CHAPTER 3 : And A Star To Steer It By (part 4)

Eight hundred hours; the main conference room was being prepped by the captain's yeoman for the upcoming bridge officers meeting with the first officer of the flagship. This was an executive meeting where the commanding officer was not to attend, but on which all his next decisions would be based upon.

As the commanding officer of such a huge starship, he needed the expert evaluation of his department heads before proceeding further with a mission; but for that, he needed them to work together to come up with a working consensus, not just for the sake of this mission itself, but as a whole, for the sake of the vessel herself. They had not only to learn to work together but to rely on one another, even more, to have faith and confidence in one another, without the fatherly figure of the captain being there and reminding them to. The were not children; they were accomplished Starfleet officers, chosen among the best in all of Starfleet, not only to report but to propose, not only to support but to provide, not only to execute the captain's decisions but to be part of them.

Moreover, it was necessary to have the first officer lead such an activity and not just because it was his job to coordinate everything and make sure ship and crew ran smoothly; they all had also to have faith and confidence in him as the captain's voice and ears and as the next in line in the chain of command, the one who could have to take the captain's place on the bridge, who would take his place in all the away missions but the official diplomatic, first contact or especially sensitive ones. He was for all intent and purposes an executive commanding officer and a captain in training. Leading such a meeting might have looked routine and easy enough, but it was in fact a critical tool to achieve all those ends. 

And so, Ensign Meeramanee Blackbird finished setting up the holographic computer interface that would display all requested data and communications right over the large triangular table around which the meeting officers will sat, the Exec and the startegic ops chief on one side, the chief medical officer and chief of science on a second side and the chief engineer, chief of ops and chief of security and tactical on the third.

The Amerind yeoman looked a moment at this peculiar arrangement, something she had only seen in museums of 23rd century Starfleet relics like the conference room of the legendary Captain Kirk's USS Enterprise. She tought it had been Commander Redding's idea, as the man was rumored have experienced first hand this glorious era; but she had learned that in fact, it has been the captain's sole demand when the ship had been prepared for his command. Captain Kheren apparently disliked the now standard elongated 'banana' table that had been introduced with the Galaxy class vessels like the no less famous USS Enterprise of Captain Picard; he thought it too hierarchical to promote camaraderie and esprit de corps among the crew, too confrontational with facing seatings, impractical for the free flow of ideas, inapropriate to instill the feeling of equal contribution and importance he beleived bridge officers should experience. This triangular table brought people physically closer together, all near but not quite facing one another and all in a natural regrouping of departments that made coordinating exchanges all the more clearer from, to and between Command, Research and Technical, the three major branches of ship operations.

Blackbird had to admit it did look much more congenial and convenient; it reminded her of her own ancestors Pow Wows, when chiefs sat in a circle to discuss shoulder to shoulder in a spirit of peace, or that historical round table of King Arthur's Knights the king himself had designed so that no one would feel superior or lesser to any another while deciding the fate of the kingdom.

And here, today, Commander Redding would get the contribution of every chief officer of the ship before the captain ordered any further proceeding with their mission.

Turning her back to the huge transparency displaying the unusual transwarp field in outer space, she left the room by the left hand door just as the right hand door opened, on the other side of the wall displaying in real time a tridimensional representation of Federation Space, with the actual position of the ship and the various points of their intended trajectory.

She would be just outside in case Commander Redding needed her.

Snowfire walked along the corridor towards the conference room, dark eyes fixed on the PADD that she had uploaded the reports of her subordinates too, scrolling through them steadily as she weaved between the crewmen also moving along the corridor. Some found it almost uncanny - or so she had heard - how she never had to even look up whilst she was walking. Then again, most members of Starfleet hadn't had the 'rich, varied and long experience in life' that she'd had. And that was just the declassified stuff. But everything looked good. The teams were settling into work well and it seemed that her instincts with character profiles were still alive and well.

She came to the door, acknowledged the Ensign now serving as the Captain's yeoman with a gracious nod, and entered - still reading through the last sections of the report from her Astrometrics department. There'd been a few flickers in the more exposed portions of the primary sensor grid, but nothing that was causing any harm. A patch in the Horizon's shield harmonics did the trick to solve that problem. Apart from that...there was very little to report. The specialists in the subject were ecstatic at their 'attainment of free moving transwarp flight', but...it wasn't really a big thing to her, and her staff knew it. The information was filtering down now - at last - and she was planning on holding her first orientation session in the next few days too. And whilst the technical specs involved weren't within clearance of anyone on the Horizon but her..it didn't really matter to most.

Two hundred and sixty two thousand times light speed was fast, no question. So was most of two million. However...no. It was a great achievement for the Federation. No question of that. And the fact that it allowed interface with n-space was quite impressive - she was already working on finding some ways to pass the Tactical department a way to get their weapons to work at this velocity. At least part of the theory was similar, so it should be workable. And even just a few stepping stones would help - if she could work out how to pass it to them. But for now, that didn't matter. Her reports did. So it was with a profound sigh of relief that she sat down at the triangular table, countersigned the last of the reports that she had been given, and sat back to wait for the rest of the senior staff to arrive.

Over the next few minutes the rest of the senior officers filtered in. 

Both 110 and 011 decided to make an appearance if for no other reason than this would be the first time all of them would be together. They moved In their odd but rhythmic way and took two seats at random.

Major Duncan McGregor, leader of the MACO's walked in and looked a round the room. He was a an extremely fit looking man with a rough exterior that had the look of a man not wanting to be there, but that look might have been normal for him. He sat down next to 110 but made no show of wanting to talk.

Shortly after words Lieutenants Leóne the operation officer and Corcoran the chief tactical officer entered the room together still discussing something and proceeded to sit down near Snowfire giving her a quick greeting before they went on.

Next the ships second officer and commander of their escort vessel 'Polaris' walked into the room giving a standard greeting to everyone before finding a seat of his own,Commander Oseno was well received by most of the crew, pleasant and generally straight forward.

At five minutes past commander Redding entered the conference room. "Good morning all." He said casually as he made his way to one of the seats furthest from the entry door. He quickly glanced around the room and noted he came up short with the head count. "Who are we short?"

Just at that moment Lt. Commander Sisko entered the room and made his way quickly over to the closest seat. "Sorry I'm late." and sat down.

"Not a problem." Redding said as he settled in to his seat. "I just got here myself." He looked over his PADD before going on. "Well, initial reports were all excellent and I for one would like that trend to continue for as long as possible" He gave a half smile. "So, how is my dream proceeding? anything the captain and I should know?" He glanced around the table waiting to see who would speak up first.

"Very little of note, Commander." Snowfire responded with a smile. "All of the readings we've recorded so far are within expected variables and apart from the - now remedied - flicker in a few quadrants of the primary sensor grid, everything is going fine. I've got reports from all my seconds with modifications and countersignature by myself, but as far as the Science section is concerned, we're on target. We've got some ideas now of what might be needed once we start hitting higher factors of transwarp, so we're beginning to plan for that now. There're some minor modifications to the science labs ongoing too, but that work is purely internal and won't affect any connected systems." She finished smoothly.

He wasn't surprised that she had spoken up first, of them all Snowfire seemed the most steady and collective. That and her exotic nature were beginning to get his attention, he'd have to be careful about that

"Vary good Lt. commander, and what about Opps Lt. Leóne?" He asked without pausing.

"Oh.." she said at first with a little surprise "All systems are working at peak efficiency commander, Overall power distribution is steady throughout the entire bio-neural grid as well as the EPS systems." She had recovered nicely. "On top of that we tested all the safety circuits and they'll be ready in the event of any problems sir."

"There shouldn't be any, but I'm glad your on top of it either way." He said with a satisfying nod of the head.

Sara decided not to wait to be called on at random. "Corcoran here commander, all safety systems are at full readiness and security personnel will remain at yellow alert and on a four shift rotation during the shake down phase to ensure full readiness and full alertness." She relayed this in a matter of fact tone.

Redding frowned a little "I've never been overly fond of the four shift rotation my self, but I'll leave that to your discretion and in any case, I agree with it at this time. "

" I do hope so, if  you don't mind me saying so, Sir," she added. "The captain himself ordered it. "

"I see, anything else?" He would discuss this with the captain later.

"Yes sir." she went on "I've ordered the transporters to be preset for inter-ship beaming in case of emergencies and all auxiliary craft and lifeboats are also at the ready in case of a ship wide evacuation."

"Nice work, sounds like your on the ball Corcoran but I want you to place one of our emergency 22 man transporters back to standard use, just in case we run into OR create a problem for another ship during this run." Then he looked around the table.

"Who wants to be next?"

Jureth nodded approvingly at the efficiency of the two junior officers before rising to give his own report.

"Sir, strategic operations is at full readiness, my people are standing by to offer their expertise wherever its needed. MACO team is aboard and I've assigned them to guard the Polaris while we are under normal operations. Speaking of my command Sir, the Polaris is one hundred percent operational. With your information, which was very helpful, my engineering team has proposed some modifications to the ship to launch her at transwarp. Once they're approved by Commander Sisko, and the Captain of course, we'll begin the work and hopefully get a chance to test our theory."

"Glad to hear that data was of some help commander, I had some doubts it would still be relevant." He said with a satisfied smile.

110 and 011 spoke up next in their back and forth kind of shared speech. "We have nothing new to add.. to the report we supplied you with.. previously commander Redding." Then sat quietly for a few award seconds before Redding spoke up.

"I understand that lieutenant, but this is a group shared exercise, please relay your information to the officers assembled." He kept his tone even and understanding, but in truth they annoyed him a little. It was a challenge for Neil to deal with so many new races past the base five he had 'grown up' with in his early days with starfleet, but it was just another ting he had to overcome, there were so many.

"Of course commander.. we understand the intent of.. the meeting" Redding wasn't sure what that meant exactly, but it sounded positive so he just gave a weak smile.

"As of our latest series.. of simulations have shown.. no detrimental effects are currently.. or expected to be.. encountered while the transwarp field effect is.. present on the crew of the Horizon." then they looked at each other for a couple of seconds before turning back at Redding. "We will of course continue.. monitoring the crews condition.. during of course of the testing phase." then sat quietly looking at him again.

"OK, good to know."He said with a nod of the head. "Anything you'd like to add major McGregor?" Reddings face seemed sterner when he faced the MACO commanding officer, his voice slightly clearer.

McGregor looked up at him and cheerless expression. "It's like commander Oseno said sir, my men have their assignments and are on station as we speak, but if I may ask a question of my own commander?"

Redding paused only for a second before agreeing. "Of course major, you have a voice among the senior officers on the ship, what do you wish to know?"

"Just who to salute to commander, I don't like too many cooks in my kitchen if you understand me." and glanced between Redding and Oseno. 

"Ahh, I see.. well, pertaining to the Polaris the chain of command is as follows. Captain Kheren has the final say on all activities while it is in service and under his command, of course. He will either order me or commander Oseno directly when it is needed. If the captain is unable to do so the reasonability becomes mine and so on.." Then he sat down.

"OK forget that." He said with a frown. "Lets get to the important bits. I'm the senior officer unless the Polaris is 'off ship' in witch case Oseno is its captain and gains rights and privileges there in with the understanding that captain Kheren is still his commanding officer and failing that, I am still his superior officer and would default to my orders to the best of his ability."

McGregor gave what only could be described as a satisfied frown. "Understood commander Redding, and I'm grateful for your candor on the matter."

"My father was a MACO colonial major, I know the drill." Then straightened up and looked around the room.

"Any further business?"

As they had skipped Engineering in the briefing, Sisko cleared his throat and said, "Sir, I looked over the calculations for the Polaris launching at transwarp and I put my seal of approval on it, pending intensive simulations to test the theory out. As for the Horizon, we have so far seen no adverse effects due to the transwarp travel, beyond the expected shearing encountered during any faster than light travel. Of course, that is well within safety limits, but we have no previous data for what may happen beyond transwarp 3."

Redding agreed."Of course not, we will be the first to do it in a controlled manner commander Sisko, and I should mention, the first ones that could screw it up." He said this with a smile.

"But I know we have at our disposal many of the finest people in their fields aboard the Horizon so I have every confidence that, regardless of what hell my be placed upon our path WE WILL ENDURE" He said this with such an unexpected shift in intensity that it took several of them off guard.

"That is all, return to your duty stations." He remained seated in the off chance anyone wanted to talk to him privately.

As the majority of the group began filing out of the conference room Jureth lingered. He had been wondering about just who Commander Neil Redding was since the commissioning ceremony . He had done some research on his own, but had been stonewalled by classified files well above his own security access. Now was his chance to get what information he could straight from the source. As Oseno studied the commander he could definitely see hints of the admiral he had accompanied aboard the Klingon flagship not so long ago.

"Commander, I'd like a word if I could Sir."

Redding gave a big grin "For my cha'DIch, anything, what can I do for you Commander?"

Jureth was surprised at Redding's use of the Klingon term that he had used when they boarded Jar'rod's ship. He was unsure if the senior officer knew the significance or not, but the Bajoran was not one to beat around the bush as humans liked to say.

"Sir, prior to Operation Horizon I accompanied Admiral Redding aboard the IKS Kang while I was Chief of Security aboard the Lotus. At the comissioning ceremony Commander Felez introduced you as Admiral Redding. My own attempts to confirm or not your identity have been blocked by security classifications way above my paygrade. So, I guess what I'm asking Sir is are you and Admiral Redding one in the same person? I apologize if it is an uncomfortable subject, but I feel I need to understand exactly what is happening."

Redding nodded his head in agreement "Agreed Commander, I can't tell you everything, literally, because I don't even know everything. But It think you need to be let into the loop on this one." He motioned Jureth to sit back down and then continued. "Some time ago while on an away mission I was exposed to a still unknown type of planetary defense weapon after I sabotaged  it in order to keep it from firing on our ship, the USS Ajax II, currently in orbit. I was presumed dead over the next three days before I.. 'reappeared' at the blast site. I had no memory of any passage of time and no injuries other then those sustained before the incident, namely lots of busies and a fractured radius.." He moved two fingers along the upper part of his left forearm. "..from a fight I had just finished."

He took a breath and looked at Juerth seriously. "That was in 2288, more than 150 years ago." He let it sink in.

"It was right around the time the Vulcan Sybok hijacked the USS Enterprise for it's trip to 'Eden', Kirk never could do anything small." He gave a wirery grin. "In any case it seems I'm stuck in what they call a 'Temporal singularity reversion event' although personally I doubt they have any real clue what it is." 

"The important bits are this, I'm in some sort of dam bubble, linked to another bubble that's fixed in 2288. When this one breaks, meaning I die, that one resets and sends me right back to this one, in about 72 hours." Then got a frustrated look. "But it's not a nice as it sounds, when I mean 'resets' I mean everything, every memory after 2288 is gone, it literally never happened for me. He touched his arm again. "Same busted lip, same broken arm.. over and over again." He took a breath, allowing Jureth a chance to respond.

Jureth listened carefully to Commander Redding's explanation and the more the Horizon's XO talked the more interested Jureth became. He had heard rumors of time travel incidents of course, and even factual encounters of the more famous ones such as Kirk saving Earth from an alien probe, but he had never actually met anyone involved in anything like that.

"Sir, that is...an incredible story. It makes sense now why I couldn't access any of the files. Has Temporal Investigations not thought to intervene somehow to correct it? Surely having you repeatedly travel through time can't be good for history."

Redding brought both his hands out and away from his body "That's just it you see, you can't stop the effect without altering the current time line. If they could find a way to 'break' the effect it would cause everything that's happened between 2288 and this vary moment and indeed, into the far future from what I was lead to believe, to become altered." He sat back in his chair again.

"I'm not sure what I've done or perhaps what I will do at some point in the future, but it's been made clear to me that 'they' are unwilling to risk the event being 'rewritten'." This actually seemed to bother him, but then gave a bit more of a cheerful smile.

"I was planning on telling you this anyway, it's only classified as a matter of protocol and I need someone I can trust to back me up in the event something comes up that's related to this subject that we didn't see coming. And frankly Commander, I don't trust anyone on this ship more than I trust you." The tone was matter of fact.

Redding's candor surprised Jureth and the Bajoran was sure his facial expression probably gave that fact away. Still he was pleased that the XO trusted him enough to consider him the only officer aboard the Horizon capable of being his back stop. It certainly was a unique situation, but then Jureth's tenure with Lotus Fleet had been filled with those.

"You have my word Sir, if there is anything I can do I will do it. I do appreciate you being open with me, other officers might have dodged the question or referred me to the captain."

Redding smiled "I can't expect 100% efficiency from an officer that only knows 50% of the situation, now can I Commander?"  then  stood up. "We'll have to discus this more later, but I think we should get back to our posts for now, let me know if you have any further questions Oseno."

"Aye Sir." Jur etch replied before coming to attention and exiting the conference room.