Dilithium Digger (Constitution)

USS Constitution-B
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Officers taking part in the Mission
Name	Position	Notes
Jalana Rajel	Commanding Officer
Saveron	First Officer
Cade Foster	Mission Specialist
Vurdal	HCO Officer	LOA 03/11/2021
Poe Martin	Security Officer	Joined 03/17/2021
Lystra	Security/Tactical Officer
Atan T'Seva	Chief Tactical Officer
Ravenna Carter	Medical Officer
Jacob Horne	Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
Sirn	Engineering Officer
Lazarus Davis	Assistant Chief Science Officer
Sarah Mason	Intelligence Officer
Nugra	Intelligence Officer

Away Team
Name	Position	Notes
T'Aven	Pilot / Marine	Played by Jalana Rajel
Sawyer Moore	Security Officer	Played by Ravenna Carter
T'Mar	Intelligence Officer	Played by Sarah Mason
So'Mior	Science Officer (Geology)	Played by Cade Foster
Imas Heeka	OPS Officer	Played by Lazarus Davis

MSNPCs
Name	Position	Notes
Orin Dann	Chief Mining Engineer - Dilithium Mine	played by Saveron
Shael	Pain the butt - Dilithium Mine	played by Jalana Rajel
TBA	Chaotic element - Dilithium Mine	played by Ravenna Carter
Elder	Captain of the Theseus	played by Lazarus Davis
Ku-Kon Rin - "Kurin"	Gunnery officer - Theseus	played by Cade Foster
Foranus “Fuse”	Boom maker - Theseus	played by Sirn

Mission Brief

Rajel: "We will make a journey to the Shahar Nebula. This Nebula is even more further south from here at the south farthest edge of the Marchlands. Someone recorded some strange energy readings that we get to check out. The nebula also has some stellar nurseries and such. Shouldn't be too hard. Admiral Heraan has also instructed us to check in on a dilithium mine in the nebula, but I don't anticipate it taking much."

First Act

On the Constitution

Preparations

After the Senior Staff is briefed about the new mission each department prepares for departure. They have 6 hours plus one more hour flight to the Shahar Nebula.

• Science and Engineering prepare the Sensors and Engines to work better in the nebula that promises interferences. They work on optimizing an experimental build and an adjustment to the Bussard collectors.
  • "By increasing the throughput of the Bussard Collectors, we could pull the nebula gases away from the sensor arrays while simultaneously filtering out useful and essential gases and ejecting them back out assisting with forward momentum. Essentially turning the Collector assemblies into a from of thruster. It will be difficult to maintain a warp field within the nebula so any assistance to propulsion will be advantageous." ~ Sirn
• Medical prepares for possible casualties, you never know. Among other things they stock up on medications and make sure the equipment runs smoothly. They then go through the ship to make sure the emergency medkits are all equipped properly.
• Tactical gets a complete Level IV diagnostics through Lystra.

After arrival

7 hours after the briefing the Constitution arrives at the Shahar Nebula. They head into the nebula and is in awe of its (filter created) beauty. The readings of the energy signatures are not the same as they had received during the briefing, so they plan to find out why as there could be a multitude of reasons.

On route to the Stellar Nursery, the Conny sends their away team - consisting of T'Aven, Imas Heeka, Sawyer Moore, So'Mior and T'Mar - to the Dilithium mine to check on the decreased production. The Conny also calls the Mine to inform them of the team's soon to be arrival.

Scanners are picking up on random readings that could mean anything as the Nebula causes interferences on the sensors. Upon Cade Foster's repeated suggestion they send out a set of 4 probes, one in each direction, to boost sensors. After that boost, Science discovers a phenomenon that could be behind the fluctuating sensor readings: Pulsars.

• The main viewscreen changed to show the hazy and interference-laden sensor data. At that distance, the nebula was almost like a dense, low-lands fog. And shining in that fog was what could only be described as a rapidly spinning and orbiting series of lights. At first blush, it looked almost like a lighthouse beacon. "I think those are stars, orbiting each other at an incredible rate. That’s the source of our energy reading. It’s mind-boggling. I can’t calculate the orbital period because we don’t know how many stars are in this… tempest. Whatever it is, it’s fast. Near relativistic speeds, I would think." ~ Lazarus Davis

There seemed to be an issue with the experimental sensor array and overheating Bussard collectors, so it has to be turned off for 10 minutes to fix it.

Meanwhile, a ship has been discovered in the nebula. Shedet was able to hear its engines and through the environmental sounds and methods were weighed to find out more about this ship. While not everyone believed it to be necessary, in the end, caution pulled through and they began to figure out methods to passively scan the area the ship had been discovered to not appear offensive. A small vessel appears to be heading for that ship from a general area that includes the mines. The engine is misaligned though and leaves a trail.

The Away Team should have arrived and checked in at some point but the Conny has not heard anything yet. So Jalana called the Mine in case the shuttle's communications array was not strong enough to push through on their own. While everything seems in order, the team cannot be directly contacted as it is on a tour.

Meanwhile, a second big ship appears, but the readings are confusing and contradicting. Through several scans and experiments, Davis finds out that it is a "mirage"-like apparition reflection of the Constitution. So the bridge crew is working on finding ways to filter out other possible mirages. To find out more about it and the stationary ship, Lazarus and Lystra leave to the Science Lab that has a better chance of retrieving usable data and T'Seva takes over Tactical.

Saveron revisits the conversation with the mining Administrator and detects that she seems to be afraid of something and extremely stressed and informs the rest of the bridge crew of it. A security Officer, Poe Martin, is called to the bridge to check out the footage for a second opinion, with the option of preparing a second team if their away team still can't be detected.

An object that is believed to be a probe returns to the ship, but upon inspection, they find out it is not a probe but a non-Federation shuttle. Saveron instructs to raise shields as a precaution. Could it be the shuttle that has made its way to the stationary ship before? What do to with it? Saveron suggests to hail it because the sensors are no good. While he hails the ship Jalana has a realisation, or rather a memory flash from the information Sal Taybrim has shared with her and recognizes a mark on the shuttle as belonging to a certain cell of the Orion Syndicate. They close comms and make sure the shields are active. The only reason Jalana does not sound red alert is that once the Syndicate knows they know they will attack. What do to now?

The Away Team

T'Aven, Imas Heeka, Sawyer Moore, So'Mior and T'Mar head to the mine in a Type 11 Shuttle. The flight takes them 1.3 hours. On the way, the team goes through the detail of their mission which is to do an inspection of the mine and the production. An hour later they arrive and are welcome by Oran Dann the Chief Mining Engineer. (Continue at "The Mine")

The Mine

Someone is in the mine who makes things difficult for Orin Dann. When the Constitution calls that someone sends off one of her people to inform "the Boss" about the imminent Starfleet arrival. A shuttle leaves to do just that. An hour later when the away team arrives the 'keepers' that keep pressuring the miners are disguised as miners and Orin Dann greets the away team.

• The surface of Osteris II was no place to be without an EVA suit, but this was Federation to Federation technology, so he anticipated no problems. [...] The panel lit up, showing positive contact on the pad, and the sensors indicated that the pilot had pulled off a flawless landing. A camera gave a greyscale visual on the small screen, and Orin manoeuvred the extendable airlock over to the side of the shuttle, hardly needing to adjust it, she was sitting so square. ~ Orin Dann
• The shuttle doors opened to reveal a most uninspired cargo area. The mine was certainly old fashioned in its architecture. Early century modern with the same stark teal and crimson markings on dull grey that was common in that era. Taking from that So’Mior also expected a lot of beige furnishing in any public areas – unless they had been re-upholstered, which was unlikely. There was a specific style of architecture and color schemes for various periods in Federation history and this was one of those that conjured up images of gallant holonovels at the fringes of space with intrepid old Starfleet crews nobly fighting unknown threats. Things that every professor in the Academy would tell a cadet to wipe out of their minds immediately because it was purely hogwash. [...] That means that this mine was originally on the outskirts of Federation space when it was built. Probably it was used to strike a new dilithium source that would help the Federation be self-sufficient without the need for dilithium wars. ~ So'Mior

Orin Dann begins a tour with the Away team aware that he is being watched by his keepers that are all throughout the mine. He shows them around and answers questions before bringing the team more into the shaft where they may or may not discover more. Part of the answers for questions are:

• "We have had some mechanical issues, it’s true. ::He allowed.:: And we don’t have large scale industrial replicators here, so if something really big breaks, it has to come out on the freighter."
• "We don’t get a lot of traffic, no, we’re no holiday destination. The freighter comes every eight standard weeks. Some ships pass by on the way to places, but we don’t pay them too much attention."
• "We have a small contingent of security personnel.[...] Oh yes, monitored from our control centre. Like the rest of the mine’s operations."
• "We monitor for natural dangers as well. [Not Predators] There’s been no native life ever found on the planet. She’s a dead world."
• "It’s been eight months since the last incident."
• "The nebula causes all sorts of [Communications] problems. That’s why we have the big transmitter and the relay satellite. Everything goes through the control room."

The tour continues deep into the mine with a ride in a transport cart. Once they reach the actual Dilithium mining location deeper under the surface the team detects a few things that appear weird.

• A few marks on equipment that are clearly made by disruptor fire.
• Dann continues to be evasive in his answers but mentions an incident that had some terminal injured people.
• A bunch of people who appear to be miners are not actually working.

Suddenly Dann screams out that they had been attacked and that the attackers are still here and jumps into cover. A loud power-up sound is heard and then a 10000 lumens bright light floods the cave, blinding the team who now have to orient themselves and figure out what is happening. Moore seems have not looked directly at the light and can see a little. The Vulcans will recover relatively quickly thanks to their inner eye-lids. So'Mior is the first to somewhat be able to see again and notices that all the miners are gone. When an alert goes off and the Blast doors begin to close, planning to trap the away team down in the mine.

Somewhere

The Theseus notices that the Constitution is entering the Nebula, but for the moment only watches as they seem to be there for the Stellar Nursery. When 'Fuse' returns from the Mine to inform 'Elder' about the visiting Away Team from the 'Constitution the planning begins. The Galaxy Class does not seem to pose a threat but instead an easy target. The bridge crew gets excited about making big booms.

• A shuttle is rigged up to fly towards the Conny to make them scan it and make them lower their shields to be a target for attacks.
• A battle plan is hatched as they mark the Galaxy Class' vital systems on their screens to know where to attack.
• They want to discover the Conny's shield harmonics and send them to the Minotaur to join the fight.

The shuttle is sent off and the wait begins.