Full Staff Briefing, Typhon Expanse Intel (Part 2)

Posted on Wed Apr 30th, 2025 @ 5:59pm by Captain Remy Johansen & Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acainus & Commander Maxun Spello & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Lieutenant Commander Eirly Andersen & Major Clay McEntyre III & Lieutenant Xalanth & Lieutenant Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Chrysanthe Capulet & Lieutenant Commander Phaedrae Cyn

2,035 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Gone, Without Ever Knowing the Way
Location: Conference Room, USS Astrea
Timeline: MD 02, 0230 hours (After Part 1)

Daynah stood up and walked toward the head of the table. With a few quick taps on the console an image of the spacial grid surrounding the Typhon Expanse appeared. "I should inform you all that the information I have is both first hand and not first hand. One of my previous hosts Captain Alaryc Ral of the USS Valor. During his command he spent a number of years within the Expanse mapping it. His memories are my memories." It felt a tad awkward having to explain things in such a way for Daynah. But, it could not be helped.

With the formalities out of the way she continued. "The Typhon Expanse is a large area of space that contains a number of temporal anomalies. These anomalies cannot be mapped as their locations are random and constantly shifting. Some of these anomalies can send a ship forward or back in time. Some can temporally lock a vessel in a loop. This is something that occurred to both the USS Bozeman and USS Enterprise-D." As she spoke she shifted images on the screen for the rest of the crew to see. Now it showed various diagrams of such anomalies as she spoke of. "It is possible that our enemy seeks to trap us. It is also possible that they seek to use these anomalies to change the timeline in some way. The USS Bozeman jumped ninety years into the future in an instant due to one of the temporal anomalies. Captain Ral discovered that if you use an inverted chronoton pulse from the deflector dish while passing through the expanse you will see the anomalies about five to ten minutes before you collide with them. This is just enough time for a course correction."

Nash knew exactly how to do this and spoke up next. “We can make the adjustments for the chroniton pulse. I would need to re-align the harmonic regulators, but the entire thing shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.”

"Assuming the anomalies are stable," the Captain gently reminded him. "I don't know that temporal shielding will protect us if we found ourselves inside a wormhole, but it might keep us from tearing open a bigger rift if there is an identifiable variant." Temporal mechanics was not Remy's favorite subject by far, but the Voyager had brought back a lot of new technology in the field upon its return from the Gamma quadrant.

“That’s definitely so. Captain, we’re lucky enough to have a young, talented, specialist to work with the slipstream. I’m confident enough to he’ll be able to keep us protected,” Nash added.

The Captain nodded, "I'm glad your department is coming together, Nash. That will be helpful, this bit of space may be our biggest challenge so far."

Remy turned back to her Operations Chief, eager for more first hand knowledge if there was any.

"Lieutenant Ral, anything else? Does anyone live there that we know about that would give us trouble?" Remy asked. "That might have given a stranded ship trouble?"

"There are no known species that reside within the Expanse. However, due to its temporal anomalies and other celestial oddities it is often used as a smuggling route and location to operate undetected. The Typhon Pact of 2381 was signed within the Expanse. At the moment the Bozeman was lost into time it had alerted Starbase 12 of an impending Klingon attack. I believe that you can consider the Typhon Expanse much like the Badlands. Not a great place to live, but a great place to hide something large." Daynah spoke softly but concisely. She attempted to drive the danger that the Expanse represented home to those around her.

Maxun looked over at the Captain, "I know that my people spent centuries studying spacial anomalies all over the galaxy. I'll reach out to them and see if anything about the Expanse survived the destruction of my homeworld by the Borg."

"Thank you. I'm not sure how accurate things might still be after millenia, but if we're talking temporal anomalies anyway, I suppose time is irrelevant. Or is it relevant. Relative." Remy closed her eyes in mild annoyance. She'd rather be dealing with the bioweapon problem than a potential temporal disturbance.

Maxun grinned softly. "For a species as long lived as mine, time can seem to be both. And we had discovered the existence and possibility of traveling backwards or forwards through time, nearly a hundred thousand years ago. And, even then, it was deemed to be too dangerous to pursue. It is too easy for the wrong person to change something in the past, or learn of something that could happen in the future and make it work to their favor." He scowled slightly as he added. "It's one of the few things that my people and the Q agree upon."

"And it's Starfleet's position too. We'll need to be extra cautious," Remy agreed.

"Lieutenant Capulet, if this area is as full of spacial and temporal anomalies as we're hearing, we're going to be relying on you and your department quite a bit. What do you need?" Remy asked.

Chrys considered it. "Computer space. And I will need to calibrate some spaital probes for launch and retrieval." The Chief of science replied after a moments thought. "And a shuttle with additional shields and extra sensors for up close work when needed."

"Commander Spello, do you have a ship that you'd recommend for this? I'm sure Mr. Razka would volunteer the Holana, and it has been heavily modified. But I know one of our pilots requisitioned some new vessels to upgrade our fleet not that long ago," Remy asked.

Maxun considered the options, then replied. "I suppose this could be a good first mission for our new Spartan Class runabout, the Porthos, Captain." He pressed a few controls into his interface and an image of the new auxiliary craft, along with a brief description of her abilities popped up as a hologram, floating over the center of the briefing table. "We haven't had the chance to give her a full shakedown yet, but, this could be just the mission to use her on."

"Let's get it prepped for a quick transition to temporal shielding with their deflector arrays if needed, then," Remy nodded. "And whatever else, Lieutenant Capulet needs. Commander Andersen, manage workflow needs among the departments and make sure that project gets handled."

Chrys nodded calmly making notes on the PADD before her. She knew her team would be up to the task.

"Lieutenant Xalanth, since I'm going to need Commander Andersen to help with managing some of the other projects, are you able to take point from security on working with Operations to see what else may need to be adjusted in terms of Astrea's shielding as we enter the expanse?" Remy asked.

"Lieutenant Ral, I may need you to hand over the cartography reigns to science, even though you have a lot of information already. They can start using long range sensors to verify that there haven't been any significant shifts, while you work with Xalanth and Winters to get the ship ready." The Captain looked to Ral for confirmation that her proposal was an acceptable plan of action.

"Yes, captain," Xalanth replied calmly from his seat. " I'll make sure are shields will be ready for entering the expanse. "

Daynah stood for a brief moment in silence. Her mind processed the idea of going into the Expanse again. It was not something her and Ral wanted to do. Yet, it seemed that it was something that needed to be done. Her gaze lifted to meet the Captain's as if she had settled some sort of internal argument. "I will make sure that Lieutenant Capulet can have access to Captain Ral's logs. There may be some fruitful information there. As I said the Captain managed to keep the Valor safe for quite some time in the Expanse. Yes, Captain I will assist Commander Winters, and Lieutenant Xalanth. With your permission Captain I would like to keep an isolated record of what proceeds from this point on. If there are any changes to the timeline as we proceed this record can give us information that may otherwise be lost."

"Of course. In fact, I'd encourage it," Remy agreed.

"Thank you Captain." Daynah said with a smile that covered some of the trepidation she felt. She opened a tricorder and set it to openly scan. She placed it in a pocket and allowed it to scan. The idea was that this data would feed to an independent computer in the Operations office. One that operated independently of the main computer core.

"Okay, I just wanted everyone informed, since by the time you reported in tomorrow we'd be on an unusual course. Thanks everyone, go back and get some rest. Commander Spello and I will start having Delta shift work on getting the extra resources requested reallocated so that science and operations are good to go in a few hours." Captain Johansen stood as she relieved the senior staff.

Remy held up one finger as she made some final points to a few select officers. "Major and Lieutenant Cyn, if you can stick around for a moment, we'll need to figure out if we're doing anything on Freecloud before we leave."

“Yes, Ma’am” Clay said. His tone was more hostile than normal, feeling more than angry over his command decisions being questioned and ignored, undermined. He didn’t let that show on his face though as he resumed his seat at the briefing table.

The Captain then caught Osirin's attention, "And we'll need a report from you by 1300 today. Make that a priority. We'll schedule a debrief once we've had a chance to review."

"You'll have it on your PADD by 1200. I have the sequence of events in my head I just have to get it down in words. We can debrief when I'm done. "You won't be disappointed. At least I hope not."

The Captain nodded at the Akadian officer. "Good, I'll look forward to reading it. We'll touch base tomorrow."

Maxun stood near Remy as the rest of the senior staff, minus those who were staying, left the conference room. Remy took a breath in as the others left. Her adrenaline kept her going in times like these, but she worried about pushing her crew too hard.

As everyone filed out, Eirly stayed behind and walked to stand by the Captain and Commander, "Once everyone is gone, I hope I can please have a word with you both? I have a proposal I'd like to discuss."

"Absolutely, please stick around," Remy nodded.

Captain Remira Johansen
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea