Sea & Sky: The Briefing
Posted on 19 Mar 2023 @ 8:35am by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant JG Hannah Wagner & Chief Deputy Marshal: Ridge Steiner - FMS & Lieutenant Commander Cesar De La Fuente Ph.D. & Lieutenant Ethan Gunnarsen & Lieutenant JG Maxwell Tilmer
Edited on on 15 Oct 2023 @ 7:54pm
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Pathfinder, Shuttlebay
Timeline: MD09 0200
3163 words - 6.3 OF Standard Post Measure
Calliope marched up towards the shuttle bay. If everything had gone smoothly with the request, there was an Arrow Class shuttle on the way from the Theseus with one Lieutenant Ethan Gunnarsen at the helm. She only had met the man once, and vaguely remembered him. Things were a little blurry after riding the shuttle Seventeen into the Theseus’ bay spewing fire. Hopefully he wasn’t going to hold it against her as a sign of her luck with leading missions on Runabouts. If she was being honest, though, that hadn’t been her first time coming back to fire team hose downs.
Lance had in the end made this miracle possible. She was stuck with the problem of trying to fit a whole team into a Waverider like some kind of clown car, or else axing key skills from the team. But Lance had ‘discovered’ some ‘error codes’ on the Waverider’s maintenance that, wouldn’t you know it, just couldn’t be cleared in time for the dive, giving Calliope her out to request the Acamas from Theseus’ compliment, and the skilled pilot to boot.
She strode up to the control room outside the bay, where the Quartermaster was also arriving from the larger maintenance access, hover carts buzzing along beside her with marked gear.
“Here are all of the diving-adapted EVA suits and equipment requested. I’ve added the signal boosters, and included the depth buoys.”
“Great.” It was Calliope’s hope that if they could create a string of contact buoys set for different water pressure depths along their trail they could maintain contact with the surface and overcome the pollutants. It wasn’t a fool proof idea, but it was certainly one worth giving a shot “And the first contact material?”
The older woman pulled a separate case from the back of the cart. “It’s all in here. Commander Quinn is sending the Computer core. It should be here shortly.”
“Thanks, Chief.”
She looked up to see the people she had called on beginning to gather in the bay waiting for their shuttle, and led the cart with their suits into the bay. “Alright, let's get dressed. We’ll be keeping the diving suits on at all times, and the tanks and helmets at hand.”
Steiner arrived, gear bag over his shoulder, carbine under his arm. He had spent the last thirty minutes going over various action plans with Knowles and Drummond. They had four of the rail-guns now, and crews trained to use them, plus a plentiful supply of bodkins. Knowles had suggested Steiner take one along, but he preferred to keep them for defending the ship. He had left the Security department in the capable hands of Drummond, confident she was probably better fitted for the job than he was.
Which also meant he was now going on his second Starfleet Away Team hop and he did not feel much more confident than the first one. He had spent a couple of years on a Diplomatic and Judicial Protection Team, so he had decided to apply similar tactics to this situation, except that it had been fourteen years ago and he was not sure how much he could remember. Along with that they had assigned a couple of Marines, not a group he had worked with before. This was also going to be a First Contact situation, another new experience for him to deal with. "This just gets better and better" he thought to himself.
Still, he fixed a confident expression on his face, looked over the hover-carts until he found the suit with his name on it, pulled it off the pile and started getting into it.
Cesar had never had a problem with the EVA suits, just the EVA part - the vastness of space around him always made him feel like a speck of dust in an infinite cosmos (which of course he knew he was) but without four walls around, it filled him with this impending sense of doom and terror. He hated it, but like everyone, he’d qualified in the training. But he much preferred underwater EVA, even though being in the ocean of any world still made him just as small and insignificant, he attributed his lack of fear there to the fact that he couldn’t actually see how miniscule he was in comparison.
As he collected his gear from the storage crates, he was reminded how much he missed his own gear back on the Alexander. He hadn’t brought his own equipment, presuming that this was not a mission that would require EVA (unless things went really bad) so he had left his custom-fitted and slightly altered gear aboard. There wasn’t anything supremely different about that gear, it was just his own, and what he was used to. Considering what they were going into, he was already missing it terribly.
He sat down to suit up, pulling on his gloves and looked up to see the two Marines that were to accompany them approaching the shuttle. Both were already wearing their EVA suits, their specific variant, which stood out in stark contrast to the very utilitarian version most of Starfleet wore.
The door opened once more and the end of a crystalline container slid in, filled with water. Hannah had felt that the actual internment of the body should be done in something physical, so she’d fallen back on the tried and true transparent aluminum. There were tiny decorations on the leading edge, inscriptions of the stars that they had found her in. There was no force field, nothing to ‘zap’ the water and as much respect as she could muster into the body’s preparation. She’d replaced every jewel in the place where she’d found it.
The Doctor was gently pushing the container on its antigravity lift, so that she could manage the bulk of it alone. Her own EV suit was slung over her shoulder.
Calliope hadn’t expected to see the Korinn body again. It was very different now in the transparent case than it had been when they had encountered it seemingly appearing from nowhere on the Korinn space station. It looked peaceful and even reverent, like the internment of some body belonging to a head of state and prepared for the last respects of the people. It sombered Calliope to see it, highlighting that the Korinn woman had sacrificed her life to try to make contact outside of her world.
“Well done, Doctor,” she approved simply, seeing as Wagner had gone above and beyond just keeping the body intact in her autopsy and boxing it for transport as Calliope had asked, but truly understanding the gravity of this moment and the importance of the Korinn’s life and sacrifice. The details mattered.
“Steiner,” Calliope pulled him aside as he was figuring out his glove latches. “Listen, the Marines have the muscle on this covered. I’m bringing you along because you have the knack for investigation and observation.”
He threw her a grin. “That’s what they pay me for, supposedly,” and snapped on the glove.
“Trying to piece together what’s going on between this planet and the Pyrryx is a big puzzle and everyone meeting at the Captains’ table on the Theseus has got their theories. We need to stick to the facts though, and I want you to keep me grounded on this.” Calliope took a thin stretchy hood out of her jacket pocket and started pulling it over her springy hair so that she’d be ready to put on a helmet if necessary. “Also, you know… I know you’re going to be a straight shooter with me,” she said, implying that since he was willing to take medication to counter her pheromones she didn’t have to worry about him bootlicking or trying to impress her as the group worked in the confined space of the runabout.
He nodded, picking up the unspoken meaning. “As an arrow” he nodded his head towards the coffin and raised an eyebrow. “Nice that we are bringing them back to their home, but we might want to cover that, or at least not roll it out straight away until we’ve warned them. Don’t want to upset local sensibilities by having them think we’re displaying it like some kind of trophy…”
"Good point, Marshal." Although it hadn't occurred to her the clear presentation might be seen as such, Calliope had to agree now that he pointed it out. While it was meant in the best way, intention could backfire. " Doctor Wagner, maybe you can replicate a shroud. Even a sheer one would do to soften things."
“A shroud that would work underwater? Give me a moment to think.” She paced around the box for a few moments before she walked to the replicator and spoke quietly to it.
Hannah came back a few minutes later with a fabric draped over both arms. It had small decorative weights spaced out over the length of the fabric and the symbol of the federation on each corner. They clinked together in a chiming note, as she brought it back to the capsule. The warp strands on the woven fabric were a metallic silver, making it glitter as one moved around it. The weave itself was a series of deep blues, purples and black with another set of decorative silver stranding that seemed to undulate through it . “Help me to spread it please.”
Steiner had both gloves on now and walked over to help. “Nice touch Doc” he nodded approvingly and helped Wagner lay the cloth out over the casket.
Another arrival made his appearance, a young engineer guiding a crate along, his hand protectively on top, even though that did very little to stabilize the cargo. Calliope looked down at a padd and made a check on her packing list.
As the shuttle bay opened to admit him, Ethan powered down the runabout to auxiliary and made use of the remaining momentum to coast into the awaiting space. The team was waiting as the protective field came back up behind him. “Alright,” he tapped the controls overhead to release the loading doors. “Guess we’re ready to load up.” Unlocking his harness, Ethan unfolded himself from the seat and made his way back to meet the oncoming crew. He noticed one familiar face in the lot and smiled. “Commander Zahn, good to see you again.”
Ah, she wasn’t as forgotten as she might have hoped. He didn’t look worried, however, and that put Calliope at ease as she watched the tall pilot approach. She struck out her hand to shake. “Sorry we didn’t have much chance for introductions at the time.” Then with his hand still in hers, she turned them both to present him to the rest. “Team, this is Lieutenant Ethan Gunnarsen, our pilot-on-loan from the Theseus. I read he’s up to date on underwater and high pressure atmospheric flight, so we can rest assured on our dive.”
Accepting the hand to shake, Ethan’s gaze swept over the rest of the crew, settling momentarily on the shrouded package before offering a nod of assent. “Sounds like an interesting trip. I can definitely see why you needed more room.”
“So you all know me and now you all know Lieutenant Gunnarsen. Everyone else, take a turn, sound off,” Calliope said, prompting introductions now that the entirety of the team was there.
“Cesar De La Fuente, Science,” he spoke up quickly, figuring that rank should go first, even if he didn’t really agree with the concept.
Steiner lifted a gloved hand and nodded to the pilot. “Steiner, Marshal’s Service and er… Security”
Hannah smiled around at everyone “Doctor Hannah Wagner. Good morning.” Not really knowing what else to say she chewed on her lip and didn’t say much of anything.
“Ensign Max Tilmer.” The young mustachioed Trill casually leaned an elbow on the Korinn computer core’s crate. “Chief Quinn sent me along to make sure this gets delivered safely. And in case anything is in need of repair, of course.” Engineers were the pride of starfleet, and Tilmer was happy to represent.
“Gunnery Sergeant Johannes, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, Dog Company,” the first of the Marines sounded off, representing the last of the group. The Gunnery Sergeant was a tall, stocky man with shortly cropped brown hair and neatly trimmed mustache who seemed to fill his EVA suit with more muscles than most.
“Corporal Foster Binns, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, Dog Company,” the shorter and skinnier of the two of them declared. He was much shorter than his counterpart and nearly half the size considering Johannes’ bulk. Binns had dark black hair and brilliant blue eyes and, had he been able to grow a convincing one, would have grown a mustache to match Johannes’. He just gave a quick wave to everyone and waited for the briefing to begin properly.
Eight heads, including herself, all present and accounted for. “Okay, here’s the mission brief,” Calliope began. “We received a basic plea for help from the Korinn via probe message—” Calliope replayed the brief audio from her mission padd, Still a strangely ethereal voice that sounded as if it was traveling a great distance—
Stranger. Friend. We are the Korinn. We have been enslaved and our planet is being destroyed. Our people are dying. We need help. Please. Will you help us?
“— Upon arriving in orbit, we attempted to hail the surface but there was no response, so the next step is to find the origin of the probe launch, where the source of the call originated. There’s heavy pollutants in the oceans preventing us from getting scans or comms through. Based on propellant traces, science has provided us the most likely launch point from a region in the sea. You’ve seen the Korinn body we’ll be returning, but I think Dr. Wagner has a few insights to prepare us for meeting them,” Calliope prompted the doctor.
“As much as one can get from a single autopsy. Much of it is speculation which could be wildly inaccurate. Just keep that in the backs of your minds, aye?”
“You can see the autopsy results in the mission files, if you need to reference it on the ride down. Our goal, currently,” Calliope continued, “is just to make contact and learn more. They’ve clearly already been exposed to faster than light travel, so the Prime Directive is not a primary concern, although we need to refrain from too much exchange of technology before more is known. Also, refrain from making any promises about defending them or sending aid. Much as I would like to jump in and help, none of us are authorized to make such claims. The Pathfinder is on reconnaissance. This is a discovery mission.”
“It’s probably best,” De La Fuente added, “If we limit our communication to the three of us,” he said, indicating Commander Zahn, himself and Doctor Wagner. “Just to be safe.”
Steiner nodded, with an inward feeling of slightly guilty relief. He had been to several meet and greets with law enforcement representatives from new planets and species joining the Federation. Those had always gone well, once past the introductions there quickly came a natural kindred feeling with fellow peacekeepers, no matter the culture. Often they ended up swapping arrest stories, cases and criminal encounters over a few drinks after the official meetings and he had made several long time friends in the process.
This was a little different, in fact a whole lot different, he was well aware of the importance and sensitivity the Federation and Starfleet placed on First Contact situations. He had concentrated his knowledge building on Starfleet Security procedures, not their inter-species relations protocols. He was cautious of doing the wrong thing and so not being expected to take an up-front diplomatic role was reassuring.
Calliope looked thoughtful before she continued carefully. “I’m not forbidding anyone from interacting, but initially for introductions, I agree. There are a number of different skills and perspectives represented among us and we may find more by asking more varied questions. We don’t know what will engender their trust best yet, but I trust everyone on this team.” She refrained from excepting Ensign Tilmer out loud, but gave him a look to let him know she expected his best behavior. The Marines didn’t worry her terribly much, since in her experience Marines were great with chain of command, as long as they maintained their trigger discipline.
“If there should be any reason for us to part the team, like if we’re invited to separate audiences or functions—” Or if they have something against women or whatever… Calliope wasn’t bitter about her experiences on Loki III “—as our Acting Security Chief, Marshal Steiner is our second. If it comes to it, I expect everyone to support his calls.” She suspected that was not going to go down with everyone’s classic rank and file expectations, but he was acting Chief in more than just name and she trusted his ability to follow through, even if he would need to rely on the rest of the team for other details of operation. “Otherwise the rest of our rank and role structure stands.”
“Understood”: Steiner said quietly and looked to the Marines, giving them a respectful nod, one professional to another. Hopefully, they feel the same he thought.
Hannah blushed and ducked her head a bit at the attention on her, when Calliope pointed at her as someone who would be permitted to speak in the delicate first contact. It was both a first contact and a rescue and her blood sang in her veins with exhilaration..
“Anything else before we load up?” Calliope looked around the team.
“Actually, yes.” Hannah said softly looking at Calliope. “I think that you should be wearing some sort of jewelry. Something to denote you as the ranking individual though your faceplate.”
"Oh..." For a moment, Calliope blinked, adjusting to the oddity of the minutia until something occurred to her. She reached beneath her neckline and pulled out Quinn’s gift, a necklace which she was already wearing because she was almost never without it anyway, and detached it so she could link it around her diving hood and let it sit in front of her collar. She readjusted the length of the chain with the back clasp until the loop of rhodium was suspended roughly between her collar bones.
When the doctor seemed satisfied with that, she clapped. “Okay everyone! Let's load up.”
