Past Prologue, Part 10
Posted on Fri Mar 22, 2019 @ 8:43am by Commander Caleb Ryan
703 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Things Past
Location: USS Winchester/The Borderlands/Omicron Nebula
Timeline: FLASHBACK: 2375/Toward the End of the Dominion War
“That should be the final navigational buoy,” T’Eden spoke from ops as she pinged the last frequency Deneia Tejera had given them. “According to the Orion, that should be directly on the planet.”
“Changing course,” Keesmaat said from the helm, leaning the ship over into the new heading.
Artemis peered into the thick soup of stardust and debris that made up the Omicron Nebula. The refractive nature of the cloud limited sensors to very close in, so the Winchester was almost literally flying blind. If not for the pings from the buoys to give them directions, they would have gotten hopelessly lost.
“It looks like we may be approaching another clear pocket,” the Vulcan said. “Larger than any of the others.
“That makes sense,” Jirys said from science. “The gravitational pull of the planet would attract the dust to it. I would bet it has rings.”
“You would win then, Bolian,” Tashash said from tactical as they entered the clearing and beheld the planet below. The nav buoy sat in orbit just above the northern pole.
“Scanning is better now,” T’Edan reported. “We can even use transporters.”
“Scan the facility,” Artemis said. “Alert the Marines to stand ready.”
“Marines on standby,” Tashash said when the task was completed.
“Numerous life signs, sir,” T’Eden said. “But…I can’t get a clear reading on most of them. I have full capability in the upper part that seems to be the operations center. The planetary crust is refracting most of the sensors.”
“It’s never easy,” Lodoric sighed from his place beside Artemis.
“If we wanted easy, we wouldn’t be out here,” Artemis returned. “Captain Wilson, are you ready?”
“Yes, sir,” came the Marine CO’s reply over the comms.
“We’re going to beam you into what appears to be the operations center,” Artemis informed him. “We read about a dozen possible hostiles. Unknown how many others might be in the facility. Lower levels are scan resistant.”
“We will clear the facility, sir,” Wilson promised.
“Good luck.” Artemis looked over at T’Eden. “Energize.”
Artemis returned to his seat and sat tensely as they listened to the open comms. There was shouting by the Marines, but surprisingly little weapons fire.
“Seems like the Orion was right,” Lodoric mused. “Maybe they were clearing out.”
“But does that make it less dangerous, or more?” Pierce asked.
“Wilson to Winchester,” came the Marine commander’s voice.
“Go ahead, Captain,” Pierce said.
“Operations control is secured. Minimal resistance. I have three hostile injured to beam out.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Sir? They’re definitely clearing out. As soon as we beamed in they attempted to wipe the computer systems.”
“Were they successful?”
“No, sir. But they might have started a failsafe memory core dump. You might want to get a team down here to secure the data.”
“We’ll do that. What about the rest of the facility?”
“It appears rather small, sir. We found some schematics in the computer. First level seems to be Operations. Second level is living quarters. The third level seems to be labs and power plant. I’ve already split up the teams to secure those areas.”
“Good job, Captain,” Pierce said. “I’ll have the computer team down soon. Keep me informed.”
Artemis looked over at T’Eden. “Get Turil down there,” he said. “Tell him Lieutenant Hon’gah and I will be joining him.”
“Sir?” Lodoric queried.
Artemis turned back to his Andorian first officer. “This all seems so…anticlimactic,” he said with a chuckle. “I’d like to see for myself just what they were doing.”
“You should at least wait for the Marines to clear the facility.”
“I won’t go beyond the operations level, Lodoric. I promise,” Artemis said, getting up. “With luck, we’ll be out of here within the hour.”
TBC
Captain Artemis Pierce
Commanding Officer
USS Winchester
Lieutenant T’Eden
Chief Operations Officer
USS Winchester
Ensign Keesmaat Mira’ni
Chief Flight Officer
USS Winchester
Lieutenant Jirys Hon’gah
Chief Science Officer
USS Winchester
Lieutenant Tashash
Chief Tactical Officer
USS Winchester
Captain Edgar Wilson
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Winchester
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