SD242101.07 - Duty Log - CO - "Status Report"

Posted on Thu Jan 7th, 2021 @ 5:43pm by Brigadier General Jonathan Grey

940 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Escape Velocity
Location: Versailles
Timeline: Current

=^= Main Ops =^=

The doors to the turbolift opened part way, before jamming half-open with a sudden clunk. The General sighed, glaring at the faulty machinery.

First he was useless in the fire, and now this?

"Sorry sir," said the Yeoman, who was already inside Main Ops, "Engineering has been informed, but they're prioritising other matters right now."

"I see." answered the General, reaching out with both hands and touching each door.

A rending squeal made everyone in Main Ops flinch. Like Samson between the pillars, Grey's hands rammed the defective doors hard into their frame on either side of him.

This was a solid clue as to their CO's frame of mind. However, his expression fought to remain calm as he stepped into the nerve centre of Versailles. His crew quickly shook off the surprise and got back to work, processing reports, dispatching fire crews, and monitoring the ever-growing fleet just beyond the range of the black hole's event horizon.

Speaking of which...

"So, any developments on the towing fleet?" he inquired, laying a hand on the flight control console.

"Yes sir." replied the Flight Control Officer, a Lieutenant with blonde hair and sharp eyes. She toggled the arrival log and rattled off a summary for the General, who wasn't entirely familiar with FCO shorthand.

"The last of the Galaxy-class starships should arrive within the next few hours. The YaDallan Sector Patrol Fleet has arrived in full, except for a skeleton service patrolling the worst regions. The station's maintenance craft have joined them. The Border Defence Force are here in numbers, primarily Akira and Defiant class. The Romulan and Klingon ships remain in position. Lastly, the last of the civilian ships has notified us of their arrival time. We will pass the number of ships needed to achieve warp in the next four-to-five hours, but Captain Gammut of the Galaxy class ship USS Clarity recommends waiting for all of them to arrive first."

"And how long will that take?"

"Up to forty-eight hours, sir."

"Does he say why we should wait?"

"She, sir." the Lieutenant corrected him, without shame or hesitation.

"She, then."

"Sir, she says we should wait because a few of the larger civilian craft are showing some signs of poor maintenance. She advises that we should wait until we have enough spares to endure the loss of a few civilian ships losing power and dropping out of warp. It'll also give them time to run more thorough tests on the tractor beam configuration we've asked them to use."

"Right. Tell the good Captain we'll wait 48 hours. Make sure the entire fleet has this timetable, send projected time-of-arrival to the Romulan ships that're decelerating the planet, and make sure we'll be approaching at the right trajectory for a first-try orbit."

"Sir, yes sir."

Turning back to the room, Grey walked to his Yeoman, who was talking to an officer on the far side of the room.

"...indicate that we'll be able to start drawing power from the shipyard as soon as it lands on the ring. The connectors are already in place, and should keep the whole kibosh stable enough for a reliable power draw." the officer was saying, once Grey was close enough to hear.

"Good, thank you." said the Yeoman, adding notes to a pocket padd before turning to face his CO.

"Everything in order?" the General inquired.

"Yes sir." replied the Yeoman. "More importantly, I was told you were just in a fire. Is everything-"

"Fine. Everything is fine. Status report." the General commanded, eager to not dwell on the experience.

"More ships have arrived. The promenade is on fire, but no fatalities, and it is contained. One fighter was knocked out by a gravitational surge, but no effect on the pilot, and the fighter was safely retrieved. A replacement for the communication chain is already in place." the Yeoman rattled off; bullet-point style.

"Good. Engineering?"

"Still in the middle of things. They'll have a representative drop by later in the day with an update."

"Fine. Security? Medical?"

"Security says more people are attempting to leave on overpriced flights, but it's fairly orderly at the ports, and the worst of the price-gougers have been scragged by marines, as per your orders."

"Hmm." grunted the General, approvingly. There were some perks to being in command, at least.

"Medical has settled down since the USS Bolton took the worst of the injured. Most have actually recovered and returned to the station."

"Capable crew then, on the Bolton."

"Yes sir. They had some praise for the medics on our end too."

"Outstanding. Anything else?"

"No sir. Minor scuffles, lots of complaints about the shaking and the occasional brown-out, a few scientists are unhappy that we can't spare a ship to leave them behind in."

"They want to study the black hole don't they." said the General, familiar with how scientists' minds worked. If something big and evil tried to kill you, a scientist would usually insist it be captured alive for study.

This, of course, gave the beast yet more opportunities to kill you.

"Yes sir." replied the Yeoman.

"Tell them they can come back on one of the regional defence ships after the move."

"Yes sir. And that's it, sir. Most are hunkered down for the trip, or busy hardening their property against any further shaking."

"Probably wise."

"Yes sir."

"And I assume my next task is a big pile of paperwork in my office." he stated. It wasn't a question.

"I think it's smaller than the one yesterday, sir."

"Good. Then let's get to it."


=^= End of Log =^=


Brigadier General Jonathan Grey
Commanding Officer
Starbase Versailles

 

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