Reapayment Part 8

Posted on Sat Mar 17th, 2012 @ 10:23am by Petty Officer First Class Tanner Willeg & Melody Johnson

1,873 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 78 - Colonial Uprising
Location: Draken & the Blaze
Timeline: Current

The scanners bumped up almost to normal as the Blaze pulled out of the moon's atmosphere, and Tanner's eyes watched the readings carefully.

=\=Who do you think you are, little red riding hood?=\=

"Of course not." Between the gratonium, the atmospheric change, and the distance, the sensors weren't able to get a good reading on it, but knowing where it had been allowed them to pick up a general location. And it seemed to be moving. "Can you get Captain Mel back?"

=\=No.=\=

"Sure, you can..." Tapping fingers froze over the console as the comment sunk in and Tanner realized the Blaze probably wasn't just being difficult. "What do you mean? Why not?"

=\=The gratonium that effected our sensors is also causing communication difficulties, and now that her location has changed, finding the channel will be...=\=

"Her location has changed? In the last..." After checking the time and noting that it'd been longer than she realized, Tanner grumbled under her breath. "Well, figure out where she went."

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It was dusk by the time Melody led Garth into the jagged spires that formed the small mountain range. Once they started climbing, Melody started looking for some sort of shelter. Just as the last remnants of light turned from orange to purple, Melody saw what she was looking for. She looked behind her to see that Garth was a few yards behind and it was obvious he was struggling.

“We're almost there,” Melody called back to him.

“Almost where?” Garth called up to Melody.

“There,” Melody said, pointing to what looked like a dark hole in the wall of jagged stone. She headed for that dark spot.

Garth followed dubiously. But his doubts were dissuaded as they got closer and he could see that the dark hole was actually the opening of a cave.

Melody came to a stop about 15 yards from the entrance of the cave. “Wait here,” she told Garth and she crept towards the cave, her hand on the butt of her phaser pistol. “Now's when access to Blaze's data base would be helpful to know what kind of indigenous wildlife to expect,” she thought to herself. “But then...if I could get hold of Blaze to use his computer....we'd be outta here,” she thought as she moved up to the entrance of the cave and turned on her flashlight. As she panned her light from side to side she listened. Once she had determined that there wasn't anything in the cave she motioned for Garth to join her. She had to duck to enter the cave because the opening wasn't more than 5' high. Once inside she stopped and panned the beam of her flashlight around as she took in their surroundings.

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You would think that finding a very specific person, on with a very specific communication device, the location of which had been known, and was, most likely traveling on foot and couldn't possibly have gone as far, would be a simple thing.

"So what's the problem?" Tanner shouted, the flat of her palm slapping against the inside of the hull before she paced back the other direction and checked again to see that the ship that'd been their neighbor on Semtro had stopped circling the moon and was nearing them once more.

=\=There are any number of possibilities as to why the communications are being blocked on either end.=\=

Right. Because she didn't already know that. But if...

=\=Your 'friendly folk' are attempting to initiate conversation.=\=

Tanner blinked, bit her lip and took a seat, "okay, Blaze, here's what we're going to do..."
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“Why don't I get some firewood?” Garth suggested.

“No,” Melody said quickly.

“But it's going to get cold,” Garth protested.

“Fires make smoke and smoke can be seen for miles,” Melody explained. “We can't take the chance.”

Garth sat down and pouted while Melody went outside of the cave and started moving brush up to the cave to hide its entrance. Once she was satisfied that the entrance of the cave was well hidden she went back into the cave and used the beam of her flashlight to further investigate their surroundings.

The cave went further back into the mountain than Melody had previously thought. It narrowed into a tunnel that continued on for about 100 yards and Melody , cautiously, followed the tunnel until it came to an end and opened into a “room” about the same size as the one at the entrance of the cave. Melody panned her flashlight beam over the floor of the cave and up and down the walls. The “room” was empty and there was no tunnel off of the “room” other than the one she had just used. She was about to turn and go back when she felt a sudden draft coming from somewhere above her. She looked up at the ceiling of the cave, but saw only the naturally shiny rock that the cave was formed into. Then the beam of her flashlight came to a place where the ceiling seemed to, suddenly, disappear. Melody walked to right below the spot and trained her flashlight beam over the area above her. She discovered that a small tube....probably an old lava tube....that ran upward far enough to continue past Melody's flashlight's beam. She squinted and strained to try and see past the end of the beam of light but all she could see was blackness.

Melody suddenly stopped straining to see into the darkness when she noticed that the darkness changed in the center of the tube's diameter from the blackness of a dark tube to actual black....as if someone had painted a black spot in the center of the tube. As she stared up at the black area she noticed that it wasn't a solid black. There were tiny bluish white dots scattered over the black area and it dawned on her that those dots were actually stars and the black was the night sky. The tube that ran upward from the cave, ran to the surface, forming a chimney.

“Maybe Garth can have his fire after all,” Melody said aloud to the empty “room”. She turned and headed back to where she had left Garth.

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After a long moment with no response from the ship, a light blinked, indicating the other vessel, now just off the port quarter was once again hailing them. Eyes wide, she stared at the blinking console in disgust. "Fine. Don't speak to me. It just figures that after how many hours of constant arguments, statements of the obvious, and insults, *now* you choose to shut up."

When the Blaze still refused to comment, Tanner sighed. While engineer and ship weren't exactly getting along, they had formed a kind of rhythm in the constant bickering, and she really had thought the Blaze would have *something* to say. "Then, I'll take your silence as confirmation that you don't have a better solution."

The comm channel opened, and when the stern-faced alien appeared on-screen and began talking, Tanner immediately cut him off. "Appreciate the local hospitality, but I really don't have time to invite you over for drinks. As previously requested, we're leaving..."

The comm channel closed as the alien was formulating a response, the Blaze shot into warp, moved away from the moon and toward Draken. Tanner sucked in a deep breath and waited for the ship to slam into the atmospheric wall.

Mountains. No way had Melody come here to go mountain climbing. Maybe they hadn't made it through after all.

This certainly wasn't the Betazoid heaven she'd heard stories about, but then... they weren't anywhere near Betazed. Maybe this was Draken's version of spiritual eternity?

The thought that she was still sitting on the Blaze did nothing to deter the idea of some after-life. Though Tanner didn't actually believe in life after death, she was certain that if she was wrong and there was one, the machines, ships and equipment that provided all species with the assistance they required in life would be there as well. After all, how blissful would a place of eternal peace and happiness be if there were no tools to fix the ice cream machines when they broke down?

=\=...for transport.=\=

"What?" Head shaking to break out of her reverie, Tanner realized they weren't in any form of Heaven, but hanging over a Draken mountain range. And though she'd missed most of what Blaze had said, being within atmosphere must've allowed the sensors to pick up Mel's location. A sound of relief escaped, something between a squeak and a hiccup, and Tanner immediately prepared for the occasion by vacating what was properly Mel's chair. "Great! Get her back up here."

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“Hey. Guess what?” Melody said when she was back at the front of the cave.

“What?” Garth asked.

“You get your fire,” Melody announced. “Grab you stuff. We're moving further back into.....”

Melody was interrupted when a bright beam of light suddenly appeared in the cave and enveloped her. A second later she disappeared and so did the light.

Garth stared in disbelief. He grabbed the all important duffel bag and hugged to him as he looked around the cave.

Melody materialized on the transporter pad of the Blaze. When she realized where she was she ran for the cockpit.

=^=Welcome aboard, Capt. Mel=^=

“Blaze, there was another human with me. Can you get a lock on hi?” Melody said, ignoring the Blaze's greeting and plopping into the pilot's seat.

=^=I have a lock on the human, Captain.=^=

“Energize,” Melody ordered then looked at the sensor readings and saw that they were not alone. She looked over at Tanner. “Problems?” She asked, quirking an eyebrow questioningly.

"Definitely not putting them on my Christmas list."

=^=The human has been transported successfully, Captain.=^=

“Hang on Garth,” Melody called over her shoulder. She grabbed hold of the control stick and thrust it all the way forward. The Blaze shot ahead and Melody piloted the ship towards one of Draken's moons. She flew around the backside of the moon just as the other ship fired on them. “Power to the rear shields,” Melody ordered and performed a perfect barrel roll to avoid being hit.

=^=Rear shields at 100%.=^=

Melody maneuvered the Blaze close to the moon and flew close to the moon's surface as she piloted the Blaze into a canyon. She maneuvered the ship through the canyon with the other ship trying its best to follow. She kept one eye on the sensor readings on the control panel and when she saw that the enemy ship had fallen far enough behind to not be able to see the Blaze she put the ship into a steep climb and flew between the two moons. The Blaze shot out on the other side of the moons and Melody said, “prepare to go to warp.”

=^=Warp drive online.=^=

“Go to warp 6,” Melody commanded and a second later the stars around them became a blur “Why don't you make our guest comfortable?” Melody said to Tanner then turned her attention to setting a course to their next destination.

Glad to oblige, Tanner bolted from the cockpit in search of their newest crew member.

To be continued.

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