Away Team: Exploration Pt. 2

Posted on Mon Oct 7, 2013 @ 8:56pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Ensign David Kincaide

5,325 words; about a 27 minute read

Mission: A Whole New World: Part 1 - Precipice
Location: Transporter Room / Alien Ship
Timeline: 62536.613 {Tue, 04 Dec 2384 16:21}

--------------Alien Ship--------------

------------Upper Level--------------

After a bit of walking and then a quick push and letting the lack of gravity do the work for them the two Starfleet officers were on the deck where Yarin had thought he saw the radiation. "I'm picking up something that's for sure. It looks some what radioactive.... a lot like antimatter but the signatures are all wrong." he told Volos.

Alex had probably enjoyed their "flight" up a couple decks a bit more than his senior officer had, but he had tried to keep that in check. He took a moment to get his barrings as he looked around and checked the small, very rough layout that had been guesstimated from the Victory's scans. "Yarin had said... that way." He extended an arm toward the organic looking wall on the side of the corridor. "Sound right? Oh, hey, look like there might be a hallway or something just down there." Alex's arm shifted as he pointed down the corridor to their left.

Miguel nodded there really wasn't much they could do except keep moving forward as it was heading to where the lights of their helmets were pointed.

Just a few meters down the corridor, they discovered what appeared to be a severely damaged android or servo-droid of some kind. It's outer skin was a metal composite, once likely well polished but now it was battered and dull. The unit, whatever it's function might once have been was blown apart by some unknown force. It was little more than a pile of broken parts and metal fragments.

Miguel scanned the.... robot thing with his tricorder. "It's not quite like the ship, but there are similarities in the metal." He said as he then reached into his kit and pulled out a transponder and placed it on damaged droid. "Torres to Victory. We've found what looks like a droid of some sort here. Request permission to beam it to a lab for further study."

Hearing the request, the Captain let out an audible sigh. "This is a starship not a rummage sale.." she muttered before activating the comm and answering, "What kind of 'droid' Mr. Torres? What exactly is it you want to bring aboard my ship?"

"Well.... I don't know Captain. Everything on this ship so far is an unknown to us. But whatever this fellow was or what his purpose was so to speak he has been blown to hell and back. But I'm hoping that once we crack him open and and look into it's brain so to speak we can find out what it's purpose was, and maybe more about this ship and where it came from."

"Anything you bring back I want kept under secure guard.." she told him. "And if there are any biological components to that thing have it cleared by medical first."

"I can't see anything that indicates biological components on my tricorder. However I'll get the Doc to confirm when she gets a chance." Miguel replied to the Captain.

"Very good Mr. Torres.." Kennit answered. "Keep me posted.."

"Aye ay Captain." Miguel said ending the conversation with the Captain. "Torres to Engineering. Sam I'm going to need you to prep one of the engineering labs. I want full containment protocols just in case." he told his second in command.

"I'll get Lab 4 ready for use.." Sam answered. "It's empty at the moment so it'll be the quickest to set up.."

"Good, also make sure to get someone from sickbay to set up a bio containment field just in case." he told her.

"Will do.." Sam answered. "Anything else?"

"Not right now. If anything else comes up I'll let you know." Miguel told her.

Volos had been half listening to Miguel and the Captain's exchange as he made his way a little further down the hall. He stopped in front of something that looks like a door or a panel, at least it did to him and after a few taps of his tricorder he switched mods. "Commander, looks like whatever's giving off the radiation is probably on the other side of this."

"Torres to Commander Hunter, we've found the remains of some sort of robot." Miguel told the XO. "It's been blasted to hell and back. I've attached a transponder to it. The Captain has given permission to have us beam it back for further study, but wants a go or no go from the Doc."

"Alright Miguel."Hunter turned to The CMO, what do you think Doctor?

"Anderson here," Nicole's voice said over the comm. "So we're collecting scrap after all? As long as it's in parts and you don't try to turn it on, it shouldn't pose any danger. I'd suggest keeping it under a forcefield though."

"Did you hear that Miguel? Doc says it should be alright for transport as long as you don't try to turn it on. Also keep it behind a forcefield." Hunter told the chief engineer.

"Understood." Miguel said and then continued on his way to what Volos was showing him. He looked around it was definitely a door of some sort, but wasn't as thick as the emergency doors that they had in their engine rooms. Miguel found a nearby panel and pulled it off. He was expecting to find a manual release but what he found seemed to be servos for the door. "Well it looks like these are the servos for the door, at least what I would guess are the servos but no power."

"No surprise there, I suppose." Alex said as he looked over Miguel's shoulder. After a look around the door, possibly for other panels, he stepped in front of it again knocked on it a few times as he thought, though without atmosphere there wasn't any sound either. "Well," he said as he looked back to Miguel with a grin, "you're the engineer. Got any ideas?"

"Well my kit does serve as a power converter as well. It won't give us much juice, but might give us just enough to open the door." Miguel told Alex. "If the energy the door needs is compatible with our own that is."

Alex nodded. "I'll help push it along..." he paused and gave the door a thoughtful look. "Assuming I can figure out which direction it opens. Anyway, ready when you are."

Miguel set down his kit and began to pull out the tools he needed. Or at least the ones he hoped he'd need. This technology was so different to what he knew, but from what he could tell things seemed to work similarly. After some more studying of the alien wiring he began to connect some of the wires from his kit to the door. All the while he was talking to himself, to anyone listening and understood basic engineering they'd know he was talking about basic principles that were supposed to be universal. When he was done he took a step back and looked at Alex. "Well if I did this right the door will open. I have no idea how much will open, but it should open. But if I did it wrong..."

"They'll be an opening one way or another?" Alex gave Miguel a wary grin and stepped off to the side of the door just in case there had been some cross wiring. There was also the fact that the door might be shielded and opening it could cause massive amounts of radiation to floor into the hallway, in which case standing to the side wouldn't really help any. He pointed his tricorder at the door and gave Torres a nod. "Ready when you are."

Miguel activated the power transfer and watched the readings. He had set the kit to start off using 10% of it's capacity. Nothing seemed to be happening. He checked his tricorder and then looked at the mechanisim again. "I'm uping the power." he said but instead of just doubling it he went right up to 50% of capacity. That's when he saw something happen as the circuts seemed to come to life and then what sounded like a huge lock unlocking... nothing seemed to be happening. But Miguel could tell that something was happening by the readings he was getting and then the door rose and almost in an instant had disappeared into the upper bulkhead. "I've never seen a door rise that fast before."

After Miguel spoke Alex glanced up to see what he had meant but the door was already completely open. "Must have been quick." He said, glancing back down at his tricorder. "Radiation levels are up, there's a higher alpha particle count than you'd seen from a Federation core but," he vaguely gestured around indicating the lack of similarities, "that isn't surprising."

"No that's not surprising at all...." Miguel said but then stopped. "Now that is surprising." he added and then looked up. "All these readings are consistant with the same effects our ships get through the matter/anti-matter annhilation. But there they're slightly off. And look at these decay rates. They indicate that right now our suits have more than enough shielding to protect us, but in a couple of days we won't even need them. Whatever they were using to power this ship wasn't matter and anti-matter."

Alex was nodding in his suit as Torres spoke. "That's for sure. I'd probably rule out a singularity as well, there doesn't seem to be enough Gama radiation for that. But if you're seeing the same effects that means this ship has most likely seen some type of faster than light travel. I'd assume some type of warp drive but even that seems rather presumptuous given what we've seen so far."

Miguel stepped into the next room stopped dead in his tracks. He tried to speak, but gift for speach was lost to him as he looked upon the sheer size of the of this room. Hell calling it a room was an insult to it. He had never seen anything so big, it had to easily twice the size of a core on a Sovereign class ship. "You know I could spend the rest of my life learning this ships secrets." he said in a hushed tone.

A whistle came over the comms as Alex crossed the threshold behind Miguel. It certainly looked huge, and he trusted his superiors judgment of engine rooms as he'd certainly been in more of them than himself. "That's interesting. It didn't seem any bigger than a Sovereign on the outside." He paused as he stared around the massive chamber in awe of just how different it was than anything he'd seen. "I wonder..." He trailed off as his mind wandered for a bit about fuel efficiency and the possibilities of new, undiscovered faster-than-light filled his mind. He blinked a few times and tried to focus up then he tapped the comm badge on the outside of his suit. "Victory, you seein' what we're seein'?"

----------------Intelligence Operations Center (InOps)---------------

AJ sat at his newly reconfigured workstation inside of the darkened Infocore. On the three wall screens, both himself and one of his divisional officers- Chief Warrant Officer Three Soran Bowie were watching the real time video feeds of the away team. AJ's main priority on this mission was to analyze the feed and report anything that might be interesting or pertinent.

Watching the feed, all that AJ could feel was a growing sense of unease. Everything that he saw seemed organic, it was almost as if the walls were breathing and it was putting him off the more that he looked at it.

"Is it just me or does this creep you out too, Mister Bowie?"

The older man shook his head. "Absolutely, sir. It's like the bulkheads are alive and watchin 'em."

AJ nodded "Absolutely, Mister Bowie." Walking over to the center console, AJ took a seat and pulled up Lieutenant Commander Torres' video feed an noticed something rather off. Freezing the frame, AJ took the frame between his hands and moved the frame over to the left and accessed the freeze frame from an earlier time.

"Mister Bowie, get me the Captain, please."

After a moment, over the comm system the Captain's voice came through clearly. "Kennit here. Go ahead Mr. Taggart.. what did you need to speak to me about?"

AJ motioned towards the two frames. "Ma'am, pull up frames on Infocore Comm Feed Four. There's a constant in both images- look on the lower left corner and zoom 4 times, I don't know what it is but something is telling me that it shouldn't be there."

The thing that AJ was pointing out was a red light that was pulsing dimly, above the door. Throughout the Away Team's journey, AJ had noticed that it was practically following the team.

"One moment.." the Captain answered as she turned towards her screen and pulled up the data feed which Taggart had referenced. Studying the images for several moments, she scrolled through the feed and frowned. "That is unusual.. though I don't see evidence of movement just that red light. Could it be some internal sensor on the ship that is still operational?"

AJ shook his head. "Honestly, ma'am, something tells me to doubt it. Permission to order the team to place a data spike?" AJ asked

The request was simple- place a 'spike'- formally called a Data Network Intrusion Device Mark IV into a networked computer. After a few moments of analysis, it would allow one of AJ's information technicians to delve into the computer's systems and establish a downlink to transfer information for further study.

After a moment of consideration, the Captain nodded as she answered, "Permission granted.. however let's make sure that the connection is kept separate from our own systems. I don't like the idea of having our systems linked up to that unknown ship.."

"Victory, you seein' what we're seein'?" The incoming transmission from Lt. JG Volos caught the Captain's attention, and she turned to look towards the mission display on the screen. "We see it Mr. Volos.." she answered. "I'm just not quite certain what it is I'm looking at.. the transmission coming to us is somewhat distorted.."

"That'll make three of us, Captain." There was a long pause and Alex's distorted video feed seemed to stay stationary, focused on the center of the room. "We're packin' the tricorders with as much info as we can. If things go well here, I might have a way to tell how long this bad boy's been here."

--------------Alien Ship--------------

------------Upper Level--------------

Miguel walked over to one of the center sections. He held his tricorder over it as he confirmed what he was seeing. He looked at Alex "It looks like this is their version of a dilithium chamber." he said and then began to look for some sort of access point so he could see what powered this ship. He felt like a kid with a new toy.

"Does it even house dilithium?" Alex asked curiously, though he quieted down as the Captain's voice came through their open comm again.

"I'd be interested in having an idea of how old that ship might be for certain.." the Captain answered through the comm. Then, she said "Commander Hunter are you listening?"

--------------Alien Ship--------------
------------Lower Level--------------


"I'm all ears Captain.Listening to everything that has been said," Hunter said.

"How much more time do you think you will need over there?" she asked, feeling a little uncomfortable with her First Officer and members of her crew on the alien ship after seeing what Taggart had discovered.

"As far as us, I would think just a few more minutes. I can't speak for Mr. Torres and Mr. Volos and the surprise package they found." He glanced at Anderson, "What do you say Doctor?"

"I'd like another ten to get my samples, then I'd like to get out of this damned suit. Maybe not even in that order," Nicole groused as she picked through the lab kit she'd been sent.

--------------Alien Ship--------------
------------Upper Level--------------


Miguel really didn't want to leave; this ship was the find of a lifetime. "A few minutes more won't even give me time to figure out how they turned on the lights on this thing," he said as he climbed a ladder to what seemed to be the top of the reactor.

"And just an update,' Alex added, "I haven't had a chance to try and find a cache of astrometrics data. Chances are though, we'd need at least a little power to make that happen."

--------USS Victory - Bridge -------

Waiting for a time estimate, hearing the comments from her crew the Captain said "All right, do what you can to find any viable information which can be downloaded to a secure storage drive and kept separate from our computer systems. Keep in mind, you're all operating using EVA suits.. your oxygen supplies are going to limit how long you can remain over there and I want you back.. all of you.. before your air reserves reach the 90 minute mark. That gives you..." she paused to look at a display on her screen. "Roughly 2 more hours.. so you'd better make the most of it!"

------------Lower Level--------------

Nicole slipped the last of the vials into her sample case and closed it securely. "Commander," she said, "I think I have everything I need here. Unless there's anything else, I'd like to return to my lab."

"Very good Doctor." Hunter replied as he tapped his combadge, =^= Hunter to Victory, Prepare to beam Doctor Anderson back on my say so.=^=

------------Upper Level--------------

"Understood Captain." Miguel replied as he looked around thinking he found the opening he pulled until the hatch opened. What he found was what looked like 12 holes. He shined his light inside of them and all he could see was metal. "This reminds me a lot of old Earth nuclear reactors. These circular slots." he said as he pointed at the holes. "Look similar to what I've seen in diagrams for the plutonium control rods." He was willing to bet that whatever they used to power this ship was some sort of metal ore that they would fashion into rods and put them into this reactor. Now all they needed to do was find some of these rods to prove his theory.

"Have you scanned for residual radiation?" the Captain asked, feeling a little alarmed that her Chief Engineer was poking around inside an alien ship and potentially exposing himself to who know what...

"Yes ma'am nothing leathal as of right now. It's decay rate is incredible. There's residue here, but not really enough to figure out what this stuff was. I wonder if they have some back up stores like we do with our dilithium crystals." he reported and theorized at the same time.

"Keep an eye on your surroundings," she ordered. "And I want you and the rest of the away team back aboard well before your EVA suit oxygen supplies reach the warning.." she added.

"Commander," Alex said as he finally spoke up again. In all honesty, he was addressing either commander that might have been listening. "Permission to break away from the group in search of something that resembles an astrometrics lab?"

"Not by yourself, we've split up the team enough we can't risk going to smaller units." he told him and then closed up the hatch. "So I'll be going with you." he told him. He'd have to put his little obssesion with figuring out this ship aside for now.

"That'll work." He responded as he looked up from his tricorder and in Miguel's direction. "Maybe on the next trip over you'll have someone with more than a mild interest in engineering to help you." Volos pointed at his tricorder. "With the limited time we've got I'd say we just poke around this deck. I doubt it'd be possible to try and locate it on sensors based on room shape, which is all we'd really see without power."

Another twenty minutes passed, with the Captain pacing the bridge restlessly while monitoring the data being sent back from the away team. At first, when the small energy signal began to grow it was missed as the focus of the Victory's sensors was directed towards other aspects of their exploration of the ancient derelict. It wasn't until something small dropped away from the ancient vessels battered hull that an alert message popped up on a secondary display screen.

Miguel and Alex had walked around the deck there weren't that many other rooms, or they just seemed to be rooms that connected to the main engine room. That was until they found one that wasn't. The room was heavily damaged consoles were blown away. But in the center of the room there were three pods and in each pod were the remains of a robot similar to the one that they had found. The controls on two of the pods were destroyed, but the controls on the third were still very much intact. Miguel moved what was left of the robot out of his way and began to look it over. "It seems to have survived whatever it was that did this, but just barely. Looks like it just needs some power." he said as he grabbed his kit and began to work on it much as he had the door to engineering.

Alex did his best to keep his light trained where it would likely be most helpful to Miguel as he worked on getting power to damaged console. "It's really interesting, that they all still seem to be in the room they were whenever... whatever happened, happened." He slowly swept his other light around the dark room.

Commander hunter's voice came over the comms before much else got done. "Hunter to Torres and Volos. We have an alpha recall. Stop what you're doing and prepare to be beamed back to the Victory. Get to the transporter point now."

"I guess we'll have to figure these things out later." Alex said as he tapped his tricorder a few times, having it map out the quickest route to the beam-out area.

Miguel knew better than to try and talk his way out of this one. He knew Rhea wouldn't signal an alpha recall unless it was seriously about to hit the fan. "Let's go!" He said as he disconnected his equipment and began to follow the junior officer out. "I think our fastest way to get to them is do do a short freefall." he told Alex

*********************************************

A small ship, now coasting away from the derelict using the gravitational pull of the planet below to move it away without utlizing it's power systems. Length: 29.3 feet (8.94 meters); Height: 4.97 feet (1.52 meters); Wingspan: 18.3 feet (5.59 meters). With a dark grey non reflective hull, the small ship would be hard to see against the black of space. It was sleek and streamlined, with gull wings swept forward around a central hull at the fore of which was a single crimson light which swept side to side in an endless cycle. Seeking, always seeking.. A cold, emotionless and fearless intelligence.. the Raider had observed the arrival of the unidentified alien ship. It had monitored the movement of the unknown alien beings aboard the derelict.. and now it was time to break away and make its report.


(OOC: Alien ship is shown below)



An alarm sounded, the soft chime drawing the attention of the officer watching the sensor displays. Switching to the relevant display, the moment he realized what he was seeing he called out "Captain! A small ship just dropped away from the derelict.. rough size is.." a pause, "9 meters.. I've never seen readings like this.. it's moving away..we're picking up an odd buildup of energy in it's propulsion systems.."

Kennit's entire body tensed, "On screen!"

The image shifted, showing a small dark gray colored ship with a sleek, gracefully curved hull and forward swept 'wings' which reached out in front of the ship's main hull. It was hard to see, it's hull surface did not so much reflect starlight as it did just.. absorb it. There was an odd, rhythmic reddish glow emanating from it's forward hull which was not fully visible due to the position of the Victory and the unknown vessel.

"Get me a closer scan of that ship!" the Captain ordered.

"On it.." Before he could act however, the small sleek ship and oddly enough the space around it rippled slightly, followed by a bright flash of energy and then.. it was just gone.

"What the hell just happened!" Kennit asked.

"No idea Captain.. it wasn't an explosion it appears to be some type of propulsion system the computer has never seen.."

"No shit.." Kennit rumbled half under her breath. Slapping at the comm control, she barked out "Victory to away team! You are recalled priority alpha! Get your asses to the transport point and get back here now!"

********************************************

Chief Barnes had been monitoring the Away Team, as well as communications, from Transporter Room One since they left. The transporter locks had maintained steadily throughout the mission, and even the captain's sudden order there was absolutely no fluctuation. His eyes remained fixed on the multiple combadge signals, yet his hand hovered over the sliders ready to move at a moment's notice.

********************************************


Hunter heard the urgency in Rhea's voice and he reacted accordingly. Giving Anderson a glance, he stabbed at his combadge =^= Hunter to Torres and Volos. We have an alpha recall. Stop what you're doing and prepare to be beamed back to the Victory. Get to the transporter point now.=^=

That done, he returned his attention to the CMO, "Time for us to leave Doctor." His voice serious all previous signs of jesting gone.

"Aye Sir," Nicole said, quickly packing her sample containers in her kit and sealing it shut. She stepped away from him however, and tapped the communications arm on her suit. "Computer, reset transporter lock for the following coordinates." She tapped her lab quickly into her arm piece.

"Please state override code," the computer said.

Nicole gave Hunter an apologetic look and turned, shielding her input padd as she tapped her rather lengthy override code in. Finally the computer beeped and she turned back nodding. "Ready to go, Sir."

********************************************

Aboard the Victory, the Captain was impatient as she awaited confirmation that the away team had beamed back aboard. "I need a full scan of that vessel.. focus the sensors on the region where that small ship dropped away.." she ordered. "Any luck tracking it's course?"

"None Captain.. we've got it's propulsion trail but the readings simply vanish at the exact point where the energy burst was registered. Whatever system it uses for propulsion is completely unknown.."

Frustrated and more than a little unnerved, not one who liked the idea of a completely unknown alien race out there somewhere, the Captain slapped the comm control again and said, "Bridge to Hunter. What's taking so long?!"

"We're proceeding to the beam out point now Captain." Hunter replied as he and Anderson moved back toward the beam out point. He tapped his combadge Hunter to Torres, Volos, Gentlemen time is of the essence, get to the beam out point....now."

"Get a move on Number One!" came the Captain's reply. "We're not as alone out here as we thought. There was a small ship of unknown type and origin apparently attached to that wreck's hull. It dropped away and departed before our sensors could get a lock on it's heading. We weren't able to track it and I am feeling very uncomfortable with the knowledge that someone left that ship here to watch over this hulk of a ship..." she told him.

"Understood Captain." Hunter answered as succinctly as he could.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Alex and Miguel reached the shaft they'd come up the junior officer glanced back at the Commander and nodded. Alex tapped his comm badge. "ETA thirty seconds Commander." With that he stepped over the edge and reached his arms out to either side. He gave himself a hefty shove downward and disappeared, making sure to clear the landing pad as quickly as he could.

Miguel counted silently in his mind trying to give Alex enough time to make it below and then he just let himself fall. His hand was on his forearm controls as he angled himself for the opening he needed to go through. He could hear the computer in his helmet counting down and when it reached zero he actived his systems allowing himself to feel the near weightless nature of the ship to take over his body and keep him from getting hurt. After a couple of moments he activated his magnetic boots again and once he was sure he was ok he motioned for the Alex to continue and he followed as quickly as possible so they could meet up with the others.

Alex nodded then the pair started down another corridor. After a few more seconds they rounded a corner and were at the beam out point. He stopped and turned back to look at Commander Torres. "We're here, ready when you are, sir."

"Ready to go when you are Commander." Miguel told the XO. Although the truth was he really didn't want to go. But such was the life of a Starfleet Officer.

"Very good Mr. Torres." came Hunter's reply

As if by some telepathic cue, the Captain's voice came over the comms. "Please tell me you are ready to be beamed back aboard.."

"We're ready Captain, beam us back." Hunter's voice answered her. He understood her concern over the knowledge an alien ship had dropped away from this one and then suddenly disappeared. He felt they had gotten caught with their pants down.

Back on the Bridge, the Captain said immediately "About time... you heard the man Chief!" she said to Barnes. "Beam them back aboard!"

"Aye, Captain!" Tom replied over the comm. While his eyes remained fixated on the transporter locks, his left hand moved the slider controls down to initiate the transport. It wasn't long before the Away Team had been relocated to the pattern buffer where Thomas quickly reviewed each team member for anything out of the norm. Satisfied, he directed the patterns to the pad before him. With the transport now complete, Tom informed the captain, "The Away Team is back aboard."

"Please tell Commander Hunter to join me on the Bridge immediately.." she replied.

Hunter heard the Captain's request through Barnes combadge. "I heard her Chief. Let her know I'm on my way." As he hopped off the transporter padd and exited the room on the run, heading for the bridge.

"He's on his way," Barnes replied over the comm. "Barnes out." To the rest of the away team, he added with a smile, "Welcome back."

Alex popped the pressure seals on his EVA suit's helmet before pulling it off and returning the smile. "Thanks, Chief. Always good to be back."

---

OOC: For reference, when the away team entered the chamber which Kincaide is referencing, this is what they found.
This first image shows the tank which holds the mummified body of a hybrid between what was living tissue and machine. This is NOT a Borg. So don't even compare it because it is unlike anything seen. The mummy lies in what appears to have been a tank of some kind.




The actual upper torso and head of the mummy look similar to this.. this is how it would have looked when it was operational.




Again this not a Borg nor is it anything like the Borg..

It's something else.

:)

 

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