Hostile Reception (Part 2)

Posted on Tue Mar 2nd, 2021 @ 10:55am by Lieutenant Mira Jayna & Commander Hans Munich & Lieutenant Lei Shan & Lieutenant Dwight McCabe & Lieutenant Bela Swain & Ensign Satt

1,114 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Storm
Timeline: MD 01

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

The team headed out, taking the best route to the nearest colony. The storm seemed to keep most people inside, as there was no sign of anyone out and about.

[NEW]

Shan found the walk an easy pace. She was a bit of a work-out fanatic, and she typically ran or biked several kilometers each morning in addition to yoga. As the Major said, this little walk was a nice warm-up. She did find herself hoping there would be some shelter if that storm broke, though. She did not like being out in nasty weather.

Jayna kept her eyes open, constantly scanning the surroundings. It was too quiet and that made her uncomfortable. She didn't trust that storm, and she didn't trust this place, but she had no idea why.

Keeping his eyes peeled on their horizons, Satt walked in a comfortable silence for a while, before a deepening disquiet began to overwhelm him. The Bolian cocked his head. 'You guys hear that?'

Shan glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, also turning her head a little this way and that. "Uhhh... you mean the... nothing?" she clarified, hearing nothing at all but the shuffling feet of the away team.

'Exactly,' he gestured around at the flora around them, 'plant life, but no animal sounds,' he rasped, 'it's unnaturally quiet, don't you think?'

"It's...concerning," Jayna said. "No people, no insect or animal life. But are they hiding or gone?" It all made Jayna wary and uncomfortable.

Before long, they saw the first signs of habitat. A cultivated field that had not been harvested. The grain was beginning to go to seed if it wasn't choked out by the weeds first.

Bela fretted. "This does not look promising. If nobody is harvesting the fields, the likelihood of anyone surviving is pretty low. I hope that the people found somewhere safe to go."

'People don't just disappear, Counsellor,' replied Satt with a reassuring glance. 'I'm sure they're just holed up in a shelter, away from the storm - I'm sure they'll have worked out it's not natural. With replicators they can stay inside for as long as possible.' Looking at the unharvested grain he kept his darker misgivings private.

"Even if the problems are not natural, it would not make much sense to abandon everything this long unless there was something more deadly...." She looked deeply into the Bolian's eyes, wondering if he was just trying to make her feel better.

"It's possible they went underground," Jayna suggested. "We'll have more to go on once we start knocking on doors."

'The Lieutenant is right, Counsellor,' Satt met her gaze unflinchingly and deployed what he hoped was a reassuring smile, 'we don't know when they went into hiding. There will be people to find. We'll have our hands full dealing with them no doubt.'

"I certainly hope so," she replied hopefully. "And then they could tell us why they did not come back up here for their crops."

As they walked through the grain fields, Satt saw they were coming up on a quaint 20th-century style water pump windmill. He'd recalled seeing them in educational holos about Midwest America when growing up on Bolus. The metal squeaked and scraped forlornly in the wind as it went round and round.

'Must be coming up on the settlement soon - we should look out for buildings. Assuming a standard set-up there might be a shelter under the municipal buildings.'

Bela nodded, a look of determination to find people to help on her face.

"Sounds like the best place to start looking," Jayna said.

It was a weird state of the aftermath when an Ion Storm hit something; it bore thoughts of the old Thuderstorms of earth that could go higher to hurricanes and the like. The Weather control and shielding can difuse the effects to a degree but still a bit gets through and the landscape shows the signs of the damage.

Looking like gale force winds ravaged the landscape to a degree and bits of thrown about debris all around gave the first impression that this was more than just a Thunderstorm but like an attack from nature. The first rooftops were coming into view, not the clean lines that is typical of a settlement the upper corner of a taller building nad lost the south wall from wind damage most likely and looked more battered from the storms.

"Ve should be there soon." The Strong Germanic accent came from Munich's voice as he spoke. "A little more pace to get dere please."

In the back, Jayna wasn't going to pick up her pace until the ones in front of her did, which gave her a few moments to take in the damage. Had the ion storm done this, or some other force? She was beginning to wonder if the storm and this damage was some form of alien attack, or subjugation.

Approaching the edge of the settlement, Satt was aware that the only sounds he could hear was the breathing of the group around him, and the thud of his boots against the ground. He rolled the tightness out of his shoulders, and studied the road they were walking on. The dried mud was packed down hard, and cracked.

'Looks like it hasn't rained in a while,' he observed, 'how long has this ion storm been active for?'

Bela continued to look around, dismayed that she was not seeing signs of life.

"Not sure. At least two weeks," Jayna said. "Based on last contact. Going underground would be a logical alternative if they didn't have adequate rainfall."

The doctor bent down on one knee to observe the wet dirt. He pulled out a clear open vial to scoop up the mud and put a stopper on it. Dwight used the scanner to scan the contents. Nothing unusual except for one chemical it contains.

Dwight stood up. "I'm getting traces of ammonia in the mud that we are walking on. I believe if it is coming from the rain, nobody would be outside," he placed the closed vial in his bag to study it more later. "Ammonia is very bad to get it on your skin and it burns the lungs. We do need to be cautious."

"Two clicks to that building," Jayna said. "Might be our best bet to find where everyone went."

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant JG Mira Jayna
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant Bela Swain
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Dwight McCabe, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer

Ensign Satt
Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Lei Shan
Chief Operations Officer

Commander Hans Munich
Executive Officer

 

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