Inside the base Part 1

Posted on Sun Nov 5th, 2023 @ 10:15am by Lieutenant Darru & Ensign Duncan McManus & Commander William Gerhard & Lieutenant JG Anton Zakharov & Lieutenant Avira zh'Kenarh M.D. & Ensign Anne Marie "Ree" Beckett & Lieutenant JG Calanthe 'Cal' Diaz & Chief Petty Officer Nish Karalo & Staff Sergeant Nathanial "Nate" Cusack
Edited on on Fri Nov 24th, 2023 @ 10:47pm

Mission: Contagion
Location: Unknown Base
Timeline: Day 366 18:00
2876 words - 5.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Darru settled into the co-pilot seat, his keen alien eyes fixated on the window as the shuttle gracefully departed from the Atlantis, a sight that never failed to awe him. Beyond the translucent canopy, the sprawling Starbase loomed, an giant that had thus far remained frustratingly silent, save for the automated docking protocols. The tension in the cockpit was palpable, but Darru was determined to maintain his composure.

Beside him, the human pilot, absorbed in her own preparations, chose a course of action that elicited an inward sigh from Darru. He had learned during his year-long stay with these humans that their ways were often baffling, and their choices, even more so. Yet, he had adapted, understanding that his unique perspective as an alien among them was both a blessing and a challenge. He really could not believe that another type of crew could have achieved a year lost in space.

Suppressing the urge to correct her, Darru instead decided to offer valuable information that might bridge the gap of understanding and involve more of his colleagues. Breaking the heavy silence, he spoke, his voice a measured and resonant tone, "My scans indicate that they employ a different form of energy."

Nish was working away at her personal control scheme blissfully unaware of how much it irked her co-pilot. She'd learned to fly on an older type shuttle and sometimes UX improvements were no improvement at all, especially in cases where one relied on muscle memory. "Fascinating." It was a response out of reflex, in a tone similar to what she had heard her Vulcan co-pilot use. It was out before she could help herself, she felt her cheeks get warmer but didn't dare to look to the side to acknowledge the quip.

"What kind of energy sir?" asked Anton leaning over in his seat and trying to get a look at the readings coming up on the sensor screen. Anton frowned to himself, not sure what he was looking at.

Duncan looked at the scanned too and rolled his eyes. He had no idea and was not likely to understand it until he got a proper look when he was not squashed into between the communication chief and Chief engineer.

"I am not able to determine yet Lieutenant." The Vulcan answered ignoring Nish and her determination to in his opinion wind him up. "It will need further studying and exploring by us and Ensign Beckett." He knew the scientist was further at the back.

Anne Marie looked up at the mention of her name. She'd been halfway in a daydream with the rocking of the shuttle lulling her nerves into a nice, hazy place far from danger. "Mmm?" she asked, blinking away the scrap of haziness and taking stock of the rest of her surroundings. Her dads had always said that she could sleep through anything. Sitting up in a blind, in a lean, on a rock, during a hailstorm: if there was time, she'd make it happen. "I'm still here. It's not like there's much of anywhere to go. Do you need something?"

Anton handed Ree his pad which he had downloaded the sensor data onto. "Here see what you can make of that" he asked, passing the padd over.

Ree looked over the data with a curious expression building on her face. "I'd be lying if I said I'd ever seen anything like it. It's so interesting: the flux and flow of it? It's really... pretty," she said after a moment, realising just how unscientific that sounded.

Darru inclined his head to look at the readings. He could not see the prettiness himself but humans could see something in the mundane.

"Any sign of defence systems?" Sat in back next to Avira, Nate peered out at the looming structure with a mixture of interest and distrust. He had decided, amidst the preparation for this mission, that serving alongside the Andorian was going to prove quite possibly the best solution to every problem he'd ever had with previous medical opportunities; the most potent being lack of tactical intelligence, which Avira most definitely did not suffer from.

Avira leaned closer to Nate and pointed at the sidearm he was carrying. "I wasn't issued a sidearm, since you're carrying a rifle, can I borrow yours?" She whispered in a low hush, trying not to draw attention from the others in the shuttle. It wasn't that she was afraid that they'd be walking into a trap, it seemed much more trouble than it was worth. She just needed to feel a bit of security in her own hands.

As training had insisted, Nate was particularly good at remaining nonchalant whilst dubious orders filtered into his field of influence. He didn't look at the Andorian, though there was something about his posture that suggested a hint of respect for her request, at least enough to settle his gaze on the back of Gerhard's head whilst surreptitiously shifting in such a way as to allow her to take the weapon herself. Technically, (and that was a term that Nate cherished often), it wasn't the same as giving it to her. After all, she was his superior now.

Quickly but carefully Avira pulled the sidearm from his belt, double checked the safety being on, and stuck it into her own holster. Her antennae curled downward in what some people might actually start to recognise as an appreciative gesture.

McManus narrowed his eyes as the jostling from behind but said nothing about the whispered words he heard. Not his monkey, not his circus.

Preparation for Calanthe had taken the form of scouring the database updates the Realians had provided, as well as some brief consultation with their new local expert, to amass some semblance of a communications response that could be broadcast in languages that might alleviate any perceived threat. The translation protocols their newest friends used were reputedly quite common in the sector but, with no way of knowing how many systems were affected, proceeding as if they would otherwise be speaking gibberish had seemed wise. The trouble was, Calanthe couldn't say for certain that they weren't still speaking gibberish, for all the response her ongoing broadcast was receiving. "Still nothing but the automated distress recording," she reported, increasingly frustrated with the repetition of that as her only feedback.

William stared out the viewport as the station got bigger the closer they got. He didn't like this situation, the ominous tone of the automated distress call was one thing, but not knowing what was waiting for them was another. He looked back at the assembled group within the pod and cleared his throat. "As soon as we find a suitable place to dock, the MACOs and I will enter the station and secure the immediate area. Once it's cleared, the rest of you can follow. Chief, I'll have you stay with the pod in case we have to make a quick exit. Once we are aboard, no one goes anywhere alone. If we have to split up, groups of three with either myself, Dr. Avira, Staff Sergeant Cusack, or a MACO for security. Does everyone understand," he said, as he looked at the group individually. his tone conveyed that the last bit was not a request but an order.

Anton checked and holstered his phase pistol for the third time. It was the MACO troops in their armour and gear that made him more nervous than any alien space station. Anton looked out of the forward cockpit in trepidation.

Darru glanced back and pursed his lips and nodded at the woman before turning back to survey the station as they got closer and closer by the moment. “Where are you thinking to dock, Chief?” Darru wondered.

"I was just going to head in the direction of the port that they've cleared us for docking." Nish pointed out through the front window in no particular direction. Back on the Atlantis, they'd gotten automated docking clearance, Nish had transferred the coordinates to the shuttle and was just flying there. "Should we take a different approach? I didn't want to come off as hostile. Or paranoid." She looked over her shoulder to make eye contact with the comms officer along for the ride, "should we send them a message telling them we're on our way? Can they even hear us?"

"As far as I can tell, they're able to receive our transmissions." Diaz frowned in concentration as she tried to discern anything amongst the static filling her ears. "Even if they're not able to respond, they should know to expect us."

"The most logical course of action is to follow where they have cleared us, Sir. Even if it is a trap we might not find another way onto the base without it and they had not given us any cause to not believe that they really need help other than silence." Darru advised watching as as there seemed to be a line of glowing green lights guiding them into the base.

William took one moment glancing out the viewport again before nodding his assent, "Very well. Take us in Chief." He reached a hand out to brace against the bulkhead as he felt the deck shift under his boots from the pod's movement.

The sector around the starbase was very clean, moreso than even most starbases she'd encountered during her little expeditions with her father. Yet another indication that the technological level was beyond their own, as it was extremely hard to keep your patch of space clear of rubble. This made the whole docking process easy, almost boringly so. The systems of their base seemed to willingly connect with the shuttle's interface and the path towards a safe docking process was clearly mapped out to her on her HUD. It was almost like she wasn't even needed. The clamps connected and pulled the shuttle in place.

Darru watched as the pilot deftly manoeuvred, aligning with the docking port not needing him for anything other than eyes. Everyone experienced a gentle jolt as the shuttle made contact, magnetic clamps securing it in place to the base. Through the viewport, the base loomed larger, an intricate web of metallic structures adorned with radiant lights that Darru could still not fathom but he could still not see anyone or anything. "Are we secure Chief?"

"Affirmative," Nish replied double-checking all the clamps and seals.

The atmosphere inside the shuttle changed as Darru scanned the base beyond the airlock. They had suits but it would be easier to explore without them. "It is safe," Darru assured as the airlock door swung open, revealing the interior of the base. The first thing that struck Darru over the heads of the armoury and MACO officers was how bright it seemed.

Anton gulped a little from his corner of the shuttle pod, checked his phase pistol again, then followed behind the collection of MACO troopers and armoury personnel. He had his phase pistol drawn and his tool box in the other.

"You could always stay back with Karalo."

Amidst the preparations within cramped quarters, it wasn't easy to hold a private conversation but Cusack managed to lower his tone as he approached the Communications Chief under the guise of handing over a tricorder. For his effort, he received a patented look, which didn't sway him much. "I'm serious, we're past the point of encountering any sort of communication issue that can't be solved with a solid fist slam into unresponsive relays."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," Calanthe shot back, glancing towards Gerhard before lowering her own volume further. "Once we're inside, it will be more about how we handle direct communication if we actually encounter anyone. Hera said most species in the sector should have Realian in their translation banks and unless you did a heap of last-minute studying that you didn't share, I think I'm the only one with any passable grasp of basic greetings. With any luck, their systems will be sophisticated enough to handle a real-time analysis so that they can make sense of even your grunts but we can't know for sure."

"Jamesson will annihilate me if anything happens to you."

It didn't earn him any additional brownie points. "You picked an odd time to be worried about that."

Nate smirked. "I'm an odd kind of guy."

Cal rolled her eyes. "No comment."

"Stow it you two," William said after stepping across the threshold and into the alien structure. The bulkheads and deck plating were startling white, which compounded the brightness coming from the internal lighting. William almost had to squint to see clearly as he indicated for the MACO teams to fan out. The airlock appeared to open into a long corridor with an occasional closed doorway on either side. He turned to look at Darru, "Mr. Darru, can you scan for any biosyns now that we are inside the structure?"

Duncan laughed a little as he grinned at Calanthe and offered a sympathetic smile but said nothing as his senses were trying to make sense of it all.

Darru pulled out his scanner as he got past the group that was in the doorway of the shuttle. "I cannot detect anything other than several humans, one Vulcan and one Andorian." He said sourly glancing at the the Executive Officer. "My scanner would not be able to detect the dead but we are also dealing with new compounds and substances."

"We can adjust as we go depending on what we find," suggested Ree, who'd been fairly quiet thus far. "Adapt our scans from samples on the fly if we have enough time- unless its something horribly complex..." she muttered to herself something about protein knots under her breath.

Darru held out his scanner for the young woman to see. It was complicated and the Vulcan was having trouble understand the readings. “It is horribly complex, Ensign. I suggest you use your scanner as well.” 2 scanners might have a chance.

"Oh, eww... Forget my complaints about protein knots," sighed the brunette. She took out her own scanner, but it made no more sense than what she'd read on the Vulcans at this point. "This is like trying to read soup instead of tea leaves."

"Ladies first." Nate swept a hand in front of him and attempted a complete pious expression as the good doctor took him up on it but Diaz merely glared. "Ladies and impressively-independent-women-who-don't-need-no-man-to-protect-them first?"

"If you do this for the entire mission..." Calanthe rolled her eyes and pushed forward.

“Going to star a rumour.” Duncan teased moving forward too wanting to catch up to Darru to see what his scanner was showing.

Darru said nothing as the group started along the corridor almost in silence apart from the occasional bleep from the scanners in front of them. He squinted a little at the bright white corridor but kept moving until they reached the door and it opened with a hiss. “Stop… something has changed about the readings.” He said in a slow voice that allowed everyone to hear him.

Calanthe, who had been valiantly trying to ignore that Cusack was doing his best to nonchalantly reverse his earlier gallantry by standing in front of her, took advantage of the marine-medic's assumptions regarding forward threats and wandered to the side, hand stretched outwards to settle against the pristine cream wall. It was very faint but the tickle of vibrations against her palm coaxed the Communications Chief to slowly lean forward until her ear pressed against the surface. "Uh, Commander..."

Avira her antennae twitched, a shift in the base around them. In a reflex she grabbed onto the person in front of her by the scruff of her neck and pulled her closer, only then realising it was Diaz. A second later a panel slid into the hallway, a pristine white wall. No creases, no seams. As if the hallway had never been there. It took a moment for the doctor to gather her senses, looking at the people left with her on her side of the wall she realised she was probably the most senior officer left. "Back to the shuttle." She pulled her sidearm free from the holster on her hip and checked it was ready to fire.

In the flurry of confusion that followed, Calanthe very nearly spoke her mind. There was nothing unusual about that but adrenaline had a way of shutting down what filters she had and there was at least a split second where the Communications Chief wasn't entirely sure who was dragging her backwards. She struggled free, whipped her head around to protest and then, realising it was the Andorian doctor and not Cusack or Gerhard, held her tongue for the time it took to glance back in horror at the freshly-appeared wall. "What the hell."

Beckett uttered a quick 'yessir' despite the overwhelming urge to look closer. Her papa had always said that she had more curiosity than common sense, but that was just the scientist inside of her. She needed to know. With a sigh she turned back to the shuttle, keeping an eye out for any other sudden changes in the walls or appearing panels.