Into Darkness

Posted on Sun Mar 31st, 2024 @ 4:40pm by Lieutenant Tracey Walker Jr & Captain Mira Rodale & Lieutenant Betaras K'ner

Mission: Amir II
Location: Amir II
Timeline: Current

Off:

Couple things to frame it up. Geneva would be an expert in xenobiology so she would be familiar with flora and fauna. She's my NPC but anyone can write for her. I model her after a clean version of Deadpool's girlfriend/wife. Ultimately I want her and Trace to be intimate but for now they're dancing around it.

Here is the team:

Ensign Daisy Reynolds-Orion-Science Department specializing in Planetary Geophysics

Crewman John Chapman-Human-Security Department specializing in Small Group Tactics

Crewman T’Valik-Vulcan-Security Department specializing in Crowd Control

Ensign Geneva Thorne - Human - Science Department specializing in Xenobiology


On:

[ Amir II, Transporter Site ]

The group materialized in a field, sharp mountain peaks jutting out of the grassland to their East and West. Cold air blowing down from the mountains assailed them, causing everyone to pull their jackets tighter around them.

Crewman Chapman glanced around, his phaser rifle at the ready but Geneva chuckled and told him to lower his weapon.

"Nothing in this biome that will kill us, Crewman, stand down." She said.

He muttered something under his breath and then said, "Why couldn't we just beam into the ruins?"

Ensign Reynolds spoke up. "It's the composition of the rocks in the mountains, interferes with transporter signals. It's why these ruins haven't been explored yet." She said, her tricorder logging readings.

Trace approached the trio. "All right, listen up. All we know about these ruins is that they're old, and Romulan. Beyond that, we have to expect that whatever in there is well-protected, so let's just move slow and steady. It should take us the better part of a day to reach the ruins. Move out."

A few moments after the team beamed down, Ensign Chin beamed down. He was relieved to see he had chosen the right equipment and clothing.

"Sorry sir Lt. Commander Montgomery said you needed a linguist specialist. I sent a message about the two you had to choose from. It was unread. It was either myself or Zimia, and she didn't want to go so....." He left off with that. "I know Romulan and many others." Chin buttoned the last few buttons on his jacket and put both straps of his backpack on his shoulders.

"Welcome to the team," Trace said smoothly. "Move out," he repeated.


[ The Ruins ]

It took them most of the day to reach the vicinity of the ruins, and as the sun was setting, Trace bade them make camp. "We're close, but we'll need daylight to safely navigate the upper levels of the ruins. Let's take a break here and resume in the morning." He knew that he alone could continue, but doing so with a group of people who had never done this before was folly."

As they gathered around the fire, Geneva approached him. She sat quietly next to him for several minutes, then finally spoke.

"So wanna tell me why you chose another Science officer to come on this mission?" She asked.

Trace was silent for several moments, then said "I didn't need the distraction... besides, I thought you'd be tied up with your new boyfriend."

She was stunned for several seconds before her mind pieced things together. "You saw me and the Risan from Science." She said, noncommittally.

"Not the point." He said. "You... I find it hard to concentrate when you're near me." He said. "I need to focus on this mission and you interfere with that."

"Do I?" She asked, coyly.

"Yes, now it would be best if we avoided each other..." He started to say but she cut him off.

"We're not together," she said, "Me and the Risan. He's interested, don't get me wrong, but..." She trailed off.

"But what?" he inquired.

"But he's not you. There, you happy?" She huffed.

"Yes." He said simply.


[ Nearby the camp ]

Daisy was scanning some formations in the area when T'Valik stepped up next to her.

"You should not be wandering from camp without an escort." The Vulcan's syncopated speech made Daisy giggle, as always.

"Really? There's no one out here. It's an unoccupied celestial body." She tried to insert some of her larger vocabulary.

The Vulcan gazed about looking at his own tricorder. "Unoccupied by people perhaps, but there are a large number of biologics, animals as well as flora, that could prove... troublesome. Hence, the security personnel on this away team."

T'Valik showed her his tricorder display. "If you will notice, there are two smaller specimens here.. and here. They conform to the designation of mgallens. A rat-like creature barely bigger than my closed fist but capable of high bursts of speed for short distances and can leap at least a meter or more. It is apparently not known for being aggressive, but if surprised, it can deliver a rending bite in its attempt to escape. Its saliva has a chemical compound that prevents clotting and you could lose significant blood volume before you realize, then you would be at risk of reduced faculties, weakness, and even bleed out and expire if you cannot apply the proper first aid to yourself in time."

Daisy examined the lecturing Vulcan who seemed quite read up on the local indigenous creatures.

Holding out her hand, "Hi. I'm Daisy... Reynolds. I specialize in Planetary Geophysics for this trip."

She waited expectantly, pausing for the Vulcan to realize a social cue.

He finally realized she wasn't going to comment on his information and tried to keep the frustrated look off his face as he nodded once. "Crewman Dot T'Valik, Security Dept. USS Chuck Norris."

Daisy managed to stifle another giggle, knowing the Vulcan wouldn't appreciate it. "Dot?"

"No, Dot."

"Dot..."

"No... it's pronounced Daut..."

"Dawt..."

"No... Dot... perhaps we should refrain from first names and stick to family names only."

Daisy pouted. "I can say Daut, just give me a minute. It's a little different, like you. But I'll try to get it right."

The Vulcan accepted the compromise and returned to scanning the countryside.

Daisy watched him for a few moments more, then returned to her own scans. The mix of compounds here were interesting. She wasn't sure if the site was selected for the unique composition, or the result of something the ancients did. It would be exciting to find out...


{Back at camp}

Chin sat by the fire. He had gone camping one other time with the captain. Well, she wasn't the captain then. She was the chief of operations. Her skills had amazed him.

Chin was able to put his tent up just like she had shown him, but his gear was almost unused. Showing he hadn't done this too often.

He took out his PADD from what he read. A group of Romulans and Remans had come here to start a new life just out of Romulus shadows. It was thought they had all been telepathic. Once here, they found out another race had been here before them but disappeared. Then the Romulans dissappear as well. He was hoping that the history was written some place and they didn't suffer the same fate.

Before long, the party had retired for the evening, and slept through the night with little incident, the two security guards, Trace and Chin taking turns at watch.

Trace woke in the morning to the smell of camp breakfast, eggs and bacon, with a little something extra he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Morning," said Daisy, as he exited his tent and followed the smell of food.

Trace froze at the odd bits of color mixed into the eggs. "What's that." He said, pointing to the bright purple flecks.

"A local plant." She said, "Thought it would add a unique flavor."

"You didn't eat any of it did you?" Trace asked. Geneva appeared next to him.

"I did," Said Chapman, just as his eyes rolled up in the back of his head and fell to the earth, foam forming at his lips.

"Shit." Geneva said, grabbing her Tricorder and med kit. "You never eat the local flora without scanning in thoroughly and trying it in small amounts." She muttered, quickly locating the proper antitoxin and injecting it into Chapman.

After the excitement of the morning died down, Trace issued new orders that only food they had brought with them could be eaten, and the broke camp and prepared to head inside.

Chapman had made a full recovery and took point as they formed up at one of the entrances. According to Daisy's scans, most of the ruins were subterranean, but the composition of the rock could be leading to erroneous readings, she clarified.

Moving slowly, they descended the ancient stairs down into the darkness, wrist lamps their only source of light. Trace had explained how to walk in ruins like these, heel then toe, and slowly, giving one a greater chance to avoid traps. Based on his experience, they needed to go down a bit before they would find anything significant, but he'd been wrong before.

Daisy kept an eye on the security guy. She hadn't meant any harm but she felt pretty stupid for the lack of protocol and chastised herself more than the others. She wanted to apologize to him but she didn't want to make the situation any more awkward and decided to just be more careful... and make sure he didn't have any more symptoms.

Trace pulled up sharp at the intricately carved wall, his wrist lamp passing over the reliefs with fascination. "There's a story here," he said, bringing all his experience with ancient pictographs to bear. "Romulans, ancient, discovering this place. They found something here, something powerful. See this?" He said, pointing to an object with lines indicating radiance coming off it. The panel next to it showed the same figure, glowing, with lines coming out of his head, and another figure in front of him on his knees.

Geneva was behind him, "What does it mean? It looks like the one that found the object is...controlling? the one on his knees. I've never heard of anything like this in Romulan history."

"It wouldn't be in Romulan history. If what little they have on this ruins is true the group of Romulans and Remans that came here were shunned for being telepathic. " Chin wondered " Perhaps that was the beams are coming out the guys head?"

Trace nodded sagely. "We need to look for corroborating writing. Pictographs alone are highly interpretable, so we need a lead. Let's keep looking."

Chin nodded making sure to make of everything as they went.

Chapman and T'Valik set up on either side of the group, looking up and around for their own concerns, namely security. Meanhile Daisy lifted her tricorder... reading... adjust... reading... adjust. It would take a little time to get a good baseline in here to really tell what's going on, but she was patient.

The group descended another set of stairs into a narrow corridor, which led what looked like a large antechamber. The silence was split by a shriek, then another and another.

"Heads up people, we have company." Trace said, drawing his phaser.

T'Valik and Chapman took a knee, covering overlapping fields of fire but the muted lighting hampered any visuals at the moment. T'Valik used one hand on his scanner, "Multiple biologics. The interference is making it difficult to get exact data."

Reynolds held her phaser with both hands, trying not to point it at anyone by accident.

Chin froze Multiple biologics? he was told that people didn't live here. It could be animals. If they were, then the fact they were comeing to the group meant they were not afraid. They could be hungry. Maybe they should have saved what Daisy made this morning to kill them.

Off:

Lieutenant Tracey Walker
Chief Engineer
USS Chuck Norris

Captain Mira Rodale
Commanding Officer
USS Chuck Norris

Lieutenant Betaras K'Ner
Chief Medical Officer
USS Chuck Norris

Commander Kevin Lance
XO
USS Chuck Norris