Recon Elements

Posted on 15 Oct 2015 @ 1:07am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Jynn & Crewman Ezra Koenig & Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero

1,456 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: Asteroid 6/0983 Saalm
Timeline: MD 05 - 1310 hrs

[ON]

Galileo mining team had just deployed and departed from the mothership less than 15 minutes ago aboard the large Polaris-class multi-role transport. Now, it was the second team's turn to perform their own specialized duties which were of the utmost importance -- to scout and recon the surrounding areas in order to provide sensor coverage to the collective group as well as give advance notice of any possible threats or hazards which might arise while the rest of the crew attempted to mine the asteroid's precious rocks and conduct repairs on a volatile platform.

Virginia's sleek and metallic spaceframe departed the aft shuttlebay and the starlight glinted off her hull as she embarked on her mission. With two senior officers aboard and small crew of competent specialized support staff, their assignment would hopefully be stressful yet uneventful.

For a child of wide open sky and spaces it seemed that she was always in smaller spaces or underground. At least this was not going to be a mine Allyndra thought as she sat in the co-pilot chair. And though, this craft was smaller than the ship that was receding behind them, due to the spot she occupied it felt more open to see things other than on a screen. It felt to be more free, more like those open skies, though this one was filled with bits and pieces of rock of all sizes and she had to bring her attention back to make sure they did not run into one of those.

"All is looking good, a lot of debris though, something pulverized this place."
Allyndra commented.

Jynn, too, had certainly taken notice of the tight clustering of the asteroids. He certainly wasn't an astronomer but he had flown his fair share of missions, simulated and real. Either this was a one-in-a-million field or something strange had happened. They had been flying around for a bit and so it seemed like an appropriate time to fire up the equipment. He turned his head in the direction of Manuel. “Manny (he hoped he didn't mind nicknames), could you get a readout on the type or types of asteroids we're dealing with here?”

Allyndra knew the others had certain jobs but that did not mean she could not be useful. "I will keep an eye on the longer range scans, well what I can get amoung all this mess."

Ezra Koenig hummed softly to himself. As a crewman, he generally didn't involve himself too much with the intricacies of the mission that the Galileo found themselves in. Preferring to just do what he'd been asked to do without much need for the 'why' behind it. He knew a few things from rumours (enlisted crew loved to gossip) but generally stuck to more tactical and security matters that were in his job description. For this current task he'd positioned himself at a console to be onhand for whatever they might need, but stayed quiet and out of the way as the more specialized officers did what they needed to do.

The shuttle floated gently between the gathered detritus of some trashed celestial object or objects. It didn't feel right, but then again nothing was feeling right to Jynn. He tried his best to keep his head in the game as he moved the shuttle along, staying the course as the sensors scanned all around them. Everything was just too damn quiet, except for his mind and the curious humming of the crewman towards the back. “Know a little ditty? Hum it for the crew. It sounds lovely.”

Allyndra cocked her head. She was not particularly listening to the tune but she did so now. She turned to Jyn, "I did not know you liked music. Perhaps sometime you might like to listen to some of my world's sometime."

It didn't take long after the humming had started for Jynn's mood to improve. The questioning from Allyndra just seemed to make it better. "Of course I love music. The energy it sends through your body is most astounding. I've also found it to be quite the effective means of communication," he added with a smile, recalling his recent events in the arboretum.

He took his hands off the console and began to snap his fingers, keeping the rhythm to Ezra's humming. "I'd like to listen now," he insisted. "Sing us a tune to the rhythm," he exclaimed with a smile as he leaned to the side and rested his head on Allyndra's shoulder. "Oh, and do keep scanning, Ezra. Maybe the console can chime in when it wants to add to the music!"

Ezra stopped humming after so much emphasis was placed on him and his reddened cheeks were quite evident on his olive coloured cheeks. "That's like asking me to rub my belly and pat my head, which I can never seem to do." He gave it a good try but humming now just seemed so silly that he laughed and just shook his head. "I am doing a scan of the surrounding areas, sir. Stand by."

Allyndra sighed, she sure wished he had continued. She suddenly was in the mood for music so she took up a song. It was something old from Earth she had heard after a fellow student had sent it too her saying she looked like one of Earth's mythical creatures.

"Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats
There we've hid our fairy mats
Full of berries
And of reddest stole cherries

Come away, O human child
To the waters and the wild
With a fairy, hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand "

Allydnra bit the song off abruptly as an indicator winked. "I am getting an odd electro-magnetic reading. Can you pinpoint the location or signature."

"I have it, Ma'am." Ezra said smoothly, as his black eyes swept across his console. "There's...huh," Ezra leaned in narrowed the scanning radius, "yes, I'm detecting EM pulses. I've sent you the bearing. I thought I saw something else too ma'am, closer to the asteroid. Possibly coming from the asteroid itself, but I'll need a steeper vector to scan the area down."

Allyndra hated the ma'am part. She put up with it though as this was not the place and she was out of her own sickbay area. "Jynn let's check it out but carefully, let's keep ourselves screened as much as possible. I have seen readings like this before when we have dealt with cloaking. Ezra check to see if you see anything odd gravitationally."

"Right, sly and wily," Jynn replied with a nod. He began to manually control the shuttle, only operating the impulse thrusters when absolutely necessary and directing them with the RCS thrusters more than anything else, but still sparingly. "I'll keep energy expenditure to a minimum. Anything else we should shut down? Keep the comm quiet?" He doubted there would be anything of danger in such a secluded area, but he was also one to not question a senior officer.

"If this is a possible cloaked ship or similar then I think running as silent and as carefully as possible is an excellent idea." Allyndra remarked to the Deltan. "Let's see what we get and send it back to the Galileo and then very quietly cruise out of here."

Jynn felt so sneaky as he flew the shuttle as un-shuttle-like as he could. No need for scans of any sort to pick them up. It'd only take a shot or two from most heavy weapons for a shuttle like the one they found themselves in to be toast and Jynn didn't like toast. He only came in as close as was necessary for their equipment to do their work. “Shouldn't take long, right Ezra,” he questioned in a tone that was a bit of a nervous sort of hopeful. Cloak was never good.

"Not long at all, sir." Ezra agreed, sounding much more less nervous about being hopeful.

A short while later, once the data collection was complete and ready for analysis back at Galileo Jynn wasted no time in propelling them back to the ship. It had felt so strange as they plodded along. It was unsettling. Like some invisible spectre not far away, watching them. A physical shudder went through Jynn's body like a cosmic warning...

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

LCmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Jynn
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Crewman Ezra Koenig
Security/Tactical Crewman
[PNPC Beaumont]
USS Galileo

RSS Feed