Sinister Mine (Part 4 of 4)

Posted on 27 Jun 2014 @ 4:44pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Norvi Stace & Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Elijah Williams IV, M.Sc. & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & M'Ressa
Edited on on 27 Jun 2014 @ 4:45pm

2,474 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III - Uridium Mine, Section A60-A75
Timeline: MD 05 - 1340 hrs

Previously, on Sinister Mine (Part 3)...

Something lurched in the pit of Kohl's stomach. It made him feel unsteady, and uneasy; far more so than the gore and gristle at his feet. He hadn't noticed-- "How long?" Kohl asked. "How long has Ruktah been gone?"

Stace inhaled and cast her mind back only a few moments. "He was here when I head counted once you'd joined us, Lieutenant. He can't have gotten far. But why walk off?"

Quinn looked around and shrugged his shoulders. "Hopefully he didn't turn into dinner."

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

A few minutes later, and Stark returned, frowning as he shook his head. He'd searched the closest stretches of all the near by tunnel intersections, but there'd been nothing. "No sign close by," he confirmed quietly.

"That bodes well." Asahi raised a brow, pointedly attempting to ignore the body parts littered about, turning his attention to the rest of the group. Hopefully this wasn't as horrific as it was panning out to be. "Maybe he got lost?"

Maybe Kohl was fond of playing devil's advocate, or maybe Kohl was just getting argumentative. "But why would he wander off?" Kohl asked. "He was right here. We were all right here."

"I don't care why, I just want to go and find him," Stark frowned, shaking his head as he looked to Stace for permission. "I want to go and search for him, even if the rest of the team moves to a more secure location and remains together."

Quinn looked to the Petty Officer and shook his head. "Stark, your ass isn't going anywhere without the rest of us. Now fall in line, that's an order."

Stark looked to Quinn with a stubborn frown for a long moment, clearly debating whether to argue or not. He folded his arms with a frown of frustration as he looked down, breathing a little harder with keeping his cool. "I want to go find my team mate," he said simply instead, shifting so his weight was on one leg and hip. "He's my departmental colleague, and he's out there on his own somewhere."

The CoB shook his head. "I know, son. I don't like leaving anyone behind either, but if we start running is separate directions, I'd be willing to bet that we would be killed off, one by one. So, no...We do not separate. Got it?"

"The CoB is right," Stace cut in, defining her authority. "We don't split up. And I don't want to hear another word on that matter. Am I clear?" Her voice wasn't angry or loud, but seemed to cut through the chatter nonetheless. "We'll walk back through the tunnels in the hope that he started back himself. Now file together and let's leave this godforsaken place. And that's an order for everyone."

Gabriel stared at them, his mouth dropping open with genuine shock and horror, more than had shown when they'd fallen across the grisly, bloody scene. "We're seriously considering leaving a man behind?" he looked round, as if people were suddenly speaking foreign. He shook his head with disbelief, breathing harder with anger as he moved, biting his jaw tight together, both to try and keep his temper and hold his tongue as he walked to the top of the group.

Kohl couldn't look Gabriel in the eyes. He looked over his shoulder and then he watched for Stace's reaction. For Kohl, the conversation was well over. His department chief had given him an order; that shut down the conversation unless he could speak with her in private, away from the team. As that wasn't liable to happen in these environs, Kohl found the last remaining lamp on his EV suit that hadn't burned out. He shifted it blue, like before, and he gestured to Rhodes and M'Ressa to keep close to him. As Gabriel walked away to the fore, Kohl took up position at the rear of the away team.

M'Ressa for her part had been quiet through most of the away mission, keeping in sight of the main group. She nodded her acknowledgment and agreement to Kohl's gestures. It was bad enough being in a cramped suit that wasn't built for her, but add to that being underground in a darkness that made the darkest of night on Ferasa look light by comparison, and finding evidence of bodies down here, was beginning to creep her out, even perhaps claustrophobic.

"Petty Officer Gabriel Stark," Stace began, keenly looking at him through her visor and speaking evenly, now standing closer to him. "I'm not accustomed to my orders being questioned or debated. The alternative is to advance deeper into this system of mines without weapons and stepping over dead bodies as we move forward. I'm not putting the team at further risk. If you question my decision again then there will be consequences when we return to the ship. Am I understood?"

Stark pulled his shoulders back and folded his arms tightly, his heat in the moment making his eyes even darker. "We have a saying, Ma'am....never leave a man behind. And that's what I'm being told to do. Without even looking for him. My security team mate. If that means I face consequences when I return to the ship, so be it. But by that time, it'll be too late for this objection, and it will definitely be too late for George. He'll be dead. I'd rather be in a brig and know I did what I could to make sure we brought him home than be sunning on the holodeck having been silent and complicit in leaving him behind to die. If you want to put that on record, Ma'am, then yes, you're understood," he was clearly beyond the point of caring about getting into trouble with a man's life in the balance. He held her eyes through the filmy visor, hoping she might reconsider leaving him alone down here MIA.

"And if the decision to continue costs another man his life in the pursuit then that's justified, Stark?" Stace questioned, a lilt of anger now edging her voice. "We're unarmed, defenseless and with evidence of a mortal threat strewn about our feet like fish bait. We leave now. And I don't want another insubordinate comment from you again."

Quinn spun around and got directly face mask to face mask with Gabriel. "I said shut it, Petty Officer. One more word from you on the topic and you will be scrubbing the reclamation tanks. You may think you can get away with debating the Lieutenant, but I will bust your ass so hard and for so long you wont remember what day of the week it is by the time I'm done with you. The Lieutenant is trying to keep us all alive. We aren't much good to anyone if we are dead. You will fall in line and know your place, Petty Officer. Do not try me. I promise you, you will regret it."

Quinn understood the kids issue about leaving a man behind and all that. However, the petty officer was given a direct order, not just by Quinn, the man that was in direct command over the NCO, but buy the Officer in Charge. He wondered if this was the future of Starfleet, outspoken and insubordinate kids that spoke before thinking and arguing with a Command Master Chief and an officer.

Stace interjected Quinn, something that once she was promoted back into responsibility again, swore she would never do. But nerves were on edge and the situation needed diffusing before it escalated and put others at risk. "Let's just all calm down a little and move on up. We need to get out of her safely."

Stace's eyes flared with subtle anger and frustration as she then walked to the front of the group to help lead them back through the dank labyrinth. It was a tough call to make, and had she channeled Captain Janel Stace a little more, her previous host, she would have sent Stark out to look on his own without a second thought. But Norvi had brought humility and compassion to the Stace bloodline and although an edge of disconnected authority peaked its ugly head through her personality from time to time, she could reconcile this with reasonable ease. She would wrestle with this decision to abandon a teammate for the duration of the slow schlep back to the transport coordinates but felt she had chosen wisely. It was only when the group took their first juncture left that something out of place caught her eye on the floor. She bent down to retrieve it.

"It's a torn fragment from an EVA suit," Stace stated across the comms. "Keep your wits about you and an eye out for Ruktah. I'm not sure how long he could survive without his suit in tact."

Quinn walked next to Stace and looked upon it, then pointed to the suits number. "Two-Two-One. It's his alright, Ma'am. He's dead already with a tear that size in his suit. I recommend we walk two by two's and use our tethers...just so no one else vanishes. This reminds me of a mission on Sorta-Two. I'll support whatever your call is."

"Maybe not dead," Stace suggested, thinking more to herself than in response to Quinn. "But he won't survive long before he becomes disorientated. At least this indicates that he did return this way. But I agree. Tether everyone together and file in rows of two." Stace paused and faced up to Quinn for a brief beat. "We can reminisce about old times and fallen heroes over a scotch when we get back. But let's get back in one piece first, Master Chief."

"I'm gonna hold you to that, Lieutenant." Quinn remarked with a smile, then returned his facial features back to his normal stern glare. "Alright everyone, you heard the Lieutenant, Connect your tethers to the person next to you and behind you. This will be walking two-by-twos. Let's go."

At the back of the class, Kohl reached for the tether coiled inside his EV suit. He yanked on the tether and latched it onto the EV suit of Carlisle, beside him. "Keep close," he said.

On impulse, Asahi did as he was told, attaching his tether to whomever it was next to him. This was all becoming much too spooky, and Asahi didn't much care for it. He would have much rather been holed up with that terraforming equipment, banging away at it until it was in a more optimal working order than it had been before they arrived. Or, maybe speaking with Seeker again. As odd as the miner was, Asahi found his take on the matter much more refreshing than 'so you Federation nutjobs are gonna tell us we're doing things wrong,' or whatever it was the more annoyed miners were going on about. "... Shoulda brought more than a spanner with me."

Quinn grinned at Asahi's comment, "Yeah, a transporter signal booster would have come in handy."

"It's no wonder people are experiencing weird shit, it's not natural to be cooped up like this underground." Keval said.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say unnatural full stop," Kohl said over the open comms. Clearly, he was babbling nervously. Clearly. "There are all manner of troglobites who live and thrive without ever leaving environments just like this one. And I mean, hey, if the terraforming of the entire planet is ahead of schedule, could be there's a troglobite evolved down here; evolved far too fast, against all typical laws of nature."

Quinn looked at Kohl with a wrinkled forehead. "Thanks, L-T. Somehow I think i'd rather be dealing with ghosts."

Asahi furrowed his brow in a similar manner to the Chief's. "... It could also be some sort of mineral or something in the mines that we didn't detect this far down... if we could get a good reading off of the rocks around us, I could readjust a comm or one of the tricorders to see if we can get a message out to the Galileo." He shot a look toward Stace, smiling as helpfully as he could. "But I'm bad at rocks."

"It's all right," Stace replied, continuing on forward leading the group back and holding up her own burnt-out tricorder. "We're best to continue back. By the time we manage to even get a signal out - if we manage to get a signal out - we could almost be at the surface." She sighed and looked to Asahi, dealing him a smile. "But it's a good suggestion. Let's move on forward and get back as soon as we can."

Gabriel frowned at the chatter, his jaw tight shut as he let out a soft breath, pushing forward without looking at the rest of the team. A man was missing, possibly dead...the cheerful chatter as if nothing was amiss grated on him. He needed a very large and very stiff drink.

Dr. Wylde watched Gabriel's back as they walked. He frowned at the tension in the body, reaching out to slap his side in a comradely fashion. He was young, and he didn't want him to feel alone down in the dark and in a tunnel of reeking death.

Quinn held a hand up quickly. "Hold it a sec." He quickly un-tethered, took two steps to his left and placed his cybernetic hand on a small out cropping of rock and squeezed and pulled with all his might. With a crunch, Quinn held a rock sample in his robotic hand. He then returned to his place in line, re-tethered to his buddy. "The science guys may want to have a chunk to analyze. Let's roll, boss."

"Good work, Quinn," Stace replied. Now addressing the whole team, she added, "Let's keep our eyes out for Ruktah and anything ominous. I don't want to lose anyone else down here." Before they set off, Stace looked poignantly at the ragged piece of cloth in her hand and then slowly turned, gazing into the darkness beyond her sight with regret. "Let's move out, people."

[OFF]

--

WO Alexion Wylde
Doctor
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]

PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]

LT Asahi Kita
[Acting] Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Command Master Chief Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

M'Ressa
Biotechnologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Zhao]

CPO Keval Graysan
Operations Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Nicholas]

LTJG Elijah Williams IV
Geologist
USS Galileo

LT Delainey Carlisle
Counselor
USS Galileo

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