Star Trek: Sentinel

[Valathous]

~ Bridge, USS Sentinal ~

Vincent didn't know whether or not he should be insulting that the captain hadn't learned who his senior staff was, though he let it go. Probably for his own good. No use getting in the Captain's bad books 30 seconds into meeting him. Nothing was more important than a first impression. Unless you save the Captain's life. They a first impression may get tossed aside. Perhaps that option wouldn't be out of the question anyways, given their rendez-vous point.

"This hair isn't prematurely grey dealing with warp core breaches, I'll tell you that much," Pominville smile, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Vincent Pominville. Your chief tactical and security officer. Give me the caves of AR-558 anyday over hovering around circuitry and warp plasma."

[Ziona]

USS Sentinel, Bridge

Kiyra had stepped towards her father and was several paces behind him when the turbolift opened and the chief tactical and security officer stepped out to greet the captain. Kiyra took a step back, allowing for the two to talk. She didn't want to interrupt their conversation but she was also anxious to talk with her father.

With a hesitant glance, Kiyra looked over at her father and the chief tactical and security officer. It was nice to finally see another male on board, as from her perception, almost everyone else was female. At least, now, she knew the company would be varied and hopefully interesting.

Kiyra nodded quickly to the chief tactical and security, who now identified himself as Vincent Pominville and had also identified himself as a Lieutenant Commander, thus over-ranking Kiyra by a good jump. With that idea in her head, Kiyra nodded a little lower, almost appearing in a sort of half-bow to the man. It was her way of showing respect.

She quickly averted her eyes again and continued looking around bridge until the conversation came to a close.

[squiggy]

USS Sentinel -Sytok's Quarters

He stared at the viewscreen. The captain had nicely danced around his request for a physical, and Sytok was pretty sure, the Captain now knew who his chief medical officer WAS, and more to the point would fight tooth and nail to avoid him.
Sytok shook his head and laughed a little bit. Laughing always made him feel better. He didn't know why, but he figured that's why most vulcans always seemed so grumpy... they never laughed.
He looked back at his personal viewscreen.
"You have 1 new message, Lieutenant." It said quietly.
He was almost afraid to push play.
But he did anyways.
"To the attention of Lieutenant Junior Grade Sytok, of the USS Sentinel. As of this stardate, the planet Vulcan has cast you into exile for repeatedly refusing to conform to Vulcan standards. Your daughter, at your now departed wife's request, has been sent to a foster family on earth. I am not pleased with this, as I believe she deserves proper Vulcan training, however, this is not my concern. Should you in any way attempt to come planetside, you will be arrested for breaking exile." A very highly ranked vulcan official said, in a monotone which annoyed the hell out of sytok, and he was willing to be it was designed to do that.
Atleast T'lara will not be under a Vulcan foster-family. Then I might actually be allowed to talk to her once in a while. he thought.
Staring around his rather sparse quarters, he shook his head. It felt lonely in here... for the first time in many many years, he actually wanted a social life.
He decided that getting to know the Vulcan barkeep in the mess hall was probably a good start, as it appeared to him that neither of them were especially valued members of Vulcan society.
Quickly, he jumped out of his seat, and went in search of someone to talk to... and maybe a couple plates of baby-back ribs.

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Sentinel, Bridge-

Elora looked the Security Chief over carefully, his personel record did not give him justice, he was certainly...diffent, then one would have came to expect in his record, more...bigger. Elora cleared her throat and turned to face the turbolift, one thing about this ship, the small size of the rooms meant the travel time to destinations was short, from one end of the ship, to the other let alone only moving one deck.

Elora glanced back at Kiyra for a moment, she had studied the young woman's record closely, it was strange, at her age, and her profession, one could think that her rank was higher. Elora decided to do a little digging around on the woman, perhaps there was something hidden about this duagther of the ship's Captain that does not appear on the normal personel records.

For a moment, Rayne wondered if there could be a conflict of interest, she wondered if Captain McGowan would favor his daughter in situations that he would have to make the ultimate choice. Elora pushed that thought out of her head, unlike Command, SI had no doubt that when the time came, one Captain Andrew McGowan could make the choice he had to make.

Rayne's finger brushed againts the touch sensitive button to call for a turbocar to move to the bridge and looked back again, she raised an eyebrow and studied the sight of her new crewmates.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

Andrew chuckled when the tactical/security officer explained that he was not an engineer. However, he was taken aback by the fact that he had fought at AR-558. That was probably one of the worst zones of battle in the Dominion War. The fact that he fought there and survived said a lot more about him then any Starfleet report. Andrew was impressed with that. Even though he didn't fight in the Dominion War, mostly only skirmishes, he knew the Jem'Hadar were one of the fiercest enemies the Federation ever faced. He was glad that the tactical officer was not some other young hotshot out of Starfleet. Horrible visions of a raw cadet firing the phasers and starting interstellar wars danced in his mind.

"It's good to have you aboard," He said to the man, "Now if you'll excuse me."

He nodded to his daughter, hoping for a chance to speak to her alone.

[Ziona]

USS Sentinel, Bridge

Kiyra nodded back to her father and stepped towards him again, nodding again to the chief tactical and security officer before standing silently at her father's side. She clasped her hands behind her back and managed a slight glance over at him before she spoke quietly.

"It's good to see you... Captain," she half-whispered, glancing away again before her unclasped her hands and brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Turbolift-

"Deck 2." He ordered the turbolift.

As it began to move, the lieutenant, his daughter, spoke to him. He had so many questions for her, but it didn't seem like there was enough time to ask them all. Andrew finally turned to her to speak, unable to keep his silence.

"Halt turbolift." Andrew ordered.

He eyes his daughter closely, "I have so many questions. I mean...this is a surprise. You should have told me you were coming aboard the Sentinel. I guess...the first question would be...why? Why did you choose to serve here?"

[Ziona]

USS Sentinel, Turbolift

Kiyra averted her eyes again but a smile crossed her lips. After a moment, she raised her light eyes to look at her father.

"I guess I felt I had things to prove yet. I had to show you that I could serve my commanding officer well," she paused to think for a few moments. The turbolift fell into silence. "I felt this was the best way to prove myself to you... instead of just hearing of my abilities from other officers."

She hazard a glance at her father before speaking again.

"Are you disappointed in me? I'm only a lieutenant and I've, I've been in Starfleet for so long. I should be at least a commander by now, shouldn't I?" She sighed heavily and turned her eyes on the floor.

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Sentinel, Bridge-

Elora stepped into the turbolift when the doors hissed opened and waited a moment to see if anyone was going to also enter. When no one did, she stepped away from the door, and spoke out to the computer as she took another glance to the PADD that she was reading earlier.

"Deck two, briefing lounge."

The turbolift began to move to deck two, a trip that would take mere seconds to arrive to, but a few seconds had been added onto the trip as she had ordered for the turbolift to stop as close to the briefing lounge as possible.

Rayne thought back to the past, about her family, and could only sigh sadly. When she had elected to join Starfleet, her family had stopped speaking to her, she had hoped to mend the fence with them, but her father died before that could happen. The rest of the family felt it was an added injury from her leaving, and thus blamed the death on her.

The doors to deck two opened, and Elora stepped out.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Turbolift-

A sigh escaped McGowan's mouth, but not one of exasperation, but rather one of absolute sadness. He hated his career and regreted joining Starfleet. The only reason he joined was because of his Betazoid wife, a fact he kept secret. He felt he couldn't leave Starfleet now because it was all he knew. Sadly, he felt he was far too old to start over. Andrew shook his head, realizing that she misunderstood him.

"Sweetheart," He said softly, "I don't care about ranks or Starfleet. This is no life for anyone. My only dissapointment is that you joined Starfleet in the first place."

He had no real proof, but he felt that she had only joined Starfleet to follow in his footsteps. Kiyra always seemed to want to please Andrew, a fact that he doesn't understand. Andrew tried to block his feelings, because she was empath due to her Betazoid heritage. However, he had no experiance in hiding such things and his sadness no doubt poured onto her in full.

"I could never be dissapointed in you," He said, "But...did you consider what I said in my last communique to you? About leaving Starfleet and pursuing your own career in the sciences? Like...I almost did before Starfleet..."

[Ziona]

USS Sentinel, Turbolift

"Yes, I remember," Kiyra whispered. "But when I thought about it, I really do enjoy what I do." Part of this was probably due to the fact that she had never really seen destruction and death in her time aboard her two other ships. A sigh escaped Kiyra's lips this time. She could feel the sadness her father was suffering and she knew nothing she said could stop him from feeling it. "This is where I want to be. You've spent so much of your life in space and working for Starfleet. My mother... she died for it. I want to contribute something in exchange for the freedom I have experienced."

She glanced over at her father again and tried to smile, but the smile, though genuine, was a bit weak in appearance.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Turbolift-

Andrew nodded and stared down at the carpeted floor of the lift. He felt a pang of grief when she had mentioned her mother, Sana. A part of him blamed himself for her death of Betazed. She would never been on the planet had it been for him telling her to...

He pushed the thought from his mind and focused on there here and no, with his daughter. It seemed she was intent on continuing her career in Starfleet and went beyond just adoration of her father. No, it seemed like she made a conscious choice to remain. He was her father, but he wasn't about to order her to leave. After all, that hit too close to him with his own father constantly berating him for not joining Starfleet when he was a young man. He was glad that at least she was pursuing a career she wanted to pursue. Andrew had always feared for his family in Starfleet, especially during the Dominion War. He read the casulty reports and saw the mane names.

"Well," He said, "Then who am I to stop you?"

A smile crossed his face, a rare thing for him. Suddenly, he remembered the are only two turbolifts on the bridge and halting this one probably crowded the other one.

"Resume turbolift." He ordered.

It moved swiftly again towards deck 2, where the briefing lounge was located.

-USS Sentinel, Briefing Lounge-

Andrew, flanked by his daughter, entered the room and found that his second officer, Elora Rayne, was already inside. He chuckled and took a seat at the head of the table.

"My you are a fast one, aren't you?" He said to her.

He didn't know about her just yet, but did find her to be intriguing.

[Lord Borg]

USS Sentinel, Briefing Lounge-

Elora rose when the doors opened and her Commanding Officer walked though the doors, followed by the Lieutenant. She gave a curt nod and surprised a smirk when he mentioned her punctuality.

"Yes, Captain" she said with a half bow, "I don't like to keep others waiting on my part."

[Ziona]

USS Sentinel, Briefing Lounge

Kiyra entered the room with her father and quickly moved to a nearby chair, taking a seat and not saying much of anything to the second officer. She felt awkward for a moment and felt a sense of... of possibly suspicion or something floating about the room. But she was sure it was her paranoid self doing what it's best at.

With a sigh, Kiyra fell to observing the room they were seated in.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Briefing Room-

He leaned back in his seat and placed his hands on his stomach. McGowan realized he probably should have worn his full uniform to the first meeting, but he figured he didn't have to be that formal.

"Well," He said, "It seems we'll have to wait as a lot of the officers are either off-duty or simply not nearby."

Andrew gave a curt nod towards his daughter, "I know my science officer, but I don't know much about any of you all. I always found it better to learn about officers from their own mouths, rather then a cold, emotionless report. So...tell me about yourself and perhaps why you choose to jump onboard for this mission? I know why I did, but I can't imagine anyone who would want to search for a new threat, especially right after the Dominion War."

[Lord Borg]

USS Sentinel, Briefing Lounge-

Elora nodded slowly and set the PADD down on the table and sat down in the chair near the Captain. She glanced over to the Lieutenant and noticed her eyes, there was a beauty that could be appreciated within them, she looked back over to her Commanding Officer, and let out a gental sigh.

"Well, I was born on Terra Nova, my parents opereated the Rayne Cargo Service, I spent a great deal of time on the ships, learing the tools of the trade, piloting the vessels, operating the cargo storage units that sort of thing. I also took an interest in science, and studied various types of sciences, and despite my parents objections, I joined Starfleet and excelled rather well, due to my...advanced mind."

Elora paused a moment, she let the information of her early life sink in, she looked back over to the Lieutenant and offered a friendly smile, and looked back to her father, the Captain of the vessel.

"I got the attenion of several supperiors when I attended my classes, including Starfleet Intellience, due to my...well, my mind. I can remember things in a rather detailic manner, even the most minor thing. I trained with intelligence in operations, investigations and combat. I did several things during the Dominion war that I cannot reveal, classified, you see."

Elora shifted her body and leaned on her arm which was on the table.

"I rose though ranks rather fast, focusing on my career helped that, I suppose some might say a little to fast, but let me assure you Captain, I am more then capable of doing my job. I have been made Second Officer and assigned to this ship on the request of my supperiors, due to the very nature of the assignment, particuarly our first mission."

Elora let her lips slowly close together and leaned back in her seat, to let her new Captain asborb the information that she just gave, it was almost scripted, really, each commanding officer she had got a similar overview of her life, that was updated with each new assignment.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Briefing Room-

The captain stared blankly at the long, clean table as the second officer explained her background at length. He had absolutely no idea that someone from Starfleet Intelligence was sent on this mission, but it really wasn't that shocking. After all, as he had stated in his log, Starfleet had become as paranoid as a gaggle of Romulans in the dark. They no doubt wanted her to study this new threat. A part of Andrew felt threatened by her presence aboard the vessel. Her superiors were...far above him and she reported to them at the end of the day. Everything else was simply a luxury that could be afforded. Starfleet had never been partial towards Andrew and it was no secret that some in Command wanted his career at an end. He was rebellious and had his own way of doing things. However, he never really broke the rules unless he had to and it was always for the right reasons, never to abuse his power. If his friend hadn't been an admiral and running interference for him, then he probably would have been forced out of Starfleet a long time ago. However, even his friend had limits on protecting Andrew. Andrew also had the feeling that was why he was given this mostly new crew. It was probably the only way Starfleet would allow Admiral Reeves' suggestion that McGowan lead this mission. This young, beautiful officer in front of him represented just that. However, he wasn't going to make an issue out of her position aboard the ship or give her trouble. If the task of studying this new enemy fell on her, then so be it. However, he would lead this mission and wouldn't allow her or Starfleet Intelligence to take that away from him. He thought of a way to steer the topic away from her position aboard the vessel.

"Rayne Cargo Service?" He asked her, "That sounds familiar. When I was patrolling the Sol sector, many of the cargo vessels had to have an escort after the Breen attack on San Francisco. I think I escorted one of the cargo ships to Earth for delivery of an industrial replicator to assist in the rebuilding efforts."

[Lord Borg]

-USS Sentinel, Briefing Room-

Elora nodded slowly, and thought back to the various ships that operated within the service. There was surprisingly many of them, the Service had been kind to the family over the years, and they had the 'money' to show it.

"I wouldn't be surprised, it was probably the Mayweather, or even the Sato those two were usally assigned to the Sol run. Though, I'm not exactly sure, sir. It's been a few years since I've had contact with my family or anyone within the RCS" she said, using the popular abreiviation.

[La Forge]

U.S.S. Sentinel, Bridge

Commander Zaitsev grunted in affirmation to Captain McGowan's orders before the older man exitted the bridge, along with a few others, via turbolift. Now, the only senior staff member still left on the bridge, asides from the Chief Helm Officer, a young Andorian by the name of Strell, Tarvos Strell, Valentina activated her combadge with a swift tap, as to carry out the captain's orders.

"This is Commander Zaitsev. All senior staff report to the briefing room. Repeat, all senior staff report to the briefing room." the Russian woman spoke, her voice being electronically carried throughout the rest of the Steamrunner-class vessel, through the communications system.

After sending the message, Valentina dwelled about on the bridge for a few minutes longer, to make sure that there wasn't a problem with her leaving the command deck, before she finally departed, leaving the bridge to the Andorian helmsman.

U.S.S. Sentinel, Turbolift

Valentina stepped into the turbolift, one of the Sentinel's two turbolifts, and called for it to take her down to Deck 2, the location of the briefing room and the first officer's office, her office.

While she didn't show it, Valentina was pleased with having her own office. While squad commander back in the marines, she had no office. She had nothing at all to denote her importance aside from the patch that she wore on her shoulder, not that anything else mattered, anyways. Still, an office...

In any case, the sensation of a standing inside a descending turbolift soon disappeared, as the short turbolift ride came to an end, the metallic doors swooshing open to reveal another barren starship corridor. Seconds after the doors had whooshed open, Valentina stepped out into the hallway, her figure as composed as ever.

U.S.S. Sentinel, Briefing Room

A few moments after exitting the turbolift, Commander Zaitsev arrived to the Sentinel's briefing room, where some of the other senior staff had already assembled, including the captain, Captain McGowan, the second officer, and the science officer, who just happened to be the same woman that Captain McGowan had been eyeing earlier on the bridge.

The Russian officer briskly walked along the table until she finally took a seat at the end of the table, away from the others. She sat down, without a word, and silently waited for the rest of the senior staff to file into the decent-sized briefing room.

[Spellbinder Marik]

-U.s.s. Sentinel, Haley�s Quarters-

A message sounded through the com. Something about reporting to the briefing room. Haley didn�t want to go but she didn�t want to automatically get on the CO�s bad side. She recycled the unfinished tea and opted for something with a little more kick.
�Raktajino, double strong.� Haley hated coffee in all its forms but it provided pep when needed. With the mug in hand she headed out of her quarters.

-U.s.s Sentinel, Briefing Room-

Haley entered the briefing room and looked around. She�d never cared for advice from her father but here and there she�d picked up pieces that came in handy. One of his pearls was: �Never walk into a room unless you�re sure you�re going to walk out.� After being satisfied she stood in a corner away from the main group. She didn�t dare sit down for fear that she�d fall asleep. Haley sipped the Klingon Coffee and propped herself against the wall.

[Founder]

(Valathous gave me permission to have his character attend this meeting.)

-USS Sentinel, Briefing Room-

Andrew looked up from the table when he heard the doors swish open and his first officer walked in. Like most of the crew, he didn't really know anything about her either. However, she seemed like a tough woman and that was something he could appreciate it. A part of him wondered if she was anything like his former first officer. He was about to greet her, when the doors opened and the chief of engineering walked into the room. Well, he assumed it as she was wearing the department colors and the other senior staff officer wearing the colors was the tactical officer. She looked rather young and cast off, as she stood away from the table. He didn't care if anyone sat down or not, just that they came to the meeting and heard what he had to say. A lot of the crew did seem interesting to him though. McGowan silently hoped that he would have the opportunity to get to know them, not that he'd admit it. The doors opened once more and both the chief tactical officer, Vincent Pominville, and the chief helmsman, Tarvos Strell, stepped out into the briefing room. Once the two took seats, McGowan felt he could get matters started. The strange Vulcan doctor, Sytok, had not arrived yet, but he didn't mind as he found him strange and was going to take every opportunity to avoid him. Not to mention, a chief medical officer didn't need to deal with the Talarians. This was a situation for the rest of the crew. He was oblivious to the fact he had a counselor aboard, sent by Starfleet for diplomatic purposes. Another reason he probably should have checked the updated crew manifest. He cleared his throat and spoke in a loud, clear voice to get the other's attention.

"Ok," He said, "Let's get this started, shall we? I assume you all have some information on this mission, as it is an important one. We're going into unexplored space, beyond Cardassian space, far beyond on it. Only two other vessels have gone this far. The starship that implanted our missing listening post and the now missing Scientia. It's possible that both met with a dire fate through a turbulent anomaly, we don't know. That is why we're being sent and we are going to proceed with caution."

He slid the chair back and stood up, moving towards the computer screen that was on the wall. His fingers lightly tapped someting and the image of the space they were headed to appear. He pointed towards where the blue line started, which depicted Talarian space.

"We're going to begin our mission here," He explained, "The Talarians claim they have information on the Scientia. I don't buy it, but Starfleet demanded we go there and well...we have to do it. From there, we're cutting through Cardassian space because I'd rather us not head through Tzenkethi space. That is where we should find the listening outpost that was installed a few years ago. Simple enough. Any questions?"

The line extended and encircled the area where the listening outpost should be.

[Lord Borg]

-USS Sentinel, Briefing Room-

Elora's eyes narrowed as she studied the display screen, she gave an interest to the information, even though she had already known this part, her superiors had given her access to everything pertaining to this mission, including this map readout. She probably knew more about the listening post then even the Captain did, though she supposed it wouldn't really be unusual in that sense.

"Captain" she said, "Have any deep space scans revealed anything?"

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Briefing Room-

Andrew nodded towards the intelligence officer, Elora.

"Yes," He said, "The USS Venture was docked at DS9 during the incident and had attempted to see if they could detect a warp trail. They found a very faint one and it leads directly towards the listening post. We can safely assume that they did reach it. However, the fact they never came back is an obvious red flag."

The Andorian helmsman had his chair facing away from the captain, so he had to swivel it around to face the commanding officer.

"Did they send out a distress signal?" Tarvos asked curiously.

McGowan shook his head, "Not to our knowledge, but that could mean that something is blocking their transmissions or their communications went off-line."

"...or they didn't last long enough to send one." The Andorian said in a frightened voice.

"Enough of that talk," Andrew scolded, "I'm sure that we'll find them."

His combadge chirped and the sound of a junior officer could be heard.

"Cadet Brooks to captain McGowan," He said, "We've arrived at the border and there is a Talarian vessel waiting for us."

Andrew tapped his combadge, "Acknowledged, I'm on my way."

He nodded towards the other officers in the room and gave them a signal that this meeting was dismissed. Andrew walked past Haley as walked of the room and shot her a quizzical look. However, he said nothing to her and continued on towards a turbolift.

[Lord Borg]

-USS Sentinel, Corridor-

Elora moved out into the corridor after the Captain, a moment with him out of earshot of the others would do some good, she could voice some concerns that SI has forthe situation.

"Captain" she said as she rushed to catch up, "Captain, I must speak with you about the mission."

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Corridor-

McGowan turned his head in surprised when he heard lieutenant commander Rayne asked to speak to him about the mission. He nodded his head, allowing her to speak as he neared the turbolift.

"What about it?" He asked in a dismissive tone.