View Topic

Vau raised an eyebrow, though no one would see it beneath his helmet. He looked at his HUD's clock, it was taking a surprising amount of time for everyone to get in attendance. He understood that it was the first briefing but you would assume a bit more discipline within the crew of an important vessel.

Bridge USS Frosthold (OVN-0474)

Seeing the senior staff now almost entirely assembled, T'plail cleared her throat to speak. 

"Hello everyone and welcome to your assignment USS Frosthold!  I have been informed—and I'm sure many of you have been as well—that our primary mission is the discovery of the whereabouts of the lost vessel USS Wintreath.  It is very likely that this ship has been destroyed and its crew lost, but our orders are to find whatever remnants may exist of the original ship and crew, and to find out what happened to our first exploratory mission."

She looked around, intrigued by the variety of reactions to her oratory style.

"I have ordered the helm to take us to the last known coordinates of USS Wintreath, and from there we will begin thorough scans of the area, and rely heavily on our stellar cartography department for an accurate picture of what the situation may have looked like when they disappeared.  While we are en route, I expect all personnel to work their hardest to bring all our systems online, and improve those that may be reasonably improved."

She paused again, almost unsure where she should continue.

"Finally, I have been assured by Admiral Kellmark of Fleet Personnel that this is one of the finest crews ever assembled in the history of the fleet.  I look forward to getting to know you both as colleagues and people."

Well, here goes nothing...

"With all that out of the way, anyone feel free to take the floor to give a status update on departments, problems... any pressing moral or philosophical issues that have been gnawing at your minds, and the like."

Malan raised his hand to signal that he was going to speak. He had no interest in being anything more than a specialist for this mission, since he needed to maintain a low profile. However, he could see the logic of appointing an XO, so that's what he wanted to suggest.

"Captain, with a mission as important as this one, I believe it would be wise to have a very clear chain of command. Might I suggest that you appoint 3 officers of decreasing rank below you? This doesn't have to happen right now, but we need direction once we run into trouble."

Vau nodded, finally speaking up. "I agree, a defined chain of command is important in emergencies. I also have some suggestions about the weapon loadout of the ship and at some point would like to get a full rundown of the equipment of security staff. I wanna make sure we are all set in case of an attack, and this ship ain't exactly a Yaim Rusurian military grade vehicle with a real military crew." He said through his helm, occasionally checking his wrist display checking the security cameras. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Though there was an (as far as he was aware) unaccounted for bot walking around, which was unusual, he figured he would bring that up later.

Yllia noted the Rusurian's comments and stood up coming off of the wall, arms still crossed. She looked at him square in the visor with her own steely gaze. "Any and all changes to the ship's systems and equipment should be run by me before you suggest them to the Captain. No offense to the Captain's own technical knowledge, but I trust myself with knowing the ship inside and out a lot more than her. I don't want my team's time wasted on some useless or detrimental change. And we have enough to worry about between propulsion drives and hydroponics to think about upgrading weapons and shielding..."

Vau looked back. "I understand your concern but realize that we may go up against an aggressing force which would most likely be better prepared than we are right now. While you might be the best at understanding the ship, it is still not your call what gets put on the ship. That right would be reserved to the captain, so I shall make the suggestions, and then she can inquire your council on the matters, then make HER decision." He said bluntly. If there was one thing that Vau learned in his time in Yaim Rusurian school, it was loyalty to the commanding officer.

"Perhaps I didn't make things clear enough for you, blaster head," Yllia retorted. "We won't be meeting anyone if I can't get the propulsion drives working properly, and we won't last a week without proper food production! It's all well and good to want to keep us safe from outside threats, but what good are all of those defensive add-ons if we can't even take care of ourselves?"

Vau growled. "Perhaps your team should stick to your propulsion systems then, and let the defense crews work on applying the weapons, if they were hired correctly those that man the systems should be able to install and maintain these weapons and shielding. If the propulsion isn't even working yet then I question why you are even in this meeting seeing as the ship was supposedly already flight worthy and functional!" Vau didn't know if it actually was supposed to be fully operational yet, but Yaim Rusurians are good at confrontation, and this challenge was not going to be taken lightly.

"Perhaps I didn't make things clear enough for you, blaster head," Yllia retorted. "We won't be meeting anyone if I can't get the propulsion drives working properly, and we won't last a week without proper food production! It's all well and good to want to keep us safe from outside threats, but what good are all of those defensive add-ons if we can't even take care of ourselves?"

Perez cleared his throat raised his hand. “I mean, we can fix this, right? I’ve been looking at the warp drive and some of the nuclear engines, and I think I’m ready to do repairs. I’ll do that, and Yllia can take care of the food or whatever.”
He furrowed his brows. “My question is why does this ship have so many guns on it? I didn’t think I was signing up for some kind of ‘space navy’.”

Aurelius was sitting back while the conversation played out. At Perez's questions, Aurelius stepped in. "The reason this ship has so many guns is that the last expedition disappeared."

Aurelius was sitting back while the conversation played out. At Perez's questions, Aurelius stepped in. "The reason this ship has so many guns is that the last expedition disappeared."

Julio shook his head. “I know that. This still doesn’t click. Wouldn’t it make more sense if the Wintreath was destroyed by a stray asteroid or cosmic ray than by something guns could stop?”
He sighed. “Look, I’m just gonna ask now. Just what makes the leadership think that we need guns instead of extra shields or life support? Does someone know something the rest of the crew doesn’t?

Malan began giving the slightest of smirks. He thought Julio hit the nail right on the head. This was abnormal, and if the captain was going to tell the crew that it was just a precaution, his appeals would fall on deaf ears. Still, he couldn't risk anyone catching wind of the discovery he and his team had made all those years ago in the vast New Hatfield desert. He decided to tell just enough of the truth to get everyone prepared for what they might encounter.

"If I may, I would say that it is no secret the events around the previous ship's disappearance are incredibly bizarre. If it had been destroyed by some sort of natural disaster, such as a collision with an asteroid, then our emergency detection arrays should have transmitted this back to Wintreath. Yet we have no clue what caused it to disappear. Should we assume it was just a strange natural phenomenon that led to the ship and crew's disappearance? Yes, I believe this would be the safe, logical assumption. And yet, we cannot deny that more could be afoot here. Whatever  - or whoever - it is waiting for us out there, I would certainly feel much safer with an abundance of state-of-the-art weapons systems aboard."

Malan began giving the slightest of smirks. He thought Julio hit the nail right on the head. This was abnormal, and if the captain was going to tell the crew that it was just a precaution, his appeals would fall on deaf ears. Still, he couldn't risk anyone catching wind of the discovery he and his team had made all those years ago in the vast New Hatfield desert. He decided to tell just enough of the truth to get everyone prepared for what they might encounter.

"If I may, I would say that it is no secret the events around the previous ship's disappearance are incredibly bizarre. If it had been destroyed by some sort of natural disaster, such as a collision with an asteroid, then our emergency detection arrays should have transmitted this back to Wintreath. Yet we have no clue what caused it to disappear. Should we assume it was just a strange natural phenomenon that led to the ship and crew's disappearance? Yes, I believe this would be the safe, logical assumption. And yet, we cannot deny that more could be afoot here. Whatever  - or whoever - it is waiting for us out there, I would certainly feel much safer with an abundance of state-of-the-art weapons systems aboard."

Perez folded his arms. “Well, I think I would feel better if we had less guns and more shields and life support backups. A lot of cazy stuff can happen in deep space that wouldn’t have reached our telescopes, and military attacks are pretty low on that list as far as I know. We can’t shoot at supernovae or unexpected meteors.”
He smiled wryly. “But I guess that’s just my opinion.”

Yllia looked at the Captain, unsure of whether she would allow her Chief Engineer the ability to disclose classified information on the voyages of Wintreath. "Captain, I think they deserve to know certain details of the last voyage..."

Vau nodded. "I agree. We should at the very least know what we are up against." He said, crossing his arms and leaning back a bit. If he knew the details of the last mission he could probably have a better idea of the weapon loadout they might need, and how much of his attention he needs to divert to the crew and exterior threats. There are some shady crewmembers, especially that bot, but if they are heading into a warzone, then that would be the least of his concern.