Chilly Reception

Posted on Wed Aug 25th, 2021 @ 4:06am by Willian Targaryen & Minister Zehoi D'ian & Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Tlotz & Ensign Golric Zar & Ensign Yed Quegg & Captain Ryan Walsh & Captain Nathan Bishop & Commander Nathan Hawkins & Commander Jasmine Haynes & Lieutenant Commander Patton O'Sullivan & Lieutenant Commander Bella Knowles & Lieutenant Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Cyrus Marner & Lieutenant Bissiv th'Zaanaq

4,614 words; about a 23 minute read

Mission: The Messenger
Location: Cold Station 12
Timeline: 0000-00-32, 11:00

The Operations Center of any outpost was, perhaps, the most important room aboard and Cold Station 12's Operations Center was no exception. Located near the center of the station, it was the primary command and control location for the entire outpost. Looking at it you would never have known that. The room was dark as the lights were set to half power and the consoles themselves were just as dim. The entire room was cold - almost freezing - and a light layer of frost lay atop everything. The air was stale, old more like it, but it was at least enough that they could live.

As the transporter sequence completed, Lieutenant Tlotz of Engineering was surprised by what he saw around him. It was strange to see a Starbase devoid of life and Cold Station 12 felt just as empty as it looked. While this station was never meant to hold many aboard it was sad to see such a place like this. Had he had the opportunity he would have gladly served on such a base if they would have had him.

The Kelpien looked around as their communicators chirped. Ensign Zar was on the other end, "Galileo to Team 1. How's the weather over there?"

"Tropical," Hawkins replied sarcastically while gently scraping the ice off the nearest console with a gloved hand of his EVA suit.

The Kelpien looked, puzzled, "I am afraid I do not follow, Commander. Our current environment is far from a tropical one."

"I think he's pulling your leg." Biss replied with a chuckle as he surveyed the area.

Patton grinned. "Makes you wish you had brought along a lawn chair so we can find a beach." He looked around, seeing how this was once an active station and now was void of all life. He hoped they found some useful items to take back. He scanned for signs of life, even though they knew there were none. As security chief it was his job to protect as well.

"When you find one Patton, save me a spot will you?" Hawkins smirked. "I need to work on my tan."

The colossally tall alien Engineer shrugged, "I'll have to take your word for it." He started scanning the region with his tricorder, the information displaying holographically from his wrist mounted unit. "The Station is operating on low power mode, but I am detecting additional energy being routed to several locations. The Medical Center is receiving a great deal of energy, as is the biohazard storage, but I am reading energy reserves being routed to the laboratory complex as well."

"Considering the station's purpose I'd expect power to be sent to biohazard and the labs but that volume to medical is strange," Hawkins nodded in agreement. "I'm sure the second time will find something. In the meantime what about resources that can help the ship?"

“I would like to check out their security department. It is likely their might be something I can salvage to use to protect the ship.” He was hoping for weapons, anything at this point.

"We'll do that later Patton. As well as check out medical and the labs." Bishop answered, "Lets first see if we can get more light on the subject. That will make our job of finding equipment to help the ship easier."

"Restoring main power or even partial could attract some unwanted attention and put the Galileo at risk," Hawkins reminded.

Bishop nodded, "I know Nathan but I don't see where we have a choice. The ship is in trouble and we need to make repairs quickly and we can't do it fumbling around in the dark."

"Want me to take a look?" The Andorian offered. He was a skilled pilot and engineer, not that they knew that though.

Tlotz looked at the Andorian and back to the First Officer of Starfleet One, wondering what decision he would come to. It had been a month since Mister Biss first introduced them to the 32nd Century and put a rather large target on the outer hull of their ship. Then again, since then at least, he had seemed to be legitimately trying to help rather than hurt them in the process. Still, it was a tall order. He wondered what the XO would decide. "I would be willing to work with Mister Biss, Sir."

"I don't see where we have much of a choice Mr. Tlotz. If you wish to work with Mr. Biss, then by all means have at it." Bishop answered, "You two work on restoring the station's power and Nathan and I will see what we can do about the station's systems."

Biss wanted to say something, he didn't need babysitting. He was able to help, he wasn't sure when this station was last used but it was probably closer to his timeline than theirs. However, he reminded silent and waited for permission to assist.

"Team two is safely on the medical deck," the Kelpien informed.

Patton nodded in agreement. It made more sense to have better lighting. He thought having the Andorian help would shed more light on whether he was friend or foe. This could all still be a plot. He was keeping a close eye on him.

A few minutes passed and the team had broken into smaller groups that were working on various tasks inside the Operations Center. Bishop and Hawkins were working to download the Station's Computer Core and get a feel for the systems aboard the station. Meanwhile, O'Sullivan, th'Zaanaq, and Tlotz had started working to restore the station's power systems from the nearby engineering consoles. The programmable matter of the interfaces was a hard thing for the Starfleet Officers to work with, but Mister Biss seemed to be a natural.

Their communicators chirped, "Targaryen to Team One. Report."

Patton waited a moment and then replied, not wanting to keep him waiting. "O'Sullivan here, Sir." he began. "We're working on restoring the stations' power. Bishop and the others are working on systems." He didn't want to go into too much detail. He would let Bishop handle the rest.

Willian listened from aboard Starfleet One, wondering what was going on on the station.

"Nathan, how are you coming with your systems? I think I've gotten the station directory to reboot so we can know more precisely what and where everything is."

Hawkins glanced up at Bishop: "I'm still having issues access the computer core, the decryption matrix is bizarre, then again most things here don't make much sense," he added with a weary sigh. "Like this substance on the interface for instance," he continued raking his hand over the console surface causing the strange black substance to ripple. "It's like nothing I've ever seen before, makes me feel like dinosaur."

The Kelpien looked at his compatriot for this mission, "Do you have any familiarity with this substance, Mister Biss?"

Biss took a closer look before shaking his head. "I don't think so. What does that ancient scanner of yours tell us?"

He tapped at the holographic interface from his wrist tricorder, "It almost looks like it's some sort of programmable matter. Long theoretical in my time, it's amazing to see it potentially having been solved. Is this available in your time?" The Kelpien asked as he shifted his hand, allowing the material to follow along with his long, slender fingers.

Patton leaned over and checked it out as well. He hadn't seen anything like it before either. Though he hadn't been asked specifically, like others he had served different places. It was a given that the away team would check it out, just in case. he shook his head at Hawkins and stood at the ready.

"Programmable matter?" Bishop asked feeling decidedly out of his league. "Can it be dangerous?"

"Ah, programmable matter." The Andorian took a closer look. "It's not generally dangerous, but it depends on what it's been programmed with it. It's very useful in this time as you can probably imagine."

"Blake to Bishop." A small voice come through the channel. "Sir, things have become complicated: we've found two members of the Cold Station crew, they've just awaken from stasis."

Bishop looked at Nathan as Blake's voice came through the channel. "Message received Mr. Blake. Keep me apprised of the situation. We're still trying to access the station files." He looked over to Nathan, "Well that was unexpected. Maybe they can shed some light for the other team."

"Yes sir, Blake out." The Lieutenant signed off.

Having been in ear shot of the conversation Hawkins' ached a brow at the discovery. "That's understatement," he replied. "Hopefully they won't start shooting immediately unlike our initial encounter with our blue friend over there." He nodded to Bliss.

Bishop nodded and chuckled softly at Nathan's comment. "Yes, let's keep positive thoughts that everyone thinks before shooting."

"Maybe that's the new universal greeting in this century," Hawkins chuckled slightly before returning his attention to the task of accessing the computer core.

The Andorian shrugged his shoulders. "Shoot first, steal dilithium, be incredibly rich. That's how we do it in this century."

The two senior officer exchanged sideways glances Hawkins shook his head the sooner they could somehow leave this time frame the better.

"Unless someone shoot your ass first." Muttered Bishop as he continued to work on the computer.

---

Located on Deck 7, the Medical Center of Cold Station 12 wasn't what one would expect. For such an important medical outpost in the Federation the hospital was abnormally small. Square shaped, the room featured only two workstations and five biobeds against the far wall. In the corner of the room was an operating center with a single biobed inside. Just like the rest of the station the walls and consoles were covered with a light layer of frost and the lights were real low, almost making it hard to see in this section. Interestingly, a lot of the light was coming from the monitors built into the biobeds themselves - locked in what had seemed like an eternal standby mode.

Ensign Quegg glanced down at his wrist tricorder and brought up a scanning cycle. The Bolian Ensign started typing on the built in panel as he studied their surroundings, surprised by the darkness and starkness that he saw around himself. "I have to admit that I'm a little let down after all the hype."

"Galileo to Team 2," it was Ensign Zar, "Everyone make it in one piece?"

Marner patted himself to make sure he was all there in one piece. "I'm in one piece." reporting in. "How about the rest of you?" a twinkle in his eyes.

Lieutenant Blake shone his lamp around the medical centre in an attempt to penetrate the gloom of the long deserted space. "Is it too late to say I want to go back?" he asked. "This place is creepy."

"Like the haunted house at the end of the street?" The Bolian asked as he looked at his tricorder's readings. Typing on the device's panel, "scans show that the life-support is stable, but the station is operating on minimum power."

Ryan smiled at Marner's words. "I appear to be all here though some of my friends might have a word or two to say about that."

"If the station is running on minimum power why are the screens over the bed so bright?" Blake asked out loud before crossing over to the nearest one. The glare was blinding compared the rest of the room, he had to actually shield his eyes.

"That's a very good question. Usually biobeds have an internal power supply, but nothing that would last this long," the Bolian Science Officer answered as he typed on the tricorder's holographic display. "It looks like power has been rerouted to this section, but for what purpose I'm uncertain." He looked around at the rectangular room, "Even though the station is designed to secure bacteria, pathogens, and other viruses they aren't stored in this section. Curious, the anomaly I detected earlier - it wasn't far from here."

Blake tapped the screens with a fingertip, nothing odd appeared to happen though Cyrus would probably know more about the medical display than he did. "I wonder what happened to the crew?" he asked out loud.

"Hopefully the computer will have a log, on what transpired here." Jasmine said, hoping the logs were not wiped out. She was not sure what was going on, she felt so out of her element. She was focusing on her tactical training she had back in her early days of the Academy.

“There is a station over there.” Ryan pointed. “Let’s take a look at it. Even if it’s offline I’m certain we can bring it up at least to find out what we can.”

Marner looked over towards Ryan. "Lets get it activated, I don't want to poke around on the bio beds until we can see what is what." Also taking out his tricorder and taking some scans, "Ensign Quegg, where exactly did you pick up the anomaly?" Marner dividing his attention between different areas.

"It was when we first started scanning the station from the Galileo, Doctor," the Bolian answered in a helpful tone. "It was very faint, but it seemed to be coming from not too far from here. Do we want to go check it out?" He looked at the Chief Medical Officer then to Commissioner Haynes.

Jasmine was just as curious, but she knew they needed to play it safe. A starbase crew, does not simply just vanish. She looked to the Bolian, and then asked. "Are there any potential bio hazards or technological hazards in the vicinity?"

The Bolian studied the readouts for a moment, typing on the holographic keyboard that was hovering above his forearm. He looked at it carefully, "Not that I'm reading in the immediate vicinity. The tricorder is reading evidence of the biological samples being stored inside the asteroid itself, but I am not detecting any leaks at the moment at least."

"Alright, let's investigate." Jasmine said, as she started to hear a series of alarms. She looked over to her Bolian counter part. As she was about to say, 'report.' She listened in as he started to explain what was going on.

A series of trilling alarms came from the device. A schematic diagram of the level appeared, "I just got traces of what appeared to be a lifeform on this deck. Now it's vanished again."

Blake shone his light around them in a fleeting attempt to catch sight this vanishing lifeform. He felt a shiver rippled down his spine regretting his choice of words earlier. This place was increasingly more like a haunted house a by each passing moment.

Ryan looked over from where he was working on the station, he almost had it up but had been interrupted by the alarms.

"Vanished?" Jasmine called out. That was a little suspicious she thought to herself. "As in phase shifted or cloaking?" Jasmine asked, hoping his sensors would be able to determine how the creature kept vanishing. This mission was off to an interesting start.

"I wouldn't go that far," the Scientist offered. "While it is possible, I doubt it to be likely. It could be any number of things, but we may want to check it out."

"I'm thinking that we'd need to go investigate. Could it be someone or something caught in a transporter buffer, or something like that?" Marner asked. "Either way it necessary to find out."

Ensign Quegg nodded, "It's possible. I could also be a particle of preanimate matter, a tricorder malfunction, any number of possibilities. I think it warrants investigation though." The Bolian looked at Commander Haynes as she was in charge of the mission.

"We should inform the other team as well." Ryan said from where he was working. "If there is someone else here, they need to know."

"I definitely agree." Cyrus responded, for some reason he was feeling like a fish out of water here, probably due to the circumstances for the time being.

Jasmine had listen to all of the advice. She appreciated the round robin of information. They were all right, especially Ryan. She knew that they needed to report in. "Let's investigate, Ensign Quegg take point. I will reach out to the other team and to the Captain to let them know what is going on here." Jasmine ordered, as she looked to Quegg then the rest of the team.

The Science Officer nodded, "Aye." Bringing the wrist mounted tricorder to the ready, the Bolian began a scan of the nearby region and found the location where they had last detected the biosign. "Tricorder shows the last location of whatever it is as right across the hall from here," he motioned toward the other, half open door. Having been asked to take point he crossed the hall first, shining a light down the corridor amidst the dim lights before entering the other room.

"Looks like this is the primary medical laboratory," Quegg announced as he ran his light over the bulkheads. He reached for the workstation as he walked around, surprised by what he found, "Hey! Take a look at this!" He lifted his hand and a stream of metallic bits came with it, following his hand around as he maneuvered it, "It's cold and smooth... like glass! Anyone ever seen anything like it?"

"I don't think you should really be touching that," Blake watched Quegg. "This whole place is strange with a capital S."

Quegg pulled his hand away from the console and the stream of metal dropped back down to cover the console. He smiled and giggled at the whole thing, "Stranger things are all the rage these days." A series of beeps came from the tricorder. He turned and pointed, "The lifesigns are coming from inside that room."

Jasmine looked to Quegg, "Let's proceed with caution. How many life signs, do you detect in that room?" She asked. As she waited for an answer, she started to wonder how the other away team was doing. She still needed to contact them, but she wanted to know how many life forms first. If there was a large contingent, she would ask them to assist her.

Ryan had given Jasmine a nod that he understood and agreed with her. "I haven't seen anything anywhere close to it. Though, I agree we proceed with caution, we need to know who or what is in there."

"One way to be certain," the Science Officer stepped through the door and into the storage room, surprised by what he saw on the opposite side. Several stasis chambers were installed onto the walls of the room, surrounded by the mysterious material that they had just saw in the other room. As he lifted his tricorder to run scans the audible hiss of the life support systems regenerating interrupted them, drawing their attention to the occupants inside.

"Looks like two," he answered jovially as the tricorder indicated their lifesigns were returning to normal.

Ryan looked around the room. His first thought was inquisitive. He wanted to know The Who and why there were two life forms in stasis. And as the rest would, he looked to Jasmine for their next move.

Blake stepped closer squinting through the glass panel that was just above his eyelevel impairing his view. "Can you tell how long they've been in stasis? Is it stable with this strange stuff all over the walls?" he asked having moved toward the rippling wall for an closer inspection but unlike Quegg Dylan didn't want to touch it.

Darkness had been her constant companion for so long that she wasn't sure how to adjust to the rapidly growing light that filled her sight. Everything seemed so different and yet...familiar. Which didn't make any sense but it was just the sensation she felt. She hadn't heard any voices in such a long time. As she blinked away the light and it kept getting stronger, she realized these voices were not ones she knew...and it sent a shiver of fear through her. She was still, trying to determine anything about them. Anything at all. Was she finally out of stasis? She must be. She wondered how long it had been...

Cyrus watched as Quegg played with the rippling wall, and listened to the discussion on what was happening, he stepped up and reached out to the wall and touched it, then turned to the others. "Get the door open we do need to check them and find out just what this is. " running his fingers along the wall.

Twisting his head toward Haynes waiting for her approval of the Doctor's instructions Dylan waited before reaching out toward the chamber curious to see whom was inside.

"It's Programmable Matter," Zehoi said as she held her head from the headache she had. The Orion woman struggled even with the low lights, "Wait how do you not know that?"

"Umm, Doctor, Commander Haynes...?" Blake pointed to the waking woman in case they'd somehow failed to see or hear her speaking. "We have company."

Cyrus looked at the Orion woman looking a little bit confused. Then his attention turned to the woman inside, "Just open the door this is doctor's orders." his voice getting a bit gruff . "Need to check on the woman in there and whomever else is inside."

"I hope they don't bite," Blake muttered remembering how Bliss shot and himself and Commander O'Sullivan weeks before. Despite his misgivings he released the capsule lid of the Orion woman before moving onto the second woman.

"Check her first," the Orion said pointing to the other in stasis. She sat, holding herself thinking about stasis and the possible side-effects of prolonged stasis. While they were removed from the effects of time, long periods of stasis could cause musculature break down, often leading to cramps and the diminishing of physical abilities. Waking from a lengthy period of stasis carries with it minor side effects, including nausea, exhaustion and dizziness, that could last for several days; although, some were afflicted with Neurological Distortion Disorder (NDD), a psychological disorder brought on in humans by prolonged periods of being in stasis while travelling at faster-than-light speeds.

Being removed from stasis abruptly without a proper wake-up procedure was just as dangerous, though not usually fatal unless there were latent respiratory and circulatory complications. Cellular disruptions that may not manifest themselves until days or even weeks after waking.

"Who is in charge here?"

Cyrus motioned towards Commander Haynes, "She is however." he was taking readings with his Medical tricorder, then said to Ryan, "start the waking up process please, and, we do need to get the other woman who is already waking up taken care of."

"I'm on it." Ryan replied and went to work. He was diligent in following the correct procedures. Waking them up needed to be carefully done, giving them as little distress on their minds or bodies as possible.

Bella could hear them and she was slowly figuring out what was going on. Her eyes opened and she looked around. Everything was a whirl and she wasn't even sure what was up or down for a few frightening moments. She closed her eyes again and then took a deep breath to compose herself before opening them again. "My name is Bella Knowles. I'm the Chief Scientist onboard Cold Station 12." Her voice was hesitant and more than a bit scratchy. How long had she been out?

Exchanging glances between the others wondering how best to handle the two women Blake stepped away and keyed the comm to inform the other team of they'll discovery. "Blake to Bishop. Sir, things have become complicated: we've found two members of the Cold Station crew, they've just awaken from stasis."

Bishop's voice came back through the channel. "Message received Mr. Blake, keep me apprised of the situation. We're still trying to access station files."

Jasmine was looked with a disproving look on her face, as Blake made the Call to Bishop. That was not the Lieutenant's place. She reminded herself, after this mission was completed to have a small conversation with Blake. "The good doctor is assisting with their recovery." Jasmine pointed out, as she decided to jump in on the conversation. She was not going to have some hot shot Lieutenant trying to make her look bad.

Ryan looked from Jasmine to Blake, then continued to work. It was a mistake he had made in his younger days. He smiled to himself, thinking that the commander was not a wise choice on Blake’s part to overstep with.

Dylan felt himself wince at Haynes cold tone chipped in. It was apparent his choice to inform the Captain didn't meet her approval but he figured she'd be dealing with the two women and this new discovery needed to be documented. Considering how twisted this universe was they couldn't rule out the chance these two women would attack them and pose a threat to the second team or worse, the Gallio. Rather be safe than sorry the Lieutenant summarized even if his logic would earn him a dressing down from the senior staff later.

"Message received Mr. Blake. Keep me apprised of the situation. We're still trying to access the station files." Bishop's voiced replied.

"Yes sir, Blake out." The Lieutenant signed off.

"Miss Knowles, we're working on getting you out of there, we've just come to investigate this site. I'm Lieutenant Cyrus Marner, part of the medical staff with this crew, a doctor." He moved to where she could possible see him. "How are you feeling currently? Any signs of dizziness?" his voice taking on a soothing tones.

Ryan watched as the woman he had been working on started to wake up. "She will be conscious before long." He said to the others quietly. He kept an eye on her as well as keeping one ear, listening for the other woman to speak.

"Yes." Bella admitted with a soft sigh. "I feel rather wretched, honestly."


The other in stasis, the Orion Officer, rubbed her head as she sat there with the away team. Zehoi looked around at the newcomers, surprised to see them in such ancient attire. It appeared to be Starfleet in origin, but a design far more ancient than any she was familiar with. Maybe they were legitimate, but it was also just as possible that they were those damned impersonators that had come from time to time.

"I'm Lieutenant Zehoi," she announced as she winced in pain from her headache. "Engineering Officer."

Marner turned his attention to Lieutenant Zehoi, noticing her wince, he went to her side. "Let me see about your pain." taking out his hypospray and setting a dose in it. "Would it be alright for you to apply this pain killer?" he asked before he proceeded.

The Orion nodded, silently, giving the Doctor permission to inject her with the medication.

Marner placed the hypospray against her neck and pressed, and with a soft hiss the pain medication was delivered. "There that should help you out." smiling.

Zehoi glanced over at the Science Officer that lay on the other biobed, "We made it! We're going home!"

"This IS my home." Bella stated softly as she looked around the station. "What year is it?"

The Engineer looked at the Away Team after looking at the Science Officer, "Let's return to your ship. The sooner we meet with your Captain and discuss what all is going on the better off we will all be."

 

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