Requalification leads to a discovery part two

Posted on Fri Feb 25th, 2022 @ 10:12am by Captain Natacha Patani
Edited on on Fri Feb 25th, 2022 @ 10:14am

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Moon J314204
Timeline: MD 8; 1130 Hours
2633 words - 5.3 OF Standard Post Measure

(OOC: Events take place prior to Handoff: https://usselysium.com/index.php/sim/viewpost/2497)

Winston looked a the atmospheric sensor data, then said," Well good news, it is breathable but slightly toxic... respirators are fine as long as it's a long hot shower when we get back. "

He swallowed, then groaned and said, " Not that I am suggesting anything about personal hygiene... " he had a dark thought. "Or anything else for that matter!" He was better off just keeping his mouth shut. He preferred dealing with machines. They were easy, they didn't hide anything, people... hard to read, always hiding things, and you could never take them at face value.

"Stand by, Corporal, I'm checking with the Elysium now." Natacha was coming to the conclusion that she was going to have to have "a talk" with the corporal. After a few minutes, she came back with "The Elysium is leaving the decision to me, as long as we're back in the Gryphon and spaceborne in thirty minutes." After a brief pause, Natacha decided, "Set us down, Corporal. I'll set a timer for twenty minutes. No matter what's happening, we head back to the Gryphon when that timer goes off. Is that understood, Corporal?

He flipped up the console top that had his go bag in it, the said "Yes ma'am! 20 minutes till bug out!" Pulling his tool kit, tricorder, and Padd out he started stuffing them in his pockets. He loved the pockets on top of pockets, and most of his were already half-filled. He tended to treat any excursion like a 3 hours cruise. Sometimes it only took three hours to get into trouble and 7 years to get out of it. That being said, on his survival exam, he was accused of cheating until all of the other cadets had said "If you think this is a lot of stuff, wait until you see what him packing for an away mission. " They had sprung the surprise exam at a dress dinner for a visiting admiral, and all the cadets were asked to step to the rear compartment for a lecture by the visiting admiral. Winston always wore a set of camouflage pants with a utility vest, under his dress uniform... Just in case. But it seems that one of the staff had a tricorder and noticed his survival gear, and pulled him out to face the wrath of exams. He tried to explain that this was how he always dressed, but they did not believe him. It was not until the ranking instructor said, "Set him down 5km away from the rest of the party!" That some of the other cadets began to speak up. After a search of his quarters revealed that he carried more survival gear in his backpack than the instructors of sear training did and the 40 plus statements from his peers, that instructors finally gave him any slack. Needless to say, they confiscated his survival gear for that excursion. But it just reinforced his motto "Always be prepared"

He pulled his phase compression carbine out and attached the scope/sensor packet on it, grabbing a few MRE's (meals rejected by everybody, or what marines call camping rations) to finish stuffing his pockets with he turned to his backseater, he said "Ready to pop the hatch ma'am?" He paused to check that the two one-liter bottles of Gatorade in the front leg pocket of his shins were not going anywhere, then got ready to stand up and exit the ship.

The Marine Captain made no response, instead, she equipped herself out of the standard survival kit in the backseat. Everything except the kit's knife, that is. Natacha always carried an antique Tom Brown tracker knife, a gift from one of her OCS instructors when she graduated.

Putting on her respirator, Natacha moved her own respirator and climbed down to the surface.

"One thing, Corporal," Natacha said. She paused before adding, "A lull in the conversation is not a vacuum," Natacha observed. "Don't feel compelled to fill it."

He grinned to himself, yes it was better to shut up than to open one's mouth and prove to everyone that you are indeed the fool. "yes, ma'am!" he said.

With a nod, Natacha headed over to the wreck of the freighter. There was a person sized hole in the freighter, covered by a large slab of wreckage. With a grunt, Natacha wrestled the metal out of the way.

"Follow me, Corporal," Natacha ordered, stepping through the hole. "I want to see if there's more of these fireflies inside than there are outside.

He walked off the wing and jumped down to follow the Captian. HIis respirator was annoying, but it served a function and allowed him to try to keep his big mouth shut. Watching the Captian rip a several hundred-kilo piece of wreckage out of the way reminded him, he really needed to keep his big mouth shut. with his weapon on a sling and over his shoulder so he could use it one-handed, he pulled out his tricorder and started scanning the unusual firefly-looking creatures. They seemed to react to his tricorder, or the sounds it was making. It was hard to tell...It didn't seem to make them angry, maybe it was the lights. He glanced through his scope at one zoomed in. They did look pretty and had lots of colors. Following the captain, he did not have to duck to step through the hole. But he stepped to the side of the hole just to be on the safe side. High traffic areas were sometimes baited for IED's.

As Natacha led the Corporal in the direction of the freighter's bridge, they began running into more fireflies. "They seem friendly enough," she remarked, as she brought up her tricorder. She adjusted the controls so it emitted a different frequency than the Corporal's tricorder. "Different fireflies seem to be responding to my tricorder than the ones that are responding to yours," she observed to the Corporal.

He slung his weapon over his shoulder, to give him better control over his tricorder. He watched hit tricorder attract some of the fireflies, and they seemed to dance around. he said. "I wonder if it is sound frequencies or light? Or maybe some other frequency in the spectrum." he set the silent function of his tricorder and started changing the visual output spectrum to higher in the ultraviolet spectrum, then lowered it into the inferred. It didn't seem to make a difference, once he turned the sound off, they started drifting away.

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a Padd, queuing up Mozart he started to select a concerto, then changed his mind, and selected Beethoven, the Padd played Moonlight sonata at 10 db.

Intrigued, Natacha entered a command to her own Padd, which began playing the instrumental accompaniment for the song "Galliyan," which she began singing to (though with some difficulty, considering she way wearing a respirator). The fireflies began slowly circling both her and the corporal, forming different patterns around each.

Winston stopped his padd, then waited a bit before restarting, to see if there was a change in behavior. using his tricorder, he tried to track all the frequencies that the bugs were broadcasting on, there were hundreds, some barely audible, others over 130 dB, fortunately, those were low enough that they could not be heard.

It was at that moment the time alarm on both Padds went off. Almost as if the fireflies knew their guests were departing, the fireflies began drifting away from the two Marines.

"Time's up, Corporal," Natacha announced. "Time to get back to the Elysium."

A slightly disappointed Marine followed the Captian out recording everything he could on the flowing life forms. He downloaded the data from his scope to his tricorder.

Natacha encountered no problems exiting the wreck of the Winged Hollander, with the fireflies moving away from them as the Marines made their way back to the Gryphon.

Reaching there Griffon, he pulled the lever to extend the canopy, and safe'd his carbine, pulling the power pack out of it and pulling the pin to Hatch cover J12, he put the carbine inside the compartment and strapped it down, saying, "decon will be fun with all my toys. Once we're in the cockpit, down load your data from your tricorder to the network on the Griffon, then once we get to the Elysium, I will send it to your station from the bird."

"I'm sure you meant to put that in the form of a recommendation, Corporal, since you're addressing a superior officer," Natacha said, a hint of a smile on her face.

He would have facepalmed, but his respirator got in the way. He said, "Sorry Ma'am, I was not thinking!"

"Something to consider, Corporal," the Marine Captain continued, her tone uncharacteristically friendly. "Protocol exists not only to stroke the egos of officious Starfleet officers, but to ensure smooth operations between seasoned combat Marines. For example, I suspect you are about to instruct me to keep my respirator on. While I would reply with the use of the old Earth adage 'Don't try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs' in response, if you were on this mission with a Starfleet officer, and tried to tell them what to do, rather than recommend that they take a particular action, I suspect they would resent it and perhaps hold a grudge against you later."

A confused look crossed his face as he said, "I missed something, eggs are delicious, But why is that an insult? And I thought this check flight was to see how well I follow protocol? Is the pilot not in charge of the occupants, and responsible for his crew?" He had to look up positional authority vs actual authority, and how it correlated to real authority and responsibility, once he got back to the ship. This was confusing.

"At the moment, we're boots on the ground, Corporal," Natacha answered, her tone still friendly and instructional. "With the Elysium having given me authority for our brief away mission. And even once we're spaceborne, your authority is not absolute. For example, since I am giving you the checkride, theoretically I could determine that you are no longer capable of safely piloting this craft, and take over. However, even in situations where you are temporarily in command of a superior officer, observing decorum with a superior is always preferred."

"Ok, copy that, Ma'am!" he said.

"No harm done," Natacha added as she climbed up to her backseat. "And I will discuss the adage of teaching your elders to suck eggs at a later point. Now, if you would, Corporal, do a scan to ensure that we don't take one of those fireflies or any other hitchhikers with us."

Sealing the hatch once they climbed, he said " I recommend that you keep your respirator on, I don't want to take chances that life support got all of the junk out of the air.

"Will do, Corporal," Natacha answered in an approving tone at his use of the word 'recommended.'

Sitting in his seat he activated the life support system and pushed the flush toxic atmosphere button, and watched as the canopy closed and the rush of air ejected debris and other things out of his cockpit. He waited till the canopy was sealed and the air flushed, then began a very thorough scan of the inside of the fighter.

Looking at the wreck one last time, he began his start-up routine. then said, " Lifting off!" The take-off was rather anti-climatic, as well as the 48-minute flight back to the Elysium. Once they got within range, he broadcasted his data and requested landing clearance.

"Elysium Flight control, Whiskey-two-four, requesting landing clearance, a sterile quarantine field, and a de-con team to meet us, we have been feet wet on a toxic world."

"Good call on that last part, Corporal," Natacha added, who had been ready to call or the decontamination team if Winnston hadn't. "Our cursory examination moon side was sufficient for the ride back, but not once we got back to the Elysium.

The landing was easy, short, and they had to wait for the hazmat team to erect the quarantine field around the craft before he would be able to open the canopy. while he was waiting he downloaded the data from his tricorder and sent it both to himself and the captain via the ship's net. "Captain, I uploaded your data, my visual and audio logs, your copy will be in your inbox by now. I will have to go make nice with the science department, I am intrigued with the life forms."

"I'll leave the interaction with the science division with you then, Corporal," Natacha advised. "Make sure you forward any information you receive on the fireflies with me. I must confess to a certain level of curiosity about what we encountered."

Once the sterile field was erected, and they popped the canopy open, he informed the decon team leader that he had only opened compartment J-12 and the cockpit on the planed, and his carbine was safe'd in there but it was a weapon, to treat his baby carefully.

He was led into the decon room by two med tech's, where they started slipping off his flight suit, warning them that although most of his pockets had not opened, four had been exposed to the toxic world, and unknown insects. He had gotten over his shyness a long time ago, so stripping and stepping into the shower in front of strangers was no big deal, plus it was not like he was a holovid star or anything.

At a separate station, removed from Winnston's view, a stripped down Natacha was "scrubbed" as well. Noticing one of the crewmembers seemed to be taking particular notice of her nude form, Natacha inquired, "Any problems, petty officer?"

The non-commissioned officer blushed at getting caught staring, then answered, "I just noticed you don't have any scars or tattoos. I've never seen a Marine who didn't have one or the other, and usually both."

"Cosmetic surgery," Natacha answered, not bothering to delve further into the cultural standards of her home world. The petty officer in question remained silent for the rest of the decontamination procedure.

Once she was cleaned, pressed and redressed, Natacha waited until Winston's decontamination was complete.

"Corporal, I want you to be the Detachment's point man on this firefly phenomena with Science. Just be sure to send a copy of everything to myself and the Colonel. And you'll be happy to know you passed your flight check. I'll be completing your paperwork right now. And I will send you an explanation for that saying about sucking eggs. If there is nothing else?" Natacha asked.

Winston smiled and said, "It truly was a pleasure taxiing you around, Ma/am, and yes I will copy you and the colonel on anything I find out about the critters back there."

"Dismissed then, Corporal," Natacha said with a nod, as she headed for the desk in her quarters to fill out the necessary electronic paperwork.

Winston headed to his ready room to start the after-action report, the response to an SOS report, that landing on a hostile planet without the proper paperwork, and a dozen other forms that he had to fill out and submit to just about everybody. The good news is that everybody loves to see it, so they can claim look we did a good thing, we just justified our reason for spending billions of energy credits on us. but he would be filling out reports, clarifications of reports, and explanations of clarifications of reports for weeks if not months. because someone always had a question, what about X or Y.