Sanctuary

Posted on Sun Sep 22nd, 2024 @ 6:10pm by Lieutenant JG Zomuul jav Ghul & Crewman Zod Drixx & Lieutenant Ash Randall & Lieutenant Chase Moore & Lieutenant Alexia Toryn & Commander Zhora zh'Roothi

2,442 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Pilot
Location: U.S.S. Sol
Timeline: 2439-03-09, 06:00

Lieutenant Zomuul jav Ghul sat at Operations station in the cockpit of the runabout U.S.S. Sol assisting Crewman Drixx with piloting the craft. Shields had been brought to full power and the geometry had been altered to support their travel in the atmosphere. It had been a lot of work for them, but it was all meant to keep them safe.

The small craft shuddered violently as it traveled through the atmosphere of the planet, the roar of racing wind slashing against the hull with the force of a hurricane as it descended through the atmosphere. Tapping on the controls built into the wall mounted keyboard, the Tellarite reviewed the status of the sensors.

"Good thing we have the windows. There's so much interference our sensors are useless."

"Looks like we got the oatmeal," the Bolian pilot joked right before the ship violently lurched to the right. Typing quickly, the Bolian's blue fingers raced across the display. "We've hit a cross-current! Trying to compensate."

Zod worked quickly to stabilize the ship, adjusting their course and speed to bring things back into balance as best he could. The shaking lightened a bit, but wind kept buffeting the hull.

"Whoopie" The Chief Engineer said, as the runabout lurched and shimmied 90 degrees to their dorsal alignment and rattled like a chew toy in a Terriers mouth. "That was fun." Ash commented, quietly. "Its going to be a bumpy ride." She added.

Chase smiled at the engineers words. “What would be the fun in anything else.”

Pecking at the flight controls, Crewman Drixx adjusted the course slightly again, "Please keep your tray tables in their upright and locked position." It was a joke, but not a bad idea.

"How do I do that?" The Tellarite Science Officer asked.

While the others appeared to be handling the situation well the droop in zh'Roohi antennae betrayed her level of discomfort. Nervously she'd tugged on seat harness numerus time and her fingers coiled around the strapping in an attempt to distract herself from the ride. "How long till we're clear?" she asked wistfully hoping it would be soon.

The pilot answered quickly, "Pretty much however long it is until you tell me to return to Enterprise."

zh'Roothi opted not to reply just nodded mutely to save her own dignity and respect. They had a job to complete, she'd never be taken seriously again should she order they'll return just because she felt queasy.

Under different circumstances Ash might have been amused by the XO's question and Crewman Drixx's reply but no one was going to think it funny if the, intrepid Andorian, were to hurl and paint the crew compartment in blotches of, used, replicator, fare. "I had configured our, presumptive, ride with a BAM-BAM tractor beam module so we could use it to 'grope' our way through the oatmeal and be able to feel the current shifts 4 or 5 seconds before we reached them. The shuttle tractor beam could be used for the same purpose but we'll be lucky to get 2 seconds warning for flight path adjustments." The Engineer stated. "It might help, some?" She added, with a look to Zhora.

Knowing Ash was trying to be thoughtful the Andorian felt touched, yet frustrated that the crew should pity her at present. zh'Roothi shook her head at the suggestion: "We're running a risk of being detected as it is, let's not make it certain."

Ash chuckled. "Wouldn't want to, accidentally, grope someone ship I guess." Ash mused, lightly, and left it at that.

Chase smiled as he listened to them speak. “We are ready in any case for what comes our way.”

While the others were discussing their descent, Lieutenant jav Ghul adjusted settings on the Operations panel trying to give some help to the sensor arrays. The atmosphere they were passing through had made their sensors practically useless and it wasn't getting any better. To compensate for this, earlier he had proposed using a modulated tetryon pulse to highlight any obstructions. Even it had been obstructed. The Tellarite pecked at the controls trying to compensate, but he really felt like this was becoming an exercise in futility. There probably wasn't anything out here. This was probably just a wild goose chase like so many other things.

Frustrated, he sighed and watched the display. Another tetryon pulse emanated from the runabout, swarming out like the SONAR of an ancient submarine. Flipping through display screens as they came up, he wondered what would come next. If they kept up this rate there was a high chance they'd give themselves away though. Pressing a control, he thought he saw something. Reaching forward to run a more localized scan, he saw the futility. Concentrated scans wouldn't work out here, they were as blind as the bats they were emulating.

He turned toward the Chief Science Officer, "Lieutenant Toryn, can you take a look at the screen I'm forwarding you? Is it what I think it is?" He typed a series of commands on the built in keyboard, transferring it over to the Science Officer for review.

Lex nodded. "Yep. It's a Jem'Hadar Light Cruiser. Devotion Class. Keep our scans to a minimum, If I still know the Jem'Hadar, they don't like surprises."

The Tellarite looked surprised at how she knew what it was they were facing.

"I've been analyzing the resonance frequencies using a combination of old US Sonar data and our files on known Dominion Vessels." She explained. "Back in the day they were able to identify a vessel based off the resonance profiled the ship created. We have a Dominion ship hiding from Dominion ships."

Looking at the display indicators, the Tellarite tapped the control to take the runabout to Red Alert. As he worked on the control console, he knew that it was more Lieutenant Toryn's place to notify the rest of the crew as to what they found and why he brought the runabout to alert status.

"I advise not to raise our shields " She noted. "They will detect the energy signature, and these are Jem'hadar. They are hiding here because they do not want to be noticed, and a good way to get yourself killed is to sneak around a soldier. I highly recommend hailing them on a short range signal."

Crewman Drixx looked over his shoulder at Commander zh'Roothi, "What are your orders because I can't keep us in this thermocline for too long."

"Our shields are already up and are why we're not being batched and battered more than we are already." The chief engineer noted and also looked to the Commander for a second or two. "We're no threat to them and, if they are worried about being detected, firing on us is a bad idea." Ash added.

"The odd thing is, as close as we are and how we're scanning, they should know we're here. With the echolocation scanning we're using; their sensors would have detected our scan. Nothing suggests that they are taking any action to our presence. They're just sitting there." The Tellarite Scientist explained.

"Why do I have a feeling you're going to tell me to fly to the Jem'Hadar ship?" The Bolian questioned from the Helm.

"Can you determine the state of the ship?" zh'Roothi asked squinting at the image upon the screen opting to allow the others to speak up. "Is it excessively damaged, any life signs or theory of why it's here?"

The Tellarite looked at the Chief Science Officer then back at the Executive Officer, "Not at this distance. The interference in the atmosphere makes it nearly impossible to use traditional sensors at all, which is why we're using echolocation to navigate through this 'oatmeal.' If we were closer we could 'possibly' use sensors and conduct an active scan, but they'd see us too. I really wonder if it's possible they have no idea we're out here either, even though they should know we're here."

A rapid series of trilling beeps erupted from the Helm, "Whatever we're going to do I recommend we do it fast! What sensors we do have are showing an increase in turbulence. We're not going to be able to maintain here much longer. I'm either going to have to rise or descend."

"Well if we descend they'll definitely know we're here," the Tellarite chuckled. "We're right above them now."

"Lets take advantage of the disparity in size going on here and maneuver to their leeward side to shelter from the abuse." Ash suggested, quietly. "I am getting the impression they're not going to mind." The Tuansee added, with a glance towards the Chief Science officer. "If we can get close enough for a tight-beam sensor sweep, I think we'll get some answers that will make sense of things." She added.

"Take us closer," the XO instructed. "Use their vessel to dampen the turbulence against ours if possible." She added a weaker tone hoping to reduce the uncomfortable ride and the Cruiser won't in the condition to object to their arrival.

The Bolian went wide eyed for a moment as he heard the instructions from the Away Team Commander to take the suggestion of the Chief Engineer. Trying to stifle a sigh, he turned toward the controls of the runabout and began inputting the instructions that he'd received. Adjusting course and speed, the support vessel descended toward the Jem'Hadar vessel a bit faster than they would have probably expected it would.

It took little time at all for the alien craft to fill the windows of the runabout and, surprisingly, the Jem'Hadar vessel was a bit smaller than they anticipated but retained the traditional hallmarks of Dominion shipbuilding. The vessel was vaguely insectoid shaped, resembling a scarab in design, and looked to have a somewhat weathered appearance, like it had been in the atmosphere for a while. That was to be expected though. Jem'Hadar ships were extremely sturdy, even capable of surviving the impact onto a planet's surface. Fortunately, at least before, they were not capable of conducting battle while in sub-orbital flight and runabouts used to be more maneuverable. Not that it could do much in the way of fighting without power. There was no light coming from the craft and the warp nacelles appeared to be powered down. It was shocking that it was maintaining position in the atmosphere like this with the way that the wind was buffeting the hull.

"The structure seems intact," Zomuul said, "but they don't have power."

Drixx pecked at the controls, "I'm seeing what looks like a docking port nearby. I can try to dock with it if we want to?" The crewman asked the Commander apprehensively.

zh'Roothi squinted through the window at the stationary vessel a touch relieved the runabout had stabilised slightly. The Commander was intrigued how the hardy ship became to be here, and how they were able to withstand the conditions especially running with no outward power signatures. "Move is into position but don't engage docking procedures yet," she instructed. "Gather as much data was we can in the meantime."

"They're running dark. There has to be power or they wouldn't be able to maintain station in this maelstrom." the Chief Engineer observed. "We have questions to answer before considering a docking maneuver, as well." She added and looked to their Chief Science Officer. "What is the crew complement of a vessel this size? How large a supply of Ketracel-white would, likely, be on board? And, how long before that supply would be exhausted and the crew killed itself off and the Vorta on board?" Ash asked, pointedly.

Chase was listening in. “I will be at the ready shocked we dock, in case there is any trouble.”

While the others talked, Lieutenant Ghul kept his eyes peeled on the displays as the echolocation system tried to make heads or tails of the environment around them. Things were becoming more and more complicated by the Jem'Hadar vessel though as it was blocking many of their scans. Typing on the keyboard built into his workstation, the Tellarite started thinking through all the alternatives about what they could be experiencing. This whole trip had been something out of a horror holonovel, and there was way too much that just wasn't adding up. Aside from the winds and the radiation, there had been large crystal formations suspended between the gas pockets. He wished he could get a dedicated scan of them as he worked, but it was still impossible because of the atmosphere.

He sighed as he saw something that looked like a flash of light out of the viewport. Looking out the window, he watched carefully and saw another brief pulse of energy. Entering a series of commands on the keyboard, he was about to adjust settings when he noticed another flash of light. Looking up, he realized they were traveling amongst the crystals. Could the Jem'Hadar ship be beached on one?

Filled with curiosity zh'Roothi had unbuckled her restraints and lingered beside Ghul studying the crystal formation while still keeping an ear on the discussion nearby. "Have you seen anything like these before?" she asked craning her neck to see them in more detail.

“I haven’t.” Chase replied as he looked on. “It is quite interesting."

Ash glanced over to where Ghul, Moore and zh'Roothi were gathered at the view port, the word 'interesting' having piqued her own curiosity enough to unbuckle and see what had their, collective, attention. The small engineering officer slipped, bonelessly, in amongst the other three to peer out the view port. "Um, I think we know how they're maintaining position, maybe?" She observed, in a questioning tone. "The only thing that could make this any weirder is if these giant crystals were dilithium." She mused, quietly.

"Stranger things have happened," zh'Roothi replied with a smirk drawing her gaze away and back to the stricken vessel.

The Bolian interjected, "These crystals certainly explain some of the turbulence that we're experiencing." He typed on the keyboard of the helm, studying the limited readings that they were receiving. The crystals were certainly impressive to behold. He wondered if they had a purpose. If they were dilithium that could mean amazing things, but it was too bad this planet was in the Gamma Quadrant and the Dominion would be the only ones to benefit.

"Hail them," the XO ordered turning back the others and allowed her gaze to linger on Toryn momentarily. "Considering their predicament they maybe desperate enough to accept our aid."

Drixx nodded and pressed the button. "No response."

"Bring us around and start docking proceedings," zh'Roothi continued. "Can't say we didn't at least knock."

 

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