MISSION REPORT, Nueva Pomona Colony - STARDATE 42533.9

Posted on 18 Jul 2022 @ 7:41pm by Lieutenant Commander S'Ris
Edited on 18 Jul 2022 @ 7:41pm

USS BOSTON NCC-26163 – AWAY TEAM ALPHA
DIPLOMATIC OFFICER’S REPORT – STAR DATE 42533.9
-LT. COMMANDER S’Ris

LOCATION: Nueva Pomona Colony
PLANET: Nueva Pomona
SYSTEM: HJV-5486

SUMMARY
On Stardate 42533.3 the USS Boston arrived over the planet of Nueva Pomona in the system HJV-5486 in order to deliver supplies the colony on said planet. Upon arrival over the planet there was no indication of the Colony’s structures on scans and a closer inspection with imagine and a topographical scan revealed that in place of the colony was a large crater. Scans from orbit further revealed a few traces and an unusual magnetic resonance and a few outlying structures that could contain information on what occurred to the Colony and its inhabitants. The officer of the watch, Commander Raj, ordered me, Lt. Commander S’Ris to form an away team and beam to the surface in search of survivors and to investigate the disappearance of the colony.

The away team assembled in the transporter room at approximately 1830, the full personnel list is in Appendix A of this report, but whose primary commands were myself, Lieutenant T’Char, Lieutenant Kilrai, and Doctor H’Rilla. During preparation, Lieutenant T’Char brought to my attention the amount of phaser rifles we were bringing on our mission, pointing out that the mission was of rescue not combat, though I disagreed I bowed to her reasoning and only Lieutenant Kilrai, as an acting security officer, and Ensign Jori as a member of security, would be armed with them. This decision could have further consequences in the mission and is elaborated on in Appendix B. Beaming was conducted in two stages, Lieutenant T’Char, designated as deputy commander of the away team, lead the first team in order to ensure the area was safe; I then followed with the remaining away team.

The surface of the planet was a standard desert environment with high temperatures and low humidity. Once the entire away team was beamed down we headed to the crater. The crater resembled more of a canyon as the colony was built along the base of a large rocky ridge that provided a bit of shelter from the sun in the afternoon. I ordered Doctor H’Rilla to scan for life signs so that he could begin his medical rescue efforts, however instead of any signs of the colonists there were multiple Gorn life signs coming from the crater. This was confirmed by Lieutenant Kilrai who had moved forward with Ensign Jori to scout the area where they identified a dozen or more Gorn at the bottom of the crater. I reported this to the USS Boston and then conferred with Lieutenant T’Char on the best avenue of approach, my concern being that they were potentially hostile. Lieutenant T’Char did not wish to immediately confront the Gorn as their hostility could not be confirmed; I concurred and ordered her to take a team to scout a possible way into the crater that would keep us out of sight in order to take more readings from the interior. While this was being conducted Lieutenant Duarte made a more detailed topographical map of the crater and gathered as much as she could on the strange magnetic resonance of the crater that did not seem to be caused by any local sources.

At about this time the USS Boston reported that they were under attack from a Gorn vessel. Realizing that the mission was no longer viable as originally presented I ordered the away team to regroup and find a place to shelter and possibly defend itself in the event the Gorn attacked us as well. Gathering my team together we linked back up with Lieutenant T’Char who was devising a way with Ensign K’Rosu to disguise the section of open ground we needed to cross as a cliff with a hologram allowing us concealed passage. During this Ensign Jori volunteered to scout ahead and ensure the coast was clear, upon her return she reported that there was a mostly intact structure that that a power source was emanating from it. Ensign K’Rosu was able to get the hologram working and the away team proceeded across the open terrain and into the crater, successfully slipping past the Gorn.

Reaching the structure we attempted to report our situation to the USS Boston but no response was received, as we later found out due to a Gorn tetryon weapon that damaged several EPS systems on the ship. With the possibility that the USS Boston had been forced to warp away or was destroyed and survival becoming paramount I ordered the away team to take shelter in the structure that appeared to have been originally totally underground but the crater had exposed a tunnel inside. Once inside we discovered what at first we thought was a colonist but as it turned out this was not quite so. It appears to be some sort of synthetic lifeform perhaps, not an android like Lt. Commander Data of the USS Enterprise that went by the name of Type R. Type R did not seem to know what had occurred to the colonists and at the time I was more concerned with our supplies. Shortly after our discovery though communications with USS Boston were restored reporting that the Gorn had retreated and that it would be safe to beam up. The entire away team and Type R beamed up at approximately 2100 ending our mission with no casualties. Our magnetic resonance traces have been uploaded to the USS Boston’s computer and our images taken of the colony have also been added to the database. Further away missions to investigate the colony disappearance is suggested.

APNEDIX A – AWAY TEAM COMPISITION
*Lt. Commander S’Ris – Team Leader
*Lieutenant T’Char – Science Officer, Deputy Team Leader
*Lieutenant Carmen Duarte – Science Officer
*Lieutenant H’Rilla – Medical Officer
*Lieutenant Xil'Sael – Medical Officer
*Lieutenant Moi’ra Kilrai – Engineer, Acting Security Officer
*Ensign Jori – Security Officer
*Ensign K’Rosu – Engineer
*Ensign Orirs Kraha – Engineer
*Ensign Lyketus – Engineer
APENDIX B – USE OF PHASER RIFLES ON AWAY MISSIONS
It was brought to my attention during the preparation for the away mission that we should refrain from using phaser rifles as it is considered too much firepower for what amounted to a rescue mission where we needed to search for survivors. I acquiesced to the request that we return them partially. However, as it turned out, the potential danger this brought to the away team was quite substantial as the team only had hand phasers to defend themselves which in the open environments we were facing were not conducive to combat. The team’s medical officers also did not carry or were not very familiar with the operation of a phaser to use them as anything more than last resort situations. It is my recommendation that future away missions where communications have not been established and a potential hostile act has been committed on the ground that the team’s security component and team leader should arm themselves with phaser rifles in order to properly defend itself from potential hostiles.
APENDIX C – ACTIONS OF ENSIGN JORI
The team as a whole acted quite calm and collected under dangerous circumstances and showed themselves to be model Starfleet officers. Of note though I would like the record to reflect that the actions of Ensign Jori of the ship’s security detachment should not be understated. Ensign Jori, ignoring the potential danger to herself, scouted the positions of hostiles in several instances and showed great energy in ensuring the safety of the away team. It is my recommendation that an official commendation be put in her record.

Tags: s'ris report