Going Down To The Planet Part 1

Posted on Fri Sep 6th, 2024 @ 7:38am by Leiddem Kea (*) & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Teresa Forrest & Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya & Owen Mathieson

Mission: Shackles
Location: Cotrie
Timeline: MD 01
2765 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Leiddem frowned as he hauled himself up into the shuttle and looked at everyone assembled there already Leiddem was unsure of his exact role in the mission. Other than being someone who could handle heavy lifting when they discovered the cache on this remote planet, he felt somewhat out of place. However, perhaps that was precisely why he had been chosen but he wished he had been told that instead of leaving him a little clueless and sat at the back.

As he settled into a seat, he looked around at the other crew members. Each one was busy with their preparations—checking equipment, securing gear, and reviewing mission plans. Breaking the silence that filled the shuttle, Leiddem decided to voice a thought that had been nagging him. “We should give this planet a name.” He said by greeting to the occupants of the shuttle. “I hate us calling it unknown just because it has no official name.”

"Planet Bob," Teresa answered without hesitation and delay as she stepped onto the shuttle. A brief moment spent double-checking she brought everything she was going to need before choosing a seat and sitting down, quietly repeating to herself "... Bob. Yes," with a sage nod.

Leiddem turned at the engineer who had answered him and offered a grin, someone was finally just as daft as him other than Delaney at moments when they really should be more serious. Bob was such a human suggestion and he was there for it. "Planet Bob? Hmm? Maybe." He said with his own sage nod.

Kali didn't look up form various preflight prep and checks, but she snickered at the proposed name. "I'd be happier if 'Bob' wasn't so obscure to sensors; so everyone actually strap before we hit the atmosphere...just in case. That goes for securing supplies too, in case we hit something unexpected."

Feeling the shuttle begin to shift under them, Jake nodded from the second seat next to Kali. "We won't really be here long enough for the name to stick anyway. It's a quick in-and-out; collection and delivery. Back before dinner."

Tree winced at Jake's words. "Why'd you have to go and say that? Nothing good ever comes from saying that."

Tucked away in a seat that came with absolutely no functional obligation other than to sit tight and, metaphorically, look pretty, Owen hadn't contributed to the conversation but was comfortably enjoying it in much the same way anyone who tended to keep to themselves could find contentment in allowing other people to carry the social load. He wasn't entirely sure what he was part of this reconnaissance if he was honest, though there was some reason to suspect it was simply Gregnol's way of figuring out of a book-nerd could earn his keep in between translating rare hieroglyphs or dissecting alien tomes. (Neither of which, he would hazard to guess, were a particularly frequent requirement for the crew of an ordinary cargo ship.) It was an opportunity to explore a new planet, at least, and that was worth a few callouses and strained back muscles. As they slowly manoeuvred the take-off, Owen peered out of the viewport and froze a moment, face elongated, before issuing forth a barrage of rapid-fire sneezes.

"Err bless you?" Leiddem offered to the quiet man as he found himself wincing too at what Ford had said. When did things ever go logically with an in-and-out collection and delivery and the crew of SS Mary Rose? They had an unhealthy knack of attracting trouble that was out of there control but still they had the knack and tempting fate was just asking for it. "Well I hope someone packed you dinner, Ford."

"Relax. Even if there's trouble we haven't seen any signs of ships or transmissions anywhere near the system." Jake shrugged, feeling a little like he was tempting fate now. "All right, Kali. Take us down. Mind we don't hit any ion storms or cosmic strings or whatever this lot are afraid of..."

Leiddem was not afraid but he was nervous about going on a mission after the leader of the venture had almost jinxed them, "Cosmic string." Leiddem snorted into his arm as he turned away on his seat and started looking far more interested in his console than the conversation about them going down to planet Bob.

From the depths of his handkerchief, Owen huffed with laughter. "Maybe we can see if they know any Wagner."

"It's exactly because of the difficulty of 'not hitting anything' that I want everyone to strap in and secure shit, yeah. The same things that are interfering with the transporter are gonna be hell on the scanners and the flight instruments; which means we're basically going to be on visuals only, which in this atmosphere won't be great either." Kali's expression was an odd mix of someone taking what they were saying quite seriously and impressing that seriousness on others, but also perhaps enthralled by the challenge ahead: In short, a typical pilot. "OK, we are good to go." Kali grinned as her fingers played across her controls. "Ladies and gentlemen; there is no meal service on this flight, and refunds are not available if the service is not up to customer's satisfaction..."

“Had worst Marine drops,” Leiddem spoke up from the back as he tightened the straps that he was relieved the seat had. It was not often in an old shuttlepod that they were standard but he wondered if Gregnol had arranged them knowing just how much trouble they tended to get themselves into. The shuttle hummed to life, and the vibrations shivered through Leiddem's body. He took a deep breath, trying to shake off the unease. He reminded himself that this was supposed to be a straightforward mission. Even so, he couldn't help but feel a pang of worry. The unknowns of Planet Bob—or whatever it might eventually be called—were gnawing at him.

As they broke through the clouds, the planet's surface came into view. The landscape was a mix of rugged terrain and dense forests, with the occasional glimmer of water bodies reflecting the sunlight. Leiddem could see the woman piloting kept adjusting their trajectory, aiming for a relatively flat clearing near the coordinates they had been given.

"Turbulence coming. Hang on..." Jake muttered to the passengers as he let Kali steer.

The descent was rougher than expected. The shuttle jolted and shook, buffeted by turbulent winds and pockets of magnetic interference. Leiddem gripped his seat, muscles tensing with each jolt. He could hear the others muttering under their breaths but the shuttle kept on course.

Finally, with a bone-rattling thud, the shuttle touched down. The engines whined as they powered down, and the interior lights flickered back to full brightness.

Kali's fingers played across her controls again, shutting down systems; and she sprung up from her seat a few moments later with a sardonic grin, clearly not affected at all by the rough descent. "Ladies and gentlemen; welcome to our destination; bags are available at the baggage claim...Assuming we can find where it is using the map, because sensors are spitting out gibberish as expected."

Leiddem was the first to unbuckle and stand, his legs feeling slightly wobbly beneath him. He moved to the hatch opening it, peering out at the alien landscape. The air was thick with the scent of vegetation and something else he couldn't quite place. Leiddem stepped out onto the soft, mossy ground, his boots sinking slightly. He took a moment to scan the surroundings, noting the towering trees and the eerie silence that blanketed the area.

"All right. Let's try to stick to the plan. No wandering off..." Jake noted. "Leiddem, you're leading the way. I'll bring up the rear." He glanced at Kali. "Keep your ears out for anything that sounds like it might want to kill us."

"Got it. At the moment, my bet is on - " Kali swatted the back of one hand with the other abruptly " - some sort of stupid bugs."

Looking every bit like a tourist about to embark on a day hike, Owen emerged from the hatchway with one hand shoved into his pocket and the other outstretched for balance. Most of anything he'd thought to bring was on the rucksack currently slung over his shoulder, and for perhaps reasonably obvious reasons, no one had opted to give the passenger-cum-useful-font-of-knowledge any sort of firearm. "If the bugs don't kill you, the cost of a pint usually will." Leaning out, he peered both ways through the foliage. "Nearest watering hole could be a bit of a hike though."

Leiddem offered a mock salute as he started to look around better now his stomach was no longer doing sommersault from the turbulences. He had always hated them before but knowing how much work Kali had been putting in to keep them right had made it worse in his brain. "The air smells strange?" He said taking a few sniffs.

"Lots of plants." Kali sniffed the air herself. "Also, water; that way." She jerked her chin and one thumb in the approximate direction of the water scent.

"No, it is neither of them. It's more metallic but I do not know." The Betazoid commented but shrugged as he started towards the tree line and the route that they had been given to the cargo.

"Well I took a shower this morning," Owen added reassuringly as he reached up to push a low-slung branch out of his line of sight.

Leiddem snorted but did not take his gaze from the tree line as he heard the hydraulics of the shuttle door closing behind them all. "Glad to hear someone take hygiene seriously but I am not sure the smell is that unless you turned metallic overnight." He teased.

Tree followed along as well, keeping an eye on her tricorder as she did. "Not reading any potent allergens or toxins, least not in any quantity that should worry. Just a lot of - " she yelped as her foot got stuck behind a branch and she slammed face-first in the ground, twitching a bit after impact. " ... Ow. That'll teach me to keep my eyes on the ground ahead of me."

Leiddem glanced back but did not stop to help her up as he did not want to take his eyes off looking ahead. "You good?" He wondered quietly as the lighting started to get slightly darker as they moved from a scattering of trees to thicker and taller ones.

"I guess that answers the question about the sound of a Tree falling on planet Bob," came the muffled reply. "Yeah I'm fine. Just my pride bruised," as she clambered back to her feet, rubbing her face.

As Leiddem got verbal confirmation that the Engineer was okay he paused and narrowed his eyes as the trees shifted but nothing changed about what he could feel. The atmosphere was making it difficult for him to hear any thoughts any further than the people there with him. It was like the whispering monkeys from his youth all over again. "Come on." He prompted carrying on the trek through the forest until they got to where the information had led him to believe that the cargo was. "Anyone see it?" He asked looking around and noticing how trampled the ground was.

"No." Kali pursed her lips in a half-frown, noticing the same seeming disturbance and accompanying lack of their quarry, scanning the area again carefully with her eyes and putting a hand near her hip, just in case. "Any chance this place maybe isn't as secret as Kaylin thinks it is, and some scavengers or pirates might've swung by and made off with it? How long did she say it had been since the Rangers had last checked on this stash?"

"Months. But it's supposed to be remote and decently well hidden..." Jake shrugged, not really sure himself. "But that's why we brought the numbers," he added, motioning to Leiddem.

Leiddem had been having the same thoughts that the place seemed disturbed as he moved further away from the group. There would be some type of sign and as he came out of the tree into a clearing seeing what they had been there to find. "Hey... I have found stuff," he called looking at the cargo containers partly empty.

"See, no problem." Jake concluded, a little relieved. "Let's get them loaded up."

“It’s open.” Leiddem pointed out. Something about it all was strange that certain things had been left whilst others had been taken.

"This can't be right..." Jake muttered, checking a list of articles Kaylin had provided. "There's barely a quarter of what was supposed to be stocked here. Maybe there was a mistake with the numbers...or maybe..."

"No, the stuff was here, at one point," Tree offered, her nose still a bit scuffed and some dirt on her face from when she'd tripped. "Look, traces of where more crates have stood. You can see the outlines if you look closely. Looks to me someone took 'em."

"I'll stay and track if some of you wanna go back to the ship," Leiddem promised crouching to look at the cargo containers more.

"No way dude. That's how just about every horror movie starts; with someone splitting off from the group in some mysterious situation." Kali rolled her eyes. "If we split up, it needs to be in more even numbers."

"I'm all for not featuring in a horror movie," Tree raised her hand, looking around. "I'm not pretty enough to survive nor am I a virgin anymore. People like me are usually like the third or fourth one dead."

"Kalahaeia, you need to take whoever is willing back to the ship? Right Ford? The pilot needs to go back so that means you." Leiddem pointed out softly before glancing at the Engineer. "Then go back. Not holding you here, I want to follow the tracks and work out who has taken some of the supplies."

"I can keep you company," Owen offered, having followed along in relative silence that was, at best, deceptive. Had anyone the capacity to have a direct line to his thoughts, (and the Betazoid present might have been the strongest candidate), it would have been very obvious that the man did most of his talking to himself, inside his own skull. Like most scholars, Owen had slowly drifted from the practical, hands-on kind of history that had first drawn him into his studies and found himself increasingly more often shoved behind desks to critique and analyse other people's discoveries. There wasn't anything wrong with that, except that it became quite a soft and safe option after a while. "Though if we're hunting pirates, someone might need to give me something more than this for intimidation purposes." He held up the walking stick he'd collected somewhere along the way.

Leiddem looked around for a moment before handing over his own rifle and grabbing one of the ones left behind. He quickly set about checking its power battery and other stuff. "I know that works." He said pointing out he would rather the man have something he was confident in than anything else.

"I'm not comfortable leaving you here by yourselves..." Jake grumbled. "Kali, Tree. You head back up to the ship and report in to Gregnol. We could use someone down here that's good for helping track down our gear. Maybe someone like Liha or Cassie."

"Bring Burnie and the dog back if you don't mind," Leiddem added thinking the robot dog might be handy in the environment.

Kali wasn't sure that K-9 would have any better luck in this stupid ion soup of an atmosphere than the flight instruments or the sensors did; but nodded, shrugged, and pulled a weapon of her own from concealment. "Got it." She tilted her head at Teresa and glanced at the stock of dwindled supplies they'd be leaving behind. "You armed? If not, grab something before we go." Exactly whether the other woman knew how to use any of it or not was a separate question that came to Kali's mind; but if nothing else, at least it would look intimidating if they ran into trouble.

"I've got an old type I that I keep around," Tree held up a decrepit, old little phaser, before contemplating it for a moment. "Most of the time, it works all of the time," She added, putting it back in a pocket and giving Kali a nod. "Well, let's go."