[ Tajir’s Quarters ]

Tajir was sound asleep in his quarters when his alarm went off at 0600 hours, groaning he turned over pressing the button on his side table to shut the alarm off. Taking a few moments to lay there rubbing his eyes before sitting up. After a few moments he got out of bed and headed to get showered and dressed to begin the day, they should be arriving at Caldos within the hour. After a while Tajir exited the bedroom, walking into the kitchen area to quickly get something to eat before heading up to the bridge.

“Computer I would like three eggs over easy, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, and two pieces of toast, with a hot cup of coffee, black please.” He ordered as the computer beeped and a plate and cup materialized in the replicator. Picking up the items he carried them to the table, setting them down he took his seat and began to eat. He decided to bring up the morning report to make sure things were going smoothly and nothing drastic had happened overnight that he wasn’t made aware of as he ate.

After a while, he finished his breakfast taking one last drink of his coffee he grabbed the padd and headed out of his quarters heading to the bridge to relieve the night watch.

[ Lounge ]

Aki had woken roughly an hour earlier than her usual time. She had planned on checking in with the night shift before shift change to make sure everything had gone smoothly with the roster change. Not that she didn’t trust that things would go anything but smoothly, but she wanted to make sure each member was acclimating to the change as hoped. Since she had some time to pass before actually making it to the bridge, she felt it would be best to get the day off to a proper start and have a bite to eat.

She was instantly noticed by a server as she took a seat at one of the tables closest to the entrance to the lounge. “I’ll have a plate of Natto rice with dried nori, a bowl of miso soup, grilled salmon, and some steamed broccoli,” she said to the woman who noted her order.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Coffee, please. Black.” Aki responded.

The server parted ways to a replicator station behind the bar and returned a couple of minutes later with the meal Aki had requested. To some, Aki’s choice of cuisine so early in the morning might seem a bit odd, but Aki grew up on meals such as that every day growing up. Most Japanese families did. As she had nothing else to do to pass the time while eating, she ate her food in silence and then headed off to the bridge.

[ Bridge ]

On the bridge itself, Q’orvha sat in the Captain’s chair and was filing her final reports as the new commander of the so-called “graveyard” Delta shift which would soon come to an end. She had the hood of her robes down off her head for once, as the dimmed ambient lighting of the bridge, set automatically by the computer to maintain some semblance of a natural circadian rhythm onboard the vessel, was more manageable for her weakened eyes.

The previous watch commander, Lieutenant Whitmore, was nearby at the Master Situation table, ready to answer any questions or concerns the Klingon may have had about the shift and its crew, though Q’orvha had only had to call upon them once so far: to clear up a pronunciation error concerning a junior CONN officer’s name which even the Universal Translator had difficulties with.

The former Bird of Prey captain had always preferred strict discipline while on duty, at least at first, but it appeared she was going to start having to issue out such informalities as call signs and nicknames quite a bit early…if only to prevent the Universal Translator from blowing out its isolinear chips every time she had given orders to the Helm.

[ Engineering ]

Elizabeth had gone in early knowing full well that today could turn out to be a very busy day.

“Ensign,” she said reading over the report from her night watch engineer,  “I don’t know what they taught you in the Academy,  but this is not a proper format for a shift report.”

“Sorry Lieutenant,  I was in a rush.  We had issues with the starboard lateral sensor array,  and we were working to the very end to get it repaired before you guys came on duty.”

Elizabeth glanced over the report and nodded.  “I will need this completed so I can give my readiness report to the XO, by… well now. We are expected to be at Caldos at 07:00.  If there’s an issue with the ship I want to know about it, and the captain and XO NEED to know about it. You have fifteen minutes to complete this report correctly.

“Yes ma’am, ” the Ensign replied and rushed off to find a quiet place in engineering to redo his report.

Elizabeth just simply smirked and sat down at the diagnostic table with her coffee and took a long sip.  She had already investigated last night’s issues and even ran a diagnostic to follow up. Her report was already sitting in the XO’s inbox CC’d to the captain, but, the report was unacceptable. Standards needed to be met and consistency expected, otherwise, she wasn’t an effective leader.

[ Science Lab ]

Calum had awoken earlier than most mornings already in the labs. It was funny to see the graveyard shift throwing him sideways glances. He smiled and lifted his cup of steaming coffee making his way back to his desk where he had been prepping the information for the task ahead. He had already had the department working double-time to make sure all the equipment was prepped and ready. He had reports of broken equipment and supplies strewn about his desk. He sighed and rubbed his temples. He had told the department he liked things neat and orderly and this was far from it.

He made a note that he would send a message out to the department regarding the issue and called in the acting assistant “Report on the equipment I requested be fixed.”

The assistant shifted their feet “We’re slightly behind on that Commander.”

Calum sighed “Please make haste to complete it we need that equipment very soon. I would help, but I have to try and decipher this mess on my desk.”

He had already forwarded his recommendations for his department to the XO, but this added mess was another issue. The crew was good, but they needed to be neater and tighten up on the discipline of the department.

[ Bridge ]

Aki stepped off the turbolift into the dimly lit bridge and scanned her surroundings to get a sense of the atmosphere from the shift. She noted Q’orvha sitting in the big chair, but before making her presence known she opted to check in first with Whitmore whom she spotted at the situation table.

“How did the night go?”

Looking up from his work, not expecting anyone so soon before shift change, he acknowledged the Commander’s presence and replied, “She’s a little rough around the edges, but that’s due to being Klingon. I’m sure Delta will adjust in time.”

“Excellent. I appreciate you making the change to accommodate her request.”

“No problem Sir.”

Finishing with Whitmore, Aki finally made her way around to the command chair to the seated Klingon. “Good morning. Anything to report?” she asked.

Q’orvha stood up from her PADD and raised her hood back over her head and down to her eyes, anticipating the increase in ambient light to soon come. “All quiet, aside from a few small technical issues remaining from our refit. I believe Lieutenant Kyle is already down in Engineering, handling them.” She stated, moving aside to offer the chair to the First Officer. “There have also been a few initial reports of some missing equipment from various departments throughout the ship, most likely just a tie-up in the distribution of supplies from Cargo. I’ve had the Quartermaster investigate.

“We remain at high cruising speed and on approach to the Caldos System, arriving soon in swift order.”

The Klingon moved to the port side of the bridge and the small replicator stationed there. “Raktajino, double concentration,  black and iced.” She ordered, before retrieving the beverage which materialized in a tall metal drinking cylinder. “There will be a full watch report available for you in a moment. Just waiting on a few…stragglers, to report in from around the vessel.”

With the drink in hand, she took a few sips, allowing the cold and bitter liquid to sharpen her awareness once more. The Klingon then made her way to the Mission Operations console and relieved the junior bridge officer posted there, ready to return to her primary role on the Aquarius as the Chief Strategic Operations Officer.

[ Armory]

Zane had chosen to be an early bird this morning. After the briefing with his department and the Strategic Department with Commander Q’orvha, he decided to go over some final checks with the ship’s inventory, including on equipment that Security is responsible for and he had found some discrepancies. But over the few extra hours he put in, he found that most were simple logistic issues from Devron Fleet Yards. Either a simple mistake of a miscount or someone misunderstood the orders and did not deliver the full shipment…but there were other possibilities.

Nevertheless, he took this opportunity to put Ensign Utsall to work by making her count every single piece of equipment and make note of how much she counted in her head, no writing utensil, no padd, nothing. While she did that, he operated the center station alongside the overnight crewmember, going over other data and reports. The thing he got used to doing as the Assistant over on the Ajax was going over any security issues that happened overnight. Unfortunately, there were a few issues of security codes not working and the overnight team has already resolved that issue, so he just acknowledged that he viewed it and filed the reports away. They weren’t serious so they weren’t needed to be pushed up the chain.

“Lieutenant.”

Zane frowned as he recognized that voice. She couldn’t be done. He looked up and yup, it was Ensign Utsall. “Yes, Ensign?”

“I am finished. We have…” She went on to list every item in alphabetical order and gave the number of each one that they have in inventory. “So we may be missing a few pistols, rifles, and tricorders but there are only maybe one or two suits and other equipment that we are missing.”

Zane raised his brows and noticed the overnighter had an ‘impressed’ look on their face. Zane cleared his throat and asked, “How did you get this done so quickly?”

She smiled, “Come on, Lieutenant. I am a warrior. I have an eye for these things.”

Zane took a deep breath. “First thing, Ensign. You’re a Starfleet officer in Starfleet, not an officer in the Klingon Defense Force. Second, I need you to do a recount and make sure those numbers are accurate.”

She cleared her throat, “I already have, sir. I mean. No disrespect, but I wouldn’t have been confident in my report if I had not recounted myself.”

Zane nodded his head, “Well for my sake, please recount.”

She took in a deep breath and he could see that she was resisting the urge to talk back, or lunge at him, whichever was more likely to happen. “Yes, sir.” And off she went.

Zane looked at the overnighter and then shrugged his right shoulder. “What? She wants to be Assistant Chief, she going to have to go through hell first before I give it to her. I prefer someone earned the posting than just have it handed away.” Zane didn’t know why he was explaining it to a crewmember but he just shook his head and checked the clock. “Your relief should be here in about ten minutes. I’m off to the Bridge.” With that, he logged himself out of the terminal and left the room.

[ Sickbay ]

In the ship’s medical bay things were hectic. That was the only word Elisha could come up with to adequately describe what was going on around him. He’d made sure everything was properly lined out for their arrival, but even with everything planned correctly the effect of coming up on an emergency always sent medical personnel into overdrive. He watched as various people moved quickly, and efficiently through the sickbay and its surrounding areas, getting supplies, and getting ready. He was only taking a small team with him right off the bat, to gauge the necessity for more, and those chosen for that part of the mission were already fully ready to go, and waiting in the appropriate transporter room.

[ Bridge ]

Ensign Sato walked just arrived on the bridge relieving the night helmsman, just as Captain Derohl entered the bridge and looked around that officers were switching over from the delta shift to alpha shift. “Status report?” Tajir asked looking at his first officer while making his way to the center chair and taking a seat while caring a padd in one hand and a coffee mug in the other hand, he took a sip.

Aki filled her captain in on all the details relayed to her by Q’orvha while also advising of Whitmore’s remarks.

He nodded, “very good.” Tajir replied as he sat there knowing they would arrive shortly, just as he was going to speak up the ship dropped out of warp.

“Sir we have arrived,” Sato looked back at the Captain.

“Place us in standard orbit,” Tajir ordered.

“Aye sir,” Sato replied tapping a few buttons and the ship went into standard orbit above the planet.

Standing up and looking over at the Ensign manning the Ops station, “Open a shipwide channel.” Tajir ordered as the Ensign nodded as he pressed a button and gave him a nod that it was on. “Lieutenant Macomb, Commander Hyden, and Lieutenant Kyle please report to transporter room one with your teams,” Tajir ordered and turned back to the Ensign to end the channel. Looking over at Commander Makoto as well as Lieutenant Bates, “you’re with me as well.” He ordered before finally turning to Commander Q’orvha, “you have the bridge.” Tajir ordered before he walked towards the turbolift with the two officers that were on the bridge with him.

Zane turned his head when he heard his name, only to return to looking at his console and logged himself out before signaling a relief to take his place, only to be right behind the Captain when they had entered the turbolift. As the lift moved to the destination chosen by the Captain, Zane pressed his badge. “Ensign Utsall, make sure all teams have their standard-issue away team gear. You got five minutes.”

[ Sickbay ]

“You heard the man,” Elisha called out, his voice filling the quiet lull in conversation that had come with the bosun’s note announcing a shipwide broadcast was coming. “Alpha team, get your gear and get to the transporter room. Those of you on standby, be close by and ready to beam down if I call for you. I imagine there’s going to be lots of wounded people down there counting on us, I’d like us to exceed the Captain’s expectations, not just meet them.”

[ Science Lab ]

Hyden sprung up from his seat looking at the lab he saw the two who had been picked for the team just waiting on him. He nodded and looked over the supply list “Excellent it looks like we have everything we need! Let’s not keep the Captain waiting shall we.” He said as he led the team out of the labs

Transporter Room One

Well within the five minutes Elisha and the four-person team he’d assembled to ascertain the extent of the medical help they were going to need, as well as the supplies to get triage started, were all gathered to one side in the transporter room waiting for the captain. He was going over the data on the padd in his hand once again, making sure he hadn’t forgotten anything that would be vital. Finally, he was sufficiently sure he’d done all he could to be prepared and shut the padd down, and clasped it, and his hands, behind his back to wait, giving the female doctor beside him a reassuring smile.

“We’ve got this, don’t be nervous,” he said in a soft voice that wouldn’t carry, and she gave him a thankful smile back.

Elizabeth entered the transporter room with a backpack full of equipment and two junior engineers flanking her on either side. “Sorry, I’m late.  Just a last-minute hiccup.  All good now.”

Hyden and his group entered carrying all the required equipment slightly out of breath “Here…I think that equipment has some weight to it.” He said with a chuckle and he gathered with the group waiting to transport

After arriving at the transporter room and everyone was accounted for, “alright we are to evaluate the situation and find out exactly what is going on and what we will need.” Tajir replied as they all stepped onto the transporter room padd six at a time and began to beam down to the planet below once they received the coordinates.