SD 241401.17 JL | "Swiss Alps" | CO & XO | Capt Landon Neyes & Cmdr Rochelle Ivanova

Posted on Fri Jan 17th, 2014 @ 10:35pm by Captain Landon Neyes

2,047 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: In the Dark
Location: Starfleet Camp
Timeline: Shortly after Take-Off

=/\= Runabout Horizon, Diplomatic Team =/\=

A sharp jolt bucked the floor downward, what felt nearly a meter or two. The Runabout’s engines fluttered and whined alongside the flickering lights inside the cabin. Nothing was damaged or inoperable, per say, but the systems on the small ship rallied to fend off the malign effects of the gravimetric interference coming from the planet. What had seemed like a somewhat uneventful descent had quickly escalated into a thrill ride, as Landon and the co-pilot of the Runabout Horizon guided the ship down as gracefully as they could. The gray and white haze of the thick atmosphere cut off the windows and slid past quickly as they sped towards the surface.

Another heaving toss of the aft section could be felt as the port
stabilizer shut down entirely for a few seconds. The cabin’s
rear-seated occupants were lifted up off their seats a few inches as the inertial dampeners slowly caught on. Their stomachs in their throats, all three of the crewmen seated in that section turned a figurative shade of sickly green, and one had to reach for the bodily fluid-evac kit. The rest of the diplomatic team tightly clenched the arm rests, allowing their shoulder straps to hold them down.

Neyes tightened his own strap and hollered back to the cabin over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the controls, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain seated. I apologize for the bumps.” He quickly turned to the co-pilot, “Get more power to the gyro-dyne relays in the thruster assembly. We’re at 10,000 meters and coming in a little faster than I would like.” His brow furrowed despite his previous attempt at humor. They were certainly doing their best to keep ahead of the systems malfunctions, but the engines were their top priority, and he didn’t have time to tend to inertial systems. A good joke was all the help the Horizon crew could expect from the young Captain if they needed anything, otherwise he had to assume they knew where to lose their breakfast.

“Yes sir,” the woman replied. “Thruster controls now at 105 percent of maximum.”

The Horizon’s power readings, still off-beat from normal, seemed to matter less as the ship eased into its touchdown a little gentler. The officers in the cabin sighed audibly, relieved to have their insides rightly placed once again.

“Horizon to Liberty, what’s your status? I’m having trouble reading you in this snow storm.” Landon called into the open comm. Channel between Ivanova’s runabout and his own.

Snow.

It kissed her finger tips as Rochelle turned her outstretched palm
skywards, ignoring the bite of winter's chill as she stood there,
barely out of the shuttle that had landed what felt like only split
seconds ago. It had been years since she'd had the chance to watch it fall, to touch it, to feel and hear it crunch beneath her feet. The entire season, in general, had been denied to her for years -- it's splendor lost and all but forgotten. She smiled, panting out a nearly silent laugh into a puff of curling steam and frost before her childlike glee was cut short by her co-pilot sticking his head out, "Commander.... The Captain wants --" The redhead whipped around and nodded, brushing the accumulating flakes from her shoulders before disappearing back into the shuttle.

"On the surface, sitting poolside with a margarita." She replied sarcastically, "According to our read, you shouldn't be too far from our location. Sending coordinates now."

Landon read over the coordinate map, and she was right. The Liberty was directly beneath them, about 300 meters. His brow shot up as he realized the planet's surface was that close. "The sensors must need to be calibrated now. Compensating." He began the slow drift towards the icy crust of the landing sight.

With the shuttle no longer beating between the heavy storm clouds, Neyes managed to to bring it down into the snow-fall. From there he could see a stretch of towering mountains not too far off, and a valley to their northwest. There is where they would find the Noturans, who would hopefully assist them in locating the crude matter they needed.

"How's it looking down there, Commander? We'll be planetside in 30 seconds."

Landon gripped the manual controls of the runabout as he excitedly put down the landing gear. He looked out past the edge of his sight from the pilot's seat, and could see Rochelle and the others already on the surface looking back up at them. A camp was already beginning to be constructed, with all the tools and shelter they would need to protect them while they stayed on Notura.

With a powerful unlocking of pneumatic pumps and gears, the four struts appeared on the underside of the Horizon, the doors to their hidden bays pulled back into the frame of her silver hull. She slowly closed the distance to the surface, Landon visible now from outside the ship, intently working his controls to stabilize the ship in the difficult gravitational fields. The crew already on the ground watched the second craft come to a standstill on the surface, her engines beginning to wind down from the, to a dull roar. Each strut simultaneously bent at their joints with the weight of the landing, then recovered and brought the ship level enough to open the rear hatch.

"I still think it was a bad idea to split you and the Captain up, ma'am. You should have delegated different team leads and stayed aboard the Vindi--" Rochelle's bitter cold eyes flashed dangerously as she threw a glance over her shoulder at the Liberty's co-pilot. "I asked you to fly, not to think. You've completed your task." Was all that was and needed to be said before the ensign nodded and swallowed the hard knot in their throat.

Picking herself back up, the fiery little Executive Officer was quick to leave the relative warmth and security of the Liberty and step back into the snow to wait for the arrival of the other team.

Neyes was the first one out of his seat and the first to hit the door controls, a beat of anticipation evident by his tapping fingers hitting the edge of the door controls. The hatch opened, and the bitter cold nipped at his exposed skin before he could put on his thermal jacket. Landon was out and down the ramp before he could finish putting it on, and he looked about a moment before jogging over to Ivanova. There was only a slight breeze, and snow fell all around them. It was as serene an image as Landon had seen on a planet this cold. No violent storm or winds, just a peaceful cover of white as far as the eye could see.

Neyes slowed as he approached his XO. "It's a little colder than I had imagined it would be. How's the camp setup coming?" Neyes asked, breathing into his hands. His misty breath appearing like smoke between his already reddened fingers. Since Trill already had cold hands, it wouldn't bother him too much.

The winds were much calmer on the surface, idly sending the snow skittering along in swirls and directional changes that turned the entire landscape into something out of a dreams. The expanse of tundra they had found gave way to snow covered pinion which in turn tipped its hat to the birth of soaring mountains, the peaks of which were shrouded in the storm's cloud cover. It was enchanting. Exhilarating. Rochelle's eyes only left the scenery at the sound of hustled footsteps sighing through the fresh powder.

Neyes. He too was an exhilarating sight with his dark hair standing out against the expanse of white.
She watched him approach, idly brushing loose snow speckled locks of fire red from her eyes as she did. "You'll catch your death if you're not careful." her greeting rang with a tease, paying no heed to the fact she too had forgotten her thermal coat in her haste to 'play' in the rarity of snow. "It's coming along. Still waiting on word from the delegation to see what their plans are.”

The captain nodded. The Noturan delegation would be aware of their arrival, if only because they were alerted by a preliminary probe weeks ago. It was a decision made by command ahead of time, and would probably help to ease whatever shock the local people had at seeing advanced technology again. Landon fully intended to keep their exposure to Starfleet equipment to a minimum, and had already prepared himself to succomb to a battery of inconvenient demands by the Minister of their main city. No doubt the next few days would be riddled with a quagmire of diplomatic concessions on the Vindicator's part.

Landon finally thought to zip up his jacket, "I imagine someone will be about in no time. It's hard to miss two starships landing just outside the valley, even in this storm." Neyes also imagined they had border patrols to keep the wildlife in check. Alongside his dossier of the Noturan people came the listing of the various wildlife species indiginous to this region of the planet, not all of which seemed friendly. Cold worlds were notoriously hostile toward life of any kind.

"I'm not too sure I'm going to get used to this dim light though. Let's get someone to put up the beacon lights as soon as possible. We still have all day before it gets dark, but I'd like to get a jump on it. Hopefully before something gets a jump on us."

A light scoff gave way in the form of frost from the redhead’s lips, “Make sure no one goes out alone at night, not that I can foresee anyone really wanting to go wander in the snow on their own.” She nodded, affirming his ideas. “Winter is never bright. Not even on Earth, that’s what gives it it’s charm – but we’re not here on a ski vacation, we’ll need to keep alert. Unfortunately it’s more a game of hurry up and wait at this point while the delegation take their sweet time getting up here.”

Rochelle toed the snow with her boot, dipping her eyes away from the Captain’s long enough to watch the powder bunch up in a little hill where she toyed with it. Was a pity they weren’t on that ski-cation, enjoying everything the winter world had to offer. Then again, she reminded herself, this was a foreign world. Not the Swiss Alps.

"Gather your team, setup camp, and meet back here in 2 hours." Neyes said, smiling a little as the red-head played in the snow. His own child-like enthusiasm was at it's peak, and he certainly identified with her obvious desire for a little R&R on a world like this. The snow, the fresh air. It was truly breathtaking.

She nodded and hurried off in the direction of the marine-encampment and the mining team.

The Trill captain looked just past the camp at the woods beyond, and couldn't see but a hair's breadth into the foliage. Their camp was against the foothills of the mountains outside the valley, and he could see over the tops of the trees down into the valley below. A blanket of porcelain white covered the rolling sides of the hills down to the faint visage of the city below, and the mine beyond that.

A unnatural shake of the trees just inside his peripheral vision caught his attention, and his head turned to look. Drifting snow, freshly disturbed, fell downward into bushes and nettles of the underbrush. Otherwise harmless, another dollop of white clumps fell in response to the motion. Upon seeing nothing, he dismissed it as heavy snow falling from the limbs of the trees.

Landon turned back towards the Horizon to retrieve his camp gear. He would be staying on board the runabout's accomodations for the duration of their visit. After a few slow steps he hesitated and turned back to peer into the treeline.

He couldn't shake the feeling he'd seen something.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Captain Landon Neyes
Commanding Officer
USS Vindicator

Commander Rochelle Ivanova
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator

NPCs

 

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