Away Team Away
Posted on Fri Feb 20th, 2026 @ 3:12am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Lieutenant JG Rowan Hale & Lieutenant JG Olivia Voight
1,086 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Beholder
Location: Vadia IX
The trio assembled in the transporter room ten minutes after the Captain had left Sickbay. She had grabbed her seldom-used away team kit, thrown on a sturdy jacket, and rushed to the transporter room.
Once they were all assembled, she gathered them around and gave a briefing.
“Captain Batel has reason to believe there may be other forces at play assisting the Vezda. We’re going to find out and send her as much data as we can get before we shove these creatures into a never-ending time/space loop. Our timing is critical. We get what we need and get out so the Moebius loop can be initiated. Any questions?”
Olivia was a bit nervous, with this being her first time getting assigned to an away team since transferring onto the Sunfire. Plus, it was going to be a bit different now that she was joined with a symbiont.
“Captain, is there anything specific you want me to be on the lookout for while over there?”
“The list Dr Hale provided, I have it here for your reference.” Rhenora handed over the PADD. The stars glittered in the distance, contrasting with the cold stone of the prison.
“Sickbay, can you confirm you’re receiving our data?” the Captain asked through the open comm link.
The primary diagnostic displays in Sickbay had been repurposed into a live telemetry feed. Rowan stood at the central console, with Batel seated upright in the biobed behind him. Sensors were still tracing her activity in a steady rhythm.
The incoming signal flickered before quickly stabilising.
“Sickbay confirms receipt,” Rowan replied evenly. “Telemetry stable.”
His eyes moved briefly to Batel’s cortical readouts.
“Environmental phase variance registering within projected parameters. No escalation yet. Maintain continuous transmission. If signal integrity drops below ninety per cent, I want immediate notification.”
Cautiously, Rhenora approached the well.
“Bioreadings on anything and everything. If something’s helping the Vezda, there will be evidence of it somewhere. DNA, psionic residuals, neural energy,” Rhenora advised, noting that Olivia had a large medkit with her. Hopefully it wouldn’t be needed. Then again, Captains have the worst track records for away missions.
“Understood, Captain,” Olivia replied. She pulled out her tricorder and made a few adjustments to it for the necessary readings that had been mentioned, and a few others that hadn’t been mentioned, just in case. One could never be too sure what could potentially be useful at a later date.
“Righto, let’s go before Commander Savar reads me the riot act,” the Captain smirked and moved to the transporter pad.
Olivia softly laughed as she moved towards the transporter pad after the Captain.
“Why do I get the feeling that the Commander will do just that once we get back?” Olivia asked.
“Most likely. One thing you’ll learn about Commander Savar is that one disappointing look can be worse than a five-minute lecture,” Rhenora quipped, nodding towards the transporter tech. “Energise.”
Olivia was still getting used to the new sensations of transporting since joining with her symbiont. It had a slightly different feel for her now, in that it heightened her senses to a degree.
Batel’s fingers curled slightly against the biobed as the first wave of raw harmonic data populated on the screen.
“That frequency isn’t native to the well,” she murmured, her eyes widening.
Rowan’s gaze flicked quickly to her cortical trace. A minor elevation. Still within tolerance.
“Clarify?” he said.
Batel leaned forward a fraction. “There are modulation layers over the base harmonic. It’s subtle. External.”
Rowan’s jaw clenched subtly as he tapped his badge.
“Captain. Preliminary analysis suggests harmonic modulation inconsistent with original containment. You may not be alone down there.”
They materialised on Skygowan, on the second level of the highest tower where the gateway stood open. A team of guards watched the opening and barely acknowledged their presence.
“Sunfire, we’re heading through the gateway,” Rhenora announced, checking the open comm signal. The comm relay sat just before the gateway itself, faithfully transmitting data from the other side. She checked her team, then ascended the stairs before the ornate gateway, pausing for a moment to admire its majesty and structure before stepping through.
Her tricorder began recording the moment they stepped into the prison. The visible vastness of space was held back by an unseen barrier. From what she had read, this was but a small fraction of what was here before, rearranged by Batel to keep the Vezda confined.
Olivia pulled out her tricorder, opening it up and starting to get her own set of readings. She just hoped that the readings she was getting were going to be useful to some degree. As she gathered the readings on her tricorder, Olivia looked around, trying to take in everything while still staying alert.
Kaylen kept her eyes peeled, Hale's words ringing in her ears, there was something else at play. She wandered away from the well whilst Olivia was scanning, her tricorder open and transmitting. She switched it to scan for temporal varience, tachyons and biosigns, catching the odd flicker in the steady readings. There was definately something hinky going on.
"Sunfire, we're detrcting trace residuals indicating someone has been here recebtly. Someone, or something" she corrected. Her words began to be overtaken by static.
Olivia was still getting various scans on her tricorder. One of the readings was starting to spike that was slowly getting stronger in area's around the well. "It would appear that whatever was here earlier may still be here Captain," Olivia said. Just then out of the corner of her eye, Olivia noticed the slightest of movements.
"Captain, lookout!," Olivia called out as she swiftly moved towards the Captain and shoved her aside as a beam of light came towards them. Olivia groaned as she felt the beam hit her in the shoulder.
"Olivia!" Rhenora dropped next to the doctor, weapon raised in the direction the fire came from. There was another gateway - it had been sealed until now but was open. A shadowy being was concealed within, energy pulsing around it. Kaylen fired, energy lancing towards the gateway but was met with a shield of some sort.
"Ahh crap" She swore, using her body to protect Olivia she fired again " Sunfire, we need emergency beamout"
Static was her only reply. Was the tricorder still sending telemetry? Could she piggyback a signal on that? Another burst of weapons fire came from the gateway.
TBC
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