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Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

[ Lt. RraHnam | Type-11 Shuttlecraft René Descartes | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion @Swift
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[D05|1113] Sulphurous Signal

April 23, 2381
11:13 hrs.
Stardate: 57666.86

Gorath was a more than inhospitable place and the natural sulfur fields made that more than clear. RraHnam raised her tricorder. The electromagnetic interference, which came mainly from the bedding in the rock surrounding her, made navigation difficult. The small screen on the device, which was integrated into the forearm brace of her tactical EV suit, flickered steadily and was repeatedly overlaid with static.
"You were right, Al-Ibrahim." the security officer said over the open radio channel of her small rescue team. "We'll have to use conventional means to get our bearings." She pointed to a rock formation looming on the horizon some distance away that she knew was in the direction of the stranded men. "We need to head that way."

Only a few hours ago, the USS Theurgy received a faint distress signal that the computer was able to track to the nearby planet Gorath. The contents had been difficult to understand due to the complex interference, but the ship's decoders and thanks to the help of a clever analyst, the signal had been largely processed and recognized as a legitimate distress signal only a short time later. There had been an accident, and Starfleet personnel were stranded. RraHnam, who was on duty in the security center, did not hesitate and volunteered for this rescue mission. To do so, she immediately initiated the necessary steps to send out a rescue team. The computer was ordered to locate and alert free personnel. They were to accompany her for an immediate shuttle launch towards Gorath.

An eternity later, they had now arrived on these barren rock, and Al-Ibrahim, a fighter pilot from the Lone Wolf Squadron, had explained to them earlier that navigation on the ground could be badly hampered by environmental effects. This was annoying, but since there were halfway usable maps of the surface in the computers of the shuttle Descartes, RraHnam was sure that they would find the way even so.

The Caitian security officer shouldered her backpack, which held some of the supplies they might need. Among them were climbing gear, extra breathing masks, a stretcher, rations, and enough water to spend a few days on Gorath, should it become necessary. In addition, there was a Type-III phaser rifle. She kept her Type-II Pulse Phase Pistol in the thigh holster of her tactical EV suit, just in case. RraHnam checked the condition of her two companions and helped the doctor, Dr. Kater Foster, with her backpack. "If everyone is ready then, I suggest we get moving. We have about six hours of sunlight left.”

OOC:
Posting order: @Swift (eligible for Tokens), @Dumedion (eligible for Tokens), @Nero (eligible for Tokens)

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #1 –
[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | Type-11 Shuttlecraft Rene Descartes | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Nero @Dumedion

The shuttle flight to Gorath had been an opportunity for Kate to question her decision to volunteer for this mission. Sure, she was as competent as any member of the Medical Staff aboard Theurgy, perhaps even more so in the case of some, but her days as a Field Medic were long behind her. Left abandoned on AR-558 some years earlier, when she’d barely been fortunate enough to even survive the harrowing battle that had encapsulated that barren world. Yet, here she was, among Security Lieutenant RraHnam and another Lone Wolf, Ensign Al-Ibrahim, on another barren world in the middle of no-where. The feeling of familiarity ran down the Chief Surgeon’s spine with a tingle as she stepped on uneasy ground, boot of her EV-Suit seeming a size big for her, though she’d figured against complaining, for the time being. Still, it’d been a few months since Kate had been a part of any Away Team, and even then, that had been little more than a routine Medical Evaluation of some stranded Yridian refugees.

Regardless, Kate had volunteered, however regretfully so, and she would serve her role dutifully all the same.

“Sulfur content within the air... if you can call it air... is exceedingly high. But you already knew that, duh!” She explained though that much was already known among the members of the Away Team, their brief having detailed such matters, and why they were in EV-Suits. Off near the horizon, Kate could make out the twin blue-suns of the Gorath System barely proving much in the way of natural lighting.

“Not so sure I’d call that sunlight either.” She commented to Lieutenant RraHnam.

Shifting in her stance, she slipped a gauntleted hand under the strap of the backpack she wore, it’s contents almost entirely made up of medical equipment which would’ve been a necessity on this mission, and which would avail her of being able to treat almost any injuries that the stranded personnel they’d been sent to rescue might’ve incurred. “Do we have any bearing as to where we’re headed?” she asked, turning at her hip in order to glance back at Talia. “I mean, other than... well, that way.” She motioned in the direction that RraHnam had gestured a moment earlier, hopeful that they had some sort of a more specific area to look than just a vague heading. “Are there caves? Or some kind of a shelter they might’ve take refuge in?” She asked, the nervousness in her voice evident as she began trudging after the Security Officer, very much aware that her nerves were starting to eat at her.

“Sorry... It’s just... umm, it’s just been a while since I was on an Away Mission.” She admitted, a hand going to swipe her hair back before she remembered she was wearing a helmet, and such a gesture was impossible, her habit denied for the moment.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #2 –
[Ens. Talia Al-Ibrahim | Type - 11 Shuttlecraft Rene Descartes | Barren Wastelands | Gorath] Attn: @Nero  @Swift

Behind the polarized, blue-tinted visor, dark eyes narrowed at the PADD built into the armored sheath of her left forearm, Talia stood near the base of the Descartes' boarding ramp. She'd been the last to depart, after securing the shuttle's systems, then donning her armor – which was now stained with the yellowish-orange dust of Gorath.

“Same here Doctor,” Talia murmured while she worked, “Syncing nav data – that way no one gets lost,” she announced, in response to the good Doctor's concerns. Hopefully, she added to herself.

Talia had mixed feelings about this operation – the environmental factors certainly gave her cause for concern. While the flight had been brief but enjoyable, at least as far as she was concerned, the lack of details regarding their objective didn’t sit well. Intel was sparse, given the garbled nature of the distress signal, and nothing thus far had improved the feeling in her gut. She’d never engaged an unknown target; in the cockpit, the smallest details meant the difference between success or failure. All the unknown factors surrounding this rescue put her on edge.

She also worried about making a good impression – this being her first away mission – which added a touch of anxiety to her nerves. She was representing the squadron now, not just herself. A trained monkey could fly that fat-assed shuttle, she thought bitterly, but then realized she was just being hard on herself like always.

The landing site was less than ideal, but her options were limited; the signal clearly originated near the edge of what was essentially an enormous caldera. From orbit, she’d seen the storms raging at the shield-walls of jagged mountains surrounding it, sucking the atmosphere between them through the hundred thousand square kilometers of wasteland that made up the gaping wound in the planets crust. With limited data on predicting the storms movement, she erred on the side of caution and chose the site of a large outcropping of igneous rock, weathered flat by the prevailing winds. The Descartes sat upon an island, surrounded on all sides by a slope of boulders and sand, in a desert buffeted by winds of stinking sulfur. It was as close as she could get, given the data available, but perhaps a more aggressive pilot would have pushed the envelope, taken more risks. Talia knew she’d brood over the topic during the hike, pushing the issue to the back of her mind to focus on more important matters.

Using aerial imagery taken during the descent, she’d used dead reckoning with the compass projected along the top of her visor – using terrain features in visual range to triangulate their position. Due to unusually high concentrations of kelbonite ore in the region, sensors were erratic and beaming would be nearly impossible, complicating the situation further.  Given that, locating their objective took her a few minutes; Talia was impressed with Lt. RhaHnam’s estimation – the security officer was only off by a few degrees – but she marked the heading on her compass in red regardless.

Taking up the rear, after securing her own smaller pack with supplies plundered from her Valkyrie, Talia grimaced up at the twin orbs of dim blue through the haze of polluted sky. We need to hustle.

“About five kilometers to what looked like a camp, near the base of those mountains, Doctor,” Talia continued as she walked, answering the surgeon's earlier question as she pulled the phaser pistol from its holster on her right thigh to re-check its power cell. Other than the blade sheathed on her left shin, it was her only weapon. What we find when we get there? Who the hell knows, she sighed. As the trio began their descent to into the barren wasteland below – the desert dotted with sickly yellow blotches of bubbling lakes and pools - her eyes drank the scene in.

What a shit hole.

“Klingons never do anything easy, do they,” she muttered to no one in particular. Unfamiliarity with both her fellow team members at the front of her mind, Talia opted to remain silent while they walked, focusing her attention on their surroundings. Bet this whole planet smells like a wet fart, her lip curled at the thought, despite it all.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #3 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Sulphorus Pools | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion @Swift
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They had already covered several kilometers of flat land. About half the distance to the base camp of the missing still lay ahead of them. The boiling sulfur lake landscape gave off an unpleasant odor, and RraHnam was glad that her EV suit filtered it out. She checked the surroundings with her tricorder. Far and wide, not surprisingly, traces of sulfur deposits were visible. The lake district stretched like a wide strip through the land and measured only a few kilometers at its narrowest point. The three women were currently trying to cross this narrow point. It was not easy, because they often had to change direction when a lake blocked their way. This was annoying because the lakes were shallow, the deepest pools only reaching their ankles. They could have easily waded through them. Still, they always had to walk along the shores because the liquid sulfur was boiling hot. Their EV suits would withstand the temperatures, but eventually they would simply be cooked inside. The women wanted to avoid that at all costs, so they decided to zigzag along the various banks and boardwalks.

This route was not unexpected. They had, during the approach, taken aerial photographs of their path and, together with the coordinates Al-Ibrahim had send to her HUD, it was difficult to get lost. Still, the path was energy-sapping.
"Klingons come here to test the value of what they did last year," RraHnam explained after a while, responding to the pilot's question. "They traverse these plains and undergo various rituals." She turned left again to follow the path on the shore of the next lake. "If they successfully complete all the rituals..."

RraHnam did not get to explain further. Suddenly there was a rumbling around them and the ground began to tremble. Startled, the Caitian looked around and then checked her tricorder. "Damn it!" she cursed, grabbing Kate Foster's shoulder closest to her. She dragged the doctor with her and hurried to make quick distance. "Geysers!" she yelled over the now loud and menacing rumble. She sought the pilot's mirrored visor behind her "We have to get out of here!"

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #4 –
[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | Sulfurous Pools | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Nero @Dumedion

Tangerine-eyes transfixed on the space immediate before her as she carefully navigated between one distended bubbling pool of sulfurous liquid and another, the readout on the Tricorder held firmly in gauntleted hand confirming her suspicion of said liquid’s corrosive nature, while simultaneously prompting her to tread with even greater care. Boiling temperature or not, the durasteel skin of their EVA suits would only likely maintain cohesion for a few scant minutes were they to dare treading through the pools. Not that she’d had inkling to do so regardless. Still, she could feel the nerves in her triggered, eliciting the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on edge, and she once again questioned her decision to volunteer for this particular away mission. Though, she hastily pushed the thought aside, knowing it to be an unfair disservice to the two other Officers in whose stead she accompanied.

“The pools are... corrosive.” She explained simply, not necessarily wanting to get into the specific chemistry of them or finding it all that prudent to the success of their mission. Behind her, she heard Ensign Al-Ibrahim make mention of where they were headed, and a rough estimate of distance prior to muttering something else.

“No... they certainly don’t, do they." Kate echoed the sentiment, trying her best to seem cordial despite her unease.

Perking an eyebrow higher than it’s cousin as RraHnam piped up, explaining in brief what the Klingons were up to, and why they frequented such an utterly inhospitable place. And while Kate appreciated the clarification, it really just reminded her of how lowly she’d come to think of the warrior race in recency. She’d already had something of a negative connotation regarding them prior to joining Theurgy, in no small part due to the boorish behavior they’d espoused toward her during the journey to Aldea some weeks earlier. The fact that they’d mostly left the corridors of Theurgy behind since Gorka’s defeat was a welcome change for Kate, who’d grown weary of their entirely unwanted and unnecessarily aggressive sexual advances. Add in her experiences with Klingons back on Cardassia Prime during the wake of the Dominion War, wherein security forces left behind to oversee relief efforts had acted with smug contempt toward the beleaguered population of that world and any who sought to assuage their suffering. It was no wonder why she’d harbored little favor for them anymore.

And that was without taking into consideration how a contingent of Gorka’s forces had so viciously, and brutally attacked Main Sickbay just a few days earlier. Wreaking total havoc, and indiscriminately killing patient and caregiver in the name of their ‘honor’ or some such bull shit she didn’t buy. Instinctively, she touched one of her gauntleted hands to the side of her helmet in a vain effort to rub her neck, the entirely psychosomatic ache in her throat triggered by the memory of how she herself had nearly fallen victim to such unrestricted violence. Blinking back from a most unpleasant bit of reverie, she tried checked the motion of her hand, and pushed the thought of nearly being strangled to death from the forefront of her conscious thought. She needed to focus on the mission at hand, as there were innocent lives dependent on her, and the success of said mission.

Following on after the Caitian Lieutenant, she also reminded herself that she’d needed to focus, so that she might get this assignment over with, and hurriedly rush back to Theurgy, where both Tessa and Scruffy would be waiting for her; their first actual date on the Holodeck together scheduled for later in the evening.

A smirk soon crossed her face accordingly.

“What... what was that?!” she blurted out, startled as the ground trembled tremendously, interrupting RraHnam’s continued parlance of mission critical information. Drawing nearer the Security Officer, the Chief Surgeon felt her heartrate spike in an instant, and an overwhelming sense of trepidation wash over her. Another instant later, her question answered in brief, Kate felt herself grabbed ahold of, and beckoned into running at full-stride from where they’d evidently strayed. Someone else might’ve been frustrated by being so manhandled in the moment, but not Kate, who more than appreciated being shoved in a direction of safety when danger loomed, her own sense of the matter not exactly keen these days. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” she exclaimed between hastened breaths, the adrenaline spike in her bloodstream blinding her to the moderate bit of pain in her feet at having run in EVA boots a size or two too large for her.

“Oh shit!” She cried out, as out of her right periphery she saw a sudden giant plum of expelled gas and sulfuric liquid burst high into the star filled sky above them, lit by the dim-blue light provided by Goraths twin suns. The force of the eruption had sent a shockwave through the ground which Kate felt tremble through her slender body as she continued to sprint at full-speed in whatever direction RraHnam had wanted. To her left, she caught glimpse of another nearby geyser as it blew a second later, indicating that whatever cycle was going on beneath the surface was reaching it’s crescendo. The inherent danger wasn’t confined to the mere possibility of being physically jettisoned into the sky, but instead included the very real threat of the ejected sulfuric liquid raining down atop of the away team in a veritable waterfall of corrosive death.

Ahead of her, Kate could see a marked incline as they neared the foot of the mountains that Talia had mentioned as the location of their objective. She could also see a delineation of where previous droplets from the geysers had fallen; pock-marks literally burned into the surface of the barren landscape which only seemed to stretch so far from where the geysers were situated. “Just a bit further!” she hollered, pointing with a hand toward where they’d needed to get in order to stave off being cooked and or dissolved. Stumbling a bit as panic began to settle in, she quickly scrambled back from her hands and knees, ever persistently moving forward, her instincts to survive kicking in fully as the ground continued to rumble beneath her and the others.

“C’mon!” she cried.

OOC: Some appropriately tension-fueled music for the panicky moment... [Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #5 –
[ Ens. Talia Al-Ibrahim | Sulfurous Pools/Geyser Fields | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Nero @Swift

At the mention of the cultural importance of the seemingly desolate landscape around them, Talia was surprised to find her interest piqued; while it had been years since she’d studied in that arena, she couldn’t help but wonder at the significance of the Klingon ritual and how it tied into their history. A brutal history, to be sure, she reckoned, but no more than ours. Painted in that light, with a new perspective, she’d paused momentarily to look upon the endless pools surrounding them. Yes, it was barren shit-hole and toxic to non-indigenous life, yet it was...beautiful, in its own way. The multi-colored pools rimed with algae and bacteria, varied from greens to yellows and reds; the bubbling vents of toxic gasses pulled into the wind, highlighted by the faint blue light of binary stars through a greenish-yellow sky.

Talia tilted her head at the doctor’s remarks on the liquid, only then noting at how the pools and their relative run-off seemed etched into the bedrock. Every pool was connected by a dry cobweb of lines, where the liquid had literally eaten through the land. She wondered then, how amazing the place would look by moonlight. Her eyes lifted to the heavens, searching for the world’s solitary satellite, when the ground started to rumble.

Everything changed in a heartbeat. Snapping her eyes to the Caitian, Talia stumbled as she surged into a sprint – her body hampered as her armor struggled with the sudden movement. RraHnam and Foster had a good lead on her, maybe a dozen paces or so. “Go – go,” she told them, while the doctor verbalized what they all were thinking in a stammered stream of repeated expletives.

A few strides was enough to put her abreast of the others, as the trio attempted to outrun hell itself in the form of at least three sulfurous geysers. Without time to think, given the abrupt nature of the threat, Talia could only hope they were running upwind.

When the Doctor stumbled at her side Talia reached out for the woman’s pack to steady her, unable to stop herself from glancing over her shoulder as the bubbling cauldrons of multi-colored lakes and puddles exploded in pillars of pressurized liquid, blasting steam into the wind. She was panting now, hearing her own ragged breaths and pounding heart in her ears.

Oh fuck.

[Warning – external temperature increasing], her armor warned, as if she didn’t know. “Uh, run faster – must run faster,” she deadpanned, against all rhyme or reason, unsure if the others even heard. The area before them, a wide open incline of acid-weathered rock, seemed to stretch out to infinity as her arms and legs pumped the toxic air – armor joints snarling. This is what I get for not taking cardio seriously, the irony-laden thought shot through her brain after the first hundred meters or so. Blinking stinging sweat from her eyes, she glanced again as the distance from the scalding steam opened, while the three of them scrambled forward. Beyond the incline, a lip of bleached stone fell away into a crevasse separating one network of pools from the next. It looked to be a difficult jump across, especially given the 200 or so meter sprint they’d just done.

Yet they weren’t cooked alive though – Talia glanced back again to see why.

“Hold up...I think...I think we’re...okay,” she managed to pant out as she gradually slowed her pace, then skidded to a stop, holding her hands atop her helmet to open her lungs as she turned. The yellowish steam rolled down from the erupting geothermal vents, pulled by the winds back the way they came, obscuring the majority of the landscape. “Allah...this planet sucks,” she muttered as she bent over, hands rested on her knees. Turning her head back to the others, she gestured warily towards the geysers. “Probably shouldn’t tempt fate going back through those again,” she breathed.

Beyond the cascade of sulfur-rich steam, the twin orbs of Theta Hydrae were setting behind the jagged range of mountains lining the walls of the crater. After catching her breath, Talia stood tall, pulling up her map with a few taps into her forearm PADD. Marking the geyser fields in a yellow bubble, she verified their position relative to the objective. We’re only half-way there.

“We wont make the camp by nightfall,” she told her teammates.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #6 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Sulphorus Pools | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion @Swift
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The tricorder's warning did not bode well. As feared, temperatures were rising and threatening to become an additional danger to them. Kate Foster began to stumble, and the safety officer struggled to catch her and keep her on pace. Fortunately, Al-Ibrahim, the fighter pilot, supported her efforts to bring the human doctor to the front. After a few moments, far too close for RraHnam's liking, the small squad managed to save themselves on a higher slope and Al-Ibrahim gasped that they had escaped the geysers.

"Yes...we should...keep our eyes open for another...way," she agreed with the pilot, trying to catch her breath as well. RraHnam had to force herself to calm down. When they reached the top, she let go of the doctor and did a few steps forth and back. She breathed in and out heavily and held her breath a few times, trying to get the frequency of her heartbeat under control. The sudden eruption of the geysers and the subsequent forced march caused her pulse and blood pressure to rise noticeably. RraHnam waved her paw over her chest and turned to Doctor Foster, "I think when this is all over, I'll be ready for my pran'h, Doc."

Even though RraHnam was a trained athlete, a forced march in full gear was an entirely different challenge for the Caitian. The feline creatures, who often spent their lives on the 'lazy side', were known to need a new, usually artificial heart around the age of sixty. Among Caitians, this procedure had been known as 'pran'h' and usually heralded the beginning of a quieter way of life. Humans often compared this to retirement or pension, but RraHnam knew that she still had a good twenty years before then and rest was out of the question for either way. But being forced to march such a distance uphill and in full gear, RraHnam saw her years flowing down the drain. She smiled under her mirrored visor, hoping that the jest in her voice could be heard.

For a moment, the Caitian enjoyed the view surrounding her. In the valley basin that housed the sulphureous pools, the corrosive sulfur mixture gathered, thrown high into the sky by the geysers. Fortunately, the wind drove the toxic yellow plumes away from them. They fell on the other side of the valley as poisonous rain.

RraHnam looked at her chronograph as Al-Ibrahim expressed her concern that they would not make it to the base camp of the missing Federation citizens before nightfall. "True," she replied in a curt acknowledgement. RraHnam thought that they needed this short rest to regain their strength after the previous efforts, but they also had to make distance fast, since the health and, in the worst case, the lives of the missing were at stake. She grabbed her binoculars and looked toward the rock formation that still lay in the far distance before them. The direction was the right one. So far, however, they had to make some detours. She searched the surrounding area. For a moment, she found only vast, rugged land. Then she spotted some structure. It was the base camp of the explorers and nearby she also spied their shuttle.

"There!" She pointed in the direction of her discovery and passed her binoculars to Foster. "If we keep at it, we should get there just after dark." She turned to her two team members knowing it would be a tremendous effort to reach it by then, "Can you make it?"

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #7 –
[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | Sulfurous Pools | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Nero @Dumedion

Running.

Desperate, panicky running. Kate hadn’t had to reach a full-on sprint in an EVA suit in, well ever. Outside of an EVA suit, she’d rarely been in a position where her life was on the line, and she’d had to ‘stretch her legs’ as the saying went. Again, the only instance she could effectively recall was back on AR-558, wherein there’d been numerous instances in which she and her comrades had been forced to run for retreat in the face of death at the hands of the scaly Jem’Hadar. And while Kate had developed a penchant for seeking out an adrenaline rush, be it via diving caves, coral reefs, or even skies, there was a different in those instances and the one in which she’d just been involved. They were controlled, in one sense or another at least; and were it not for the coercive beckoning of both Talia and RraHnam, she would’ve likely been left to discover just how different this occurrence would’ve been. For having thankfully escaped such an unpleasant fate, she was of course more than appreciative, as evidenced by the glance she cast at both Officers when they finally came to a point of apparent refuge somewhere on the incline of a crater.

“Th--thanks guys!” she breathed raggedly, firmly planting both gauntleted hands on either of her knees as she bent over at the waist, trying her best not to throw-up her breakfast, and wishing she’d opted for something far lighter than pancakes and sausage, as her belly heaved unevenly.

Nodding in both acknowledgement and agreement of Talia, Kate cast a glare back at RraHnam.

The concept of going back the way they came was obviously out of the question, unless they wanted to risk being boiled and or cooked alive in their suits a second time. For an instant, she considered voicing such an agreement, but instead she pointed a finger at Talia who was similarly bent over, panting for air. Raising a thumbs up after, Kate tried to straighten up in where she stood, feeling the pang of irritation in the souls of her feet for having trudged along in ill-fitted boots, aware of the foolishness of her decision to opt against selecting another pair prior to leaving the shuttle. A thought which hastily left her mind as the Caitian in charge of this mission voiced concern over her ‘pran’h’, however jesting in nature, which had elicited a modicum of serious worry in Kate as she affixed the gaze of her tangerine-hued eyes on RraHnam’s heaving chest, over which the woman had placed a hand in teasing fashion. “I’ll...” Kate huffed again, recognizing the humor belied in her companion’s sentiment, and proffering a conciliatory shake of her head.

“I’ll pencil... you in for next friday.” she finished stating as her breath seemed recovered.

Following on after the Lieutenant who led her and Talia up to the lip of the crater, Kate soon spotted what the Caitian had pointed out and accepted the binocs as they were passed unto her. Training the device up to the transparent face shield which protected her from the elements, Kate carefully gazed through the magnifier until she too saw the encampment, at the periphery of was an apparent shuttlecraft. “We’re wasting time here.” She answered the question posed, passing the binocs back to Talia, and casting an appreciative grin at the pair of her companions. “I’ll try not to trip over anything this time.” She added, her hands readjusting the straps of the bag of medical supplies clinging to her back. “Hopefully there aren’t any other surprises awaiting us between here and there.” Taking one step forward, she suddenly realized the manner in which she had just effectively jinxed the trio.

She cleared her throat audibly as if to apologize to them both for tempting fate.

“Knock on wood, someone?”

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #8 –
[ Ens. Talia Al-Ibrahim | Sulfurous Pools | Barren Wasteland | Gorath ] Attn: @Nero  @Swift

Given the complete absence of trees – or anything resembling wood at all – Talia smirked behind her blue tinted visor as she rapped her knuckles against the side of her helm. “Best I can do, Doc,” she shrugged at Foster.

There was a similar idiom from the histories of her own people, something her mother used to say often: Insha’Allah – if Allah wills it – something uttered to her whenever she'd tempt fate or whine at the lamentable unfairness of childhood. Talia bit her lip at the bittersweet memory as she raised the binoculars up to get a look at the camp; her limbs still trembled from the surge of adrenaline coursing through her veins, forcing her to use both hands as she inhaled deeply.

She’d learned early in life that humans were remarkable animals – capable of incredible acts of physicality under stress. Under the right conditions, usually the perception of severe threat, the higher brain functions ceased as the amygdala kicked in – adrenaline and cortisol flooded the bloodstream – all in an instant, prepping the body to fight for its life. She’d used that instinctual response to push herself in the gym and the cockpit almost daily. It was a double-edged sword though – the body could only handle so much. Managing the come-down is the tricky part.

Breathing helped to relax the sympathetic nervous system responsible for the fight-or-flight response, but took practice. A less hostile environment would help, too, she huffed, squinting as her fingers adjusted the lenses into focus. 

The terrain before them looked much like before, only with fewer standing pools of bubbling sulfur lakes. Arid, rocky wasteland – inclination ever steeper the closer we get to those mountains. A few wisps of gaseous vents dotted the view, chasms of some sort, or more geysers that they could easily avoid. “Hope one of you knows how to climb,” she muttered, focusing on the camp itself, perched atop an outcropping of rock at the root of the shield wall.

Two, maybe three structures. Old type 8 shuttle, her nose scrunched up at that, as if she smelled something foul. Everything seems intact…so what the hell happened here, she mused, lowering the binos. “Doc’s right, we should get going LT,” she nodded to RraHnam, returning the binoculars to her. “Course, we’ll need to deal with this first,” she gestured to the literal crack in the land ahead of them.

Taking a few steps toward the lip of the crevasse, Talia squatted, resting her elbows on her knees. The chasm looked to be several meters deep, the jagged rock face on each side less than half across. She wondered briefly how such a thing could happen, but given the obvious volcanic and tectonic instability of the region, she opted to focus on the more immediate concern of getting across it.

“Doesn’t seem to be a way around,” she murmured, after searching to her left and right. Could probably just jump across, she guessed as she stood, resting her hands on her hips. Then again, maybe not, as she considered her own mobility and that of her team-mates.

The wind gusted then, peppering her suit with grit as she turned back to the others, grimacing at the sound of hundreds of miniscule pebbles ricocheting off her armor. Her eyes tracked over the Doctor, burdened in her own EV suit with a much larger pack, then the Caitian in a similar suit to her own but loaded down with far more gear. She assumed the security officer was more acclimated to the rigors of humping cross-country in full kit, but couldn’t be sure either way without asking. 

“What do you think LT,” she asked RraHnam, then turned her helm to Foster. “We can swap packs for awhile if you need to Doctor,” she offered without thinking, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.

Hope she doesn’t take that the wrong way, Talia frowned at herself, doubting whether she should have offered at all out of fear of insulting the medic. Of the few crewmembers she’d interacted with so far – beyond the groggy recollection of her waking up in sickbay – it seemed like Victor was the only one that had understood her, or at least tolerated her. Ghost would have something vulgar and blasé to say while laughing her bony ass off right about now, she thought bitterly. Talia just fidgeted, willing the thoughts of her fellow Wolf away. “Uh, if…you know, after the run and all,” she muttered nervously.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #9 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | The Chasm | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion @Swift
[Show/Hide]
"Why would anyone want to knock on wood?" thought RraHnam, until an explanation presented itself to her shortly thereafter. When Al-Ibrahim knocked on her helmet, the Caitian understood, the probably human idiom. It was supposed to be a gesture that brought good luck, and the pilot seemed to think of her head as a substitute for wood. That's probably where the earthly expression ‘block head' came from, too. RraHnam smiled a little, which unfortunately could not be seen under her visor, and let her gaze wander over the plain before them.

In the far distance she recognized the jagged rock formation, which she could already see from her landing site and now stretched high into the sky. As small dots she perceived the base camp of the researchers and in some distance to it she recognized outlines of the shuttle. Al-Ibrahim drew her attention to a chasm that would be the next obstacle in their rescue mission and handed her the binoculars. Many small cracks in the ground and a larger furrow would slow their progress this time. Nonetheless, she was right. The way around would cost them several precious hours. They had to find a way across.

"Starfleet Survival Training. I think I can get us over there," RraHnam replied to the pilot's statement. She had learned a few things during her time in the Betazed underground. RraHnam was sure that she could help the two human women over this obstacle with her knowledge from that time and her experience as a Vra'shan player.

The pilot suggested swapping backpacks with Doctor Foster, and she was absolutely right. After rushing up the hill, lightening the doctor's load would certainly do her good. "I think that's a good idea. Give yourself a moment of relief, Doc, and as soon as you're done, we'll march on."

RraHnam waited a moment before she started. The descent was at least not as strenuous as the climb up this ridge, but it was no less dangerous. Every now and then RraHnam would stop to help the other two women over a dangerous spot, or to point them in the correct direction. She was glad that she could rely on her good sense of balance, even if it was somewhat limited at the moment, since she had to squeeze her tail into the suit as well. The first few meters seemed very awkward.

Then the terrain became flatter but was more and more often crisscrossed by jagged rocks. RraHnam recognized that light yellowish smoke was rising from some crevices, which indicated that sulfur was also present here. From time to time, she spotted insects flitting from crevice to crevice, about the size of her hand. Instinctively, the muscles in her body tensed, preparing the Caitian to run and get to safety. RraHnam was not a fan of insects of any kind, but these critters, which resembled terrestrial scorpions, with their small pincers, venomous tails, and sinister mandibles, were a particular horror to her. Nowadays, Caitians were prepared if someone was hospitalized with poisoning, but just a few centuries ago, a sting from a scorpion or the like meant certain death. To this, the instinct to flee was the natural evolutionary development that RraHnam resisted only with effort and audible intake of breath. The security officer was tempted to simply shoot the beastie with the exoskeleton with her phaser, but rather simply voiced her disgust. "Urgh! Scorpions...watch your step. Doc, do we have any antidotes with us?"

RraHnam took the lead and soon they finally reached the chasm they had to cross. Daylight was gradually fading, and deep shadows were now settling over the valley. The Caitian turned on the lamps of her suit and shone them on the jagged rock face in front of her. A crevice about three meters wide and several dozen meters deep stretched for several kilometers in both directions in front of them. So going around was really not an option. Not if they didn't want to waste any more time. So, they had to go over it. The wall of the chasm rose almost six meters into the air. Deep furrows crisscrossed the wall stone.

The Caitian security officer set down her backpack. For the first time after landing, she felt something like relief, but that would have to wait. RraHnam picked out her climbing gear. "We have well over thirty meters of rope with us. I'm going to put some pitons in the rocks on this side where we can attach pulleys. You guys can use the rope to belay me if I fall off. I will jump to the wall and make my way up. I can pull you up from there. Unless you have other ideas?"

The question was more rhetorical. This was the fastest way to the missing and they needed to make up time. But she wanted to let the other two women have their say before throwing herself off the cliff.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #10 –
[ Lt. JG Kate Foster | The Chasm | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Nero @Dumedion

Upon having so tempted fate, the Chief Surgeon recognized and regretted her poor choice of words, even if Talia had tried to assuage irony by wrapping a gauntleted knuckle against the side of her own EVA Suit. Then again, Kate knew better than to seriously believe that her commentary had any real bearing on whether or not their continued mission encountered further unforeseen difficulties.

“Well... at least we’re getting closer.” She offered as a condolence, indeed spotting the same makeshift camp in the distance where their beleaguered colleagues awaited them. Though, of course there were still several obstacles to be overcome. When the offer came to swap off with Talia, her decidedly bulkier pack of Medical supplies for one less burdensome, Kate had considered refusing out of a semblance of stubborn pride but thought twice given the situation the three of them faced. Another time, she might’ve clung unto to her pack, not necessarily so as to seem a more physically capable person, but rather so as to spare saddling the effectiveness of her comrades. But, in this scenario, it made all too much sense, and so without argument, as RraHnam added her own blessing, Kate unslung her pack from her shoulders and handed it off to the Pilot.

“Thanks, actually.” She admitted, an apologetic smirk evident on her face as she nodded appreciatively toward Talia.

Indeed, the petite blonde thought nothing ill toward either of her companions on the mission for having pressed the issue, rather she felt fortunate to have been alongside a pair as keenly aware of the stakes as they so were. Years ago, Kate might’ve been equally as aware of the situation, but having spent such a long time between away missions of this sort, her senses were somewhat dulled.

“I uhh... uhh, yeah! I’ve got a general range of pharmaceuticals on hand, but it’d still be better if we could avoid any stingers. Yeah?” Her gaze cast in the direction of the roughly palm-sized creatures skittering about, Kate felt an eerie shiver run up her back, eliciting a sense that one of them might’ve already breached her suit. Yet, she knew better and took a reassuring deep breath to quell her mountainous build-up of nerves, intent on focusing on one boot-step at a time. Shrugging her shoulders visibly so, she looked back to Talia with an obvious tinge of apprehension evident in her face, though again she exhaled deeply and kept trudging along after RraHnam. “One of those times I’m actually relieved to be entirely sealed off from the outside environment.” She commented, trying to find a focus of anything other than the rather sizeable scorpions.

“Figures.” She quipped upon their approach of what she’d sarcastically refer to as a ‘miniature grand-freaking-canyon’ in her report later on, Kate stood near the edge of the crevasse and peered down into it’s depths. Truly, it wasn’t of the bottomless sort, but it still presented yet another frustrating obstacle they needed to overcome in order to complete their mission. In the back of her mind, she could somehow hear her brother’s objections over even attempting to cross, and how he would’ve insisted on circumventing instead, which in turn triggered a sense of cruel amusement to manifest in the forefront of her thoughts. Oh how she suddenly began to look forward to sharing the intensity of her vertigo with Stellan the next time he tried to probe her mind without permission, prompting her to lean out over the ledge just a little bit further, a wicked grin across her face as the feeling amplified accordingly.

“Hmm?” Blinking back to the reality of her surroundings as RraHnam offered crossing ahead of them, so as to rig up a stringer line that they could use to ferry equipment, and even potentially themselves, Kate nodded. “None that aren’t cruel or unusual.” She explained without necessarily explaining.

“Belay away!” she answered prematurely.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #11 –
[Ens. Talia Al-Ibrahim | Research Camp Approach | Shield Wall Mountains | Gorath] Attn: @Nero @Swift

Twilight on Gorath.

Not long after the trio had successfully negotiated the scorpion infested crevasse – which had been a learning experience for Talia – she had walked in the rapidly fading light up the rocky steppes of the mountain’s base in relative quiet; brooding over things beyond her control.

Shifting the weight of Dr. Foster’s med-pack on her armored shoulders, the external lights of the suit powered up to compensate as the twin suns fell behind the mountains – Talia chewed her lip as she walked, irritated at herself for what must have been one of the dumbest moments of her life thus far. 

During her ascent up the far wall of the crevasse, which wasn’t much of a challenge physically, her armored boot had settled on a small ledge to rest momentarily. Mindful of RraHnam’s warning of the local wildlife she’d been paying attention to where she tread. However, the one second she didn’t, out comes a bug the size of her head from within the small hole in the rock face – right next to her boot. With a muffled curse she stamped her foot at it, kicking dust and tiny rocks in a cascade of grit below – then when that didn’t work, she resorted to huffing her breath down at the thing. With her helmet on.

Yeah, that was dumb.

Either way, it was behind her, and she didn’t have to kill any of the scorpions which meant one less bit of grime to clean from her armor. Trying not to dwell on it – she kept glancing up at the camp they were getting closer to – relieved to see perimeter lights and other signs of power. Well, that’s a good sign at least, she huffed, climbing up and over a small boulder with a grunt.

“Damn shuttle better be operable,” she grumbled, as the three slowly made their way up the incline, now less than a few hundred meters out and below the camp. Her gut sank as she realized what had appeared to be an intact shuttle parked near the center of the place was listing to the side, the hull discolored in places. The hell, she wondered. Did somebody crash the damn thing? “Well, that figures.”

A slow, steady ascent saw them all trudging wearily up the final stretch of loosely packed gravel into the camp perimeter. Talia paused with the others, looking over the structures, panting slightly. To her eyes, the camp seemed composed of two medium sized hab structures, the shuttle – which had definitely been crashed – and a smaller generator of some kind on the far side. Her eyes flicked up, higher upon the mountain-side, to a tall comms tower.

“Homey,” she breathed, working the tension from her shoulders and neck. “Should we walk up and knock,” she asked her team mates.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #12 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Base camp | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion @Swift
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After the three women had overcome the chasm, the way to the stranded explorers' base camp was no more arduous. They were able to cover the last mile on almost level terrain. Meanwhile, the two suns had disappeared behind the peaks of the mountains, bathing the scenery in ghostly shadows. The lights on their suits were turned on, and thanks to the camp lighting, they were able to keep their direction.

The explorers' base camp consisted of two habitat tents and their shuttle, which was parked a bit away from the camp. Apparently, it was damaged and RraHnam wondered what had happened. As a precaution, she pulled her phaser pistol from the holster on her right leg and kept the weapon in stun setting ready for use. If the explorers were ambushed, she didn't want her rescue party to walk into a trap as well. "Be careful and stay behind me," the security officer told the other two women. Before they could proceed with any rescue or recovery, it was RraHnam's job to ensure their safety.

The security officer stopped toward the shuttle as it was the closest thing to them and shined a light through the splintered cockpit window. Inside, she could make out chaos. If someone had ransacked it, they had done a good job. But it could also have been caused by possible turbulences. Still the Caitian was not sure what was going on and the reasons could wait. She had to secure the camp first.

She could not see any movement in the shuttle. Likewise, it was quiet when she opened the airlock of the damaged spacecraft and searched more closely. The shuttle was deserted, except for the existing chaos. She took a quick look in the shuttle's weapons locker and was reassured to find all phasers present. RraHnam exhaled briefly in relief but allowed no time to pass and tried to reach the first tent on quiet EV suit soles, always with her weapon at the ready. She motioned for the women to take up positions on the other side of the entrance and made them understand that they were to open the front door on cue. The Caitian raised one gloved hand and counted down with her fingers. 3... 2... 1... Go!

The door opened and RraHnam rushed in. Left side, right side, deep in the room. No one was to be seen. So, she continued to rush forward. Behind some crates, a few people in front of her got scared. They were blinded by the light from the EV suit and could only make out the shadowy outline of the security officer pointing a gun at them.

"Don't shoot!" they pleaded in panic, and RraHnam lowered the weapon when she realized they were unarmed. The human woman had thrown herself for protection to the obviously injured and also human man. She gestured wildly, trying to give the impression that they were not a threat.

"Lt. RraHnam, USS..." she faltered as she tried to introduce herself. She briefly considered mentioning which ship she was from but decided against it for the moment. "From the Descartes. We're the rescue team and you are?"
"Natalie Koenig. This is my husband, Walt. He's injured. Please help us."
RraHnam kept her distance from the two people and then continued in a professional yet compassionate manner, "We will, but please understand that I need to protect my team." She beckoned the woman toward her. "Please stand up and come over to me. I need to make sure you don't have anything on you that could endanger my people."
It took a moment before the woman relented and allowed herself to be searched. Only when RraHnam was sure the woman posed no threat did she let the doctor through so she could begin treating the man.

"Mrs. Koenig, where are the other members of your research group?" inquired RraHnam. She was sure there were more than two of them who had come here to do research on Borath and that the rest of the expedition was either hiding in camp or had gone out to seek help. The human woman slowly came back to her senses and gradually understood that help had indeed arrived. She was relieved that someone was finally taking care of her husband's injuries.
"Mrs. Koenig!", RraHnam became clear.
"Ah? Yes. Tanae is sleeping in the other tent.", Natalie finally explained. "She's resting while I keep watch. Doctor T'Lorr and Doctor Emerick have gone into the rocks to resend our distress call from an elevated point."

Doctor T'Lorr, Doctor Emerick, Walt and Natalie Koenig, and a certain Tanae. So, there were five of them. That was consistent with an ordinary away mission. RraHnam calmed down a bit but was far from finished with her security protocol. She walked over to Al-Ibrahim and handed her the phaser pistol.
"Hold watch, Al-Ibrahim and protect them if necessary. I'll make sure there are no nasty surprises waiting for us in the rest of the camp."

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #13 –
[Ens. Talia Al-Ibrahim and Lt. JG Kate Foster | Base Camp | Barren Wastes | Gorath] Attn: @Nero

Talia nodded curtly at RraHnam, taking the pistol as she side-stepped to stay out of Doctor Foster’s way. Her eyes swept the interior of the hab unit as the illumination strips overhead flickered to life; revealing a spartan room of obvious Federation design. It was also a mess;  judging from the state of it, these people had obviously been on their own for quite awhile. Empty ration packaging was strewn about, consolidated into a dwindling supply of food stacked under the shelves of inactive research equipment. Off in the corner of the room, a trio of water containers as tall as she was sat nearly empty.

“The hell happened here,” she whispered aloud, turning her attention back to the door as Foster knelt over the prone form of Mr. Koeing; Natalie stood next to her, holding herself and shaking her head. Talia watched the door shimmer with force as RraHnam left – the force-field keeping the toxic Gorath atmosphere at bay. Well at least there’s that, she mused.  “It’s been awful,” the exhausted woman muttered, “one damned thing after another!”

“I uh...I need my bag,” Foster muttered distractedly as she ran a tricorder over the injured man.

“Shit, right,” the pilot shrugged the bag off her armored shoulders, gripped it by one strap and set it next to the Doctor. “Here,” she nodded to the seemingly unconscious man, “he going to be ok?”

Foster nodded as she dug around in the bag, retrieving two devices; one was a cortical stimulator (which she gently attached to the man’s forehead), the other was a handheld dermal regenerator, which she activated and held over the man’s crown. “He’s got some serious head trauma, broken collarbone, three cracked ribs and some scrapes and bruises – but I think he’ll be fine,” her helm turned to nod at Natalie. “Um...he take a pretty nasty fall or something?”

The woman shook her head, running her hands through her loose, ragged hair. “No, it was the crash,” she groaned, turning to gesture at the shuttle. “We were trying to land after a survey sweep, in one of the worst storms I’ve ever seen – I told them to wait, but Tanae was at the helm and wouldn’t listen! Walt went up to help and then…,” she sighed, shaking her head again. “The doctors were in EV suits, but the rest of us weren’t ready. We barely got them both inside, choking on this planet’s horrible atmosphere! We tried to repair what we could but none of us are engineers! Then the Doctors managed to get a distress signal out, hoping the Klingons would send help, but they didn’t! We’ve been stuck here for days!”

Talia shook her head, placing a calm hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Okay, its okay, we’ll get you all out of here,” she tried to comfort the raving woman, glancing down at Doctor Foster. “Walt’s being taken care of, Mrs. Koeing,” she nodded, opening a channel to LT. RraHnam. “LT, Mr. Koeing should be on his feet in a few minutes. What’s the plan,” she asked, eyeing the crashed shuttle disdainfully. Didn’t wanna fly that pile of shit anyway.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #14 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Base camp | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion 
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The door to the other tent swung open as RraHnam pushed it slightly inward with her right glove. Inside, it was dark except for a faint light that twinkled in the back of the tent. The security officer recognized it as the candlelight of a Vulcan meditation lamp.
"Tanae?" asked RraHnam into the darkness. "My name is Lieutenant RraHnam. My comrades and I are here for your distress signal."
"Come in." a female voice replied, from one of the rear compartments. RraHnam looked around, shining the lights of the EV suit into each area of the tent. It was a simple sleeping tent. This was where the members of the expedition retired to rest. Divided into several compartments, each member of the expedition had his own area where he could sleep undisturbed or, as in the case of Tanae, meditate.
A lamp was switched on and the area between the compartments was bathed in a white-blue light. RraHnam turned off the lights on her suit. With the phaser rifle in front of her chest, she stepped closer to the meditation lamp. As she walked in as far, she could make out the older Vulcan staring into the candle flame with her legs crossed on the floor.
"Isn't the open flame dangerous with all this sulfur around?" asked RraHnam.
"Not at all," the Vulcan replied to her. "The mixing ratio is not right for ignition. The outer atmosphere would simply smother the flame." She held her hand in the flame. "Besides, this one is holographic."
"I should have guessed."

She took the lamp in her hand. The holographic flame reacted to the movement and simulated a flicker. With deft fingers, she turned it off and stowed it neatly back in her field box. The woman now straightened up and smoothed her clothes. She wore simple work clothes, a simple gray overall. On her shoulder was emblazoned the mission insignia of her ship. It marked her as a crew member of the USS Vera Rubin, a Miranda-class ship.
"Please excuse my manners, Lieutenant. I am Lieutenant Tanae of the USS Vera Rubin. Thank you for coming here."
"Don't thank us too soon, Lieutenant," RraHnam replied. "We haven't gotten you out yet. Can you tell me of what happened?"
"After we completed our reconnaissance flight, we wanted to land to begin our work. Drs. T'Lorr and Emerick had already put on the EV suits to take the first measurements on the ground, when suddenly a heavy storm hit. Doctor Koenig was about to assist me as co-pilot when a heavy gust hit us and pushed the shuttle against the rocks. In the process, the front cabin window cracked. What followed was the crash. Except for Doctor Koenig, however, we were unharmed."
Tanae explained without much emotion what had happened and how they had been waiting for a rescue team for the last few days. She also explained that T'Lorr and Emerick had both climbed into the rocks to rebroadcast the distress signal from an elevated position. Her testimony was consistent with that of Natalie Koenig.
[LT, Mr. Koeing should be on his feet in a few minutes. What's the plan?], chimed in over the radio. The security officer thought for a moment, then she replied. "I found Tanae. I will bring her over to you. There we can discuss what to do next."

Tanae grabbed her breathing mask, which protected her from the stuffy atmosphere outside the tent. Together, the two women went back into the mess tent. Dr. Foster tended to the injured man, who, after a brief update from the doctor, should probably regain consciousness shortly. RraHnam patted her shoulder in affirmation. A small gesture of gratitude.
The Security Officer finally took off her helmet and ordered the pilot and the geologist to come with her. They retreated to the opposite corner of the tent. That way Dr. Foster could work in peace, and they could plan the next steps without distraction.

"First, we need to find the other two members of your expedition and bring them here, Tanae," RraHnam began the list. "Can you radio them?"
Tanae shook her head. "That won't be possible. Deposits in the rock prevent communication. It's certainly not necessary, either. Dr. T'Lorr and Dr. Emerick will return in the next few hours."
The statement made RraHnam think. Radio was not possible? Then why could the pilot hail her just moments ago? She thought for second and found a solution quickly. As Tanae mentioned, radio signals would be deflected by the embeddings in the rocks. Sure, it is an elevated platform from which a signal could reach space, but it would be damaged and fragmented. This must have happen as she received the signal earlier this day. That’s way it was so hard to even discover it. But here on the surface where there is no to minimal distraction and a very short distance between two recipients the signal will go smooth and directly. RraHnam nodded. "Good, if they're not here at the expected time, we'll go out and find them. Do you have any other EV suits?"
"Yes, but they were all damaged in the crash."
"I see... Ok. Al-Ibrahim, we'll have to take over the search when the time comes. Until then, we need to get the shuttle back intact. We can't go to our shuttle without the EV suits. Especially since it will be very tiring for some of us, and it is a long difficult walk through a poisonous sulfur plateau."
RraHnam began pacing up and down. She raised her paw and began massaging her chin. "What worries me most is the cracked windshield," she explained. "Al-Ibrahim, could you check the shuttle's computer systems if we can restore power. We need to know if the shuttle is even airworthy?"

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #15 –
[ Ens. Talia Al-Ibrahim | Base Camp | Barren Wastes | Gorath ] Attn: @Nero
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With her helm still on, Talia's grimace was hidden behind the blue tint of her visor; her dark chocolate eyes narrowed at the listing type-8 parked haphazardly in the center of the camp. Ugh, she groaned, but knew the LT was right – they needed a way off this rock, and it was a long walk back to the Descartes. Knew I should have landed closer, damn it, she grumbled to herself as she moved towards the door. “I’m on it,” she spoke over her shoulder to RraHnam, then threw a thumbs up at Foster. “Holler if you need help, Doc,” she added; smirking at Foster’s distracted mumble of a reply as she passed through the field and back into Gorath’s poisonous air.

Her eyes and the exterior lights of her armor traced over the outer hull as she approached, mag-locking RraHnam’s pistol to the thigh plate of her leg. The shuttle’s blunt prow had dug itself into the dirt and rock in the crash, along with most of one nacelle; Talia shook her head at it, noting the cobwebbed cracks in the main cabin window. Looks like someone took a damn hammer to it, she commented with a frown. Structurally, from what she could see, it seemed intact – the starboard side showed signs of superficial damage; an ugly shmear of scrapes and dents, almost as if it collided with something. You sure aren’t pretty by any means, she sighed, approaching the rear boarding ramp.

Her spirits didn’t lift as the ramp lowered, revealing the interior. Well, this is a wreck, she frowned, watching the overhead lights and consoles flickering – treading carefully through the debris strewn throughout the cargo area. Various crates of equipment had broken from their bindings in storage, PaDDs were everywhere, food and water rations had been plundered; Talia rested her hands on her hips as she looked it over. “Right. Let’s get to work,” she nodded, kneeling to begin the process of stowing what she could to access the areas she needed to check – starting with the plasma transfer subsystem and fusion pods. Get the power stabilized, then we’ll look you over. See if you can limp us out of this mess.

As she worked, her mind went back to her academy days; those first tentative steps away from a life of academia and field research, which ultimately led to her first flight simulation. ‘An abject example of incorrect application of operating procedures’, the Vulcan instructor had called her performance. Talia grimaced at the memory. Stupid mark 8 tugboat, she grumbled childishly; having cleared the access panel upon the deck enough to open it, she did so with a grunt of effort, revealing the power relay systems linking the craft’s warp nacelles. What she saw produced a stream of curses in her native tongue as she stood,  repeating the process on the panels of each side bulkhead. With a sigh of frustration, she saw that the fuel cells were intact, but the starboard engine housings were fouled; somehow crushed under impact. Even if she could restore full power, this tug needed repairs she lacked the tools and materials to give. Where’s Victor when I need him, she smirked at the thought of the affable mechanic-turned-pilot.

Damn it, she stomped over to one of the flickering terminals, rerouting power from the damaged relays to the auxiliary subsystems; waiting until the lights and consoles ceased flickering. Several beeps fought for her attention almost simultaneously, as the shuttle’s on-board computer registered failures in several systems. “Alright, alright, one thing at a time,” Talia muttered, silencing them as she read over the diagnostics. “Main power, navigation, long range sensors, lateral control, thruster control, inertial dampeners, fuuuck,” she balled her fists in frustration. “All we need is a damn lifeboat to –“ she froze mid-tirade, her eyes scanning everything that still functioned under emergency power. Life support, environmental controls, internal forcefields, coms, emergency rescue beacon…

Leaning on the console, Talia rotated the tension from her shoulders as best she could. “Okay…so we can’t fly this thing out of here, but…we can still use it,” she whispered. “Let’s try a few things out, shall we,” she muttered, as her gloved fingers danced across the console; she needed to test her theory before taking it to RraHnam. Course, this all depends on several other objectives to work, and it’s risky, but it’s worth a shot…

Once the new operating parameters were set, she hit the execute function and took a step back from the console. The overhead lighting switched from white to crimson as the emergency systems kicked in; a shimmering field encapsulated the cargo and passenger compartments, sealing off the damaged front cabin. Talia barked a gunshot laugh, clapping her gloves together. “Ah, you beautiful bastard,” she patted the top of the hull in relief before returning to the terminal. 17 hours and counting, she read. Not much time, but we can extend that with the Descartes…maybe. Possibly.

Another alarm drew her attention to the external sensors then, the readout flickering with static – interference from the ore deposits. Her eyes narrowed, then widened at what she saw. Her lips parted in a soundless fuck, before opening the coms channel to RraHnam.

“LT, meet me at the shuttle – I got potential good news and definitely bad news,” she spoke before returning to work; time was really against them now, and she needed to get the redundancies in place for this to work. “And a really crazy idea.”

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #16 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Base camp | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion 
[Show/Hide]
Her pilot left the tent and went to the crashed shuttle. As she began her work, RraHnam pondered some more. How would they get the people off this barren rock if they couldn't get the shuttle going again? Then they probably would not be spared the way through the sulfur fields. That would be a risk. After all, the sulfur was ejected in liquid form and under high pressure. That indicated temperatures beyond four hundred degrees Celsius. So, without an EV suit, a traverse would be impossible. But what if only two of them went to the shuttle and bring Descartes over? That, again, would be a possibility. One that would take time and cost resources, but it was a possibility.

"Are you thinking about returning to your shuttle?" asked Tanae. RraHnam had explained to her earlier where they had landed and what route they had taken to reach them. "Yes." the security officer replied, calling up a map of the area on her PADD. "If two of us were to climb along this pass, we would be traveling by a circuitous route, but we could reach the shuttle before tomorrow night."
"Sure, but you had merely been lucky when you crossed the sulfur lakes. It had just been low tide. The tides on this planet run differently than you might be used to, Lieutenant. For the next three weeks, the individual sulfur lakes will merge into a single sea. Crossing will not be possible."
RraHnam frowned. "How do you know that?"
"That was the one of the reasons I came here, Lieutenant. The subsurface of this entire environment is filled with liquid sulfur and is now flowing back together due to tidal forces."

Tanae explained to the Caitian what her specialty was and explained in more detail the reason she came to Gorath. Finally, the Vulcan looked the soldier in the eye. "You are from the Theurgy, correct?"
Since she showed no hostility nor seemed frightened in any way, RraHnam decided to tell her the truth and confirmed her question with a curt, "Yes."
"I thought so," she admitted, explaining her suspicions with the appearance and behavior of the three women. Overall, they had been quite secretive. "Yeah, right." smiled RraHnam. Then Al-Ibrahim checked in again over the radio. Apparently, she had news. RraHnam put her helmet back on and walked over.

The shuttle was in pitiful condition and in need of some very intensive repairs. Repairs they really couldn't afford here on the ground. On the other hand, they also couldn't afford to load the group of explorers into their shuttle and take them to their ship. That would be a trip of no return. At the very least, the three women who had rushed to help would be locked away for a long time. RraHnam didn't want to risk that. Especially since she was supposed to be dead since the Oneida had faked her destruction.
RraHnam caught up with the female pilot, who sat at the heavily flickering pilot console. "Good news first, please.”

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #17 –
[ Ens. Talia 'Shadow' Al-Ibrahim | Base Camp | Barren Wastes | Gorath ] Attn: @Nero
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As frustration grew, it had taken more and more self-control not to slam her armored fist through the console. Talia had grown to suspect the wrecked shuttle was somehow fighting her every attempt to coax it from the grave; as ludicrous as that seemed. When she’d first entered the ‘cockpit’ to reroute power from the near useless weapons array to boost the emergency systems reserves, the pilot had spun the command chair about to sit at the flickering console – only for the chair to fall completely off its damaged mount and topple over. Not a good sign, she’d huffed.

Try as she might, all efforts to draw power from the other systems proved futile; between the damage sustained already and the conscious awareness of time ticking away, the away team and survivors would have to make do with what was on hand. This is going to be a hard sell, her teeth ground together as she shook her head, eyes narrowed at the console. But I don’t see any alternatives. Her brooding was interrupted by the arrival of RraHnam; an armored tread up the boarding ramp preempted the Caitian’s voice.

Talia spun to face her and stood, fighting the urge to sigh. The deck was listed at slight angle, so she leaned forward a bit to compensate, gesturing to the wreck. “Theoretically – this tub will survive the flight off this rock and a limited amount of time in orbit,” she replied, then moved up towards the LT in the cargo area to elaborate. “As a lifeboat,” her hands came up defensively, watching the Caitian’s reaction. “Its not ideal, LT, but this thing isn’t going anywhere under its own power,” she added quickly, explaining the damaged systems as she ticked her fingers off one by one.

Moving under the docking port directly above the cargo area, she pointed up at it with her other hand. “The Descartes can dock here on reverse approach, the procedure is the same. The emergency systems have enough juice for life support and integrity fields for 17 hours, maybe less, but that can be extended so long as we stay linked. Pretty sure the umbilical can feed power to this thing,” she tilted her head slightly. “I hope,” she admitted quietly, then turned to face the LT fully. “Here’s the bad news,” her hands rested on her hips as her eyes met the Caitian’s. “There’s one bitch of a storm front coming our way. Readings are erratic, but I’m talking gusts up to 450 kph, zero visibility, and enough static discharge to fry our suits – last readable sensor sweep was three hours ago. That gives us less than two to get the hell out of here,” she shook her head. “I can’t get a stable uplink with Descartes either, not at this range,” she gestured to the console on the bulkhead.

I should have risked the damn approach, she ground her teeth as she scolded herself again, breaking her eyes away towards the aft of the shuttle. “Without that uplink, I can’t fly our ride over to get us,” she sighed, frustrated at herself, then turned her head back to RraHnam. “I still have the nav data we used to get here. I can make back if I hustle LT,” she offered, managing to sound much more confident than she felt. Unable to see any other option, it was the security officer’s call to make.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #18 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Base camp | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion 
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RraHnam was having a hard time keeping herself under control. Such a heavy storm was still missing in her chaos bingo. But now she could cross that out too. The Caitian leaned against the door frame. Using the shuttle as a lifeboat was not a bad idea. It could give them time to holla off so that they won’t get into trouble.

She listened to the pilot's explanation, who suggested that she get underway as quickly as possible to retrieve her shuttle. RraHnam nodded slightly as she heard the words. It showed her that they both were functioning on about the same wavelength. Then, however, she had to disappoint the pilot.

"That won't be possible, Ensign," she said in a firm voice. "The seascape we passed on our way to here? Tanae explained to me that the geysers heralded the flood. In the meantime, the individual lakes have merged into a single boiling hot sea of sulfur. To go through? Impossible and around the outside would take you more than six hours. No. that is not an option anymore I’m afraid."

The security officer with roots in engineering looked around. "The surrounding bedrock prevents signals from reaching space intact. But our direct communications down here on the ground works just fine, though." RraHnam paced thoughtfully through the shuttle, looking for the communications console. Once found, she inspected the tech. Fortunately, it was not too damaged. Only the display showed some cracks and was therefore a bit sluggish in its response. Still, the signal was too weak to establish a constant connection with the Descartes. "So, if we were able to boost the signal, we could bring the shuttle here, right?"

RraHnam waited for the pilot's response before continuing, then nodded as well. We have less than two hours to get everyone out of here, she thought. The Caitian looked up at the rock formation where the other two scientists were trying to send a distress signal. "It all looks like we're going to have to climb some more, Ensign."

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #19 –
[Ens. Talia 'Shadow' Al-Ibrahim | Base Camp | Barren Wastes | Gorath] Attn: @Nero
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Talia found herself pacing while the Caitian spoke. It seemed any hope of reaching the Descartes on foot was crushed, given the new circumstances. She forced a deep breath; panic didn’t properly describe the feeling that had ramped up her heart rate – high stress situations were commonplace for any member of Starfleet. They trained for it. This was….a heightened sense of urgency; time was not their ally – never had been.

Behind her visor, dark eyes followed the security officer’s gaze up the mountainside. The tower lay up above a secondary peak, a ‘false summit’; the shoulder of the true mountain. Talia grimaced, hissing through her teeth. “That’s one hell of a climb,” she muttered, then shook her head subtly, knowing it was the only option left. “I got your six,” she turned to RraHnam, nodding. “We should have the survivors start shutting down camp and relocate in here – once the Descartes is in range, the autopilot will engage, but if the winds start picking up I don’t know how long she’ll be able to hold stable. Timing will be everything,” she was speaking her thoughts aloud, nodding to herself.

“Uhm, hey, guys,” Foster’s voice interrupted, “Mr. Koenig is up; a bit woozy but stable enough to travel. What’s the game plan?”

Talia turned to re-check the lifeboat's broadcast and sync systems while RraHnam brought Foster up to speed, moving with purpose. This is going to be an interesting mission report, she thought darkly, as her mind went to all the various ways things could go south. Focus, she shook her head, fingers dancing over the coms console.

Turning to face RraHnam, she waited for the Caitian to finish, then nodded. “Everything here is set,” she gestured to the shuttle. “All we have to do is uplink to the Descartes and bring her in remotely. Once in range, both craft will sync and initiate auto-dock, then all we have to do is beat the storm off this rock,” she exhaled, lifting a shoulder slightly. “No pressure.”

Moving to the rear, next to the lieutenant, Talia lifted her chin to the tower. “I’ve never made a climb like that,” she admitted quietly, then shrugged, tilting her head to the Caitian. “But if a couple of science types can do it,” she smirked, letting some amusement color her tone before growing serious once again. “Say the word, LT.”

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #20 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Base Camp | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion 
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RraHnam nodded to the pilot. "We'll be on our way. Every minute we waste here, we'll miss getting out of here later."
The security officer turned to the doctor by radio. "That's good news, doc. Al-Ibrahim and I are going up into the rocks to try to find the signal booster and the other scientists." She sighed for a moment as she looked again at the steep cliff face. "Grab the Koenigs and Tanae and break camp. Get them to the shuttle."

[Roger that] came back over the radio after a few seconds of silence. RraHnam looked at the pilot next to her one last time and then left. "Come on. Let's not waste time, Ensign."
The two women walked to the starting point of the expedition. Fortunately, the Two Men who had climbed into the rocks ahead of them had already secured the ascent. RraHnam set down her backpack and passed one of the two belay straps to Al-Ibrahim. In the clunky EV suit, it wasn't all that easy to put on the harness, so the two women had to help each other. "Tanae mentioned that the other two scientists should already be on their way back. That should make our search easier. The few extra hands we bring should speed up the transport from the device. Any questions? No? Then let's go."

RraHnam didn't give the woman time to think because time was not a luxury good. Thinking about it over and over again would only lead to them both finding excuses not to make the climb. "I'm a natural at climbing, but these damn boots are going to slow me down," the Cait confessed, laying into the wall. With deft movements, the cat-woman swung herself up the secured climb. She kept catching herself trying to dig her claws into the rock to hold on. As she did so, she softly cursed each time, and foolishly tried to hide it each time. Each time she tried to hide her habit, her failed advantage, she wasted precious seconds. But when she looked down, she discovered that despite her hindering circumstances, she was climbing a lot faster than the human. Fuck..., she thought. This is going to be close.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #21 –
[Ens. Talia 'Shadow' Al-Ibrahim | Coms Tower Ascent | Barren Wastes | Gorath] Attn: @Nero
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Talia estimated they were roughly forty minutes into the climb, but it felt like an eternity. She’d never been interested in climbing – didn’t see the need for it, honestly. Now here she was, scaling the face of a mountain, in the dark, in armor. The absurdity of the situation seemed cruel, given the circumstances. Next time, I’m staying with the fucking shuttle, she growled at herself. She pulled herself up with a grunt, booted feet kicking into the rocks for purchase. This is taking too long, she huffed, stealing a glance down and over her shoulder. Good thing heights never bothered me, she thought dryly, as a hail of pebbles clinked off her helm and shoulders from above. Talia ducked close to the rock face, cursing aloud. That’s all she needed, to get wacked in the head and lose her grip, slowing them even more.

They climbed in tandem, using the anchors pounded into the rock by whoever built the camp originally – whenever that was. She thanked them for having the forward thinking to include the coms tower; otherwise, they’d be in a really tight spot. More than they already were anyway. She huffed again, then reached up to find another hold with her right hand.

Lightning flashed off to her left, along the jagged peaks of the shield wall separating the crater from the rest of Gorath’s insane geography. Talia paused to look, watching the flashes illuminate a wall of churning darkness. Oh, fuck me, she mouthed. Seeing the storm front on a sensor readout was one thing - watching it roll towards them as an inevitable tide of impending disaster was quite different. “LT, visual on the storm front. On your left, maybe a hundred kilometers out and closing,” she reported, then went back to climbing.

The thing was swallowing mountains.

Must go faster – must go faster, Talia repeated, over and over, ignoring the burning in her limbs as she climbed. For all of her talk of being ‘slowed’ due to her suit, the Caitian officer easily outpaced her. We get out of this, maybe she can teach me, the pilot grunted to herself. It was a great workout, after all, and Talia was all about that. The lights on her helm and suit barely reached the LT’s above her, but she tried to follow in her holds, moving as she moved. It was working well, thus far.

Until it didn’t.

Her right gripped a hold that seemed stable enough, until it crumbled loose from the face of the mountain. Her momentum faltered, boots skidding for purchase as her left hand tightened in a death grip. A burst of fear induced adrenaline had her pull the combat blade from its sheath at her shin and impale the rock as she fell. She couldn’t recall if she’d screamed or not, as she hugged the rock face, panting. “Fuck sake,” Talia breathed as her body trembled. Looking down, she realized she’d slid about a meter, back down onto an outcropping. The line attached to the carabiner on her armor wasn’t even taunt. She shook her head, laughing weakly at herself. “I’m good,” she called out, looking up into the darkness, vaguely making out the lights from the LT’s suit above.

Move your ass, Shadow, she told herself. Teeth clenched in determination, she started hauling herself up.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #22 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Coms Tower Ascent | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion 
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Al-Ibrahim told her to turn her gaze to the horizon. Thick, dusty clouds covered the sky. Lightning flashed and the rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. The unstoppable force of nature rolled slowly but steadily toward them. RraHnam could see the storm front churning the ground beneath them, leaving a devastation of gigantic proportions. If they did not hurry, they would soon find themselves in this debris field.

The first foothills of the storm reached. Ominous harbingers of the power that would follow. Unpredictable gusts threatened to throw them off their course and made it difficult for the two women to move forward. One of these gusts seemed to have caught the pilot and damaged her grip. RraHnam heard a short, strangled cry before she turned and discovered that Al-Ibrahim had just managed to save herself by slamming her combat knife into the rock. [I'm good.], she said over the short-range radio, and by now even here RraHnam could hear the strong atmospheric interference crackling.
"We're almost there, Ensign."

RraHnam didn't know what possessed her to make such a statement without being sure if it was true. She just wanted to reassure the human beneath her. Any kind of panic would only slow her down unnecessarily and RraHnam just didn't want to risk that.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally grabbed the top edge of her climb and pulled herself up. Without any real effort, she swung her legs over the edge and then helped the human climb up. As the human woman stood firmly on top of the sole, there was an eerie and, more importantly, loud thunder. RraHnam startled herself and winced. "Wow. That was close," she said softly. She looked around for a moment. The dusty wall kept coming toward her. It had grown menacing.

"Come on, we have to keep going," she said then, patting the human on the shoulder. RraHnam started walking. At regular intervals, the scientists had marked the way. The two women from the USS Theurgy followed these markings and were not disappointed. In the slowly churning dust, they made out two figures carrying a heavy object. They seemed to be taking turns and were therefore moving very slowly. RraHnam recognized them as members of the lost expedition and saluted them as she approached them.
"At last, we have found you, Doctors. Lieutenant RraHnam, USS Theurgy. We've picked up your distress signal."

RraHnam didn't beat around the bush anymore, as she had with Tanae. Time was precious and she didn't want to risk them falling out as they descended the escarpment, just because they found out which ship, they actually belonged to. That could cost them the signal booster and that had to be avoided at all costs.

The two scientists looked at each other in their mirrored visors. Clearly, the two men were talking on a private channel. They gestured in the direction of the two women and then one of the men began to speak. "Better than being left alone. I'm Doctor Emerick from the USS Vera Rubin. Glad to see the Theurgy doesn't live up to the rumors, Lieutenant. Can you help us with that?" he pointed to the signal booster. "My colleague fell earlier and injured his foot."

RraHnam nodded to Al-Ibrahim and then walked toward the two men. The security officer pointed to the amplifier. "Al-Ibrahim, you help Doctor Emerick with this. I'm supporting Doctor T'Lorr."

That was the thing about trust. Even if the two men feigned friendliness, they could still try to overpower her. To avoid that, RraHnam brought herself to the man she thought most likely to attack. This way, she had the signal booster and one of the two men in view and the other man in her grasp. This allowed RraHnam to make sure they didn't do anything stupid.

On the way back, RraHnam gave the two scientists a report on their situation and how they planned to resolve it.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #23 –
[Ens. Talia 'Shadow' Al-Ibrahim | Coms Tower Ascent | Barren Wastes | Gorath] Attn: @Nero
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Standing off to RraHnam’s side, slightly panting as she shook her limbs out from the climb, Talia cocked her head at the large suitcase sized booster. “On it,” she acknowledged, seizing one gloved hand around a handle and lifting it. It weighed twice as much as she was expecting, and she’d expected it to weigh a lot. “Damn, nice work getting this thing up here,” she nodded to them, then turned her helm towards the tower. “Where’s the main terminal,” she asked, grunting slightly as the booster was lifted up onto her armored shoulder.

One of them – Emerick maybe? It was hard for her to tell – turned his mirrored helm to her then pointed towards the central pillar directly beneath the base of the tower. “There,” he breathed, “through that door,” he nodded. “Everything should be as we left it before – you’ll see the connection port on the side of the console. It’s just plug and play from there.”

Talia tilted her head, bracing against a sudden gust of buffeting wind. “Why’d you guys take the damn thing out to begin with,” she couldn’t help asking, even as she started making her way to the tower. The three main struts anchoring it to the mountain also served as guy lines, already swaying in the wind. You better not fall the fuck over, I swear – she began, but was interrupted by the Doctor’s answer.

“Power – the tower couldn’t sustain the draw placed on its systems with the booster active indefinitely, so we pulled it, brought it back to camp. If no one came for us, we were going to salvage it for other uses,” Emerick explained in an exhausted murmur.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense, the pilot grunted, turning back to RraHnam, speaking to the Caitian on their private channel. “These guys are smoked LT. Maybe they should both stay with you – I can get this thing rigged up with some assistance from the Doctor over coms,” she jerked her helm sideways to the booster on her shoulder, then gestured around them at the storm gathering strength as she turned and headed off to the base of the tower. “Great day to fly the hell out of here,” Talia laughed, trying to inject some humor in the situation even as it grew ever more dire. “How long will it take for this thing to kick in, Doctor,” she asked over the group channel.

Emerick grunted. “Initial power cycle should take less than a minute – maybe three to full signal power.”

She picked up the pace, grunting with every stride, then glanced over her shoulder at the storm. This is going to be entirely too close, Talia growled for the umpteenth time. “Be ready to talk me through it. Back in a few, LT,” she told RraHnam, before fading into the growing pall of darkness around them.

Re: Day 05 [1113 hrs.] - Sulphurous Signal

Reply #24 –
[ Lt. RraHnam | Coms Tower Ascent | Barren Wastelands | Gorath ] Attn: @Dumedion 
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"Understood.", the Caitian confirmed the pilot's suggestion and kept an eye on the two men. She was sure that the woman would get the device working. High in the sky, the tower was already teetering dangerously. RraHnam hoped it would hold out until Al-Ibrahim flew the shuttle in and got them all out safely.
Doctor Emerick turned to RraHnam. "Thank you for coming, Lieutenant."
"No problem," the security officer waved off. "That's what we do. We are Starfleet after all. We'll help if we can. "
"Yes, of course." Emerick said. "I guess the signal took a beating because of the charged ions in the atmosphere and the bedrock?"
"It took us a moment to figure out what was going on, yes."

Emerick nodded and RraHnam pulled the bandage tight, securing the temporary splint around Doctor T'Lorr's ankle. She put her backpack with the climbing gear back on and stood up. "Can you stand up?" she asked the Vulcan, who allowed himself to be helped up and didn't make a face under his helmet with Vulcan stoicism.
"Good, the splint should hold until you get back to your ship, Doctor."
"Thank you." he said in a neutral voice that didn't reveal whether he was in pain.
Then the pilot checked in over a heavily buzzing radio. She had arrived at her destination and Doctor Emerick began to guide her through the process. The human archaeologist didn't keep the pilot waiting and told her the necessary steps to connect the signal booster to the tower.

The winds picked up and it became uncomfortable to stand outside, even with the resistant exosuits. They looked for a rock in whose lee they could take shelter. RraHnam took a breath. The climb had taken a toll on her energy reserves. She hoped that Al-Ibrahim would be able to steer the shuttle safely and quickly through the brewing soup.

Involuntarily, images of the worst-case scenario spread through her subconscious, showing the shuttle being driven against one of the rock walls and smashing there. She blinked the images away. The security officer knew they couldn't beam. The deposits in the rock prevented that. So, Al-Ibrahim had to steer it down to here on the ground so they could pick everyone up and get them to safety. The pilot just had to make it, and RraHnam kept her claws crossed. There was nothing she could do but wait.

And her waiting was rewarded. The safety officer saw a metallic object pushing through the closed cloud cover and heading toward them. It struggled badly with wind shear, but soon gained the upper hand and made a skillful approach. The shuttle landed between their temporary shelter and the transmission towers. The hatches opened. It was the signal RraHnam was waiting for. She motioned Emerick to go ahead and wrapped the injured Doctor T'Lorr's arm around her shoulders. She helped the man enter the shuttle and sat in one of the chairs. While T'Lorr and Emerick strapped themselves in, RraHnam went up to the cockpit and took a seat in the co-pilot's seat.

When the pilot finally arrived, RraHnam closed the shuttle's hatches. "Well done, Al-Ibrahim. Let's get the others and then let's get out of here."
 
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