Campbell's Soup

Posted on Mon Apr 8th, 2013 @ 11:50am by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper & Lieutenant Jade'n SnowDen & Lieutenant JG Marcus Augusta PHD & Chief Petty Officer Adriana Keen & Captain T'mpest Michaels & Captain Alexsa Kendrick & Lieutenant Commander Morai Keen

1,535 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Rumours, Promises, and Lies
Location: Campbell, En Route to Forbidden Sector
Timeline: Mission Day 6: 1800hrs

ON:

It had been a while since Elsie had piloted anything larger than a sail boat on a holodeck recreation of Bala Lake, North Wales; a stone's throw away from her childhood countryside upbringing. But the Aerowing Campbell's controls seemed smooth and familiar to the touch. It had taken her the best part of an hour to decide whether to leave Lieutenant Commander Mora in charge of the Ranger and investigate the planet herself or to stay on board but the situation had developed as such that she had to see what they were up against herself, and not simply rely on a submitted report.

She banked the Campbell to port as it glided through the Ranger's shuttle bay forcefield and used thrusters and inertia to propel them to the planet. As the Campbell levelled, she looked up to Alexsa and started to speak, diverting her attention then to the readouts. "Anything further you can tell me about what you know of where we're headed, Captain?" she said in a flat tone. "Take the sensors, will you?"

Jimmy, for one, was happy not to be on the Ranger, still worried that the whole thing would blow up. Of course, their survival chances on a stranded shuttle wouldn't be overly high either, but Jimmy'd take his chances. He was wondering where the small Ferengi, Fer, had gone - He hadn't seen him for the past days. "Sensors nominal, Captain, for now."

While Cooper expressed his pleasure personally Lieutenant Blake feeling rather cramped on theCampbell scooted aside to allow Kendrick past nd tried not to scowl as she assumed his position without so much of a emotional flicker. Why did they request him to join them, or was he to be cannon fodder if things turned bleak?

Alex slid into the co-pilot's seat and activated the panels, here we go again, people expecting information that I do not have. Her tones were hushed, so that only Elsie could hear them, "Personally, nothing. Lieutenant Cooper's scans are confirmed however, the planet is Class-M, nitrogen oxygen atmosphere, size and rotation suggests four-point-one percent G higher than that of Earth." Alex paused recalling a memory before continuing, "The layout of this area is consistent with what I was told about the Bodar--they were technologically advanced but easily influenced, and fell to the Nutari advancement swiftly. None are alive today." Turning her attention back to the scans, Alex went on, "These must be the readings Mister Rinn spoke about and went on to cover up in his logs. There's a slight discrepancy in the Theta band of this area," she said pointing to a highlighted part of the topological map of the planet's surface, "as well as some feint energy readings at this point."

"We'll need more detail than that, Captain," Elsie said with a glance to Kendrick.

"I can't get any specifics and certainly not from this distance. It almost looks like a cloak but the readings are way off, and fluctuating too much--I suppose it could be a natural phenomenon. Probably why Jenner ordered off." Alex added.

"And 'ordering off' is perhaps what led him and his crew down on that path of self-destruction." She paused for a moment and checked her course. "Adjusting to three-two-three, mark three-four-four," she added as the Campbell banked slightly downwards and lined up with the distant blot that was the planet. "But we're not about to take any chances. Augusta," she said, craning her neck behind her, "go to Red Alert."

Marc obliged, raising shields and bringing weapons online.

Again Blake felt himself scowl but wisely held his tongue.

The cockpit of the Aerowing darkened as the red hue lit its interior. "I want continuous scans now, crew. Let's keep our ears pricked for anything unusual."

More than they already are, Elsie, Alex thought just before saying, "I'm picking up another energy distortion from the surface, it's almost too feint to be noticed but it's there. And another--Elsie, I don't think this is a natural occurrence, the spacing is too uniform. What do you think, Lieutenant?"

Jimmy startled somewhat, but as tensions increased it almost seemed a normal occurence lately. "Well, natural phenomena could be spaced evenly, so I won't conclude anything that fast. However, it's something odd indeed..." Jimmy ran some more scans. "That's.. odd, it has a very specific signature, which would indicate, indeed, something un-natural, but the only time I've seen waves like this was in biology class..."

Elsie checked her own scans to confirm both Cooper's and Kendrick's assessment and agreed. "North East quadrant of the planet. A landmass of 130,395 square kilometres. A large island, almost. Ramping up speed to put us in synchronous orbit on arrival."

She hammered at the console and the Campbell imperceptibly veered forwards. She stood up and sidled past T'mpest. "Take the helm, Commander. I'll have a further look at these energy distortions."

T'mpest had been listening to the chatter and observing the others' behavior in general. At the Captain's command she nodded and took the vacated seat, quickly checking the readings as she began to pilot the shuttle.

"Everyone was pre-screened by me, right?" Reo almost growled through clenched teeth. "Gravity's a bit higher than ship standard so don't be shocked if it's hard to move about at first." He was laden down with equipment that looked more at home on a marine shuttle rather than a Starfleet one.

Elsie checked the scans to her right and nodded. "It's slightly heavier on the planet's surface but nothing trained personnel can't manage." She then turned back to her preliminary scans and then moved over to where Blake and Keen were conferring. "How are they ship's systems holding? Any fluctuations?"

The two mechanical thinking mind exchanged a swift glance before turning to the Captain, "Nothing overly serious," Blake explained. "We've seen some minor power fluctuations and such as we saw on the Ranger, nothing to give us an issue but we'll keep a close eye on things."

"Entering the planet's atmosphere," T'mpest announced, adjusting the shield harmonics accordingly. Once they cleared the atmosphere, she guided the shuttle gently to the island and landed on a flat patch of ground.

"Captain, we have arrived," she announced and began the shut-down sequence to secure the shuttle.

Elsie shot a look to Kendrick and nodded. She pulled out her tricorder and steeled her phaser, rising gently and making her way to the door, standing side by side with Alexsa. "Ready?" she asked, turning to face her as the Aerowing doors opened at the back.

Alex blinked at Elsie's question as the door the the shuttle slowly descended on its hydraulic arc before arming her own pulse rifle and flipping open her tricorder. "Why do humans inherently ask if you're ready when the course of action could be so terrifically unwise?" she breathed.

"Habit," Elsie countered as they both lead the team down the platform to what laid in wait.

Jimmy had himself preoccupied, did he start out with a tricorder or a phaser? Eventually, he forced himself to grab the tricorder, and leave his phaser hanging on his belt. There were enough security, and there are better things a scientist could do over shooting stuff. "No life forms, captain, other than ourselves, within tricorder range. The signal is coming from bearing 257."

Reo stepped out on all fours a wicked grin spreading across his face. He stepped out onto the dirt, claws digging little furrows into the dirt. He pulled the Tricorder from his belt. "No unidentified viral or bacterium detected," He said stretching much like a dog. "I would like to ensure that everyone goes through DECON afterwords regardless.

T'mpest secured the shuttle, grabbed a tricorder and a phaser and followed the others. She was eager to finally see what mysteries this planet may hold.

Swinging her tricorder in virtually opposite directions, Kendrick stepped up the pace next to Halliwell, "Elsie, I'm picking up sporadic and conflicting readings from three directions including this one at 257, one in that direction bearing 169 which is a much weaker signal, the other almost directly ahead of the shuttle bearing 015, maybe ten, eleven kilometres but these readings are very different to the other two. I think we should probably split the group, head in each of these directions."

"I could cover the ground to 015 faster then anyone else," Reo said looking up at both of the captains, his tail twitching excitedly.

Somewhere behind them Lieutenant Blake turned his scoffing sound of instant displeasure at Reo's keenness into something that roughly resembled a cough.

"I believe we should stay in groups of two or more," T'mpest said. "It would not be prudent for any of us to go off alone."

"Time is of the essence, and this world has been deemed unpopulated, but I would have to agree with T'mpest, Elsie. Until we have more information, I don't think anyone of us should be alone." Alex said, agreeing with both sides, if leaving the final call up to Halliwell.

"We'll split into teams, then," Elsie agreed.

OFF:

 

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