AT/D02 - Bridge

[Tyra Crawford]

== The Bridge of the USS Artemis is a perfectly oval room located on Deck Two. The walls and carpet are the typical Star Fleet colors of beige and gray with consoles trimmed in faux chrome.

As one enters the Bridge, they will find the bridge divided into three levels.  The center of the bridge, near the stern, the Captain’s chair is found on the uppermost level. In front of the captain’s chair, one will drop down to a lower level with chairs reserved for the First Officer and Mission Advisor.  Taking another step down, one will find the Helm and Tactical stations.

Surrounding the perimeter of the bridge, one will find eight workstations.  Stations on the starboard side of the bridge include: Slipstream status, Engineering, Communications, and Operations. Stations on the port side of the bridge include Science, Environmental Control, Security, and Away Missions.

On the forward wall of the Bridge is the Viewscreen System, which is activated by voice or manually from any console as needed.  On the back wall of the Bridge is the Master Systems Display.

To the right and left of the Master Systems Display one has access to the rest of Deck Two, which includes access to the Ready Room, Briefing Room, Captain’s Office and Quarters, and First Officer’s Office and Quarters. ==

[Cassandra Givens]

>> CO Quarters >>

Cass tugged her bun self-consciously as the lift came to a stop, having already checked her uniform jacket during the short ride. For a second, the bridge seemed entirely empty as she stepped off the lift until a diminutive blonde wearing the purple of support made her presence known by standing up from the center stage. Cass had to briefly wonder if there wasn't a statement being made by the older woman's placement but Morgan was never anything other than polite and helpful in Cass' previous dealings with her.

"Commander," she greeted, though she was certain her smile came off as tense and a bit crooked.

There was a moment where she felt like she was being studied and assessed by the short lieutenant commander, dark eyes seemingly boring into her very soul. It had been a long time since Cass had felt the urge to squirm under someone's scrutiny but this tiny little quartermaster made her want to be anywhere but there.

"We have new orders," she continued, shoulders rising as if shrugging off the desire to flee as she offered a PADD to Morgan.

It was relief when her dark eyes dropped to the PADD but the relief was oh so short lived when the gaze came back on Cass with a hundred times the intensity. She could have sworn Morgan looked angry for the briefest of moments before her lips pressed together into a tight line.

"Captain, how many I assist?" Morgan's voice was crisp but there was an edge to it.

Cass blinked for a second, having expected a question or maybe, even an accusations but not an offer of assistance.

"I need to find Commander Coleman. Can you please notify the crew that they need to be aboard no later than 0630 tomorrow morning for launch?" She leaned forward and skirted a finger down the PADD in Morgan's hand until it hovered over a specific section of it. "I also need these individuals in the Briefing Room tonight at 2000."

She could see Morgan pause as she read the names, no doubt trying to determine what their significance was. However, instead of asking, she nodded all the same, her shoulders squaring and her expression slipping into a more pleasant, albeit it obviously fake, state.

"Of course, Captain. I will handle this immediately," Morgan answered, dipping her head ever so slightly before almost floating past Cassandra to the lift. The captain couldn't help but turn ever so slightly to watch the Quartermaster before the lift doors slid shut behind her, leaving Cassandra to commune with what was now apparently her bridge.

Her honey colored eyes regarded the center chair with trepidation as if she could possibly stave off this event by simply not acknowledging it and refusing to take custody of the chair. After a moment, she merely shook her head and turned towards the ready room, considering if it was captainly behavior to make use of her predecessor's misplaced bottle.

== ETL ... For now. ==

== Consider this the official recall, all player characters are to report to the Briefing Room for a meeting the night before launch (2000 hours). Recall issued by Lieutenant Commander Morgan. ==

[Miles Grant]

==Near launch==

<<Strat Ops<<

Having arrived to the Bridge fairly early allowed Miles to do the last minute Tactical and Helm checks beforehand so they would be confirmed and ready at the Captain's request. He wasn't all that surprised to find he was the Senior-most Officer present upon his arrival, considering how early he was. Per the schedule, Harriman would be slated to be at the Helm at this point just prior to launch, so he could trust her to do those checks as he set about with the others.

Given that he was the Senior-most Officer, his place was, at least for the briefest of moments, at the conn. Even though he had not taken the Command Certification as of yet (though he definitely aspired to do so sometime in the near future), he could still hold the conn with the ship still docked and the absence of anyone of higher rank/position. In the event of an emergency, it was his obligation to take Command, Certification or not. An obligation he would always take seriously, or else he would have refused the promotions he had received.

There was very little to do except wait and run any checks and diagnostics until it was time for the others to arrive.

==Tag all. GM input if necessary: Results of pre-launch checks and diagnostics, please?==

[Lucy Devereaux]

== Nearer launch ==

Lucy managed to get herself to the Bridge for 06:30. She couldn’t figure why anyone would launch at 07:00, but those were the orders given and she needed to be at her console in good time. Did mean an early morning for whoever on Delta Shift had been looking after the Science Console. It was standard nebula survey with tactical considerations. It looked like Lieutenant Grant had turned up before her. Lucy just shrugged and kept walking.

New responsibilities could be a lot. Miles had been ACTO, but now it was formalised. Lucy had her own responsibilities, but they were more in relation to herself than to her role. The officer in the chair was a little surprised, but didn’t mind moving onto something else for the rest of their shift. Lucy pulled up the standard diagnostics and let the computer run. The Artemis hadn’t been involved in anything dramatic, so theoretically the systems should be fine.

Sensors and associated systems were green. Integrating the new probes into the sensor network should be straightforward. The nebula would be a good test bed. Keep Starfleet happy and have a new probe for nebula surveys. Practical application was the goal. Keeping an eye out for Cardassian incursions was also useful. There was the matter of finding what was in there. Smugglers and the Maquis had a history with it, so there was something else to learn from it.

Lucy settled in for the wait. She needed to get through the mission and start to prove that she wasn’t a liability. Not saying or doing dumb stuff was the goal.

One step at a time.

[Omdor Jaein]

Jaein made a mental note to ask for a larger cup of coffee next time. He drained the last dregs of his coffee as the turbolift slowed and deposited him on the bridge, and sighed in disappointment. It had done it's job - he was more awake than he had been when the turbolift had started, though it was a matter of degrees - but he felt the lack of it in his cup keenly as he stepped off onto the sparsely-populated bridge.

Less bleary-eyed than he could have been, he walked around the room towards the engineering station. He'd discussed this with his team leads last night, but decided to ignore them and take this position himself for launch. While they had a strong point that his place was in engineering while everything was spooling up and getting into full running mode, he'd countered that at this point - barely over a day after being given the job - he didn't have the familiarity with the team to lead such an operation effectively, and that the apparent volatility in the command structure meant he might be more useful on the bridge.

Not that you have any idea what's going on there, either, he thought uncharitably. After all, it didn't seem like anybody had any idea what was going on here, not just him.

Instead, he sat down and set the cup on the surface next to him. He logged into the console with his credentials and pulled up his status board. It was one of his diagnostic programs he'd brought from the shipyards; there, it would read the new and unchristened Vesta's systems and give him not just go/no go's, but also would show some more detailed information on the primary screen, as well as allowing him to dive into them and find any more information if needed. It was likely overkill for this situation, but he could read it at a glance, and he'd found it never hurt to have more information than his commander needed.

As it launched, he absently lifted his cup to his lips before remembering it was empty. Disappointed and a little annoyed, he set it down with a hollow thud on the console.

==Tag anyone who wants to talk==
==GM Input for any required information if you want==

[Miles Grant]

As the pre-launch checks commenced, more personnel were beginning to enter the Bridge. The first of note was Lieutenant Devereux, one of the Science Officers. She made her way to one of the Science consoles, relieved one of the Delta Shift Science personnel, and began to do her own work.

Miles considered that Devereux was a good Officer, and was surprised that she hadn't climbed further than she had. Of course, personal aspirations could be considered, as well as other factors at play that Miles was not, nor needed to be at this point in his career, privy to. It could very well be a situation similar to his own and Harriman's. It could be something else altogether. Not something Miles needed to dwell on very long, as Devereux still did her job correctly and effectively.

The next person to enter caused Miles to stand from the center seat. The new Chief Engineer, Commander Omdor, came in with a cup of coffee and headed straight to one of the Engineering consoles. Miles frowned momentarily, but considered the fact that the Commander had come from elsewhere, and there may have been different procedures where he had come from, to include dedicated conn shifts. Nevertheless, until others arrived, he would now have the Bridge.

Miles walked over to the new Chief Engineer and addressed him.

"Commander," he said, respectfully. "Welcome aboard the Artemis. I don't believe we've properly met yet. Lieutenant Miles Grant." He gave the man a moment to respond before continuing.

"With your presence, I relinquish the conn to your Command, sir," Miles finished, awaiting the reply before he planned to head back to the Tactical station.

==Tags==

[Tyra Crawford]

== After the posts in the security office ==

By the time Tyra's boots hit the bridge decking, she was already on her third coffee of the morning and truthfully, she felt that low of a figure was an accomplishment based on what she had already been dealing with through the night and into the morning.

In addition to reviewing stop gap options to fill Coleman's position in the short term and trying to maintain her own sanity, she'd also hunted down Bill, though by the time she'd gotten to him it seemed like Givens had gotten her claws into him first. He'd chosen to play the conciliatory card over deny and evade, though she didn't think he would have chosen that tactic regardless. It usually just made her mad and she doubted he had wanted to have a knock down, drag out fight at 0200.

While she didn't believe Bill had told her everything, he'd, at least, given her two very interesting points to think about. He'd admitted that the plan to get her off of Earth had been in the works for weeks, though it had only begun to include her return to Artemis within the last two weeks when it became very clear to those on high that Coleman was coming precariously close to falling into the fire himself. While he had admitted that with seeming ease, he'd been reluctant to admit why he had been determined to send her elsewhere -- apparently the original plan had been to send her and Logan to the DMZ for a retrieval assignment -- and it was only when she became testy that he had admitted the reason. If she wasn't on Earth, she wouldn't be available to testify at Elias' trial and she wouldn't be able to take a final swing at falling on that sword with the very likely side effect of digging her hole deeper, which she had to admit was very likely. She'd admit now, after some sleep and some time, that her anger at having that choice taken from her shouldn't have been directed at Bill. He was doing what he felt he needed to do to protect her and she couldn't fault him that, not when she had tried to do the same thing for Elias.

His second point had cooled her anger almost immediately, though, as the truth of it had settled into her gut like a stone. If she hadn't returned, the wolves would have been circling Artemis before the handcuffs were even double locked on Coleman. If Bill hadn't placed Givens and assigned their mission, Artemis would have remained docked while the admirals threw their weight around to place their preferred candidate in the captain's chair. And given some of the names Bill had tossed out as the chosen ones of the committee, she couldn't imagine the chair would have been graced by any great leader. No, this way, even if Coleman never returned and Tyra chose not to remain beyond this mission, assuming it was even her choice, there would be more time for a worthy candidate to be chosen, not a political pick or puppet. That was a game she trusted Bill to play, for her sake and the Fleet's.

And her role to play in that game was to keep the circus under control and try to keep the fires to a minimum. She hoped, after her conversation with Mara, she had at least minimized the risks of a total implosion and yet experience told her that the circus -- this particular circus -- always managed to throw punches from the most unexpected places.

As her boots carried her further onto the bridge, her blue eyes swept the bridge quickly. Lieutenant Devereaux was seated at science, which was a rather brave decision on Aeryn's part as the new Chief Science Officer. Then again, she supposed having the poster child for poor decisions within arm's reach of Tyra would likely keep her from making any further poor decisions. Lieutenant Grant was also present and fortunately, Tyra didn't feel he fell into the category of a likely fire starter. He was reliable and dependable, which was what she needed most.

And then, there was Commander Omdor. She hadn't had a chance to speak to the Interim Chief, who she was very much trying not to view as Elias' replacement, but Givens had spoken highly of him, having vetted him personally. Tyra had combed through his file while reviewing Cera's list of possible acting first officers. His record was impressive and she had no doubt that he was a capable engineer, though she wondered if he was capable of filling Elias' shoes. And that was why she hadn't selected him; he had a monumental task in keeping engineering running in the wake of a rather abrupt and traumatic severance of its leadership and he didn't need to add protecting her sanity to his list of duties.

Only two other members of the crew had been seriously considered. She had dismissed Cera almost immediately; not because the woman wasn't capable but because Tyra needed her in her usual capacity, providing intel and information before Tyra even knew she needed it. Mayfair had been her other consideration and while she felt the young nurse likely would have been an excellent choice, she hadn't missed how haggard she had looked at the briefing. Whether a side effect of the last mission, its fall out or something else entirely, Tyra didn't know but she knew it wasn't a good starting point for what she would need out of a right hand for this mission.

So she'd looked externally and she'd selected the candidate, though a tad unorthodox, that she felt was up to the task of helping her reign things in. Or at minimum, not make them worse for her. She'd received confirmation that her request had been approved shortly after leaving security but she had some concerns that the approval might have come too late, despite having given the candidate a heads-up of her intentions. If worst came to worst, she guessed she'd be finding out how capable one of her own senior officers were…

"Gentlemen, how are the launch preparations going?" she asked of Omdor and Grant as she stepped down to the command level with a slight smile.

== Tag! ==

[Omdor Jaein]

==Apologies for the delay to replying, Miles; it's been a rough couple of days==

Jaein hadn't reckoned with one thing: it takes time for the programs he likes to run to load for the first time on a new install. The program did some fairly intensive polling of the internal sensors and the regular system monitors, cross-checking with maintenance logs as well. Subsequent runnings wouldn't require much in the way of update, but for the first activation, it had a lot of data to sift through to provide him the picture he wanted.

So, by the time Lieutenant Grant walked up, he still didn't know a lot more than he had before he went to bed last night. However, he set that aside as the younger man spoke up.  "Commander," he said, respectfully. "Welcome aboard the Artemis. I don't believe we've properly met yet. Lieutenant Miles Grant." 

Jaein stuck out a hand to shake, as he knew most humans preferred, and gave him a smile. "Commander Omdor Jaein," he said kindly, "though feel free to just call me Jaein if you'd like. I work for a living, or at least used to before they saddled me with the paperwork, too."

"With your presence, I relinquish the conn to your Command, sir," Miles finished.

Well, Jaein thought, I guess he'll still be calling me Commander for a while. He nodded, though he didn't get a chance to reply before the doors opened once again to reveal another officer, thankfully more senior than him. Captain Tyra Crawford walked onto the bridge, surrounded by the aroma of coffee and instantly making Jaein regret not going for the bigger mug, the empty by his station hanging ominously in his peripheral vision. Jaein kept his mouth shut for a moment, waiting on her for a moment.

She looked around the room, taking in the officers present, before she spoke towards himself and Grant.  "Gentlemen, how are the launch preparations going?" she asked, stepping down to the command level with a slight smile on her face.

"Still getting my diagnostics in, Captain," he said, "but all of the reports I've gotten from my officers so far say we're ship shape and ready to cast off on your word. Should that change, you'll be second to know - after myself, of course." He flashed a smile at her as well, offering a little humor at the start of the day. "I would ask, though," he ventured, holding up his empty cup, "I haven't memorized where your replicators are - closest place for a fresh cup?"

As he stood to follow her advice, he set a hand briefly on Grant's shoulder. "Guess she has the bridge now," he said, smiling. "Maybe we can meet up at some point for a drink."

==Tags!==