Pathfinder Arrival
Posted on 21 Feb 2023 @ 1:37pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Captain Corvus DeHavilland & Lieutenant Louke Haille & Lieutenant JG Hannah Wagner & Chief Deputy Marshal: Ridge Steiner - FMS
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Pathfinder, arriving at Korinn homeworld
Timeline: MD 08 Following "A Clear Message"
2172 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure
Corvus had shut off the loud and obnoxious Red Alert claxon almost immediately after they’d jumped to warp, but she hadn’t dimmed the lighting or otherwise made any changes to the obvious state they were in. Ahead of them, the stars were streaking past the profile of the Theseus directly ahead and slightly above them, ready to shield them from any attack should they drop out of warp and find trouble. Part of her knew that having them there would be a huge help, but the other part knew that the models were probably right. If they went toe to toe, even the firepower of the Prometheus class vessel wasn’t going to be sufficient. Everything rested on the fact that they were ready to go at a moment's notice and already had a dozen escape vectors mapped.
She would have felt better having the Alexander there with them, but that wasn’t an option she’d been given. Of course she’d sent her report to Admiral Sepandiyar as she’d been ordered to do and as was prudent considering where they were going. But they were far enough out that all she could really do was send her report and expect that there’d be a response sometime in the near future.
The whole of the bridge was obviously on high alert, Corvus had never seen them all so wound up and had to admit that she herself was as taught as a string. The only person that seemed to be at ease anywhere on the bridge was Major Finn and the two additional Marines he had standing watch on the bridge with him. She wasn’t sure if they just weren’t concerned or just did a better job of hiding it than the others. She had to admit though, seeing their relative ease with the situation helped with her own confidence.
"Captain on the Bridge," Calliope called out amidst the activity so the fact wouldn't be overlooked. She looked between the various stations in one arching sweep, mentally reviewing the ducks in her rows. Operations was in hand with Lt Haille, who had been a quiet but reliable factor of the staff. Beside Haille, Mr. Wiser was at the helm, an uncharacteristic gravitas about him since reporting in, Calliope thought.
The Science department was more than a little put out, since DeHavilland had earlier ruled in favor of Tactical's concerns that it was more important to maintain a low profile than to run broad high energy scan patterns on approach to the system. Theseus had heartily seconded that concern when Calliope had run the coordination report over the wire. Callliope wondered what life was like as a science officer aboard a ship of war— probably always sidelined except where he could be leveraged for tactical interests. Presently Ensign Saaba was manning Tactical on Pathfinder. Saaba was probably more than due for a promotion, Calliope remembered thinking when she had met her and looked through her file. She'd just been serving the kind of posts where small fish got lost in big ponds.
It should have been Winslow at that station, but he'd ended up taking some starfleet security task and being picked up by arranged rendezvous a day out from Loki. One of the ships going in to port had detoured to beam him aboard. Calliope had suspected it was something to do with the investigations into the criminal elements,Winslow having put his name on and helped direct the investigation Calliope had planned with him, but Winslow hadn't been at liberty to share. It had left Stiener something of a pinch hitter in Security, and while he had creative and unexpected solutions as Security Chief, and proved very useful with investigations on their one away team to the aquatic station, Calliope had been at a loss at how to leverage him on the bridge, and so had ultimately relied on Sabba as their Tactical officer and some of the older non comms in the department.
Sabba had asked earlier about it, being unclear after Winslow's departure, and Calliope had told her that Stiener was indeed the Senior staff member in her department, and that she should keep him up to speed and answer his questions. Calliope saw Sabba quietly page Steiner with a brief, "We're on approach to the Korinn homeworld, Sir. Please report to the bridge."
"Mr. Wiser, how long until we reach the planet?" DeHavilland asked.
"A little less than five minutes, Captain," Wiser replied dutifully.
"Engage the holo-synch," Corvus ordered to no one in particular. A moment later the holographic version of Captain Callum appeared just off the view screen, facing them obliquely.
"Theseus is ready, Captain," Lachlan greeted her.
Corvus nodded, hoping that they were ready too. If they had misjudged this. If they were just one vessel outgunned, or just a little too close to the engagement they might not have the necessary time to get out safely. She sat down in her chair, perched upon the edge as if she might need to return to her feet in an instant to pounce on an intruder to the bridge, her muscles wound tight as a spring.
"All Departments are ready, Captain." Calliope echoed their own preparedness. The red of the alert lighting highlighted the situation, though the sound had been cut. Drilling was over now. Everyone was ready and at their stations.
"Fifteen seconds," Ensign Wiser declared from the conn, effectively silencing any other chatter on the bridge. Everyone was primed and ready for what happened now, sitting forward in their seats as they drew their collective breaths. Even Captain Callum on the holo sat up rigidly, read to take action.
The streaking stars forward resolved suddenly and a large, blue orb of a world swam into view on the forward glass. The entire planet was nothing but deep blue oceans. Corvus had to search hard in the mass of waters to find any landmasses, seeing only a couple, each so small you could barely call them continents. More like, large islands.
"Report!" DeHavilland called out.
"I'm not picking up anything," Commander De La Fuente announced. "No ships, no technology, nothing at all in this system, Captain," he declared. His tone was concerned because that's what he was. How was it there was nothing at all on the scopes. Not even a simple satellite relay station. "I am picking up a small settlement on a land mass in the southern hemisphere and... what looks like heavy mining equipment?" he postulated. "But... that's a bit of a guess, Captain. I'm judging off the pollutants in the water there. The equipment I'm scanning isn't something I'm familiar with. I think it's mining equipment, but I'll need more detailed scans to know more."
"No ships? No orbital weapons? Nothing?" DeHavilland asked in disbelief, looking over to Callum's holo. He was talking off holo to someone on his bridge and then turned back to Corvus with a shake of his head.
"Nothing on our scopes, Captain," Callum declared.
Steiner arrived, exiting the turbolift he nodded to the conn and made his way to stand by the tactical position. He bent down and Sabba gave him a whispered update on the situation, he nodded in understanding.
Sabba gave him a quizical look and he gestured for her to report in with her tactical analysis, she having the better grasp that he did.
"There's a subspace warp trail that matches the path of the Korinn's messenger probe." On the display Sabba false-image highlighted the trace beginning in upper orbit of the Oceanic world and leading out of the system. "Other than that, I detect no recent traces of warp travel in the immediate vicinity of the planet."
Corvus let out a slow breath, glad that this hadn't turned south immediately. "Alright," she said, standing up. She tugged on the cuffs of her uniform as she pondered her decision and then said, "Stand down to yellow alert," she ordered. "Mr. Wiser, put us into low orbit. I don't want to be seen if we can help it. Captain Callum, join us in orbit but on the opposite side of the planet. I don't want anything sneaking up on us."
"Aye, Captain," Lachlan nodded, relaying the orders to his bridge.
"Commander De La Fuente. I want detailed scans of the planet, top to bottom. Deploy whatever probes you think you'll need," she ordered. "Someone sent that message, let's find out where they are."
"Aye, Captain," De La Fuente nodded, turning back to his station to get to work.
Louke's brow furrowed as he rand the details of the report over in his mind. The pieces were not adding up. "How are they maintaining any mechanically driven mining activities on that mass?" He turned to De La Fuente, "Can you get any detailed readings on their power outputs?" As he spoke, he keyed up his own console to investigate power options that might be employed.
"Might I suggest focusing attention on the oceans," Steiner offered, a little concerned he might be stating the obvious, but his investigative experience told him to always follow the evidence. "That station was set up for an aquatic species , if they are down there, then the water is probably the place to look."
"Uh, there's a lot of it, Sir." Sabba said carefully. "Water that is. And the science scans aren't clearing the interference of heavy pollutants in the water. Scans are returning with heavy scatter. We can't get life sign readings at any depths unless that can be resolved. I'm not sure where to begin."
Hannah smiled and spoke quietly "I think it's likely that they would be in areas where large amounts of phosphorescent algae are found, in order to decorate themselves. You may start there."
That seemed like a strange reasoning to Saaba. But she was never one for much in the way of cosmetics. Clearly, Doctor Wagner had some kind of insight about the Korinn culture. But she tried her hand at reading the scans while De La Fuente labored over the scan resolution. "There's a phosphorescent bloom heavily on the surface of the south western hemisphere, near the equatorial waters..." Saaba ventured, wondering if that was what was being asked for. "Wait- there's a very recent evidence of rocket propellants on the surface in that area and dispersal in the atmosphere in the same region.
"Sounds like the source of the distress message probe." Calliope surmised. "If we can't get a reply through the water, I suggest we assemble an away team to respond in person, Captain."
Corvus pondered that for a few moments and then nodded. She then pointed across the deck at Major Finn, "I want two of your Marines on the away team," she ordered, waiting for a nod of understanding from him to give her attention back to Calliope. Corvus set her hands on her hips and took a slow steadying breath as she looked at her old friend, making a decision that she didn't really want to make. She still didn't trust Calliope one-hundred percent, but she really didn't have a choice in the matter. She needed her expertise. "Put together an away team, Commander, and take the Waverider," she said, gesturing to the deck beneath them. The unique vessel to this class of ship wasn't accessed from the shuttle bay like the rest of their craft, instead accessed via an access shaft right on the bridge. "We'll continue to try and make contact,"
"Yes, ma'am." Mentally, Calliope was counting heads versus seats in a Waverider. With herself and two Marines already, she was going to be severely limited on selections for the team. And Marines were not the first choice for first contact scenarios. But she intuited well enough that Corvus wasn't making suggestions or taking any. Calliope would work with the hand she was dealt.
DeHavilland took a step closer and said quietly, "We do this by the book, Calliope," she said, giving her a sidelong look of concern but hesitant to say any more than that in front of the bridge staff.
Calliope wasn't sure there was a book for this exact scenario. But she knew that as long as she followed the principles of first contact and maintained decorum on a team unfortunately not composed of any diplomats, and twice as unfortunately weighted down by combat heavies, she'd probably be forgiven for writing a supplemental chapter of the book. At least that was how she was accustomed to operating in the border regions. Judging by the worried look the Captain was broadcasting, Corvus clearly knew Calliope's career-long modus operandi, but Calliope surprised herself by no longer caring about Corvus' hang ups over trusting her. Whether or not Corvus had faith in her judgement, Calliope had no doubts of her own.
"Understood, Captain." Keeping her thoughts to herself, Calliope nodded solemnly and heel turned to follow through with arranging the team.
