Newly Arrived and Already Behind
Posted on 11 Nov 2022 @ 2:41pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant Commander S'Jath
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 10:26pm
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Various
Timeline: M3 D08 0940 Hrs
4558 words - 9.1 OF Standard Post Measure
The security chief lay flat on his belly and Bayre, notebook in hand, lay beside him. Directly opposite them, built on the tallest hill in the area, was the castle that guarded the trade route into the city.
"Direct approach would be suicide," Hawkins said. "Guards patrolling the walls, stationary and moving, so we'd be spotted almost immediately." He turned toward Bayre, frowning slightly, "what kind of weapons did you say?"
"They will be period appropriate," Bayre responded at once. "You enter into a staging area where there will be an armory and clothes store. Pikes, swords, bows, that sort of thing. One of the science officers on my old ship, the Faraday, is into history. He's going to provide the information I need."
"There has to be another way into the castle," the chief said. "Deliveries could go through the main gate but what about water? Where do they get their water? Not seeing any bodies of water in the vicinity."
"Underground cistern that's fed from a stream higher in the hills," Bayre answered. He made a note for himself to figure out how the team would know about that entrance and to provide clues if needed. "There's a gate if you want to take a look?"
"Absolutely," Hawkins answered. He readied himself to get up and then paused. "You did say that this isn't active yet?"
"I did," Bayre said. "Right now, it's just the castle and its furnishings. No people. No weapons."
"Good, then let's go." Hawkins surged quickly to his feet with the confidence of someone who worked out regularly; Bayre followed, a fluid move, born of a lifetime's training in defensive arts. Together they hiked across the field and around the side of the castle to the northern side and Bayre stopped long enough to explain the topography and why an attack from this side would be nearly impossible.
"If you don't mind," Hawkins said, "I'd like a copy of the map you're basing this on. Be interesting to see if I could figure out an approach from that side that would work within your parameters."
"Sure," Bayre said. "Best if I'm prepared for all strategies and if you can come up with a reasonable plan of attack, the Faraday's Security Chief will owe you a bottle of good scotch."
"I do like a challenge," Hawkins purred. "Almost as much as I like good scotch."
"So, this is the gate," Bayre said as he crouched down beside a running stream. The water was clear, running over rocks and pebbles with a number of plants along the edges. "Reasonable to assume that there would be wear and tear from years of water running through, but it will be locked."
" So, the first challenge is picking the lock and then of course, getting into the cistern itself. Then again, big castle like this," Hawkins said as he rose to his feet, "would need a lot of water." His smile turned sly as he studied Bayre. "Can't see it being less than a man's width wide. Minimum."
"Fair enough," Bayre said. "But I don't think you can hope for smooth and easy." His expression turned thoughtful as he added. "Wonder what sort of wildlife one would find in such a passage. Rats maybe? Water snakes? Amphibious spiders?"
"Bring it on," Hawkins said, chuckling warmly. "Nastier the better. Okay, let's see the cistern."
"Computer," Bayre said. "Put us at the bottom of the cistern." The scene shifted and now they were standing at the bottom of large tank, lined with tiles. A stairway had been built into the side of the wall that led up to a closed door. "This will lead up into the servants' area."
"And once we're through that door, we've got people to deal with. Friendly or hostile?"
"That would be telling," Bayre said, "but remember that it was hostile takeover and there will be ..."
"Bridge to Lieutenant Da'Razi." The voice was easy enough to place. Young ensign with a spray of freckles across his nose and scrubby red hair that tended to stand at attention all the time.
"Da'Razi here. Is that you Ensign Culloden?"
"Aye, Sir," Culloden said and his voice took on that tone that spoke of being pleased. "And sorry to interrupt but we're getting close to the space dock. Captain said you should get your things together."
"Thanks, Culloden, Da'Razi out. Computer, end." The cistern faded, replaced by the all too familiar yellow and black pattern of the holodeck. "I really do appreciate all of your help Chief."
"It's been fun," Hawkins said. "If you leave this as is, I'll look at it a bit more and send you my thoughts as well as what I get from the map provided that when it's done, we get a copy of it. Half the ship already wants to try it out."
"Can do," Bayre said. "And now if you'll excuse me, I have to get organized." He took in the chief's slight frown and shrugged. "When it comes to packing, I'm always a shove it all in at the last-minute sort of person."
"Preaching to the choir," Hawkins said. "Preaching to the choir."
They parted at the entrance to the Holodeck and Bayre returned to his temporary quarters where he got to work packing the few things he carried on. The rest would be delivered from the Samarkand's cargo hold to his quarters.
There was a calm, calm adjacent, vocal buzz and hum around Tower Control as various Aerospace Traffic Controllers communicated with the aerospace traffic around the base.
"Freighter 2387 Heavy, Obsidian Tower Control," Esazi said, her voice rising smoothly above those of her staff. "This is Lieutenant Commander Esazi Zh'Athrun. And before you ask to speak to my 'boss', I am my boss, so don't waste your time. You will reduce your speed, wait your turn, and go precisely where we tell you to go, when we tell you to go there. Your refusal to wait for your escort has piqued Security's curiosity. A flight of Valkyries are enroute to your location, escorting one of our garrison vessels. Prepare to be boarded. Don't say we didn't warn you, because we definitely did. Esazi, out." Esazi signaled for the comm to be cut before the freighter captain could reply. She chuckled softly as she watched him do his best impression of a silent film star, cursing her up and down without the sound on.
There was snickering all around Tower Control over this exchange, interrupted by a proximity alarm. One of the Traffic Controllers silenced the alarm.
"New incoming, Ma'am," the traffic controller said. "Pings as USS Samarkand, enroute with personnel and equipment."
"Advise them to reduce speed and await an escort," Esazi said. She looked over the shoulder of the controller. "If that's a fake ID signature, it's a really, really good one. Contact the Aerospace Operations Officer on duty and ask him to launch or divert an element for a Mark One Eyeball conformation and then to escort Samarkand in if she seems to be who she says she is."
Bayre finished packing and did a final sweep of his temporary quarters, to make sure that he hadn't missed anything. And, because he'd been quick, there was still time to make the rounds. He stopped off in Security and renewed his promises about making his program available as soon as it was ready and then headed down to Engineering. Rank and file engineers, such as himself, shared a common language. They were easy to get to know and he'd shared a breakfast or two with the gamma shift going off duty and a couple of dinners with Alpha. And so, he said his good-byes.
=^= Samarkand, Samarkand, this is Flight Leader Duster Three System Patrol, we will aR-Vee your location six minutes. Remain stationary until we arrive. Then we will lead you in =^=
=^=Samarkand here, Flight Leader. Awaiting your arrival. >Samarkand out. =^=
Just under six minutes later two Elements of Valkyrie fights steaked in on the transport. One took up station on each side, the other two remained above and behind the vessel. Bridge sensors beeped as the rear pair target-locked the engines and the ship was scanned.
A few moments later came the Flight Leader's voice =^= Looking good Samarakand You are clear to proceed =^= The target lock dropped and the two Valkyries each side moved ahead.
=^= Duster Three has the lead, follow us in. Welcome to Obsidian, hope you brought your sunscreen! =^=
=^=Following Duster Three. Replicating a supply even as we speak. Samarkand out.=^=
Bayre had expected a facility as large as this one to be busy, but this was different, more intense for want of a better word. Marine foot patrols and security guards with the professional, hooded look they all learned as first-year cadets at the Academy were everywhere. He approached the checkpoint with his orders ready.
The security station was manned by a human, a Lieutenant(jg) by the name of Costa. Her curly dark hair was pulled back in a messy bun, with a broad, powerful frame. At the best of times, monitoring the docking security station was somewhat tedious work. Now in the midst of the yellow alert, it was still somewhat tedious with the added wrinkle of everybody being tense and usually more than a bit testy. “Good morning, sir,” Costa said, accepting Bayre’s orders. She ran them through her computer for confirmation. “You’ll be working here on the docks,” she observed. “We can use all the help we can get.”
A young denobulan woman in yellow with the non-com rank marker of a PO2 nodded eagerly in agreement from behind a modular table where she had been set up like a greeter. Her face bloomed into an naturally wide smile of welcome as security handed over the orders to her and she scanned them through to get the new Officer's assignment.
"Oo! Computer tech!" She practically trilled. Kita found everything she ever encountered very interesting, even if she forgot it almost as promptly as it was said to her. "Welcome aboard sir." She gave him back his orders, "You can have these back. I've updated the sub-file with all of your accommodations. You'll find your quarters in Section A of the junior quarters levels of the habitat ring— Not to worry! We didn't confuse you as a *junior officer*, Sir!" She practically laughed. It was one of the most common confusions of her job in explaining the assignments. She leaned in and stage whispered. "It's just that there's a lot of brass and muckity mucks around here and they're filling up the Senior Quarters. As one of the highest ranking officers in the Junior accommodations, there's a combined unit for you! I've seen them, they're real fancy. Nicer than most senior quarters on most ships, in fact! And you can always call up maintenance if you'd like us to rearrange the layout. Well, I mean, not me personally," Kita kept going, her face seeming to pulse with her smile. "I don't do any of the facilities ops myself. But, I mean, you can put in a work order and we'll get a team over."
"Think I outgrew my old quarters about two years back so the larger space will be welcome," Bayre said, grinning cheerfully, "especially by my shins. Can't even imagine having choices about how it all looks. How do they feel about pets, do you know?"
"Oh! I love pets!" A beat passed before Kita realized the actual question. "Oh, right, pets are fine, for the most part. There's a number of small creatures that you only have to claim as having aboard, but middling to big ones usually have to go through an exam and be given tags in the stations veterinary center. It's an extension office between science and medical. There is a list of forbidden organisms. Oh, and there's leash rules on the environmental deck. No plant or animal life is allowed to be transferred down to Planet Obsidian without following strict guidance..." Kita realized she was getting off topic. "I can highlight the station policy for you about pets." She looked down to make a note to tag into his welcome package in the system. "Do you have any pets with you to claim?" Kita craned her neck, hoping to see a cute animal.
"Not yet." Bayre paused a moment doing a mental sort of the information had been going through family chat of late. "Though that could be changing before long. The general consensus back home being that I need a roommate with fur."
"Ah." Kita intoned, before she realized something was poking her in the arm. The security officer she was paired with was impatiently jabbing Kita with the next intake to process as the line was beginning to back up. Kita was getting the message. wrap it up with the handsome engineering officer. "This is the Quartermaster's Office contact if you have any further questions." Kita marked it out on the welcome notes. "And this is mine— Petty Officer Kita. It was good to meet you Lieutenant Da'Razi. I hope you feel right at home here!"
"Thank you,' Bayre said warmly. "Good meeting you as well."
The directions Bayre been given were good ones and he found his quarters with a minimum of fuss. He unlocked the door and entered, dropping his carry-on to the floor almost at once.
Combined quarters meant LARGE. By far larger than his quarters on the Faraday, the main space favored an open floor plan with living and dining/kitchen areas marked off by rugs and furniture groupings.
There was a spacious bedroom with the platform bed he'd requested (large enough to accommodate his 6'4" frame), a second bedroom he couldn't imagine a use for (yet) and an office he could use for his holo-programs. The second bedroom and the office were about the same size and shared a wall. He made a note to put in a work order to combine the two -- which would make the office big enough to fit everything that went into his holo-adventures.
"Good, good," he said as he moved about. "This will do nicely."
The color scheme and furnishings, he'd notice at some point. Probably after someone asked. What attracted his attention at the moment were the crates he had brought with him. The ones that had made his old quarters look cramped, overstuffed. Here though, he thought he'd fit in with plenty of room to expand. He checked to be certain that everything had arrived and once satisfied, headed back toward the door. He paused long enough to find his orders and then headed out.
Time to report in.
A Yeoman was seated at a desk in the reception area. She consulted her terminal as the unknown Officer entered. Her newly arrived personnel list had been updated earlier. “Good morning, you would be Lieutenant Da’Razi? Identification and transfer orders please”
"That's me," he said. "Lieutenant Bayre Da'Razi, formerly of the USS Faraday." He passed over his travel copy of his orders and passed the time waiting in surveying his surroundings.
The Yeoman compared his documents with her records, satisfied she said. “Please take a seat Sir, Commander S’Jath will be back shortly”
He found a seat and pulled out his notebook and passed the time fine-tuning an algorithm he would need for the program he was working on based on the historical research he'd accumulated over the past couple of days.
Some ten minutes later a tall grey-haired Vulcan entered, he was wearing Engineering coveralls, they were marked and stained, with patches on the knees, clearly well used and heavy safety boots He wore a toolbelt around his waist and carried a toolbox, his hands were grubby and there was a smear of grease on his cheek.
He was accompanied by a short female Lieutenant, her uniform was equally grubby although with what appeared to be soot and there was a slight smell of burnt insulation.
“- yourself, Ensign Vax and Petty Officer O’Halloran are all the personnel I can spare at this time, Lieutenant Sopwith” He was saying "I appreciate your difficulties; however, Cardassian robotics coding is not a specialty of mine, nor anyone within the department”
“But sir -” She started, but stopped when the Vulcan held up his hand, his eyes on Da’Razi.
He looked from Da’Razi to the Yeoman. “This is?”
“Lieutenant Da Razi, Commander” She said, coming over to hand him Da’Razi’s transfer order PaDD.
The Vulcan took it, glanced at it quickly and nodded to Da’Razi “Come with us”
He led the way back and entered an office; a plaque next to the door read Assistant Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander S’Jath
The office was large, and uncharacteristically cluttered for a Vulcan’s domain. A desk was to the left, relatively clear except for a large stack of PaDDs; the wall opposite the door was a wide expanse of windows, looking out on to the Alpha spacedock and the main construction and repair dockyard. Several ships were in various stages of work attended by a swarm of Environment-Suited Engineers and Workbees.
A work bench ran along the wall below the windows, S’Jath crossed to it placed his tool box down, unhooked his tool belt and laid that on the bench too. He pumped several squirts of hand cleaner form a dispenser on the bench onto his hands and wiped them clean on a disposable towel, then cleaned the grease from his cheek. Satisfied he pumped another squirt onto a fresh towel and handed it to the female Lieutenant, she looked questioningly to the Vulcan and he gestured to her face. She reached up with finger, it came back black with soot and she went to work with the towel
The center of the office held a large holographic projection table, above it hung several ships, perfectly detailed translucent miniatures. The display mimicked the full-sized vessels laying out in the dockyard. The system slowly cycled through the repair and construction process for each one.
The right wall was one large display screen, broken down into perhaps a dozen smaller displays, some listed component inventories, others were project graphs assigned to various ships; still others showed construction diagrams and blueprints.
Below the screen was a conference table and six chairs. “Please take a seat Lieutenant” S’Jath said to Da’Razi and pointed to the chairs.
S’Jath pulled off his boots and coveralls, replacing the footwear with a pair of Vulcan slippers.
Sopwith joined Da’Razi at the table, “Hello!” She smiled brightly, her accent refined English. “I’m Rebecca Sopwith, everyone calls me Soppy I do robotics!”
"Pleasure to meet you," Bayre said. "Robotics? Time was I was building a robot that could check homework. Course that was back home on Kerelia and my brothers lobbied hard for a version that would actually do the homework for them."
“You’re Karelian?” Sopwith asked ‘I say, do you sing? I can’t!”
"Sure can," Bayre answered. "A Capella mostly but I'm a strong tenor." He shrugged lightly. "I have five brothers and we can all sing."
"I say, your very own family choir, that must have been fun" Sopwith smiled
"Music is a part of our culture," Bayre said. "And yes, it was fun. Useful too. Imagine. Six voices, singing in harmony we practiced all night, doing an impromptu concert for our mother ..." He grinned cheerfully. "Got us out of trouble more than once. Course we were five at the time."
S’Jath collected several PaDDs from his desk, came over and sat down, initially reviewing the PaDD with Da’Razi’s orders and personnel file while his juniors chatted. When their conversation slowed he read aloud
“Bayre Da’Razi, age thirty-two, entered Starfeet Academy early at age 16; specialized in computing, applied mathematics, pattern recognition and cryptology. One operational assignment only, aboard the USS Faraday” S’Jath then looked up, eyebrow raised in query.
"That's accurate, SIr," Bayre said. "I've always been good at pattern recognition, just how my brain works, and cryptology was an outgrowth of that. As for the one assignment. The Faraday's Chief Engineer said that he didn't like to let good people go. He had a habit of fighting off transfers."
"Not an attitude I would condone" S'Jath noted. "He did yourself and Starfleet a disservice. Good Engineers require experience and challenges to learn and improve. Still, that is something we will be able to rectify here.
How is your zero-gravity zero-atmosphere welding Lieutenant?" the Vulcan gestured to the ships in the dockyard beyond the windows "I shall arrange for you to spend some shifts working on that. Perhaps some time with the general maintenance crews too, hmmm?"
"I've done more than my share of general maintenance, Sir," Bayre said, his expression flattening almost at once. "As for zero-gravity, zero-atmosphere welding? I've done a fair amount of that on the Faraday. However, I'm happy to join the general crews if you think that's where I'm most needed."
"I think we'll put your skills to the test, Lieutenant" S'Jath replied, the merest twinkle in his eyes "We'll see if the Faraday's work meets our standards, or those of Master Chief Ketar"
Sopwith smiled and whispered "She's the welding crew boss, Klingon, big, loud, scary, I like her!
"So, you specialize in computers?” she continued “How are you with code interpretation and replacement? I have a security project, need to rebuild an obsolete Cardassian mining robot, that has been converted into a combat model. It needs a whole new set of programming, but we can’t make head nor tail of the original code!”
"I do," Bayre said. "I know a bit about Cardassian programming though I'm by no means an expert. I'd be happy to take a look."
“Ahem” S’Jath interjected “Lieutenant Da’Razi will be involved in several work areas; your guardian robot project may not be of equal priority to this department as your enthusiasm Lieutenant.”
“Yes sir, no sir.” Sopwith nodded
S’Jath turned to Da’Razi.” Engineering aboard this facility is very different to that aboard a starship Lieutenant. The primary difference is that we are essentially static. We have neither impulse nor warp engines, our only means of propulsion are thrusters for station keeping and orbital transitions. Those similarities we do have, power management, life-support, hull, shields, artificial gravity, sensors, communications, and so forth, are on a far larger scale than anything you will have previously encountered. We also have the potential to hold in excess of one hundred and eighty-five thousand personnel and civilians, excluding those aboard docked ships.
We have multiple systems and multiple redundances, our responsibility, along with our colleagues within the Operations division, is to keep every system, function, process and utility in fully operational condition, at all times.
In addition, we operate the dockyard, repair, maintenance, refits and construction of a variety of Starfleet vessels.
We are rostered for seven thousand, three hundred and seventeen personnel. As of today, with your arrival, we are at three thousand, one hundred and eleven. As you can appreciate, we are short-handed, nevertheless we have tasks to perform and we will accomplish those to the best of our abilities, thus you will have several duties to undertake.
Firstly, the station is on Sigma Alert status. I will arrange for Security to brief you into the reasons for that, but there is a potentially imminent threat to this station. Once you are briefed on the nature of that threat, I will require you to undertake a review of the security of our central computer core. I will require recommendations and an implementation schedule for shielding the core from external threats.
There are sub-cores located throughout the station” he handed over a schematics PaDD, “In theory they could be separated from the central core and assigned to run separate sections of the station in an emergency. I will need a feasibility study for that and again an implementation schedule to carry out the work.
I will also need proposals for an additional backup system to ensure we retain as much data as possible in the event we sustain critical damage to the central core.”
Bayre accepted the PADD, making notes in Kerelian as he listened. Ideas and possibilities began to surface in his mind, but he pushed them to the side for later consideration. The first rule was always to understand the system as it stood before working out a way to make improvements. And while systems tended to be standard throughout Starfleet, there were always differences often because no two engineers worked the same way.
“Your secondary duties will involve supporting current dockyard projects, several vessels require core upgrades, as well as full system integrations.” He handed over another PaDD.
“You may begin with that one, USS Casablanca The propulsion refit work is behind schedule, but in the event of a combat emergency we may need to tow the ship out of the dockyard to operate as a stationary battery in defense of the station. I want the targeting and weapons computer functions upgraded and operational. Liaise with Commander Rochambeau, the Casablanca’s Chief of Security”
"Aye, Sir," Bayre said as he made a few additional notes. The Casablanca would be the easier project at least in terms of scope.
“What questions do you have for me Lieutenant?” The Vulcan asked, sitting back in his chair, fingers interlocked.
"How soon do you need both," Bayre said.
“Very well. We are short-staffed Lieutenant; I expect all officers within the division to be working double-shifts until further notice. Prepare initial reports on the station computer tasks within twenty four hours. You are not alone, there are I belive, forty two other computer specialists, of which you will be the current senior officer. In the unlikely event you should find yourself with any spare time, you may assist Lieutenant Sopwith." S’Jath said
Sopwith gave a wide grin.
"Do not pester him." S'Jath gave Sopwith a long look "If he has spare time"
'No sir"
"Will that be all, Sir," Bayre asked. He held the PADDs in hand, waiting to be released, as the realization swept through him that he hadn't unpacked, and he already felt behind.
"Dismissed. See the Yeoman on the way out, she will assign you an office on the Engineering Decks on the Upper Utility Ring" S'Jath concluded.
He found his office, dropped the PADDs on the desk and made a straight line for his new lab. Once there, taking stock of what he had, he had felt ... better ... more in his element again. And more importantly, ready to tackle the work he'd been assigned.
