Treylana strolled out of the turbolift onto the bridge at precisely a quarter to eight. The lights were dim as they usually were from the night shift. The team liked to simulate a nighttime atmosphere in order to have any sense of time on the ship. Treylana checked in with the watch commander for her daily morning briefing and let him know the senior staff would be meeting shortly and it would be a little bit before the shift was relieved.

Satisfied that there was nothing urgent to deal with, she made her way to the briefing room. As the doors opened, she noticed Phil already present mindlessly gazing into a PADD. “Morning.” she said, almost startling him.

“Oh! Good morning Captain.” he replied instantly, turning his attention to her instead of the device.

Not wanting to pry in case it was personal, but curious what had her first officer’s attention so focused, she poked him inquisitively while heading to the replicator for her morning coffee. “Anything important?”

“Oh this?” Phil replied, holding up the PADD, “Not at all. I was going over the Federation News that came in with last night’s communiqué from Starfleet. The Pike City Pioneers went into four extra innings last night beating the Cestus Comets six to five.”

“I’m not a fan of baseball unfortunately.”

“That’s okay, I don’t largely follow it either. I just happen to have a cousin that plays for the team, but I’m guessing baseball is not the reason for you calling this briefing this morning judging from that priority one call you received last night.”

“In due time Phil.” she replied as other members of the senior staff began making their way into the briefing room.

Paul was the last one to enter, a few minutes later than the rest and past when the briefing was scheduled to start. He embarrassingly apologized to everyone as he took his seat. “I’m sorry Captain. We’re still experiencing alignment issues with one of the warp coils. I was trying an alternate solution and lost track of time.”

Treylana nodded and then commenced the briefing, “Before we get to the topic at hand, are there any important matters to discuss from each of your departments?”

Not seeing anyone taking the immediate initiative, William decided to chime in, “Well, first off, I with yours and the Commander’s permission, I would like to rotate up the shifts in Security for a bit and get some of the junior staff some exposure to some busier shifts. We have a few crewmen starting to slip through the cracks and I think it would benefit them. Other than that, I’d like to work with Commander Tamura to install and configure a new tactical program I’m working on. It will however require taking the weapons systems offline for a few hours.”

Treylana looked at Phil briefly, then back over to William, “Make sure you run your schedule changes past the Commander, but I don’t see any problems with that. As for your tactical upgrades, that’ll have to wait until our next mission is complete. Which I’ll get to momentarily. Paul, you mentioned the warp coil alignment?”

“Yes Captain. As I’ve reported previously, our encounter at Rornea and the use of gravimetric torpedoes caused an alignment issue that we’re having to repeatedly address. Workarounds are keeping it stable for now, but I highly recommend we put in for some time at a repair facility and have an overhaul done on the entire warp coil assembly.”

“How long before your fixes cease to work on correcting the issue?” Treylana inquired.

“At the present rate of misalignment, I can maybe give you two weeks before we lose the ability to go to warp entirely, and even then, I’d advise no more than warp six to avoid putting a strain on them.”

“Very well. Are there any other matters that need addressing?”

Treylana looked around the room. The attentive gazes upon her combined with the silence acknowledged that she could continue with the topic that mattered.

“What does anyone know about the Tkon?” she posed to the entire room.

“Only what was taught in history lessons at the academy and mission logs from the Enterprise-D thirty-five years ago. It was an advanced empire that existed some six-hundred-thousand years ago, rumored to be able to move stars.” Sumiko said, volunteering what information she remembered from her academy days.

“More or less.” Treylana responded.

“Last night I received a call from Starfleet Command. They want us to investigate some wreckage on a planet that might be linked to the Tkon. I can’t go into the reasons behind this investigation, but what I can tell you is that any information or technology we encounter, no matter how insignificant it may seem, will be treated with the utmost importance. The only caveat to this whole endeavor is that Command informs me that the wreckage lies on a planet that is inhabited by a pre-warp civilization.”

“Pre-warp?” Kalela interrupted, “What about the Prime Directive?”

“The Prime Directive continues to be lifted for the duration of this mission. That is why we are being ordered to check this planet out. However, Starfleet will not sanction any unjustified breaking of the directive, but understands the necessity of having to do so and each violation will be addressed individually. We’ll make sure to survey the planet ahead of time. Any away team members will see Dr. Brant for any surgical alterations if necessary. We’ll keep the away teams small that way there’s less of a risk of contamination. We can even supply the away team with holo-projectors to conceal their activities. We’ll beam in, find what we’re looking for and beam it all out using the cargo transporters if need be. Any questions?”

She tried to explain in detail every aspect of the mission to avoid any confusion. Inevitably there were going to be questions. The room remained silent for a moment. Treylana thought she was in the clear and then Xenie spoke up, “In the event we’re discovered or caught by the local population, what measures should we take to prevent us from irreparably contaminating their culture?”

“We’ll have to play it by ear based on the severity. A single humanoid, we might consider wiping their memory if our technology is compatible. A larger population may require more sophisticated measures. At the end of the day it’ll be my call to make and my responsibility for any repercussions of those actions.”

Satisfied with the captain’s remarks, the room remained silent.

“Alright. Dismissed. Phil, if I might have a word.”

Phil looked at her with slight concern. He had a feeling she was going to say something he was not going to like and he was right.

“Under normal circumstances, I would have you lead the away team. However, due to the nature of this mission, I want an away team of three with my most hands-on technical guys on the team. I’m going to put Paul and Sumiko on this one with a member of William’s team for security. As my most senior staff member, I want you to be available as a mentor for the teams from the altered shift rotations. I hope you understand.”

He knew she only had the best interests of the mission in mind, but that didn’t make him feel any less important. “Of course, Captain. As the Vulcans would say ‘It’s only logical.’” he replied with a slight chuckle.

“Alright, I’ll join you on the bridge shortly. Oh, and if you’re planning on writing to your cousin, tell him congratulations on their win.”