Cave Redux (Part 3 of 8)

Posted on 10 Sep 2014 @ 11:32pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Amon Mormont & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones & Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant Elijah Williams IV, M.Sc. & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Petty Officer 1st Class Siren Hex Saalm

2,151 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III - Uridium Mine, Section LV855-LV900
Timeline: MD 07 - 1205 hrs

Previously, on Cave Redux (Part 2)...

Grayson too was taken back by the site before him. He was used to being locked away inside the ship, being forced to deal with mechanical matters, the biological mess before him caused Grayson to regain his composure. Looking at the scans he was carrying out, he was answering Elijah's question before he knew the words were coming out of his mouth. "I wouldn't like to guess just now. All I know is, we need to be careful. I've been running scans of the mine since we arrived. However this poor person died, has weakened the structure of the rock formations around here." The screen of the tricorder was a welcomed distraction as Grayson tried not too look at the horror before him. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing to attention, brushing the neck of his suit, making sure Grayson was well aware of his hightened emotions of foreboding and unease.

Jaana walked past the body, trying not to look at it. Just that first look had been enough to get the urge to vomit. She took deep breaths and tried to think of something else. What has she gotten herself into?

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Allyndra pushed forward. She knelt to analyze the body and was puzzled. There was blood but the readings did not make sense. She then moved to the torso and examined it. "The death was from decapitation, of that there is no doubt, but here, see these readings, there is that odd signature of energy we detected back the first time we encountered something." Her thoughts for her experiment went out like a blood flower seed on the low autumn wind. "There is something that is operating here and I doubt the Cardassians have much to do about it. We need to find the rest of the away team!" She was anxious about finding the rest, whatever was happening was both exciting scientifically but also extremely dangerous.

Jared had walked past the grisly scene, to preoccupied with current dangers to notice past ones, or perhaps he had merely not been close enough to the spot. In any event he heard Elijah's words. He'd met the man before, tried to set him up with Keval. Elijah had been a little introverted, but there was something different about the voice. Something ominous. He turned back to investigate.

Aria moved over to them as well, watching the bodies. She knelt, touching one of the bodies. "Why would they decapitate them?" she asked, aloud. "I mean, that is a really difficult way to kill someone. Just...so you know," she stood, shaking her head. "I would rather kill someone with a phaser than decapitation." She tilted her head as she thought before shaking her head at herself. No. That was silly.

"I'd rather not kill them at all," Jared replied automatically, but that's because i'm normal. You'd have to be pretty sick to want to do that to someone." It wasn't the worst thing he'd seen, but it came close, very close.

Jacob decided not to analyze the body but rather all the area around it in about a one meter radius. He made his tricorder as sensitive as possible to catch any anomalies or any other clues that might be easily overlooked.

John had seen his fair share of death before - bodies of both allies and enemies were burned into his mind from numerous engagements over his career, but it never got any easier. Taking a deep breath and thanking whatever gods were watching that this hadn't been his fate, he looked down at the corpse.

"Do we know a time of death? Or method of decapitation? It might help us identify the aggressor?"

Allyndra scanned the body. "Makes no sense. The energy signature is not from a weapon that I am familiar with. It has residues of the that same bioelectric detected before and..." She moved toward the wall. "The body here appears to be partially phased in. Hard to say exact time of death but fairly recent judging by the readings Captain." Allyndra shook her head, "There is more down that way toward the control room. Bits of tissue here and there but so far all Cardassian."

John breathed a mental sigh of relief. The death of any sentient life form was regrettable, but at least he knew that so far if the only bodies found were Cardassian, his crew were still safe - for now at least.

"This bioelectric field - it's starting to crop up in too many places to be a coincidence - opinions people - what is the likely source?"

Siren watched the scene, lost in thought. She frowned as she looked at the head, and then the body, then back to the head. "He fell here," she said quietly, pointing to where the head was, and motioning to the ridges where the body had been moved across to the other side of the tunnel...and....inside rock. She swallowed, looking down the tunnel, towards the control room...and then back up to the lift. She did it again, holding her breath. Looking to the control room...then back to the lift. He was so close to the exit. Laying smack bang between the control room and lift. "I don't think it's likely to be accidental anymore," she pointed between the control room where the missing team had last been known to be, and the lift, highlighting the route between exit and mystery area.

"I'm not sure where the source is, but if we can track, that will lead us to the source," Jared said, "Whoever or whatever that is."

=A=Quinn to Holliday. Sorry Skipper but the generator is halfway in three meters of solid rock.=A=

John grunted with displeasure as he received the comm message from his CoB. It seemed that they would be stuck in the dark both figuratively and literally for the foreseeable future.

=^=Understood Mr Quinn - make your way back to the rest of the Away Team - we are going to proceed further into the facility. =^=

John closed the comm channel before turning to the rest of his team, surveying their faces as they carried out their duties.

"Alright people - I don't see anything other than two options - we run away and leave the Cardassians to solve their own problem, or we proceed further into the mine and attempt to locate the source of the bioelectric field - needless to say I don't think that the former is an option."

John turned to look at the tunnel that progressed further into the darkness and took a breath before turning back to continue his address.

"I know this isn't exactly the safest conditions for us to be in - and if anyone wants to return to the ship then say so now, I won't ask anyone to put themselves in danger unnecessarily."

Jaana thought about it for a short second. She might have been nagging about this mission, and didn't really have a clue what to do, but running back to the ship wasn't an option for her.

Allyndra continued the scans turning to the other grisly bits that she had detected. She had to recheck her tricorder the but the results were the same.

"The rest of the Cardassian tissue here..." she paused not wanting to sound like she had lost her mind. "Give indications of having been...non-viable," it was the only word that seemed to fit, she did not want to say dead, "for longer than possible. Also, there is that bio-electric residue still clinging strongly to them."

Gabriel shook his head with a frown, having had enough of dead Cardassians and the bloody mine as a whole. "I'm with you, Captain," he said quietly, not caring what they were finding anymore. It was all mad. It was all rotten. He just didn't care. "I just want to bring our missing team home."

"Everyone wants that sir, " Jared said, "but if we solve this little whodunit, we'll solve this mess and we can all go home I'm not leaving til we get this thing done."

"Agreed. Very well - standard formation, weapons ready, we're moving forward." John replied, glancing down at the power cell readout on his rifle before taking his place again towards the front of the group.

Jared let the Security pros move ahead of him, but he stayed close behind. He wanted to be part of the action, if that's what came, but he didn't want to to wind up like the poor guy without a head.

Jacob was not about to go backwards, to go running, the puzzle had to be solved. "Time to be like Sherlock Holmes my friends. Time to work this case with diligence, detail and some deductive reasoning." His deep voice was soft and quiet but filled with determination.


At Light Generator

Quinn looked over at Kita. "Ready Lieutenant? The Skipper calls."

"Hm?" Asahi had himself sitting upon the generator, attempting to tinker with what was left of the innards. "... Yep, let's go!" He leapt off the generator, glancing over at it. "... Wonder how that happened?"

"Ghosts, most likely." stated Quinn.

Asahi rose a brow. "That's kinda drastic... but I guess ghosts fall under 'unexplained phenomena.'" He shrugged, as they made their way through the tunnels back toward the rest of the group. "It'd explain the whole creep factor of the mines."

Quinn grinned and nodded. "I have some tales to tell, Lieutenant. You'll have to come over to my quarters sometime and have a beer with me and the wife and I'll tell you stories that will raise the hair on your back."

"I'll have to hold you to that. Anything that makes this seem like a walk in the park is something I'd be more than happy to hear." Asahi gave a snort. "Then again, I'd rather take this over tribbles any day."


Away Team

Methodically moving forward through the dark cave tunnels, Holliday's team continued its search for the other group of Starfleet personnel while keeping a cautious eye on their surroundings. After a short hike of roughly a quarter kilometer, the team finally came across the large and weathered door which was the entrance to the mine's computer control room. Thick and bulky in nature, it was slightly ajar yet scarred along the edges from some sort of close-range weapons fire. Inside the room itself, the air was eerily quiet and still. A collection of old Cardassian consoles and terminals lined the walls of the chamber with a large central processor in the middle of the room, but all electrical functions appeared to be offline. Scattered across the floor beneath several consoles were multiple circuit boards, computer components and relays, and it appeared as if someone...or something, had ripped out the insides of four of the computer terminals.

Raising his rifle, John stuck the barrel through the crack in the doorway and quickly swept with his torch from one side to the other, eventually coming to the decision that the room was devoid of activity. Grabbing one of the doors he began pulling against it's dead weight, eventually forcing it open wide enough for the officers to squeeze through.

Jared waited his turn then followed being careful to check behind as well as ahead of him.

Allyndra entered and scanned all around the room. "There!" she held the tricorder upward and in a certain direction. There are life signs, up and over that way." She began to move toward the indications.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

LTCMDR Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer/Second Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USSGalileo

LT. Asahi Kita
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

PO1 Lyras Ueda
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC Kita]

LTJG. Elijah Williams, IV
Geoglogist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Capt Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. JG Luke Wyatt
Chief Secuirty Officer
USS Galileo

Ens Jaana Voutilaanen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galilieo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

SWO Alexion Wylde
Doctor
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

PO2 Siren Hex
Intelligence
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

Master Warrant Officer Amon Mormont
Security
USS Galileo
[PNPC Markos]

Lt. Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Grayson Jones
ACEO
USS Galileo

Lt. Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

CMCPO Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

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