Probing For Answers

Posted on Monday, 15 February 2021 - 7:02pm by Commander Soral & Captain Barret Stillwater & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant Raith Kolani & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears
Location: USS Standing Bear | Deck 01 | Bridge
Timeline: 2394 -- MD O8 Evening

ON:

"Helm, full stop," the Commanding Officer of the starship Standing Bear said just prior to rising to his feet, vacating his seat. The starship had slowed, easing off warp speed and proceeding for a while longer at full impulse until Captain Stillwater gave the order of 'full stop' which brought the Merian class starship to a standstill. This would be it. This was about as far as the starship could go without taking unnecessary and reckless risks. "On screen," added Stillwater.

Marvelling at the main viewer was exactly what Lieutenant Kingsley had surmised, what long-range scans supported. Grim beauty thought Captain Stillwater. "Commander," he said looking at his First Officer, Commander Soral. "Magnify," Stillwater instructed. The distant 'specs' became enlarged, closer to view, and easier to determine their size and density.

What was before them was an asteroid field, large, wide, and dense. These were not asteroids that were present several years ago. No, these were a relatively recent development. The result of the Romulan star going supernova and subsequent destruction of the former Star Empire's central worlds of Romulus, Remus, and several others. These asteroids had insidious origins.

"Romulus...Remus..." Stillwater shook his head. The Federation and Starfleet could not save them. The Romulan Star Empire itself could not save them. The asteroids were what was leftover; the bits and pieces of planetoids and moons demolished by the destruction of the star. "That's too dense to go any further," Stillwater stated. He suspected that his First Officer would concur.

Soral stared at the magnification with awe and a sense of deep sadness. He was glad that Alex and his bond was severed at that moment because she would stagger under the grief he felt. "Yes, sir." He said to Stillwater's question. "Too dense. I recommend a probe, sir."

Stillwater turned on his heels "Kingsley," he called out to his Chief Science Officer, who was manning her bridge station, undoubtedly already coordinating with Lieutenant Kolani just beside the helmsman, seated at ops. "You think you can get a probe into that asteroid field?"

Her expression alone seemed to scream 'seriously?' at him. But she recovered enough to simply say, "already prepared to launch, Sir."

Stillwater nodded. "I suspected you would be," he replied to Kingsley. "Well, this is as far as we go for now. Our deflector dish can't handle that dense of an asteroid field, not with current power output" stated Captain Stillwater. "Kingsley, you have a go. Launch your probe and see if you can navigate it closer to the source of that transmission."

With a nod she turned her attention to her workstation, initiating the launch sequence on one of two probes which had been prepared. It never hurt to have a backup plan. Brow furrowed in concentration she made small adjustments to ensure the probe was responding to commands and was- thankfully- making automatic course corrections based upon the varying density of the asteroid field ahead of it.

"Lieutenant Kolani, is there any possibility we can strengthen our deflector dish and go in after the probe. I know we cannot get too further into that asteroid field, but if we can just nose our way in a bit further..."

Already anticipating the question from the Captain, now that the probe was launched, Raith was ready with an answer, although he wasn't happy with himself.

"Already on it sir, I'm having to reroute power from our Auxiliary reserves to make sure that the Dish is working at one hundred and twenty per cent," Raith explained. "With that extra punch, that should allow us to proceed at least another ten thousand kilometres closer, but that's the best I can give you for now."

Pausing for a moment, Raith continued with his other idea. "If you want any closer than that, then I'd have to recommend launching the Runabout that's been retrofitted, its ready to go and could act as a bridge, to allow the data to flow between the Probe and the Standing Bear. It could extend the range further if needed."

Stillwater admired the view screen eying it for a while longer. "There was once a time where a Federation starship could not cross the neutral zone let alone get close to Romulus. Now? Now, there is not a neutral zone to even cross nor a Star Empire to worry about. And Romulus? Just out there," he said gesturing to the view screen. "Space dust."

Kingsley spared a quick glance towards her husband, knowing he would be deeply troubled by their surroundings. Yet the task at hand demanded her attention. So far the probe had coped well and was sending back data. There was still a little ways to go yet.

Soral quietly stood and walked over to Alex. He bent down as if reading the data and whispered, "Is there a way to identify any of the fragments as being 100% from Romulus?"

Alex frowned as she continued to work. "If we had detailed geological data, maybe," she answered quietly, "then we could scan for something unique to Romulus. Any fragments from Romulas would be more irradiated, since the shockwave from the supernova would have radiated outward, dissipating. But since Remus was so close... the difference would be so slight, even detailed scans might confuse them. Why?"

He sighed. "Can you try, please. Anything you can do. When you have it send it to my terminal at my chair." He briefly touched her shoulder. "Please." He said again before leaving.

Watching him go, Alex frowned. A fragment of Romulus. How hard could it really be?

Soral walked down to the command pit and sat down. He leaned over. "Captain, may I make a personal request?" He but whispered so that only Stillwater could hear him.

"What is the request, Commander?" asked Stillwater. He was usually reasonable with requests made by the crew, especially those on his Senior Staff.

"I have asked Lieutenant Kingsley to find a...piece of Romulus. I would like your permission to beam it aboard."

Stillwater nodded. He figured it was a memento of sorts, though Soral being Vulcan or rather mostly Vulcan, Stillwater did not want to say as much as to avoid offended the Commander. Mementos were often considered a sign of emotional attachment, and emotions were a touchy subject for any Vulcan who prescribed to Surak's teachings. "Of course, Commander," replied Stillwater.

The Captain looked over at Kinsley. "Just make sure to scan it for space borne life forms. The last thing we need is to bring aboard some sort of creature or its offspring."

“Only on the understanding it takes all of the fun out of exploring the unknown,” Kingsley quipped as she made adjustments to the sensors.

Soral gave a nod. "Thank you sir."

Raith looked up as the Auxiliary Power requirements were completed being re-routed for the Deflector Dish to work that little bit harder and further.

"Lieutenant Kingsley? I've got the Deflector Dish power to now working at one hundred and twenty per cent... that should give you another ten thousand kilometres range for the next twelve hours at best?" he offered, hoping the extra efforts would be rewarding.

“Thank you,” Alex called over her shoulder. “The closer the better.”

"Good work, Lieutenant Kolani," noted Stillwater. "Modifications to one of our shuttles should be next priority unless you've already begun your tinkering on one of them?"

Raith looked up from his console as the Captain turned his attention to him and Raith couldn't help but smile. "You know me too well, Captain," he said. "Once work was completed on the Standing Bears systems, I had the team get to work on the Selene to also have her ready to act as either a go-between point between the ship and the probe or to be taken out for a closer inspection," he said.

After checking the Ops Console, for an update, Raith looked up again. "The last report I received was that the team had completed their work and were awaiting a final inspection to give the shuttlecraft the go-ahead, sir."

"Excellent." Soral stood. He would let Stillwater handle things. He walked over to Alex. "Have you found something on the chunk of Romulus?"

Inwardly counting to ten, Alex paused before answering. “No, not yet,” she admitted. “I’m running additional metallurgical scans but monitoring the probe needs to be a priority. I’m sorry. I promise, I will find you something.”

"It's okay," Stillwater replied as he began to get settled back in his seat. "He knows that logically the probe is the priority," teased the Captain. "Just keep an eye out for hunks of Romulus."

“Aye sir,” Kingsley replied.

Adrianna arrived not too long after. She smiled a little at those near her.

Stillwater noted the turbolift doors had opened, the Chief of Intelligence had returned to take her bridge station. "Any updates on the transmission, Petty Officer? Have you been able to crack it, clear it up, or translate any of it?"

"Mostly," Adrianna nodded, handing over a PaDD, "seems to be an older Romulan language type."

Stillwater accepted the PaDD and read through the translated bits. Sixty percent or so of it had been sorted out though some of it was nonsensical. "Old high guard Rihannsu," noted the Captain. "Sent out on a Reman signal." It was perplexing to say the least.

"Signals like these haven't been used for several years," noted Stillwater. Need his crew remember, his career prior to the command track was tactical and intelligence. "This look like 'trapped' and this phrasing here... coordinates perhaps," Stillwater mused. "Soral, have a look at this. Your knowledge of your native Vulcan should be useful making heads and tails of old Romulan."

"Indeed. I am versed in several Romulan dialects." He walked back to Stillwater and took the PaDD. He read over it once and then again. "You are correct sir. Trapped. These are not coordinates though. It says where the sisters reach..." Suddenly it dawned on him. "Sir, before the time of awakening...there was a worm hole that linked what was then an unclaimed Class M world and Vulcan. Later when those that fly beneath the raptor's wing left they colonized the planet and called it Romulus. Vulcan's hundred day war...it was fought via this wormhole. In order to generate enough ... stability around the ship air pockets were created. The wormhole was long destroyed however.... where the sister's reach maybe the coordinates. The rest of the phrasing is off however it...reads like an SOS of sorts. "

Before Kingsley could speak up, her workstation beeped. Turning in her seat she studied the readings before initiating a transport into a secure area of the cargo bay. She could study them in more detail later.

"Something of interest?" asked Stillwater.

“Just some rock samples,” Alex said absently, “they contain a higher content of silicon so may be fragments of Romulus. I need to do a more detailed analysis later to be certain.”

Soral gave a nod to his wife. She would tell him when she was sure.

“If it is an SOS,” Alex added as she turned to face them, “shouldn’t we risk taking a runabout in to investigate?”

"I am in agreement with Lieutenant Kingsley."

Stillwater nodded. "Not only shouldn't we," replied the Captain. "We are duty-bound to do so. Any distress signal regardless of origin merits immediate response by a Federation vessel."

Soral thought a moment. "Permission to lead the team sir."

"Captain, Commander, it won't take me long to give the Selene a final inspection and clear her for launch," Raith offered.

"Whilst she is a Type 17 shuttle, she also offers a lot of the same capabilities of a Runabout...and you never know if you'll need someone aboard to pilot the Selene and keep her in one piece..." Raith stood silently as he realised that he was also volunteering himself.

Captain Stillwater looked at Soral. "Commander Soral you have lead. Lieutenant Kolani will pilot your shuttle. Take whoever else you'll need with you, but your wife looks like she may be itching to join you."

"Is it too late to call shotgun?" Kingsley asked hopefully.

Soral sighed. "I suppose so. I will also need someone from Tactical."

Kingsley grinned, taking a small win wherever she could find it.

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