U.S.S. Boston RP Recap - 5/24/2020
Posted on 26 May 2020 @ 6:39pm by Captain Philip Demarcus
Edited on on 27 May 2020 @ 10:59pm
Mission:
The Gray Twilight
Location: U.S.S. Boston, U.S.S. Mystic, and Piraktan Mountains
Timeline: December 6, 2362
Following the abortive mission to investigate Lieutenant Commander Tina Santori’s apartment in the Piraktan capital city of Piret, Captain Philip Demarcus was left with a rapidly deteriorating crisis to resolve. While the away team had been successful in gleaning pertinent information as to the rogue Starfleet officer’s whereabouts, Piraktan Internal Security forces were alerted to their presence. Although the first squad of the away team successfully activated their emergency transporter devices - designed specifically for the mission by Ensign Kelley Brevo - the second squad was not so lucky. Though Ensigns Qi’nii and Bajn were able to beam away in time, Piraktan Internal Security officers were able to apprehend Commander Jaya Raj before her device activated.
Realizing at that moment that elements within the Directorate itself may be working against his administration, Piraktan Director Bentrel resolved to reveal the location of Mr. Grenkat’s supposed death; a shuttle crash site high in the Haddinn Peaks of Pirakta’s northern continent.
Arriving on U.S.S. Boston’s bridge the following morning, Captain Demarcus quickly set about briefing those on duty for their next objective in de-escalating the mounting Piraktan crisis. While emotionally the Captain yearned to activate multiple Security teams to affect a rescue of Commander Raj, he knew that the best course of action would be to continue their efforts to retrieve Lieutenant Commander Santori and open a dialogue with the group of Piraktan rebels she had apparently attached herself with.
To that end, the first piece of the puzzle needing to be pieced together was to determine the real fate of their wayward Piraktan exchange officer, Mr. Grenkat. Lieutenant Moi’ra Kilrai had been tasked with authenticating the coordinates provided by Director Bentrel, and both the Lieutenant’s analysis and the computer’s own redundant computations had shown that the data turned over to the Boston’s crew was accurate. Lacking a First Officer to organize a mission to investigate, and with Lieutenant Commander Rezzix Dlett occupied with matters in Main Engineering, Captain Demarcus assigned Lieutenants Kilrai and Fox to formulate an away team and to take the runabout U.S.S. Mystic to investigate the shuttle wreckage in the Piraktan mountains. To mask the runabout’s launch from prying Piraktan sensors, Captain Demarcus ordered the Boston to shift its orbit to Pirakta’s planetary ring system in hopes that the departing Mystic would appear simply as one of a thousand ice crystals in the vicinity.
With much of that morning’s bridge crew having just recently passed runabout qualifications, Lieutenants Kilrai and Fox assigned Ensigns Harper, Duarte Núñez, T’Rena,and Tahna to positions on the runabout, along with Counselor Siriinya, Lieutenant J.G. Elli Vos at Conn, and Lieutenant Rrynn as instructor pilot. A medical team of Doctor H’Rilla and Ensign Qi’nii, along with an engineering team of Ensign Bajn and Chief Hastur rounded out the Mystic’s assigned crew for the operation.
Following launch the Mystic successfully evaded detection by Piraktan sensors, and once far enough away from the Boston’s position shrouded in the planetary ring system, the runabout was able to make a run for Pirakta’s atmosphere. Only a brief tactical alert that a tractor beam lock was directed at the vessel caused the crew alarm, though upon quick verification by Ensign T’Rena it was determined that it was a precautionary tracking measure by U.S.S. Boston until the runabout entered the planet’s atmosphere.
Upon overflying the coordinates of the crash site, Lieutenants Rrynn and Vos immediately assessed that the rugged nature of the Haddinn Peaks would make a landing impractical at the given coordinates. Only after much overflying the area was a suitable site finally identified; several kilometers from the shuttle’s wreckage. Kitting out with Excursion Uniforms, tricorders, and hand phasers, the away team ventured into the rugged mountains, with Lieutenants Rrynn and Vos, Ensign Tahna, and Chief Hastur remaining with the Mystic as a support team.
Trekking across the hazardous terrain of the Haddinn Peaks, the away team encountered what appeared to be an ancient bridgework from some abandoned Piraktan road system, and recently wrecked by some type of impact. On closer inspection, the team detected a large piece of debris matching the metallurgic composition of the shuttlecraft they were attempting to locate. While Lieutenants Fox and Kilrai, along with Ensign Qi’nii, continued higher into the mountains in search of the main shuttlecraft wreckage, Ensigns Bajn, Grei, Harper, Duarte Núñez, Counselor Siriinya, and Doctor H’Rilla, remained to more closely study the debris at the base of the ancient bridge.
Descending into the ravine, darkened by the towering peaks of the mountainous terrain, several pieces of debris from a Piraktan shuttle were discovered. The most significant piece of wreckage was a nearly intact wing from the vessel’s starboard side. Utilizing Ensign Harper’s tactical expertise, the team noted several scorch marks evenly spaced along the wing’s edge where it had once connected to the fuselage. While scanning the nearby area for additional evidence Ensign Duarte Núñez found evidence of spilled fuel contaminating the ravine’s shallow river. Taking water samples and testing for residual levels of contamination led the team to discover two other significant pieces of the shuttle: a reconfigured fuel converter, and the vessel’s intact flight recorder, the latter discovered under rubble by Ensign Bajn. Electing to study these remains further, the team began the hike back to the runabout Mystic with their pieces of scrap in tow.
Meanwhile, Lieutenants Fox and Kilrai with Ensign Qi’nii climbed to the opposite slope of the ravine, reconnoitering their position at the wrecked bridge’s far end. With the saved coordinates in her tricorder, Lieutenant Kilrai was able to map out a three kilometer hike to the site of the primary shuttle wreckage. With their teams split, however, Lieutenant Fox decided to use the team remaining at the runabout to scan the region for any Piraktan forces before they attempted to hike farther afield into the rugged wilderness.
Utilizing the relative clearing of the long abandoned roadbed running up to the toppled bridge, Lieutenant Fox hailed the Mystic for scanning support. Chief Hastur was able to use the runabout’s short range terrestrial scanners to verify that the Starfleet away teams were the only humanoid life forms within a fifty kilometer radius of their landing site. However, many hundreds of lifesigns belonging to Piraktan fauna were detected; fauna that - due to the Directorate’s hesitance to share specific scientific data about their world - were not identified in the main computer’s database. Ordering the team to toggle phasers to stun setting, Lieutenant Fox ordered the team to remain vigilant as they ventured higher into the Haddinn Peaks.
An arduous hike and nearly an hour later, and Lieutenants Fox and Kilrai, with Ensign Qi’nii, finally discovered the wrecked fuselage of Mr. Grenkat’s shuttle. Remarkably, the primary cabin space was left more or less unscathed, with auxiliary power still active and several consoles in an automated sleep setting. Utilizing her mastery of computer systems, Lieutenant Kilrai was quickly able to reconfigure an undamaged console and bring up the shuttle’s primary computer interface. Though encoded, the flight logs were eventually able to be retrieved, and upon initial investigation into the computer systems uncovered that the shuttle had been dispatched from the Ministry of Justice and Rehab, under the direct authorization by the Minister himself. Further, the shuttle had been dispatched several days after the supposed death of Mr. Grenkat.
Meanwhile, Ensign Qi’nii set about scanning the cabin for any evidence of bio-matter left behind in the crash. Though multiple blood samples were found on the pilot’s station and the surrounding area, a severed finger was found under scattered wreckage in the aft section. This was enough to make a positive DNA match as having belonged to Mr. Grenkat. With these pieces of evidence confirmed, Lieutenant Fox ordered the team to return to the runabout Mystic.
However, while making a descending hike back to the ravine, one of the Piraktan creatures detected by Chief Hastur began tracking the away team. Keeping afar at first, once the trail began to flatten, it suddenly made an aggressive lunge at Lieutenant Kilrai. Hearing the beast’s roar, similar to an Earth bear, Ensign Qi’nii instinctively charged the animal, spraying it with a type of venom unique to her Aislyni species. Though effective in chasing the creature off, Lieutenant Fox warned the Ensign that future encounters with wild alien fauna should be treated as a crisis to be de-escalated. They had been lucky this time, but in the future Ensign Qi’nii’s instinctive response could have triggered further aggressive actions by the creature, endangering more members of the away team.
With their brief encounter with Piraktan wildlife apparently resolved, Lieutenants Fox and Kilrai, with Ensign Qi’nii, finally returned to the runabout Mystic to discover their counterpart teams had already begun analyzing several pieces of wreckage. With their initial findings suggesting the shuttle crash had been a fabrication, Lieutenants and Kilrai ordered the runabout to return to U.S.S. Boston where intensive analysis by the ship’s computer would be needed to confirm their findings...
[END]
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