Man hunt

Posted on Mon Dec 31, 2018 @ 12:04pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro

1,317 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Pangaea Colony
Timeline: MD02 0800

::ON::

The morning after the aborted Grand opening found Annora organizing the search of the camp for any more clues to the location or identity of the saboteur. Marines had secured the site during the night, and now the sun had risen, it was time to take a good look. Security teams were working their away around the Marine's perimeter, ready to close in on the center. If the saboteur was still there, there would be nowhere left to run.

The lead Marine snapped to attention as Annora approached for an update. "Morning ma'am. It's been a quiet night, but per orders we haven't moved beyond the perimeter."

"At ease Sergeant." Annora said as she handed him a data Padd.

"Glad for your help. We'll keep most your troops on the perimeter as a precaution but I could use a handful to shore up the search teams. We'll start from the Eastern and Western sides and slowly push in. Kind of like policing the area, but instead of trash we're looking for clues regarding the sabotage."

Reading over the information, the Marine handed back the Padd. "Sounds like a viable plan. Anything in particular we're looking for?"

That was a question Annora and her staff had given plenty of thought. What do you search for when you don't know what you're searching for? "Any signs of further break-ins would be a start. Will help us know if the generator was the only target or not. Much of the compound has yet to be opened, so indications of an inhabitant where there shouldn't be could also be useful. Obviously the standard crime scene rules apply. Fingerprints, footprints, possible trace evidences, anything that seems out of place."

While the Sergeant selected the Marines to join the search and rearranged those on the perimeter, Annora moved to the bottom edge of the Cardassian sector. From there a team fanned out towards the now damaged generator. On the opposite side, the other team was fanned out from the Starfleet living quarters down through the Ferengi sector.

The weather had been kind. It hadn't rained to obscure the tracks, and the late spring on this side of the planet meant the ground had also been soft enough to take prints without being squelchy. But it wasn't the ground that got her attention.

The marks on the side of the Cardassian building were feint, five lightly scored lines, a metre and a bit off the ground, and then another set, on the edge of the roof, just off to the right of the lower set. Each set were stronger at the top, and then trailed off after about thirty centimeters

It didn't take long for the search team to find their first bit of evidence.

"Over here Ma'am! There's something on the Cardassian building."

Eyeing the marks pointed out by the Crewman, Annora tried to make sense of them. If something had indeed climbed up and over the building, it raised a whole new level of concerns.

"Those weren't there before, good eye Seguin. I thought I saw some sort of creature last night at the ceremony, but wasn't sure. Take a scan and send the results to the Xenobiology department, maybe they can shed some light on this. We'll continue moving forward in a staggered pattern to reduce the chances of getting ambushed."

The crewman nodded, and pulled out his tricorder, just as another security officer called out, "Something here!" And pointed Annora at another set of scratches this time barely visible, curving over the lip of the roof of another Cardassian building, south of the first.

The location fit the expected direction of travel; heading south of the generator and away from the main complex. For whatever reason the creature had attacked the generator and then ran off. The reasons were still unknown, as were the creature's origins. Comparing the scratches, they matched those on the previous building.

Measuring the distance between the two locations raised a few eyebrows. "If it jumped from one to the next, it likely has some powerful hind-legs. Let's check the rest of the Cardassian sector before moving inward."

As they moved along the buildings it became obvious. Whatever it was, it was leaping from roof top top roof top. And marks on the building could be tracked back to the point where Annora first glimpsed something the night before.

Going back through the Cardassian quarter, in the southern most cabin, there was deep grooves in the edge of the roof, four sharp dents that had almost torn through the metal. But no foot prints immediately next to the cabin.

It looked as if the creature had landed hard on the cabin's roof. There was no sign of entry into the building, but yet the lack of footprints gave no indication as to where it went from there.

"I don't except to find anything, but let's take a look inside the building just in case. In the meantime run a tricorder sweep of the surrounding area, look for any lifeform readings that don't correlate to the security teams."

Her team spread out, searching for any more signs. The building itself was unremarkable, being used as a storage facility, and there was no obvious sign of disturbance. So they spread out, until a tricorder started glitching. The glitch seemed to get worse in one direction, and they followed it until, some twenty meteres from the building, they found two deep foot prints in the soft grass beyond the main camp..

Each were about thirty centimeteres long, and left and right foot both with four long toes that ended in a claw mark that sank down another three centimeters. Just ahead of the foot prints was a clawed hand print, and between them, half hidden by blades of grass, was a tiny bead like item, hexagonal like a nut for a bolt, with a small hole bored halfway into it. When a tricorder was waved over it, the tricorder glitched for a second again, and then righted itself.

With the creature's path seemingly discovered, the other search team was split in half. The first group was to continue sweeping the compound, just in case there were any more clues. The rest joined Annora's team in pursuing the creature. Placing the bead in an evidence bag, Annora studied the ground in front of her.

"We'll continue to move forward in a staggered formation. Ensure phasers are on heavy stun. Keep your eyes and ears open, tricorders may not be of much use."

The trail moved south, through the ruins of the castle and beyond, stopping a few hundred meters from the eastern edge of the last of the ruins. Here the ground was churned up, A a round pit a few meters wide and the same again deep had been dug into the soft earth.

And it was filled with bones.

The bones were ancient, and humanoid. Some had been fully exposed, but others were sticking from the walls of the pit, other were only slightly exposed, where the body was more in line with the walls. Some were rotted to just fragments, others were larger, and more intact. Long legs and long arms, hip bones and shoulder bones., and claws.

The team stopped short when the grisly sight came into view. Even with weapons, they weren't about to go charging into the nest, or whatever it was. Some of the less experienced team members were visibly grossed out by the carnage. While Annora had faith in the abilities of those under her, this was a bit out of their league. Taking several tricorder scans of the pit, she gave her instructions.

"Let's fall back half the distance to the ruins and set up a perimeter. Once there, I'll inform Commander Soran and Lieutenant Wells of our discovery."

::OFF::


Lt Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer DS5

NPCs by Soran.

 

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