For those who want to RP ship’s life or personal pursuits outside of the current episode.

Glittering in the darkness, Starbase 211 sits on the edge of Federation space.

It's a squat, utilitarian place, putting repair and refit function over form.  Small tenders swarm over nearby ships, and, despite the peace treaty, local security patrols are active to ensure there are no Cardassian incursions.

Phoenix is docked here, completing repairs while new crew members are assigned to the ship. Fully half the ship complement has been transferred off to new assignments, many due to disciplinary reasons, or simply because Starfleet wants to break up the crew that went rogue.

As players arrive on board, feel free to jump in here and meet each other.

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Sirin Norn was almost absurdly junior for his rank as chief engineer. However, several unlikely concurrences had resulted in the powers that be decided he was their guy.

The first was that the admiralty wanted at least some of the old crew to still remain on the ship who actually knew something about the ship, and as a very junior officer, Norn was a good candidate who probably wouldn't be in a position to lead a mutiny.

The second was that Norn had been the acting damage control officer when the USS Phoenix had taken a direct hit from a photon torpedo... without its shields. It would have been very strange to reward Norn with a promotion or a commendation for doing a good job blowing up a ship of a power they were at "peace" with, but this promotion showed that they recognized competence. Norn's career was short, but it was very solid.

The third reason, unfortunately, was Wolf 359. With the loss of so many ships and a probable war brewing with Cardassia, Starfleet had to sometimes make... unusual gambits in officer choices. Norn didn't like to think about that: he'd lost two friends and one rival who had bragged to Norn that he'd make full lt before Norn. He'd been correct: he'd received a posthumous promotion.

Getting the respect of the old crew and the new one as a Junior Grade Lt was going to require a series of skillful strategies, but that would be strictly a longterm project. Right now, he had another task in front of him: meeting the entire senior staff, more than half of which were totally new to the ship, and convincing the Captain that it wasn't completely mad to have a Cheif Engineer as green as he was. He had a strategy in mind for this, of course.

Not sure if you want to have us meet on the bridge, the magic meeting room, a starbase lounge, or do the whole formal "greet the captain in the shuttle bay with officers in full dress" thing.

[I'll just go ahead and pick a venue for the scene, if nobody else cares?  :) ]

Very contrary to the new Chief Engineer, the new First Officer had been promoted to her post precisely because she -did- stage a mutiny.  Or at least, she sort of stumbled into what could plausibly have been interpreted after the fact as a mutinous conspiracy, though in the actual heat of the moment it had been more like just a few officers roughly simultaneously realizing just how far off the reservation Captain Maxwell had gone, and making entirely independent decisions to refuse to participate in his one-man crusade.  Nonetheless, they had all ended up locked in the brig together while the Enterprise had been sent to bring the Phoenix back in line, and the subsequent investigations cleared them all of any wrongdoing, declared them to have been completely justified, and promoted them.  Beck was one of the younger people to be promoted to the First Officer position in recent memory, and was perfectly certain that she'd been chosen for her new post specifically in order to send a certain message loud and clear to any Maxwell loyalists still remaining among the crew.

Nonetheless, the third full pip on her collar was firmly in place on her uniform as she strode into the starbase lounge with its bank of windows overlooking the Phoenix's repair dock.  Ffssss, said the door as it closed behind her, and she glanced around the room, blinking to find only the one officer she already knew, at a function intended for new colleagues to introduce themselves to each other.  No doubt all part of Norn's master strategy for getting off on the right footing with the new kids.

"Lieutenant," she nods to the Zakdorn as she moves across the room to stand at the windows, hands clasped behind the small of her back, gazing out at the ship with her expression a carefully composed neutral blank.  "You haven't met any of our new faces yet?"

When the Muninn set down on the Main Shuttle Bay on deck 3, a short woman exited the shuttle and made sure the vehicle was locked-in and secure before she shut the hatch behind her. This was her first moments aboard the USS Phoenix. The first ship where not only she was in a command position, but she was going to be a Bridge Officer. Despite the nightmare that was the Battle of Wolf 359, it seemed that was the best thing to happen to her career. Involuntarily, her left hand went to the series of burns and lacerations on her side that no longer existed. Shaking her head, the muscular woman cast a baleful eye back at the Muninn.

"Memory, eh? Às vezes, temos muitas memórias..." she muttered to herself, giving the craft an affectionate pat before she bent down to grab her suitcases.

Having served aboard the USS Bellerophon for five years, she was used to the layout of a Nebula class starship. Although, every ship had it's own flavor and quirks. Valéria was sure something would throw her off before long. A quick stop in the Turbolift brought her down to deck 12, where she hastily threw all her Earthly possessions, no pun intended. Valéria took only a few moments to appreciate the sheer size of her new quarters (perks of command indeed), run a quick brush through her hair, and pull on her uniform coat over her undershirt. And of course, she made sure that her two new golden pips were attached to her collar and shining brightly.

After that, she hustled back to the Turbolift and made for the Forward Lounge on deck 10. She would have to meet the Captain and the XO in person, as tradition demanded. As soon as the lift stopped moving, she exited and stood at perfect parade ground attention. Seeing no Captain on the bridge yet, she directed her next words to the woman with the proper number of pips.

"Lieutenant Valéria Serrano, reporting for duty, Commander," she said firmly, but not the unnecessary barking that some of the younger and more eager Ensigns sometimes did.

When the XO addresses Sirin this is how he responds.
"Negative commander. I just got personsel access back this morning after my final deposition as well.

With the refit I haven't had the opportunity to review their files in detail, but I look forward to meeting the rest of the staff.

He was silent of course once the new tactical officer reported in. She reminded him of his sister in build if not temperment. He reserved judgemrnt of course.

"Speaking of whom..."  Beck sizes up the woman as she approaches, acknowledging her with a curt nod.  "At ease, Lieutenant," she says, offering a hand in greeting.  The first officer's grip would be somewhat out of proportion to the slenderness of her frame; apparently she was a woman who took her exercise regimen pretty seriously.  "Commander Rebecca Byrne.  You'll be taking over my post at Tactical, it seems.  Getting all settled in?"

Valéria took the offered hand and gave it a solid shake back. While it was clear that the Commander had a solid grip, Valéria only returned an equal amount of pressure. She had no need to show off the results of her training: she knew exactly how strong she was. When the handshake was over she stood at ease, arms clasped firmly behind her back.

"Yes sir. I will need to replicate some parrot stands and enrichment toys for Frederico after my first shift, but otherwise I didn't bring much. It will take some getting used to my own private room though. I've gotten used to the Hallway. As for the ship, yes, I will be taking over Tactical. If you would be so kind, I'm sure you know all the quirks and personality of this ship that doesn't show up on any tech manual. Anything that you could share would be helpful and appreciated, Commander," Valéria said seriously, indicating the Phoenix around them.

Starbase 211, Deck 10 Lounge

Snippets of a conversation overheard at the reception…

”I hear the new Captain is a real ball-buster” says a red faced petty officer from the security department, his speech slurring slightly.

His companion, a senior petty officer named Briggs, laughs a little too loudly, tipping back his glass and feeling no pain. ”Wouldn’t expect any less from the pencil necks at high command. Maxwell had it right, the brass aren’t the ones out here sticking their necks out past the edge of civilized space.  Can’t trust a damn Cardassian as far as you can throw ‘em”.

Brigg’s rancorous comments are unsurprising to veterans of Phoenix’s ship’s company. Rumor has it that after Byrne gave up her post at Tactical during Maxwell’s rogue crusade, Briggs stepped up to fill in. Unfortunately none of the co-conspirators on the bridge at the time gave any information that would incriminate Briggs and he walked away a free man after his court martial.

…and elsewhere

”They’re being pretty tight lipped about the modifications in the upper pod.” a junior engineering officer mused looking out at the Phoenix where she was moored to a repair pylon.

”Just repairs after the damage we took in that fight with the merchant ship, isn’t it?” replied his Endosian companion.

Shaking her head, the Ensign replied, ”Can’t be just repairs. The power draw is fifty percent higher after the refit work was completed. If they had just repaired the sensor modules, why would there be an increase in power consumption?”

…elsewhere…

Lounging in a red easy chair, one of the ship’s nurses mused ”So that’s about the size of it, Starfleet Command is moving us out of this sector and reassigning Phoenix to the Romulan neutral zone. Why else would we be restocking our Cartalian Fever vaccines to the Starbase supply depot?”

Her companion just nodded knowingly in reply.

Message to Captain Tleera
(CC Commander Rebecca Byrne
From: Lt JG Sirin Norn

"Captain, given the recent actions of the crew of the Phoenix, I can understand the strategic decision to reveal the new modifications to the upper pod on a need to know basis.

However, I feel the need to question the logic as to why the ship's chief engineer is not cleared to know the nature of these modifications. Unless we are taking the starbase with us, someone from my department is going to have to maintain those systems.

Would it be possible to have the specs on these modifications and be shown it's functionality, assuming the admiralty has at least let their Captain/XO know about this?

Thanks - Lt.(Junior Grade) Sirin Norn"

Internal Message
Lt. Jg Sirin Norn
To: Commander Rebecca Byrne

"Greetings Commander. I have numerous modifications and drill suggestions for my department, and some minor modifications to ship's systems that will increase efficiency.

Some, such as the uniform changes for engineering, I have already begun planning for.

Technically, some of these changes are not within standard regulations for maintenance. Many are what I would consider "common sense" upgrades, however, as they will effect the ship systems, I am required to ask permission of my immediate superior.

Details attached.
Norn is an "Intrepid" engineer who's got an invention perk. He was constantly trying to update the Phoenix's systems with suggestions, but kept getting shut down by the chief engineer, who probably complained about him at least once to the acting XO.

If I may, I've noticed that a common sentiment from old members of the crew is that they do not believe that the majority of starfleet are sufficiently ready for a Cardassian attack.

A detailed series of combat drills may delay fears that everyone else is "asleep at the wheel" as I believe the human expression states. I would suggest specific scenarios, but I wouldn't want to upset our new tactical officer.

Chief Engineer
Lt Jg. Sirin Norn"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:21, Thu 24 Feb 2022.

Devon was not in the best of moods, though the day had actually begun quite well.  For the first time, she was a chief medical officer, absolutely in charge of Sickbay, and as she worked on getting everything organized just the way she wanted it, she was as happy as she ever got.  Of course, the same could not be said of the other medical personnel.  About half of them were new to the ship after the mutiny or whatever it was -- Devon hadn't paid a great deal of attention to that part -- but only one of them had actually met her before, so they were nearly all having to adjust to her admittedly somewhat overwhelming approach.  Devon was fairly sure that the surgical nurse who knew her, from Starfleet Medical training, was actively hiding somewhere.

But after a while, one of the braver souls, a Trill microbiologist whose name escaped her, had interrupted Devon long enough to remind her that the captain was waiting in the Starbase lounge on deck 12.  After a brief pause, Devon had shrugged and replied, "Good for him," before diving back into her work.

"You mean good for her," the microbiologist said, awkwardly.

Devon sighed.  "Why do I need to know that the captain is in the Starbase lounge on deck whatever?"

"All the senior officers need to report to the captain.  It's protocol."

And there it was: the downside to being a senior officer.  Protocol was the main reason that her rank was still technically that of a mere lieutenant, though she cared even less about rank than she did about protocol.  She'd been promoted to lieutenant commander twice, and demoted twice, and the cycle would no doubt repeat itself at least once more, but the work would remain the same, and that was all that mattered.

She looked back at the Sickbay, still not quite the way she wanted it, then back at the microbiologist.  "Protocol.  Fine.  I'll go report.  Just make sure all the biobeds are fully recalibrated by the time I get back.  Whoever was handling the maintenance on these things did a terrible job."

Someone protested at this remark -- apparently the person in charge of biobed maintenance -- though she ignored them.  "Oh, and someone figure out why we have so many doses of Cartalian fever vaccines.  I didn't order those, and they're getting in the way."

Fuming quietly, she headed for the lounge.  Thankfully, she managed to remember the deck number, so at least she didn't have to explore the entire base.  When she arrived in the right spot, she quickly looked around, frowning.  As it turned out, there wasn't anyone of any gender with the rank of captain in the room, and she started planning what she would say the next time she saw the microbiologist.

Still, she was here, and, hoping she could get this out of the way now, she looked instead for the next highest-ranking person, a woman with short dark hair.  "I'm told I'm supposed to report," she said, her tone somewhere between uncertain and impatient.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:06, Thu 24 Feb 2022.