Regula (USS Repulse)

Dr. Badawai had turned away and was contacting her medical team to beam down for the recovery operation, so she didn't notice the Commander picking up the data stick.

The readout contained a file tree, but many of the files showed as corrupted and unreadable. This must have happened at the computer the data was derived from, because the data stick itself was intact and showed no errors.

As Lt. Ta'ask and the other away team members swept the area in preparation for departure, Ja'niri focused her eyes and antenae on the data playing back on the data stick. The information was highly corrupted. It was mostly log entries. The voice print closely resembled that of the dead man lying at her feet. After careful review, her antenae swept for the position of the Captain. She turned and looked up.

"This human was Ian Orson, lead scientist on the Genesis II project. Apparently they completed a new prototype of their Genesis device. They felt strongly it was too unstable for immediate testing. The schematics were copied to this stick, but appear to be corrupted. I will try and reconstruct them back on Repulse. I would suggest we look for any other information, computer terminals or data on this Genesis project. These people were killed to capture their prototype, and the logs seem to imply that the device itself could be very dangerous."

She switched her tricorder to looking for technology that might still provide clues as to the nature of this Genesis device and who might have taken it. The concept of Protomatter being used was disturbing. In her century the study of Protomatter was far advanced from this time, and it was still a tricky substance to handle. She could only fear what these people tried to do with it.

-Ja'niri

Sadness may not be an accurate term for the sensations running through Ta'ask's reptilian brain. It was certainly a profound sense of loss. He fanned his team out amongst the rotting vegetation on a final sweep of the vast Genesis Chamber for any more bodies or possible survivors. The tricorder said no, but the metal devices were never fully trustworthy. He sniffed the air heavily as he marched through the undergrowth. He wished to have his toe claws sink into the soil. The EVA suit slowed him considerably from the nearly fluid motion his species could make in this type terrain. So much beauty, so much life...dying slowly.

Somewhere in his Saurian mind his instincts recalled the glory of primordial Earth. He had read of he decline of his species in Starfleet libraries. His own people had been transplanted long before the decay and death that came about after the mighty asteroid had struck Earth. His people had not experienced the destruction of their forests and jungles, only the separation from them. He imagined other saurians standing on earth millions of years ago, looking at a scene not unlike this one. He felt loss again.

At least the devastation was covered in the syrupy sweet scent of rotting mammals. This was an aroma unmatched even in the sickbays of federation vessels during conflict. His stomach inadvertently growled at the heavenly smell. The red mist of the hunt began to saturate his senses. He needed to feed. He looked carefully around the scene with his predatorial eyes. Dr. Badawai was the only mammal not in the antiseptic smelling EVA suits. Well her and the blue humanoid, but she didn't smell good. The Doctor on the other hand smelled soft and ripe. His gaze held on her for a moment as he briefly entertained the fantasy of devouring her. His toe claws twitched within their boots. This was not right thinking.

-Ta'ask

Heinz turned to Ta'ask. She now had a dilemma to face: they could either leave now and not have sufficient information, stay and let the enemy ship get away, or leave some of the crew behind on an unstable planetoid.

"Thanks", she said and opened her comm. There was a possible solution.

=/\= Heinz to Bridge. Where is the nearest transporter capable starship to us? =/\= she asked.

- CO

A few seconds passed before Commander Sullivan replied.

=^= The USS Hathaway is 33 hours way, Captain. =^=

=/\= Understood. Get them here A-SAP. Hold one second. =/\=

She turned to Ta'ask and asked two questions that would decide what she did next.

"Ms Ta'ask", she asked, "Will this planet hold out for 48 hours? How long ago was this place attacked? I ask as we may have to leave in a hurry".

- CO

OOC: AAAARGGGG! Third time typing this. Damn interruptions and mouse clicks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IC: Ta'ask swiveled a yellowy reptilian eye towards the Captain. His long jagged jaw looked beguiled. What did he know about how long rocks held together? And when did he become a Ms? Was his jaw not pronounced enough, his hips not slender enough or even his sheer stature not tall enough? Mammals were so poor at recognizing basic gender differences. Given the mammals all looked similar but he didn't mistake the Captain's fleshy chest for that of a male. Besides, males smelled different. Irregardless, he did know a bit about phaser fire.

"Sssir, thessse phassser hitsss are fresssh. The battle could not have been more than 12 hoursss ago. The ones who did thisss could be nearby ssstill. Our sssensssorssss would have detected their warp sssignature asss we arrived, had they tried to leave."

-Lt. Task

OOC: My mistake. Again... Sorry, this is happening a lot...

Heinz smiled. That was just what she'd wanted. If they'd not gone into warp, they were almost certainly somewhere in the immediate vicinity. Like the nebula.

"OK", she said, turning to Ja'niri [OOC: Who I'd meant to ask in the first place], "How many people are you likely to need for any search operations? Because I envisage us leaving pretty quickly in pursuit of these people".

- CO

Commander Sullivan spoke over the comm channel again.

=^= "Captain, I am obligated to remind you that we are operating in a restricted sector. The Hathaway doesn't have the permission from Command that we do to operate here. Would you like me to contact Starfleet Command to request permission for the Hathaway to enter the sector?" =^=

In the small room off the main cavern, medical personnel began beaming in to remove the bodies. One of them approached Dr. Badawai and handed her a datapad.

"The crew manifest you requested, Doctor," the man said.

"Excellent," Badawai responded, taking the pad and looking it over. She transferred the data to her own device before returning it. "Start matching the names up with the deceased so we can make their final arrangemens."

~GM~

Heinz looked at the comm in disbelief. It should have been obvious to her, but the woman didn't need to ask her CO everything. Refraining from snapping, she replied.

"Yes", she said, "Please do that and make sure we're ready for warp as well".

- CO

The blue Andorian kinked an antennae towards the Captain while listening in on the transmission. She agreed with the critical look the Captain gave her communicator. She had a seething dislike for people that didn't perform efficiently. She had an even greater dislike for those that made mistakes stupidly. However this was regarding another Commander, and she would not publicly criticize an officer of similar or higher rank.

As the Captain finished the transmission, Ja'niri returned to the previous matter. "Captain, I feel two members of the security team and a member of the science department should be able to adequately collect the materials we require form the remains of this facility. With time being of the essence, I think Lt. Ta'ask should pick two of his team to remain and I will have Lt. Greyson beam down to lead the party. They should be finished by the time the Holloway arrives. We should leave some provisions in case they are delayed."

Ja'niri felt a tinge of pleasure at assigning the troublesome officer to a mundane job in the center of a dead planetoid. He would have to perform better than he did in the science lab if he wanted to avoid prolonged dull orders in the future.

-Commander Ja'niri

Zuzutoo wrote:
The blue Andorian kinked an antennae towards the Captain while listening in on the transmission. She agreed with the critical look the Captain gave her communicator. She had a seething dislike for people that didn't perform efficiently. She had an even greater dislike for those that made mistakes stupidly. However this was regarding another Commander, and she would not publicly criticize an officer of similar or higher rank.

As the Captain finished the transmission, Ja'niri returned to the previous matter. "Captain, I feel two members of the security team and a member of the science department should be able to adequately collect the materials we require form the remains of this facility. With time being of the essence, I think Lt. Ta'ask should pick two of his team to remain and I will have Lt. Greyson beam down to lead the party. They should be finished by the time the Holloway arrives. We should leave some provisions in case they are delayed."

Ja'niri felt a tinge of pleasure at assigning the troublesome officer to a mundane job in the center of a dead planetoid. He would have to perform better than he did in the science lab if he wanted to avoid prolonged dull orders in the future.

-Commander Ja'niri

"That's a great suggestion, Ms Ja'niri", Heinz replied, "If there is nothing else, I suggest we go up like a balloon".

The 23rd century German idiom completely failed to work in English, although Heinz failed to realise this. She was just thinking about what s'ed have to deal with when they caught up with whatever stole the device - which could be pretty powerful if it had did what it had done to the research base.

- CO

Dr. Badawai continued directing her team as they carried the bodies one by one to the beam out location and beamed them aboard Repulse.

"Nearly finished here, Captain," she reported.

~Dr. Badawai~

Ta'ask looked over his squad of security officers. He had to assign two to rather unfortunate duty. Being left away from the action should be any security man's worst nightmare, it was not a job for pacifists or cowards. He marched in front of the men, eyeing them carefully and sniffing each one. He would need an Alpha and a follower, no need for them both to try and be in charge. The first was stong and handsome, looking very alert and smell8ing like he loved every moment of getting ready to fight trapped on a dead planetoid in the middle of nowhere. The second despite his muscular six foot four build, did not have the air of a predator, he was like the large Ram that protected the females of his flock. Useful, but not what you wanted in a hunting party.

Ta'ask extended his gloved claw pointing at the men. "You Missster Nickell...and you Misssster Raymond. You will sssecure this area and assssist the ssscience officer to uncover evidence related to the device that wassss here. You will be extracted by the Hataway in one day. Ssshoot anything not that is not Sssstarfleet."

-Lt. Ta'ask

The man who had shown Badawai the datapad earlier approached her once again.

"Doctor, a moment, please."

They spoke for a few seconds, the man pointing out some things on the datapad, until Dr. Badawai said with concern in her voice, "You are sure?" The man nodded. Badawai took the pad and turned to the command officers.

"Captain, a moment, please. There are seven bodies we've recovered. The crew manifest of the station was eight. One of the scientists is unaccounted for."

At that moment, communication came from the Repulse - Commander Sullivan once again. Her voice had a slight hint of alarm.

=^= Repulse to Away team. Captain, a ship is emerging from the opposite side of the nebula. =^=

~GM~

Those two messages caused rapid alarm in Heinz's mind. With the news of a ship emerging from the nebula and the discovery that a scientist was missing, she faced the possibility that the ship they were facing carried said scientist.

There was only one thing for it as she responded.

=/\=Captain to Repulse. Bring everybody up except the following...=/\=; she listed the names of those staying behind; =/\=Right now if possible. Go to Red Alert and arm all weapons.=/\=

- CO

Ja'niri stowed her tricorder, phaser and the data stick she had recovered from the dead man. Haste was certainly the action of the moment as she made her way quickly to the beam out area. Whatever this ship was lurking in the Nebula had answers to what happened here. And if they wanted a fight, this was one Andorian ready to give it back.

-Ja'niri

=^= Confirmed. Stand by. =^=

=^= Transporter Room 1 to Away team, I need everyone to get back to the transport site to guarantee successful beam out. =^=

Dr. Badawai turned to her crew. Only three of them remained - two carrying a body between them and the man who had given her the data pad.

"Everyone back to the transport site. NOW."

The three didn't hesitate, and hurriedly made their way to the initial beam in location. Dr. Badawai followed them.

They all beamed away as Lt. Greyson beamed down.

"Captain, Commander." He didn't look happy.

OOC: I'll assume Ja'niri communicated the orders as Badawai's team was finishing up. If you'd rather have her not make that call, I'll retcon this.

IC: A moment later, the remaining members of the Away team were beamed back to the Repulse.

~GM~

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