... We're Hunting Discoveries (pt. 2)

Posted on Sat Feb 1st, 2020 @ 7:39am by Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason & Captain Luka Mahone
Edited on on Sat Feb 1st, 2020 @ 11:09am

1,803 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Snow Birds
Location: Outside Haumea Colony
Timeline: Post Snow Birds

Gunnar raised field glasses to his eyes, scanning the hole. "No, but..." he switched to infrared. "...something's there. I'm picking up a faint heat signature. No marks in the snow outside though... it must have come in some other way."

"Cave dwelling?" Luka squinted at the snowy area, then his gaze wandered over to the cave. "... The Daucin were found with nests in the cave, maybe it's another variant? Or do you think it's another species entirely?" The young Captain reached for his field glasses. "Damn, this makes me wish I had a dog right now... unless it's big and unfriendly. I wouldn't want a dog near that."

"It could be a variant, or our predator. After all, the Daucin dig, and possibly chew, through rock for their minerals. It would make some sense that a predator could do the same..." He glanced at the phaser rifle. "Not something I'd want to send a dog after either, though we could go investigate or try to draw it out."

Looking between the phaser rifle and the cave opening, Luka's shoulders rose. "We could... investigate, possibly get ourselves injured, some of us again, which would be a lovely story I'm sure, but... uh... Not one I'm ready to tell. Or we could... draw it out." He felt more hesitant than he meant to, but he would have much rather been cautious than have another potential injury on his hands. "... Let's draw it out. What did you have in mind?"

"Hmm... If there's no Daucin in there, maybe it will look outside with some incentive. We recorded the sounds the one we captured made. We can see if that might do it." Gunnar reached into his pack and pulled out a small player. He looked at it moment. "I should probably tossed it closer to the cave mouth, or at least a little away from us. Just in case."

So saying he activated the sound as he lobbed it out of the blind - a high slow toss like a penalty throw from back when he played basketball. It landed with a 'plop' in a bank of snow about a meter from the cave mouth.

The captain leaned forward, more curious than cautious of what they were about to find. His gloved hand hung over the edge of the peephole as they waited. He frowned, impatient as the simulated trilling noises did not immediately produce a creature. "... Well, I'm not sure what I expected out of that," he began, ready to slump back into their hidey hole, when a pair of eyes was spotted from the entrance of the cave. He went quiet, watching as the creature in question crept out of the cave.

As it came out, it was obvious that the creature had no intention of staying there long. It carefully stepped forward on its forepaws, sniffing the air with it's snout. While the creature did not exactly look like a wolf, Luka could see the dark-toned fur that covered it, save for it's forepaws. While it's paws were similarly toned, he could see the creature's toes flexed more than what he was used to seeing out of a quadrupedal creature. "... My xenobiology must be off," he spoke in a small whisper, "... Does that creature have actual toes?"

Gunnar picked up field glasses and focused on the creature's feet. Toes wouldn't be unusual in a mammal - both cats and canines had actual toes, but these were different. "Yes, in fact, they almost look prehensile ...fascinating." He passed the glasses toward Luka, while reaching for the stun rifle. "Should I try to stun it so we get a better look, and maybe tag it for the biologists to follow?"

"... If you think you can do that without disturbing the creature too badly." Luka sat upright, on his knees, as the creature seemed to take absolutely no notice of them. The creature's ears, which were long and pointed, were angled straight in front of it, away from where the pair had position themselves. "... It doesn't look like it's spotted us yet either, which is... a good sign, right?"

Gunnar nodded, quietly given the ears on the animal, and carefully shifted the stun rifle into position. It wasn't a difficult shot - certainly easier than hitting a wounded ram that was thrashing on the side of the road - but just as he lined up the shot, the creature lifted it's head and looked right at their blind.

Now or never. He squeezed the trigger just as it tensed to move. An reddish beam hit its flank as it turned, and the creature dropped, twitching a moment before lying still.

Checking his scanner before lowering the rifle, Gunnar gave Luka a relieved smile. "It looks like I got it. I don't know how long it will stay out, so we should make this quick."

"It's a good thing I don't still have a broken leg then." Luka sat upright, hand to the hatch. He pushed himself up and out, trying to hide his excitement at the idea of discovering another creature. And failing.

The pair were quick to make their way over to the felled creature, which Luka made certain was still breathing, out of pure reflex as opposed to checking on Gunnar's aim. In the next moment, he was pulling out a tricorder to begin a closer examination. "I want to make sure we aren't going to interfere more than we have with a trace. The Daucin is proof enough that even the slightest change could upset the ecosystem, and I would like to avoid that. Just in case we upset a colony of Xaeprean termites who eat... I don't know, human hair."

"Hair-eating termites would tend to drive some people off," Gunnar laughed. He was running his scanner over the creature, as well as taking images - which helped at least a little in resisting the urge to just reach out and touch the animal. Luka's comment had been a good reminder to check first for parasites, toxins and other hazards of interacting with new life forms. "It seems to be clear of termites, though there are small organisms in its digestive tract..." He studied the scan further, then shook his head as he extracted a hypo fitting for injecting a tracer chip. "At this stage I can't say for sure if those are symbiotes or parasites. But we should be able to tell more if we use a trace that monitors general health."

"Mm... I know I'd be a little helpless without a head of hair." It was too cold for him to even think about how many hats he would have to wear if he was without his hair. His cheeks reddened at another thought. "Or too embarrassed to answer any of Asahi's calls. He'd never let me live it down. Ever."

Gunnar chuckled at that. "Well, from T'Ango's point of view I'm already 'sparsely furred', but I know she'd still tease me about it. Relentlessly."

Luka crouched down further onto his hands to get a better look at the creature's teeth, almost ignoring how close his cheek was getting to the snow. "... Gotta wonder what the composition of these teeth are that can go through a creature like the Daucin. Or the structure of its stomach."

"It depends on how much of a Daucin it eats. They aren't armored after all, they just have a highly acidic digestive system. Though teeth and claws that can shred metal do make me wonder how anything can take one down..." Gunnar adjusted his tricorder and took another set of readings. Then put a hand on Luka's shoulder, pushing cautiously to urge him further from the creature's mouth. "You should move back a bit, just to be safe, sir. It doesn't use toxins per se, but its saliva carries a stupefacient. Temporary, but very effective, and some of it may be carried on its breath. It may only need to get close enough to let that lull prey into stupor before attacking."

"Oh." Luka wiggled back a few inches, cheeks turning red. He definitely did not want to return to the hospital without the ability to explain himself. Who knew what would come out of his mouth. "That's a good call. And probably the answer to your question. If you can subdue a Daucin, they aren't going to bite you. Heavens help anyone who decides it's a good idea to start breeding them as pets. I feel like we'd have something akin to a tribble epidemic on our hands."

"I doubt they breed prolifically, but keeping one in your home could certainly be problematic," Gunnar sighed, dreams of domesticating a new creature fading, though he could imagine how T'Ango's Raiders, or Federation special forces for that matter, might view it's potential as a working animal. "Of course, we don't know as yet if it can control excreting the chemical. There are examples of predators across a number of worlds who produce toxins or pheromones, but only in self-defense or in response to sensing prey. If so, it could potentially be trained as a guard animal."

"It could. If the toxins are responding to anything, it's likely the fact that we've stunned the poor creature." Luka sat upright, satisfied with his visual examination of its teeth. "It may simply be a stress response... Something like that could be useful." He could see a small few of these creatures acting like mouser cats in barns, detering daucin who thought it brave enough to leap into one of the various engineering buildings. It was a humble definition of 'guard' dog, but he didn't want to know what would happen if there were more severe options. "I'll have to see if we can get an animal handler on colony if this becomes more of an option."

"Yes. The tracer should provide us with enough data over time to determine that." Gunnar glanced at his tricorder, noting that it's vitals were starting to rise. "But for now, we should move off. It's starting to come around."

Carefully standing, Luka took a good look at the creature before nodding in agreement with Gunnar. "I'm sure sight of two completely foreign, warm-blooded bipeds will totally throw the poor thing for a loop." He gave a lopsided smile. "And I'd love to hear what the scientists have to say about finding another native creature to the planet."

"True. Let's give the poor guy some space before he fully comes around," Gunnar said, rising and slinging his equipment over his shoulder. He flashed a grin at Luka. "I happen to know that Abrams in Bio has some nice whiskey set aside to drink to the next discovery."

"Ooh." Luka's eyes lit up. "Then we better get going. We shouldn't begrudge anyone the celebration."

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