The Calm After the Storm

Posted on Wed Oct 13th, 2021 @ 11:06pm by Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai & Commodore James Smith & Captain Björn Kodak & Ensign Noah Balsam & Lieutenant Sovaan
Edited on on Wed Oct 13th, 2021 @ 11:09pm

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Asteroid Mining Facility
Timeline: Mission Day 16 at 1315

Previously...

A distinctly mechanical voice rang out from the obelisk then. Chameloid bearer not detected, it advised, a red light flaring on the interface in warning.

Emni withdrew her arm quickly, pulling down the sleeve of her suit to hide some of the gore. There was no time to do anything about it now.

Sovaan paused. "That did...something. Sir, the drones have started pulling away from us! Heading your way...I'll keep trying to thin the herd a bit."

A laser shot forth, creating a divot in the floor next to her and making her jump. She whirled, wrist aching as she did, and dove for the next nearest console. Breathing heavily from the sudden rush of adrenaline and exertion she spoke into the shared comm of the group.

"Mr. Balsam? Mr. Smith? How much more time?"

"I've got it!" Balsam cried out. He flinched at the drone shot, ducking and covered from the shower of asteroidal debris the thing threw up, and then shakily got back to his interface. His quaking hand pushed his commbadge, "Buh-Balsam to Sojourner. Initiate the f-following code sequence on EM Band Alpha-Alpha Quad Phi at 3300 Mhz. Wa'. Wa' bej. Ja'bej. Ios. Ch-chorgh. Chorgh. Wa'bej." He lowered his PADD, "That will designate you as a friendly entity to the drones!"

And now the conclusion...

From behind the console where she crouched, Emni could see very little, but the sudden silence was all but deafening. Cautiously she peered around the edge. The swarm of drones bobbed and floated randomly, scanning sensors dimmed and laser tips cooled. Phaser fire had stopped as the need to defend themselves was removed, but Emni held her weapon at the ready all the same. Cautiously she stood, surveying the room. Burnt and smoking piles of metal littered the floor--drones that had been downed either by herself or through Lieutenant Sovaan's precision marksmanship. In many places where there weren't drones there were scorch marks, the results of lasers missing their targets.

Emni rolled her shoulders lightly, trying with little success to loose some of the adrenaline-fueled tension in her muscles. She hissed when the spot where a drone's laser had grazed her pulled, sending a shot of sharp pain down her arm. "Thank you Mr. Balsam, Mr. Smith," she said with a nod to both of them.

She lifted her arm, aching and still bleeding wrist twinging as she did, and tapped to open a channel to the Sojourner. "t'Nai to Kodak." Her voice sounded tense in her own ears, the remnants of adrenaline that was still running through her system. "Mr. Balsam's code seems to have done the trick down here."

"Up here as well," the Captain intoned back. "And just in time, too. We were very much about to be overwhelmed up here."

"Glad to hear that sir." Tension gave way to relief in her voice. She paused a moment, letting out a breath. "We're going to need you to come down here, Captain. The hypo didn't do the trick. It's going to have to be you."

"I kind of worried that might be the case," Kodak lamented. "Alright, I'm going to have Lieutenant Blackstone beam me down. Please provide her with coordinates to wherever you want me."

"Acknowledged, sir. t'Nai out." Emni closed the comm, sent the coordinates, and then gingerly picked her way over to the rest of the Away Team.

"Everyone OK?" she asked, knowing that 'OK' was a highly relative term at this point. "That was some excellent work on the code for the drones," she commented, every ounce of her appreciation for Balsam infused in her voice. "Do you need more time to wrap things up with the database?"

"No Ma'am," Noah was shaking his head, gloved hands pulling cords out of his PADD. He sounded somber, or maybe just deeply contemplative. Or maybe it was a little shock. "The database is ready to-to go."

It was then that a cloud of golden, sparkling motes coalesced into the form of Captain Kodak. The man appeared none-the-worse for wear; one would be hard pressed to think he'd -- only moments ago -- been in danger of being gunned down with the rest of the Bridge crew. But appearances aside, there was a weariness to how the Chameloid moved as his steps brought him close to t'Nai and the others.

"Thanks for saving our skins up there," Kodak pointed upward, in a direction he figured the Sojo was in. "Some really great work bringing those drones to heel. I assume we have the both of you to thank," the Captain offered a smile to Balsam and -- despite initial hesitancy at having him aboard -- Smith. "You're both very appreciated. Mr. Sovaan," he turned to the tactical and security officer, "great shooting as usual. Emni..." he went quiet, turning towards his acting-XO, "you've done really well down here. Thanks for clearing the way for me to beam down."

Emni's responding smile was warm at the praise from the Captain. "Thank you sir. It was a group effort."

"You're very welcome. Guessing this," Kodak gestured then towards the obelisk, "is where I come in?" He moved to regard the obelisk with scrutiny, seeing the puzzle sphere in its place and a wash of gore across the hand-scanner. "If I didn't know this was my own blood, I'd probably be a bit unnerved right now. But if it came from me, I suppose it's safe to touch," the Chameloid said, lowering his hand onto the scanner plate.

As it had before, the obelisk came to life, glowing across its facade as the DNA-sampling needle pricked his skin. The needle seemed to stay in place longer than before, as if having to be extra sure of its judgment, before the apparatus closed itself down and changed its glowing red lights to something resembling aquamarine.

"Welcome Path Traveler," a world-weary voice emanated through the room. "You've done well in navigating the challenge set before you. Such was necessary to prevent the location of our colony falling into unfriendly hands. This facility will now retrieve all of the drones from your vessel. They shall bother you no further. Know, however," the voice continued, "that once you leave this place, the drones will be reprogrammed for the next Traveler. Do not return here."

A holographic image sprang into being then, hazy as it hovered in mid-air, wavering as a galactic map was shown. Coordinates for the final stop on The Path were shown, along with a pictorial rendering of what awaited the crew once they arrived. A large cave -- its entrance shaped like a large skull with its mouth hanging open -- floated before the Away Team, as if projected on a billowing cloud. Leading to the entrance was a pathway lined with humanoid-sized skulls and strewn with bones that could only come from arms and legs.

"The Place of Skulls," the voice announced. "Home to our kind for generations now. Find us and you will find yourself, Traveler. We await you."

And with that, the hologram disappeared. The lighting in the room returned to normal as Kodak collected the puzzle sphere from the depression in the obelisk. "Well then," he said, looking back at the Away Team, "I believe we have the coordinates of our last stop. I'd say it's about time we got the hell out of here," the Chameloid rasped to his people. "Wouldn't you agree, XO?"

Emni let out a long low breath, taking in the area around them. "Yessir," she said, "I would agree." She nodded to the three men who had come with her, giving them a moment to make sure they collected their things and were standing before she opened her comm channel with a tap.

"t'Nai to Transporter Room. 5 to beam up. Get us out of here chief."

=/\= A Mission Post By =/\=

Captain Björn Kodak
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Emni t'Nai
Acting Executive Officer

Lieutenant James Smith
Acting Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Sovaan
Chief Security Officer

Midshipman Noah Balsm
Computer Systems Specialist