Recruiting drive

Posted on Sun Mar 29th, 2020 @ 1:09am by Second Mate Quinton Beck & Second Mate Simon Starr

2,075 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Proving Ground
Location: Ranger Armory
Timeline: SB 214

-Start-

{Agora- Security HQ}

Kas was jealous of the view, though bare on the interior, solid glass doors allowed the full view of both legs of the open area bazaar. Wiring was finally complete for the holding cells, and she wanted to be sure to include her team lead in the installation of key components.

There were other issues as well, namely, there was no leader for the Ranger Company on board, stripped of its command staff and mandate in the wake of Sheilas mutiny. They were undermanned in the security department, so training them was the next best choice. She figured it was time for everyone to meet.

=0= Kas to Fala, can you pull cards for deputy training, and I need a contact for the Rangers to get them working for us again.

=0= Toriza is the unit commander, I figured you would be the Department head?

Not a chance. Kas had 32 hours to accomplish forty hours of work and somehow see her kids and have a life. She expected Temporal Investigations to stick their head in to her office for a stern conversation asking some questions about time management soon.

=0= We can see if Simon can take that. Thanks.

Toriza was still a sore spot for Kas, she was Orion royalty, and Fala and the Captain treated her like family with very little to go on. Her dark assumption which was in many ways correct, was that the princess was a huge investor and got to call shots now. She preferred not knowing for now, time would tell all and Quinton made good choices with people. He had even smelled a rat before all this started when Tasco paid off their engineer to steal the payload, made that bastard sleep in a secured bunk... for all the good that did.

Kas banished the pessimism, let her duty focus her.
=0= Kas to Toriza, Please coordinate with Simon later today for Security Department orientation. Tactical and Intelligence will need to formally undergo their merger as well, we can meet on that at the time of. Acknowledge?

Kas knew better than to wait, Toriza was already notorious for only returning calls or confirming details when it suited her. While waiting, she input a request for the Holodecks at SB214 while they had access. Holodecks were an expensive, power hungry, and delicate set of systems, not something she expected to have on their ship for many years. The ship itself was only up to minimum safety standards, large holes in the hull simply patched over, paint missing, ruined stretches of decks filled with a heat resistant foam.

There was time for a reply from the SB214 confirming there were no open reservation slots when Toriza sent text reply.



Judah's face came onto the terminal nearest to her, "Kas I know for a fact the Ops channel got a communique from the Admiralty moments after your request. They aren't letting us use their holodecks." The look of anger was surprising to see in him, almost refreshing.

Kas didn't let it show. She half expected it, they were not welcomed guests here. Looking at Judah with a serious expression she simply relayed in a level tone, "We need to expect this level of commitment from them. Can you help us out, where are you strongest?"

Judah had shown his ability to create multiples of himself, but knew they were limited areas. He showed her his holo grid on the display, speaking over it, "I'm still able to cast full projections in most of the saucer, but I'm strongest in the Agora, Bridge, Civilian quarters and so on."

Kas nodded, adding "No, we need weapons training as well... Rangers have a training room, we can put em in there, I don't care if they like it or not it's our ship, and Toriza is their Unit Commander if you need section approval. If you can make real opponents as well that may make a suitable compromise to keep everyone happy."

"We could possibly strip some emitters to repurpose a crude holodeck, I'll talk to the Chief as well. The Exo-Comps can probably broadcast too... Sounds fun."

"Thanks Judah, let me know."

Already tired and it was barely 0900. Gods she needed rest, but it was miles to go yet.

=0= Kas to Simon, I need to work with you for a department briefing, are you available? Also, we have engineering ready to install your holding cells for the Constables office in the Agora.

Simon was finishing preparations in his quarters as Kas came over the comms. He was expecting it at some point, and he wanted to get it done.

=0= On my way, I'll get in contact with N'Tach about the holding cells.

Remembering having to take Talloc and the rangers from the shuttlebay to the Security Office took a bit of time. He had to admit, the site-to-site transporters that the fleet had was useful.

=0=Simon to N'Tach, I'm going to be meeting up with Kas, I'll come and check up on the new holding cells when we're done

Simon headed up to the Security HQ, where Kas was waiting. He used to have to ask Talloc and almost went to ring when the doors opened for him automatically. He walked in and headed towards Talloc's Desk. "Morning," he himself looked like he hadn't been sleeping too well, and even when he sat down, he took a moment to look at the desk and shake his head.

Looking back up at Kas "So, where do you want to start?" he asked, getting straight into business.

Kas saw the bags under his eyes, another night-walker like herself. "I usually start with a Raktajino and let the day fall onto my desk. You look like you may need one too. We got a dedicated Quad power trunk for your office, engineers are bringing them up now. Other thing, Fala is sending us a list to swell your ranks with a few more deputies. We also need an orientation to the Emergency Action Plan, any scenarios you wanna run us through, basic weapons proficiency checklists... you know."

"I'll bear that in mind, though I usually go with a black americano" Starr replied. "I'll let them know where to put the trunk when they arrive with it."

Simon nodded with approval when he heard his team was getting an injection of staff. Without Talloc, and the rangers, things were a little understaffed at the moment and it was probably the reason Starr looked as tired as he did.

"As to the orientation, I would have to agree with that. We did well with the rangers, but that was with planning. We could come under attack at any time and we need to be ready for that. We'll need to run a few drills, and get all the crew members to at least know how to point a phaser and shoot it." he said.

"I'll sort out a session for after the ceremony, Fala will need to let me know of some things we can use as targets, unless we have a makeshift holodeck up and running soon, that will be the next best thing."

"I'll also want to run drills, though only the captain, you and I should know when these will be. Once we've done the orientation with the rest of the crew, then we can think about that."

Kas nodded, adding it to a tight docket for the week.

"Also, we'll probably need to check the fitness levels of the crew. Not medically, but how their endurance is, maybe set up some sort of run or something, to ensure they can get to stations quickly in the event of an alert status. Though I don't think a lot of the crew will be fond of that." Simon ended, making sure that he covered everything that would be needed to ensure the crew were ready in case of an incident on the way to Talar.

"Agreed. Broad strokes curriculum... focus on the security training only, we can use department heads to disseminate smaller training sessions for counter measures to boarding, how to help fire teams and so on. I'll coordinate with Bas and Toriza to get comms for everyone to talk without badges and a holo gym for you to get some rudimentary target practice and fighting simulation. We just need to hammer on the principles of defending a civilian population, ship mechanics, teambuilding, loss of life prevention, begrudging actions... Surrenders, Ransoms, Raids... More on that later."

{Armory holodeck Deck 7}

In a world of his own, a digital mind united myriad functions to harmonious function. Judah loved this ship, as one would naturally if they shared his life experience. He could feel every inch, aware by sensor and scanner, or vicariously in the bots and devices. The exo-comps were his willing friendly limbs, and the truckload of holoemitters pulled out of the Y'rzz facility gave him holographic life. Creating the armory with Avor and Chief Callahan had been a spot of fun, now he got to play fight with crew!

Avor held the photo panel while Judah configured the array. Acknowledging the final specs, Avor shared a moment before the final activation with his fellow donor of blood and sweat. The panel he held was 1400 pounds, Chris had stripped an antigrav unit off a cart and made a pair of gloves to carry the weight.

It was still a forty pound weight, and there were 90 in a normal holodeck, but they only had forty nine on hand. The Captain and Kas both agreed Judah's utility all over the ship was a vital component. This left the last panel as an end to a pecuilar tedium and certain torture.

"Thank you Mr. Callahan. The whole ship will benefit."

Chris took the moment to rest, sweat in his eyes and reprieve welcome. "Ain't a thing, ship asks, I answer, or something like that."

"It will be nice to have something to do, more than a gym would be great."

"I can already think of a few spots, I'd sign off on it."

Avor lifted the final plate into place, Judah was almost done. "Ok, one last mount..."

Chris helped the plate slide into its mount, then quickly made a few welds. done in a moment, they took a step towards the interior.

"Judah, gimme lights?!"

Triple imaged holographically stacked projectors allowed their small area significant capability. Both men felt their feet lift an inch as the force fields spread under them.

Low level light came to all of the panels at once. Judah appeared as well, the lanky teen as always.

Judah smiled, "Yes, I am in fact ready to rumble."

Chris snickered a bit, but Avor didnt understand and figured further testing was required. He sent a message to Simon, who was waiting to hear back.

=0= Mr. Starr, the holographic room is ready.

Simon's first task as chief was to at least get an idea of how good the crew were a working with weapons. He knew that the crew of the Second Star were not Starfleet officers, and may not have had the same training he had - and tried to remember that as he made his plans. At the same time, he had to make sure they were able to defend themselves and wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger or a phaser if it was a life or death situation for them.

A split second decision is what was important, and he needed to make sure that the crew were able to do that. He pulled up the crew roster, and decided it best to split the training up into groups. He decided that splitting up the senior staff may be better for them and their schedules, and made sure to line up the sessions when each one had a spare ninety minutes. He then put junior officers in each group with one senior member, unless two were able to make it a the same time. One thing he knew for sure - the chiefs were usually busy and getting them all in one place for something like this would be impossible.

Once he had arranged the roster, he set up thirty minutes of target practice, thirty minutes of physical training, and thirty minutes of going through security procedures. With that roster set up, he sent the schedule to the senior staff.

Today was going to be busy.

-End-

Quinton Beck

Simon Starr

 

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