The Cavalry

Posted on Sun Jul 13th, 2025 @ 5:38pm by Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant JG Micheal Stevens & Ensign Kitiuas Thenis ie-Jia'anKahr & Commander Jennifer Baldric & Lieutenant Commander Rynn Upland & Lieutenant Sarah Wilson

2,242 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Masimal
Location: Masimal

By the end of the shift things were looking decidedly more promising from all angles. One the ship Dr Tarsis had developed a working antidote and was now conducting more trials to ensure its effectiveness. Once complete he planned on turning into a vaccine to prevent those not infected on the planet from the pathogen. He awaited the medical ship with baited breath, wanting a second opinion on several key compounds before mass replicating the antidote for the population on the planet below them.

The shuttle had two more grids to scan before making their way back to the ship, having made remarkable progress through the farmlands and the planet's second largest city. To be fair not as many could be relocated to the green zone this time as the pathogen continued to wreak havoc on the population. Still, the cavalry was due to arrive tomorrow.

Back on the Sunfire, Captain Kaylen Rhenora sat in her ready room, eyes heavy as she filed the required logs and reports for the day. She was tired, they all were.

"Excuse me Captain." Savar's voice spoke. He was standing in front of her desk with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cup of Vulcan tea in the other. "I know you have been pushing yourself so I thought you may be in need of some coffee."

The Captain looked up wearily, putting the report she was finishing down on the desk to accept the steaming brew. "Thank you Savar, I really appreciate it" she said gratefully.

He nodded, "You are welcome captain, I know of your love for coffee, the whole crew does I believe." He took a seat in front of her desk and looked at for several seconds before he finally spoke. "You are overworked and need to rest." He said direct and to the point.

That hit home. It was true, she'd barely slept since the Masimal ordeal had begun. "We're so close Savar, the cavalry will be here tomorrow. Then I can get some sleep. We all can"

"I concur Captain. We are close." Savar replied, "I have no desire to make an issue of this rather I merely point out your reaction times are down and that affects your decision making ability. You need to rest both from a physical standpoint as well as a mental one."

Their conversation was interrupted a few moments later by a call from the Bridge.

Bridge

Busy running calculations on Masimal, specifically the weather patterns in relation to the spore clouds. She had received the details behind the antidote and was also calculating the dispersal rates in order to determine the amount that would need to be replicated for maximum dispersion. In truth she had figured the calvary crew would take over and run their own calculations, but that was no reason for Bonnie not to try.

The pieces were there, all she needed was a miracle in order to pull it off. That miracle was a storm that was currently brewing off the coast. Her early calculations suggested if they could saturate the storm, if they could supercharge it, the wind and the rain could carry the antidote at least to the Northern hemisphere which held most of the planet's major cities. She ran the calculations for a 20th time before resigning herself and tapping her badge. "Lieutenant Durnell to Captain Kaylen, um, do you have a minute?"

"Of course" Kaylen replied before appearing on the bridge a moment later, coffee still in hand and bags under her eyes.

"What have you got Bonnie?" She looked at the monitor Bonnie was sitting in front of.

"Um, calculations really, um, here." She pointed at the screen showing multiple weather patterns on the Masimal planet below. "Tarsis, um, Doctor Tarsis, said he could mass produce the antidote in an ionized aerosol. So I was running the numbers and realized, um, well if we distribute enough into these combining storm cells, the rain and the projected front will carry the antidote across at least the entirety of the Northern Hemisphere of the planet. Most of the major cities would feel the effects within, say, twenty-four hours, give or take."

It was a long shot and would require every shuttle, work bee, and maybe even the Sunfire herself in order to saturate the converging storm cells. Not to mention the danger the storms would place on those ships along with the Fungal spores in the atmosphere. But the water table would receive the cure and in turn, the people on the ground. It had to be worth the risk, right?

"You want to turn the antidote into rain?" It was beautiful and yet so crazy in its simplicity that it may actually work. Here they were, about to play God on this planet for the greater good. "It's brilliant Bonnie, what do you need to get it done?"

Bonnies eyes were large with surprise and she stammered to respond, "Um, well, we would need the pressure chambers to compress the ionized particles and..." She stopped short as a sweet, familiar smell struck her nostrils just as the doors to the turbolift behind the Captain opened.

Kit saw to it that Kasso and Astraea were guided to their new quarters, ensuring her sister that she would be there as soon as she could. She then straightened her uniform, inspecting it to be sure that Astraea had not burped anything on it and made her way to the turbolift. =^=Bridge=^= she told the computer. Well here it goes, back home. Hope the crew is happy to see me. thought Kit.

The doors of the bridge parted to reveal someone the Captain was not expecting. Knee deep in discussions with Bonnie she cast a glance and stopped dead in her tracks. "Kit?"

Kit smiled “Surprise, was just on my way to see you captain. Ensign Kitiuas Thenis ie-Jia'anKahr reporting for duty. Apologizes for not coming straight to the bridge, I wanted to ensure Astraea and my sister, Kasso were shown to our quarters. So where do you want me to start?”

"Your timing could not have been better, Bonnie here was giving a briefing on her current theory on solving this crisis" Rhenora smiled wearily.

"Right, um, hi Kit. Um, I was just saying we will need every pilot and every capable shuttle, workbee and maybe even the Sunfire herself to dump the antidote along a pre plotted course over these storm cells. There is a small margin for error, but as long as it hits the water tables, it should work, I think."

Kit stook a step towards the station. “May I?” she inquired. After a few seconds of analysis she typed in some more mathematical computations and compared it to the known and current meteorological data. “Should work, though use the upper jet streams on both halves of the planet, seed the jet streams and it will carry the antidote farther and with less likelihood of failure due to the unpredictability of the storm. Similar to how the dust from Africa makes its way to North America.”

"You think we could conver the entire planet? How long would it take to replicate that much antidote? Do we have time to get it done before these storms disperse?" Rhenora asked, looking at the swirling winds displayed on the graphic.

"Pretty sure it will work, I mean, as long as we stay just above storm cells but below the weather ceiling or else the ionized gases will simply crystalize instead of mixing. We have about an hour before the storms converge and plenty of time for they disperse. I believe we can make this work." Bonnie said with as much confidence she could muster.

"We have close to 50 working shuttles, runabouts and such. If we create a line of incoming and outgoing shuttles we can have a continuous dispersal running, like an assembly line. We, uh, we'll need all hands available to make it work." This idea worried Bonnie as she knew how tired everyone was so she added, "...and other than some lightning the storms shouldn't be much of a factor. I mean, shouldn't, really...."

Kit thought a moment about the situation “Okay how about this; we modify the Class 3 probes, remove their guts and set them to act as aerosol dispersers, then the Sunfire can fire them into the atmosphere in the critical areas. Also is it possible to make the antidote self-replicating or add a nanobot that can self-replicate the antidote? The thing that would worry the most is the pilots of the vessels, if they are as tired and worn out as you all look , then dropping into the planetary jet streams above the storms will be truly hazardous. It is difficult enough to pilot a shuttle in the upper jet streams when you are fully rested.”

As she was saying this she rapidly was typing in the data to show the dispersal from the probes, the probes and shuttles and just the shuttles. The highest efficiency was a combination of probes and craft, followed by just the probes, and finally just under three precent of just the probes the shuttles. Kit added one more bit of information inquiries showing the percentage of chance for a shuttle craft crashing under current crew conditions, about a 30 to 40 percent chance, depending on pilot skill and time in cockpit.

Bonnie had not considered the probes as an option, nor the concept of self replicating knowing that would take time to get the programming just right. It was good to have another perspective to think about things she did not. "30 to 40% seems rather high. Are you sure that's right?" She asked while looking at Kit, feeling glad she was back.

Kit again typed in the formula and computations on the pilots. The results the computer spat out were still within the 30 to 40 percentile range give or take 1.05%. “Computer keeps it within those parameters, so unless the data I received concerning how much rest the crew has been getting, our atmospheric data is incorrect, or our pilots' records have not been updated, that is what the computer states. Possible my math is off also, so please check it, better to have someone else check the work.” Kit replied with a smile.

Sitting forward, Bonnie was determined to prove this could be done with much less risk. She looked over the numbers, and ran the sequence. It returned the same result. Internally, she was trying hard to come up with some variable, something they were missing. That was when the Captain let out a yawn. Bonnie looked over and noticed a steaming hot mug with a bitter black liquid inside.

She smiled, then began entering a new series of calculations. It took her only a minute and then she ran the numbers once more. The computer chirped and presented the results on the screen for the trio to see. 18.35%. Bonnie sat back with her arms crossed, a 'proud of myself'grin upon her face.

"Wait what?" Rhenora smothered another yawn, promising herself she would grab a power nap as soon as the situation allowed. In the meantime she took a sip of coffee and mentally shook herself. "How did you reduce the variable?"

"Coffee." She stated simply at the question. "Coffee is the answer, or rather a stimulant of choice. Yes we're tired, but with a healthy stimulant injection, the pilots will be alert enough and ready enough to get this done quickly, reducing the risk of error by a good amount."

"Soooo we give everyone coffee before they fly? I better let Remal know his stash may be greatly reduced" she mused. " Surely a hypo stimulant would work better than the traditional bean?"

"Oh, and one other thing." Bonnie piped up. "Someone will have to move the Sunfire into range as well. She's the carrier ship, so she'll need to be close for this to work efficiently." Bonnie finished as she waited for the go-ahead with the plan.

"So all our pilots are gonna be flying shuttles and work pods, looks like Savar or I can pilot the ship. Not ideal, but necessary" the Captain finished. "Alright, you have a go Bonnie and Kit. Let me know when you have everything ready"

Excited, but nervous, Bonnie replied "Yes Ma'am, will do." She then waited until the Captain walked away before adding to Kit. "Thank you. It's good to have you back."

"I will pilot the Sunfire Captain, with your permission of course. Your place is in the center seat." Savar replied when the subject of piloting the Sunfire came up.

"Thank you Savar" Rhenora smiled as she headed for her ready room. If fortune favoured the bold she would allow herself a 45 minute power nap to be refreshed for the final phase of their mission.

Kit felt relieved to be back, she was falling back into the swing of things, It helped with her grief and anger also. She tapped her combadge =^=Ensign Kitius to all science personnel not currently engaged in projects related to mission and science instrumentation specialist. Report to the probe storage facility. Updated information being sent now on the plan for the probes. We are going to be some busy individuals, so embrace the suck.=^= With her comms communication Kit turned to the captain, "With your permission, I request to leave the bridge and oversee the probe detail."

TBC

 

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