JP | CSci & SciO & Various NPCs | Lt Lionza & Ens Kharg | "A Bitch of a Hike"

Posted on 241802.28 @ 11:14pm by Lieutenant Maria Lionza & Ensign Ayissa Kharg

Mission: Reconstruction and Refocus
Location: Planet

Maria was the first one back to the runabout seeing both their pilot; ensign M'wivr and junior lieutenant Tiva zh'Neilvvh, the alien archeologist/anthropologist. "Has anyone else returned?" Maira asked.

"No not yet lieutenant." M'wivr said looking around and then back at the timer. "But they should be returning any time I would think." She added.

Mere moments later, Kharg and her security escort, Fero, appeared out of the low scrubby bushes off to one side of the clearing. Even from the small distance, it was obvious that the Ensign was veritably beaming with excitement. Bounce in her step, Ayissa trotted towards the shuttle at a quick clip.

"Lieutenant, I believe I found what we were looking for!" Ayissa proclaimed breathlessly as soon as she was within a range so as to not have to yell. "I didn't have time to get as much information as I would have liked, but still, I strongly suspect that I have at least found the source."

"Excellent!" Maria said keeping an eye on the time. "Get through the decontamination procedure and upload your tricorder data. I'll be in once the security officers arrive back."

Fero nodded at Maria, sidling up behind Kharg in a less exuberant manner. "Tvang will be here in short order. Circled back to ensure that there was nothing following us. We didn't see hardly a living thing out there..." The Bajoran mused, peering off towards the edge of the clearing. "But one cannot be too careful."

After the rest of the security team arrived and through the decontamination process once they were done she entered just in time as her force field was about to expire.

~

With everyone finally back within the relative safety of the shuttle, Ayissa was practically writhing with excitement. Pulling up a sparse map that she had managed to generate of the path they had taken, and overlaying it on the initial surface scans, the scientist used her finger to draw a rough circle over one section in particular. "Here we encountered a large rocky outcropping. While it was somewhat treacherous terrain, I was able to circle around most of the area, and have triangulated that the signal is emanating from somewhere within that zone. Unfortunately, we ran out of time before I could investigate further. But so long as this proves to be a stable signal, and not a traveling one, I at least know exactly where we begin in the next cycle."

Maria nodded looking at the maps Maria stood and tapped a few buttons superimposing the scans that Ayissa took with the topical graphical scans from the Enterprise. "Alright looks like chances are the signal is underground somewhere or at least that's what it looks like to me. Any other ideas?"

"It would make sense, actually." Ayissa input. "That it would be hidden somewhere. If you don't want your broadcast to be discontinued, or if you need it to continue without possibly being interrupted by possible natural interference. I would be willing to take the bet that there is some sort of crevice or geographic structure in which whatever is emitting the signal is embedded."

"Alright. It's been a long day let's get something to eat and get some sleep. We'll come up with a plan in the AM." Maria said stifling a yawn. Before standing up and grabbing some water and MREs.

"Eating sounds spectacular." Ayissa concurred, shedding the last of her superfluous burden, shoving it off to the side as much as could be managed in such a small space as the shuttle.

~

Having been unable to catch anything really resembling sleep, Kharg was awake and ready to depart well before anyone else. Aside from the pair of security that had been their escorts the day before, as they had taken the secondary shift of watch.

Maria was up next stretching as she realized at the age of 28 she was way too old to be sleeping on something that uncomfortable. "Ensign did you get any sleep last night?" Maria asked as she stood and did one more stretch before walking over to the replicator and ordering a coffee. "Coffee?"

"No sleep, yes coffee." Ayissa replied, tapping away at her padd in hopes to narrow down the zone in which they would have to search later that morning. Realizing that had come out rather poorly, she quickly looked up with an apologetic smile, "Please."

Maria gave the Klingon hybrid a smile. "Same." She said about the sleep or lack there of. Walking over with two cups of coffee. "Are we getting any closer on zeroing in on the signal?"

Taking the mug, Kharg sipped at it without even bothering to check the temperature. A slight wince at the heat was all she displayed, far more intent on the information that was before her. "I've gotten it to a half mile radius. With reasonable certainty, we could narrow it by half, but I wouldn't want to discount the rest entirely."

Pointing at the zone she now had highlighted, another drink was taken; this time without so much as a blink. "I think it would be most wise, given our time constraints, to begin as close to the epicenter as possible, and move in a spiral outward. It makes our chances of encountering what we seek highly more probable."

"Agreed." Maria said taking some small sips of her coffee. "How long is it from here?"

"About three hours to get to the epicenter, moving with reasonable speed." Ayissa answered, frowning pensively. "Leaving us six to search the entire area, and to get back here in time. It's cutting it close, but maybe we won't need it all?"

Sighing Not liking the idea of how close that was cutting it. Wishing they had a Argo. "Alright. We'll bring a extra set of the portable force fields. At least three sets of MREs and enough water to act a day and half."

"Better safe than sorry." Was agreed, relatively nonchalantly. Draining the remainder of her coffee, the half breed stood, stretching out slowly. "We should get packed quickly, as well. If we can manage to leave right as the light is breaking, it gives us even a few more minutes."

"Okay. Go wake the rest. Let's get breakfast and some more coffee then we well go over the game plan." Maria added standing up to get some more coffee before looking at the map again.

"Right." Ayissa nodded, shaking the last vestiges of weariness from her limbs, and moving to begin making things happen.

=/\=

Lieutenant Maria Lionza
Chief Science Officer
USS Enterprise

Ensign Ayissa Kharg
Science Officer
USS Enterprise