The Colony (Part 1 of 4)

Posted on 20 Nov 2019 @ 1:48pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin & Petty Officer 3rd Class Peregrine Steele

3,668 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: Latari B III - NW Island Chain
Timeline: MD 01, 0720 hrs

Previously, on Paradise (Part 7)...

Lt. Shizn walked out of the soft waves, up onto the wet sand, water dripping from his uniform. Once he arrived on dry sand, he dropped the duffels and took in a deep breath, “We’re definitely not on Andor.” He meant it as a joke, to hopefully lighten the tension of those around.

"Neither are we in Kansas anymore...." Scarlet murmured as she waded to shore, the water lapping around her waist as she held a case over her head. There were worse places they could have been stranded, but it was by no means paradise. They were exposed...with limited resources and in an environment where basic resource gathering could end up being arduous. And that was without the immediate threats they'd already faced so far.

Marisa chuckled and put her boots back on so she could help haul supplies up to the tree line.

The waves finally ceased crashing against the away team as its members hit the soft sand of the beach. In front of them - across the hundred yards of fine white sand - was a dense tropical treeline populated by alien forms of blue Arecaceae. The lower brush was tall, thick and green, and several dark figures suddenly emerged from their camouflage and began to advance on the Galileo crew. Four...six...eleven bipedals.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

A large and muscular dark-skinned human walked out from the cover of the tropical alien treeline and observed the scene before him. The crystal blue waves lapped methodically against the white beach as usual, but the only thing out of place was what looked like a beached shuttlecraft and its evacuating occupants.

"Well, well," he said to himself, now pulling a locally-grown cigar from his shirt pocket and putting it to his lips. "Look who decided to show up." Dressed in tattered grey colonist garments, he waved to both of his flanks to indicate for his people to move forward and assist.

When the Starfleet away team finally struggled to shore, they were met by the appearance of several Humans who move with coordination to ascertain their presence. Four of them down the middle, two on each side providing cover with what appeared to be Federation compression rifles clutched in their hands.

"Who are you?" shouted the lead one as he approached. "Are you Starfleet? Where do you come from?"

"We're from the USS Galileo-A," Marisa said. "We came in response to a distress signal." She worked with the survivors to haul supplies from the damaged craft into the jungle.

The man stepped closer and observed Sandoval's pointed ears and drenched Starfleet garbs. At first glance, the woman appeared to be as she claimed and wore a blue-collared uniform with lieutenant rank pips on her collar. He stopped in front of her then slung his rifle behind his shoulder. "Galileo? Never heard of her. What class?"

"Nova..." Blake replied as she moved in closer to them, her hands resting lightly on her hips in a relaxed manner, but her body was tight and ready to move if needed. A strange mixture of emotions coiled inside her. Immense relief and gratitude that they'd managed to find people alive. But also an intense awareness of their predicament and the scenario presented to them. Including the weapons theses people were holding. Her features and voice were kept carefully calm as she spoke with them. "I'm Commander Blake, the Galileo's First Officer. And you are...?"

Lt. Shizn had taken the opportunity to step up near the Commander at that moment to get a better sense of the situation.

T'Lin looked at the approaching figures and stood straight up and stepped slowly but slightly away from the supplies. She was not armed at the moment but she began to judge distance as the figures approached and spread out. Six and half meters was what she needed. It was what had been established over a long time that a armed person even with weapon held at ready could react to a suspect and hope to hit them. Anything less was not guaranteed and as the distance lessened the odds actually favoured the attacker. She was Temple trained and had learned Tal-shaya which was only taught to Temple initiates. Finally two of the others closed the distance. She held ready looking for all the world like a calm dispassionate Vulcan with a slight quizzical look on her face. It belied the readiness to strike like a cobra, quick and deadly.

Tris saw T’Lin out of the corner of his eye. He did not react, but took in quickly that she seemed ready for a possible bad situation. He saw the subtle tendency of a Vulcan, preparing without showing fear nor aggression. Tris knew to trust the Petty Officer’s natural take on a situation and emptied his hands casually.

Marisa continued to gather the supplies, keeping an eye on the colonists and on her team. She wasn't sure how this meeting would go, but she wanted to appear unconcerned, hoping it would help diffuse any situation before it erupted. And if not, she was very much aware of where she was putting the supplies in case she needed to use them for defense.

The man who'd taken point and spoke to Sandoval now stopped several feet away, then looked at Blake and processed her words before slowly shaking his head in disbelief. Slim yet athletic in build, his dark hair and tanned skin revealed his South American continent ancestry.

"You're kidding me. A science ship?" he replied to the first officer. He then unexpectedly turned and looked back at one of the other unknown men on his flank. "Hey Martinez, you won't believe this. Starfleet finally decides to send a rescue ship and it's a bunch of nebula-chasers."

The other men surrounding the away team also came to a stop and now lowered their weapons. Their collective posture visibly became more relaxed now, and some of them spit and shook their heads in exasperation. A voice called out in reply, seemingly coming from the one named Martinez. "Well...Did they at least bring beer and smokes?"

The man in front of Blake rolled his eyes then looked back to the commander. "Did you bring beer and smokes?"

Blake ignored the question, taking it, at best, as a joke, and at worst, as provocation. Instead, she simply shook her head, looking across the group with calm features but sharp eyes. "Technically, we didn't even know if a rescue was required...all we knew was that the reports had stopped and we'd lost contact..." she said softly, but with a slightly leading tone, to see if he would fill in the blanks.

Steele had been feeling like a castaway propped up against the supplies when the group had showed and he was so tired he could have cared less what they did. However at the mention of the booze and smokes he could quit agree with the man. Giant silicone monsters, a volcano that was going to freeze the place, it seemed just the right thing to do.

"No, but maybe the replicator out there," Steele jerked a thumb back to the shuttle. "Is still working if we can drag it ashore."

Tris couldn’t help himself and stifled a chuckle and turned away embarrassed that he had laughed. But to the pilot, who know quite well, that bird was very stuck until the tide rolled in, if this planet had tides on it. The Andorian looked serious for a moment and looked about the beach for any markers of where the last high tide might have been. He was grateful to see the ridge just before the treelike that represented the intended mark. Looking forward again, “Sorry about that Commander.”

Marisa told the men exactly what she thought of them in colloquial Andean Spanish. After everything they'd been through, she was not going to have these men they'd come to rescue denigrate science. "Now, if you want to share in any of the supplies we brought, you'll need to help us move them."

Blake shot Marisa a look and lifted a hand ever so slightly in her direction in a 'stop' motion at the tone she was taking with him. The last thing they needed was to escalate tensions. Her features and voice remained calm as she looked back to the man who had first approached them, meeting his eyes. "What's your status? Do any of your people need immediate medical assistance?"

Blake was right. Marisa generally didn't have a temper, but she was half Latina, and their machismo rubbed her wrong. She went back to work and let the commander deal with the natives.

The man looked at Scarlet as if she were slightly insane. He then glanced to his fellow people both to the left and the right, then back to the red-collared commander. "Do we need medical assistance? You're the ones who just drove your shiny Starfleet shuttle into the ground," he replied with a heavy dose of salt. "This is Latari, and it looks like you need our help," he slung back with a scowl, clearly disgruntled.

"Alright, that's enough. Knock it off, ladies," called out the large cigar-wielding man who now approached the away team from his rear position. He, too, now had his rifle slung behind his back, and advanced with a presence of authority over the others. "Get their gear to shore and send a runner back to base. Tell them we made contact with Starfleet."

Reluctantly at first, the various men and women from Latari then moved forward to begin assisting the away team with their stores and equipment. No words were spoken and none of the natives held eye contact with the Galileo team. They appeared angry and disgruntled, even for colonists. One of them broke off and trotted back into the treeline to relay what appeared to be an important message.

Two rings of cigar smoke elegantly puffed into the air. "Blake, did I hear right?" the one in charge asked Scarlet, stepping close to her. He extended a large hand, forearm, and bicep toward the Starfleet officer. "Charles Montgomery. But you can call me Duke."

"Good to meet you, Duke," Blake nodded as she gave his hand a firm shake, holding his eyes. She assumed that their lack of casualties meant they hadn't suffered a direct attack from the stone creature, Tholians, or direct exposure to the changing, hellish landscape. It brought relief but also confusion and curiosity...they were clearly still missing some parts of this story. And she was reluctant to openly say what they'd seen and been through in front of so many of his people if they weren't already aware of it all themselves...the last thing they wanted was to start a strain of panic. A more private conversation was preferable for breaking such news. If, indeed, any of it *was* news.

T'Lin only listened in a watched the rest. She could not help but observe that logically for colonists that had called for help, all they got was a crew that managed to show up and beach a shuttle craft and really had not brought any help. When she had a chance it was best that she remind the commander that it might not be the most prudent thing to say the ship had long gone to another colony site and they were out of touch. Still, any information on what had happened if these were or there were survivors would be useful and certainly should be gathered. It might help form a plan of action with what little that they did have.

Steele grumbled and got to his feet and began to pick up supplies groaning about his aching back. He caught the cigar man saying call me Duke and muttered under his breath, "Duke, A number one, king of some POS island on a dying planet."

Tris looked about watching the colonist, wearing mostly tattered clothing, assist in moving gear up past the dry line on the beach. He wasn’t fearing them, but had a distinct feeling that all was not right here, and would recommend to keep up ‘our’ guard.

Marisa watched the colonists as she continued to haul supplies. Something was definitely wrong with their attitudes. Even if the Galileo wasn't the ship they wanted, they should have been more grateful for this feeble attempt than they were. They were angry about something, and she wanted to know what, and how--or if--it related to the biosilicate creature.

At that point T'Lin had dismissed the rest of the 'native's and just helped getting the supplies above high water mark. She turned and looked back and noted it that the water had risen. They could not afford to have more damage to the shuttle. The Andorian pilot had noted that higher tide might be able to lift but she wondered if it would lift the shuttle or just fill it up with water. These people did not seem friendly to her. They have been through a lot but for all the world it seemed as if they were unconcerned about what had happened and the fact that the colony had been destroyed. A lack of empathy or a complete PTSD shut down but that was far out of her expertise. There were trees that they could use a few to help lash to the shuttle to help it float and possibly move to shore. She decided to talk to the others.

"Tide is rising, I am not sure if the shuttle has enough self buoyancy on its own. There are too many variables to offer a good calculation. I am thinking we could possibly use some of the trees here to lash and help float it. It would give us something useful while the commander is getting a lay of the land. However, we need to be careful about splitting the group up too much. While I am not an expert in reading emotional creature body language I would say the logically these inhabitants are not reacting what I would logically expect them to."

Blake moved in closer to Duke, watching him with a steady, calm gaze as she clasped her hands neatly behind her back. "I think it's fair to say that we clearly have some gaps in the story of what's been going on here. Perhaps if you could fill in some of the blanks, we can work out the best way forward."

He looked at her with large and hard dark brown eyes, taking in every facet of her appearance and apparent state of mind. "Fill in some of the blanks?" he finally replied after a short moment of pause. "None of you know what's been going on here? Fleet didn't brief you before they sent you in?"

"We knew that we'd lost contact. We also knew another ship had come to find out what was going on, but we lost contact with them too," Blake admitted quietly, shaking her head with a frown. "We speculated on your proximity to Tholian space, but...well...some of us couldn't find the motive for them to come this far out of their own territory to hassle a peaceful colony," she searched his eyes, her head tilting slightly as she considered the predicament...and the stone creature's reaction to the Tholian image. "But since arriving...it's safe to say that I think there's a lot more going on here than we first thought...."

Duke listened while beads of tropical sweat nonchalantly dripped down his forehead and temples. After he listened to Blake's briefing from her Starfleet perspective, he turned his eyes away from her and toward the distant horizon. "Shit.... The Tholians are the least of your problems," he simply replied with cryptic worlds. "But from the looks of it," he pointed to the beached Waverider, "you probably figured that out already."

Blake nodded curtly, a slight sigh escaping as she folded her arms tightly, leaning in slightly to him. "We just managed to escape from what seemed like a large silicon based, crystal...creature. Huge, could destroy the ground it moved through, dripping magma. Sound familiar?"

He raised his cigar to his mouth and took a few puffs before looking back to Blake. "Diablo. That's what we call it," he answered in a somber tone. "Took out half of our colony. Over two thousand of us..." There was another short pause accompanied by more cigar smoke. "Our eggheads tell us it's something else. Similar biological sequencing to the Tholians but different, or something like that. We don't know what it is but our mere presence seems to piss it off."

That piqued Marisa's attention. She wanted to talk to their 'eggheads' about the bio-silicate creature.

"Don't take it personally...it wasn't too fond of us either," Blake assured drily, motioning for the rest of her team to come in closer to them. A lot of the pieces were still missing, but at least now they were working on the same puzzle. "I'm so sorry for your loss. If we can be of use to you, we want to help. This is Lieutenant Shizn, our pilot, Lieutenant Rice, from security..." she motioned lightly with each team member's introduction. "Lieutenant Sandoval, our Chief Science Officer, and Petty Officers T'Lin and Steele from her team. The great thing about being nebula-chases..." she added with a wry note to her tone, but also a small, good natured smile. "...is that it makes them very talented scientists. Perhaps if they could meet with your own science team, they could be of assistance?"

Duke and his surrounding team glanced at each of the Starfleet personnel as they were introduced, but to little fanfare. Most of the native security team barely held eye contact with the Galileo crew, and all of them stayed quiet. Duke narrowed his eyes while he contemplated the request. "Maybe. But right now we have bigger problems back at the new site. And the boss is sure as hell gonna want to see you at HQ." The large man again puffed slowly on his cigar then gestured to the entire Starfleet team. "All of you."

"It's ten clicks back to base on foot and you don't want to get caught out in the daytime heat in these jungles. Trust me," he continued. Duke's attention now turned to the Waverider which would inevitably be left behind. "We'll get your shuttle towed back to base but we need to move," Duke instructed.

Shizn wasn’t getting very good feelings from this group of colonists. They appeared fearful or at least watchful. He wondered, And why would their ‘boss’ need to see all of them? Why not just the command team?. Maybe it was the heat affecting Tris’ judgement. This heat was definitely putting a strain on his cooling suit. In this place, without it, he would probably die within a couple hours.

“Sir?” Shizn interrupted, “Permission to stay behind and monitor the recovery of the shuttle.”

Blake gave a slight shake of her head to decline the request, but kept a small, measured smile on her features as she glanced to Shizn. "I'm sure Duke's people will take good care of her. Let's all head to HQ and then we can work out our strategies going forward from there," in truth, she didn't want them to split up and leave a team member isolated. She looked back to Duke, nodding firmly, hands clasped behind her back as she squared her shoulders. "We're ready when you are."

Tris really didn't like that answer, but just smiled and nodded confirmation. This all seemed a bit too controlling for him.

Marisa wasn't so sure. Ten clicks? Why not wait for the heat to pass and then head out? And why were they even here now? She glanced at Tris, concerned for the Andorian in this heat.

Steele just grabbed a couple of the lighter items in that way that someone who was dead tired but knew there was a trudge still ahead. All he wanted right now was a place to flop and sleep for like a thousand years.

T'Lin regarded the man named who had said his name was Duke. She looked up at that sky and raised an eyebrow. She then regarded the Andorian and said, "I am used to heat even if it is more humid than my home world. If you get overheated lean on me." She held up a hand, "If the tables were turned and we were on a cold place I would ask the same. We cannot afford any further injuries or medical problems." She picked up some supplies and then looked to Blake giving a small nod that she was ready.

Pulling his cigar from his lips and replacing it with two fingers, Duke exhaled a piercing whistle then waved his hand in the air in a circle. All of his security team looked to attention then started to fall out into formation surrounding the away team. Together, the group of Starfleet colonists and Galileo scientists began a long march into the thick tropical jungle.

Marisa had just enough time to make sure her samples were secure, grab the most important gear, and head out.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

LT Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Tris Shizn
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO2 T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

PO3 Peregrine Steele
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[NPC Warraquim]

Duke
Colony Security Chief
Latari B III
[PNPC Saalm]

Other Colonists
Latari B III
[NPC Saalm]

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