There Are Always Options, part 1

Posted on Thu Mar 3rd, 2011 @ 1:24pm by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant JG Ronnie Wolfe & Lieutenant JG Jerreck O'Connor & Lieutenant JG Talri & Lieutenant JG Tramira Kyt & Lieutenant JG Marek Lovok [Lynx]

1,040 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Forests of Mythraeli
Location: Science Conference Room

ON

Ronnie hadn't slept much the night before. She'd scoured the ship's database, the science database and any reference she could find to get a list of plants and animals that put out a bioelectric signal of some kind.

Now, bleary-eyed and frustrated, she walked into the science conference room to see the Captain sitting in a corner chair, sipping a smoothie.

"Sam... I mean, Captain York," Ronnie said, startled.

"Sam, please," the Captain said. "Sit down. I'm here to learn what you've uncovered so far. There's been no change over night and I'm about to send the Marines in the Naga to do a fly-over if you haven't come up with anything better."

"I don't know. I have a list of known species that emit any sort of field that blocks communications, but I doubt any of them are on Mythraeli."

"Can I look?" Sam asked. The thought that it might be something on the planet itself was compelling because she was running out of options and this was somewhere new to look.

Ronnie handed her the PADD. "Help yourself. Maybe fresh eyes will find something I haven't."

Sam took the PADD and began to look through it.

Ronnie went to the replicator and got herself a cup of hot, spiced cider with ginseng and Guarani.

A moment later, Talri walked in, carrying a PADD in one hand and a teacup in the other. 'Good morning, Lieutenant Lancaster,' she said, and then, spotting Sam, 'Captain.' Talri's own analysis hadn't been any more fruitful. There was nothing in the solar system to adequately explain the interference.

Kyt walked in, rubbing the side of her head. A fresh uniform and a sonic shower had not entirely made the leaps and bounds needed to make her appear less stressed or disheveled. "Captain, Lieutenant Lancaster. Lieutenant Talri." Kyt said. The concept that she was outranked by everyone in the room occurred to her. It wasn't comfortable.

Jerry walked in, looking about the same condition as Ronnie, shaking his head as he dropped a PADD down on the conference table with a clatter. He shook his head and sat down, his jacket closed this time. He leaned his head on a hand, leaning on the arms of his chair. "No ion storms, no electrical interferences, no transmissions in any range. Not even a solar flare. I even looked in our labs. Nothing. No asteroids, meteors, comets, not a thing. No natural phenomenon explains the disappearance. There's nothing I know and nothing that's in any catalog that the computer knows exists. Okay, fine, so we're not leaving people behind, right. Okay. So, solutions. How about if we were to drop a couple probes down on the planet, preprogrammed to return if they lose contact with the ship?"

Kyt quirked an eyebrow. Apparently a good strong uppercut to the jaw was what was needed to get Jerry to be useful. She would remember this for the future.

"A probe might be an option,"Ronnie said. She looked to Sam. "Do we have permission to drop a probe or two onto the planet?"

"Yes," Sam said. "I think it's a good idea at this point. Even if we lose it, we only lose a probe."

'It is a reasonable course of action,' Talri concurred. 'After analysis, solar activity was found to be within normal parameters. Additionally, there is nothing within the wider planetary system that could have resulted in the interference currently causing communications failure,' she reported. 'I have the data, if anyone wishes to review, but am certain you will find my conclusions accurate.'

"So we're looking at something on the planet itself?" Sam asked. "Do you have anything on the flora and fauna?"

Ronnie shook her head. "Nothing in the database. There are a few creatures that use electromagnetic frequencies, but none on a scale sufficient to disrupt communications, let alone scans." She looked to Jerry for confirmation.

Jerry nodded vehemently. "Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm no biologist, but I remember this one time when I was on a shuttle, looking at the Great Red Spot back at Academy, this chick I dated for a few nights had an electric eel on the runabout - and even in a tank made of transparent aluminum, it sent out enough charge to actually make us have to realign the sensors - that was the first time I had to do it by hand, actually. And we know there are space creatures like that Tin Man thing from a few years back that use all kinds of EM radiation to communicate. But, like I said - that's not really my bag. But, if we use one of the probes that's got a bioneural gelpack in it, it should be able to realign to deal with anything that's not just blanketing it out. But we'd be hearing constant static if that was the case. And, well, have they been recording constantly on all possible communications bands since the shuttle went down there?"

An engineer, by the name of Mak Free, was seated and listening to the conversation. Though Mak didn't have much to offer for he was busy thinking about the situation. It struck him that they needed relays both on the surface and in low orbit but there was no guarantee that it would 'fix' the problem.

"Hey!" Mak caught everyone's attention then told them of his idea with the communication relays.

"What part of 'blocking every form of transmission' do you not seem to understand." Kyt muttered. "We'd have to actually fire something down, at the planet, connected by a very long, physical wire, to a satellite in geosyncronous orbit, And even that, we don't know if it will work, because we have no way of knowing whether electrical devices are still functioning on the planet. If they are not, it's a fancy satelite, with a very long earing."


(To be continued...)

Captain Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

Lieutenant JG Ronnie Lancaster (PNPC)
Chief Science Officer
USS Calypso

Ensign Tramira Kyt
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Calypso

Lieutenant JG Jerreck O'Connor
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Calypso

Lieutenant JG Talri
Stellar Cartographer
USS Calypso

Mak Free (NPC)
Engineer

 

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