The First Brief

Posted on Wed Jul 22nd, 2026 @ 5:42am by Commander Nasra sh'Zarath & Captain Connor Nolan & Commander Erris Sudis & Lieutenant Commander Saori Takebe & Lieutenant Talia Renn & Lieutenant Thomas Fletcher & Lieutenant Jennifer Richardson M.D.

2,065 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Preamble
Location: Observation Lounge, USS Venture
Timeline: Mission Day 10

Commander Sudis Erris had been onboard the Venture for thirty-six hours since his Academy classmate and friend Captain Connor Nolan came to Bajor to recruit him as his first officer. Sudis assembled the department heads and senior staff members in the Observation Lounge to become acquainted and brief them on their first assignment in the Gamma Quadrant. The Captain was running behind and asked for him to begin with the introductions and initial onboarding information so they were all on the same page.

They were waiting on their incoming Chief Engineer - Lieutenant Thomas Fletcher to holocom into the briefing. He was currently stationed on New Bajor tasked with a major infrastructure project involving the construction of an aqueduct to bring fresh mountain water to one of the newest settlements in the northeastern hemisphere of the planet. The Lieutenant's body materialized in a holo-form standing in the corner before being readjusted to one of the empty chairs.

The holographic image flickered briefly as the connection stabilised.

For a moment Lieutenant Thomas Fletcher appeared standing awkwardly beside the table before the system corrected itself and re-deposited him into one of the empty chairs.

The background visible behind him looked distinctly unlike a Starfleet facility. Wooden beams crossed the ceiling overhead, and sunlight spilled through an open window somewhere beyond the edge of the projection.

"Thank you for joining us Lieutenant," the first officer rose to his feet from his position on the left at the head of the table where Captain Nolan's position would be. "We are just waiting on the Captain to join us momentarily but I just wanted to go over a few housekeeping items. First let's go around the table and make introductions. Some of you have been aboard the Venture since departing the Sol system."

"My pleasure, Comman—"

The audio clipped for a moment.

A beat later the rest arrived.

"—der."

A faint smile crossed his face.

"Looks like the Gamma Quadrant is helping with introductions."

The human officer wearing the Bajoran religious earring continued, "I'm Commander Sudis Erris. I have been aboard the Venture thirty-something hours ago. I am familiar with only a handful of people. We will start to my right and go around to Commander sh'Zarath. Please state your rank, name and positions. If you wish to add anything feel free to do so but please make sure that its short."

When the turn eventually reached him, Tom inclined his head politely.

"Lieutenant Thomas Fletcher. Incoming Chief Engineer."

A brief pause followed.

"I'm currently attending from New Bajor, where I've been assisting with a freshwater infrastruc-- for the Venture to arrive."

The connection crackled softly.

Tom frowned.

"...close enough. With a bit of luck, I'll be aboard in person before the communications catch up with me."

He smiled slightly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Lieutenant Talia Renn sat with a padd angled neatly before her, though she had not looked at it much since the briefing began. Her attention had moved from Commander Sudis to the holographic Chief Engineer, noting the slight delay in his image, the break in his audio, and the way the projection tried twice to decide where he belonged in the room.

It was not distrust. Not exactly.

It was habit.

Beneath the spoken introductions and the soft hum of the lounge systems, there was another current moving through the room. Anticipation. Fatigue. Curiosity. A few sharper edges of uncertainty, quickly covered over by Starfleet composure. The impressions brushed against her awareness in passing, distinct enough to be noticed but not invited further in.

Talia did not reach for them.

In a room full of senior officers, privacy mattered. So did restraint.

A briefing room was not meant to feel like a security problem, but the last year had taught her that most problems did not announce themselves properly. They arrived as disrupted schedules, incomplete reports, missing cargo seals, or people who were too tired to explain why they were afraid.

When the introductions moved around the table and finally reached her, Talia straightened slightly in her chair.

“Lieutenant Talia Renn,” she said, her voice even and clear. “Chief of Security.”

She let that settle a beat, then added, “I came aboard at Earthdock and have been reviewing internal security readiness, cargo intake procedures, and sensitive area access. Given the nature of our assignment, I expect Security will be working closely with Operations, Engineering, and Medical from the start.”

Her gaze moved briefly to the holographic image of Lieutenant Fletcher, then back to Commander Sudis.

“Especially where infrastructure support, civilian movement, and supply verification overlap.”

It was the sort of statement that could have sounded territorial in another officer’s mouth. From Talia, it came across more like a boundary marker carefully placed before anyone stepped over it by accident.

A faint pause followed before she inclined her head.

“I’m looking forward to working with all of you.”

As the crew continued, to introduce themselves to each other, Connor strode through the doors at the Observation Lounge's starboard and quietly took his place as the end of the briefing table. He nodded to his new senior team and motioned for them to continue with their round robin introductions.

Padds in tow, trying to make sure people were caught up to date with inoculations and the such Tal'Shara made her way into the Conference lounge, in a rush, and sat down. Nodding for pleasantries she continued her work.

The first officer jotted down a note on his PADD when Captain Nolan and Doctor Tal'Shara entered the Ready Room, "You're up, Doctor. Please introduce yourself to your peers."

Noticing something in the records of this first officer that explained their earlier encounter, the Doctor ‘Vulcan’ focused on the PADD’s rambling’s she heard what Erris had said, “Oh yes I am the Doctor. Request to the Department Heads please ensure your teams have reported to Sickbay for their initial check-ups, they will not be cleared for duty until it is done. That goes for all Senior Staff too.” Tal’Shara looked over to the first officer, “Does that suffice Commander?”

"This is Doctor Tal'Shara," Sudis took on the Venture's senior most medical officer's introduction himself, "she doesn't make house visits."

Looking up with a scowl, and a lifted eyebrow, “I do, for offspring, otherwise use the transporter, we have enough.” Tal’Shara attempted to be humourous maintaining her Vulcan monotone.

Saori lent forward. "Saori Takebe!" She introduced herself cheerfully, her pure energy a complete one-eighty from the doctors. "You're new Chief of Sciences at your disposal. "Always nice to meet new people and I'm always up for a good conversation. I'm looking forward to working with all of you!" She grinned.

Watching the round robin of introductions, Jennifer realised that it had come to her turn. She'd yet to properly meet their chief medical officer since arriving so it had been interesting to see the interaction between her and Sudis. It was unusual to see a Vulcan attempt humour; it peaked her interest that there was more to the woman than the surface let on.

"Doctor Richardson, Chief Counselor. I've met some of the crew and indeed some of you over recent days; I look forward to getting to know you all better as we settle in." Jennifer smiled at each of her colleagues as had spoken, trying not to show her own slight nerves.

"Commander Nasra sh'Zarath, Commander Nasra is fine," she said, knowing most non-Andorians had trouble with her last name. "I am the Second Officer and the Chief of Operations. I have been with the Venture since it began refitting and I served as its commander during that time," she said, her antenna remained perfectly straight and upright just as rigid as the tone of her voice which seemed almost more Vulcan like than Andorian like.

"Alright. And for those who don't know me - you should. I'm your new CO, Connor Nolan and you already know the '2IC', Commander Sudis." he glanced around the desk once more, "I hope as we get to know each other and work together that we can form a close professional bond. We're heading into the unknown - well, at least we will be once we've dropped off these colonists at New Bajor, and then we'll be off making discoveries that no person has seen before."

Nolan smiled, "However, before that happens - we need to transport the aforementioned colonists. Status reports, people, where are we with preparations for the voyage from Deep Space Nine, to New Bajor?" he pointed at the Chief Medical Officer first for their input.

"As it turns out the needs for the Holographic Backup's will not be needed. My Department have assured me that they have had sufficient down town and are ready for Duty. The conversion of the holodecks to match our needs took little to no effort really." Tal'Shara looked at the Captain.

As her medical colleague finished, Jennifer sat forward to speak."From a psychological readiness stand point; we are dealing with a mix of situations. While amongst the colonists there's exhuberation with the new chances New Bajor offer; there is also some varying degrees of anxiety and upset because this is suddenly now all real, being onboard Venture and it's actually happening now. The reality of leaving Bajor behind is hitting home."

Glancing down at her PADD as she spoke, Jennifer sent a data uplink to the senior staff. "Beyond our day to day business on onboard of new crew members; my team has scheduled group sessions for between now and our arrival to New Bajor and will work one to one with those needing that little bit more support. We are also encouraging more shared experiences between the colonists, as some are strangers to each other; to help with bond building before their relocation."

Talia waited for the previous report to settle before she leaned forward slightly in her chair.

“Security is maintaining a heavier presence in operationally critical areas as we prepare for departure,” she said. “You will also see our patrols moving throughout the ship, though the team is aware of the optics. We are trying to remain visible enough to be effective without making our passengers feel as though they are being watched.”

She gave a small, thoughtful pause, aware that there was no perfect way to soften that reality.

“It is a precarious balancing act.”

Her dark eyes shifted briefly toward the Andorian Chief Operations Officer.

“We are also working closely with Operations to clear the cargo being brought aboard for the New Bajor operation. That process is going slower than I would like. Some of the inventory sheets have been assigned very creative descriptions, and we are taking the time to make sure those descriptions match what is actually in the containers.”

There was no accusation in her tone, only the measured caution of someone who had spent too much of the last year watching misplaced trust become a security issue.

“At this stage, I do not believe we are seeing anything malicious. But given the volume of supplies, the number of sources involved, and the importance of the mission, I would rather be accused of being thorough than explain later why something was overlooked.”

"We might need some of that cargo space," Saori added. "The Sciences Ops are going to loading some equipment for our trip to New Bajor. Everything from water proceesors to localised senslr arrays," Saori told them. She then turned to the captain. "As for the Venture herself, we have a full compliment of probes, all science labs are stocked and our sensor pallets are all nice, shiny amd ready to go."

"Reach out when you're ready to Discuss," Nasra responded in her usual flat affect.

Nolan nodded, "Thank you everyone. It seems we're making great progress, I see no reason why we would delay our departure. Commodore Barrett expects us to arrive on station at New Bajor in 5 days time. By my count, it will take at least another 24 to 36 hours to finish onboarding of passengers and remaining supplies. Unless there is anything else that I need to know, I'll inform Deep Space Nine of our expected departure at 1430hrs tomorrow. Any dissenters?"

With no dissent the group was dismissed.

 

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