Entering the Zaryx System

Posted on Fri Nov 27th, 2015 @ 7:24am by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Commodore Raul Mizumoto
Edited on on Sat Apr 28th, 2018 @ 10:09pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Taking Chances
Location: USS Bonne Chance, Deck One, the Bridge
Timeline: 2265

While they had been en route with the last leg of their journey to the Zaryx system for a routine supply drop and status check of a Federation colony, Lieutenant Charybdis had been rather busy at the Science station.

Zaryx 4, class M planet, fourth in a system of seven planets orbiting Zaryx, a blue sun approximately 40% hotter than Sol. This would lend the sky a remarkably deep blue tone, while plant life would be primarily red or orange, with the occasional bluish plant life which held an abundance of the photosynthetic energy of the star. World had been scouted by the USS Valiant in 2258, with extensive colonization prospecting scans performed at that time. Proposal for the colony had been put before a Starfleet subcommittee in 2259, and the colony had been established in 2261 under the leadership of one Malcolm King, a civilian agricultural engineer from Earth.



Planet was 59 percent covered by water, and most of the land bodies not covered by water were still tending towards marshy lowlands, which made for excellent soil potential for the growing of a number of differing crops. However, due to the more intense heat of the blue sun, atmospheric conditions on the planet tended to be capricious at best, and were as yet still wildly unpredictable. This left the colony's crop output somewhat unstable according to initial reports.

Protocols indicated that she should be prepared for system-wide scans upon arrival in the system, and of course she was already planning for that, and considerably more. She trained the gamma ray telescope on the system as soon as it was within sensor range to begin an updated astrocartography scan of the entire system. It wasn't required, but she wanted to be properly efficient in such matters. After all, the sensors and their applications were her responsibility now, and she took them rather seriously.

Besides, having turned up the resolution on the scanners they might yield previously unrevealed data that could lead to exciting discoveries and new answers. She activated the duty protocols to have her department interface with Engineering for daily maintenance while the equipment was under such heavy usage to insure that they would not become misaligned and return faulty data.

Setting up a series of preset scans that she wanted completed, Charybdis would have Ensigns Sato and Tyler overseeing in her projected absence... she assumed as Chief Science Officer that she would be part of the Away Team to the planet, or that the Captain would take the XO with him and leave her in command. Either way, she reasoned that it would be best to have her scan expectations set and logged in so that her department could carry on without her and do the work that she wanted accomplished.

The science departmental meeting the day before had gone well, and departmental morale seemed high. Her contest had been met with some enthusiasm, and it seemed as though as a whole they were surprised and relieved to discover that while she was indeed somewhat demanding in her expectations of them, she was also realistic and had a sense of humor about it all. She wanted good work from them, but she was no slave driver. And while she would always be working twice as hard as any of her team, if she was overloading them she expected to hear about it so that it could be worked out.

Time would tell if her leadership style would lend itself to scientists. But she felt good about it, and rather hopeful.

The lifeform sensors would need to make a concentrated blanket of the area... according to records no Starfleet vessel with scanners this sophisticated had swept the planet, so she set the protocols for the Bonne Chance to do a planetary sweep to observe and identify when possible the native life forms, to better update both the colony and Starfleet's records. While they were in orbit perhaps they might lend insight into new undiscovered life forms or perhaps migration patterns of the indigenous population.

Of course, they would be running broad spectrum EM analysis of the planet as they orbited, as well as the other planets in the system. At current optimization the scanners could blanket the entire system with scans, and she intended not to waste a moment of the possibilities. Additionally, she trained the narrow-band EM scanner upon the settlement and the surrounding environs as they passed in orbit in order to take readings from them as well, in the interest of efficiency.

During the voyage into the system she coordinated with the helm to make a sweeping entrance so that she could take readings with the gravimetric distortion scanner to track any anomalous readings or unusual fluctuations in Zaryx itself or any of the attendant bodies. Likely this would be superfluous, but again, she wanted to be thorough. On the Antares most of her scanners had been rudimentary; this was her first time taking mission readings with this much scanning power at her command, and she was determined not to be caught unawares should her Captain need information.

The Captain, she reminded herself as she set the thermal imaging scanners to sweep the planet in tandem with the lifeform sensors. Not her Captain. Detailed thermal readings such as the Bonne Chance's powerful scanners could provide might prove invaluable in understanding or predicting weather patterns, which could be critical for an agricultural colony.

As the Captain entered the Bridge, Charybdis deliberately did not look up, though she did watch his reflection in one of the smaller EM wavelength screens on her station. She was pleased to note that he did definitely cast a look her way as she worked, and as he dialogued with the colony, she downloaded all of the relevant data that she had researched or collected via scans thus far into her tricorder.

"Celes and Charybdis with me, notify Dr McKenzie to meet us in the transporter room. XO, the ship is yours in the meantime. Have the shuttles loaded with the supplies and be ready to start sending them down on my order," the Captain said as he ended communication, and the science officer smiled. Away Team duty... even for just an agricultural colony, was still seeing an alien world up close and personal, and despite her internal conclusions she was still excited that the Captain had chosen her to accompany him on the mission. She sent a message to Doctor McKenzie in Sickbay, grabbed her prepped tricorder then strode quickly to catch the turbolift

Celes shot her a look as they stood behind their commander in the turbolift, to which she smiled and shrugged. There were plenty of reasons to be excited about a mission, after all... and she saw no reason not to show her enthusiasm, even as she saw Yuna putting on her 'game face' as Security Chief. Yet another difference between them... but then, if there was danger down on the surface, however unlikely that may be, she would be glad to have Lieutenant Celes along, and grateful for that no-nonsense demeanor.

Her first away mission with a new crew. She wondered if there would be excitement, danger or romance on the planet below. They would all find out shortly, one way or another.

 

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