Shoreleave and Mission Prep

Posted on 2026, Fri Apr 17th, @ 8:18am by Lieutenant Commander Jep Fallo & Vice Admiral Jack Reacher Jr & Captain Dean House & Commander Cormac Situs & Lieutenant Daven Voss

934 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 1 "Operation Iron Justice" USS Halo, Star Base 113, USS Vigilance
Location: Sb 113
Timeline: MD3

Jep's newly assigned post as the Head of Flight Operations of Halo had him often manning the flight coordination console in the tactical cluster of consoles to the right of the command deck in the middle of the bridge.

"Hangar bay, Jackal Squadron is clear for launch on their training sortie. Have them contact 113 Docking Control for instructions. Bridge out." The newly promoted red tuniced Lt Cdr said into his earpiece comm. As he turned to face the centre of the bridge he noticed a Commander he didn't recognize on the command deck, and assumed it was the new XO they had been expecting. He wandered over to command deck as he saw her, F/Capt House and Cdr Situs congregating.

"Welcome aboard, Commander I presume?" The hotshot Grazerite Intel wonk, and pilot said.

Dean looked over a moment to the Officer coming to wards them and then back. A moment before he had given the basic sitrep to .

"I am." Ralen stood at attention with her hands behind her back. She looked around to take in the activity. "Where is the CO?"

Jep just smiled, "You just met him." He said as he motioned his head towards House.

Ralen's eyebrows raised, "My apologies I was expecting the Admiral."

"Sadly, our esteemed Admiral has a bit of legal trouble that will prevent him from going with us. And you too right Captain?" Fallo asked House, recalling seeing his name somewhere in the paperwork too.

"Just call me Judge House." The Fleet replied with a smile.

"So I guess you're looking for yourself ma'am." Jep just realized that Situs would likely move up to command the XO job, which meant he would move up to 2nd Officer, and thus have to run a shift and file even more reports and updates.

''This does appear to be the likely administrative reality, yes" Situs said as he was smoothing the front of his uniform jacket with two fingers. "Assuming the Fleet does not produce another surprise revision to the senior staff roster.”

As if on queue the comms officer reported that they were receiving a communique. Captain House and Commander Ralens presence was requested on the station, and a crop of newly assigned officers were ready to beam over. Including the ships new CO.

"Never a dull day on the flagship I suppose, sir." Fallo replied to the new temporary XO with a grin

Situs closed his eyes and exhaled. He hoped for at least ten consecutive minutes of clarity before the chain of command rearranged itself again. "The ship has shown a distinct talent for improvising its senior staff this morning. Mister Fallo, until we are told differently, I suppose we continue as though the next revision is already on its way. It usually is." In contrast to the chief flight officer, he himself felt like a fish out of water in his current temporary assignment.

"Indeed Commander, starting to seem like we're the glue that has to hold it all together while command deals with this court martial. Did you hear about it all, the Admiral just straight up cold cocked a foreign dignitaries security detail at a conference is what I heard." Jep's naturally extroverted nature would serve him well, though for the most part he was just facing it until he made it when it came down to his leadership capital aboard the flagship. He was an experienced pilot and had spent several stints working in small teams for Starfleet Intelligence for nearly a third of his career. And this would be his first tour as a member of a ships command staff ever. His last rotation on thebbridge of a vessel in the Fleet has been almost 4 years ago

As the discussion drew to a close, a call came in from the Stations docking control room informing him that a flight of runabouts returning from excersizes with TF17 was requesting docking clearance. He returned his console and contacted the Halo's Hangar. "Hangar deck, bridge, we have a flight of Volga class runabouts coming in for a landing, prepare to recieve them Hangar bay 2." After hearing the acknowledgement he contacted the duty office to send someone to relieve him, as that was likely the last of the launches or recoveries for the next few hours.

He went and checked on the new Helmsman at the front of the bridge.

"How you fairing Lt. Herys. Settling in well?" Fallo asked the Lt. JG.

"So far so good sir." He replied.

A few moments later the ships new CO, Rhyx Kade a few other new officers arrived on the bridge. Fallo saw the man emerge from the turbo, and thus called out, "Captain on the Bridge."

Lieutenant Daven Voss stepped onto the bridge of the USS Halo alongside Captain Kade, his first time aboard the ship that was supposed to have been his original assignment weeks ago. The irony wasn't lost on him—he'd been promoted to Lieutenant specifically for staff intelligence work at Starbase 113, only to end up exactly where he was initially supposed to be: deployed on a ship conducting operational intelligence missions.

He'd spent the transport over reviewing everything he could access about the missing vessels—four ships in two weeks, including the USS Belleau Wood, a Saber-class with full crew complement that had simply gone dark mid-transmission. The pattern was concerning. The lack of debris fields was more concerning. And the fact that they were being sent to investigate near the edge of their Area of Responsibility, close to Talmakian and contested Romulan territories, suggested this wasn't just search and rescue.

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