Reflections...
Posted on Sat Sep 27th, 2025 @ 7:41pm by Lieutenant Betaras K'ner
Edited on on Sat Sep 27th, 2025 @ 7:41pm
545 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission:
Starbase 364
Location: Roanoke
Timeline: current
{ Lower Levels }
K'ner noted yet another alert on her HUD. Now the Captain too had opened the seal on her environmental suit. Ah well, that was fully half the away team now, but they would all likely need to process through at least some quarantine anyway before being allowed to roam the ship freely when they returned...
She side-stepped the apparition she'd been tailing, still building data on the phenomena. Two of the other crew had reported a startling zap, like a static charge when they accidentally came into contact. She hoped her data added up before something more significant occurred...
Taking a moment, she checked her tri-vid monitors now scattered throughout the facility. So far the outside was practically white-out conditions. In one way it reminded her of one of the scenarios in the matrix, one that she hadn't minded so much compared to some of the others.
She did note over the period she had been monitoring that there were a couple of levels that seemed to have no evidence of the ghostly visages at all. That just added to the data for now, since she wasn't sure what to make of that.
Even though there wasn't much power draw down here, the air processors had shut down and just a few lights were on for safety, she'd noticed that occasionally the lights dimmed still. She had traced the extra draw with Lt Walker's assistance, back to the level where the Captain, the XO, Cdr Kronnelti, and SSgt Deena had stayed to suss out more on the colony and the storm. Perhaps they were making progress in their analysis.
As the latest apparition disappeared into a wall, K'ner turned to the crewman that was still studying the settlement. "Anything stand out?"
She nodded. "They needed a certain amount of technology to create this space, some of these materials, some of the bonding in the structures themselves, but there's no trace of that equipment. It's like they built it, then destroyed it all and settled in. Doesn't quite track with some anti-tech society, but the species appears basically human in general terms, just simplistic at that point."
She waved an arm across the layout. "They had everything they needed to survive down here. They either didn't need quite the air mixture we do, or had adapted. But there's no evidence here of the wanton destruction like there is on the surface. Maybe they were driven down here but something... if not the hostile environment... but if it was so inhospitable, while land here? Crashed and they had no choice? Or did something else change? Or change them?"
She shook her head. "We know so little still. If we knew who they were, more about their species, we'd have more clues. Did they change something in themselves, or were they somehow changed by forces we have yet to determine? Survival can be a powerful motivator."
K'ner heard her gasp and glanced back up in time to see her fingertips go ghostly white as she skimmed across the wall where that last ghost had disappeared... "Something is calling... me..." The voice faded to a whisper, almost a buzz in the background vibration.
OFF:
Lt Betaras K'ner
Hazard Team Combat Medic TL-B / CMO
USS Chuck Norris
:o)
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