Iren is busy familiarising himself with the science station, and only remembers to get a report from his department, when the captain’s words remind him.  Not that there is that much to check on - so long as the sensors are operating correctly.  We’re they?  Where?  Yes.  It seemed functional.  “Science systems are nominal.  All crew present.  Ready for departure“

Kota has managed to hurry from the piping aboard ceremony to the bridge while the new captain has been shown the way, making introductions all the while. He is at his station by moment when she steps aboard the bridge. He stands tall, and speaks clearly when his station is called.

“Operations is ready across the board, Captain. Ready to depart.”

"Very good. Remove all moorings and docking clamps," the Captain ordered before activating the 1MC. "Attention crew - make ready for departure. We are undocking and shall soon be traveling to our assigned patrol sector.

"Our orders are as follows: 'the USS Phoenix is hereby ordered to travel to Sector 045/34 - 052/32 and begin patrolling along the Romulan Neutral Zone forthwith.' With that in mind, any contact or suspicious activity is to be investigated and dealt with expeditiously. It is believed by Starfleet command that Romulan ships or probes have been crossing the Neutral Zone for reasons unknown. We are to determine if this is so and, it the intelligence proves correct, why they are doing so.

"I have made the ship upgrades available to your PADDS and work stations but I shall summarise: the upper module contains advanced phasers, photon torpedo launchers, upgraded and additional sensors, and a cloaking device. We will test all of these systems whilst we are en route to our assigned sector. Captain out."

She noted they were away from the starbase and in the zone where use of engines would not interfere with starbase ops. "Please lay in a course to Sector 045/34 - 052/32, half-impulse."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:42, Sat 05 Mar 2022.

Valéria was quite pleased to be getting underway. The first mission of her new position on a new ship. Despite her outward stony demeanor, she was practically buzzing with anticipation. Until the Captain mentioned the cloaking device that they would be testing, and her mood faltered for a second, and she blinked in confusing for a second, making sure she and heard the Vulcan correctly.

"A...cloaking device, Captain? But, the Treaty of Algeron..." she began, afraid that the shameful stain of the USS Phoenix was about to continue.

"I understand the presence of a cloaking device on this ship is controversial but the orders to install came directly from Starfleet Command as did the indications for its use. Admiral Kirchner gave the orders and SOP himself and stood firm in the face of my own misgivings about having it. We have our orders and we shall follow them, Lieutenant."

She checked the ship's position and nodded.

"If the course is laid in please take us to Warp five. Engage."

Controversial would be one way of describing a Treaty violation.  Science Divison was well aware of the Treaty of Algeron and often chafed against it.

Iren swivelled his chair to face the Captain.  Biting back stronger words, he spoke. “I suggest that the senior officers meet at the earliest opportunity to discuss this matter.”  As should have been done before announcing it to the entire bridge..

He figured there would be some kind of new tactical system, but not that it would be a cloaking device. No wonder they'd locked him out!

Why mount an illegal cloak on the one Federation ship that had committed an act of war on a "civilian" target with a "neutral" power less than a year ago? And then patrol the neutral zone?

Even if this was just to test anti-cloaking technologies, the sheer optics of this move were hideous and likely to cause an international incident, if not a straight-up war.

He took a deep breath and centred himself. It was possible that this had been done as a joint operation if the Federation was now trying to co-operate in the face of the Borg, but the goals of Starfleet completely escaped him.

One thing that made him pause was the presence of Kotar Krenn Sogh. Why on Earth would you want a Klingon exchange officer for something like this.

Captain, I concur. In addition to the.. legal issues, I have specific departmental issues to discuss.

Namely, that given the wiring and CPU issues, and the fact that he'd never set eyes on the cloak itself, he had no idea whether it was safe for the ship. In fact, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:41, Sun 06 Mar 2022.

"I fully intend on holding a meeting of department heads and senior staff, Lieutenant. I will  explain what the current situation is at that time. For now I ask you to keep your minds on your work," the Captain told them all, voice cool and seemingly unflappable.

Norn nodded and returned to his engineering station, and tried to put it out of his mind.

It was depressing, but his thoughts also went to how he could potentially overload the cloak if he absolutely needed to.

"Aye-aye, Captain," Valéria responded neutrally.

She returned to monitoring the Tactical Station, but made sure to note the time in her Duty Log, just in case she was called on to give an official statement later, with either Starfleet Command, or the federation Council. If nothing came of it, and everything was above-board as the Captain indicated, then there was no harm in the simple act.

If the Captain was not telling the truth, well, then her time serving under the Vulcan would end a lot sooner than she had anticipated.

"I will station additional security around the new, sensitive equipment," she informed Tleera, signalling the closest team to reassign their position.

"Very good, Lieutenant. Your initiative speaks well of your character. Please continue to act admirably, all of you," T'leera told them.

She opened the overhead comms. "This is the Captain speaking. There will be a meeting of all department heads and senior staff in my ready room in one hour. Captain out."

Captain, I would suggest I and Mr. Sogh make a cursory investigation of the equipment before the briefing for the next 50 minutes or so.

Naturally, non-weapon and defensive systems were the provision of operations and engineering. Tactical would probably be all over that as well later, but they needed to see how it would affect other ship systems first.

He was curious to know if this was some reversed engineered Romulan or Klingon technology, and (most importantly) to see what kind of danger the ship was in if it was turned on.

Klingon ships were sleek and lean with slight profiles. Romulan ships had gobs of power to spare thanks to their insane quantum singularity cores. Norn was quite curious to know how they'd pulled this off, and he suspected it would impress or horrify him. Possibly both.

"A better understanding of exactly what this is would be helpful if we are to advise you on the technological implications of this device."

The political implications were up to others.

T'leera turned and looked at both of them. "Lieutenant Krenn is eminently qualified for this. This proposal is acceptable. Please carry on, Lieutenant Norn; I expect a briefing when we have our meeting."

Kotar had been keeping himself busy in his seat in front of the captain's chair, next to the helmsman's station, watching the flow of data around the ship's systems, monitoring the constant exchange of communications between the crew of the vessel and those they were about to leave behind in the form of text messages, and full VR streams. When they jumped to light speed and beyond, those would be cut off.

At the same time, he had kept the conversation and flurry of concern about a possible cloaking device installed on this vessel in the focus of his mind. Listening without contributing to the tense interplay between the captain the line officers on the bridge.

When the very young Lt. Norn suggested that he accompany the Zakdorn to inspect the device, he was both eager and cautious. The captain's authorization stirred him into action. He had already alerted a junior Lieutenant in his line of command to come to the bridge, and when she arrived, he handed over his post to her with the appropriate formalities.

"Ready when you are, Lieutenant Norn," he spoke softly to the Chief Engineer, nodding at the captain to ensure she understood they were both on their way to inspect the cloaking system.

Iren turns back to his console and busies himself with the instruments.  For now it’s just routine checks - more to make sure that nothing is wrong or noticeably out of calibration.  Also he’s thinking about how to handle himself in the meeting.  He felt uncomfortably junior to be the most senior officer after the captain.  Right now would be a very good time to have the XO on duty.

"Of course, Lieutenant!" He made a note to Engineering that he was going to be off bridge monitoring for the next two hours or so, and made his way onto the turbolift.

So.. where is the cloak, thread-wise? Operations?

It’s in the pod which, if I understand the deck list correctly, is only accessible by a ladder well that runs up the support pylon from the secondary hull… also, inside the pod is very spartan… it is built to be easy(ish) to swap off the ship and therefore very no frills…

Let’s post in Auxiliary Operations for the IC stuff

Well, look at that. The door to the bridge slides open and Commander Rebbek Brynn enters. She gives a tug to the bottom of her red uniform, struggling for a moment with the fit. But then she's back, striding in. She sends a smile and a nod toward the Science Officer and the command she used to hold. For a moment it looks like she might talk toward him, but then at the last moment the young woman seems to remember and change course.

"Captain. Apologies for my tardiness. Just handling some last minute-" she pauses, looking around. "Oh, so it appears I missed the big announcement?"

T'leera stood and faced her XO, raising her hand in the Vulcan manner of greeting. "Commander. You did indeed which, I'm quite sure I would be relieved to have missed if I was sensitive to emotional reactions and barely controlled anger and misgivings. Were I an emotional being I would have been angered by the reactions of those who do not know the entire story"

She sat down and waited for her XO to find her seat. "I have called a meeting in the ready room which is due to commence in 14 minutes, 32 seconds. At such time all will be explained."

"Captain?" calls out the Ensign at the bridge engineering station. "There has been an overload in a power coupling on deck 12. We're sending a repair team now, but Sickbay has lost power."

"Thank you, Ensign," T'leera said as she stood up. "You have the conn, Commander Brynn. Please make sure Lt. Norn is notified."

She walked quickly to the lift. "Sickbay."

She stepped off and made her way into Sickbay and looked around for any medical personnel who didn't currently appeared occupied. "What is our status? I understand there was an overload in a power coupling which has deprived Sickbay of power. Engineering crews have been dispatched."

Her sensitive eyes pierced the darkness and saw the injured crew member. "Status report, doctor. How was this man injured so soon after we were underway and what are his injuries?"

-----> to Sickbay

Edit: tidying up location for PC action (since the Captain moved to Sickbay)
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:34, Thu 10 Mar 2022.

Iren looks towards Brynn.  “Commander.  Permission to speak freely?”

Brynn takes a seat in the First Officer's chair. She tests out the feel of it, tilting her weight gently from side to side. Her legs cross, then stop, then cross the other way. Eventually she ends up with her legs in the first arrangement while she turns herself toward the Science Officer.

"Please. Pontificate."

Pontificate?  What was “pontificate”?  Never mind.  “Thank you sir.“

Iren takes a breatH  to steady himself.  “The captain’s attitude concerns me.  The presence of a cloaking device on this ship is a serious matter and I believe that the senior officers should have been fully briefed before it was announced.  Especially given the…delicate matter of this ship’s reputation.”. He shuts up after that, because that is really enough.

"Noted," Commander Brynn says with confidence, as she turns her chair back toward the main display screen. "Let's begin with routine systems and... Who knows, maybe even send that message the Captain asked for to Lieutenant Norn? That sounds like fun?"