The Belly of the Beast

Posted on Thu Sep 25th, 2014 @ 8:24am by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Rylie Cattmor & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Commander Orin ch’Valri & Lieutenant Commander T'kaarch & Lieutenant JG Morgana 'Deathstrike' DeViro

1,124 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: What Dreams May Come
Location: Edmorn/Ranger

ON

"Commanderrr," T'kaarch purred from the science station, "The probe is a few meterrrs away frrrom the wrrreck, uplink is stable, it's prrrogrrrammed to interrrface with the terminal and act as a communicatorrr, so to speak"

"Excellent," T'mpest said. "Anything yet?"

The viewscreen then showed a flashlight-lit panel, a feed from the probe. "I hope you don't mind, commanderrr," T'kaarch said apologetically as he realized he hyjacked the viewscreen unasked.
The panel showed some vague characters, of which even the universal translator had trouble translating. "..er.enc...a.e..d..not.t...c"

"I can see no obvious links, porrrts orrr scrrrews, commanderrr," T'kaarch purred, "Perrrmission to use the low-powerrred phaserrr beam to open it?"

"Granted." T'mpest was disappointed, but not surprised by the initial results.

A faint blue hue lit up the viewport, as a tiny phaser beam started cutting through the plating.

"This plating is tougherrr than it looks..." T'kaarch purred as he tried to control the power, "incrrreasing powerrr just a bit..."

A flash lit up the viewscreen and the entire bridge, then was replaced with a standard "Connection lost" message.

"What happened?" T'mpest asked.

T'kaarch was frantically working his console. "I don't know, commanderrr," Finally, he switched to the ship's sensors, "I'm afrrraid the prrrobe is heavily damaged, I don't know what happened exactly, but something exploded."

T'mpest nodded. "Thank you for the attempt, Lieutenant. I believe it is time for a different approach." The thought of sending people to the Edmorn was repugnant to her, but everything they tried seemed to point to the inevitability of that outcome.

How or why, weren't questions that Cattmor could answer at the current moment in time, or provide any valid reasoning for the way her skin seemed to crawl. If she didn't know any better, she would have concluded she was suffering some mental break episode - her recent psionic outbursts in hydroponics, and then sickbay alluded to the possibility - but the prickling sensation across the back of her neck made this feel different. She was aware of the work going on around her on the bridge, but she still felt disconnected, and for a couple of seconds, it almost felt like she blacked out--

--It was dark, and cold. A shiver rippled up her spine as Cattmor took note of the faintest of glows in the distance. She took a tentative step forward, the ground beneath her feet crunched like old dead leaves. The same prickling sensation came around her neck and along the sides of her head toward her temples. She reached up to scratch but could barely make out her hand in front of her face. A low rumbling sound startled her like a bear's growl from deep within its cave, and she dropped her arm back down to her side, until a sudden scream filled her mind before it echoed her back to her position on the Ranger's bridge.

Not sure how well she was able, she attempted to quell any lingering thoughts, and turned to talk quietly to T'mpest. "Commander, I know you want to investigate this from a distance, I have to admit the thought about going over there gives me the creeps, but however well the probe links up to their systems, I don't think we're going to get sufficient answers." She paused slightly, almost second guessing saying anything at all, but ultimately went on with her train of thought, "Permission to ready an away team, and beam to the Edmorn to conclude or continue any analysis."

"Yes," T'mpest replied. She ran a hand along her arm. She'd felt an odd tingling sensation all day and it was beginning to irritate her. She didn't want to say anything to Rylie, but her latent telepathy was becoming stronger as well. She found herself 'picking up' stray thoughts as she walked through the ship. She'd even heard the scream that echoed through Rylie's thoughts. Or had they echoed in her head from somewhere else? She wasn't sure. Whate4ver the cause, she wanted to get out of the gas cloud as soon as possible. "Keep it short and take plenty of security."

"Aye, captain." Rylie said as she also stood and perhaps a bit too hesitantly turned to Blake, "Gear up, Mister Blake, we might be going for a little trip." As she turned to their new Security Chief, Orin, she picked up a stray thought from Blake, something about destroying his and Sehra's relationship from the other side of the coin, but pushed it aside, "Lieutenant, please advise Mister Ortega to join us in transporter room two with an EVA suit," then tapping the comm, she continued, "Commander Cattmor to Lieutenant's Darkmoon and Foster, prepare for an away mission assignment complete with EVA suits and meet the team in transporter room two in ten minutes for a quick briefing."

Not caring who saw Blake scowled at Cattmor's order. Given their last encounter ended in a blazing row and a impassable chiasm between them the Lieutenant wasn't looking forward to speeding time with the ships XO. Still, to his professionalism he made a positive responsive and drummed up Ortega and informed Adriana of his departure.

Orin stood at the tactical display and caught the glimpse from Rylie. There was no way he was missing out on gearing up. He was trained for this kind of stuff. With a smirk, he glanced down to the console and tapped on it before speaking up to Morgana, who stood at his side. "You have tactical, Lieutenant DeViro."

"Orin?" Morgana replied with a raised brow as her eyes met with her reflection in his goggles.

"Problem?" Orin answered, curiously.

"I-" She paused. Morgana never felt like this before. Uneasy. Unsure. She wasn't exactly sure what it was but she knew one thing, her feelings on the matter weren't going to change Orin's decision one bit. "Nothing, Sir."

Orin felt she was at odds, but his combat training and obligation to protect the crew was overriding his decision. With a nod he placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke softly to her to console her mind. "Relax. I can't have you at my hip all the time. I got to start learning to use my Aenar gift on my own. Besides, your husband might start thinking things he shouldn't." He added with a soft and short laugh before looking over to Ortega and speaking back in his firm and demanding tone. "You heard the lady, Ensign. Gear up."

____
OFF

Lieutenant T'kaarch
Chief Science Officer

Commander T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Dylan Blake
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Orin ch'Valri
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant JG Morgana De'Viro
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer

 

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