PLOT/BRIEFING LOG|ACO|CINT|CHelm|CSCI|CENG|CMO|MA|Cmdr. Dhej, Ltcmdr. Rinehart, Lt. sh'Thrass, Lt. Quoicho, Lt. Cooper, Lt. Dame and Lt. Alessandro|"A Cry for Help"

Posted on 241411.26 @ 6:01am by Commander Tierney Rinehart & Lieutenant Zhyalla sh'Thrass & Lieutenant Sarah Cooper PhD & Lieutenant Dorey Dame

Mission: Holy Cow
Location: Bridge/Conference Room

=/\=Bridge=/\=

Karim sat in the command chair, feeling the weight of his new responsibilities weighing on him. He knew he would adapt, and would be able to fulfill his duties, but he also knew it would be a process. As he was musing over his new situation, the officer at OPS cleared his throat and said "Sir, I have a distress call coming in, from a planet that in a nearby system." Nodding, he said "Put it through to my console." Flipping out the small screen, he watched the distress call in silence, and shook his head. Standing, he tapped his combadge and said "Dhej to senior staff. Please report to the conference room immediately. Dhej out."

=/\=Conference Room=/\=

Entering the conference room a few moments later, Karim eyed the chair at the head of the table for a moment. It felt weird to know it was now his chair. Taking a breath to calm himself, he moved to the chair and sat, then began bringing up the distress call while he waited for everyone to arrive.

Zhyalla slipped into the conference room silently, hoping to go unnoticed. Instead she found herself the first one to arrive, their acting commanding officer aside, and there was nothing to do but smile at him and sit down to wait for everyone else. It was her first meeting as senior staff, not just her first meeting since arriving on the ship, so she couldn't help being a little nervous.

=/\= Sickbay=/\=

Nanee was speaking with Alaina going over the the medical staff shift roster making sure every shift had the right amount of people. When the call came in, "Go ahead and post this and go ahead and get going on the inventory." With that Nanee left for the conference room.

=/\= Conference Room =/\=

Didn't take long for Nanee to make it to the conference room with a cup of Drava tea in one hand and her CPaDD in the other. As she walked she was looking over some results of Sh'eik.

Karim looked up from the quick briefing notes he was writing, and nodded to the two early arrivals. He was a bit nervous for some reason, but knew it would pass once they got to work.

Lieutenant Sarah Cooper walked into the conference room with a PaDD in hand, nose need in a report pertaining to the plant. She made notations about areas she would like to send away teams if applicable but didn't seem to think she would get the chance. "Sir," said Cooper with a nod as she entered the room, taking her seat.

The Dame moved into the conference room behind the Science Officer. She noticed the XO sitting in the chair of the CO. "Commander," she said almost gritting her teeth, calling him Commander and not 'Captain' out of tradition. What ever happened to Mark, she wasn't too pleased. She dropped her bag off her shoulder and stowed it at her feet. She pulled up a PaDD and slid it across the table. "Aquarius receives a clean bill of health. Any issues were taken care of. She is now fit for duty."

Nodding as he took the padd from the Dame, he replied "Thank you Lieutenant. I appreciate your efforts."

Tierney nodded towards Karim as she hurried through the door, PADD in hand, and her hair tied back in a quick bun. As she took her seat, as close to the Trill Captain as possible, the Starling crossed her coltish legs and palmed the PADD to turn it on.

Smiling very slightly as the last member of the staff entered, Karim cleared his throat and said "Thank you all for coming so quickly. Before we get started I'm going to address the obvious question on all of your minds. As you may or may not know, Captain Rhodes has very recently been recalled to Earth by classified orders from Starfleet Command. I am not privy to the exact details of those orders. That being said, after speaking with Admiral Alexander Hark, I've been promoted to Commander and assigned as Acting Commanding Officer of the Enterprise. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to speak to me following the briefing."

Pausing for a moment, he took a breath and continued "Also, as you may have noticed by fact that we were recently visited by a supply ship, which also brought us our new Chief Helm Officer, Lieutenant sh'Thrass, it appears that things back home have changed. This visit was unexpected, but after speaking to Admiral Hark, I was informed that for all intents and purposes, the civil war is over. Being out here in the middle of nowhere, it is understandable that we were not informed of this recent change. Our orders have changed. We will not be hiding out, but will rather be continuing our mission of exploring the area, seeking out new life and civilizations." Taking a breath, he said "Before we continue, are there any questions or comments so far?"

"My apologies." Ricky said quickly as he slipped in seeing as Aly was leaving and that left security without a representative in the meeting, "I'll fill you in later Commander Dhej."

Nanee just sat there looking over at Ricky and wondering why that announcement couldn't have been done in a memo. So she kept quiet waiting to see if the meeting was gonna consist of a department check in like most of these types of meetings did.

Nodding, Karim replied "Understood Lieutenant Alessandro." Pausing, he said "So are we ok to move on everyone?"

Taking a breath to steady his voice, he said "Ok, so since there are no questions, I want to get to the reason we're all here. We very recently received a distress call. Before we discuss how to respond, I will play it, and then open the floor to discussion." Pressing a control on the table in front of him, he waited for the distress call to begin.

Moments later the screen behind him showed a being who appeared to bear a strong resemblance to a bovine species. The being took a breath and said "This distress call is being sent after much discussion with our government, and against some members recommendations, but it is necessary. I am appealing to anyone who receives it to help us. Please. I am First Mother Barula of the Nirua. Before we sent this message we were a isolationist people, content to focus on raising our calves, tending to our fields, and exploring our talents. This has all changed very suddenly. Over the past year , we have seen birthrates for our calves fall rapidly, our fields turn against us, a number of our people succumb to sudden illness, and some .... more aggressive elements of our people increase their activities. Our best scientists and healers have been unable to find a reason for all these changes to happen so quickly. We need help, or I fear we will not be able to survive. There are many who are hungry, and who are unwell. Please, if the Creator wills it, help us."

The screen went blank and after a moment Karim added "A rudimentary starmap with coordinates of their homeworld was attached to the message. I've had the computer determine its location, and can advise it is approximately a 4 days journey from our present position. I know open the floor to anyone who wants to comment on what we've just seen."

"Have we tired to make contact with them?" Nanee asked looking at Karim. "If they can send us their medical/science data we can start work on seeing what's going on."

Shaking his head, Karim replied "Not yet. As soon as I reviewed the message, I called this meeting. I wanted to confirm how we are going to handle this distress call. They have identified themselves as isolationist, and from what our records show, the Federation hasn't had any contact with them at all. We will not be just responding to the distress call, but will be essentially be making first contact."

"Also because of their isolationism we're gonna need to be very very careful when we beam down. Whatever is effecting them is something that we may have never seen or come in contact with. So we'll need to follow that procedure as well." Nanee said making some notes on her CPaDD.

"Do we have any indication they're warp capable?" Zhyalla said softly, looking to the Commander first, then letting her eyes drift over everyone else at the table.

Ricky sat and listened it had been awhile since he was in one of these meetings as a representative of security. And he was surprised that he wasn't the one that brought up the Prime Directive. Maybe he was getting slow in his old age shaking his head he got his head back in the game.

Listening to the concerns of the crew, Karim paused for a moment, then said "I think we need more information before we make a decision about how to proceed. Unless anyone has any objections, I think we need to reply to their distress call, and carefully find out more information. I know this may be slightly against regulations, but I have never been one to follow the rules completely. Does anyone have anything to add before we contact them?"

"With all due respect, sir, but shouldn't we make some effort to confirm we won't be violating the prime directive before we contact them?" Zhyalla asked with a small frown. "Plenty of species have sent all sort of communications into space before developing warp capability. If we make contact regardless, we should at least be informed on what precautions we'll need to take to avoid contamination."

Rinehart he said "To that end, I turn to you Lieutenant Commander Rinehart. Have you or your ... sources heard anything about these people?"

"So far nothing of any real value." Tierney replied, shifting through the PADD in her hand. Bits and pieces of info slowly began to fit together,
forming a picture out of the fragments she'd been able to dig up and dust off. "There's been whispers on the wind of warp signatures which leads me to believe that we wouldn't be bending the prime directive." She added, gesturing to the info she held in a vague fashion.

Nodding, he thought for a moment and said "I know you are not an expert in the prime directive, either am I, but do you believe making contact
with them to learn more before we plan our response is not a violation of the directive?"

"Some rules were meant to be bent, Captain." The little redhead answered as the PADD flickered and went dark, "I think the evidence at hand supports that we have justification to respond."

"Thank you Lieutenant Commander, I'll be sure to note your support in my report." he replied, then turned his attention to the room. Clearing his throat he said "I'm going to make contact with them now, and be as vague as I can with our capabilities. I want to get as much information as I can about them before we arrive. Please hold your comments until we are done the conversation."

Taking a breath he said "Computer open a channel to the source of the distress call." After a moment the computer replied "Channel open." Squaring his shoulders, Karim said "Greetings, this is Commander Karim Dhej of a vessel that has received your distress call. We are requesting visual communication if that is possible. Please respond." Less then a minute later the face of the First Mother appeared on the holographic display in the middle of the table. Calmly she replied with a slight head nod "Your greeting is happily met Commander Karim Dhej. I am pleased the Creator has seen fit to bless us with your response." Returning the head nod, Karim replied "Thank you First Mother Barul. We would like to learn slightly more about you before we develop plans to assist you. Would it be acceptable for you to transmit any records you have about your ... situation to us so we can review them?" With a small smile, Barula replied "Of course Commander. We have already prepared a summary in hopes someone would reply. I am sending it momentarily." Pausing, she added "May I assume that you have decided to aid us with our trials?" Nodding, he replied "You may First Mother. We will review your research and arrive at your homeworld within a very short period." Happily Barul replied "Thank you Commander. May the winds aid you, and the Creator bless you." Smiling slightly he said "Thank you First Mother, may you be blessed in turn. We look forward to making contact with your people soon. Dhej out."

As the channel closed, Karim brought up the information Barul had sent. Browsing it very briefly, he said "Ok, now we have to get to work. I've forwarded a copy of this information packet to everyone." Pausing he took a breath and continued "Lieutenant sh'Thrass, set a course to the Nirua Homeworld, Warp 5. Also please prepare the Lovelace for departure. Lieutenant Quoicho and Lieutenant Cooper, please review the information provided about their birth rate, illness and soil issues. I want to be prepared for anything. Lieutenant Dame, please ensure our systems are ready to possibly see an increase in replicator use and related systems. Finally, Lieutenant Commander Rinehart, please try to do some more digging to see if you can uncover more about these people. If no one has any questions, you are Dismissed."

Nanee just nodded making some notes and sending some orders down to her people to get going on looking over everything that was sent to them.

Zhyalla nodded at the orders, standing when everyone else did. Her eyes fell on the little red-headed intelligence officer as the group filtered towards the door. She needed to make friends, and she'd already gotten a good feeling about Commander Dhej. Rinehart seemed too have a good rapport with Dhej, which meant she might be worth getting to know. The andorian lieutenant moved alongside the red-head as she made it to the door.

As the group left, he said "Lieutenant Alessandro, you're with me. I have a feeling we have much to discuss."

"Of course Commander." Ricky said remaining in his seat as he watched everyone else head out of the conference room.

=/\=End Log=/\=

Commander Karim Dhej
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Commander Tierney Rinehart
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS ENTERPRISE, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Sarah Cooper
Chief Science Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Dorey Dame
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Nanee Quoicho
Chief Medical Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Zhyalla sh'Thrass
Chief Helm Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F

Lieutenant Ricky Alessandro
Security Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

First Mother Barul (apb Cliff)