The small party crested the rise in the early morning light of a Betazed dawn and, keeping low to avoid skylining themselves, moved down the other side in silence, their body language smooth but alert. Jem’hadar cloaks were forever in their minds, their eyes free of sleep despite the early hour, keenly searching for ripples or waves and their vision that may indicate the presence of an enemy. A few feet in front and on point, Ensign Takeuchi was getting a grim overture of what to expect as she swept the area in front with her eyes and her rifle. The ground around them was littered with debris and being an engineer she knew where chunks of it came from. She couldn’t help but keep a tally in her mind of all of the places in her memory she had confirmed no longer existed. Chairs from the lounge had been the worst, a collection strewn about a few hundred metres behind them, bent, broken and forlorn as she was.

Mayoko was no stranger to melancholy. She had been through plenty already in her relatively short life and it had weighed on her for a long time. Starfleet was supposed to be a new beginning. But, with the destruction of her ship, she was starting to become haunted by journeys to a dark place once again. She tried to put this from her mind and focus on her duty, but each piece of wreckage she identified served to pry open fresh wounds. Around another large rise would be the main bulk of the wreck. The team had chosen this approach as it was the most sheltered, but this gave them no prior view of the Excelsior’s frame until they were less than a kilometer away. Slowly the leviathan saucer edged into view as they moved quietly through the long grass and the Engineer stopped, not sudden as if she had seen an enemy solider, she just wound down her steps and after a beat fell to her knees, her eyes wide, taking in the horror before her.

Sections of the ship had burnt up in the atmosphere, peripheral sections anyway. She had come down largely in the correct orientation and had landed on her belly, the boat-like engineering section and deflector control being utterly destroyed in the process, rent to shards that littered slide marks running at least two kilometers behind the saucer. The two nacelles were largely intact, lying still like giant felled tree-trunks a way back across the plain. The saucer, literal in its circularity, as dictated by the vintage design of the Excelsior, was in one burnt and frayed husk, rested against one of the large mounds that characterized the topography of the area and tilted slightly towards them, the lettering ‘U.S.S. Ravensbridge NCC-44492’ just visible, proud on her surface, the last vestige of honour for the once-majestic vessel now cast into history by the Dominion. Mayoko took several deep breaths, her bottom lip trembling as she exhaled, betraying her lack of emotional control, not that it would take a Betazoid to surmise the pain she felt by the look on her face.

Kannina had her mental shields only slightly up. The angst that Mayoko felt was also being broadcast by the group, including herself. It was hard to not get caught in the emotional whirlpool. It helped that the group was small but being all Starfleet, the connection was tangible. It brought back the recent attack on the Spaceport facility, not something she wanted to relive. She pinched herself through the fabric to break her brain from the thought and concentrate on anything else. The pain would do.

Knowing the ultimate goal was to get inside, she traded out the large weapon she previously had for a phaser rifle, a type 2 hand phaser, and a cricket with extra cells. She figured stashing the rifle might even have to go in favor of loading the backpack with needed equipment.

Milo rested on his Jem’Hadar rifle, the butt firmly planted in the grass. Removing his hat, he held it over his heart. The only sounds were the wind blowing through the Betezed plains and the distant calls of birds. As the sun rose over the twisted and charred wreckage, he averted his eyes. “It’s one thing to hear about the destruction of a fleet; it’s something else entirely seeing it first hand.”

Time passed as the group commiserated. Time spent living inside a starship lent the ship an aura of its mortality. The longer they spent looking, the angrier Kannina became. Leaning into the group, she whispered. “Time to be a mouse and seek out the cheese.” Shedding her rifle, she secured her Type 1 cricket phaser to her wrist with a lanyard and ensured her combat knife was handy. She was small, and learned during training that nearly everyone was larger than she was hence Kannina had to develop her rogue skills to avoid detection or stick and move when discovered.

“Let’s move out. Keep your heads on a swivel. I don’t expect to encounter resistance, but they could be watching this as a trap,” Milo announced as he hefted the rifle, checked the power cell and setting, and started moving toward the downed ship.

Kannina mimicked Milo’s action and checked her phaser rifle following so they didn’t bunch up. She was glad Milo took point as he likely had the most experience.

Mayoko was glad too. She wasn’t much for action, being somewhat more of a placid, cerebral person. The young woman had already seen more than her fair share of pain. Starfleet was supposed to be an escape,  but she’d joined at the wrong time, or so it appeared now. Still they had a job to do and while she wasn’t G.I. Jane or one of those shredded security officers, she had plenty of courage. Mayoko tapped into her reserves and tried to put what the hulk in front of her meant. It was a crashed ship. They were on a mission. End of.

The three wound their way carefully, quietly and stealthily to the stricken saucer, eventually carefully moving up the side of the hill to gain access to an entry point.

Kannina whispered, “There should be an airlock coming up, or an escape pod, hopefully triggered. If ya’ll cover me, we should be able to get it there pretty easily.”  Slinging her rifle, she pulled her hand phaser and started to take tactile inventory of the tools in her suit.

Dia woke up, with a bump on her head… to be marooned again on Betazed, this had to be a joke. She took her earring that was around her neck and threw it. ‘Screw you too!‘ she thought to herself but maintained decorum. There were dead bodies all around her, she couldn’t see a live soul anywhere. She looked from where she was… Where’s the Ravensbridge? She noted the ship was about a kilometer away from her. She stood, and fell again, her leg was in severe pain, “C’mon soldier, you’ve been through worse.”

She took off her over-jacket to fashion a support for her injured leg, and used the nearby Phaser Rifle as a crutch. Hobbling towards the ship, she could see three people working around it… Cardassian with two humans?

“Hey! Over here!” Dia called out.

Kannina barely sensed the new arrival before going to a low crouch, her hand moved the type II hand phaser to the low ready position. She waved the individual towards them as the group around her spread out to cover the new arrival. “Let the rifle go nice and slow there,” Kannina whispered. She wasn’t aiming it at the woman but she knew no of them were taking any chances.”

“She’s not from the Ravensbridge,” Mayoko observed. “Identify yourself!” She called to the woman approaching.

Milo raised his captured Jem’Hadar rifle.  He didn’t point it at the approaching woman eyeing her with suspicion.  He let Mayoko do the speaking choosing to observe the stranger. Absently he also reached down and pulled back the hammer his pistol not even realizing the action.

“Everyone settle down, and more importantly, shut the hell up.” Kannina hissed softly. “I can sense this one, though not sure if the Shapeshifters are built for that.”

“Imal Dia, Transfering between stations. Soon to be CEO of the Denver,” she said dropping the weapon. “Here for survivors.” she paused the Starfleet uniforms were refreshing, “We can stand here and exchange personal details or get on with our relative missions which may benefit each other here.”

At this point if they were the enemy they would of engaged already, that is the thing with the Dominion, they are precise and know what they are doing, Federation is peaceful by nature, something that she struggled with during the trenches. Breaking people of what they were trained, especially during war time…

Kannina pulled out a small combat knife. “At least this one has a chance at being closer to sterile.” She said, glancing at Milo. ” She sliced her and let her blood drip onto the ground. Wiping the blade she offered it, hilt first to Dia, but made sure her phaser hand was ready.

“Kannina Chasu.” she held her surprise, barely at the mention of another starship. “I’ll delay my reaction until I know whose side you are on. Nothing personal, I just like breathing.”

Dia picked up the knife and slid it across the palm of her hand. She had done this so much she is surprised there is no damage tissue there. She let her blood drop to the ground. “Bajoran through and through.” She passed the knife to the next person, the male of the group.

Milo accepted the blade and sliced his palm but didn’t say anything, just let the blood drip onto the ground.  He handed the knife back to Kannina, silently putting an end to the bloodletting test for Changelings. He knew the rest of his cell, and they wouldn’t waste time cutting open hands. He watched Dia, taking in her appearance and sizing her up.

“Commander Talon has seen me do it,” Mayoko said, eyeing the knife. She was somewhat put out by the apparent softening of the chain of command. She may not have been the most tactically savvy and she knew that, but she was still an officer. Any betazoid could have felt her mix of fear, indignation and sadness, but over and above what she obviously felt about the wreck of her ship in front of them, there was a much deeper form of the same. Heartbreak, on a level beyond that which one feels for a partner. “I will only do it again if he orders me to.”

“No, we’re done with that right now. She can either trust us or not. I don’t give a damn either way.” he swung the rifle over his shoulder using the makeshift sling and then lowered the hammer on his revolver. “Why are you out here?”

“I am out here because my shuttle was shot down. I was in Command of a Platoon and was being transferred out when I was shot down.” she paused for a second, “You?”

“Mayoko Takeuchi,” the Engineer finally introduced herself, “…USS Ravensbridge.” She didn’t need to say much else about that. “We are gathering parts for a mission to tap a Dominion-held Federation Comms relay. I know where to find the parts we need. I am… I was… the Weapons Engineer.” Her demeanor had started a little accusatory, the idea of people wanting her to shed more blood was abhorrent to Mayoko. She had already seen a lot more of her own blood than she wanted to. But as she corrected herself to the past tense the hostility faded into sadness. Mayoko pulled her socks up mentally. She couldn’t afford to be this emotional on a mission.

She looked at the young woman, reminded her a lot of herself, “Well, I suggest we get the hell off this planet, ASAP.” Looking at the ship, she couldn’t make heads or tails of the class or anything about the ship, “I suggest we go after the comms unit and use the command frequency, that way any ships in the area, or camps will be able to advise us on what’s going on. I am not too sure of what class this is, knowing that will be able to tell me the information I will need to know. What can you tell me?”

Milo cleared his throat,  “Just one problem… the whole damn sector is controlled by the Cardassian 12th Order and reinforced by their Dominion masters. We get off the planet and then what?  We are doing the Federation no favors getting vaporized in space. Here we can disrupt their operations and hopefully make retaking the planet easier.”

Mayoko looked between the two superior officers, gauging Imal’s response to what Milo had said.

“I… don’t like it,” she added after a moment, “it scares me to choose to stay here… but with respect ma’am I think Commander Talon is right. Ravensbridge was an Excelsior, refitted last four years ago, major refit nine years ago. She was pretty up-to-date, I’m fairly sure we’ll find what we need and more.”

“Alright, sorry, I didn’t see rank, I am just so used to taking charge, my mistake.” she said standing down. “I hadn’t realized it was so bad up there. I have been down on the planet for so long.”

The battered hull rose skyward, dominating the horizon like tritanium cliffs. Soil plowed up by the leading edges of the saucer had gathered in loose hills, spilling over and climbing up the hull, covering the dorsal section in black earth, grass, bushes, and toppled trees.

As the rag-tag team of Starfleeters approached, they worked their way along the edge, over the mound of soil, and scrambled over the loose dirt that shifted under their feet. They walked along the rippled and twisted hull plating of the Ravensbridge, heading towards the gaping trenches that once held escape pods.

Milo was breathing hard as they paused, looking down into the empty docking bay for an escape pod. He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the sweat that stung his eyes. Inside, they would be out of the sun, yet he hesitated.

Why? Was he worried about an ambush or attack? That seemed unlikely. This was essentially a gravesite for some of the crew, but it wouldn’t be the first time he had been part of salvaging a starship or dealing with dead bodies. He let out a long sigh. “Mayoko, take point. I’ll bring up the rear.”

“Y… Yes, sir,” the Ensign replied a little hesitantly. Mayoko couldn’t deny it made sense but that didn’t stop her from being somewhat apprehensive. The young engineer forced from her mind the possibility of what she might see inside. Baby steps. Her first job was to open the Hatch. Focus on that. She did so with obvious familiarity and after shining a light both ways down the corridor dropped down into the ship below with a light thud. The first thing she observed was the smell. She had caught a slight whiff before dropping down, but now it was there in force. It was horrible. Mayoko gagged and pulled her gold jersey up over her nose and mouth. It didn’t help.

Kannina went next. While she didn’t know the ship, she was small and fast when it counted. Phaser in hand she followed Mayoko. The anxiety from the group only served to heighten hers, and it make her look around as it her head was on a sswivel.

Milo was the last to drop in his eyes adjusting to the light. Or lack of rather. He sighed as the unpleasant smells his his nose.  He was regretting this already.