Paradise (Part 1 of 7)

Posted on 03 Jul 2019 @ 9:54am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin
Edited on on 03 Jul 2019 @ 9:58am

3,563 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: Latari B III, Shuttlecraft Vincenzo
Timeline: MD 01, 0339 hrs

Previously, on That We Might See...

Tris knew exactly what to expect, and wanted this to go ‘by the numbers’. He called out to those onboard, “Standby for launch.” The docking clamps released the Waverider and Shizn activated the thrusters, which jettisoned the vessel straight down. The next second, the Impulse engines were activated. Watching out the forward viewscreen, as soon as the Vincenzo cleared the lower saucer and the stars and blackness filled the view, Shizn’s hands moved gracefully over the controls causing the Runabout to pitch down and impulse drive brought to one quarter power. The Runabout pulled away easily. Once beyond the vicinity of the Galileo hull, the Vincenzo was brought to full impulse. The planet before them began to grow larger.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

The Waverider approached the planet at full impulse. The scattered white clouds over the planet reminded him of pictures of Earth. This looked nothing like Andor. The polar caps here were much too small. They were approaching quickly and he turned to look at the Commander asking, “There appears to be quite a bit of storm activity over the Colony area. Are we ready for insertion, or should we go around a time or two?”

Blake was frowning at the Andorian's description, shaking her head firmly as she brought up a better view of the once thriving, colonised planet. "What constitutes a bit of a storm? What are the conditions down there?"

"Extreme turbulence from the readings as high as sixty kilometers. Radiation and and dust becoming excessive at thirty five kilometers." T'Lin gave off the readings she was getting.

"Lava temperature is 1250 degrees Celsius," Marisa said. "Atmospheric temperature is 72.6 degrees Celsius. Temperatures drop the further you get from the eruption."

"I would suggest we circle the planet so that we can get analysis of the atmospheric dust starting from low to higher concentrations until the turbulence goes too high." T'Lin suggested. She did not think it very logical to just fly into the major part without knowing more about what they were dealing with.

"Agreed," Marisa said. "We also need to ascertain the best landing site for our purposes."

Shizn had been listening. He looked to Marisa, his left antennae rising up. “All right then,” as he turned back to his controls. “Once around the dirty marble to get a better view.” A smile came to his face. He thought that rather clever of himself. Tris adjusted course to bring the Waverider into a planetary orbit.

Aria looked around at the others, her eyes dark. It was a lot to take in, the words being thrown around, readings. She looked over at her bag before she looked ahead. Strapped in for the turbulence. She wasn't stupid. If the ship shook, the last thing she wanted to do was standing and then end up with a broken neck.

"Thank you," Marisa said to Shizn. They had data from the Galileo, but getting this close gave them a new perspective that was invaluable.

Blake took in the shifting view for a moment, almost unable to fathom the contrast down there. She knew they needed readings, but the ex-marine in her was already moving to the grim task of trying to find survivors down there. She shook the thought away, looking between the scientists. "We need a full atmospheric analysis, let's get that logged while he's making his pass around."

"Yes ma'am," T'Lin replied. "Most of the major dust is still below the stratosphere though some has punched through which indicates a very major eruption. We will have to dip into the Trophospheric region to get a detailed analysis and hence my suggestion for a far side so we will not have to deal with quite the turbulence. There is no reason to tear the ship apart getting readings. Also, the air flow is in the opposite direction as I can read so as we come around we will be upwind of the eruption."

"That will give us a better look at the volcanic activity," Marisa said. "If we can find a safe enough distance to get ground readings, that would be best, but we've got a whole planet to examine, so we should prioritize."

“That sounds fine by me Lieutenant,” Shizn replied without taking his eyes nor hands off the controls. “Just give me a small warning before you want me to insert into the atmosphere.”

"Give me a loud warning before. Not looking forward to the turbulence," Aria called out from where she sat, her eyes on the others in the shuttlecraft.

"Consider this your small and loud warning," Blake said dryly, her voice a notch higher than usual and tone clipped. She nodded firmly to Shizn, trusting the team around her. "Take us in, Lieutenant' Shizn."

He didn’t need more than that. “Aye Sir,” Shizn replied and adjusted the angle of the runabout down toward the upper atmosphere. He didn’t need to say the words, but he thought it would help those on board understand what was going on. “Decreasing velocity, forward shields have been increased to maximum.” The area about the cockpit began to glow as the impact with resistance began.

The Waverider was doing fine as it descended. The buffeting was minor at this high elevation, but Shizn still said, “If you are not strapped it, then I suggest you do so quickly.”

After another minute or so, the Waverider leveled off. “Will this work for you Lieutenent?” Tris looked over to T’Lin to see if she heard him.

"Indeed," she replied bending to spend time at the instruments. The Andorian pilot had gotten them to a nice area near the boundaries and even had managed to keep the craft fairly stable.

T'Lin began the analysis. The readings were the same as from the ship, but she could gain a better analysis being closer. "I am still getting a lot of crystallized nickle iron as well as potassium-40, uranium-238, uranium-235, and thorium-232." She figured that most would not know what that meant. "Signs of planetary core material. That is highly unusual and not one would expect from even a Therian level event eruption. I am going to suggest that if we do manage to land that we are going to require EV suits for protection."

Marisa nodded. That brought up another question. She ran a quick scan. "The core material is only around the colony site."

T'Lin made a negative motion of her head. "Negative, it has spread all through the atmosphere due to the winds." She was Vulcan and thus took the question literally. "However, the highest concentration, and presumably the source is the eruption near the colony site. As we are now currently following rather than bucking the prevailing jet winds that should be our approach. Any pyroclastic flow then will be away from us once we enter the troposphere it might be best to come in near water height and approach the land. Sea and land drag will have major drag on the winds and provide us with less buffeting from the winds."

Marisa nodded. "Let's see if we can find out any useful information from the core material. Anything that would suggest a cause for the eruption?"

Tris had been listening to the two Scientists talk and had picked up on what they wanted to do prior to landing. It made good sense to limit the turbulence over a long expanse. He thought, Yes, skimming over a smooth ocean is much better than a bumpy planet surface.

Marisa continued to gather information on the lava and the core material. As much as the data fascinated her, the visual images were astounding. And then she noticed something. "T'Lin, that looks like an impact crater in the center of the eruption site." She pulled up an aerial map. Yes, that did look like a crater. "Can we get an analysis to verify?"

Tris had an unconscious cringe at hearing about an eruption site. He truly had no desire to be around flowing lava. It was much too hot for him. He knew his cool-suit would not be able to compensate for those extreme temperatures.

"Your observation seems to correlate with the observational data. In addition, I am now picking up high levels of organosilicate compounds. That is highly unusual. Indeed if we can get close enough or possibly land and EV to take samples would potentially help solve a mystery."

Tris again didn’t say anything, but his shoulder physically sagged, emotionally drained at the thought.

"Was there any sign of organosilicate compounds in the initial report?" Marisa asked. "I don't recall reading anything about them. We could be looking at a new life form." She glanced from T'Lin to Blake.

"There were no indications but organosilicates can form naturally. However, the concentrations here seem higher than would warrant for natural formation. At this point, I would hesitate to speculate until we have more data." T'Lin made a few more motions over the the panel and then said, "The winds indicate no shift thus I believe we can still make our approach to the site and perhaps take physical samples."

Marisa nodded. She definitely waned to get a better look at what may or may not be an impact crater.

Scarlet looked down over her own screen, the data matching with T'Lin's assessment. It was by no means ideal conditions, but if they held out waiting for them, they could end up just getting worse. "Then let's move in," she nodded firmly to Shizn, the man's skill at the helm matching her expectation from her previous experience of his work.

“Yes Ma’am,” Tris replied cheerfully. He angled the nose down. He spoke loudly for all to hear, but not yelling, “Now descending toward the surface. Forward deflectors to maximum. I’m expecting more turbulence. Everyone should remain in their safety harness.”

"Winds continuing to hold in same direction, dust hazard is minimal currently," T'Lin continued reading off the data looking for anything that she could find, so that the Andorian pilot could have time to react.

As the Waverider descended, it slowly reduced velocity as well. There were quite a few bumps along the way due to compression layers in the atmosphere. It wasn’t long at all until they were at level flight about 100 meters above a mostly level ocean, heading toward the coast.

The specialized atmospheric shuttlecraft had skillfully navigated the dense, chaotic stratosphere and troposphere, and now punched through both the upper and lower cloud layers to now skim the surface of the world across the water as it approached the boundaries of the geological event. The kilometer distance to their landing site rapidly ticked down while they made their initial pass, but suddenly within the cockpit, the auxiliary tactical display began to blare with a loud klaxon.

The vessel's computer system alerted the crew. "Warning, energy signature buildup detected, bearing three-five-one." The verbal caution coincided with a possible targeting lock, meaning Vincenzo was somehow being painted by some form of possible weaponry.

The sound was enough to send a shiver of adrenaline up the back of Blake's neck. She shifted quickly to pull up close to the console, gripping the sides as she moved her gaze quickly over the data to try and get a handle on the sudden turn of events. Her fingers moved quickly to get more information, shaking her head with cool features at the predicament. "Something's trying to get a lock on us, get ready to move, Shizn..."

Shizn remained focused on he controls. He had not made any major adjustments yet. He knew a determination needed to be made before the appropriate reaction should be made.

Marisa switched the scanners to find what it was.

Less than five seconds after the initial alert, a new red alert master caution illuminated the interior of the shuttle. "Warning, incoming projectile,"

Unseen to the Vincenzo crew through their limited visual windows, a high-velocity supersonic projectile composed of hardened geological materials streaked from the surface towards the large shuttlecraft, giving little warning in advance.

With the confirmed warning, Tris called out, “HOLD ON.” He banked the Waverider hard to starboard, away from the incoming weapon. He then performed the Traybon maneuver, which was a set of turns, angling the ship up away form the water and making several high angle s-turns.

T'Lin did as instructed and grabbed a hold of either side of the desk that the module with the display was located. The twist and turns were hard and she for once was glad she was Vulcan with higher strength and more endurance then most of the others.

The inbound object barely missed and grazed the shuttlecraft's lower shields, giving everyone inside a violent jolt from the raw force of the kinetic impact. The shield grid brightly flared then collapsed, and the lights and consoles inside the cockpit flickered while more systems warnings appeared.

"Shields are offline," Marisa reported.

""Warning," blared the computer's voice again, this time with what might have been conceived as more urgency. "Incoming projectile bearing zero-six-five. Warning." A second supersonic object was now rapidly approaching, this time with an easier line-of-sight to the Waverider now that the Andorian pilot had pulled the craft up to gain altitude and maneuver.

“This is not my best day,” Tris blurted out then altering the Waverider for a steep climb, hoping the elevation would help. Right before the weapon struck, he pulled the craft into a tight barrel roll while still climbing vertically.

Despite the shuttle's best attempt to change course at the last moment, the second unknown projectile slammed into the ventral hull of the Waverider with extreme velocity and destructive force. Vincenzo was unprotected by its now-offline shields and took a direct hit to the aft crew cabin. Chaos erupted almost instantly within the shuttle as a solid formation of volcanic glass and lava -- resembling a glowing orange icicle -- embedded itself into the hull and decompressed the compartment. The pressurized air within cockpit vented out into the surrounding atmosphere while a myriad of systems began to fail.

"WARNING, HULL BREACH," declared the computer, barely audible above the rushing sound of wind and exploding overhead circuitry. "Warning, structural integrity field failure. Primary systems offline. Propulsion systems offline. Communications offline. Life support offline..." continued the disastrous report.

T'Lin involuntarily let a *whuff* out as the cabin depressurized. Instinctively she took several deep breaths to get as much as she could get in and then hanging onto the console or whatever came easily to grasp got up. She grabbed the emergency oxygen masks and her first priority was Tris. He had his hands full just trying to keep the waverider stable enough. It was not easy but she got to the front and quickly without interfering too much got the mask on him. She then made her way to the rest. Vulcans were used to thin air and she had been Temple trained as well.

Marisa took the oxygen mask from T'Lin and held on to the console with one hand while she rerouted what power was available. Being half-Vulcan herself, she was not as concerned with the lower oxygen level right now, but there was no reason not to utilize what was readily available. And it might come in handy later.

With the explosive decompression taking place, Shizn sucked in what air he could hold as he focused on the controls. They were at 20,000 feet above sea level. He knew the air was thin and he could hold his breathe for a couple minutes until he could grab an emergency mask. He then angled the craft for a descent. He knew he needed to get down to about 15,000 feet for the crew to function better. But then, when the lights went out on the helm control and other systems, Tris began to growl in frustration without letting to much air out.

The Waverider was now falling toward the ocean below. Tris had no idea of what elevation they were nor when they would strike the surface. The noise in the cabin was defining with the open section of the hull. There were a couple emergency procedures that could still be used if power was not restored. He hoped sooner than, . . well . . very soon hopefully.

Aria didn't scream. Just as well really, her mouth clamped shit and she moved her hand quickly to the emergency oxygen. She did not fancy getting hypoxia. And explosive decompression were scary if nothing else. She managed to get it over her mouth and nose, breathing as normal, her eyes wide as she looked around.

Blake gripped the sides of her console out of sheer instinct with the havoc around her. She closed her eyes for just a moment. For someone who had put her time in as a sniper, she called on all of that experience to keep her mind calm even as the world around her became anything but. Breath in...focus...right foot planted on the ground....breath out...tune out noise...breath in....left foot planted on the ground...thoughts quieter....fingers uncurled...breath in...air struggling....doesn't matter...focus down the sights...

Blake's hands loosened from the console and started to move quickly. Rocking in her harness, her body remained as centred and strong as possible to try and limit the shaking so she could focus on working the problem in the system. A sharp nod was as far as her celebration went when the long, whining sound came through, indicating the power returning to some systems at least, a forcefield flickering in to life to seal the breech.

Power was re-activated, but not everything, and it seem to come and go.

Marisa was doing all she could to keep scanners partially operational to find somewhere safe, but she wasn't sure even Tris' skill they could get very far. "There's a spot we could land." And then her station went offline.

With only partial power restored, Shizn was able to activate descending thrusters. He did have some forward power, but no guidance system to help. “Which direction did you see it?” Tris yelled out.

"Bearing 230 mark 30," she said. "Pulling it up now." She put the coordinates and image in a corner of the viewscreen.

Shizn angled the craft on a slow turn to port coming to 230 the best he could. Through the forward viewport Tris could see land in the distance. He wished he had the data to confirm if they could reach the shore before loosing all power.

Tris then began questioning his own judgement. Had he done all he could prior to the attack? Had he missed something? What else could he do now?

T'Lin was still standing and looking through the windshield. While some systems had sporadically come back she did not trust them. She spotted the land probably right after Tris. However her concern was their speed. "We must slow the craft's hull strength will not survive an impact at this velocity no matter if we hit land or water."

"Inertial dampeners still offline," Marisa said. "Rerouting power to forward shields." T'Lin was right. If they didn't slow down, they'd never make it. But she also had faith that Tris could pull out some maneuver to get them down in one piece.

When Marisa said that T'Lin knew she would have to get back to her seat. There as nothing more she could do at this point except try to survive the crash and provide any medical aid her limited knowledge could provide.

She made her way back to her station leaving the last moments for Tris to try to handle and strapped in though she also began to do a deep relaxation trying to get her body to relax and be flexible. It was known that being too rigid could cause more harm.

Aria gripped her seat, closing her eyes as she trembled. Adrenaline made her look at what was happening around her, tried to make her mind get used to how fast it was going. This was not how she saw herself die. Really not. And yet...everything was clear in her mind. What she needed to do to brace herself.

Tris considered their options; a high rate of speed, currently only maneuvering thrusters. But then it occurred to him that the landing thrusters were a separate set. He yelled out over the loud wind noise, “I’m going to try something. You’ll need to trust me on this.”

"Absolutely," Marisa replied. She had no doubt that if anyone could pull them out of this, Tris could.

"Whatever it is, do it," Blake confirmed, her tone cold and firm as she nodded to him. They didn't have time to debate options, and she'd seen his skills first hand.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO2 T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

LT Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Tris Shizn
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Aria Rice
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

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