It's cold outside

Posted on Sun Apr 3rd, 2022 @ 3:51pm by Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Lieutenant Commander Jason Myers

Mission: Double Bind
Location: Shield Station Delta 5, Caetov surface

White. As far as the eye could see. Nothing but white.

The fallen snow glowed faintly: illuminated by the light from the force field. On one side: the crew worked. On the other: a planet died.

Lt Commander Rogers stood at the edge of the protective bubble looking out at the storm. Visibility was minimal, a few feet at most, but during the flashes of purple lightning Rodgers thought his enhanced vision could make out the shadows of features in the blizzard. Between flashes it looked like they moved.

He tapped his comm badge. “Astraea this is Delta 5. Do you copy?” Empty static filled his ears. He turned away from the shield and shouted into the workspace, his voice straining to compete with the howling winds. “Comms are down. We’re on our own for now.”

"Great." Jason responded. "No comms, in a blizzard... I suppose I shouldn't ask what might happen next, should i?"

Rogers laughed. "Nothing ever goes wrong when someone says that." He looked back towards where he was standing earlier. "Thought I saw something moving out there just now. I'm going to see if we've picked up any readings. I want eyes on whatever it was."

"Sounds good. Though I'm a little worried what could survive this cold." Jason added, trying to keep warm himself.

"All the more reason to figure out what it is." Rogers noted as he began to trudge through the snow, headed in the direction of the shield stations sensors. "Chances are it's another of our teams. Or maybe one from that Ts'Usugi ship which has been shadowing us." He turned and looked back at Jason. "Or an alien yeti."

The ensign monitoring the sensor data on the storm front looked up from her instruments and shook her head. "I'm not picking up any additional life signs, Commander. The only living things in range are inside the shield."

Rogers hummed slightly. "I could've sworn." The sky had grown much darker as the storm moved closer, and now no light made it to the surface.

The wind began to die down. The following quiet brought the crew a moments respite from having to shout to make themselves heard. Perhaps not time to relax, but time enough to start preparing for when the trailing edge of the storm hit. To not have to be constantly adjusting frequencies.

Jason raised his eyebrow... "Must be a yeti." he said. "Not seeing anything on my end either but at least that bloody wind stopped." he said, noticing a blip on his tricorder... "Aw what the hell?"

"I saw a yeti once. Last year of the Eugenics Wars; Himalayas Campaign." Rogers stepped away from main sensor system. "We're still drawing a blank here. What have you..." His last words were cut off by a new sound. Part scream. Part roar. It echoed out from somewhere in the snow and seemed to vibrate the force field as it traversed it.

"I just picked something up on the tricorder... What the hell even was that? Are you seeing it?" Jason asked, hand instinctively on his phaser.

Rogers his neck craned forwards. "Not clearly. It's about a hundred yards past the forcefield. In the trees. That match your reading?"

"It does. Can't tell what it is though. Hope it's a yeti or maybe just some sort of whatever passes for a rodent that can exist on this frigid hellscape." Jason said. Whatever it was was interfering with the readings enough he couldn't be 100 percent certain.

"Hard to tell what it is." Rogers admitted. He crept another pace forward, his face almost pressed against the force field. "I don't think it's a rodent: It's got six limbs and has what I think are crystals growing put of it. Wait, there's two of them."

The wind had begun to pick up once more, whistling the opening bars of the storms trailing edge. The snow kicked up obscured any hope of seeing anything else. One of the creatures called out again: a sound mournful and angry, swallowed by crashing of thunder and howling gales. The lifesign on Jason's tricorder winked out.