X Marks The Wreck

Posted on Tue May 16th, 2023 @ 9:14pm by The Narrator & Lieutenant Commander Javiylah MacArthur & Lieutenant Commander TaijanSuda ch'Thulhu & Lieutenant Jayla Kij MD & Lieutenant JG Fox Jasper & Ensign Asami Inoue & Chief Warrant Officer Mara O’Sullivan

2,441 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: World Wide Web
Location: DSRV, The Scrimshaw Star
Timeline: Day 4

The large clamshell doors that made up part of the aft hull of the Daedalus began to close up, hiding away the umbilical connections and docking gantries that had held the rescue craft. This was no longer a simulation on a holodeck, with safeties and protocols to limit risks. The stars beyond the hull glittered in the way that they did only in reality. But even in the grey sea of the Reef Stars, the pustule light of the Scrimshaw Star washed them out almost to a one.

Coming under the top heavy saucer section of the Chariot Class, the ugly brown dwarf came into view. Too cold to be a proper main sequence star, too hot to be a gas giant, it emitted enough light to draw eerie shadows across the hull from the wrecks and debris in orbit. Some of the larger pieces were visible from the DSRV's viewports, like scabs building up over a wound.

"Well, she ain't pretty," muttered Fox to the fugly yellow presence beyond their front viewport.

Suda sat at the tactical station with his fingers hovering over the weapons systems, eyeing the tactical sensor readout like a hawk. "No hostiles detected," he reported, "but some big planetoid-sized detritus is swinging back around in an orbit pattern even our flyboy might find hard to dodge. Best we not dick around any longer than we need to."

“I second that,” put in Jayla. “I’d rather not have to put anybody back together. Or worse- have to talk one of you through putting me back together.”

"You doubting me already?" Fox joked warmly. "I'm hurt, truly." He'd studied the scanners and sensors, collating as much detail as he could hold while maintaining their safe trajectory. "Figure we try this route," the pilot noted, indicating a projection of said pathway with his right index finger. "Lil bit of ducking, diving and rolling required, but if we all keep our seatbelts on reckon we won't need the sick-bags." He looked to MacArthur for the Lt Cmdr's opinion before deeper into the mobile graveyard.

"If that's the case, then perhaps you need to increase the power to the inertial dampeners," the calm and somewhat authoritative voice of the FELINE unit assigned to the mission. Morpheus was perched atop one of the equipment racks, the trio of red photoreceptors in its conical head glowering. "But, I will grant you the course input into the DSRV's computer is not without merit. It will bring us into the proximity of the wreck in which the log beacon is located. I find no fault with it."

"Where's the fun in that?" Quipped Fox, nerves at the proximity of the FELINE making him overcompensate. But he could do just that, he realised. Increase the inertial dampeners. This wasn't a rustbucket cargo hauler, but a state of the art piece of Starfleet's finest. "Maybe saving the power for shields would be useful," he half-suggested, keeping Morpheus in his peripheral vision as he added with friendly nuanced sarcasm. "Suda's right, I'm not perfect, but your blessing means everything. Thanks kitty."

"Field Enhanced Logic & Information Node Engine. Though if you want to continue calling me a 'kitty cat' I'm sure I can find something to leave in your bed as a gift," Morpheus said pointedly. "Commander MacArthur, the probe data suggests a number of entrances that are proximate to the location of the beacon. Should we survey the wreck first or dive in, as is the want so many biologicals?"

Bhéara hissed at the other FELINE from her customary perch on the commander's shoulder, her tail flicking against the suit to emphasize her point. Javi ignored both as she scrutinized the information on her HUD, her helmet already sealed, facing out one of the viewports.

Suda gave a rude snort. "Time ain't on our side, so we should do this quickly by the numbers: we breach the AO at the infil point nearest our objective, secure the perimeter and establish a fallback point, and then press on to said objective. We can leave probes to dick around on our behalf while we grab the shit and get the hell out of here."

"You make it sound like we're here for a fight." Asami quipped from the Science station, her focus however still on the console in front of her. With the dense and ever changing debris field swirling around them, she had to keep replotting their course to not only reach but make it back from the beacon.

"Always expect a fight," Fox deadpanned.

"Conflict is the engine for change," Suda said. "Without it there is no evolution, no expansion, no basis for anything to happen. Best you believe if it's moving, then it's in conflict with something." He pointed at the readout. "This debris is in conflict with the maw that's got it in a death grip. We're in conflict with the clock because the longer we stay here, the more likely we end up smashed to bits." Looking at MacArthur, he brought himself back from the brink of his lecture. "But it ain't up to me."

"But you make a salient point. These wrecks should be nothing more than floating clouds of metallic particles, smashed apart or drawn into the lukewarm furnaces of the brown dwarf below. Instead, they are in...graveyard orbits that are almost mathematically perfect." Morpheus said in his creepy tone of voice. "We should be arriving shortly. I can have the DSRV's sensor readings sent to your suits HUDs or you can parse the data in the method you prefer."

One of the possible routes lit up, showing in green, on the displays to indicate which one Javi had decided was the most appropriate. "Slightly further in than the one you chose, Fox, with fewer acrobatics required. Once you drop us, short survey around the AO but stay within transporter range. ch'Thulhu, you have security point and perimeter for the LZ. Inoue, highlight areas that seem promising from your scans if it differs from our original SitRep. Kij, you can stay with Fox or pair with O'Sullivan, let us know. Remember to be cautious and stay in your pairs," Javi kept her briefing short, not bothering to remove her helmet for it, and waited to see if anyone would have questions.

"Aye aye, Commander," Fox confirmed. Was he a little disappointed to lose some of the hoped for flair? Yes. But also, there was plenty enough going on here with keeping them on course in the pretty metallic malestrom, and he'd be tested some just keeping close enough to pick them back up again. "I'll be sure to stay close enough to grab you and bring you home."

Suda charged up his phaser rifle to ensure its operational status before returning it to standby. "On your mark."

The wreck appeared like a magic trick in the fluttering display of wan stellar light. Half buried in a gravel-type asteroid, it had the look of a mammoth that had succumbed to the embrace of the tar pit, resigned to its fate. No running lights. No power signature. Only grey hull plating and the scratchy remains of once proud livery.

In form, the wreck was a long central hull, tubular in shape and a hundred meters in length. At its rear were a trio of warp nacelles, though two of them were bent and tested from the collision with the asteroid that was now its grave. At the fore the cylindrical central hull expanded into an egg-shaped pressure vessel, its narrow tip pointed forward. Heavily polarised port holes dotted the hull in lines that suggested decks.

An airlock appeared under the floodlights of the DSRV, its inner and outer hatch conspicuous for their absence, revealing a dark flightless interior that was almost velvet-like in its purity.

It almost hid the fact the hatchway was labelled in a rounded, flowing alien script at the top edge. This pattern was mirrored along the bottom edge, but in a different language altogether.

'PORT SIDE: NO3 AIRLOCK'

With a quiet grace belying his usual attitude, Fox brought the valiant little craft in close enough for them all to read the words etched on the outer hull. He exhaled a whistle at the flowing script and automatically scoured the lettering against his internal library of known cultures. Nothing immediately grabbed his mind as an origin story, but you never knew what might happen if you let things percolate. While his mind's eye wandered down that direction, his working brain guided them in neatly to line up with the open doorway. "Ground floor," he said. "Weird alien script, foodhall and restrooms... Please mind the gap between the DSRV and the broken ship."

The universal docking collar on the side of the DSRV engaged, sending a dull thud through the ship as it connected to the side of the alien vessel. With both of its inner and outer airlock doors opened to space, the inner hatch on the DSRV didn't open until everyone who was going aboard were buttoned up in their EVA suits.

"Breaching outer hull," Suda announced as he did exactly that. He went through the door, ducked right, and dropped to one knee while he allowed his phaser rifle's mounted light scan the vicinity for hostiles or other hazards. "Clear!"

Jayla rolled her eyes. It’s a deserted ship! What’s it clear of? Ghosts? But she didn’t say that out loud. Instead, she only waited patiently for the others to exit ahead of her.

The corridor leading off from the airlock was eerily familiar. Deck plating rivetted to the floor, the corridors frame braced at regular intervals with thick metal ribs. And again on the floor and exposed duct work, the same strange alien script with its counterpart written beneath in standard Earth English.

Deck C, Frame 8, Port Side EVA/Side Scan Array

"The design schema used here is familiar in certain respects to 22nd-century United Earth protocols," Morpheus said, a scanning laser playing out over the weird combination of the script. "Even the alien writing is using the same format kerning as the standard markings. Most peculiar as the alien script is not in my data banks."

"He's right..." Asami added, reaching out to trace over the lettering. It looked like something she'd seen in her Federation history class. Where could the script have come form, why would it be setup like a ship from the NX era. "It's nothing like I've seen either."

"Terra cognita," Mobius muttered, the scanning beam washing over the walls and lingered over a control panel. The physical controls were larger, blocky, their surfaces again filled in with both an English designation and an alien script. "This appears to be an interlink computer terminal, running on a dinamag circuit I am not familiar with. Much, in the same way, you are not familiar with vacuum tubes I imagine."

"If it ain't the beacon, then we should press forward," Suda said. He gave a hand sign to the accompanying Security officers. A pair held back to secure their egress while two others took flanking positions plus one to the rear in order to surround the missional principals. Of course, forward motion wasn't his order to give.

Javi had disembarked behind the rest, taking time to scan the surroundings while she watched the Security Team deploy to their watch posts and around the group. Bhéara’s tail flicked against the side of her helmet several times as her person stopped to look down at the connection under her boots.

“Commander?” Mara looked back from her position just before her boss, noticing she had stopped. She fell silent at the quick gesture Javi made.

“Fox, are you hearing this on external?” Javi isolated the barely-audible echo that had first caught Bhéara’s sensors and then her own ears thanks to her suit, highlighting it on his display.

And then there was one, thought Fox, kicking back in his chair and resting his boots up on the console. No cats, no crew, no... hang on... what was that? He canted his head to the side and adopted an expression that mixed curiosity and comprehension right as MacArthur interrupted with her question. "Yes, Commander," Fox confirmed, brightly. "Loud and clear. I can try to zero in on the source from here?" He offered, fingers skimming over the console to attempt a backtrace on the soundwaves' origin. "There's sentience with you in there somewhere," he added as he worked.

"Do that," Javi replied, considering the readings on her display as she waited for results from the more powerful ones on the DSRV. Bhéara bumped her head against Javi's helmet before settling back to watch the surroundings.

The whirring from Suda charging his phaser rifle sounded off the seconds as they waited. If anything jumped out, it would get hit with the widespread dispersal setting.

It took a moment or two for the DSRV's sensor suite to track the noiseless sound, considering the vacuum and all, and suggest its best guess as to where the vibrations might be located. Fox played with the settings a little, partly for ease of the away team's consumption of said information and partly just to show-off. What he sent to Javi compromised the location wrapped up in a neat little fancy coloured satnav-style mapping detail that would guide them towards a compartment near the dead ship's centre.

"It's around here," said the pilot, cheerfully, as the info dumped onto Javi's suit PADD. "Looks like a protected space, surrounded by radiation shielding I think. Be careful boss, usually that means engineering level dangers - warp core maybe?" Fox had seen folks end their lives chasing such 'treasures' in dead or dying ships defended by energy barriers and the like.

"It's the sentience that concerns me," Suda said. "Everyone stay alert."

"It would make sense with this ship's design, at least if it really is some alien take on something from the twenty second century." Asami offered turning away from the info and looking at Commander MacArthur.

With their target lit up and identified, Suda picked up the pace as he led point on the group toward the shielded area marked on their map. Rather than refer to a handheld device, Suda had a transparent yellow display over his right eye that gave him tactical readings. The team's life signs blended together into a blinking green dot which edged ever closer to the large red circle and whatever lied within it.

 

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