Silence Is Overrated

Posted on Sun Jan 26th, 2020 @ 1:04pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Lieutenant Aurelius Davis & Lieutenant JG Mattias Constantine

Mission: Mission 2 - Fallout
Location: Unknown Planet
Timeline: Day 4, Month 1, Year 0 15:05
1269 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

A certain sense of relief washed over Constantine as he listened in on Commander Sloan's initial report that the away team had found a source of algae and water. The latter was especially key to the crew's survival, and even though algae was a far cry from the food rations they had lost, the discovery itself gave them hope that things might get better in the days ahead. To that end, Mattias had been vigilant in tracking the away team's progress as they loaded one of the shuttlepods that had been specially modified to fit the mission.

In his periphery, a blinking light one of his displays caught the young communication officer's attention, drawing his focus away from his hearing and towards his vision as he homed in on the screen. Though he hadn't voiced it yet, Mattias was finding it harder and harder to multi-task as the knot of hunger in his stomach had grown into a full grown quagmire. It took him a moment to process what he was seeing, but there was no denying that something was interfering with communications.

His repeated attempts to troubleshoot the link between the Atlantis and the remaining portion of the away team failed to yield any results. The transponder and the relay link for communications on the remaining shuttlepod just weren't responding now that the first pod was on its way back to the ship.

"Commander, could you come here and take a look at something?" Constantine looked over from his station to where Commander Leroux was seated. "I don't know if those shuttle modifications affected communications at all, but I'm having trouble with the comm link at the moment."

Beth looked up from the list she was working through of modifications and repairs hearing her rank being called out. She frowned as she noticed the blinking light herself and came over. "It should not have affected anything at all." It was a simple modification to make it lighter to allow more of the algae to be brought back to the ship. The water was already being pumped into the filtration system now that everything had been decontaminated.

"I see," Mattias continued to troubleshoot the controls, using every suggestion in the systems manual and a few other tricks of the trade besides.

"Commander Sloan, Lieutenant Davis - this is Atlantis, come in please."

A brief sputter of static played over the speakers on the bridge. Otherwise, silence was the only reply.

"Atlantis to away team, do you copy?"

Constantine's forehead creased in concentration, but there simply was nothing coming back from the planet's surface, not even a carrier wave.

"I've tried everything ma'am," the junior communications officer explained. "Even the trusty adage of turning the system off and then back on again doesn't seem to have worked. Am I missing something here?"

Beth shook her head quickly as she looked over things and took the headset from him listening intently to everything and anything she could hear there. Nothing was all she got and even if there was an issue with the relay they would hear something. "I do believe we are missing something here and it is not us causing it." Beth murmured glancing up at the man.

"We have a shared concern for the safety of the away team, ma'am. With your permission, once the first pod is done offloading supplies, I'd like to accompany the team back to the surface. If there is any damage to the communications equipment on the surface, I can effect repairs. At the very least, I can take some equipment with me and build a more effective means of long range communication," Mattias offered with the knowledge that he and Beth were the ones best suited to solve the issue. Risking the acting CO and XO on the same mission, however, seemed unwise to the junior officer.

Static was all Aurelius was getting. His uniform was torn in many places, his breathing coming quickly. A few cuts were bleeding, nothing serious though. He tapped his communicator again with the palm of his hands so he knew how much pressure he was using. It chirped and spluttered, much like Atlantis's comms he assumed. Now what?

Beth frowned just a little as she looked at the console and tried to think through some basic things. "Static does not necessarily mean something broke just that it is not getting received." Beth murmured. Everything at that end was powered up properly. "Give them twenty minutes. How long are they past the check-in?"

"Understood, I'll keep a listening watch," Constantine nodded, checking the mission log to see what prescribed times for routine check-in had been agreed upon. "They are approximately fifteen minutes late," he continued, checking the ship's chronometer, "but I am concerned about the odds of having issues with voice communications while simultaneously losing the reply from the transponder on the remaining shuttle. It's just," Mattias choked down his elevated state of emotion, "we've already lost so much. I don't want anything bad to happen to them."

Beth nodded at the man and gently lay a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. "We are all in uncharted territory. What is our odds and what we knew are completely different right now. We do not have a new norm. We just do the next right thing." It was a sad fact of there new life. No one knew what was normal anymore and the old rules no longer applied.

"Of course, ma'am," Mattias sniffled before regaining some semblance of composure. "You're right. We just keep going."

Aurelius had to do something. Michael was in trouble, he couldn't sit down there in that hole forever. Eventually, he knew they would probably come for them but if there was a way to contact the ship he was going to figure it out. Maybe he needed to get higher. He looked up at the hills surrounding him. They didn't look particularly easy to climb, they were rocky, but it was a start. He headed for them without another thought.

Beth was patient and calm as they waited and it was nearly the 20-minute mark when she heard static and then a voice from the planet below. She held up her thumb allowing Mattias to answer.

"This is Atlantis, go ahead away team." The relief in his voice was evident.

"I am so happy to hear your voice," Aurelius could finally hear them. "We have a small situation. Sloan and I were exploring, we picked up what seemed like life signs and investigated and the ground gave way. He's fallen into a hole and has a broken leg. I managed to climb back out to get help." He thought about things for a second, that was pretty much it right? Rescue Michael and warn them something weird was going on with the scanners.

Beth frowned a little at what she could hear and indicated that she was going to send someone down. "Tell him." She hissed before moving to her own seat to organise a rescue party.

The junior comms officer nodded in acknowledgement before turning his attention back to the task at hand.

"Understood, Lieutenant Davis. Commander Leroux is aware of the situation and will be sending a team down shortly," Mattias spoke calmly and evenly. "We will keep this channel established. We are receiving your transponder now, do your best to keep it running. See you shortly."

OFF::

Ensign Mattias Constantine
Communications Officer
NX Atlantis

Lieutenant Aurelius Davis
Morale Officer
NX Atlantis