Homeward Bound

Posted on Thu Aug 30th, 2018 @ 3:27am by Lieutenant Xander Oroyo DSci & Ensign Dehvon Raynah & Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Lieutenant Trei Jansum & Captain Ka'Tock & Petty Officer 3rd Class Bartholomew 'Jax' Jackson

1,477 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Cloud Surfing

ON

Daniel was taking some time off to deal with some personal issues and to give his First Officer some experience.

Amber wasn't sure she liked it, but she was getting used to it. She and Oroyo had come up with a plan to get back home, but it required finding the right "ingredients" in space to try it. To that end, science was spending a lot of time and resources scanning the nearby sectors for the right type of sun and the right set of variables.

Oroyo was at his station going over the data they had collected so far about the region of space they were currently in. He was scanning for a T Tauri-type star that would help get them home. He was also scanning the planet where they could resupply since they were running low on energy and food. "Commander, I've got the scans of the planet that we can 'raid' for supplies. It's an M-class world that is almost tropical and contains significant quantities of plant life," Oroyo said to Commander Quinn.

"How low are we?" she asked. The ship was supposed to go for quite a while without needing to resupply, but since they weren't expected to go for a long trip, she wasn't sure how full their stores were.

"We're running about half our standard allotment on food and we're running on 40% on energy. This is according to what the captain and I discovered after we were taken through this 'rabbit hole', Commander. He wasn't worried about this because he felt we'd be back home by now. But seeing as we're not, I'd suggest we begin restocking now but that's just my humble opinion," Xander said with a grave tone to his voice. He was obviously trying to belie the seriousness of their situation.

And Daniel hadn't bothered to talk to her about it, Amber thought. "Finding matter to convert into energy won't be difficult," she said. "But if the planet has anything akin to edible commodities, it might be nice to provide a meal of local food. We can add to the stores at the same time."

"Sounds like a plan to me. I'm patching the coordinates to the helm now, Commander," Oroyo said as his hands danced over his console. "I take it you want to go inspect, no?"

"Yes. We won't know for sure until we do," she replied with a smile.

Ka'Tock was at the Helm Station. He had a satisfied look on his face; he was basking in what he had thought lost, behind the Helm station again. The feeling of the ship's attitude subtleties, the way the flow of the Drives moved her through space and the 'sensation' of the controls as his fingers danced along the Helm controls.

Even under present conditions he felt of use to the ship, he was not just sitting in his office, he was a part of the action again.

Trei was conducting scans of the area, no other ships in the vicinity. It was good, too, as their weapons were not the greatest at the best of times, and now they were even worse.

After a while, they approached the planet. "Oroyo, how does it look?" Amber asked.

"It looks very nice, Commander. A little warm for my taste," Oroyo said. "I'm reading significant sources of both plants and animals we can use to bolster our food stores. And there is an enormous caches of geothermal energies down there that we can add to our reserves."

Amber nodded. "Excellent. Send a probe. Let's get a closer look. And prepare a team to gather what we need."

"I'm on it, Commander. Probe launched. I'll route the telemetry to you."

Amber nodded. "Mr. Ka'Tock, take us around the planet for a sensor scan, please. The combination of data will be invaluable."

She turned to the Ops officer. "Prepare to transport. We'll need biomatter for the replicators and food for the kitchen."

The Operations officer nodded.

"Aye, Captain...errr Commander. I'm on it," Ensign Dehvon Raynah said. His fingers danced over his panel and caches of biomatter and food for their supplies were beamed into their cargo bay.

"Thank you, ensign," Amber said.

She watched the progress quietly, not wanting to make anyone feel they needed to rush.

While the ship was stocking up, there was time to send down an away team. "Mr. Oroyo, take an away team down to the planet and have a look around. Report back in an hour."

"Aye sir. Raynah, you're with me. Mr. Jansum, if you could have a security detachment meet us in transporter room 1? Ensign O'Donnell, meet me in transporter room 1," Oroyo said. Is there anyone else you would like for me to take, Commander?"

"That should be good," Amber said. "Good luck."

"Thank you, Commander. Raynah, let's move," Xander said trying not to sound too into being in command of an away team. Despite the fact that this was the first time he was in command of anything, he tried to display an air of confidence and control when what he was really feeling was terror and panic.

As he and Raynah entered the transporter room, he saw the security detachment was there waiting for him as well as Ensign O'Donnell. "Thank you all for being so prompt. Now if you'll all step onto the transport pad, we can get on with this away mission. Chief Dennet, energize."

And the Rigellian transporter chief slid her hand up the transporter control console. The away team dematerialized and then rematerialized on the planet's surface. "Wow, I didn't expect it to be this beautiful," O'Donnell said.

"Nor did I," Xander replied. "OK, O'Donnell, you and Raynah fan out and begin taking samples of the plant and wild life as well as the energy patterns. You two go with them and make sure they come back alive. You have 30 minutes. Commander Quinn wants us back in an hour and I would like to have time to prepare a report for her."

"Aye, Lieutenant," they all replied in unison.

Jansum turned to the K9 unit. "Jax, take Gunnar and search for some animals. K'Taren, go with him. See what you can bag. Hernandes, go with Raynah. Jiro, go with O'Donnell. I'll go with Xander. Try to keep them out of trouble. Who knows what's down here." Trei headed down in Oroyo's direction.

Xander wondered why Quinn asked Jansum to join the away team, was it because she didn't trust him? Or was it something else? Could it just be that she was more comfortable with Jansum than she was with him. Whatever it was, he would just have to get ok with it.

=/\=Raynah to Oroyo=/\= came the ensign's tinny voice over his combadge.

=/\=Go ahead,=/\= Xander replied.

=/\=We have the samples you requested, Sir.=/\=

=/\=Excellent! Return to the beam out point. I've almost done with my search as well. Oroyo to away team. Return to the extraction point. We're leaving,=/\= Xander ordered the away team back to their beam down coordinates.

Trei followed Oroyo through the underbrush, his phase rifle held by the grip by one hand. "How are you with trapping animals, Lt?"

"Actually, Lieutenant, I don't believe in trapping or killing any sentient life form. I joined Starfleet to preserve life not end it."

K'Taren's voice came over the comm. Gunnar could be heard barking and snarling, along with Jax swearing like a sailor of old in about a dozen languages. =A= We have killed it, Sir! Qapla'! =A=

Trei exchanged glances with Xander, disturbed. =A= What? What did you kill? =A=

=A= Jax here. She killed a f***ing monster. It's huge. =A=

"Excellent, K'Taren," Oroyo said obviously quite disgusted at the security officer's delight in the death of the animal. "Get back to the beam out point at once. We're getting back to the ship."

[Bridge]

Amber took advantage of the time to run more scans of the planet and to keep herself busy. She continued to keep an eye on the away team, but had no doubt Xander had things well in hand.

She wasn't paying attention to the time, so was surprised when, several hours later, the away team announced they were on their way back.

She turned to helm. "As soon as everyone is back on board, continue on course home." Wherever that might be.

=/\=Away team to Aurora. We're just about ready to beam back,=/\= came Oroyo's voice over the com.

"Very good. Transporter room is standing by."

=/\=Energize,=/\= Oroyo said and the away team dematerialized in a shimmer of light and a hum of sound.

____
OFF

Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Xander Oroyo
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant JG Ka'Tock
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Azusa Nakano
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Trei Jansum
Chief Security Officer

Ensign Dehvon Raynah

O'Donnell

K'Taren

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