Acid Rain Pt. 2 Aside: Analysis

Posted on Sun Nov 17th, 2024 @ 4:50pm by Captain Dr. Nairut Noxi & Lieutenant JG Elysian "Elly" Clarke & Lieutenant JG Rose Andrake

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: To Boldly Go...
Location: USS Deliverance Lab complex
Timeline: MD (Fill it in?)

Getting Rose back to the ship had been a fight. She had beamed down already vomiting, thrown her helmet aside and suffered the rains for six hours as she collected samples from the air, the water, the rain, eight different soil samples, and cores from trees in a radius of several miles of the landing site. Insodoing, the acid rain had etched its way into her comm badge and suit, burning her as much as the sensitive electronics inside and causing malfunctions that had returned out of range errors and telemetry failures.

But Rose was built like an old Ford. Her body didn't care about being covered in corrosive chemicals or a little radiation. What the Deliverance got back was more mad about her run-ins with the transporter and being stuck on a planet for most of the day than the mild acid burns on her upper torso or the radiation exposure comparatively mild to her teenage years. And so after a hot shower and a meal she had to cook for herself, a new comm badge, and a chewing out by the acting chief science officer, Rose returned to the labs with a vengeance, breaking down samples to hunt down the ecological impact and sources of Nade's planet death... At least as she had seen.

But she had thought wrong. The atmosphere held a hilariously high concentration of hydrogen sulfide that she thought was a volcanic eruption, but there was no correlated seismic activity, no atmospheric glass or volcanic ash in the soil or rain. Just hydrocarbons and pollutants indicative of a large scale mining operation with a bad filter and disregard of environmental regulations. The soil confused her with exotic chemical additives, especially in the agricultural soil. Tree cores showed that the world's plant life was built like her, and wouldn't have cared.

=/\=Captain, Andrake, I'm in the labs hip deep in data... Could you explain to me why I'm seeing nitrogen sulfate defoliants in the fertilized soil? I'm also not seeing anything to indicate Nade is undergoing the geological shifts that would cause this kind of acid rain. No volcanic ash, nothing. Just benzene and sulfates. I'm also reading a magnetosphere issue, but nothing that the planet couldn't recover from. I don't think Nade is a dying world and I don't think this is natural. Could you come down and look at this? Tell me I'm crazy or something? I can't prove it yet, but I think this is reversible.=/\=

Elly was in the labs, too, investigating the few plants she'd yanked from the ground before her quick return to the ship. She wasn't as careful as some of the others; as a botanist, her interests and skills were almost strictly in the flora makeup of a planet. Frankly, she couldn't really tell the difference between Carbon Dioxide and Carbon MONoxide. And quite frankly, she didn't CARE. But some of what Rose was saying made sense to her.

"That is usually indicative of a hybridization of a plant, whether manmade or naturally occurring. Can I see?" She asked. She edged the woman out of the way a little to peek into the microscope. "Wowwee, that things been MESSED with!" She said.

Noxi's head spun at the jargon being spit at her. She had been a doctor, not a scientist, Jim! Still, she radioed down to the labs. =/\=I'll head on down and you can show me. =/\= Sometimes seeing it helped her brain to process better than words.

"That's what I was thinking! Nitrogen counts like that say fertilizer, but the root scorching and the damage to the leaves and capillary systems? These plants were poisoned and it wasn't by acid. And the acids almost seem to be breaking down when they hit the soil, almost like...". She quickly turned, plucking up one of her soil samples and setting it with the acidified gain sample, already scanning the reaction with her tricorder. "Are these people even capable of producing weed killer resistant GMO crops? Cause if not, then someone's salting their fields. I need to be able to prove it! Did you grab samples of their crops while you were down there? Can you get me a genetic analysis correcting for mutagens and radiation damage?"

Elly nodded, and quickly made some calculations into the computer. "I have no idea," she said. She pulled her slides up for Rose to see. "And see here...one of the wheat type plants? Someone has changed the genetic makeup. It's not a natural mutation; the base is A-B and this mutation is a C based acid," she said. She indicated the spot on the slide where she'd taken a cross-section of the plant. "The strange lady leading us from the transport drop to the main building thing showed me this," she said. "I think...someone's been tampering with the food supply," she said.

"That's... That's horrific."

Elly just nodded. "Yup," she said. She sighed. But to what purpose?!

While her experiment ran, Rose hijacked a larger display, plotting historical data alongside her live sensor data of the planet and the feeds from her tools, putting together a comprehensive picture of Nade over the last year, brows furrowing as she studied it, considering it like her own hydroponics bay work.

The Captain entered the labs, pulling some glasses on over her face. "Do I need a jacket in here?" She asked. She hoped not; as she inched closer to the Change, she was HOT already in her stupid uniform, and the lab coats made it worse. Her medical jacket had always been more or less an accessory until towards the end, really, too. She peered at the screen that the two scientists were looking at. "Ok, so. That's the cross section of a plant," she said. That she did know. "But explain the rest to me like I am an idiot," she said. Because she WAS when it came to the natural sciences. Give her a body to dissect? She was fine. Ask her to diagnose Orkett's disease? Fine. But she didn't know...THIS.

Looking again at her cross section of the planet, Rose gestured to her lab coat discarded in a crumpled heap in the corner of the room before speaking. "Elly's analysis of the plant life show genetic tampering, outside the base code, possibly xenotech origin considering the different base. Like what happened when the Klingons tried using Doctor Soon's Augment research. Moreover. This," she gestured to the display. "This is an overlay of historical data versus what the Deliverance's sensors are reading now. As you can see, the geology is stable. The magnetosphere... The planet's magnetic field that protects Earth from the Sun's radiation, well, here it's a little weak and makes them rely on their ozone layer a bit more. There's no abnormal volcanic activity. But this..."

She pointed at the hydrocarbon and pollutants map. "That's worse than Earth in the late 80s and early 90s of the twentieth century. And the prevailing winds say it's coming from the other side of the planet from the colony. Someone's choking this planet. Intentionally. My guess is to scare off the locals because there's something down there in the crust. This isn't a natural world death, ma'am. I don't have enough to prove it yet, but I don't think it's the Nadeans. Also the next time you beam me back with no warning, I'm puking on your boots in specific."

Noxi ignored the last comment for the moment. She looked from woman to woman. "Are you saying that someone is purposely poisoning the Nadeans?" She asked, incredulously. This was....BAD news. She sighed. She continued. "Ok. Get me whatever you have. I'll get security to look into it more, and the Ambadassor to do what he can," she said, stepping towards the door. The labs scared her a little-scientists down here reminded her a little bit of vampires in a coffin. "And Lt. Andrake, you wouldn't have to vomit if you'd followed protocol and REPORTED your transporter sickness," she said. She kept her tone gentle, but firm. "Report to medical but take a jumper or the shuttle next time," she said.

Elly was busying herself fiddling the microscope as the Captain spoke to Rose. She HATED confrontations, even ones that didn't involve her. After she was done, Elly nodded.

"Yes, ma'am, that's basically what is going on," she said. "I can replicate some new crop seed when we get it figured out, but for now...they shouldn't eat any of this. I can go with Lt. Andrake if you want," she said. Though she supposed SOMEONE should man the consoles and such. Boring job, that, though. She'd much rather sit in the dirt and dig stuff out.

"I thought Baker had reported it," Rose commented innocently, knowing full well she had implied it had already been reported to Baker and his team. One sneaky trump card to potentially save some lives at the cost of some mild discomfort? She had done far worse for less just reasoning. "You're free to come with if I get sent back down. No guarantee I won't get sick in front of you if we take the transporter. Though I think a shuttle would offer better mission flexibility. If the docking doesn't block the bay... Anyway. I'm in over my head with this planetary ecology. I could use a squad. Oh, hey, what's the acid rain doing in the soil?"

"Rain would hit the soil, probably recently rained," Elly remarked. She was now fully bored with the conversation happening, and her ADD wasn't well controlled yet, so she had moved on to dissecting another plant. "Yup. Fully inedible. Ma'am...we're going to need rations."

Noxi looked at Rose in her best Mom face, and simply nodded. "I'll speak to Dr. Baker," she said. "Don't let it happen again," she said. "Ok, Ms. Clarke. For how long? The USS Intrepid and Endeavor are en route. I'll alert them to replicate what they can," she said. "Do you what you can. I need to recall the away team, this is a new development. Thank you, ladies. Leave Petty Officer...uh...what's her name here and you two return to the planet. Go directly to Ambassador Harrison, explain what you've found. Keep it hush, and keep your minds off. I don't know if this race is temporal or not," she said. "Smith," she said, having recalled the young woman's name. "Petty Officer Smith." Noxi shook her head; either she was way more tired than she thought, or she was getting old.

Rose didn't mention if she had any other bugs or things the Captain hadn't heard about yet, and intended to keep it that way. "I mean... If they were telepathic they probably would have done a lot more running and screaming when I showed up. You know. Recovered reaver, psychic parasite, former telepath, silly superstitions about hyperviolence and madness from beyond the stars... Yada yada ad nauseum. Temporal... We think they got some kinda timely wimey hoogedy boogedy going on? Jameson can handle the labs and wrangle data for a few hours. I'll get on refitting a shuttle replicator to accept contaminated biomass while Elly does the flying. Wait. Elly, you shuttle qualed?" Rose broke off the conversation to check her tricorder, findinding that the soil had neutralized the acid in the rainwater, and that bacterial count had gone up. "Oh, hey, sulphur eating bacteria in the soil! Cool! Soil down there's fine, just exposed surfaces. I'm'a keep that for the arboretum, as I remember there are a few plants planned that acidify the soil using sulphates. Mostly Andorian and Klingon flora."

Elly nodded. "Yes, I am," she said, absently. She, too, had noticed that the soil makeup had changed. "The data is changing in real time. That's good," she said. "Or maybe not..." She shrugged. "Yeah, let's go," she said. "Andorian sounds good...ice plants. I like it," she said. "Ok, Captain, we'll be back!!" She stuck her head in the hallway. "YO, Jameson. Get in here," she called. "SMITH?" She hollered. Both people appeared shortly. "Andrake and I are going back planetside. You gotta man the console, and keep stuff together down here. If anyone touches my molds, you're dead," she said. She wasn't the highest ranking officer, but she was certainly the bossiest. You couldn't have five siblings and be a pushover.
----
Soon, the two scientists were on the way back to Nade.
"SOOO...you knew Drew awhile ago. What about his wife?" Elly asked her. Elly was still trying to gather as much intel about her maybe-boyfriend as she could before she sprung the "I want this to work out" spiel on him.

Rose looked up from her... Creative breaking of the shuttle replicator's source material filter, tying the replicator into a heavily modified transporter pad buffer to allow it to break down... Well. Whatever she put in it. "I never met her. Not in person. Knew about her, though. His was the last mind I felt before..." She paused uncomfortably for a moment. "Apparently he liked to take leave. Go back to Earth and camp. Play guitar and spend time with his family. Got pretty pissed at me when I was the reason it got delayed. She died right about the same time my ship did. I didn't know what happened. Didn't even really know what she did. But... Even with my powers so far gone, I could feel the way his mind lit up when even a stray thought or smell brought her up. Gods, he had this presence you could... Sorry. I couldn't tell you what it's like, now."

Shaking her head, she started reassembling the panel and bringing the system back online. "I know once upon a time, she was his favorite subject. Her and his daughter. It was get him talking and maybe he'll miss something on the paperwork or not be so happy to have my ship towed in for inspection. I knew of Kelly. But she made him so happy. I wish I could do more for him. He deserves it."

Elly nodded as Rose talked, keeping her eyes on the console. "Ok, we can set off when you're done," she said. Elly didn't much about engineering/ops types of things. "I see," she said. A part of her was kind of glad that they weren't as close as Elly had thought. Another part of her was kind of sad; everyone needed a friend, and Rose seemed like she did especially so. "I wish I could've known her, too. She sounds amazing, from what Ashley's told me," she said. She and Drew hadn't talked much yet about their personal lives-it was still in that very early, weird stage of "do you want to have some food, maybe? huh?" thing that people did. "And I just...I don't think I can match up to that," she said. Finally, it seemed like it was time to go. "Maybe sit down, I can sometimes be a bit rough on the brakes," she said. "My oldest brother did my last quals-he's a Helsman over on the Discovery," she said. "Ready?" If Eddy had said she was ready to fly, she WAS. She pressed a button, and clicked on her Comms. Time to be serious.

=/\=Shuttle....well. We're ready to disembark.=/\= She waited a moment for the CAG to give her the proper permissions and then she pressed the correct button and the engine started. "Alright, it should just be a moment," she said. The trajectory wasn't far, and she'd already dialed in the coordinates. They were going to land near the regular transport site.

"Yeah." Rose buckled herself into the seat, starting to assist at the controls. "I don't expect you to. My first boyfriend was a different kind of love than Mike. No love will ever be the same, so don't stress about trying to replace her. Just be as good to him as you can. You're a wonderful, beautiful young woman. For what it's worth, you're a better choice."

Elly smiled lightly. "Thank you," she said. "But I am not sure about that," she said, guiding the shuttle carefully towards their landing site.

Offering a smile, Rose turned to the windscreen, watching the reentry flames across the duraplast. "Your stage of relationship isn't one I'm familiar with. I've never been in one like that. It... Sounds nice."

"I am sorry. Maybe you'll find that someday...everyone deserves someone to love. And yes, it is nice. Ok. Prep to land!" She said, biting her lip. Landing was harder for her...she panicked sometimes. Today was ok, though. She put down the wheel and pressed the button to kill the engine. With a smooth movement, and only a minimal shake, they landed at their coordinates. When the shuttle had come to a full stop, Elly unbuckled and stood up. "Let's go!" She said, grabbing her kit.

"Good landing," Rose congratulated Elly on her first live flight, and could tell from the approach and reentry, simply choosing to only step in if she had to. Still, she unbuckled and quickly dressed in a space suit to help motivate her own agoraphobia and to protect herself from anything on the planet. Checking her cameras and helmet lights, she grabbed her kit and double checked that the shuttle's computer was recording all comm chatter and acting as a high power relay to Deliverance, alongside streaming those communications and Rose's camera feed. Standard salvage operations procedure, but useful in potentially incriminating evidence gathering.

Not too shabby, she thought to herself. She was shuttle qualified, of course, but she'd only flown them during her training. This was her first time, but she hadn't said that to Rose because she hadn't wanted to scare her. Maybe not her best idea, but they were ok. As they stepped out of the Shuttle, the strange woman was there to meet them again. How the HELL did she know they were there?! "I will escort you wherever you need to go," the woman said. "The fields behind the Government building, perhaps?" Dorrinnell asked. She was aware of the wants and needs of these people; as a servant class, she was temporal, and could "hear" them. She wasn't sure who knew, but Larris did, and so did Celethe. She dropped her voice. "I think you'll find that location very rewarding," she said, leading the women in the opposite direction from where they had originally gone. "That tunnel goes under the building. This is a...how do you call it? A shortcut," she said. Sure enough, in just a moment, they were in what appeared to be a large field of the planet's native wheat species. A man in a white suit, like a beekeeper would wear, was spraying something.

"Standard is not your first language, is it, miss...?" Rose opened her kit and extracted a sterile Q-tip and a vial before breaking off from the group to approach the plants still wet from the spray. Another vial found her hand as she would also grab a soil sample from the same area.

Dorrinnell shook her head. "No. Nadean. Some of us are allowed to be travelers...we set out to find new species and study them. It helps us to understand ourselves," she said. "I was one of those. I can...see things," she said. "With my," she paused, searching for the correct word. "You call them "temporal abilities," she said. "I am one in a long line. Most Nadeans do not have my gift. Only about five or six of us are born in a generation. But not in this past generation. Not a single one," she said. "I think it's them," she said, casting her eyes northward, towards the enclave where the Old Guard lived. "You can call me Yve." she said, pronouncing it like "Vee". "This man. He isn't from here. From the North colony," she said, another look at the enclave. "They say he's spraying for insects that eat our crops. I've never seen one." She said.

After this, she disappeared, walking as if she was floating. The Nadeans had teleporting abilities, but didn't show them to outsiders.
---------------
Elly looked at Rose. "These people are CREEPPPY," she said. "It's almost like they fly," she said. Then, she put a hand over her eyes, as if shielding them from the sun. She hollered out. "Yoohoo!! Can we talk to you? Starfleet..." the strange white man looked startled, but appeared in front of them as if he'd appeared the good several feet.

"What'cha spraying?" Elly asked, in her usual tactless way. "Uh, we're scientists from StarFleet. Ya know, the...sky navy," she said, trying to think of a way to explain. "Can I look?"

The man stared. He made a clicking noise, as if he was angry. Then he made a noise, as if he realized that he needed to speak Standard. "No." He said, simply,

Elly looked at Rose. "Why not?" She asked.

"Miss ?" He looked to Rose, too. "You're not from here, are you?! How can I be sure you are who you say you are?" He said.

Rose looked to the man, standing straight as she capped her sample tubes, attaching the transponders, giving a squeeze to activate them, and simply dropping them, where samples were beamed away almost casually. "No. We're from off world."

Elly looked like she might hit him, or hit something. Like they were wearing these uniforms for FASHION. Sure, ok.

Looking down at her space suited form, Rose decided to play some games, and put on a thick Romulan accent. "You don't get paid much for this, do you? I'm Andrake of the Wayward Son. Deliverance dropped me off. New Federation codes require me to make a full analysis of any food crop I take on board. Tribble outbreak a while back was thwarted by some poisoned grain, and that tightened the reins on some pest species and environmental protection laws, but also on food safety laws. You know what you're spraying? Cause I just sent samples up to Deliverance for analysis. I'd really rather hear it and choose to trust you than redirect my family ship and ditch a contract over some bad grain."

Partial truths, the lot of it, but enough. People tended to behave more sketchy to civilians, letting Starfleet catch them. "We don't have a translator, so thanks for speaking Standard. At your convenience, I'd appreciate you teaching me conversational Nadean."

Elly glanced at Rose. What was she DOING? Elly herself had enough of these people-something was happening-she could sense it, but couldn't figure out WHAT. She was smarter than she let on, but desperately afraid of failure, so it was easier to play dumb and let people be disappointed from jump.

"I am not from here, no," she said. "Copernicus Colony," she said.

The man looked at both women, and then considered a moment. He nodded. "I am not sure what exactly it is. I was sent down here to spray the crops. My family is poor; I need to feed my kids and wife, and it was an offer I couldn't pass up. That's all I know," he said.

Elly nodded. "Thank you. Who asked you?" She asked.

"The Old Guard. Guardian Laot, specifically," he said. "I was approached at my former job site...offered 30,000 of gold pressed Latinum. Seemed like a deal I couldn't pass up," he explained.

Elly nodded. She understood that more than most.

"Thank you. Uh...,could you not spray while I am here? I want to have a child someday, and I don't want him to come out with his arm attached to his forehead," she said. She made a face.

"Thanks, man. Hey, I got a test tube, here, before we let you get back to it, you mind filling me up?" Rose held the test tube where it could be seen. "We were told it was some kind of pesticide. By the way, your Standard's really good. I'd like to invite you for dinner at my shuttle. Your family is welcome to come with. I make one Hell of a Lehe'jhme stewed travit." Elly might not know Rose's plan. And that was fine. Her confusion actually helped in this case. But still, she needed to clarify, and in a way that wasn't going to scare this dude into reporting their weirdness. Nadeans weren't dumb or uneducated to offworlders, she assumed. Not with this guy speaking Standard so fluently. "My crew's different from your people. What is perfectly safe for you could be poison to us, is what my associate was trying to say. Just means we have to run tests if my ship plans to resupply, here. Also heard there was some cargo to be picked up in the system. I haven't found anybody who can confirm that, or found my contact for the run. Got any rumors?"

The man considered for a moment. On the one hand, these women were nice and seemed truthful. On the other hand, he was risking a lot. He looked around, making sure no one could see him. He extended the hose, and filled Rose's vial.

"I cannot join you," he said. "But if you want to learn Neadean...there's some tapes in the corridor from the launchpad. Look there. There's a brick that loose." With that, he clicked again, and "flew" away.

Capping the vial, Rose dropped it to be beamed away before it could hit the ground before she looked to Elly, flashing a grin through her helmet visor before speaking in Romulan, knowing that Elly's comm badge would catch it and translate, but unless someone had a true universal translator or a translation matrix for that specific dialect, it would be unintelligible alien moonspeak. "Alright, let's go. We can grab those linguistic matrices, get everything we can. I think we just found a resistance movement."

=/\=Deliverance, Andrake, you guys watching my helmet cam feed?=/\=

=/\=Yes. =/\= Came Noxi's reply. =/\=Thank you. I am sending this to the Ambassador, and to security. =/\= Noxi clicked off to report these things.

Elly nodded to Rose. "Yes," Elly said. "Or a snitch," she commented. "Either way, let's punt pontoons," she said.

"Bet. Speak in Copernican, not Standard." Rose started walking as she continued in Romulan. "Old trick I stole from some Romulans at a border checkpoint. The more obscure the dialect, the better chance they won't catch it unless they have UTs. I'll grab those tapes on the way back to the shuttle, we'll download that modified replicator for Morgan and his team, and then I'll fly us a couple of surface scans before we head back. Low orbit surface mapping and we'll run it though the AI. See what we see. With those tapes, we can update the translator matrix."

Elly nodded. "I don't know Copernican; I am not sure we Moon people have a native language. I grew up with Standard, but I know a little Vulcan," she said. "Get your tapes. I'll meet you back at the shuttle," she said. She made her way through the "shortcut" and found the odd greeter woman again. She smiled lightly. "We're doing our best to help you. Do you want to come back with us?" She asked. She didn't know what compelled her to ask, but something did.

Yve shook her head. "I am needed here," she said. "Your friend is right...a resistance movement is forming. I fear it may come to a head soon and I need to be here for my family. But your kindness is noted, and you will be blessed," she said, bowing her head. Elly simply shrugged, but nodded.

"Alright, if you're sure," she said. "I'll be on the shuttle here if you change your mind," she said, and stepped into the shuttle to begin the orbits. It was a good idea, actually. A bit later, Rose reappeared, and the two women completed their work and then returned to the ship. What did Yve mean by "blessed?" Elly would never know, she guessed.

~~~
A mission post by
Lt. JG Rose Andrake
Astrocartography

And

LtJG Elly Clarke
Botanist

With an appearance by

Captain Dr. Nairut Noxi
Commanding Officer

 

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