Free Trader Beowulf

Posted on Tue 26th Jun, 2018 @ 11:49pm by Lieutenant Jacen Miller & Lieutenant Commander Alora Baro & 2nd Lieutenant Carlos Vasquez

881 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Space, about 4.2 LY out from SB109
Timeline: MD 10, 0900

"The escort gives the go-ahead, Ma'am," Arrow's pilot told Baro. "We are in the clear, with no signs of cloaked ships in the vicinity. If you've checked each other's gear, you are free to enter the lock."

"Understood. Thank you." She replied as she entered the airlock with Miller, "On your mark."

As the inner door slid closed behind them, Jacen gave his equipment one final check as he muttered to himself about the irony of being stuck in a tiny EVA suit while being in the infinite expanse of space. He glanced at Baro, and seeing that she was ready too, he keyed the comm, "We're all set in here. Waiting on the green light."

Beck checked all her sensors, and then responded, "Green light here. Repeat, you are a go for mission."

"Roger that, exiting now." Miller replied, reaching out to key the cycle on the outer door. There was a slight hiss as the air was pumped from the small airlock. A few moments later the outer door slid open and Jacen floated out into the vacuum of space.

Baro followed carefully, more than once during her engineering training they showed what happened to EVA's that went wrong and often it was because of inattention. She had no intention of flying off anywhere before she wasn't careful on where she placed herself.

"Follow me." Jacen said, as he deactivated the mag-lock on his boots and pushed off into the darkness.

The pilot watched the two suited Starfleet officers as they seemed to float through space to the hull of Beowulf, cracked open like an egg. They were actually going much faster than it appeared with the inertia of space.

"Nanny One, do you read?" she said.

"Roger, Little Kitten. Problem?" came back the reply.

"Not so far. No space anomalies out there that could be cloaked ships? I'm a little nervous hanging here in the open."

"You bush pilots are all alike," Vasquez chuckled. "Don't worry. You're safe in our hands."

"Little Kitten, Nanny Two. I think I have something on sensor. It's configured like a stasis pod," Darrell Brandt interrupted.

"Samurai said they got all the remains. How far is it? Could it be from an enemy ship?" Beck asked instantly alert.

"Maybe 50,000 km, based on a light ping," Brant responded. "Not close enough to hurt anything, if you're worried, but I can see it out there about half way between that hulk you're exploring and the Lyran hulk. Raise the plane 70 degrees or so and you'll probably pick it up, too."

Beck did as he instructed, putting the screen on Mag 10, and it popped into view. "Yeah, got it. Whaddaya think? Booby Trap?"

She could almost hear the shrug, "No tellin', Ma'am."

"Sit tight for a bit, but keep it in your sights," Beck instructed.

Miller and Baro walked through the dead trader. The only sound in the vacuum of space was their own breathing and the coms in their ears. Magnetic boots kept their feet on the deck as they carefully moved forward, bits of ship floating from where consoles had been ripped open. Baro carefully moved around a bundle of wires that may or may not be live. The ship was eerie in the lights from their suits. As they came to a door, Baro would use a small 'door popper' device to get it open, then muscle it the rest of the way.

After forcing open a few doors and checking the rooms behind them, they had not seen much evidence of the crew. "Where is everybody?" he breathed, after yet another room came up empty. "Something doesn't feel right...Baro, are you picking up anything?"

"Not much, there's a few residual signals but nothing strong..., "Damnit!" slightly panicked as something floated into her vision and wrapped around her helmet. She pulled it off as her heart thudded in her chest, only to see it was a bloodied crew man's jacket, set free by her opening the door. "I'm fine, nothing happening..." She reported on coms as her heart settled back in her chest. "Damned ghost ship..." she muttered, continuing forward.

After talking with the lieutenant, Rebecca had plugged into the coms on Beowulf, just to have something besides her own heart to hear. "Roger that, away team. You had us sitting up straight for a minute there," came back Beck's voice, amused.

"Nothing worse than a haunted jacket..." Baro joked as she moved carefully forward.

"Now that would be an interesting explanation, wouldn't it?" Jacen replied, flashing an impish grin.

"What a mess..." Miller muttered aloud. He moved forward, gently pushing some floating debris out of his way with his rifle. "Hey, Baro? I didn't recognize the blast patterns or scorch marks on the hull. Did any of that look familiar to you?"

"It's consistent with reports of the attack but I'll need to analyze in more detail before I can say more..." She scanned them and scraped some of the residue from the wall and put it in a small vial she took from a pouch then put it back. She straightened, "I'll just download the computers' intel, but I don't think there's more we can get from here. I say we make way to the battlecruiser remains. Ok by you?"

 

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