Mission 1.02 - And Not a Drop to Drink

Ayan spun the ship hard as they dropped out of warp, turning them neatly away from the worst of the radiation. He navigated the Wanderer in every which way until they were clear enough away from the debris, and the sickly green radiation.

"Station keeping, Sir," he said, his heart still racing. That had been too close. "It's lucky this little ship can turn that fast. Beginning scanning sweep now."

He started running his scans quickly, working his hands across the console. "What? Federation?" he said, his voice full of surprise as he looked at his readouts. "Stand by, sir," he said to forestall questions.

He ran his scans again, and a quick diagnostic. "Confirmed, sir," he said. "I'm getting distinct traces of federation weaponry." He paused. "Phasers and torpedoes. Recently used, obviously. Limited other detail, though."

He tapped a few more times, sending the readouts to Julian's station, along with the results of his diagnostics.

Once that was done, he quickly laid in a course. "Reciprocal course standing by, Sir," he said. "I don't like how this whole thing smells..." he added.

[tag!]

Fletcher McNeil wrote:

Once that was done, he quickly laid in a course. "Reciprocal course standing by, Sir," he said. "I don't like how this whole thing smells..." he added.

[tag!]

"You and me both," replied Adam grimly. So much for a quick jaunt across the sector hunting a group of terrorists in a deeply classified ship. There was more here at play than he could see, even with the new clearance Talem had given him. He brought up a list of ships assigned to this sector and, predictably, found nothing. Secrets within secrets.

[Deck 2, U.S.S. Wanderer]
[1825 hours]

Hayley had finished the rewiring job. She had been right about the custom hyperspanner; the SIF generator contacts were only accessible at an awkward angle.

First day on the job..., she thought, and what a day. Hayley was starting to feel the fatigue of a day full of brainstorming and creative jury-rigging; she hoped that she'd still be sharp enough to keep things running smoothly once the phaser blasts started landing. God willin' and the creek don't rise, I'll hit my second wind soon, she hoped.

She stood back from the wall panel and surveyed her work. That oughtta do it, she thought. The engineer tucked back the curly red lock that had escaped her ponytail and touched her commbadge.

"Hayley to bridge: all done down here, cargo bay should be ready for controlled floodin'. While I'm messin' with the structural integrity field generator, do y'all need me to make any modifications to the shields?"

[Bridge, U.S.S. Wanderer]
[1825 hours]

Lanzara walked onto the bridge, she had been keeping an eye on all readings, but looked at Julian, "Status report Mister Durand."

"Preliminary scans are being run now, we'll have more information in just a moment."

Julian looked down at his readings, and furled his brow a bit.

"Mister Retol's scans are confirmed. Ma'am, take a look at this, this looks like a Federation weapons signature...that cant be right can it? We're the only ship dispositioned to be this far out at the moment."

Lanzara looked at the readings for a moment, she nodded, "Okay, let's get back to Aquariot. Full speed if you please Mister Durand" she looked at the ships Commanding Officer, she knew he would have more questions now than ever.

Julian sighed, and said "I had a feeling that was going to be the case. Right then, Mister Retol, engage the previously laid in course and speed. Lets get back to Aquoriat ASAP."

He looked at Talem, and said "At max rated it took us about 45 minutes to get here, so it'll be about 30 minutes back, ma'am. In the meantime, I'd like to go over these sensor logs with you in the wardroom, to make some sense out of this fiasco if you don't mind. And more to the point I could use a cup of coffee."

"Lead the way Mister Durand" she said with a curt nod, she then followed him to the standing room only room, where she had previously first met the crew. There were two crew members in the room, "Out" she said in a simple and cold way, watching as they stalked out, "What did you want to discuss Mister Durand?"

"Well, to be honest ma'am, I'd really like to know why there's latent photon torpedo and heavy pulse phaser fire readings coming from the wreckage of a Romulan ship with Cardassian dead aboard," Julian said bluntly.

"Look, I understand that owing to your...unique position there are some things that you are not at liberty to discuss, and I respect that. But this is my ship, my crew, my command, and my ass in Starfleet that is on the line here, since no one even knows you're here or if they do they'd never say so to begin with."

He stepped to the small replicator cubicle, and said "Coffee, black, two sugars." He grabbed the cup as it whirred into a shimmery existence, and took a few small sips, before sitting down at a makeshift table, setting the PADD down in front of him.

"Anything you could give me, anything at all ma'am. I want to help you as best I can, I can sense from your behavior and attitude, and everything else I've seen that this is a critical situation that could escalate rapidly. But I'm figuratively castrated if I'm in the dark."

"Well as it stands now, we were chasing a ship that we would have to have destroyed, we drop out of warp and she is destroyed. Someone beat us to it, as far as I can see this saves us doing it. Which is always a good thing." she said in an offhand manner, "Sometimes you have to accept things happen for reasons beyond our control."

Julian eyed the Fleet Captain warily, and said off-handedly "I suppose we'll chalk this one up to sweet serendipity then. I've had Crewman Griffith prep to flood one of our cargo bays in case we need to rapidly descend, and we have a shield modification ready to bring online. I figured the next step would be going to retrieve the 'package' that the late Commander said he dropped from the ship while it was submerged. Is my presumption correct, ma'am?"

"Excellent" she said with a slight smile, "Also I want you to strike the readings of a Starfleet weapon signature from the records."

Julian chuckled a bit under his breath, and bit his tongue for a moment before replying.

"As I'm sure you're aware ma'am, I don't have the security clearance to do that. You'll have to have one of those whose clearance you raised perform that task, or do it yourself, unfortunately."

Standing and replacing his now empty coffee mug in the replicator, he folded his arms across his chest, and said "So let me see that I understand this correctly. As far as anyone else is concerned, you're not here, the Hideki class never existed, that Lanora class never existed, and whatever Federation ship that boasts quantum, photon, and pulse phaser weaponry destroyed the bastard also never existed? That about sum it up ma'am?"

"I'm glad you are finally starting to understand how Starfleet Intelligence works Lieutenant."

Julian shook his head, and said "I'm going back to the Bridge then, for the time being, until we get back dirtside, or in this case, waterside."

((JP By Talem and Durand))

[Bridge]
[1825 (ish)]

Ayan nodded. "Aye Sir," he said.

The ship turned gracefully and left the wreckage behind, returning back to the quiet water planet. "Hopefully quiet this time..." he murmured to himself.

[[just posting to move plot forward. ]]

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1915 Hours]

Julian looked up from his display as he felt the inertial dampeners ease off, and the ship drop out of warp. He set his PADD down, and stepped away from the station as Aquoriat came into view out of the cockpit window.

Julian pressed a button on the top of his console, and a boatswain's whistle sounded.

"Attention on deck, we've arrived at Aquoriat. Griffith, power up those shield mods, everyone else report to your duty stations. Fleet Captain Talem, to the Bridge please."

[Deck 2, U.S.S. Wanderer]
[1916 Hours]

Hayley pushed a button on the wallcomm near the cargo bay doors. "Aye aye, sir. I took the liberty of checkin' sensor logs regardin' the blowed-up Hideki scout; Carter was right: they were usin' a similar rigged up shield system to keep 'em waterproof. They musta been at it for a while too, since they had it figgered out pretty good. I used the sensor data to fine-tune the numbers; I was just guessin' at what values to use, so hopefully she'll swim that much smoother now. I'll report back when the mods are up and runnin'."

She rounded the corner to engineering and punched in the command to bring the shield modifications online. A moment later the power coupling hummed to life as the rerouted current zoomed down the pipeline to the shield generator array. Well, here goes nothin', she thought.

"Hydrostatic repulsion field trial underway, Cap. I'll be runnin' diagnostics til I hear back from y'all."

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1920 Hours]

Smiling, Julian said "Very good, thank you Miss Griffith. Keep a close eye on it. I'd like not to have anything go haywire while we're underwater. Bridge Out."

Standing, he said "Until Fleet Captain Talem gets back to the Bridge, we'll proceed with our primary mission, since I'm certain the two will overlap to an extent. Retol, take us to 40 meters. Carter, begin systematic launching of probes and data collection. I'd like to find out what type of planet we're dealing with as far as Aquoriat goes, and feasibility for colonization."

Eiri stepped to an empty console and logged into a science station. He ran several quick scans over the area they were headed towards. "There is a lot of life down there, Julian, although I am not reading any other sort of technological signatures. For now, it would suffice to say that we will be dealing with indigenous species only." He double and triple checked the scans to make sure that there would be no more surprises.

Ayan took a breath and nodded."Aye, Sir," he said. "Forty meters below surface." The concept of sending a spaceship into a planet then deep into an ocean was disconcerting, but he was confident he could make it work.

He tapped away on his console. "Aiming for the nearside of the ocean." He sent a display of his proposed landing spot to Julian for last minute override.

"Standby for atmospheric entry and water contact," he added, making sure the rest of the crew was aware. "This could get slightly bumpy...."

He switched the viewscreen on and faced it forward. "Executing de-orbit burn now." The view tilted abruptly downwards toward the planet, a glistening blue mass getting larger and larger. The heat streaks from the atmosphere hitting the shields put on a good show on the viewscreen as they dove deeper and deeper into the planet.

"Fifteen km. Tweleve km. Ten Km." The ship started to vibrate a little, although the inertial dampeners took care of most of it. "Eight...five km...four...three...beginning deceleration...two km...1 km above surface..."

The ship shot through a cloud bank and the screen was filled with constant, blinding blue that moved closer and closer.

He banked the ship gracefully around a few times to bleed off excess speed, and before long the Wanderer was hovering gently over the waves. The ship gingerly set down on the waves, giving the brief feeling of rocking with the waves before diving beneath the clean seas.

"Forty meters, sir" Ayan said, his voice pleased. "Shield modifications appear to be holding."

Marveling at the smoothness of the ride, Adam watched on the HUD as the Wanderer made splashdown, then sank beneath the waves.

Mastering the impulse to make a quip, he set himself up for serious work. Following Captain Durand's orders, he fired off eleven probes tasked with mapping the endless ocean at various depths. As he prepared the twelfth probe for a special task, readings from the first group began to appear.

"No signs of sentient life, Captain, or for that matter proto-sentience. Some basic vertebrates and some more complicated invertebrates but nothing major.

"Geologically we're looking at a relatively young planet - there's a nice hot core down there. The water's coming up clean - no traces of harmful substances, nothing that'll cause so much as an allergic reaction." Adam glanced back at Julian. "Nice place to go diving."

Finishing his initial report, he turned his attention back to the twelfth probe. This one wasn't programmed to care about water toxicity or signs of sentient life or even interestingly rare minerals. This probe would search for Cardassian technology. McKay had said that a package had been left on the planet before the doomed Hideki had breached. Setting the probe to trace Cardassian-style drive emissions back to their source, he fired it off. The sooner Talem acquired or destroyed the Harkening sample, the happier he'd be.

He hoped the Cardassians (or McKay - it was difficult to tell who'd had what) had been sufficiently careful with the virus. Whether due to improper handling or some warped idea of a test, it had been released into the population of a Cardassian colony six weeks ago. Things were looking grim - with Cardassia still wracked with internal turmoil, not to mention the border dispute with the Romulans, the Detapa Council didn't have the resources to erect a proper quarantine or evacuate the uninfected. Instead, the Colony of Vensha had instead been scheduled for 'cleansing'. A fleet had been dispatched.

Carter fervently hoped that Aquoriat wouldn't suffer the same fate.

Rha let out a little "Whoop!" when they landed smoothly on the dark blue surface of the water. "Nice landing Ayan!" He grinned toothily and turned his gaze to Julian. "So are we allowed to go fishing while we're here?" he joked.

He licked the little split in his upper lip like he was looking forward to a good meal. "You know... it's been awhile since my people hunted fish. We used to be strongly nomadic and completely lived off the land, but now we're starting to build cities and grow food and not rely so heavily on hunting meat and creating meat products. Although, now we're fighting our digestion versus our choices." He chuckles. "Not that any of you wanted to know that.

"I'm still not picking up any communications, Jules. The sonar that I heard earlier seems to have stopped, although I might be able to pick up some of the underwater sound if you'd like."

Julian shook his head, and said "I really don't think that'll be necessary Rha. Now that the outside influences have gone from the planet, I doubt we'll hear anything too interesting."

He tapped his hand on his console, and mulled over a few thoughts.

"Actually...while we're here, I'd like you to scan for any type of cetacean life. Rha, start listening for whale song or anything resembling it. If we find something along those lines, I highly doubt we'll want to colonize the planet."

Jake finished prepping the last of the Bio Beds and ran back to the operations station. Soon as he arrived he had the computer running structural integrity scans and monitoring hull pressure.

"Lt. Durand, we might wanna take our time descending into the surface. While the shield modifications are making it possible for us to defend the actual pressure that builds up in the ship is still going to change and unless we want to get the bends we need to make a gradual descent and a gradual ascent."

Jake looked at Julian waiting for acknowledgment to his warnings.

"Granted the need for a decompression chamber would be negated due to the fact the entire ship could be pressurized to counter the effects of the bends, but still depending how deep we went would determine how long the crew would be in need of staying on the ship. Even at earths deepest point there is a two week decompression period in a pressure chamber."

Jake stopped when he realized he was rambling.

[USS Wanderer, Deck 2]
[1925 ish]

Fletcher found the bridge to be a little too packed for his comfort, and since he wasn't really needed there, he decided to head down to the engineering deck. The biobeds were ready thanks to Lycan's help, and there wasn't much reason for him to stand there and wait for a patient. With a ship this small, he'd know if he was needed.

He nodded his head at Hayley as he walked in. "Let me know if I can help," he said, and leaned against a wall, watching the readouts from one of the consoles.

[Engineering, U.S.S. Wanderer]
[1925 Hours]

Hayley looked up from her console and nodded back at Fletcher. "Howdy, doc! I was startin' to think that Deck 2 was my own personal stompin' grounds. It's nice to see somebody else 'round here. Mostly today it's been jus' me and our girl Wendy," she said, patting the console. She glanced out the doorway leading out to the hold where Fleet Captain Talem had made her temporary lodging. "...oh, an' our special visitor." She grinned conspiratorially at the ship's medic and then turned back to the console to check some diagnostic readings.

"She seems to be swimmin' just dandy so far; heat dissipates easier in water than space, turns out. Up yonder,"--she pointed skyward--"all our heat is lost by radiation, but hereabouts, the cold water 'round the ship can pull heat offa the hull too, so overheatin' may not be as likely as I first thought."

She gave Fletcher a blank look as if she'd just remembered something. "Oh, and doc, there is somethin' you can help with; I'd actually been meanin' to have us a talk." Hayley smiled and walked over to the medic, and then shook her head, confused. "Danged if I know what, but I think I might could be comin' down with somethin'. This afternoon, I commenced to snifflin', an' my throat got a little bit thick-like, an' it struck me strange, 'cause I honestly cain't remember the last time that happened." She ran her hand into her hair and grabbed a handful of curls absent-mindedly. "I feel all better now, though," she added.

Fletcher raised his eyebrows slightly and pulled the medical tricorder from his belt. He ran it over the young woman in front of him.

"Did it start this afternoon?" he asked. "Any symptoms before? And you feel better already? Explain, if you can."

"Yeah, it was this afternoon, 'cause I was jus' fine back on Kepler this mornin'..." Hayley replied, mentally retracing her steps. "I remember I was... yeah, that's it, I was up on the bridge. It was when those poor kids in that escape pod done got blowed up. It was right 'fore all that when I started feelin' funny." Hayley paused to give the medic time to scan her thin frame.

"An' like I said, it struck me strange, since I ain't had the sniffles in years. My momma told me that I done spent some time in the hospital back when I was just a itty bitty thang, probably since we lived out in the middle of nowhere. It's all in my file, I reckon. Now, as far's other symptoms..." she thought, scratching the back of her head. "I remember feelin' like I was gonna be sick when we shot down that escape pod too... I think that was jus' nerves, though." She pulled at her collar as if it would magically put her at ease this time. "An' this uniform is givin' me fits! Back on Kepler I mostly wore a special duty uniform that was looser than this'n. Standard-issue uniforms are too daggone revealin', y'know? There ain't much o' me to see in the first place, but this thing don't leave much to the imagination." She blushed a bit just thinking about it, or maybe it was due to all the attention she was getting from the cute blonde medical officer. Brains and good-lookin' too... she thought. Awful short, though...

Hayley realized that she had been absent-mindedly going on about uniforms for too long. "So um... sorry to talk your ear off, I been meanin' to speak to the Captain about that. Like I said, been pretty lonely down here today." Nodding to Fletcher, she added, "But yeah, I started feelin' better about an hour ago, doc."

Fletcher blinked at the young woman in front of him, surprised by the length of the conversation. He chuckled at her mention of the uniforms, and professionally kept his eyes from giving her the once over. She certainly could talk, couldn't she....

"Well," he asked. "I don't see any infection, or signs of a cold or anything like that. Was there a headache that came with it? Or itchy eyes?"

"Nope," she replied. "Just some sniffles an' a thick feelin' in my throat. Only lasted fer about three or four hours, an' now I feel right as rain!" Hayley shrugged, and then covered a yawn with the back of her hand. "A mite tuckered out, though. It's been a long day, doc, I tellya what."

Fletcher tilted his head a little at Hayley and chuckled. "Well, I can't help much with tired, but stop by later and I'll try to figure out what the issue is. The biobed will help."

He smiled winningly at her, and waited to see what happened next.

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1940 Hours]

Julian monitored his console as the incoming sensor data was collated and filed away in the appropriate mission report areas. The large portion of it seemed automated, but he knew his own crew would need to pound out the greater details.

Punching the command for a ship wide announcement, he began speaking.

"All hands, this is Lieutenant Durand. In about fifteen minutes I'm going to order us back to the surface and to head back to Kepler. If anyone has any last minute things they want to use the sensors or probes for, now would be the time for it. Durand out."

Carter's station trilled, and for a minute the crewman was glued to his display, confirming the readings he was getting from the twelfth probe.

Finally, he stood and crossed the bridge to the Captain's station.

"Captain, I've got the location of the package Fleet Captain Talem's contact mentioned. It's about 60 klicks due south of our permission - looks like a Cardassian message pod without its transponder active. Permission to coordinate a beam-in with Smyth?"

Durand looked up, and said "Ah, right. The package. Fine, coordinate a beam up. Beam it into Unit Three, and then seal it off with a level five forcefield. Whatever it is, an officer sacrificed his life for it, so we should honor that sacrifice and at least take care of it."

Julian sighed, and said "Ayan, once the package is confirmed aboard, set in a course for Kepler Station, maximum warp."

Nodding briskly at Julian, Adam turned and made eye contact with Eiri, raising an eyebrow and gesturing towards the wardroom. Talem had chosen the two of them to get this mission done, and they'd get it done together.

As the bridge door closed behind them, he spoke. "We've got it. Not too far from here. Will a level five field contain it?"

As he entered the wardroom, he touched his comm. badge. "Carter to Smyth. We've got a package to pick up. Meet me at the transport pad."

Double-tapping the badge, he opened a new connection. "Carter to Fleet Captain Talem. We've located the package, ma'am. We're preparing to beam it aboard."

[Bridge, USS Wanderer]
[1945 Hours]

Eiri's head popped up fast, away from the numerous species of new life on the planet that had almost completely absorbed his attention away from the matter at hand. "Julian!" He raised a hand to Carter, noting that he was expected to follow. "Please... don't beam anything anywhere until the containment field is in place and then only beam the cargo directly into the containment field." He followed Cater into the ward room.

[Ward Room, USS Wanderer]
[1947 Hours]

"Are you insane, man?" Eiri said softly in curt tones once they were inside. "No one... and I mean NO ONE touches that container until we have somewhere else to beam it to. It was jettisoned from a ship that just exploded! You heard... that man was infected! There's no way to know if that container is damaged or not! Do you want to risk the whole ship? If that container even has a microfraction of a leak we're all dead, Carter... all of us."

He took a deep breath to let the seriousness of the situation sink in a little. "To answer your question though... yes. I think a level 5 containment field should hold it. Let's pray that it does." He looked at Carter.

Carter nodded, bemused. "You're right, of course. Do you want to set up the field, then? I'll confirm the coordinates for Smyth and then we should be able to crossbeam it into the storage unit from the main station."

He paused, considering. "If it is fractured, how badly is the planet going to cop it?"

Eiri shrugged. "I don't really know. We don't know if it affects animals, plants, or just humanoids. If it was released on this planet then it's possible that in a short while all this planet will be good for is Terra-forming. The planet is not my immediate concern though." He nodded to Carter. "Let's get this done. I don't think we should wait for Fleet Captain Talem to bring it on board. I will go and make sure that the field will hold." Feeling that he had said everything that he needed to Eiri turned for the door.

In less time than it felt like such a dangerous task should have, the job was done.

"Nice one, Jen," Carter thanked Smyth, then tapped his badge. "Carter to Captain Durand. Package secure. We're ready to depart, sir."

Ayan nodded once he heard the call. "Course 180, engaging thrusters," he said.

The ship quickly burst through the surface, struggled a little to move up through the atmosphere, and burst triumphantly out into space.

"Coming about," he says. "Warp 6, sir, and on course back."

[[Joint post created by Julian "holy shit I'm the captain" Durand, Retol "I'm also a Dr." Ayan, Hayley "Did you know I was Southern" Griffith, Adam "Hey let's get a virus" Carter, Jake "Why do I get to build bio beds?" Lycan and Eiri "AMG you're gonna make people sick!" Ashshy]]

Julian smiled broadly, and said "Excellent work people. I'm very pleased with the way this went. Everyone who isn't flying the ship or manning an operations station, hit the bunks. I think we can take it from here and you've all earned a very well deserved rest. I'll sound off once we reach Kepler. Durand out."

((END OF MISSION 1.02))

THIS IS AN OOC WRAPUP FROM YOUR CO:

In a word, WOW. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone for the awesome participation levels this mission! This has been an absolute blast to play with you all, and I look forward to seeing what shenanigans the "little ship that could" gets up to for the next mission!

A few sad notes, we had to say goodbye to one of our members this mission, due to lack of participation. While I'm sad to see him go, I wish him all the best in his future endeavors and the awesome new career he's just started.

There will be a command rotation change around upcoming soon, as well as a shift rotation. There are a few of you that have been made aware of the situation, and any formal promotions deserved/warranted by this mission will be done at the opening of the next mission topic.

Everyone stay tuned for Mission 1.03! It promises to be absolutely amazing!

-Sean
AKA Lt. Julian Durand