First Contact (Part 2 of 4)

Posted on 01 Nov 2013 @ 1:00pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Commander Norvi Stace & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Ensign Natalie Chevalier & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley & Lieutenant JG Jacrux & Lieutenant Aria Rice

2,912 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: Setisar VI - Surface, Alien City
Timeline: MD 06 - 1115 hrs

Previously, on First Contact (Part 1)...

Slowest to move was Jac, though he was most reluctant to rid himself of his weapons, taking a long moment to place the phaser on top of his pile of clothes as somewhat of a warning to any who tried to sabotage the other item he would add to his pile. With a spasm-like twist of the prosthetic, Jac detached his right arm from his shoulder and placed it with his uniform. Some non-biological components still remained implanted into flesh and bone, but the aliens would have to deal with that part of Jac's anatomy. Jac hid his discomfort at adding to his own weaknesses, his remaining fist clenched tightly and absolutely refusing to hide or cover the port in his shoulder or the greenish scarring stretching from the shoulder and down his side and back, faded, but still present from the injuries too severe or old for Starfleet medicine to heal.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Once the entire away team had entered the fluorescent decontamination chamber, the wall which had previously opened to allow them entrance now shimmered and turned solid, sealing them all inside of the room. The floor began to glow brighter and brighter while casting its glow on each crew member, then a green criss-crossing pattern of laser-like lights darted out from the upper corners of the walls and began to move back and forth across the team's exposed bodies. The alien's soft voice once again sounded and echoed through the room. "Please remain still. The scan is harmless. You will not be injured."

"And you will know all our weakness as well," Allyndra thought to herself. She just kept her counsel though but her whole attitude was getting angrier by the moment. "At least they did not release poison gas........" she hoped.

Aria frowned as she looked around, her heart racing as her mind went to the darker past of ancient human history. She pushed it aside, taking a deep breath that raised her chest.

Theron looked about the group. He saw fear and uncertainty on many faces. He too had doubts that this was a good idea, but if he could focus on the situation he would be ready when action was called for.

After the scan was completed, all of the lights and beams suddenly cut out, leaving the away team in pitch darkness with no illumination. A very long moment passed then all of a sudden, the ceiling started to pulse with more bright blue colors. The cycle began to speed up faster and faster until finally the particles of light formed themselves together into a solid wide beam which covered the entire ceiling from corner to corner. Slowly, the silent beam which now resembled a force field began to descend from the top of the room towards the heads of the crew members, leaving no place for escape. "Please remain still." the alien repeated its command.

Norvi's only twitch was a quick glance up as she remained as still as possible, her green eyes trained onto the slow descending beam.

Scarlet's eyes narrowed slightly as she watched it. Despite herself, her breathing increased at the feeling of being trapped. She doubted they meant harm; they could have just destroyed them, after all. But her somewhat suspicious instinct kicked in of its own accord.

Allyndra closed her eyes as the beam started down. She did not want to know what would happen next and if she would ever open her eyes again. "Twins persevere us," She whispered.

Aria looked around quickly, but did not move. She just breathed harder, feeling light headed with it. Which did not exactly help the entire situation.

Theron's first reaction of the lowering field was to get closer to the floor. He was one of the taller in the room he would feel it first. He had to hold fast. The desire to run and fight was all in his mind, but he remained still.

Mor'an sensed the fear around her and pitied the races that could not push their fear away. She saw the beam descending and closed her eyes, unafraid.

More enclosed spaces did nothing for Jac's feelings of vulnerability. He shut his eyes tightly, wanting to pretend none of this scenario was happening, but his training forced his eyes open so he could watch for more incoming danger. He swallowed thickly, refusing to show any sign of weakness.

Delainey was unnerved too, and it was all she could do to keep breathing calmly. She tried to remind herself she had no evidence they were in danger and overreacting could be harmful to diplomatic relations. "We're all in this together," she offered reassuringly and loud enough to be heard. She was trying to ground herself emotionally as much as she was trying to offer encouragement to others.

Victoria held her breath and closed her eyes, a bit put off by the tiny room. Her hands balled up into tight fists, the only sign that she was less than comfortable; freaking out now would do none of them any good.

Descending slowly on the away team, the decontamination field reached the tops of their heads and swept down over their figures, encompassing all areas of their flesh until it reached the floor and disappeared into the tiles. Every strand of hair on every part of their bodies was calmly disintegrated by the field, and the outer-most layer of their skin was also removed in similar fashion. The sensation was not painful, and instead it produced a warm feeling as all of their hair was suddenly gone and their crusty, secretion-soaked stratum corneum was removed to reveal a fresh layer of sanitized skin. Strangely, the entire away team now resembled the bald and hairless alien hologram which had previously been seen on the bridge.

Theron felt a warm tingling on his head. As the field lowered, he closed his eyes tightly and held his breath as it passed down his face.

First, Norvi's wide, green eyes focused on the group around her as the bald, unfamiliar visage of the away team dawned on her like an afterthought. With no mirror about her, she just quietly closed her eyes as both hands slowly started to reach for her own egg-shaped head. Her slender fingers splayed, she blindly felt about the smooth top of her scalp and with one fell swoop, from forehead to the back of her neck, checked she looked the same as those about her. A small, solitary tear began to form at the corner of her eye as she felt the most vulnerable she ever had in all five lifetimes. She quickly wiped it away before anyone else could notice her weakness.

Scarlet watched the rest of the team with wide eyes. She, like Norvi, reached to feel her own head, her long, dark hair gone. Her jaw tightened, anger sparking in her. Regardless of their reasons, they had managed to render the team into a vulnerable state. She didn't appreciate this particular overture to peace. "I trust we have met all of your requirements now?" she said tightly to the voice, a not so subtle hint that she was losing patience.

Allyndra felt a burning sensation in her back. It was already itchy as new wings were developing under the surface and then there was pain. She gasped as the beam went over the area and it was several moments enduring the pain which slowly subsided before she heard the Commander say something.

"That hurt," She said outloud. It took a few more moments before she noted her hair on her head was missing. The beautiful patterns in the blue long gone now. It was her back though that caused her the most concern. It burned since the skin was now thinner over the redeveloping wings. The other thing that concerned her was her body was going to attempt to repair things as quickly as possible and that meant she would be much more hungrier than normal. "Great," she thought to herself, "just what I need. Hope they have good replicators."

Theron opened his eyes when he heard the doctor speak out about her pain. Even as the beam continued down he realized that everyone's hair was missing. He reached up and touched his head feeling the smoothness of his scalp. He closed his eyes in frustration. Being naked was understandable. Being bald was acceptable. But, he realized and looked down to watch the pubic hair disappear before his eyes. He closed his eyes in humiliation. On Tandar, boys were teased by other boys as a Sprig until the first of their hair of adolescence arrived. Once hair grew around their mainhood, they were then considered men. Any emotional strength he had seemed to wane from him. He thought, Will this challenge ever end?

Aria touched her head, her eyes wide as she swallowed. She felt over her face and down her body, the fear striking her. She looked around at the others...and bit her lip hard. She had once experimented, as a teenager, with a shaved head. It had made her look like an egg. And this...this was mad. She felt like a child now. Vulnerable. She looked over at Scarlet, studying her for a moment. Oddly enough, it didn't exactly look bad on her.

Victoria opened her eyes and looked around at the others' stunned and terrified faces, every last one of them as bald as an egg. She reached up to feel her own head and bit her lip in frustration. Why? Why the hell was that necessary? What did that accomplish? She fought back the urge to run over to the wall and start pounding on it, and instead just stared straight ahead, closing her eyes again.

Opening her eyes to the gasps and low voiced around her, Mor'an became aware that there was something suddenly different. With a sharp inhalation of breath, she realized that her thick hair, which had grown all the way down to her lower back, was completely and utterly gone. What will my people think of me now? she thought to herself. In her culture, a female's hair was her pride and joy, her source of beauty. Without it, she was an outcast. However, Mor'an refused to allow the loss of her hair to impede her duties. She would perform as she always did and lament the loss of her hair on her own time.

Cleansing rituals were not unknown to Jac, as his culture occasionally undertook some similar activities before certain rites of passages. Jac had to undergo more than most, as his unclean blood required special treatment to try and rid himself of the most contamination as possible. He had never had to shave his head before, and it was a less than pleasant feeling. He reached his hand up to his head, feeling the ridges in his skull continue into what used to be his hairline. Jac hoped his hair would regrow, and quickly at that. He did not like to feel naked.

Delainey felt the beam's warmth and was at first too confused to be afraid. Seeing the shock and discomfort in the other's eyes, as well as Allyndra's remark of pain, was more disturbing to her than her own completely, and she meant completely, hairless state. She was becoming increasingly more unnerved, but once more, she reminded herself this was still consistent with the voice's stated goals.

"Your cleansing is complete," replied the alien voice to Scarlet's question. "You may retrieve your garments and equipment. They have also been cleansed. We apologize for any discomfort." The opposite side of the wall from which the away team had entered now shimmered and dematerialized, presenting them with a new room to enter which looked almost exactly like the first one they had transported into. Neatly stacked on a small bench along the side of the wall were their belongings, organized very efficiently according to the uniform colors and types of equipment.

Scarlet wasted no time in moving forward and grabbing her uniform to get back on, signalling for the others to do the same. She was pleased with her team, for not kicking off at the treatment as she'd have merrily liked to do herself.

"Apologise?" Aria looked around before shaking her head, stalking out and over to her clothes. "Discomfort? More like having all dignity stripped and..." she looked around, at the others. "And seeing way, way, way too much of my superior officers..." she added under her breath, looking to find her clothes before getting dressed, quickly.

Jac made a beeline to his arm, checking it over with a cursory look to see if it had been meddled with. Noticing nothing out of the ordinary, he connected it to his shoulder, barely reacting to the bolt of radiating hot/cold/pain/pressure as the nerves reconnected and went through the initial internal diagnostics to ensure the relay from flesh to artificial and back again was quick and and steady. Only once Jac had flexed the arm in a test of his own did he begin to pull on his clothes again, keeping the tiny camera turned towards the wall until the remainder of the crew were clothed. First encounters with aliens were to be recorded; naked shots of the mostly-female staff were not as important to preserving cultures for posterity.

Stace followed the main group over to retrieve her own uniform and it took lifting up two others before she located her own. The scorch mark from her escape from the Venture still slashed into its shoulder. She wore it, kind of, as a badge of honour, despite the memory of previous injury rippling through her lifetimes. She stepped into her trousers and finally zipped up the jacket, her shoulders visibly relaxing as she eased into less discomfort. As the hard, charred tear scratched against her under-top, her delicate, slender hand unconsciously smoothed the non-existent smudge mark that was left on her chin from her rescue, knowing that it was no longer there.

Theron had gone quickly to his uniform and equipment, since the now open door was next to him. He was quite surprised to see that all his weapons were still there even the energy weapons. He checked their power levels and did a quick internal diagnostic. All seemed as it should be. He popped the case of the backpack and laid it open. All the weapons and tools were still there and the personal shield generator also looked in workable condition by its readings. He glanced up at the others realizing that most were half dressed or more, and he was still squatted down naked checking his equipment.

As Allyndra got dressed she wanted nothing more than to give herself an analgesic. The material on her back made the discomfort even worse than it had been. Deciding against self dosing herself and hoping the pain would subside she saw Theron checking equipment. Taking her own medical tricorder she checked it out and then did a quick scan of herself and then the rest of the group. It appeared other than epinephrine elevations from the tension and fright of the procedure and some irritations that everyone seemed well.

Mor'an followed the group out of the room and found her pile of clothing. She dressed quickly, the absence of her heavy hair actually setting her slightly off balance. Always having to compensate for the pile of weighty hair on top of her head and then suddenly loosing it was a surreal feeling.

Delainey's head itched like crazy but she focused on dressing as quickly as possible, not quite able to rid herself of the thought that now would be the perfect time for an ambush.

Victoria kept her lips pressed firmly together, carefully saying nothing. She was pretty sure that if she were to start talking now, she would say something that she would regret. The last thing they needed was to offend the aliens. She could only imagine what more they could think of to take from them. She opted instead for dressing as quickly as possible and checking her equipment.

Once the away team had finished dressing and reequipping themselves, the wall from which they had entered again shimmered and solidified, then yet another opposite-side wall opened which indicated for them to proceed. The systematic chambering of the crew has been efficient and had kept them isolated to only one room at a time until they had been properly prepared to meet the new species in person.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Unnamed Alien Woman
Le'kt Representative
[PNPC - Lirha Saalm]

Lt. Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Commander Scarlet Blake
Chief Counsellor/2XO
USS Galileo

Lt. JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Junior Grade Lieutenant Norvi Stace
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Im'er Mor'an
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Aria Rice
Assistant Chief of Security
USS Galileo

ENS Jacrux
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

LT Delainey Carlisle
Asst. Chief Counselor
USS Galileo

ENS Natalie Chevalier
Ecologist
USS Galileo

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