Works for Us - Part One

Posted on Thu Mar 5th, 2020 @ 12:25am by Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi & Lieutenant Commander Raymond Sims

Mission: Mission 54: Where Snow Meets Sky
Location: Various Locations - Battlecruiser Ryazar's Shield
Timeline: Dec 9th 2391

The Akurian battle cruiser Ryazar's shield, along with the USS Antarctica, USS Ark Royal, USS Trafalgar, USS Coral Sea and Three Akurian Destroyers dropped out of warp in the B Kayor system. Ryuukei took a moment to examine the system while the ships of the group sent our their preliminary scans. The federation had surveyed the planet over a century ago, but decided not to colonize the system, and Ryuukei never really understood why. B Kayor IV, a large bluish purple gas giant had a fully habitable earth sized moon orbiting it and two other moons with breathable atmospheres. B Kayor V was a very cold planet, but still had a breathable atmosphere and primitive life.

But it was B Kayor IVc that looked the most promising. The moon had a diameter of 6703 km, and a mean surface temperature of 13.7 degrees Celsius, and it orbited its parent gas giant at a distance of about 720,000 kilometers. Life was fairly primitive, limited mainly to plant life and aquatic life. Insect population wasn't even very high. The terrain was on the rough side, due to the moon forming next to a gas giant, the highest mountain peaks got to 24 kilometers in height. The survey also revealed deep oceans and a surprisingly warm ocean temperature, which drove large weather cycles, making many areas of the planet quite rainy. The day night cycle was quite long, at 92 hours, combined with extensive tidal activity, Ryuukei guessed those where the reasons the federation never settled the planet. However the planet was quite similar to his own planet, Osa, which also orbited a gas giant, so it was very much like home to him.

After a few minutes Kasana gave her assessment. "Well this system looks quite promising. The scans are consistent with the old surveys of the system."

Ryuukei nodded," Well that survey is missing a lot of information, so we definitely need to take a trip down there for ourselves and do more than the halfway done survey that the federation did."

Meanwhile on the bridge of the USS Antarctica. Captain Keyan Farlander was sitting in his command chair as his Chief Science officer was almost drooling to get to work. Keyan smiled as he turned his head to his left. "So... Sandy, you ready to go to work?"

The blonde woman smiled at her skipper. "Am I that obvious?"

"Yes." Farlander responded with a smile.

"Aww... Well I am anxious to get to work.."

Farlander chuckled softly. "I don't blame you." Farlander smiled as he regarded the two Nebula class ships and the Galaxy class ship trailing. "Hail the Ark Royal for me please?"

"Wildo." Lieutenant Smithson responded with a smile.

The screen lit up with Captain Paige Farlander who was standing behind the tactical display next to her tactical officer, the two women looked very alike except Paige had a more filled out figure and looked older. "Yes Keyan?"

"Would you mind handling the picket duty?" Keyan Farlander inquired. "Take Karl Reyes with you... I want to keep Captain Caldwell with me."

"Willdo."

Kasana then reported in to Ryuukei, saying," Alright we are sending drones to conduct overflights, once they are finished checking the atmosphere we will be cleared to land on the planet."

Ryuukei nodded, then picking up his handmic, he contacted the Antarctica. "Hey once our drones finish their overflight, we will be ready to land on the planet."

Farlander smiled. "Sounds good Ryuukei." he explained. "Ark Royal is handling picket duty... Trafalgar is with her... Coral Sea is coming with me."

After about ten minutes the drones finished their flyover and Kasana reported," OK we are in business, atmosphere is 22.4 % oxygen, 76.5% nitrogen, .9% argon, .046% carbon dioxide. No poisonous gasses detected."

Ryuukei looked at her curiously, "This planet doesn't have a particularly high abundance of planet life, and that's a fairly high oxygen concentration."

Kasana looked at the scans, "Well there isn't much terrestrial animal life on the planet, and the oceans have a lot of biomass, both in microbial and larger more developed planets."

Ryuukei nodded," Alright, send the drones to check out the other planets, lets go board a shuttle and take a look."

He then looked over at Talon. "I know you got guys that will want to come."

"I do. yes." Talon responded with a wide smile as she tapped her combadge. "Science Team report to the hanger, you're going for a walk.."

The response came back. "Sims here, we are on our way sir."

"Sounds good. Report back with what you find.... but no need to hurry.... I have a feeling we could be here for a time.."

"I understand. It'll be done..." Sims responded.

"Confirmed, Yamaguchi out.." as she tapped her combadge before she inhaled softly. "Yamaguchi to Coral Sea?"

"Coral Sea, Caldwell here." came the gentle tones of Captain Stephen Caldwell.

"Stephen. Keep an eye out for me would ya... indulge me..." Talon responded. "I have a feeling about this planet.... Maybe the Federation recon scouts missed something but... this world looks a little weird to me...."

"Copy that. Coral Sea's finest are on it... Caldwell out."

Talon regarded the display of the world before her, it looked differently then she recalled. "Hmmm.." as she narrowed her eyes. "Maybe its nothing." she commented aloud.

Ryuukei then did his briefing over an open comm," Alright guys, I'm having some Akurian's beam over to all the other federation ship's, so that way all the teams will have a mix of Federation and Akurian crews. I'm also sending everyone their assigned area's of responsibility. Each team will be covering a different area of the planet. We keep our comms open, ok."

Caldwell's response came back. "Sounds good, we have our target locations.... and once we receive your guys, we will handle things."

"Sounds good to me." Talon responded. "Yamaguchi out." she added as she tapped her combadge before settling in to watch and wait.

Ryuukei and dozen's of other Akurian and federation officers boarded four different shuttles, each shuttle with 10 man teams. With Ryuukei he had Kasana, Tetta, Arumi, and Raymond Sims. He also had three other Akurians on the team, two Sehkeen Leokuri and an Ayva Jorkuri, as well as two federation officers. Ryuukei chose the Akurians in the team specifically because they where going to be trekking through a colder, forested mountain region, and he preferred species that could handle the rough terrain and cold weather. As a precaution all the akurians carried disruptor carbine projectors, but otherwise preferred to stay relatively light.

The team mostly stayed in silence as everyone boarded the shuttles and they took off heading for the planet. Ryuukei noted no problems as the shuttles made their descent through the atmosphere, and before they landed he made one final check. "Everyone ready."

Sims paused as he checked his gear. "Almost... " he said absent mindedly. "Give me a moment." he added as he checked his gear. "tricorder, second tricorder, phaser... ... yes yes... we are good now."

The shuttle shuttered as it made its final descent. Ryuukei could hear tree branches hitting the hull of the shuttle. Seconds later he felt the descent stop as the shuttle hit the ground, and once the engines quieted down, he could hear the sound of rain hitting the hull. Looking out the front of the shuttle he could see that a light rain and wind was going. Once the shuttle doors opened, he commented. "alright guys, lets go."

Stepping outside he immediately felt the rush of cold damp air. The winds was going pretty good, but the rain was very light, little more than a light sprinkle.

Raymond shivered. "Oh wow... bloody hell its cold."

The Andorian Zhen blinked her large expressive eyes. "What are you talking over.... Its frigging roasting." she responded. "This is cold to you?."

"Freezing." Sims responded.

"Feel fine to me." the Bajoran officer responded as he shrugged.

One of the snow leopard like Sehkeen Leokuri, a female named Yukira, smoothed out her fur then added," Well I there was a little more snow on the ground, it would be just like home."

Kasana and Tetta where the only two that had supplemental clothing, which was nothing more than a simple jacket, as their fur want as thick as the other Akurians.

Ryuukei looked over at the shuttle pilots, "Alright, you guys stay with the shuttle, we will keep constant contact with you on Channel 7. Stay here and monitor comms traffic."

The lead Wex Jorkuri pilot nodded while Ryuukei looked over at Tetta and Kasana, whom where the two primary scientists," OK you two, lead on."

Kasana nodded, and pulling out her scanner, she commented. "Alright, we will start going this way, pointing north. The Terrain was quite rough, but the agile Akurian's handled it quite well, barely making a noise as they all moved like experts throughout the terrain.

The Andorian zhen kept up easily as she turned tot he Bajoran. "Think anyone will complain if we drag him to the lake and drown him?"

"Oh I wish.." the Bajoran responded. "Give me a moment." he responded before moving off so he could go for a pee against a tree.

The Zhen smiled as she moved on, giving him space as Sims protested. I gotta go to the bathroom."

The Zhen turned to face him. "Well... go against a tree."

Sims whined. "I .... i can't.." he paused as he turned, clearly looking for a place to go as the Bajoran spotted something moving. "Psst. Shori, have a look at this guy..." he indicated what looked like a rather sizable tarantula.

The Andorian Zhen came over. "Ooooh... a ..." she gave the Bajoran an evil glare. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking."

Sims meanwhile decided to bow to the inevitable as he was peeing against a tree before he saw something move, he peered closer after he zipped his pants up before letting out a loud shrilly scream. "Oh god oh god!!" the man shrieked.

The Zhen was facing him, a rather massive spider in her arms. "So... thats a no?"

The Bajoran chuckled softly. "What did poor Incy ever do to him?"

"Only Uzaveh the Infinite knows?" she shrugged before she gently set the spider back onto its rock perch before she gave it a scan. "Just frightened..."

The Noise definitively caught the Akurians attention, with Ryuukei asking. "What the hell is going on back there."

"G-Giant Spiders!" Sims whimpered. "Why did you have to pick such a scary planet!"

The Bajoran male sighed softly. "Its not that bad... This guy is the largest animal on the surface." he sighed a second time. "Come on Sims, we got work to do.."

Ryuukei rolled his eyes, while Arumi commented," Seriously, spiders, ugh, what a wimp."

Roughly an hour into their trek, the rain began to pick up, making the ground a lot slicker. Even the Akurians where being slowed down by the weather, with all of them having to dig their claws into the ground to get decent footing. Then Arumi stepped on a piece of wood that was in a bit of mud, causing her to slip and fall. She managed to catch herself from tumbling over the mountain, instead she landed on her butt in some weeds.

Ryuukei looked over at his sister, saying," Are you OK."

Arumi simply looked up at the sky, and she gave a delayed," Ow."

Ryuukei went over to help his sibling get back to her feet, but in the process she exclaimed," Ow ow OW."

"whats wrong," Kasana asked."

Arumi winced," Something really poky is stuck to my rear."

Ryuukei looked in curiosity and had to suppress a laugh while Arumi shot him a dirty look," What."

Ryuukei gave a light smile," Oh don't worry about it, its just a bunch of sticker burs."

Arumi gave an annoyed growl, while the rain began to pick up. Kasana checked her scanner and added. "Temperature is dropping fast, and it looks like a major storm is approaching."

Tetta pointed at some caves. "Well we can take shelter in there."

The Federation personnel followed in silence, The Bajoran entered first followed by Sims who was still shivering from earlier, followed by everyone else. The Andorian Zhen looked up. "Storm will be on us in about five minutes... Gonna get loud." as she turned and followed the others into the cave.

Ryuukei and Arumi where next to move into the cave, and Arumi was just about to take a seat but Ryuukei stopped her from making a very painful mistake.

" Oh right, the burs," She remembered. She then looked at Ryuukei and then went and laid down on her stomach, while Ryuukei sat next to her and began to pick off the burs. Kasana then took her radio and contacted the orbiting ships," Hey, how long is this storm going to last."

The reply was prompt," Looks like at least 4-5 hours, maybe longer."

Kasana sighed in disappointment, then asked," OK, do you think a beamout is possible."

A moment of silence then the response came back. "Negative, there is some ore or something in those rocks that making it impossible for us to get a good lock."

"Mmm.." Sims came over to have a look, as he opened his kit. "Let me see.." and with that he took a small hammer and proceeded to chip off a hunk of the rock, about the size of the average m,an's fist, he then began scanning it. "Looks like Kelbonite and Fistrium." he mused aloud. "Nope. no beamout is possible.."

Kasana looked out the cave as the storm really began to rage," And we aren't going back out in that."

After a few minutes of picking burs out of his siblings butt, something dawned on Ryuukei," Wait a minute, this planet doesn't have any furry animals native to it, why would there be plants with sticker burrs."

Arumi gave an annoyed growl while Kasana though on the matter," Yeah your right, that doesn't make sense, what would they be doing here."

The Andorian raised an eyebrow. "Maybe the giant spider I found is part of it." she explained. "There could be other life here that moves the plant matter around."

"Like what?" Sims inquired.

"Good question... Here's another... is it dangerous to us?"

"Indeed." The Bajoran responded. "We need more information."

Kasana picked up one of the Sticker burrs and scanned it. after checking her data she commented," Or perhaps there is both a simpler and a more complex answer. The plant is not native to this planet."

The Andorian Zhen and the Bajoran shared a look. "How do you work that out?" the Zhen inquired.

Kasana held up the burr. "The genetic profile of this burr matches the genetic profile of a plant native to another planet."

"So... how did it get here?" The Zhen, Lieutenant Zh'Terris inquired as she blinked her large eyes, while the storm howled and raged outside.

Yukira, whom was poking around in the back of the cave, uncovered something unnatural," Um, I think I may have an answer to that."

She brushed some dirt aside and revealed a mostly buried skull. Kasana came over and scanned it. Her scanner soon revealed the origins. "Its Human."

Sims raised an eyebrow. "How does a human plant.. get all the way out ere. as far as we know, this world has never been charted by starfleet, the recon scouts didn't like it as its got a dramatic day night cycle."

"So how did it get here?" the Zhen inquired.

Kasana looked over the results of her scan, then looked out the cave, commenting. "Well, I am reading a full skeleton here, within the cave. he has been here at least two centuries, possibly up to three. Unfortunately we aren't going to really be able to look beyond this cave until the storm subsides."

Sims paused. "Where is the skeleton?" he inquired.

The Andorian indicated the ground not far. "Right over there."

Sims went over to investigate as he picked his way over. "Mmmm... Yeah this one is human alright.." he paused. "I'm detecting trace metals in the bones... I assume as a result of radiation poisoning."