Debriefing and Licking Wounds

Posted on Thu Aug 6th, 2026 @ 1:30am by Commodore Elias McEntyre & Commander Isabella Garcia & Commander Gil’an Tyris & Commander Cressida Vale MD & Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Moriarty & Lieutenant Commander Declan Malcom & Lieutenant Evy McCauley & Lieutenant JG Constance 'Connie' Montoya & Ensign Vesper Wells & Master Chief Petty Officer Julian Trent

2,424 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Pilot - "The Gate"
Location: Conference Room
Timeline: After Gate System Retreat

Commodore's Log-Supplemental: Repairs to the ship are continuing at an abreast pace. Meanwhile I have called a meeting of the senior staff to discuss options for disloging the Zandaryi from the gate and alert Starfleet.

It was a mid-morning meeting. Elias sat in his customary spot at the head of the table. They couldn't hide at this planet forever and they needed to alert Starfleet to the situation.

Connie Montoya entered the observation lounge with a PADD tucked beneath one arm and a dark thermal cup held in the other, her uniform jacket crisp over the skirted variant she preferred when the day required composure rather than speed. Her hair was pinned back neatly, not a strand out of place, and the faint scent of Assam tea followed her in before the doors closed behind her. She paused just inside, hazel eyes moving from the empty chairs to the Caitian seated at the head of the table, her expression calm and unreadable save for the faintest lift of one brow. “Commodore,” she said, offering a polite nod before moving to take a seat near the middle of the table. She placed the PADD neatly in front of her and set the thermal cup beside it with deliberate care, as if bad tea would have been one indignity too many that morning. “It seems I have beaten the rush,” she said, folding one hand lightly around the cup.

Vesper looked up from her PADD as the counsellor took her seat, offering a warm, friendly smile to the other woman. She'd been in earlier to ensure all memos and notes were up to date, everyone that needed to be there had confirmed, and that a pot of coffee and a jug of water sat in the middle of the table with cups and glasses. "Good morning."

A few moments later, Isabella entered the observation lounge. She glanced around before taking a seat towards the end of the table.

Jesse didn't particularly look up as he entered. He was reading the PADD in his hand even as he walked, his other hand absently tugging a chair so he could sit himself down. There had been a semi-permanent frown on his features for the last few days...along with very little sleep and sporadic calories.

Declan stepped into the lounge with an exhausted look, but in a presentable state of appearance while glancing at the constantly updating PADD with repair figures, damage assessments, requests. A rotating roster that was almost another PADD on it's own covered everyone in Engineering and Ops, whom had been pulling extra shifts, and he was juggling coordinating food, medical time, and the ever more valuable sleep for the exhausted personnel. Even as he took a free chair, there was already another message going out to address yet another issue. "Morning, all."

Gil Tyris did not like being one of the last to arrive. But, given the dire nature of their current circumstances, today was a day that he was okay with that. In one hand, he carried a steaming cup of bojnoggi, a heavily caffeinated savory Tellarite concoction that reminded many of Cream of Mushroom soup. In his other hand, he carried one of the larger PADDs, which held the schematics of the shield generators and the damage done to them. Those on the science staff with technical certifications had been assisting Ops and Engineering with repairs and analyses, and he had been no exception to that. Although fatigue was creeping in on him, he was still sharper than most. He nodded to all present, taking a seat near the head of the table.

Master Chief Petty Officer Julian Trent entered not long after Gil, a PADD in one hand and another tucked under his arm, both already uploaded with tactical summaries, weapon telemetry and the reports he had managed to pull together since the attack. He was relatively tall and lean, wearing the gold uniform of the Tactical department with the sort of ease a man had after twenty-plus years of service. His hair, ash-brown and greying at the temples, was cut short, and his facial hair was kept tidy enough to look intentional while still suiting the narrow, angular face lined with experience. Sharp blue eyes moved around the room, tired in a way coffee would not fix. When they landed on McEntyre, he straightened a little. "Commodore," he acknowledged, his voice low and dry, roughed slightly by age and the natural register of the man himself. He moved to one of the empty seats, putting the PADDs down before sitting as well, one hand resting briefly over the top report before he drew it back. As the representative for Tactical, he felt it was necessary to come prepared.

The door opened to admit Cressida, a plastoid cast still covering her left hand. J.R. had done good work in repairing it but healing took time. "Sorry I'm late," she said to the gathered senior officers.

Running off of little sleep was something that Evy was forcing herself to get used to again. She had adapted well, as well as her husband Arun, to the twenty four hour cycles on starships. It was definitely taking something to get used to. Her wild hair was tamed and pulled back in a singular twist. One hand carried a strong minerally loaded caffeinated sludge and the other a PADD that she had the status of what she had been working on.

"Let's get started. We're in deep shit here. As of now, we're caught between an enemy that can whip our asses and the gate to transit back to the Milky Way. Iliad has detected at least 5 ships blockading the gate which including at least one massive vessel which is outside our weight class."

Elias exhale a breath that felt like he was holding it before continuing.

"Any and all options will be considered but we need a way to get word to Starfleet about whats on this side of the gate."

Connie looked between the officers at the table, one hand still curled around her thermal cup. This was not her field, not really. It sounded like science, or engineering, or one of the more alarming places where the two overlapped and produced acronyms. But sometimes the obvious question still needed asking. “Forgive me if this is painfully obvious to everyone with an engineering or science qualification,” she said, her tone calm rather than tentative. “But could we modify a probe into a subspace relay buoy? Send one through the gate carrying a compressed distress packet, with a second probe on this side acting as a signal handoff. If a sustained transmission is impossible, perhaps a burst signal would be enough.”

Gil spoke up first. “That’s a good idea in theory, Counselor,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But any probe, even a class nine that is equipped with warp sustainer coils, would need to drop to sublight speed to transmit the gate activation sequence. And that would leave the probe vulnerable.”

Elias turns to Gil. "Gil, any progress on the shield issue?" He asked professionally.

“Some,” he said, giving the Chief Engineer a look. The two of them had been working closely together the past few days. Gil touched a few controls on his PADD, and a three-dimensional rendering of a damaged shield emitter appeared above the conference table. “From what we can determine, the Zandaryi weapons are composed of an exotic mix of mesons, likely neutral pions that decay into muons and muon neutrinos. This mix atomized the tetraburnium alloys that compose approximately 30 percent of the shield emitter’s mass. Declan? Want to weigh in?”

"Besides the fact the only way I know to counter this is to use phased matter or antimatter? Not much to add here. I'm looking into trying an old fashioned approach, a sacrificial node that would draw the particles in and then neutralize, or recalibrating the emitters to counter...but both are a ways off." Declan commented as he looked over his notes.

"I didn't get to look at the science scans, but are they vulnerable to EMP or ionization?" It was a last resort idea, but that's about all Declan had for the moment.

Gil smacked the surface of the table with his flattened palm in excitement. "Yes! a precisely calibrates EMP could work."

"We're continuing scans of exactly how these weapons interact with flesh and bone," Cressida informed the group. "Thankfully the bolts from their rifles seem quite small, but they also flood the immediate vicinity with radiation. A shot near a vital organ is lethal, guaranteed. Impacts farther from the head or torso, though, while painful, seem to be treatable if we can get to them on time, before shock and blood loss set in." She took a deep breath. "Total casualty count is nineteen dead, forty-two injured. Causes of death split about half-and-half between injuries sustained by the enemy ship attack and the boarding parties."

The doctor shifted in her seat. “One of the more severely injured was Mr. Drevas. I have him in stasis for now, but he’ll need to be sent to a proper hospital for treatment. There’a nothing I, Doctor McEntyre, or anyone else on my staff can do for him.”

"Their tactics are very...classical. I haven't seen a line of fire used like that in any kind of modern spacefaring society. I have no theory as to why" Elias continued. Elias turn his head. “Master Chief Trent, your opinion?” He called on the senior NCO of the Tactical section.

Master Chief Trent considered it as he sat back a little, eyes going to his PADD for a moment before back to the Commodore. "It may be that their forces are used to ground based battle, where their numbers have allowed them dominion on the field," he said, before there was a slight arch of an eyebrow that could be humour, or respect. "If that is the case, it may be how we managed to defeat them on the ship. Even with breaching pod technology, they are not used to fighting somewhere this....confined. It will give us an tactical advantage, however...it also speaks of their organisation. They have well trained, disciplined troops...and a lot of them. This is their garden and we have inadvertently walked across their flowerbeds."

“On some planets that’s punishable by execution,” Cressida observed quietly to herself and the person next to her.

"This I am in agreement with. We need to mend fences or convince them to move on. Ultimately it is the hope of Starfleet to explore what's on this side." Elias continued.

"On the probe route, if I may," Evy chimed in. "I believe that creating a distraction to launch one close enough to the gate to just send through, then we should be able to signal for the need of reinforcements. However, I doubt that these ships we see blockading the gate are the only ones that exist and they too could call for reinforcements. I believe it's called, whoever has the bigger stick?" she asked. Before anyone could really respond to the question, maybe it was more rhetorical. "It usually doesn't win well, especially when one has the smaller force." It was taking all her will to ensure that she wasn't allowing what happened all that time ago to come back up, as it had been definitely trying to resurface multiple times.

Trent looked at McCauley before he looked at the PADD for a moment, making a note . "The distraction will have to be big though," he said, then looked thoughtful. "Or more interesting than the probe."

"Right," Evy agreed with him. "Maybe less of us versus a glancing blow to go for a run, and a probe launch as we do? Might need some decoys to make sure that one gets through."

"Or sending a force of our own to make some noise," Moriarty pointed out...although he got the feeling that Elias was not a commander that would need reminding of the Ground Forces he had at his disposal.

Trent looked at Moriarty before he gave a small smile, at the idea itself. Risky, but not bad tactics.

"On that note, with the loss of Commander Lyo, the position of XO is currently unoccupied." Elias started looking at Isabella and Cressida.

"Speaking with Dr. Vale, we've both agreed her place remains in sickbay rather than the Bridge. She has elected to continue serving as Second Officer though. With that said, Commander Garcia as Third Officer, you are now Executive Officer with all rights, privileges and responsibilities." Elias announced to his senior officers.

Isabella blinked a few times, she had not been expecting that at all. She finally shook off the feeling of surprise and returned to her normal firm stance. "Yes sir. Thankyou sir." she said turning to the rest of the crew she added, "I will do my best as the ships new XO to ensure that everyone's needs are accounted for."

For the first time, Vesper's fingers paused in her note taking, her gaze on the PADD becoming unfocussed at the mention of Commander Lyo. Her throat tightened at the loss, but she forced herself to swallow and keep typing.

Trent looked over at Vesper for a moment, before he looked over at Isabella. "Congratulations, Commander," he said, a small smile on his lips.

"Indeed," Connie looked at Isabella, meeting her eyes. She would book in an appointment with the new First Officer...it would be an adjustment for the woman, but also she wanted to make sure she had the support she needed. It has been a traumatic change, with the death of a crew member to put her in that position. "Congratulations, Commander Garcia."

"If there is nothing else, then we're dismissed" Elias stood as he spoke and broke up the meeting.

———
Commodore Elias McEntyre
Commanding Officer
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Commander Isabella Garcia
Executive Officer
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Commander Cressida Vale
Chief Medical Officer and Second Officer
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Commander Gil'an Tyris-McEntyre
Chief Science Officer
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Lt. jg Connie Montoya
Counsellor
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Lieutenant Commander Declan Malcolm
Chief Engineer
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Lieutenant Evy McCauley
Chief of Operations
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Master Chief Petty Officer Julian Trent
Tactical
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Lt. Colonel Jesse Moriarty
CO Federation Ground Forces
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Major Blez Dralis
XO Federation Ground Forces
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Ensign Vesper Wells
Yeoman
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

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