Relics - Tethtiph

Posted on 06 Aug 2013 @ 11:57am by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Amril
Edited on on 06 Aug 2013 @ 11:58am

2,377 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Rojar III - Low orbit
Timeline: MD 08 1400

ON:

What was left had been pulled into a stable orbit next to the Galileo. The main body of the ship was dwarfed even by the small size of the science ship. It was elongated, similar to an twenty first century rocket, but there were differences. What was left of the hull was completely rounded, each section fitting to the other almost like a bubble. At the head was a cockpit, slowly as it sloped back the ship became wider, no larger than twenty meters at its widest though. The hull had become blue over the years, cracks on the surface were forming. That was nothing compared to the fact that entire sections of the hull were missing, that the scalding on the rear end broke away as a jagged tangled mess. Parts of the inside had been scanned, but some were sealed still, each room had an airlock and there were no windows at all.

The entry point was a section that was missing in what looked like a seating area of the ship, it had no tables though. Just cracked white leather, an ice filled fountain at the centre. Lockers on every wall, it seemed rather sterile until you realised that it was covered in thick layers of white dust. Outside, the entry team had just beamed into place, floating in space for some archaeology.

Amril examined the ship for a brief moment then spoke into his comm to the away team. "Activate mag-boots," he said, doing just that to his own, a brief release from his suit's thrusters propelling him forward. The power to his boots engaged, magnetizing them and attaching the suited vorta to the metallic floor of the open section they had beamed to. "Everyone report, please."

Theron looked about as he floated in space just above the relic. Low gravity combat practice was one thing, but zero G with nothing to kick off of was totally another. He activated his mag-boots, then reached for the canister of compressed gas that he used to direct his body toward the hull below them.

After the haze of the transporter had disappeared Maenad found herself standing on an alien ship with dim lighting and, apparently, without gravity. A few objects she didn't immediately recognise floated in the space around them. She had no idea what they were doing here, where this hulk of a ship had come from, or what they were expected to do. She glanced around to make sure that everyone who was supposed arrive had, and took comfort in seeing everybody there with her. She sucked on the insides of her cheeks, grateful that she wasn't in charge this time.

Rhodes spoke up, "If it is all right with you, I will go in first?" He wanted to say to secure it, but he and the others all knew that nothing was alive in this derelict craft floating with not atmosphere in space.

"Of course, Lieutenant Rhodes," Amril said.

Rhodes moved his body through the gapping hole in the side and re-engaged his boots on a flat deck inside the vessel. He glanced around with his light and built in suit sensors. "No indications of life or movement." He knew it did not matter, but it was what was expected of him. It seemed that recently he had been doing a lot of things that seemed redundant for no real reason. It was beginning to frustrate him.

Amril was the second one inside. He considered their lack of an engineering officer on the team, but as there was nothing he could do about that, he would work with what he had. "Ah, well, this is quite nice," the vorta said, looking around, "Let's find the engine room."

After all had arrived inside the relic, Rhodes turned to the Vorta, "You asked about the engine room." He looked at the diagram on his arm display. "Based on the assumptions made prior to the mission, the engine area would be in that direction." The Tandaran pointed to the left toward an open doorway.

"Then we should go that way," Amril's voice said cheerily over the comm. He started to make his way in the direction indicated, slightly awkward in his space suit, not used to such things at all from his experience in the Dominion. Vorta did not space walk.

Theron shook his head slightly in the EVA helmet thinking, He is just to cheerful for me, for some reason.

Maenad followed, irritated by the Vorta's feigned pleasantries. Her tricorder showed nothing that it shouldn't have, and she looked about the cabin, seeing nothing of interest. "This is probably just an abandoned first-generation spacecraft," she said dryly.

Theron turned and walked a little further, wanting to be thorough. There were no cabinets, no containers, no artifacts at all. He turned back and said, "You may be right. Everything seems to have been removed."

They finally reached a pair of ancient but still sturdy blast doors. "The engine room should be behind these doors," Amril said, clumsily glancing at the others through his helmet. "There must be another way in. Scan the area." His order was for no one in particular. Being a Vorta, he was used to giving orders and having them followed; problem solving as a group did not occur to him and so he did not ask any of the others for their opinions.

Theron felt his jaw clinch up by the Vorta's comment. He hoped that the helmet blocked any expression he may have also done. Why he felt offended by this . . person . . he was not sure.

The security officer walked a little further, then turned and said, "I believe I have found an small access panel. It may go into the engine area as well."

"Will it be large enough for us to pass through with these suits?" Amril asked, joining Theron.

He worked with the door trying to grip the edge, but it would not move, "Possibly." Theron replied, "But I have to get it open first." He looked up and saw a small knob on the door. He rotated the knob and the door swung freely. He was quite surprised. He expected it to be rusted or fused in some way.

"Is this a good idea?" Maenad asked cautiously. She didn't know what was on the other side, and thought that opening an alien compartment to an alien propulsion system that they had yet to understand could be been dangerous. There could be lethal radiation in there, for all they knew. "Be careful." She made sure she was standing back far enough from the door to avoid any immediate danger.

Apparently the idea of harmful radiation crossed Amril's mind as well. He turned to Maenad. "Is there any sign of danger from your readings, Lieutenant Panne?" he asked.

From the passageway, Theron's light beam illuminated the small passageway. He could not see anything significant from where he stood, just some piping and cables.

The security officer stepped into the narrow passageway. He saw the usual cableing and piping, going to and from different junction boxes. He was sure an engineer could figure this out, but not his concern at the moment.

Rhodes flashed his light back toward the others, then walked further coming to another door, the same as the other. He turned the handle and the door swung easily. The field of view in front of him was half filled with stars. He turned back slightly toward the others, "It looks like this part is open to space."

Rhodes lead on and walked out onto the deck of the former room. There was very little left to provide a hint of what it had been for the relic ship. 80% of the room was gone. Only and few square meters of deck and one wall were still present.

Remnants of scaffolding left a twisted mass of metal that extruded from the ruined edges of the room. Lockers and parts of computers, strewn with cabling and broken metal. It was the stars that were where an engine used to be.

Rhodes spoke up, "It is apparent that part of this vessel is missing." Looking at the small display on his left sleeve, he added, "By prior determinations, I would guess that the entire engineering department is missing. I can not detect any signs of blasting weapons use or slicing type. It would be my estimation that this section was literally ripped from the forward section." He looked back to the way they had come.

"How disappointing," Amril observed, looking around.

Kiri had been watching from one labs as they worked their way though, watching the scans and progress. A part of her wanted to be there doing it herself, the other didn't want to go anywhere close to being loose in space. Clicking away on her controls she collated an image of what they had so far, "That is the most damaged section of the ship, it does show residual radiation, possible from a reactor." If there wasn't anything else there though, "It might be best to move back towards the other areas of the ship."

"That does make the most sense." Rhodes replied. "We are retracing our steps now." He moved away from the openness of space, back through the door, and into the corridor.

"Indeed," Amril agreed, "Let's head back to the corridor." He himself turned to do just that.

Rhodes reviewed the display on his arm and then looked both directions in the passageway. "Lt. Cho, which direction would you recommend next for us?"

"I think I can see a hatch on the right, am I right?" All she had for the interior were the readings they were sending back. It looked like it had handles, but she couldn't even make out if it had a lock or hinge.

"Yes." Rhodes replied stopping before a similar door. He looked about the door, then reached for the handle. It too swung easily open.

Kiri watched, moving forwards on the edge of her seat until she was almost standing. There were so many possibilities and she had never had the chance to investigate something like this before.

Theron looked at those with him, then directed his light into the open doorway. It was a fairly good size room. He could see several containers to the left. He slowly stepped into the room.

Rhodes could not identify any consoles nor displays. He stepped closer to one of the containers, this one was about a half meter cube. This would be difficult with no gravity. If there was he could throw it down or kick it, neither would be effective in this situation. After putting his tric-corder away, from his leg tool pocket the security officer extracted a heavy wrench. This one had a small wedge end at one end. Holding the case with one hand, he placed the point of the small wedge tool in what appeared to be a seem for a top of the crate.

"What are you doing, Mister Rhodes?" Amril asked, lumbering up in his clumsily operated space suit.

Theron paused, turned, and looked up at the Vorta, "I am attempting to open this casing."

"Very well, proceed."

Rhodes turned back to the container, re-inserted the tool into the slit, and applied a slow twisting motion. This caused something to snap. Not that something could be heard, but small parts of the locking mechanism flew off in several directions as the top opened with hinges on the other side.

Tiny packets drifted out, three inch ovals of a thick clear plastic. Inside some were coloured fluids, others had dusty husks of what might have once been food. None of them seemed to have split, but given how old the ship was, they could be hundreds of years old. Her lips drying out Kiri asked, "Could you bring some samples back to the ship?"

"I think we can do that." Theron replied as he reached out and grasped one. He brought it close to his face and got a little excited, "Hey! This has some kind of lettering on it. The archeologists will have a field day with this."

"Mister Donati's excitable attitude will not doubt be instigated by such a discovery," Amril observed. "Lieutenant Cho why don't you scan some of the other crates and see what is in them."

"Most of it just seems to be carbon, some biological mass, metal but I can't make out that much more." Sensors could tell her what something was made of, it couldn't always tell her what they actually were. Kiri shifted in her seat, maybe if she had a probe with arms this would be easier?

"Tag the containers for transport," Amril said. He turned and gestured to Theron. "Let's continue."

Rhodes nodded and pulled out a transporter beacon and attached it to a stack of the containers. Then standing fully walked further into the room.

Passing the coordinates to the transporter chief Kiri kept watching as they moved, "It seems like a mess hall or an office," There didn't appear to be any tables though, shelves, boxes, but nothing much seemed to be on display, "Do you see anything else?"

Theron glanced around further, but did not see anything unusual. He then bent down on one knee and placed a hand on the deck for balance. He wanted to shine his light under the shelving along the wall. The beam moved along slowly, then at one point a flash of light returned. Rhodes called out, "I may have found something." He kept his light on the spot. "Something is reflecting my light."

"Can you get a closer look?" Kiri wasn't able to go on with that much information. The object was around a foot long, curved like a slender claw with what might be a hand hold at one end. It didn't have any edges but it did look a little like a club, little patterns dotted the surface and it did reflect the light.

[OFF - TRUNCATED]

--

LTJG Kiri Cho
Asst Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LT Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

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