Tiberius IV: Unexpected Landing
Posted on Tue Mar 9th, 2010 @ 10:41am by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola & Lieutenant Commander Leanne Bowen
1,461 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
What Lies Beneath?
Location: Tiberius IV
Timeline: current
ON
The shuttle came in low and slowed to drop the pod.
Up in the cockpit another flurry of action was going on. Landing in turbulent weather was always tricky, and this planet made things more difficult. A gust would come up and the firefly would shift in an unexpected direction.
Eventually they got to a point where the wind was not strong enough to cause too many problems and started lowering the pod.
The pod hit the sand with a dull thud. But, when it should have settled on the surface, it began to sink...
Damon felt the pod shift under him and instantly thought of quicksand. "Oh crap." He said quietly through gritted teeth. "MOVE MARINES! "
Instantly the Section of Marines responded by leaping out of their seats and quickly securing their gear along with any essential items from the sinking pod.
Damon looked over to Samantha while slinging multiple weapons over his shoulders and grabbing a number of med packs. "Give the word when you want the doors blown." He didn't want to take over and step on her toes in the process.
"Kaj, can we re-link? If so, do it now. If not, we bail, but whatever we do, we do it FAST. Everyone, grab your gear in case we have to evacuate." The Marines were ready, but the Fleeties were a bit slower to action. She went to the back and grabbed her backpack, then returned to Damon.
====
The captain had called just as Kaj and Christian had maneuvered the firefly back into position over the sinking pod. "Attempting recapture now, Captain, tell everybody to stay put and hold on unless we start screaming bail."
The pilots had been lucky, a freak one in a million glitch of not all of the clamps holding onto the pod releasing simultaneously had given them warning as to what was happening in the form of the rear of the dropship being dragged down for a moment when the pod started to sink.
As they had circled back around to see what happened they had caught sight of the pod sinking, swore simultaneously, then swung into action
The nose of the transport was a few grains from touching the sand when all the clamps locked down since the pod was sinking at a funny angle, but that was just the start of their problems. The landing site had been picked not only for its flatness but its shielded nature away from the wind, which as a landing zone was perfect but as a dust-off site was bad enough without a sinking pod.
The problem was stability. The Firefly could haul the pod out of the loose sand, but above the rim of cliffs the heavy wind of Tiberius IV shoved the craft in such a way that they risked sending the firefly into either the rocks or back into the sand, this time completely sideways.
It didn't take much time for Kaj to get sick of being stuck and come up with a quick solution. "Chris take charge of those belly thrusters, give it all you can. Ill focus on the stabilizing thrusters and keep us level.
Just hold on for a second..."
Kaj hit his commbadge to talk to everybody in the pod. The comm panel was flickering and he didn't know if sand had corrupted the system.
"Alright we're gonna make a break for it, but everybody be ready to bail just in case this doesn't work."
With that Kaj just nodded to Christian, who dumped 100 percent into the belly thrusters. The Firefly shook and rattled then began to rise.
Kaj read the blow of the sand, looked for where drifts were forming, and kept his fingers on the controls at the ready, so when the firefly leaned hard to starboard and started to drift towards an outcropping Kaj was ready.
He executed a hard turn that was common for bigger ships, reversing the port impulse engine and giving the starboard one a quick burst. The entire firefly shuddered and vibrated but the tail kicked around as Kaj had intended it too.
Not wasting any time Kaj punched up 1/4 forward impulse and started to climb away from the deathtrap, crowing in victory along with Christian. Their victory was short-lived however, they needed a place to put the pod down, and the only place that made any sense needed to be confirmed by the CO and the marine in charge.
"Commander York, Captain Raine, would you two please come forward to the cockpit?"
Damon and Sam walked up to the cockpit together. "What is it, Lieutenant?"
The doctor remained in her seat after she felt the jolt of the shuttlecraft. Her knuckles were white from gripping the straps that were holding her in. She has been nervous to ride a shuttlecraft ever since she graduated the academy, and still is. Leanne would rather use the transporter, but she knew that something could go wrong anytime. Some people have reminded her that a shuttlecraft is safer than a transporter. Only fifteen to twenty-five minutes of ride time and I'm done with this, she reminded herself.
Kaj adjusted the thrusters that were stabilizing the Firefly before handing it off to Christian and turning to talk to Sam and Damon.
"Well for starters finding the idiot who charted this planet and left out key details like fast quicksand or extra-dense air. Obviously we can't land at the chosen site, so our next viable option is here."
"We can't scan the sand, or scan through it so there was no way to find out what was down here except to land. And, as far as we know, the two ships that did land didn't take off again -- and now I can see why," Sam replied.
Kaj brought up an area map on a panel and highlighted what looked like a cliff outcropping about 100 meters away from them, shielded from the wind on either side by jagged rises of rock.
"Problem is scans indicated that the cliff can only take the weight of the pod, so we can't stick around and wait for a dust-off. On the other hand the next viable LZ that is on rock is about 15 kilometers away.
The other problem is the air. The same idiot who missed the sand-to-nothing mixture on the ground also missed charting that the air is about one quarter denser than on a standard class M planet. It's breathable but the wind has about a quarter extra kinetic punch than standard. With all the sand that is being picked up I'd say find some shelter quick when the wind speed gets around 40kph.
Sam nodded.
It's your call skipper, do we drop at the cliff and standby at Orion or do you feel like walking 15 clicks?
"Drop us. I don't want to walk that far," Sam replied with a chuckle.
Kaj was about to make some smart-alek remark about saving face in front of the Marines but stowed it.
"Right then, drop and scoot it is. You two better get back and buckle in. That cliff isn't as level as the sand was so it might not be the smoothest landing ever."
Kaj started to steer the ship towards the cliff, fighting a bit to keep it level during crossing wind gusts.
"Christian, get ready to drop the pod, slow reel it though, if the rock gives way I want to pull it back up in a hurry."
Christian started his own flourish of button mashing while Kaj steered the Firefly towards the cliff, setting it up so that the pod would drop in a sheltered spot on the cliff and not open directly onto a long drop.
Leanne breathed in quickly as she closed her eyes, hoping that the pilot knows what he's doing. She held her seat belt tightly. It seemed a little bumpy but it became smooth.
Sam buckled in and reached over to hold Damon's hand. If they didn't get down in one piece, he wouldn't let her come on another away mission.
Lizzie buckled up again and held on tight, prepared for a bumpy landing.
OFF
Commander Samantha York
Chief Science Officer
Acting CO
USS Orion
Lt Cmdr. John Sheridan
XO, USS Orin
Marine Captain Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion
Lieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion
Lieutenant Karma Sinclair
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Orion
Lieutenant JG Leanne Bowen
Chief Medical Officer
USS Orion
Ensign Malinda Catto (NPC)
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion
Petty Officer 1st Class Christian Vital (NPC)
Shuttle/Runabout Pilot
USS Orion
Lieutenant Commander John Sheridan
Executive Officer
USS Orion
Lieutenant JG Del'ore (NPC)
Wing Safetly Officer
USS Orion
Ensign Elizabeth Jackson (NPC)
Botanist
USS Orion
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