Posted by Ensign Amber Josen (Communications Officer) in Conference Room -A, Staff Meeting

Posted by Commander Ivo Černý (Executive Officer / Chief Science Officer) in Conference Room -A, Staff Meeting

Posted by Rear Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Conference Room -A, Staff Meeting
[snip]

A buzz and chirp and whir came from the computer as on the nearby display their course to Deba colony was pretty straight forward taking them about three sectors just outside explored space near Deep Space K-2. About a day later they then would arrive at Deba colony one of the most frontier worlds currently setup. It was home to roughly 200 or so colonists. Roughly 100 men, 75 women (4 registered as pregnant), and 25 assorted 1-17 year old aged children were on record at the mining colony at last check in by comms three weeks ago. The colony had been first surveyed and soon after setup in 2248 where it had been settled upon a rich deposit of assorted mining ores and minerals. An equally rich farming community also had been setup nearby where the local dairy cows imported to the planet produced a rich and highly sought after milk and milk by product of produce. While the mineral and ore was used locally for colony construction and products, the exports of milk and byproducts as well as a healthy supply of Deba wine were key exports for the region and merchant ships near K-2.

All in all this definitely looked to be a literal milk and booze run, with a short stint for basic colony check ups and maintenance if needed.

“So,” said Černý tentatively after the Captain had finished outlining whatever information he deemed relevant from what had flashed across the screen.

“Is there anything in particular you feel the scientific survey should cover, Captain?” Th’elin would be able to tell from having known Ivo for years, that even though the question was a perfectly appropriate one to ask, the real purpose of asking it was to convey that the Commodore’s request for a survey was an entirely arbitrary waste of time.

“You know, with the guidance from the Commodore being what it is,” he added on at the end, as if to draw an underline on the subtext.

– Ivo Černý, XO/CSO

Amber listened. This seemed like an easy shakeout run. But something about the way the others were reacting made her wonder just what the issue was. Her own notes listed along the side of her notes of the meeting were meant for her eyes only and for speaking to the Captain later. Whatever was underlying this, it felt… off…

She hoped it was just her ‘first station’ jitters and over thinking.

Amber
Comms

“I think I see what you’re getting at, Ivo,” Th’ellin replied to his XO. “I think you’re safe doing cursory scans only, but do keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. It’s a young colony and there’s bound to be enough fluff to pad out a report with the local flora and fauna interactions. However, we never know.” He knew Ivo well enough that it wasn’t laziness or disregard for the job that made the man inquire as to this, but he understood his First Officer would bristle at being told what to do by someone who didn’t give a rip about real science or discovery.

No we don’t, Ivo thought in silent agreement. He simply nodded at the Captain’s answer.

The Andorian was picking up his coffee finally when a thought struck him as odd. Pausing, cup halfway to his lips, his brown eyes turned to Amber. “Ms. Josen, the colony hasn’t made contact in three weeks, which is a bit long for usual check-in updates, would you see about making contact? Let them know we’re coming and make sure they inform us of any other needs we might be able to meet.”

Then the coffee met his lips as he looked around for operations updates from his other staff.

-Zarath, CO

“Yes, Sir,” she said.

As the crew sat and talked and hopefully wrapped up the conference soon the computer beeped and whirred waiting any further requested processing of information.

GM CockRoach

”whats the medical supply situation. I assume they brought some medics with them?” he asked looking around.

Doc Hudson
CMO

Querying the colonies personnel logs on hand they had a standard complement of medical and science trained staff for the colony’s safety

Cerny pressed a switch on the table, and the display changed to show a list of colony personnel sorted by specialty.

“They have a full staff, Doctor,” he said. “Which… well…” He stopped himself from complaining.

Myasnikov chimed in as well. “I know that it isn’t really my purview, but do we know why the colony has not checked in as normal? Were there any reports of unusual activity or anything?”

Myasnikov, Navigator

The likely simplist answer was the distance the colony was at and that no regular subspace transceiver had yet been installed to the colony for extreme range comms.

Amber was tapping out a query to the colony to see what their status was. She didn’t say they were on their way, yet. She wanted to know if a standard check in would be answered first.

Amber
Comms

A beep came back to Amber from the computer that her message was queued to send when they were closer to the colony as they were still out of range.

GM CockRoach

Cerny pressed another switch, and the display switched to a star chart that showed the relative position of the colony to the rest of the Federation.

“They’re far enough out that it still takes weeks for reports to arrive via subspace radio,” Cerny observed, in order to helpfully verbalize details thus far only present in narration.

– Ivo Černý, XO/CSO

Amber nodded to the CO. “He’s right, sir.” She clicked off the long distance comms. “It’s ready for transmission once we are closer.” Then she frowned. “But if they were checking in at regular intervals and it’s taken this long to realize they aren’t responding…just “how” long have they been silent and unknown?” It seemed like a stupid question once it left her lips and she bit her bottom lip a moment.

Glancing to the CO and XO respectively, she apologized. “Sorry… I am sure someone took that into account.” She fell silent and went back to paying attention to her console.

Amber
Comms

“I wouldn’t assume that,” Cerny said quickly as a wave of cynicism passed over his face. “I mean, you saw the conversation on the Bridge, right?” It was the most neutrally worded way he could think of that alluded to the Commodore being a tedious narcissistic bore who wouldn’t actually have that thought, without actually saying those words.

“If the arrival of their message is three weeks late, it does stand to reason that something could have happened to them… uh… two months ago? But if it was something bad that would have screwed up shipping or something else right? I mean, these people make interplanetary exports of milk. Typical time to market for milk is two days because it goes bad pretty quickly, some other planet must would have noticed a lot sooner if there was a problem than our Fleet Command or whoever reads these subspace colony reports.But I dunno if…” the thought trailed off as another one popped up.

“Wait… if we’re supposed to go to the edge of known space to drop off supplies and pick up milk from this planet, and then bring it all the way back here… how do we keep it from spoiling?”

– Ivo Černý, XO/CSO