SET 015 - Rojar V Orbital survey

Posted on 06 Aug 2013 @ 11:51am by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant JG Nenokah Ral & Petty Officer 1st Class Camibree Christoph & Vincent Kramer Ph.D.
Edited on on 06 Aug 2013 @ 11:53am

2,934 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Rojar VI - Shuttle Livia
Timeline: MD08 0930

ON:

Dr. Kramer rode the turbolift to the shuttle bay. Nothing took very long on this small vessel. He had great respect for what the scientific team had done and what the ship and her Captain could do, but he looked forward to being reassigned one day to a Galaxy class starship or that new Elysium class starship. Now that was a treasure of engineering to behold.

Exiting the turbolift, Vincent walked over to the shuttlecraft Livia, but saw no one around. He thought that very odd. The crew, especially the survey teams that he had participated on were always eager and on time. Turning away from the shuttle, he looked at his time piece. He rolled his head in frustration. He was 10 minutes early. He knew, even the pilot would not show up that early. Frustated, the scientist sat down on a small cargo container nearby and waited.

Lt. Nenokah Ral stepped into the shuttle bay a few minutes early, surprised that one member of the team was already there. She had not met this man before and decided she must get to know him before she had to fly him around in her shuttlecraft. Stepping into the man's field of vision, she introduced herself.

"Lieutenant JG Nenokah Ral," she said, nodding her head in greeting, "I don't believe we've met before now."

Standing Vincent extended a hand of friendship, "Hello. Vincent Kramer. I'm please to meet you Lieutenant Ral. It looks like we are both just a touch early."

Were things normal, at least they were so very different from before. Kiri arrived with her hair tied up and hands together in her lap. Taking a breath as she entered the shuttle bay she tried to smile at the small number of people inside before approaching Doctor Kramer, "Good morning."

"Good morning Lieutenant." The scientist said cheerfully. It's good to see you again. I understand you have been very busy with many of these survey missions."

"Yes," Kiri answered with a nod and a small smile, "How have the readings on the last set of probe data been progressing?" They were nearing the end of their first scans of the moons and planets in the system. This was an extremely rich system and would be a great addition to the Federation.

Kramer was about to respond when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and turned.

With a bit of a clanky noise Petty Officer Christoph came running up to the group with phaser rifle in one arm and a small back pack of some kind in the other. "Sorry if I'm late." She said coming to a stop. "Last minute reassignment."

"Now that everyone is here...?" Nenokah asked with a gesture towards the shuttle. She lead the way, climbing in as though she was more comfortable inside the enclosed space than she was with her own crewmates. And, if truth be told, she was. Once everyone was inside and safety settled, her fingers danced across the buttons and controls. "Here we go," she declared, the shuttle smoothly detaching from the ship.

Bree had quickly stowed her gear and grabbed a rear seat in the small shuttle. She sat with her hands together in her lap calmly breathing and going over her instructions in her head. She had been informed that sitting at the weapons console next to the pilot would not be necessary. All previous shuttle surveys had been uneventful, but was told to be ready to take charge to defend the shuttle if the time came.

Dr. Kramer sat in the seat opposite the security officer. He brought up the expected program for their survey. Everything seems to be in order here. he said to himself.

Kiri settled down into the co-pilots seat and brushed down her legs needlessly, "Are we ready for launch?"

"Proceed Lieutenant." Kramer responded.

Bree's eyes glanced about the cabin at the Officer's present. This type of mission was really not her 'cup of tea', but she usually did what she was told, and this was her assignment. She smiled and nodded to the others.

The shuttle handled easily under Nenokah's hands as she piloted the craft closer to their destination. It was quiet in the shuttle and she wasn't about to break the silence. She wasn't one for small talk.

Kiri looked out the window at the dull, dead planet before them. It was postmarked with craters, it showed no activity at all and nothing really in the way of any sort of resources. Checking again she remarked, "I'm not detecting anything substantial."

"Substantial? My . . Dear . . girl." Kramer turned in his chair to face Lt. Cho. "On the contrary, we have located numerous mineral deposits across the system. The life sciences department reports have detailed hundreds creatures native only to this system." He turned back to the display bringing up the planetary display. "The previous 2 planets were gas giants and each had 28 and 15 moons respectively. I realize that this planet only has 2 moons and is itself a barren rock, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't hold wonderful secrets of its own tp discover."

"It has no water, no atmosphere, no readings other than Anorthosite and limited amounts of iron, no geological activity and it's far outside the systems life capable zone. " Kiri looked at him for a moment, "It is possible there is something here, but it is neither substantial or likely." It felt like he was talking down to her, because of his own assumptions as well.

Kramer turned and smiled at the young Lieutenant, "All this is true, my dear young girl, but . . ." he turned back to his console and continued to look at the sensor readings coming in. He finally finished his comment, "But, we are here to do our J. O. B. And to do it the best we can. And in the process, hopefully not miss anything we should have found." The scientist turned his head partially towards Kiri, looking out of the corners of his eyes and said so dramtically, "Because what we might find, could make the difference in the entire mission here in the Rojar system."

Kiri frowned at him but said nothing. She'd not stopped doing her job at any point, from one remark he seemed to have taken that she didn't want to be here. True there were likely better things she could be doing but she had never said that, he was also being rude.

From her pilot's seat, Nenokah heard the exchange between Kramer and Cho. The way in which he chose to speak to the poor girl rubbed her the wrong way. She may not know Kiri personally, but Nenokah did know that the she was quite capable in all of her abilities.

"Dr. Kramer," Nenokah called. Her strong voice, projecting unexpectedly from the front of the craft, was tinged with annoyance and displeasure. "Everyone involved in this survey was chosen because they are good at what they do and are trusted to be thorough. I can assure you that nothing with be missed and your mission will be completed. Please do your job and allow Lt. Cho to do hers uninterrupted." She was sure, and rather hoped, that her gruffness was not lost on the doctor.

Vincent heard the authority in Lt. Ral's voice. He knew the drill; front and back. He had been a full lieutenant before. He turned back to his console and rolled his eyes and wobbled his head slightly back and forth thinking ya ya whatever, and continued with review of the data coming in.

Glancing at the Lieutenant, Kiri smiled slightly, though she hated conflict she liked having someone stand up for her. Though she was a Lieutenant too, she was meant to be able to do it for herself, she shouldn't give way, let him win like that. Taking a breath she asked, "Could you take us a little closer?"

"Yes," Nenokah replied, her voice back to normal, "Let me know how close you want to get." She urged the craft closer to the surface, waiting for Kiri to tell her when they were close enough.

"A low orbit," Looking over the readings she had so far, "It might let us pick up anything that isn't showing up yet." As she said though, she wasn't exactly hopeful.

Kramer didn't say anything nor did he role his eyes this time. He just sat quiet. He thought smugly, Getting closer will not improve sensor readings.

Nenokah piloted the craft silently, annoyed by the smugness that Kramer projected. He was unaware that she felt his smugness and this caused her to smile to herself. "Is this close enough, Lt. Cho?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you," Kiri checked the sensors again and keep checking. The sensors weren't themselves clearer but there was less interference, more detail per scan. There still wasn't anything that was really note worthy, "There is a recent impact crater ahead."

Vincent realigned the sensors. Craters were interesting in themselves, since it was something from somewhere else that had impacted this body. He thought, There could be all kinds of interesting trinkets left behind.

"I'm trying to identify where it came from, approximately two years, accounting for orbit and rotation, a possible remnant from a collision at Rojar Three, but I can't trace it further than that," Kiri looked up, there still wasn't anything that remarkable about it.

Kramer brought over her calculations to his station and went through her projected origination. Then glancing over said, "Have you considered that on of the larger moons of Rojar 3 may have also effected the objects and track?" He looked fully at her with sincerity. He knew recently things had not gone so well. He needed to behave better as a former officer.

"Yes, but there are too many variables to identity it further," At least not without days of modelling and analysis, not that it really seemed that important. Looking up, "Do you detect anything else?"

"No Lieutenant." Kramer replied trying to so a little respect. A beeping and light Ctivated on his panel.

Kiri frowned and looked at her on panel, what was it?

Kramer sat up quick and refocused the sensor array. "Now that we are on this side of the crater, I am getting refined metal explosive devise. It appears to be down in a narrow fissure on the outer bank of the crater."

He turned to face Lt. Cho, "It must have been shielded by the crater up to this point."

"That, is odd?" This planet had no signs of life, it would require a full EVA suit just to walk around on the surface. Then, what explosives would survive re-entry? Puzzled she checked her own scans, they seemed to match, "Are there any other signs of technology from your readings?

Kramer looked over the sensor display once more. "No." he said softly expecting to find something, yet nothing was around accept what was down in the fissure.

"Where do you need me to take you?" Nenokah asked from her pilot's chair. It appeared that they had found something worthwhile and she wanted to make sure that they got what ever information they needed. "Or should I just hover here?"

Kramer would normally take charge at this point, but this was not his specialty, and really didn't care about this possibly ancient explosive device. He thought it should probably be destroyed, before it hurts someone. He looked to Lt. Cho with questioning eyes, and waited.

Kiri wasn't really sure, getting closer wasn't really a good idea. It was a mystery and one she had no idea how to solve. Someone had to have put the explosives there, there was no other option with the readings she had. There was no reason why though, right? They had all the data they were going to get from here though, they'd have to figure it out later. Explosives on a barren planet with no life and little in the way of space ships, it wasn't a pressing concern. Taking a breath, "We need to move onto the next section of the planet, so, forwards."

"Very well, then" Nenokah replied, urging the craft forward. They flew in silence for the few moments is took for them to reach their destination. "Do you need me to stay at the altitude?" she asked. They had remained at the same altitude as before, when Kiri was investigating the explosives.

Kramer realized that Ral seemed to be a little nervous. So, some encouragement sometimes goes a long way. "Lieutenant Ral, you are doing just a fine job. Let me send you a survey route that I would recommend. And we'll see if it helps us any?" It was really a statement, but he left it in more of a question, so not to hurt her feelings. But then again, hurting a Klingon's feelings is not something he wanted to do often, even if she was only park Klingon.

Nenokah actually took her eyes off of the route ahead of her to turn and look and Kramer. "Do not mistake my hesitation for nervousness," she said, "I'm doing a fine job and I damn well know it. I hesitate because I want to make sure you and Lt. Cho get any and all information that you need." She turned back to her controls with an indignant turn of her head.

Vince wanted to laugh out loud at the Klingon's comment, but kept his lips pressed flat and only a little throat action took place as he suppressed his laughter.

"This is quite okay," Kiri tried to end the argument before it happened, "I'm not reading anything though, wait." It was tiny, more than tiny, it gave off nothing in readings and scattered scans. Now she could see it, not that far from the impact crater, "It looks like a space lander." She knew what the Apollo lander looked like and this seemed like a rounder, smaller version. That might explain the explosives. So, someone had been here?

This news didn't surprise Vincent at all. He glanced over at Lt. Cho's display and nodded, understanding, but really had nothing to add. So, he threw a question at her, "Is this something you think we should investigate?" Looking at her with his head canted slightly to the right.

"Yes," This was likely an extremely important part of someone's history, "We should take a full series of scans and investigate everything we can." While landing might be out of the question Kiri wanted to look at it properly. To land on another planet, it was important.

With a nod, "Very well then." Kramer replied and turned back to his console to reset for a new scan. He looked up at Ral and said teasingly, "Oh Charles, once around the block, please."

Nenokah raised an eyebrow when Kramer addressed her as "Charles." She knew it must be some kind of Earth reference but what it meant she couldn't imagine. Choosing to ignore the strange little doctor and his Earth references, she steered the craft onward to the location of the lander.

There were footprints, though it was hard to date anything that remained on the surface of the planet. The closer she looked the more damaged it seemed, tools were left behind but no space suits. No sign of bodies or anything, like they just vanished. No flags, that was an Earth thing anyway, just a few dusty footprints, remains of a lander and some explosives. There were parts to a puzzle that didn't fit together yet. So much seemed to be missing and she didn't even have half the picture.

Vince glanced over at Lt. Cho. He thought she seemed so intense by the data she was getting on the 'lander'. He shrugged and turned back to his displays. He didn't seem to care much about ancient history unless it was over 100,000 years. Then you would find all the history you wanted in the rock and crystal formations.

After a few minutes Kiri felt they had all the information that they were going to gather. There didn't seem to be any more to the site than what they had found already, so someone maybe from Rojar had come here and it seems they left. Whatever reason they left an amount of explosives on the surface, how they got here, when and why would have to wait. Taking a moment to breath she asked, "Have you picked up anything on long range sensors?"

Kramer was a little startled by the question. He thought, We are doing a planetary survey, why would we be using long range? The planetologist asked, "Are you looking for something particular Lieutenant?"

"Remains of deployment craft, inorganic materials, or anything on the surface away from this site?" Something had carried the lander here after all, something that likely the crew would have returned to. It would give hints as to what happened but she hadn't picked up anything on the way in.

Vincent raised his eyebrows in skeptical understand to her premise, but turned back to his console. He executed an long range scan for other refined materials, similar to the craft in the crevice below.

[OFF]

--

LTJG Kiri Cho
Asst. Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Vincent Kramer PhD.
Science Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Theron Rhodes

LTJG Nenokah Ral
Asst. Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Im'er Mor'an

PO2 Camibree Christoph
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Theron Rhodes

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