Planetfall

Posted on Sat Mar 9th, 2024 @ 10:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Kevin Lance & Captain Mira Rodale & Lieutenant Commander Tourik Murphy & Lieutenant Awal Kronnelti & Lieutenant T'Pralik
Edited on on Tue Mar 12th, 2024 @ 4:35am

Mission: Thunderdome
Location: Paarth Elion Three
Timeline: Current

on:
{A deserted canyon}

Kevin and the rest of the away team materialized in the remote canyon that the ship had identified. The night was chilly and he immediately regretted not having picked a heavy jacket like so many of the rest of the away team had.

Tourik instantly removed his tricorder from his back pocket and started to scan the immediate area. “Nitrogen-Oxygen atmosphere.” He read quietly from the small screen, his Irish twang audible to all. “74% Nitrogen, 23% Oxygen, perfectly safe and breathable. There are some high levels of carbon dioxide in the air, but nothing too harmful.”

Mira nodded at the information "Ok we can live with that."

Kronnelti walked up to Kevin and reported the canyon was secure and that their arrival on the planet had not drawn any attention.

The canyon was bathed in the half-light of Paarth Elion Three's two moons but it was hard to see much beyond ten meters. "Cover the lanterns," he ordered, "We'll wait here for thirty minutes to let our eyes adjust to the dark."

Kevin conferred with Mira and Kronnelti, "We have about three and a half hours until dawn and ten kilometers to cover. I don't want to make contact with the science team or whatever is in their encampment prior to first light. Too much chance for confusion. We should be able to easily cover the distance to the encampment before dawn but we will wait until an hour after dawn to try to make contact."

Mira nodded as she pulled out some water from her pack. and took a sip. She had packed protein bars, water purifying tables, and a second lighter jacket. With the amount of extra weight the gene therapy had put on her, she was actually to warm.

Dropping her pack, she started to change into the smaller leather jacket that had come with her clothes.

"You're not going to wear that?" Kevin asked her.

Mira shook her head. "With my other clothes, it's too warm. Why do you want it?" it was huge and would fit him well.

She flipped her long, straight black hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her way. "I have no idea what we should do if these scientists have decided to go native on us." She handed Kevin the water.

Kevin donned the coat, leaving it open at the front, and took a drink from the proffered canteen. "The had also gone through gene therapy but we have still images of them as they look," he pulled several photographs from the cargo pocket in his pants. They had been artificially aged but the images of the scientists were clear, "They might have gone native but it would have been a quick transition. Lieutenant T'Parlik reviewed their reports and said that there was no change in behavior that would indicate such a move."

Kronnelti went 10 feet but within view of everyone, he took out a trencher and started digging a foxhole to get comfy, he then added some dead branches and other natural surroundings. Kronnelti then told Mira and the others to do the same.

The ground isn't hard but not too soft, Mira thought that was a good idea and that way everyone can implement a buddy system.

T'Pralik made her way to a small bush, where she sat down, and tried to expel the negative thoughts swimming in her head. (Hopefully) out of earshot of everyone else, she muttered to herself "Slow in 1 2 3 4…. Hold 1 2 3 4… Slow out 1 2 3 4… Hold 1 2 3 4.", taking deep breaths, trying to slow her racing heartbeat.

Gazing around, she saw that the sky was fairly similar to that on earth, with a myriad of stars draped like a spider’s web. The canyon was comprised of fairly reddish rock, with occasional bushes. The cliffs on either side rose around 30 meters, and stretched around a kilometer in either direction. In the far distance to the south, she could see the beginnings of a massive jungle.

Tourik moved close to T’Pralik and took a seat next to her. He didn’t know the young officer yet, but they shared a commonality. “I sense that you are troubled.” He whispered and then smiled. Usually people were unnerved seeing a smiling Vulcan, but T’Pralik didn’t appear to be unsettled about it. She must have been aware of his mixed heritage. “We can speak more when we are back on the ship if you wish.” He smiled again before getting back to his feet and moving away from the woman.

After digging in the ground for what Kevin thought was 30 minutes and his eyes adjusting to see further in the moonlit distance, he called for the away team to move out in the direction of the science encampment. He half expected whines about having to leave their freshly dug fighting positions but no complaints were issued from the team.

"Kronnelti, you take point," Kevin ordered, "Lockhart, bring up the rear and ensure that we don't have stragglers. I don't think that we need complete silence but let's do our best not to announce ourselves. Move out."

{Science Encampment}

Several hours later, with the the sun one hand above the distance horizon, Kevin peered through a replicated pair of Paarthian binoculars. They were very basic, lacking automatic focusing, range finder, extended spectrum and zoom capabilities but the did their function of allowing he to scan the area without exposing himself.

The canyon had open out onto a plain dotted occasionally with large clumps of jungle growth. It was curious and Kevin wondered if the jungle had been cut back for agriculture or the jungle areas had been planted on purpose. Either way, the science encampment was much as it had looked on the schematic, situated at the base of a hill, surrounded by cultivated fields.

The encampment itself looked deserted but there were tell-tale signs of a battle. Here and there, a body was sprawled on the ground and several of the smaller buildings showed signs of having been burnt. Crops in the field were starting to wilt due to a lack of irrigation. A damaged windmill, missing several blades, hung limp and lifeless to one side.

Kevin passed the binoculars to Kronnelti, who handed them to Mira. The rest of the away team was several hundred meters back down the hill. "Looks like nobody's home," he said.

"Son of a targ. Let's count bodies and see if we can figure out what happened. if some are alive, we can try and find them." Mira told them.

Kevin turned and waved the rest of the away team forward, then slowly they all made their way down to the encampment.

Looking at the scattered bodies Kronnelti noticed the injuries, captain come look at this body as he knelt down. Mira comes over and kneels down he points to several spots on the body, I know who made these he said. Remember how the green person faught on the holodeck he asked, it looks like they came threw.

Mira nodded "You are probably right."

He goes over to Lt commander Lance, this is the doing of the green people, we need to be cautious.

I've taken them on in the holodeck and alone we wouldn't survive but if we work together we can take them he said.

off:

Lieutenant Commander Kevin Lance
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant Commander Tourik Murphy
Chief Science Officer
USS Chuck Norris

and

Commander Mira Rodale
CO
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant T'Pralik
Counsellor
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant Awal Kronnelti
Chief of security and tactical
USS Chuck Norris