Miners' Prerogative (Part 3 of 4)

Posted on 31 May 2014 @ 3:50pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Elijah Williams IV, M.Sc. & Lieutenant JG Kouta Jiang Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Chief Petty Officer Lyras Ueda & Lonar & Reyn Trell & Zell Mokar
Edited on on 31 May 2014 @ 4:55pm

2,434 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III - Colony Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 03 - 1420 hrs

Previously, on Miner's Prerogative (Part 2)...

The world seemed oddly lacking in colour and Allyndra could not help but wonder if it was just the environment or the helmet.

Keval was feeling rather confined in the suit. A little too confined for his comfort. He was a little claustrophobic something that had probably would have gotten him kicked out had he gone through the Academy.

He would just have to make the best of it, so he looked around the room to distract himself.

Theron stood to the back corner of the group, looking about the room evaluating the tactical situation, as usual. He glanced at the doctor. She seemed to be a little relieved to have the helmet off.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

As soon as Allyndra saw Theron remove his helmet she was only a fraction of a minute later. The world, drab as it was got some more colour to it. In fact, she marveled for a moment as her eyes traced faint remains of some crystal in the excavated cavern that seemed to sparkle in the ultraviolet spectrum.

Rhodes saw the distracted look on Allyndra face. He thought that she either sensed something or saw something that they did not. He would have to talk to her later about it.

Jacob just kept looking around in awe of the place. He couldn't wait to get to researching everything he could. This place almost reminded him of the year long dig at Qalad II.

Seeing a couple people remove their helmets, Delainey frowned. Was it safe? Carlisle decided there was no harm in waiting a bit longer to take that risk.

Looking around the doctor and counselor didn't see anything in their drab surroundings that was an immediate cause for concern. She was eager to get talking with the miners, if only to distract her from the damnable suit.

For whatever reason, Elijah looked to Keval before looking around. The place was pretty stark and despite not wanting to be in the EVA suit, was glad he was. Part of him was itching to start digging, to start collecting samples but he quelled the enthusiasm. So, he just followed the others in front of him and waited for his orders.

A bead of perspiration made its way down Keval's nose, an especially annoying occurrence at anytime but especially when he could do nothing about it. He stepped a bit closer to Elijah, mostly because the other man was out of the way and right now he just wanted to be our of the way too.

Quinn exited last and made his way next to Scarlett. "What do you think XO? You think these miners will help us?"

Scarlet glanced around the miners who were scattered around the mess hall, taking them in. They weren't all Cardassians, but there were certainly more of them than the others. It put the Gul in a more powerful position. "If they want a resolution to their problems, they will," she said softly to him, stepping forward to the miners.

Quinn kept in perfect stride with his XO, mostly because he wasn't sure what type of tricks these damn Spoonheads had in store. He knew their type, after all they were all the same. At least the Romulans had a principle, and Klingons fought with a code of honor. Even the Dominion had a structured set of rules and principles, albeit they were twisted and evil to the core, but they stood for something. These...dogs...he couldn't even bring himself to say their species name because it sickened him, these lawless animals were only concerned about bringing chaos and anarchy to the galaxy. Quinn kept his hands clenched into a tight fist, almost looking for an excuse to use them...almost.

Allyndra was fascinated with the veins that sparkled in the rock and she moved off to one side to actually touch them. "Beautiful," she said.

Quinn was amazed at how thick the veins were here. "I have never seen so much in such a small location. This is just...amazing."

Theron glanced up at the layers of rock and was not impressed. He would leave the science to the scientists. He turned back to watch the crowd.

Jacob nodded in agreement with them. "I haven't seen quartz, dolomite, geodes, zinc, ganymede stone, and granite deposits this rich in all my life. Even Qalad II had not this kind of rich geologic sedimentation!"

"Perhaps we could trade positions." Zell spoke up wryly. "I could go live on your comfortable Starship and drink coffee with the humans. All of you can stay here and admire the rock formations. They aren't so pretty when you're inhaling particulate matter from drilling all day."

The wiry Cardassian woman smirked at the Starfleet personnel. Focusing on Quinn.

"Then again, you don't seem like you would fare very well in the mines."

Quinn glared at the Cardi woman. "I was working in mines before you ever hatched out of your egg."

Scarlet glanced across to Quinn, her finger subtly touching his sleeve as she arched an eyebrow, her look calm but clearly saying 'easy' to the Chief of Boat.

Allyndra turned at the comment, but said nothing but only thought, "And you don't look like you would fair well at a thousand feet in the air either."

She shook herself and then asked, "Perhaps, we could do some medical evaluations?"

Elijah found himself just looking around, his mouth hung slightly open in awe at what he was seeing. His attention was consumed by it so he barely registered that the Cardassians and Starfleet personnel were speaking. Though, the animosity, the sarcasm, the edge of hatred was not lost on him. Though again, he just wasn't sure what the issue was, they were here to help. But, he had a feeling there was going to be uneasiness no matter what the circumstance.

"These...Cardassians...do not want our help," sneered the CoB, "because they know we can help but they are too damned stupid to accept it. They'd just rather whine like a toddler until they can have everything their way, and we all know what you do with a toddler that whines and throws temper tantrums..."

Jacob interjected quickly to all, "Now folks, we must work together here. Let us not make any assumptions from the start. What matters here is that there is a severe, concerning situation going on and we need to solve it." He walked over to a large vein of quartz and pointed to it, "Look, right here, there is so much quartz here, I would not be surprised one bit that you might be getting high amounts of residual harmonic effects due to the fact that quartz transmits energy and harmonics in ways few other substances can." Jacob gave them all a hard look, "Scientifically, we could be standing on a planet full of such anomalies and therefore these reports we have heard are being caused just due to the very substances you are mining. We need to know everything, test everything and investigate everything as a team if we are going to solve this situation, so let's start acting like a team."

Flinching at the CoB's remarks, Elijah couldn't believe the tone that was being taken. He obviously didn't know the man and he wouldn't judge, but they were all there to do a job, but it almost sounded like a personal score had to be settled. This left him with a bad taste in his mouth and he looked to Keval and shrugged. Then Pendleton began to speak and Elijah swung his attention back to the lieutenant. He agreed with everything the other man was saying and nodded his head in acknowledgement.

Keval just looked over at the COB trying to keep his face impassive as he could. The man was his boss and he probably had a long and troubled history with the Cardassians. Keval didn't harbor the same resentment or hatred, though he could understand the angst. What he could not abide was the other man possibly starting a confrontation that would have done more harm than good.

Quinn simply nodded, though he was still sick from having to even be in the same sector as these animals.

Scarlet gave a slight nod as she let out a soft breath. She made a note to have a chat to Quinn when they got back, but she didn't see any good in picking him up on his comments when he'd already acknowledged Jacob's words...and frankly, she didn't want to have to give one of the team a talking to in front of the miners. It could give an impression of weakness as a team, which was the last thing she wanted the Cardassians to think.

Lyras narrowed his eyes toward the gathered crowd. It didn't seem anyone was in the mood for anyone else's 'pleasantries.' He could sense this wasn't going to end nearly as well as it could have, but nothing ever seemed to these days. Hopefully they could get out of there without too much phaser fire. Instead, he took out a tricorder to follow along with Pendleton's words. If he was going to understand the diplomatic side of it all, he had to understand the scientific side as well.

Lonar was still bored to wanting to crush something he circulated about from one group to the other. How in the seven hells could anyone get anything done with talk.

"Okay, I think now would be a good time to split up..." Scarlet looked around the group, taking in the scope of specialisms amongst them. "Quinn, Jiang, you're with me. Rhodes, Carlisle, Pendleton and Grayson, you'll be the second team. That makes Warraquim, Ueda and Williams the third team. Let's not leave the mess for now. We'll start over here...team 2, why don't you start over there," she motioned to the far side of the room. "And team 3 over that way," she motioned to a curved side of the hall.

Jacob looked at Norvi and Allyndra and said with true concern in his voice, "Be safe."

"Thank you sir, you too," Allyndra replied making a inculturated slight curtsey.


Team 1

As the other teams started to group up and move off, Scarlet looked to one of the humans with a calm expression. "Perhaps you could spare us a few minutes to talk about the last few weeks here?" she asked him, motioning for him to walk with her team over to a quiet corner so they could sit at a table.

Reyn Trell looked at the woman, a small smile curling his lips. If anything, it was the look a cat would give a mouse. He took his time to look at the entire team, one at a time, his green eyes oddly cold and the smile becoming a smirk. "We've been told to be all...nice to you lot," he said before meeting Scarlet's eyes. "I'm Reyn Trell. Just follow on, sweetheart," he said and walked to the table, looking at Quinn with a chuckle.

Quinn kept his mouth shut and temper in check, not wanting to upset the XO anymore that he already had. "I hope they work with us on this, Ma'am." he said to Scarlet.

"Same," Scarlet said in a soft whisper to him as their team moved with Trell to the free table. "I don't feel like playing cat and mouse."

Quinn nodded. "I couldn't agree more, ma'am. I don't think it'll happen though, but let's hope.

Scarlet took a seat at the table with the rest of her team, looking across to Trell. "So what can you tell us about how things have changed here over the last few weeks?"

He watched the group with a small smile, taking a deeper breath. "Well, some have heard voices down the mines," he said lightly, tapping his finger against the table. "Voices that ain't exactly ours. And then there's...well, the missing things. People. Sure, so might have gotten scared and made a run for it, but there's nowhere to run here..." he leant closer, arching an eyebrow. "But why would you lot be interested in it? Really, I mean?"

Scarlet held his eyes firmly, tilting her head gently to the side. "In case there's something behind it," she replied, honestly. "So, why don't you tell us what *you* have seen and heard, and what *you* know, rather than what you've heard?" she suggested, shaking her head lightly. "You work down there, yes? Have you experienced anything yourself?"

"Look, love," he said as he chuckled, shaking his head at that. "Nothing here's for free so...want me to talk properly? Like the saying goes...tit for tat."

Scarlet watched him with disbelief for a moment before looking across to Quinn with something between amusement and surprise at Trell's audacity. "What did you have in mind?"

"Bottle of alcohol," he said as he grinned, watching her. "Earth Brandy to be precise. Got to love it. Don't worry, I trust the word of a Starfleet officer, so I can wait for it to be...transported here." He looked over at Quinn. "I'd usually ask for more, but I can tell you are not exactly...a big ship with unlimited supplies. So a bottle of brandy will do me just fine."

Quinn stepped closer to the miner and rested his hands on the table. "You'll get your bottle of brandy, but let's make one thing very clear here." Markum clinched his fists and whispered just loud enough for Scarlet to hear and the rude miner. "You address the lady here as anything else but either ma'am, or Commander Blake, you'll get that bottle of brandy beamed into your colon along with my boot. Got it?"

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

MWO Lamar Darius
Chief Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Saalm]

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

LT Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

CMCPO Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

LT Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Allyndra Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Elijah Williams IV
Geologist
USS Galileo

LTJG Kouta Jiang
Sociologist
USS Galileo

LT Delainey Carlisle
Counselor
USS Galileo

CPO Keval Graysan
Operations Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Nicholas]

PO1 Lyras Ueda
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Kita]

Lonar
Miner
Lyshan III
[PNPC - Warraquim

Reyn Trell
Miner
Lyshan III
[PNPC - Markos]

Zell Mokar
Miner
Lyshan III
[PNPC - Miir]

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