Ensign Imril - Option Number Three

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Chris Taylor

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Apr 5, 2025, 10:35:41 PM4/5/25

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( In Space - Laoi System, Minos Korva Sector, Alpha Quadrant ))

The com-lines closed. The decision was made. The shuttle’s destination was clear.

Silveira: I got this, but just in case, everyone strap up and keep an eye on the systems. I managed to make thirty eight landings in forty two.

Morgan: ::flatly:: Well, I feel relieved.

Imril was anything but relieved. Dealing with a Dominion warship, dead or not, was going to be nothing at all like the husk of the Tritorian.

Imril: I’m going to look up everything this computer has on Dominion vessel types.

Gnai: Response

Vitor grinned.

Silveira: In simulations obviously. Still that’s a pretty good average, considering I am not a pilot or helmsman. And if you're wondering how many actual atmospheric landings I did, it’s one. Counting this one…

He noticed the others started to strap up as he suggested and apparently… Was Sada praying?

Sadar: ::obsessive chanting:: “Resist not the turn of the Wheel and let the guidance of the ancestors provide the lessons of the future.”

Imril tried to tune out the Doctor’s prayers and any further banter about Silveira’s flying as they began seeking out information on Dominion ships to load into their PADD. All while continuing to monitor the systems they’d been watching all along.

Gnai: Response

((Timeskip: One almost perfect landing, because any landing you walk out of without damage is perfect, later))

((Outside Water Treatment Plant - Outskirts of the Bantlox Colony, Laoi III))

One very turbulent landing later, the shuttle had set down on the surface of a former(?) Federation colony.

Silveira: Any landing we can walk out of is a good one.

Imril: On the bright side, you out-flew a Dominion pilot.

Gnai: Response

Imril was among the last to leave the shuttle, and more than happy to let Doctor Sadar make the introductions.

Sadar: Administrator Bim Pend? I’m Doctor Gila Sadar, and these are my colleagues from the USS Artemis-A.

Bim Pend: Yes yes yes, good to meet you, follow me.

A Dominion ship was as good as any reason to cut the pleasantries short. Better than most, really.

Vailani: Adminstrator do you still use the same water source from the original landing site? You've never upgraded your water system before now?

They were led through a complicated network of criss crossing differently coloured pipes.

Morgan: This is quite an impressive network, Administrator…

Civil engineering wasn’t Imril’s strong suit. But from what they saw, they couldn't help but agree. A model of purpose and practicality; the efficient use of limited resources.

Gnai: Response

Bim Pend: Just standard expansion, digging out room for some new pipes, getting room for the extra compartment. Only, a bloody ship wing was in the way of our new piping.

Silveira: Must be a big ship.

Bim Pend: It’s mostly still underground, but evidently, we’ve uncovered enough for whatever’s still active in there to wreak havoc on our plant. Ever since we found the darn thing, our computers have been on the fritz, messing with the composition of our water.

Sadar: Anything that’s led to health hazards for any of your colonists so far?

Bim Pend: Not yet, but it’s just a matter of time. Hence why we need you Starfleet-types to figure out how we deal with this.

They turned a corner and there before Imril was a piece of history which they considered themselves fortunate to have missed by virtue of being born two years after the Dominion’s surrender. Standing upright like a dark monument to years of death and destruction on a truly massive scale. Or a knife driven into the hide of the present.

Vailani: :: dumbfounded :: That's the wing of a Jem'Hadar attack ship. It must have been scouting the area …

Morgan: But how did it get here without anyone knowing? And what happened to the crew?

Silveira: Gone by now, that thing must be here for what? Twenty eight years if I am not mistaken.

Gnai/Sadar: Response

Bim Pend: Response

Vailani: Wouldn't a planetary survey have detected this?

Morgan: I would think anyone with the technology to get a message to us would have been able to track this. Or, ya know, anyone looking up at the sky would have seen it…

Silveira: If it crashed and natured got its way with it I think it's possible for it to be undetected.

Imril: Considering that we’re not all standing in the middle of an impact crater, I’d suggest that the ship could have entered atmo well out of view of this area, hit ground a long distance off, and ‘skipped’ or tumbled its way here.

They pulled out their tricorder to confirm or disaffirm their hypothesis.

Imril: There’s a trail of compacted ground under the surface flora. Little impact zones, going off in that direction. The initial touchdown site is past the range of my tricorder.

Shaped like a flying death frisbee, the ship maintained enough structural integrity after such a ride to carve its way into the earth and out of view. Tough little ships, Jem’Hadar fighters.

Gnai/Sadar: Response

Bim Pend: Response

The group began to make their way closer to the wreckage. The wing stood as an obvious roadblock to the colony’s piping project.

Vailani: :: to Gila :: Securing the computer database should be a priority once we've made it safe for the colonists and ourselves.

Morgan: Might be safe to assume there won’t be much need for a medical officer. At least, hopefully not.

Vitor shook his head and took a few steps forward.

Silveira: No Doc, at least not yet.

Imril: I have to agree. This ship could be full of nasty surprises. Very aggressive security measures for one. Plus, the ship’s systems have had nearly three decades to degrade. Short-circuits could be the least of the nastiness there. I’m particularly worried about magnetic shielding for the disruptor banks.

The more Imril considered the potential bad outcomes, the less they wanted to be standing right where they were. But someone had to stand between the colonists and said potential bad outcomes. Keep them from happening. A distress call was a distress call, after all.

Gnai/Sadar: Response

Bim Pend: Response

Morgan looked to the others.

Morgan: Any way to tell how long this ship has been here? Or its service history?

Silveira: That last one might be too early to know. Only if we salvage some of its database.

Imril: We might get some clues to that by determining the exact complement of offensive systems the ship is outfitted with. That could help us pin down which phase of the war this ship was operating in at the time of the crash. ::Refers to their PADD:: Phased polaron canons were phased out early in the war as Federation shield tech advanced. Antiproton emitters for detecting cloaked ships were swapped out for long-range tachyon scanners about halfway through. Breen energy dampeners were integrated towards the end.