Is There Anyone at Home (Away Team 1) - Part 1

Posted on Fri Nov 27, 2015 @ 3:35pm by Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant JG Rhe'la Daughter of the Forty-ninth House & Lieutenant JG Leonora Dell
Edited on on Fri Nov 27, 2015 @ 3:37pm

1,901 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Pangaea (Wrap up)
Location: Pangea Primary Survey Site (Abandoned Settlement)
Timeline: MD 4/1200

ON

Caleb strode onto the USS Delorane and unslung his hardpack, stowing it in a locker. He was a bit early, he knew. He walked to the back cargo area and checked with the loadmaster. The prefab buildings and other supplies he had requisitioned for the away mission to the planet were nearly loaded and would be finished in the next fifteen minutes. Caleb checked the armory locker next, making sure all the phasers and rifles were fully charged, as well as the explosives, if they would be needed. Finally, he headed for the bridge and began running through the preflight.

Leonora Dell, now very happily not the head of operations, arrived, a heavy duffel bag slung over one shoulder and pulling a large rolling case of equipment behind her arrived and stowed her gear before reporting to the commander. "Is it just me?"

“No, we have a full team,” Caleb told her, looking up at the younger brunette that had formerly been heading Operations. “They should be here soon.” He checked the chrono. “We’re a bit early yet.” He finished the preflight and got up from his seat. “Any luck on the transporter interference?” he asked. He knew it might be a longshot, working from up here in orbit, but one could hope. They likely would need to be planetside to get good readings on what was causing the interference.

Before Dell could answer, Rhe'la came out of nowhere tapping frantically at a padd. "That would be a negative on the transporters, sir. If I can't get a clear comm link through this mess, I'm certainly not going to let anyone try to beam through it. Though I suppose they wouldn't feel any pain. Their molecules would just scatter when the annular confinement beam collapsed." At that she looked up from her work, blinked, and shook her head. "Wow... that was morbid. Sorry, sir, I don't know where that came from."

Caleb gave a wry smile. “That is quite alright, Ensign,” he said. “Ah’m quite sure we’ve all had those thoughts the first few times we stepped on a transporter.” He chuckled. “Ah know mah parents still prefer taking a shuttle when they go visit mah brother in New York rather than just driving to Dallas for a quick transporter across the country.”

Caleb returned his attention to the console for a moment to double check that the flight status was ready and the navigation coordinates were entered correctly. “Looks like we’re just waitin’ on Ensign Mahelona then,” he said. “And then we can get this rodeo on the road.”

"I'm here!" Kaliko said hearing her name. She had her tool kit in her hand. "I'm sorry, sir, I just wanted to double check that none archaeological tools were missed. Everything seems to be in order." Kaliko smiled. She had double and triple checked all the gear they would need against the lists and plans she had made and she was confident she had all the science team needed.

Calling up the cargo manifest, Rhe'la nodded when she saw everything had been loaded. "Shelters are stowed and all of my gear is ready to go. Now if I could just get a stable signal through that mess in the atmosphere we'd be in good shape.

"On that note, I'd like to attempt to set up a subspace amplifier once we get the shelters set up. That might make it possible to communicate with our teams on the surface. If I can't get around the interference, I'll brute force us through it."

“Sounds like a plan, Ensign,” Caleb said. “Initiating thrusters,” he warned, so they could secure themselves. The ship gave a slight vibration as they lifted off the deck. Caleb eased the throttle up and pushed the ship out through the force field of the launch bay.

Pangea loomed quickly below them. Caleb set the ship to take in a low angle orbit, aiming for the solar terminator. “Our target zone is a set of ancient ruins on the large northern continent,” he told them. “Ah’ve timed it so that we should arrive just after sunrise, givin’ us maximum daylight. It should also be summer in that hemisphere. It is a temperate zone, so it might be a tad warm an’ humid, but the weather is stable for the next couple days.”

As they broke atmosphere, Caleb eased the nose of the ship down. They zoomed in over a high mountain range and then over stands of old growth forest. “Look at those life signs,” Caleb said with a whistle.

Up ahead there was a break in the trees. What appeared to be a broken tower rose above the tree line, claimed by vines and other climbing plants. Caleb eased the ship down into what appeared to be a large courtyard surrounded by rubble and broken walls sitting on a slight escarpment of land. Small ruined buildings were scattered about the bailey.

“Ensign Kaliko,” Caleb said, “this looks to be a kind of…castle or fortified dwelling. The rest of the ruins stretch out down the escarpment an’ inta the forest,” he explained, though everyone had the mission briefing on the chosen site.

As the ship settled down and Caleb started to shut down the engines, he said, “We’ll set up the prefabs here in the bailey. It’s high ground an’ will be the most protected. We’re a small team, an’ Ah didn’t bring any babysitters, so if you’re goin’ off alone outside the walls, tell me. Ah’ll try ta be available ta come. Otherwise Ah want check ins every twenty minutes, complete with GPS coordinates. Priority should be gettin’ that comm up an’ runnin’,” he told Ensign Rhe’la.

The Zarnac was already checking the sensors, which were working a bit better now that they were on the surface. "Despite all outward appearances, that tower seems to be fairly stable. Given the height, it's the best spot for the amplifier."

Just then the hatch opened and a gust of warm air filled the cabin. It was the first non-recycled air Rhe'la had felt since she was on Andor a few months ago, but this was noticeably warmer. She thought it comfortable (though moist), but her human companions would probably find it a bit much. That was a completely secondary matter, though. "I can set up the equipment solo, but it'll probably take a second set of hands to haul everything up the tower."

Caleb nodded. “That’ll be first priority then,” he said, stepping out. He jumped up on one of the lower sections of wall to stare out. Below them, among the thick trees that had reclaimed the remains of what looked like the castle’s outer village, a thick morning mist still clung. It was already being burned away by the rising sun, and it was already getting quite warm.

“Ah think it’ll be a scorcher today,” Caleb commented, shielding his eyes as he looked across the forest. It reminded him dimly of the thick, dark trees of southern Germany’s Black Forest where he’d done some of his wilderness training. Fitting, he thought, for creatures supposedly out of fairy tales.

Leonora jumped out and came back from the cargo door with the portable fusion generators on one anti-grav cart and the stack of self-assembling prefabs on another. "If we install the generators and get the shelters up we can use the dollies to get the comms array up the tower. They're rated for that height. It will take them about five minutes to get up there though."

Caleb turned back to look at his team. “Sounds like a plan,” he said, jumping down from the wall. He got only a twinge from his bad leg, took one limping step, and then was fine. He headed up into the ship again to grab another cart of their supplies and haul it out. “If we get the shelters up, we’ll have somewhere out of the sun, too, for later. Keep hydrated,” he warned the team, buckling on one of the spare tool belts he would need for the shelters. “Since Ah’m the least qualified of us all, Ah’ll do the grunt work,” he volunteered with a chuckle, dragging one of the prefab structure carts over toward another large, open area in the bailey.

Kaliko couldn't help but take in the surroundings and she took in a breath of the warm, humid air. Except for the forest surrounding them she felt like she was back on Hawaii on a winter day. She looked at the ruins of the castle and couldn't wait to explore, but there was work that needed to be done first so the exploration would have to wait. With a sigh, she set to work.

"The temperature could stand to be a bit warmer, and I could certainly do without the humidity. I don't want to think about what might start growing under my scales," Rhe'la remarked to nobody in particular. An alien planet of unknown origin crawling with who knows what sorts of exotic mold and fungus? She'd be spending some time in decon no matter what after they got back to the station.

The ruins showed the remains of a many chambered dwelling. There was one room at the center, a large, rectangular area with a veritable labyrinth of other chambers spinning off from it in all sizes, leading out from each long end into two spiral arms. All the walls were worn down to stones no higher than their calves, and fallen masonry was scattered in the center of each. The stonework was shot with a transparent mineral, leaving thick forking veins in dark blue and brown.

Leonora Dell chose a room towards the end of the southern spiral of rooms and levered the fusion generators into place and started hooking them up. "Ensign? Can you give me a hand? I just need someone to watch the rads while I boot these babies."

Caleb grunted as he lifted sections of the prefab, placing down the floor pieces and then snapping walls into place and securing them. They were fairly simple to construct, reminding him of the building blocks he would play with as a child. He worked first on setting up the laboratory where they could unload the scientific equipment to be in safe, secure cover. Since they weren’t planning on staying here, he would put up the dwellings last.

Meanwhile, Rhe'la getting ready for her ascent of the tower. The subspace amplifier was a fairly large piece of equipment, but it broke down into several man-portable pieces. Slinging a strap over each shoulder and taking a third in her hand, leaving one hand free to steady herself, she turned toward the others. "I'm going to start heading up. But first..."

She fished into her belt and produced the emergency transporter beacons she'd brought along. "Each of you take one. If you get separated, hit that button and the Deloraine's transporter will lock on and beam you back. Just... try to stick close to camp until I get this interference sorted. Just in case..."

Caleb nodded. “Be careful,” he said. “Call if ya need assistance. Check in every twenty.” He took the transponder and clipped it to his belt.

To be continued ...

 

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