They were trained to deal with many different types of situations, each time they did humanitarian aid it became harder and harder not to feel sorry for those hurting. To know what they were going through, not having gone through it themselves. T’Prel sat in the center seat of the Aquarius-class escort as they made their way down to the planet’s surface.

“Sir, we are reaching the landing site.” Ensign Sato looked back at T’Prel from her console for a brief moment.

“Very well Ensign, begin landing procedures,” T’Prel ordered.

“Understood,” Sato replied, tapping her fingers over her consoles which caused the landing struts to begin to extend out, and thrusters came online to slow their landing. The bridge was quiet as everyone watched as the Oneida landed at the coordinates they were given before departure.

After powering down the ship, T’Prel looked around the room as they all stood up and began to walk out of the ship. They were greeted by Javik who was accompanied by another Reman and a Romulan woman.

 “Welcome to Rhijun, this here is my brother Ovisek and this is Nivela.” Javik introduced.

“A pleasure,” T’Prel replied.

One could see looking around how these people lived their lives, the conditions were very poor with many buildings on the verge of collapse. People were walking, going on about their business, and others were sitting outside their makeshift houses looking worse for wear.

There seems to be a small triage area that was set up, there was only a medic who only knew basic first aid. Teila looked horrified, many of them looked as if they had barely eaten for days. Hopefully, with their help, things will begin to improve for them now their oppressors are gone.

“As you can see we need your help,” Javik responded.

“Commander Zoran begin assessing the situation here, see who can be treated here and who needs to be transferred to the ship via the Oneida,” T’Prel ordered looking at the doctor.

“Aye sir,” came her reply as she motioned for Natasha and the others to follow her.

Turning back to Javik, “where can we find the refineries?” T’Prel asked.

Ovisek pointed towards the area just past the settlement, “it is west of here.” He replied looking at T’Prel and the others, “hopefully they can be repaired.” Ovisek added as he knew it would be only a matter of time before more started to fail.

“Commander Piyu, I like you to head towards the refineries with Toran and a couple of engineers.” T’Prel began before pausing for a brief moment, “I would like you to evaluate what needs to be done.” She finished looking at them.

“Understood,” Piyu replied before motioning for the others to follow him.

Nivela was the next to speak up, “a good majority of the people that were here moved to the city.” She began to speak, “these people wanted to stay here.” Nivela said which caused a raised eyebrow from a few of the others remaining. “Mining is all they know, and they want to keep things running here,” Nivela added to the content, the mining has stopped for the time being. Though the refineries are still operating,” she said.

“As you can see a lot of these buildings are in a state of disarray and need major repairs,” Nivela went on to explain while looking at T’Prel. “We do have some building supplies in the warehouse located in the city that the old Governor was withholding that we can use.” She said as Javik tilted his head, “I only knew about it when I overheard him talking about it a few months ago.” She said as if she knew what Javik was going to ask.

“Some of the buildings can be demolished as there are still some good parts that can be reused to build new ones in their place.” Nivela finished talking which seemed to go on, though it was understandable as she is trying to get them better-living conditions.

“That would be agreeable,” T’Prel replied as she thought for a moment that nothing was mentioned about a hospital. “It was mentioned aboard the Saratoga that you will require a hospital here?” She inquired as nothing was brought up yet in that regard.

“That was correct, we were discussing a great deal and feel realistically at this time it would not be feasible. Not until we can get everything else here taken care of and that will take a while.” Javik said looking at them, “We do have a good hospital in the city which we will be setting up a transport site to transfer them over there.” Javik finished as he took a breath.

“That is understandable,” T’Prel replied as she understood that they needed to take care of the other problems before tackling a much larger problem. “Those of us that remain will assist with any repairs of the buildings here,” she replied.

“Lieutenant Holman, I would like you to take a group to begin patrolling the area in case we have any unwanted guests trying to cause trouble.” She ordered looking at the security officer.

“Understood,” Brian replied.

Looking back at Javik for a moment, “Is there anyone that can assist us with these repairs? The more hands we have the more we can accomplish,” she said.

Javik thought for a moment before turning to Ovisek, “call those who are willing to help to meet with T’Prel for orders.” He said as Ovisek nodded in agreement before heading off to gather the others.

“Is there anything else you need from me?” Javik asked, looking at her.

“Not at this time,” T’Prel replied. “We will keep you updated,” she added as he nodded in reply before heading off to the warehouse as he needed to get those supplies marked for transport.

T’Prel just stood quietly there for a moment looking at everything, “do you think they will survive on their own once we leave?” Nehi asked a question as she had been the quietest the whole time they had been here.

T’Prel looked at her, “I believe so they have the drive to and you can see it shows.” T’Prel said in response to Nehi’s question as she just nodded in response. After a few short minutes, they walked to where they needed to be to help with repairing buildings and building new ones in place of those that were falling apart.

****

The shuttle had approached Rhijun’s second moon, “begin sensor scan of the moon as I would like to know what we are walking into.” Jheria ordered as one of the engineers tapped a few buttons on the console in front of him.

“Interesting,” he said, which caused Jheria to look at him.

“What is so interesting Ensign?” Jheria asked.

Looking over at the Commander, “according to these readings there is a breathable atmosphere on the surface.” The Ensign replied, looking at her.

“Probably why they chose that moon to mine,” replied another engineer next to the Ensign.

“Indeed,” Jheria replied as they began to land the shuttle.

Once the shuttle had safely landed they all exited and began to look around, “they seemed to have abandoned this rather quickly.” The Ensign commented as they began to walk in the direction of where the refineries were located about a few yards ahead of them.

“It would seem so,” Jheria said as items looked like they just were left behind, no one bothered to grab anything before they left. As they continued on their way, the buildings were still intact and in good condition. Jheria made a note to inform the Captain as they could probably use a lot of the building material down on the planet.

Scanning the area as they walked as he seemed very perplexed, “I wonder why they stopped mining here?” He asked as the moon still was very rich in minerals that made this sector so valuable.

“Your guess is about as good as mine,” Jheria replied as she too was getting the same readings he was. After they arrived at their destination, she noticed that there were about twenty refineries there and all of them were powered down.

“Let’s spread out, report your findings back to me when finished,” Jheria ordered as they all went in opposite directions as they began their work in evaluating whether or not they still worked as well as if they would be able to take them apart for transport down to the planet below.

As Jheria was working her commbadge went off, “Commander could you come over here I found something.” Came the reply from one of the engineers who had stumbled upon a sight that made her feel sad.

“On my way,” Jheria replied as she made her way southwest of where she was currently located. When she arrived at where the Ensign was located she looked at her, “What is going on?” She asked as it looked like she might have seen a ghost.

“I don’t think they left this place,” the Ensign replied as she pointed in the direction of shallow graves. There were many of them, if she had to guess it would be like in the hundreds.

Jheria let out a sigh, “that would explain why things were left behind,” Jheria said solemnly as she bowed her head for a brief moment. This was their final resting place, they didn’t get a chance to leave this place.

“We better get back to work,” Jheria said as both of them walked back and began to get to work scanning each one of them. Jheria was surprised that the equipment had remained in such good condition and all have been found still working.

After finishing gathering all the information she tapped her commbadge to contact the ship. “Captain, we have concluded our investigation,” Jheria replied as she stood there.

“What did you find?” Dex asked.

Jheria began to explain everything that they discovered, “so we will be able to dismantle everything and have it beamed down to the planet using transporter enhancers on both ends.” Jheria finished speaking as she looked around at her team.

“How long do you think it will take?” Was the next question she asked.

“If I could get a few more officers here to assist, we can have it done within a couple of days,” Jheria replied as it was going to take a lot to get these taken apart and prepped from transport.

“Understood, we will send a second engineering team your way,” Dex replied.

“Thank you,” Jheria replied before the communications channel ended. They had made their way back to the shuttle to grab the tools they would need to begin to take them apart as well as the transporter enhancers they would need to set up.

****

“Captain Dex to Commander T’Prel,” Azras said over the comm channel.

Raising an eyebrow she tapped her commbadge, “go ahead, Captain.” T’Prel said as she had stopped what she was working on.

“Is Javik with you?” Azras asked.

“No, though his assistant Nivela is here with me,” T’Prel responded which caused Nivela to stop and walk over to where T’Prel was.

“Very well,” Azras began, taking note that she would have to try to contact him afterward to inform him of the other thing they discovered on the moon. “We do have some good news to share about what we found on the moon,” replied Azras.

Nivela perked up as T’Prel raised an eyebrow, “what would that be?” T’Prel asked as she looked at Nivela.

“The refinery equipment is all in working order, they have begun the process of dismantling them for transport,” Azras said before taking a pause. “We also found buildings here that are also in good condition considering no one has lived in them for a decade,” Azras replied before continuing with the conversation.

“The team will also be dismantling them for transport in hopes it helps build some new buildings or repair older ones.” Azras finished before waiting on a response.

“That is wonderful news,” Nivela couldn’t help but speak up. “How long will that take?” She asked as T’Prel looked at her.

“A couple of days give or take, we will keep you updated,” Azras replied.

“Understood Captain,” T’Prel replied as the comm channel ended. It had been a couple of hours since they had begun, so she decided that she would take a break to get status reports from each of the teams to see how they are doing.

Turning to Nivela, “I will be back in a few minutes.” T’Prel replied as she walked off in the direction where Teila was located. After arriving she noticed she was already treating patients.

“Status?” T’Prel said, which caused Teila to look up from what she was doing.

“So far only about a handful of them are being sent to the Oneida to be brought aboard the Saratoga for treatment.” Teila replied looking at her, “the rest we have been able to treat here.” Teila added, “then again we have only begun so I am sure the Onedia will be taking a few groups at a time up to the ship.” She finished before she turned back to the patient she was helping.

“Keep me updated,” T’Prel replied before she headed off in the direction of where the refineries were located. After about five minutes of walking, she arrived and found that Piyu was scanning one of the equipment.

Piyu had just finished when he noticed T’Prel walk up, “what can I do for you, Commander?” Piyu asked as he looked at her, using this as a time to take a break.

“Came to get a status report,” T’Prel replied.

“Some of them are in pretty bad shape,” he began. “Some just need simple part replacement while others need the whole thing replaced because they are beyond repair.” Piyu replied with a sigh, “if we don’t get these working soon the others will start to fail even though they are working at half the speed they normally will run.” Piyu added with more bad news.

“Well, then I bring some good news, that the refinery equipment that we found on the planet’s second moon is all operational. They are in the process of dismantling them for transport.” T’Prel said as she stood there.

“Wonderful, that is really good news.” Piyu said with a sigh of relief, “how long will that take?” he asked.

“About a couple of days give or take,” T’Prel replied.

“Understood,” Piyu replied.

“So until then, can you and your team help us with the buildings?” T’Prel asked, looking at him.

“Of course seeing that until we get those parts there is nothing more I can do here,” he replied as he called his officers over and they all headed back towards the village. Once they arrived they began to get to work, things were going to take time and wouldn’t happen overnight. They would assist them with what they needed assistance with and wouldn’t leave until they all were satisfied that they would survive on their own.