Cave Terrors (Part 2 of 8)

Posted on 07 Aug 2014 @ 3:30pm 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 & Commander Luke Wyatt & Ensign Louis duChampe & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Chief Petty Officer Lyras Ueda

1,637 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III - Uridium Mine, Central Matrix Station, Section LV881-LV900
Timeline: MD 07 - 0845 hrs

Previously, on Cave Terrors (Part 1)...

"Energizing," Lirha 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.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Lyshan III - Entrance to Central Matrix Station

With a bright shimmer and whirl of blue particles, the two away team groups materialized on the surface of Lyshan III. Their location was exactly as predicted and the group now stood inside the mine's entrance with a makeshift Cardassian turbolift car in front of them that would hopefully take them to their destination. The weather outside was less than ideal, and the howling winds of an approaching dust storm berated their EVA suits and reduced their visibility to less than a couple meters

Scarlet took a moment or two just to readjust and look around. She also had to take a breath to prepare herself. After their previous experiences, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be back. "Let's go...." she moved forward with heavier steps than usual in her suit, leading the group into the somewhat cramped cab.

Amynta looked around for a moment, taking in her surroundings as much as she could. Without any more ado she made sure who she had in front of her and behind her before following Blake.

Stace's heart sank as the now familiar Cardassian lift doors whirred into vision. She sighed to herself and then, almost naturally, checked her phaser and her science kit after materialising. She looked to Blake as she gave out the call to move out and follwed in tow.

To Stace's right, Kohl threw a hand out. Transporting from the controlled environment of Galileo to the buffeting winds of Lyshan III caught him off guard. For a heartbeat, Kohl thought he might fall over onto his back, and become stranded there like a turtle. He grabbed hold of Stace's shoulder for the couple of moments it took to steady himself. As soon as he was sure on his feet, he strode intently in the direction of the turbolift car. He made a point of moving faster than Stace, as if that would prove nothing had just happened, and there was nothing wrong with his balance and his spine.

Stace noticed Kohl's hurried demeanour but decided not to engage him in any discourse as he strode past her. She knew his pride would be bruised enough without any jovial elbow nudge.

Not sharing his fellow crewmembers' experience, Oren observed his new surroundings with a cautious curiosity. He walked slowly, taken by the look of the mine, wondering just how much time had passed to make everything look like this. He finally noticed that he was the only one left aside from the Security officer and sped up his pace.

The only reason Lyras had lost track of anyone or anything was simply because of how fascinated he was by the mine itself. His career might have seen him in and out of a good number of diverse locations, but mines were something he rarely found himself interacting with. However, he managed to keep a pace with the others, sticking within the group that they had, while his inner scientist merely gawked at everything around him.

Dea remained quiet as they entered the lif. Keeping her attention on their current mission. Given what she'd learned during the briefing it worried her.

Delainey remained quiet as well, finding that the best way to cope with the expectations of the ride inside the discomfort of the suit. She took slow deep breaths to steady any nerves.

Allowing the rest of the group to advance ahead of him Luke had done a three-hundred and sixty scan before stepping of slowly behind them holding his rifle ready. He had one of those feelings that something was going to go wrong and he didn't like ignoring the feeling however, he couldn't decide whether he was genuinely anxious or his recent confrontation was the answer.

Scarlet waited until everyone was inside before pulling the lever. The whole cage like cab shuddered into life, creaking and complaining as it started to descend into the depths of the mine. It rocked and groaned with the movement, making for an uncomfortable and distinctly treacherous feeling through the journey down.

Observing the group he tried to keep his distance so that he wasn't hit by any of the straying elbows the last thing he needed was a broken nose and the lifts erratic behaviour didnt help one bit. Not usually scared by heights or small places he could feel his stomach knot as they descended.

Amynta planted her feet firmly, swallowing as she held onto her weapon. She felt sweat break out on her skin; an unpleasant feeling brought on by the spike of adrenaline. She breathed deeply, to try and calm her body down. Fear was useful...when you could do something.

The cab shook suddenly, all but plunging the last couple of feet, crashing to a stop. Scarlet grabbed the side, almost sure that her heart must have stopped for a moment. "Let's get out of here," she murmured with a frown, slinging the door open to let them pour out into the mining tunnel that would allow them to reach the computer processing centre.

Luke was one of the first out as he was the last in and quickly scanned the area, it was mostly just like the rest of the tunnels they had explored the previous time down it was slightly more lit by the sporadic placed lighting systems. The other noteable difference was that it was far more spacious than the others probably due to the mining excavation. The walls themselves showed signs of corrosion and the blueish purple haze of the Uridium reflected against the lighting system giving it an almost relaxing feel though Luke knew better to let his guard down.

Amynta looked around, frowning as she took it all in. It was absurd, how it looked. Beautiful. And eerie. She turned her head, watching the others exit the lift as well. "Better stay close to each other. Looks like one wrong step here and we can encounter a lot of trouble."

"That is exactly what this place does," Alexion nodded to her with a frown, waiting at her side as the others filed out. "Keep your mind guarded as much as your body," he said quietly to her, shaking his head.

Hopping out of the lift a bit too quickly to pass for casual, Oren closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them once he was satisfied that his mind was calmer, he finally looked around, taking in the appearance of the mine. He tossed a backwards glance at the car to see where everyone was, making sure no one got separated. Staring back at the rocks in the nearby tunnel, Oren felt thankful that he'd never been claustrophobic.

Kohl had made his way carefully out of the cab, overly conscious of tripping hazards that might take him down. He didn't visually inspect the mining tunnel like the others; he could see the Security officers doing that over somewhere in his peripheral vision. Before the away team began to move again, Kohl began tapping LCARS contacts, flipping switches and opening valves on the bulky sensor package he was clutching to his left forearm. The sensor probes began to whir and chirp like a pipe organ tricorder, as it scanned the mine for every physical truth about it.

Stace slowly hung back a little, viewing Kohl from behind and saddling up close to him should the fatigue of the last few days claim his balance and the remainder of his strength. She slipped in just after him and with a keen eye prepared herself to support him should he falter.

It seemed that the whole team was rattled, though Lyras couldn't quite understand why. The lifts were rickety and the mines were quite dull and dreary, but he had yet to hear any odd sounds or see weird things. Thus far, their trip had proven to be quite uneventful. Of course, now that he had thought that, it was likely something was going to happen. "... Ah..." He shook his head, chastising himself mentally before stepping off the lift.

Dea had exited the lift doing her best to keep any unsettled feeling hidden. For the moment they had a job to do. She was about to say something when Scarlet spoke.

"Keep together, keep alert," Scarlet reminded as she started to walk through the tunnel, leading them down the dark, dank length of it towards the computer centre.

"Aye Commander," Dea replied starting to move through the tunnel herself. Cautiously taking in the details around her.

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]

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