Hello dear readers, I hope you're doing well and that you enjoyed the first chapter of my story. I'm doing okay for the moment.
I usually don't delve into my personal life, but I thought you as readers should know why the next few weeks I'll be hindered from posting updates on a number of my stories that I'm close to completing. I got hit hard by Hurricane Matthew, so much so that I'm going to have to get a new place and been out of work for a week—ouch. I've been busy this last week packing and home hunting, but I and my family are physically fine. I have electricity, food and water, so I'm far better off than a number of my fellow citizens in the local area.
One other note, I goofed about where Freddie went to school in the first chapter. I had a line that he went to Starfleet Academy, but intended to have him graduate from the University of Washington at Seattle, so I changed it in the first chapter.
Anyway, on to the story.
Rating: T
Chapter 2
Hanger Deck
USS Tori (NCC-1725)
Constitution-Class (Bonhomme Richard-Subclass)
Sector 2007
Rex sat in the far right pilot seat as he was going over the last pre-flight checks of the shuttle. In the back seats of the shuttle sat three Federation Marines in full grey clamshell combat armor that covered their respective chests, shoulders, upper arms, forearms, back of hands, lower torsos, thighs and shins over black fatigues. They carried phaser carbines and were ready for a fight. The captain clearly didn't believe that 'red shirt' Star Fleet security was enough for this mission.
Doctor Jadelyn 'Jade' West slightly ducked her head while stepping into the shuttle wearing her black field jacket, sparing only enough time to grab it to throw over her blue minidress uniform and a utility belt to hold her palm phaser and communicator. The belt had a Star Fleet delta on the silver belt buckle that loosely hung on her hips in addition of course to her medical kit with the strap over her head to rest across her left shoulder and resting against her right hip.
She took one glance over to the compliment of the shuttle and commented, "At least I'm not late…" She walked over to have a seat in the chair behind Rex, taking a moment to glance over her shoulder and remark with a smile to the marines, "Oh, so the marines are finally coming out to play?"
Corporal Anderson, a young black man with closely cut hair, and Lance Corporal Roma Isabe, a young Cygnan woman with her natural very light blue skin fainter than even Andorians, silver short and straight hair just shoulder length and jet black eyes without any discernible pupils responded with a small laugh at her remark, knowing that as sweet as she could be, she was also probably the scariest thing on the ship. In addition, most of the ship's marine detachment knew a few other tidbits about the good doctor that instantly garnered her respect other than due her rank warranted. The third marine, a young Private Carter with sandy blonde hair and newly assigned to the Tori, looked confused as to why his fellow marines would laugh at what could be construed as mocking them with how little use they had aboard the ship other than training and pointlessly guarding positions on the ship, especially coming from a Fleeter.
The pilot joked with his urban accent, "You think we would take off without you Wicked Witch?"
Jade shook her head and sighed, "I may not be able to rip your arms off anymore, but I'm sure I could figure something out to do to you."
Rex tightened his smile and focused on finishing his preflight checklist.
Trina was the next to step inside the shuttle, having taken the time to change into a red uniform shirt and field trousers from her red minidress uniform. She had on a utility belt and thigh holster along with her black field jacket with red stripes going over her shoulders. She was carrying a phaser carbine and had a tactical tricorder slung over her shoulder.
Captain Benson followed her, wearing his field jacket with gold command stripes over the shoulders, utility belt with thigh holster for his phaser sidearm and carrying a phaser carbine. He took a seat in the other pilot's seat, setting the phaser next to his seat then strapped himself into it. He tapped a control and the doors closed.
If Carter had any low opinion of Fleeters in general, it certainly didn't apply to the captain as under the Star Fleet insignia patch on his right shoulder was the Special Forces Badge, only earned by the elite going into Prime Teams and Marine commandos. He still found it a little hard to believe that someone originally from the science division could have earned such a thing.
Jade raised an eyebrow, curious as to why there was so much firepower. On most landing parties, it was her, Freddie and Robbie with maybe a Star Fleet security crewman or two, but not taking marines and this heavily armed. She only carried a palm phaser more than half the time and they phaser sidearms. She called out to Benson with a bit of a laugh, "Freddie, what's going on? I thought this was a rescue mission. Why is everyone armed to the teeth?"
It was a breach of protocol for the doctor to address the captain by his first name, but they had a familial relationship that most of the crew was aware and were smart enough not to make any comment.
Benson glanced over his shoulder and answered, "We're reading only one lifeform on the station when there should be five and we're far too close to the Klingon border to take any chances."
The doctor nodded her head and wondered out loud, "You think the Klingons attacked it?" She didn't wait for an answer and looked to her left and slightly behind as Trina was seated one seat behind her in the neighboring row. She asked her with a concern tone, knowing that Tori was a member of the survey team, "Do you have any idea who the lifeform is?"
Trina was about to answer, but Benson beat her to it, "We believe it's Lieutenant Commander Vega due to the… unique biosign."
Corporal Anderson spoke up, "What do you mean by 'unique' biosign sir?"
The captain turned his gaze to Trina, almost apologetically having to reveal the information, then answered, "She's Klingon."
After a beat, the marines looked to Benson with stunned expressions.
Carter was the first to speak and asked with almost a stutter, "Ah… sir, did you say Klingon?"
Benson nodded his head and answered, "Yes. Commander Vega is Klingon."
The sandy blonde haired private muttered in disbelief, "When did Star Fleet let Klingons in? How could a Klingon be in Star Fleet?"
Trina looked over her shoulder to eyeball the private and answered in a curt tone, "When they're Alpha-Centauran citizens."
The marine clamped his mouth shut, not wanting to get into an argument with an officer even if she was a Fleeter.
Jade's eyes had darted back and forth among the trio, trying to fathom that she had heard correctly, then utter with a wide eyed expression, "Holy chizz… you're not joking. Tori's a Klingon?"
Trina deeply sighed then looked over and answered, "Yes, Tori is a Klingon."
The doctor shook her head, blinked and uttered again, "Tori is a Klingon?"
The older Vega sister knotted her brow and glared, practically growling out a warning, "This isn't the time Jade."
Jade shook her head and retorted in a practically flabbergasted tone, "Isn't the time? You're telling me after all these years, you lied to us? That she's not really your sister and she pretended to be Human-Centauran?"
The security officer snapped, "She's my sister as much as Carly was your sister."
Jade clamped her mouth shut and returned an equally harsh glare.
Trina took in a sharp breath, realizing that she may have crossed a line and not just with Jade. She cautiously turned her head to look at the back of the captain's head.
Benson took a breath then calmly pointed out that was clearly an order, "You can have your… discussion later." He looked to Rex asked, "Are we ready to go?"
Jade and Trina remained quiet, one trying to suppress the opening up of an old wound while the other one was still angry yet relieved that she didn't piss off her captain.
The helm officer was aware enough to realize even he shouldn't attempt any kind of humorous remark and simply nodded his head and answered, "I just finished the last flight check."
The captain tapped a control to open a channel to the shuttle traffic controller. "Flight control, this is the captain. We are ready to depart."
"Acknowledge captain, you are clear for take-off."
The hanger doors opened, revealing the blackness of space with a whirl of stellar gases as the ship's stern was directed toward the core side of the system in its orbit at the moment.
Rex engaged the repulsers and the shuttlecraft lifted off the deck then glided out of the end of ship. He eased towards port to round around the ship then forward to pass the secondary hull and towards the station.
Benson monitored the approach, the gravitational eddies of the planet and the station and the whirling of stellar gases. He pressed the controls to raise the shuttle's shields.
The shuttle would take about a minute to reach the station, taking into account the various challenges approaching the station, so Benson took the opportunity to brief Jade and the marines. He swiveled his chair to partially face them and stated, "Here's the situation: we were supposed to pick up a five-member survey team, but there has been no response and there is only one lifesign aboard, presumably Commander Vega's, and the station's orbit is decaying. We don't have much time to get her and find out what happened to the rest of the team. They are the priority and any scientific and technical knowledge they've gained while here is a distant second."
Corporal Anderson passed a concerned gaze to his fellow marines then asked, "Sir, do we have any idea what we're walking into?"
"No. It could be any number of things: life support failure, something biological they've run across or—"
Private Carter eagerly interrupted, "Abduction? We're pretty close to the border as you pointed out sir and the Klingons would love to get their hands on more 'Old Kings' technology."
"It's a likely possibility," Benson reluctantly admitted.
"And the only apparent survivor is Klingon?" he followed up with a clear suspicion to his voice.
Captain Benson was about to comment, but Rex called out over his shoulder as they neared the station, "It might be a little bumpy going through the grav-field."
Benson swiveled back in his seat and the passengers held onto the armrests of their respective seats. Jade swallowed and her knuckles turned even whiter as she pushed down the minor fear she had bubbling up from her stomach.
The shuttle slightly rocked as they hit the warped space.
Benson glanced over his shoulder to look at Jade, catching her gaze.
The doctor tightened her smile, trying to show that she was fine, but she was clearly uneasy with the rough ride.
His expression turned sympathetic, seeing that she still hadn't gotten over her uneasiness of riding shuttles. He hated to have her even ride in one again, but he needed her.
She gave him a wink to show him she would be fine.
The shuttle passed through the increasing heavy repulsion as if it was going through molasses, but was able to stop just in front of the shuttle doors. Benson started tapping at the controls to signal for access the shuttle bay doors and several seconds later, the station responded to give him access to the doors. He took another few moments to perform a sensor sweep to confirm that there weren't any lifesigns in the shuttle bay before sending the command to open the doors.
The shuttle bay doors opened, revealing a cleared hanger other than another standard Federation administrative shuttle identical, other than the markings, to the shuttle the landing party from the Tori was traveling.
Rex eased the shuttle into the hanger bay then gently landed several meters from the other shuttle on a clearly marked landing pad, presumably an elevator to lower craft down for maintenance in the below deck.
The doors closed behind them and the sensor displayed that the bay was repressurizing. After several moments, the bay was pressurized to near standard atmospheric pressure for most class-O/M/N worlds. Benson took another scan with the shuttle's sensors, trying to determine if there were any biological hazards despite anything in the shuttle bay having experienced hard vacuum for nearly a minute.
The sensors did display a higher than normal radiation signature from the station's power plant at its heart, but nothing within harmful levels. Once he was satisfied that nothing endangered them, he opened the shuttle's doors and the three marines fanned out to secure the surrounding area, one on each side of the exit and Anderson taking point ready to engage any target that might appear in their sights. Benson followed out to stand beside Anderson with Trina, Jade and Rex bringing up the rear to form a second triangle with the marines' perimeter.
"Lifeform scan," Benson crisply ordered, keeping his gaze down the sights of the phaser carbine.
Corporal Roma Isabe lowered her carbine and pulled her tactical tricorder with her left hand and drew her phaser pistol with her right hand. She took a quick sweep with the tricorder and spoke, "No lifeforms within one hundred meters."
Jade followed up with her own tricorder scan, "Not reading any biohazards. No bacterial, viral or atmospheric containment within the immediate area."
Benson answered as he swept again with his carbine, instinctively not trusting the sensors that they were alone in the shuttle bay and perhaps doubting his senses of the bay being opened to space. "The shuttle sensors said the lifeform reading was in one of the spokes—which would be outside the range of the tricorders. West, Vega and Carter, you're with me to find her. Powers, you, Anderson and Isabe get to the ops center and secure it. Check to see if there are any sensor or personal logs to find out what happened."
Jade asked incredulously, "You want us to split up?"
Benson looked over his shoulder and gave a questioning gaze.
She snorted a breath and almost mockingly asked, "Abandoned and ancient station that looks like it's about to fall apart, mysterious disappearances, one apparent lone survival and you want to split us up?"
The marines kept steady expressions, but Power snorted out a laugh at seeing her point.
The starship captain sighed, understanding her hesitation as she loved her tri-video horror films and knew the rules for surviving them. However, this wasn't a horror movie, but a military rescue mission… where everyone was armed to the teeth to give any 'monster' a rude awakening if it decided to pick a fight.
"No choice. We need to find Commander Vega, but I can't afford someone turning the life support off for us if intruders are onboard and somehow blocking our sensor scans."
Jade reluctantly nodded, conceding to his points.
Benson looked to Anderson and ordered, "Lead the way corporal."
"Yes sir," the marine snapped then began leading the group towards the center door at the end of the shuttle bay as there were three doors accessing the departing station, passing the other shuttle in the process.
Isabe paused for a moment as she noticed something on the shuttlecraft and called out, "Scorch marks."
The others stopped and glanced to the shuttle, but remaining on guard, seeing that there were a number of black scorch marks and pitted spots on the front surface of the shuttle.
The silver haired marine took a quick scan of it with her tricorder and remarked, "This is phaser fire… a mix of heat and disruptor settings."
Benson moved to the shuttle, careful to place his hand on the scorch spots. He didn't feel any residual heat, so the shots must have happened a while ago to cool off. He noticed something from the corner of his left eye. He turned around and looked at the other end of the bay, noticing a number of spots on the inside of the hanger door on the left side of the center. He turned his head back to the shuttle then looked towards the center door they were originally heading. It dawned on him what could explain the shot pattern.
"They were attempting to repel a boarding action. They were positioned at the middle door and whoever they were fighting took cover on the right front side of the shuttle." He motioned towards the hanger door. "They hit the shuttle and past it to the door during the fire fight."
Carter asked the rhetorical question, "So someone was trying to take the station?"
"It would look that way, but…" Benson glanced back to the middle door. "…why would they turn around and abandon it and leave a survivor?"
Anderson offered with a lazy shrug of his shoulder, "They knew we were coming and they knew they wouldn't be any match against a heavy cruiser? They simply didn't have time to get everything before leaving?"
The captain looked towards the center door to the inner parts of the station and just studied it for a few moments, remarking in a distracted manner, "Maybe… maybe."
Trina interrupted with a curt tone, "How about we stop standing around and find Tori and ask her what happened?"
Carter muttered loud enough for the others to hear, "Yes… find the lone Klingon…"
The red shirt security officer snapped her head around and glared at the private, resisting the urge to slap him.
Benson curtly spoke to prevent an argument from breaking out, "Let's move."
The landing party split to stand on either side of the door then Carter tapped the control to open the door. The doors parted, revealing a low light slightly curved T-intersection corridors. Anderson took point and led the marines into the corridor, revealing that it was a triple T-shaped corridor that lined up with the doors on both side of them, and each marine taking a direction to guard as the Star Fleeters followed them.
A little further down the corridor, there appeared to be check-in stations to process visitors to the station. It was safe to assume that there were checkpoints down the other two unseen corridors.
Isabe continued looking at her tricorder and reported, "Still no sign of life."
Benson glanced around, taking particular interest in the intersection corners and other bulkheads. "Uhhhnn…" he mumbled to himself.
Jade leaned over and whispered, "What?"
"There aren't any return fire scorch marks on the bulkhead outside or on any of these walls."
The doctor glanced around and noticed the same lack of marks on the doors. "So…"
"Either the boarders had their weapons on stun—"
Carter looked over his shoulder and interrupted, "Klingon disruptors don't have a stun setting."
Benson spared him a glance, not appreciating the interruption as he hadn't earned that right, then continued, "—or the only thing they hit were members of the survey team and what are the chances of that in such a defensible position?"
Jade saw his point and muttered, "Okay, this is getting weirder and weirder…"
"Let's start finding out some answers. Powers keep going to the ops station, but keep an eye out for the radiation levels. They're not anywhere close to dangerous, but… they're higher than what we'd accept on a ship." He nodded his head to the left and finished, "We'll track down the life form signature."
"Gotcha," Rex snapped off then started leading two marines down the center corridor.
Carter offered before Benson could take the lead, "I'll take point sir."
Benson nodded his head and the private took the left and started down the curved corridor. They followed and Trina started scanning with her tricorder, specifically for lifeforms and weapons signatures. Jade had her medical tricorder scanning for lifeforms as well, trying to pick up the signature they knew must come in range within the next few minutes.
The corridor was lit enough to see with the lights directly above the Fleeters' and lone marine's heads running down the corridor, but there was an eerie quality to it with so many shadows cast on the walls. The lights running along side the walls were only partially functioning and those that were, randomly flickered along with some of the over headlights. The situation wasn't helped with the slight creaking of the station as metal grind and pulled away from each other with the various forces it was experiencing in battling to remain in orbit of the growing gas giant. The air was becoming more pungent with the smell of death to those that had been in situations surrounding by it. Their surroundings pricked at their flight or fight instincts, but as professionals, they recognized the sensation and didn't let them affect them.
They finally stopped about four dozen meters from the entrance of the shuttle bay to one of the entrances into the cylinder tubes. They took up position on either side of the door again and Carter was about to tap the control, but Jade called out, "Wait."
"What?"
"I'm reading biomass about a dozen meters from the door. A lot of biomass," she whispered out, studying the sensing instrument in her hand.
Trina questioned with a knotted brow, "As in…"
"Something that used to be alive," the doctor answered in an ominous tone.
Carter looked a bit nervous and the color from Trina's face started to drain, her mind going to the worst possible conclusion.
Benson quickly gave a reasonable explanation to clamp down on any fear, "It could be spoiled food or any number of biological samples. This was an abandoned station for more than two hundred years. It's probably what we've all been smelling." He nodded his head anyway to the corporal to open the door.
"Or it could be someone from the survey team sir," Carter pointed out with a slight fearful expression.
Jade answered with another glance of her tricorder, "There's too much mass for people and too spread out. It has to be spoiled food…" She took a whiff and commented, "Freddie's right, you can smell a bit of it. I guess they couldn't process it out through the air filtration system while they were here."
"Corporal," Benson motioned to the control panel.
Carter tapped the control the door slid open, revealing another corridor with a line of doors on either side. They were immediately hit with the foul odor of rotten food hit their nostrils in full force, causing them to turn. It wasn't as bad as they expected. No one had to heave, dry or otherwise, but it certainly wasn't something one would want to smell on a regular basis.
Once they recovered enough, they looked down the corridor again saw that most of the doors lining the hallway were closed but a few of them were open. They could also spot T-intersection corridors evenly spaced every ten meters or so. However, what drew their attention was something lying in the middle of the corridor about a dozen meters in front of them, half covered in shadows from the barely functioning lights.
They could make out a body wearing blue science/medical division uniform, but couldn't tell if it was male or female, sending a chill down Trina's spine. She rushed past the captain and Corporal Carter, gripping her phaser tightly in her hand.
"Trina!" Jade shouted behind her, but the security officer refused to listen.
Captain Benson and Carter rushed behind her, covering each other and checking to see if anyone or anything could jump out of the rooms. Jade was on their heels, knowing to stay behind them and let them do their job of engaging any potential threats.
Trina stopped at the body, kneeling down to its side and rolling it over. She gasped in a sigh of relief despite how heartless the act would appear as she revealed that the fallen Star Fleet officer was a man in his mid-thirties with light almost blondish red hair that had a deep fourth degree burn in the center of his chest.
Carter pressed his shoulder against the bulkhead to the left, covering them from further down the corridor. Benson looked down the other end so no one would sneak up behind them. Jade knelt down on the other side of the fallen crewman to Trina and ran her hand scanner over the body.
Jade summarized the readings from the tricorder, "He's been dead for several days. It was a high energy discharge that killed him. It cooked most of his lungs and heart."
Benson didn't take his eyes off the way the came and asked, "Was it a disruptor?"
She shook her head and answered, "No, it was… these are typical signs of a phaser."
Benson knelt down next to Jade to the body and noticed the phaser still gripped in his right hand. He carefully pulled it out of his clenched fist and looked at the setting. He blew out a sigh and saw that it was set for one of the disintegration settings. He carefully turned the phaser down to the lowest setting and turned on the safety. He looked to Trina and asked in a tired breath, "Vega, scan for residual nadion particles… see if there is any traces of anyone disintegrated."
For a moment, fear gripped Trina's heart that Tori could just be free floating protons and electrons in the air, but she quickly remembered that her sister was most likely alive with the female Klingon life sign they detected from the ship. She picked up her tricorder and started scanning their surroundings.
As she was scanning, Benson reached around and slightly turned his body back over and reached behind to search for the crewman's communicator. He found it stuck on the adhesive belt that most personnel used on landing parties. He flipped over the communicator and the expected beeping sounded. He adjusted the setting and called out, "Benson to Tori. We found one of the survey team. Lock on to this signal and prepare to beam a body back."
An unknown voice came over the communicator, "Who is this?"
Benson knotted his brow at someone cutting into his transmission, but didn't get to respond as Trina reached over and grabbed his hand to yank the communicator to her.
She hastily spoke through the communicator, "Tori? It's Trina. Are you alright? Where are you?"
"Trina?" the voice softly called out.
The captain gave the lieutenant a pointed expression that he didn't appreciate her grabbing him, but didn't say anything as she continued, "Yeah, it's me. We're here to pick you up. What happened? Where is everyone?"
There was a pause at the other end for several seconds then the unknown voice curtly answered, "How do I know it's you? That you're not just some Klingon trick? You're just trying to pinpoint my position?"
Trina momentarily frowned, unable to immediately respond with a reasonable counterpoint.
Benson saw his opportunity and interrupted, "This is Captain Benson of the USS Tori. We're here to pick you up commander, but you're the only life-sign. There isn't any need for subterfuge from us. There are no life readings for the rest of the survey team or any boarders. You and my landing party are the only life signs on the station. The ship has already pinpointed your position and the only reason why we didn't beam you directly aboard was due to all the ionization. We're just moving towards your general direction. Our tricorders will just pick you up in the next few minutes."
There was another pause, creating an eerie silence in the corridor.
Jade reached out to tug on Benson's upper sleeve and whispered, "Already have. She's moving into one of the centers of biomass. I'm starting to lose her signal."
The security officer interrupted again and begged, "Tori, we're here to get you out of here. The station's orbit is decaying and we need to get you and the others out of here. Are you okay?"
"If you're really Trina from the Tori… tell me the story of how we went to high school together?"
Trina frowned for a moment then her expression turned into one of embarrassment.
"Well?"
The security officer sighed then answered, "I had this big performance and to get ready, I tried some herbal tea, but it made my tongue swell and I couldn't sing. You had to sing the performance and were offered a slot at the school as soon as you finished singing."
After Trina finished recalling the story, she glanced up to see the others reactions. Jade was trying her best not to burst into laughter at how ridiculous her story sounded.
There was an audible sigh of relief and quickly answered, "Trina, oh thank God. Be careful. There are Klingons on the station. We tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them. They're sporadic on my tricorder. They have to be masking their life signs somehow. They may be monitoring this transmission right now."
"Hunker down and we'll come and get you. They'll get a nasty surprise by our marines."
"This Shapiro cutting in sir. We're still not picking up any other lifesigns and you have about an hour before the station starts really dipping into the atmosphere and the gravity bubble won't protect it."
"Understood. Lock on to this signal and standby to beam the body back. If you don't hear for us in half an hour, send a detachment of marines to come and get us. Make sure they bring pattern enhancers in case we have to beam out."
"Yes sir."
"One last order: go to Yellow Alert and keep an eye out for any vessels. If they're looking for a fight, defend yourselves."
He didn't wait for a reply, trusting Robbie to carry it out. He turned a control on the communicator and instructed, "Commander Vega, listen to your sister and sit tight and to any Klingons listening in on this transmission, this is your one chance to surrender and come with us before this station plunges into the planet. There is no Klingon vessel coming to rescue you."
He pressed another button on the communicator then placed it on the body of crewman. A moment later the body disappeared in a shimmering gold swirl.
He stood up and ordered, "Come on. Let's go get her."
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this update. I hope they can find Tori safely and there isn't something lurking in the dark. Side technical notes, I did borrow a little from J.J. Abram's 'Star Trek' with some of the equipment and dress, particularly the field jackets and utility belts Kirk and Chekhov wore in Star Trek: Beyond, but here they're black instead of various shades of blue. Federation Marines are from the 'Star Fleet Universe'. Oh, yes, I realized I didn't mention this in chapter one, but Trina is the lone red shirt on this mission in a TOS story… Take care, OneHorseShay