[Galaxy] War Stories: Connors, Michaels, Ramirez

[Robert]

[ ESS Intrepid, Science Lab One ]

"Run it again," Connors said.  It's not that he didn't trust the 
results, but there just wasn't much else to do.  He wanted to keep his 
people busy, keep their minds off the upcoming 'event', but a Science 
department during wartime ended up being superfluous most of the time, 
and just in the way the rest of the time.  In a couple of hours Urbanek 
would return with yet another set of identical results for the bacteria 
taken from an otherwise barren rogue planet, and Connors would tell him 
to run it for the fourth time.

Connors could tell Urbanek made an effort not to roll his eyes, knowing 
exactly where this was going, but the exobiologist managed to simply 
turn and go back to his equipment.

"I didn't join Starfleet to feel like I'm being babysitted," decried 
Everett suddenly.  He pushed himself away from the astrometrics station 
and stood from his stool.  "I turned down research jobs at three 
universities-"

"...'three universities to explore space and the infinite possibilities 
therein.'" interrupted Gordon.

"'Instead I'm stuck in this tin can waiting to be privileged with the 
opportunity to do my job,'" continued Urbanek.

"'When do we get to do what Starfleet was formed to do?'" Lowe said as 
he mimicked Everett's voice perfectly.  He finished with the usual and 
melodramatic, "'And how do I get off this damned boat?'"

Connors laughed with the others.  Getting a chuckle at Everett's expense 
had become standard operating procedure.  It didn't do much for Everett, 
but the man was getting to be more and more of a pain anyway.  That may 
not be appropriate for the Science Officer to allow, but what else was 
he going to do?  Then again, something came to him.

"What's the most interesting thing you saw on Earth?" he asked.  He 
looked around, letting everyone know it was a question for all.

"I was on a dig in the Congo," Gordon offered first.  "We found skeletal 
remains that we believe are a transitional fossil more significant than 
the Taung Child or Peking Man."  It was obviously a pleasant and 
exciting memory.  "We added to the understanding of where we came from, 
how we became who we are."

"I spent two weeks at the bottom of the Mariana Trench," said Urbanek. 
"It was a temporary hab to study life at the deepest part of Earth's 
oceans.  The research was phenomenal, but the bioluminescent schools 
that darted past the portholes and out into the darkness were beautiful. 
  I once saw this large organism linger outside a while, maybe feeding 
off the ocean floor before slowly moving on.  We have yet to capture a 
specimen, or fully classify or even /name/ it, so the pictures I took 
are the only record it even exists."

Everett began, "When I was Project Director at the Ryking Observatory at 
New Berlin-"

"Is this when you received the TEVES data?" Urbanek interrupted.

Lowe added, again in Everett's melodramatic voice, "We bridged the gap 
between Newtonian and Einsteinian physics, paving the way for advances 
in warp theory beyond what Doctor Chochrane himself could have envisioned."

Again there was laughter.  Everett sat back down in his stool and turned 
around to work with his back to everyone.

Connors spoke as the laughter died down.  "And what's the most 
interesting thing you've seen since joining Starfleet?"

Since Gordon was the first to speak for the last question, everyone 
looked for him to answer this one first, as well.  "Crux Delta IIa," he 
said smiling with awe.  "An eighty thousand year-old pair of reading 
glasses.  The lenses weren't even scratched, I still don't know what 
they're made of.  But one day I'm going to find out who wore them."

"Roganna Station," Urbanek laughed.  "They had a Zoo!  I couldn't 
believe how much alien life was standing, sitting, and throwing feces 
right in front of me!  The Captain had to send a security team to pull 
me out of there."

The lab laughed again, but it was cut short when Everett quietly said, 
"Halley's Comet."

Everyone looked at him, not sure he understood the question.  "What?" 
Connors asked.

Everett turned to face them again.  "We flew alongside Halley's Comet 
for three hours.  I couldn't pull my eyes away to look at any of the 
readings."  He shrugged.  "It's the thing that got me looking at the 
stars in the first place."

Everyone nodded in quiet appreciation.

"What about you, Lowe?" Connors asked.  "You've been pretty quiet," he 
quickly corrected himself, "relatively speaking."

Lowe smiled impishly.  "I'm just jazzed to be here, man."


----------


~~~ESS Ludington, SCL-11 - Mess Hall~~~

Captain Michaels closed his eyes and, just for a moment, tried imagining 
that the sizzling sound he heard coming from the galley, was bacon and 
eggs, like it had been when Ludington's tour had begun.  Not the vat- 
grown protein cakes that Cookie had been trying to disguise as food for 
the last month and a half.

Commander Isaiah Bissell of the Revere, Ludington's sister ship, sat 
across from the Captain.  As he lifted his mug, he cleared his throat 
and then took a sip of his tea.   Pushing a pad across the table he 
said, "We began loading supplies since early this morning.  Medical is 
fully stocked and the spare parts that we ordered have been delivered to 
Ms Jackson, (Revere's CEO).  She's pleased she can stop borrowing parts 
from Finney."

Michaels grinned.  "So is Finney going to be getting those used parts 
back?" she asked, referring to Commander Jim Finney, Ludington's CEO.

"No," Bissell replied. "Just the ones she hasn't used."

"Would he really want the used ones back?"  Commander Paul MacDonald 
asked, grinning.

A chuckle filled Michaels chest and he turned to his Chief Armory 
Officer, who sat beside them.  "Have you spoken with Shin over on the 
Revere yet about getting those power cells?"

"Yes Captain." Paul replied.  "The Armoy team, would rather have their 
faces melted off by playing Guitar Hero then have it happen by a phaser 
blowing up, so were happy we've received the necessary parts."

Michaels grinned at the comment.  His CAO had always enjoyed a good 
video game when he had the time. He guessed that wasn't one of Paul's 
favorites. Turing back to Isaiah, he grew serious and asked, "How's the 
crew morale on the Revere?"  When Starfleet had given him the Ludington, 
he had also taken responsibility of the Revere as well.  Bissell was a 
good CO and quick thinker but lacked the experience.  They had formed a 
team to lead, and even though the crews were spaced out on two ship, 
thought of themselves as one.

"Well Michaels," Bissell chimed in and then sighed.  "They're tired. 
Seven months of escort duty hasn't been calmest.  Those damn Naussicaan 
pirates, that the Romulans have working for them, haven't been the 
easiest to deal with and it's taken a toll on everyone."

MacDonald nodded, "I agree sir."

Michaels sighed, he felt the same.  "Well then, we need to rotate in 
some shore leave until our orders come in."

"All shore leave to New Darwin has been denied by the Rear Admiral."

"What?"

"The colony is still under repairs from their attack."

"They've got a whole planet.  Who said it had to be taken down in the 
colony?"  Michaels replied annoyed over the whole denial.

"Oh Sweet."  Paul cheered, breaking Michaels thought process.

It was then that a plate was placed in front of him.  He took a deep 
breath and inhaled.  He took a second to rub his eyes, not believing 
what it was that Cookie had sat before them.  "Bacon and eggs?  Real 
bacon and eggs?" He asked.  Cookie nodded.


----------


[ ESS Freedom, FCL-01 ]

“Incoming data transfer from the Endeavor," comms reported.  "Fleet-wide."

Fleet Captain Ramirez nodded.  "Probably the squadron assignments," he 
mused.  "Have the XO meet me in my ready room."  He turned to the armory 
station.  "Leopold, you have the Conn."

Ramirez had just had a chance to finish looking over the file when 
Commander Whitmore chimed and entered.  "Won't be long now, Paul," 
Ramirez said as a greeting.  "We'll probably have just enough time to 
contact the other captains in our squadron before we get the call to set 
course for that battlegroup."

Whitmore nodded.  "What do the assignments look like?"

"Only a few heavies for the main force," he sighed.  "Delta Group, the 
one that will be cutting off the Naussicaans, is Republic, Intrepid, and 
Yorktown.  Delta leader is Hawke on the Shenandoah."

"Oof," Whitmore winced.  "We'll have to pull a lot of weight to compensate."

"Not necessarily," Ramirez shook his head.  "We're Alpha Group.  We'll 
have Challenger to share the demand for heavier support.  Add to that 
the seven Neptunes assigned to Alpha, and we'll be giving at least as 
good as we'll be getting."

"A nine starships in one squadron?"

"That's not counting the smaller destroyers and escorts."

"Sounds unwieldy," Whitmore said, a little concerned.  "What's the 
strategy, Sir?"

"With what looks like a spearhead of Klingon warships, it's been decided 
that maximum overlap of fire is the way to go.  If we've been judging 
Romulan tactics correctly, they'll be cloaked for the most part and 
pecking at us little by little.  We need to disable or destroy the 
Klingons as quickly as possible before those Romulan birds nickel and 
dime us to death."

"They'd be leaving the Klingons at a numerical disadvantage, wouldn't they?"

Ramirez looked at Whitmore skeptically, "You think Romulans care about 
Klingons?"  He pointed to the Delta Group assignments on his monitor. 
"Besides, they'll still be expecting the Naussicaans to show up."

Whitmore nodded, more or less alleviated.  "So what about the other 
squadrons?"

"Beta Group is much the same," Ramirez said as he skimmed.  "Meridian 
will be their other heavy.  Beta Leader is Captain Kurisawa on the 
Constitution."

Whitmore smiled.  "I'm glad she was finished in time.  And it'll be good 
to have Kurisawa with us."  He looked at the monitor.  "So that's Alpha, 
Beta, and Delta.  What about Gamma?"

"Gamma is the reserve squadron lead by Endeavor."

Whitmore sighed.  "And I take it the Admiral won't be staying behind on 
New Darwin?"

Ramirez smiled.  "A good leader won't ask anyone under his command to do 
something he's not willing to do himself, or so I hear."

"All due respect to the Admiral, Sir," Whitmore said a little more 
formally, "a dead flag officer does us no good."

Ramirez shrugged.  "It's his show, Paul, and I don't make it a habit of 
telling admirals what they can and can't do.  Besides, I don't blame him."

Whitmore sighed again and changed the subject.  "So are we the vanguard?"

"Correct.  Alpha is van, Beta is center, and Gamma is rear.  Delta Group 
will support in whatever capacity is necessary by the time they arrive."

"/If/ they arrive."

"XO," Ramirez said officiously as he stood, "I require a positive 
attitude until the battle is concluded.  Now please contact the other 
ships in Alpha Group to calibrate communications encryptions and 
establish command and control protocols."

"Aye, Sir."


-----
Lt Simon Connors
Science Officer
ESS Intrepid, NX-07
(apb Robert)

Captain Douglas Michaels
Commanding Officer
ESS Ludington SCL–11
(apb Rachelle)

FCapt Ramirez, Diego
Commanding Officer
ESS Freedom, FCL-01
(apb Robert)