Treasure Hunt

Posted on Tue Oct 24th, 2023 @ 8:47pm by Lieutenant Tracey Walker Jr

Mission: The Q Effect
Location: Various
Timeline: Current

On:

[Security]

Trace was on his way to Security to make his after-shift report. He had been assigned to Deck Two and had had a run in with a particular crewman who had needed to be restrained after a disagreement with the Chef. The man had had to be restrained on at least two other occasions and it was time for disciplinary action. For that, however, he needed the approval of Kronnelti.

As he entered the office, instead he found Sokolov.

“Hey Sokolov, have you seen Kronnelti?” Trace asked the giant of a man.

“He should be back any minute.” He replied, as Trace turned to look down the corridor leading to security. Only, it wasn’t a starship corridor any longer, it was a cave tunnel.

“What the…” he started, then realized Sokolov was gone. The familiar surroundings of the Security Office had been replaced, and he was standing in a cave room, the sounds of dripping ground water all around him. He reached out tentatively and touched the rock of the wall next to him, his fingers coming away wet.

He went to tap his comm badge, but it wasn’t there, and neither was his uniform. He was dressed in a loose-fitting cotton shirt, jeans and a leather jacket. His head sported a wide brimmed hat, and from his hip hung a coiled-up whip and a revolver. “Where the hell am I?” he asked no one in particular.

He grabbed a torch from a nearby wall bracket and walked forward down the corridor.

It was his instincts that saved him. He had been in the artifact hunting business for years before joining Starfleet, and his body knew the feel of a pressure plate long before his mind could register what it was. He ducked just as a metal blade parted the air where his head had been and slammed into the stone wall.

He released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and continued forward, the rest of his old instincts kicking in. He tread carefully, heel, then toe, his eyes cast ahead several feet, looking for the telltale signs of traps – holes in the wall where there shouldn’t be, seams that didn’t make sense given the natural stone corridor, dust laying in a particular pattern.

After several minutes, the corridor opened into a much larger room, the rough-hewn stone walls replaced by what was clearly a metal that was alien in origin. A pedestal sat in the middle of the room, a large stone block inscribed with an alien script atop it. The artifact looked completely undisturbed, and he found his pulse quickening at the prospect of a discovery. Oh, how he’d missed this.

Slowly, he made his way to the central dais, coming within inches of the stone. He rubbed his chin in thought, noting the seams in the pedestal. He had no doubt it was trapped. He looked around for a stone, that was roughly the same size and weight. Finding one pretty quickly, he returned to the dais and carefully replaced the artifact with stone in one quick movement.

Slipping the artifact into the bag at his hip, he gave himself a self-satisfied smile just before his knees buckled, and the entire room shook violently.

“Shit.” He said, and started running the way he’d come, leaping over falling rocks that suddenly obstructed his path. Running at top speed, a huge part of the ceiling began falling directly in his path. He dove for the cave mouth, trying to avoid being crushed.

When he landed, he came up with a face full of…sand?

The cave was gone, and the sun shone brightly, stabbing at his eyes. The sounds of waves crashing filled his ears, and he looked up, blinking at a tall shape before him.

Looking down at him was the confused face of Lieutenant Lance.

“What the hell are you doing?” He asked.

Off:

Ensign Tracey “Trace” Walker Jr
Security Officer
USS Chuck Norris