SET 008 Rojar II R02: Atmospheric Survey

Posted on 23 May 2013 @ 8:06pm by Crewman Neo & Ensign Varek
Edited on on 01 Jun 2013 @ 7:01pm

3,422 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Rojar II (Low Orbit) - Shuttlecraft Vincenzo
Timeline: MD5 1600

ON:

Neo pulled his goggles down from the bed of unruly hair atop his head and secured them snugly around his eyes. Almost immediately the blended purples, violets and blues of the room snapped into focus, turning it bright and cheery. He shook his head. That was always disconcerting. In forty-nine years, he'd never noticed, not until his MED4 certification in Starfleet. He spent time staring at various objects, especially greens and yellows, vivid blues striking up from their flat gray tones. He lamented that he couldn't wear the contacts. They were too irritating to be placed under the nictitating membrane. Neo pulled open the shuttle side door and leaned against it. He was bedecked in the Galileo's flight uniform. So many uniforms. Away team variants, desert variants, arctic variants, flight variants, training variants. One versatile outfit was what he'd worn for the majority of his V'Ket service, that was it. Starfleet took aesthetics to a whole new level. He stretched out his arm and tugged down the sleeves with two fingers. For once, he lacked the accompanying music that he always listened to on the go. Instead a PADD was in his hand and he read the mission objectives and today's flight personnel. There was only one, an Ensign Varek.

Varek walked briskly down the corridor. He was empty-handed, his supplies pre-packed courtesy of operations. This was his second mission of the day and now he found himself doubling as a science officer. He frowned thoughtfully to himself as he walked. Not only was it a waste of a medical officer, but but it reminded him of his time back on Vulcan, as a scientist. He preferred not to remember that time. Pushing such thoughts from his mind, he came to the loading bay for the waverider shuttle to find Neo already waiting for him. "Crewman," he said with a nod, ducking through the hatch without delay.

"Yes," Neo acknowledged boringly. The cockpit opened to reveal a small, cramped interior with two front seats and one back. Neo climbed into the pilot's seat and pulled down his receiver, placing it over his ears and running through the Vincenzo's main preflight check system. It was a sturdy craft, but the mechanics were old fashioned. Neo understood Mach numbers better than he understood warp, so it wasn't a bad thing. "Strap in," he instructed blandly. "Inertial dampers are less than satisfactory." Neo indicated the safety bar above Varek's head.

"They will be sufficient, however," Varek replied as he took the seat next to Neo, "Starfleet does not neglect safety protocols." His hands went to the controls and his fingers moved deftly over the surface of the LCARS screen.

"Yeah, I'm obligated to inform you," Neo said. He tapped the side of his headset. "This is Vincenzo, we're ready," he said once the screen in front of him displayed all green across the board. He closed down the cockpit and it sealed airtight around them, and he ensured their life support and backups were fully operational before he got a response.

"Vincenzo, you're cleared for launch. Have fun!" a perky female voice replied, audible through the headset.

"That's what I live for," Neo snarked under his breath. "Copy. Vincenzo out." With that, Neo wasted little time getting them off the docking bay's deck and into the air. They hovered for a moment until the decompression process was complete and then shot out of the Galileo like lightning. Neo raised their flight ascent to several thousand meters off of Galileo's port bow before turning them directly toward R2-RII. They were due to be in the air for about four hours, most of that time getting from point A to point B. The Vincenzo's scanners would do the rest of the busywork. Neo knew how to operate them as well as any pilot, but he didn't know or care about planetary data, so it was up to Varek to do the survey. "Mach 6.5. Mach 7. Mach 8." The Vincenzo vibrated at the high speeds, detectable under the deck plating, but it wasn't intolerable. "Stable course," he determined as he locked them into their trajectory at a faster than normal cruising altitude.

Varek eyed Neo vulcan when check of the ship's science instruments proved uneventful. This vulcan had not exactly completed the Kolinahr, to put it lightly. He was so... impulsive, emotional, dangerously so. Still, no need to begin an altercation, at least not at the start of their mission. That did not mean he had to remain silent. He checked the ship's speed.

"Crewman," Varek began in a perfectly neutral, observational tone, "you have exceeded standard cruise parameters. I advise you to reduce speed to mach 6.5."

Neo moved his head to the side slightly in a muted shrug. "Fear is a perfectly natural response." The short burst of speed put them well beyond their expected entry time, so Neo keyed the accelerator down a few notches.

"I'm sorry, crewman, but I fail to see the relevance of your remark."

"I'm alright with that."

Varek gave the other vulcan a look. "Indeed," he said before turning his attention back to the window. He would have to keep an eye on this one.

Neo slipped back into his default state. It was difficult to tell whether he was completely oblivious to Varek's impression of him, or if he just didn't care in any way. His face barely moved as he spoke, leaving the dryness in most of his comments and observations to be gleaned from context alone. Neo spoke and did things largely for his own satisfaction, rather than out of any expectation that Varek respond, but beyond that he displayed no real deviant behavior. He began to calculate the exact parameters for initiating a hyperbolic trajectory with the planet, and rose the Vincenzo's heat shields to compensate as the planet loomed even closer. "Entering infinite velocity. Standard gravitational parameter 398,600.4418(9) km3s2 and negative hyperbola offset 16193.6km, periapsis 6878 km, ratio offset 2.3544." The speed of the Vincenzo allowed it to slingshot forward into the planet's gravity well. Once that happened, the Vincenzo slowed down considerably as they entered the transfer orbit. The drag of the atmosphere decelerated them even further before Neo widened their field to enter the final orbit. "Got it. Hyperbolic trajectory established, eccentricity less than one."

"Very good," Varek replied. Any disapproval he had of the other vulcan did not show in his conduct; he was far too vulcan for that himself. They were completing a mission together and anything less than exemplary results was unacceptable. "Initial scans from the Galileo detected the possibility of a storm front at these coordinates." He patched a set of planetary coordinates to the other station. "We should take advantage of the opportunity to collect telemetry of unusual weather patterns. By now a storm front may have developed." He was no meteorologist, but at least he knew how to work scientific instruments.

"How close do you want to get? I can break us out of orbit and go straight into it. The Vincenzo's capable of handling extreme degrees of force, it shouldn't affect us at all."

"Take us into the atmosphere now," Varek suggested, "We should observe normal weather patterns as well, then we can fly into the storm if it actually developed."

"Yeah. Descending," Neo said, sliding his hands across the controls and propelling the Vincenzo forward from the orbit stream directly into an atmospheric decline. The speed at which they entered the atmosphere created a whiteish-red hue around the shuttle, plasma and velocity mixing. "Hang on, Vincenzo gets pitchy," Neo said as he manipulated the thrusters to avoid the typical Mach tuck associated with reaching supersonic speeds. The subtle shifts in their position registered at their higher speed due to the inertial dampeners compensating. Now that they were in the atmosphere the sound of several sonic booms cracked outside the shuttle. He avoided the steep dive that could have potentially occurred and created a parallel trajectory, using lift from the back of the shuttle pointing upward to shift the falling mass to spread across more area. Neo got them down past the stratosphere and then began to slow them. "Entering the troposphere now," he said as they passed the boundary line. Around the shuttle was a layer of clouds and swirling vapor, and Neo skated them to a halt.

Varek checked the science instruments. "All systems operational," he announced off-hand. "Begin standard survey patterns from central point."

Neo grunted in acknowledgment and began setting up a common meteorological scanning pattern to get a better idea of the weather in the different layers of R2's atmosphere.

With the ship flying smoothly and the science instruments taking their scans, Varek had nothing left to do but monitor them until they reached the storm front. He reached back and took out his PADD from the supply case he had arranged to be sent aboard. It contained mostly medical supplies, because even though this was a science mission, he was a medic and part of his duty as a medical officer was to go on away missions equipped for emergencies. The PADD was just interesting reading though, so he took it in his hands and leaned back in his chair, leaving the other vulcan to his own devices.

An immediate difference he noted was that the denser gravity pulled water vapor tighter, forming dense, rolling clouds around them. Unlike on Vulcan, the atmosphere here was much thicker, more water rich, giving many more elements to work with. Neo settled down in his chair and crossed his arms, watching the systems idly and letting his mind work at random while Varek read. He was roused a while later from his half-state by the beep of the systems finishing their scan. "Got it," Neo sat up slowly and righted himself in his chair, tapping the controls to bring up the main scans. "In summary, higher gravity on a water-rich, atmosphere-dense world makes things interesting," he said after reading the printouts. "The Vincenzo should be able to fly into the storm," he pointed over at a large swirling entity on the map that indicated the storm front Varek had observed first earlier on. "That's what it's designed to do. The main issue is super dense electrostatic discharges. Everything else we should be able to handle, but if we do get lightning I'm going to have to pull us out."

"The ship's shields won't be enough to protect us?" Varek asked.

"Not from a directed strike of lightning, no," Neo shook his head. "It wouldn't kill us, but we would probably have to make a landing. You see how these all coagulate here?" he keyed up one of the scans of the cloud region. "The closer and tighter those particles get, the stronger an electric charge will be. It'll be faster and harder than lightning we're used to. There's more water in the atmosphere, which means more of a high-resistance medium. On top of that the gravity is higher, so the velocity is greater. Let's say a positive strike on Earth is about 300,000 amperes with a return stroke current of 1x108 m/s. Here we're looking at over a million amperes traveling at least twice that speed," he said. "Definitely enough to blow a vent or interfere with our shipboard systems. Right now everything looks clear, so we can get started."

"Take us in," Varek said, and then after a moment's thought looked at Neo. "Lightening more powerful than we are used to?" Varek asked, "This planet does not have conditions harsher than Vulcan. Different, but not more dangerous."

"For our flying conditions," Neo said. "On Vulcan, cloud-to-ground, cloud-to-cloud charges are less prevalent. It's why we use DTVs." Neo shrugged and began ascending them upward and toward the shifting, turbulent clouds. "Firestorms," Neo said after a while, his head moving to the side wryly, "work a bit differently. Since the gravity on Vulcan is higher, our ground weather is definitely much more severe, yeah." He looked up out of the viewscreen as they went deeper through the outer layers of the storm. "I can take some readings here, meteorology is something we had to learn in flight training. The rest of this," Neo gestured at the sensors. "Planetary statistics. Dating, size, composition. Are you familiar with it?"

"Yes," Varek said, glancing over the controls and putting his PADD down. "I would have expected a sturdier atmospheric vessel for a science ship."

"It's the sturdiest," Neo said. "It's no Krovill, but you can't take a Krovill-class into the atmosphere with any finesse. Building shielding systems on these types of vessels is difficult. Operating under heavy shielding slows you down and creates bulk. We have a light shield," Neo tapped up the shuttle's MSD for Varek while drawing them closer and closer into the storm's Eye, where they would be protected from the worst battering pressure.

Varek spared the MSD a brief, uninterested glance before returning his attention to the science instruments. "Since neither of us is an engineer, I suggest we not concern ourselves with the structural integrity of Starfleet's vessels. Our attention should be diverted to gathering information."

"Yeah," Neo agreed plainly. He focused the outward sensor pods forward as they descended. "We should be good to get started from here."

"Go to these coordinates as you make for the eye," Varek directed, "There are unusual pressure changes."

"Yeah," Neo said with all the professionalism of a month's crash course in Starfleet protocols. He angled the thrusters downward and carefully carved their path through the tumultuous cloud shield. The shuttle was pulled and pushed along as several wind shears clipped them. "We're getting turbulence. Compensating." Neo had both hands up against the flight console, where he targeted the manual overrides and began guiding the shuttle using his own judgment and vision. Computers were magic, but the brain was quicker. "Bring up the tactical monitor," Neo said to Varek, indicating the copilot's terminal. "Get our shields up and watch them for fluctuations. I'm taking us in. The sooner we clear this the better."

Varek was quite capable of telling that they were getting turbulence, but this crewman was a terribly talkative vulcan, he probably felt the need to say it. He could bring the shields up from his current position, but rather than explain it, he just did it.

"Shields are up." He placed his hand on the console to steady himself as a powerful updraft flung them towards the top of the clouds. "If the turbulence is too strong around the eye, we increase our altitude and re-enter the troposphere."

Neo saw Varek's judgy eyes, noted with internal amusement, but once again he failed to muster up any degree of care for the matter. "Yeah, concurred."

The ship shuddered as they entered the turbulent reading before their ride smoothed out again, only to jar them a sudden, unnerving force shaking the ship. At that point they were flying on instruments alone; outside it was dark and the window was obscured by the soupy clouds.

"Fascinating," Varek observed, watching the instruments. "This area is forming a pocket of counter-currents that are causing the turbulence."

Just then a particularly powerful burst of wind tossed the waverider to the side and sent Varek nearly flying from his seat; it would have, if not for his strong grip.

"Watch yourself," Neo said, indicating the strap above Varek's head. "There's a patch of clear-air about seventeen meters that way. I can get us through, but it's going to be rough." Up and over, just like a DTV, he told himself steadily. He spiraled them through two competing wind shears and narrowly avoided another hit. Neo swung the shuttle around, hitting the emergency dampening field above his head. The additional support prevented their hull from buckling.

Varek held on tightly as the other vulcan maneuvered around the currents. A moment later they emerged into the quieter air. "We have enough readings on the anomaly. Take us to the eye of the storm."

"Already ahead of you," Neo said as he powered them through the eddies and currents which made up the inner rings of the storm front.

As they neared the eye, the ship was buffeted by stronger and stronger winds, although they were all moving in the same direction and so the shuttle was able to compensate. But as they began passing through the wall of the eye, the winds became so powerful even the high-tech ship had trouble staying on course. At last, though, it burst through into the eye and its uncanny calm. The storm swirled quietly around them.

"All systems are stable," Varek observed, informing them of their safe travel through the storm.

Neo looked at his readout as he guided them to a careful stop, allowing them to be coasted along as the storm slowly moved along its trajectory. Neo activated the sensor pods and began sending out initial telemetry scans, his fingers working quickly over the console. "Looks like a cat-5 tropical cyclone. Wind speeds approximately 251 kilometers an hour. It's possible this has been the result of two storm fronts merging to form a larger one."

"It's possible," Varek conceded, not sounding like he cared much one way or the other.

They followed some of the currents of the storm, the shuttle's sensor pods working in overdrive to collect as much data as possible about the phenomenon. The shuttle was bathed in murky, soupy clouds that swirled agelessly, streaking the sky around them green and white. After several minutes, the scans completed and gave them a full view of the storm's composition. "Looks like we got it," Neo said as he began readying the shuttle to fly back out through the dense winds. "What's next?" he asked as the shuttle zoomed through the raging sky.

"There may be intense aurora effects over the north polar region," Varek said, placing his hand on the console to steady himself as they were buffeted once more, "that is the last major mission objective. Coordinates here..." He punched in the coordinates indicated and sent them to Neo's console.

Neo captured the coordinates and fed them through the ship's sensors, using their trajectory map to rocket the shuttle forward at its highest safe velocity, narrowing the distance between them and the north pole in little time. He dropped them out of high-Mach and flew them low, skimming over the lake below. All around them were trees, swaying peacefully in the wind, leaves and snow matted around the lake, which reflected geisers of blue, green, orange and pink cascading through the sky, catching in the sunset and causing the stars to twinkle beyond them.

"Increase our altitude," Varek instructed.

The Vincenzo skidded along the water and then angled upward, shooting through the sky, higher and higher. They flew on the dark side of the planet, so high in the atmosphere that the aurora seemed like a river flowing just over their heads, so close they could reach their hand outside the shuttle and dip their fingers in.

"Humans have aurora effects on Earth," Varek observed in his first real attempt at conversation, "They find it beautiful; I believe some ancient cultures worshiped the particle emissions."

Neo hadn't ever seen an aurora effect in his life. "It's nice," he guessed, but he was overall apathetic about it. "Pretty."

"Nice?" Varek asked curiously, "Pretty?" Interesting descriptives, he thought.

"Not big on adjectives, are you?" asked Neo dryly. "Yeah, it's nice. Sparkling colors, wavy patterns. Like a painting."

"You have spent a long time around humans," Varek said in a non-antagonistic manner; it was purely an observation based on the medical officer's own deductions.

"Not particularly, just very familiar with Standard. I've had thirty years of V'Ket training. It's not kolinahr, but I'm not going to start eating the hearts of my enemies."

"That is reassuring," Varek said dryly.

"I try," said Neo, gesturing with his hands as they pulled back up through the atmosphere and onto their next target.

OFF:

Ensign Varek
Medical Officer, SFM
USS Galileo

Crewman Neo
Support Craft Pilot, FCON
USS Galileo

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