Lost in Translation

Posted on Sunday October 5th, 2025 @ 1:46pm by Commander Cael Maz

734 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Chapter 1: Into the Unknown
Location: Dava 4
Timeline: 241210.04

"Get the fuck in there," Lorenzo said to Cael, having tossed in a few things, including a phaser, a tricorder, a few emergency rations, and that was about it.

"Did you see their heads!? What the fuck happened to their heads?!" Cael said, pointing to the bodies that lay nearby. The ship was riddled with blood from most of the crew's heads exploding. Whatever was dragging them down to the surface did not get the entry right, and the hull was tearing apart. No one, save for Lorenzo and Cael, had managed to make it to the tiny escape pods meant for two. He wiped the blood from the corner of his face as he climbed into the pod, strapping himself in as he sat down.

A second or two later, an explosion from one of the consoles behind Lorenzo pushed a force of air in and then began to suck out as it ruptured the hull. Before Lorenzo could climb in, he was sucked out of the hatch with a scared look on his face. In the fraction of a second it took him to realize what was going to happen, he slammed his hand on the emergency launch button, sealing the hatch to the escape pod and shooting it out of the ship.

In space, there is no air and thus no way for sound to carry. Cael's face in the life pod could speak volumes if one could see it. All the hopes and dreams caught in a blurry mess as the pod began to fly past the fighters and toward the ocean part of the planet. All the dreams of finding a new home for everyone, free from the Borg and what the GA have become, in tatters. He did what he could do. Ride the waves of grief and the atmosphere as the pod began to descend.

As the pod breached the atmosphere, it began its descent using thrusters as it actively scanned for the nearest landmass or nearby features. As scanned, it found something close: a weather-torn facility. The escape pod adjusted itself to the proper orientation and then touched down in the water, not far from the facility. The airbags began to swell from the increased air that was being pumped into them, allowing the pod to float rather than sink.

[Second Escpae Pod]

Chaos, pure chaos, yeah, that's what this was, just pure chaos. Not even Peacekeeper training could prepare anyone for what was happening. The last thing she remembered was being in her bunk, and now she was in it, not in a Marauder or a Prowler, but in an escape pod. "....an escape pod," she said out loud as she bounced around and soared through the atmosphere.

The corporate scientist groaned as she regained consciousness, or did she actually lose it, "....lab explosion, no, it couldn't have been an explosion, or or I wouldn't be here," the doctor muttered as neither lady realized that there was someone else in the pod, and the good doctor still had no idea she was not in her lab anymore.

The pod continued to do what pods do, which was to fall, and not fall gracefully. The maneuvering thrusters did their job, keeping the pod upright and slowing it down so that it didn't plow into the ground.

{Wait, this isn't my lab,} a thought quickly entered her mind, which brought another thought, {if I am not in my lab, where am I,} she thought as she finally looked around and spotted the other women, "w who who are you," she said, not even realizing that this person may not understand.

It was gibberish; she was hearing gibberish, "what, I don't know what you are saying," and just like the doctor, she didn't realize that what she just said was also gibberish to her.

The pod hull was now heating up as it continued to pass through the atmosphere, flames starting to lick the hull, as the pod just kept falling.

The duo wasn't so lucky with the pod as it was heading straight for the jungle; the only good thing that happened was something so minuscule, and that was the universal translator activating, albeit as a neural link. But, before they could speak again, the pod plowed into the ground hard, a lot harder than it should have, as one of the thrusters failed to fire up.

 

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