Mining for Fun and Wisdom, Part 4

Posted on 30 Sep 2015 @ 2:10am by Commander Andreus Kohl & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Lieutenant JG Tinaro Cyi & Lieutenant JG Cyrin Xanth & Lieutenant JG Lenaris Marika
Edited on on 02 Oct 2015 @ 2:40pm

2,190 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: Asteroid 6/0983 Saalm
Timeline: MD 05 - 1316 hrs

[ON]

Previously...

Taking his first steps across the surface of the asteroid, Kohl did so to bring himself closer to Wintrow. Holding his phaser bore against his body with one hand, Kohl raised his other gloved hand as he approached Wintrow's tall frame. He reached over to pat Wintrow on the shoulder. "Use your words, Cadet," Kohl said in a consoling tone. "What are you feeling?"

Wintrow jumped at the touch, not having expected it. "Sick," he whispered, as he breathed slowly, wrenching his eyes shut. "I know it shouldn't be different than being inside a craft, but it is...it does feel different." He took small breaths between each word and swallowed a second time. Then he opened his eyes and looked directly at Kohl. "Help me," he whispered, "help me do this...I want to help. I want to learn."

Kohl looked back at Wintrow. The weightlessness of Kohl's body, the lack of gravity pulling on him, allowed an expression of serenity to cross Kohl's features. The lights in his helmet made his facial expression all the more clear. "Breathe deeper, Cadet," Kohl said. He spoke slowly, patiently, as if they could spend the next three hours on breathing exercises. "Breathe into your chest, into your abdomen, into your feet..." Kohl went on.

Doing as he was told, Wintrow continued to feel lightheaded but the determination showed on his young features. Despite feeling as if he were about to faint or throw up, he was determined not to let his fellow teammates down.

"Excuse me, C-Commander," Cyrin interrupted, trying to sound polite about it. "I show the debris is um, out of the way now. We should be okay to proceed with the operation, sir. I mean, uh, when you're ready, sir."

Turning his body towards Cyrin, Kohl's brow showed visible knits of consternation. "I wasn't kidding before, Ensign Xanth. This isn't my teasing timbre," Kohl remarked. He settled his phaser bore between both of his hands. "We will proceed when you're ready. Lead the way, Ensign. Direct your team to deploy the phaser drills."

And now the continuation...

Cyrin seemed to wilt inside his suit at that response, "Aye, s-s-sir." His hands shook as he held the tricorder and began to worry. It was bad enough Commander Kohl wanted him to take charge, but now he'd have to do it under his superior's direct supervision. Other people's expectations! "Ensign uh, Marika, C-Cadet Paragon. L-l-let's set the uh...the d-drills at um...twenty meter inter-uh-intervals around the b-blast site." Cyrin gestured to the crater that had been made for them, then lifted his own drill and started to walk over there. "S-set them for uh..." He stopped to check his tricorder again, wishing he could wipe the sweat from his brow. "...Set them for two m-m-meter p-pene-penetration. That sh-should get us to the ore."

Dragging the drill with him, Wintrow set up a spot some twenty meters away from Cyrin, while constantly glancing back and forth between his instrument, and the PADD with the manual. His pale face was a mask of concentration, the tip of his tongue poking out between his lips.

As she took note of where her companions were heading, Marika slowly started towards what she thought would be a good place to set up. Observing them, she made sure her distance would be good. “All set.” Glancing at Wintrow to make sure everything was going well on his end, she smiled.

"Okay, let's see," Cyrin said after he finished the last adjustments on his tripod-mounted drill. They were easy to setup and control thankfully, and the operating PADD was clearly marked with all the functions available. "Again, um, set for t-two meter penetration. Target the outer uh, the outer rim and set tracking to move the drills towards the center as we r-reach the desired d-depth." With an obviously nervous glance towards Kohl who was watching nearby, Cyrin activated his drill and began to run the sequence.

Wintrow attempted to activate his, but all it did was stutter and then die. Frantically, he glanced at the manual again, then at the drill, kneeling to see what was going on, why it wasn't working. The tripod was stable, the nozzle was pointing down...why wasn't this working? "Sir," he called as he sat on his knees inspecting the instrument. "I did everything according to the manual, but the drill isn't functioning....what'd I do wrong?"

"Let me see!" Without even waiting a second, Marika laid her drill on the ground and jumped to the young cadets aid, bumping playfully into him as she arrived. "Hum, stabilizers check, targeting sensors check, power pack check... whats that yellow light that looks like a hat?" She pointed lazily at the icon with one hand, the other holding on to the drill.

With a nervous glance at Kohl, Cyrin called out across the comms, "Uh, you need to take the cover off the focusing lens, Cadet." There was a protective sheath over the phaser emitter, one that was now partially melted and entirely ruined by attempting to fire the drill while it was still on. Hadn't he read the setup procedures in the manual? Please don't let Kohl get angry, please don't let him get angry, Cyrin was thinking about their slow progress. "Marika if you could um, please get your drill into p-place, we can get our job done."

Kohl, for his part, slowly circled the perimeter of the dig site in absolute silence. He held back, beyond the radius of the drills and the personnel who operated them. The team were well underway initiating the drill operation, and Ensign Xanth was thinking more like an officer, in his attempts to resolve the obstacles between them and the desired deuterium. As far as Kohl was concerned, there was nothing for him to say.

"Oh!" the young pilot exclaimed as he examined the emitter. He first set the instrument back on it's safety setting before removing the protective sheath, then reactivated it. The recoil from the first sequence however, knocked the young man back, arms flailing as he fought to keep at least one foot connected to the ground.

Having only just reached her own drill, Marika spun around at the young cadet's exclamation. Slapping hand to her thruster controls, she took the time to observe the situation for a moment. He could still regain his composure, and if not, there would be ample time to catch him. She nonetheless glanced at Ensign Xanth in case her gave her the go.

Cyrin glanced up from his PADD redouts as his own drill was running through the programmed sequence, took in the scene, and said calmly, "Cadet, stop flailing, it's not going to do any good in a vacuum. Put your other foot down, and relax. No sudden movements. You need to check if you set up the tripod right after, like the manual says, since it'll prevent...well, that." He kept an eye on the boy though after glancing around himself to studying the rocks for inclination and angle. If need be he'd disengage his magnetised boots, shoot himself over there to grab Wintrow, and bring both of them back to the ground. "Shoulda done a simulation first," he muttered softly through the comm probably picked it up.

Pressing a few buttons, Marika set up a secondary comm link. “Do as he says, then please add channel 916 to your comm.” As she waited to see if he would pull himself back together, she gestured to Cyrin to give her two minutes.

It took a few seconds for Wintrow to gather his wits again and do as he was told. With both feet back on the 'ground' he breathed a sigh of relief as he changed the channel while also checking his tripod's stability. Nothing was out of the ordinary and everything was exactly as his manual told him to do. "Ma'am?" he queried softly.

While the ma’am annoyed her slightly, she let it pass. Now was not the time. With an evident smile in her voice Marika attempted to slow herself to his rhythm. “Breath and relax. You’re trying too hard.” She gave him a moment and continued. “Now, let’s do the check up together. Cap off, tripod stabilizers active, and sequence green green yellow blue.”

"The settings are exactly as the manual says," Wintrow reported after the double check, "so I don't understand why it kicked me back. Maybe I should just secure myself to the ah...ground? Somehow?"

“Forget the manual for a moment. Focus on what I just asked you.” Looking at the young man from afar, Marika prayed the Prophets to offer him their wisdom. “Now, once you’re good, set the drill to five percent power and activate it.”

Nodding, Wintrow checked again but made no adjustments as everything was as she said it should be. He did, however,reduce the power to 5% and reactivated it. Instead of going at one long bursts, he also changed to shorter pulses. Looking up, he smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Thank you."

Returning the thumbs up, Marika smiled to herself, as no one else could see it. “Just bring it up slowly and you should be good.” Turning back to her own drill, she followed her own advice and started up her equipment. Looking back towards Cyrin, she waited a moment in case Wintrow had anything else to add, before turning herself back into the mission comm signal.

“Just give me a moment to set up the fourth drill.” Picking up the second drill at her feet, Marika walked around with the confidence of someone who had done this a hundred times, even though that was far from the truth. Reaching her destination, she set up the fourth drill with the ease and efficiency of someone who had spent the hour before they left practicing. Going through the startup sequence, she established a link between both drill computers, and quickly proceeded to verify her set up one more time. Giving the team leader a thumbs up, she smiled to herself in satisfaction. “All good to go.”

Cyrin had briefly considered listening in on the conversation but then decided against it. Commander Kohl might have put him in charge of the phaser drills, but that didn't mean he had to control every single detail. Whatever Marika had said seemed to have worked and that was what was important. Cyrin smiled at her and nodded his helmet, then turned back to his drill. Teamwork. "Okay guys, up the power, we have only two meters of rock to get through," he called out over the comms, sounding enthusiastic.

It didn't take long now that the three of them were all set up and focused on their task. There was some chatter back and forth as they adjusted the drilling to account of variations in the rock, but things went smoothly regardless. After ten more minutes, the deuterium ore was exposed. "Commander," Cyrin said with a grin in his tone, "we're ready for your bore."

Approaching the lip of the depression they'd blown into the asteroid, Kohl put one slow foot in front of the other. He had no intention of flailing about like Cadet Paragon. If that meant walking at the pace of an arthritic, hundred-year-old man, Kohl was comfortable with that. As Kohl listened to Cyrin's remark and offered a confirmation, Kohl tapped a command into the interface on the forearm of the environmental suit. A helmet-mounted display materialized on the transparent plate of his helmet to act as sights for the phaser bore. Before Kohl could focus his eyes on the computer-assisted targeting, his mind replayed what Cyrin had said; replayed it again and again, as Kohl tried to deduce if he'd heard what he thought he heard. He was pretty sure he had. Kohl had promised Marika dinner; perhaps he owed Cyrin a drink.

Kohl braced the phaser bore against his shoulder and aimed it according to the sights in his helmet. "Commencing firing," he reported to the team three seconds before he touched the trigger. A brilliant orange beam lanced out from the massive phaser bore in his arms, and Kohl thought it peculiar not to hear the shrill report of a phaser beam firing. The phase bore in his arms cut into the rock around the large deposit of deuterium ore that had been revealed by the rest of the away team. Once Kohl stopped firing the bore, he announced, "Kohl to Pisa: your sensor should be detecting a quantity of ore that's ready to be brought aboard..."

--

[OFF]

RADM Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

PO2 Rheneas Malachy
Engineer/Archaeologist
USS Galileo
[pnpc Tyrion]

Cadet SO Wintrow Paragon
Support craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[pnpc Tyrion]

Ensign Cyrin Xanth
Astrophysicist
USS Galileo

Ensign Lenaris Marika
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

Lt. Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USS Galileo

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