The Fireworks Plot
Posted on Mon Jul 5th, 2021 @ 7:47pm by Ensign Davna & Lieutenant Alan Harrison & Lieutenant Serra V'lon & Lieutenant Colonel Shaun Bradley & Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason
Edited on on Tue Jul 27th, 2021 @ 7:07pm
1,893 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Frizzle
Location: Kocoa Caverns, 13 Clicks from Haumea Proper
Timeline: MD 02 : 0350 Hrs
It may not have taken long for the information to be compiled and dispersed from the yeoman's PaDD and to the appropriate people, but it took just a hair longer for the research team to arrive on site. The random happenstance of the re-appearance of their missing charges came just on the heels of a science scan. And that scan revealed more than a few tachyon particles.
Deep within the confines of the caverns lay a massive tree, with a small growth of flora surrounding it. But, without being able to lay eyes upon it, all they were left with were readings and a few guesses. All they knew was that getting into this deeper cavern, which very conveniently held the students, would require them to carve a hole out of a very big rock side.
"So..." Davna began, looking between the assembled experts, laying down another PaDD that had a list of resources she had compiled, short of whatever the Lieutenant Colonel had with his Marine contingent. "... That's what we have."
Shaun had been listening, but his eyes were fixed on the reports his own teams were feeding back about the cave in. A few preliminary tests of phaser fire had proved that simply carving through the rock would take too long. A couple demolition experts were planning to try a combination of breaching tools, but from the reports were taking time to carefully check for weaknesses in the walls and the rocks themselves, lest they make the problem worse. They thought they could burrow a few holes through - assuming no one was on the other side - but didn't want to jump in without thinking. His eyes moved up to the yeoman, back to his own PaDD, then to Arnason and the other Starfleet officers.
"From our side, we could blast through, the cave walls are safe right now. That said, it's not a narrow blockage. Marines are seeing if we can jury rig a collection of phase emitters together and try and punch smaller holes through to begin an excavation. But if you want explosive options, nothing short of a microtorpedo is going to get through that." Again, the Colonel's eyes darted to the medical officer and back. "And I don't think we're that desperate yet."
"I certainly hope not," Arnason said, cringing inwardly at the idea. Being trapped underground was bad enough; feeling the rock round you shake and bits falling... He suppressed shudder. Explosive options.., helvitis, I don't think even Burnie would consider that here. He paused, thinking about what the engineer had actually done with crew buried under rubble. It wasn't quite the same situation, but still... "Can I ask a potentially stupid question? Is there a reason we can't use transporters to remove the rocks forming the blockage, or if those are too large, transport out thin cylinders of stone make those small holes to begin excavation? Between transporters on your Marine shuttles and some portable force shields, it seems like we ought to be able to create a stable passage to the people down there."
Alan had been thinking about something else when he heard Gunnar's engineering question, "That could be an alternative approach, but it's quite a bit of rock to get through and we can't guarantee that the shaft will hold without reinforcement as we go down. But if we can do it just ahead of reinforcing the rock, it might just work."
Gunnar crossed his arms. "If there's concern the shaft won't hold without reinforcement I don't see how can you even consider trying to blast or punch through with explosives or weaponry." He shook his head. "I'm not an engineer and don't pretend to any expertise there, but if the walls aren't stable enough to remove material slowly and precisely, how does removing it explosively improve matters?"
Shaun looked between them, his face contorting in confusion, which then was replaced by as mask of understanding. "Transporters don't seal the surrounding material. Think of it like the different between just extracting an embedded object during surgery versus cauterizing the wound to keep it from continuing to bleed," he said. "You can pull the foreign object out, but if nothing stops it from filling back in it will just fill back up. Its why we're going to try and use high energy drills first, as the beams punch through the rock face, they superheat and contain the rock. If we needed to use explosives, we'd use shaped charges to do the same thing, just on a much larger scale." Marines did it all the time, but it was definitely something he could understand being a foreign concept to most Starfleet personnel who didn't have to make due. "Even then, if we're going to blow a hole we'd still have to put reinforcements in place quick, and pick exactly where we want to blast through first for maximum stability. It's not the ideal decision, but if needed its always an option."
Alan was surprised by the thoroughness of Shaun's explanation, "Well said, sir. We're also trying to limit the total amount of drilling or blasting, given that there's always the smallest probability that something could go wrong even if we're trying the safest methods available."
"Safest is precisely my concern here, particularly with respect to using explosives. I've been underground with explosives hitting the surface to penetrate to our position and..." Gunnar paused, swallowing, "... 'safe' is not how I recall the experience. I can understand the analogy to cauterizing for a drill, and I thank you for that," he said nodding to the marine, "but I really don't see it for explosives. As you probably know cauterizing hasn't been a standard medical procedure for nearly two centuries now. In fact, we use micro force fields to support and limit bleeding from the surrounding soft tissue during surgical extractions and move them progessively to expose areas for autosuture while closing. I'd only resort to cauterization in extreme circumstances - far from medical facilities and without most of the tools in a medkit or even a basic IFAK." He lifted eyebrows at them. "And even then I can't imagine a circumstance under which I'd cauterize a wound with a grenade."
"Actually..." Alan responded after a few seconds of thinking, "You might be onto something there. If we can find a way to extend a force field along the drill or transporters path, we could stabilize the entire shaft and prevent causing any structural instability in the caverns in the short term - at least until we rescue everyone. As for the long term, we can cross that bridge when we come to it..."
"Marine Zero-Pressure breaching cutters use a projected force field to keep pressure for when you make the jump from an Archer to the ground of wherever you're punching into - keeps you from needing cover right off the bat." Shaun nodded along with the Engineer's words. "I bet you your team could modify them pretty easy to work in this space. Could be a little more reckless with the drill and reinforce section by section." He keyed into his PaDD to pull up the specs and passed it across to Alan. "Bet we could drill through 5 meters, put up a series of stabilizers, then move along. Wouldn't be fast by any means, but a whole hell of a lot faster than trying to convince a transporter to work a way it ain't supposed to. Hell, you could probably refit the breaching tools to glass the walls too, best of both worlds."
"I take it you've used these in the field or training before, sir?" Alan said while taking a look at the specs. He was worried the power output might be a bit too high, but they could always adjust it down if needed.
"Not the Mark 3's that the Marine's will have here no. I trained on the originals, which were missing a lot of safety features that these have. Old ones would go until they didn't and never warn you. These ones will overload and warn you before they fail." The Colonel paused to think of just how the statement aged him more than he expected, and he smiled. "I'm sure many of the boys and girls here could tell you more about the operation and what they can do. And I'll agree to cover my ears when they tell you how they've modified them in the past."
Gunnar nodded quietly and took a step back. The conversation was moving into technical details where he had neither expertise nor reason to comment. He wasn't especially comfortable with references to safety features being modified or over written but discussion of torpedoes and explosives had been discarded in favor of cutting and drilling with force fields used to enhance stability. He was going to take that as a win and get back to the area where he really did have experience that could count for something.
Serra approached the small group that had been deep in discussion. Her enhanced hearing had given her enough of the conversation. It was an adequate solution. She might have used some sort of carbonic acid compound to break down certain minerals in the rock to enable an easier time of it, but her expertise was not in geology and they had seemed intent on letting the marines make things blow up.
"I recommend additional caution with the use of any explosive device," she interjected into the conversation. "At this point we have limited understanding of the interaction it may have with the elevated tachyon levels present deeper in the cavern structure. Furthermore I would surmise that the science team would be deeply upset were anything to happen to the natural fauna present throughout this area." She motioned to the ceiling of the cavern, where vague roots dangled a couple of inches.
"Again, we'll only blast if we have to," Shaun said, raising his hands and a smile spreading. "Marines like their fireworks, but would prefer if they don't necessarily come down around us." He looked between the gathered group. "If we're going to try and bore, I need to get teams ready and in place, some some tools brought down. I'm going to leave you to your devices and be back. I'll also see about having a probe core brought down, we can use it to extend our communication range, see if we can't cut through your interference." Nodding to the gaggle of officers, he spun on his heels and made back towards his own landing craft, flagging a couple of Marines to follow him as he went.
Looking over to his engineering team, Alan said, "You heard the Colonel -- Let's see how we can reinforce that tunnel!" Whether they ended up using a teleporter or a laser, they would still need to make sure the tunnel didn't collapse or unduly harm the surrounding caverns. It seemed a chat with Chief Nilsson was in order.
Davna looked between the surrounding group as she was taking her notes. It always led to explosions. As everyone began to busy themselves with the plan, she looked back to where the Captain seemed to be, busying himself with other matters. "... And I'll make sure Captain Mahone is aware of the situation."
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