Eyes in the Sky

Posted on Fri Nov 27, 2015 @ 10:36pm by Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant JG Markus Davenport

1,622 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: Orbit of Abora Colony
Timeline: Concurrent with Away Team activity

Miguel sat in the command chair looking at the image of the planet below. He didn't like just sitting around doing nothing, he'd rather be in engineering at least then he could physically be doing something. He kept telling himself that he should have gone, but it was only right that Halloway get the chance to go on an away mission. Field experience is key to promotion. He was tempted to ask Sanders if there was anything new from the away team, but she'd probably shoot him for asking that yet again. The probes in orbit hadn't picked up anything new yet that could prove useful to the team below. "Have we been able to figure out the direction of the ship headed in after doing this yet?" he asked.

Seated at the helm, Lt. Davenport answered "Negative sir. The trail just seems to vanish. I've ran several sensor sweeps and it's pretty clear at first, they broke orbit and moved to a point just outside of the moon's orbit and then it just.. it's gone."

"It's not gone," Cassandra said, turning in her chair, legs crossed and arms folded. She did her best thinking when she was bundled up. "A ship doesn't leave a trail then suddenly not leave a trail. It masks the trail. So, what is it in the area that we can't see? Or rather, what's keeping us from seeing?"

"Actually both are possible." Miguel replied. He would love to go and check the area out himself, but he wasn't going to leave the away team down there unprotected, at least not without more information. "Counselor anything new from the away team?" he asked her.

"General chatter," Cassandra said, putting a hand on her earpiece. "They've split up into two groups. Evidently they've found bodies." She frowned and made an adjustment at her station. "Spotty though. The further apart they get, the more interference we pick up."

"I've ran a full spectrum analysis on the residual energy signature, there's nothing like it in the database.." Davenport reported. "Also, sensors are detecting a change in the planet's atmosphere in the region where the away teams are located. Looks like there's a storm building up fast.."

Tom was keeping an eye on the situation as well, not just because of interest in the terrible situation, but because someone very close to him was walking around in the destruction below. In fact, he'd been trying to triangulate the positions of both teams in hopes of establishing a transporter lock should an emergency beam out be necessary. "Kind of convenient for a storm to appear out of nowhere," he commented out loud, not realizing that he did so. Normally, he liked to keep his mouth shut when in the company of officers, especially on the bridge.

"Casandra go ahead and let the teams know about the rough weather heading their way. Use the probes as a signal booster if you have to insure they get it." he ordered.

"Aye, Sir," Cassandra said. She put one hand to her earpiece and the other on her board, trying to get the probes to obey.

"Mr. Barnes, and Davenport focus scans on the high res scanners on that area where we think the ship disappeared. See if you two can figure out away to track it."

"Aye," Thomas said, keeping his attention on the sensors. Aside from the increasing strength from the storm, there wasn't much else to note.

"Track what?" Davenport answered. "Sensors aren't picking up anything."

"Markus," Cassandra said idly. "Have you ever been in a crowded restaurant? A truly packed one? Everyone's talking, laughing, clinking glasses, except for one table who just received their food. They're silent. Think about how loud that silence is. Your ears pick up on that. So try the same with the sensors. Look for what should be there, see where it's missing."

A moment after Cassandra relayed the message to the ground, she turned back to Torres. "Message sent, but we're having trouble breaking through with the storm coming."

Before could respond, Alec's reply came over the main comm. =^= Hunter to Victory. Repeat your previous message. Be aware we may have found a survivor. Also Lt. Naroot has taken ill. Dr. Anderson is seeing to her.=^=

"Damnit," Cassandra said, whirling back to face her board. She had reached to resend the message, but her eyes happened to slide over and see Barnes looking white as a sheet.

"Thomas--" she started, but he was already bolting out of his chair and heading for the turbolift. *Probably for the transporter room, if not the shuttlebay,* she thought. She looked back at her board and adjusted the systems to route through her earpiece, kicking herself for forgetting that in the first place, and resent the message.

Thomas stopped before reaching the turbolift door, recalling that there was nothing he could do in the transporter room. The elements made it impossible to initiate, much less maintain, a transporter lock. And remaining in the shuttlebay was a disservice to the entire crew. Hoping that no one had noticed his rash action, Thomas returned to his seat and continued his detailed scans, looking to collect more information on the disruptions and hopefully finding a way to filter them out or otherwise counter them.

As the time ticked by, Cassandra kept her hand on her earpiece, listening to the chatter for several agonizingly long minutes. "Commander," she said, "Doctor Anderson has Lieutenant Naroot stable." *Whatever that means,* she thought, giving Thomas a sympathetic glance. "And the Captain and Commander Hunter have found survivors. They need--" She paused and got a funny look on her fact. "Oh dear," she said. "I think they forgot the channel is still open."

Miguel shook his head as he could imagine what was being said on that channel. Hell if he wanted to he could have been listening on the speakers. But thankfully he had chosen to just let Sanders monitor things.

"Cap--Com--Ma'am..." Cassandra tried to get a word in but they didn't seem to be listening, too intent on their current tete-a-tete. She finally sat back, muted her microphone, and resolved herself to listening. "They've gotten inside," she said. "One infant, one older toddler and one adult, bumps, bruises, the adult has broken wrists."

She turned back to look at Torres. "They won't be able to climb back up w/their charges. We need to figure out how to beam them out."

"Can't beam them out remember, the radiation from whatever weapons destroyed this colony makes transporter reliability shoddy at best." he answered. But even as he did so he moved over to one of the engineering bridge console and after politely moving one of his junior officers out of his way he began to type in some commands to run some simulations. "Yeah it doesn't look like we can help them from here. They'll either need to get the others that are at the shuttle to help or figure it out themselves."

"Commander," Thomas reported, "The storm is still picking up strength. At this rate, it could tear the landing craft apart. We may need to get the Victory within tractor range to help guide them through the storm."

"Helm move us in closer." Miguel ordered. "If we're closer to them do you think you can compensate for the interference on the transporter?" he asked Barnes as he moved back to the command chair.

Thomas thought about it for a moment. "It's possible. I think if we could flood the Valkyrie's path with an anti-proton discharge from the main deflector, that might be enough to isolate the lifesigns long enough to establish a transporter lock."

"What about just beaming it right into the shuttlebay?" Miguel asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Tom rarely, if ever, spoke that way to a commissioned officer. "Life signs are complex, sure, but a transport of that magnitude with all of the interference and the molecular makeup of the Valkyrie and its fuel? Commander, frankly, it's too risky."

Being able to just beam the whole craft into the hanger would have made things so much simpler for them. But as one of his instructors used to say 'It's never easy.' "How close do you need us?" Miguel asked him.

"Commander," Cassandra said quickly, "Message from the Valkyrie!"

The ship's comm system chimed then, and the Captain's somewhat broken voice could be heard =/\= ...ay team to Vict.. Do you read?=/\=

"Compensating," Cassandra said, should be clear to respond in a moment."

"Commander," Thomas reported, "looks like the Valkyrie is nearing the upper atmosphere. It won't be long until they clear it, but their ship looks worse for wear. We may still need to beam them aboard and tractor in the fighter."

"Victory here Captain... it's good to hear your voice." he said. "What's your status?"

"Inbound with three survivors who are in need of medical care." she answered. "What is the ship's status? Have you picked up any indication of who was behind the attack on the colony?"

"The Victory is just like you left her." he reported. "As for whoever did this, we haven't seen hide nor hair of them. But we followed their wake as far as it went... and then it just disappeared." He paused for a moment. "Captain do you need us to beam you and the away team to the ship? Sensors show the Valkyrie a bit the worse for wear."

"Negative," the Captain responded. "We'll be clear of the atmosphere momentarily and from that point we'll be fine.."

"We'll keep the barn door open for you." Miguel said as he retook the center seat. "Shuttle operations prepare to receive the Valkyrie."

"Roger that," Kennit replied. "Away team out."

 

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