Miners' Prerogative (Part 4 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

2,476 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III - Colony Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 03 - 1455 hrs

Previously, on Miner's Prerogative (Part 3)...

"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?"

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Trell watched Quinn for a moment before laughing, slapping the table. The laughter was genuine and warm...and it was clear that he liked Quinn for saying something like that. "I think I will call her...Lady," he said and nodded to Scarlet. "It's a nice compromise, right?"

Scarlet watched Trell with shining eyes, her lips twisting ever so slightly with the betrayal of amusement at this...rogue. Yes, the man in front of them was definitely a 'rogue'. She looked to Quinn with gratitude for his interjection, patting his arm reassuringly that they wouldn't have any real trouble with this one. They both knew his type. Scoundrel. "A bottle of Earth Brandy we can afford. But now you have to be generous. With everything you've seen, heard and know."

Quinn smiled at the miner. This guy was the type of people he grew up around, that used to work for the family engineering firm.

"Sure thing, Lady," Trell said as he watched them all closely before leaning closer to them. "I've only heard whispers. Like someone breathing your name against your skin in darkness. What I have seen is the faces of people who have come from the mines...pale and shaking, swearing that their ancestors are haunting them. A few...have gone missing. Tend to be the weaker, less experienced people."

Scarlet nodded with a frown, taking it in as she watched him, interested with his choice of words. "So it's like you actually feel the voice, not just hear it?"

"Ghosts can't always be seen, Ma'am." replied Quinn to Scarlet. "I know you think I'm crazy, and he may be crazy," Quinn thumbed towards the miner with a smirk, "but I think whatever it is, ghost or something ethereal, it is still very much a threat, and that worries me."

Scarlet nodded with understanding. "No, no I agree completely. Whatever it is, it's clearly...real in the moment to that person," she looked to Trell, nodding. One look at his eyes and you could tell he was telling the truth and wasn't just winding them up.

Trell looked at them for a long moment before taking a breath. "Look. It might just be energy messing up our brains. But whatever it is, it is harming our productivity. Be careful down there if you go. Seems to know exactly what your skeletons are and brings 'em out," he said and looked around, observing the others.

Quinn looked at Scarlet with a wrinkled forehead, then panned back to Trell. "Thanks. Somehow that didn't make me feel a whole hell of a lot better."


Team 2

Jacob nodded to Commander Blake's order, "Of course Commander, Carlisle, Rhodes, Grayson to me." He waved them over. "Now which of you miners are going to assist us with solving this problem?"

Lonar gave a nod. "I'll talk to ya."

Jacob bowed deeply in respect to Lonar. "Very good. Pleased to have your assistance. Now, could you please recount the details of how this all started, how long has this situation gone on and please detail the unusual occurances or reports, sightings, feelings, whatever you have to tell us so we can target our first objectives and go from there."

Delainey turned to the miner and made every effort to ensure her non-verbal cues communicated she was interested and paying attention. Depending on how he responded to Jacob's directness, she prepared herself for possibly smoothing out the rougher edges. "I imagine you've perhaps repeated yourself before we arrived, but I assure you, it helps to start from the beginning to ensure we're on the same page."

Thinking of their CoB's outburst, Carlisle prayed things could be salvaged.

Lonar shrugged, "Well for me, it was down in deep thirteen, everything going really well, making good progress with the drilling. The vein we were following was nice and rich and all of the sudden we ran into this rock. The damn drill broke as soon as we hit it. Well, got another and just poured on the juice and nothing. I might as well have spit at it for all the dent I made. So I sent one of the muckers to go fetch a new drill and it took him like forever to get back and that human's face, he was white as a sheet. He claimed to have heard voices talking to him in the rock."

Jacob arched his left eyebrow, "Heard voices from the rock you say? Fascinating. Has this occurred before? Which miner was this and does he often hear voices from the rocks in the past?"

"That was Rankin. You're not going to be talking to him unless you can raise the dead. He kept having all these delusions and finally just made a mistake with the drill and sliced his own head off." Lonar shrugged again. He thought anyone that crazy did not belong here and he was human and they were all a little weak. "Got a couple of more, what's his name, Seeker. He makes claims the rocks yack to him. A real idiot boy, if ya know what I mean."

Delainey made a mental note of Seeker's name, but wanted to clarify what she understood to be true of Rankin first. "You mentioned Rankin kept having these delusions. Did he ever report those sorts of beliefs prior to that first time in deep thirteen?"

Keval made his way over to his proper team. it was his duty and his job and besides he wanted to get away from the rather irascible COB.

Lonar paused as he watched the blue Anodrian move off. They were slight built but he had heard they were tough SOBs in general. He always wondered never having gotten into a fight with one.

Shrugging again he turned back to the woman. For a long lingering moment he let his eyes wander over her. She sure would make a nice bed warmer his thoughts played out. Finally though he answered, "He was always a little off, I don't know though but he mentioned it not too long ago again in the cafeteria before you guys arrived. Now he says something about spirits in the rocks. All way too religious sounding for my taste. Look lady, I am nothing but a simple miner, ya see. All I knows is no work, no pay and I could care less if the whole place sang and danced as long as I get my quota in."

Carlisle didn't like the way the man's eyes lingered on her for a long time before he answered, but ever the professional, she decided to ignore it. They couldn't afford another overreaction. "I appreciate the information you've provided so far. You are the experts here, and we're just doing what we can to rule out any kind of medical causes for what others are experiencing. You said Rankin had always been off. Off in what way? Did it ever affect his ability to meet quota?"

"Oh he always was telling stories while we worked. A real motor mouth. Either the guy had lived a heck of life before ending up on this rock, or he just made it all up. Personally, I believe the latter. Now don't get me wrong, at first it was entertaining enough, made the work go by, but then he started getting into this metaphysical babble, something about the spirits of the ancestors or some such crap. I quit listening after a point." Lonar stopped at that then smiled showing strong white teeth.

" 'Course I might remember more sharing some beer with you?"

"Thanks for the invitation, but we've got quite the workload ahead of us," Delainey offered deftly. "What about you? Have you ever experienced anything unusual?"

"What you mean seeing things, hearing voices. Nope nothing. Only the wea...," Lonar bit off saying weaklings and added instead, "the humans seem to be most...." he wanted to say crazy but did his miner diplomatic best. "Affected."

"Most affected?" Delainey asked. "Does that mean you've noticed some things too, just not the same as the humans?"

"Other than the damn rock, nope." Lonar was wondering if these people were as dense as the rock. They just were more interested in chasing phantoms than helping with the mining problem. It just figured.

"I have no doubt you believe that, other than your word, not that I don't trust it, that gives some evidence of your story?"

Lonar drew himself up and anger clouded his dark face. He reached out but did not grab but shook a finger. "Go look at the records yourself, we recorded the death. I told you the only thing I see around here are crazy weaklings and then this damn rock. That is real and I can show you as I already offered. Ya know I am done with you all."

Jacob took his notes and entered what little data from the interview. He shook his head as Lonar verbally dismissed them all. The problem at hand seemed further away than it had been when they had started.


Team 3

Lyras may not have been first to 'run into the crowd,' so to speak, but he was eager to get this done quickly. He was sure to gather with his teammates before heading toward their aforementioned area, but kept to himself, eying the miners, and waiting for a signal from the doctor on their team before jumping into a situation.

Elijah turned to Keval, gave a small smile then turned back to the group he was assigned to. He stood there and awaited for the doctor to take the lead since she was the senior officer. He wasn't sure who they were going to talk to, but there were plenty to speak with. He studied the group and his gaze fell upon one who seem oblivious or aloof to the whole situation. He looked to the chief medical officer and in his helmet tilted his head toward the miner in question. "Maybe we could speak to him?"

"Yeah, I know," came the quick reply in a bass voice, "And you're from the Federations and you're here to help right?"

Allyndra did some quick medical scans. She was almost hoping that something would show up, something that might explain some of the reports. She like most of her race had a practical view of the universe. Oh, they had their myths and a general belief but she had always been brought up with Han'ike meahe lkaika lu'a kelah, to know something is to have power over it. It was similar to her days learning at the Academy in which the ancient human language phrase: Scientia potentia est or Knowledge is power'; was prominently displayed above the main lecture hall.
A quick scan revealed nothing.

"Help is a broad term, and does require that we know the facts surrounding why we've come in the first place." Lyras had been hesitant to speak up, but the doctor was intent on her medical exams, at least for the moment. "I'm Lyras Ueda, and this is Lieutenant Commander Allyndra Warraquim and Lieutenant Elijah Williams, respectively." He made motions at both members of his party. "Can I ask for a name, perhaps, to start us off?"

"And given our history, " the miner said in a quite, but determined voice, "Help and the Federation are what you humans call an oxymoron."

Lyras rose a brow. Well, at least he now knew that there was going to be difficulties on both ends regarding any polite relations. However, he pressed forward. "As true as that may have been in the past, we are genuinely here to aid you in any manner we possibly can, but the issue with this is that we've not been briefed as well as we'd like before carrying out this task. All we ask is for a little cooperation, and we can help you as soon as possible."

"I see," replied the miner, no less gruffly than before, "so what would you Fleeters like to know that the management ain't already told ye, oh that's right they don't believe our stories do they?"

"Well, that would depend on the story you are telling." Lyras nodded his head, as if attempting to goad the miner into at least telling him something other than an opinion. "Perhaps an account of your side of things in the mines would help us gather some perspective on the matter?"

The miner spat something on the floor that was unidentifiable but that didn't look especially appealing. He wasn't aiming at Lyras but he wasn't trying to avoid him.

"Well I'm sure yuse don't want to hear about grievances, but there are Gremlins down their. Nasty evil little tricksters. They steal equipment jump from place to place and try to scare off."

[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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