Shuttle to the ground

Posted on Tue May 9th, 2017 @ 12:14am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum

Mission: The Trial of Cor Cordale
Location: Nipon 5 Shuttle craft.
Timeline: Current.

The Security division moved to the Cargo dock in uncomfortable silence.

They joined a queue of people who looked at them with some interest. Aliens were obviously still a novelty. The interest was polite but obvious, with many a furtive look. At the same time the Security detail were watching the locals. While some had their gills exposed, it was not uncommon for others to wear scarves or a raised collar that hid their gills.

A shuttle was docking and the disembarking passengers filed past, many carrying bags or brief cases.

One moved past carrying a heavy satchel on his back and Bertrand swiveled to watch him past. He grit his teeth and leaned in to Kevin.

"That one," he whispered so as not to be over heard. "White Hand activist and here to cause trouble. Unfortunately, it is an internal political matter and the Prime directive prevents us even alerting the local authorities."

Kevin nodded and watched the passing man, noting with interest that he didn't once lift his head to see where he was going. Most passengers, no matter who, tended to absent mindedly look around or glance occasionally at an object, poster or sign on a wall, but this one kept their eye's down on the ground the whole time.

The queue began to move towards the shuttle, and a man in a high white collar was checking people as they went through. Bertrand stepped forward.

"We don't have any tickets..." he began but the man held up his hand.

"We have been expecting you, crewmen of the Federation," he said formally. He handed each of them a plastic slip about the size of a credit card. "These are your charge cards for your stay on the surface. Please accept the hospitality of our world. If I can recommend the Plaza Terrace district, I believe you will be well pleased with what you find."

Kevin took his plastic token, smiled his thanks, but didn't orally reply to the mans pleasantries and information as they weren't mission related and he'd been given strict instructions by the XO which he was now following to the letter "From this moment on you do NOT have permission to speak freely Lieutenant, if a single word comes out of your mouth that is not mission related, I will have you escorted back to the ship as unable to follow a direct order"

The trip to the surface was long, about 60 minutes, but uneventful. It was not the smoothest ride. According to the specifications the Gravity drives on the station meant that ships could only move at very specific speeds or risk being torn apart as the gravity stresses changed.

Once on the surface and outside the shuttle they were greeted by a rich tapestry of smells and temperate conditions.

Bertrand turned to his team.

"Right, This is not shore leave, but I want you to get a feel for what shore leave would be like down here. Mingle freely, get a taste for the local population and culture. Is this the sort of place Federation people would feel welcome, and what sort of impact will our presence have on the culture."

He smiled at Kevin, "And you, especially, I want to hear opinions from. You're ex-intel, and have a very strong idea of how things should be. Any questions from any of you?"

Kevin raised his hand.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

He handed the XO the PADD he had. On it was written 'I mean this most sincerely, there's no disrespect intended in asking this Commander, and I'm not being a smart Alec, but your direct order telling me that I don't 'have permission to speak freely, and that if a single word comes out of your mouth that is not mission related, you'll have me escorted back to the ship as unable to follow a direct order' is still in force, and it kind of hampers me in the sense of how I can gain information from certain sources. How do I carry out the order you just gave me when the previous not speaking freely order supersedes it?'

"Consider this an expansion of what counts as 'mission related'. You mission is to mingle with the locals and get a feel fro the culture. Right. Meet back here in four hours. Enjoy." Bertrand tried an encouraging smile, but it didn't look right.

Kevin felt he was being punished for what was simply a joke. Did the XO really dislike him so much, was this how it was going to be from now on?

The group began to move off in pairs or groups of three, some to sample the local markets, others to try the pubs.

"I think," Bertrand said aloud, "I might go and look at this 'Plaza Terrace district' that was mentioned."

He looked to Kevin, "You coming with me, or looking for your own fun?"

"No, I'm heading for the sewers" Kevin replied "If you want to find out what the real Nironese situation and culture is like, looking at the veneer they're showing you at this 'Plaza' won't help, they're simply playing 'get the best china out we have guests', but being down there in amongst the downtrodden locals will.

Bertrand nodded, "Good thought. Hopefully it will not be an issue but..."

They were interrupted by a roaring noise and a column of fire that fell from the sky and impacted maybe a kilometer away. A moment later a second ball of fire landed close to the first.

People around the Security officers were screaming and pointing to the sky. Looking up the pair could just make out the giant Presidium. a tail of flame was engulfing one of the Gravity stacks and as they watched more fragments of the outlying regions tore loose and began to descend to wards the planet and their location.

"Not going to the sewers then..." Kevin said.

Kevin and Bertrand's comms crackled to life, "USS Victory to Away teams. We have detected explosions in your vicinity. Please advise of your status."

Kevin smacked his COMM badge and replied "Kilbane here. The Security team and XO are ok, we're not far from where the explosion took place. Something appears to be happening to the Presidium, the effect of which is causing fire damage to one the Gravity stacks and it's disintegrating, causing chunks to fall to the ground. We'll try to find out more and check in later, Kilbane out."

Turning to the XO he said "Sir, as Senior Officer on the ground here, I must insist we move you back to the shuttle area just now so we can keep you safe and protect you till we find out what's happening."

Bertrand nodded, "Reluctantly, I must agree with you. We should be far enough away from the Gravity Stacks to call for a beam out, however, rather than rely on the Nironese shuttles. I will defer to your decision, however."

"We don't know what's caused this Sir" Kevin said, "and there's no way we can say for certain that the Nironese haven't been subjugated by some outside force. As you've pointed out, we can't take the chance on using the shuttles, so a beam out by the Victory is the best option for us."

He turned and beckoned to Jackson, one of his squad leaders and best trusted Security officers. Once Jackson was beside him he said "Fifty yard fan perimeter, ten outer, five inner. No-one but our people get inside, and I don't care if it's your Mother wanting to hand out free biscuits and cloudy lemonade....got that?"

"Yes Lieutenant" Jackson replied, at once turning and gathering the rest of the Security team together. He relayed Kevin's orders and the Security detail went to work, setting the fan shaped perimeter. Once he was satisfied with the deployment, Kevin tapped his COMM badge and said "Kilbane to Victory, emergency beam out of the ground group plus Security team, but get the XO up first, the rest of us will wait!"

Within a matter of minutes, the XO, ground group and Security team were safely on board the USS Victory.