By the Moons of Rojar!

Posted on 28 Apr 2013 @ 7:24pm by Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sergei Petrov

3,746 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4 Shuttlebay, Livia
Timeline: MD 05, 0630 hours

[ON]

Dea went directly from the bridge to Galileo's shuttle bay stopping only to grab the necessary away team gear. Even with that she'd contacted her ground crew ahead of time to ensure the shuttle was ready for departure. While it had been a busy day already knew it had barely just begun. She conducted final check on the shuttle while waiting for the rest of the away team to arrive.

It was an earlier start than she had lately but Kiri had been able to have a mostly uninterrupted night of sleep once again. Her dark hair was still curly rather than straight but was less so than the night before. It certainly looked like there was a lot of it, making her skin seem a little paler by contrast. Freshly dressed in her uniform she forced a mood on herself, wearing a small smile. On her right hip was a phaser, left a tricorder and over her shoulder a medical kit. The shuttlecraft already had one but she could find little reason not to have two, it made her feel safer at least.

It had been a while since she had last been in the shuttle bay, that time she had been a hostage. It barely even crossed her mind that she were that back then, it sent a shiver through her body. All this time she had been trying to get back into using the science labs without giving herself a panic attack. She'd never thought about the shuttle bay, maybe it would be better inside the shuttle? Increasing her pace she almost ran until she reached the hatch, ducking inside she found she wasn't the first. In a soft voice she trembled slightly, "Good, morning Lieutenant." Setting the spare medical kit against the wall and edging towards the co-pilots seat.

"Morning Lieutenant," Dea greeted Kiri. "Well get out of here as soon as the others arrive." She understood being nervous. "Read to see what we can find around Rojar II?"

"There is a lot to navigate but most of it is relatively stable," Kiri wasn't that worried about flying around in space, it was fairly natural for her by now, "What is the flight plan for the moon scans?" It was one of the biggest missions that she had taken part in really. The probes were already trying to identify important places and they would be chasing their trails for more detailed scans. But they weren't going anywhere and she wasn't the pilot, so what were the orders? Closest first and a logical pattern or places of interest for further scans first?

"Well we're going to have to alter our plan of just starting at one end and working to the other a bit," Dea commented, "I'll explain when everyone gets here. But whether we start near or far I'll leave up to you."

"Okay," She had more idea of how much influence she had over the mission now. Waiting for everyone else she slipped into the co-pilot seat and started to check the sensor systems and computer identification.

Jacob had gotten his equipment and some extra personal items packed in his cases and readied himself for the long day ahead. He was excited beyond belief and had spent an extra hour in the gym that morning really working out to get out some of the pre-mission jitters. He showered and put on a fresh uniform that really showed off his muscles right off that extra work out from the early morning. He set out to the shuttlebay and arrived fairly early but seeing that Kiri and another person he had not met yet already there. He walked up to both of them.

"Morning Lieutenant Cho," He smiled at Kiri and then he turned to the other woman, "and, Lieutenant Mialin, I presume?" He held out his massive hand in a respectful fashion.

"You are correct," Dea greeted him with a handshake. "Dea Mialin, Chief Flight Control Officer at your service."

"Good morning," Kiri looked up at Pendleton, slightly worried by how big he was and how small the shuttle was. It was going to be a long mission to be together during.

Petrov emerged in the shuttlebay with a kit in hand, his boots shined, and clean shaven. He would be spending the day with two superior department officers, one of whom he reported to directly, and he had to be at his best - not that he ever wasn't. The third team member was Lieutenant, not junior grade like he was used to addressing, Mialin. He didn't know her very well, but she had earned his respect long ago.

As he approached, Petrov switched his kit from his right hand to his left, and snapped the three of them a sharp salute. "Good morning, sirs," he said anything but too forcefully.

Nodding to Petrov, "Good morning. Let's get the hatch closed then everyone strapped in. It could be a bit of a bumpy ride as this morning's arrival at Rojar II proved. Livia is more maneuverable than Galileo due to her size. But she also has a much more limited armament capability. So I'm going to be choosing our flight vectors carefully."

Now everyone was here Kiri finished her checks and turned her chair to face them all. She felt it was important everyone to know what they were going to be doing and what their tasks would be as they looked at these moons. Waiting until she had their attention she spoke in a soft voice, "Which parts of the surveys would you like to cover?"

Jacob smiled at Kiri and replied (as he tried to fit into his small bench seat), "Well, since Xeno Science and Cultural Xeno Science is my speciality, would you mind if I took on anything related to species, ancient cultures if there are any and such items? Otherwise, when we reach the surface maybe that will prompt a more clear picture on where and what we want to research?"

"Okay," She looked to Petrov for a second before adding for herself, "I will focus on abnormal patterns, signs of non-native life, orbiting materials and rare resources." That would leave Petrov with the standard scans and pinpointing data of interest, "Is that okay?"

"Yes, sir," Petrov nodded as he activated his console and began configuring it for his use. He put on his seatbelt and leaned back to look out the front window.

"Mialin to Galileo Flight Control requesting departure clearance," Dea checked the data being fed to her console while she waited for a response.

"Clearance granted Livia. Have a good flight."

Making herself ready to take control, just in case Kiri kept her hands on the console. Scans could wait a minute, until they were away from the ship. For now she watched Dea, making mental notes for anything she should change about her own take-offs.

Dea piloted the shuttle away from Galileo. "We're clear of the ship. Which moon do you want to go to first? I've sorted out flight paths that will allow us to do either and stay clear of the debris we encountered earlier."

"There is a moon nearby that has a high level of vulcanic activity, it doesn't appear to have a crust." She looked out of the forward window for a second, "That is a little bit unusual so would be worth investigating" It would be a good test of sensors in extreme conditions and while not that interesting to her it would be important for experts in the field.

"I concur Lieutenant Cho. Let's see what we can find out there. I can barely contain my excitement over this find." Jacob smiled widely at Kiri and looked out the window in anticipation.

Listening to the conversation Dea put them on the path towards the first of the moons Kiri had indicated. "We're enroute to the moon you requested. I have us on a path that will align us for the next closest on our list after we're finished with our first stop."

Jacob said playfully, "First floor: Appliances, Furniture, Jewelry, Men's and Women's wear."

Below was a world that was shrouded in burning gas clouds. Embers lit up the atmosphere like orange stars, shimmering and shifting. Breaks showed the roaring furnace below, burning bright as molten rock ebbed like water. A spinning hurricane threw fire in every direction as it crossed the northern hemisphere. Watching fire was something she liked and for a few seconds it held Kiri mesmerised. Then though another break a quartz-carbon formation pulled her back to action. It was huge, a few miles across though most was still covered. It must have been formed deep in the core but, had the moon been more stable in the past? This could be important, "Can you bring us closer?" Glancing at Dea before the other two scientists, "Can you start scanning for crystal formations and possible crust fragments?"

"At little closer but that's it. Given the violent nature of this moon's surface I want to keep us at a safe distance. That turmoil also has the ability to create wild air currents in the upper atmosphere. We really don't want to get anywhere near one of those." Carefully piloting the shuttle closer Dea watched their flight path like a hawk.

Jacob looked out the window, "Those crystals are immense! They almost have the color of either jade or turquoise.. well.. at least from this height.. the atmosphere could be altering their color palette. Is there any way would could land near those sites of massive crystal deposits?"

"Right," Kiri would have wanted to get closer if she could but it was silly to take risks that weren't needed. In that vain she turned to Pendleton, "We would need extreme thermal suits, even then it wouldn't be advised." The surface temperature was over a thousand degrees, and rather melted. "It would be best to just scan for crust fragments and then try and find he cause of its disintegration." If it wasn't from the moon itself, could it be impact, gravitation effect or something else entirely?

Jacob nodded to Kiri, "You are correct Lieutenant Cho. And wise to boot. I guess I got over excited by this immense area of crystal structures."

"If we complete a detailed scan we can conduct a visual inspection at another time on the holodeck," Kiri liked being called wise, that hadn't really happened before. Smiling as she worked she looked over to Dea, "Can you continue to orbit at this altitude?" Data was starting to stream in and the picture of how this moon started to melt was coming together.

Petrov couldn't see outside from his side console. He found the officers' enthusiasm immature. Was he the oldest one there, he wondered. He watched the readings on his screen, which for the most part amounted to only pieces of sense. He was a geologist; he lived for rocks. Unfortunately, he knew little about atmospheric phenomena, but despite this he watched the data with teeming interest. He was trying to get the sensors through to the surface for a long enough time to get detailed readings of the crust, but he wasn't having any luck. Still, looking effectively entranced by his work, Petrov sat stern-faced as he worked the console. With nothing to say and seeing no use for idle chitchat, he remained focused on his screens.

Shifting her attention to Kiri for a moment, "Yes we can orbit at this altitude. If that changes or we have to back off I'll let you know." It wasn't because Dea was young or inexperienced just opposite, especially since she had the experience of her Trill symbiont to reference as well.

"Thank you," Kiri smiled at Dea for a second before turning her attention back the the controls. It seemed more and more likely that the moon had shifted in orbit at some point and that had ripped its crust apart but if it was from one of the larger moons or the gas giant itself. Watching another fire storm start to form for a moment more she looked to Pendleton, "Given their current orbits, can you plot a historical orbit map for this moon and those that come close to it?"

Jacob cocked his head as he looked and studied the moon very intensely. His jaw soon dropped as he thought of what might have happened to this moon so long ago, "Wait..." he said with a gleam in his eye, "Lieutenant Cho, Lieutenant Mialin, look right there," he pointed to the rift line that ran almost the entire length of one of the continental areas of the moon. ".. the Universe help us.. that great rift where the crust and mantle are obviously ripped seem to follow almost a perfect line to the north pole of the planet. If that is true... then.." Jacob ran his fingers quickly over his PADD, ".. what we are witnessing here is the moon caught in two distinct gravity wells suddenly 'flipped' its magnetic polarity! That would solve the issue of the major ripping we see here. Its incredible! This moon is not only being basically ripped in half my severe gravity pulls, something is causing its core to change its magnetic resonance! I've never seen such a phenomenon... its unbelievable!"

Delving deeper Kiri checked the data again and matched it against the new readings. It was surprising but not completely unexpected, "The stresses are forming an non-spherical core," With the fresh orbit maps she could pick out the moons that came close in their orbits. An ice moon and a large asteroid had both recently cut across its orbit, "Does it appear to be stable or settling in its current state?" If it was returning to a cooler state then it had been caused by the interaction with the other moons, if not then then it was likely something else.

Jacob looked and then double checked the data, "Hmm.. seems to be stable for now, but I would hypothesize that within the next seventy to eighty thousand years, this moon will tear into two distinct planetoids. If I am correct then I am going to assume the likeliness of earthquakes on the moon's surface would be possible regular occurrances with the likelihood of perhaps.. oh I'd say roughly twenty percent of them being more than seven point five on the Richter Scale."

"Confirmed, sir." Petrov said from his station. "The geological stresses are unlike anything I have ever seen." He raised his eyebrows. "As far as I know, this is a first." With a slight grin, he added "It's too bad we won't be around in eighty-thousand years to see it, sir."

Jacob smiled, "You probably wouldn't want to be within two planetary orbits of here when it happens Officer Petrov. It would be dramatic and quite deadly from the explosive fragmentation. Still, it is an incredible find. Astounding actually." He looked over at Kiri, "Lieutenant Cho, you are the superior scientist here, what is your assessment from the new data you are collecting?"

Kiri was the superior officer, she wasn't sure about being the superior scientist. Her thoughts were rather more practical, "We should leave a probe in orbit to monitor the crust as breaks apart. Follow up expeditions can monitor the changes," It was indeed interesting over the long term. However for now the moon would start to settle down, that would be useful to watch as well.

Jacob motioned to Kiri to view the incredible volcanic activity below. Some of the eruptions from giant craters could be seen as they exploded miles into the air. "Beautiful isn't it? Just incredible."

It was nice, but there were far more moons than just this one that had to be covered. Making sure that was much data was recorded as possible for now she looked back to the system map. There was another moon with a fairly high resource reading, "I think we should make this moon our next destination," Brining an image of the misty white black moon up that was nearby.

Jacob nodded, "Good as any. Let's see what this one has in store for us."

Petrov had been quietly listening to the conversation from his console, noticing that both of his they hadn't acted on Kiri's suggestion to launch a probe, which he thought was a great idea. Before they headed for the next moon, he turned in his chairs. "Sirs," he spoke up, "I suggest we take Lieutenant Cho's advice and leave a probe behind." He glanced in her direction, then looked at Pendleton. "As you said, sir, this is a unique phenomenon. It is worth further study."

Dea didn't have anything to say. Leaving the science team to do their jobs. Her role here was to keep the team safe and pilot the shuttle. That gave her a chance to reflect on their mission so far. So far they had seen some incredible things but she couldn't allow that to distract her from her real duty.

Kiri launched a micro-probe to scan the moon until something more substantial could be launched from the ship. It would be better than nothing and should be able to report anything unexpected that might happen while they were away. She was glad they agreed on how important this was, that they had discovered anything important was great.

Low white clouds were smattered across the surface of a mostly dead world. Small pools of water covered the surface but all seemed to be highly acidic. A cave system criss-crossed the crust and there were signs of large amounts of more tolerable water underground. Geysers large ones broke the surface at several points and regularly. There was no life, at least nothing above the bacterial level. The resources appeared to be deeper but crystals within the rocks prevented deeper scans. Other than the water works this world was much more dreary than the last.

While Dea continued to pilot the shuttle she got a good look at the moons nearby.
It was a beautiful site. She admired it silently while concentrating on her own duties.

Jacob did some focused scans on some of the areas they could see, "Hmm, looks like I am detecting Dilithium, Poi, Princessium, Thomsonian and Chronister and larger than normal amounts of other Hypersonic and Transonic elements as well as traces of Latinum... not to mention Gold, Silver, Bauxite, Coal, Copper, Magnesium, Barium and Quartz in various amounts. This is a most incredibly mineral rich planetoid!!"

Joining him on the mineral scans Kiri checked for herself, it was certainly a high level of readings. That alone could make this system extremely valuable without taking anything else into account. Relaying the initial scans to the ship Kiri started on a resource map for the planet. It had leapt up her list of priories, "It seems to have a strange hydrological system."

Jacob looked at her data and speed read the incoming analysis, "It does indeed Lieutenant Cho..." He scratched his head, "Never seen anything like this... how in the universe does this planetoid even have bacteria with this unusual system?"

"Where there is water, there can be life," Kiri parroted one of her instructors at the Academy. Even at extremes of temperatures, if there was water and enough luck then life could find a way to exist. So many of these moons had life, she was interested in discovering if they were related. Could they have come on the same comet, or was this system playing against the odds of the universe? There was a problem though, "I can't establish a deep scan, there is too much interference." A rough idea of what might be there wasn't enough to report on, "An away team might need to go down to scan.

Jacob nodded, "What you say is absolutely true Lieutenant Cho. Superior observation as usual. I would add that whatever team is assembled to do the more detailed work, will probably need full protection suits, and perhaps be professionals from outside UFP ranks to assist in the mining and deep surveying of this planetoid."

"Some areas don't seem that hostile, the caverns I can read seem similar to higher Earth altitudes," With the readings she had in front of her it seemed like it would be safe and fairly comfortable for an away team to visit for a few hours. That would be enough to get verification on what the sensors seemed to indicate, "I think an equipped away team could manage a close range scan."

Petrov silently agreed. Would Lieutenant Panne allow for an away team, though, he wondered. Their resources were pretty tied up at the moment. He would have liked to be able to go down to one of the moons at some point, but he would never ask. The department knew what he could and would summon him if they needed him. He glanced out the front window for a better view, then looked back to his console which, by now, was becoming repetitive.

Jacob nodded again, "I agree with your assesment Lieutenant Cho. Excellent work as always. Officer Petrov, Lieutenant Mialin, please mark this planetoid as a medium-high level priority especially when it comes to mineral and mining research. The resources from this planetoid could really bolster the current production rates of the Federation."

"I will submit a report and away team permission with the ship," Kiri logged their results as she typed, "Shall we move onto the next moon?" It was something that she'd like to have the chance to do herself and it was a priority, the overriding reason why they were here.

Dea nodded with a smile, "I'm happy to add my input to the report as the Senior Officer on this mission. Since its mostly science I'll leave the specifics up to you. Taking us to the next moon."

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When they were finished with their survey Dea piloted the shuttle back towards Galileo. So far she considered their journey successful, but the real data would come from the information collected by the science team.

[OFF]

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Lieutenant Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

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

SWO Sergei Petrov
Science Officer/Geologist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

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