Time to seek

Posted on Sun Aug 17th, 2025 @ 5:33am by Captain Mira Rodale Lance & Commander Kevin Lance & Lieutenant Commander Awal Kronnelti & Lieutenant Betaras K'ner

1,680 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Hide and seek
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Present

On:

{USS Chuck Norris, Bridge}

Mira adjusted the gloves of her Environmental suit as she walked in to get a view of the planet. “That is a good weather window?” She asked the science officer with a touch of confusion in her voice.

“Yes, Captain. 3 days, then things get worse for a week.” The Ensign told her like this was all wonderful news. Mira narrowed her eyes at the screen, then adjusted the other glove.

Montgomery stood to stand next to her. “How long has it been since you were in an EV Suit?”

“Not too long. I miss my thruster suit.” Mira told him in a lowered voice.

Montgomery laughed, “Tell me, when you ran into the Admiral view port, did you really start wiping it down?”

Mira laughed she had done just that. It was the first thing that had popped into her mind ar the time.It was better than waving hi at his shocked face.

Turning to leave, she went to the shuttle bay. Entering the craft, she took a seat then strapped in.


{ Shuttle Bay }

K'ner guided each member of the away team to their seat as they came aboard, first checking out their suit, then making sure they were strapped in since the bulky suits were usually unfamiliar to most which made each subsequent task more difficult.

As the XO boarded she nodded towards the front. "Deena has adjusted the course per the last weather data. It's gonna be a roller-coaster no matter when or where we go. Everyone is secure, so it's up to you two now. Should be an interesting ride..."

Kevin looked to Mira and resisted the temptation to check her environmental suit a third time. Twice could be credited to vigilance. Thrice was possessive and insecure. Instead, he strapped himself into the pilot's chair and began going through the pre-flight checklist.

As Awal double checks his suit, he then sits down and straps in. Kronnelti then says these damn suits are uncomfortable!

Mira laughed, “maybe but they will save lives. It’s cold and not very hospitable think of Rura Penthe. Not really a place I would want to call home . The air is very thin and bitter cold.”

"Norris, this is Sabine," Kevin said into the shuttle's communicator, "We are prepared and request departure."

"Affirmative, Sabine. Stand-by for launch," Montgomery's voice replied.

The shuttle lifted slightly to permit the opening of the shuttle bay doors, then Mira got the dropping feeling as the shuttle left the ship. Why on earth would they design the docking bay door under the ship? It was one of the last normal thoughts she had before she had to keep her stomach under control.

You got a point said Awal as he holds the bar on the shuttle as it drops.

"Norris, we are free and ready to navigate," Kevin reported.

"Affirmative," Montgomery acknowledge, "Don't do anything I wouldn't. Norris out."

Once we're on the ground who do you want taking point? Kronnelti asked Mira

As the shuttle entered the planet's atmosphere, the shuttle vibrated and bucked. Kevin handed off control of the craft to Deena. The Haz Team member had plenty of time in simulation but not as much "stick" time as the executive officer would have liked. Giving her control now would give her experience and him a chance to evaluate her.

Mira nodded. “Hopefully Kevin will be able to get us on the landing pad. It should recognize the ship’s ID and raise a protective dome around us. Then, we head for the hanger bay doors. There should be a console there where I can enter my command codes.”

“And if he can’t?” She heard someone ask.

“Then we have a long cold walk ahead of us to the shuttle hanger bay and hopefully we will not lose our shuttle in this snow. Either way, Awal, you’re point. There are some wild life I would like to avoid, but if not, we go through them.”

The turbulence increased as the shuttle dipped deeper into the atmosphere. Deena was handling the craft well but Kevin detect a tightness in her jaw that betrayed her discomfort. Still, the was no reason to take control back from her.

Despite the promise of a window of good weather, a storm was raging around the Federation base and the shuttle approached. The localization was curious but Kevin had little time to spare as he watched Deena for any sights of distress.

As she brought the craft towards the base's landing pad the co-pilot announced, "Their landing assistance system isn't responding to squawk. I will need to make a visual approach."

"I have the conn," Kevin announced. His trust of the haz team member's flight skills were not enough to allow him to sit by while she attempted a manual landing in a blinding storm. Especially not while Mira was aboard.

"You have the conn," Deena repeated with a note of relief in her voice. Even with her years as a pilot, this was not going to be an easy landing.

Kevin deployed the shuttle's joystick controller. With the turbulence, the controller provided real-time biofeedback that the console did not. He fought to nudge the shuttle's nose against the crosswind as he made final approach, his eyes straining to see the landing pad in the image projected on the main viewscreen.

"We're detecting a variation in the shuttle's power generation," Deena announce. Kevin could feel the momentary loss of thrust and the craft briefly surrender to the buffeting winds.

"Affirmative," he replied, "I am going to wave off landing on the station's pad. We'll need to set down somewhere on the edge of this storm."

He pulled back on the joystick and the shuttle made a lurching climb back into the sky. He circled back in the direction that they had approached from and found a suitable patch of level ground to settle the craft upon.

Now that they had landed, Mira unhooked the straps and stood. “Well, we have a bit of a walk.” Mira nodded, looking out the view screen at least the ship was in one piece. “Grab your packs we move out.” She kissed Kevin’s cheek before activating her helmet. It came out of her collar and sealed close. “Remember, no one takes the EV Suit off until K’ner clears the environment.”

"Be careful," Kevin admonished her, "I will send Sergeant MacFarlane with you but I need to stay here to troubleshoot the power loss."

Mira nodded to Awal to proceed.

With his phaser in hand, Awal takes point.

What are the wildlife creatures you'd like to avoid? Asked Awal as he keeps his head on a swivel.

“There are 3 predominant ones. From what I have read they all mostly live up in the mountains. Chances of running into them in the valley should be slim but our luck has never been good. They haven’t named them yet but one looked like a drakougood to me. its a large, furry, quadrupedal predator native to the ice planet Delta Vega. I Believe this one should be the size of a lion maybe. Then the report said to stay out of the caves in the northern lands. It was Described as a very hungry large cave worm 12 foot long. Both are sole hunters and shouldn’t be in this area. The one we could run into is about the size of a wolf only very ugly. They hunt in packs of 4. With the colony here now, most of them shouldn’t be in the area. Still everyone be on guard and look for survivors.”

For all she knew all the colony was tucked in their nice warm beds waiting the storm out.

As the doors opened a blast of Arctic air entered. The suits did there job and Mira only felt slightly cold. Looking at her PADD she pointed “we head that way.

As Awal keeps lead, small creature like animals come and go.

The path goes on for another two miles before reaching a field. Kronnelti stops at the edge and looks out.

"Captain come up here quickly!" Said Awal

The fluffy white stuff that fell was much nicer to watch from a window Mira thought as she kept her eyes on the PADD attached to her arm. They were Making good time and so far all had gone well. She felt someone's hand guide her out of something she was probably going to run into again. Last time it was a branch.

“You know the scanner isn’t going to tell you that you are about to step in a hole.” Geneva chuckled.

Mira gave her a smile “Seems I need someone to keep me safe.”

Walker nodded “Kevin should have kept you on the ship.”

Mira laughed “where is the fun in that?”

Just then she heard her name being called. So they moved forward to meet Awal. Mira nodded “ that’s it. The larger round building is the stronghold. Looks a lot larger in person. Shields are up. So they do have power. That other building is the hanger.” Her hand went to her helmet to adjust visual settings. “no heat or movement. Luckily the Shields are down at the hanger and that console will let me access what we need. Nothing looks like it has been attacked.”

K'ner tapped her comm channel. "Confirmed, no structural damage perceived, doesn't appear to be any residual energy from weapons, no craters or abandoned vehicles we can see yet, no radiation beyond the norm. All in all, pretty quiet... too quiet. We should be getting comms, both navionics and data, but nothing is broadcasting so far."

A short ways off, beneath the drifting snow, an alien creature's visual receptors watched the away team's advance with wary curiosity.



OFF:

Lt Betaras K'ner
Hazard Team Combat Medic TL-B / CMO
USS Chuck Norris

&

Captain Mira Rodale Lance
CO USS Chuck Norris

&

Commander Kevin Lance
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris

&

Lieutenant Commander Awal Kronnelti
Chief of security and tac
USS Chuck Norris

 

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