Touch Down

Posted on Tue Jul 26th, 2022 @ 1:51pm by Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Troy Marshall & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Lieutenant JG Taina M'Tras & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant Sovas Nyseth & Callie Marshall & Lieutenant JG Kassandra Selin

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Various Locations
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 0900
1569 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

The ISS Vengeance and it’s Shadow Fleet exited warp on the edge of the Zapara system as it is known by the Talaxians. The system was a collection of 8 planets, of which only the fourth, Zapara IV, was mildly inhabitable. The three ships streamed inward, meeting no resistance from outside forces or astrological barriers.

Bridge
Ivan Petrov sat with one large leg folded over the other, watching the viewscreen as Zapara Prime grew slowly. He looked over his shoulder at his newly minted Operations Officer.

"What do you have on sensors, Sovas?"

Making a thorough scan of the surrounding space and even moving through the various frequency bands and known particle emissions for cloaking devices to make sure there wasn't anything hiding out there ready to attack. "Currently detecting no hostile or unknown vessels, it does appear that we are alone Captain,"

The Captain nodded and turned his eye even further back until it fell on his daughter, the Chief Intelligence Officer.

"Where are you on identifying the cave formation where the Talaxian Captain said he found the crystal? I know he mentioned a desert basin with caves." the grey-bearded man asked.

"Several locations match that description, I have mapped them out with our scanners captain." Lieutenant JG Selin replied as she ran her hands over the console. "That said, I was tracking warp signature decay and most ships leave from the equator region, I have concentrated my search in that area."

“When you have the most likely coordinates, send them to the helm, Lieutenant.” Ivan said, his eyes scanning the Bridge and watching his team work.”We’ll land there and start searching in teams.”

In the next few moments, the Fleet entered range of the planet, breaking formation in preparation for the next step: the landing.

"Bridge to Engineering, we've arrived at Zapara IV and are preparing to touch down. We will need atmosphere thruster power and landing strut extension capability." Ivan said, having tapped his commbadge.

"Yes, sir," Taina responded promptly. Her fingers moved effortlessly over the console as she made the required adjustments. It was simple enough. The ship was, after all, built for this. "We're ready, captain."

"Are you ready to land us, Johnathan?" the Captain asked, looking forward at his Chief Pilot. He knew the man hadn't been happy with him for personal reasons, but he still fully expected him to be professional in this and all settings. It remained to be seen how their situation would be resolved.

Johnathan spun his chair around to face Ivan. "Yes, Captain!" He replied earnestly. His personal feelings aside, he had a job to do and he would do it to the upmost of his abilities. "I ran through ever conceivable landing procedure for the Intrepid Class during my recertification. I am as ready for a real-time transition as one can be!"

Ivan nodded at the man, a sign that he acknowledged the young man’s capabilities, and then uncrossed his own legs.

“Blue Alert. All hands prepare for atmospheric flight.” He said, and the lights on the Brdige lowered to a slow-flashing blue. It wasn’t nearly as eerie as red alert tended to be, but there was still a certain feeling of apprehension which it inspired.

"Aye, Sir!" As he started to turn back to his station, his eyes moved up to meet Kassandra's briefly, a quick sparkle running between them.

He then faced forward and started to work his controls. "All atmospheric flying and terrestrial landing systems are online and awaiting your final go order, Sir!"

Sovas sat at his station, monitoring the ships systems and transferring necessary resources and shunting plasma flow away from the EPS conduits closer to the outer hull since even under the most ideal of circumstances planetary re-entry and landing was a tricky and delicate operation, but being so far from home the prospect of even one failure could prove catastrophic. The part of him that had been conditioned to survive by any means necessary gave him a thrill at the prospect of attempting to survive on an alien world with no hope of rescue.

The half Vulcan certainly got his kicks from strange things.

TAG ANY

Arriving on the bridge Callie made her way across to her seat, she’d been overseeing the arrival of the Talaxian slaves. “Captain, the Talaxian slaves seem to be cooperating so far. They’re being fitted with their personal agonisers as we speak.”

“Good. They would be fools not to comply.” The Captain said as he stood from his seat and made his way to the back of the Bridge where Kassandra was working her central console. “What’s our best option, Lieutenant?”

She flipped co-ordinates up on the screen. "It's the best landing zone for at least 4 of the areas marked out. And it will help with take off as well."

He nodded toward the back of Johnathan’s head, though the man couldn’t see him. He knew he would understand that it was time for him to apply coordinates Kassandra had just sent.

As soon as the target coordinates flashed up on his control screen, Johnathan entered them into the helm. "Landing zone locked in, Captain."

“Begin the landing procedure, Mr. Anderson.” Ivan said, bracing his hands on the metal railing next to the Intel console. “Tactical, be ready to adjust inertial dampers to keep us from flying all over the ship.”

"Aye, Sir!" A huge, excited grin filled his face as he started to fly the ship lower into the planet's atmosphere. "We are in the glide slope, five by five. Flight time to landing zone is two minutes...mark!"

“Aye, sir.” Cassiel spoke up from tactical. With Ivers on rest orders, she was now serving as acting chief, a fact she found somewhat amusing given it was only a couple of days ago that she was passed over for the position. It would only be for a day, maybe two, but she would make the most of them. Her fingers touched the console in front of her and she watched the display with interest.

Troy stepped onto the bridge. He wasn't slated for watch until noon, but he wanted to be on the bridge to witness the ship's first planetary landing since leaving Terra. It was a somewhat momentous occasion, especially since the were looking for a valuable treasure reported to be on the surface. "Good morning Captain."

Ivan nodded to his XO, but watched the screen as the atmosphere of the world began to encapsulate the screen and the ship began to buffet subtly. The Vengeance, Klandell, and Lovarr streamed through the dusty wind and soared past clouds until they emerged in the unclouded open air.

"Madeleine, Deploy landing struts." Ivan ordered, stepping carefully over to tactical and putting his hand on the console.

Madeline didn’t seem to even note the fact that Ivan had come to stand near her station. “Struts deployed, sir.” She said and finally looked up to the view screen, though did take a glance over to Ivan since truth be told, she hadn’t really interacted or seen any of these people for any length of time except for Marshall.

"Nice and gentle, Lieutenant Anderson. Set us down nice and gentle." the Captain said next while still standing at tactical.

Johnathan didn't reply to Ivan's words. All of his attention was focused on the piloting of the Vengeance through the planet's atmosphere. His hands moved over his controls without h8m ever looking down. It was as if he has memorized every square millimeter of his console, which he had of course. "Initiating final approach." He said aloud, then he activated the intraship comms. "All hands, stand by for landing procedures. In five...four...firing landing thrusters...three...two...one...."

The mighty warship settled gently down upon her four landing struts. The final movement was the slightest of shudders. Then all was still.

"Landing maneuvers successful, Captain!" Johnathan exclaimed happily. "Placing all flight controls into active standby."

“Good work, Johnathan.” Ivan said, walking down the stairs to the center of the Bridge. He looked around at the gathered senior staff. “After Science distributes their scans in the next few minutes, I’m permitting off-ship excursions for the rest of the day. Search the caves according to the schedule and bring back anything you find, especially Dialium-Cobalt Crystals. Any questions?”

Johnathan swivelled his chair around, his features turning back to a more neutral tone, after the excitement of flying and landing the ship were wearing off. "Shall I send up our two operational shuttles, to perform defense patrols, Captain?"

Troy glanced at Johnathan before turning to Ivan. "Lieutenant Anderson has the right idea, but I think aerial assets would be better employed for reconnaissance. Sensors could be calibrated to find Dialium-Cobalt deposits and vector in the ground teams. Perhaps even be used to haul back loads to the ship."

"That's a good idea, Commander...we'll go with that." Ivan said, still acknowledging Jonathan's commitment.

Callie looked towards Ivan, she would be surprised if the away team duties included her at this point in her pregnancy. “Would you like me to do anything in particular Captain?”

"Stay up here and grow your baby, Lieutenant. We'll handle this." Ivan said, putting a large hand on her shoulder before moving past her. "Alright people, let's get a move on!"

END