Wave One

Posted on Mon Jun 8th, 2026 @ 1:51pm by Lieutenant Commander Victoria Aries & Penelope Haskell

1,025 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Hand That Rocks The Babe
Location: Shuttle 'Astrid'

Victoria glanced around the shuttle's cargo hold where she saw with four others, three of them in the same type of containment suit that she herself wore. They were her engineers, after all, one of her subdepartment heads along with two of the best construction types that were aboard Dreadnought. In the dozens of other shuttles that were on their way down were scores of others, in fact fifteen percent of her department was on the way to the surface to help build in a day what could only be called a city. Most of them would be screened and sent back to the ship after they were done, but Victoria planned on staying for the duration. She remembered telling this to Ferrand the previous evening and he'd barely let go of her until that morning in response.

This was the front lines of the battle with whatever pandemic was affecting the surface, not the usual dynamic between the two of them. He was supposed to be the one taking the life and death risks, not her, or so he had said. She'd countered by telling him that she'd be in a containment suit, so she would be as safe as it was possible to be on the planet. So she hoped.

Of course, then there was that fifth person on the shuttle and Victoria shook her unhelmeted head at the woman in an outfit that was completely unsuited for the occasion. Sure, she was wearing purple 'scrubs', but the loose sleeves and pant legs and neckline would do nothing to keep anything out and the mask that dangled around her neck didn't have the full features of the helmet that Victoria would be putting on before they even thought of cracking the hatch.

"Penelope, I think you're crazy. It's not too late to hit the cockpit and go back up to the ship." Victoria finally offered, "We don't know how transmissible this is and we know it's deadly."

The pretty woman gave Victoria a smile that was warm and reassuring, "This is what I do, Victoria, yes, it's dangerous and I accept it, but I'm the woman that gets the word out, the truth out. If I go down there all wrapped up like you, no one will talk to me. The docs gave me something to boost my immune system, but I'll feel sick as a dog in a few days with all the boosters I'll be getting. But that's fine."

Victoria shook her head slowly, "I'm trying to decide if you're being brave or stupid. What does Wolfe think about it?"

"Wolfe?" Penny tossed a thumb over a shoulder, "I think he's being deployed on one of the other shuttles, perimeter security. He's going to be much safer than I will be, but I'd call what I'm doing stupidity, I just feel I have to do it. I'll be as careful as I can be."

"Five minutes to touchdown, Commander." One of the pilots said through the hatch to the cockpit, "We're sealing up here. We'll head back to the ship for a reload after you're clear, good luck."

"Helmets on." Victoria ordered her engineers as she gave Penny one more questioning look, but all the reporter did was fasten her mask over her face, the opaqueness of it making the engineer worry about the younger woman's safety even more.

The shuttle landed gently, the rear hatch opening the moment that the skids hit the ground and the engineers got busy unloading the grav-plated pallets and getting them into the central staging area as the reporter hefted her oversized purse that contained all the tools of her trade and trotted off towards a group of aircars that had already started to gather. No time to get started than right now.

Victoria shook her head at the reporter, giving her a whispered blessing for luck, then turning to the job at hand, "All right, let's start getting the prefabs up and deployed. West wall, right here," She gestured a straight line from the point she was at and to the sides, "This is Triage One, people, move it!"

***

Penelope didn't pay attention to the engineers behind her as she pulled out one drone and activated it, tossing it into the air in 'over the shoulder' mode, making her way over to the small crowd of people that was just starting to gather to watch these outsiders starting to set up what could only be a building. A handful of people started towards her and Penelope almost stopped, slowing briefly before forging on. "Hello!" she raised a hand, "I'm Penelope Haskell, FNS-"

"What are you doing here?"

"Are you here to save us?"

"My son is really sick, can you help?"

The questions came at her in rapid fire and Penny realized she may need to answer questions before she could ask any of her own. "Let me start over," She put on a bright smile, the one anyone who watched her would recognize, "We came down from the USS Dreadnought, which is in orbit and we are here to help, but you'll need to be a bit patient. As you can see," She gestured to the field where additional shuttles had landed, unloaded and taken off to clear the space for more, "The ship's crew is setting up a new hospital facility, but it's going to take a little time for them to do it."

One person, supporting another, began to brush past her, but Penelope reached out to stop them, "There's no one there to help you yet, the doctors and nurses will be here shortly, but they need to set up safe facilities first." She tried to be soothing with her voice, but it did little good, "Please, have patience." She guided the pair back towards the group, "In the meantime, I'll try to answer any questions you have that I can help with. You have my word, after all, we at the Federation News Service are here to tell you the truth."

Mission Post By:

Lt. Commander Victoria Aries
Chief Engineer

and

Penelope Haskell
Reporter, Federation News Service

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