Cavern Jaunt (Part I of III)

Posted on Thu Jan 10, 2019 @ 9:01pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & First Lieutenant Gordon Blue & Civilian T'gan

1,043 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Pangaea: The Portal Caverns
Timeline: Back Post: Victory Conditions MD 30

[ON]

Specialist Mackearn was bored. There wasn't another scouting expedition due for another three days. In between the carefully planned ventures through the roulette wheel that was the main entrance to the portal complex, there was little enough to do. The sensors in place never showed anything interesting, The settlement builders a couple of kilometers away had enough sense not to come close, though when the first actuall settlers came down, that was bound to change. But for now, everything was in the steady state of completely dull.

Which is why it took him a good ten seconds to realise that the movement sensors in the mapped caverns were all going off at once.

"Whats going on?" the Andorian came over, white eyebrows furrowed She looked at the board. "Something coming to us?"

Mackearn ran a scan, "Negative on life signs."

2nd Lieutenant Ch'zera pursed her lips, antenna straighteneing. in suspcion. "Check the records, see if they went off simultaneously, or if one went and then the rest." She learned over him and activated the communications system, signalling her primary contact, "Echo Base to Deep Space Five? Doctor Wells, Lieutenant Blue. We've had a sensor ping inside the portal complex."

Alanna was going over data from the Svikiri when she heard the the message. A ping? "On my way." She saved the data, grabbed her bag, and headed for the shuttle bay to meet up with Gordon.

On her way, she contacted T'gan and asked her to join them.

Blue was in his Field gear the pack slung over a shoulder. He had the Rifle on the pack and his side arms at the ready. He liked the real feeling of 'Dirt' under his feet and going planet side is always a treat wither to do some Marine Aggressive work of just Keeping the Peace , it meant time on real dirt to him.

When they arrived, Alanna wasted no time getting to the monitoring room. She took a moment to look at the data before asking, "Any idea what caused it?"

Ch'zera shook her head. "No ma'am. But were still checking all the other readings, if something matches, we'll know soon."

"Did they activate at the same time?" T'gan asked.

"Exactly the same time," Ch'zera signalled Mackearn who put the log on the large display screen. each showed thirty six sensor pods, all triggered simultaneously to the hundredth of a second.

Blue was paying attention to the Science Ladies; not his strong suit but he did know more than most expected. Now what he could figure was all the sensory glitches'; as he will refer to them at the moment, like someone trying the defensive parameter, testing for a reaction?

He remained silent as he watched.

She pulled up the list of known portals and where they originated. "They aren't from the same location, so the unifying factor is their connection to Pangaea," Alanna said. "So, what triggered them?" She raised a hand before anyone could respond. "Rhetorical question. What other data did you get?"

"Absolutely nothing. beyond the sensor ping, everything else is constant. temperature, Humidity, life signs, or lack thereof." the Andorian shrugged. "If i wasn't paranoid I'd put it down to a glitch in the network."

Alanna shook her head. "That's not a glitch. Could someone be testing the system? To make sure it's still working?" Were the Fey about to make a return visit?

T'gan just raised an eyebrow.

The Andorian gave the doctor a somewhat alarmed look. "If someone's testing the system, its not us. Which begs the question...who?"

"Perhaps the ones who created it? Or someone who knows how to use it," Alanna said. "We need to find out for sure."

"That would need a scouting expedition. I have a team on standby. We can go now." The lieutenant's antenna twitched towards the science officer. "Unless there is anything else you want to see first?"

Alanna shook her head.

Tapping the padd he had the orders for the "Ramp watch team' of Marines to get geared up. It is always better to have Marines ready to go than to scramble , he left a team waiting orders to deploy, Blue gave the order to deploy.

Alanna wasn't sure if it was prudent to go now, but she also didn't want to delay going in case something really was going on. "Inform the commander. We'll take a fire team of Marines with us."

"I have a fire team on the way." Blue said as he lean on the bulkhead. "I took the liberty of having a Ready team and they should be here in a moment." Blue grinned. "Or they will have some extra Physical training to bring them up to acceptable running speed."

"Excellent," Alanna said.

A few moments later, Seargeant Zhao stepped into the command centre and saluted. "Charlie Team ready to go sir." He held out two small metal discs the size of a hockey puck. "Boosters for your comm badge. Sometimes the portals interefere with signal, we've found boosters help keep the line clean."

Alanna took one and attached it to her combadge and smiled her thanks.

T'gan followed suit.

"Good to see you're on the ball." Blue complemented and attached the booster to his Comm Badge. "Everyone get ready for Ground side."

They moved into the entrance cave, the overhang throwing a shadow out over the ground. Nothing looked any different from Alanna's first visit, the red line at the threshold of the passage that lead deep inside marking the point where the cave's strange ordering of its internal space kicked in.

Everyone's comm badge beeped and MacKearn's voice came across. "We have you all linked and are tracking your position and quantum signatures. Charlie Team, you are clear to proceed."

Blue motioned his Team Leader to the Cave entrance and the Second Marine as well, Blue would take the first leap frog into the cavern and once he saw it clear motion the team to follow and then the Science team before the caboose kept their back covered.

"Charlie Team entering." Blue said as he entered.

To Be Continued


Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer

First Lieutenant Gordon Blue
Marine Commanding Officer
DS5

Marine NPCs
by Soran

 

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