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Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission



Mission Log, stardate 57505.36. We are five minutes out from entering orbit of our destination. This "Coreless Moon" of treasure. I can but hope it is not as empty as the name suggests.

The past three hours have been... interesting. It is times like these where I curse being born Andorian, since even with my eyes closed, my antennae can - besides detecting temperature and air pressure change and subtle variations in air flow - hear a range of sub-sonic sounds. They think I don't hear them, yet I do, and would they know... they would have been far less candid. Most of it hold no relevance to me, rather being an obvious cause of embarrassment on their part, but I refuse to acknowledge some of the more... graphical comments about me. By Lor'Vela, if they were Guardsmen, I would either have rammed my fist through their teeth... or taken them to the subterranean springs beneath the ice so that they could try and live up to their innuendos.

At the very least, I think I have learned to know these officers a bit better, along with the scavenger. I do not trust her motives, much less her. Then again, I have grown to trust very few in my life, and I can but hope Sera vers Aldnoah proves me wrong. At least she has proven herself to be quite a pilot, having navigated dense clusters of sirillium pockets at full impulse for the past twenty minutes. A feat I, admittedly, would not have been able to pull off.

As for the Radiant... I can but hope Mariner, Bremmer and I won't have to look out for her at every turn. Especially if we are to enter the deeper ruins of this site. Compared to the dilithium, it is a mere curiosity - at best - so if it ends up too time-consuming, I will order the search aborted and lay in a course back to the Theurgy. Our mission is more important that the archaeological findings of some ancient people that used to live in this end of the Quadrant.

- Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann, SS Sabine NX-59846

[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | SS Sabine NX-59846 | ETA 3 Minutes ]
[Show/Hide]
Knowing that they were approaching the coordinates, having navigated the sirillium gas clouds for the estimated amount of time, Ida finished her written log and rose from her chair. She smoothed her uniform over her abdomen and then let one hand rest idly on the grip of her phaser pistol where it was holstered on her hip, and then she walked towards the front of the Sabine.

On the way there, she made eye-contact with Mariner, Bremmer and McMillan, who had also been in the back compartment of the small ship, and then she reached the Ridgehead and Fire Eyes. She said naught, eyes and antennae on the viewscreen as the nebula eventually parted for them... revealing a sight she could never hope to capture on canvas.

"Open a channel to Havenborn," might have been what she asked, but a number of other expletives were right behind her teeth. Before them, the mass of a Class B planet filled the viewscreen. It was Ithacae 3, with a tenuous atmosphere of hydrogen and sodium, if the sensor readings on the Sabine's monitors were to believed. Yet the sight of the planet was not what the small crew were looking at...

It was the moon that they were approaching. Or rather, what was left of it.

Once she had a comm link to the former SCO of the Grey Wolves, she spoke up. "This is Lieutenant zh'Wann. We are approaching the destination now. We will likely enter the docking bay of the outpost within a couple of minutes. What's your status? Are you seeing this, over?"

What manner of force could have torn an entire moon apart like that? At least it lived up to its moniker, even if it wasn't likely a natural phenomenon. She stepped aside a little bit, letting the rest of the away team see the viewscreen.

OOC: As the intro says, it has been 3 hours since they left the Theurgy, so feel free to summarise what they've been up if you wish.

Loose PO on the Sabine: 1) @Triage (Heather) 2) @Kaligos (Hi'Jak) 3) @CanadianVet (Eliska) 4) @Striker N7 (Mariner) 5) @Mathis (Sera, who lands the shuttle in the docking bay of the outpost in one of the deep crevices on the moon)
Loose PO in Fighter Element: 1) @Havenborn (Daniel) 2) @Josie (Rini) 3) @Doc M. (Tessa May Lance)

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #1 –
[ Heather McMillan | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Approaching the Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Kaligos, @CanadianVet, @Striker N7, @Mathis, @Havenborn, @Josie & @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]
With her tongue sticking out to one side, McMillan busied herself with a little game she had been programming in her personal PADD. It featured a fairly large yellow mouse with red buttons on his cheeks and a lightning bolt-shaped tail. The original game was much too violent for her liking, and she essentially took to recreating a much more peaceful and ideal game for herself from the original program. She doubted anyone would want to play it ever, but it suited her tastes perfectly. Messing with game mechanics wasn't helping her headache or the tickle in her throat very much. But focusing her mind on it sort of helped her ignore the irritants.

She thought that after Eve's help, she would have been on the road to recovery already, but if anything, she was starting to feel a little worse for wear. When she had awakened that morning, she felt far worse than she did the day before, but tried her best to keep it to herself. Chalking it up to stress and her frailty not being able to handle the rigours.

She wasn't like the gods she walked amongst daily.

She couldn't fathom her ancient Wisdoms and Loremasters, who spoke of serving the gods by protecting them from something unseen and unknown. How could they protect all the mighty sentients when they themselves were probably the weakest of the weak and the most fragile beings known in existence? A human child could kill a Radiant with a simple push. If those superior to them in every way couldn't stand up to something, how could the Radiant protect them from that which was greater? The train of thought caused her game to have a rather interesting segment involving the yellow mouse flaring up in electrical outbursts against shadowy foes. So maybe there was something for the more violently inclined.

She realized they must be almost at their destination because zh'Wann was on the move. Shutting off her PADD, she put it away and rested her palms on her lap as she watched the imposing Andorian and when they briefly locked eyes, she panicked and momentarily turned invisible, instinctively bending light around her, but it was only partial, so she looked semi-translucent. Which made her more embarrassed by the way she was being so frightened by everyone even though logic stated they had no reason to harm her so her trying to hide from them was odd. Finally bringing herself back to full visibility, she murmured a weak apology for her cloaking then pretended to be looking for something around her, and found a pair of discarded pants. She had no idea whose it was, but it looked like it belonged to a man. Leaving it alone she slowly sat back up, suddenly feeling dizzy and nauseaus.

She played with her lights for a while, waving her hands in front of her in a circular motion, "shaping" a golden ring, which she then "picked up" and placed over her head, letting it hover, her trademark floating golden donut thingy, and she grinned away at Bremmer and Mariner, before realizing she probably looked a right fool and turned her attentions back to zh'Wann, who had moved aside to let her see the Coreless Moon, and her light suddenly just faded away completely. Her skin returned to its fair complexion, her eyes a bright hazel and her hair a rich brown shade. But it wasn't just the horrific sight that caused that. There was something else...something...more. She leaned forward in her seat, staring transfixed on the moon ahead. She was imagining things, like a voice calling out to her from the planet. That made no sense to her. She possessed no latent telepathy or even a sense of foresight. So it had to be a hallucination. This fever was getting bad, but she didn't want to let it hinder her on her first away mission.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #2 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak |SS Sabine NX-59846 | Approaching the Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triage @CanadianVet @Striker N7 @Mathis @Havenborn @Josie @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]

For some reason, maybe it was the fact that Jack was currently sitting next to Sera in the co pilots seat of the Sabine, Jack had honestly believed that this part of the trip would have been much more fun. Instead he found his head was about to crack open, he had coughed more than once, and felt his eyes water from it. It was impossible for him to be getting sick, he had never been sick before. There wasn't a disease on Terra that could lay him low why would that change all of the sudden?

Even without being sick at the helm had expected this to be more fun, but conversations had been rare on this trip so far, he had run out of things to say after maybe an hour and a half into their voyage. At one point he had tried to get the members of the away mission to do a round or at least have a sing along, but the fact that they were cut off from the federations broadcasting networks also meant that they effectively had no radio, and that thought had pretty much died out as quickly as it had started.

The book he had brought with him had been difficult to focus on, even after he had increased the size of the writing. So it seemed that he had to give up on attempting to read the second book in the Lunar Chronicals, Scarlet seemed to have a motif of the big bad wolf and little red riding hood, and if that wasn't one of his favorite fairy tales on this side of the quadrant he didn't know what was. As much as he wanted to know what was going to happen in the coming chapters he had to also keep an eye on the sensor readings, navigating the explosive gas clouds and offering correctional information every now and then.

As the gas clouds started to part and the moon came into view Jack was thankful for the change in scenery. All this blue was starting to hurt his eyes. "I spy with my little eye."

Jack's consol started to take in information from the new location, small readings, that were of course scrambled by the radiation of all the gas clustered in it. "No life signs, No power signatures, and no signs of motion, but what we do have is large composites of Ditanium on the left hemisphere the exact composition of which is a little over a hundred years old. That would be our base."

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #3 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Approaching the Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triage @Kaligos @Striker N7 @Mathis @Havenborn @Josie  @Doc M.

One thing for certain, Eliska Bremmer positively hated shuttle missions.  Ever since the one that had ended up with her stuck in cube that was a four-foot cube designed to either entirely deprive her of sensory input, or overload her, the very thought of getting on board an auxiliary craft for a deployment outside of transporter range from friendly forces horrified her.  But she was still Starfleet, or at least she thought of herself as such; and if she had a job to do, she would do it as best she knew how.

And, truth be told, it felt a lot like one of those long rides on an assault shuttle during the Dominion War, and that meant she did what she had always done on those once equipment was seen to, and that was to sleep.  And going to sleep meant she didn't have to listen to Mariner either.  Seemed to her the man couldn't be serious to save his life, and must have had some sort of a death wish at time. And he insisted on trying to speak to her in what he must have thought was the dialect of her homeworld, but his pronunciation, especially with that accent of his, made it bloody hard to understand. 

But there was this skill soldiers everywhere since the dawn of time have mastered and taken advantage of: that was of waking up practically on cue when the mission was about to start.

As Eliska shook the last of the sleep from her mind, she looked forward to see the wreck of some planetoid.  And the first thought that entered her mind was that this operation would be a right duranium-plated bitch.  And the science egghead's words about it did very little to alleviate that particular notion.  Despite knowing she wouldn't like what she'd see, Bremmer rose to her seat and brought up a sensor repeater at the work station across from her.  "Gravity at 0.08G, enough radiation to cook us, and I'm not seeing an atmosphere in there." 

Turning around, the Security PO took a look at the rather... luminous Warrant Officer she was supposed to escort.  Now that one was something else.  She seemed entirely too happy-go-lucky to be out here in the thick of it, but she also looked a little flush.  But then again it was her first away mission in a Starfleet uniform, or so she'd been given to understand.  So it made sense she'd be a bit nervous.  "Now come on, Warrant; I've been told you're pretty new to this, so how about you come with me out back and we'll get you suited up.  Boys... eyes front!"

And with that said, Bremmer headed aft, to where the EVA suits, and the Security exosuits were stored.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #4 –
[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Approaching the Coreless Moon ] [Show/Hide]
Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triage @Kaligos @Striker N7 @CanadianVet @Mathis @Havenborn @Josie  @Doc M.


James loved the concept of a real planetoid to stand on, even an OpFor-controlled moon would be the best thing for a groundpounder since Lunar or Vulcan survival training. There was just something about both a real terrain under his feet to clear his mind of cultists and terrorism, a fair fight. The war-hardened Junior Officer was brimming with excitement at getting to wear the most cutting-edge security exo-suit in his career; including his arsenal, which was to include a knife-- Mariner was no stranger when it came to bayonet fighting, fixxed or not. It wasn't his signature sidearm, but he'd had more than enough time over the last three hours to ensure both man and weapon could be ready for anything.

It was muscle-memory by now, and his pistol accuracy hit-miss ratio had always been well above average against both stationary and moving targets. Time invested on his father's MACO holodeck training holoprogram hadn't only been an enlistment gift, the elder Mariner trained his home country's municipal constabulary force with many tactics from the Romulan War era, his son included. Not just a handsome face, the Ensign was a gym jock as well, though he knew that aside from the anticipatory warm-ups, there was no time to impress if not simply beef up for wearing additional gear and armor. When he got the time and earshot, he sat next to Heather, opening up his own Padd and browsing his list of handheld programs. It was almost sentimental to meet a fellow gamer.

Mariner was interested in her PaDD game featuring some colorful chihuahua-looking yellow creature composed of electricity; he wondered what the appeal was in making cute and cuddly creatures fight one another for sport. That was, until he spotted several other creatures in the 'Go index' file, which categorized dozens of more impressive creatures of all shapes and sizes, from a hefty blue turtle with cannons on its back to a bee with two lances for arms and a Tyrannosaurus with wings. If he ever got into this little game, his priority was to get those three; it wasn't 'Mass Impact', but it was charming. Earlier in the flight, Mariner had taken the chance now and again to make use of the mission brief, reading it up a third time to psyche himself up, and had finished rereading about the latest in Starfleet combat armor he'd be wearing for the mission. It was an upgrade from the prior-generation variant EVA suits on the Resolve, and could finally give him back the ability, he hoped, to go fisticuffs against whatever was needed to guard against out there.

After a warm-up, and a few minutes watching Heather play, Mariner still nonetheless humored Heather with newcomer interest in her creature-game. Particularly impressed by Heather's light-based gifts, he complimented. "You're just a regular bit of sunshine, aren't you, Heather? The Galaxy needs more like you." he smiled, after a few appreciative reactions to her abilities and his ideas. "You'd definately get a rise out of Sharky, K'ren and F'rell with that."

Before James could learn more about Heather's species, Sleeping Beauty had apparently woken up, intent on getting first dibbs on the new armor. As if concerned for Heather's modesty but clearly supportive of Bremmer's incentive to test the new gear without the Lieutenant's direct say-so, "It's okay, she works for me." Jimmy uttered under his breath, excited to try soon be trying on his Security suit soon enough. "Oi, Bremmer: The pink armor with the Unicorn decals is Heather's. Don't touch the bad-ass one with the flektarn camouflage, and MACO detail, that's mine. I installed a jetpack on that one while you were asleep." Wishful thinking, as the outfits came in rust-color, and Jimmy did not know how to install a jetpack on anything. Thinking the Lieutenant might not react well to his humor, he held his tongue about the helmet with two holes and Antennae-shaped headlights being hers. He shook his head at her, assuring her he hadn't tampered with the equipment, not, in case the away team commander hadn't been watching him the whole time; he particularly behaved himself on this flight, keeping her at least peripherally in his field of view. More so with his back to Heather and Eliska, giving the ladies their privacy.
Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #5 –
[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie Hellcat] Attn:  @Auctor Lucan, @Blue Zephyr, @Josie, @Triage, @Doc M., @Striker N7, @CanadianVet, @Kaligos

Daniel had arrived in the system roughly 20 minutes ahead of the away team and the escorts, he had plotted a course towards the coreless moon which was definitely something that had to be seen with your own eyes and not something viewed on a viewscreen.  The sheer amount of damage to the moon was extensive, he had heard about accidents that could tear a planet apart but he’d never seen anything like this before, it was both incredible and terrifying all at the same time.

“Imagine the kind of power needed to rip apart a moon of that size.”  Knight said behind Daniel.  “Indeed, but we need to make sure the area is safe before the rest of the mission team arrives.”  Daniel replied.  “Initiate a level 1 sensor scan.”  Daniel said as he heard Knight acknowledge him and begin the scan.  It only took about ten minutes for the scan to complete and it from what he could tell the system was more or less clear, but there could be hostiles hiding so he’d need to remain ever vigilant.

A few minutes later Daniel picked up the arrival of the mission team.  He engaged his thrusters to join formation with them, at the same time he received a hail from the Sabine.

"This is Lieutenant zh'Wann. We are approaching the destination now. We will likely enter the docking bay of the outpost within a couple of minutes. What's your status? Are you seeing this, over?"

Daniel opened a channel to respond.  “Salvo to Lieutenant zh’Wann, we completed a scan of the area and it seems clear.  Your approach to the outpost should be clean.”  Daniel said.  He finally rejoined formation with both of the fighters and the Sabine.

Once Daniel had informed her of that he switched his communications channel to his pilots.  “Salvo to Goldeneye, escort the Sabine into the outpost and remain on hand to support them.  Honey Badger on my wing, we’re going to begin a combat air patrol.”  Daniel said issuing out his orders.  He wanted Goldeneye with the Sabine should they need another hand, but at the same time he didn’t want to leave their backs open to be flanked by anyone that might have been hiding and biding their time.  He’d be damned if he allowed the first mission as part of the Theurgy to go awry.
Defeat, Genocide; why quibble with semantics.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #6 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | Cockpit | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie ]  Atten:  Those on the mission

The stars of the galaxy had elongated into short glowing lines as the two AC-409 Mark III Valkyries escorted the SS Sabine through the eternal void of outer space at warp six.   Scuttlebutt had it that that the Sabine was a prototype shuttle that Starfleet had constructed but didn’t pick up as a production model.  From what little she had heard the Sabine was last in private hands.  If so, the sleek spacecraft must have been used either by pirates or the Federation Intelligence Agency, because commercial vessels weren’t armed like gunships.   From her cockpit in her one man warp capable fighter, Tessa May Lance, Wolf Three, callsign Goldeneye, figured that Starfleet Intelligence had been using it before the crew of the Theurgy had liberated it from Starbase 84.

When they reached the Ithacae System, the Sabine and her escorts dropped out of warp and the stars shrunk into glowing pinpricks of light.  The white blue haze of the Azure Nebula was still present, giving the impression that the craft were underwater.   Fortunately, her fighter’s sensors indicated that her wingman Zrinka Agaixot, Wolf Two, callsign Honey Badger was flying just starboard and aft of the Sabine, just as Tessa was flying behind the gunship on its portside.   Visual confirmation with the naked eye was almost impossible, not just because of the distance and darkness, but also because of the clutter.  As the three spacecraft glided through the system, the bluish sirillium gas was joined by dust, and debris that were pushed away be the navigational deflectors protecting her Valkyrie. 

Soon they approached what must have been their destination and the clutter was so bad that Tessa was tempted to activate her combat shields.   Once their destination became visible she found out why.

It was a moon orbiting the third planet of the system but this moon looked like it had been murdered and left behind in its orbit to die.  Not believing what her eyes were telling her, Tessa glanced down at her screen for a computer analysis.

Name: C-947e
Diameter: 504 km
Mass: 1.0194 x 1020 kg
Orbiting: Ithacae 3, Ithacae System
Orbital Radius: 237'948 km
Orbital Period: 34 hrs.
Inclination: 0.019° (to Ithacae 3's equator)
Surface Temperature: -155 °C
Atmosphere: Hydrogen, sodium, calcium & H2O vapor
Atmospheric pressure: 40 pPa
Cause of Destruction: Unknown

Cause of Destruction:  Unknown.  But the effects of that destruction were quite visible.  Great gaping holes were visible on its surface, exposing great cavities that threatened to eradicate its mostly spherical shape.  Then, before Tessa’s unbelieving eyes, as they glided around the shattered moon she could see amid the debris collecting in the center of the lifeless hulk orbiting Ithacae III the shine of whitish bluish light indicating that she could see clouds of sirillium gas on the other side of C-974e.  It was a coreless moon, and if it wasn’t for the forces of gravity causing the shattered pieces to collect in its center it would have been possible to fly her Valk right through it.

Tessa’s observations were interrupted by a manly voice coming through her comm system:  "Salvo to Goldeneye, escort the Sabine into the outpost and remain on hand to support them.  Honey Badger on my wing, we're going to begin a combat air patrol."

“Aye-Aye Salvo, Roger that,”  Tessa responded.  “Goldeneye escorting the Sabine as ordered,” she added as she continued as set her Valk’s deflector shields on the lowest combat setting to protect her fighter from the cloud of debris obscuring the route to the coreless moon’s surface.  She reversed her Valk’s bussard scoops so there would be additional repressors to push the rubble away as she followed the Sabine into the boulder filled minefield that was between the Azure Nebula and the pockmarked surface of C-947e.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #7 –
[ Ens. Zrinka 'Rini' Agaixot | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Triage, @Kaligos, @CanadianVet, @Striker N7, @Mathis, @Havenborn, @Josie, @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]
Zrinka had been watching the sensors of her fighter quite closely on the way over, and could tell you the exact curves on the Sabine. It looked to be a very fine little ship.

Entering into the Ithacae System, Zrinka dropped in starboard aft next to the Sabine and Tessa, whistling as she saw the soupy mess they had dropped into,
"Honey Badger here, watch for any targets. Visibility and sensors won't work as well in this stuff."

Adjusting her fighter's shields for anti-debris protection as they got closer, Rini picked up the sign of the very large but badly damaged moon & the outpost - which was the target for this op.

Her fighter's sensors registered the arrival of Daniel's fighter, and she shifted back to give room as he gave directions. Grinning, Zrinka changed course, "Honey Badger to Salvo, Roger roger. Sticking to you like treacle on a hot day."

She didn't want to think what could be lurking out there like a peeping tom, ready to pounce at them, so Zrinka wanted to be prepared. The safety of the people in the Sabine was dependent on her, Daniel and Tessa, and neither of the three would want to mess up here - too many good people had been lost.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #8 –
[ Sera vers Aldnoah | SS Sabine | Azure Nebula en route to The Coreless Moon ] Attn: Everyone

[Show/Hide]
Sera spent most of the flight battling the headache she'd been unable to shake from the previous night. She'd not had sinus pressure like this in… well maybe ever. She led Sabine around another too-dense cloud pocket with one hand as she pinched between her eyes in a futile attempt to relieve the headache. There was a bit of chit chat, mostly from James, the male security officer that Sera found herself looking at more than once.

The trip had been mostly uneventful. There had been a few close shaves when they came too close to an unstable cloud or a random piece of space debris or asteroid came flying out of a different cloud, but only Jack would likely have noticed. Sera kept her composure, and Sabine gave a lot of help in her predictive auto-piloting. Also, Sera was a decent pilot after all these years, and she’d made this trip before, but she wasn’t too arrogant to recognize luck and assistance, if only to herself. Jack had seemed distracted for most of the trip, and she kicked herself for not seeing the reason sooner. He was under the weather, which was rare for Klingons and Klingon hybrids. She hoped he would be okay.

When the clouds around them became brighter and brighter, she knew they were approaching their destination. She was about to signal the fighters and inform the crew when she heard their mission leader say it all for her. She gave a light shrug and a roll of her eyes, she knew how much the Starfleet types liked to be in charge, Andorians especially. She’d go along with it, it was something she’d need to get used to after all.

She laid in the final approach for the landing site, the very old docking bay up ahead. “Sabine to escort, final approach laid in.” A few moments later, they were touched down. She turned and opened a compartment nearby containing her personal EVA. It was a fire red, the color of the sunset over the deserts of Câroon. She smiled as she prepared. She was back, and it was finally time to get her... their quarry.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #9 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | SS Sabine NX-59846 | ETA 3 Minutes ]
[Show/Hide]
While hearing the sitrep, Ida turned her head when Petty Officer Bremmer started to prepare for suiting up, suggesting to the female scientist that she'd come with her to the back compartment of the small ship. Ida nodded quietly, deciding that she'd have to join them too, and their pilot would have to suit up last. The three Security Exosuits were in the cargo hold along with the two regular EVA suits that had been brought for the two scientists. Evidently, there was a Câroon exosuit back in the cargo hold that belonged to Sera vers Aldnoah, one of the few items that hadn't been removed while the Sabine had undergone its refit, and for that reason, a third EVA suit hadn't been brought from the Theurgy.

"Understood, Fighter Escort," said Ida after Fire-Eyes announced they were on course to the docking bay. "Set your patrol route close enough to report status every thirty minutes, starting now. You might have to get pretty deep into the debris field to re-establish communication with us. Good luck out there. zh'Wann out."

Having said this, she turned her blue eyes to the Câroon in the pilot's seat. "If the LZ is small, make sure there is room for one Valkyrie as well when you set her down, and you need to suit up as well before we head out."

Making eye-contact with Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak and Ensign Mariner - the two men on the Sabine - she simply said, "I will bring your suits from the cargo hold so that you can change here. Not entirely sure how keen the other females are on preserving their modesty." As for herself, she was Andorian, and showing some skin was commonplace to her in thanks to her pre-exile upbringing. True to her word, after eyeing the decimated moon one last time, Ida headed into the back compartment of the Sabine, where a small sanitation module and two bunk beds could be found. She offered neither glance nor word to the two women about to don their suits next to the bunk beds, but went to the next door beyond them, which led to the cargo hold. She picked up the two large crates by their handles and carried them back to the main compartment, setting them down on the floor for the two men to suit up. She then went to retrieve her own suit.

Since the sanitation module - which was also a sonic shower - was entirely too small to change in, there was no real means for privacy next to the bunk beds. So Ida shed her uniform unceremoniously, all the way down to her Starfleet issue underwear, so that she might get into her old and worn Sec exosuit as quickly as possible. That didnt mean, of course, that she didn't glance over to the Radiant and the human that shared the small room with her - both being potential motifs for some very nice 'croquis', as some of the Pinkskins would call it.

[ 10 Minutes Later | SuD Lang Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost ]



After the Sabine had landed - the entry-point being a mere hole in the side of a cliff-face - Ida had given the order to secure the perimeter and to activate whatever environmental systems that were accessible on the outpost. Sera vers Aldnoah, after having suited up, had known where to go - having been there before - and eventually, the dark docking bay no longer relied on the light from the Azure Nebula outside the bay. Some of the docking bay's lighting flickered, as would be expected, but they had more than sufficient light to see each other across the big area. This was the time when the Valkyrie from the fighter escort landed inside the bay as well, and Ida raised a hand to signal to the Tac CONN pilot that the area was secured and she could step out of her fighter.

"Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak," she said, and even if they were not standing close together, her voice was heard inside the helmets of the away-team, "could you please tell us what you've learned about this place so far?"

Having asked this, Ida typed a message to Ensign Mariner and Petty Officer Bremmer on her Forearm PADD to break out the three Type III rifles from the Sabine's cargo hold, along with the three Type II hand phasers for the two scientists and the scavenger. Just if there would be any sign of trouble. As it were, the three non-security members were unarmed, and while the mission parameters did not suggest hostile forces, Ida had a feeling she'd regret leaving the phasers on the Sabine. Then, she turned her helmet towards the Câroon on the second level of the docking bay, Ida's gauntleted hand resting loosely on the handle of her holstered pistol in wait for her rifle to be brought to her.

"Aldnoah, I need you to tell me where the dilithium cystals are at now, and where you found the sealed entry to the ruins. I would also like to know where this outpost's archive is at. Whatever communication or data logs can be found needs to secured, since this place is a violation of the Treaty of Alliance."

Her mission parameters were clear: Take the dilithium, investigate the Lightborn colony ruins, and neutralise the future threat to the Federation that the outpost represented. The last of which she had not hinted at until right then, when they were already there. Of course they were not to blow up the outpost along with the ruins, but as a threat to the Federation, all the data on the outpost would be brought to Starfleet's attention after the parasite threat had been dealt with. If the outpost was derelict, abandoned, and not in any way fit for a Klingon invasion, then there would likely be nothing for the Empire to answer to. Yet if there were signs of active use... it was another situation entirely.

Ida looked towards Heather McMillan, the Radiant, where she stood by the Sabine, and wondered how she'd fare on a mission such as this. At least there was a slim chance she could open the gate to the ruins below the outpost, making it worth her while, but Ida had a feeling she'd have to be carried all the way there. While beautiful, it was clear to Ida the female alien had not seen much action, and who knew what awaited beyond the gate to the ancient civilisation? She hoped her doubts could not be seen across the distance or through her visor when she looked at her - listening to the briefings from Hi'Jak and Aldnoah in turn.

OOC: @Kaligos , you are up next, followed by @Mathis . After this, I might as well post again with Ida splitting up the away-team, but everyone should feel free to post in reaction at this point. @Doc M. , let me know over PM if you'd rather have Ida order Goldeneye to remain in the Docking Bay or if you want her in company with anyone specific after they split up! :) 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #10 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak |SS Sabine NX-59846 | Approaching the Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triage @CanadianVet @Striker N7 @Mathis @Havenborn @Josie @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]

In the past few days aboard the theurgy he learned a few things, the top on his list. He hated EV suits. It wasn't so much Zero Gravity, though he didn't care for the sensation it also didn't make him nauseated. It was more that he was a pessimist and with these suits he felt anything could and would go wrong. In reality they were a well woven thick material that made a strong seal between you and the cold airless vacuum of space.

In practice it felt like it weighed nothing at all. Unlike the armor that security or pilots were allowed to wear that enhanced the users strength, and actually had plating, the regular EVA suit which Jack was struggling to put on in the locked room of cockpit of the sabine. he glanced towards Jimmy.

"So," He paused and gestured out towards the group of women just changing on the other side.  "Got a preference?" He decided that in the end he had to strip to actually make eva suit work for him. Taking off his shirt and pants. He changed with his back to Jimmy so that they could have some privacy. "Sera's a bit intense, but I like her a lot, I have some experience with her, we actually... well lets just say this isn't the first time I've gone pantless in this room, speaking of which if anyone finds any boxers I'd like to know where they went too." Maybe they had been sucked out into the vacuum of space when he had opened the door to speak too Komial, and at this point it was just more comfortable to forgo them entirely.

"Any idea what Heather's deal is? Or that Ida woman... she actually scares me." He sighed shaking his head. Slipping on his helmet, and making sure that everything was secure. "anyway lets get to work shall we?"

[ 10 Minutes Later | Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost ]

The base was Klingon alright, there was iconography of the empire almost everywhere. Walking out in the low gravity, he was thankful for the magnetic boots keeping h is stride down. The entire place made him feel a little nausiated. Seeing some small amount of power returning to the station, he sighed. One would think that because of the hundred years of abandonment this place would be covered in dust, but exposure to the vaccuum had kept dust from forming, instead the ground was cracked having to deal with exposure to fridged tempatures and burning radiation. As he walked along he had made sure to carry his bag with him.

"Technically only a violation if it was ever activated during the treaty. All is fair in love and war after all." Though they were now activating it, which he was sure was going to end up getting them into trouble. This was exactly the kind of place that he did not want to be. He held a pad in one hand as he walked along the walls, checking for any consols that had survived the hundred years of abuse. When he finally found one, and started to load it, it read out in an older form of Klingon.

"Oh great. Excuse me I have to remember elementary Ghung*." Looking over the writing the consol ran on a much older progaming language than he was familiar with. The human equivlant would be showing a modern engineer a computer that ran on dos, it wasn't impossible to pick up, but it was a frustrating experience for all involved. So much for modern updates.

Hearing Ida ask if he had anything to report he put his pad down and set his com badge to talk to everyone. "Welcome to SuD Lang. This Azure Point mining facility was to be the refueling station for the empire. The first wave of war was to be sent from here should day when we can crush 'the enemy' ever arrive. Just so you all know the enemy in the instance is always the Federation, I'd translate what it actually says but I don't think the insult rolls off the tongue well."

~~~

Ghung* klingon for Programming.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #11 –
[ Heather McMillan | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Approaching the Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Kaligos, @CanadianVet, @Striker N7, @Mathis, @Havenborn, @Josie & @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]
“Huh? Pardon?” said McMillan, blinking at Bremmer distractedly. Then she realized she had been gawking the whole time at the moon, right until landing time. She had lost herself in that moon before they even left the vessel. There was something about it that she felt drawn to. And her field of lights were shifting queasily, as if sharing with everyone her unease and awe. Then she remembered again that Bremmer had spoken to her, about changing? Into a suit, right, an exo suit. Can't very well go off with just a photonic force field now, could we? “Right, suits!”

She hopped lightly to her feet, and swayed a moment, feeling her head spin violently before regaining her equilibrium. “Lead the way, sir-uh!-ma'am! Ma'am.”

Mariner, aside from his horrific idea for meals (tasty sounding rations that punished you with acute constipation from what she could tell, thank you Bremmer, thankyouthankyouthankyou), seemed to enjoy gaming and her original commission of an ancient but well known game. It was a fun distraction for a while. And she listened in on all the various communications going around between the pilots and Ida, it began to dawn on her that she was officially going off a ship for the first time in a long while. It took her ancestors on Earth generations to get accustomed to the gravity. She was going to be absolutely horrendous on the ground.

Which was ironic considering her people were supposed to be natural adepts to any new culture. Like anachronistic folks capable of understanding, absorbing and imitating culture or language, but gravity? Gravity was a fiend to them. She prayed silently for mercy and that she wouldn't be an absolutely clumsy oaf when she set foot outside of the Sabine. The first thing she needed to do was get into these cumbersome and restrictive suits. She suddenly felt the odd impulse to throw off all clothes and run around a large open space in nothing...well, maybe a thin silk shirt and trousers at least, but nothing as restrictive and confining as what she was about to get into. Would her frail form be able to withstand the thing?

She barely stifled a squawk when Ida just dropped everything she was wearing except her underwear. Then she blushed and looked at a dull grey bulkhead helplessly. Her underwear was a tad more revealing, and...well, she wore them because Trent loved seeing her in these, but it occurred to her now that it wasn't kind to her modesty while on a mission like this. Still, at least the men were on the other side and not right there with her, and she had basically the same things Bremmer and Ida did. Taking a look at Ida, then Bremmer, she figured they had a lot more than her too, so, what did it matter? Awkwardly shucking her uniform, she grabbed the foot of the suit and tried to put it on. “Not easy to get into, is it?” she muttered with a grunt and tiny growl as she hopped about on one foot whilst trying to fit the stupid thing on. “C-come...on!”

She was falling, but tucked her body into a roll, careful not to bump into anyone as she continued struggling, “Rrrr! Hah! There...ow, ow, owowow!” Now she tried getting it off. “Wrong foot!”

Slipping back out of it, and looking most undignified, with her hair flailing around her like a mad coral lifeform on her head, she glowed a bright furious pink of embarrassment, but easily slipped it onto the correct foot. One down, the rest of the suit to go. Looking at the rest of her suit, then at Bremmer and Ida, she looked helplessly at them, “I'm sorry, b-but, can I get a hand here with this, please?”

She'd be at this forever if she tried it on her own.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #12 –
[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Docking Bay | The Coreless Moon ] Attn: Everyone

[Show/Hide]
The landing zone was plenty big enough for Sabine and their fighter escort, despite Ida's worries, and Sera had managed to set down easily and leave room. She had wasted no time changing right there in the cockpit area, like she'd done countless times before, her red EV suit stashed in a compartment right by her seat. This meant that Jack and Jimmy would both have been given a quick show of her dressing down to her underwear and it didn't bother her in the slightest. In fact she kind of enjoyed it. She was dressed and ready to go, heading towards the airlock before the two boys had taken off anything. She gave them a smile and a wink before exiting the ship.

She knew they'd need and want lights and power going at least for the bay before getting everyone going, and she knew which way to go. She used the lights on her suit to lead her up to a second-floor room overlooking the bay and she began flipping some large switches. Soon the bay was lighting up and were it not for all the dust and cracked floors, it would seem like it was still operational. She watched from the overlook as others began exiting Sabine and as their Valkyrie escort came in to land. Anticipating Ida’s requests she began tapping on her padd, bringing up the map she’d made from her scans on the facility her first time here.

“The main dilithium is down this corridor towards the mining and storage areas,” she indicated as paths on the map lit up blue. “The ruins were nearby the mining operations here,” and a diverging path from the first lit up yellow. “Lastly, I never looked for any logs or anything like that, but from what I can tell, the main command area would be this way,” and a last path lit up red.

Finally when all the paths had been described and laid out she asked Ida, “Who's going with who again? Oh, and do I get a gun?”

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #13 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | SuD Lang Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost ]
[Show/Hide]

ThanIda remained where she stood as she listened to Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak and Sera vers Aldnoah. Earlier, after having seen the kind of difficulty Heather McMillan had with a task as simple as getting into her EVA suit, Ida had decided to change the way the away team was split up. Obviously, while Bremmer had helped the Radiant with the task, she would have to be carried through this mission, and fortunately enough, one of the Lone Wolves would be able to assist moon-side. She watched how the Valkyre fighter landed, giving the one with the callsign Goldeneye enough time to power down before speaking again.

"So far, sensors says there is no indication that we'll encounter any hostile forces, so safeties on," she said, mulling over whether or not it was a good idea to arm the scientists and the civilian. She was especially loathe to put a weapon in the hands of the Radiant, knowing fully well she had no kind of Starfleet training, but with two others to accompany her, perhaps they would be able to keep an eye on her. "That being said... Ensign Mariner. Give vers Aldnoah her Type II phaser pistol and head to the mining and storage areas. You are to assess the amount of available dilithium, gather what you can and bring it to the Sabine. Let us know if you need Hi'Jak to bypass any security systems remotely, because he and I will be heading to the main command center to secure the logs. Junior Lieutenant, let's head out."

After being handed her rifle and one of the Type II phasers, Ida began walking towards the massive sliding doors that Sera had pointed out. She continued to speak over comms. "Junior Lieutenant Lance, would you please head down to these hidden ruins together with Petty Officer Bremmer and PWO McMillan? Bremmer, give her the hand phaser, and show her how to use it. Hi'Jak might be able to open any doors needed between here and the ruins after we reach the command center, but since Sera got there unassisted, I doubt that will be required." Pausing, Ida reached Hi'Jak's side and gave him his Type II phaser without further comment. She could give him any instructions as needed en route, but at least he had Starfleet training. "Everyone, limit open comms to your respective groups so that we are not all talking with each other all the time. If comms go down, this docking bay is our rendevouz point."

With deft movements, Ida checked the power level and setting on her Type III assault rifle before looking over her shoulder towards the rest of the away-team. "Get out your tricorders and alert the other teams if you find any 'monsters lurking in the dark'. We'll try to restore the environmental systems from the command center. Move out."

[ Ten Minutes Later | SuD Lang Command Center ]

It hadn't been too far to the base's Ops center, and whenever there had been security systems getting in their way, either Hi'Jak had handled the door mechanisms or Ida has used her rifle to cut their way through. Once they stepped into the abandoned heart of the outpost, Ida had began to assess the area with her tricorder.

"Try to give us gravity and air everywhere except in the Docking Bay, Junior Lieutenant, and then access the comm systems. I would like to take a look. I will alert the other teams that you can try and bypass any systems that are in their way."

Having given her orders, Ida circled the area with her rifle and tricorder, bringing to mind what Commander Trent had appraised her of in regard to the halfblood Ridgehead, wondering if he could be trusted, but remained assured that if he tried something, she was the one in his immediate company, and she would be able to take care of any unforeseen problems. With this in mind, she spoke to the scientist.

"I hear your superior officer was killed on Starbase 84," she said quietly without looking at the young man, her antennae moving within the confines of her helmet as she assessed the area. "How did that happen? I was not aware there was any fighting aboard the base before the Theurgy arrived."

OOC: Posting Order follows after Kaligos has posted and let Hi'Jak activate air and gravity. So, as you can see above you can you all either A) split your posts like I have done in my post here, between the arrival and 10 minutes later, or B) only illustrate when your team has reach its allotted destination (in the 10 minutes later time-frame) which will be letting us make some headway. Since Hi'Jak will have restored air and gravity, there might be spiders crawling out soon enough... So! Here goes:
 - SuD Lang Command Center: 1) Kaligos 2) Auctor Lucan
 - Dilitium Storage & Mining Ops: 1) Striker N7 2) Mathis
 - Ruins of the Lightborn: 1) Doc M. 2) CanadianVet 3) Triage
 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #14 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | SuD Lang Docking Bay] Attn: 
[Show/Hide]

This place was abandoned long ago, so there was hardly anyone lurking in the shadows. Still being assigned to walk with Ida was a little more concerning. She still scared him, and he much rather would have gone with Sera, however there was a logic to this assignment. He was the only one who could work the controls of the command center, and keeping him under watch  was to be expected considering their location and how quickly it could all turn into a death trap.

The thing he didn't expect was to be handed a weapon. He paused for a moment looking over the hand phaser. He didn't know what to say about that, did that mean she was trusting him? He had to double check that there was a battery pack installed into the weapon just to make sure that the weapon was operational.

"Hey Sera, be careful." She didn't know much about who he was, but he did care for the woman, more than enough to tell her to be on her toes. The rest, well he'd be lying if he said that he hadn't been enjoying his time aboard the Theurgy. Turning to walk with Ida he still had to think about which was worse.

[ Ten Minutes Later | SuD Lang Command Center ]

Gravity, air and the access to the coms on the station. All things he was personally thinking of as well as he walked around the room. Like the rest of the station it had been abandoned in near mint condition, the stations purpose had been thwarted the day that Praxis exploded. Still the entire place felt like a home he hadn't been too in a very long time, with the familiar writing and iconography of the empire surrounding every step.

This was the empire at it's height, back in the golden age of warriors and generals. The empire of today was a mere shadow it's former self. Walking along the room he was checking consoles and among them he found something. Pulling it out, the old bronze and black handle of a Klingon Disruptor from the golden age was just sitting on top of the command console. "Check this out? I always wanted one of these."

Jack was clearly ignoring the question she had asked as he passed Ida back the hand phaser and kept the ancient Klingon weapon. After a few minutes of poking at the console he sighed. As much as he didn't want to talk about it he knew that the blue woman behind him would have more questions for him, and that this was at least some part of the point of putting her with him. "It's not exactly a moment I take pride in. His death wasn't the most honorable one."

"Before the Theurgy appeared there was a bomb detonation in the communications tower. A Romulan's head had exploded. I found evidence of the bomb's detonation order being sent from someone with captain level security clearance. So I handed it to my chief of security, and my captain." Since his meeting with Trent he had more time to work over the story and his version of events. Since the only other person who knew the full events of what happened in that room was Sera and she had been the actual murderer it had stood to reason that she wouldn't be talking about it any time soon.

He shook his head. "There were at least five captains on the starbase, but I drew the short straw. My CO was the traitor, and ordered mine and ensign six's arrest. When I returned to my lab intending to check on some findings, Simon the stations chief science officer and two security officers came to arrest me. There was a struggle, I managed to get one of the security officers weapons, but Simon lunged at me. I thought that they would have been using a non lethal setting so I turned and fired without checking what the weapon was set too. Turns out they wanted me more dead than I had first thought."

The lights around the command center flickered for a moment turning off, and on as the slow hiss of atmosphere started to flood out across the base. The feeling of weightlessness stopping as  gravity pulled at them.

"When they came to arrest me it wasn't hard to figure out that my captain was the traitor." One of his hands rested on the console the other on the new weapon he had found just encase this conversation strayed too far into subversive territory and the deputy of security attacked him. "I don't regret what I did, but I do dislike that it happened like that. Simon was an idiot who often stole my work, but I didn't kill him over petty reasons. It was an accident plain and simple. I was in over my head and I defended myself, had I been less clumsy or more prepared he would still be alive. I'm not a warrior despite my boasting to Trent I took no pleasure in what I did on eighty-four it was nothing personal just self defense."

"I may not love the Federation, and I certainly didn't like the people on eighty four, but I have no wish to see my homeland involved in a war it can't win. If the Federation is seen as supporting the Romulans while the Klingons are at war with them, than both sides get blasted to hell."

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #15 –
[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner SS Sabine NX-59846 | Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost ] [Show/Hide]
Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triage @Kaligos @Striker N7 @CanadianVet @Mathis @Havenborn @Josie  @Doc M.


Jimmy enjoyed the view of the flight to the coreless moon, even if he was already developing complacency in his situational awareness of the Azure Nebula. It was a nice break in the monotony of the flight when the moon finally broke through the nebula. Mariner skimmed the Sabine computer's readouts of the moon, and as it approached, the readouts of the Klingon base. The shuttle landed with a satisfying metallic thud, and Mariner stood to attention when Ida gave her orders.

"Aye, Ma'am." (pronounced 'Mahm') Mariner nodded, he was in full game-face mode now: he traded his expression of a perpetual smirk for an alert and ready-to-fight regard. Jimmy kept his head forward-facing once Ida set the crates down and got to business. Jimmy made eye contact with his immediate superior, and made sure he kept his eyes where they belonged as he appreciated her delivery of two new exosuits. Mariner briefly considered taking a look as the lieutenant stepped aside, but Mariner had enough of an imagination to keep himself amused than to risk a demerit.

Earlier in the flight. Jimmy briefly caught a glimpse of a pair of intense fire-colored eyes in the viewscreen's reflection earlier, but was unsure if the pilot's regard was cast in his direction or not. Focusing on his own equipment for now, it was best not to distract a female officer from her duty-- more so now that the Starfleet black-and-grey uniforms were being traded for combat-ready gear. If only Mariner would get an exosuit of his own, he'd spare no expense in its upkeep and personalization. Too bad this time there wasn't an opportunity to show off his artistic talent. Later, if Fire-eyes wanted to appreciate his imagination, all she'd have to do was find him after this assignment. One more person to impress-- but that was secondary to their mission, the big picture, and his crew's survival.

"Bloody hell." The Aussie commented about his new armor when he opened the crate and found himself a changing area in the space behind the cockpit. Mariner got undressed down to his form-hugging briefs and immediately got suited up in the same time it took the other officers, (though the ladies had a head start on the men). Normally, Jimmy would have no qualms about showing off his toned and lightly-scarred body, but right now he needed to get his arse into that exo suit and outside at the double-quick. When he'd been sure his suit was operating at peak efficiency, he took a precautionary inspection of Jak's suit. When he caught his crewmate's attention for a heartbeat, he rubbed his forehead, eye and ear, indicating 'They can hear you, we'll chat out of antennae-shot'. Then Jimmy casually snapped on his own HUD and tested out the helmet's visual filters. The display system came online and he adjusted his settings to get as clear an unobstructed view as he could with the instruments aside. A voice-to-text suite sent a private text through a Klingon translator, just out of courtesy-- and in this case, privacy. <wa'DIch poHlIj conquest, Suq may', vaj, SoH, Pal.>

[Translation: "First you get the the battle, then you get the 'conquest', Friend."
Hinting about the Andorian euphimism for par'mach.]

Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost

Minutes later, Jimmy Mariner was out of the shuttle, pistol drawn and head on a swivel as the hangar's lights came to life. He thought he heard something in the distance, but it could've been a moisture leak for all he knew. The Exo-suit's thermal tracking filter had detected no immediate life form readings.

<Clear.> James gave the hand signal to proceed after being sure there wasn't an armed response team waiting for them in the cavernous hangar. The situation warranted a brief smile when James was authorized to get himself a rifle. In Mariner's hands, the weapon was like a bushranger with his carbine: more accuracy and preset fire rate options in a fire fight. Almost instinctively, he secured his pistol and ensured his rifle was set to stun and that his fire-rate presets mirrored those of his pistol's, which were designed to immediately rival the hated Jem'Hadar rifle in fire rate and stopping power; concentrated semi-automatic being his go to fire setting, 'automatic' for suppressive or cover fire, 'beam' for welding and wide-arc as the response to any encounter of the close-quarters kind, which was understandably costly in fuel cells, and was almost-never used, even by him. Jimmy privately promised himself to be careful with his ammunition... even if it meant using a wide-arc pulsewave on kill setting. <I'd keep my eyes and my options open if I were you, Sir. This isn't exactly a Zero-G training simulator, you know.> Jimmy had caught notice of Jak's apparent cough, but had said nothing about it, until he was tasked with protecting the Câroon, <Last call for Dramamine.> he suggested.


[Show/Hide]
Lt. Commander Leon "Striker" Marquez
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
"No one left behind."

Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner
Security Officer, USS Theurgy
"Showtime!"

Lieutenant (J.G.) Alessia "Angel" Garcia
Valravn Fighter Pilot, USS Theurgy
"You're not the only one with a gun,"

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #16 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | SuD Lang Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost ]   Atten:  @CanadianVet, @Triage 

With the variable gravity rating and the lack of a functioning tractor beam it was white knuckle time as Lieutenant (junior grade) Tessa May Lance guided her AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie into the station’s docking bay.  Tessa had experienced trouble with manual landings on worlds with a constant gravity so she wasn’t confident about her chances now.  She set her fighter’s Twin-Tandem ITD-900 Series Class V Gravitic Impulse Drive to one of its lowest setting and did her best to maneuver it in without destroying it. 

Her dorsal deflector shield lit up as her cockpit as the Advanced Tactical Sensor Suite at the top her fighter scrapped against the roof of the entrance to the docking bay.  A loud ‘thunk’ was heard within her cockpit as the nose of her Valk gently bounced off the back wall before floating lazily backward before jerking left and right, and up and down, as Tessa tried to maneuver her fighter.   Finally after what seemed like eternity she felt the magnetic feet of her landing gear stick to the hull and she could finally relax. 

Before exiting her Valkyrie, Tessa leaned back in her cockpit and took a deep breath, trying to relax and enjoying the last bit of normal gravity before she exited her spacecraft and experience the stomach churning microgravity of the SuD Lang mining station.  She opened her eyes and gazed up through her transparent aluminum alloy cockpit window to view the ceiling overhead.  Only it wasn’t the ceiling or in nautical terms, the overhead.  It was the floor, or in nautical terms, the deck.  She knew this because she could see the SS Sabine above her, and the doors that led out of this large chamber were visible where the wall met what Tessa had assumed was the “ceiling” but was in reality the floor.

“Gosh darn it!” Tessa cried out in frustration.  “Oh well,” she sighed as she instinctively checked the seals in her Tactical CONN Exosuit that would function as her Extra Vehicular Activity Suit.  She then checked the contents of the slim utility compartments installed in the hips and the sides of the legs of her suit.  “Let’s see, type one hand phaser, combat tricorder, standard combat ration pack, standard combat medical kit, knife with retractable parsteel blade, one field communicator, one PADD, two half liter pouches of drinking water, one one person inflatable shelter, and one extra filter mask.  Okay, that’s everything!”  Most of that stuff wasn’t going to be useful in an airless environment but it was better to be over prepared than underprepared.  “And I mustn’t forget this!” added as she attached the holster for a Type II pulse phase pistol that had become popular with pilots and security forces after the Dominion War to her hip.  “You never know,” she chirped.  Nodding to herself, she deactivated her Valk’s inertial dampeners and undid her restraints before opening the cockpit hatch.  She stood up and…

…promptly tumbled through space, out of control as she floated away from her Valkyrie.  ”Aah!” she cried as she slowly tumbled to the floor.  ”Aah!  I don’t wanna die!” she howled before she bounced off the deck and bounced and rolled across the docking bay, bouncing off both the walls and the Sabine like a billiard ball until her inertia had dropped down enough for the magnetic sole on one of her boots managed to gain traction on the deck.  Once her second boot was planted on the floor, the young lieutenant checked herself for injuries.  Thankfully the exosuit was equipped with synthetic muscle technology and servomechanisms as well as a spinal stabilizer.  “I’m Oh…kay!” she cheered. 

It was only then that she noticed EV suited figures leaving the Sabine.  The figure holding the phaser rifle that the display on her visor identified as ThanIda zh'Wann started giving out the orders.  “"Junior Lieutenant Lance, would you please head down to these hidden ruins together with Petty Officer Bremmer and PWO McMillan? Bremmer, give her the hand phaser, and show her how to use it. Hi'Jak might be able to open any doors needed between here and the ruins after we reach the command center, but since Sera got there unassisted, I doubt that will be required."  The Andorian paused to hand the figure her Thru Visor Display (TVD) identified as Lieutenant (junior grade) Hi'Jak a hand phaser before addressing the away team.  “Everyone, limit open comms to your respective groups so that we are not all talking with each other all the time. If comms go down, this docking bay is our rendezvous point."

“Aye-aye ma’am, oops!” Tessa chirped as she adjusted her suit’s communications gear to match the frequency being used with Petty Officer Second Class Eliska Bremmer and Provisional Warrant Officer Heather McMillan.  She started to walk over to them but one of her boots wouldn’t let go of the deck.  By the time she managed to free herself she had used enough force that she was tumbling towards them before settling for an awkward stagger. 

Fortunately, when she managed to get to the pair, she had managed to adjust the suction on her boots to a level that allowed some kind of walking.  “So, girls, what are these hidden ruins we’re talking about?”


OOC:  I’ll let Triage or CanadianVet do the time skip and describe the hidden ruins.  I’m as in the dark as Tessa.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #17 –
[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | SS Sabine NX-59846 | SuD Lang Outpost ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triage  @Kaligos @Striker N7 @Mathis @Havenborn @Josie @Doc M.

While the Warrant Officer removed her uniform, Eliska saw to the EVA suit she was going to be wearing.  Space survival and hard-vacuum operations were part of Starfleet's basic training for enlisted men and officers alike.  Though she did not know quite how the officers went through it, she recalled it had been a grueling process that involved much classroom time and a lot of training and practice in an atmosphere with inspecting, donning, doffing and operating the suits long before they would do holodeck simulations, and they had to pass a number of those before they'd even step out a real airlock for their first spacewalk, all 5 minutes of a cherry-hop from one door to another.  So far as Bremmer could tell, Heather McMillan had received exactly none of that training. 

That meant the Petty Officer was doing the initial checks on the suits and spooling up its onboard systems while her charge was stripping down, and there would be need for a quick and dirty 'how not to die in hard vacuum' speech.  But at least, having been qualified as a Mistress-at-Arms, she was also a qualified instructor for EVA refresher training...  Though, at least, she seemed willing enough to try and put it on by herself. 

Eliska herself wasted little time in stripping down, but unlike the Lieutenant who was down to her issued underwear and the scientist in those frilly and rather cute underthings, the Nova Kosice native wore long, skin-tight boxers that reached her knees, and a similar shirt that went to her elbows; she spend enough time in those suits for extended durations during the Dominion war to know just how badly they could chafe, and she'd taken the time to replicate the kind of thing she'd been wearing then, and had taken with her on board the Resolve.  But as she was about to start pulling on her own exosuit, only to be interrupted by McMillan's problems.  Though, once she had corrected the issue with her feet and requested assistance, Bremmer offered a bit of a smile.  "Warrant, in Starfleet there's a solid week of in-class training before we even get to look at a suit like that one; there's no shame in needing a hand there."  And, with that said, the Petty Officer assisted her into the EVA suit, taking care to let her ease herself into position before sealing it up save for the helmet.

"All right crash course in suit operations.  You've got controls to magnetize your boots; you're going to need this unless we can get gravity back.  In the helmet, you'll have information about your air, and some bits about the outside conditions.  Don't worry too much about any of that except for the air part.  Now, golden rule: unless I tell you otherwise, keep your helmet sealed up once I close it up for you, all right?  Communications... I'll set you up when the Ell-Tee decides who you're going with, but you'll have a couple of channels available, and switching between them is pretty self-explanatory."  But then, she had to add a few things.  "Look, if you've gotta go while you're in the suit, the on-board plumbing can deal with it easily enough; you'll just need clean underwear and a shower afterwards.  But if you're going to toss your cookies, there's a purge valve you can hit, it'll suck it up out of your helmet and flush the air; it's not perfect, but at least it won't be floating around your head until we get some gravity." 

And only then did Eliska get the time to get herself suited up.  The exosuit was like a second skin to her as she slipped effortlessly into the armoured shell that would keep her alive in the hostile conditions out there and do wonders for her combat effectiveness in any set of conditions.  Oh, certainly it tended to get a little stuffy in there after a while, and there was always that dire need to scratch that would come on shortly after having fully suited up and tended to never go away until she'd peel it off.  But she loved those suits all right, and her proficiency with this sort of technology was obvious as she sealed it around her and ran the diagnostics and did the basic range of motion checks.  Oh yes, that would do all right, that would do quite well... 

[10 minutes later]

One thing with being trained as she had been, to a finer edge than the vast majority of Starfleet's Security personnel, it meant that one tended to get to take point.  But then again, it made sense to have your best in the front, and it was with pistol in hand that Eliska disembarked from the Sabine and took a sharp turn, followed by a zig-zagging motion that would look utterly random, but really was aimed at giving her a quick glance at her entire arc of responsibility even as she went to take her position, but without a predictable path that would make it easy for anyone lurking in the shadows to target her.  And from where she had been, she was quick to give her own all clear signal, being reasonably certain through her suit's sensors and her own Mark One Eyeballs that the docking bay itself was not any more hazardous than the environment itself made it. 

But things could change quickly on a mission, and that they did.  A message flashed on the inside of her helmet's faceplate, and Eliska responded to it not over the channel, but by raising her hand with an upraised thumb, and made back for the Sabine.  Truth be told, she was glad the word had come they would really get to gun up.  The pulse phaser pistol was a formidable weapon in its own right, but it would never be able to outdo a rifle in a sustained firefight; and it always felt good to have a backup.  And before she came out of the ship again, her rifle was hanging from a sling about her chest, and should she drop it it would keep the stock close to her shoulder, ready to be brought to bear in a heartbeat.

Arming the Warrant, though... that was a rather frightening proposition.  However, Eliska did not waste any time in delivering the rifles and hand phasers to Lieutenant zh'Wann and Mister Mariner before making for her own charge.  First, she affixed the holster to the Radiant's suit, and then she saw to the weapon and worked the settings with practiced ease.  "Warrant, that's a Type 2 hand phaser.  Right now, it's set to stun; leave it there for now.  There's the trigger, you press it with your thumb.  Now, to aim, you just point the thumb of your firing hand towards what you want to hit, and press the trigger; this thing isn't really meant for pinpoint accuracy, but with stun all you really need is to be able to hit anywhere near the center of mass, and point-shooting with your firing thumb as a guide is usually good enough for that."

And then, she slipped the weapon in the holster, and checked the retention.  "Your holster should be enough to keep your weapon in there unless you get a major shock.  To draw, just pull it out straight.  Not that I expect you'll need to.  But if you do, make sure you don't point that at me, or anyone else, or anything you don't want to shoot.  My suit can take shots set on stun, but it's still not the most pleasant thing to be on the receiving end of, all right?  Any questions?"  Well, so far as Eliska was concerned, that had been fast and furious.  Arming someone who'd never been trained on these weapons was not generally standard procedure, and giving them about two weeks' worth of training in minutes, without any practical testing, was definitely largely unheard of...

And then, the orders were given.  Bremmer was to head for those ruins with Warrant McMillan and the pilot in tow.  Now, that made things interesting.  Pilots were usually well-trained in close-combat as well as fighting their craft, but this was a dedicated ground operation, and while the Warrant and Goldeneye (as the HUD indicated) were of similar authority, neither had much of an idea of what was involved her.  And given how Lance seemed to have some difficulty with the settings on her mag boots, let alone doing basic maneuvering in microgravity (and why she didn't use her suit thrusters was a mystery to the Petty Officer) this was bound to be a very interesting operation in its own right.  In fact, Bremmer was quite certain that if it came down to dealing with a threat, she would be largely on her own there...

On the team channel that Eliska was quick to create, she then spoke.  "Barring any major objections, I'll take point.  Ell-Tee, can I trouble you to bring up the rear, and an eye on your tricorder?  Warrant, you're the package on this mission, so my job's to keep you in one piece.  So kindly, don't do anything unwise, and if you're going to touch something, let the Ma'am or myself have a look-see first, all right?  Oh, and even if Lieutenant zh'Wann comes on the air saying we have atmosphere, keep your helmet sealed up; this place is a deathtrap and there's no telling what compartments will or won't have survivable pressure, or even atmo mix until we get there.  And that's assuming the temperature is within survivable parameters to begin with."

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #18 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | SuD Lang Command Center ]
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It was evident that the halfblood Ridgehead was struggling with his answer to Ida, but it was not entirely clear why until he spoke, telling her something that - at face value - might be a tragedy. Yet there was far more to it than that, as Ida turned her eyes and antennae his way.

Ida was quite proficient in telling when people were lying to her, but the way he had paused made her think that it wasn't him buying time to piece together a version of what happened. No, the way he said it correlated with the way he spoke of the Klingon Empire. He could have said anything, tried to dress up the fact of what happened in a way to mitigate his guilt in the matter, but what he chose to say was that he did not regret this Chief Science Officer dying. He regretted how it happened, and that proved he was more Klingon than he had cared to admit so far.

Knowing Klingons from fighting them aboard the USS Kintaro during the Dominon War, Ida knew there was no honour killing an adversary by accident, like a child mishandling a phaser. The Junior Lieutenant had carried evidence that might hurt the Klingon Empire in the long run, and the enemy on the base was trying to have him killed. Nontheless, even if he managed to escape, where was the honour in a kill unintended? The Klingon operative was not remorseful, but ashamed, since there was no honour for either him or the CSO on Starbase 84.

Ida looked down at the phaser he'd given back to her, favouring the almost one hundred year old weapon he'd found. Klingon's did build their weapons to last, but Ida had a feeling that there was more to the gesture than a flight of fancy. That train of thought came to a halt when Hi'Jak restored gravity and air, the environmental systems struggling loudly through the mining outpost to compensate for almost a century of dereliction.

"I can inform the others, even if they are bound to have noticed," said Ida quietly without making comment on what Hi'Jak had said. She attached the regular hand phaser next to her tricorder on her exosuit and typed a message to both Petty Officer Bremmer and Ensign Mariner on her Forearm PADD. She also included Lance. While she did, she spoke in a quiet but clear voice, knowing that she'd be heard well enough inside the other officer's helmet. "Commander Trent's assessment of you was not kind, at least not what he relayed to me prior to this mission. You were good at hiding, undetected for years, unbeknownst to Starfleet relaying intel to your Empire the whole time. What I ask myself is what you plan on doing for the Theurgy's mission now that your true loyalty has been revealed, and your skill of avoiding detection has become moot. How will you be able to make the Empire heed the call to arms?"

The message she typed to the other two security officers and Junior Lieutenant Lance was short:

ATMO PRESSURE AND GRAVITY RESTORED.
TEMPERATURE REGULATING. AIR FILTERING.
MAKE CONTACT WITH HI'JAK FOR ANY ACCESS NEEDED.
BE ADVISED: DOCKING BAY IS STILL DEPRESSURISED.

Then she looked up from her typing, eyes on the scientist. "Because it would serve Captain Ives and the crew - even the future of the Federation - if we had more allies against this common enemy. I am asking you... can you make that very call from here?" She paused, looking at the old Klingon user interface on the station Hi'Jak was at. "If the Empire will answer, and fight for us... I have been given to understand that the inconvenient existence of SuD Lang might be overlooked."

She looked back at the operative through her visor, this man who had not been made aware until right then why he truly had been picked for the mission. "Ives sanctioned this, on the condition that the comm logs of this outpost were extracted and handed to me." Of course, if those showed that SuD Lang was anything else than completely derelict, the Theurgy would be able to prove the Empire had been violating the Treaty of Alliance. Just like the existence of a Starfleet officer spy working for the Empire. As for what she'd do if he did not comply... Well, Ives had expected her not to threaten Hi'Jak the way she'd threatened Edena Rez before the Niga Incident. The Captain had expected her to know better than to repeat that mistake.

Ida was not smiling, her rifle still lowered. "It is time for you to redeem yourself, Ridgehead."

In truth, Ida had not decided what to do if it came to that, but because of the fallout at Starbase 84, she did know that she would ensure that the Klingons got the message... by whatever means necessary.

OOC: Please, in your next posts, you all must further events to a point when you have reached the destination. Mathis must describe the dilithium storage area and have gravity and atmosphere restored, and Striker will get the message from Ida in his subsequent post. Triage, on her end, needs to be close to or at the entrance to the ruins in the next post when gravity and atmosphere is restored, and Tessa and Bremmer will get the message on their Knee or Forearm PADDs respectively. This is also a green light to introduce the Talarian hook spiders at your leisure! :) Posting Order follows:
 - SuD Lang Command Center: 1) @Kaligos  2) Auctor Lucan
 - Dilitium Storage & Mining Ops: 1) @Mathis  2) @Striker N7
 - Ruins of the Lightborn: 1) @Triage 2) @Doc M. 3) @CanadianVet 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #19 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | SuD Lang control room] Attn: @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]

Part of Jack had known where this conversation had been going, but he still hadn't looked forward to it. He had told Trent that rallying the Klingons too soon would be costly, that without evidence of their invisible enemy calling on the Klingon council would probably end up in disaster or war two of the things that he had wanted to avoid for his empire. He supposed in that way he could be viewed as a moderate.

He gave the gun a check over. Compared to the one Ida had given him it was ancient. Klingon technology had always been built to last, but he wouldn't know if the thing worked till he attempted to turn and fire. If he pulled the trigger on Ida and nothing happened than he was a dead man, if he pulled the trigger and something did happen than he would need to figure out a way to get off this rock.

"See that's what you people don't understand. If I call on the empire then they aren't going to fight alongside you. If I tell them that the Federation leadership is under the influence of an alien force they will be ecstatic to believe me, but they won't be coming for some select admiralty. If I cry havok they will let slip the dogs of war."

"The Empire has been building since the end of the dominion war, we have learned from our mistakes. While there was a time when we starved ourselves in the name of peace the dominion war was like giving a starving dog a sack of meat, and once it was over we wanted more. Even now daily raids take place along the Romulan civil war, raids that shed the blood of countless stars. If I tell the empire what it wants to hear than it turns their attention away from one conflict and focuses it like a hammer to smash against the Federation as a whole. the sons and daughters of a thousand worlds will die."

Jack let out a sigh as he took out a PADD, and started to attach it to the coms console.  Starting a data transfer between the base and the PADD. "Andoria will be the first target you know. It's strained relationship to the Federation, and it's known warrior heritage will make it a prime target to stress the bureaucracy of the Federation, and when they have to divert resources to protect a world it will open up a dozen more to attack."

He turned to face Ida. "I can make the call to arms, I might even be able to get them to listen to me when I say that the Theurgy is not aligned with the Romulans, but they do not fight for you. jagh jagh reH kash"

"It's an old Klingon proverb, The enemy of your enemy is still an enemy."

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #20 –
[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Docking Bay | The Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Striker N7 & Everyone

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Sera walked out from the observation room where she had just turned on the lights for the docking bay, Ida having just finished giving out their ‘marching orders’ as it were. Sera was a little disappointed to not be going with Jack, making her wish she’d made more conversation during their trip out. With how sick he’d looked though, she thought maybe he could use the quiet. They’d talk after, she figured, and she had to admit it did make good tactical sense to put a security officer with each group. Sera was hardly defenseless, but she did feel a lot safer with someone to watch her back. As the groups began to separate, Sera jumped from the overlook, the miniscule gravity carrying her slowly to the ground. She used her suit’s small thrusters in small controlled bursts to land smoothly only a few feet from the group. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t showing off a little, reminding everyone that she did this sort of thing for a living… or at least used to.

Jack told her to be careful as he left the bay with the Andorian woman. She gave him a smile and a wink from behind her helmet, “You too,” she said before he’d walked off. She turned her attention on Jimmy, his impressive jawline and five o’clock shadow visible through his helmet. She took the pistol he’d been ordered to provide her and checked the settings on it. She nodded at the rifle, “I hope you know how to use that thing, never know who or what we might find down here.” She said with a mix of mirth and seriousness. “I’m Sera, by the way. I’m sorry we didn’t get much of a chance to talk during the trip here, I was distracted by flying and a bit lost in thought, if I’m being honest.” He was cute, there was no denying it. She was suddenly wishing she could get a better look at him without the EV suit. She pushed those thoughts from her mind, for now anyway. She motioned towards their exit.

“Shall we, Starfleet?”

[15 minutes later]

During their fifteen-minute walk to the storage bay the station’s artificial gravity came back up, courtesy of Jack no doubt. She’d wished they’d had some warning as the transition was a bit jarring, Jimmy had to grab her arm to keep her from losing balance. She’d have caught herself with a thruster, but it was welcome nonetheless. Soon they came to a large sealed door that was obviously an entrance to a cargo bay of sorts. She walked over to the door’s panel and started interfacing with it and her personal PADD. She used the same protocols she had last time and a few seconds later the door was opening. It opened to a rather impressive site. Crates and caches of raw dilithium were strewn across the large bay. “I think we can use those old hover-movers to load up entire crates of this stuff back to Sabine to ship back with us. The problem is the raw dilithium is around 90% useless moon rock, and with Sabine’s hold being the size that it is, we really should fill up on all the refined stuff we can get our hands on.” She pointed back towards the very back of the bay where another door stood similar to the first she had just opened but more reinforced. Way more reinforced. “Tricorder readings show crates of refined dilithium behind that door, but last time I was here I wasn’t able to unlock it or cut through it. Sucker’s thick. Maybe Jack can unlock it… remotely…?”

She trailed off as the hairs on her neck stood up and she thought she noticed movement in the corner of her eye, up in the dark corners of the storage room. Whatever it was, it was very fast, and she swore she saw multiple legs. She wanted to curse, but all she got out was a question.

“Did… did you see that?”

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #21 –
[ Lieutenant ThanIda zh'Wann | SuD Lang Command Center ]
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At first, the flat-cheeked Ridgehead was trying to caution against any actions taken towards alerting the Empire about the parasites, and he did make some sense. Ida could see how the Empire might do as he described, but it seemed he had overlooked the risk of the Klingon High Command being infected as well. Moreover, Chancellor Martok was a proved ally to the Federation, and he'd seen the fate of Gowron with his own eyes. The Empire had been misled in a very similar way before. As much Ida had been given to understand, and had faith in the message she had brought from Captain Ives.

She was just about to tell the scientist that he was underestimating Ives, whom was a diplomat first and a hardened battle commander second. The Chameloid's track record in mediating conflicts and settling peace between warring parties was well documented before Starfleet Command declared them all outlaws. Since then, whatever merit there had been to Ives' name had been tarnished by untruth, and since the Junior Lieutenant had been fed the filth of the media on Starbase 84, she could understand if he didn't see the veil placed over his eyes.

Then, the Ridgehead got personal, alluding towards the possible destruction of Andoria.

Ida bit off whatever words she had meant to say when she smiled. There was no kindness in her stare. "And so said the most sorry excuse of a Klingon warrior I have ever seen," she said derisively, giving the scientist spy a dissaproving once-over before tearing into him with her sharp tongue. "What do you know about your people, having lived a Federation life? You graduated from the Academy four years ago, neither having fought against nor with your people during the Dominion War. All you know you have been told by your boastful Klingon handlers, filling your head with promises about what the Empire is capable of. You are just a naive boy looking for somewhere to belong, feeling like Starfleet owes you something when it is you that's inferior to everyone's expectations. I am an Andorian in exile, and I bear no love for what I left behind, but I know the Imperial Guard will not yield an inch to the rash and witless Ridgheads if they chose to come their way."

He swore and rounded on her, his disruptor at his side. "You daft blue skinned cunt!"

Forestalling any rash actions from the scientist, Ida had her rifle up and pointing towards Hi'Jak's chest within a moment - sights aligned and finger on the trigger. It stopped the halfblood short.

"We are both just cogs in the wheel, little spy," she said in a even tone, voice low when she made it clear what she thought of his kind. She had despised Rez in the same way, despite what had come after. After all she had gone through, all that she'd done, killing this stranger in self-defence would be nothing to her. 

"It means that what happens next... is not for either of us to decide. Ives has a message for Chancellor Martok, and you are going to send it. Whatever you think you know about the Empire's answer is irrelevant, because it is not your call to make. So, I suggest you put the disruptor aside, and begin typing." She tilted her head, as if gauging whether or not he'd do as told. It was not entirely certain, but she knew she'd defend herself if so required. "If you don't send the message, you'll rot in the brig on the Theurgy because you refused to carry out orders... but if you don't put away that weapon, you'll never leave this room."

Ida's stance did not move a hair as she stood there, face dead serious. "Do you understand?"

OOC: Current Posting Order follows:
 - SuD Lang Command Center: 1) @Kaligos  2) Auctor Lucan
 - Dilitium Storage & Mining Ops: 1) @Striker N7 2) @Mathis 
 - Ruins of the Lightborn: 1) @Triage 2) @Doc M. 3) @CanadianVet 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #22 –
[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | SuD Lang control room] Attn: @Auctor Lucan 
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"You daft blue skinned cunt!" Jack spun on his heels towards Ida ready with a reprimand on his tongue, that she was supposed to be Starfleet, that she was supposed to look out for the greater good, or that they were not supposed to be Warmongerers. All of these very device non Klingon things that were just on the tip of his tongue but fled out when he saw the rifle raised to his chest.

Killing Ida was no longer an option in that moment. He would have to lift his arm pull the trigger and pray that his gun worked, while she would only need to pull the trigger of a more powerful modern and up to date weapon. He chewed his words over, looking over the options he had. Her words about being cogs on the wheel were a dodge. He whom gives the order has swung the blade. If he let these people contact the council then war was inevitable.

Up to this point he had been willing to listen, willing to work with this Starfleet crew. He had told Trent his reservations about presenting this parasite theory before any solid proof could be gleaned on the make up of these creatures, but he had still agreed to help them.

Now however? This blue skinned idiot would kill them all for the chance that they might get some help. She would doom worlds, and he would be party to events that would fell the empire. He looked down at the weapon, there was his exit, refuse and this woman would send him off to Stovokor. If he went with her then he was going to doom his empire and countless others to a war. "Easy there."

He raised his hand not carrying the gun. Opening the holster on the side of his EV suit. "We are getting a little ahead of ourselves right? You need me to work this place, and to send the message. I can't do either of those things if you kill me."

She was right he may actually have been the most pathetic warrior she had ever seen. Another warrior would have tried. Some of them might even have succeeded in their bid to kill her. He on the other hand had no chance. Slowly and gently he put the disruptor at his side to the holster putting on his person but clipping it so that it couldn't be easily picked up. "Without me you don't get the resources for our ship, so you can't kill me just yet."

"Now then," he kept his hands up as he turned around giving his attention back to the consol he had been working from Reading over the Klingon dialect. His face obscured by the EV suit he let himself smile for a moment as he came up with a plan, and at least part of the plan was the ancient Klingon security network.  Tapping up the com-line with one hand his other worked on the several long dead death traps the klingons used to leave behind.

"Lets hear the captain's words, and I will make sure that Qo'Nos receives them, in a way that they can understand."

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #23 –
[ Heather McMillan | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Approaching the Coreless Moon ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Kaligos, @CanadianVet, @Striker N7, @Mathis, @Havenborn, @Josie & @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]
Ida probably thought McMillan was a complete arse and a buffoon, for which she really couldn't blame the Andorian. She thought she was one too. Thankfully, Bremmer was more than helpful, and giving instructions that would have been hard enough to grasp on a good day, but the Radiant felt like curling up in a corner and dying right then, so words were going overhead, aroundhead, and underhead...hold on, was that possible? She didn't dare shake her head, mostly because she didn't want to move rapidly under any circumstance with the way her stomach was churning, and how her limbs and extremities were beginning to ache murderously until she was seeing stars instead of the woman in front of her. But she was starting to swim, her thoughts, her vision, her sensations...

“I...I understand, ma'am. And thank you.” said McMillan, in answer to everything given. She said that after briefly and slowly nodding at all instructions, the best response she could give. But it would have been obvious that she was not paying complete attention already, with her rapid blinking, and struggling to keep her attention on Bremmer. Furthermore, there seemed to be three Bremmers. No...there was one. Now there was two, and four! No, it was just two all along. Hold on. There was only one Bremmer. What was happening? She swayed where she stood, then her senses sharpened when she saw the weapon being attached to her. She remembered the one time she tried using a hand phaser to save Nicander and Vojona. It was the start down a dark path, one she didn't want to think about. Then there was the time she used her light to harm Acreth. No, a weapon was not something she wanted.

“I can't use that...” said McMillan, steadfast in that at least, “...I-I mean...it's against m-my principles. I'm terribly sorry. But I will rather die than harm another being, no matter the reason.”

She closed her eyes and looked away, then she sighed and looked back, “Thank you, though. I'm ready.”

She watched as the helmet was sealed, effectively encasing her in her own atmosphere. Her aura of light flickered and pulsed like never before, briefly imitating the light motions F'Rell made when she was expressing emotions. Her natural skin tone showed in gaps where no light was shining under the skin, as it was with her hair, which still floated around as if she were underwater or in zero gravity. Sighing, she took in her first breath of the suit's provided air. It was rich and in perfect balance. Taking another appreciative breath, she steadied the rhythm of her breathing, which seemed to briefly make her feel better, and she finally set foot outside of the Sabine, following after Bremmer, who came out after Ida.

[ SuD Lang Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost | The Coreless Moon ]

She stared up, and her jaw hit the floor when she watched Tessa May Lance tumbling through the air like a drunken flying Vulcan on drugs. Except the likelihood of a Vulcan getting intoxicated and partaking in equilibrium-distorting drugs were as likely as McMillan discovering a way to achieve Warp Ten safely. In any case, the woman was thankfully none the worse for wear...for the most part. “Ma'am?” said McMillan, “Will you be all right?” She stumbled over to Lance, herself more woefully incompetent than the pilot, as she felt a wave of dizziness overtake her so forcefully, she all but collapsed to her knees, one foot barely keeping the magnetized grip.

Straightening up, she decided to worry about keeping herself from collapsing all the time unless she wanted Bremmer to just hoist her on her back and bear her all the way for the journey. The gravity, or lack thereof was affecting her more brutally than she anticipated. After murmuring an affirmative to Ida's instructions, she staggered and stumbled along behind Bremmer, occasionally turning to see how Lance was faring, though it was a unspoken and unasked for competition to see which of them was the clumsiest and most awkward. She was walking almost with her hands gripping her legs as she struggled to overpower the magnetic grips, and then there was the constant falling down.

[ 10 minutes later ]

“Uhnf!” McMillan collapsed flat on her front for the umpteenth time, and she pushed herself up quickly, “I-I'm all right! I just need a moment.”

Half resting her weight on one hand, while the other held her tricorder, which she raised up when it started detecting something significant, based on several search parameters. She propped herself more comfortably though still in an awkward position, on one knee while her other foot stayed clamped to the flooring. She had set her tricorder to pick up on traces of heat, light and radiowaves that would match light emissions from a Radiant like herself, as well as a little known material known as Cascadium. The only piece of metal alloy found only in one place: her people's homeworld. She kept a tiny sliver of the metal as a pendant that she wore all the time. It was literally a piece of the ship that brought her people to Earth. When her ancestors had dismantled and stripped down their ship once they realized it was inoperable and humans were converging on them, her direct relative must have taken a piece of the ship and carved the metal into a beautiful pendant. But the young woman hadn't made the connection from her family history to the pendant's more unique aspects until much much later.

At first McMillan had simply thought it a family heirloom made of Earth material, but only recently, on a whim, she'd used her resources on the ship to study the elements of her pendant, and discovered it was made of a metal not found anywhere else, not even in the Starfleet database, which was quite extensive. With such a search parameter, it would have narrowed down her search quite quickly, which it did. And now she was on to something. The tricorder was picking up traces of Cascadium. “I've found something rather significant, I think.” said McMillan, “There's either a large deposit of Cascadium nearby, or there are buildings and ships made of it. We'll have to leave the main compounds of the Klingon outpost. It seems they built it over the ruins.”

She guided Bremmer, though allowing the woman to maintain her position in front, which was easily done, considering McMillan's awkward gait and graceless motions, and the fact her face was glued to her tricorder more than her path. If a hole had been in front of her, she would have fallen into it. She didn't even look up when her peripherals caught a swift motion, nor did it register in her head. Her hearing was poor in the suit, and she was more eager to get to the ruins than worry about safety or the potential of any obstacles. “It's not much further...just around here...”

She finally looked up, pointing to the left, past Klingon machinery and mining tools. Towards a massive cave seemingly carved by hand. Long dead ivy clutched stubbornly to the edges. From top-to-bottom, the cave, made of stone, metal and fiber, looked like an artistic etching with ornate language or patterns tracing in smooth and fluid notes of all sizes. Gaping, McMillan slowly approached it, feeling a tug in her heart, in her soul, as she hesitantly stepped closer. Not too far away, she could make out a monolithic statue, humanoid in shape, and what appeared to be massive gates or doors. She stopped just before she would set foot on the stone floor, staying on the sandy brown ground that was the last bit of the Klingon mining outpost.

[ Entrance to the Lightborn Ruins | The Coreless Moon ]

“We're here,” said McMillan breathlessly, one more step, and she would be walking on the carved, designed path of what was likely the home of her ancestral race. “The Lightborn is just ahead.”

The statue had a destroyed partner on the other side across it, as if they stood guard to the entrance. And for a moment, the eyes of the remaining statue glinted with iridescent light, as if picking up from what little light reflected out of McMillan through her helmet.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] The Coreless Moon | Away-Mission

Reply #24 –
[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye | SuD Lang Docking Bay | Klingon Mining Outpost ]   Atten:  @CanadianVet, @Triage 

It was a darn good thing that the visor in Tessa’s helmet was almost completely opaque or else it would have been obvious how red her face was getting.  Petty Officer Bremmer was giving the pilot no respect due to her rank at all and was treating her exactly the same as Heather McMillan:  Like two civilians who had been made provisional warrant officers just so Thea could issue them each a combage.  Tessa expected that from a chief, but not a petty officer.  It meant that Tessa had lost so much of her ‘death or glory’ spirit that everyone on the ship knew how pathetic she was these days, how everybody had to carry her.  Well that may have been true, but it was the height of disrespect for a mere petty officer to point that out!

“Um excuse me?” Tessa protested snippily.  “I am the ranking officer, and I don’t like being referred to as ‘El-Tee.’  It makes me sound like a sandwich!  Petty Officer Bremmer, when speaking to me, you will address me as ‘Lieutenant’ or ‘Ma’am’.  And since I’m the ranking officer, I will take command, and I think we should… um…  I think we should… er… uh…”

Suddenly Tessa May Lance was transformed from ranking officer to contrite child.  Her shoulders sagged as she slumped in defeat.  “I think we should do exactly what you said, and probably whatever else you say for the duration of the mission,” she croaked in a quiet voice that only the communications system in Eliska’s and Heather’s helmets made audible.  “You take point, and I’ll take up the rear and keep an eye on my tricorder.” 

Too late, Tessa realized that she should have kept her mouth shut and let Bremmer take charge.  Odds were the Petty Officer hadn’t meant any disrespect in the first place.

[ 10 minutes later ]

Ten minutes later the ranking officer, the so called leader of the expedition was following Bremmer and McMillan through the ruins past the discarded bulk of Klingon machinery.  Both and Tessa had a bad habit of keeping their eyes on their tricorders instead of the uneven terrain, with the gravitational constant feeling like it was different with every step, those steps were as graceful as a drunken Naasican trying to put on a tutu. 

“Uhnf!” McMillan grunted as she tripped and fell forward yet again.

“What, whoa!” Tessa stammered before crying out as she tripped over the prone scientist.  “Whoa…!” she cried out as her boots lost traction and the microgravity conditions caused her to sail slowly over McMillian’s prone body to flail helplessly in space before her momentum brought her sluggishly over to a large inert dust covered apparatus that she could grab a hold of.  “I’m okay!” Tessa chirped, “and you?” 

“I-I'm all right!“  McMillian assured her as she pushed herself off the deck.  “I just need a moment.”

“Oh. Well. Take your time,” Tessa chirped in assurance as she clung to the derelict machine and planted her feet back on the deck.  “No rush!”

The little scientist rose awkwardly to one knee and continued her scans.  “I've found something rather significant, I think.” she reported. “There's either a large deposit of Cascadium nearby, or there are buildings and ships made of it. We'll have to leave the main compounds of the Klingon outpost. It seems they built it over the ruins.”

“Uh, okay,” Tessa stammered as McMillan led them through the ruins.  “Cascadium, Cascadium, boy I’m sure glad that we found some Cascadium!” Tessa burbled as they picked their way through the crumbling and intimidating mining complex.  “I was just saying the other day, boy I sure hope we don’t run out of Cascadium; that would be a disaster.  Boy it sure takes a weight off my mind knowing that we found another source of Cascadium…” 

“It's not much further...just around here...” the young scientist murmured.

“Thank goodness we found another source of Cascadium!” Tessa babbled as she followed Heather through the shadowy ruins.  Between the darkness and the dust and debris that was hanging in what trace gases passed for air on this rock it was small wonder that even with flashlights a tricorder was more dependable than one’s eyes.  “Just one question.  What is Cascadium?” 

But the little scientist wasn’t listening and when Tessa got closer to the others she found out why.  McMillian and  Bremmer had discovered a tunnel that seemed right out of a fantasy horror holonovel.  Withered ivy clung to the sides of the opening, the first trace that anything living had ever been here aside of Klingon ghosts.  Patterns were carved into the walls, ceiling, and floor that of the metal, stone, and fiber tunnel didn’t match any Klingon subculture that Tessa had heard of.  Inside, Tessa could make out a humanoid statue carved out of a single block guarding what appeared to be the gates to the Dwarven ruins of Odinfall from the popular fantasy holonovel series Tales of the Hero-Kings. 

McMillan paused, drinking in the sight before them before taking a step forward to enter the alien passage.  “We're here,” she announced.  “The Lightborn is just ahead.”

“Oh uh, that’s great…” Tessa murmured weakly as she followed the other two women.  “Just one more little question,” she asked as she picked her way forward and tried to ignore the glint of light reflecting off the eyes of the sinister statue.  “What’s the Lightborn?” 
 
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