:ON:
After the briefing was finished Gwen decided to go back to her
office. She had to decide which crew members to take with her on this
mission. A mission that she wasn't overly thrilled with. There was
something about it that just made her uneasy. It didn't help that she
thought Colonel Suntun knew more then he was telling. That ship needed
to be destroyed if it couldn't be recovered and she wanted to know
why. Maybe it was just that it had a cloaking device, but Gwen didn't
think so. Of course it could be simple pride. They had lost the ship
and if they couldn't get her back they weren't going to let anyone have
her. Whatever it was, Gwen hoped it didn't place her or her team in
any danger.
Gwen pulled up the specs of the Orion ship. She would need them to
be able to determine who to bring on the mission. It was a fairly
small and cramped ship. She decided that no more then 20 officers
should go. The Colonel had said that the ship was 30 years old, and
from the view that she'd gotten from the bridge, it didn't look like it
was in the greatest shape. Those in Engineering who went would have
their work cut out for them. It was a good thing that the Eagle had
some of the best Engineers in the fleet. Of course most COs/XOs
thought the same thing about their own Engineering crew.
Gwen first wrote down the names of the Senior Officers that she
would bring with her. She would take as many of them as the CO would
allow her. They were the most experienced. First on her list was Lt.
Roman Haas. He had a lot of skills that Gwen could definitely use.
Then Lt. Tru Lost. Even with all his quirkiness, he was still one
of the best pilots in the fleet and she would need someone to fly that
old contraption. Gwen had no doubt that he would whine and complain
about the shape of the Orion ship, but would secretly be thrilled to
get a chance at flying it. She would have to make a careful check that
Tru didn't sneak any of his games on board. That could be a bad
situation if the Colonel found them and Lost had a nasty habit of
bringing them onto the bridge.
Then, of course, came engineering. Lt. Jeff Dawson came to mind.
If anyone currently on the Eagle could keep that old Orion ship
together it was him. The only better Engineer that Gwen could think of
was Commander Bass. Of course he wasn't on the Eagle currently, and if
he was, he'd probably be the one leading this mission.
Lt.jg. Josie Tracy and Max could be of good use on this mission.
However, Gwen was going to have to have a good talk with them to make
sure that Max behaved. She wasn't sure how much she liked that AI, but
she had to admit he could be useful.
Gwen would also need a doctor on this mission. The Orion ship
didn't really have much of a sickbay to speak of. Instead the cramped
it had been filled with more weapons and power. However, they could
bring minimal equipment with them. Dr. Ratchet Hamza was Gwen's first
choice for a couple of reasons. The first was that Ratch was the most
experienced and had seniority. The second was a more personal reason.
Ever since the away mission that Gwen lead over to that disappearing
ship where Melody started to have a break down, Gwen has been very
hesitant to go on another away mission with her, not when there was
another doctor. Also, Gwen hadn't had much time to "train" melody to
use the new telepathic powers she had. Who knew what kind of dangers
that this might possess. Not to mention the fact that gwen was rather
hesitant to be training anyone.
That pretty much was it for the senior staff. Including herself
and Colonel Suntun, that made 7 people, and left 13 more people to
bring with. Gwen figured that Jeff would need at least 2 other
Engineers to come along. As far as who those officers would be, Gwen
would let Jeff decide. He did know them best.
That left 11 spots available. Gwen decided to bring 10
security/tactical officers. She would normally leave the choice of the
officers up to the Chief Security Officer, but that was her. Top of
her list was Soren. She was one of Gwen's best security officers and
was doing a pretty good job taking up a lot of the Chief Security
Officer's job. Gwen thought about taking Lt. jg. Hensley, but chose
not to. He was the next best security and tactical officer. She would
need someone she could trust to lead the security officers left on the
Eagle. It didn't seem right for Gwen to leave the safety and security
of the Eagle in the hands of some rookie security/tactical officer.
Protecting the Eagle was still Gwen's job. Gwen also knew that, unlike
some officers, Hensley would understand why he wasn't being brought on
this mission. That was one of the things that made him a good security
officer.
Gwen looked at her list of Security Officers. Most of them were
very good officers, though a couple of them had trouble with certain
individuals. They were immediately crossed off the list. Gwen started
to cross off the names of all the brand new rookies, but stopped when
she came across Ens Talisman. Even though he was brand new to
starfleet, he had a lot of skill and potential. Gwen decided to
include him on this mission. She had a lot of confidence that he would
make an excellent Chief some day, maybe even an excellent Captain
should he choose that route. The rest of the rookies were crossed
off. In the end Gwen also took: Lt.jg. Jackson, Ens K'drik, and
Crewmen Thomas, Cornel, Trey, Salim, Evern'k, and Zort.
That left 1 spot open. Before Gwen choose to fill that spot, she
needed to talk to Colonel Suntun to see if he wanted to bring someone
with him. If he didn't, Gwen thought about Ens Sams. He started off a
security officer, but had transferred to Astrophysics a few months
ago. It would be good to have another science officer, especially one
who knew the security position.
Gwen sent off her list to the Commodore to see if he would approve
her stealing most of the Senior Officers. Then she sat down and picked
backups for each position. Gwen hoped that she wouldn't have to use
them, but knew she needed to be prepared for that possibility.
Now she waited for the Commodore response, and read up on all the
information that she could get her hands on pertaining to this mission
including: the Checkov (and her crew), Gladiam (as if she
didn't know most of the information and more), the area where the Checkov
was last seen, and Colonel Suntun.
:OFF:
Lt. Cmdr Gwenivere Marqusa
AXO/CSec/Tac
USS Eagle
