The Missing, Part 3 [✱23]

Posted on Tue Jul 28th, 2026 @ 1:21pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Ayol & Lieutenant Commander Intharia T'Zor & Lieutenant Rune Thul & Master Chief Petty Officer Gaz & Ramielos Volsunga & SubLieutenant Attania Viren

2,595 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: Airspace approaching Faraday crash site
Timeline: 1620 - MD04

As Cadet Peyet had predicted, the column of smoke from the Faraday was visible shortly after further travel from the site where Sklavos' fighter had gone down.

"We're about to reach 200km out from the crash site, ma'am." Cadet Peyet instructed T'Zor at the Folsom's helm.

"Maintain distance and take us to 200km on the other side." T'Zor told her, conscious of Lieutenant Thul's suggestion.

"Aye ma'am, taking the long way around." Peyet said, keeping a 200km perimeter around the target below, despite their significant height. "In position, ma'am." She announced once they got there.

"Mr Sul, what can you see?" T'Zor asked.

"Masses of lifeform readings around the Faraday, ma'am. It's hard to get much detail there's so much going on down there." Sul responded while reviewing the sensor readings.

"Take us down to 3,000 feet." T'Zor ordered. Once Peyet confirmed they were there, T'Zor opened a channel to the Lipitah. "We're in position Lieutenant. Prepare to engage active camouflage and descend for approach. The mass of lifeforms is preventing us getting accurate readings, we'll take a closer look and confirm next steps from there. First sign that we've been noticed, take evasive action and return to 6,000 feet."

“I just had a fun idea, Commander.” Rune announced. “Wide tractor beam and pull them away or up?” He turned to his crew. “Any of the plasma launcher lifeforms?” Rune asked any of them.

"Hard to say Lieutenant, there's so much biomass down there that it's impossible to distinguish one lifeform from another at this distance. There's definitely some significantly larger creatures, but I'm not detecting any unusual energy readings. But that's not to say it's detectable until it's ready to fire, I'd assume there's some kind of internal catalytic conversion that weaponises its internal plasma reserves." Tranklim explained, some concern in his eyes.

T'Zor was visibly aghast at Thul's irreverence. She knew Atna would have ordered Tranklim to take over the runabout on the spot. "They've already demonstrated they can take down fighters and starships, and Palamas warned of fliers that we can't currently see. We need more data on what's happening down there before we decide our course of action."

She decided not to list the myriad reasons why she thought using tractor beams was a bad idea, whether he was talking about using them on the bugs or the Faraday. Time was wasting. "Activate camouflage and begin descent." T'Zor instructed.

"Engage the camouflage," Rune ordered with a smirk. "Let's follow them," he told Cage.

As they reached a height that allowed them to inspect the situation visibly, T'Zor was shocked by the sight. Yellow-black insectoids swarmed the Faraday's crashed hull, trying to force their way in through the hole blow in the side, even as the hull itself still smouldered. On the other side of the ship, even more massive black bugs seemed to spraying some sort of liquid fire against the hull from organic nozzle on their foreheads.

"Runabout Folsom to Faraday. Repeat, Runabout Folsom to Faraday, does anyone aboard read me?" T'Zor asked once she was assured a channel was open.

"Folsom, this is Lieutenant Ulloriaq. It's good to hear your voice, things aren't going well down here. Where are you?"

"We're a few hundred metres above you. We've got camouflage engaged, they don't seem to have spotted us." T'Zor told her. "What's your status?

"We've still got communications but main power is down. They seem to be trying to burn their way through the hull, or burn us out. We've got teams dispersing cryofluid into the affected areas of the hull to try and mitigate it but I don't know how how long we can keep it up, our supplies aren't infinite. The bugs are also trying to get in through the hole they shot in the side. Fortunately we had a marine heavy weapons team aboard doing drills, Captain Nema and her team are managing to hold the line, the bugs can only get from the entry-hole into a corridor the marines turned into a killbox." Ulloriaq explained.

"Fortunately we've been able to keep a few sensors online too, I'm sending you all the data we've been able to collect. As far as we can tell there are four varieties of bugs. There's the basic warriors, the striped jaws and claws kind, they seem to be the most numerous. Then there's the fliers, they're like warriors with wings, they took down one of the Valkyries by swarming it, they seem to be able to cling onto forcefields, but we don't know where they've gone since. You don't want to let them near you. The plasma bugs are the ones that brought us down, then they started firing into the atmosphere. The most recent arrivals are the flamethrowers, after the first few hundred warriors met their end in the hallway, they dug their way out of the sand and started their offensive."

"We're receiving. Is Commander Creon with you?" T'Zor asked. She wanted very much to start analyzing the strange biology of these cooperating creatures, but she had to focus.

"The Commander took a team to investigate a cave nearby. Six of them went in, only Lieutenant O'Raan made it out. He says they were attacked by the warrior bugs below. The ground collapsed under the rest of the team while they were escaping. We haven't got any confirmation of their status." Ulloriaq said, the sadness in her voice impossible to disguise.

T'Zor swallowed hard, trying to not think about what fate might have befallen Creon and her team. With Ulloriaq in charge, that means Saa was probably with her. "Then we need to get a search and rescue team into that cave. But first we need to get you all out of there. What do you need from us?" T'Zor asked the Lieutenant.

"If you could take out those bugs squirting fire on us we'd have a lot more free hands to try and get the ship back in something resembling working order. And if the tide of intruding bugs could be stemmed, the marines could get themselves into position to start taking the offensive. There's plenty of firepower down there, they just haven't had a chance to do anything but defend. I think if we -" Ulloriaq went quiet for a moment, long enough to generate anxiety, but then she returned. "Folsom, we're detecting something dropping in through the upper atmosphere, are you reading that?"

"Are we?" T'Zor asked her shuttle crew, the change of subject was slightly jarring, her mind was already working towards solutions for Ulloriaq's stated issues.

"Yes ma'am." Sul responded. "Its course suggests it's coming straight from DS13. All I can see on visual is atmospheric entry burn. It's coming in fast." Sul said, trying to scan it. "This is weird. The system recognises it but it says I don't have clearance for an ID." His surprise escalated as his console beeped. "Whatever it is, it's hailing us."

"Put it through." T'Zor told him, her confusion and growing exhaustion with surprises obvious. When she checked the readings on the armrest panel and saw what came for them, her heart went into her boots.

"This is Battle-Brother Ramielos Volsunga. Your Captain has asked me to support you because my armour and weapons are the only technology in your possession thought to be capable of resisting the plasma storm in the atmosphere. My armour is functioning, I haven't had a chance to test my weapons. I should arrive at the Faraday crash site in approximately ten minutes." Volsunga's deep voice explained, digitally augmented by his helmet's systems.

Sublieutenant Viren was surprised to hear the man's name. She knew he was the giant who had been seen wandering around one of the docks, but all the information about him was restricted above her clearance.

Volsunga? Back in his armour, with his weapons? What in every hell ever conceived of was Rovak thinking? Thari asked herself as she processed the new detail. As the resolution of scans of him cleared, she could see it was just him in his suit of armour, no vessel or conveyance. "How do you intend to land safely?" She asked, hoping that was part of the plan they'd already thought about. If they hadn't, maybe this was a situation where the tractor beam would be useful.

"My armour can withstand a fall from orbit, but your engineers provided a manual parachute to slow my descent and prevent any damage that would come from that. We've seen from orbit that some of those creatures can fly. If you can screen my arrival while the parachute is deployed, I should be able to land fully intact." Volsunga said, computing the trajectory on his helmet's HUD and transmitting it to them.

This was an interesting development, Rune wasn't sure how to feel about it but he figured they'd have to trust him eventually. Why not now. He thought. The Lipitah was a little further away than the Folsom, both camouflaged. With the Battle-Brother headed to the Faraday from above, Rune feared the bugs might detect and fire at him. It would be a piloting nightmare if Rune suggested they extended their shield around him as they fell, breaking off at the last moment.

Was there something else they could do? There was one thing bugging him. Rune chuckled as he began to speak. "Commander T'Zor, perhaps both runabouts can extend our shields around the Faraday and so pushing the bugs off and away from the site? Battle-Brother Volsunga can distract them while we get our people out of both the ship and cave, though why are we not shooting the bugs considering they attacked us first, clearly they are hostile. No diplomatic efforts have been made towards them or at us, so that tells me we have no other options than shooting. If we do it with wide beam phasers in a 360 spin, together, we'd be done quickly and withdraw." He explained his opinions.

"Where I come from, if an unscrupulous scientist wants to find a sample of an insect, they kick a nest. Mr Volsunga is a very small target, he's got more of a chance of avoiding the plasma shots than we do, especially if we're holding in place. What we need to do is kick whatever nest these flyers are holed up in so we can get them away from him. I'm thinking if we start taking out their big bugs, that should do it." T'Zor explained after briefly evaluating Thul's suggestion.

"Once the flyers emerge, we need to keep their attention until Mr Volsunga lands. Data shows the flamethrowers are tough, like insectoid tanks. We've painted the nearest target, concentrate fire on the other one. Then keep taking out bugs in size order until we get a response. Once the flyers appear, we take out as many bugs on the ground as we can while getting away from them. Once we have them clear, take as many as you can out while keeping their attention." T'Zor ordered, the plan finally crystalised in her mind as she spoke it aloud.

"T'Zor's plan is sound. Any plasma shots will need to be my problem, but those flying creatures pose the biggest threat to my safe landing. You will also need to keep yourselves moving to keep out of plasma range. From what we've seen, the plasma weapons aren't fast, and none of you are as big a target as the Faraday, but they only need to get lucky once, and shields on a ship that size won't make much of a difference." Volsunga said what he was thinking out loud, the channel was still open after all.

Rune smiled. "Looks like we have some fancy flying and bombing runs in our immediate future, targets all confirmed on our side Commander. Good hunting to you, call if you need backup and I hope you will come if we call, if you can. Someone monitor Volsunga's position at all times and if he needs help, coordinate with helm on that. His safety is our top priority."

Another idea came to him. "Commander, before we split for attack, a brief power transfer to the Faraday would be helpful to keep their structural integrity and forcefield generators supplied until we can return for them? The other question is where is the main nest? I have a bad feeling its under the Faraday." Rune explained, "it's a feeling that's been bugging me." He suppressed a chuckle.

“Thanks for the offer Lieutenant,” Came Ulloriaq’s voice from the roof of the Faraday’s bridge, “Our reserves are basically full, we just need to reroute the power flow around the damaged areas to get things going again, once our Engineers aren’t too busy trying to stop the hull from broiling us. As for the nest, we can’t say for sure, but I’ll relay the coordinates for where the team went. There’s still a chain of signal boosters active within that Polyphron left, but obviously we haven’t had time to take a look. The sooner you can start thinning those bugs out, the better.” She said through the still-open channel.

"Understood Faraday, good luck to you down there," Rune replied, "at your command Commander?"

"Fire." T'Zor gave the simple order, and the officer at her tactical station did so. The beam struck the first of the flamethrowing tank bugs hard, causing it to buckle and rear its head up, spraying flame across the sky nearby, incinerating more than a few of the warrior bugs. "Increasing power!" The tactical officer advised, and the beam intensified, finally cracking the outer shell of the creature and vaporizing its insides, causing it to finally fall dead.

"Target down, ma'am." Tactical told her. "Fire into the crowd of warrior bugs, take out as many as you can. The second anything airborne shows up, be ready to switch your fire to it as we get out of here." She ordered.

"Fire," Rune ordered a moment after T'Zor did. "Keep your eyes on the sky," he reminded everyone, not that they needed it.

"I'm almost in deployment range, advise when it is safe to do so." Volsunga said, as his HUD indicated he'd nearly reached the area where he'd have the best control over his landing site if he deployed immediately. As time went on, that control dissipated.

From the towers constructed of sand and excretions, flying bugs emerged in the hundreds, screeching hordes of chitinous green killers, focused intently on the source of the phaser phaser. Quickly there were thousands, and they coalesced into a black cloud.

"Peyet, go! Tactical, realign phasers to fire into the flyers! We're heading west Lipitah, recommend you go east!" T'Zor told Thul through her seat console as she struggled to stay in place while the runabout turned sharply, fleeing the approaching cloud of bugs. The phasers lashed out into the swarm for as long as the emitters would allow, and handfuls of them fell with each strike, but still the vicious dark cloud approached, undeterred by the lethal forces they could not comprehend.

"Confirmed," Rune replied, "let's go and squash some bugs." He instructed his runabout team. "Launch some torpedoes and have them explore just far away that we don't get in the explosion, evasive maneuvers Mister Cage, any chance we can charge the shields in pulses and ram them with the shield overcharge? Wide beam configuration phasers, in all directions." He said with glee as it rained bug blood and guts down to the surface.

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