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ORIGINS: USS Hood Story Posts
Last Updated: 2262.059



Total Posts: 420+





USS HOOD: After the Drill.

by David Martens

SD: 2260.179
MD: 1.1627

Scene: USS HOOD, Science department

ARr'Rhiana sat behind her desk, several PADD's stacked around her, one in her hand. She was checking in on the reports from her crew during the drill. Althought most of them did rather well, there was a lot she was not so pleased about it and that was why she had called up for a meeting with her staff.

One by one they dropped in: Soffers, an average looking human male was the first. He was her administrative aide. Moments later D'FaQ'k joined them. He was a tall strong build Vulcan. One of the few who had decide to keep with StarFleet after the destruction of their homeworld. He was the divisions head, he decided wich of her teams got what assignment and who got what work. He was also a keen mind and swift scientist. The lack of emotions made it rather difficult to work with him at moments, but most of the time they could work out fine. Finally Martin and Sari showed up. Martin was her personal assistant and Sari was, well she had no specific task but had turned out to be a woman with the special talent to make everyone feel comfortable and notice problems very fast. Hemux had decided to make her the spokesman and counsellor for her team.

ARr'Rhiana nodded to them all and placed her hands on her desk, leaning in on them. "Miss Sari, gentlemen, let me start by saying that I am pleased that during the drill you all gave your best and performed rather satisfactorially."

She gave them a moment to think about it and D'FaQ'K raised an eyebrow "I assume that satisfactory is not excellent. So this means there are lackings in our performance?"

Hemux grinned and gave him a big smile, which wasn't so hard for a Denobulan and nodded "Indeed, it turned out several of our team have physical problems. Physical meaning of not enough endurance, not enough strength to perform as needed for a Starfleet officer and a lacking in reflexes. There where also several including you mister Soffers, who seemed to forgotten their proper first aide lessons, the use of the hyposyringe and how to lay a simple bandage."

ARr'Rhiana looked from one to the other "Some of you also have shown the lack of following orders during this drill. I know it's sometimes hard to be sure who is in command, but remember during combat you are not a scientist but a soldier for Star Fleet, then the military takes over."

She turned to Sari "You value your life more then our equipment and the experiments that are going on, but in case of emergency, a experiment can turn out just that bit more dangerous then it is under controlled circumstances. Sari, your team was busy with a experiment with plasma in a concealed forcefield. You rushed away at the initial alert without shutting that experiment down. If this had happened during a real incident it was very well possible that the forcefield had dropped and the plasma would have burned through several decks. There are procedures to follow, even under red alert!"

"Now, here are some of my remarks and recommendations...."

The next two hours they spend together going over their performance and tried to work out new rules, new training-exercises and new drills for their team. At the end Soffers asked to talk to her in private.

"What can I do for you, mister Soffers?"

He layed a PADD on her desk "These are the reports from StarFleet, they contain the latest reports from INTEL on what they know about the Klingon progress in their ship designs and tactical advances. I wanted you to have a look at them first. I know you had worked in Engineering also, I think we need to work out on our shields, weapons and engines. Also I have the last new developments in sensors, maybe we can talk with the enigineers and see if we can adjust our sensors and get just that litle bit more out them then we have now."

He sighed "and finally here are all reports you have asked on every of our team, their reports during the drill, their personal view on the situation, their specialities and so on."

Hemux nodded "Thank you, you know you did a good job during the drill. It is just that since Nero had shown up, Star Fleet has turned more to the military side then to their sceintiic and exploration task. It's just temporary, Soffers. In a few years things will ease down."

He grinned "I know, Ijust hope it's sooner then later, I don't like this drills and waving with weapons and so on. Anyway, I am looking forwards to get out again, space is a good place to find new things!"

Hemux looked as Soffers walked out, Space was indeed a beautiful place and full of new miracles to discover, but she never would forget it was also a dangerous place filled with hostility, a place humans and Denobulans or nay fragile organic being did not belong.

<<<NRPG>>>

Sorry for the long silence, school and real life had been consuming all my time and then I had to replace my computer as well. Anyway, I should be more posting again.

Respectfully,

David Martens
Lt ARr'Rhiana Hemux
CSciO , USS HOOD NCC 1703

ASR ORIGINS


[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: After Action

by Andy Catterick, Scott Lusby, and Brian V. Mansur

SD 2260.185

MD: 1.1630

Scene: Captain's Day Cabin, B-Deck, USS HOOD


"Captain's log mission date 1.1630.

With the drill concluded I am about to meet with my first and second officer to discuss the results. All in all I have to say I'm generally pleased with the results, my death notwithstanding. The HOOD forces were eventually able to get the upper hand on the invading Klingons and reassert control of the ship. Additionally, the HOOD managed to destroy one of the Klingon cruisers and certainly would have finished off the other if it had not withdrawn.

Having said that there are a number of areas we need to work on if we are to be ready for the possibility or a real boarding. The attacking forces were able to access much more of the ship then they should have been able to and certainly it took longer to dislodge them than I would have predicted prior to the drill commencing. To be fair we didn't behave like a Klingon boarding party would have. Their goal would have been either to take over the ship or destroy it.

When I set the missions for the Gold team I purposefully decided to ignore obvious avenues to that end and instead focused on hit and run tactics designed more to disable secondary systems with the occasional critical system thrown in to keep the confusion going. Commendation to Ensign Cory Campbell who managed to keep control of Auxiliary Control for over two hours after I gave my life to ensure he got in. Of course, a commendation must also go to my Chief Engineer who was able to cut Aux Control out of the circuit 10 minutes after we took it. I look forward to hearing how he was able to accomplish this as I was certain I had locked engineering out. It's a good thing he's on my side.

"End log."

The door tone chimed. "Gentlemen come in," Steele said as the door retracted to reveal Commanders Merrick and Gar. Steele turned to face Yeoman Greene. "I think that about covers it."

"Yes sir." She smiled warmly. "If you need anything else sir, just buzz." On her way out, she gave a polite nod to Sean and Gar. "Sirs."

Lips pursed, Merrick forced his eyes off the cute yeoman in order to follow Steele's gaze. He was almost disappointed and a little impressed when it stayed squarely on the newcomers. Merrick decided to keep his mouth shut about how the yeoman's pleasantries had appeared just a moment ago.

After the door closed, Steele began. "Obviously I want to discuss the results of today's drill as well as our upcoming mission, but this evening is an informal one. Yeoman Greene has set a dinner buffet so help yourselves and pull up a chair."

Merrick and Gar loaded their plates up with cheeses, melon balls, and sliced roast beef. Steele, meanwhile, pulled out a couple of tablets. "Here you go. Read the news with your diner. Response times, casualties, and departmental evaluations for the day."

Merrick picked his up and glanced through it. "Pathetic pathetic pathetic," he growled and spun the pad round on the desk.

Steele laughed. "You won didn't you?"

"We should have lost after the way we fell over each other." He leaned back and chomped on a cheese slice. "Well, things did work out better once Gar and DeSimms had a good talking to the DAMCON guys."

"They'll wait for security from now on," Gar declared with all certainty. Merrick snickered as he imagined the nightmares that the Andorian and the Medal of Honor recipient must have inspired in the redshirts.

"The pee spots on the carpet give testament do they?" Steele asked. "So Gar, just how did you ever get AUXCON isolated?"

Gar and Merrick exchanged looks. "Can't tell you, sir." Gar said.

"Top Secret," Merrick put in.

"Would have to kill you if we did," Gar added.

Steele leveled a measuring glare and demanded, "You have five seconds before I space you both for mutiny."

"Been nice knowing you Gar," Merrick said mournfully.

Steele quietly counted down toward zero.

"Keystroke recording," Gar reluctantly muttered.

"Traitor," Merrick hissed.

"Ensign Campbell apparently forgot certain aspects of his own security program's updates." Gar rolled his eyes and flexed his antennae. "I was able to bypass his bypasses."

"That man is a rather brilliant idiot," Steele marveled. "And here I was going to give him a commendation for taking AUXCON. Well, maybe I still will. It was a rather remarkable job he did."

All of the sudden, Merrick became serious again. "Isn't there any way to get him off the ship. Without committing a political solecism I mean?"

"Would have been done already if it could be, Sean."

"Had to ask."

"I know. He may just save our butts again someday. He stays. At least for now."

Merrick looked at Steele for a few seconds clearly having an internal conflict about whether or not to speak up. For his part Gar was busy trying to look like he was examining which morsel on his plate was the next to be devoured. But his antennae clearly indicated that he knew what Merrick was thinking.

"Look guys, the reason this is informal is because we need to be come completely comfortable with each other. We need to trust each other implicitly. So out with it."

"The crew are calling Cory the captain's pet," Merrick said.

"Great." Steele sighed. "Well there's not much I can do about that." Then he brightened. "Actually there is. As first officer, I herby appoint you as his big brother and best friend. It's your job to make him into a model officer."

Merrick growled, "Since we're being all informal here let me point out that you're a real prince." Beside him Gar did his best not to laugh. "A real prince."

"It comes naturally," Steele glowed. "Behave Gar. I'm making you the Second Officer."

Gar looked up abruptly. "Captain," he said, his tone even, his pace deliberate, "you ARE aware that I haven't been Chief Engineer for more than a couple of months yet..."

Steele nodded. "I know all of that, Gar. And I also know how quickly you pulled a department together that had seen 3 bosses in a matter of a week."

Gar glanced at Merrick, his predecessor as the head of Engineering. "With all do respect, they're good men down there- they know their jobs, Captain."

Jack jumped in again. "And you didn't let them fall off, did you? No- these drill results notwithstanding, you've done well with them. And, not for nothing, but you have more experience than any of the other candidates."

Gar opened his mouth once again, but cut himself short. He knew, really, that the Captain was right: there WAS no one else, really, that matched his experience, and that continuing to protest would sound as if he lacked confidence in himself or his abilities. Gar was many things, yes...but he was not one to be inappropriately modest, that was certain.

So, instead, he pursed his lips tightly for a moment. "Well, I can't say that I wouldn't like more time to get used to running a department this large before taking this on," he said, his antennae pushing forward, "but I understand the situation, Captain. You'll have my best effort."

Steele nodded. "I know I will," he said. "That's why I gave you the job."

Now, Jack leaned back in his chair again, and continued his earlier discussion. "Seriously though, yes we are stuck with Cory, but it's our job to give everyone a chance and the support they need. He's a screw up but not in a malicious way, and he is brilliant and motivated just not always in the same direction as the rest of us." He paused to reach over to the table and grabbed a few more sandwiches. "Now, this mission. Are we ready?"

Gar, perhaps filled with a bit of newly-felt pride, chimed in first. "Depends on what we come across," he said. "Are we ready for Klingons? No. We need to drill more until the DAMCON teams stop attacking boarders and the Security teams react quicker to orders to repel boarders. And Engineering needs more work on making repairs under combat conditions- with the boarders, we didn't get a chance work on that as much as I would like. But I'd say Dr. Corbett is ready for any kind of mass casualty situation that may arise--"

"As long as he doesn't think every defense is the Alamo revisited," Merrick chimed in with a smirk.

<<<NRPG>>>

Hi all: Just a reminder I (Andy) will be away til Thursday. At that point I'll get the mission going. SO in the meantime feel fre to conduct smaller drills' have your characters interact etc. Dan G you can post yourself on ship whenever is good.


Respectfully Submitted,
Andy
CAPT Jack Steele
CO, USS HOOD NCC 1703
ASR ORIGINS

-- Scott Lusby
/\ LCDR Gar Th'eleneth
Chief Engineer
USS HOOD NCC-1703
ASR: ORIGINS

Brian V. Mansur
LCDR Sean Merrick
FO, USS HOOD NCC-1703

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Sour Grapes and Fears of Scattered Atoms

by Steve Apple

SD 2260.185

MD: 1.1630

Scene: CMO's Quarters, USS HOOD


Corbett had just finished reading the reports from his staff on the Mass Casualty Drill when the door chime to his quarters sounded. Pushing the enter button he sat back in his chair and put his feet up on the desk.

"Welcome back from the dead Cowboy." His head nurse said as she walked through the door and sat down. "I see you have your black hat on, still in mourning I take it."

"One must grieve for the appropriate amount of time Mother, mostly for appearance sake mind you." He said pulling out a bottle of tequila and 2 glasses.

"Thanks," she said accepting one of the glasses. "So how did we fare."

"The Captain seems to be very pleased with the teams overall medical performance as am I."

"But." She said.

"It's nothing." He said looking away.

"Come on Cowboy, you can tell me."

Corbett looked around the room trying not to face his Chief Nurse. "If you must know one of the umpires and I had a little disagreement."

"So that's why you're confined to quarters until tomorrow."

"Yes I've been placed in isolation to think about my bad behavior." He said frowning.

"So what was the problem?" She asked.

"The umpire was being totally unreasonable mind you."

"Uh huh," She said. "Over what."

"The insufferable lout denied my third kill. He said that using a neural paralyzer on an enemy was against the rules."

"And you did what?" She asked trying to keep from laughing.

"I told him that it was totally within the realm of possibility that giving a neural paralyzer could be considered lethal and at the very least incapacitating."

"So you just told him that?" She asked leaving the question hanging.

"Well no, I sort of injected him. I had to prove my point you see." Corbett said taking a long sip from his glass.

It took the Chief Nurse a few minutes to stop laughing. "I take it the umpire didn't find it funny."

"No he did not. In fact the rogue threatened to file charges against me."

"That sounds serious." She said.

"Fortunately the Captain found it rather amusing and sent me to my room to think about what I had done."

"So what's the bottom line?"

"I was forced to give the blaggard half a box of my finest Cuban cigars and two bottles of tequila as hush money." Corbett said incensed.

The Chief Nurse took a few moments to compose herself after the second fit of laughter faded. "So I take it you want me to handle the department debrief."

"If you would be so kind," Corbett said smiling. "Let the department know I am exceedingly pleased that the average response rate was two minutes and twenty three seconds by the trauma teams. "

"That's the best response rate I've seen on any ship." Mother replied.

"It better well have been. I also want to complement Dr. Kavlin on the good job he did getting patients through emergency surgery and into the sickbay ICU."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that. Anything else?"

"No not really. " He said looking at the frown on her face. "Other than I put a commendation in for you and your nurses on the exemplary way you handled triage and got the patients with minor injuries back to duty."

Corbett watched the smile grow on her face. "The nurses will really appreciate that." She said.

"Both you and they deserve it for all the effort you put forth into helping the crew."

"Thanks Cowboy it's nice to be appreciated." Mother said.

"My pleasure ma'am." He said taking his hat off and putting it over his heart in salute.

"Merrick to Corbett." Came the voice over Corbett's desktop comm..

"Corbett here, to what do I owe the pleasure sar." He said as he handed Mother the reports on her way out.

"Thought you might be getting cabin fever Doc. How'd you like to take a little trip with DeSimms and me down to Outpost 8."

"I shall be there with bells on sar. What time would you like to gather at the shuttle bay?" Corbett asked.

There was a long pause before Commander Merrick answered. "We're not taking a shuttle doctor we're transporting down, is there a problem with that."

Corbett downed the rest of his glass of tequila before answering. "No sar, no problem whatsoever."

"Good I'll see you in the transporter room in thirty minutes. Merrick out."

Corbett poured himself another glass and downed it before the shaking in his hands caused the white liquid to spill. Standing he went to his sleeping area and traded his black hat for the white one.

"You can do this." he said to himself as he smoothed the brim of his hat with his thumb and forefinger before heading out the door.


Scene: Transporter Room, USS HOOD


Corbett entered through the doors to the Transporter Room on what felt like shaky legs and saw that Merrick and DeSimms where already there talking with the transporter chief.


"Are you OK Doc?" Merrick asked noticing how pale Corbett was.


"I am right as rain sar; however I must confess I am not a fan of this contraption." Corbett said, gesturing toward the transporter, his voice tinged with anxiety and maybe a bit of paranoia. "I don't believe God intended man to have his atoms scrambled into a million pieces."

"This is the safest form of travel, nothing to be scared of here Doc." The Transporter Chief said.

"Sar I make it a point never to trust a device that uses buffers based on a principle that's main title is uncertainty. It's just bad juju." Corbett replied.

"Are you sure you are up to this." Merrick said a bit concerned.

"I am a Texan sar. I am always up to the challenge." Corbett said as he stepped onto the pad and began humming.

"Energize." Merrick said shaking his head and chuckling.



Respectfully Submitted,

Steve Apple
Dr. Stile Corbett
CMO, USS HOOD NCC 1703
ASR ORIGINS


USS HOOD: Redshirts Under Fire

by Scott Lusby and Daniel Belin

[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: "Redshirts Under Fire" Joint Post by: Scott Lusby (LCDR Gar Th'elenth) and Daniel Belin (LT John DeSimms)


SD: 2260.192
MD: 1.1545
Setting: Gymnasium, H-Deck, USS HOOD


Lieutenant Commander Gar Th'elenth stood next to the HOOD's Chief of Security, Lieutenant John DeSimms, and panned his view across the assemblage in front of him.

It was a large assemblage, too- that's why this meeting was in the Gym- what with 250+ engineers and 200+ security personnel, a big room was needed just so they all FIT.

Gar's engineers were standing at parade rest on the left side of the large group. His antennae twitched as he began to speak. "The results from the drill were TERRIBLE," he began. "Yes, you were thrown some wrinkles; yes, it was only a drill...but the results were plain UNACCEPTABLE."

He paused; no one spoke a word during it. "What pains me the most," he continued, "is that most of the problems could have- no, SHOULD have been avoided."

The Andorian began to walk down the front row of his men, slowly. Then, he stopped- in front of Chief Kowalczyk. "You attacked a squad of Klingon shock troops trying to enter Auxiliary Control."

Kowalczyk stood rigid. "Yes, Sir."

Th'elenth's antennae pitched forward. "Tell me- are you a security officer?"

"No, Sir."

"So why did you attack them?"

Kowalczyk appeared confused by the question. "Sir-- I know it was just a drill, but...well, they were Klingons, and they were trying to take control of the ship."

Gar nodded. "Yes, they were," he said. "And though your courage and determination are admirable, you didn't THINK about situation closely enough- and it got you and your team 'killed.'"

Gar stepped back from Kowalczyk. "Don't worry, Chief- you weren't alone; several other DamCon teams did the same thing, each resulting in the same problem- they were killed."

"Begging the Commander's pardon," Kowalczyk spoke up, "but what SHOULD we have done?"

Gar held his temper in check; someone at his rating should really know better. "What you SHOULD have done was wait for one of Lieutenant DeSimms' teams to arrive," Gar said loudly. "They are the experts in small unit tactics and in close-quarter fighting, not you; you are experts in emergency repairs. You all heard the intruder alert warning over the comm; you knew Security had been dispatched to the area. You should have waited, and assisted them IF they asked for it."

Kowalczyk swallowed hard. "And the 'plasma fire'?"

Gar stepped back to the chief, now only a few centimeters from his face. "It could have waited a few minutes; waiting a few minutes is better than never getting it done, Chief."

"Now, Security. I wish I had nice things to say to you," said DeSimms, narrowing is eyes. He continued, "You shouldn't have taken so long to get to the intruders. You have engineers attempting to deal with a plasma fire, and they can't because of the Klingons. That's where you are supposed to come in."

At this point, one of the security team leaders, Szymczyk, interrupted DeSimms. "Sir, respectfully, the turbolifts went down and we got stuck in them."

DeSimms cut the Ensign off, "That's a lesson to you. Don't use the goddamn turbolifts, one button pressed and there goes your attack. The point is, by the end of this week I want you to know this ship better than the damn engineers. Got it?"

Now Gar took the floor again, and began addressing his engineers again. "On top of continuing to drill alongside Lieutenant DeSimms' teams so as to avoid further problems in this area, there will be times that they CANNOT get to your area quick enough and you'll be left to your own devices. In THOSE situations, well, you may end up defending a position instead of fixing it."

He paused again before continuing. "So, for the next several weeks, I want everyone here to brush up on their basic combat skills- marksmanship with your phaser and hand-to-hand combat. I realize that you're Engineers, and that the Academy only gave you a basic working knowledge of each, but it seems to me that a bit more is needed. My people have a saying: 'A warrior first'- and while Starfleet considers us explorers first, this drill illustrated the need to be prepared for ALL contingencies." He gestured to DeSimms. "The Lieutenant has been kind enough to offer Security's services to help you 'reacquaint' yourselves with your inner warrior."

The Andorian paused again, and looked straight at Kowalczyk. "If we're going to fight, we may as well learn how to do it right," he said, the corners of his lips curling slightly as he recognized the spark behind Kowalczyk's eyes.

"Okay, I want everyone back in this room at 0800 hours. We will start with phaser marksmanship, so I advise you to stop by the armory to get a phaser issue. My second in command, Luther, will lead the engineering practice, and I will lead the security drills. Dismissed!"


<<NRPG- from Scott>>

All- just tying off the drill repercussions with a nice JP. ;)


Respectfully Submitted,

-- Daniel F. Belin
/\ LT John DeSimms
Chief of Security
USS HOOD NCC-1703

AND
-- Scott Lusby
/\ LCDR Gar Th'elenth
Chief Engineer
USS HOOD NCC-1703
ASR: ORIGINS

USS HOOD: Drop and Roll

by Brian Mansur, Steve Apple, and Daniel Belin

SD 2260.185


MD: Day 7, 1145 Hours

Scene: IKS BLOOD OATH, Near Outpost 8 System


The low screech of the bridge's bare metal blast doors heralded the arrival of the fleet commander.


"Report!" demanded Commodore Koreth.


"Federation battlecruiser entering the system," Par'rick proudly replied. "Their shields are down. If they suspect our presence, they are being subtle about it."


"My lord!" the warrior at communications shouted. "Coded transmissions from the enemy vessel. The outpost is responding in kind."


Koreth took his chair. To himself he all but purred, "Standard procedure along the border of course. All is well here, my Federation friends. No ships were seen coming in on the ecliptic behind the sun. Just like the last 3 outposts we destroyed."


The maneuver had been time consuming, but quite worthwhile. Against the local star's glare, the Klingon flotilla was unlikely to be noticed. They needed only to stay below the stellar horizon: away from any line-of-sight to the outpost, until the time was right.


Koreth had to marvel at the Starfleet admiralty. They had built sophisticated listening posts to spot globflies crossing the Neutral Zone. But they had neglected to put inexpensive sensor pickets behind the big ears to watch for just such an incursion, their mistake. Once this operation was completed, no doubt the Federation would correct their far-sightedness. Though not before losing an invaluable battlecruiser.


"We will give them one hour to become complacent. Begin the countdown."


Scene: Outpost 8 Transporter Room


Outpost 8's commander, Lieutenant Yarith, initially felt relief as the landing party coalesced in the transporter room of Outpost 8. She was an attractive brunette, all business, and not in any mood for nonsense. That was why halfway up the steps to greet her guests she did a double take when she realized that the blue shirt on the right was wearing a stylized cowboy hat. It looked to her as if it had been spirited straight out of the Ancient American West. It also completely surprised her that the man patted his chest, hips and thighs in what could only be described as a gesture of relief before stepping down from the platform.


"Uh" she hesitated, "Welcome to Outpost 8 Commander Merrick."


"Cavalry's here L.T." Merrick said with a sly smile to Corbett. "How can we be of service?"



"Ah ha," Yarith laughed dryly. "Don't leave orbit please, sir? I know ..." she caught herself. "Damn it. I knew people at Outpost 5 and certainly don't want to end up like they did." She swallowed hard. "What did you find there?"


"You don't want to be concerning yourself about that just now ma'am," Corbett said, briefly removing his hat in the presence of a lady. "The details can wait a lifetime. Trust me."


Yarith looked at him askance, not sure what to make of this anachronistically chivalrous character. "Um, we're the same rank Lieutenant. You may as well call me Yarith."


"Please, call me Stile ... or Doc if you prefer," he said putting on his most winning smile.


Yarith looked as if she would decline to bother with either for the time being. Merrick stepped in to finish the introductions.


"This is Lieutenant DeSimms. He's our resident ass-kicker. If you care for a hand in security upgrades and a crack planner for ground combat, he'll provide. Given what has been going on, do you have the remote site fully provisioned?"


"Are you kidding, sir? Most of my crew are sleeping there."


DeSimms chimed in. "Nice in theory, but not a good practice actually. Who knows what kind of intel the attackers have."


"What do you suggest?" She asked.


"Equipment depots, weapons stashes, and survival packs in deep cave sites throughout the mountains, the further from the outpost the better. If you get hit hard, you'll need to survive until help arrives and maybe even fight back."


Yarith looked at Merrick. "Why the hell doesn't doctrine provide for this stuff?"


"Yeah, well, having been an outpost commander myself, I'd like to see those books updated too. Merrick said. “DeSimms, you thought about submitting your name to the Bureau to help with a rewrite? Surely a 'Medal of Honor recipient' would carry some weight in the application process."


"Even with the extra help, they don't update it much," DeSimms said. "Mostly because there are so many holes in the doctrine that it would be a full time job patching it up."


“I need the help now,” Yarith said her voice strained and anxious. “So can either of you tell me why the Star Fleet manual doesn’t provide for this kind of scenario.”


Merrick signaled for DeSimms to go start working his magic. Turning back to Yarith, he was more than a little disturbed by her demeanor. He needed to snap her out of this indecisive and dangerous mood in a hurry. "The Star Fleet manual is only a guide, not a how-to book. You're the one in command. We'll give you what you need to survive in case of an attack, but keeping your people alive falls to you."


"That's not very comforting." Yarith said.


"Command never is." Merrick replied.


DeSimms nodded in agreement as he turned to begin a survey of his surroundings. For something that was on the edge of the Federation, on what could easily be the front lines of a war, this base was terrible, he thought to himself. Weapons lockers with no doors on them, bridge controls without security locks, no shielding whatsoever on the communications array, and no planet-side surface-to-space defense systems. It looked to be a very bleak situation if the Klingons decided to attack. However, it was possible to defend it with careful planning and a whole hell of a lot of luck.


"You got anyone in charge of security around here, Lieutenant? I'm going to need to do a bit of work," he asked looking at Yarith.


"I’m sorry, but this base doesn’t have a security officer, just a tactical one." She answered.


There was a collective sigh, and DeSimms looked like he was ready to strangle someone when he realized that the fate of the outpost was dependent almost entirely on the equipment and expertise provided by the HOOD.


"How are your people set for emergency medical supplies?" Corbett asked deflecting the conversation away from security issues.


"I'll have to refer that question to our Corpsmen, Petty Officer Rasden." She answered. "Since we have a lot of logistics and security issues to work out for this place's continued survival, I'll have the appropriate people from my team assemble in our conference room in ten minutes."


“With all due respect, Miss Yarith, but this base is not the most secure, and we don't have much time. We are going to have a lot of preparations on our hands, and I don't want to waste any more time." DeSimms said then looking at Commander Merrick asked, "Permission to beam up to the ship sir! I got to get a hell of a lot of equipment down here.”


“Let’s wait till after the briefing Commander.” Merrick said softly. “There may be equipment stored we don’t know about.”


Scene: Outpost 8 Conference Room


Ten minutes later, DeSimms was back and taking charge of the impromptu conference. Immediately he began outlining the value of the move to the caves just west of the outpost. "As you can see these caves here, overlook this valley." He said gesturing to the map on the view screen in the conference room. "This location should give you a strategic advantage to fire portable phaser cannons and sonic grenades at any attackers. History has shown us that well entrenched defenders can hold off a larger advancing force. From this vantage I see no reason you can't survive until help arrives."


"You know," Corbett whispered to Merrick. "If he wasn't bald he'd be perfect as the poster child for a Star Fleet recruitment pinup."


"Pay attention." Merrick admonished trying to hide his smile at Corbett's remark. "He's good in a fight."


"Let's just hope these people don't have to put his plan into action." Corbett said pushing his hat to the back of his head.


"I agree." Merrick said.


As if he had heard the whispered exchange, DeSimms pointed to Corbett. "Doctor, we're going to need you to set up a triage facility in the cave system. It is deep enough underground that you should be safe from the Klingon ship's attack, but still within the Hoods transporter range. I know a cave may not be the ideal place for a hospital, but it's the safest place out there.”


“I am at your service sar.” Caorbett said to DeSimms as he gave a wink to Yarith.


It took another fifteen minutes to complete the briefing from both a medical and operations stand point. Then, for the next half hour, the landing party helped oversee the beam out of emergency supplies, weapons and personnel to the caves. It went so lightening fast that Merrick wondered if they hadn't set some sort of record. With her people busy at the remote sites, only Yarith and her XO remained to walk the guests back to the transporter room.


"Thank you all" Yarith said. "I feel we're better prepared to defend ourselves already, but I'd feel even safer if you'd remain..."


Merrick heard the shrill beep from his communicator. "Merrick here." He said interrupting the Lieutenant.


"Sean," came Captain Jack Steele's voice. "Rhiana just got a ping from a sensor bounce."


"You think it's a ship sir?"


"She's not sure. She said it was visible for only a moment, so it could just as easily be some sort of artifact. However, given recent events I'm not taking any chances. I'm ordering you and the landing party back to the ship."


"Aye sir, Merrick out."


"I sorry Lieutenant, but you heard the man, it's time we leave. I suggest you and your XO join the rest of your crew and hunker down in the caves for the time being. At least until we track down who's been attacking our outposts."

Submitted Respectfully as a Joint Post,
by

Brian Mansur
Commander Merrick
Executive Officer

Steve Apple
Lieutenant Commander Corbett
Chief Medical Officer

and

Daniel Belin
Lieutenant DeSimms
Security Officer
USS HOOD

USS HOOD: The Weight of Command

by Andy Catterick

SD: 2260.192

MD: 7.1800

Scene: Bridge

“Coffee sir?” Yeoman Greene asked with a bright smile as she held out the cup of coffee.

“Yes, thank you Yeoman.” Jack said not really paying attention as he read through the brief report Commander Merrick had filed after he, DeSimms and the doctor had returned to the ship. It was only a preliminary report that did little more then give a laundry list of supplies they had transferred to the outpost. There was also a short outline of recommendations they had passed along to help the outpost prepare itself for the possibility of attack. Jack looked forward to a more complete report from Merrick but for now this and the first officer’s assessment of Lieutenant Yarith as being ‘one tough broad’ sufficed. He placed the report down on the armrest and sipped his coffee wondering as he tasted the perfectly brewed drink where it had come from.

“Captain all departments report ready to break orbit.” The comm officer informed him.

“Thank you ensign. Alright Mr. Ventura you have your course?”

“Course laid in for Outpost Nine.” Chance answered with a nod to the navigator.

“Break orbit and get us underway. Warp factor seven.”

“Aye aye sir. Warp factor seven.”

As the drone of the engines began to increase Sean and Jack traded a look. This was what he was sure would prove to be the first of several bad decisions that had to be made during this mission. Bad because whichever way he went could be potentially disastrous. Outpost Eight had been the first stop simply because it was the next potential target in a fairly small chain. They assumed that the Klingons might hit here next solely due to its proximity to the last target but that just as easily might not be the case. Now that they were finished here the question became what was the next course of action. HOOD could linger in the vicinity in the hopes of catching the Klingons as they tried to attack the outpost. But what if they had decided to skip Eight and attack Outpost Nine?

Jack had decided that having done their best to shore up Eight’s limited defences they would move on to do the same with Nine and then Ten before looping back. It was the best decision with limited resources. He just hoped it wouldn’t be the worst.

Captain Sinclair had faced decisions like this before as had past captains he had served with. As he had moved up the ranks he had even participated in the discussions designed to help his CO make the call. This decision was no different then any of those dilemmas. Except for the first time his was the final say, he held the responsibility and people might live or die solely due to a course of action that only he could lay out. Looking down at his coffee cup Jack finally understood, really understood, the true weight of command.

<<<NRPG>>>

Just a short CD post I wrote waiting for Brian/Steve/Dan’s JP I have another one to follow that gets the mission really going.

And my weekly cheerleading pitch…still got some holes to fill so if any of you RP with a friend elsewhere who you think would be a good fit please let me know. The COMM slot is still open but if they aren’t interested in that I’m sure we can be creative.

Respectfully,

Andy

CAPT Jack Steele

CO, USS HOOD NCC 1703

ASR ORIGINS

USS HOOD:

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USS HOOD:

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