Entry#2.1
Unknown
Ensign Blathma awoke to the sounds of chirping of birds. He couldn't remember what had happened. The assembly of the elevator had been proceeding as well as it could have and then the blue flash.
Blue flash? Maybe that was just an artifact of memory. Although what wasn't was the incessant chirping of birds despite being muffled through his EV-
Birds?
Blathma suddenly sat up. Birds!? There isn’t supposed to be any birds on this planet, it's a wasteland! He looked around his new and decidedly not lifeless environment. It was a colorful forest as far as he could see, and it continued up and over the mountain in front of him.
Where am I? Wait, where is everybody? Blathma shot up to his feet, startling the nearby birds.
“Syn! Where are you?” he called. “Tax? Is everyone alright!?”
He waited for a reply, but there was none save for the sounds of startled wildlife. The birds now flew away. Wait, why am I not using comms? He thought suddenly before activating his helmet’s transmitter and setting it to broadcast on all frequencies.
“This is Ensign Blathma, Syn, Tax, is anyone out there? If you are then say something!”
There was no response. Only static that sounded rather rhythmic.
“I repeat, this is Ensign Blathma, is anybody out there? I hope you’re not having a laugh.”
Still no response. Just that same strangely rhythmic static.
It seemed that neither Syn nor the exocomps were around. Blathma began to wonder, am I on a different planet? His ears said yes, his nose couldn't say anything since the EV suit helmet was still intact and he wasn't about to remove that just yet. That left his eyes and the visual clues they find.
Blathma engaged the helmet's telescopic functions and looked up into leaves. He then searched for a clearing, found one that was nearby. He proceeded to walk towards it. When he got to the clearing he took his first good look at the sky.
At first he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, relatively speaking. A clear blue sky with only one or two clouds to be seen, and a horizon hidden by the forest surrounding him and the mountain to one side. Suddenly, he did see something that seemed out of place. Several faint metallic glints held in a line were moving across the sky. He wouldn’t have noticed them if not for his helmet’s built in telescopic and enhancement functions. Blathma wasn’t sure exactly what the glints were at first, but one possibility dawned on him however impossible it seemed. He was still on Vestige.
This is going to take some time to explain in the report, was his only thought as the glints vanished behind the trees.
Entry#2.2
Vestige, System TF-2011
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
1 stick of butter
2 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of salt
Optional Ingredient:
1 bag of dark chocolate chips.
At some point Syn will try that old Human recipe, but now wouldn't be the best time.
The space elevator project had clearly been a disaster. On top of that he was still fumbling in the dark of a cave, and he had no idea on how to begin writing his report back to Starfleet. It was a rare moment when Syn wished that some of the misconceptions surrounding Andorian antenna were true, especially where exaggerated navigational abilities were concerned. All the antennas could do in that regard was to give him a great sense of balance. They were no replacement for a good flashlight. The flashlights he did have were all broken because of course they would be.
Most of the gear on his suit had been damaged. It seemed he fell from a good height, and it was a wonder that he didn't die.
He tried the communicator again, "This is Ensign Syn, if anyone is out there please respond." The only response was static which seemed unusual somehow. It seemed he was alone, and it was going to be that way for a while until he could get out of the cave.
I really hope I'm not just going around in circles, he wondered.
A white flash later and Syn was rubbing his eyes, or he would be if the visor of his helmet wasn't in the way. He was somehow even more blinded than he was before despite the darkness.
*Beep!*
Few beings could make a sound like that, and Syn knew that two of them were here on this planet...
"Dammit Tax!" said Syn as he continued to try to rub his eyes, but he knew it would be some time before any dark vision he may have had returned to him. At the very least, it seemed that the exocomp's flashlight was still working.
"Where were you?"
*Beep boop beep beep boop*
If that was a story, Syn didn't understand it. If Tax could replicate any tool he needed to solve an engineering problem, what was so difficult about making a vocal synth? Of course there was a reason why, but it didn't seem to matter right now.
"How about another question, do you know the way out?"
Tax let off another beep that was clearly meant as a 'no.'
"Well, how much of this cave did you explore?"
Tax replicated a holographic projector on its nose and then displayed a map that showed the extent of the passages it had managed to explore. If the map was right, it appeared that Tax had reactivate close to 10 miles from where Syn regained consciousness.
"Is the cave really that big? How did we even get down here?"
*beep*
"I really hope we're close to finding a way out of here. At least I can see again, so let's get moving. You should take the lead since you have a light." Syn finished that thought while pointing to his damaged helmet.
Tax understood and proceeded to find a way out of the cave. With some light Syn could see what the cave looked like. It was rocky, and in spots there seemed to be some kind of moss growing, and above there were even roots. They were not dead, but alive. I thought this planet was lifeless? Syn wondered just as he spotted an underground lake. It was a good thing Tax found him, otherwise he might've found himself trying to swim.
Thirty minutes later, they didn't find an entrance. They heard a strange noise, however.
Tax, *beep*
Syn, "I hear it too. It sounds like it is coming from around this corner. Let's take a look."
Syn and Tax rounded the corner to their left, and both froze as they saw a large eight-legged creature gorging itself on some glowing roots.
Syn wondered if it would like some brownies too.
Entry#2.3
Runabout Good Samaritan
The long trip would soon be over, and the new assignment would soon begin. Delia wasn't sure if she was looking forward to what's ahead or not. She's been over the reasons for why it could be a bad mission and the reasons for why it could be a good mission several times over. She was no closer to a conclusion. It seemed a determination could only be achieved in retrospect, when everything was said and done.
The runabout had just about reached planet Vestige. Records revealed that the previous commander of Oscar 19, Vinu, came up with the name. Vulcans were usually erred on the pragmatic side when naming anything she found, so there must be a reason for it.
Delia reached for the controls before saying,
"Approaching Vestige. Dropping us out of warp."
"Delia, I am detecting a massive energy surge." Zoe said with the lack of excitement that is common to all of her responses.
"Where?"
"From Vestige."
The Good Samaritan was engulfed in a blue flash before either of them could react.
Darkness gave way to a dream...
...and then the dream was lost.
I never could remember every lyric, were Delia's first thoughts as she regained consciousness although they were quickly forgotten. She awoke to the sight of her own hair. After getting it under control she became acutely aware that she was floating, and that artificial gravity was gone. She wondered how long she was out, and how many other systems were offline. If she had to pick any one system to be offline now, it would be life support (and it was).
Once Delia's vision was clear enough, having tied her hair into a bun, she took a good look at her surroundings. She found Zoe floating as well, and she was offline. She was just about to try to reactivating the exocomp when when Zoe suddenly reactivated.
As soon as Delia regained control of her own heart rate she said, "Oh good, you're still with me. What happened?"
The exocomp quickly finished a self diagnosis before responding, "My systems must have shut down as an automatic defense against the energy surge."
"Yeah, what was that?"
"I am running an analysis now. By the way, you should don an EV suit immediately. I estimate only 20 minutes of oxygen left."
"That was my plan. How long were we out?"
"My chronometer indicates that we were incapacitated for several hours."
Using a set of precise movements that zero-g required, she made her way over to EV suit storage. It took a few minutes to get into and activate the suit, gravity boots and all.
Once she was certain that nothing was wrong with her suit, Delia made her way over to the runabout's controls. As she settled back into the pilot's seat she attempted a manual reactivation of the controls. It was partially successful. Luckily, enough subsystems had reactivated that she was able to determine that the runabout's automated distress beacon had been activated. She would try contacting Oscar 19 next. Maybe they could explain what had happened, assuming that whatever the energy pulse was had not killed them.
"Delia, we are in danger." Zoe said suddenly.
"Moreso than we are now?"
"Yes, we are on a collision course for the planet's moon."
And indeed they were, for the grey object in front of them was growing rapidly.
Entry#2.4
Odin Base
The dark room illuminated by the lights of various screens and holographs was quiet yet focused as the data streamed in from the various drones currently deployed on and around Vestige. The drones could communicated via quantum entanglement. While more difficult to implement, this style of communication allows a steady connection in spite of any subspace interference that may be present. Additionally, no one can eavesdrop on transmissions between two entangled points without giving themselves away.
"Is it done?" asked the shaded, older trill figure who only ever called himself Adrar.
"Yes, we're just waiting for the data to come in now" replied a Benzite. His name was Sond and he was lucky to have this job considering his standing with the Daystrom Institute.
As the simulations predicted, the device had worked as intended. So far so good.
"We have just received the first batch of data from the drones" said Sond after a minute. He continued, "We have total conversion of planetary matter."
"Excellent! Have there been any anomalies." Adrar was always alert to any unexpected developments during this sort of operation.
"Nothing unexpected" replied Sond after examining the data for a moment.
"And Oscar 19?"
"Syn and Blathma were not transformed in the energy surge. Their exocomps also appear to be unchanged as well."
"What about Delia and Zoe?"
"We should be getting data from the Good Samaritan shortly."
"Understood."
Adrar then turned his attention to the other side of the room, "Has Starfleet taken notice yet?"
"No activity yet," replied Neva Ideme, Bajoran, "but they will notice the energy surge. That subspace wave will be detected as far as Andoria, and maybe as far as Sol." Neva was once a MACO. She left after a disagreement with a commanding officer on whether certain principles had to be maintained during wartime. She went AWOL during the Earth's last stand and has found herself a part of Adrar's team whose methods were more to her liking.
"Then Hugin will need to complete her task while there's still time" said Adrar. Neva was about to bring up something when Sond suddenly interjected.
"Sir, we're getting data from the Good Samaritan now. The runabout was caught in the energy surge." Neva was irritated at the interruption, unlike Adrar who calmly turned his attention back to Sond.
"Lifesigns?"
"We have Ferraro's lifesign. The exocomp appears to be functional as well. However, they are on an intercept course with the planet's moon."
"How unfortunate. Well then, it seems that phase two is more successful than we had hoped for. By the way, has the Good Samaritan activated her distress beacon?"
"Yes, but no one will receive it through the interference."
"That gives us some much needed time."
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