SD241905.17 || Away Team Log || "Surprise, Surprise"

Posted on 17 May 2019 @ 8:46am by Captain Mallory Thorne & Lieutenant Finchley Kerr

1,575 words; about a 8 minute read

=/\= Begin Log =/\=

{USS Odin transporter room}

Ensign Ashley Wilcox was...eager. Maybe a little too eager, but she couldn't seem to control it.

The USS Odin was her first post since graduating the academy, but she had graduated near the top of her class with especially high marks in her chosen departmental specialty. She felt she was more than ready to be a security officer on a ship securing the frontier! When she had learned she would be posted on the Odin, she had read up all she could about the ship and had been so very excited about it.

Now...here she was! On the Odin!

...first in the transporter room.

Kitted out for her first away mission, Ensign Wilcox stood in the transporter room and waited for the rest of the team...

The transporter room doors opened and Finchley came through at pace, followed by one of his Security officers. He spoke very briefly to the transporter Chief, got onto the Pad, looked at the Ensign there and said "Do as I say, when I say it, and we'll get along just fine. Fuck up and not only do you have to deal with the fall out in situ, you then have me to deal with me back here, and believe me fully when I say this, I'm much worse!"

He looked at the other Security officer and said "Jackson, when we get across there, you find engineering, but on no account try and do anything in there except look around and then report back to me."

"You, what's your name?" he said turning to Ensign Wilcox.

This hadn't started the way she'd expected! Ashley stared at the chief of security with wide blue eyes and swallowed hard. "Ensign Ashley Wilcox, sir," she said.

"Right, Wilcox, once we're over there, you stick to me like glue, we're going to try and find the bridge, work out what's the deal with this vessel" answered.

Ashley just nodded quickly and hurried onto the pad. She was going to do everything she could to not make him any angrier than he already was--and she wasn't sure why that was in the first place to begin with--and dawdling would no doubt do that. So she made sure to get a move on and stood in her position as quickly as she was able.

Looking at the transporter Chief, Finchley nodded his head to her as he took out his phaser and made himself ready "Ok Chief, send us across..."

{Romulan vessel}

The blue hue of the transporter beam died away leaving Finchley and his two Security officers in the middle of a corridor. Taking out his hand held scanner, Finchley scanned fore and aft and also above and below where they stood. Looking at Jackson he said "From the readings, there's a power fluctuation coming from two decks down, but forward of where we are. It could be their engine room, go and check, but remember, if it is, observation only and report in to me what you find."

"Aye Sir" Jackson replied and moved off, scanner in one hand, phaser in the other.

Turning round Finchley said "Right, Wilcox, with me, but keep sharp, we don't want any surprises on our way to the bridge."

Ashley nodded quickly. "Understood, sir," she said. She pulled out her own tricorder and began scanning the areas where the chief wasn't focused, making sure that everything was double-checked and reviewed. "I'm not picking up any lifesigns within scanner range, sir," she commented, half-relieved and half-curious.

"Mmmmmmhhhhhhhhhmmmmmm…." was Finchley's reply as he looked at the readout on his own scanner "this doesn't make sense, where's the crew?" he asked rhetorically.

He continued to move forward as he adjusted his scanner, saying "It would appear that no life pods have been launched."

He stopped, stood up straight, and placing his hand on his chin and slowly stroking it said "Ok, if there's no sign of the crew, and no life pods launched, this is one hell of a game of hide and seek!"

"You, Wilco, Wibur….or whatever your name is, continue up this corridor towards the bridge, but don't enter it, wait till I catch up. I just want to check something in this room here" he said, gesticulating with the phaser he held in his right hand.

Although she didn't really like the idea of separating, Ashley Wilcox certainly wasn't about to argue. "Yes, sir," she said, swallowing hard and nodding once. She turned back to the corridor and started walking, looking at her scanner repeatedly as she went just to make sure nothing jumped out and surprised her.

Finchley watched her go, then looked around to the door he'd gestured to. He hunched over slightly, readied himself and moved forward cautiously, making sure he was off to one side as he reached for the panel on the wall. Touching the screen where he perceived the door opener was, he was surprised at how quickly they opened. Nothing came out, and no-one came barrelling through them to attack him, so he crept forward just enough to see in. It seemed to be a computer room, or so he assumed, with banks of systems appearing to running at a high rate if the flashes of the lights from it were anything to go by. He edged in further, still at the ready, and again there seemed no trouble.

He was now right inside the room, so he put way his phaser and lifted up the hand held scanner, waving it slowly to and fro above the nearest panel "Well I'll be damned" he said, almost sounding complimentary "what the hell do we have here?"

Deciding quickly that there was no imminent danger, but that the room would indeed more in depth investigation from those in the Operations department later, he put away his scanner, took out his phaser again and exited the room, heading up the corridor towards Wilcox. He caught up with her quickly and took out his scanner again. "Looks like the bridge is just ahead."

Always one who was keen on how his charges thought, reasoned and reacted to 'live' situations, he looked at the Ensign and asked "Ok...Wilcox, the bridge is ten meters ahead, how do you think we should proceed?"

Ashley felt like she was back at the academy, as she turned to look at her chief. "Approach the bridge and scan thoroughly before broaching with extreme caution. If anywhere on the ship is going to have people, at this rate, it will be there...but...I'm thinking there won't be anyone." Maybe a hunch, but everything so far suggested it.

"That's good, trusting your gut instinct" Finchley said "One of the pieces of advice I pass along to my charges is that more often than not, trust your gut instinct, it's your bodies internal way of offering self preservation. You're taught at the Academy, same as I was, that as a Security Officer, your first duty is to protect the crew and ship you're on, ignore that. You're first duty is to 'keep yourself alive' so you can protect those fellow crew members and the ship you serve on, hence, always trust your gut instinct."

He looked at the bridge door, then back to Wilcox "My gut us telling me the same, and using caution to breech the bridge is the correct course of action, let's go."

Moving slowly up the corridor, always keeping an eye on any doors that they were passing, Finchley finally made it to the key pad on the wall next to the bridge doors themselves. He motioned for Wilcox to make herself ready, got ready himself, the pressed the key to open the doors.

They opened.....but there was no sudden movement of anyone coming out, so Finchley darted inside, stopped, knelt with his phaser arm outstretched and quickly scanned round the bridge. It was empty, not a single person there, just consoles and readout screens scrolling through their programmes. He looked round at Wilcox and raised his eyebrows....

Ashley blew out a quick, quiet breath and felt some relief as she followed the chief that she had gotten it "right" and not instead just pissed off her brand-new and first-ever boss. They reached the door and she scanned. When she didn't see anything immediately and obviously threatening, she gave him the nod, he return it and then opened the door...

...to nothing.

Just as confused as Kerr, Ashley kept her phaser up and took a long, thorough survey around her, but neither eyes nor tricorder saw anything. "Is this ship...empty?"

=/\= On the Odin...

Thorne waited nervously while trying to look like she wasn't waiting nervously.

The battle continued, although the aggressors were waning. Between the efforts of the wing and the Odin herself, they were making a good enough dent to bring the odds down to something negligible. That did not, of course, mean that everything was...'okay.'

Just as the report came in that the wing was chasing off the last of the pirates, the Romulan ship stopped firing. Turned. And took off.

With the away team on board.

"Pursuit course!" she ordered instantly. "Thorne to Jackson. Pursue the Romulan vessel. The away team is still on board. Try to disable it without killing our people."

=/\= End Log =/\=

Captain Mallory Thorne/Ensign Ashley Wilcox & Lieutenant Finchley Kerr

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