Bat Out of Hell (Part I)

Posted on Sun Jun 26th, 2022 @ 5:14am by Lieutenant Percival Bálor Ph.D & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Stone

972 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Bandits of Black Rain
Location: Federation Shuttlecraft

ON:

The trip had been a noteworthy one, but not as dangerous as the concerns were. That was not, however, to say they had gotten to the the designated coordinated without incident. Between Siren's piloting abilities and fortunately taking one of the better armed shuttlecraft, the trio had repelled some uninvited guests along the way, though they were petty opportunists, not nearly as organized as however had pulled off the attack on the cargo carrying starship they were looking for.

When the shuttlecraft arrived, there was no visual sign of the starship in question, but there was debris. It was small bits and pieces, not exactly enough to jump to the conclusion of the starship's destruction, but certainly enough to indicate that something had taken a heavy beating.

Percy turned his seat to face Zero. "See if you can find them," the half-Tellarite said to the Chief Operations Officer. If anyone was going to be able to cut through interference and find a damage starship it would definitely be Zero. "The Captain in the starship had said they were in rough shape, down a nacelle and chugging along at impulse. They shouldn't be too far away" added Percy.

The Chief Science Officer watched as the former Borg worked away at the station. A few moments of calm and quiet had passed before something caused the lieutenant's station to alert them all to the presence of something ahead.

"What the hell is...that?" Percy said as he made his way over towards Zero to see what the man was looking at. It looked like a starship, at least parts of one. Percy tapped away at Zero's station and shot a look ahead over at Siren.

"Siren," he called out. "I'm sending you coordinates, adjust course and take us there as soon as possible" Percy stated with some alarm and concern in his voice. I don't like the looks of this he thought to himself.

Siren quickly adjusted course. Getting information about the specifics could wait, but only briefly. Once she'd set them on the updated path she looked over. "What do you see?" She asked with curiosity.

"Debris and lots of it," Percy replied. "It looks to be a vessel of some sort, or possibly more than one vessel. I want to investigate it and search the debris for any identification."

Siren nodded at the same time she let out a soft "shit." She had a sudden desire to be in her bird, where she could fly faster, and shoot harder. She pushed their speed up a bit anyway though. Damn the overly cautious safety regulations.

The half-Tellarite nearly tumbled over before grabbing onto Zero's shoulder to steady himself. "Careful, Siren. This is a shuttle, not a fighter craft" cautioned the lieutenant. "I hope the ship we are supposed to meet isn't part of that wreckage."

As they neared the debris site, Percy let Zero begin scanning the wreckage as Percy proceeded to take a seat. He accessed a console of his own continuing to look for any sighns that the ship in question was our there and in one piece.

Siren looked over her console as well, as the sensors began displaying the data. "That looks like more than one ship to me."

"Because it is," Percy said grimly. "I'm scanning it now...there are hull fragments consistent with the vessel we were supposed to rendezvous with, and at least one other ship, much larger."

Percy nearly turned a ghostly pale white. "Gobeshitten bollocks!" He shouted. "It's a Federation starship, Siren. At least what's left of one" reported Percy and he closed his eyes for a moment, just enough to return to when he was a child. When he opened them he continued "There are bodies in the debris field, no life signs."

Siren wasn't quite as creative, though she was just as intense in her cursing. "Fuck." She started frantically tapping over her console. "It's just so crowded out there, and with no life signs, I don't think I can lock onto anything." She hit the console in frustration.

"Concentrate, Lieutenant Stone," Percy said trying to ease her frustration. "You are a trained pilot, you know how to thread the needle. We need that right now, and I know you can do it."

Siren took a deep breath. "Sorry. You're right." She could do it. She didn't have the immediate confidence she'd always taken for granted while seated in a fighter, but she was still a damn good pilot.

Percy turned towards Zero "Scan that debris for composites of gold, microfilament, silicon, beryllium, and carbon-70" instructed the Chief Science Officer.

Zero complied albeit Percy to could see that the man had several things on his mind. When Zero reported that he had located three of targets with minute traces of that combination, Percy knew he had to rely on Siren.

"Lieutenant Stone, take us in closer - thread those needles and find those three targets. I'll stand by with transporters."

Siren nodded, now that she had something concrete to concentrate on her demeanor was steady as a rock. Her piloting skills showed. She might not be in the comfort of a fighter, but she made the little shuttle dance through debris. Percy would have to take care of the gruesome task of body retrieval.

Which Percy was not fond of in the least, these were not just corpses of strangers that he was looking for and seeking to retrieve. Though he may not have personally known any of them, probably was never even in the same room as them, they were Starfleet.


To Be Continued:
A Post by

Lieutenant JG Elizabeth 'Siren' Stone
Chief Flight Control
USS Ontario

&

Lieutenant Percival Bálor
Chief Science Officer
USS Ontario

Featuring:

Lieutenant Zero
Chief Operations Officer
USS Ontario

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