The Gamble

Posted on Mon Jul 8th, 2024 @ 10:45pm by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Rea & Commander Chisato Nishikigi

1,041 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: USS Tokyo (NCC-91101), Bridge, Deck 1
Timeline: A few hours after "You Can't Park There!"

"I want to thank you for going along with this, Lieutenant," Chisato expressed as she stepped out onto the bridge alongside Lieutenant Rea. "I know that the Captain's not going to be happy about this, but she has the right to know."

Rea let out a sigh. "You know she's probably already aware of this right?"

"It was a possibility that I had discussed with her on a prior occasion," Chisato elaborated as they made their way across the bridge and over to Captain Aisaka's office. "But now that we more-or-less have confirmation that this is the case, then we have to bring her up-to-speed on the situation so that she can consider all of her options."

The engineer gave the intelligence officer a small smile as she reached out and rang the bell. A few seconds later they were both summonded into the ready room and the doors swished open.

"Apologies for requesting an audience with you on such a short notice, Captain," Chisato began as the two officers made their way inside. "But my team just turned up with some new information regarding the Iconians that we think you may want to hear."

"The Iconians... Again?" Taiga said with a sigh. She becokoned for them to come over as she was sitting on the couch. "Well, what you got?"

"Well, Lieutenant Hatanaka was sifting through some of the data files that we managed to recover from the Borg Cube," Chisato explained as she unclipped her PADD and passed it over for Taiga to review. "She managed to turn up a file that we believe was created shortly after they crashed here. In it, the Borg detail several of their findings regarding some of the enviromental characteristics of the planet- sedimentary samples, atmospheric conditions, gravity wells- you name it, they've probably looked into it."

"Or assimilated it. Whats your point Commander?" Taiga asked as she took the PADD. She shifted her position, it was obvious from her body language that she was 'uncomfortable', most likely from her current condition.

"Well, to make a long story short, their findings conclude that virtually nothing about this planet is in any way natural," Chisato summarized. "In a broader sense of the word, the file all but confirms our earlier suspicions that this planet was an Iconian Construct."

"So the Borg believe that the Iconians built this entire planet?" Taiga asked, one of her eyebrows raising.

"The entire thing," Chisato emphasized. "From the sand to the atmosphere, virtually everything here is in some way, shape or form artificial."

Taiga blinked a few times. "The big question is, why would they create a planet like this, in the middle of a nebula out of the way from anyone or anything?" Taiga asked.

"That may be a bit trickier to pinpoint," Chisato replied. "Given that most aspects regarding their culture are still up to speculation, we have no real way of determining what exactly they might have used this particular construct for; we've floated a few theories, ranging from an artificial colony from which the Iconians may have branched out to settle new planets, to a Genesis-type terraforming experiment."

"Plenty of theories," Taiga replied. "So, the big question is. If this planet is artificial. Have the Borg got any data on any buildings, or even underground facilities?"

"They've identified what looks to be some sort of underground facility several hundred kilometers below the surface," Chisato surmised. "They also note that it's using some sort of chronitron-based dampening field, so it's literally impossible for us to beam down there."

Taiga pondered for a few moments. "As much as I would love to send a team down there and find out what makes this planet tick. I feel that our resources would be best put towards getting out of here."

"About that..." Chisato sighed, turning to Rea. "Lieutenant, care to elaborate?"

Rea then took her turn to speak. "Since we've found out about this planet being possibly built by the Iconians. We have run more simulations." Rea began to explain. "It seems that the gravity on this planet is also, artificial. I believe that this planet has been designed like what you Humans would call 'A Honey trap'."

"A honey trap?" Taiga asked.

Rea nodded. "Yes Captain. Either on purpose or by accident. This planet was meant to pull ships down and keep them here. I estimated that with enough thrust we could ideally break away and make it back into orbit. However..."

"However..."

"However Captain. Knowing that this planet was made for such purposes, means it may 'compensate' for us. There is no guarantee that we could actually achieve escape velocity." Rea explained.

There was a long awakward silence as Taiga studied the PADD. "Take this information to the science department." She said as she handed the PADD back to Chisato. "Have them work on ways to get past those chronitron dampening fields. If we can't break orbit, then I want a back up plan. That could mean disabling this planet's hold on us from within. I need options."

"We'll look into it right away, Captain," Chisato nodded as she reaffixed the PADD to her belt.

"Oh and keep this quiet. We don't need this getting out, especially to our 'guests' we have on board. If this gets out it could lead to problems amongst them. Got that?" Taiga said crossing her arms.

"Aye, Captain," Chisato nodded in the affirmative. "We'll aim to keep this discussion limited to within Intel and Science Circles- possibly even Engineering and Security, but only if they need to know."

"Good." Taiga said. "For now we will keep working on the plan with the engines. But work on this quietly in the background if we need it."

"Understood, Captain," Chisato replied. "Will there be anything else you'll be needing Lieutenant Rea and I for?"

Taiga shook her head. "Not at the moment no. If anything arises from this, bring it to me immediately." She gave them a little wave of her hand letting them know that they could leave if they wanted to.

---

Posting by:

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

Commander Chisato Nishikigi
Chief Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant Rea
Assistant Chief Engineer

 

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