Very Special Delivery

Posted on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 @ 5:43pm by

1,170 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: What Stalks The Night
Location: Orbit of Velara III

There was a measure of unease as the planet Velara III came into view, the proper all clear code was sent and a reply sent with a detailed route to follow to enter orbit. Having dropped from warp on the outskirts of the system and made the transit at impulse all Will could think about was down on that planet was a sample of that organism that took the Ascension away from him. It didn't feel right to keep a sample of it but that was out of his hands, lives were lost because of that organism and it would have felt best to eradicate it all, in its entirety.

Will would be glad when this mission was over, there were too many unknowns, too many questions and not enough answers but he knew simply asking would fall on deaf ears. Now he needed to inform Dr Patrovski, the cargo that was under his care was about to be transported off ship.

=^= Dr Patrovski, report to the Cargo Bay and ensure it is ready for transport, we will be entering orbit shortly. =^=

The earlier incident with the stolen gel pack was troublesome but thankfully the good Doctor was able to confirm that no tampering had taken place and had medically certified it was acceptable to return to storage with the rest of the cargo.

Taking a glance at his new First Officer he wondered if she had read what happened to the previous ship, and the cause of much unease in him at this location. "Commander Caselli, report."

The feeling on the bridge as they approached the planet was tense, it was definitely something that was adding to the unease that Bianca was already feeling. The extensive amount of investigation required to adequately resolve and report the stolen gel packs had been even more bothersome than she had anticipated, so despite the tension on the bridge, she also felt a sense of relief that soon, very soon, this entire circus would be over.

As they approached the planet, Bianca initiated a scan of the delivery coordinates from her seat, watching the results scroll back over her small screen. "The colony shows nothing untoward or out of the ordinary," she said. "Low yield planetary defensive systems, standard regional and sub space communications arrays, sensors, some pretty basic shielding, nothing really out of the ordinary." Her fingers tapped lightly at the console as she honed in on the delivery coordinates. "It looks like the delivery location is a rather stock standard storage facility," she said, pursing her lips slightly. "We have received our access codes Captain, you can transport the cargo when you're ready."

The wait for Dr Patrovski to confirm the cargo was ready was only minutes but felt much longer. When it came through finally there was an inward sigh of relief. The delivery location, a standard storage facility gave him pause to wonder what security measures were in place but if access was needed to beam down then perhaps there were measures in place that he was unaware of.

=^= Hood to Cargo Bay, sync transporters with facility security measures and transport the cargo on the Doctor's command. =^=

Transport was confirmed as initiated. Then they waited. Bianca tapped at her console, cast a glance at Will, then back to her console, tapping again. "Weren't we supposed to get a receipt to confirm delivery?" she asked quietly, almost hesitantly.

With deft movements she initiated a scan of the planet below. "Captain..." her eyes widened with alarm and concern. "The planetary security net has been restored. There is no sign of the gel on the surface. Transport was initiated but..." She furrowed her brow as she read through the readings she was getting on the small screen. "Sir, I don't know what happened... but it looks like the gel is gone."

Will winced as he looked at Bianca, nobody was supposed to know what it was and given where they were so far from the core of Starfleet and the Federation and the strict course they had to take, the word Gel would fill in a lot of blanks.

The immediate issue was that there was no confirmation the cargo was received but the transport cycle was completed. Someone had to have activated the security field, someone had to know what was going on. "Hail them." Hood ordered.

Moments passed and so too did the silence. "No reply Captain."

Things went from bad to worse in seconds. They had ferried the cargo as asked, delivered it as asked using the codes they were provided and now the cargo was gone and no sign of it present. Given the quantity of the cargo there was no way Will was leaving orbit until he had some answers but with the security screen up, beaming down was not an option.

Bianca took a deep breath, straightening her back and looking over her shoulder toward the security station. "Scan all nearby space for any sign of cloaked vessels or anything else. Analyze that transporter and find out where the hell that gel went. It doesn't just disappear into space, it went somewhere, find it," she ordered before she turned her attention back toward Will. "Their security net is, at best, weak. A few good shots and we could take it down if we wanted to take a more direct approach," she offered.

"That is still a Starfleet outpost Commander." Will replied in slight shock. "Cargo aside, we don't just shoot at things when we don't have the answers." That, and Will was already on thin ice from his last mission and now hes lost a considerable consignment of highly classified cargo. He was not prepared to act first in hostility in a situation was that still developing.

"It looks like most of their security net is just a low level jamming system. We could have a shuttle deliver us to the surface," Bianca suggested. "Once we depart, send the shuttle back to the ship. Not sure I'd want to leave it there, lest it disappear too. We could walk to the colony, can't be more then a few miles at most."
[12:05] S'iraa: If beaming down was not an option and communications were being ignored then Will was not prepared to leave that large quantity of gel without knowing where it went. He he gotten a receipt for its delivery then things would be different, but as it stood......

"Assemble an away team, full security detail and Dr Patrovski and Lt Bradshaw." Will ordered.

Bianca nodded, standing up from her seat and tugging her jacket down to straighten it. "Aye Captain, I'll see to the arrangements," she said, offering him a reassuring smile. "We'll get this sorted out."

With that task in hand, Will was faced with the situation of contacting command with the bad news, or keeping to orders and keeping strict communication silence. He needed answers and he would get none in orbit, they lay on the surface and that required time to obtain them.

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