Encountering the Planetoid

Posted on Tue Feb 23rd, 2021 @ 7:57am by Captain Cynthia Jackson & Commander Elias Walker & Lieutenant Xenia Windsor & Lieutenant Luke Osswell & Lieutenant Kevin Chambers & Lieutenant Steffan Haas & Lieutenant Joshua Arras & Petty Officer, 1st Class Lee Adama

1,495 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 4 - A Rose By Any Other Name
Location: Legacy Bridge

Warp 8 apparently did the trick. In only three hours, it had caught up to the planetoid. Cindy smiled and wondered aloud, "I don't know how this would have gotten here without recent notice. That seems really strange. Arev, what do you have for me?"

Adama looked up from his console and looked at the planetoid. Most rogue planets he's seem have a more rougher surface, results of meteor impacts. Of course, this could be a moon that broke out of it's orbit. Would be interesting to get a closer look.

Dr Arras was in sickbay when the notice that the ship had arrived, so he turned on his monitor and looked at the planetoid.

Elias looked at the view screen. "Wouldn't surprise me if this stellar fragment had come into a natural force to change its direction." Walker said as a guesstimate.

Adama started trying to trace the planetoid's route. Unfortunately, a route was difficult to trace. There did not seem to be phenomenon that would direct this planetoid here.

Cindy nodded her head. "That would likely be the case. But that thing is huge. I don't think our tractor beams could handle moving it."

"The planetoid is hollow". Arev said. "It seems from initial scans, able to sustain life. There are a number of different sections of flora. I am trying to detect any current higher life forms."

"Hollow?" Cindy asked. "That should not be possible. Gravity should cause a hard core or a molten one. Everything presses towards the center, so how can this be?"

"Is there life in there?" Walker asked astonished.

Adama looked up from his console. "You're suggesting this may be a ship of some kind? I see no visible engines...how does it propel itself?"

"I don't know if it is a ship but I do not see how it could be natural," Cindy told Adama. "It goes against science as I know it. Would you agree, Arev?"

"In general theory, agreed", Arev replied. "As I have never encountered anything like this before, I won't as humans say, 'bet the farm'."

Luke had been scanning the planetoid as soon as they had arrived. 'I can detect no signs of any threat to the ship, but my scans are not able to penetrate the surface. If there is something on the inside, hostile or not, we have no way of knowing at present."

"Is there an atmosphere? If there is, we can beam down and have a look around." Adama asked.

"It also has a breathable atmosphere", Arev. "but I don't detect life forms."

"Do we have time for a jolly? Surely deflecting this planetoid away from the colony is a priority." Walker said speaking up from the comm station.

Adama looked around. "If the planetoid is indeed a ship, maybe we can access the controls and alter it's course. That's a better option then destroying it, isn't it?"

Xenia locked her eyes on an alert on her console. "Captain, something has left the planetoid and is heading this way!" As she spoke she looked for more information. "They appear to be ballistic in nature. We are under attack," she concluded. Any hope it was simply a probe was dashed.

"Red alert," Cindy announced. "Weapons, fire phasers! Destroy those objects."

"What the hell?!" Walker said before pushing his ear piece back into his ear. "Unidentified object, this is the USS Legacy, we come in peace. I say again, we come in peace. Stand down. I repeat, stand down!"

Adama plotted an evasive course in case the captain ordered it. "Scans indicate that the missile does not have warp capability, captain....we can outrun it."

Walker received no answer from his hails. Cindy looked at Lee and said, "I appreciate your opinion but I gave my order. Luke, destroy those objects!"

Arev disagreed with the Captain. If they could avoid the projectiles without destroying them, that said, she was the Captain, so he just scanned the projectiles to figure out if they truly were a threat to the ship.

The projectiles were ancient thermonuclear devices. They should not post much of a threat to Legacy unless there was some sort of breach in the shields.

Adama looked at the captain. "I'm sure the missiles are defensive only, probably used to destroy approaching asteroids. There's probably a computer that runs everything inside that planet ship."

Cindy was uncertain what Adama was basing his information upon. However, now was not the time to question him. She waited for Luke to fire phasers, hoping for the missiles' destruction.

Indeed the situation was quite odd, Luke thought, why would that planetoid, or whatever it was, fire such outdated and slow-moving weapons at them, a simple scan would have shown them the Legacy could easily repel an attack such as this. If there had been more time, Luke would have suggested to trap one of those missiles in a tractor beam, disarm it and beam it aboard for further research. As it was, though, Luke had received a direct order, and he obeyed. He set the phasers on a low setting, just enough to blow them apart, no need to waste more energy than necessary. The Legacy's phasers fired and the missiles exploded in a colourful but short-lived cloud of debris. "Missiles destroyed, Captain."

"Thank you, Luke." Cindy leaned forward, looking hard at the viewscreen. "I am assuming that this planetoid has no shields. If it is hollow, can we penetrate it to beam in? Can we find any traces of an atmosphere? Either way, I want to take an away team in. Arev, let me know the situation."

Kevin blinked at the goings on. “So, old tech, no life forms, hollow planetoid... and we’re just going to pop by?” He waited a moment for logic to sink in. It seemed odd for him to mention it but still... “Then who shot at us?”

"Maybe an old defense system," Cindy explained. "I don't see another weapon coming online. Do you?"

Coordinating the scans from each system, Chambers assessed the varying and steady energy outputs. “That’s a negatory, Cap,” he said leaning in. “Automated defense system, no response to hails ... no life forms.” He took a deep breath and muttered under his breath, “Not a friendly sort then...”
"But it is hollow, which stands to reason that there may have been life there before. Scan for breathable air on there," Cindy ordered.

Arev reported with a raised eyebrow, "There is an atmosphere, similar to that of Earth's."

"OK, then! Let me see, I'll take Luke, and Kevin. We're going to figure out what makes that thing tick," Cindy announced.

Commander Walker quickly jumped up from his seat, "Forgive me, Ma'am, but you should not be leading this away mission. There's too many unknowns over there. As Captain of this vessel, your place is on the bridge in time of crisis." He knew his objection would fall on deaf ears but he needed to say it.

Lee sat at the nav station. He was disappointed not to be included in the away team.

Cindy smiled warmly at Commander Walker. "Your objection is noted, Eli. Thank you for reminding me of the regulations. However, I do not see any external threats and we need someone to figure out how to divert this thing. In the meantime, I have a mystery that I cannot resist."

The Commander had expected a response to Iike that from the Captain but he needed to be seen he was doing his job. "What are your orders for the rest of us, Captain?"

"I need the rest of you to figure out a way to either divert that object or figure out how to destroy it without having the destruction cause harm to inhabited worlds. Does anyone know how much time it has before the point of no return?"

"Current rate of speed, barring any external forces that may alter course or speed, the planetoid will impact the planet in 17 hours, but the planet is already experiencing severe gravitional stresses due the close proximity of the planetoid." Adama responded to the captain.

Arev simply stood up, allowing the Commander to state his objective. Arev did agree with the Commander. In his experience, a captain leaving the bridge for such a task was generally not acceptable. That's what subordinates were for.

"Captain, might I point out that you are suggesting to beam into something that just fired a nuclear device at us. Granted, such outdated weapons might not have posed a threat to the ship, but assuming they have other sorts of projectile weapons, running on a defensive automated program, which would be a very safe assumption, I might add, that would definitely pose a threat to our very fragile bodies."

"I really appreciate your concern, Luke," Cindy replied. "But that is why I'm taking you with me. Something is making that thing tick and I want to know what or who."

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