Star Trek: Starbase 777 - landing-clearing

The group would find themselves in a clearing with blue grass and miniscule, delicate flowers. Surrounding said clearing was a deciduous forest. Unfamiliar birdsongs could be heard in its depths, while a gentle, warm breeze ruffled the hair and clothes of the officers. Was it summer?.. Perhaps looking around this clearing could be a good start for their investigation.

4

Rehszan stepped carefully so as not to walk on any bugs or flowers in the grass. This place was pretty... How could something so terrible happen to such a lovely planet?

Once she materialised Aoife began to visually scan the area in case there were any bad things lurking in the area that might have seen or heard them beaming in. Her rifle was still slung, resting gently under her arms.

After beaming down T'Kastrir immediately pulled out a tricorder from his satchel, scanning the immediate area to both gather data and see if there were any unforseen complications.

Once beamed down the Ferengi looked around, finding the local nature quite visually pleasing, all things considered. If it wasn't for the fact this place had been attacked, it'd be quite a nice place to go on holiday. The birdsong was also quite relaxing, albeit also very alien to her.

Aha! There were creatures! Perhaps there might be a pond or a puddle? They looked around for one. Ah, priorities.

This place reminded him of home. Good and bad memories, spurring good and bad feelings. He enjoyed them both. "How picturesque... If we had time, I would set up an easel."

Upon seeing the planet like this - it certainly went against what Matryx had expected. Chirping birds, summer breeze? It seemed a little too peaceful. Too peaceful not to be sus. And Matryx didn't like when things were sus. "Scan for intelligent life signs," Matryx said to Ten. "Worst thing we could have done is beamed right into a trap."

Five took a deep breath of warm summer air. "You can take photos so you can paint later, maybe," she offered to Eshen as a suggestion.

Once he materialised, Vara'l moved off to the opposite side to Aoife and started a visual scan of their surroundings. As he did so he also snapped out his tricorder, phaser rifle held one handed as he started to scan for lifesigns with it also. Once he finished the visual scan, he looked for the full commander he'd spotted earlier, he needed to apprise them on what had been picked up by the tactical scan he reckoned.

"Oh, true! Good for documentation purposes, too." He started snapping some pics. The scientists back on the Starbase might be able to use them. Pity he didn't have a macro lense.

In the meantime, Rehszan got ready to begin collecting samples, as they'd been instructed. Right, he actually had to do science things. Oopsie.

If they spotted a pond or puddle, they beelined over to it and started collecting samples in little flasks.

Ten nodded "Yes sir." He then pulled out his Tricorder, tuning it to scan for and inteligent life forms within range, the device beeped and poped as he turned the knobs

Timi looked around, not hopeful about their chances of finding people, but on his guard anyway. He came to stand next to a few science officers, looking over T'Kastrir's shoulder at the tricorder readings.

Farrah, meanwhile, followed Thalass around, keeping an eye on the surroundings, but preferring to stick to someone who she knew, even if they'd only exchanged a few words. Besides, maybe she could make herself useful if she actually made an effort to follow along with someone else's objective.

Lilian looked around. Seemed to be a fairly standard class M. With avian life by the sounds of it. "Hopefully we can study this more in depth later." She mused.

He was also pretty tempted to take pictures, something about the flowers were just so pretty... and the photographer in him decided he'd follow Eshen in doing just that for a second, squatting down to take some up close. It probably would help with documentation, probably, for the scientists! So he actually got some angles all around the plants before he took his PADD back into his bag and started walking a little more around the clearing, taking his tricorder and specifically scanning for any signs of signals or electric currents that weren't coming from the officers' own tricorders and the like.

Kya immediately entered her game mode, standing guard near the science officers as they did their work. “If you lot see anything while your snapping photos, let us know.”

Upon materializing, the Romulan stood still as death and took a long, deep breath. This... this felt exactly like Llaiir Prime did when he visited a year ago. It was peaceful, yet absolutely, unmistakably empty here. No signs of sentient life, as far as Saren could see. "There is no intelligent life signs to be found, sir, they've been-- they're not on this planet anymore," he shook his head, taking out a tricorder as well. "The place is abandoned and overgrown. Nature is reclaiming what originally belonged to it. Though, the fact that there is this random clearing in the middle of the woods is... interesting."

7

The tactical and security officers would find nothing that could raise their immediate suspicions - not from visual assertion, not from any scans they could've done. If there was any remotely dangerous fauna in the forests of Ishai V, then it ran as soon as they materialized in the clearing. Thalass' sample collecting endeavor, unfortunately, didn't bare any results, for they couldn't find a puddle in their vicinity. What they could discover, though, along with the scientists that pulled out their tricorders, is that some of the trees surrounding the clearing seemed to bear man-made markings... perhaps closer investigation could reveal context?

The commander not spotted, Vara'l proceeded to say. "We detected signs this colony had been struck by weapons fire." His comment directed to the science officers. "No indication of any contamination or anything like that." He informed them calmly before he continued. "But be aware."

Ten nodded and gently put Tricorder back in its pouch around his belt. "No signs of intelligent life apart from us sir."

"These markings are man-made," they said to whoever was nearest them, probably Farrah, so that she would yell it to the rest of the group. They weren't fond of speaking loudly. Or quietly. They pretty much spoke at the same volume at all times.

Upon hearing Saren's explanation as well as the scans coming back negative, Matryx was a bit relieved. "Well, at the very least it isn't a trap," Matryx said. "Better safe than sorry."

"What type of weapons?" Aoife shouted over to Vara'l, trying to get more context on who might have been fighting here. Upon hearing of weapons traces she also shouldered her rifle moving it to a low ready position in a smooth, well practiced, motion.

Vara'l continued his own scans as he watched his part of the permitter for any sign of unwelcome visitors. "Even with that, I'd advise people keep an eye on scans for anything unusual." The ACTO chimed in as he occasionally checked his tricorder in between a visual scan of the peremiter. "Plasma beam and torpedo." The Romulan responded. "Bombardment pattern, not a specific strike."

Farrah took the hint, motioning for Thalass to cover their ears so she could yell at the others. Only once their ears were protected, did she put on her best impression of a megaphone. "MAN-MADE MARKINGS THIS WAY," she yelled, before motioning that Thalass could uncover their ears again. Any animals would be thoroughly scared off now, but at least there were no people around for whom she could blow their cover. (edited)

4

"We are not the ones trapped, this colony was" he wanted to say, but bit that comment back, not wanting to sound bitter or upset. Because he wasn't. Instead he chose to go closer to one of the trees to inspect it, as soon as he heard Farrah's loud and clear call.

3

6

"Why the hell would the Romulans torch their own colony with bombardment weapons?" 'Thats a massive waste of good munitions' Aoife thought to herself, surely a few well placed spacial charges were enough to level a colony..

Being a Vulcan with sharp hearing and the 'tism, they greatly appreciated Farrah's warning and covered their ears until she told them to stop. To show their appreciation, they gave Farrah a thumbs up.

3

"Do you need a refresher on recent Romulan history, O'Rielly?" Timi asked sarcastically through his PADD, though he couldn't hear whether or not the sarcasm really translated. The PADD's voice was so monotone that it sounded at least like it could be sarcasm, though.

Vara'l twitched at the yell. He never enjoyed being in the aftermath of war and hostility. Never enjoyed it at all. When Aoife asked that, Vara'l glanced over to Aoife. "If it was a Romulan group who did this, it might well be that..the colony was a Republican colony and whatever ship did this..wasn't or something." He trailed off a bit then as his jaw twitched once then twice then again. This followed by a soft. "..Ow." At the loud noise.

Five scooted over to follow Farrah to the markings. Curious indeed.. (edited)

Kya looked towards Aoife. “There’s not always a good reason.” She said sombrely, she may have been born after the occupation, but the trauma of her own mother reflected in her memories. “And also the recent history point.” She said as she covered the science team as they examined the markings.

Ten followed behind the group scanning and looking around as he walked

All but slightly widening his eyes as Farrah decided to be really rather loud to get everyone's attention, T'Kastrir decided to head in the direction the man-made markings in the hopes of potentially recognising or studying them.

Being a Ferengi, Dagis had quite good hearing, but despite that she all but slightly winced at the increase in volume, unphased thanks to being trained to deal with far worse things.

Also flinching somewhat at the volume of Farrah's findings, he noticed Vara'l's reaction, quickly glancing to ensure he was alright. "Lieutenant, please be mindful of your volume, some team members may be sensitive to certain noise levels," Matryx instructed Farrah.

Rehszan made an inquisitive squeaky noise at the shout for attention, moving to follow. "Markings, hm?" Let's give those a sweet lil scan, shall we? (edited)

"I was mindful, I told the Lieutenant to cover their ears," Farrah stated plainly, not really caring too much that some people thought her voice was too loud. She could have been far louder if she'd cared to be, and she needed everyone to hear her. Besides, shouldn't most people with sensitive ears be used to loud noises every now and again? Not that she voiced any of this.

8

It was always quite obvious when a tree was either just weird and alien and bioluminescent, or when the stripes covering it's bark on the adult bipedal eye-level were made of very bright, neon paint. In this case it was the latter - an orange X, slightly damaged by weather and moss and whatnot, but still undisputely there. Looking around, there were more such trees, all quite similar in their heights and diameters. (edited)

4

3

Aoife gave timi a look that said. 'Alright alright I didn't mean to sound callous' Her feelings projected that she was simply numb to battlefields after all the years and forgot that not everyone shared the same lack of feeling for these kinds of things.

His eyes lit up as the information processed, tail swishing at his feet. "Paint. Orange paint, and it looks rather old," he reported, then immediately turned to scan for any other such markings. "It could be from the colony themselves, or..."

Seeing that the permitter had expanded a bit as people moved off, Vara'l moved forward as he worked to ensure there continued to be a security permitter around the other officers. This would of course be the only time this affected him like this though, Vara'l just..occasionally struggled with loud noise. Especially when someone happened to do it out of the blue when his mind continued to circle the fact this colony had been bombarded. That the weapons seemed Romulan. That the colony itself was Romulan or Reman. They'd bombarded it. They'd..bombarded it. Some ship, on its own or affiliated with some group. Who'd bombard their own colony, the Lieutenant Commander had asked. Who'd bombard it? His mind.. returned a bunch of potential answers to that. One of them.. in a way, worried him alot more than the others. Even with the fact it was impossible to know how likely or unlikely their involvement happened to be. That culprits were the 'Free state' or..the Tal Shiar. At least amongst the Romulan potential culprits for such a thing as this.

1

"She had to yell to get people's attention. There is no logical way to yell more comfortably than the way she already did." Thal, who was blunt, did indeed voice their opinion. "It doesn't matter, though. These marks remind me of marks made on trees to be cut down."

"Do you think so?" Rehszan's voice hummed with a metallic buzz. "Perhaps these markings were used for a similar purpose..."

Kya hummed. “They could also be markers?” She suggested as she guarded the scientists.

"I am going to follow the symbols." Thoughtlessly, they started wandering in the direction of any further markers they could see. Probably shouldn't do that on their own.

“Wait!” She said as she moved with Thal. “Just, be careful. Don’t go alone, here, I’ll come with you.” She said as she moved after them.

Not to worry, Farrah followed Thalass. Should the impulsive android be the one accompanying them? Might not have been the wisest choice, but still. She tried to gather some kind of pattern from the markings, but aside from the trees all looking the same, she didn't have a clue.

Two people followed them. Excellent. Was this their secret plan to get everyone moving all along? Maybe.

"Thalass, please do remember we are in an away team," the Gorn squeaked, tagging along. "Let's analyze further before we decide to go anywhere, yes?"

The marking-following gang, if they persisted in their endeavor, could soon stumble upon a cut down tree, also marked with the X.

“This is definitely sapient life, that X tells me that. The only thing we don’t know is if this was from the attackers or the victims.” She bit her lip, thinking.

Deciding there was not much to lose in following the markings, T'Kastrir tagged along, scanning with his tricorder the entire time for anything unusual. He was also collecting data on the plants for documenting purposes.

"Of course. I understand." But consider this: if they kept moving, they might find something more interesting. Like puddles. Or ponds.

Ah, everyone was splitting off already... Five held tight to their little tool box and looked around for further directions.

"Probably the victims, no? They're the ones who would benefit from cutting down trees for wood, or to keep the forest healthy." Why would people who attacked from orbit bother with cutting down trees?

“Probably is, but not for sure. It could be a sign from advanced forces. Or it could be some other raid marker.” Farrah had raised a good point, but there was no reason to jump to conclusions yet.

"Commander, there is literally a tree stump right over there," Farrah said, pointing at the cut down tree also marked with an X. Was she the only one who'd seen it?

6

"There were survivors. They live here. They chop down trees." That was their theory. They delivered it very dryly, though.

"Not impossible that this was cut before they got bombed." Aoife chimed in as she joined the group of smart people.

Vara'l noted the fact that a officer had been about to head off on their own, Vara'l glanced to the group and proceeded to say. "May I propose that we all head in that direction as a group, the people following the X's and others?" He suggested calmly. "That way we can maintain a security perimeter while you look about and the like..and there is a tree stump right there.." Vara'l checked his tricorder again for life signs and also attempted to work out where they were in relation to the colony and the bombing.

They raised a brow. "It is impossible. The level of rot does not match a tree cut down that long ago."

“I can see that Lieutenant, but there’s no reason to assume yet. It could have been the colonist who chopped down the tree but the attackers who left a mark. We just can’t be sure yet.” Lilian bit her lip.

Kya hummed. “Do we have any idea why they were bombed? Political tension? Failure of exports?” She said with a hum. “But this does point to survivors. Maybe they used sensor jammers? Or so far underground we couldn’t scan them?”

"If we go and find the colony itself, we may be able to figure that much out," Five piped up. That was what they were here to do, no...?

"Sending a message." Aoife replied flatly to Kya. "Orbital bombardment is gross overkill in nearly every combat scenario except a planetary invasion."

"I don't think that's true? Marking trees for cutting is normal practice, and we have a logical answer for the markings right in front of us." Rule number one of detective work should be to always go with the simplest explanation that connected all of the dots, if it wasn't already. Why complicate things further? They were already on a planet bombed from orbit by an enemy faction hellbent on destroying their enemies.

Rehszan straightened from collecting a soil sample and started to scan for any sort of trail to follow. They needed to go deeper to find answers. "If you don't mind my suggestion, we should confirm their reasoning for certain via further investigation, sir."

Besides the tree stump lay the tree itself - or, rather, an approximate half of it. It was neatly divided into similarly sized sections with more paint. In the moss besides the stump, some old sawdust could be found.

"They were using these trees for something," he mused after following the group deeper into the forest. Saren squatted down and touched the cut, now overgrown with moss. "These are old markings. This isn't recent." He looked around then: "If a tree was cut down here and sectioned, there should be a road nearby to transport the pieces somewhere, right?.."

"Until we're able to establish for definite the identity of the attackers and the colonists we're not going to be able to tell them more about that for sure." The Romulan commented simply before he looked to Five. "I agree with Five, we'll discover more if we head to the colony." He'd then trailed off for a moment as he scanned the tree stump Lt.Thalass had indicated. Vara'l then glanced to Saren. "Aye..there should be, if we can locate it we'll have a route to the colony ruins."

“Seems increasingly likely this is just the colonists. But what does the X mean?” Lilian paused for a second. “A marker, but for what?”

"Probably. I know Romulans are stronger than humans, but you still wouldn't want to carry this stuff too far if you can help it." Farrah responded to Saren. She was a bit of an exception, but then she didn't really get tired at all, unfair robot advantage and all that.

"I guess we better follow the trees to whatever colony is left." Aoife said as she began looking around for more trees marker with Xes.

“I understand that commander, but why the message. Did they anger the government or Tal Shiar? Or just for sick kicks?” She said with a sigh. “Oh your right Lieutenant.” She quickly checked around the surrounding area for any tracks. “Maybe whatever they used to carry them left tracks, or if they did by foot they left footprints.” She said with a hum as she looked towards the X marked trees.

They began to feel a little like nobody was listening to them. "Try to keep in mind the time of reference we were given for the attacks was decades ago. If this tree was cut down, it would have happened after that, because if this tree was cut down decades ago, it would have been destroyed by rain and various detritivores by now."

"An Earth tree, perhaps," Saren added quietly. "We have no idea of the chemical composition of trees that grow here, and how they are affected by rain."

“That X has to be recent though, otherwise it would be overgrown itself no?” Maybe she was reading too much into this, but Lilian was sure there was something to be gleaned from this.

"Hmmm. Well, I am not a tree biologist." At least someone acknowledged what they said.

“Sadly, neither am I.” Lilian really wished she had paid more attention in botany right now.

"Does it have to be? A solid paintjob wouldn't really decay much, especially in weather like this." Farrah was beginning to think this Commander didn't think before they spoke. "Let's go find that road, otherwise we'll just stand here talking forever."

Thal got bored and started wandering off in a plot-relevant direction again.

7

6

“Wait!” She screamed as she moved after them. “Stop doing that in the name of the prophets.” She said as nicely as she could as she walked after them with her rifle drawn.

Ti was here with the rest of the group, his roleplayer not so much, but he was definitely here.

"No sentient life was detected on the surface, during orbital scans." Vara'l chimed in as he proceeded to scan the tree stump and tree again. Wasn't his area of expertise, how long things took to decay and all that. It was science stuff. He was a tactical officer. He'd backed Fives proposal to begin to move toward the colony so was..contended to wait for the others to begin to move for now, though if needed he intended to chime in and suggest moving along again. That was until a officer started to wander off on their own again. "Can I suggest we don't start wandering off on our own?" He commented simply as he started to move as well, he was part of the tactical augment to the security detatchment for the away team. That happened to mean that if someone wandered off.. he or one of the other officers needed to move off to keep track of them. That was when a officer screamed out 'wait.' He'd honestly not reckoned that needed..to be screamed like that and well, it was..certainly a way to order a Lieutenant to stop. Not that he intended to comment on it here immediately, though he resolved to keep a eye as he moved to keep pace with Lieutenant Thalass.

“As much as wandering off is bad, I think Lieutenant Thalass has a point. We should move to the colony.” Lilian nodded to the tactical officer.

"I mean," he sighed, now holding both of his palms on the cut, because feeling the rough texture under his finger pads was somehow soothing. "Let's sort out what we have, shall we? A clearing in what we assume, and judge from the scans, is the middle of the woods. On the edge of said clearing, are trees marked by people. We now found a tree that was cut down and sectioned, indicating that these markings are, or were used for marking down trees for cutting. At least, that is the main assumption we have, correct?" He paused, thinking. "The coordinates pointed us here, which is another proof of humanoid activity. If this was a place actively used by a colony, the colony itself should be somewhere nearby. Perhaps there is a trail nearby? Big trails like that can stay visible for decades, even after people stop using them - because they are kept being used by animals. We just need to find it, assuming it's somewhere closeby. Should we check the clearing again?"

5

"I do remain of a similar mind and in support of moving on to the colony." Vara'l began before he moved on to his main point. "However, if people move off on their own it makes it harder to maintain a security permitter around the group." He paused a moment. "While the attack on this colony, I think a certain degree of caution in that regard is merited and would prefer from a tactical perspective if officers at least kept in pairs and in contact."

"That seems like a reasonable suggestion. Let's get moving, shall we?" The ACOO flashed Saren a smile and moved to begin scanning for the path.

"Let's go. No use in standing around here staring at the trees," Timi offered, his PADD monotonous as always.

Before returning to the clearing, he took a minute to rip off a piece of the wood and put it in the sample bag. Something for the botanists to consider.

He was looking at the various pictures of the markings he'd taken on his phone, being uncharacteristically quiet. There was a strange vibe about this place. "Indeed! Let us proceed, although I did enjoy looking at the trees." He wasn't a tree biologist; he just thought they were neat. He was an amateur botanist when he was at home.

Aoife walked over to Timi and began walking with them, if she was gonna partner up with someone she wanted to go with someone she trusted and after the Undine interrogation she fully trusted timi..

Kya decided she would partner (or at least follow) Thalass, given their apparent passion for wandering off from the group. “All right, sounds good.” (edited)

Vara'l continued to keep pace with Lt Thalass for now. Given the colony had been bombarded and the like, Vara'l was disinclined to allow people to get out of sight for now. Not due to worries about encountering people, just more cause if someone fell or something on their own, it tended to not go as well as when people were paired and the like. "Finding the trail near the clearing could be of help with finding the colony, though the logging suggests a more formal path is around." He paused. "Either way..I'm in favour of getting moving."

Thal was sticking with both Rehszan and Farrah for now. Farrah had been very helpful, and Rehszan was cool. Android gang. They did take note of Kya deciding to be their little supervisor, though.

Back to the clearing! Let's try to inspect it again, shall we?

Five looked for paths somewhere near the marked trees, moving branches and brush out of the way if need be. It had to be well-worn, at the very least...

They were looking around, not wandering off too far but probably still a little, since you had to do that to look for things of interest. Similarly to Five, they were looking for paths or other signs of where life once had been.

And she moved behind them with her rifle drawn, keeping an eye out for anything of note as well. “Hm.”

Vara'l, while he continued to watch the permitter around the group, also started to look for any sign of paths or a trail around the clearing area. Though he occasionally checked his tricorder as he looked about. He might have not been a scientist, but he still had eyes so well.. might as well put them to use! (edited)

Peculiar. In one of the corners of the clearing, there were bushes that were growing in a noticeably curved way, and were much shorter compared to some of their counterparts growing sparsely around the clearing.

"I'm not a bush biologist, but those ones look weird," they said, pointing in that direction. Hopefully the others would notice and Farrah wouldn't have to yell at them again.

Kya nodded as she moved towards it, but not too close, just in case. “Can we get a scan on this bush?” She said loud enough (without yelling) that she hoped the others would notice.

"It's a bush don't need a scanner to tell you that." Aoife said jokingly as she walked over to the weird bush and looked around a bit with her eyes, not staying too far from the rest of the away team.

The bush lacks teeth, dear officers. You can move the branches to look at what is behind it, I promise. (edited)

7

5

Rehszan took one for the team and moved the branches aside. He whispered a little "excuse me..." as he did so.

Thal attempted to peek over Rehszan's shoulder as he did so. They were not successful.

Marked by rocks and pebbles by each side, there was a forest road ahead of them - wide enough for 3-4 people to walk in line shoulder by shoulder. Congratulations!

Kya hummed as she looked over the path for any immediate threats with her rifle.

Thal stood there politely like a dog waiting to be told 'go!'

Vara'l moved to follow the rest of the group and moved closer to the arch. He'd then once the road was spotted turned to the others. "It'd appear we've located the route to the colony, potentially." He observed simply.

"Affirmative." Rehszan started down the path first. Maybe any potential danger would be warded off by a very tall Gorn android man.

Fearless on account of lacking emotions, Farrah easily took the lead. If anything came their way, she also made a solid shield for others to hide behind, and she was fine with this arrangement. "Let's go, I'll be the lookout," she said, encouraging people to come with her. She hated waiting much more than she did being attacked.

Together, they made the perfect shield! Well done indeed. He would've high fived her or something, but decided against it.

Thal followed the gang down the path. They kept their sharp Vulcan ears open for anything that sounded interesting, like voices or critters.

Anyone stepping on the road, would be going to the #forest-path. Ishai V was opening up like a Zelda map.

2

Vara'l moved off to join the security officer in watching ahead as he continued to scan their surroundings with his tricorder. His phaser rifle held one handed as he continued his scans and monitored their surroundings for any lifesigns readings or signs of scanner activity that couldn't be ascribed to the away teams activities.

Kya moved after the forest path team, she might as well.

"Should we split into teams? Or all go down the trail?" Lilian looked around for answers as officers started heading down the trail.

"We're already going," said Thalass, following Farrah and Rehszan to the #forest-path.

“I’ll watch them if nobody else comes.” She said as she followed them.

"We should stay together, since we were not split into different teams. So... Let's go." The ACOO piped up before following down the trail.

Not letting himself overthink this, Saren followed suit.

Dagis, having really been just trying to help the others until now, followed the group as they headed off.

T'Kastrir followed the group as well.