SIM LOG NARRATIVE - SD 201907.19
Bridge:
The Penumbra was in a standard geosynchronous orbit over the main continent of Janidor monitoring the evacuation of the Kyrathians from the planet. The Bridge was actually full of officers for a change with Capt. Zak Taylor pacing back and forth; Lt. Cmdr. Relok seated in the Executive Officer's seat; Lt. Cmdr. Jason Carter at the Helm; Dr. Shadow K'Trevala sitting in the Counselor's seat; LtJG. T'Lin at the Primary Science Console; LtJG Tabeshk Tibris at the Operations Console; Ens. Lea Kalawai'a at the Engineering Console; and newly-promoted Ens. Denovan Hawke manning the Tactical Station.
Capt. Zak Taylor turned from his pacing and addressed Relok, "Relok, how many shuttles is that now?"
Relok answered, "That is number 15, sir. But I think they only have 3 or 4 they keep using over and over again."
Carter added, "Yeah, I've been seeing the same signatures to and from the planet."
A call came in then from Lt. Col. Patterson. He was in the main Hangar Bay sitting at the controls of the Cerberus. "Patterson to Taylor. I'm still in the Cerberus, if you'd like for me and Delta Flight to escort the Kyrathians out of the area?"
The Captain tapped his commbadge and replied, "Acknowledged, Colonel. Let's let them see some of us being vigilant ... keep them in line."
He turned to Hawke at the Tactical console, "Sergeant ... er, sorry, Ensign - congratulations on passing your exams, by the way - keep their Colony Ship targeted, and let them know it is."
Hawke answered, "Thank you, sir. And still locked, they should have no problem realizing it."
Lea called to Engineering and Operations, "Can we get some more power to the sensors? I just want to make sure the Kyrathians can't slip anything under our noses."
The voice of Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry came back with her heavy brogue, "Aye, gae fer ait!" She boosted all non-essential power to the sensors, to keep the Kyrathians honest.
As the power came to his board, Tabeshk nodded to Lea, "Yeah, I gotchu."
Lea smiled as the sensors came alive. She called Bevin back, "Thanks! I appreciate it. This whole situation just has me ... nervous. I'm trying to be optimistic, but I don't trust it."
Tabeshk replied, "I know, Lea, I don't trust it either."
Bevin also replied, "I dinna aithir bit we kin ailways hape tha thay'll play fair."
T'Lin, sitting quietly at the science console, added a request for Bevin, "Hey, Bevin? Do you have a DNA sample of the 'dragon' that we saw during our geographical survey?"
Bevin answered, "Aye, I've gat a fill bawkit o draigin gats fer ye tae play wi!"
Then a call came from MGny Derek Hines, still down on the planet in the Forward Operations Base. "FOB Cloak to Penumbra. Advise, we're getting reports from Recon that the Kyrathians are withdrawing from the cities. Did you want us to begin packing up down here, sir?"
Zak tapped his commbadge again, "Negative on de-mob, Cloak. We'll continue supporting the Janosian rebuild from that location."
Hines responded, "Acknowledged, sir. The Sojourner is gonna owe us a hefty supply fee. I'll let 'em off on the manual labor."
Zak replied with a grin, "I'll make sure Tabby sends them a bill for the materials."
Tabeshk grinned back, "Aye, Captain."
Relok interjected, "And number 16 is coming up from the surface. Just how many bugs can they fit on that one Colony Ship?"
Carter glanced back at Hawke, "What's the scans show for the amount of unaccounted space on their vessel?"
The Colonel's voice came over the comm system, "Cerberus to Flight Ops. RAVENS will be rotating crews. ETA 10 minutes, tops. Any sort of a timeslot on how long the bugs will be?"
Carter answered, since he was the newly designated Chief of Flight Operations, "Standby, sir." He turned to the Captain, "Any way we can find out how many more they have to recover?"
Shadow appeared almost as if he was sleeping, as he was keeping a mental watch on the Kyrathians to ensure they lived up to their word and left without further hostilities.
Zak leaned to his right and nudged Relok on his shoulder. He gestured at Shadow to the Captain's left and whispered, "If he starts snoring I'm going to poke him."
Tabeshk's sharp half-Romulan hearing picked up the whisper. He commented, "Captain, why don't we throw something at Shadow?" Then he added, "Nothing hard!"
Without even opening his eyes Shadow answered, "Don't even think about it."
Tabeshk flinched, "Damn! He knows! Well, Captain, he's awake."
Zak turned to Shadow, "Oh, so you are awake! Can you find out how many more they plan to bring up?"
Shadow answered, "I'm concentrating on their ship." He paused then said, "It's getting filled up with their people. I'm also keeping an eye on them, so to speak, so please don't jostle me about like that again. They're ferrying ten at a time up, and they already have a couple of hundred aboard."
Relok added, "And number 15 is headed back for another load. T'Lin, can our sensors determine how many Kyrathian life signs remain on the planet?"
T'Lin turned to her superior officer and with a dead-pan expression said, "We cannot scan the entire planet."
Lea said, "We could try scanning the planet."
Relok accidentally allowed a sigh to escape, then realized such was an emotional response and coughed, trying to cover it. He muttered, "Well, of course you can't, Lt." He should have known sensors couldn't count lifesigns of scattered persons across an entire continent.
T'Lin continued, "However, I can tell you the remaining Kyrathians have scattered."
Relok then said, "Perhaps, we can focus our scans on the depot where they are loading their shuttles. How many remain in close proximity to that location?"
T'Lin and Lea began scanning for Kyrathian lifesigns near the depot. Lea asked, "Do we know how many can fit in each shuttle- or at least an ETA of when they'll finish getting the hell off the planet?"
Shadow said, "There were only several hundred on the surface anyway, probably twenty more trips should do it. They can get ten in each shuttle so it shouldn't be too long till they're gone."
A moment later T'Lin reported, "There are 100 Kyrathian life forms near their shuttles."
The Captain said, "Thanks, T'Lin, it won't be long now."
A few moments later, Carter turned to the Captain, "Delta Flight is requesting we lower shields to swap crews, sir."
Hawke stiffened, "That depends on how you like your bed bugs and your head kept attached, Cmdr."
Before the Captain could answer, Tabeshk interrupted, "Captain, we are receiving a hail."
The Captain answered Tabeshk, "A hail? Who from, Lt.?"
Tabeshk shrugged, "I'm not sure, Captain."
Zak responded, "Not sure? OK, let's have it on the big screen, then." He stood and straightened his uniform. Shadow opened his eyes to see the message and Lea straightened her own uniform, making sure the hospital gown she still wore under her jacket wasn't visible.
Seeing the Captain was preoccupied, Carter responded directly to Delta Flight, "Standby, Delta. We may not have the luxury." He returned to a stoic vigilance, keeping an eye on Shadow, just in case the Kyrathians decided to try anything while the Captain was preoccupied.
On the main viewscreen a tall black man in a Starfleet uniform appeared. The red undershirt showed the four pips of a Captain on the collar. He spoke, "Hello! I am Captain Anok Jackson of the USS Sojourner."
Zak grinned, "Captain Jackson, welcome to the Gamma Quadrant! We've been expecting you! Where are you?"
Jackson answered, "We're docked at an Aslan Station resupplying. That trip is murder on engines and resources!"
Tabeshk tried to hide his giggle and Lea mumbled, "Tell me about it." Shadow muttered, "That's an understatement."
Zak was still grinning as he responded, "We nearly killed the Darmok on the way out here! Good news, the Kyrathians are evacuating Janidor as we speak. You're good to arrive shortly."
Jackson smiled back, "Excellent! We're going to take a day or two here to recover and then head your way. Maybe be there on the 3rd day?"
Zak acknowledged the schedule and they closed the comm link.
Carter mouthed to Shadow, "Do we have a moment to lower shields?" Shadow closed his eyes again, concentrating, then gave a quick nod.
Hawke interrupted, "Not to interrupt sirs but the bugs have amassed in a focal point, which is also the reason there is no one on board. I think they were all killed."
Lea turned to face Hawke, "What was that, Hawke?"
Carter also turned to the Tactical Officer, "We won't know for sure. Ensign, lower shields on my mark so we can rotate the RAVEN crews out." He spun back to his console and sent a message to Delta Flight to do the same.
Relok pulled up the external sensors on the arm of the XO's chair. "I'm trying to verify, Hawke ... all those bugs over there now make it tough to get solid readings."
Hawke added, "Possibly, and I have an idea to get the text log records at least, but I'm going to need help."
Carter nodded at Hawke, "Shields . now, Mr. Hawke."
Quickly Hawke dropped the shields for transport and quickly raised them again once the transfer was completed. Afterwards he addressed Relok again, "Cmdr., would you mind assisting me? If we can work with an algorithm to uncomplicate all of this root-like network system, like plant roots, we should be able to get the computer to translate it into something we can read."
As Relok stood and moved to the Tactical station, Lea reported, "I think that's the last Kyrathian shuttle, sir."
Shadow confirmed with a nod, "That's the last of them for now."
As he reached the Tactical station, Relok commented, "Captain, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but ... the Kyrathian insectoids may be off the planet, but ... they left behind huge groves of their deadly Plant! We still need to deal with that."
Zak flopped back into the Command Chair, "Damn, Relok, you're right. Those things are gonna keep spewing deadly corrosive spores and spreading like wildfire! Have you read Captain Hardin's report of their homeworld? There was a world-spanning Wild Growth there of that thing, sentient and insane."
Relok answered the Captain, "I did read it, actually, Captain. The Kyrathians of their homeworld were an interesting species."
Carter responded, "Well, with all due respect, we should force them to do it if they want safe passage, right?"
Shadow transmitted a mental message to the Kyrathians, ~Take your plants and spores with you as well or the truce is off.~
Suddenly, anyone with even a modicum of empathic ability heard a call from the Kyrathian Noble, ~The Plant is now native to this world, we cannot take it with us. You may have what's left of this world. We are done.~ As it sent this telepathic burst, their Colony Ship broke orbit and quickly jumped to warp.
Hawke blurted out, "Tracking its trajectory, 102 mark 68!"
On the viewscreen, they could see the Cerberus and Delta Flight also jump to warp in pursuit.
Carter blinked, looking around. T'Lin stiffened, then breathed slowly. Relok cringed in apparent pain. He mumbled, "That was . forceful!"
T'Lin said, "They cannot take the plant."
Relok asked, "The plant is 'now native'? What does that mean?"
Zak glanced around at Shadow, Relok, T'Lin, and Carter. "What?" he asked. "What happened, you all look . stunned?"
Shadow answered Relok first, "It's become like the Kudzu plant in the southern US, adapted and taken over. We'll have to destroy it."
T'Lin added, "It means that the plant will continue to grow here. They could not take it back."
Zak said, "Their plant is now ... native? What the hell?"
T'Lin added another bit of information, "But when we destroy it, spores will release in the air."
It seems that even though the Kyrathians have left the planet Janidor, the planet is heavily damaged, with deadly invasive plants all over the formerly populated cities, lots of destroyed infrastructure, and a dramatic loss of population.
The USS Sojourner with its Starfleet Corps of Engineers will arrive "in a few days" to assist with the rebuilding, but . this is a long-term project, and the crew of the Penumbra (and formerly of the Darmok) can't help but feel responsible. After all, the Kyrathians followed their warp trail back to this planet. If we had not had a Beach Party on Krigeth's island, the Kyrathians might never have come to Janidor at all!
Cerberus & Delta Flight:
Lt. Col. Travis Patterson was still sitting at the controls of the Cerberus having just flown up from the Forward Operations Base and landed in the Hangar Bay. He called to the Bridge, "Patterson to Taylor. I'm still in the Cerberus, if you'd like for me and Delta Flight to escort the Kyrathians out of the area?"
The Captain tapped his commbadge and replied, "Acknowledged, Colonel. Let's let them see some of us being vigilant ... keep them in line."
On the ground at the Forward Operations Base, MGny Derek Hines called to the Bridge, "FOB Cloak to Penumbra. Advise, we're getting reports from Recon that the Kyrathians are withdrawing from the cities. Did you want us to begin packing up down here, sir?"
Zak tapped his commbadge again, "Negative on de-mob, Cloak. We'll continue supporting the Janosian rebuild from that location."
Hines responded, "Acknowledged, sir. The Sojourner is gonna owe us a hefty supply fee. I'll let 'em off on the manual labor."
Zak replied with a grin, "I'll make sure Tabby sends them a bill for the materials."
Back on the Cerberus, Patterson nodded to himself and cycled the systems back through a power-up. He tapped his commbadge, "Delta Flight, this is the Cerberus. All craft report back to the Penumbra and prepare for Vanguard duties."
MGny. Hines responded, "Cerberus, this is Delta 1. Acknowledged. ETA 10 minutes to break atmosphere for rendezvous. Requesting rotation of crews, sir."
Patterson replied, "Acknowledged. I'll have team 2 beam aboard to relieve you. Good job down there. Cerberus out." He tapped his badge to change the channel, "Cerberus to Flight Ops. RAVENS will be rotating crews. ETA 10 minutes, tops. Any sort of a timeslot on how long the bugs will be?"
Carter's voice came back, "Standby, sir."
While they were waiting, Delta Flight regrouped at the Penumbra, forming a full 360-degree perimeter around the Kyrathian Colony Ship. Patterson accelerated the Cerberus out of the Hangar Bay and moved to take a position directly in front of the Kyrathian ship.
Hines called the Penumbra, "Delta Flight to Penumbra. Ready to drop shields for crew rotations when you are."
Carter responded, "Standby, Delta. We may not have the luxury."
Hines replied, "Acknowledged. We'll stay vigilant. Delta Out."
They watched in vigilance as the many shuttles flew back and forth between the planet and the Kyrathian ship. Eventually, a message came from Carter that they were ready to quickly drop shields for transport. They lowered, beamed teams in and out, and quickly raised shields again.
Finally, the last shuttle left the planet. As it docked with the Colony Ship, anyone with even a modicum of empathic ability heard a call from the Kyrathian Noble, ~The Plant is now native to this world, we cannot take it with us. You may have what's left of this world. We are done.~ As it sent this telepathic burst, their Colony Ship broke orbit and quickly jumped to warp.
Immediately, Patterson cloaked the Cerberus and jumped to warp in pursuit! Without even a word of communications, Delta Flight did the same.
Main Engineering:
Down in Main Engineering, Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry was checking over all the systems to make sure they were at optimum levels. Lt. Aaron Riedinger was conversing with Ens. Connolly, "A sojourner? Here, on our ship? What the ...?" He turned to Bevin, speaking in an exalted tone, "Did you hear that, Jefa?!" He obviously was confused over the name of the new ship that was coming.
A call came from Ens. Lea Kalawai'a at the Engineering station on the Bridge, "Can we get some more power to the sensors? I just want to make sure the Kyrathians can't slip anything under our noses."
The voice of Lt. Cmdr. Bevin MacArdry came back with her heavy brogue, "Aye, gae fer ait!" She boosted all non-essential power to the sensors, to keep the Kyrathians honest.
Lea replied, "Thanks! I appreciate it. This whole situation just has me ... nervous. I'm trying to be optimistic, but I don't trust it."
Tabeshk replied, "I know, Lea, I don't trust it either."
Bevin also replied, "I dinna aithir bit we kin ailways hape tha thay'll play fair."
Aaron returned to his conversation with Connolly, "And we're not going to have to do any ... weird ritual for him or anything like that, right? Although in another hand it could be funny ... we could even have a fiesta!"
Another call came from the Bridge, this time from Ens. T'Lin, "Hey, Bevin? Do you have a DNA sample of the 'dragon' that we saw during our geographical survey?"
Bevin answered, "Aye, I've gat a fill bawkit o draigin gats fer ye tae play wi!"
About that time, Crewman Sognaal arrived from his mission to retrieve a sample of the "cotton candy" gunk that had clogged Nacelle 3. Aaron looked up at him and said excitedly, "Our lord and savior has arrived! Could you extract a sample, my good amigo?"
Sognaal placed the sample on the "pool table" in the center of Main Engineering, "Yes, I could."
Aaron cried out, "Fantástico!"
Bevin walked over and said, "Lait me gaiss, same o ait waes lak sae mich Spidder sailk."
Sognaal gave a small shudder, "No, actually ... I'd rather not talk about it, Commander."
Bevin gave a knowing nod, having been with Lea when they first cleaned the gunk from the nacelle, and quietly returned to the engines.
Aaron patted Sognaal on the back, "You did a good job, amigo." He turned his attention to Connolly on the other side of the table, "Can we make a level 2 diagnosis of this sample and inject the results into your simulations? And hopefully ...," he trailed off.
Connolly finished for him, "And hopefully they're wrong. I'm on my way." She took the sample and moved off to one of the alcoves to run her experiments.
After a few minutes, Connolly cried out, "NO!" She paused then said, "Wait . yes! Yes! Wait ... what?!"
Aaron looked up from what he was doing and said, "That did not sound entirely convincing." He walked over to see Connolly's console.
Connolly moved over a bit so he could see, "Because it is not convincing at all! Watch this!"
Aaron watched the simulation on the screen, a look of amazement coming over his features. "You're right, that ... that does not make any sense! But ... no. Just remember, young Padawan, every problem we face never makes any sense at first. As we interpenetrate with them they begin to make sense! Let's load the results in your simulations anyway!"
Connolly murmured something and began adjusting her input based on the sample analysis. After another run she exclaimed, "Pumm ... Kaboom, bye bye nacelle, ship and all our lives."
Aaron watched the simulation that showed the Penumbra blowing up just like Connolly had, but he said instead, "Do not be so pessimistic! The ship is experimental, but not THAT experimental! Something we must be overlooking ... not contemplating ... hmmm .," he trailed off, caressing his moustache.