[USS Juno] Discovering a Clue

Posted on Fri Aug 3rd, 2018 @ 5:20am by Captain Harrold Anderson & Captain Xalanth

1,738 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: [USS Shanghai] S1E2: Encounter in the Abyss
Location: Transporter Room 5, Deck 6
Timeline: 05/13/2394 @ 21:00 Hours

Harry was told the away team was ready to beam back to the USS Juno, he was eager to findout what they learned. He decided to meet them in the transporter room. He watched as Bervag,T'San and Xalanth returned to the ship. "Welcome home team," said Harry with a grin.

"Captain," T'San said in a slightly serious tone as she handed over her medical tricorder, hand phaser and medkit to the transporter chief.

" Glad to be back boss. " The lizard said as he headed to put his rifle back in the locker.

"What have you brought back, number one?" Asked Harry, hoping it a sensor node or something vital, to help them find, whoever took their people.

"Don't know right off, Captain. Couldnt really get a clear reading on the tricorder. Possibly due to the cave we found it in." he began. He cleared his throat. "My guess, Might contain data or personal effects of some kind." he answered.

"Well lets find out," he said as he tapped on his combadge.

"Sounds good to me." Bervag smiled.

"Captain Anderson to Lieutenant Jexen, please report to Science Lab 1, we will meet you there." Said Harry, as he looked to the other two.

"I'll be there soon Captain." Kimoni's voice said from Harry's Commbadge.

After the call ended he looked to T'San and Xalanth,"Dismissed for the night, I help the Commander deliver the device to science lab one."

" I'll give you a hand sir." The lizard said.

"Thank you, captain, but if it is all the same to you, I would like to join you to the lab. I haven't had the chance to see it." Replied T'San.

***

[Science Lab 1]

Harry helped Bervag move the cylinder to the lab, where they met up with Kimoni. Harry then started to say, "Sorry to call you in this late, but the Commander found something we need analyzed immediately." Suggested Harry.

"That's okay I wasn't doing much anyway." Kimoni replied, taking a minute to just look at the cylinder. She looked at it's surface to see if she could find any clues as to what it was.

"Did you find any clues as to it's origin or purpose when you found it?" She asked, pulling a tricorder from her labcoat pocket.

"None to speak of." Bervag replied. "Pretty nondescript cave. Mr Xalanth checked for defenses, to which there were none. It was lying in the middle of the cave, just by itself."

" Looked like they'd just dumped it there. Could be a trophy or totems to mark their raid. I know my clan use to erect them back in the ancient past. No sensory equipment so it's unlikely a probe. " The dragonain said as he looked at the cylinder carefully.

"Both are possible, though it seems odd to leave a totem in a cave, most of the time Totems are keep in a prominent unless it was maybe considered a holy totem. But then it's unlikely the cave would have been nondescript if that was the case."

She looked at the screen of her Tricorder, brushing her hair behind her right ear by reflex, "Well that is interesting."

Kimoni placed the tricorder back into her pocket and stepped away from the main table, she grabbed three Specimen cases and brush from a shelf near the back of the lab.

"Not all of this soil is from New Bajor." She said, collecting three samples, one in each case.

"Hopefully we can use this to our benefit," he said as he went on to say, "Is the sample commonly found in any system in the gamma quadrant?" He asked, hoping a near by star system. He wanted to track down the enemy as soon as possible.

"I'll need a few minutes to answer that, these samples have varying different levels of corruption."

She ran her Tricorder over the three samples.

"I picking up soil from four different planets, but the strongest traces appear to be from the planet Teplan, just outside the Jenkata Nebula, That's a long way for a trophy."

"So this thing has at least been around." Bervag said. "Might provide some kind of clue as to origins or possible bases."

"All good points to bring up, number one, lets set a course in the Jenkata Nebula." He said as he tapped on his combadge and told the bridge to set a course for that system. The USS Juno was now in in route to the Jenkata Nebula.

"Let's call it everyone, unless you think you can learn anything else from this device?" Asked Harry, wanting to get home.

"I'd like to take a little more time with this cylinder Captain, see if I can find out anything else about it." Kimoni said, taking another look at the cylinder.

"Very well, let's get to work." He said, feeling like he should help a little before calling it a night.

"Well I hope your lab skills aren't too rusty." Kimoni joked in reply

"Well," said T'San, "I have seen enough of this thing. I think I will head back now to my quarters. If you'll excuse me, Captain, Commander, Lieutenants." She then turned around and walked out of the science lab.

"I'll get this entered into the ships log." Bervag stated.

***

Harry began to review the technical data they had on the Teplan System. "Warp capable society, barely, the USS Fortuna made contact with them in March, a survey team is slated to check in on them in August, but it never hurts for us to check in. Maybe they can provide assistance on this race, that took our people." She said.

"It's definitely worth a try. After all they know more about these people then anyone." Kimoni said, rolling the cylinder around on the lab bench, "The cylinder is made of a Chromium/Inconel alloy, not terribly advanced by today's standards, but still pretty tough."

"Maybe its not a trophy, maybe its a beacon, Chromium is easily detectable from space. Maybe its a message of some sort." Said Harry, not sure what the message was. Why else would they leave a cylinder in a game. If it was an object they can detect, was the Juno in trouble? Now his paranoia was getting to him.

Kimoni drummed her fingers on the bench, deep in thought. She knew that either of the captain's theories could be right, but without deeper knowledge of what the item in front of her actually was, there was no real way to tell.

"There are a few marking on the cylinder, they could be writing or something of that ilk but with a baseline it'll be hard to translate them. That's assuming of course that they are indeed words."

Kimoni rubbed the bridge of her nose and scanned the marking on the cylinder. As she placed her tricorder on the bench she moved closer to the marking to get a better view.

"Maybe the computer translation matrix can help, its a long shot, but it could work." Said Harry, trying to offer ideas, and walking closer to the device as well. Like Kimoni, he was also studying it with his tricorder. He was scanning the symbols.

Kimoni tapped a few buttons on the console near her elbow, the markings appeared on the screen, next to which various different alphabets quickly scrolled by. "Okay, I've set the computer on it. I have to admit I've never seen anything quite like this, and believe me, I've seen a lot."

"No doubt, I can only imagine. The Sciences is a can be a fun department. I spent most of time in engineering, but rarely did we ever get to tinker with things like this. " He suggested with a grin on his face.

"Oh we get all the fun down here. Unknown objects, spores, ancient artifacts, you name it, chances are at some point we're dealt with it." She said as she goy up and walked to the replicator, "Maka root tea."

As the tea appeared in the alcove, she turned to Harry, "Do you want anything Captain?"

"Coffee with two irish creamers, I like my coffee sweet." Said Harry as he watched Kimoni place the order in.

Kimoni took Harry's cup and placed it on the bench next to him.

"Oh thank you, you know what bothers me about this device, it serves really no functional purpose or ceremonial, or so it appears, so why leave it?" He asked as he took the drink. And takes a small sip from the coffee.

"Xalanth could have been right, that it's a trophy from a battle... Though that doesn't sit right with me. Given the way they found it, tucked away in a cave with no guards or protection... It's almost as if someone wanted us to find it."

"For what purpose, a beacon?" Harry asked, waiting on the translation program, translate the markings. He realized he already asked the question, but his response was more rhetorically, "Assuming it is, a beacon, we should drop it off at the next uninhabited planet we come across. And see who comes for it." He said, looking at Kimoni.

"At this point I think it's an either or situation. At the minute we really have no way of knowing for sure. Even if we assume it's a beacon and drop it of, it could days, weeks or even months before someone comes for it." Kimoni thought the problem through, "Of course leaving it on the Juno leaves us open to possible danger. Again that is assuming it's a beacon, for all we currently know it could be a meal recipe."

"I see your point, I should probably head home," he said.

50 minutes later.

Not making any progress, Harry felt that they were out of options, and he knew he needed to get home to Kerja. "I am going to head out, I'll see you in the morning, Lieutenant." Said Harry, as he started to walk to the door way.

"Understood Captain, I'll Keep at it for a while, but I get the feeling I'll not come up with much more then theories, At the minute we have no frame of reference. If possible i'd like to beam down to where this was found and take a look around, see if I can find something to link to it."

"Have a good night, Lieutenant." Said as he left the room.

 

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