Someone, Somewhere

Posted on Sat Sep 19th, 2020 @ 5:22pm by Lieutenant JG Shaille Levine & Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Bianca Lee & Warrant Officer Callisi Veera

Mission: Into The Delta Triangle
Location: Kessik III

The walk back to the shuttle passed in stoic silence. Carissa had cast several glances toward Darryl, yet neither of them spoke. Instead, it was only when they got back to the shuttle and entered that words finally came. "Callisi, first, I need you to get a lock on the rest of the away team and hold it. Be ready to transport them out immediately if needed. Secondly, can you get us a direct link with the Astraea while we're on the surface?"

"Are we expecting trouble, or just looking for a quick exit?" Callisi asked, though already she was in motion to complete her tasks. Routing the sensors to get a transporter lock was slightly more difficult than normal. Thick rock and interfering mineral deposits be what they may. Though a few confirming beeps from the computer said it all. "First, I have that lock. Second, no. But if Ghost is in the right position I can use that shuttle as a relay."

"Dead Eye to Ghost. Position for optimum relay to Astraea Actual." and there was a pause before Koh responded. "Ghost to Dead Eye, position adjusted. You are go for transmission to Astraea Actual."

Callisi turned in her chair to face Carissa. On one side, a beautiful eye without shine or spark. On the other, an eyepatch concealing an eye that was as far removed from the one she was born with as possible. "You have the comm."

Carissa gripped the back of Calissi's seat until her knuckles went white, though finally she spoke. "Captain Laurens, this is Ensign Carissa Parker," she said quietly.

On the bridge of the Astraea, Abigail sat in the center chair. The silence on the bridge had been filled with a tension that was near palpable until the communication came through. "What's your status Ensign?" Abigail asked, leaning forward with anticipation even though she couldn't be seen.

"Captain, Kessik Authorities have indicated that they believe our away team was caught in an trilithium explosion in the refining facility and have declared them dead," Carissa said, deciding she may as well just get to the point. "Darryl is uploading security footage now as well as scan data from the destroyed commbadges of Lieutenant Levine and Lieutenant Alani. We have reason to believe that our team was not in the facility when it exploded. The uploads need to be sent to Security immediately for investigation."

The initial response left a cold, sick feeling washing over Abigail as she covered her face with her hands. She heard the collective gasps across the bridge and drew in a deep breath.

"Captain, I can confirm we have received the information from Ensign Parker. I am transferring it to Security now."

Abigail nodded as the Operations officer spoke. "We have received the information Ensign, is there anything else?"

"Commander Gail asked that you use the ships sensors to locate any potential locations that our crew might be. If they're still alive we need to find a way to locate them and quickly. Kessik authorities are less than helpful," Carissa added.

"Understood Ensign, stand by." Abigail nodded at the Operations officer who closed the communication. "Scan the surface, find our people."

Carissa leaned forward, resting her forehead against the back of Calissi's seat for a moment before looking between the pilot and the other security officer. "Right, how do we find our friends?" she asked, her voice taking on renewed determination.

"Well..." Callisi started, "... there was a warlord back in the history of Ts'usu. Tzin Fu, I think. He said that if you can't find your enemy where you look, look where you can't see." she seemed pretty confident about that. "Let's scan for Bolians. I haven't seen a single other one on this colony so far."

Darryl almost smacked his head, "Now why didn't I think of that?" He started tapping on the console and nodded, "Starting the scan now, estimated completion time... About three minutes."

"If we can find a Bolian bio sign that will at least give us a location that they're in, but isolating the life signs of our humans might be a little more difficult. We'll need to either narrow it down or just transport anyone within the area..." Carissa paused and slid into the seat next to Callisi. "Darryl, use the uplink with the Astraea and get transporter signatures for the away team, the transporters should have records of their bio signatures. We can use that to help narrow the field if we need."

Callisi turned to regard Carissa, "Clever." a smirk as she looked slightly above her head, "Don't see any ears o... oh, there they are." and just like that, the Daughter of Ts'usu turned her attention back to her instruments, keeping the uplink live.

Carissa grinned toward Callisi. "I'll choose to take that as a compliment," she said lightly as she turned her attention back to the console, watching the scan results come up. "Right, we have two definite Bolian life signs and a potential third..." She overlayed the scan results over a map of the colony. "It looks like this one is right near Commander Gail so we can probably rule it out. They're in a public place, if she'd found the away team she would have alerted us, which leaves these other two. One of them is really clear, but the last one is distorted. Something is interfering with the scanners. What do you think?"

The smirk lingered on Callisi's features as she kept working. She didn't challenge or clarify. That would come later and only at Carissa's request. "I agree. Either that, or the away team is literally under the Ship Second's nose." she snickered at the alternative.

"Let's focus on the clearer reading, before turning towards the obscured reading. We'll have our results much sooner." she looked up at the overlay. "Adjust the readings to include the biosignatures of the rest of the away team, look for any potential matches in the local region. I doubt they'd be all bunched up together the entire time."

"Okay, transferring the biosignatures from the transporters," Carissa responded, biting down on her bottom lip as the scan parameters reset and the scans started over. "Biosigns aren't being detected anywhere in the main colony area," she added, updating as the scan processed. "Got them!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Their biosignatures are being obstructed, something is interfering with the scans. I'm not sure we'll be able to get a solid transporter lock. I'm seeing 6 bodies in total. We can just transport them all out in one hit?" Carissa turned toward Callisi questioningly. "What do you think?"

"Hmmm, I think..." the Daughter of Ts'usu cupped her chin, her one good eye closed in thought. "This is a dilithium mine. We can begin to account for the interference by having the system filter out what it can. We have Ghost relocate to about... here." she motioned on the map, off to the edge. "And have him lock on to the same set of signatures. We triangulate with his readings, feed his sensor data into ours, and compress the signal."

"I know it works with Dalacari systems, but their systems are two-pass. It... should still work for single-pass systems." Callisi at least SOUNDED confident..

Carissa nodded. "Let's do it," she said with a quick nod. "How long will it take Ghost to get into position?"

With that in the air, Callisi contacted Koh. "Ghost, this is Dead Eye. Advise, can reposition to point one two seven mark three? Time to relocate if viable. Over."

A pause, "This is Ghost. Relocation affirmative. Ninety seconds, but will lose comm relay to Astraea Actual. Advise."

Callisi looked over, "Your call."

Carissa nodded. "Do it," she said simply.

Callisi gave a nod, "Ghost, adjust as requested." and the response back was a simple affirmation. Ghost's shuttle moved into position, in just about ninety seconds, a very precise estimate. Watching the two of them work together, their previous training from the Imperial Navy really shined through.

"This is Ghost. Relocation complete. Beginning sweep and lock. Relaying to your system for bi-locational lock." and the sensor connection was established easily.

Carissa watched with anticipation. "Transport when ever you're ready," she said as she stood up, turning back toward the main area of the shuttle and drew her phaser, levelling it and waiting.

Darryl also stood up after hitting a couple more buttons and had his phaser out and trained on where the people would be transported to, "Six people, means at least two potential hostiles. We should assume they're going to be armed, just to be safe."

There was a few moments of bated silence before the shimmer of the transporter appeared in front of them, the familiar forms of the missing away team appearing in front of them, along with two 'guests'.

Carissa nodded at Callisi before turning her attention back to the away team, noting the phaser in Meka's hand. "Your weapons were disabled in transport, but ours are very much working. I recommend you do not try anything."