It was already a long day, and there were many reports to fill out and check out. The crisis at Starfleet HRM was not a joke, but Ko managed to get the crew fully staffed on the Tokyo.  She scratched her head while reading the latest report that Towalr had made based on her request with some pressure. “I can barely make head or tails out of this report, but it gives me a general indication of the ship” She mutters to herself as she arrives at the bridge. She exited the lift and walked to the ready room, hoping her senior staff would be waiting there, but the sign that no visible senior staff were present at the bridge gave her some hope. 

Entering the ready room, she gave a soft smile seeing the people she wanted there, being there. “Good afternoon, all. Thank you for your time for this briefing on our mission in the Deneb region.” She went to her chair and sat down as she wanted to continue. Towalr stood up.

“The thanks can be diverted to me, Commander…sorry” he gave that same awkward smile and pointed at her briefly. “Captain” 

She placed her PADD slowly down, looking at Towalr with confusion. “Right…. Let us continue with the briefing, shall we” And looked at the rest of the staff as Towalr awkwardly sat down. Ko pressed a button that made a 3D blue image of a sector showing “Let’s start from the beginning. My name is Commander Yoon-Jung, and I am your new Commanding Officer. I know you all are mourning Captain Jameson who lost his life during the tragedy of Frontier Day. So I have managed to open a chamber on deck 5 dedicated to the people who lost their lives. This room will do if you or your staff need time to process this. Our counselor is open to private talks that are related to this event. Please make use of that.” 

The staff looked surprised at each other as Viamame smiled softly and nodded to Ko in approval. “I think I speak for everyone. Thank you for the kind gesture. We have lost dear people to this awful event. I shall inform my staff about the area” 

Ko nodded at her doctor and continued “Now, Starfleet has its hands full, and we are part of Task Force 86. So we are assigned to where we are most needed, the borders.” The 3D image changed showing the borders north-east of the Deneb region “We are to dock as soon as possible from Starbase 86 to travel to this location. We are tasked to investigate beyond the borders of the Deneb region to where the former Lost Fleet was operating. Starfleet believed that there were dangerous structures left behind that could be used by any pirates that could do serious harm to the colonies” 

A tsk sound came from Ko’s side, an older Trill was leaning on his chair with his arms crossed. “So Starfleet is sending us back into the field without evaluating the dangers. How typical” Sujian was not impressed. “The Tokyo is not armed enough to deal with the unknown. There are too many loose ends that could harm us” 

“Is it not your task to keep us from happening?” Yozria replied with some attitude, “And if it happens, I will keep her together. No worries about that Commander” 

His attention turned to Yozria. “There are only so many things you can repair, but there are only so many people we have to spare. If shits hit the coils, we are screwed, simple as that. Our warp engines get damaged we are stuck in a hostile environment.” 

“Ahum” came from Towalr as he smiled. “It is perfectly reasonable arguments that Commander Deem has provided. Crossing the borders to an area unknown to us and above everything that used to be the playground of the Dominion should be reconsidered by all means” He saw Sujian nodding in firm agreement and Yozria rolling her eyes. 

Yozria wanted to reply to this but felt Viamame hand on her knee and looked at her seeing Viamame shake her head and turning her attention to their new Captain.

Taking a deep breath, “I am not asking your opinions of doing this mission or not Commanders….It is not up for debate. We are doing this mission whether we like it or not. That is the duty of a Starfleet Officer. Follow the given directive mission, whether clean or dirty, safe or dangerous. I am asking for your professional opinions on how to keep our crew safe in this mission that we are doing” Ko looked firmly at both of them for a few seconds. “So, opinions, questions that are valuable to this discussion?” 

“I like her” Yozria whispered in Viamame’s direction who simply nodded in agreement. 

“What are the actual nav points of this mission” Padgok, the Chief Flight Officer stated having a PADD in his hands. 

“We will travel from here to Galadkail and then to Leonis. We make brief contact with Task Force 93 operating vessels helping the colonists there. When then we travel over the borders in the direction of Saxue. Midway we turn south to Lungurn and back to Izar where we meet with Task Force 47 operating vessels.” While she was talking, the 3D map showed the map with a mini Tokyo-sized model flying the course.

Taking notes as Padgok nodded, Tamaz followed up “What are our mission parameters? Do Lieutenant Deem and I have to focus on redirecting power to the engines or…?” 

Ko looked at her Chief Operations Officer. “The energy output should be directed 75% to the engines. The remaining power stays at shielding. When we cross the borders we are to remain at yellow alert silent mode” Ko took a deep breath. “Starfleet has no data on what we can expect there. We are to go in there, map the area of what we find, and report back to Task Force 47 who will spread it throughout the fleet so that the right forces can be assigned to designated areas” 

“That sounds dangerous and plainly reckless” Sujian objected leaning forward. “We have no idea if the Dominion has been straight with us. They might be still lurking in the dark there and then what?!”

“We report it, keep our distance, and get the hell out…seriously brother your spine hanging to dry when you started to hang with Towalr or what?” Yozria shook her head at Sujian. “We follow protocol and as the Captain stated we are here to do our duties so resisting this is not going to work”

“Objection, Captain” Towalr raised his voice looking at Ko. “Lieutenant Deem is insulting both Commander Deem and myself” 

Raising her hand to make them stop “Commander Towalr sit down” Ko requested and looked sternly at Towalr who wanted to continue sitting quietly. “Good, I have to break it to both of you, but Lieutenant Deem is right in the current matter. It was not subtle to say it in such a matter but suck it up sunshine. We are going to a dangerous area to do our mission. I will take no further complaints about this mission before it even has started” She shrugged. “Please make sure to send in your department reports to me, it doesn’t have to be long but a regular report would do fine” She looked at everyone. “Dismissed everyone” She stood up without Towalr able to object and walked out of the ready room.

“Just the Captain we need” Viamame spoke and stood up getting a nod from Yozria leaving the two stunned behind.