Mining for Fun and Wisdom, Part 2

Posted on 30 Sep 2015 @ 1:53am by Lieutenant JG Cyrin Xanth & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Lieutenant JG Tinaro Cyi & Lieutenant JG Lenaris Marika
Edited on on 30 Sep 2015 @ 2:32am

2,629 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: Asteroid 6/0983 Saalm
Timeline: MD 05 - 1240 hrs

[ON]

Previously...

Looking to Rheneas, Kohl shook his head emphatically. "I do not in any way consider mining to be the only valuable expertise here," Kohl remarked. "Your archaeological experience is going to be instrumental in advising the team on how to proceed, especially if we run into complications. I'd say dilithium crystals need to be treated as precious as any delicate artifacts."

Excited already, Rheneas grinned brightly. "Oh yes," he agreed happily, "yes yes they should be treated as something precious. I have all the equipment I need with me...chisels, brushes...everything."

"Well, now," Kohl said, a little awkwardly, "I'm not sure we'll have the time to treat them that preciously."

"I don't have mining experience, Commander," Cyrin offered from his seat in the back. "But I can manage getting the equipment where it needs to go out there; I am used to moving things around in zero-gee." The Trill would be useful for that at least, and handling scanners out there but not for any direct mining operations. He would stay silent on that.

Kohl shared a smile with Cyrin. They'd practically first met in zero-G. "You move with the grace of a cosmozoan out there," Kohl said, showing his agreement with a slow nod. "We'll need you to take the lead in crossing the expanse of rock."

Listening to the others opinions on the subject Marika simply nodded with a smile. They had pretty much brought up the main advantages and disadvantages.

And now the continuation...

--

Kohl crossed to the other side of the compartment again, and he pressed his hand to a small touchpad on the bulkhead. That touch activated a large LCARS display set into the bulkhead as well. Having cued it up from a workstation moments earlier, a simulation of the Pisa's landing site appeared on the display. The simulation included murky sensor readings that suggested how deep down they could find deuterium ore. For the pilots, an auxiliary display between their consoles showed the same simulation.

"I spent a few hours with our tactical officers and geologists, and they modified a complement of thermolytic charges to get us through the uppermost layers of rock," Kohl explained. He pointed to two spots on the display where the charges appeared. "We'll place them here and here. The simulations suggest that will give us a good head start before we continue digging for deuterium with phaser drilling. ...Any thoughts?"

"How do we keep the shuttle grounded when we drill or use explosives?" Wintrow asked carefully, "can we even keep the shuttle running? Won't that be too dangerous?"

Kohl had been considering Wintrow carefully since the cadet first asked the question, and so his eyes didn't have to travel very far to find the back of Lieutenant Cyi's head. "What does our esteemed pilot suggest?" Kohl asked. "Can we land a safe distance away from the mining site or should Pisa remain in orbit around the asteroid?"

"I believe landing would not be advisable. The Pisa is much too large and slow and too heavy once filled to making an asteroid landing feasible. A stationary orbit above the landing site for any excursions require the EVA suits would be my recommendation. Transporters would transport containers for loading or unloading and incendiary placement. It would definitely have to me orbital of any drilling site using phasers." Ti spared a glance up from this control panels to Wintrow. "Starfleet regulations, of course, requires the shuttle to be 'running' if there EVA suits are used in space." He focused back on his instruments. He was going to have to make sure Wintrow was 'refreshed' on protocol later. "Cadet, adjust the module intera adjustment sequence by 0.003401, please. I feel she is dragging a little bit." Such a tiny adjustment wouldn't mean anything to most pilots by Ti hated all unnecessary drag.

Wintrow listened closely and nodded, his hands already flying over the controls to make the ordered adjustment even before Ti was finished speaking.

Kohl spoke up once again, making certain to make eye-contact with everyone in succession. "Lieutenant Cyi, you will be staying with the Pisa. Keep her in range to evacuate the away team at any moment, and use her tractor beam emitters to keep any rock debris away from the team," Kohl said. "Mister Malachy, you will be staying aboard Pisa as well. You will be sharing the ship's short-range sensor readings with the team's tricorders, and I need you operating the transporter to beam up the ore we release from the rock. Both of you keep an open comms channel with the entire team at all times."

Tinaro nodded from his position at the helm.

"I don't get to dig?" Rheneas seemed disappointed. "Ah well...maybe next time?"

"I imagine you know your way around a transporter better than the rest of us," Kohl offered in response, and he shared a smile with Rheneas too. "In any case, this isn't the only mining mission. I'll see to it you're assigned to another one."

Kohl went on: "Ensign Xanth, Ensign Lenaris, and Cadet Paragon, you three will be responsible for phaser drills A through D." He explained, "Position the drills around the perimeter of the crater and operate the drills to dig up our deuterium ore."

All of a sudden, Cyrin wasn't so sure about this. His enthusiasm had made way for worry. It was one thing to go floating around in space, and quite another to be responsible for operating drills and to look out for a cadet. This would be his first time, drilling that is, and there came those expectations he had issues with. Then the bit about Wintrow Paragon. Had the kid had much time in zero-g training? If not, he was about to get a crash course and Cyrin might recommend he keep hands away from sensitive controls till he got used to it.

Leading the three person team across the asteroid wasn't going to be difficult he figured. But disappointing his superior in any way would be. The Trill had turned very pale.

"Aye sir! Should be an interesting assignment." Marika nodded with enthusiasm, She winked at Cadet Paragon and smiled reassuringly at Ensign Xanth.

"I don't have much phaser experience sir," Wintrow responded slowly, keeping his eyes on his controls, "I'm not sure I'd be suitable for firing them..."

"Tell me, Cadet," Kohl said in his best impersonation of a challenging Academy instructor, "How does one go about gaining experience?"

"By learning how to do it sir," the teenager replied softly, "but I've never done this before...."

"You can't learn something, Cadet, until you do it. You gain experience through living experience," Kohl said, "Phaser drills aren't operated much like hand phasers. A drill's phaser emitter is stationary, mounted on a tripod. Targeting and firing is completed through an LCARS interface on a PADD... It's more like operating a starship's phaser array, except no one's firing at you when you do it."

"I know how to operate a starship phaser array," Wintrow mused out loud, "I've done that before... I thought it was more like using hand phasers sir, and that's something I've not done before."

"I'm not giving you a phaser bore, Cadet," Kohl said, with a certain whimsy that wasn't entirely called for. "As I mentioned, the drills operate much like a starship's phaser array. You can leverage your own experience, as you learn something new."

Finally, Kohl advised, "Lieutenant Nicholas, you get to make the crater. You will set and detonate the thermolytic charges. As soon as we assess the blast site to ensure its stability, the entire away team will leave the Pisa to begin the phaser drilling. Nicholas, you and I will carry the phaser bores to support with any fine-detail blasting through rock."

Jared looked over at Kohl with a curt nod of his head. It had been awhile since he had handled any real explosives, but he didn't think it would be prudent to say so. "Sounds like a plan," he said with more confidence than he felt.

After smiling back at Jared, Kohl swung his arms open wide in a gesture that could be anything from expressing openness, to admitting defeat, to making himself vulnerable in front of the firing squad. A wicked grin came to his lips. "What questions do you have about the plan," Kohl asked. "Now's your chance. Once we step out there and I'm in charge, I may go power-mad and stop listening to opinions other than my own. ...You never know, yeah?"

The Commander was just kidding. Right? "Sir, wh-what's out target amount of ore on this m-mission?" Cyrin asked, his uncomfortableness slipping through his demeanour only slightly, though he still looked too pale. Please, let him be kidding.

Kohl's own expression turned uncomfortable in response: his brow knit together and he winced. He crossed his arms over his chest, and then he caught himself offering closed-off body language, and forced himself to uncross his arms. "I don't have a clear answer for that," Kohl admitted. "With the current state of Galileo's sensor array, we don't have a complete understanding of just how much deuterium we're going to find at this site. We're also not... totally... sure if we're going to find any dilithium at this site. Personally, I'd like to absolutely fill Pisa's holds, but maybe we'll just keep digging until we run out of fuel and need to turn back. This will be the first of many mining trips today."

"Crewmen Thelin and I found a high concentration of dilithium approximately six kilometers from the landing zone wh-while the Galileo was coming down, C-Commander," Cyrin added. "Perhaps we can go there on a later trip." Having added his piece and had his own question answered, he started to check the settings on his EVA suit for the fifth time now.

Kohl nodded as he said, "I'm sure we will, Ensign." He offered an appreciative smile to Cyrin, and he took the time to say, "Thank you." Kohl smiled at Cyrin once more before he turned his head to meet the eyes of everyone else in the transport ship. "What other questions to you have about this mission?" Kohl asked.

Marika shrugged as an answer to the team leader’s question. “Slap a drill in my hands, point me to the dilithium, and I shall bring back shiny beautiful crystals.” She beamed her usual happy excited smiles, and looked around at everyone.

"Lieutenant Cyi," Kohl declared; "What's your ETA to our mining site?" As soon as he asked the question, Kohl quietly slinked towards the aft of the passenger compartment. He moved to approach Cyrin in a not-terribly-assertive fashion.

Tinaro sensed Kohl's desire to put Cyrin at ease. After meeting with the young man himself, Ti knew it wasn't going to be a simple task. Giving him more attention would only worsen the young man's shyness. With the debris littering the area, Ti had to focus his attention on flying the shuttle so he couldn't spare the attention to use his calming trick to aid Kohl.

"We are approaching the coordinates now, Sir." Tinaro responded. "There is a large amount of debris and dust, probably from a recent collision in the area, so I am lowering speed to compensate. I estimate arrival in 23 mins."

Cyrin was distracted now, checking on his EVA suit controls yet again, running through procedures he'd learned years ago but hadn't used yet and his anxiety began to diminish. It was calming to run through his responsibilities and training, not actually thinking about the end result but how they would get there. There was going to be a cadet on the team he was on, and the Trill supposed that he and Lenaris should use this as a teaching opportunity. A phaser drill really wasn't all that difficult to operate as Cyrin recalled from an Academy training session, and EVA was easy. If he'd noticed his superior creeping closer, Cyrin would certainly not be so calm.

When Cadet Wintrow unexpectedly pushed past Kohl --seemingly to speak with Cyrin before Kohl himself did-- Kohl hung back, and allowed Wintrow to do so. Kohl mentally filed away his question for Cyrin for later, and he meandered towards the fore of the transport vessel, as if that has been his intention all along. After the secondary flight control console was vacated by Wintrow, Kohl dropped himself into the seat beside Tinaro and examined the status lights blinking on the console.

Watching Cyrin, Wintrow swallowed nervously, then stood slowly and approached the Trill. "Do you need assistance?" he asked softly as he drew his attention. He swallowed a second time, not even close to ready on putting an EVA suit on. "I...I've never done an EVA..."

The scientist glanced up sharply. "Never?" Cyrin glanced at Marika, and his eyes spoke volumes. They were expected to not only set four drills and operate them, but teach someone something that took months of training at the Academy like they had gone through? "You need to get your suit on now, Cadet," Cyrin said wryly. "It's going to take you as long as we have just to get a crash course." He stood and waved Wintrow further into the back so they could get started. "Never gone EVA..." Cyrin muttered that under his breath, as if he'd been told the kid had never learned to put his uniform boots on properly.

"Yes sir," Wintrow replied, "Ill get suited up." He was nervous, obviously. "And no sir, I've never done this, not even in simulation sir."

The Trill shook his head. Not even a simulation! Well, this really would be a crash course. "Ensign Lenaris and I will guide you through this, but you have to listen and follow what we say exactly, Cadet Paragon," it was always a lot easier for Cyrin to speak to people he outranked. There was no stuttering then. "I won't lie to you, any EVA comes with a lot of risks. This shouldn't be too hard but only if you focus. Now, get this on, just like you're getting dressed. Most of it will seal for you, and I'll show you how to check your integrity." He opened a storage bin and started pulling out the suit pieces.

"Thank you sir," Wintrow replied gratefully, already afraid he might do something wrong. He was so desperate to prove himself, and that despite his failures he was fit to be in Starfleet. He wanted to learn!

Returning from the cockpit, Kohl padded towards Wintrow and Cyrin at the aft of the compartment. He held a PADD in one hand. "Once you're suited up," Kohl interjected, "you have twenty minutes to read this." --Kohl put the PADD in Wintrow's hand-- "The user manual for the Starfleet Mark-VII phaser drill. The time for learning is now, not next semester, not tomorrow, not when the mining is done. Right now."

"Yes sir," Wintrow replied, already having started to read his new 'course material' as soon as he was told to read it. "Right away sir."

--

[OFF]

RADM Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Lenaris Marika
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

Cadet SO Wintrow Paragon
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
pnpc Tyrion

PO2 Rheneasa Malachy
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
pnpc Tyrion

Lieutenant Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USS Galileo

Ensign Cyrin Xanth
Astrophysicist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Tinaro Cyi
Asst. Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

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