Going Over the Data (part 2)

Posted on Fri Aug 28th, 2015 @ 2:52pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Rylie Cattmor & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Commander Morai Keen & Lieutenant Commander T'kaarch & Lieutenant Jensen Foster & Ensign Belle Maryweather

976 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Civil Act

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

"How many away teams will we be putting down after the initial suvey Captain, this is a strictly scientific mission?" Keen asked, knowing the science bunch will be aching to get to the surface.

"One. It's primarily science, but I would like engineering and ops to see what we can find. And security and medical," T'mpest added.


[NEW]

"Captain," Belle was actually pretty nervous, and looked towards T'kaarch, who promptly nodded, "I've done some research on what the earlier vessels found on the planet. It seems the western hemisphere has the most dense ruins, while the eastern hemisphere seems much sparser and, looking at the initial data, also quite a bit different. My initial theory is that, maybe, these hemispheres had no, or very little, contact with each other. In any case, I'd love to see both sides of the planet, but I understand if that won't be possible." As she finished, she immediately thought You're talking too much again, Belle, they'll never keep listening if you keep this up.

If only we could... Cattmor thought to herself hearing Belle's thoughts like they were said out loud in her ear.

"A very good idea. We definitely need to see both hemispheres to get a true understanding of the people that once lived here," T'mpest said. "An excellent suggestion."

Rylie could see the team building up, and on some level she couldn't blame anyone, everyone wanted a piece of the action. Even so, she had the uncontrollable urge to say something, at least one more time. "Yep, mm-hmm, great idea." she said without wanting to sound too condescending. "I hate to sound like a broken recording, Captain, but I know for a fact that I would feel so much better if we didn't flood the surface with personnel as soon as we arrived. Yourself, security, maybe a few from the science staff but that's all; at least until you get the lay of the land straight. I mean, we haven't the slightest clue what to expect down there. One party, six people maximum, at least until the immediate situation is known. Then you can send in the troops, as many as you want; science, medical, even warp plasma extraction engineers if you think it would help."

"What has the data from surveys shown?" Keen asked. "If the initial survey shows no danger and this is an archaeological site then I believe the standard distribution of teams according to the procedure; which is an initial team and additional teams as the situation clears the precautionary surveys?" Keen pointed out. "The Prime directive is not in effect as there are no intelligent inhabitants to encounter?"

"Precisely." Rylie stated now that she had verbal backup. "I share your exuberance, captain," she said after a breath, "the chance to explore and explain what happened there; I'm still getting that nagging suspicion though that caution should not be thrown to the wind on this one."

"I have no desire to flood the planet with personnel. One team to start with. Once we have a good understanding of what happened, we can call down additional personnel as needed," T'mpest assured Rylie.

Satisfied that her arguments had been sufficiently heard and understood, Cattmor basically stood down on the matter, her good manners taking over, "Thank you, ma'am."

"This may sound strange, but knowing the Scientists as I do from past experiences, will the support equipment need to be shuttled down and will there be 'camps on the surface during the surveys." Keen asked. "It is common knowledge once a survey is under full swing the personnel tend to want to spend all their time on the surface and the transporting between ship and surface seems added effort at the time?"

"Since we are a simple transporter away, we could either beam down and then back or we could take a shuttle in case we want to stay," T'mpest said. "I do not, however, think there will be a need for a shuttle. If the need does arise, we could always call for one." She looked around the table. "Does anyone have a preference?"

"I think frrrom a science perrrspective," T'kaarch purred, "that we can starrrt with a visual away team in the perrrson of Belle," T'kaarch nodded to the Ensign, "see what we can see and go frrrom therrre. I think we have enough experrrtise on the away team to do an initial assessment, and we can always send a shuttle down if and when the need arrrises."

Belle nodded, "I agree, Captain."

With T'mpest meeting her halfway at least--the captain was still determined to lead the away team herself--Cattmor's confidence grew a little. "That goes from me as well, captain. As soon as you give the word, we can have shuttles on the surface anywhere you want, personnel in place, especially security," she looked pointedly at Orin, "and command posts established within the hour. There's one thing that still bothers me though; the radiation from the local star. The survey teams had low exposure, and while manageable, Lieutenant Foster's report shows that inoculations are slow to synthesise. It might be prudent to run the continuation of the survey in shifts, to allow people some natural recovery time before being put back in the field."

T'mpest nodded. "We will keep a close eye on radiation levels and exposure time."

She turned to Morai. "I would like hourly reports on radiation levels and atmospheric conditions."

When he nodded, she turned to the room at large. "We arrive in 23 hours and 27 minutes. We will do our initial surveys then. Dismissed."

____
OFF

Captain T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Morai Keen
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant T'kaarch
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Jensen Foster
Chief Medical Officer

Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake
Chief Operations Officer

Ensign Belle Maryweather
Archaeologist/Anthropologist

 

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