Avan's Colony Pt.2
Posted on Sat Aug 30th, 2025 @ 9:22pm by Commander Rhupert Tyree & Commander Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Commander Richard Dalziel & Lieutenant Commander Zuub & Lieutenant Katya Davi & Lieutenant Aria Kanzaki & Lieutenant Amy Gordon
1,487 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
On the Trail
Location: Avan's Colony, Quatal Prime
Timeline: One day after Avan's Colony post.
Rhu eased the Adelaide down through the puffy, expansive light blue atmosphere of Quatal Prime. He was currently angling the ship toward the transmitted coordinates of Avan’s colony. They’d dropped from warp a few hours ago and eased through the system, looking for hidden vessels or a trap of some kind. The colony was currently on the star side of its rotation and they were dropping through the Hydrogen rich atmosphere mostly blind.
The only thing they’d been able to wring from the sensors was what read as an ice mining operation on the QP’s third moon that wasn’t currently manned. That processing center did did look new however and Rhu was curious about that.
Looking over his shoulder at his XO, he said, “You know the drill number one. Get the lay of the land. First things first, get the Doctor hot on what’s making the colonists sick. Three hours to get that decided or you all get back aboard the Adelaide and we rethink things. After that, what are your plans for the team? I’ll be remaining aboard Adelaide like a good little ship’s Captain, until and unless I’m needed.
"Once the illness is under control. Perhaps we can see what these colonists know about the local area. It is possible that they have some leads on, well, anything." Daynah may have not wanted to work intelligence. But she understood what was needed to remain successful.
Zuub informed everyone, "Well, since I cannot do anything until I have more information, I will head to sickbay and do some research."
Looking back, Rhu said "Doctor. We'll be on the ground in less than twenty minutes. Prep your emergency kit. We'll have to figure things out on the run."
"Of course, Captain. As you order," Zuub answered.
Kat had a set of tools prepared for the trip to the planet. Not her best set, because she had no idea what' they'd be facing on the planet, but one that was good enough to get a job done. Since they only had twenty minutes before arrival, she headed to her room to grab them, along with a rebreather, mask, and filter.
Amy went to get her own tools, her utility belt. Granted Kat was the tool girl when it came to operations and other things to work on the ship. Amy wasn't a slouch with tools herself. She was a gadgeteer. She had her own rebreather, mask and filter as well. She also had coveralls made of sturdy material to protect her clothing.
Half an hour later, Rhu guided the Adelaide slowly down through the lowered shields of Avan's colony, the freighter sinking into the dormant volcano's crater, where the Cardassians had built the landing grid. Once they'd cleared the summit, the shield flickered back on and it read as a standard Cardassian emitter. The freighter thumped on its landing gear and Rhu sent notices out to power down the ship. He'd positioned the Adelaide's lock as directed and a tunnel cycled up out of the grid to give Adelaide’s crew a gangway into the colony proper. The ship's systems attached and read atmosphere filtering in and pressure normalizing.
"Ok," Rhu said as he turned back from his controls and stood. "I'll be remaining with the Adelaide. I'll think about tying us into ground power and generally mind the store."
"Make sure you have a buffer in case there's a problem with the power supply, too," Kat cautioned.
"Noted," Rhu said. "I'll make sure we don't get any nasty feedback or contamination from the colony."
Activating the ship's comm, Rhu said, "Ok, Proctor. We're here and I have volunteers from our passengers and crew who are going to come and see if they can help."
The Proctor's image appeared back on the ship's screen and now was crystal clear. "Thank you, Adelaide. Our gangway tunnel shows secured to your ship. Here's what we know. My chief custodian thinks there's something wrong with our sensors and that's why we can't figure out why everyone is sick. My nurse believes onset of whatever this is takes about a week for it to onset, but of course that's what the cases we have represent. It may be far less. That's why I suggest your people limit their time in our atmosphere and we don't connect the umbilical to keep your ship safe."
Amy covered her hair, and put on her gloves, "Ready, when it is time, to step out there."
Kat wondered if it was something in the atmosphere, in the facility, or something they were mining that caused them to get sick. They had three hours to find out.
The colony was what you could expect from Cardassian engineering. Utilitarian and practical to a fault, the lighting was on the dim side and there was a chill to the air and the air felt dry.
Proctor Dreth stood near the lock, arms crossed as she watched the hatch. She'd caught site of the Adelaide's crew making their way through the tube with relief. She looked harried and thin, her green eyes had deep dark circles and she had her arms crossed to try and hold her chest steady when she coughed. Her coveralls were clean however and she wore a mask out of deference, even though they didn't know what was causing the problems.
As the hatch cycled, she stood straighter and said, "Welcome to Avan's colony. I'm Proctor Amalien Dreth. Thank you for coming."
"Proctor. I am Corrinna Rix the XO. We got your signal. What..." Daynah's voice trailed off as she saw the Proctor in full detail. Things were certainly not right here. "Are you alright?"
"Pleasure is all ours, believe me Ms. Rix," Amalien said with a wry smile. "I'm alright. Mostly. And better than most of the rest of my people." Looking at the assembled crew of the Adelaide, she said "To be blunt, there's something wrong with our life support system. There almost has to be. We're all sick. In varying levels but it's following lines you might expect, hitting those with weakened systems hardest. The trouble is all our systems think everything is fine..."
"Hi. I'm Katarina Diaz. You said you had trapped miners and some of your people went out in a car to check on them. Have you heard anything?"
Turning, the proctor coughed briefly into the sleeve of her well-worn coverall, then smiled apologetically and said, "We lost contact with the car yesterday, about 1300 hours. They had air and supplies still, but we don't know what happened Ms. Diaz."
Aria didn't really think much of the colony. It looked typically Cardassian to her. She always wondered why they were so fascinated with circles and ovals. She briefly looked around evaluating the area, looking for potential risks, escape routes and places for cover if things took a turn for the worst.
"Can I see any maps you have of which way they went and where the miners are trapped?" Kat
asked. She still wanted to go after them. The others could take care of the colony itself. She was concerned about the miners and those who went after them. If they were still alive, they wouldn't be for long without help.
"Alec Trevelyan, Engineer, can I talk with your equivalent of Engineering Chief, about the colony's environmental systems?" Richard asked.
Amy wanted to dig deep into the history of this place, there had to be some files that hadn't been cracked open as of yet or hadn't been discovered. Information that would unlock the reason why the conditions here were horrid. Also, there were people who may know things that hadn't been told before. Maybe some information crystals were around.
The Proctor looked over the new arrivals, processing their questions. Gesturing for them to follow, she led them through the dimly lit and eerily quiet corridor. As they walked (slowly) the Proctor said, her voice rasping as a cough hovered ready to rip through her lungs. "I'll take you to our control center where our maintenance foreman will meet us. The Chief Nurse will refuse to leave the clinic, I'm afraid. The conditions are pretty much as I explained them. Everyone is sick. Our systems are mostly working right as normal, but we can't pin down what's making us all sick."
Commander Rhupert Tyree
As Dereck Crevins
Aboard the SS. Adelaide.
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dalziel
As Alec Trevelyan
Aboard the SS. Adelaide
Lieutenant Amy Gordon
As Agatha Smith
Aboard the SS. Adelaide
Lieutenant Katya Davi
As Katarina Diaz
Aboard the SS Adelaide
Commander Daynah Ral
As Corinna Rix
Aboard the SS Adelaide
Lieutenant Aria Kanzaki
As Holmes?
Aboard the SS Adelaide
Lieutenant Commander Zuub
As Herself???
Aboard the SS. Adelaide.
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