AT - R02 General Survey (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 17 Apr 2013 @ 3:03pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Amril & Crewman Indri Chara & Petty Officer 1st Class Camibree Christoph & Justin Baker & Petty Officer 2nd Class Lorenzo Donati

3,124 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Rojar II R02 - Metropolis Ruins
Timeline: MD 05 - 1500 hrs

[ON]

The last three hours had been hectic for the captain, and she had been spending most of her time running back and forth between the bridge and Galileo's transporter rooms while she received status updates from already-deployed away teams while also overseeing the departure of each new away team as it became necessary. The first giant Class M moon they had discovered, R1, was apparently flourishing with life and appeared to be an ideal world to colonize, but unfortunately Lirha's thoughts were now preoccupied with the second moon, R2, and its seemingly troubled history. Upon first glance, R2 appeared to have once been bristling with life similar to its sister planet, but all evidence pointed towards a catastrophic event which had destroyed its former-inhabitants. And that terrible event appeared to be war. Possibly with the Borg, nonetheless.

The doors to the transporter room swished open and Lirha quickly stepped inside then moved over towards the operations console. With a quick tap on her commbadge, she summoned the away team she and her XO had personally picked for the survey mission. "Saalm to Away Team Six, please report to Transporter Room One for departure." she said, then clasped her green hands behind her back and waited for the various personnel to assemble.

Chara entered the room first, dressed in the bulky, cumbersome armor that Stone had mandated for all security personnel during away teams. "Stone," she answered Lirha's unspoken question flatly before she even knew the Orion would ask it. How could she not? Chara looked like a floating piñata. Did Stone even have the authority to change the away team uniform? She grumped to herself, but wisely kept quiet.

Whistling softly, Justin's attention was diverted to the satchel slung over his shoulder as he sorted through the equipment it contained to ensure that he had everything that he needed for the terrain they were headed for.

Looking up as he stepped through the doors, he did a slight double take as he looked at the people already gathered. "Well now ladies, not that I'm going to complain about being privileged to be in your beautiful company but... is this all we've got for this trip?"

"Sir," Chara ducked her head at the reporter respectfully and held her hands behind her back as she stepped up onto the transporter pad. "We're waiting on Commander Coleman, and Petty Officer Christoph. For right now we're just surveying the planet itself, making sure everything's good to go before we send down teams," she explained gruffly.

The doors then opened and Petty Officer Christoph entered the transporter room. She also wore one of the Hazard Suits that Lt. Stone wanted the security to wear. Although, she also carried on her back a hard-shelled case like back pack. She nodded to the officers and stood over next to Chara. "I'm afraid this thing is going to ride up in the wrong places."

"Tell me about it," Chara muttered.

Lieutenant Amril was the next to enter the room. He was smiling, as usual and had his pack ready to go. "Ah, captain," he said brightly, making his way over to her, "I did not realize you were joining us, I thought Commander Coleman was leading the away team?

Lirha shook her head, although she secretly wished that she was able to participate in the away team. Unfortunately, Starfleet protocol dictated that she must remain on board Galileo to supervise her vessel and monitor the expedition teams. "Yes, Commander Coleman is indeed the team leader. I am simply here to see you all off...safe and sound." she answered with a smile at the purple-eyed Vorta.

"Ah, of course," the vorta said with a nod of his head, "that is an excellent idea, very considerate of you, captain. I'm quite excited to be going on an away mission for the first time. Would you like me to bring you back a... ah, souvenir, I believe it is called? Something from the planet since you cannot go yourself?"

"Well... yes, actually." Lirha said with a soft laugh after only a brief moment of thought. It was quite a generous offer, and one which she was happy to accept. "As long as it passes through the decontamination scanners, that is. Thank you, lieutenant." she happily added with an appreciative glint in her green eyes.

"I shall find something uncontaminated and interesting for you, Captain." Giving her a final nod, he moved away and stood next to the transporter pad, waiting for everyone to arrive.

Coleman arrived in the Transporter room, placing her phaser in her holster. She looked up at Chara and Christoph and chuckled, "No...no...don't tell me, Stone's design?" she asked.

Chara resisted the urge to gripe as she tugged on her sleeves. "Yes, sir."

Christoph added, "I'm not sure if comfort was top on his list, especially for women, if ya know what I mean."

Petty Officer Donati arrived with a heavy pack from which hung several additional instruments and tools. He had traded out his Starfleet duty uniform for a standard-issue Starfleet away team work uniform, its grey color marked with a stripe of science blue. The burly man had a bright, determined look in his grey eyes and it seemed unlikely he would have trouble carrying his equipment; his build and sturdiness suggested he was used to these excursions. It also seemed unlikely he was only packed for a general survey; he looked like he was packed for a one-man archaeological excavation. He nodded to the others and, without a word, took his place on the transporter pad.

Christoph followed and walked up and stood on one of the rear transport pads. She tried to re-adjust her suit a little more. She thought it might be the additional weight of the pack throwing the comfort of the suit off.

While Lirha waited for the rest of the team to get on the transporter pad, she moved behind the transporter console and brought the system online, then input a set of coordinates on the planet's surface which she had picked out as being relatively safe from any nearby decrepit structures.

Sending a slight wink in Donati's direction, Justin moved up onto one of the remaining spots as he tucked his satchel in close to his body. "Well now...I must say that I'm looking forward to this now. Whatever we find will never outshine all of you lovely ladies."

"Good luck and stay safe. Thirty minute check-ins, please." she said to Coleman, then gave her a final small smile before beginning the transporter sequence. The pad's lights brightened and the away team quickly dissolved into a sprinkling wash of blue and white particles, and then they were gone.

On the surface of the moon, the away team suddenly materialized several kilometers from what appeared to have once been a large metropolis. Unfortunately, the only things which remained were a war-torn collection of ruined buildings and infrastructure. The sky was very overcast and possessed a dull yellow color to it, further adding to the disturbing nature of the scene around them. Gravity was a little higher than normal, about 1.3Gs, but well within the tolerance for humanoid species. Plant life was sparse yet still present, and a few stray animals ran startled for cover when the away team suddenly arrived.

Chara immediately slouched as they materialized onto the planet's service. The higher gravity did not help with the armor. She had a firm grip on her phaser but so far nothing was out of place. There were giant, half-sunken columns of rotting, twisted metal slowly sinking into the earth, covered in moss and dirt. Chara took a deep breath, inhaling the alien atmosphere. Hearing about the attack and seeing it for herself were very different things. To see the remains of an entire civilization, decimated. Once this place had thrived, but now... she grimaced and wiped the dazed look off her face. No time for that. She pulled her tricorder out and began scanning for any activity, most prominently if there were any animals to be wary of.

Christoph had tricorder in hand scanning before anyone could move. She found lifesigns for small animals on the ground and in the air, but no apparent threats from nature. A search for hazardous chemical scents or radiation came back negative. She glanced at Chara and reported, "Location appears to be secure, Sir."

Coleman frowned seeing the destruction and her mind instantly thought of her home. "So this is what El-Auria will be like..." she thought to herself shaking her head. She pulled her tricorder out and scanned the area. "Alright, I don't want anyone wondering out on their own... I suggest we split up into pairs. Keep an open comm link."

"Yessir, I'm not detecting any predators or specific dangers so far," Chara said, lightly toeing the edge of her clunky combat boot into the ground in front of her. It gave way. Her feet were slower, sluggish. She had a sneaking suspicion she wasn't going to last very long in the heavy armor. If the Borg showed up for a reunion, she was going to be toast.

"Sir," Petty Officer Donati was the first to step out of the initial circle of transportees, an eager look in his eyes, "I'd like to request detailed surface scans from the Galileo to find a likely ruins site that is close enough to visit now... we could learn so much." The man was quite obviously excited.

Evelyn looked at Donati and smirked, "Excellent idea. Proceed." She looked over at the other two officers in the bulky uniforms. "Alright question, underneath all of that, are you wearing your traditional uniform or not?"

Camibree looked at her fellow security person Chara and back to the Commander. Cami was very hot and had hope in her eye.

"Essentially," Chara nodded. "It's missing the outer jacket, snags." She sounded just a tad hopeful. Maybe Coleman was taking mercy on her poor, weighted-down soul.

"Well then take them off. If you can barely lift your own arms, what good is it?" Evelyn frowned shaking her head.

Christoph felt very relieved and looked to Chara.

Chara sagged in relief and slowly began to pull off her gloves, detaching the metallic forearms and letting them fall. The rest of the uniform was operated by release locks, which she wasted no time activating. Once the entire exo-frame was shed she stood up straighter and stretched her limbs. Much better. She knelt down and pilfered her phaser and tricorder from the pile of combat armor. "So what's our teams looking like?" she asked the gathered group.

Camibree followed suit, and shucked off her Hazard Suit rather quickly, as well. She piled it up and then put back on the security backpack, phaser in the side pouch and held the phaser rifle. "Ah, you have no idea how good that feels."

Watching as the group stripped away their layers, Justin extracted REMO and his own eye piece from his bag before setting up the equipment. He couldn't help but smile at the little robots struggle to hover upwards before it readjusted to compensate for the heavier gravity.

Eve turned to address Chara, "Well I want all of us to visit one of the ruins Officer Donati is excited about, and we'll split up once we arrive." She stretched her shoulders, feeling the extra pull of the planet's gravity. "Most likely two groups. Amril, Chara, and Donati. Christoph will be with me, and as for you Mr. Baker, you can decide which team you'd want to follow."

"Well now..." Smorking in Eve's direction, Justin thoughtfully tilted his head to the side. "...I'd only be fair if I join yourself and Christoph, in order to keep the teams even."

Christoph nodded agreement to the idea. She looked over to Chara, "You wanna take point on the way there?"

"Yessir." She pulled the green charge bar of her phaser up with a finger and kept it in the low-ready position, stepping out in front of them all.

"I've got three likely sites," Donati announced, "There's some kind of outpost, it looks like a military installment, only half a kilometer away. But I'd rather go to the site southeast of hear over a river. Two point five kilometers, but it's a large city. The third is over rocky terrain nearly five kilometers south, a single large structure, it looks like; I have no idea what it could be."

"Only one way to find out," Chara said.

"The city will have the most potential to examine their culture and check for surviving records," Donati objected, "the other structure can be examined later, if there is time."

"Alright. Let's do it," Chara agreed.

Cami just breathed and waited. She knew all this stuff about investigating was important, but not really her cup of tea. She just needed to make sure everyone got there safe. And in the current state of things being overgrown, it might be a touch difficult. With Chara in the lead, She decided to take up the rear position.

Donati glanced down at his tricorder and pointed to a treeline. "That way," he said before glancing at Coleman, waiting for her orders. "Sir?"

Coleman smirked, "Lets go. We can split up at the city."

"Yessir." Chara checked to make sure everyone was following, adjusted her grip on her phaser and began to move out through the dense brush. She supposed the abandoned civilization didn't believe in roads. The forests were littered with fallen trees, decayed, scraggly foliage, and charred scrap metal. The greenery had been slowly eating through the remains of this planet for centuries, incorporating vehicles, buildings, signs, towers, and everything else that the Borg left behind. Chara stopped their journey and held a hand out as she heard the sound of branches breaking beneath feet. She held her phaser low, but prepared. A small alien creature poked its head out from behind a conglomerated, fused bit of steel and concrete and jerked its head up to meet the team. Chara tilted her head at it. It was blue and brown with white spots and completely pointed hoofs in clusters of four. She thought they looked like tiny ballerina feet. Before anyone got a chance to do more than look at it, it galloped away, startled by the team's presence. Another huge sphere of metal greeted them as they made their way toward the city lines, half-buried in the sodden, damp ground. Chara eyed it. It must have been at least twenty meters high. A fallen part of some huge, sprawling and elaborate complex no doubt. The rest of the city was in a similar state as they approached, alone among the wreckage. Chernobyl after the blast, the Forge decimated, the Eastern Coalition struggling after war. This place was among the thousands in history that had seen the ravages of decimation, but all that remained was an empty echo of suffering. Only ghosts lived there now. The ground was dirt and dust, grass laid flat. It resembled a city, as they approached the interior. Buildings that could have been homes, stores, factories. They were crushed, caved in, hollowed out. Half-built monuments, obelisks and statues crumbling. Monolithic and vast. The earth slowly reclaimed them, Mother Nature's embrace. Everything had its cycle. It would be torn down and someday the planet would even be lush again. Whoever lived here, they were a loss to the universe. Chara felt vastly small in comparison to the gigantic, enormous frames littered all around them.

Cami brought up the rear of the procession. If there were any animals to look at, the others had scared them away by the time she got there. However, the insects flitting about were becoming more and more annoying as they went further toward the city. She had already put away the tricorder so she could shoo the varmints away from her head.

Evelyn's commbadge chirped and suddenly Lirha's voice sounded across the channel. "Saalm to Coleman, what is your status?" the captain inquired, wondering what type of progress the away team had made so far.

Coleman tapped her commbadge, "Coleman here, we're all honkey-dory here Captain. Approaching some ruins now. Gravity is a bit heavier than we're used to, I recommend packing light."

"Acknowledged." came Lirha's curt reply a few seconds later. "I will inform the next away team. In the meantime...be careful. Many of those structures are no doubt unstable."

"Understand, Ma'am. Coleman out."

Walking by Coleman's side Justin had tuned out the conversation between her and the Captain as his focus was on the the feedback which REMO was giving him of the sheer beauty of the ancient landscape. As he slipped off his headband, he handed it out to the second officer. "Fancy a closer look before we even get there?

Evelyn looked over at Justin and smirked, "Sure," she replied taking the headband from him, and placing it on herself. She looked through he ocular device and saw the REMO feed, seeing the city ruin from a higher angle. "Wow...."

Christoph noticed that the survey team was bunching up again. She noticed that Comander Coleman was wearing the viewlink for the arial REMO. She thought, That little device could come in very handing in a Tactical sittuation on the ground. I should check into getting one of those when we get back to the ship.

Donati had no patience for officers and their little aerial tours. The real thing was just up ahead. "We should be able to see the city once we reach the top of the ridge over there," he said insistently, gesturing towards the location in question and then making his way towards it.

Christoph agreed with Donati, but held her ground and tongue, and waited for all of the away team to move up so to secure their rear.

Coleman pulled the device off her head, "Lets continue to move people," she replied as they walked up to the ridge looking down at the city. She turned over to Donati, "Good choice."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Evelyn Coleman
Chief Intelligence Officer/2XO
USS Galileo

LT Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

CN Indri Chara
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Liyar

PO2 Camibree Christoph
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Theron Rhodes

PO2 Lorenzo Donati
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Amril

Justin Baker
Cameraman
Federation News Network
NPC'd by Pola Ni Dhuinn

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