Phase 2 Briefing Part 3

Posted on 18 Dec 2020 @ 1:37pm by Lieutenant Colonel Alexandria Somers & Lieutenant Commander Alexanderia Cahill & Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd & Lieutenant Lamia ‘Mia’ Kildare & Lieutenant Leland Hawksley & Lieutenant Paul Winchester & Captain Patrick Jackson & Lieutenant Matthew Thompson & Lieutenant Serina "Reaper" Donovan & Ensign C'Tirr K'Ruuras & Ensign Geoffrey Hale MD
Edited on on 08 Feb 2021 @ 11:49pm

3,176 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: S03 Ep 02 Trouble in the Sticks UXSys 659842 (Main) Phase 2
Location: Tomcat Conference Room
Timeline: S3 Mission 4 MD 00

[ON]

“Colonel.” The CHO had questioned. “Will the Tomcat be entering the atmosphere of the planet to release this weapon?” He had to know and study the planets vectoring atmospheric information.

A Little surprised by the question, a thoughtful one it may have been "Well, the Tomcat will have to go into the uppermost part of the atmosphere so expect a bit of a bumpy ride so you will need to hold her steady when we do" she looked at the Chief Medical Officer "Commander Cahill for this mission you will be my acting First Officer, you will split your time between bridge and Medical, although I have a feeling you will be spending a lot of it in medical as you will need to work with Science to come up with that chemical I mentioned, what we do here has been sanctioned by the Federation Council" the Colonel said.

Silver looked down at his feet.

"Understood Colonel and will do what I can. I feel the chemical will work on the Bluegills. But the main problem I have right now is how to dispense it to a large scale area. I need some ideas from science in the best way to do it. Here are all my research notes." Replied Cahill. As she sent her notes to Science and Engineering.

Serina looked in Leyland's direction. This was going to require crash course flight tactics for atmospheric flying. Time for lesson 2.

Leland glanced over at Serena. If this were anything like their last simulator, he would need to replicate a barf bag.

"Engineering will be willing to work out whatever is necessary to assist in the deployment of the chemical and to protect the ship and her crew," Dodd stated after Cahill's last response.

I have given orders for all medical personnel to carry a couple of medicines to help with motion sickness and help keep all crew members at peak performance. Replied Cahill.

Ensign Hale when I am needed on the Bridge you will have Sick Bay as ACMO is your position as well.

"Understood sir, I'll try and always keep it pristine for you to come back to," Geoff affirmed his task with stoic determination.

"Very Good Dr Hale, For those of you who have not met him. Ensign Hale is our new Doctor in Sick Bay and the new ACMO on the Tomcat." Replied Cahill.

Rena kept listening then spoke out." Sir Security will be at hand and be helping others out. "Will there be a certain area you will need Security at or all alert sir," Rena said during the meeting.

Looking at the young Ensign "I have addressed that question to Lieutenant Winchester Ensign" the Colonel said with a smile, but please note everyone Intertial dampeners will be on full when we have to sit in the top of the planet's biosphere, so there should be little or no bumps" she finished.

Serina wasn't sure about Hawksley being able to do the required flying but, if her fighters were not going to be deployed, she would request that she be present on the bridge near Hawksley just in case. But it was going to wait till the end of the briefing.

"I'll volunteer to be on an away mission. My hearing might be of use. If the air was cleaner, I could even smell them out. Ma'am." C'Tirr said as he stepped up closer to the table. His black fur shimmered in the light, revealing slightly darker stripes hidden within.

"As would I if my CO allows it." Cassi heard her self say as she finished writing down her notes.

Iria shook her head slightly, at C'Tirr's comment of being able to smell the Bluegills. They had not been detectable to canines or others in the past encounters, it didn't make sense that he thought he could smell them, but she wasn't an expert on others abilities, and she wasn't going to say anything without further research to prove or disprove at this point.

The Colonel looked at the Caitian and the Second Lieutenant, with a raised eyebrow, then back at the Caitian "Ensign C'Tirr is it! Welcome board, you too Lieutenant Matthews, as for your smelling ability if you go down to the planet it will be in an EVA suit, so only your hearing will be available, and the Bluegills are mutated versions of the Trill symbionts and when they are inside a hosts body they cannot be smelled, and if you did go down to the planet without a suit on you would only smell death and decay and then be infected by whatever mutagen is in the atmosphere, understanding so far?" She asked then looked around the room "Lieutenant Matthews is correct in one thing when the assignments are handed out it will be up to the Department Heads to assign teams *looks at both Jackson and Matthews* "you pair will need to do some EVA suit training" she finished.

EVA training was the worst! Doh! Cassi was glad she did not roll her eyes at the mention of it. She hated it, but if it was a necessity, she knew already it was as good as done. Life was full of nasty things, the best approach was to meet it head-on and get it done with. Still, her stomach already mocked her with a hint of a butterfly as she remembered the eerie sensation of walking upside down outside of a ship and nausea it had induced. She nodded her affirmation but said nothing. She didn't trust her voice at that moment.

Leland looked downward in his seat, his feelings being held from within. He had felt over his head in this situation. He replayed the Colonel's words... oO Sit in the biosphere, without any bumps! Oh my God...Oo He was secretly happy that Serena would be there to provide him with the much-needed apprenticeship. He would love to fly the Tomcat in the situation that warranted, but just having her around... In Case?

C'Tirr nodded his understanding though he had said if it was cleaner air as he already had understood that they would be wearing suits. He stepped back to the wall and leaned against it, freezing motionless as only felines could do. The only movement from him was the occasional tail flick.

"I will make sure we get a session before departure. " Patrick said with a nod and wrote a note down in his padd.

Matt Thompson didn't mind EVA training too much most of the time he was on the bridge or one of the science labs or in his office filling out reports, It would do him good to stretch his legs. "Yes Ma'am I have a question, have any away teams been set up? Are we going to get a chance to explore the planet at all?" Matt asked.

Paul sat listening to the discussions that were taking place and making notes and now the question had been asked about the away teams, Paul spoke, "Colonel, if I may suggest the teams?" as he knew that it would be better to have 1 of each department in the team.

Looking at Thompson First "not as of yet, final setup will be decided when we know more, but in this instance, the setup I am looking for is two Scientists one Engineer and one security, now energy-based weapons should work but Lieutenant Jackson will have some teams set up with TR116 rifles should they be needed. Also, remember you must all be as quiet as you can when you go down to the planet as you saw what happened to those two agents" the Colonel said then looked at Winchester "I have just mentioned the initial team setup, but it will be subject to change upon arrival, now you pair have you any more questions?" She asked.

"None Sir, Replied Paul knowing that it was best to keep shut after the last time, he knew that he would find out in due course as he picked up his mug of coffee and took a sip.

Alex looks at Winchester with a small smile "excellent Lieutenant Winchester, Lieutenant Thompson?" She asked looking at her Chief Science Officer.

"No questions at this time, but I would like to study the data more in detail to make sure nothing was missed". Lt. Thompson replied.

Looking at Thompson "excellent Lieutenant, you will have copies of the data as it comes in" the Colonel said and scanned the room, it seemed as if no one had any questions, so she decided to continue.

Rena kept taking notes on her padd as she shook her head feeling a bit unnerving, and but trying to be herself after all the anger she had inside her before over what Lt Jg Winchester told her, and the fun in the holo-deck too. Rena's mind was straight for the mission and put all that Bull shit behind her.

Dr Cahill replied," I was thinking my chemical will help if one of our crew should be entered by a Bluegill Drone. It will force the Drone out of the crew member infected and the Bluegills enter by the mouth when someone is sleeping or through the ears when sleeping."

Cassandra listened. Yeah, this was starting to sound and feel all too familiar. She had joined the Marines to help protect civilians not firebomb them into oblivion. Still if what said was true then they were technically already dead, right? Still, it didn't sit right in her gut. Surely there had to be a better way right? She mulled that over as she listened to the rest of her new fellow crewmates.

Silver just sat there not sure whether to say something or keep quiet. No one would listen to him anyway. Not without more weight on his collar. Surely mass slaughter could be avoided? They were Starfleet for goodness sake. Not the alternative universe version. Were kill the first question later was the rule?

Colonel Somers looked around the room and saw a host of mixed feelings she could not blame them she felt it too, she then rested her hands on the table and leaned forward. "Listen to me all of you, I know our current orders do not sit well with me either, I too have experienced such an event in my past, normally the Marines would be given such a task as that is what we are trained for. But you all know that if Starfleet and the Federation Council has agreed to such an action then the situation is dire, I was hoping that I would not have to do this, but I was sent a short bit of footage from the planet, I will warn you that to some if not all, the brief images you will see will be disturbing. This visual footage is from a two-person exploration team on the planet, and it seems Starfleet Intelligence did not know an independent exploration team sent to prove the Council wrong. This team was Section 31 who knew it was a one-way mission, as the Tomcat is equipped with some unique intelligence-gathering tools we managed to snag the tight-beamed data which would have likely gone to Section 31. I sent a copy to Starfleet Intelligence on earth *looks at Walon* and I sent a copy to your database Iria" the Colonel said.

Iria frowned slightly if the Colonel had informed her that something had been sent to her database before the meeting she would have had time to go over it. Being informed this in the briefing was leaving her blindsided and unready. "I will be happy to go over it in detail after the briefing, since this is the first I have been made aware of its existence, Colonel." She said as lightly as she could.

Nodding and looking back at the crew again "I saw the images and I almost upchucked myself, so you have been warned, these are what little the information gathering team managed to send before they were supposedly killed. Knowing how resilient these S31 agents are I suspect that one if not both are still alive, if they are some strict quarantining will be needed if they do live and we can get them off the planet now onto the visuals" she finished and pressed a button near her and a holoprojector came up out of the table and the visuals were in 3D. As the screen came to life it showed a small camera-eye view from the side of a helmet, the one with the camera looked at the other and the black S31 EVA suits could clearly be seen, then the camera spun around as a spooky groaning noise could be heard.

"What was that noise, did you hear?" The agent with a camera said.

"Yes" the other replied and they quietly moved forward and looked at the direction the sound was coming from.

What they saw was humanoids of various species from within the Federation member worlds, all looked listless and whatever mutation was in the air had eaten away at their skins and left scars that no medical regenerative procedure could repair. The listless forms shuffled about until the second agent made a noise, it was not a loud one but enough to alert the listless, the closest victim snapped his head up eyes were red, but it was not bloodshot, the spine sticking out of the back of his neck showed that he was a host, but the red-eyed colonist opened his mouth and screeched as he looked at them.

"Oh great, nice one Joe, you idiot!" the Camera guy said.

"Sorry" Joe replied.

All those within ear-shot snapped their heads up and looked in the direction all were similar to the initial one and suddenly the victim's listlessness had vanished and after stumbling backwards the agents run for their literal lives as the camera faced behind them as they ran. What the image showed was very fast zombie-like infected colonists doing primal screaming as they run very fast after the two agents, the clumsy one called Joe stumbled and fell and the infected was all over him trying to get inside his sealed suit, all they could hear was screaming as the agent with the camera turned the corner. The visuals turned forward again and the recording showed the surviving agent entering a hidden den and removing the camera off his helmet and looking into it.

"This is Agent MacKenzie reporting from the second class M planet in the Unexplored System 659842, I wish the colonist gave this place a proper name anyway our first trip was to the first-class M planet and all was earth normal, the starting of a colony LZ was partially erected, all the adults had left, one of the older surviving children spoke that all available adults used their shuttle to go to their sister Colonist aid, but never returned. We called in a rescue ship for the children, which were safely taken away, then we came to this forsaken planet and what we found was some kind of mutagenic isotope in the atmosphere that had mutated the populace, what you saw before we were chased all were like that, but minus the gill in the back of the neck, then all of a sudden some Bluegills climbed up onto the infected colonists and entered via the mouth, whereas the victim's eyes were like hollows before with massive scarring on their faces, the moment these mutated Bluegills took over the colonists eyes turned red after that they chased us, I started with a four-man team" he paused.

"I saw what happened to the first agent that was caught, the moment his helmet was removed he became still and then stood up looking the same as the other colonists pre Bluegill, then a drone got inside him and he ended up with red eyes. We all accepted this one-way mission, but to see it happen was something else entirely. It was after this we decided to film what we saw, our third member was killed outright as she stayed behind trapping a large portion in a room with her before blowing the building up, it gave myself and Joe time to escape, now Joe is gone and I am alone, I will attach this recording to send a tight beam transmission to S31 HQ upon the ceasing of my vitals. I have this warning DO NOT land, it is not safe and those who survive are beyond saving" he paused as he turned the camera to face the open door.

What the camera recorded was the S31 Agent Joe without his helmet, his face hollowed, eyes red with a mass of fresh scarring all over, his mouth hanging slightly open and a high-pitched spooky mewling sound coming out of his mouth as he advanced upon the camera guy as the haunting face closed in the horror of what the mutagen had done became visible and it was horrific, the camera cut out and a blood-curdling scream could be heard before the audio went silent, that was where the visuals ended.

The Colonel was pale as she valiantly held back on what the image made her want to do it took her a moment "now I hope that any doubts that remain are thus sated! The Federation Council saw this and I got a text response before this meeting confirming their original decision on a BDZ. As you all saw there is nothing that can be done for them. But I want samples from the planet so Science and Medical can study them and we are the last ship that will be sent to the second class M planet in UnexSys 659842 for some time. After our initial mission is complete we will be able to do a science orientated second part where the system is properly mapped and finally given a name, so any comments, queries ask them now before I dismiss this briefing so as we can set off to this system" she said sitting back still looking pale.

Lamia clamped down hard on the input from her senses, she was getting everyone else’s shock, disgust and horror to combine with her own. “It’s like something out of a horror movie.” She shook her head.

To be Concluded in Part 4

[OFF]

Lieutenant Colonel Alexandria Somers [P: Somers]
Acting CO

Lieutenant Commander Alexanderia Cahill MD
Chief Medical Officer/2XO

Lieutenant Remington Dodd
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Jg. Paul Winchester
Chief of Security

Lieutenant Lamia 'Mia' Arderne
Assistant Chief Counsellor

Ensign C'Tirr K'Ruuras
Assistant Chief of Security

Lieutenant Iria Walon
CIO/Chief Counsellor

Lt. Jg Nicole Taggert
Assistant Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Jg Matthew Thompson
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Jg Leland Hawksley
Chief Helm Officer

1st Lt Patrick Jackson
Marine Commanding Officer

2nd Lt Cassandra Matthews
Marine Executive Officer

Ensign Ted Silver
Assistant CSO

Ensign Rena Sara
Security Officer

Ensign Geoffery Hale MD
Assistant Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Serina 'Reaper' Donovan
CAG/Raider 1/Helm Officer

 

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