Lieutenant Alira Venn: A Threat of Massive Proportions, part 1
Isara Aleron
Alira spent the trip from the transporter room to the conference room collecting herself. The transport over had unnerved her more than she cared to admit, even to herself. She’d survived, but she also knew that the risk had been high. The security officers admitted her and Velis into the conference room, where a whole host of faces awaited. Most notably, the bearded face of the Captain. The First Officer, she presumed, given his match to the description she had of him, stood to his feet to introduce himself.
Niac: Response
Raga: Welcome aboard. Commander Toryn Raga.
The Commander gestured towards some of the chairs around the table, and Alira moved to one of them.
Velis: ::smiles:: Lieutenant Serin Velis. A pleasure to meet you, Commander.
Venn: Alira Venn. Thank you for your welcome, sirs.
One of the assembled officers had been watching her and Velis since they’d entered and finally seemed satisfied as he turned to their security escort and nodded.
Kessler: ::looking to his security team:: Dismissed.
oO That would be the Chief of Security. And this is why I am in Intelligence. Oo
She chuckled internally at her own joke and took the seat she had chosen.
Raga: Thank you, Chief. Now, I hope the two of you can explain why we just risked two ships and both of your lives in such a risky transfer? I understand there’s an urgency but we’ve been curious as to what could require this level of haste.
Venn: Yes, sir. Long-range sensors have detected a biological organism that appears to be of massive size, and Starfleet has some … concerns.
Niac/Velis: Responses
The two command officers exchanged a look before Commander Raga tapped his comm badge.
Raga: Right. That bears further details but we’re missing a few people who should be here for this. =/\= Raga to Sickbay and Engineering. Quentin, Marty. Drop whatever you’re doing and report to the conference room immediately. You’re going to want to hear this. =/\= ::he tapped at the controls on the table:: Our new course has us heading practically right on the Alliance and Consortium’s doorsteps.
Velis: All the more reason for urgency, wouldn’t you say?
Kel: It's a pretty remote sector. No known M-class planets. Is there some kind of treasure on a rocky moon we're after?
Venn: The presence of the Lattice Alliance and the Consortium adds to the concerns that Starfleet has about this creature.
Niac: Response
Raga: ::he nodded:: We’ve squared off with them both many times, more than anyone except for maybe the Khitomer. Although, I don’t recall if they’ve had the displeasure of dealing with the Consortium, but the Lattice Alliance most certainly.
Kel: Both parties are surprisingly difficult to deal with.
Niac: Response
The conference room door opened and two more individuals entered. She made the assumption that these were the two Commander Raga had summoned earlier, which he confirmed a second later.
Raga: This is our CMO and our Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commanders Beck and Tucker. Quentin, Marty, these are Lieutenants Venn and Velis. ::he looked at Alira and Serin:: If you’d be so kind as to repeat what you told us to them?
Beck: V-squared, huh? Good to meet you, Venn, Velis. That definitely won't get confusing later.
oO V-Squared? Oo
Tucker: ::under his breath:: Can we give them name tags?
Alira shook her head, hoping that wasn’t going to be necessary.
Niac: Response
Kel: What can you say about the creature's physiology? How is it propelling itself? Do we have any ideas on size.
Commander Raga sat back and steepled his fingers, apparently starting to think about the task at hand in earnest.
Raga: Is it sentient?
Velis: ::folds her hands:: In truth, we don’t know much about the creature. Only that it is very large, more so than our instruments and scans can measure without days, possibly weeks of deeper research. None of the ships that have been sent to study it have been able to get close enough for more than cursory studies. We haven’t wanted to risk provoking it to defend itself.
Beck: Um. All due respect, but considering all of the previous ships you've sent to study this thing haven't had much luck, what makes the Ronin any different? Don't get me wrong, I love the girl, but we're not exactly on the cutting edge when it comes to Science vessels.
Kessler: ::folding his arms now across his chest:: The doctor makes an excellent point. ::beat:: You've sent other ships to study this thing with no results? You do not want to risk provoking it to defend itself? What defenses does it have, or do you think it has which have you concerned? What other ships were sent in and what happened to them?
Venn: The information on the other vessels was not passed along to me, but the information I did receive indicated that the creature was massive. I also wasn’t informed as to why they couldn’t get close enough to get information. Maybe Velis has more on that, but they didn’t tell me.
Niac: Response
Kel: Spaceborne life forms are a long-standing interest of mine. We've been tracking several signals which we believe could be cosmozoan. I'll get the data sent to you.
They were an interest of hers, as well, although it was likely for much different reasons than the good doctor. In the history of Starfleet, nearly every cosmozoan they had encountered had exhibited some very dangerous qualities to them and she was studying them to determine if they should receive an automatic threat classification. She’d even recently sent up a recommendation report to her superiors with just such a recommendation. It was also the most likely reason the Captain had selected her for this operation.
Tucker: I’m going to agree with the good doctor, what makes us, basically, a war relic, going to have those other ships don’t. Now, that’s not me bad-mouthing the Ronin, but we do have limits to what we can accomplish.
Raga: Because she’s rugged, has survived a great deal of damage of the last two years and worst case, has a lot of torpedoes.
Velis: ::thoughtfully:: My task is to work with your science and medical personnel to learn more about the creature. :: glances at Venn :: The lieutenant can perhaps enlighten you more as to her purpose.
Venn: I cannot speak as to why your ship was chosen, sirs, although I am sure Commander Raga is right on one aspect. However, I would also presume it’s due to your proximity to the creature as opposed to other vessels, but it could just as much have to do with your experience with the Lattice Alliance. There is a concern there. My role here is to assist with a threat assessment.
Raga: That’s not a simple ask if the creature is bigger than expected.
Kessler: ::looking to Raga and then Niac:: I strongly recommend a careful review of any tactical data these two have before we put the Ronin in harms way. ::looking at Raga:: She maybe rugged but if these two leave out any details because we are not deemed a need to know, being rugged might be the only hope we have of coming out of this alive should things go south.
Niac: Response
Kel: Surely, we won't be taking the creature out of its natural environment?
Beck: If this thing is as big as they're making it sound, I'm not sure we could take it out of its natural environment. ::a beat:: Still… I echo Doctor Kel's sentiment. We know next to nothing about this thing, do we really want to see what happens if we try to push it into a cage?
Tucker: Corning something we know nothing about? What part about that seems like a good plan? I’m up for figuring out what this thing is, but we’ve got to be smart about it.
As it seemed the others had decided to consider their options, she sat back and just listened. So far, she heard several holes in what they were discussing, but perhaps their discussion would close those holes. There were also a few assumptions there, but she’d correct those in a few moments. And it never hurt to get an idea of what they were thinking.
Kel: Sir, it's one thing to study a creature, it's something else to attempt to contain or relocate it.
Beck: I'm not sure they make lassos big enough to wrangle something like this, anyway.
Tucker: ::to Beck:: I’m sure I could whip something up, on a bit larger scale. It’s all theory, but I bet there’s a way to lasso it, so to speak. ::he shrugged:: It’d take some finagling.
Raga: I imagine we’d have to use the tractor beam, assuming we even could. With or without also using our shuttles.
Kessler: ::turning to Tucker:: I would recommend you pull TK Cabrillo into that team. He did some pretty interesting alterations to the Butlers's tractor beam assembly for a mission project.
Niac: Response
Venn: I’m not sure that would even be enough.
Velis: Response
The doctor was entering information into a PADD while another officer finished his doughnut. That made her stomach rumble since she hadn’t eaten in several hours. She’d just have to grab something from the galley after they dismissed. If the Captain gave her the chance.
Kel: The spaceborne life form the Starfleet has encountered communicate in a variety of ways. I'd suggest a long range scan of the creature's magnetic field and EM emissions. Maybe there's a way we can let it know we're not a threat.
They’d already tried that, but had limited success. But then, she was hoping this crew could close enough to actually get those readings.
Beck: That's assuming the thing would even notice us to begin with.
Tucker: ::looking at his former roommate:: I’m sure if you got out and waved your arms frantically, maybe it’d notice? In all seriousness, why would you want to get noticed by something that is, ::using air quotes:: “very large”.
Raga: I would assume it will. Based on the Lieutenant’s comment about none of the previous vessels being able to get close to it. Suggests either it has a natural hazardous defense to deter predators, or it actively deterred them. Is that likely?
Venn: Again, those details are uncertain. It’s definitely one of the things we’re being tasked to find out. But maybe Velis has more information than I do on the biology of the creature?
Velis: Response
Niac: Response
Kel: ::looking at Velis:: Do you suppose it would respond to a standard hail?
Alira glanced over to him to ascertain whether he was being serious or not. Assuming they could even figure out how to communicate with it, that kind of thing rarely went well.
Beck: That would depend greatly on whether this thing is alive or not. I find it hard to believe something this immense is alive, let alone sentient, but I'm sure people said the same thing about blue whales back on Earth a few centuries ago. Just because I'm having trouble conceiving of it doesn't make it impossible.
Tucker: If this thing is still alive, then what? It’s like the dog chasing the car, it finally caught the car, now it has no clue what it’s going to do with it. I mean, what is the ultimate goal here?
Venn: I believe Lieutenant Velis and I have two different purposes here, as we’ve mentioned. I’m here for threat assessment. Both if it’s threat to us, and the threat that the Lattice Alliance or the Consortium might utilize the creature against us. Considering the size of the creature, I don’t think moving it is going to be a viable option, but maybe that’s a call the Captain will need to make once we have more data.
Niac/Raga/Velis/Kel: Responses
Beck: Okay… so let's assume this thing is alive, it can respond to us somehow, and it does notice us when we show up. What if, by doing so, we just piss it off?
Tucker: I know this might be silly, but do we have a plan B? And really what is plan A?
Raga: Hopefully we can avoid that, but the concern is valid. We should keep our shields up while we’re attempting to study it.
Kessler: I agree, Commander.
Niac/Tucker/Velis/Kel: Responses
Beck: I mean, what if this thing has the same capabilities of a planet killer? What if, by contacting it and making it aware that the ants are studying it, it decides it doesn't like that very much and we become barbequed Roninites?
oO And that, my good fellow, is exactly what I am here to find out. Oo
Mission Specialist (Intelligence)
USS Ronin, NCC-34523
A239412S10