Domed To Fail

Posted on Fri Mar 1st, 2019 @ 9:38am by The Narrator & Lieutenant Commander Meilin Jiang

Mission: S1E2: A Temple To New Gods
Location: Support Module, AgriDome
Timeline: MD3 17.00PM

Engineering was still working on shoring up the hull repairs on the flank of the Support Module. When the tow cable had whiplashed back towards the domed top of the Module, it had cracked through the inner and outer hulls. And whilst the Structural Integrity Field had come online, it had not done so instantly.

So the Engineering crew's using antigrav drones and platforms were having to dismantle the pair of heavy farm drones that had been sucked up and jammed into the breach by the decompression. Do it wrong and the drones would fall to the ground forty meters below and do more damage.

But it at least made sense as to why the AgriDome looked like a bomb had gone off. The carefully planted beds of soil and other suitable growth mediums had been churned up into a purple slurry that formed odd hillocks and pits. Even an honest to goodness tree, transplanted from the grounds of Starfleet Academy as a dedication to Canopus Station, stood barren and leafless in the middle of the dome. Half its branches were torn and shattered.

And somehow, some way, this place was going to be filling up with transient refugees.

"Reminds me of home," Formation Leader Kle said dryly, surveying the scene.

Dania chuckled from where she stood next to Kle, "don't think we could have got it right if we planned it."

"Which we didn't," Kle said, hissing through her thing teeth a sigh. "Sorry, momentary attack of pessimism. Kisbeck was the one you wanted up here to greet the new arrivals, which...I keep hearing the word 'transporter' and yet it'll take days if we're going to be transporting them in your shuttle. Some of your people seem to think you have thousands of them to make the process an hour's long affair."

"We've done more with less," Meilin said candidly. "While Kisbeck may be the more traditional individual for the role of cultural ambassador, we cannot be anything other than what we are. And who you are, jiéxià, is the interim urban planner of your people. Perhaps that cup will pass from you to another, but until such time, it is for you to take and drink."

Taking a few steps forward, Meilin toed the upturned earth with her foot. "How will your people adapt? What will their needs be? What obstacles will they face? First Philosopher Kisbeck will certainly have his thoughts, but his hands will be tied with the formulation of treaties, trade agreements, and other diplomatic negotiations, and that's before we even locate a world for permanent relocation." She turned back to Kle and stared up in serene admonition. "Keeping the peace will require more than weapons. It will require honor to remember the past, foresight to preserve your people's dignity, and the courage to stay the course where it is tempting to give into fear and loathing." She smiled wanly. "Perhaps it was fate that you are here now rather than Kisbeck."

Kle's golden eyes narrowed, and then she turned to look at Storm, the fronds atop her head glowing a soft amber.

"Does she get paid a per diem per word used? Or does she always compose herself as though she were addressing a funding committee on the Orator Floor?" Kle waved a hand to dismiss a reply. "But the point is well made. Boots on the ground see more than all of the Formation Leaders who stay behind the line. Food, water, shelter, and hygiene. We have some portable housing units, inflatable domes, that were going to be used on the surface following detoxification. The food we can provide ourselves, we have protein vats and dried stores for another few years if you have storage. Water...might be something you'll need to point us towards. As for hygiene, access to water and other hygiene facilities. We have temporary units we can have dismantled and brought up."

The pointed remark made Meilin stifle a knowing smirk. Obsessive individuals with borderline personality disorders often resented being either profiled or compelled, and Kle had suffered both. She took the remark in stride to better observe what came next.

Kle raised an arm and pointed at the broken tree and its ragged limbs.

"Use that as the centre, and spin the wheel around it. Four spokes six tents along, and then spaces evenly between. Then six more spokes from that edge of the wheel for the same number along. I used to set these sorts of things up in my previous job as a Military Candre Engineer. Field barracks, that sort of thing," she looked down at the greyish dirt under her booted feet. "Hell's cold touch, make the ground slick with water and this could be the Janka River Flood. Washed the town clean away, but we evacuated everyone to the highlands above the town a day before. Guess this makes your Carion Station the high ground doesn't it?"

Dania nodded, "in a way. As you can see we're still largely setting up ourselves. With time, we will improve things for both our peoples, as we learn from each other. Speaking of learning, have you ever heard of other nearby worlds? Or was the Concordance your only off-world encounter...until us, that is?"

Every word spoken was recorded onto Meilin's PADD and then parsed with a speech-to-text interface into a visual blueprint. She waited for Kle to answer Dania's question before presenting the layout for approval; it was a very good question that deserved an answer.

"Technically, no. During the Caldera Criss 50 years back, before the Cradle's were built, we did detect strong EM signals that were modulated in such a way as to suggest intelligent design. Their source was triangulated to be about 20 light years away, so we ignored them. Too far and too hard to get to. But as for face to face contact, the Concordance was our only one before you," Kle commented.

Meilin's comm badge chirped at her for attention.

"=/\=Commander Meilin, transport control here. We have a lock on the pattern enhancers and are prepared to begin transport of the advanced team from the surface.=/\="

"Energize," she said with a tap to her combadge. Then, after handing her PADD to Kle for final approval of her transposed directions, Meilin rested her hands behind her back to watch the influx of refugees.

"Hardly the time to recharge a battery..." Kle said, her eyes raising from the padd as a nebulous cloud of glowing energy began to whine into existence. She took a step back, but only one, and watched as the cloud became pillars, and as the pillar's dimmed forms and limbs began to appear. And then the transporter cycle ended, and a dozen Xilosian's and as many oblong crates appeared. For a moment no one talked to said a thing until one of the Xilosian's in the transport group reached out to poke another of their fellows.

That broke the spell. They weren't on Xilos any more. one of the Xilosian's burst into ragged, tired sobs of relief at finally being free. Kle walked towards the group, and placed her hands on the crying man's shoulders.

"We're nearly there, but I need you now okay?" she said softly, looking over his shoulder to the other onyx skinned Xilosian's. "I need all of you. We have to begin setting up a home for our people here, a temporary one at the very least until we find another. But this will be a place of rest for us on our journey."

Kle paused, and looked back over her shoulder at Meilin and Storm.

"We have good friends to help us now."