Fallen City (Mission Genesis)

Posted on Thu Oct 26th, 2023 @ 5:21am by Captain James Phoenix

2,007 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Untested
Location: Zyte Colony
Timeline: Current

ON:

[The Zyte Colony, Andorian Space]

The Zyte Colony was one of the Andorian’s smaller colonies in both size and population, but it was a significant one to Andorians since the colony has been around for generations. Its importance also stemmed from the Andorian who initially discovered the planet, an Andorian Guard Captain with the same first name. Zyte was one of his biggest accomplishments. Nothing would ever really top it for him, but his legacy remained to this day for Andorians.

Zyte had been built up over the past few hundred years. So while the colony was small, it wasn’t tiny by any means and in fact, the main city was quite big, with a population of 500,000. The planet’s outposts pushed the entire planet population to around 550,000. But compared to other Federation worlds, this one was quite small for how long that it had been around. This was due in part for the large tectonic plates located in various locations around the planet and the majority of them were connected. Since they were quite large, the Andorian Government capped the main population of the planet and the goal of most of the outposts was to monitor the plates, to make sure that there weren’t going to be any planet sized ‘Earthquakes’. In addition, there was a large belt of asteroids in the system and if one struck the planet just right, then there could be catastrophic results.

In any case, it had been hundreds of years since the last tectonic event so there wasn’t much of a concern these days. In any case, those in charge did their due diligence in the event that something did happen. One of those officials was Governor Vyte Zh’Kennis, a well respected Andorian, who was currently seated behind her desk in her office performing some of her day to day works, as well as construction status updates for the Federation Council as well as the Andorian Government. There was a fresh cup of Katheka placed neatly on the side of her desk. Her focus on her work was great, as she hadn’t heard her aide enter the room.

“Madam Governor?”

The Governor jumped slightly before settling herself in her chair once more. “Apologies Avora, I was engrossed in my reports.”

“It is alright ma’am. I have the reports from the other districts of the city, as well as the outposts” the younger Andorian responded before she handed them to her boss.

“Thank you Avora” she accepted the reports and placed them on her desk before watching her aide starting towards the door again as she didn’t have anything else for her aide for the moment.

But just as her aide made it to the door, there was an audible crash in the distance, which led both Vyte and Avora to the window inside the office.

In the distance, there were large amounts of dust in the air. It had been a meteor that struck the planet and debris that had flown off of it followed it into the crash site. The crash site? Outpost 6, which monitored the location of the most fragile tectonic plates, since they were far closer to the surface. A direct hit on the outpost from the meteor, was also a direct hit on the plates. This was most certainly a direct hit.

“Get Outpost six on the monitor. Now” she ordered her aide.

Avora moved over to the console without saying anything and brought up the screen. What was supposed to be a comm link and a visual with the Outpost leader was static. Both Avora and the Governor knew exactly what this meant and they both knew exactly what followed.

“Open a subspace channel to send a distress signal”

“Channel open ma’am” Avora responded seconds later.

“This is Governor Vyte Zh’Kennis of the Zyte Colony. We have just experienced a meteor strike outside of our main city. We are about to experience heavy tectonic activity, please send-” she was interrupted by a large jolt that both threw her and Avora to the ground rendering them both unconscious. This jolt was followed by about 50 others and it lasted about an hour. The main city didn’t have any skyscrapers or tall buildings, but many of the buildings in the center of the city began to experience severe structural damage, and some even collapsed. The devastation was very severe. Zyte’s main government building, which held the Governor’s main office, experienced heavy damage as well to the point that the structural integrity was near the point of collapse.

[Somewhere far away in the vastness of space]

Captain Tys ch’Kihlak sat arched over, staring intently at the view screen as streaks of whites and pale blues streamed by. His ship, the I.G.S. Shras, had been rerouted from their original patrol route along what formerly was the Romulan neutral zone to carry out a mission with the utmost sensitivity; or at least that’s what he wished. In actuality, his mission was nothing more than that of a glorified taxi service, to ferry someone from point A to point B. Perhaps it might have been a great honour if he was carrying an ambassador or a delegation of diplomats on their way to bring a great peace between warring worlds, but just like his imagination on what this mission could have been, the passenger too was a disappointment.

He attributed his sordid state to the current status of the Andorian Imperial Guard within the Federation. Indeed what once was an elite force that represented the best and brightest of Andor had more or less become a redundant militia of failures and retirees. They maintained order on their worlds, operated starships that patrolled between their colonies, but that was all they did. No missions to explore the far reaches of space, no expeditions to pacify enemy homeworlds, and no major fleet actions to tell one’s grandchildren.

“Incoming distress call sir!” A young Ensign cried out from behind his console, taking Captain ch’Kihlak out of his temporary trance.

“Well?? Put it on screen Ensign,” He snapped, peeved at this disturbance.

“I-I… can’t, it’s an audio message…”

“Then play the damn thing you frost-nibbled Alicorne!”

“Y-Yes sir!”

A hazy voice soon cut through the subspace communication lines, jittery and static but was enough to outline the situation, silencing the bridge. The sudden drop at the end added to the urgent nature of the message and like the rest of his crew, the Captain was silent for a moment as he furrowed his brow, contemplating his next steps. But that didn’t last and soon, he was on his feet, prepared to give his orders.

“Helmsman!” He shouted, “Set course for the Zyte system, warp 5, maximum warp!”

“B-But sir… our orders are to-”

“Damn the orders! We have lives to save, boy! Lives will always outweigh orders and you can damn well quote me on that!!”

Perhaps in another life, he would have made a solid Starfleet officer but that was not the life he lived today. Taking a seat, he tilted his head slightly to the right. “Sorry but it seems we’ll be taking a detour, I’m sure you understand, seeing as to how you’ll be doing a lot of that in the upcoming months.” He said to a figure seated next to him, a slight chuckle lingering in his voice.

The figure didn’t respond, eyes remaining squared upon the viewscreen.

[Captain's Quarters, USS Horizon]

James Phoenix was currently in his quarters, making dinner in the medium to large kitchenette. Cooking was harder to do while in space, but the crew had enough provisions to last them a long time. It also provided a method for him to decompress after the refit, crew transfers, etc. Commanding a ship without a number one could be done, but he didn't have an officer that could put their work attention solely towards the XO position. There simply wasn't enough crew for that. However as it turned out that would be changing. After Commander Brack had been transfered as soon as he got there, he had put in a request for a new XO, or at least a temporary one until further notice. It turned out to be the later. An officer from the Andorian Guard as it turned out.

He had only found out just yesterday, however, so it would take most of the crew by surprise. He had already notified the flight control department as they would need to make a rendezvous with an Andorian Guard vessel transporting the officer. He was actually happy that he was getting someone from the Guard. They were tough even if there weren't on the operating scale they used to be. He needed someone that could give him alternate options and to keep him on his toes. Not only that, but maybe this would show that the Guard should be viewed as something more.

On the menu tonight was Fettuccine noodles with Alfredo sauce and Andorian shrimp. He had just cracked the eggs into the formed flour that resembled a bowl. After that, he mixed everything around to make a solid. He pulled his pasta cutter from the corner of the counter before. He picked up the big singular piece of pasta and set it in the cutter and began to cut it.

But he was interrupted but the comm. "Bridge to Captain Phoenix."

"Phoenix here"

"We are receiving a distress call from the Zyte Colony Captain" the voice from the bridge said.

"Patch it through to my personal computer" he ordered before safely stopping his cooking and walking over to his desk. He pressed a button on his desk and the screen rose up from the desk. The distress call played seconds later.

This is Governor Vyte Zh’Kennis of the Zyte Colony. We have just experienced a meteor strike outside of our main city. We are about to experience heavy tectonic activity, please send-

A few loud thuds followed the message after the Governor was cut off, that implied the tectonic activity. The message cut off after that.

"Phoenix to bridge, adjust course to the Zyte System, maximum warp. Are there any other vessels responding?"

There was a short silence while the officer on the bridge, presumably the watch officer, ordered the ship's course to be altered. "Aye sir, speed is at warp 9.99. Our ETA is 15 hours and 47 minutes to the Zyte System."

"Thank you. Are there any other vessels in range?" James asked.

There was another silence for a moment. The watch officer spoke over the comm again. "There is an Andorian Guard Vessel responding. The I.G.S Shras sir. They are traveling at warp factor 5, but they are close enough that they will get there first."

"Understood. Thank you. Phoenix out" that was alot to unpack in the last five minutes. But it was the Horizon's duty to respond. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

He tapped his communicator. "Phoenix to all senior officers, report to the the conference room in one hour, we have a new development" he said as he began to compose a message to the senior officers as well, giving them more details that could help them.

James listened to the distress call a few more times to see if there was anything he could distinguish. There wasn't really, only more things to find out once the Horizon arrived. After sending a report to the brass, he continued cooking his food while composing his own report for the meeting with his senior staff.

While he cooked and worked, he remembered that the I.G.S Shras was the same ship that the Horizon was to rendezvous with to pick up his new temporary first officer. But what was more important was getting to Zyte as fast as possible.

 

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