Exploring the Asteroid (part 4)
Posted on Thu Jul 6th, 2017 @ 8:00am by Lieutenant Commander Mira Jayde & Lieutenant Commander Velah & Lieutenant Tristan Balor & Lieutenant JG Élan Val & Sevena t'Dhvael
Edited on on Thu Jul 6th, 2017 @ 8:16am
1,613 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission: The Genesis Legacy
[CONTINUED]
[OLD]
Tristan stood there, staring at her. He was a bit heartbroken, but his face didn't show it. It was as if he was analyzing the situation and acting accordingly. "You don't think I am considering the same thing?! Although, my position as Chief of Intel doesn't require it, I am honor bound to keep this ship and crew in safe hands. Putting my own safety aside for theirs. It's not a Starfleet thing. It's a Gestari thing. By blade or by blood. I have considered the danger of this mission because, if the Romulan's are using Genesis on that asteroid, there is a strong possibility that there are some down there working on it, or guarding it. I would never, in my entire life, allow anyone to go down there unaccompanied with me. Not because of Intel Security, but because of personal security. You can continue to pull rank as much as you want, but you will never force me to go against my personal code. First Officer or Not."
[NEW]
"Tristan, it is not a matter of trust. You know I trust you implicitly. If my decision is in error, you will need to get everyone back safely. Since I am the one deciding to go down to the planet, I will be the one to take the blame if this goes wrong." She sighed. He wasn't understanding her. "I have agreed to share command, but I will not let you take responsibility or blame for my actions. That is why I wish this course. So that I am the sole bearer of responsibility." She shook her head. She'd never been good with words, preferring solitude when possible. And now, her intentions, however well-meaning, were being misunderstood yet again. "I'm sorry, Tristan." There was really nothing she could say. He did not understand, and she could not explain it in a way that he would. And it was all her fault. Again.
"You're wrong if you believe that I would allow you to go down there alone. Not because its protocol, but because I don't want to see you hurt." Tristan stood there quietly for a moment before walking away. "No, Lieutenant Command. It is I who am sorry." He sat back down in his chair and tapped on his console, marking the situation and removing the block on the Genesis File. "The file is now accessible." He stood up again and walked through the door into a different section of the shuttle. "Do with it what you wish."
She never intended to go alone. She only intended to be the one responsible if things went badly. She wasn't that foolhardy. Had she not been clear enough? Obviously.
She also wasn't going to get him in trouble by reading that file. If he said that he needed permission first, then she would not look at it until he got that permission. "Lieutenant Val, if you are through scanning, we should prepare a team to go down and investigate." Her first responsibility was still to the team, even if she now wanted to walk away.
Liang watched Tristan walk off, and then looked at Jayde's face. She shook her head sadly and said nothing.
Tristan walked to one of the secluded corners of the room and removed his sheathed sword from its ceremonial wrapping. He placed it in front of the lit candle stand and before placing his head down and saying a few words in his native tongue before softly asking his ancestors for their blessing in the upcoming trial and requesting a save journey back come when it was complete. He fought his conflicting emotions, trying to keep them from bubbling to the surface. Tristan needed to focus and stay in control for the benefit of doing his job and keeping everyone safe.
“The surface scan should be complete,” Élan replied, keeping her voice quiet and tightly controlled as she pressed a command into her console. To anyone who didn’t know her very well, it would seem as if she was simply keeping quiet, but she was actually doing was hiding the simmering anger and tightly wound emotions that were dancing beneath the surface in check. “I’m transferring the data to the surface scan to you now. The sub-surface scan will take a few more minutes. It’s taking longer than I expected.”
Jayde nodded her head. "Thank you." She noticed a hint of fire in the Trill's eyes and thought it was because of the recent discussion. She hoped that once they went to the asteroid to explore, tempers would cool.
"Like vornskrs fighting over territorial marks," Sevena said quietly from where she had been sitting and observing. Shaking her head, the Romulan liason officer sighed and glanced towards Commander Jayde. "Can I shoot him the next time he tries something like that?"
"Thank you for the offer, but no. We will not shoot him. But if it comes down to it, I am the Chief of Security as well as the senior officer of this mission. I will deal with any situations that arise." She hoped that he was more misguided in his desire to protect them from what may or may not be something relating to this Genesis. There was something she'd heard of while in the Maquis, but the information was decades old and so not something that was considered relevant at the time.
Jayde had already sent the Captain the data on the asteroid. She would proceed until the Captain told her not to. Continuing to address Sevena, she asked, "Do you know of any experiments by the Empire involving creating biospheres in asteroids?"
"Nothing that I can recall sounds familiar along that category," Sevena replied as she frowned. "I have to admit that I know nothing of this entire region. It's always been classified as a void, an empty sector that has nothing in it. I do have to admit that that category also falls outside of my realm as well."
Jayde nodded. "As I thought. So, whatever is causing the life signs is not authorized by either of our governments. A worthy conundrum."
She turned to Val. "Are the scans complete? I am ready to discuss how we shall investigate the asteroid."
"From the scans I do not see any toxins or anything that would require special gear." Velah said looking up from her console.
“I can’t get an accurate reading on the inside of the asteroid; however I can tell that it seems to be honeycombed with caverns and passageways. There seems to be some form of interference that’s preventing the sensors from getting a clear image past roughly twenty meters. I’m guessing that there is either some form of mineral or ionization in the minerals that make up the asteroid or it’s deliberate,” Élan said as she sighed in slight frustration.
Jayde nodded. "All right. We will leave Mr. Gallant with the shuttle. The rest of us should be sufficient for the initial visit. I think using the transporter may be the best way to get in." She raised an eyebrow at Élan. "What is your opinion?"
"I'm concerned about using the transporters when we can't get an accurate reading, but we can try," Élan replied as she tugged at the collar of her uniform. "I'd like to suggest that we beam over a test container first. We have two on board the Helios, and we can rig them with a beacon and a proximity sensor to get a better look at where it beams to."
"An excellent idea," Jayde said. "My concern is that if we land on the asteroid we will not find our way in. I agree that we should not transport over until we are sure of our destination."
“I’ll start configuring one of the containers. It should only take a couple of minutes,” Élan said as she stood and headed aft. The containers were both kept in the port-side science compartment that had been attached to the Helios, which had been set up for orbital missions of environmentally unfriendly worlds. Opening the device, Élan added a multi-use sensor package and signal booster and uploaded the software for both before she activated the remote controls for the device and headed back to the cockpit. Settling down in her seat once more, the Trill officer keyed the transporter.
“We’re ready, just waiting for your order, Ma’am,” Élan said after a moment.
"The let us see what is at the other end of the rabbit hole," Jayde said. "Transport."
Élan entered the command to transport the container over to the asteroid. She had hoped that it would arrive in a cavern, and after studying the screen displaying the feed-back report, she frowned even more for several minutes as she digested the information before she finally verbalized her report.
“There is a cavern with at least one, possibly more than one, exit. The atmosphere is reading to be sixty eight percent nitrogen, thirty percent oxygen, one percent argon, and one percent of other gases. I’m reading higher than normal traces of Krypton, Xenon, and Hydrogen, but nothing lethal. We should be fine as long as we don’t fill the air up with dust from the asteroid rock base and breathe it in,” Élan said.
Jayde raised an eyebrow at the readings. "Very good. We beam down in two minutes."
____
OFF
Lieutenant Commander Tristan Balor
Chief Operations Officer
Lieutenant Commander Mira Jayde
Executive Officer
Lieutenant Élan Val
Chief Science Officer
Sevena t'DDhvael
Romulan Liaison
Lieutenant Velah
Chief Medical Officer
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