REPOST Lieutenant Vailani Zoyara - Chasing the White Rabbit
Luxa Lorana
To say Zoyara was unhappy was the greatest understatement in the Galaris System. The tension headache had returned and her scowl was so deep her brows were practically knitted together. Her nose ridges had ridges.
She did not like breaks in protocols.
She did not like Lt Silveira's piloting.
She did not like flying into an active warzone.
And she really didn't like the next words that came out of the Galadoran science officers mechsuit.
Gnai: Sir, something’s coming!
Silveira: Got it. Check their intentions, you all know I hate flying in the atmosphere.
Zoyara quickly scanned the ‘objects’ and sighed a brief relief.
Vailani: It's the Grunden. Small fighter drones that are piloted, they're maintaining a holding pattern. At ease, officers.
From the viewscreen, a small group of flying objects came into sight, presumably some of the Grunden anti-air defences.
Bergmen: That fighter armament seems quite anti aircraft, sir.
Silveira: Maybe they are just reaching out. I will keep us straight on course.
Gnai: This hopes so…
Zoyara watched as the Grunden crafts came into view in front of the shuttle. Five in total: two flanked the shuttle and another two twisted, turned and appeared to indicate that they follow a designated flight path. One remained keeping pace with the Atlas.
The communications channel sounded, she turned to Silveira seated beside her.
Vailani: I think they want to speak to us :: sighs :: This better not make this day any worse than it's been already.
Zoyara opened the comm and a gruff, extremely militaristic voice boomed through the cockpit.
Grunden Pilot: =/\= Greetings Starfleet. You’re crossing into defended airspace. Is there anything we can help you with? =/\=
Vailani: =/\= We're here in our official capacity as Starfleet investigators. We only intend to do a fly-by to perform a scan, and we're happy for you to continue to escort us? =/\=
Grunden Pilot: =/\= I see... =/\= ::brief pause:: =/\= Thank you for the offer, but as I’m sure you can understand, tempers are flaring after the attack on Breetia. The breakdown of the ceasefire has the Circle of Chieftains unwilling to place your lives in further jeopardy. We’re sorry to seem ungracious hosts, but- =/\=
Zoyara raised her eyebrows, the fighters appeared to change their pattern, making several loops around the shuttle.
Bergmen: They still hold their target lock on us, sir. Their weapons are still offline.
Bad. And good. They were posturing, a gentle caution but they hadn't shown any willingness to open fire.
Silveira: Lieutenant Bergmen, get me a sensor reading on them. ::He tipped his head to Zoy:: Whatever we need to do to help Petty Officer Filistrien we have to do it quickly. I don’t think we can do another run.
Vailani: I agree. Let's get what Filistrien needs and make haste.
Bergmen: Understood.
Zoyara could see the lead fighter swoop upwards, and down. The rest of them moved into a more aggressive escort pattern around them.
Bergmen: Response
Gnai: This is reading the same thing, sir.
Vailani: Once we have the signal we'll leave.
It was good fortune that their escorts appeared to have chosen a path that was bringing them closer to the exact location they needed.
Zoyara could see the rugged terrain below them. Pocked with burnt out villages and towns. Ravaged by war, yet somehow life still went on. She could see a gathering below as Silveira steadied the ship.
Silveira: OK this will be only a one run thing. Everyone get ready and I will let the lead pilot know what I am doing.
She nodded to the Chief, and returned her focus to the gathering that was becoming more clear to her. They were Grunden and it was a ceremony. Children (or cubs?) were dressed in bright, colourful clothing and walked paw-in-paw as they ringed an equally colourful tree. Older Grunden wore beautifully crafted clothing and appeared to be singing, their arms raised into the air.
It was a celebration. Through all of this death and pain, they still celebrated. They still survived and loved and cherished and would sing with their hands in the air as children danced around a beautiful tree. There was something so pure and astonishing about the sight that she had to catch her own breath.
Gnai: Aye, sir.
Gnai's voice, via the mechsuit, brought her back to the happenings inside of the shuttle as the celebration below passed them by.
Bergmen: Response
Silveira: =/\= This is Lieutenant Silveira, piloting the shuttle Atlas. I will ask for your understanding. We are returning to orbit, but our shuttles take a little longer to adjust between space and atmospheric flight… ::Vitor didn’t knew how to explain better and hoped that some technobabling might help:: It’s the GNDN filters. We will be climbing up as soon as they are cleared. =/\=
Zoyara quirked her brow but a sly smile on her face and a slow nod to Silveira was an indicator of her approval.
Grunden Pilot: =/\= Understood Atlas. Two of my men will be escorting you to a higher altitude until we can be sure you’re out of range of any Hoppers. =/\=
The fighters relaxed their escort, allowing more freedom to manoeuvre which in turn let them scan a wider area without giving the ‘game’ away.
Silveira: =/\= Much appreciated. Safe flight. Atlas out. =/\=
Lt. Silveira tipped his head to her.
Silveira: That was close, I will start ascending soon.
Zoyara was relieved as they began to retrieve the details for Filistrien, which she started to transmit back to the Artemis.
Sadar: They... I-I wonder if they know? Wh-Why we aren’t allowed in Breetia, I mean. I don’t think it’s true that it’s purely for our own safety. I-In terms of raw power, do the Kobyar aircrafts m-measure up to the Atlas?
Gnai: This has absolutely no desire to find out.
Vailani: Silveira, you can pull us out. The transfer is complete. I also have a lock on that signal. It's not strong and this might be like finding a grain of spring sand on the Pagu Hills*.
Bergmen: Response
(( Cockpit of the USS Atlas - Galaris System ))
Thankfully Silveira didn't take too long to return them to the … safety … of space. It didn't feel any safer considering they were tracking a signal to an unknown foe. Someone they know has been trading technology and arms to the Grunden and Kobyar.
Silveira: Did they get it? Do we have it?
Gnai: It… looks like this was successful, but this isn’t completely certain.
Zoyara opened a communication to the Artemis operations centre.
Vailani: =/\= Vailani to Filistrien, did you receive the communication packet I sent through? =/\=
Bergmen: Response
Filistrien: =/\= Yes Sir, we managed to get through. The connection is flimsy, but the signal source seems to come from the other side of the Galaris sunstar. We’ll continue working on triangulating a more precise location. =/\=
Vailani: =/\= Thank you, once you have it send it through. Vailani out. =/\=
Bergmen/Silveira: Response
Sadar: W-Well, at least the war hasn’t moved off world yet, so there’s, uhh, limited chance for us to encounter interference out here...
Vailani: I hope you're right, Gila.
She didn't share in her friend's optimism but the only thing that gave her a very small flicker of hope is the measures they had taken to stay hidden. This indicated to her that they didn't want to be involved - and she was willing to gamble that they'd be just as keen to avoid a conflict with Starfleet.
Bergmen/Silveira: Response
Gnai: Does the signal seem to bounce off of other satellites in a chain to reach around the star, or is it somehow penetrating through the star?
She turned to look at Gnai, her eyes widened. She was hoping that the science officer would be able to tell them that.
Sadar: That’s unclear... The signal seemed to have just one broadcast source, b-but it was distributed to multiple staging areas on Galaris IV. I-I wasn’t able to determine where the receivers were located though…
Gnai: Well, one is known, at least. Could the Artemis’ computers extrapolate from what it knows about the signal being received at that point and monitor the rest of the planet for other receiving stations?
Vailani: We could use the scans that the Artemis already has. We have them on the database. As Gila pointed out they likely daisy chained through Galaris IV before leaving to the atmosphere. We haven't encountered any Grunden or Kobyar satellites in orbit.
Bergmen/Silveira/Sadar: Response
Gnai: Perhaps there might even be other receivers elsewhere in the system - Artemis could listen for those... It could be an early warning system for the Atlas in case there are space-based defense systems tied to the transmitter.
Zoyara looked at Gnai again, she took a breath.
Vailani: We have scanners here Lieutenant Gnai, can you please use them and find those receivers if they even exist? We need to find the origin of this signal. The Artemis is hosting delegates from both sides and I'm willing to bet they're being watched for this reason.
Bergmen/Silveira/Sadar: Response
They made quick pace around the star, Zoyara's tension had moved from her head to her shoulders and she began to roll them, dipping her chin down and then rotating her neck. She was disheartened that there was nothing.
Perhaps they had made a mistake in their calculations?
Gnai: This doesn’t read anything out there on first pass…
Zoyara looked to the scans, attempting to triangulate any signals across all frequencies… space was noisy. Very much so. Her panel lit up with excitement, but slowly diminished as she filtered out the … that's when a thought began to emerge.
Vailani: Bergmen, can you isolate the low-amplitude frequency band, specifically the CMBR spectrum.
Bergmen/Silveira/Sadar: Response
Her eyes widened and she smiled towards Bergmen and nodded for him to continue narrowing down his search.
Gnai: Is there any word from the Artemis on further narrowing down the site of transmissions?
Vailani: Not yet. They're focusing on finding out the evidence on Galaris IV. Focus on the signal and who's sending it.
Her attention was pulled to the signal coming through from the Operations station.
Bergmen/Silveira/Sadar/Gnai: Responses
Vailani: We have it. It's riding the thermal noise floor. We were filtering it out. The scans weren't configured to register it as significant. It takes a lot of work to maintain a frequency on this level.
Finally the headache began to subside. She had something solid to focus on. She smiled as her minds eye began to lay out a trail.
Vailani: Let's see where it takes us.
The cockpit was quiet as each of them focused on their tasks, or their inner musings. Her console made a beeping alert and when she lifted her head she saw a moon. A quick check of her panel told her this was Moric, the moon of Galaris VI.
Vailani: What are we looking at?
As the shuttle neared the moon, and the location of the signal, a compound revealed itself. There was evidence of an attempt to conceal itself by blending into the natural formations of the moon itself. And it was effective, if they hadn't discovered that underground facility beneath Breetia they'd have never followed the breadcrumbs to this location … and quite possibly never found this compound.
Bergmen/Silveira/Sadar/Gnai: Responses
Vailani: Okay.
Zoyara measured up the inhabitants of the cockpit and made a decision.
((OOC: This is the edited portion of the previous SIM with Lich being less available I've changed the team construction with permission from Lich until the return from their travels))
Vailani: Silveira, Sadar and Bergmen with me to the compound. Gnai, I need you to monitor our progress and beam us out of any trouble.
Bergmen/Silveira/Sadar/Gnai: Responses
Tags/TBC
* Bajoran version of needle in a haystack.
Chief of Operations (OOC Rank XO)
USS Artemis-A
A240004LL2