After leaving the shuttle bay, the Hazard Team started to explore deeper into L’Talia station. The flickering of lights, the cracking of metal or wood, but mostly the silence was noticeable. The station had life support, but life was gone, as if it was never there. Hallways leading to the Promenade were dirty and rusty with a dark red. If anything gave alarm bells, it was this kind of area.

Her eyes peered into the hallway that had some lights flickering. Silina narrowed her eyes. “There was no one to welcome us, the ships outside showed no life, but it was in perfect condition, and now you are telling me that our communication with the Mariner is gone also?” She finally turned her head toward Keeyiro. “Explain Ensign Cho?”

Keeyiro was struggling to look at the data of her tricorder “I can’t Commander, there is something like a jam interfering with our communication. It’s like we are being baited into exploring this place for some reason” It was a far fetch, but her background in Intelligence gave her the itch that more was going on than meets the eye.

“My data shows the same theoretical conclusion, Commander” Bruno said. He was more calm and focused than the Ensign. He was trying to find any logical answer to the disappearance of the communications “What are we going to do next?”

He had his rifle lowered looking into the hallway that gave Miki chills over his spine “ We have two options, one we continue and find the source of that jamming device or whatever device is doing this. Two we get back to our shuttle and leave” Miki wanted to leave as there was something wrong with this place, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Thinking about her options, Silina looked back toward the shuttle bay with a quick reflection as if she had the idea that something was looking at them.

“What’s wrong Commander?” L’iera notices the reflection.

Hearing her voice made Silina feel anger again, getting flashbacks from her interview in the brig. She shook it off. “Nothing Ensign” A brief, but direct reply to her. Silina looked at Miki who was still staring down the hallway. “Captain Kobahl wants to know what is happening here. We do our part. Let us get deeper into the source and discover what is happening. The sooner we get that source, the quicker we can brief Mariner about it”

“But we could brief them by returning to the shuttle Commander?” Bruno pointed out a logical view.

She nodded. “But at the same time, we are not in immediate danger and I would presume that Captain Kobahl is also keeping a check from her side on our parameters.” Tapping the device on her chest “They see our heart rates, indicating our status. If we are in danger, we return to the shuttle and get out of her. But the mission is to get answers of what happened here, get that family, and return to Markonian Outpost”

“A mission that we supposedly not be doing right now?” Keeyiro shrugged and rolled her eyes a bit.

“Hmm” Miki looked in her direction. “Let us move out. Standing idle won’t help us get answers” He started to move pointing his rifle up front. “Best to get in defensive formation”

Nodding to that conclusion “Agree, Lieutenant Dacio get to the back. Ensign Cho traces that interference…Ensign L’iera and I take the middle” Silina raised her rifle now, and the team started moving forward toward where Ensign Cho was guiding them. The team soon arrived in a large open space hall.

The hall was designated as the promenade of this station. There was also a silence, hearing a crack of metal or wood here and there. Stalls of shops looked abandoned but this setting, this area was different from what they saw at the shuttle bay, it was not so much abandoned, but it was rushed. Chairs were on the floor, boxes were broken on the ground, and shops were plundered in some way.

“What happened here” L’iera looked at her side to the shops and could see some unfinished food on the tables. “Whatever happened here, it happened quickly”

“Spread out, stay close but investigate the area. Ensign Cho check if you notice the signal strength anywhere. Lieutenant Miki gave me a sit rep of what you think might happen” Silina knew that Miki was strong in his field of observation. It was one of the key elements that made him a perfect candidate for the Chief position.

He gave a nod as he lowered his weapon briefly but still held firm on it. His big eyes scanned the whole room closely, but his mind felt like a slight pressure hit his head, making him blink. He ignored it. It might have been the stress of entering this area. Miki took a deep breath and made a full 360 turn around. “The observation of Ensign L’iera is accurate. The promenade had been left in a rush, people’s food was still on the tables, and chairs were pushed to the ground as if people wanted to leave quickly. But I also noticed that the entrance to the docking bay was trashed as if a lot of people wanted to leave at the same time”

Bruno looked up from the shop where he was standing toward Miki. “But that makes no sense. The shuttle bay looked fairly untouched. There was nothing strange there…” He heard a low tune growl coming from the store as he looked carefully into it and at first glance, he saw nothing. But when he narrowed his eyes, he saw two red eyes open and staring at him. “What the…”

Without a second to react, Bruno gets dragged into the darkness as the team looks in horror at what happened and rushes to the store seeing some of his gear on the ground and hearing him scream into the darkness “DACIO!” Silina stopped holding her rifle and pointed into the darkness “Shit….” She saw Keeyiro wanted to follow. “Stop…this mission parameter has changed. We are no longer in an investigation situation, but a search and rescue….we need to be careful right now”

“Do we return to the shuttle and call in Mariner help for further advice?” Miki asked having his weapon aimed into the darkness and turning on his flashlight showing a reflection of an open door that was forced open. But unable to view where it was going.

Shaking her head “We can’t, we can but that would mean that whatever grabbed Lieutenant Dacio gains more time. We move and hopefully, Mariner acts on its own” Silina shrugged and signaled to move into the door. “Careful, Miki lead, single row formation, L’iere second, I take third, Cho takes last, and pay attention to that signal. Move” The Hazard Team moved forward into the unknown while Mariner stood by blindly unknowing what was happening to the team and dealing with its problems.