Exploring the Build Site

Posted on Sun Sep 7th, 2014 @ 7:00pm by Lieutenant Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell & Commander Eliana Masters & Lieutenant JG Kaylee Williams & Captain Pete Samson & Master Chief Petty Officer Allison Wilshire & Lieutenant Stacy Pierce

Mission: Let the Games Begin
Location: Muratano Gorge: Dam Site

The trio of shuttles broke into two formations, with the first pair landing on top of the valleys south side, while the third descended into the gorge itself, landing next to the river. The occupants were out of the shuttle before it had even finished shutting down, and were greeted with an incredible sight.

"This is...breathtaking." Rosaleen spoke first, breaking the spell that had fallen on them. The river ran through the bottom of a gorge which stretched 2263.8 feet above them. The noon sunlight reflected off the cliff faces, which sparkled like a million diamonds had been imbedded within them. To their east, the river dropped with a thunderous roar off a waterfall which fell another 182.7 feet. The construction site was one of the most beautiful locations that she had ever seen.

Pete who was no engineer, but he could see why this location had be chosen to build the dam, but he was amazed at the sheer natural beauty of the place. He was a bush man at heart and he could not believe that this place was going to in essence be destroyed. He did not know much about this planet and it's people but he had a feeling this was going to get complicated. He already had his pad out and started drawing a combat map, marking landmarks, weak spots and strong spots, distances, this would not be a military operation but Pete always planned like it was. He also knew he had to try and come rock climbing here before it was gone.

Pete approached Rosaleen. "It sure is breathtaking, shame it will be destroyed." Pete could not help compare Rosaleen with this area of natural beauty, both were breathtaking, he felt like his blood was boiling.

"Not destroyed, Captain. Re-invented is a better word." Allison pulled out her PADD and, after a moment, handed it to Pete. "The final plans call for this to be integrated as much as possible into the natural surroundings." The color is even to be consistent with the rock face so as not to draw so much attention."

Pete was impressed with the plans. Nature could not be beaten on beauty but this was very impressive. It would still be a beautiful place when finished.

"I'm sure it can be done. We can chip away some of the rock and reuse it into the new building without much issue." Kaylee voiced as she had her mind already processing the different ways she could use the existing materials.

Stacy had her PADD out as well, studying the designs and renderings. "This...there is a much better way to do this. Look..." She turned her PADD to where everybody could look. "...we are trying to minimize the overall impact that the dams physical presence has on the surrounding area. But here, and here...the spillways and powerhouses. Ugly. Why not tunnel through the valley's walls on either side with the spillways, and locate the powerhouses underground?" She quickly re-configured the design as they watched to reflect the changes she had just made in her head.

"It would be certainly easier to keep them safer underground. So from a security aspect great idea." Pete liked the idea from both security reasons and preserving the natural beauty.

Masters emerged from the shuttle a moment later, having been previously occupied by running the latest rendition of the shutdown checklist for the shuttle she had piloted down to the surface. Flying in atmosphere was always a fun challenge, but the day's weather seemed to be content to afford the base's contingency with pristine views of the surrounding landscape. Eliana slid a pair of aviators on and joined in the mutual admiration of the landscape around.

"Well, you certainly can't beat the view," Masters muttered to no one in particular.

"Agreed. I could build a house here...well, except for the whole raging river part." Rosaleen replied. "Apparently this gorge has a history of being a focal point for major flash flooding during the rainy season. All the runoff from the mountains flows to this river on this side, and the gorge forces it into a narrow, speeding wall that impacts the towns downstream quite ferociously. That is one of the reasons they want this project."

"Nature is the most beautiful serial killer I know," Eliana nodded. "I think this project will do some good for the community here. Hopefully," she gestured over her shoulder, "our guys can find a good base of operations to start moving equipment down and get going. It's funny, all these years of progression in flight and we still prefer wide open, flat spaces."

Rosaleen took one last look around before returning her attention to her PADD. "OK, we need to figure out what base modules we need to put in place here, and what can be placed up top out of the way. We only need mission critical pieces down here to lessen the environmental impact."

"My Marine Engineers would be perfect to set up an initial base, they are not only excellent engineers but highly trained combat marines." Pete was still unsure of the technical side of the mission but he knew that his idea was a good one. "I could have a base set up at the bottom and top with 24 hours."

"The only thing you need to tell our team is whether or not you want airframes on sight to assist with the construction. I know there will be quite a bit of heavy lifting to do between Eighty and here, but if there's some things that need to be moved without using site-to-site transport, I'm your girl," Masters explained with a smile. She continued to look around, picturing how the entire project might look during construction.

"Oh, that reminds me," Eliana continued. "Exactly how modular is our setup supposed to be? I haven't seen anything like this in use. I've never been planetside for longer than a few weeks."

"I've seen these pieces used as long-term and even permanent bases, Commander. Once installed and the necessary utilities are installed, they can be functional for as long as you need them to be. And the beauty is you can change out the setup as you need to." Clarkson had learned a lot about the Cerberus Advanced Facilities System over the last couple of years, but had only seen it in demonstration as it was much to large an overall system to carry on a starship. Just way too many components.

"That sort of stuff blows my mind," Masters shook her head with a smile. It was an honest statement, but most would laugh at the notion that an experienced pilot with advanced marks in warp field theory and fluid dynamics would be impressed with what essentially amounted to a giant set of sandbox tools. This sort of endeavor was so far out of her area of expertise that Ellie was essentially reduced to gawking, smiling, and nodding. There was going to be a lot of 'yes ma'am, I can fly that over there' and 'no, I haven't got a clue how that works' in the future, but she was okay with that.

"I'm glad we're able to do some good here," Eliana concluded, content to take in the view behind her sunglasses.

"The first of many adventures." Replied Rosaleen. "It's actually quite exciting."

'Well at least I'm finally off that damned rust-bucket.' Thought Stacy as she looked around. So far this planet had exceeded all of her expectations...she could see herself settling down on a place like this someday. "Well I'll get to work on a set of specs and detailed design renderings of the underground facilities. Should be ready for sign-off in a couple of days."

"Very good. We all look forward to seeing them." Replied Rosaleen, taking a quick last look around the valley. "Alright...let's load back up and head to the top to see what the others have been up to." She walked back towards the Shuttles, followed by the rest. The clock was now officially running.

Masters had suspected short stay in their current location and hadn't completely powered the shuttle down. In fact, the auxiliary power unit was still humming away. The exterior lights glowed, scattering a bevy of multicolored photons across the picturesque scene around them. Removing her sunglasses, she made her way back to the shuttle and opened the door.

"Onwards and upwards," the pilot smiled as the passengers embarked once again.

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Lieutenant Rosaleen O'Donnell
Commodores Personal Assistant
Starbase 80

Marine Captain Pete Samson
Commanding Officer Marine Corps
Starbase 80

Commander Eliana Masters
Director of Flight Operations
Second Officer
Starbase 80

Lieutenant Kaylee Williams
Director-Starfleet Corps of Engineers Division 16F
Starbase 80

Master Chief Petty Officer Allison Wilshire
Chief of the Boat
Starbase 80

Petty Officer 2nd Class Stacy Pierce
Structural/Environmental Specialist
Starfleet Corps of Engineers
Starbase 80