The Lightening Strikes

Posted on Fri Aug 28th, 2020 @ 11:42am by Lieutenant JG Shaille Levine & Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Bianca Lee & Lieutenant Odan Tran

Mission: Into The Delta Triangle
Location: Kessik III

The arrival of the away team on Kessik III hadn't been met with pomp or ceremony, infact, it was quite the opposite. It looked almost like war had broken out in the time that it had taken for them to shuttle to the planet.

Carissa, upon emerging from the shuttle, immediately rested her hand on her phaser. "Cover Commander Gail!" she ordered as the rest of the team started to emerge behind her.

The elderly Varro rose to his feet and nodded in response to the order. He briefly looked down and gazed at the phaser gripped in his wrinkled hand. Over the decades which span his life, he had worn many hats, and while a modest combatant when the situation arose, he had always felt more comfortable allowing his tongue to do the necessary work. Tran had a deep companion for life and an inherit ability to find an alternative path, to build bridges instead of tear them down. The captain had asked him to accompany the away team, looking beyond his years, in hopes that his voice might be as useful as any phaser.

Tran looked toward the Ts’Usugi, a fellow Delta Quadrant native, if the order was to cover the command then the Varro would do whatever he could to follow that order.

Moving forward, away from the shuttle slowly, Carissa kept glancing around. "I thought it was strange when we didn't get hailed by ground control before landing," she said quietly, keeping close to Ichiko, her hand still resting on her phaser.

As a group of uniformed individuals started approaching their landing site, Carissa took a step forward again.

"My apologies," One of them offered with a shake of the head. "Commander, we weren't informed of a Starfleet presence in the area, but I'm afraid we must insist that you leave, for your own safety."

Carissa glanced at Ichiko again, pursing her lips. "What the hell happened down here?" she asked, ignoring their request.

"We had an explosion in the dilithium refining facility. It is causing some tectonic instability and the aftershocks have caused significant damage. I'm sorry, we simply are not in a position to be dealing with Starfleet right now."

Ichiko gave a nod to her team as she took those first few steps off the shuttle. Her team acted swiftly, and that made her proud of the moment. A few more steps, making sure not to leave anyone behind. The elder would not slow them down, he'd set their pace. In that, her upbringing was still strong. A respected elder on the team, to guide and advise. If he held a weapon, then that was a lesson in their failure.

She looked at the spokesperson for the situation, her ears twitching with anxiety. "We lost contact with some of our crew. Their last known location was in this vicinity. On the ride over, this facility, and the region where my missing crew had been congregating, explodes." a pause from the rabbitess, "I sympathize with your situation, and I will gladly offer any aid in helping deal with this, but I trust you understand: I have crew lost in this region." she said in no uncertain terms.

"I appreciate your concern for our well being." Ichiko commented as a minor tremor shook the ground beneath their feet. "I can have that shuttle in the air, scanning for weak points, faults, lifesigns... Let me help you, so that you can help us."

There were a few exchanged glances before one of them turned back to Ichiko and gave a shrug. "Ain't no skin off my nose if you wanna go get yourself killed, but you may wanna go check with Scekvin. Head into the colony, go passed the marketplace and it's the third building on the left. If you've got missing crew, he might know what's up." One of them replied before turning back toward his companions as they started walking again. "Next week's lates says they don't last an hour," he guffawed as they walked toward what looked like flight control buildings behind them.

Darryl heard the comment by the native as he walked past her, the rear guard of the formation, one hand on his phaser still firmly in its holster on his belt. A shiver ran up his spine as he ran through the ramifications of that statement; This was going to be a definite high stress away mission. A small smile threatened to cross his face, ‘At least I'm not wearing a red shirt, right?’

Carissa grimaced at the remark and shook her head. "So I guess we start with this Scekvin then?" she mused. "Commander, you don't think our team would have been near the refinery do you?" she asked, lowering her voice slightly as they started walking.

Scekvin. Head to the colony. Pass the Marketplace. Third Building. Left.

"Thank you for the time. We'll see what we can do to help." and with that, Ichiko and company were off. The remark didn't skip her hearing, but she paid it no mind. She turned her attention to Carissa briefly, "There's too many unknowns in play. There's a dilithium refinery, which could be throwing off an accurate read of the sensors. Maybe they found something? Maybe they found something they shouldn't? We have to play it careful."

“Indeed, sometimes the torment of precautions does not exceed the dangers to be avoided,” the old Varro stated to no one in particular as he placed his phaser at his side. While malice may still lurk, this seemed to be a recover missions, one he hoped included the lives of their crew. Unquestionably, the cooperation of the locals would be favourable. Tran opened his tricorder now, “I detected several lifeforms in the colony ahead; but I am also detecting intermitted spikes in radiations. Likely from the explosion…” Tran cocked his head slightly, “While insignificant to us, we should monitor the levels. I also hope there are no pregnant females in the village…”

"Keep us posted on any readings higher than what you would deem comfortable." Ichiko said, turning to address the elder with a nod. "I might not want children, but I'm certain others do." she gave a smirk, but the gesture didn't quite reach her eyes. She turned her glance forward again, and lead the team through the throng of the masses towards their destination.