S6 E4 - The Dead and the Gone

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

-----8 Hours to Talinos-----

[USS Challenger - Deck 3 - Personal Quarters Office]

The message caught him just as he was about to log off for the day, and Alex was thankful he'd spent that extra hour catching up on paperwork. He was mildly surprised that this was the first time their new XO, a Commander Grippen, had reached out to them and that it was immediately work related instead of an official meet-and-greet. It'd been a week since they left K-7 and Kyan behind after a well attended party organized by Grippen, but Alex shrugged it off as just bad timing. Their former XO had some personal preferences which wouldn't work well with a full sized adult, so he just put it off as a period of adjustment, tying up loose ends, and moving quarters and offices. He really hoped Grippen hadn't kept those back breaking beanbag chairs.

Going through his duty roster, Alex quickly narrowed down his candidates to two individuals. In her short time onboard, Hejaran was showing promise, and he had just the mentor in mind to nurture her enthusiasm. He quickly forwarded Grippen's memo to both of them, and then tapped his commbadge to follow up.

"Lieutenant Wu to Lieutenant Cheizex and Ensign Hejaran. I'm assigning you both to tomorrow's away mission, report to the XO in Transporter Room One in eight hours. The mission parameters have been sent to your inboxes. Acknowledge receipt of message please."

[Bridge - Deck1 | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Aarwendil was still on the bridge when he received Wu's message. It had been a long time since he made part of an away mission, which left the Betazoid excited. He only hoped that it would end better than the last one. "Understood, sir." he answered the Lieutenant, before turning to return to his room. He would prepare everything that he needed before leaving and rest a little bit.

He wanted to be well rested for the mission.

[Ensign Hejaran - USS Challenger - Transporter Room 1]
It was a rather subdued Ensign Hejaran that reported to Transporter Room 1 at the appointed time. It wasn't really her fault that she tossed and turned all night, dreaming about her first away mission, excited as she was and dreading the entire thing at the same time.

Not to mention the Red Alert scaring her awake, only to have it drop to yellow alert.

No, she was not in a particularly good mood, her usual cheerful self replaced by a somewhat serious-looking brooding junior officer who radiated a -- let's get this done -- attitude, rather than her cheerful 'teamwork makes the dreamwork' rosy disposition.

In hindsight, that was perhaps destiny's way of putting her in the correct mood for this mission. Especially when one of the security officers started handing out Type-2 phasers and keeping their hands on the larger Type-3s. She nodded her thanks as she took the offered phaser and holstered it.

[Transporter Room 1 | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Aarwendil had reported to Transport Room 1 early, since he wanted to avoid getting late. And because the Red Alert didn't let him sleep more. Besides him, others had also arrived in the room. The Betazoid saw that Ensign Hejaran was already there. Differently from when they saw each other in the space station, she didn't seem to be in a good mood.

"Hello." he said, while accepting a phaser from the security officers. If they were giving weapons, then this mission was going to be more dangerous than he expected. Aarwendil would stand near Hejaran, waiting for permission for them to leave. If she talked to him, the Betazoid would happily start a conversation.

[Calindra Hejaran]

[Transporter Room 1 | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Aarwendil had reported to Transport Room 1 early, since he wanted to avoid getting late. And because the Red Alert didn't let him sleep more. Besides him, others had also arrived in the room. The Betazoid saw that Ensign Hejaran was already there. Differently from when they saw each other in the space station, she didn't seem to be in a good mood.

"Hello." he said, while accepting a phaser from the security officers. If they were giving weapons, then this mission was going to be more dangerous than he expected. Aarwendil would stand near Hejaran, waiting for permission for them to leave. If she talked to him, the Betazoid would happily start a conversation.

Calindra nodded politely, mumbling a small 'hello' in return. She didn't quite feel up to discussing with anyone given the impeding away mission, worried that she might miss important information, not to mention her apprehension at having to use the transporter. 'Relax, the Petty-Officer knows how to work the transporter, and everything will go alright, now smile to the lieutenant.'

She turned to Aarwendil and gave him her best nervous smile as he took a position next to her on the transporter pad.

At that moment, in the transporter room, Malik said "Energize."

On the planet, simultaneous with the disruptor fire, the planet's deflector screen engaged and had the horrible timing of catching the away team in mid-transit, the screen partly diffused the transporter beam and throwing them off target. This resulted in the entire away team arriving scattered and battered from the rough landing with each person materializing alone with no sign of the others.

She thought she saw his eyes twinkle, the edge of a smile crossing his face before the transporter activated. After that something odd happened, it felt like it was taking longer, and she kept seeing multiple spots of light that weren't supposed to be there, and then...

Before she knew it, she was suddenly thrown backwards. She cried out in alarm as she passed dead tree branches, decaying ferns, frightened critters; the wind whistling past her ears as she plummeted down from several feet in the air. In a panic, she tried to hold onto something — anything — to stop from falling when suddenly she landed in a large pool of ice cold water...

She sputtered to the surface, her body screaming from the shock before giving her surroundings a baleful glare. Oh, she was NOT happy.

From what she could tell, the area looked like the remaining vestiges of a long dead forest. Most of the trees had rotted away long ago, leaving dead stumps where there once might have been a mighty tree reaching towards the sky. No longer.

Even the air and water tasted stale, like even the wind had stopped gracing the tortured land.

She stood there, knee-deep in what might have once been considered the edges of a small lake wondering what the krife just happened.

[Tora Zalos]

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Talinos]

Finally, a use for her specialization! Tora had been more than glad to pack some supplies and join the rest in the transporter room. She'd been given some information about the planet they were visiting - relatively barren, kind of hot, possibly with a civilization to make contact with. Lovely. It probably wouldn't be her taking the lead in first contact, but hey, being part of first contact was always an honor and privilege in her eyes. She'd stood on the transporter pad and hidden an excited smile at the thought of her boots making contact with alien ground as she and the team dematerialized...

Well, except that wasn't quite what happened. Where she had expected to contact solid ground, instead the Cardassian found herself floating in the air, easily fifteen feet off the ground - well, if you were want to consider a body of brackish-looking water the ground. A cry of terror tore its way from her lips as she plummeted helplessly towards the water. Tora had tried diving from a height before, but that had been on Risa with a multitude of safety features in place, from a springboard and into a nice, deep pool full of clean, clear water. This situation offered no such comforts. Her contact with the water was an ugly one, almost belly first - and she was sure she could feel the little bag of supplies she'd brought fly open on the way down, too.

Impact.

All went black.

[Some time later]

Everything hurt. Literally everything. Tora scrunched up her face and coughed, expelling... was that sand? ... from her mouth, and rolled over. Wait, sand? That meant she'd washed ashore at some point, from... wherever she'd landed. Her cognition was woozy at best for the time being, but she found the strength to sit up and look around. Barren. Sand, shrubs and scraggly bush for as far as the eye could see... and no one else in sight. Either this was a training exercise of some kind (certainly a brutal one), or something had gone very, very wrong in transport.

Well, shit. What was she to do now?

[Ardyn Jaeger - Wu]

[Restaraunt - earlier]
"I don't know. I really don't . By all means, given she's only 1/8 Betazoid, I would have thought that she wouldn't have had it at all...   I'd rather not talk with my mom if we can avoid it, but it might have to come to that. Maybe some of the others have some good advice for us to do first. " she felt so far out of her depth here.

[Bridge]

Ardyn moved the ship to a safer place, closer to the remains of the ship for transporters to work on beaming in the smithereens and hopefully close enough to register their away team while staying far away from whatever hit the unfortunate ship that was soon going to be in a decaying orbit "I can confirm that the majority of the debris is in the main shuttlebays. " she said,  after one of her Flight crew registered the beaming in.

"What the &%#% happened there? " she said out loud.

[Malik Grippen]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian nodded in respect at Malik's suggestions, they showed an excellent grasp of tactics and science. Looked like the new First Officer knew what he was about.

"Excellent idea on the debris, Lieutenant Davenport, tractor some of that debris into cargo bay one and once you've done that try and hail the planet."

Ian then turned to the science department.

"Mister Jyur, seems like summat right up your alley. Head down ta cargo bay one and get me some answers. Evan estimates on crew size of that ship."

"Since their shields were up and they blew up before I could get a close scan, crew size will be conjecture on my part, but my best guess is around thirty Sir."

"Small then, still it is a mystery and it looks like the answers are on the planet. Good luck Commander."

Malik nodded and headed for the transporter room. As eight people were assigned to the away team, two transporters would be used to beam everyone in a single lift. As the away team made their final checks before departing, on the bridge, Davenport reported.

"Sir, I've got roughly twenty-five tons of debris in the cargo hold and I'm getting a transmission in binary code from the site of the northern power source, it seems to be a challenge."

At that moment, in the transporter room, Malik said "Energize."

As soon as the transporter engaged, multiple sensor beams locked onto the ship and seconds later the Challenger was rocked by disruptor fire from several points on the planet's surface. With the shields down, these beams struck the hull with only the ablative armor to defuse some of the damage. Klaxons sounded all over the ship as emergency force fields snapped into place to contain multiple hull breaches.

"Shields up! Shields up! Raise the bloody shields!"

Ian shouted as he dragged himself off the deck where he'd been thrown by the unexpected attack. Most of the bridge crew had been tossed around along with the bulk of the crew and sickbay suddenly found itself swamped with calls for medical evacuation.

On the planet, simultaneous with the disruptor fire, the planet's deflector screen engaged and had the horrible timing of catching the away team in mid-transit, the screen partly diffused the transporter beam and throwing them off target. This resulted in the entire away team arriving scattered and battered from the rough landing with each person materializing alone with no sign of the others.

[Talinos IV, Beam in site]

Malik knew something was wrong when he rematerialised up a tree. Nor could he see the others. Once he got over the initial shock the Risan assessed his surroundings They had materialised on a large plain, with sparse vegetation and dead trees. The air tasted warm and tinged with chemicals, scans revealed it was safe just not pleasant.

The Risan climbed down the tree and dusted himself off. He still looked presentable, bonus. He still couldn't see any of the team. He pulled out his tricorder and scanned for their lifesigns. They were there, thankfully.

"Grippen to away team. Report in. Rendezvous at my commbadge signal."

Malik's tricorder detected various points of interest nearby, including a high concentration of radiation next to some ground deformations. Along with an apparent shipwreck and then buildings much further out.

"Commander Grippen to Challenger. Do you read. What happened up there?"

This was turning out to be anything but a regular survey mission.

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian nodded in respect at Malik's suggestions, they showed an excellent grasp of tactics and science. Looked like the new First Officer knew what he was about.

"Excellent idea on the debris, Lieutenant Davenport, tractor some of that debris into cargo bay one and once you've done that try and hail the planet."

Ian then turned to the science department.

"Mister Jyur, seems like summat right up your alley. Head down ta cargo bay one and get me some answers. Evan estimates on crew size of that ship."

"Since their shields were up and they blew up before I could get a close scan, crew size will be conjecture on my part, but my best guess is around thirty Sir."

"Small then, still it is a mystery and it looks like the answers are on the planet. Good luck Commander."

Malik nodded and headed for the transporter room. As eight people were assigned to the away team, two transporters would be used to beam everyone in a single lift. As the away team made their final checks before departing, on the bridge, Davenport reported.

"Sir, I've got roughly twenty-five tons of debris in the cargo hold and I'm getting a transmission in binary code from the site of the northern power source, it seems to be a challenge."

At that moment, in the transporter room, Malik said "Energize."

As soon as the transporter engaged, multiple sensor beams locked onto the ship and seconds later the Challenger was rocked by disruptor fire from several points on the planet's surface. With the shields down, these beams struck the hull with only the ablative armor to defuse some of the damage. Klaxons sounded all over the ship as emergency force fields snapped into place to contain multiple hull breaches.

"Shields up! Shields up! Raise the bloody shields!"

Ian shouted as he dragged himself off the deck where he'd been thrown by the unexpected attack. Most of the bridge crew had been tossed around along with the bulk of the crew and sickbay suddenly found itself swamped with calls for medical evacuation.

On the planet, simultaneous with the disruptor fire, the planet's deflector screen engaged and had the horrible timing of catching the away team in mid-transit, the screen partly diffused the transporter beam and throwing them off target. This resulted in the entire away team arriving scattered and battered from the rough landing with each person materializing alone with no sign of the others.

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Deck Four | Transporter Room One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Zhukdra'shar arrived just in time to see his squad of Security officers offering the Type-2 phasers to Tora, Neva, and Cheizex. At noticing him, Inys walked towards the Lieutenant Commander, and offered him a phaser rifle. Zhuk took it with a small smile on his face. He was happy to see that their training and commitment had been kept, even after the hell they had gone through in the last mission.

"Much appreciated, Crewman Inys"

He praised, earning a larger grin from the human woman in return. He secured the strap of the rifle to his chest and stepped upon the pad for the transport to begin. As Commander Malik gave the order to proceed, his gaze shifted to look at his Security officers, doing his best to concentrate on something other than the ick the process gave him.

And then, just as he felt his molecules vanishing, he saw the Chief Transporter crash onto the ground, as the ship began to shake...

When he felt his consciousness return, he let out a scream as he found himself free-falling through the air, heading rapidly towards yellowish dirt and bushes. His Caitian instincts kicked in, and he attempted to control the fall by opening his arms in order to lower his descent. As he was about to touch the ground, his arms and legs shot forward, allowing him to land on his feet. At least, that is what should have happened, but as Zhuk further tried to minimize the damage by rolling, he found himself placing too much pressure on his left arm. He heard a sickening crack and a yowl escaped his muzzle.

The rest of his body bounced two times from the ground - before finally slumping near a dry plant with his extremities sprawled in all directions. He did not want to open his eyes...

[Talinos IV, Beam in site]

Malik knew something was wrong when he rematerialised up a tree. Nor could he see the others. Once he got over the initial shock the Risan assessed his surroundings They had materialised on a large plain, with sparse vegetation and dead trees. The air tasted warm and tinged with chemicals, scans revealed it was safe just not pleasant.

The Risan climbed down the tree and dusted himself off. He still looked presentable, bonus. He still couldn't see any of the team. He pulled out his tricorder and scanned for their lifesigns. They were there, thankfully.

"Grippen to away team. Report in. Rendezvous at my commbadge signal."

Malik's tricorder detected various points of interest nearby, including a high concentration of radiation next to some ground deformations. Along with an apparent shipwreck and then buildings much further out.

"Commander Grippen to Challenger. Do you read. What happened up there?"

This was turning out to be anything but a regular survey mission.

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Arid Plains | Unknown Planet]

The adrenaline faded, and an intense, sharp pain enveloped the entirety of his left arm, up to the shoulder. A warm trickle began to descend from his head, pooling on the ground. Zhuk recognized that he had found himself  He let out another yowl as he tried to assess the extent of his injuries, noting that, while he was not bleeding from underneath his uniform, his wounded arm had twisted in a shape that he was certain was not correct. He tried standing up to the side, and after some effort, managed to do so. He kneeled and reached out for his phaser rifle, noting that it had been roughed up by the fall, but to too severely.

Holding it with his good hand, he proceeded to stand up, testing his legs to see if they could carry him. Fortunately, though the first did hurt somewhat, the pain was manageable enough. Small relief washed over him, mildly aiding him in fighting the throbbing of his arm and head. Perhaps it was due to the former that he did not though about tapping on his commbadge, until he managed to overhear a garbled voice coming from his device.

"... in... rendez-vous... signal..."

"Ack-acknowledged Commander. I shalt try to... meet thee there..."

He gazed up at the sky, squinting to avoid the worst of the scorching sun, before securing the rifle to his shoulder and inspecting the commbadge. The signal was there. Weak, but he believed he could follow it. So, he began to advance.

After leaving his impact site, his arm began killing him with each step. Gritting his teeth, he decided to kneel into the parched ground and attempt some first aid. He untied the cords attached to the rifle after leaving it on the ground, before retrieving them, and with some effort, fashioned himself a poor sling to support his arm. His ears felt flat on his head, as he proceeded with the most difficult part of this procedure: properly securing his arm in place. It was only through sheer force of will that he managed to not emit a sound as he worked. After some grueling minutes, he was done. His arm felt much better, though he determined that using it was unfeasible.

Before he returned to walking, he tapped on his commbadge one last time,

"T-This is... L-Lieutenant Commander... ugh... does anyone read?"

Not waiting for a response, he pushed himself up and grabbed his Type-3. He then began to walk, stopping every once in a while to make sure he was heading in the right direction.

[Alexander Wu]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian nodded in respect at Malik's suggestions, they showed an excellent grasp of tactics and science. Looked like the new First Officer knew what he was about.

"Excellent idea on the debris, Lieutenant Davenport, tractor some of that debris into cargo bay one and once you've done that try and hail the planet."

Ian then turned to the science department.

"Mister Jyur, seems like summat right up your alley. Head down ta cargo bay one and get me some answers. Evan estimates on crew size of that ship."

"Since their shields were up and they blew up before I could get a close scan, crew size will be conjecture on my part, but my best guess is around thirty Sir."

"Small then, still it is a mystery and it looks like the answers are on the planet. Good luck Commander."

Malik nodded and headed for the transporter room. As eight people were assigned to the away team, two transporters would be used to beam everyone in a single lift. As the away team made their final checks before departing, on the bridge, Davenport reported.

"Sir, I've got roughly twenty-five tons of debris in the cargo hold and I'm getting a transmission in binary code from the site of the northern power source, it seems to be a challenge."

At that moment, in the transporter room, Malik said "Energize."

As soon as the transporter engaged, multiple sensor beams locked onto the ship and seconds later the Challenger was rocked by disruptor fire from several points on the planet's surface. With the shields down, these beams struck the hull with only the ablative armor to defuse some of the damage. Klaxons sounded all over the ship as emergency force fields snapped into place to contain multiple hull breaches.

"Shields up! Shields up! Raise the bloody shields!"

Ian shouted as he dragged himself off the deck where he'd been thrown by the unexpected attack. Most of the bridge crew had been tossed around along with the bulk of the crew and sickbay suddenly found itself swamped with calls for medical evacuation.

On the planet, simultaneous with the disruptor fire, the planet's deflector screen engaged and had the horrible timing of catching the away team in mid-transit, the screen partly diffused the transporter beam and throwing them off target. This resulted in the entire away team arriving scattered and battered from the rough landing with each person materializing alone with no sign of the others.

[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

Transporting that much material onboard required significantly more power than was usually allocated to the cargo transporters, plus Alex was concerned about contamination since they didn't know what exactly they were gathering. As a precaution while Davenport was managing the tractor beam and transporter controls, he evacuated cargo bay one and also activated emergency forcefields to seal off the bay until Jettis could get down there to examine the debris for hazards. Distracted by his work, Alex was taken by complete surprise when his board flared red. Before he could report that they were being scanned, it was too late.

The intertial dampeners didn't stand a chance in absorbing the amount of violent energy which rocked Challenger, and Alex was thrown out of his chair as though a giant had flicked him off his perch. Tabernac, not this again! Pulling himself back upright, he tried to make sense of the sudden influx of information crossing his console. "Multiple hull breaches, we're venting plasma from the port nacelle." Alex warned while working to amalgamate the reports coming in to give Galloway a full damage assessment. He didn't need the computer to tell him that they'd taken significant damage to the propulsion system, Alex could feel how sluggish the ship moved as Ardyn tried to get them into a higher orbit. "I recommend we get as far away from the planet as we can while we still can, sir."

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger-A - Deck 12 - Primary Maintenance Support Center

Grumbling, he grabbed up his kit and met with the other DCT4 team members.  His look and folded armed stance told each of them not to bother talking to him.

Lahr's mood didn't improve when his muster location made it inconvenient to pull out his PADD and observe the bridge.  Hell, this might be his last opportunity to get away with such, since rumor had it that Zhuk was leaving; and while the Caitian hadn't reported in his use of Ruth's old authorization code or removed the code from the Challenger's database, there was no guarantee that the next Chief of Security would be so lenient.   Damn, he was really gonna miss that oddball cat.

Suddenly the ship shook as if from an attack and Lahr unprepared, found himself flung to the hard deck of the engineering floor.  Roozh! "A little warning would have been nice." The Andorian grumbled as he picked himself up off the floor and then helped his team mates.

[Ardyn Jaeger - Wu]

[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

Transporting that much material onboard required significantly more power than was usually allocated to the cargo transporters, plus Alex was concerned about contamination since they didn't know what exactly they were gathering. As a precaution while Davenport was managing the tractor beam and transporter controls, he evacuated cargo bay one and also activated emergency forcefields to seal off the bay until Jettis could get down there to examine the debris for hazards. Distracted by his work, Alex was taken by complete surprise when his board flared red. Before he could report that they were being scanned, it was too late.

The intertial dampeners didn't stand a chance in absorbing the amount of violent energy which rocked Challenger, and Alex was thrown out of his chair as though a giant had flicked him off his perch. Tabernac, not this again! Pulling himself back upright, he tried to make sense of the sudden influx of information crossing his console. "Multiple hull breaches, we're venting plasma from the port nacelle." Alex warned while working to amalgamate the reports coming in to give Galloway a full damage assessment. He didn't need the computer to tell him that they'd taken significant damage to the propulsion system, Alex could feel how sluggish the ship moved as Ardyn tried to get them into a higher orbit. "I recommend we get as far away from the planet as we can while we still can, sir."

[Bridge]

Ardy didn't really get her answer as to what happened to the other ship.

Things only seemed to go from bad to worse as they finished beaming in everything . A huge blow rocked the ship, sending Ardy reeling as the force of the ship moving  knocked her off her seat and  tumbling to the floor, landing her a lot harder than she had anticipated.

She winced as she picked herself up.  Something  definitely felt broken in her wrist but she could... manage it. She'd flown one-handed before as a dare, she'd do it again. Alex might object to her flying while injured, but she didn't want to bother with medical people when she was needed to fly the ship.

She tapped the helm console to get them moved out as fast as possible, then again.  Nothing. "Warp is down! " she barked as she tried to limp the ship out using impulse.  That was at least working, mostly, though it was barely responding as it was.   "I've got us on 87 percent impulse, but that's as fast as we can go,  All steering is shot. Ship's barely responding. Might be able to turn us starboard, but that's it."

"Hey Alex, can you reroute anything to impulse?" she asked. With their propulsion shot, she was trying to move things as fast as she could, but there was only so much this old girl could do.

[Calindra Hejaran]

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Arid Plains | Unknown Planet]

"... in... rendez-vous... signal..."

"Ack-acknowledged Commander. I shalt try to... meet thee there..."

He gazed up at the sky, squinting to avoid the worst of the scorching sun, before securing the rifle to his shoulder and inspecting the commbadge. The signal was there. Weak, but he believed he could follow it. So, he began to advance.

After leaving his impact site, his arm began killing him with each step. Gritting his teeth, he decided to kneel into the parched ground and attempt some first aid. He untied the cords attached to the rifle after leaving it on the ground, before retrieving them, and with some effort, fashioned himself a poor sling to support his arm. His ears felt flat on his head, as he proceeded with the most difficult part of this procedure: properly securing his arm in place. It was only through sheer force of will that he managed to not emit a sound as he worked. After some grueling minutes, he was done. His arm felt much better, though he determined that using it was unfeasible.

Before he returned to walking, he tapped on his commbadge one last time,

"T-This is... L-Lieutenant Commander... ugh... does anyone read?"

Not waiting for a response, he pushed himself up and grabbed his Type-3. He then began to walk, stopping every once in a while to make sure he was heading in the right direction.

Couldn't find a nice day image of falling debris, so opted for Star Wars.

[Ensign Hejaran | Petrified Forest | Talinos IV]

Calindra decided to climb out of the water before, heaven forbid, she sank further into the muck. She grabbed onto the roots of a long dead tree and hoisted herself up as best as she could onto the arid dry land. She turned to her back and stayed there a while, watching the sky while she assessed herself for injuries. That's when she noticed the debris from the other vessel blazing slowly through the sky.

'Well, that can't be good,' she thought as a chill raced down her spine. She suddenly wondered if it was the ship that was destroyed or something else; she tried to push that question and implication away -- not now. As she wasn't on the bridge when the attack happened, she couldn't have known, but a reassuring crackling communication from Commander Grippen and a second from someone else she did not recognize gave her hope.

This is Ensign Hejaran, Acknowledging Orders. Out. 

The newest member of the crew picked herself up and dusted herself off as she took in her surroundings scanning it with her tricorder. She zeroed in on the closest Starfleet Comm signature and made her way out of the petrified forest and onto the arid plains.

[Ian Galloway]

[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

Transporting that much material onboard required significantly more power than was usually allocated to the cargo transporters, plus Alex was concerned about contamination since they didn't know what exactly they were gathering. As a precaution while Davenport was managing the tractor beam and transporter controls, he evacuated cargo bay one and also activated emergency forcefields to seal off the bay until Jettis could get down there to examine the debris for hazards. Distracted by his work, Alex was taken by complete surprise when his board flared red. Before he could report that they were being scanned, it was too late.

The intertial dampeners didn't stand a chance in absorbing the amount of violent energy which rocked Challenger, and Alex was thrown out of his chair as though a giant had flicked him off his perch. Tabernac, not this again! Pulling himself back upright, he tried to make sense of the sudden influx of information crossing his console. "Multiple hull breaches, we're venting plasma from the port nacelle." Alex warned while working to amalgamate the reports coming in to give Galloway a full damage assessment. He didn't need the computer to tell him that they'd taken significant damage to the propulsion system, Alex could feel how sluggish the ship moved as Ardyn tried to get them into a higher orbit. "I recommend we get as far away from the planet as we can while we still can, sir."

[Bridge]

Ardy didn't really get her answer as to what happened to the other ship.

Things only seemed to go from bad to worse as they finished beaming in everything . A huge blow rocked the ship, sending Ardy reeling as the force of the ship moving  knocked her off her seat and  tumbling to the floor, landing her a lot harder than she had anticipated.

She winced as she picked herself up.  Something  definitely felt broken in her wrist but she could... manage it. She'd flown one-handed before as a dare, she'd do it again. Alex might object to her flying while injured, but she didn't want to bother with medical people when she was needed to fly the ship.

She tapped the helm console to get them moved out as fast as possible, then again.  Nothing. "Warp is down! " she barked as she tried to limp the ship out using impulse.  That was at least working, mostly, though it was barely responding as it was.  "I've got us on 87 percent impulse, but that's as fast as we can go,  All steering is shot. Ship's barely responding. Might be able to turn us starboard, but that's it."

"Hey Alex, can you reroute anything to impulse?" she asked. With their propulsion shot, she was trying to move things as fast as she could, but there was only so much this old girl could do.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the damage reports came in listing the endless issues, Ian's invectives in Gaelic were just as non-stop. The idea of having to abandon the away team filled him with dread.

"Bugger it all! I will nay be writin' eight more letters ta grievin' families, but if'n I don't take action ta save the ship, some pillock of an admiral will be writin' 550 letters."

He snarled in frustration at the conflicting crises.

"Maker forgive me. Helm, best speed get us out of range of that bloody planet."

The Challenger lurched and came about far too slowly for Ian's liking, but she did respond. As the ship limped away, he hit the comm panel on the command chair.

Challenger ta Grippen, we're takin' heavy fire, we've got ta withdraw and will be out of combadge range. Hold until relieved, I swear we'll be back for you. Galloway out."

Talinos IV continued to fire on the Challenger, but with her formidable point of impact shields raised, the disruptors could no longer penetrate the ship's defenses. But even though the weapons couldn't breach the shields, they were still planetary grade beams and each hit shook the ship violently. However, the weapons were obviously automated as they stopped firing as soon as Challenger was 250,000 kilometers away, finally giving the repair teams time to set things right.

[Talinos IV - Away Team]

The scattered transport had bounced the away team around badly resulting in several injuries. Most minor, except for Zhuk who had taken the worst of their arrival. Neva appeared right on the edge of a ledge and went over it before she could catch her balance. She bounced, rolled, and tumbled some 50 meters before coming to a rest in a heap. When the world stopped spinning, she found she had multiple bruises and a few cuts, but with nothing broken.

Aarwendil managed to find one of the rare bogs on the planet and found himself face down in a meter of mud. He had to flail wildly for several seconds to get his head clear and then spent several minutes coughing his lungs clear. On the positive side, while unpleasant, the bog was a soft landing and he was otherwise unhurt.

Crewmen Inys and Gorman from Security, defied the 'red shirt' trope and landed unharmed with both landing in a field covered in what looked like orange heather.

As their combadges worked, it took roughly 15 minutes for the scattered away team to assemble at Malik's location. From that point, the away team found themselves standing in a flat, largely featureless landscape. The surrounding vegetation consisted of yellow grass and the occasional spindly looking tree. Patches of cracked grey earth poked through the grass. The air felt warm and unhealthy and the plain was eerily still and quiet, apparently devoid of animal life. Tricorders revealed a few insects in the vicinity but no higher life form types. In the distance it was just possible to make out the source of the mysterious sensor signals, a city shimmering on the horizon in a mustard colored heat haze.

[Malik Grippen]

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Deck Four | Transporter Room One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Zhukdra'shar arrived just in time to see his squad of Security officers offering the Type-2 phasers to Tora, Neva, and Cheizex. At noticing him, Inys walked towards the Lieutenant Commander, and offered him a phaser rifle. Zhuk took it with a small smile on his face. He was happy to see that their training and commitment had been kept, even after the hell they had gone through in the last mission.

"Much appreciated, Crewman Inys"

He praised, earning a larger grin from the human woman in return. He secured the strap of the rifle to his chest and stepped upon the pad for the transport to begin. As Commander Malik gave the order to proceed, his gaze shifted to look at his Security officers, doing his best to concentrate on something other than the ick the process gave him.

And then, just as he felt his molecules vanishing, he saw the Chief Transporter crash onto the ground, as the ship began to shake...

When he felt his consciousness return, he let out a scream as he found himself free-falling through the air, heading rapidly towards yellowish dirt and bushes. His Caitian instincts kicked in, and he attempted to control the fall by opening his arms in order to lower his descent. As he was about to touch the ground, his arms and legs shot forward, allowing him to land on his feet. At least, that is what should have happened, but as Zhuk further tried to minimize the damage by rolling, he found himself placing too much pressure on his left arm. He heard a sickening crack and a yowl escaped his muzzle.

The rest of his body bounced two times from the ground - before finally slumping near a dry plant with his extremities sprawled in all directions. He did not want to open his eyes...

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Arid Plains | Unknown Planet]

The adrenaline faded, and an intense, sharp pain enveloped the entirety of his left arm, up to the shoulder. A warm trickle began to descend from his head, pooling on the ground. Zhuk recognized that he had found himself  He let out another yowl as he tried to assess the extent of his injuries, noting that, while he was not bleeding from underneath his uniform, his wounded arm had twisted in a shape that he was certain was not correct. He tried standing up to the side, and after some effort, managed to do so. He kneeled and reached out for his phaser rifle, noting that it had been roughed up by the fall, but to too severely.

Holding it with his good hand, he proceeded to stand up, testing his legs to see if they could carry him. Fortunately, though the first did hurt somewhat, the pain was manageable enough. Small relief washed over him, mildly aiding him in fighting the throbbing of his arm and head. Perhaps it was due to the former that he did not though about tapping on his commbadge, until he managed to overhear a garbled voice coming from his device.

"... in... rendez-vous... signal..."

"Ack-acknowledged Commander. I shalt try to... meet thee there..."

He gazed up at the sky, squinting to avoid the worst of the scorching sun, before securing the rifle to his shoulder and inspecting the commbadge. The signal was there. Weak, but he believed he could follow it. So, he began to advance.

After leaving his impact site, his arm began killing him with each step. Gritting his teeth, he decided to kneel into the parched ground and attempt some first aid. He untied the cords attached to the rifle after leaving it on the ground, before retrieving them, and with some effort, fashioned himself a poor sling to support his arm. His ears felt flat on his head, as he proceeded with the most difficult part of this procedure: properly securing his arm in place. It was only through sheer force of will that he managed to not emit a sound as he worked. After some grueling minutes, he was done. His arm felt much better, though he determined that using it was unfeasible.

Before he returned to walking, he tapped on his commbadge one last time,

"T-This is... L-Lieutenant Commander... ugh... does anyone read?"

Not waiting for a response, he pushed himself up and grabbed his Type-3. He then began to walk, stopping every once in a while to make sure he was heading in the right direction.

Couldn't find a nice day image of falling debris, so opted for Star Wars.

[Ensign Hejaran | Petrified Forest | Talinos IV]

Calindra decided to climb out of the water before, heaven forbid, she sank further into the muck. She grabbed onto the roots of a long dead tree and hoisted herself up as best as she could onto the arid dry land. She turned to her back and stayed there a while, watching the sky while she assessed herself for injuries. That's when she noticed the debris from the other vessel blazing slowly through the sky.

'Well, that can't be good,' she thought as a chill raced down her spine. She suddenly wondered if it was the ship that was destroyed or something else; she tried to push that question and implication away -- not now. As she wasn't on the bridge when the attack happened, she couldn't have known, but a reassuring crackling communication from Commander Grippen and a second from someone else she did not recognize gave her hope.

This is Ensign Hejaran, Acknowledging Orders. Out. 

The newest member of the crew picked herself up and dusted herself off as she took in her surroundings scanning it with her tricorder. She zeroed in on the closest Starfleet Comm signature and made her way out of the petrified forest and onto the arid plains.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the damage reports came in listing the endless issues, Ian's invectives in Gaelic were just as non-stop. The idea of having to abandon the away team filled him with dread.

"Bugger it all! I will nay be writin' eight more letters ta grievin' families, but if'n I don't take action ta save the ship, some pillock of an admiral will be writin' 550 letters."

He snarled in frustration at the conflicting crises.

"Maker forgive me. Helm, best speed get us out of range of that bloody planet."

The Challenger lurched and came about far too slowly for Ian's liking, but she did respond. As the ship limped away, he hit the comm panel on the command chair.

Challenger ta Grippen, we're takin' heavy fire, we've got ta withdraw and will be out of combadge range. Hold until relieved, I swear we'll be back for you. Galloway out."

Talinos IV continued to fire on the Challenger, but with her formidable point of impact shields raised, the disruptors could no longer penetrate the ship's defenses. But even though the weapons couldn't breach the shields, they were still planetary grade beams and each hit shook the ship violently. However, the weapons were obviously automated as they stopped firing as soon as Challenger was 250,000 kilometers away, finally giving the repair teams time to set things right.

[Talinos IV - Away Team]

The scattered transport had bounced the away team around badly resulting in several injuries. Most minor, except for Zhuk who had taken the worst of their arrival. Neva appeared right on the edge of a ledge and went over it before she could catch her balance. She bounced, rolled, and tumbled some 50 meters before coming to a rest in a heap. When the world stopped spinning, she found she had multiple bruises and a few cuts, but with nothing broken.

Aarwendil managed to find one of the rare bogs on the planet and found himself face down in a meter of mud. He had to flail wildly for several seconds to get his head clear and then spent several minutes coughing his lungs clear. On the positive side, while unpleasant, the bog was a soft landing and he was otherwise unhurt.

Crewmen Inys and Gorman from Security, defied the 'red shirt' trope and landed unharmed with both landing in a field covered in what looked like orange heather.

As their combadges worked, it took roughly 15 minutes for the scattered away team to assemble at Malik's location. From that point, the away team found themselves standing in a flat, largely featureless landscape. The surrounding vegetation consisted of yellow grass and the occasional spindly looking tree. Patches of cracked grey earth poked through the grass. The air felt warm and unhealthy and the plain was eerily still and quiet, apparently devoid of animal life. Tricorders revealed a few insects in the vicinity but no higher life form types. In the distance it was just possible to make out the source of the mysterious sensor signals, a city shimmering on the horizon in a mustard colored heat haze.

[Talinos IV, Beam in site]

Malik couldn't help but feel a pang of concern at the captain's message and their current predicament. Nethertheless, there was nothing they could do from down here at the moment, save for continue with the mission.

"Acknowledged, Challenger. Stay safe. We'll proceed on mission. Grippen out."

15 minutes later and thankfully all the away team had rendezvoused back with him. They appeared in varying states, from mud caked, to water logged, to injured. Unfortunately they had neglected to bring a medical crewman or a medkit, as the mission simply hadn't called for it at the time. Of greatest concern was Mrekrerhas's closed fracture of his arm and head injury. He needed medical treatment.

"Alright here's the situation. The Challenger has had to retreat and enact repairs after it came under attack from the surface. Transporters and shuttle evacuation are not an option. So we must make the best of the situation and continue with our objectives."

"My tricorder detected a small shipwreck 1 km to the north east. Myself, Mrekrerhas, Hejaran and Inys will head there. Hopefully there's a medical kit and an intact computer log. Cordon, Cheizex, Zalos and Gorman. I want you to head directly north and investigate the source of the heightened radiation. From there, head north west to a larger structure to investigate."

"Stay safe. We're not alone on this planet. Move out."

The wind whipped the dust up around their feet as it blew across the alien plain. He draped Mrekrerhas' good arm around his shoulder and began the long walk to the shipwreck.

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

Calindra nodded politely, mumbling a small 'hello' in return. She didn't quite feel up to discussing with anyone given the impeding away mission, worried that she might miss important information, not to mention her apprehension at having to use the transporter. 'Relax, the Petty-Officer knows how to work the transporter, and everything will go alright, now smile to the lieutenant.'

She turned to Aarwendil and gave him her best nervous smile as he took a position next to her on the transporter pad.

She thought she saw his eyes twinkle, the edge of a smile crossing his face before the transporter activated. After that something odd happened, it felt like it was taking longer, and she kept seeing multiple spots of light that weren't supposed to be there, and then...

Before she knew it, she was suddenly thrown backwards. She cried out in alarm as she passed dead tree branches, decaying ferns, frightened critters; the wind whistling past her ears as she plummeted down from several feet in the air. In a panic, she tried to hold onto something — anything — to stop from falling when suddenly she landed in a large pool of ice cold water...

She sputtered to the surface, her body screaming from the shock before giving her surroundings a baleful glare. Oh, she was NOT happy.

From what she could tell, the area looked like the remaining vestiges of a long dead forest. Most of the trees had rotted away long ago, leaving dead stumps where there once might have been a mighty tree reaching towards the sky. No longer.

Even the air and water tasted stale, like even the wind had stopped gracing the tortured land.

She stood there, knee-deep in what might have once been considered the edges of a small lake wondering what the krife just happened.

[Transporter Room 1 | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Aarwendil didn't say anything else after Calindra replied with a hello that was so low that he struggled to understand. She was obviously in a bad mood and if he had learned something growing up with three older sisters was to never burn out the remaining patience of a woman that was already pissed.

With that in mind, the Betazoid remained in silence. He stepped in the transporter pad and waited for it to be activated. Soon, he would be sent down to the surface of the planet.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the damage reports came in listing the endless issues, Ian's invectives in Gaelic were just as non-stop. The idea of having to abandon the away team filled him with dread.

"Bugger it all! I will nay be writin' eight more letters ta grievin' families, but if'n I don't take action ta save the ship, some pillock of an admiral will be writin' 550 letters."

He snarled in frustration at the conflicting crises.

"Maker forgive me. Helm, best speed get us out of range of that bloody planet."

The Challenger lurched and came about far too slowly for Ian's liking, but she did respond. As the ship limped away, he hit the comm panel on the command chair.

Challenger ta Grippen, we're takin' heavy fire, we've got ta withdraw and will be out of combadge range. Hold until relieved, I swear we'll be back for you. Galloway out."

Talinos IV continued to fire on the Challenger, but with her formidable point of impact shields raised, the disruptors could no longer penetrate the ship's defenses. But even though the weapons couldn't breach the shields, they were still planetary grade beams and each hit shook the ship violently. However, the weapons were obviously automated as they stopped firing as soon as Challenger was 250,000 kilometers away, finally giving the repair teams time to set things right.

[Talinos IV - Away Team]

The scattered transport had bounced the away team around badly resulting in several injuries. Most minor, except for Zhuk who had taken the worst of their arrival. Neva appeared right on the edge of a ledge and went over it before she could catch her balance. She bounced, rolled, and tumbled some 50 meters before coming to a rest in a heap. When the world stopped spinning, she found she had multiple bruises and a few cuts, but with nothing broken.

Aarwendil managed to find one of the rare bogs on the planet and found himself face down in a meter of mud. He had to flail wildly for several seconds to get his head clear and then spent several minutes coughing his lungs clear. On the positive side, while unpleasant, the bog was a soft landing and he was otherwise unhurt.

Crewmen Inys and Gorman from Security, defied the 'red shirt' trope and landed unharmed with both landing in a field covered in what looked like orange heather.

As their combadges worked, it took roughly 15 minutes for the scattered away team to assemble at Malik's location. From that point, the away team found themselves standing in a flat, largely featureless landscape. The surrounding vegetation consisted of yellow grass and the occasional spindly looking tree. Patches of cracked grey earth poked through the grass. The air felt warm and unhealthy and the plain was eerily still and quiet, apparently devoid of animal life. Tricorders revealed a few insects in the vicinity but no higher life form types. In the distance it was just possible to make out the source of the mysterious sensor signals, a city shimmering on the horizon in a mustard colored heat haze.

[Talinos IV, Beam in site]

Malik couldn't help but feel a pang of concern at the captain's message and their current predicament. Nethertheless, there was nothing they could do from down here at the moment, save for continue with the mission.

"Acknowledged, Challenger. Stay safe. We'll proceed on mission. Grippen out."

15 minutes later and thankfully all the away team had rendezvoused back with him. They appeared in varying states, from mud caked, to water logged, to injured. Unfortunately they had neglected to bring a medical crewman or a medkit, as the mission simply hadn't called for it at the time. Of greatest concern was Mrekrerhas's closed fracture of his arm and head injury. He needed medical treatment.

"Alright here's the situation. The Challenger has had to retreat and enact repairs after it came under attack from the surface. Transporters and shuttle evacuation are not an option. So we must make the best of the situation and continue with our objectives."

"My tricorder detected a small shipwreck 1 km to the north east. Myself, Mrekrerhas, Hejaran and Inys will head there. Hopefully there's a medical kit and an intact computer log. Cordon, Cheizex, Zalos and Gorman. I want you to head directly north and investigate the source of the heightened radiation. From there, head north west to a larger structure to investigate."

"Stay safe. We're not alone on this planet. Move out."

The wind whipped the dust up around their feet as it blew across the alien plain. He draped Mrekrerhas' good arm around his shoulder and began the long walk to the shipwreck.

[Talinos IV - Away Team]

The arrival in Talinos wasn't the best. Rather than being transported calmly to the surface, Aarwendil found himself falling from a certain height face first in the mud. It was the most humiliating experience that he ever had. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone around the Betazoid to see him flailing like a fish out of the water.

When he rose out of the mud, Aarwendil's face was covered in mud and he was spitting what got inside his mouth. The Betazoid cleaned what he could before pondering about his situation. He was alone, with no other member of the team around. Fantastic.

Before he could try to make contact with the others, he received the message from the Challenger. "Understood." he said, before walking to find the rest of the team. White he walked, the Betazoid felt grateful for not having broken any bone during his fall.

After walking some time, Aarwendil finally found the rest of the team. They looked not much better than him, with some even being visibly wounded. It was decided that they were going to split. He, Cordon, Zalos and Gorman would walk north toward the source of the radiation.

Hopefully nothing else would go wrong today.

[Alexander Wu]

[Bridge]

She winced as she picked herself up.  Something  definitely felt broken in her wrist but she could... manage it. She'd flown one-handed before as a dare, she'd do it again. Alex might object to her flying while injured, but she didn't want to bother with medical people when she was needed to fly the ship.

She tapped the helm console to get them moved out as fast as possible, then again.  Nothing. "Warp is down! " she barked as she tried to limp the ship out using impulse.  That was at least working, mostly, though it was barely responding as it was.   "I've got us on 87 percent impulse, but that's as fast as we can go,  All steering is shot. Ship's barely responding. Might be able to turn us starboard, but that's it."

"Hey Alex, can you reroute anything to impulse?" she asked. With their propulsion shot, she was trying to move things as fast as she could, but there was only so much this old girl could do.

[USS Challenger - Deck 1 - Bridge]

When a flare of searing agony shot through Alex's mind, it took him a second to realize that it wasn't from an injury of his own. Maddy? A quick glance towards Ardyn and her grimaced expression made it clear whose pain he felt. He wanted to call for a medic or order her below, but there wasn't time. The ship continued to shudder as they were dealt repeated blows, like sledgehammers on a thin metal shield. "87% IS with rerouted power." Alex replied, trying to squeeze every last ounce out of the Challenger's aging systems.

It was a slow lumbering retreat, made all the longer that they could only turn to starboard, though without anything to shoot back at, Alex could at the very least sequentially boost the shields facing the planet's barrage at the expense of their weapon systems. Davenport wasn't too happy, but there was little she could do besides holding fast like the rest of them. Once the disruptor fire stopped, he was finally able to piece together a sobering damage report. "We have significant hull breaches on deck 5, 6, 8, and 15, all port side, emergency forcefields are holding. Port side ablative armour is severely compromised, and the port ventral phaser array is inoperable. We took six direct hits before the shields were activated, they did most of the damage. Impulse engine output is at 82% and dropping, number 1 drive is leaking power like a sieve, I suspect it's been completely destroyed. Port nacelle is venting plasma and Engineering has scrammed the warp core. Transporters are offline, structural integrity field holding at 90%. Captain, I'd like to get a damage control team out to visualize the damage as soon as possible, many of our external sensors are returning error messages and I'm worried those hull breaches may have compromised more than just the hull plating."

Alex noticeably paled as the last department sent in their status update, and it took some effort to keep his tone neutral. "Sickbay is reporting multiple casualties, forty two and rising. Six confirmed deceased, and eighteen crew members have missed muster. They were all stationed in the breached sections, sir."

[Calindra Hejaran]

[Talinos IV, Beam in site]

15 minutes later and thankfully all the away team had rendezvoused back with him. They appeared in varying states, from mud caked, to water logged, to injured. Unfortunately they had neglected to bring a medical crewman or a medkit, as the mission simply hadn't called for it at the time. Of greatest concern was Mrekrerhas's closed fracture of his arm and head injury. He needed medical treatment.

"Alright here's the situation. The Challenger has had to retreat and enact repairs after it came under attack from the surface. Transporters and shuttle evacuation are not an option. So we must make the best of the situation and continue with our objectives."

"My tricorder detected a small shipwreck 1 km to the north east. Myself, Mrekrerhas, Hejaran and Inys will head there. Hopefully there's a medical kit and an intact computer log. Cordon, Cheizex, Zalos and Gorman. I want you to head directly north and investigate the source of the heightened radiation. From there, head north west to a larger structure to investigate."

"Stay safe. We're not alone on this planet. Move out."

The wind whipped the dust up around their feet as it blew across the alien plain. He draped Mrekrerhas' good arm around his shoulder and began the long walk to the shipwreck.

[Talinos IV - On Route to Crash Site]

Calindra was relieved to find out that the ship was still in one piece and to see the rest of the away team. With the commander assisting their Security Officer, the Ensign took out her tricorder and helped the group find the most direct route to the shuttle's crash site. "Sir, do you need my help with Zhuk, or would you have me scouting ahead with Crewman Inys?" she asked once she'd picked out the first waypoint and relayed it to all their tricorders.

As the junior most person on the away team, she wanted to find a way to be (or feel) useful. Mapping out the way points by picking landmarks that would be easy to distinguish would make it easier on all of them and would free up the remaining security crewman to keep a careful eye out for any danger, but two sets of eyes might be best if the Caitian wasn't too heavy.