YE/D04 - Transporter Rooms

[Jennifer Braggins]

==

[Peter Jensen]

Peter arrived at the transporter room, waiting for the others to arrive as well. He really hoped it wouldn't come to a firefight. That's the last thing he needed: A team of Midshipmen and an Ensign on probably their first mission, and most likely their first boarding action.

You were a Midshipman and an Ensign not long ago  yourself, his inner voice chided him, and he nodded silently. That, he had been. And these particular Midshipmen and this particular Ensign did give him confidence. They were great officers based on their Academy records, and Shadowhunt had dared to stand against the Captain as well when things got tough. That spoke to the man's strength of character.

He checked his phaser setting - stun - whil he waited for the others to arrive. And hoped to whatever deity might exist that he wouldn't need it.

[Sara Kiernan]

Sara packed up an emergency medical kit and rushed for the transporter room. She had only just gotten to the ship and suddenly she was being whisked off on an away mission. When the doors to the transporter room swished open, she saw the First Officer inside and paused a second.

He’s just a person.

She stepped inside and gripped her medical kit tightly. She was in knots already about her first assignment, serving directly with Commander Jensen seemed overwhelming. She tried to push past her fears and stepped up to the pad. “Commander, Midshipman Kiernan reporting. I’m assigned to be your doctor on call for this away mission.”

[Artemis d'Tor'an]

>> Security >>


Art felt like she was rushing down to the transporter room, and had to stop herself a few yards away from stomping into the room as if someone in there was in trouble. She ended up walking into the room still feeling (and looking) angry. Two people were already there: Peter, and a new person she had no inkling of; certainly two people did not want to be indirectly mad at.

“Jimmy almost knocked out West,” she explained quickly to the First Officer. “He’ll be escorting her to Sickbay and then running laps for a week. I figured I’d just come over instead, ask if you want me to go on this inspection, or if you want someone greener.”

She turned to the medical midshipman and introduced herself. “Chief d’Tor’an, Security.”

“Classic Jimmy.” Remarked the transporter operator. His quip required no reply, but did earn him a knowing glance from the COS.


==Tags!==

[Alexander Turner]

>>Main Engineering>>

The Chief had said quickly and Alexander was moving with speed down the corridor. Taking a moment, but not stopping he looked down at his phaser. Stun, yep that is correct. He thought nearly berolling into someone as he looked back up.

"My apologies." He said, gracefully sidestepping the shocked looking enlisted man in security red as he continued on his way.

Alexander entered the transporter room moments later and it appeared he was last to arrive. 

"Sir, Midshipmen Turner reporting. I hope I haven't kept you all waiting, but for some strange reason all the lights and panels in engineering just went dark and so, it took a bit of fumbling around to get here "

==Tag everyone ?==

[Sara Kiernan]

“Chief d’Tor’an, Security.”
Sara nodded to her superior. “Midshipman Kiernan, medical.”

Sara was relieved to see a junior Engineer on the trip with them. It was somewhat comforting to not be the only junior officer there. She smiled lightly. Her nerves were abating slightly, seeing her colleagues just be more people like she’d worked with throughout her training and time thus far in service in Starfleet.

[Peter Jensen]

Peter could have kicked himself for his own thoughtlessness. Why did he not think to ask for a medic as well? He was going to play along, though, and so he smiled at Kiernan.

"Welcome, Midshipman", he said cordially. "I'm very glad to have you. But, and please don't take offense, I hope we won't need your services", he said with a smile on his face before continuing:

"Instead, I hope to make use of your medical expertise in other ways. I intend to search this ship from bow to stern for anything that would classify as contraband. That's where you come in, at least as far as biological agents go", he explained, just as Artemis came in. Peter smiled when he saw her but quickly put his professional face back on, and looked curious. He had asked for West.
When he heard the reason why she wouldn't be joining them, Peter let out a brief chuckle at her remark about having the offending party run laps

"I'm very glad to have you", he said, looking at her and the expression in her eyes was genuine. If things were to get dicey, he couldn't think of anyone he'd rather have with him. "And let's check on West when we get back. Then we can also keelhaul Jimmy", he said with a smirk that was meant to convey to those present that did not know him that he was, in fact, not serious about that at all. He trusted Artemis to know that already.

This was when Turner entered the room. Slightly late, but Peter was not going to chew him out over a small delay like that. Not when it wasn't a life and death emergency. He had only had someone completely fail to report for an away team mission once, when he'd been COS. And the offending officer's excuse? He'd slept in.
That had sent Peter's blood pressure skyrocketing.

"Not to worry, Midshipman", he said with a confident smile. "New ships take some time getting used to. I'd rather have you here in one piece."

He looked at the group.

"Some introductions are in order, I  think. I am Commander Peter Jensen, First Officer. Here", he gestured to Artemis, "is Leftenant d'Tor'an, our Chief of Security. Next, we have Midshipman Kiernan, our doctor. Let's try to make sure she isn't too busy", he smirked slightly before lastly looking at Turner.

"And last but not least, Midshipman Turner, who'll assist in matters engineering. I'm glad to have you all here", he finished, then continued:

"We're going to inspect that ship from bow to stern for contraband. You may not like it", he said, projecting his own distaste for the mission onto the team, but trying his best to manage his facial expressions, "but our job here is not to aid the Talarian resistance, but to keep them from giving the Cardassians a legitimate reason from implicating the Federation, and risk starting another war. And by the time we're done with our search, I don't want a single solitary vole's nest left undiscovered. Am I clear?", he asked firmly.

"We're going to go overthere hoping that we'll not have to use these", he tapped the sidearm on his hip. "But these people are desperate, and understandably so. If there's something here they don't want to us to find, we might not get a very warm welcome, and they might decide to make an issue of it. For that reason, we will not be splitting up. We will stay together, within eachother's sight. This will complicate and prolong the search process, but it will also ensure our safety as much as possible. Any questions?", he finished.

== Tag all ==

[Jennifer Braggins]

[Braggins to Jensen, you're cleared to board; our friend isn't a big fan of Starfleet, so mind your manners.]

[Artemis d'Tor'an]

After Jensen provided an all-around introduction, Art merely nodded at the junior officers. He made mention of checking up on West, and punishing accident-prone Jimmy, to which Art was still thinking up how she could get some sense into his thick skull. Humans had a few phrases about hard-headedness, and while Klingons did have thicker bones, she wondered sometimes just how much merit there was to the Human phraseology.

[Braggins to Jensen, you're cleared to board; our friend isn't a big fan of Starfleet, so mind your manners.]

Artie wasn’t one for sarcasm, so instead of saying something that resembled a quip, she merely did a classic Klingon scowl. “Let’s go.” She said simply, leading the way by stepping up to the transporter pad. To the younger officers, she said, “Stay behind us. Don’t speak unless directly spoken to, and even then, minimal answers only. We’re not here to give away the Starfleet Handbook.”

Art was in favor of the ‘the less said, the better’ approach when meeting strangers, especially when said strangers were non-Federation transport vessels of questionable repute.



>> Away Team thread, “Disreputable Damsel”  >>

[Sara Kiernan]

[Braggins to Jensen, you're cleared to board; our friend isn't a big fan of Starfleet, so mind your manners.]

Sara shifted around a little bit. Every Starfleet first was a little nerve-wracking, but she would let the senior officers take the lead and focus her personal energy on the things her medical training could actually help with.

“Stay behind us. Don’t speak unless directly spoken to, and even then, minimal answers only. We’re not here to give away the Starfleet Handbook.”

Sara nodded, though she wasn’t one hundred percent certain what she could possibly know that wasn’t known broadly. A midshipman wasn’t exactly accessing classified or high profile information. She knew only a little more than a Cadet, and had medical licensure. But if someone wanted information, there were many better people to turn to.

She closed her eyes as she was consumed by the light of transport.

[Alexander Turner]

An inspection how interesting, another new ship and her systems to explore. Alexander thought excitedly.

Alexander took a moment to nod at each of the other officers as they were introduced.

"A pleasurrre to get the chance to worrrk with all of you." He added cordially after his introduction.

Alexander then acknowledge the order to stay behind the senior officers and keep quiet with a nod before standing still for transport.

>> Away Team thread, “Disreputable Damsel”  >>

[Ktan Shadowhunt]

== Catch-Up Post #2 ==

One of the things Ktan appreciated about working night shift was the relative lack of random encounters while walking the corridors. With most of the crew asleep, he could get from one place to another with relative ease. Social interactions were always where you expected them to be: at your stations or in the mess hall.

Being awake during the day, however, led to repeated "how have you been's" and "haven't seen you in awhile's" waiting around every corner. And so it was that Ktan found himself the last person to arrive in the transporter room for the away mission, rather than the first.

Commander Jenson was already speaking.

"I intend to search this ship from bow to stern for anything that would classify as contraband," he said, already midstream on his mission briefing. Ktan simply hung in the back of the room and tried to look inconspicuous, which is difficult for a seven foot tall Kzinti.

Jenson ran through a round of introductions, which included security and medical officers, alongside an engineer. Ktan would be heading up the science portion of the contraband sweep, looking for suspicious energy signals, radiation, and other hard-to-find tells that something illegal may be happening on the freighter.

"We're going to inspect that ship from bow to stern for contraband," Jenson continued. "You may not like it, but our job here is not to aid the Talarian resistance, but to keep them from giving the Cardassians a legitimate reason from implicating the Federation, and risk starting another war. And by the time we're done with our search, I don't want a single solitary vole's nest left undiscovered. Am I clear?"

Several of the young officers gave assertive nods.

"We're going to go over there hoping that we'll not have to use these", he tapped the sidearm on his hip. "But these people are desperate, and understandably so. If there's something here they don't want us to find, we might not get a very warm welcome, and they might decide to make an issue of it. For that reason, we will not be splitting up. We will stay together, within each other's sight. This will complicate and prolong the search process, but it will also ensure our safety as much as possible. Any questions?"

If any of the junior officers had any, they didn't get the chance to ask it, as word quickly came in that the were cleared to leave.

As Ktan stepped towards the transporter pads, the security chief addressed them.

"Stay behind us. Don’t speak unless directly spoken to, and even then, minimal answers only. We’re not here to give away the Starfleet Handbook."

Ktan stifled a smirk at the thought of "staying behind" the security chief, whom he dwarfed by a good foot and a half. But seeing as the lieutenant was half-Klingon, he had no doubts about her prowess in combat.

With that, the group all settled into their places and awaited transport. As Ktan had said before leaving his quarters, it was time to go to work.

>> The Disreputable Damsel >>

[Ktan Shadowhunt]

<< Disreputable Damsel <<

Ktan materialized back in the transporter room, their brief away mission seemingly over. Captain Heathridge would go free, continuing to ferry refugees in and out of the Cardassian occupation of Talaria. Ktan didn't know much about Talaria culture of their conflict with Cardassia, but he made a note to say a prayer for them when he had a chance. The Bajorans had the prophets looking over them, and they still suffered decades of enslavement at the hands of the Cardassians. Ktan could only hope that the Talarians didn't meet the same fate. If a small prayer to the gods of Kzin would be of any benefit, then he could make time for them in his thoughts.

Never one for idle chit-chat, Ktan exchanged what few pleasantries were necessary with his fellow junior officers before quietly exiting the transporter room, headed for the science labs. Once there, he would look into the ships logs to see just what was going on that necessitated their away mission being cut short. With any luck, it wouldn't involve provoking the Cardassians any further than they already had.

>> Science Labs >>

[Alexander Turner]

Well his first away mission had not been what he had expected, but then again Alexander wasn't sure what he had expected in the first place. What he knew for sure was that he had learned a few things along the way and that was what was important. First of all Alexander had leaned you can never judge a book by its cover, Alexander had been sure the Captain of the Disreputable damsel had been up to no good. In fact all initial indications had pointed that way, but instead he had been a good man helping refugees.

Anyways now was not the time for reflection, Alexander decided to save that for his personal logs later. 

"Time to get back to work. It was a pleasure working with you all." 

Alexander gave a quick wave to his fellow away team members and headed back out the door for engineering.

>>Main Engineering>>

[Jennifer Braggins]

By the time Jenny entered the Transporter Room, she was almost buzzing with barely-constrained excitement; she was about to take a step into the past and, just maybe, solve a centuries-old mystery that had continued to baffle researchers and Starfleet Security investigators. Conscious of who she was bringing with her, given the damage to the Franklin and the likelihood that none of the cryo-sleeping passengers had ever seen a nonhuman before, Jenny had been careful to select only Human or near-Human crewpeople and had deliberately kept the initial team as small as possible, just in case something went wrong; it was easier to quickly beam three people out than six, for example.

And if we need to be left behind for whatever reason, three people are less of a concern to the Cardassian military than a fully-armed away team...

Though sensors had indicated the Lord Franklin retained atmosphere in most of its compartments, Jenny wasn't taking chances with a centuries-old life support system; she'd ordered respirator masks supplied to her team until or unless they got fresh breathable air circulating around the old ship, and had also ordered sidearms issued on the off-chance that they needed to cut through a bulkhead or someone reacted poorly to their presence.

With respirator mask dangling from its straps around her neck, Jenny expertly strapped her holster to her right thigh before removing the weapon and checking the settings. It had been set to stun as standard, a discharge at a higher setting risked punching a hole in the DY-150's thin pressure hull, and she was pleased to see that whoever was working the armory had kept the weapons in a clean but functional state; too many armorers these days, she knew from her relationships with her husband and sister-in-law, worried more about the visible condition of the weapons under their care than their functionality. Reholstering the weapon, she quickly checked her Tricorder and the other tools on her utility belt; glow-rods, spare flashlight, multi-tool, and a wicked-looking knife of Reman design. Satisfied, she folded her arms and leaned against the transporter station while they awaited Hydish.

"What's your theory on the Franklin's disappearance? I've read some wild ones, including Suliban spies or a planned preemptive strike against the Romulans by Section 31. Personally I'm thinking insurance fraud; it was an old ship and refitting it with more modern engines couldn't have been financially viable, so the owners arrange for it to 'disappear' and collect the insurance money."

[Sara Kiernan]

Sara, not quite long enough later, found herself walking back into the transporter room. She was carrying the same medical kit and bracing herself for whatever was coming. As if reporting to the First Officer earlier wasn’t enough, the Captain was there. Sara muscled up her courage. “Captain. Midshipman Kiernan. I’m on for medical.” She knew her uniform told enough of that story but making a good impression was worth something.

[Arwen Qi]

Qi clipped the phase pistol to his belt with some hesitation. Hours of target practice on the holodeck had improved his aim somewhat, but he was too hesitant. Every shot was half a second too late. He hoped that their visit to the Lord Franklin would be a peaceful one.

"What's your theory on the Franklin's disappearance? I've read some wild ones, including Suliban spies or a planned preemptive strike against the Romulans by Section 31. Personally I'm thinking insurance fraud; it was an old ship and refitting it with more modern engines couldn't have been financially viable, so the owners arrange for it to 'disappear' and collect the insurance money.”

Qi was impressed. He’d read many of the theories that the captain had mentioned, though the insurance fraud angle was new to him.

“I used to think that the Romulans stole it to get a better sense of human technology, but that doesn’t make sense now that we know there’s a full crew in stasis pods. Now I’m leaning toward human separatists. The mid-22nd century was a tumultuous time for humanity.

Qi’s face flashed a grimace. Not every human embraced the dawn of the Federation -- some even resisted it violently. He undid his ponytail and let his dark curls fall over either side of his face, partly obscuring the dark spots that identified him as a non-human.

== Tag away team ==

[Jennifer Braggins]

==Moving us along so we don't get stuck==

Jenny nodded pensively as Qi voiced his own theory about who had stolen the Lord Franklin; it was by far the most popular theory among legitimate historians, but nobody seemed to agree who the separatists were. Terra Prime, neo-luddites, religious radicals. All had been theorised as the thieves, but whoever they were and whatever their reason, they had fled Earth for a reason; what that reason was, Jenny did not know, and she intended to remain on her guard, just in case. That was why Phasers had stun settings, and why she'd ordered the Cargo Bay secured.

Handing our respirators and Phasers to Kiernan and Hydish when they arrived, Jenny gave her equipment a last-minute check before nodding to the transporter technician to begin setting up the transporter.

"We're about to step into a relic of the past; whatever we find over there has historical value, so be careful what you touch. We're also dealing with people who have presumably been in suspended animation for over two centuries; l there's a reason everyone on this team is either Human or can pass themselves off as one. There's also a slim possibility that this is an elaborate Cardassian trap, in which case don't be afraid to shoot first; we'll sort the questions out when we get back."

After briefly checking over everyone's masks to ensure they were on correctly, Jenny moved hers up to her face as the team stepped onto the transporter pad and stepped into the past...