Lurker In The Void, Part 4

Posted on Sun May 2nd, 2021 @ 8:18pm by Gunnery Sergeant Philibert "Fender" McCord

Mission: S2:3: Snow Drift
Location: Karank System

The skull glistened off the lights of the laboratory. It was held aloft by 2nd Lieutenant Sternwald. With a bit of caress, he studied the skull.

"This creature was the apex of intelligent life. A god living among the mundane. If he was only here to guide us lesser creatures." Sterwald whispered to himself.

"Hey, Lieutenant." Fender curtly interrupted Sternwald's transfixion. "I think you'll be better off on the bridge."

"I am just fine right here." Sternwald replied without acknowledging Fender, returning to his obsession.

"That wasn't a request, Lieutenant. We need to consolidate the boarding party." Fender told Him. "And your personal security detail can return to the Plumbata. There're plenty of marines on the bridge."

"Have you lost your military bearings? I outrank you. I give the orders and you follow them. As of now, you are under report for disrespecting an officer. Do not add mutiny to the charges." Sternwald threatened.

"And I've been in Starfleet long enough to see an officer out of his depths. You're no longer fit for command, Lieutenant. I'm relieving you of your duties as platoon commander. Now, please head to the bridge Lieutenant." Fender informed Sternwald in a cold, professional tone.

Sternwald did not move. The four marines also remained motionless.

"Lieutenant, if you don't move out now I'll have you arrested." Fender threatened.

Sternwald stood still. Fender turned to a marine. "Lance Corporal Mathews, please escort the Lieutenant to the bridge."

Mathews and the other marines remained in place and looked to Sternwald as if for guidance.

"Very well, Gunnery Sergeant. I will be off to the bridge." Sternwald submitted.

"I'll take the skull." Fender reached for the horned bone.

Sterwald quickly pulled the skull away from Fender's grasp. "You are unworthy!" Sternwald shouted as he gently placed the skull on the examination table.

Fender put up his hands. "Fine, we'll lock up this room. Just get to the bridge." He turned to the marines, "I want you lot back on the Plumbata."

"Gunny McCord, can you find time to come down to the transporter room? It is important." Taz requested.

"On my way, Fender out." He then looked at the rest of them. "Now get going."

The marines failed once again to move until Sternwald gave them a nod. Then, as one, the moved out of the lab. Sterwald looked down his nose at Fender as he left.

Garcia, Khatri, and Taz were gathered around the transporter controls as Fender entered. On the deck were the mummified remains of a female officer with blonde hair. Despite the desiccated state of the corpse, a laser burn was evident in the side of her head. Her hand still clutching a laser pistol.

"Why hasn't she been taken to the morgue?" Fender asked Khatri.

"We thought you should see something first. This is Commander Heidelberg. She left a message on the transporter controls." Khatri explained as he pulled up the small view screen.

As the screen came to life, the quality of the message had degraded a bit. The image would turn grainy and occasionally stop as the audio continued. In the picture was a middle aged woman with blonde hair and a weather-beaten face.

"Hello, I'm Commander Doris Heidelberg, Chief Engineer of the USS Gorgon. We belong to Starfleet and are part of the United Federation of Planets." The woman spoke in a calm tone.

"If you, the persons finding this message are also part of Starfleet, are probably aware of our predicament. If our peoples have never meet, we..." Despair seems to overwhelm Heidelberg. Failing to hold back tears, she continues. "We are so very far from home."

"I have stored the transporter scans of eighty seven of our crew into the memory system. I have encrypted their scans with a custom code. I have done this because one of our number, Chang, has the ability to telepathically control people. Once under his control, he can somehow access all the persons memories. I'm the only person now with the code to pull the crew out of the transporter. There is only one way to ensure that Chang doesn't get the code." With a forlorn look, Heidelberg gazed at the pistol.

The chief engineer returned to the message. "It might take time to break the encryption. Who ever you are, please have mercy on them and pull them out. I have one last task. Heidelberg out."

"Thank you, that was important." Fender told Khatri. "Fender to Warrant Officer Morgav. Are you there?"

"Still here, Gunny." The Tellarite replied. "Sternwald's babysitters returned. They are glad to be free of that sink hole of a creature."

"Things have changed. There are crew stuck in the transporter's memory. This is a rescue operation now." Fender explained.

"Understood, I will prepare the tractor beam. It will be a slow ride home. Morgav out." The Tellarite acknowledged.

"How far along is Hotchkiss?" Fender asked about the body clean up.

"I talked to him before you got here. They're almost done. The Commander will be the last to go in the morgue." Khatri motioned to Heidelberg's corpse.

"Good. After he is done, tell him to leave one team here on guard. Take the other two teams to engineering. I want you down there as well, try and get the engines back up." Fender instructed.

"What about the crew stuck in there?" Khatri indicated the transporter.

"We'll leave that to the experts on Canopus Station. We really don't want to screw that up. Besides, if anyone can get into that system, it is that oddball skirt that runs engineering." Fender told Khatri.

"Do you mean Lieutenant Commander Ricci? She has a proper name." Taz scolded Fender.

"Right." Fender did not want to start a fight now. "Petty Officer Garcia, you will go with the rest of us to the bridge. We'll see what works and try to pull more logs to see what happened."

As Fender and the others made their way to the bridge, he turned to the Andorian. "Corporal Taz, watch how your marines are acting around Lieutenant Sternwald. He is leading candidate for least popular officer in Starfleet, yet he seemed to have Ng's marines undivided loyalty."

"Understood, Gunny." Taz coldly replied.

Sterwald was in the Captain's chair as the group reached the bridge. The marine lieutenant was looking at the view screen, as if guiding a mission. The view screen was turned off.

"What are you doing in that chair, Lieutenant?" Fender asked.

"I am the senior officer present, Gunnery Sergeant. As is my right, I hold the Captain's chair." Sternwald coolly explained.

"You acting too creepy. I think we need to take a stroll down to the brig." Fender told Sternwald.

Sternwald remained seated. Fender looked at the four marines on guard. "You four, back to the Plumbata. Taz, I'm taking Second Team with me. On your feet, Lieutenant."

The four marines guarding the bridge had a glazed over look to their eyes. As if automatons, they looked to Sternwald.

Fender leveled his rifle at Sternwald. "Move, now."

Sternwald gave the four marines a nod and they moved in unison into the turbolift.

As the doors closed on the lift, Fender still had his weapon on Sternwald. "We're going to the brig. Try anything and I'll blow your head off."