NAZGUL: Aboard The Relic

Posted on Mon Mar 3rd, 2025 @ 3:57pm by Commander Sean Loewen {Meji} & Lieutenant JG Ken Kudo

Mission: THE LAST CRY FOR HELP
Location: NX Malta
Timeline: Current

ON:

After climbing into his workbee, seeing Kudo do the same, Loewen tapped the comm. "Loewen to Bridge."

"Sheyla, here. Go ahead, Captain."

~Oh, it's Captain, now?~ Sean thought to himself but decided to leave it alone. A fun argument for another time. "Kudo and I are in place. Launching workbees and heading over to NX Malta,, now."

"Acknowledged," Sheyla responded. "Be careful, Captain. You too, Mister Kudo."

"Always, Number One," said Kudo. "I'll watch over the Captain, no worries."

Sheyla grinned to herself on the Bridge. "I'll hold you to that, Lieutenant. T'Pri?"

T'Pri looked over at Number One. "All set. I can track them with their transponders and keep tabs on them with passive sensors, Commander."

"Thank you." Sheyla went back to facing front. "You're good to launch, Captain. Good luck, gentlemen."

Both men said their goodbyes and clicked off, activating the comm between themselves in their workbees and through their helmets. Kudo did the old US Navy salutation of giving his CO a thumbs up, a salute, and then shot forward out of the bay. Loewen chuckled at that and then slammed his thruster forward and he too shot from the aft of Nazgul. The two workbees turned in unison and aligned, heading for the strange planetoid, the energy barrier around it, and the trapped NX class starship.

Loewen decided to chat while they drove towards their target. "Try as I might, Mister Kudo, I can't recall your first name. I read your file when you were given FC chief by Number One and I just can't recall."

"It's Ken, Sir. Ken Kudo, at your service." He gave a mild chuckle.

Sean gave himself a nod at that. "Just Ken. Not Kenneth?"

"No, Sir." Kudo answered. "I'm Japanese-Hawaiian. Ken is a male Japanese name, Kudo a last name. My family is very traditional on names, Captain. As well as, knowing our history and who our ancestors were despite living in Hawaii."

"Well," Loewen said. "Japan is only a short jaunt away across the Pacific. Never been there but I have always planned to pay a visit."

"We make it through this, Sir, I'll join you and be a tour guide." Ken offered.

Loewen smiled. "Sounds good." Their velocity had them fast approaching the dark and creepy Malta. A few minutes more and they would be approaching the energy barrier.

"It's creepy," Kudo offered. "Flying through space with no stars. I'm just curious how this planetoid got here, honestly."

"It's creepy approaching a ship that has been missing for over a hundred years, seeing it sitting here in mint condition aside from a damaged warp core. I see minimal lighting through windows, but no running lights. Aux power is functioning but it's like they're in power saving mode."

Kudo had to agree. Being Japanese he fully believed in ghosts and demons. Some were merely fairy tales, but others were very real. A life in Starfleet had taught him through adventures that there were demons everywhere in the Milky Way. Even the Klingons had a version of hell. "Are we going aboard, Sir?"

Loewen did not want to, but they had to. "We are. Sorry for that, Ken, but it needs to be done. We have to eject the antimatter pods and get them away from the ship so we can tow it clear of the barrier. If not, the barrier will pull at the antimatter and anchor the ship, according to Lieutenant T'Pri."

Kudo weighed the information in his mind before responding. "No need to apologize, Captain. I know what I signed up for when I entered service. My ancestors were samurai, so 'to serve' has great meaning to me and my family. Where you go, I go."

Sean liked the sound of that. Plus, with Kudo being from a samurai ancestry, perhaps he would teach Loewen some martial arts to up his own hand-to-hand game. Sean was no slouch in a brawl but, keeping your enemy from even getting to you was a skill he definitely wanted to learn. "Here we go, passing through the outer edge of the barrier." His workbee shuddered as it passed into the barrier, the electronic screens showing a bit of static but still functioning. "Kudo, you still good?"

"Yes, Sir." Ken was adjusting his telemetry for approach, with one screen showing a schematic of the NX class of the Malta era. "Seems the NX didn't go much further than the original designs. Two bays for shuttlepods. I think that would be our best bet for entering the ship, Captain."

"I agree," Loewen voiced. "We should be able to send a signal to override the locks and open a bay door. They weren't very advanced compared to now."

The two craft flew in a pair, getting in under bay one, seeing the hatch door. "According to the plans, it will be a tight squeeze to get us inside with the shuttlepods, but not impossible." Said Loewen.

"This old, Sir," Ken said. "I don't think there will be anyone to complain. Vulcans weren't common in those days, especially in Starfleet. If anyone is alive they would be over a hundred years old."

"Don't remind me. We need to prepare to see the worst once aboard." Loewen said that to caution his subordinate, but also himself. They had no idea what to expect. There could be grisly leftovers of crew scattered all over the Malta. However, preparing for it and actually seeing it were two different things. He just hoped he could cope well enough to hold his mud. His thoughts were interrupted as the bay door split apart and slid open, the internal lights cascading down over them and their craft. "You first, Kudo. See what the terrain is like and find us some parking space."

"Got it." Ken piloted his craft up into the bay, his head on a swivel as he looked around the interior of the NX class. Everything was pristine, like the NX Enterprise wtill docked in Spacedock for tourists. All equipment and shuttlepods were exactly where they needed to be and the chamber looked as if it had never been touched. That caused the hair on the back of his neck to raise. "So far, it looks like the bay is ready for inspection, Captain. Nothing is out of place and no bodies." Kudo began to move to an open area netween the shuttlepods that both workbees could fit within.

Loewen kept his sigh of relief quiet at the information. At least, in the bay, they were being spared any unseemly sights. Ken gave the okay for him to come in, so he piloted within the bay, seeing his parking spot next to Kudo. Landing and closing down, he then popped his bubble hatch and clambered out of the workbee. Ken was using a tricorder, scanning the immediate area and looked up with a bit of surprise in his eyes.

"Captain, the air is perfectly breathable and no signs of radiation within the hull." Kudo kept glancing down at the device while talking. "But, no life signs in the immediate area, either."

"Should we risk it, Lieutenant?" Loewen asked, in regards to removing their helmets.

Kudo gave a nod. "I don't see why not, Sir. According to the tricorder there are no dangerous gases or pathogens either."

Sean reached up to his collar, disconnecting the latches that held his helmet in place, twisting it counter-clockwise to complete the release, then pulled it off over his head. Having been holding his breath, Loewen let it out and breathed in. He found there to be no foul odors, nor the aroma of death. He gave a satisfied expression. "Air seems good. Clean, even."

Kudo, taking that cue, removed his own helmet. He too had been holding his breath briefly before beginning a normal breathing pattern. "Smells like any other shuttle bay."

Loewen gave a confirming nod to that before speaking. "We need to get to the Bridge. Call up the floor plans for the NX, Lieutenant. Find us the closest lift." It took a few moments but, Ken responded that he had the direction finder activated.

The two men headed for the lift, leaving the shuttle bay and moving down empty, eerie corridors. At its prime this ship should have 50-60 people aboard. Of course, being from their time, that crew would consist of Humans only. So far, there was no sign of life. Accessing the lift and using it to get to the Bridge, the men stepped out onto the command deck. Again, there was no one here, that emptiness causing an eerie feeling in both of them. All the stations were active with power, with blinking lights, screens on standby, and ready for use by the crew that was supposed to be here. "Kudo, check the helm. I'll look to the Science station."

Loewen moved to the Sci station, seeing Ken sit down at helm and begin tapping keys and buttons. Buttons, thought Loewen with a bit of a grin. Been a while since Starfleet vessels used buttons. The fact that he was now touching a piece of history left Loewen nostalgic, but also saddened, with the how and why he was able to do so. Accessing the station he was able to access the logs, seeing that there had not been any logs made for over...six months? What the devil?

"Captain," Kudo said, looking at his CO from Helm, his own expression showing bewilderment. "According to the helm logs, they were accessed six months ago. Either there is someone alive on board, or someone else got into the system."

"I'm seeing the same thing over here, Ken." Loewen's confusion got his brain working on the problem at hand. "Did these ships have internal sensors? I can't recall."

"Aye, Sir." Kudo got up and came around the Science station to stand next to his CO. "By our standards they are primitive but they did their job well enough." Kudo began to tap away quick as could be, taking a bit of extra time to see which keys were what as he worked. As he worked, Loewen moved around the Bridge, his eyes scanning every centimeter even as he held a tricorder out to scan for anything useful to their mission. "Here we are, Sir." Kudo announced, with Sean stopping to turn and look his way. "Internal sensors are showing one life sign. In Sickbay."

"Just one?" Loewen queried, surprised that there was only one. "What about organic material?"

Kudo figured that particular information would be sought, so had already looked into it. "There is a large amount of Human organic matter in the torpedo armory, Captain. When I said one life sign, I meant Human. There is a great amount of life aboard, all plant life, other than the anomaly in Sickbay."

Loewen began to speak out loud with his thoughts. "One life sign, Human. Plant life in abundance with organic Human matter in the armory. Interesting." His mouth stopped as he thought on a few other things. "Back in the day torpedo tubes were often used as coffins to store their dead in until they could get them back home. We need to visit the armory to confirm my suspicion." Waving Ken to follow, the men stepped into the lift.

***

Arriving in the armory, Kudo and Loewen saw that a large portion of torpedoes had been removed from their magazine racks and placed, stacked, in one area of the armory. A far corner away from the entrance and out of they way. A cargo lifter from the shuttle bay was also present, which should not have been here if the magazine machinery was all that was needed to move torpedo tubes from racks and set them for action. Each torpedo tube had a red tag at the foot of it, and the men stepped in to read them. They were plain red tags, like luggage tags, hand written in beautiful cursive penmanship. Each tag denoted a name, rank, serial number and the stardate of death. Kudo began to scan every tag to log them into the tricorder he held. While doing so Loewen walked over to the inner door they had entered, locking it open so he could lean on the doorjam and look up and down the empty corridor as his mind and heart came to grips with the number of deaths this strange planetoid had caused. He knew they needed to log the deceased but he was antsy to get to Sickbay to see what was up with the lone life reading.

"Captain." Kudo stood near to the stack of 53 coffins, having taken the ten minutes to scan them all and come up with data. Seeing Loewen stand up straight from his lean and look his way, Ken continued. "All the crew listed for Malta are here, except for one." He could see the emotional strain this many deaths was having on his Commanding Officer. However, Loewen did not show it on his face in an outward expression, but his sorrow was held behind his eyes.

"Who?"

"The Chief Engineer, Sir. Lt. Commander Rachel Cavender is not here."

That bit of information caused Loewen's face to show an expression of understanding, his eyes losing their sorrow to be replaced by hope. "Well, if anyone can survive in this environment, an engineer would be the best bet. It still begs the question; how the hell is she alive after over a hundred years out here?"

Kudo had no answer but could only add to the speculation. "All I can think is that this damn planetoid has something to do with it." Said Kudo, a bit of an angry edge to his tone. "Can we blow the fucking thing up before we go, Captain?"

The sudden froward language from a man who seemed to have a lion's share of stoic calm did surprise Loewen a bit. It even caused him to grin and chuckle. "We'll see if that's possible, Lieutenant. It is a hazard to other ships if it remains. We may need to put up warning beacons around the subspace node like we have certain ionic areas if we don't have the power to blow it to hell."

"I'm on board for the destruction, Sir. But, I'll do what needs to be done either way." Kudo had regained his calm composure. "Well, off to Sickbay we go?"

"Let's see what awaits us." Loewen stepped into the corridor, Kudo on his heels, as they headed for the lift to head for Sickbay.

TBC...

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