That We Might See (Part 6 of 8)

Posted on 22 Feb 2019 @ 6:29pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Ensign Mimi & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Captain Hiroshi Tanakata & Commander Teegan Jones & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Cadet Senior Grade Jemima de la Coeur
Edited on on 22 Feb 2019 @ 6:33pm

3,814 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A, Latari System
Timeline: MD 01, 0310 hrs

Previously, on That We Might See (Part 5)...

The captain's voice came over the comm and interrupted the chatter among the medical team. "Sickbay, bridge. Report. Do you have the survivor? Are they alive?"

Allyndra walked away for a moment but before she did she looked to Wylde and LoveGood. "See what you can get from him on how he came in this state and what happened. " She then went a distance away and answered the call.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 1 - Bridge

Back in the starship's primary command center, the captain kept a close eye on all her assets. She monitored the movements and analyses of the bridge crew from the corners of her eyes while taking in an enormous amount of astronomical data being updated and refined in real-time on her console. The transporter quarantine warning had finally ceased and Saalm was anxious to receive an update.

She tapped the small metallic commbadge on her breast. "Sickbay, bridge. Report. Do you have the survivor? Are they alive?"

"Yes captain, we have the survivor but the prognosis is very poor. There is some sort of odd silicone infection that..." she did not know exactly how to put it. She took a deep breath, "It would appear that the infection is somehow changing the biochemistry or taking over or something. Nothing like I have ever seen. I think it is only a matter of time and not much at that before we loose the patient. We are trying to keep his mind active as long as possible to gain any information we can. I will update when we have more."

At operations, Ryan sent the override command to deactivate the USS Franconia's distress signal.

While waiting for any updates, Amaranai began to look at the data coming through the sensors. She scanned the debris field of the Franconia. Using information that she had acquired, she began to look at various pieces of the hull in an effort to reassemble it, if only on a computer screen.

In doing this, Amaranai located several blast points on the hull and began to scan them closer. Her eyes widened as her console revealed the results of its scan.

"Captain," she said. "It appears that the Franconia was hit by some type of tetryon/plasma weapon."

She pulled up images onto the screen.

"Whatever it was, the Franconia took a lot of hits."

On the main viewscreen was now a collage of magnified images from the Steamrunner-class' debris. Lirha stood from her chair and walked forward down the small steps to stand directly behind Darius at the fore of the bridge. What she saw, now in more detail, were concentrated impact zones across the vessel's deuterium-tritanium outer hull composite near the primary deflector pylons which also supported the warp nacelles. One nacelle was missing, and the deflector array was operationally destroyed yet still hanging by several main struts to the other engine.

The damage to Franconia'a hull plating appeared surprisingly light, but Lirha realized this was likely due to the nature of tetryon weaponry. As a subspace energy-based weapon, it was extremely effective against most forms of electromagnetism yet poor at penetrating dense carbon elements. In effect, this meant tetryon weapons could easily drop a starship's deflector shields but were ineffective at causing instant, direct damage.

"Captain," Ensign Ullswater interrupted the captain's train of thought "Tetryon weaponry is frequently employed by the Tholians and the readings that I'm seeing from the remains - they are consistent with Tholian weapon signatures."

The captain's private study of Starfleet Intelligence tactical analyses had always corroborated the Tholian's traditional use of tetryon weapons. And when Sofie confirmed it, Lirha's eyes narrowed as she suddenly noticed a giant hole on the dorsal section near Franconia's bridge module. A large circular depression could be seen where a plasma torpedo had impacted and detonated, imploding the vessel's superstructure and any crew members in the vicinity.

"She was torpedoed..." With urgency, Lirha summoned her yeoman to the bridge. "Jeysa, report to the bridge immediately."

=/\= On my way Captain.=/\= came the response.

Remaining seated in the executive officer's chair, Lake ir-Llantrisant continued to familiarize himself with the command panels on either side of him. While Galileo remained in, relatively, limited danger, he made certain he was aware of the status displays and operations overrides that were available to him -- should the need arise. Periodically, he glanced up at the viewscreen. As the destruction of the Franconia's bridge became evident on the screen, Lake reflexively gripped the edge of his chair and craned his head back to look up at the overhead.

Within a minute Jeysa arrived at the bridge and stepped down beside the captain's chair. "Captain," she said making her presence known.

Saalm quickly took notice of the young Trill yeoman and acknowledged her. "Petty officer, make a note in the ship's log and transmit to Starfleet as a Priority One communication," she began, the urgency clear in her voice. "Stardate 69008.5; USS Franconia destroyed by enemy action, likely Tholian; Latari B III colony site destroyed -- cause unknown and survivors unknown; One survivor retrieved from Franconia; Update in thirty. End."

Jeysa pulled out a PADD as soon as she heard Lirha say 'make a note' and quietly repeated the message to herself as she copied it to the PADD. "Aye Sir." Turning, she stepped over to a unoccupied station and started the log entry.

Lirha turned on her heels and grit her teeth while she walked back to her chair. "Red alert, all hands to stations," she loudly ordered then looked to Lake again as she sat back down next to him. "Whoever did this might still be out there. With our sensors degraded, it would be easy to achieve a tactical ambush," she explained, hoping he shared the same instinct.

He nodded at her assessment, his jaw set in a grim expression. "We don't know exactly what's happening on the planet, Captain. Discovering what happened to the colonists is our top priority, clearly," Lake said, but he sounded like he was trying to convince his own self. "...Otherwise, I would be recommending retreat right about now."

Throughout all of Galileo's decks, the red alert klaxon started to blare in repeating intervals. The overhead lighting dimmed to allow the bright crimson warning strobes to pulse and illuminate the surrounding bulkheads. Starfleet had long deemed the emergency alert lighting to be the most optimal, for it naturally illuminated the most critical console displays and holographic projections.

Red Alert - The words echoes through Ullswater's mind as loudly as the warbling alarms. As the lights dimmed and her screen became comparatively more illuminated she tried to take stock of the situation just as every academy drill had taught her. Thing was though, in those drills the only thing that you had to worry about was looking bad to the instructors but here it felt like the line between life and death was making itself known. The ensign found herself freezing up, the sound of the alarms grew distant. She closed her eyes and tried fight the rising fear.

Ryan steeled himself as red alert was called. He couldn't help be reminded of the battle at the Paulson Nebula. He glanced over at the captain knowing that she would do her best, just as she had done in the nebula. Pulling himself from his revelry, Ryan focused on bringing up several ship status displays on his LCARS, making sure to have the information that would be useful in the event of an engagement.

When the red alert sounded, Matt checked the master situation display (MSD) by accessing another terminal. He left this one up and running as the ship came to red alert. Red alert always made his blood pressure go up.

The captain thumbed the comm switch to contact the astrometrics lab down on Deck 7. "Commander Blake, we've detected Tholian weapon signatures in Franconia's debris," she briefed. "Short-range scans are clear for now, but I don't know how much time we have to loiter and gather data from orbit. Whoever did this could still be out here."

There was a short break in the transmission while Lirha considered the sanity of what she was now about to order. "I want you to take a science team in the Waverider to gather the data we need from the colony site. We have to find out what happened here and why. Those are our orders. Vincenzo is our largest support craft and it's specially designed for atmospheric flight and surface analysis. Choose your team at your discretion and prepare to depart in fifteen minutes."

Her green thumb came off the comm button then she finally looked back to Lake. "Retreat is a luxury we can barely afford. If we fail, Starfleet won't send a third rescue mission. Any hope of finding out what happened here will be lost. And all the lives sacrificed on Franconia will be for nothing."

"No objections from me, Captain," Lake said, looking to her intently for a moment to communicate his conviction. When the moment passed, he snapping his gaze back at the forward viewscreen. "There may come a moment, though, when we have to reconsider the option of retreat." -- He lowered his voice -- "I have to hope we'll take notice faster than the crew of the Franconia."

"Hopefully," the captain quipped back, not pleased at the idea of backing out from their own Federation territory. "Science, is there anything you can make out on the surface from our current position? Life signs or energy signatures?" Lirha asked.

There'd been nothing before, but with all the weird radiation and odd readings, it was worth taking another look from this new position. Jemima scanned the planet again, with the same result. "Negative, ma'am. Still no life signs."

Ensign Ullswater still feeling distinctly distant and detached from the horrific consequences of the scans displayed on her screen tried to make some sense of what she was seeing in a way that she could report on. "It's still somewhat of a mess captain." Her voice sounded fragile and it betrayed her uncertainty. "There is a lot of surface radiation all over the site where the colony was. That along with the unusual tectonic activity... It's a mess, just a mess."


USS Trial - Bridge

In space above the planet, the larger Miranda-class light cruiser held a precise orbital formation with Galileo with a 1 km separation. When the smaller Nova II-class' primary shields and weapons came online, the nearby energy signatures emitted were significant. Within USS Trial's bridge, several warnings lit up on the LCARS displays.

"Sir, I am getting indications that the Galileo has gone to red alert," the comm officer announced. Tanakata was caught with a bit of surprise. The Trial was at yellow currently.

"Contact the Galileo's captain and ask just what the heck have they found." He turned in his seat with a questioning look to his pretty blonde executive officer. "Number One," he said with a bit of grim look, "best call a red alert as well, put shields up."

"Aye, sir." Teegan pushed the red alert button. "Tactical, increase scans for traces of other ships in the area. Communications, open a channel to the Galileo."

A comm chirp sounded then Saalm's voice came over the Trial's bridge speakers. "Trial, Galileo actual. We just analyzed the blast damage to Franconia and found large traces of tetryon and plasma particles. It's consistent with Starfleet's known analysis of Tholian combat systems and her bridge appears to have been torpedoed by a plasma weapon." There was a slight delay before Trial's consoles lit up again with new incoming images from the Galileo to help prove the theory.

Hiroshi acknowledged and nodded as he got the data. "Captain Saalm, I know we are here for escort duties but might I suggest we move a bit further apart. Just in case something shows up a bit harder to target."

"As long as we maintain section integrity," the Galileo captain responded. "Don't leave us alone here because you're off chasing sensor ghosts."

He turned again and told his executive officer as the red lights and shields came up, "Sound general quarters. Break the linked science scans with the Galileo. We might have Tholians in the area from the data and I do not want to be caught unaware."

Jones nodded her head in acknowledgement of his orders. She opened a ship-wide comm channel. "All personnel, general quarters. Repeat, all personnel go to general quarters."

She pulled up the science link and cut it. "Science scans are unlinked."

"Thank you Number One. Put everything we got to scanning for any signs of other ships, or for that matter, anything unusual at all."

Jones nodded to the captain.


USS Galileo, Deck 4 - Forward Docking Port

Blake had taken her journey to the docking port to process Saalm's orders. It was more than just a risk, but she knew why she had to do it. She supposed she should just be grateful that Lirha hadn't wanted to lead it herself. Shaking her head lightly to herself, she tapped her comm badge. "Blake to Mimi, we're taking the Waverider down to the surface of Latari B III, our away team is going to need to be kitted out for both a scientific and possibly hostile exploration."

Scarlet looked around as she came to a stand still in the middle of the deck, the slightest of frowns on her features. The hellish vision they'd seen down on the surface...something so out of place happening at the same time as the destruction of one of their ships? But where did it fit in? Especially with the Tholian signatures. She put the puzzle aside for the moment, tapping her badge again. "Blake to Sandoval, Shizn and Rice, report to the Waverider's docking port, we're taking it down to the surface of Latari B III...Sandoval, choose another member of your science team to come with us."

"Yes, ma'am." Marisa turned to T'Lin. "We'll need your expertise, too."

The science officer tapped her commbadge. "Mr. Plumeri, you're in charge of Astrometrics. I'll be back." Then she headed to her office to grab what she needed to take with her.

T'Lin was not so sure about that. It was a bit out of her field but she made no protest only nodded and then went about getting equipment. The Waverider while having some cargo capacity would not be for a full set up. This would be more to see closer what was going on. Links could be set to the Galileo's sensors that were having trouble and also the higher processing ability.

Tris quickly made his way down the passageway on Deck 4. He hadn’t minded at all helping out the science and astrometrics department, but this was much more his desire to participate. At the access port, the Andorian quickly confirmed that the Waverider was secure and all seals were in place and airtight. Over his shoulder he saw several others coming down the passageway. The rear entry was opened and Tris quickly entered the runabout.

T'Lin guided a smaller grav sled with the selected equipment and entered the craft. She pushed the sled toward one wall so it would be out of the way. Instead of the science station just in front of the transporter she decided for now that the sensor station inside the main crew compartment would be the best spot. The two stations could cross talk and sensors especially going down to a planet in turmoil would be higher priority right now. She made a nod of the head to the Andorian pilot and the faintest of a smile crossed her lips. Though Vulcans and Andorians had a history with each other, she was determined to make sure that what had happened in the past was just that past.

Tris saw the Vulcan Doctor acknowledge his presence, but she seemed a bit hesitant. He wasn't sure why, and this was definitely not the time to ask. He continued to prep the Waverider for flight.

Marisa had two packs, one on each shoulder, as she boarded. "Hello again," she said to Tris and T'Lin as she stored her packs and took a seat at the science station.

Shizn glanced over his shoulder and replied, “Hello Lieutenant Sandoval.” He noticed her burden and added, “If you need any help with that, just let me know.”

"Lieutenant, I can help as well," T'Lin offered just a moment after Tris. "That is," she figured best to not look like she was not stepping on toes added, "my function here is minimal until we launch." That was a true enough statement. Tris would be the center pretty much of getting the Waverider detached and then piloting down through a very turbulent atmosphere.

"Thank you both," Sandoval replied. "I'm good for now, but I may take you up on that offer when we get to the planet."

Focusing on the runabout controls, Marisa’s words brought a smile to Tris’ face. He knew her to be a confident individual and no ‘real’ need for their assistance.

A few minutes after the call Mimi came through the doors to the Waverider's docking bay pushing an antigrav cart loaded with gear for the away team. "Here you are Commander." She said to Scarlet as she started to lug boxes towards the Waverider. "Phasers, tricoders, survival gear, a couple of EVA suits."

Marisa came out of the Waverider. "Do you need help loading the supplies?" she asked.

"I've got it," Blake shook her head with a frown, already moving to help Mimi get the equipment unloaded. The ex-Marine in her was already lamenting the arsenal they had at their disposal if Tholians made an appearance on the planet.

Aria Rice came running in, a bag over her shoulder and her weapon ready. She looked over at the others, straightening. "Rice reporting," she said, offering no excuse as to why she was late than others. She moved over to help, her face serious.

Having handed her bridge command off to Lake several moments ago, the captain emerged from the turbolift on Deck 4 and walked straight toward the Waverider's specialized docking port. Located in the middle of the primary hull, it was a rarely used yet well-secured area of the starship. Lirha input her authorization code into the dorsal airlock's terminal then climbed down the steps after it slowly slid open. There, she saw the various assembled crew including her XO, as well as two crew members already down inside the hatch.

T'Lin caught the captain entering and came to attention. "Captain on deck," she said loud enough, but with that cool Vulcan added. It was just enough to let everyone know without shouting as Humans tended to do.

"At ease," Saalm acknowledged. "We might not have much time to survey this system so we're on a tight schedule," she began. "Galileo and Trial will proceed to the second colony to collect more data. We'll drop you off here, conduct our survey, then retrieve you in six hours. We need to find out what that geological event on the surface is, how it happened, and find any survivors from the colony...if they're still alive."

Tris listened intently to the captain’s comments and instructions. They were ready to launch ‘at her command’.

The Orion then pulled her PADD from her belt clip and looked over a small sheet of sortie data. "You have enough stores for both atmospheric and surface analysis, as well as emergency rations for seven days. Ensign Mimi will configure a utility probe to deploy in low orbit to help boost your communications while we're in the other system. Comm check-ins will be expected every hour. If you miss three windows in a row, we'll send a rescue team." Lirha stopped and looked across the others' faces, privately knowing the risk the entire away team was about to undertake. "Any questions?"

Tris now turned to fully face his captain. He had great confidence in her and her decisions. Everything he had confirmed with the vessel and the intended landing site had checked out, so far. He had no problems and answered confidently, “No ma’am.”

"No captain." Mimi replied then quickly left to go to the torpedo room.

"No, ma'am," Marisa said. Her two packs, along with what she saw on T'Lin's cart, and what the Waverider had on board, she should have what she needed. Hopefully.

T'Lin did not say anything but in her mind from the initial scans anyone surviving from that colony was probably very close to zero. The Waverider was tough, but with ejecta having bits of core material in it meant that even many hundreds of kilometers out that the disturbance was well beyound the limits of the structural integrity.

"No questions; mission and orders understood," Blake confirmed firmly, nodding to Lirha as she met her eyes. It was a grim and complex task ahead. The timeframe only increased the pressure. One thing was certain, if there was any chance at all that someone was alive down there, they'd get them home.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Allyndra Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer/2XO
USS Galileo-A

ENS Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

LT Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO2 T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

LTJG Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

LT Amaranai Franklin
Deputy Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

LT Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

ENS Ryan Alexander
Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

CDT(SR) Jemima de la Cour
Scientist's Mate
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

LTJG Tris Shizn
Senior Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

CAPT Hiroshi Tanakata
Commanding Officer
USS Trial
[PNPC Warraquim]

CMDR Teegan Jones
First Officer
USS Trial
[PNPC Sandoval]

ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Aria Rice
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

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