The Danger Zone

Posted on 21 Jun 2018 @ 1:12pm by Commander Terry Walsh & Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Gemma Alexander & Ensign Aurilia Moretti

3,458 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: The Search Begins
Location: Space...
Timeline: MD 2 || 0930 hours

This whole place, this...Zone...was as foreign to them as they were to it. Based upon what Terry had already experienced, anything they encountered would be a surprise. Who knew, it may not even be what it seemed to be. Anxiety mingled with excitement as the Squadron Commander maneuvered his craft into position for exiting the bay. Activating the comm for the Squadron, he said, "Alright Alpha Flight, standard patrol and recon. Well, as standard as it can get with sensor issues. Just keep your eyes open. Rocco out." Terry looked to his left, and waited for a visual confirmation from Archer.

Archer, whose craft was being slide into position nearby glanced over and gave the traditional thumbs up.
"Archer, ready. Arrow on the Bow." she replied, happy to back in a craft again with her memories intact. It had been a bit like flying with one arm and half blind.

Terry nodded. "Copy that, Archer. Standby for launch."

Aurila breathed out a sigh of relief that she now knew what she was doing unlike her wild flight against the invaders when she had no memories. She brought the Gryphon around in formation with her wingmate and toggled the com. "Tango confirms," she said as she checked her wingman who gave a nod.

Terry watched as the icons representing his flight turn green one after the other. "Okay Alpha Flight, we'll perform a standard patrol around the Black Hawk, spiral formation with the ship at center. Remember, sensors only work at a short distance. Basically, it's a little better than visual. After we ensure that there's no one around that could cause harm, we'll head out in this direction on a recon mission." He tapped at the screen and sent the information to the others.

Outside the fighters, the Alpha Trios system was anything but peaceful. Various levels of radiation assaulted the fighters' hulls, while microscopic debris reflected and misdirected sensors like crazy. Anything, literally anything, could be waiting for them around the bend.

Archer acknowledged the information sent and made sure she was set in her position on Rocco's left.

There was so much clutter around them that Aurilia wondered if they would be able to see an enemy before they were upon them. She switched from sensor to sensor, scanning in different spectrums, but the radiation and micrometeorites and junk in the system made it impossible to differentiate one thing from other. The only thing that alerted her to the presence of her wingman and the other Gryphons were the transponders which showed up on her display.

"This isn't going to be easy," Terry said into his comm. He took his fighter to the dorsal side of the Black Hawk and centered it. "Form up and let's get this initial check done. It might not be the best we've done, but it'll help. Then we see what's waiting for us in the black, er, blue, as it is."

"Blue, black, some green, pretty sure I see fushia..." Archer pipped in, "Like a soupy painting by a 3 year old..." She said glancing at her sensors as though sheer force of will would make it suck less as a readout before returning her attention to visually scanning. She followed close, but not too close to Rocco, as he moved to the dorsal side.

Off in the distance, a few flashes could be seen, momentarily illuminating the swirling space.

Aurilia was about to complete another pass when she thought she saw something ahead. "Tango to Rocco and Archer. Did you see flashes a minute ago at three o'clock?"

"Aye." Archer replied, "Could be more zone weirdness like this things' version of lightening. Or a battle..." she mused almost to herself, "Anyone get a better look? My sensors got crap all...."

"Yeah, I saw," responded Terry. "Standby. Alpha One to Actual, we have a visual on some flashes of light in the distance. Sensors aren't picking up anything on it. It could be Zone attributes or weapons discharge. Permission to investigate further."

For whatever reason, whether it was the same interference the sensors were experiencing, or some sort of divine intervention, the Black Hawk's reply came back garbled and unintelligible.

Terry couldn't make out anything in the reply. Just in case they could hear him, he let them know that he was going to investigate. "Alright, command decision time. Alpha Flight, standard formation...we're going to see what those flashes are all about. Hopefully, it's not a threat to the Black Hawk. But that's what we're going to find out."

"Acknowledged, Rocco on your left." Gemma said sliding her craft into the classic position, she rather hoped it was just lightening. To fight in here was to fight impaired and she wasn't too fond of that idea but would roll with whatever it turned out to be.

Aurilia moved back into formation with her wingman and double checked her sensors. "I'm not not picking up anything other than clutter and massive amounts of radiation."

"Confirmed, myself as well." Archer replied her eyes skimming the readouts, "Leastways I'm not getting more than the usual soupy readings..."

As the fighters approached their destination, there were several more flashes of light, followed by a single bright light, then nothing.

"What in the world," said Terry. "This isn't making any sense. Flashes of light, then one, then nothing..." He checked his sensors again. These things were worthless. "If it's another ship or more, we may have to rely on manual targeting. Hope everyone is up to speed."

"Maybe what it is, is over now...that was a pretty big last boom...there may be survivors if a battle is what is was..." Archer said, keeping her hands on the flight controls keeping position relative to Rocco, tapping a few controls to make sure her manual targeting was ready to go.

"This is turning into a wild goose chase," Aurilia said. "What if someone wants to lead us away from Actual?" she asked.

"While that's a possibility, Actual has Bravo and Charlie Flights at his disposal," remarked Terry. As they got closer, Terry noticed debris starting to float around him. "This...this doesn't look good. Since we have eyes on it, let's see if the sensors can tell us anything."

"Aye secure the Hawk may be, but here's hoping these are not will o' wisps.." Archer said as she flew carefully nearing the site, then in the debris field. "Aye Rocco, pinging the area, least at this range we're likely to get something which is helpful if we've got a shark swimming around this soup..." Archer said, if so she hoped it didn't survive, last thing they needed was a predator in their area.

"My sensors are picking up tons of debris and excess levels of radiation," Aurilia responded.

Though there was little ambient light from the star so far away, what light there was was briefly obscured for a moment, enough to make the fighters feel like they weren't alone.

"There is is again," Aurilia said. "Time to go check, Rocco?"

Archer kept her position, frowning. She didn't like moving shadow sliding in and out like some monster in the dark. Her mind obligingly tried to remind her of the old Leviathan stories. She told her imagination to shut it as she focused on the surroundings, keeping her wingmates in sight. "Confirmed, sighting of unknown bogie.". Unfortunately the radiation was aiding the mess of her sensors, "Trying to see if I can eek out anymore response from sensors..." She said tapping few keys as she kept alert.

As she tapped, the craft bumped ever so slightly. A whine could be heard inside the cockpit as the lights and controls faded and the engine began to die.

"What the bloody hell...?! Rocco, Tango lights and controls fading, engines giving me fits. Cutting power to previous levels." She quickly attempted to basically set the system in a sort of power saver mode as it was before she attempted her changes, her eyes flickered to the readouts trying to judge how effective her actions were. The changes were the only thing that changed she could so she hoped resetting might help.

"I have no idea, Archer," Terry replied. "Everything's losing power." He adjusted the power output from the engines. Or at least he attempted to. "Rocco to Tango, come in."

"Tango here," Aurilia responded as she and her wingman continued on their patrol. "Go, Rocco."

"Archer reports engine problems. I'm making adjustments just in case," Terry said. "Are you experiencing anything like that?"

"Negative, Rocco," Aurilia replied. She switched to her wingman and confirmed, then back. "Falcon confirms all is well, too."

The power drain continued on Archer's bird as energy was quickly siphoned out of the main drive.

"I've reset and pulled back but I'm still losing power its being pulled out of the main drive. I need to figure out where its going..." She carefully but quickly examined the engine power loss on the readouts.

"Well that's not good," said Terry. "I wish to hell sensors were working. Maybe then we could get a better read on what's out here and causing this problem. And what it has to do with the flashes of light and floating debris." The bald Squadron Commander sighed. "Alright, looks like it's back to basics. Alpha Flight, let's try to keep a visual on our wingmen. Just in case this gets worse. Archer, do you have enough power to continue life support?"

"Checking..." Archer replied visually scanning her readouts.

Terry had maneuvered to Archer's right, facing her fighter. He circled her while visually inspecting the exterior for any kind of damage. That's when he saw...something. "Uh, Rocco to Archer. You have a...leech looking thing attached to your exterior near the warp core. I've never seen anything like this before...it has wings or something. Alpha Flight, check your wingmen and the surrounding area."

The creature, or whatever it was, continued to suck power out of Archer's craft, leeching everything that it could. Nearby, another creature latched onto a different fighter, looking for a snack of its own.

Aurilla's wingman turned his Gryphon and she spotted the odd creature on the underside of it. "Rocco, my wingman has one." She rolled her fighter to be checked next.

"Rocco, I got 30 seconds, maybe if I turn off the engine it will go away? Or I can try fiddling with the frequncy output but range on that is limited" She hoped so becuase short of asking someone to shot it off she wasn't sure what to do. Her mind worked quickly thinking of other options.

There was no answer, "great now comms are getting flaky." She muttered to herself, "Rocco if you can hear me I'm cutting engines. Hoping that will convince the leech to let go." She immediately began the process for a safe emergency shut down.

The craft started to shake as the creature draining the power noticed that the levels were getting low. Meanwhile, three other creatures appeared and started to head for Aurilla's craft.

"I have incoming!" Aurilia declared. She swerved the Gryphon around and tried to get a lock on the creatures and fired off several bursts of her phasers while making sure she wasn't aiming at her wingman, Rocco or Archer or their wingmen."

One of the creatures exploded into bits of flesh and blood, or at least the creature's equivalent as such. The other two evaded, and behind them came another dozen, outraged at the loss of their kin.

Archer was dealing with the shaking craft, hoping it was something akin to an animal making sure it's food source was empty before moving on though the exploded craft around them had an ominous tone. It was hard to say more power to hopefully fry it or no power to starve it which would work? Then Tango's message came over coms, loud and clear. "Damnit!, Hornets nest!" Her eyes flicked over the HUD, starving didn't seem to be working, "Anyone with good aim wanna get this ex boyfriend off me how 'bout it? Kidding maybe" She said more in frustration than anything as she used minimal power to aim safely and fire to support Tango.

"Oh crap," Aurilia cut into the com. "I think I made them mad. More bogies incoming." She veered her Gryphon around and locked a tractor beam on Archer's fighter and began to pull away from the advancing aliens. "It's going to go slow, but I'm going to try to get you out of here and back to the ship, Archer."

"Don't forget about the engine leech, I'll try to keep the rest off of us!" She said, rolling with it. And she focused on pegging the herd coming their way whenever she could get a clear, solid shot. It was a bit weird first time in awhile she'd not worried about piloting and gunnery. She had to trust Tango had her back as she tried to keep any more from getting too close.

Terry took aim and fired on the creature attached to Archer's fighter with a low power burst. After dispatching it, Terry moved in. "I'll provide some cover, Tango. Get her back to the Black Hawk. Everyone else, follow suit and provide cover as necessary. This debris field makes me nervous."

The firepower from the Black Knights took down creature after creature, except for Gemma's fighter which did little more than sting the assailants.

"Well this is just insulting now..." She noted her stings with a quip, "Thanks Rocco" She set another check to see if her power levels were returning until then, "Take my sting and remember me, ya unwanted houseguests..." She muttered, keeping one eye on the power levels as she continued to peg when she could.

Aurilia poured on the power as the drag from Archer's Gryphon slowed her down and the firing from the Black Hawk really didn't help her focus, but she kept on course. "We're almost there, Archer. Just hang on tight and be prepared for a bumpy landing. I'm going in on manual."

Terry was barreling towards the Black Hawk and activated the comm. "Walsh to Flight Ops, we're coming in hot! Notify the Chief of Support Craft Operations!"

"Understood, Commander," came the reply. "We'll notify him right away. Flight Ops out."

--Flight Deck, USS Black Hawk--

"We've got hot incoming! Clear the deck! Clear the deck!" The air boss, Quinn Winner, yelled into his intercom, his voice artificially amplified across the flight deck. "Prepare for crash landing, activate the catch nets! Rescue team, stand by!" He hit a few buttons on the console in front of him, deactivating the intercom and activating the comm system. =/\= "Flight deck to ops, get a security team down here, there are some kinda hostiles attached to the fighters."

Lieutenant Chartok, the Flight Operations Officer, heard the incoming communication from the Deck. "Understood," he replied. He requested a Security team immediately to the Flight Deck. Chartok checked the sensors to see how close they were. And it looked like one of them had another in tow. He then powered up the tractor beams and activated the comm to the squadron. "Flight Ops to Black Knights, we have the tractor beams powered up and standing by at your mark."

"Confirmed, Flight Ops," Aurilia responded. "Hang on, Archer," she said as she whipped her Gryphon around so Archer's craft was now facing the Black Hawk instead of hers and cut her tractor beam. "Transferring to Actual control." As soon as she released the other Gryphon, she Aurilia fired several more shots at the pursuing creatures while she cut her momentum and prepared to be locked onto as well.

Alexander did her best to control her under powered craft in the brief span between the release of one tractor beam for another. She had stopped trying to fire at the creatures when her craft got flipped around. "Thanks for the lift Tango..." She replied her voice light even as she gave a rude gesture to the pursuing aliens.

The disabled fighter drifted at speed towards the open doors of the bay, as Winner watched the targeting emitters gradually line up for a grab. When the two emitters locked they flashed green and he hit the button. Instantly, two beams grabbed the fighter and slowed it to a controlled movement, into the fighter bay and down onto the deck.

He could see the... thing, black and roughly leech shaped with wings, attached to the fighter. "Nobody go near that thing!" He yelled across the bay, his voice oddly shrill without the enhancement of the PA system, "security!"

The security detail that had arrived moments ago came running, phasers drawn. "This Zone just keeps getting weirder and weirder," said a Petty Officer. He took aim and fired at the creature attached to the fighter. The only thing that seemed to happen was agitation. The Ensign in charge of the team told them to increase their settings. They were finally able to vaporize most of the creatures. The Petty Officer, however, opted for a slightly lower setting and ended up exploding two of the winged slugs all over the fighter and the deck.

Once the craft had been secured, Archer immediately did what she could for the full shut down and secure sequence. Then Alexander flinched as creature goo splattered all over her precious fighter, her poor ship. She was not looking to the clean up afterward or the report she'd have to make. This day just got longer, "I hate this zone..." she muttered, glaring at the goo outside her cockpit as it dripped messily down the window.

"All right!" Quinn yelled across the bay, "get that fighter on the ramp and get it down to Chief Griffin, he can deal with the cleanup! Clear the deck and get set for the next landing. Rapidly, people!"

Aurilia brought her Gryphon in smoothly after firing another barrage of photon torpedoes at the energy sucking alien creatures and set it down on the deck before shutting down all the systems.

The first fighter was already on the elevator heading down to maintenance as Aurilla's fighter came into land. As soon as it shut down the deck crew was moving in to handle it, getting it out of the way for the next fighter that was incoming. Quinn's fingers danced over the console in front of him, allocating the second fighter to lift number two and resetting capture systems for the next fighter. When that was done, he brought up the comm controls.

=/\= "Quinn to Griffin, fighters coming down damaged, biohazard protocol. Some kinda space bat things." He didn't wait for a reply, but reset the comm channel to flight operations.

=/\= "Black Hawk to the next fighter in line, the deck is clear, permission to land."

Terry took a defensive position to the ship's dorsal and port side and continued firing on the space slug bat things. He kept an eye on his consoles, watching each fighter indicator disappear as the craft entered the bay.

While the Commander kept up his guard, the remaining fighters slid into the launch bay one by one until just Alpha One was on the outside.

Terry came around. "Alpha One on approach vector." He fired a couple of micro torpedoes behind him and then phasered them once they were a safe distance away. Hopefully that would be enough to slow them while he got into the bay.

Once he climbed down out of his fighter, he hit his combadge. "Commander Walsh to the Bridge, those little flying slugs that were chasing us attach themselves to the hull and suck energy right out of the ship. Recommend evasive maneuvers and killing as many as you can."

Captain Geisler's voice replied over the comm, "Acknowledged, Commander." There was a pause on the line as he directed shields to be raised as a preventative measure. "Everyone make it back okay?"

"We did," Terry responded. "Everyone is fine, if not a little shaken. This Zone seems to have a way of taking us by surprise at every turn."

None of the people on board the ship knew how true that statement really was. "That's the understatement of the year, Mister Walsh. Get everyone settled, and meet me in a couple hours for a debrief."

"Roger that, Captain. Walsh out." He stepped back and took in the bustling scene around him. Then he saw the mess of entrails, wings, and soft tissue on the deck and the fighter and shook his head. It was times like this that it was good to be the king.

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