Amongst The Fallen
Posted on Mon Jun 3rd, 2024 @ 4:45am by Lieutenant JG Runa Suruga & Commander Mashiro Munetani "Shiro"
Mission:
Return to Tyra
Location: Type XI Shuttlecraft Neptune
Timeline: Concurrent with "Salvaging The Wrecks" & "Silent Running"
The Type XI Shuttlecraft Neptune slowly made its way through the debris field, it's searchlight darting to and fro as it carefully navigated the chunks of wreckage that floated aimlessly in the depths of space. It was presently on its way back from the first of what was likely to be several runs out to the Saber-Class USS Perch, which had suffered one of the highest casualty rates of any ship in the battle, with 27 of it's 40-man crew lost when its warp core detonated prematurely. The Neptune's 2-man crew knew they already had a lot of work ahead of them, especially when it came to locating (and subsequently retrieving) the remains- at least, presuming there was enough of them left to recover.
"There's not a lot left of the Perch..." Lieutenant Junior Grade Runa Suruga sighed as she conducted scans. "A warp core breach has vaporised most of the entire ship..."
"Regardless, Lieutenant, we still have an obligation to try and recover what we still can," Mashiro pointed out. "And if it gives the victims' loved ones some form of closure, then it's well worth the time and effort spent sifting through the wreckage."
Runa tapped on her console a few times. "I'm not reading any biological material in... Well... whats left of the ship. A few fragments here and there, but nothing to really salvage..."
"Well, for some people, it's better than nothing..." Mashiro lamented.
"Erm..." Runa said as she looked at the Commander. "I don't think their families will want pieces of hull fragments." She turned back to her console. "I can rule off the Perch as 'totally destroyed'." she said as she scrolled through the long list. "We should move onto the next ship, the Galaxy Class USS Phoebe. Looking at the scans, there's actually quite a lot of it still intact."
"Right, then," Mashiro nodded in the affirmative. "If we've done all we can here, Lieutenant, then prepare to lay in a course for the Phoebe's last known location."
"Aye," Runa said. "Course set, engaging thrusters."
After a few seconds the shuttle approached the wreck of the Phoebe. The once proud Galaxy Class laid in ruins. Huge holes blasted in its hull, it floated in a field of debris. One of it nacelles had been blasted off, and the bridge module was nothing but a gaping hole in the top of the saucer. The ship drifted amongst the debris lifeless and gray.
"A disturbing sight..." Runa muttered.
"Alright, let's take stock of what we've got," Mashiro sighed as she pulled up the list on her PADD. "Right, so our first order of business will be to assess the phaser arrays and determine if they're..."
"This is weird..." Runa said cutting her off. "I'm getting a level one priority encrypted message from the Wayfarer." She explained.
Mashiro's eyes widened.
"Read it back, Lieutenant," she instructed.
"Its a text message. It just says the following..." Runa said as she began to read off her screen. "Hostile Dominion Vessel in vicinity. Find safe harbour. Return to Wayfarer when possible. Captain Misaki."
The two of them sat there in stunned silence, uncertain what to make of this latest development. A hostile Dominion vessel? Here? More than a year after the Treaty of Bajor had been signed? Were the Changelings lulling the Federation into a false sense of security before going back on their word and launching a surprise invasion when they were least expecting it?
Whatever the case, the Neptune and her crew were in no shape to be taking on a Dominion ship to any capacity, and this was a fact that both Mashiro and Runa recognized immediately.
"Take us into the wreckage," Mashiro ordered, pointing towards the Phoebe. "We'll switch over to low power mode and hunker down until Wayfarer signals the all-clear."
"Taking us in. Looks like the main shuttlebay doors are open. We can park right on the deck?" Runa asked.
"Check to see if there's an artificial gravity bubble," Mashiro instructed. "If not, we may have to magnetize ourselves to the deck."
"The ship has no power readings. Even the emergency power batteries have run dry or being destroyed." Runa said as she ran a quick scan of the Phoebe. "She's basically nothing but an empty wreck..." She said.
The shuttle banked and turned into the huge main shuttlebay of the Galaxy Class. Without warning a perfectly preserved corpse struck the forward windscreen of the shuttle.
Runa let out a scream as the lifeless corpse bounced off the shuttle. Obviously whoever it was had been killed in the battle in the shuttlebay and their body was now preserved in the void of space. "Sorry..." Runa said. "Maybe its not so empty afterall..."
"See if you can lock onto the subspace transceiver assembly of his combadge," Mashiro suggested. "We should still have some room in the hold..."
"I can lock onto him using the targeting sensors..." Runa said. "Well, we are here to retrieve such things right..." She added grimly.
"It's not like we're going to have much else to do..." Mashiro sighed as she got up from where she was seated.
Runa nodded as she tapped at the console. "Done..."
After switching over to low-power mode, the two officers made their way back to inspect the body. Fortunately, thanks in large part to the vacuum of space, the remains of this unfortunate soul had been almost perfectly preserved from advanced stages of decomposition- a time capsule from when his life was terminated over two years ago.
"He looks young..." Runa said. "Enlisted, Petty Officer. Probably not very long in the fleet."
Mashiro got down on her knees and ran a tricorder over the body.
"No signs of internal or external injuries," she observed. "Cause of death was more than likely oxygen deprivation."
She looked up.
"It must've been agonizing," she surmised grimly. "To be floating around in the depths of space and realizing he probably only had seconds left to live..."
Runa nodded silently. She used her fingers to close his eyes as they were still open. "At least now he could be sleeping." She said sadly. "We all know the risks when we signed up."
"All gave some, some gave all," Mashiro muttered. "At least his family will be able to rest assured knowing that they now have a body with which to lay to rest."
"Shouldn't we return to the Wayfarer?" Runa asked curiously. "The Captain did give us orders to return when we can. And frankly, I'd rather be back on the ship than in a shuttle if there are hostile Jem'Hadar around..."
Mashiro shook her head. "It's not a risk we can afford right now, Lieutenant," she stated firmly. "Were we to make a break for the Wayfarer, we'd be sitting ducks; the best we can do right now is sit put and wait for Captain Misaki to signal the all-clear."
"Well ok..." Runa pouted. "But we can't exactly do anything. If we start any salvage work, we'll draw attention to outselves."
"Then we'll just have to settle in and wait this one out," Mashiro sighed. "I know it's not ideal, Lieutenant, but if we want to get out of here alive, we're going to have to be patient."
[Later]
With the petty officer now bagged up and stored away, both Runa and Mashiro had been 'waiting it out'. The doors from the aft compartment opened and Runa walked in with a plate of rice balls. "Rice ball?" she asked offerering one to the Commander.
Mashiro stared at the rice ball for a second or two, but eventually conceded and accepted Runa's offer. In the year that had passed since the end of the Dominion War, she had forgotten what it was like having to constantly be on edge for extended periods of time, so having to do it again after so long was a bit of a drain on her energy; it would do her good to try and replenish it whenever she could.
"Thanks, Lieutenant," she said as she took the rice ball and dug in. The taste was frankly unremarkable, but she supposed it was better than nothing.
Runa slid down into the chair next to her. "Whats got you on edge?" she asked curiously. "If there is a Jem'Hadar ship out there, surely Captain Misaki has dealt with it by now. She's a great captain after all!"
"I've just been... reflecting is all," Mashio admitted between bites. "Trying to think back to the last time I was in a situation like this..."
She sighed. "You know, even though it's only been a year, it feels like the War was a lifetime ago... I'm barely 30, and I already feel like a jaded eighty-something who's seen more in her lifetime than she ever wants to see..."
She glanced over at Runa. "...but then again, who hasn't?"
"Stop weighing on the past. Be more positive like Captain Misaki." Runa replied.
Mashiro simply clicked her tongue. "You know, I'm still wondering how that girl manages to stay so chipper and upbeat... I mean, she can't be much older than I am how does a girl that young manage to live through all that and then continue to go about like business as usual- like we somehow didn't just come off of the single-bloodiest conflict in known history?"
"Well, the rumours are that she has lost everything and her entire family. But she still smiles..." Runa said in response. "I guess it's laugh or cry I guess. No one really knows what Captain Misaki is really like though." She paused for a moment. "But she knows every single member of the crew by name."
There was a long pause.
"You know, I wish I could be like that sometimes," Mashiro sighed. "But war changes a person, for better or for worse; try as I might, I don't think I could go back to the person I was before the war, because acting like it never happened feels like I would be doing a disservice to the men and women who have died fighting for this cause..."
"I try to not think about it." Runa replied. "I focus on whats going on now. No need to dwell on the past."
"Great idea on paper; not the easiest thing to do when you're hunkering down in the hollowed-out wreckage of a Galaxy-Class trying to hide from a hostile Dominion vessel," Mashiro pointed out.
Runa let out a sigh. "Good point I guess." She tapped at the console. "I'm not reading any signs of the Dominion vessel on sensors. But the sheer amount of wreckage around us could be scrambling the sensors." She said as she continued passive scans. "We could theoretically take a little space walk into the shuttlebay..."
"Well, it's not like we have much else to do at the moment..." Mashiro sighed as she stood up and began making her way back to the EV suit locker with Runa in tow.
Posting By:
Commander Mashiro Munetani
Executive Officer, USS Wayfarer (NCC-72113)
Lieutenant, Junior Grader Runa Suruga
Assistant Chief Operations Officer, USS Wayfarer (NCC-72113)
