The summit - Planetside Part 2

Posted on Fri Mar 18, 2016 @ 2:19am by Lieutenant Liam Reynolds & Civilian 'Key Holder' Dorian Gabriel & Civilian 'Arrival' Krell Antos & Commander Amia Telamon M.D. & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant JG Zayna Malik & Lieutenant JG Noelle Bennett M.D. & Valkris of the House of Inagh & Qinee & Second Lieutenant Emily Ransom & Maekhav D'Aerrol & Civilian Melvyn Raddon & Civilian Hydel Turvan

2,999 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Pangaea (Wrap up)
Location: Pangaea, northern continent
Timeline: MD 13/1100 - planetside night falling in

ON:

The Tholians had decided to transport themselves, probably on account of needing to ensure whatever protective garb they needed was in place, so as they turned into the ruins suddenly they were confronted with the sight of two large crystalline creatures. Liam shuddered slightly. The way they moved prompted an involuntary response in him. Several more around him also had mixed emotional responses that battered him too, making the experience worse. He shot a look at Noelle, also involuntary.

"Just breathe," Noelle offered to Liam. She was startled too and didn't blame him for reacting as he did, but she was glad she was there to offer support.

Antos watched the crystaline Tholian delegation with wonder.

Liam responded by flashing Noelle the briefest of smiles, then squared his shoulders and stepped forward. "Welcome, Ambassador. I trust you have a comfortable journey?"

The one named Voskene took a step forward on its long, spindly legs, which were encased in environmental gear. "Our shuttle will not lift off. Is this your doing?" Even through the translator everyone could sense the anxiety in the Tholian's voice.

Liam shook his head slowly as he processed that. He could feel confusion rising from everyone around who had heard the alien say that. "No. I don't know anything about it. Let me see if ours has a problem." He used his comm badge to contact the pilot.

“Reynolds to Shuttlecraft. Can you take off again?”

He could hear the pilot mutter at the odd question, but he humored him, and the shuttle was heard to power its engines, except it did not lift up. The engines roared into life twice more before the pilot officially responded.

I don't know how or why, but that's a negative, sir.

Liam swallowed and shared a look of concern with the two security officers the Chief had sent down with them. "We may have a problem." Suddenly there was a large flash of lightening and a rumble in the distance. Liam jumped. He couldn't have timed that any better if he had been looking for dramatic effect.

Annora had been on the station for barely a day when she was tasked to accompany the group heading down to the planet's surface. At the suggestion of the Chief, she had swapped the standard duty uniform for the excursion uniform of an off white robe over pants and short sleeve shirt. The lack of built in holster necessitated an equipment belt to carry weapons, tricorder, and extra power cells. Despite the unknowns, the security officer had to admit it felt good to be back in uniform and ready for whatever dangers may crop up.

"I'm no engineer, but I'm guessing having multiple shuttles stranded on the planet is more than a random coincidence."

Qinee frowned and looked to Nazl. “What kind of readings are you getting?” she asked.

“I don’t know!” her assistant said, holding out the Ferengi tricorder. “I’m a diplomat, not a scientist! We were just supposed to catalogue data to go over later!”

Qinee scowled. “Incompetent,” she muttered, but she wouldn’t do much better than he at deciphering the scientific gibberish. “Can we contact the station? They can send more shuttles.”

Zayna had been quietly holding on to her phaser carbine. She pointed into a safe direction and squeezed the trigger for a single shot which dissipated into the air very rapidly. "Something is absorbing energy out here like a black hole absorbs mass," she said factually. It also confirmed a suspicion she had when looking around, sadly outside of the who fully inadequate words she could not share what she could see.

A quick test of the hand phaser revealed a similar dampening effect to the rifle. It was times like these Annora was glad for her hand to hand combat training. It was also when the stun baton was useful. While Starfleet had moved away from using them on a regular basis, Annora had managed to procure one from the armory. Even in a dampening field it gave you an extra item for self-defense.

"Guess we'll have to deal with any hostiles the old fashioned way. The question is, do we remain here or push on and see what lies ahead?"

"We push on, get to some shelter," Liam stated. "More so in that we now seem to have lost two shuttlecraft." The temperature was dropping suddenly and a mist seemed to be forming as everyone looked in horror in the direction Liam was looking. Both the Federation and Tholian vessels had in fact disappeared. The thunder was back louder.

"Sir, I do not believe this is a random phenomenon," Glinn A'Dan said to Hydel as he reached for his phaser. A quick diagnostic revealed that the weapon was not functional due to a dampening field. "All offensive and transportation devices have been rendered useless," the Cardassian solider stated in a level but alert tone.

"It figures that Starfleet would fall victim to a dampening device," Hydel said, referencing back to the catastrophic losses the Federation encountered against the Breen during the war.

"Knives and pistols it is," Zayna said. She always carried an old fashioned projectile based backup, not exactly protocol, but having dealt with smugglers who used dampening fields to disable weapons she learned to anticipate. "So who is up for a camping trip?" she asked in a cheerful tone. Whatever was going on, there would be a solution, and feeling all doom, gloom, and desperate was not going to help. She did not hint to the fact that if the dampening field would get any worse her eyesight would be taken away, her spine would still operate, but without any boosters for rapid movements.

Sir Mortimer shuddered and wondered what Liam had done with his hypospray, as all of a sudden he felt ill again. His last memories of camping were regimented, involved open fires, canvas, and a forced sense of camaraderie intended to build lifelong friendships between boys. At least now there were other tools at their disposal. A glance at his padd showed that the uplink to the station was dead, though the local signal was functioning, so they could access local information and stay in contact if they did not stray too far. Unfortunately the first article he read was the report from the earlier parties and the follow up report.

"I'm afraid it’s not a dampening field as we know it," he said. "A similar issue was reported by several of the away teams, including those who lost members. Analysis suggests the source, if any, is not within this dimension."

Qinee frowned. “They Fey?” she asked. “I thought they abandoned the planet when they sent it back to this dimension.” The female Ferengi ambassador picked up her skirts as they moved along, not at all dressed for trekking through wilderness or camping, nor was she looking forward to spending the night out in the woods.

"We don't know that for sure," Liam said to Qinee, "But there's a presence here. Its getting stronger. I can sense it."

Zayna turned to Annora, "Mind if I get a fire going at least while talk ghost stories?" she didn't like the idea of non physical life forms, they tended to be hard to restrain, still there was nothing she could do about them so she focused on what she could do.


Annora pulled the baton out of its holster and gripped it in her left hand ready for what might come at them. If it was non corporeal, there wasn't likely to be any defense. If there was a physical being that meant harm, then perhaps a basic show of force may give them second thoughts. Either way, if she was to make her last stand on this mysterious planet; she wasn't about to do so unarmed.

"I'm not in charge, but I agree a fire would be useful."

She looked around at the woods they had entered.
"We should be able to build a simple shelter here. Won't be anything fancy but enough to keep us out of the elements."

"And just how long will we cower inside of a shelter?" Hydel said as he continued to survey the surrounding area that had become enshrined in the growing mist. "We have no contact with your station, nor the shuttles that ferried us down here." He said as he turned his attention towards the Diplomats.

"It was an absolutely BRILLIANT idea for us to trust Starfleet to oversee how well-being on this surface." He said ruefully.

It was then that Ruslaka swept into the clearing, a cluster of imps and sprites clustered about her skirts. Her hair blazed crimson against the darkening sky.

She walked forward, as present and as remote as the manifestation of Eviess had been when the away team encountered her. She stopped right in front of the Cardassian, her nose to his.

"You truly are the most foolish of creatures," she said, "Why did you not heed the Guardian's warning? Does life mean so little to you?"

She turned and regarded the rest of the group - such a strange gathering in her eyes - but they had neglected to include among their number the one person who could save them.

"Sorry, no your wrong" Liam said gently. "Life means everything to us. Who is the guardian? I can't speak for the Ambassador there but we," he indicated the rest of the group who the alien .... the Fae he guessed, didn't seem to be addressing nose to nose, "don't know of a warning." Cade would never have let him down on a planet if they had been warned off it, he knew that much. So he wondered, had the Cardassian Ambassador been up to something on this planet he shouldn't have been.

"Can we speak to this Guardian?" he asked.

Hydel could see out of the corner of his eye, his attache' A'Dan making a quick movement to his defense. He made a slight, but noticeable movement with his left hand, indicating that the Glinn was to stand down, despite the proximity of the Fae.

"Why does your Guardian send you to speak on his behalf? Is he afraid to face us, his peers, directly?" Hydel said, purposely removing the perception of superiority from this unknown entity. "While I'm not certain what 'creatures' your Guardian may deign itself the master of, but I stand here as a representative of the Cardassian Empire. I assure you, we are creatures to no one." He said firmly.

Rusalka tapped her wand on her wrist, "You are a silly, silly creature," she told the Cardassian, "We visited your world millenia ago when you were still skittering under rocks.

"As for the Guardian," she turned her attention to the human, "it made contact with one of your invading parties. I exists only on this plane, among our ancient crypts, and it gave you fair warning. I have a realm to rule, surely you can't expect me to drop everything to attend to your collective education?"

Not one to allow such transgressions to go unnoticed, Hydel responded to the entity. "That's interesting, our history makes no mention of your kind visiting our world. Perhaps you were so uninteresting that you weren't deemed worthy of any significant statement." he said in a patronizing tone.

"Or perhaps we just didn't have enough small children for you to snatch from the protective arms of their mothers." He said daringly in reference to the disappearance of the station Commander's child.

Hydel had studied the initial away team's logs. If the entity before them truly wished to kill them all, then they would be standing face-to-face with the Guardian creature as opposed to the colorful presence before them.

"Ah, my dear creature," as she spoke Rusalka's hand touched his cheek, at least in this dimension. "When we visited your world you simply lacked the intelligence to record our incursion in song or in myth," she chuckled, a light tinkling laugh that suggested razorblades being dropped on knapped flint, "time seems to have taught you little. You are, as I thought, quite unworthy of our gift. Many world's, Bajor, Romulus, Earth, view me as a fickle, fly-by-night thing, but then they had the intelligence to recognize me."

Rusalka smiled. "I have matters to attend to, if any of you should encounter the Guardian, do have the wit to contact my Successor in this plane." She clapped her hands together and at the same time disappeared along with her minions.

"Well Ambassador," Liam said flatly after she disappeared. "Your abilities to make friends never cease to amaze me. Are you going help gather some wood or is it beneath you?" The empath figured as it was getting colder it was the only step forward till they could plan a better one.

As the entity disappeared, Hydel immediately retrieved a handkerchief from A'Dan and used it to wipe away at his face. "Forgive me, Human, but 'pusillanimously' is not a word or belief that Cardassian Diplomats are taught to employ when encountering new life forms." He said as he folded the napkin and placed it in his pouch for further retrieval and analysis.

"If she wanted us dead, then she would've done so already. She has kept us, as well as your Commander's child alive for a reason." He said as he tightened his uniform jacket around his body and began to follow Glinn A'Dan to a nearby clearing.

"We need to focus on what she said: First, where is this 'crypt' she referred to; and Second, who is her 'Successor'. If we plan on getting off of this planet and controlling whatever is rendering our equipment useless, then I suggest we start there." He said.

"I'm half human," Liam informed him. "And if you want to go off gallivanting looking for a crypt, with darkness falling. Be my guest. I'm turning boy scout. Get everyone warm, get everyone fed, have a chat about what the alien who's planet we are now trespassing on said and then scout out further. If she wanted us immediately off the planet they would just turn off whatever is rendering our equipment useless and let us leave don't you think?"

"I think you should listen to her," it was Eviess who said that. "I guess mummy is too busy to come," she added as she moved a little closer to Liam. "I don't like Cardassians, they hurt mummy," she added earnestly.

A moment later the girl skipped over to the Ferengi. "I've not seen you before. I do like your dress though," she told Quinee.

"Hello child, how are you?" Melvyn Raddon said, taking a timid step towards the small Romulan child. "How long have you been watching us?" He asked. The Elder Human reasoned that it was no coincidence that the Fae would appear and then immediately thereafter, the Romulan's daughter would approach the stranded crew as well.

From afar, Dorian watched with slight hesitation as his employer approached the girl.

Liam didn't get a chance to reassure the child that no Cardassians would be hurting her as she was immediately off in Qinee's direction before he could process her sudden appearance. Slowly, keeping his eyes on the now exchange with Raddon, he walked over to Noelle. "The Captain's daughter?" he asked his voice low. He had read the report but never actually had the chance to meet either the Captain or her little girl yet.

Noelle didn't take her eyes off the little girl as she answered, "It appears so. I never actually met her, but I've seen her image before in the holo-photos. I wish the Captain could see her," Noelle added. As much as she hated being stranded with these sniping delegates, at least she could add her voice to those who offered assurance to the Captain her daughter was okay, if out of reach. Had she not witnessed the appearance of the Faes herself, she never would've believe such a thing was possible.

"She's here but not here. She feels so far away. So sad. So faint. I can barely read her. I got more off the Fae although that was a rather surreal feeling. Are you taking scans?" he whispered to Amia. Actually with all the other stuff he had no clue if her tricorder was working or not.

Amia shook her head. "Nothing works" she muttered. "Body language is all I can read at this point and I am not recognising what I used to see from Eviess... but then if she's scared and not in a situation she understands, then she wouldn't be her normal confident, happy little self, so it doesn't really tell us much either. I'm sorry."

Zayna shook her head at all the things that went above her head, magic was something for the books and whatever took place here surely had an explanation, but she was not the person to figure that all out. So she walked off a little bit to some fallen branches and things to use as kindle. As she did so her mind wandered off a little thinking about the arguments she had often heard at home between the many people that visited it.

Liam followed suit, "Come on folks, let's get a fire going and work out our next move."

OFF:

Lieutenant Liam Reynolds
CDO, DS5

Hydel Turvan
Cardassian Ambassador
Cardassian Empire

Melvyn Raddon
Chief Executive Officer
Raddon Corporation

Dorian Gabriel
Lead Security Officer
Raddon Corporation

Vedek Krell Antos
Ambassador
Bajoran Republic

Maekhav D'Aerrol
Romulan Ambassador

Voskene
Tholian Ambassador

Sir Mortimer Praxis GCB, KBE, MVO, MA (Oxon)
Senior Diplomatic Advisor
NPC by Louise

Ambassador Toq Qua'lon
NPC by Louise

Valkris of the House of Inagh
NPC by Louise

Eviess
NPC by Louise

Lieutenant Jg. Zayna Malik
Security Officer, DS5

Lt Jg. Annora Tessaro
Assistant Chief Security Officer

Lt Cmdr Amia Telamon
CMO, DS5

Lieutenant (JG) Noelle Bennett, M.D.
Chief Counselor, DS5

 

RSS Feed