Curiosity Kills pt 1

Posted on Thu Feb 20th, 2020 @ 12:34pm by Ensign Evelyn Moro & Patricia Crow & Lieutenant Aemilia "Millie" Stepanova

"Well all I know is it's been three days and that bartender keeps asking if I kidnapped you." Evelyn's playful tone shone through.

Millie laughed. "He would, wouldn't he?" She smiled at the face on the other side of the screen.

"So how's the mission?"

"Still on our way to our first stop. Shouldn't be too much further." Millie grinned. "It's just watching all the stars go by for the time being."

Banks approached silently from behind, peering over Millie's shoulder at the viewscreen.

Evelyn locked eyes with Banks then lowered her gaze to Millie. "Well, stay safe and I'll see you when you're back."

Millie glanced up over her shoulder, but gave a gentle smile to the face on the screen. "No worries. I'll be back before you realize it." Her smile widened as she gave a quick wave goodbye and terminated the connection.

Banks dropped into the other command chair but didn't say anything. Slyly she raised a brown at Millie with a 'well?' expression.

"What's that look for?" Millie chuckled, tucking a leg under her.

"That's the girl you were eating next to a few days ago."

"Oh, you noticed." Millie folded her arms across her chest with a grin. "You pretty much ignored her when I first introduced you."

"Seems odd that of anyone on the ship you would call home and talk to someone random."

Millie nodded. "So, I'm expected to have no friends or acquaintances to call home to? You realize the irony in you making that statement, right?"

Banks was quiet for a couple minutes. "So how long has it been going on?"

"How long has what been going on?"

"You and her. Your body language was very obvious."

There was a hint of a flush to her cheeks. "Well, at this point...four days?"

"When we get done with this I'll look into her for any red flags. Should only take about forty-eight hours."

Millie's brow furrowed. "You've been setting me up on dates for several weeks. I meet one myself, and you want to do a background check?"

Banks bit her lip to hide her grin. "You like her."

Millie flushed deeper. "You...pretty much plopped yourself down in the middle of a first date and announced that we were leaving in an hour."

"That was a date? You should have told me you didn't want to leave."

Millie chuckled. "I've been on the ship for...3 years? This is the first time you ever asked me to come on a mission with you." She smiled. "Besides, I think she'll still be there when I get back."

"Well I'm happy you finally connected though I'm surprised it's her after your holodeck...adventures." Banks cast a side glance and a grin.

The counselor raised an eyebrow. "Do we need to dig into your back files of your conquests and missions and their gender identification?"

"I've only had three...well...when I'm off the clock."

"Mmmhmm." Millie grinned, tucking up the other leg. "And you're telling me that the ones on the clock weren't at least...enjoyable?"

"To be honest I've learned people in power rarely are as good in bed as they think they are but a few...yea."

"And the women...?" Millie's voice trailed off, indicating Banks should elaborate.

"They're included in 'people'."

Millie mockingly looked around the otherwise-empty shuttle. "You afraid someone might overhear us talking about sex, Patricia?"

"Not at all. But I stand by my statement. Men..or women in power tend to not be good in bed."

"I wasn't asking about the bad ones, silly." Millie giggled, biting her lower lip.

"Well...when you find someone who knows what they're doing it's fantastic. It's one of the reasons why it was pretty easy for me to decline those types of missions once I got with Chance."

"One of the good ones, hmm?" The counselor giggled again.

"I don't want to sound like the town hovercycle but best I've ever been with, if you must know."

"So, what's the secret?" Millie's flush continued into her ears and down her neck. "To...you know..."

"The secret to being good in bed? Practice makes perfect. It helps if its with the same person so you learn what they like and don't like. Also be open with them so they learn too."

"Well, that's rather reassuring to my total lack of confidence and experience...outside of the holodeck." Another flush to the counselor's cheeks.

"Hey, the practice is the best part so don't sweat it."

Millie scoffed. "I'm 27, and I've had sex once that didn't involve a professional or a hologram. I'm pretty sure I'm going to make a fool of myself if I ever try this sober."

"It happens. You learn. My first time I'd only kissed one guy on a dare. Now look, I'm a goddess."

Millie chuckled. "My first time was because you paid him to be. This time, I should probably see if she likes me."

"It's not a bad idea though from her body language I think that's not something you need worry about."

The console beeped. "Finally! Been waiting hours for this latest data." The screen showed their destination and laid out stats of the planet including a 75% loss of life post attack.

"75%? Then...someone survived?" Millie looked surprised, given what Banks had told her.

"Or some thing."

Millie was quiet for a moment. "Be honest with me. How much danger are we in?"

"Unknown, which bothers me more than anything."

The counselor's brow furrowed. "Of all the people you could bring for backup...why bring me?"

"Because if we need to fight I got that. But if we need to talk I need a pro."

Millie's face softened. "Afraid this might hit harder than most?"

Banks lightly shook her head. "It'll all be fine," she said as she looked ahead at the controls again.

The next few hours drug on but finally they arrived in orbit of their destination Tewon. From orbit you could see the smoldering clouds from massive fires below. "On the books, this has been labeled more pirate activity."

Millie looked at the screens in front of her. "This is...piracy? This isn't stealing. This is burning the fields behind you."

"Yea well, when you don't know or can't admit who did this you slap a label on it and make it go away." Banks set the shuttle into a hover over the largest settlement. " It's like this on every attack. They're either looking for something or just want to watch everything burn. I don't know which is worse."

Millie looked over the scans and sighed. "No humanoid life signs. Birds, small mammals...sea creatures. Nothing alive on land that's bigger than a house cat."

"A year ago there were 12,000 people on this world trying to begin terraforming. So we're told they've been harassed and must have chosen to leave and not tell anyone where they were going or call for help." Banks turned to Millie. "And people wonder why I have trust issues with governments."

Millie looked skeptically at her companion. "This isn't harassed. This is..." She paused, looking back on the screens. "Can we go in for a closer look? Get evidence that this wasn't an abandonment?"

Banks lowered them to the surface about a half mile from the settlement.

Millie went oddly quiet as she looked over the scans. "Patricia..." she said, almost in a whisper.

Banks eyes were on her screen. "Yea?"

More silence filled the space between them. "You need to put us down on the ground."

"That is probably not advised."

"There's a school, Patricia." Millie turned her face towards her friend. "I think we need to take a closer look."

Banks sighed but landed the shuttle. "Grab a sidearm before we go out."

Millie grabbed a phaser, but also grabbed a tricorder. Slipping to the back of the shuttle, she soon returned with a holoimager. "You need proof to take back with you. Let's get that proof."

They exited the shuttle and immediately the air smelled like soot and death. "Let's make this quick."

Millie put one arm across her nose, the smell of death almost nauseating. She turned on the tricorder, scanning the ruins. "The school is about 30 meters this way." She gestured down what appeared to have formerly been a street between the buildings.

Banks nodded, walking in that direction with the phase rifle strapped across her chest.

Millie looked at the wreckage of the surrounding buildings as they passed. Belongings left where they lay. Smoldering houses still sending wisps of smoke into the air. She scanned as she walked, her brow furrowing.

But as she reached the schoolyard, she stopped in her tracks. Small toys. A single shoe. A jacket, singed around the edges. Millie stepped forward slowly, bending to pick up a small handmade doll with braided hair. A dark spatter dotted the face of the toy.

"They didn't flee," Millie whispered.

Banks was silent, her jaw locked as she walked around. "This isn't phaser or disruptor fire. Its more like a flame thrower."

Millie held the small doll in her hand as she used the holoimager to document the schoolyard. She finally made her way into the doorway of the school, pushing open the broken door.

The scene was much the same. No bodies but it was clear things had changed in an instant for everyone in the room. The silence was deafening when a sudden screech was heard and a small creature looking like a cross between a cat and a lizard scampered from under a desk and past Millie out the door.

Millie let out a yelp of surprise, barely managing to get the phaser out of her belt before the creature scampered past her. Instinctively, she clutched the small doll to her chest, as she made a quick glance out to Banks to reassure that she was fine.

She looked across the small classroom. Desks were overturned, papers, books, and other supplies scattered around the floor. Jackets were still hanging on pegs along the wall, and a basket of lunch pails still sat by the teacher's desk.

Millie stepped back out of the doorway. "This wasn't a planned departure. So...where are they? It would take a lot of ships to transport that many people...or all of the bodies have to be somewhere."

"That's what links this to other attacks. All the people are always gone."

"Gone...as in dead? Or taken?" Millie picked up her tricorder, scanning the surrounding area. "I mean, the kind of military power it would take to round up over twelve thousand civilians, and leave no trace and no bodies?"

"No one is ever left to be found." A dull roar above followed by three shadows rattled the room. "We need to go."

Millie pulled her phaser, and nodded for Banks to be the first out the door.

Banks led the way back to the shuttle as the three craft continued to circle in the air. About halfway there several figures jumped from their crafts falling about eighty feet and landing with a thud in the dusty surface before nearly immediately getting to their feet and giving chase..the sunlight reflecting off their metalic sharp teeth.

"Trish!" Millie dug in and sprinted as fast as she could towards the shuttle.

Banks turned as she ran, firing twice and dropping one of the pursuers. "When you get in take off immediately!" Another couple shots dropped a second one but several more of the things were closing in.

Millie spun as she hit the door control for the shuttle. She leveled the phaser and fired, striking one of the creatures on the shoulder.

"Go!" Banks shot down another before being tackled by the last one about ten feet from the shuttle. She held the person off as it snapped its metal encased jaws at her. Locking eyes all she saw was hunger and rage.

Giving a Klingon-esque battle cry, Millie came tearing across the dirt, knife in hand. Grasping the hilt with both hands, she plunged the blade deep into the back of the creature's skull.

Banks shoved the body off her and got to her feet, hustling Millie into the shuttle and closing the hatch. Banks hurried to the controls and got them into the air as the three ships gave chase. "Where did you learn that?"

"Edruj." Millie slid into the other seat, powering up weapons. "Today is not a good day to die."

As they exited the atmosphere Banks powered up the engines. "If we were in my shuttle this wouldn't be a problem but this thing isn't exacty...offensively engineered."

"Can we outrun them?" Millie quickly ran a scan of the ships.

Banks nodded as she lead them into the upper atmosphere of the next world. "Begin loading a tachyon pulse," she motioned Millie toward the buttons.

Millie started up the sequence. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Banks didn't look over. "Yea, it'll be fun."

"I defer to your better judgement." Millie continued tapping on the console. The panel to her left began to chirp. "They're powering up weapons!"

Banks swung them hard to the side to avoid the blasts. "How long on that pulse?"

"Fifteen seconds..." Under her breath, Millie began reciting a Russian prayer under her breath.

When the light turned blue Banks slapped her hand on it and for a moment everything was quiet before the whoosh of three craft ahead of them burning and being torn apart by the atmosphere.

"See? Nothing to wor.." her words were cut off by an alert as all power went out and the shuttle was pulled in by the planet's gravity. "Uh..buckle up."

Millie strapped herself in as the shuttle started into a spin. "We're going to make it, right?'

Banks didn't answer for a few moments as she tried in vain to get the shuttle systems to respond but as the craft began to slide faster towards the planet it was a clear answer. As they hurtled towards the planet below a massive wooded area zoomed in and soon they were being bounced around thick trunks as they ricocheted from one to another before dropping the final eighty feet and rolling onto their side. Then there was silence.

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Lieutenant JG Aemilia "Millie" Stepanova
Chief Counselor, USS Mercutio

Ensign Evelyn Moro
Computer Systems Specialist, USS Mercutio

Patricia Banks
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Mercutio