Celestial Object 481726462910

Posted on Mon May 25th, 2020 @ 8:51pm by Commander Curtis Thibideaux & Lieutenant JG Mishka Ru'fallo & Senior Chief Petty Officer Harriet Hastings & Commander Natan O'Donnaghue & Commander Daynah Ral

2,928 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Aftermath and Downtime
Location: Deep space: The Triangle
Timeline: MD001 07:55 hrs

First Officer’s log, USS Valiant. It’s been a week since be broke dock at Star Base 80 en-route to the Honir Star System, specifically the home world of the Valdivaeann Commune, ferrying Ambassador Giles Telford there. The Ambassador, after a brief tour of Valiant and the half finished modifications to a cabin for his use, later informed us that he would instead be brining a shuttle-craft that would serve as his quarters for the trip and later his private mode of transport as needed.

Fleet dug up a Type 9A shuttle and modified it post hast to most of the Ambassador’s specifications and assigned the cabin to his two aides. They are a pair of Orion women, Givni and Vartosh. The captain and selected crew have been meeting with Ambassador Telford over the past few days, while he outlines the expectations for us and goes over the itinerary. The phrase, or old earth curse depending on who tells it, May you live in Interesting Times may apply to this mission. But I have have faith that our crew is up to the task.

Hasty yawned. She was minutes away from watch change and the Chief of Boat was anxious for some rack time. Yawning again, she caught motion in her peripheral and turned, noting the Valiant’s first officer.

“How did the watch go,” Curtis queried, looking about the bridge. “Quiet. We’ve been running at Warp 4, giving the sensor’s a good look and an item of note popped up.” At his raised eyebrow, she walked over to the panel they were using for a science station and pulled up feeds. “Seems we’ll be going past a comet that hasn’t been tracked by the Federation before. It’s approximately fifty klicks in diameter and a tail of nearly 53 million klicks long.”

Curtis whistled lowly, then said “That’s big alright. How far off?” The COB touched a few controls. About three hours, give or take. There’s something else interesting…we picked up faint life signs from the Comet.”

The Valiant’s first officer chuckled and shook his head. “Go get some sleep and thanks, I’ll let the Captain know. This might catch his interest and be a nice distraction from the Ambassador.”

Hasty nodded and headed for the hatch, while Curtis pulled up the nav controls and cross referenced their flight path.

Curtis heard the COB greet the captain and he turned to see Natan enter the bridge.

Natan greeted the COB and then walked up to the XO. "Well, Commander, what have you got for me? You seem excited about something." He did his best not to read Curtis mind, but rather the tension in the room.

"We have a comet, on long range sensors. It's one of the bigger ones according to the database. And, apparently we're picking up some faint life signs from it."

"Life?" Natan replied seeming piqued. Natan is a biologist, so this was of interest to him. From his understanding there was almost never life on a comet. So it is interest to look how life could be on this comet, and maybe finding evidence how it got there.

Like most Trill Daynah had her eccentricities, and today was no different. Every morning Alaryc's habit of touring the Valor before taking the bridge for alpha shift. He would go to every department and greet every person he saw. He thought it was a better way to command, a more personable way. So Daynah inherited the habit. At the moment she walked the hallways of Deck 1 as she headed to the bridge. She smiled and nodded to the COB as the latter made their way to bed.

A sip of coffee and smile as the doors to the bridge opened. "Morning Captain, Commander fine day to handle another list of demands from the Ambassador." She smiled as she activated the science station and sat down.

Natan sat down in his chair as his science chief walked on to the room, cheerful at that. "Commander," He said with a nod. "Drop for a moment what you got going on, we got something a little more excited going on." He turned his head to the screen. "Number one?" He nodded to Curtis.

Daynah had just activated her console when she heard the Captain. She sipped her coffee. "Well if it is not some demand from the Ambassador I will take it. What do you have Commander?"

Curtis fine tuned the forward viewer and the comet popped up. The screen fuzzed for a second as everything aligned, then sharpened displaying a elongated mass with a ghostly tail that stretched nearly fifty two point seven million kilometers long. Measuring enhancements appeared on the screen focusing down to show the football shaped central mass that measured 48.2 kilometers in diameter.

Daynah cocked an eyebrow as she got a closer look at the readout. It certainly did not seem like much, but it was a refreshing change of pace from the Ambassador. "It seems that this is a standard comet. Primarily made up of carbon monoxide, ammonia and methane gasses with ice, rock and other particles of spacial matter. The core is most likely solid ice. Judging by it's size and trajectory I would say that this comet was probably cast out of a star's gravity well and set adrift into the galaxy. It might be worth having a look and taking a peek into the history of the galaxy."

"Oh definitely," Natan said, "And the scanners life signs. And whatever it is I want to look at it for myself."

"I can't imagine that any form of known life could live on that rock. However, we can give it the full treatment. Anything to get away from Ambassador Demanding." Daynah said with a smirk as she took her station. "I have the sensors scanning it further now. Should have the results within a moment."

Curt snorted at Daynah's remark then focused on his Captain. "Look at it yourself. You're thinking of studying it, you mean. I have to remind you about Fleet's regulations on Captain's leading away missions, sir?" Curtis knew how this was likely to go, but it was still his duty to throw a wet blanket at Valiant's captain every once in awhile.

The scans came back on Daynah sat straight up, rigid, and her mouth slightly agape as she read them. She could not believe what she read. In fact she read it four or five times and had the computer recheck the results before fully believing it. She slowly turned around from her station. "Sirs we have a problem. There seems to be an inordinate amount of heat coming from the core. This could mean that there is life on the comet, but I must stress that is not all it could mean. It could also mean that it is going to explode. Either way I have never seen anything like it." Eliza Ral came through loud and clear this time. The feeling that this was an amazing discovery that had never been seen washed over Daynah. The fact that she had literally hundreds of years worth of scientific knowledge and yet still had no knowledge of this scared Daynah to no end. She paled slightly.

Curtis stepped to the second tactical station and brought up the feeds. "Well, it's lost in space so stability might be a problem. We'll monitor the radiation levels and theta band for any change in it's harmonics in case it starts to break apart. Other than that, if there's life aboard...."

"As as scientist I feel obligated to investigate this. I do think this is a great opportunity to see what lives on there and maybe figure out how they got there," Natan. "Maybe it's possible to preserve the life forms on it in some way."

Curtis weighed arguments versus the look in Natan's eye and nodded. "Aye sir. Sounds like you, Commander Ral and I'll send a long someone from security, just on the safe side."

*****

An hour later, Valiant had maneuvered in and matched velocities with the comet. The bridge crew was going over sensor logs when a sound was heard at the hatchway and Ambassador Telford bustled onto the bridge. "Captain," he began without preamble, "Why are we slowing down? My business is very important to the Federation and I should have at least been informed that there would be a delay..."

Natan was so excited about this find that he wasn't in or near his chair. He was walking around checking sensors. He was standing near the science console when the Ambassador burst in. Natan was a bit annoyed by this intrusiscienceon. "Ambassador, there is no delay, I would say were ahead of schedule, so this little distraction is good for the crew. Also we are foremost a science vessel. And as starfleet regulations demand we do have an obligation to explore. And this comet is the find of the century, we can't let it pass by."

"She may be a science vessel," the Ambassador said, coloring slightly, "But her current mission is diplomatic. My diplomatic mission. If you feel you mustwhat kind of time table are we looking at here? A couple of hours?"

"Yes," said Natan slightly annoyed, and trying his best to hide it. "Yes, I must. This maybe your mission, Ambassador, but this is my ship. Try not to forget that, sir. Now please move yourself off my bridge, or I have you escorted." He took a deep breath and then added, now slightly calmed down. "Sir." This was what he strived for. Lived for. Making a find like this was incredible.

Daynah smirked slightly at the arrival of the Ambassador. Clearly the nickname Ambassador Demanding was appropriate.

The Ambassador stood still. HIs mouth opening. After a moment, he said icily, "Very well Captain. But the Admiral and the Federation will hear about this. After a dagger glance at Natan, he turned on his heel and stiffly walked from the bridge.

Watching the mini drama play out, Curtis shook his head as the Ambassador left and turned back to the repeater panel he was monitoring. After a couple of minutes, he looked back to Natan. "Well, in for a penny. I think we've gotten all we're getting from here, captain.

"Yes,"Said Natan, "Let's get down there."

*****

The swirling mist of transport dropped as the away team found themselves in a learning. Purple grasses mixed with multi-colored vegetation padded the ground underfoot. Tree's lined the permitter of the clearing, their grey trunks and red and black leaves. The atmosphere was as humid and hot as advertised.

Daynah immidiately did what scientists did best in this situation, scanned. She stood there with her brow furrowed and her tricorder out. "I am having some difficulty getting a fix on the location of the life sign. The atmosphere may be interfering with the scanners. I am working on it."

Natan looked at his tricorder as well. "You mean lifesigns. They are hard to locate, cause the lifesigns are scattered over the area." Natan walked through the picturesque landscape. "Incredible, I never seen anything like this before. And in a comet no less." There was an atmosphere, and soft gentle breeze, and a hot humid climate. "I would expect the place to be this warm. It would either be cold as ice, but then this wouldn't exist here, or this warm and humid." He leaned over and touched the grass. "Fascinating." He then stood up straight again.

"I sense something," Natan said. "We're being watched." He walked closer to the tree line. He tilted his head. He could sense different incoherent thought patterns. As if they were telepathic, just not on his level. But he could sense the emotions quite clearly. Curious yet cautious. He closed his tricorder and put it back in his belt. He then spread his arms as he walked closer to the trees. "It's alright, you can show yourself," He whispered, but he also conveyed it telepathically.

Suddenly there was a rustle in the tree leaves. From the tree top emerged a creature, it wasn't big. Maybe as big as a Lemur. It spread its arms and flew around the two starfleet scientists. Its tail stretched out as it flew around. Natan followed it's flight. "Incredible." He exclaimed. "It's a flying Lemur." It sheared close over their heads and then landed a few feets away from Natan.

The Lemur tilted his head sideways a few times as it looked at the two officer with big black eyes. It was a beautiful creature with a white core and head, and a brown face and circles around its eyes. Its hand and feet were black and its tail was ringed like its Earth's counterparts, and it had bat like flaps under its arms.

"Hello, you beautiful creature," Natan said softly as he held out his hand to it open, inviting him to come closer. Natan kneeled in the grass to be more on his level. The Lemur slowly came closer as it sniffed curiously in to Natan's direction. When it was severely certain that Natan could be trusted it jumped up Natan's shoulder curling his tail up. Natan smiled and patted him gently.

With this more rustling in the trees surrounding them could be heard. Natan looked up and they saw more Lemurs appearing around them.

Dyanah's eyes widened as she looked around, her words were preceded by a whistle. "Extraordinary, simply extraordinary..." That was Eliza's way of saying that she had no idea what was happening. It was an affectation that Daynah adopted after the joining. "...There is no scientific reason that there should be a stable atmosphere within the comet, let alone life signs. I recommend extreme caution, as this is most like a creation of someone's and as such could be used for anything."

Daynah scanned the lemur with her tricorder. "If it is a man made creation it is really good. All scans show that I am looking at a lemur." Something did not feel right to Daynah, she would have to use scientific method to prove that there was something amiss. She dared not say anything until there was more concrete evidence.

Mishka had her own tricorder out, but didn't concentrate fully on it as she scanned their surroundings and she kept her eyes on the tree line and on the little creature that might just snap her Captain's neck. "Multiple life signs, but they just seem to be watching for now. No weapon signatures or threat assessment for the time being," the bear reported as she snapped her tricorder shut and slid it back into the pouch at her waist. She then closed her eyes and took things in.

"There's a breeze," she commented. "And all of the surrounding's smell...natural. Someone did a very good job at terraforming this...zoo?"

Natan shrugged and took out his tricorder again and scanned the the treeline again. "Yes, I think it's this little fellows family." He gestured to the Lemur sitting on his shoulder. He looked on the device again as the Lemur on his shoulder made cute noises in his ear. He scratched his head as she tried to calibrate his tricorder. He then said, "Whatever they did, it is a good job, but as far as I can tell it's unstable too. The comet's magnetic field is interfering with the nodes that are keeping up this atmosphere. It was good enough when it was send out, but the nodes are deteriorating under pressure. It's just a matter of time for the entire atmosphere collapses, we have to get the Lemurs out of here." Natan turned over to the creature on his shoulder. The two of them have gotten quite a liking of each other. Even though the Lemur didn't quite understand Natan yet telepathically, but it somehow trusted Natan.

Mishka noted the furry creatures breaking cover, moving toward the Valiant's away team, but still didn't think they were a threat. Her tricorder beeped and she pulled it out. "Reading close to sixty of them now, Captain," she reported. "They must have burrows or there's something in the trees that caused their bio-signs to not register. Mishka took a few steps, narrowing the bandwidth of her scans. "Interesting. It seems that either the tree's or the lemurs can mimic vegetative readings. An effective defensive mechanism. How does that work?"

All that was happening perplexed the hell out of Daynah. She wanted samples of everything, samples to bring back to the lab aboard the Valiant. "The only way we can find out would be to bring the animal back to the lab for evaluations. As that is not possible. Captain with your permission I would like to gather some bio samples to bring back. Scans of our friend here and perhaps some plant samples."

"Take the samples you need, commander from this environment. I think we need as much information as we can." She turned to the other members of their away team. "Contact the ship. Check the possibilities of getting all these creatures safely on board the ship." Natan ordered.

Watching the Captain seemingly distracted by the creatures and the Valiant's Second Officer equally fascinated by the creatures refuge, Mishka touched her communicator and said, Ru'fallo to Valiant. Commander Thibideaux, you're not going to believe this....

 

RSS Feed