Episode 1: "Getting to know you" (THREAD CLOSED)

[Guest]

OOC: This episode thread is a place for new crewmembers to get to know one another on the Incursion while we're getting everything set up. Please feel free to fill us in on your character's backstory here. The more we get to know you, the better!

IC:
Location: Utopia Planitia Fleetyards, Mars. Waystation Charlie, Docking Port 314. USS Incursion

The doors to the turbolift bearly hissed open as Captain James Takahashi stepped slowly onto the bridge. The command deck of the Incursion was eerily quiet, all of her workstations’ empty, consoles and displays dimly lit while the main computer was still in maintenance mode.  The ship had been in docked at Utopia Planitia for the last three months, as it was undergoing a major systems retrofit.  As far as James was concerned, staying docked for service was a pleasant change of pace from the escort ship’s last assignment.

In the weeks prior to coming to Mars, Incursion’s crew had been taxed heavily while maintaining a defense patrol between the Romulan Neutral Zone and Federation space. Since the destabilization of the Romulan Senate from the activities of Praetor Shinzon, the Romulan government had been experiencing intense difficulties maintaining the security of their borders. Smugglers and pirates had been seen pilfering technology and supplies on both the Federation and Romulan sides of the border, in order to sell them in black-market arms trading. Incursion’s assignment, along with the Eleventh Tactical Fleet, had been to intercept as many arms traders as they could and discourage trafficking along the Neutral Zone.

The problem was that for every Federation vessel that Starfleet sent to the border, there seemed to be at least five smuggling ships. Incursion hadn’t suffered many casualties,  the pirates just kept them running around. The pirates were clever and taxed the Starfleet crew both physically and mentally as they attempted all sorts of ways to attempt to elude detection. By the time that Captain Takahashi’s ship had been reassigned, Incursion had been running quadruple shifts for almost six weeks.

That was just to keep up with all of the distress calls that had been reported on the Federation side of the border, not make any process to stop the piracy. His crew was exhausted and everyone was relieved to be pulled from the NZ.

***

As Incursion was planning to spend so much time over the crimson planet, James gave the crew the opportunity to be placed on shore-leave.  To his delight, over ninety-percent of them took the captain up on his offer. The shipyards had plenty of technicians that could handle the activities of the retrofit, and the crew could use the rest. Initially, James had only planned to spent the first week remaining at shipyard himself, just so that he had time to complete all of the mission reports that he had neglected while he had been on active duty.

However, as the days passed, he watched as Incursion had been splayed open from steam to stern. The ship had almost every exterior bulkhead removed, and while all of her major systems were replaced . The ship had been stripped basically to the spaceframe.  As he watched through the viewports, James found himself entranced by the entire process of the Planitia shipyard crews.  He made sure that the station’s quartermaster sent him daily status reports to review, and after a while, the captain even found himself attending some of the maintenance staff meetings. It may have been uncomfortable for the engineers involved to have a captain shadowing over them, but knowing that his ship was so exposed, caused James to experience a certain degree of vulnerability. He wanted to know what was happening at all times while Incursion was in pieces

After a while, the department chiefs at the shipyard just found themselves reporting directly to Captain Takahashi, just so they didn’t have to repeat their status report if they ran into the captain randomly. He couldn’t just leave Incursion alone, even if she was in the hands of Federation technicians.

Before he knew it, the three months had passed and the crew was scheduled to begin returning to the shipyard.

The bridge carried a scent of new carpet, as James made his way around. He ran his fingers over every control panel and display, before finally making his way toward his command chair. The seat was freshly stitched, squeaking just a little as the captain settled into it. Gently resting his arms over the sides of the chair, James rocked slightly back and forth as he settled himself.  The main viewer showed the docking pylons of the waystation attached to them, Worker Bee pods moving back and forth delivering supplies.

James took a moment to close his eyes. If one listened closely, he swore he could hear the clanks and crashing of worker crews as they worked on the decks underneath him.  Incursion was a small ship, so it was easy to pick up every small sound between the bulkheads.  At least James thought so. Although every starship captain thought they were bonded as one with their vessel.  A slender smile rose on the edges of James’ lips as he kept his eyes closed. It was rare to have a quiet moment on one’s bridge, and the captain wanted to take every advantage of it. In his mind’s eye, he imagined his refreshed vessel soaring through the depths of the Quadrant, soaring around nebula and other special phenomenon. Truly free.

“Hello ship…” he whispered quietly.

(Tag all)

[Hatter3127]

Lt. Commander Peter Mitchell sat in the bar sipping a cold beer, enjoying the feel of the loud music, and the way the bar tender kept the grav plating in the bar set to "off", preferring to keep the bar at 0.38 G's, or, as it was locally known, Mars Standard.
It made the larger, and scotch chasers add just that little bit extra light headed effect.
Over the 3 months shore leave they had acquired, Pete had discovered that this was by in large the best bar in the whole solar sector. He knew that many of the crew had already started to report back to their stations on Incursion, but found him self with no such desires. He checked in once a week to his desk, just to ensure everything was okay, but soon discovered that much of the work he was returning to the ship for could be done remotely from a data Padd. The last 12 months on the edge of the Neutral Zone with the Romulans had been particularly long and trying, and, as XO, Mitchell found that he was chiefly responsible for questioning any "undesirables" attempting to cross the boarder, as well as the boarding, and searching of any suspect vessels entering Federation Space. That was on top of his regular day to day duties on board ship that being an Executive Officer brought with it.
Pete took another draw on his warming bottle, when he felt more than heard his comm badge go off in his jeans pocket.
He reached into his pocket while standing, and took out a strip of latinum, placing it on the table for the grateful dancing Orion girl dancing on the table, before draining his scotch and exiting the loud bar answering the call, holding the Comm Badge in his hand.
=^=Mitchell here, go.=^=
=^=Errr Commander we could do with talking to you about an issue regarding re-quartering the crew.=^= A female NCO replied. Chief Petty Officer Shaw, a young blonde moderately attractive woman as he recalled.
=^=I'm on route Chief. ETA 10 minutes.=^= With that Pete knew shore leave was nearly at an end, and made his way to the local transporter pad.

[Celeste Day]

Celeste ducked between two lumbering Klingons and then maneuvered with grace around a group of technicians, all while clutching her pack on her shoulder. “Move, move, move”, she half whispered/half willed the people around her.  She was late for her shuttle, as usual.  Her parents wanting to spend that last possible seconds with her before she left on her first assignment.

Well, her adopted parents.  Her real parents had died when she was real young and the Day’s, her parents best friends had taken her in.  She had even taken their last name to honor them.

Anyway, they wanted to get in their last hugs which mean Celeste had to run to make it to the shuttle.  Turning a corner, she entered the hangar at full speed.  Up ahead, her shuttle was closing its doors and starting to lift off.

“Keep that door open!” Celeste shouted across the hangar.  She grabbed her bag securely and, in full stride, jumped up on the ramp that was now 2 feet off the ground.  She stepped in, allowing the door to close.  Inside were just a few other people, mostly technicians, but also another Ensign who was smiling at her.  Celeste smiled back.  She knew Henry.

“Nice Jump Spots”, Henry stated, making room for her to sit by him.  “Next time, try to be here on time.”

Celeste slugged him in the arm for the nickname, but it lacked any real sting.  Henry and her had attended Starfleet together and had become friends.  While nothing romantic had ever happened between them, Celeste had a sneaking suspicion that he liked her.

“Yeah, tell that to my parents.  They just wouldn’t let me go without another hug”, replied Celeste, taking a seat.  “Where are you off to?”

Henry looked down at his assignment, but Celeste knew he had it memorized.  “I’m bound for the USS Lexington.  They have taken me on as a Science Officer.”

“Wonderful”, said Celeste, looking out the window.  It was more to see the shipyard, but some of it was to avoid the longing that she saw in Henry’s eyes.  Better to not give him any hope, she thought.  The awkward silence continued for a little bit and then she spoke.  “I’m heading off to the USS Incursion, as a Security Officer.  Small ship, we’ll probably be battling the Borg tomorrow.”

Immediately Celeste could have kicked herself.  She saw the concern build up on Henry’s face.  “Of course”, she said immediately.  “We will probably just be babysitting a Science ship that has to study some space flower for 2 years.”

By now the shuttle was landing at one of the arms of the shipyard.  Celeste would be grateful to leave this shuttle which was growing tinier and tinier by the moment.  “Well, Henry, off to see the Wizard.  Take care.”

“You too”, Henry said, a lump rising in his throat.  Before he could say anything else, Celeste made her escape and disappeared into the crowd.  

The flow of the crowd was working with her and she presenting came to the docking clamp that led to the USS Incursion. “Home Sweet Home”, she said and entered the ship.

[Guest]

The captain continued to sit alone on the bridge, absorbed in his thoughts as he thought about what Incurision needed to do to become spaceworthy again. With all of the systems that were being upgraded during the retrofit, the ship was scheduled for a brief shakedown cruise before they headed into deep space. With some of the personnel changes, several new crewmembers would be getting used how the Defiant-class vessel liked to operate. One of the elements that one had to get used to with a crew as small as Incursion was that a change of one or two people would make a huge impact amongst the crew.

James and Peter would have to hold a meeting with the department heads once they got underway, just to see if how everyone was fitting in. He'd make sure to talk to him about it when his XO came back onboard. In the meantime, Captain Takahashi started to mentally go through all of the new faces that he knew had been reassigned onboard, just making sure to put the proper names to them.

After a few moments, the bridge doors suddenly hissed open again. Shocking the captain, James' eyes snapped opened as he spun around in the command chair. He moved immediately standing to his feet, the PADD in his lap clattering to the deck, as to address whoever was entering the bridge. To his slight embarrassment, a team of technicians exited the turbolift, rungs of optical cable strung amongst them as they shuffled towards the helmstation. The four techs gave the Captain an awkward nod, followed by a group of "Sir's" as they dragged the large cabling over the deck in order to complete the work that had intended on the console.

James slowly reached out an retrieved his fallen PADD as he sat himself back in the command chair, observing the men working for a moment. However, after a moment, he could see that the engineers kept peeking over at him with small awkward glances. The captain let a small chuckle slip past his lips, as he could tell that it was making them feel uncomfortable. Without saying a word, James decided to make himself scarce just so that they would be able to finish more quickly, heading toward the turbolift at the rear of the bridge.

**

"Deck 2", James said as he decided to spend some time in the mess hall, and actually read the contents of the PADD that he had been carrying with him. As the lift started it's brief decent, he activated the reader and began scanning the contents. It was mostly nothing interesting. Status reports, assignment rescheduling and other requests for equipment transfers. The doors of the lift hissed open, and James simply walked out onto the deck while continuing to read.

As he walked down the hall, flipping through each page of the PADD, he neglected to see who was passing through the halls around him. Suddenly he found himself jarred backwards, as he walked into another crewman with crash! It wasn't an intense impact, but it was enough to cause James to stumble backwards and trip over his feet. The captain sprawled somewhat ungracefully to the deck, PADD clattering away from him. James found himself laughing embarrassingly as he reached over to pick up his PADD for the second time in as many minutes, and quickly stood to his feet.

He saw that standing in front of him was a young Starfleet ensign, carrying several bags and somewhat regaining her composure as she probably realized that the impact as sent her commanding officer crashing to the floor. James slightly raised his hand, trying to apologize. The impact had been his fault after all, and trying to walk and read at the same time was never one of his strengths.

"I'm sorry there, Ensign. I just wasn't looking where I was going! I hope you're alright...", he said apologetically as he wiped off the front of his uniform and gave her as a warm smile he could muster, given the awkward introduction.

(Tag Celeste)

[Harper]

John walked around his new ship he was tired and pissed off seeing as in the last year he went from being a Star Ship captain to getting tripped demotion down to LT. He was glad his kids were all grown up now seeing as his wife hated him and would try and take them away again. He sighed he was getting old and on the track he was on he was far more likely to end up kicked out of Star Fleet and seeing as how this was his second chance needless to say he was most likely on a short rope with Star Fleet command. When he first started walking aimlessly but seeing as the ship was not that large being only 3 decks it did not take him long to find himself back on the deck 1 where his security station was as well as his quarters/office same with the rest of the senior staff. Other than Engineering they seemed to have quarters and a small office in engineering even the CO and XO didn't have that.

In John's 17 year Star Fleet career this was by far the smallest ship he had ever been on, for significantly portions of it he was stationed and a space station and earth both places he did well at most likely because it was easier to avoid those he pissed off. When he was done walking he ended up in front of his terminal bringing up security protocols and just some more general info about the ship. There was Currently 46 crew on the ship and the ship was small only the Captain, XO and department heads had their own quarters the rest were shared plus the 2 that remained empty for 'guests'.

His brig had 2 holding cells and a desk overall he could say this was a very small ship, but one that packed more firepower than the other ships he had been on thus far. If there was a battle there was a good chance this ship would be called to fight in it. John let out small sigh this ship wasn't even big enough to have a gym or a holodeck the only to do on your spare time was read or interact with your very limited crew mates, to bad John tended to not get along with people

[Hatter3127]

"No, that one goes there, this one goes at the back!" Lt. Commander Mitchell was still stood in his jeans in t-shirt, with a comm badge over his left breast as shouted at the team transferring supplies to the ship, just another one of those tedious jobs that need doing, Pete mused to him self. "Come on now people, this really shouldn't be this difficult!"
He rubbed his right hand down the side of his face as more supplies came in, and glanced at the Padd the NCO handed to him for the requisition. "Oh come on, these aren't even for us. Read the name on the side of the ship when you come in next time guys. In-curs-ion. These are for the Truman." Pete sighed as the incorrect supplies were backed up out of his cargo bay, and turned to face the station staff arranging his supplies "Listen people we're leaving with in the next 24 hours, if you people are still here, we're going with out dropping you off!

[Celeste Day]

"Deck 2"  For some reason, Celeste was getting a bit antsy.  It was a small ship, but she had already gotten turned twice.  She failed to call it lost as the ship was so small, probably no more than 4 desk.  Can you image if I was on something larger, like a Galaxy Class Starship?

Finally she found the right deck and was on her way to her quarters.  With such a small ship, she knew that she would be sharing quarters with another female.  Hopefully she won't have alot of boyfriends onboard and doesn't snore.  Heck, she might even be Klingon  She was lost in her thoughts when she passed the other turbolift.  The door suddenly opened and another officer stepped out

Right into Celeste.  His PADD went flying, She almost lost all her belongs when her bag slid from her shoulder.  Spinning around she just managed to catch her balance before rubbing her face on the wall.  As she regained her composure, she saw that the person who she had almost plowed over was in fact, the Captain.

"Oh my Gosh, I'm so sorry, sir.  I wasn't looking where I was going."  Celeste's face burned with a blush

"I'm sorry there, Ensign. I just wasn't looking where I was going! I hope you're alright...", he said apologetically as he wiped off the front of his uniform and gave her as a warm smile he could muster, given the awkward introduction.

"Well, that was a pretty auspicious start to my careeer. Clobbered the CO in the first 15 minutes on the ship.  I wonder what I'll accomplish tomorrow", said Celeste dryly.  Then she focused on the Captain.  Before she could think, her mouth just opened.  "You don't look Asian."  Realizing what she had done, she covered her mouth with her hand, trying to physically keep anything else from coming out.

- tag Takahashi -

[Guest]

James let a laugh slip out at the Ensign's comment, as he gave her a small shrug of his shoulders, mixed with a small uncharacteristic snort. Although he was the commanding officer of a starship, that didn't mean that he had to walk around with a steely glare all of the time. Captain Takahashi wasn't without his sense of humor, and it wasn't the first time that his surname had lead to confusion amongst someone that he met.

"I get that a lot.", James replied, shrugging the comment off as easily as one would comment about the weather. "My father is Japanese, but my mother was African, so hence I have the last name of Takahashi. It happens more often than you think", he said with a simple joking smile.  James' family history was pretty standard amongst long-standing career officers. His father, Hiro, was a civilian doctor. His mother, Jayla, was a retired Starfleet vice admiral. So there wasn't much to talk about. James pretty much had two options had a child, grow up as a doctor or in Starfleet. So he chose the latter.

Bringing himself back to attention in the present, he noticed that Ensign Day was standing slightly embarrassed in front of him still. He tilted his head slightly, clearly trying to recall the ensign's name from memory. "You're Ensign Day, correct? Security Division, under Lieutenant Dresden, yeah?" the captain asked, with a pretty good feel that he had gotten her name right. Even with all of the personnel transfers, Incursion's crew wasn't large, so it was easy to notice when someone new was coming onboard.

(Tag Celeste)

James gave another small nod,  the smile never falling from his face. "Excellent. Well, given your bags, I can see that you've just come onboard. So I'll let you drop off your things before you check in with Mr. Dresden." James gave her a small bow, prior to giving a childish wink as he stood up and resumed his walk down the hallway. "I, on the other hand, will try to make sure that I watch where I'm going. Welcome onboard!", the captain replied in a surprisingly cheerly, dismissing himself as he made his way around the corner.

***

That was the thing with Captain Takahashi. Those who worked with him, traditionally found him to be cheerful and relaxed as far as a commanding officer was concerned. He might want to overview everything, but he let you get along with your job, unless there was a need to step in. Most people found him to just be cheery and somewhat enlightening.

That is, unless you found him in battle. Anyone who had reviewed James' service record, would know about his multiple combat commendations, especially during the Dominion conflict. James had taken command of Incursion, during the Dominion War and had been instrumental leading in the defense of Deep Space Twelve. He had developed a defensive posture that had allowed Federation force to protect the space station with just twenty-one vessels, most of them shuttle-craft, until reinforcements arrived.

Granted, James was no Benjamin Sisko, but those who fought with him would say that he was pretty close.

***

James tapped his combadge, as he made his way into the mess hall. Like with much of the rest of the ship, the room was empty for at least a few more hours before many of the crew began to flood back onboard. As he settled down to one of the tables, he set up a communication with his Executive Officer. =/\= Takahashi to Mitchell. Pete, how we looking on getting underway? =/\=

(Tag Pete)

James couldn't help but chuckle again at the response, but he doubted that the combadge could pick it up. =/\= Well, if they keep sending the wrong materials, we're just going to take it with us and launch them out of airlocks as we pass by like we did on Draken IV.  I know you're doing your best. Just let me know if anything starts to slip, alright? =/\=, James finished off as he closed the com-link. He knew that he didn't have to babysit his XO, but the two had been working together long enough that Pete knew that's how James just liked to work.

'Let me make sure that I said it, so if it blows up, you can't say I told you so.' Classic Captain thinking.

James began reading the reports coming from his PADD again before the device vibrated gently, telling him that he had an incoming transmission. Tapping the buttons on the keypad, it was a recorded transmission from Rear Admiral Kanti, head of the Eleventh Tactical Wing that Incursion had been assigned to before coming to Utopia Planitia. The captain took in a small intake of breath, before he pressed the button to open the message. He had a good idea that he wasn't going to like what the admiral was going to have to tell him.

A face of an eldery African man appeared on the screen, his face furrowed as it was clear that the issues of the sector were weighing heavily on his mind. The old man attempted to make a smile for the camera, but it clearly fell as he started to speak.

=/\= James. I hope that you were able to take some time off during your ship's retrofit, because we need you back here by the Romulan Neutral Zone. The amount of piracy in the area has increased dramatically, and the pirates are becoming better armed. We lost the Seracuse and the Miami, just this week in skirmishes while attempting to defend Federation outposts on our side of the border. Reports said that these pirates have been able to procure several Peregrine-class tactical fighters, which has made them more aggressive when attacking our border colonies. =/\=

James took a moment to pause the recording and let out the breath he was holding. The Seracuse (Saber-class) and Miami (Norway Class) were both well-armed border patrol vessels. He knew both Captains Reynolds and Marta well from the time that Incursion had been working the Neutral Zone with them. His eyes narrowed in a pained frustration at the lost of comrades, and the crews under their command.

Before hand, Starfleet had just been dealing with poorly modified freighters, being used as smuggling ship  If the pirates were getting access to more dangerous technology, and were destroying starships, then there was a much larger force at work. The captain hit 'Resume' on the PADD to hear the rest of the recording, although he knew what it was going to say.

=/\= The Incursion has been reassigned back under the Eleventh Tactical Wing. James, I need to back here immediately. You need to find out how these pirates are getting access to such technology, and stop the flow of weapons. If I could see your face right now, I bet you're saying, "What the hell do you think I've been doing, Admiral?", and trust me I understand. Hopefully there is a "Sir", at the end of those thoughts, Captain. But right now it's more important than ever that you figure out how to stop this, or we're going to have a much bigger issue than some starships being destroyed in action. We can't have a destabilized Neutral Zone. Whatever the cost. Kanti out. =/\=

James let the PADD clatter on the desk, with a slight frustration as he tapped his combadge again. =/\= Pete. James. Meet me in my ready room. Now.=/\=, he said, a heavy sigh covering the end of the com, as he strode of out of the mess hall and back to the turbolift. He knew that Pete would hear the change of tone in his voice from just a few minutes ago.

It looked like shore-leave was well and truly over.

(Tag XO Mitchell.)

[Hatter3127]

=/\= Takahashi to Mitchell. Pete, how we looking on getting underway? =/\=

=^=Well we're all set to take one hundred and forty thousand self sealing stem bolts, 3 crates of hydro-spanners, and.... What the hell is this. 19 tonnes of blue grass seed? Oh come on people. Does this look like a frickin' landscapers vessel!=^= Lt. Commander Mitchell shouted the last bit at the technical support staff from Utopia Planitia.
=/\= Well, if they keep sending the wrong materials, we're just going to take it with us and launch them out of airlocks as we pass by like we did on Draken IV.  I know you're doing your best. Just let me know if anything starts to slip, alright? =/\=

Pete laughed to him self a little. =^= Yes sir.=^= For as much as it was these menial tasks that made the job of Executive Officer a class A pain in the butt, Captain Takahashi always seemed know just what to say to sooth his brain. "Get this crap off my deck. Self sealing stem bolt... What the hell you people thinking! CHIEF!" Pete shouted trying to get the crew bosses attention "Get this wrong again and I'll have you personally scrubbing the atmospheric processors on the next Gorn ship to enter the system. I suggest you get this into your skull. The name of this ship is USS Incursion, our Address is NCC 78902. We're a Defiant class ship, and don't need GOD DAMN GARDENING SUPPLIES! Now go. GO! Quicker Cheif!" Lt. Cmd Mitchell smiled to him self as the crew chief scurried away quickly, and began issuing orders to his team with renewed enthusiasm.

=/\= Pete. James. Meet me in my ready room. Now.=/\=

=^=On my way Captain.=^= Mitchell instantly noticed the change in his COs voice. Things had just gotten very serious, very quickly.
Pete walked out into the hall and nearly walked into an officer in a yellow topped uniform. The young lady had the markings the were a tell tale give away of being a trill. Mitchell quickly searched through his brain scratch for details about the new influx of crew.
No name, but security rang a bell.
"Ensign, I need this organising. A-Sap. I have to be upstairs with the Captain, and from his tone of voice, I need to be there yesterday." The XO ordered, before noticing the slightly bewildered look on the young security officers face. Suddenly he realised he was still in his civilian clothes, only his Comm badge giving him away as being in the Fleet. Pete wiped his sweating and dirty right hand on his jeans before starting again, offering his hand out "Oh yeah, Lt. Commander Mitchell by the way. I'm the XO round here. Listen I gotta fly. and he shouted, as he headed down the corridor "If they don't listen to you Ensign, just user them for phaser practice! You can do this Ensign!" Pete shouted breaking into a run, headed for senior officers quarters.

[Guest]

James slightly slumped in his chair as he found himself flipping through page after page of incident reports that had been recorded by the Eleventh Tactical Wing. In the three month that Incursion had been away from the border, there had been sixty three separate attacks on their side of the border. Federation convoys, colonies and now starships all had reports of items being stolen or destroyed. A handful of reports had come in from the Romulan government that they had been experiencing pirate attacks, however they lacked the same level of detail of what had been disrupted.

Even though the Romulans had informally become allies with the Federation, during the Dominion conflict, it was still disturbing to Captain Takahashi to read any reports that came through from Romulus via any official channels. Years of Starfleet experience always told him that the Romulans had some ulterior motive. Although that may not be the case in this situation, but it was something worth thinking about that they might be more involved with the attacks than Starfleet had initially considered.

It was just a gut feeling, but something that chewed at James slightly.

The doors to his ready room opened, and Lieutenant Commander Mitchell strode in. James smirked as he saw Pete's informal attire of jeans and a t-shirt. He knew that his executive officer had decided to come onboard a day or so early in order to ensure that supply transfers went smoothly, but something must have grabbed his attention to dive straight into work. That was Mitchell for you though. Regardless of the situation, he always gave his full effort. That's why James enjoyed having him as his exec.

"We're going back to the Zone, Pete," the captain said without any formal introduction, tossing his comrade the PADD that he had been using, after hitting "Send" on an important message to Lieutenant Dresden. "The pirates are becoming more aggressive. We lost the Seracuse and the Miami..." James paused with a clenched jaw, having a moment to re-live the frustration he had felt when the Admiral had told him the shocking news.

<Mitchell>

James shook his head with a slightly frustrated grimace. "During the last six weeks that we were there, we weren't able to make any headway into the situation. You know, as well as I do that the best we had been able to do were drive off pirate attacks. We barely got any intelligence to know much about whatever organization is behind this, where they are based, or really what their true objectives are."

<Mitchell>

"At maximum warp, it will take almost three days to reach the NZ. In that time, I want you to work with Lieutenant Dresden and investigate the details behind each one of these attacks. See if you can find any patterned behavior. Who and where they attacked. What they took. Anything that we could use to figure out someway to anticipate what their next targets might be." James said as he stood up and turned to a katana that he had mounted on his wall.

His fingers ran slowly over the sheath, eched with Japanese kanji, showing some deep thought before he turned and looked out the small viewport, toward the Planitia shipyard beyond. "Something is building, Pete. I want to find out what it is, and I wanted it stopped..." the captain said as he turned around to his trusted exec.

"I've always forwarded these reports to Lieutenant Dresden, with a message that he should be expecting you. I'll manage the remainder of the storage and launch operations from the shipyard.  You just find me some answers. Dismissed.", he said as the Lieutenant Commander turned to exit.

"Oh and Pete, change into your uniform while you're on duty, would you? I don't want to feel jealous that I missed my vacation because I spent it all here", he joked lightly.



(Tag Michell and Dresden)

[Celeste Day]

The CO laughed at her comment and shrugged.  "I get that a lot.", he said.  Celeste got the notion that he was actually amused, not insulted by her comment.  She dropped her hand from her mouth, but she was still blushing.  

"My father is Japanese, but my mother was African, so hence I have the last name of Takahashi. It happens more often than you think.  You're Ensign Day, correct? Security Division, under Lieutenant Dresden, yeah?"

[color=gold]At the mention of her name and rank, she snapped to attention. “YESSIR!”, she said a little too emphatically and a little too loud. “Fresh from the Academy.” She got a nerdy look on her face. “I figured it would be better to be early and get my bearings. Maybe make a good impression on the CO by running over him in the hallway”, she said, making light of the situation now that he had done it./color]

"Excellent. Well, given your bags, I can see that you've just come onboard. So I'll let you drop off your things before you check in with Mr. Dresden.  I, on the other hand, will try to make sure that I watch where I'm going. Welcome onboard.”

“Thank you sir.”  With that, the Captain headed around the corner and Celeste was left in the hallway to die of embarrassment.  She waited a moment; maybe to see if she actually would die, but nothing happened so she continued on to her quarters.

They would be just passed one of the cargo bays.

Celeste stopped for a moment and looked at the computer terminal next to the cargo bay.  By now, she was getting use to using these consoles for help.  Damn Starfleet and making all the corridors look the same.  Had she just come out of this cargo bay?  No, that couldn’t be right, she was on a lower floor.  What if it took up two decks.  Well, crap!  “I’ll just keep moving down this way, I suppose.”  By now the bag was getting heavy and she just wanted to sit down and take her shoes off.  She turned to continue down the hallway and only made two steps when the cargo bay doors opened.

A Human Male (Pete) walked out into the hall and nearly walked into her.  Celeste jumped back and squeaked a bit as yet another person on this ship jumped out at her.  If I don’t die of a heart attack by the end of our mission, it will be a miracle.

This person just stared at her for a second and then spoke.  “Ensign, I need this organized, A-Sap. I have to be upstairs with the Captain, and from his tone of voice, I need to be there yesterday." Celeste stared at him for a second and then looked behind her to see if he was speaking to someone else.  Who was this man?  "Oh yeah, Lt. Commander Mitchell by the way. I'm the XO round here. Listen I gotta fly.  If they don't listen to you Ensign, just user them for phaser practice! You can do this Ensign!"

“Just great”, sounded off Celeste.  “I’ve managed to nearly be run over by the CO and the XO within moments of each other.  Perhaps I should go back to Starfleet Academy into Engineering and design these doors to be transparent so this won’t happen.”  Sighing, she glanced inside the cargo bay.  It was indeed a different one and it was full of activity.  Crates were being brought on and others were being taken off.  Shaking her head, she walked inside the cargo bay.  As the doors shut, she dropped her bags on the ground and pulled out her phaser, making sure it was on stun.  Then she cleared her throat.

“I’ve been granted authority by Lt Commander Mitchell to shoot you if this isn’t done right.” She aimed at one of the closest techs and depressed the trigger.  The stun bolt hit him and knocked him to the floor.  “That was a warning.  Chief, bring me the manifest and I’ll help you sort out the crates.”  She looked over the PADD that he brought and realized the issue.  The supplies for the USS Incursion had been mixed up with the USS Excursion.  She quickly sent a message off to the Lt. Commander about the mixup and then contacted the station’s Quartermaster to get it resolved.  Soon the appropriate crates were on their way and the useless materials were being beamed off the ship.  Celeste sat back.  At least she could do one thing right today.  She was happy with herself.

Until she looked at the man lying unconscious on the floor.  Yep, probably shouldn’t have done that.

[Hatter3127]

"We're going back to the Zone, Pete, the pirates are becoming more aggressive. We lost the Seracuse and the Miami..."

Pete looked over the Padd, which contained a list of casualties, along with a long list of hit and run attacks made along the boarder. And rubbed his hand across his eyes. "Looks like the buggers are getting braver.

"During the last six weeks that we were there, we weren't able to make any headway into the situation. You know, as well as I do that the best we had been able to do were drive off pirate attacks. We barely got any intelligence to know much about whatever organization is behind this, where they are based, or really what their true objectives are."

"Damn straight we don't. Hide and sneak champs of the frickin' quadrant. Make us look like a bunch of chumps." Lt. Cmd. Mitchell said off handishly. "What's the plan then boss?"

"At maximum warp, it will take almost three days to reach the NZ. In that time, I want you to work with Lieutenant Dresden and investigate the details behind each one of these attacks. See if you can find any patterned behavior. Who and where they attacked. What they took. Anything that we could use to figure out someway to anticipate what their next targets might be."


Lt. Cmd Mitchell stopped in his chair as he watched his CO stand up, and cross over towards the "trophies wall", as it was known among "his" staff. Anybody who didn't know Takahashi would have stood and made to leave, but Pete knew the captain better than that by now, and sat waiting for him to finish.


"Something is building, Pete. I want to find out what it is, and I wanted it stopped... I've always forwarded these reports to Lieutenant Dresden, with a message that he should be expecting you. I'll manage the remainder of the storage and launch operations from the shipyard.  You just find me some answers. Dismissed."


"Yes sir." Mitchell stood and went to exit the office with out another word. The situation was clearly getting under the COs skin, and if there was one thing that Pete knew an XOs job was, was to keep the annoying stuff out of the Commanding Officers hair.


"Oh and Pete, change into your uniform while you're on duty, would you? I don't want to feel jealous that I missed my vacation because I spent it all here"


Pete stood in the doorway and "Jim, I did invite you, so don't start with the guilt trip... Besides which you know you're only jealous of how I good I look in this! He winked at his CO, and friend.

********
=^=Yes sir, I understand that.=^=
=^=I mean how the hell did your officer even know that the phaser was set to stun and not one of the kill settings=^=
=^=I assure you commander that all our officers are fully trained in the use of firearms commander.=^=

=^=You goddamned space jocks are all the same. No respect for us behind the front lines. With out us people in supply, logistics and support you'd have been beached a long time ago Lt. Cmd. Now I demand retribution for this heinous act against my team.=^=
=^=With all due respect commander, we're about to leave for the neutral zone with in the next few hours. I'll see that adequate punishment is given and have a report sent to you sir. Now if you'll forgive me sir, I have my duties to be attending to. Mitchell out.=^= Pete closed the channel and opened a new one =^= Mitchell to Ensign day, my office, now.=^= Pete slumped in his chair, and mused it was going to be "one of those" kinds of tour of duty. =^=Computer chase up the location of Lt. Dresden, and arrange an appointment with the Lt for later today.=^=


<tag day and dresden>

[Celeste Day]

=^= Mitchell to Ensign day, my office, now.=^=

Celeste looked up towards the speaker where the message had been relayed.  "I'll be right there."  She looked back at her sparring partner right as she grabbed Celeste's arm and twisted.  Continuing to turn the arm, she forced Celeste to hit the ground.

"Well that really isn't fair.  Did you see I was preoccupied?", she asked as she sat up, rubbing her shoulder.  Her opponent, another security officer just shrugged an smiled.  "Crime looks for weakness and that is what you showed.  Maybe next time you will keep your eyes on the prize."

"Great", said Celeste, standing up.  "I get lectured by a walking cliche.  Speaking of a lecture, I guess it is time to get my arse reamed by the XO, though it was his suggestion.  Catch you later Kat."  Celeste exited the small cargo bay that doubled as their sparring room.  The correct supplies had been loaded post haste into the Incursion's bay, but shipyard security was none too please with her means.  Medics had come in the check out the technician and okayed him to return to work the following day, but today he would be resting.  "He should thank me for giving him a nap and vacation", but that probably won't be the issue.

Wiping off her sweat, she decided to forego a change of clothes and went straight to the XO's office.  News travels fast on a small ship and it seemed that they had a live feed of what happened to blast to the entire shipyard.  She got a few frowns, some groans and a handful of smirks and whispers.  Sighing, she buzzed the door for the XO.  Looking down, she was still armed with her phaser.  "Should I check to see if it was stun still, or would that be considered bad form?", she wondered.

-tag xo -

[Harper]

John was sitting in his quarters going over his crew files most of the ship was filled with people who have been on star ships before which was good as this ship unlike what most people would be serving on was a battle ship. A ship designed only for combat as such most of the time she would be being sent into dangerous situations. She also had a small crew most ships run 3 shifts in 8 hours shifts the difference here is there was a split of 8 and 12 hour it meant more work and more stress of the Officers, last thing you needed in combat on a ship with low number of crew that is already partly over worked was to have some one panic and make a mistake and make things worse. Even if you did get out of the situation and you had to relieved or brig that would just create more work and stress and more chances for mistakes.

John didn't want this station he made no qualms about that, if he had a choice he would have liked to go back to a star base or a major planet. His strengths were no space combat or tactical away team missions, not that his scores every time he had to do one wasn't in the upper epsilon they were.... barley so he was the worst of the best, okay even the people who got called the worst of the best were better than he was but damn it he was still in that category for marks. His strengths were investigation it was what he did for a living before being enlisted in star fleet.

A Ensign Day showing up on his padd interrupted his musing when he saw she was just out of the academy
he let out a disproving sigh, that quickly turned into a grown when he saw an official complaint filed against the ensign dated less than an hour ago. Why was he not contacted she was in his department she was his response ability. Just when he was getting ready to send the call the young ensign his padd had a notice show up that the XO a man younger than him self was his boss, he was getting to old for this.

John walked out of his quarters/office and headed over to XO office which was also his quarters but him being more important than John was bigger and had a small separate room which must house his bed. John was reading the report on the way over the Ensign had shot some one how moronic and idiotic can a person be, when he got his hands on her she was going to be in deep trouble. He walked into the room to see Ensign Day already there.

"Sir may I ask you why you have Ensign Day here," rage was barley below the surface of his face, and just the fairest hint of it in his voice. If an officer under his command was in trouble he had ever damn right to be here, plus he was sure he was far more pissed off at her than he was since in the report it said that she said the XO had given her permission to do it.

<Tag Day/Hatter>

[Guest]

James walked onto the main bridge, making his way immediately to the command chair as he let out a small sigh. Flipping over one of the data panels that were mounted into the armrest, the Captain activated the screen as he read through the final steps of the launch schedule. Ninety eight percent of the crew was onboard and staffed with their department heads. Six months of ships supplies were stocked in the cargo bays and the Type 10 shuttlecraft 'Indigo' had been double-checked for flight-worthiness.

Other than a few last systems checks, Incursion was ready for launch. He looked between each of the workstations as Charlie Shift, the most junior of the duty shifts was on watch. Many of the officers were lieutenants junior grade and ensigns with limited experience. One or two of them were just fresh out of the Academy. James always found it a bit odd that such young officers were assigned to serve on a Defiant-class escort, the vessel technically a warship.

Takahashi took some time to reflect on their upcoming mission back into the Neutral Zone. The last time that the Incursion sailed by the border of the Federation/Romulan demilitarized zone, the entire crew found the assignment arduous and exhausting. They had spent weeks chasing planted sensor echos. The individual mercenaries they did capture aggressively withheld the clients that they worked for, which gave the Federation no useful information about movements in the sector.

Now they were going to return, knowing that the pirates that they were facing had larger vessels and growing more emboldened. Several of these junior officers would most likely to be going into battle for the first time. James made a mental note to speak with Lieutenant Dresden about scheduling some surprise battle-drills to keep people on their toes, something that they did not think about on their last time around.

Standing from his chair, he stepped behind NPC Engineer Ensign Mucullan as she explained to him the current status of the warp injector systems.

<Tag Hatter, Day and Dresden. OOC: Just waiting for you to finish your discussion since all of my crew are in one scene. >

[Hatter3127]

Lt. Cmd looked down at the Padd in his hand when he heard the door chime.
”Enter.”. He heard the door open, and didn’t look up at the new arrival. ”I’m waiting to hear an explanation Ensign.”


And now Celeste was faced with the crux of her situation and her dilemma.  She could choose to act like she didn’t know what he was talking about, but that would make her more oblivious than a Klingon at a tea party.  So she fessed up; sorta.  “You ordered me to do it.  I thought it was against regulations, but you okayed it.”  She paused for a moment.  “It got the job done.”


She knew that it was flimsy, but she had always been a end justifies the means type of girl.  “So what’s the punishment going to be?”


Pete put the Padd down and rubbed his right hand over his eyes ”You did it because... Lt. Cmd Mitchell started, before thinking better of it. ”Listen, ensign, I know you’re fresh outta the acdemy and all but… “ Pete sighed and looked at the young officer taking up the chair across from him ”Listen, you’re fresh outta school, and a kinda thing like this on your record can set back your career by years, so I’m not gonna record a punishment on your record this time."

“Don’t think that this means you’ve gotten away with anything. You are now my pet project ensign. First thing we gotta teach you is a sense of humor. I want you to report to me twice a week ensign.
"Off the record, yes. You got the job done Ensign, and to be fair that chief needed a good kick up the butt. So does his CO, but I’ll worry about him later. Unless there’s anything else Ensign, you’re dismissed.”

"Sir may I ask you why you have Ensign Day here,"


Pete looked at the security chief that has just stormed into his office. ”Lt, Ensign day here has had some serious allegations brought against her by the stations CO, addressed directly to my self. Being that these charges relate directly to a misinterpreted conversation between myself and Ms. Day. That is, unless you wish to deal with the situation?” Mitchell could see Lt. Dresden seething. ”Ensign day, clear the room!” Lt Commander Mitchell order the most junior officer in the room.
He circled Dresden as she left. ”I know you.” Pete whispered into the Lt.’s ear, before circling round to his desk, continuing ”Before you came on board I read your record. It had a letter attached to it from fleet security HQ’s offices. You’re a malcontent Mr Dresden. THIS is your last chance here. Starting your time here bursting into your senior officers rooms is NOT a good way to start. Straighten up, Smarten up, and sort it out, cos I am telling you, if you don’t, you are going to spend a lot of time in a cell in the brig.
“Now the captain has ordered us to work together on this. I need to compile a report of all the attacks along along our side of the Romulan neutral zone, including a manifest of all cargo lost.” Pete stood and walked so he was face to face, almost nose to nose with the security man.  ”And if step one inch out of line Lt….” Lt. Cmd Mitchell thought better of finishing that sentence before ordering ”Dismissed!”.




Post by Ens. Day & Lt. Cmd Mitchell, with an addition from Lt. Dresden

[Celeste Day]

Celeste sagged with relief on the inside, but didn't show it. Of course she didn't like the sound of "pet project" but that was better than being written up on the first day of the job. She thought it was all taken care of, with her just taking the next few months to redeem herself when she heard a voice almost bellow behind her. She didn't even need to turn around, she could feel the emotion behind the words.

"Sir may I ask you why you have Ensign Day here,"

It was her direct report, the head of security, Lt. Dresden. Now it's coming But instead of being reamed out by two superior officers, the XO asked her to clear the room. Grateful, and smart enough to keep her mouth shut, Celeste made her escape, but not before she caught the look in the Security Chief’s eye. Yeap, this was gonna hurt

Celeste, seeing that it was the start of Charlie shift, hastened her step and made it to the bridge in record time. She took over her station at tactical and pulled up the sensors, weapons, scanners and ran a diagnostic on everything, just to make sure it was all operating at peak performance.

-oc - the most popular lady on the ship is ready -

[Guest]

Captain Takahashi peeked over his shoulder from his conversation with NPC Mucullan as Ensign Day scurried her way onto the bridge. He raised his eyebrow slightly as the junior officer seemed flushed slightly as she rushed to take her station, only to run what he assumed was to run systems diagnostics like the rest of her colleagues. Hearing the rest of the NPC Engineer's report, James dismissed himself back to his command chair. Taking a look at the ship's chronometer, it was about time to leave dock.

Pressing one of the buttons on the armrest datapad, James opened a ship wide communication. A slight whistle sounded through the speakers, grabbing the crews' attention.

=/\= All hands, this is the Captain. There will be a slight change in the launch schedule. Charlie Shift will be preforming the dock-release procedures and getting us underway. That is all. Takahashi out. =/\=

As he closed the channel, the captain noticed a small air of discomfort amongst the junior officers as they tried to look at each other while not making eye contact with the Captain. James chuckled slightly under his breath as he stood from the center chair.

"Come on, guys. You're going to have to get used to doing this sooner, rather than later. Besides, our crew isn't that big, so I can't just reassign all of you each time that I need to have the ship moved." he quipped, giving the bridge crew a warm smile. Clapping his hands together, James began orchestrating the pre-launch procedures. He had a couple good reasons for having Charlie Shift taking them out of port, primarily to give Commander Hatter and Lieutenant Dresden the maximum amount of time to work together.

"Communications, contact Utopia Planitia Dockmaster. Request permission to depart. Clear all moorings.  Secure hatches. Give me a systems check across the board." The bridge became a buzz of activity as the junior bridge crew moved about. A wave of communications went throughout Incursion as the officers gave their readiness status. Small whurring and clicks could be heard as the spacedock's umbilical began releasing the diminutive starship from it's grasp.

"Captain, Dockmaster has replied. Message reads - 'Permission granted, Incursion. Happy trails and happy hunting.' ", the junior Operations NPC reported in.

"Engineering, ready. Main deflector and main drive systems register as ready."

"Communications, ready."

"Science, ready. Main Sensors online. Registering all Worker Bees reported to have cleared our flight path"

<Tag Ensign Day>

"Helm, ready. Ship is free."

James nodded with a smile as he settled himself back in the command chair, giving his crew a moment to calm themselves down before he gave his next order. "Alright, then. Helm, take us out slowly. Thrusters only until we clear the dock. One eighth impulse power until we've cleared the Martian orbit."

Incursion slid forward gracefully between the support pylons of the dock, tiny thrusters flashing on the ship's aft as she eased her way into open space. Once she cleared the shipyard, her impulse engines flared brightly scooting the ship along as she headed to the outer edge of the Sol System.

--

"Now see, that wasn't so bad, was it?" James asked, as the bridge crew all chuckled as the captain's attempt humor. "Good job, people."

"Captain, Engineering reports that the warp core is online and ready at your command," NPC Mucullan said quietly, her voice barely louder than the humm of the ship activity around her.  James closed his eyes, clearly in a bit of thought about how the next few days would play out, as he gave his next order.

"Helm, set a course for the Romulan Neutral Zone. Maximum Warp. Engage when ready."  The NPC helmsman acknowledged the order as he ran his fingers over the navigational controls. The stars on the main viewer elongated as Incursion, leapt to faster than light speeds heading towards the borders of a foreign government, plagued with piracy.

Even at maximum speeds, they had a few days before they reached the Neutral Zone. Hopefully they would have a better understanding of the situation by then.

<Tag all>

[Harper]

”And if step one inch out of line Lt….” Lt. Cmd Mitchell thought better of finishing that sentence before ordering ”Dismissed!”.

Dresden straiten his back reaching his full 6'6 frame he was large and intimidating by human norms "Boy watch your tone of voice with me. You may be my boss but respect and loyalty is earned send me off this ship. Hell I am half of mind to think I was put here for you to do that. Why I was angry simple this ship is a war ship it will always be in battle or heading to a place very likely to see battle we will not be doing diplomatic missions. If we have to use are phaser some one will be trying to kill us. I am in the middle of getting all security personal to change their standered setting to kill now if she would have grabbed one of these ones with out looking what could have happened. She is a new young brash ensign on her first assignment and you tell her to shoot some one really well i also had a message now some one will be getting a message about you saying you tell crew to shoot people should we really believe all we read."

=/\= All hands, this is the Captain. There will be a slight change in the launch schedule. Charlie Shift will be preforming the dock-release procedures and getting us underway. That is all. Takahashi out. =/\=

The pair listened to the Captain both of them being very careful not to betray how much they mutual dislike between them was, when they were dismissed they John turned to his XO, "Shall we go to your quarters since there is more space their than mine?"

<Hatter>

As they were leaving John stopped beside Ensign Day, "Ensign latter me and you need to have a serious talk about what type of ship you are on."

<Day>

[Celeste Day]

"Captain, Dockmaster has replied. Message reads - 'Permission granted, Incursion. Happy trails and happy hunting.' ", the junior Operations NPC reported in.

"Engineering, ready. Main deflector and main drive systems register as ready."

"Communications, ready."

"Science, ready. Main Sensors online. Registering all Worker Bees reported to have cleared our flight path"

Celeste looked over the readings from her console and when it came her turn, she read out the report. "All looks good, sir. A path is being cleared for us. Shields are at the ready and diagnostics say they are at 100%. Looks like we are getting an extra wide path. Probably heard about my 'inventiveness'. Tactical is ready sir."

As Captain Takahashi smiled and the ship got under way, Celeste noticed that the Chief of Security had arrived on the bridge and while he didn't say anything to her from the turbolift, he did angle in to her station. He stayed for a little bit and then turned to leave. As he did, he spoke low so that his voice wouldn't carry further than it needed to and wouldn't disrupt the bridge proceedings.

"Ensign, later me and you need to have a serious talk about what type of ship you are on."

Celeste didn't turn to look at him, keeping her eyes on the monitors. She did hang her head a little bit and nodded. "Yessir, I will find you when Charlie Shift if over with." Looking at her sensors, the Incursion was clearing the last of the shipyard with the only other ships in the vicinity being the defense ships that were constantly patrolling the outer areas.

"We are clear of the shipyard, sir."

- tag everyone -

[Guest]

Captain's Log: We've left Utopia Planitia and are making our way toward the Romulan Neutral Zone. Pete and our new Chief of Security have been investigating if there is any patterning in the pirate attacks that have occurred in our absence.  My hope is that we'll be able to determine an underlying objective for these attacks, and perhaps stem it before it goes much farther. It's always uncomfortable to hear that the Federation might be losing its grasp of control by the Romulan border, especially when we don't know much about the enemy.

As odd as it might sound, I'm hoping that what we find is a rogue insurgent movement, rather than something that is being supported by the Romulan government. We've just started to learn to 'trust' the Romulans, after our joined conflict with the Dominion. I'd hate to see that trust between our peoples destroyed for no reason at all.

On a lighter subject, I'm pleased to have Incursion back in open space after being under such a detailed retrofit. I always feel like we can make more of an impact when we're in the field, rather than in pieces. Seeing that we were forced to skip our shakedown cruise, it's a good sign that the ship had been operating fairly smoothly, so far. I know that we haven't logged too many hours on much of the new equipment, but the majority of status reports have been positive from my department heads.

No ones' vented into space, so I can call that a good first day.

-End Log-

James rested against the cushions of his command chair as he closed the log entry, letting his shoulder sink slightly as he observed Charlie Shift. Over the last few hours, the junior bridge officers had begun to operate more smoothly now that they had left the spacedock. He had sent out a printed copy of the ship's mission orders to the Charlie Shift bridge crew, just so they had some context of what they might be stepping into if they were on duty. As a result, many of the crew were busily preparing ship systems for what looked like an eventual engagement of some kind.

Times like this when they were in transit over long distances, ironically left the Captain with little to do specifically. He had read all of the mission reports that had been provided by Starbase 12 from the Neutral Zone and had formed some of us his own opinions, but he wanted to hear what Pete's investigation uncovered to see if there was anything that he had overlooked. So he kept his thoughts about the pirates mostly to himself.

He stood from his seat and made his way over to stand behind the tactical station, where Ensign Day was stationed. She seemed focused intently on her work, her screens were running over some automated processes. Taking a slight peek, it looked like a tactical simulations of some kind to the Captain. He stood silently, the young man able to keep attention surprisingly off himself, while everyone was working.

James had read about the Ensign's disciplinary note in one of the logs that Pete had wired over to him. That she had stunned a dockhand with a hand phaser while they had been loading supplies. As incredulous as that had sounded, his executive officer had informed him that he had the disciplinary actions already underway. James was never one to punish someone twice for something they had done, and it would do nothing for the young woman's confidence if every senior officer on the ship was beating her up over one mistake she had made.

Tilting his head curiously, he cleared his throat to get the junior officer's attention. "Ensign, what are you working on there?", the Captain asked with a genuine tone of interest.

(Tag Celeste and everyone else)

OOC: Hope everyone has been having a great holiday break and New Year!

[Hatter3127]

Pete stood in his shower, after a "challenging" 3 hours with Lt. Dresden, Lt. Cmd Mitchell was thoroughly enjoying another one of his perks as XO.
"Computer how long till Alpha shift starts?" Mitchell asked over the nose of running water. He'd pulled the short straw this rotation and was running the show on Alpha shift, and part way into Beta shift for the first 2 months until crew was settled in more.
"Alpha shift starts in 3 hours, 19 minutes and...
"Yes yes yes, alright I get the picture I don't need it to the nano second. So I've got plenty of time to kill till start of shift."
"Correct"
"That was a rhetorical question you stupid..."
"Command unknown. Please state your request again, or seek help from a technical support officer."
Pete closed his eyes sighed at the most hopeless computer system in the fleet. "Just... Have my daily reports sent to the work table on the bridge please, I'll work them from there."

Note: Sorry guys. Been mega busy with work this last fortnight. Will be better.

[Celeste Day]

Celeste was diligently working on several things at one time, trying to prove to the CO, XO and to her direct report that she was an asset on this ship. By now, her “incident” had spread over the ship and she had received a variety of responses from smiles to headshakes to eye rolls from most of the crew. So far, she had made sure to keep her head down and do her duty.

"Ensign, what are you working on there?", the Captain asked with a genuine tone of interest.

Celeste looked over her shoulder to see the Captain standing there, looking with interest at her 2nd monitor. “Sorry sir. I didn’t see you there. I’m running a level three diagnostic on all phasers to make sure they are in working order and sited in correctly.”

Celeste indicated the 2nd screen. “On that screen, I’m running battle simulations against various government and pirate groups that have been known to operate in the area, ya know, to see how we would match up against whatever we might meet up there. “ Celeste typed a few buttons and the simulation paused and a scrolling list of previous sims appeared with the outcome.

“The simulations that I’ve run so far indicate that we would do good against pirates and marauders, and for some reason, the Klingons. But here and here, we didn’t go well against a D’deridex ambush attack nor against a pair of Maori Warbird. If they are straight up fights, we can fight a retreating attack. If they ambush us, we usually suffer severe damage from short range plasma torpedo attacks. I’m working to see if any shift in shield harmonics would improve our chances of survival, but so far, nada… sir.”

-tag co-

[Harper]

Dresden was not happy he and the XO did not get along the XO did not take him to seriously on his ideas. So here he sat alone in his quarters working on the project that was given to them. He managed to get all the security footage from the star bases and was having the computer check for irregularities like a shipment saying there was X amount when in fact x was unloaded or vice verse. It was going to take awhile for the computer to narrow it down so well it was working on that he was working on other angles. Checking the finances and what property of each star-fleet officer. He would find something quick unless it was an inside job someone had to change records or at least make it possible for the cameras to not film what was going on.

Dresden was working for more than an hour when the computer finally announced it had found something, "There is a routine maintenance on the security system every Tuesday. Each time there is a ship at the dock that passes threw known pirate space."

=/\=Dresden to Mitchell I may have found something please come to my quarters.=/\=

"Computer any other similarities."

"there are 8 difference ships that make that stop once a week on that day during the times of the maintenance"

"Computer display each member of the crew from each ship the first Tuesday. Do any of them disappear for awhile"

"Affirmative."

"Display the the last time the one who is off camera the most is seen."

The Camera feed came up Danno watched the guy walk out of his ship with a jack full of cargo before he disappears. "Computer display when he shows back up." It was the same spot he just was but this time the jack was empty. "Umm well that certainly would be a fluke of that was an accident."

[Guest]

James nodded slowly as Ensign Day explained some of the possible scenarios that Incursion could encounter. At first, he gave a small smile at some of the combinations that the ensign had come up with, dismissing the idea of engaging a Romulan Warbird as a simply ridiculous idea that had been fostered by a junior officer.

However, the more the Captain thought about Ensign Day's simulations, the more the possibility seemed real. There had been reports of theft of shuttles and runabouts from the Federation side of the border. The stolen ships had been used to dupe transport convoys into lowering their guard for an attack, thinking they were getting a Federation escort before they were plundered. It would be a reasonable assumption that these pirates might be using similar tactics against the Romulans. That meant there was a possibility that there could be some Romulan ships that are roaming around the Zone under pirate control. Although it was doubtful that pirates would be able to hi-jack a Romulan warbird, anything could be possible given the unstable situation of the Neutral Zone.

The smile started to fall off of the Captain's face, the more he thought about it. If anything, the ensign's simulations were a reminder that they would have to keep their guard up and pay attention. James made sure to put a positive look back on his face, so that Ensign Day didn't think that he was frowning at her work effort. Leaning forward, he ran his fingers over one of her tactical consoles, skimming through some of the results that he felt like most likely.

"This is good work, Ensign. Once we arrive in the Neutral Zone, make sure to work with the Conn to get an understanding of our flight plan. That way we'll know more about what situations or anomalies are in each sector. I'd like to get a good idea of where would be good places for starships or bases to be hidden, at least on our side of the Zone.", James said as he gave Ensign Day a supportive nod before he headed back to his command chair and continued to read through more incident reports.

ATTN *TIMESKIP* ATTN


It had been two days since Incursion had arrived at the border of the Neutral Zone. After reaching out to the Admiralty, the ship had been assigned escort duty for transport convoys that had been traveling between the supply depots in sectors L206 and L198. James had initially argued that Incursion would serve better value searching the border independently. However, with the lack of available ships at Starfleet's disposal, there wasn't much he could to rescind the orders.

So they were on guard duty. The contents of these transports were typically engine components or food supplies, depending on the destination. Given that the transports were limited to Warp 2.3, it would take each convoy about six hours each way to complete a trip.

The nice thing about being assigned convoy duty was that it gave Lieutenant Dresden and Commander Mitchell more time to complete their investigation. From what they had told him, many of the pirate attacks seemed somewhat random. Of course, the contents that were being stolen were of value, but it seemed more like the pirates were harvesting spares or replacement parts, rather than something more coordinated. James had asked the two men to further their efforts, and let him know what they had come up with. There had to be a larger pattern. They just needed to find out what it was.

***

James let out a huff as he watched another convoy transport dock with one of the transfer of Starfleet Depot L198. This was the fourth successful trip that Incursion had escorted. It was probably seen to be overkill for a Defiant class warship to be escorting transports full of spare bulkheads or plasma injectors, but it made the transports captain's feel more at ease. However, it was incredibly boring for James to just be traveling back and forth over the same sector of space.

"Alright Conn. Prepare to reverse course and head back to the L206 Depot..." the Captain said with a small sigh, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he watched the ship beginning to rotate in the star-field, preparing to resume back on the same course for the fifth time. Before the helmsman could confirm the order, a shrill beeping tone sounded on one of the communication consoles at the aft of the bridge. One of the NPC Lieutenants dashed over, running her fingers over the console as she turned to the Captain. A look of concern was blanketed on her face. Clearly, this wasn't going to be good news.

"Captain, we're receiving a general distress call. It's from a Federation Transport. The UFST Harlem's Folly. Her captain is saying that they are under attack by marauders who are using Federation runabouts and need assistance."

James' felt his heartrate jump slightly as he turned to the helm. "Set a course to the location of the distress call, maximum warp."

The NPC helmsman ran his fingers over the controls, as Incursion made a sharp dip and began to change her course. "Aye, sir. We'll intercept in three minutes time."

"Take us to Yellow alert." the Captain ordered, an amber light bathing over the bridge. James turned and looked at Ensign Day, who was again manning the tactical station for Charlie Shift. "Ensign, give me a overview of Harlem's Folly. What is her ship class, cargo and destination?" he asked as he gently gripped the armrests of his command chair as he waited to see what would unfold when they arrived.

If the situation was true, even a handful of runabouts would be able to overrun a transport in no time at all

(Tag Ensign Day and all)

OOC: Here are some examples of Federation transport ships. You can pick from this if you'd like! - http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Federation_transport_ship

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