“Captain’s log, stardate seven-seven-three-six-four point eight-one. The Odyssey has arrived on the edge of the Vorash system. We’re moving in to investigate the settlement status and the missing freighters.”

Sitting calmly and composed in his chair, McCallister was waiting patiently (just like everyone else) to find out why the settlement was ignoring them. Looking to Horin, who was sitting beside him to the left, McCallister quietly asked her if she could sense anything. “Counsellor, anything?”

Not being the only telepathic person on the bridge, Horin knew why the captain wanted her beside him. It wasn’t for therapy but for her to use her abilities, while others like Hunsen, T’Rani and Flemen focused on their work. With Vorash having a sizable Reman population, McCallister had reminded those who could sense their thoughts to prepare for anything. Closing her eyes for a second, Horin attempted to reach out. Opening her eyes, she gently nodded in the captain’s direction. “They’re out there, sir.” She paused and reached out one more time. “Something is blocking me from reaching their minds, though.”

Flemen, sitting in the aft mission ops compartment, spoke up after overhearing the counsellor’s remark. “I’m sensing a mixture of emotions, nothing overly concerning.”

Glancing over to his chief science officer for further clarity, McCallister called upon her enlightening them on what was happening. “Commander Banfield, please tell me you have some answers.”

“I do, sir,” Banfield answered. Her finger taps continued to fly at impressive speeds as she reviewed the sensor readings at an equally remarkable rate. “We’re getting a better view of the planet as we get closer.” She pressed two buttons that transferred the feed from visual sensors onto the main screen before them. Popping up quickly was the image of a small M-class world orbiting an enormous gas giant with a range of whirls of blue, white and green gases. It almost looked like the merging of Neptune and Andor before them. 

Standing up in reaction to the visual before him, McCallister was surprised at what they were witnessing. Duncan had joined him by his side, both men wearing similar joint expressions of confusion and concern. The captain did not recall the same image of Vorash from his last encounter as what was before him now. Where he remembered seeing a lush, blue, white and green world was now replaced by one that was a lot darker. Heavy amounts of grey and purple clouds swirled above in the atmosphere. “What’s happening to the atmosphere?”

Banfield answered straight away. “There’s a great deal of trinimbic interference in the upper atmosphere. I can’t get a straightforward reading of the surface.”

“What’s causing it?” Duncan questioned.

“Unknown; we’d have to conduct further studies,” Banfield responded, looking up from her console. “We won’t be able to transport through this kind of interference.”

 “I might be able to take an away team in a shuttlecraft.” Duncan offered.

T’Rani then interjected; she, too, was looking up from the helm as she addressed the first officer. “Commander, that would not be wise, as the atmosphere is charged with trinimbic turbulence. None of our smaller support crafts could safely navigate the currents.”

“Not even the Telemachus?” Duncan asked. 

Shaking her head, T’Rani replied. “The Telemachus may survive some of the journey, but I am concerned her atmospheric thrusters may become overwhelmed by the turbulence, resulting in a crash landing.”

 McCallister and Duncan looked at one another, agreeing that they wouldn’t take that course of action by their expressions. Retaking their seats, the two senior officers considered their options.

“Then what else could we do?” Duncan asked aloud to everyone.

Clearing his throat, Tomaz (who had stood up from the mission ops stations and moved to stand almost behind the three central seats) shared his suggestion. “We could land the ship.”

“Is that essential to our mission objectives?” T’Rani quickly countered back. 

Shrugging his shoulders, the Barzan man offered a defence to his idea. “We’re up here; they’re down there. How else are we going to find out what their status is?”

Horin looked to McCallister. “Tomaz does have a point, sir. We could not properly communicate with the settlers; none of us will be able to speak to them through that interference.”

“Sir, we wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone in orbit once we landed.” Banfield reminded him. “If and when Grand DaiMon Deliaros arrives and the vessel from the Romulan Republic, they will not know where we are.”

“Perhaps we should keep the Telemachus in orbit to stand on guard?” suggested Lenjir from the security and tactical station. 

Jen then joined in with the conversation. “We may find that we need the Telemachus on the planet if we land.” The Trill operations manager looked over to T’Rani. “How long until the Ferengi arrive?”

“Approximately, two-point-five hours.” The pilot answered after checking her readings. 

Everyone then stared at the captain, awaiting his orders.

McCallister looked at Duncan. “Thoughts, Number One?”

“I don’t think we have much choice, but I’m with Lukiz on keeping the Telemachus with us.” Duncan answered.

Nodding in appreciation for his input, McCallister drummed his fingers on the arms of his chair for a second. “Lukiz, send a message to the Grand DaiMon, informing her of our discovery. Share our scans of the planet and that we are preparing to make further investigation.” He then looked toward T’Rani. “Lieutenant Commander T’Rani, prepare the ship for landing.”

Appearing somewhat at a discomfort at that order, T’Rani had turned her chair to face her superior. “Sir, it would be unmissable of me if I do not remind you that we have never landed the ship since its launch.”

Smirking at sensing the apprehension in her tone, McCallister nodded. “As they say, there’s no time like the present,” He then tapped the button on his armchair and opened a communications channel to engineering. “Bridge to Commander Hunsen, We’re going to land the ship, Tremt. Take the warp core offline, vent all plasma from the nacelles and standby to engage atmospheric thrusters.”

The chief engineer had a slight pause before he eventually spoke up. “Err, sir, did you say you that we’re landing the ship?”

“We certainly are, Tremt,” McCallister confirmed with a smirk. He had always wanted to do this with the Odyssey. He looked at his first officer, who took his cue to do the next thing. “Code Blue.” 

After opening a ship-wide channel, the first officer’s voice echoed throughout the vessel. The sound effect of the boatswain’s whistle was heard first. “All hands, this is the bridge. We are preparing to land the ship. Go to blue alert and report to code blue stations.

The computer immediately responded to the order and dimmed the light on the bridge, turning the computer displays into Code Blue mode; the blinking of blue lights began alongside the usual low-level thrumming klaxon. 

“T’Rani, plot a decent course, land us at least two kilometres away from the original settlement.” McCallister ordered.

The Vulcan pilot acknowledged with a singular nod before announcing the preparation needed to undertake their upcoming  “Atmospheric controls at standby. Landing mechanisms online. Inertial dampers at maximum.” Looking up from her controls, she told everyone she was ready.

“Shouldn’t we be wearing our seatbelts?” Horin asked from her chair.

Appreciating that this was the first time they had landed the ship, which was huge, McCallister looked at Duncan and nodded to follow the counsellor’s idea. Everyone sitting down at their stations automatically had their seat belts appear around them. Those standing had their stalls appear behind them from the deck plating; after they sat down in them, the seatbelts crossed over them to strap them in. 

“All decks report condition blue, sir.” Duncan stated after he checked on his console.

Appreciating the update, McCallister turned his focus back to his pilot. “Take us down, T’Rani, nice and carefully.” 

Exhaling slowly and carefully, T’Rani tapped away at the helm control; Odyssey began its dive into the planet below. At first, it burst through the upper atmosphere with little ease; a tinge of orange and white sparked up against the outer hull as the ship’s deflectors adjusted for the extra external pressure. The ship slightly shuddered as it got over the first hurdle. As it approached the next one, all felt a more significant wave of turbulence as it hit the ship from below.

“We are on the glide trajectory, sir,” T’Rani reported, sounding slightly more assured of her current piloting skills. “Altitude is one hundred and forty kilometres; speed remains steady at seven thousand k-p-h.” She paused as the ship shuddered once again. “We are encountering some trinimbic turbulence. I am attempting to compensate.” 

Odyssey danced across the dark grey and purple clouds, pushing gently through each one without much resistance. The odd lighting bolt hit against the shields.

“Shields are at ninety-two percent.” announced Lenjir.

The rumbling started to ease; the vessel eventually passed through the last layers of the atmosphere and broke through to see the actual colony below. 

“Beginning full sensor sweeps of the planet’s surface.” Banfield notified. Once again, her impressive skill at manipulating the controls on the science station to see what was out there came in handy when their view of Vorash was clearer.

“We are thirty kilometres to the settlement. We should be able to see it now.” T’Rani shared.

“Onscreen.” Duncan ordered.

Immediately the main viewer changed to show the settlement. Nothing appeared out of place. There were no fires, no riots, nothing to suggest any foul play. The settlement appeared to be going about its daily life. All was normal.

“Just as I remember,” McCallister said to no one particularly. “Extend landing struts. Prepare to release inertial dampers and adjust them to match the planet’s gravity.”

“Landing struts are down and locked.” T’Rani stated.

Jen then followed her with his update. “Environmental controls are on standby.”

“Here we go.” Horin said, almost wincing as she held tightly onto her seat.

Odyssey gracefully landed with a gentle hiss and a small thud as the struts hit the ground below.

“I am disengaging engines; the thrusters exhaust is secure.” T’Rani declared. “We are safely down, sir.” 

Pleased to hear that, McCallister congratulated her and the rest of his crew for a well-executed manoeuvre. Tapping the button on his chair’s arm that released his seatbelt and everyone else’s, he stood up straight afterwards. “Can we hail the colony now?”

Jen appeared to have been working on that, but he didn’t seem to get anywhere with his efforts. “Sorry, sir, but no one is answering us.” His frustration was apparent in his expression.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting a lot of pomp and circumstance from the Qowat Milat, but someone must have just seen us flying over,” McCallister stated. He wasn’t prepared to wait, especially as time was now a factor. “Cline, Tomaz and Craigen, you’re with me.” He started to head towards the turbolift. “Number One, you have the bridge and have Doctor Slyvexs join us.”

Usually, Duncan would have opposed McCallister leading the away teams, but they had already discussed that it had to be him meeting with the Qowat Milat first along with Hazard Team Alpha. “Aye, sir.” Duncan said.

As he reached the doors to the lift, McCallister span on his feet. “Corella and Lukiz, work with Tremt to see if we can break through this trinimbic interference to see and hear what is happening above us.” 

Both officers nodded in confirmation.

Stepping into the cart, McCallister looked at his away team. “Have any of you driven an Argo type ground vehicle before?”

“I can’t say I have.” Flemen claimed.

“No, sir.” Lenjir replied. 

“Only in a simulation, captain.” Tomaz answered.

“Excellent, you’re about to experience something quite fun then.” McCallister remarked with a grin. “And before I forget, whoever ends up with the doctor, make sure you strap in well.” 

The turbolift doors quickly closed as the cart took them down to the main shuttle bay. All that could be heard was the three men gulping after being told that Sylvexs would be behind the wheel of one of the ground vehicles they would be taking.