SET - Rojar I Orbital Survey (Part 1 of 4)

Posted on 18 Apr 2013 @ 8:30am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes

3,081 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Rojar I (Orbit) - Shuttlecraft Virginia
Timeline: MD 04 - 0922 hrs

[ON]

Unmoving and unblinking, he was standing there in the shuttlebay, staring at the shuttlecraft Virginia. Andreus Kohl was staring right at it, and he couldn't remember how long he'd been standing there. His sapphire eyes were fixated on the forward viewport. He stood dead-centre at the shuttle's elongated, angular bow, with one hand by his side and the other pressed flat against the cool hull plating. Kohl appeared prepared for the incipient away mission. The strap of his emergency medical kit was slung over his shoulder and crossed his chest. Kohl appeared prepared for the incipient away mission, except he was standing there in the shuttlebay, unmoving and unblinking.

Lt. Rhodes walked up to see Lt. Kohl in a motionless stance. He thought about teasing him about praying over the ship, but decided that may not be best for relations. He just smiled and stood to the side waiting for the other members of the team to arrive.

Maenad came into the shuttlebay for the second time that morning; she had had to go back to the science lab for the kit she'd forgotten the first time. She saw Kohl and Rhodes standing near the shuttle, the Virginia, but neither seemed to be talking or doing much. "Gentleman," said Maenad with a smile. She awkwardly held up one hand in a motionless wave before replacing it by her side, and then behind her back. Over her shoulder was a bag of equipment.

Theron recognized the universal sign from Lt. Panne for let's go. He nodded and said, "Good Morning Lieutenant."

It was several seconds later when Kohl eventually responded to the words of greeting. As he turned away from the shuttle, Kohl dimly murmured, "Lieutenant Panne?" A heartbeat later, a light came on behind his eyes and a beaming grin invaded his face. "Oh, Lieutenant Panne. Hello!"

Rather than approaching the two men directly, she went to the back of the shuttle and opened the door. "I'm sorry I'm late; I forgot my bag."

Kohl strode around the shuttlecraft on steps timed to match Panne's own. As he approached the aft hatch, he asked, "What did you bring?", like a child asking for a peek into Santa's sleigh.

"Chicken and egg salad sandwiches," she said as deadpan as she could, not cracking the slightest of a smile as she turned to glance at Kohl. There were also some tricorders and binoculars, sample bags, and a few small atmospheric storage containers.

Inside the shuttle, Maenad sat at the side starboard console, leaving the pilot and co-pilot's seat for the pilot and Rhodes. "Mister Rhodes, would you like to co-pilot and tactical?" she asked, as she took the bag off her shoulder and set it by her feet.

"Yes Ma'am." Rhodes replied entering the shuttle and moved up past Lt. Panne to the right hand forward seat.

Hustling into the shuttlebay after receiving the last-minute flight assignment, the tall former-Marine slowed to a brisk walk with his expedition kit slung over his shoulder. Lamar was excited to be able to participate in an away mission after completing his shuttlecraft qualifications a few weeks prior, and slowed as he approached his designated craft, Virginia. She was a new and shiny Type-9 shuttle, the Federation's workhorse for small craft, and he spent a few quick minutes walking around the hull and doing a visual inspection. He spotted Kohl and gave him a mock salute, then continued with his brief inspection.

Satisfied that the craft appeared to be in excellent working condition, he walked around to the rear hatch, lowered his head, and stepped inside. "Sir, Ma'am." he politely said to two officers who were already inside. "Sorry I'm late, didn't get the assignment until only a few minutes ago." he explained, then moved forward and slipped himself into the pilot's seat and placed his kit in an overhead storage cabinet.

Lt. Rhodes glanced up to see the Warrant Officer, "Darius, good to have you at the helm." Making a couple control changes, "I have checked your power and system interfaces and appear to be ready, . . well when you are, of course."

Maenad hadn't met WO Darius Lamar before. Their pilot was supposed to be Mister Sylver, causing her some confusion. "Pleased to meet you, warrant officer," Maenad said to the large helm officer, offering her hand. "I'm Maenad Panne, chief science officer. What happened to Sylver?"

"Good to meet you too, ma'am." Lamar replied. "I'm not sure what happened to Sylver...I got a communique on my PADD a few minutes ago with a last-minute change to the flight schedule. Aside from that, I don't know." he elaborated.

Kohl was the last to climb the ramp to board the small shuttlecraft. He pulled at his medi-kit's shoulder strap and yanked it over his head. Kohl untangled himself from the medi-kit and stowed it under his chair, beside Maenad's. As soon as Kohl seated himself, he smiled over at Maenad and then turned his regards to the LCARS console.

Lamar looked behind him as the final member of the team arrived, then tapped an overhead button to seal the rear hatch. Turning back to his console, his dark hands began to expertly fly across the controls and the inside of the craft came to life with a bright display of LCARS colors. He initiated the pre-flight sequence and tapped the internal comm button. "Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking." he began, "Today we will be conducting an orbital survey of Rojar I with an estimated flight time of four and half hours. We will be departing as soon as our pre-flight sequence is complete, so please fasten your seat belts and make sure your tray tables and seat backs are in their upright and locked position. If you feel the need to vomit, well...you know where the lavatory is." he said with a big grin, his deep voice booming with levity through the tiny cabin.

Rhodes rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly in disbelief. He was waiting for criticism from the Doctor.

Maenad remained blank as the helmsman showed his over-enthusiasm. She didn't like that the enlisted man announced their mission before she could; this was a scientific survey, after all, but she said or showed no discontent. "Have we been cleared for departure?" she asked from her position at the starboard side console.

Lamar finished up the pre-flight checks and turned to look at Maenad over his shoulder. "We've got clearance and we're now ready to depart." he informed her, then tapped a sequence of thruster controls into the helm console. Underneath the shuttlecraft, a shimmer of hot air blasted down onto the tarmac as the small craft lifted off and slowly moved forward towards the shuttlebay doors. It passed through the invisible protective force field and exited Galileo. Initiating another series of manoeuvres, Lamar brought the craft around to a safe distance away from the mother ship, then set a course towards Rojar I.

Once on their way, Rhodes again checked power levels and readiness of offensive and defensive systems. He looked at Lamar and gave him a silent nod, to let him know that all appeared ready for their mission.

As the shuttle rose and glided out of the shuttlebay, Maenad watched the tiny Nova class get smaller and smaller as Darius put distance between them and the ship. Rojar I seemed to grow and grow in size as the shuttle got closer. A B class world, Rojar I was practically a giant ball of magma; it glowed orange, yellow, and red from pole to pole, and whatever wasn't molten appeared as a black splotch veined with red, reminding her of capillaries found in lungs.

"Take us into a high orbit, Mister Darius," Maenad said, sitting upright and stretching her neck to see over Rhodes' seat.

"Yes, ma'am." came the pilot's reply. Moving his hands across the helm console, he slowed their craft until it practically glided into the small planet's gravitational field, then waited until they reached the periapsis to burn the impulse engines for a few short moments in order to circularize their orbit. Once he had repeated the same manoeuvre at the apoapsis and established a near-perfect orbit, he reported to the science chief. "Orbiting at two-hundred thousand kilometers, ma'am." he said with finality, then briefly took his hands off the controls to lean back in his seat and stretch his arms.

Maenad watched as the massive fireball consumed ever more of the front windows until the craft began to bank for orbit. "Sensors to maximum," she said idly, as she began to configure her console for a detailed planetary scan. Initial readings pinned the planet as rather small, only four times the size of Earth's moon at a diameter of just under 5000km. Its atmosphere was almost non-existently thin, and was entirely toxic to organic life. Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, helium, and carbon monoxide made the largest concentrations. The average temperature was 120 degrees celcius, but reached over 200 C near the equator. Intense volcanoes of varying sizes were everywhere, spraying rock and ash into space which easily escaped on account of the planet's incredibly low gravity.

"Get ready for a bumpy ride," Maenad cautioned. "There is a lot of debris in orbit. Can our shields handle it?" she asked Rhodes.

"Yes." Rhodes replied, "Shields will be fine." He glanced over to Lamar and said quietly, "Try not to hit anything bigger than us."

The warrant officer's eyes were focused on the navigational display in front of him, and he focused his full concentration on determining the orbital paths of the various debris and making sure to adjust Virginia's orbit to avoid them. "Will do, sir." he replied to his co-pilot without taking his eyes off his console.

It took considerable effort for Kohl to keep his eyes on his LCARS panels. Effort not to consider the viewport or study the pilot's movements. Effort to monitor the planetary sensor readings, rather than keep a lookout for debris. The effort may have shown in his hand-shaking grip on the LCARS panel, but his tone of voice would have come across as nothing but flippant. "You've flown through debris fields before," Kohl asked, "Yeah?"

"Well...in a simulator, yes." Lamar replied, looking over his shoulder at the medical officer. "But technically this is not a debris 'field', we just happen to have some small satellites which are orbiting and probably impacting the planet. As long as I can keep our orbital trajectory clear of the other objects...we should be fine." he explained, then flashed the man a small but reassuring smile.

The look from Lamar elicited a nervous smile and a nod from Kohl, who murmured a, "Thank you." When Lamar returned his attention to the flight control, Kohl turned his gaze to the seismometer results on his own console.

Rhodes glanced over at Lamar and then back to his display, and said quietly, "You watch for the ones in front, and I will watch for the ones from above. Deal?" He tried to make it sound humorous.

The warrant officer couldn't help but laugh at his co-pilot's proposed strategy. "Deal." he said with a grin, trying to relieve some of the tension in the cabin.

As the shuttlecraft slowly orbited the small planet named Rojar I, Lamar noticed something very peculiar on his scans, then rotated their craft so that they were facing the planet's surface with a clear view of the fiery crust. "Looks like we are coming up on an impact crater..." he mumbled as he checked the scans in front of him. "Wow...it's massive." he said, looking out through the cockpit at the giant crater which was approximately one-eighth the size of the entire surface. He turned back to Maenad with curiosity. "Have you ever seen anything like that before, ma'am?"

Taking one look at the impact crater, Kohl knew it must have been created by a meteorite, but that wasn't what he imagined with his mind's eye. Kohl's stomach lurched and he looked away.

Maenad was busy with her scans and readouts when Lamar mentioned the huge crater. As the shuttle rotated, she got out of her seat and moved toward the front between Lamar and Rhodes, resting her arm on the back of Rhodes' chair. She had to duck her head to get a good view out of the front. Her eyes darted over the planet, but the crater was impossible to miss. Even though 80% or more of the planet was clearly molten, the shape of the crater could be seen clearly on a dark patch of land, and it was oozing with lava at the sides. In the deepest part of the crater there appeared to be a lake of lava, too, that must have been at least half a million square kilometres in surface area.

"Wow," Maenad mouthed without saying. Her stunned silence was her response to Lamar. Suddenly the origin of all the debris in orbit of the tiny planet made sense; at least, she had a theory that she's already accepted as the truth. Before coming this far around the planet, it had looked like the debris was from the planets massive and countless volcanoes. Because the planet was so small, its gravity was weak enough to allow rocks the size of shuttles to blast into space, but the numbers weren't adding up.

"I bet this planet had a moon once," she said quietly, "and that it collided with the planet."

Rhodes glanced out the viewport for a direct glimpse of the impact site. Leaning back, in his mind's eye, he could visualize the slow and progressive movement of the two large spacial bodies coming together. He knew there must have been a massive release of energy and debris after they collided. He thought, That would have been a sight to see.

"Would you like me to take us closer so we can get a better look?" Lamar asked the senior-most officer in the shuttle. He was captivated by the sight of the huge crater and wanted to investigate further. With permission, of course.

Maenad's eyes widened a bit as she considered the idea. "Good idea," she said after several seconds. Her hesitation wasn't necessarily seen as her being indecisive, but more distracted as she stared down at the massive lava-glowing crater. "We can get some samples." Maenad looked at him, resting her hand on Lamar's shoulder. "Take us down. Carefully. There are still a lot of volcanic bursts," she smiled, removing her hand back to her side. She then returned to her seat and buckled herself in.

Rhodes glanced back at the doctor at the words volcanic bursts. He was worried about asteroids or debris. Now he has to worry about unpredictable volcanic upheaval from below.

Carefully, Lamar repeated in his head. Well, he would try his best. "Yes, ma'am." came his reply, and he promptly focused his attention back to the controls in front of him. With careful manipulation of the controls, he brought Virginia in a slowly descending flight path. The small Type-9 began to make its way to the surface, but it wasn't long before problems arose.

"Um...sir? Ma'am?" he called out to anyone in the cabin. A large pocket of volcanoes had caught his attention and they were violently erupting along the perimeter of the crater, not too far from their approach angle. "We've now got a lot of debris in the atmosphere. I think it's coming from those eruptions." The shuttlecraft began to tremble as it was impacted by small pieces of rock, and Lamar did his best to adjust course to avoid the heaviest concentrations. Unbeknownst to him, heavy concentrations of super-fine sulfuric debris were pelting the outer hull and nacelles. It wasn't long before one of the shuttle's RCS thrusters was clogged with the substance, and the interior of the shuttle cabin suddenly went dark and illuminated in red alert lighting.

Rhodes revised the shield pattern to block any more debris and increase shield strength to 75%, but he felt it was already too late.

Meanwhile, Kohl's first reaction was to curse in the Argelian tongue. His communicator helpfully translated it to Federation Standard for everyone else to hear. His right hand gripped his console as if he were hanging over a cliff, while his left hand reached below his seat to scoop up the medical kit. In turn, Kohl secured his seat restraints and then strapped the medikit to his person. All of a sudden, the Science II controls lost most of Kohl's interest. Instead, he was accessing the emergency transporter systems -- not that they were necessarily in range of anywhere hospitable.

As the shuttle rocked and bounced, sometimes violently, Maenad worked at her console, almost oblivious to the danger around them. Darius knew what he was doing, she assumed. He was an experienced pilot, after all, and Lilou had mentioned being his friend, which was good enough for her to trust him. Besides, Maenad was expecting a bumpy ride.

"I am using," Maenad called out over the rumbling, "the Bussard collectors to retrieve atmospheric samples and low-orbital debris ejected from the volcanoes." After several jarring seconds, the starboard collector was at capacity and she shut it down. Even in the fray of the turbulence, she managed a pleasant smile. With any luck, the rocks she'd collected would reveal whether they'd come from the planet or somewhere else, which would allow her to determine if, in fact, her moon theory was correct.

"We've lost one of our starboard thrusters." Lamar called out, his heart beginning to beat rapidly in his chest. "Must be some type of debris...I'm attempting to compensate..." he added as his hands flew across the console. The shuttle began to wobble from side to side as the four primary thrusters were now reduced to three, sending the ship's thrust vector into an unstable state.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

WO Lamar Darius
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Lirha Saalm

Lt. Theron Rhodes
Asst. Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Andreus Kohl
Asst. Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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