Posted by Lieutenant Commander Balfor Kolar (Chief Science Officer) in Bridge, Current Time Line, Scene 2

Posted by Captain Sidney Parker (Commanding Officer) in Bridge, Current Time Line, Scene 2

Posted by Lieutenant Miranda Lawerance “Mirri” (Helm) in Bridge, Current Time Line, Scene 2
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

Ch’zaolrirh interrupted, “Commander, we are clear to move in. The CAG is providing us with an escort.”

COS Ch’zaolrirh

OOC: After the order was given to proceed into the cleared region …

“Excellent Mister Ch’zaolrith,” the commander smiled. It was working. With Doolittle to perform for, he was now Commander Harn, and not Jason from Montana anymore. “Mirri, take us in, second planet from the sun and match the escort’s speed.”

Mirri nodded “Aye Sir. Matching speed of escort.” She said as she fell in beside the escort matching course and speed.

Now they were finally on their way, Jason used the time to reach their destination to do some thinking. Who to put in charge of the away team? Kolar had seniority, but until they could be certain that the source of that signal was secure it might be better to put Thell in charge. Then again, Mirri needed experience if she wanted to get promoted and coordinating the rescue/repair operations from the ground could be good on her record.

OOC: Feel free to let me know if any of you out there has a preference or wants to volunteer!

IC: The sensors showed that there was indeed a kind of storm on the planet. The ‘sand’ was not merely silicon but included kelbonite, the element that deflects energy beams and transporter beams. The presence of kelbonite, though not very much, was enough to cause the difficulty in scanning through the storm to detect the Sierra.

GM

Jason Harn, aCO

“There is significant Kelbonite in the sandstorm. It deflect sensors and quite possibly transporter beams. It is an excellent substance to hid a ship in tactically, and unfortunately it is having the same effect in my attempts to search for the Sierra. If she is in that area… and I’m fairly certain she is. I won’t be able to detect her from here as long as that sandstorm is blowing.” Kolar did some math on the longevity of the storm.

Kolar

“Kelbonite. Of course there is,” Jason shook his head as he grinned ruefully. It took all of his self control not to belt it out in his a loud ‘stage voice’ he was so close to laughing. How did he know? Oh well, overcoming such obstacles would impress Starfleet more than milk run, assuming that everything ran smoothly that is. If his decisions resulted in any loss of life Starfleet would be LESS than impressed. “Options?”

OOC: Had to do a little research in the STF library for this one. The Olinski appears to have some pretty durable shuttles, partially intended for the US of star-fleet marines, as well as for rescue missions (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/tm/liberty.html)

IC:

Ch’zaolrirh looked at the view-screen. The planet looked like a ball of hot sand, an Andorian nightmare.

“We could dispatch a liberty class shuttle to the surface and attempt to contact the Sierra from there. The ride would be bumpy, but the metaphasic shielding should hold up to the storm.” As he spoke, Ch’zaolrirh checked on the status of the ship’s shuttlecraft.

COS Ch’zaolrirh

“Mister Balfor, do you concur?” Jason asked with a confidence he only partially felt.

Jason Harn, aCO

“Options are limited.” Kolar offered. He lowered his head to his sensor reader for a moment.

As they were discussing, the computer showed that according to the wind patterns, the storm was moving and would be 120 km to the east of where it was in 40 minutes.

GM

Mirri spoke up “The only concern with taking the Liberty class shuttle is the wind speeds, she would need a steady pilot who can switch with each gust. It would be a manual flight to be sure.” She said.

Helm

“Noted,” Jason nodded before turning his attention back to Kolar.

“The storm is moving East at a ground speed of over 170 KPH. A Liberty can handle it… not to mention I can see the area the storm is about to cover and the ship isn’t there, so it is likely that by time the Liberty makes ground fall.. if the ship was concealed by the storm it will be uncovered by time the Runabout make’s its arrival.

Toro stood at her station and was searching for the last known position of the Sierra “Are we even sure that they survived a landing? What if we are looking for a literal piece of metal in the sand and kelbonite?” She asked as she continued her search.

CIO

That was a good question. There was always the chance that they had been following a recording and not a live transmission.

Doolittle knew this was a mission for the CMO to be on. He also knew he did not have the medical experience to shoulder the whole load.

“I can go with a staff doctor as well.” He said not wholly sure that he was prepared.

Doolittle CMO

Kolar CSO

“We’ll keep the preliminary team small,” Jason decided. “Mister Balfor, you are cleared to take Liberty class shuttle to the planet’s surface and find the source of that signal. Lieutenant Lawrence will be you pilot. Take Ch’zaolrirh and Doolittle with you in case you can land and make contact with any survivors from the Sierra. Inform me when you make contact of if you have to abort the mission.”

Jason would have preferred to send Ch’zaolrirh down to lead the mission given the Andorian’s specialty but Kolar had the seniority needed in case the away team made contact with officers from the Sierra and needed take charge of the situation. There was no point exposing more than one medic to danger since they hadn’t even verified whether or not there were any survivors down there or not. As for Mirri, her role was self explanatory. It would require a good pilot to get the shuttle to the planet’s surface and back up again, or determine at the last second whether such an attempt was feasible in the first place.

Jason Harn, aCO