Tiberius IV: What Lies Beneath? part 1

Posted on Sat Apr 24th, 2010 @ 9:14am by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Commander Karma Sinclair & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola & Lieutenant JG Randall "Iceheart" McGraw

890 words; about a 4 minute read

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

ON

Kara Melo gave Trent exactly five minutes before she led the rest of the team out of the pod. She had her netting on to protect her face and her rifle in her hand.

"Lieutenant Sinclair," Kara said, "I'll go first. You and the Fleeties follow me. The rest of my squad will take up the rear."

Karma nodded and looked at the others to be sure they were ready. "Let's move out," he told them.

Trent took point of the Marines in the advance group. The journey through the cave went quickly as they knew the way down to the recently made exit. Once outside of the cave the group hopped between the visible rock outcroppings to where the Firefly had crashed earlier.

The storm had picked up since he was last in the open. The swirling winds assaulted them with the red sand, stinging the skin where it was exposed and reducing visibility to only a few feet in any direction. It was becoming difficult to determine which rocks were rooted deep and which only lightly sat on the surface of the sand.

Trent had resolved himself to the fact that he was going to be coated head to toe in the sand. What he couldn't resolve was the odd feeling like something was moving along side them in the sands, matching every step they made. Every time he would steal a glance the movements would stop or his vision would be filled with reddish dust. He couldn't help but feel like he was being stalked...

Kara and the rest of the party caught up to the advance party. "Anything to report?" Kara asked Trent.

He shook his head though he never took his eyes off the sand. His hands tightly gripped his weapon and, although covered, he was frowning under the mask covering his face. "Whatever that creature is, it's following our every step." He tilted his head towards the patch of sand.

Kara turned to Karma. "Where do you want to go from here, Lieutenant?"

"Let's move up into the rocks," Karma told her. "We can try to study the creature from there."

Lizzie collected a sample of the sand in her hand and ran her tricorder over it. She was curious to see if there was anything in the sand that might support plant life. The sand was surprisingly rich in minerals, but nothing that could grow anything. She wondered if there was something in another area of the planet that could sustain life. Or in the rocks themselves... She walked back into the cave and began to scan.

After she'd taken enough scans, she followed the others to the rocks and began to scan those as well. Surprisingly, she found some tiny plants scattered in the rocks. "Hey, Lieutenant. There are plants here," Lizzie said to Karma. They were small and scrawny-looking, but they were there.

Karma walked over and looked at the plants she'd found. "How can there be plants here?" he asked Lizzie. He looked at them again and said, "See what you can find out about them. Maybe they can shed some light on what's going on."

Lizzie nodded. "I'll see what I can find out," she said as she pulled out her tricorder and began a detailed scan of the plant and the soil.

====

There was a crevasse in the rock that was big enough to be a cave. Kara noticed it while she was doing a quick recon. She signaled to Karma. "Hey, Lieutenant. Over here."

Karma heard Kara and walked over to where she was standing. As he approached, he saw the crevasse. Turning to face Kara, he said, "Organize a small team to go in and check that out. Stay in constant communication. We don't need any more surprises."

Kara nodded. "Trent, you're with me. Sam, stay here and keep a lookout."

She and Trent made their way into the crack and back into a larger cave. It was surprisingly cool in the cave. A tunnel wound back and down into the earth. She looked at Trent. "Suggestions?"

Trent clipped his flashlight on the end of his carbine with a satisfying snap. Once on, he flashed it around the room and took stock of their surroundings before speaking. "Well, I wouldn't want to venture near that sand without an experiment." He picked up a small rock near his foot and tossed it on to the sand. The rock stayed still for a moment before tipping into the sand and sank below its surface much like a ship would in water. "Well, it's soft. Not sure if that's a good thing or not."

Kara nodded, acknowledging what he said. "Cover me," she said as she walked farther back into the cave. She went slowly and carefully, listening with her ears and her telepathy to make sure she didn't miss anything.

Suddenly Kara stopped. She'd felt something... another mind. It was faint, but it was definitely there. She reached out to see if she could get a general direction and moved forward. "Private, there's someone down here. Get the medic."


(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Karma Sinclair
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Orion

Sergeant Kara Melo (NPC)
Marine Scout
USS Orion

Private Trent Kushner (NPC)
Marine
USS Orion

Lieutenant Elizabeth Jackson (NPC)
Botanist
USS Orion

Ewan (NPC)
Survivor

Nurse (NPC)

 

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