Night on Gekkaro
Posted on Sun Oct 25th, 2015 @ 11:00am by Commodore Samantha York & 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate & Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & Captain Cameron Bourne
1,183 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission: Of Gods and Men
ON
Sam followed the group, keeping to herself, as she walked the steep path to the temple on the hill.
As she neared the temple, she noticed the people dividing into two lines. One line was for people with foodstuffs, the other for those with goods. She got in line with her bag of food and waited her turn to hand it over to an acolyte who barely glanced at her before taking her bag and handing it off to a runner who took it into the temple.
The villagers then made their way to the front of the large structured and spread themselves across the grounds, all facing a large balcony.
When everyone had given their offering, a tall, thin, lizard-like creature dressed in golden robes stepped onto the balcony.
The people began to shout praises and requests for blessings to this creature, calling him Frenatus the Great and Powerful.
Sam made sure to stay in the back, her head bowed in an outward dhow of deference while she wished she had a tricorder with her.
"Peace, my children," he said at last, raising his hands for silence. "Your offerings tonight please me. However, there are some who wish to take away that which I have so graciously awarded you."
A holographic image of the Calypso appeared in the sky in front of the lizard. "These are your enemy. They come from a far world to take away your lands and enslave your children."
The people began to shout epithets and cry for Frenatus to protect them from this evil.
"I hear your prayers and I will protect you," he said. His eyes began to glow yellow and the hair on the back of Sam's necks stood on end. Static electric discharge? she wondered.
"Behold the power of your god!" Frenatus shouted, pointing a finger at the holographic ship. It looked like it was hit by some sort of beam that carried it out of sight. Everyone cheered.
There was a sharp smell of ozone in the air as Frenatus began to speak to the people about how dangerous it was without his protection and as long as they continued to bring him tribute, he would keep the evil slavers from their world. Finally, he gave some sort of blessing that made little sense to Sam and went back inside.
The crowd began to disperse, gathering in groups to talk about what happened as they made their way back to their homes.
Again Sam joined them, eager to get back to the inn and see if the Calypso was truly gone, or if this was some sort of trick.
Standing out the front of the inn, Cam watched the crowd of people head towards their homes. He hadn't heard what was said, but the images that had been shown were clear enough. Seeing Sam, he quickly moved to meet her, "that didn't look good"
"There's a lizard-like humanoid who says he's their god. They pay him tribute. He hit the Calypso with some sort of electrical discharge..." she said quietly.
"Was it more like a phaser or a tractor beam?" Cam asked, concerned that they were now stuck on this backwards planet
Back in his room, Arnon noticed the flash.
"Drop that and pick up your socks, Jenkins," he said. "Something is amiss."
Jenkins fought with his sheets as he fell from his bed landing on the floor with a thud. "Thanks doc, I was just getting to the best part." he groaned as he retrieved his socks from the floor.
Arnon shook his head.
"Let's go find the commodore," he said, leading the way out of the room.
[Outside]
"Neither. He waved his hand, and a holographic images of the Calypso appeared in the air over the crowd. Then he pointed at it and a beam of what felt like electricity shot from his hand and hit the holographic ship, then carried the ship away," she said, shaking her head. "I haven't been anywhere I could check to see if the ship is really okay."
Cam nodded, "we should head inside. I'm sure we can contact the ship one way or another"
Sam nodded. "Agreed."
The two walked up to where their two rooms stood across the hall from each other. "Get Kara and meet in my room. We'll see what we can find out then."
Cam nodded before heading into his room.
Sam walked into the bedroom where Damon waited, not too pleased that she went off without him.
"I think I found out where the technological signal came from. There's a lizard-like creature that hit the Calypso with some sort of electrical discharge."
TAGS
[Cam and Kara's room]
Stepping in through the door, Cam looked around, "Kara, are you still awake?" He asked, unsure if she'd gone to bed or not.
Kara was stretching out on the floor on the other side of their bed. "I'm here," she said, sitting up. "What's up?
"Come on, Sam wants us all in her room. Something has happened we all need to discuss" Cam said, walking over and offering her a hand up
She took his hand with a smile. "I hope it's good news."
[Sam's Room]
Arnon saw Sam heading for her room and saw Captain Bourne head toward the room he shared with Kara.
"Commodore," he said. "There was some kind of flash, not lightning and not natural. It seemed to originate from the direction you walked off in. What's going on?"
"Come in and I'll explain," she said, glancing down the hall to make sure they weren't drawing any attention.
Kara and Cam walked in right after.
Sam sat on her bed and told them what she'd seen. Then she tapped the combadge on her arm. "York to Calypso," she said quietly. There was no response.
Cam listened to the signal from the combadge. It didn't sound like it was jammed, just out of range. "How many moons does this planet have?" Cam asked, a thought coming to him
"Eleven," Sam replied. "This is the fourth planet." She tried again, still with no response. "It would make sense if they're out of range." She sighed and looked around at the others. "With the Calypso gone, it is more imperative than ever to find out what's going on."
An idea came to her. She tapped her combadge again. "York to Phoenix."
"Phoenix here. Good to hear from you, Commodore."
"What happened to the Calypso?"
"No idea. Some beam shot out from the planet. The ship wasn't destroyed, but it's no longer here. We think it got knocked out of the system."
"Where are you now?" Sam asked the fighter pilot.
"The fifth planet right now. It's m-class."
"Good. Stay safe and inform me if anything changes. YOrk out."
She looked at the others. "Now, more than ever, we need to find out who Frenatus is and what he's doing here."
____
OFF
Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer
Frenatus
Gekkaro deity
Captain Cameron Bourne
Marine CO
Lieutenant Arnon Barak
Chief Counselor
2nd Lieutenant Kara Melo
Alpha Platoon Leader
Sergeant Daniel Jenkins
Marine
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