“All hands, standby for landing operations.  Go to blue alert.”  Captain Wren Walton sat in the center command chair, seat belt activated.  They had found a planet that matched the needs of the capsule and, with the help of the Dragonfly, had been replenished with a full crew.  The lights on the bridge faded to a dark blue.  Across the eleven decks of the Pathfinder class, starship lights and corridor consoles were changed to reflect the status.  Wren had taken part in several landings – all on Intrepid class ships.  Her attention turned to the new face at the helm of the Perseverance, Lieutenant Griffin Maddy.  He’d come with a nickname, ‘Mad Dog’.

At OPS, Lieutenant Matthew Phillips reported that engineering had deactivated the warp and impulse engines, “Warp core entering standby mode and impulse reactors have reached stable operations.”  He had been transferred from Starbase Bravo.  His history had begun with Ambrose Harris on the Erigone.  She read between the lines on his dossier.  He was a good and capable officer.  She needed those kinds of people on her team.  She watched him recheck his console, saying, “All stations report ready for planetary landing operations, sir.”

Wren gripped the arms of the command chair lightly.  It was no small feat to land a Federation starship on a planet, and as easy as it seemed, it was full of risks.  “Lieutenant Maddy, engage landing operations.”  

Griffin bit back a smile.  The news of his assignment had been one of joy.  A Pathfinder class was an excellent ship…and a fast ship.  His disappointment had come when he’d read the name of the command team – Walton and Park.  He knew the CO by reputation – she had been a long-time fixer at Starfleet.  Her recent command streak had been unconventional, and he’d done some reading between the lines. As prestigious as the Perseverance was, it still struck him as odd.  She’d been in command of an Obena class and an Excelsior II class before that.  He wondered how you ended up with a dinky ship like this.  He tapped at the console, shifting the ship towards the planet, “Maneuvering thrusters activated.  Course plotted.  Engaging now.”

The Perseverance slowly dove towards the planet and plunged into the atmosphere.  The inertial dampeners were at maximum as Lieutenant Maddy navigated the conditions outside the ship.  The turbulent nature of the planet’s scorching weather systems made for a chaotic upper atmosphere, and the ship shook and shuddered as it buffeted against the forces of nature.  Maddy reported, “Thirty seconds to the lower atmosphere!”  The bridge bounced as the ship traversed a rough jetstream path, but everyone’s seatbelts held.  Suddenly, the rocking slowed.  “Entering lower atmosphere – activating thrusters.  Engaging landing supports.”  The ship slowed until a gentle thump, and the bridge shuddered for one last time.  “Landing complete, sir.”

Walton stood, “Damage report.  Give Lieutenant Wallaker and her team the green light to move.”

The ramp dropped from the underside, and Lieutenant Hazel Wallaker walked down the incline, escorting the capsule floating on an antigrav cart.  A gaggle of the freshly assigned science team followed in her wake and was escorted by a group of security officers.  They were all wearing environmental suits as the dust-filled environment’s temperature would have sent them crashing to the ground and exfoliated to the extreme.  “Let’s move!”  She marched forward, leading the team on.  The assignment to the aptly named Perseverance had come at the right time.  She’d been stifled on her assignment to a backwater station.  The number of scientific discoveries she had had the possibility of discovering there had been slim to none.  It had been a long year, and her nerves had nearly reached a breaking point.  The list of applications had been updated, and near the bottom was the Pathfinder class starship.  Hazel wondered if the station had thrown a party once she’d been transported away.  They had been a close-knit group for years.  Her arrival hadn’t been smooth, and the more time she spent working with them, the more she realized she’d made the wrong decision to take a risk in applying to the station.  Now, she had a chance.  A place to explore.  To discover.

In the group’s rear walked sixty-year-old Commander Sergio Clemente, the Chief Medical officer. He had studied the Wallaker dossier and shared concerns with Captain Wren Walton.  She was spunky and energetic.  He noted that before the assignment to the station, she had bounced around the fleet from assignment to assignment.  Some three months, others six months.  Nothing longer than a year.  Until the station.  Walton had shared his theory that that assignment had been a subtle attempt to calm or punish her.  He remembered the look on her face as they’d talked.  It was a look of disappointment.  He turned his attention back to the scene in front of him.  The planet had been labeled GH0993923, and the system was marked as ‘GH09’.  The system had three suns unbearably close to the planet they now walked.  It had never recorded an instance of life.

The voice of their newly minted Chief Science Officer broke through his thoughts, “We’re reaching the area.  Start the setup.”

Clemente ordered his team to shift back, and they began to install the medical triage tent.  He was a strict rules and regulations doctor.  He wasn’t about to leave lives hanging in the balance or to the chances of the desert that surrounded them.

It took an hour, but it was done. The capsule had been placed, and scaffolding had been added around it, replete with instruments, sensors, and scanners.  Wallaker trudged back the forty feet to the shelter they had built and secured the door behind her.  With a gasp, she removed the helmet and set it on a shelf with the others.  The bunker had a secured environmental system, and it brought them all relief.  “Ensign, let’s get started.”  She stepped to the console and began to tap at the commands, “Link with Perseverance is active, scaffold equipment reporting across the spectrum…engaging opening procedure.”  The various video links clicked into gear as the multiple displays in the bunker flickered to show the site.  The various robotic units performed their programmed actions to engage the opening console on the capsule’s exterior.  Ten minutes passed as multiple attempts were made and failed.  Wallaker worked the console in concert with the scanning data, “I think we’ve got it.  Ensign, lock on, and engage this area of the surface.” They all watched as the area was approached and touched.  There was a rushing of dust as the object began to tremble.  The ensign quickly retreated the mobile equipment as the rest of the gathered watch on the monitors.  A burst of steam blasted open a long, wide panel and a brief curling of smoke clouded the monitors.  The air soon cleared, and Wallaker and the rest of them gasped.

A body lay in gentle repose.

A humanoid body.