Further Investigations

Posted on 16 Aug 2020 @ 11:01am by Commander Kristiana Petrova & Lieutenant Alex Sexton

1,485 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Ab Intra
Location: Planetside

Preparations were made. Survival packs from the shuttle raided for some rations, some first aid materials, a flashlight, a compass and a water canteen. Kristiana's injuries were minor, a cut on her shoulder but the bleeding had been stopped, some bruises and a killer headache, but for the rest she was fine. She gave a nod to Alex Sexton next to her as they stood outside the crashed shuttle.

"Communications with the ship are down. The city seems abandoned, but maybe there'll be a sign there as to what happened. We'll go there," Kristiana said. "Maybe we'll find some way to reach the ship there."

Alex was still a bit stiff and groggy. “I’ve gathered what I think I’ll need to follow your lead. Let’s see if we can’t work our way through this mess we find ourselves in.” Stated Alex

"Alright. Follow my lead and keep your eyes," Kris stated, starting on her way. The journey to the city was uneventful, footsteps in the dust, ever closer to the ever looming buildings. The closer they came the more they could see. Empty streets. Derelict houses. Windows, broken. The ravages of time easily discernible even under the layer of dust. Crashed cars and parked ones. A truck here, a bicycle there. The evidence of life left in the absence of life.

Alex's head cleared and they progressed at a pretty decent pace. At some point for every Security Officer, an instil kicks in. Alex's attention was drawn to a vehicle which had obvious been hit by a phaser or disruptor in the past. There was also evidence of bullet holes that would signify the use of conventional combustion type weapons. Alex took pictures and recorded as they went along. And even though there was much evidence that there had been fire fights, there was no evidence of bodies.

"Something bad happened here. There's all kinds of evidence of a battle, but I'm not seeing any blood or body parts which is indicative of a battle like this!" And he looked to his counter part and they kept moving.

"I see it too." Kristiana mused, walking towards a wall and examining the weapons impacts more closely. The dark red and ochre stains signifying the presence of oxide from blood was evident, but the Lieutenant had been right, the lack of bodies and bodyparts - not even skeletons and bones - was puzzling. "Record as much as you can, but we have to push on, see if we can find communications equipment."

“I’m on it. Don’t worry, I’ll keep up.” Said Alex

The continuation of the journey was silent, and eerie for it. Just their footsteps, drowned out be the sounds of wind howling between the buildings and through broken windows, kicking up dust, making Kris and Alex shield their faces as they proceeded.

"Look, over there!" Kris called out over the slowly approaching storm. She pointed to a tall building with a suite of antenna's on the roof. "We might find communications equipment in there! Let's head that way!"

She would get no resistance from Him. Whilst monitoring their approach and documenting what they saw. Alex was also thinking about his episode earlier and trying to figure out what happened to him. So they continued on their way to what looked like a promising way to raise the ship.

As they walked, the storm picked up, wind howling. It became more and more difficult to proceed. Still the evidence of violence all around them, some locations more than others, but still no biological remains. Not even clothes. After some more time they reached the building Kristiana had seen. A radio station, apparently. It would have powerful communication equipment, she believed.

“It may take longer, but we stick together ok?” Asked Alex

"Wasn't going to leave anyone behind, Lieutenant!" Kristiana called out in response.

Soon enough they reached the radiostation and the promise of shelter. She took a moment to just lean against a wall and wipe dust from her face and off her uniform. "Oof. Made it to cover. How're you holding up, Lieutenant?"

“The effects of my earlier incident have worn off and I’m back in form. You’re in charge so give me a task and I’ll get it done.” Said Alex

"That's good to hear. You had us worried there for a moment or two," Kris offered. "Come on, let's go. Buildings like this tend to have backup generators in the basement, we're going to need power," she mused, heading towards the central staircase down.

“Ok so I’m going to go in front if you don’t mind. I know you’re very capable, but I’m security and I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you.” Said Alex as he took the lead and headed for the stairs.

Kristiana quirked a brow in amusement. "You know I probably spent more years in security than you, right?" she chuckled, but she let him go first. He was right to say it was his job to, and truth be told, she enjoyed the chivalry. "Lead the way."

The way down was uneventful. Their flashlights helped in the dark, and it didn't take long for them to find the back-up generator.

“Hey is that a generator I see? Hope it works.” As he looked for an on switch with no luck. So he opened his tri corder and scanned the object in front of him.

Kristiana frowned, moving closer to the unit. She opened the fuel lid and took a whiff, making a face. "Old, but should still work. Probably burns dirty and won't run for long, but well, if this goes well we won't need it for long," she mused, looking over the control panel. "There's a breaker here and here that need to be flipped to on. Here we go. Now try it."

The breaker was flipped and it coughed a few times but it soon started. “Don’t know how well this thing works so let’s just hope we get what we need out of her.” Said Alex.

Kris smiled an accomplished smile as the lights flickered on - at least, some of them - the ones that weren't broken. "Right. That works. Let's go find the transmission equipment and see if we can't get a message out," she spoke, heading back up the stairs and starting towards the upper floors.

Alex caught up and took up a position so he could protect her if he needed to as he took his duty seriously.
They finally found a location to where tapping in the communications would be easy for the likes of them and they got started.

The communications equipment was easy enough to find and looked promising at first glance. They got started, noting a green light on the power supply. Kris hit the breaker there, turning the equipment on - but instead of the machine starting up with a quiet hum and some status lights, they were greeted by the sound of an explosion and a shower of sparks, followed by an acrid smell, that of burned electronics.

"Fuck!" Kris yelled as she fall over backwards from surprise, some sparks falling on her. "Oof," as she landed on her back, wincing, climbing back to her feet. "That's - ... not good." she frowned.

After the fire works and gathering his wits. Alex took a closer look and realised that the system had been compromised and could see evidence of weapons fire. As he pointed this out to his colleague, he got that sinking feeling in his stomach that this wasn’t going to be easy. “Looks like we’re gonna have our hands full.” As he pointed to the various areas were damage existed.

"No way we can repair that. Maybe if we had the full resources of the ship and the benefit of an engineer or two, but just us two, out here? No way," Kris sighed, shoulders slumping. "Well, that's that idea gone. But we did figure out a few things. Signs of violence everywhere, old blood in places, but no bodies? And someone sabotaged this equipment. All points to riots, but no idea why there weren't any bodies. Let's head back to the shuttle."

“Good idea. Maybe by the time we return, one of the others will have figured something out. Like maybe how to use a tri corder to link it with a comm badge or something.” Offered Alex.

"Hopefully," Kris sighed. "I'm quite ready to get off this fucking rock. Wouldn't be surprised if we get attacked by like ghosts or something on the way back," she added with a scowl, starting the way back down. "That was sarcastic, by the way."

And so the two of them undertook the journey back to the shuttle crash site, not having accomplished anything of note.

 

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