Planet Side Investigations

Posted on Wed Apr 29th, 2020 @ 9:32am by Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Lieutenant Azusa Nakano & Lieutenant Trei Jansum & Lieutenant Remy Boudreau & Lieutenant JG Paris Deville & Lieutenant JG Tiskatee Troilon & Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles
Edited on on Wed Apr 29th, 2020 @ 9:37am

1,690 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Caverns of the mind

The fresh air was a nice change from the recycled air on the ship, it filled the shuttle as the hatch dropped revealing the entire away team. It wasn't a very long walk to the research station, so it would be a nice easy trip over ground they have covered before.

Azusa was the first to walk out, her tricorder in her hand as she looked around. She hadn't had a proper chance to look into the research station's systems last time. She had an engineering kit by her side, held in place by a strap over her shoulder. She had decided to examine the equipment more closely this time hoping to reveal more clues.

Trei exited the shuttle next, tricorder out, his eyes constantly moving. He looked up, and saw some birds in the trees, but nothing else. His tricorder indicated nothing. He turned to look at the others. "Nothing around here. There's a few animals that are high tailing it out of here due to the noise of the shuttle, but no other life forms. Except the birds."

Amber followed, carrying her gear. She'd scanned the area on her first trip, so this time, she was more interested in getting to the facility and setting up the transporter buffers so the rest of the team could beam down.

Trei headed back in, and came out with one of the transporter enhancers in his hands. He hoped the others would get the other two; he didn't fancy making two extra trips.

Adjusting his hazmat suit to try to make it sit more comfortably, Boudreau hefted an enhancer in both hands, and made his way out of the shuttle. His kit bag bounced uncomfortably against his thigh as he went. It shouldn't take long to drop off the enhancer then head with his team to the caves.

Amber went to the science facility and set her gear against the wall so she could put the transporter booster in place.

Pippa went to the computer and began the preparations to connect the three boosters to the transporters. When all three were set up properly, she ran a quick diagnostic, pleased to see that they did the job. "All set, commander."

"Good." Amber tapped her combadge. "Quinn to Aurora. Transporters are online."

=^= Confirmed Commander, I have two guests coming your way. =^=

The blue shimmering of a transporter shimmered and Both Nicoles and Trilone materialized.

"That was a more pleasant way to travel." Nicoles said as she stepped down. "Ah will just check the equipment they all used for testing then be ready for a trek to the cave for a look."

Amber nodded. "I'll stay here and sift through the database."

Boudreau flicked a thumb in the direction of the doorway, 'is the team good to head out, then?'

"Whenever you're ready," Amber said, "The team's all yours."

Trei, like Amber, figured he had been exposed already, so he had taken off the stifling suit. If he needed to move quickly, he preferred not to be wearing what amounted to a planetside EVA suit. His wrist light was on his left hand, and his phaser and tricorder were in easy reach on his belt. In the pack on his back, he had water packets, just in case.

"I'm ready when you are," he said to Boudreau with a smile.

"Mah pretty equipment iz still working despite those transporter boys using them as Testing subjects." She gathered her field pack and tricorder ready. "Ah am wright behind yew ."

"I've got the data from our first trip If you can bring back plant samples and scans of animals, we can run comparisons and look for whatever is causing the problem," Amber said.

'Alright, Commander, we can do that,' Boudreau shifted a messenger bag over his shoulder, adjusting the way it fell. Empty, it should provide enough room to carry quite a few samples back to the ship. 'Follow me, people.'

He suited actions to words, and headed out the door, his decisive demeanour camouflaging the unease he felt at Jansum's casual defrocking of his hazmat suit. He has been to the planet before, Boudreau thought, but does that mean they're immune?'

Amber watched them depart, then turned, hiding a smile. She almost felt sorry for Boudreau being thrown in at the deep end like this, but she was pretty sure he'd do just fine. She checked the computer to find an empty room, then grabbed her gear and headed for the room to unpack. She expected to be here at least one night and wanted to have a quiet place to go over data and to write up her notes. Plus, if they did spend the night, she wanted first dibs on a room. The shuttle was available, yes, but she needed to be at the facility in case something went wrong.

"Want to give me a hand?" she asked Paris.

"Right behind you." Paris winked slightly before smirking.

Jansum turned to Troilon. "Stay here with the XO. I'll escort the rest of the team to the caves." He turned and walked along the path with the science officer. He figured he had already been exposed, so the sudden donning of the suit was a little late. However, he had seen the set of the other man's shoulders. "I think it's a little late to don the suit. I've already been exposed. And if I need to move quickly, I don't want to be weighed down by a suit that might have been too late."

Boudreau shrugged and smiled at the Chief of Security, 'you make a good point, and if trouble does go down it's best if you're unimpeded.' He jerked a thumb over his should, 'besides, the Commander isn't wearing one so I'm hardly going to order you to do it.'

He pulled out his tricorder as they walked, scanning for anything he, Nicoles and Ronen had found during their data collation earlier.

'I guess it's onwards to the caves, Lieutenant.'

Jansum led the way to the trail and then along it. He kept moving forward, occasionally swatting at a bug that bit his neck. From time to time he would glance back and make sure everyone was okay. It was hot and humid, like his home in the summer months, and it made him think of his cousins and their first assignments. Jemma and Jia Obran, twins, were going to their first postings soon, both of them doctors. He looked down from time to time and made certain that there were no snakes or other predators hiding in the brush. Soon, they found the rocks at the opening of the caves.

He turned to Remy. "I'm going to take a quick drink. Do you want some water?" He looked behind them. "Tessa, Azusa, you two okay?" he asked as the girls came up to them.

Boudreau shook his head politely, 'I'm alright for now, thank you.' He watched the man carefully. It did take a while for the scientists to be exposed to any chemicals. The scientist was still wary of the environment, however. As the others from the Aurora reached the two men, he turned to greet them.

"I'm fine" Azusa replied simply.

[Research Facility]

Back at the facility, Amber dumped her gear in an unused room and began to sift through research and personal logs. They'd looked before, but they didn't have time for a deep dive. She hoped that she and Paris would find something useful. She was also hoping to take a walk with him later. Or a shuttle ride.

"Oh yay... this place again." Paris replied with a sarcastic tone as he put his bag and case on the table. He looked around for a bit before walking over to a console. "This place better have a working replicator."

[The Caves]

Boudreau was finding the hazmat suit a little humid. They adjust for optimum atmosphere, he admonished himself harshly, it's all in your head. He scanned the cave entrance, moving his tricorder methodically around the rim, then across the dark space of the opening.

The chemical traces they had analysed in the lab earlier increased dramatically.

He turned to his team, motioning them over as he explained, 'we analysed a chemical compound earlier aboard the ship. It could be responsible for the science team's devolution.' The man pointed at the cave, 'it definitely spikes in there, according to what I see,' he threw a glance in Nicoles' direction to see if she agreed.

"Ah would say that is a really good Spike, indicatin' there is something in there all-Wright,: She agreed. "We need the readin's from the scientists to compare and draw some kind of a conclusion?"

"At least we have something definitive to look for," Pippa said.

'We'll need to go inside,' Boudreau concluded with a shrug.

"I stayed outside the last time," Pippa said. "In case the team got in trouble. I'll be happy to stay out here now."

'Alright, Patterson,' Boudreau nodded in the direction of the shorter Operations officer, 'keep a channel open in case anything happens. You got everything you need?'

"I do. There's a boulder by the tree where I can have shade and keep an eye out," Pippa said. "I've got my combadge and a phaser, so I'll be fine. Thank you."

Boudreau turned to the rest his tone slightly brusque and efficient, 'alright, Nicoles, Nakano, Jansum, you're with me. Into the cave, standard pattern. We're looking for the source of this signal spike - chemical compound most likely. Understood?'

___
OFF

Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn
Executive Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Pippa Patterson
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Remy Bourdreau
Chief Science Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Paris Deville
Chief Helmsman/Ne'er Do Well
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Azusa Nakano
Chief Engineer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Trei Jansum
Chief Security Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Tiskatee Troilon
Security Officer
USS Aurora

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