AT 005A - Rojar II R01 Detailed Survey

Posted on 10 Jun 2013 @ 11:55pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Petty Officer 1st Class James Watt & Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeroen Adlar & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark

3,224 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Rojar II R01 - Surface Continent
Timeline: MD 05 - 1400 hrs

[ON]

Gabriel Stark walked steadily at the front of the group, in front of the others as they walked, rifle firmly in hands as he looked around. He'd stay at the front and make sure they didn't run into anything. So far, the scans were clear of the biosignature, but he didn't entirely trust it. If the large, dangerous lifeform the CO was worried about was easy to pick up on scans, it wouldn't have been able to surprise the group it attacked. So he didn't trust the tricorder scans. He kept a keen look out, using his senses just as much, if not more. The path ahead was clear, although laced with pollen and a soft layer of something across the ground. It felt a bit like moss, but was more solid and and orangey rather than green. The smell was heady and musky, and he guessed it was the pollen. Even the air felt heavy and lazy against his skin. He could hear scurrying, but whatever caused it was small and low, dashing out of their way with little feet before they could even be seen.

Jeroen looked over at the other man, studying Stark for a moment before looking up, into the sky. It was...quite beautiful here. And the actual composition of the troposphere was also fascinating. To create it artifically would require far different instruments than what they had available within Starfleet. Equally, for it to have naturally developed in such a way was equally fascinating. How it affected the weather would be an interesting study...he wondered if he could perhaps get permission to send up something to take samples of the tropopause, to check the air pressure.

Lilou kept her phase rifle at the ready, bringing up the rear of the group. She didn't like the scuffling of unseen creatures, nor the give of the ground under their feet or the sense of being surrounded by too much green. Plants were overrated; they really were. A scrappy hiss jerked her around to look behind them, but there was nothing there. Nothing, but... "Would you look at that," she muttered. Their footprints were embedded in the soft orange they walked upon, glowing a strangely iridescent yellow where the boots had pressed. That meant... she looked around more seriously at the ground they walked on and suddenly began to notice narrow lines of a similar color about three feet apart. Something really tall with tiny feet or something that jumped? Spirits save her from unknown creatures on smelly planets. "Are you guys seeing this?"

Jeroen looked over, frowning as he slowly moved closer. He looked around, letting out a low whistle. "It..." he turned his head, to try and see. "I think that is whatever this planet has that resembles...some sort of monkey? I think?" he grimaced, shaking his head. "Must have strong legs or wings to be able to be that fast in this gravity."

"Great," Lilou mutter. "Just what we need. Space kangaroos." She looked to Jeroen, "We can make it to the caves, do some scans, see if we can't find something that you can use in your research. You need anything, you shout out; we're all down here so you can get what you need to pass on to the Planetary Sciences Division." She looked at the footprints again, suppressed a shudder, and looked ahead. The sooner they accomplished their task, the sooner she could get back to the ship where she belonged.

Jeroen looked at her, giving a small smile. "I'm afraid whatever we gather on our scanners would be brilliant...but I don't know much about caves and that sort. I...terraform planets. A geologists would do better with the rocks..." he gave her an apologetic smile at his lack of knowledge in that area.

How did someone terraform planets without knowing something about geological structures? Lilou wondered, but kept her mouth shut. Now wasn't the best time to get a lesson in what the hell it was all the scientists on board the Galileo actually did when they weren't accidentally screwing with EPS currents. "Right..." she said, hedging for time. "Wellll, is there something else you'd like to take a look at that might be useful to you - didja get a look at the topographical rendering of the area before we left the ship, have a list of things you need from the planet?"

"We could still take geological scans and send them back to the Galileo for our geologist to look into," Watt suggested as he walked up beside Peers. He cast her phase rifle a glance and pursed his lips. In this environment, he preferred not to be weighted down with a bulky rifle. Better to keep with a hand phaser like him. But maybe it was good to have several options in a firefight.

"Plus," Watt added, "I'm sure we'll find plenty between here and there. We can stop and smell the roses, so to speak."

"Or not," Lilou added with a twist of her brows. "The pollen might actually kill you if you inhale it directly. We don't know."

"Well, I wouldn't suggest we really smell them."

Lilou smirked behind her mask. "Uh huh," she chuckled. "Anyway. Unless you've got a particular need, Adlar, we'll keep on keepin' on. Just let us know if you need to stick your nose in something."

Adlar glanced at her before nodding weakly. "God knows it is big enough," he said quietly, arching an eyebrow. He knew he was unfortunate, being the one from the science department in the group, yet not being someone who usually dealt with the flora and fauna. He was more for...changing things. Finding the balance and urging the atmosphere to change its composition, to change what grew to substain a humanoid species living on the planet.

"Onward we go, then." Lilou asserted, and they continued on down the somewhat clear path through the jungle. Path. Why was there a path? She looked around, brows drawn together behind the clear mask. The ground beneath their feet was covered in the dense pollen, yes, but most of the greenery seemed to erupt on either side. Almost as though this were a space often used for travel. But there were no sapient life forms on this planet according to the scans. Right? So what- she bit her lip and took a few still image captures of the difference in growth levels between the path and the surrounding jungle. Then some of the change in the color of the pollen according to boot pressure and the space between the creatures' leaping footprints by comparison. Her camera was active at her temple, but extra information never hurt anyone so far as she knew. As she took the pictures, the furthest of the footprints began to recede back to the normal orange of the pollen, giving her an idea. Maybe it wasn't pressure after all...

Flipping a switch on her goggles, she altered the wavelength of her vision to radiant heat and noticed by switching back and forth, that the pollen was returning to normal at apparently the same rate as the heat transference ended. "Bloody hell," she muttered. "No wonder that thing ate Stone. The landscapes practically screaming our position and direction." Another reason to dislike planets. She cleared her throat. "There's a pretty good root system on the trees around here. Maybe we can try to keep off the cleared path and stick to the sides where our footprints would be less visible or covered by the greenery. Just for safety."

Stark nodded, heading off into the light cover at the side where he walked a little ahead of the others. Sounded good to him. Besides, it had to give them more to scan and take in, right? Being amongst more. He lifted the rifle when he heard a noise, but chuckled and relaxed after looking through the sights. "I think we were being followed," he said lightly, nodding to where a small, shin high animal dashed through low brushes to hide from them. A round, fat, fluffy body with two long, skinny legs and two 'arms' that seemed to be a combination between wings and arms with little claws of hands.

Jeroen looked at them with awe, tilting his head as he took a breath. It was cute...but then again, he hadn't seen any teeth yet, so it kept his opinions to himself.

Gabriel crouched down with a soft chuckle, tilting his head. He heard a near 'chookle' sound from it, and tried to imitate it, tutting at himself for the result. The creature didn't bolt though, just stood and watched, wobbling from skinny leg to skinny leg, its tiny head on the wide, round body flopping to the side. Gabriel carefully took his tricorder out, scanning in its direction, getting what readings he could from the nervous little fluff ball on legs before it could disappear off again.

"Unless you plan on keeping it as a pet, you might want to be careful," Watt said, his voice a mixture of levity and gravity. "You don't know what you might be encouraging it to so at the moment." He felt mildly useless at the moment, an engineer on a biology expediction.

"Just getting a scan on it," Gabriel said with a soft voice, trying not to scare the odd little creature off. "It can be logged with our findings," he chuckled before sliding the tricorder away and getting a hold of his rifle again. He started walking, taking his position back at the front and slightly ahead of the rest of the group to be between them and any danger that might present itself, but everything seemed to be peaceful enough so far.

The walk to the caves didn't take long, and Gabriel took a moment to catch his breath as they approached them, slowing to a natural stop just to watch them for a moment. The gravity difference was tiring on the body and he was grateful to take a moment just to wipe his brow and take in a deep breath. "It looks like it won't be a problem to get inside," he nodded to the rocks that led to the opening, but they were all low and there was nothing treacherous. He scanned the area and the opening of the cave, to make sure there was nothing waiting for them. He kept his wits about him all the same; you never knew, in a new environment, when something might take even the scanners by surprise. It was better to expect the unexpected.

Keeping his rifle in one hand and using the other to balanced, Gabriel wasted no more time in starting to head towards the large entrance of the cave, stepping up onto a large, flat rock before half hopping across to the next, picking his way across a rock at a time.

Jeroen looked around, taking readers as he moved. He was surprisingly steady when walking, having a good balance. He followed Gabriel's steps, his eyes taking it all in as well.

The coolness of the sudden shade and dark that the opening of the cave offered made Gabriel let out a breath of relief. He switched on the torch that was strapped to his wrist, shining it around the inside of the large, gaping mouth of the cave. He watched with wide eyes as the inside walls of the cave glittered and glimmered at the light cast on them, shining with near jewel like shimmering.

Jeroen looked around, smiling as he moved to touch the cave wall. "Bioluminescence..." he said with awe, kneeling to scrape off a sample. "Looks like it is microorganisms feeding off the moisture, if I was going to venture into a biological guess..." he knew he could be wrong, but the readings suggested it was microorganisms. However, if it was feeding off the moisture or a part of it was more a rough guess.

"It looks like a diamond cave," Gabriel laughed with disbelief, looking around in awe. "Let's spend our holidays here."

Jeroen grinned at the words, nodding. "Enjoying the lovely shiny walls..."

Gabriel remained still in the cave opening long enough for them to get their scans of the materials, content just to watch with a small smile. It was truly beautiful. He finally motioned for them to go on deeper, leading them onwards, his torch shining down the tunnel. He stopped after a few minutes, checking the readout clipped to the side of his rifle. "We have company," he said softly. "Not what attacked the other group though. It's coming up as smaller too. About - a half metre tall."

Jeroen looked at him, taking a deeper breath. "We should approach with caution. If it lives in this cave, it might be something that feeds off the natural growths here. Hopefully a vegetarian..." he winked to Gabriel.

Gabriel moved carefully forward, his rifle lifted as he walked quietly further ahead of the group. He let out a long, shaking breath at what he saw, his eyes wide as his torchlight lit close to the creature. It wasn't on the ground, but instead hovering above it. Long, silk like wings seemed iridescent in the light, almost shining like glass with gleems of different colours playing across the fluttering wings. The body was slender, with no legs to be seen, about half a metre long, but the wings were longer and the span wider. It was attracted to the glittering walls, fluttering close, the tip of the body touching it every few moments, as if it were feeding off the crystal shining walls of the cave.

Jeroen watched with awe, moving forward as he let out a breath. It was fascinating. In its way, it was beautiful. Unfortunately, it was also what caused the next action. Jeroen took a step forward, his foot sliding against some of the green algae and with it, gravity did the rest. For a brief moment, he felt as if he was hanging in the air...and then he crashed down, flat on his stomach, his hands taking the brunt of the fall. "Holy..." he groaned, looking up. The creature had paused for a moment, before going back to its feeding. So not even the wild life was impressed. "Next time, I'm staying on the ship..." he muttered as he pushed himself to stand...and found his uniform having acquired various patches of green glowing gunk.

"Are you alright?" Gabriel asked with alarm, moving quickly to help him. He started feeling over him, as if to check for himself, his breath in his throat.

Jeroen groaned, nodding as he watched him. "Yes...wounded pride, but I'm okay..."

With the relief of knowing that Jeroen was okay, Gabriel couldn't hold back his smile and laugh at the fall, and also the green slime now covering him. "I'm sorry," he tried to excuse the unprofessional reaction, but couldn't help it.

Jeroen chuckled softly, trying to keep his breath even as he smiled gently. "Don't worry, it's sort of part of it..."

Seeing that the huge butterfly like creature was completely ignoring them in favour of it's sparkling meal, Gabriel moved to help him strip off his jacket. "Well at least you collected a good sample of this stuff on the floor," he said lightly, trying to see the good side. As he pulled the jacket down over the man's arm, he heard and saw the sharp reaction from the Scientist. Gabriel's smile faded and he watched Jeroen with worry. "You ~are~ hurt, you fibber," he frowned, reaching to touch the arm that had been the source of pain, testing it with his fingers.

He grimaced as he shook his head, pulling away. "It's nothing special..." he said softly. "Been hurt worse in my time. It's fine, really..."

"Rubbish," Gabriel frowned deeply, slinging his rifle onto his back. He got the jacket completely off of him, folding it carefully before reaching into Jeroen's dropped bag to pull out a sleeve he could seal it into. Slotting it into the science bag, he got his tricorder out and scanned the arm. Gabriel grimaced and shook his head. "You need to get back to Sickbay," he shook his head with a frown before shrugging. "I have no clue how to fix bodies."

"It's not going to kill me. I'll beam back with the rest of you," Jeroen said and smiled gently to him. "It's okay, Stark."

"I think we should be getting back anyway," Gabriel shook his head with a frown. "I think we've been pushing our luck long enough. You're injured, you need to go back to the ship, the team is too small to continue with the loss of a member. I'll get the samples of the walls and scan our butterfly friend and we can get out of here. We've got some good finds to be going on with."

Jeroen nodded and let out a breath, his eyes gentle. "I think that's a good idea. Let's get out of here and get back to the Galileo."

Gabriel nodded, reaching for the bag. "One moment," he promised, taking out one of the small pots and moving to the wall. He scraped some of the sparkling stuff of the cold cavewall before sealing it into the pot and sliding it back into the science bag. He moved back to Jeroen, gripping the man's shoulder firmly as if to steady him with his injury, tapping his badge. "Stark to Commander Holliday and Captain Saalm," he paused a moment, as he always did on instinct, as if it would take the computer a moment to work it out, not that it did. "We have some scans and samples of the local fauna. Some pretty unusual animals actually, and we've even got some readings from a cave. Petty Officer Adlar has been injured though. Nothing life threatening, but we don't have a medic on our team. Request permission to return?" He wasn't exactly used to reporting in to superiours so far up the chain of command, but he wanted to get the ball rolling for getting Jeroen seen by someone while the rest of the small team finished up the samples and scans.

On the bridge of Galileo, Lirha grimaced at the mention of yet another injured crew member. The occasional bumps and scrapes were bound to happen with so many away teams scouring different planets and satellites for clues and information, but even still...

"Acknowledged, Mister Stark. I will notify sickbay of your status and have a medical team standing by upon your return." the captain replied over the comm for her XO to hear as well. "Stand by for transport. Saalm out."

"Good job Away Team - see you at home." Holliday replied, unable to add any further sentiment to that of his captain.

OFF:

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

PO2 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
(PNPC: Lt. JG Scarlet Blake)

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeroen Adlar
Science
USS Galileo
(PNPC: Lt. JG Aria Rice)

PO3 James "Striker" Watt
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
played by Psylus Anon

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

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