Hostile Reception (Part 9)

Posted on Wed May 26th, 2021 @ 2:01pm by Lieutenant Dwight McCabe & Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Bela Swain & Lieutenant Mira Jayna & Lieutenant JG Ronnie Wolfe & Ensign Satt
Edited on on Wed May 26th, 2021 @ 11:12pm

1,199 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Storm
Location: Planet

[PREVIOUSLY]

'We can wait for them, then,' Satt said as he considered the conundrum. 'They've survived this long without a replicator and medicine, another few hours won't hurt them from what we've gathered,' he rasped practically.

Bela looked sadly at Satt, "You may look at it that way but now, these people, for the first time have hope. You cannot blame them for being anxious."

[CONTINUED]

Jayna listened to the chatter as she looked around for the Commander and Shan.

Suddenly Munich walked in. "Ve have found what looks like a lightning rod, but it's in the wrong place. See to the colonists until we return." Then he turned and walked off.

Odd, Jayna thought. At least one mystery was solved. She went back to the doctors to see if she could help.

The doctor continued to treat the colonist, finding old wounds that weren't healed properly and started treating those. He was finding minor illnesses that weren't treated properly or they were not able to fix themselves. Seeing the intelligence officer approaching him, "did you get anything out of the replicator? The few here are severely malnourished are mostly the elderly. They must be rationing their supplies to keep the younger ones from getting sick. The children are much better than the older ones. Only see a few younger ones not less than six years old in Earth years."

"I don't have the parts to fix it," she said. "Plus the power isn't working well. I'd like to go back to the shuttle and contact the ship. They need more than we can provide by ourselves."

"Take someone with you if you can get to the shuttle," he suggested for her protection. He stood up from a crouching position to relieve a tight muscle in his legs. "I don't know how much longer that those people have," he looked at the restless, pale skin elderly in laying on cots off to one corner, appeared to be dying. "I would say survival of the fittest," he glanced back at Jayna.

She looked at the people, then back at the doctor. "I'll leave now."

Jayna went over to Satt. "I need security to come with me back to the shuttle. The doctor says we need food and medicine for the colonists right away."

Bela did her best to comfort and reassure the colonists as food and clothing were hopefully coming soon.

Looking at the Intelligence Officer, Satt gave a slow, measured nod. 'Understood,' he glanced about the room appraising, noting the colonists and the Starfleet crew. 'The Marines should be able to hold off anything that turns up, for now.' He flashed Jayna a quick smile that looked awkward on his dour face, 'besides, I want to get my pack back anyway.'

Jayna smiled. "I don't blame you." She looked around the room one more time, then headed for the exit.

Nodding, Satt stalked out after Jayna, briefly worrying about the people they were leaving behind. The Doctor seemed resilient enough, but the Counsellor. She seemed a little more fragile I Satt's opinion.

He sighed. Nothing would be gained by his worrying.

The trip back to the shuttle seemed to take less time than the trip in. The ion storm still raged, but it was high enough not to affect them. It was only as the shuttle entered the upper atmosphere that they hit turbulance.

Jayna boosted the shields and aimed for the moon, hoping he steep angle would be safer. "Away team to Calypso."

At first there was nothing. Then the crackle of a connection. "Ca...pso 'ere."

"Found some survivors. THey need food. Replicators broken."

"'etur... Ha' supl... waitin'"

She raised an eyebrow. "I believe they want us to dock."

Satt, having gotten over the turbulence on the way up, smiled wanly, 'at least things are still normal on the ship - storm aside. I wonder if we play with the comm bandwidths would get a better signal?'

"It's possible. She tried another and then another. Nothing was any better. "Go ahead and try. See if you have better luck."

As the shuttle travelled the void between the planet and the ship, Satt busied himself making micro-adjustments in the transmission and receiving bands. The feedback was staccato, and Satt wasn't really convinced he'd improved it by much as he glanced out of the front viewport. 'There ... might be a little improvement. I'm no Uhura, though.'

"Neither am I," Jayna assured him. But as they got closer to the Calypso, the signal grew stronger.

"Transporters ineffective...cleared...landing. Supplies ready."

Sensors were a little better and shortly the shuttle landed.

Commodore York was waiting for them. "While the shuttle is loaded, tell me what you found," she asked.

'The surface population of the planet seems to be dormant,' Satt began, not worrying if he was speaking out of turn or not. 'The colonists themselves seem to be scattered across several different bunkers beneath the surface, from what I understood they were saying. The ones that we encountered have run low on foodstuffs and are suffering maladies from being below the surface and from rationing food for so long. We'll need some equipment to fix their replicator to get them going again.'

Jayna nodded. The storms have affected power, too. We'll need some power generators for the replicators."

"You're getting half a dozen replicators and two backup generators," Sam said. "Plus Chief Warrant Officer Jemner and two from Ops. That should be enough to start with." She paused. "Lieutenant Mira, I'd like you to stay and work with science decrypting data they retrieved from a facility on the moon."

The half-Vulcan raised an eyebrow. "Sure. I'll head to science now." She turned to Satt and gave him a wicked smile. "Give the counselor a hug for me."

The bands across Satt's skull flushed a deeper blue as he watched the retreating Intelligence Officer's back. Must be a humint expert. No way she just charts ship movements withthat comment. Still, the Counsellor was a different breed to those he'd encountered in the past, he'd give her that. Satt just shook his head and made a scoffing noise.

A woman in blue joined them. "I'm sending Ronnie down with you. She wants to have a look at the insect population," Sam said, nodding to the woman.

Ronnie Lancaster smiled. "Plants won't recover if the bugs are gone."

'True enough,' replied Satt with a small, twisted smile, 'I don't mind saying it was infernally weird down there - no sounds of nature the whole time. It'll be a job.' The Bolian pointed towards the shuttle, and concluded in his gravelly voice, 'this way then, ma'am.'

Ronnie nodded and followed hte security officer.

When the shuttle was gone, Jayna turned to Sam. "What happened?"

"This way," Sam said. "I'll fill you in."

____
OFF

Ensign Satt
Security Officer

Lieutenant Bela Swain
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Dwight McCabe, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Mira Jayna
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant JG Ronnie Lancaster
Assistant Chief Science Officer

Various colonists
NPCs by Samantha York

 

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