STF

Bridge (2021 Sim)

Posted April 12, 2021, 2:25 p.m. by Captain Calvin Marius (Captain) (Luke Hung)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Tom Jarvis (Internal Security) in Bridge (2021 Sim)

Posted by Ensign Kesh (Engineer) in Bridge (2021 Sim)

Posted by Gamemaster GM (Gamemaster) in Bridge (2021 Sim)
Posted by… suppressed (19) by the Post Ghost! 👻
After the adventure with the mysterious subspace creature ended, the next few days had the life on the Genesis back to routine. The space was being charted and new data was being collected from areas that only long range sensors had reached. As one moved further from Federation space, the number of systems became sparser. At the same time, the gravitational forces seemed to be less stable in those star systems.

It was about 50 hours after the adventure with the subspace creature that the Genesis detected a system with life about another 20 hours from their position. Like Pallas, the planet they had encountered before, there was evidence of life and the possibility of a race with possession of advanced technology. If there was warp travel, first contact would be possible, according to the Prime Directive.

GM

Bridge duty. Yes, bridge duty. Every single time Kesh has fretted about it the outcome was quite benign. Only when she just swung by there expecting nothing interesting did the crazy things happen. Getting sucked into transwarp by crystaline entities, suddenly exiting warp into the corona of a dying star, suddenly experiencing inverted gravity and walking on the bridge ceiling. Stuff like that. When she fusses and stresses and gets worked up about it, nothing happens.

Did Kesh still wake up three hours early and spend all of it failing to make her appearance look ideal? Well, of course. And the final result is so practically identical to the way she looked right after putting her uniform on that she may as well have woken up a half hour before her shift. Yet, as she stood there, staring in the mirror, some wobbly degree of confidence actually peeked through, as the person she saw there looked at least mostly like the one that did so many great things twenty-odd years ago. She had done everything needed to re-capture that state of being, even going so far as to not be an embarrassment at the Academy, graduating reasonably high in her class, rather than the charity case she was the first time around. A charity case with so much to hide and be ashamed of.

This Kesh had nothing to be ashamed of anymore. Right?

The tall Caitian strod out onto the Genesis’ bridge for the first time, pausing a moment to register that it was entirely exactly like what the holographic blueprint indicated it would look like, if with slightly different colors and a few minor changes due to repair work and upgrades over the years of the ship’s service. Wait, this ship had years of service behind it, right? When was it commissioned? Dang it.

With a long, meditative exhale, the ensign of engineering strode toward the engineering station located at the rear of the bridge. While this certainly differed in its location from prior ships she’d served aboard, the familiar interface drew her in and blurred the rest of the noise around her as she signed in and began organizing the UI to her liking.

Absent-minded tail swings thankfully don’t obstruct too much of the walking space behind the felinoid.

NE Taylor at the tactical station was the first to notice the planetary system. “Hey,” he said to Keshi, “I see a possible warp capable system some 20 hours away. Do you think we should report it in or wait until we can get better scans?”

GM

It took a long moment for realization that this statement was directed at Kesh. She had reasonable skill with listening to surrounding conversation and recalling it shortly after, if need be, but being spoken to without a more direct approach had not been expected. Thus, NE Taylor is turned to after a solid pair of seconds elapsing, stared at with wide, blank felinoid eyes for another pair of seconds, before an owlish blink and small body lurch shows realization finally dawns.

“Ah.. uh? That would be.. the.. uhm…” Kesh’s gaze wanders around the bridge, which seemed strangely empty at the moment. Had the current command crew gone off to a meeting, or was she just verifyably blind right now? Knowing how her nerves can be, every station could be manned right now and she’d not even see them until some sort of overt motion takes place.

”.. rrm… stand.. ard… procedure calls for the current bridge commander to be notified as soon as sensors detect unknown lifeforms.” There it is. Took a moment.

->Kesh, Engineer.

It was about that time when Reia stepped onto the bridge. She could have sworn she had the morning off but her alarm reminded her differently forty five minutes ago. So much for an extra coffee in bed with hubby. Instead, she carried it to her station and began looking at the morning’s events. Glancing around she noticed the new engineer Dagen had mentioned the night before. Smiling in a way that was certain not to offend a Caitian, she greeted her warmly before turning back to her own station.

  • Reia, CIO

The movement of an officer emerging from the turbolift sates the dread Kesh had that she’d somehow started her first shift on this bridge in the middle of some sort of crew-vanishing event. That would suck. The half-Orion that bright golden eyes shift toward is easy to identify thanks to her unique physical traits, matching the personnel image exactly. While Kesh had not committed every crewmember to memory, Reia had stood out as her name was identical to that of a character in a book she’s fond of.

Her immediate desire to point this out is supplanted quickly to avoid being inappropriate.

“Hello ma’am. Rrrnth.” A light dip of her head and long blink conveys roughly the same body language meaning as the polite smile.

Whew. One successful quoting of regulation, and one friendly greeting down. That’s one fine surge of satisfied adrenaline. Hopefully, this trend continues.

-> Kesh, Engineering

Tom was standing inconspicuously, as inconspicuously as someone in a black on black Internal security uniform could, in an area of the bridge not commonly traversed. Just a little curve of the bulkhead largely unnoticed but seemingly odd for someone to stand in.

To Tom it was a small pocket of sanctuary, a blind spot in the ship’s internal sensors. Tom knew where all of them were. The ship was assigned deep space exploration and Tom was forgotten, as is common in his case, by his handlers. The last orders he had received was to make himself available to the commanding officer of the ship following all security protocols of course. That was before he knew the ship was destined to leave federation space.

Even he couldn’t stay cooped up in his office so to the bridge he went. The trip through the corridors went as expected. The wide berths, the suspicious and nervous glances, the quiet murmurs. All in all a good day so far.

  • Tom, IntSec

“There is a system that might be warp ready about 20 hours from here. It would need a change of course. What do we do, sir!” reported NE Taylor.

GM

NE Taylor’s question caught Reia’s attention. Glancing around, she realized that she was not the ranking officer on the bridge. This odd Lieutenant Commander person seemed to be. Funny how she couldn’t recall ever meeting him before. Had she? She would have to take a look back through her notes. Still, the decision was his.

Shrugging slightly, she turned back to the new engineer.

“Good morning Ensign Kesh. How are you finding your first bridge shift?” she asked.

  • Reia, CIO

With no pressing matters to attend to with the Engineering console, Kesh left the station to idle while observing the interaction of the increasingly active bridge crew. Why had it felt so empty just a moment before? Unfamiliarity, perhaps.

Those large, bright golden eyes shift between Reia and NE Taylor, considering their body language to gauge relationships, prior to ear tufts flexing forward and posture straightening as Reia address her directly. “Awrr, well, ah.. I just arrived, though I.. mmrm.. I will say actually being on the bridge instead of studying its blueprint is a very.. ah.. ‘real’… experience?”

Gosh that sounded a bit too… depressive?.. ennui? Ears tip outward a bit as her head dips down slightly, conveying her mild embarrassment.

It took Tom a moment to realize everyone was looking at him then another moment to realize he was the ranking officer on the bridge.

“Alter course to investigate. Any indications that we’re being scanned you are to engage electronic countermeasures to make us seem like a sensor shadow. I want a low signature approach.”

  • Tom, IntSec

Tom’s orders prompted Kesh to momentarily glance at the engineering station, verifying that the ship’s power systems were ready to perform. With nothing worth pointing out, she let the Ops or Conn officer handle any verbal reply.

David walked onto the Bridge, a mug of coffee in one hand. As he exited the turbolift, he stifled a yawn with his free hand. He looked up, noticing the other officers on duty.

“Good morning everyone,” He mumbled, slowly making his way towards the Science station, dismissing the NE there with a nod.

Logging on to the console, he quickly caught up with what was going on. He tried accessing the Starfleet database for any information they might have on this system, while setting the long range sensors to active continuous scans to collect as much data as possible.

-David Michaels, CSO

Bright golden eyes and fuzzy ears turn to consider David on his announced arrival. Ah. The CSO. A pang of emotion struck then, as the whole rollercoaster swiftly passed through her mind. She was a CSO once. She made amazing discoveries once, and was important and noteworthy. Now? She was just an ensign, awaiting orders.

That spectre of doubt brought on a momentary jowel flex and roll of eyes upward, mentally kicking it out in favor of a more positive thought: She may well be that again some day, only maybe she’ll be a chief engineer, piloting a ship that uses the very systems she helped pioneer over two decades ago. The point was, even though she was an ensign again, she definitely is an ensign, and every ensign has the opportunity to make it to the top. She can do it.. again.

A soft lilting trill rolls off the felinoid’s tongue to offer David a subtle greeting prior to looking back toward Reia in case she had something more to say to her.

->Kesh, Engineering

Reia had been watching Kesh because it was in the nature of an intelligence officer to do just that, and because she had been new here a long time ago as well.

“Somebody’s first bridge shift is usually noteworthy. You’ll do fine.” she said glancing back at her station. Hopefully things were about to get interesting.

  • Reia. CIO

Well, everyone knows how the saying goes: ‘There’s a first time for everything’. For Kesh it is the first time having a second first time on the bridge. Not at all confusing!

Rather than latch her ear back onto that anchor of misery agian, Kesh flexes ears forward, curls tail tuft up higher, and squints her eyes shut for several seconds while cheek tufts lift just enough to give her best cat grin, toward Reia. Her confidence and comfort was, above all else, appreciated.

A quick shift of gaze here to there ends back at the engineering console, where a few taps cycle some of the more fine-tooth read-outs, again verifying that there was nothing to report to the commander-on-deck yet.

A possible first-contact on her first day of her second comission. Neat.

->Kesh, Engineering

=^=Captain to the Bridge, I see that we’ve made a course change, what’s the situation?=^=

Marius CO

OOC: My apologies! There was a sudden death in the family and I was unable to post. Neither was I able to post an LOA. I will read the posts now and then post replies later.

Kenson GM

=^=Jarvis here Captain… Scanners have detected a system with potential for warp capabilities. I ordered a minimal signature approach. Science is running scans as we close.=^= Tom replied.

  • Tom, IntSec

Science scans show that the planet has the technology of Earth of the mid 21st century. While they were capable of space travel, there was no sign to show that they were a warp capable species.

GM

=^=ETA to system or to scanning range of the population?=^= Marius questioned. He liked being notified, but he didn’t need to micro-manage.

Marius

The helm display showed just short of 20 hours at Warp 6 (cruising Warp Velocity), and about 5 hours at Warp 9.

Tactical display showed the planet to be slightly smaller than Earth and with about 1 billion inhabitants. The gravity was 0.96 times that of Earth.

GM

With nothing to report on the engineering station, Kesh settled such that she could observe the other bridge crew, watching their demeanor while identifying those she recognized from the crew roster, always having an eye toward her console, just in case something required attention.

There was so very much to learn yet.

->Kesh, Engineering

=^=Approximately 20 hours Captain.=^= Tom responded.

Tom wasn’t comfortable in the high profile position of bridge officer in command. It was too much attention on him in his opinion. Though he was doing the job, he never moved from the sensor blind spot. He was smirking to himself at what he considered the ridiculousness of an Internal Security operative in direct command of a starship.

  • Tom, IntSec

=^=Sounds like you have the situation under control. Collect what information you can and prepare a first contact briefing for the command staff in 9 hours. Have written briefing material in conjunction with any report you give.=^=

Marius


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