Crumbling City

Posted on Fri Feb 12th, 2021 @ 9:59am by

1,345 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 2 - Echoes Of An Empire
Location: Planet Surface - City Ruins
Timeline: Mission Day 9 @ 1003 Hours

ON

Tamaska gazed towards the city they were going to explore, being reminded of the lost city in the Cambodian jungle. Remnants of the structures, along with those still relatively whole had different sorts of vegetation and tree roots intertwining with each other. The warm scent of the trees, the earth and the scent of the flowers was brought towards her nostrils, by a slight breeze. Tamaska breathed in deeply, the fragrances reminding her of Hawaii.

Neshia was excited by seeing all the plant life she got to make record of, already having her tricorder out, taking scans and images of the vegetation. She wondered if there would possibly be some edible fruit, she'd like to try. She would have to be careful, one never knew if there would be a possible danger to eating the food here without seeing if were safe. She was already feeling a sense of hunger so pulled out a food bar, to eat.

Kotan for his part couldn't really understand why he had been assigned to this team, his skill set was as a flyboy not a scientist poking about some dusty old ruins. He figured he was there simply to make up the numbers and do most of the heavy lifting. In a bid to be somewhat useful he had snapped his tricorder open and was readily taking as many readings as possible.
"Commander, there are sporadic faint energy readings coming from just below the surface... could be signs of a still partially active energy network!"

Edward listened to the others talk and taking note about the conversations. His head moved side to side as he scanned the vegetation and tree lines for any kind of movement or possible hidden dangers that may lurk in the shadows.

The small group approached what looked to be an intersection, the road now nothing more than a broken lane that was a mere shadow of its former self. The buildings around it now wearing local vines and planets like a second skin, most of them had been demolished but on this corner one building still stood.

"Commander, this building is composed of different materials than the rest, its almost completely intact!" Kotan indicated the structure which could barely be considered a building given the layers of plant life now covering its exterior. "Once we get through the vegetation we should be able to see what the architecture and appearance of the buildings interior looked like!"

"Just be careful about the vegetation, those vines look similar to Earth's Planifolia, the vanilla bean, which the sap can cause dermatitis. The beans are great but the sap makes you itchy." Neshia remarked, doing a scan on them. "Sorry plants, we're going to have to give you a trim to get inside."

She looked over to Tamaska, "Two ways we can get through, the old fashioned way or cut through with a phaser. I suggest using a phaser to avoid getting contact with the sap."

Edward removed the phaser from his hip and set it to a low yield that would cut through the vines. " Gimme the word Commander and I'll make that opening for you."

"Teach, fire away, and I will do the same." Pulling out her phaser, Tamaska firing as well.

When the vines are cleared from the door, and part of the building, Tamaska crinkled up her nose at the scent. "Okay lets see what's behind the door." moving forward to see if the door would open.

Edward clipped his phaser back to his belt and brought out a security tricorder and scanned for life signs. " We have lots of animal life in the surrounding jungle area around us, But I'm also reading faint life signs inside the structure as well, Unable to determine what kind of life sign at this time."

The small group entered but instead of finding centuries old decay and nature taking hold once more, instead they found something that could have been built only yesterday. The walls iridescent gold with strips of luminescent green that seemed to provide the light. A sweeping staircase before them the same size of Copernicus with a service desk just to the side, several small screens located on it, all still powered.

"Commander" Kotan had moved over to the desk and was examining the readout on his tricorder. "It's going to take some time for the Universal Translator to figure out the language!"

Tamaska walked over to get a view on the readout, "I wonder just what we'll find out once it is done translating. In the meantime we've got other things to look at as well." She looked over towards Teach, "You and I need to go check out the stairs and what might be up there, Neshia, get some scans around the area where you are at, we'll be back."

Neshia nodded, and once Teach and Tam headed up the stairs she moved closer to Kotan. "Love, I need to talk with you about something later on. When we have the time." then turned to take some more scans to see if there were any life signs besides their own.

Tamaska walked carefully up the stairs almost as if she were going to have to leap out of the way of a possible trap. She did pause for the moment to gaze at the area which was rather impressive. "This is massive, we could fit the Copernicus in here and then some."

Tamaska turned her attention back to the stairs and the progress upwards, she paused and looked down at Neshia, "Neshia, I need you up here with me, think you can manage it?"

Neshia glanced once more towards her husband then made her way up the stairs to where Tamaska was at. "Okay commander, I am here. Where do you want me to start the scans."

"There is a corridor not too far, need to basically map out the area, see if you can get something to give us an idea as to how many rooms that might be here. And even some energy signals that we've not picked up yet."

Neshia nodded. "Very well Commander." walking towards the corridor, with Tamaska alongside her.

Tamaska looked over towards Teach, "Teach, check out that other corridor, see what you can find out with your scans, let me know if you find anything."

"Ensign Yojar, let us know about the translation, when it gets done. Unless you'll be able to accompany Teach in looking around."

Edward directed the tricorder down the hallway and detected a doorway with no power to it. He approached the door and found the panel and popped it off to gain access to the hand mechanism in which he was able to barely open the door. The room was bathed in a soft green light, In which he could see Lab tables, stalls and booths. An area which appeared to be a target range and above a control booth overseeing the entire area. He tapped his combadge. " Commander this is teach, I've got something you should see over here."

"Commander... You need to see this!"
Kotan appeared in the doorway, Neshia a few steps behind him and both wearing a look of worry and wonder. "The power seems to be coming back on across the city and there is some kind of public announcement... It sounds like the Captain!"

He tapped a few commands into his tricorder and called up the recording he had taken not moments before...
"Alert" the Captain's voice sounded distant, hollow, his eyes glazed over but he continued to talk and as he did he seemed to expand, it took a moment for the others to realise that he was patched in directly to the internal communication system. "Intruders detected in multiple locations. Senatorial Parliament military coordination centre. Weapon research facility city of Trey'Tan'Dur. Biological Weapon Research cold storage facility Gret'Oar'Zhan Coast. Genetic Biolab Julanth Trench, Oar'Zhan Sea... Counter measures deployed. Main computer system and power generation activated, main processor operating at seventeen percent, further psionic input and interface required!"

END

 

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