Teamwork, Minus One

Posted on Thu Jun 3rd, 2021 @ 4:08pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Rozia & Lieutenant Commander Jason Myers & Lieutenant Naomi McLaren & Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison

Mission: Pathstone to History
Location: Astrometrics Lab

To say that Ichiko's stride down the halls of the Astraea was with a purpose would be an understatement. Her hand was still rubbing her temple as she walked. The laboratories of the Science division were a little too busy at this moment, and try as she might, the last few minutes of her life kept repeating over and over.

Work through it with your work. Work through it with your work. Her mantra was her task. Her walk wound her up by the Astrometrics lab, and the suggestion she gave to Alexis was now the advice she was taking herself. To the crewhand on station at the lab control panel, she simply gave a nod, "Would you pull up the data provided by the Dalacari Special Investigation? Be prepared to compare a number of instances, mostly before and after." she requested, and he complied. Loading up the data sets provided while Ichiko tapped her comm badge.

"Rozia, Gunnison, Myers. Would you all meet me in Astrometrics?"

Evelyn glanced at the others with her, the discussion they’d been having already hadn’t gotten too far yet, despite a couple hours having passed, probably due to the actual science officer not joining them, “We’re on our way.” She replied and gestured Jason, whom they’d now been able to get to know a bit better, and William towards the door.

"On my way." Jason replied as he headed in that direction. "You think science will show up?" he asked, looking over at Evelyn.

"I've gotten to understand one thing about her since I got on board this ship." Evelyn said with a shake to her head, "When she's got something in her mind, it takes someone prying her skull open, removing the brain, then replacing it before she actually listens. Aenera is smart, really smart, but she's so full of herself that she's also full of shit. More trouble than she's worth most of the time."

Jason chuckled. "Planets popping up out of nowhere... If she's worried she won't have a lot to do... I think she's worried about nothing. I just.. I can't even fathom it."

"More like she had an idea and ran off to go explore that without remembering that there are others." Evie patted her hair, "Oh, and probably to spend an hour or three with her hair. She's obsessed with her looks."

"Seems a bit odd. Most science officers I've known are pretty easygoing about that." Jason said.

Commander Gail stood in the vastness of Astrometrics, and to say she looked upset was an understatement. She looked downright disappointed..

"Thank you all for coming. Lieutenant Aenera will not be joining us." Ichiko said, in a tone and manner that spoke volumes. "I'll be assisting you with the study and investigation of the data pertaining to the Special Investigation." and with that, she turned to the crewhand at the Astrometrics panel. "Establish a communication with the Dalacari Institute of Science and Research, if you would." she requested, giving the crewhand further instructions on how to proceed. After a moment, the image of a Dalacari pair appeared on the console panel.

"DISR, Kaliff speaking." and Ichiko gave a nod, "Good welcome. My name is Ichiko Gail, I'd like to rent four hours of calculation time on Tee Eee Delta Ninety Nine if available?" and after Kaliff ran a quick check on the services, he gave a pair of nods, "You're in luck Miss Gail. Tee Eee Dee Nine Nine is available. No one's asked for it in a while, you've got a good memory to remember."

She gave a nod, "It's a curse. We'll be establishing the connection shortly, once you give the parameters." and an exchange was made between the crewhand, Davies, and Kaliff. Once the stable connection was made, the console panel went from displaying the Dalacari and the background image of their institute, to an array of colors, lines, and various points of light. A text box appeared in the middle of the screen, with just the word "READY" in bold print.

"This, is a Thinking Engine. Dalacari Quantum Computer systems. They run the drones, they run the schedules, they run the whole planet." she explained. "They are quantum calculation and prediction engines, and I've arranged for us to have four hours worth of time with one of the public terminals." a pause, "You feed it data, and it gives you projected results. You give it a result you're aiming for, and it projects likely paths to reach that goal." a pause, "Just in case we need some extra processing power. Let's start at the beginning, what have we discovered thus far, and what are our theories?"

Evelyn smiled, time on a Thinking Engine? That could be fun, "Right now what we know is that the mystery planet is emitting what are theoretically Federation comm signals other theoretically Federation emissions and appeared out of nowhere. I say theoretically, because it could be some sort of coincidence and none of us know how a Federation planet could have arrived here." She paused for a moment, "Occams Razor suggests that regardless, the easist way to cover all the possibilities is that it's indeed a Federation planet. If that's the case, how could it have gotten here? Technologically, we don't have any theories on how it could have happened, scientifically?" She glanced around, nope, no Alexis indeed, so she shrugged, "Maybe a wormhole, a fold in space time, a Caretaker type alien?"

Ichiko gave a nod, "Until otherwise proven wrong, let's assume at this moment all our assumptions about the planet are correct. Now, I have a Security Officer, an Operations Officer, and a Engineer in my presence. Let's work with that." she pulled up the most recent scans of the planet in question. "Assuming the planet arrived via wormhole, from a security standpoint..." she turned to look towards Myers, "What's the first step you'd be taking if a planet under your administration was flung across the galaxy?"

"Planetwide alert. Distress call to any authority in the area. Though if they don't know they've been flung across the Galaxy, they might not even know to be trying to reach out to Starfleet." Jason replied. "Probably also trying to tend to any disasters that may have been triggered by it."

She turned back to Evalyn, "What would a planetary settlement look like, power emission wise? What would we be looking for specifically in terms of power generation and waste emission?"

Finally, she turned to Gunnison, "Does the Federation employ prefabricated setups for worlds and colonies? Military outposts, and the like? Would the layout of this world's systems and structures match standard layouts?"

"Depends on the planet," Will said. "If it's a world that developed sentient life on its own, then it was developed in accordance with its indigenous species. If it was colonized, then there would be a certain amount of prefabrications and standardized layouts."

Naomi rounded the corner while reviewing a PADD containing star charts on it and wondering how her toddler managed to activate the replicator. Naomi felt almost a pang of sorrow for the young engineer who came to mop up the amount of purple colored liquid that had poured out.

When she entered Astrometrics she had no idea that there were others inside and nearly dropped both the PADD in her left hand and the half full mug of hot peppermint tea in the other. She let out a gasp, "Oh? Are we having a party in here?"

Evelyn had just opened her mouth to reply when the science officer had walked in, momentarily thinking it was Alexis, FINALLY, but it wasn't, instead, she smiled broadly, "The more the merrier." She said invitingly, then back to Ichiko, because well... "I would say, ma'am, that depending on where it is will affect power supply. Orbital solar collectors, or maybe a geological tap using heat from the core or seismic movements to generate the power. If it's a newer colony, they would likely use the collectors or a fusion plant to supply power. In the former, look for satellites, in the latter, we'll see one or more heat blooms at constant temperature."

Abigail walked into Astrometrics, Alexis close behind. "Commander," she said with a nod to Ichiko before pointing to the nearest seat and turning to Alexis. "Sit," she ordered calmly before she turned back to the rest of the group. "Bring up the Dalacari sensor scans they shared with us? Let's see what we're looking at?"

With a nod, Ichiko went about the requested task. On the main panel, images of the region in question were displayed. To factor in Evelyn's mentions, "Tee Eee Dee Nine Nine." and the word on the screen connected to DISR flickered from 'READY' to 'AWAITING'. "Update scans of planet that is the topic of current Special Investigation. Scan in thermal range, and high orbital altitudes. Time to completion?" and the screen for DISR flickered again. 'INQUIRY PENDING. TIME TO COMPLETION 200 SECONDS' and the countdown updated. Meanwhile, the current scans from the last pass by of the R7 probe were brought up.

"Commander Rozia suggested heat patterns, thermal distribution, and satellite arrays as a scan criteria. I'm using some personal resources to rent us some time on a Thinking Engine located local, which can coordinate with the probes on location." she motioned to the countdown. To Naomi, the rabbitess gave a nod, "Of sorts. An investigation. We'd welcome your insight." she paused. "Sometime either prior to or alongside the Astraea's arrival in the Delta Quadrant, Dalacari probes detected a planet in a system that previously was not there. Ruling out stealth systems, the best guesses we have are 'The Dalacari missed it' or 'The planet appeared suddenly'. Scans and data that we've received from the Dalacari oddly enough support the latter."

"The planet is emitting signals in the bands commonly used by the Federation, and power generation methods have been detected that coincide with potential Federation high-band energy systems. We're waiting on a confirmation and closer scan from the system at the moment." she explained.

"Worst case, the Federation hurled a planet into the Delta that has a base of operations already up and running, which could threaten or destabilize the balance of power. Not to mention tear the system it appeared in apart. Best case..." the rabbitess considered, "Honestly, best case I don't know, but anything that can clear the Astraea of being some form of forward observation for a Federation planet displacement technology."

Naomi listened to the explanation as she was placing both her drink and the PADD on the nearby table. "The Federation doesn't have that sort of technology that would be capable of moving an entire planet," She said. Naomi looked at the data being emitted from the planet itself.

"Captain something about this planet seems oddly familiar," Naomi said, "Do we have the name for it?"

Alexis opened her mouth for a moment from the chair she'd been pointed to, then shut it again. She knew she was in the doghouse.

Abigail turned toward Alexis, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Lieutenant, I believe you have the answer to that question? "

Alexis stood up, despite her now rather pristine appearance, she moved slowly, demurely, hugging her PADD to her chest as she moved to the console and tapped a few buttons, placing the device on the reader, then selected one of the filed, "Ivaldi Three." She said softly, "It's only a ninety-seven percent point three percent match from a comparative mapping of the visible surface, but most of that variance is due to what appears to be a land mass separation on this archipelago." She didn't meet anyone's eyes. "I'm as sure as I can be without actually going there."

Naomi heard the planet's name, "Computer can you provide any information on Ivaldi Three?" She looked at the Captain and the Lieutenant while the computer worked on it, "The Annapolis visited there when I was an Ensign, but I was on Earth visiting my parents."

"The Ivaldi Star System was reported destroyed along with Vidal Fleet Yards on November 27th, 2390 due to circumstances that are classified level ten. All planets were reported as destroyed with zero survivors."

Naomi looked at the Captain, but said nothing.

"Level ten?" Evelyn asked, "I know some R and D projects that aren't classified that high.. What could have happened there that gets that high of a rating?"

Ichiko was about to comment, when the link to the Thinking Engine beeped. 'REPORT COMPLETE' and the new scans were presented. "Here are the most recent heat patterns, thermal images, and satellite scans though mostly at this point to confirm what we now know. Tee Eee, reconstruct the scan of the target planet, accounting for techtonic shift, heightened momentum, and external gravity sources."

'RENDERING. TIME TO COMPLETION 250 SECONDS' the panel displayed, while the array of streaks of light and color returned to a more active display.

"Was the Ivaldi system a hotbed of research? Could be classified due to an accident." the rabbitess pondered.

"I remember hearing about it when I was on the Concord," Will said. "We stopped over ourselves about a week before that happened for some minor repairs to the starboard nacelle. I don't think that there was any research going on that would have been unusual for the kinds of facilities that they had there. But of course, if something was going on that could apparently wipe out an entire system without warning and get the whole thing promptly classified at level 10, then it wouldn't have been the kind of thing that they would have been openly advertising."

"Level 10 clearance? How are we even supposed to get around that?" Jason asked. "I mean.. I'm good, but not that good."

Ichiko turned towards Abigail, "Is it something we'd *need* to, as he said, get around?" a pause, "Because we do have a few hours rented on a Mark Five quantum calculation and prediction engine."

"I have the access," Abigail finally said quietly. She stood still, hands clasped behind her back as she look at the image of Ivaldi III that was still up on screen, her brow furrowed with concern. "Ichiko, I need to speak with Starfleet command. Can you get me access to the communications buoy?" she asked softly. "Until I speak to command, this investigation is on hold. Understood?"

“Captain?” Alexis asked, nervously, “I know you just said… But we need to get ready for a major humanitarian operation for them..”

Naomi looked at Alexis, "First we need to confirm that it's the same planet as detailed in whatever classified data there is. Then yes, we may want to arrange aid."

Abigail turned to Alexis, her expression still devoid of emotion. "I suggest, first of all Lieutenant, that you learn how to follow an order. You are dismissed." Without waiting for another response, Abigail turned and walked out the door, heading back to her ready room, offering up a silent prayer that the Ts'usugi would allow her access to the network. It was time to phone home.