Away mission into hell.

Posted on 06 May 2021 @ 11:43am by Captain Patrick Jackson & Lieutenant JG Thyra Sh'shraaqir & Lieutenant JG Ted Silver & Lieutenant Alexandra Lee & Lieutenant JG Racine "Ghost" Hanson & Petty Officer 3rd Class Kara Sem
Edited on on 07 May 2021 @ 12:06pm

3,926 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: S03 Ep 02 Trouble in the Sticks UXSys 659842 (Main) Phase 2
Location: Shuttle bay , Transport Shuttle , Landing Zone.
Timeline: After all preparations

[ON]

- USS Tomcat - Shuttlebay one -

This was it. All the meetings. All the pep talks. All the preparations. Now was the time to step into the shuttle. Then be transported down to the surface.

Ted stood looking at the vessel. That was to carry them on this mission into hell.He put out his hand to feel its surface. But it shook badly. Making a fist he tried to calm himself. Yes, he was scared. Silva was no coward facing these zombies. That was part of the mission and he had excepted that. But his fear came from what would happen if things went bad. It only took one scratch from these creatures. To end up as one of them. Even if the scratch was on your arm and you cut it off. That would not save you.

Ted walked to a corner. Then he took a deep breath. When the shaking stopped and he could speak clearly again. He tapped his suits comm badge.

“ =/\= Silver to science away team. Time to meet in shuttlebay one. It’s going time.=/\=“

Thyra walked into the Shuttle bay when she got the com. "Weren't we suppose to meet here at this time?" She said in the hopes not to startle him. Her cheeks seem to get a bluer colour than before.

Racine had already checked out the shuttle and ran its preflight programs. She was somewhat troubled about this mission because it forced her to literally shut out all emotions from her mind. She was good at doing that but this was an extreme case and wondered if she would remain focused once the process began. "Lt. Silver, the shuttle is ready for launch sir," she said emerging from the shuttle.

=/\= Petty Officer Pril here, I am on my way to the shuttle bay. =/\=

Lieutenant Lee was in the science lab gathering her gear. =/\= Ensign Silver, this is Lieutenant Lee, I am in Science Lab Two and will be headed down to the shuttle bay once I have the necessary gear ready to go. =/\=

Patrick walked into the shuttle bay with his TR-116 rifle hun against his chest. He had finished his pre-mission prep. He had his final letters written, reviewed the latest Intel and scans and completed some other rituals he always did before a mission. "Lieutenant, Ensign." He greeted with a nod.

- Shuttle -

Thyra nodded to the people coming in. She had seen them all during the briefing. The suit was a little less comfortable, but she would manage. She checked her gear for the last time. She never got an answer from Ted, so she assumed he was just occupied mentally. She walked into the shuttle to find herself a seat.

Soon, Lee and Pril entered the shuttle bay. They headed directly to the shuttle and boarded to stow their gear. They were each ready to get going so they could get this mission over with.


Once everyone had arrived. Silver made sure they had all the correct equipment and it was working. Ted then gestured for them all to get into their seats.He sat near the front so Ted could speak with the Racine if needs be.

The shuttle moved gracefully out of the Tomcat. Beginning the descent towards the planet. As Silver looked out he spoke.

“ It looks so normal up here. “ It was then he noticed a nasty looking weather pattern. He pointed at it. “ That does not look helpful”.

"No, it definitely does not. Now we can go through it, but, for purposes of this mission I think a better idea would be to go around," Racine said.

Silver checked the scanner. The weather pattern was nasty. High winds and torrential rain. They could not afford the shuttle to get damaged. The bluegills would no doubt hear a shuttle crashing and attack. Racine was correct.

“Yes. Best do that. It may add more time to being away from the Tomcat. But if we crash were as good as dead down there. Fly us away from that storm Racine,” He said

Seeing the planet's swirling atmosphere growing in the viewport, Patrick ejected a magazine from his weapon, gave it a final inspection and put it back in and cycled the action. Satisfied it was loaded and ready to go, he reclined back into his chair. There was nothing more he could do up here, so he would relax while he could.

Racine took the shuttle away from the storm system looking for a better place to land without being too far off the target area. Looking for a place near to the LZ, she found one and headed for it. It was approximately 2 clicks from where they wanted to be and there was minimal wind shear so she could land safely. "Hang on people, we are going to land," she said. Slowly she set the shuttle down. "Thank you for flying Air Racine Airlines. Watch your step as you disembark," she said chuckling.

“Thanks, Racine for getting us here unbroken.“ Silver said as he left the shuttle.

"What a sense of humour," Lee stated as she stood up from her seat. "I do appreciate a pilot who can make her passengers laugh.


- New landing zone -

Although it looked peaceful enough. The hairs on the back of Ted’s neck prickled. Maybe it was a nearby lake? It looked very dark and forbidding. The water beardy rippling even though there was a small breeze. Something could be in there and they would not know it. But to do their job. They needed samples.

He could still take samples from the stream as originally planned. But it did feed into the lake. So it was probably better to get them from the lake.

Pril was standing and getting adjusted with the NEVS already activated. She already activated the scanning mode of the NEVS built-in tricorder abilities and started her recording for the record of this mission.

"I will be taken after scanning the flora to see what data we can get for our purposes of this mission." Lee stated. "Pril can assist me if that is alright with you Team Leader?"

“Yes, but be careful. I have a very bad feeling about this place.” Ted warned.

Ted moved towards the lake. The water was dark and clouded.Despite the fact the sky above. Was beginning to brighten after the storm. He began to scan the water.

What was that?

Was it a fish?

Then something under the surface made him jump back. A blank face stared at him under the water. Its open mouth making a muffled shriek. Luckly being underwater, nothing else could hear it. Just in time, Ted fell backwards as a clawed hand broke the surface. Narrowly missing him. The water began to ripple something was coming out of the lake.

“OH, MY DAYS!!!” He cried out. “THE THINGS CAN SWIM!!!”

Patrick heard the yell in the com of the NEV suit and watched the hand grow into an arm. The thing was moving closer and what he thought should ahead begin to emerge. The skin clung to the skull in a waterlogged mass of patchy flesh. He had studied the Intel in gruesome detail to try and prepare for this, which helped some, but the sight of this....thing still caught him off guard.

He hesitated a moment, questions flooding his mind. oO How is this even functioning? If it can survive like that underwater, can it even be killed? How long did this all take to happen? Oo. He shook his head. He needed to act, not think. "Phaser type 2," He said to his wrist and extended his left arm. A phaser materialized in his hand as soon as it was fully extended. A heartbeat later, yellow energy landed through the skull of the thing and boiled water behind it. The thing slouched forward into the water.

Everything seemed to suddenly flow into slow motion. As the creature before him. Slowly sank back into the murky waters of the lake. Nothing else broke the surface. Soon the ripples in the water died away. It was as if the incident had never happened.

Instead of feeling a sense of relief. All Ted could feel was a sense of pity. For the thing now sinking to the bottom of the lake. That had once been a living person. With hopes and dreams just like them. Now it was a rotten corpse at the bottom of a lake.

“Thanks, Jackson. I need to take samples. You better cover us just in case there are more of those things on there.” Silver said

"Maybe get your samples quickly." Thyra walked closer to the water. "I don't think it's advisable to stay so close to the water if these things are in the water. The water doesn't provide us with a good look at when they come, and that's not a risk I like to take. I rather take my chances when they get out of the water where we can see them." She scoffed. This was making their position more difficult.
She was still a little impressed by these creatures. Impressed but also on her toes. She wondered where else these creatures could be. She looked around a moment.

Racine saw that gruesome thing head towards Lt. Silver, and her head exploded from his shock and surprise. Opening the scanners on the shuttle, she scanned the surrounding area. If there was any other movement she would know in a hurry. What she couldn't understand was the strange empathic thoughts from these zombies. Shaking it off she went back to her scanning.

Pril and Lee were gathering the scans they were each tasked with obtaining. They were working together and using the new NEVs features to help with playing things safe.

"This suit is much easier to manoeuvre in compared to the standard EV suits," Lee stated.

"Yes, they are and since they can do some of the tricorder work for us this helps with keeping more aware of our surroundings." Pril stated as she spotted some movement about a click to the south of their position.

"We should be able to finish our collection of data in plenty of time to get out of here before that reaches us." Lee stated as the suit's built-on scanners completed the data capture of some of the flora on the surface.

Ted took samples of the water. Outside acting all calm and serene. But inside he was panicking. Although nothing else had emerged from the lake. He could not shake the feeling that something was lurking just out of scanner range. Strange unnatural noises filled the air.

Silver noticed Racine shake her head.

“Are you ok Racine?” He asked.

"Yeah, I'm ok.....just a weird feeling from the zombies. Like they only had two main goals. Food and kill...creepy", Racine said as she continued to scan.

Patrick started walking around the perimeter of the group and heading up the bank. His head was looking up, down and all around for anything, but was finding nothing. Quiet was good and if everything was dead, it should be expected. Still, his gut was telling him something was off and he had seen enough combat to trust his gut. He lifted his rifle and aimed down the optics to scan the tree line looking for anything odder than it should be.

Pril and Lee made a quick dash to Ensign Silver after a finding they discovered. As they approached Silver, they started to tell him what they picked up in their scans.

Ted looked over his readings of the water. It made him shudder and look up at the clouding sky. The lake was also infected with the deadly zombie plague. If anyone drank the water it would be as if bluegill have bit them. He looked around as Pril and Lee hurried up to him.

"Ensign, I have a disturbing reading and Pril found the same thing in a different scan." Lee reported.

“ The water is deadly. I suppose the plants are the same?” Ted asked

"Yes, Ensign, the reading is now being discovered in all the flora scans we have done," Pril added.

“ It must be in the rainwater. That’s why the lake and the plants are full of this thing. “ Silver said

"The plants are also very much zombified and they are producing spores that are flooding the atmosphere. Soon the air will be so saturated with the spores that the shuttlecraft will unwillingly become a transport for them off the planet." Lee stated. "Once the hatch is opened to take us aboard, the air will be exchanged and thus get carried back to the ship."

“We can’t let that happen.” Silver said

"Also, I have noted from the comparisons, these spores could likely be able to travel in space dormant until they come in contact with an atmosphere that can reanimate them." Pril added.

“Then we have to vaporize the planet. Before the spores start to leave.” Silver said sadly

Racine heard the excited conversation and nearly fell off her seat. oO spores inside and on the hull? Oh hell no Oo Tapping on her combadge, =/\= Racine to Silver, if Pril is right, we need to leave now. The risk of contamination is too great a risk for the Tomcat and the other shuttle. The colonel needs this information immediately=/\= she said.

As if they were listening below the water. Bubbles starting rising across the surface. This time there was more of them.

“BACK TO THE SHUTTLE NOW!!!!!” Silver shouted.

“ We.....are......on our way! Pril and Lee once we get on the shuttle..... one of you contact the other away team.....to warn them.... then warn the Tomcat. Racine, once we are all aboard get us above the planet then hold us in orbit.....” Ted said at a run.

Pril ran directly back to the shuttle and began work on an idea to help get the shuttle freed of the spores. Lee followed to get a communique to the other team.

Pril gathered a few specimen canisters to retrofit them as a means to contain the spores that get inside the shuttle. She used her engineering skills to rig up a means to vacuum out the air thus all the spore and contain it in a compressed form in the specimen canisters. Then she could have them beamed off the shuttle and back to the surface for vaporization. The same could then be done for the second shuttle. The NEVs would protect the crews of both shuttles during the extraction of the air. The other option would be to remotely pilot the shuttles back to the surface for destruction with the planet.

Lee sat at the communications panel and began to call to the other away team. She made sure to explain in simple terms as possible to them to get out of the planet's atmosphere and await further assistance and to keep their NEVs active as that was the only safety they had.

oO way ahead of you my man, way ahead of you Oo her mind said. By the time they had arrived, Racine had just got the door shut before she dusted off. Looking at Pril, "Can we possibly do a transport out of the suits, then remotely send the whole shebang back to the planet??? Because if just one of those things gets off the planet...," now she was worried about her fighters and their pilots. Serina was going to have a fit! " Sorry about the jostling but we had to get out pdq. Old fighter trick I learned. Didn't want to linger any longer than necessary," Racine added. Now hitting the com, =/\= Racine to Hawksley please tell me you are airborne with your people. Join up with me in orbit but do not approach the atmospheric boundary between a planet and open space till this gets sorted out=/\=

Silver watched out of the Shuttles window as the Blue Gill Zombies. Flayed their arms at the shuttle. As it lifted off the planet surface. It was eerie as if they knew. That their fate would be sealed. Once the shuttle was in orbit.

Turning to Silver, " Ok boss now, I'm parking us between space and atmosphere until this gets straightened out. And I hope it gets resolved quickly," she said putting a comforting hand on the Ensigns shoulder.

Suddenly at that moment, Ted felt a lot older than he was. How would he ever sleep again? After what they had to do?

"Sir, I have a way to syphon the air and the spores out of the shuttle and direct it to these canisters that can then be beamed down to the surface." Pril stated. "I believe we can then survive in the NEVs until we dock and go from there. However, I would recommend what Racine suggested and attempt to be beamed aboard based upon the transponders that were injected into all of us and then remote the shuttle back to the surface. The interface of the suits will have transmitted all our finding to the ship and then we can be one hundred per cent sure of no spores getting out of the atmosphere."

"Also, sir. From my findings, I believe the spores will absorb any agent sent to the surface thus becoming a means to help their own destruction in the long run." Lee stated.

“Do whatever you need to do to save our home and our friends?” Silver said.

Ted bowed his head and said a prayer. Thanking the great bird of the galaxy for bringing up here safe. Then he asked its forgiveness for what had to be done next. If Lee’s idea failed.

Patrick walked over to a chair and placed his rifle next to him and sat down. Making himself comfortable he leaned back into the chair. This was all well outside of his skill set. He would try to think of a solution of course, but he knew the odds before climbing onboard.

His mind drifted back to a few short months ago when he was getting oriented at the station and went through the "test". He had a feeling this was an expendable position, he just didn't realize how fast that might take place. He tried to think of solutions, but only really understanding the bad parts of the problem in broad strokes, he had little to offer.

Lee kept constant monitoring of the progress of the spores on the shuttle. They were still airborne and once Pril could get the syphoning done, that should capture all of the spores.

Pril had finalized the device she rigged up and had it set to go.
"Sir, I have all the preparation done and am ready to put the syphoning of all air on the shuttle. The NEVs will keep us safe and from what I see all our suits will still hold up their service for this mission. Also, the NEVs will not harbour any of the spores as they have an electro repellant in effect." Pril stated. "I just want your permission to activate it. And if this works, I can beam on to the second shuttle and do the same thing."

Silver nodded.

“Go ahead,” Ted said to Pril.

He turned to Patrick.

“So. How do you think it went down there?” Ted asked

The marine looked over from his chair. "We haven't lost anybody yet, so that is always a good sign."

Silver gave a nod.

“Yes. Thanks for keeping that lake thing from attacking me. We did not know the things could breathe underwater.” Silver said shaking his hand.

Pril then entered the final command to activate her contraption. The shuttles air was being syphoned out while structural integrity forcefields help to keep the shuttle from imploding.

"Sir, the process is working the spore count in the containers is surprisingly high at 200 parts per unit and thus it is a good thing I am doing this. Scans show the forcefields are holding the ship together as the air is syphoned out. Once I detect no more air or spores on the shuttle I will notify you and then fill the shuttle with scrubbed condensed air from the engine's reserves." Pril stated.

“Yes please do “ Silver replied

Racine could only think of the massive job ahead of them once they were back on the Tomcat . Serina was sure to be a mental mess. Having to fly into the atmosphere and releasing the agent of destruction into the planet's atmosphere, it would be very difficult for all the pilots to carry out their orders. Wondering if the command staff would have the ship enter the atmosphere to do the task was just too mind boggling even for her to fathom.

“Listen up people. Well done down below. It’s a pity we could not stay longer. But at least we have data and a process that hopefully stop this from happening. To another planet. Well done everyone.” Silver said

"Sir, all the data from our NEVs is already uploaded to the Tomcat's computer and thus the science teams can now review and revise our mission as we work to get back safely," Lee stated.

"Ensign, the shuttle's air is clean and all traces of the spores or anything from the surface is contained in the canisters and I will beam them to the surface now," Pril stated as she retracted her helmet to be sure it was safe for all.

“ Good, “ said Silver

"Oh thank Heaven, the atmosphere was so tense the entire time. Let's go home and we all get a drink in the lounge." Thyra offered. She looked around at everyone outranking her. "Sirs?" She put a sweet smile on her face.

"Wait......what about the shuttles hull outside? We can't take the spores back to the ship," Racine said slowly. "The air in here is clean, so why not beam us back suits and all and remote pilot the shuttles back to the surface," Racine said keeping the shuttle in the upper atmosphere.

How could he have missed that? She was absolutely correct.

“ Yes of course. Racine contact the Tomcat tell them what’s happening. Then ask them to beam us back home.” He said.

"Sorry I forgot about that, but this is a good shuttle and it would be terrible to lose it. But great thinking Racine." Pril replied.

Then he remembered something and swore loudly.

“ Sorry. I just remembered as team leader. I have to call the Tomcat and report all this. Sorry, Racine.” Ted said sadly.

"That's alright boss. I understand, it's not for me to do anyway," Racine said chuckling.

Silver sat back. The away mission into Hell was nearly over. He had to make a report first. Tapping the com button he spoke.

“ Science away team to Tomcat.This is a matter of life and death for the other away team. Come in please.” He said

Once Ted had finished speaking he looked at the others.

“ Let’s get those pattern enhancers outside the shuttle and collect what you need. We are going home.”

[OFF]

Ensign Ted Silver
Assistant Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Alexandra Lee [P: Dodd]
Anthropology, Archaeology Science Officer

Chief Petty Officer 3rd Class Kara Pril [P: Dodd]
Energy/Matter Systems Engineering Specialist

Ensign Thyra Sh'shraaqir
Deputy Chief of Security

1st Lieutenant Patrick Jackson
Marine CO

Lt. Racine "Ghost" Hanson [P: Donovan]
Asst. CAG

 

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