Season 1 - Episode 6: Phage (part 2)
May 13, 2371 (1 Month, 28 Days in the Delta Quadrant)
Transporting had always been an overwhelming sensation for Ensign Bell. Light and bouncy was the only way for him to really describe it, the sensation as his body fell away into the air around him while his sight narrowed and faded into a distance that wasn't really there. Then the light returned and his vision started to zero in on what had changed in that passing second.
The familiar smooth pale grey walls and bright lights of Voyager's transporter room were replaced with darkness and unfamiliar rocks. The normal feeling of almost negative weight one usually experienced during a transport came to an abrupt end as gravity reasserted its normal pull on the body, though it was less than he felt a moment ago. Artificial air, cleaned and recycled across the ship countless times, was replaced by something that Bell could only describe as stale and lifeless.
All this passed in an instant, and the moment his body was able, he raised his weapon to his shoulder while beginning to sweep their surroundings for dangers, Harewood mirroring his actions on the other side of the three they'd been assigned to protect.
Bell found Starfleet's manuals on transportation to be very dry reading, but reading technical manuals for Commander Shepard's 'Basic Training part two, Train Harder' had been required. It'd mostly been to know what to stop others from doing, so if you saw someone doing something stupidly dangerous, you'd stun them, but the transport manual had some interesting five-second checklists on what to do once you have had yourself de-atomized to reorient yourself with maximum efficiency.
Taking a deep breath was the first thing you did, the act of doing so jump starting your autonomic systems which might've been disrupted by the beaming process. If you were in a potentially hostile location, you could combine taking a gulp of air with readying yourself or a weapon for combat and scanning your surroundings while focusing on distant points to get an idea of your position in space. Finally, if you were beamed alongside anyone you were to cast a quick glance around to make sure they arrived with you. While the system was safe, a few seconds of disorientation was considered 'safe'.
This flashed through Bell's mind in an instant, along with some of the jump-scares that Shepard had included in his training exercises. Such as the one where shortly after being transported onto a rock just like this one, creatures that lived on the cave walls immediately leaped at them and aimed for their faces. He repressed his shudder, remembering the four pairs of grasping legs, the weird lungs at the bottom, and the long, long tail. He'd shot his, but Feelix went down, that tail wrapping around his teammate's throat in an instant.
With that training in the back of his mind, Bell wasn't surprised when Harewood mirrored his own action as they both dropped to one knee and scanned the cracked and dusty cave walls for threats, where anything that went for their heads would've missed.
"So, Lieutenant, what score did you get on that sim again?" Bell smirked after clearing their insertion point and finding no threats waiting for them. "The one with the things on the walls?"
The black woman huffed, smirking back at her comrade, "Not well enough. I think Woods outscored me on that one. But at least I left Lt. Andrews in the dust."
"Well enough for this place?"
"I would hope so!" Harewood mockingly exclaimed. "But if those things he programmed are real, I never want to be in the same star system as them."
Chakotay, Kim and Neelix stood next to them, Bell noticed, looking at the pair of security officers like they'd grown second pairs of heads, prehensile tails, and were now speaking in code. Their reactions to being beamed down was telling. Neelix looked interested, probably excited about being on his first mission off the ship, glancing around everywhere. Kim looked thoughtful, frowning slightly. Bell tried to guess why, but ultimately the Ensign was still a fresh out of the Academy rookie and was going to be taking his lead from the superior officer here.
On the other hand, Chakotay...
While the Ensign had served beside Chakotay on various Maquis operations over the years, those had mostly been in ship-to-ship battles against Cardassians. They only fought ground-based engagements when it was absolutely necessary, but they did sometimes happen. They all knew what they were walking into when it happened, what to expect every time that they engaged their enemy, so if someone seemed overly relaxed and was joking it meant they were confident. Being that calm, you were broadcasting to the universe that you were ready for what was about to happen and were unconcerned.
Seeing his old captain standing tall, you got the impression that he was as clueless about his own safety as Kim likely was. That was, until you noticed the way his hand switched towards the type-two phaser on his belt. Or until pne saw how his eyes quickly ran across everything as he glanced, seeming to almost be as unfocused as Neelix was, around, taking it all in as he looked for a threat. When he saw none, there was a noticeable relaxing in the Commanders' shoulders and back where he had been tensed and ready to move.
The First Officer glanced down at the two security officers on their knees and smiled at them, all the tension he had displayed moments ago on the ship evaporating as he easily drawled out, "Is it comfortable down there?"
Bell grinned back at his Commander, relaxing as well and standing. "I've had to sleep on worse. Athos IV comes to mind."
Chakotay gave a small huff of laughter. "The problem wasn't the dirt, it was the humidity."
"Sir?" Kim interrupted, obvious confused and interested.
"It's a Class K planet in the Demilitarized Zone," Chakotay explained as Harewood still kept herself at the ready. "It's barren, fog-shrouded, and has three-hundred kph winds on the surface. But the underground caves aren't that bad."
The Commander walked around the large open space they had transported into, taking out his tricorder which prompted Kim to do the same. He continued on, "The problem was, there was so much moisture in the atmosphere that everything exposed to air would inevitably get wet. That included the dirt floors we slept on until some beds were eventually brought in."
"Yeah," Bell nodded as Harewood stood and took up and they both took positions in the center of the chamber so they could look down the three different tunnels that connected to it. "On the other hand, you kind of got used to the soft mud after awhile. When those beds were finally installed, I think I continued to sleep on the floor for another week. Used a sleeping bag of course," he added at Harewood's look.
Kim snorted in amusement, while Neelix smiled at the story.
Having finished his sweep of the room, Chakotay turned and said, "Well, you don't have to worry about that here. Not even enough molecules of H2O to fill a tub." Glancing at the three tunnels, the Commander nodded to himself and announced, "It looks like there are several large dilithium deposits in our general vicinity. Let's split up and begin taking geological scans. Harewood, Kim and Neelix should take this path, Bell and I will take this one."
Everyone followed where the First Officer was pointing, and Kim asked, "What about this branch over there? Don't want me to go on ahead and take it?"
Chakotay shook his head, "No, if we need to we can double back and check it later. Let's stick to teams of two for now." He checked his tricorder once more, then added, "Keep your comm channels open at all times and don't wander too far. Stay within a fifty meter radius of this position."
As the group separated and began to travel down their respective paths, Bell shook his right wrist and flexed the fingers of his hand in a rapid manner that was quickly becoming rote, automatically activating the Tool on this arm as well as the tricorder function without having to lower his weapon. A holographic screen about the size of his open hand rose up from the Tool and settled itself just above the stock of his weapon, a position he had carefully adjusted for his own comfort the previous day.
It was one of the nicer features of the Tool he and many others on Security had embraced. There was a "default" placement for everything, but nothing was permanently fixed in place and all could be adjusted to the users preferences. Bell knew Jackson had adjusted his screen placement to lay flat against the top of his weapon, similar to his own. Harewood's screen floated off to the side of the weapon instead, while a good chunk of the team had followed the Commander's example and placed a smaller transparent screen just in front of their right eye.
The placement was dependent on the position of the arm, since the projectors had a limited range, but generally anywhere in front of you was a possibility, though the projections would flicker if you reached to far behind yourself.
The two of them, Chakotay and Bell, moved slowly down the tunnels for a couple dozen meters, scanning the walls as they moved. For a planet that was throwing off readings like it was packed with dilithium to the ship's sensors, so far the walls and been noticeably barren of anything that wasn't normal rock. Bell could feel his training in the simulators screaming at him that this wasn't right, that something was wrong. At any moment, something insubstantial would reach out for him from the walls, one of the walls would unfold out into a turret, or something else would happen. It had only been ten minutes since they'd begun, but they should've found something this close to the highest concentrations.
The Ensign was about to say something about that when Chakotay turned to him and smiled, "It's been a long time since we had been on a mission together. Anything new?"
Almost all the tension Bell was feeling vanished as his old CO gave him their customary greeting, which required him to say, "Nothing but cold rations and hard work. Just like the good old days."
The two of them weren't close enough to share inside jokes like he and Torres did, but the two men had survived a half dozen attacks together and that they still trusted each other. Each time they saw each other, they passed that same greeting back and forth until it had taken a meaning all its own. Bell liked to believe it was their way of saying "I'm fine, how are you holding up."
The First Officer nodded, frowning at his tricorder once more, and then turned to face the younger man with a warm smile once more. "So how have you been holding up? I know being a Security Officer isn't your dream job…" he trailed off.
Bell shrugged it off. "Not really a problem."
"Oh?" Chakotay asked, looking away from his tricorder and turning his full attempt at his old subordinate.
"Well, I won't claim to have been happy at first," the Ensign began, "but I got over it. Helps that a few others from the old crew are there with me."
"Not everyone," Chakotay stated forlornly.
The Ensign nodded his agreement. He tried not to dwell on those they lost, especially her. "No, not everybody. We lost too many the day we were dragged here."
"And the days following," his commanding officer nodded, before adding, "and we weren't the only ones."
Bell nodded. A few had been injured past the point of saving, and a few others had been lost, but they'd only lost six more since the crews merged. He hadn't known the Starfleet that died, but losing Chellah and Donovan had hurt, even if he wasn't close to either of them.
"So," Chakotay asked, perking up a little as they pushed aside the more somber topic for a later time, "what do you think of Shepard?"
"Sir?"
"What is he like?" the man continued. "Has he been treating the former-Maquis worse than the Starfleet crew? Coming down harder on you all more than the rest?"
Bell narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering where this was going. "Not at all, Sir. If anything, we're some of his better crewmen. Maquis aren't afraid of a fight," he couldn't help but boast.
"True," the older man smiled. "But I have to admit that I'm surprised to hear that. I haven't seen any reports saying otherwise, but I had expected someone from...with his background, to be a harsh taskmaster."
"No worse than you or the Vulcan," Bell hedged. "Not bad for Starfleet." He wanted to ask what his Commander meant by that, but it was obvious he wasn't going to get an answer. "Shepard's been very enthusiastic about making sure we are more capable than the normal Starfleet crew. That's why he and Torres made these things." He lightly waved his arm and weapon.
Chakotay nodded to himself, eyes distant in thought, "Those are certainly new. Never seen anything like them when I was in Starfleet. Or even hints of anything like them."
"Kim to Chakotay," came the voice of the other Ensign in their party from the combadge.
The Commander held up a hand, "Go ahead."
"We're still picking up dilithium signatures but there are no formations present here. Have you found anything yet?" Kim asked, sounding obviously frustrated.
Chakotay shook his head to himself before looking back at the tricorder in his hand. "Analysis of the rock in his area is negative for any so far, but keep looking."
With the channel cleared once more, the First Officer looked back to Bell and inquired, "Do you think Shepard has any more surprises he is going to spring on us? Other than those two devices?"
Bell shrugged. "Don't really know," he admitted. Chakotay gave him an incredulous look. "The Commander doesn't tell us his plans. At the same time, he does seem to encourage us to offer suggestions. Didn't expect that"
"What do you mean?"
"Just what I said." the Ensign replied. He respected his old captain, but this was starting to feel less like a friendly chat and more like an interrogation. "He might not look very welcoming, but he's never told off any of us when we brought him some suggestions. Just asks us how. Or why. I expected him to be all 'do this 'cause it's regulations or I'll send you to the brig,' like I've heard how some of the Fed types can be. I've heard Tuvok's been doin' that to tactical, but Shepard hasn't."
Chakotay nodded at that, but said nothing as they moved a few meters further into the tunnel to get more readings. After a few minutes of this, he asked, "You been staying close with the other former-Maquis? How is everyone holding up?"
Bell offered a small shrug, "'Bout the same across the board. Everyone's annoyed about being on a Starfleet ship, having to get used to working with Starfleet. Some of them are dicks, but some are okay, at least in Security. I, I know we're gonna be here for maybe the rest of our lives, sir," he told his Commander, turning to look at him seriously, "But it still doesn't feel real. It's been dawning on some people what that means, but it's hard to consider. I'm never gonna see my family again, am I?"
Chakotay hesitated, but nodded slowly. "That may be Ensign, but we're not alone. We've got each other, and that's a lot more than some others have. Now let's go see if we can find some Dilithium. Even if Neelix finally learned to cook, I still want the extra replicator rations we'll get out of this.
Bell nodded, glancing at his Tricorder display while keeping an eye out for hostiles, but that didn't stop him from thinking about how things had started to fall apart among the crew. He'd seen it happen more and more lately The Starfleet personnel were supposed to've been home weeks ago, and the Maquis crew, while they didn't know exactly when they'd be back, well, it should've been by now as well.
It wasn't unusual right now for security to get a request to check on someone who'd disappeared, only to find them crying in a jefferies tube, or in a fresher, their combadges giving away their positions. It was hard to see, but Bell and Security had been keeping a strong front, just like command was. Tuvok was Tuvok, only more of a stickler for regulations now that he had more of them to enforce; Chakotay had acted like it was business as usual, dealing with issues when they came up; and Janeway seemed almost happy about the entire thing. It'd been off-putting at first, but he'd heard from Starfleet that she was normally a bit more professional, so she was just overcompensating by trying to be strong.
It had endeared her to the Maquis man, as he'd expected her to be even colder than Tuvok. Shepard was the most even of them all, obviously worried for them, but not letting it stop him in the slightest. Not denying the danger when they were in, but constantly looking forward on how to stop it. He'd even given Torres something to do, as she'd started going a bit stir-crazy once the damage was fixed. Bell hadn't been close to her, but she'd always been working on, modifying, or building something. With Command being strong, that, too, made it easier as they had a model to follow.
Lt. Dalal had taken her squad to the side and told them how they needed to be strong for the others, and how Security wasn't just about keeping the crew's bodies safe, but keeping their hearts safe as well. Didn't make it any easier to see, but knowing the others depended on them made it a bit easier to stay strong on shift.
When it happened, everyone tried to be understanding. Didn't matter if it was Starfleet or Maquis, when they were like that, they were just people. Not arrogant, not dismissive, just hurting. Some people tried finding solitude, others threw themselves into their work, and a few others tried to ignore it all, but eventually the truth of the situation won out. For good or ill.
There had only been two suicides so far, thankfully. He still wished Chellah would've said something, but Dalal had helped him understand her death wasn't his fault.
"Neelix to Commander Chakotay," the badges erupted with sound once more.
Bell had jumped a little, weapon at the ready. His old Captain gave him a look, but smiled, shaking his head and tapping his badge,"Go ahead."
The Talaxian's high pitched voice echoed off the rock walls, making his voice even more penetrating to Bell's ears. "I think I've found something. A large cavern, approximately twenty meters from my position." A seconds' pause lasted before he added, "I'm reading a huge dilithium formation there."
Checking the Cook's position on the map the deep scans had made, he was already at the edge. 'He's getting too far away from us,' Bell quickly thought. 'Never split the party.'
Before he could voice his concern, Chakotay instructed, "Neelix, stay within the search radius. I'll be with you in a minute."
The Commander sighed, closing the line and admitting, "Just as well. Not finding anything here. Hopefully they're having more luck."
Bell nodded, "I'm not seeing anything either. It might be better to regroup at his position."
"Kim to Chakotay," the badge chimed, the engineer sounding worried.
"I'm here." he declared in annoyance. "I told Neelix, we'll be there in-"
"Neelix just ran off down a side passage," Kim interrupted. "Harewood went after him, but when I tried to follow an entirely new rock face just materialized. I think it might be a force field."
"Hold position, we're coming to you." The First Officer ordered, his demeanor shifting from mildly annoyed boss to hardened soldier in an instant.
The Commander took off running, phaser in one hand, tricorder in the other with Bell following closely as they raced back towards Kim. Chakotay called out harshly, "Chakotay to Neelix, hold your position. Something cut you off from us."
Neelix's annoying voice come back instantly, "But it's right here! I'm in the cavern now, Commander, but I don't understand his. Not so much as a sliver of dilithium! And yet according to the readings I should be surrounded by it!"
Bell's eyes flicked to his Tool as he saw a notification pop up on his display. A message from Harewood. With a subtle use of his pinky, he activated the notice and read it as it slid across the top of his gun. ***Stay Alert. Not Right. Rogue VIP.***
Bell suppressed a groan. They'd all run through Shepard's VIP extraction sim, and by far the worst variable was when the person they were supposed to be escorting ran off because they got scared, thought they were better at extraction than the Security team was, or saw someone they just had to bring with them.
The man in front of him commed as they got closer to Kim's position, "Chakotay to Harewood. Keep Neelix there until we get to you. I don't want him wandering off further."
"Understood," was her terse reply.
"Maybe she should stun him and carry him back to the ship?" Bell asked.
Chakotay huffed, "Don't tempt me."
When they got to Kim, he was standing in front of a rock wall that looked identical to the surrounding surfaces. The Ensign was pushing against the surface with one hand and studying it with a tricorder in the other. The younger man turned to them as soon as they were within talking distance, "This wall just appeared out of thin air. At first I thought it was a hologram, but I'm not picking up any residual photonic energy."
Bell narrowed his eyes at his own readings. "Mine says that is solid rock for at least another fifteen meters."
"Sounds like our tricorders aren't giving us the real picture." Chakotay added, starting to raise his Phaser.
"Sir, with you permission?" Bell asked, indicating his weapon.
The First Officer looked at him, the wall, then nodded. "Proceed."
Kim took a step back as Bell raised his PSMG, adjusted the setting from stun to kill, and squeezed the trigger. A five-beam burst from the weapon stuck the wall, sending it from solid rock face to red hot surface, then finally exploding into a collection of light and heat, but no shrapnel. There was a brief wave of warmth that washed over the three men, but it was now obvious that the rocks were an illusion.
Raising his tricorder, Kim pronounced, "That was a very sophisticated forcefield, Commander. Couldn't even tell it was there."
Chakotay scowled, "I've had enough of this. We're collecting Neelix and leaving."
"Neelix to Chakotay, I'm getting some very unusual readings from this rock face."
"Chakotay to Harewood," the man addressed called out. "We just had to shoot out a forcefield that was blocking us from you. Gather Neelix and rendezvous."
Harewood's grateful "Sir." spoke volumes.
"This is very curious," Neelix murmured, just barely able to be heard in the still caves, comms still active and well out of the range Voyager's sensor scan. There was a sound of a small scuffle, and they heard much more clearly, "Let go of me! I'm not going anywhere, this might be important! I'm getting bio-electrical signatures from that wall. I think there's something alive down here. It's about two meters into this rock face."
Chakotay barked out, so angry he stopped moving for a moment, "Neelix, I said get back here!"
Following Shepard's training, Bell moved to the front of the three man column and lead them deeper into the cavern, Harewood having sent him her path in. The open comm was picking up sounds of a shuffle and some whispered nonsense between the Talaxian and the junior lieutenant, but nothing distinct.
Nothing distinct, until the sound of Neelix yelling echoed down the cave. It was closely followed by the sound of some kind of energy weapon, swiftly followed by the now familiar hum of their TS-71 being fired.
"Neelix, what's wrong?" Chakotay tried, but got nothing but a groan as a reply.
Bell was about to say something else, but by then they had turned the corner of the cave and took in a strange sight. With the training he'd been receiving, he didn't break stride, rushing forward to cover Harewood. On the ground, looking completely unharmed except for the fact he was unconscious, was the Talaxian. A meter away from him kneeled Harewood, her weapon trained on a figure face down on the rock surface half a meter away from her. Behind the fallen form was a hole in the rock wall that led into a well-lit tunnel that looked similar to a ship's docking port.
Taking all of this at a glance, Chakotay snapped, "Harewood, report."
Not taking her eyes of the figure, or lifting her weapon, the woman spoke in a flat tone, "Mr. Neelix refused to move away when ordered. After I began to force him to move, the section of wall vanished and this figure appeared holding what I suspect is a weapon," she pointed with her free hand at a small, phaser sized two pronged device on the ground near the tunnel opening.
She continued, "He fired it without saying anything, but I managed to kick Neelix out of the way and returned fire to stun him."
Bell moved up to secure the tunnel entrance, while Kim checked on Neelix and Chakotay moved to look at the fallen figure on the ground. When the First Officer rolled him over, Bell had to suppress a wince at what he saw.
The man looked like a monster or zombie from one of those old horror movies his sister had been fond of, only a few months into the apocalypse. There was a human similarity, as such, with it having two eyes, a nose and a mouth, but all of his skin was a patchwork of what looked like glued on, mismatched layers. His hair was grey and only appearing in patches, and parts of him looked like they might have been actually rotting.
Tearing his eyes away from the ghoulish figure, and gulping to himself, practically hearing Delal politely reminding him to stay on task in his head, Bell asked, "Why is Neelix knocked out?"
Harewood glanced up at him, "The aliens weapon sent a beam right past his face. I think he fainted."
Kim spoke up, now holding the device in question, "I'm not exactly sure if it is a weapon. Not like a phaser or disruptor anyway. If I'm reading this right, it has more in common with a small transporter. Only, it doesn't have enough capacity to transport a person, only parts of them."
"Sound like a weapon to me," Bell stated, thinking about what could have happened if Harewood had been just a little slower.
Chakotay nodded seriously, "I agree."
The Commander waved his tricorder over the man, and then held it up to the open tunnel ahead of them. "Now that I know what to look for, and that wall's down, I'm getting a reading. Looks like there are a dozen more like him further inside."
Bell watched the various thoughts and emotions warring inside of his old captain play out across his face. He looked angry, pissed off, that someone would dare to attack a person under his leadership and wanted to retaliate. Then he looked concerned, curious, maybe even a little apprehensive, but whatever he was thinking there was a slowly forming look of resolve dawning across him.
The Commander ordered, "Okay, we are going to hold this position for the moment. Harewood, Bell, watch that tunnel. Kim, watch over the prisoner and keep an eye on Neelix for the moment."
Taking a few steps to the back of the chamber and away from everyone else, Chakotay tapped his badge and called out, "Chakotay to Captain Janeway, we have a situation."