The away team seemed to be a mixed bag from various departments. As Chief of Security Taylor Kazansky checked her phaser, just in case there was anything threatening onboard that scans had not picked up, she wished she were going over with a full complement of security team members. While she understood wanting to be quick, and having science and medicine represented the security tactician in her always wanted to secure the location they were going to first, before supplemental personnel beamed over. Checking her phaser was more of a nervous tick than anything, and as usual it was standard and unremarkable. She waited as the other crew entered the transporter room, each carrying what they felt needed for embarking on another ship without much idea of what they were beaming in to.

Hina had gotten to the transporter room early. She couldnt say she was thrilled about beaming over to a ship trapped in the middle of a field of subspace distortions, but she would go where she was told, even if she preferred crawling through jefferies tubes or into conduits.

Currently she was neck deep in the transporter systems, checking to be sure that everything was working properly. The transporter chief had informed her that there might be interference with the transport due to the abnormally high concentration of subspace distortions and Hina definitely didnt fancy being scattered to the solar winds mid-transport. She pulled her head out of the panel she was peering into as someone else entered the room, seeing a similarly uniformed officer. They checked their phaser and seemed to be waiting for others to join them. She put her head back into the panel and finished her checks.

Once she had completed them she pulled her head back out and replaced the panel cover, wiping her hands on her overcoat as she stood.

”If there’s any trouble,” she said, not quite sure how she was going to finish the sentence, “let me know.”

Kazansky had meant it to sound brave, or helpful but she worried she just sounded worried. As if nothing was going to go the way they had planned it.

She glanced over at the officer she now saw was a lieutenant. That certainly hadn’t sounded inspiring. Which was somethign Hina could have used right about then. She cracked a smile.

“Not to worry, lieutenant… I’m sure you’ll be the first to know,” she said chuckling. She looked to the transporter chief. “Everything should be good to go, Chief… pattern buffer is stable, Heisenberg compensators are functioning, energizing coils are within spec. Still think we’ll need the pattern enhancers for the trip back?” she asked.

The Chief tapped the console for a few seconds then nodded.

“Yea L-T, getting you there should be no problem, but getting a lock on you once you’re there will be difficult,” he reported. Hina nodded and moved to the back of the room hauling open an equipment locker and hauling out a bundle of four enhancers, slinging them over her shoulder. She shut the locker and returned to the main part of the room, where she additionally retrieved her tool kit. She looked to the officer, whom she assumed was leading their merry little away team, and smiled.

“I’m Hina Morishita. Engineer,” she stated.

In keeping with Morishita’s introduction, the security chief kept it short and to the point, “Taylor Krazansky, security.”

It was, at least in Kazansky’s experience, generally better to say less than say more. It was easy to get carried away and become talkative, and add some distracting and pointless piece of information to the situation.

“Nice to meet you,”  she added, waiting with him. The doors to the room soon opened and admitted another of their group.

“Ah Doctor, nice to see you again!”

Hilea Acknowledged the greeting. She had her medkit, Type II phaser, and her own added medical items. “Jolan tru, Lieutenant. Ready for something different?” Hilea said, hiding her anxiety with perfected practice.

Hina nodded. She had met the Doctor at the reopening of Valhalla, and then more the next day at her medical intake. She seemed nice and had been in operations, so she understood more about running a ship than most.

“Good to have you here,” she said, just as the doors opened to admit another familiar face.

“Ensign Th’tholler, welcome!” she said.

“Oh, hello Lieutenant! Glad to see our project got us here safely.” Shahr nodded to Lieutenant Morishita. Looking at the rest of the away team, he noted the security chief and was pleased to see the doctor coming too. Shahr figured they were well-equipped to handle whatever surprises they may find on the derelict vessel.

Hina looked around at the other three and then stopped on Kazansky.

“Well, Lieutenant? Any other words of wisdom for us? Everyone have everything?” she asked.

Shahr looked to Lieutenant Kazansky expectantly, while silently patting down his gear. It was only the tenth time he had verified everything was there. To be fair, he was traveling fairly lightly, but there was no way he was going to embarrass himself by forgetting something. He waited for his first away mission pep talk.

“Have everything?” Hilea thought to herself. Human syntax was so odd. She wouldn’t know that until they returned. Instead, knowing what the Lieutenant meant, she replied, “I am ready.”

Hina wait a moment to see if the other lieutenant was going to say anything before looking to the others.

“We don’t know what’s over there. Sensors can’t really pinpoint any life signs, but that could be because of the interference. But we should be fine.” she said, gesturing for everyone to step up onto the transporter pad. She waited a moment for everyone to be set, before nodding to the transporter chief. She felt the transporter beam grab her and felt a sense of weightlessness as she was converted to energy and spent on the civilian vessel.

Shahr resisted the urge to sneeze when the transporter confinement beam grabbed him. He’d mentioned this to a few doctors before, none had an explanation. Shahr suspected they didn’t believe it was related, but he knew it happened during every single transport he’d taken. He also knew he’d never been able to suppress the sneeze. He held it just long enough to end up materializing with a stupid, contorted look on his face. When the confinement beam released him, the sneeze completed.

When she rematerialized on the other ship it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The ships main power must’ve failed while they were enroute. She looked around, trying to take in the surroundings. There wasnt much amiss, other than the suspicious abscence of any other people.

Hilea stood still her hands on ready for action, if needed. When that didn’t happen, she reached for her tricorder and phaser separately. Flipping open the tricorder one-handed, she set the device for lifeforms, starting to gather data.

Kazansky stepped forward and visually swept the area, looking for threats. She did not draw her phaser, as she saw nothing, but she was aware of it in its holster at her side. Each direction she looked there were corners and hidden areas, tactically it made sense to stick together, but she had a feeling that she was the only one who felt that. Scientists loved going off to explore.

Hina looked over as Kazansky stepped forward, scanning the area as well. She looked back checking that the others had made it safely.

Shahr took out his tricorder and began his scans. He was specifically checking to see if the subspace distortions outside the ship were extending through the hull, but he kept an eye out for other irregularities. Nothing unusual yet…

The anomaly is making it difficult to differentiate individual life signs.” Hilea stated.”

“Shahr, would you give me a hand setting up the pattern enhancers?” she asked, shrugging the bundle off her shoulder to the ground. She knelt and retrieved one of the four enhancers, extending its legs and setting it up.

“Yes, of course, lieutenant.” Shahr holstered his tricorder for the time being and grabbed a pattern enhancer, then stepped away to match the placement arrangement that Hina had started.

While Hina worked she looked up at the others.

“What should our first course of action be, Lieutenant, Commander?” she asked, wanting to see what her superiors thought.

Kazansky looked further down the hall, “We should stay in contact with one another, group up.”

“Two teams. ”Hina you’re with me. That way we have tactical on both sides.” Giving Shahr a knowing glance. “Shahr, Medical and other scans are a priority. So I suggest the bridge or Main Engineering so we can pull the information and use more powerful sensors.” Hilea said.

Hina nodded. That sounded just fine to her.

Hilea added, “Questions? Comments? Concerns? Emotional outbursts?” She added with the tiniest smirk.

Shahr looked over at the doctor, startled by her remark. Then, realizing it was a joke, he exhaled sharply through his nose. “None for now, but I reserve the right to have one a critical moment.” He hoped his humor would be detected. “Shall we hit Engineering, commander? Should have access to the all bridge systems, and if something’s broken, we can repair it from there.”

“I agree. I would prefer Medical, but we can pull most of the logs from Engineering anyway. ” Hilea offered.

Shahr nodded and took out his tricorder. He waited for it to draw a basic map of their immediate surroundings, then started forward cautiously.

Following closely Kazansky kept her head up, not yet drawing a weapon but looking for threats. While there was not yet evidence of anything to be concerned with in the immediate vicinity it was much too quiet. Too devoid of life.

Hina finished setting up the last enhancer, activating them. She looked up at the others.

“I wonder what happened here… where the crew is…” she commented, pulling out her own tricorder from her tool kit. She set the scans as wide as they could go and pivoted in place. She frowned at the interference. Even through it the scans werent reassuring.

“Nothing…” she commented, banging the tricorder with the palm of her free hand. “I mean… I can read the ship, and minimal power… but lifesigns are… seemingly non-existant. Or the tricorder cant pick them up.”

She followed after Shahr, keeping her eyes on her own tricorder, activating the wrist mounted light she wore sweeping it through the corridor. The light played over the decking, bulkheads and various crates that lined the corridor, casting shadows that faded into the darkness that lay ahead of them. She stopped tracing her light back over something again, stopping when she saw the form of a leg sticking out from behind a crate.

“Doctor…” she pointed.

Hilea turned in the direction indicated, pointing the tricorder as long habit kicked in. Taking in the body part, positioning, and other factors, she started towards the area, her eyes bouncing between scans and deck.

Hina frowned. She didn’t like the looks of this. On a disabled ship, in the dark, with a body just meters from them.

“Anyone else have a bad feeling about this?” she asked aloud.

“Feelings are irrelevant,” Hilea said. “Facts are important.” She wasn’t about to confess to anxiety, whether she had it or not.

Shahr took a quick glance at the body, then narrowed his eyes and peered back into the dark hallway. He was suspicious now, whereas before he’d just been intrigued by the derelict ship. Something wasn’t right.

“Can you tell what happened, Doctor?” she asked.

Hilea walked over cautiously, scanning the area. A long kitchen knife stuck out of the being’s back. The scanner pointed toward the Tellarite male, life signs were flat, and the body had assumed room temperature.  Kneeling, she didn’t detect any odd odors, beyond the stench of the deckhand that had evacuated his bowels upon death.

Turning him over, there was a bead of spittle. Hilea retrieved a few small sample containers and filled both for later examination. “I will need more information, beyond the obvious knife wound.” Hilea offered calmly.

“I’d really like to get main power back on. Use internal sensors to get a better scan of this ship… and whatever is on it.” she said. Which she really hoped was just them.

Nodding in agreement, Shahr continued down the corridor. He was stepping lightly now, his body on alert to potential danger. Tricorder in hand, Shahr alternated between staring into the dark and quick looks at the scanner readings to map the path forward. Engineering shouldn’t be far now…

“Ah, I believe we’d made it. Looks to me like these bulkhead doors have a manual override behind this panel” Shahr gestured towards the wall. “I’ll get it.” He removed the panel gingerly, then grasped the hand-crank and looked to the team.

As the door open the map split. Hilea offered. “Main engineering is this way’s. “Taylor. Shahr. Securing the bridge would be next. Find the logs if any while Hina and I see why the ship is generating so much interference.”

Hina nodded. She glanced off toward the direction the Doctor had indicated main engineering was in then looked toward the bridge.

Perhaps we should stick together, Commander.” she said. She certainly wasnt scared. Nope not even a little bit.

The journey from there to the bridge was relatively uneventful. Shahr and Lieutenant Kazansky did pass another two bodies, though. One in a passageway, another in a jeffries tube they used to bypass the turbolift. Shahr passed his tricorder over both bodies, for the doctor to look at later. It wasn’t a medical tricorder, but it was better than nothing.

Shahr found himself on the bridge. The door had been basically ripped off, so he almost hadn’t noticed as they’d crossed the threshold.

“Well sir, here we are. That console over there seems to have a little power left.” Shahr gestured towards the aft section of the bridge. “I’m going to see if I can get internal sensors back online. Hopefully the others reach Engineering and can send a little power this way.”

”I’m not a fan of a quiet bridge,” the security lieutenant said. She was used to it being the hub of activity, the brain of a ship. A dead bridge meant, well it meant this. A dead ship. There was nothing at the moment to startle them, or cause of concern other than the fact that it was not hard for an imagination to recast the setting as their own bridge.

Hina turned down the corridor toward main engineering, hearing the footsteps of the others just behind her.

“Still no life signs…” she commented.

“I am unconvinced of that theory,” Hilea said flatly. “The data doesn’t specify the dead body, it isn’t there. Why?”

”No obvious signs of trauma,” Kazansky said studying the body, “we’d need a more though autopsy back on our ship to rule it out totally however.”

There were too many ways to die.

She shrugged, moving her light around the corridor looking for anything out of the ordinary, which was turning out to be rather difficult, given the darkness of the ship.

“The interference isn’t from the ship from what I can tell… it is from the field of subspace distortions we’re in… ”

Taking the data she had so far, Hilea started to conjure up possibilities.

“Honestly I’d prefer to be in a Jefferies tube on the Valkyrie right now, rather than stumbling through a deserted ship…” she commented, tapping a few controls on her tricorder. “Not a big fan of the spooky nature of this ship right now…” she said.

Hilea: “Right now, I would rather be on the bridge figuring out this puzzle with better tools.”

“If we can get the internal sensors going it would be easier too,” Kazansky said, “Even a scan from our own ship, detailed and slow. Might take a few hours but it may give us something. Any new piece of the puzzle could be important.”

Hina shrugged. Everyone had the places they would rather be. She tapped a few controls on the tricorder again as they approached another sealed door.

“That should be engineering. Door is sealed…” she said.

”I can’t just shoot down the door, but we can get the proper tools and bring them here if we need to,” Kazansky said. Ship doors, particularly in engineering were reinforced to ensure that attackers did not get in, or during an engineering emergency, an explosion could be sort of contained.

“Not an ideal situation. Though this isn’t a military spec vessel, the controls have to be nearby.” Hilea commented.

Hina moved to one side of the door scanning it and locating the manual override. She pried off a panel reached her hand inside gingerly. She took hold of the lever within the bulkhead looking back at the group.

“Dunno what’s on the other side of the door… be ready I guess,” she advised, pulling the lever. There was a spark and the door shuddered over, another body falling out and thudding on the deck. Hina let out a very un-Starfleet yelp. Ok, she was definitely scared now.

“Fuck!” she yelled. lets just figure out what happened on this ship and get back to ours…” she said.

”That’s my plan,” Kazansky agreed, she did not like this situation one bit. Too many bodies for her and the fact that they didn’t know what was going on yet was worrying her.

“PLEASE remain calm. Stop allowing Wind to create more Fire.” Hilea bid her comrades, talking about the elements as if they were real.

Hina stepped over the body shining her light around the engineering space.

“I’ll try and access their records…” she added, trying not to think about how many other bodies were in the room.

Shahr tapped his combadge. “Internal sensors seem to be intact, but power was diverted to other systems. If you can power them up, I can run some scans and send the readings your way.”

“Sure… give me a moment…” Hina said, redirecting power to the station Shahr was using.

Once in main engineering, Hina and Hilea looked around familiarizing themselves with the room. “Let’s get a few more joules through these systems. Not detecting much power left. Check the batteries and fusion reactor, while I check the consoles for information.

“Perfect, let’s see what we’ve got…” Shahr trailed off as the panel in front of him came to life. He punched in a few commands, a little unfamiliar with this console design but not totally lost. “Ok team, it looks the internal sensors are powerful enough to give us some readings despite the distortions. Coming in now…” Shahr let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“I’m seeing a lot of bodies. Mostly in clusters. Crews mess. Outside the captain’s office. I don’t see any life signs but ours… Redirecting control to engineering. Have a look doctor, you can undoubtedly spot a weak life sign better than I can.” Shahr tapped the console again.

Pulling out her tricorder Kazansky let the doctor work but scanned for anything threatening. Whatever was the cause of this was either not there at the moment, or could not be picked up by a normal scan. The air wasn’t poisonous and no Borg were hiding around the corner. It was all just a bit too mysterious for her.

It took Hilea a minute to correct the relay error, and reset the console, allowing it time to boot. Once running, Hilea tunneled into the main computer and started to read logs and scans.

Hina didn’t like this. She worked on getting the power up, they needed to figure out what was going on.