1st Bridge Officers Meeting USS Phoenix

Captain's Log

Stardate  87546.889

 

We are currently 15.25 minutes prior to our first official briefing aboard the USS Phoenix. I have managed throughout my arrival onto this ship to briefly visit each deck and department of this vessel.  While the ship was completed prior to its arrival to the Lotus Starbase, our extensive modifications to convert this vessel to a highly functioning hybrid science vessel has been a vast undertaking. Teams from both the starbase and our new crew have worked tirelessly in conjunction with each other to ensure the readiness of all components for our launch in one month's time.

The purpose of this meeting is two-fold. First, to discuss the most updated status directly from each department.  Second,  to observe the capacity in which these officers gel once they meet and begin to work with each other.  Will their reports be thorough and detailed oriented? Are they attentive and actively engaging each other?

I anticipate that the outcome of this meeting will be a pivotal aspect of our upcoming mission once we launch.

 

Captain Syntron closed down the log entry and grabbed his command PADD as he exited out of his Ready Room. He walked the few steps into the main conference are of the briefing room.  He noted the well-designed environment containing an impressive backdrop of five large bay windows on the aft side of the vessel corresponding with an elongated conference table running parallel to the total width of  windows. The conference table was encompassed by ten padded ergonomic chairs; one on each end and four on each side, and all with a medium blue textured weave. On the opposite side of the window were four large, widescreen digital displays. These were bookmarked by doorways on either side.

Syntron sat down at the head of the table and placed his PADD on its surface. He opened up a file that he had prepared to add notes and information as the meeting progressed and patiently awaited the arrival of his bridge officers.

The door opened and first officer Commander Riker walked in followed by Master Chief Eddington.  Eddington handed Riker a padd nodded and walked out the still open doors.  As Riker looked the information on the PADD over he nodded to the captain placed the PADD on the table and walked over to the comms panel to the Captain's right.  Pressing a button on the panel Riker spoke.

"This is Commander Joshua Riker first officer.  Assemble on senior officers in the briefing room."

Sitting down to right of the Captain Riker smiled.

"All crew reports are in sir and the senior staff are on their way."

Laughing Riker continued.

"Our first meeting... this should be fun."

Syntron glanced up at his XO and replied "Acknowledegd. Perhaps this meeting will be informative as well Number One."

Riker glanced back down over the reports on the PADD in front of him as they waited for the rest of the senior officers to arrive.

Doctor Elliago Nasaro-Myth was first to arrive. 

"Captain Sir, " he simply said with a nod of his bald head, his purple eyes taking in one glance the entire room.

He went with a relaxed stride to sit at the chair opposing that of the commanding officer of the Phoenix, knowing full well the seating protocol at such a "banana-shaped" conference table. The right hand seat was for the ship's first officer, whom had already taken his seat, and the left one for the Chief Engineer; then, the other officers would sit by order of rank down to the last seat at the opposing end from the head chair. That one was for him, the Chief Medical Officer. Medical personnel were as a rule, dating back to old Earth navy tradition, outside the chain of command and often called to provide a humanistic, moral and ethical counterpoint to the more military-oriented bulk of the officers asked to help the ship commander make his decisions. The distance between them was therefore as symbolic as it was practical; the captain would consult his senior officers per department in turn and finsih with the moral and ethical considerations of any given proposal before coming to a decision. It also allowed in turn the CMO and the Chief Counselor, usually seated at his right hand side, to observe the whole bridge crew and their attitude towards the captain,  each according to his professionnal duties.

It was simple and efficient; yet, Elliago missed the old style triangular-shaped table that his former commanding officer, Captain Kheren, had favored... and still favored even on his new flagship the USS Horizon. It was less hierarchical, more constructive toward exchanging ideas, clearer department coordination and involving everyone in the decision-making process on an equal footing... But Starfleet was open to many command styles and each captain was free to manage his vessel as best he saw fit.

And so, Elliago did not comment on it and simply sat at the opposing end of the table, facing his captain and waiting for the others to arrive.

Commander Rogers paused back from the entrance to the main briefing room and straightened his uniform somewhat. It had been a hurried rise and shine at zero six thirty hours; A quick shower and dress, then down to main engineering to check the status there as the alpha shift came on duty. Once David's notes in his PADD were updated and agreed correctly with the previous night's status, David left engineering in Lieutenant Andrews' capable hands and caught the lift up to the bridge. Thus he stood outside now, trying to recall if he had forgotten anything prior to this first bridge officers meeting for the USS Phoenix. Thinking not, David stepped toward the doors and they sighed apart to admit him.

Captain Syntron and Commander Riker were first in view as David entered and he nodded at them both as he approached the curved table.

"Good morning Captain; Commander," David greeted before he noticed the third occupant of the room. Seated at the other end of the table sat a Deltan male with the blue science collar, whom could only be the Phoenixs' chief medical officer, Dr. Nasaro-Myth. And with that realization came the sudden thought; 'Damn, I haven't had my medical yet!'

"Good afternoon Commander Rogers" the Vulcan CO replied as he marked in the arrival of his chief engineer on his PADD.

 David nodded at the Deltan, noting the man's slightly prolonged stare in return. Obviously, the doctor probably recognized the knowledge David had just thought, but David extended a cursory greeting none the less as he took the nearest seat available, to Syntron's left directly across from Commander Riker.

"And a good morning to you as well Lieutenant-Commander."

"Commander... hope to see you after this meeting," Elliago said pointedly with a smile.

Lt. Commander Vincent parted ways with Lt. Kiels and stepped into the conference room. He paused, noting the officers that had arrived before him. He had met two of them already, the Captain and the Chief Engineer, and recognized the other two, the XO and CMO, from the security profiles he'd seen during background checks.

"Good day, sirs," he said as he made his way to the table. Josh set his PADD on the table and took a seat next to the XO. "How is everyone doing today?"

"I wouldn't know, Lieutenant. There are still a few officer who need to report to sickbay for their mandatory physical."

Elliago spoke with a pleasant, friendly tone while pointedly looking at both Rogers and Vincent. There was no mistaking the intent behind the stare.

David nodded casually toward the doctor and sheepishly returned the smile as the Phoenixs' Tac/Sec officer entered the room and greeted the group. Nodding toward the officer, David answered his friendly question.

"Quite well Mr. Vincent," David stated, then glanced at Doctor; " In fact, I've never been in better health."

David could never quite figure out the penchant for ship's doctors to obtain a full physical from the crew when commissioning a new ship or crew. After all, their records were in the computer's for them to see. Perhaps they required a boost to their importance as chief medical officers, or perhaps they just liked to subtlety assert their authority over the crew, even the ship's captain. They were about the only person aboard who could single-handedly remove a captain from their chair. Regardless, David had never quite grasped the reasoning behind the practice. 'It's not like we suddenly contracted a dose of Loracus Devil mites beaming aboard,' David thought sullenly.

"I'll come in after this meeting if you're available, Doctor," Lt. Commander Vincent replied, somewhat shamed by the Doctor's stare. "But I assure you that I am as healthy as Commander Rogers."

I knew I forgot something, Josh thought. It's a good thing it was only my medical exam, not something truly important.

The Deltan laughed softly at this.

"Of course you are... everyone is... until an unknown virus starts spreading around or some unregistered lifeform attempt to take over  your consciousness or some dormant nanites begin altering your biology or your behavior... not to mention the mundane substitution by cloning, surgical alteration or falsified biometric identity. There is a reason why Starfleet insists on those pre-launch examinations, gentlemen; in such a small, closed environment as a starship, any act of negligence can spell doom to everyone on board, sometimes in a manner of minutes; and by extension, possibly to the whole fleet, if not the entire Federation. Anyone who doesn't aknowledge the vital importance of that regulation is either a damn fool... or someone planning such an infectious attack."

He then looked at the captain.

"Will not happen that easily on my watch, Captain Sir. "

"I, for one, am glad to hear that Doctor," Josh replied. "I experienced one such attack during Operation Horizon, because our EMH missed a couple of Undine on our crew, so it's nice to know that you understand the security dangers as well as the medical ones."

"Indeed Lieutenant; and I can see you understand it as well. Shipboard medicine is a matter of security. Maybe not with phasers and forcefields... but we are all here on the same boat, and as long as we remember that, we will prevail even in such dire situations... and maybe avoid them altogether. "

Hera walked at a brisk pace still tapping at her PADD getting updates.  Things weren't moving as fast as she had hoped and that bothered her to no end.  She might of admitted to herself in private that she felt like she had something to prove and she was determined to do it.  pausing outside the door she smoothed her tunic with a final pull down before she walked into the room.  Her eyes went to the starfield's beauty before she jerked her gaze back to the Captain hiding her embarrassment at the informal mistake behind her own formality as she inclined her head to the Captain.

"Greetings Captain."

Her eyes briefly looked over the other officers as she headed to the seat almost the farthest form the Captain not feeling at ease settling in next to the Doctor.

Elliago noticed her unease immediately. It was the same one as he had known from Captain Kheren, his former commanding officer. Either she had been heavily involved with medicine, like him... or like him she was something of a medical 'phenomenon' quite tired of being the target of curiosity... or like him, the Andorian genetically-altered mutant, of suspicion, fear or even hatred and rejection. There were more than a few of those unique individuals in Starfleet, since the famous captain Spock, the first Human-Nonhuman hybrid. But that and all the centuries that had followed since had not diminished the life burden of such individuals all that much... even in this enlightened day and age.

The Deltan doctor was experienced with this kind of person, even beyond his reknowned xenology specialty. He noticed the remarkable muscle tone and musculoskeletal structure with the unusual eye and hair color and skin tone on the exotic features immediately, with a keen professional eye. But he quickly decided to leave her be for a while... and leave her the dazzling charming smile he was so famous for... and a whiff of his naturally soothing pheromones to help her get at ease with her surroundings.

David listened politely as the Deltan recited his 'personalized' star fleet medical reasoning for mandatory physicals, but even as he endured the reasoning, he still saw no dire need for the procedure. Ships sensors and transport scans were perfectly capable of catching most of what the doctor was talking about. As the chief medical officer finished speaking the last bridge officer entered the briefing room, science chief Ensign Hera Seven, according to Rogers' memory. Although he had not met her yet, David glanced coldly at her as she took a seat next to doctor Nasaro-Myth. He still had the astrometrics fiasco firmly embedded in his notes. But as Commander Riker had said he would mention it to her, David thought that could wait until later.

Hera laid her PADD in front of her and neatly folded her hands on it.  She could feel the intensity in the room and how it worn upon her jagged nerves.  She partially closed her eyes and breathed slowly and regularly using the exercise mentally to step back from the emotions.  The corner of her mouth quirked in a slight smile for a moment as she reflected that the people in this room had more drive than the entirety of any other gathering she had been at on the ship. 

Captain Syntron surveyed his bridge officers as the last expected member arrived and sat down; Ensign Hera Seven. Her presence had been somewhat of a mystery after her arrival to the ship. With no chief science officer present on the Phoenix, she had unofficially taken over that role through her own initiative. However, her activity had tapered off compared to her initial burst of momentum. The Captain wasn't certain at this point what to ascertain about her role on this ship. Her upcoming briefing on the science department could be a crucial factor in congregating this determination.

"Greetings and welcome to our first official meeting of the bridge officers of the USS Phoenix" the captain began in his formal yet reserved manner.

"This has been an audacious undertaking assembling this crew while modifying this vessel to the degree in which we have undertaken within a very limited time-frame. The net result of our vision and endeavor will be a vessel  unlike any currently existing in Starfleet. This ship will primarily be the most comprehensive science and exploration starship ever created by the Federation. It will literally be an advanced  mobile scientific laboratory in space. Yet this vessel by design will also have the capacity to defend itself and others most effectively; more than any science vessel that has been produced.

It was at this moment that the Vulcan captain would set the tone of his command along with his clear expectations on this ship.

"Effective teamwork aboard this vessel will be dependent upon competency and trust coupled with individual commitment to our mission and the precepts of the Federation.  Each officer sitting in this room along with the remaining crew beyond this room under your command are expected to follow Starfleet Regulations, Rules of Engagement and the appropriate chain of command; whether during a mission or sitting here in spacedock in preparation for launch."

The eyes of the Vulcan gazed intently into the eyes of each officer, one-by-one as he spoke.

"Acknowledging the inherent risks involved serving Starfleet aboard a vessel such as this, we have no room on this starship for incompetence or self-serving priorities; especially in the leadership positions which each of you has been granted. You are expected to operate at your highest capacity throughout all aspects of our upcoming mission and beyond; as is the expectation of Commander Riker and I."

Captain Syntron then gazed out the window for a moment as he continued to speak.

“We do not know what lies ahead of us after we launch other than determining the status and level of functionality within each department on this vessel."

He turned back to face each of his new officers.

"It will be the job of each of you to find any and all areas of weakness in this ship: within a console, a reading, or personnel performance. Document these incidents and then work to modify, improve or replace whatever is preventing us from optimizing our overall ship status."

Then looking down for a moment at his PADD, the captain could see that it was awaiting input. He looked back up to his officers again.

"But first I need each of you to present your Department Reports. Indicate any work within your department that will require tasks to be completed here within the Lotus Starbase. These will be our first priorities. Include reasonable time estimates of when your department will be ready to launch. The remainder of tasks will be addressed beyond our launch as we test out each of our systems in space."

Looking at his executive officer sitting next to him, Syntron added "Since at this point we do not have a chief operations officer, Commander Riker will be doubling up with that duty as well. Verify with him all energy requirements and schedules for testing your systems. We do not want to overload or incapacitate any of our current systems."

Then switching his attention to the Human officer nearby, the captain inquired:

"Lieutenant Commander Vincent, what is the current status of our tactical and security department?"  

“Preparations of our tactical systems are proceeding according to plan, with one exception,” Lieutenant-Commander Vincent replied. “Our initial simulations of the phaser relays showed an overheating issue when firing a full broadside volley. I believe this can be fixed by programming a firing pattern that will offset the firing of each phaser by a few microseconds and I plan to run further simulations this evening. It should take no more than four days to properly test and program the necessary changes.”

Josh looked at his security notes on his PADD before continuing his report.

“Preparing security personnel will take some more time,” he said. “We will be implementing security procedures in line with those used on the Lotus and the Artemis during Operation Horizon. I assume that you and Doctor Nasaro-Myth are familiar with these procedures, having served on the Artemis, but I will give a summary of those procedures for the other department heads, in addition to detailed procedures which I will send each of you shortly.”

He paused as he scanned the faces of each officer, before getting into the details.

“Firstly, only internal ship transports, both transporters and shuttles, will be used to bring personnel and equipment onto the ship at all times, so that we have complete control over who and what comes aboard. If exterior transport methods are required in extenuating circumstances, their use must be approved by the Captain or XO and I. In case someone does make it past our initial security measures, all vital areas, including main engineering, sickbay, and the bridge, will be restricted to officers, Ensign and above. Personnel that are required to be in the area will also be allowed in these areas after being cleared by myself and the CO or XO. During yellow and red alerts, these areas will be secured by security personnel in addition to the computer restrictions on the doors. Security teams will patrol these areas hourly with additional searches each shift and thorough searches each day; every time we dock, undock, enter, or leave orbit a complete search of the ship will be conducted. In order to lessen the hindrance of security officers on your departments while they are securing the areas, they are required to be cross-trained in engineering, operations, or medical duties. That will require some of the teamwork that you spoke of, Captain; some of the personnel that transferred from the Artemis and the Lotus are already trained, but I’ll need some help training my new officers in these three areas.”

Josh paused again, running through his checklist before summarizing his report.

“Tactical and Security will be ready for launch as soon as our last group of new officers comes aboard; they’re scheduled to arrive tomorrow. We won’t be fully operational until I can arrange for cross-training for the new personnel and ensure that the overheating issue will be fixed with the new firing program, which will require live-fire testing.”

Josh took a deep breath and let out a sigh as he finished his report.

I’m glad I got that out of the way, he thought. With the formal report over, I can get busy planning the training of my people.

Syntron nodded in acknowledgement as the ship's security measures were defined and explained.

"Thank you Lieutenant Commander Vincent. Bringing the wisdom and protocols of your experience coupled with that of our fleet certainly has enhanced the safety of this vessel and its crew. Please ensure that a summation of these procedures and protocols are sent to each department head prior to our departure."  

The captain then turned his attention to his chief engineer.

"Commander Rogers,  what is the current status of the engineering  department?"

"Yes captain. In a nutshell, we're ready for launch."

David tapped an icon on his PADD which brought up a running systems display on the view screen behind him. The master systems display of the Phoenix appeared showing  the  main and secondary computers and their power feed lines in a dull, glowing orange. Immediately after the orange faded out, green lines spread out from both computer icons on the display showing the trunks feeding all connected systems all over the ship, and these also faded away as David continued.

"Level one diagnostics were completed yesterday on first the secondary then main computers. Power and information trunk lines were triple checked for leakage and redundancy bypass integrity."

Touching the icon on the PADD again, David continued the display by highlighting, in blue, the ships flight safety systems.

"Level one diagnostics are finished on all inertial dampening field generator and all structural integrity field generator systems and their associated secondary and back up feeds. The main and secondary deflector field systems are also completed."

As he recited his report, David continued to highlight the systems being mentioned in alternating color highlights, showing each and all feed and trunk lines of the particular system currently being addressed.

"Once the main computer was freed up from that, we started on propulsion and navigation systems. Matter and anti-matter storage containers, warp core and impulse drives; Reaction control systems and thruster assemblies. The Matter/Anti-matter Reaction Assembly is currently operational at ninety-eight point seven percent efficiency, but ..."

David paused slightly while looking up at Captain Syntron. He knew from past experience that all ship captains would want more power.

"... I have Lieutenant Andrews tweaking that. We hope to have that up by another point two by late tomorrow. Also, the main navigational deflector is now one hundred percent. There was a slight drain on the gravitron polarity source generators yesterday, but we have isolated the drain and got them properly supplying the graviton polarity sources for the subspace field distortion amplifiers and their coils."

Glancing quickly at the view display, David continued as it switched to the ships defensive systems, the main phaser's highlighting in red.

"Each and all phaser segments on the twenty four type twelve array's are scheduled for testing on diagnostic level one tomorrow at  zero eight hundred hours, as have each of the eight torpedo launchers. But, hearing Leiutenant-Commander Vincent's report, we can schedule that with his department at his convenience to set that firing delay before engineering retests the system."

David looked up at Josh as he continued; "I believe what we would need to do is adjust the autonomic side of the phaser function command processors on the emitters. This could offset the firing orders for each emitter by changing the iris response and magnetic gate response on each emitter to the desired offset along each array."

"Also," David continued while the display changed system and color, "the shield array has completed it's own level one diagnostic. Coupled with the ship's composite and ablated armor, the protective armor's of the Phoenix are also one hundred percent."

The display changed once again to show torpedo and arms storage area's. The many small arms lockers located throughout the ship pulsed an energetic yellow while the torpedo locations pulsed in an alternating green.

"Ships torpedo's are currently undergoing visual inspection. Each and every one of them. We expect completion in fifty four hours, but this will not interfere with launch. I have not begun small arms functionality inspection because I wanted to get security on board for that."

Shifting on, David noted the next display appearing on the viewer; The main control panels on the bridge and secondary bridge, along with all panels in the ships departments from science and tactical all through medical, operations and engineering. Each system glowed in their own  corresponding department related color; red, blue or yellow.

"All main control panels and their related secondary panels are tested and ready. Ship board panels in office's, quarters and hallways will complete in about forty eight hours. About the same time will be required to complete the sensor array's and long range communications systems. We also have personnel working with flight control running level two diagnostics in the bays to complement their own diagnostic testing."

As the viewer changed to the bays on board, all the shuttles, pods, fighter's and probe's aboard the Phoenix were shown high lighted in green; except for the yacht, which  glowed a dull yellow.

"All flight testing has completed on the ship's auxiliary craft ... except for the Firebird." David looked at Syntron as he spoke. "She is ready for in flight testing however captain, at your discretion."

Looking back at his PADD, David stopped the viewer display and then glanced around the room slowly, noting the rapt attention the Phoenix's senior officers were giving him. With a slight blush at the attention, he concluded his report by looking back at Commander Riker and then Captain Syntron.

"As i started out Sir, the ship can depart at your order. The continuing diagnostics can complete even if we get under way."

"The Security Department has done our own small arms inspections, Commander," Lt. Commander Vincent interjected. "You can perform another inspection at your discretion; just let me know when and I'll assign someone to assist. As for the phaser relays, I agree with your plan; let me run some simulations tonight just to make sure and I'll contact you tomorrow to move forward with the tests."

The captain vigilantly observed the representations on the display as the chief engineer thoroughly described each stage of his report. As he concluded with the presentation, the captain responded.

"Excellent work Commander Rogers. Keep Commander Riker and I apprised of any new developments; including the results of your tests tomorrow.

Syntron then turned his attention to youthful science officer with the snow white hair and contrasting dark complexion sitting nearby. Throughout the meeting, the captain observed that she continued to busily interact with her PADD.

"Ensign Hera, what is the current status of our science department?"  

Having listened to each of the other officers Hera was ready when the Captain reached her picking up her PADD for reference.  

"The new sophisticated sensor packages have been given their final run downs.  I they can be tweaked to perform a bit better in synch with the equipment for higher performance with some coaxing.  In tests the Long-Range Sensor Array has an efficiency drop off when it exceeds normal operating range - a computer conflict that should be resolved tomorrow.  We have a project to extend the low resolution mode range once a quirk in the variable frequency EM flux sensor is resolved."

Hera tapped her PADD and set it down.

"Caesar is ready for Gaul Captain."

"Sorry to interrupt sir," interrupted Lt. Commander Vincent, as he read a message on his PADD. "But I've got a Lieutenant from the starbase that wants to beam aboard. She's not listed on the roster, so I've sent a security team to the transporter room. Shall we let her aboard?"

Syntron immediately turned his attention to his security chief.

"Verify her orders from the Starbase first. If these orders are valid, have  your security team meet her at transporter 1."

"Aye sir," Josh said as he tapped his PADD. He spent several seconds reading the orders that had been sent from the starbase upon his request before responding. "The orders seem valid; she is supposed to report to you immediately, Captain."

"Lieutenant Commander Vincent to transporter room one. Proceed with the transfer of Lieutenant Junior Grade Decatur upon arrival of my security team."

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Junior Grade Stephanie Decatur was standing on the transporter pad on the starbase. “Decatur to Phoenix, I’m ready for transport.” She had assumed the orders would be cleared by now and waited impatiently for a response for almost a minute before the transporter was engaged.

Stephanie rematerialized in the transporter room 1 on the U.S.S. Phoenix. She looked over the crewman manning the transporter controls before her attention was drawn to the two security officers standing by the door that led to the corridor. She tapped her com-badge, which in the seconds since her transport would have tied itself in to the ships communication channels, “Computer, locate Captain Syntron.”

“Captain Syntron is in the main briefing room, deck 1” came the computer’s automatic response. Two decks up, she thought. Stephanie stepped down from the transporter pad and instantly was reminded of how short she really was. She didn’t even stand shoulder height to the two security officers, who she approached with her PADD extended to them so they could review the authenticity of her orders.

“I have orders from Captain Samji to report directly to Captain Syntron.” She paused somewhat impatiently as the security ensign read her orders and cross-checked them. Finally the man nodded spoke, “Of course, Ma’am, if you’ll come with us.”

 Kind of high alert for being in dry-dock... she thought to herself. She followed them to the turbolift from the transporter room and had another fleeting thought, I’m glad they don’t make us jump through these hoops on the station…how can anyone work like this?

The doors at the end of the corridor parted and she stepped onto the lift and double-checked the ships schematic as the security officer spoke: “Deck one, main briefing room.” She looked down at her uniform to ensure that she was presentable. A moment later the doors opened into the short corridor of deck 1.

Stepping out of the lift she took a deep breath and glanced around before accompanying her escort to the briefing room. She entered after them at a brisk pace as the doors parted for her before she realized the room was full. The realization that she had just interrupted a senior staff meeting hit her like a ton of bricks, stopping her mid-step.

The first thing the others would notice was her brilliant purple hair neatly styled into a short faux-hawk that was barely within uniform regulation. They’d also note her short stature at just under 1.6 meters and lithe frame. She was easily dwarfed by the two security escorts she apparently had been assigned. The trill pulled herself together as quickly as she could, realizing that the room had gone silent and all eyes were on her. She fought the embarrassing blush that was creeping up her neck along the side markings, the flush pink of her embarrassment contrasting brightly to the dark blue spots that denoted her species.

“Captain Syntron…” She looked at the Vulcan at the far end of the table from her and took a breath. He’s a Vulcan… if she hadn’t been so tense she would have breathed a sigh of relief. Vulcans were the only species she had been able to get along with throughout her academy days, and ever since she tended to seek out their company almost exclusively since she was always in danger of letting her lack of social skills offend any emotional species. Besides, looking at the risk-reward aspect of her nanites, it was logical to allow her to proceed.

“…I’m sorry for interrupting sir. Fleet Captain Samji ordered me to report to you to present an experimental enhancement to your science and computer systems, specifically the bio-neural circuitry throughout the ship. It…I can wait for you in your ready-room, sir.” The entirety of her statement was prattled off rapidly except the last sentence, which she seemed to struggle to get out.

Stephanie was even more embarrassed by the heat rising in her neck, she knew she was blushing and that only made it worse. Why do they always have to stare…. She cursed herself for not checking to see if there was meeting. Great job, Steph. Couldn’t figure out that there’d be a briefing in the briefing room… She had purposefully tried to ignore the other occupants in the room. She only needed to convince the captain from what Samji had told her, and that wouldn’t be a problem. Vulcans were always interested in logical, mathematical results. They always wanted substantial evidence, which she happened to have in plenty regarding her creations. 

Captain Syntron gazed intently on the diminutive trill officer that just walked into the briefing.

She had a nervous intensity about her that was rather intriguing to the Vulcan.

"Knowing Fleet Captain Samji, " the Vulcan CO began, "he would not have sent you here capriciously Lieutenant."

The Captain then reached out his hand to accept the PADD she was holding to verify the information she spoke of. As he confirmed the orders on the PADD, he continued his response as he gestured with his free hand.

"Look around you  Lieutenant... Decatur. This table is surrounded by my key officers representing each department of this ship. This is our briefing on the current status of this ship. If you have something significant to present, like an experimental enhancement proposal that will have a major impact on ship systems... then this will be the time and place to present your proposal, not in my Ready Room after this meeting.  This will allow each of these officers and I to hear this proposal first-hand and give us the opportunity to ask qualifying questions."

Captain Syntron then pointed to an open seat and stated "Please take a seat Lieutenant, and when you are prepared, share with us this proposal that will affect the neural circuitry throughout our ship."

Stephanie somewhat stiffly moved to the seat that Captain Syntron had gestured to and sat down. She had always had a fear of speaking in front of people, she couldn’t figure out why since her previous hosts never had such issues. She took a furtive glance around the table and sighed, Why am I always the shortest one? She asked herself before focusing on Syntron again. She glanced down at her PADD which was sitting on the table in front of him and She took a deep breath.

“Captain all state-of-the-art starships, like the Phoenix, have bio-neural circuitry to increase response time from the bridge stations, computers, and systems. As you know, for most systems the bio-neural systems have lag time down to a second or two. The only real issue with response time anymore is in science. Sensors, even through this advanced circuitry, can send a scan through the computer analysis and route it to the bridge in less than a minute in most cases. Detailed scans still take longer based on the size of the object scanned. The problem is the sheer amount of data that’s collected by the sensors.”

She paused to take another breath, not realize that she was speaking so fast that anyone not intimately familiar with the way that the computer processed, filtered, and organized the data it sent to the bridge might not have a chance to keep up. I wish I had my PADD…I could tie it in to the projectors and show everyone what I’m talking about, she thought.

“I’ve developed a nanotechnology to increase the processing time of all data flow and connections through the bio-neural circuitry. Every projection I’ve run has indicated that my nanites can increase ship-wide data flow and processing time by an exponential rate that increases with ship size. We’ve already modified a runnabout, getting minimal results. But that was to be expected, the next live-test was aboard the Nova-class U.S.S. Aunis, where her captain has enjoyed a median 37% increase in ship-wide data-flow efficiency. Even though that increase doesn’t affect other departments, such as tactical, very much, for science it’s huge.”

She paused again, taking another breath, it was obvious that her work not only fascinated and excited her, but that it allowed her to focus single-pointedly. All the data in the proposal request was presented almost verbatim of what she was now presenting.

“Captain, you’ll see in my report that every simulation I’ve run on a Vesta-class ship has put the gains at or over 90%. And I spent today preparing for the Phoenix, in simulations I’ve seen gains in the triple-digit percentile.” She knew he would be able to see the pattern of efficiency and let out the rest of her breath, unsure if she was expected to give him any more details on the modification she intended to make. She kept her focus on Syntron, trying to block out the rest of the room as she waited for a question or response from him.

The subtly raised eyebrow alone on the Vulcan was an indication of his interest in what this trill had just stated.

Then sliding her PADD back to her,  the captain responded.

"That was a rather intriguing opening Lieutenant Decatur. Perhaps you could also show us empirical data to confirm your findings, and then layout the specifics of how you intend to safely implement these nanites into our ship's systems."

“Of course, sir.” She said grabbing the PADD and tapping away it as she spoke. “The first stage is already underway, Ensign T’mur aboard the station is finishing the replication and initial programming of the nanites that her and I began earlier today. This will be done by 0100 hours at the latest, sir.” She had successfully tied in the PADD to the display module and it lit up as she spoke, a holographic scale internal 3-dimentional schematic representation of the Phoenix appeared above the table.

“Stage two is installation,” The interior of the ship lit up along the bio-neural circuitry, “Ensign T’mur and I were able to complete the modifications of the Aunis with little help in just over thirteen hours, but given your launch date, Captain, we’d need some extra hands, preferably some engineering hands as the access ports for the circuitry runs parallel to the EPS relay system. Installation comprises of physically injecting nanites into the circuitry via those access points at every junction. The time-frame on this stage is totally dependent on how quickly I can bring your people up to speed and how many people we utilize.” As she finished the hologram changed to a schematic of a nanite she had constructed. It looked more like a technological insect than anything. It had a square body with two tendrils from every side. The scale showed the nanites were comparatively large at almost thirty nanometers across.

“Stage three is activation and testing. With access to the bridge’s science station I can access and finalize the positioning of the nanites within the network for optimal data-flow. Then I’ll finalize and activate their programming, setting them up to connect with each other. This fine-tuning and self-diagnostic stage should only last for about 30 minutes.”

“Stage four is completed by you on your shakedown cruise. Actual testing of the nanites while I monitor the results from the lab back on the station. If all goes well, you’ll cut sensor analysis time in half.”

Captain Syntron studied the display vigilantly as Decatur presented her plan.

"Theorically Lieutenant, this plan and the stages of implementation of yours seems plausible," the captain responded. "However, before we agree to undergo such a precarious undertaking on this ship, I would like to allow the officers present to express their thoughts on this matter as well."

The Captain then looked around the table to see who would address this proposal first. The first response arrived rather swiftly.

Something else that the doctor had said reminded the chief engineer of another pressing concern regarding the Phoenix's systems.

David was intrigued by the young Trill officer's enthusiasm as she talked about her project, and he could tell that she genuinely believed in its usefulness and implementation. However, his systems were the one's primarily targeted by this technology, so David felt it imperative to try to limit any possible damage that could possibly occur.

Captain. I can see where the Lieutenant's constructs could be a large benefit to the Federation, but I cannot dismiss the possibility of damage to the ship's ODN network."

Glancing over at the young nanotechnologist, David continued.

"I would like assurances from the science staff that they will not be introduced whole sale into the systems."

Looking again at Captain Syntron, David added a warning.

"You can appreciate my concerns Sir, but I would hate to have to sterilize the Phoenix with a gamma radiation burst."

Continuing along his previous concern David, while looking toward each officer at the table, sustained his concern.

"I can appreciate the need for implementation of these ... creature's, but ... I would like to see the USS Aunis's reports on Lieutenant Decatur's trials over there. Also, Captain, if you give this project the go-ahead, I suggest that you limit stage two installation to the secondary computer core only. We can isolate that core to the sensors and run the shake down cruise with the main computer core."

David's concern mainly centered around a core failure while at warp. Losing an Optical Data Network trunk line from the main and secondary deflectors while at warp would be catastrophic to say the least. But potential damage to the minor sensor arrays would not impair the ship's flight dynamics. Once again looking at the diminutive Trill officer David, grudgingly, offered his assistance.

"I can have my computer and communications specialists, Ensign MacGyver and Lieutenant (J.G.) Nyambi, assist you with the installation Lieutenant, along with some others. But I am sure you can see my concerns. By isolating the secondary computer and linking the sensors to it via the secondary ODN relay's, we can test your creation while maintaining complete mastery over the ship and her safety under warp."

David sat back and glanced around the assembly again, looking for the next response from someone.

Lt. Commander Vincent had been unintentionally glaring at the science officer as she finished her report.

Just what I need, a ton of mini robots in every system on the ship, he thought sarcastically. There's no way that could compromise security.

"I second Commander Rogers's recommendation for a small, isolated installation at first," Josh said to the captain. "These nanites could be reprogrammed to damage or control the ship's systems and render us defenseless; or they may already have a delayed program that will do just that." He turned to face Lt. (JG) Decatur before continuing,

"No offense, Lieutenant, but I have not cleared you through our security measures thoroughly enough to put the security of the whole ship in your nanite's hands."

The captain nodded affirmatively as his chief engineer along with his tactical/security chief both expressed legitimate concern and caution within their recommendations regarding this proposal.  For the moment though, Syntron held his tongue; to allow the discussion to continue before adding in his thoughts or attempting to draw a conclusion. There were still issues and ideas to discuss by officers who had yet to offer their perspectives, in addition to allowing an opportunity for Lieutenant Decatur to respond.   

The Deltan CMO then gave his own point of view, with a freindly smile towards the Trill science officer even as his word resounded with all the necessary seriousness of their implied meaning.

"On a medical standpoint, I concur, " Elliago said then. "Shipboard sensors and transporter scanners can do a fine job by themselves but they can only detect what we already know, what we programmed into them... or what is basically different from that. Anything 'close but not quite' or totally different from our past experience and knowledge can slip in totally unoticed until signs of it's presence is affecting systems or personnel. That's why doctors do not rely only on their instruments... and why ships are not carrying only EMHs, even as good as they can be. "

Unknowingly, Elliago was countering the chief engineer's unsaid argument about automated scans. But he then went further with supporting Rogers ant Vincent's expressed concerns.

"Nanites are by nature highly evolutive, like viruses, and thus potentially problematic unless very well supervized. Caution is required here, Captain. We don't want to see on the Phoenix something like what happened on the USS Enterprise with the Crusher nanites. "

Nasaro-Myth was refering to an incident of decades ago; on board the USS Enterprise-D of legendary captain Jean-Luc Picard, provisionnal Ensign Wesley Crusher had lost harmless basic nanites from a school science project which then had evolved into a sentient community residing in the main computer. The sentient swarm almost destroyed ship and crew when it thought it was being threatened by basic shipboard activities. Beyond the immediate danger it had posed, to which Commander Rogers and Lieutenant Commander Vincent were obviously keenly aware, the emergence of a sentient species through such careless use of technology had had heavy legal, moral and ethical repercussions that were felt decades later, even today, with the lawsuit for sentience by the Voyager EMH.

And those where on the CMO's mind even more.

Stephanie listened as each officer pointed out his concerns. First as Davis started explaining his concern about the ODN she looked at him as if she felt she hadn’t done a good enough job explaining; even more so as he asked for it not to be introduced to the whole of the ships system. She seemed to stiffen as Vincent spoke to her and all but accused her of being a saboteur. She had noticed his scowl and her lips tightened as he talked. She was almost literally biting her tongue even as her blush intensified

If he knew what Dezeroll had done for the Federation he wouldn’t even think to question my loyalty. She thought somewhat bitterly at him, Dezeroll would start a bar-fight for less. She was slightly amused at the second though. ‘Accusing a Starfleet Marine Master Sergeant of cowardice or treason can get you killed’ her previous host would joke.

Then as the doctor began to make similar arguments she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. She also didn’t like the way he was looking at her, it made her feel very uncomfortable. I think I prefer the scowler, she thought.

She felt like she was talking to academy cadets and trying to explain herself was going to be stressful. She waited patiently for him to finish before looking to the other officer at the table and when she didn’t raise any questions turned back to the captain, expecting him to say something. When he didn’t she took a breath, knowing he was waiting for her to respond.

Thank goodness he’s Vulcan. She thought again before beginning her response, Data, logic, numerical results. She was resolved to counter their objections point by point.

“Commander,” she said addressing the chief engineer first, speaking almost too fast for her words to be distinguished from each other, “The ODN network is completely safe. There is a limit to the nanite’s programming and fail-safes involved. The entire network of nanites can literally be disconnected at a moment’s notice with the right codes. Doing so wouldn’t affect the ships systems, only the nanites and the benefits they give would be eliminated.” She paused for just a second before continuing, starting a little slower “Limiting them to the secondary processor core would render the upgrade pointless. The issue of bottlenecking of dataflow through the ship is counteracted by the entirety of the system being engaged by the nanites. If we limit it to a single area of the ship, or a secondary system, you wouldn’t see much, if any, increase in performance. Captain Syntron has full access at my request to Captain Samji to my logs monitoring the upgrades on the Aunis and the logs of her captain and chief science officer regarding the upgrades.” She was speaking at a near-rambling pace again. I hate having to give reports like this, she thought, why can’t people just read the damn report.

She paused again, blinking a bit longer than normal and exhaling slowly. The other’s wouldn’t know it, but it was her way of organizing her thoughts. She had learned the technique from Vulcans at the academy and on the station. She knew that calming herself down was the best way to think clearly. “You’re concerned about a critical system failure, Commander.” It wasn’t a question the way she inflected it, “let me reassure you that the nanites aren’t taking over the network. They are merely augmenting the flow of data along the bio-neural circuitry. They aren’t allowed by their programming to do any more or less than that.” She had put extra inflection on the word ‘flow’ and continued, “Think of them as a speed-booster for the electro-magnetic signals sent through the network.” She paused again and looked at the Deltan doctor and regretted it instantly but only flinched for a fraction of a second, “Not unlike a neural stimulator to a human brain, Doctor.” She felt herself speaking quicker and took a breath again. I wonder if the Captain realizes I’m using the meditative techniques of his people. Was the fleeting thought that ran through her mind, she brushed it aside.

She took another long blink as she exhaled and turned to face the Lieutenant commander who she noticed had been almost scowling at her, “Lieutenant Commander,” she said as her blush started to subside, “Without the command codes to the nanites, which will be shared exclusively at the captain’s discretion, they can’t be reprogrammed at all. And they are physically and computationally incapable of taking over anything. Simply put, they weren’t designed to be able to. They are only able to interconnect within hard-limitations built into their design. Even if they had been programmed for destruction or interference in ships systems they wouldn’t be very effective as the ships systems are automatically set to route to standard circuitry and bypass the bio-neural circuitry in the event of a critical bio-neural system failure on the ship. It’s the built-in fail-safe of every starship using this bio-neural technology based on the lessons learned on the USS Voyager after her return.”

She gave an uncharacteristically stern look to the superior officer before speaking again, a bit of her past host Dezeroll coming out, somewhat offended that she would be suspected of sabotage. “And if you doubt me, then check my clearance codes, check my records, check my Symbiote’s past lives. Stephen and Kel professors at the Science Academy on my homeworld, and Master Sergeant Dezeroll Decatur of the SFMC.” She said listing her three previous hosts for him, “and do everything you want but dissect me and you won’t find anything except a dedicated Starfleet officer. This is the second lifetime I’ve dedicated to Starfleet, Lieutenant Commander, and I don’t appreciate the accusation.”

When she finished her little rant her blush returned, she was not nearly as confident as she sounded, but it was somewhat frustrating to be talked about and to like a suspected traitor. If he knew what Dezeroll had done he wouldn’t even think to question my loyalty to the Federation. She reminded herself as she blinked and exhaled again to calm herself before addressing the Doctor.

She barely suppressed a shiver again as she looked at the Deltan. She had been the target of their ‘good humor’ on more than one occasion at the academy, and hadn’t really liked them at all. And she really disliked his unnerving smile, it made her feel like any moment she'd end up the butt of one of his jokes, “As with everything I’ve already stated, Doctor, the nanites can’t take over anything. They’d force themselves into a shutdown first. As I’ve already stated, they are completely unable to take over a system or form a consciousness. It’s all in my reports that your captain has access to via the office of Fleet Captain Samji. “ She said before blinking and breathing again to calm herself down.

“There’s also a limit to how many concurrent connections each nanite can have hard-wired in to them. They are physically incapable of ‘evolving’ as you put it and can’t self-replicate. They have no way to ‘build’ or replicate a new nanite or system like the Crusher nanites could. They don’t even have the physical capability to modify themselves. If any modification other than placement within the system or programming changes, they have to be physically removed from the system and altered. I’m not a first year cadet.” She seemed a little irritated at him for his insinuation that she wasn’t smarter than a child who hadn’t even gone through the academy yet. “Please, don’t compare me to a teenage human.”

She took a deep breath and looked at the captain to signal she was done responding to the other officers. I wonder if he realizes just how much I hate this, she thought briefly before she was able to calm herself down again by another long blink and breath.

Josh was surprised by the officer’s frank response, but she had a point. I wonder if her previous host helped close a galaxy-consuming anomaly? he thought.

“Lieutenant, I did not mean to accuse you of being a traitor, but as many of us in this room have seen, even the most trusted Starfleet officers can stray and this gives them one more avenue through which to sabotage our ship,” he replied. “Even the best-intentioned changes open this ship to danger and it is my job to limit those dangers. I’d like to read your report thoroughly before we put the nanites on the ship, and if it wouldn’t be too much trouble I’d like to make sure your programming is truly secure.”

Looking at the petite-sized yet surprisingly fierce determination emanating from this trill, Syntron then added stoically "Perhaps Lieutenant, you could send the details, schematics, data, and results of each stage of your work to these officers' PADDs. Then they can take time now to look over this information before the questions resume. It would seem logical that the data from these files could substantiate the level of precautions and fail-safes that you have designed within this project." 

Stephanie looked at Vincent again, “I didn’t realize you had experience programming nanites, Lieutenant Commander.” She said a bit calmly, it wasn’t clear in her tone if she was being serious of if she was calling him out on being out of his specialty when it came to the complexities of nanotechnology. She didn’t give him time to mull over it though as she looked at the captain as he spoke and nodded, “Of course, sir. I was told that sharing the reports was your prerogative, not mine.”

She quickly linked her PADD to the others in the room and transferred a massive amount of reading to each of them. There was a shortened version as well, as if she had expected to need it. It very carefully and briefly pointed out each failsafe that she had put on the system including the failsafes she had already mentioned: limiting the concurrent connections of each nanite to prevent spontaneous sentience,  a complete lack of physical ability to modify, replicate or alter each other or other objects, an automated hard-shutdown kill switch if any failsafe protocol was violated, a hidden subroutine command code that facilitated a hard-shutdown of all nanites, among others.

She let the officers each take a few moments to go over the material as well as the list of benefits that the Aunis was enjoying, and evidence that the effect scaled exponentially with increased system size. It would be very clear that she had ‘done her homework’ as they say on earth.

Josh was now noticeably startled by the Trill's tone.

"Lieutenant," he said sternly, "As I'm sure you know, Starfleet Academy provides a very well-rounded education, so while I may not have experience programming nanites, I am familiar with programming. Furthermore, the ship's computer systems is one of the likeliest points of sabotage, so I am very familiar with secure programming. Hopefully, your report will alleviate some of my concerns."

Josh picked up his PADD and read through the nanite project notes. As his concern was the security of the nanites, he skimmed over the performance results, so he was able to see what he needed rather quickly.

Looking up at the Lieutenant he said, "As far as I can tell from these notes, we will have secure control over the nanites." Then turning to the Captain he added, "I don't see a large security concern here, but I recommend only giving command and shutdown codes to department heads, yourself, and Commander Riker."

Hera listened as the conversation flowed back and forth frowning slightly.  The nanite things were disturbing but she couldn't argue her point - her own experiments had been aimed at improving sensor processing speeds.  But she was out of her depth here and unable to find much to disagree with or add to the discussion.  

All the while, Doctor Nasaro-Myth also skipped part of the technical report to focus on the 'stimulating effect' of the nanites on the systems. This was his main concern and he then stated it plainly, addressing the Captain. he had noticed the obvious unease of the Trill in public and especially towards him. He thus made an effort to alleviate it by speaking to their commanding officer, avoiding confronting her or appearing to do so.

"Captain, as far as I can estimate, the work of Lieutenant Decatur is sound. Obviously she shared my own concerns when she designed the things. That being said, my main concern here is about Doctor Gray. "

Elliago could see the confusion in everyone's eyes; even Riker's who knew who he was talking about. Thus he explained himself .

"Sir, this ship doesn't have a mere EMH; what we have is a sentient holographic Starfleet officer, who went through the Academy like each of us, had a genuine career... even made friends along the way," he said, looking at Commander Riker before returning to Syntron. As a sentient being and a fellow officer, I am concerned with his welfare as I would with any flesh and blood crewmember. I wanted to ask Commander Rogers here to provide Doctor Gray with a direct connection to the ship's life support system, so as to give him the same survival chance as anyone of us in case of  catastrophic failure on the ship... I would also request from Lieutenant Seven the availability of a mobile emitter  from the Daystrom Institute to store him in case of evacuation. I know the current MEs are as large as a suitcase... but I can carry a suitcase with me on my way to an escape pod if it means saving the life of a fellow officer. "