Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek: Paging Commander Rosek
Lael Rosek
((Chief Engineer’s Office, Deck 14, USS Chin’toka))
As the Assistant Chief exited her office, Lael looked at her desk and the numerous PADDs scattered across it with a sigh. She began the tedious process of sorting the PADDs, keeping the stack most relevant to the report she needed to compose for the Captain closest to her monitor.
Rosek: oO I need a more efficient organization system. Oo
With the PADDs at last sorted, she opened the file on her monitor containing her report and looked for the section about coordination with the other departments. She grabbed the PADD she’d just been recording on and scanned the contents for Lephi’s summation. After a moment of thought, she began dictating to the computer a paraphrased version, citing Lephi’s report with the appropriate link.
Pausing the recording, she massaged her temples. This was definitely going to be a long night.
((Mini Time Jump))
She was on her second mug of Al-Leyan spiced tea when the call came in. In her haste to answer the chirp, she nearly knocked the mug to the floor. Thankfully, she was able to steady it. Fumbling for the commbadge, she tapped it once to open the line.
Serala: =/\= Serala to Commander Rosek.=/\=
The woman’s voice caused Lael to straighten instinctively, her attention completely on whatever the commander would say next. It had to be important if she was comming her directly.
Serala: =/\=My apologies, Commander, but I seem to have forgotten to include you in this little briefing. Would you please report to the conference room? I have a task for you. =/\=
Lael glanced toward the stack of PADDs longingly. She’d really hoped to get her report done tonight. But when the Captain called with a task, it wasn’t optional. Squaring her shoulders, she nodded even though she knew Serala couldn’t see her.
Rosek: =/\= I’ll be right there, ma’am.=/\=
Serala: =/\= Very good, Commander. Serala out. =/\=
((Mini Time Jump))
The walk from Engineering hadn’t taken very long, but it had given her enough time to ponder exactly what task Serala had in mind. That she knew of, there wasn’t anything beyond ship readiness for the Engineering teams to do. However, she’d been sequestered in Engineering and something could easily have come up. She entered and slid into one of the unoccupied chairs, listening thoughtfully as Serala filled in the blanks.
Serala: I was in the process of assigning various tasks when I realized I had overlooked your presence here. Please forgive my oversight.
Rosek: ::inclines her head:: No worries, ma’am. ::smiles::
Running a starship was a tremendous responsibility and with Mei absent, that weight was settled squarely on Serala’s shoulders. As with the aftermath of their previous captain’s sudden passing, the half Romulan was handling it with impeccable grace.
Serala: Well, this is not an engineering task, but with your experience, I would like to ask you to take command oversight of both medical and science for the mission.
She arched her eyebrows at that. Not that she was a stranger to leading non-Engineering teams. Her experiences over the years were varied, after all. Those experiences had taught her the importance of flexibility and a well-rounded knowledge of all duty posts, even if her primary expertise was in Engineering and Helm. It was both surprising and not, however, that Serala would call on that experience.
Serala: Let them do their thing, after all they are the experts. But if you could make the command decisions, and coordinate with me, it would be most helpful. We have a big task ahead of us and I would like to be as efficient as possible.
Rosek: ::nods:: Of course, ma’am. ::grins:: Wherever you need me.
The Captain then turned her attention to Levinson and Snow. Lael had worked with both officers, though not as close as she would be in this role. She was looking forward to getting to know them and their abilities better.
Serala: Please understand that this is not meant to be a reflection on my opinion of your abilities. I am quite confident in your skills and training. But First Contact is one of our most important missions and I don’t want to screw up my first one. Having someone with command experience oversee your efforts will be a benefit to us all. And you will still be free to do what you think is best to do. As I said, you’re the experts.
Levinson / Snow: Response
With that addressed, Serala turned her attention to Toryn.
Serala: :: nodding in gratitude, Serala turned to Toryn :: Commander, as I mentioned earlier, you will be in charge of the ship while I am planetside. I would like to have a member of SORT to accompany us. I am thinking possibly Mr. McKnight. But I want this made absolutely clear to your people. No weapons. Not even concealed weapons. It is vital that we do not present a threatening posture to these people, and we have no idea how it will be viewed if we show up with weapons.
The comments had Lael struggling to maintain a neutral expression. She understood well enough the reasoning behind the order. However, the tactician in her was concerned. They really had no idea what sort of people they were dealing with. Though not every away mission would turn into a disaster, the fiasco with the Hocktin was still fresh in her mind even after all of these years. On top of dealing with a medical situation, the Captain’s team had been taken hostage and held by extremists. She had no desire to repeat that situation here.
Despite her misgivings, she kept them to herself.
Raga: Understood. They may not like it, but they’ll obey the order. That being said, it might be best to keep Solana on the Chin’toka.
Serala: Very good. :: looking at each person in turn, but with a growing smile :: I am not going to lie. I am very excited about this opportunity and I can’t wait to see the look on the Captain’s face when he gets back. But let’s make sure we do everything by the numbers. It’s a big task, but I am confident we are up to it.
Raga: Agreed. ::He smiled and looked around the room, then back to Serala:: If this world does indeed have multiple species that have evolved in parallel, we might want to brush up on similar worlds among the Federation. I believe the Xindi would probably be the best example to study.
Rosek: ::nods:: Absolutely. First contacts are tricky enough without adding diversity to the mix. We’ll need to be very thoughtful to ensure one species doesn’t feel we’re giving preference or deference to the others.
She tapped a note into her PADD, reminding herself to pull some reading material and a summary of the articles together for her team. It would make a huge difference if they were all on the same page. Her gaze flickered to Levinson and Snow. Neither seemed like they would cause an issue with the order. Snow had proven already to be fairly level headed under pressure and she hadn’t seen anything yet from Levinson that indicated the officer was anything less than exemplary in her conduct.
Kiax / Levinson / Snow / Azorius / Serala: Response
Raga: There’s another concern, Captain. ::He spoke up once everyone else had a chance to speak their peace:: Assuming we don’t have to deal with any pirates, like Mister Logan informed us of, there’s a chance someone else detected the warp test flight. Any orders in case we end up not being the only ones who are curious enough to come poking around?
She nodded her agreement. It was a valid point and an eventuality they needed to plan for. Half of most missions was preparing for unplanned circumstances that could potentially throw a wrench in things. A wry, unamused grin twisted her lips. This was getting more interesting by the moment.
Serala: response
Raga: Understood. ::He nodded::
Peters: So am I parking the ship in the asteroid belt first and ferrying the shuttle to the surface second?
As tempted as she was to offer her own skills, she restrained herself. There would be plenty of opportunities to stretch her flying legs, so to speak.
Kiax / Levinson / Snow / Azorius / Serala: Response
Peters: Acknowledged. I could also provide some engineering assistance to medical for setting up force fields for the quarantine zone if needed.
She turned to Peters, her brow furrowing. From what she understood, their mission was purely exploratory. No one had mentioned anything that would require a quarantine. That was the downside of missing the first part of the meeting. But this was first and foremost a first contact situation. While they wouldn’t be doing their due diligence if they didn’t prepare for other scenarios, they had to keep their eyes on the prize so to speak.
An excited grin slid across Lael’s face. The last first contact situation she’d been a part of had been the Golthani aboard the Astraeus. It had proven to be an interesting one as far as those types of missions went, but from the sounds of it, this one was promising to be even more intriguing.
Serala / Raga / Kiax / Levinson / Snow / Azorius: Response
Rosek: Is there any way to obtain more information on their culture and customs before we meet up with them? The last thing we want to do is offend them before we even get the chance to properly meet them.
Though she’d been thrust into any number of unknown situations in her career, she disliked going into them not having at least some understanding of the people she’d be interacting with. Understanding made it a great deal easier to ascertain motivation and to subsequently determine the best way to approach conversations.
Serala / Raga / Kiax / Levinson / Snow / Azorius: Response
Rosek: ::nods:: If I’m understanding correctly, we will be the first aliens they see and that can be intimidating.
Raga / Kiax / Levinson / Snow / Azorius: Response
First contacts had been a mixed bag for her in the past, but one thing had remained consistent in all of them. She’d been more than a little nervous meeting a species for the first time, no matter how much forehand knowledge she had of them. The tricky part was feeling out the situation and finding a good flow of conversation.
Serala: Response
Rosek: ::smiles:: Yes, ma’am. I’ll certainly give it my best.
Serala / Raga / Kiax / Levinson / Snow / Azorius: Response
