

Shrybaas’s antennae twirl around at this “Interesting” as the doors to the bridge opened on the turbolift. The bridge was dead silent still waiting for it’s crew, which  Lt Shrybaas and the Chief to their new home. 

“Different from the Akira class, smaller . I guess that’s a given but it also feels different.” As Lt Shrybaas made his way around the bridge taking it in ending up in the alcove leading to the captain’s ready room.

Lt. Shrybaas took a sec straightened out his tunic and hit the chime.

“Enter”

“Sir, LTjg Shrybaas reporting for duty.” Presented his PADD to LT cadre Kr’Antren.

“At ease LT, relax. I’ve heard a lot about you, well more like read.” As he hands the PADD back to the Aenar. “Did anyone else come up with you?”

“Chief Kaha and LT Skagath, sir” 

“Take a seat Shrybaas.” Taps his combadge “Chief Kaha and Lt Skagath you can join us if you want.” They both after getting the message. 

“Morning sir” as chief kaha took a seat

“Morning” as Skagath goes to the replicator and asks for a Raktajino

“Chief wasn’t expecting anyone to be this early, I thought you all would take at least half the day to make your way over.” As he went and ordered  a Chai coffee with an extra shot of espresso from the replicator  and then went back to his desk. 

“Well sir, I figured I’d come over first and then go look around. I’d expect the rest of the group to be over this way sometime soon. At least the XO and Doc as I ran into them outside the Bistro Beyond an hour or so ago. But I think Doc said she saw a few things she wanted to go look at first.”

Kr’Antren nods at this as he sips his coffee. “I believe we should start seeing the first members of the crew arrive later today. Chief, I am going to make a change. I’m changing your position from Boatswain to Chief of the boat. I need someone I can trust to help me get the crew up to speed quickly. You’ll still work the communications console on the bridge but you’ll have less to do with OPs and more to do with helping run the boat. I know it’s a big step but I wouldn’t make the change if I didn’t think you could handle it. “

“Yes sir, glad to take it on.” 

“Good to hear. Oh I do have another question for you all. What do you think of “the Oasis” as the Forward lounge’s name? It is one of the items on my to- do list. “ he laughed. “Not a big one and not near the top, but I’d feel good if I could completely check something off.”

“It works sir, kind of sticks to the whole desert / ancient Egyptian theme of the ship’s name.” Shrybaas said as he looked up from his PADD. “Been reading up on earth history from that period, very interesting. “

Chief Kaha and Skagath both nod in the affirmative. “ Good then it’s decided, the 

Forward lounge will now be called “The Oasis”. He typed something on his PADD. “ There now all of the maps on board have been updated with the name and I sent a request to make some sort of a sign up for outside the lounge entrance.”

“Lt. Shrybaas, one of the first things you may want to look at is cargo operations. I’m not sure what the orders are going to be but it looks like we will be taking on some medical supplies, engineering equipment, and the like. Probably for taking to planets that have already reached out to give their support to the federation being in the area, but I want to keep some part of it aside for helping us get over any diplomatic hurdles we may face. But I want it all organized and stored, not just thrown into any corner in the cargo bay.”

“Roger sir, as soon as my folks start reporting in I’ll get them on it. “

“Which reminds me, I want to talk to the Task Force command about getting us a Runabout assigned to the ship, which may come in useful. Versus just the shuttles we already have assigned.” Kr’Antren starts to look something up on his PADD and starts to enter information. 

“Oh this is an informal meeting, if you want to go look around the ship, find your quarters or whatever you can go whenever you want. If not, you’re more than welcome to stay and chat with me as I work through some more of this” holds up his PADD. “ Oh chief, before I forget you’ll have an office with the new position. Not that I expect you’ll see it much but you’ll have one. I’ll send you a list of the offices that I think would work best. You can choose which you want. Any of them will work just fine with me.”

For the next couple hours Chief Kaha and the two Lieutenants come and go as needed. Sometime in the early afternoon hours LT’s Talibah and M’Gok report on board and join in on the informal meeting in the Captain’s ready room. 

Kr’Antren puts down his PADD and looks around the room. “Well folks if been cooed up in here for the last few hours I’m going to stretch my legs and look around the Osiris some, whose with me?”

Lt. Talibah and Chief Kaha put down their PADDS too. Look at each other and start to laugh. “ Well sir, looks like we had the same thought as each other, well come with. “

Dr. M’Gok stood up and gathered her PADD. “If you don’t mind, I’ll pass this time. I need to find my main sick bay, check out my offices and see how everything is set up. Plus I need to find the sick bay back by engineering and check it out also.”

“That’s fine Doc, sounds like a good idea to me, I know Lt Shrybaas is doing the same thing as we speak, though he does a few more spaces to find and check out than most. And I believe LT Skagath did the same last night and this morning. Oh that reminds me, our Chief engineer LT Mathisson and our Chief flight control officer LT Darame are already on board, they helped bring the Osiris tonDS47. You can’t miss LT Darame “chuckles “besides his height. Doc have you ever checked on an Edosian before?”

Dr. M’Gok shook her head. “No I can’t say I have but I’ve been sitting here for the last hour or so looking them up medically speaking once I saw we had one on the crew.”

“Doc, join us in the main crew mess for dinner. I’m thinking about instituting a couple new traditions on the Osiris.  We are going to test one tonight. Let’s say 1900 hours. “

“1900, dinner, main crew mess hall. Got it sir.” As she exited  his ready room.

“As for the rest of us, how about we start in the shuttle bay, or should I say the shuttle bays as we have two now. Then we will work our way forward, definitely want to see the main engineering, the transporter room, the diplomatic area as small as it may be and The Oasis before making our way back to the main crew mess hall.”

“Lead the way, Captain.”

Over the course of the next few hours, the three members of the command staff find their way to the various locations that Kr’Antrem had expressed interest in seeing, along with one of the holo decks and the main gym. During their brief stop in the main transporter room they met the incoming transporter chief who had just been reassigned from the DS47. While they did not run into many crew along their way they did see a few coming and going as they made their way onboard and got themselves situated; when they did see new crew members they stopped to take the time to introduce themselves and welcome them onboard. 

At roughly 1900 they made their way to the main crew mess hall, found that Lieutenants Skagath, Shrybaas , Mathisson and Darame were already seated at one of the overly large circular booths. They also saw Dr. M’Gok make her way to the table from the opposite side of the room. While the mess hall was not overly busy there where about 20 to 30 crew members sitting around the hall in various locations, when the boatswain’s whistle sounded everyone stopped what they were doing and waited, it took an elbow in the ribs from LT. Talibah to make Kr’Antren realize they were waiting on him. 

“Relax and eat, please do not stop on my part.“As he looked around the mess hall. he also noticed something that just felt out of place to him. “Number one, first thing tomorrow please have the word passed that in the mess halls and in the Oasis it is a relaxed atmosphere, if we can let’s see if we can get the whistle to only sound in certain locations or when I deem that it is needed.”

“Roger captain, I’ll get on it first thing.”

“Dr. M’Gok have any of your medical crew arrived yet? “

“Not that I’m aware of sir, why do you ask.”

Kr’Antrens ears twirl at this. “Hmmmm, just wondering as there is an officer wearing the teal of medical in the side tables, she stands out for one because she is sitting buy herself and looks like she has been there a bit and two because she is, while trying to hide it, is watching everybody.”

“Do you want me to introduce myself sir? “

He looks at his number one, then at Skagath and then back at the doctor. “ Not right now, I have a feeling I know who she might be or better yet what she might be. Maybe she hasn’t made up her mind yet, I’m not sure. Let’s just see what happens over the next day or two. But Skagath be aware just in case. “

“Aye captain. “ 

“Ohhhhhh, oh my. Captain, did you know about this? Somebody on the design crew did some homework on Osiris.” As she points out a framed and protected beautifully painted piece of papyrus that is along the main forward wall of the mess hall. 

Kr’Antrem turns around and looks at what she is pointing at as his eyes go wide in appreciation of the craftsmanship and time that went into the piece of artwork. He could tell that this was not from a replicator but had been commissioned probably

before the ship had begun to be built. 

“Captain, if I’m not mistaken this piece is called the “Last judgement of Hunefer” and it comes from the tomb of Hunefer.  That is Osiris sitting in judgement on the far right of the painting.”

As they turn back around to eat and partake in the conversations going on Kr’Antren makes a decision on what he hopes will become one of  the first traditions onboard the Osiris. “Staff, the idea came to me while thinking about some things my parents always drilled into our heads as we grew up, one was that no man is in truth better than another. Sooo with that being said the command staff will have a meal as a group here with the crew. nothing special, no dog and pony show. It will not be scheduled per se but once every couple weeks or so we will take the time to come down and eat with the crew. I hope other officers and departments pick up on this. It will be a time to relax and remind both crew and officers that we are people too. In the same idea, once a month each officer will invite one enlisted member to have a meal in the officers mess. If I figured it out right, we should have the entire crew go through the officers’ mess every few months.Thank you LT Skagath for reminding me last night about those lessons.”

“Sounds like a great idea to me sir. “coming from LT Darame and met with nods from around the table. 

For the next roughly 48 hours the Osiris went through the process of welcoming her crew and the department heads started to build their teams and lay out the policies and procedures that would make the Osiris become what they hoped was one of the best ships in the task force. They started the work of forming this new group of crew members into a team and hopefully into a family. 

Captain’s log supplemental: 

It has been 48 hours since I took command of the Osiris. The crew has reported on board and has situated themselves into their new departments and assigned roles. The bridge and command staff have seen to their departments, settled on their department heads, and started the process of building their teams. I too have started building my staff into a cohesive team melding my old with the new. The only remaining slot I have yet to fill in the counselor slot, the officer I saw two nights ago has yet to come forward and I have not received anything from command. 

I believe we have a great crew onboard the Osiris, most are young and new with a good mix of experienced and older veterans to help mentor them.

“Computer save and enter the log”

“Captain’s log has been saved and entered into the personal files.”

Kr’Antren stood from behind the desk in the ready room and exited the room onto the bridge. 

“Captain on the bridge.” from one of the engineers seated in the stations next to the alcove that leads to the captain’s ready room. 

“Sir, the warp core is now green across the board and all systems are showing green.”

“Thank you petty officer, I understand you will be on beta shift after today.” 

“Yes sir, it’ll be Ensign Athah, Petty Officer Paulson, and myself on the bridge for engineering.”

“Ahhh yes Ensign Athah, good choice.” 

“Lt. Tazzeth, how are we looking on your side?”

“Captain, I’m just finishing with the latest sensor package updates from drop space 47. We finished calibrating both deflector disks earlier today and all sensor diagnostics are showing we are green across the board.”

Kr’Antren nodded his head as he looked over the aft display panel showing the status of various systems and departments around the ship. 

“Did you give access to the Astrometrics lab to LT? Dame as we had requested. We don’t have a stellar cartography lab so having him with access could help us out in some situations.”

“Yes sir, he was given full access and clearances to the lab. I agree he will be a great asset.”

“Chief Kaha?”

“Sir, communications are ready to go. I’ve been working on getting whatever information we can on any communication information for the area beyond Ultimate Thule if we ever go that way. Most of it is coming from the Cardassians so who knows how reliable it is.”

“Well, I guess something is better than nothing, Chief.”

“Captain, I do need to discuss a couple of issues that have come to my attention concerning the enlisted side of the crew. Nothing too serious yet, but something we need to handle sooner rather than later.”

Kr’Antren nods “How about after the command meeting?”

“That will work, sir. I’ll send you the packages and my recommendations.”

Kr’Antren looked down at his PADD and nodded when he saw the messages come in. “I’ll look at these in a bit and we will discuss them after the meeting.”

Kr’Antren stepped in front of the center chair and hit the internal comms button. “Command staff, we will hold the meeting in the bridge conference room.” looked at the Chrono ”let’s call it 30 minutes from now.”

“I’ll be in the conference room “ held up the PADD “reading through this”

30 minutes later in the Bridge Conference Room

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Hard to believe that this is our first official command meeting so we took command of the Osiris, it’s only been a little over 56 hours but it seems longer than that. We have a few things to go over including our first mission, then I’ll open the floor for updates from the various departments. “

Kr’Antren turns on the holo map on the tabletop and the briefing room viewscreen. “First thing on the agenda, we have received our first mission.” He looked around the table “we have been ordered to run a patrol along the Tzenkthi border. Along with the normal patrol duties we have also been tasked with delivering medical supplies and various engineering supplies, I believe some of it is for a geothermal power plant and the rest is for agricultural needs, and the other piece is to conduct systems checks on these sensor/communication platforms. “As he stated these two planets are highlighted along with three platforms one by the tzenkethi border, one near the edge of the Rolor Nebula, and one that looks to be anchored in a pocket of space not really near anything in particular but logically looked to be set in a possible dead zone created by the other platforms in the region. “Looks like we have a routine patrol mission.”

Lt. Skagath slaps the desk with his swagger stick. “ “Blasted, sir you just jinxed us. Everyone who is anyone knows that if the captain says it’s a routine patrol it turns out to be anything but routine. Sir, there is no such thing as a routine patrol mission. I can guarantee that.” He then looks around the table at the startled faces and grimaces “Captain, I apologize for the outburst. However, sir as I said there is no such thing as routine especially when it comes to patrols”

“Lt. Skagath, I didn’t take you for the superstitious type.” 

“Captain, anyone onboard a ship who says they’re not is lying. I’ve seen how you have started touching a particular plate by the turbo lift when you come on duty.”

Kr’Antren looks around ears twitched and running his hands through his beard. “You caught that huh, well truth be told I did it on the first day on the Osiris and I had what I would call a good day, so now I touch the plate at the beginning of each of my shifts.” looks around the normal bridge staff “ I’ve noticed several of those in the room have followed suit, so I guess I unknowingly started our first bridge tradition/superstition.” he received several nods as he looked around the room.

“How about that, the first Osiris bridge tradition, makes you wonder what will happen if someone doesn’t touch the plate now.” as Lt Skagath looks around the table with a raised eyebrow. 

“Lt. Shrybaass you’re in charge of the delivery and offloads. Lt. Mathisson you get the platforms. Lt. Darame I just received confirmation that we will be getting a Runabout from the station, let’s make sure we have a crew assigned to her. Lt. Tazzeth when we “stop” at the platforms and planets I want full long-range sensor sweeps running, as we know this is still a new region of space for the Star fleet which means it’s new for us too. So we are still collecting as much data and info as possible. Chief Kaha this goes for communications too when we are at any location I want our ears listening to everything we can pick up.”

“Sir, are we listening for anything in particular?” Chief Kaha asked.

“Not in particular Chief, at least as of right now that could change as incoming intelligence or the situation warrants.”

Chief Kaha nodded

“Lt Darame, I want to depart at 0800 tomorrow morning. Please inform DS47 flight control. Plan a route taking us to the edge of the badlands than working up towards the Tzenkhti border for the first leg.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Excuse me, the petty officer out there said that the command crew was in here having a meeting. Sorry, I’m late, So what did I miss?”

Lt. Skagath quickly stood from his chair and blocked the LT’s path from entering the room any further. Being of similar height he raised an eyebrow as he looks her straight in the eyes.

“Hold on there lassie, who might you be? I mean we have all seen you around our fine ship, watching and listening. But never had the common courtesy to introduce yourself.” He started to slap his leg with the swagger stick. 

She looks him dead in the eyes back with a slight smile on her face. “Yes, Pruzax and I had a conversation about that very thing. He didn’t agree with it either, he felt that I should have at least introduced myself the first night in the mess hall. However, as I had told Commander Stevenson I wanted to see if this ship and its crew met my criteria. After all, a Trill with a symbiote on its fifth host might just have certain ideas on what they think works for them and what doesn’t. “ she handed her PADD to Skagath. “So Lieutenant unless you use that stick of yours for more than slapping yourself or inanimate objects” a cocked eyebrow and a flirtatious smile “ I really would like to present myself to the captain formally and if he accepts take my place amongst the staff. 

Skagath takes a step back, not quite sure how to take that last comment. Lt. Talibah, DR. M’Gok, and Chief Kaha looked at each other and broke out in a fit of laughter.

“Oh, she will fit right in, I think, captain. Already has Skagath on his heels.” LT. Talibah looked the new Lt over and then gave the captain a curt nod. 

Skagath took a step towards his chair and passed the PADD over to Kr’Antren. Kr’Antren started to read what is on the PADD, raised an eyebrow towards the LT, and showed it to Lt. Talibah who nodded as she read what was on the screen. Kr’Antren signed the PADD and passed it back to the Lt.

One of the first things that were easily noticed about the new lieutenant besides the spots marking her as a trill was that she wore the skirt/dress style uniform that many had forgotten was still an option for female crew members. The other is how she carried herself confidently, determined, 

“Sir, Lieutenant junior grade Siazal Pruzax reporting for duty. I have been assigned as the ship’s counselor and with Pruzax’s history, as I’m sure you just read, seeing yours and the lieutenant’s reactions, I have been given diplomatic officer clearance as well from Fourth and Bravo Fleet commands.”

“Lieutenant, I’m going to just get this out of the way. First and foremost I will not tolerate any more acts like you have been doing for the last two days on my ship. I would think that a joined trill with the history that Pruzax has would have known that was not how things are done.”

“Yes sir, that was completely on me. Believe me, sir I received an internal tongue lashing from Pruzax about my actions. They will not happen again.”

Kr’Antren nodded at this. “Good, now normally you would be assigned to the Chief Medical Officer and her department“ pointed out Dr. M’Gok “however due to your unique credentials you will report to Lieutenant Talibah, my number one, and myself. You will have an office in medical, I expect you to work with Dr. M’Gok and her department to fulfill your counselor duties. I’ll brief you after this meeting on what you missed, also after this meeting, I would like you to stick around for another meeting I have scheduled with Chief Kaha, my Chief of the Boat.”

“Yes, captain.”

“Lieutenant Mathisson, let’s extend this table by two more chairs, please. I think we should have enough room here.”

Lt. Mathisson nodded and made a note on his PADD.

Kr’Antren pointed over his shoulder at the models on the wall. “Some of you may have noticed but we have added three ships to the Osiris lineage wall. After doing some research the last couple of days I found three ships that bore the name that I felt added to the history of the name.” 

“The next item is on the bridge, I’ll pull it up on the view screen so all of us can see it.” He hit a button on the console in front of him which brought up an overhead camera view of the bride “petty officer if you would remove the carpet.” view screen shows the petty officer glance up and nod while another crewman approaches one side next to the con and chair platforms and he went to the other, together they start rolling up the carpet, what is unveiled is an oak wood plank floor that has the Starfleet emblem in the center with the Fourth Fleet emblem to the right, Bravo fleet to the left and the Task Force 47 underneath these are inlaid cherry wood. “There is an old earth tradition amongst the early navies that the first crew of a ship was known as plank owners, I have decided to carry on with that tradition. There are 215 oak planks on the floor. Each one has a crew member’s rank and name etched on it, 15 planks have the name and rank of a crew member who helped ferry the Osiris to us but decided to not stay onboard. I felt it was only right to include them. Each crew member will receive a plaque with a replica of their plank and a frontal view model of the Osiris on it. I’ll leave those up to the department heads to disperse, they should be ready within the next week. Lt. Mathisson will inform you when they are.” He turned off the camera and brought the map back up.

“That brings me to the end of my agenda, the table is open if anyone has anything they would like to bring to the staff’s attention or if you have any questions regarding the mission we have been assigned.”

“Lt Mathisson, I would like to get the worker bee pilots teamed with an engineer and have them run some holosuite sims on those platforms.” Lt. Darame stated as he pulled up the platform specs on the view screen. “Sir, these platforms look like they are newer models sooo I’m guessing mainly routine maintenance along with system updates and making sure no one has tried to add anything to them or hack into their systems.”

“Darame, it’s Eric, no need to state rank amongst ourselves. I will have those assignments for you later today. Chief Stimeck will lead the engineering crews for the platform maintenance. Captain, I’ve been talking to my crew and have had preliminary discussions with Skagath and Shrybaass. We would like to propose an intramural team sports system with some sort of trophy awarded to the overall winning department.”

“Can you send me the proposal? I may have some interesting ideas to add to it. We did this sort of thing while I was on the Cairo Police Force and I would have to say it was a great morale booster to the force.” Talibah asked while typing on her PADD. Lt Mathisson looks down at his PADD, smiled, looked over at Number one, and nodded his head. 

Skagath stood and walked over to the panel and brought up the layout of the Osiris. “Well, Looks like it is my turn. Doc, can I get several medical crew to act as emergency security response team members? Preferably folks who have some experience or training in dealing with combat situations.”

“I believe we have a few who would make an adequate medical crew for that. Let me double-check their records and qualifications. I’ll send you the names later today.” Doc makes a note on her PADD

“Number one, I would like to request office space on deck 2 and one near the main engineering that two of these teams could use. I would like to have a team near the bridge and one near the main engineering to respond as quickly as possible if the need were to arise. I have sent my mission plan to both the captain and yourself on this.” Skagath returned to his seat.

“Get with me after this meeting Skagath, we have a couple of offices that I think would work for what you propose.” Talibah looked down the table to Skagath and then back at the Captain.

Kr’Antren sat forward in his chair resting his arms on the table. “Anyone else?” as he looked around the table. “ok then, we all know what needs to get accomplished before we depart tomorrow. Let’s get to it folks.” he picked up the PADD on the table. “Counselor, Chief Kaha, please remain so we can discuss these personal problems that the chief brought to my attention.”

“Ok chief, I read through the files. But if you would like to bring Counselor Sia up to speed.”

“Ok, Sir, counselor as you may know or may not know I’m the Chief of the boat so I am responsible for handling enlisted matters or bringing them to the attention of the captain. With that being said I recently found out about two issues that I thought the captain needed to be aware of. “ typed something on her PADD and looked up at the counselor “ you should have the two files now. The first one is not that big of an issue but it could set a standard if we don’t act on it now. Looks like two of our Petty Officers decided to get hitched on DS47 right before they reported on board. As I am sure you know, counselor the Reliant class of ships are not set up with family quarters.”

Kr’Antren tapped his fingers on the table. “Ladies, the way I see it, the issue is the quarters. However counselor I would ask that you talk to the couple and make sure that there is nothing else going on that we need to know about. As towards the quarters “raised his hands “ I’m a bit at odds with what I see as the viable options. Do we leave them in their assigned quarters? Doesn’t seem the right thing to do. Do we assign them a full suite? Which could set a precedent for others to follow. The one other option would need the two of you, in my opinion, to talk to the two suitemates as this would affect them the most. Would be to move the newly married couple into one of their assigned rooms where they would have to still share it with the other suitemate.”

Chief Kaha creased her eyebrows and thought for a second. “Sir. There’s one other option. We could with your permission move them into one of the junior officer quarters that one of us on the command staff would have been assigned to. But this also sets a precedent for others to follow.”

Counselor Sia looks up from the PADD and a blank look comes over her face, she then nodded and put the PADD down. “Captain, sorry about that. I was discussing this with Pruzax. He suggested and I agree with him on this, before we make a decision that I have a session with the couple both separate and together. While it doesn’t look to be anything in their files that would make me question the marriage we don’t know at this time if there was another reason for them to get married, is something else going on?”

Kr’Antren tapped the table with his fingers and looked over at Chief Kaha. “What do you think chief, sounds like a good place to start for me.” looked over at Counselor Sia “ make sure everything is on the up and up with them before making an official decision.” 

O

Counselor Sia nodded. 

“Sounds like a good starting place to me sir. I’ll inform the couple to schedule the appointments with the counselor within the next 24 hours. Till then they keep their assigned quarters, I’m not going to tell them they have to stay in them separately but I am going to warn them that I don’t want to hear any complaints from the suitemates.”

Kr’Antren nodded at this and then looked at his PADD and let out a sigh. “Now, this one has me scratching my head on how to handle it. Counselor, I think this one is going to be all yours.” Looked over at her with a raised questioning eyebrow.

Counselor Sia starts to chuckle as she reads through the start of this particular file. “Oh, ohhhhh. I can see why you would say that sir. Nothing wrong with the couple or their special “friends”  as long as everyone involved is ok with it. But the three reports of jealous behaviors and actions from a former “friend” does raise concerns. Hmmmm, well that’s an interesting twist, the couple seems to have a thing for “friends” being from other races.” Puts the PADD down “Seems the first thing to do would be to have a session with the couple and find out what their rules and/or boundaries are. Then a meeting with the former “friend” to figure out if this is just jealousy or is there something else. Looking at the reports from the former counseling team on their past ship it seems that some anger management sessions were conducted but it was sporadic and random. So that will need to be fixed.”  

Chief Kaha looked up from her PADD and nodded. “Sounds like a good place to start with, counselor. I’ll send the messages to them to set up appointments with you. I’ll pass another message to those involved that should there be any type of issue with or from the former “friend” that they are to immediately report it to security and then to me.” 

Kr’Antren made some notes on his PADD and then placed it face down on the table. “Ok, I think that takes care of those issues, anything else Chief?”

“Not at this time, captain”

“Good, ok thanks ladies I believe we are done here.  Oh counselor, since you will also be our acting diplomatic officer please check with the DS47 diplomatic office and get any information we may need.”

“Yes, Captain”

“Have a good evening ladies, see you on the bridge for departure tomorrow morning.”

0730 – USS Osiris – Bridge

Kr’Antren smiled and let out a slight chuckle as he noticed that overnight the engineering crew had changed the area he had been touching at the start of each shift the last couple of days was now a bronze cartouche shaped panel etched in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs . “I’ll have to ask Talibah what it says” as he paused and touched it for a couple of seconds. 

“Morning ladies and gentleman.”

“Morning sir” his number one said from her customary seat to the right of the captain’s chair, Kr’Antren raised an eyebrow at this. “Didn’t seem right this morning sir, taking her out for the first time and all that.” he nodded at this. He glanced around and noticed the full command staff was here, nodding to those that were here to watch the first departure of the Osiris as a fully operational member of TF47. Kr’Antren took his seat in the command chair and sat back, letting out a sigh of mixed emotions he pushed the internal comms button on his arrest.

The whistle signaling an announcement from the captain rings out across the ship. “ Osiris today we join the fleet as an operational member, today we start to write our story, our legacy. Today we become the beacon for others to follow.  Trust your fellow crew members, trust your NCO’s, trust your leaders and most of all trust the Osiris to bring you home. All departments make ready for departure, Number one take us to blue alert.”

The lights go to blue across the ship as a low tone, reminiscent of a fog horn, plays across the ship.

“Ship as blue alert,sir”

“Lt Darame, notify DS47 that we are requesting to depart.”

“Lt Mathisson, bring her to life” a dull throbbing slowly reverberates through the ship and then slowly mellows out.

“Sir, warp core is operational and showing green across the board.”

“Sir, DS47 has acknowledged the departure request and permission to depart has been confirmed when we are ready, they report no traffic in the area. “

Kr’Antren nodded and looked over at his Number one.

“Sir. Docking rings have been released, all mooring beams are showing as  released. Ready when you are captain.”

“Departments go/no go for departure”

“Helm and flight control are a go sir.”

“Operations are a go”

“Communications are a go” 

“Science is a go captain”

“Tactical is a go, let’s get this bird moving” LT Skagath chuckles afterwards.

“Engineering Is a go and I for one second Skagaths sentiment.”

“Not that you need it from us sir, but medical is a go.

“Captain, all departments are go for departure.” Lt. Talibah said from her seat as she watched the view screen on her small console.

“Lt. Darame, maneuvering thrusters only let’s take her out.”

“Aye sir”

The bridge staff watched as DS47 slowly moved away from the Osiris, once the saucer section was clear the ship started to turn towards starboard as the view screen slowly filled with the blackness of space.

“Bring us out past the initial safety markers Darame then go to ¼ impulse till we are out of the stations shipping lanes.”

“Aye sir.”

Kr’Antren looked over at the counselor seated to his left, gave her a nod and then toward his number one. “Well number one, are we ready?”

“Captain, all departments are reporting green across the board, all systems seem to be operating as expected. I would say it’s time to write our story sir.”

Kr’Antren nodded, ran his fingers through his beard and smiled. “Darame, set our course for the Badlands. Let’s warm her up slowly so how about warp 7.”

“Course laid in, warp 7 Captain in 3, 2, 1.”

The viewscreen went to the light and had streaked view that members of StarFleet have become accustomed to. 

“Sir, incoming message from Task Force command, requesting a secure conference.”

Kr’Antren looked over at his number one with a raised eyebrow. “ We barely left.”

“Send it to my ready room chief. Number one, Skagath with me.” He looked around the bridge and smiled. “Doc, you have the conn”

Doctor M’Gok let out a sigh. “Why me? I’m a doctor!”

“Because you’re the only one not otherwise engaged on the bridge.” Kr’Antren said as he stood from the center chair. 

“Better make it quick captain. I have the conn, I guess.” as she took the center seat.

Skagath looked at the captain and winked then looked back at the Doc in the center seat. “Ummm Doc, you did touch the plate right?” Everyone turned in their seats and looked at her. She put her head down in her hands and let out a groan. “Yes, I touched the plate. I’m not going to tempt fate on our first day, Skagath.” The bridge crew all smiled and turned back to their consoles. Skagath chuckled out loud.  

Captain’s Ready Room

-^- computer on view screen-^-

An image of the Red shirted commander appears on the screen. “Captain Kr’antren” as the commander looks around the room and notices the two Lieutenants also present.

“Commander this is my first officer Lt. Talibah and my Chief of Strategic Operations and Security Lt. Skagath. Seeing as we just left Deep Space 47 this must be something hot off the presses.”

The commander nods at the two lieutenants and then brings up a split screen with a map of the Badlands on half and him on the other half. “Captain, we are going to add something to your mission. Currently the USS Edinburgh is investigating a ship called the SS Heru which according to our records is a member of the Palasa Transport Group.“ He brings up the information on the Palasa Transport Group on the other half of the screen. “as you can see nothing too much beyond the ordinary for these contractor groups that operate in the region. However this next bit is what brought the SS Heru to the USS Edinburgh’s attention and to ours.” 

A video of the recent encounter plays. Obviously, this was recorded from the Edinburgh’s view screen as they could hear the conversation but saw nothing but what was on the viewscreen. “I’m sending you the sensor readings and information that Edinburgh was able to get.” 

Kr’antrens PADD start to flash he looked at the information, raised an eyebrow and than sent the information to his number one’s and Skagaths PADDS, a low whistle from the number one is followed by “See captain, I told you there was no such thing as a routine mission.” 

“Captain, we want the Osiris to stick around the edge of the Badlands. For now you can use the Task Forces information gathering  priority mission as a cover should anyone from the area ask, as you will be relatively close to an area of that region that while under our purview  still has a heavy Cardassian presence. Make contact with Edinburgh upon your arrival and offer any and all assistance that they may need or ask for. Captain Fontana will have the lead on this mission.”

Kr’antren nodded at this. “We should be there in 24 hours or less.” He held up a finger as if asking for one moment as he muted the connection. “Chief Mathisson, we need to add some wood to the fire, taking us to Warp 8.” “ Helm, take us to Warp 8.” as he unmuted the connection. “Sorry about that sir, I just told my chief engineer and helm to put the proverbial pedal to the metal.”

The commander nodded. “ I figured that was what you were doing. As soon as we end this conversation I’ll be contacting the EdinBurgh to let them know you are on your way. Any further questions?”

Kr’antren looked at the two officers in the room who both shook their heads. “No, sir, not at this time. Going to have my crew start looking at those scans and readings and see if they come up with anything different than what the Edinburgh does.”

The commander nodded at this. “ Ok then, I’ll let them know you are on the way and should be on “our” side of the Badlands in roughly 24 hours.” The viewscreen cuts off and then shows the Starfleet and Task Force Logos. 

“Well I guess this is our welcome to the Thomar Expanse mission.” Raised an eyebrow at the two officers, Number one touches her PADD and pulls up the sensor logs from the encounter. “Captain, that ship was awfully fast pullin up shields and charging up weapons,” she zoomed in on the scans focusing on weapons and the power allocation for them. “Skagath, I’m seeing this right. Right? Those are Cardassian based weapons.” 

“Aye, they are based off of Cardassian plans but they look to have a few differences. I would guess they had to change a few things due to their power core or they weren’t able to get their hands on the right parts.“ let out a whistle himself “Captain, if contractors in the expanse are able to get their hands on equipment like that.”

Kr’antren nodded, stood and ran his hands through his beard, a sign that the crew has taken to mean that he is thinking of something. He reached down and hit a button on his desk. “I need all command staff to meet us in the Bridge briefing room in five minutes. Doc, give the Conn to Chief Stimeck, we won’t be far if he needs us.”

7 Aug 2400

USS Osiris – Bridge

“Sir, we are coming up on our destination.”

Kr’Antren leaned forward in his chair. “ Very well. Let’s see what is out there.” As the viewscreen flashes as the Osiris exited warp and the raging brownish orange edge wall of the badlands is in front of them. “ Helm keep us 100km from the edge,” Lt. Darame Nodded from his console.

“Number one, thoughts?”

“Sir, message from the USS Edinburgh they are asking for our present location so we can rendezvous, they were on their way to DS47 but will turn around and make their way back.” Chief Kaha turned from her console and faced the command chairs.

Kr’Antren nodded “Send our location and confirm receipt of their message.”

“Helm, let’s keep this distance but in case anyone is watching, let’s work a race track pattern along the edge, make it seem like we are conducting routine patrol and scanning. Take us as close as safely possible on the return leg.”

“Tazzeth I want continuous scans short and long going at all times. Kaha, the Same goes with comms. Let’s have our ears open to everything possible.”

“Back to you number one.”

“Well captain, maybe we can do some research that may help us.” 

“What are you thinking, number one?”

“Computer, list all known or suspected member corporations of the syndicate.”

One name appeared on the main view screen highlighted in green, another group appeared under this highlighted in a yellowish gold of roughly another 15 to 20 names, though most of these were ship names.

“Hmmmm, less than I hoped for, captain. Though those other names listed are interesting as they look as if they are either ships or individual names. Which could be a place to start investigating.”

Kr’Antren stood from his chair and walked forward to stand between the helm and operations console. “Computer, split the main view screen. Show us an overhead map of the Badlands.” The main view screen splits in half top and bottom “Mark all planets, moons and and known phenomena within the Badlands.” spots of colour represented 17 planets, 43 moons and a rough looking blob marked a known asteroid field in the Badlands.“mark known M class planets or moons and any asteroids big enough to house a habitable base.” The colored spots that represent these start to pulse, ten small spots in the asteroid field also begin to pulse.

Tazzeth looked up from the science console. “Captain, we are not getting much on the scans. The short range scans seem to be ok, however the storms and everything else that make up the badlands are greatly reducing the long range scans. We can see a few kilometres in but not much farther. I’m going to allocate more power into the long range sensor arrays to see if that helps any.”

“Noted,Tazzeth. Thank you for the update.”

“Number one, take this” he points at the map that they were working with “into the briefing room. Let’s see what we can come up with before the USS Edinburgh arrives.”

Talibah stood from her seat and walked towards the briefing room. “Skagath and Shrybaas your with me.” Both officers stood and followed the Lieutenant, as Chief Kaha got up and took over the operations console. The main view screen returned to its normal view a few moments later.

Bridge Briefing Room

The three of them took a seat around the briefing room table and looked at the map.

“So what are we doing with this? “ Skagath asked as he nodded towards the viewscreen.

Lt. Talibah looked at the map then at her PADD. “Hmmm, reading through the report from Commander Harris, particularly the conversation he had with Gul Hasara. The only thing we know for sure is that there are at least two outside powers within the Badlands: this syndicate and another known as the Union. The only other thing we got out of it is that he all but confirmed that the Palasa Transport Group is a part of this syndicate.”

“Well that would be why they are the only ones in green then.” Lt Shrybaass stated as he looked at the information being displayed. “ Computer, remove any ships or personnel that are members of the Palasa Transport Group or are known associates of that group. I assume it would be safe to say that if they are part of that transport group then they are members of the syndicate.” Five of the ships and two individuals moved from the Golden yellow list to now being listed under the Palasa Transport Group in green.

“Good point lieutenant. Computer start a new list, separating those that identified themselves as part of the syndicate under duress. Folks do this all the time on earth so why not out here.” Seven more names moved from the golden yellow list to a third list in blue. “Well if this was a case in my precinct on earth those seven would get some extra scrutiny.”

Skagath stood from his seat and walked forward towards the view screen. “ Computer show all known locations of pirated ships within the badlands and surrounding areas. Over the past two years,roughly 250 spots appear randomly, Talebah and Skagath both let out a whistle. “Somebody has been busy.” Skagath ran a hand through his beard and then snapped his fingers. “Computer remove all locations that do not match the weapon signature noted by the USS Edinburgh from their encounter with the SS Heru.”  150 of the spots fade out. Shrybaas ran a hand over his scalp. “Interesting, no discernable patterns to the locations” He looked at his PADD “and from what I can find on here no discernable reason why those particular ships were picked. I don’t see anything that particularly stands out on their manifests and it looks like everything was taken and all crew on board were found dead.

-^- YELLOW ALERT YELLOW ALERT -^-  all of the lights go to a yellowish tone 

“Crap, this can’t be good. Let’s go, gentlemen.”

As the three of them made their way back to the bridge.

BRIDGE

“ We have a Cardassian Keldon class that just dropped out of warp 1000 kilometres off of our starboard bow.” Darame called out from the helm console. Skagath and Shrybaass took their seats at their console.

“Captain, they have raised their shields but not powering up weapons.” Skagath called out from his console.

“Do the same Skagath, let’s not do anything to provoke them.” Kr’antren said as he stood.

“Chief Kaha open all communication channels.”

“Channels are open sir.”

“ This is Captain Kr’Antren, Captain of the USS Osiris. We are on a routine patrol of the Thomar Expanse from Deep Space 47. We represent Star fleet and Task force 47. Please state your intentions.”

“Sir, they are currently closing the distance between us moving at ½ impulse.”

“Helm, let’s keep a couple kilometres between us.”

“Aye, Captain”

“ Captain, they are requesting visual.” Kaha stated from her console.

“Ok, let’s see who we are dealing with, on the main view screen chief.” As he stood between the helm and ops consoles.

“ Gul Tikbe Onot of the Rejal, Cardassian Defense Force. We are conducting routine patrols of our borders also.  We noticed your vessel drop out of warp through our sensor platforms so we decided to come take a look. We had only received word recently that a Reliant class ship had become operational in the expanse though we had not heard that you had left DS47 recently.“ as decent looking cardassian women came on the main view screen, seated in her version of the command chair, more crew could be seen busily working beside and behind her.

Kr’Antren looked over his shoulder at his number one with a raised eyebrow.

Skagath mumbles “they are assuredly taking scans of the ship lad, confirming or denying whatever information their people have on us.”

“Ahhh did you not think we would have people on your station, captain?”

Gul Onot turned her head slightly towards Skagath with a smirk on her face. “Why would you think otherwise, Tellarite? Your ship is the first of its class that as far as we know any cardassian has seen, captain. “ as she turned back towards focusing on Kr’Antren “  If these were different times I might have not been so friendly and tested you first, then again I might still. You never know.”

“So Captain, what brings one of the newest ship classes in Starfleet out here to this neck of the woods, as I believe the humans say.” she leaned forward in her chair.

“As I said Gul Onot, we are conducting a routine patrol with some science and engineering work added in.” Kr’antren retook his seat. “ As you well know I’m not going to give you all the details of my orders. So let’s just leave it at that. Call it a shakedown cruise if you will.”

“Pfft Captain, we all know there is more to it than that. Granted some of that story may be true, I’m sure. But we both know there is more, do we not?”

Kr’Antren raised an eyebrow and runs a hand through his beard “Do we? What is the real reason you’re out this far from your borders Gul Onot? We know that one star fleet vessel, no matter how new it is, would not raise flags with the Cardassian Defense force.”

She leans forward in her chair. “Yes, but one coming to this area after another just made a stop at Dozaria Prime, speaking with the Gul there. Hmmmm I don’t see the star fleet sending a vessel such as the ” she snapped her fingers and a crewman from behind her handed her a PADD “ ahhh yes the USS Edinburgh, to fix replicators. So that plus you showing up here leads to lots of questions as you can imagine.”

Kr’Antren looked at his number one and shrugged his shoulders, “I guess it would, last I heard the Edinburgh was on its way to DS47. Maybe your people will be able to find out why they stopped at Dozaria Prime, but I certainly have no idea.” 

Gul Onot sat back in her chair and let out a short laugh. “ Ahh, the games we captains play. So be it, We are watching you, Captain Kr’Antren of the USS Osiris. Next time we meet I may not be so nice, we may have to test this new Reliant class of star ship.”

The view screen goes blank and then shows the normal view, as the Rejal turned away from the edge of the Badlands and went to warp.

“ Secure from yellow alert” Kr’antren looked towards his number one, “ Thoughts?”

“She was definitely trying to get something from us. But I believe she also let a few things slip either on purpose or accidently. I’m sure Bravo command and the Task Force figured there would be informers or spies on the station, so that’s not anything new. Though I find it interesting that they got the info from the Edinburgh’s visit to Dozaria Prime. So either Gul Hasara talked or someone within his office passed a report back to the Cardassian Defence Force or Gul Onot has ties to the Obsidian Order, the cardassian intelligence branch.”

“I would hedge my bets that she is a part of or has ties to the Obsidian Order myself. The Edinburgh left Dozaria Prime what a day or two, at the most, ago. Seems kind of quick for a report to go through normal channels and be disseminated to the fleet.”

Kr’antren quickly filed a report and marked Gul Onot as a possible Obsidian Order officer; he then attached a copy of the conversation and the recorded scans of the Rejal. “And send, well Task Force command should have that in a few minutes I added the Edinburgh to the recipients, it may be interesting to hear what they think.”

“Captain and you to number one, would you come take a look at these scans for a second.” Skagath asked from his console. They both made their way over to his console and looked over his shoulder. “Notice anything on these scans of the Rejal” They both shook their heads, skagath raised an eyebrow.” hmpf. What if I do this?” as he brought up the scan report of the SS Heru from the Edinburgh. “ Hmmmm I guess we can confirm that the weapons that the Edinburgh scanned and saw powered up on the Heru are definitely Cardassian in design, though most of those Keldons were built in the 2370’s so not exactly top of the line systems but still.”

Skagath looked up towards the two of them. “That they were sir. However, look at this.” as he points to a couple notes near the bottom of the Keldon class info.” Say’s right here that most of the Keldon’s built were built for or by the Obsidian order and, this is the important part sir, those that were built for or by the Obsidian Order had cloaking devices installed.”

Kr’antren looked over at his number one and then towards the view screen. “ Well I guess we know now how they got the info so quickly about the Edinburgh.” Skagath, file this as an additional report and get it sent to the Task Force command and add the Edinburgh to the message.”

“Number one, I believe she was the Obsidian Orders version of a welcoming party with just enough hints dropped for us to figure out that they are watching what the Task Force is doing.” As Kr’Antren retook his seat.

“Well before we were visited by the neighbourhood welcoming party, we were able to highlight a few names that may need some further looking into. Other than that not much else at this time. Just not enough is known about this syndicate group. I’m sending the names to the Edinburgh. See what Captain Fontana has to say or recommend.”

Kr’antren nodded at this. “ Darame, resume course full impulse.”

“Resuming course at full impulse captain”

USS Osiris – Cairo Briefing Room

1000  – 8 Aug 22400

Skagath stood before the viewing panels in the Cairo briefing room watching as the Osiris flew through space on the edge of the badlands. He took a sip from his mug and walked over to look at the lineage busts. Running a hand through his beard while he stared at the three early earth submarines to carry the name. “What is it? seeing these old earth ships tickles something in the back of my mind about the badlands.” 

“Computer, history check. Badlands, sensors, submarines?”

=^= Affirmative Lieutenant Skagath. During the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, the Bajoran resistance used a form of echolocation to navigate the badlands and find and identify other ships. Echolocation is used by several species on earth, bats are a prime example of its use, a form of echolocation, called sonar, was used by many of the earth’s naval forces during the 20th and 21st centuries. =^= 

Skagath snapped his fingers “yes, that’s it. It was tickling the back of the old noggin.” he tapped his combadge “Lt Mathisson and LT. Tazzeth, Lt Skagath. Could you two meet me in the Cairo briefing room? I think I might have come up with an answer for navigating and searching the badlands.”

“On my way from engineering.”

“I’ll be there in a couple of seconds lieutenant, finishing up with the last sensor sweep data.”

“I was standing in here drinking my coffee when I started looking at these busts and something started tickling my ol’ noggin. I started to remember something about the badlands and the Bajorans. So asking the old computer here a couple of questions, it hit me. The Bajoran resistance used echolocation to help them navigate and find both friends and foes within the badlands.” He looked over at Lt. Mathisson.” Chief, could we add something like this to our sensor suite.” 

Eric started to look up information on the console at the seat he was in and ran a hand through his beard. “Yes I think we could, it may take a day or two to put things in place but I don’t think it would be anything too serious to add this to the system. Lt. Tazzeth would this help in the badlands?” Tazzeth pulled up the information onto the main view screen so they all could see it. “ Yes, it will help greatly. I just sent a message to the Bajoran government and military asking for any information and data that they could share with us. I specifically asked for data that pertains to how to identify nebulas, plasma storms, planets, moons, ships, stations, and how they will look to us on our consoles.”

Lt. Mathisson taped on his combadge. “Chief Stimeck, I’m sending you plans, configurations, and specs on an update to the sensor system. These updates are now the highest priority on our list. Get crews putting them together and installing them as soon as possible.”

“Yes sir, just got them.”

USS Osiris – Bridge

1200 – 8 Aug 2400

Lt. Talibah sits back in the center chair. “Afternoon ladies and Gents, I have the conn as the captain, he will be taking care of paperwork and reports for the rest of the day. So what do we have, anything new?”

“Skagath, good thinking on that echolocation that the Bajoran resistance used. Not sure why that wasn’t already thought of with the Task Force moving into the expanse. Lt Mathisson, what’s the status of those upgrades? And Tazzeth, the captain was wondering if we could get an overlay for those reading on the main screen as he feels it may help if we get into certain situations for everyone to be able to see the information in real-time.”

“Ma’am, engineering is replicating the needed components. I expect installations to begin within the next hour. It’ll require us to take sensors offline as the new pieces are added but we will have enough coverage from the other sensors to compensate. Each one should be down for approximately 30 mins, that time could lower as the installation crews get used to the needed work.” Mathisson said from the chief engineer’s console. “That’s why I’m up here. I sent two of the bridge engineers on duty to help out.”

“Noted Lieutenant.” she looked over at him and nodded

“Number one, My team is working on that right now. I’ve asked them for something that will be easy and quick to read and understand. Wanted them to set it up with the most amount of information available for the various roles on the bridge.” Tazzeth said as he looked at his console going over the latest sensor data. “Nothing new from the sensors, the long-range sensors are not reading much deeper into the badlands even with the additional power allocated to them. 

Talibah nodded towards Tazzeth “ Thank you, lieutenant, hopefully, these sensor upgrades help out with those situations, time will tell what information we can pull from it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Chief Kaha turned and faced Lieutenant Talibah in the center chair. “ Ma’am we are getting a priority message from Captain Fontana of the USS Edinburgh. He wants us to meet the Edinburgh at Dozaria Prime as soon as possible.”

Lt. Talibah looked over at the captain’s ready room door, thought for a second and let out a half smile. ”Let’s let the captain catch up on the pile of paperwork on his desk, shall we? Lt. Darame plot a new course for Dozaria Prime warp 8. Chief, please confirm and acknowledge.”  Lt. Talibah taps on the comms button on the chair. “Sir, we are changing course. Captain Fontana sent a priority message for us to meet them at Dozaria Prime.”

“Thank you number one.”

“Ma’am, Dozaria Prime is laid in. All systems showing green across the board”

Lt. Talibah sat back in the center chair. “Lt. Darame, light the fires.”

The Osiris dropped out of warp a few hundred kilometres behind and to the starboard side of the USS Edinburgh.

“Sir, we have arrived at Dozaria Prime. It looks like we have visitors.”

“On screen Darame” as K’Atren took his seat as number one went to her usual spot.”

“Yes it seems like we do. Looks like Gul Onot has introduced herself to the Edinburgh.”

Kr’antren looked over towards chief Kaha. “Chief, let the Edinburgh know that we have arrived as per their request.” 

“Lieutenant Tazzeth, anything going on planet side?” As he turned to face the Chief Science Officer

“No sir,and I might add that I am reading no life signs on the planet. Wasn’t there a colony here just a few days ago? “ Kr’ Antren raises an eyebrow at this news. “ Yes, yes there was.”

Turned back towards Lt. Talibah. “ Well Number one i would guess that would be the reason why Gul Onet is here. Question is was she already here when the Edinburgh arrived or did she arrive after them.”

Kr’ Antren holds a finger up as he can see Talibah getting ready to answer. “Hold that thought number one.” He then tapped the internal comms button on his arm rest console. “ Counsellor Sia, Captain Kr’Antren. Please join us on the bridge counselor.”

“On my way”

“Captain. Either way we have a missing colony, and I might add one that Gul Onot knew the Edinburgh had just visited.”

“True, makes me wonder.”

“Tazzeth, any warp signatures besides the Edinburghs, Guo Onots ship and us. Look for any possible signs inthe last 72 hours to present. Also let’s keep our eyes peeled.”

Talibah raises an eyebrow and gives a knowing smile at hearing this. “Expecting more guests, captain?”

“Not really but let’s think about this. A Gul we think is part of the Obsidian Order shows up at the same time as the Edinburgh at a planet they visited a few days ago, the planet is now devoid of the personnel who were living/working on the colony there. Then we have this unknown Syndicate, what are their interests here? What do they want? Who are they? Lots of unknowns still out there and could you think of a better time to make your presence known than this.” He points towards the view screen.

“Good point.” 

“Skagath, let’s start looking for anything that resembles those signatures that the Edinburgh reports when they met   ..”  

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Captain, message from the Edinburgh. Return to prior mission. We are following a new lead and will not require your assistance.” Kaha relayed from the communications console.

Kr’Antten looked over at Talibah with a raised eyebrow. “Well that’s an interesting twist. Most have got some information from Onot. Chief, Acknowledge receipt of the message.”

“Message sent, sir.”

They watched as the Edinburgh disappeared into the flash of its warp drive engaging.

“Guess that leaves us, number one.”

“Darame, set a course for Gavaria Prime warp 8.”

“Course plotted and laid in captain.”

“Good, let’s roll. Number one, Tazzeth, Shrybaas join me in my ready room. Lt Skagath you have the conn.”

Kr’Antren stood and made his way to his ready room, followed by the called out officers, he tapped his combadge as he stood “Doc and counselor Sia, please join us in my ready room as soon as possible.”

Skagath stood from his usual seat, stretched his back for a second and made his way to the center chair. “Aye captain, I have the conn.” 

Talibah looked at the captain and then at Shrybass and gave him a wink and a smile. “Lieutenant, will you require your booster seat, we can have the captain’s yeoman bring it out for you.”

The bridge crew break out in laughter as Skagath glares at the XO with a slight smile on his face. “Ahhhhh, so the lass has jokes now does she?”

Captains log

Stardate 240010.17

We have spent the last few weeks in the Sigma Pegasi system conducting surveys and scans of the system. A Trinary star system always warrants some extra attention from time to time not to mention that this one is close to both the Badlands and relatively speaking to both the Breen and Tzenkethi borders. While the Osiris is not a science or explorer starship we do have decent capabilities in both of these areas, the idea that Reliant’s a jack-of-all-trades vessel is one that I am beginning to realise may be more of a strength than a weakness in the mission profiles that we can be given. We are heading towards Gavaria, the only M-class planet in this system. We have been tasked with dropping off some medical, engineering, and general supplies and offering whatever help they may need from Starfleet now and in the future. With Task force 47 now being assigned to this sector of space, we need to reach out and offer whatever assistance we can to the inhabitants of the area and start the diplomacy processes if possible. 

“Computer end and save Captains log”

Kr’Antren leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. “Computer, notify all command staff. Dinner with the Crew Night – 1800 – main crew dining hall,  I have been informed that it is Italian night tonight with some surprise recipes.”

He started to go through the latest patch of PADDS, most were promotion orders and awards for the enlisted and junior officers and just needed his signature. One was from Task Force 47 command and dealt with the latest and greatest updates for the sectors diplomacy statuses, intelligence, fleet news, and such. The last PADD was an update and change to their current mission orders, not much of a change for the most part, though it did have an addendum to their current orders requiring the Osiris to make its way to the Rolor Nebula to investigate reports of a new smuggling/pirate operation using the nebula as a base of operations.

“Well, looks like we will go from investigating one potential pirate organization to another, guess that will be the norm for a while till the Task Force gets staffed and makes their presence known throughout the Expanse.”

Kr’Antren tapped his combadge. “Lt. Darame, Captain Kr’Antren. Plot a course to the Rolor Nebula warp 7 for now.” “Number one, Captain Kr’antren. We just received a change to our orders, ‘ He looked at the chrono on his console. “ We will depart for the Rolor Nebula in eight hours. I want all supply and logistics missions completed on Gavaria and the team’s back on board in seven. Please join me in my ready room and bring Lieutenant Shrybass with you.”

“Roger Captain, We will be there in a few minutes once we have gotten the orders sent out for the various supply missions and set the ship for the trip to the Nebula.”

“That will work number one.”

“Counsellor Sia, Captain K’antren, please meet me in my ready room as soon as you are free. We need to go over the meeting with the Gavarian senatorial council. The away team will consist of  Lieutenant Shrybass, yourself and me along with two security officers.”

“I just finished up a session sir, as soon as I compile my notes and update the patient’s record I will be up. Should be about 15 to 20 minutes.”

“That will work, Counsellor.”

Kr’Antren pulls up the latest information on the Gavarian senatorial council on his PADD, taking a few minutes to go over the customs and courtesies for meeting with the council.

“This should be interesting, us being the proverbial new kids on the block and the breen and Tzinkethie being an ongoing thorn in their sides for hundreds of years if not longer.”

As he finished reading the information on the PADD the door to his ready room chimed. “Enter” as the XO and ops chief made their way into the ready room. Take a seat on the couches, I’ll be there in a sec. Waiting on the counsellor, she should be here any minute.“ They both made their way into the less formal space and took seats on the couches.

Lt Talibah placed her PADD on the coffee table and then got back up and walked over to the replicator. “Turkish coffee, medium, sweetened with cream.” She took her coffee and returned to her seat.

Lt. Shrybaas was busy updating his PADD as he was getting reports from the various deliveries being made planet side, also taking note of any issues or situations that would merit the XO’s or Captains attention.

Several minutes later the counsellor walked through the doorway and was directed to the couches as well, she stopped at the replicator “smoothie – strawberry, banna, orange” taking her drink, she made her way to the open spot between the XO and ops chief. “Good morning Ma’am, Good morning lieutenant.”

Kr’Antren followed behind her carrying his PADD and a cup of coffee that he had been drinking. “Morning, We are keeping this one informal. I just wanted to go over the meeting with the Senatorial council and the delivery operations. The away team for the meeting will consist of the counsellor, Lt’ Shrybaas, a security team of two and myself. Number one you will have the conn while we are away.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Lt. Shrybaas, you’re up first. How are the deliveries going? Any issues that we need to be aware of? Is there anything else that we could help them with while we are here?”

“Captain, Ma’am. Currently we have finished deliveries to four of the cities that were designated to the task force, we are setting up delivery points at the last three. As towards issues we have run into the first being room for the deliveries, they did not give us the room we needed almost as if they were trying to not bring notice or eyes upon the assistance given. The second issue being along those same lines they were real quick to relocate the cargo, my teams almost did not have time to inventory and acknowledge what had arrived. Two of the designated cities have asked for industrial replicators, we have one in storage which is meant as a replacement or for situations that would require engineering’s need for an additional one. So we could give them that one if you sign off on it, just means we will need to get a replacement from the Deep Space 47 or requisition one through the system.” 

Kr’Antren looked over at his number one with a raised eyebrow “what do you think number one?”

Lt. Talibah looked at her PADD “Looking at the Task Force’s available supplies, it does look like the Task Force has three in storage. I’ll put the paperwork in for one of them so it should be ready for us to pick up the next time we stop by Deep Space 47.”

Kr’Antren nodded “Ok, Lt Shrybaas. Let them know we have one we could let go of. Find out which location they would like for us to deliver it to.”

Lt. Talibah looked over at Counsellor Sia and pointed at something on her PADD to which the counsellor nodded her head. “Sir, We noticed that you had Darame plot a course for the Rolor Nebula?”

“Yes,  our latest update to our patrol orders have us going to the Nebula to investigate a possible new pirate/smuggling operation that has come to the attention of the Task Force. But I have a feeling I know where you’re heading.” He looked at the three of them.  “

Yes, I have read the recent reports of the situation in the Delta Quadrant. I have also been briefed by both the Task Force intelligence section and by the 4th fleet intelligence department on the situation in a Captain’s call. However, seeing as there is roughly sixteen days till the Barzan wormhole opens again allowing us quick access to the Delta Quadrant. I think both 4th fleet command and Task Force command are waiting for more information before they make any decisions on future orders. I do expect though that within the next week or two we will be getting new orders.”

“Yes sir, understood. Should we have Lt. Tazzeth and his teams start looking into the information on the subspace rifts and this “ blood dilithium”. Anything that can prepare us for what we may encounter if we are called upon.”

“Good idea number one, won’t hurt. The better prepared we are before we go the better we can plan for situations  if we are sent to the Delta Quadrant. On that note, have Skagath start looking up any information he can find on “ He looked something up on his PADD as he noticed the others doing the same. “The Devorian Imperium and the Hiron, those are the two main thorns in everyone’s side that have made their way to the Gradin Belt so far. Counsellor get with the Doc, if we are called forward we will be on our own and far away from any help. See what you two can work out to support each other. I want you to start working on something else with the doc, the Devore Imperium do not like telepaths and that’s putting it lightly. See if you can figure out something to help our telepaths.”

He looked at each of the three and nodded. “Now, till we hear otherwise. We have our orders and a mission to complete, with that being said we have a meeting with the Gavarian senatorial council to attend.”

At about that time he noticed a new message, and opened it.

The others noticed the captain’s eyes scan a message as he started to stand and walk to his desk and sit down. “Number one, join me. Counsellor and Shrybass your dismissed. You have your orders.”As they got up and left he caught the eye of the counsellor, Looking back down at his PADD he glanced up “Counsellor, can you join us too. May need both sides of your proverbial chairs’ insight on this.”

As the door closed behind Shrybaas he looked at the two ladies sitting in front of him. “As you could probably have guessed, we just received new orders. A bit sooner than I expected, it looks like Bravo Fleet is being called forward.”

Lt. Talibah sat forward in her chair and steepled her fingers in front of her as she placed her arms on the captain’s desk. “Bravo Fleet, sir? As in the entire fleet.” She let out a whistle as the captain nodded in acknowledgement.

He typed something on his padd and both of their PADDS flashed as they received new messages. “Here is a copy of the full operational orders for the fleet, a copy of Task Force 47’s mission and a copy of the mission orders for the Osiris.”

“Number one, it looks like we should be receiving updated intelligence reports on an ongoing basis over the next few weeks.“ she nodded in acknowledgement.

Counsellor Sia’s eye’s move back and forth as she scans through the orders, paying attention to the Osiris’s mission. She grimaces and then sits back in her chair. “Sir, not sure if you read our orders fully, particularly the operational area?”

Kr’antren nodded and sat back in his chair. “ Yes, I noticed. Looks like we will need those ideas quicker than we had hoped. How many full telepaths do we have on board? And how many show some sort of telepathic/empathic ability?”

The counsellor looked down at her PADD and typed something in. “Currently we have five full telepaths onboard and another nine that show various levels of telepathic or empathic abilities.”

Kr’Antren started working on something on his desk’s console. “So roughly ten percent of the crew. Ok that’s going to take some planning then if we get boarded by the Devore Imperium. Counsellor, once we go through the wormhole I will ask that you join us on the bridge as your place of duty.” she nodded at this.

“Also due to the nature of Blood Dilithium and the area we will be operating in. We will need to know where all of our telepaths are located at all times.”

“Yes sir.”

Kr’Antren tapped a button on his desk. “Helm, Captain Kr’antren. Disregard the previous order I gave you. Plot a course to the Barzan wormhole, warp eight. Let’s come out of warp a day or so out. That area is going to be getting really busy and crowded. I’ll give you further orders once we figure everything out here.”

“Yes, sir. We’re going to have to slow down during our passage through the badlands, but I’ll adjust for that.Helm, out.”

Kr’antren tapped the button again. “Chief Kaha, Captain Kr’Antren. Send our apologies to the Gavarian senatorial council,  but we will have to cancel our meeting. Let them know that our orders have changed and we will be making our way to the Barzan Wormhole as soon as we finish any current deliveries and our away teams report back on board.”

“Yes sir.”

Button again. “Shrybaas, Captain Kr’antren. Call back the away teams and finish any deliveries that are currently on going.  Let Number One know when everyone is back onboard. Get with the department heads and find out what supplies we need, compile a list and send it to Number one.”

For the next couple hours the three of them go through the order packets, discussing their upcoming mission and writing departmental level orders. Throughout that time they call various officers and bridge crew into the ready room to discuss certain points. As they end the meeting, department heads start to receive their orders along with a copy of the Osiris’s mission packet.

1900 – main dining hall – Dinner with the crew “event”

Kr’antren looked around the table at his command staff and the other officers that had joined them at the table for the evening meal. Much of the discussion around the table had been about their upcoming mission and the trip to the Delta Quadrant. He could feel the tension in the air and he could also see the signs of nervousness on many of their faces. However he also felt excitement, pride, loyalty and a sense of family and hopefulness. He nodded, cleared his throat and stood. The room goes awkwardly silent as all eyes turn toward him.

“Osisris,” he motioned to everyone in the room with a sweep of his arm. “As many of you have been informed by your department heads, we have new orders. I am sure many of you have read the news reports of the Subspace pulse in the Gradian Belt region of the Delta Quadrant and the rifts opening since then and the emergence of this new Dilithium. Due to the situation unfolding in that area Star fleet has mobilised the entirety of Bravo Fleet, our orders are to go to this region investigate this new dilithium and the subspace rifts that seem to precede its dilithium, to escort and protect the various non star fleet entities operating in or heading towards that region and to help anyone that asks for it.”

A low murmur of excitement and encouragement goes through the room, Kr’Antren lets this continue and die down after several moments.

“I too feel the excitement and the nervousness that all of you are feeling. But I know that everyone on the Osiris is ready for what lies ahead. There is no crew I would want to go into the unknown with other than this one. I know we are still a relatively new crew but I see signs everyday of us becoming something more, something that many ships in the fleet strive to become. A family, a crew coming together as one entity. Look around you, look to your left and right those are your brothers and sisters. Those around you and beside you are the ones that will be there to help you, to carry you and if needed sacrifice themselves. Remember this as we move forward into the unknown, we are all here for each other and for the Osiris. Your officers and I will do everything we can to ensure your safety but remember it will require all of us coming together as one to make it happen.”

He looked around the dining hall. “In the next couple of hours we will enter warp and make our way to the Barzan Wormhole where we will join the rest of the fleet and prepare for what lies ahead. Remember your training, trust in your crewmates, trust in your leadership and overall trust in the Osiris. She is not only our home she is us as we are her, there can not be one without the other. Raise your glasses and let us salute the Osiris and each other.”

Everyone stood and raised their glasses as they held them high and than took a sip, after putting their glasses down a loud round of applause started to flow over the crew as their captain looked around clapping himself and pating various crew members on the back as he and the command staff made their way around the dining hall giving encouragement and appreciation.