Staff Meeting Part 1

Posted on Wed Sep 2nd, 2026 @ 1:33pm by Commodore Sureth & 2nd Lieutenant John Dallas & Captain Jamie O'Connell & Commander Angel Devroe & Commander David Wallace & Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Veran-Dallas & Lieutenant Commander Ramvek Williams M.D.

Mission: SHAKE DOWN IN A NEBULA
Location: Starbase M-69
Timeline: Concurrent to the end of the mission

On

The long months of refitting, recalibrating systems, and clearing bureaucratic hurdles had finally yielded their logical outcome. Standing in the observation lounge overlooking the main docking ring, Commodore Sureth watched the first heavy civilian transports align with the station's mooring clamps. Down on the promenade, the initial influx of pilgrims and travelers was already filtering through customs—a chaotic array of movement, yet functioning exactly as designed.
​For Sureth, the sight brought a rare, quiet sense of gratification. The foundation was secure. More importantly, the station’s newly assigned junior officers had proven themselves remarkably capable during the activation sequence—disciplined, highly trained, and fully prepared for the challenges ahead. With the facility operating at peak efficiency and a dependable crew at the helm, the station was finally ready to fulfill its true purpose: establishing a permanent, stabilizing presence within the chaotic expanse of the Lagoon Nebula.
​Commanding Officer's Log: Commodore Sureth recording.
​"As of 0800 hours, all primary structural systems, life-support grids, and defensive arrays are operating within optimal parameters. Station construction and initial diagnostic phases are complete.
​The arrival of our first civilian vessels and religious pilgrims marks the official commencement of full operations. While the high volume of incoming traffic introduces an increased degree of entropy to the promenade, the senior staff and newly arrived junior officers have executed dockside intake procedures with exceptional efficiency. Their readiness validates my confidence in this crew.
​Positioned at the threshold of the Lagoon Nebula, this station is no longer merely a safe haven or a staging ground—it is now operational, stabilized, and ready to expand our reach into the sector.

David was still pulling double duty, Station intelligence officer duties were mostly reviewing increasingly disturbing reports of Marine units using force to break up peaceful protests of recent policy changes from the Federation counsel, equally concerning reports of unidentified ships attacking everything from freighters to a Klingon outpost. He'd been finalizing plans to attend the conference on earth and managed to even get some time to talk with Sara. He'd also managed to do something rare for him, down time. The Crew on the Cascade had started to mould into a real crew, they expressed their individual enjoyment on working with Isabelle on the last mission and hoped it was going to be a permanent thing, but they also wondered if it was time for that talk with her too, a topic that was getting to hard to hide in the last few days.

Isabelle had thought the same thing so had decided to pay David a visit to arrange a time they could talk more privately. She had also enjoyed being off station with David and his crew, she didn’t get off station that often for obvious reasons but at least she could take her children with if necessary.

John Dallas hustled to find Isabella upon hearing she was back aboard.

" John to Isabella...come in Isabella." he said tapping her shoulder.

“Imzadi!” Isabelle smiled giving her husband a hug and a kiss. “I was planning on finding you shortly, you just beat me to it!”

John smiled and then grabbed his wife for a long hug.
" The kids were great but missed their mum. Now I know how you felt when I was gone all that time. Thankfully we both live on this station."

Isabelle nodded. “I’ve missed all of you, I can’t wait to get home and see the kids.”

Doctor Williams made his way to Ops for a Staff meeting. Walking in he gave everyone a polite nod "Good day everyone" he commented with a smile. Since moving into the new medical facility Ramvek hadn't really had the time to be in Ops unless he was requested to be there.

Commodore Sureth had invited Captain O'Connell to attend the Staff meeting, since the Peel was parked above the Base, after returning from their last mission. Just in case the Commodore wanted information on the recently concluded mission, Jamie had his command PaDD with him.

Now that the O'Naas family were given quarters on the Station, the Commander made her way to Ops to inform the Commodore of the success of the McCook's shakedown. Walking into Ops Angel was surprised to see all the big players in the area. Spotting an old friend Angel walked over with a smile "Captain O'Connell what a pleasant surprise seeing you here" she stated happy to see Jamie.

Hearing his name Jamie turned already having recognized the voice "Commander Devroe very nice to see you again" he responded returning her smile "So how have you been" he inquired avoiding the topic of her deceased friend.

"I'm doing well, all things considered" Angel replied before lowering her voice "I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch or dinner sometime to catch up on both our lives."

"Yes I would very much like to catch up" Jamie replied "Let me check and see what's going on with the Peel and I'll contact you although it will most likely have to be fairly soon before Admiral Stone decides to give us another mission."

"Good, I'll wait for your call then" as she looked around the area "If you'll excuse me Jamie, there are a few people I need to see" Angel commented then turned and walked away.

< others >

Sureth made his way through the various departments and then headed back to prepare for the staff meeting he had called. With all of the recent events it was time to pull the team together and see where the station was following the big move.

< Ready Room >

An oval table had been placed in the room rather than the squared one that had been used on the old station. Sureth had always been fond of the stories of King Arthur and his round table but with a cadre as big as M-69 had the oval would have to suffice. Taking a seat in the middle of the left side Sureth watched as the invited arrived.

David looking like a mix of a pirate, an officer and a man on a mission arrived, he hadn't changed from the uniform he wore as commander of the Cascade, he still had his side arm strapped to his leg in the drop holster plainly visible, a pad that had been passed off to him by his assistant Melissa had changed his mood briefly. He set the pad down as he took a seat.

Isabelle followed David in giving him a big smile as she took a seat beside him. “I didn’t get chance to say how much I enjoyed the time aboard the Cascade, I certainly hope to be able to do it again.”

"No problem,' David started "a few of the crew were asking if you were joining us for the trip to earth, I think Hannah has loaded every single kids program into the holodeck she could, Alex jokingly called you Auntie in the mess hall last night." Referring to two of his crew.

“Seriously? That’s so sweet of them!” She grinned. “I’m not really your XO though, they don’t need to treat me like I am.”

"It's rare they're excited like this, and you did a great job on that moon mission." David said as he accepted a pad from one of the enlisted passing by.

“Thank you, that means a lot” Isabelle smiled. “Ohh I spoke to Ramvek, he assures me I’m not at risk of turning Brol, it seems what I did for you made my system try to change but it wasn’t able to.”

"I haven't had anything happen since." David said turning his attention to the pad.

“Can we talk later?” Isabelle asked while it was still quiet.

"Yeah, I'll be down in the office for a few hours after this." David said

O'Connell and Williams walked in together into the Ready Room talking "Doctor thanks for letting me borrow Lieutenant Stone, she was a big help and did a great job assisting my ACMO at the Colony" as he paused "If she ever gets tired of Station life I would happily add her to my crew" O'Connell commented.

"You're welcome Captain but as far as Heidi leaving the Station....well let's just say I rely on her both professionally and personally. Of course if that was her request I wouldn't stand in her way" Williams responded hoping that wouldn't ever happen.

Commander Devroe sat across from Sureth as was her custom with a full report on the shakedown of the McCook; she would of course wait until the report was requested. Waiting for the Commodore to start Angel couldn't help but wonder what was about to happen giving those in attendance.

" Let me begin since Captain O'Connell is here from the Peel. Captain can you give us a synapses of the Peels status and recent mission?" Sureth asked.

"I'd be happy to. The Peel was tasked to provide additional training at New Hope Colony, which is a deep space habitat, for Engineering, Security, Science, and Medical. The Crew did a great job helping their people with some retraining and reorganization. As a side note I'd like to thank Doctor Williams for letting us borrow his Head Nurse, Lieutenant Stone, to help with Medical" O'Connell explained "As far as the Peel is concerned she is operating well within Starfleet parameters due largely to my fantastic and hard working Crew" he concluded.

" Well done Captain." Sureth replied. " Commander Devroe recently took the McCook out for a shake down. Commander is your report ready?"

"Yes Commodore." Taking a breath to calm her nerves, considering those present in the room, Devroe began "After assembling a skeleton crew we took the McCook on a short shakedown to make sure the recent upgrades worked as per Starfleet parameters. The ship performed well as did the crew. Just before we were to start back towards M-69 we received a distress signal about two light years away from our current position. Following up on the distress call we found out the O'Naas family's shuttle's warp engines stopped working. They were on route to M-69 to seek asylum from their home planet of Odessa which was on the verge of a civil war. We brought their shuttle into our shuttle bay with our tractor beam and proceeded our return trip. One problem we did encounter was the slipstream antenna had slipped out of position which Lieutenant Uno fixed then we proceeded the rest of the way back utilizing slipstream. All in all both the ship and crew did very well. One side note Security is preforming a background check on our guests and if that checks out they will be given permanent quarters and Mr. O'Naas will be seeking employment here on the Base" Devroe concluded hoping she hadn't been too long winded.

" Commander keep watch on O'Naas and we will look into this issue on Odessa. That leaves us with you Commander Wallace. Do you have a report on the new moon we seem to have inherited?"

David went to the rehearsed part of this meeting, "The lunar body is marginally habitable, while we were able to beam down it has a large number of predators and various chronometric anomalies that are a hazard respectively, also there is still a large amount of debris still in orbit that is very much a navigational hazard." David kept his hand on the pad he'd been handed earlier as he continued "While most of the native animal life is benign in nature but predatory some of the local plant life is either poisonous or capable of emitting psychedelic compounds that can largely impact most sentient life."

" We're you able to take samples of the flora and fauna to compare with that of the planet Crestacia?" Sureth asked.

"We have a complete scan record, but due to the unexpected nature of airborne psychedelic presence I terminated the mission until we can cope with it better," David paused his thoughts almost betrayed him though 'With all of the political crap going on last thing we need is Division twelve or Daystrom showing up then it hits the fan., "I can't justify any risks beyond the initial scanning we completed, if the anomalous events ease we can return and do a more complete survey at that time." he finished shooting a side glance to Isabelle hoping she'd back him up to some extent.

“I have to agree” Isabelle nodded. “Perhaps we’ll get a chance another time.”

Sureth paused his response then replied.

" Are there any other reports?"

Williams spoke up "Not as exciting as the rest but the new Medical Operations Complex is working out quite well. The Staff seems to have made the adjustment rather quickly and with the addition of multiple First Aid Stations throughout the Base the Primary Sickbay is now able to concentrate on the more critical cases" he reported wanting to bring the Commodore up to speed.

" Thank you Doctor that is good to know. As some of you remember we were about to host an academy however that idea has been Moth balled for the time being . Captain Kingston planned to attend this meeting but he has been called back to Earth to give report on his slipstream program. Lt Uno is his temporary chief should services be needed. If there is no other news you are all dismissed.

Isabelle smiled and nodded. She was looking forward to some family time with John and her children.

"Before everyone leaves, as of zero zero one this morning Starfleet sent out a pile of new directives, the short rapid list includes the addition of a Berlin class starship from the rapid response fleet, USS Diligent, to the station, there are a couple of new directives from Starfleet security and intelligence, All intel chartered ships are now required to check in with the sector intel chief before, during and after missions." David didn't hide his annoyance at this one, "Second effective immediately all Starfleet officers from non aligned worlds are no longer permitted to act in an ad-hoc diplomatic role with their home world unless they assume a role in the diplomatic corps relinquishing their commission, no exceptions." David didn't need to be a Betazoid to know these were hitting a nerve, "...and before anyone wants to throw a tantrum last but far from least the corps of engineering promptly didn't notify anyone that they are arriving in seventy-two plus hours to do a total weapons system overhaul and upgrade over my short lived objections, if anyone has an objection to this I'll be in my office getting drunk." David stood making an exit.

Tbc