Arrival At Inti

Posted on Thu Dec 19th, 2019 @ 12:06am by Captain Alistar McKeon & Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Grace Winters PhD

2,044 words; about a 10 minute read

The planet known as Inti loomed ahead of Endeavour as the ship dropped out of warp and banked towards an orbital path. On the bridge, Alistar leaned back in his chair and watched. The journey to Inti had been long, and he knew his crew was looking forward to getting off of the ship and exploring the planet a bit. Alistar had sent a transmission ahead and requested a meeting with the colonial leader, which he was hoping had been approved. As the Endeavour entered a standard orbit, he stood and nodded to Silvisi to join him.

"Commander Sato, you have the bridge," he said before he headed towards the transporter room with Silvisi in tow.

Isabella stood and joined the captain as he started towards the turbo-lift doors. She offered Commander Sato a nod of her head as she passed the other woman, but said nothing. There hadn't been much in the computer about Inti, either on the planet or the colony itself other than it was a science colony. That small fact had brought about a longing to get the pleasantries out of the way and hope that the Endeavour and her crew would be allowed to begin a little digging of their own. It had been an extremely long time since they had been on a purely scientific mission, and the possibility to have an entire star system to poke around in actually made her feel hopeful about the Endeavour being assigned to the region.

As they continued to the transporter room, Isabella raised an eyebrow towards McKeon. "Do you think that the colony administrator will allow us to explore the planet and the system on our own?" she asked hopefully.

"I certainly hope so," Alistar answered as they arrived at the transporter room and stopped on the transporter pad. "I don't see any reason why not, as long as everyone behaves and we don't rile up the natives. Energize," he said to the petty officer manning the controls.

[Inti Colony]

The group materialized in the center of a plaza with trees, walkways, and a large fountain. To the north and south were two large Mayan-style pyramids. Along the east and west sides were several buildings.

A small group was waiting nearby. "Welcome to Inti," a woman dressed in a casual business suit greeted them.

As soon as the transporter beam released him Alistar circled and took in as much detail as he possibly could in the few seconds he had. The pyramids reminded him of the Mayan temples he had read about on Earth and he was thankful for the trees that were placed so they blocked the bright midday sun. He focused on the group of civilians and instantly fell into a modified parade rest stance. "Thank you," he said. "I'm Captain Alistar McKeon, commanding officer of the USS Endeavour. This is Commander Silvisi, my first officer and chief of science."

The woman smiled. "I'm Abigail Dawson. This is Edmund Dantes. The colony was established to test 19th and 20th century terran farming techniques to help colonists get back to the land. We're also doing extensive scientific research and exploration. The buildings here, the spaceport, and the Marine compound have modern tech. The colony itself uses more rustic facilities. No replicators." She smiled. "We can give you a tour, or go to my office and talk."

"If you don't mind, I'd rather we head to your office," Alistar said, even though he was wanting to take a look around. Hopefully, that wouldn't be too far in the future.

Isabella raised her eyebrows but remained silent in order to hide her disappointment at the captain's choice. While there hadn't been much in the Endeavour's computers about Inti Colony, what had been there had made her curiosity about the planet, and by extension the system. Silently, she clasped her hands behind her back. She could wait to enjoy the planet later, but not willingly.

Abby nodded. "All right. Come this way."

She led them to one of the two Mayan temples. "This is Inti Temple. Science and administration share this building. We have a library, museum, and various science departments here. Hetty is the secretary and receptionist. If I'm not around, she can help you with just about anything."

A gray-haired woman stood as the group walked into the main reception area. "Hello there. Good to see new faces. I'm Hetty."

As they passed the receptionist's desk, Isabella made a point to pause and give the woman, Hetty, a friendly and welcoming smile and nod before she continued on after the others.

"They want to talk first," Abby aid. "Chat with their Quartermaster and see if there's anything they need."

Hetty nodded. "Will do. I've ordered refreshments. They'll be in your office."

"Thanks." Abby led them past the large front desk and down a hall to a small turbolift. "Only the buildings around the plaza use them. And the spaceport., Most of us just use the stairs."

When they were all on the lift, the door closed and Abby pushed the button for the top floor. The door opened onto an alcove that led to a large open area with a door leading to Abby's office. Large windows looked out over the plaza and the path to the village.

Abby opened her door, which also had a large window overlooking over the mountains.

Isabella couldn't help but smile as she noticed the window. Taking a moment to herself, she turned and walked towards the window in order to take in the view. It seemed to be intentional, but even if it wasn't she had to admire the pleasing scenery. After a few moments, she turned away from the window and took her place beside Captain McKeon once more.

"Nice view," Alistar commented out loud, hiding a smile as he watched his first officer take a closer look at the scenery. He instead turned his attention to the office and its contents, then turned his gaze towards Dawson herself. He studied her carefully but with a decent amount of respect. After a few seconds he nodded. "Ms Dawson, what has Starfleet told you of our presence here?" he asked.

"One of the perks of working on Inti is the view." Abby said, indicating that they should have a seat. Refreshments had been set out on the table. "As for what I've been told, not as much as I would like," she admitted. "They have a tendency to leave me out of the loop. So, why are you here, captain?"

Isabella sat down while studying the tray of refreshments. Settling into her chair, she reached out and grabbed a cheese slice. She silently wished that there was a bottle of wine to go along with it as she settled back and listened as McKeon spoke.

"Our orders are to conduct exploration duties throughout this sector and the surrounding region while using Inti Colony as our port of call and primary base of operations. In addition, we're to support your efforts during emergency situations," Alistar said as he pulled a Padd out and handed it to Dawson. "A full copy of our standing orders and a few notes on the Endeavour and our capabilities," he added.

Abby skimmed through the PADD, nodding. "We haven't done much with the Wiracocha nebula, or some of the other planets in the system. We meant to, but there's always been something else more pressing. There's one other inhabited planet in the system. It's not a Federation world. And there are pirates in the Otomi system. They generally leave us alone, but I wouldn't go into their territory." She copied the PADD to her computer. "Other than tha, you're welcome here."

"Well, I'm pretty sure Commander Silvisi has a few requests for her department, but I do want to request shore leave for off duty crew," Alistar said. "And do you happen to have a briefing report on the pirates by chance? Just in case we get, um, lost?"

"I do. I'll forward it to you," Abby said. "For shore leave, you're welcome, but let them know we have few amenities here. There's a resort on Copacaati. They're welcome there as well. Each island on the planet is its own government, so you'll need to be careful where your crew takes shore leave." She waved a hand out the window. "However, if they like getting back to nature, we have plenty of that."

"Well, some of our crew might like that," Alistar said. "Although if it's that rustic, quiet and doesn't have a high population saturation per acreage I might just crash the whole bloody ship on a beach somewhere kick the crew off and retire."

"I know how you feel," Abby said. "I was talked out of retirement to run this place, and I don't regret it."

"I do have a question, Miss Dawson," Isabella said. "I have a number of people on my science staff who have expressed an interest in conducting experiments on the planet. Some we can conduct from the Endeavour, but a few will require us to be on site and our archaeologist has requested to visit a few of the ruins that haven't been explored closely. Would any of this be possible? Naturally, we'll share any information we discover with you and your science department."

"We've mapped out the sites on the main continent," Abby said, pulling out a PADD and slipping it into a slot in her desk. "But we have a number of sites on other parts of the planet we haven't looked at yet. You're welcome to explore any of those sites." She loaded the archaeological data onto the PADD and handed it to Isabella. "That's everything we know so far."

"Thank you," Isabella said as she accepted the Padd and started skimming through the information. She would have to upload the data into the Endeavour computer core once she returned to the ship and go over it with her staff. "Are there any dangerous animals on the planet that we may need to know about?"

"We have a few natural predators, but nothing you can't keep away with a phaser," Abby said. "At least on the main continent. I don't know about the islands."

"I see," Isabella said as she nodded her head. "Thank you, Miss Dawson."

"You're welcome. Is there anything else you'd like to know?" Abby asked.

"I believe that this will cover and answer any questions I have for now," Isabella said. "If I have any further questions, I will be sure to let you know. However, you mentioned that there is a nebula that your science team has been wanting to take a closer look at. With the captain's permission, I'd like to offer to put the Endeavour and our science capabilities at your disposal for a joint scientific venture. I'm sure our crew would love nothing more than to enjoy a nice, quiet, and ultimately boring scientific survey mission."

Abby chuckled. "We'd welcome a joint venture to look at the Wiracocha nebula, but I should warn you, exploration around here is seldom quiet or boring."

"Well, then it's only fair to warn you that any mission the Endeavour is involved in usually ends up being rather eventful," Alistar said. "We tend to find new and creative ways to push our ship to the limits of her endurance capabilities on a daily basis almost."

Abby chuckled. "In that case, I think we're well matched. Welcome to Inti Colony."

"It seems so," Alistar said with a small laugh. "Thank you," he continued as he stood. "Hopefully we won't be too much of a problem for you to deal with."

"I could say the same thing," Abby said. "You can make any arrangements you need with Hetty. Ayrie or I will help with anything science-related." She, too, stood. "Unless you have anything more, feel free to look around."

"There's plenty of time for that," Alistar said. "With your permission, I think we'll return to the Endeavour and let you get prepared for our shore leave and expedition invasion to begin."

Abby nodded. "Go right ahead, captain."

OFF

Abigail Dawson
Administrator
Inti Colony

Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi
Chief Science Officer
Executive Officer

Capt Alistar McKeon
CO USS Endeavour

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