Exploring the Asteroid (part 2)

Posted on Fri Jun 30th, 2017 @ 10:07am by Lieutenant Commander Mira Jayde & Lieutenant Tristan Balor & Lieutenant JG Élan Val & Ensign Leslie Gallant III

1,036 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Genesis Legacy

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

Jayde carefully monitored the asteroid as they approached. The life signs were odd on something that spent thousands of years traveling through space. Or was this some sort of man-made device? There was something niggling at the back of her mind, but she couldn't place it. Not yet, anyway. She let part of her mind ponder the readings while she ran a search of the database. She immediately dismissed all references to Frankenstein's monster as irrelevant.

[NEW[

There were some tantalizing hints of information, but it was classified.

Élan frowned as she studied the readouts from the Helios sensor pod as well as the primary and conventional sensors. Nothing made sense, to her or Val, who wriggled in her pouch as the symbiont absorbed everything and pondered. The surface scans of the asteroid revealed to be of little help, as the sensors detected the usual minerals, mostly which were nickel and iron with a small amount of copper based minerals. Nothing would let her to believe that any form of life would be living on the rock the Helios was approaching, yet the sensors were clearly registering life signs coming from somewhere inside the asteroid. Leaning back in her seat, Élan set the sensors for a fully detailed survey scan and waited.

"The atmosphere is breathable inside the asteroid," Jayde said, surprised. "It is surprisingly pure."

“Too pure to be found on a large lifeless asteroid in the middle of an empty region of space,” Élan observed verbally as she watched her consoles.

"Agreed." Jayde turned to Élan and smiled. "We should have a look."

“I’d recommend extreme caution, Commander. There are too many unknown variables in this situation, and I’d like to avoid getting into a situation that can get out of hand again,” Élan said, aware that she was channeling Val, who she could tell was trying very hard not to panic. Élan knew the symbiont was thinking about her second host, who had experienced a similar situation and had met with a painful end. Hopefully, that wouldn’t happen here, but the warning was enough to warrant Élan erring on the side of caution for once.

"Agreed." Jayde, too, was concerned about the situation. "We must use extreme caution."

"What we have to think about is how close can we get, or is there some kind of airlock we can use to dock with and disembark?" Gallant III mentpned. "The transporter on a runabout is not to compare to a starship based system. Can I get this micro starship close enough to transport you over?"

"What do the sensors show?" Jayde asked. "If this is a true asteroid, there will be no airlock. The question is, do we land and walk in, or do we transport in? Either way, we must make sure the air is breathable and we will not be trapped."

“Actually, Commander, I’d like to request that we take the time to conduct a full orbital scan before we make any decision to proceed further,” Élan said as she typed an order into the computer. “I’m estimating that it will take a little over an hour to complete a surface scan, perhaps longer to conduct a subsurface scan.”

"Both would be beneficial," Jayde said. "The more information we have, the more prepared we will be when we go in."

“Mister Gallant, please set us into a standard orbit at one quarter impulse speed,” Élan said, happy that the executive officer agreed to err on the side of caution. Entering a command, she began a complete scan of the asteroid. Normally, the standard sensors on a runabout would take hours to perform such a scan, but the Helios fortunately had been outfitted with a science pod, which included a sensor platform that would help reduce the time needed to complete a full scan.

"Confirming standard orbit at One quarter impulse." Gallant III said with a grin as he began to ease the small craft into what seemed a standard bot a little lazy of an orbit to allow the sensors a slight bit more time. "Standard Figure eight criss-cross patter for scanning Aye Ma'am." The fingers dancing along the controls as he concentrated on the task at hand, glancing over at Val. "Just let me know if you want extra pictures and I can park us where you need?" He gave a subtle wink.

Jayde watched the data scroll across the screen as they lapped the asteroid. She compared this new data with the computer database. One word came up again and again, all with dire warnings. That word was Genesis.

"We need to investigate," Jayde said. "With extreme caution."

The console that Tristan was assigned to began to receive various alerts, warning him of a potential Intelligence breach, and that a classified file was in danger of being discovered. He immediately tapped his console, closing out the messages, and turned to face Jayde. "You just attempted to access a highly restricted classified file. May I as why?"

"I wish to discover why this asteroid has a living biosphere inside," she said. "The data points to Genesis. Do you wish to enlighten us?"

"Would you care to verify the clearance levels of everyone on board the shuttle." Tristian replied quickly.

"We are going to investigate this asteroid, commander. If this has something to do with a project called Genesis, it would help us know what we might encounter. But if not, we're still going in and we will still investigate." She wasn't sure what her clearance was at this point. She had no idea about the others. She sent a message to the Captain with the data so at least he would know what was going on.

"Than regulations permit me to commandeer this shuttle and stop it until we get permission from Starfleet Command." Tristan looked over to Ensign Gallant and stood up. "Ensign Gallant, please stop the shuttle until further notice. I am taking command of this mission by order of Starfleet Intelligence."

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Commander Mira Jayde
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Élan Val
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Commander Tristan Balor
Chief Intelligence Officer
Ensign Leslie Gallant III

 

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