Fishing in the Dark - Part I

Posted on Wed Jun 17th, 2026 @ 3:51am by Chief Petty Officer Biv Th'shrolneq & Commander Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Commander Zuub & Lieutenant Katya Davi

1,666 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Operation Kakori
Location: USS Valiant, Bay Two. Shuttlepod 14225
Timeline: After Operation Kakori, Final Measures

Ready lights lit the bay, while blood red strobes indicated the USS Valiant was at General Quarters: With the shuttle pod in place, there was just enough room to walk around the bay on three sides. The hatch side opened onto an area that gave more space, but even that added only an extra two meters. Roughly a meter of headspace. Each of the Valiant’s pods had its own bay tucked on either side of the main bay, which had more room.

Kat opened the hatch and walked onto the shuttle. She didn't have much time, but she had to run through her mental checklist first, then make sure she could transport through the cloak. In theory, yes, but she had yet to actually put that into practice. She paused at the front and turned, envisioning the away team beaming aboard. Yes. That would work.

Taking a deep breath, she powered up the shuttle and ran a quick diagnostic, then nodded. "Kat to bridge. Bandit is ready to start up and snatch the test package."

Daynah stepped in right behind Kat. "You know I can't let Ops have all the fun. I will take the transporters. You do power relay. Unless you have a better idea. This is going to be close. Fooling everyone and beaming them through the cloak. We are going to have to use blind locks. Which do you think is the better way to go? Keeping the docking clamps engaged or putting the shuttle into hover."

Daynah tapped her comm badge. "Ral to Dr Zuub. Report to Bay Two with a triage team. Stand by for incoming wounded. Ral out."

"I think I'd rather be on transporters," Kat said. "Power allocation is like playing Tetris, but transporting blind will be more problematic." She hesitated. "But I want to try a test transport to see if we can figure out the best way. I'm thinking some quantum mathematics and a little Pixie dust." She quickly ran some mental calculations to test a theory, then nodded. "Oh, for the shuttle, we can say on the dock. That'll be one less thing to take our focus."

Daynah smiled as it dawned on her that she had never looked at a problem in such a way. When she spoke again her voice seemed somewhat innocent. It was the voice of Jazra. "With one happy thought everything gets done." Her smile broadened. "Right then. I am powering up the shuttle now. The engines should be cycled in five. Have a look out there and see if there is a piece of asteroid or some such that we can beam aboard."

---

Zuub uttered a small curse in Andorian before telling staff, "You heard her. Set up a triage in the shuttlebay. I'll bring as much as I can. If they're safe to move, we will do so or beam them to sickbay for the most serious cases."

Clad in damage control kit, Neil slid down the ladder and stepped up near the Valiant's doctor with a nod. "Figured if I can't help on the mission itself, I can help recover them and get them home," he said simply, double checking the seal and again missing having Rommie connected to the ship feeding him real time information.

From Valiant's number one transporter room, Biv activated his comm and said, "Commander Rah, Lieutenant Davi I'm linking in the last transporter pattern friend/foe recognition data to give you a better chance to log in and am standing by if needed," the Andorian said, sounding slightly bored.

"Thank you Chief. Keep your console fired up. We may need an internal transport or two." Daynah replied as she gave a knowing wink to Katya. She knew that transporter Chiefs could get extremely bored. That and at the moment the Trill seemed to be genuinely having fun for a change.

"Thanks, Biv," Kat added.

"Yes ma'am," Biv said neutrally, closing the transmit portion of his link but maintaining the video from the pod bay and getting out popcorn he'd stolen from his department head earlier.

When Zuub arrived, she acknowledged Neil, her antennae leaning forward. "Thank you, Commander. Any extra hands will be appreciated. What training do you have as a medic?" The Andorian continued to watch Neil and said, "You are lopsided. I could assist with that after we are done. It will be easier for your body."

Giving the twitchy Andorian doctor a side-glance, Neil smiled and said, "I do appreciate that doctor, but I'll keep it for now. It kinda describes this mission. Besides, it does give me something to beat on people with if needed. So, I've got that going for me." He wasn't happy that this mission which had been pear shaped to begin with had now taken on a decidedly bad smell as well. "Basic field medicine we learned in the Corp and the required training for Damage Control parties aboard a starship. All marines get those. So I can do tourniquets and spray on bandages. That sort of thing."

"It should still fit better," Zuub replied, her antennae bending downward and then upwards, as if shrugging. "Very well. You can take point. Anything not serious, handle it. Anything more serious, pass it on to the others. I will take on the most serious cases. Understood?"

"Clear as Cardassian motives, but I got it, Doctor," Neil said with a smile he only half felt. His eyes tracked to the pod and he wondered how many of his crew would be returning. He refused to think about Jayna at this point.

Zuub replied, "I hope I was clearer than that." Her antennae wobbled uncertainly if she misunderstood Neil's comment.

"Me too," Neil said evasively, deciding that messing with the doctor was a good distraction.

As the doctor and colonel entered the bay, Kat turned on the external camera and speakers. "Welcome to the lair of the Bandit, otherwise known as shuttlepod 14225. We're about to transport a piece of asteroid to test the sensors and transporters, so come in now or wait outside. I'd hate to hit any of you on the head."

Then she activated the sensors to see how well she could scan outside. It took her longer than she hoped, as there was a lot of interference, but she found what she was pretty sure was a basketball-sized rock and beamed it aboard.

Rommie, in read only mode was sifting through telemetry from the shuttles linked feed to the Valiant's passive array, extrapolated slightly faster than the Valiant's Operations Chief. As Lieutenant Davi started her scan, the AI caught the first of the scans and said into Neil's earbud. "Colonel, that's not an asteroid, that's the Spy station she's locking ont...oh. There she's got it."

"Incoming!" Kat called as a medium-sized rock materialized on the shuttle.

Zuub looked at the asteroid and replied, "I would suggest transporting that out so we can take care of patients."

Neil had ducked, with Rommie tracking the trajectory once more and moved to pick up the basketball sized chunk of ore. You didn't often find ore floating through an area of space like this with all the plasma that filled the area. The Order had probably towed in large asteroids for processing. The Valiant's exec was a science officer and might be able to pull some intelligence off of it. "Nah," Neil said as he picked up the rock and shifted it out of the way, into the corner. "Valiant might could just need a mascot and a pet rock named George with a story like how this mission is going seems a fitting memento."

Daynah laughed out loud and looked toward Katya. Thanks, I needed that. "Doctor, Colonel make sure you stand clear of the hatch. This box is not too big. So, as soon as they are here we are going to have to get them down the ramp and off the shuttle. Engines are powered and ready. I am pushing off the deck and engaging the docking clamps." The shuttle lifted about a foot off the deck and stopped suddenly with a slight jerk as the docking clamps engaged with a thud. "We are free floating and locked in. How are our people?" Daynah addressed the last question to Katya. Who had been working the transporter scanners.

"This transporting through a plasma storm is nuts, but I've located a large object that's on the right trajectory and seems to be our shuttle. Give me a minute to finesse this so I can lock onto the crew inside." Kat made several adjustments to filter out the plasma radiation and occasional debris. It was much like being in a fog. If you focused on something long and hard enough, you could figure out what was there. "Got it. Quaid, Merrick, and...Fitch. Locking on...and...transporting."

As the transporter energized Daynah monitored the power flow. There was a momentary spike which coincided with a plasma surge outside the ship. There could be something there. "Reading a power surge in the matter stream. Well within normal parameters at the moment. But, we are going to have to keep an eye on things. Attempt to transporter between the plasma spikes."

It took a second more than normal to begin materialization, and twice that for them to fully form, but when the transporter finished. three people stood in the back of the shuttle. "Welcome to the Jungle. Please exit out the back ramp in a calm and orderly fashion. And do watch that first step, we're a foot off the deck."

(To be continued...)
END
A joint SIM post by:

Lieutenant Commander Zuub
Chief Medical Officer
USS Valiant

Commander Daynah Ral
Executive Officer/Chief Science Officer
USS Valiant

Lieutenant Commander Calvin Quaid
Suspected Traitor
USS Pioneer

Sergeant Audie Fitch
Corpsman
USS Pioneer

Chief Petty Officer Biv Th'shrolneq
Transporter Specialist
USS Valiant

Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer
USS Pioneer

Lieutenant Katya Davi
Chief of Operations
USS Valiant

 

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