Boarding the Derelict

Posted on Wed Jan 10th, 2024 @ 8:54pm by Commander Naois Mercy MD & Captain Lukas Fredricks & Lieutenant Kod'ar & Lieutenant Chexor Vonn & Lieutenant Amara Naidoo

2,179 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: To Catch a Thief
Location: U.S.S. Impetuous
Timeline: Following "away team... away"

Feeling utterly claustrophobic inside the spacesuit, Naois preceded his team through the docking hatch and onto the pretty much dead space ship. His palm light cast eerie shadows across the darkened corridor. "We should split up, but keep comms open," he suggested as he turned to face his team. "I do not know exactly what we are looking for, however we should note anything that seems out of the ordinary."

Although there was no discernible reason for concern as of yet, Lieutenant Vonn was not very keen about exploring the Impetuous on his own. Haven't these people ever watched films? Splitting up is the precise moment when things start to go wrong! he thought to himself with visible concern etched upon his face. "Are you sure that going our separate ways is a good idea?" he asked aloud.

"I would suggest we pair up in teams," the XO clarified, "certainly not go off on your own. However I do believe we should keep comms open at all times."

"I would insist on that Commander, security procedure is to be adhered to in situations such as these" Amara interjected as she finished checking her phaser and re-holstered it. The motion was less than smooth given the clumsy way her gloved hand was able to grip the slender wand shaped devise.

Well, that made Chexor feel a tiny bit better. He turned to the Chief of Security whom he knew would offer him the best protection and as a result essentially 'chose' her to be his partner. "Which way would you like to go?" he asked Amara. Chex flipped open his tricorder and immediately began to take nearby scans of the area.

"I'm here to keep you safe... You tell me where you need to go Lieutenant" she returned crisply, wanting to be with the entire away team but knew that would not be a possibility.

"Lieutenant Kod'ar, you are with me then. We shall head up to the bridge," Naois all but ordered. "Report and log anything out of the ordinary. Keep phasers ready, just in case."

The Operations Officer turned to Amara. "We should go to engineering. I'll be able to get a readout of all the systems that are still currently in place and maybe shed some light on some of the mysteries here."

"Keep tricorders on passive scan. If the ship has had any visitors that have left any surprises they could be triggered by active scans" Amara had one last look at Naois before turning to follow Chex.

The Bolian nodded and adjusted the scan setting on his tricorder before setting off in one direction, whilst the others headed in the other.

* * * * *

The Vulcan pair made their way up to the bridge and Naois couldn't help but feel anxious. There was utter silence and the bridge was shrouded in darkness.he shone his palm light around, then pointed. "All seats are missing," he noted. "How ..odd..."

Kod'ar followed the senior officer onto the Bridge, scanning as he went. "Interesting, the Chairs are gone, but much more valuable component remain." He walked down towards the Helm console, his magnetic boots clinking as he went. Upon reaching the console he tapped the unresponsive helm console. "I may be able to get reserve power to this console and reroute sensors to it."

Naois walked around as well, feeling very ill at ease. "Internal sensors would be very welcome," he agreed, "then we can at least track the others." He moved to what once was the ready room, sliding the door open with considerable effort. "They missed a chair," he pointed out as he walked in. "Either whoever boarded this vessel did not know it was here, or it was of no interest."

"Working," the other Vulcan responded as he pried open the top of the Operation's console to access what was inside. "Interesting. Why would they leave a single chair?"

* * * * *

The journey down to deck nineteen had taken a good half hour due to the turbolifts not functioning and the fact that both Amara and Chex were wearing EV suits. Some areas along the way were more damaged than others. Luckily they hadn't come across any bodies. Most would have been recovered by now but there were always people missing from these types of accidents. The fact that they hadn't come across anything unusual yet made it a little easier for Chex to focus on the task at hand.

"We're nearly there," he told Amara as they rounded a corner.

"The sooner the better. Air conditioned they say... You wait until I get my hands on the engineer that ever said that about these suits!" she said as the perspiration dripped from the end of her nose and the face plate fogged up ever so slightly as she exhaled. "I may have some choice words for him!"

Chex suddenly stopped in his tracks. Concerned with what Amara had just said, he turned to have a look. The environmental system on her suit should have taken care of the internal temperature. "Are you all right?" he asked her. "Maybe we should run a diagnostic on your EV," he suggested. If there was something amiss, it was better to know about it now rather than later.

"I think we have more important things to be doing at the moment don't we" she said with a smile, motioning with her palm beacon. "Main engineering?"

The Bolian bit his lip softly and then shrugged. Perhaps she was right. He turned and continued on his way, reaching the doors to main engineering. When they wouldn't open, he tried to activate the door panel but as expected, it had no power. He reached down to his belt and grabbed a small circular device from it. He pressed it up against the door, to which it stuck to, and then turned it which slid the two door panels apart. Using both hands he pushed them open so that the two officers could pass through the gateway.

Engineering was a mess. Cables were dangling from the ceiling. Several consoles had been removed. Others were completely blown out. Chexor shone his beacon around the room. They needed to find something that they could still connect to. "Have a look around," he told Amara. "See if there's an intact console anywhere."

"I think we'll be lucky to find a fully functional one given the damage but I'll see what I can find. I'll head round there" she pointed towards what she assumed was the Chief Engineer's alcove, the engineering section being the same design as a Galaxy Class.

Amara started to move, spinning to face the Bolian as she started to walk backwards. "Shout if you need me!"

"Oh believe me, you'll know if I'm in any sort of trouble," he told her. Hopefully nothing would happen. There was no reason for anything to happen. Sensors hadn't picked up a thing out of the ordinary. The away team were the only living beings on the Impetuous. That's right.... it's just the four of us.... Chex sighed softly, opting to push those thoughts to the side so that he could actually get some work done. He walked past the master systems display table and instead of going left where Amara had gone, he went right to investigate the console there; the one usually operated by the assistant chief engineer.

Although dark and unpowered, the console appeared to be all in one piece. The panel under it had been removed and was nowhere to be found. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately, the six isolinear chips were missing from the compartment. He looked down at his feet, hoping they may have simply fallen out. There was a yellow one and a blue one. The Bolian expanded his search to his immediate vicinity but there were no chips visible.

"Hmmm...." he muttered to himself, before activating his comm unit. "Lieutenant, if you spot any loose isolinear chips, please collect them for me. I'm missing four. I may have found a console I could work from."

"Acknowledged" came Amara's crisp reply.

"Britannic to away team, a D'deridex warbird's quantum singularity drive is about to go critical. Seek cover where you can!" Came Fredricks' voice over the comm.

It started as a soft rumble in the deck plating. Debris vibrating along the engineering table behind Chexor but it increased quickly to the point that unstable support beams shifted, chunks of debris which swiftly turned into the screech of twisting metal, cold plasma from a conduit no longer powered started to drip into engineering from overhead as the deck almost folded backwards, a tear opening up in the deck above and the one above that and above that, each tear getting larger until the breach ripped through the outer hull.

In the midst of this, the helmet comm sputtered to life in Chexor's ear. "I'm pinned, I need...." Amara's words were caught short and replaced by a pained scream and the sounds of more twisting metal, the hiss of a broken environment seal. Shortly after that all that could be heard was a static crackle and a soft 'drip, drip, drip' noise.

Everything happened so quickly that the Bolian found himself unable to react beyond holding on for dear life. Now it was his turn to sweat. Beads trickled down his bald head. Chex's breathing became more frantic. The commotion, the noise over the comm (as that is all he could currently perceive it as) froze him in place. He didn't know how long he was simply stood there while engineering was torn apart but eventually, once things had calmed, he peeled himself away from his little corner.

"Lieu... Lieutenant?" he cried aloud. There was no response. Registering Amara's last known position on his HUD, Chex carefully headed in her direction.

What he found was something from a horror novel. Amara's body, twisted almost in two, a jagged shard of metal having torn through her stomach, her eyes frozen over as the environment seal had been pierced

****

On the bridge, Naois stumbled, paling considerably as he reached to steady himself. He missed and he fell back as the ripple tore through the ship. "Everyone, evacuate!" he called out though part of him already knew one of them would not respond. The sudden emptiness he felt was similar -but not nearly the same- as when his beloved Valeia had died. Still, the sudden-ness was overwhelming. "Ko'dar," he managed as he tried to get to his feet. "Activate the shuttle transporter....we have to get out of here."

"Vonn to Commander Mercy," came the somber voice of the Chief Operations Officer over the comm. "Uh... Lieutenant Ama... Amara Naidoo. She's dead.... deceased. Uhm, gone."

"I understand lieutenant," the half Vulcan XO responded, his voice on the verge of breaking since he had felt her death as keenly as he has felt his wife's. "Meet us at the hatch, we need to get out. We will.. salvage her remains when we get to safety." He owed her that much.

There was a moment's pause before the Bolian responded, "Acknowledged." It was the only thing he said before the comm was cut.

Kod'ar nodded, and smoothly flipped open this tricorder and double tapped a preset button. He took him a split second to realise that nothing happened. "Commander." he spoke flatly, "I am getting no response to the emergency transport request. A moment please."

He reached back under the console he had been working on and with a few loud thuds it came to life. Kod'ar moved his hands across the console at speed, pulling up what was left of the sensor array's reading. "Commander, It would appear that the shuttle has disappeared. It is no longer attached at the docking port, and I can not locate it on sensors."

Kod'ar turned back to the XO and gazed with a singular raised eyebrow.

"That is.... problematic," the XO answered bleakly

"Commander, I would suggest we meet up with the remainder of the away team." Kod'ar holstered his tricorder.

Naois sighed softly. "Lieutenant Vonn, we have an issue, our shuttle has vanished. We will regroup first, then head out to this vessel's shuttle bay. With any luck something usable is present. If not, we will find an escape pod." He looked sideways at his companion. "Do you concur?"

"If there are any left. The crew of the Impetuous did leave under emergency conditions, and any remaining pods may already be in the hands of the scavengers." Kod'ar began to move towards the Bridge's exit. "Commander, I believe the best place to meet would be on Deck 10. Most of the vessels escape craft were located there."

"Lieutenant Vonn, meet us on deck ten," Naois ordered without pause, not at all at ease with one of his team now being on his own. "Keep your comm and your eyes open." He beckoned the other Vulcan. "Let us move out," he suggested, taking a few unsteady steps forward.

 

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