new beginnings

Posted on Mon Mar 9th, 2026 @ 3:51am by Captain Antonia 'Tony" Stoffels & Commander Rutherford (RJ) Milton & Lieutenant Commander Tony Johnson & Lieutenant Commander Etan tar-Lexros & Lieutenant Sky Carey

Mission: We are sick of this.
Location: captai's ready room

Toni had sent out the message to her department heads to meet her for a mission debrief and after that poured herself a cup of tea to wait for their arrival. She was still a little nervous as this would be her first official mission as captain of a ship.

The door opened as Tony Johnson entered the room. Surprisingly, he was the first to arrive, even though he rushed up here from security. Recently, he found out that he would be heading security again and found himself moving back into his old office. The staff would hate it, but Tony had every intention on implementing some changes based on how he preferred. In his hand was a PADD that consisted of some things he wished to address. "Good morning, Captain," he said as he took the seat to the left of Toni.

Milton entered the room with Pix trailing behind him slightly.

Pix bolted to encircle Toni a couple of times, kiss her on the cheek for solidarity and then to the Replicator. Kicking the display to get the Keyboard then with a butterfly like hovering movements replicated a Cup of Very Strong Tea. Said to hold a spoon upright it is so strong before holding the handle and moving laterally with ease to place the cup in front of Milton before going to sit on his shoulder closest to Toni's seat.

"Captain, Chief Johnson." He greet while reaching for his drink and placing the PADD on the table in front of him.

Toni could not keep herself from grinning at Pix's antics as she greeted the officers coming into the room. She was very glad that Pix had decided to come along.

"Looks like we are in for another adventure." Milton chuckled. "This ought to be fun."

“I certainly hope so, I need a little fun” Sky added as she walked into the room just as Milton was talking.

Etan walked in holding multiple PADDs. The awkward man was obviously focused on running down every detail on the ship, and making sure that everything was still ship-shape as Toni took command. He wanted his first report to Rutherford as XO to be the same one he'd given to Toni, and wanted to be doubly sure of it. As a result, he was cross-checking between four PADDs. He sat down at the table and gave the others a perfunctory nod. After a moment, he looked up. "I would be amenable to fun. An adventure, I'm less enthusiastic about. But, I guess as long as we can keep the ship in no more than two pieces, I suppose we'll be fine."

Etan had actually attempted to make a joke. It was long-winded and pedantic - which was of course his way; but there was an attempt at humor. Either he was mostly comfortable with the changes, or something was very wrong and he was deflecting through humor. It would be difficult for someone outside his head to tell which it was. Still, he rose from his seat and approached Milton with the smallest of the PADDs, his voice quiet. "Commander. All sections report mission-ready condition, and all divisions report that they're standing by for the Captain's orders, sir."

Milton grinned a bit while Pix looked at 'Etan ' with a slight cock to her head, quietly letting her empathy absorb him. Her, in a way, 'glowing' smile had her a bit more emphasis on her face in the glow than her whole aura.

"That is a boon to hear." Milton accepted the PADD matching the tone. "I am liking yo already, keep up the good work." He winked.

Now that nearly everyone was here Toni scraped her throat to get the attention of the room. "As you all know captain Carey has been assigned elsewhere for the time being and that leaves you with me." She smiled. "And with the good doctor here as my XO. I have every confidence that we will make a good team. Picking a second officer was a bit harder and for now we have decided to alternate the role between commanders Johnson and Tar-Lexros and on that front also I am sure that we will be able to make a splendid command team."

Sky nodded in agreement at the announcement, doing her best to show the strength she’d gotten from her earlier talk with Talsi, and keep the Carey family strong while Xavier was off ship.

Commander Johnson looked over to Tar-Lexros who nodded to them both, sharing the position of second officer. It was about to be an interestiing situation and he was eager.

"Now I will hand over to my first officer who will go through the details of our new mission." Toni gave RJ an encouraging nod.

Sky looked towards Rutherford waiting for him to tell everyone about the new mission, she offered a warm smile as she did so.

Milton saw that he is needed, standing from his seat he liked not being seated.

"There is a small Agricultural Colony on Mondair IV," Milton started. "There seems to be a Break-out on the planet and it is something that concerns Command. The food and everything on the planet is self-sustaining with a major point being export."

A holographic representation of the planet.

"The area is not a strategic point for Military occupying the Solar System." Milton explained. "The people are becoming less and less efficient as the sickness is spreading. The Colony is not a major metropolis, just the size of a large Village or small town. The production equipment is what keeps the colony viable, we will need to help maintain the machines and help the people. "

Milton moved around the outer edge of the conference room.

"We have to be careful when we arrive as this sickness is acquired quickly and rapidly eats away the patient. but the carrier of it is the mystery." He nod. "I thing we will have level one hazard suits while on the surface, I would also have the Fighters fly over with sensory pods to get an intense scans that are second only to hand tricorder readings without endangering any individuals before we get feet on soil."

Milton made the full circle of the room.

"We have a problem of this happening close to disputed space and with a possibility of War and this looking like a weakness and placing it higher on some list for conquest, we need to keep this place working as close to normal as we can get so no weakness is shown."

He looked around.

"Questions?" He asked.

Sky looked towards Rutherford. “What are the symptoms of this sickness? Do we know the incubation time, or how long the patient survives once infected?”

"There are no reported deaths as yet." Milton reported.

Toni listened to her XO explain the mission. "This mission is going to be hard on the medical department, so we need everyone with medical skills to step out. Either to go on the mission or to fill in for medical staff here on the ship." She added.

"We will be converting several cargo bays into a triage and the Labs will be ceasing other experiments until we can get through this. Also we will be dependent upon Science to check for biological toxins and where they may have come from. While Medical heals it will be science that neutralizes the source of the outbreak."

Milton brought up images of the People affected, in various stages of pain and suffering.

"It starts out soft with headaches that do not go away but intensify leading to nausea and severe cramping." He explained. "The scans from the planetary Medical staff shows no artificial biological agents common with Germ Warfare so we know the source is a form of nature that has caused severe Toxic Reaction yet so real severe rashes of obvious outer signs, it is internal damage."

Etan was hurriedly taking down notes and working out a basic ticketing for the projects the CO and XO had outlined. Sensor pods for the fighters and shuttles. Cargo Bays 1 through 3 on Deck 4, converted to triage units. Given the likely virality, he was already working on an updated turbolift routing and environmental isolation. Shuttle Bay 1 would need to have a direct access, and the corridors between the cargo bays would need increased sensor sweeps. It all ran through his mind like clockwork. He already had a list of replicator requisitions in mind to process as soon as the meeting was finished - including having level one hazard suits on call in addition to standard EV suits. One of the containers of "spare" medical tricorders would need to be charged and synced. It was a delicate ballet of interconnected parts to see the mission through the eyes of Ops. He looked up at the suffering people, and thought for a moment.

Since the floor was apparently open to questions, he didn't bother raising a hand. "Doctor, I apologize if I'm overstepping into Medical territory. Has an epidemiological study been made on the colony situation so far? Do we have information on the current sufferers' locations, when or where the symptoms might have started, and how it might be spread? Our teams could run a simulation to find the most likely points of interest to begin the investigation."

The colony is in one location; nothing on the parameter scans has any of the apparent rise in toxin levels usually accompanying a poisoning. It maybe a change in the seasonal pollen's or an alien spore sparked by environmental changes is the best guess we can conclude from the relayed information. "

Milton Paused.

“Though the highest concentration is near the main compound" He rubbed his chin in thought. "I had thought it because of the Medical facilities being in the Main Complex and never considered the small outlying farms ." He winked. "Good point we should check that once we get on site , might narrow the search parameters?"

"Good thinking everyone." Toni said feeling proud of how her team was pulling together.

“Are there any specific age groups this illness seems to be infecting, or are the cases a wide group in age?” Sky asked.

"I do not have the exact details as yet, I am under the impression that the younger patients have accelerated toxin overdose, that is to say they are getting sick faster than those more physically fit and matured." Milton explained. "Higher natural resistance; or what one might call heartier individuals are not showing the advancement of the disease that we have confirmed is a toxin overload like extreme allergic reactions."

"What's the stability of the colony looking like down there," Johnson inquired. "Has panic broken out, or has the colony been able to maintain stability at this point?"

"Until we hit the soil I would say they are on the brink of panic , but has been reported as of the last communication." Milton said calmly. " I would expect escalation of that situation when we actually get there. I know that our esteemed counselor already has a plan in the works for that as well. AS with any high risk situation Councilors will be of help."

He sighed with some relief.


"No fatalities have been reported so far, but that can only be a delay if we cannot lock down the cure when on site. No panic is really expected until they start dying. That is human nature." Milton repressed the flashes from jumping out to him right now. "It is a sight Medics have seen before , so if we keep them alive the panic should be a minimum."

As the questions flew around him, the Ops chief was starting to build a picture of the situation, pulling up documentation. He looked over at the command staff. "Um, excuse me, sirs. I think we could build a holodeck recreation of the colony to review data and identify possible causes. We could work on our theories in a safe environment."

"Good idea." Toni said. "Just say what you need and we will try to provide it for you."

"There are schematics and scans from the setting up of the colony and weather reporting available in the Computer if you need." Milton added. "Up to date illness reports are also on record should you need it."

Making some notes on his PADD, he looked back up. "I'll prepare to have an adequate amount of security transport down to the surface. There should an increased amount of security around areas like clinics, food supplies, government offices and energy sources."

'Remember, this is a township, not a metropolis since it only has under ten thousand occupants normally." Milton added. "Keep that in mind."

"Even better," Johnson noted.

"Anything else we need to discus?" Toni asked seeing the meeting winding down.

“Nothing here” Sky shook her head.

"I am always open if you need anything." Milton Offered. "Kind of why I am here."

Etan shook his head. "Not at this time, ma'am."

Johnson shook his head as well.

"Right then everyone get to work." With those words Toni closed her first staff meeting.