Stardate 77666.7

“Welcome back, Commander.”  Halsey glanced up from the couch in his ready room the PADD in one hand and the coffee in the other.

“It is agreeable to be back.”  Sorek learned a long time ago that Humans felt the need to express such emotional greetings, though it was inevitable he would return to the ship.  

Leopold nodded toward the replicator. “I’ve been working through the latest missions that we could pick up, and there’s a few that are interesting.”  He handed the XO a spare PADD, “There’s one somewhat close to Vulcan if that interests you.”

“It is not a matter of what interests me, Captain, but where we are needed most.”

A moment passed as they read through the PADD files before Halsey asked, “How are you doing, Sorek?  After the events of the last mission.”

Sorek raised an eyebrow at the question.  “I am well, sir.  Is there something that concerns you?”

Leopold considered the question he had asked.  “I suppose it’s more a question of whether you have processed the events that you experienced?”  He took a pull from his coffee.

“I have indeed, sir,” said Sorek. “I stepped outside the box and blew off steam.”

It was Halsey’s turn to raise an eyebrow, “What did that look like for you?”

“It was a lesson I needed to learn to ensure I live life to its fullest,” said Sorek.

He was curious, as anyone would be, as to how a full Vulcan would blow off steam and learn to live life to the fullest, but he decided not to press his executive officer for the moment.  “Well, I’d…”

=^=Captain Halsey to the bridge!=^=

He stood from the couch, “Well, let’s go find out what this is all about.”

They walked onto the bridge, and he turned to the communications chief, who had his earpiece to his ear as he spoke. “Sir, we’re getting a distress call from Ghulion IV.  They report they are under attack from Romulans and are requesting immediate assistance.  It is a general distress call.”

Halsey walked over to the station, “Location?”

Ensign Jackson tapped at his console. “It is in the Ghulion system located within the Vayt sector.  Records show it is a Federation Protectorate – just about a year ago.”  Another tap, “A small Federation Colony made landfall last year and established itself.  The last reported number of colonists was upwards of 5,000, but that’s a few months out of date.”

‘Yellow alert,” said Sorek. From his station, he sent a priority one message to all departments to begin preparing for emergency disaster relief.

He turned to the helm. “Plot us an intercept course to Ghulion IV.” He turned back to the communications chief, “Get Starfleet on the line.  If they’re under fire, we’re not going to do much good without someone there to clear the way.”   Wellington tapped quickly as he balanced the distress call and the call to Starfleet.

Sorek thought about the new situation. This was looking like it was going to be a true medical mission, just what the Mercy was designed to do.

Ensign Jackson saw a message blink red on his screen, “Captain, I have Starfleet Operations on a secure and priority channel.”

An Admiral stood in an operations center somewhere, either on Earth or Starbase 1, and was working on a PADD as he looked up to his own view screen.  There was plenty of movement around and behind him from officers at consoles and operations stations.  =^=USS Mercy, we’re aware of the distress call from Ghulion IV.  She’s also known as Coppelius.  We’ve dispatched a task force to deal with the attack ships- we’re not quite sure which set of the Romulans we’re dealing with here, so tread softly until you get the all-clear from our task group.  We’re sending you everything we have on the planet and the system.  Projections have you arriving there in six or so hours at emergency speeds of warp 9.6.  Your use of emergency warp speeds is hereby authorized.  As the situation develops, we’ll update you as we can.  Get to Ghulion IV.  Get an understanding of what they need and begin support operations immediately.  They are a protectorate…and we’re damn sure going to hold up on our end of the deal.  Starfleet out.=^=

Halsey felt as if things were now going to move very quickly, “Helm, push us to emergency warp speeds and engage.”  The USS Mercy surged toward the stars and was soon flying through space.  Leopold turned to Sorek, “Commander, let’s the Mercy ready for whatever’s coming.  Where do you want to start?”

“I’ve notified the departments to begin emergency preparations,” said Sorek. “We’ll need the intelligence reports for that sector and a senior staff briefing to discuss how we’re going to render aid.”

Halsey handed him a PADD, “Take the data Starfleet sent to us and see what you can find out.  There may be more on the way.  I’m going to get with communications and see what I can find out about the colony – the known and the unknown.  Having a colony that close to Romulan space feels like there’s more to the story.  I’ll arrange for a senior staff briefing at 1100 hours.”

They each went to work on their assignments.