To The Rescue

Posted on Fri Apr 17th, 2026 @ 5:33pm by Lieutenant Commander Robert Brant & Petty Officer 1st Class Celes Fara & Lieutenant Thoande zh'Vethryn & Lieutenant Darla Kennings

1,111 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: Shadows of Diplomacy
Location: Shuttlebay/Shuttlecraft Cooper
Timeline: Concurrent with Stage One

Robert and Thoande walked quickly to the shuttlebay, and Robert was relieved to see Darla coming from the other direction. "Ready to go?" he said as they approached.

"Medkit packed and ready," Darla said, holding it up.

"Good, because we've got to get going," Robert said as he walked briskly into the shuttlebay. "Celes!" he called out. "Please tell me we're ready!"

"Yes, Sir!" Celes said. She put her fingers to her lips and whistled shrilly. Two workers immediately finished cleaning off the shuttle they were on and jumped down, pulling everything away. "Shuttle inspection is done, and she's upgraded to your specs. Preflight checklist is complete. She's ready to fly."

"Thank you, Celes, great job." Robert said. He half ran up to the shuttle and through the door, into the pilot's chair. He sat down quickly, hearing her shout "clear the bay!" as he brought the engines to full power.

"It's strange. When I think of Risa I normally think of sun-drenched beaches, the best mai-tais in the Alpha Quadrant and the most attentive wait staff in the Alpha Quadrant. Not how to rescue someone trapped below." Thoande remarked as she boarded the shuttle and set down the equipment she'd been carrying. "But I suppose anything is possible."

"Considering I thought we'd honeymoon here, not dodge weapons fire here, I agree, this is unusual," Darla said, dropping into a chair behind Robert.

"Well, if all goes according to plan, we won't have to dodge weapons fire," Robert said. They lifted off and passed through the forcefield, moving into open space. Robert cleared the nacelles and brought the shuttle around, sitting behind the starship, slightly to port."

"Let's hope." Thoande remarked with a smile. "God, weapons fire on Risa. It's hard to imagine isn't it? When I come to a holiday planet I expect to feel at peace, not like I'm actively going to die."

"That's because you aren't a Klingon," Darla said, glancing over and smirking.

"Okay, Kalina," Robert said to himself, "three...two...one..."

The Scharnhorst's nacelles powered up and Robert brought the shuttle's engines up to power as well. As the Scharnhorst jumped into warp, so did the shuttle, following right on their heels.

"All right," Robert said, sitting back and letting out a breath, "we have approximately thirty minutes before we hit the planet. If you need the head, now's the time." He turned to look at Darla. "Any thoughts on how we're going to find them on a planet full of tourists and natives?"

Darla had pulled out a padd containing the medical records she'd brought with her, and was scanning them quickly. "Working on it, just need a little time."

"You have twenty-eight minutes," Robert said, watching the sensors.

"I say we go native for a bit." Thoande responded as she stood up and stretched. "As in, wear something that won't make us stand out. Imagine a bunch of Starfleet officers in uniform walking about Suraya Bay like they're looking for something? That causes panic. Civilians? Well, a bit less."

Darla's eyebrows bobbed. "Maybe. You think they'd be in the tourist districts? Wouldn't that get them seen?"

"Not if the districts are crowded. Which they always are." Thoande replied. "Two or three faces in a crowd of hundreds of others. They'd be hard to find at least."

"True," Darla said. "All right, replicate something easy to change into. We won't have much time to be choosey about outfits."

Robert let them talk, busying himself with scanning ahead of them. They were in the sensor shadow of the ship, but that would change once they arrived, and he needed the element of surprise the Captain was counting on to shield them from view when they dropped to the atmosphere.

"Darla, is there anything in their file that Thoande can use to find them? We've still got to deal with the fact that we're heading for a giant haystack."

"Right, right," Darla said, going through the three files for the people they were going to pick up. "Nothing notable in Tyler's file," she said. "At least not without going deeper." She sighed and opened Rayven's file.

Several minutes of silence followed. Robert was a hair's-breadth away from pushing Darla for something when she gave a cry of victory.

"All right," she said, making notes in the computer. "Rayven had a plate put in her arm. We can scan for the alloy." She uploaded the alloy's chemical equations into the computer and turned to face the other two. "Once we drop into the atmosphere, we can scan the tourist areas and see if we can narrow down the location."

"I can work with that," Robert said, looking over at Thoande. "Can you set the sensors to scan for the alloys and I'll map out a search grid?"

"Already on it, Sir." Thoande's fingers flew over the console. "The computer will need a few minutes."

"That's about all we have left," Robert said. "If we're going to get changed, let's do so now."

Thoande moved behind the wall partition, swapping her uniform for a plain purple shirt that wouldn't have been out of place on Risa and a pair of jeans. The perfect disguise for hiding amongst civilians too concerned about their own relaxation to care much what others wore.

"I'm thinking we should bring a backpack." She suggested. "It'll keep everything we need and be inconspicuous enough to not draw attention."

"Don't get too loaded down," Robert said. "Other than a concealed phaser pistol for you and a tricorder for Darla, we shouldn't need much. With luck, we'll have their location fairly localized, and the Scharnhorst should keep the bad guys at bay."

"Won't need the backpack, then." Thoande decided. "The lighter the better. Also the lighter the better it is for us to get out of a sticky situation if we have to."

"All right, my turn," Darla said. She stood up and went to the replicator, ordering a simple blouse and shorts. She stepped to the back of the shuttle and quickly changed out of her uniform, slipping a phaser pistol under her shirt in the waistband of her shorts.

As both ladies sat back down, looking distractingly attractive in their vacation-wear, Robert cleared his throat and checked his boards. "Get ready," he said. "We drop out of warp in ninety seconds..."

Darla took a breath and watched the forward window, counting down in her head.

Ninety seconds later, the shuttle dropped out of warp directly over the planet. The gravity well yanked them hard, but Robert held them on course. "Heading into the atmosphere!" Robert said. "Hang on!"

End

 

RSS Feed