An Unexpected Assignment

Posted on Thu Jan 2nd, 2025 @ 9:42am by Commander Simone Langford & Lt Commander Vannon Dacour & Lieutenant Reynar Agrinion & Lieutenant Thea Goldfrapp & Lieutenant Fox Mendelssohn & Captain Rex McCormick & Lt Commander Stephen Jacobs Ph.D. & Lieutenant Ziq Chura & Lieutenant JG James Eve & Lieutenant JG Ren Kannu & Lieutenant JG Steffan Moller

2,589 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Into The Breach
Location: Observation Deck, USS Kumari
Timeline: MD01 - 0900 Hours

Rex McCormick stood on the observation deck of the Odyssey Class starship, USS Kumari. He watched as the stars streaked past in lines of light.

Captain Christine Adkins had been kind enough to allow him and his newly formed senior officers to use the observation deck for their first briefing. A briefing that Rex wasn't looking forward to as he knew the senior staff hadn't been told the whole truth about their assignment to Outpost 915.

He scratched his bearded chin as he heard the door hiss open to reveal the first of his senior officers. He unzipped his leather command jacket and turned to face the new comer.

A tall slim figure with dark hair and trim beard peppered grey strode towards him giving what passed as a formal greeting but stretching out a hand as he drew close. The man had a slightly dishevelled look about him although his somewhat creased clothes were clean enough but his shoes were desperately in need of a polish.

"Captain McCormick? Stephen Jacobs." the man said, his kindly expression searching the senior officers face.

Rex quickly put the name and face to Outpost 915's new Counselor. He smiled as he started to approach the new comer and offered his hand for the Commander to shake. "Lieutenant Commander Stephen Jacobs, a pleasure to finally meet you."

The handshake from both sides was brief but firm. "And to meet you Sir." Stephen replied dropping his hand to his side.

"Please get a drink if you wish and take a seat. Once everyone is here we'll begin." The Captain said gesturing to the replicator on the far wall.

Stephen did as he was bid, moving towards the replicator after giving a nod of compliance.
His choice of "Water with ice" had begun to materialise when the sound of the door opening caused him to look back interested to see the newcomer.

James Eve stepped through the door way, the epitome of a smart StarFleet Officer, He strode across the floor towards the Captain coming to a stop a couple of paces away.
"James Eve Sir. " he said with a salute "JAG Officer."

"Lieutenant Eve, a pleasure." Rex said offering his hand to the latest arrival.

James shook the offered hand. " Sir" he said before turning away after a moment or two to join Stephen Jacobs.

Next through the door was the jolly Bolian Ziq Chura. "Hello everyone." He said with a smile and wave.

As Lieutenant Chura finished his introduction, the door hissed open again, revealing Commander Simone Langford, Lieutenant Commander Vannon Dacour, and Lieutenant Thea Goldfrapp deep in conversation.

"...and that's when the Romulan diplomat finally agreed to the terms," Simone was saying, her vibrant red hair catching the light as she gestured animatedly. Vannon nodded, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement.

Noticing Rex, Simone smoothly transitioned into officer mode and steered the group towards him. "Captain McCormick," she said, her vibrant red hair framing a warm smile. "May I introduce Lieutenant Commander Vannon Dacour and Lieutenant Thea Goldfrapp."

Vannon offered a respectful nod to Rex. "A pleasure, Captain."

"Captain," Thea said simply, following suit with a nod to Rex.

"A pleasure to meet you, please get yourselves a drink. Once everyone has arrived I'll get started." Rex said with a warm smile.

As Simone turned to talked to Stephen, the door opened once more and Lieutenant Reynar Agrinion entered the room. The Trill's posture was straight and alert, his eyes methodically scanning the room and the gathered officers. Close behind him was Lieutenant Fox Mendelssohn, talking enthusiastically despite Reynar's apparent lack of engagement.

"The potential for new archaeological discoveries in that sector is staggering," Fox was saying excitedly, his enthusiasm belying his nerves. "Don't you think so, Lieutenant?"

Reynar gave a noncommittal grunt, his attention clearly more focused on the room and its occupants. As they approached Rex, Reynar smoothly cut off Fox's monologue.

"Lieutenant Reynar Agrinion, reporting for duty, sir," he said crisply, his tone professional and reserved.

Fox, momentarily thrown off by the interruption, quickly recovered. "Oh, yes! Lieutenant Fox Mendelssohn. It's an honour to be here, Captain," he said, though why he was there was still somewhat of a mystery.

"Again, a pleasure meet you. Get yourself a drink." Rex said noticing he voice was starting to a bit dry and horse.

Next to arrive was Doctor Steffan Moller. He stepped through the door and beamed at the Captain. "Rex, good to see you. Was hoping to have seen you before now!"

The Captain smiled at his friend as he approached. Both officers had served together on the Atreus before it was decommissioned. "Steffan, good to see you. I'm sorry, I've been..." he paused for a moment to chose the right word. "...busy."

"Beverages as usual?" The Doctor asked after he shook the Captains hand.

"Of course, no alcohol though." Rex chuckled.

"Please, it's still an am time." Steffan laughed before patting McCormick on the shoulder and heading towards the replicator.

James scanned the room a little at a time, recognising but a couple of faces. Stephen and Simone chatted away, pulling him into the subject now and then.

Ren Kannu arrived through the door straightening his uniform for the umpteenth time on his shirt journey from his guest quarters to Kumari's Oberservation lounge. He glanced around to see if anyone had noticed his arrival. He sighed with relief as it looked like he'd slipped in without being noticed. He walked round the edge of the room and found an inconspicuous place to stand and wait for things to get going.

Rex took a quick head count and nodded to himself that everyone was here. "If you'd like to take your seats we'll begin." He called out before heading to the replicator to get his own drink, a black Colombia coffee.

A general exodus followed this request.
James ended up sitting almost opposite Simone and Stephen, looking as most did towards the Captain carrying his coffee with the utmost care to take his seat at the end of the table.

The Captain took a sip of his drink before placing it on the observation decks main table which all of the present seniors officers were sat around.

"Thank you all for coming to today's briefing. I know most of you are in the dark or have limited information about this posting..." 'as you were intentionally kept in the dark so you wouldn't back out' thought Rex to himself as he continued. "However, I'm going to shed some light on this for you today."

He tapped a control on the desk and a hologram of a space system came up. "Welcome to the Delta Arendis system, which is located on the edge of the Azure Nebula." Rex again tapped the console and the hologram highlighted the fourth planet in the system. "This is our new home, Arendis Prime. This was an uninhabited planet until Starfleet rehomed Romulan refugees here after the Hobus incident. The Romulan settlement is the main reason for our arrival but it isn't our first priority."

The hologram changed again, this time to show what looked like a base with terrain through the middle of it. "This is our first priority. Outpost 915. Established in 2326 it was officially designated a science and research station. Unofficially, it was placed here to keep an eye on Romulan, Klingon and Gorn movements. She was officially decommissioned in 2368 so Starfleet could put the resources into other areas such a Borg research. 915 was mothballed, anything of value removed. Everything else left.

"The outpost is an unusual design as it was built into a cliff. Half of which is submerged under the water. The top half is the main operational Starfleet facility. The submerged section was originally used for crew quarters, research and science facilities.

"Our job is to get the main Outpost operational and retrofit the lower section to become crew and civilian accommodation and create recreational and commercial space to bring trade to the area and hopefully boost the Romulan economy with the extra footfall."

Rex sighed, this was the bit he wasn't looking forward to explaining. "Now, the down side. The main Outpost has been open to the elements, local wildlife and has been looted. The submerged section has lost integrity and has flooded.

"Corps of Engineers have done a survey with everything we need to get her operational but we will be slumming it for a while, field rations, living on top of each other in temporary accommodation. We will mostly be on our own. Kumari will be in the area setting up our sensor network and communication buoys." McCormick finished. He looked around the table and waited reactions.

James had watched the holograms, seeing at first glance what the place had once been but even before the Captains 'downside' explanation, had decided it was now a derelict collection of buildings fast approaching a full scale ruin.
He met Stephens eye across the table and raised then lowered his eyebrows as if to say "Well he did say downside."
Stephen gave a grin that James knew hid a chuckle before turning his head to the Captain and nodded with a glimmer of reassurance as their gaze crossed. This was certainly the scenario for a very interesting few months at least and he realized he was looking forward to it.

Ziq studied the holograms wide eyed. "Is the full report available from the Corps of Engineers?" The Bolian asked.

Rex nodded, "Yes, all information regarding your department is now available to you all." He replied before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Rex, you convinced me to join this mission so I could continue my medical work with the Romulans. Seems like I've got to be an engineer first before I can do anything medical. I'm guessing you kept this quiet to stop me from pulling out?' Stefan asked, his tone hard touching on angry.

'Here it comes.' Rex thought to himself as he put his cup down. "Actually, I didn't know the state of Outpost until 48 hours ago when I had my own briefing by command. If I'm brutally honest, I was hoping for a promotion and nice little desk job at command but this has been dumped on all of us. I was hand picked with my background being in Engineering. Starfleet is short on personnel after the recent Borg and Changeling incursion."

"Sir," the chief engineer said as he looked up from the padd he was reading with the report from the Corps of Engineers. "This states that a full engineering team which take 3 months to get this Outpost operational. Are you saying we aren't having that?"

"Nope! Just the people in this room and a few techs from Kumari." Rex replied.

James wondered for a moment or two whether this was some sort of badly executed joke. He'd rested his forearms on the table and now looked at his linked fingers knowing that was a vain hope but this was stretching things to an extreme. It was a fait accompli though, they were here, that was the job and noone was going anywhere until it was completed. He shook his head slightly, sighed resignedly and looked back tomwards Rex.

Simone Langford leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, her bright green eyes studying the hologram of Outpost 915 with intense focus. The faint flicker of amusement she’d shown during Rex’s initial explanation had faded. As the captain outlined the dismal state of their new home, her jaw tightened slightly. When he finished, she glanced at Vannon beside her.

“Well,” she said lightly, though her tone carried a sharp edge, “looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us. If nothing else, it’ll keep us busy.”

Vannon gave a small nod, his expression neutral but thoughtful. “It’s certainly an... ambitious project. The logistical challenges alone could fill several reports.” He glanced toward the hologram again, his voice measured. “But with the right priorities, we can stabilize the essential systems quickly. Provided we don’t run into too many surprises.”

Simone smirked, her tone softening. “When have you ever been on a Starfleet mission without surprises?”

Across the table, Thea frowned slightly, leaning forward to study the submerged portion of the base in the hologram. “How bad is the structural damage underwater?” she asked, her voice quiet but firm.

"Looking at this they'll need replacing which won't be a small task. However, i believe we can get operational without replacing them straight away but they will need to be monitored." The Bolian engineer replied, slowly shaking his head as what he was looking at.

As the conversation continued, Simone turned her attention back to the captain. “Captain,” she said, her tone frank, “with all due respect, what’s the timeline Starfleet Command expects us to work under? Retrofitting and stabilizing an entire outpost while managing relations with the Romulan settlement isn’t exactly a weekend project.”

"We have 4 weeks to make the necessary repairs to make the outpost operational." McCormick said, unconvinced with the timeline. "At such time, Starfleet will class us as operational and start ending work our way.

"As for the Romulans, the Federation council wants us to start aiding the colony as soon as possible. I don't share that assessment, we have enough on our plate with little resources to do what we need to do to the Outpost let alone aiding the Romulans."

Reynar sat with his usual composed posture, his sharp eyes moving between the hologram and the captain. The scope of the task didn’t appear to faze him, though his silence spoke of calculated observation.

Fox, on the other hand, was visibly less composed, shifting in his seat as he stared at the hologram. He muttered under his breath, “Open to the elements, flooded quarters... are we sure Starfleet hasn’t reassigned us to a haunted house?” His comment was more to himself than anyone else, though Reynar’s pointed glance in his direction silenced him quickly.

Vannon exhaled softly and interlaced his fingers, resting his hands on the table. His calm demeanor remained unshaken as he addressed the group. “If nothing else, we’ll need a clear triage plan. We’ll have to focus on systems that will support survival and basic functionality before anything else. It won’t be comfortable, but it’s achievable.”

Stephens attention travelled around the table.
Now that the initial shock and disbelief was beginning to fade most of the team were sounding if not exactly keen then at least slightly optimistic. He wasn't surprised by this for surely they had been selected with that expectation in mind.

"Do we have an ETA on our arrival, sir?" Vannon addressed Rex, eager to start planning so that they could be ready to go once they arrived at their destination.

"Two days. We have two days to make a plan of attack on how to get 915 operational." Rex replied steoming his beard. "Please make sure you get plenty of rest before we arrive as it'll be while before you sleep in a proper bed." He added.

Simone nodded, her eyes scanning the room as the captain's words settled over the group. Though the situation was far from ideal, there was an unspoken understanding that this team, despite their initial doubts, would find a way forward. The challenges of Outpost 915 were steep, but they had their orders... they were Starfleet, and together, they would find a way.

 

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