Shuttle 2:Huntress

Posted on Sat Jun 8th, 2019 @ 8:27am by Lieutenant Commander Jaeih t'Noramei-McKinley & Avalon [ADMIN NPC]

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: Type 9 Shuttle Code names Huntress
Timeline: MD4 11h00+
805 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

The five shuttles exited the Shuttle bay, and after momentary paused, jumped to warp along their proposed courses.

Jaeih settled into her seat. "Eta to search grid 2.5 hours gentlemen."

With warp drives engaged, Ken fell back into his own seat. He turned his eyes to the viewport, imagining that he could see the Celestial Temple back at DS9 -- though it was light years away now. "Prophets be damned," he muttered under his breath.

Orin closed his eyes tight and had a white-knuckled grip on the passenger chair's armrests. "Oh, Faelirh ch'susse-thrai..." He mouthed. This was going to be a LONG day.

===2.5 hours later===

Jaeih sat up as Ken brought the shuttle out of warp and with a slight stretch looked out the view port.

A class I planet - Gas Giant orbited a class G star (sol) And the rings around the gas giant were vast. She tried to count. More than the ones in Sol System.

"Nice view," she commented.

Ken found himself nodding quietly next to her. His first thought was on how much Phoenix would love the colors. Impossible swirls of silver and blue touched along on the edges with a firey crimson that reminded him of her pagh, her spirit. Perhaps if he got her back, he could recreate it on the holodeck and show her. WHEN he got her back, he corrected himself. "Let's take some detailed scans," he suggested. His lips cracked into a thin grin. "If nothing else, we'll get some beautiful vids from the trip."

Walking up from the passenger compartment, Orin paused to take in the planet. "Beautiful." He remarked before he realized it. That wasn't the right thing to say. It wasn't enough. Something popped in from the recesses of his mind that was significantly better. "In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous."

"Very poetic, sir," Ken remarked, impressed. "Did you come up with that?"

"It's actually a quote from Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who lived about three millennia ago." Orin began. "He was a philosopher, scientist and psychologist. But to be fair, at that point in time, we were just starting to learn and understand much of those practices. We still use most of his teachings, even today."

"My Earth history isn't all that great," Ken admitted, pulling a hand along the back of his neck as if the embarrassment was causing him tension. "I like it, though. I'll have to remember that one." He gestured to the planet beyond. "You want me to bring us in for a closer look?"

Jaeih nodded. "Yeah. Lets see if the area scans gives us anything."

"Yes, sir," Ken said with a nod. "Taking us into range of the short beam sensors. Get your cameras ready."

Jaeih frowned. "Lieutenant Sempton, I need you to focus the bio sensors. Sector 12."

An eyebrow shot upwards as Orin turned to look at the Commander and out the window. "Yes, Sir" he said, turning back toward the science panel and canceling the planetary scan. He had to bring up a schematic to find the sector in question, but was able to locate it quickly. "Scanning now, sir."

There was biological matter registering in that sector. Human/betazoid DNA.

Ken caught the readings in the corner of his eye, and he looked up at Orin. "Where in the world is that coming from?"

"I'm trying to pinpoint it, but it's difficult." Orin's hands flew over the controls trying to isolate the find. "No, not difficult, small. Reading fifty-four centimeters by thirty-eight centimeters by twenty centimeters." His face contorted in confusion. "What could be that small and still read biological?" He switched over to the engineering console. "Whatever it is, I've got a sensor lock on it. Beaming it in now."

With a hum and a sparkle of lights, a male torso in a red shirt appeared on the transporter.

"Well..." Orin said in disbelief. "Shit."

"Prophets hear me!" Ken swore, shrinking back into his chair so much that he practically hopped up onto his console. "Is it -- Is it one of our people?"

Jaeih stared in shock and took a shaky breath. "Computer? Can you run a DNA sequence?"

[[Recommend medical team to do so. The biological sample is very hard to read]]

She took a breath. "Mr Waters... take us back to the Elysium. We need to get this back there."

His eyes lingered on the body, moving slowly to the universe beyond the viewport. Could this be one of the crew? Commander Taylor, perhaps? Were there more bodies out here? Was Phoenix? Was she floating out there cold and alone among the stars?

Shaking the questions away, Ken turned his attention back to his controls, glad for the orders to follow -- to distract his mind. "Aye, sir."

The shuttle turned for home.

OFF