Into the Caves--Again (Part 1)

Posted on Fri Aug 7th, 2020 @ 10:08am by Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Lieutenant JG Pippa Patterson & Lieutenant Azusa Nakano & Lieutenant Trei Jansum & Lieutenant Remy Boudreau & Lieutenant JG Tiskatee Troilon & Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles

1,076 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Caverns of the mind

ON

Pippa Patterson watched the rest of the team disappear into the cave, then went over to the large boulder under a tree and prepared to watch, and wait.

Nodding to Patterson, Boudreau led his small team into the cave system, tricorder out. 'Jansum, up front with me - you've been down here before.' That, and his field of vision was better than his own, given the hazmat suit.

He regretted not bringing his own phaser. Boudreau was a competent shot most of the time, but it was more down to comfort than anticipating a violent encounter.

'Troilon, bring up the rear, and keep an eye out, would you?' That would leave him, Nicoles and Nakano to scan the caverns for samples. Briefly he wondered whether an attempt should be made to rescue the scientists, but he supposed it was unwise without more data.

Trei came up beside Boudreau, turning on his light on his left wrist and taking his phaser out of its holster. He shined his light over the walls and found the tunnel they went through last time.

He looked at Boudreau and said, "This way." He shook his head a little, as it was feeling a little fuzzy. He led the group back to the cave where they had found the clothes of pool of water. "This is as far as we went last time." He moved his light so it shone on a tunnel. "This was here last time"--He pointed to the pool of water--"as was this," he said. Then he wwent over and pointed at a big pile of dirty clothes. "And so were these. Okay, Mr. Science Guy. Please tell me how this makes sense."

Boudreau arched an eyebrow, 'Doctor Science Guy, please ...' Making a couple of passes with his tricorder he set his thoughts in order. 'On the ship we detected an unidentified chemical compound that could be responsible for the suppression of higher brain functions.'

'Hypothetically, with a solid sample, we can cure the science team of the effect on their brains. Unlock the door to their higher functions if you will.' Boudreau ran the tricorder over the clothes and the pool of water, frowning, 'unfortunately, although the cave has a definite spike in the chemical, I'm so far unable to determine the source. I'll need that to collect a big enough sample.'

'Did you go deeper into the cave?'

"No we'all went back after getting the initial readings from the scientists and it was decided we should not remain to be spotted." Nicoles replied. "Though Ah would like to maybe get a little bit of a parameter just to get better readings in general, maybe place some hidden probes?"

Boudreau smiled, 'it's what we're here for - do you need any help in setting them up? There's plenty of us. We'll need to head in deeper to the cave to find a good enough concentration of the chemical afterwards.'

"There are four adjacent tunnels; three go deeper if we can hide them in those might get best readings." Nicoles suggested. "I will set one on entry tunnel and connect all them to relay to the station."

'Alright, we'll split into two teams, Jansum and Nakano, take tunnel one, be wary of the inhabitants - we don't know how far they've gone. Keep an eye out for any scientists.' Boudreau set the designations for each of the tunnel on his tricorder as he spoke, 'Nicoles and Troilon, take tunnel two, I'll take tunnel three.'

He looked at each officer, 'quick in and out people, the longer we stay here, the more the danger increases.'

Trei nodded. He looked at Troilon, who nodded. "Keep your eyes open, Tisk," he said to the Orion. Then he looked at Boudreau. "And you be careful. I don't want to explain to the captain how you got hurt from a eight foot tall cat."

Boudreau chuckled and nodded as he walked off, 'trust me Lieutenant, if I run into an eight foot cat, you're the first person I'll call.'

Trei headed down the tunnel with Azusa by his side, his left hand showing a light over everything. He unzipped the collar of his tunic, as he was getting hot. "Are caves always this hot?" he asked. He slapped another bug that bit his neck.

In the recesses of the tunnel the beam of the wrist lamp caught two adjacent reflections at about 1.5 meters above the ground along the wall ahead of them. An elongated head of a reptilian had an open mouth with and lashing tongue.

The creature measures a mere 30 centimetres in length from nose to tail.

Trei gently pulled Azusa away from the lizard. "Best to stay away from that. Don't want it to bite just in case it is poisonous." Trei kept going with Azusa, keeping one eye open for the lizard, which was following them, while keeping watch up front and making sure Azusa stayed safe while doing her readings.

Slowly above Trei's head a movement in the shadows slowly extending from the ceiling; with a length of 50 Centimetres the Male opened the mouth and the tongue just touched his hair before the reptile bit at the head of the security man; rounded teeth running along his scalp like dull fingernails taking the epidermis dead skin with it.

Trei didn't feel anything hurting, he just felt a bit of pressure. Brushing his fingers through his hair to remove whatever it was, his hand found the lizard, causing him to start. He grabbed the reptile, threw it down, and fired his phaser at it. After it was dead, he took a deep breath and turned to Azusa. "That was unexpected."

Azusa nodded. "Thanks..." she said blushing slightly.

Troilon was not one to be really spooked but she would not have been surprised should a large Cavernous Cat interfere by the vibration she got from this cave. Taking up a position the Orion waited for the Doctor to do her thing.

"I sometimes wonder if Jansum actually means what he says?" Troilon kept her eyes peeled.

(To be continued...)

Pippa Patterson
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Remy Boudreau
Chief Science Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Trei Jansum
Chief Security Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Tiskatee Troilon
Security Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles
Medical Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Axusa Nakano
Chief Engineer
USS Aurora

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