Priapus: A First Look (Part II)
Posted on Sat Oct 26th, 2024 @ 9:37am by Commander Grace Vetur & Lieutenant Commander Yivliph Ra-Gruvloveii & Lieutenant Zero & Lieutenant Amanda Rose & Lieutenant Percival Bálor Ph.D & Ensign Rishi Chabbra & Chief Petty Officer Celeste Summerby
1,067 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Standing By
Location: Various
ON
As soon as the ship dropped out of warp, Grace turned to science. "Scan the system and the planet. I want to know as much as we can about what we might encounter."
"Aye, Captain." Ensign Helen Jaeger said from the Primary Science Station and began a scan of the system.
Grace hoped to find signs of the archaeologists, but that was likely asking too much at this point.
"I'm picking up several spatial eddies scattered throughout the system, they are interfering with our sensors, making it difficult to get a complete scan of the planet, from this distance." Jaeger reported. "Attempting to compensate for the interference now."
'Helm, slow to half-impulse. Science, feed through the eddies' locations to helm control so we don't inadvertently stumble in to one,' Yiv ordered as he sat back into his chair. 'Let's try to keep us in one piece for as long as possible.'
Grace tapped her comm button. "Bridge to away team, please head to the shuttle bay. We should be in position shortly." She wanted to give them more information, but if not, they'd have to scan as the shuttle entered the atmosphere.
"Yes ma'am," replied Lieutenant Percival Bálor with a small chuckle to himself. "I'll start herding my cats to the shuttle bay" added the Chief Science Officer. This was going to be a peculiar away mission with an interesting bunch of faces and personalities.
"Just be careful of their claws. Some of those cats have tempers," Grace cautioned. She knew Percy wanted to do this, but part of her still worried that something would go wrong.
"Doctor Sourpuss in boots will be fine. If he acts up, I'll send grandpa back to you" Percy replied. He was not overly fond of the man, but perhaps this away mission would be a bonding opportunity. "As for the other problematic one, I'm not thrilled about her coming along, but I'll try not to annoy her too much."
"Try not to annoy either one of them too much," Grace countered. "Like them or not, they're both very good at their jobs. And will be an asset to your team." Or so she hoped.
Amanda heard the call to head to the shuttle bay. Well, when duty calls, Amanda was about to answer. It only disturbed her that Percy was leading this mission and it further disturbed her that he thought to take her underling rather than her.
She thought about that for a moment and smiled. Do I make him that uncomfortable? After all that he has done to me? Well, well.... This could be more fun than I thought. Maybe kindness will kill him. She practically skipped to the shuttle bay on that thought.
When Amanda and the others on the away team had left the bridge, Grace turned to Yiv. "That is going to be an interesting team."
'Hopefully in a positive way,' Yiv replied with an uneasy smile, baring his canines. 'Some lateral thinking from combustible interactions might just work.'
Grace nodded. "It is an...interesting team. But we both know Percy is not averse to creative solutions. I just hope the scientists are alive and well."
"Security, look to see if there are any signs of other ships having been in this sector recently." It wasn't likely, but Grace wanted to cover all her bases.
"I'm detecting two freighters outside the system, but they appear to be just taking a short cut. I'll keep an eye on them, just in case, ma'am." Summerby reported.
"Thank you. They probably are, but since we don't know what happened, it's better to be cautious," Grace said.
"Aye, ma'am, I'll keep me head on a swivel." Summerby said.
She wasn't sure if a swivel was the best option, but Grace wasn't going to say anything aloud. Summerby was trying, and she appreciated the effort.
Zero arrived on the bridge, having just returned from a cycle of regeneration in his alcove, to take his position at Ops.
"Lieutenant Zero, we may have communication problems once the shuttle enters the atmosphere. Is there anything you can do to boost the signal?" Grace knew it wasn't a guarantee, but anything could make a difference.
Ensign Chabbara exited the lift with a PaDD in hand and approached the Captain's chair with caution. Of course he would be barer of bad news having come up from Stellar Cartography. "Captain, Commander," he said addressing Grace and Yiv.
"I'm afraid whatever Lieutenant Zero may be able to do is only going to be effective briefly" noted the ensign. "Astrosciences is tracking a large ion storm. Our away team will only have about two hours before it hits, an additional twenty or thirty minutes before it becomes a threat to the Ontario. We'll be forced to break orbit until it passes."
That was not what Grace wanted to hear. "Thank you. Continue to monitor the storm. We'll stay as long as we can."
"Zero," Grace said, turning to ops. "Inform the away team. Tell that if they can't get back within the time frame, we'll return for them as soon as possible." Hopefully they would be safe enough on the planet.
Grinding his teeth, Yiv attempted to mask his concern for the Away Team and especially Percy by looking at the telemetry updates that were coming through to his armchair console.
'How far out do we need to move, Chabbra?' he asked after a moment.
"Out of orbit and to be safe? I'd recommend taking us out of the system. It looks like a massive storm" reported Chabbra.
Grace looked at the data scrolling along the side of the main viewscreen and sighed. "Agreed. Zero, send a message to the away team that we have to leave the system until the storm passes. They should be safe on the surface until we return."
"Helm, take us out." Grace didn't like the feeling that she was abandoning her team, but she couldn't put the ship and the rest of the crew at risk, either. Surely nothing would go wrong this time?
OFF
Commander Grace Vetur
Commanding Officer
Ensign Helen Jaeger
Science Officer
Lieutenant Commander Yivliph Ra-Gruvloveii
Executive Officer
Lieutenant Percival Bálor
Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant Amanda Rose
Chief Counselor
Chief Petty Officer Celeste Summerby
Security Investigations
Lieutenant Zero
Chief Operations Officer
Ensign Rishi Chabbara
Xeno Archaeologist
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