Explaining the job

Posted on Thu Jul 27th, 2023 @ 8:34am by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Chief Operations Trades & Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya & Evelyn Reynolds

Mission: Fractures
Location: Rec Room
Timeline: MD -02
1804 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Gregnol was not at all a fan of what he was going to have to discuss with his senior team over breakfast but it was the only way that he could plan it and get some food in them all. He had organised with Rianne for breakfast meals to be prepared and brought to the briefing room and sent notes to all their padds and offices just encase they missed the first ones. Kalandra system was not far out of their way but it would be a bit of a plot twist for them all to be involved in something properly for the rangers and more importantly the involvement of the Sons Of Cheron and the USS Temperance. He sat staring at his coffee as the first person came in.

"Hey," Burnie said with a nod, as he came in found his designated spot. Something was clearly up, but he was only halfway through his first mug of coffee, so he as okay with just waiting for Gregnol for explain.

"Hey?" Gregnol greeted shifting a little higher in his chair now that someone was there and he needed to look less forlorn.

It was ironic, Evelyn supposed, that after so many years of Jack's bleating in her ear about taking the command aspect of her career seriously that she found herself inside her first senior staff meeting only after she'd turned her back on rank. The summons had caught her off-guard, lead to a moment of introspection regarding the nature of the responsibility she'd taken on, and then promptly been absorbed as just another change to deal with. She slipped in quietly, took a moment to consider pecking order when it came to seating, and took up an empty spot that seemed the least likely to ruffle feathers. "Sorry I'm late," she offered, unsure if she technically was.

Trades wandered in carrying a cup of fresh fish juice. It had taken a while to get the replicators to even come close to something that tasted, or even at least smelt like the real thing. The Cardassian breakfest drink was hard to come by at the best of times. What the replicator was producing wasn't going to cut it for very long, he was going to need the real thing as soon as he could get it. Trades sat down quietly taking a sip and nodding to those in the room.

"Rianne arranged some breakfast if anyone wants it," Gregnol said jerking his head to where the trolly stood. It was not much like the full selection like the Mess Hall but it had had enough. "I highly recommend you grab it now and here." He hinted that there would not be much time later.

Burnie did not have to be told twice. He promptly got up and scooped eggs and hash browns onto a plate,and upon seeing on bagels and cream cheese, added them as a side. "Sounds serious," he remarked, as he returned to his seat.

"No lox?" Kali teased Burnie as she took a seat near him and Trades with a bagel of her own and a huge tumbler of coffee.

"If here'd been lox, I'd have taken it," he replied with a grin.

"Sorry I'm late - Cassie needed some help with a project..." Jake mumbled as he rounded the doorway and headed straight for the food table. Sharing a glance with Evelyn he added quietly, "Not that sort of project."

Having quietly taken the time to serve herself a cup of hot tea, which would suffice for breakfast for the time being despite presenting opportunities for hypocrisy later on when it came to nutritional advice, Evelyn simply raised her eyebrows in a mockery of benign innocence. "What sort of project?"

Jake made a face at her, then for clarification added, "If you must know, cataloguing Grotto items."

Gregnol snorted a little into his coffee but anyone more discussion over Cassie's project was stopped as Leiddem came in. "Apologies I did not realise it was a request for me to be here until it was pointed out that it was only possible for me to attend." Gregnol had grown frustrated by the lack of interest in the chief armoury position that had led to Leiddem carrying on his caretaking duties of it all. The man would be perfect if he was not his brother-in-law. Maybe he should consider just giving Ford the role with Leiddem playing second when he needed him as Executive Officer.

"I appreciate you coming along from a security point of view as the Fenris Rangers have called us up for assistance," Gregnol admitted breaking straight into the subject.

Trades head bobbed up at the statement. He didn't know how he felt about that organisation. Rumours were one thing and other than one time when a Ranger wanted to investigate his weapons manufacture, he'd had nothing to do with them.

"Assistance?" Leiddem decided to ask seeing no one else had spoke up.

"We have the firepower to tackle a pirate base. The thing is this is a little bit personal in the fact the ship the Pirates have is the USS Temperance." He said quietly knowing that Jake and Burnie at the very least would know what that was.

Burnie's eyes narrowed. "It's those pirates?" He rubbed the hilt of the knife he'd just been using to spread cream cheese. A smile formed slowly. It was not a nice smile. "You know, I think I'm going to enjoy testing out our new weapons on them."

From behind the spiral of steam swirling up from her tea, Evelyn carefully considered each of the face's present before realising that she could either sit in ignorance or speak up. "I take it that has significance that might complicate things?"

"Yes it is those pirates.” The Captain said seeing the small smile spread across the man’s face. It was a creepy smile that Gregnol had never seen on his face before and paired with the knife it made the man glad it was not directed towards him. “No more than any ship. The USS Temperance belongs to the Sons of Cheron. They are a political organisation that believe in a strong Federation and that Starfleet and letting in so many member worlds has made them weak.”

"They're fanatics. Misguided, but potentially dangerous," Jake grunted. He had not enjoyed that last encounter and was sure he would not enjoy this one either.

“Sons of Cheron come from all works of life but they are a radical group. They are viewed by most as reactionaries and extremists but some reports suggest that they have agents who influence markets, news, and countless other aspects of daily life. If true, these agents could bring the whole Federation to its knees if they needed to.” Gregnol explained having spent hours looking into them.

Kali's expression - earlier gaining a tinge of anticipatory excitement at the mention of a job from the Rangers - now took on a subtle but definite vindictive shade: A fair number of the Sons of Cheron were the sort of types who'd made her feel unwelcome in her earlier life, and she wasn't at all displeased with an opportunity to 'return the favor'.

"But what's in front of us is the Temperance itself. We don't know what they've done with the ship itself, but it'll be dangerous, and require coordination between ourselves and the Thrai to engage them successfully," Jake explained.

A quirk of her eyebrow was Evelyn's way of quietly conveying her understanding. Whether she had any prior knowledge to add to the mix wasn't obvious, she opted to remain silent in any case as was typically her preference during crowded conversations where she wasn't directly responsible for directing the topic.

Leiddem took a deep breath and centred himself from that revelation that it was the group who had nearly flung him into space. "Do we have any specs of the ship?" He wondered and Gregnol tossed over the specs that the rangers had been given from the ships that the Temperance had attacked so far. Leiddem spent a couple of moments looking it over before he leaned over and passed it to Burnie.

The engineer looked over the data, taking a couple notes on his own padd. "Hmm... looks like they did a lot of what I'd have done with her. She was built to be a battleship, so that means taking her out won't easy. They almost certainly have former Starfleet on her, and probably some with engineering backgrounds. Which we might be able to use to our advantage, if they're used to ...standard tactics." He smirked slightly. His reputation for being innovative (which, granted, most of superiors had generally referred to as crazy) wasn't the norm for the Engineering Corps. Of course, the kind of people who joined a group like Sons of Charon weren't the norm either, but they struck him as being less creative and more reactionary bigots. "With the Thrai helping, I think we can work up some things to give us advantages beyond surprise."

“Very much a battleship but their Captain is an engineer let’s not forget that and not Starfleet trained. So a complete wild card much like you.” Gregnol commented taking the PADD back to bring up the image of the Yeager class on a bigger screen so everyone could now see what Leiddem and Burnie had seen. Ships of this type were constructed from surplus equipment at the ASDB Integration Facility at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards so they were forged for war why the sons of Cheron had been so desperate for it.

"I have studied this type of ship, a little, during the war." Trades stated quietly. It was not a comfortable subject. "Ship systems often were misaligned during the rush of construction. The ship builders often focused on engineering and not ship operations. Some systems were known to overload under certain conditions."

“Handy to know.” Leiddem spoke up already thinking in his head how to use that to his advantage. “So do we have any idea why they are there doing what they are?”

“Negative. The Fenris Rangers have been trying to find out but they get attacked before they get close. It cannot be anything good if they are congregating in one place.” Organisations like the Sons Of Cheron were terrorist groups in his opinion and the fact they were allowed to get in to society by politics spoke volumes for what they stood for.

"Any other questions or suggestions?" Jake asked, leaning forwards. "If not we'll reconvene with the Thrai and plot our approach from there. Let's make sure we're all ready for whatever the Sons of Cheron have in store."