The Voyage home

Posted on Thu Apr 30th, 2026 @ 7:55am by Cadet Sophomore Grade Miran Lalor [Lalor] HRH & Civilian Two of Eight & Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Reece [Reece] & Cadet Senior Grade Gérard Dirsye [Reece] & Cadet Sophomore Grade Melan Aris & Cadet Sophomore Grade Arthur Tyrell & Cadet Sophomore Grade Marmaduke Marshal & Nicholas Mathias & Lieutenant JG Calista Haelant & Cadet Senior Grade Triston Montgomery [Lalor] & Cadet Junior Grade Elaria Carlyle

Mission: Interlude
Location: Shuttle
747 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure

The teams converged on the shuttle. Teams 2 and 3 were silent as they approached. Though they all had information and discoveries, they knew what they would find when they got back. A drone. With team 1. Would Team 1 be still team 1?

Calista led her group to the shuttle ramp. "Hello?" She called out.

Miran Lalor came out, she was fine but pale. "Its clear" She said. "Commander Reece has the Drone."

Inside, Aris had taken a seat opposite the drone, partly to keep an eye on it, but also out of a certain dark curiosity. She had never seen a drone up close. Few people had and lived to tell about it. She had, of course, seen plenty of images and footage, and this looked exactly like them, other than missing some parts.

She studied what was left of its face. Klingon, perhaps. It's expression betrayed nothing, of course. It was just waiting for a command.

Marmaduke took his seat, making sure that an emergency force field was prepared in case the drone needed to be isolated.

Commander Reece had taken a seat and watched as everything was unfolding. He wanted to make sure that the cadets were safe, but also understood that a life in Starfleet wasn't always safe. So, he knew that he had to make sure they did whatever comes next the safest way possible.

"Go ahead and store the various equipment you all found, back in the rear compartment. We will all go over each piece in detail when we get back to the ship." He paused for a breath, then continued. "As for introductions, this is 2 of 8. He is not connected to the Collective Hive Mind, so he shouldn't be any danger to us. When we get back to Elysium, we will see what we can do to help him."

Mathias looked at 2 of 8 and said, "2 of 8.....it's nice to meet you. I'd love to ask questions of you later on. Once we get back onboard and you get cleared."

2 of 8 studied Mathias for a brief moment "We will comply," it replied.

2 of 8 was in their care for the foreseeable future, it was powerless to stop whatever they wanted to do to it, cooperation was the only obvious outcome.

Calista made sure her entire group was in and then close the hatch. She then moved to the cockpit avoiding the borg without a word. Leaving Reece to deal with it, she did the headcount, confirmed, then started their departure.

Looking over towards the pilot's position, Commander Reece spoke up. "Lt Haelant, once we clear the station, set a course directly back to the ship, best speed."

"Aye" Came Calista's reply. "Strap in please everyone! I am not as good a pilot as others but I won't crash us."

"The Elysium is going to flip its shit when we get back," Aris muttered to whoever was next to her. "We're all going to end up in quarantine."

Miran nodded, having wound up beside her. "Yeah. The Commodore is gonna freak out.."

"Hey, you're definitely a good pilot. I think the first rule of flying is not to crash....or if you do....you do it gracefully...." Mathias said as he strapped himself in.

Elena sat down opposite the other cadets and considered everything that had happened. She placed her tricorder on her lap and waited for someone else to speak.

Arthur settled himself into one of the free seats, Tricorder settled on his lap, eyes continually flickering between the Drone, and down at the Tricorder, examining the data he'd collected, unable to shake the slight nervous feeling that was gathering in his stomach.

Once the runabout had launched, and cleared the interference caused by the dereliction space station, Nicholas sent an encoded message back to the Elysium, he had set the notification for four people. The Commodore, the Executive Officer, the Second Officer and the Intelligence Chief. In the message, he described in great detail what they had discovered...and who they were bringing back. He then closed the message that, as the senior officer on the away team, he would take personal responsibility, should anything go sideways during the trip back to the ship.

That done, he ensure the encoding was correct, and transmitted the message via subspace. He then looked over at the pilot. "ETA home?"

"Due to our position and the now position of the Elysium? 2 hours. Everyone get some peace and quiet" Calista replied and the shuttle jumped to warp.

OFF