Recovery Pt1

Posted on Fri Apr 17th, 2026 @ 12:32pm by Fleet Admiral Mike K`Wor Bremer & Commander Robert Stark & Lieutenant K`Wor & Christopher Bremer & Lieutenant Commander Ariana Monroe-Wayne & Lieutenant Commander Anna Bagwell & Lieutenant Arev & Lieutenant JG Gerard Sullivan & Commander Namia Grian

3,100 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 120 - Guardian at the Gate
Location: USS Perseus
Timeline: Current

ON:

It had been nearly two days, but the Perseus finally dropped out of warp and neared the Type G system they had been racing toward in hopes of finding survivors of the USS Gladiator.

The tactical station beeped. Mike turned in hopes of the ship's sensors detecting Human and other Federation life signs. Instead, K'Wor looked up at him and only said, "Oh shit."

"Use your words." Christopher muttered from another seat on the small bridge to which K'Wor shot back with an angry glance.

"What is it?" Mike asked.

"We've just received telemetry from the probe we sent to the Type K system...the one in the opposite direction...well it's detecting Human, Andorian, Vulcan, and other Federation lifesigns on the second planet of that system." K'Wor reported.

Grian listened intently.

Mike lowered his head. "Sullivan...set course...

The tactical station beeped again.

"Hold....sensors are picking up about fifty lifesigns on the forth planet in the Type G system ahead, as well as debris from a Federation runabout or two on the surface. Human, Betazoid, Bajoran, Trill, Vulcan." K'Wor reported.

"Sullivan, get us into orbit." Bremer said quickly before tapping his commbadge. "Kyle, Grian, Monroe-Wayne, Dr. Bagwell, stand by to beam down and assess survivors."

"I've set us up for a synchronous orbit above the crash site, sir," Sullivan responded.

Arev pulled up the telemetry from the probe while K'Wor dealt with the immediate system's issues, "Admiral, the probe data may also indicate one, or more, small vessels in the Type K system." The half-Vulcan plied more commands into his station and then added, "I am able to determine that the signals do not match the data profiles of the Gladiator, or any shuttle in its last checked registry."

The Ops officer ran an algorithm over the data, "The vessels may well be Kazon, sir. Their data signatures are a very near match to the Kazon ship we avoided a a couple of days ago."

"Oh this is exciting!" Cain said in a giddy tone with a near goofy grin as he tapped away on his PADD.

"Exciting?" Sullivan questioned as he spun his seat around at the helm to face Cain. "I'm struggling to see how any of this is exciting, Mr Cain. Those are real people down there. People with families who want them back," he continued sternly, "it's our job to get in, get them out, and get back home - hopefully in one piece." The helmsman went on, his frustration becoming more obvious, his volume increasing as he stood up from his station. "Chances are, some of the people we're trying to save will already be dead by the time we get a team down there! This isn't fucking entertainment, it's life and death! Show some goddamn respect, shut up and let us do our job!"
Sullivan took a deep breath, let out a slow sigh, and sat back down to face his console.

Cain pointed a crooked finger at Sullivan as his expression changed to one of anger. "Son, this is your job but for an old man like me who's only ever written the story before told to me by others....actually living the adventure is....exciting." Cain scribbled down notes on his PADD as he muttered under his breath.

"Let's stay on task people, and make it quick." Mike added as he looked over at Cain.

"Aye, sir," Sullivan replied firmly, his eyes remaining on his console. "We're approaching the beam down coordinates now, we'll be within transporter range in less than 2 minutes."

Ariana was surprised to be heading off ship, not that she was going to complain about it either. Just because they were in the Delta Quadrant it didn’t mean no chance at away team duties. She was pretty curious to say the least.

Grian noted Ariana's surprised expression. "You ok? We are on this together so stick by me if you need to." Grian commented.

Ariana smiled warmly. “Sorry I was just a little surprised to be called up for the away team that’s all.”

"Perfectly understandable. As I said, stick with me." Grian replied.

Not long after this, the away team consisting of Kyle, Grian, Monroe-Wayne, Dr. Bagwell, beamed down to the planet's surface.

"Ok people, let's locate the survivors. My tricorder indicates 1500 or so meters due east of us, let's move. " Grian advised once they had materialized on the surface.


* Gladiator Survivor Encampment *

Lauren was standing with others at the terminal inside what was left of one of the shuttles from the Gladiator, as M'rel, spoke, "Commander, I am incapable of giving you a definitive answer, however, I believe the energy spikes we just detected were transport signals.

Commander Lauren Villara, the newly promoted Second Officer of the Gladiator when it departed on this exploratory mission, frowned, "Alright...," she paused as she looked for Vak, "Major, get some folks armed with what you feel is appropriate, and get an observation patrol out there."

As the Tellarite Marine turned to walk away, she added, "And major, do what you need to do to draw any hostiles away from us. Whatever natural sensor dampening this planet has, protected us enough so they didn't beam in on top of us, but it also makes it impossible for us to know who, or how many, are out there."

Commander Villara looked out of the viewport of the Shuttlecraft Crusoe. An ironic name, but Captain Zandusky had every shuttle named after the primary character of his favorite books.


Meanwhile, Colonel Kyle only had a few of Marines aboard the Perseus. Along with the Doctor, Counselor, and himself was Sargent Griggs and Private Re'Shir. The Private took the point as the small away team started toward the supposed location of the survivors. Private Re'Shir walked carefully, stepping around large rocks as they moved closer, but it soon became clear the path lead them into a bottle neck between two sharp hills with only one way around.

Kyle scanned with his tricorder, "There are people over there" he pointed "but if they need to be rescued they're in oddly defensive positions."

Private Re'Shir started to find a way through the only path available while he looked around, and stepped right into an old style 'booby trap'. He let our a yell as a sharp stick punctured his leg.

Sargent Griggs used his knife to cut the stick before pulling the Private out of the trap, part of the stick still stuck in his leg. "Doc!"

Kyle stepped over and raised his rifle. "I don't like this Sarg."

“I suggest we air on the side of caution, where there’s one booby trap there’s bound to be more.” Ariana said as she looked around. “Question is what are the traps set for? Maybe we should be watching our backs as well.”


Vak leaned against a large stone with 4 other officers. In a barely audible whisper Ensign Romlini spoke, "Major, they called for a doctor." A pause, "That seems Starfleet to me. Command sent a ship to look for us."

Major Ril bim Vak thought for a heartbeat before issuing orders, "Maybe it is Starfleet looking for us, but until we know that for certain, we assume they are unknowns. We still don't know who attacked the Gladiator while power was out after exiting the transwarp conduit." He shifted his weight, leaning out to look at the other group in the haze, "We assume hostilities, until we are certain there are none."

Vak shouldered his phaser rifle as he whispered, "Sergeant S'rel, place a warning shot at the feet of the center most figure when I say the words 'identify yourselves'."

S'rel nodded curtly. She was one of the best shots Vak had ever worked with. Proficient with every weapon the Gladiator had aboard it, and then countless others. Vak had joked that she was the most odd Vulcan he'd ever met, but his admiration and respect for her skills, well, that was never in question.

Vak leaned around the stone, rifle still shouldered. He shouted, "You're approaching a protected area, if you don't wish to be harmed, turn back. We'll give you only this warning." A pause, "Identify yourselves," the phaser rifle in S'rel's hands whined as it discharged one pinpoint bolt directly in between the feet of the center figure of the other group, "or we will be forced to end you."

Grian stiffened at the hostile greeting but didn’t flinch.

“I am Commander Namia Grian, Chief Strategic Operations Officer of Starbase 400,” she said, voice steady. “We’re here to locate and extract any survivors from the USS Gladiator. Are you one of them?”

She kept her tone measured—no sudden movements, no reason for the next pinpoint bolt to land any closer than the last.

Vak leaned around the corner, "Come closer, slowly."

The figure stepped forward, Vak relaxed visibly when he saw the uniform, delta, and the faint glint of pips on the collar. He stepped out, "Commander Grian." A curt nod, "I am Major Ril bim Vak, deputy commander of the Gladiator's marine detachment." He paused as he motioned loosely towards where the encampment was located, "Commander Villara will want to speak with you, ma'am."

"Good to meet you Major. Lead on and we will discuss things further " as she followed the Major, she glanced towards S'rel, "Nice shooting."

S'rel nodded, "Of course." As though there shouldn't be a question of her accuracy.

Vak chuckled as the group began walking. "Camp is only a few minutes west of here."


After a few minute walk, the encampment was snuggled in between some high outcroppings on one side, and a cliff face on another side. Vak led the group through a pathway between 2 outcroppings. After clearing the perimeter, the encampment was clear. A number of shuttles were landed, all of which looked disabled

"This is a lot more people than we planed for, and the look of those shuttles they won't be flying again." Kyle stated in a discussed tone before tapping his comm-badge. "Kyle to Bremer."

"Go ahead." Bremer replied.

"We've made contact with survivors. We need to get any injured and ill aboard the Perseus first, but there's more people than we've planned for. There are several shuttles, but none appear look like they're going anywhere." Kyle reported.

"Work with Dr. Bagwell to get the worse off beamed up first. I'll have Lieutenant Arev beam down to see if there's anything we can salvage from the shuttles to help with repairs to the Perseus. Bremer out."

Kyle walked over to Vak and let him know what the Admiral had said, he then added, "Sensors picked up Kazon vessels in the area, but they seemed to be searching for something space-born, not on a planet. Any idea what they're looking for?

Anna looked to Kyle with a serious expression. "Let's get to work. We need to assess who needs immediate attention and evacuation and get them beamed up and then start treating those we can help right here."

Back aboard the Perseus, the tactical panel beeped. "There's a, um well it's not a ship the sensor recognize." Christopher said as he looked at the panel.

K'Wor had been trying to repair damage to the science station. He stood and looked over his younger brother's shoulder. "He's right, sensors can't identify it but it's some kind of a metallic substance on the far side of this system. It appears to be coming through some kind of subspace anomaly...not too unlike the transwarp tunnel to the Alpha Quadrant."

"Are they coming toward?" Bremer asked, concerned.

"Not at this time, it seems to be holding position." K'Wor replied. "I think I can get a visual." K'Wor typed in a few commands and after a moment the object appears on the viewer.

"Is that...a tentacle?" Bremer asked.

"A tentacle?" Cain asked as he started looking at the screen. "I've seen something like that before, when working on a book about the Soong family. In 2399, summoned by a beacon from Coppelius, these tentacle being thingies tried to cross through a tear in space to eliminate organic life in our galaxy. It was the Romulan myth of the Ganmadan come to life. They were repelled, and when the transwarp anomaly we used to come here formed some hypothesized it was the Ganmadan again coming to cause armageddon and that's why Starfleet deployed ships to transwarp anomaly to monitor after Queen Jurati said it was 'tied to a threat'. Oooh so fascinating."

"We need to get those survivors up here, now." Bremer said, concerned.

“Agreed” Ariana nodded. “I don’t think I fancy coming face to face with any of those.”

"Sullivan, get us into a low orbit, the planet's natural radiation should provide some cover for us as long as they don't come looking." Bremer ordered.

"Aye sir," Sullivan responded, "adjusting altitude now, we should be skirting the upper stratosphere. I suggest tactical be on standby with shield modulation to compensate for any extreme radiation."

Mike tapped his comm-badge, "Bremer to Away Team, we may have some unfriendly company soon, we need to get everyone aboard now."




"Kyle here, we're working on it, but there's more survivors here than we planned for. We're also trying to salvage some parts we need for the Perseus, standby."

Grian, growing increasingly concerned, not just for getting the survivors off the planet and up to the ship, but for ALL of them to get back to safety as a whole, turned to Kyle.

"So what now?" She asked.

Anna listened as she went to work, treating the injured. This was one of those situations a doctor hoped not to have, but was prepared in any event.

Arev materialized near the shuttle that was reported to be serving as the command post for the survivors. Engineering kit in one hand, and an expedition kit in the other. His goal was to be quick, and efficient, so both kits were brought. Initial scans showed that there were some components available for recovery. He looked around, locating Commander Grian, "Commander Grian..." he waited a moment as she directed her attention to him, "the Admiral instructed me to retrieve any components that could be used to effect repairs on the Perseus."

"Good idea. I can't quite recall the extent of the damage but salvage what you can. " Grian replied.

Another officer spoke, a commander by rank and presumably the ranking officer of the Gladiator's contingent, seemingly answering an unspoken question, "By all means, salvage what you need. None of us can leave if your ship isn't repaired enough."

"Definitely not. We need to work together here or no one gets home." Grian replied. She thought for a moment of what she just said and the mere idea of being trapped in the Delta Quadrant made her shudder.

The other commander, identified now as Commander Villara, the Second Officer of the Gladiator, spoke to a short man standing at a console just inside the shuttle, "Chief Enrik, help Lieutenant..." she paused as she looked at Arev, he spoke his name, and she continued, "...help Lieutenant Arev procure any parts he needs from our shuttles, their ship needs it for repairs."

The human nodded, "Aye, ma'am." He grabbed his toolkit, "We'll start at the unpowered shuttles, if that's alright with you." Arev nodded at the man, and followed him.

"I'm separating those who need to go up immediately from those who are stable." Anna spoke up. She couldn't have imagined the amount of injured.


Arev followed Enrik to the far side of the camp. Chief Petty Officer Enrik spoke, breaking the silence, "Name's Milton, by the way." He paused as he pointed to a shuttle about 30 meters away. "That's the U.S.S. Louis Wu. Character from some 20th century book the captain likes."

Arev nodded, "You may call me Arev, Milton." Arev pulled his tricorder from its holster, "Louis Wu is one of the primary characters from Larry Niven's Ringworld series of books." He stopped speaking as he looked at the tricorder, "We may be able to salvage phaser capacitors from both of the Argo class runabouts on the surface, that will likely restore full phaser capacity to the Perseus if weapons are needed."

Enrik nodded, "Both of those runabouts took damage to the engine manifolds, weapon systems were undamaged." He looked around, shouting to a few other officers who came, he looked back at Arev, "We're going to need some extra hands if we're to get this equipment in a reasonable amount of time."

"Indeed we shall." He pulled out one of the PADDs he carried in his equipment case and handed it to Chief Enrik, "That is a list of the components needed. The most important of those are listed at the top."

The group were now standing at the Louis Wu, Arev holding his tricorder, "If we can strip the mercassium from the shield generators, we could then replace the damaged parts of the Perseus' shield generators." Arev holstered his tricorder and looked at the human NCO, "Milton, these are your people, by all means give the orders to those you believe best suited to the tasks."

Arev looked around at the group, "I am going to strip any functioning particle generators from the Louis Wu's navigational deflector to repair the damage to the Perseus' equipment sustained during the transit through the corridor."

Milton Enrik nodded. He turned to those around him and began giving orders. 35 years in Starfleet had left its mark on the man and he was efficient.

-----Some time later.-----

Arev looked at the equipment the group had managed to salvage from the shuttles, runabouts, and 2 fighters that composed the camp. The inventory had been extremely promising. A human would say that with some elbow grease, they could make the Perseus 'good as new.' Arev's calculations put the actual repairs at approximately 93.34% functional. Some parts couldn't be replaced, or repaired, without chassis specific components.

Arev tapped his combadge, "Arev to Grian, and Perseus."

"Grian here, go ahead." She responded.

"I have, with the help of some of the Gladiator's crew, salvaged enough equipment to bring the Perseus up to approximately 93% function." He paused, "Transport enhancers have been engaged. Requesting that the materials be beamed directly to Cargo Hold 1."

"Excellent. Sounds good. Go ahead." Grian replied.

"Arev, K'Wor here, transport in progress. Mr. Stark and Two of Ten are already getting to work on repairs."

The sound of a Borg name drew the attention of Gladiator personnel near Arev.


TBC....

RSS Feed