Revisiting the Past

Posted on Sun Feb 25th, 2024 @ 6:04pm by Commander Mashiro Munetani "Shiro" & Captain Akeno Misaki & Lieutenant Commander Raelyn Mckenzie & Lieutenant Commander Mark Johnson & Lieutenant Ileah & Lieutenant Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok & Lieutenant Rania Bhatti & Lieutenant JG Patra Rommel
Edited on on Mon Feb 26th, 2024 @ 6:14am

Mission: Return to Tyra
Location: Conference Room

Captains Log. Its been nearly three weeks since our dealings with the Terran versions of ourselves. I'm glad to report that life has returned to normal aboard the ship. Lieutenant Eclipse has done a fantastic job of caring and tutoring her mirror self, whom we now call 'Eclipse' in our ways. It seems she was left behind by the Terrans as she wasn't deemed worthy of saving. I look forward to our newest crewmembers developments.

On other news, it will be my birthday this coming Wednesday. I have not told the crew, mainly because I don't celebrate my birthday. It only reminds me that I'm getting older, and reminds me that I no longer have any family to celebrate it with. I just hope that no one on the crew finds out.

Regardless of my personal feelings, we have received new orders. I have called a Staff briefing for 09:00 this morning to go over them with the department heads.

[Conference Room]

Akeno sat at the head of the table, sipping a cup of stronge coffee as she flicked through the PADD she had in her hand. She was waiting for the senior staff to arrive.

The first to arrive in the meeting room was doctor Johnson. Mark stepped in and, noticing the empty room, double checked the time of the convocation within his data PaDD.

"good morning Captain" he saluted and smiled joining her at the meeting table and getting comfortable at his usual seat waiting for the rest of the colleagues to join them.

Lieutenant j.g. Patra Rommel was exhausted. She was returning back to the USS Wayfarer post another long and involved assignment with both Starfleet Intelligence and the Federation Marines. She was looking forward to getting to her quarters and getting some sleep when her PaDD chirped notifying her there was a meeting. No rest for the wicked she sighed. She made her way to the conference room, might as well surprise everyone and let them know I am back.
She entered the conference rom to find the captain and the good doctor already there. She smiled “Tada! I’m back, just like a bad penny.” She quickly found a place to sit.

Akeno smiled. "Welcome back Patra," she greeted. "I asked you to come as I think we'll be needing your expertise as a structural engineer."

Patra groaned internally, last time she heard words similar to that she got whisked away to a very secretive mission. She smile at the captain as she fished for her ever present Cherry bubblegum. “Thank you captain, pleasure to be back. I heard you all had an interesting time of things while I was away.” Finding her gum she slide a stick into her mouth.

Out of everyone here on the Wayfarer, Commander Munetani seemed the most unsettled with the latest developments regarding the Terran Empire. Even after they'd fully handed their report over to Starfleet Command, she had taken Akeno aside and expressed her concern that, after everything they had been through to better themselves, it seemed as if the Terrans were slipping back on their old, barbaric ways. It was, admittedly, disheartening to feel that they had learned next to nothing from Kirk's revolutionary ideas, that they were on a course to repeat the same mistakes that had gotten them enslaved by the mirror Klingons and Cardassians in the first place; but at the end of the day, they were a society in their own right, and the Prime Directive decreed that it was not Starfleet's place to meddle in their destiny, no matter how disreputable it might become. Mashiro, of course, was hard-pressed to argue with that fact, but that didn't mean it bothered her any less.

And that fact was perhaps all too evident as she entered the conference room. Though by most other appearances, she was attempting to carry on as usual, one look in her eyes betrayed how she really felt on the matter.

"Captain; Doctor," She greeted curtly as she drew up a chair. "Lieutenant Rommel, good to see you back; I take it that your temporary reassignment went alright?"

Patra blew a bubble with her gum, then pulled it back in and snapped the bubble, she smiled at the commander, knowing full well it would get on the commanders' nerves. "Oh, it went just 'peachy', always does when the Admiralty, Starfleet Intelligence, such an oxymoron, and the Jarheads get together for 'special projects'. Wish they would forget my personnel file though." She again smiled, knowing this would goad the prime and proper commander, which she loved to do.

"Glad to see you back onboard, lieutenant" Mark echoed the Captain towards Patra. "Commander" the doctor slightly bowed his head as the XO entered the room acknowledging her arrival.

Patra's smile seemed to absolutely glow towards the doctor. "Always a pleasure to see you doc. Look no holes or burns for you to fix right now." she said with a mischievous smile.

The doctor couldn't help but laugh at Patra's comment.

Ileah came in through the doors, a minor matter with the record and information from the encounters. She gracefully strode across the open space in her skirted uniform; wished that the hem was longer and the Captain did not favor this uniform; thus, having Ileah follow suit in sporting it.

Nodding to the group she stood behind and over the Captain's right shoulder . The proper place for a Captain's Yeoman with PADD in hand.

Not six seconds later Spectre materialized near the door.

"Good Day everyone, and Captain you are looking well." He bow slightly. "Good to see you all, I would have been here sooner but Intel has been quite chatty of late when it comes to data..." He grinned. "You know how Analysts love data?"

He crossed to the chair opposite the Captain.

"Hallow Ileah." He greet.

"SPoo..." She corrected herself. "Lieutenant Spectre." She reply

"So formal as always." He joked but let it go.

The doctor silently smiled at the fun exchange between the two, sitting still awaiting for news.

After making sure Eclipse was set with some basic learning modules, Luna headed for the Conference Room.

"Captain, Doctor...ROMMEL!!!" A rare non-Klingong yelp escaped Luna's lips at the sight of the Lt.!

"I would ask of your mission, but I know it was probably top secret," Luna smiled.

Patra smiled at Luna, “Yep another of those ’I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you’ missions that Starfleet Admiralty loves to give you when they ask for you personally.” she teased. Again knowing it would get under Commander Munetani's skin. She so loved teasing the uptight commander.

Luna chuckled softly, then looked to the Captain.

"What's up, Captain?" Luna asked curiously.

"I'm fine," Akeno said giving her a small smile before hiding her face with a sip of coffee.

"Umhm," Luna hummed softly, not convinced.

A few moments later Raelyn entered the conference room with a stack of PADDs in one hand and a mug containing iced Raktajino in her other hand. She simply nodded to the others before taking the next available seat. She set down her reports and her drink in front of her on the table before taking a sip of the Klingon coffee before setting it down again.

Once everyone had gathered, Akeno cleared her throat. "We've recieved new orders from Starfleet Command, and they're not nice ones I'm afraid." she said to them all as she looked around at their individual faces.

"We are going to the Tyra system." She stated bluntly.

All at once, the room was in a nervous clamor.

"That Tyra?"

"The site of one of the single-bloodiest conflicts in the entire Dominion War?"

"A place that even Charles Star isn't willing to set foot in?"

Patra sat back and bit her lower lip. She knew about the USS Wayfarer’s mission already. She had already been briefed prior to returning to the ship. Starfleet Admiralty wanted her to find a few specific items and retrieve them if possible; the original program matrix for the Kagen hologram and three missing experimental warp fighters. Patra tapped on her PaDD. This would be no small task, ninety-eight ships destroyed or damaged beyond repair. She had seen the debris field already from a Starfleet Intelligence briefing, which had confirmed the existence of the Kagan hologram. It was considered a high value recovery.

Raelyn sat in silence hearing about Tyra. Many had fought there. But she hadn't. The Sovereign was a capital ship and the lead ship of her class. The only other ship in that class was the Enterprise. She had experienced engagements with the Dominion, but they were scarce. Those here who had fought at Tyra knew what to expect. Besides hearing about the battles results, Raelyn didn't. Part of her felt guilty she wasn't at the battle. Her job was to defend and fight. At the same time, she was slightly grateful that not being at Tyra had given her a better chance of surviving the war. If she was present during the battle, her chances of survival would have been much lower. She decided to not think about it anymore for now. Right now she needed to focus on the meeting and any orders she was given.

Mark listened carefully to Akeno's words. He studied the other officers' facial mimics trying to understand what their thoughts were.

The captain held up a hand to bring everyone back to being quiet. "Yes, the same Tyra system where Starfleet lost ninety eight starships at the hands of the Dominion..." she paused. "Out of a fleet of one hundred twelve."

There was a brief silence throughout the room. "With the scars of the war still open, and only held together by weak stitches it has been almost impossible for Starfleet to return to the system. We are tasked with post-battle cleanup. We will be salvaging any technology that may fall into the wrong hands from the wrecks, as well as retrieving as many of our..." Akeno looked away from them all, looking down to the floor by her side. It was obvious that this was not something she wanted to do. Finally she looked up, trying not to burst out into tears. "...fallen brothers and sisters. Starfleet does not believe there will be survivors, so we are to take any bodies... or parts... back to Starfleet to be identified and laid to rest."

Mashiro, for her part, had remained quiet following Akeno's initial announcement. While she was putting on a brave face for her crew, it was evident that she, much like Akeno, was struggling to keep it together. While she had not been effected directly by the conflict, she knew a small handful of crewmates who had lost someone they knew, someone they loved, or- perhaps worst of all- several people that they loved. But perhaps out of all of those, none stood out to her more than Lieutenant Richard Sullivan, a former Assistant Chief of Security aboard the Galen; he had lost all five of his sons in the battle, and so distraught was he at the news that he took his own life in his quarters. Mashiro was the one who made the unfortunate discovery, after Sullivan had failed to show up for his appointed shift. She hadn't shed any tears for him- she was close enough to know him, but not close enough to consider him a friend- but his death had weighed on her for quite some time.

Patra sighed and looked about the table, “I am not sure how many of you have every been on a full blown recovery mission of destroyed starships or even a starship damaged beyond repair and recovery. I have had that unfortunate duty, on board the USS Sydney, it will be extremely hazardous and quite frankly extremely emotional. Not to step on any toes but I highly recommend working in pairs at minimum, there is a very strong possibility of tearing into any eva suits, even the armored ones. Second I highly recommend that all transporter technicians and stations be on full alert status for immediate beaming back to the Wayfarer. Finally only the most experienced pilots should be manning any shuttles or work pods.”

"I agree with Lieutenant Rommel," Akeno said. She tapped a few of the controls to bring up a detailed map of the system. "Our first order of business is to do a sweep of the battlefield. Chart the locations of the wrecks and identify which wreck was which ship." She explained. "Then we will find a safe area to 'park' and use transporters and shuttlecraft to salvage technology and crew remains."

She tapped again on the controls. "Starfleet have sent me this list. If we find any functional weapons, torpedoes, phaser arrays; that sort of thing we are to disarm them and salvage them . If that's not possible we are to destroy them." She paused for a brief moment. "We are also to salvage any computer storage drives we find. Many of them may contain information regarding the battle which can be analysed. Starfleet Intelligence will be handling that data," she cast a look over at Spooky.

"Finally, the remains of any crew. We are to store them and take them back to the nearest starbase so they can be taken back to their families to be buried or disposed of within their cultural beliefs." Akeno told them all.

Firstly she turned her attention to the Romulan science officer. "We're going to need all of our sensor pallets at full capacity. I'll need you monitoring the battlefield from the science station. You will be acting as the co-ordinator for the salvage shuttles," Akeno said.

"Luna. I want you to put your best pilots on the salvage shuttles. Once you've 'parked' the Wayfarer, you're the vest pilot we have on board. I want you out there with the Alpha Team." Akeno told her.

"A...CREAK aye, Captain," Luna had to pry her fingers from the table, hunching her shoulders a little bit at her trashing yet ANOTHER table due to her emotions getting away from her.

[Note to self, see the Counsellor after this for some anger managment tips] Luna thought.

"You know I can park this baby on a dime, Captain! Plus, I'm always up for a challenge," Luna tried to lighten the mood as she subtly picked pieces of table out from under her nails.

"Patra, Enrique. Also join Alpha Team. You'll both be out there too on the salvage team. You'll know how to get the technology we need. Have your best engineers on the job. You should also clear some of our cargo bays for storage." Sge said to both of them.

As the captain was speaking and discussing how she wanted to approach the situation her PaDD pinged her. A Sigma Delta message appeared on her PaDD:
Updated data from Sigma Alpha: Target Kappa is on USS Atlantic, currently in a decaying orbit over Tyra II. Target Kappa considered highest priority for recovery.

Next Akeno turned to the doctor and counsellor. "Unfortunately doctor. You and your staff have the horrible job of identifying and storing any remains we come across. I suggest you use the lower cargo bay and storage areas as cold storage." She said. "Counsellor, this is going to ve very emotional for us all. I need you to monitor the crews mental health, have your door opened as this will be hard on many of us."

Mark nodded and tapped a few notes on the data PaDD.
"I might ask engineering to help re-design the area to better suit that role" he said recalling the area's plan in order to give a quick look and get a rough idea on how to organize it as the rest of the offcers kept chatting.

Hearing the good doctor speak about needing to redesign the lower cargo and storage areas for cold storage she sent him a message via her PaDD All ready in the works, here are the schematics; the structural and environmental engineers are working on it now. she ended it with a googly smile face. What she did not tell the good doctor is that she had already formatted the area prior to arrival back on board the Wayfarer.

Mark heard the notification on his PaDD going off and checked it out. Reading the comment of the engineer he nodded in satisfaction and smiled back to the engineer thanking for the help. Definitely one less thing to worry about in this messy mission, he thought.

"It will be emotionally taxing for some," she replied with a look of concern for the others though she herself felt more than up to it. "My door is always open as always, but if I'm needed off duty just comm me" stated the Counsellor.

"Lastly." Akeno turned to look at Spooky. "Any data we retrieve is going to need analysing, maybe even reconstructed. We could find anything from ship status reports to personal logs. You'll be handling that information and ensuring it gets passed onto Starfleet Intelligence."

Spectre gave an award winning smile before speaking.

"I look forward to the challenge." He reply. "Might I borrow your Yeoman as usual?" A sheepish grin. "I am ... claustrophobic. She us the only one aside from yourself Captain with clearances to do that job."

Akeno nodded.

"Commander Mashiro will be leading the salvage teams. She will co-ordinate efforts with me on the Wayfarer. Any questions?" Akeno asked as she looked around the table.

Raelyn looked at Akeno. "What would you like from security and tactical for this mission Captain?" The Chief of Security inquired.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Akeno said. "It think it would be best that you work with Engineering and Operations to disarm and evaluate any weapons technology we come across."

"Aye Captain" she nodded in response before entering a note into one of the PADDs to discuss her department's orders with them. While doing so, she had a muse. "Are there any derelict Dominion vessels ma'am?"

"From what we know yes, but we haven't been told to touch them." Akeno replied.

"Understood Captain" Raelyn nodded.

Again Patra bit her lower lip, how was she supposed to pull this off without telling the captain or other crew. She hated morale dilemmas and therefore made up her mind, she would inform only the captain of her mission, and allow her to decide how to act on the information. With a heavy sigh she spoke up, “Captain post this meeting may we have a private discussion?”

Akeno nodded. "We've got six days before we get there. We have that time to prepare," she said. "And of course Patra, everyone else dismissed."

Luna stood, nodded to the assembled group, and slipped back the Helm, relieving, Skipper, who gave her nails an 'Oh my gosh!' look.

"Sneezing accident," Luna lied, not wanting to scare the youth by putting ideas about Luna's self control into her head.

The doctor stood up, saluted everyone and made his way, with a firm pass, towards the cargo bay to have a look at how the engineering's plan would fit in real life.

Posting by:

Captain Akeno Misaki
Commanding Officer

Commander Mashiro Munetani "Shiro"
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Raelyn Mckenzie
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Commander Mark Johnson
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Ileah
Yeoman

Lieutenant Rania Bhatti
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant JG Patra Rommel
Structural Engineer

Lieutenant JG Enrique Valdes
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Luna Eclipses of the House of Martok
Chief Flight Control Officer