Mornin!

Posted on Tue Jan 16th, 2018 @ 2:08pm by Lieutenant JG Sandra Garcia & Lieutenant JG Odelle Lin & Captain Michelle Bartlett & Commander Rostra Tang & Major Hailey Weston & Lieutenant Cor Cordale & Lieutenant Commander Shaille Levine & Lieutenant Valeria Mordin & Lieutenant Temperance Zachary & Master Chief Petty Officer Petru Kagan

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Bridge
Timeline: July 6, 2399 @ 0555 AM

Captain's Log, July 6, 2399. Following a lengthy leave, we are preparing to head out for our first mission since the death of the senior staff. I wish I could say I was calm and collected, but I feel a tinge of anxiety as this is now the first time the ship will be under my command in any major capacity. It's not like those old days where I had Captain Myers to stop me if things went off-kilter. This time, the buck stops with me. But more troubling, one doesn't need to be a Betazoid to feel the tension and defeatism that has crept aboard. I don't entirely how to deal with it, myself. But recent duty reports aren't painting a rosy picture of the situation aboard. I'm hoping that our next mission, which is to analyze an anomaly that appears to be showing signs of destabilizing, will allow the crew to come together a bit more and address concerns with lack of discipline.

=/\= BEGIN MISSION =/\=

Michelle and the Alpha Shift team came out of the turbolift, with Michelle heading towards the chairs in the centre. A second had been added at the First Officer's spot for Rostra. Michelle looked over towards them and gave a satisfactory smile. "They work fast. I was expecting we'd have to wait."

"I was surprised as well. But just in time is better than too late, I suppose." the Bajoran Master Chief said. "Good morning, Captain."

"Good morning, Mr. Petru. Report?"

"Sick Bay reports a couple injuries overnight and a member of the crew required treatment for the flu. Engineering reports that they're about 3 hours behind on their tasks for the watch and for the standard maintenance stuff since there were 3 no-shows for duty last night." the Chief of the Boat announced as Michelle made a rather unamused expression. "I'm on that, ma'am. At least two of them are non-Commissioned."

"I expect a full report." Michelle said.

"Of course, Captain. Science continues to work on its caseload, though there were a few absences there as well. Honestly, ma'am.... I'd say a good 10 or 11 percent didn't show up overnight. Across all departments."

"That's 10 percent too high. Even for shore leave." Michelle said. "I'll address that with the senior staff." she added, looking a bit fed up with the absences.

"Otherwise, we remain off alert, and docked safely. No incidents or distress calls overnight." Petru added. "Permission to be relieved, ma'am."

"Very well. I have the bridge. Delta Shift, you are dismissed." Michelle said. "Computer, begin Alpha Shift." she added as the computer chirped and the light intensity increased. She took her seat and pulled up the mission briefing and then turned to Rostra. "We've got to do something about people just not showing up."

"Are you asking me for disciplinary advice?" Rostra said, slightly amused. "I'm more of a velvet glove person. Though honestly in this case I'd say consult with ..."

"... section chiefs and see if it's something serious, or just a general case of the blah's." she offered. "Now, I know, neither of those are really an excuse but..."

"... it helps to know what's the issue, and showing concern goes a long way." she concluded with a pair of smiles.

"You're probably right." Michelle said. She knew the last few weeks had been hard on them but she had clearly underestimated. "I hope the blah are nothing we've done. Or failed to do."

"I think it's primarily the morale problem, ma'am." Hailey said from behind the both of them. She'd had a handful of hours of sleep, but had resolved to be on the bridge at least once a week for the start of Alpha shift for any conferencing with the CO and/or XO. She'd come in under the cover of arriving Alpha crew and quietly come up behind them. "The whole Marine treason situation combined with the Senior Officer Shuffle would shake moat people up."

"I know." Michelle said. "I know everything will be back to normal soon. It can't be easy for them. I just hope the Master Chief won't be too hard on the NCOs over it."

Rostra gave a bit of a jump, and turned both heads to look over at Hailey, having missed her entry entirely. "Dia, you're going to give me a cardial!" she took a moment to catch her breath. "Maybe we should think of something to improve morale? I don't want to say a party but..." she suggested. Well half suggested.

"I mean, folks seemed happy at the bar for the grand opening, right?"

"It's not an entirely unfounded idea." Michelle said. "Perhaps talk to Lieutenant Tink and to Mr. Wade to see what they can come up with." she added. "I actually don't want to flog anyone." she paused a moment, knowing they really had to get underway. "I suppose this anomaly isn't going to take care of itself, is it? Ms. Skyie, clear our departure with New Earth Operations and stand by for further instructions."

"Aye. Ma'am." Calypso replied, looking much better than before she'd 'taken leave', and she tapped a button, "New earth Flight Control, Wellington requests clearance for departure." In her earbux, a reply buzzed, and Cally looked up to the main screen, "New Earth has granted clearance to depart, ma'am."

"Bridge to all stations. Confirm readiness."

"Strat ops confirms ready for departure Captain," Temperance replied, finding herself actually looking forward to getting away from the base and moving on.

"This is Cor down in the boiler room. We're all green across the board, so no time like now to head out."

"This is Doctor Lin in sick bay. Try and go easy on us, Captain." Lin said.

"I'll do my best. Bridge out." Michelle said.

"This is Valeria in Primary Sciences, reporting full readiness." the Ts'usugi's voice carried nicely over the comm.

"Sensors and communications frequencies are fully operational." Garcia replied from Ops

Shaille looked across from the tactical console on the bridge and grinned easily. “Tactical is happy to report that all weapons are locked and loaded, lets go have some fun! I mean, tactical is ready for departure Captain.”

"Set course, heading 433 mark 2. Warp 8." Michelle said.

"Aye aye, Ma'am, course heading 433 mark 2." She ship smoothly began to change course, stars slewing in the screen as she engaged the impulse drive to clear orbit to a safe location, "Engaging warp drive."

"And there we are." Michelle said, then turning to Rostra. "How are the chairs?" she asked

The Dalacari took the moment to kinda half-wiggle in her seats. "You know, not terrible. I have half a mind to requisition some chairs from the Frontier Midnight station." and then she made that face. Like when you have a really good idea, but it's like ten minutes too late to implement.

"I should have requisitioned the station!!"

Michelle chuckled... "I'll admit. It was a bit hard going back to New Earth after seeing it. Our stations are so... mundane by comparison."

Rostra smirked, "It's a logistical nightmare sometimes. Most of our designs are only really feasible because we discovered the Thinking Engine first. Otherwise, oh it'd be a nightmare..."

"... to run a station that big that efficiently. Besides, there's something to be said about the rustic, quaint feel of the New Earth station." she said, teasing, but with a full smile.

"Humanity has accomplished so much. Never forget that." a pause, "And note to self... contact Frontier Midnight to requisition chairs." she essentially announced, while her twin form took the note on a PaDD.

Michelle smirked a bit. "At least where we're heading should be somewhat interesting." she said, pulling up the original briefing memo. "A science vessel in the area picked up some odd readings around the sector. There's a mass that on first sight appears to be a black hole along with several other distortions. People have flown through the area for years but nobody has ever been able to piece together why the distortions are there, never mind why the black hole hasn't actually ever seemed to expand. It's just a big dark spot with several other smaller ones. Only the larger mass has any kind of pull."

Hailey chuckled, "Well, that's about as far from my areas of expertise as it gets. So this one is for you Fleeties, I'll happily keep to my watched and work up the troops to an acceptable standard."

"That's odd behavior for gravity traps." Valeria commented from her station.

"I'm inclined to agree." Rostra said, giving the Ts'usugi a nod, "A gravity trap with the mass of a planet would only be about the size of a small fruit. So it'd take a lot of mass to..."

"... really get it to expand. Just bear in mind that gravity traps aren't like vacuum cleaners. They have an incredible gravity well, but if the Earth were suddenly..."

"... replaced by a gravity trap, or Black Hole, the Moon would still orbit it rather then fall in." Rostra explained. Valeria piped up from the Science Station, "If I may, I'd like to see any readings and visuals from any probes that were sent into the region to check for any red spectrum shift. When an object falls into a gravity trap, to an outside observer it undergoes a red spectrum shift before fading from sight."

"There'd also be the telltale signs of a gravity trap. Heat expulsions, x-ray emissions, and any potential accretion disks." Valeria concluded.

"Of course." Michelle replied. "Honestly, the initial report of the occurrence looked like it was written by a first year cadet." she added. "It's absolutely an anomaly of some sort. But nothing about it screams black hole unless it's a different sort." she said as she pulled up the report and fired it off to the science station. "The readings have been intensifying for several weeks. But the reporting vessel was too cautious to send a probe into it."

"Well, lucky for them we have probes to spare." Rostra said with a smirk, but the smirk faded, "Though, I guess the Wellington is a lot more cautious these days."

"I don't want us getting too close to it but if the probes don't send adequate readings, I may need to have a science team sent in via shuttle to get just close enough it won't get pulled in to.. whatever this thing actually is." Michelle replied

"I agree. Let's be careful." Rostra commented, and Valeria seemed to agree, "In regards to gravity traps, please err on the side of distance." the rabbitess advised, with a smirk.

"I'll let your pilot know." Michelle replied. "ETA should be about 7 hours at current speed. I'm going to get caught up some paperwork and make sure Commander Honn isn't panicking for her first conference call." she turned to Rostra. "You have the bridge."

Rostra gave a pair of nods, "I have the bridge." she confirmed.

==================

Captain Michelle Bartlett
Commanding Officer
USS Wellington

Master Chief Petty Officer Petru Kagan
Chief of the Boat
USS Wellington

Lieutenant JG Odelle Lin
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Wellington

Lieutenant JG Sandra Garcia
Operations Officer
USS Wellington

Comm. Rostra Tang
Mission Adviser and Keeper of the Bridge
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Valeria Mordin
Science Bunny
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Cor Cordale
Chief Engineer
Beef Wellington

Major Hailey Weston
Marine CO, 2nd Officer, And Really Tired But Not Showing It
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Calypso Skyie
Chief Flight Officer
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Temperance Zachary
Strategic Operations
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Shaille Levine
Tactical Officer
USS Wellington