Space Bauble - Pt 1
Posted on 25 Oct 2022 @ 1:58pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant Louke Haille & Chief Deputy Marshal: Ridge Steiner - FMS & Lieutenant Commander Cesar De La Fuente Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Gabriel Lyons
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Pathfinder, Transporter Rm
Timeline: MD O8 1615Hrs
1240 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure
Stepping off the turbolift on the right deck Steiner stopped by the Security Office. "I need somebody for an Away Mission, to an aquatic space station. EVO suits and flippers!" He said as he walked in. "That's the reason for the Yellow Alert, we're closing to transporter range"
Knowles looked to Drummond. "Lyons?" The Master at Arms suggested.
Knowles nodded and confirmed to Steiner. "Lieutenant Junior Grade Lyons, Gabriel; Team Leader on Beta Shift. Not a lot of experience, but reliable and trustworthy"
"Sounds good, have them gear up and meet me in Transporter Room One, A-SAP." Steiner nodded "Andrea head up the Bridge, keep Norton company up there. Master, pick three more, gear up and be ready as backup if I call."
"Yes Sir!" Both sounded off.
Steiner left to go get into his EVO suit. Knowles followed him out tapping her commbadge.
=^= Knowles to Lyons! Report for an aquatic EVO Away Team. Meet Chief Steiner in Transporter Room One as soon as you're suited up =^=
=^= Yes sir. On my way sir.=^= His voice reflected the surprise he was feeling to be chosen for such a mission. The tall man quickly put away the cataloguing he was doing and strode purposefully down the hallway to get his EV suit on.
Meanwhile as Steiner and Knowles part ed ways. "Be careful over there, Chief."
"Yeah, do we have a spear-gun in the Armory?" Steiner replied wryly. " I might need it."
Fifteen minutes later Steiner clumped his way into the Transporter room, helmet under his arm. The Operations Technician had helped him rig the suit for aquatic operations, including the neutral-buoyancy setting, so he wouldn't end up floating upside down and reconfigured the thruster pack to work in a liquid environment, as well as dimming the illumination in the helmet so it did not reflect back off the visor.
He had been in EVO suits in space enough times, but, as he walked along, he realized the last time he had worn one in water had been nearly twenty years ago, in training. "This will be interesting" he said quietly to himself as he entered.
He had brought his Marshal's Service Type 3 phaser carbine, although he had not loaded transporter rounds into the under-barrel launcher. He wore it on a single-point tactical sling across the chest of the suit, where it was within easy reach but would not impede his movement and had his Marshal's tricorder clipped to his belt on a lanyard.
The Operations technician had tailed Steiner to the transporter room to make additional adjustments and help the rest of the team meeting him there to double check their gear.
"Is there a way to increase the thermo-shielding on the suits, should we encounter hostiles?" Gabe asked the ops technician, as he watched them rig Chief Steiner's suit.
"No, the suits have passive diffusion printed in the material itself. There's nothing additional to that."
Calliope entered and looked around the transporter room as the team assembled. She already had herself mostly suited up, being experienced with general EVA exercises, but it had been a few turns since she'd operated underwater. She'd brought the appropriate gear, but she waited for help securing and checking the settings, until all she had left to do was pull on the helmet.
Going over his own suit, Louke conversed lowly with the tech, confirming points and making sure the team had what the needed to keep matters running while he was away. He had to hand it to his 'assistant': Hokir had the department well-organized prior to his arrival, leaving very little for Louke to iron out, other than getting to actually know the people in his department. He nodded to Zahn as he made his way over. "All well, Commander?"
Calliope nodded back to Louke. She tried not to grimace with embarrassment at the memory of being short tempered with the other officer before. As near as she could tell he didn't seem to be harboring any sore feelings about it. "So far, preparations seem smooth. I don't think anyone here has been Diving in an exo suit for a while, though." Most of the principles were the same as a spacewalk, but the movement, resistance, and some of the possible hazards would change the field. "Maybe it's something to shore up in the regular training rotations." Ops generally were the guys that hassled everyone else to re-cert on those kinds of things. Calliope turned around for Louke to double check her suit.
Louke chuckled. "You never know what situation you'll find yourself on; I likely have grown a little over-used to life on a ship, but I'm sure I can have a training schedule put together by time we get back to the Station." He gave a once-over to the Commander's uniform. "I'd say we are good to go, for now."
"I guess everyone is accounted for—" Calliope surmised, counting heads. "—save the stars of this show. Our science minds."
While might have been the last to the party, Cesar was hardly underprepared. Already with his EVA suit on and carrying an additional scientific kit that looked more like it belonged on a SCUBA rig than on an EVA suit. At this point, the two things were about the same, though he was markedly more comfortable with the SCUBA rig than he'd ever been in an EVA suit. He'd always convinced himself that the difference was, in the open water, one might get back to the surface and breathe freely if something happened. In space, if something happened - game over.
"Is everyone ready?" Lieutenant Commander De La Fuente asked, looking around the room.
Steiner donned his helmet, leaving the visor open and waited for a final briefing on their task.
Calliope glanced around at everyone assembled, looking to the technician who was finishing the checks. He was packing his kit and backing off to stand aside next to the transporter panel. Manning the transporter was the Ferengi ensign, Jop, who had been in her recent training sessions. She had no misgivings about him, although she knew sometimes he had them about himself.
"We're ready, now that you're here," Calliope answered De La Fuente brightly as she motioned everyone to take their places on the transporter.
As everyone arranged themselves, Calliope assumed the remaining place in the front of the pad. She locked down her visor and, as the heads up readings cycled on, Calliope looked around to visually confirm the rest of them had done likewise. Each of their lifesigns were represented in a top row on her visor's readout, confirming their suits were secure environments.
Her heart paused a moment. It had been some time since she'd actually lead a team. She kept getting heat from people for going it alone these past months, but she hadn't been in a position to organize others like she'd done for much of her career. She was back to work again. Calliope took a big, deep breath of the atmosphere in the suit and then nodded to the transporter operator.
"Send us over, Mister Jop."
The Ferengi looked down to the controls so the crown of his four lobed head and the tops of his ears were the last thing that vanished from view, the transporter room being replaced in the blink of an eye with a deep darkness...
