Planning, Part One

Posted on Fri Aug 5th, 2011 @ 1:19pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Captain Elsie Halliwell & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd & Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper & Captain Alexsa Kendrick

945 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Taylforth
Location: Halliwell's Ready Room
Timeline: Day One

As our heroes descended on innocent Taylforth they noticed something terribly wrong. The water level had risen so badly, almost no land mass was still above ground! To decide what they were going to do, their captain, the magnificent Elsie Halliwell, decided to set up a meeting in the Ready Room, where all data could be shown and decisions made.

Halliwell had seated in the ready room, while her officers filed in and took their places, while Kendrick, the obvious outsider here stood out of the way to the side of the room just inside the door opposite the wall monitor. Uncharacteristically, Halliwell didn't take the lead, instead giving a curt nod to her First Officer to do the talking, for now.

"I believe sending in a shuttle first is our best option," T'mpest said. "It allows more flexibility than a probe. We can alter our course or adjust our scans as we go. However, I would like to hear what the rest of you think."

I think it's a stupid idea... Kendrick thought to herself.

For all her musings about staying humble, the sole Bajoran in the room was a little peeved. Summoned by Jimmy as another sensor-watching perspective, Birsi’s exasperation arose from the fact that they could’ve obtained the geological information responsible for this meeting with the probe no one but her department head and she wanted to launch. Five days later, the main opponent to their idea was proposing a means of completing the preliminary survey that was as risky as it was admittedly effective.

“I think a shuttle unnecessarily ups the chances of premature first contact if something happens to it,†Birsi offered. “We're close enough now that the guidance and control of a probe can be altered for direct remote input. You're somewhat right in that it will have more latency than a manned shuttle, and that we won’t have as broad a scanning palette even with a custom sensor package. But losing a probe won’t force us to hit the panic button as immediately as losing a manned shuttle, either. The Taylforthians can’t make any hard conclusions based off a probe in the worst case. A craft carrying aliens on the other hand. . .â€

She trailed off because it didn't seem necessary to elaborate the potentialities of that scenario.

Finally, someone in this room with some sense. An inward thought Alex had as she listened on--no sense in being verbal yet, and if the Captain wanted to hang herself, who was Kendrick to interfere. She took note of the Bajoran though to add to her... investigation.

"But the range of the probe's scans can't be altered," T'mpest countered. "They're set before the probe launches. A shuttle can do a broader spectrum of analyses. With the change in the planet's water levels, we need a great deal more data. The shuttle doesn't have to go into the planet's atmosphere, so there is less chance of accidental contact."

Birsi shook her head, and her open hands clenched into fists she lightly rapped the edge of the ready room table with. "But not zero since we don't know the full range of the Taylforthians' detection abilities. That's why I supported Lieutenant Cooper's wanting to send a probe ahead of us. I get what you're wanting to do, Commander, but I'm also. . .not comfortable with assuming we'll be able to elude detection with lives and the success of the mission at stake. I know I wanted to do the same with the probe, but again, the contamination risk would've been minimal, and it'd have given us a basic idea of how close is too close." She sighed and looked to Jimmy. "Maybe I'm talking out of turn, but if nothing else, I just want an opportunity to give whoever you send out there more than 'look out for weird energy emissions that may look like sensor pulses.'"

Alex was really starting to like this Bajoran.

Jimmy nodded and shot a hidden smile to T'mpest. "Can't we send the probe first, prepare the shuttle and decide based on the information the probe brings back?"

"That would be up to the Captain. Right now we're discussing options," T'mpest said, acknowledging Jimmy's hidden smile with a twinkle in her eye and a nod.

Halliwell hadn't been quite in the here and now, but snapped out of it as she felt her input was needed. "Thank you, Commander - What the Lieutenant said is an option: While the situation looks awkward, we have no reason to suspect immediate action is necessary. Lieutenant," She shot a meaningful look at both Blake and Cooper, "Have you had any luck deciphering the broadcasted messages?"

"It seems to be an automated radio signal." Jimmy answered, "It was only very faint, but I think it's most likely some kind of warning beacon or worse, a distress signal."

"Additionally," Blake added feeling put out by Cooper's instant move, "the planet is awash with these signals sending them in all directions possible as a means to contact one another. While a second is sent into space, I would guess that their lack of technological resources limits the range of the message."

(To be continued)

Captain Elsie Halliwell
Commanding Officer
USS Ranger

Commander T'mpest Michaels
Executive Officer
USS Ranger

Lieutenant Commander Vladimir Zhukov
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Ranger

Lieutenant Dylan Blake
Chief Operations Officer
USS Ranger

Lieutenant Cedric Shepard
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Ranger

Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper
Chief Science Officer
USS Ranger

Crewman First Class Sessan Birsi
Stellar Cartographer
USS Ranger

Captain Alex Kendrick
Internal Affairs
USS Ranger

 

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