Walking into the Maw

Posted on Tue Sep 20th, 2011 @ 8:23pm by Commander Acle Walex & Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer

Mission: The Fate of the Swiftsure
Location: The Spacestation

[ON]

The space station that the Star Fleet shuttle was approaching had definitely seen better days. The hull of the space station was degraded, showing structural infrastructure in some areas. Mismatched patches of armor plating covered other areas while one whole wing seemed abandoned, dark and derelict.

The shuttle headed to one lightened docking bay, the light seeming at odds with the other darkened patches of hull.

"Where the hell did they pull all these pieces from?" Jordan asked, looking around the hangar as the shuttle came in to land. "It looks like they've constructed it out of about thirty different types of technology. Is that... Cardassian?" He noted, addressing a piece of bulkhead emblazoned with a Cardassian insignia, "Where the hell did they get that from?"

"There were reports several years ago about some pre-war Cardassian freighters becoming lost. It is possible that they somehow ended up here." Sara leaned forward in her seat. "If you notice the insignia, it shows that that was a hull fragment of a civilian ship," she stated matter-of-factly like the other two should have known that already.

An official looking, although diminutive, human approached. He attempted to appear haughty, but, the effect was somewhat ruined by the random tool box that he tripped over. He recovered though, and continued on as if nothing had happened. The officious human waited for the shuttle to settle on its landing struts before placing his hands on his hips, clearly waiting for someone to exit and address whatever concern he had.

The shuttle door opened on the patchwork landing bay and Jordan Gunning emerged from the hatch. He stepped down from the shuttle and approached the man- who oozed pomposity- cautiously. "Hello. Lieutenant Commander Jordan Gunning. Second officer of the USS Iapetus. And you are?"

"I am Lucius Ondermon, senior administrator for hangar bay 23B." the small man replied in a lofty tone. "Your vessel has landed in my bay without proper clearance, I was not advised about it until" the man checked the chrono strapped to his wrist. "seven standard minutes ago. I demand an explanation for not being informed of a star fleet visit!" he said, stamping his foot slightly.

"Well, Mister Ondermon, you'll need to take that up with our Diplomatic Officer here, Lieutenant Rogan. In the meantime, myself and my colleague will be taking a look around your Hangar Bay." Gunning looked the man up and down. "I'm sure a man of your exalted status won't have a problem with us admiring your work? Good."

The small man preened at the talk of 'his' work. "Why no, please, ask me any questions that you may have."

Sara ignored the man for now. Instead, she pulled out her tricorder and started wandering around the shuttlebay, scanning for anything of interest. She kept in earshot of the others in case anything came up that she needed to know.

The young diplomat took the man aside and began to discuss something with him, allowing the Commanders to take a closer look at the interior of the shuttle bay.

Jordan sidled up to the Intelligence Chief, removing his own tricorder from its holder, "Got anything Sara?"

She shook her head. "Nothing yet. The multitude of unique alloys making up the hull are causing some magnetic interference. We'll have difficulty making longer range scans."

"Of course we do, it would be far too easy to get what we needed without going any deeper into a snakepit."

"I've found in most of my missions that that is pretty much par for the course."

"Yeah, I hear that," Jordan replied, checking over his shoulder to check on Chris' progress, "I reckon he should be able to get us inside. As long as he followed my lead, playing up to the guy's ridiculous pomposity."

"Let's hope our diplomat can follow cues. Otherwise, I'll try to find some air ducts we can crawl through," Sara replied with such a tone it was difficult to tell if she was serious or joking.

"Let's hope that it doesn't come to that." Jordan replied.

The purple-collared Warrant Officer approached them. "You're clear to go freely around the ship as you wish. I'm going to wait here with the ship. I don't entirely not to trust him to melt it down for scrap metal.

Sara turned to Gunning. "Then in that case I suggest we go to the security office first. We may be able to get help from the local law enforcement."

"Splendid plan," Jordan said, following the Intelligence Chief out of the landing bay.

[OFF]