A Cave Dive

Posted on Wed Aug 3rd, 2022 @ 4:56am by Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III & Lieutenant JG Taina M'Tras & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant Sovas Nyseth & Lieutenant JG Kassandra Selin & Lieutenant JG Andrea Carrington

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Zapara IV
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 1100
784 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON
The surface outside Vengeance was hot and sandy, dry and unpleasant. Quite bearable, but still not an ideal day. The crew who walked out of the strut-lift onto the barren area wore their variant uniforms which were like the standard, but they omitted the colored tunic underneath as well as sleeves, making them much more revealing, but more comfortable in this setting. Rank pips were moved to colored patches on the right shoulder.

As the Vengeance teams streamed out of the ship, they were met by Andrei Petrov and two Kazon. He gave a neutral expression to them. He had no particular claim to command in this situation, but along with Johnathan, he was the best candidate because of his rank. Some might argue that having his own ship put him ahead; he certainly would.

"Welcome to Zapara IV, ladies and gents. Our mission? Find as many Dalium-Cobald Crystals as we can." he said, stopping in front of them. "Our scanners are useless at detecting these things from a distance, and so are our tricorders. We have to be close up, so we're splitting up and searching for them on foot. Lieutenant Cassiel and I will head north up that short mountain."

Madeline simply gave a nod to Andrei while her dark eyes shifted to the two Kazon flanking him. She was unbothered by their presence, trusting Andrei to be intelligent enough to not bring a pair of untrained dogs along with him. She folded her arms across her uncommonly bare abdomen, having opted for the cooler option in the top half of her uniform given the environment in which they were standing. She looked to the others then, just trying to commit faces to names at this point.

Kassandra almost threw a rock at her half brother for being a pompus arse but she merely turned to Lieutenant Nyseth. "Shall we Lieutenant?" she asked the Chief of Operations "Before Andrei asks us to carry his water bottles?" Kass's uniform was like all the others, and she didn't care about the fact that she was showing bare skin. Better than sweltering.

For Sovas the unpleasantness of the planet was like a familiar companion, he couldn't call it a friend since his experienced with most environments outside of his home has been practicum lessons in survival. He was dressed in a similar fashion to the rest of the Away Team though he had made sure to pack accordingly for sandstorms as well as the drastic temperature shifts that could come with an arid planet such as this. Though life within his home had merely been a different sort of survival training given the violent sparring sessions and the attitude of his father. He adjusted his pack and gear to make sure it was seated properly before turning to look at their Chief Intelligence Officer. "A shame we our Ferengi slaves didn't survive the transit, they have a sixth sense for finding valuables, much like a bloodhound though the nasty little beasts would have just a likely tried to hide some of it."

"True. But thats life. And now we get the glory" Kassandra grinned.

Andrea had joined the away party also opting for a cooler option of clothing given the planetary conditions. So far she didn’t have a partner, but no doubt she’d end up with one.

Johnathan, who didn't seem to be feeling uncomfortable in the heat, looked over at his search partner. "All set, M'Tras? We're going to start down that shaft over there." He indicated the large hole in the ground about twenty meters of of Vengeance's aft port quarter. What limited range the ship's sensor did read, showed that that shaft was roughly four meters wide and descended for twenty more meters, until it branched off horizontally and moved away from the ship. Johnathan had his climbing gear ready and was already chalking up his hands for the climb down. "Hope you enjoy free climbing."

"Yes, sir," M'Tras said eagerly, striding towards the large hole and peering down. Her whiskers twitched a little and she sniffed. She adjusted her climbing gear around her waist but she didn't put anything on her hands. They were designed for this.

Before he started down the shaft, Johnathan looked back at the team's starting to disperse. He saw that Andrea didn't have a search partner. "Monroe!" He called out to her as he waved her over. "You're with us, let's go."

Hearing her name called Andrea made her way quickly over to Anderson to join him and M’Tras. She looked down the hole and gave a whistle. “Wow.” It looked like she was about to go on a deep adventure.

TBC