Team 6 - Why us? Oh because we are following orders

Posted on Mon Jul 1st, 2024 @ 4:40pm by Ensign Alessandra Sheffield & Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Captain Samuel Woolheater & Lieutenant JG Damien Blackford & 1st Lieutenant Joshua Young [Taylor] & Staff Sergeant Leilani Charles {Kelea-Salik} & Staff Sergeant Liam "Swede" Reece [Reece]

Mission: Season 6 HIATUS
Location: Edens Reach and Transporter Room 6
Timeline: MD7 - 07h00
4323 words - 8.6 OF Standard Post Measure

IC

The group of officers and enlisted gathered in the transporter bay where a pile of backpacks were waiting. An ensign stood there with a PADD. Once everyone was gathered, the Ensign began to speak.

“Welcome to your daily challenge. Grab a pack, they are all the same. You will be beamed down to a location on the planet, all land based. There you will spend the day as a group, looking around the area, taking scans, samples, hiking through the forests and the like. You will spend 8 hours planet side. Work together, listen to each other. Learn about each other. While you may wear different ranks, this is a working together exercise and one I want you all to do, without considering rank.” The ensign smiled. “So Speaks the Commodore. Please grab your bags and step onto the transporter pads.”

The ensign then added “Oh, the weather may be inclement. So be prepared to get wet.”

When the ensign had finished talking, Josh snatched a pack off the floor and stepped up onto a transporter pad. He gave the others a quick once over. The team was a mix of marines and fleeters. Should be interesting to see how well they all worked together.

Liam grabbed the next pack and slung it onto his back as he stepped up into the transporter chamber, moving to the young officer's left.

Samuel, wearing a long-sleeved, thermal undershirt with white sleeves rolled up on his forearms, layered on top was a marine green t-shirt. On the front was a Catareia skull all in white with cracks and wear marks. Looking something like a human skull with curved horns, it was stylized and looked completely badass. One of his favorite play clothes. Behind it were crossed TR-116 rifles in an 'X' fashion, thermal grenades and photon grenades and the SFMC flag and color complete with flames and some blood to round out the image and give it a bit of color. On the left sleeve of the t-shirt was the unit number "47th". The 47th detachment had earned their stripes on Catareia and the hard battle at what later became known as 'Dementor Bridge'. A rather nasty battle that took a long time and the odds were against them. The 47th prevailed however and from that point on adopted the Catareia skull and rifles. On the back of his shirt was written , "The Good Morning Crew - Dementors for Hire" He reached for a backpack and recognized a few faces. Of course the famous Reece kid. And Joshua Young. Last time he saw Lelani she was partially frozen waiting for a warm cup of coffee on the ice planet. He said, "This is great! Everybody got a pack?" he asked as he nodded in greeting to the people already on the transporter pad. Sam took his place in the rear and adjusted the straps.

Alessandra was nervous. She had not been in a large group in a while. But it was a test, a test to see if she wanted to really re-join Starfleet. So She took a bag and shrugged it on and stepped onto the platform.

Sam didn't recognize the person who took the pad next to him, She looked a little unsure of herself. He looked over and said, "I've been to the surface. A couple times now. Eden's Reach is the best thing to happen to us in ages. You're going to love it."

"T-thanks, Its my first away mission in a while that is all." Aless said with a smile.

“Nothing wrong with being nervous” Leilani offered Alessandra a warm smile as she stepped up onto the pad with her pack. “I’m Leilani Charles by the way. Just stick with Sam and you’ll be fine.”

"Charles is right, Ma'am," Liam spoke up. "Besides, with four Marines going down, I have a feeling this group will be the best." He gave a friendly grin as he finished speaking.

Josh overheard the conversation. Just relax and breathe deep ma'am. Everything is going to be fine."

Damien grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder, taking a look at the group he'd be placed with, giving them all a soft smile, before stepping onto the transporter pad, arm crossed behind his back.

"Okay everyone ready?" The ensign called out. "I am beaming you down." And so he did.

=/\=

Near the equator was a small string of islands that were joined by a massive sand bar that fluxed between crossable and uncrossable due to the tides. The group found themselves on one of the many islands in this chain. The island had a small forest but no water sources other than the ocean.

As soon as the transport fog lifted, Damien, broke formation slightly, stepping to the edge of the group and looking around, before turning back to the group. "Alright. We all heard the Commodore. Take some scans, find some samples, and take a hike. I suggest we start by splitting into pairs, going off to a different section, see what we can find, then meet back here in say... 30 minutes and compare notes?"

Leilani smiled. “Now that’s what you eager.” She looked around enjoying the scenery. “This is going to be fun.”

Alessandra looked around. "It... reminds me of Earth..." She said softly. "Well.. the Earth that I remember."

"Well," Liam responded, a soft grin on his face, "Earth of today is just as beautiful. I mean, there are some new buildings, I'm sure, but she is still a paradise to see."

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

The shore here was very wide and long. So the water from the sea rolled in and had a long way to go before it met drier sand. The result was a gentle lapping of the water. Blackford sounded like he had command of the situation and Sam thought that pairing up was a good idea. He reached into his backpack and withdrew a tricorder. After a minute or so, slow-walking to get a better scan, he closed it and said, "There are no fresh water sources here. Those trees in that forested area must have adapted to process seawater. I'm guessing? I have four watter bottles in my backpack. That's enough for me for one day, eight hours here. In a little while the sun will be up high; it may get hot here. And we've no way to replenish our water supplies that I am aware of. How do you want us to pair off sir" he addressed the question to Damien.

Damien watched as Sam took a few steps and started his scans, wondering for a few seconds if the Marine Captain was going to shoot his down and take command of the situation. He was, technically, the highest ranking officer here. Taking mental note of his words, he checked his own backpack, confirming he had the same amout of water. Rationing was going to be important. A small smile played on his lips as he remembered back to his Academy days, and the survival training he'd been put through on a hot desert planet. It wasn't as green as this place had been, but he could be certain that the heat would probably be just as bad.

Swinging his backpack back onto his shoulders, he suddenly realised that Sam's last question, and the word 'sir' had been directed at him. A flicker of surprise passed over his features for a brief second, before he swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat, and stood up straight.

"Alright." He said, looking over the party assembled in front of him. Although he hadn't interacted with most of them outside of missions before, he had looked through most of their security files at least once. "Joshua, you go with Leilani, head to the North. Liam, you go with Alessandra, check out the tree line. Don't go into the forest just yet. Sam, Captain Woolheater, that leaves you with me. We'll check out the coast. If you find something that looks interesting, scan it. If it seems safe, bring it back. We'll back here in 30 minutes, then decide on the best course of action from there."

Josh nodded and glanced at Leilani, "Ready to go ma'am?" He asked politely while checking his chronometer.

Leilani nodded. “By all means Joshua. Lead on.”

Sam nodded, "Sounds like a plan. And, if possible, remember to have fun?" A grin was on his face and he looked at Damien, "Ready to move out when you are LT."

Damien grinned, nodding in agreement. "Oh absolutely, Captain. Fun is of the utmost importance." Making sure his pack was secured, he nodded at Sam. "Ready to go Captain."

Aless moved off with Liam. "Didn't they say no ranks?" she asked softly.

Liam chuckled softly and shrugged. "That's what I thought, but hey, I'm just a ground pounder who likes to blow things up." He grinned as he finished speaking.

Following Josh, Leilani looked around as they walked. “This place is astounding. I can only imagine what we could find here.”

"I agree ma'am." Josh replied. "The crew needed this. To both mentally and physically reset themselves." As the pair went further into the forest.

“So far its paradise, but we don’t know if there are any hazards here. We still need to be cautious.” Leilani smiled.

"Good point Leilani, "Don't want anyone getting hurt because they weren't careful." Josh replied as the pair moved deeper into the jungle.

Leilani nodded. “There doesn’t appear to be anything harmful, but looks can be deceiving sometimes.”

"Indeed they can." Josh agreed, "Which is why you never relax your guard." Josh feplied.


THE SHORE

Only the water, which slowly rolled in and lapped the shore made much of any sound here. There was the crunching of the sand as the two walked along the sandy shore. Far off, they could hear the waves crashing. There were clumps of trees here. More tropical in nature. Sam was no botanist, but they looked similar to palm trees back on Earth. Which looked very similar to palm trees on Pacifica. There was a large bush next to the closet of the trees and it was swollen with fruit, “Ah! These are good” he said as he got out his K-Bar knife and attempted to get some fruit. They were the red, hairy looking fruits that were on a vine like a cluster of grapes on a vine. Sam bent down on one knee and cut off a cluster and then cut the fruit off. “These are…interesting…I guess that’s the best way to describe them. Fruit is the consistency and texture of an egg white. But, tastes tart like a pineapple. There’s a little bit of some other taste in there” he said as he worked and peeled and sliced open one and handed it to Damien. “Try it?”

Damien followed behind Sam, Tricorder out, taking a few scans of the surrounding area, coming to a stop as Sam stopped near a bush, watching with interest as he worked his way into the fruit, raising an eyebrow at the description. Not something he would rate, but he took the offered fruit anyway. No harm in at least trying it. Taking a bite, he found he was pleasantly surprise. "Interesting is definitely the right word to describe it." He said with a slight chuckle. "Can I ask you a question, sir?" He asked as he finished the fruit.

"Yes. I think so too. Interesting" he said. Sam sheathed his k-bar back into its cover after wiping it down, "What question?" he said as he took the last bit of fruit from the skin, ate it and wiped his fingers on a kerchief from his pocket. "I forgot, you missed the part of the mission brief. There is no rank on this away mission. Per the Commodore. She wants us to work together and not let rank or job descriptions get in the way. You know? All that 'fleet and marines don't mix" bullshit. Well. Now that you know...what's on your mind?" he said as he looked at Damien. Sam was going to share with Damien a wee bit of history. Marines put on ships not to protect the ship or the crew, originally. No, they were there to protect the Captain and the officers. Making sure that the
"rabble rousing degenerate crews" followed their orders and the chain of command protected. No more mutiny's a la HMS Bounty for Starfleet thank you very much. But, he decided to keep his mouth shut and just listen. In the many long years since those old sailing ship days, roles of the Marins on space faring vessels had changed dramatically. Especially since the days of the MACO's. Sam kept his mouth and knowledge quiet while he looked and listened for Damien's question.

Damien chuckled softly, shrugging. “Do the Fleet and Marines not really mix?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at Sam. Having only been on a training cruise before this, he’d never actually served with any Marines, so had no idea what the tension was like between the two branches.

“You’ve actually already partly answered the question.” He admitted. “I was going to ask why you let me take point back at the transport site. You were the ranking officer, so you would’ve have been in the right to countermand my suggestions if you wanted to.’

Sam considered his answer and said, "There's still bad feelings there I think. After the ship crashed on the singularity or whatever it was, people had to do things they never thought they'd have to do. We lost one-third of the detachment" here he snapped his fingers, "...just like that. Killed where they slept. Then the marooned on the ice planet. I've never been so constantly cold my whole life. The attack on the helm officer, Miraj. And the fact that you guys in Security are no closer to catching whoever did that to her. I think...it has a negative effect." He looked out over the wide exapnse of water and sighed, lost in his thoughts a moment before continuing shaking his head a moment. "Trust has been broken; trust in our mission and what we're doing. Trust in leadership. Trust in each other. Can I really rely on anybody else?."

Sam put his hands on his hips, "We've always been vulnerable. No matter where we are in space. Here. There. Wherever. The crash reminded everyone of that unpleasant reality. The ice planet reminded us all that we need each other to survive. The ship itself cannot alone take care of us. We need it and it needs us. But...I don't know...the attack on Miraj changed us. And learning about the damn Tee H's is a constant reminder that we could end up in slaver camps too. They did it before. They can do it again. You guys are supposed to keep order on the Elysium. You're supposed to make sure bad things don't happen to the crew by the crew. And...look at us...fights and brawls. Disorder and insubordination. Even in your own department. I'm not criticizing you, Blackford. Not you personally. I'm just saying that we wish you'd do a better job of being cops. Just do your job. Catch the fucker who attacked Ensign Derani."

Damien listened to Sam’s… rant? Tirade? It seemed unfair to just dismiss his words. He was right after all. And it wasn’t like Damien hadn’t thought about what he’d said himself. The things that were happening in the Department… well, they weren’t exactly covered in the Academy.

“Obviously I can’t make promises for the entire department. But I can promise that I’m doing everything within my paygrade to investigate everything that happened. The Security Officers are working as hard as they can right now. I’m not gonna make excuses for the department. We need to do better. And I personally am trying. But there’s only so much a shiny can do.”

Sam continued, "To answer the other part of your question, I didn't 'let' you take the lead. You took the lead all by yourself. That's what leaders do. Commodore wants us to work together and get to know each other better. I think that she must know that the...bonds of affection...amongst the crew are strained right now. And we're not going to make it out here against all the things that could go wrong, if we don't pull ourselves together. Put our petty bullshit aside and be one crew. Not a collection of individuals all with the same clothier. Ay? So, this is me trying to work together. Trying to erase rank. Meet anybody that can set aside our differences and our...tribalisms. And figure this shit out before we're just one more notch on the damn Tee H's kill count. Marines are here to protect the ship. And you can fucking count on that." He leveled a look at him that was deadly serious.

Damien nodded, matching his gaze with one of his own. He hadn’t necessarily been trying to take the lead. He’d just put an idea out into the group. If someone had decided they wanted to do something else, or had an idea of their own, he’d have gladly stepped back. “Aye si.. Sam.” He said, fighting every instinct he had to call him sir again. “And if you have any tips or extra training you’d be willing to throw my way, count me in. The Elysium is my home now. And I wanna protect her anyway I can.” He levelled his own gaze back, seriousness etched into every line of his face.

==

Alessandra walked with Liam feeling distinctly weird. She was still finding her feet on the Elysium and to be on such a spontaneous away mission was weird to her. She had not even gone back to work really.

Liam could tell that something was wrong with Samaire's friend, so he asked gently, "Is everything alirght? You seem very quiet."

"Still... taking things in. I know its been a few weeks but this is still like a dream. I am sure Samaire could give you a list of things that would match what I am feeling."

He smiled softly and nodded. "Yeah, she told me that, for the rest of your crew that came back home on your ship, it took them a while to find their feet again. Everyone had been changed somewhat. New phobias, different things triggering panic attacks, even becoming ill after being exposed to benign items." He looked over at her, compassion in his eyes. "Whatever happens, you're not alone, okay? Sam, Sky and I are here to help you, in any way we can."

"I appreciate that" Aless replied. "I know that if I wish to rejoin fully, I will need retraining."

He nodded, a soft expression on his face. "I can't imagine how you are feeling right now. I mean, there are species on Elysium that the Federation if your time were either opponents of, or didn't even know existed. It must be a very...intense sensation."

"It is. Counseling is helping." Aless replied softly.


=== THIRTY-MINUTES LATER ===

Gathering back at the rendezvous point, Sam set the sample container down and then shared the data on his tricorder to any tricorder that wanted the data. He said, "All we need is a volleyball net, a BBQ pit, a cooler for some frosty cold ones and we'd be set for a beach party." He smiled and indicated to the sample kit, "I got some fruit, some of the leaves, some grass and some shells. They look like shells at least." He looked at the next person, "How'd you do?"

“We found these..” Leilani put down the samples she and Josh had picked up on their trek. “Various types of fruits, soil samples from a couple of diverse areas, a sample of the water from the falls and some shells as well.”

High overhead, floating, effortlessly on a column of air were three gigantic bird-like creatures. They were, at least from the underside, a shade of deep green. Their feathers were so shiny. And they hovered there, dipping and slowly circling so lazily and high. Sam used the tricorder to scan and it told him that the wingspan was about tweleve feet (3.65m). He smiled at the abundance of life here. And he silently wondered what the birdies ate. He listened as the next person was speaking and he wanted to hear what they said.

Once everyone had shared their findings, Sam asked, "Does anybody feel like taking off your shoes and walking around on the sand? Maybe getting some volleyball going? Maybe even get a grill going and cook up some grub? We're not due back for hours still" he inquired of the group.

Aless nodded. "Sounds good." She replied.

Sam looked over at Sheffield. She is a survivor from the groups of people that were freed from the slavers. It took a lot of guts to speak up in a new group.
He could appreciate that. He nodded and grinned, "Well alright then. Now we're talking. Back there, " Sam motioned to behind him and on the shoreline, "back there is a nice little spot. Got some trees and some fruit. The sand is a little easier to walk on and play on. Or? Does anybody else have a better spot in mind?" he asked the rest of the group.

"Sounds good to me" Leilani offered a warm smile. "We're here to get to know one another after all."

Damien grinned as he kicked his shoes off, and rolled up the bottom of his trousers. “Volleyball?” He said, quirking his eyebrow at the Marine. “You planning to reenact Top Gun? Count me in.”

***a few hours later***

After a quick, and fun game of beach volleyball was played, everyone had enjoyed delicious bar-b-que, which both Captain Woolheater and Staff Sergeant Reece had cooked, in shifts. They now sat around a small campfire, using driftwood as the fuel source. They were laughing and talking, getting to know one another, as was the whole goal of the away mission.

Sam enjoyed this time the best; getting to know these folks. It never seemed like there was enough time for this. Hearing what Josh liked about being on the close protection detail. Gaining new respect for Damien and the challenges that came with being Security and the dilemma of not being able to brig someone as they normally would when starbases and ports of call were handy. Alessandra was still learning who these folks were so Sam didn't expect her to share a lot at this time anyway. He recognized the terrible shock she had been through. Liam was really good at supporting a team of people. Getting in their and backing other people up. Encouraging his teamates and helping them succeed. These qualities were evident even in a simple pickup game of volleyball. Sam realized that he would be a good moderator in a tense situation. He also had a killer spike not to be underestimated. And, being a Reece, he was a good storyteller. Lelani, he knew the least about. Which was a little bit ironic since Sam would rather go to the Marine medics than the ship's sickbay. He observed that she had befriended Alessandra and that she connected with people easily. He saw that she was a fun person to have around and contributed to the group. Being a healer would also indicate that she cared about people's wellbeing. There was something she mentioned about the beach, the volleyball, not going in the water and needing a bigger boat. Which was all from an ancient film. A documentary, probably.

Finally, the time had come to return to the ship. As they extinguished the campfire, and cleaned up everything they had brought in. As they did so, Liam saw something shiny in the sand. He reached down, and pulled out a stone, whose color seemed to fluctuate between ruby red and sapphire blue, depending on how the light hit it. "Hey, Sam," he looked over at Woolheater, feeling odd to refer to his Platoon Leader by his first name, however, those had been the rules for the outing. No ranks. "Do you think the Commodore or the Colonel would mind if I brought this gemstone back and gave it to my little girl?"

Sam came over and stood near Liam. He looked at what was in his hand, a gemstone that seemed to radiate even when not cut or cleaned, "That's a beauty right there" he said as he looked at the gem and considered the question. He said, "Thirteen billion light-years away from the nearest Federation outpost has to have some advantages. It's not like we're coing back here anytime soon either." He smiled and put a hand on the young man's shoulder, "I think we can allow some personal indulgences and call it sample collecting ay? That'll make a real nice necklace, Liam."

Liam smiled and nodded appreciatively to Sam, before putting the stone into his pack.

Damien smiled as he packed everything away, standing in the waters edge, letting the waves gently lap at his ankles, before stepping back onto the sand, grabbing his discarded jacket and using it to quickly dry off his feet, slipping his shoes back on.

When his stuff was packed, he walked over to Sam, stopping next to him, and saying, “Thanks Sam. What you said back there. It was all stuff that I needed to hear.”

The transporter operator called, =A= Away team? Stand by. We're ready to bring you home. =A=

~OFF~