Lieutenant JG Lystra - Always Feel Like, Somebody's Watching Me
Rameses
((A Geyser Valley, Northern Hemisphere, Peekaboo))
Lystra paced a perimeter around their position, occasionally she spared a glance down at the Little Crow way down below the ridge.
Lystra: So it’s refracting the signal a little? Can we use that? Use the storm like a mirror and bounce the signal off it?
Perax: =/\= Perax to Doctor Foster, Have you ever been to Gloucester in a shower of rain? =/\=
The static on the channel was still present but a far cry from the cacophony of trying to contact the ship. She was glad to hear Cade and the other’s voices.
Foster: =/\= I can read you Lieutenant. Hopefully you’re not waist deep in primordial puddles. =/\=
S'jenes: =/\= We seem to have an abundance of static in regards to your signal, suggestions to clear it? =/\=
Perax: =/\= If you set up your signal enhancer and lock onto this signal, we might eliminate the static. =/\=
With every tweak and enhancement the signal cleared fractionally. Still not great but workable.
Foster: =/\= How is your team doing? Find anything interesting? =/\=
Lystra: =/\= Oh, you know the usual. Getting stampeded by wildlife and dodging lightning bolts. This place is terrible. We’ve found some fauna has Chrondite in their physiology, bioluminescence and we think they use the metal in their antlers as lightning rods for protection or possibly a source of energy? What about you guys? =/\=
Foster: =/\=Chrondite? That’s peculiar. We’ve been dodging exploding steam geysers and marvelling at how unusually fertile the land is. =/\=
Yirah: =/\= I have to disagree with Lystra’s assessment that this place is terrible. =/\=
Mec: =/\= Response =/\=
Foster: =/\= Sure, why not make it a resort? You could go geyser surfing and ride magnetic elk. It’ll be the next Risa… =/\=
Perax: =/\=Geyser surfing? I’m not that adventurous=/\=
Yirah: =/\= We landed in a valley full of geysers. We haven't been able to get a clear read on atmospheric composition, but during our descent, even before the geyser field, we did pick up on high amounts of water vapour and what could be volcanic ash or perhaps a major dust storm. =/\=
Foster: =/\= With the stage of development this planet is at, it’s likely that the crust is not well developed. So trapped gases want to explode. =/\=
S'jenes: =/\= From here, earlier tests showed oxygen at 20.9 percent, nitrogen at 78 percent, argon at 0.9 percent. Trace elements include neon, methane at negligible levels, and elevated water vapor consistent with regional storm activity, perhaps cross referencing our findings may answer some of your phenomena as well. =/\=
Mec: =/\=Response=/\=
Her head whipped towards Indrid when she caught part of that, unsure if they had just said they found evidence of possible habitation.
Lystra: =/\= Is it recent or more like a ruin? In either case should we treat this like a Prime Directive, First Contact situation? =/\=
Such a decision would be between Indrid and Cade as they were the officers in charge down here, assuming they couldn’t get an effective communication with the Conny.
Foster: =/\= I don’t think this planet is developed enough to have sentient native life. That said, what we’ve found is consistent with the preparations for a focused farming operation. Maybe someone else found this place before us> =/\=
That got Lystra’s attention. So, the likelihood of there being native life wasn’t high but the chance that they were not the first visitors to this world was higher now. That presented a larger number of potential security concerns. For one, were these other guests to the place friendly or not.
She recalled several reports from other ships over the years of discovering a world after someone else had. Sometimes they were peaceful, others the response was violent because they laid claim first. And in some, the violence was due to Starfleet stumbling onto illicit operations of some sort.
It wouldn’t be the first pirate den or illegal smuggling or manufacturing operation that had been accidentally uncovered during a routine survey.
Mec: =/\=Response=/\=
S'Jenes: =/\= We have been experiencing tectonic fluctuations in intervals here, seemingly timed intervals =/\=
Yirah: =/\= And you're sure that these fluctuations couldn't have been organic? =/\=
S'Jenes: =/\= In theory, they could be. Rerouting power from my tricorder to attempt to stabilize our signal =/\=
Mec: =/\=Response=/\=
Foster: =/\= Again, it’s always possible. But as we collect improbably organic coincidences, it all points towards outside interference. The energy signals, the unusually fertile soil, the isolated patches without tectonic activity… either parts of this planet are extremely lucky or someone’s working here. =/\=
Mining operations could cause tremors in the ground, which made the likelihood of them being late to the discovery of this place more likely.
Mec: =/\=Response=/\=
Lystra: =/\= We just tried. We were able to get a very garbled response from the ship. I’m not sure we’re going to get better than that audibly, but I suggested we could try narrow band data bursts to see if that might work. Or, if you guys have a signal enhancer maybe we could link them together and focus on the same coordinates? =/\=
Foster: =/\= We dropped signal buoys on our way in. If we return to the runabout we can calibrate them and share the signal frequency with you. =/\=
Mec: =/\= Response =/\=
Perax: =/\= Wait! Did you say you dropped a beacon probe in orbit on the edge of the atmosphere? We might be able to use it as a signal repeater. It will still be distorted, but we might get more of their message. =/\=
Foster =/\= That we did! =/\=
S'Jenes: =/\=The planet's storms may be bending the signal from the beacon =/\=
Mec: =/\= Response =/\=
Perax: =/\= Perax to Constitution, we are at N36°14’ by W16°7’. We have discovered geothermal heat sources and an interesting life form that has bioluminescence and lightning rod antlers. The weather is horrible. Could you point us in the direction of a sunny beach? Perax out. =/\=
Maramox: Response
Lystra’s brow raised slightly at Leran’s request. Beaches were even worse than mountains, and almost as bad as deserts. Sand that could get into places unspeakable. Not to mention they tended to be in poorly regulated areas of too much humidity and heat. Not the wonderfully perfect, properly maintained atmosphere of a starship.
Foster: =/\= Don’t forget to request they beam down drinks… =/\=
She at least chuckled at Cade’s comment. She was probably the only member of the crew who would have fun on Risa.
Yirah: =/\= But about these fluctuations you all picked up on. Have you seen anything else that might suggest intelligent life? =/\=
S’Jenes: ::He lowered his tricorder slightly, eyes thoughtful as he reviewed the data again...=/\=the balance, the timing, the restraint. No signals to indicate it, but the planet seems to respond… politely, almost as if it were designed to host life. =/\=
Mec: =/\= Response =/\=
Foster: =/\= Animal life, yes. Intelligent life… not yet. At least not native. =/\=
Yirah: =/\= Just let us know if you find anything else. =/\=
Mec: =/\= Response =/\=
She thought she heard an alert over the commline from the other team’s end.
Lystra: =/\= Everything alright, Cade? =/\=
Foster: =/\= oh you know, just some sort of mild seismic event as we’re out here talking. Nothing possible suspicious about that… =/\=
Lystra: =/\= And yet, now I’m more suspicious. Be cautious, Cade. If we’re not the first to discover this world that changes the potential risks. Keep your phasers handy just in case. =/\=
Yirah/Perax/Maramox: Response
Foster: =/\= Let’s keep the commlines as open as possible, but we’re going to let you go and poke around a bit more. I feel like we’re missing some pieces of this puzzle =/\=
Yirah/Perax/Maramox: Response
Lystra: =/\= Agreed. =/\= ::she looked at the rest of her compatriots:: What next? We can’t just sit here with the enhancer. Do you want us to head back to the Little Crow and focus our studies on the geysers?
Yirah/Perax/Maramox: Response
Lystra: Well, if Cade’s right and we aren’t alone here for the examples he gave then it’s unlikely we’ll have a Prime Directive or First Contact situation in the way we might have been thinking before. We may have an issue if whomever was here first has claimed this as part of their civilization, then we’d have to follow whatever laws or agreements we have with whatever species it turns out to be.
Yirah/Perax/Maramox: Response
The Boslic shifted her stance and absently adjusted the phaser rifle that slung from her shoulder.
Lystra: I’m more concerned with whether or not our mystery visitors are hostile or not. I suggest we keep our tricorders set to scan for lifesigns at all times, as a precaution. They don’t have a lot of fidelity in this place but it’s better than nothing. And I’ll try and keep an eye out for any…
As she was adjusting her tricorder there was a momentary reading that disappeared almost as soon as it was picked up.
Yirah/Perax/Maramox: Response
Lystra: For a split second I thought I saw a lifesign nearby but with all the interference from this place I don’t know if it was legitimate or not.
As she said that she made a slow turn and visually scanned in the direction the tricorder had indicated. It was a sizable area and she might as well be trying to find a specific spot on a Trill for all the good it would do. Still, they had a good vantage point from the ridge line. Though the ambient darkness of the planet hindered their visibility the most. She had a glimmer of paranoia, if anyone was there they were probably watching them already.
Yirah/Perax/Maramox: Response
[tbc/tags]
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Lieutenant JG Lystra
Tactical/Security Officer
USS Constitution-B NCC-9012-B
Writer ID: A239410TR0