The Far Side

Posted on Mon Apr 8th, 2019 @ 5:11am by Commodore Jane Saulitis & Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy & Commander Dominic Aldrich & Lieutenant Sandra Adamson
Edited on on Mon Apr 8th, 2019 @ 5:15am

Mission: The Fool's Odyssey
Location: Bridge, in orbit of Marga III
Timeline: MD 1 08:00 Hours
667 words - 1.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Jane stretched her back, the ring was absent from her finger and she missed it's presence already. It pained her to leave Hak, but it certainly wasn't the first time they were separated. "Ensign if we are all aboard set a course for Gagarin IV, maximum warp." A monitor beeped nearby and Jane turned toward the console waiting for the report on whatever it was.

"Captain. It seems that we're missing a crewmember. A Crewman Stef." Shev said, looking at his seats arm console.

Murphy crossed his arms and leaned back against the seat at the engineering station. He sighed and shook his head. "There's always a straggler."

"Didn't he hear the summons to return to the ship?" Lhaes asked without turning away from his controls. "Alternatively, why aren't we just transporting him?"

"I agree." Shev said. "Maybe he's hurt? Communication issue?"

"Surely, if he were hurt, wouldn't his friends know and alerted sickbay in the first place?" Lhaes looked down from his station, right at the XO. "There's this girl he's close to, why don't we ask her?"

Kav was seated at ops. "Captain, Commander, I am having issues with the transporters. There is a malfunction in the powerflow to the pattern buffers."

"Open a channel to him, no use in speculating while we're sitting here tapping our feet." Jane replied, "We're ready to leave when you are Mr. Stef. I assume you must have missed the summons. Also, we seem to have a bit of a transporter issue so I'm sending a shuttle."

Stef almost jumped as his communicator came to life and he heard the captain's voice. "What?" was his initial response. "Oh uhm.... I'm sorry ma'am, I received no summons..." He paused, "I'll wait for the shuttle." He was still speaking when suddenly all he heard was noise. Tapping his combadge, he frowned. "Captain?" He tapped it again. "Stef to Majestic, come in..."

Jane sighed. "Re-establish communications with him," she replied as alarms started beeping all around her.

Dominic worked the controls at the Science station, "Ma'am, I can't even find a trace of the Crewman. Increasing power to sensors."


"Captain. This doesn't make any sense." Shev said. "One minute he's on the line, the next no trace" he said. "Perhaps a quick away mission when we get contact again."

"Not until we know what's going on. I'm not risking any other members of the crew." Jane was frowning now. There had been nothing unusual about this planet when they had arrived and it had been a popular tourist destination for some time, at least that's what she had understood. Other Captain's had brought their starships here. Why did things always seem to happen to her?

Kav was still at ops, somehow the mysterious malfunctions going through all the systems, communications, back to the transporters, scanners. "Captain, I am reading multiple malfunctions going through the systems." His hands danced over his console. "I can't get a good look on the crewman, captain, but there are also strange readings coming from the planet. I am trying to determine whether this is a malfunction too."

"What the hell is going on down there?" Jane mumbled, mostly to herself.

"Captain, the reason we're unable to lock onto Crewman Stef is because there's no one to lock onto. It appears all life on the planet is just . . . gone Sir." An Ensign answered and because of the tension on the bridge, Jane didn't register her name.

Commander Aldrich lookd over all of the data to double check. "Captain, they are correct. There is nothing there but a boring class M planet with no apparent life signs. I have no answer at this time."

---

Captain Jane Saulitis
Commanding Officer
USS Majestic

Lieutenant Commander Shev Th'aziavak
Executive Officer
USS Majestic

Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Majestic

Lieutenant Commander Lhaes Sommers
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Majestic

Lieutenant (jg) Kav
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Majestic
pnpc Adamson

Lieutenant Commander Dominic Aldrich
Chief Science Officer
USS Majestic