((Trenton Crashsite))
The first relief team had just arrived on the surface, numbering 20 members of April’s crew. The investigation and recovery had been ongoing for 10 hours at this point. The Trentons computers and onboards records systems had been accessible but were found to be corrupted by the ion field that surrounded the planet. The ion field itself interestingly enough was discovered to be related to a field of ion previously charted ion storms that had been sweeping through this particular region space for centuries, but at the time of the Trentons journey this was the frontier of the Federation, just short of the current Talarian and Cardassian border junction.
“So what’s the final counts Doc?” Wong asked as he swiped some sweat from behind his, having assisted in the bagging, tagging, and casketing of over a dozen sets of remains himself.
“58 checked off field burials or no preference. 14 requested internments in deep space, 11 wanted incineration or some other form of ash-making ceremony, you humanoids I tell ya, super weird yo…sorry sir, and the other 24 all wanted their remains either returned to their next of kin or homeworld. 34 down 71 to go.” The exocomp surgical specialist turned and saw the group of relief crew approaching the main entry point to the forward section of the Trenton.
“I’ve got Mee Ih building a search program to find the shuttle that XO and Navigator took off on…remarkable how the survivors managed to last over 3 months before that wind storm compromised their makeshift air filters.” The Captain started looking around at the scene, the ship on his left, and a series of caskets on his right in a small defile in-between the dust dunes.
“Ingenous and resourceful to the last. In fine keep with Starfleet traditions sir. Is it still your plan to bury the 58 crew members in that little dell in-between the fore and aft sections of the ship?” Doc Lady replied.
“Yeah, it’s on the leeward side of the prevailing winds and the most protected area I can think of. I’ll start laying out the burial plots now I guess…” The exhaustion was evident in his voice, but the young Captain was committed to doing as much as he could to help the process, and not just be the one issuing orders.
“No you aren’t sir. Any science officer or engineer can use a measuring stick amd layout graves with 2 metre spacing. You’re heading back up to the ship for a meal and good nights sleep. Doctor’s orders.” She checked her internal chronometer and added, “And if see you back here before 0930 tomorrow morning I’lll relieve you of duty.”
“Aye aye Doc.” The Captain knew better then to argue with the pink exocomp. In all honesty Danny wouldn’t mind taking off the rebreather for a while anyway. He knew he could trust his officers and crew to continue the work. After giving a brief speech to the newly arrived and passing them off to the Doc, he began to walk back towards the beam out point near the Irrawaddy he went over the several disparate duties, details, reports and ceremonies that still need to be planned and organized; the last rights for the fallen, three separate memorial ceremonies, for the burials, internment in space and the cremation, reports on the investigation and the conclusions they had come to, plans to deliver the remains to the next of kin and homeworlds.
After loading up copies of the Captains and ships logs on his padd, he went and took a spot on the transporter padd and prepared to beam back to the ship.
As Wong sat in his quarters he reviewed the logs again as he ate a quick meal.
“Captains Log, September 29th, 2178. Our new passengers are keeping mostly to themselves, but our communications officer has made headway in opening a dialogue with them, they have expressed their gratitude for rescuing them and expressed a desire to return to their own people, my staff is currently trying to find ways to determine where they came from…Zhou is reasonably certain they call themselves Tah Laryans, but whether thats a company, family or species designation is unknown at this time. We detected a category 3 ion storm at 0720h this morning but were able to avoid it with some superb navigational maneuver by our Helm and Navigation staff. We are performing a phase 1 scientific survey as we try to help our marooned passengers. End log.” That was the last log before the crash.
Wong moved on to the next one, which was the beginning of the tragic end of the Trentons story.
“Captain Log, supplemental. We have encountered an intense ion storm, and have been forced into making a crash landing on the planet nearest to the systems star. There are 57 survivors. The ships unsalvageable, and the atmosphere turns out to not be as habitable as we had hoped. We have a plan to establish a livable compartment in the forward portion of the ship, and we estimate that we have roughly 3 or 4 weeks of breathable air and about the same amount of rations, though my chief is working on coming up with a way to extended both of those figures. We have been able to set up a long range transmitter with various gear and ships stores using the limited power remaining in the battery cells, with any luck Starfleet can have a ship respond in the next few weeks. End log.” The Captain sounded stressed but hopeful in this entry.
Wong tapped the console and set the logs to play in order automatically.
“Captains Log, October 1st, 2178. The science department is now reasonable certain that our communications are not able to cut through the ion field that surrounds the planet. My linguist has made some major progress on deciphering our passengers’ language, and some basic communication is now possible. It seems as though they come from a region of space that is only a half dozen light years away. Through the intrepid and unfailing efforts of my XO, chief engineer, and Petty officers Hypoor and Kim, we have been able to recover and ready one of our shuttlepods from the stardrive section. I plan to send the XO, Navigator and our 4 shipwrecked passengers on the shuttle in hopes that they may be able to find someone who could help rescue us, or at least send a communique, as the shuttlepod is limited to short range light speed comms only, and its systems aren’t compatible with the long range transmitter we have assembled here.”
“Captains Log, supplemental, the shuttle has been launched, and our impromptu air purifier and ventilation hard seal is operational, and working well, my engineer is hopeful that it could solve our air problem indefinitely. The lack of food stores even with us reducing ourselves to one quarter rations is the only major issue that we’ll have to contend with.”
“Captains Log. Major wind storm has damaged our air circulator. Our engineer is working on it now, without a fix, we will only have about 10 days of breathable air left.”
“Captains Log, the repairs attempts on the air scrubbers were unsuccessful. We have an alternate plan to use the set of 6 EV suits we have to help extend our limited reserves of oxygen, but even in the best case scenario it will only buy us an additional 4 days. I hope the XO returns soon.”
