Scouting Run

Posted on 18 Mar 2021 @ 6:03pm by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Angelica Fairchild & Ensign Quinn Mackie

4,352 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Extinction
Location: USS Citarum, Volga-Class Runabout
Timeline: Mission Day 21 at 1330

In the end, Camila had decided to go with a small team since it was a simple scouting mission. Simple? she asked herself as she sat at the controls of the USS CItarum, one of the new Volga class runabouts the Black Hawk-A had and went through the checklist. She looked over her shoulder at Quinn and Fairchild, then at Joey where she had been asked to be the copilot.

"All systems are ready," she said. "Does everyone have a tactical belt? If not grab one from the locker in the back. No one goes unarmed in unknown territory."

Joey already had the Intelligence version of a tactical belt around her waist with the addition of phaser tucked inside a holster and the Type III phaser rifle resting on her lap. She truly hoped she didn't need any of it, or the tactical blade she had sheathed inside her boot, but one never knew in situations such as these. And if past experiences had taught her anything, it was that she couldn't be overly prepared. "I've triple checked my gear. I'm good to go."

Quinn wasn't sure if he should be terrified or thrilled. The last time he'd been on an away mission was back on Deep Space 15 orbiting Finnea Prime. He was part of the team that was instructed to inspect the USS Vasco da Gama that had been captured by the Selubassari. And it was also the mission where he'd been unwillingly turned into a Dolmoqour puppet. Quinn had thought that that mission had ended any hope of further away missions aboard the Black Hawk, yet it seemed he'd drawn the short end of the engineering stick. Looking around at the rest of the assembled team and the clearly astronomical amount of tactical training, Quinn wondered about his role on this mission, and if he was the expendable one of the bunch.

Heeding the ombre haired woman's instructions, Quinn helped himself to a tactical belt and outfitted it with a phaser, tricorder, and a few engineering tools.

Already suitably armed, Angel pointed at the tactical belt she was already wearing. She wore one half the time while on board the ship anyway, so it had been a simple thing to remember when boarding the shuttle. She did appreciate the reminder though, especially considering not all members of the team were from security. "I'm good. Think we're just waiting on the drone now."

The last person to enter the runabout before it took off was a young Security Ensign who carried a portable drone control table and another case with a Type III drone inside. "All set, Commander," he said after setting it down and checking his tactical belt.

Once everyone confirmed they were ready, Camila got clearance from Flight and guided the Citarum out of the hangar bay and into the darkness of space. With only the Class M planet in front of them and the telemetry of the probes to go by, the next stop was boots on the planet. "We travel in pairs and within visual range," she said. "No wandering off."

Quinn nodded from his seat. "Yes, Commander," he verbally confirmed. There was no chance in hell that he was going to do anything on his own during this mission. He also wondered how close Commander Di Pasquale was going to have him stick to her considering his role in almost destroying the Black Hawk two years prior.

Joey understood where Camila was coming from, but in situations such as these, it was rare that anyone went off on their own to begin with. "This is your show, Commander," she stated. "Who do you want with who?" She cast a glance at Quinn. Whoever was paired with him would have to keep a close eye on him.

Quinn's eyes met Joey's just for a brief second. They started to wander off, but then he realized what had happened. His fear had been confirmed, that his actions two years ago hadn't been forgotten at all. "Maybe some of us should stay with the ship. Just in case."

Camila saw the exchanged look. She knew Quinn had been one of the first infected by the Dolmoqour. She had given up an away team and people still trusted her as Chief of Security, though. "Mackie comes with me. Joey, you can go with Angel. The drone pilot will stay with the runabout," she said after a moment of decision making internally as she took the USS CItarum through the atmosphere of the planet and got a first look at it.

It seemed to be pre-warp at a glance, but it was clearly an overgrown and decaying city which met their eyes. Everywhere, buildings had fallen into the disrepair of decades and vegetation had moved in to reclaim what had been taken. What the Security Chief didn't see was any apparent signs of life in any of the buildings as she flew the runabout closer. "Scanners active," she ordered.

Quinn shook his head at the assignments, but soon caught glance out the forward window as to what awaited them. "Oh my..." he muttered. The Ensign turned to his console and began to run a few diagnostics. "I'm picking up heavy concentrations of bemonite and kelbonite particles in the atmosphere and in the metallurgy. That's probably why our sensors couldn't penetrate the atmosphere. I'd assume our sensors would be restricted to a scanning range of one kilometer, but the effective range would actually be half of that."

He worked with the sensors some more and added, "I'm also not detecting any signs of life aside from the obvious flora we see."

Camila took the runabout lower and approached one of the decaying cities. "It looks like no one has lived here in a long time. Is there a place that's safe to land, Ensign?"

"Looks like there's a large open area in the middle of the city. Possibly a town square," Quinn confirmed. "Unless you'd rather have a spot that's on the edge of town."

She remembered the last time she had set down outside of a city and what had happened. Maybe it was time for a more direct approach this time. "We'll set down in the square or whatever it was used for," she decided as she maneuvered the runabout until she was at the location, then brought it down without a bump. "One more scan and then we decide the safest route for our two teams and get the drone airborne."

In the back, the drone pilot set up his table and got the drone active. "Ready when you are, Commander," he said, eager to test it on an actual world with more variables than a starship.

Using the scans Quinn completed moments ago, Joey pulled up a map of the city and began to study it. She pointed out three areas that appeared structurally sound and easily defended if needed. "In the event we can't make it back to the runabout, these three areas would make for good rendezvous points," she said. "We should sync our tricorders in case we get separated and collect every bit of data we can."

"Excellent suggestion, Commander," Camila said to Joey as she synched her tricorder with the information the Intel Chief had put together and then checked her tactical belt one more time. Two stun grenades, a hundred meters of monofilament and climber, zip ties, a small medkit, tricorder which she put in its holder, and a Type II phaser with a backup power cell. "Let's roll."

Joey synced her own tricorder and shouldered her phaser rifle. A very large part of her hoped they wouldn't find anything in the way of hostile individuals, and though scans didn't pick up any signs of life, she wasn't taking any chances.

She got up and released the hatch of the runabout and stepped out onto an alien world.

The Intel Chief stepped out behind Camila and took a look around as she waited for the others to join them. "I've never seen a place like this before."

Quinn followed the senior officers out of the runabout, tricorder out and activated. He looked at the tall skyscrapers around them, each of them rusted with broken panes of glass with moss and vines growing up the sides. "Looks like we missed the apocalypse," he remarked. Looking back down at his tricorder, he said, "Definitely not picking up any lifesigns, and scans start breaking down after two hundred meters. The live sync with the runabout is working, but I'd be shy about going more than three kilometers away from it."

"Change of plans," Camila said as she looked around and took her own scans. "Mackie, you're going with Geisler. Fairchild, you come with me. You're better suited for this for where I want to check out. No offense, Ensign." She pointed to the left where it looked like a few buildings had been targets of something more than nature about a kilometer away.

Plans often changed quickly during missions like this, and Angel barely batted an eye as she traded places with Quinn. Even with no signs of life, the evidence of something more than a little unnatural was enough for some extra concern. "I'm just a bit more scrappy. That looks like trouble."

"None taken, Commander," Quinn admitted. And it was true. He was certainly not offended. He was, however, fearful of what daring plans the Chief Intelligence Officer may have up her sleeve.

"Then let's be off and no straying from your partner out of visual range," Camila said as the Type III drone came out of the back of the runabout to float near the two groups. "Di Pasquale to Nimitz," she said.

"Nimitz, go," came the drone pilot's response.

"Take the drone ahead to three kilometers and scout for anything unusual."

"On it," came the response and the drone darted ahead of them.

"Let's go," the Security Chief said and headed off in the direction she had chosen.

Joey watched as Camila went in one direction, which meant she and Quinn would be going in the opposite direction. "Mackie... let's go," she said, moving away from the two Security officers. Not having a drone going ahead of them left them open to certain disadvantages, but the former Security officer had faith in her abilities.

Quinn obeyed, keeping a close eye on his tricorder.


* * *

As Camila walked, she alternated between looking at her tricorder and half keeping an eye on Fairchild. While she would have preferred to go with Quinn, the real reason she switched was that Joey was a mother and Camila didn't trust the new Assistant Chief. Not that she trusted many people these days, but she wasn't going to put another person in jeopardy if she could help it. "Set your tricorder for any unusual spectrums of energy or radiation, please," she requested. "We have to have something to take back."

The Security Chief gave a nod. "It's odd that there isn't even animal life around here," she said. "They usually take over when the dominant lifeforms exit." She observed as they moved up towards the buildings she had seen. They came upon a plaza and the ombre haired woman came to a halt.

Ahead of them were skeletons in various states of decay and some fragments of rag covering them, many covered by vines and other local vegetation. She moved her tricorder back and forth and tried not to look at the erie silent scene. "Fourteen bodies, male and female and.." she looked at her tricorder again. "Unable to determine causes of death."

* * *

As he followed the Lieutenant Commander, Quinn did his best to study his tricorder readings. "Are you wanting to find anything in particular, Commander? Like a records building or town hall?"

Joey made sure to walk next to Quinn, and not in front of him. The incident with the Dolmoqour had happened some time back, and while the young Ensign was clean, she wanted to keep an eye in him. "Yes. Something that might give us some insight into who used to live here, and of course, why they don't seem to be here anymore," she answered. "The more we can find out, the better."

"We're going to have to find something with a lot of writing to start building enough for the UT to work with," Quinn remarked. He stopped for a minute, studying his tricorder, and the surrounding buildings. "I'm picking up evidence of cellular decay," he said confidently before realizing what he said. Quinn gulped and continued, "It's coming from a three-story structure just ahead."

"What do you say, Mackie?" The Intelligence Chief asked. "Think we should check it out?" Joey planned to do just that, but wanted to get his take.

"It's a good place to start," Quinn confirmed.

Together, they arrived and entered the building. The structure appeared to be sound, aside from the doors which had been broken off their hinges. The first room seemed to be a large lobby commanded by a large U-shaped desk flanked on both sides by staircases that stretched up to the upper floors. Half of the outside windows had shattered over time, and what appeared to be a marble floor was covered with more than a century's worth of dirt, grime, and elements left behind by rainstorms. Potted plants had turned into either jungles or withered corpses. Had it not been for the broken windows, the air itself would have been musty.

The room seemed to be devoid of life, at least according to Quinn's tricorder. "I'm detecting several familiar metals, including copper, behind the walls. "Looks like power and information circuits are consistent with most pre-warp civilizations." Quinn approached the desk, hoping to find a desktop terminal. Upon arrival, he stopped and gasped.

Joey stepped up next to Quinn and looked at what made his gasp. A skeleton draped in swatches of still decaying fabric. "You haven't seen many bodies, have you?" She asked as she crouched down next to the remains to look for any telltale signs of trauma.

"I've seen more than I care to count," Quinn stated. "Between what happened to me when I was controlled, and then that Kalisan archive, I could do without some corpses for a while."

When Joey didn't discover any trauma to the body, she rose to her feet again. "Same, but now that we've found this one, we're likely to find more as we go. There aren't any signs of trauma on this one," she said, taking a better look around their current surroundings. "I say we keep moving, see what we can find before heading to a new location. Lets go this way. Stay close." She moved away from the body and toward a hallway.

The hallway was dark, lacking the natural light provided by the lobby. Dirt and moss were everywhere, as well as a certain musky scent. It wasn't foul by any means, but it certainly didn't sound like death. Quinn's tricorder beeped. "I'm picking up a concentration of copper and what appears to be duotronic circuitry. Probably some sort of computer core. Fifth room on the left."

She listened to Quinn as he read off what his tricorder was picking up. Joey pulled her palm light out and turned it on, then shined it ahead of them. "A computer core?" She repeated, moving farther down the hallway toward the door he indicated.

She stopped, taking a second to shine her light around. "We have a few more bodies here. Same condition as the first one with no obvious signs of trauma," Joey said, stepping over the bodies. Once she cleared them, she turned to shine the light down to the floor so Quinn could see. "Watch your step."

Quinn glanced down, and then right back up before activating a light of his own. "At least it's what I'm assuming is a computer core." He stopped at a closed door. Its glass was intact, though it had been weathered by whatever had passed down this corridor. He tried the handle, only to find that it wouldn't open. "Guess we have to do it the old fashioned way," he reasoned.

The ensign pulled his phaser and fired at the doorknob, blasting it to pieces. The door then blew back on its own, slamming into the wall beside it before hanging precariously on its hinges. Quinn jumped, but was soon relieved when he realized the glass hadn't shattered.

What greeted them, however, was a rather pungent smell. "I think we're going to find some better corpses in here," he gasped before pulling out a mask and covering his mouth.

Joey staggered back a couple of steps when the smell assaulted her senses. It made her eyes water and had her pulling a respirator from her tactical belt to put on. She'd seen her share of deceased bodies during her years as a Security officer, but rarely were they in such a state that they'd smell like this. "I think we're in for a real treat," she said with a highly sarcastic tone to her voice.

She found herself hoping Camila and Angelica were having better luck on their end, but that thought was short lived when she shined her light forward and made her way into the room. She could no longer smell the nasty odor thanks to her respirator, but the same couldn't be said for seeing the particles her footsteps kicked up. She tried very hard not to think about the fact that some of those particles landing on her belonged to the once living, which had her mind drifting to the severed hands on the Shran. "A shower just doesn't seem like enough," she muttered with a shudder.

"I plan on incinerating my uniform at the first opportunity," Quinn joked, following the Lieutenant Commander into the room. He shone his light around, looking for what he suspected would be data storage units. He found them a moment later, protected by a glass wall separated by an access door. Thankfully, this door was open, as if it had been left open for more than a hundred years. "No visible damage," Quinn remarked.

He walked around these devices, looking for something that looked like a data storage device, finding it only in the very back. "Power feeds," he remarked, looking at various cables that were connected to a long-dead source of power. "With a battery source. If I can dump power from a cell into here, I might be able to get the data storage unit working and transfer the data back to the Black Hawk. Or, I could just pull it out and take it back to the ship for inspection."

Decisions, decisions. Joey looked over the power feeds. Now seemed like a good time to contact the ship, but her combadge chirped.

* * *

Meanwhile, the drone pilot settled in back in the runabout and got the Type III drone up and scouting ahead. He avoided the larger buildings, taking only passing active scans for any signs of electronic activity, energy readings or life signs. Not seeing any of these, he moved the drone to a more residential area and brought the drone down to eye level of your average humanoid, and inched it closer to windows and open doorways.

He explored a few houses and the data sent back from the drone showed the same thing in dwelling after dwelling and the horror started to sink in on him. People sitting at tables with what appeared to be dessicated food that was never eaten. Well, skeletal remains of people that seemed to have died where they sat, stood or other activity they had been doing.

He saw no signs of obvious violence and took the drone out of yet another building and began to raise its elevation to get an overhead look. The layout of the residential area seemed to be orderly and no signs of destruction anywhere. Nothing. Corpses in the streets, in vehicles, in offices...just dead. He tapped his combadge. "Buckwold to Di Pasquale"

=Di Pasquale here=^=

Buckwold reported what he saw and after a moment, the Security Chief responded back that she and Fairchild were encountering similar bodies at their locations. After a request to update if anything new was found, she cut the comm again. =^=Di Pasquale to Geisler=^=

"Geisler," Joey answered.

=^=Buckwold just reported in with the drone. He said he's encountering a lot of bodies that seem to have died wherever they were. Me and Fairchild are finding the same. How about you and Mackie?=^=

"Much of the same," the Intel Chief responded. She shined her light over the bodies in their current location, which were a little meatier than their previous encounters. Mummified, even. Medical and Science would have a field day here. "Mackie and I have found a computer of sorts, and I'm fairly certain there is far more here than meets the eye." She paused and looked back to the computer once again. "The five of us aren't going to find everything this place has to offer on our own. I'm going to contact the ship and recommend we hang out for a few days. Any objections?"

=^=Negative, Commander=^= Camila responded back. =^=What are your coordinates?=^=

Joey used her free hand to retrieve her tricorder and pulled up their current coordinates. When she had them, she relayed them to the Security Chief. "If you head our way, the main area is illuminated by natural light. We're down the hallway on the right, fifth door on the left. It's dark and the floor has bodies in various places. If you have a respirator, use it. Our senses were assaulted, and I know the smell hasn't gone anywhere."

=^=Confirmed. We are en route,=^= came Camila's response.

"Acknowledged," Joey said before ending the link with Camila. She took a couple seconds and tapped her combadge once more. "Geisler to Black Hawk."

"Go ahead, Commander," came the Captain's voice.

"We have determined that there is no life here, Captain. In fact, it appears that those who once occupied this place died wherever they happened to be," Joey said. "We have also found a computer, but don't currently have the means to get it running. There's too much here for our present team to go through. We need time."

"Standby." The comm line went silent a moment later, as if it were muted.

"Joey, are you still there?"

"I'm still here, Captain," she answered.

"We're going to stay for a few days. Let Commander Di Pasquale know that she'll need to station security teams and checkpoints near the survey teams. In the meantime, do whatever you need to do on the planet, and bring up only what you think you can get away with disturbing."

Joey expected Camila to arrive at their location soon enough. "Yes, Captain," she agreed.

"Keep us posted on your progress. Black Hawk out."

Soon enough Camila showed up with her Assistant Chief in tow and she looked upset. "Did you discover anything, Commander?" she asked.

"Nothing that you aren't already aware of," Joey answered. "Though, it seems that we're going to be hanging around for a few days to do some exploring. The Captain wants you to station security teams and checkpoints near all survey teams. I expect them to be arriving soon."

"Then let's get moving," Camila said. "We'll establish a perimeter at the runabout and wait there for the others to arrive."

"You and Fairchild can go wait for the others. Mackie and I will stay here and figure out the best course of action as far as the computer goes," Joey stated. "Just make sure everyone knows minimal damage."

Quinn had been quietly working in the background, trying to dislodge the data core from its housing. Right at Commander Geisler's reminder about minimal damage, he dropped one of the locking mechanisms. Quinn had to support the heavy data node as he kept trying to catch the mechanism as it bounced off his hand each time. Thankfully, he was able to catch it and stop it before it hit the floor. "Got it," he said weakly. He looked up, expecting to see expressions of disdain.

Joey turned her attention to Quinn and moved over to assist him. "Let me help you," she offered. Expressions of disdain or reprimanding the young man wouldn't do them any good. Assistance, though, would.

"Thanks, Commander," Mackie winced, relieved that he no longer had to support everything on his own. "If I can get the last mechanism out, I should be in the clear to take this back to the Black Hawk for analysis."

Joey looked to Quinn and took a deep breath. "Okay... I'm going to hold this thing so you can reach for it and try to get it out," she said, shifting her position to grip it better. "I'm ready when you are."

"On three," Quinn said, making sure he was properly positioned. "One. Two. Three." He immediately worked the final mechanism, which was released without much effort. The entire data core was now free, and the two of them were able to slide it out. "Let's get this back to the runabout."

Joey was relieved the data core was freed with next to no damage, and truth be told, she was a bit excited to see what was on it.

Camila watched Mackie and Geisler for a minute to make sure everything was good, then gave a nod. "Okay. We're heading off now," she said as she motioned for Angel and left to return to the runabout.

Quinn followed closely behind the security officers, taking great care to keep the data core from dropping. He couldn't wait to see what information was stored on it.

Joey kept pace with the young man. Soon, she hoped, they'd know what secrets it held.

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