Captain Gar’rath sat at the conference table of the Century’s observation lounge, his senior staff seated around the table in their various positions. The crew has spent the better part of a month working independently on the various tasks that made up their deep space exploration mission, though many departments has at least some interaction with one another during that time. With the Science department taking the lion’s share of the duties associated with their mission, the rest of the departments had found themselves in something of a routine, nothing really demanding their time or attention beyond what could be considered a daily checklist of tasks.

This routine was part of the reason why the Captain had called his staff together. He could have easily browsed through the reports that each department head submitted on a semi-regular basis, but it didn’t have quite the same impact as meeting with them face-to-face, nor did it allow for him to ask questions on the fly.

“Thank you for coming, everyone,” Gar’rath started off the meeting cordially, “I know it has been some time since we all sat down together here, so I wanted to take a moment to speak to each of you here as a way to not only catch myself up on what has been happening in your departments, but to give each of you the chance to see what your colleagues have been working on as well. Commander Peters, would you like to start us off?”

Abby nodded upon hearing her name, “Certainly, Captain. As far as administrative items are concerned, we’ve completed our personnel review for this cycle, with several individuals standing out rather sharply from their peers in terms of exemplary service. I believe we’ll probably be ready to hold a promotion board later this week to go over recommendations and select folks for advancement. Along that vein, we haven’t had any significant incidents with regards to negative behavior and performance, which is nice because we’ve only been out in deep space a few months now.”

Several of the gathered officers smiled or chuckled at the statement, with the usual exception of the Captain – who seldom understood the humorous undertones of seemingly innocuous statements – and the Vulcan Operations Chief.

“Very good,” Gar’rath nodded, “I look forward to the promotion board. Commander Sorreth, what of the Operations department?”

“We have seen a noticeable increase in maintenance requests from several of the science laboratories in recent weeks. While these requests have not significantly impacted the regular workload for Operations or Engineering, it is something we are monitoring closely. We are also seeing a rise in holodeck requests, most of those coming from those personnel returning to the ship from expeditions to the surface. Currently this has not placed a significant burden on our power distribution network, however if it indeed becomes an issue, we will be seeking your permission to curtail usage to bring energy consumption back down to acceptable levels. We also have three shuttles down for extensive repairs. The craft were used to evacuate personnel from an area of the planet we are currently orbiting during a major storm that inhibited our ability to use transporters to undertake their retrieval. Current estimates place their return to service at roughly three weeks.” Lt. Cmdr. Sorreth explained at length.

“Speaking of the evacuation,” Dr. Odaim spoke up, “We’ve had to treat six people for various injuries related to those shuttles taking damage in the storm, and nineteen people required various levels of care for injuries sustained before being evacuated. Thankfully there weren’t any casualties, but four patients will need to remain in sickbay for at least the next three to four weeks to fully recover.”

“It is indeed fortunate that no one lost their lives during that,” Capt. Gar’rath remarked with a grateful tone, “Lieutenant James, can you speak to how this storm developed the way it did?”

Lt. James picked up a PaDD that had been resting in front of him and scrolled through it a moment before looking to the Captain, “Our initial survey of the planet’s upper atmosphere indicated a stable weather cycle in that area. All of the models run by our meteorologists indicated that some rain showers were likely, but their effects would be minimal, even with the limited infrastructure we had installed at the site. The development of such a large scale hurricane forming over land wasn’t indicated by any of the observations we had made.”

“Then how did such a storm come to be?” the Gorn inquired.

“From the data we collected prior to the storm’s formation, as well as during the incident itself, it appears that the positioning of the planet’s two moons and the effect it had on the incoming solar radiation is the likely culprit,” James explained, “Using what we now know about this phenomena, we’ve made predictive models of weather patterns on the planet. While I don’t think anyone who was caught in that storm will take any sort of solace in this, a storm of that magnitude hasn’t happened for at least ninety years, and probably won’t happen again for another ninety.”

“You’re right in thinking no one would give a tinker’s cuss about how rare it is,” Lieutenant Commander Brak snorted from his seat.

“I get that you’re mad that two of the people who are sequestered in Sickbay are your engineers, Commander, but even with all the technology we have at our disposal, we’re not omniscient. Nature will continue to subvert our expectations long after I’m dead and gone,” Brian pointed out.

The Tellarite engineer grumbled at the comment but didn’t pursue it any further. He also didn’t seem to have anything to add to the proceedings beyond his previous commentary, which brought everyone’s focus to their Security Chief.

“Outside of the five Security Officers who were injured during the evacuation, our department has not had any major difficulties. The few aggressive species on the planet’s surface are easy enough to ward off without having to flat out kill them, though there have been occasions when a team has been forced to hunt them down to ensure the safety of our people on the surface,” Lieutenant Khar reported before anyone had the chance to call upon him formally.

“Have these culling efforts led to a significant decrease in their population?” Gar’rath asked.

“No, Captain,” Lt. James answered in Khar’s stead, “The particular animal he was referring to is a rather prolific mammal. A single pair can produce upwards of ten progeny at a time, and they take less than two years to reach full maturity. Any numbers we reduce during our visit will be more than made up for within less than a year.”

“Prolific indeed,” Gar’rath mused, his tone hinting at him being impressed.

“Are there any other reports?” Abby asked from her position at the table. The rest of the gathered officers shook their heads or otherwise made expressions in the negative.

“Very well,” Gar’rath said from his place at the head of the table, “Thank you for providing these updates. Lieutenant James, in light of recent events, I am inclined to wrap up our investigation of the planet as you do not seem to have made any finds that demand our continued presence here.”

Brian nodded at that, “I have no objections, Captain. If anyone takes an interest in anything we’ve found so far back in Federation space, they can dispatch a long-term expedition behind us.”

“My thoughts exactly. If there is nothing else, please return to your stations and prepare your departments for departure.”

The assembled officers rose from the table and headed out of the observation lounge to carry out their orders.