Atmosphere

Posted on Fri Dec 12th, 2014 @ 11:40pm by Commander Eliana Masters & Commodore Kathleen O'Shea

Mission: Bloodpath
Location: Taranok IV - FOB Phoenix
Timeline: Day 3: 0230 LT - Hours after Rosaleen's death

The storm that had threatened the well-being of thousands of Taraken refugees had long since moved on, leaving nothing but the brilliant night sky behind. The nearby city of Prepheradus lay quiet, its power infrastructure severely compromised by the explosion that had brought the crew from Starbase 80 here in the first place. A few hours ago, dozens of campfires burned brightly through the rain, but they were nothing more than glowing piles of ashes by now.

High atop a nearby hill, Eliana Masters stood overlooking FOB Phoenix and the city beyond. From this elevated vantage point, the smoke from the smoldering campfires blended with the smoke rising from the destroyed buildings at the city’s center. The serenity of the scene belied the turmoil going on inside of her head.

She had discretely changed out of her uniform and into dark-colored, civilian clothes and escaped the base under the cover of night. The plan was to be back before anyone noticed that she was even missing to begin with.

Masters was alone in a warzone with nothing except her thoughts to keep her company. A few hours had passed since Rosaleen’s death, and now that it was finally quiet enough for her to process everything, Ellie had retreated to her hilltop sanctum.

“I miss you Petra – you would know what to say right now,” she grieved, trying her best not to add on to the misery.

The wind picked up momentarily. Eliana pulled her jacket hood up over her head, conserving as much heat as she could. She closed her eyes for a moment and for a fleeting moment, she saw Rosaleen again in her mind’s eye – the very image that had prevented her from falling asleep.

Come on, take a walk, do something – anything except for this.

Gliding silently between the shadows, Masters caught glimpse of a familiar sight as she crested another hill. The ground crew from flight operations had been keeping all of the craft on the surface on continuous standby but was now in the process of shutting everything down as a result of the no-fly edict issued earlier that evening.

Ellie watched quietly, unobserved by anyone as her crew went to work. How many of them already knew about the bad news? Rumors spread like wildfire in any group, but in a tightknit community like theirs, no secret would stay hidden for long. That was part of it. People could hold one another accountable because they understood the fact that they had each other’s backs.

Her thoughts shifted back to the starbase. With the communications blackout on the surface, no one had sent the news back about Rosaleen’s death. Something needed to be done, but how?

Someone has to get the message out. If things were different, I would want someone to tell me.

Masters took a hard look at the Starfleet insignia patched on the shoulder of her jacket. Taking a deep breath, she slid down the embankment and walked towards a shuttle that was still powered. The Mercury’s navigation lights bathed the surrounding area in their red and green light as she opened the control panel to the access door.

“Step away from the shuttle ma’am.”

The next sound Ellie heard was that of the capacitors in a small, handheld cutting beam charging in preparation for a shot. Many mechanics had figured out at some point or another that the beam made an effective self-defense weapon at close range.

One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand…

Ellie stood up out of her crouch and raised her hands above her head but took her time stepping away from the control panel. Still hooded, even she had to admit that she fit the profile of a suspicious person, but she was too far in to stop now.

…seven one-thousand, eight one-thousand…

“Put your hands on your head!”

Complying with the order, Masters knew she only needed two more seconds until the capacitors in the cutting tool overheated and would trigger the safety circuit to harmlessly dump the charge.

Ten.

Reaching out and tapping quickly at the controls, Eliana slid inside the door and closed it behind her but not before she heard a choice expletive and the sound of the overheating tool hit the ground. With the slightest grin, she rushed forward and began to power up the engines. The sudden roar of exhaust gases escaping from the impulse engines split through the soundscape.

“Shuttlecraft Mercury, you are violating the regulations of the restricted airspace implemented by Commander Masters and Captain Cleh. Power down immediately.”

“I’ll be right back,” Masters replied over the open channel, wondering if they would recognize her by voice only.

“…was that… no, it couldn’t possibly have been… Commander?”

That was the last thing Ellie heard before she switched off all but the most basic equipment on the shuttle. They had placed the flight restriction over the area for a reason. Somewhere out there, surface to air missiles and even some infantry based equipment posed a significant hazard to small craft in the low atmosphere. Even though she could outrun any traditional weapons, to maximize her chances of success, she would have to fly low and fast until she was well clear of the conflict area.

“Computer, SVT on, lights out, transfer to manual controls.” An aural tone confirmed the changes.

“Alright, let’s do this!”

The type-eleven shuttle leapt into the sky and was nothing more than a ghost in the sky as the synthetic vision on the cockpit window fed her information about the surrounding terrain. By her best guess, a horizontal distance of twenty kilometers would be sufficient, after which point the climb up into space would begin.

Okay, okay, you can do this. Pull on three. One… two…THREE!

Masters buried the stick into her stomach and the gravitational forces faded the edges of her vision. Years of training took over as she began to tighten her core, using the large muscles in her body to force blood back into her brain. Moments later, the g-forces had returned to normal as the inertial dampeners caught up to the abrupt flight maneuver.

LEAVING THERMOSPHERE IN FIFTEEN SECONDS

“Perfect. Computer, bring the warp core online and set in a course for Starbase 80.”

The stars began to streak by the window, prompting Masters to reactivate the communications panel. Dialing in a command frequency, she stopped to take a deep breath, suddenly wishing that she didn't have to be the one to break the news. For a moment, she contemplated sending a recorded message, but decided against it.

Summoning as much courage as she could, Ellie spoke over the frequency.

“Masters to Starbase 80, come in.”

[Starbase 80]

"...ers.......rbase....i.."

"Clean that up, now!" The on duty supervisor shouted at his team. Ever since they had finally received intel on the happenings on Taranok, standing orders were to watch and listen for anything that could indicate a possible incoming raid. He waited for a moment as the technicians finished recalibrating the long range array, the opened the channel in reply.

"Unknown rider, unknown rider. This is Starbase 80. Identify and repeat traffic please. Say again, unknown rider, identify and repeat."

"Com..nder Masters to... how do you hea... is message?"

"I think it's Commander Masters. Try boosting the gain...we have got to get some relay buoys out there." Another long twenty seconds passed before the lead tech indicated that he should try again. "Unknown rider, unknown ri..." He unintentionally paused as he saw the data stream go active to Combat Ops. They were using his signal data for a targeting solution. This shit was getting real awfully quick. "Unknown rider. Squawk modes and codes and authenticate please."

[Mercury]

Oh hell...

Masters reached over to the communications panels and flipped the number two master switch back to its normal position. In her defense, she had memorized flows and procedures to hundreds of craft over the span of her flying career, so forgetting to flip one switch could be forgiven. The shuttle continued humming along at warp speed, closing the gap to the starbase while the rest of the communications equipment booted up.

"Okay, one more time... Masters to Starbase 80, I'm going to need a secure channel directly to Commodore O'Shea, authorization zero seven seven echo mike."

[Starbase 80]

Suddenly the inbound craft's telemetry lit up, and the system automatically gave an Ident and assigned a traffic code to the craft. At the same time the data feed to Combat Ops shut down. It took another couple of seconds for the VRC to translate Master's spoken codes to the system for verification. Once he received a green light, He spoke to the Commander once again. "Commander Master's, it's good to hear your voice again. Stand by...assigning a secured channel now. Handing you off to traffic control Beta section. Secure channel active...New Frontier, out." The radio quietened for a moment, then the familiar warble of the encrypted interlink being established sounded for about five seconds...everything was taking significantly longer due to the comms issues.

[Mercury]

The channel went silent, then a familiar voice sounded through the speaker. "Eliana. It's so good to see you. I have been worried sick about your team. So I hope you have better news than the last group you sent to us did."

"Hello Commodore, I uh, don't have much time until I need to get back..."

There was a long pause.

What do I say?

"We issued a flight restriction after Schiefele and Kai reported the possibility of a counter-attack. I shouldn't even be up here, but... I had to get out to tell you something," Eliana stopped, wishing for all the world that she was a child again and still naive to all of the pain and loss in the universe.

A long pause proceeded the next transmission "Eliana...what is it. What is wrong?" There was an uneasy edge to Kathleen's voice now.

"Commodore, there was an attack on our people. A marksman, a good one - he, she, we don't know yet - shot Commander O'Donnell," Masters broke down again, sobbing uncontrollably in her chair. "Kathy, they killed her! We lost her..."

[Starbase 80]

Kathleen fell to the floor as if she had been shot herself, curling herself into a tight ball...her skin turning so cold that the window that she had fallen against frosted over immediately. Of all the things she had been prepared to hear....no no no! This had to be some kind of horrible mistake. She struggled to breath between the sobs which wracked her body. No tears came...she had turned too cold for them to flow.

When she spoke, it came out as a shreak. "How did this happen!" This had to be some horrible nightmare.

"I don't know. We don't know. We're trying to figure out, but we're stretched thin trying to take care of these refugees and we're doing a good job with what we've got, but..." Masters' voice was quivering. She was trying to remain positive, but she was certain that there was a note of defeat in her voice as she tried to explain.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Kathleen's world fell apart. She and Rosaleen had grown up together...served together...they had always been together. They might as well have been raised sisters. And now, just like that...

She forced herself to bring herself under some semblance of control. She could accomplish nothing in this state. Slowly, she picked herself off the floor and made her way to the closest chair. There was something she was forgetting, something that...

"Commodore, Commodore, are you okay?"

"I apologize." She finally said, remembering the open comm. "I just need...please, what happened? Was the encampment attacked?"

"Not directly, no. They had walked to a nearby lakeshore. It was dark, they could have been shooting at anybody. She might not have even been the target, I don't know. Commander Matheson was there, he said he would file a report, but it won't get out of the dead zone."

Kathleen started to speak again, but realized that she could see her breath, so cold was the ambient temperature around her. It took another long moment to realize that she was the source. She concentrated on trying to normalize herself. One side effect of this was that it had a calming effect on her. "She was with Andrew. I'm not surprised. Although she wouldn't admit it, every time somebody mentioned him around her or he appeared, she absolutely lit up. How is he holding up?"

"I doubt he'll sleep much, but he's putting on a brave face for our sakes. Something needs to be done about morale. Captain Cleh held a meeting just after it happened. I'm not sure if that went for better or worse." Masters had already resigned to using vague pronouns to avoid restating the tragedy.

Kathleen had more or less brought herself back into a normal state. She wept inwardly for the loss of her friend, but she also knew that she needed to start thinking about how to keep everybody together and functioning. She feared the entire operation could be at risk of falling apart. She knew what she had to do, for more than one reason.

[Mercury]

"I'm coming there." Was the Commodores simple reply.

By now, Eliana had commanded the Mercury to drop out of warp. She had made it to a range where the comms between her and the starbase were coming in clearly. The thought of flying away from it all crossed her mind for a moment. After all, she was skilled enough to hide and with the ability to travel at warp seven, she would be fast enough to go anywhere.

But no, it was not the time to run. It was the time to help the newest rendition of her friends, crewmates, and family get through this difficult time. This realization had a sobering effect.

"Be careful," Masters replied in a calm voice. "We have unverified reports of potential ground force movement, but I won't object to you bringing in the calvary. We grossly underestimated the amount of humanitarian aid required. We need a starship out here."

"Understood. I'll order the Caduceus prepped for service. We can't staff her fully, but it won't be hard to train some folks to use the basic equipment. And it's shelter as well. We can even train the Tarakens on the systems and equipment. We can use all of the help we can get. Let Adria know we will send a full escort with her as well, so she should be thinking about support for more of her folks."

"I will," Ellie replied. "I have to get back. My team's going to be mad that I stole a shuttle, so I need to get back. We'll keep everything together until you get here. I promise."

The channel was quiet for a long moment. When Kathleen spoke again, her voice was strained. "Please...take care of her until I get there. Don't let her be alone."

"Understood. Masters out."

Eliana turned the shuttle around and pointed it back towards the sphere of green, brown, and blue that she had just left. Hopefully, her disappearance hadn't caused too much of a commotion except amongst the night crew working the flight area. There was really only one way to find out.

WARNING: THERMOSPHERE ENTRY IN FIFTEEN SECONDS

Dropping the shuttle out of warp, Eliana kept her velocity below the sound barrier, using the deflector dish to dampen as much noise as possible. She had more experience flying in atmosphere than just about anyone else wearing a Starfleet uniform, and it wasn't long before she was back on approach to the landing area.

"FOB Phoenix, MERC1 is on short final. I'm sorry guys, I had to get the news back to station."

There was an acknowledgment from the controller but little else in the form of significant conversation. Judging by the lack of activity and commotion, it seemed that her flight had gone mostly unnoticed. Would there be consequences? Probably. Did it need to be done? In her mind, yes. More than anything, Masters wondered if any of her friends would be angry at her for taking such a risk.

She waited until the engines shut down and recorded the entry in the flight log. Finally, there was only one thing left to do - fulfill her promise to Kathleen.

The members of the ground crew seemed to recognize that something was bothering their leader. Maybe it had something to do with her body language, maybe her actions in the previous hour had been enough - regardless, everyone knew that speaking unless spoken to was probably not the best move for career progression at that particular point in time and space. Still, as she walked away from the Mercury, Masters tried to smile as much as she could. It wasn't her crew's fault that any of this had happened.

"I love you guys," she finally spoke to a group gathered around a campfire. "You make the job worth it. I appreciate everything you do."

Simple nods and grunts of agreement echoed around the ring. Having warmed sufficiently in body and spirit, Masters made her way once again to where the Bettina was waiting. There was a calmness to the cool air. She chose to take it as a sign that everything would be okay in time. It usually was.

Ellie walked into the room where they were keeping Rosaleen's body. Pulling her hood up over her head once again, she slumped to the floor and waited for the sandman to claim her once again. Her eyes finally did close, and her mind finally began to slow down from the rampant speed at which it normally operated.

All you have to do is wake up, Ellie.

OFF:

Commander Eliana Masters
Director of Flight Operations
Second Officer
Starbase 80

Commodore Kathleen O'Shea
Commanding Officer
Starbase 80