Explorers

Posted on Mon Jan 22nd, 2018 @ 1:49am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale & Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor & Lieutenant Commander Alec Wescott & Lieutenant Hel Samedi & Lieutenant Jaton Alyl & Lieutenant Sara'draphia T'eseri & Lieutenant Odelle Lin & Lieutenant JG Scotty Kayne & Ensign Courtney Baxter

Mission: Of Machines and Men
Location: Bridge, USS Victory

It had been well over a few weeks since Victory and Starfleet had gone up against the Jennarri Fleet. Things had returned to relative normality in Federation Space, though all ships were to remain vigilant.

For Victory this meant that she was back into the abyss of space. The Beta Quadrant was their next port of call and a routine Patrol and Exploration mission to suit her status as a 'Ship of the Line'.

Elijah stepped out of his Ready-room and onto the Bridge of Victory. The old girl had held up well and she'd been upgraded and refitted since then with minor modifications to the sensors and shields, and they had even changed the Bridge colour scheme.

"Captain on the Bridge." Elliot called at the aft of the Bridge.

Ziyal looked up from the station that she frequently commandeered when she was on the bridge. The Jennari were not defeated, not a by a long shot. More professional minds then her were taking over the interrogations of the captured personnel. However, if her experience was anything to go by, it would not be an easy task. Ever since they had been given their current mission, she had been reading up on what they would likely encounter.

"Maintaining course, captain, estimated ETA, two hours," Scotty said.

"Thank you, Scotty," Elijah said as he took his seat. "I trust we all had some nice R&R whilst the Ship was getting decorated?"

Jaton looked over from the science console and nodded. He got the feeling it wasn’t a good time to share stories, but he wanted to contribute nonetheless. He wasn’t quite feeling like a seamless part of the crew just yet, but he was getting there.

"Engineering reports everything running well in the green, chief," Cordale reported from the Engineering station. "Refits and repairs holding, though the paint's still drying in places." he added with a chuckle.

"Science is ready, sir." Lin replied.

"Thank you Commander, Lieutenant." He said in response to Cor and to Odelle. "I'm still not overly struck on the carpet, I liked the Blue we used to have, now it's a little drab."

"I think it is nice," Bertrand said, with a soft smile. "The grey is calming, don't you think? Like the sea just after a storm has passed and the smell of petricor mixes with the ozone and salt in the air."

"I personally preferred the blue over the grey as well" Sara commented from her seat at the auxiliary science station, "Sickbay is fully stocked and standing by Captain"

"Thank you Doctor, nice to see someone else agrees with me." He said smiling at her. "So what do we know about this Star System?"

"Little information is available Sir." Ensign Baxter said handing a PADD to Valeria at Ops. "USS Young was here in 2345 and charted only an eighth of the area."

"Well then it would seem that it's a scientific Jewel." Elijah chuckled. "Begin full sensor sweeps please Valeria."

The rabbitess gave a nod and cycled through a few sensor grid options, before deciding on one and executing it. "Starting scans now. This will be adding directly to our cartography archives, so I'll ensure the clearest readings we can get."

"Odelle, Jaton skim through all of the data and let's see what mysteries are out there."

Jaton turned back to his workstation and called up the data on the system.

"Class K star. 64.9% the mass of Sol, estimated 6 billion years old. 8 planets, four terrestrial, four gas giants. Second planet in the system is Class M. That's all we can get so far at this distance." Jaton then turned around. "And personally I like the grey. Picks up the other accent colours rather well."

"That's a big K-class," Bertrand mused.

"Personally, I'm just glad they didn't pick violet for the carpet." Cordale mentioned, bringing the conversation full circle.

"I dunno." Called Alec from his station on the bridge. "Personally I'd have preferred a nice red. Would have matched the Captains uniform!" Alec chuckled to himself. "Security and Tactical reporting full readiness Captain." He smiled.

"See, red I could deal with fine. It's brave, passionate, the color of blood and wine. You know, important stuff." the Thux chuckled, "Plus, I don't have any trouble seeing the color red. Some cuts of violet, though, are just grey to me."

"I'd prefer metal plating over carpet myself." Scotty said, looking back from his station.

Bertrand gave an involuntary shudder.

"Scotty take us in a little closer." Elijah said as he examined the Data. "That M Class Planet is looking appealing enough."

"Aye, captain, moving us in, heading 040 mark 278." He replied

As the Ship moved closer to the second planet the Captain sat back in his chair with his mug of tea. "I'll put in a request when we get back to Sol for red carpet throughout."

That comment was met with a few chuckles from the Bridge Crew. But as they approached the planet there was a beeping sound emanating from one of the consoles.

Elliot being the closest checked it out. "Sensors are reading power signatures on the planets Southern Hemisphere, no life signs yet but significant energy readings emanating from a large settlement."

"Alright then Commander Cuprum, Commander Cordale assemble an Away Team and check it out."

"Energy but no life," Bertrand's brow furrowed. "Maybe they left the oven on."

Cordale actually gave a chuckle. A step up from a 'guhfaw' really. "Found your problem with the environment. Click." he pantomimed flicking off a switch.

"Captain, I'd like to volunteer for the away team. This may be a habitable planet, but we don't know what pathogens are on the surface" Sara requested, standing up from her station

"I was about to ask for a medical team, Doctor," Bertrand acknowledged. "Sounds a little too like, 'Colony wiped out by Disease', to me. Let's do a fly over first and check for radiation or other dis-incentives. Mr Wescot, I am going to need a Security detail."

"Lt Lin," Bertrand turned to the science station. "Who is our Anthropologist? If it is deserted, they are going to want to get a look at what is left behind."

"Command, Engineering, Medical, Security, Science... Did I forget someone?" Bertrand mused.

"Diplomat?" Cordale said with a smirk. "Let's see.... eenie meanie miney..." Cordale started looking around at the rest of the bridge, considering who to put on the team.

"With no life, there hardly seems a need of a diplomat," Bertrand countered. "Besides, that is what I am there for... or are you saying I can't be diplomatic?"

"I'm not saying anything. Just answering your question of what you left out." Cor said, with a smirk.

"Very diplomatic of you," Bertrand almost smiled. "All right, let's do a pass for obvious danger and assemble in Transporter room three."

With that he moved quickly from his chair and headed for the turbo lift.

As the team began to depart, Jaton turned and stood. "Sir, I'm not an anthropologist, but do you have need of a geologist down there?"

"I won't turn anyone away." Cordale mentioned, then held up a hand for Bert to hold on, "There's one more aspect I'd like to add to the team. Recon. I wanna add Val to the squad, just in case there's trouble she can spot it easy." he paused, "Not 'Ears Val', but 'Two-Fer-One Val'."

"Aye sir." Jaton logged out of his station and went to the turbolift.

"Agreed regarding our scout," Bertrand said, "Though... your racial descriptions are a little harsh, don't you think? You alright with a larger team, Captain?"

“Hey don’t look at me you’re the XO take whoever you need.” Elijah said with a shrug. “Begin our Flyover of those energy readings, Ziyal I want you to monitor their progress from here.”

Ziyal nodded, "Aye sir, I'll keep a close eye on you while your down there."

Scotty the piped up "Permission to join the away team sir, it wouldn't hurt to have one more pair of hands down there."

"Trying to get your mission time hours up, hey?" Bertrand nodded. "Very well, secure your station."

“Oh and Number One.” Elijah said with a final glance towards Bertrand. “Everyone is to be issued a Phaser....Just in case.”

Bertrand nodded, "Same page."

Moving over to the turbolift, Sara turned to Bertrand, "I'll meet you at the transporter room, I have to collect a couple of items from sickbay."

"We'll wait," Bertrand nodded again.

Cor gave a bit of a nod, "You're right, they probably are. I didn't really have any time to think of any proper descriptors short of using their whole names. Anywho..." and he tapped his comm badge, "Cordale to Seran."

"This is Seran, what can I do for you, Commander?" came the Dalacari's voice back.

"We're assembling an away team to potentially investigate an anomaly on a planetary surface, could use a recon scouter. You're on the short list. Get what you need and meet up in Transporter Room Three."

"Recon mission, Aye Sir." Then a slight pause. "Will I need my rifle? I move better with just the recon equipment and a compression rifle instead of my GX-80." asked Val.

"I'm not a hundred percent certain at the moment, we don't have any solid intel as to what exactly is at the target site. I'll be able to answer that a little better once the scans come back, but until then I'd say use your discretion in regards to an unknown landing site." Cor advised. Truth be told he didn't know what was down there. Could be a natural phenomenon. Could be a manufactured region that was still operational.

"Full package it is. Better safe than sorry." Val replied. "Transporter Room Three, Aye Sir. I'll need five minutes. Seran out."