Change of Plans

Posted on Sat May 31st, 2025 @ 3:33pm by Captain Andre Hunt & Warrant Officer Emily Douglasdale & Commander Thomas Carey & Lieutenant Commander Mattys Plaatjes & Major Eli McEntyre & Major T'Ria

1,261 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Trillius Prime
Location: Conference Room

Captain Hunt stared out the window of the conference room as he waited for the senior staff to arrive. After speaking with the Captain of the transport Rulet, he immediately contacted Starfleet Command making them aware of the current situation. Now he was here waiting for his senior staff to show, so he can update them to a few changes. Their mission of diplomacy had quickly turned into something much more. But he was certain that the crew of the Meridian were more than prepared and experienced to handle the task at hand.

The door to the conference room hissed open, and T'Ria stepped through the open 'hatch' and entered. She nodded to Captain Hunt in a non-verbal gesture of salutations as she walked over to the table set up in the tight space. That would be more than enough communication for Vulcan tastes, but she was amongst humans. "Greetings, Captain," She added verbally.

"Greetings to you as well Major," Hunt replied with a smile.

Stepping through the open hatch to the Briefing Room, Plaatjes, waved in greeting as he spotted the Captain and Major chatting. He smiled in T'Ria's direction, grateful that she had performed the operation when she had. He had been up and about for a while now, and felt no ill effects so far.

Aware of his surgery, not too long ago. Though clear for duty, he hoped that he hadn't put too much on his Chief Engineer. "Plaatjes how are you feeling?"

'All good, Captain.' He flashed a smile in the direction of T'Ria. 'Thanks to the Major here, I haven't felt this good in years - hopefully should lead to some personal bests in the gym when I can get back to it properly.' Plaatjes took a seat at the table, and set his padd in front of him. 'The Relut get off OK?'

Walking in, a tad late, "Captain. Major, Commander." Thomas said as he took his seat.

Entering in next was Emily Dougsdale. Smiling at everyone, she took a seat. "How's everyone doing this morning."

'All good, Ms Dougdale,' Plaatjes replied with a smile. 'Interested to hear what the Captain says, I think.'

The Major slipped in, quietly taking his seat, but sticking out from all the Starfleet due to his camo.

"Let's go ahead and get started," the Captain replied taking a seat at the head of the table. "As you all are aware, Starfleet Command sent us here to drop of the scientist and work on relations with the Trill. Those plans have changed since we rescued the crew of the Relut. The Trill government was impressed by our crew and asked that we assist them with their L'Dira issue."

"The L'Dira issue, thats... quite an ask. Considering..." Thomas replied as he shifted in his seat.

Plaatjes leaned forward. 'There's no doubt the L'Dira are a threat to them - look at what they did to the Relut.' He sighed, his usual jovial face lined with seriousness. 'But what can one ship do, eh? Have the Trill given specifics as to what they want from us? What we can expect from the L'Dira?'

"From what I'm told the L'Dira government is against the piracy," Hunt explained. "But aren't doing a thing to stop it. Which has a lot to do with the fact that these pirates are stealing Acelon and selling it to the government and everyone else on their system. They depleted all their own sources of Acelon, so their desperate. Our goal is to deal with that ship that we came across, then strike up a deal with their government about dealing with these pirates. Instead of condoning piracy it will be our intent to negotiate some sort of trade agreement."

"From what I hear, the L'Dira, haven't always been the... best at negotiations." Thomas replied as he shifted in his seat

Emily Douglasdale looked over to the First Officer. "What do you mean Commander?"

"Most of what I hear, is rumours, and heresay. But there are some suspicions, that some of the piracy being done is not only being ignored, but is sanctioned and funded by the L'Diran Government." He paused, "due to it being a known fact that they do buy the stuff from the pirates, its not far fetched."

"Not all far-fetched," Hunt agreed. "Major McEntyre you have some experience dealing with pirates if I recall correctly?"

“Limited. Though I can pull the MACOs playbook for anti-piracy operations for you.” Eli elaborated.

"Good, because I want you to bring me that Pirate Captain," the CO instructed. Turning his attention to everyone around the table, he continued. "The Trill are sending a diplomat to accompany us. "We're taking out that ship, taking those pirates and showing up the doorstep of the L'Dira Government. We're going to play big brother as we begin peaceful negotiations and hopefully some trade agreement can take place."

The helm officer waited for anyone to speak up, before doing so. "So where do we start exactly?"

"Based on what we do know. That pirate ship has a crew of fifteen. We also got the warp signature based on sensor readings. Also based on the information the Relut sent us. We track these guys down. "Commander Carey going to need to disable their warp and take out those weapons. They can't match us in the least bit with firepower or speed, but that doesn't mean that won't have a few tricks up their sleeves. Don't want them destroyed, but I want them a drift. Plaatjes, I want you to not only be prepared in engineering but have people on standby to take on their cargo."

'I can put a team together, no problem,' Plaatjes replied with a smile. 'Looks like we're planning some major changes for the area if we can pull this off, eh.'

"Definitely intend on leaving our mark in this system," the Captain responded with a smile of his own. "T'Ria have your people ready for the injured. Have the feeling they will need medical attention more than ourselves."

"Of course, captain. I will ensure that Sickbay is suitably prepared."

Looking back around the table, Hunt sat back in his seat. "Does anyone have questions, suggestions or have concerns that they would like to bring up?"

Plaatjes shook his head, 'no sir. Just need to know what time-frame we're dealing with so we can move some stuff around, maybe an estimate on how much cargo we're taking on too.'

"Within the next four days. And expect to fill the cargo bay." Seeing that there were no other questions from the crew, he simply smiled. "I'm confident that we got this handle. Dismissed everyone."

Plaatjes nodded his understanding and got to his feet. Waving a hand at the others, he was already thinking of what he could do to accommodate the Captain's orders as he left the room.

T'Ria silently stood, her mind already focusing on the preparations that needed to be completed in order to be adequately ready for the potential influx of more 'patients.'

Emily was the last to exit out as she wanted to go through some piloting tactics, hopefully based off the data based on the pirate ships movements.

=================
Captain Andre Hunt
Commanding Officer
USS Meridian

Commander Thomas Carey
Executive/Chief Armory Officer
USS Meridian

Lt. Commander Maaty Plaatjes
Chief Engineer Officer
USS Meridian

Major T'Ria
Chief Medical Officer
USS Meridian

Major Eli McEntyre
MACO Commanding Officer
USS Meridian

Warrant Officer Emily Douglasdale
Helm Officer
USS Meridian

 

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