Quell’ish - Away Team - Hide and Seek

Posted on Thu Mar 11th, 2021 @ 1:41am by Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Lieutenant Baeryn Whavi-Tonelly & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Ensign Ethal Luen & Captain David Tonelly [Reece] & Lieutenant Tonya King ( Barclay de Tolly ) & Lieutenant JG T'Kek [Naxea] & Senior Chief Petty Officer Fernando De La Rosa [Taylor]

Mission: Season 5: Episode 1: No Exit
Location: Quell’ish
Timeline: -MD5 - 011h00
2857 words - 5.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Previously....


"Well, we can celebrate later..." S'hib snorted as he watched the two sensor blips flutter and vanish. "First things first, let's get to that cavern..."

"Okay." Miraj cut the power to the repulsors, and the runabout fell out of the sky like a brick, dropping down. The pursuing ships curved down to follow them, banking as they overshot to follow their descent. Which was when she slammed on the power and sent them shooting forward, skimming down under the mushroom canopy and down towards the cavern. The cavern mouth loomed and she swung the ship around, letting the Archeron drift around so as they passed into the mouth of heir intended hiding place, they were pointing out. as soon as they were in, Miraj killed every ounce of power, doing her best to hide them from sensors.

==And Now ==

They waited there in the darkness. Silently drifting in the cavern, trying to stay as silent as they could.

"We can’t sit here forever..." S'hib muttered softly to Miraj, as though speaking loudly would somehow give their location away.

"Everyone, get ready to leave..." He added as he climbed out of his seat and made his way through the cockpit, his hunched posture forcing him to a more human height. "When we do, we'll power up the Acheron and set it on autopilot... get it to fly as far away from here as it can, hopefully, they'll take the bait, but I'm not going to count on it," He said with a deep exhale, finding his phase lance still rolling about on the floor "Everyone clear?"

Ethal got out of her seat as she responded at a quieter volume but still easy to hear “yes it’s clear, but Sir, I strongly suggest anyone that did not get my innoculent does before we leave.”

Tonya placed a stash of weapons and tricorder that would fit into a back pack. "I received the innoculent, so I am good. Fernando, are you going to be my buddy? Buddy system I always recommend. Always seem the case the one who does not have a buddy wind up getting captured or killed."

"As have I." Fernando replied. "And yes of course I am going to be your buddy. Lieutenant. We agreed that we would, did we not? We will not be captured or killed. We will look out for each other." Fernando assured her.

"Thank you Fernando," she said in a kind voice. "Your wife is a lucky one to have a dependable man."

"Thank you for saying such. Though I feel as if I am the lucky one with Heather." Fernando answered with a smile.


T'Kek quickly grabbed a Field Medical Kit, slinging it across his shoulder before grabbing a spare survival pack and began to pack it with extra medical supplies. 'So much for an easy going Away Mission,' T'Kek thought. "Better take what food rations we can as well," T'Kek said as he stocked his supplies.

"I still have some s'mores in my backpack," Tonya smiled with a serious look. "They seem to last awhile." She places a portable replicator system in her backpack. It was similar to the one Jean-Luc Picard and Wesley Crusher used on a desert planet. "Great that Arianna had me keep up my exercising and weight lifting."

"Lieutenant, there is no need for you to carry all of that. Please let me help you." Fernando replied to Tonya.

Ethal was doing her part to grab anything she could carry that the team may need outside in the cavern. Along with some of the essentials she grabbed some scanning and some abseiling equipment. While she and the rest of the away team prepared she gave the last few doses out to the others who had not received their dose.

As David's armor allowed him to carry nearly half a ton of gear or ammunition, he quickly had his suit's onboard computer to activate the half dozen carry hooks on his back and chest, and started to attach several bags of supplies to them. Once he was done, he collected his rifle and then sealed his helmet. "Ready to roll."

Miraj trusted someone to pack her a bag as she shoved her feet back into her boots and concentrated on programming the autopilot. She wasn't going to go for a straight suicide run, that would be a waste of the ship she was about to send to its death. She had no idea if the emergency beacon would get its signal out through the energy field, but she was going to give it the best chance. With some basic evasion built into the program, she'd send it away at an angle then have it change direction just as it broke cover. It was a weak bluff, but it was better than nothing. Then it would be full power to the upper atmosphere and its net, where it would go to warp.

It would destroy the Acheron as the Bussard collectors tried to suck the atmosphere into the nacelles, but that moment of warped space before hand may just be enough to let the distress signal burst through at least once. And who knows, if they were lucky it may even destroy the net beyond its capacity for self repair.

If it got that far, of course. However, a ship without people in it had a lot more options when it came to evasion. Enough that it was worth the attempt.

"Auto-pilot ready to go sir." Miraj announced. "I've given it a thirty second timer, so when we're ready..."

"Thank you, Ensign... once we leave, everyone stay together," S'hib said as he turned his back to the starboard hatch, the large backpack protruding above his head causing him to crouch even more than usual.

"As of this moment, I am invoking General Order thirty... and until such time as we can make contact with the Elysium, we are on our own." He continued, shifting the physical and metaphorical weight on his shoulders.

"Now I'm sure some of you are going to disagree with me, but Private Laknema is going to have to stay aboard... we don't have time to bury him, nor can we take him with us."

Not liking the idea of not giving his fellow Marine a proper burial, David quickly linked his suit's computer to the Archeron's and had Laknema's dog tags and the few personal items he had brought with him, transported into a small hard case, which he attached to a lock point on his left hip. He then collect the young Marine's weapon, and turned to S'hib. "Sir, if someone here would take Laknema's armor, it would help up our chances for survival."

"Nobody here is qualified to use it, and it ain't going to fit on me... we'll make do without it." S'hib replied regrettably, wishing things had been drastically different

David cringed, but, he knew that S'hib was correct. Nodding silently, he accepted the fate of his fallen brother. He would ensure that he would get as much of Laknema back to his family as he could.

Though T'Kek hated the idea, it was however the logical choice. 'Sometimes I hate logic,' he thought as he finished tossing some essentials together for Miraj as had been busy and everyone else seemed busy trying to overload themselves. He only hoped they wouldn't have to constantly stay on the move as he stood.

He handed the bag to Miraj. "Here are some essential you will likely need."

"Thanks," Miraj took it from him gratefully, and eased onto her shoulders. She looked around at the runabout she was about to send to its death. "I'm sorry, old bean."

Tonya was pleased with Fernando's gallantry of taking some of the load off of her. He had muscles that rippled like an Olympian Weightlifter.

Fernando picked up the heavier pieces of equipment Tonya had set aside. "Is there anything else Lieutenant?" He asked even while listening to the Marine talk to S'hib about some personal armor.

“That should be enough,” Tonya says as she just had to ask, “How much can you bench press?”

The question surprised Fernando but he hid it and replied "360 pounds normally. I did get to 390 once. Why Lieutenant?"

“Because I want to make sure I do not give you a hernia,” Tonya says smiling. “Judging from what you have, I say it is about 225 pounds tops.”

"Then let us hope we do not have too far to travel," T'Kek said. "As such weight will slow us down considerably." He moved to the rear of the shuttle by the hatch and slapped the panel, opening it.

" That should prove to be no problem Lieutenant" Then to T'Kek Fernando spoke next, "Don't worry Ensign, this won't slow me down." He assured T'Kek.

"The cavern we are going in has enough ore to hide us beaming supplies there but too risky to beam people," Tonya suggests. "Beaming a person, we could be beaming them into something solid."

"Definitely not a good thing." Fernando quipped.

Baeryn had finished packing her bag with as many food portions, weapons' and tools she could. Backpacking through caves and scalling mountains was a favorite past time back on earth, normally not followed by the pursuit of hostile aliens, but she was trying to look on the brighter side of things. She took a leisurely glance around the runabout knowing she was bound to forget something. Shrugging on the budding feeling she headed out of the runabout to meet with the others.

"Okay," Miraj warned as they all streamed out. "Stay away from the rear thrusters, she's going to get real fast real quick and anyone standing to close is going to know about it." She looked over to S'hib. "Just say when sir."

Baeryn stood next to Miraj with a heavy look in her eyes. She wasn't the biggest fan of being left without a ship but understood the situation. She just silently prayed the Elysium would find them soon. Sooner then their new 'friends'.

Tonya did the last part she needed to do. She had taken every precaution.

"I wish there was another way..." S'hib said softly as he walked past Miraj, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder while already searching for a way to lead everyone away.

Stepping out of the ship, David activated his suit's passive sensors and looked for any threats. They needed to find a good solid place to hunker down in, and wait for the calvary to show up. "Sir," he said to S'hib. "I think I see a good spot for us to hold up in, until the Elysium arrives.

Miraj checked the flight plan once last time. Then checked that she was the last person on board. She was alone. All was in order. "Alright. Computer, engage Auto pilot, flight plan Derani-Three, thirty second delay."

"Acknowledged", the even voice replaced. Miraj took that as her cue to make a hasty exit, dashing off the Acheron, and into the cave. Twenty seconds later the Acheron blasted forward, off out of the cave, hurtling through the Fungal Forest to spear out of the canopy a little way from their point of entry, but by then it was too far away to see. She could only hope that the Acheron got its blaze of glory, and got their emergency broadcast out. Or at least close enough to space that its atomized remains might form a warning to the Elysium.

"We should get moving. The faster we move, the better our chances," T'Kek offered in order to get the group's attention back on the task at hand, including himself. Internally, he was worried to death about the shuttle getting the distress signal through. It was during these times, he was grateful for the Vulcan mental exercises designed to help him control his emotions. This was the last place he wanted to panic and make an irrational decision.

Tonya hiked to safety with Fernando. "This sure has turned into an adventurous mission." Kinds of reminds me of spelunking in New Mexico."

"I have never done any spelunking. However if not for the circumstances this could be fun." Fernando admitted as he and Tonya walked along. The equipment he was carrying proving to be no hinderance to him.

On point, David kept his head on a swivel, always looking for any threats to the team. With the aid of his power suit, he was finding no difficulty moving through the rough terrain. However, he kept his pace even, to allow the rest of the team an easy movement speed over the uneven landscape. "We should reach that spot I detected in about twenty minutes at this speed, evereyone," he called over his shoulder.

Ethal was evaluating herself as she walked with the group. Inside the runabout when it was under attack she felt panicked and confined and knew she would be no help if she was needed. Lucky she wasn’t needed. She kept going around the situation and trying to work out why she reacted as she did. Ethal had been in combat situations before, she did well in them too, she wouldn’t have passed the academy if she acted the way she did.

At least now she was out of that situation now and she felt like she could breathe a little inside this cavern. The place reminded her when she went spelunking with her farther back on Trill. There wasn’t many places it could be done on her home planet but her father wanted Ethal experience absolutely everything the planet had to offer.

T'Kek looked about his surroundings which seemed bare for the most part--not even any small mammals or reptiles seemed to be living in the cave--at least not this section of the cave. He did however notice how quiet Ethal appeared to be. Taking a few longer strides, he caught up to the science officer. "You're rather quiet," he commented.

Ethal jumped out her skin a little when T'Kek spoke to her. "Oh hey, sorry about that." She responded quite awkwardly. After a deep breath she tried to respond again "I guess i was taken by surprise when all this happened, and I was no help" Ethal said quite solemnly.

"I wouldn't say you're helpless," he smirked. "You came up with the inoculation for the team. I didn't have much use aboard the shuttle either. In such a situation, unless you're a pilot, you just hold onto your seat and hope for the best. Thing is though, we're stranded on an largely unknown planet and your services from now until we get rescued will be invaluable to us."

"That is true, I guess I'm just expecting more from myself than I should. Thank you, I need to focus on now and not what I could have done." Ethal had determination in her eyes. T'Kek had dragged her out of the proverbial hole she was in and now she could think about now. She kicked herself for thinking about how to prove herself to her family at a time like this.

T'Kek grinned at Ethal. "You are welcome. Let's just hope this cave will provide adequate needs for us until the Elysium can rescue us. I have yet to notice any wildlife in this cave, which is somewhat worrying."

"If I'm honest, which I hope is not right, is that if there seems to be a lack of wildlife that means there is something like a predator removing them" Ethal regretted saying what she did as it made the cave feel a lot more scary all the sudden. "I'm sorry every time we talk, I just seem to make places scary" she nervously chuckled.

"Your conclusion is not flawed," T'Kek admitted as he continued to look about the cave. Many predators such as the Terran Bear or the Vulcan Sehlat used caves as homes. "But keep this up and I just may start to avoid you," he teased.

She chuckled with him as she knew it was a joke though there was a hint of truth to his statement, She would avoid herself if anytime he met herself all was said was doom and gloom. “I will make sure to tone it down a little, I don’t want to lose a friend”. She continued to chuckle after she spoke.

"Not at all," he grinned. "Be yourself. You do not need to worry about losing me as a friend. 'You are far too beautiful for that anyhow,' he thought.

Ethal smiled back "thanks, I'm glad I have someone to share my weird thoughts with."

"Anytime," T'Kek shrugged.

Finally, the group reached the area that David had indicated. He immediately moved to the rear of the area and freed up his armor from all the items he was carrying. He then moved back to the front of the area and began setting out traps and signal flares, to ensure that no one would sneak up in them. He then took up a position and began scanning the area outside of their little homestead.

[END]