AT - R02 Detailed Survey (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 03 May 2013 @ 2:47am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Amril & Crewman Athlen & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Petty Officer 3rd Class & Senior Chief Petty Officer Anthony Davis & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Petty Officer 2nd Class Lorenzo Donati

2,756 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Rojar II R02 - Metropolis Ruins (Outskirts)
Timeline: MD 05 - 1615 hrs

Previously, on R02 Detailed Survey (Part 1)...

In a tree to his left, Kohl thought he saw something move through the branches nearest to the away team. To Kohl's eyes, it looked like a furry green snake, shaded olive and lime. It had a couple of pronounced nodules where its head might be and a couple of translucent antennae. The snake was climbing across a branch, and then it appeared to blur and fade away, as if it had a personal cloaking device. Rather it's fur was chameleonically shifted the same shades of brown as the branch. Kohl yanked the tricorder from his holster and aimed it at the tree branch.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Amril's voice sounded as he rounded the corner of a crumbling metal structure. "Ah, there you are. Donati is exploring some ruins and did not want to come to the rendezvous. He's quite dedicated to archaeology."

Jared glanced over at Kohl who happened to be the closet person to him. As the other officer pulled out his tri-corder he said, "Find anything interesting?"

Kohl tilted his head to the right. He eyed the display on his tricorder and he made eye-contact with Jared. "Nothing much," Kohl remarked. "New life."

"I'm just a simple linguist. I'm not like the rest of you science guys. But correct me if I'm out of line here, but aren't you fracking insane, "JUST new life?"

Andreus Kohl's eyebrows rose up his forehead when Jared asked him if he was insane. Kohl stared at the man with nothing but incredulity in his gaze. "What are you? New?" Kohl asked. "We're Starfleet officers. New life is what we do."

Delainey nodded silently, her tricorder rapidly recording all the uniqueness around her for later review. She remained focused on her screen out of professionalism, but also partly out of uneasiness. She would need to be here for awhile without being harmed before she felt entirely comfortable looking around. If they were meeting new people, that would be a different story entirely. Most people could be reasoned with on some level. Counselor eating plants perhaps? Not so much.

Jacob stood and scanned a full five minutes just the small area around him, completely in awe. "This planet could take a decade to document and study for just the primary flora and fauna we are already seeing. This is definitely one of the most diverse planetoids I have ever seen, read about or researched!"

While the rest of them observed, whistled and awed over the planet, Athlen knelt down beside the large embedded roots of what he thought was a tree. It was hard to tell. It wasn't made of bark, or wood. Not that he knew. It looked more like glass, reflected kaleidoscopic rays of sunlight burst into patterns and colors all through its branches and trunk. There were dozens of them, interconnected. Athlen rubbed the solid trunk with a fingertip and opened his tricorder, tipping his head way-way up. The 'leaves' of these trees were small, pale crystalline structures that might hurt, should one fall on his head.

"Well, Donati seems quite excited," Amril explained, "I am not sure I understand the significance of his findings, but there are many artifacts. We have yet to find an substantial records, nothing like a library or government building. We've had trouble identifying the use for some buildings so we have to explore each one, and there is no power, so technology is inactive."

"Steady ladies and gentlemen. We have a mission to complete here remember - Security staff establish a perimeter around the away team - I want eyes on everything...the initial away team didn't seem to have any major issues but I would rather be safe than sorry."

John instinctively brought his phaser rifle up to the ready position, flicking the safety into the off position and bringing the power level up to a more suitable level. There was no immediate desire to start shooting things, but after his experiences on the previous planetoid, he had no desire to let his guard down.

"Let's take a look at some of these ruins shall we - Ops staff I want you to start looking for anything that looks like it's technological in origin - Science staff there's plenty of ruins around here to look at - try to find out when exactly this all happened -and confirm the weapons signatures. If this was Borg I want to know for certain."

"Someone should rejoin Donati," Amril suggested, "I can begin analyzing the energy signatures."

Nexia was wandering behind a group, trying to read her tricorder. "I wonder if any large bodies of water are near by?"

Jacob scanned along some ruins that weren't already occupied by someone. He looked back at Mor'an to see where she was and smiled at her again then proceeded to look over the front of what seemed to have been a building. He used his brush to dust away fine particles so he could look closer ant the materials and other fine details of the structure. He made his way along the wall when he suddenly froze in his tracks. "Universe preserve us!" He exclaimed. He began brushing away what seemed to a symbol of some kind. Carefully he brushed away fine bits of matter and overgrowth until the symbol began to reveal itself. First he saw what seemed to be a stick figure it had a stylized circular "head" for the lack of a better description. He worked the fine art of carefully revealing the symbol without doing any damage to it or it's surrounding material. The "head" had a stick like neck. More fine particles were removed and Jacob could see a stick like arm extended forward. Soon stick like legs soon appeared and Jacob realized that the stick figure was in a sitting position.

He furrowed his brow and worked even more diligently to expose the symbol. He brushed away grit and sand, cut away at vines and mold and fungus until he revealed a partial circle extending from the back of the stick figure's leg to its back. His jaw dropped as he realized what he was looking at. "Steven Hawkings ghost! The symbol of disability... or should I say, persons with disabilities!" He looked for the rest of of the survey team, "Science team over here! This is amazing!!!"

In the distance, a screech of metal sounded like the shriek of a banshee and the sound of crumbling building. It was close by and rubble dust began to rise from what must have been the next street over.

"Donati is over there," Amril observed solemnly, though he made no attempt to move, instead casting a glance to the away team's leader.

"Mr. Amril, lead the way." John replied, anxious to explore some of this surface himself.

"Watch yourselves down here people - regular comm checks every ten minutes for everyone - no exceptions, not even me. If you get into trouble or find something strange, you call me - immediately."

Pointing towards the collection of rubble that Donati had headed towards, John decided that this would be the first stop for his Ops chief and himself.

Amril turned and headed back the way he had come. "We should bring a few more people with us," Amril said to Holliday," we might need to move ruble of Donati has gotten himself trapped." Apparently it did not occur to him to use his commbadge.

"Commbadge will do the job if we need it Lieutenant. For now we should suffice just to chase up one lost sheep."

The XO grinned as he turned back to his team, giving one final set of orders before heading towards his destination.

"Everyone is to return here in one hour - I want full atmospheric analyses as well as testing of groundwater and surface materials - we don't have a lot of time so let's not waste what we have. Split up into teams and get it done. Questions?"

"None here sir," Jared replied in a quiet voice.

Delainey offered a quiet but firm "No sir," even as she felt a bit torn about which group to assist. Her instincts were telling her if someone might be injured, she had a duty to investigate, but it wasn't as if no one else had medical training of any sort. A part of her wanted to use the opportunity to explore things she wouldn't normally be inclined to. She decided to honor that impulse and assessed her opportunities. Jacob's excitement drew her in his direction.

Kohl looked up from his tricorder long enough to shake his head, but then the whirring of his scanner caught his attention again.

Athlen stood up from his tree and walked back over to the group, ducking his head under some branches and coming up next to Kohl. "Morning," he said to the medic, offering a wave.

"Good morning," Kohl replied, answering Athlen's wave with a beaming smile. Looking over at the Crewman, Kohl tapped the edge of his tricorder indicating the readings on his tricorder he wanted Athlen to see.

Mor'an meandered away from the group, having caught sight of a heat signature beyond an outcropping of rocks. She knew the individual signatures of almost everyone on the away team, but this one didn't look familiar. Tapping her comm badge, Mor'an spoke quickly. "Commander, I see a strange heat signature. I am going to find out what it is." Without waiting for a response, she shimmied up the cropping and peered over the edge.

"Stay in contact...no surprises Cadet." John replied with a nod.

Nexia walked over to the nearest security officer. "Excuse me? Senior Chief Davis? Would it be alright if we teamed up, Chief? Not sure what use you would have with an Oceanology Specialist, but I could sure use you.""

The large security officer looked down at the scaled Selkie and gave her a quasi-friendly smile. "No prob. Just stick close to me...no pun intended." he joked.

Jared turned to Kohl and quirked a brow. "So do you want to hook, sorry bad choice of words there. Would you like to team up?" he asked.

"Yes. Oh, you're the language expert, yeah?" Kohl asked, but there was nothing questioning in his tone. Kohl stroked the dark stubble on his own chin as he sized-up the slighter man. "Yes, I think I'll need you very much now."

"Well glad to be of help, but I hardly see how my oral... my linguistic skills would be so vital. Those aren't my only talents though and I'll try not to get in the way at lease.

"Crewman Athlen and I, we've been talking. We're going to analyze ground water and flora, with a focus on finding samples with potential medicinal applications," Kohl said to Jared in far too conspiratorial a manner. Kohl crossed his arms and lowered his voice, and his secretiveness made more sense, when he said, "But really? I want a hospital."

"I'll be glad to help you look for one, but I don't see any right around here. I can't really pull one out of my butt, but if you know where one is, lead on."

Athlen watched curiously. It looked as though they were going to have a new addition to their team. "Morning, Jared," he smiled at the Terran and affixed the strap of his bag over more firmly. "Are we all set?" he looked between them, eager to get out and get started.

"I'm ready," Jared replied.

Jacob, seeing that no one else on the team was coming over to observe his find, he began taking detailed images of the symbol, the building and the area around where he stood.

Athlen watched Jacob move and craned his head curiously. "What's he doing?" he asked Kohl and Jared, squinting a little. He had missed Pendleton's announcement earlier, engrossed by glass-trees as he was. "You think he found something?"

Jared moved over to where Jacob and Athlen were standing, checking his ancient slug-thrower, then slipping it back into what he had dubbed his fast-draw holster. "Okay, I'm ready for this little adventure. If we run into any Borg, Universe I hate those things, they will have a tough time assimilating a fort caliber slug."

Delainey, meanwhile, let her curiosity override her initial wariness. Turning to Jacob, she offered, "You don't see that every day do you?"

Athlen moved a bit over to where Carlisle and Pendleton were situated. He motioned for Kohl and Nicholas to follow him. "Come on, let's see," and almost sneaked up until he was right behind Pendleton, ducking out to wave and smile. "What do you think this is?" he asked the large research chief, unfamiliar with the symbol or what it meant.

Jared already standing close to Jacob took a few steps closer. "As I said, I am here and ready to go Athlen. I brought a little surprise just in case we run into our little assimilating friends."

Jacob looked up at the team standing there, "What we have here.." he said with both pride and sadness in his voice, "..on Earth in the past would be what they would have called the 'universal' sign of people with disabilities. It was a symbol of accessibility to those who had disabilities. It became a rally cry for millions who wanted Equality, Empathy and Justice. It was a symbol of a time when we, as Humans, still held ridiculous notions about each other. About stereotypes and stigmas. About a time of injustice leveled at people who, just because they were physically or mental health wise or cognitive wise considered 'disabled'... in other words.. 'broken', 'limited' or 'lesser'... it became the symbol of a movement.. the symbol of a people who no longer would allow themselves to be trampled over by societal 'norms'... it was, and remains one, of the greatest testament to the power of the Human spirit to overcome barriers....." His voice trailed off as he thought about the distant past; a past he was connected to, a past so real and important to him.

Jared, even with his shields set as high as they were could feel something he was unable to define without probing too deeply and uninvited, but he knew this symbol held great meaning for the other man. He reached out a hand and put it gently on his shoulder. "Then let's see why that symbol was doing here."

Jacob nodded, "You are correct Mr. Jared. You are correct and wise. We must maintain our objectivity.... so, I concur with you.. let's find more clues to this mystery..."

Athlen had his arms crossed and leaned back casually, weight resting on his hip. Pendleton's emotive answer gave him all the cues he needed without telepathy to assume the symbol held significance to the researcher. Athlen turned to Kohl, a curious half-smile on his face. "Disabilities," he mused in a word. He was rather ignorant about the issue of permanent disability, given where and how he was raised. Athlen figured it was a Terran thing. As though Pendleton had merely commented on the weather, Athlen clapped his hands together. "I wonder if this could help lead us toward our hospital." He craned his head to look at Pendleton. "Maybe we could find more of where this came from. If they're dealing with people who are disabled, they've got to have a hospital nearby, right?"

"Exactly," Jared replied, so why don't we heed the XO's advice and start searching now."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Evelyn Coleman
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Lt JG Scarlet Blake
Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

Lt. (JG) Delainey Carlisle, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Chief Counselor/Doctor
USS Galileo

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SSC
USS Galileo

Lt (JG) Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jared Nicholas
Linquist
USS Galileo

Cadet Senior Grade Im'er Mor'an
Red Squad Intern
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo
played by Psylus Anon

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 3rd Class Nexia Alona
Oceanologist
USS Galileo
PNPC by Markum Quinn

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