Probe Report

Posted on Fri Oct 5th, 2018 @ 6:18pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Commander Rita Paris

Mission: Hera v Hera
Location: USS Hera, Deck 9, Stellar Cartography
Timeline: 2395, en route to Meroset 347

The command had been given and the wheels were in motion. The stealth probe was making its rounds of the outer edge of the Meroset system, mapping out the hundreds of scattered planetoids and planets that comprised the system. Plotting courses through the seemingly erratic and eccentric orbits of the system would be made possible due in no small part through this scanning run, as the probe faithfully scanned, recorded and reported the data back to the Hera.

Standing in Stellar Cartography observing a three-dimensional map of an alien solar system assemble and update itself, Paris marveled at the 24th century science. Sure, a probe could be launched in her day, but the data transmitted would not have been this detailed from the Exeter herself, forget about a class-1 probe. Yet here she stood, watching the 347 planetoids that comprised the Merkoset system assemble themselves in three dimension, spinning their various orbits.

No wonder the goddess Hera had chosen this is as her base of operations. You’d have to be a lunatic or a genius to pilot something so large as the USS Hera through this system, forget about performing maneuvers or actual space combat. Fortunately the Hera had both, and as she would be on an away mission in a far smaller warship, Rita would have to be confident in young Miss Dox and Mona Gonadie to keep the starship clear of catastrophe.

Life in Starfleet was about trusting one’s shipmates to get the job done, and that was what Rita would have to do.

Debating launching the next series of stealth probes, Rita consulted the timestamp on the probe’s datastream. 45 minutes ago she had requested that the captain join her in Stellar cartography, ideally to authorize launch of the probe as well as analyzing the incoming data. But no one had shown, and now she debated launching the next wave of probes, which would attempt to decoy while stealth probed moved in over Meroset 347 itself, scouting the planet upon which Hera had settled and was using as a base to wage war with the rest of the universe.

“Never assume authority, seek permission from the chain of command,” Paris sighed, quoting a rulebook she’d read 140 years ago. Tapping her left breast, her comm badge chirruped cheerfully.

“Lieutenant Commader Paris to Captain Telvan. Permission to launch the second wave of probes, ma’am?”

Rather than replying to the call over the comms, the door to Stellar Cartography opened, revealing the Captain herself in a somewhat disheveled state. Pausing just inside the door, she tugged down on her uniform, smoothed it out, and tucked her hair back in place before proceeding further in.

"Yes, I believe we're ready for that. Sorry for being late. I just got off the comms with Command. Apparently they sent another Oberth class full of ambassadors - this one had a mix of races that were all women. We should be able to see the remains at around Lagrange seventeen I think..." Stepping up to the controls, Enalia tapped in the rough coordinates and found half a warp nacelle and part of a saucer in a cloud of debris. "Yeah that's the Cairn's Worthy... Looks like they've been stripping the pods off the bottom to make it in-system, too. Let's send one of the probes near there to see if we can find the mission data recorder. Other than that, stick with the previous scanning pattern."

Taking in everything that was being said, Paris noted the locale and the data, then refocused. “Captain, what’s going on? You’re never late and you are a, ah, bit out of sorts. Anything I should know about?”

While Paris would never have such a discussion on the bridge nor in front of a member of the crew, Stellar Cartography was currently devoid of personnel, for security reasons. Because while she had not been instructed to do so, the First Officer did not want any findings making the rounds as scuttlebutt around the USS Hera. This mission was already incredibly dangerous and potentially deadly. The last thing that was needed was for the crew to be disseminating potentially demoralizing information before the mission engaged.

Thus, it being just the two of them, the old-school officer took a chance to broach protocol a bit and exhibit some degree of concern for her somewhat out of sorts commanding officer.

Enalia paused for a moment, not entirely sure how to answer that question, or even if she should. Eventually, she looked up from the controls to the holography of the wreckage. "It wasn't entirely an ambassadorial mission. Commodore Farenia Meowlith, our liaison from Intel Command was the mission lead. She was..." The words caught in her throat as she looked back down at the console. It took her a moment to recompose herself in front of Rita. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. Just old personal feelings getting in the way again. She's been volunteering for dangerous missions like this since our academy days so it's nothing new."

“I think I understand, ma’am,” Paris wrapped an arm around the captain’s shoulders and gave a squeeze. Again, it was nothing she would ever consider doing in front of the crew, but they were alone. The Commodore had been brought up before, so Rita knew of her significance to the starship captain. “Given your relationship I understand, ma’am. Now it’s a little more personal for you. From what you’ve said, the Commodore’s a survivor, ma’am. We’ll find her.”

The half hug was comforting, to say the least. Enalia rested one hand on the hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze back. "That's true. She somehow survived Miltor five, the Master's infection, the Giltan pits, nearly being eaten by sehlats, and so many other things. I'm sure this is just another walk in the park for her. A really messed up park..." Sighing softly, the spotted woman looked back up at the wreckage before zooming back out to the whole system view. "Let's get those probes going, shall we?"

A good officer knew when to press the boundaries and when to take a cue, and Rita Paris had been doing this for a very long time now. Patting the captain’s back reassuringly, the fulsome first officer turned her attention to the holographic display of the Merkoset system, then pressed the button authorizing the launch of the next set of probes. This in turn would trigger the launch of the secondary stealth probes. “Probes are away, Captain. We should begin receiving initial telemetry within 90 seconds.”

Silently Rita eyed the tiny debris field that had once been a starship, and worried all over again. The Oberth class was one that had been in service since nearly her time, and were not known for their offensive nor defensive capabilities. The Hera would fare better, she was confident, but it still worried her. The captain would be in command, and both Dox and Monadie were able pilots. They would be fighting a battle on multiple fronts, and Captain Telvan knew when to cut her losses and run.

This will be quite the crucible for our Miss Dox,” Paris opined, killing time by discussing particulars. “I have high hopes for her. I’m considering recommending promoting her to CFCO if she performs well on this mission. Your thoughts?”

"Do you know what one of the hardest things I had to ever admit was?" Enalia asked, glancing over at Rita. "That at the height of my piloting career, there was a better pilot than me out there. You know what I did when that day happened? I made both of them my CFCO. Mona forwarded me the recent simulation results and though they were a bit shaky... I think she has promise. If this mission goes well, the position is hers."

“Why captain, I did not know you had such pride in your skills,” Rita replied, not in a mocking but a soft surprised tone. “Well, for what it’s worth, you are likely still a better pilot than me. I’ve spent too much time on so many other positions that I never really excelled at any of them. Now that most of my comms skills are basically useless and my piloting is perpetually trying to catch up, the only thing I might be decent at is navigation, which is tactical now? But even then, I am not up to date on all of the phase modulation strategies and such.”

“Long and short ma’am, you are still a better pilot than I ever was. And I agree, Dox has what it takes, if she can make it through this mission.” Paris left out the unspoken ‘assuming we all survive this mission’, because both women knew the risks, and it was not in her nature to belabor the negative.

“Probes are entering system now, ma’am,” the first officer observed. “Decoys are in the lead- let’s see how observant our wayward goddess is, shall we?”

After a few moments, the first decoy blinked out. A few more seconds and the second one did as well. The third decoy seemed to pass by the system patrol chariots unhindered though. "That was unexpected. I wonder why..." Enalia punched up the data feed from the last decoy and saw that it was being chased down a bit slower than the rest. "Ah, I see. They're letting us scan a bit before they take it out - letting us know they know we're here." After a couple more moments the last decoy was taken out with no sign of pursuit on the stealth probes.

“Well, aren’t they confident. Here’s to Lieutenant Clement’s decoy plan- looks like it’s working. Now to see if things change when they achieve orbit,” Paris observed. “I’m going to need some intel if we’re going to come up with some brilliant plan to cripple an army and a space fleet…”

"We'll have to have a match in the sims later..." Enalia tapped at the controls to check the resolution before staring back at the planet Hera had chosen as her stronghold. "Telemetry looks like it's coming in now. Probes are reading a sort of manufacturing district on the southern continent."

“You are SO on, Captain. It’ll be something to look forward to after the mission,” Paris responded distractedly as she reviewed the data, occasionally poking at a control, making the wrong choice, backing up and trying again.

Side by side with her as they worked, it was clear to the commanding officer that her second in command did not have an intuitive grasp of the technologies with which she was working, nor any actual training. Instead the anachronistic astronaut was poking at the interface through trial and error to accomplish her goals. While she never asked for help nor uttered a word of complaint, it did clearly demonstrate the struggle which Paris routinely faced interacting with the advanced technology with which she had no training nor aptitude. Instead she seemed to function on pluck, determination and an unwillingness to give up.

Enalia sighed and stepped back, deciding to pay more attention to the scans than the console. "Computer, switch controls to Constitution series Scotts three." With a chirrup, the computer replied, reconfiguring the console layout into that resembling a freshly refit Constitution class. There were even a series of seemingly useless chunky lights at the top of the console now, happily blinking away. The pale blue LCARS may have been still a bit newer than Rita's era, but it was at least closer and designed by the leading engineer from then. Enalia just hoped she found it more intuitive.

While the modern throwback's instinct was to belay the order and argue that she had to learn to adapt to the modern day, this mission was too important for ego to get in the way. If Rita screwed up with one of the probes it could jeopardize the entire mission, and lives would be riding on that data, including hers. Instead her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she said nothing as her fingers danced over familiar controls and systems she had been trained on only three years prior, although they were 130 years out of date.

Swallowing one's pride was never easy, but for the good of the mission, Rita did just that, and did her job.

"There's a very big power output from underground there on the smaller subcontinent, but it's obscured... appears to be underground. The generators you think?" Paris observed as the probe made its initial pass over the region of the planet.

"Most likely. Computer, add panel Artan Niner Gamma to the workstation." With a further chirrup, the computer complied as Enalia looked over the decidedly piratical clear glass pane that had been added to one side of the console, out of Rita's way. It showed the scan patterns in a way that most people would find dizzying, but the spotted woman seemed to understand quite well as she tapped on it to zoom in on the indicated subcontinent and study the raw power readings more in-depth. "Yeah, these signatures look like the scans we've gotten from others of her kind. This also matches where the Diplo Corps have sent their failed delegations as well."

Clicking a few of the rocker switches and pressing one of the blinking lit buttons, Rita refined her search. “Wow… that is a very serious output. I’m not getting much from the readings as far as energy type… can we refine the search? And if this is an underground facility, team Selune will have to be very careful not to bring the mountain down on top of themselves.”

"The probe should automatically adjust on the next pass. Let's see what it comes back with before we send out any commands and risk giving away our own position." Enalia tapped her own screen a few times, studying the data as the second pass telemetry started coming in. "It looks like there's a series of catacombs that lead out the back side of the mountain that we might be able to use to our advantage at least."

Absorbing the data as it came in, the officer of another age noted what the captain was seeing, even as the second probe reported another find. “Looks like we found the chariot factory. It seems the complex is part of an active volcano… well, that just made itself a whole lot easier to deal with…”

There was the moment of decision- Rita had been curious but not wanting to press the point. But given the nature of their lives and the limited amount of time the two spent alone, now seemed as good a time as any. Marking another concentration that looked like a training facility of some sort, the chronally-cosmonaut pressed on with the task at hand while inquiring into a personal matter. “The Counselor really set you off with her little display in 10-Forward when she was onboarding. May I respectfully ask what that was all about?”

"You can ask all the questions you want." Enalia kept her focus on the data coming in as the sounds of Stellar Cartography reigned for a while. Then she sighed and relented. "But I suppose you deserve some sort of an answer. During project Gemini, a quantum cloning experiment went wrong and a demonverse clone of the Hera was sucked into existence. My counterpart killed her crew, destroyed her ship, and ejected the bridge module. After trying to destroy her for several days we finally found a way to capture and quarantine her. That's when she found out we could share our thoughts and dreams to an extent. Years passed. Nightmares... I eventually broke her out of the lab she was being kept in to find a way to finally get rid of her. She did that for me, in a way.”

Pausing for a moment to collect herself, Enalia knew it would be better to talk about it in the long run. "She escaped from her brig cell, stole a tri-cobalt bomb, beamed down to Selen Six during a time travel mission, and used it to try to kill the Master, the man we were after ourselves. It blew away about twenty percent of the planet and cracked it to pieces. Everyone on it was instantly killed of course. My great grandmother, Enalia Artan, made her fortune salvaging the aftermath."

“So… telepathy brings back memories of the nightmares?” Paris ventured. Somehow the story of the Demonverse, while all news to her, did not strike her as the least bit implausible not surprising. While she might not know how to operate a probe seven generations more advanced than her training, accepting the weirdness and bizarre realities of the universe were something with which the accidental extradimensional explorer had no issue. After all, she was quite the living representative of such occurrences.

"Having voices in my head like that does." Enalia didn't feel like clarifying so she left it at that. She had worked hard to block or get rid of that damned voice and after all this time it was finally gone. She didn't need some telepath reminding her of it every time they wanted to show off.

“Looks like clear supply lines…” Paris deftly changed the subject. ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ was a mood she didn't have to be an empath to read off the commanding officer, and she respected it. This affected no one but the captain, so Rita filed it away for the future. “You reckon that’s the capitol city there, or just the primary military base? Or both? I notice there are no broadcasts to speak of that we’re picking up. How do you figure they are transmitting data and orders, manually? Maintain control by limiting communications?” Paris clicked another rocker switch and tuned a dial.

"Yeah, nothing. How are they coordinating those space chariots?" Flipping open a panel a window opened in the display and Rita wound the knob back, reviewing data til she came to the last probe. Tuning the scanner feed she watched the weaponry of the chariot flare.

"Odds are they're using a hyperband of subspace buried in the noise floor. That's Command's working theory, anyway. Unfortunately, the only comm equipment Starfleet has that's been able to even pick up what we think is their comm signals is the Midas array." Enalia tapped her panel a few more times as she noticed one of the probes had attracted some attention.

Silver and gold lights lanced out from the canons of the chariot that had chased down the probe. Telemetry came in on all three, but it would take a bit to process the mass of data. "That looks like... Are they generating straight up concentrated solar flares as weapons? We'll have to use the metaphasic shields."

“Well, that’s two mysteries solved. If it’s subspace at least we can jam it when the time comes… I’ll alert Lieutenant Dauntless to prepare,” Rita strategized. “Counselor is still insisting on speaking to Hera personally because she somehow believes she is better at this than three crews of actual diplomats. At this point I’m inclined to let her have her shot- if she surprises us it could bring this conflict to a swift closure.”

Enalia grunted at the thought. "And at the worst we send her to her death and she's a minor distraction to Hera." She thought about it a moment longer. "She's the kind of person I'd shoot myself, if the reports I'm getting on her are true. I'll have Ila pop her down there as soon as the mission starts."

While the first officer was less expedient than the captain when it came to such matters, she’d exhausted options with the Counselor in trying to reach her. So it was easier to just let her try the suicide mission she kept insisting on rather than to continue arguing with someone who seemed incapable of listening. “Aye ma’am, I’ll send the report. And we’ll have a security detail on hand, because I don’t trust her alone with anyone, let alone Dedjoy in the Intel pod. The ensign has made a few too many very clear threats about what she can do to people’s minds for my taste.”

“All right, I think I’ve identified our mission objectives, as well as the rough outline for the Selune’s team. All of the unforeseen aside, I think we’ve got a good shot at pulling this off.” Given that it was just the two of them, Paris laid a hand on the captain’s shoulder. “Dox will give you her all on the bridge, and I’m counting on those sneaky tricks of yours to keep the Hera safe, ma’am. I promise to bring the team back- you’ll make sure we have a ship to come home to, right?”

It wasn’t a speech intended to inspire. Instead, this was the first officer seeking some assurance from her captain. Paris could be brave and confident and assured with every other member of the crew. But the one person she could seek a little reassurance from would be Captain Telvan.

Enalia gave her a very piratical, yet elegant lopsided grin that men had written songs about. "There are two reasons Starfleet sends me for missions like this. No one else is crazy enough, and no one else can get results like I do. Don't worry. You've not seen any of my actual tricks yet. Speaking of which... Make sure Thex gives the tractors and sensors a once over. They'll be quite useful in this battle."

“Aye, ma’am,” Paris smiled, appreciating the gesture. “Care to clue me in as to why?”

"Have you ever used a nutcracker?" Enalia asked, her grin widening. "With all these asteroids, we can easily use the tractor to line up these sixty meter long chariots between the saucer and an asteroid or two and just pop them real quick like a nut. I used to do it all the time with the Lady's Gambit. it's hard on the shields, but I know we can take it. If their ships are built like the one the Asgard destroyed, they can't."

“Remind me to tell you about the time I used the deflectors in reverse and dragged an asteroid field over a mobile carrier by piloting the starship in reverse,” Paris shot back. “I’ll ask Thex to give them a tune-up before we deploy tomorrow. I’d expect a few tricks out of Miss Dox as well- I taught her one or two and she comes from smugglers- I’m sure she will surprise you tomorrow while she’s learning old salt tricks.”

“I think we’ve got what we need, ma’am. We’ll leave the satellites active so you might still get telemetry if we don’t call in. We’ll get the job done, one way or the other. I’ll have three of the smartest people on the ship with me, and we’ll get it worked out.” While she still had not the first inkling of a plan, Rita was reasonably confident that when the chips were down she’d come up with… something. Her service record that didn’t exist in this universe was a testament to her ingenuity, and she had Sonak beside her. The two of them together had never failed yet.

 

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