Tiberius Recon

Posted on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 @ 7:36pm by Commodore Edward Fannin & Commander Jack Tolren

2,953 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: FORGING AHEAD
Location: USS Odin Bridge
Timeline: Current

ON

As the Odin continued along her patrol route, Francis had returned to the bridge after a brief visit to the head. He noticed a flashing light on the Ops terminal beside the centre seat. Just as he was about to point it out Patrick reached over and tapped the indicator and a message appeared on the screen.

**Fleet Message/Typhon Command**

Commander Tolren as your current mission allows would it be possible for you to conduct a small planet survey Of Tiberius V, We are looking for a area for some possible Human colonists all resources would be handy if available. Area needed would be enough to sustain less than 100 inhabitants. Keep it as far as possible from the Neyel settlement as possible.

Fannin / Out
**Message Complete**

Patrick received the message and decoded it. "Commander a message from the base Commander, Captain Fannin. Sir." Patrick took the message over to the Commander as he spoke. All ears were listening just as all eyes were discreetly averted.

"Right folks, it appears our good Captain has another job for us," Tolren announced to the bridge crew. "We're to conduct a survey of Tiberious Five and locate a suitable area for 100 people to settle; well away from the Neyel settlement. Any questions?"

"Laying course for Tiberius," Mandy said happily. Lee started downloading all the current surveys of the planet. Patrick looked at the Commander, "Sir does that mean some of us get to go to the surface?" There was both trepidation and hopefulness in his voice. The other Cadets all froze as waited for the answer.

"We may need to have a look around," Tolren replied, he could almost sense their excitement. "We'll see when we get there."

All five Cadets went back to work with eager anticipation. All had made trips to Federation planets in the course of their studies, but to be on a Frontier undevelopped world, well that was what they were training for! Talon smiled inwardly confident that if anyone went to the surface he would get to go as Security. Lee was checking the Surveys already done to narrow their search pattern. He was sure he would be chosen to take soil and water samples. Grant went back to Engineering to check on things. He was indifferent, machines were his thing. Patrick was trying hard to concentrate on long range scans as visions of living in a straw hut on a white sandy beach danced in his head.

Within twenty minutes Lee spoke up,"Commander Tolren, I think this might fit the requirements specified? Sending to you now."

Tolren looked down at the console beside the centre seat and nodded.

<>

"There are some cavern areas in the centre of the island too. Miss Travis, take us down to these co-ordinates," Tolren instructed. He sent co-ordinates near the coast to the helm.

Mandy about squealed and shot a triumphant look at Talon. "Course locked and moving to interface with atmosphere. Talon watched the viwscreen and made a small "ahem" noise then whispered "Your a little to steep." Lee was taking readings of the upper atmosphere for later use and he looked up quickly. Mandy had already started to level out a little and the buffeting lessened. Patrick strengthen the front shields to deal with the heat a little better and Bob watching from engineering grimanced.

Mandy entered a bit fast but brought the speed down and corrected her mistakes well. Not that it was a smooth ride and a couple of times the yaw seemed to almost be a problem. Despite the few handling issues she brought the down right on course and landed on the beach with a slight bump. She leaned over the console and sighed. Talon "Good job Mandy." He said it quietly so his voice would not carry far. Patrick whooped "We survived!". That earned a glare from Talon and Lee.

Lee spoke up "Atmospheric counts are all in the green Sir, We may have rain in an hour or so however." Mandy looked back as the shut down "Thank You Sir, I never flew one of these in Atmosphere before, just, you know on the holodeck. I appreciate your show of confidence." She fairly beamed as she spoke her pride in the accomplishment very evident. Bob came up from engineering, "Everything is is fine down below Sir, do you want any power for defensive measures while we are here?"

"Well done, Miss Travis, we're in one piece, I couldn't ask for more," Jack replied with a smile. He knew in the back of his mind that Lieutenant Francis was more than capable of recovering the ship from almost anything Mandy could do, so they were pretty safe in any event. "Let's keep fusion power online for defensive systems and sensors, shut down the warp core and prepare for a venture on the surface."

Grant nodded and went to the bridge console and typed in the commands. Bob looked over at the Commander, "Warp core shut down, power to defensive systems and sensors Sir, I can stay here to monitor if you like." Lee patted him on the shoulder as went to gather some equipment for soil and water testing. Brad went to the lockers and got three packs, three Phaser carbines and offered one each to Mandy and Patrick. Brad slung his pack on his back and checked his Rifle. Mandy laid her pack down and checked it. There was a one liter cup that would purify water when filled, a dozen nutrition bars, a lighter to start fires, a spare compass, flares, rainjacket, a first aid kit, and several other survival gear items. She then put her Pack on her back and then picked up the Carbine and began a check on it.

Patrick looked at the Carbine and to Commander Tolren, "Do I need this Sir, is just a hike right?"

"You were never in the Starfleet Scouts? Be prepared was their motto," Tolren replied with a smile. "Let's hope we don't need them."

Patrick started to sling his Carbine when Talon coughed lightly and nodded. Patrick grimaced and checked the Carbine, repeated with a touch of anger, "Saftey on, powercell full, no cracks or wear apparent, setting is '2'." He frowned at Talon "Satisfied oh great warrior?" Talon just smiled and lead the way to the hatch. He nodded at Mandy and she looked back to commander Tolren, "Ready to go Sir."

Lee came up behind the commander with a hover cart, carried over a hundred containers of various sizes and he had a tricorder in hand. There were implements for taking samples and all manner of probes and gizmoes for all manner of test and methods of gathering. "Science is on the job." He was the most enthusiastic of the bunch.

"Let's go," Tolren said, nodding to Lieutenant Francis, who, after receiving his own rifle, lead the way out of the bridge down to the lower deck and to the access ramp.

They waited a moment as the ramp lowered, the warm air from outside slipped gently in through the opening. Francis walked along the ramp as it touched the floor and was the first to step onto the planets surface. He pulled out his tricorder and glanced down at it, scanning for a moment.

"Same as sensors, we're clear."

Talon walked out and took a sentry position opposite Lieutenant Francis and then Mandy followed extending the perimeter Patrick walked out and kicked some sand and looked out over the ocean in wonder. Lee watched the Commander for permission to go, "Sir how much time do we have for collecting samples?"

"Two hours, tops, if you go out of sight of the ship, go in pairs," Tolren replied, reaching the bottom of the ramp and looking around with almost as much wonder as the cadets.

"Lee came bounding down the steps, Brad come with me, ok?" Talon nodded and followed Lee down to the waters edge. Patrick watched them go and started to wander down the coastline watching the waves and daydreaming of a surfing vacation. Mandy was also watching the scene around her although she was watching inland the different creatures were coming back to see what the noise had been all about. She started taking pictures of the tiny creatures she saw.

Tolren and Francis stood together at the bottom of the ramp, watching the cadets wander, "they're doing well, so far."

"Yep, Mike will be pleased with his little bunch," Francis replied. "I'd better go start doing some scanning."

He walked away waving his tricorder around steadily, they needed some soil and water samples, and a brief examination of the caves further inland.

"Make sure you get water samples, fresh and sea water," Francis called out, as he started heading towards the trees.

Lee turned "Yes Sir, as he pulled a container from the cart and walked into the surf. brad surveyed the water watching for any movement that didn't fit the pattern. Patrick also was now at the surfs edge and bent down to toss a rock out into the sea. Mandy saw Lieutenant Francis walking toward the treeline and fell into step beside him, "Mind if I tag with you Sir? Commander Tolren did say to stay paired up." She gave him a warm smile as the breeze scattered her hair.

"Of course, there are some caves further back I'd like to check out later, for now we need to gather some samples of the local plant life," Francis replied, smiling back while maintaining a professional tone.

Jack pulled out his tricorder and scanned towards the cliffs through the trees. This appeared to be the ideal location for the settlement, perhaps too ideal, were the Damron Group worth it, he wondered.

Lee was filling a container with sea water when Brad saw something large with a lot of teeth slash toward him. "Lee Back out now!" He called as spun the dial on his phaser rifle to '4'. Lee back pedalled away and tripped over his own feet as a six foot long shark scrambled out of the surf trying to bite him.

Talon fired twice at the thing first at the eye nearest to him and then at the front leg/fin appendage. It thrashed around but stopped trying to eat Lee. Brad kept his rifle on the creature as walked closer to Lee, "You ok?" Lee stumbled to his feet and right off recovered his tricorder to scan the thing.

Patrick looked up at the sound of the phaser and started to run toward the sound. Out of nowhere his feet were swept out from under him and something latched onto his backpack. His carbine went flying as he fell, and he lost his type-1 phaser as he got shook by the shark. He was hollering up a storm as flayed back and forth.

Tolren, immediately distracted by all the shouting was running over the soft sand towards Lee and Brad when he noticed Patrick go down. "JOE!" he shouted over to Francis, and pointed to Brad. Immediately Francis began a run along the harder sand of the beach as Tolren pulled the phaser from his belt and continued running.

Brad more or less dropped his Carbine in Lee's lap, as took off running toward Patrick, "I think it is dead but if it moves shoot it again. Brad was an athlete and the wet sand was fairly packed but it was still a hard run. Patrick was now as often as not between the men on the beach and the shark attacking him. Being dragged into the water. He got a mouthful of sand and water and started to sputter. Mandy ran beside Lieutenant Francis barely keeping up. She stopped to watch when he tried a shot.

Taking aim, Joe fired and hit the water beside the creature. "Damn!" he shouted, he needed to be closer.

With Patrick being swung to and fro Brad was afraid to take a shot, He drew his combat knife and leaped on Patrick with three swipes he cut the back pack free and only knicked Patrick once. The shark pulled back into the water then tossed the backpack and started back toward the two men. Brad rolled Patrick under himself as went for his Phaser pistol but it was gone. He bared his teeth and growled as held his knife ready.

Lee had gotten to his feet and backed his cart away as he watched Brad try to rescue Patrick, Lee was a decent shot and fired toward the shark as it charged back at the pair. His shots fizzed sparys of water but did little good. Grant came charging out of the with a medkit and ran hard toward his friends. Patrick for his part was barely concious anymore after being thrashed about by the shark then pounced on by Brad, barely able to breath because of the sand and water in his mouth. Patrick's mind was heading to his happy place.

Tolren and Francis were mere feet away from the shark when they let loose their phasers on heavy stun. The creature, clearly pained by the blast released it's prey and slinked backwards.

"Get him away from the water," Tolren instructed as he watched for anything else which might want them for lunch.

Brad rolled to his feet and Bob grabbed Patrick by the shirt collar Brad grabbed a shoulder and helped drag Patrick away from the water. Once clear Mandy started first aid and Bob helped her. Brad saw his Phaser type-1 and ran to get it. Lee joined the group as Patrick sputtered and sat up, leaned over and emptied his stomach. Lee held the carbine ready at port rest and moved the saftey back on. Brad revovered his Pistol and clipped it back to his belt. Then backed away from the shore.

Mandy disenfected the scratches and abrasions on both Patrick and then Brad. Bob gathered Patrick's carbine and began cleaning it and checking it out. It seemed to be ok, just some dirt and water in the barrel. Brad got his carbine back from Lee and took a third sentry position facing so could see the sea and the treeline.

"How are you feeling, Patrick?" Tolren asked, kneeling down beside the cadet.

"A bit foolish Commander Tolren, but other then some ugly cuts and bruises, I believe nothing is serious." Patrick stood on shakey legs, "if that huge lummox Talon had not crushed me I might be better." Patrick looked over at Talon, "Thanks my man, I will pay more attention the next time." Brad nodded "It would have saved you a few bruises."

Grant growled "Don't worry Commander, Patrick is standing and that means he has a heroic story for the ladies when we get back. By the time you hear about this on Typhoon he will have saved us all from a horrible death." Grant started cleaning up any debris they had created as finished talking. Lee chuckled, "Bob is right Commander Tolren, Unless he got some infection from the sharks he is fine." Lee laughed harder at Patrick when saw his expression as thought of possible infection.

Mandy called out "At ease" then glared at the group. "Disicpline gentlemen." She then slung her carbine and pilled out her PADD to record the event. Talon spoke up for the first time in a while, "Sorry Commander, I guess I should have stunned the other one like you did. I was afraid a stun would not stop it though." Before anyone else could speak Patrick chimed in, "Think that thing is edible, we could have a Luau!"

"For all you know Cadet it could be intelligent, and that's an important point of learning for you all; Starfleet responds with necessary and reasonable force and no more; try to stun unless the situation is dire," Tolren replied. "I think the fact it took shots from my phaser and the Lieutenant's rifle would suggest a stun setting from a single weapon wouldn't have been enough, but you prevented someone getting killed, so it's not a court martial offence this time."

Patrick lost his appetite when he heard the Commanders comment and tried to be small. Talon nodded, although he still felt justified in what he did, that thing was intent on eating his friend. Mandy saw the agitation in Talon's face, but only because she knew him well. Bob had finished cleaning up and bagged everything to be recycled. Lee grabbed Talon's arm "Come on lets get some tissue samples before the thing gets pulled back out and we have to deal with his cousins."

Lee and Talon went back t the waters edge and Lee gathered tissue samples and his water samples quickly and with practiced ease dispite his recent close call. Patrick moved closer to them to help cover Lee. He was not about to wander off alone for a while.

Mandy looked at Lieutenant Francis, "Shows over Sir, ready to get back to work?" She asked quietly unsure if he was going to add anything to the conversation.

"Let's go, no point delaying it now there's no drama," Francis replied, swapping his rifle for a tricorder.

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