Cold Roids

Posted on 10 Apr 2022 @ 11:39pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Lieutenant JG Karras & Ensign Mimi & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Ensign Amanda Turell & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Oliver Sylver & Senior Chief Petty Officer Goldie Brown & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen & Cadet Senior Grade Jemima de la Coeur
Edited on on 12 Apr 2022 @ 1:59pm

2,861 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Alcyone Sector, USS Galileo-A
Timeline: MD 10, 0528 hrs

[ON]

A streaking silver traveler pierced the pitch-black space of the void within the Alcyone Sector. Distant nebulae and bright stars populated the farscape, yet within the current subsector, no form of life or planetoids existed beyond rudimentary planetary fragments which had propagated into substantial asteroid fields over the course of several millennia. The Nova-class starship USS Galileo approached one of the clusters at high warp, bearing down fast upon her objective.

Inside the vessel's bridge, the mood felt tense to the new acting captain. Two full days of preparations and briefings still didn't seem sufficient enough considering the classified nature of their mission. Commander Morgan Tarin sat in the captain's chair within the Command well while she rechecked their navigational plots, long-range sensor contacts, and shuttlebay readiness reports on the center console. Sitting adjacent to her in the XO's seat was Lieutenant Aria Rice, the senior-most officer on the bridge. An update from the helm pierced their attention and returned Tarin's gaze to the streaking main viewscreen.

"Captain, we are sixty seconds from arrival at the waypoint," Chief Warrant Officer Sylver said, his eyes on the console as he flew the Galileo. He awaited further orders, for now he suspected full stop when they got to where they needed to be.

Aria looked over at Tarin, then ahead where she sat...in the First Officer's seat! With Blake and Warraquim on the away teams, Aria now found herself in the highest position she had ever had. Which meant that in the last 10 days, she had gotten two career boosts, no matter how temporary. Some of it felt like a test, after the briefing, that she was now in this seat. As if Tarin was testing her out. She looked ahead again, keeping her features neutral.

"Science, any contacts on short or long-range sensors?" The seconds to arrival were trickling down at a rapid pace. Morgan proceeded with her final checks to sweep the area for any unknowns.

T'Lin had never been on the bridge before. She was normally not ranked high enough to be here but with the away teams she had been tapped to work one of the science consoles. She did as requested. "I am not picking up anything captain on the long range sensors."

"Nothing out of the ordinary on short range, either," Jemima added, trying very hard not to bounce in her nervousness. She wasn't comfortable around this new captain and she didn't dare make any mistakes.

Tarin verified the science officers' assessment with confirmatory glance to her console. So far, it appeared, whatever - whoever - was trailing the Galileo was keeping their distance. At least, she hoped as much. "Ops, are we ready to deploy? I want those shuttles launched as soon as we drop out of warp with no delays."

"Yes sir," Mimi replied after a moments checking her console. "Livia and Virginia report all systems check out ready to depart on signal."

Ops, helm and science all reported optimal conditions. The acting captain tapped the gold and silver commbadge on her chest and a soft chirp acknowledged her intraship transmission. "Commanders Blake and Sandoval, we're arriving at our waypoint momentarily. Prepare your launch sequences."


Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay

Blake was booted, suited and seated in the Virginia ready to go. She looked across to Shizn, giving their pilot a firm nod to follow the instruction before attending to her own console. "Aye, Captain. Lieutenant Shizn, warm her up," she affirmed, knowing this was the kind of thing he could do in his sleep.

Shizn replied almost in mono-tone, “Aye Sir.” All the time sitting at the ready in the shuttle he had been going over and over all the Shuttle’s subsystem. He didn’t want anything to wrong on this mission. His hands quickly moved across the flight controls, activating the propulsion system and bringing the Virginia to hover just slightly off the deck of the launch bay. With finger poised over the impulse control, the Andorian added, “We are ready.” Tris turned his head to the side looking out the viewport at the Livia as it sat next to them.

In the back section of the Virginia Amanda sat fiddling with her phaser rifle, she hadn't liked the sound of what her chief had told her. 'Report to the shuttlebay for an away mission' and that was all... no other information despite how much she'd asked for some. She looked at the other members of the team and bet that they all knew what was going on but noooooo the lowly security officer responsible for keeping everyone safe hadn't a clue.

Allyndra checked her medical recorder and equipment for the tenth time. She was nervous. It was not the mission, it was the enclosed space of the shuttle. She did not like enclosed spots, no place to spread her wings. It was something deeply built in. She hoped they would be away soon enough.

Ullswater, the science officer for this team, tugged nervously at a strand of hair. She looked tired but her actions were quick and anxious as she checked through her things for one last time readying for departure. She done it all at least five times already but she didn't want to get this wrong and the action of going over the science gear stowed on the shuttle at least gave her something to think about. Virginia seemed all ready. But she'd check again, just to be sure.

Aboard the Livia, the team were doing the final checks for launch. Sandoval had triple-checked the equipment herself, not knowing what they would find on arrival. She'd even checked the EVA suits. It was better to be prepared for most eventualities. Now she sat next to Darius. "You heard the order."

The conn officer's dark fingers began to methodically tap at different buttons on the large helm console in front of him. A familiar adrenaline rush surged through Lamar who was situated in the pilot's seat of their shuttlecraft next to the chief science officer. "Bringing primary flight systems online," he replied in conjunction with several audible computer chirps. There was a soft reverberation when the anti-grav systems activated. Their Type 6 shuttle slowly lifted off the deck into a two-meter hover, its nose pointed at the closed shuttlebay door alongside their sister shuttle, Virginia.

Sandoval turned to the others. "Are you good to go?" It was more a formality than anything, but she wanted to be sure there were no last-minute problems.

"Good to go Sir." Donald said, he was nervously excited, there were not many opportunities for away missions when your first job out of boot camp was building starships so this was his first ever away mission.

His medkit at his side, Karras locked eyes with Sandoval. "I am ready," he said, and he was; his meditative exercise after the briefing and cleared his mind and given him focus. His issues with secrecy had been set aside and his only concern was the well being of those on board the station.

Vansen looked at Sandoval, giving a small nod. His first ever away team. He held his kit closer, including the extra hypos for himself stashed away. "Ready."


Deck 1 - Bridge

"Arriving at the coordinates in five seconds, Captain," Sylver said, his eyes on what he was doing. "Dropping out of warp...now." His fingers slid across the panel and they went out of warp.

At the conn officer's command, the Nova-class starship exited warp at its designated waypoint. Galileo's presence in the new local sector was punctuated by a faint silver blur which snapped into the form of a small, two-nacelled Federation starship when it rapidly decelerated to impulse velocity. The tiny planetary science vessel was now surrounded by a large cluster of asteroids ranging from tens of feet in diameter to hundreds of kilometers. Particle dust from the dense field concentration obfuscated the surrounding cosmos making visual identification of their present position difficult.

Aria frowned as she looked at her console and then at the viewscreen. "We are here, Captain," she said, although it was a bit obvious. She pushed down the urge to ask to raise shields. Maybe it was just her being tired.

Commander Morgan Tarin slowly stood from the captain's chair and walked forward towards the holographic viewscreen. The sight she viewed with her own eyes was one of a kind - unique to even those who studied planetoids and asteroid fields for a living. The density of the cluster was unlike anything she'd ever seen in her career. Daily, even hourly collisions between rocks appeared to be standard based on the amount of small debris and space dust present. A nearby star several light years away cast the only major source of light, which washed out portions of her view. Like a hovercraft flying through the fog.

"Helm, confirm our current position." This couldn't be right. The Federation wouldn't put a facility in such a permanent, dangerous location. It barely resembled the navigational charts Starfleet Command had provided her with.

"Position confirmed. It's the Alcyone Sector, exactly where the coordinates would put us," Sylver said, but only after he had double checked the numbers, and had the computer check it too. He kept an eye on their position, making sure they weren't on a collision course with anything. That would be a horrible way to go.

The acting captain turned and promptly returned to her seat next to Rice. The coordinates were correct, which meant that despite the asteroid field's apparent instability and the less-than-ideal-conditions, they still had a mission to perform. "Ops, open the shuttlebay doors."

"Aye Sir, bay doors opening." Mimi tapped at her console, down in the shuttle bay the solid doors slowly retracted leaving only the bays forcefield keeping the ships atmosphere from bleeding out into space. "Baik nasiba" she said, quietly wishing the teams good luck.

Tarin tapped her commbadge to activate a channel to the two shuttlecraft awaiting departure. "Virginia and Livia, you're cleared for launch. Prepare for multiple navigational hazards and degraded situational awareness once you enter the asteroid field. External comms blackout remains in effect until we receive your signal for pickup. I recommend you stay close, within visual range of each other. Follow your waypoints and rely on instrument navigation. Galileo will return to these coordinates once we receive your transmission. See you soon."

The comm channel terminated with a soft chirp. Morgan looked over to the security chief donning the first officer's role. "Not ideal terrain for the shuttles to navigate..." she quietly said to Rice.

Aria looked over at her, before she gave a small nod. "We have experienced pilots," she said, her voice hushed so it was only for Tarin's ears. "I have faith in their capabilities."

"Petty Officer Zeror," Tarin summoned the Trill yeoman. "Make a note in the ship's log. 'Stardate 69347.6; Galileo has arrived in the vicinity of Cold Station 31 and is deploying search and rescue teams. Trailing contact has not been detected within the last 12 hours. Galileo will proceed to coordinate pattern Zulu-Bravo-Alpha until we've received word from our away teams. End.'"

"Aye Captain." Quickly activating the PADD that lay on her lap Jeysa began to enter what Tarin had told her murmuring slightly as she repeated the words while typing "pattern zulu-bravo-alpha."

Tarin mentally reviewed all final preparations before the shuttle teams departed then gave a final order to the bridge crew. "Helm, once our shuttles are clear of our nacelle wake and at safe distance, I want us back at warp along our new heading with no delay. I'm transferring the new flight pattern to you now..." Her long fingers tapped at the center LCARS console to hand over the coordinates she'd prepared in advance.

"Yes Captain," Sylver acknowledged, his eyes taking them in. He started inputting them, for later, keeping an eye on where the shuttles were. He would be ready to have the Galileo on the move when the shuttles were out of harm's way.


Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay

In Galileo's primary shuttlebay, a loud warning klaxon reverberated through the hangar and repeated once every five seconds. The large external door started to retract to the side and presented both away teams with an unobstructed view of the surrounding cosmos. It was time.

Blake glanced across to Shizn with an arched eyebrow after the Captain's warning. It sounded like it was going to be something of a nightmare out there. "Livia, this is Blake, we'll take the lead, once we're clear, follow us out and keep us in your sights. We'll keep an eye on you too," she assured before nodding to Shizn to begin launch.

Shizn took the Commander’s nod as the order to proceed. “Aye Sir,” the Andorian calmly said before activating the maneuvering thrusters. The Virginia quickly slid through the shuttle-bay’s force shield as blue shimmering light moved across the shuttle’s exterior as it broached the barrier The shuttle quickly went to one quarter impulse away from its home then banking to starboard and toward their target

"Roger," Sandoval replied to Blake. She set the coordinates and then wrote them on a PADD, just in case. The last thing they needed was to have a corrupted navcom on their return. She wondered if there would be time to try tweaking the sensors, but that would be secondary to keeping close to the other shuttle. She turned to Darius. "You heard them. Let's go."

The conn officer stretched his neck from side to side then cracked his knuckles and wiggled his fingers. Lamar had listened to the captain and XO's communication and instinctively surmised this wouldn't be an easy sortie. Livia's sister shuttle, Virginia, began to accelerate forward and quickly exited the Nova-class's shuttlebay. He performed a brief mental countdown to allow several seconds of separation between the two support craft, then placed his hands gently on the flight control console and activated the shuttle's maneuvering thrusters. Livia started to translate forward. Slowly at first, before picking up acceleration then passing through the large glowing blue atmospheric force field.

The two shuttlecraft streaked away from Galileo aft quarter and commenced a turn to starboard towards the asteroid field. Their small impulse engines glowed bright red as they formed up on one another and prepared to enter the local cluster's haven of random rocks and planetoidal obstacles.


Deck 1 - Bridge

"Virginia and Livia have successfully departed," Goldie informed the captain as soon as she was sure they were safely on their way.

"Bay door is closing." Mimi announced shortly after both shuttles were clear, slowly the blinking light on her panel turned a solid green. "Shuttlebay door closed and secure Captain."

"Helm, prepare for warp five on my mark," Tarin relayed to the conn after acknowledging the Ops reports. There was a momentary pause then the order came through. "Engage."

Sylver pressed the console, the ship picking up speed to warp five, the stars stretching before them as the ship moved through space, following the flight pattern that Tarin had supplied them with.

In the hazy, particle-filled sector of the Alcyone Sector, USS Galileo snapped back into warp and left a trail of cosmic dust in her nacelle's wake. The tiny Nova-class vanished from view with only a faint burst of light in the far distance to serve as a reminder of its brief presence. The vessel's two deployed shuttlecraft, launched moments ago, were now hardly visible against the spacial backdrop as they entered the asteroid field in search of Cold Station 31.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

Ensign Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Amanda Turell
Sec/Tac Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Captain's Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

Lt. Aria Rice
Chief of Security
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Constantin Vansen
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

CWO2 Oliver Sylver
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

PO1 T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

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

LTJG Karras
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Commander Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO1 Goldie Brown
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

Ensign Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Tris Shizn
Helmsman

USS Galileo-A

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