Briefing

Posted on Jan 07, 2016 @ 6:36pm by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane

Mission: Promethean

"BRIEFING"

(Continued from "The Big Score")

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Captain's Log, supplemental - as we pursue the thieves who stole the fleet's medical data, I am preparing for whatever awaits us by gathering as much information as possible...

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Location: USS Phoenix, en route to the Lavenza system
Stardate: [2.16]0107.2130
Scene: Captain's Ready Room


Michael Turlogh Kane looked from his desktop monitor as Lieutenant Byte sat down opposite him. As ever, the android had been quick to answer his summons. "Mister Byte,I've been reading up on the data we have on the Lavenza system, but I'd like you to brief me on the composition of the system in your own words."

The android nodded. {{Yes, Captain.}} It looked thoughtful for a moment, then began speaking. {{The USS Godwin first charted the system in 2373 and found nothing significant of interest. It is a binary star system, consisting of a pair of red dwarf stars orbiting a common barycentre. Red dwarf stars generate energy by converting hydrogen into helium, but they do not give off nearly as much light as larger main sequence stars. In the case of Lavenza A and B, their combined emission of light is less than one-tenth that of Sol.}}

"A dark system, then," mused Kane aloud.

The android inclined its head. {{Perhaps gloomy would be a more apt description, Captain. Darkness implies the absence of light, and in this case - }}

"I understand, Mister Byte," said Kane, leaving back in his seat. "There are only two planets in the system, I believe?"

Byte took the hint. {{Yes, Captain. The first planet in the system is a class J gas giant, that orbits its parent stars at a distance of eight hundred million miles. Like most J-types, it is composed of hydrogen and helium. It has thirty-five satellites, all of them large asteroid-like rocks. Interestingly from an astronomical point of view, the presence of a J-type gas giant orbiting a pair of red dwarfs is a relatively rare, but not unheard of, phenomenon.}}

Kane was already getting bored. "I see. And the second planet?"

{{A class P ice planet, sir. It is much farther out than the gas giant, at some two-point-nine billion kilometres from the red dwarfs. It has no satellites.}}

"Inhabitable?"

Byte shook its head. {{Unlikely, Captain, at least by life as we know it. The surface is made up of water, ammonia, and methane, all frozen into a global cryosphere. A layer of permafrost covers the planet at almost a kilometre deep. Wind speed is high, and it whips up the frost into perennial storms that make visibility barely possible. Although gravity is present at one-point-two G, the surface temperature is minus two-hundred-and-twenty degrees centigrade.}}

"That's cold."

{{Indeed, Captain. The atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen and oxygen, but there is also a significant proportion of argon, meaning that the air is breathable, but only for a short time. Although argon is inert, it is a very dense gas, and will cause potentially-fatal breathing problems after approximately thirty minutes' exposure. Of course,}} the android added as an afterthought, {{without appropriate precautions, the cripplingly cold temperature will cause death by hypothermia much sooner than that.}}

Kane rubbed his chin. "Is it possible that there could be life on the ice-world?"

Byte frowned, a curiously Human gesture that rippled its gray-skinned forehead. {{It is possible, sir, but as I said, unlikely. It is probable that the ice world has a sub-surface ocean many kilometres down, perhaps warmed by the planet's molten core, but without sunlight to enable the growth of underwater plants, the only life-forms would be extremophile bacteria that generate their energy through chemosynthesis.}}

Kane nodded. "Then why would our quarry be making for such a desolate star system?" He thought for a moment, pursing his lips. "They must be operating from a mothership that's waiting for them there."

{{That is a likely supposition, Captain.}}

"We should be ready for that." Kane seemed about to say more, but the door chime interrupted him. "Come."

The doors parted, revealing Aerdan Jos. The Andorian held up a PADD. "I have that information on the Annabelle's Lament, Captain."

Kane beckoned him in. "Thank you, Mister Byte. You're dismissed."

The android nodded and left the room, as Aerdan sat down in its place.

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Location: The Annabelle's Lament
Scene: Bridge


Cassidy Rainner had used their clapped-out replicator to make herself some sort of synthi-goo soup for dinner to go with her kanar. The soup-stuff was brown and sludgy, but smelled deliciously of meat gravy. The green stems of replicated vegetables bobbed on the surface, floating in the morass like drowning men.

Nearby, Evaer was still flying the ship, but he was due to be replaced by the navigator soon. Both she and Evaer needed to sleep. That meant leaving that moron Goldstadt in command, but as long as he kept the Lament on course for Lavenza, he couldn't go wrong. There was still over a day to their destination anyway.

She was still scrolling through the service records of the Phoenix's command crew, looking for more information on the miscreants who had assassinated the President and sparked off the Romulans last year. By its reputation, the Phoenix was an impressive weapon of war, and if such secret projects were still kicking around the Federation, was it possible that Cassidy Rainner might seek one out and make it her own? After all, if these renegade Starfleet types could do it, why couldn't -

She stopped dead when she saw the face looking back at her from the monitor screen. Her spoon plopped into her soup, splashing brown crud onto her chest, and her jaw dropped. "It can't be..." she murmured.

"What can't be?" asked Evaer, looking over at her from the pilot's seat. The Bolian gave a yawn.

Cassie was in no mood to answer him. She jumped to her feet, deactivating the monitor with a slap of her calloused hand. "I'll kill that bastard for not telling me!" she roared, sweeping her soup bowl off the desk and sending it clattering against the wall. She strode off the bridge, the door to the central corridor rolling open with a metallic rumble. Behind her, the brown soup-sludge rolled forlornly down the wall, coming to rest in a slimy pile on the deck plate.

Evaer looked around the bridge. "What's with her?" he asked in confusion.

Goldstadt looked up from where he was sharpening one of his knives. He smiled nastily. "Probably on the rag."

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Location: USS Phoenix, as before
Scene: Ready room


Kane activated the PADD that Aerdan handed him across the desk. The Andorian started speaking. "The more I think about it, the more I think that ship is the Anabelle's Lament. It's got to be. The Jenner's sensor records were incomplete, but my feelers tell me - "

"Your feelers?" Kane looked up in surprise.

Aerdan gestured to his antennae with a blue index finger, which were sticking straight up from his head. "An expression." He thought for a moment. "Like - my guts tell me?"

"I get it," smiled Kane, looking back to the PADD as an image of the ship they were chasing appeared on the screen. "Tell me about the Annabelle's Lament."

"Starfleet records don't tell us much. She's a converted mid-range freighter, customised with transwarp engines, a probably-stolen cloaking device, and a bunch of weapons. She gave the Armstrong a tough fight, but I'm happy to say that, from what I can remember, she's no match for the Phoenix."

"It's not the Annabelle's Lament we have to worry about," said Kane. "Based on what Lieutenant Byte has briefed me, she's probably operating from a larger mothership."

Aerdan's antennae slowly curled and uncurled reflexively, like they usually did when he was thinking. "That makes sense. We could run into trouble."

Kane nodded ruefully. "Only two known crew-members?" He was looking at a Human woman around his own age, with short cropped brown hair, high cheekbones, and a lined face. Her eyes were cynical dead stones.

"It's captained by one Cassidy Rainner," said Aerdan. "She was born on Sherman's Planet thirty-seven years ago. Her parents died in a vehicle accident when she was quite young, and being without family, she was placed in a series of care homes, but kept getting into trouble with local law enforcement for petty crimes. She escaped off-world in her teens. Not much else is known about her, although she is under suspicion for numerous crimes in several star systems, mainly various forms of larceny."

Kane jabbed the control panel, switching to the next view. The image of a gaunt-looking Bolian man stared back at him. Not as plump as members of his species tended to be, this Bolian was lean and hungry-looking. "This is her partner?"

Aerdan nodded. "His name's Evaer. He was born on Bolarus a year before her. Apparently he had a bright future - he even passed the Academy entrance exam and got in to the freshman class of twenty-four-eleven."

Kane looked up. "That was my freshman year."

"Huh." Aerdan made a non-committal noise. "Evaer never made it to the Academy. He was a passenger on the Stellar Lines passenger liner from Bolarus to Terra, and got mixed up in the death of a fellow passenger, a Ferengi merchant he had been seen gambling with during the voyage. They put him under lock and key in his cabin, but he escaped and stole one of the liner's shuttles. He's still wanted in connection with the Ferengi's death."

Kane shook his head. "We'll bring them in if we can. Two of them are not enough to run that ship, though. They must have backup."

Aerdan nodded. "A ship that size likely has around a half-dozen crew. But we don't know anything about the others aboard."

Kane put the PADD back on the table. "Thank you, Commander. Let's make sure we're both on duty when we arrive at the Lavenza system. Dismissed."

Aerdan got up and left the room, and Kane looked out into the starfield. The playing pieces were almost set up, and soon it would be time to make the opening moves.

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NRPG: You were all paying attention above, weren't you?


Jerome McKee
the Soul of Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Commanding Officer
USS PHOENIX


"He speaks an infinite deal of nothing!"
- Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", Act 1, Scene 1.117

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