240011.11.1100

Kr’antren walked up to the Nile Oasis, gave the runabout a once over, and entered the crew area. “Ensign Ngin this is your first away team command so don’t screw it up,” he said with a smile “not that I think you will. As you have been briefed there are no telepaths as part of your crew so you should be okay in that department. Do as the doc ordered though and make sure that everyone is wearing the neurotransmitters at all times, Nurse V’laali with me monitoring at all times. She has been told that if she sees anything, anything at all out of the norm, she is to immediately notify me.”

“Yes, sir”

“Keep the comms channels open at all times. Other than that, have a good flight and mission. We’ll be watching at all times, If we see something we will let you know.”

“Yes, Sir”

Kr’Antren patted the young ensign on the shoulder and made his way off of the Nile Oasis.

240011.11.1200

“Ensign we have conducted the scans as prescribed by the science and engineering officers on the Osiris, they have both agreed with us that there looks like a thinner volume of the Blood Dilithium over the northwest airlock.”

“Ok then chief, let us make our way over to that side. Look for a site relatively close, remember we have to haul the mining equipment to the dome.”

“Yes, sir. Thank goodness that’s not my job.” the chief sitting in the flight control officer’s seat said with a chuckle.”

“We can always add it to your list, chief” ensign Ngin responded as he stood behind the chief watching the dome come closer, and then the shuttle flew over it as it headed towards the landing site chosen by the chief.

“Close enough?” as he spun the aft hatchway towards the dome.

“It’ll do just fine.”

Ensign Ngin turned and spoke towards the rest of the team on board.” Ok, ladies and gentlemen, Let’s get those EVA suites on and go see if we can open her up.”

The two engineers nodded in reply.

“Ensign Holmes, follow behind us and collect the samples that your teams on the Osiris asked for.” The ensign in Starfleet science blue nodded in reply as she was finishing up with her scans of the dome and its surrounding area.

The ensign looked around the runabout as his team started to don their EVA suites and make ready. “Captain, we are preparing to leave the Nile Oasis, I’ll let you know once we have started trying to get into the dome.”

“Keep us in the loop ensign. Nurse V’laali is reporting that the team looks good with the neurotransmitters, you all are not showing any spikes or fluctuations in anyone’s signals.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Captain, we have cleared the airlock of the Blood Dilithium. We cleared about two feet of space around the airlock. We went slower than we originally planned as we wanted to make sure that we got some good samples for Ensign Holmes off of the dome itself. She was also able to conduct several coring sets and extracted samples from around the base of the dome.”

“We have been watching, ensign. Looking good so far. We are sending you the entry code for that door now.” He turned slightly in his chair. “Chief Kaha, send the ensign the codes we just received from the governor.” 

“On their way. Sir”

“Got them, captain. I’m entering the command code now for the outside airlock door.” A hand was shown on the view screen on the Osiris as it punched in the command code. A set of lights over the keypad went from blinking red to blue as the code was entered and then to green when it was accepted. “Looks like we are good so far”

“Ensign Ngin this is Nurse V’laali, I would recommend one person at a time through the airlock. I would also recommend that till I give you the ok that you stay helmeted when you enter the dome.”  The nurse looked over at the Captain from the left-hand chair.’ Rather be safe than sorry sir”

“Agreed” He turned back to the view screen to watch as the ensign entered the airlock and shut the door behind him.

The lights in the airlock blinked on, a little dimmer than expected. In front of the ensign was another door with a blinking blue light bar, the light bar turned green after roughly a hundred and twenty seconds. There was an audible “click” as the inner door was unlocked and the seal was released.

“I’m entering the inner dome area now, I would recommend one of the other engineers be next till we can figure out the systems.”

“Roger that ensign, I’ll be right behind you.”

As Ensign Ngin stepped into the dome he entered what looked like a short hallway with window panels on each side that looked into separate rooms. It was hard to tell what the rooms were, as the rooms were black with no power, and his EVA suit lights were reflected on the glass panels.  “Entered into a hallway, looks like the walls are viewing panels into rooms on either side. No power so far.” As he took another step into the hallway very dim lights located in between the floor and walls powered up in blinking flashes. “Looks like we have emergency power.” He turned as he heard the airlock door open and close behind him. “Welcome to the dome chief.”

“Thank you, sir”

“Well, shall we see what’s on the other side of that door?”

“Sounds good to me, plus this hallway is going to get crowded before too long.”

“True, ok then let’s see what is behind door number one shall we.”

They opened the door to the next area and they heard the airlock door open and close behind them. “Osiris, This looks like the central area of the dome.” He looked to the side and heard the audible thump of someone falling and noticed that the chief was on the ground next to a body. ”oh geez, Are you getting this Osiris? Looks like we have a deceased Ferengi near the hallway entrance.”

“We are seeing it, ensign.”

“Ensign, can you look over the body for any signs of what might have killed them.” The EVA suits camera feed passed over the Ferengi’s body. 

“Well captain, I can confirm that it is a female Ferengi. However, till we get the body back on the Osiris I can not confirm the cause of death.”

“Ensign, over here. We have two more.”

“Ensign, Can you come over here, please? We have another body but it ain’t Ferengi.”

“Ok team do not move the bodies, for now, record and notate what you find.”

The ensign made his way over to the third person of the team joining them in the central area. “Hello Nurse Monfiete, what do you have?”

“Not sure sir, they are slumped over this workbench, waiting for you to flip them over.”

“Nurse Monfiete, Nurse V’laali here. Don’t flip them over, just roll them onto their side so we can identify them, then put them back till we can scan, record, and notate.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ok Monfiete on three, shall we.1..2..3”

They roll the body on its side and show the face on the live feed. They then roll him back to his original position.

“Um sir, is he ..Devore?”

“I see it to ensign, and yes he is  Devore Imperium.”

Kr’antren holds a finger to his lips, a signal for chief Kaha to silence the comms. “What the hell is going on down there? Ferengi and now a Devorian. Lieutenant Tazzeth put together another team to join them. I’ll have the Nile Oasis return to pick you up.” He then nodded toward chief Kaha.

“Ensign, I’m having Lieutenant Tazzeth form another team to join you. I want to know what is going on down there. I’m having the Nile Oasis return to the Osiris to pick them up.”

“Yes sir. You may want to have them bring along some battery packs or a portable energy generator so we can plug it into the main system for the dome. Whatever happened here knocked out the main power supply from the looks of it.”

“Ok ensign, I’ll inform Lieutenant Tazzeth to add it to the equipment list.”

“Ngin, you may want to come over here to  see this.” Ensign Ngin looked up to see Ensign Holmes walking in a circle around what looked like a table approximately in the center of the dome with her tricorder out, he made his way over. “Ngin, from what I can tell something happened here. The readings are off the charts for both Blood Dilithium and..subspace particle signatures.”

“Isn’t that what you would expect from….”

“A failure of a subspace trumpet? Yes, yes it is.”

“Captain, did you hear that? Looks like we are not the only ones who are looking into the Subspace Trumpet device.”

“I heard, ensign.”

Kr’antren looked around the bridge of the Osiris. “ Ok what the hell is going on here, Dead Ferengi and Devore Imperium and now the trace signature of a failed subspace trumpet?”

Chief Mathison turned in his chair from the engineering console. “Sir, it would have to be from an earlier plan, wouldn’t it? This dome is what a week old by now give or take a few days and we just got the plans 72 hours ago from the discovery and Task Force 17.”

“You have a point there Chief. The question is who got their hands on the plans, the Ferengi or the Devore Imperium?”

“My money would be on the Ferengi, sir. As crazy as things are around the Markonian Outpost it probably wouldn’t be hard to get your hands on some information or paperwork if you grease the right hands. And we all know the Ferengi are not against greasing hands to make a profit.”

Kr’Antren turned toward chief Kaha “Chief, send a report to Task force 17 and the Discovery. Let them know that we are no longer the only ones with Subspace Trumpet technology and/or devices, add the video that we have so far and add Ensign Tholmes’s tricorder data. Inform them that we will continue to investigate the scene and will file another report once we have more information for them.”