Page 87 - Deck 10, Engineering

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2020 @ 10:51am by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison & Chief Petty Officer Benjamin Thor & Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers

Mission: Dead Moon
Location: Alien Vessel

The descent into the heart of the unknown vessel was more of a psychological trip then a physical one. Lights flickered, doors started to open and then seemingly changed their minds, and through it all there was a silence. There was no hum of an engine, no distant buzz of a reactor...nothing.

The ship was also lacking in any form of bodies. No signs of struggle, no signs of an invading force. It was simply devoid of anything.

Down to deck ten, and the map showed two other lower cargo bay regions, of sorts, with the pathway to main engineering before them. A set of emergency doors were half open, leading into the actual engineering section. The path to the primary reactor, the heart of the ship itself, was behind another set of doors. These doors were larger and thicker than the other doors encountered thus far.

The actual engineering bay had panels and a central section for meetings and focused assignments, more likely than not, though in the ship's current critical power situation, the panels were disabled. Engineering was cold and dark.

The lights on Rogers environmental suit helmet cast alien shadows about the room as he looked around. "Looks like the last person here turned the lights out when they left." He remarked grimly, running a hand over one of the deactivated consoles. "Any ideas how we might turn 'em back on Chief?"

"At the moment, not a clue," Ben admitted visually searching the room.

Carissa shivered slightly from her vantage point at the back of the away team, having been added at the last minute to help bolster the presence of security. "Where are the crew?" she asked quietly. "It's like a ghost ship. What happened to them?"

"Good question," Will said, scanning with his tricorder. "I'm not detecting any damage that you'd think would force them to abandon ship, and the lack of bodies would seem to rule out violence or any medical issues like viruses or radiation that would kill, or at least incapacitate, the crew. I'm inclined to agree with Lt. Rogers here - at the very least, whatever happened, it looks like the crew had enough time to turn things off before they left."

Ben moved towards the central section and started looking for a light switch, or failing that a removable panel.

A panel was located near the massive doorway sealing off what was believed to be the primary reactor. Behind that panel was an access shaft that lead into an engineering access tube. It seemed the concept of a Jefferies Tube was universal. Along the wall of that access tube, though, there was an access panel that had been jarred loose. Perhaps by an explosion outside the ship or whatever caused it to find itself in its previous hellish location. On the floor of the engineering access crawl space were cube-shaped semi-transparent objects. Behind the panel that was jarred loose, it seemed there were places to place those cubes.

They looked and seemed for all the world like Federation standard Isolinear chips. Except they were not chips, so much as cubes. Within the panel there was a slight buildup of power, and then everything went dark again.

Rogers crawled along the access tunnel, stopping on the far side of the dislodged panel. He picked up one of the cubes, and turned it over in his hands looking for any markings which might correspond to the sockets in the wall. "Square peg, square hole?" He suggested to the team.

Carissa crawled through the Jefferies Tube behind Rogers, phaser still held out prepared for the unknown. "If these are like the tubes on Federation ships, it's possible we can travel through the ship easier in here than walking along corridors?" She asked quietly, keeping her voice deliberately low.

Lucy nodded. "Less likely to be found by anything that may still be alive, if there is anything, as well." She answered quietly. Upon entering the tubes she'd slung her rifle onto her back, and pulled out her sidearm.

Upon closer inspection to the cubes, they seemed generic and devoid of markings, as are the slots in the wall panel that they seemed to be in relation to. No markings, no symbols or codes. Square peg, square hole seemed to be an apt description of their function.

Seeing as the cubes were devoid of markings, Rogers figured it didn't matter which socket they were placed in. Motioning for the security officers to stand a little back, he gathered up the cubes and placed them into panel sockets. "Hey Chief!" He called back to the engineering room. "That do anything?"

With each cube returned to the wall panel, the power fluctuations were slightly less sporadic. Slightly less intense. The lights stayed on that much longer, the power was that much more stable. Though there was no sound, no hum, no indication that there was even an active power source anywhere nearby. The final cube in place, and the lights turned back on. No more power spikes.

The lights were on, but still nobody was home. The various panels and consoles of the Engineering bay started to go through their startup routines, displaying a diagnostic of the ship they were in along the main wall. Power was flowing nicely, though none of the words or labels made any sense.

Pointing at some of the 'writing' on the wall after a few moments, Will said, "This certainly looks like a written language, though the universal translator is still working on it."

"My only guess is some sort of diagnostic, doesn't looks like anything bad." Ben added.

The access tunnel they were in lead through the ship until it reached another wall panel, as seen from the inside. It had markings on it that looked like writing, in addition to a simple silhouette picture of what looked like a shuttlecraft. This would line up with the projection of the interior that the away team had, listing larger cargo bays near engineering. Hangar bays, perhaps.

When he arrived the end of the tunnel, Rogers ran a hand along the frame of the panel hoping to locate a switch or release so they could progress.

The hatch out of the service tunnel was easily opened, regardless of the power situation. Beyond the panel was another bay the same size and scope as the cargo bay. This one was purposed into a vehicle bay. Various forms of craft lay dormant within their bays. Some of them were larger than the others, some form of carry-all or personnel transports. They showed no signs of any recognizable nacelle build, or warp engine of any form.

The other craft off to the other side of the hangar were much smaller. Single occupant fighter craft, from the looks of it. Sleek, streamlined, almost predatory in design. No warp design or nacelle design of any form, it seemed it was another sub-warp support craft. Though, there was something about the design of the single-occupant craft...

Rogers regarded the fighters warily. "Aw crap-baskets." He grumbled, recognizing the design. He reached for his comm badge. "Rogers to Laurens. Cap, you need to order the away team back to the ship." He'd seen that kind of fighter before and was well aware of their owners penchant for secrecy. He'd have preferred not to involve the captain like this, but he couldn't pull rank on the bridge team and order them off. Not without an explanation, and he didn't care to do that on an open channel.

Will noted Buck's action. Will still wasn't picking up any indications of organic lifeforms other than the away teams on his tricorder, though he knew that might not mean much if there was a threat from a non-organic lifeform, or if organic lifeforms knew how to mask their lifesigns. Leaning over to Carissa, Will quietly said, "Keep your guard up and be prepared to move if needed."

Will walked over to Buck, and gently placed a couple of fingers on the other man's shoulder. "Problem?" Will asked quietly.

Buck turned to his namesake. "Could be." He nodded. "Think I know who's ship this is: They ain't fans of people touching their stuff."

There was something about the tone of voice Rogers had used that made Abigail react immediately. "Understood Lieutenant," she said calmly, closing the direct communication only to open a new one. "Astraea to the away team. Prepare for immediate transport."

With a glance toward the operations officer on the bridge, she nodded slightly. "Bring them home Ensign."