Cl.02.03 – “How far along are you with the calibration of the tertiary sensor array? You’ve been burning some midnight oil to get astrometrics up and running.” Commander Nayru pushed the control beside the door that led to the turboshaft. In response to Commander Kobrrei’s announcement that a briefing was scheduled to commence in several minutes, the chief medical officer and the chief science officer found themselves waiting for the turbolift to arrive. “Just don’t say anything. You would say that the fleet’s newest class of tactical exploratory cruisers would have a functional sensor array and a properly installed astrometrics lab, but I can tell you that Starfleet’s standards for fresh ships are pretty low.” Commander Denaris complained, crossing his cybernetic arm over his biological one. “We are out here at the frontiers of our reign of influence and my department and I are doomed to work with equipment that has been calibrated with a 2% error margin. Simply unacceptable.” Denaris stroke his beard. The turbolift arrived and the door opened. Denaris allowed his colleague and friend to enter first after which he joined her inside the cubicle. “Bridge” Fenna said before continuing the conversation. “You set some high standards, Brenn.” Fenna smiled. “It has gotten me this far and I will not stand for it that something happens on my watch.”
Several seconds later, the lift slowed its vertical speed before coming to a halt on deck 1. The doors opened and the two officers walked onto the deck plating of the bridge. As they walked from the front to the back, they noticed that the Command chief had been given the conn of the ship. Masterchief Raignsburn was seated in the command chair, friendly nodding to the science officers as they walked by. The chocolate color skinned human female in her late fifties informed that Commander Kobrrei was expecting them in the briefing lounge. Denaris nodded back and together they walked to the door on the far left side of the rear part of the bridge. They crossed a corridor before they reached the briefing lounge.
Most of the senior staff had already arrived. Both Fenna and Brenn took a seat on the right hand side of Captain Aelyn who was seated at the head of the table. Just as they seated themselves, Lieutenant Jaura entered from the other side of the room and after he was seated, Commander Kobrrei started the briefing.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’ve gathered you here because today is an important day in our shakedown program” The sturdy and well trained executive officer raised from his chair, walking to the head of the table where the commanding officer was seated. As usual, Aelyn allowed her trusted right hand to conduct the briefing while she herself comfortably leaned back in her chair, listening to what is being said. Kobrrei touched several of the controls next to the Captain. Instantly a holographic projection of local space was projected above the center of the table. “We are currently here, at the edge of the Ooroo sector,” The Commander started to circle around the table as his briefing progressed. A Starfleet chevron blinked several times at the exact location where the Callisto currently was located in sector space. “The Callisto is currently on a course to the Tarm sector, near the border to Hoht space. At our current velocity of warp 7, we expect to arrive there within 3 hours from now.” Using the controls, Kobrrei visualized the specific location within the Tarm sector they were heading for. “Our goal for the next couple of hours is to stress-test our jump gate interface technology. We will be making 5 consecutive jumps through the gate network with a minimum ‘recharge’ time between attempts.” The Commander said as he stroke his white moustache with his thumb and index finger. The Commander eyed the Vulcan Operations officer with his large blue eyes.
“As you all can well imagine, such an Enterprise will put a great strain on the ship’s resources.” She said, briefing eyeing each of the present officers. “Before the shake down cruise has reached its full completion and succes, we must stress all operations systems well beyond the limits of normal operations to check the systems for faults and to ascertain whether the safety boundaries are correctly specified.” It was striking how still someone could keep one’s head perfectly still while saying something like that. Fenna reckoned that only Vulcans could be able to do that. “But the jump gate interface technology is not really standard Starfleet equipment. How do we know what the standard safety boundaries are?” Commander Brenn asked. Though he was fully aware of the specifications and performance details of the jump gate tech, he was unaware of any attempt of Starfleet to develop proper safety protocols. “Several starship classes have used the jump gate technology over the last few years and the strain on power flow and computer calculations is surprisingly similar.” Lieutenant Jaura responded. “Moreover, those analyses have been studied by Commander Hart and myself in great detail in the first weeks of the Callisto‘s shake down. The current set of safety specifications are not just an educated guess.” Jaura said with his his voice a nearly undetectable hint of irritation. “All I meant to say is because this technology is not used fleet wide, we don’t have a real clue where the actual safety limit is.” Denaris felt the need to defend his point of view. He meant to disrespect towards the chief engineer. “That is an accurate assumption. But as Lieutenant Jaura states, we know from experience that 5 consecutive jumps – though they considerably drain our plasma flow and computer resources – it should be well within safety limits. Additionally, the Azura class has been designed with the latest of technologies on the drawing table. Our calculations indicate that this should be no problem.” T’sani said. Denaris nodded. “We just want to know whether that influences routine operations.” “Exactly” Kobrrei said. He continued the briefing now that it was clear for everyone why they set out to do this. “We are starting our jump routine in the Tarm sector, at the local gate we will establish a subspace gate towards the Nerey’N system, close to Rivendell. Our next destination will be the Yriel system in the Delta quadrant, followed by a jump to Ooroo, then to Berreneth close to the Genyor border, only to end back at Tarm.” While Commander Kobrrei specified the different locations, several dots appeared in the three dimensional projection that was still being projected over their heads. “The longest jump is no more than 250 light years so that will also reduce the strain to our ship.” He walked around the table, handing out a PADD to each of the department heads. “You can find a detailed schedule of the jump sequence on there with estimated times and projected energy expenditures.” Most of the senior crew started reading through.
“Captain, do you have anything to add?” It seemed as if the Commander had finished his briefing, allowing the Commanding Officer to add her two cents. “During the entire ordeal, I will put the ship in yellow alert, meaning that I want each department head at their station. Though we don’t expect anything out of the ordinary, I want to be able to respond quickly and adequately when the need arises. I also want sickbay to on full medical alert. There have been multiple reports of physical effects when making such long jump sequences.” Aelyn eyed Fenna as she gave that last order and Fenna nodded in response. “Until we arrive I expect a level 2 diagnostic report of any major ship system before we jump. I want your reports in two hours. Any questions?” It remained silent. “Dismissed.” Kobrrei finally said.