Stardate 69011.64 - Supplemental
Posted on 05 May 2019 @ 9:53pm by Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri
1,479 words; about a 7 minute read
[ON:]
“Science officer’s log supplemental stardate 69011.64. The Virginia shuttlecraft was just about ready for a hastily assembled away team when I got a call from the USS Trial. I tapped my comm badge too quickly and answered. They were having trouble with their primary sensor suite. It was kind of important and they have Engineers to fix that kind of stuff. That was the problem. The primary and secondary sensors were operating but only at thirty-percent resolution and no matter what they tried they could not bring up anything higher. They pinned the whole deal on when we linked our sensor grids together hours ago when we entered the Latari system. Galileo was outfitted with the latest build of the LCARS interface and the Trial was not. I have been ordered to the bridge of the Trial to attempt a reset back to specs and get the sensors back to full capacity.
That’s easier said than done. IF the primary and secondary arrays are both performing poorly then there is a real possibility that some of the new interface data has overwritten the older, stable sensor algorithms. Because I am one of the crew trained on the new sensor suite upgrades and everyone else is busy I am requested and required to report to the Trial and help sort out this problem.
I have handed over command of the away mission to Ensign Mimi and Chief Ghoc. This won’t take long but every minute counts on the away mission. After updating Captain Saalm on the surprise I am standing on the transporter pad and awaiting the beam over. Ah well. There will be plenty of time to see the beaches of Latari A III later. It’s not like anything is going to happen that is remotely interesting while I show off my sensor calibration skills.”
=== END OF LOG ===
Matthew took a breath and then a quick sigh. In his right hand he held a PaDD and in his left was a calibration delimiter probe. “Ugh. OK. Fixing sensors is not how I envisioned my away mission. Let’s do this. Energize” he said to the transporter operator. In a moment, the matter energy conversion was initiated and Plumeri was transported to the Trial in a swirl of light.
A dozen birds and strange, terrible beasts run away from the crashed escape craft. All is quiet. Then the hatch explodes and pops off sending the cover high into the air as the emergency explosive bolts blow the hatch off. Smoke rises from the cabin. Then, a hand reaches out of the lifeboat hatch and then the first person emerges. Then another, another and another. Ensigns Schantz and Hopper are among the Bentham survivors now on the surface of a planet that is in the process of being bombarded from orbit. There is not a moment to lose and they gather what they can.
Seven have survived. Meanwhile, high above them the battle rages on. Off in the distance, just barely visible on the horizon several vessels are approaching.
“Come on! RUN!” someone yelled as they tumbled out of the escape pod and landing into the muck. They saw the oncoming land craft speeding towards them. All seven of the Bentham crew were out of the pod. Shaken, terrified but still alive. Someone had grabbed a tricorder and was scanning the area. Someone else climbed back into the escape pod to fetch the small arms, field rations and to get anything else they could carry.
A set of digital binoculars was tossed into the hands of another crewman. He looked through to try and visually see who was coming. “What do you see? Report!” someone yelled from the other side of the escape pod.
“Two land craft approaching. I don’t know the design. Not Federation. The area is saturated with ionization and the upper atmosphere is on fire. Radiation levels are high. The orbital canons are…deadly to the surface…and to life. We’re going to need hyronalan treatments when we get back” the person said.
“Get back? Get back! Get back where?” they asked in fear and anger.
“SHUT UP! Both of you! I’m taking command of this team. How long until we have visitors?” Ensign Schantz asks.
“Three minutes” was the choking reply.
After a brief second, “OK. We fight. Stand our ground and defend the escape pod. There are two hand phasers. Here. You and me.” Schantz looks at another crewman and hands her a phaser. “Rest of you, get behind the escape pod for cover. Use the tricorder and find us some damn resources. They aren’t going to take us without a fight!”
High above their heads the sky burned. From horizon to horizon cascading debris fell to the ground as any ship that tried to break through was attacked. Hulks of metal rained down and their black smoke plumes traced their descent silently until they hit the surface. Booms and thuds dotted the soundscape and still these land craft approached.
“Here they come! Ready!” Ensign Schantz said as he gripped the hand phaser in a white-knuckle attempt to steel himself against what they all must have known would be a losing match. All the while the question of ”Why?” hung about their heads. Why was all of this happening?
The two craft slowed their approach. They were open air skiffs. They were driven by two drivers and each had two passengers. Both were armed. The skiffs came closer and slowed to a stop. The other skiff stopping a few meters further away. No one fired. The Nerviaii stepped onto the ground. They were speaking Nervi and the Universal Translator did not have a pattern matrix by which to use. It would take time.
Nervi sounded harsh. Abrupt. Crackling tones and deep guttural utterances. “Great. We’re going to have to do this hard way!” Ensign Schantz complained. “Cover me” he said as he stepped forward from his position.
“Stay back! We are armed. We are survivors from the Federation ship Bentham” he said as he stepped up and forward.
The lead Nerviaii looked at him with those large, black eyes of his. His lightly green and white skin with spots looked like very fine reptile skin. Slightly bumpy. He had two large black eyes with vertical slits in them like a cat. The iris was only a slightly lighter shade of black. They stood nearly seven feet tall (2.13 meters) and they were built muscular. They had the appearance of a hairless fox. Almost like a cross between a snake and a fox. They weren’t ugly or repulsive. But they were…different. They were all dressed alike. Uniforms if one had to guess. The Nerviaii spoke to Schantz but the UT did not yet have enough for even the most basic vocabulary. He had to keep them talking.
“I’m sorry. The Universal Translator is still trying to analyze your language. We are survivors from a Federation ship. Why is your planet under attack? Who are you? Can you help us?” Each question he asked a little more urgently. Each time he was met with still more static from the UT. Each time the lead alien stepped closer, a little closer, a little more irritated, a little more frustrated. Pointing to the sky. Speaking more gutturally, more insistently.
Ensign Hopper stood up from behind the escape pod and into view. “Put down your weapons!” she said to the other two survivors. “Put down…your weapons now!” she said.
“You’re not in command here Hopper!” Schantz replied nervously. “Stay back!” he said to the lead alien.
“And neither are you. They are and we need to get out of here.” Hopper said in a moment of unreal clarity.
From the skiff, one of the Nerviaii, called and for the first time the UT was able to make out a single, precious word. Amidst the snarl, the guttural, deep grunt and the harsh tones emerged…’friend’.
“Friend? You said…friend?” Hopper asked and Schantz hoped it was true.
The Nerviaii nodded, “Yes. Friend. Please, come…away we fly to conceal me what I am.” And a hand, open and weaponless was extended by the alien.
It didn’t take much more convincing and the seven survivors boarded the skiffs. As they sped away from the wreckage of the crash site they survivors thanked their lucky stars. Only Ensign Schantz said quietly to Hopper, “Did things just get a whole lot better? Or worse?”
[OFF:]
Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer – Historian
USS Galileo-A
NCC-80010
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