by -=/\=- Vol Tryst and Lara Ryn
90509.23
Following Lost Property Office
-=USS Zenith=-
90509.23
Following Lost Property Office
-=USS Zenith=-
"Quite eager to take Reece's place, I noticed." Vol asked with an edge of playful teasing.
"Of course I was." Ryn defended herself, even though she didn't really know why she felt the need.
The ranking Science Officer and the Counselor roamed the empty corridors of the seemingly abandoned Zenith along with Security Lieutenant Tubman. The three of them were tasked with exploring a series of decks in the forward half of the ship.
"Good for you," Vol continued, smiling.
Lara looked over her shoulder at the Betazoid, with a facial expression that clearly showed she was somewhat confused by the Counselor's incessant banter. She resumed walking ahead of the man, shoulder to shoulder with Lt. Tubman, the both of them holding their phasers steady.
The Counselor also had his phaser at the ready, but wasn't nearly as taut as his companions at the moment. Ever since the Away Team had separated after boarding the vessel, Vol kept on talking as if trying to fill the room with sound other than that of the eerie humming of the ship's engine.
"It's a good opportunity for you, I'm only glad the Captain allowed you to join," Vol said as the three began to turn a corner, down another set of hallways.
"Well, we're nothing if not explorers," Lara mumbled in response, half hoping that it would silence the good Counselor for a moment or two. She was hardly frightened, as there seemed to be no immediate, but that was probably what the original Zenith crew had thought too. Just going along with their everyday routines when something had happened.
And it was their job to find out what. Not to mention how and why. Silence would have made the job a little easier, but there was also something eerie about that silence too. Maybe that was just because even in the silence of a dig, Lara had always been outdoors and there was always life outdoors. She might have not always liked interacting with it --- that Tandikian spider bite had certainly left its mark --- but it had always been there; a reminder in the background of the danger, of the excitement, of the mystery, of the mission.
But this time it was different. It was silent, eerily silent. Except for the voice of Vol.
"But what are we supposed to be exploring here?" It was almost a metaphysical question Vol was now asking. "We're to make something from nothing."
"Yeah, that about sums it up."
The trio had reached the edge of a junction and stopped. Tubman stepped ahead and peered around the corridor, phaser first. After a brief second, he fully stepped into the corridor and said, "Clear."
Lara and Vol stepped up and continued to ease their way forward. So far they had found nothing. Not a scrap of evidence that the halls of this ship had once been inhabited. Even a live wall panel would have been nice, as all of those in the corridors had been dead upon their arrival.
"I do hope we find something worthwhile," The Counselor started. “Even if it were something that were to hum, or beep."
*Or something to gag you with,* Lara thought to herself, as she quickened her pace down the corridor.
The party reached another junction, and as before, Tubman stood ahead of the other two, taking it upon himself to clear the entire area, of nothing, of course.
Shaking her head in annoyance and frustration; really, why was this assignment worth leaving the ship? Lara was about to continue to move forward when something, no someone caught her eye.
She looked behind her and saw that Vol was crouching at the knee, picking up a PADD.
"They're everywhere," Vol said, standing up and using the PADD to point to areas along their current hallway. At first, Lara didn't catch on, but sure enough there were indeed several PADDs dotting the deck. As if dropped carelessly, or tossed aside by whomever had been holding them.
Vol continued to follow the trail of the PADDs, tracking them as they went down and around several corridors, as if he were following a trail of breadcrumbs. Leading to what, who knew, but leading somewhere nonetheless. Not only was it a breakthrough, but a silent one at that, as the task of finding the PADDs was enough to quiet him for the moment. He finally stopped and stood up when he reached a door.
It was to a turbolift.
Vol looked back at his two fellow officers, silently asking them if they cared to enter.
"Feel like a change in scenery?" Ryn asked the Counselor with a raise of her brow.
"For the kind of change which I desire, we'd need to be several light years away from here." Vol chewed his last words as the three officers filed into the turbo-life one after the other.
"Bridge," Ryn stated, as the turbolift began to move. She knew that the XO was likely on the bridge, that way making their report, when it was asked, would be easy.
The doors swooshed open and, not waiting for Tubman to take point, the Counselor stepped inside the bridge. Sure enough, there was a security Ensign keeping guard of the door, and another posted outside the door to the Captain's Ready Room.
"Report." Ryn asked kindly.
"The Commander is inspecting the Ready Room."
"Have you taken a look around here?"
"No." responded the Ensign.
"Glad to be the first." Ryn joked.
"Look at the chair." Vol approached Lara's side, apparently ignoring the conversation she was having with the Ensign, and instead pointed at a chair that looked like it was used recently, but was never set out of the way when its occupant gave it up. In fact, there were many things all around the bridge that suggested it was manned by a standard crew that suddenly, for whatever reason, dropped everything they were doing and just, abandoned ship.
"Well, this is eerie," Lara mumbled, though it was clearly heard by the other two.
She looked around the room, and everything appeared to be functioning normally, or least on the surface. She walked over to the science and engineering stations, thinking she might be able to make sense of something. She began with the one showing the warp core readings. She tapped a few buttons and tried to figure out what was going on, but everything appeared normal. The warp core and its systems were working like a charm.
Lara turned her attention back to her crewmembers. Tubman was scouring the room and every nearby corridor and junction for life and Vol was still picking up PADDs around the bridge.
"Fascinating," he said as he picked up another and another and another.
"Care to share?" Lara asked, almost regretting that she was urging him to continue to ramble.
"This goes against all behavior," Vol said, truly sounding fascinated.
"Well, nothing about any of this is exactly normal," she replied as she moved to another panel and began to check out the other systems of the ship.
"And what these PADDs can tell us may be of some use." He paused for a moment, and there was silence, outside of the periodic beeping of various consoles. "Then again," Vol continued, "we have no reason to believe that there would be anything abnormal on them."
"There is only one way to find out."
"Of course," Vol said, having collected all of the PADDs in sight and having sat down at a nearby console. He began to read through them, mumbling as he went along. Vol was very eager indeed to read through these, it certainly offered a better means of distracting himself from sensing what Tubman and Ryn could not.
Meanwhile, Lara was still running through the ship's systems. Everything looked a-okay. She was about to give up when something caught her attention. "What do we have here?"
Before Ryn could elaborate on her finding, Vol suddenly felt a chill go through him. He shivered, the physical sensation so gripping and overwhelming that he nearly stumbled a step backwards. Teetering on his feet, he leaned a hand against the nearest solid surface for support. Ryn heard a clattering noise and glanced over at Vol.
"Captain Zanh," Vol muttered. Ryn raised her gaze and was surprised to see all the PADDs he'd previously been handling had all fallen to the floor. What was more, the Counselor seemed tense and genuinely concerned about something. "We have to speak to Captain Zanh."
"Why is that?" Ryn inquired, feeling her neck muscles tighten.
"I wasn't sure before, but right now there's no doubt in my mind that we . . . we are being watched."
Lieutenant Vol Tryst
Ship’s Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Lieutenant Lara Valera Ryn
Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Ship’s Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Lieutenant Lara Valera Ryn
Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012