Delving Deeper

Posted on Thu Mar 12th, 2026 @ 4:34pm by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant Imik S'Niohun & Chief Petty Officer Aaron Geiger

1,885 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Not All Orders Are Easy
Location: Blind on Planet
Timeline: current

Jon looked around at caught Imik and Aaron's attention. "Imik. Chief." He said loud enough to get their attention but not disrupt the others. Once they had arrived at his location he spoke, "Imik. check this place out from top to bottom. Something isn't right. Chief." He said looking at Aaron. "Get this place back up to where it is suppose to be and see if you see any signs of tampering with the equipment."

Imik held out her tricorder, "Commander, do you recognize this resonance signature? I am sure we have come across it before, but I am unable to remember where." She pointed to the secret hole she had come across, "This entire compound has been compromised, but I am beginning to think the indigenous population may not be our culprits. They do not have the technology to do this, we may have another more advanced race that has either discovered or encountered our people and acted in their own interests."

Jon looked at the resonance signature and frowned, "You are right, it does look familiar but from where?" He wondered aloud as he looked at the signature again, racking his brain as he did so.

"I will attempt to remember where I have seen this before, but until then I submit that this place is unsafe for Starfleet personnel. I am of the opinion that the indigenous population did not remove our people, we may find them there, but I believe they have been placed there by another faction." Imik stepped back to allow Aaron to speak, she didn't want to be seen to be imposing herself on the situation.

"If either of you don't mind I'll start by repairing the data uplink antenna. That'll give us access to the more powerful computers on the Washington." Aaron replied processing through the problem. Turning to Imik he continued. "L.T. that should also help shed light on your resonance signature, I get that antenna working and you can search the fleet database." Aaron tapped some commands into his PaDD. "Yeah. I can fix that." He nodded looking over the schematics. "SOS signals run off a separate transmission antenna. Smaller upload bandwidth so that's why we didn't get a ton of data in orbit. After the main antenna gets fixed, I can move on to more of the active defensive systems. Everything is to protocol so far, but I'd be interested to see if we can get access to personal data in the private berthing with your command and security overrides. So far all we've found is too neat, nobody agrees with every decision, or the circumstances."

"Sure, thing Chief. Do what you need to do." Jon replied as he continued to try and place the resonance signature and frustrated that it wasn't coming readily to him.

As she slowly moved back towards the beam in point her Ojnas tricorder began to flash, she quickly pulled the screen into place and shock registered in her face. The same resonance signature now showed brightly on its screen, only now it pulsed stronger and closer. Imik turned towards Jon, "Commander, I think we are no longer alone in this compound. If these readings are correct, we have unidentified contacts in the sickbay, several of them in fact."

"Phasers out and set to stun." Jon called out. "Let's go and find out if you are correct that we do indeed have visitors and who they are and what they want."

Drawing her blaster Imik moved forwards, that signature was still playing in her mind. It was familiar, very familiar but she just couldn't recall it. The doors of the sickbay were open and that rang alarm bells, Imik now mind walked towards the doors. A quick glance and the signature fell into place, she returned to herself and looked at Jon. "Ferengi, or to be more accurate Ferengi scavengers. What are your orders Commander?"

Jon sighed heavily. "Ferengi. just what we don't need. Stun them and take them into custody. Lets get them out of here.

Aaron made his way to the roof in the obscured base of the main antenna's housing enclosure. "Right, here's the access panel." He pulled it open with a labored creaking of the metal hinges. Aaron flipped the breaker with a clunk but nothing happened. No hum of power or even an electrical pop denoting a short. "Hmm. Now what do we have here?"

Taking out his pocket flashlight Aaron looked up and down within the bulkhead of the antenna, noticing a glint at the base. He squatted low to the ground and pried the lower panel away from the sides. "You've got to be shitting me." The Chief growled in irritation.

=^= Geiger to Grayson. You were right Commander; something is going on. Someone has cut the hard lines to the main antenna. This was done cleanly with a laser torch. I can fix it but... =^= Aaron broke off abruptly as he was swiftly struck to the back of his head, knocking him unconscious before he even saw who or what was behind him.

Moving forwards slowly Imik set her Federation phaser on high stun, somewhere in their dark past the Ojnas had encountered and now hated the Ferengi. Using all her senses she finally made the doors and looked into the sickbay, both Ferengi were engaged in removing a large medical scanner readout panel and so did not see or hear Imik. Placing herself in the middle of the door she now took aim and fired, both Ferengi were stunned in more than one way and hit the deck. Walking over to them Imik aimed a foot at one of the Ferengi, "It would appear that our uninvited guests have been neutralized, do you wish me to transport them to the Washington Commander?" It was very clear from how she spoke and acted that Imik held no compassion for the two captives, her distaste was on full display.

Jon nodded in satisfaction at Imik's cool efficiency. "Nicely done Imik," Jon told the Onjas officer. "Yes, straight into a cell and to be held there until our return to the ship where we can question them."

Watching to two Ferengi transport to the Washington Imik now turned back to Jon, "I believe we should find Chief Geiger quickly, he may be in danger if the Ferengi find him alone." She began to leave sickbay then stopped, "Do you know where the Chief is Commander?"

"I believe the Chief was going to take a look at the antenna for the blind, to see if there was a problem with it. We'll start there." Jon replied.

Moving towards the exit and the roof of the blind Imik couldn't sense the Chief, this wasn't a good thing because it could only mean one of two things. 1) The Chief had been found and killed. Or 2) He had been found and captured and therefore in extreme danger from the scavengers. It took a little time for her to locate the antenna housing encloser, but when she did what she found wasn't looking good. Geiger was laying on the ground his head bleeding from where someone had hit him, the fact who ever had carried this out had simply left him there proved they didn't worry about his condition.

Checking the area Imik couldn't find any trace of the scavengers, she then approached the Chief slowly. A quick scan confirmed that he was still alive but unconscious, turning to Jon Imik spoke. "Please keep watch while I attempt to tend to the Chief, but my medical skills are limited." She then went and began her ministrations; with luck her amateur nursing would be effective.

Jon nodded crisply, his eyes sweeping the area for any sign of danger. "Go ahead and tend to the Chief, I've got your back."

"My knowledge of medicine is extremely limited, but I am of the opinion this headwound is not as serious as I first feared. I will use the medical dermal regenerator to close the wound and will inform the CMO of the incident on our return." Imik spoke to Jon as she tended the Chief, strangely it helped her to remain calm. "We can only wait until the Chief regains consciousness, as I have no means to otherwise revive him."

Blinding pain seared across Aaron's skull as he returned to consciousness. Subsiding into a ringing migraine as he opened his eyes and looked around at his surroundings. Noticing Imik first he grumbled with self-irritation. "I'm about to get assigned to mandatory remediation of Away Team training for going off alone aren't I L.T.?"

"You are as some Humans say, about to get your posterior kicked. Your action was stupid to say the least, as the result clearly shows. The only good result is the fact you are still alive Chief, a fact I am grateful for as filling in the paperwork for loosing personnel on an away team is tedious." Imik's little attempts at humor were her way of making light of a serious situation, she had been noticing that Humans used humor in this way and so decided to do so herself. "How is your head feeling Chief? I have done all I can with my limited knowledge but would suggest you report to the CMO upon return to the Washington."

Aaron grimaced as he rose to his feet. "I'm good, you should see the other guy." He said with a sardonic half chuckle. "No really, I didn't see shit. Did you guys get them or did they run?" Aaron asked, looking around for anyone else, but only seeing the XO.

Imik also scanned the area, "We found two Ferengi scavengers in the sick bay removing equipment, they now reside in the brig. But needless to say, they will not be alone, so I suggest we stay together for now and not present an easy target." Jon's silence worried Imik, he seemed distant and apart from reality.

Just then three more Ferengi suddenly appeared and fired on the Federation party. They hit the Commander stunning him. Imik in the meantime hit the ground and looked towards Aaron.

On the Washington, Deanna entered the transporter room and saw that Janelle had already arrived. "Ensign, good. Phasers on stun and keep it handy. We've detected a Ferengi vessel and we may encounter them on the surface. We haven't heard from Comdr Grayson's team, they've missed the last two check in periods, so we are going to check on them first before making our way back to the settlement to retrieve Darkwa." She looked over at the transporter operator, "Energize."

Aaron reacted immediately, dragging the XO back into the enclosure and behind cover while trusting Imik to cover their retreat with her phasers. "Sorry for the mess Commander" He said to the unconscious form ruefully. "I'm sure you won't mind eventually."

"Your concern for the Commander is thoughtful but I do not think he will take exception to your rough handling. Can you see where the Ferengi are? I can not sense them nor did I see from where the incoming fire came from." Imik kept low as she made her way to Aaron and Jon, from what she could tell the Ferengi seemed to be spread out but also moving.


TBC

 

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