Faulty Little Birds, Part VII

Posted on Fri Sep 15th, 2023 @ 8:58pm by Captain Ryhl th'Zeles & Lieutenant Commander Johanna Lyngstad & Commander Jason Elliot & Lieutenant Sava
Edited on on Tue Sep 26th, 2023 @ 9:24pm

2,083 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Campor III - Resupply
Location: Campor III - Romulan Settlement, Duveek
Timeline: MD, C2 Following Part V

=/\= On =/\=

"Did you need something, Commander?" Shan asked the Chief Engineer, having heard his name framed in the form of a question.

"Just wanted to see if you had any specific questions. Now is the time to ask," Paisley said.

Shan looked at Kekana, "If you would permit it, I'd like to run a diagnostic on the vessel's computer systems, maybe a couple of your fighters' computer systems for comparison. I brought my own equipment. Since we don't know what's wrong, we may not be able to trust the fighter's own diagnostic scans." The young Andorian had spent quite a bit of time researching what might be compatible with Romulan technology before packing for the away mission.

"Very well," she said. "One of our officers can work with you to help decipher our code. I look forward to seeing what you uncover."

Kekana looked towards the young officer with a faint smile. A decade ago the thought of having a Starfleet officer look over such a fighter would be outrageous. These were much different times. Some of the Romulan colonists had no affiliation with the Romulan Star Navy, though Kekana and the pilots did. Even those affiliated with the Navy and its government had become accepting of a new era.

Kekana knew one thing about Federation Engineering and Ops personnel. They were creative problem solvers with a knack for resolving issues.

Ryhl spoke to Johanna as he watched the Romulan fighter pass from the west, over their heads and bank off to the north at a faster speed. The engines whirred loudly as it passed.

"What do you think of this planet so far? Would you believe that a lot of this is the result of terraforming?" Ryhl said while turning back to Johanna. The craft grew small along the horizon before turning back towards the onlookers.

"I think they have done a good job with the terraforming here. The planet seems very livable in this area and the berries were delicious."

They could hear a distant Romulan speaking over comms, "Begin high speed operations," the Romulan officer said before brushing off his dusty uniform.

Paisley took that as her cue to haul ass across the Hangar. She knew better than to stand too close. Still, she wanted to watch it.

Jason looked as other fighters prepped for take off, he rubbed his arm a reminder of why he limits his flight time these days. He slid the sunglasses back down over his eyes and watched the fighter which had already launched. Jason turned away slowly before he did something stupid and he knew what kind of stupid that was.

Meanwhile the pilot who had condescended to Jason had already made plenty of space between himself and the airbase. This was the first test flight after an increase in malfunctions grounded the Snakeheads.

If all went well, the other fighters still currently prepping would launch. Many people, including Ryhl, glanced up to watch the starfighter rapidly accelerate.

The ship took off in a green flash, except all did not go as planned. The trailing green mist which echoed the pattern of the vessel's shape expanded and flamed into a bright, neon implosion. From about 500 meters away, it took one second for the sound wave to hit their ears.

This meant that the fighter disappeared in a bright, solitary moment of silence before the realization was thrust upon the crowd with a concussive blast.

Ryhl's mouth went agape in horror, as did Kekana's. Irith gasped and shouted. Centurion Laas covered his eyes in disbelief before saying, "Excuse me... We have to deal with this." He ran towards the distant pilots, shouting orders to nearby engineers.

Paisley watched, in stunned silence, a hand over her mouth as the fighter went *boom*. "Oh, keuf...*" She cursed in Cardassian. Whoops. Hopefully the UT wouldn't pick that up.

"Captain, I'm afraid we have a major problem," Kekana said to Ryhl. "I think something is wrong."

Turning slightly towards his crew, Ryhl said, "We may have to look a little deeper than simple re-alignments," he said with a sigh. Ryhl knew his crew likely knew little about these fighters and their advanced-singularity warp drives.

*Yeah, no kidding. That was the understatement of the century*- Paisley thought to herself.

A Romulan shuttle quickly took off from the far corner of the airbase. It sped off towards the direction of what was left of the craft, a scorched husk containing part of the central cockpit. Romulans could be seen consoling each other. From what could be overheard, it sounded as if the pilot was unable to beam out.

Sava's jaw hung open. No, really. Here she'd thought that she might just bear witness to a breakthrough in Romulan technology. A miniaturized black hole powering a shuttle. Imagine that! Of course, it could hardly be considered an achievement when said 'achievement' blew up in the sky - which made it no less shocking. "I- yes. More than just alignments." She conceded. "Back to the drawing board, it seems. One loss of life is one loss too many." Her heart went out to the grieving Romulans - one of them had burst into tears and fallen to his knees, swearing in rapid-fire Rihhansu.

Jason's head snapped up to the noises. "Which pilot was that?"

"The one you were speaking with," Paisley told him. Her blue eyes were still round with horror.

Jason paused, then looked at the ground "Pride cometh before the fall." He walked away shaking his head.

She watched Jason walk away. He was right, but it seemed a little cold. She didn't follow him, instead, she looked at the horizons again, watching the emergency crew take over.

A part of her wanted to leave-they weren't welcome. Her duty said they had to stay and help.

What to do?

Ryhl tapped his commbadge to notify his first officer who was in command of the Columbia. =/\= th'Zeles to Chalan, we've had a situation. A Romulan fighter just had an accident. Stand by for updates.=/\=

Kas moved next to Paisley, "Stars retrieved another life. Forget Nothing." The Klingon/Bajoran hybrid's face was neutral as Kas was no stranger to death.

Paisley smiled lightly. "I think I understand," she said. "I hope he didn't have a family," she said. She'd seen some Cardassian ships blow up in her time, and it was always tragic, no matter her personal distaste for it all.

Ryhl was moved by Lt. Cmdr. Razka's words. The Andorian people were militant, but concepts of death and loss were always difficult. "This is terrible," he said, turning to Kekana who was busy shouting orders. "Stand by team."

Kas looked toward the sky, among his people it is believed that memory is part of the afterlife so telling stories of the departed was important. Forget Nothing' was the phase his people had when dealing with death.

"We must learn as much about this event to prevent such things in the future," Kas said. "We tell others what I've witnessed so the pilot is not lost in vain."

Paisley nodded. "Yes...Knowing and fixing the problems will prevent future tragedies. And yes, sharing our stories is how we make it, I think...we realize we're more alike than different," she said, thoughtfully.

"Well said, Miss F'Rar," said the Captain. "Sometimes it takes loss and destruction to bring people together."

Shan had been watching closely when the explosion occurred and something didn't sit right with him. Andorians had a much wider range of sensory perceptions than the others who had watched the ship get destroyed in the green flash. Shan furrowed his brow as his analytical brain tried to make sense of everything it was processing. He approached Captain th'Zeles. "Captain, did you observe that? Something isn't right..." he asked, not trusting himself initially.

As Kekana met with the pilots, Ryhl turned to Shan. "It was all so sudden," he said, voice shaken. "It appears the engines imploded." Ryhl saw a similar effect on a destroyed Romulan scout ship while serving as a young Engineer aboard the Cairo. Witnessing the force within a planetary environment left him stunned.

Kekana stood next to Shan, turning to the Captain. "Except for the fact that the flash seemed to occur on the opposite side of the ship from the reactor." Ensign th'Kaasnik's observations pointed out something the Romulan might have missed.

"That's what I meant, Captain. If it had been just the engines it would been darker - well to you and I anyway. The spectrum of the blast was all wrong. I can't place it," Shan said, frustrated by the unknown.

"Good eye, Mister Th'kaasnik," Ryhl said with a look of confidence despite his anxieties. "My eyes were kind of out of focus in the sunlight."

As Ryhl lead Shan towards Jason and the others, Kekana could be heard telling them to investigate the remaining wreckage, part of the cabin's protective outer layer.

Ryhl tapped his commbadge, this time to his Chief Security Officer. =/\= This is Captain th'Zeles to Commander Tomm. Please send an investigations team down to my position in Duveek. We just had an explosive situation. =/\=

=/\=Are you alright, Captain? Dispatching teams now. Should we take the ship to yellow alert?=/\= Tomm responded.

Ryhl tapped his commbadge, thinking of the ship. =/\= Everyone is well here, Commander. Thank you. The fighter's accident is looking a little more... interesting. We might want some investigators looking into this. =/\=

Johanna saw the fighter explode. Strangely, she did not gasp and panic at the sight. She had half-expected it to explode. This was a feeling she got from time to time. "We definitely need to analyze that power source." Johanna said calmly.

Paisley moved closer to the Captain. "Any further orders, sir?" She asked. If Tomm was coming, that just made things even more serious. She'd talk to Jason later-maybe he could figure out if she was off in left field about her feelings about the Romulans not wanting them there.

"Stand by," Ryhl replied. "I'll coordinate with Sub-Commander Kekana." The Andorian took off after her.

Jason looked up again, he just shook his head. He needed to talk with the Captain, sooner than later, things were far worse than he thought.

Paisley simply shrugged. "Shan. Let's chat over here," she motioned to a corner. "Set up a game plan. We can, perhaps, start replicating the correct parts and figure out who needs to do what, when. Then, I suggest we all break for a meal," she said. She took a moment to wipe her face with one of the clean wipes she kept in her pocket for this very occasion, and made sure her hair was free of debris.

"Commander," Shan began, looking at her with all deference. "I don't know that replicating correct parts is going to fix these shuttles." Catching her look, he pointed to his antennae, "I can 'see' more frequencies on the light and sound spectrum with these. That didn't look or sound like what you'd expect from an artificial singularity engine. And Kekana over there just verified the explosion started on the opposite side of the ship."

Paisley sighed, but nodded. "Ok. What do you recommend? I am deferring to your expertise. Truthfully, fixing planes isn't exactly in my wheelhouse, unless it's Cardassian tech." She said. She was used to Jefferies Tubes, and slip streams.

"I think that's why the Captain is having an investigation team sent down," Shan replied gesturing with his head toward Captain Th'Zeles. "We can offer to assist security? If they are coming here to do an investigation, we can help take a look at the tech."

Ryhl returned to the officers after informing Kekana and her team of the incoming Security personnel. "We'll have to hold off for now, I'm afraid," Ryhl said to Paisley, Shan and the others. "Kekana just told me the Romulans are grounding the squadron."

"We'll have to follow the Romulans' lead, since their technology is so foreign to us," Ryhl said, a look of determination replacing his despair. "We'll still do our best to help them figure out what happened here."

Captain Ryhl th’Zeles
Commanding Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Commander Paisley F’Rar
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Commander Razka Kas
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Commander Johanna Lyngstad
Chief Science Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Sava
Security Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Jason Elliot
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Columbia

Ensign Shanir Th’kaasnik
Operations Officer
USS Columbia

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