Planetside pt3
Posted on Wed Aug 24th, 2022 @ 1:46am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Lieutenant Sarah Wilson & Remal Kajun
Mission:
New Harrington
Location: Anesh
Timeline: Current
The light rain had begun to fall, cleansing the soil and promising a rebirth unlike this planet had ever seen. Any collection container that could hold liquid was sitting out in the open, the parched and dirty citizens taking turns to drink and then wash their faces with the cleansing liquid.
"Tell me it's over" Sarah replied as she sipped some of the collected rainwater after saving a precautionary tricorder over it.
Remal allowed the rain to strike him gently upon the face. "So far, it looks that way." Then he looked at Sarah, her hair falling wet about her shoulders. "I still wonder what created this situation in the first place. I don't get the fossil fuel pumps. This is a society capable of replication for food and energy yet they appear to still be reliant on oil. That makes little sense."
He looked to the clouds again. "Not to mention the placement of the weather control systems on the ground. Intelligent engineering 101 suggests you place them where they won't get damaged by random natural occurrences, yet from my understanding, they were found along fault lines and near active volcanic activity." He questioned out loud rather than at Sarah.
"Unless they were using geothermal energy to power them?" Sarah mused, flicking her now wet hair over her shoulder. Remal had been correct, the crisis had passed, and now they just had to figure out why it happened in the first place. "The man I spoke to said the pump house we were in before was off limits to everyone but the Governor. What if he was selling the planet's natural resources?"
He hadn't thought of geothermal, a free and abundant source on many planets. "Sounds as good as any for a place to start I suppose. Also sounds like a mystery for more important, enlisted folk, not a doctor and a counselor. Think we should involve the Captain?" He asked cordially.
"I think we should very much indeed involve the Captain. There's something very much afoot here and my gut feeling says it's coming from the top" Sarah whispered conspiratorily into Remal's ear. "To the point we should brief her in person."
He smiled and then handed some water to a thirsty civilian who was standing in line for water. The rain was nice but didn't fully satisfy the dehydration which had set in. The lines were long. He stepped away to allow someone else to take over and tapped his badge. "Remal to Captain Holmes, I think we would value a personal visit from yourself and Doctor Watson, when you get time of course."
He knew she would get the reference to a series of ancient texts, which he himself had only learned of recently from chatting with Bonnie. Rhenora could be quite the reader though he could never figure out where she found the time. "I'd be open to a debrief." He finished.
A few minutes later a medical an engineering team appeared and got to work after a quick briefing from Remal and Sarah. The weary doctor turned to her companion. " Let's go home. I stink, and quite frankly so do you"
He gave a quick sniff of his pits, then shrugged, "I've been worse. Try spending a week in a sweltering jungle being shot at and hunted by dogs." He stepped aside so they were clear, tapped his badge, "Sunfire, two to beam up." He finished.
From the shadow of a withered tree, a man watched as the pair were transported away. He turned and activated his communications device. From the other side came a man's voice. "Report." He demanded.
"They've seen the siphon sir. I imagine it won't be long before they start sticking their noses where they don't belong."
"Let them. We've broken no laws. Not yet anyway. It's a resource like any other. At least until refined. Taking something they don't use right from under their noses and selling it to the Ferengi for profit, they wish they'd thought of it first."
"Yes sir. Very wise sir."
"Damn right it was wise, now any idea who sabotaged the weather stations yet? They almost caused us a loss on this months profit margins."
"No sir, not yet. I will keep looking into it and keep you informed."
"Good, see that you do. I want them strung up by their heels and forced into submission for this." He said before abruptly closing the channel.
The man in the shadow went back to business as usual.
Sarah and Remal materialised back on the Sunfire, the stench of their time on the planet wafting around the transporter room like a thick unpleasant haze.
"I need a shower, shall we brief the Captain in an hour?"
He nodded, "Sounds like a plan. See you in the conference room." He stepped down off the transport pad with a sigh and headed out the door to find a hot shower with extra soap.
An hour and two hot showers later....
Rhenora strode into the conference room where Remal and Sarah were waiting, looking fresh as the proverbial daisies, which was interesting considering what they had reported to have endured.
Remal nodded respectfully as the Captain entered. As the unlisted officer he felt it prudent to allow Sarah dibs on sharing details first, also polite. He would get his turn, but what he really wanted was the opportunity to show which meant a trip to the surface.
"Doctor, Counsellor" The Captain smiled warmly as she settled into the chair at the head of the table, Sarah and Remal seated on either side of it. " I hear you ran into some...interesting times on the planet. Something tells me your report doesn't even begin to cover it" She started, taking a sip of the ever present coffee in her hand. Ronson appeared with drinks for both Sarah and Remal.
"Indeed Captain, we did what we could for the displaced citizens until the rain came and the Sunfire provided some much needed water" Sarah started, taking a sip of the herbal tea and nodding for Remal to continue.
Taking her beat and rolling with it, Remal spilled the details of what they uncovered and the implications of what it may mean. He finished with, "at this point this is all speculation but we believe someone is robbing these people of their resources and selling them, probably off world, in secret. Exploitation of this magnitude can't possibly be legal, can it?"
Rhenora said quietly for a few minutes - digesting the new information as one would digest a good meal. "So you're saying that someone is secretly exploiting the natural resources on this planet...the locals know nothing about it, and it could be the reason the weather system went all haywire?"
As she finished a call came in from the bridge, "Captain, a D'deridex class Romulan vessel has just decloaked off our starboard bow. They are hailing... The planet surface." The young ensign announced.
" Looks like we'll have to mull this over afterwards, follow me to the bridge and see if we can't overhear this communication." Rhenora nodded towards the two trusted officers and rose to head to the bridge.
"See if you can't tap into that communication without their knowledge Ensign, don't tip our hand" She ordered as the trio stepped onto the bridge, settling into her command chair a moment later, flanked by Sarah and Remal.
TBC
