Seeking New Life Part 2.
Posted on Sat Nov 21st, 2020 @ 9:44am by Lieutenant Commander Deannen Roinu & Lieutenant Commander Arianna Sky Kamar & Major Naomi Sylan Griffiths & Lieutenant Shri'Rao Sh'veqan & Lieutenant Commander James Trallos MD & Lieutenant JG Simon Hunter & Lieutenant JG Alex Dinter mr & Lieutenant JG Vespa Kale & Ensign Wulfgar Duergar & Ensign Paul Sleeford
Mission:
Survival of the fittest
Location: Bridge
[ON]
Frank spoke immediately," You found an inhabited planet? Is it warp-capable? Better yet, Helm adjust course heading, Science and Operations I want you to double-check the scan data, let's see what we're looking at."
oO A new planet? Oo. Shri'Rao thought alarmed. She scanned for any vessels in the area.
While she was not technically science Griffiths still at the science station "planet is Class M Captain, life-signs detected, but a closer look is needed to get a better reading "Lieutenant Dinter, the sensors are saying that there is some type of bio reading in the atmosphere, could you please come and tell me what I am seeing here?" Griffiths asked
"Yeah of course" Dinter replied. He had finally stood since the start of this shift. For some reason, it was taking forever. Dinter actually forgot how tall he was. As he supposed the rest of the crew did as well. To dinter Griffiths could've been considered the size of a barbie. "It would appear that is correct. However, we may need closer examination".
"I will leave the console in your capable hands Mr Dinter," Griffith's said backing away from the science console.
"Aye Sir," replied Simon as he tapped his console, He asked "Do you wish for a couple of probes to be launched Sir?", as he waited for the Captain's order, as Ensign Sleeford sat next to him watching and learning.
"Prepare the probes, let's give Mr Dinter a few more minutes to develop a better idea of what we are looking at," Frank replied.
Sleeford next to Hunter and watched over his shoulder as prepared two class five probes for launch.
Lt Rouni replied, " Adjusting course now Captain. We will be there in about 2 hours, Sir."
"Thank you, Commander," Frank replied quickly.
Wulfgar perked up and riddled closer to the ops station and peered over lieutenant Hunter's shoulder. New World meant possibly new technologies too. His PADD was in his hand and he was poised to take notes.
"Security, I want a yellow alert, just to be on the safe side, we don't want any surprises," Frank said to Sh'veqan.
Vespa gave a pair of giggles at Wulfgar. "As a Dalacari, I don't get to say this much, but careful not to crowd." she chided, but she meant well. All in good humour.
"Yellow alert Aye Sir," Shri'Rao said, signalling yellow alert status on her board. Phasers were charging and defensive screens came upon key areas of the ship.
Frank waited as the events on the bridge unfolded, it was more crowded than usual but seeing the activity and the ongoing training he rather enjoyed it. He enjoyed almost as much as he liked working on an engine. "Ops and Science do you gentlemen have anything further for us?
"Yes, actually Captain I believe it to be a human colony. Scanners detected human lifeform's and something even I can't make out completely." Dinter replied
"Sir, scans are showing that the planet has a moon," replied Simon as he turned his chair to face the Captain, He continued," I'd suggest we hide the ship behind it to mask our presence," as he knew that it would be better so that the planet below would have no reason or knowledge that they are being watched.
"Aye Captain will place us behind the moon, so we can avoid detection ", as Rouni manoeuvred the ship perfectly behind the moon. "Have the ship in Geo orbit behind the moon Captain. We can use shuttles if we need to take someone to the surface. And I suggest the shuttle be brought back to the ship to avoid detection as well. The radiation will likely interfere with transporters."
"Make it so Commander," the Captain replied.
His terminal dimmed a little as the lights around his office wall began to flash yellow. =/\= Sickbay to Bridge. Do we have trouble incoming?=/\= the doctor asked looking out his window seeing his staff already beginning to ready up.
=/\=Nothing impending at the moment, Doc. Just precautionary measures. We are moving towards an inhabited planet. =/\= Frank replied.
Rouni replied, "Captain we will be in the range of the long-range sensor in 15 minutes. May I suggest we take a look from the outside looking in as some on earth say."
"Absolutely Commander Rouni, begin scanning when ready," Frank responded.
Rouni replied, "Scanners activated and sending information to Science, Engineering and weapons for analysis. Also, ETA is 1 hour 30 minutes Captain."
Arianna was sitting at the engineering station keeping an intense eye on the functions of the ship while watching her young protege peering over the shoulder of Ops. Silently laughing she watched his enthusiasm. He wanted so bad to be her assistant it showed. A sudden flash of red caught her eye as she cursed silently. Now pay close attention, her hands skimmed the controls correcting the flow regulator on the starboard warp coil in the starboard nacelle. All it takes is one warp coil to screw up and the whole nacelle comes up out of balance.
Condition Yellow. Time to get serious. Vespa's twin forms returned their collective attention to the science station before her. They'd need her and her station chief's assistance soon enough, and when Rouni's scans started to pour in data, she'd need to parse it for quick responses.
Standing Sleeford moved to the rear Ops console to allow Lt Hunter room to work unimpeded, watching his screen he could see what Hunter was doing, making a few passes he took control of the less important systems to allow Hunter full focus on the probe's telemetry.
Jane having dropped off her cart had returned to silently take her usual seat near the Capt. The room seemed pumped with barely subdued excitement. Everyone had their game faces on. Jane made sure to try to pay extra attention.
Frank watched the viewscreen as the planet loomed larger, they were halfway to the planet when he spoke again, "Let's get another round of scans and release a probe."
"Captain I don't know that's a good idea. As I said earlier I detected an unusual anomaly. I could be wrong but I believe it to be hostile. I may need to take the S.S Cochrane to its surface and find out firsthand."
"My apologies Lieutenant Dinter, I seem to have been distracted. I don't want to send out a shuttle yet until we know who or what is on the surface," Frank replied.
"Aye, sir I suppose we can send the probe. I'm not too sure of what will be found but I suppose we can look" Dinter replied.
"Thank you Lieutenant Dinter. Has anyone seen anything yet to indicate whether or not they are warp capable?" The Captain asked.
Looking up from the screen he was monitoring Sleeford frowned slightly, "Sir, the information coming in is sketchy, there appears to be some sort of problem with the plant's atmosphere, can't make it out too well, from the data coming in they seem to be pre-warp, but there are traces of an antimatter explosion in the upper Mesosphere, which is contaminating the planet below." Turning back to his screen Sleeford continued to read, " Scans indicate the inhabitants of the planet are humanoid, roughly 2 metres high, and ... I can't tell from the probe data, but I think if these readings are right, there's a plague down there."
Wulfgar looked up from the panel he had been observing. "An antimatter explosion at that altitude would weaken the entire Ozone layer as well as spread gamma radiation. Weakened ozone would allow more solar radiation and other space-born contaminate to enter the planet's atmosphere." He said as he dissected the data. "An antimatter, an explosion would also mean that they are on the verge of warp technology." He turned and started typing calculations on an empty console. "Yes! There is a faint warp signature but it's low in the atmosphere. It would appear they had activated the warp drive inside the planet's atmosphere, Sir."
"An easy mistake to make for a society just figuring out what they're playing with. I advise caution." Vespa spoke up from the back science panel. "We're assuming they accidentally ruptured a warp..."
"... engine in their atmosphere. We shouldn't rule out the possibility that this was a weapon."
=/\=Doc, please come to the bridge immediately=/\= Frank said before turning to his XO, "Major, what kind of damage could an early warp engine do if it were weaponized?"
"Captain perhaps we should do a comms sweep and check for any distress signals," Jane suggested.
"We are already monitoring those frequencies Ensign Doe, but a pre-warp species wouldn't be radioing out because they haven't had the first contact yet," Frank explained.
Looks at the Captain "while I am not an engineer, I would assume that an early warp engine if not properly regulated for power transfers and such would have the same effect as a Matter Anti-Matter explosion, devastating and could damage sub-space if the explosive mix was correct, in a nutshell, if it were weaponized think Earth late 1945 Hiroshima and multiply the effects approximately fifty-fold, this is just a guess either way not good" Griffiths responded gratefully for the Captain trying to include her in things.
Frank nodded, "I was afraid you'd say that Major."
The doctor emerged from the turbolift a few short minutes after he was called. He had not been on the bridge in some time. He lab coat trailed behind him as he saw the planet of interest growing on the display. Everyone appeared calm on the bridge so he assumed nobody was injured. He looked at the Captain. "Is this another Tabula Risa? I'm hoping that was why it was important."
"I wish it were Doc, We seem to have found a pre-warp society suffering from an illness. Initial tests show it could be from weaponized warp engines set off in the atmosphere. almost reminiscent of nuclear fallout as it were," Frank explained. "We should be getting some in-depth atmospheric readings from our probe momentarily and I'd like you to weigh in with your opinion."
LT Rouni continued her duties as she slowly and methodically manoeuvred the ship keeping it on course and making preparations to bring the Penn into orbit. Helm always had to adjust for the difference in atmosphere and gravitational pull on all planets. " Captain we will be there in 30 minutes. I have made preparations for entering standard orbit based on the information we have."
"Outstanding work, the Commander, put us in a high-level orbit, we don't want to be spotted, they may try to launch one of those warp missiles in our direction," Frank replied to the Helmsmen.
Feeling depressed at her assessment Naomi sat down and felt her shoulders slump, while the tech speaks was guess works, the devastating effects of a weaponized warp core explosion were authentic, she remembered her basic engineering classes in school creating that much power and then not channelling it to engines or powering something up that energy would build exponentially and a major explosion would follow, these thoughts did nothing to lift her mood.
Jane didn't need to be an engineer or a weapons expert to understand just how bad this was. All those poor people. It was almost too much to comprehend. She could 'feel' the tension in the room the seriousness of what was playing out before their eyes. It was nearly thick enough to choke on. She noticed the Bajoran woman's posture Major Griffiths, Naomi. Her Blond head bent over her panels and interments, her shoulders slumped, and that sad look to her eyes. Jane was careful to keep out of the way of everyone else as she made her way over to put a comforting hand on the Majors shoulder as some small measure of comfort. It seemed the only problem in the room she was qualified to handle at the moment. The situation was really bad. Part of Jane wondered if she was doing it just as much for her own need to be comforted as she thought of the people struggling to live below. Jane couldn't understand the weapons of mass destruction. Couldn't understand how people could get so blind in their hate and destructiveness to kill their own planet and themselves along with it... It baffled her and broke her heart at the same time.
"Captain, the Major is correct. An antimatter explosion within the atmosphere would cause some type of radiation poisoning. Complied with the Ozone depletion and the fact that there would be other contaminants, would cause a pandemic of some type globally," Arianna stated.
"Doc is there anything we can without crossing the lines of the Prime Directive?" Frank asked concerned about the people below.
"That's tough to say, Captain. " The doctor said and walked behind the Major to look at her scans. "I will need some more details on what is exactly happening to the people. Then figure out how it's doing whatever it is to their specific physiology." He straightened up and looked back at the Captain. "Kobayashi Maru Captain, medical version, at least on the surface. It will be hard to get enough information for effective treatment and deliver it without violating the prime directive. We follow the directive, I violate my medical oath by letting people suffer if I could have helped it."
Frank stroked his thick beard and processed the Doctor's remarks before he could formulate a response, another suggestion was put forward by his Counselor.
Jane thought a moment and then asked. "Couldn't we locate and beam up one of their dead to survey and then return it of course. It wouldn't interfere with the living survivors and we could learn their basic DNA and physiological layout." Jane suggested. "Its splitting hairs but it doesn't go against the prime directive technically."
"Would it be interference to deploy something to process the radiation to an area they do not inhabit? The poles, or perhaps someplace..."
"... otherwise inhospitable? We have a policy of non-involvement when it comes to races behind the technological curve, but just sailing by..."
"... and allowing people to suffer and die because the cosmos says so is one thing, but if they opened Gabor's Box and weren't ready to see what..."
"... was under the lid, well... I mean it's a tough call. I really shouldn't be chiming in like this." Vespa offered, but then slowly stopped offering.
Jane bit her lower lip as she realized she shouldn't have jumped in either.
"While I do like the idea of studying a cadaver to get a good grasp on their physiology, which I admit is thinking outside the box before we do any grave robbing we would have to research to see if they have any philosophical or religious issue with exhuming a corpse of their people." The doctor responded. "While some races do not care what happens to their body postmortem, other cultures could find that desecration and we may be making an enemy and unwittingly violate the Prime directive."
"Assuming there is a body. Dalacari cremates our dead, for instance. Religious reasoning aside, we take up a lot of space. So ... yeah." she stopped for a moment.
"Short of stealth and blind boxing, I don't know how we'd study them well enough to know. At least in anything close to enough time to help."
Captain Kamar listened to the information and slowly processed it, "I want to get to the root of this virus, let's start by reviewing air samples, Operations, let's slide that probe a bit lower in orbit, Helm keep us in the shadow of their moon. Doc I want you and our scientists looking to see if we can neutralize or reverse engineer this thing."
Rouni replied, "Aye Captain, orbit established to keep the moon between us and the planet.
Arianna walked over to her husband, "I have an idea if you want to hear it, but it must be kept between you, me, and the XO for now," she whispered. Looking at him seriously. The Prime Directive was something you don't play with and anything that would compromise it would not be good, but what she thought of was done previously.
While the captain and others were discussing the situation, Sleeford turned back to his panel and began to run some extra scans of the planets surface, using the sensor on the saucers section of the ship, merging radio, inferred, sonar and lightwave data into one image he displayed it in the corner of his console, moving the image left to right slowly he began to build up a picture of the surface of the planet. reading the incoming data Sleeford began to formulate an idea, "Captain, Doctor do you have a second."
The doctor nodded."I'll be right there."
____________
Final tags
Continued Part Three
Major NS Griffiths
First Officer
Lt. JG Vespa Kale
Science Officer
Lt Shri'Rao Sh'veqan
Chief of Security
Ensign Wulfgar Duergar
Engineering Officer
Lt. Cmdr. Arianna Sky-Kamar
Chief Engineering Officer
Lieutenant James Trallos MD
Chief Medical Officer
LT Deanna Rouni
Chief Flight Officer
Ensign Paul Sleeford
assit Operations Officer
Ensign Jane Doe
Counselor