Signals (Part 1)

Posted on 17 Jun 2016 @ 1:02am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Commander Luke Wyatt & Ensign Ibrahim Qureshi M.D. & Seleya Qellar Ph.D.

3,064 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 11 - Divinum Mundi
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 1, Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 14 - 0540 local

[ON]

One of Celes III's suns was just beginning to rise across the far horizon. Through the window in her ready room, Lirha could see the hazy yellow sky begin to brighten and silhouette the planet's rocky and arid terrain. It looked serene, and if not for the strange visual resemblance to her own homeworld on Rigel VII, Lirha might have decided to go for a quick morning stroll.

Something else was on her mind, however. She had stayed up through the entire night pouring through compiled sensor logs and planetary data regarding their current mission. To say she was on edge was perhaps a bit of an understatement, and so it was with a sense of urgency that she had decided to summon several members of Galileo's officer core for an improvised briefing and away mission.

Her lithe green fingers tapped away at the PADD in her hand. She sent an immediate summons to Holliday, Coleman, Langley, Wyatt, Qellar, and Quershi to assemble in her office as quickly as possible. Though she lamented the lack of prior notice and the early hour, some things were best accomplished under the cover of dawn. The Orion leaned back in her chair and rubbed her sleepy eyes with one hand before bringing her mug of hot chocolate to her lips with the other.

"Admiral." Holliday announced himself as he entered the room. Thankfully the Martian had been awake when the call came from his CO, and as such throwing on a uniform wasn't too much of a stretch before making his way to the Ready Room.

"A little early for summons isn't it Ma'am?"

She gave him a weak smile and gentle nod accompanied by a suppressed yawn. "Too early," she answered in a soft voice.

Luke too an early bird was dressed in his Gym clothing of black sweat pants and his usual grey SFMC tank to when he walked into the office "Morning Admiral, Captain" he said nodding to them both as he placed his gym bag by the door "What excitement have you planned for us this fine very early morning."

"The apprehensive kind," responded Saalm with a weak smirk to the heavily-muscled strategic operations officer who had been serving aboard her vessel for quite some time. "Perhaps something that would be more in your line of work," she hinted.

"Mr Wyatt. Nice to see you." Holliday replied with a curt smile and nod to his fellow officer.

"I'm sure the Admiral will make everything abundantly clear very shortly...whether of course its good news or not is another matter entirely"

Dr. Seleya Qellar showed up out of her civilian uniform, as she wasn't about to wear that hideous gray monstrosity outside of her duty shift even if she had been summoned by a flag officer. Instead, she'd chosen a form-fitting pure white dress trimmed in the fur of some dead animal, which someone had once remarked was "tactless" and to which she replied that she didn't give a damn.

"Good morning, Admiral Saalm, Captain Holliday."

Lirha gave a curt yet fatigued nod towards the Romulan woman who entered her office. Qellar was perhaps the most essential member of the briefing and the Orion was grateful for her presence...and her strangely eloquent stye of dress.

Holliday simply nodded in acknowledgement of the Romulan. He was still a little apprehensive of her people, whilst they were now arguably somewhat friendly with the Federation, the Captain still suffered from a few somewhat outdated stereotypes, never quite sure whether or not the Tal Shiar was going to appear from behind his shoulder.

Qureshi rushed in nearly in a panic. He was on his 15th hour of duty and still had three more hours to go n his training shift. To say being an intern was grueling was an understatement. While the dark rings under his puffy eyes may have suggested exhaustion he attempted to greet the group with as much enthusiasm he could muster. After all it wasn't everyday he would be called to the Admiral's office for a meeting. "Hello!" He said. "I'm here, sorry if I'm late. I had--well I suppose it doesn't matter, I'll finish it before Dr. Voutilainen notices."

Evelyn arrived quietly to the Captain's ready room, slipping in right behind Qureshi, letting the intern's panic distract everyone.

With the small group now assembled, Lirha rose from her chair and moved around her desk's corner until she was on the opposite side with the rest of her guests. She motioned with her hand towards the LCARS monitor that was embedded into the wall of her office.

"I am sorry for the early hour. However, I believe I have discovered something worthy of attention." That was perhaps an understatement but Lirha let the words flow and digest while she continued.

"When we first entered the Celes system, our long-range sensors transmitted several conflicting readings. As we approached Celes III and entered orbit, the scan resolutions were more precise and we were able to acquire passive data on the phenomena." While she was speaking, she gestured towards the computer monitor where the solar system data was first displayed along with a general location for the anomalous reading. When Lirha began to speak about Celes III, the display shifted to show the planetary view and more localized reading that Galileo's sensor palates had obtained. Imagery projected the area to be within a +/- 10-kilometer radius not too far from the colony modules' landing sites.

"The sensor observations were very minute details and I was not aware of them until landed on the surface and I was able to review the logs," she continued. The Orion looked down at her PADD and linked her scans to the larger monitor where they suddenly came into view in wavelength format.

"These are chroniton particles," she explained, pointing with her green finger to the middle-most wavelength of the radiation spectrum. "Subatomic particles that are usually only associated with temporal anomalies...but they also have other applications. They are so rare that when we detect them, it is an exciting moment...time fluxes, temporal paradoxes, subspace tears in the space-time configuration...." she began to ramble a bit and get off topic before shaking her head to get back to the briefing.

"But these particles are usually natural but also affiliated with technological applications...most often Romulan cloaking devices." Lirha paused to take a sip of her coffee. "I spent several years as an Intelligence officer aboard Starbase 187 and USS Athens following the Hobus disaster...we encountered several similar occurrences of chroniton particles along the Neutral Zone and each was either a cloaked flotilla or a by-product of recent cloaked activity."

Lirha took a breath and continued. "That we are seeing chronitons here on Celes III in the ionosphere means that there is either an active temporal anomaly or a cloaked ship on the surface using Romulan technology. Or...perhaps there was a temporal event ages ago that was so profound that it is still leaving radiation signatures."

Glancing at each person in the room, Lirha knew what her answer was. "I personally suspect it is the former. Romulan technology has advanced very far past our detection capabilities in the past twenty years. And any such temporal anomaly would have been catalogued and entered into Starfleet records."

Luke nodded "Unless it's and out dated Romulan facility or ship, were a bit out from the neutrel zone and the romulans may have simply abandoned it. We should take precautions just in case. There will be a strong energy source if it is a cloak of some kind and if we can find that then maybe we can figure out what it is. I suggest scanning immediately." He didnt like the idea of Romulan's being around on a normal mission especially one of this calibre.

"Romulans do not abandon anything," Dr. Seleya Qellar said, speaking up as the only Romulan in the room. At first, she'd been absolutely baffled by the admiral's early morning invitation but now everything made sense, and she figured she might as well play her part. This had very little to do with her field and everything to do with her nature. "Paranoid xenophobes do not leave their technology scattered around for other people to find it. If there was an old facility here then it would have been obliterated upon departure following standard protocols. Without seeing more explicit data I couldn't say with a great degree of certainty, but I'm inclined to follow the admiral's intuition."

Lirha looked back between Wyatt and Qellar. She knew she had chosen wisely to include the Romulan scientist, for her offered insight was invaluable. Despite the best efforts of Starfleet Intelligence to ascertain the motives of their rivals, sometimes it took one of their own to enlighten the Human hubris.

"The Doctor's assumptions are valid. Romulans are protective of their technology and nothing is left discarded, especially if it would reveal their intentions or supply intelligence to another faction. They have even destroyed their own soldiers en-mass to avoid political responsibility following unexpected detection." Lirha then looked back towards Qellar.

"Are you aware of any of your people's efforts to colonize worlds this far across the Neutral Zone?" she asked rather bluntly. The Celes system was well within Federation territory but was also not too far removed from a possible strategic position given its close nature to both the Klingon and Romulan borders.

"No," Seleya replied. "But in the grand scheme of things I was only a deputy minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, so hardly privy to the inner workings of the Senate in its endless quest of D'era." For the benefit of those present, she smiled at each of them in turn as she elaborated on the word. "A philosophy of manifest destiny that promotes Romulans as masters of the universe. Given how much the Empire was driven by that philosophy I'm sure there were plans to colonize Celes at some point, though I doubt anytime soon. They wouldn't risk antagonizing the Federation so openly." She shook her head thoughtfully. "No, not a colony. But I wouldn't rule out a listening post, perhaps some sort of observation facility. Given the planet's eccentric orbit, they likely thought it would go uncolonized for some time."

Qureshi, who had up to now felt awkward offering anything being among such distinguished officers, cleared his throat. "If it were a natural phenomena we should find trace remnants embedded in biological organisms. Having it produced from say a device or artificially, we wouldn't find those traces in any organisms. Especially second or third generation biological matter. Chronoton particles have a very long decay rate so, uh we should be able...to detect whether or not these particles are here presently artificially or if it was from an event some time ago." Qureshi cleared his throat again and shifted awkwardly in his chair.

Evelyn stayed quiet for a moment as she organized her own thoughts. "Don't forget about the Orion Syndicate. They have been known to operate in this sector."

"If we just collected samples from vegetation or perhaps live test organisms, we could rule out natural phenomena and focus on external threats once it's ruled out. It feels like we're all jumping to threatening conclusions without ruling out natural causes first." It was probably the optimist in Qureshi, but immediately moving towards Romulan's or Orion's wasn't his first instinct. He felt self conscious as soon as the words left him.

"And are you volunteering to brave the ion storm to obtain the samples, Ensign Qureshi?" Seleya asked through a thin, bemused smile. Despite having never met him, she knew his face from a thorough review of his personnel file, which classified him as a very green medical resident. (Most people seemed to ignore the internal alerts on personnel transfer, but she always took a keen interest in them.) "It would be prudent to first eliminate the alternatives. Contrary to continuing Federation prejudice, there are not Romulans lurking in every shadow, not after that unfortunate business in the Hobus system."

Qureshi swallowed hard at being addressed by Seleya. Everyone in the room intimidated him, but less so than the surly Romulan. "We, uh, would only need a sample of plant matter, perhaps a soil profile or-or if we can find a complex biological organism? Say, uh insects? Perhaps? We could test for chronoton radiation and rule out any natural phenomena. Er, a small sample divided into aliquots would work just fine. Sending a probe would be easier than sending someone out into the ion storm."

"A probe would be effective..." Holliday replied, analysing the data readout that was displayed on the screen, muttering to himself as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

"But limited in its scope....a shuttlecraft with a trained crew aboard would give a more accurate analysis, especially if there is a theory that this might be something unnatural in origin."

Luke nodded "I agree what's a an Ion Storm when it comes against our crew" He chuckled "It would make an accurate reading and I've had just about enough of running in the dark for my liking, cloaked facility or not chroniton particles are never any good so I'll lead the team myself if no one else wants to"

"Unfortunately I believe a shuttlecraft might be too obvious of an expedition," Lirha chimed in. She'd listened to the different thoughts and compared them with her preemptive plans, weighing the pros and cons of each. "Weather reports suggest the current storm will clear within the next several hours. I was thinking of sending an expedition...on foot, once the skies clear. Any sensor data gathered from localized handheld sensors along with personal observations will be more valuable than anything our remote scans can determine. With the colony modules now on the surface, we can dress the team in colonist clothing under the guise of a 'scientific expedition'."

"It will need to be a small team so they don't get to much attention and will have to go without phasers and limit their communication" Luke advised "Maybe no more than 5 or 6? A couple of security guards with some scientific knowledge, a doctor, pilot and two scientists? That'll probably give us the diversity we need to remain undetected but effective."

"Actually..." Lirha glanced around the room at the small group of people assembled. "I was thinking all of you would make a strong team. That is, unless any of you have reservations?"

Qureshi had just taken a sip of water when the Admiral said they'd make a good team. They meant he'd be on the team. He choked on the water and tried to stifle a cough to attract less attention to him. He had not considered he'd be apart of an away team so early in his internship.

The young man to her left choking on a sip of water just about summed up her own thoughts on the matter, but Seleya was far too composed a woman to let it show. Instead, she pointlessly lifted an eyebrow, which was obscured beneath the fringe of hair running in a perfect line across her forehead. She assumed she was meant to serve as both a scientific and cultural liaison on the team, which only felt slightly like racial profiling.

In truth, she had little interest in dressing up like a colonist - they had the most functional looking attire she'd ever seen in her life - and stomping across some dusty excuse for a colonizable world. But then again, she couldn't help but think how galling it would be for the chief of security, Benice Gyce, to see how much faith and trust the admiral placed in Seleya. It would drive her mad, in fact, and so the Romulan nodded her agreement.

Luke looked from each individual and nodded, It was a lot of experience and clearly Lirha had thought about it... all night in fact that she had to call them all in at an unearthly hour. Allyndra was an amazing Doctor, Min was Chief of Ops and so was a whizz with computers and operations but also had the skill of flight control, Coleman probably lived and had more experience than the entire command staff put together, Ibrahim from his file was a skilled physician and could do with the away team experience and finally Seleya Qellar. A very opinionated woman she to Luke was the danger to the group but her scientific know how rivalled most if not all in the science department. "I think between us we cover all the necessary fields, who will be predominately in charge?"

That was a good question. Lirha was a bit hesitant to assign John to lead the mission but he seemed the most capable officer. Perhaps not the most covert, for all intents and purposes, but most likely the one most able to improvise should the expedition run into any sort of trouble. "I believe Captain Holliday will be happy to have a break from babysitting colonists over the next 24 hours."

Holliday could not help but smirk at the Admiral's comments. After a few years serving together, he thought that she had a pretty good idea of his personality, but that last comment simply proved the matter. He could think of nothing worse than being on babysitting duty, and the idea to escape even for a short while was attractive to him.

"Well...there has to be some perks with being the XO again. At least now I can lead away missions without having someone telling me I'm too important or something...very well Admiral, I accept."

"Good." Lirha looked across the different personnel one last time before giving a nod of approval. "In that case, please visit Miss Nicholas to acquire your civilian clothing and equipment. You will depart in thirty minutes. Dismissed."

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Dr. Seleya Qellar
Biotechnologist
USS Galileo
[ PNPC - Mott ]

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Ibrahim Qureshi, MD
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Luke Wyatt
Chief Strategic Operation Officer
USS Galileo

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