Bridge - Deck 1

The Ensign did as the Captain ordered and quickly left the Bridge and retreated to his Quarters on Deck 2. Once inside, Luis grabbed his PADD and used it to access the situation that occurred on Acheron. The boy wanted to read up more on the tragedy that took place in the Zeta Reticuli System during the early years of human colonization. Just in case the Ensign's opinion was asked, Luis wanted to have something to offer. During a situation like this, the Yeoman didn't feel it was proper to be playing in a Holodeck while the colonists were dealing with such a possible threat. There were no images from the Acheron colony for Luis to sift through since the entire colony was vaporized when the atmospheric processor's reactor overloaded and exploded in an enormous blast of vapor the size of the state of Nebraska! The Ensign sat at his desk and continued to read all he could find on the horrible event that happened two hundred and nineteen years ago.
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Ensign Luís A. García
Yeoman, USS Whitestar

Counselor's Office - Deck 4

As Kunti was continuing to go over all of the crew's medical records concerning their mental health, she heard the call from Capt Daqtorgh to report to the Bridge. Signing out of her terminal on her desk, Counselor Ho grabbed her PADD and made her way out of her office and down the corridor to the Turbolift which she took to the Command Deck. Entering the Bridge, Kunti saw that the chair to the Captain's left was unoccupied.

Lt. Commander Ho: You called for me, Captain?

The Counselor remained standing as she wasn't sure if she was called up to the Bridge to stay for a while or just to answer an inquiry. If the Captain indicated she was to remain, Kunti would gladly take the seat to his left. LtCmdr Ho thought for sure the Yeoman would be up on the Bridge for his first mission, but something must've called him away. Whatever it must have been, had to be important to Capt Daqtorgh otherwise the Ensign would be seated next to the Captain. While facing the Captain and XO, Kunti did not seat what was on the Main Viewscreen so she had no idea what everyone else on the Bridge was seeing.
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Lt. Commander Kunti Ho
Counselor, USS Whitestar

Bridge - Deck 1

The Captain was pleased to see Counselor Ho arrive so promptly. With a friendly gesture Capt Daqtorgh motioned for Kunti to take the chair to his left, since it was now empty.

Capt Daqtorgh: Take a seat, Counselor. You need to be here to witness what we about to see. We’re about ready to enter the fourth level of the hydroelectric power plant where we are going to be finding a lot of bodies, probably a motherlode. I sent Yeoman Garcia away, I didn’t want him having PTSD over what we’re about to witness. Mr. Skonch, continue downward with the probe.

The CO remained standing as the Counselor took the seat to the left of his chair. Now that all eyes were on the Main Viewscreen, Daqtorgh waited on Mr. Skonch to continue remote piloting the probe to the fourth level. At this point, the Captain was unsure if he should take his seat between Cmdr Ashborn and LtCmdr Ho. If the images were really brutal and contained the bodies of children, Daqtorgh would surely need to take his seat on the Bridge.
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Captain Daqtorgh
Commanding Officer, USS Whitestar

Cole obeyed the Captain's order and sent the message to the Commodore using the subspace transmitter. Because the Lieutenant was able to access Como Carpathia's personal PADD, the message would be sent directly there. That way the text message would be received wherever the Commodore was located on SB34. That was, as long as Como Carpathia had his PADD with him.

Lt. Mitchell: Message sent to Commodore Carpathia, Captain. I'll let you know as soon as the Commodore responds, Sir.

The Chief Operations Officer watched with horror at the images on the Main Viewscreen, the interior of the power plant had the look of a severe battle taking place all along the corridors. As Mr. Skonch began the descent to Level 4, Cole got more worried what they would find down there. Especially since Capt Daqtorgh sent Yeoman Garcia off the Bridge to prevent the boy from having severe mental trauma.
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Lieutenant Cole S. Mitchell
Chief Operations Officer, USS Whitestar

Mr. Skonch continued the descent of the remote probe down the stairwell and as the device continued downward, the interior began taking on an ominous shape. The walls were no longer a smooth metallic surface, but covered in a secreted resin that was similar to the interior of a bee hive. The internal temperature began to increase from the normal 22°C to 35°C as well. When the probe reached Level 4, the entire surface of the walls and floor was covered completely in the resin substance. As the device proceeded the first glimpses of the horrific scene began to appear. There were colonists stuck to the walls, encased in the secreted resin. Their bodies were in all different grotesque positions of writhing pain and suffering, showing signs of having their bones broken to keep them glued to their locations. Their chests had severe trauma as if something had ripped its way through them, but there was no sign of an impaling weapon to be seen. As the probe moved further into the power storage complex, more bodies were found along the sides of all the energy containment receptacles. At a closer examination of the bodies, several of them appeared to be the remains of young children! The horrified expressions on their faces would not be forgotten by anyone on the Bridge for quite some time. This was especially true for the Vulcan Scientist who abhorred violence of any kind. For someone to kill children in such a horrific way was just not logical. Mr. Skonch ran an interior sensor scan of all the bodies and found that although there were over a thousand corpses here, there were still many more colonists still missing. This meant there were still possibly survivors of this travesty.

Cmdr Skonch: Captain, although there are many bodies here at this location, it does not account for all of the colonists living in New Rakantha. There is a possibility of survivors, so we should investigate further. I do not believe there is anything we can do for these people. Your orders, Sir?

The Chief Science Officer was content in knowing Ens Garcia was not present to see the distorted bodies of children, most of whom were his own age. The images were all recorded by Whitestar’s central computer so they could be viewed at a later date, but they should be compartmentalized so the Ensign could not view them without supervision. Mr. Skonch did not believe a child should ever see something so horrific to the eyes. It would certainly cause mental trauma to the boy, so much so the Yeoman would need to be removed from the Star Cadet program. The Vulcan Scientist could tell there was a friendship building between the Captain and Ens Garcia, so the last thing Mr. Skonch wanted to do was jeopardize it. The Commander began the process of bringing up the complete diagram of the colony to see where the rest of the residents could be hiding. Cmdr Skonch looked for another large installation or a series of caves the people could’ve sealed themselves inside to avoid the fate of those that were murdered by whomever it was that did this to New Bajor.
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Commander Skonch
Chief Science Officer, USS Whitestar

The Captain was shocked when he saw the bodies of the colonists in contorted positions along the resin covered surfaces of the power storage containers. Even more so when Daqtorgh saw the young children plastered to the walls in the same fashion with their chests ripped open too. Witnessing such a sight caused the CO to back up and fall back into his chair. There was just no honor in killing a child, especially in this fashion. It was positively wretched! The Captain was quite pleased that Mr. Skonch suggested Ens Garcia leave the Bridge for this imagery. Looking towards Cmdr Ashborn, Daqtorgh made an inquiry of his XO.

Capt Daqtorgh: Commander Ashborn, upon the information provided by Mr. Skonch, should we put a team on ground to find survivors? How many of them are we looking at?

Daqtorgh looked over towards the Ops Station and issued orders to Lt. Mitchell.

Capt Daqtorgh: Mr. Mitchell send an update to Commodore Carpathia, along with copies sent to Admiral Arayuss and Vice Admiral Martinelli. They're all going to want to see this.

The Captain tapped his Combadge next to inform Sickbay for incoming wounded survivors.

Capt Daqtorgh: Daqtorgh to Dr. Tudismaque! Prepare Sickbay for wounded!

The CO turned towards Counselor Ho and advised her of his next orders for her and for his Yeoman as well.

Capt Daqtorgh: Counselor, report to Sickbay and prepare to assist the Doctor with the wounded, some may be in need of counseling services. On the way there, collect Ensign Garcia. There will be children his age that will need a friendly face to help them as well.

Daqtorgh still wasn't sure what to tell Mr. Skonch just yet, so he waited to hear from his XO foremost. It was on his recommendation that the Captain would base his next decision. The images coming through to the Main Viewscreen were quite disturbing and Daqtorgh couldn't fathom the amount of fear the surviving colonists must be going through. The CO wasn't even sure how things would've gone had this been a Klingon colony. The complete lack of honor in a slaughter of civilians like this was unimaginable. The Captain knew the KDF would be out for vengeance for the victims who were killed so horrifically.
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Captain Daqtorgh
Commanding Officer, USS Whitestar

The Commander thought about what Capt Daqtorgh had asked him about putting an Away Team on the surface of New Bajor and didn't think it was the right time to be sending anyone down there since they had no idea what caused the deaths of the thousands of colonists thus far. Using the console by his chair, Chase brought up an estimate on how many possible survivors there could be hiding in other structures or possibly in the caves just outside the city.

Cmdr Ashborn: I don't think it's safe to send an Away Team down there yet, Captain. We still haven't determined who or what attacked the colonists. They may still be down there lying in wait. As for the number of survivors, we're looking at well into the thousands. Whitestar cannot possibly accommodate that many if we were to bring them up here. The most we could take on in this situation would be a few hundred, Sir.

The XO didn't mean to sound so grim about Whitestar's capacity to save as many colonists as they could, but it was evident that the ship was just not large enough to take on the amount of colonists that could be remaining on the planet's surface. Even if Infiniti came to assist, that vessel is much smaller than Whitestar and would not be able to hold much more either. It may be in the best interests of the colonists if Capt Daqtorgh put out a message calling for this situation to be considered a fleetwide emergency. That way all the vessels in Gamma Fleet could arrive at New Bajor to assist in the removal of survivors.
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Commander Chase S. Ashborn
Executive Officer, USS Whitestar

Cole did as Capt Daqtorgh had ordered and sent an update of everything they witnessed so far to Como Carpathia, along with copies sent to Adm Arayuss and VAdm Martinelli. Along with the information gathered by Cmdr Skonch as well, so they would have plenty to look over when the message was received. The Lieutenant informed the Captain his orders were followed and the update was sent.

Lt. Mitchell: Update sent to the Commodore, along with copies to Admiral Arayuss and Vice Admiral Martinelli, Captain. I also included all the imagery we've seen so far so they'll have plenty to go through when it arrives, Sir.

The Chief Flight Control Officer couldn't take his eyes off the Main Viewscreen, since the remote probe was still showing all the distorted bodies of men, women and children from the colony. Cole really wondered what could've killed them all that way. The closer the Lieutenant looked at the wounds in their chests, the more he realized they weren't from any kind of energy weapon or even a sharp handheld weapon. All of the corpses had their ribs bent outwards, as if something exploded in their chests from the inside. Was this some kind of torture? Were they made to swallow an explosive? There were no burns around the wound, so that couldn't be it. All of this really had Cole wondering what the HELL went on down there.
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Lieutenant Cole S. Mitchell
Chief Operations Officer, USS Whitestar

Chief Medical Officer's Office - Deck 4

Jacques was at his desk in his office when he heard the order from Capt Daqtorgh. The Doctor quickly called all medical personnel to report to Sickbay before he got up and went into the medical area himself. Tapping his Combadge, Dr. Tudismaque reported in to the Captain.

Lt. Tudismaque: Sickbay will be ready in moments, Captain! Medical personnel will be reporting in shortly, Sir!

As the other medical technicians reported in, the Doctor informed them to prepare for a large quantity of wounded colonists. The Lieutenant also informed them that they were going to be severely outnumbered, so be as compassionate as possible to the patients. Dr. Tudismaque didn't want any of his med-techs to feel overwhelmed at what they were about to go through, but knew they would be severely overworked, especially being the only Starship currently in orbit above New Bajor.
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Lieutenant Jacques Z. Tudismaque
Chief Medical Officer, USS Whitestar

Bridge - Deck 1

The Counselor rose up from the chair to the Captain's left and acknowledged her orders before taking the Turbolift down to Deck 2 to retrieve Ens Garcia. Viewing the horrific details on the Main Viewscreen really wasn't Kunti's cup of tea, so she was glad to be leaving the Bridge at this time.

Lt. Commander Ho: I'm on my way, Captain.

Kunti took the Turbolift down one level to Deck 2 and exited to proceed down the corridor to the Yeoman's Quarters. It was a short stroll before she tapped the doorbell and waited for the Ensign to reply. The Counselor figured Ens Garcia would still be awake since he hadn't left the Bridge that long ago.
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Lt. Commander Kunti Ho
Counselor, USS Whitestar