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The tale of the USS Celeste - Combat Information Centre - Mission Start

Posted Aug. 18, 2022, 12:43 p.m. by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) (Sharon Miller)

Posted by Ensign Tom Little (Engineer) in The tale of the USS Celeste - Combat Information Centre - Mission Start

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade T’Mara Michaels (Chief Science Officer) in The tale of the USS Celeste - Combat Information Centre - Mission Start

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Theodore Knox (Chief Medical Officer) in The tale of the USS Celeste - Combat Information Centre - Mission Start
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻
06:00 hours and the CIC was quiet. Captain Cobb’s shift wasn’t scheduled for another two hours, but since leaving the starbase the previous evening, the old man had been finding difficulty with restful sleep. Lt MacReady was dismissed with a nod, the younger man moving quickly from centre seat to helm, fingers dancing across controls as if he had been at this station all night.
The Combat Information Centre, nestled at the very heart of the Leviathan on deck 23, was considered by Cobb to be superior to a traditional bridge. Viewscreen, departmental stations and command seating were all present. But what made this area so unique was the ring of sensor stations positioned between the command seating on its raised plaform and the horseshoe configuration of tactical, ops and helm. Here, each station contributed to a huge central holoprojection that offered a 3-dimensional view of localised space.

Currently, that projection detailed the Tellun star system, the Leviathan making steady progress through on its way to the Briar Patch. At 17:00 hours the previous evening, Admiral Roebuck had ordered the Leviathan to the Kessik star system, on the outskirts of the Beta quadrant, to rendevous with the USS Celeste. More details would follow, or so Roebuck promised, but for now all they knew was that the Celeste was another ARU vessel and that it carried a very important, and very dangerous, anomaly on its containment deck.

“Who do I have to promote to get a decent coffee around here?” Cobb called out to no-one in particular. Seconds later and a grinning MacReady was handing him a large, steaming mug.
“Espresso raktajino, Captain,” the helmsman added with a wink. “An old recipe from Commander Nakuto.”

Silence resumed as the captain gulped the treacle-like coffee, machines and consoles all aorund them chirping like morning birdsong. Then at that threshold where silence began to shift from peaceful to oppresive, Zachariah cleared his throat and called out, “All stations. Report.”

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

OOC: This is really just an intro post to kick everything off, so everyone is welcome to join in if they wish. Just find an empty seat in the CIC and a reason for being there and we can get down to some anomaly-chasing at last!

Surda saluted Cobb with her own mug as she slid in front of the RTF console, dismissing the NEJO with a “Thank you Lieutenant.” She spared a moment to check the readouts, then checked security reports on her PADD. “Containment is green across the board.” She sighed as she read her newest report. “The cult of Dave reserved the Jeffries tube behind Sickbay for their initiation, but they submitted the appropriate forms this time, so I suppose that’s happening.” Ah, the right to religion made her job hell.
-Surda, CoS/RTF CO

Verbal frustration censored by coffee, yet the roll of Cobb’s eyes told the tale. An anomaly, treacherous and terrifying without measure. Yet with charisma sufficient to attract numerous devotees. From those who should have absolutely had more bloody sense!
“In my day teenagers worshipped musicians and starship captains,” he sighed. “Simpler times, Lt Cmdr Surda, eh? Or so they often seemed.”

DiNozzo saluted the captain as well. He went to his console next to the helm and said to the captain “Sir. Things are going well and weapons are on green all on board. I know one of them isn’t my responsibility Captain, but shields are green as well. According to everything, we are all good to go. I suppose that this would be a great timing and knowingly know this since I am Tactical Officer.” He said.

CTO

Zachariah frowned. “As tactical officer the shields are absolutely your responsibility, Lieutenant. Or do you think torpedos only fire in one direction?” A loud chirp from the captain’s console allowed DiNozzo off the proverbial hook.

“This is operation, Sir. All system functioning.” NLtjg said after an awkward moment.

Fragile silence descended as Cobb studied the message, face beset by an ever-deepening frown. Until the click of a comms channel finally broke the spell.
=^= All senior personnel to present immediately to the CIC. This is not a drill. Captain out. =^=

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

“Yes sir. Well everything is on green we are good to go sir.” As DiNozzo looked at the captain confused wondering what was going on. He wasn’t aware of what’s going on. “And captain I do apologize.” He said.

CTO

Silent acceptance of DiNozzo’s apology by wave of the hand. Clearly the Captain had more pressing issues on his mind.

The door opened and Theo stepped in just as the summons was sent out. “Captain. “ he said to Cobb and nodded in turn at the others present. He clasped his hands behind his back and stood out of the way of their work but with a clear view of everything going on.

Meanwhile, under the cup of coffee Cobb had been given a small shadowy blackness seemed to seep out of the sides, it quietly engulfed the cup and swallowed it whole, silently.

Dr Knox

A grasp for his coffee came up short, questionable glimpse of fleeting shadow giving way to empty space. Was that…? Dammit! So focussed had he been on laying distance between the Leviathan and their base, he had forgotten his ship’s permanent resident. Or had he hoped for the child to have found sanctuary away from this floating circle of hell? Either way, he owed her some time and a good many explanations for current events.
“Bring back my coffee and I’ll get some chocolate chip cookies for you in return, eh?” he whispered into the abyss.

The shadow bubbled a second or so then the coffee reappeared. It wobbledmslightlyma second before coming to a rest. Seconds later another small shadow gave birth to a slightly bashed looking ginger snap biscuit. Was it an acceptance, a positive sign or an attempt on the captains life? Who knew. There it was and then the shadows were gone.

Following quickly behind Knox Rauuhl entered just behind him. He didn’t head straight to the center holographic console but made a sweep anti-clockwise checking in with each of the on duty staff personally asking them how they were doing not just in their current job role but in general.

  • Commander Raauhl, XO

Emerging from a shadowy part to the side of the CIC, the ships Intelligence officer Adam MAgnusson. He’d made a habit of appearing as if from thin air whenever he was needed or whenever it didn’t suit someone else. He Joined the Captain near the central console, nodding quietly to his commanding officer.

CIO

“Commander Raauhl, Commander Knox, Lt Commander Magnusson,” Cobb greeted each new officer in turn before moving quickly to the nearest sensor console. In a blink the Tellun star system transformed into an image of a Federation ship.
“This is the ARU exploration vessel, the USS Celeste. Last known location, the Kessik star system. Navigation data indicates she was making a return to the base. Security logs suggest this was for an offloading of her cargo; a full containment deck, including anomaly DA8012059.”
Several taps at the console and the holographic scene shifted to a small, furry animal with round body and equally large, rounded ears. MacReady was not the only crewmember to greet this image with an “Awww.”

Wondering if it’s appearance was part of its hunting mechanisms Theo was unsprirpised at the reaction. As ever the doctors expression remained vulcan like. Utterly stoic.

Cobb frowned. “Don’t be fooled by its appearance. The creature you’re looking at is a Darwin-class, Abell-level anomaly. Its primary attribute? Contagious and uncontrollable rage. So critical was its containment that the Celeste was transmitting hourly status readings to the ARU. Until yesterday, when those readings suddenly stopped and all contact with the Celeste was lost.”

A pause while these preliminary yet alarming details were absorbed. “Our own instructions are to locate the USS Celeste and confirm the containment status of DA8012059. If containment remains intact, then we are to transfer it to our own facility and return it to the starbase without deviation or delay. But if containment has instead been breached, then we will have a battle on our hands the likes of which none of us have ever seen.”

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

His laughter, like the roll of distant thunder, brought no humour; only apprehension on a hearty gust of unease. Returning to his chair, the captain fished for, and retrieved, his silver hipflask, taking several moments for a long and energising gulp. Then with a wipe of tunic sleeve over his lips, eyes scrutinised each gathered crewmember in turn.
“Questions? Concerns? Ideas? Now is the time to speak while you still can.”

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

Somehow Dr. Hellsing had appeared on the bridge “ oh DA8012059 I don’t believe in the BAM well have any affect on it if it causes range Buy presents for eyesight I think the best course of action to be do use the transporters to put it in suspended animation and to keep it stored in a transport buffer” Lance feels like hell will need to do some more research on this creature.

Dr. Hellsing
Lt. Lance Von Hellsing

The captain nodded measured approval of Hellsing’s suggestion. Trapping the anomaly in the pattern buffer was a decent idea, albeit only short-term. But as a man who had survived more than one transporter malfunction, his caution was perhaps not entirely misplaced.
“If luck is on our side then the anomaly will still be secure inside the Celeste’s containment unit. Although there’s no harm in you checking over the specs to identify any potential weaknesses, just in case. I’ll have the Admiral send them through the engineering secure comms.”

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

While at the Main Engineering, Tom was having a scheduled eyes-only check. He wasn’t ordered to perform anything that required handy inputs due to his not spending enough time there. The fact that this place has connected by decks in the middle of the structure impressed him every time. However, the monitor had frowned him the first anomaly of the day; a yellow status on partial parameters, probably an old wound from the previous campaign. And maybe someone forgot to reset it. The CIC had a operation’s console. Which still required him the right to be there one day.

Ens Little, Eng

“Ensign Little,” Cobb hollered towards the engineering station, “we need more power to the warp core. The ARU have set us one hell of a distance to cover and no time for the journey. We need every extra second of speed we can possibly obtain.”

=^= Aye Captain, standby. =^=

At the helm, MacReady had been following the preceeding dialogue with interest, but now he spoke up. “Anything more you can tell us on the Kessik system, Sir? Apart from the standard details on the charts?”

“Aye,” Zachariah returned to the sensor console and reinstated the previous three-dimensional map. “Kessik, Bellatrix and FGC-82659,” he pointed out three particularly bright stars in triangular formation. “The infamous Delta triangle and home to the pocket dimension of Elysia. And this,” his finger now moved to an area to the right of Kessik, “this is Gorn territory. Somewhere we do not want to stray into without good cause. Understand?”

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

Lance take a seat at the Engineering Consol “ I can coax a little bit more power out of the engine and I can change the energy output to look like background radiation so the other people don’t pick us up on their sensors” he said as his fingers danced across the console to input his commands

Dr. Hellsing
Lt. Lance Von Hellsing (CE/CA)

“Aah, that’s the spirit Dr Hellsing,” Cobb replied with obvious glee. “Let’s hoist the mainsail and harness those roaring trade winds, eh?”

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

=^= Main Engineering to Dr. Hellsing. How’s the engine status there, Sir? =^=

=^= The monitor is showing yellows on the warp core, shields, life support, and gravity plating. =^= Tom remembered the system usually has a test mode to see if it works under problems. But that’s usually done before activation. He had to check if someone forgot to turn it back or if something was really wrong here, before firing it up.

Theo was still pondering the creature. “When you say rage captain, can you be a little more specific?” He asked.

Dr Knox and Gen (briefly)

“I also need additional clarification,” T’Mara said as she pivoted from her position at the science station. “Rage is an extreme form of the emotion anger. If we recognize the possibility that Celeste has become silent because the actions of the anomaly then it must possess more energetic powers than an extremely bad temper.”

LtJg T’Mara Michaels

Ens Little, Eng

The officers questions caught Zachariah in the midst of munching a ginger snap. Wiping errant crumbs from his beard, Cobb quickly transformed the projected diorama once again.
“Elysia,” a single word to describe the striking landscape, where ancient and modern found harmonious cohabitation. “A pocket dimension within the Delta Triangle, believed to be a utopian society without violence or war, despite being formed by many traditionally adversarial races. Or, at least, it was. Until two weeks ago when they suffered two murders and seven mass brawls in a single afternoon. Its people, despite centuries of co-operation and peace, were unexplainedly at each other’s throats.”

Cobb began to pace, a habit adopted for dual purposes - to stretch his bad leg and to ensure that every crewmember in the vicinity was paying attention.
“The ARU ordered an investigation and assigned the USS Celeste, who succeeded in determining that cute-looking critter as the cause. Theories are still being formed on where it came from - some believe it was planted deliberately in Elysia to disrupt their otherwise peaceful society. Others suspect it to be physical manifestation of centuries of unexpressed frustrations and anger. But what they know for sure is, as soon as DA8012059 was in containment, the conflicts in Elysia disappeared as surely as if they had never occurred at all.”

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

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