False Start

Posted on Thu Sep 12th, 2024 @ 11:59am by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Commander William Gerhard & Lieutenant Andre Rhodes & Lieutenant JG Calanthe 'Cal' Diaz & Ensign Mercy Mourne & Chief Petty Officer Nish Karalo

Mission: Remnant
Location: Bridge and Engineering
Timeline: Day 408 AM
1392 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Beth stood looking at the double display on the screen. One that displayed the planet that they were hoping had the precious resource that they needed and the other was a screen that showed the Chief Engineer down in Engineering still working away as they waited. Beth was cautiously hopeful that the planet contained what they needed but they would not be sure until they scanned and then beamed down to visually confirm whether there was a natural occurrence of Deuterium.

“How close are we to radio and communication signals being received?” Beth wondered glancing at Calanthe before she looked at the flight reading on the console to her left.

"We should be moving into range in the next minute or so, Captain." Diaz looked up from her own readouts to spare a glance out the viewport and then swung her attention back to her task. "Nothing on long-range bandwidths yet."

Mercy stood at the science station and quietly worked to prepare the short-range scans. At the Captain's question, she looked up and then blinked owlishly a few times before glancing over to the helm. One could almost see the moment the data and scanning parameters cleared from her brain and she registered where they were, although for once she didn’t rush in to answer. A clear sign of how nervous she was about what they may or may not find.

"We're all set down here, Captain. I've got a direct feed to the sensors so we can rate the supplies and if it's good." Andre reported from Engineering. He was in a control room instead of out in the open, if this was a dry well or otherwise wasn't going to work, he didn't want that spreading out of control. Andre's image on the monitor alternated from looking to the camera and back at his own monitors.

William checked his own panel as he sat at his usual station on the bridge. He'd extended the scanning range of his own sensors to their maximum, but he could tell from the results that there was nothing out there. "I'm not reading any ships so far, but we are still just at the edge of scanning range," William reported before he looked up at the main viewscreen along with the rest of the bridge crew.

"Short-range transmissions are viable, Captain." The Communication Chief offered the information quietly, both as an indication that communication channels would now operate effectively as well as a warning that they were in range for detection.

Upon entering the star system Nish had worked with the science team to find a suitable asteroid to knock out of its orbit and follow into the core of the system to get near enough to the planet to determine at least the viability of the deuterium, if there indeed was any in the first place to determine the viability of. She was fully focused on keeping the space rock between them and the planet they were investigating, and as such most of the conversation simply passed her by.

Beth nodded, taking the warning to heart, fully aware that they were now entering the critical zone where everything could either go perfectly and they find the fuel or fall apart disastrously in many ways. The tension in the air was thick as they sat through a nerve-wracking 25 minutes where nothing happened—no alarms, no sudden movements—but the crew was on edge, their nerves fraying with every passing moment. The planet loomed larger and larger on the view screen, its surface becoming more detailed and hopeful.

Every flicker on the control panels made her heart skip, every minor adjustment by Karalo felt like the prelude to something catastrophic. The silence was oppressive, filling the Bridge with a heavy weight that seemed to press down on them all. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Beth broke the silence. "Nothing?" Her voice was steady, but it carried an undertone of anxiety that she knew Gerhard and most likely Diaz would recognise. She knew the answer already— nothing, no signs of danger, no communication—but she needed to ask.

"I'm not registering any transmissions, Captain." Diaz had triple checked her findings before speaking, a delay that had only added to the anticipation but there was no margin of error for missing something, no matter how lost in the static it might have been.
The silence had been close to becoming unbearable, threatening to overwhelm her, and she felt that even a brief exchange of words might help keep the encroaching dread at bay. "Science are there any signs of life on the planet?" Beth asked glancing over to her.

The science officer had relaxed slightly at her station, no radio signals or otherwise was a good sign. Or at least a sign things might be less complicated then they needed to be. Mercy’s fingers flew across the terminal as she worked quickly to answer the Captain’s question. “There is plant and animal life Captain, but nothing that looks like sentient life from preliminary scans ma’am.”

"And the fuel source?" Beth asked. That had not been mentioned but plant and animal life was a good start for a planet that had what they needed. She glanced up to Andre and then to Gerhard feeling hopeful but knowing the chances were slim to finding it on their first try. She had not expected them to find a hint in 8 days but maybe the universe was giving them a break.

“I…”. Mercy ran through the scan data lightning fast, and she could feel a stone drop in her stomach as she read through the results. She looked up at the bridge crew and for a moment she is not able to hide the visible disappointment before it was locked away behind a veneer of scientific professionalism. “It appears that while the planet contains the requisite compounds, there is no Deuterium naturally occurring.” There’s a pause and then a quiet. “I’m so sorry.”

After getting confirmation that the planet didn't contain sentient life, or at least not sufficiently advanced life for detection Nish was able to relax a bit, allowing the asteroid to veer off into the projected course they had set it on to collide with the system's star in about a year or two. Putting the ship in high orbit of the planet she awaited the response from science. As the word came through that they'd found a dud it took a bit of effort not to sigh out loud. She felt her jaw tense and kept her gaze out in front awaiting the order to set a new course.

Andre looked at the data over and over again, as if somehow trying to will the elements into place but he also shook his head. Furthermore, there were some things he was noticing that were showing this to not only be a false hope but a poisoned well at that.

"No chance here, Captain. I'm seeing traces of a rare mix in some of the compounds. I'll skip the chemistry for now but the short answer, we wouldn't even be able to go into refining if we were going to land and tear the ship down for the career change. The end product would be unusable." Andre explained, "The good news though, the chances of that mix happening are slim - so maybe we're getting all the bad luck out early."

Beth frowned and nodded. She liked the idea of getting all the bad luck out of the way at first but it was hard to not be disappointed at the fact they had not found anything there. "Maintain orbit here for now Chief," Beth instructed firmly as she wanted to move on from the disappointment. The crew's morale needed to be maintained. "Rhodes, Science keep scanning for our next chance this was just a false start." She assured quickly.

“Yes Captain.” Mercy’s voice betrayed a hint of a crack at the first syllable, the only sign she was experiencing intense emotion. Otherwise, she was already smiling and bringing up the scans. She glanced briefly at Rhodes, grateful for his ability to find a faint silver lining, even in this. Mercy herself was exhausted from data mining and long shifts, so her own sense of optimism had been quite shaken.