=== Briefing room=== Keylor was the first to arrive at the briefing room. Sitting at the head of the table he looked over the information SSF intelligence had given him one last time. But in the back of his head, a little voice keep talking to him {there is some thing they are not telling me.} He ignored the voice for the most part, after all the years in SSF he had come to trust that he would never be given the whole story, even though he was a general. Time slipped by and before long Shane walked in to the room. After pleasant "good morning" and an off-handed remark about Keylor being in charge, Shane sat down at the table. Keylor started to stand up in jest; "Well you can have this seat if you like. It does not matter to me where I sit." He said trying to act serious but only holding his calm facial expression for a minute before smiling. After a few more minutes more of the crew started to file in. Next was the new Helms officer, Marine Captain Harker, the replacement for Lieutenant York. Harker appeared to be cool and calculating and did not appear to say much. As he entered the room he gave Keylor a nod and headed to the end of the table directly opposite of Keylor. {Hrm… just like an operative. Sitting a the end to be able to see everyone and observe.} Keylor thought. Next Rangi walked in. "Good morning Sir." She said in a chipper voice as soon as she saw Keylor. Keylor smiled back thinking of passing the good doctor in the halls many hours before. Keylor had risen for his morning jog on deck eight and had passed Rangi in the halls, heading to her quarters. Normally he would not have thought anything of it, but this particular morning he noticed her wearing a rather over sized dark blue shirt, right before she ducked in t her quarters. From the direction she had come form, and the unusually large shirt, he had figured she had spent the evening in Shane's quarters and had mixed up the shirts in her haste to return to her own quarters. Rangi circled Keylor and sat down opposite of Shane. For the life of him he did not know why though. At first, years ago, he figured she sat opposite form him to avoid the rumors of her and him. But by now everyone knew and no one would have faulted her for sitting next to Shane. It was not like they acted like adolescent school children on duty. Shrugging off the thought in his mind he went back to his pad. Next came Lt Foster, followed by Lt McTaggert. Sean appeared to be tired, and rightfully so. The last 24 hours had been a marathon stretch to try to get the modifications completed to a point where the ship could leave the base and head to the Spinward marsh. In side Keylor was happy with Sean’s performance, even though his personality lacked certain finesse. Next in came Samantha palmer who took a seat between Rangi and Andersen, opposite of McTaggert. Keylor was as equally unsure of Samantha as he was of the new helm officer. The insistence of the SSF intelligence officer that briefed Keylor 2 weeks prior still rang though his mind. Though he had still to see any reason, other than Samantha having been briefed thoroughly on the new prototypes he still though she was some sort of spy. Either way he was stuck with her and she with them. Then Lt Oriana entered the room with usual Vulcan flair. Followed by Major Walsh. Jack was his cool composure self, not smiling, but not grumpy either, just Jack. Oriana too a seat down by Harker and Jack, Next to Samantha. Last to arrive was Athena. Who arrived just at the stroke of 12. Keylor remarked to himself that she seems quite healthy looking. At least better than the week prior when she had been locked up in her room for so long. As he smiled at her, a though passed through his mind. Earlier that day, on his jog he had been enjoying the run with out a care in the world. Tat is until he happed to pass two women walking in the opposite direction. He had not though much of it until he had passed them and was about to turn a corner when he heard one of them say some thing. "See I told you. Right after the counselor. They must have something going on." Was all he heard before turning the corner and hitting the far wall. It was no surprise to him that a small ship like this had rumors. After all , being in such small proximity to each other it was bound to happen. But what stunned him was the fact that they ( the rumor mill) had come up with him and Athena. Sure she was a beautiful woman, but he had not really done anything to give people that idea, especially any thing in appropriate. Quickly he wiped the smile off of his face and looked back at his pad, hoping no one in the room was getting the same idea. Once Athena had taken a seat, the doors to the conference room opened once again. It was V'lek Sameron. He was pushing a cart with several plates on it. Keylor smiled, {Ah yes Lunch] he though. Looking over the group assembled he smiled. "Well as the chef is setting out your meal, Let me begin by introducing some of the new faces to our crew." Keylor motioned to Samantha. " This is LtCmdr Samantha Palmer. She is a specialist in Temporal Mechanics. She will be joining us on our next mission. " he then motioned to the Marine Captain. "And that is Marine Captain Harker. He is filling in as Helm officer while our venerable Lt York is on temporary assignment." As V'lek started placing full plates in front of each of the officers, Keylor started with what they were about embark on. Keylor reached forward and tapped on the console in front of him. The holoemmiter that was built in to the table lit up and a Nova class ship appeared. "This is the USS Gott. A Science vessel that was lost over 6 months ago. The survivors of the Gott reported the ship being commandeered by a Race called the X’chi. " He looked up and noticed Jack nod his head in recognition. "When the Gott was captured, it was conduction theoretical research in temporal mechanics in the Spinward marsh." Keylor tapped another button and a galactic map showed up. " The spinward marsh is a naturally occurring Phoneme that is riddled with pockets of temporal anomalies, hence why Ltcmdr Palmer has been assigned to us." He nodded to Samantha. "Or mission is to find the Gott, board her, and capture her if possible." He said pausing a moment. Jack the piped up, "And if we cant Si! r?" he asked. Keylor nodded, "If we can, we are to recover the data from the ships computer core and destroy her." He added. Jack nodded. "We will assume we can reclaim the ship. To do this we need to take three Key areas." Keylor tapped on the console and the Nova class ship reappeared and three markers appeared on it. " We need to take Maine engineering, the bridge and the computer core incase we are unable to reclaim the ship. By taking these Locations we should be able to control the systems of the ship and effectively eradicate the X'chi on board." Keylor then motioned to LT Foster. " I have asked Lieutenant Foster to come up with possible routs to these locations . He has spent some time on a nova Class ship and the most familiar with the layout." Keylor nodded to Andersen who then stood up and started going over the schematics. Now with a plate of food in front of him Keylor listened to Andersen and his suggestions on how to reach each area form the various docking ports and shuttle bay. Glancing about the table, he noticed no one had started to feast on their food. Picking up a grape form his plate, he pope don in his mouth and started chewing. Once Andersen sat down, Keylor then looked at Jack. "Major, three teams for the assault. We will take every shuttle we have to get the teams over there. You will fly one shuttle, Lieutenant Foster the Second and I will pilot the third." He said glancing over to Shane. Noticing a concerned look on Shane's face he knew instantly what shane was thinking. Keylor knew that after the briefing Shane would quietly protest the decision of the General, he would wait till later to address that decision. Looking back to Jack he continued, "Since Lieutenant Foster is familiar with the ship, I would like him to accompany the bridge assault team. Once they have secured the bridge, he can helpful in taking over the ships systems and using them to our advantage to clear the rest of the ship." Jack nodded silently. "Once the ship ahs been secured, we will determine what engineering support we need to prepare the ship for transport back to federation space." He said looking at McTaggert. Next looking over to Oriana he said. "science will need to help monitor Temporal anomalies. With the Marsh having so many of them, we will need to know where they are and how to avoid them. Work with LtCmdr Palmer on ways to detect them and find a way to relay the information to helm." Oriana nodded, "Aye sir" Picking up another grape and popping it in to his mouth, he paused while he chewed it and swallowed. "So that is the basics of the mission." He motioned around the table " Why don’t we go around the table and have everyone give a department status. And if you have any questions about the mission please ask." He pointed at Samantha. "After wards LtCmdr Palmer, could you give a little more detail on the Marsh and the research the Gott was conducting while we eat our lunch?" he said putting Samantha on the spot. Keylor then glanced over to Lt McTaggert, "lieutenant why don’t you start with the modifications that you have been working on recently." He smiled, easing back in to his seat, he listened as Sean spoke. One bay one the officers detailed their department's status, al the time Keylor nibbling on his lunch. <<OOC: ok the briefing as started Any one wishing to jl their part of the briefing please let me know. I will be happy to jl with any one. Engineering, Science and Oda have a big part in this plot. So please don’t hesitate to ask if you are unsure of your role or assignments.>> ===End Log=== BGen Bretam Keylor Captain