In the thick of things...

Posted on Sat May 3rd, 2025 @ 8:15am by Lieutenant JG Annika Wiseman & Lieutenant Commander Jorel Torin II

1,554 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Into the unknown
Location: Briefing room - USS Lancaster
Timeline: four hours before mission start

[ON:]

Annika had stowed her belongings in the small officers quarters aboard the Lancaster, She'd been asked to be the XO for this misssion, thinking it was going to be Commander Tirado in charge she had to take a serious pause when she was informed that it was in fact Commander Torin, she had to pause before she said anything to the Captain, it just added to her concerns about the Captain and the mission. She wasn't sure what else to do, she grabbed her notes and made the short trek to the briefing room, if it wasn't for the scans this mission would be flown into a lot more blindly, she'd gone over them with as much detail as she could and had mapped a fairly reasonable flight plan for the mission, Annika wasn't sure what to expect next. Here I go. she tought as she stepped through the door.

Commander Torin had been sitting in the briefing room onboard the Lancaster, waiting for for a Lieutenant Wiseman. The Captain had discussed this meeting with Jorel over a meal recently and he was expecting a very interesting meeting.

Once the doors opened up and admitted a young officer, Jorel stood up and said, "Ah, yes. You must be Lieutenant Wiseman. I'm Commander Torin. It's nice to meet you!" Jorel offered up his hand to shake with the Lieutenant.

Annika paused, "We met briefly at the Captains house on earth, but it is good too see you again." she paused, "So based on the scans we did when we first got dumped here, my guess there are thirty plus Romulan ships and a comparable number of unknown design ships, there is the usual post battle background radiation but it reads to as if it happened in the twenty-three twenties but not any earlier than twenty-three fourty."

Jorel waved his hand over his head and said, "Oh, my bad. We did meet at the party at the Captain's house. But, have you found anything out about how the Romulan ships were destroyed? I'm sure there must be something on the hull fragments that could tell us a bit more about what happened? At least, maybe what type of weapons were used?"

Annika smiled but kept to business, "I had Chalii and Morrison run an additional set of scans of the debris field, there are ships that excluding a hull breach are intact, we might be able to recover computer cores and other records," she said as the holographic display embedded in the table came too life with the debris field that was visible on sensors, "There's also an older Warbird here," pausing to point at a holographic representation of the wrecked ship, "It'll mean a space walk but it's worth the risks."

"I take it that we can't just link up with some of these computer cores? I just feel like doing space walks could cause some issues, as we've seen in the last century or two with a few major starships. NX-01 Enterprise, Voyager, and so many others," Jorel replied, looking over the holographic display. He was taking everything in and manipulated the displays a little bit more.

"I had some reservations myself, stuff we can pluck out of the debris field with the transporters is more palatable for me since floating around in a pressure suit isn't my favourite way to spend a mission but if we can explore some of the more intact ships and collect as much data as possible it would be beneficial." she paused sliding over a pad "I did comb the roster so we had enough personnel rated in both salvage missions and in a couple of cases that historian that the Captain thinks will be valuable, uh....what's her name....." she paused scrolling though her notes "uh...here...Lieutenant Violet Khan historian."

Jorel picked the PADD up and started looking over the information. He wasn't looking forward to the idea of having to do a space walk, but understood that if it was one of the only ways to get information, it was the only option. Jorel started to look at the map of the area and asked, "Well, it looks like there's a vessel on the outskirts of the debris field that appears to be one of the more intact vessels. It even has a part of the vessel that looks like we could beam aboard to access some of the computer systems."

Then, Jorel started to look over the roster of people that could do a space walk and might be useful for such a mission. When Annika said Lieutenant Khan, Jorel nodded and said, "I think I've heard of the Lieutenant. Do you think she'd be able to do a space walk and might be useful for the mission?"

Annika looked at her notes, "She has a basic rating, not enough for this mission without major supervision, I've looted the ships roster for this mission, I even have two medics with high level zero gravity training on the mission roster and I'm not too popular with several departments because of it." she paused "I'd be happier if I new what we were too look for."

"Well, definitely those computer cores would be nice. I'd like to get some samples of the hulls and some scans of them to see if we can't get some more information from them. But, we're in a new part of space and any news is good news...except for maybe bad news?" Jorel replied with a small smile and chuckle as he thought about it for a moment. He looked at Annika and said, "What are you hoping we find or would you like to find? Besides the computer cores?"

"For me it's about whom the Romulans were fighting then, and why." she paused "I don't recognise this design, so grabbing tech from both types of wrecks is a high priority and your right hull scraps and any other artifacts are on a priority as well."

"I'm just wondering if the Romulan Tal'Shiar is making a comeback and trying out some new ship designs? Maybe this was a testing ground and something happened to them, whether it was an internal thing like an explosion from their core. Or, if there was a fight, which the evidence appears to be pointing to," Jorel offered up, curious himself about what the Romulans were doing out here.

"Radiation scans indicate this area hasn't seen any activity in forty years approximately." Annika added.

Jorel started to scratch his chin and think about it for a moment. He let out a small, but audible sigh as he thought about it before replying, "This truly is a mystery that I would love to solve. But, we're going to have to do that deep dive to be able to see what the heck was going on out here and why the Romulans felt it was a good idea to be out here before they paid the ultimate price. How long do you think it'd take to get the team assembled that you mentioned?"

"Three or four hours, maybe a bit less." Annika said with some optimism.

"Assemble the team and have them meet us in Shuttlebay One. I'd like to get out of here and get that information before someone decides to make a visit to an old Romulan graveyard. I'd like to keep the surprises to a minimum if I could. Anything I could do to help out in the mean time?" Jorel asked, seeing as space walks always involved a lot of gears and moving parts.

'Shuttle bay?' she paused slightly "If you think of anyone i'll find them a bunk on the Lancaster, we're just about full though." reminding the senior offer of the Aquarius classes limitations.

"Oh, shute. You're absolutely right. Totally had what the humans call a blonde moment, so please forgive me. Have them meet us here in the briefing room once they're onboard and we're ready to depart. I'd like to meet some of them and get them up to date on everything before we have to don our space suits and do our little space walk," Jorel replied, realizing his blunder.

"It's all good sir, it's been a crazy day, I'll get the remaining crew squared away, before we launch in four hours, anything else?" Annika said.

"Just pray for us...especially me. It has been several years since I've done a full space walk. Other than that, I think I'm good. Anything else you need from me?" Jorel asked, wanting to make sure that this space walk would be perfect.

"Let's see how things go, we might not need everyone floating around in space suits." Annika said attempting to be reassuring.

"Fair enough. If you don't need anything else from me, you're good to go ahead and get everything situated and I'll meet you down there when everything is done. Dismissed," Jorel said, offering up a small smile.

"See you in a few hours sir." Annika said as he scooped up her notes.

"See you in a few hours," Jorel replied as Annika walked out of his office and the doors shut behind her.

[OFF:]

Lieutenant Commander Jorel Torin II
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Columbia

&

Lieutenant Annika Wiseman
Intelligence Officer
USS Columbia

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