Project Unity: Search and Recovery, Chapter Six

Chapter Six

As the effects of the transport wore off, the team had materialized less than a dozen meters from the crash site. The heavily damaged shuttle pod lay half buried in sand but was still recognizable. "That's her," Liam confirmed.

"What are those?" Lieutenant O'Neill asked, motioning toward a small field of square metallic objects. "Debris maybe?"

Liam jogged across the sand toward the pieces. "They're the shuttle's solar panels!" he shouted back. The security pair joined him and surveyed the carefully laid out field, it was obvious they hadn't fallen in perfect order by chance. "Or were anyway," Liam added, kneeling down beside one. Every panel had been punctured and sliced with weapons fire. He reached into his bag to pull out a tool. A few moments later, the panel in front of him lit up faintly, showing a stream of data on a small screen. With a quick glance at his own chron, he glanced up at the Lieutenant. "Thirty-seven hours, I'd say these were all shot at about a day and a half ago."

"Does that mean there's someone else on this planet?" Skylar asked, nervously looking across the vast swaths of desert that surrounded them.

"More likely one or more of those weapons platforms came by," O'Neill concluded, looking, instead, toward the sky and drawing his own firearm. "Why would they move them? Couldn't have been easy prying them off the hull of the pod."

Liam turned his attention skyward, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun. "Efficiency," he concluded. "The position of the pod wasn't ideal – considering this is only a little over half of one side of panels, they probably wanted to maximize the amount of energy they were pulling."

"Sounds like something Robert would do," Ben mused. "Come on, let's check out the shuttle."

"Funny. I was thinking it sounded like the Doc," Liam replied. Stepping carefully around the dead solar array, the trio made their way around the shuttle. Sand had blown in the open hatch, giving them a smooth ramp into the empty pod. "Well someone was here," he said, nudging the makeshift bed with his foot.

"Then where are they now?" Skylar asked, peering around the lieutenants timidly.

Lieutenant O'Neill said nothing as he pushed further into the small pod. Liam moved in the opposite direction, bee-lining for the computer console. "I've got some logs here," he called out, brushing the surface free of dust and sand. Without prompting, he started downloading them into a tablet to take back with them.

Ben, trailed by his trainee, knelt down to pick through the assortment of empty ration packs and the discarded medical kit. "A few days at most," he said, counting the packs again. "Assuming this is for both of them."

"I don't think it was sir," Skylar choked out, pointing toward the synthesizer's freezer component. Across the lid, in rushed, messy handwriting, were etched the words 'Here lies Captain Robert Hunt; Unity.' Tiny, dried bits of blood had fallen into the letters, as though the instrument used had cut the hands of the writer.

Liam came up behind them and sucked in a sharp breath as he read and reread the words.

Ben knelt beside the cooler and closed his eyes for a long moment of silence before hitting the release. Billowy gas filled the space for a moment before dissipating, giving them an unimpeded view of their captain. Slamming the lid shut, Ben looked over his shoulder toward Liam. "If I tag the whole freezer – can it be transported out of here?"

"No, it's bolted into the frame of shuttle. I could probably free it but – it would take time," the engineer said.

"O'Neill to Dareios, come in," Ben said, activating his comm link to the ship.

"Dareios here, go ahead lieutenant," replied Captain Kay. "Any luck down there?"

"We've found the pod. There's evidence that Doctor Ryan survived the crash and left the pod at some point. Can your scanners scan the surface for human life signs?" he asked as he opened the freezer component again to pin the tag to Captain Hunt's uniform.

There was a long moment of static before she replied, "we'll start the scan now, focusing on your general area. What about the captain?"

"Captain Hunt is dead," Ben replied somberly. "He's been stored in a freezer – I'm not sure for how long. Do you have some place to store his body so we can take him back to Unity?"

The line was dead silent for several minutes. "Please tag him and activate the tag Lieutenant," Fink said. "The captain will make sure his body is preserved appropriately."

"Roger that," Ben said, pressing the button on the tag and stepping back quickly. The transport activated almost immediately, whisking Captain Hunt away in a flash and shimmer of lights. "Any sign of our Doctor, Dareios?"

"Not yet," Fink replied. "Stand by."

"Two more platforms coming around!" Garren shouted over the line just as it was cut off.

"Lieutenant, there are still rations here – at least a few days worth. Why would she leave without necessary supplies?" Skylar asked, holding up a handful of packs for them to see.

Ben could only shrug, "I'm not sure. Hurley, anything in those logs that might tell us which direction to go?"

Liam was ashen faced as he turned toward them shaking his head. "She, she talks about hallucinations – something in the air. Maybe she didn't even realize she was leaving?"

"Or at least didn't expect to be gone for that long.. when was her last log entry?" O'Neill asked.

Liam scrolled through the text transcripts quickly until he came to the final entry. "One and a half days ago," he said, gulping as he turned to look out the window toward the damaged solar array she'd set up.

Skylar followed his gaze and gasped, "that's when..."

"Dareios to landing team, we're taking heavy fire up here and there's company coming! No sign of your doctor for at least a hundred kilometers in any direction. We need to get you out of there!"

"Freya mentions multiple times she broke her leg in the crash Lieutenant. No way she was going to walk more than a hundred kilometers in thirty-seven hours in her condition," Liam stated.

Ben nodded, but said nothing for a moment. "Did you get all the logs and crash data?" Liam nodded, getting to his feet and tucking the tablet into his bag. "Dareios, we're ready for transport," he said, as Liam and Skylar fell in beside him silently.

------

"Why are you doing this?" Doctor Azael asked. His hands were bound behind his back almost as soon as the landing party had transported away. All the weapons platforms had been called off, though occasionally Garren deployed a decoy to maintain the act.

"Well why does anyone collect on a bounty?" Kay asked, her feet up on her console as she waited for the Xinji retrieval squad to show up. "Money. Someone wants you down there badly – did you know there was a price on your head – from the Xinji of all people?"

Doctor Azael nodded, "I was aware, yes."

"Why would you settle on Ne'Vha then? That seems rather stupid on your part I have to say," she said with a chuckle. "All the better for me though. This'll be the fastest fifty thousand I've ever made."

"What about the team on the surface? Are you planning to leave them down there?"

Kay looked offended, "of course not! I'll return them safe and sound to their vessel if all goes well."

"And what will you tell them? When they come back and I'm not here?"

The captain merely shrugged, "I hadn't really thought about it much. Any ideas?"

Before Azael could respond, the comm link from the surface activated. He watched in horror as they promised to scan for Freya but made no actual attempt to do so, even grinning at one another as they pretended to press invisible controls. But all humor ceased as Lieutenant O'Neill announced Captain Hunt's death. In front of him, Kay slammed her fist into her console and jumped to her feet. As she rushed past him, Azael was certain she was crying. He stood by helplessly as Captain Hunt's body materialized on the transport pad and Garren loaded it onto a small anti-grav unit. He returned only a few minutes later – having turned his charge over to Captain Kay no doubt – and resumed his seat.

"The retrieval squad says they're in range," Fink whispered, glancing over at Azael anxiously.

"Impossible, they're on the other side of the planet. I can't even see them..." Garren protested. Fink shrugged and pointed at his screen where the communication had come in. As per usual, the Xinji kept their distance and relayed their messages via text.

"You should demand more," Azael offered, trying to delay the exchange. "Tell them 'the family is willing to pay a ransom of double,'" he added, imagining his brother's outrage at the thought.

"Shut up!" Garren scowled, jamming open a comm link to the hold. "Captain, the Xinji are within range to transport."

"They won't pay from this range, they're counting on you to be stupid and send me first. They can unleash the weapons platforms and blow you out of space without having to pay," Azael persisted, even after Kay returned to the forward compartment.

Though Garren ignored him, Azael could see he'd caught Fink's attention. "He says some family will pay a ransom worth more," he said, as Kay took her seat at the first station."Should we try for a higher bounty? They've sent another message, demanding that we transport Tierran Azael immediately."

"Demanding," Kay scoffed. "This is my negotiation – they have no place to make demands."

"There are two weapons platforms headed our way," Garren reported. "Should I deploy decoys?"

"Yes," Kay said as Azael shook his head and said, "it won't work..."

As he anticipated, the decoys flew right past the platforms and were ignored completely. "How did you know?" Garren demanded.

"Those two have been given specific orders – namely this ship. You've left them waiting too long. My people are not a patient sort," Azael offered with a grim smile.

"YOUR people?" Garren and Fink asked at once.

For her part, Captain Kay was not surprised by the revelation. "Open a link to the retrieval squad. Tell them we require half the bounty before transport and the other half after. And tell them to call off their dogs," she snapped.

"What's a dog?" Fink whispered, though no one responded.

"The weapons platforms have stopped their approach," Garren reported happily.

"Tell the team I offered myself as a prisoner – in your place," Azael suggested. "For your safe passage out of the system."

Kay nodded, "yes I think I will. Thanks for the suggestion doctor," she said, as a crate materialized on the transporter pad. She and Garren jumped up to move it aside. Peaking inside, she smiled triumphantly. "Up up Doc – it's your turn now," she said directing him toward the center of the pad. She slapped a transport tag on him and pushed the button to activate. "Fink, let them know he's ready for transport. Garren, stay on alert in case we need to make a quick escape."

Within seconds of relaying the message, Doctor Tierran Azael disappeared. True to their word, another crate materialized on the pad to complete the bounty. Garren jumped to his feet to pull the second crate away and nodded to Fink. "Dareios to landing team, we're taking heavy fire up here and there's company coming! No sign of your doctor for at least a hundred kilometers in any direction. We need to get you out of there!"

"Garren, stow those out of sight in the hold," Kay commanded as she triggered the release of a couple more decoy buoys. In the few minutes the team on the surface spent wrapping up their mission, Garren had tucked the crates full of gem stones into the corner of the hold and returned to the forward compartment in time for their return. "Strap in!" Kay shouted, barely giving them time to move before careening away from the planet.

The three bounced over each other, still suited up, until they could grab hold of a strap and buckle in. "Where's Doctor Azael?!" O'Neill called.

"Bit busy at the moment!" Kay shouted, making a sudden jerk as if evading a shot. "Asteroid field coming up, hang tight everyone."

"Weapons platforms have broken off pursuit," Garren said with a small, triumphant whoop. "We're clear of Xinji space. Setting return course to Ne'Vha now."

Kay allowed the ship to coast toward the asteroid field, knowing she had just a few minutes, before turning toward the returned trio. "Apparently Doctor Azael IS a Xinji – the only one to have ever left the system. He offered himself as their prisoner for our safe passage out of the system."

"Safe? Doesn't seem like they kept up their end of the deal!" Liam snapped.

"We're alive and out aren't we?" Garren growled. "They could have sent a whole volley of those platforms after us AND followed along with a squad of manned fighters. Evading a few of them is about as safe as it could be."

"Garren's right – though he could check his attitude," Kay growled. "It was the doctor's choice to stay behind. We were outnumbered by a dozen to one at least and were sure to be plastered across the surface of that planet ourselves if he hadn't." On cue, her console began beeping, effectively ending the conversation as she began to navigate through the asteroids.

Everyone watched in muted reflection as the ship threaded through the asteroids. Kay exercised more caution this time, giving each rock a wide berth, so the overall trip through took nearly an hour. As they watched the last of the asteroids pass by the side windows, O'Neill unstrapped his harness and got to his feet. "I need to contact Unity and inform them of the mission outcome."

"Of course," Captain Kay stood and rapped on Fink's console. "Fink, can you raise a link to Unity for the Lieutenant? You should let him know we ought to be there in about twenty-eight hours." Flipping the pilot controls over to Garren, she slipped past the Unity team into the back hold.

"Hmm? Oh sure, right-o," he said, sitting up straighter. "Coming up on the main screen."

As soon as the link had been established, Liam and Skylar took up positions behind O'Neill. "Commander," he said, as Meng's face filled the screen. "We are on our way home. While we successfully located the shuttle pod, we discovered that Captain Hunt perished during the crash and Doctor Ryan, presumably, died some days later. We have recovered the captain's body but the doctor was not in the shuttle." Before Meng could respond, Ben pushed on with his report. "From orbit, the Dareios scanned over one hundred kilometers in every direction surrounding the crash site for life signs and found none. Given her condition, it is highly unlikely she could have traveled farther than that."

"What condition?" Meng asked quietly.

O'Neill turned toward Liam, who stepped forward. "Recovered log entries from Fr.. Doctor Ryan, indicate that she had a severe abdominal wound and a broken leg from the initial crash. Her last entry was thirty-seven hours prior to our arrival and recorded in the shuttle."

"I'm sorry that we couldn't recover her body Commander. The Dareios was under fire from Xinji and we needed to retreat," O'Neill chimed in, wishing he could offer more. "According to Captain Kay, we will arrive in approximately twenty-eight hours."

"Understood," he murmured, struggling to keep his face stoic while his body trembled. "Anything else?"

"Doctor Azael, who confessed to being Xinji himself, offered himself as a prisoner in exchange for our safe passage. Captain Kay will have to brief you on the particulars – as I wasn't on board at the time," Ben added.

Although Meng was curious about this turn of events, he desperately wanted to end the conversation so he nodded. "I'll get both reports upon your return. Unity out."

Ben let out a long, slow breath and then turned toward the back hold. Liam and Skylar moved to follow obediently but he held up a hand to stop them. "I need... I need a moment. Robert Hunt was a friend." In the hold, as he'd expected, he found Kay leaning over the captain's body. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed and his minute steps were masked by the sound until he was right behind her. "He would have been proud of you."

Kay whipped around, her eyes wide and then started to swipe at the tears on her cheeks. "Excuse me?"

"Your father, Robert would have been proud of you Kieran," Ben said, stepping around to the other side of the body. On closer observation, Ben noted a nearly invisible cover across the whole platform, encasing Captain Hunt for preservation.

"How... I didn't think anyone recognized me?" Kay stammered. "You never said anything..."

"Not my secret, not my place unless it's mission critical," Ben said with a slight shrug. "I knew you looked familiar from the start but I couldn't place you."

"Then when?" she asked, stunned.

"When I watched you fly through those asteroids. You fly like your brother did – Darius was always pushing the edge. Of course then there's the name of your ship – close but not a dead give away," Ben said with an appreciative smile. "The real question is, why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I think I would have – if we'd found him alive," Kay said, laying a hand on the clear cover. "I may yet still I suppose. I thought, I thought Unity was behind me. And then you all showed up so I stayed away for weeks. I make runs to Ne'Vha all the time but you were always there and I wasn't ready for someone to recognize me."

"Fair enough," Ben said, adding his hand to the cover near hers. "I'm sorry we couldn't find him alive," he whispered.

New tears swelled in her eyes, "when Aryn called and told me it was Unity's captain – I wished that maybe he'd stepped down and retired. Just so it was someone else – anyone else. I never expected to see him again and then, for a moment, I imagined what it would be like to get a hug from my dad again."

With nothing more to say, Ben laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it a long squeeze before leaving her alone. He'd barely made it to the hatch before he heard the crying start anew.

------

Meng sat, gripping the arms of the center seat, for almost a half hour after the away team had reported in. The handful of people on the bridge at the time dissolved into nothingness to his mind. Some may have left and already told others but most stayed, looking to him for direction, waiting for his reaction. Finally, barely trusting his legs, Meng pushed to his feet and made eye contact with each person on the bridge. "Lieutenant Jamison."

"Sir?"

"Please inform the crew that they should expect a ship wide address shortly. Patch it through to all crew members, both on board and on the surface," Meng said. He closed his eyes and took several slow, steadying breaths. Even after receiving the signal from Jamison, he waited a few minutes in hopes that everyone would already be sitting down. With one final tug of his uniform, he nodded to Jamison. "My fellow crew mates, it is with a heavy heart that I must report the death of two of our own. The shuttle pod carrying Captain Robert Hunt and Doctor Freya Ryan to the Ulsyth Medical Station crashed on the Xinji planet Klext ten days ago. A rescue team, led by Lieutenant Benjamin O'Neill, was dispatched, however, there were no known survivors. Captain Hunt's body has, thankfully, been recovered and he is on his way home now. A memorial service will be planned and announced soon. All training schedules for the next forty-eight hours are canceled." Though the transmission ended, Meng couldn't bring himself to move, instead standing like a statue in the center of the bridge. "Lieutenant, issue the general recall. I want everyone back on board as soon as possible," he said finally, turning toward Jamison.

Meng retreated into Captain Hunt's office – the closest possible escape in which he could lock himself away. Instead of being a relief, he found the walls claustrophobic. "Arrrrgh!" He lunged at the desk, no longer able to control the build of emotion and started chucking the stack of tablets across the room. First one at a time, as they made a comforting CLANK, and then by the fistful, until the desk sat empty save the computer screen.

Defeated and spent, he dropped to the floor in a heap. And that's where he stayed.

End Chapter