Blade arrived at the surface of the planet and silently cursed under his breath. The Captain had said it was supposed to be a forest planet…this was not a forest planet. It was hot and miserable. He decided to look through his gear. The gear he had was not the gear he had packed ‘What is this shit!!!’ He pulled out the Mugato plushy and shook his head that was not going to be useful. “Is this the Captain’s thought of a practical joke?” He said though no one heard him. He shrugged and continued through the items at least he had a phaser and tricorder that worked. He was already mad so he decided to let the other items go for now.

He looked at his mission notes again. He was to recover an alternate power source that had been discovered to run things longer but take up less space. He strapped the bag to his back and began the trek through the sand combing for any sign of the source. He pulled out his tricorder and began to scan for the source, but the scan field wasn’t scanning in front of him. He tried to reboot the tricorder, but still no luck he looked closer the scan was facing to the left and only gave him a 6-meter distance at maximum. Blade took a deep breath and shook his head ‘This has to be a practical joke.’ He thought as he turned the tricorder to the right in his hand so it would then be facing straight. 

After what had felt like days in the scorching suns turned out to be a few hours, he reached an unexpected change of scenery a petrified forest that began rising over the horizon as he inched closer. At first, he thought it was a mirage or he was delusional, but it was real. He stopped for a moment ‘This cannot be the forest I was looking for…’ He thought as he finally reached the forest. The forest was like an oasis upon reaching the top of a hill Blade saw what looked like a cave-like structure in the valley below. The broken tricorder was indicating a spike of full functionality, indicating the object was in the direction he was traveling. He made his way down the hill into the valley towards the cavelike structure.

He pulled out the phaser and turned it on seeing it had only 3% of power, but worse when he attempted to change the setting it was stuck at 1.75. ‘Of course, it doesn’t work either. What else could go wrong here?‘ He thought as he rolled his eyes emphatically. He slowly made his way down the path of the cave which began to bend down indicating he was going deeper underground. The air began to cool as he continued further down watching the reading of his broken tricorder. His neck was tired of turning to look at the readings. He froze in his tracks as he saw a torch ahead with sounds coming from the direction, though he wasn’t exactly able to make them out. He traveled further down and quickly dipped behind a formation when he saw a person in his path. Slowly peering he saw a person that appeared to be like a mummy from films of the past wrapped in sheets. Their faces were covered by what looked like breathing apparatuses. He began to panic thinking the air wasn’t healthy to breathe ‘Sure why not let us just add more problems to this day.’ His thought was interrupted when a noise resembling the sound of a pig echoed from the chambers behind him. 

‘Oooo bacon sounds really good right now!’ He thought as his stomach began to gurgle. He decided it was time to eat so he pulled out some field rations and was sorely disappointed when he discovered they contained foods he despised he sighed in frustration. The whole day was definitely not what he had been promised he ate the ration of food trying not to gag the entire time. After finishing the food he began to push forward in the cave system trying to find the path he needed to take. He continued to dodge the group of lifeforms as they appeared throughout the caverns. His cover became more and more scarce as more torches began to adjourn the cavern walls. He had narrowed down the path needed after scanning the area with the tricorder that still was on the fritz, even after he had tried to fix the device. The tricorder indicated the path was through a small tunnel that would test the limits of his flexibility. He realized he was parched and needed a drink knowing he had water he pulled out the metal container and took a long drink almost spitting the water out, as he realized it was tonic water. He hadn’t had much of it before, but he had heard it helped to calm the nerves. 

He shoved it back in the bag and started his slow crawl through the tunnel knowing it was his best approach to stealth. As he crawled further in the tunnel it began to narrow more until he made it to the end and broke into a massive chamber that had drawings all around the walls. He looked down seeing he was on a small overlook and his eyes widened seeing the room full of lifeforms. He scanned the area with his eyes and saw in the middle of the chamber hung a headdress adjourned with what looked like pearls that were glowing dimly from what looked like the natural light from the fire. The tricorder reading spiked more frequently indicating this had to be the power source. 

‘Now how am I supposed to use these items to get to that headdress?’ He began to think as he looked at the objects he had found. He heard a sound behind him and froze thinking one of the lifeforms had discovered him. He turned his phaser drawn when he saw a turtle-like creature approaching him. He had a plan finally formulated he grabbed the turtle “Hello there” he whispered to the turtle as he sat it by the Mugato plushy. He packed everything back in his bag, including the turtle he had now named Bongo. He had turned to go back through the tunnel to regroup when a portion broke away and he fell down into a trench. The trench spat him out into a corridor that connected to the main chamber. As the dust settled he could hear the sound of a thousand pigs. ‘I’m not brave enough for politics.’ He thought as he realized he was about to be discovered. 

He went to grab Bongo, who was nipping at his pocket trying to get to his rations. He grabbed him and took the strap off his bag using it to strap the plushy to Bongo’s shell. He grabbed the shards wrapped in cloth and set them up at the corridor entrance from the chamber. It made them look like the horns of the Mugato. He grabbed four torches and quickly began to set them up one being positioned behind each shard in a way to magnify the light. He took the rations out and made a path that Bongo could follow heading into the chamber. He sat Bongo on the path and placed a torch behind him in such a way as to magnify the plushy on Bongo’s back. He then pulled out the PADD of opera and began to play it. The sound emanated louder off the cavern walls as the corridor got closer to the chamber. 

 ‘Better dead here than in that irritating sand…I suppose.’ 

The chamber began to emanate with a sound that was terrifying but even more so were the shadows of what looked like an army heading into the chamber. The Porgs as Blade had named them began to oink in terror and shakenly looked upon one another waiting for any indication of what to do. The group stood for another minute quickly scanning the area trying to determine if the imminent threat was worth their lives. After deciding it was not worth his life one turned and began to flee in the opposite direction the rest of them began to follow suit until not one remained in the chamber.

Blade entered the chamber hearing the panicking Porgs abandoning the chamber. He stood up to see an empty area with only the sounds of the fleeing horde to be heard overtaking the sound of the opera. He looked down at Bongo and said, “Sometimes I amaze even myself.” he smirked and looked up at the headdress and thought for a moment before pulling his phaser out and shooting the string like rope suspending the headdress high above him. The headdress then fell breaking apart before hitting the ground due to its deteriorated state, as it did Blade ran up snatching one of the pearls that had broken off as the headdress had disintegrated into a dust cloud. Blade then turned and grabbed up the Mugato off of Bongo’s back, as well as the shards He looked at Bongo again “In my experience, there is no such thing as luck, just engineered brilliance! I tip my hat to you, my good friend.” He said before picking Bongo up and placing him in his pack as he began to fully sprint from the cave. Upon reaching the exit from the underground maze the suns blinded him. He then with the extra power from the pearl activated his comms “Kristofsen to Neptune, get me out of here.” He said as he tried to catch his breath.

His body began to disappear rematerializing on the Neptune with the Captain smiling and Kra’vaak laughing hysterically.