Cave Terrors (Part 1 of 8)

Posted on 07 Aug 2014 @ 3:29pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Commander Norvi Stace & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Commander Luke Wyatt & Ensign Louis duChampe & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Petty Officer 3rd Class David Emerson & Chief Petty Officer Lyras Ueda

2,800 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Transporter Room 2
Timeline: MD 07 - 0830 hrs

[ON]

USS Galileo - Deck 2, Transporter Room 2

Luke was the first to arrive in the transporter room and therefore had the honour of opening the equipment case. Heaving the lid of the top and placing it against the wall he looked over the contents. "And today I shall be..." He said to himself picking up the Compressed phase rifle and some Photon grenades hoping not to use them.

"Going to war?" Amynta said lightly as she moved in, frowning. She hated the EVA suits. She had tied her hair sharply back and braided it, to avoid it getting in the way. She looked around at the gear, reaching for the medical kit before taking the compression phaser rifle, checking it over. "Or is this your usual hunting gear?"

Turning around to see Amynta he gave a polite smile "No, but I don't want to lose anyone else so it's just a precaution. Besides, I've gotta keep you all in check," he joked, using his spare hand to mimic a gun and shoot Amynta.

As Amynta bantered with Luke, Andreus Kohl made his way by the both of them. The motor-assist bands strapped to his legs were struggling with compensating for the bulky environmental suit wrapped around Kohl's frame. Now, after days of EV suit away missions, Kohl was combating fatigue, which made it a constant struggle to appear as if he were walking without impairment. From the equipment case, Kohl grabbed for a small medical kit first, and he attached it to his EV suit. Kohl holstered a type-II phaser next, and then retrieved a sensor package for himself, and moved out of the way.

A few moments later the trio was joined by Oren clumsily making his way into the room. His EVA suit was a bit too big for his slight frame and he felt as if he'd borrowed it from someone. But he was getting better at maneuvering his way around and, after a quick greeting to everyone, Oren made it over to the equipment. Weighing his options for less than a few seconds, he took out a science kit and a medical kit. He wasn't a fighter and, even if he did decide to bring a weapon, he knew he would end up not using it. He also knew that, in the off chance that he got separated from the group, there was nothing in the phaser to help him survive that wasn't in one of the other kits (component wise, anyway). Besides, if he got separated, he would be screwed anyway, so what was the point?

"I suppose now would be a good time to find someone to stick with, hm?" Lyras, who had managed to shuffle in just behind Oren and was observing all the equipment choices he could make, caught sight of the pair of kits the scientist had picked up. The diplomat would have had multiple words about how 'illogical' it was to not have some form of defense, but he had no way of knowing what was in the other's head, and asking that question might have taken more time than they currently had available.

"It would be impractical to not have someone to watch your back, I would think." He gave Oren a reassuring smile, plucking out one of the hand phasers and a science kit of his own. "Hopefully nothing bad will come of this, and we can go about our mission smoothly, yes?"

Oren looked up curiously at the new arrival, immediately smiling at the sight of him. He looked back down at his equipment choice. "Let's hope," he said with a nod. "I'm not very good with conflict, firearms included. Besides, I figure everyone will pick a weapon, so one more won't make a difference if it's in the hand of someone inexperienced. But a med kit is always welcome," the El Aurian explained, then looked down at Lyras' phaser. "You seem like someone who can handle himself. How about I stick with you?" he asked playfully before introducing himself.

"Well, you seem to be right about that." Lyras jiggled the phaser in his hand. "I'm not entirely certain I know how to fire anything larger than this, but sometimes a good defense is confidence and being able to hold your own, even if you don't end up shooting it." He nodded firmly. "I suspect us sticking together would be much easier than trying to introduce ourselves to someone else at such short notice."

"Yeah, that might get a little awkward now," Oren said with a nod of agreement. He couldn't exactly go up to someone and say 'Hey, I'm a pacifist who hates and sucks and using weapons. Mind if I put my life in your hands?' At least this way, he could avoid the unnecessary explanation.

Dea entered the transporter room. Like the others she was dressed in a full EVA suit. For this particular mission Dea opted to grab a phaser rifle and a Type II phaser. Given what they knew so far it made sense for her to be prepared.

Stace then breathed through the doors of the transporter room as they hissed behind her and flashed a brief smile to the people already assembled there. She, also, was not enjoying the bulky restriction of the suit but tried to keep natural when eyeing up the equipment. "What do we have?" she asked rhetorically as made her way over to the container. Selecting a science kit and a hand-phaser, she smiled as she joined in the conversation. "I'm starting to hate wearing these suits. Sign me up for a luxurious diplomatic mission where we eat caviar and drink iced brandy any day." She smiled and then the flash of her accident with the Cardassians flushed her cheeks. "Actually, scratch that!"

"How about a planetary survey?" Kohl suggested. He looked up from the automatic diagnostics being run on his sensor package. Although he hadn't attended the diplomatic dinner aboard Galileo he had managed to hear about the highlights. Dryly, he said, "We can eat cavier and drink iced brandy from the comfortable environment of our labs."

Stace's eyes warmed as she smiled to Kohl. "Let's forget the mission entirely and just enjoy shoreleave, eh?"

Kohl smiled back and chimed in, "Anywhere but Risa, yeah?"

"Only heathens holiday on Risa, remember?" she replied, widening her eyes to continue the jest.

Dr. Alexion Wylde had his usual slight frown on his features as he moved in, quiet as he headed straight for the equipment crate. He was rather dubious about how useful any of it would be after the power failures on the last mission down there. He reached in and took a medical kit all the same. He also caught hold of a hand held phaser with the hope he wouldn't have to throw it away this time.

"Yeah shoreleave sounds like the best option," Dea commented as she was checking her gear. Memories of a Diplomatic dinner she'd rather forget came to mind as a result of Stace's earlier comment.

Amynta looked over at Wylde, giving him a small smile before giving a, for her anyway, gentle nod. She looked around for a moment before sighing, touching her own side. "I hate the EVA suits. Makes me feel like I am already in a coffin."

Alexion moved to Amynta's side with a small smile, the frown easing for the time being. It had been too long since they'd shared a drink. He'd have to right it when they got back. "Very useful for me. I appreciate a self prepared cadaver."

Markos chuckled at that, arching an eyebrow as she looked at him. "I will remember that should I ever bring in a patient to your sickbay."

"Someone say sickbay?" asked Delainey as she arrived, trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt in her EVA suit. Everyone hated them to varying degrees, she was sure, but someone had to stay positive and not focus on complaints, and Delainey was determined that would be her.

She reached for a medkit and a Type-2 phaser, much preferring the former to the latter. Like all members of Starfleet, she was reasonably proficient in hand to hand and phaser operations, but if given the choice between stunning someone and patching someone up, she'd choose healing everytime.

Moving briskly into the room despite the suit, Scarlet Blake glanced around to check that her team was gathered and kitted out. She reached to take hold of a rifle and hand held phaser, securing them quickly as she looked around at the different expertise gathered in the room. "Once we're down there, everyone is to stay with their team. Even if we break into smaller groups, no one is to wander off from their assigned team mates. Everyone should keep themselves aware of their surroundings, but also where their team mates are."

Luke watched as a Blake walked in and thought over what she just said "Commander, I think It would be a prudent course of action if everyone had a battle buddy aswell just to be on the safe side, someone with experience of security or command with someone from medical or science. Both looking out for each other" He said not holding eye contact for more than needed and instead used the excuse of sorting out his eva suit to look away.

Stace inhaled loudly during the pause as her face sallowed with the thought of what she was about to say. She flicked her attention to Blake but then addressed her comment to Luke. "That's all well and good in theory," she said quietly; a serious, forlorn look now washing over her features, "but in practice..." She allowed the word to hang in the air while she began to shake her head, "It didn't do Ruktah any favours."

The loss of someone on her team had struck her harder than she first had thought. Over her lifetimes she had dealt with death, including her own, rather detachedly, but something about this kid had wedged itself deep into her guilt. "We used tethers once his disappearance was noted. But they can be impractical."

Inwardly, Delainey winced. It was good to hear Stace speak of the loss, for in the long run that would serve them all better. However, her words also reinforced she and the rest of the crew were still processing the loss, with the weight squarely on Stace as the person in charge at the time Ruktah died.

Dea just listened to their orders. For now her goal was to assist with brining every member of this away team back alive. They didn't need any further incidents on this mission.

Emerson was among the last to enter, having misplaced one of the gloves in his EVA suit after removing the suit in his quarters. Grabbing a science kit and a Type 2 phaser, the rifle he wasn't qualified on yet tho that was something he practicing, he waited for the teams to emark the transporter.

Scarlet couldn't help but note the way Luke couldn't even look at her. She pushed it away for another time, too much already on her mind for the moment. "I want everyone in general to keep aware of the person next to them, in front of them, behind them so forth. No one person should ever be at the back of the group alone, there should always be at least two together at the rear."

"We could always tie a rope around everyone or hold hands like nice children," Amynta said softly, but there was humour in it. "Just to be...super safe."

The door to the Galileo's second transporter room swished open to signal the arrival of Lirha who had just come from the adjacent transporter room where she'd seen off Captain Holliday and his away team. Despite not being a member of the survey groups, Lirha was now in charge of the ship until its captain returned, which meant she felt obliged to oversee the departure of all its assets.

Looking over the assembled away team members who were all suited up in their EVA gear, she walked up to Blake and began to give a short briefing. "Commander, please be safe down there. We will be transporting your team to the entrance of the mine's central computer relay station. It is an area we did not previously explore, and the computer systems control the majority of the mine's equipment functions. I am not sure what you will find down there, but perhaps there will be more clues to help you uncover this mystery. I will be on the bridge with Lieutenant Zhao monitoring your activity and we will keep a constant comm channel open for you to report your progress."

Blake nodded firmly to Lirha, her features cool as she double checked her rifle and moved up onto the transporter pad. "Understood, Commodore. Don't be surprised if comms fall out at times though; there were a lot of strange problems with power and comms across both teams last time."

When it was her time Dea stepped onto the transporter pad with her gear secured in place. One way or another she hoped they got to the bottom of this sooner rather than later.

Luke didn't hesitate as he took one of the limited spots on the transporter pad "Lets just get this over with" He huffed resting his rifle on its sling so it tugged against his shoulder, pointing towards the floor.

Amynta frowned as she moved onto the transporter pad, her eyes dark as she tensed, her hand grasping her weapon. "I hate transporters. If I wanted to be broken up into atoms, I'd go snuggle close to a reactor."

As Kohl approached the transporter pad, he slung the science kit over his shoulder on its strap to free up his hands. "At least a reactor obliteration would be warm and toasty," Kohl remarked, as he stepped up onto the platform beside Amynda. "A transporter chamber is so cold, and smooth, and concave." Just before he sealed up the face plate on his helmet, Kohl said, "There's not even anything to hold onto."

Making sure everything on his suit was secure, Oren stepped up onto the transported pad. Closing his eyes, he sent out a quick prayer as he tried to prepare himself for being disintegrated.

Quick to follow after his new 'partner,' Lyras stepped on the pad as well. "Here goes everything, right?"

Stace waited for the first team to dematerialise and then stepped up to the pad; her phaser holstered and her science kit draped over her shoulder. She moved to the back and took her place, looking up through her visor to the commodore.

Louis was the last one onto the transporter. He looked at the transporter operater. "Just be sure I come back, No shoving me in a buffer! Vive Louis!" He gave a salute made sure his phaser was set to stun and waited for the beam down.

"Good luck," Lirha said to the group, then moved to the transporter console and began the beaming sequence. It'd been a while since she'd manually operated a transporter cycle, but her previous training as an operations officer at the Academy meant the task was one akin to riding a bicycle. Once learned, it was virtually impossible to forget. Or so she thought. Hopefully she wouldn't accidentally beam the team into a rock face or some other sort of obstruction.

"Energizing," she called out as her lithe green fingers manipulated the targeting scanners and achieved a lock on the desired coordinates. She then activated the pad's molecular imaging scanner and monitored the Heisenberg compensators, and looked up as the away team dematerialized in the bright blue matter stream. She repeated the process for the second group, and once the transport was complete, now stood alone in the room.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

LT Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LT Andreus Kohl
Asst. Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LT Delainey Carlisle
Counselor
USS Galileo

LT Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Luke Wyatt
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Louis duChampe
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Oren Idris Ph.D.
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

SWO Alexion Wylde
Medical Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]

PO1 Lyras Ueda
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Kita]

PO3 David Emerson
Science Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Zhao]

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