Chapter 2.2
Posted on Sun Oct 30th, 2022 @ 2:31am by Willian Targaryen & Commander Galatea & Lieutenant Commander Ialo Gojir & Lieutenant Jardok & Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Aiden Crowe & Captain Nathan Bishop & Commander Nathan Hawkins & Commander Jasmine Haynes & Lieutenant Commander Patton O'Sullivan & Lieutenant Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Cyrus Marner & Lieutenant R'relle & Warrant Officer Harris Zim
2,439 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
No One Gets Left Behind
Location: Bridge, USS Enterprise
Timeline: 3189-03-16, 11:30
Captain's Log, Captain Willian Targaryen Recording:
After picking up a distress call the Enterprise is arriving at Risa to investigate the weather emergency that's affected their world. I'm a little worried that there is also a storm brewing on the Enterprise herself as the crew struggles with the new reality we face in the post-Burn Federation. End Recording.
Captain Willian Targaryen sat silently letting what Lieutenant Jardok had just told them ruminate. Risa, a tropical paradise of a planet, was being obliterated by horrific storm systems. Temtibi Lagoon - where it never rained, the water was warm and the wind smelled sweet - had temperatures below freezing. Galartha, a cliff face that changed pitch while a person climbed it, was underwater following a massive tsunami and flooding. Suraya Bay, where the Lohlunat - Festival of the Moon - was held, was in the middle of a massive hailstorm. Nuvia, the capital, was being hit by a blizzard despite its tropical location. There were hundreds more.
The Captain looked at his Vulcan Science Officer, "And the Weather Grid isn't responding to any of this?"
"No, Captain, it is not," he answered in measured tones.
Wilian sighed at this information as he stared at the viewscreen, the massive hurricane enveloping most of the upper hemisphere drawing his attention. "Commander Gojir, overview of the Weather Grid please?"
"The Weather Control Grid is a comprehensive network of several thousand satellites that are placed in orbital paths above a planet. These satellites, controlled either from a ground base or orbital station, are capable of deploying countermeasures designed to impact the basic elements of weather, heat, pressure, and water to maintain a stable weather environment on a planet. Essentially it's a giant environmental control system," the Cardassian said as the monitors on her wall mounted station showed a diagram of the satellite network.
"And what of the Risan Net?" The Captain questioned.
She nodded and continued, "Risa has one of the most sophisticated weather control systems ever constructed. Before the system was brought online in the 22nd century Risa was rain-soaked with a dismal climate - after their climate was a sunny, tropical one. The only times it has ever failed was caused by foul play. In 2373 the New Essentialists Movement sabotaged Risa's Grid in protest of the weakening of the Federation's morals." Ialo leaned forward in her chair, "What I'm concerned about is the Grid has been infiltrated by outside actors before. Several times the Director of the Grid has been corrupt and messed with the system; including by the Orion Syndicate. It's possible that the Emerald Chain have taken up their old hobbies."
Having joined the senior staff on the bridge Commander Hawkins was now at his station at Ops and had been studying the conditions on the surface with a grimace. "Given what we've seen so far I wouldn't put anything past the Emerald Chain to do such a thing. The likelihood of someone having the resources to correct such a thing is slim thus condemning the residents to endless weather turmoil."
"Though," Hawkins paused with another thought. "It could be Risa's way of keeping away unwanted visitors."
"By making their planet unviable? I don't think so Nathan. That's a pretty extreme way to go just to keep visitors away." Bishop replied.
"It's certainly a step up a from a keep out sign," Lieutenant Blake added hovering near Gojir at the science station having been drawn into the situation since they arrived.
"I must agree! It does not make sense to make their planet uninhabitable or at least far from desirable conditions." R'elle said.
Looking at the calamity that was unfolding on the Enterprise's viewscreen the Captain felt a little sick to his stomach. As much as he hated thinking it this could be a method for Risa to keep others away, but the distress call probably would preclude that. He liked the idea of a galactic keepaway sign though. That seemed like a rather interesting idea to put out there. Too bad he wasn't a fan of many signs.
Standing, the Captain approached the viewer, "One way to find out. Open a channel."
Galatea nodded from her console, 'Channel open, Sir."
"Risa Control this is the Starship Enterprise, Captain Willian Targaryen commanding. We are traveling here in response to your distress call. Please acknowledge," the Captain announced as he watched the viewscreen again. He crossed his arms as he waited, wondering if Risa could even hear him with all the cloud cover blanketing the planet. The Captain was about to speak again when the communications array engaged.
The viewscreen engaged with static dominating the screen. Amidst the flurry a middle aged, yet athletic and fit looking man appeared. His tanned skin and dark hair were accentuated with a look of weariness. In the windows behind him a massive wall of snow appeared to be falling along the once sandy beaches. His voice was tired as he spoke, "Enterprise, thank the maker that you are here! I'm sorry to talk with you in this old-fashioned way, but her holocommunicators are down from the storms."
"I can imagine," the Captain answered. "To whom am I speaking?"
"Sorry, I'm Paevir Aylwer and I'm the leader of the Risian Hedony. We can't believe that you're here! When we contacted Federation Headquarters we were told that there were no ships in the area and it could be weeks before help arrived." The relief was evident across his features as he spoke, like the weight of the galaxy had been lifted from his shoulders. "We've been living through this for almost a week now. We have thousands dead and millions at risk."
Willian tried to hide his concern, "We will do everything that we can to help, Mister Aylwer. First, can you tell me why your weather grid is not responding? You have one of the most comprehensive systems to known science."
"We really don't know, Captain. Our lead scientist, Ruon Tarka, has been off planet at a conference with Admiral Vance. Not long after he left we started to have low level malfunctions with the satellite grid. Nothing major, or at least that's what we thought. Then they all started to have issues. I have equatorial cities, like the one behind me, buried under 5 meters of snow. I have beaches that have turned to glass from that many lightning strikes. It's not letting up."
Targaryen nodded, "We're going to send a team to the orbital command post to investigate the satellites as a first step. In the interim, what resources or support can we offer you?"
"Right now I could use the help of your medical teams to treat people who have been injured or are at risk from the storms. Emergency shelters and heat would be another big help."
"We'll make arrangements," Willian said as he looked at Doctor Marner. "We have a former Director of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers aboard. I'll be sending her to assist as well."
The Risian smiled, "Thank you for trying to help. I finally feel like we may be on a step in the right direction."
"Conserve your resources, Mister Aylwer. You'll be hearing from us. Enterprise out," he nodded to Galatea. After the screen returned to an image of the devastation on Risa, Willian looked around his bridge, "Suggestions?"
Chief Petty Officer Harris Zim returned to his duties. He had no doubt that assisting the Risans meant that they would lose the trail of the stolen codes. Zim wondered why the Captain had chosen this course of action and not to split the crew. He hoped that this would be a learning experience for him, one where he learned why command decisions were made they way they were.
Jasmine was skeptical due to her security training background. She learned the Simplest answer is not necessarily the correct answer. "Something not adding up, why did a stable grid go down? If the Risian's did not cause it, who did?" She also had on her mind, where Admiral Vance was? Their data was still incomplete on this new century. And she was okay with that l. They needed to get home. Not trying to acclimate to this century it's problems.
"I have a question if I may, before I go assist those who will be treated. These codes that were stolen could they be used to mess with the weather satellites? Could someone have utilized them to practice to see if they had the real deal? If I were someone of such an uncouth and evil nature, I'd do an experiment on something that the Federation had helped to develop, that is if we did help them with that technology." Cyrus musing aloud.
Engineer Gojir answered the question quickly, "It's a good question, Doctor, but highly unlikely. The prefix codes that were stolen by the renegades would work to override the starships of Battle Group Omega, but would have little impact upon the weather control grid of Risa. It's possible though that the system has been corrupted by any number of forces. It could be a natural failure because each satellite does use dilithium crystal chips for stabilization purposes, they have control software that could be corrupted, it could be that a staff member's been paid off."
"I have been monitoring the information from the sensors," Jardok interrupted. "Based upon the raw data I theorize that, if the weather control grid cannot be restored within the next 98 minutes, we will reach a point of no return with the weather systems of Risa due to the number of geological disasters that have impacted the planet."
"You have a gift of understatement, Lieutenant," Galatea teased.
Willian sighed, "Two teams. Captain Bishop I'm sending you, Gojir, Haynes, O'Sullivan, and Hawkins over to the weather control grid to investigate the weather control grid and get it back to operational status. Galatea, I'd like you to lead the second team to the surface with Doctor Marner, Nurse Alves, Counselor R'relle, and Mister Zim to assist with recovery efforts there. I'll be remaining aboard the Enterprise to monitor both teams. Any questions?"
At the moment there seemed to be no end to Zim's ire. Once again he had been set a task with Galatea, someone he would rather not be near for fear he would be court martialed. Once again, he was being taken away from the task that he wanted to do, investigate those stolen codes. However, orders were orders and he knew that better than most. As such he stood to attention and awaited Galatea to make for the turbolift, he would would join her there.
Jasmine nodded at the orders coming from William. His orders made sense, despite her ill feelings of being stuck in this time period. Captain Bishop was a good officer, and a reasonable man. She was hoping that maybe the satellites would have some real time data they could download, that would give them a better picture of what is going on during this time period they found themselves trapped into. For the moment though she remained silent, she would bring up her request when they beamed down.
Still sore from Svian Hawkins wanted to ask if the Captain was planning a contingency should the estimated timescale Jardok laid out was incorrect but held his tongue. This wasn't the time to think such sour notes.
R'elle nodded. She really didn't like Galatea much. She rubbed r'elle the wrong way. A bit too superior. She didn't like that she was leading the away team but maybe she was the best one for the job. R'elle would try and give her the benefit of the doubt as the saying went.
“We need to send security teams no matter who goes where. “Patton spoke up. “I agree with Commander Haynes. There is more than meets the eye going on here and I need to be able to protect our crew.”
Galatea interrupted the scene, "Captain, I request that I remain aboard the Enterprise and not be present on an away team. As the leader of the Federation Security contingent for this mission I would be better served to assist with coordination of the teams and having access to information in real time from both groups. I would propose that Zim replace me as the away team leader."
"Zim?" Willian asked to see what his Chief thought.
"With all due respect the Commander is partially correct. I agree that we would all be better suited if she remained on the ship and coordinated the teams. Her status as the leader of the Federation Security contingent would grant her access to certain information that others would not be able to get and therefore benefit the investigation. That said, where she is wrong is the suggestion for me to lead the Away Team. Any of the plethora of officers on this ship would suit better." Zim did not even want to be near Risa, he really did not want to be on the Away Team, and he especially did not want to be leading it. Although the offer was a great honor.
"Alright then. Doctor, you're elected. We'll add Rrawran to the away team to assist with security," Willian clarified as he looked at Patton. "Since you're on the first team you'll provide security for the station away team."
Cyrus blinked staring at Willian at first then gave a nod. "Yes sir." he looked at those who were going with him. "Okay, lets get going then." heading towards the turbolift. He paused to look towards Jasmine. "Commander Haynes, be careful please." flashing a bit of a smile.
The Captain stood behind the Helm, "Let's get this show on the road."
"Ready when you are Captain Bishop." Jasmine said, as she walked over to him. She was eager to get on the station, despite the fact that Patton was tagging along. He still annoyed her. But she had bigger fish to fry at the moment.
Bishop nodded at Jasmine, "Very good Commander. Let's go and see what we can find and hopefully get the station back in working order." He looked over to Hawkins. "Let's go Nate, we're off to see if we can put the station back together again."
"Right behind you," Hawkins acknowledged before turning Targaryen: "May I request that Commander Randall be able to assist us intestate the weather station at the earliest opportunity?"
Their stalwart Chief Engineer's presence had not gone unnoticed, "Certainly, as soon as she is available." He dismissed as he returned his attention to the viewer, wondering just what lay beyond for the away teams.
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