A Dangerous Problem

Posted on Mon Sep 11th, 2023 @ 10:16am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Lieutenant Tedrum Savat & Lieutenant Nicole Logan

Mission: Damn Dirty Apes
Location: USS Washington

Shran looked over the latest information from the scans. A science officer gave a PaDD with information. "Launch another probe. I want to get in contact with the away team."

Sitting in her seat Callie was anywhere but on the bridge in her mind, an overwhelming sensation that something was very wrong. “Captain...” She looked towards Shran. “There’s something wrong! I can’t...” She shook her head. “I think it’s Jon, but from here I can’t pick up on his thoughts.”

Shran knew better than to question a Betazoid when it came to somebody they were emotionally tied to as Callie was with Jon. He looked over at Ops, a lieutenant he didn't recognize occupying the station. "Logan, have we launched the modified probe?" The Andorian's antennae began to stand up and twitch. He was beginning to feel something wrong as well.

Callie was trying not to let her personal feelings interfere with her professionalism, she knew Jon could take care of himself but she was worried nonetheless. She wanted to tell people to hurry up, to get some news, and get her husband out of there, but she kept her calm demeanour.

Logan looked at Shran and looked at him "Yes we have sir. According to the probe it is still tact and able to still be used from transmission sir." She said.

"Open hailing frequencies. Contact the away team" Shran ordered. "Continue scanning the planet and surrounding areas."

Tedrum was on the bridge at Ops. Hearing the captain about another probe he ran some quick calculations. They were seemingly having a few issues getting all the data needed. He ran through the schematics at his station to see if his idea was even practical. Granted he was the new officer on deck for lack of a better term but that didn't mean he wasn't going to pop up with suggestions when needed.

"Captain if I can make a suggestion.." He took a breath. "Single probe launches do not seem to be garnering us much information. Especially not ones we have put in orbit. However, if we were to link a series of probes, say five and send four of them to the planet at the cardinal position points they could then relay the information to the fifth one that we will keep in orbit and we can scan data from there. It would give us a greater reading in both telemetry as well as composition of the planet and atmosphere. It will also allow us to run more detailed scans on the planet surface and possibly pin point any signals that their communicators or other equipment is putting out."

He glanced at his numbers and the schematics once more. "It shouldn't take longer than thirty minutes to modify the probes for such a use. It's mostly a matter of getting them connected and sync'd to each other as they were never crafted for such a purpose."

"Have you taken into account that the modified probes we have were modified by Cmdr Celes who is now on the planet? You'd have to create modification identical to those she made in any additional probes beyond those she had previously modified to do as you suggested. They are limited to what they can do because of those modifications, to compensate for the abnormal EM field in this planet. It took her nearly two hours to modify the half dozen probes we are using; do you feel yourself up to the task of doing the same in less time?" Shran queried.

Tedrum looked up from the schematics he was looking at to the captain and nodded. "Since her work has already been documented the changes can be done more smoothly. The systems we are going to be tieing into are not within the changes she made. Also her modifications will allow for an easier time with my idea. As the shielding and the like will actually aid in narrow band point to point transmission which should be able to cut through the EM field. That's why I'm suggesting we use a relay system through a probe that we leave in orbit around the planet instead of trying to interface with the probes that we put on the planet directly. We won't have to worry about trying to get through the interference ourselves that way."

He scratched at an itch on his chin. "With that knowledge and the fact that what I'm changing is simply the communications and network aspect of the probes and none of the major functions of the probe that should allow us to get these assembled quickly. I commend the commander and appreciate that she took the time to document her work. That is what will allow us to do this in less time now that we know what we are doing."

"Very well lieutenant. Do what you need to do and inform me when prepared" Shran replied.

As Tedrum left his station an ensign took over at Ops. A few moments later the young ensign spoke, "Captain, several asteroids appear to be on a collision course with the planet and will impact in the vicinity of the away team."

"Do they pose a significant risk?" questioned Shran.

"A few of them are of significant size and would cause significant damage upon planetary impact" the ensign noted. "They appear to be the result of a comet impact in the local asteroid belt. We should be able to eliminate the problematic asteroids with directed phaser fire, though a paid of the larger asteroids will require photon torpedoes to break up. Most of these asteroids appear to be primarily composed of iridium, tungsten, palladium, iron, and nickel."

"Very well. Lt Logan, prepare phasers and torpedoes" Shran replied.

Callie was focusing on what she could sense from Jon, the phrase ‘needle in a haystack’ would be an understatement given all the emotions and sensations her senses were picking up.

Shran looked over at Callie, "Everything alright?"

Callie gave Shran a worried look. “I... don’t know, I’m struggling to pick up Jon through all the other minds and emotions around me. He must have been focusing on me before, trying to send a message.” She sighed. “I wish I was still down there.”

"You are best up here in your condition counselor. I understand why you want to be down there, but I'm certain Jon would be very concerned about you if he thought you were down there in potential danger" Shran replied judiciously.

Shran looked back at Logan, "Set targets. Fire torpedoes, ready phasers."