A New Discovery

Posted on Fri Oct 4th, 2019 @ 1:23am by Captain Wilkan Targaryen & Galatea & Lieutenant Commander Lily Snow PhD, MD
Edited on on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 5:12pm

1,327 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Atlantis
Location: Bridge, Starfleet One
Timeline: 2429-12-03, 17:00

Admiral William Teagarden stepped through the starboard door and onto the Bridge of Starfleet One carrying a datapad in hand. He had reviewed over half a dozen reports from the different science departments regarding the replica Earth this afternoon and all of them revealed the same thing. Except for one. The one report was the one most interesting to him.

The Commanding Officer walked toward the Science Officer's wall mounted workstation. He leaned against the support pillar, carefully studying the work of the new Science Officer, "How's it going, Commander?"

Lily didn't even look up at the Admiral, as she continued to review the sensor logs. "Not well." Is all she said with a slightly colder tone.

Still learning against the support pillar he looked at the Commander, "Care to define not well?"

"Viol claimed that the city was built over mineral deposits that block sensors." Lily said without looking up. "This is something that I haven't been able to verify." She said punching in commands quickly into the console. "So not well. Something about this place has me.... Unsettled." She finally stated.

"It is a replica of our homeworld with an extra island. I think that gives us all a bit of a right to be unsettled, Commander," he said with a grin. Nonetheless, he shared her concerns. "So we aren't having any trouble with our sensors, but tricorders aren't functional on the surface. Could it just be because our sensors are more sophisticated than the tricorders?"

"Admiral, you're the second person to say that." Lily stated flatly and coldly. "True that the ship sensors are more powerful, but my tricorder is configured in such a way that it cuts through all known jamming technology." She adjusted the information on the screen. "As you can see here. This is what the ship detected when we beamed down to the planet. There was a minor power fluctuation in the area around the away team, and at the exact moment I started scanning." She said. "Also the scans show a smaller then normal population for a homeworld." She said finally looking up at the Admiral. "In their botanical gardens, there was signs of ruins." She leaned back in the chair. "With the information I now have, my theory about this place may have changed, but now I need more evidence to confirm any of them."

William carefully observed the sensor readings before him on the Commander's console. He reached up and pecked at the settings, studying the anomaly readout and interference pattern. He wasn't a scientist, but he had been an Operations Officer before his transfer to Tactical then Command. There was a lot about this planet that didn't make sense. He needed her interpretation and impression better than his own. "So, what is your theory about this place?"

"I have several." She said in a British tone. The Admiral had heard this from her before, as she was going into over thought mode. "The first theory is thus. This is their homeworld, but they suffered from some form of catastrophic event. That event being either war, biological, or natural." She said still looking at the screen before her. "Now with the localized jammers put in place around the island and the low population. Tells me that this place might be a penal colony." Then she turned her Turquoise eyes upon the Admiral. "But with either theory, this First Contact may turn into a global rescue mission."

The Commanding Officer of the ship considered the possibility that was being presented to him. The possibility of this being a penal colony was not something that he had considered, but it would be an interesting development if true. It did have a place in history though. Australia, for example, had been a penal colony established by the British that became a prosperous land. Though there was another possibility.

"It is an interesting theory, but I have a counter. This planet looks exactly like Earth save for this island," he typed on the control panel and brought up a surface scan, "Much of the planet is almost the same as our world. What if this isn't a penal colony, but rather a biological preserve? We have seen other worlds in which an exact Earth replica has been encountered in history. In one it was determined to be the work of the Preservers. What if this is the same scenario? The Atlantis colony disappeared around the time of Pompeii on Earth; could it be that they brought these people here with the intention of them remaining forever? That's why they established the jammers?"

Lily adjusted her ankle length skirt so she could cross her legs at the ankles as she shift. "Now that is something to ponder into the theories." She stated in her British accent. "Now this returns to my original theory that this world is a trap." She held up a finger at the Admiral to delay any questions. "I had observed how several of the away team where affect by an object within their gardens. From what I could overhear, they had felt something from it."

The Admiral motioned the officer sitting at the adjacent station away and took a seat. Despite his youthful appearance, his legs were feeling some degree of strain. "Sorry, old age is getting to me," William excused. He returned to their discussion, "What object?"

"A helmet. Bronze in color, or a tarnished bronze." Lily stated with perfect clarity. "Besides with old age, I should start feeling those affects until I'm nearly three quarters of a century old, if that."

A small smirk, barely perceptible played on the corner of the Admiral's lips before he stifled it. "So this helmet. Members of the crew expressed that they had felt something from it?" He paused a moment, "Interesting. The other away team had made mention of a musician having an effect upon them. They can't be unrelated. With the Tricorders down I assume that we weren't able to get much in the way of readings about this helmet were we?"

"Unless you want to do a major breech in diplomacy." Lilly stated. "That is another reason I've been reviewing the sensor logs." Then she tapped her fingers against her lips. "Now the music might be subliminal in nature. The same could be said about the helmet."

William paused, considering the options. Nothing was going right about this mission so far. Nothing at all. "Could it be a form of control?" He finally asked, not wanting to hear what he suspected was the answer.

"Yes." Lily said flatly. "With most of the crew being Human, it could be our down fall. Now I might not be affected because of my unusual neural makeup." She stated waiting for the Admiral.

"No doubt," he answered as quickly. "I would like you to continue running your scans of the planet and the area, looking for anything out of the ordinary or that may support the theory." He tugged on his top to remove some wrinkles, "I have to prepare for my trip to the surface, but, before I go, how is your other project coming?"

"I wont know until I run a few experiments." Lily said looking intently at the Admiral. "Now the other project is moving forward. So far it seems that the original DNA is going dominant."

He considered the comment, "So the patient's body is at war with itself and nature is winning the war so to speak?"

"Well there is a problem with that." Lily said. "Some of the original DNA was damaged in the genetic splicing." She said flatly. "I will need to do further study to see the full extent of the damage."

"First thing tomorrow I will authorize you access to the patient," William informed. "Stardrive Sickbay Complex at seven."

"Yes sir." Lily said returning her attention to her scans.

The Admiral nodded, "Alright then. I'm off to the surface. Carry on, Commander."

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