Pips Galore

Posted on Tue Nov 4th, 2025 @ 12:55am by Rear Admiral Jacob Hawks SMH PMV & Vice Admiral Mei Irizaki & Captain Ellis Thornwel & Captain Jack Reacher Jr

2,349 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Assembling The Fleet
Location: Starbase Liberty
Timeline: 2380 Present Day

((SB Liberty, Conference Room 1)

There was alot of pips on alot of collars in the room. The senior staff of the Sector, Task Force and the CO of the Station aswell as a half dozen of the Task Force ships COs were all in attendance. Hawks, as the Task Force CO, and notionally the second most senior officer in the room was scheduled to speak second at the meeting. In addition to those in the room a few ships COs were joining the mission via subspace on a large viewscreen as one end of the room. Someone, presumably the sector CO, announced that they wanted to get started.

The table was a long glass 16 seat table facing a wall of large curving windows that gave a view of a nearby proto stellar nursery which had 3 nearly stars forming only about 3 light years away. Hawks, not knowing what else to do, sat at the opposite end of the table from his counterpart VAdm Irizaki. After a few seconds he went and had a seat next to him. "Jack? Reacher? I must have missed a transfer order, had no idea you were assigned out this way." He smiled at his old friend he hadnt seen in several years. This assignment was turning out to be a bit a reunion for him and several former cremated from his past.

Reacher looked up from the data slate he’d been reviewing as Hawks slid into the chair beside him, his surprise quickly giving way to a grin.

“Hawks,” he said with a quiet chuckle, shaking his head. “Didn’t think I’d be seeing you again this soon — or in a room with this many pips.” He glanced around the long glass table, noting the collection of flag officers and captains filling the seats, the faint hum of the station’s environmental systems mixing with the muted conversation. “Vice Admiral Irizaki must have something significant lined up to bring the entire senior command roster together like this.”

"I'm second on the list of folks to give speeches. Nothing Earth shattering. A new unit, a few new long term missions, and me doing a change of command. If I read stuff correctly, might be announcing a projected completion date for the station here too." He tapped on a padd." How's the ship doing?"

He leaned back slightly, the starlight from the protostellar nursery glinting off the polished insignia on his collar. “Valiant’s running smoother than I could’ve hoped,” he continued, lowering his voice as he spoke to Hawks. “Brand-new Sovereign-class refit — every system rebuilt from the core up. New warp matrix, next-gen ablative shielding, integrated quantum torpedo systems, even an adaptive phaser grid that ties directly into the ship’s tactical AI. Starfleet Command didn’t just patch her up; they built her to be the benchmark for the post-Dominion War era.”

Reacher smirked slightly. “Makes my job as Task Force Executive Officer a lot easier when your ship can hold her own in a fight.”

"Task Force XO you say?" Hawks said with a smile, as he was going to be doing a change of command ceremony and taking over the Task Force in that very meeting.

He glanced toward the Vice Admiral at the head of the table, then back to Hawks. “Still, it’s good to see a familiar face. Feels like half the fleet’s command structure has turned over since the war — nice to know some of the best are still out here.”

Hawks raised his eyebrows at the comment. He knew he was good, still, it was always nice to see someone else acknowledge it.

Then, lowering his voice as Irizaki rose to begin the meeting, Reacher added with a faint grin, “Let’s just hope she’s not about to drop another sector-wide emergency on us. I just finished calibrating Valiant’s new deflector system — I’d rather not break it in that way.”

"Fair enough..." Hawks said.

Ellis was pleased to be aboard Starfleet's newest starbase, mainly for the R&R benefits, but the duties of command still required his attention. He entered the meeting room number, whatever it was; he kept forgetting, as there were so many on this deck. Smiling at everyone, he sat himself down waiting for the meeting to start.

"Well then," finally Vadm Mei Irizaki said, silencing the room. She looked around at every face, taking in their expressions. "Welcome everyone to Starbase Liberty."

She slowly rose to her feet standing at the end of the table. She was short and still looked very youthful, a trait of her El-Aurian genes. "For those who don't know me, I'm Vice Admiral Mei Irizaki. I've been in Starfleet from the very beginning. And when I say 'the beginnjng', I mean 'the beginning'." She looked around them again. "I've sat at tables with legendary Captain's over the many years; Jonathan Archer, James T Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Kathryn Janeway to name a few. Each one had their own style, their own way of doing things and cemented their names in the history books, one thing I can see you all here doing."

She remained standing as she continued to speak. "As you are all aware, you're being assigned to 'Task Force Liberty'. Its about time we got back to what Starfleet was designed and founded for. Exploration of space." Mei paused for a brief moment. "You've probably worked out that I'm not ordinary Admiral and you'd be very much correct. I will also be out there with you, commanding the Starship Madison. I have no intentions of sitting behind a desk sending you out at no risk to myself." She paused again. "I also highly promote that any of you can come and speak to me at anytime. But if it's early morning, at least let me get a coffee first. If it's late evening, we'll share a glass of something stronger. I've been everything, a Starfleet armoury officer, a Starfleet Captain's and now a Starfleet Admiral. But I've also been a wife, a mother and recently a grandmother. I like to think that this new Task Force is more than a collection of ships and people. Instead, we're a family and I happen to be head of that family." She looked over at Hawks. "I suppose that makes me the mother and Hawks gets the role of the father..." she chuckled. "Sorry Hawks, not my type I'm afraid, plus I am still married." She held up her right hand to show the wedding ring.

"Anyways, this is a meet and greet, so get to it. Don't just sit here looking all official. Meet each other. Help yourself to the replicator and have a proper ice breaker! No ranks for the remainder of the meeting." She gave them a grin before sitting down thus ending her little speech.

After a few seconds of hesitation people began looking around, then some stood and helped themselves to a drink. Each of the officers started introducing themselves one at a time.


Tag, insert her whoever wants to.

While the Captains of the Pheobe & Cosette played musical chairs, the baby-faced captain remained in his seat, taking a relaxed stance in his seat. Unlike the Admiral playing the usual "we're a family" speech, something he'd heard so many times during the war, Eliis went a different approach. "Captain Ellis Thornwel." He announced. "CO of the Midway since her construction in '73." He took a brief pause to see if any of his war hero stories made it into the 2380s. "Leader of The Convoy of 2375. Over two dozen cargo ships through the Argolis Cluster while being pursued by an entire battlefleet in the final push of the war... Without supplies, the Battle for Cardissan would have gone very differently."

The second to last person to introduce themselves was the yellowshirted Captain who was in charge of building the station, and until he declared it complete he would serve as the CO. The station was officially operational, but still under construction.

"Im Captain Russoli. Corps of Engineers Superintendant and Commanding officer until we finish construction. I can tell you all now that that day is fast approaching. I have checked with all my teams, and we are aiming to have the station declared complete within the next 1 to 2 months. Then we can pass the station off to you folks in the fleet. You'll notice construction crews leaving and permanently assigned staff arriving more frequently until then...but yeah, thats all I got. Its a pleasure to meet all of you...uh, don't come asking me about repairing your ship, me and my guys are station builders not repair crews hehe" he got some laughs out of that last one.

And that left Jake. Hawks had had a few minutes now to figure out what to say now that he had been outed as the 'Father'.

"Well I guess that leaves me. I'm Jake Hawks, I'll be the Task Force CO, if you're getting orders for a mission in this region of the Federation, they're either coming from me or were copied to me. I, like Admiral Irizaki will not be micromanaging you, we'll be performing our own missions as we have a full slate of priorities to look after and not nearly enough vessels. That being said, if any of you ever needs anything or runs into something out there, we're only a call away. We're on the frontiers out here and even though we will often beem operating on our own, the constricted region leading into the 'corridor' means you'll never be more then a day or so away from a base or another ship usually. If you need help, just asl for it, we gotta watch out for eachother out here....anyway, missions. Ill be taking the Cosette and the Baddeck on a regional patrol, at the apex the Cosette will be sent on a 6 months exploratory mission out thenither end of the corridor. We have the cross training with the Ferengi Doors class vessel you all seen docked outside I'm sure ((insert chip name if you want this one))...Parralleling the Cosette on the first leg of their exploratory mission is the ((insert name if you want this one)), I need a volunteer to take on the role of doing the diplomatic outreach mission to Nybarite Alliance space, it should take about month, if no one here wants that one well send the Pheobe..." he looked at his padd, "then all the various patrol and support missions throughout the region. Any questions?"

Ellis's lanky fingers were waved through the air. "Midway'll speak to the Nybarite Alliance." He declared. "We were transporting a junior politician from Angel I to Vulcan before a national emergency was called on a Federation colony. We're still set up for diplomatic functions."

"Excellent. I'll send the orders over tonight Captain Thornwel" Hawks, smiled and nodded.

"Captain Reacher how would feel about the Valiant"

Reacher looked up when Hawks called his name, setting his glass down and standing slightly to address the table. The faint hum of the station mixed with the quiet chatter that still lingered after the introductions. His posture was easy but deliberate—comfortable in command, yet respectful of the senior officers around him.

“Appreciate that, Admiral,” he began, giving Hawks a brief nod before turning his gaze to the rest of the gathered captains. “As Task Force Executive Officer, my role’s to make sure our ships, crews, and missions stay coordinated and supported. We’ve got a wide patch of frontier to cover out here, and while our orders might take us in different directions, communication will be what keeps this task force running like a fleet instead of a collection of strays.”

He paused for a beat, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Now, as for the Valiant—she’s just cleared her final shakedown after the refit. She’s a Sovereign-class in name, but under the hull, she’s practically a prototype. Every major system’s been rebuilt from the ground up after the Dominion War: regenerative shields, quantum-tuned phaser arrays, a new warp matrix core, and one of the most advanced AI-assisted tactical networks Starfleet’s ever fielded. She’s fast, durable, and built to lead.”

He glanced briefly toward the Vice Admiral before continuing, “Given her capabilities, I’d like to assign the Valiant to lead the extended-range survey and response wing. We’ll take point on recon along the corridor rim—surveying unexplored systems, testing long-range communications relays, and providing rapid-response capability if any of our ships out there run into trouble. Think of us as the safety net and the scouts rolled into one.”


Reacher folded his arms loosely, his tone steady but with an undercurrent of resolve. “We’ll also coordinate the inter-ship training cycles and field readiness drills. I want every crew under Task Force Liberty capable of operating with each other like they’ve been doing it for years. If something happens out there—and something always does—we won’t have time for introductions.”

Then, with a half-grin, he added, “That’s my plan, at least—keep us exploring, keep us sharp, and make sure the Task Force runs like a family, just like the Admiral said. Only difference is… we’ll be the ones making sure the family gets home in one piece.”

He nodded slightly to Hawks, then took his seat again, the glint of the Valiant’s insignia reflecting faintly under the room’s soft light.

"Works for me Jack. I dont know how much of a wing I can give you right now. But I'll assign a few Frigates over to get you started. I have a squadron on the Baddeck that specialized in performing as OpFor for training. Ill put you in touch the Squadron Leader and chop them to you as needed to help with training."

The chats and briefing carried on for another 20 minutes before everyone dispersed back to their duties.

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