First Order of Business

Posted on Sat May 31st, 2014 @ 11:57pm by Commodore Kathleen O'Shea & Captain Jey Cleh & Commander Eliana Masters & Lieutenant Vilgi Morr & Lieutenant JG Kaylee Williams

Mission: New Frontier
Location: Commodores Office: Planetary Complex

"OK...let's get to work. I know that I have already met some of you, but for those of you who do not know me, I am Commodore O'Shea, master of this house of cards. As you are all probably keenly aware of now, this whole program was thrown together rather quickly. In fact, up until a couple of months ago Starfleet had all but decided to abandon the Starbase and dismantle it. As we all know, that did not happen so...here we are. I know most of you have not even had time to establish facilities on the station, but we have already been assigned our first priority project."

She nodded to Rosaleen who activated the view screen on the wall. A live sensor image of a very wide and deep valley with a river running through it appeared. "We have been tasked with building a Hydroelectric facility here. And in addition to the dam, we are to assist the locals with the building of a recreation area along the resulting lake."

Even with the heads up and accompanying description of the the site. Vilgi still beamed at the prospect of getting into this project, the location was near perfect and it wasn't to much of stretch to picture the effect the dam would have. "Functional and aesthetically pleasing, I think I can work with that."

"It looks fantastic, almost like..." Masters spoke aloud, though the thought was mostly inside her head. Realizing what she had said, Ellie transitioned to another statement. "I look forward to seeing it completed."

"Lieutenant Williams, I understand this is your first look at the site...probably even your first hint of this project, so I completely understand that you are shooting from the hip here, but I would like your initial impression and thoughts on the site itself."

"Well, Sir. From a Tactical view point its sound. I suggest watch towers, here, here, here and here. Fortify the dam so if its attacked it wont fall after the first barrage. I suggest also we don't build a town down there in the valley because if the dam is attacked then the water being held back will wipe out the village. But the only save grace is that it has excellent line of sight. Placing a small security team there will help protect it. Every dam or anything on an alien world has to have a security force to prevent sabotage from outside sources." Kaylee said as she realized she fell back to her marine training.

"Sorry, Captain, I was trained to look at things from a more militaristic view point compared to others in Starfleet. But if your asking me if its possible to pull off, sure its possible, we will need detailed scans to help prevent possible earthquake damage, use the area to our advantage is the best we can do at this moment. If we can do that then we may not need build a dam but instead let the water do its job if this place has underground tunnels. Focus the water in such a way it provides electricity." Kaylee said realizing she was rambling and she looked around the room a bit sheepish.

"The want the dam for more reasons than purely power generation. As I said, they have planned a huge recreation area in association with this project. Now, I do have a copy of their site study and engineering studies, including a full geological eval, but I want to do our own as well. Full geotechnical workup, including lithological information, rock mass fracture data and discontinuity shear strength data. You have an entire science department to assist with this, so feel free to turf that one out."

"I'll set them up with a Titan with one of the larger science survey modules, pick out and set up with what sensor package they think they'll need, a Comms mini-mod for real time and smooth data transfer. Park that above the site for a day be able to collect all the needed data and then use the base to process and analyze. That should do the trick." Vilgi offered as a means and solution to getting the appropriate scans done.

"I just build and recommend not leaving a recreation area unguarded without security." Kaylee said calmly.

"Planetary security is not our concern. They have a standard police fore for civil law enforcement. The military forces down there do not participate in civil matters." She changed the image to one showing a complete recreational area, including a small amusement park, boat complex, and camping, hiking, and day use facilities. "This is a rendering of their plan for the grounds once the lake is established. I can tell you this much...I plan on spending some time there when it is open."

"Hmmmm. Well I dont think ill look good in a bikini." Kaylee said as she scanned the plans and downloaded a copy into her suits computer.

She turned to Vilgi and Eliana. "Commanders Morr and Masters, we need to set up a full operational base and establish a smooth supply chain, but with minimal ecological impact."

"If we're going for minimal impact, I think you know what I'm going to recommend. A module base. As well as that specialized Aerie in its deployed construction setup." Looking over to Masters he commented. "I reckon we can work out flight rosters and loading schedules in short order."

"We're working through some inefficiencies with crew scheduling - I have to admit, I'm tempted to return to paper spreadsheets until I can get something written to handle the scheduling requests, but we shouldn't have a problem getting the flight crew ready. I'll look after it myself," Eliana nodded in response to Vilgi.

"I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep the ecological impact to a minimum. And several of the towns have quite a few festivals and such that occur during the next several months, so we want to keep flight patterns well away from them." Kathleen was looking forward to actually attending some of them...another pleasant change from a shipboard assignment.

"Sir, Just out of curiosity, are you against using nanites for some of the construction?, I ask because the Marine Corps used them extensively to build fortifications quickly and outposts in half the time than a normal team would. So we could use them here. Not to mention we could use them to do most of the excavating and such, just program them, put in a kill switch and we are good to go." Kaylee asked the Captain.

Kathleen shook her head. "Absolutely not. There is a planetary ban on any nanite technology. What you propose could incite a war. I'm not that bored yet."

"Yes, sir. I understand that, I was merely offering a option that could work. Forgive me if I overstepped but you know the politics around here more than me, its in your job description as Captain, sir." Kaylee said as she closed her face plate, brought up the suits automatic HUD and perused the data that was given, but she could still hear what was going on around her.

"You talked about environmental impact - what sort of impact are we going to have on the surrounding landscape? How many homes and farms were displaced due to the lake we're about to create?" Eliana had to ask, it was bothering her. After all, if they were concerned with the noise from their shuttles, shouldn't they care about the hundreds of acres of land they were about to lose?

"No concerns there, Commander." As she spoke, Rosaleen pulled up a holographic image of the project area. "The location chosen for the backfill has no population or development at all. The governments down there keep areas undeveloped for future projects." She paused a moment before continuing, bringing up a map. "We will actually be connecting several towns with a monorail system that is to be built out to the area as well."

"We may have a issue." Kaylee said opening up her face plate and walked over to the hologram that was up. She touched the hologram bringing up a wider view of the terrain, then zoomed in a bit north. "Wildlife issues to the north, sir. If we begin construction here, we may be interrupted their migration pattern. They may start walking right through the recreational zone, and then this river runs right through where they are, we should try not to divert the river too much or else they will run out of water and may start to cause future problems." Kaylee said knowing wild life wasn't her field but still a life is a life and all life will be changed with such a grand scoped project, all avenues should be explored when it came to the planet, which included the people as well as the animals.

A warm smile was directed back to the room. "Folks...I understand that there are impacts to be considered. But consider this....these folks do not use anything but natural energy sources for planetary supply. No internal combustion engines, no fossil fuels, no fission or fusion sources, no antimatter. We are lucky they even allow the air traffic that they do. The planet used to be extremely dirty, and they have managed to clean it up. The impact of building this dam is several magnitudes less than other options would be to their overall environment." She looked around the room again before continuing. "This planet may be the cleanest industrialized planet I have ever seen. Their water treatment and waste management processes are amazing."

Von Hyden sat quietly listening to the various points of view being exchanged around the table. He was a little baffled about why objections were being made to the decisions already made by the sovereign government of a Federation member planet.

Starfleet's job was to provide a variety of services to Federation members, not to second guess autonomous planetary government decisions on how they wanted to develop their own world.

Bottom line the 405th was here to haul, if the planet wanted a twenty square mile concrete slab built that was their decision, all he needed to know was where to drop the bags of cement.

"My understanding is that we're here to help these people with some heavy construction work, not become their baby-sitters." he said quietly "As Federation members they choose what they want built, where they want it, and we help them do it....'

"Commander Von Hyden is spot on. We are here to do a job, not argue policy and politics. They want a dam, we are giving them one. I shouldn't need to remind you of the advantages of our relationship with the governments of this planet. It's how we are able to even have a base here...not to mention this beachside complex."

"Those who follow orders blindly are doomed to die by them. I won't follow orders if I feel they are unjust orders. You can kill me, brig me, whatever, but I will not follow orders blindly like you seem to want to do, Commander." Kaylee said with a hint of distrust of the man.

"Lieutenant. I don't understand what exactly your issue is. We are building a hydroelectric dam, not a military complex. This is one of the types of projects that the Corps is known for. The entire design was engineered by the Corps Planning and Design Division, and site selection was performed with cooperation between the local Government and the Corps Ecological and Environmental Impact, Geotechnical Engineering, and Watershed Development Divisions." She took a couple of steps toward Williams. "This entire project up to this point has either been overseen or developed by the Corps of Engineers, and has been signed off on by the Central Committee and the Federation Council. So...please explain to us why you do not think it should move forward."

"I dont have a issue, Im sure this planet will make for a great R&R planet, right up until this planet is attacked by Orion slavers due to the easy pickings it will be, then you'll wish you took my advice and put in some form of military on the planet. But as you just pointed out, we are here to build so lets stop fighting each other which seems to be the order of the day and do what we are sent here to do, Sir." Kaylee said as she wasnt backing down. "Also my opinion of blindly following orders do get people killed, I rather not be one of them. Its a Marine thing, sir, once a marine always a marine even if your a civilian or Star Fleet." Kaylee added, she knew she was going to be in a mess of trouble for sticking up for herself, but how could she do anything less.

Before anyone else could respond, the whine of a transporter beam could be heard. They all turned to see Lizzy materializing a few feet away from the table. In contrast to the rest of the group, she was wearing blue jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt, which was pulled out sort of like a bowl to hold... something.

"Sorry I'm late." She said as she dumped the contents of her shirt onto the table where she was to sit. A hyperspanner, and several pieces of what appeared to be a dismantled medical Tricorder now lay on the table in front of her. She picked up the hyperspanner as she sat down, and began working on the pieces. "I got a little busy."

Those closest to her could feel it...the air started to cool before Kathleen took a deep breath and steadied herself. Her blue eyes bore into Jey. "I'm so glad that you could manage to join us. Perhaps you would like to enlighten us all as to what kept you?" A couple of snicker/coughs filtered through the room. Kathleen did not bother to search out their origins.

Lizzy looked up from the piece she'd started working on, holding it up for Kathleen to see. "You're looking at it, Commodore." She said, then resumed working on it. "One of the doctors on the station came to me, practically demanding I fix this for them."

Von Hyden sat back in his chair, hiding a grin. Bringing a diy repair job to a command meeting was a first.

Those who knew Kathleen saw the warning signs, but before anybody could say another word Rosaleen rushed over to her, grabbed her hands, and spun her around, whispering into her ear with a sense of urgency that all could see. The room continued to become colder though...this was not going well at all. Kathleen had more control over herself than most of her kind did. But there were limits...

"Whats going on, Captain?" Kaylee said as her sixth sense went into over drive.

Having held his tongue during the exchange about the site and the immediate effects the dam would have, he was a little surprised and concerned about the questions and views about there involvement, with the late appearance and subsequent attitude of the stations XO, Vilgi glanced to Kathleen watching for signs to step in, his cue came with Rosaleen actions. "The Boss is consulting with and being advised with one of her aids as is her right." Vilgi stated flatly more than a little annoyed at the abilities of an Commander he knew was more than capable being called into question and disrespected.   "A bigger issue is we have wandered away from the whole point of a project briefing, it ain't the appropriate forum to highlight how disinterested,  dissatisfied in anything outside of there immediate field, or there general dislike for the posting a person maybe." He stated in a harsh but not overly aggressive tone, looking over at Captain Cleh holding his gaze at her for a moment. "Neither is it the appropriate forum to question Starfleet's procedures when it comes to dealing protectorate, Self Governing, worlds." Switching his gaze and attention to Lieutenant Williams but maintaining a similar tone, holding it for a little longer as he added "Never mind the fact you just displayed a complete lack of confidence in the your fellow officers ability to preempt threats and where necessary deal with threats to the planet itself."

Glancing around the room as a whole he sighed, glancing over the command pair before continuing with the main subject. "Now where were we. Environmental impacts I believe. Now the data we have shows a clear rocky area a couple if hundred meters to the south west of the proposed site, if our own survey shows that to be stable it would make a good site for a base of operations.  Any of the heavy machinery and cutting and digging equipment wouldn't have far to travel.  As for avoiding over flights of townships I'm sure Cmdr. Von Hayden and his pilot wouldn't mind a chance to take a few more creative routes."

Lizzy looked up from what she was doing, glancing around the room, and noticing the contents of the holographic display. She didn't fail to notice Vilgi's gaze held on her for a moment. "Hydro-electric dam huh?" She said as she resumed working on the Tricorder. "Sounds like a good power source for a hospital, or amusement park."

Given what he'd just said about time and place for things and keeping things on track. Vilgi elected for the slightly more diplomatic, catch up summary for the stations rather qwerky first officer. "That's the idea Captain, the planets power generation policy is all natural, our return has increased demand for that power. This is our way of pitching in and lending a hand. The byproduct is a recreational setup around the resulting lake. We're figuring out the details of how to make it happen." Vilgi paused checked himself and then added. "I get this is not your particular area. But it's useful if your in the loop and know what's going on."

"My advice is to add a medical facility nearby." Lizzy said absently. It was clear she was paying more attention to her work on the Tricorder, than she was to everything else. "You never know when someone will get hurt."

"Excellent idea, Captain." Kathleen had re-entered the conversation once again, once again her 'normal' self. "Actually they have some very well trained wilderness rescue and fire teams, and could stand a good base of operations out there. Would you be interested in designing them a facility?"

~Oops!~ Lizzy thought to herself. She paused uncomfortably in what she was doing, as she looked up at Kathleen. "Umm... My specialty is designing, repairing, and building medical technology." She finally said. Part of her wondered if this woman might be testing her, or deliberately trying to make her screw up some how. "I don't know anything about designing facilities, or buildings."

"Fair enough. But I am assigning you to the team. And you will need to set up a meeting with their Public Safety people to get an idea of what they want."

"I can give you a walk though of design procedures if you like?" Vilgi offered. "Theres a couple of good programs that do most of the work Shouldn't take long to get you up to speed with the basics."

"I think I'll take you up on that offer, Mr. Morr." Lizzy said, glancing up at Vilgi. She figured that every little bit might help her do the jobs her sister was supposed to be doing. "Can't be that much harder than what I already do."

"So besides the hydro electric Dam, Medical facility, amusement park, what else will SCE need to build? Then I need to know what labor we have available, and complete sensor data for possible earthquakes in the region and that sort, do we have that available? Do we have a dead line for completion?" Kaylee asked rolling off questions so she could get the full scope of what resources she had available.

Kathleen's eyes bore into Kaylee. "As I stated before we have a complete geologic workup on the site and the surrounding region, but I want us to do one as well. And we will be setting in place the infrastructure necessary for conducting the power to the closest distribution center, plus we will be putting in transport connections. And the deadline is an open one for now, but we will not be taking our time. As for resources...that's not a problem. Period."

"Yes sir, Sorry about the repeating sir." Kaylee said as she made a mental note to get a hearing check later.

Von Hyden waited until O'Shea had finished with Williams then had a couple of questions of his own "Commodore, whats the logistical supply chain? I'm assuming the core construction materials - rocks, ballast, sand and so on are going to be coming from various sources on the planet, so we're just moving stuff within orbit. We can do that no problem.

But, what about the mechanical and technical components, such as turbines and so forth. Are we making those here at the Starbase or do I need to go fetch them from someplace else?"

"The turbines, generators, and other electrical components will be supplied on planet. Everything else is up to us, save raw materials. However, we will be setting up an industrial replication complex on site, so a lot of fabrication will take place on site. However, we will still be making some components on the station, so you will be kept busy enough."

"How raw of Materials?, because if we built this to Federation specs, then we wont need sand or the like, just lots and lots of metal sheets, then how big of a dam we talking?. We talking Niagra Falls on Earth or are we talking something a bit more manageable and small scale?" Kaylee asked trying to get some clarification.

Von Hyden coughed, he was extremely easy going and not one to normally pull-rank but as the junior officer here, William's constant interruptions were becoming tiresome and disruptive to the briefing.

"Ahem... If you don't mind Lieutenant" Von Hyden said levelly "The Commodore and I were discussing logistics.

While we continue to do so, I suggest you refer to the planetary site and engineering studies that were already mentioned..."

Turning back to O'Shea, Von Hyden continued "Any custom's or import restrictions we need to be aware of, Commodore? You mentioned then have a ban on nanite technology, anything else they don't want us bringing in to orbit?"

He'd had a nasty experience one time when they hauled in emergency food supplies to a planet on the edge of starvation and had two ships impounded by the theocratic government because they had alcohol on board, a substance banned under the terms of their religion. The government would rather have let the food rot and thousands starve, than allow the ships in. There had nearly been a major diplomatic incident over half a case of Bajoran ale and two bottles of some exotic Andorian cocktail mix.

It had finally been resolved when Von Hyden agreed to load the booze into a torpedo casing and launch it into the system's sun. Followed by the two ships, their crews and Von Hyden himself, undergoing six days of ritual purification. Which mostly involved lots of cold baths, chanting and a diet of cold gruel and water. Not an experience he was in a hurry to repeat.

"We will be required to have atmospheric monitors in place to monitor radiation, air quality, and water quality. And Lieutenant Williams brings up one important point..this will be a highly reinforced, good old fashioned concrete and stone dam. The Corps of Engineers stone masons are going to love this one...they usually don't get to play this much." She waved her hand, dismissing the holo-image. "In orbit we don't have restrictions on tech used at the station. And they are allowing us to use the heavy industrial replicators on-site, so that is a huge plus."

"And as an Officer, Commander Hyden. 'You' should respect the opinions of those under you or your no officer worth respecting or following, Sir. As for Logistics I have more than enough right to know whats going on more so than anyone here, Commander Hyden as those will be 'my' Engineers down there on that planet doing 99% of the heavy lifting. You just fly around with a god complex high up in the sky, your ship may not be a horse but it will suffice as one." Kaylee said as she felt the sting.

"Yes sir." Kaylee said nodding in agreement

Before Von Hyden could respond, Kathleen ended the battle. "Lieutenant Williams, I need you to meet me in my office after the meeting." It wasn't a request. A quick glance to Falk sent the message clear; She would take care of this without pause. "Now, does anybody else have anything to say that is actually pertinent to the project?"

"Understood, sir." Kaylee replied simply.

Von Hyden sat back in his chair, not usually one to label others he had been forced into the conclusion that, based on her manner during this meeting, Williams was little more than an arrogant disrespectful blowhard unable to operate in a team environment nor respect the chain of the command. Such officers were dangerous and foolhardy and seldom had the respect of their peers or subordinates. Quite how she expected to gain the trust and cooperation of the other members of the command team by acting in this way was beyond him.

"I wouldn't mind a where and who from list for the pick up materials and equipment. I can have some of my crews on the ground then help smooth the whole process." Vilgi injected attempting to follow O'Shea lead and steer the subject back on track.

Kaylee was busy making a mental note of where she went wrong with her direct nature when surrounded by superior officers, while multi tasking a list of materials she will need along with a total amount of man power should would require for the task at hand.

Still working on the Tricorder, Lizzy finally stopped what she was doing, putting the Tricorder back together. "You said you wanted me to design it, so with Mr. Morr's help, I should be able to have some kind of design ready within a couple of days." She flipped open the now assembled Tricorder, and activated it. She took a quick scan of herself to test it, then looked confused. "Must have been a fluke." She said absently, as she closed it, and set it back on the table.

"If you need help, let me know. I have designed quite a few buildings in my time, though they were more for strategic purposes but civilian and military style buildings and specialized purposes are pretty much the same in concept." Kaylee said casually.

"I believe we have this one covered, Lieutenant. You just concentrate on the dam. The last thing we need is for it to fail a few years down the road and wipe out everything downstream."

"I'm satisfied. Commander Von Hyden and I will make sure that we have enough birds to keep the supply chain moving," Masters nodded as she had been content to watch the action unfold in front of her. Already, she was thinking about how to manipulate the flying so that she could get a bit of seat time in. One of the biggest reasons she had decided on Starfleet was to be a part of something bigger than what she could accomplish on her own, and this project was a shining example of how they could do that.

"Speaking of which," Masters turned to Falk, "we'll need to have a meeting soon to sort out all the flying that needs to be done. There's going to be a lot of it coming up."

Von Hyden nodded "Right after we finish here is good for me"

Kathleen noded to Rosaleen, who shut down the holo and monitor. "Alright...anything else anybody would like to add before we dismiss?"

"I do." Lizzy said, looking around at everyone, before centering her gaze on Kathleen. "I was attacked in my quarters last night, when I walked in on some woman going through the files on my bedroom terminal."

Every head in the room turned toward Jeh at that comment. "You did...why was this not reported, Captain? And are you alright?" She didn't appear to be injured, but one never knew...especially with physicians. They tended to underplay anything wrong with themselves.

"She wasn't able to actually hack into the files, and nothing was taken, so I didn't see a point in reporting it." Lizzy replied with a shrug. "I was injured, but I keep a basic medical kit in my quarters, so I was able to take care of the few bruises I got myself. As for her... I inflicted a decent bit of damage, so I'd keep an eye out for any women needing medical attention in the next few days."

Kathleen's eyes bored into the XO's. "I don't know how they do things where you have been posted in the past, but Starfleet regs require that you report any incident such as this immediately. Now the person of interest has at least 16 hours lead time. That is unacceptable."

"Then next time, I'll report it." Lizzy replied, somewhat defiantly. "In the mean time, no ships have left orbit since the attack, so she couldn't have gone too far."

'Needle in a haystack.' Kathleen thought. The station itself was huge, let alone the planet and all of the orbital facilities surrounding it. "Nothing to be done now, I guess. I'll have Security send a forensics team in to gather data."

"Wait, what?" Lizzy stammered momentarily. The idea of someone going through her quarters with a fine tooth comb was a scary one for her. All it would take was a few keen eyes looking through her things to find out that she was not who she appeared to be. "That's not really necessary, Commodore. Her skin was covered from head to toe, and she didn't bleed."

"Standard procedure, Captain. Again, you of all people should know that. Now, unless there are any other surprises..." She paused for a moment, seeing that nobody else was going to add anything. "I look forward to working with all of you. And remember, my door is always open. Dismissed."

'Just what I need!' Lizzy thought to herself, as she picked up the tricorder, and hyperspanner from the table, moving to stand a few feet away. 'A bunch of forensic security nuts going through my quarters!' She sighed as she looked at the others. "Guess I'll get this Tricorder back to where it belongs." She tapped her COMM Badge. "Cleh to station OPS. One to beam up." and moments later, she vanished in a blue haze.

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Commodore Kathleen O'Shea
Commanding Officer

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Captain Jeh Cleh
Executive Officer
Medical Systems Specialist

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Commander Eliana Masters
Director of Flight Operations
Second Officer

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LtCmdr F Von Hyden
405th CTAG

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Commander Vilgi Morr
Materials and Operations Division

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Lieutenant Kaylee Williams
CoE Director