Unsettling at Settlement Square - Part III

Posted on 07/28/2020 @ 4:20pm by Captain Cian D'Anvers & Lieutenant JG Larissa Syndel
Edited on on 07/28/2020 @ 4:26pm

Mission: S2E1: The Skunil Incident
Location: Skunil - Settlement Square
Timeline: Day 38 at 1350

Lieutenant Jodon Joral was a lean, lightweight individual who under normal circumstances barely made a noise with his movements; however, traversing the pathway that led he and the others towards settlement square, his footfalls even as light, as they were, could be heard quite clearly in what felt like a trek into a ghost town. This was a settled world with colonists. At least had been the case prior to contact with the colony being lost. Now, it was as though it was a planet of rustic architecture and void of sentient life. The only inhabitants that his away team had found thus far was the animal life, and among those one of the more prominent were the rodents.

Undoubtedly, not normally such a problem when the colonists were around, but these rodents had likely started to come out in force and overtake the colony, feeding off the food and getting into various storage sites. One of these rodents had apparently joined the away team or at least was very content to be using Jodon as a form of transportation as he rested on the Trill’s shoulder. Lieutenant Joral continued leading the others down the path as he studied the leather-bound book a bit more. It was intriguing and so far, one the more crucial pieces of evidence. The most recent entries were not all that long ago.

Settlement Square

Jodon or J.J. as he permitted among friends was quick to come to a sudden stop when they neared the end of the path. The trail emptied out into what had been the heart of the colony’s settlement. It was aptly referred to as Settlement Square, but it was eerily quiet and just as the hangar area was, there were no colonists to greet them. This place was perhaps even more chilling than the hangar because of the structures and knowing that there had to have been something wrong for nobody to be around.

In the middle of the day, there was no missing the sight towards the south of the main square, a large mound of soil where the ground had been disturbed and overturned. All of Lieutenant Joral’s playfulness and curiosity, the almost childlike wanderlust of the young man faded. It was as though Jodon receded a bit as the Joral symbiont with all that rich experience bubbled to the surface. “Doc, Lae’Or” he said immediately looking at the Chief Medical Officer and the Security Chief. “You’re with me,” he noted swiftly gesturing to the mound. He had taken enough sciences courses at the Academy, especially of the Anthropological nature to have a gut-wrenching suspicion of what was within or underneath that mound.

"Aye, Sir." Noting the first officer's tone, Tahlin checked that her phaser was both easily accessible, and that its safety was on. Of course, she could engage with an enemy with the phaser in a moment, but accidents were known to happen. A frown marred her face as she considered the mound of earth. "I don't like this," she told the Trill lieutenant. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so," muttered Chet, eyeing the mound. "But ghosts can't dig holes." He switched to eyeing the entire area around them, looking for anything that moved.

"No, ghosts can't dig holes... And neither can they kill." Tahlin half-drew her phaser, wanting it available should it be necessary. "Doctor, you're sure we've got no lifesigns large enough to be humanoid around here?"

Lieutenant Joral placed a hand on Tahlin's shoulder. "There are no life signs," J.J. saying reassuringly. "Whoever did this...they aren't in the immediate area of our tricorders. I've been scanning routinely. There's nothing" he added.

"Thanks, Lieutenant..." Tahlin bowed her head, quietly saying a prayer for any Bajoran dead that might be under the earth, though her eyes kept track of the surrounding area.

J.J. shot a quick glance at Kieran and Syndel. “You two stay together. I do not want anyone wandering off. Check out that building over there” he added, J.J. pointed towards a structure that was unbeknownst to him a multipurpose building that recently operated with an administrative function and housed the office of the Settlement Administrator. “Find anything, report it” he added sternly.

Kieran jutted his head upwards without any objection towards Joral, motioning to the common building as he silently beckoned the operations chief. “Suppose we better take a peek, eh?” he glumly suggested, contemplating over what possibly could have led the settlement askew. Frontier worlds always came with a host of issues, but few if any uprooted and disappeared, or in this case became a ghost town entirely devoid of the people who founded it. It was like reading through an old western novel, or in his case a holodeck adventure given his proclivity for those scenarios.

Steps placed in front of him became short, cautious of what lurked around them. He was not quite upon a layer of sneaking just yet, however given his background his subconscious had already nestled into upstanding vigilance. His id wrestled over the irk to keep a phaser drawn, arguing that diplomacy would offer them no solace when the primary source of its use was gone. Something was wrong here. Very wrong, he took note as he stooped low to avoid the overhang of a fallen beam.

Quietly positioned just inside the entrance, he looked over to the dimmer in recognition that it hadn’t sensed their presence. Nor were any lights active. No soft hum of environmental controls, nor that of ambient one might expect as he remembered this was a vaguely remote planet. So far as the Federation was concerned, at least. It was intended to start from the basics, although he couldn’t ignore the hint that power was inactive in the building. Nor that glasses had been tossed over from the tables, shattered and sprayed upon the floor with dark stains of soured muck.

"This is so strange." Larissa remarked as they searched the room. "Looks like there was a lot of commotion," She ran a few green fingers through the thick dust. "but it happened quite a while ago."

He moved deeper inwards, looking around the meeting place as he motioned to Syndel. “One of us should check the kitchens. Doubt we’ll find anything modern by our standards in there, but I’d rather be thorough.” Eyes surveying the remaining doorways, the marine quickly pinpointed a few other access hatches, one of which had a plaque, another out to the back and the remaining still closed. “An office, maybe? Or storage. This was multi-purpose. Which would you rather take?”

"I'll take the could be an office," She wiped the dust off her fingers as she spoke. "If they do have any computers they'd probably be in there and I might be able to get it running see if it can tell us anything."

Loosening an affirmative nod, Kieran looked back over to the office before returning to Syndel. "Keep the door open, just in case. If the entrance had a beam that had rotted enough to fall, better to be cautious." Left to his own expectations, he quietly progressed himself into the open kitchen. Much to his belief, it was devoid of any notable modern technology which people had become either slaved to or reliant on, depending on your point of view. In some light, it was refreshing, not to have to worry about replicators. But he also knew they had a sense of convenience, given he knew DeVala had a nose for the nearest one in the event she ran out of coffee.

Slowly pushing the relatively stiff door open Larissa entered what as Kieran had suggested was in fact an office. It was a mess, multiple books and folders once neatly stacked and organised on shelves were strewn aross the room; their contents equally scattered. Pinned to the wall was a paper map of the settlements layout.

To the other side she was surprised to see the colony did actually have a computer, it looked old even compared to the shuttle, it's screen was black and slightly cracked but looked intact.

She tapped her combadge =/\= Syndel to Jorol =/\=

The chittering of his commbadge was met with a swift tap. "Go ahead," he replied as he prepared to listen to Lieutenant Syndel's update. He was hoping that is was not more corpses. Anything, but more bodies, please he thought to himself as he awaited her report.

=/\= I'm in what I'd say is the settlements admin room, it's pretty wrecked, there's papers scattered everywhere and a safe has been ransacked but there is a computer here, I'm going to see if I can power it up see if it can tell us anything.=/\= As she talked a mostly intact book caught her eye, stopping down she picked it up. 'Ehren Tel' it's cover said.

"Understood, lieutenant. Please stay safe and keep an eye on one another. We're over by that fresh mound of dirt once you walk into settlement square. I will just say that it is no pet cemetery" he replied. "We have bodies over here, several of them. We are about to report our findings to the Crazy Horse" added J.J.

"Understood, I'll let you know if I find anything useful, Syndel out."

Tapping at the computer Larissa found it wasn't powered, finding a power port nearby she flicked it on but nothing happened, presumably what ever powered it was long out of juice. 'guess we're doing it the old fashioned way' she thought. Tracing the wires she took a few tools from her pocket and stripped the wires down, pulling her tricorder out she opened it's power supply up and attached the wires, the tricorder sparked a couple of times but the computer screen eventually flickered to life.

As it booted up she flicked through the book she'd picked up.

Grave Site

Back at the gravesite, J.J. had stood still and solemn as he muttered a little something under his breath. "Doc, you don't have the equipment on you right now to perform an autopsy, and I'm in no mood to disturb and dig up graves right now...but we're going to need answers and I think these bodies are our best bet of that," he said giving Chet a non-verbal order not to move too much around.

J.J. tapped his comm badge, hopeful that the ionic activity had not rendered them unable to contact the ship. "Away Team to Crazy Horse..." J.J. took a deep breath and exhaled with a trembling voice. "Make a note in the ship's log. The remains of six individuals discovered at a mass gravesite near settlement square," he said without prelude. "Captain, these remains are in some sort of burial mound. As a scientist, I want answers, but we cant just dig these bodies up without potentially disturbing forensic evidence, I also cannot guarantee the safety of anyone working with said bodies. Bringing them up by shuttle would be too risky. We need the transporters to filter any known diseases and such" explained J.J.

He was aware of the ionic activity. It was why they took a shuttle and not the transporters. "I don't know how it looks up there, but at the next clearing, we need to get those bodies up there on Crazy Horse, and the Doc and his team examining the exhumed remains. Some emergency pattern buffers could be used around the gravesite to enhance the signal for transport, but it will be a matter of where. The morgue is not large enough for this sort of ordeal. I would suggest getting engineering crews working on reconfiguring a cargo bay, and having science and medical personnel prepped for this."

Cian listened. "Understood. Get the pattern buffers in position. We'll make room in a cargo bay and set up an isolation ward. We'll contact you as soon as we have a transport window." He paused for a moment as the reality swept through him. "Gather as much data as you can. I don't want you down there any longer than necessary."

"That makes two of us," replied J.J. "We will get to work and see what we uncover, Joral out." Lieutenant Jodon Joral took a deep breath and looked around. "Well, you heard the man. We're going to need to get those pattern enhancers in place."

"Yes Sir." Tahlin pulled two cone-shaped devices from her pack, pressing a button on each. Telescoping legs sprang forth, and she set the enhancers up, two meters apart. Fiddling with the controls, she asked the Trill, "You ever seen anything like..." The woman gestured mutely to the mound of earth.

Lieutenant Joral assisted by retrieving the third device and began setting it up in order to create a triangular emission field to enhance the ability for the starship to lock onto the area and transport everything, and Doctor O'Hamlin, ionic activity permitting, aboard the Crazy Horse. Stronger than you look lugging these around thought J.J. as he shot a look at the Bajoran. "Yes, but not as recent as this one," replied the First Officer. "Mostly, I read about them in class. I visited one on Earth though. In Earth's history, darker history, they would sometimes uncover the remains on indigenous peoples while planning to construct a building or several. They proceeded and would take all the skeletal remains and just toss them together in a burial mound."

"Or worse, dishonor the remains..." Tahlin scowled darkly as she pressed a few controls, linking the enhancers. "I hate sites like this, though I do not, nor cannot, deny their power... I visited Oradour, an old village in France that stands as a monument to what people can do to each other when provoked in war... And there are, of course, deep wounds of land and spirit on Bajor." She finished, looked down a moment, then back up at the Trill. "Enhancers ready, Sir. Would you like me to signal the ship?"

The First Officer gestured dismissively but politely. "I'll signal to the Captain next time I report in. I'm waiting to hear if Syndel and Nachtgeist have found anything further" explained J.J.

"Of course, Sir."

Bridge, USS Crazy Horse

Cian wasted no time; as the connection to the surface closed, he turned toward the Operations officer. "Engineering and medical to Cargo Bay 2 to begin preparation of an isolation ward large enough to hold seven sets of remains. I want that ward set up as quickly as possible."

"Aye, Sir," the Operations officer said. He cross-checked skills against availability and once satisfied that those who were needed were already on duty, sent the orders to Medical and then, since shouting across the Bridge was not the smartest move, made the short walk to the engineering station to speak to the ship's Chief Engineer. "Sir," he said, as he looked up from his console and the spread of personnel with sufficient experience to be useful, "we need an Isolation Ward set up in Cargo Bay 2. Ready to receive seven sets of remains as soon as possible," the Operations officer said. "Can you give me an estimation of how long to complete?"

=/\= Bridge to Engineering, send Pig Boy down to Cargo Bay 2 with a small team. Give him Fast Eddy and Latka. They need an Isolation ward build. Coordinate with medical that is already on scene=/\= Said Cash.

=/\= You got it Bridge. Delmar out.=/\= Came the voice from Engineering.

Settlement

=/\= Syndel to Jorol =/\=

Lieutenant Joral was standing near the burial mound, mourning the loss of life with some introspective thinking and pondering the circumstances of their demise. Though he suspected it was likely foul play of some sort, he was not going to take any chances which was why he instructed the Crazy Horse the way that he did. When the comm badge chittered, he immediately tapped to respond "Go ahead," he replied and waited for the updated report.

“I found a log book from a Ehren Tel, it seems he was the settlements administrator. There is a lot of interesting information here. Looks like they contracted some people to help set the mine up and help work it, some time later an Orion called Gilar showed up trying to get more money out of them for the contractors. Then accidents started happening...” Larissa explained.

"The sort of accident that would lead to a mass grave?" inquired J.J. as he placed a hand on his hip and listened to the Orion Ops officers report. "Keep a hold of that logbook. The Captain will likely want to see it for himself. There may be more clues in there then we are aware of right now. Were you able to learn anything more from it?"

"They lost a few people to some of the mine supports breaking, it looks like they were deliberately damaged, then an important piece of equipment in the mine exploded. They started to think that this Gilar was responsible. Maybe trying to force them into agreeing to his terms, it's......" She paused for a moment as it sounded familiar. "...a typical tactic of the Syndicate." She added.

J.J. sighed a bit before he responded. Syndicate he thought to himself. He was curious about that implementation, it did not seem like the Orion Syndicate knew any bounds. Even far from Orion space, the Syndicate has ways of operating and bullying colonists. Though the science officer in him was not ready to sign any warrants or put out a bounty on them for this. "Understood, Lieutenant. Gather what you have found...both of you and rendezvous with the rest of us near settlement square" replied the First Officer. "Joral out" he added before severing the comm channel.

Lieutenant Jodon Joral took a deep breath and put a few feet from himself and the others near the burial mind. He made once more call to the starship. "Joral to Crazy Horse," he began after tapping his comm badge. "Captain, Lieutenant Syndel has uncovered a logbook that would appear to provide us with a suspect as well as reports of some mining incidents that may have been far more insidious than accidental" J.J. reported. "If you have everything ready up there, I'll get the Doctor in place for transport. There's definitely more ground here to cover, but that is going to take time to scour this settlement inch by inch."

"Send the logbook up and we'll start going through it," Cian said as he turned toward the Operations officer on duty. "Prepare for transport directly to the Isolation Ward in Cargo Bay 2." He waited until the officer relayed the instructions and nodded to him before continuing. "We'll beam up the bodies first."

"I'll give the logbook to the Doctor," replied J.J. "Get the bodies and the Doc. If you have the clearing in the ion storm to take the others by transporter be my guest, but we still have our shuttle down here."

"Looks like the storm is clearing," Cian said. "I can send down reinforcements if you need them." He turned toward the Operations officer and said, "Begin transport. Bodies first then the Doctor."

The First Officer made a gesture to the Chief Medical Officer who was within ear shot and near the burial mound. The others were returning into sight from their little search. "I'm feeling a little lonely down here. The Doc has been pleasant company, but if you could spare a science officer, I promise to bring the shuttle back without a scratch and have them home before 2400, Sir. I have...a theory that I want to test out."

"I'll hold you to that," Cian said. "Crazy Horse out." He turned toward the Operations officer. "Find the next science officer on the rotation for beam down to the planet and get Doctor O'Hamlin back up here."

---

A Post by:

Commander Cian D'Anvers
Commanding Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant Jodon Joral
Executive Officer
USS Craze Horse

and

1LT Kieran Nachtgeist
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant Lae'Or Tahlin
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant JG Alexander Cash
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant JG Larissa Syndel
Chief Operations Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant JG Chester O'Hamlin
Chief Medical Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Ensign Lucius Delmar
Gamma Shift Supervisor, Engineering
USS Crazy Horse