The Perimeter (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on 19 Mar 2013 @ 2:40pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Amril & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Dawn Meridian & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Corynn'tha M.D., Ph.D. & Warrant Officer Evan Kell & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Crewman Athlen & Vincent Kramer Ph.D. & Raifi Zaren & Justin Baker

3,817 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Bridge, Various
Timeline: MD 03 - 2055 hrs

Previously, on The Perimeter (Part 1)...

Pulling up a database of interstellar life onto her screen Kiri started to cross reference the readings they were getting. There were some things that were starting to come in clearer now. They weren't composed completely of normal matter, some parts seemed to even fluctuate between matter and antimatter. High levels of Boron seemed to make up some of its basic chemistry, but she wasn't really a biologist or even a chemist. They were gaseous, but the energy readings were similar to a few lifeforms they had encounter before. Forwarding the data she had back to the primary terminal along with a shortlist of possible matches Kiri kept quiet, but was a little more interested.

Jacob looked over at Kiri as she made her reports, she sounded sad or upset. He made a mental note to ask her about things later. He continued to do some deeper research into what they were viewing.

Evelyn looked around the bridge at how gazing the reaction of the crew to the recent events. She bit her lower lip, turning to her station controlling the urge to laugh.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

"Sensors are not detecting any known tactical or defensive protocols," Jeremy said, scanning his board while ordering the loading of the torpedo tubes and prepping the phasers. "Still, recommend raising shields and preparing a tactical response." He stared at the viewscreen, watching the 'clouds', almost fascinated by them. "However, possible engine signatures would be dissipated much quicker due to the Rojar system's denser gravity well. I estimate we can only say for certain that we are the first ship to arrive in the last day."

"I'm detecting no known method of communication so far," Kell spoke from his spot at the mission ops station, and shrugged to himself. Maybe it wasn't known. How quaint. "Same goes for a comm signal, could be dropping off." He shifted another bar at the terminal in front of him downward.

Evelyn couldn't fight it anymore and burst out laughing. She tried to keep her laughter down by covering her mouth but the crew's reaction left her with a giggle fit. "My word, I'm on a ship full of voyeurs," she laughed, shaking her head.

"Calm down Miss Coleman - we still have a duty to do here. Mr Stone hold off on the shields and weapons right now - if this is indeed a lifeform let's not look hostile unless we absolutely have to," John replied, smirking a little at Eve's response to the situation. As per usual it was well outside the expected reaction of a Starfleet officer, but the XO had come to learn that Coleman didn't always act the way she should.

Evelyn turned in her seat to face the Captain and Holliday, "We're observing two Calamarain entities being intimate with each other, Sir." Eve shook her head, "I recommend we keep a safe distance...they don't like being disturbed." She chuckled turning back to her station. "The Federation still has a lot to learn about what's out here."

Kramer turned away from Cmdr Coleman and rolled his eyes, Biologists and their pets. he thought, then revised his setting on his console to look at the effect on the local, if any, these two life forms were having on the planetary bodies in the solar system.

Lirha swiveled her head and looked at Evelyn with a bit of skepticism, then finally blinked in surprise at the sudden revelation of what they were seeing. Calamarains were not a well-documented species and there were only a handful of sightings and encounters ever reported in the Federation database. Nevertheless, the limited descriptions she had studied matched what she was seeing on the viewscreen and being told from her science team.

It was truly fascinating to Lirha, the sighting of a space-faring creature. Not one but two of them, and they seemed to be in some sort of mating ritual according to her second officer. The captain pondered the situation for a brief moment, taking into account all the civilian camera equipment as well as Galileo's own advanced sensor arrays. What better opportunity to study a non-corporeal lifeform than right now? she asked herself, then quickly let her curiosity take over. "I want to take a closer look." she said. "This is a rare opportunity to survey a species that we know almost nothing about. In their natural environment, nonetheless."

Evelyn blinked and turned her head back towards the Captain. "Captain, I strongly recommend we leave the entities be. The Calamarain are extremely dangerous I don't think we should provoke them by letting our eyes linger on their procreation."

"Perhaps we limit ourselves to passive scans only then? Make it look like we're ignoring them? As long as we don't start directing the main arrays towards them, we shouldn't set anything off?" John queried. Whilst he agreed that giving the species their own privacy during such a personal moment, there was still a degree of curiosity in the Commander for how a lifeform such as these Calamarain lived.

Maenad looked toward the captain as well. "I agree; we should leave the creatures alone. I recommend not going any closer than five hundred thousand kilometers."

Jeremy shook his head while running another scan of the area, tightening the focus. "And I'm the one that needs sensitivity training," he muttered as he swept the system again, bouncing his scans off the already launched probes to extend his range and sensitivity. "Annoying entities in the midst of coitus. What the hell has Starfleet become?" He brought phasers online, unhappy that he might have to slaughter creatures because of the ship's actions.

=^=Sensors could be boosted, if you need, Captain,=^= Lilou's voice pinged from the Main Engineering station on the bridge. She was down in the bowels of the ship, but she had an ear on what was going on. =^=Could get a lot of quality information without bumping into 'em. Couldn't we? Anybody?=^=

"Hm," Kell supplied, completely unhelpfully.

After doing even MORE research on the Calamarains, Jacob finally spoke up, "I concur with Dr. Panne, five hundred thousand kilometers is close enough Captain. Dealing with any mating situation under any circumstances is provoking enough with creatures of any kind, my recommendation would be to actively scan something else in the system while passively scanning the creatures and area around them. I believe this may give the creatures the impression that we are, as Commander Holliday suggested, 'ignoring' them."

Lirha listened to the various officers' input coming from all around her. Her 2XO was apparently experienced with Calamarains, if that indeed was what the space creatures were, and she would be wise to follow her advice and not interfere...however, Lirha had no intention of interfering...just observing. In addition, John had a valid strategy, one supported by her chief research officer, and Lirha agreed with their assessments. Turning to her XO and then the large blue-collared man, she nodded in approval. "Five-hundred thousand kilometers it is, then. Notify Venture we are going to investigate the phenomenon." she decided with finality. "Helm, set a course to take us around the system until we intercept the lifeforms. Tactical, secure all weapons. I do not want to provoke the creatures with a show of posture," she added.

"Aye Ma'am," Dea replied putting a few commands into her console. "Course set to intercept the lifeforms." Their flight path would take them in closer to investigate but stay far enough away not to interfere with the native species.

"Captain," Jeremy said as he turned in the chair to face the command staff, "I must advise against becoming defenseless. Scans do not reveal the presence of Berthold particles and tachyon emissions are localized amongst the rutting creatures." He scowled as he felt the presence of attention turning to him. "I must concur with Commander Coleman's recommendations that we depart this area for this time and leave the creatures to their...proclivities. Last recorded hostile contact between a Calamarain and a starfleet vessel nearly resulted in the destruction of a galaxy class vessel. We, Captain, wouldn't stand a chance against two of them."

"You heard the captain's orders Mr Stone - carry them out." John turned towards the Tactical station, backing up the posture of his CO in regards to the ship's weapons capabilities. If necessary Galileo would simply turn tail and run, fighting simply wasn't an option for the small Nova-class.

"Yes, Commander, I understood the orders, however I'm trying to point out that we're in a hostile area of space that holds dangers and it would be unwise to provoke danger or allow ourselves to become defenseless to unknown dangers that may have more harmful intentions toward us."

As confirmation of her orders was received (with a bit of reluctance, apparently), the Orion captain turned to her COB with another set of orders. "If we are going to be observing a rare life form, it would be prudent to have the assistance of our medical staff. And I am sure the press would like an opportunity to film our observations." she said, not oblivious to the opportunity to record and holo-capture a pair of Calamarains on camera for further study.

Quinn nodded. "Understood, Captain." Quinn went a substation and activated the ship com. =^=Doctor Dhuinn, Counselor Meridian, and members of the Press Corps. Please report to the Bridge, by order of the Captain.=^= Quinn then looked back to Lirha. "Captain? I believe we have a Vulcan xenobiologist aboard, should I call Doctor Corynn'tha to the Bridge as well?"

"Yes, that would be an excellent idea." Lirha answered the chief, grateful that he had provided her with another asset to study the creatures on the viewscreen.

Jeremy turned back to his station, sighing heavily and shaking his head. "Powering down," he announced. And somehow they'll still blame me when some enemy pops up and blows away half the ship.

=^=Doctor Corynn'tha to the Bridge, please.=^= Quinn stated

Dawn abruptly hopped off her spinning swivel chair. Somehow, she was able to walk without much trouble, even though all the spinning had left her a little bit dizzy. Her office was decidedly boring when no one else was there, and she wasn't about to ignore a summons to the bridge just because she was off balance. She acknowledged the master chief with a cheerful 'on my way!' and whisked out of her office.

A few moments later, the turbolift doors opened and the reporters walked out of the turbolift, sans their producer Trija. "Calamarain," Zaren whispered with a child-like grin. "I've seen a couple grainy feeds of them. Nothing like this-"

"Ah, the infamous Bridge of a -" Jool stopped as she looked at the screen. "Are you people mentally deficient to the point of insanity? Do you have any idea what those are?"

"Calamarain," Kell said smartly.

"Thank you, Kell, now why don't you be so clever as to inform the Captain why we should be avoiding those creatures at all costs?" Though she did look to Baker to see if he was doing what paltry job he had and capturing footage. Already she was thinking of angles she could use for this turn of events to go along with the boldly going blah blah blah. Presuming, of course, they survived the encounter with the Calamarain.

Dawn followed not long after the press corps' arrival. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she pushed past them, the only sign she gave that their presence bothered her. Once she could actually see the viewscreen, she stiffened visibly, grey eyes widening. She'd done enough research into space-born lifeforms to hazard a guess as to why she was here. What had they been called? Calamarains? They reminded her of... she shook the thought away before it could fully form. "Pretty," she noted.

Baker kept himself tucked into the corner as he kept Remo hovering above people's heads so as neither of them was in anyones way. This opportunity to see the bridge alive in the midsts of work was something a person so rarely had opportunity to catch, he didn't want to miss a moment of this. Despite his focus being on the scene, it was difficult to ignore the slight distance the woman in teal was emitting in their direction.

Corynn'tha entered the crowded Bridge and stopped to look out the Main Viewer. The sight was more beautiful than she thought it would be. She stood at the back of the Bridge, so not to cause any disruptions.

Petty Officer Christoph exited the turbolift behind the media crew. She stepped to the left of the door and took up her station. Her responsibility as security was nothing more than keeping them out of trouble, but the opportunity to come onto the bridge was rare. She was please, but hope that it didn't show when her Chief turned from the Tactical Station to see her and the media. Maybe he ignored her.

Jeremy turned again to the disturbance of the press corps. "Yeah, having them here is less distracting than actual crewmembers," he muttered to himself, proving his statement to Coleman false that he did sulk, and sulked well. The sad part was, he just bet Malefin wouldn't dare try to summarily order them away from the Bridge. Incompentent speciesist coward, he thought, checking the levels and intensity of tachyon emissions from the Calamarain, then running his scans through the universal translator, calling up the specific Calamarain protocols.

Evelyn pulled up the sensor readings, she realigned the readings to detect distinctive patterns between the swirls of ionized gases, berthold rays and tachyon emissions. Once she found the patterns she smiled at the result. "Lt. Panne," Evely called out from her station, "sensors have been detecting two distinct patterns indicating two lifeforms but I'm noticing two additional patterns beginning to take form, could you confirm?"

"A pregnant Calamarain?" Jool asked, horrified that they were still discussing going closer and disturbing the creatures. "Does nobody here understand the danger you're putting all of us in?"

"They've got this; it's what they do," Zaren murmured at Jool's shoulder. "Stop questioning the Captain, would you? That's not our job."

Maenad turned around to give the press member called Jool a glare that translated into shut up. "Aye, Commander," she said to Coleman. "I'm getting the same readings," she began to smile as more readings appeared on her console. "Confirmed. I believe that we have just witnessed conception between two Calamarians." Wanting to share her excitement with someone, she unconsciously looked to Zaren and beamed at him for barely a second before turning away. "I think this is a first, Captain," she said toward the command area.

"No, it is not the first, my people are well aware of Calamarains. Aware enough to understand to leave them alone. Any creatures that can hold their own against the Q - even ally with them for periods of time - are not creatures you want to mess with."

"Officer Christoph," Jeremy said as he rose from the tactical station, "if our 'guests' are unable to comport themselves and prevent themselves from becoming a disturbance during bridge operations, they will be removed. The Captain has made clear that beings with no 'function' on the bridge and/or cause disturbances are not welcome here."

The young Petty Officer replied, "Aye, Sir. That is fully my intent." She knew her protocol and also realized that her chief was not trying to get attention or be mean to the media. He just was being himself.

"Mentally deficient fools," Jool muttered as she crossed arms and glared at the rudest man she'd ever met in her life - and for her line of work that was saying quite a bit.

Evelyn banged her hand against the console and turned in her chair glaring at Jool. "Insult this crew one more time, see what I do to you." Evelyn glared. "And whoever thinks the Calamarain held their own against Q....doesn't know what the hell they are talking about. These poor creatures were abused by members of the continuum."

"This is absolutely fascinating," Amril declared, no longer able to contain himself. No one was immediately available to speak to, so he said it to the bridge in general. "I've never seen this happen on a starship. Discovering new forms of life right here on the bridge, just like that." He chuckled, "Oh, Jem'Hadar would have no patience for this. I'm quite eager to get a closer look." He smiled; maybe he was cut out for exploration after all.

It was something new, something that more information on might change how they understood the universe. Kiri wasn't sure that it was all that polite to be watching another creature mate, it had been private before they got here. Keeping her eyes on the numbers in front of her rather than the view screen she kept quiet and tried not to think about it too much.

A few long minutes passed while Galileo streaked around the system at full impulse, then the tiny Nova Class slowed as she approached her intended target of observation.

"Captain we've arrived at our intended observation point," Dea reported. Keeping a close eye on Galileo's performance and flight path as the ship slowed. Though their intercept vector had been carefully calculated she didn't want to take any unnecessary chances.

"Very good, Lieutenant." Lirha answered. "Be sure to keep our distance, I do not want to venture any closer unless necessary." she said. Such a distance was roughly one and a half times the distance of Earth to Luna and hopefully was sufficient to allow her crew the opportunity to study the beings in relative safety. "What is the status of the Calamarain?" she asked.

Dea simply nodded in understanding. Carefully monitoring the ship's progress. The rest fell to another department but Mialin had to be ready to change course on short notice if needed.

Jacob's fingers flew across his screen, "Passive scanning is ready from what I am seeing Captain, all you have to do is give us anything else for us to actively scan so as to 'fool' the creatures into thinking we are ignoring them." He looked over to Maenad's station, "Dr. Panne, I believe there are some remnants of comet activity nearby we could scan to complete the ruse if we decide to go through with this. Oh, and there are some nice asteroids over in sector eight point three we could use as targets as well. What would you recommend?"

Maenad frowned. "Complete the ruse?" she whispered under her breath. What ruse? She turned her chair to face Pendleton at science three. "They can't see us from here," she said quietly enough for him to hear. "We're safe."

Jacob whispered back, "Just in case their species can detect scan waves. It seems that only a couple folks on this ship seem to truly realize the power and means these creatures have. I am just trying to take precautions Dr. Panne, that is all."

"We would have been detected by now; I think we're fine here," she smiled at Pendleton's enthusiasm. "Run a continuous low-intensity scan on the nearest debris field," she said to ease his fears.

He smiled back at her and nodded, "Very wise Dr. Panne, as usual. I will get right on it." Jacob started adjusting the scan settings making sure they were as low as they could be while still doing what they were intended to do. He monitored them closely. Every now and again he'd shift his eyes to where Kiri sat watching her body language and hoping she was doing better. When Mor'an came in he glanced in her direction as his heart skipped a couple of beats; he immediately went back to his monitoring but with a slight smile coming across his face that he hoped no one else could see.

Evelyn stood up and walked towards the tactical station, she leaned close the Jeremy reading the scans off his console. "When you see a simultaneous spike in tachyon emissions and berthold radiation, re-modulate the shields every 15 second, the Calamarain are about to deliver and I don't want junior to find the Galileo delicious. "

"I'd love to, Commander," Jeremy whispered back, "but I've been ordered to stand down shields and weapons. We're..." he scowled as he flicked his wrist to look at the PADD, "...sitting ducks." He shook his head, "You'll need to depend on the pilot's ability to prevent junior from snacking." His tone said exactly what he thought the chances of that would be.

"Well just keep your eyes on the readouts, and if you see the spike, raise the shields anyway." Eve whispers, rising up and returning to her station.

Jeremy scowled. Of course he'd raise the shields at signs of danger. He wasn't going to let the ship get destroyed just because of someone else's curiosity. Instead he muttered a "Yes, Commander," as she left but -

"Sir," he called out in general, "We're being flooded with broadband Berthold rays." Looking over his shoulder he shook his head. "We're being probed. Tachyon emissions between the creatures are increasing. Berthold radiation levels are non-lethal and prevalent on every deck."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Evelyn Coleman
Chief Intelligence Officer/2XO
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo
played by Psylus Anon

LTjg Jeremy Stone
Chief Security/Tactical Officer/K9
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. (jg) Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. (jg) Theron Rhodes
Asst. Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Dawn Meridian
Counsellor
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Delainey Carlisle
Asst. Chief Counselor
USS Galileo

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jared Nicholas
Language Speicalist
USS Galileo

MCPO Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Evan Kell
Intelligence Officer, SFI
USS Galileo
(PNPC Liyar)

PO2 Keval Graysan
Operations
USS Galileo
(PNPC Jared Nicholas)

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SSC
USS Galileo
(PNPC Liyar)

Dr. Vincent Kramer
Planetologist
(PNPC Rhodes)

Jool Fenta
Federation News Network
USS Galileo
(pNPC Rabe)

Raifi Zaren
Journalist, FNN
USS Galileo
(pNPC Lilou Peers)

Justin Baker
Cameraman, FNN
USS Galileo
(pNPC Pola Ni Dhuinn)

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