USS PATRIOT: Various ("Past and Present")
From: Erik Walz (felldoh_at_voyager.net)
Date: Mon Aug 27 2007 - 17:30:20 PDT
"Past and Present"
continued from
"New Responsibilities"
Location: Utopia Planitia
Stardate: 2.70827.2005
Scene: Private Meeting Room
“Thank you all for coming. I apologize for the short notice, but as you’ll soon see it was necessary.” Both the gratitude and the apology were unexpected, since all Starfleet officers were required to come at the call of an Admiral no matter how short the notice.
The PATRIOT’s senior staff had each received a call about an hour earlier telling them to report here. It was the middle of the night on MARS and many of them had been sleeping, but by now they were all wide awake and in uniform, though not necessarily happy about it. They were joined in the room by the Admiral who had called the meeting and a man in civilian clothing sitting in the corner away from the table around which the rest were gathered.
“I am Admiral Netchev. I have called you here because you are about to be sent on a mission which is classified to the highest level.” As she spoke she paused slightly between her sentences, as if hoping to increase their gravity. “Officially, you all left the station the minute you entered this room, and are attending the peace talks on KTARIN as back up to the Starfleet diplomats there. You all understand that you are not to communicate with anyone outside of this room regarding your mission, unless so instructed during your debriefing.” Those who had been involved in classified events before knew this was standard fair.
The Admiral waited for everyone to nod before continuing. “Those of you familiar with galactic history will be aware of the Iconians, a highly advanced civilization which until their extinction about 200,000 years ago is believed to have spanned most of the known galaxy. They traveled between the planets in their empire not with starships, but by use of powerful interstellar gateways that could send a person 70,000 light years, perhaps more.”
“It is believed that the vast majority of these gateways were destroyed along with their creators, but we know at least two survived. One on a plant in the old Romulan Neutral Zone that is believed to be the Iconian homeworld, and another on VANDROS IV, deep within Dominion space.” She sighed, and half turned away from the group, as if pained by the coming admission. “Unfortunately, with such insecure sights, both had to be destroyed before any serious study could be done.”
Nechev turned back to the table. “It goes without saying that such technology would be very beneficial to the Federation, as well as our enemies. I expect you all to keep that in mind during this mission.” She paused again looking at each of them in the eye. “Commander Kenta will continue the briefing from here. I bid you good journey.” The Admiral left the room rather abruptly, but Ben began talking before anyone had a chance to ponder it.
“This is the RESTIIN system.” He started, bringing up a small holomap in the center of the table. “It contains seven planets and 81 moons, and is well within the borders of Federation space. RESTIIN II is a class M world with a pre-warp culture of an approximately bronze age technology level. Normally Starfleet would avoid such a system, but three of the moons surrounding the sixth planet were recently discovered to contain large deposits of Dilithium, so they’ve set up a small mining station there.
“Federation activities in the system can’t be seen from RESTIIN II without the aid of telescopes, which the Restiinians have not yet developed.” Ben continued, turning off the map. “Nonetheless, a satellite station on RESTIIN II’s smallest moon was established as an observatory, to monitor the planet’s inhabitants.”
“I believe this is where I come in?” The civilian piped up in an enthusiastic, if somewhat grating, voice. Ben looked annoyed, but motioned for the man to speak. He hopped up, and moved to occupy the space the Admiral had left. “My name is Mikel Darum, I am the Chief Scientist of the RESTIIN observatory.” He was a round man, if not especially heavy, short and balding. His movements were quick, and often unnecessary. As he spoke he shifted his feat continuously and rocked forward and back on his hips slightly, all while gesturing animatedly with his hands. “Actually,” he continued after a brief pause, “I’m the only scientist.” He smiled broadly and emitted a short gasp of laughter, but stopped himself when he realized the officers were staring at him blankly. He lowered his head and cleared his throat embarrassedly before starting again in the same manner.
“Uh…My job is to monitor the planet in whatever way I can. I run various scans and analyze the results, I’m sure you find it boring.” He looked down again as if silently cursing himself, not noticing the few small smiles that had crept into the room. “Uh… Two weeks ago I noticed this.” His hand darted out brought up an image in the center of the table. It was a series of curving lines intersecting each other many times, and those with knowledge of such things recognized it as some sort of interference pattern, but none of them could identifyy it more clearly than that.
“As you can see it’s a very unusual reading to come from a pre-warp civilization, let alone one so primitive as this one.” Darum continued, made seemingly more confident by the visual aid. “I did some checking, and while this exact pattern is unique in the Federation database there are two very similar patters. One was recorded in the sensor logs of the USS YAMATO while exploring ICONIA, and the other is from a tricorder reading on VANDROS IV.” He paused with a practically triumphant look on his face.
“Are you saying there may be Iconian technology on RESTIN II?” Stephens asked, sounding slightly incredulous.
“That’s what Starfleet thinks.” Ben answered, once again taking over the briefing. “They also think it is too important an opportunity not to investigate. If there is a gateway on RESTIIN II there wouldn’t be much threat of someone else finding it.” He paused a moment, looking at his crew. “Of course, there is the Prime Directive to consider.”
“Which is why we’re all going to KTARIN.” Mav interjected, a sarcastic amusement in his tone.
“Our mission is to beam down to the planet, locate the source of the signal, determine whether or not there is functional Iconian technology on the planet, and if so do preliminary tests and attempts at salvage. We are to avoid contact with the natives if at all possible, but in case it becomes unavoidable we will be altered to look like them.” He turned to Mikel who was standing behind him fidgeting nervously. “Mr. Darum, as Starfleet’s expert on the Restiinians, will also be coming with us as an adviser.” Ben didn’t sound thrilled at the prospect, but Darum smiled excitedly and nodded.
“When do we leave?” Kel asked, standing up.
Ben didn’t reply, but tapped his commbadge. “We’re ready” In unison everyone in the room evaporated into the familiar blue pattern of a transporter beam.
=/\=
Location: USS COUNTERSTRIKE
Scene: Bridge
“This is the COUNTERSTRIKE.” Mav said when they’d rematerialized.
“Yes,” Ben replied. “Its non-reflective hull means we can leave it in orbit without it being seen from the planet. And besides, the PATRIOT won’t be needing it for awhile.” He said with a grin.
By now everyone’s eyes had fallen to the helm, where a female lieutenant none of them had ever seen sat. “Commander Kenta,” she spoke tentatively. “My name is Tanith Corwin.“
“Everyone meet the PATRIOT’s new FCO, She’ll be accompanying us.” Ben said, not seeming surprised she was there, though this was the first time he’d met her as well. “There will be time for introductions in a moment. Have you been briefed?”
“No, sir,” She replied. “Admiral Netchev only ordered me to take the COUNTERSTRIKE to these coordinates and await your instructions.”
“Very well,” He didn’t look surprised. “Lay in a course for RESTIIN II and engage at warp 2.”
A loud cough brought everyone’s attention once again to Darum, who looked embarrassed. “Commander, if I may remind you…” he pointed awkwardly to the ceiling a few times.
“Brace yourselves.” Ben warned, realizing what the scientist was talking about, more because they had already discussed it than because the gesture meant anything to him. “Computer, increase artificial gravity by 33%” There was a collective grunt, and slumping of shoulders as everyone suddenly found they suddenly weighed quite a bit more.
“Why increase the gravity?” Ginny expressed the question on everyone’s mind.
“RESTIIN II is a remarkably dense planet, so it has much higher gravity than you’d normally find on an M-class planet, a bit higher than this actually.” Darum said sheepishly. “The Admiral suggested we should get used to it on the way.”
“How long are we keeping it this way?” Clarkson asked, trying to keep the strain out of his voice. His surgery had only been a few days earlier, and he was not yet fully recovered.
Ben’s reply did not make him feel better. “As long as we can stand it.”
=/\=
Location: USS COUNTERSTRIKE
Scene: Lower Deck
“How’s he look?” Clarkson asked, stepping away from the holographic biobed so Darum could get a better look. The Marine captain was the only real doctor on board, so it fell to him, with the assistance of the EMH, to perform the surgeries that would disguise their team for the mission to come, and he had been working on Ben’s for the last hour. But he had never seen a real Restiinian before, only the holographic one Darum had programmed, so the scientist was on hand to make sure he got it right.
“About as good as we’ll get.” Darum said cheerfully. “Of course, none of us will make good Restiinians” He added with a laugh. “The real thing is short, rarely over five feet, and they have much thicker bones and muscles.”
“Well there’s nothing I can do about height, or bone thickness; this is a purely cosmetic surgery. I had enough trouble with the head plate.” Clarkson said
“Well, It’ll do. When the Restiinians look at him they’ll see one of their own,” Darum conceded. “A freakishly tall and weak looking one of their own, but not an alien.”
“Alright,” Daniel nodded towards his holographic assistant. “Wake him up.”
The EMH nodded back and placed a hypospray against Ben’s neck. Seconds later the new CO opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around, remembering where he was and then spoke. “My head feels heavy.” It was not a comment about the artificial gravity. Until the operations were complete, the gravity had been restored to normal on the lower deck; there was no reason to risk Clarkson making a mistake due to heavy instruments.
“Well, that’s understandable,” Darum laughed. “It’s a bit bigger than you’re used too.”
Ben rose to his feet and walked over to the mirror on the wall. His face was mostly unchanged, but his skin was now an olive brown, and had a pebbly texture. Most of his head was covered in a large bony plate, that added a couple inches to his height, and left only a small tuft of hair on the back of his skull.
“Well, I’ve looked worse.” Ben said truthfully, thinking of his image under the throws of ATRIUS’s mutagenic virus all those years ago. “How difficult was it?”
“It took me about an hour.” Clarkson replied. “The plate is tricky, but now that I’ve done it, the rest will go faster.”
“Good. I’ll send down the next patient.” Ben started for the hatch, but stopped when Daniel spoke again.
“Will you be watching the rest of the surgeries?” It would be Ben’s job to assist the EMH on Daniel’s own surgery, as the crew member with the next highest medical rating.
Ben sighed involuntarily. He was eager to get back into the higher gravity on the bridge. Not because he enjoyed it. Like everyone else he felt sluggish and weak in the higher gravity, but he didn’t want to feel that way when they reached the planet. He knew he would, but he wanted to spend as much time getting used to it as possible. The prospect of eight lost hours didn’t appeal to him.
“Is it necessary?’ He asked, betraying his opinion.
“Not strictly.” Daniel replied, “Your part will be fairly simple, and the EMH should be able to talk you through it, but I would feel a lot better if you’d seen it done at least once.” There was humor in his tone, but Ben knew he meant it, and didn’t blame him.
“Inform me when you intend to proceed with Mr. Darum’s surgery, then.” Mikel’s surgery was to be the last one before Daniel’s.
“Yes, Sir.”
=/\=
Location: USS COUNTERSTRIKE
Scene: Bridge
Time Index: One week after leaving Utopia Plantia
“We’ve arrived, sir.” Corwin announced.
It was Maverick who answered her from the command chair. The COUNTERSTRIKE was officially his ship, and Ben had seen no reason to take command from him for the journey. “Assume a geosynchronous orbit over the approximate origin of the interference pattern.” The strange geology of the planet masked the exact location of the signal, but Darum had narrowed down the search area as best he could.
“Alright,” Ben said, rising to his feet at almost the normal speed, despite the gravity. “We beam down in one hour. I want everyone ready.
=/\=
Location: RESTIIN II
Scene: Beam down location
The ten-person team materialized in the shadow of a large rocky outcropping. They wore primitive clothing that matched the style of the natives, underneath which they hid their commbadges and either a phaser or tricorder. The all carried a roughly made bag with rations, and some basic medical supplies.
They had scanned the area for life signs before beaming down, but nonetheless, Darum looked around furtively before pulling out his tricorder.
“It’s no use” he said after a moment of scanning. “I still can’t pin point the signal.” They had hoped that once on the ground it would be easier.
“He’s right,” Ginny added, closing her own tricorder. “This area is too rocky.”
“It’s probably under these hills somewhere.” Kel was referring to the range than stood to the north and west of them. It carried on for several miles in both directions.
Ben pursed his lips. He was torn between a desire to find the location as quickly as possible, and keep the group together. The fewer of them there were the harder it would be to deal with any Restiinians they encountered, and only one group could contain Darum.
“We’ll split into two groups.” He decided after some thought. “Colonel, you take Sterling-Jade, Tam, La Grande, and Mr. Darum and go north. Clarkson, McClellan, Stephens, and Corwin will come west with me.”
Maverick nodded and turned north flanked by his team. Ben turned to the officers that remained with him.
“Let’s go.”
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NRPG: Sorry about the long wait everybody. This whole last week has been a pain in the neck, between this hardrive problem, an illness, and moving into a new house. Luckily that all seems to be (mostly) over now, so I'll be able to dedicate my time to the game.
I hope everyone enjoys this mission. If you are stuck for ideas or otherwise need help, don't hesitate to contact me.
Erik Walz
Commander Benjamin Kenta
Commanding Officer
USS PATRIOT 5781-A
From HyperNews@youth.net
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: Sun Feb 17 2008 - 03:10:48 PST