Cast Off

Posted on 28 Nov 2018 @ 11:54pm by Lieutenant Colonel Anton Markov & Major Alexandria Somers & Ensign Samantha Jensen & Lieutenant JG Gavin Smith & Ensign Danni M'Benga

Mission: From the Darkness
Location: Various
Timeline: Current

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[ON]

As more crew began to arrive on the Powell Alex found herself on the bridge in the centre seat, shed found this position strange but as she was on a new course of her career, she had to adapt. The next one on the bridge was Ensign M'Benga, she was a descendant of a Doctor M'Benga who served on the USS Enterprise NCC 1701, so her skin was as dark as her ancestor, she took up the helm station and prepared the engines for when the warp core came online.

Behind her came Ensigns Samantha Jensen and Jacen Borne Security and Tactical Officers respectively, Samantha took up the Security console while Borne took up the Tactical station, all were doing pre-checks as the ship was still running on the Starbases power. Then the ship's communications came to life.

"Engineering to bridge"

Alex pressed the button "you ready to activate the warp core Lieutenant?" Somers asked.

"Yes Sir" she could hear there Engineer giving directions to the engineering crew in the background

"All okay Chief?" she asked.

"Yes Major, I am coming up to the bridge to monitor the power feeds, Engineering out" with that the link was closed.

Alex looked around as relief Officers began the systems start-up procedures, it would take a bit of time as no one wanted to put too much power through the ODN and power relays too much, too soon. So by the time the Engineering Officer got up to the bridge the warp core was at ten per cent of max power and some of the sub-systems began to come online, the replicators were the first to be changed to feed of the ships main power.

From his spot at the rear of the bridge the Engineering officer began to regulate the power increase, the more power that flowed through the relays the more systems came online, it was at this time that Markov entered the bridge obviously wondering why the ship was powered up even if it was slow.

"Captain on Bridge" Somers shouted standing to attention, the other Officers followed suit and stayed like that until told otherwise.

Anton walked inside and stood looking at the staff present. "A little eager aren't we folks. But that's not a bad thing. As you were everyone," he instructed before walking to the centre where his XO was. "Major status report please," he asked.

Relaxing and looking at her CO "we have just started up the warp core Sir, we are doing it slowly, I do not want to risk a Kaboom, this ship has been repaired and such from its last fatal mission, I do not wish to tempt fate. Most of the sub-systems and main systems are now running on ships power, the replicators and emergency assets are now running on internal power, at last look the warp core power is up to Twenty-Five per cent of recommended power and rising steadily *turns to face the Engineer* Lieutenant Smith what is the warp core power output and how long till we have full power?" Somers asked.

"It is now at 50% Major and half the main systems are now connected, no issues detected so far" Smith responded.

"Thank You, Lieutenant" She looked back at Markov "we should have full power within the hour and the same for all pre-flight checks, then we can be ready to undock from the station" Alex finished.

"Excellent. Tactical has the station transferred over the last of the torpedos along with the new fighters?" he asked the officer to his left.

Ensign Borne the Tactical Officer looked down at his console to check, then up at the Colonel "they will be finished loading within two hours Sir, the fighters in four and the provisions and ground equipment within the hour" Borne answered.

"Perfect, inform me when all are on board. Engineering continues bringing systems online. XO Set departure time for six hours. Once everything is settled we will run a quick diagnostic to make sure we aren't going to blow up and we can see what this girl has to offer us," Anton ordered sitting in his centre chair.

"Yes Sir," Alex responded and went to the rear of the ship to check on the warp core status and check on other things. Around half an hour had passed when looking up and walking back to the XOs seat and sitting she said, "warp core is fully powered, Captain. All remaining systems are being switched to internal power and we will be able to disconnect the power we are getting from the starbase then. Tactical tells me the pre-flight checks on the defensive and offensive systems are almost complete as well," Somers said and looked at the readout on her chair arm. "Wow, all lower deck operations are completed. Captain all fighters and other auxiliary craft are now aboard as are the supplies. Just a few minor things remaining and we should be able to set out within the allotted time," she finished.

Anton had been sat watching the affairs of the bridge over the last while simply nodded. "Much faster than expected." He passed a padd across to Somers. "Recent intel. Reports from long range sensors corroborated by Starfleet transport ships. There seems to be an increase in supply ships to this region of Klingon space," Anton said indicating to a section belonging to the house of Mergh. "Our records show they suffered heavy losses during the Klingon war which caused them to lost their status as a great house."

*Thinking a moment to allow what was said to sink in "You know my father said that there were some dissident Klingon families that wanted to break the long-standing Alliance they had with us, they seem to think that the Klingon Empire has been at peace too long, well that is their view it has only been fourteen years since the Dominion War ended and even to this day some places are still rebuilding from it. But this House MergH and its losses are worrisome, who would want to decrease a Houses power, besides the Klingons? I can think of two entities, the Tal'Shiar and Orion Syndicate" Alex said looking at what the Colonel was pointing to.

"I hope that's who, or whatever is behind all this does not plunge us into another war! IF we go to war with the Klingons then our allies will be unable to help us, so I do not know if you agree on Colonel, but it is imperative that we keep the peace by finding out why!" Somers finished.

"I agree. peace is the objective here. But we have made a commitment to help the Romulans recover from one of the worst if not the worst disasters this Quadrant has seen since the Dominion war. Restlessness should not be an excuse for the Klingons to go for a beatdown," The Colonel added.

"True, but I admit while the Klingon mentality has shifted to more like the Federation over the years, the majority still has influence for the old ways and for a warrior culture change is never easy, some of their honour can be found in the Spartans of the old earth, so using them as a baseline, it is logical to assume that the majority of the Klingons do not want to change, because they fear change as they do not want to lose their heritage, but if they do not adjust then they will end up like the Spartan Empire of Ancient Greece and vanish from existence as they could not adapt. *pause* If they cannot adapt, then the Klingon species will truly be a dying race, if history has taught us anything, is that those who fail to adapt die, I just hope current events do not push the Klingons in the wrong direction" Somers said.

Anton raised an eyebrow as she spoke, "Take a breath Major. No need to blurt it all out at once he added," smiling and assuming it was day one nerves and a want to impress. "I think the Klingons have adapted well mostly. But they and the Romulans have never been as at peace as we and they are. I think it inevitable that one day they'll go to war again. Our job is to make sure it doesn't happen for a while."

She simply shrugged accepting what he said and taking a breath "I whole-heartedly agree with you Sir, I for one are not keen on fighting again so soon, I have seen enough pain in my young life as it is and that was before I became an officer," as she said this last bit she had unconsciously developed a sad look.

"You and me both... although I'm perhaps not so young in life," he joked smirking to her with a sideways glance, one of the first signs of him relaxing. "I think we are ready to undock from a system point of view. We have the crew to bring on board still but if you'd like to get engineering to put us under our own power that can be done now."

"Yes Sir, for the moment we will be using gamma shift crew to take us out of space dock, I shall get right on it," Somers said and stood and as she walked to the rear of the bridge to check on things she turned to face her new CO.

"Colonel if you ever want to know how committed I am to not losing another person needlessly, and as my CO, you should know so you are prepared to adjust accordingly. I am giving you permission to access my Classified part of my Service jacket, the one only I and the Office of the Federation President has access to, my Fiancee knows, he has connections and computer skills to bypass such classified systems. But when you try to access that section of my file uses the code delta-34597-gamma-sigma-10978-Somers, this will give you unfiltered access" she paused and walked over and stood in the doorway and looked over her shoulder at him. "At least you will know me better and you will see the demons I carry with me every day and will do for the rest of my life, should you wish to talk about what you read, I will be happy to elaborate on some things" Somers finished with a sad smile.

As Alex stepped onto the bridge and tapped her Commbadge =/\= Bridge to engineering =/\=

=/\= Engineering here Major =/\= Lieutenant Gavin Smith responded.

=/\= Is everything all green down there?=/\= she asked.

=/\= All green across the board, she is ready to fly =/\=

=/\= Understood Lieutenant, Bridge out =/\= she closed the link "helm switch all remaining systems to internal power, Tactical disengage power feed from the Starbase and put us fully on internal power" Alex ordered standing in the middle of the bridge.

"Yes, Sir" both stations responded.

"Comms are all stations ready?" she asked the officer at the Comms.

"Yes Major" came the reply.

"Okay get clearance for departure and wait for the Captain's order," Somers said and looked at the Captain came out of his Ready Room "all systems are green, and we have clearance to leave spacedock on your command Sir" she formally announced.

"Excellent. We depart in 12 hours. Use this time everyone to make sure your departments are set. We are in no rush to leave just yet and I want to make sure we don't forget something important. This is a classified mission. Contact with family will be limited. So use this time to talk to them as well. You are all dismissed," he said to the bridge crew sending them to their quarters and departments while a secondary more junior relief crew took over for a while.