The Armour Of Contempt

Posted on Thu Mar 11th, 2021 @ 12:37pm by The Narrator & Major Tatiana Skobelova & Lieutenant Commander Amie Cerys & Staff Warrant Officer Blaise Birch

Mission: S2:3: Snow Drift
Location: Tripwire
Timeline: MD-2 8.00

The SFMC Javelin, based on the hull of a Arrow class runabout, lacked all of the cultural refinements of its Starfleet cousin. Gone were spacious cabin space with crew creature comforts like carpeting and ergonomic chairs. In their place was solid inert matter, armoured bulkheads, suits of hardshell body armour like a knight's wet dream, and enough weapons to mount the invasion of a small asteroid or minor planet.

Or one small Klingon picnic.

Kle looked surprisingly nonplussed about the whole affair. She studied the sensor readings on the chart table in the Javelin's main cabin, scrolling through data panes of holographic light with ease of long practise.

"Dig sites...ocean reclamation...these encampments are new," Kle said as she gestured to the holographic display. "We didn't get those on Xilos. Then again we got the slow sell, the insidious long con. Though if these camps are filled with the native population of this world, why are there no cities? Or towns? Even the remains of a road network would show up."

"There wouldn't have been a way to erase all of that either," Amie said as she listened. "I'm thinking these aren't native population just by the looks of it."

"I don't think they're prison camps either. They are to close together, to large...this one, near the glaciers in the south? A million strong. You'd need a force twice that size to police them if they were not their willingly," Kle mused. "And given the dig sites are on the far side of the planet to these camps, I don't think it's a transient worker population."

The Xilosian paused.

"There are six camps, and there are six of those giant ships in orbit. The big Oh-hian? Oh-Rhi-On? The nuclear pulse drive ships," she commented, trying the English word out like a portion of strange tasting food. "Maybe they are crew? Or something. We never saw ships that big, even during the years after the Fallback. We only saw the troops in Concordance grey's when they began to surgical strike and attack military cadre facilities or strategic locations. No massed armies."

Birch had kept his thoughts to himself, but after the Xilosian's trip down Memory Lane, he figured he ought to offer what he'd found. "Preliminary scans of the planet show altered ecological conditions ranging from atmospheric to the geochemical that are not consistent with Xilos' impact winter scenario but are not inconsistent with known terraforming methods. It's possible this planet is being altered for some unknown purpose."

"I wouldn't exactly call it the Bright Sands Coastline by any stretch of the imagination. It's cold, it's drying out, and with that muck in the air I doubt it's getting a lot of sunlight down on the ground," Kle eyed the scientist with narrowed eyes. She did not like him, not a bit. She worked the controls again, and the maps rotated until they there looking at the north polar ice cap. A single location was highlighted as close to the magnetic pole as possible, given the topography. "That looks like a good target of opportunity. Lot of radio traffic, as well as...what do you guys call it again? Aethermagnetics? Underspace?"

"Astrology," Birch said dryly with muted sarcasm.

Noting the verbal exchange between Kle and Birch, Tatiana remembered why she hated scientific expeditions so much. Tatiana especially hated facetious science officers. Never the less, Tatiana kept her opinions to herself. Her main concern was the six giant star ships. If those were transports, Canopus Station could be in danger. Worse, they could be in contact with the marines at Camp Sunshine. That would be a nightmare scenario.

"We need to find out what is happening at those camps." Tatiana told the group. "Is it a simple mining operation, or a weapons factory, or a training camp? We aren't going to know until we get a closer look."

"Then I'd suggest the outpost near the pole. If it is a comm's hub, we should get answers to all those questions," Kle said, then looked at Birch. "Unless you want to chip in an idea? What's your speciality again? Paleontology or proctology? Federation verbs are funny sounding."

"It is unsurprising that you would not know know your ass from a stone on the ground," Birch muttered.

Sitting and listening to the conversation, Amie just shook her head. This was their part. She would do the intelligence gathering once she was down there. Finding the spot, well, they would know better than she would.

"You know, this is a perfect example of why you don't let your males in the military. They think with their hormones and not their brains," Kle said with an acidic grin as she looked at Birch. "Though your Federation is made up of a diverse collection of humanoids, so for all I know your not male and your still an asshole."

The Xilsoian soldier turned to the Marine CO.

"Does the scientist need to come back from this mission or is he marked on the manifest as perishable cargo?"

"Are you a secret idiot or are we allowed to publicly acknowledge the fact?" Birch asked pointedly.

"And I would like to respectfully remind you two that this isn't a standard scientific reconnaissance. We will be landing on a planet filled with hostiles. I would like to stay in the 'Not Infected' column and also remain alive. So, if it isn't too much to ask, can we get back to the matter at hand and stop the personal shots?" Tatiana asked with a bit of anger in her voice.

"Oy! Back off, both of you," Amie stated as she looked to the two of them. "NO one is listed a perishable cargo, so don't even suggest it!" It wasn't often that she got upset at anyone, especially marines, but it was completely uncalled for.

Kle's onyx black cheeks shaded with angular purple chevrons for a moment, before with effort and a grimace looked at Birch.

"You're an asshole, but you are part of the team so back me up Mister Science. The outpost, it's isolated, both in terms of location and accessibility. Not to mention as it's a comm's centre it'll have all the answers we could possibly want in a neatly packaged location," Kle said as she counted off on her hand. "Our other objectives are mining sites or those camps, each of which outnumbers the current Federation population in Messier 4 by a factor of magnitude. Anyone see a better choice?"

Birch shrugged. "My orders are to collect core samples from the planet's surface so I can collate them with atmospheric samples and general scans, and I can accomplish that from anywhere. On the other hand, that outpost is likely to be the most heavily fortified and guarded location on the planet, so if a certain vengeful soldier was of a desire to put the mission at risk for the sake of a vendetta..." The Corvan turned his pale head to look at Tatiana, Amie, and the others, then looked back at Kle. "... that would be exactly where said soldier would insist we should go."

"Then please, highlight a better location," Kle said through clenched teeth. If Birch was telepathic, which for all Kle knew he was, she hoped he was enjoying the delightful buffet of Xilosian curse words that were accompanying the flickers of light on her cheeks.

"I just said it doesn't matter to me," Birch replied, "but if you need help with an executive decision..." He spun the readout of the display into a whirling vortex and then thrust his finger at a random point. The gesture brought the spinning globe to an abrupt stop. "There. Happy?"

"An island in the middle of a receding ocean," Kle said acidly.

"One place is as good as another for the purposes of our survey. If you want a war, go hash it out with the major." Birch nodded at Tatiana and turned away. "I'm hungry."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Amie wondered what she'd gotten herself into. "If you're going to argue the whole time..."

"I'm taking an early lunch," Birch said from over his shoulder. "Call me if you need me."