The Day of the Comet - Part I
Posted on Sat May 23, 2026 @ 7:00am by Commodore T'mpest Michaels & Lieutenant Commander Alanna Wells & Civilian T'gan & Colonel Nicholas Means III & Lieutenant Commander Jason Haines & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Bronwyn P’ril & Lieutenant T'Lul & Captain Ricardo (Rico) Montoya - CO USS Phoenix & Civilian Geral Lasuma & Civilian Livia Sagan
1,468 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Jubilee
Location: Various
For a month everyone prepared for the influx of traffic to the station, the system, and Pangaea. For a month, merchants stocked up on wares, filling every available storage space. New merchants filled every empty shop. And campers were continually turned away from the planet.
Now, preparation time was over and the comet would become visible on the morrow. Now was when they would know if all their preparations would be enough. Or not. Even now there were far more ships in the system than was safe, and more wanted to come. a dozen ships had already been turned away that day, told to go to the next system.
And for a moment, the universe seemed to pause for breath.
There were five days’ worth of stored rations just off the command deck. It wasn't that they expected problems, or that food would be scarce. It was simply the hope that, if they overprepared, it would be for nothing. But if recent events were anything to go by, they might just be stuck where they were. And who wouldn't appreciate bags of old-fashioned candy and caffeinated soda?
In science, T'gan had everything ready to spend a week studying the comet itself. It was likely this would prove nothing out of the ordinary, but with its "legendary" history, it was at least worth documenting for science. And it would keep her away from all the chaos going on everywhere else.
T'mpest spent what free time she had with Lasuma, knowing that, once the comet arrived, she would get little sleep and no time to relax. However, as she was physiologically Vulcan, she could spend most of the next week awake and on duty. Just in case. Nothing had gone according to plan so far. She did not expect it to do so now.
On Pangaea, Alanna left most of the protection to Colonel Means and the pilots. Her job was to keep everyone away from the archaeological sites and especially the portal complex. That was secured by force field and additional Marines. Her biggest fear was that she couldn't shield the entire planet and anyone who chose to land on any but the main continent, bypassing all the warnings, would be at the mercy of the fae. She just hoped she'd done enough.
Jason and his team were busy keeping an eye on the Commodore both on the station and Pangaea. In addition to shadowing the Commodore, they were busy reviewing records of the scientists that had pre-registered their activities and request to use science facilities. Jason was not looking forward to the chaos as he was actually wanting to do some studying of the comet and how it interacted with the planet's and sun's temporal and dimensional flows as well as what sort of effects on ruins on the planet.
Always one to see an opportunity Lasuma had launched both of his yachts and sub-leased his bay to the multitudes that had arrived for the coming comet.
He had arranged for extra stores to keep both his shops and the Box more than supplied for the event. There was even commemorative labelings for cheap wines, liquors, as well as various of other souvenirs. Looking out over the throngs of people on the promenade he sipped his whiskey, his mind returning to the visit he had received.
Above Pangaea the Phoenix hovered over the pole the watchful eye to keep those without authorization, and the adventurous from, trying to land on planet. Hearing the lift open he glanced to his left to see Col. Means step out onto the bridge.
They had served together before, well sort of, but the two had several things in common and Rico had no doubt they would work well together. "Everything set?"
"All set, half of Alpha and Beta squadrons are flying a rotating CAP with Delta on standby. So far those warned away haven't pushed the issue."
"Good, though I have a feeling the closer we get to the comet's arrival the bolder they will get."
P’ril had seen enough comets that another one was almost boring. Still, she planned to at least take a look at it. Right now, though, the Engineers were busy making sure everything was as optimized as possible and that spare parts were at the ready, just in case. Ideally, nothing would go wrong, but if anything did, they were prepared.
“Lieutenant!” said a voice from behind her. She turned to see an ensign extending a PADD towards her. “The complete inventory of storage bay 5,” he told her.
“Thank you,” she replied, accepting the PADD. “Was everything in order?”
“We didn’t see any problems,” he replied. “And we were extremely thorough.”
“Excellent,” she replied. “Return to your regular duties. Thank you for delivering the report.”
“Of course,” answered the ensign, and he turned to do just that.
They were as ready as they could be.
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T'Lul stepped out onto the promenade. She had concerns about this event but she already had the foresight to work with security. The question was how much mob mentality would take over at any point during the comet's travels near the station. She looked around deliberately, wondering if trouble would find her or if she would have to find it.
Newly minted PO3 Arkhi Jense lead her team through the upper promenade. The number of people was already noticeably larger, and likely to grow even more in the coming days. She paused to speak with T'Lul. "Afternoon Counselor. Enjoying a bit of calm before the storm?"
The Vulcan looked at the petty officer and responded, "You are speaking proverbially, correct?" The Vulcan wanted to be certain she understood the question fully before she responded. Even so, the petty officer should have known that Vulcans did not experience emotions the way humans did. It was not logical.
Arkhi stepped aside to let a Ferengi pass by.
"My apologies, Counselor. It's a human phrase I've picked up since joining Starfleet, although my people have a similar saying: 'Enjoy the routine before the airlock cycles.'
When you primarily live on colony ships, the time in between ports easily settles into a familiar pattern. The cycling of an airlock, either coming or going, means a disruption to that routine for good or bad. We're expecting thousands of people to descend upon this station to witness a comet passing through the system. Even if they all behave themselves, it's going to change the mood. Hopefully, no proverbial storms crop up."
"I calculate the odds of everything running smoothly at approximately 3.182549 per cent," T'Lul answered. "And that may be high," T'Lul added. "I was an average student when it came to math and statistics. However, that is why I worked on some training with the security teams."
How the two were connected she wasn't sure. However, she rarely objected to a little cross training. "Well, at least the odds aren't zero. Regardless, that's what we're here for. To keep the peace, and deal with those who disrupt that peace. I hope the training was useful for all involved."
"I believe that it was but you would have to interview the others to see if they felt similarly."
"Good to hear. Now if you'll excuse me, I should get on with the patrol."
Arkhi sped up her pace just enough to catch up with the others on her team.
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Out on the promenade, a petite, thin woman, maybe 5'2" in height had a suitcase on a stool and some sort of tinted glasses sitting on top of them. The glasses were bespeckled with glitter and sparkly non-precious stones that were placed on the rims to catch beings' eyes. She called out, "Step right up! Step right up! Come one! Come all! Get your comet glasses! They offer protection from the upcoming comet's rays and spiritual effects! You have to have them! You know that you want to have them! If not, then my name is not Livia!"
Beside Livia was an equally tall and scantily dressed blonde haired woman, who called out, "Want to see the comet up close? As close as you can see me? Well, come and join us on Sagan's Cosmology Tours! Complimentary comet glasses with each paid admission!"
(To be continued...)
Commodore T'mpest Michaels
Commander
Deep Space 5
T'gan
Temporal Scientist
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant Commander Alanna Wells
Director of Science and Archaeology
Pangaea
Lieutenant Commander Jason Haines
Bodyguard
Deep Space 5
Geral Lasuma
Lasuma Enterprises
Deep Space 5
Captain Rico Montoya
Captain
USS Phoenix
Colonel Nicholas Means
21st MCO
Deep Space 5 & Pangaea
Lieutenant Bronwyn P'ril
Chief Engineer
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant T'Lul
Chief Counselor
Deep Space 5
PO3 Arkhi Jensen
Security Officer
Deep Space 5
Livia Sagan
Seller of Glasses
Lieutenant Annora Tesaro
Chief Security Officer
Deep Space 5
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