Subsolar Whispers

Part 4

"Standard orbit, skipper."

"Thank you, Mr. Tanaka."

P39572–A wasn't much to look at, not that there was much to see in any case with the lack of a parent star to throw light on it, but Uhura didn't think most brown dwarfs were. In infrared, it managed to look impressive, at least on the false-colour images she'd seen, but in the normal visible spectrum, since it didn't give off much of its own light, there wasn't much in terms of surface features. A slightly oblate, dark ball. But even as she had that thought, the young Andorian at the science console made some modifications, and the viewscreen adjusted to an impressive false-colour filter. Now Uhura could see swirling masses and bands of colour, most of them still brown or something close to it, but still much more attractive than a moment before. It reminded her a bit of several larger gas giants she'd seen during her career, just with less colour.

The helmsman looked back over his shoulder. "Thank you, ma'am. It's not often you get to say that about orbiting a star."

The Andorian science officer straightened, turning her attention to address the bridge, her gaze falling on Tanaka specifically. "Not technically a star, Mr. Tanaka. A has no long-term fusion of its own."

"Don't be so literal, Marilev. Any way I look at it, it's the biggest thing I've ever been in orbit around."

Marilev nodded. "Yes, I'll certainly grant you that."

Smiling, Uhura glanced over to the communication station. "Are we receiving any transmissions at this distance, Ensign Collins?"

"We are, skipper, but they are fairly weak at this point. Scattered, broken fragments mostly. There's a fair bit of interference from the planet itself. I think it would help if we got a little closer."

Uhura's fingers itched, but she worked hard to look steady. There was nothing more she wanted at the moment than to be sitting at the communication station and listening to those alien transmissions firsthand, hearing something that almost no one had ever heard before, and knowing that they were the product of some not-quite discovered alien species, something so different that they didn't even know what to expect.

Lieutenant Shan grinned, a major change of expression for an Andorian when the typical smile barely made Mona Lisa grade. "For things to get much better, we'd have to dip down into the stellar atmosphere, and don't think we're quite prepared to do that yet, Ensign."

"It's not as if the shields couldn't handle a quick dip, ma'am." Tanaka's serious expression didn't hide the eagerness in the young man's voice in any way. "As long as we don't get deeper than a dozen kilometres or so to start with. I'd need to study the pressure distribution more."

"You do that anyway, ensign. In the meantime, I think we'll start with a probe that's actually designed for the job." Uhura looked over at the science station. "Ensign Marilev?"

"Probe number one is fully prepared and operational, commander. I have verified the operational parameters myself with Lieutenant Hamilton. He'll be monitoring directly from the probe bay."

"Excellent. Assuming it's in the tube and set to go, Ensign Tanaka, you may launch it when ready."

"Aye, aye, skipper. Probe number one locked and loaded. Launching in three, two, one, now."

Uhura always imagined she could feel a ripple through the deck on the Enterprise when a photon torpedo or a probe left the ship. She'd been told more than once she imagined the feeling, that it was just adrenaline talking. A cruiser's design wouldn't, under normal operating, well-maintained circumstances, let such a minor vibration travel through the ship's superstructure so it could be felt anywhere beyond the weapons bay. A tiny little science vessel might be a different matter. Judging from the civilian reactions, two exchanged looks and a small jump, she wasn't the only one who felt it.

A brief light trail streaked away from the ship, the probe leaving with far less initial velocity than a photon torpedo. The trail bent away from the Bohr, almost following the curve of the brown dwarf, and for a moment it seemed as if the probe might just be going into a much lower orbit than the ship launching it. Instead, it slipped into the upper stellar atmosphere, and slowly faded from view.

"Descending, descending, five seconds to pre-programmed optimal depth. Thrusters. Three, two, one, stability." Marilev looked up from the viewer. "Signal from the probe is strong, commander. Diagnostics and operations fall well within normal operational parameters. Signal relay has begun."

"And the signals are clearing up?"

"Very much so, commander. The signals we are receiving are definitely far less fragmentary, far more coherent, although I mean that in the manner of reception, not comprehensibility."

"I understand, ensign, and that's more or less why we brought our team of experts." Uhura, trying to keep her cheeks from getting too warm. She'd meant the xenolinguistics group but recognized that Admiral Nogura had handpicked her for the mission and likely considered her to be in that group of experts. While she'd always considered herself good at her job, the word expert wasn't one she ever applied to herself. Uhura was far more of a generalist, absorbing whatever she caught her interest from whatever field she happened to be interested in at the moment. Usually, that had something to do with communications or language, but not always. But, expert or generalist, it was time for Uhura to begin earning her keep on this mission as more than just someone who told the ship where to go.

She just had to figure out where to begin.

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