[snip]

The probes went out equal distance and above the area where the landing party went down. Once they reached a distance just before what would have been a ship entering a geosynchronous orbit they blinked out as any signals from them stopped being sent.

Morris frowned at the monitor. “Sir, looks like the probes cut out just as they reached geosynchronous orbit. Launching 4 more probes into the next quadrant of the planet to see if the dampening field is the same strength there as well.”

“Yes, please do that,” responded Kahuna. “I wanted to know if the field extends right around the planet. If it does not, then we might be able to take a shuttle down to Ardan V, far enough away, and pick up the landing party from there.”

“Sir!” Cara told Kahuna, “I think that in Engineering, they used the field from a Micro-Resonator to shield the matter-antimatter reaction from this disruption field for enough time to restart a sufficient reaction within the Dilithium crystals to bring the Warp Core back online and give us enough power to leave its influence. I think I’m correct! So, getting to my point… if the landing party could use some similar piece of equipment on the surface they could also make a bubble large enough to stand inside. Then we might still be able to beam them up by the Transporter, one at a time?”

“It might work,” replied Kahuna, “but we’d need to let them know about that first, and without communicators working, we have no way to do that.”

Dariusz watched the screen and monitored the 4 new probes as they were launched went even further around the planet than the first.

The extra probes deployed proved the field was equidistant around the planet. Like a protective bubble.

“The probes show the field is the same strength all around the planet, Sir!”

“It was worth trying,” said Kahuna. “We have plenty of probes. Do you have any other ideas, Mr. Morris?”

Morris gave a concerned frown and thought, “Now, this might be a situation of to a hammer everything looks like a nail, but if we were able to pinpoint the origin of the dampening field, we might be able to knock it out with either a phaser burst or a photon torpedo. Perhaps I can have the ship scan and see if it can find where the field is strongest, or any other anomaly that could be a clue as to its origin.”

“Okay, make any scans you think are worthwhile,” Kahuna replied. “We don’t have a lot of options here, and the passing Klingon merchant vessel told us to get our people off the planet as soon as possible.”

“Let’s check if the existing probes detected any slight variation in the field strength or any anomaly,” Kahuna added. At the same time, he allowed Clifford to make new more detailed ship scans.

Morris began directing the computer to give a full spectrum analysis of the planet and the dampening field, searching for any anomalies or irregularities that might help give them a target.

With using so many probes around the planet to scan they indeed found a focal point for the jamming signal. The focal point was the cavern area where the Captains away team was. Firing torpedoes in there really was not a good idea unless they wished to kill their own CO and shipmates.

“The focal point appears to be underground,” Cara explained. “Near to where the landing party were sent, and within the extent of the mining tunnels.”

At which point a communication was picked up, sent over a wide range of channels =/\= USS Merrimack! =/\= Stella called out. =/\= Hey you! USS Merrimack you up there? =/\=

• Cara, Science