Clawing Out of Here
Posted on Tue Nov 2nd, 2021 @ 7:24pm by Ieliene t'Leiya & Devora t'Leiya & Lieutenant Commander Sofia Nikedoros & Lieutenant Colonel Shaun Bradley & Lieutenant Commander Payton Bray
2,381 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Frizzle
Location: Kocoa Caverns, 13 Clicks from Haumea Proper
Timeline: MD 02 : 0834 Hrs
To Payton's utter surprise, the time they spent following their newly marked trail had been in silence and peace.
No chaos.
No scary, blind murder monsters.
Simply peace and quiet.
And that was what frightened the scientist the most. Even the insects on the walls seemed to stay put, or at least squirmed around less than they did previously. Which was not what she would have hypothesized, had she the time to do more than to help look for their way out.
The further the small group went, the brighter the caverns became. At the end of their winding trek was a clear opening lit with an eerily calming light.
As the group entered, they were met with the sight of lush vegetation lining the rock walls of the cavern of varying colors and shapes. Flowers and vines hung from above, coiled around stalactites and trunks of slender, vibrantly colored trees. In the center of the room was a tremendously sized tree, with round, green leaves and a trunk that had similarly-colored veins of green running throughout.
Payton was in awe of the sight. "... I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this..."
Ieliene and Devora were taking a precise, appraising survey of the area around them, with eyes and tricorders alike. The older sister's nose scrunched up ever so slightly, sniffing the air.
"There's water here. If it turns out to be unoccupied, we could stay here for a bit if we have to, or restock our canteens. It's possible some of the vegetation might be edible too." Ieliene said.
"But we should make sure to keep a constant watch up if we do; in case something does live here and it's simply absent at the moment." Devora followed; both sisters speaking like those who have been trained to know that while a place like a cave or an oasis may provide direly needed shelter or resources, that very fact made it unlikely to be unoccupied.
The light gave Sofia a moment of hope that it might be coming from some opening to the surface, but no such source was evident. If anything, the light seemed to be coming from the vegetation, particularly the large tree at the center. This unexpected garden should have been a relief, but she was clergywoman and large inviting trees in the middle improbable gardens triggered all sorts of internal warnings. "I'd say 'on guard' is an excellent attitude. We know little about those creatures, and if they live down here this may well be a place where they would consider trespassers particularly unwelcome. I'd also caution against touching anything until we scan it thoroughly. This may look like an Eden, but if I recall my 23rd century history correctly, the last time someone thought they'd discovered Eden the plants turned out to be dangerously acidic."
"The water is safe," Payton confirmed, "At the very least, I do agree we should hydrate." Assuming nothing came around the corner to attack them. But she kept that last bit to herself, as she took a larger scan of the area. "We seem to be alright for the moment. My tricorder isn't picking a thing up. Nothing dangerous of the fauna variety, in the least." And, despite the warnings and cautions that the group had for the area, Payton plopped herself down in a relatively clear portion of grass, to take a better look at the large tree that they had uncovered. "I wonder if these creatures were guarding the habitat?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Sofia said, bending to fill a flask. "But while we have moment, Ieliene, let me see to your..." Her intent was stopped cold by a distant sound of chittering and clacking like she had heard from the creatures' claws. "Do you hear that?" she whispered.
"Yeah." A Caitain or a Kainan would have oriented their ears towards the sound (and wound have had better hearing range than anyone in the room, vulcanoids included); since Romulan ears didn't move in such a fashion, Liene and Devora had instead been limited to each cocking their heads toward the sound, each sister's hand going to the weapons now worn openly on their hips, in contrast to their usual concealment.
Payton's gaze turned from the tree, and back the way they came. That was where the first set of eerie noises came from. Another set echoed through another of the various corridors that led to the room they currently found rest. "...We may not have as much time as we want to have." The scientist reflected plainly.
The two Romulan sisters shared a glance at one another that revealed a level of apprehension and fear that belied their age--or lack thereof--and possibly their mixed upbringing, in Federation space, to show that openly.
"Up." Ieliene's voice was a fair bit more insistent and abrupt than a human adult skilled in dealing with human children might have been; but it wasn't derisive or cruel, instead pairing the forceful admonition with a tone of brisk encouragement (and a likely unwarranted optimism born of youth) as she moved towards where Charlene was resting and hauled the other girl up with a single arm in a move that should have been impossible--or at least extremely difficult--without the enhanced muscle strength hiding beneath Liene's lithe form. The move was lacking in the level of comfort Sofia had offered earlier, but showed a burst of what was unusual consideration and concern for others from a teenager of most any species, and perhaps teased echoes of the sort of woman she might become someday, if they survived this. Eyes flicking back and forth and she released Charlene's arm, Ieliene reached down for a collection of mid-size rocks with decently sharp edges and pressed them into her classmates' hands. "They come at you, you throw these right them and run the opposite way, give someone a chance to get at them."
Devora, meanwhile, was rapidly filling a pair of canteens at the water, as if the impending threat that might drive them from this refuge had focused her immediately on acquiring the available resources as quickly as possible before they had to flee.
Payton also rose, though less on the command of the Romulan teen. Her gaze snapped to her bag, where she began to fish for anything that could help fend off, even temporarily, a pile of ferocious creatures. She suspected the girls were tired, survival skills or not. "Should we look to become scarce?"
"And go where?" A single eyebrow crept up slightly in tune with the weary sarcasm in Ieliene's voice. "I mean, not seeing any great hiding spots."
Sofia wished she could tell the rest to hide - she still regretted that she had not been able to make at least some attempt at communication before conflict had overtaken them - but Ieliene was right that there was little in the way of cover here. So she gripped the knife she had been given and stepped forward to put herself between the children and the advancing creatures.
As the clicking and clattering grew closer, the room began to glow the same bright, eerie green. The air shifted, and as soon as the first clawed creature emerged from the tunnel entrance, well-armored figures shimmered into existence between the group and their would-be attackers.
A couple of rocks were launched in the general direction of the shimmering effect: An adult Romulan would undoubtedly have waited to see if the source of the effect was a threat; and if so even, if they would bring more trouble upon themselves by attacking it or not versus other possible courses of actions. A pair of teenagers were not nearly so patient and careful with all their actions, however.
The shimmering effect came to an end and members of the 11th stepped forward. Where as most of the Marines currently topside had been Engineers, Medics and Logistics staff, no Marine movement was complete without Infantry. There was no pause, no moment to gather their thoughts, no concern for what was happening, with information being fed to helmets in real time, there were only two groups "Friendly" and "Unknown" and unfortunately for Unknown, they weren't here for a scientific survey. The immediate retort of bursts of fire from the HFR25's in the group filled the cavern. The Marines fanned out forming a circle around the group, as SAW's were augmented with the more controlled sounds of single fire retorts and the heavy ionized smell of phaser fire.
The pointed tips of Ieliene's ears had turned a rather duskier veridian than normal once the identity of the group became clearer; the rocks she had thrown appeared to have bounced off the new arrivals shields or armor with little consequence, but still.
One of the Marine broke from the group, dropping his weapon to his chest as he moved towards the children and adults, rapidly barking into his comms. "Spectre Actual, Spectre Three-One, we have the school group secure, preparing for evac, over" From the back of his pack pulled small devices, transport enhancers. From the speakers on the Marine's rig a voice came through.
//"Spectre Three-One, Spectre Actual, you are patched to local transport zone, confirm all children present? Over."\\" the voice asked. The speakers were a Search-and-Rescue feature, something about the people around being able to hear the comms chatter. Around the group the circle was tightening as they prepared to bug-out. The Marine quickly scanned the faces of the gathered adults, before locking onto a present Lieutenant Commander.
"Ma'am, First Lieutenant Erikson, 11th Battalion, is this your entire group?"
A quick glance around confirmed the presence of everyone in their small group. "Aye, Lieutenant. All present," Sofia responded. "And grateful for your timely entrance."
The Marine nodded to her, a smile hidden by a visor. "Glad we could make it ma'am," he said before pivoting and calling back into his comms. "Spector Actual, this is all of our missing kids and guardians, lets punch out." There was a pause, before the response came back.
//"Spectre Three-One, proceed with secondary objectives, we are working on an issue with interference."\\" This caused the Marine to stiffen, calling over the din as the Marines closed their circle closer to the group to avoid any gaps the beasts could try and sneak through.
"Dragoons, get me a critter to mount to my wall and make us a break!" he called, with the phaser and single fire units pulling back to the closer line, where the SAW equipped Marines dropped to their knees to switch from controlled bursts of fire, swapping in fresh box magazines, and switching to an unrelenting torrent of fire. The tunnel entrance turned from a control point where the creatures were being kept at bay to actually being pushed back. As the sound of the SAWs reaching the end of their magazines was coming up, the sound of their retort was replaced with the sound of a noticible thunk as underslung launchers hurled grenades down the entrance, soon followed by the concussive pops of explosives going off.
Two Marines broke the line and rushed to the entrance to grab one of the dead creatures, dragging its corpse to the line. The First Lieutenant who'd been doing the talking nodded. "Okay Spectre Actual I got you your present, its time for us to go though."
A vicious, satisfied little grin passed over Ieliene's face as her eyes swept over the dead creature the Marines were dragging; by now the wound the earlier pair of them had given her to her back/shoulder was a mess or dirt, rocks, and half-dried blood congealing her torn shirt to it; and the sight of revenge (even when dealt by ones allies instead of oneself) was welcome at a visceral, nearly biological level. Beyond that, though, the sisters seemed quite willing to stay secure inside the protective circle now, their smaller adolescent frames seeming like nothing but willowy bone and muscle against the bulkier, armor-enhanced ones of the Marines.
While she understood the value of having one to study, Sofia's reaction was quite different. Lowering her head, she offered a quiet prayer for its soul, and for forgiveness - the creatures may have attacked them, but they had invaded their space and made very little attempt to communicate.
As the chaos was settling, a shimmer rippled through the caverns, and the scenery changed. The natural lighting from the glowing plants faded, leaving only the illumination from the various artificial light sources that the teams carried with them. The flora now looked withered and decayed, much different than the vibrancy they gave off moments ago.
But, the only creature that was still around was the dead one that the Marines had brought with them.
Payton blinked through the disorienting shift in her surroundings, before a voice shot through her commbadge. -Ensign Eleith to the science teams around the caverns. We've just experienced a shift in tachyon energy surrounding the monitored area-
"Ensign?" Payton had a hand to her badge, tone curious. "Did you say tachyon?"
There was a pause. -Commander Bray?-
Tachyons...Sofia bit down hard on the curses running through her mind at that, especially given the sudden change in their surroundings. She'd already seen enough of time and/or interdimensional anomalies for a lifetime. Several lifetimes, in point of fact, particularly when she thought of Mr. Arnason, who was undoubtedly somewhere on the surface feeling relieved at news they been found and completely unprepared for the gut punch of possibly having to deal with cross timelines again.
The Marines scanned over the walls, eyes looking for a source of the change as flashlights mounted to weapons panned around. It was the Marines turn to speak into his comms, "Spector Actual, we appear to have a clear path out, we are going to walk the group up, see you top side." There were a couple clicks through the comm, an Affirmative broadcast without speaking - clearly the Colonel was caught in something important and didn't want to talk. "Okay folks, lets take a walk..."
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