Time for Exercise

Posted on Sat Sep 5th, 2026 @ 4:29pm by Captain Kelly O'Connor & Lieutenant Harris Zim & Lieutenant Axel Heskin

2,282 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 9 - Unearthing Life
Location: On the Planet
Timeline: MD03 - 0900

The three beamed down in a green area that had plenty of foilage available for Heskin to study. About a mile away from their landing spot could be seen a vast ocean. It was a beautiful sunny day and a dry 80F with a slight breeze. There was barely a cloud in the sky. It could not be seen as anything other than a near paradise.

O'Connor turned to Heskin, "Is this a sufficient spot to study whatever you want on the planet? Within reach of all sorts of other," the Captain struggled for a word that described boring but exciting for a scientist and finally came up with "specimens?"

When the transporter sequence completed Zim leveled his phaser and made a visual sweep of the area. There was no immediate danger from people, or animal. He lowered the weapon but did not holster it. At least not yet. It was settings like this that led to footnotes in the Starfleet Tactical Handbook and the Capellan knew it.

O'Connor looked at Zim and chuckled. "Are you not convinced that there's nothing creeping out to get us yet? Heskin, what are you going to do? Looks like lots of things for you to analyze," she told him rolling her eyes slightly.

"No ma'am. At the moment I am pretty convinced. However, I have a duty." Zim replied without taking his eyes off the mountain ranges. There were in fact so many places an attacking force could hide. It would be impossible to survey them all on his own. Harris Zim would do the best he could with the resources at hand, as any good Capellan would.

Axel was looking around with great interest, "Yes Captain there is a lot for me to go look at," Pulling out his scientific tricorder and began wandering around. kneeling down to take soil samples, then walked over towards where he saw a stream nearby.

He neared the water looking upstream, wondering what the source was, then looked downstream. There was an aquatic animal there, he leaned forward to see if he could get a read on it. It looked like a fish, could it be related to any of the fish species on Earth.

O'Connor started to stretch, limbering herself up, not caring whether it demonstrated her body's shape or flexibility became evident to Zim. "So, ready for a run?" she asked him.

Zim still surveyed the mountain range and continued to take stock of all the places an enemy force could be hidden. He took no notice of the Captain preparing for a run. When she spoke he turned. "Captain as you are aware. We should not split up as while you and I are out running anything can happen to Lieutenant Heskin. If you wish to go for a run then I must insist we summon another member of security to accompany you, or remain with the Lieutenant."

"There's nothing here, Zim. Let Heskin be," she encouraged the security officer. "Run with me. Don't be a stick in the mud."

Axel looked over towards the Captain. "Captain, I've not tested the ground yet in order to see if it is stable enough for you to do so. Then again." Axel double checked the scans that had been done on the surface.

He read it over then looked towards O'Connor. "I'll race you Captain it appears that the surface is well suited for a foot race."

Placing his equipment near a tree. "This way you don't have to split your attention between myself and the Captain." Heskins remarked to Zim.

O'Connor rolled her eyes at Heskin. "I thought that there was some flora or fauna that you were more interested in. Isn't that why you brought down all that ridiculous equipment?"

At the moment Zim was contented to simply stand there silently. He would let them settle what was to happen next, and then proceed as needed. If he had to run, then so be it. "If we all went that would be the most prudent and safe thing to do."

O'Connor rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm sure that's what Heskin wants. He's still sore from our last matchup."

Looking from the Captain towards Zim then back to the Captain.

"Yes I did bring down some equipment, but as I had stated before, Captain, I will run so that you can stretch your legs."

Heskins turned towards Zim. "shall we?"

Waiting for the Captain to give the signal, though back in his mind, Axel figured that the Captain would most assuredly cheat.

O'Connor favored Zim and Axel with a crooked grin. "On the count of three, then? Two kilometer run straight ahead? Last one there carries Heskin's equipment?"

Zim did not like the idea of a foot race. The terrain had not been scanned, they did not know if there were anything they should be aware of before anything. "Captain I do believe we should complete a scan before having your fun. However, if you would rather ignore protocol then yes I am ready."

"Live a little, Zim!" O'Connor ordered, favoring him with a crooked grin. She then crouched down into a running position. "One.... Two.... Three!" The moment that she said three, she darted off into the distance.

There was a fleeting moment where Zim thought of shooting some rocks in front of the Captain to get her to stop. However, he thought the better of it and simply took off after her. He could not let the Captain get too far ahead for it was his duty to make sure that she came to no harm. Moments later he was in step with the Captain.

Axel took off as well, he wasn't going to have Zim have to keep his attention split and it was to Axel a bit strange that they didnt' have another officer with them.

He was just a bit behind, having decided to grab his tricorder, having it going on a passive scan, while he ran.

His strides ate up the distance, watching both O'Connor and Zim becoming closer. As he was nearing to where he was abreast of them both, his tricorder began shrieking out an alert.

At the same time that happened, the ground crumbled beneath his feet, and he was falling.

Zim heard the ground crumble and stopped to turn and look. He watched as Axel was swallowed by the ground. "Captain! Lieutenant Heskin has dropped into some kind of crevasse." He called as he jogged back toward where Axel had fallen.

O'Connor stopped and turned around. She instructed Zim, "Be careful. Can't have either one of us falling down either." She then yelled at Heskin, "Can you hear me, Heskin? You alright down there?"

As he fell, Axel instinctively reached out to try to stop his fall, dropping the tricorder.

Not feeling anything to grab onto, he twisted his body to make certain to land on his feet. All he hoped was to not land in water, well that could be a good thing or a bad thing.

To his relief Axel hit something solid, his knees bending to reduce the impact rolling to his side.

He lay panting upon the ground, it feeling soft instead of hard, which also helped.

Finally he called up looking towards the light,

"I'm okay I think." Axel deciding to move from his position, feeling for his palm light. He flicked it on, to look for his tricorder.

"Hmmmn... there is something ahead of me, a gate something, I'm not certain-- " A sensation of pain made him wince, he may have mildly twisted his knee.

"A gate?" O'Connor asked, calling down. "Are you certain that you did not bump your head too hard down there? There's not supposed to be anything unnatural here. Describe what you see. Is there any light down there?"

"Captain, we can have the America beam Heskin out of there. I recommend we do that before he falls any further, or either of us fall through as you pointed out." Zim worded that as both a suggestion and a full tactical analysis.

"I'd like to know Heskin's status and anything that he can see first. We may need to go down there," O'Connor answered. She called down to Heskin and asked, "Status?"

"I am mobile, I landed on soft moss, the gate I am moving forward." Axel recovered his tricorder and turned off the shrieking of the alarm.

"There is an intriguing stone like path that is in front of me, dark, but a sheen to it, reminding me of obsidian. There seems to be something there in its surface, I am moving closer to get another look."

Axel paused, then called up. "Zim, just in case something should happen get the Captain away."

About a foot away from this curious stone, Axel gave out a startled cry, as golden lines interspersed with spaces, suddenly appeared and a humming could be heard.

"What's going on down there, Heskin? Why did you shriek?" O'Connor asked.

Zim drew his weapon and stepped between the Captain and the hole. There was not much he could do if the ground gave way, but he would try. Harris knew that there was no way to get the Captain to step far enough back to safety so he did the best that he could.

Making a record of the strange symbols, Axel called up, "Captain, there is comething strange going on, and seriously, the floor down here and the walls have lit up with golden symbols, I am not certain if it is a language or something else. Though might be a good idea to just um get out of this hole and back onto the ship, or even get to my equipment to analyze this further?" Axel now looked for a way to get out of the hole.

O'Connor turned to Zim and said, "You would agree that we have a duty to explore now, would you not?" She favored the security officer with a crooked grin."

"No, Captain I would not. Now is the time to get our people to safety, then explore from a safe distance. At the moment the Lieutenant is in a hole with something unknown that could be natural, or machine made. Our priority is making sure that no harm comes to the Lieutenant or us." Zim was almost exasperated at the sheer amount of procedures the Captain ignored. He wondered how she got to command her own starship in the first place.

O'Connor yelled down to Heskin, "Zim's being a party pooper. I'm going to contact the ship." She flipped open her communicator and said, =^= America, this is Captain O'Connor, we are requesting transport back to the ship. All landing parties and shoreleave is cancelled, acknowledge. =^=

O'Connor waited several moments and received nothing.

Once again, she called up, =^= America, this is Captain O'Connor, we are requesting transport back to the ship. All landing parties and shoreleave is cancelled, acknowledge. =^=

Again, there was no acknowledgement. She turned to Zim and favored him with a crooked smile, "Well, now we have no choice. Seems there is a jamming signal going on...."

Zim stood for a moment and thought. If the Captain was right that would mean that there was either another ship nearby, or a facility on the planet that could trigger a jamming signal. The former would be something for the America to deal with, the latter would be for them. However, it seemed to him far fetched as when the planet and area was scanned there was nothing, not even a residual warp signature. He took five steps away from the pit and the Captain and reached for his communicator. =^=Zim to America. Come in America=^=

A moment later a security Ensign responded over Zim's communicator. =^=Go ahead Lieutenant Zim.=^= Zim looked toward the Captain like she purposefully screwed with her communicator. =^=Stand by to transport three back to the ship.=^=

O'Connor looked at Zim skeptically. How in the world did he get through when she could not? Was it the location? She flipped shut her communicator and then flipped it back open, as she did thousands of times before and said, =^= America, this is the Captain, do you read me? =^=

The same Ensign as before replied. =^=We read you loud and clear Captain. Standing by for your order to transport.=^=

O'Connor looked at Zim. =^= Hold for a moment, America. =^= "I don't understand why my communicator did not function the first time. That bothers me. I should have Heskin check this out when we get out of here."

"Agreed Captain. However, at the moment the America is awaiting your order for us to get out of here." Zim replied without so much as a muscle twitch of emotion.

Once more looking upwards, Axel huffed slightly why was he waiting for rescue. Even though that gate was tempting, he wasn't going to explore without the proper equipment, which includes some climbing gear.

Once more He looked to see if there were any other ways to gain some handhold but found none and his knee was starting to throb.

"Blast." he muttered.

He pulled out the communicator, activating it.

"Captain, I'd like to get out of this hole and get proper equipment to explore this area." Axel added.

O'Connor told Axel, "I would, as well. However, first, we must transport back to the America." She pulled out her communicator again and said, =^= America, beam all shoreleave parties back to the ship. =^=

The three were enveloped in the transporter beam, along with their equipment.


Captain Kelly Jean O'Connor
Commanding Officer
USS America

Lieutenant Harris Zim
Chief Security Officer
USS America

Lieutenant Axel Heskin
Chief Science Officer
USS America

 

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