Descent

Posted on Wed Jan 27th, 2010 @ 4:12pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Peter Brown & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant JG Winter Balmorra

Mission: Borderline Diplomacy
Location: Aeroshuttle
Timeline: MD07 - 1554hrs

As the away party climbed into the spacious Aeroshuttle, Vorn took the pilot's chair and began the preflight checks as he powered up the small craft. As a Captain's yacht, the ship had barely been used since he took command of the Iapetus, and he had actually been looking for a situation like this to test the ship out. As the preflights turned green on his console, he initiated the sequence which would undock them from the ship - attached as it was to the underside of the saucer, the craft required precision to undock safely, and so the undocking was handled by the computer.

Winter sat down in the chair behind the Captain and across from Jordan, taking a look at the science panel.

Peter was sitting at the back of the aeroshuttle, not speaking. He was silent, just sitting there.

As the small ship began to glide away from her 'parent', Vorn locked onto the locator beacon the Bevrudl had set as their landing location, and stood, heading aft to begin collecting equipment for the away mission.

The tactical officer began planning out situations. Admittedly, he was fairly certain that there was nothing untoward going on but he was damned if he was going to be taking chances.

Winter turned to Jordan. "You didn't bring a phaser did you?" She asked.

"I'm sure I don't need to remind you Doctor, that it is standard procedure for an away team to carry both a tricorder and a phaser," Vorn said before Jordan had the chance to respond, returning from the aft compartment with a set of belts to go over their uniforms. "Besides, they're looking for someone strong to protect them in joining the Federation. We'll all carry type-I's, so as not to be... overbearing in our armament," he finished, as he handed out the small devices. Type I phasers were small - about the size of an average man's palm, and designed to be discrete, though they seemed to have fallen out of favour on most ships in comparison with the larger, Type II phaser in recent years.

"I prefer the type two." Winter said. "Easier to handle." She pointed out.

Jordan looked across at her. "Well, hopefully you won't need it, Doctor but there's no chance that we're stepping off this shuttle unarmed."

"I plan to do this all diplomatically and I would prefer it if you didn't wand a phaser around at the negotiations." Winter said.

"Of course, Doctor. After all, all I am is a meat-headed gun-toting security guard." Jordan retorted sarcastically.

"I wouldn't call you meat headed." Winter said. "I would lean towards trigger happy."

"Charming." Jordan muttered.

Peter just rolled his eyes at how the Doctor and Chief Tactical Officer argued. He chuckled to himself about it as he stood up, heading towards the door into the aft compartment.

As the shuttle began to enter the atmosphere, Vorn moved forward and retook his seat at the pilot's station, hearing the chirp of the com as he sat down. Looking over at the readout, he told the rest of the away team "They're sending us yet another escort to take us down through the atmosphere. They sure do like their flight regulations here."

Jordan thought about scanning the craft again, out of sheer bloody-mindedness but decided against it. "I don't doubt their air traffic procedures are well rehearsed, sir. Either that or we're more... special to them than they'd have us believe."

The trio of craft - two Bevrudl and one Federation - glided through the blues and whites of the mid-afternoon sky until they broke through the light cloud covering, and they were able to glimpse the capital city through the viewports. A veritable hive of activity, the capital was situated right on the coastline, but instead of a beach, the water's edge was lined with buildings and piers - but instead of moorings for watercraft, the piers seemed to have landing pads for shuttle and runabout-sized craft, perched out over the calm sea. It was towards one of these that they were guided.

"Picturesque, isn't it?" Jordan observed before turning to the captain with a wicked smile on his face. "Hope we don't have to shoot out any of that marvellous scenery."

"I should hope so." Winter said, looking out the window.

"Well, at least there haven't been any surprises," replied Peter

Piloting the shuttle to a gentle landing, Vorn began cutting the power to its systems as it settled onto its landing struts. Looking out through the nose viewport, which was directed towards the city itself, he saw a party of about ten individuals approaching along the pier. "Looks like our welcoming party has arrived." Climbing out of his chair, he headed aft, towards the docking hatch.

_____________________________________

Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer

Commander Peter Brown
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

Lieutenant Jordan Gunning
Chief Security & Tactical Officer

Lieutenant (JG) Winter Balmorra M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
USS Iapetus [NCC-83721]