Inside The Base Part 2

Posted on Fri Dec 29th, 2023 @ 10:57am by Lieutenant Darru & Commander William Gerhard & Staff Sergeant Nathanial "Nate" Cusack

Mission: Contagion
Location: Silent Starbase
Timeline: Day 366 late
2660 words - 5.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Darru's heart raced as he instinctively recoiled from the sudden, jarring noise that had pierced the air. DIt stood before him, an imposing and unnerving presence, leaving him with just two companions in this mysterious scenario: Gerhard and Cusack. He slowly leant out to touch the wall but it was solid. The more he inspected it, the more it seemed as if the wall had always been there, an integral part of the surroundings, and not some recent intrusion. He pressed his ear against the wall but could not hear anything on the other side so turned back to the pair.

"Sir?" he inquired, his voice tinged with both curiosity and concern.

The sudden action of the wall's movement had caught William completely off guard as he stared back at where the rest of the group should have been. He swore under his breath before turning around and drawing his sidearm. He listened for a moment before looking at his colleagues, "You both alright?" When they both nodded he looked back at the wall with a furrowed brow.

Far more insistent in his examination, Cusack wandered the length of the wall for a decent portion, probing at it with both hands. Retrospectively annoyed at his own lack of anticipation, he found at least some small consolation in the fact that he was the one on the lack-of-viable-escape-route side of things and not...well, the others. "Not even a crack."

"Forward then," Darru commented still holding his scanner instead of a weapon. He was a good shot but both men with him were much better so information gathering would be a better use of his time.

"Is that smart?" The question was more for Gerhard, whom Nate had already straightened to face. A stern frown creased his forehead. "We wander too far and there's no guessing how many rotations this place goes through. If we wait, maybe it'll shift back."

Darru raised an eyebrow and slammed his and against the wall. “I do not see how waiting will help anyone. It’s not logical when we still have a mission. Cannot go over it. Cannot go under it. So forward seems the only options we have, Staff Sergeant.” The Vulcan said quietly as he looking the fact there were not many options for them to try and loop around back to the others or find someone in charge to answer the mayday.

"Is there anything your scanner can pick up about the interior layout? For all we know our original path shifted when this wall came down," William said before pulling his communicator out of his pocket and flipping it open.

Darru glanced at the scanner and quickly shook his head holding it up for them both to see. “The new wall is similar in material to the walls already in place.” It was the same material that did not allow them to scan past. “Try the communicator, Sir. See if the wall material blocks that too.”

"Gerhard to Diaz," he said before the communicator began to emit static. "Diaz...Avira....does anyone read," William said before he changed comm channels, "Gerhard to Atlantis." After being met with more static, he closed the communicator and placed it back in his pocket before looking at the two men. Lacking any other alternative, he looked back down the corridor and drew his sidearm again. "Let's press on, I just hope we don't run into any more surprises," he said.

“Sir.” Darru nodded letting the men go first as he continued to scan around them.

It was likely for the best that neither man saw the roll of Cusack's eyes as he reluctantly pulled away from the wall and stared with resentment directly ahead. It took only several steps, however, for instinct to kick in and he stepped to the side to allow the scientist to move ahead. From a purely tactical point of view, Nate offered the best advantage from a distance at long range, typically dug in deep at a lofty perch when the terrain permitted it. Here, the best option was to cover their retreat.

After 20 minutes of endless corridors and large empty spaces that looked like once upon a time would have been full of people Darru stopped and looked around. The oppressive silence was occasionally broken by the distant, haunting echoes of their own movements, as if the base itself was trying to communicate its history. But now they had paused the Vulcan’s hearing was straining against something he was sure he could hear in the distance.

From behind, the rustle of armor preceded the whine of a powered-up rifle.

William pulled up when he sensed Darru had stopped walking. "Did you pick up some...," William started to ask before he stopped once he heard the sound behind him. He spun, his hand going down to his sidearm and drawing as he searched for whomever was behind them.

Darru turned toward the sound, his expression unreadable, and his scanner held at the ready. "We're not alone," he murmured, his Vulcan instincts on high alert. "I heard something, Commander. Be prepared." The tension in the air thickened as they honed in on the distant but unmistakable sounds of foot steps coming closer. His fingers danced across the scanner's interface, adjusting settings to maximize its range and sensitivity. "Commander," Darru murmured, his voice barely audible, "I believe we have company approaching from behind. Multiple individuals."

"Do you have a firm number," William asked as he looked down the corridor. The sound he had heard before seemed to be growing in volume and multitude. Whoever was coming, there was a lot of them. He pulled his sidearm free of it's holster, but kept it down at his side.

Darru's brow furrowed as he analysed the data streaming on the scanner. "Difficult to ascertain their exact number, but at least three, possibly more. They're closing in." As the unseen threat approached, Darru couldn't help but feel a surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins. His composure masked any outward signs of nervousness, but the heightened senses and swift calculations in his mind were evidence of the internal intensity.

Suddenly, figures emerged from the shadows they were humanoid in shape, standing taller than an average human, with their height ranging from 7 to feet but they were much more graceful as they stood there and stopped just as surprised by them as the trio were of them.

Instinct was key, and whilst Cusack felt no immediate threat from these looming hulks, he likewise wasn't entirely enamoured with their obvious physical advantage. Having already proceeded for the last few metres with his rifle raised, the marine held pose, his eyes tracking from face to face as he calculated what it would take to hit one square between the eyes if they tried anything.

William had raised his weapon when the figures had appeared, but as they stood before them, he lowered his sidearm slightly before stepping forward with his other arm raised. "We mean you no harm, we received your distress call. We are here to help," William said to the lead figure. When no reply came, he turned towards Darru with an upraised eyebrow.

The creature glowed brightly but did not move or speak as the people in front of it spoke. "I do not believe they communicate by voice..." Darru said looking down at his scanner as the situation grew more tense as nothing came from the figure.

"We do..." A sing-song voice came from the creature finally. "It takes us longer to produce sound." He added for context.

The hell kind of use is that? It was for the best that Cusack, who had relaxed his stance only marginally, kept his thoughts to himself. His expression, its incredulous frown radiating confused disbelief as a scowl, did enough of the work and was equally as unhelpful.

William noticed that the creature's glow seemed to pulsate as it spoke. He nodded before he holstered his weapon. "I am Commander Gerhard of the Starship Atlantis. We received a distress call from this location. We are here to offer our assistance," he said before he motioned to the walls around him, "We got separated from the rest of our group."

The creature glowed a warm orange colour before he took in Gerhard and his words despite the persons with him flickering emotions and the other man’s blackness. What peculiar creatures he thought before he spoke again. “Our distress call has been going out for many turns of the moon.” He explained. “I am Veelar of the Luminari. I am the administrator of this community. We call it Astrala Prime.” He declared.

"I apologize for our presence here if it offends you, we were only trying to ascertain who sent the distress signal," William said with a slight bow of his head. While Veelar had not stated as such, William felt certain their presence was why they had been separated.

Veelar looked at William one way than another and back to the other Luminari before he spoke aloud. "We sent the distress call when there were many of us and now there are so few." The Luminari admitted.

"What happened?" Darru asked quickly wondering what could have happened to make so many so few.

"A sickness..." A female voice admitted the colours changing on his companions in reaction to the words.

"What kind of sickness?" As far as bedside manners went, Cusack had a ways to go, especially when his suspicion was roused.

William looked to the voice that spoke before he looked back to Veelar. "There was an outbreak of something here," William asked keeping the alarm out of his voice. There had been no mention of any type of virus from the distress call, and the away team were not wearing environmental suits to protect themselves from infection. William stole a quick glance over at Darru who met his gaze before looking back to Veelar as he spoke.

Darru did not indicate any alarm but his fingers were changing the scanners from what it had been doing in trying to find a way back to the group to scanning the individuals for signs of differences. The likelihood of an alien outbreak effecting them were slim but they could not head back to the ship until they were sure.

“Yes, it moved through our home like the winds of our home world.” Veelar said finally. His musical voice sounded sad and far away as the true nature of the situation was revealed.

It was, Nate mused, almost worse than listening to the Relean's pomp and ceremony. At this rate, the entire sector was shaping up to claim poetry as its primary means of communication, which had him wishing the bugs hadn't upgraded Atlantis' translation protocols.

"Our ship's doctor was among our group, but we were separated from them. Is there a way we can contact them or our ship," William asked knowing he needed to notify the captain of these developments.

The Luminari next to the base administrator nodded. “Our home goes into protocols to protect us when vessels dock without prior warning. We were on our way to work out what was going on as you had not responded to our communication attempts.” She explained indicating for them to follow.

William looked at his group before he turned to follow along with the other aliens. He looked to the one who had spoken before as he walked. "We never received any communications. We broadcast friendship messages on all our communications frequencies when we approached, but when we recieved no response we decided to investigate," he said before indicating their surroundings, "Our technology must not be compatible with yours."

Big surprise. With Gerhard's decision to follow, Cusack stowed his exasperation with his weapon and consented, given the apparent inappropriateness of continuing with a rifle drawn, to reaching for a hand phaser, tucked far more discreetly by his side. With the doctor now sent in an opposite direction, it wasn't lost on the marine that he represented the only medical response they had to offer this group and he supposed, grudgingly, if they were sincere and not lying through their shiny mouth-holes, perceived aggression might not be quite the right treatment protocol.

"We can make it compatible." The female-sounding Luminari assured. Darru followed quickly but his eyes were on the scanner. He needed to know what was going on.

"How did the infection start?" He asked aloud the question that had been going around in his head. It was the only way he was going to start getting some answers to work out what was going on.

"We do not know," Veelar said simply as he glowed red. The group moved into a large turbo lift that silently started to take them up levels. "One moment everything was normal and the next we lost many people. The Luminari are deeply committed to the pursuit of knowledge and understanding the cosmos, we do not die simply."

"Mr. Darru was not implying that you did," William said assuming that Veelar's red glow meant he was upset or annoyed at the implication. Based on his observations so far, the Luminari's colors seemed to indicate mood, but there were constantly changing so it was hard to get a read on what each color meant for certain.

Darru held his tongue at the words being put into his mouth or no words in that case but nodded. “I am just interested in seeing where it started to work out a pattern and assist.” The Vulcan said as the lift opened into a command center and the group stepped out into what would have once been a bustling admin area but now was emptied apart from a few Luminari working away flashing red and orange.

"You broadcast a message asking for help." Whilst his tone wasn't directly antagonistic, Nate still managed to convey a sense of impatience. "Asking questions is a pretty standard evaluation technique, doesn't mean anyone's passing judgement." Yet.

Darru nodded at the MACO. He did not normally agreed with the hotheaded human but he could not help but agreed there and there. He was starting to feel the same impatience as he tried to make sense of it all.

William took a moment to look around at the vast room. Even taking the Luminari's massive size, the room was still large. The few Luminari that were in the room appeared to be manning multiple stations at once, their colors quickly changing as they worked. He waited for Veelar to lead the way as they followed before approaching what he could only guess was the command station.

“Let me see your communication device and we can see about getting our systems aligned.” The female Luminari said.

“What is your name?” Darru wondered.

“Axou.” She answered.

William pulled his communicator from his sleeve and handed it over to the Veelar. As the Luminari worked, William stepped over to Darru and lowered his voice. "Can you detect any pathogen," he asked as Darru had been taking reading continuously.

Darru shook his head in the negative. “Nothing yet is being detected out of the ordinary of what we see day to day other than something unique here but I cannot isolate it here.” He admitted. It was something that would need to be investigated more thoroughly but he was useless without better scanners.

“If they can adapt our communicator, perhaps they can adapt your scanner,” William offered. He was short on any other ideas and differed any scientific theories to Darru, but it seemed a logical conclusion. William’s main priority was to reestablish communication with the other group, then the ship. After that, It would be up to Darru and Avira to advise him on the next course of action.

All they could do was wait now.