Star Trek: Starbase 777 - highsplint-town-center

If there were one word to describe the atmosphere in the town center, it would be tense. There are many buildings left empty and abandoned, but those that are occupied have narrowed eyes peeking out of windows and doors at the away team…

In a scene akin to a mother duck leading a flock Aoife led the collum of officers towards the town centre. Keeping her eyes open for signs of life as they made their way into the semi-abandoned town. She kept her phaser rifle in ready position, not yet pointing at anyone or anything but ready to aim a shot at any moment in one smooth well practiced movement.

Iiani trailed behind Aoife, head on a swivel. “I feel like people are always looking at me but… this time i think people really are looking at us.” She gestured at the buildings nervously. While it had meant to whisper, it failed miserably and more… stated it at a normal volume.

Allan was in fact also a duck, as dubbed such long ago. He followed just behind Aoife, also looking across the town at the buildings, trying to see if anything was particular off about the buildings themselves, like signs of break-ins or things that weren't typical of simply abandoned or worn down buildings. "Yeah, I mean - we are walking right in here, I'd probably look at whoever was coming in too, right?" Made sense to him, at least, despite how odd it felt.

As the group continued to make their way in, a large human man came lumbering out of what appeared to be some kind of city hall. He plucked a toothpick from his mouth and flicked it down to the dusty ground as he stood on the wooden porch, arms folded over his chest. “Hrmph,” He gruffly hummed, “Y’all them…Starfleet folks?”

6

4

T'She was not the one taking point on this mission, nor were they the one doing the talking -- at least, not yet. Instead, they looked at the person who just came out of the building with great interest -- like they were trying to ascertain if this person was injured.

Not too far behind said mother duck was Syrax, who's head poked out perfectly above hers. The Command officer's gaze taking a wide sweep over the semi-abandoned town. He was met with a couple of wary gazes, and just as many empty windows. "They do not want us here..." he murmured quietly, probably mostly to himself. Call it a well-known sensation, in his case. His attention then zeroed-in on the approaching human, to whom the Romulan offered a small smile and a nod: "That would be us, yes. And you would be?.."

The man sniffed, swiping a finger under his nose. He leaned against one of the posts of the covered porch, looking out at the group, “MacArthur. I’m foreman ‘round here,” He raised a brow, “Y’all shoulda kept your noses to yourselves…”

Senang said nothing, watching the exchange, rifle lowered but shoulders tensed to be able to aim at a moment's notice. They weren't here to pick a fight, but she would be ready to end one. So she kept her eyes peeled, her gaze sweeping over the area they were in, making sure to keep everything in sight from her spot at the far back.

A few of the straggling townsfolk had made their way out of the buildings they were holed up in after MacArthur stepped out, though the tense expressions hadn’t changed. They didn’t seem to have any weaponry…not yet, at least.

Rifle hefted in a loose but ready grip Vara'l, who'd tagged along with the group near the back, angled his walk to move to a side of the group. One hand still clasped on the phaser and phaser in ready position, Vara'l snapped out his tricorder one handed and started to scan for life signs. Given all they'd noted, Vara'l very much felt like constant scanning was now very much warranted. Given all of that, given all they'd detected, Vara'l tapped his combadge. Some of what they'd encountered needed to be fed back to the ship. That and if they were attacked, having the ship aware of what had been encountered seemed..wise. So he moved back a bit attempted to open a com line with the ship "ACTO tr'Hara to Eventide updating you on the ground situation, we've encountered signs of weapons fire set to kill, request you scan our wider proximity for signs of recent weapons fire to augment our tricorder scans." He then waited for a response.

Static.

Foreman, foreman... probably like a supervisor? That would fit, judging by the demeanor. Syrax offered a nod in response: "Pleasure to be acquainted, sir. I can understand the wariness, but given everything that has happened... Starfleet felt like another away team was necessary." He gently stressed the word "another", all the while watching MacArthur's reaction. Anything to say about that?..

Aoife kept her gaze on the foreman but was listening to Vara'l as he spoke into the comm badge and got nothing but static in return. Well that certainly wasn't good. While she didn't make any big movements her shoulders tensed a bit as she got a tighter grip on her rifle. She studied the foreman in detail now trying to see if they were concealing a weapon of some kind.

“Ain’t seen any other Starfleet folks ‘til y’all,” He said with a grumble, “We was warned ‘bout a week back y’all’d be headin’ this way, though…company don’t take too kindly to y’all steppin’ into our territory. I’m sure you understand,” He sniffed again.

Ato wasn't the best at social interactions, but he wasn't the worst either. He could tell that something had gone on, and it had left this group very, very tense. Ato watched as people straggled into the streets, listening as Syrax and the Foreman MacArthur talked. He looked at them all, were any of them injured? Perhaps if they could offer medical care, they could form a tentative relationship...

There were a few that seemed to have been injured and patched up. One bore a particularly large bandage around his arm, which didn’t seem to be covering up a burn.

D’rthrek adjusted the rifle in his hands, subtly dialing the stun setting to maximum. His eyes narrowed—not with fear, but with quiet calculation. Shifting his stance to try to be ready. . He lingered at the rear of the group as they moved through the ruined town, towering above the others like a silent sentinel. His gaze swept across the abandoned buildings, then shifted to the people nearby—not aiming, but watching, studying hands, hips, posture. Looking for weapons. For intent. After a beat, he muttered to the group trying to be quiet,”We have to be careful, or we’re going to get surrounded.”

Iiani addressed Foreman gently. “We’re trying to find some of our own people. They got lost out here and we’re afraid something bad happened to them. We just want to find our own and then leave. You are sure there’s nothing helpful you could tell us?” She recognized his kind of person. Starting out soft, genuine, would get them further than a more aggressive method would. It glanced at the townspeople with concern.

Vesta stood around quietly but stoically. Being able to take in the conversation without looking at anybody , she took the opportunity to look around and gage the population. She noted that some of them were injured, but she wanted to take in how many of them there were, and the age and species demographics.

MacArthur turned his attention toward Iiani, “…ain’t seen any other Starfleet folks,” He said, his voice a bit more gravely.

There were about 15 stood out in the center now.

Vara'l moved then and once he got close enough to D'threk, discretely proceeded to say. "Lieutenant, move with me.. discretely, I'm not liking how they're massing and I'd like to ensure we're better positioned." The Romulan calmly ordered before he smoothly and with a affected calm just moved to be closer to the rear and one one of the flanks of the Starfleet group. As he moved he quietly adjusted his rifles stun setting to maximum. Did so and then just watched for anything that might have indicated a concealed weapon and a attempt to draw it. A concealed weapon alone wasn't enough to merit seeing this situation escalated straight off or turned into a firefight, in his mind at the moment.

"Of course," he nodded. The company, huh... Syrax knew what he was talking about. Safe to say, the Romulan's already present distrust towards this man had only worsened, as soon as the foreman brought it up... just like his concern for the away team. Shifting his significant stature so to distract the man away from Iiani, he continued: "Again, I understand our presence here is... not welcomed, so to speak. However, it is our duty to ask if you or your people require any assistance - we see the state of your town, and the bandages on your folk, as well as the clear signs that something bad has happened here. It would be... unwise, to leave you as it is." He offered a sweet, dimpled smile, belonging to a man who definitely wasn't busy subtly pressuring a very suspicious guy in the most polite way possible.

MacArthur shifted from where he was stood, lifting up from the post he was leaning against and taking a few heavy steps down the small flight of stairs leading up to the porch. He closed some of the distance between himself at Syrax, sizing up the Romulan. “…you do what you gotta, ‘n then I expect y’all to run off. I’ve got a shift down at the mine. Now, from the sound ‘a things, y’all’re looking for some folks yourselves, but you ain’t gonna find any here. Just us now,” He gestured to the small group of townsfolk, “Y’all lend your helpin’ hand, and then git.”

"Of course," Ato said, piping up from behind Aoife. His big blue head with his little antennae and mop of white hair popped out from behind her, smiling. He took this moment to walk slowly forward, pulling his medical pack toward the front of his body, clearly marked with a medical symbol of course. "I'm a doctor, if anyone needs some medical assistance I would be happy to help treat you." He said generally to the group of mostly-humans in front of him as he approached tentatively.

2

The small group shifted uncomfortably. They clearly still didn’t trust the group. One of them snorted and then spat onto the ground.

Well, that wasn't happening, though MacArthur didn't need to know that. They'd get out of the town, sure, but their mission was far from over. They would find the missing away team. Especially since they were sitting ducks otherwise as long as they couldn't reach Eventide.

T'She themself was more alarmed at the possibility of something making the townspeople disappear. After all, there should have been more of them. But... they didn't seem to want to talk.

Ato did not respond to the spitting and snorting. His antennae stood still, his facial expression was completely impassive, and he simply waited for either someone to come forward to receive medical treatment, or for a superior officer to give him an order.

D’rthrek followed Vara’l’s orders without hesitation, moving in step with the commanding officer as discreetly as a 7”7 hirogen could. His eyes remained sharp, scanning the area with practiced calm. It didn’t feel like an immediate threat—but he didn’t take his hands off the rifle.

The foreman began to make his way toward a small tracked vehicle manned by another man, parked beside the city hall. He loaded up and gave a glance out at the away team. With a huff, he placed another toothpick between his teeth, and the tracked vehicle took off down a path out of town and into the forest.

After some quiet, one of the townsfolk stepped forward toward Ato. Some of them hissed warnings and angry comments at her, but she stood firm, “I got a burn on my arm.”

He angled his head slightly, looking the approaching man dead in his eyes, before offering him a nod: "We understand. Thank you, sir." (And now he could breathe out, because for a solid second there, he believed that things were about to turn oh so sour.) The Romulan turned his head to assess the rest of his team. Judging by the local demeanor, their medical officer was going to have quite a job cut out for himself. The reluctance might buy them some time, though...

Ato watched as the woman approached. He kept his demeanor calm and neutral, as non-threatening as he could manage. His face was warm, though not overzealous. Practiced. "Hello there, I'm Dr. Th'zhaloth. Do you mind if I take a look at your burn and scan your arm? I just want to make sure I've got the settings right for the dermal regenerator." He offered a small, tentative smile.

She huffed and then held out her arm, rolling her sleeve up to reveal a pretty nasty phaser burn on her upper arm, “Naw, don’t mind.” The other townsfolk continued to give steely looks, and some began to head back into buildings, though a small argument between three of them bubbled up. “We ain’t got a doctor no more, and my arm’s all torn up!” “Company’ll patch you up.” “Yup.” “Well the company ain’t here right now, is it?!”

"I'm happy to help," Ato said softly. Phaser burn. Could the type of phaser burn be cross-referenced with the phasers used on the trees? Ato glanced over to the group - he hadn't moved too far away to offer medical aid - and he quietly, but hopefully loud enough that a Vulcanoid's hearing could hear, said, "Ouch, that looks like it hurt. Phaser burns are usually pretty easily treated though, just with a simple dermal regenerator." And he pulled it out of his medkit and began to treat her wound.

It seemed to be the exact same type of burn some of the trees outside of town had suffered. Seemed like this young woman had gotten clipped by a phaser set to kill. The argument between the other three began to grow quite heated, before the injured man shouted, “I hope that damned thing in the woods tears up your arms!”

6

"The -" he had been listening to this, not having much to add to the conversation, but 'that damned thing in the woods' really did catch his attention. "Sorry, the what in the woods?"

Inch resting. "Thing in the woods?" Senang mumbled, getting some distance to be able to shoot more comfortably. Tensions were running rather high now.

"Thing in the woods?" Aoife said now jumping into the conversation too.

He decided to idle not too far away from Ato, just to keep an eye on the doctor - and the patients. When the shout came... well, it was no use to play dumb and pretend that he, of all people, didn't hear it. His head turned sharply towards the local group, eyebrows quirked in what unmistakably was a silent question. Ruh-roh.

The other two in the small group quickly hissed at the injured man to be quiet, though he was clearly incensed, “There’s some fuckin’ thing out there!” He pointed angrily out toward the forest, “Ain’t got no damn clue what it is, but-” A shriek echoed out through the town, somewhere near the forest’s edge! (edited)

6

Vesta was keeping an eye on the argument coming through her visor, she perked up however when they mentioned the “thing” in the woods. Not commenting on it, seeing that everyone else had that covered, she tried to get a look at the torn up arm in question when an alert of a shriek from the woods popped up. “What was that?” She signed quickly.

Aoife snapped around toward the sound from the woods phaser raised now, ready to blast something that decided to charge at them. "I guess it's the 'woods thing'." She said in reply to Vesta.

He might as well get whiplash, with how fast his head snapped towards the forest - and before he could really think about it, or comprehend his actions, his legs were already beggining to move him towards the scream.

"Dunno, but - let's go." Yeah, he didn't have much more to say there as he took out his phaser and dashed towards the direction of the shriek.

“Or something being attacked by the woods thing.” She added, clearly there were people missing from the town, and that was without considering the missing Starfleet team.

T'She was torn, there were people here who needed help, but there was also an active threat (not to mention the nebulous 'thing in the woods').

The townsfolk become quite agitated, with many of them breaking out into an argument while others trail quickly behind those who ran toward the forest’s edge. #pine-forest

Ato's Vulcanoid ears heard the screech, heard the fight. He steeled himself against the natural anxiety response and continued to treat the woman's arm. "We should be all done here in just a moment," he said softly, waving the regenerator over her arm and when it was all done he gave a slight bow. "I'm glad I could help. I hope whatever happens, you don't suffer another one of those again soon." (edited)

Iiani broke out in a run, headed towards the scream. Her thoughts were going miles a minute. A thing? Was this thing a creature or something mechanical? Would it be something new it would get to document? Selfishly, it was more focused on the creature itself than the person who had screamed. She scolded herself for that, though, and began to run faster.

In the end, T'She decided to follow everyone else. That way, if they got injured, someone was there who could treat them.

"No lagging behind, we need to stay together," Senang encouraged, phaser getting readied on their shoulder as they started walking. "We can come back to treat people if needed, but we have to move." Never split the party, and all that.

The woman became quite tense as her treatment continued, and when it was done, she grabbed Ato’s arm, “Y’all gotta get the hell outta here,” She whispered quickly, before straying away from him and the away team and back into the building she’d come from.

1

Vara'ls gaze snapped to the sound of the scream and he commenced a jog toward the sound of the scream. Did so as he once again checked his tricorder and attempted to work out what happened to be out there that didn't happen to be the people they encountered.

Ato's face barely budged, the slightest amount of concern crossing his features. He nodded at the woman, clasped a hand over hers before she let go, and then turned to jet with the rest of the Etd. crew to the Sound in the Woods.

Rifle raised this time Aoife headed into the town center hopefully with the rest of the away team not far behind her. She wasn't going to take any chances this time if there were any locals left in the town after their recent firefight. Tentatively she approached the town hall type building the foreman came from when they were here last.

Night had now fallen across Highsplint, but even still the away team could discern some of the tight gazes from the townsfolk through windows. It was quite eerie, with only a few buildings having their lights on. The town hall was not one of them.

1

Allan followed close beside her, and once they'd gotten to a part of town where there wasn't too much overhead, he started running some things on his tricorder to try and find out what was causing the comms interference. There were a number of things he was checking for, but some of which were signal jamming that might have been coming from on the planet itself, radiation levels, and subspace interference - whether from a storm or another sort of spacecraft. Or maybe the Eventide herself, that was a somehow possible thing. "Should we try and see what might be the place with medical supplies, if any..?" He asked while the tests ran.

Allan, your tricorder would report that there is some signal jammer up in orbit. However, a strong enough boost to comms might be able to pierce through the jam.

1

Well, he had at least one idea to start out with. "Hey, could someone give me their tricorder? It uh, I might need it as like - a sacrifice, I think if I use its power combined with my tricorder's power both to shoot a comms line up against the signal jammer up there, I can gather enough... like, power it can kinda just brute force its way through?" A very hacker point of view, but such he was. "If that doesn't work, I can try sending it on some lower uh, not-regular-for-Starfleet frequencies that might be too low for the signal jammer's filters.."

Aoife handed Allan her Tricorder without question, she was using a rifle anyway which needed both hands unless she was stationary. "Take it, I can't use it at the same time as the rifle anyway." She continued towards the town hall as she considered Allan's point about medical supplies. Surely the best place to find some was the nerve centre of the town, better then playing guess the doctors office in the middle of the night. "There's probably some medical supplies in the town hall, we should start there rather then trying to figure out which building is the doctors and get someone else shot. At least we'll have a defensible position in the town hall."

"Thanks," Allan said quickly, "well, if we can get the comms, I guess we can probably get the guy beamed up without messing with anything too much at all, so - I mean, it won't take... looong..." hopefully not, at least. He powered up Aoife's tricorder to the maximum power level (like when you turn your phone's brightness all the way up and it needs to use all its battery for that alone for some reason), and then used his own tricorder to attempt to send a comms line through that - slipping in some phase variance to the frequency just to add some extra force and whimsy, really. "Okay, testing the signal again.. now." Annnd send!

The signal became staticky, but as the phase variance was adjusted, it became clearer and clearer…Allan, your message went through! The signal jammer seemed to be moving up there…is it a ship?

5

"Oh - hey, hey, I've got it -" Allan actually smiled, standing up and looking at Aoife, "I think... the signal jammer's uh, definitely mobile, um... might be like, judging off the size and frequency.." he frowned then, and simply showed the tricorder results to Aoife. "Comm's up though, what should we say exactly..? I mean, just in case this is one of those 'we only get one message' scenarios. 'Cause okay, there's a thing in the woods, we've got a critically injured guy needing medical attention, the whole uh, event back in the woods, and.... yeah?" Yeah, he was not a comms officer for a reason.

"It's gotta be a ship blocking Comms. I'd have to guess the Eventide is in as much trouble as us upstairs." This wasn't good, if the Eventide was in combat no way they could get a medevac or any kind of support while they were busy fighting. "We should keep it brief espiceally if they're fighting, tell them the locals turned hostile, and we're holding a position after a firefight until we can figure out next steps."

"Also mention that we have an injured party here, please," T'She added as they tried to determine which house once held the doctor's office -- if any of them ever did.

Vesta arrived with Lorne, making sure to keep close with the medical staff. Even if the doctor's office was well stocked, which considering the company that stocked it, was not guaranteed, the Eventide would be the better choice. It was good that they had gotten comms working again. She said nothing, unable to sign or turn on her implant while carrying the man.

"Right, we should keep it brief, which - quite honestly, sir, is - not going to be best to leave to me. So-" he looked at the rest of the group, because listen, he was just being honest. He was not very confident in his abilities to keep messages brief. "If anyone else wants to give that, that'd be, like, super cool."

Lorne was unconscious by this point, though his staggered and shallow breathing made it clear he was still alive.

17:20

As the away team debated what to do, one of the townsfolk peeked out of a building. It was the young woman Ato had helped patch up, and she gave the group a particularly quizzical look, “Hell’re y’all doin’ back..?”

Trusting fullheartedly that someone would send that comm to the Eventide, he turned his attnetion to the townsperson. "We're trying to - we're trying to get medical supplies for him-" he pointed to Lorne, "he's, like - very critical right now, it's the best chance we have at having him live. We'll be out of town once we have him in a good enough condition, okay?"

Aoife tapped her comm to make a transmission to the Eventide.

The young woman gave a wary glance out toward the forest, before turning her attention to the away team once more, “Is he livin’?”

"Right now, yeah, but he's not gonna make it much longer if we don't get him some more advanced treatment than what we have right now," at least, that's what he gathered from what the medical officers had said.

“Mm…” She shifted uncomfortably. There were now a lot of eyes turned toward her from the windows of the other buildings in town, “Where’d the others get off to? Randall ‘n Nance ‘n all them.”

17:42

Vesta, your hands are suddenly freed as Lorne is beamed away!

5

"Looks like the comm went through." Aoife said with a bit of relief now Lorne was gone. "Hopefully they'll be able to reply through the dampening field."

“We had a,” she coughed awkwardly, “disagreement with some of them. They ran into the mines.” It looked nervously at the buildings. Hopefully they wouldn’t take that badly. “Say, would you happen to know anything about that creature? I’m a biologist and any information could be enough to help us stop it.”

T'She was relieved as well, they had done all they could for Lorne, and now it was up to the others on the eventide. "Any information is useful in this case."

Seeing that man disintegrate into atoms was the most beautiful thing Syrax had witnessed today. Now his attention could be given to the townsfolk - who, hopefully, had some useful information that could come in handy whenever they find, uh... the Thing. (edited)

It was always an odd sensation to have somebody beamed from your arms, but the relief that the man was now getting medical care and that she could once again communicate made it worth it. She breathed a sigh of relief.

The woman paled at mention of the creature, “Ain’t go no clue what’s out there…only started showin’ up ‘round when Orville ‘n them started talkin’ ‘bout joining the Federation, and…” She turned back toward a whisper from inside the building, “…I-I really shouldn’t be talkin’ to y’all.”

“It’s okay. If you talk to us, we will do our best to keep you safe. But if you don’t want to talk to us, we won’t make you.” Ato said softly from somewhere behind some of the officers. “We would really appreciate any help you can give us, but know we don’t want any harm to come to you and your neighbors. We want to help.”

3

"I concur, all we want to do is help you, that is what we came here to do," T'She added, trying to give those assembled a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, we just want to find our missing people, and also prevent any more injuries from the local forest monster," he nodded to Ato's words. "It's what we do, after all."

The woman’s wary expression didn’t change, but she stepped a bit more out from the doorway, “It uh…it showed up after one of the first fights, down at the mine. Orville’d gotten one of them androids to break protocol, help him ‘n his buddies out. Real nasty stuff for the company…shit’s been goin’ to hell in a hand basket ever since. Used to be, Orville ‘n them had holed up in the mine, but the foreman fixed that up right quick…monster’s been runnin’ around since afore then, though,” She grimaced, giving a frightened glance backward into the building, “That there uh…” She sighed, “…them other three from Starfleet, they went off toward the mine.”

5

"And then they were never seen again, right?" They commented, thinking that it was suspicious that the monster only started showing up when dissent started showing up.

Briefly he closed his eyes. The other three were off towards the mine. That, and some other grim confirmations from this woman, painted a really ugly picture... "Hey, thanks for the help, genuinely," he hoped that the small smile he offered this woman was a comforting one. "It's... a really bad situation you people found yourself in, and you are really brave for talking about this. Did all of this start because of some issue tied to Starfleet, or?.."

Aoife grimaced at the mention of the mine, that place would surely be a fortress. "Is there a way into the mine other then the main entrance?" Aoife asked trying to see if they could avoid approaching the mine head on.

“Haven’t seen ‘em since,” She shrugged, “And they’re hard t’miss. Green feller, big guy with an earring, this other lady with black eyes…” She turned toward Syrax and gave an appreciative smile, “…the uh…the company’s been fallin’ apart. Folks across the galactic counties want out. Company ain’t too keen on that. Orville’s one of ‘em, wants out. I uh…I ain’t got nothin’ else,” She pursed her lips together, “There’s a clearin’ out in the woods that’ll lead ya to the back of the mine.”

An android? He tuned in more when he heard that. An android, breaking protocol... "So - sorry, thank you again so much, um, just to clarify - the 'monster''s an android..?" He asked, mind already racing, but wanting to make sure he'd heard that right.

The woman titled her head toward Allan, “Ain’t got no clue what happened to Kix…uh- KX-4,” Her eyebrows raised in surprise, “You think that thing’s Kix?”

"Does Kix have the ability to create giant slash wounds?" They inquired, thinking about where Allan might be going with this.

"Getting an android to break protocol is tricky stuff," Allan said, thinking of a way to explain what he was thinking more simply, "if you're not careful with how you do it, sometimes the code can sort of... deteriorate, or glitch out in a way that causes protocol to break in... less savory ways. If it is Kix, and we can find and calm them down enough - we could give our best shot at fixing them."

She shook her head, “Kix looks like you or me, humanoid. No big ass claws or anythin’, but…” She pursed her lips together, “…’spose it might answer some things? I ain’t sure where he went after what happened down at the mine.”

"What do you mean by "calming them down"?" he had to ask. Because as far as he was aware, said Kix fella had some freaky Freddy Krueger shtick that let them cut people up like they were paper. Offering to calm someone with a track record of turning people into confetti was easier said than done, even if Syrax himself believed them not to be a villain.

"An android would explain why the locals were using weapons set to kill. They'd probably be resistant to stun settings." Aoife chimed in as the group was discussing.

Vesta pursed her lips. The rouge andorid seemed like a good lead until the reveal that they didn't have claws. "Were there any encounters with the monster before Kix was modified?"

“I got an ok-ish look at the tracks left by the creature in the woods. They seemed humanoid, and weren’t massive. The feet at least didn’t have claws.” She focused her attention on the woman. “I promise you that if it is Kix I- uh, and by I, I mean the engineers, will do their best at fixing Kix.” It felt for the android— it absolutely wasn’t their fault someone had messed with their brain. Iiani’s face twisted up in sympathy and concern. (edited)

"I mean, I'd probably try a stun first, but if that didn't work, there's other things we could try. Localized EMPs, signal interference, things of that nature, not a ... preferred way of subduing someone, but if he's actually out here trying to kill people, sort of necessary to try everything we've got available to us," Allan said to Syrax, and then nodded at what Iiani had said. "Yeah, I'll do my best, honest."

The woman shook her head, “Didn’t see hide nor hair of anythin’ out in the woods ‘fore the fight with Kix…oh, Lord…” She rested a hand against her forehead as it began dawning on her.

"If it is an android, and none of that "calming" involves anyone getting too close to the--" he wiggled his fingers, "--whatever the claws are, then I'm fine with it. Just... no stupid business."

"Is everything alright?" T'She asked, keeping their voice soft as they continued trying to peice things together.

Vara'l, who'd tagged along with the group and attempted to help in the maintenance of a perimeter, snapped out his tricorder once again. One hand firmly clasped on his rifle still, he then scanned their surroundings once more and checked for anything that well, shouldn't be around. While they seemed to be safe at present, he honestly felt the scan was warranted.

"And... I'm assuming Kix wasn't very fond of the company, right..? And... if that's the case, do we know if Lorne was?" He asked, because... maybe this is a targeted thing?

She pursed her lips together tightly as she looked at T’She, “It’s just- It’s a bit…fascinatin’ figuring out what the hell’s been goin’ on, cuz-” She paused as Allan spoke, before pointing at him and nodding, “Right, right! Orville tweaked his head ‘round, set his anger on the company. And Lord, was he angry…”

6

"Wait-- have all of the people who've been attacked been Company?" oh, yikes. On the other hand... a messed up saving grace, in their case? If they can prove to have no relation to the Company, of course...

Allan nodded as well, slowly putting things together - or at least, what he thought was putting things together, "If sooo, then... if he's targeting people loyal to the company, then maybe... we might actually have some common ground," and maybe they wouldn't have to force-subdue him at all? Perhaps...

The woman nodded, “All of us left, folks not stuck in the mine, we wanted to stay put. Loyalty or somethin’ like that, but like I said, I ain’t got anythin’ else. It’s…it’s Breld, or it’s bust. There’s not much else out here in the counties for us.”

"Was it Orville who started the petition to join the Federation? It doesn't have to be nothing, out here. You all obviously have something, camraderie, a beautiful place to live minus the uh, recent happenings. I don't know, I'm not a diplomat but... I trust our team to help if you all are open to it. We pride ourselves on finding unique solutions to problems that seem unsolvable."

The woman nodded, and after a few moments, she let out a sigh, “…after all this, I ain’t too sure if I agree with the foreman anymore anyhow,” There’s whispers back inside the building, but even still, there are a few other townsfolk who peek out of their own doorways at her statement. It seemed like their loyalties had been tested long enough.

"How's the foreman as a person?" he might ask, because... well. Better knowing who they're dealing with than knowing nothing.

“Stubborn son of a bitch,” One of the townsfolk said with a twinge of anger, “Ain’t raised our paychecks in two months. And I asked about it to his face!”

1

A capitalist, oh nooooo.... "That's... sorry to hear that," he winced. "Has he done - or not done - anything else notable?.."

“Well- Only one guy would be able to lock up the mine, if that’s where the others and the folks you’re lookin’ for are. He uh- He said a bit ago he was contactin’ headquarters, too,” Another citizen said.

Capitalism, something that was rather beyond Vesta, having grown up fully within the federation. Still, not the main problem here. "We should find and do something about Kix. Once the threat is gone we can decide what your colony wants to do next."

"Yeah, finding him would be a great start," he nodded in agreement with Vesta, "again, might have some common ground that'd not make him go sicko mode on us. The uniforms sort of give off the vibes straight away that we're not capitalist sympathizers."

"And I am worried about any victims of Kix that we don't know about yet. If Kix is going after company loyalists, there might be more in the forest..." They were about ready to go into the forest themself, but they knew that would not be a good idea, and decided to see what else they could do.

The moon had begun to rise, just beyond the reach of the tops of the pine trees. The away team would have some light to navigate by, at least.

"I propose we send out a search team, is there any equipment that might help light the way in the forest?" They asked, raising a finger to their chin.

“We got some flashlights in the general store,” One of the townsfolk pointed toward a building.

"Yeah?" Allan took out a flashlight from his bag. There's no way there were not Starfleet flashlights, at the very least for engineers. He turned it on.

"Separating is bound to turn all of this into a proper slasher horror movie..." okay, nerd. Not like it wasn't one, already, with that blood covering your hands. "Maybe we shouldn't do that, and go together?.."

"I agree. There's power in numbers, and leaving people behind is a recipe for distaster." Senang, who had been quiet this whole time because his player was busy shooting at the Eventide, piped up. His rifle was lowered again, but he was still holding it, refusing to sling it back over his shoulder so long as he perceived them to still be in danger.

"Understood, I... am just worried about the unconscious people in the woods... they might have been attacked." T'She reasoned, thinking about how leaving them there might not have been a good idea.

"Can we scan for an andorid? They don't have life signs." Vesta asked, beforing looking out into the woods. She didn't want to head in there without knowing where to look.

"That's right where we're going into," Allan said to T'She, already walking towards the forest a little, "yeah, we can do a localized scan, I think it'd be better once we're at the forest. Works better the closer we are, less chance of picking up more confusing traces than the one we're looking for - usually androids will have a pretty complex makeup, so not too hard to find, hopefully.." (edited)

"I can check on the unconscious folks in the woods, Commander. And then I can catch up to you all after I make sure they're alright, or maybe some folks here can help me get them back to town?" He looked back at the woman from before.

The woman stepped up, alongside a few other able-bodied members of the town, following Ato out to the edge of the forest.

"Wasn't there a trail of blood leading away from where we found Lorne? Maybe Kix has some sort of hideout... and we can follow the trail there..." They were trying to be helpful at the very least, not sure if they were succeeding.

"Yeah, we're - we're all going in the woods, it's the same direction past the unconscious guys and we can.. follow the trail, yeah, that's smart," Allan said in agreement to T'She, and then went towards whatever direction they'd found Lorne at.

"We'll notice the android eventually. They weren't being quiet before," Senang pointed out, since they noticed them moving around before.

"I agree, I don't think we will be snuck up on here." They offered a nod to Senang.

"The things I'd do for some night vision goggles right about now." Aoife said sarcastic as she stood and turned on the torch built into her rifle scope.

Off to the #pine-forest !

4

It was from a spot somewhere among the townsfolk in the town center that Ato was beamed away. He’d stayed back from the mine to take care of the folk here, and when the call came through that he’d be beamed out, he said his goodbyes, shook anyone’s hand who asked, and thanked them for all their help.