Searching Skunil - Part II

Posted on 07/17/2020 @ 11:05am by Captain Cian D'Anvers & Lieutenant JG Larissa Syndel

Mission: S2E1: The Skunil Incident
Location: Skunil
Timeline: Day 38 at 1315

Lieutenant Jodon Joral opened the hatch of the shuttlecraft, Flying Hawk, exposing the away team to the air of Skunil, breathable and suitable for each of them without any need for environmental suits. J.J. was, of course, cautious as he permitted Lieutenant Lae'Or to take point as the Trill gestured for the woman to exit the shuttle. It was not like J.J. was going to take any necessary risks. He and the rest of the away team were going to be armed with phasers to defend themselves should it be required, but tricorders would be their best friends right now albeit he did not dismiss the security officer's natural preference for a phaser over a tricorder. Better safe than...dead he thought to himself. "After you, Lieutenant," he said to Tahlin.

"Aye, Sir." The Bajoran pulled out her phaser and walked out of the shuttlecraft. "Some rubble around, but no sign of bodies... No sign of anyone... Friendly or hostile." She pulled out her tricorder. "Lifeform readings negligible--likely rodents and plants."

"Wonderful," J.J. muttered. "Rodents... exactly what I don't want to find, but worthy to note if an Ion Storm traps us here for a while we will have a source of food."

Tahlin's faced clearly showed her disgust. "Having tasted Earth guinea pig, I'm a bit off rodents, thank you very much, Sir." Her tricorder beeped. "There's a water source--listen." She pricked up her ears. "Likely a rill or stream, running out of the hills."

J.J. found himself in a bit of a juggling act, leading the away team as First Officer of the USS Crazy Horse and yet also being the foremost science officer among them, with the exception of Dr. O'Hamlin of course who as Chief Medical Officer undoubtedly could tap into their pre-med education, undoubtedly a rather scientifically rounded education including biology and chemistry. "How's the weather today, Doc?" J.J. said almost teasingly.

"Dark and brooding," joked Chet without even a hint of a smile. "Smells like rain, though. Of course, that might mean meatballs are going to fall out of the sky here. It is a different planet, after all."

"Better than cats and dogs, though those would take care of our potential rodent problem" he teased as he and the others started to walk around a bit the immediate area. J.J. spotted an old rusted looking sign that read: To Bob with arrows which lead the Trill to look at Syndel "This place doesn't scream cutting edge technology."

"The file said they wanted to live in harmony with the natural environment..." Larissa said as she took a look around. "No replicators no advanced machinery, probably nothing in the way of protection either."

"Perhaps nothing more advanced than a loom or a hand-bellow." Tahlin's voice was soft, almost whistful.

J.J. did not like the grim situation that he was facing, these people appeared to be nowhere in sight. Though he had to make light of the situation. It was a bit of his safeguard; humor was a good coping mechanism for him. "Oh, I would not rule out a good slingshot or spears by the looks of this place. They seemed to be good at scrap metalwork and the craftsmanship isn't all that shoddy either" he said examining the sign. "The artwork could use some improvement, but I'm not an art aficionado" stated the First Officer. He looked over to the Diplomatic Officer "These people were peaceful right? No indication of cannibalism I take it?"

Naught more than a shake of the head initially met the question presented by the executive officer. "From what all I was provided with, and what information I could dig up the majority of these were people who wanted to start over. Frontier explorers. Scientists. Agriculture." He looked over the sign, taking in the immediate surroundings. "While anything is possible, such as those running from the law, it didn't jump out in the file. This is not a penal or outlaw colony. Not by record at least. By extension I doubt any unneeded violence, or worse cannibalism."

The First Officer made the mistake of touching the edges of the Bob sign and suffering a small cut across the distal transverse of his palm. "Ouch," he said pulling his hand back and clenching his fist when he saw the small slit and the bit of blood materializing. He looked over at the Chief Medical Officer. "We had a bit of a disagreement about his artwork," he said holding out his, palm up to Doctor O'Hamlin.

Kieran frowned as the boyish Trill brushed his palm over the rust. "Lieutenant I would..." he offered, cutting himself off as the other spoke. A palm was gently thrust in the direction of the medical officer, suggestive exactly of what he'd been attempting to forewarn the other about. "Nevermind." Instead he looked over to the doctor with sympathetic eyes. "It may be prudent to look in to some of the hostels, or personal residences. If not them, a community gathering place if we can identify one. At least one of those should offer some insight to what happened. More importantly why everything is abandoned."

Without a word, Chet retrieved a dermal regenerator and went to work on the XO's hand. "I'll have to check if you're up to date on tetanus when we get back to the ship," he said. "If you notice it turning red or feeling hot to the touch, let me know at once."

The First Officer kindly thanked the Chief Medical Officer with a polite bit of gratitude before stepping away. "Better check in with the Captain before he gets worried. No telling what the ionic activity will do to communications while we're down here" explained J.J. as he gave the others some space and tapped his comm badge.

"Lieutenant Joral to Crazy Horse," he began. The connection seemed to be established with ease at least for the time being. "Sir, we've landed on the surface at the designated coordinates in some sort of hangar facility. There was no signs of life when we flew over at a low altitude, but structures and facilities still appear to be in place. There's plenty of rodents though" reported J.J. "I'm preparing to proceed with caution."

"Understood," Cian said. "No sign of other vessels in orbit either. Once the storm lets up, we'll do scans from here as well."

"Aye, J.J. out" replied Lieutenant Joral as he gave the area a look around. Coincidentally, it had been the direction where the sign was pointing. "Hey!" shouted the First Officer. "I think I found Bob" he added. There a bit ahead of him was an older shuttle which J.J. cautiously inspected. It definitely was older than any of the Crazy Horse's shuttles, but still looked space worthy. Some tender loving care had been given to this shuttle, but it also had also been a bit of a canvas as well. The First Officer noted decorative flowers and such painted on the hull.

"Lieutenant Syndel, have a look at this," he said calling for the Orion. Someone he knew could probably appreciate its craftsmanship, and potentially get them inside the thing for a quick look around.

"Haven't seen one of these for a while." Larissa said as she joined J.J. at the shuttle. "Almost old enough to be a museum piece but they built them to last." She ran her fingers over the brightly coloured flowers that covered the 'federation grey' original paintwork in places, it was thick in places thin in others and of general low quality. "Reckon this artwork was done by a group of children."

"Hopefully not ones that slaughtered the adults and sacrificed them to some deity" replied J.J. He was not a fan of kids and was an avid reader of horror and science fiction from Earth and some other cultures. Vulcans did not have much in the way of either. "I would give it a nice paint job myself. Perhaps chrome with a dark racing green stripe" he fantasized. "Think you can pop the hatch open and get us a look inside?"

Tahlin shivered. "Why'd you have to say that?" she asked. "Thanks for giving me nightmares now.." She bent to study some Bajoran glyphs also painted on the shuttle.

J.J. waved the Security Chief over for some assistance if needed. There was no indication anyone or anything was inside the shuttle, but he did not want to take any chances. The First Officer kept an idle hand on his phaser.

"Coming up." Larissa pulled at the hatches latch, she expected some resistance with the age of the shuttle but it barely budged. "These always got temperamental after a few years." She stepped back slightly and kicked the hatch and it popped up seamlessly.

A gray, ratish head popped out of the shuttle, then two rodents jumped and ran. Tahlin watched them go, hand on her phaser. "Gha," she recoiled in disgust "Don't like rodents. Who knows what they did to the shuttle."

The Trill looked over his shoulder at the other two members of his away team. "Check out that work area over there," he said gesturing to an area that had a few stools and a small bit of tools. Part of it looked liked everything had its place.

"Hopefully, not too much damage" J.J. replied to what Lieutenant Syndel said. He placed his phaser back in its holster and proceeded through the hatch with a tricorder in hand. He took a few initial scans with the Chief Operations Officer following and the Security Chief undoubtedly still on alert. "As expected, no life signs in here...not humanoid at least," he said as a few rodents scurried. Some were fatter than others and J.J. crouched down to pick up an article of rubbage from the deck, a silvery wrapper. "Looks like our friends were feasting upon emergency rations" he commented and suddenly sprung up with a small shriek.

'Uh!" he said as there was some sudden movement in the left leg of his trousers. He froze and sucked in his bottom lip as the small invader crawled up his undershirt. J.J. could feel the little feet of the creature lightly digging into his flesh. It tackled more than hurt. Soon, a little head popped out from his uniform sleeve and then scurried up his arm and rested on his shoulder. He dismissed either officer's advancement to 'assist' him. "It's fine....I'm alright. It didn't bite me or anything...I think he's just going to stay up here for a bit."

Transitory as the moment was for the order to pass, Kieran could faintly thumb over memories flickering into his thoughts. His original career. Diplomats generally weren’t ones for investigating mysteries on the ground, which unfortunately didn’t feed in all that much to his drive for adventure. It had been one of a large number of pieces missing to his life puzzle which neither path offered. He was still new here, as a member of the crew, but for what silent quality it offered, it pleased the lieutenant to be able to incorporate both pieces together again.

He stepped lightly into the musty workshop, gloved hand brushing over a collected layer of dust as he attempted to make a clearing just barely wide enough to fit inside. Pieces of makeshift barricades had been erected, constructed from broken splinters of what he could only assume was furniture once. Wooden, which immediately reflected that the civilians here really had gone rustic. Steady eyes parted, darting back and forth over the surfaces as if he was scanning for a known violator, only remembering there were no suspects for anything of that order. While something was most certainly amiss at the colony, not to be greeted and the fact rust had collected in some areas the curiosity of an initialed toolbox being left behind made him wonder. Had everything been dropped so quickly as to forget personal belongings? Especially ones he no doubt imagined were meaningful enough to be initialed, particularly for a society which had let go of modern conveniences such as replicators.

A creak shuddered from the wind, kicking dust around as he looked to the Doctor. “Fan out over there a bit. See if anything identifies what happened here. Or looks out of place,” he suggested openly, crouching to look into the shelves of a craftsman’s workbench. This had most definitely been an area where a carpenter was, so far as he could tell. The profession had never been his but a wood mill, trendle and a range of other assorted lathes, saws and drills clearly depicted someone talented. Or a hoarder. He opened the cabinet withholding a battery, pausing when he looked at the surface. A stardate written onto it not quite distant in the past, nor was there a substantial collection of muck. Unlike the rest of the area which groaned, the section had been well oiled as he opened it, producing no groans…only no battery. Instead a clasped journal bound in leather, a pen rolled off to the side. “Lieutenant —” he called out, his voice rebounding momentarily off the interior. “You should look at this. This date isn’t far from our own. And unlike everything else here it isn’t caked in dust.”

"On my way," J.J. replied as he exited the old shuttlecraft and made his way over to the workshop area that Kieran and Chet had been poking about. He was curious to see what they had uncovered. So, far everything seemed normal yet not. Things were left in a state of calm such as a shuttle that appeared to be in perfect working order yet had been left behind on a planet that seemed to have nobody left on it.

Kieran looked over to the medical officer. “Find anything interesting? There’s far more over there, assuming we can sort through debris.”

Chet shown his palm light into the dark corners, but found nothing more interesting than what looked like a fruit basket with nothing in it. “Looks like they moved some stuff,” he replied, nothing outlines in the dust where equipment had previously sat. “Or someone moved it. Odd, though,” he added, looking closely at the floor. “I don’t see any tracks, human or otherwise. They must have made sure to move it over their footprints.” He nodded towards the drag marks that indicated something heavy had been dragged through the dust.

Lieutenant Joral had a look around the area himself, likewise noting that dusty surfaces had revealed areas that were of various shapes and sizes, where things were recently enough not to be covered by dust themselves. Additionally, some equipment had been dragged a bit. "Curious," he noted rubbing his chin which was almost always smooth and clean-shaven. "Use your tricorder to take some readings. See if you can get any forensic evidence, DNA, anything that doesn't match Bajoran or Human" he noted.

"We can examine it further when we return to the Crazy Horse. For now, let's continue in that direction" he gestured. "If there was some civilization, it should be that way. At least that would be the indication by the pathway. There looks to be a rock-lined trail up ahead" he added, the bi-colored rodent still resting comfortably on Jodon's shoulder.

J.J. led them all towards the path, stone-lined and alluring. It looked to be decently kept, but sufficiently traversed. It was rather evident that it was used daily by the colonists. He looked over his shoulder before proceeding. "Pass me that journal or whatever it is," he said referring to the leatherbound book that the Chief Diplomatic Officer had uncovered. Little did they know that what awaited them at the end of the pathway was more than simply the town square; they would make discoveries that would shake this mystery to the core.

A Post By:

Lieutenant Jodon Joral
Executive Officer

1st Lieutenant Kieran Nachtgeist
Chief Diplomatic Officer

Lieutenant JG Larissa Syndel
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant JG Lae'Or Tahlin
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Dr. Chester O'Hamlin
Chief Medical Officer

and

Commander Cian D'Anvers
Commanding Officer
USS Crazy Horse