Twenty Thousand Leagues

Posted on Fri Feb 12th, 2021 @ 9:39am by Lieutenant Commander Melanie D’BrooNi- Haistro & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jonathan Stoun

2,217 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 2 - Echoes Of An Empire
Location: Hunley Shuttle
Timeline: Mission Day 9 @ 0920 Hours

ON:

Mel walked into the shuttle bay medical kit in hand. "Chief nice to see you. And you must be Ensign Bain and Petty Officer Sidorov?" She addressed the other two. "Shall we then? Also any reports of my flying speed, if they are from the Captain are wildly exaggerating," she smiled at them while walking in and settling into the piloting chair.

"From what the Captain has told me the flight speed is not the problem... its the landing!"
The seasoned Chief winked at the Doctor with a lop sided smile, her deep Russian accent forming some of the words with a deep lilt. "But I am Russian, I take it on the chin and laugh!"

"You're the boss Doctor, I'm just along for the ride I suppose. Not sure why I got chosen to go on this expedition. I mean, it will be good to get out of the ship for a while but, well, not sure how much use I'm going to be." Jon shrugged his shoulders as he climbed into the shuttle and threw a tool kit into one of the cargo hatches. "And no I haven't heard anything about your flying, you are certified right?"

Mel made a note to kick Keiben when she next saw him. She could land that shuttle now. He had somehow got out of her proving things. She nodded at the chief, "Only in 3 lifetimes, you are both very safe."

"That's good, I've had my fair share of shuttle crashes so, it is always good to know." Jon pulled up the engineering and diagnostic panel. "Well, I'm ready."

Ensign Bain glanced up. " Ma'am. The only thing the Captain asked me was if I knew how to pray really fast." With the he went back to the security check sheet.

Mel made a very conscious effort to fly slower but a quick glance at the chief next to her and back at the other two, maybe she was loosing that battle. "Okay so," she said bringing up scans, "I've set up some of Chief Han's scanning programmes already for wildlife and fauna if theres any in that ocean. But this, what do we think? It looks like some sort of structure? Well to me, would you concur," she addressed the science lady she knew as being an archaeologist.

"The outer composite is made up of familiar elements but they seem to have been... I don't know", Yelena sounded puzzled. "The density of the metal and the thickness should not be holding pressure as it is, and certainly not after this length of time... Carbon dating places this as the same age as the city ruins but it is intact, as if it was built yesterday. I'm still reading faint energy signatures as well".

"Where?" Mel asked letting the other woman pinpoint it on the main computer.

"Inside the structure!" Yelena's wonder and puzzlement almost palpable. "Remind me to thank the Captain for suggesting you take me with you... I think this is going to be a real mystery!"

"Lets take a closer look," Mel said eyes shining. "If there's some power who knows what else we might find down there. Or what's generating that energy. You might get to do some tinkering Chief," she told him after his admittance he was just here for the ride.

Jon's interest was perked, he sat up a little straighter in the chair. "Maybe, hopefully they have a gift shop. I'm going to run a EM spectrum scan, see if I can figure out what is powering that, you're right though, no way that this thing should still be on and not flooded. Curiouser and curiouser."

"Cried Alice," Mel found herself saying. She had read that book. The wonderland one. Recognised the significance of his words. "Lets get closer and see if there's a way in. Petty Officer where would you think looks like somewhere that could be an entrance?"

"Just below the control tower there seems to be a docking bay, not to dissimilar to our own shuttle bay... only one hundred and fifty times larger than Copernicus' shuttle bay. It appears automated. If there was power then the bay itself should pressurise and then allow us to enter the instillation."
The Russian handed over to the Engineer of the group. She was a science officer and not an engineer, the questions this raised pointed at the one man who thought he would have been unneeded on this away mission.

"I'm scanning it right now. Main thing is getting our computer talking to it. Going to see if I can find a way to interface with it."

"Chief did you bring any diving suits or can you replicate something in case?" Mel asked. She knew Keiben would be wanting them to try get inside this structure.

"I can make something, but if I can get this to work, we may not need it. See if you can get me close, the composition of the water seems to be interfering, I'm going to try to boost the scan power, but anything you can do to get me closer will be a benefit." The Chief pounded on the display a bit before boosting. "Going to steal power from the replicators for a few minutes to see if I can boost this."

Mel directed the little shuttle towards where the Russian had identified a possible docking bay. The closer they did get to it the more she had to agree with her perhaps yes it was something akin to a docking bay. The material looked dark and in places a strange green to Mel. Maybe that was some sort of alien algae she surmised.

"Its not ..." Hal surprised her for a moment. "Its everywhere. Don't go inside."

"I have to. We have orders," Mel told him internally.

"I warned you," her other host said sourly.

Mel shuddered a little at the tone of her prior host but concentrated. "Somethings happening out there," she said after a minute. There was more of the green starting to appear. Them getting closer seemed to be activating something and the new light if it was that illuminated alien curves and patterned metal like nothing she had seen before. Well D'BrooNi and Hal that was another question.

"There's lights coming on, its ... oh wow its actually guiding us in ... somehow," she looked down at the controls not sure to be impressed that thousands and thousands of years old tech could manage that or frightened.

The shuttle continued too a stop and something latched on with a loud hiss.

"Some kind of pressure barrier has come on around the shuttle and a docking path has extended... It reads as Oxygen Nitrogen atmosphere equivalent to the Trill homeworld... I think someone knows you are in command Doctor!"

The Russian added, feeling a chill run down her spine as she voiced the words.

"Ma'am, I don't like this one bit. I can try polarizing the hull, break us loose, get us out of here." The Chief Engineer started looking around. "May blow us to bits too, what do you want me to do?"

"Work on a way to detach us that won't blow us to bits," Mel said simply then turned to the Russian. "And yes its a rather eerily but either the T'Kon had a very similar biology or I would say that's a pretty big invitation to come further inside wouldn't you?"

"You lead Commander... I will follow... at a distance!" the Russian added with a noticeable about of dark, dry humor!

"Chief keep a lock on us at all times in case we need a fast beam out. Something feels off," Mel said. "We won't go too far and I will transmit you anything that looks like a console ready for when you can come tinker there too afterward." She promised Stoun knowing he probably wasn't overly happy having to sort the shuttle first.

"I'll keep a lock and find a way to boost the signal for you, and find a way to get us out." He looked at the doctor and the others, "Take some phasers with you, just in case please?" The chief looked at the others on the shuttle. "Just for my piece of mind if anything."

"Of course," Mel nodded at the bald man.

In her mind Hal was screaming at her not to step out of the shuttle but they had to investigate. Keiben she knew would be walking inside.

She stepped out and breathed in what was certainly air like on her world. There was a small corridor leading to what looked like a door. Her tricorder indicated the same air on the other side. Walking up to it something flashed and scanned them before another hiss being heard and the door opening.

"That could be a console," Mel indicated her head now they had a view of the next room.

Yelena was nervous, everything about this mission seemed to have been standard until this moment. The technology still operated even after all this time, it seemed to intuitively know things about them all and had singled out the teams commanding officer and now it was scanning them, her own tricorder having got a beat on the type of scanning technology that had just activated.

"Commander", she positioned her device so D'BrooNi could see the display. "That beam appears to be psionic! It could be primarily a telepathic interface."

"Really?" Mel asked. "Oh the Captain is going to love finding that out about this aspect of the T'Kon. Being telepathic he might have more luck if he finds ..." she had stepped forward and her voice trialled off as sudden it fired into life. In front of them what looked like small see through screens started appearing. Language started flashing and even some pictures. Animals from what looked like the sea. Beings in some sort of clothing hunching over them running ......

"Tests," Mel said out loud. She was a doctor she knew a medic running tests when she saw one. The beings were taller and had spots simular to her own .... " she looked down at her hand turning it looking at the spots.

"No one here is telepathic are they?" Mel asked. She wasn't .. oh wait what was she now that .. .Keiben had said imzadi. Was that reacting to her from that?

Brodie pulled out the security tricorder and began to scan the area. " There's a doorway behind those containers over there about fifty meters from us. Orders Commander?"

Mel shook her head, "Not yet. We need to figure out what this room is first. Plenty of time to explore the whole structure. We don't have to rush it."

Something threw out from the ceiling. A large sheet of light slowly starting from the top of the room running all the way down to the bottle right through them. The green from some of the other machinery made it a darker colour when it passed through that. Then some bleeping started up and Mel felt a pull.

"That looked like a medical scan of some kind... Very sophisticated!"
Yelena offered, still tapping away at her own tricorder trying to understand what she had just experienced along with the rest of the team.

Brodie pulled out his palm light and start searching the shadows for any signs of movement and had his hand on his phaser just in case it was needed. " Commander, I do nay like this, Not one bit. when machines start firing up for no reason I don't trust it.".

Mel felt the pull stronger and walked over to look at one of the machines. Then suddenly she was inside it. Why had she felt compelled to do that. Then it fired into life. Mel tried to move again. Walk out but some sort of a field prevented her.

Yelena was the first to run forward, tricorder in hand as she tried to manipulate the control panel on the front of the tube but to no avail. Instead all she could do, all any of them could do was watch!

In front of them images of beings, large humanoids with spots appeared. And they were doing something to aquatic beings. She watched in horror as they changed things. The aquatic beings were made to breathe and then they were .....

"DNA ... oh no ... DNA its doing something .... " Mel began to panic. "Get the Chief. We need to find a way to shut this off."

She didn't know what it was doing spotting a holographic image of her Symbiont being pulled forward and then it started flashing and beeping. Analysing, Mel knew. She just knew. How she had no clue.

And it didn't know what she was. D'BrooNi was confusing it.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO NEAR THIS PLACE ..."

"Protect the symbiont ..."

"What if it tries to rip out D'BrooNi,"

All her hosts were panicking too it seemed. However when it stopped doing the analysis what seemed to float out from the machinery spun round her head not her abdomen. Something shot forward and she felt pressure at the base of her skull. It put something in her and she was powerless to stop it. Then it stopped and she just slumped forward falling out of the device sprawling onto the floor.

END

 

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