Athena Mission 2.10 The Last Directive

[Katheryn Brighton]

[XO's Office]

"Thank you for being understanding. I only want what is best for every member aboard this ship. Part of my job is overseeing that the safety and well being of everyone is taken into account."

Her gaze momentarily drifted from the woman sitting opposite her to the mound of documents piled between them.

"If there is anything else that I can do for you, please let me know, but I'm afraid I may have to cut this meeting short as I have plenty of work to catch up on."

She knew this would happen. The downside of taking any leave meant that upon returning she would be swamped with a backlog of work, which was why she had originally planned not to take off the entire time, but things hadn't worked out according the plan. There was still much to do and very little time to get it all done.

[XO's Office]

Katheryn understood where the XO was coming from after all she was the same when it came to the welfare of those in her department and the crew as a whole whenever she was tasked with their ensuring their safety during battle or conflict. Taking the opportunity to drink some of her orange juice as she listened and again could relate to her need to cut their meeting short due to the noticeable pile of reports etc on her desk and knew that she would have work to catch up on to.

" Not a problem at all Commander, I can relate to that too with my role as a Department Head and thank you I will let you know if there is anything " she replied finishing her drink before continuing. " Again I understand and I need to catch up too if you like I can speak to Petty Officer Ezac regarding the changes?".

[Naira]

[XO's Office]

Katheryn understood where the XO was coming from after all she was the same when it came to the welfare of those in her department and the crew as a whole whenever she was tasked with their ensuring their safety during battle or conflict. Taking the opportunity to drink some of her orange juice as she listened and again could relate to her need to cut their meeting short due to the noticeable pile of reports etc on her desk and knew that she would have work to catch up on to.

" Not a problem at all Commander, I can relate to that too with my role as a Department Head and thank you I will let you know if there is anything " she replied finishing her drink before continuing. " Again I understand and I need to catch up too if you like I can speak to Petty Officer Ezac regarding the changes?".

[XO Office]

"Yes, if you could do that, that would save me the time of having to ask him myself."

Naira had had little interaction with the Breen since he had come aboard. She wasn't necessarily avoiding him, but she also hadn't gone out of her way to interact with him either. Part of her duties included getting to know each and every member of the crew as best she could so that they could be properly vetted and made sure that they were a good fit both for their position and duties, but she had to admit to herself that there was something about the Breen that put her on edge. Maybe it was a bit of Yoduk's prejudice brushing off on her, but the fact that they wore full-bodied mechanical suits that prevented others from being able to see their true appearance or facial expressions left her feeling a bit uneasy.

It was something she was going to have to work on.

When she had the time, she would have to make the effort to get to know the individual behind the mask.

She picked up another PADD, knowing that they the Commander could see herself out when she was finished.

Bridge

Suzie was on watch in the big chair. She had been offered shore leave, but since the only person she wanted to see was on Betazed, too far for her to get there and back in the two weeks to make it worth it.

She had spoken to Helen, her adopted Mother the previous day. The older woman had practically retired from the rescue centre where she had worked since before Suzie had been found. She was now living in a small house not far from the old part of the city with her husband who had retired after an accident a few years previously.

Her watch had been boring so far, but it had to be done. Pulling up the command screen, she checked the status and everything was normal. Picking up a PADD, she settled back in the chair and began to read up on the latest computer updates from the development wing of Starfleet.

[Bridge]

Just then, a message came in over a secure Starfleet channel. It requested the attention of command level officers and was marked urgent.

[Susan Venator]

[Bridge]

Just then, a message came in over a secure Starfleet channel. It requested the attention of command level officers and was marked urgent.

Bridge

Suzie had just finished the PADD when the call came in.

"Lieutenant. There is an eyes only transmission coming in for the Captain or XO."

Suzie nodded.

"Thank you Ensign." She replied, before opening up a channel.

Bridge to Commander Naira. We have an eyes only transmission coming in for either yourself or the Captain. Can you take the call as the Captain is unavailable?

[Caleb Brighton]

Saya fidgeted with her fork for a moment, then fingered the earring in her left ear as she responded.

I am well. As to leave, I, uh, didn't really take leave.It didn't seem logical as I only just joined the crew. I've taken some extra duty shifts and have been familiarizing myself with the ship. This is my first posting.

She bit her tongue again to keep from nattering on, though she realized she'd fallen back on her mother's Vulcan training out of nerves. No one ever accused Vulcans of talking too much.

[ Mess Hall ]

Caleb sensed Saya's nervous energy. He could remember back to his first time on the Athena and how nervous he was. He thought he could use to help Saya. He smiled thinking back to where he was then and where he began. It was pretty far and he had much to be proud of in his time.

"I was just as nervous as you were when I got on here. The Athena is my first posting as well. I think it is good to familiarize yourself with this wonderful ship, but I do suggest you allow some you time. I am all too familiar with stretching yourself too thin. Do not be afraid to pop into medical if you need a listening ear sometime,"Caleb said.

[Ozu Saya]

"I was just as nervous as you were when I got on here. The Athena is my first posting as well. I think it is good to familiarize yourself with this wonderful ship, but I do suggest you allow some you time. I am all too familiar with stretching yourself too thin. Do not be afraid to pop into medical if you need a listening ear sometime,"Caleb said.

Saya blinked in surprise at the doctor's astuteness. She wasn't accustomed to people reading her that well.

Umm, yes, sir. I have taken some time on the holodeck. But I just had some leave after finishing my courses, and there was nowhere I wished to visit.

Blast. That was probably too much.

She took another bite of her food, then pushed the plate away and rose.

I should be on my Way, sir. Thank you for the conversation and advice.

Saya picked up her tray and nodded politely to the doctor before leaving the mess hall, stopping to put the tray in the recycler.

[Crew Quarters]
Saya climbed into her bunk, grateful her roommate wasn't there - on duty most likely. They'd been working opposite shifts mostly, which suited Saya fine. She endured sharing a room because it was required, but didn't care for it.

She pulled a PADD out of her storage cubby and went to work on a minor energy flow problem she'd been given to work on. she'd go by Engineering later if she came up with a solution.

[Caleb Brighton]

I should be on my Way, sir. Thank you for the conversation and advice.

Saya picked up her tray and nodded politely to the doctor before leaving the mess hall, stopping to put the tray in the recycler.

[ Mess Hall ]

Caleb nodded back to Saya. He was glad to have had the small conversation. As Saya left, he was glad to have a bit of quiet time to himself. He took a moment to enjoy his food. Once he did, he then moved to read the letter his wife had left him. He was grateful that he shared his life with his lover. Where she went, he would go. Though she outranked him, it just meant it was easier for him to follow her about as he would be taking his small crew with him as well. He was glad that Ed finally asked Lucy out and that they had a few dates in his absence.

[Kirok]

[USS Lirpa]

Kirok sat in his Ready Room.  He had only recently finished a mission in the Alpha Quadrant.  Now he found himself in the Gamma Quadrant.

The half Vulcan had heard about the missions in the Gamma Quadrant.  But this was his first time here.  And he was going to be meeting one of the newest Captains in the fleet as well as his XO.

Kirok had placed a hale already.  He waited patiently for the other end to connect.  It should be any minute now.

[Jules Bash]

A short string of curses echoed down the jefferies tube he found himself in.

"No. Nope. I'm done. Screw it."

He rubbed his singed fingers vigorously against his leg, hoping the tingling sensation would stop. Jules collected his tools into his case, replaced the panel, and crawled his way back to main engineering.

Last he had heard, they had the other new engineering crewman running theoretical analysis of the same problem he'd just been fritzing with. Jules made his way to an out of the way console in engineering, retrieved the data logs for that relay, and wrote in a comments log of what he had tried, each comment attributed to a time index in the log. The short report written, he sent it off to be transferred to her inbox.

He noticed that his own inbox had a message, and passed over to it. His proposal for equipment alarm modifications was approved, but the chief wanted it detailed out before it got bounced over to the more software savvy programmers on the crew.

"Yay, my idea is recognized as useful. Now do paperwork on it." Jules muttered under his breath, not truly annoyed, but not excited about the additional paperwork load. He much more preferred to simply work with the hardware, or explain his ideas in person. But Star Fleet, being what it was, seemed to enjoy a world of bureaucracy and paperwork.

[Naira]

Bridge

Suzie had just finished the PADD when the call came in.

"Lieutenant. There is an eyes only transmission coming in for the Captain or XO."

Suzie nodded.

"Thank you Ensign." She replied, before opening up a channel.

Bridge to Commander Naira. We have an eyes only transmission coming in for either yourself or the Captain. Can you take the call as the Captain is unavailable?

[USS Lirpa]

Kirok sat in his Ready Room.  He had only recently finished a mission in the Alpha Quadrant.  Now he found himself in the Gamma Quadrant.

The half Vulcan had heard about the missions in the Gamma Quadrant.  But this was his first time here.  And he was going to be meeting one of the newest Captains in the fleet as well as his XO.

Kirok had placed a hale already.  He waited patiently for the other end to connect.  It should be any minute now.

[XO's Office]

Naira waited for the Commander to leave before responding to the call.

Naira to the Bridge, I'll take it here in my office. Thank you.

She set down her PADD and took another quick sip of water before the transmission was patched through. She had no idea what this was concerning, but whatever it was, it had to be important. The Athena had been assigned routine patrol work up until now and while that had them checking in with Starfleet from time to time to update them on their status, it was never anything that required this level of security.

She let out a deep breathe as the transmission came in.

I have a bad feeling about this.

[Katheryn Brighton]

[XO Office]

"Yes, if you could do that, that would save me the time of having to ask him myself."

[XO's Office]

" Certainly Commander, I'll arrange a meeting with him once I get to Main Security" she replied as the XO then returned her attention to the PADD's on her desk. With the meeting over and the important issues discussed Katheryn got up from the chair and made her way out of the office, the doors closing as she heard the call from the Bridge. No doubt if she was needed she would be called and knew that the Sec/Tac console was in the capable hands of Ensign Baker.

Entering the turbolift she called out for Deck 4 then reached up and tapped her commbadge.

Commander Brighton to Petty Officer Ezac, please meet me in Main Security 

With that done she leaned against the rail as the lift took her down two floors and thought about her husband wondering if he had received her note, letting him know that she had started work early and that she would see him later once she finished before finally telling him that she loved him. She enjoyed writing these old fashioned notes and leaving them for him to find just as he did with her and it added to how special their relationship was especially when they often worked opposite shifts.

That and recent memories left her with a smile on her face and radiance that nothing could ruin even more so with her pregnancy. However as the life came to a stop and the doors opened it was business as usual for the Security Chief as she left the cubicle.

[Deck 4 - Main Security]

Walking into Main Security, Katheryn was greeted by several of her officers as she made her through the bullpen and dispatch, stopping occasionally to confirm orders and shifts before making her way into her office. Not completely surprised when she spotted several PADDs on her desk but since she had some time before Ezac arrived, decided to grab a snack from the replicator, settling on a ham and turkey salad sandwich with another orange juice something she had been craving lately and sat down.

[Susan Venator]

[XO's Office]

Naira waited for the Commander to leave before responding to the call.

Naira to the Bridge, I'll take it here in my office. Thank you.

She set down her PADD and took another quick sip of water before the transmission was patched through. She had no idea what this was concerning, but whatever it was, it had to be important. The Athena had been assigned routine patrol work up until now and while that had them checking in with Starfleet from time to time to update them on their status, it was never anything that required this level of security.

She let out a deep breathe as the transmission came in.

I have a bad feeling about this.

Bridge

Suzie gave unconscious nod in response.

Understood Commander. Transferring the communication now.

Suzie closed the channel and turned back to the duty ops officer.

"Transfer the communication to the Commander's office." She ordered.

"Aye Lieutenant." He responded before transferring the call as ordered.

Suzie sat and thought for a moment, wondering what was going on. She assumed that, whatever it was would be passed down the chain soon enough.

Settling back into the chair, she hoped that whatever it was, was not as ominous as an eyes only message usually was.

[Ozu Saya]

Last he had heard, they had the other new enginering crewman running theoretical analysis of the same problem he'd just been fritzing with. Jules made his way to an out of the way console in engineering, retrieved the data logs for that relay, and wrote in a comments log of what he had tried, each comment attributed to a time index in the log. The short report written, he sent it off to be transferred to her inbox.

[Crew Quarters]
Saya rolled off her bunk when the computer console pinged. she sat in the chair, rolling it closer to the desk as she accessed the message.

Hmm, she murmured to herself as she read through the report. That's good to know.

She made a couple of notes on her PADD, deleting a couple of ideas she'd been considering, but adding a couple more options to her list as the report sparked new ideas.

The new information wasn't hugely helpful in solving the problem, but it would save her some time testing out theories.

That gave her another idea.

She grabbed her toolkit and tapped her combadge on her way out the door.

Crewman Ozu to Crewman Bash, I am going to run some simulations on the holodeck to work on that energy flow issue. If you are available and would care to join me, I would appreciate your assistance.

[Holodeck]
It wasn't strictly necessary to put so much time and effort into something that was really a minor issue, but Saya wanted to do a good job so she could be assigned more difficult and important tasks.

She brought up a holographic program of the relevant portion of Jeffries tube and removed the panel from the relays she needed to access, setting the PADD on the floor next to her so she could refer to her notes.

[Jules Bash]

Crewman Ozu to Crewman Bash, I am going to run some simulations on the holodeck to work on that energy flow issue. If you are available and would care to join me, I would appreciate your assistance.

[Main Engineering]
Let's see. Paperwork, or working on the same problem he had just been working on, but without fear of getting shocked.

On one hand, the paperwork would be waiting for him. On the other hand, no matter what he did, the paperwork would be waiting for him. Might as well as go solve a problem. Besides, the relay had shocked him, and he wasn't excited about going back to it without a better idea in mind.

Be there momentarily.

He made his way to the holodeck after retrieving his case and logging out of the console.

[Holodeck]

He walked in briskly, nodding to the other crewman.

"So, what's your first idea?"

[Ezac]

[Personal Quarters]

After locking his helmet into place, Ezac listened for the quiet hiss let out by his suit when it pressurized. He glanced briefly at his reflection in his mirror, and he realized that he felt more himself when he donned his suit. As he walked over to his desk to pick up his PADD, his presence was requested.

[...]

Commander Brighton to Petty Officer Ezac, please meet me in Main Security 

[...]

Lieutenant Commander Brighton, this is Ezac. I will be en route momentarily.

Ezac reached for his PADD and watched the screen light up. Once he determined that nothing pressing required his attention, he returned the PADD to the desk and made his way to Brighton's office.

[Deck 4 - Main Security]

Ezac walked into the room and made a beeline toward his superior's office. While it may have been true that he wasn't one for small talk, it wouldn't have mattered; he was on duty, and his presence was requested by a superior officer.

He approached Brighton's office and stopped in front of the door. He knocked firmly twice and waited for permission to enter.

[Kirok]

[XO's Office]

Naira waited for the Commander to leave before responding to the call.

Naira to the Bridge, I'll take it here in my office. Thank you.

She set down her PADD and took another quick sip of water before the transmission was patched through. She had no idea what this was concerning, but whatever it was, it had to be important. The Athena had been assigned routine patrol work up until now and while that had them checking in with Starfleet from time to time to update them on their status, it was never anything that required this level of security.

She let out a deep breathe as the transmission came in.

I have a bad feeling about this.

[USS Lirpa]

Kirok's image come up on the screen.  He was standing behind a hip level desk.  He stood behind it.

He paused for a moment before speaking.  And tilted his head slightly.  But then went straight into it.

"Commander.  It is acceptable to see you again.  I have a mission for your ship.  One that needs immediate attention" Kirok said.

"I assume we are on a secure channel.  But still, given the matter I am sending it to you threw encrypted message.  Then, with you permission, I would like to board your ship so that we can talk more privately" he said, before tapping a button on his desk that sent the encrypted message.