Into the Unknown

Posted on Mon Aug 4th, 2025 @ 3:24am by Captain Elijah Rutherford & Lieutenant Lily Marlow & Lieutenant T'seng & Lieutenant JG Camelia Zamfir & Lieutenant Orin Sempton & Petty Officer 1st Class Dwayne Dibley

2,772 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Mini Mission-Precious Delivery
Location: Shuttle bay/ USS Gladius

There in the shuttlebay, was the USS Gladius, a long range runabout equipped to have places to sleep and eat. Silently it waited for those to arrive, and go on their mission.

Lily seemed to be the first to arrive in the shuttlebay, she changed into travel clothing no uniform. Cargo pants, dark green long sleeved shirt, black boots, and a vest, with several pockets. With her she also had a med kit, and food was brought as well. She stepped inside the Gladius to stow her gear.

Next to arrive was T'Seng and Camelia. Camelia was carrying the box which held the photonics inside. There had been quite the discussion, all of them filled with anticipation as to going to their new home.

"My first away mission and I am looking forward to it and then just a little bit--nervous." T'seng commented.

"It will be alright, and we've got capable people to make certain this goes well." Lily offering words of comfort.

The hatch to the shuttle opened and Dwayne walked down the ramp, his arms open wide. "Welcome to Fantasy Shuttle. Come aboard. You're expected here."

Lily chuckled at Dibley's greeting. "Thank you, so kind of you to give us a welcome."

Camelia gave a laugh as well, and T'seng couldn't help but smile as well, for her worry disappeared when Dibley greeted them.

"The shuttle's fueled up and ready to go, if you are. Just remember to store your gear in the appropriate compartment and leave your seat trays in the upright position."

Orin stepped into the shuttlebay and stopped dead after looking at the craft. The sound of rending metal and screams dulled by high velocity wind played through his mind and he began to sweat. Closing his eyes, he focused on an imaginary lamp and breathed steadily till the thoughts passed. He shifted his field bag up his shoulder and walked toward the ship. "The Gladius. Fitting."

Hearing Orin's voice, Lily turned to greet him with a smile. "I thought it fitting as well. Dibley has welcomed us with a rather lovely greeting. Shall we?" Lily heading into the runabout, to take her seat to the right. The command seat was for Orin to take, Camelia took the operations side, T'seng took a seat at an unoccupied area.

Dwayne settled into the pilot seat. He'd already run a system check. Now all he had to do was get clearance from the bridge. "Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your arms and feet inside the shuttle at all times while we are in flight."

"With luck." Orin grumbled, stowing his field bag and uncomfortably taking the Command seat.

He received permission and slowly took the shuttle up and out. As they cleared the ship, he touched his fuzzy dice for good luck.

Orin kept a tight grip on the armrests, as if any minute he'd be ripped from the seat. "M-Mr. Dibley, lets set course for the Holosentient home world. Leiutenant Zamfir, is Aurora still with you?"

"Yes she is." Camelia activating Aurora, who presented herself as a miniature version of herself, with fairy wings perching herself up on the back of Camelia's chair and faced Orin.

"Set your course through the wormhole, to get to the other side into the Gamma Quadrant, please." Aurora's voice sounding normal instead of sounding small. "Here are the coordinates"

Camelia entering them in and sending it to Dibley.

"Good. Course locked and loaded. Permission given and here we go." He timed the last comment to match when they were able to jump to warp. Now it was just a matter of keeping an eye on the instruments and the computer.

Camelia watched the play of lights as they traveled through the wormhole and then out to the other side, and entering into the Gamma Quadrant. The Gladius following the coordinates turned to the left. Camelia's mind went towards where the Carlson anomaly was located and to where her older brother Stefan, had been working on Poseidon Station.

She took a nap while Dibley piloted, resting to spell him off when he needed a break.

Lily did the same to give Orin a break from being in the captain's chair, she wasn't certain if he would be able to get rest, still though she would have recommended that he did.

T'seng was quiet in a meditative state, projecting calmness and serenity.

Time passed and then the Gladius reached the designated spot; a patch of space where nothing could be seen, except for what appeared to be an asteroid field.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived," Dibley announced. "I hope you know what you're doing, because the sensors say there's nothing out there but an empty asteroid field."

"That's how it always starts" Orin replied, not having gotten any rest on the way. But then later there's crashing and screaming. he thought. He took a deep breath and tried calming himself to little avail. "Aurora?"

A simple nod from Aurora, and she turned towards the front. "Open channels please."

Camelia gave a nod and did so. "This is the USS Gladius requesting entrance, please respond."

There was silence on the other end. Aurora then said. "Hiddenite, this is Aurora upon the USS Gladius. We are coming home." Then from her lips, music came pouring forth, Edvard Grieg's Morning Mood from Peer Gynt's suite filled the inside of the Gladius. After a few moments, Part of the asteroid field began to ripple, then it faded away. Revealing a pathway through to a planet which was beautiful in coloration a class M planet with varying colors greens, blues, indicating that this was a habitable planet.

"USS Gladius, you have permission to enter. Welcome home, Aurora. And welcome to your friends. Please set your craft down at this location." An image appearing showing a landing pad which was just outside of what appeared to be a park with trees. Everything green and lush.

"Oh, good. I can wait in the park while all of you do your business." Dwayne grinned as he maneuvered the craft and gently landed it in the designated space. "Have fun, and don't forget where we parked."

Orin got out of the seat after checking the atmospheric conditions outside. "Everything seems okay," He mumbled. "At least going better than last time." He turned toward the group. "Mr. Dibley, keep an open com channel, just in case, but everyone else, lets go return these people to where they belong, and see if we can solve this mystery. Aurora, are there any social niceties or taboos we should know before we exit the ship?"

Dwayne saluted to show he heard Orin.

Aurora went to the hatchway where she became full sized. "I believe we've got representatives coming our way. And the niceties. its normal as in being polite. "Come along" Motioning for those who were going with her to follow after.

Lily noticed there were six people coming towards the runabout. the first two were older men maybe in their sixties. The other two were younger.

"Greetings welcome to Hiddenite, I'm-" Jacob began.

"Jacob Myneer and is that Aaron?" T'seng moving outside being rather eager to greet the men. "Abner Muldoon and is that Marcus? My have you grown." T'seng grinning ear to ear.

"T-t-T'seng? You're out of the stasis chamber, how, how did this happen?" Marcus and Aaron looking pleased as to seeing the woman who had been inside.

T'seng turned towards where Orin was. "They helped me, they saved me." tears of joy, running down her cheeks.

"Who is the leader of this team?" Jacob asked.

Lily nodded towards Orin.

"alright, come with me and we'll bring in those who had been a part of the beginning." Jacob turning to lead them towards the center of town.

Orin nodded. "Yes, Sir. We have a rather significant amount of questions, as well as some other holo-sentients to return." He paused for a second thinking. "And a dragon, though Guardian remains on our ship due to its size."

Marcus glanced towards Orin. "He's still alive? How is his memory is it coming back? Poor Guardian, he'd been tasked to keep watch over T'Seng here to keep her safe from--" he looked around and whispered. "Adna. Adna and her second, Shalob or was it Shaloob. i don't remember, but he was a mess. He hated T'seng and hated us."

Lily spoke up, "It was Shabol, though I like your take on his name."

"Ah yes, that was his name." Markus replied.

"Guardian's memory is a bit scattered." Orin said. "It, sorry he, still doesn't have access to everything it seems. It took a bit for him to access his memory for the planet's coordinates, with help. But he does seem to enjoy learning. When we left the ship, he was still enjoying the collected mythologies from all known species that the Federation has come into contact with that I gave him."

When the group arrived at the center of town, Camelia stopped and admired the setting. It was more like a old fashioned village where things were simple, cottages, small houses and humble homes with gardens behind them.

Jacob looked at Orin and Camelia. "If youd be so kind, shall we bring out the newest members of our society?"

Camelia looked towards Orin. "On your command sir." her finger ready to release the photonic entities that were waiting to join the outside world.

Aurora at this time was smiling quite happy to be here." Home a true home."

"Let them out, Lieutenant." Orin said. "Let their journey home be complete. 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.'"

Camelia knelt down upon the ground placing the box that held the small group that helped the ship. She pressed the button.

One by one they appeared, Glowbug which looked like a firefly, was the first zipping around calling out, "I'm free and this is beautiful! " he even zipped over to where Dibley was, circling around then back to the others flying around them giving out a "Yahoo!!" He paused for a moment saying, "Thank you, thank you for bringing us home." then flew off.

Indigo, the chef with purple hair,smiled when he appeared, then came Gwendolyn, wearing a nurses uniform, she changed it to one matching the clothing of those that were gathered. Last but not least Oz, the wizened wizard looking man appeared. Aurora went to stand by his side.

"My oh my we are certainly here, we made it! All thanks to you." Oz turning to look at the away team. "Thank you, thank you." he walked up to where T'seng was, "My dear Splice it appears this is where we must part ways. You take care of yourself, alright?"

T'seng nodded, tears flowing down her cheeks, she gave him a heartfelt hug. Oz patting her back soothingly. He knew that they had been the family she needed. Now she had a new one

Oz went up to Orin, holding out his hand. "Well my boy, they're in your capable hands. Take care of Guardian and find where he belongs. We all do need a home. Or make one for ourselves. Right?"

Lily spoke up, "thank you for your help in rescuing us all."

Aurora went to Camelia as well as Lily. "Thank you for your help as well." giving them each an embrace.

Jacob had left momentarily to give news as to the arrivals had just returned, in his hand was what appeared to be two journals, unwrapped from their oilskin cover. The journals well worn, and leather bound. Painstakingly cared for.

"I'd like to give you these, they had been in the crate where we found Guardian. Not sure if they would be useful, they are in a language we do not understand. Perhaps you can translate them." Jacob handing them to Orin.

Orin took the journals gingerly, noting their aged appearance and craftsmanship. "We'll do everything we can." He said, as he slipped them into his field satchel. "Because you're right Oz, Home is important." He turned to the holo-sentients. "Thank you all for your help on Adna, and may your new home be a place of restful days and pleasant nights." He turned back toward Myneer and the others. "I know our time is limited, and you all likely wish to celebrate and then go back to your peaceful lives, but If possible, could you tell us your stories and if possible, could we get you to either contact or record a message to Guardian? He misses you all greatly, and I think would be overjoyed to hear from you all again. And I've been led to believe that Abner is an archaeologist, and as one archaeologist to another, I'd very much enjoy it if I could talk shop."

"And I would like to do that myself, in fact, I would like to go see how Guardian is doing with my own two eyes." Abner speaking up.

Marcus eagerly spoke up. "I'd like to come along and see Guardian as well. " having a hopeful expression in his eyes.

Abner shook his head. "Not right now son, you've got people to attend to as well as your family, along with our new arrivals. You're the one that is most familiar with them. Both you and Aaron." he looked towards Jacob. "And I do believe that your wife is needing your help on her new project."

Jacob nodded.

Abner's gaze went back to Orin. "what do you say Lieutenant, will you take me with you?"

"I uh... I cannot make that decision sir" Orin said, embarrassed. "I will have to get permission first, but one second." He turned and tapped his communicator. "Mr. Dibley, can you contact the ship and then relay it to my communicator? I'd like to request permission for one Abner Muldoon to come aboard to see Guardian."

Camelia looked over towards Orin. "Lieutenant Sempton I do have the Captain connected, and have conveyed the desire. I have a return message."

Captain Rutherford's voice can be heard.=^= Lieutenant Sempton, permission is granted, and also time for you and your team to get back to the ship. We've been given orders to return to Earth. I also look forward to hearing your report. Captain Rutherford out.=^=

Both Lily and T'seng glanced over towards Orin curiously, wondering what was going on to have the Majestic being called to Earth. Then again it might be time to get a refit of the ship, as it had been out for a few years.

"Well then that means I've got to hustle to get my bags packed and the messages made for Guardian. I just need an hour to do so. " Abner heading off to do as he said he would do.

Dwayne was blissfully unaware of anything going on. He'd fallen asleep holding his PADD, a butterfly perched on his nose.

In one hour Abner came back with a bag or two, also holding recorded messages from those who knew Guardian. "I am ready, shall we?" The man having an excited twinkle in his eyes.

"Orin?" Lily looking at him. "Its time."

Orin looked up from where he'd been sitting and attempting to meditate. He inhaled deeply, before blowing it out in a long exhalation, wishing it would take his anxiety with it. "Alright then," he said, standing and brushing off his pants. "Lets get back to the ship and finish this mission. Next stop, home."

Dwayne had a well-honed internal radar and woke up when the team was almost back to the shuttle. His sudden movement as he wiped the drool off his face sent the butterfly flitting away. Too bad. He would have liked taking an image of it to send home to his family. He shrugged, grabbed his book, and headed back to the shuttle.

When the group arrived back to the shuttle, Abner took a seat where he'd be out of the way.

Lily, Camelia, and T'seng all took their previous seats as well.

"I am quite happy to see my photonic friends happy and in a place where they can thrive." T'seng said with a smile.

"I am quite glad that you brought them to us." Abner responded.

Camelia looked back out towards where she could see those who wished them all well. "Ready for your orders sir." looking back at Orin.

Lily was looking forward to getting back home, to the Majestic. Happy that they no longer had the small rebel group from Adna Station.

"Lift off" was all Orin said as he sat.

 

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