Off to Degma

Posted on Sat Oct 31st, 2026 @ 4:16am by Captain Mira Rodale Lance & Commander Kevin Lance & Lieutenant Betaras K'ner
Edited on on Sat Oct 31st, 2026 @ 5:08am

2,789 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Degma
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Present

On:
{Mess hall, Chuck Norris}

“Open” Mira told Jason as she held a spoon of porridge out to him. He claimed his lips tightly. “Fine” she brought the spoon to Asha’s mouth. “Show Jason how a girl eats.” She opened her mouth with a grin.
Ashla’s grin was adorable. “That’s my big girl.”

Mira took a sip of her coffee then a bit of her omelet before holding a spoon of his porridge out to Jason again. He shook his little head and pointed to her eggs. With a roll of her eyes Mira gave him some eggs. She knew darn well that Ashla was going to want eggs next, too. Last time she had tried to feed them, they didn’t want eggs. Sure enough, when the spoon of porridge was brought to Ashla’s mouth, she shook her head no then Jason started to shake his head no. Yep, that had been her life for weeks now.

She got up to get another cup of coffee and frowned when the replicator cut her off. How rude, she thought, then looked around for Chip as she came back with more eggs and dumped them on her plate. If the kids wanted what she was eating, fine.

“CHIP!” It’s lights lit up. “I need a large cup of ……..hot coffee extra cream and sugar.” It wasn’t her normal order of Raktajino but if they wanted her to cut back, then coffee was a cut back.

Chip vibrated like he was happy to get an order and a 32 oz of coffee appeared. Mira grinned, she loved her wedding gift.

=/\= “Montgomery to Captain. We are ready to depart.” =/\=

“Captain here, make it so, Commander.” She said after tapping her commbadge.

Next stop, Dregma.

“Ambassador M’Niras is back on the Starbase,” Kevin said as he walked in to the mess hall, “Looked madder than if I had plunged him into an icy cold bath. I sure that won’t come back to haunt us.” He leaned in for a kiss.

Mira raised an eyebrow as Kevin walked in. “I have seen him look that way before.” She grinned as she kissed him. Of course Ashla pushed her lips out for a kiss.

“Ham and cheese omelette with a mug of kona coffee, please,” he asked of the mysterious box. The plate appeared on the table across from Mira. Kevin kissed his daughter on the cheek with a loud “MWAAH” noise the settled down across from his wife.

Ashla giggled at the kiss while Jason just looked puzzled by the interaction.

“I haven’t had a chance to review the new mission profile since the swap,” he said as he took a sip of coffee. “What can you tell me about it?”

Mira leaned closer to Jason and kissed his hand. That made him smile at her. He was learning. It would take time.

As she fed both kids, Mira smiled at Kevin.

“This should be a piece of cake.” She blinked not sure if that was the right saying. “Or is it called a walk in the park?” she gave a little shrug. “We are basically playing escort for a group of Colonists going there. It’s a new colony. Established about six months ago. They have all the basics built already on a cliff looking down into a valley.
We will need to check medical and security procedures and the facilities are set up correctly. The next step will be the colonist homes in the valley.. Planet is said to never have been colonized before. At least nothing they have found. Should be a nice, relaxing possibly boring mission.” Mira crossed her fingers. “If dirtside is secure, maybe we can do R&R rotations down to the colony and surrounding areas. We will be there 3 days until the next ship brings in another group of people. That’s all I was told.”

She leaned back into her chair as both children slowed down eating and took a sip of her coffee. “Hard to believe such a beautiful planet hasn’t been populated all ready. It’s a possible vacation spot.” She handed both kids a cut piece of toast. “I was thinking maybe dinner in the Holodeck? We could keep the park simulation going and add tables and chairs? Whoever is free could join us?”


{ Cargo 2, Chuck Norris }

“MWAHH!” K’ner’s fingers flew out from her pursed lips in an appreciative gesture, chewing thoroughly before swallowing.

“I cannot understand how you can eat that. You know it can harden and jam up a lot of things inside your body!” Billingsly shook her head with a sigh, not understanding her boss’ predilection for the uncommon and dangerous pastry.

K’ner waited until she had counted her mastications carefully, never taking a chance with a Geemar delicacy, given the exact reasons Anya just proclaimed. Letting it congeal or firm up because it wasn’t broken down enough would require some surgery, and that, only if caught quickly enough before situation became worse. Eaten carefully, it was absolutely delightful, but eaten frivolously, it could be deadly in a worst case scenario. They weren’t sold or even given away without serious consideration.

“These are fresh and the best time to enjoy them! You sure you don’t want one?”

Anya shook her head vigorously while Margo and Kotsoo chuckled nearby.

The others finished what they were doing in the makeshift gym that they’d all adopted, even though a more formal exercise room was now available. This also allowed them to get by with some damage here and there without hearing complaints from the rest of the crew, plus they could change it up as mission needs dictated, or just the shake up the routine.

“So, what’s the dealio, chief?” Chbet’s musical tones seemed to tinkle in the air. K’ner had never asked, but wondered what it would be like to hear the Aquelian read a story out loud.

“Fresh colonization. Hardware was set up, now the meat targets arrive. We’re escort, ground support initially to verify their prep was sound and complete. Maybe do some brief scouting since we will be there 3 days until the next ship brings in another group. No advanced species sighted since the initial survey, followups, and the camps were set up.”

K’ner shrugged. “From what I read, that’s the end of it.”

The others mostly smiled, knowing there was more. Anya looked back and forth, trying to read the team and realizing here was another new thing for her to learn.

K’ner continued. “Most of us have regular duties in the transfer and evaluation, but outside of that, the Hazard Team will make some of our own forays. There were way fewer of those surveys than I’d like, someone really wanted to get in here and the thoroughness of scans were NOT a priority… Some were actually cancelled or curtailed, and that was not part of the official record of course.”7

Korra nodded as she let loose a little conspiratorial grin, having read most of this since she was the one that rooted it out.

“There were two absences that were never explained, bodies or evidence never recovered, or maybe never reported. Everyone coming here will be, or should be, new, and not familiar with the area and the facilities. The new colonists will have studied the layout, know more about their own departments of course, but keep an eye out for someone that seems to be more comfortable than they should be.”

“What do we know about the missing two?” Deena was always the most suspicious, looking for conspiracies in all the corners.

“Only vaguely known to each other. One was an equipment tech, moderate experience in their field but no combat experience of record. The other was a cook, apprentice actually.

“The hook with the cook, was he fancied himself a budding botanist, and looks like he was trying to identify and name a few unknown species before the real scientists arrived to start classifying everything. So he had reason to wander out of the secure zone.”

“Timeframe?”

“Last cycle of the build up. The tech disappeared day 14… The cook, day 23. Apparently unrelated but there is a marked lack of detail in many of the daily logs. The first foot down was almost 6 months ago, we’re about 70 days behind the last build crew cycle and when the disappearances occurred, or will be when we arrive, so any lingering evidence will likely be scarce but we’re looking anyway. It’s been painted as a paradise, temperate climate at this time of year, geologically stable, which is good since it’s on a cliff face… Nice view, but that has its obvious hazards.

“We’ll check around that and the valley down below. If everything checks out, it’ll be a pleasant hike.” Several of the squad moaned lightly while a couple of them laughed.

“If not, it could get more interesting…”

Taz sat up straighter, if that were possible. “I love my job.”

{Mess Hall}

Mira sat back in her chair with a laugh. She handed both babies a piece of toast. Ashla of course smashed it into the tray happy as can be but Jason just looked at it puzzled as what he should do with it. His eyes went to hers as she took a bite of her own toast. Then he decided to taste it. That was followed by a grin.

The doors opened and in walked Montgomery he kissed both kids on the top of their heads then sat down next to Kevin. “Newest report. They are up to 4 missing now.”

Mira frowned as she took a sip of her coffee. “it’s not a Federation base. The people aren’t star fleet officers is it possible they just left?”

Montgomery handed Kevin a PADD. “No ship has left the planet or arrived since this all happened. They are also out of salt. A conflicting report was filed. The cook turned up briefly. Then his body was found a few hours later. They don’t have a medical chief only a Medic so its not very detailed , according to the report the body found was dead for weeks. Death is uncertain but the body had several round marks on it. The area has bin quarantined because the medical officer isn’t sure if it’s a reaction to bugs or plant toxins.”

“They don’t have a doctor?” Mira asked thinking how it was possible to even responsibly start a colony without one.

“The doctor was the 3rd to go missing long with a security officer” Montgomery told her before getting a cup of coffee. “There is another medical doctor that will be arriving in 3 days. As acting captain.” He passed her a PADD “My last duty is to hand this whole thing over to you and make you captain again.” He grinned

Mira laughed he had tried 3 times to give her command back. She had avoided it each time waiting to see how long it would take him to do just what he did. She have a sigh then took the PADD being handed to her. “Fine, send medical the reports once we arrive we will send out a few shuttles to look for the other 3 people. It will give our people a chance to use their skills. Start replicating salt in quantities that our systems can handle without any problems.” She looked at the PADD with a frown to see what little had been found out about body. “So how does a dead man show up and disappear again?”

“Any of a number of reasons,” Kevin replied, “Something on the planet causing rapid decomposition, a side effect of whatever killed the cook, a botched autopsy by an inexperienced examiner. But we should proceed with caution.” He took Ashla from her high chair and settled her in his lap.
Montgomery winked at Jason before heading out of the mess hall. Mira gave him a grateful smile before looking back at the PADD. It had been weeks since she got her hands on a PADD. Between Zimia and Montgomery everyone she had taken disappeared. She had just given up. Then the hints to step back up had come in. She wanted to give Montgomery a hard time.

He looked at Mira as she read the PADD, unconsciously biting her lip. After a moment he asked, “Are you happy? Being Captain, I mean.”

Blinking up she gave a small laugh. “Being Captain had not been a plan of mine. I spent years doing stupid and reckless things so command would demote me” Mira laughed pulling her hand over her face as she blushed. “This ship and the crew was a …..” She thought about it. “A chance to rejoin life. To see if I could handle being around people. I took communications. I have always been good with languages.” She shrugged. “But being around people again after so long. I wasn’t sure I could handle it.” Her hand brushed Jason’s cheek then started to clean him up.

“While you were convalescing, free from official duties, you were the most relaxed and happy as I have ever seen you. And you repeatedly put off taking command back from Jeffery. It doesn’t seem that you are particularly eager to be back in command.”

Mira pulled Jason into her lap. “I was a little angry. You were gone for 7 months. I tried to tell them you wouldn’t just leave without a word like that. Then someone faked messages and more problems. I did a few things that could be considered unbecoming of a star fleet officer .
Then, I got Jason back. I was going to go after you and….” She rubbed her chest where the bullet had hit her. “ Command ordered us back… ordered Montgomery to take over and I pushed to hard to recover and ended up hurting myself again. More recovery time, then I planned.” She sighed Jason needed more attention. He had nightmares so I took it easy. AS ordered.”

Kevin waited a moment before he spoke. He had spent much of the time since their reunion considering the future. Finally, he said, “What if you were to resign your command and switch over to the diplomatic corps? You would have more time to spend with the family and wouldn’t be subject to the whims of Admiral Proll any longer.”

Kevin could tell that she was considering his words.

“Or we could both resign from Star Fleet and you could appoint me Gin’tak of House Rasmehlier.” He suggested, “The Great Council would just love that.”

Mira laughed at the idea of them both going into a Klingon lifestyle permanently. “I hope in a few years to turn all the households over to someone else. My nephew just needs a few years to grow into the position. Shan’nara too, she needs a few more years.”

“Oh good,” Kevin replied with relief in his voice, “I wasn’t looking forward to having to develop a taste for gagh.” She laughed with him.

“As to diplomatic corps, that would put me right into M’Niras’ hands. I didn’t think you would ever want to give up on being in star fleet.” Mira watched him. Trying to see if he had plans that might not include her and the kids. Did he not want to stay together? She bit her lip as she reached for her coffee.

Careful, Kevin thought as he read her body language. “I married you, not Star Fleet,” he said, “and while I never thought it possible, I have a family.” He raised Ashla to touch his forehead to hers and made a silly noise that sent his daughter into squeals of delight.

Mira smiled liking what he had said her body relaxed even more.
Jason grinned “da, ma, ish” he giggled. Mira nodded “that’s right Dada, Mama and Ashla” she smiled “ well then if anyone pushes us we take the Harbinger and go on a very long vacation until we make plans.” She looked down at Jason “I never really thought about having kids. Probably wouldn't have if Q hadn’t had drop Kolar off with us. Then these to came without plans but they are my world. I can’t even imagine my life without them.”

"Nor I, Kitten," Kevin said with a wide smile. "Nor I."

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

 

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