—Chapter 02—
To simply say that the relatively short journey to the Seleya was nerve-wracking, was to greatly understate the fact. The asteroid field was a nightmare of fast moving rocks of massive size, most of which could destroy ShuttlePod-One with a single strike, but Travis danced, and rotated, and barrel-rolled the shuttle repeatedly in order to steer clear of those deadly obstacles, and soon enough, the passengers of the shuttle set eyes on the Seleya.
The Vulcan D'Kyr class combat cruiser was impressive as hell to every Human on board the shuttle, but most of all to Trip, an engineer by education and professional practice. These magnificent ships dwarfed the Enterprise, being almost three times the size of the 225 meter Enterprise, and where the Enterprise boasted seven decks, the Seleya boasted fifteen.
"Take us around the ship, Travis," said Trip, looking at the pilot. "Let's have a look at her."
"Yes, Commander," said Ensign Mayweather.
As ShuttlePod-One flew round the Seleya, Lt. Reed scanned the ship, and reported on what data he found.
"Main power is off line," said Malcolm. "Minimal life support is operational. Decks 12 and 13 have decompressed. I'm reading multiple bio-signs, but I can't determine the species for certain, though I believe they are Vulcan. The Launch Bay on Deck 8 is depressurized, so we can't use that venue into the ship, but the Starboard Docking Port on Deck 9 is still intact."
"Nothing else?" said Trip.
"No, sir," said Malcolm.
"Ok. Everyone, grab a PADD," said Trip, passing a box with a half dozen Personal Access Display Devices. "Lt. Reed, transfer the Seleya's schematics to each of these PADDs. If we get separated, we'll each need a map to make our way back to the shuttle. These ships are huge."
Malcolm worked briefly on his console, and seconds later, the Seleya's schematics were wirelessly uploaded to each respective PADD unit.
"Take us in, Travis," said Trip.
"Aye, sir," said Travis, and moments later, ShuttlePod-One was docked with the Seleya.
"I don't know what to expect in there," said Trip, looking at the occupants of the shuttle. "The Seleya looks like hell. The Vulcans might be dead and gone, and the life-signs we're reading may belong to pirates or scavengers, stripping the carcass of the Seleya for valuable parts. We go in there with weapons. All of you, take extra energy packs for your weapon. If the ship is still crewed by Vulcans, they'll look at us as barbarians for coming at them armed to the teeth, but we're not taking any chances."
"Right, sir," said Malcolm.
The two MACOs and Humbold from Security nodded their agreement with the Commander's orders. None of them wanted to board this wreck unarmed, so it was good to know that a realist, rather than a politician, was calling the shots here.
"What about you, Commander?" said Malcolm, who had noted that Trip had not picked up a phaser rifle.
"I'll take a phaser pistol," said Trip, and an instant later a twenty-eight inch telescoping steel baton seemingly grew from his hand with startling speed, extending almost silently due to it's well oiled spring, and locking to rigidity with a smooth metallic click, "and this baton, for what it's worth."
"Hope you don't need to use it, sir," said Malcolm, impressed by the Commander's sleight of hand, for he had not noticed a weapon on his person, or in his hands, and it was Malcolm's business to notice such things, as the Enterprise's Tactical & Security officer.
Trip pushed a steel button built into the hilt of the steel baton, then pressed the baton against the shuttle's hull, compressing the weapon back into the handle, and nodded his agreement with Malcolm's sentiments, then looked over at the pilot.
"Travis," said Trip, "as soon as we exit the shuttle, I want you to decouple from the Docking Port, fly up top, and settle on the hull. We'll call you when we need you. Don't fall asleep up there, and let someone in an Environmental Suits sneak up on you. You're our only ride off this wreck."
"No, Commander," said Travis. "I'll stay sharp."
"Good," said Trip. "We're turning our comm units off in the interest of stealth, until we make contact with the Vulcans, so you'll handle any inquiries from the Enterprise."
"Right, sir," said Travis.
Trip nodded, looked at his boarding party, and said, "If this ship is in as bad a shape as it seems from out here, this is essentially a caving expedition, so grab flares, a rope, flashlights, whatever you think might come in handy, and is worth taking."
The crewmen going in with Trip took his advice, and soon after, Malcolm said, "We're ready, Commander."
"So let's go," said Trip, and moments later, they exited the shuttle in their marching formation.
Mark Kelly, a MACO, was in the lead, followed by Malcolm, then Trip, while the tail end was brought up by Humbold, from Security, and then Meyers, the second MACO. This marching order served to protect the ranking officer in uncertain or dangerous terrain, and this ship was definitely the former, and might just be the latter, if someone other than the Vulcans were in control of this ship.
Trip's initial unease with the situation was borne out almost immediately, as the boarding party began moving through the Seleya. The dim emergency lighting the Seleya revealed that the ship was a disaster zone, with battered and twisted metal walls, ceilings and doors, no doubt the result of repeated asteroid impacts, while the various conduit pipes spilled their contents all over the ship, whether these contents were ship's mechanical fluids, or water, or electrical wires now rendered harmless by the fact that electricity no longer ran through them, for the emergency lighting sources had their own power cells. The boarding party remained silent for a good five minutes at Trip's prompt, but all they heard was the dripping of water, a distant hissing sound, and the clanking of metal from somewhere deep within the Seleya. That was all, yet taken as a whole it was much more than enough to put everyone on edge.
Trip said, in a voice not much above a whisper, "Let's make our way to the Bridge on Deck 1, gentlemen. That's eight decks up, but it's our best chance for finding out what the hell happened to this ship."
The members of the boarding party nodded back at Trip and took up their marching order once again, as they moved slowly and cautiously through the ship, counting on stealth more than weaponry for protection.
They moved a short distance through Deck 9 without encountering anyone and climbed the emergency staircase to Deck 8, which seemed much as Deck 9, save fewer lights worked here, and the darkness seemed more menacing, though nothing jumped out at them from that encroaching blackness, and eventually they moved up to Deck 7. Some noises on this deck, but nothing identifiable, and Trip pointed to Kelly, the leading MACO, and Malcolm, and then pointed them towards the source of the sound. The chosen men nodded, and moved slowly in that direction. Ten minutes later, they returned just as cautiously, and Malcolm knelt next to Trip.
"We didn't find anything, Commander," said Malcolm in soft voice.
Trip nodded, and said, "Deck 6."
It took thirty minutes to access Deck 6, for the emergency stairs were blocked off: the access hatch to Deck 6 had been welded shut. No one in the boarding party could think of a good reason for that, though a spray of arterial blood on the walls of Deck 6, when they eventually found an alternate way up using a maintenance tube, gave them all ideas, none of them good.
"What the hell happened here, Commander," said Malcolm, looking to Trip for answers, though knowing full well that Trip was as much in the dark as the rest of them.
"No idea, Malcolm," said Trip. "It was green Vulcan blood though, and it wasn't cleaned up, which raises lots of questions, and gives no answers."
"No one could survive losing that much blood," said Malcolm. "So, where's the body?"
Trip shrugged his shoulders, and the two men made eye contact, and Malcolm was relieved to see that if Trip's eyes held no answers, they were at least, cool, calculating and unafraid, which was a blessing under the circumstances. A frightened squad leader was worse than a hindrance.
"So we head for Deck 5?" said Malcolm now in hushed tones.
"The schematics show that the Medical Bay is located on Deck 6," said Trip. "Let's swing by there before we move on."
Malcolm nodded, and the squad began moving towards the port side of the Seleya, eventually coming to the Medical Bay. This place was the only suite still brightly lit, and Malcolm and Kelly entered the Bay cautiously, searching it thoroughly, before waving Trip in. The commander entered the Medical Bay and took the room in with a glance, while Humbold and Meyer stood outside the doors, keeping watch on their surroundings.
"How come this place still has power, sir?" said Kelly. "Rest of the ship is barely lit, but the Medical Bay is as bright as a lighthouse. I thought it was a trap at first because of that fact."
"Apparently, Medical Bay has a backup power source on Vulcan ships, in case the main grid goes down," said Trip, "and lights don't use up much energy."
"Trip," said Malcolm, from some twenty feet away, staring at something hidden behind a cloth partition. "You have to see this."
Trip crossed the room to Malcolm, followed by Kelly, and then pushed aside the curtain, to see that the curtain had concealed an autopsy table, and on that table rested a Vulcan corpse. How long it had laid there was uncertain, for a stasis field was operable over the table, which meant no bacterial action and no decomposition, yet it was still a hideous sight. The female's eyes were open, her face was covered in large scabs which seemed crusted by pus, her torso was cut open, her internal organs were gone. In addition, her left leg had been surgically removed, four inches above her knee.
"Look at this," said Malcolm, pointing out a series of long scratches into the surface of the steel surgical table, where the Vulcan's left leg would have been.
"Odd," said Trip, "but no odder than the rest of this ship."
"I beg to differ, Commander Tucker," said Kelly. "I see what Lt. Reed is getting at here."
Trip looked at the MACO, and said, "What's that, Kelly?"
"That leg wasn't removed cleanly, sir," said Kelly. "The scratches are all an inch apart. Someone's been cutting steaks from that woman's leg with a surgical saw. This ship's been stranded here for months. Maybe they crew's been forced to cannibalism."
Trip looked again at the scratches on the table's surface, and said, "That doesn't make sense. A ship this size has enough food and water storage for years. So why would anyone resort to eating corpses?"
"Engines are malfunctioning, Commander," said Malcolm, "which probably means that the cargo holds are filled with fresh foods that spoiled quickly."
"Sure," said Trip, "but you're forgetting that Vulcans are logical creatures, and they would have anticipated that possibility. You'll find two or three years worth of grains, legumes, dried fruit, dehydrated vegetables, canned soups, protein powders, and such, if you search this ship."
"Maybe you're right," said Malcolm. "You still can't explain the scratches on the surface of that table though."
"I can't," said Trip, "and neither can you. Hell, who knows how many autopsies have been performed on that table. Let's not jump to conclusions. For now we'll collect every bit of data we come across, and make conclusions when we're back aboard the Enterprise."
"Right," said Malcolm.
"What now?" said Kelly.
"Can we download the medical reports filed by the doctor, from these computers?" said Trip. "I know we can't read it now, but Hoshi can translate the data once we get it back aboard the Enterprise."
"I don't see how, unless we contact the Enterprise, and get Ensign Sato's help with translation," said Malcolm. "If I can't read the menu options, I can't transfer the data."
"Right," said Trip, "but I don't want to spend a lot of time in this place. It's too well lit. I feel safer in the shadows."
Trip grabbed a small toolkit which he carried attached to his belt, opened and examined the Medical Bay's computer and then removed its solid state hard-drive, and after a moment's thought, popped out the computer's motherboard, with its embedded CPU. Kelly watched Trip with curiosity, then looked at Lt. Reed, a question in his eyes.
"The Vulcan computers will be networked," said Malcolm, "with all the data accessible from the Bridge, but apparently the Vulcans backup important data locally as well. If the main data storage dump is damaged or destroyed, these local backups would tell them something. Commander Tucker made a guess, and it was a good one."
"And the CPU and motherboard are to help us activate and decipher the hard-drive?" said Kelly.
"No," said Trip, looking at Kelly as he wrapped the motherboard in what looked like a discarded shirt he'd picked off the floor, "that's just plain curiosity on my part. Vulcan tech is quite interesting, and I always like learning new things. Now, turn around, Kelly."
The MACO did as ordered, and Trip placed the hard-drive and motherboard inside the backpack in which the MACO carried extra energy packs for their weapons.
"Let's get back on track for the Bridge," said Trip, after taking a last look at the Vulcan corpse.
The MACO took the lead once more, followed by Malcolm, and Malcolm by Trip, and then Trip by Humbold and Meyers, as they fell in order once again, and headed for Deck 5.