Earth Starfleet? Part 2

Posted on Sat Jun 11th, 2022 @ 4:20pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Commander Benjamin Jamesson & Captain Stenn & Commander William Gerhard & Lieutenant Avira zh'Kenarh M.D. & Ensign Michael Sloan & Ensign Isaac 'Zac' Hughes

Mission: Mission 6 - Memory
Location: ShuttlePod Hanger & Bridge
Timeline: Day 300 11:00
2600 words - 5.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Stenn and seven members of MACO were lined up outside the door to the shuttle hanger. They were wearing their combat uniforms, equipment belts and carrying their phase pistols, rifles and stun batons.

"Sergeant Magnusson, you and First Team will remain here on backup. I will take the Command Team into the hanger with the Captain and her officers" Stenn directed "Corporal Singh and McAndrews will provide overlook from the upper gantry. Myself and Thompson will be on the lower level where the Escape Pod will arrive. Double check your weapons are on stun. Nobody fires without my authorization" He looked around to get nods and affirmations from the operatives.

"Very good, stand easy" They waited for Leroux, Gerhard, medical team and the rest to arrive.

Beth appeared looking uneasy with a weapon in hand having retrieved it from the locker and armoury vest over her uniform. She was not in the slightest allowing everyone else to have all the action and leave her behind. “All good Captain?” She demanded fishing her communicator out of her pocket.

"All good" Stenn nodded and proceeded to open the hanger door. MACO led the way in and took up their positions.

Getting the all-clear from the MACO's, Sloan removed the scanner from his hip and held it at the ready. Now that the pod was here, he would be able to get better readings than the ship's sensors would have picked up. He did not bother with the phase pistol on his hip, between the eight marines and the gathered crew's phase pistols they were more of a danger to themselves than anything coming out of the escape pod.

As Avira and Lottie arrived in the shuttlebay they saw the full complement of marines present. The Andorian doctor stopped in her tracks. She reflexively reached for the medical pack slung around her shoulder, expecting there to be a rifle. "Do I need a side-arm?" She asked in the general direction of the MACO Captain and the Commander, had she known she was walking into a potentially hostile environment she would've carried her own weapon with her.

"I don't think so Doctor" Stenn replied.

"I think there are enough side arms around. I need you for medical care." Beth commented hopeful that the final scans were true and their people inside. People inside a pod normally needed medical care from Beth's own experience so it made perfect sense.

Avira was unhappy to be in this situation without at least a side-arm, but she had asked and not ordered so she'd have to accept the answer. She made sure she had the medical scanner at the ready and looked over at the nurse to make sure she was ready as well.

William was in the shuttle bay control booth. He wanted to watch as the pod came in so he could watch the MACOs approach from a higher elevation. He was armed with a phase pistol which was holstered on his hip. He watched as the grappler arm descended through the open airlock and watched it fire towards a distant target. The line began reeling in as he pressed the comm button, "Gerhard to Leroux, the pod is being winched in now. Should be inside momentarily."

"Aye Lieutenant. Thank you." Beth said before glancing around at the crew assembled. "Any last-minute theories?" She asked trying to ease the tension as she could hear the whirl inside the shuttle bay.

Under control of the Grappler the pod's rotation was stopped and it was hauled up into the bay

William watched the pod as it entered the view from the opened shuttle bay doors. The pod appeared to be Starfleet issue; William recognized some of the insignia on the exterior. The pod showed significant wear and scoring. It was clear that it had been in space for some time. As the pod was hauled inside, the Suttle bay doors closed and sealed as the grappler lowered it onto the deck. There was a loud thud as it landed, and William pressed the required buttons to start repressurizing. "Pod is inside, repressurizing the bay now. The exterior shows significant scoring. This thing seems to have been adrift for some time," William said over the comm channel.

Immediately raising his scanner to the incoming craft, Sloan immediately began to check the pod. In every way, the escape pod matched the one that was tucked away safely within the Atlantis, except for two differences. "There is definitely a quantum variance. I don't know what exactly that means, but it is not the current pod aboard. Beyond that," he shrugged. Looking to the MACO's and those withdrawn phase pistols, Sloan added, "There are life signs aboard."

“Helpful Ensign,” Beth said gently in Afrikaan with a small smile. She had no idea what he meant by quantum variance and was wishing she had someone there who knew “Can you tell how many life signs?” She wondered quietly.

"Five," Sloan replied, stepping back a little to make room for incoming phase rifle fire if things went badly.

“More than the pod is listed for,” Beth murmured to herself as she heard the wince inside stop and the airlock renegade and the compartment start to repressurise to allow them to go in. “Everything good Gerhard?”

Now that the pod was settled down in the docking bay Avira stepped aside so that she wouldn't be in direct line of sight from its opening door, ushering Nurse Daglish to follow suit. Without a means to defend themselves, they had to make sure they weren't in the direct line of fire.

Inside the booth, the pressure light changed from red to green. He nodded to himself before speaking into the comm, "Cleared to enter. Captain Stenn, have two of your team place themselves up on the gantry with me."

With McAndrews and Singh on the gantry, the latter with her rifle trained at the pod's hatch, Stenn and Thompson took up positions by the pod.

"Ready to open the hatch?" Stenn said, looking to Leroux.

“We can once Lieutenant Gerhard is ready,” Beth said glancing back to the man as he came out of the shuttle control booth. “Happy to proceed?” She questioned quickly looking the pod over.

Having exited the booth, William joined the two MACOs on the gantry and drew his phase pistol. Checking it was set for stun, he called down to the captain. "We are good up here, everyone below clear our line of fire. If anything comes out when you open the hatch, we don't want to hit any of you down there. We weren't able to detect anything out of the ordinary going on inside, but if things get rowdy, let us take the shots. We have the better angle from up here," he called down before nodding towards the captain.

Beth held up her hand to indicate she heard William and clipped the communicator to her vest as she finally took in the beaten pod properly. “What is its status and can you get us in Ensign?” Beth wondered looking to Michael.

"Wherever this pod is from, my old command codes don't work, see what yours can do," Michael said as he made room for Beth to try her codes.

Beth leant over and attempted her command codes but the codes did not do anything in the slightest. She shrugged a little and stepped back to give him enough space.

"I was afraid of that," Michael replied as he knelt down to get some tools out of the toolkit. "I don't have Captain Morgan's old codes, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve," he added as he stood, hyperspanner in hand. He quickly positioned the tool as close to the hatch panel's circuitry as he could. Activating the hyperspanner, Sloan attempted to deactivate the security system and reset the lock. After a few moments, the panel gave a satisfactory beeping noise as the face turned green. Looking between William and Beth, he called out, "On your order."

Beth defaulted to the Armoury Officer with a nods up to him and stepped to her left so she had a view of the pod opening but was also safe from accidental firing in a gun fight started.

William had watched the work below intently. When he saw Sloan look towards him and the captain, he nodded and raised his phase pistol but kept it aimed high until Sloan could seek cover.

With a nod, Sloan activate the hatch and moved slightly over to keep the firing lane open. With a loud hiss the hatch to the escape pod began to open and reveal what was inside and to hopefully solve the mystery.

As the pod opened a figure stepped out holding up a phase pistol. “No one move!” He held his injured arm against his chest as the phase pistol moved from person to person before he stopped just staring. Ginger, short hair slightly revealed a chiseled, sad face that was like looking at what he thought was ghosts for most people in the room. The man stood there on the gangway was Commander Benjamin Jameson who had died almost a year ago in the first Varv attack.

William saw the figure emerge with a phase pistol. He pointed his own and called out, "Drop the weapon now!" He held his fire as he watched the figure pointing his own phase pistol at the assembled group. He recognized the figure slightly, but he was more focused on the weapon in his outstreached hand. "I said drop the weapon now or we will fire on you," he called out again more forcefully.

“Benjamin?” Beth said stunned as the phase pistol the man was holding dropped to the floor in his shock as he finally realised what he was looking at.

William recognized the name, but he motioned down towards Stenn to secure the man's dropped weapon as he kept his on phase pistol pointed at him. He relaxed his grip slightly when he saw the man's pistol was secure. It was then that he allowed himself to take in the figure and recognized him as Benjamin Jameson, which he knew was impossible since the man had been killed in action.

Stenn gave a signal to Thompson who deftly retrieved the weapon and secured it in his belt.

"Bethsabee?" The man with a Welsh lilt questioned as he stood there looking injured and confused. "I do not understand what is going on... you are dead... you died a year ago... " Benjamin explained looking around taking in Sloan. "And you..." He indicated Sloan and a few other people before looking around. "The Atlantis is safe." He muttered taking in its condition.

"Lower weapons." Beth said sharply not able to take it what was said right then but she felt there was very little danger from an unarmed injured man.

Singh and McAndrews stepped back from an aim position, keeping their rifles ready though.

Wiliam did as the captain ordered, holstering his phase pistol. He motioned to the two MACOs to hold their positions on the gantry before he made his way over to the ladder. He climbed down to the ground floor before joining the larger group below. He was able to get a better look at the man. It was indeed Ben Jameson, or at the very least someone who looked like him.

"I think it is safe to come out now" Benjamin called back as he held his injured arm closer to him now that weapons were not quite as trained on him.

"How many more are there inside," William asked as he heard a soft response from inside the pod. He refrained from using the man's name, mainly because he was still suspicious of this whole situation. William recalled seeing this man's body being set adrift, the memorial service having been presided over by Captain Leroux. There was a long way to go before William would fully accept this situation.

"Four... Five was all that I got off the... this ship." Benjamin explained quickly

A tousled head, long hair tied back in such a way to make the scruff of an unkempt beard all the more prominent, tentatively poked its way out of the hatch. "Sir, our systems have commenced power-down sequence now that we're no longer adrift. I need to move..."

The man paused, eyes darting from one shell-shocked face to the other before he lifted his eyes to consider the hangar space. Tired features furrowed into a frown. "Sir?"

"I do not know what is going on," Ben explained as he finally fell to his knees still holding his arm against him. He was tired, oh so tired and it had hurt to even breathe now that he stopped moving.

"The doctor who missed the ship and we left without him?" Beth said noticing Isaac peeking out confused. She knew all the crew and the people who were meant to be onboard when they left Earth. "You missed your connection and we took... zh'Kenarh as an exchange officer instead." Beth said glancing back at the the Andorian confused slightly but starting to pin together an idea of what was going on.

Avira winced a bit at the mention of her family name, even though the Commander's pronunciation was near-native level. She didn't like to be reminded of the person that gave her that name. She had never looked into the transfer files, but the last-minute switch to the Atlantis had seemed a bit of a rush job. How different her life would've been if the doctor had shown up. "Take me to your wounded." She requested the unkempt man, the commanding tone leaving very little room for protestations.

Hughes, having spent the best part of gods-only-knew-how-long just managing the problem right in front of him, swept his gaze back and forth between the two unfamiliar faces without any capacity to piece together the...accusations...being flung at him. He'd missed what connection? His gaze settled on the one person whose opinion he did trust and relented only when a nod from his superior officer gave him permission to address the Andorian's demands. "There are three," he murmured softly, and disappeared back inside the pod to grant the woman access.

Lottie watched Avira and the stranger move inside as she moved to Benjamin and started to look him over. “Dehydration… dislocated shoulder that has had an attempt to repair… “ Lottie smiled. “He will live with a bit of rest.” She said not even getting into the fact the man was exhausted.

Beth nodded. “Let’s get everyone to sickbay and go from there.” Beth said. “Can you send three security with them Gerhard.”

William nodded before making his way over to the nearest comm pannel. He pressed the button and spoke, "Gerhard to Security, have a security team meet me in sickbay." Turning off the panel he rejoined the group and stood ready to help the wounded to sickbay. He then looked towards the MACOs, "Captain Stenn, If i could borrow two of your people for our trip to sickbay?"

"Of course" Stenn signaled Singh and Thompson to join Gerhard and escort the escape pod passengers to Sickbay

Beth nodded at the men and indicated for them to move. “Let me know what you find with the pod Ensign.” Beth said back to Sloan as she stared at the pod that was mocking her with his existence whilst another version was resting in the depths of the ship.

What was going on??