Tiberius Recon, Inland trip

Posted on Tue Jan 19th, 2010 @ 11:17pm by Commander Jack Tolren

1,769 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Jackson Survey
Location: Tiberius
Timeline: current

Lee, Talon , and Patrick finished gathering coastal samples and switched carts at the for the trek inland. They were joining Commander Tolren, Lietenant Francis and Mandy Travis at the treeline. Lee spoke up, "Hope we are not interrupting some stimulating conversation?" Lee smiled sheepishly at his own boldness. Commander Tolren we are ready to follow you inland Sir. Coastal samples are collected and stored securely Sir."

"Let's head out then, Lieutenant, you and Cadet Talon take point, we're heading due east, to find some caves," Tolren instructed them.

Joe nodded, taking out his tricorder he chose the direction and waited for Talon.

Talon moved abreast and nodded, "Should we blaze a trail" pointing to the machete on his pack "or try to just find a game trail and make do?" Talon had respect for life but he had grown up with a pragmatic hunters mentality. He could move through vegatation leaving it relatively undisturbed, but he had no problem with cutting a path to where he was going either. Who ever followed then here was certainly going to cause a lot more destruction then a single person path.

"I'm not keen on getting attacked by any plants which enjoy flesh, so lets cut a clear path," Francis replied, taking out his own machete.

Lee and Patrick were ready with the cart, Patrick would help hand out the containers and check their seals as put them back on the cart. Mandy had moved to take the rear position as Talon had been ordered forward. The Cadets had been a team a long time and seemed to know each others placement in most situtations.

Grant from the as the explorers left the beach into the treeline=^=Commander Tolren, just so you know there are now eight of those sand shark creatures and they are feeding on the dead one. They seem to be able to move on land much like a seal but appear to be able to lunge as a crocodile. I am recording all. =^=

"Thank you, Cadet, if the situation changes, including the weather get straight on the comm," Tolren replied. "Okay folks, let's move towards that cliff."

With the energy of his youth and the desire to prove his worth Talon blazed a trail, he had a woodsmens eye for picking a trail from growing up hunting in the mountains back home. Even with his aggressive path cutting he was careful of were he swung and what he cut. Quite often pointing to some thorny fern or sweet smelling flower tht just looked out of place.

Mandy was recording much of the trip and watching their backtrail. Lee gathered samples along the way mostly from the debris created by LT Franics and Talon. Patrick was much more alert since the shark incident but his cocky nature seemed even more evident. All the same he kept his fingers and toes strictly on the cleared trail.

They made good time and Grant called in every ten minutes for a status check, and sent a private feed to Patrick of the sharks feasting on their dead friend. Upon reaching the caves Talon stopped to wait for orders, He wiped the sweat from his brow and used a rag to wipe the sap from his machete. He looked at Francis, "Did you see the size of some of those bugs!"

Joe nodded, "and some of them bite."

Talon frowned "I was afraid you were going to say that." He took up a sentry position on the left side. Mandy continued recording everything for possible later needs.

"We just need some rock samples and some scans of the caves to make sure they're stable," Tolren informed them. "Don't go deep into the caves until we've done a complete scan."

Lee and Patrick worked well together gathering samples and recording the cave structures and weak points that would need support beams to be safe. Patrick started doing those scans as Lee finished taking nearby rock samples. Patrick smiled "These caves seem very stable, except for this fissure that runs down this side here. Some support structure here and here should suffice to make the complex safe."

Grant came online =^= Commander Tolren from the scans we took on the way down this area here looks safe to stablize as a Landing pad for shuttles. Won't need lot of work either. It's a quarter mile from your current position but well above you I am afraid. Grant out=^=

Tolren pulled out his padd and checked the data that Grant had sent. The area appeared perfect, they would just need a way of getting down the cliff, nothing Engineering couldn't manage he was sure.

"Record everything, it's up to the settlers to do the work with our engineering," Tolren said. The area was exactly what the Captain was looking for.

Lee waved at the Commander, "All done here Sir. We have enough rocks to make the fly heavy!" He joked smiling. Patrick nodded everything we recorded is back up and saved Sir. Talon was busy watching the area but was keeping track od some tree monkey-like creatures that were getting a little bolder. He pointed them out to Lieutenant Francis "bold little fellas are'nt they."

"Let's hope they don't steal our kit like the little things in Gibraltar," Francis replied, also paying close attention to them.

Grant came on again =^=Commander Tolren a storm front is moving in from the coast. Do you want beamed back to the ?=^=

Tolren tapped his combadge, "yes, we'll assemble the kit, we don't want to be moving it through the storm. Standby."

He turned to the group, "okay folks, it's time to pack up and run, we've got a tropical storm heading this way."

Mandy wrapped up her video, Lee and Patrick hustled the cart into the center and Talon closed in as well. =^=Grant to away party I have you and the cart. Ready to bring you back in three-two-one-now=^= The group faded out from the caves area and the monkeys that had been watching went berserk, though the Party had no idea of that as they materialized inside the .

Bob stepped over to Commander Tolren, "Sir we might want to go sooner rather then later looks to be quite a storm coming in and it is moving fast. As you can see high winds, hurricane speeds but the water doesn't seem to be as affected as one might expect. You can see how rapidly this swept across toward us." Mandy hurried to her flight station with Lee, Patrick, and Talon moving to secure the samples and prepare the ship for flight. "Sir I will leave this with you, I better get down to the engine room?"

"Thank you, Cadet, go start up the warp core. Mandy get the helm online. All hands, prepare for departure," Tolren ordered.

Francis took a seat at the Engineering station and tapped a few commands to gain access to other systems, including sensors. "Weather front closing in rapidly, sir. We should get rain any time."

Bob had the engines up to speed and power ready to move to where ever it was needed. Patrick quickly moved to the Operations station and check his indicators, read-outs and waved to Mandy that everything was looking good. "Commander Tolren we have power and some to spare." Lee was checking the weather and nodded toward Lieutenant Francis. "We have a few minutes Sir, then it might be best to wait this out. Looks like a shallow front moving through." Talon sat at the tactical station and his hands spun across the console there. "Tactical ready Sir."

Mandy turned her head slightly, Flight control ready Commander Tolren. Patrick spoke up 'No time like the present Operations ready to go Sir." Bob secured himself down in engineering "Everything is good to go down here, Commander Tolren."

"Let's go, helm atmospheric thrusters, take us on a course away from the storm and climb to orbit," Tolren instructed. He was standing far enough away from Mandy not to worry her, but close enough to jump in if anything should go wrong.

Mandy let her fingers dance across the console and the started to lift . Mandy managed to get off the ground without an incident and then acclerated in a half circle leading away from the storm. Once she had some speed her confidence increased and so did the steadiness of her ascent. The was buffeted hard as they passed through the atmosphere but they were in the black within minutes. Mandy was sweating heavily as she smiled over her shoulder at commander Tolren. "What course Sir?"

"Back to Typhon please," he responded. "And well done everyone, great work."

Mandy plotted the return course at warp-6 and sent it to Lieutenant Francis before began manuevering to warp entry. Patrick and Grant chimed in on top of each other, "good to go." Mandy started her count down "warp-6 in three-two-one warp." The ship advanced at a leap into warp and the trip home was now in progress. There was almost a palpable sadness as the Cadets believed their current adventure over. Except for Lee Quan who was anxious to return so he could request a trip to Science to help catagorize and study the samples he had taken.

Tolren sat down in the centre seat as the ship accelerated to warp. In a matter of hours they would arrive back at Typhon and Captain Fannin would need to be briefed on their findings. He considered the mission a success despite the shark attack and them having to leave early; at least they had given Miller his scans of the sun.

Mandy pulled into the docking bay like she had been doing it for years and followed all procedures perfectly. Brad, Lee, Patrick, and Bob all shut down the as if it was being done from a text book. They moved smoothly as a team and followed the saftey protocols to the letter. Once done they each looked to Commander Tolren and declared each station in turn shut down and secured.

Lee spoke up "With your permission Sir, I would like to take our samples to the Science labs?" Mandy smiled at Lieutenant Francis and then spoke up, "Once the samples are offloaded the ship is secure Sir." Talon, Grant, and Wayne all waited for the ok to off load the samples.

"Carry on cadets, a job well done, I'll be sure to include your performance in my report to the Captain," Tolren replied, standing from the seat. "Dismissed."

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Lt/Cmdr. Mike Hawkins writing the cadets.

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