Archives

Posted on Wed Sep 28th, 2011 @ 11:23pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant JG Maeik Gaius PhD (NPC) & Lieutenant JG Mykel Owen

Mission: Kingdom Come
Location: USS Endeavour - Shuttlebay | Nevarran Archives
Timeline: MD10 0900

Benjamin had packed all that he could imagine he would need into his hold-all. PADDs, tricorders, hand lights, data storage and interface modules, a portable LCARs remote terminal... anything that he might forsee the possibility of needing whilst in the archives to access or interpret the data, and hopefully, if they allowed him to, explore some of the other tunnels that were unmapped.

This he carried over one shoulder, his standard away team tricorder and phaser attached to holsters on his hips, down the corridors of his ship towards the shuttlebay. All but the negotiators shuttles had returned to the ship since yesterday morning, and though the transporters could be used, the best entrance to the archives was a little way out of the city; the shuttle would be best equipped to get them there and provide them with a convenient place to return to for food during the day.

"I trust you're ready for a day underground," the captain said, as he stepped through the large shuttlebay doors, as they hissed open on their pneumatics, and spotted the contact specialist whom Ballard had introduced him to. "We won't be returning to the ship until 2000 hours tonight, afterall."

Gaius looked up from the backpack he was rifling though. It was loaded with PADDs and extra tricorders, isolinear data rods and other miscellaneous items whose uses were clear only to the Lieutenant. He stood as the Captain joined him by the doorway. "I'm ready to go, sir. I reckon we should be able to transfer pretty much all of the information we need and," he hesitated for a moment, "some we don't, onto these storage chips."

"Excellent. I don't want to have to keep coming back to the ship for supplies once we're down there," the captain responded, as he led the duo over towards the shuttle that they'd be using.

Lieutenant Gaius walked up the steps to the shuttle and looked around. It was small but spacious enough to act as a base for their operation if the need arose. He found a seat with a multi-purpose console and called up his research on Nevarran culture. It couldn't hurt to get an idea of exactly what they would be looking for.

Mykel poked his head up, protruding threw the maintenance panel in the roof of the shuttle. "Hey Sir, Lt Gaius. Im almost done here, was just double checking some things, when I saw your requisition for the shuttle. She is one of the only survivors from the "bug" incident..." Mykel said, thinking back to the infestation, and trying not to visibly wince at the memory. "Just a moment more..." he said while finishing the M.O.C.

"Understood, Lieutenant," Byrne responded, stopping near the hatch for the shuttle ingress. "Join us inside when you're done. I want to set off as soon as possible." He then continued his way into the Type-11 craft, and made his way towards the co-pilot seat.

"Captain," Gaius said from the rear of the shuttle, "I assume there won't be any restriction on our access to the archives? I notice that there are a number of darkened areas on the topographical scan which appear to indicate a space where a room should be but isn't. It could be some kind of dampening field but if we have unrestricted access, I'd like to make sure that we can have a look."

"There are no restrictions as far as I'm aware," the captain responded, as he leant over to share the view of the scan that the Lieutenant was looking at, frowning at the dark zones. "Perhaps it's a region of denser rock. Scans that far underground usually tend to be prone to blind spots like that." He turned back towards his console, tapping a few keys as he waited for the Lieutenant to come inside and begin their descent. "There are some sections of the catacombs that not even the Nevarrans have mapped. I'd love to see if we can get a chance at some point to explore those."

"Agreed," Gaius answered simply.

The shuttle didn't take long to traverse the space between the Endeavour and the planet's surface, and soon the team were stepping once again through the hatchway. This time though, it was into brilliant sunshine, and to be greeted by a Nevarran, in clothes that almost fit the textbook definition of librarian. "Captain Byrne, I presume?" The man said, as he walked up the slight grass slope to meet with the trio of officers. "I have been instructed to be your guide whilst you are in our Archives. My name is Seocuil. I trust that you will be delicate with our systems and artefacts; many are hundreds of years old."

Benjamin nodded politely. "Of course, Seocuil." He smiled. "Don't worry, my parents were both dedicated archaeologists. I can assure you that I know how to be delicate with history."

"Good," the Nevarran responded. "If you'll follow me, then." He turned, and led them down into the large cave-like entrance that was stood before them, at the bottom of a short yet steep slope that set its floor just below the ground level of the surrounding terrain. About eight meters into the cave mouth, sat an impressively large and imposing metal door; obviously the safeguard against unauthorised entry. It opened for them with a pneumatic mix between a hum and a groan, similar to that of a cargo bay on the ship.

The door was the last thing that Gaius had expected to take him by surprise- they were giant and towered above them, outstripping their height by at least six feet.

The cavern led them in a very discernible core-ward direction, if on only a gentle slope. They were walking for a good hour until they finally emerged suddenly into a huge chamber. The cavern from which they emerged was situated at about three standard stories up from the floor of the chamber, and led out onto a semi-circular level with a man-made barrier around it to prevent falls, and had curving steps at either side which led down to the ground level, which was itself filled with data consoles, computers, terminals, desks and other analysis equipment which looked both old and modern. The walls all seemed to be double-layered, with sections of the rock missing in an odd type of window aperture. Within the space between the two layers were yet more stairs, and beyond the other wall were rooms filled with all sorts of items - artefacts (mostly on the lower levels), data banks and storage devices, books, and other bits of history. The chamber was about ten stories high, with an additional three stories worth of height nothing but the curving ceiling. Spreading off from the ground level were more passages, some lit, others not, leading to the other chambers that their topological scans had shown them.

Maeik wandered slowly across the room and leant on the hand rail. This room was one of the most impressive archives he had ever seen or even heard of. Its sheer expanse was a million miles away from the typical planetary archive. Usually, at most, an administrative building with a few public computer consoles. This could well be the largest of its kind in the galaxy. He resolved to take some holo-images of it before he left.

Benjamin rubbed his hands together excitedly at the sight of the archives. It was more impressive than he had imagined. "Right guys, let's get to work."

----------------
Capt. Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer

LtJG Maeik Gaius PhD
Archaeologist
PNPC Played by LCdr Ballard

&

LtJG Mykel Owen
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Endeavour