More Questions Than Answers

Posted on Tue Aug 25th, 2026 @ 5:33am by Captain Maddox Greene & Commander Saul Whitford & Lieutenant T'Vei & Ensign Bruce Marcus

1,905 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Lines in the Vacuum
Location: Skagaran Vessel: Engine Room
Timeline: Following "Shipwreck"

T'Vei had originally surmised that the Skagaran vessel had arrived in the mountains via crash, but Ensign Underwood's observation was logical. The ship was largely intact, the damage more to the dorsal side than the front of the ship. So, why had they selected this region to land? So far scanners had detected salt, nickel, and other trace elements, but hardly anything noteworthy. If the ship had been bombarded, why had their attackers not finished destroying the ship? They were missing something.

She paused at an open doorway and peered inside: personnel quarters. A closet door was left open, clothing and personal effects missing. T'Vei stepped inside, noting a single discarded sock half folded on the floor. Not empty quarters, but quickly exited quarters. Someone had time to pack. Or, someone had taken the time to loot after disabling the vessel.

"Ensign Marcus, please note any parts that may be missing as opposed to destroyed," she said. "We should locate their mess hall and sickbay as well, check their inventory for medicine and food. I am considering the possibility that there were survivors of the attack or that their attackers were pirates."

Using his scanner Marcus surveyed the areas they passed through on the way to what they hoped was the Engineering section. The main thing that struck him thus far was that this vessel did not bear the usual appearance of a colony ship, they had found no evidence yet of large quarters which would house family groups, nor cargo holds for animals. He was beginning to suspect that this was a transport of some kind, perhaps on the way to a colony that got stranded here before they were attacked. Perhaps they had accidentally ventured onto a world claimed by someone else... could the Nausicaans be responsible? He'd need more evidence before voicing his suspicions to T'Vei however.

A chirp from T'Vei's communicator broke the silence. "Ridley to T'Vei. We have a new lead. Looks like the Skagarans started a settlement not far from here."

"Acknowledged," the Vulcan replied. "That would explain the missing supplies. Ensign, finish your investigation and meet us at the airlock in 10 minutes."

"Copy that, Lieutenant."

A corridor later her suit chirped again. =Maddox to away team, what's the situation looking like down there.=

"T'Vei here, Captain," she said. "The Skagaran vessel has been abandoned. The ship has dorsal side damage that indicates it was the target of a bombardment. The chloromethane production is from a combination of nearby sodium chloride deposits and sulfuric acid as a byproduct of sulfur trioxide. The team has located evidence of a nearby settlement. It will be the next destination of our investigation."

=Alright then. Proceed with caution; this doesn't feel right at all. Also, don't push it too close with the amount of time those suit will get you down there.=

"Acknowledged. T'Vei out."

As the team progressed toward the Engineering compartment they passed several cargo bays which confirmed some of Marcus' suspicions. One did indeed contain containers of Sulfur Trioxide that had been split open, and another a short distance away had broken containers of methanol of which little remained. A handful of buried cases had evidently survived the damage and remained intact, but salvaging them would require more time and effort than they could spend. One bay was empty, but had a gaping hole to the outside, there were multiple marks on the floor which would indicate that whatever equipment was once contained within had been removed over several trips using some form heavy wheeled vehicle. None of them contained any sign of plants or animals which would be the strongest indication of this being a colony vessel.

"Lieutenant, I have some further thoughts." Marcus commenced with his findings, "I suspect that this is a transport vessel that was en-route to an established colony rather than a colonization ship. The quarters we have passed by were too small for family groups, none of the cargo bays we've seen contain any signs of plant or animal life which would be needed to establish a viable colony, and a colony ship would be highly unlikely to be carrying the large supply of Sulfur Trioxide that we found, it could be needed to produce fertilizer for an established colony however." He summed up, before adding a side thought, "I would still like to get a look at their engines, from the little we know about the Skagarans they had faster-than-light capability for at least 300 years; it would be good to know how it worked if we have time, if not hopefully we can return at a later time."

"I concur, this was not a colony ship," she agreed. Why send such a small vessel to provide supplies to a colony? She pondered. Was the ship intended as a transport or perhaps a scout ship? Marcus's curiosity could lead to that answer. "We can spare a few minutes assessing their propulsion, ensign, but a thorough examination will have to wait until after the colony. As the captain said, we have a limited amount of time with the EV suits."

It took only a handful of minutes for the team to arrive at what the hand scanners indicated should be the engine room for the derelict ship, with the crumpled doors wedged shut only brute force would serve to open a path inside the darkened room. Unlike the other areas this chamber seemed to be fully untouched after the accident that stranded them here, two questions rose to Marcus' thoughts; since the crew did not salvage anything, were they hoping to effect repairs and leave? Option two was more sinister, did the ship that attacked them want their engine technology and as such spared this compartment? They may never find an answer.

Taking a quick look around with his scanner set to record everything for later study, something stood out starkly to the young engineer. There were no impulse engines, at least no design that he recognized. It was also obvious that whatever faster-than-light propulsion they used, it was not a matter/antimatter reaction since there was no reactor core evident. Instead a series of metallic pipes of varying diameter coiled around other undetermined equipment before merging into a cluster spherical chambers. Marcus counted 4 larger clusters, and 4 smaller - all with similar design features.

With time running out, he completed the detailed scans for their return to the Frontier. Perhaps Chief Brukh could make sense of it. Making sure all his tools were secured in the pack he rejoined the team for their departure.

"Fascinating," the Vulcan said as Marcus explained his findings. "An ship capable of faster than light travel without antimatter is rare. Does the design have anything in common with Xindi-vortexes? Perhaps they were attempting to reverse engineer their designs."

"I'm not completely up to date on the Xindi-vortex, but I thought they lost that capability when the Delphic Expanse collapsed?" Marcus questioned, "I believe they use a MARA core like all other known races we've encountered so far, but I'd like to have Chief Brukh look over the data since he has more experience in engine designs."

Ravi stood slightly behind the group. It was scientific and engineering chatter so he was only half-paying attention as he watched the spaces around them. It was eerie being aboard a starship that had no power, no lights of its own. To the Armoury Officer it seemed unnatural. Wrong even. He could feel his nerves stretching, a tension that kept him on the balls of his feet and alert.

Crewman Brooks was curious about the talk of a Xindi-vortex and whatever other types of modes of travel were being discussed. If they got too technical with the discussion, naturally he would be completely lost. "Would they have the capability to reverse engineer such advanced technology?"

'Didn't the Vulcans say that was what the Klingons did for warp drive? Reverse-engineer some sort of older alien species ships?' Ravi piped up, interested in the sudden crossover with his own interests.

"Klingons would call that the spoils of war," Brooks answered. "Never really heard of a Klingon enginner. But I assume there has to be one to keep those fleets of theirs up and running."

"We really don't know much about the Skagarans, the only other ship we've been able to study was the one on the North Star colony, but it had been scavenged by the settlers so there wasn't much left." Marcus explained, "But any culture able to build starships would likely be able to reverse-engineer some technology they've found, providing it isn't too far advanced." He chuckled slightly, "I expect a human from the late 20th century wouldn't be able to figure out how a warp core works since they hadn't yet figured out how to control matter and antimatter interaction."

Marcus continued thinking out loud, "I think the most surprising thing is that no Vulcan, Tellarite, Andorian or Human ship, or any Starfleet ship for that matter; has encountered any other Skagaran ships or settlements beyond the North Star colony. Either they're much further than we've explored, or they are very good at hiding their presence."

'Maybe they have cloaking tech, like the Romulans?' Ravi asked, looking around as if he, of all people, could identify a cloaking control module on an alien ship. 'Maybe we nab it ... reverse engineer it ourselves to see how they work. Could prevent the next war from breaking out.'

Brooks went silent, as he thought. "Or they could be a nomadic group. Constantly traveling around, much like this group appears to be. But I could be wrong."

'Oh I like that idea,' Ravi replied with a smile, beginning to relax now that it seemed the group wasn't in immediate danger. He lowered his phaser fractionally so it was more comfortable on his shoulders. 'Like a wagon train around the stars huh?'

"A wagon train to the stars..." Marcus thought aloud, "question is, are they looking for somewhere new, or are they fleeing from someone. Those were the two main reason for an old wagon train." He continued, "Since they didn't stop in large groups on the two known places they may have been scouts, and since a main group didn't stop perhaps they weren't able to contact them." After a pause, Marcus smirked. "But of course we don't even know if there is such a train, for all we know the two known Skagaran ships were just unlucky stragglers or operating on their own."

The medical crewman looked over to Lieutenanr T'Vei. While the others had been attempting to make guesses to what possibly occurred here, the Vulcan had been seriously quiet. Though Broooks wasn't really surprised considering that Vulcans didn't guess. Most of what they came up with was typically backed by hard evidence. "Are we going to head to that settlement now?"

"Yes, if everyone is done proposing hypotheses," T'Vei said dryly. "Then, it is time we gather some more evidence."

'You're the boss, Boss,' Ravi replied with a smile, taking point on their journey out. 'Everyone follow me!'

=====
Lieutenant T'Vei
Chief Armory Officer
Sentinel Station

Ensign Bruce Marcus
Asst. Chief Engineer
Sentinel Station

Ensign Ash Ridley (apb T'Vei)
Science Officer
Sentinel Station

Ensign Raveendran 'Ravi' Yates (apb Whitford)
Armoury Officer
Sentinel Station

Crewman Andy Brooks (APB Maddox Greene)
Medic
Sentinel Station

 

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