Mission 4: Behind the Mask

[Planetside]

Julia held Hope as they dematerialized. They quickly rematerialized in an isolated area away from the hustle and bustle from the city. Hope seemed much calmer. "Everything will be fine sweetheart. I called my friends for help." Julia said as started to stand upright. "We'll get to the bottom of this and try to get you back to your mom at the same time. We'll try to help your friends and family." Julia reassured the child. Julia was worried about the next step. She was eager to figure this out. She felt a certain connection to Hope and wanted nothing more than to help her out.

Safefta Pardek wrote:

[Planetside]

Pardek was more than happily ignoring the other patrons in the bar. She wasn't there to interact with them and wouldn't have cared less if they'd all become floor lamps. She was much more interested in her newly-arrived drink... and snorting when Alex commented on it.

"I despise molasses." Much, much too sweet. It made the Romulan shudder just thinking of it. Still, in terms of consistency Alex wasn't far off. What it lacked in ease of drinking, however, it made up for in potency.

Her amused expression subsided when her friend raised his glass. Pardek lifted hers in what she knew to be the appropriate response to the scenario. "To better times," she parroted, then titled her glass back until she'd obtained a satisfactory amount of the thick liquor. It tended to stick in your throat and burn, but Safefta was used to that.



She was somewhere near the bottom of her glass when she was startled by the sudden appearance of a security officer bearing a PADD. They didn't offer any explination, and Safefta quickly saw why when she glanced down at the screen. Am I tipsy already or is this really gibberish? she wondered as she scanned over the dots and dashes.

"Morse code?" she muttered. Not really a specialty of hers... but she took a crack at it. She quickly realized that what she was translating wasn't Fed Standard, but instead a greco roman transliteration of the Romulan language.



Obviously the message was meant for select few eyes, or it wouldn't be so intricately disguised...

The Romulan was broken, but readable, and Safefta immediately frowned. Aside from a few misplaced words -What has sex to do with anything?- it was understandable...  This was a bad time for problems.



Pardek set her empty glass down. Of course there had to be a problem with the planet. "This is a serious problem," she muttered, before turning the translated message over on the PADD to Alex, careful to avoid the screen being seen by anyone else.

"Rellek?" she looked around her for the science officer as well. What did she have to do with this?

[Planetside]

Alex had shot back the whiskey, and was about to do the same with his ale when Safefta pulled out a PADD, making all sorts of unseemly faces as she fiddled with the template. "Is that work? No, we're not doing work right now. We're here to have a good time. Put it away." He pleaded with her to little effect. As she turned the PADD over, Alex groaned. "No, no problems. No issues, no emergencies."

To his own disconcertion, Alex found himself reading the short translated message. "Oh goddamnit. Why now, of all places." His mood had turned sour again, contrasting sharply with the jovial environment. Finally a few days off, with ample liquor and good food. Why does everyone want to ruin it?

"Every bloody time, someone has to go digging for trouble. For once, why can't we just pretend it's not our damn problem? But no, somebody has to go be a hero." As he grumbled irritably away, Alex took back one of the latinum strips, leaving enough to cover their drinks and a generous tip. "Come on, let's go find this do-gooder."

Leading the way out of the bar, he only had to turn around a corner to spot a young ensign standing alone, a small girl by her side. "So you're the one gunning for Admiral." Alex stated sarcastically with a scowl. Tone it the fuck down, skippy, he reminded himself seconds after. There's a kid, keep that filter on. Looking down at the girl, he reckoned she was mildly malnourished and visibly dirty, something which was certainly out of place with everyone else they had seen so far. "Care to share what's going on, Rellek?" he continued, minutely less hostile.

Alexander Wu wrote:

[Planetside]

Alex had shot back the whiskey, and was about to do the same with his ale when Safefta pulled out a PADD, making all sorts of unseemly faces as she fiddled with the template. "Is that work? No, we're not doing work right now. We're here to have a good time. Put it away." He pleaded with her to little effect. As she turned the PADD over, Alex groaned. "No, no problems. No issues, no emergencies."

To his own disconcertion, Alex found himself reading the short translated message. "Oh goddamnit. Why now, of all places." His mood had turned sour again, contrasting sharply with the jovial environment. Finally a few days off, with ample liquor and good food. Why does everyone want to ruin it?

"Every bloody time, someone has to go digging for trouble. For once, why can't we just pretend it's not our damn problem? But no, somebody has to go be a hero." As he grumbled irritably away, Alex took back one of the latinum strips, leaving enough to cover their drinks and a generous tip. "Come on, let's go find this do-gooder."

Leading the way out of the bar, he only had to turn around a corner to spot a young ensign standing alone, a small girl by her side. "So you're the one gunning for Admiral." Alex stated sarcastically with a scowl. Tone it the fuck down, skippy, he reminded himself seconds after. There's a kid, keep that filter on. Looking down at the girl, he reckoned she was mildly malnourished and visibly dirty, something which was certainly out of place with everyone else they had seen so far. "Care to share what's going on, Rellek?" he continued, minutely less hostile.

[Planetside]

Julia heard a sound and noticed Wu's approach. She immediately noticed the officer's attitude and snide comment. Julia decided to ignore the comment altogether and stick to the mission at hand. "Mr. Wu, Hope hear approached me frightened and scared. She was looking for her mother. They had come up from below the surface to look for food." Julia explained. "The ship has detected a temporal cloak hiding an extensive network of caverns below the surface. We are currently awaiting the remainder of our team." Julia was slightly off-put by the officer's attitude, however, they had a mission in front of them. She wanted to avoid judging him too quickly. This was, after all, her first encounter with him.

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

Bridge

"Yes, Ma'am," Andrew said with a slight nod of his head before having her beamed back down to where she had been only moments earlier.  

Only after the Captain was gone did Andrew Sheridan take a deep breath.  It seemed his course of action was okay, but having a rather disgruntled Captain was not something on his list of things to happen.  In fact, it was in his job description...somewhere...to make sure his CO and XO were happy....or something like that.  Wasn't there?

In any case, Andrew went back to the center chair to think for a moment.  He had people on the ground capable of investigating this situation, and without him triggering further suspicions from the planetary government.  To continue scans from the planet would only make things worse....not something he had a desire to do.  Thus, the best thing he could do was coordinate from the cruiser any searches being started by those involved.  The PaDDs would help with that without the government intercepting and understanding the messages.  Now that both Ensign Pardek and Captain T'Koris had such items...it would be easier to communicate to either of them on what they found.

Yet, to sit in the chair without further action seemed....wasteful.  There had to be something else he could do, but he corrected himself a second later.  He was doing something....he was thinking of a way to help.  No doubt that was what his Captain and XO had to do every time they sat where he did now.  No doubt, they also felt that frustration or need to act beyond coming up with solutions and coordinating.

"Ensign Black, per Starfleet's mandate on temporal anomalies...coordinate with Science and Ops on finding out the strength, size, and term of the temporal phase we discovered.  By term, I mean, just how long has it been in effect.  Since the Captain has the excuse of us running a sweep on such anomalies...might as well make it look good.  Besides, we might just get lucky enough to figure out more to this mystery," Andrew ordered the Helmsman as he straightened in his chair.

[Bridge]

Ensign? I think Sheridan just demoted me. After a brief moment of silence, Derek replied, "Aye sir." Temporal anomalies were certainly not his strong suit, and he had to wonder at what Sheridan was playing at. Fly a casevac through gale force winds, or provide combat medicine under fire, that was his forte. That was his bread and butter. Temporal mechanics was the little container of mystery meat sitting in the back of his refrigeration unit since the beginning of time.

Nevertheless, he opted he'd have to give it his best, bringing up the previous scan results onto his console. "Keldar, let's prep a Class-1 probe modified to detect anomalies on the same wavelength. We'll deploy it perpendicularly along our orbit path to map out the depth of these caverns. Prep a second probe with the same specifications, we can launch it into polar orbit to scan the rest of the planet surface for any more of these anomalies. Ensign Walking Proud, let's start working on what else this anomaly blocks, asides from our eyes."

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

Placing a light hand on Gabriel's back, Archangel guided him to walk with her.  She didn't want to attract any attention by standing in that one place too long.  It would be better if they at least appeared to be enjoying the scenery and their time out in the fresh air.

"We have a problem," she said in a low voice, folding her arms behind her back, trying to keep the expression of concern and worry from her face.  "Our new science officer has found a scared child on the street who claims to be from the 'Underside'.  Lieutenant Sheridan ran a few scans and seems to have found a series of caverns under the city that have been cloaked.  Whatever's happening, they're trying to hide it for some reason."

[Planetside]

Well. Hell.

Gabe rolled his eyes, rubbing his temples as they walked along, pretending not to have a care in the world beyond a boring dinner. If all this was true...And here that old fool was, blathering on about architecture, all the while these people are possibly hidng something. Just what that something was...well. Gabe figured his headache would be growing before the day was through.

"We gotta regroup," he said, quietly, but intently. "Not a ship-wide alert, but just key personnel. We're in the blinds here, Arch. Whatever these people have been hiding, they're damn good at it, if it escaped the initial wave of Federation observers."

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Planetside]

Julia heard a sound and noticed Wu's approach. She immediately noticed the officer's attitude and snide comment. Julia decided to ignore the comment altogether and stick to the mission at hand. "Mr. Wu, Hope hear approached me frightened and scared. She was looking for her mother. They had come up from below the surface to look for food." Julia explained. "The ship has detected a temporal cloak hiding an extensive network of caverns below the surface. We are currently awaiting the remainder of our team." Julia was slightly off-put by the officer's attitude, however, they had a mission in front of them. She wanted to avoid judging him too quickly. This was, after all, her first encounter with him.

[Planetside]

Alex just about scoffed, but managed to sound more patient than condescending. "So you decided the best course of action was to remove this child from the general area where her mother was, and bring her here. Sure, makes sense. In some cultures, I think they call that kidnapping." He sighed, the taste of whiskey still strong on his breath. I need a coffee. "What you see is what you get, Rellek. Unarmed, no equipment, and half in the tank. Someone really thought this one through."

Even with that last ministration, quite some time had passed since he first started, and the pleasant numbness was rapidly fading away. Rellek's problem demanded sober thinking, and Alex could feel a headache rapidly coming on. "Well since we're all stuck with this now, didn't mean you, sweetie," he quickly added, looking at the girl, "Let's get to work. Saf, can you message the ship and ask them to send down our kit? Rellek, if we're going to recce these caverns, we're going to need to know how to get in. I think...Hope is your best resource. Find out as much information as you can before we depart. As for me...I'm going to get a raktajino. And some food for the girl."

Alexander Wu wrote:

[Planetside]

Alex just about scoffed, but managed to sound more patient than condescending. "So you decided the best course of action was to remove this child from the general area where her mother was, and bring her here. Sure, makes sense. In some cultures, I think they call that kidnapping." He sighed, the taste of whiskey still strong on his breath. I need a coffee. "What you see is what you get, Rellek. Unarmed, no equipment, and half in the tank. Someone really thought this one through."

Even with that last ministration, quite some time had passed since he first started, and the pleasant numbness was rapidly fading away. Rellek's problem demanded sober thinking, and Alex could feel a headache rapidly coming on. "Well since we're all stuck with this now, didn't mean you, sweetie," he quickly added, looking at the girl, "Let's get to work. Saf, can you message the ship and ask them to send down our kit? Rellek, if we're going to recce these caverns, we're going to need to know how to get in. I think...Hope is your best resource. Find out as much information as you can before we depart. As for me...I'm going to get a raktajino. And some food for the girl."

[Planetside]

"I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. We wanted to get the girl out of harms way." Julia scoffed. She was just about over Wu's sarcasm. Julia was, after all, a professional and found his remarks simply unnecessary. "I'll get us into those caverns, don't worry." Julia stated. She turned her attention to Hope an knelt down back to her level. "Honey my friend here is going to go find you some food. If I need you too can you take us to the place where you and your mom came to the surface?"

Derek Black wrote:

Ensign? I think Sheridan just demoted me. After a brief moment of silence, Derek replied, "Aye sir." Temporal anomalies were certainly not his strong suit, and he had to wonder at what Sheridan was playing at. Fly a casevac through gale force winds, or provide combat medicine under fire, that was his forte. That was his bread and butter. Temporal mechanics was the little container of mystery meat sitting in the back of his refrigeration unit since the beginning of time.

Nevertheless, he opted he'd have to give it his best, bringing up the previous scan results onto his console. "Keldar, let's prep a Class-1 probe modified to detect anomalies on the same wavelength. We'll deploy it perpendicularly along our orbit path to map out the depth of these caverns. Prep a second probe with the same specifications, we can launch it into polar orbit to scan the rest of the planet surface for any more of these anomalies. Ensign Walking Proud, let's start working on what else this anomaly blocks, asides from our eyes."

[Bridge - Ops]

"Aye, Chief," Keldar nodded, setting immediately to work. He knew that Sheridan technically had command of the bridge at the nonce, but his Ops Chief had given Black specific orders to see things carried out, so the Ferengi wasted no time in doing it.

Keying in commands, Keldar transferred the probe's on-board computer specs to the loading bay, waiting for the green light from his compatriots in the bowels of the ship. When that arrived, he turned in his seat. "Probes reporting ready, Chief, Lieutenant. Prepared to fire on your mark."

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

[Planetside]

Well.  Hell.

Gabe rolled his eyes, rubbing his temples as they walked along, pretending not to have a care in the world beyond a boring dinner.  If all this was true...And here that old fool was, blathering on about architecture, all the while these people are possibly hidng something.  Just what that something was...well.  Gabe figured his headache would be growing before the day was through.

"We gotta regroup," he said, quietly, but intently.  "Not a ship-wide alert, but just key personnel.  We're in the blinds here, Arch.  Whatever these people have been hiding, they're damn good at it, if it escaped the initial wave of Federation observers."

[Planetside]

Archangel nodded in response to Gabriel's words, seeing the logic in them. While they needed to check this out, for humanitarian reasons if nothing else, they couldn't risk throwing around what they had found. If it was hidden, there was a reason, and they didn't want to go stirring up trouble.

Spotting a couple of yellow shirts and a blue shirt with a child, she put two and two together and made her way over to them. This would have to be the scouting party. It was a pretty good one, all things considered. The two officers and Safefta as the security team, Ensign Rellek for science, Wu for Ops, and then herself and Gabriel could fall into Engineering.

Her eyes fell to the little girl. It was difficult not to start projecting her emotions towards her own daughters on her, especially since she looked to be about the same age as Seika.

"Safefta, Alex, Ensign Rellek," she said in way of greeting. "Nice to see you making friends with the locals. Lieutenant Sheridan's brought me up to speed on the situation."

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Planetside]

"I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. We wanted to get the girl out of harms way." Julia scoffed. She was just about over Wu's sarcasm. Julia was, after all, a professional and found his remarks simply unnecessary. "I'll get us into those caverns, don't worry." Julia stated. She turned her attention to Hope an knelt down back to her level. "Honey my friend here is going to go find you some food. If I need you too can you take us to the place where you and your mom came to the surface?"

[Planetside]

Throughout the transport process, Hope had clung to Julia's leg, scared of this new sensation, and continued to cling on at the sight of two more uniforms as they reappeared, and then were joined by two more.

The child ducked behind Julia, looking for some kind of reassurance from her when the science officer crouched down and asked her to take them to the Underside. Popping her thumb back into her mouth, she nodded.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Planetside]

Archangel nodded in response to Gabriel's words, seeing the logic in them.  While they needed to check this out, for humanitarian reasons if nothing else, they couldn't risk throwing around what they had found.  If it was hidden, there was a reason, and they didn't want to go stirring up trouble.

Spotting a couple of yellow shirts and a blue shirt with a child, she put two and two together and made her way over to them.  This would have to be the scouting party.  It was a pretty good one, all things considered.  The two officers and Safefta as the security team, Ensign Rellek for science, Wu for Ops, and then herself and Gabriel could fall into Engineering.

Her eyes fell to the little girl.  It was difficult not to start projecting her emotions towards her own daughters on her, especially since she looked to be about the same age as Seika.

"Safefta, Alex, Ensign Rellek," she said in way of greeting.  "Nice to see you making friends with the locals.  Lieutenant Sheridan's brought me up to speed on the situation."

[Planetside]

Safefta was already getting a headache after decoding the message. She didn't want to get up and follow Alex to find Rellek at all... the Kanar she'd drunk had been a little stronger than normal and she was already feeling the beginning effects of it. Still, she got up just the same and followed him out.

Unforutnately for everyone, Alex's sour mood had returned and she herself wasn't feeling much better. Plus, there was a child there. Safefta hated children- found them annoying and disturbing, among a host of other things.

For this reason, she kept quiet while Alex went off on the poor ensign in front of them. He is right, however... what kind of foolhardy mission is this?

She was going to say something anyway when she saw T'Koris approach with Gabriel. She wanted to sigh heavily. The reserved officer's tongue was a little looser now after the Kanar, but she tried to keep it, and her displeasure, contained.

"I am not fully aware of all the details aside from the roughly translated message and what Rellek told Alex and I. ... I am aware that you wish to turn this into some sort of expedition, but I feel it's necessary to mention that both I and petty officer Wu have been drinking and may not be... at our best."

Bridge

Andrew Sheridan was unaware of a few things, and had missed others he should have been aware of. One of those things was the fact that Derek Black was NOT an Ensign. If anything, the Helmsman was more valuable than just an Ensign. The rank of CPO was well earned, and it was not easy to achieve. To address the man as an Ensign before the entire bridge crew was a serious lapse of paying attention to details. It was something he would have to make sure didn't happen again. There was something else that worried him more than his lack of attention to the personnel ranks around him. The majority of the crew on the planet were not there as part of the assigned away team for the final phase of admission to the Federation. Instead, most were on shore leave.

With them on shore leave enjoying themselves...what condition might they be in? Would they even be in a position to aid Julia and the Captain? These were things he had not considered. It worried him now that Julia Rellek's support might not be ready....much less willing to give up their much earned rest. Frowning, Andrew felt a need to correct the issue, but how was quite another matter. There was also the fact that Derek Black was a Helmsman...not a Science or Ops person. His knowledge of temporal mechanics would be quite limited. Suddenly, Andrew Sheridan felt the weight of command. Ops was not distributing personnel so much as it was resources and aiding those with tasks on hand. Command, however, was assigning personnel suited to the tasks, and making the best use of the resources at his disposal.

Thus far, he had not done a very stellar job of commanding the Bridge. He had two choices...to either continue as is; or to correct his errors.

"Chief Black, first, an apology for the incorrect rank. Second, as I recall, your talents lay in search and rescue through hot zones. However, such is not yet needed at this particular moment. Launch the probe, and send the information to Ensign Walking Proud's Science station," Lieutenant Sheridan began as he watched the Captain arrive with the rest of those gathered around Julia and the child. His frown did not dissipate as he watched. Though there were now four personnel...five counting the guard he had sent with the PaDD to Ensign Pardek...who now showed up at the Captain's side; it seemed the team was not well made. Sadly, Andrew didn't see any way of correcting that issue without beaming down further personnel. Doing so would only attract further suspicion upon the crew down there attempting to figure the mystery out.

"Mr. Keldar, have supplies beamed down to their location....one full field pack should do it. Also, just in case, have a med kit sent down as well...one with a detox. Who knows, they might just need it," Andrew continued as he thought about the best way of helping the team out...while correcting his errors. The Captain or XO...or both...were going to have a long talk with him after this...he just knew it.

The field pack was a good plan. After all, none of the five personnel short of the guard had a phaser. At least, if they did, it was hidden. A field pack came with two such sidearms. Second, if they were to go exploring caverns; the field pack would have at least one light, a spare tricorder, and about forty feet of rope...complete with grappling hook. In addition, the pack would have some field rations and water. Of course, the med kit would also have the standard medical needs should the team need it. Beyond that, there was little he could do without getting a report from Science about what the probe had found.

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[USS Phoenix - Jefferies Tubes]

Seika grinned back, starting to crawl alongside Tufezr through the tubes.  The mention of being the captain, however, earned him a scowl and a tongue stuck out at him.

"I don't wanna be the captain!" she protested, holding out her tricorder.  "I have a 'corder!  My Daddy says that I'm a deputy engineer!"

[USS Phoenix Jeffries Tubes]

Tufezr couldn't help continually smiling as they went onwards, her happy and free spirit was always a joy to be around. He knew that there was likely more important things to be done, and his job honestly would be quicker if she weren't tagging along, but he wanted the company and she clearly needed it.

"Alright then, 'deputy engineer', since I outrank you you'll do exactly what I say, got it?" He chuckled, with a complete lack of authority in his tone of voice, knowing he didn't need it with the child anyway. "We're on an important mission, we need to make sure the control panels up ahead are transmitting the correct information. Now, you're going to use your trusty tricorder to find out what's wrong with it, and I'm going to fix it based on what you tell me. Okay?"

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Planetside]

Archangel nodded in response to Gabriel's words, seeing the logic in them.  While they needed to check this out, for humanitarian reasons if nothing else, they couldn't risk throwing around what they had found.  If it was hidden, there was a reason, and they didn't want to go stirring up trouble.

Spotting a couple of yellow shirts and a blue shirt with a child, she put two and two together and made her way over to them.  This would have to be the scouting party.  It was a pretty good one, all things considered.  The two officers and Safefta as the security team, Ensign Rellek for science, Wu for Ops, and then herself and Gabriel could fall into Engineering.

Her eyes fell to the little girl.  It was difficult not to start projecting her emotions towards her own daughters on her, especially since she looked to be about the same age as Seika.

"Safefta, Alex, Ensign Rellek," she said in way of greeting.  "Nice to see you making friends with the locals.  Lieutenant Sheridan's brought me up to speed on the situation."

[Planetside]

"Captain. Gabe." Alex greeted the two senior officers curtly, resisting the urge to add a snarky remark. They show us roses, and here we are, ignoring them and sticking our noses into the shitpit. Again. "Well it's just a regular Disco party here, eh?" He quipped, heading away from the group and back towards the cabana. "I'll be back." Because I have to be.

Back at the bar, he waved the barkeep back over, swiping a menu from another unsuspecting patron. "Two raktajinos, make one of those half-sweet. And a fingers and tuber root fries. Throw in a bottle of citrus juice too. To go, please."

Tufezr Nefen wrote:

[USS Phoenix Jeffries Tubes]

Tufezr couldn't help continually smiling as they went onwards, her happy and free spirit was always a joy to be around. He knew that there was likely more important things to be done, and his job honestly would be quicker if she weren't tagging along, but he wanted the company and she clearly needed it.

"Alright then, 'deputy engineer', since I outrank you you'll do exactly what I say, got it?" He chuckled, with a complete lack of authority in his tone of voice, knowing he didn't need it with the child anyway. "We're on an important mission, we need to make sure the control panels up ahead are transmitting the correct information. Now, you're going to use your trusty tricorder to find out what's wrong with it, and I'm going to fix it based on what you tell me. Okay?"

[USS Phoenix - Jefferies Tubes]

Seika was all too happy to crawl alongside the Trill until they reached the panel that he was supposed to be working on, almost bouncing around in excitement. There was little she loved more than getting to help out in Engineering.

Once the cover on the conduit had been removed, she stuck her head in to have a look. Pulling back, she pointed to the optical cabling and bio-neural gel packs. "That's the system that carries information," she said, proud of herself for knowing that piece of information. She stuck her head back in, taking a closer look at the various elements before frowning. "There's a cable that looks a bit black, Mr Spot, is that bad?"

Andrew Sheridan wrote:

"Mr. Keldar, have supplies beamed down to their location....one full field pack should do it.  Also, just in case, have a med kit sent down as well...one with a detox.  Who knows, they might just need it," Andrew continued as he thought about the best way of helping the team out...while correcting his errors.  The Captain or XO...or both...were going to have a long talk with him after this...he just knew it.

The field pack was a good plan.  After all, none of the five personnel short of the guard had a phaser.  At least, if they did, it was hidden.  A field pack came with two such sidearms.  Second, if they were to go exploring caverns; the field pack would have at least one light, a spare tricorder, and about forty feet of rope...complete with grappling hook.  In addition, the pack would have some field rations and water.  Of course, the med kit would also have the standard medical needs should the team need it.  Beyond that, there was little he could do without getting a report from Science about what the probe had found.

[Bridge - Ops]

Keldar nodded, filtering through the command to have a care package of vital items sent down to the shore leave that was rapidly evolving into a full-fledged away mission. "Care package one is away, Lieutenant," the Ferengi said, his stubby little fingers working quickly over the screen panels. With all the shuttle and transporter traffic going on between the ship and the planet surface, one more beam of items shouldn't raise any suspicion on the part of the inhabitants.

Another panel flashed green. "Probes are sending feedback. There's information, but they're having trouble getting a solid read on anything much below the regolith layer." Keldar raised an eyebrow, looking over toward science. "What in the name of latinum is regolith?"

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[Planetside]

Archangel nodded in response to Gabriel's words, seeing the logic in them.  While they needed to check this out, for humanitarian reasons if nothing else, they couldn't risk throwing around what they had found.  If it was hidden, there was a reason, and they didn't want to go stirring up trouble.

Spotting a couple of yellow shirts and a blue shirt with a child, she put two and two together and made her way over to them.  This would have to be the scouting party.  It was a pretty good one, all things considered.  The two officers and Safefta as the security team, Ensign Rellek for science, Wu for Ops, and then herself and Gabriel could fall into Engineering.

Her eyes fell to the little girl.  It was difficult not to start projecting her emotions towards her own daughters on her, especially since she looked to be about the same age as Seika.

"Safefta, Alex, Ensign Rellek," she said in way of greeting.  "Nice to see you making friends with the locals.  Lieutenant Sheridan's brought me up to speed on the situation."

[Planetside]

As Hope nodded affirming that she could in fact lead them back to the entrance she and her mother had emerged from Julia patted the young child's back. She then noticed the Captain and First Officer approaching their position. "Captain, Commander." Julia acknowledged their approach. "I just confirmed with Hope that she can indeed lead us to the entrance of the 'underside' Sirs." Julia turned her attention to Hope. "Hope, honey, these are my friends Archangel and Gabel. Their going to help us out."

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Planetside]

As Hope nodded affirming that she could in fact lead them back to the entrance she and her mother had emerged from Julia patted the young child's back. She then noticed the Captain and First Officer approaching their position. "Captain, Commander." Julia acknowledged their approach. "I just confirmed with Hope that she can indeed lead us to the entrance of the 'underside' Sirs." Julia turned her attention to Hope. "Hope, honey, these are my friends Archangel and Gabel. Their going to help us out."

[Planetside]

Gabe and Arch were, fortunately, able to catch up to a few of their officers immediately.  He raised one slight eyebrow at Wu and Pardek drinking together, but thought nothing more of it.  Maybe Wu's new found, sour-assed attitude suits Saf's moods just perfectly...  It was true that Alex had been acting more and more detached of late, ever since he arrived on the Phoenix, really.  He and Gabriel had never been extremely close, but Alex was an acquaintance, dating back to the days of the USS Discovery.  Gabriel made a note to pass on a...strong recommendation...that Wu see Chira at the earliest opportunity.  Before you really *do* bone your career.

"Ensign Rellek," Gabriel said, smiling.  "You seem to have a way with kids today."  He knelt down to about eye-level with the little girl called Hope.  "Hullo, Miss Hope.  I'm Gabriel.  We're gonna see what we can do for you.  Is that okay?"  He couldn't help but see his own daughter reflected in the scraggly little urchin.  It felt like a stab in the heart.

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Planetside]

As Hope nodded affirming that she could in fact lead them back to the entrance she and her mother had emerged from Julia patted the young child's back. She then noticed the Captain and First Officer approaching their position. "Captain, Commander." Julia acknowledged their approach. "I just confirmed with Hope that she can indeed lead us to the entrance of the 'underside' Sirs." Julia turned her attention to Hope. "Hope, honey, these are my friends Archangel and Gabel. Their going to help us out."

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

"Ensign Rellek," Gabriel said, smiling. "You seem to have a way with kids today." He knelt down to about eye-level with the little girl called Hope. "Hullo, Miss Hope. I'm Gabriel. We're gonna see what we can do for you. Is that okay?" He couldn't help but see his own daughter reflected in the scraggly little urchin. It felt like a stab in the heart.

[Planetside]

Hope looked between Julia and Gabriel, still keeping closer to the science officer as if she was the only one out of the group that the little girl trusted, especially since neither of the the two officers in yellow shirts seemed particularly pleased to see her.

She blinked at Gabriel, hugging her ragged teddy bear close. "Do you know where my mommy is?"

Archangel T'Koris wrote:

[USS Phoenix - Jefferies Tubes]

Seika was all too happy to crawl alongside the Trill until they reached the panel that he was supposed to be working on, almost bouncing around in excitement.  There was little she loved more than getting to help out in Engineering.  

Once the cover on the conduit had been removed, she stuck her head in to have a look.  Pulling back, she pointed to the optical cabling and bio-neural gel packs.  "That's the system that carries information," she said, proud of herself for knowing that piece of information.  She stuck her head back in, taking a closer look at the various elements before frowning.  "There's a cable that looks a bit black, Mr Spot, is that bad?"

[USS Phoenix Jeffries Tubes]

The Trill, in kind, was all too happy to have Seika tagging along. Ever since he had met the child, he had found her company to only be enjoyable, and not at all in the way of his work. If anything, it made him work faster simply so that he could enjoy talking to her rather than spending time working on this conduit or that relay readout or whatnot.

"That's correct," he smiled encouragingly at her when she correctly identified the optical cabling and bio-neural gel packs. He frowned when she mentioned black on the cables, since by Starfleet standards cables should only get black after years of a lack of maintenance. "Let me see." He poked his head in after the five-year old had removed hers, using a light to get a better look at it and sticking in his tricorder as well to see what the black substance was.

"Hmm, seems that this cable has just about had it, it's wearing out. The problem is, everything around this black portion is practically brand new, it shouldn't be in this condition at all."

[Bridge]

"No worries, sir." Derek replied, nodding at the lieutenant. "There's a reason why Starfleet cross trains." With the ship's computer maintaining their course and heading, it was easier for him to access the probes' readings from another console. Moving to the rear of the bridge and the secondary Ops station, Derek brought up the two status displays as the probes became active. "Receiving probe telemetry now, Ensign Walking Proud, standby."

Using Sheridan's model from their previous scan as a template, Derek plugged in the numbers from the probe scanning the colony site before sending it off to the science station for Walking Proud to decipher. The second probe, which was now polar orbiting the planet at a higher velocity, would take twelve hours before it's scans were completed.

NPC wrote:

Senior Crewman Keldar

[Bridge - Ops]

Keldar nodded, filtering through the command to have a care package of vital items sent down to the shore leave that was rapidly evolving into a full-fledged away mission.    "Care package one is away, Lieutenant," the Ferengi said, his stubby little fingers working quickly over the screen panels.  With all the shuttle and transporter traffic going on between the ship and the planet surface, one more beam of items shouldn't raise any suspicion on the part of the inhabitants.  

Another panel flashed green.  "Probes are sending feedback.  There's information, but they're having trouble getting a solid read on anything much below the regolith layer."  Keldar raised an eyebrow, looking over toward science.  "What in the name of latinum is regolith?"

"That's basically everything above bedrock." Derek replied, the term ringing an old, rusty bell from his mountain ops course. "Which would make sense, since these caverns which are all inside the bedrock. If we map out the regions which our scans can't detect as opposed to those that we can, it should be enough to form a two dimensional representation of what we're dealing with."

NPC wrote:

Hope looked between Julia and Gabriel, still keeping closer to the science officer as if she was the only one out of the group that the little girl trusted, especially since neither of the the two officers in yellow shirts seemed particularly pleased to see her.

She blinked at Gabriel, hugging her ragged teddy bear close.  "Do you know where my mommy is?"

[Planetside]

"No, sweetie. I don't. But we're going to see if we can find her." Gabriel hoped that it wasn't a lie, but...well. They were going to try. He knew his wife well enough to know that she was already probably planning what to do about this. "We're Starfleet, Hope. This is what we do."

Gabe stood, brushing his knees off, giving the gathered officers a level look. "If we're going to do something about this...we need to do it quick, and fast. I don't like how this smells, not a damn bit." He glanced at the girl, and then to the captain. "We could follow her back. We have equipment. We have a strike force already assembled."

Gabriel Arthur wrote:

[Planetside]

"No, sweetie.  I don't.  But we're going to see if we can find her."  Gabriel hoped that it wasn't a lie, but...well.  They were going to try.  He knew his wife well enough to know that she was already probably planning what to do about this.  "We're Starfleet, Hope.  This is what we do."

Gabe stood, brushing his knees off, giving the gathered officers a level look.  "If we're going to do something about this...we need to do it quick, and fast.  I don't like how this smells, not a damn bit."  He glanced at the girl, and then to the captain.  "We could follow her back.  We have equipment.  We have a strike force already assembled."

[Planetside]

Archangel thought for a moment about what Gabriel was saying, forcing herself to tuck her emotions away and look at this as a Starfleet captain and not a mother. She couldn't afford to let her personal feelings cloud the water. The Phoenix, she suspected, Sheridan, had beamed down a full equipment pack for them. She now had to walk the line of Starfleet officer and diplomat.

"If Hope can lead us to the entrance to this underground city, we can take it from there. Exploration only, a look-and-no-touch expedition. We can take up and findings with the President later. I'd like to keep Hope with us and see if we can find her family though."

NPC wrote:

Keldar nodded, filtering through the command to have a care package of vital items sent down to the shore leave that was rapidly evolving into a full-fledged away mission.    "Care package one is away, Lieutenant," the Ferengi said, his stubby little fingers working quickly over the screen panels.  With all the shuttle and transporter traffic going on between the ship and the planet surface, one more beam of items shouldn't raise any suspicion on the part of the inhabitants.  

[Planetside]

On his way back to the group laden with a bag of food, two paper cups, and a full flask, Alex spotted the telltale blue shimmer of a transporter beam in the middle of the boardwalk. He quickly hurried over, slinging the pack over his shoulder before anyone else became too curious. "Forgot my swimsuit. Any other questions?" He asked two bystanders, both locals, after they wandered too closely. Watching them scuttle off, Alex headed off on his original direction.

While the group hadn't grown in size since he had left, it seemed as though more decisions had been made. "Tellak, for her." Alex handed off the food and juice, nodding at the little girl. "Saf." Giving his companion the half-sweet coffee, Alex cracked his own open and took a long sip of the rich, slightly bitter, beverage. It's warmth was well appreciated, even in the sun. "Christmas came late this year." He indicated the pack by his side. "There are eyes all over this place, while the two senior officers of a visiting starship and their entourage attract more than most. Can we get out of sight before someone starts asking questions?"

Tufezr Nefen wrote:

[USS Phoenix Jeffries Tubes]

The Trill, in kind, was all too happy to have Seika tagging along. Ever since he had met the child, he had found her company to only be enjoyable, and not at all in the way of his work. If anything, it made him work faster simply so that he could enjoy talking to her rather than spending time working on this conduit or that relay readout or whatnot.

"That's correct," he smiled encouragingly at her when she correctly identified the optical cabling and bio-neural gel packs. He frowned when she mentioned black on the cables, since by Starfleet standards cables should only get black after years of a lack of maintenance. "Let me see." He poked his head in after the five-year old had removed hers, using a light to get a better look at it and sticking in his tricorder as well to see what the black substance was.

"Hmm, seems that this cable has just about had it, it's wearing out. The problem is, everything around this black portion is practically brand new, it shouldn't be in this condition at all."

[USS Phoenix - Jefferies Tubes]

Seika sat back on her heels as Spot took a look in the conduit at the section of cabling that she had pointed out. She tapped a finger on her knee as she tried to think of anything that could have caused the optical cabling to turn black when it shouldn't have.

Moving under the Trill so that she could stick her head back into the conduit without having to wait for him to move back, she looked at the black section before pointing something out.

"Look, there's a hot bit right here!" she said. "Maybe the cables just melted a bit!"