Strangers in the Grass, Part 1

Posted on Mon Dec 5, 2016 @ 1:51pm by Lieutenant Daniel Rivera & Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Caleb Ryan & Commander Amia Telamon M.D. & Lieutenant Mikaela Locke & Lieutenant Liam Reynolds & Lieutenant JG Rhe'la Daughter of the Forty-ninth House & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant JG Noelle Bennett M.D. & Lieutenant JG Leonora Dell & Lieutenant JG Jason Fisher & Civilian Opal Oliver (Deceased) Dr

3,419 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: Pangaea Portal complex/Cavern 14
Timeline: MD01 1000

[ON]

This was to be the first deliberate trip through the mysterious portals of the Fae, after the first unplanned adventures the previous month. Now the assembled away team was waiting as the small craft that had left DS5 headed down to the guarded landing site for the cavern. With no idea of what they may be facing on the other side, a broad team had been assembled. They could be facing fantastic technology, or a primeval landscape, first contact, or familiar faces. Given the infinite possibilities represented by the caverns, the team was large and diverse.

Leonora Dell was piloting the runabout through the last stages of its descent, watching the sensors with one eye, in case the strange caverns made any sort of strange movements before they were safe on solid ground. After a few moments of wary watching they touched down, and she opened the doors. "All stop. Everyone can disembark." She completed the shutdown sequence and went to pick up her own equipment.

Caleb checked his sidearm, making sure the power cell was fully charged. He did the same with his rifle, and then stowed the rifle in a nondescript case attached to his hardpack. He wanted the extra firepower just in case, but wanted to appear non-threatening if they made peaceful contact. He added several extra power cells and a fusion charger as well as field rations and other survival gear they might need. As an afterthought, he tossed in a few phase grenades and an extra canteen. Be prepared, his Scout troop had always told him.

Liam disembarked as ordered from the shuttle and shuddered slightly. This planet gave him the creeps. Especially after the talking statues and almost getting maimed by an insectoid race last time around. The Fae were so different, so totally alien from anything he knew that was disconcerting also. "I hope we are not going to need all that," he muttered to the security chief, who seemed to have enough gear for a one man war if it came to it. Secretly, though, if they saw that species again, he was pleased to have Caleb in the group.

“Ah hope so too,” Caleb told Liam. He was keeping most of it out of sight, with just the required sidearm visible. Hopefully that would be all they need. He did slip a combat knife into his boot, though.

While her CO had opted to keep most of his armament hidden, Annora wasn't quite as covert. If they encountered trouble, she wanted easy access to her weaponry. Her equipment belt held her usual load-out of phaser, stun-baton, canteen, extra power cells, tricorder, knife, and a couple of stun grenades. Despite all that, she followed Caleb's lead of not having her rifle openly displayed. It was partially hidden under her backpack, but still easily accessible should the need arise. If one looked closely they could see an inch or two of the muzzle, but that would be it.

She exited the shuttle in time to catch the conversation between Liam and Caleb. "We may come in peace, but that doesn't mean they will."

As the science officer exited the shuttle, his antennae curved in curiosity at the sight of so many weapons between the officers. Korudos only had a standard Type II phaser holstered to his side and his weapons of choice, a tricorder and a pack full of science equipment. Dressed in a variant, he wore an away team jacket over the teal blue shirt signifying his department.

Looking around the planet, Korudos took it all in before turning towards the two security officers. "Are you two afraid we're going to run into a whole battalion while we're here?"

“Some of us did last time, son,” Caleb said mildly. “Best to be prepared.” He checked his own tricorder, set to detect weapon signatures and life signs and other things security related. As it seemed to be working fine, he snapped it closed again and clipped it to his belt, then checked the power cells on his wrist lights.

Amia checked her med-kit one last time and hefted it onto her shoulder, moving alongside her medical away team, which consisted of Opal Oliver and two other paramedic doctors. She had left Amoran Benj, the Bajoran ACMO, in charge back on the station. It was the kind of opportunity he benefitted from, and being given a chance to shine and show how well he could step up was good for his confidence and progress too. Amia paired up with a tall Bolian doctor and gave Opal charge of the second pairing. If they needed to work in a full team of four they could, but it was quite likely that this would be overkill, so she readied them to split to begin with.

Doctor Angelica Landry was on loan from the Earth Institute of Archaeology and could not have been more excited to join the team from Deep Space Five. The middle aged Human woman was beaming as she unloaded her gear. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and she intended to make the most of it. With her personal kit checked and ready, Angelica strapped on a digital recorder to document every moment on video for further study.

Caleb hiked his pack and his eyes found Dr. Oliver. As he moved into place in the group, he passed her. “Stay safe, Doctor,” he told her quietly, his dark eyes serious.

Lt. Dan Rivera had already done his equipment check en route. He didn't want to do another, if for no other reason than he didn't want to let on how nervous he was. He had volunteered to be included with the away mission. After spending all his time working at the shipyard he felt he ought to contribute somehow. This planet was Starfleet's biggest discovery in ages. The push to explore it was aggressive, and many had already been lost along the way. Dan didn't want to be left behind while others were in the big game. Still, he wondered if he had made a smart decision doing this.

I should have stayed on the station...I should have stayed on the station… Rhe'la thought as she checked through the various and sundry supplies that had been assembled to support the away team. While several of the crew were bristling with weaponry, she had gone the same route as science and medical. A Type II phaser was attached to her belt and a few spare power cells were in a pouch. Though she also had her battle pike collapsed and in its small holder on her right hip, for all the good it would do, as she wasn't nearly as proficient with it as she should be.

Mikaela Locke exited the ship towards the back of the large landing party. She had a phaser and tricorder with her, but at the moment she wasn't bothering with either of them. She knew a lot about Pangaea from the various reports that had been coming in, but this was her first time on the planet itself. She glanced around, taking in her surroundings, and trying her best to look calm and composed.

Noelle also exited toward the back of the group. It wasn't because she was feeling particularly scared or nervous, but because as a medical officer her training had taught her to stay toward the back of the group and to assess the area carefully. Her role in the away team was to attend to any potential injured, so she couldn't afford to be bold or reckless.

Finally they were ready, and entered into the complex, passing through the open mouth of the cave, now floodlit with lights powered from the camp generator. A red line marked the point on the rear of the cave where previous explorers had been teleported to other parts of the cave. It lay roughly a meter from a cleft in the back of the cave wall that lead down into the caverns, and so far had shown no pattern to where it took people. Or even if it would.

Leonora looked at the line. "Who wants to go first?" she asked.

Pulling out his tricorder Korudos scanned the area and looked around, studying the cavern. His white eyebrows arched at the seemingly innocuous readings. "I can't even begin to figure out what we're about to walk into here. But there's no time like the present." Stepping forward, the Andorian science officer was there one moment and then gone the next.

Liam followed suit, expecting pretty much what had happened last time to happen, a sudden flash and then change of environment.

Caleb looked to Annora, his second. “Space security, every third person,” he said. “Hopefully that means at least one of us per group.” He couldn’t guarantee that, of course. Then he turned and stepped over the line.

"Aye, sir. I'll take up the rear."

Dan Rivera also had a tricorder out. These caves had some very unique structural characteristics to them. It wasn't anything critically important though, so he kept quiet about it for now.

Locke latched on to Lieutenant Fisher. The security staff had been spaced out, and so she decided best place to be would be next to her friend.

Directing her small team to set up the equipment, Rhe'la took out her tricorder and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Once she was slightly steadied, she went through just before the final group.

Annora helped space out the other security guards, then followed with the last group through the portal.

The shift took less than the blink of an eye, and then they were all in a huge cave lined on all sides with quartz points and pieces of amethyst. The ground had once contained the same, but these had been long crushed into powder. In the center of the giant geode stood two plain stone pillars rising to points, and standing before it at attention was a guardian statue.

As with the other caves, it was a humanoid with two arms, two legs, and a head. The head was large, with eight eyes, two sets facing in all four directions, and four mouths, also facing in every direction. It was covered head to toe in battle armor. In one hand it held a long bronze spear and in the other was a bronze sword with its hilt covered in gems. It rested on one knee, waiting.

A moment after the away team appeared, it drew in breath. Then with the ghastly sound of grinding rock it stood and held its spear out, the sharpened tip pointing at the away team. "Góshé śatam?" it asked. "Sas saptá mezēnai!" It was a guttural, spectral voice.

"We encountered something similar last time round," Liam said looking at the living statue. "But it adapted and knew our language pretty quickly."

“Still no translation?” Caleb asked, surprised the UT hadn’t picked it up. His gaze scanned the cavern for danger, but they seemed to be alone, other than the statue.

Korudos stood in amazement at the creature, his tricorder pointed directly at it. "Amazing! You're saying there are more of these...these creatures? The universal translator can't even begin to make heads or tales of its language. Can we get it to speak more?"

While on alert, Annora didn't see any direct threats, so she left her weapons where they were. Her hand was near the holster of her phaser ready for action should it be needed.

"Oh great! Not more of these!" Amia muttered under her breath.

While the others marveled at the inability of the translator to decipher what sounded to her like Serbian, Rhe'la was far more fascinated by the guardian. The tricorder wasn't detecting any sort of mechanisms providing locomotion; the stones were moving of their own accord. "This isn't possible," she muttered, running more scans in the hope of figuring out the mystery.

"That's what we said the last time," Leonora reminded her.

Locke hung at the back of the group, her expression passive, not quite able to work out whether she was surprised by the seemingly supernatural nature of the guardian before her or not.

The sentinel glared at them. The lights from its eyes were like flames. "You are from the Starfleet," it said, suddenly speaking fluent Standard. "Does Isha t'Vaurek command you as she commands me?"

"She does. She is our commanding officer," Liam informed the statue.

The message from the statue was intriguing. It at least knew of the station's commander, and seemed to imply she had some sort of control over it. Annora resisted the urge to ask how the captain had command over the statue, at least for now. She was going to wait and see how it responded to Liam's statement.

Isha? Amia's mind raced. If Isha commanded these things, if she commanded this kind of power, deep in the ancient remains of the civilisation, how old was she actually? It didn't add up. Even Romulans couldn't live as long as this statue had been down here. Or had it? What if it was another deception? This place was very happy to trick visitors at every turn. What if these seemingly ancient sentinels were actually quite recently installed after all and just made to look ancient? She reached the biggest, best, and most advanced medcorder she had out of her bag and set it up for a full spectrum read out. There were answers here somewhere and it was long past time that they got off the back foot and found some of them out!

Leaning over next to the doctor with his own tricorder still in hand, Korudos whispered to Amia, "Think he'll let us take a sample?"

"If he does, which one of us is going to collect it?" the Zarnac remarked nervously. "This can't be magical; magic doesn't exist. Anything sufficiently technologically advanced just appears magical to a less advanced civilization. And Romulans aren't this advanced."

"We did that last time." Amia sighed. “It's just made of granite, and there's no explanation for its apparent sentience. What interests me is that it isn't suggesting that the Romulans in general terms are its masters. Only Isha!"

His antennae arched back in surprise at the answers given to him. Korudos shook his head. "Magic is merely science and technology that has yet to be explained. And Doctor, I'd love to go over the results of your samples from the last mission." The exobiologist was itching inside of Korudos now and he had to know just how this golem-like sentry was alive.

Caleb looked at the others. “An’ just how do y’all know that?” he asked. “There are a lot a forces in this universe we can’t explain.” He looked back to the sentinel. “We bring greetings from Captain Isha t’Vaurek,” he acknowledged. Then he added a bit of his own. Isha hadn’t asked him to, but he inquired, “An’ how is Eviess?” he asked. “Does she need anythin’?”

The sentinel looked silently down on Caleb for a moment. Perhaps it was intrigued by the easy-going tone of this Human's voice. It was different from the others. "She is well," it said finally. "She requires nothing." Then, as an afterthought, it added, "Commander," noting the rank set on the collar.

Caleb nodded. “If that changes, ya’ll let us know,” he said simply.

The sentinel stepped to one side, its granite feet scraping on the dusty floor. "You may proceed," it said, lowering its weapons to a resting position. A dim light appeared just beyond the stone pillars. There was a passage there now. Had it been there before? If so, then no one had noticed.

Before they moved on, Annora asked the question that was on the mind of most the away team. "What do you mean 'Isha t'Vaurek commands you'?"

Caleb glanced at Annora. “The Fae gave Captain t’Vaurek the planet in exchange for her daughter,” he explained. “A poor trade, but necessary to save the girl’s life.”

"I am not obligated to explain my allegiances," the Sentinel replied. "Only to honor them. You may proceed, or you may leave this place and return to your station." It straightened to attention and didn't say another word.

As before, Noelle didn't see where they had any other choice but to move forward. They needed answers and they weren’t going to understand things any better if they refused to take chances. Still, the memories of her last time on the planet were still fresh in her memory and, emotionally speaking, she was still grappling with the possibility that wherever they ended up this time, they might not make it back.

Keeping up with all the activity regarding the planet was beginning to be a full time job of its own. Annora glared at the sentinel, even though she knew it wouldn't do any good. It was worse than talking to a Vulcan. At least Caleb had some idea of what the statue meant. "Thanks, Commander. It clears things up a little."

Caleb just nodded his acknowledgment.

Leonora swept her tricorder over the portal entry and frowned. "There's nothing here. I'm picking up microcurrents running all through the quartz, but there nothing to indicate any form of transporter technology. No gravitrons, no electromagnetic radiation that's attributable." She looked at Korudos and Rhe'la. "You?"

Looking up from his own tricorder Korudos stood silent in rare contemplation as he looked over what the scans had show him. "It's a hodgepodge of particles lining the walls of this cavern. You'd think we had opened up a treasure chest. However, I'm also picking up evidence of a possible temporal disturbance in the vicinity. Not in the immediate area, but there are front traces of chroniton particles, as well as tachyon particles."

As he continued to sweep the area with his tricorder, a small chime alerted Korudos and he held a hand up to the away team. "Doctor. I'm detecting small traces of both thaloron radiation and metreon particle residue coming from a cavern directly at ten o'clock. I've never seen both together, but..."

"Well, that settles which way we should go! Four o’clock!" Amia turned resolutely in the opposite direction. "Keep scanners on that and please report if the proximity gets any nearer or the mix gets any stronger towards the thaloron. We may have to just evacuate if it builds up and starts to leak out. Everyone set your comm badges to alarm if it detects any nitroidanium or exostential heat sources. Should keep well away. I'm not putting the team in the way of those kinds of combinations. I suggest we explore in the opposite direction!" she said.

"Well, whoever's going first better make up their mind. I've already played portal roulette today." Dell put her tricorder away and shouldered her pack of sensor equipment. She threw Caleb a pleading look. Whatever was through the portal, she wanted someone with a big gun to go first.

Caleb nodded. “Ah got it,” he said, hiking up his pack, and stepping through the portal.

Closing his tricorder Korudos looked to the two other officers next to him and then shrugged. "Science waits for no one, and I won't wait for it!" he exclaimed before stepping forward and joining the commander in going through the portal.

Dan Rivera quietly followed next. As he passed the sentinel he turned his tricorder towards it to get more readings. According to the little device it was dead granite with an unknown energy source within. Nothing more. He stepped through the portal.
Liam followed suit. "Down the rabbit hole once more," he muttered as he disappeared in the portal.

One hand on her phaser, ready to draw if necessary, Annora once more took up the rear.
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends."

Unlike the others, Noelle didn't say anything. She took another steadying breath and entered the portal.

[TBC]

Lt. Cmdr. Caleb Ryan
Chief of Security/Tactical

Lt. Leonora Dell
Acting head of Operations
NPC by Notty

Lt. Liam Reynolds
Chief Diplomat

Ens. Korudos th'Razh
Chief Science Officer

Ltjg. Noelle Bennett, M.D.
Chief Counselor

Lt. Mikaela Locke
Senior Intelligence Officer

Ltjg. Jason Fisher
Security Officer
NPC Iain

Cmdr. Amia Telamon
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Annora Tessaro
Assistant Security Chief

Lt. Dan Rivera
Engineer
NPC Bert

 

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