Common Grounds II

Posted on Fri Mar 13th, 2020 @ 10:57am by Captain Enalia Telvan & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Ensign Fiona O'Dell & Petty Officer 2nd Class 'Big Ethel' Jablonski & Jaeih Dox-t'Aan
Edited on on Fri Mar 20th, 2020 @ 4:01pm

Mission: Dedjoy System Mystery
Location: The Intel Pod
Timeline: 2397

Over the comm, the red-headed Romulan's voice began again. "Pod separation sequence ready. Counting down from my mark, Ensign Cance... and mark!"

From the Opps position, the even younger officer began the countdown. "10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1."

Across the ship, there was a shudder as locking clamps disengaged and the sound of micro-particles of stellar debris bounced harmlessly away from the connecting pylon that kept the massive pod of the U.S.S. Hera in place. As they did, directional thrusters automatically pushed the triangular-shaped attachment slowly and gently away as those same clamps sealed back up. From the bridge of the now separate ship, Dox's voice came again. "Separation complete, Captain. Vessel is floating free and under your control. We have a tractor lock on you and Transporter room three is locked on to every person on there."

"Flight controls are stabilized but... Flight sensors just went offline. Restarting them now." As the experienced pirate queen furiously worked at the helm, she tried several tricks before both half her panels and the viewscreen came back to life. "And we can see again. Engaging maneuvering thrusters... one hundred meters... two hundred... three... five... Hera, we have cleared you and are engaging impulse drive."

"Okay... that's not good. On it." Gavarus said as she ran over and opened the panel under the Captain.

As the small engine that passed for impulse fired up, the saucer of the Hera slowly moved out from under the view on the small screen at the front of the pod bridge until it completely vanished. "Well now to go talk to this thing and ask it to play nice."

Popping her porcine puss up in front of Enalia's station, Gavarus gave her Captain a quick thumbs-up as she made her way back to the engineering station. "Gotcha covered, Cap. Looks like the console had some loose conduits. Should be fixed."

"No wonder we used this bridge for training. Thanks, Briaar. Bringing us about and setting us on course for that big gaping maw at the front of the cone." Settling in for the ride, Enalia set them on their course. "Ethel, we'll need targeting info for our away team. Ila, we'll need the array warmed up before we get there. Briaar, make sure we've got enough power for that thing. Jaeih, if you would be so kind as to monitor for those readings they reported? We're a lot bigger than a shuttle so I'm betting they're going to notice us a lot sooner."

"Uhhh, Captain? Sensors say there's a whole lotta neutronium out there, and inside the cone thingy is pretty much a sensor dead zone. So, uh, yannow, I kinda can't target doodly doo in there, ma'am." The petty officer wasn't intimidated to report the bad news to the Captain- this was the job. The big chair needed the facts, and they provided them, all parts of a team. Which made the security officer happy to be a part of, in the here and now.

"That's fine. When we're in position, look for glowing blue mushrooms or something as well as Rita's suit and you'll find them. For now make sure I don't run into our other ships or anything else in the system," Enalia replied, slightly refreshed by Ethel's candor.

From the engineering station, Briaar was working three panels at once to reroute power. "Yeesh, Captain. Please let me come in here and update some of this crap when we're done and... ya' know... pending we don't all die. Okay. Power rerouted for the array, but nobody order a gelato for a while, k?"

Shaking her hand lightly, Jaeih was also hard at work monitoring her station as ordered. "Captain, you are eminently correct. Signal strength from that thing has increased 22 point 3 percent. It's a perfect match for Miss Dedjoy's pattern."

"Like I said, Captain. Somehow they based their hive mind on my mind. It's probably a holdover of the genesis energy, but I'd have to..." Before Ila got to rambling, Enalia gave her a look and she got to the point. "But anyway, the upper sensor platforms are ready to transmit at your command. I plan on repeating that pattern then sending out the usual Federation 'we come in peace' greeting, if you think that's a good start."

The Trill woman nodded. "Yeah, I'll leave the specifics up to you. The main thing is that they know that in the great cosmos, we too are explorers and filled with curiosity."

Suddenly, the pod shuddered a bit as the signal from the planetoid increased in intensity. Warning lights at the helm and science stations lit up as thrusters flickered slightly and the enhanced shielding that protected them from complete power drain were, themselves, drained somewhat.

Back on the Hera, the mighty Nebula-Class Starship also shuddered as their tractor beam link with the pod transferred some of that turbulence to them. From the helm, Ensign Harnell called back to Dox in the command chair. "Shearing force coming from the tractor beam, Commander."

Clutching the arms of the chair she didn't want to be sitting in, the young Romulan nevertheless gave her orders. "Compensate. Increase power by 5 percent to inertial dampeners and use maneuvering thrusters to keep us steady. It's just turbulence, Mr. Harnell. You can ride with it."

Calling over to Opps, the red-headed pilot who found herself in command kept her voice as calm and supportive as she could, trying to picture how Enalia or Rita would do it. "Mr. Cance, Increase power to the tractor beam and keep us tethered at all costs. Reroute from secondary systems if you need to."

Back on the pod, Jaeih called forward from the Science station. "The entities have increased the power of their signals, Captain. Shields are at 83 percent and fluctuating by plus or minus 5 percent with each wave. I'm passing the signal pattern to Yeoman Dedjoy for translation."

"Got it! beginning our reply now but at this distance..." Ila began, but after just a moment, it was obvious that the reply had been received, at least to an extent. The shuddering subsided at least a little, though it didn't completely relent. "They got about sixty percent of the message before power levels dropped too low. Ensign Gavarus, can you do something about that?"

"Shii.... uh... yeah. Yeah." Gavarus replied, cutting herself off before she cursed on the bridge of the pod in front of the Captain as she continued to mutter to herself as the thick, three-fingered hands raced across her console. "Lemme see... we got... n' if I c'n reroute from... GOT IT!"

"Okay, I can reroute power from secondary systems. Replicators, lights and life support in the unoccupied chambers. Main lights and partial gravity. And I'm boosting the gain by running a conversion from the shields to feedback to the fusion drive so we can recycle some of that energy they're hitting us with! BOOYAH!" The portly porcine pumped her fist in the air with a grin as the white overhead lights switched to the dimmer, red emergency lights and everyone felt just a little lighter in their seats. "Got you 43 percent more juice and climbing."

"Thanks. Transmitting again," replied the doll-faced Illaran as she slapped her console. On the outside of the pod, the top was facing the open cone of the planet and the large pallet sensors started to glow a dull orange as they transmitted the message. This time, the shuddering ceased altogether and a new transmission came from the planet.

"Captain... They're responding. They understood us!" An honest and heartfelt grin was spread across Ila's face as she translated it. "They seem to be wary... and they want us to identify ourselves... and they've identified themselves... and there's so much more..."

The Trill captain chuckled in relief that they could at least come this far. "Ok, let's at least start with letting them know who we are, ok? That we represent the United Federation of Planets. A galaxy spanning entity of diplomacy and exploration, or however you think it would be best to tell them. The way you described them, I'm not sure they're ready to understand how we live yet."

"I'm running that through the matrix and transmitting it now," Ila replied, hoping the message was well received.

------------

On the surface of the planetoid, the crystals all began to hum, vibrating in harmonic waves. Commander Rita Paris grabbed her unconscious husband to shield him with her body in case things went poorly. “Huddle up, stay close and stay calm, people! Not sure what’s happening but let’s not assume it’s bad!”

------------

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Intel pod, the holographic representation of the harmonic energy output of the crystalline life forms on the planet were coming in line with the harmonic onscreen, and the universal translator was now kicking in. When the voice came over the speakers, it carried an echo like a harmony, but of perhaps millions of voices. The humming seemed to translate to elongated syllables

“Weeee seek the core. We seek to understand. We seek to grow. Weeeee seek the light. Wouuuuuuld you assist ussss or woooooould you destroy uuuuuus?”

With a look and a raised eyebrow from Enalia, Ila just shrugged and whispered. "I patched it through the translation matrix and it came back with something audible. They're learning. Talk to them."

Not one to pass up a good thing, The spotted woman nodded and turned back to the viewscreen which still showed the way too close gaping maw of the conical planet. "We seek understanding as well. If there is some way that we are able to assist you, we would do so. That is the nature of why we seek out new life. To learn and to help if it is needed. The first of our people to try to contact you... They were not received well, so we were worried communication was not possible."

“Curiosity taught us muuuuch,” the wavering chorus of voices replied in that odd echoing harmony. “The mindsszzzz we have touched have not been compatible. We could not make oursssselves understoooood. But now we understaaaaaand. We seek the core- can you help usssszz?”

"First we need to understand what you mean by the core. Once we understand, we will gladly help." Enalia paused a moment to bring the conversation around to the topic that the entity had touched upon. "As for trying to touch our minds directly, yours is far too vast and has driven many of ours to breaking. We ask that you refrain from that. We ask that you also refrain from siphoning our energy so that we may help you and continue learning about each other."

From the science station, Jaeih's eyebrow cricked slightly. "Captain... the signal. Its frequency is narrowing. The power intensity is reducing across the full spectrum. They're still communicating, but it appears they're doing so more... directly. The signal appears to be directly aimed at us now."

"Need mooooooore light... get to the core, will reflect..."

On the surface, earthquakes began rumbling the surface, and Rita Paris desperately cast about for something, anything to make a plan out of, to get them out of here. Rising unsteadily to her feet, she engaged the EVA armor's internal gyros to assist, and she picked up Sonak in both arms, in a 'princess' carry. All of these people up on this hill, she had brought them hope and the promise of rescue, and now it looked like they were going to die down here.

But damned if she would go out without trying everything. If this didn't work, her next idea wasn't such a good one, and she knew the Kolinahr wouldn't approve. But damned if she would let them both die out here. One more try, because she believed in the crew, and in Starfleet, more than she believed in just about anything. Well, other than Sonak. Tapping her comms, she boosted the signal, diverting power to her transmitter to try one more time.

"Oh hey, Captain!" Jablonski piped up, before feeding the comm signal through the local speakers in the pod.

"... is Paris- the interior surface feels like it's breaking up, we need evac immediately! Hera, do you copy?"

From the Hera, Dox called over to the Pod, controlled tension in her voice. "Pod, we cannot get a lock on them to beam out or the Getaway Driver in. There's too much interference still. And with that signal still active, any rescue craft would lose power and crash as well."

"Roger that, Hera," Enalia replied, keeping her focus on the entity or entities. Glancing over at Jaeih's console for a moment, she finally had a bit better of an understanding of what they meant by the core. "You're trying to dig to the very heart of the planet, aren't you? The very core? To create a giant reflector for the sun's light, right? We can definitely help with that."

"However, we don't want to harm you in the process," Enalia added. "Plus, we have people inside as well that we need to first rescue as well."

"Shuttlecraft 2. Captain Marnia DeVoooooonis. Flight officer Ensign Shinnnnnng. Exooooooobotanist Doctor Garcia. Geeeeeooooologist Ka’Tang. Science Chief S’aked. Exobioooooologist Flures. Petty Officer Nunes. Petty Officer Klobuncher. Petty Offffffficer V'rass. Curiosity. Commander Paris. Lieutenant Commander Sonaaaak. These are your people."

On the surface of the planet, crystal protrusions retracted as three Security officers found themselves de-crystallized, the crystalline cocoons they had been trapped in withdrawing to free them once more, their EVA suits powering back up as if recharged. Seeing them, Captain DeVonis called for them, and the trio of restored security officers, sans phasers, scrambled toward the bioluminescent beacon, which was flashing much faster and more frequently now.

"Captain, I just picked up a flash on the planet's surface on a visual scan," Jablonski reported. "Sensors still can't see squat inside that thing, but... I can't triangulate the Commander's position from her transmission, but it looks a whole lot like it's coming from that flash down there, doncha know... heya, there it is again! I think maybe we got their position, even sensor blind..."

From the Hera, Dox had been monitoring everything and was ready to move with the information provided. Tapping the comm button to the POD, the young Romulan woman replied, transmitting to both the POD and Commander Paris on the surface, making a decision in the moment and praying to Al'thindor that it was the right thing to do. "Captain. With that triangulation, we're beaming the Getaway Driver to Commander Paris' position now. The neutronium shell is still impeding our scans, but that signal is reduced in strength enough that our support craft should function now. Launching a rescue shuttle on autopilot to rendezvous at the coordinates we're beaming the Cyclone to now."

"Recommend letting our new friends know what we're doing is to help our people." The anxious young pilot in the proverbial 'big chair' added.

"Roger that. Let me know when you have everyone aboard," Enalia wasn't used to being in the big chair herself like this, but the diplomatic position she was in, making first contact with a completely new type of life form... she was the only one that was even remotely certified, let alone trained so this was where she had to be. Nodding to Ila again, she continued talking to the entity again. "We thank you for your consideration. While we retrieve our people and prepare... Do you have a name? Names?" She figured some small talk to better understand them herself wouldn't hurt.

“We arrrrrre Dead Joy, Captain Enalia Telvan,” the crystals explained back, as if that simple statement was all-encompassing, and did not raise more questions than it answered.

Not only did the entity have the name of the person's mind that the whole system was built on thanks to all the Genesis energy, but it knew her name as well? The unanswered questions were definitely growing as Enalia turned to Ila with a curious look. Ila, for her part, just gave a surprised look in return. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dead Joy."

Tapping her comm panel, Dox sent a message to Ensign O'Dell, who was still hovering at the midway point between the Hera and the opening of Primordious in the Silver Banshee, using that craft to act as a communications booster. "Ensign O'Dell. Shuttlecraft 9 is on its way into that thing to pick up those survivors. It's unmanned and on autopilot. Once it's in range, I'm slaving it controls to you. Bring our people home."

“Wot? Aye mum, will do. S’long as I’ve got a signal and I’m nae flyin blind, we should be sweet as honey.” Forgetting to cut the feed to her mic, the short spitfire muttered, “Or I’ll make a hella mess on the surface and be getting court-martialed in the mornin’…”

On the bridge of the Hera, Dox turned to the engineering station and the young officer on duty, as she raised an eyebrow and put on the best approximation of a 'Rita Paris' smile she could manage. "Lieutenant Founton, make sure Ensign O'Dell has all the signal strength you can give her. Reroute all power from weapons and, if necessary, reduce our own shields. That signal isn't hitting us anymore, so make sure that the tractor beam on the POD and communications are our highest priorities."
“Aye aye, ma’am,” came the reply from Founton.

A few seconds later, a sleek, Type 9a shuttlecraft zipped into the sensor range of the Silver Banshee, on its way towards the gaping maw of the former planet killer.

“Aye, Shuttlecraft Barbosa joost passed me position,” O’Dell reported, “and I’m bringin her down. So far signal is holding and steady as she goes, mum.”

Within the cone of Primordious, ten meters behind Commander Paris' position, where she and the survivors of the Turing's landing party were collected, there was a shimmering flutter of silver/blue lights that made a resonant hum, different in tone from the humming all about them. The process took about 8 seconds, in total, with the process seeming to still be pushing through some degree of interference. But using the signals from the collected EVA suits as makeshift transport enhancers, after a moment the golden plated Getaway Driver appeared and hovered in place as it's canopy slowly opened.

“Well well well, there’s my ride,” Rita grinned as she carried Sonak over to the golden spacecraft, picking her way carefully as the ground continued to shake and rattle beneath her feet. Easing the injured Kolinahr into the back seat, Paris pointed at the Caitian crew member. “I’m not leaving any of you behind. Lieutenant Flures, please get in the pilot’s seat. You’re the most severely injured, so you two are getting out of here, now. That’s an order.”

The Caitian navigator looked to his captain for confirmation, but she had no argument and nodded her assent to the order. Turning to regard Paris, Captain DeVonis questioned the unusual officer. “Commander, given that this looks a lot like your own personal landing craft, are you sure about this?”

“I told you Captain, I’m not leaving your people here. Damned if I’ll run off to safety at the first possibility and leave you and your people down here. Flures? That’s the most precious cargo in the universe sitting behind you… get him home safely for me, alright?”

With a nod, the Caitian officer nodded. “Aye aye, sir. I’ll get him home for you.”

But neither officer needed to wait long, as the shuttlecraft from the Hera hove into view overhead, heading towards the shimmering, crystal beacon. It was shuddering slightly from turbulence, but it's power appeared to be remaining steady as it lowered itself gently and safely near the landing party's position.

“As delightful as this vacation garden spot may be, please move in an orderly fashion an’ board the bus, leaving in 30 seconds. Please dinna bring aboard any perishable or contraband items, keep yuir arms and legs inside the ride at all times, and thankye for flyin’ Hera airlines!” the cheery brogue of the picayune pilot came through their comms, the signal boosted from the shuttlecraft. As Paris and Captain DeVonis hustled personnel into the craft, the shuddering was beginning to subside, replaced by a sudden and eerie stillness.

“Calm before the storm,” Paris muttered. “”Okay, everyone aboard? Captain, that includes you ma’am. All righty then,” the curvaceous commander buttoned up the hatch of the shuttlecraft, even as Captain DeVonic was prepping for takeoff, although to her surprise, as soon as the hatch was secure, the shuttlecraft began to move, gliding away from the planetoid at a surprising speed.

“Please note the locations of the emergency exits and dinna use them, as we are noow in flight, and en route to safety!” came the chirpy cheerful brogue of the tiny test pilot who was currently remote piloting the craft.

“Are all of you people so… distinct?” Captain DeVonis asked, to whit Paris smiled indulgently.

“Afraid so, Captain. The Hera is a very unique starship, to be sure…”

------------

After a few more moments of maneuvering the pod, Enalia sighed and locked their position. "Okay Ethel, I've positioned us with as clear a shot as possible directly into the core. They should be lighting up a beacon or something to show us where they need to fire those phasers as surgically as possible. Jaeih, do you see anything yet?"

“I gotcha all targeted and lined up, Captain. I’ve slaved the controls to your chair, so you’ve got your firing resolutions and the whole kit and kaboodle. Just hit the button when you want the phasers to fire, ma’am,” Jablonski cheerfully replied from the tactical station, anticipating that the Captain might want to do this one personally.

From the science station, Jaeih was monitoring everything as closely as she could. "The shuttle and the Cyclone are there, but haven't evacuated yet. As soon as they are clear, we should be able to act. No sign of a new beacon just yet. I suspect that our new... friends... are also waiting for the landing party to be clear."

As the two vessels cleared the planet’s gravity well, the green light came up on Jaeih’s board as the old intel agent grinned, "Captain. The Barbosa and the Getaway Driver are cleared of the planetoid. You are clear."

"Then let's be as surgical about this as possible," Enalia said as she pressed the firing control, sending out two arcing lances of orange energy from the small phaser banks on the top of the pod. It quickly burned into the surface of the area that the entity had marked and vaporized the material, making quick work of the digging. Soon, they had hit solid neutronium and stray phaser energy was starting to be absorbed and reflected outward so the Trill captain released her hold on the phasers, revealing the exposed core of Primordius.

"And there it is..." the pirate queen of the Hera announced in awe. "Ethel and Ila, if you would be so kind as to reconfigure a communications probe and launch it so that it lands gently just on the lip of the cone so that we have a more permanent means of communicating with our new friend?"

The doll-faced Illaran got to work immediately, the reconfiguration only taking a few moments before she was done. "Probe is configured and is ready to be loaded."

“Launching on your command, Captain,” Jablonski cheerfully reported from tactical.

"Launch," Enalia ordered. As she watched the probe streak slowly towards the surface of the planet and land, she sighed in relief. "Dead Joy, if you'll excuse us, we've sent you a communications probe to better communicate with our kind. We'd like to head back to our main ship and reconnect. It has been an honor and a privilege, but before we go, is there anything else we are able to help with?"

As the phasers bored through the mantle of the planet to expose the Neutronium surface of Primordius’ original body, crystals were already moving in, growing at a surprisingly rapid rate to cover the shaft, even as they worked to consume the bedrock around the shaft the phasers had bored. The sunlight, shining into the shaft, was reflecting and refracting through the crystalline lifeforms, bringing about a slight glow in the may of Primordius, which would grow over time to create a magnificently beautiful geode in space.

“Warrrrrrm…. So much energy. Now we willlll be able to grow and evolve, toooooo achieve our potential and earrrrrn a name…” the crystalline hive mind explained.

With yet more surprise, the Trill woman turned to Ila once more, who had tears of understanding in her eyes. "I had my sister in my mind when I directed the Genesis energy... That's why... Dead Joy... If I may, in honor of my sister, I would grant you the name that she one day hoped to earn. Sia. It means ‘hope’ in my people's tongue. Will you accept this?"

There was murmur on the other end, as the name echoed in the speakers, as if the life form were considering it by echoing it between the thousands of individual voices that comprised the whole. When they finished debating it to themselves, they once again spoke in one voice, of still filled with echoes and strange harmonics.

“Sia… we are Sia.”

"Congratulations, Sia. Today is a big day for you. We look forward to further communications with you." With a nod to Ila, Enalia engaged the pod's impulse engines and pulled back from the planet, heading back to the Hera. "Hera Pod to Hera Bridge. Requesting permission to dock. Oh, and see if you can get a lock on the remains of Curiosity and beam up the remains?"

From over the comm system, Dox's voice came, sounding significantly lighter. "Permission granted, Pod. Docking sequence is primed and ready. Helm control can take over for you from here at your mark. As for the Curiosity and the Turing's shuttle, the communication beacon is giving us much clearer telemetry on the inside of Primor... of Sia... and we're clearing bay two for the debris now. They should both be recovered by the time you've docked."

"Also, Captain. Word from the Turing. Commander sh'Zoarhi has her up and running and Doctor Mah is attending to her crew. Full casualty list will be coming in shortly. And the Getaway Driver and Barbosa are docking in shuttlebay one now. A medical team is already there on standby." Dox finished, giving her report to the Captain.

"Excellent job, Commander. Turning helm control over to you now." With that, Enalia leaned back in her chair and relaxed a bit, a soft smile on her lips.

"We did a good thing today, everyone. We welcomed a new form of life to the greater galaxy."

"Like delivering a cosmic baby, doncha know!"