LT Gila Sadar - There's More Where That Came From
LT Gila Sadar
(( In Space - Laoi System, Minos Korva Sector, Alpha Quadrant ))
Vailani: We’re receiving a hail from the administrator of Laoi III - Bim Pend - it’s marked as urgent?
Gila had gotten fairly used to no mission going as outlined in the mission brief. To this date, the only truly ‘routine’ mission she’d experienced was the sensor survey the Artemis had done near the Paulson Nebula just over a year ago, and that concluded with a warship from another universe suddenly materializing in front of them. So while she was surprised with the call from the Administrator, she also couldn’t quite resist the ‘I knew it’-sensation spreading within her.
Sadar: Oh, uhh... P-Patch it through? ::brief pause:: =/\= This is the USS Galaktoboureko. How can we help you, Administrator? =/\=
Bim Pend: =/\= About bloody time you Starfleet types got here. It’s typical - can’t be bothered to show up to fix our stuff, but as soon as we start getting things done ourselves, you fly on by, all willy-nilly! =/\=
Gila first instinct was an exasperated thought of oO Tellarites Oo.
Sadar: =/\= I... I-I’m sorry? =/\=
Bim Pend: =/\= I don’t need none of your fogey apologies, I need you to get planetside pronto and help us deal with this damnable wreck that’s frying our computers worse than a bad Sunday roast! =/\=
Gila didn’t know what to say. Frankly, she barely knew what the Administrator was talking about - given his rather lackluster revelation of details regarding his problem - and so, she looked around her fellow officers with confusion.
Silveira: I think we should help.
That was an obvious reaction.
Morgan: I think so, too.
Slightly more surprising.
Gnai: Response
Vailani: What did he mean by wreck?
Imril: We’ll have to get closer to that planet if we want to find out. All this solar radiation is interfering with long-range scanners.
Gila took a breath. While the notion of avoiding any more conversation with the colony administrator was very appealing to her, it was just a lot faster in terms of information gathering.
Sadar: Or... =/\= Administrator, I’m sorry, but we’ve not been briefed on your situation. Could you clarify? =/\=
Bim Pend: =/\= I already told you, we need you to deal with this bloody Dominion wreck that’s interfering with our water treatment. At this rate, we’ll be drinking liquid gel packs! =/\=
Gila’s eyes grew wide, as she looked at the others.
Sadar: D-Did... D-Did he just say ‘Dominion’?
Silveira: We need more information.:: Vitor tapped a few controls and spoke loudly so that he could be heard over the comline:: =/\= Administrator Bim Pend, this is Lieutenant Silveira. Can you give us more details please. Is it safe to land? Do you have a place that needs us more urgently?
Bim Pend: =/\= Our main water treatment plant outside Bantlox. It’s the original colony site on the western coast of the main continent. =/\=
Gnai: Response
Gila leaned forward, her mind reeling with possibilities. A Dominion wreck. A leftover from the war thirty years ago. As the citizen of a planet which had been neutral during the Dominion war, most of Gila’s knowledge of the Dominion was second-hand information given to her after she left Mizabet. The possibility of actually examining a Dominion wreck, a site that had - until now - not been examined by Starfleet?
Sadar: =/\= A-Administrator, I just want to make sure that I understand you correctly. You’re saying a Dominion ship is interfering with your water treatment? =/\=
Bim Pend: =/\= Not a Dominion ship, a Dominion wreck. We unearthed it when we were expanding the treatment plant. And before you all start complaining about unauthorized expansion of a Federation facility, we only started doing it ‘cause Starfleet hasn’t bothered sending engineers since we sent in our application years ago. ::audibly exasperated:: If you people actually did your job and processed applications in a timely manner- =/\=
The Tellarite Administrator kept loudly agonizing over the - to him - subpar work ethic of Starfleet Corps of Engineers, alongside the dreadful state of international politics that his little frontier colony remained isolated this long after the war, while the officers within the Ship kept considering the implications of this detour which had been requested of them.
Gnai: Response
Vailani: It may just be a system malfunction. I’m sure that myself and Ensign Imril could be of use. Given the radiation from the star :: looks to Silveira nervously :: We would need to land the shuttle.
Imril: I’m happy to help. A distress call is a distress call.
Silveira: You all know my vote, I think we should help. And obviously send a message to any other ship around.
Gila felt an uncharacteristic surge of slight defiance - though it was immediately beaten down and hid away - at the notion of handing the wreck over to someone else, but thankfully, Vai-net offered a good excuse.
Vailani: It would take four days for the nearest ship to get here.
Hardly ideal, since the wreck was actively interfering with a colony’s water supply.
Morgan: Sounds like it’s up to us, boss…
Gila’s decision was already made, so in spite of LT Morgan’s usage of that horrible moniker - or the fact that Administrator Bim Pend made Gila’s nuchal folds shudder with anxiety - she nodded.
Sadar: ::lamenting:: I’m really not good with Tellarites. =/\= We’d be happy to help, Administrator Bim Pend. =/\=
Bim Pend: =/\= - and don’t get me started on the structural longevity of- Huh? Oh. Very well. We’ll be ready to receive you in Bantlox. =/\=
Gila nodded, pleased that the Administrator had noticed her response in spite of his endless tirade. She doubted she would have been able to cut through on her own.
Sadar: =/\= Thank you, Administrator. =/\=
Bim Pend: =/\= ::loud grumpy sounds:: =/\=
Sil-net tapped in the controls and adjusted the shuttle's course.
Silveira: Course set. You can tell them we are on our way.
Sadar: Vai-net, if you could send that? ::wrings her hands::
Now that she’d finally managed to clear the air of Tellarite grumblings, she didn’t want to test the grace of the Wheel and have it restart all over again.
Imril/Vailani/Morgan/Gnai: Response
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.
A decent record, honestly.
Imril/Vailani/Morgan: Response
Gnai: Response
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…
Gila barely let Sil-net finish, before she’d found a chair and strapped herself in, while anxiously reciting the Tenet of Submission. The Wheel hadn’t been kind, historically, but by all that was good, Gila really didn’t want to die today!
Sadar: ::obsessive chanting:: “Resist not the turn of the Wheel and let the guidance of the ancestors provide the lessons of the future.”
She only hoped that lesson wasn’t ‘don’t let the Human fly’. (No one tell her about Icarus, please.)
Imril/Vailani/Morgan: Response
Gnai: Response
(((Timeskip: One harrowing landing later)))
(( Outside Water Treatment Plant - Outskirts of the Bantlox Colony, Laoi III ))
Imril/Vailani/Morgan/Silveira/Gnai: Response
Trying to refocus the team - as well as not make a big deal out of their landing in front of the colonists, who were waiting for them by the treatment plant - Gila stepped forward, greeting the Tellarite Administrator, who also was flanked by two aides.
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.
The Administrator waved for them to follow him, as he started leading them around the large building.
Imril/Vailani/Morgan/Silveira/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.
oO How rude of it Oo
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.
This was when the group turned the corner, and saw exactly what the problem was. The plant was placed at the edge of a hilly overlook looking over the coast and the ocean itself, but next to it, in the middle of a large hole, a long, crooked grey starship wing reached for the sky, like a monolith of pale bone, the skeleton of an extinct monster.
Imril/Vailani/Morgan/Silveira/Gnai: Response
TAGS/TBC
LT Gila Sadar
Medical Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1