Regula One (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 17 Nov 2021 @ 3:08pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Ensign Mimi & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater

2,993 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Remidia System, Pleiades Cluster
Timeline: MD 01, 0941 hrs

[ON]

Celestial stars streaked across all sides of USS Galileo as the Nova-class approached the Remidia system at warp 5. Her escorts Lagrange, Kali and Solaris all maintained a tight formation -- their glowing blue nacelles cast illumination on one another to create an impressive scene for any lifeform able to snapshot their fleeting presence. The dark background of space was occasionally punctuated by small starbursts highlighting the void, and in front of them loomed the large and distinctive Mutara Nebula. It was a massive expanse of purple hydrogen and helium where the infamous battle between Enterprise and Reliant had taken place a century ago. As large as the phenomenon appeared visually, however, it was still many light years away from their current position and destination. It was as harmless as a Rigellian sand viper but made for a breathtaking view. Few in Starfleet had ever traveled this far to the galactic south which made the impending arrival even more anticipated.

Within Galileo's bridge, it was still business as usual. The monotonous day-to-day routine of constant duty shifts, maintenance and cleaning had become habitual second nature to the entire crew by now. For the last three months there had been no shore leave or R&R; no planetary visits or breaks in their warp travel. Each day they woke up, performed their duties, then went to sleep to repeat it all over again in another six hours. It was a lifestyle much more suited for androids than a diverse science crew with civilians. And so it was an understatement to say the some of Nova-class' crew were excited...perhaps even jubilant at the thought of finally ending their tedious ferry mission and seeing a starbase for the first time in over six months.

Ryan scanned over his console, making notes and sending the less pertinent data to Mimi. He smiled, glad to have assistance from her.

Mimi mulled through the data that Ryan sent her way, it was mostly routine non essential information, the largest thing on her plate right now was running through the many requests for sensor time from the science department to run scans on the Mutara nebula, she'd only seen pictures of it in science books so seeing it in person was quite something.

Allyndra was on the bridge for one of the rare times other than during third shift. As such she just spent the time standing a bit behind the command chairs observing everyone and everything. The past series of problems had taken a toll both physically and mentally. She knew the Lirha knew that as well as anyone. She still resented the secrecy that still enveloped the whole ordeal. Her medical records, observations, notes and more including various speculations had vanished from the Galileo's log system with only a marking of classified contact Fleet Command replacing them. The faster they could put this whole ordeal behind and go on to something hopefully a bit less stressful after a good long leave would go a long way toward making things better for everyone.

Aria Rice let out a soft breath as she stood at the Tactical station. She had spent time on the bridge before, she wasn't new to it. But it felt strange to stand there now. She looked over at Allyndra, giving a small smile to the doctor. A rare sight here, but not a bad one by any stretch of the imagination. And it broke up the day in, day out feeling she had gotten used to. Bridge, office, duty shifts, supplies, training...the days had all muddled a bit and she bit the inside of her lip to stop herself yawning in front of everyone.

Sandoval had thrown herself into work over the past weeks. Her personal life had fallen apart and work kept her focus for much of the time. She'd carefully preserved all the data from the Latari system and had gone through all the data available on the Mutara Nebula. With Luke's loss of all recent events, and their relationship, it had been hard to see him around the ship. His leaving the Galileo would help her heal, but it was still hard. She sent another batch of sensor data to astrometrics. She re-ailgned the sensors and began another scan of the nebula.

At the science station opposite Sandoval's Ensign Ullswater sat doing nothing quite as productive. She looked incredibly bored but really she had been as excited as the rest of the crew to be on the bridge for their arrival. Unfortunately the nebula itself was not something that excited her quite so much at all. Maybe one day in a distant future it would form something exciting but so long as it remained just a bunch of gases floating in space it had little that could capture her interest. Instead the ensign idly glanced over the ship's telemetry waiting for the promised landfall.

Lt. Shizn was very pleased to be on Helm duty for their anticipated arrival. Today, he felt a high level of expectation in the air about him. He actually felt a slight tingling sensation along the stems of his antenna. After these months of warp flight across many sectors of space, the Galileo would find its destination. In some ways it had been tenuous at best, monitoring active systems with no changes found nor expected. For many, duty hours had become routine or monotonous, but for Tris every day he had checked flight and control systems, being ready for the unexpected. He never found it uninteresting.

Captain Lirha Saalm sat in the captain's chair on the bridge with a steaming mug of hot chocolate in her right hand and a large PADD in her left. Her posture was relaxed yet upright and her legs professionally folded over one another. The captain's green eyes occasionally stared at the viewscreen to take in the streaking stars with anticipation, but for the most part she kept her attention focused on her chair's armrest consoles which provided her with detailed situational awareness of the ship and its surroundings. When one of the Operations consoles behind her came alive with an audible incoming transmission notification, she inhaled somewhat excitedly and craned her head to the rear of the bridge.

Mimi's ears twitched at the notification ping and shifted her attention to it, she smiled when she found where it was coming from; civilisation. "Starbase Regula I is hailing all task force ships Captain." She said happily.

"Put it on audio, channel one broadcast," Saalm replied. Hopefully it would lift some spirits within the crew to hear another Federation voice after such a long voyage.

"Aye Sir." Mimi replied, she put the incoming hail on the shipwide channel linking it with the other ships so they could hear any responses from the rest of the task force.

There was another chirp and now a calm and serene male voice started to echo throughout the ship. "Federation starships, this is Regula One. We have you on long-range sensors. Identify and update status." There was a short pause.

Captain Rasmussen's voice promptly came over the channel in reply, for he was the task group's commanding officer. "Regula One, this is USS Lagrange. Holding hands with Solaris, Galileo and Kali. Five minutes until dropout from warp."

The comm channel sounded again with a slight bit of interference from the nearby Mutara Nebula. "Acknowledged Lagrange. Transmitting updated vectors for system navigation. See you shortly."

"Regula One, understood."

The comm channel closed with a final chirp. At Galileo's conn station at the front of the bridge, several LCARS lights started to blink indicating new navigational data. Captain Saalm turned to her XO situated in the seat next to her and cast a small smile. "I think we're finally here."

"Tell me we're not dreaming," Scarlet gave a hint of a teasing smile, but kept her voice low to Lirha. Blake was all for getting the job done, no matter how big or small, but it didn't make her immune to the numbness of monotony. No one could call her a scientist, but even she was looking forward to being so close to a nebula, even if it was to appreciate a new, spectacular backdrop.

Shizn observed the incoming data on his console. The Andorian’s right antenna rose curiously. Tris leaned forward slightly and activated the new data into the nav system. The display on his console before him altered slightly confirming their approach to Remidia. Shizn spoke, “Captain, . . . confirming trajectory data.” After a second the Andorian added, “I have confirmation of coordinated flight with the other vessels.” Tris’ left eyebrow rose in curiosity and optimism for the expected flightpath was not going to be straight forward.

Four silver blurs appeared at the outskirts of the Remidia system when the task group decelerated. All of them elongated in tandem then snapped out of warp speed near the system's outer asteroid field. The large transport cruiser Lagrange resembled a modified Nebula-class' silhouette and dwarfed the smaller Nova and Steamrunner-class starships which were both tucked tightly under its ventral hull in close formation. USS Kali, the Akira-class heavy cruiser assigned to the group, maintained its position atop and in front of the other vessels.

Remidia was a unique solar system due to its unusual composition. The sole primary star was a rare Class F sun, one of roughly two percent of all known stars. Smaller than Class A suns, it was only slightly bigger than Earth's star yet yielded a luminosity of four Sols which gave it a bright yellow-white coloration. Only two planets existed in its orbit; a Class L marginal world named Remidia I within the star's habitable zone; and a Class S gas supergiant almost 20 AUs from the center of the system. In between both planets was a large, dense asteroid belt which would need to be navigated to reach the core world where Regula I was located.

Shizn spoke from the Conn, “Captain, we have arrived.”

"One-quarter impulse. Engage," ordered Saalm, giving permission for the conn to follow the rest of the task group towards its destination.

“Aye Sir,” Shizn acknowledged, “one quarter impulse.”

Following the Lagrange, the taskforce made their way by the designated flightpath. There were many reasons for not just flying straight through an asteroid field. Much of that had to do with fluctuating gravity densities within the field, also composition of certain asteroids that might give false readings to sensors. None of this was to be questioned, ‘at least not for the moment’, Tris thought.

As the ships maneuvered through the field in a somewhat ‘cork-screw’ fashion, Tris wondered if the asteroid field had once been set with explosives to dissuade or at least discourage unwanted vessels. Tris did recall some scuttlebutt about Regula I and a secret mission from the far past. On second thought, that might not be the case, since there had not been any alarms at Tactical during their passage.

The task group banked closely around an massive asteroid, that could easily have been a small moon, and they were now clear toward the planet and Regula I.

Once Galileo and the task group were through the system's inner-most asteroid belt, Remidia I became visible on the main viewscreen as a small bright dot in the near distance. The planet slowly grew larger and more visible as they approached at low impulse. Soon, details of its surface turned prominent for all to see. Massive white cumulus clouds encompassed most of the world, even more so than Earth. But unlike the Human homeworld, Remidia I's atmospheric hue was violet in coloration and its scattered continents seemingly contained a multitude of magenta flora. The planet was strikingly large -- perhaps one-and-a-half times the size of most terrestrial worlds. And maybe most intriguing for a celestial body of its size, it had no moons or satellites.

Contrasted against the spectacle of the planet, starbase Regula I appeared tiny. The Class 2 scientific research complex was only 300 meters in size from head to tail with an equal wingspan of sprawling tree hub modules. It maintained a zenith orientation to the world below it and was slightly tilted to port by about 40 degrees while holding a high orbit above the planet. The rounded cone-shaped dome atop its construction contained the antennae-laden communications module, with the core and support modules situated directly beneath. Below those near the center of the structure were three toroid components including the escape, recreational, and arboretum modules. Then at the bottom of the station were three long distinctive cylindrical tankage modules, each containing 5,000 cubic meters of water, deuterium and liquid-helium.

Regula I's most unique feature was the intricate network of tree hub modules branching out from its mid-section. Four main struts extended from the center of the starbase at 90-degree separations. Attached to each were numerous small, disc-shaped modules specifically designed for science, laboratory, personnel, and administrative functions. They varied in size from 30 meters to 10 meters in circumference and also served as housing for all of the base's crew.

The task group slowed to one-eighth impulse and approached the station while maintaining the proper docking vectors previously transmitted. Regula I was now in full display on Galileo's main viewscreen. One of the Operations consoles chirped again with a new incoming transmission.

"Regula one hailing, direct to us this time." Mimi said after checking the console, she opened the channel.

"USS Galileo, this is Regula One," the familiar and calm male voice once again said through the channel. "You are cleared to maneuver for hard dock. Port side, bay two. Maneuvering thrusters only. Acknowledge."

Captain Saalm looked back to the Nekomi ensign and nodded with approval for her to transmit.

"Acknowledged Regula One. Port side, bay two, thrusters only." Mimi repeated the docking instructions, she closed the channel before letting the other ships know their docking area so they didn't cross paths.

"Mister Shizn, take us in on maneuvering thrusters," Saalm ordered before turning to her XO. "I'll be in my ready room. You have the bridge." Lirha briefly stretched her legs then stood up to vacate the command chair. Her first officer was quite capable of overseeing docking operations which would give the captain some extra time to get her affairs in order.

Blake nodded, pushing herself to stand quickly. She moved in closer to Shizn, her hands behind her back as she glanced to the controls. "Nice and steady," she said softly, but she knew Shizn was more than capable of taking them in to dock.

“Aye Sir”, Shizn acknowledged professionally. “Manoeuvring thrusters only.” Yet the Andorian couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear. The opportunity to physically dock was a rare occasion in the fleet. His antenna spread wide moving slightly, as if they were going to balance the station for him.

USS Galileo maneuvered to a neutral acceleration state several meters from Regula I's docking module and held position.

Shizn reported, “Sir, confirming at station keeping with thrusters.” His eyes darting about the console for any indication of fault or issue.

The starbase slowly extended its personnel bridge which deployed and finally attached to Galileo's starboard airlock on Deck 2.

Ryan monitored the docking from his console, nodding absently as he sent and approved the docking clearances with the station's computer. The sound of personnel bridge connecting to the main hull rang faintly to the crew near starboard airlock. After several long moments, all the indicator lights flashed green across Ryan's panel. "Ma'am, docking is green, I am reading a good seal and stable atmosphere." Ryan called to Blake as well as the rest of the bridge crew.

Regula I's comm officer relayed their status. "Galileo, hard dock initialized. You are clear to power down to Blue Alert status."

"Initiating blue alert." Ryan called as his hands danced across his LCARS control panel. Several docking umbilicals extended from the base and made contact with the Galileo, each providing necessary and critical systems to the Galileo. "We are on station power ma'am. And-" He paused for a moment as he completed several other key strokes. "-the station is providing EPS power, environmentals, and SIF. We are ready to shut down critical systems." He reported to the XO, waiting for her go ahead before disseminating the commands to the other departments.

Blake gave a sharp nod of her head, looking back across the bridge with approval at the smoothness so far. "Proceed with the system shut downs for external support," she moved back to her chair to follow progress on the screen on the arm. After going through so much, the ship needed a little R&R as much as the crew did.

"Copy that, Ma'am." Ryan called out to the XO. With several key strokes, the computer sent out a series messages to the various departments, authorizing critical system shutdown. "Messages sent, awaiting final confirmations." Ryan called as waited for the systems to report secured and powered down.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CAPT Rasmussen
Commanding Officer
USS Lagrange
[PNPC Saalm]

Lt. jg Aria Rice
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Commander Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Second and Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Ryan Alexander
Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

Lt. Jg. Tris Shizn
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

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