“Good Evening everyone, If you missed the theatrics a few minutes ago let me introduce myself. Commander Kr’Antren, Captain of the Dragon formerly of the USS Osiris. My Executive Officer is Lieutenant Commander Aryanna Rigras.” he nodded to her sitting beside him. “Believe me when I say when she speaks she speaks for both of us.” He looked around the table. “Ok, now that part is out of the way, let’s get down to business.”

“As some of you have heard through the grapevine already, I can confirm that we have been assigned to Task Force forty-seven and we do have our first mission assignment. More on that later.”

Aryanna typed something on her PADD and a holographic version of the USS Dragon began to slowly spin in the middle of the table. 

“Seeing as we found out when we walked on board what ship we were taking command of and not having a chance to read through all of the reports, let’s hit the highlights. We do know that this ship is brand new from the yards so we expect some glitches and gremlins will need to be worked out of the system. The main thing is where do we stand on being fully mission ready? Not looking at personnel needs as we can pick the rest up from Deep Space forty-seven. ” she looked at Kr’antren, who nodded in the affirmative. 

“So let’s go to the high points folks, don’t need to hear about the small stuff unless it’s  something that will become a big issue if we don’t get it taken care of now.”Looking around the table once again. “Lieutenant Zaishi, We’ll start with you and Engineering. If the engines don’t work then we can’t go anywhere.”

“Ma’am, sir. As you can expect we have spent the last week, since my arrival, getting everything set up and running the way it should be, not the way that those yardbirds left it. ” she gave Aryanna a quick smile.”According to the logs they supposedly have worked out most of the glitches, reported by other ships of the Inquiry class, however as we know new ships always have their set gremlins to work out of the systems. We have run diagnostics on the two fusion generators that power the impulse engines and everything looks good so far. That being said, having spent some time in the yards myself along with a few of my department heads, we think that we could take some of what we learned from the retrofits and upgrades that we have taken part in and possibly modify a few things that would give us a better power allocation and quicker system response times. We plan on firing up the warp core four hours before departure, which should give us enough time to run basic diagnostics on the system before actual departure. Other than that most of the systems that we have run diagnostics on since coming aboard are reporting green across the board.” 

Kr’antren nodded as did Aryanna. “ Thank you chief, please stay after the meeting as the Captain and I have a few things we would like to discuss with you.”

Lieutenant Zaishi nodded “Yes, Ma’am.”

Aryanna looked down at her console. “Hmmm, let’s see here. Operations, guess you would be next. As many of the departments wouldn’t have much going on while docked.”

The masked Zaranite in a long gold-colored tunic turned to face the Captain and Executive Officer, “ We are currently still bringing on supplies for both the ship and some that are destined for Deep Space forty-Seven.” The voice that came through the mask is rather nasally and muffled. “I believe our communications section, along with engineering and science, is currently working with Lieutenant Scamandrius on integrating our communications and sensors with the newly attached mission pod. According to the reports from Starfleet engineering and Starfleet intelligence, the mission POD will enhance our communication and sensor systems. I do have one issue, ma’am, sir.  I am not sure if you are aware but this squadron that has been assigned has given us a dilemma, We will need to make some decisions on our shuttles as it looks like they are bringing two Arrow class Runabouts on board that will not fit in the forward shuttle bay that has been allocated to them. To make room for the two additional runabouts we will have to lose several of our shuttles which, according to the numbers I read when hearing about this change, could affect our overall mission.”

Kr’antren looked up at hearing this part.” Better or Worse,” He looked down at his PADD. “ Ahhh yes, Lieutenant Khoiba. Do your numbers show if the mission would be affected for the better or the worse?”

The Lieutenant takes in a deep breath as he looks at his PADD. “The numbers only show a possibility of either or, sir.”

Kr’antren nodded. “Hmmm, meet with the XO and I at 1600 hours in my ready room, so we can go through the possible various shuttles that we do have room for and we can determine the best possible need for the ship.”

Aryanna looked over at the Captain with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Zaranites are known for their belief in numerology.” he shrugged his shoulders. “ Can’t hurt to discuss it with him.” 

“Yes sir. According to the quartermaster, we should have all supplies onboard in the next twelve hours, which was just sent to me.”

Both Aryanna and Kr’Antren notate this on their PADDS and nod in reply.

“That is all I have for now.”

The door to the briefing room opened as an older human wearing a black flight suit with red shoulder pads and trim entered the room, Pulling an unlit pipe from the side of his mouth.”I hope I’m not too late.” As he made his way toward the two red tunic’d officers at one end of the table.

Both Aryanna and Kr’Antren stood as the Lieutenant Commander approached them. ”Lieutenant Commander Thornton, I presume. Commander Kr’Antren and this is my Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander Aryanna Rigras.”

“Sir, Ma’am. The 612th Mission Support Squadron requests permission to come aboard.”

“You have it, Lieutenant Commander, We thought you had already started the load up of your ships, crews, and supplies.”

“Not yet, We felt it right to wait for the command team to be assigned before actually starting the load-up process.”

Kr’Antren and Aryanna returned to their seats. “Please have a seat Commander, you’re part of the command staff as far as we are concerned.”

“If you don’t mind Captain, I’ll stay standing. Spent the last eight hours in a holosuite running an interdiction mission. Had to change up our training plan after getting confirmation of our Region of operations.”

“That will work commander, would you like to fill us in on what you need to get your ships and people on board or anything else we could help you with.”

He pointed at the floating ship with his pipe.”Well, to start with, it would help if we could angle the front of the ship a bit more toward the center of the docking area. Make it a bit easier to conduct landing operations.”

Kr’Antren looked over at Lieutenant Dromi. “I’ll put the request in right now Captain.”

Commander Thornton walked up to the table, to one of the empty table spots, and typed something into the console there. “Sir, on the Inquiry class ships the forward shuttle bay can be used for a squadron of fighters, typically Valkyrie class, the Fallen Angels are a somewhat new style of squadron once created to help support the overall mission.” Three schematics appear in place of the Dragon on the table. ”The 612th comprises three ship classes, all of the crews have been checked out and certified to operate all three classes as the mission dictates. As your Operations chief already informed you, two of those ships are Arrow class runabouts.” the Arrow class runabout stands out from the other two. In addition to those two runabouts, we have ten Peregrine class fighters and six Apsara class bombers.”

Skagath and Aryanna both let out whistles upon hearing this.

“The Peregrines have been updated. Not sure if anyone has noticed but the forward hangar bay on the Dragon is a bit bigger than the normal Inquiry-sized forward shuttle bay, they took a bit from the two promenades from what I understand. To create the room we would need.

Lieutenant Zaishi quickly started typing on her console and then let out a grumble. “How come no one noticed this before?” the grumbling continued. “Hmmmm the forward shuttle bay doors are the same size but the Commander is correct it looks like they did some internal rearranging of the spaces.”

Commander Thornton returns the holo to the Dragon. “Sir, We can start loading the ships as soon as you give the al-clear, we could probably fly the Arrows in now as I don’t think the current docking position would affect us. The forward area is to make sure we can fly them nice and neat without having to interrupt all of the other traffic around us too much.”

“Very well Commander, once we have permission to move the ship as you requested and we have done so, you can begin bringing your ships onboard. You can bring the Arrows onboard as soon as you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

Kr’Antren nodded.

Aryanna looked at her console, “Lieutenant Scamandrius?”

He stood and made his way to the other end of the table and to the console that the Commander had just used. ”Ma’am, Sir. Lieutenant Scamandrius, Chief Intelligence Officer. As the chief has already discussed a prototype mission pod has been added over the port side mission bay door. You will be happy to find out that the mission bay door is still operable as the mission pod is a ring in shape. However, the bay on the other side has had some additions made to it. The intelligence department has been placed in this area, along with a drone and probe launch system and a support department. I believe Lieutenant Dromi would like to know that an astrometric lab has also been added. The rest of the space is still configured as a mission bay.”

Kr’Antren reached for his Coffee cup, taking several sips as he listened to the Lieutenant. “Lieutenant, what are the specifics of the mission pod?”

“Sir, the mission pod is a prototype being developed specifically for the Inquiry class. It has been designed to not lose the use of the mission bay door and the capabilities that it brings. The pod is a combination of enhanced sensors, communications, ECM, and intelligence gathering pod. Specifically, it will enhance the sensitivity and range of the communication systems and sensor systems allowing us to look and listen farther out.”

<<” No doubt giving the spooks in their lab eyes and ears that they may not normally be able to get access to. Would be interesting to find out just how enhanced, would it not?”

“Indeed it would, and I have a feeling look at Kr’Antren’s body language he is thinking the same thing right now.”>>

Kr’Antren’s ears began to twitch as he thought about what the new lieutenant was telling him, as he continued to sip from his coffee cup. He leaned towards Aryanna and motioned for her to do the same. “Well, I have a feeling I know where we will be operating in the Expanse and beyond. Adding that pod and the Lieutenant and his team gave me the clues.” He whispered

“Hmmm, the Breen borders and beyond.”She whispered 

He nodded in reply. “Along with some known trouble spots in that area.”

<<(chuckles)” Breen, pirates and the unknown beyond Ultima Thule, This is going to be interesting.”

“Never said it wasn’t going to be”>>

Kr’Antren leaned forward in his chair resting his elbows on the table holding his coffee cup with both hands. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“I believe that is all, captain.” Aryanna looked down at her console checking to see if she missed anyone.

“Very well, everyone get with your teams and figure out if your department is at full strength, if not send a message to my Yeoman, Chief Thorn, with the details. If we can’t get them here we will send a message ahead to Deep space forty -seven. I am tentatively setting departure for forty-eight hours after the Commander’s ships and crew are onboard. Plan accordingly.

I need Lieutenant Zaishi, Doc, and Commander Rigras to stay behind for a few minutes. We will hold a pre-departure briefing six hours before departure, the rest of you are dismissed.”