Mines of the Lost, Part 2

Posted on 22 Aug 2026 @ 2:57am by Lieutenant Ryan Collingway
Edited on on 22 Aug 2026 @ 5:12pm

1,254 words; about a 6 minute read

///Unknown planet///
///Director's Office///

Director Hallsworth had excused himself for a moment. Both Ryan and Seth were waiting in his office, which was overlooking the main cavern. The area below was full of large machinery and a conveyor belt. Seth glanced at him in annoyance as Ryan sat slouched in the chair.

"You're being a brat."

"I'm just managing his expectations," Ryan said. He sighed. "Come on, Seth. The guy is a snake. You and I both know it. It's the same type of person we have been running into on every planet for the last three months."

"This isn't about him. It is supposed to get you excited about joining your dad's company," Seth pointed out.

"Well, to be honest, I'm not," Ryan said, straightening up. "None of it feels...I dunno, meaningful. I'm supposed to be excited about some planet mining stuff found in weapons development? Are they even being truthful about it being regulated by the Federation? Half the people my dad deals with are shady as hell, so why not this one?"

Seth folded his arms. "Okay, Ryan. So what *do* you want to do, if not this?"

Ryan frowned. "I'm not sure if anyone's ever asked me that."

There was a polite cough from the doorway. It was unclear what Director Hallsworth had overheard, but the same smile was still pasted on his lips. "Sorry about that. Ran into a technical problem. I wanted to show you something." He turned on the computer on his desk and showed it to Ryan. It was a sideshow of machinery. Improvements and upgrades that New Frontier had placed on existing models. "I've uploaded a copy to take with you, along with suggestions on how to make other improvements in the future. Assuming your father agrees to the investment."

Ryan studied the schematics, and tried to fight a wave of disgust. There were companies that invested in good quality infrastructure, and there were the cheap ones. All of stuff was cheap machinery, with NewFrontier technology retrofitted in certain areas. But Hallsworth wanted entirely new models. Costly.

Ryan didn't care. His dad could deal with that. "Yeah," he agreed. "I can do that-"

Suddenly, there was an explosion in the chamber below. The conveyor suddenly erupted in a cloud of smoke.

"Shit," the director said. "Stay here! I need to look into this!"

He left the office. Ryan and Seth both went to the window. They could see workers scrambling towards the machinery. "I don't think anyone's hurt," Ryan said.

"Yeah, well, that thing was handling Kemocite," Seth said. "You're heading back to the shuttle until I'm sure it's safe."

"I'm sure it's-"

"No arguing. Let's go." Seth pushed him out of the office and towards the path of the elevator. "Get topside. I'll see what's going on."

Ryan nodded as the elevator raised up. "Okay. Just be careful." Just as the elevator was about to reach the surface, it suddenly stopped. The lights flickered as the entire complex had a power surge.

Ryan frowned. He tried the first level button again. Nothing happened. "Okay. Crap machinery. Crap elevators," he said. He tried to open the panel with his bare hands, but he didn't have any tools. He tried all the buttons, without any luck.

Finally, on the fifth try, the button to level eight registered, and he descended down.

"At least I'm moving again."

The elevator stopped, and open. There was emergency lighting along the passageway. He didn't see anything, and had no idea where he was overall. The air smelled foul. He tried the elevator again, but it was dead. He needed to find another way out.

He coughed and reached for his pocket and grabbed his personal communicator. "Seth? Are you there?"

No response. There had to be a way out of here. He walked down the passageway, which branched off to the right. Then he saw a flash of something moving towards him. Green. Wearing leather armor. It was an Orion. A massively overweight one that slowly lumbered towards him, focusing on eating a piece of meat.

Ryan didn't think. He moved back and scampered into the left passageway. Then he crouched down and tried to make himself as small as possible.

The Orion didn't see him. He proceeded to walk towards the elevator. He probably heard the noise.

Ryan got up and quickly hurried down the tunnel.

Orions being here was never a good sign. He needed to get out of here.

The place was like a maze. Every tunnel twisted into another. He suddenly heard a high-pitched tapping just up ahead. A pickaxe hitting rocks. Miners! Maybe they can tell him where the exit is. He could see an Andorian working just ahead. His back was turned to him. "Excuse me," he said quietly. "Can you tell me where the exit is?"

The Andorian ignored him.

"Hey!" Ryan hissed. "I'm talking to you!"

The axe chisled against rock. Still not response. Ryan grabbed his shoulder to turn him around.

Then recoiled back in horror.

The Andorian was nothing more than skin and bones. His clothing was little more than rags, and his pale eyes were practically white. Looking at him, Ryan was almost sure for a moment that he was dead. "Are you okay?" Which was the dumbest thing he could have said, but it was all he could think of to say. He took the pickaxe, which wasn't difficult to do given the Andorian's strength. "I could get help."

The Andorian watched him impassively, then resumed going to the rock wall. He continued digging at the mineral deposit. This time with his bare hands.

Sickened, Ryan stepped away, dropping the pickaxe. There was a collar around the Andorian's neck. Even in the dim light he recognized the symbol on the collar.

NewFrontier technologies.

He left the passageway and continued down another branching path. Where was the exit?
There was a console nearby. Everything was in Orion, but he could live with that. His father had insisted on him learning the language. Ryan ran a scan of the level. Thirty-five miners..or prisoners. A mix of different races. Only one Orion, still near the elevator. Areas of the level were destroyed. Areas where the Kemocite had gone off.

Apparently the prisoners were expendable as well.

He found more. So much more. The prisoner manifest. The Andorian had been a Lieutenant whose vessel had been destroyed during a raider attack. There was a human whose ship had also been destroyed the same way. On and on it went. People presumed dead.

No one who would look for them, based on the information.

He found the exit, but he couldn't leave yet. He had to tell someone. But who? Certainly not his father. The level of his involvement already made him feel sick. What part did NewFrontiers have in this?

"Starfleet," he said to himself. They were the only people who would care. Who could do something. He instructed the computer to scan for any Starfleet ships within long-range communication transmission.

ONE STARFLEET SHIP DETECTED WITHIN RANGE.

He activated a priority channel to them. That would be difficult to do given how deep he was on a planet covered in rock. The computer confirmed as much.

PREPARING TRANSMISSION...10%. 25%.

"Come on, come on," Ryan said.

...45%.....50%...

TRANSMISSION JAMMED.

The console exploded with a shower of sparks from a phaser blast.

"Mister Collingway," Director Hallsworth said. "You seem to have gotten lost."

To be Concluded

Lieutenant Ryan Collingway
Acting Chief Engineer
USS Arawyn

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