Stardate:90513.1412
Scene: Docking Bay, DS101
J'nete and Brax stepped from the docking port onto the station.
Right behind them Ly'ta followed. Once on the station J'nete and Brax
turned to Ly'ta.
"Thank you for taking us to the depot.", said J'nete.
"The daughter of John Roberts will always have my service.", said
Ly'ta.
"Next time stay out of the negotiations.",gruffed Brax. "You
scared the depot master half to death."
Ly'ta gave Brax a glare of impatience. Brax, taking a deep breath,
shrunk behind J'nete, who only smiled.
"Will you stay to see father?", asked J'nete.
Ly'ta touched J'nete's face with her hand. "I'm afraid not, my
child. My ship is off to seek out the Dergrad renegades who attacked a
Klingon freighter a few weeks ago. When that is complete I will return.
Until then J'nete, daughter of Roberts...Kapla!"
"Goodbye.", said J'nete. Ly'ta turned and walked back to her ship,
the docking bay closing behind her.
"Well I'm glad she's gone. Klingons are so uptight.", said Brax.
"What are you going to do now?",asked J'nete.
"Go see Nancy and gloat how I got three runabouts for the company,
even if they aren't flightworthy yet. Come by later to confirm my great
negotiating skills to Nancy." With that Brax headed out from the docking
area to the Mall.
"Computer, locate Ensign John Roberts.", said J'nete.
"Lt.Roberts is no longer on the station."
"Lt? He got promoted.", said J'nte happily. "Current whereabouts
of Lt. Roberts."
"Lt. Roberts last known location was the USS BANGLADORE."
"Maybe I should go see the Captain.",thought J'nete. "Father did
want me to meet him. Might as well find out what mission father is on."
Scene: Bridge, USS BANGLADORE
Roberts made a few adjustments to the sensor array. "Confirmed.
The readings are genuine. Alyza, take a look at this."
Alyza rose fromthe command chair and joined Hogan and Roberts at
the science console. She was intrigued by what they found.
"Curious.It seems that preliminary long range analysis of the
planet overlooked this.", said the Cmdr. in her calm voice. Can you
pinpoint it's exact origin?"
Roberts shook his head. "Not from this distance. All that we can
determine is that it is coming from the largest continent on the planet."
"Can you determine if the radio waves are transmitting
messages?",asked Alyza.
"Been trying that.", said Hogan,interrupting Roberts and Alyza.
"The energy pattern of the waves indicate that the signal has a limited
range. Whether it's because it was designed like that or a weak power
source I don't know."
"Cmdr. I recommend that we increase speed to arrive at the planet
earlier.", said Roberts.
"From the limited readings it would seem these radio waves are not
going anywhere.", said Alyza.
"True, but we don't know the origin of these waves. It could be
the planet, or maybe a downed interstellar ship not equipped with subspace
technology. If these waves cease we may not be able to precisely locate
them again. The continent is quite large."
Respectfully submitted
Robert Stadnik
Lt. John Roberts
Specialist, currently Chief Operations Officer
Deep Space 101
stadnr01@student.ucr.edu
**SD: 90513**
**Scene: Bangalore Bridge**
Selak finished the diagnostic on the starboard thruster. He read the
output from the computer readout and frowned.
"Lt. Roberts, I have finished that diagnostic but it has thrown up a
problem." He said.
"What's that?" Replied Roberts, as he walked over to where Selak
was sat reviewing the data.
"The problem seems to have corrected itself as you presumed,
however, I don't think that the problem was software in the first
place."
"What do you base that idea on Ensign?"
"I'm not sure, it's just that I have a feeling it was more than that."
Roberts looked hard at the Vulcan. "Let me get this right. The
computer says that it has been fixed, but you don't believe it."
"Yes sir. I would like permission to examine the thruster personally."
Replied Selak.
"Very well, permission granted." Said Roberts. He knew that Vulcans
could be a little over cautious at times, but they generally weren't
alarmist without reason.
It didn't take Selak long to find the problem, a faulty chip in the
thruster relay was giving the computer a false reading. After 30
minutes work, the relay and thruster were fixed.
"Ensign Selak, there has been a message from DS 101 for you."
Said Alyza, as he returned to the Bridge. "Your father will be on the
station when we get back."
Zack looked at the puzzled look on the Vulcan's face. "What's the
problem Selak, I thought you would enjoy a visit from your dad."
Alyza also looked at Selak, only she understood why the Ensign was
concerned. Selak's father was a full Vulcan.
"Vulcans do not usually make social calls." Said Selak. "Unless
something has happened that can not be transmitted across
subspace."
"Well it can't be that bad, or else he would not be waiting at the
station for you to return." Said Zack trying to reassure him.
Selak said nothing as he took his place at the conn.
"His service record states that he is a retired Starfleet Admiral, yet
his
final posting was Captain of the USS Sutherland." Said Alyza, with
perfect recollection of Selak's service record.
"He refused promotion four times, believing that he was better suited
to being a Captain. Finally he accepted on the condition that he be
allowed to remain in command of his ship. He never felt comfortable
being called Admiral."
"Have you managed to get any more information on those radio
signals?" Said Alyza, turning toward Hogan and Roberts.
"Not yet, but we are still working on it." Answered Lt Hogan.
"We may have to wait until we reach the planet before we Know the
answers." Commented Alyza.
Respectfully submitted
Shaun
Ensign Selak FCO/CNO
DS 101
SD 90513.1806 EST
Scene: Bridge of the USS Bangalore
"Very well Lt." Alyza said to Roberts. Turning to Selek, she ordered,
increase speed to warp factor 5"
Selek exceuted the order effeciently, even though the issue of why his
father was on DS 101 was on his mind. The arrived at the planet 2 hours
later. The radio wave was still being emitted.
"Lt. Roberts, scan the planet for life forms, and pinpoint the source of
the radio wave."
Roberts moved to the ops station, relieving the ensign sitting there, and
scanned the planet.
"Preliminary scans indicate that the life-forms are carbon based, and the
vegitation has a ph in the acceptable range to sustain such life-forms.
The radio wave is locate approximately within a 4 km radius of 020, 340, 201"
"Why are you only able to get an approximate reading, Lt?" inquired Alyza
"There is some sort of interference produced by the atmosphere of the
planet. The scanners of the Bangalore cannot break through the interference."
"Will that interfere with a tricorder on the planet surface?"
"I don't think so, it seems to be just an atmospheric interference."
replied Roberts
"Very well. As Captain Ruane orders, Selek and I shall be one team,
Roberts and McLeary another. Lt. Hogan, you have the bridge."
"I object. I should be on the surface, incase of trouble." said Hogan.
"Objection noted. However, it is logical that an officer with some
experience remain on board the Bangalore. Should one of the landing
parties encounter difficulty, you may beam down a security team to
reinforce them. Should the Bangalore come under attack, it will be your
job to keep it safe, even if that means leaving us behind"
"Understood, LtCmdr. I recommend each team carry 1 phaser rifle, just to
be on the safe side."
"Agreed"
The parties armed themselves, both Roberts and Selek carrying a phaser
rifle, McLeary and Alyza a standard phaser. Alyza set the coordinates for
Roberts and McLeary at one edge of the 4 sq km area, and for her and Selek
in the other.
"Remember, though we seek to find the origin of the radio waves, we also
want a detailed analysis of the planet's lower atmosphere, sismic
activities, plant and animal lifeforms. We will start within the area of
the radio waves' location, but we will have to make further scans latter of
other areas. Keep in touch with me and with the Bangalore."
A chorus of "aye sir" and "yes, ma'am"s followed.
Roberts and McLeary materialized first, followed by Alyza and Selek at 3 km
distance. It was not long before they noticed that the interference was not
limited to the atmosphere. Something was interfering with both their
tricorder and their communicators. Their connection to each other was full
of static, bearly understandable, at least for the humans. The could not
contact the Bangalore at all. It would be 1 hour before Lt. Hogan would
even begin to worry...
Live long and prosper \\//
Gretchen A. Haas
Stardate: 90510- 0745
Scene: Planet Surface
ds101@protv.ro
McLeary turned to Roberts. "Well, isnt this place a humbling
experience." saying this with a little bit of sarcasm. The area was
desolate. Sand in most every direction with some slight touches of
greenery barley visible on the horizon. Rock outcroppings lift
above the sand in every direction and some are quite large. Not quite
mountains but rock hills never the less.
"Yah, this is going to be real fun" answered the Lieutenant. "Your
first mission?"
"Yes sir. Other than the time I have spent studying the alien computer
core, this is my first job." Mick took out his tricorder, set it for
carbon based life and began to scan. "Man, this interference is
terrible. We can barely scan ahead 100 meters. This is going to be
slow."
[[Roberts to Alyza!]] the Lieutenant hitting his comm badge.
Slightly garbled, Alyza responded. [[Go ahead]]
[[Use of the Tricorders is limited due to magnetic and electrical
interference. We cant even relate our coordinates to you at this
time. We are in a sandy desert region with large outcropping of
rocks. Visibility is ok though and we see vegetation, or what we
think is vegetation, on the horizon. I will have McLeary try to gain
some direction of your location when you respond. We await your
orders. Roberts out.]]
[[Only got...........mission. Broken up due to same .......ference.
Understand you see vegetation. Check coord........possible.]] Alyzas
voice came and went with each sentence.
"That is not good. We are going to have to find some location were we
can develop better communications. Did you get a fix?" Roberts
asked.
"Yes, I think. They are about 3 kilometers over there." Mick pointed
to his right. Who the heck knew if that was north, south, east, or
west.
Roberts reported. [[We have a directional fix.]]
Submitted:
Chuck Stotz
Ensign Michael McLeary
**SD: 90514**
**Scene: The planet's surface**
Selak had spent 10 minutes trying to re-tune the Tricorder to get
some sort of reading, without much success.
"The best I can get is a range of about 50 metres, but even that is very
patchy." Said Selak.
Alyza looked at the readings from Selak's Tricorder. "At least it
should tell us if anyone comes along."
"I have had a thought about that. It seems to much of a coincidence
that there is so much static down on the planet that could not be
detected from orbit."
"What are you getting at Ensign?" Asked Alyza.
"This would make a good place to have some sort of hidden camp.
The Static from the atmosphere is hiding almost everything down
here and the radio waves are not a standard form of communication."
"I must admit that it intriguing why anyone would want to use that
form of communication."
"Almost as if they did not want to be overheard by anybody. Radio is
not routinely scanned. If they used a standard scrambled channel, it
would be secure, but it would alert someone to their presence."
"It sounds logical but it is still speculation." Said Alyza.
"If it is true, there are two other points to consider. If the radio
message was meant for someone else, then the Bangalore might be
getting company soon." Said Selak.
"And the other point?"
"If someone has chosen this planet for a base of operations, then they
might know how to scan through all this static, especially if it is
artificially created. In which case they probably Know we are here."
Alyza considered Selak's ideas for a moment. "I think we should set
off in search of the signal, but with extreme caution just in case.
Don't forget, they may just have crashed and be in need of help."
NRPG: Just some initial thoughts on the subject. I have deliberately
not said whether we beamed down in the desert or the forest.
(Because my geography is not up to trying to work out the
co-ordinates Gretchen posted.) Also that is not relevant to this post.
Someone might have a good plot line for one of them, so I
deliberately left it out.
Respectfully submitted
Shaun
Ensign Selak FCO/CNO
DS 101
Stardate:90515.1824
Scene: Planet
Both Roberts and McLeary walked in the direction they picked up
Alyza and Selak. Roberts was busy making adjustments to his tricorder,
which was opened up, exposing its circuits and pathways.
"Trying to cut through the interference?", asked McLeary.
Roberts merely nodded, seemingly entranced by the task at hand.
Seeing his studious face, McLeary decided to check to see if he could get
anymore readings.
After trying to scan the surrounding area unsuccessfully, McLeary
felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to face Roberts.
"Let me see your phaser.", said Roberts. McLeary complied and
handed his phaser over to Roberts. Roberts used his tricorder and scanned
the phaser. That done, Roberts checked the readings on the phaser readout.
"Phaser discharged will be extremely unstable if we use them.",
said Roberts simply, handing the phaser back to McLeary.
"Are the phasers useless?", asked McLeary.
"Not useless. But I wouldn't want to be near one if it fired.
There some energy field being concealed by the interference. but I can't
make out what it is."
"Maybe it's the interference itself.", offered McLeary.
"No, what were scanning wouldn't cause the energy discharge to go
rampant on a phaser.", said Roberts. He tapped his comm badge. "Roberts to
Alyza."
[zzzzAly...zzzz]
Static took over the comm signal.
"If we were getting near them, the comm signal would have
improved.", said McLeary.
Roberts nodded in agreement. "Either we're going farther away from
them or the interference has gotten worse."
"Somehow I don't think it's a mere coincidence.", said McLeary.
"Neither do I. My instincts tell me something is amiss here. We
better keep moving. We'll continue to try contacting Alyza and Selak and
try cutting through this interference."
Respectfully submitted
Robert Stadnik
Lt. John Roberts
Specialist, currently Chief Operations Officer
Deep Space 101
Stardate: 90515.2325
Scene: Bridge; USS BANGALORE
The hum of the BANGLAORE's environmental systems almost drowned out the
steady thrumming of Zack's fingers on the command chair. It had been one
hour since the beam down and no word came up from the surface from either
of the two away teams. Needless to say, Zack was concerned.
"Anything else on breaking through this interference?" Zack addressed the
question to the sandy-haired human female ensign at the ops station.
"No sir," she replied in a slightly shaky voice.
*Probably her first tour of duty* considered Zack.
"We can't even tell if the interference pattern is artificial or a natural
occurence," she added.
"Thank you ensign." Swiveling the command chair, Zack turned to face
Ip'sc who stood quietly off to the side. "Someone should go down to their
last known coordinates."
Ip'sc's eyebrow raised, "Rather blunt aren't we Lt."
"I take it you're volunteering then."
Ip'sc began to open his mouth, but understood the situation all too well.
Hogan had to stay in command here. The ship had too many green ensigns
and enlisted personnnel running around. Besides Alyza had left him in
charge.
"Alright," stated Ip'sc as he headed for the lift.
"Wait a second Mister." Zack tapped his comm badge. "Hogan to Marcus."
["Marcus here sir."] came the immediate reply.
"Prepare a landing party of four. Three from our security detail and one
of those technicians from sickbay. Furthermore, Mister Ip'sc will be
accompanying you. Take some pattern enhancers with you also."
["Aye, sir. Anything else?"]
"Make sure you arm yourselves too. Hogan out."
"Expecting a less than warm reception down there Lt?" queried Ip'sc.
"I am not sure what to expect down there, right now. Please Mister Ip'sc,
right now time is of the essence."
Ip'sc left the bridge with Hogan's warnings ringing in his ears.
Something definitely unusual was happening around them, and the answers
probably were down on that planet.
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Thigpen
DS 101 CSO
Lt(jg) Zachary M. Hogan
**SD: 90516**
**Scene: The planet's surface**
Selak was beginning to wonder if the heat might be affecting Alyza.
Ordinarily, Vulcans could cope with it a lot better than Humans, but
Alyza's condition placed an extra strain on her body.
Still, if she had not been up to the mission, she would not have come
in the first place. She did not have an ego to bruise or feel the need
to
prove herself. However, they would have to make an attempt to find
water soon, especially if they could not communicate with the ship.
The information they had managed to get from the Tricorder on the
interference had told them that transporting back could be risky,
in fact they had been quite lucky to make it down in the first place.
"I believe I have an idea that might increase the power of the
communicators." Said Selak.
"How?"
"I will attempt to replace the low power subspace field emitter, in the
communicator with the higher powered one in one of the Tricorders.
They both share the same data transmission protocols." Said Selak.
"Very well. That will mean, however, that we will only have one
working Tricorder." Alyza replied.
After about 20 minutes work, He was ready to give it a try.
"It is still not quite powerful enough to reach the ship, but I believe
we should now be able to contact the others." Said Selak.
"Selak to Lt Roberts, do you read....................Lt Roberts, come
in."
[Roberts here, good to hear you. You are feint but clear. How did
you get the communicators working again?]
Selak went into detail of how he had managed it. "Do you have
anything to report?"
Ip'sc, three security personnel and a sickbay tech have beamed down
to our location. They have brought some pattern enhancers with
them. Oh, and one other thing, there is some sort of energy field that
will interfere with the phasers if you attempt to fire. Be advised that
it could be dangerous to use them.]
"Very well, at our current speed we should meet up with you in about
30 minutes. Selak out."
"Well done Ensign." Said Alyza.
Selak could not help feeling a little pleased with himself. Vulcans did
not offer praise to other Vulcans very often, but in this case, she was
probably making allowances for his pretty unique personality.
"I think we should press on now Ensign." Alyza added.
They had only taken a few steps when the ground beneath their feet
started to sink. Before they could react, they were being sucked down
into the sand. The more they struggled, the more they were pulled
down, until finally they sunk below the surface. But to their surprise,
they suddenly found themselves falling into a large pit. sand was
pouring down all around them and as they reached the bottom, they
had to quickly scramble out of the way before they were buried alive
under a deluge of it.
"Are you all right?" Said Selak, as he got to his feet.
"Fine Ensign. Although I do not think we will be able to climb out
that way." She said, looking up at the shaft above them.
"All our equipment seems to be working." Said Selak, checking it
over. "I Guess we should investigate where this tunnel leads.
Hopefully there is another way out."
NRPG: According to the STTNG Technical Manual, where I got the
information about the communicators, comm badges on an away
mission are a "line-of-sight device." normally the signal is boosted
and relayed by the orbiting ship when needed. as this is not possible
in our case, Selak and Alyza should be out of communications range
again. Sorry.
Respectfully submitted
Shaun
Ensign Selak FCO/CNO
DS 101
SD 90518
SB Omega
Catherine Scott DiFalco's Office
Cat continually found herself amazed at the ingenuity of starfleet
engineering. Ensign Hi'Wee's support system was remarkable.
"I'm assigning you to DS101 as chief of enigineering, Ensign Hi'Wee.
Report to Captain Ruane. A D-warp shuttle is at your disposal." Cat
smiled as the enisign gave a modified salute with a flipper and left.
Catherine Scott DiFalco
Hi'Wee swam out of the D-Warp shuttle from Omega. He entered the
hallway ajacent the shuttlebay and flapped his tail as he rounded the
corner.
*Boy, this place sure does look organic.*
Two crewman worked on a near-by EPS router. They gave him a funny look
and then a "'sir." Hi'Wee nodded back and swam forward into a
turbolift, at least, that's what it sort of looked like.
"Deck 1, please." Hi'Wee's warm voice was reminisence of a gentle
father-figure. It really wasn't his voice, it was his translators. But
he had tweaked it to be the kindest warmest male voice that ever came
out of a Universal Translator.
The turbolift paused as it processed his command. It "wurr"ed for a
moment, stopped mid-deck and then started up again.
The computer's voice called out.
Hi'Wee swam out onto the deck. He turned into what he thought was CO's
office and got a rude awakening from a young ensign who was just getting
herself out of a stall. Hi'Wee made a hasty retreat out of the now
confirmed crew's head.
The other door lead correctly into the red-eyed Captain's Office.
"Ahh, Hi'Wee, hello."
NRPG:
All yours.
By the way, could you send me a description of the ships interior?
Doors, walls, OPS layout that sort of thing. And if you don't have it
would you mind if I made it up?
Thanks! Cheers to you too, Captain.
--
Lt. Robert Berdel
Chief Engineering Officer
U.S.S. Heracles, NCC-92001
"The Strenghth Within..."
Sparta Class Frigate
Ens. Hi'Wee
Chief Engineering Officer
Deep Space 101
-->Ryan R. Berdel
"Computer, time," requested Lt(jg) Zachary M. Hogan as he sat in the
command chair aboard the BANGALORE.
[The time is currently 1545 hours.]
*Great, its been over an hour since Ip'sc beamed down to rescue the others
and no word from any of them.*
Zack shifted in the command chair making it look as if he was moving to a
more comfortable position, but in his mind he knew the truth. He was damn
uneasy sitting in the center seat. Since no word had been heard from any
members of the crew on the planet, he had refused to permit anyone else to
beam down.
The BANGALORE's sensors were useless in cutting through the interference
from the planet. They couldn't even tell if the interference were natural
or artificial. Zack had his hunches though...which became a little more
than a hunch after the young ensign at ops opened her mouth.
"Sir, we've got a small craft that's just come out of warp on the edge of
the system!" she said excitedly.
"Alright ensign, calm yourself a bit," said Zack in his nicest voice.
"Do you detect any active sensors sweeps of the area?"
"Negative sir," replied the ensign more composed, "their sensors have yet
to detect us."
"Excellent," said Zack leaning back in the command chair just realizing
they he had been on the edge of the seat. "Can you ID the craft?"
"Negative, sir. The range is too great and with the unusual
interference..."
"Thank you ensign." Zack had heard enough. Already this routine
investigation was going with major 'hitches' popping up. So far, the away
teams were on the planet with communications severed. To top it off an
unidentified craft was coming out of warp at the edge of the system.
"Helm take us to the far side of the planet. Match that incoming vessel's
trajectory so that you keep us on the opposite side of the planet. We'll
use the planet as a shield to keep their sensors from detecting us."
The young ensign at ops turned and asked, "What about the away teams?"
"I'm betting that the ship experiences the same interference that we are.
I'm also betting that their sensors are less efficient than ours. We CAN
pick up what's going on on the other side of the planet. Either they
can't and will see us or they won't. Either way we can monitor what's
going on with the away team and that vessel. Now, you have your orders."
Zack could feel the gentle hum from the ship increase as the impulse
engines pushed her against the planet's gravity that held her. The
BANGALORE darted to the planet's darker side as the unknown vessel pulled
into a synchronous orbit right above the focus of the interference on
the planet's surface and the BANGALORE's away team's beam down
coordinates.
Zack began to worry.
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Thigpen
Lt(jg) Zachary M. Hogan
DS 101 CSO
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