Ghosts of Ice and Snow

Posted on Sat Jan 23rd, 2021 @ 6:20pm by Lieutenant JG Rrawran & Lieutenant Elizabeth Reeves & Petty Officer 2nd Class Corvus Hannah

1,441 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Cheese
Location: Delta Vega
Timeline: 2430-08-30, 07:45

Rrawran still couldn't believe how his morning had gone. Less than 3 hours ago he'd been asleep in his cabin aboard Starfleet One when he received an urgent message from Galatea. He and the senior leadership of the Security division had been ordered to transport over to the Hua Mulan for special assignment by orders of Starfleet Security. Mere moments after arriving aboard they were met by the ship's Security Chief, Commander Olzyir, who informed them that the team would be assigned to visit a nearby world to investigate an unusual situation.

Even though he was a Rorworr he found the next part beyond uncomfortable. The planet they were investigating was a Class-P ice world. Upon arrival they found that the planet had once been home to an incredible civilization, highly advanced technologically and resourceful. In the midst of their derelict town they found something none of them had expected: a tunnel through the ice and snow that ended a kilometer below the surface. It was incredible to see. A full tunnel into the abyss below the surface, perfectly smooth and carefully excavated. Even the most advanced phaser wouldn't have been able to drill this intricately.

Olzyir was insistent though that they had to descend into the tunnel and find what was below. Rrawran wasn't much for small talk, but the Betelgeusean Commander was even less so. He hadn't said hardly anything and, when he did, he seemed to be annoyed by all of them. When they finally descended the tunnel with their anti-grav boots none of them were prepared for what they found. At the base of the tunnel was a colossal pyramid amidst the shadows and the ice itself. To all of their astonishment the Commander had ordered them to proceed inside.

The interior was more beautiful than the outside. Amazing pictograms outlined the walls in beautiful murals that told a story the universal translator was too immature to comprehend. He had thought he heard a piercing wail from deep inside the construct, but shook the concern away as he walked. It was the ghosts of the past, that had to be it, and nothing more to worry about than the mists of yesterday.

They had continued marching forward through the chambers. He checked his wrist tricorder as he walked along, the holographic display showing a map that the sensors were struggling to generate. There was a lot of interference from throughout the pyramid itself and it was driving the tricorder's sensors crazy. For a moment it looked like there was a lifesign moving toward them, but then it was gone. It had to be another ghost.

Rrawran looked around wondering what the others thought.

"Because I didn't do a good enough job of freezing my gehennes off last time," Hannah grumbled to himself from the moment they beamed down from the Mulan. No, he corrected himself, from the moment he got the uniform update for cold weather gear. His hands and leg started aching just seeing those words. Oh, and to make it even better...a full KILOMETER beneath this ice and cold. Yeah, the last time it was a cave and they had heat and food - at least until near the end. He swore, if they wound up having to double bag for warmth down here, he was laying claim to the Lieutenant. He was sure that fur would be a great heat source.

A blip came on his lenses again, distracting him from his list of internal complaints and back to whatever their mission was supposed to be. Besides the typical "don't get buried under a kilometer of ice and freeze solid". Well, none of the officers gave that order but...really, did they need to?

Commander Olzyir ran the light of the sims beacon over the stone walls as they went deeper into the pyramid. He checked the interface of his tricorder, looking closely at the map, "The objective is one level below this next chamber." The Betelgeusean carefully studied the surroundings as they walked, but something strange was going on that he could sense. He thought he heard something like a screech deep inside the depths of the pyramid, but thought it was something that he had only imagined.

The demolitions tech adjusted indicators on the Tricorder. "We can probably blow through the floor."

"And bring down the entire complex around us," the Bolian technician commented. "You try to blow the floor we're going to be the ones that pay."

Rrawran did his nearest approximation of a sigh. He studied the room, it was a circular chamber with five stone tablets that resembled beds in a star formation. A large, circular tunnel appeared to be at one edge of the bed itself. The alien peered through the abyss that tunneled deep below. He thought he heard a squeal or some other noise amidst the abyss below, but couldn't see anything.

"So why are we here?" The alien Security Officer asked.

"Classified," the Betelgeusean team leader answered. "Need to know basis."

"Considering we're down here in the dark in a pyramid that shouldn't be here I think we all are in a need to know situation," the Lieutenant answered fiercely. "What is down here that is so important?"

The Commander typed on his tricorder. Immediately a new hologram emerged, "We're here to seek an ancient technology that is far more advanced than any other energy weapon we have ever encountered. The tunnel we traversed to get there, we theorize that this weapon was used to make the tunnel in less than a minute."

"We came down here for a weapon?" The Bolian technician questioned.

"Starfleet is insistent," the Commander answered. "We have our mission so we will carry it out. Now, can we get to the lower level?"

"Uhm, sirs?" Hannah said, looking around with a frown. "I mean, the shipboard phasers could do this. If this is what they're after, then, well, this is technology that we've had for a couple centuries. What's so important about this one?"

The Betelgeusean addressed the comment quickly, "Shipboard phasers: yes, a hand weapon: no. The evidence suggests that this technology is of Preserver origins. Our orders when encountering such technology are succinct and to the point: Acquire and return to Starfleet Research and Development as a priorit..."

Deep in the depths of the pyramid they heard it. A loud, gutteral screech of pain that reverberated throughout the structure. Immediately the Bolian technician brought up the data on the holoprojector of the tricorder. "I'm getting multiple readings in front and behind. Closing fast!"

Elizabeth, who had been walking at the back of the group since entering the ice-carved tunnel. Upon hearing the Bolian’s warning she stood still and listened.

Rrawran moved the flashlight carefully over the stone walls with his phaser drawn at at the ready in his other hand. He studied the scene carefully, using his animalistic senses to better survey the surroundings. He thought he had seen something in the shadows, but it had turned out to be just that. He stepped forward and heard a faint hiss above him. Lifting the beacon he but some light on the subject.

Only to hear a squeal from behind him. One of the Security Officers from the Mulan was pulled upward into the shadows above. Her phaser and tricorder skittered across the floor as a loud, gutteral hiss echoed through the Chamber.

Hannah, immediately upon hearing the warning growls flicked his fingers to activate his life scans on the diagnostic glove, already set to maximum range. Additionally he moved his rifle into a high ready position while he watched the display on his lenses and through them for any threats. As the security officer near him was pulled skyward, Hannah rolled to his back, his ever constant medical pack stopping his momentum and acting as a base. Immediately he fired upward, targeting around the struggling security officer, trying to keep his bursts contained in concentrated and managed rounds of two.

"Team two to Commander Olzyir," came through the communicator.

The leader of the away mission tapped his communicator as the others fought their enemy, "Now is not a good time." He fired his phaser at one of the alien life-forms, the golden pulse of energy slamming into one of the creatures.

"We have locked onto the item, Commander. We are ready to beam you and your team out."

"Then don't just stand around," he answered as he fired again - one of the lifeforms pouncing toward him as the energy matrix began to lock on and return them to their shuttle.

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