Tiberius IV: Coming out on top

Posted on Sun Mar 14th, 2010 @ 7:18am by Commodore Samantha York & Commander John Sheridan & Lieutenant Commander Karma Sinclair & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola & Lieutenant Commander Leanne Bowen

873 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: What Lies Beneath?
Location: Tiberius IV
Timeline: current

ON

As if the ride down and the near-sinking of the pod weren't enough excitement for all, the wind had stopped gusting and started blowing outright, making an already difficult drop that much harder for Kaj and Christian.
Since there wasn't enough room to set the pod down manually and there were questions as to the stability of the cliff itself they had resorted to winching it down, a task that was difficult to begin with and not helped by the kinetic punch of the wind on Tiberius IV.

Despite that the two had made good work of it until the last 4 feet. Though the main door to the pod would be out of the wind the body was exposed, and as it was slowly lowered the wind would lift the pod and shift it out over the drop.
Now faced with two options, Kaj went for the riskier of the two. After giving everybody in the pod a heads up that there would be a rough landing, they re-positioned and lowered the pod. Using a few of the skills he had picked up during baseball, Kaj and Christian dropped the pod so that it fell 4 feet then settled right where they had wanted it.

The pod landed with a hard thud and took a small bounce before settling onto the cliff. Except for being jostled around, everyone was in once piece.

The firefly had gotten a little squirrely after having a lot of weight released and it had taken a few seconds of fast thruster work to get it into a hovering mode, but once they were settled Christian kept the firefly stable while Kaj manned the sensors and tried to reach the pod.

"Kaj to pod, how is everybody in there?"

Well, not exactly smooth as it landed, the doctor thought as she opened her eyes to look at everybody, detaching her seatbelt.

"We're good. Get yourself safely to the Orion. We'll call you when we're ready for a pickup," Sam said, unbuckling her restraints.

Kaj had heard the order but had no intention of complying with it right away.
"Negative commander, we'll stay on station and provide overwatch till you make it to the caves, then leave. We have eyes on a rough trail leading in the direction of the cave entrances, not much better than a goat path but better than trying to go down that cliff face."

Sam looked at Damon. "I assume you're going to want to send out a recon team first?"

"I'll have to see about that yet." He said as he likewise unclasped his restraints and stood up. "From up top it looks like this rock face is pretty steep. If it's bad, we will likely have to climb a fair bit and I don't want to risk too many people on the same footing."

"Okay. Doctor, you stay here. I don't want to risk you getting injured while we check out the surroundings. Lizzie, you stay here, too. I'll go with a couple of Marines to see what's out there," Sam said.

"Yes, ma'am," Leanne said as she watched the Captain getting ready to step outside along with the marines.

"What about me?" Karma asked as he readjusted his equipment after that landing.

Damon regarded him "You can head out with me and the first squad provided you keep up Lieutenant. I wouldn't mind some eyes on a scanner."

Sam looked at Damon. "I don't mind him coming with the first group. What do you say?"

Damon nodded as he looked back to her. "Sounds good. But we won't be heading for those caves. We have no idea where they lead." He didn't need to mention that he wanted Samantha nowhere near any more caves. "Besides, these caves show no real indication of having any significant concentrations of what OreCo is looking for. They would have no need to be here. Best bet is to climb down the cliff face and move over the sand to an area where we likely might find something."

Sam placed a hand on Damon's arm. "We will see what's out there. Then we will decide what to do. I promise to take no unnecessary chances."

Damon sighed, he didn't like the sound of her words.

She looked around at the assembled group. "Okay, first group, let's head out."

Lizzie picked up her backpack, pulling out a scarf to wrap around her neck. If there were sand and wind, she'd want a scarf to keep the worst of it out of her lungs.

Lieutenant Del'ore stepped from the shuttle and started some scans around the landing struts. Her concern was stability of the craft.

OFF

Commander Samantha York
Chief Science Officer
Acting CO
USS Orion

Lt Cmdr. John Sheridan
XO, USS Orin

Marine Captain Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion

Lieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion

Lieutenant Karma Sinclair
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Orion

Lieutenant JG Leanne Bowen
Chief Medical Officer
USS Orion

Ensign Malinda Catto (NPC)
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion

Petty Officer 1st Class Christian Vital (NPC)
Shuttle/Runabout Pilot
USS Orion

Lieutenant JG Del'ore (NPC)
Wing Safety Officer
USS Orion

Ensign Elizabeth Jackson (NPC)
Botanist
USS Orion

 

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