Don't Make a Mess While We're Gone

Posted on Wed Oct 27th, 2010 @ 10:46pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant Commander Hannah Edroski & Lieutenant Lianna Vanders & Lieutenant Chihiro Ogino MD & Lieutenant JG Nessa Jenarian & Provisional Lieutenant Commander Narayn Ballard

Mission: Bug-Eyed Bogies
Location: USS Endeavour, Transporter Room & En-route
Timeline: MD01 1300hrs

"We shouldn't be gone too long," Benjamin said, as he walked through the corridor with Hannah and Lianna. "A few days at most. Starfleet doesn't have anything specific planned for us for a while yet, and we're not in a particularly hostile region, so you shouldn't have any trouble."

Lianna spoke, "The Bridge will be spotless by the time you get back, Sir." She said in her usual disciplined stance.

"Good, then please make sure this place is in one piece," Hannah said with her eyes rather stern.

As they entered the transporter room, Benjamin moved to step onto the transporter pad, joining the other officers already there and being joined by the others who were arriving after he and the XO. "Keep up some exercises for the crew to keep them from sitting idle, and keep your ears open for anything happening in the area." He hated that he'd be largely blind whilst on the surface, as he wouldn't have the same access to the local control centre as he would have to the bridge of his own ship - he hoped that if anything mildly interesting cropped up, the Lieutenant would notify him of it.

Li spoke, "We'll be ready, Sir."

There wasn't much Nessa would need to do to get prepared. After all, she wasn't exactly a diplomat, quite the contrary, so the young science officer only carried a simple tricorder along with the standard issue phaser pistol and a small backpack with extra uniforms in case she needed to change. Her eyes darted back and forth between the other crew members as she stepped on the teleporter platform and waited patiently for everyone else to get ready.

Chihiro was all prepped. She rushed into the transporter room last, her tricorder in its holder and her hand phaser also in its holster. She also carried a small standard Federation medical kit, she always took one with her mainly because she didn't know when she would need it. Better safe than sorry.

Hannah grabbed her own tricorder and phaser,putting both in her belt before moving onto the transporter.

Nodding at the transporter chief, Benjamin simply said, "Energise."

As the senior staff disappeared in a sparkling blue haze, the universe became a simple fuzzy feeling on the edge of perception, until the transporter shifted into its second phase of operation, and the group began to re-materialise on the surface. As soon as the transporter finished its work, Benjamin shrunk down and held his arm up in an automatic attempt to shield himself from the heavy rain that was pouring in torrents down on top of them.

Nessa smiled softly as she felt the rain. She loved the feeling rather than shrinking away from it like most others would do, and with a simple toss of her head, she looked up at the sky, allowing the water to fall freely on her upturned face. The next sound came as a shock to many as no-one present had heard it before, but it was merely a giggle coming from the science officer's lips. She lowered her head again, looking at the figures around her, sending a beaming smile to each and every one of them as the rain continued to fall over her figure.

On the otherhand, Chihiro who wasn't that used to Rain being from Japan used her medical kit as a shelter, holding it above her head to shield herself from the pouring rain.

Hannah just sighed and rolled her eyes a bit. "Some welcome," She said carefully.

"Greetings!" called out a man dressed in a long white coat which extended down to his ankles. The material looked dark in the rain, though shiny and slippery as the material allowed the water to simply slide straight off it. "If you have any wet weather garments, I suggest you don them now," he continued. "It is a long walk to the Central House, and the rains can make it quite cold if you're not adequately dressed."

Benjamin simply nodded, before crouching to place his shoulder container on the floor to open it and pull out the Starfleet-issue long black coat that was folded up inside. Though he'd hoped they would catch the planet during one of its long dry seasons, he was thankful he'd thought to come prepared. The coat was all one colour, bar the red stripe across the chest and around the shoulders, and it was rarely worn (why would you need a thick coat inside a starship?), but Ben was glad of it now; he would hate to have to sit around all day in a wet uniform, though it was already halfway there due to the strength of the rain.

Hannah however wasn't prepared and just shudders a bit with a soft sneeze as she looked around once more of her surroundings.

Ballard had come prepared, dressed more like a well-wrapped monk than a Starfleet officer he stood silently at the back of the group and took in the surroundings. He'd seen pamphlets and reports on the planet and was delighted that his initial findings seemed to fit with the research. The Central House lay in a blissfully quiet area of the planet but only two short clicks away lay an underground labyrinth of markets and cantinas, designed to keep them away from the monsoon. He was looking forward to exploring them- one never knew what information one might pick up from an under-dweller.

As the local man handed out additional coats identical to his own to those who had come unprepared, he turned and led them off with a quick blink of his double-layered eyelids. The rain remained torrential all the way through the streets, empty except for the odd passer-by, in the same white coats as the man they were following. Benjamin began to notice that each person had a slight point on their lower backs which pushed the coats they wore out behind them, and remembered that the inhabitants of the planet were part-reptilian - they each had double eye-lids and a short, triangular tail, along with patches of rough, scaled skin over their shoulders and down their spines. The Central House, as they approached it, stuck out from the surrounding buildings without even trying. The architecture of the building wasn't so much opulent, as large. The Northern part of the building was a large circular structure, with the roof expanding out far beyond the actual walls of the building, and thus held up on their outer edges by seventeen enormous columns. The building then extended south in a more rectangular shape, with multiple smaller columns holding up the similarly overhanging roof. Towards the very Southern tip, the building split into three, before the roofs descended towards the ground, finishing just before a row of tall, metal spikes.

"What's that for over there?" he asked their host casually.

"Those are where we can access the lower levels from within," their guide told them. "There are access ways down all over the city, but the Central House is the only building with access to three different tunnel networks. The spikes beyond the edge of the House are electrified - they're to deter children and stray animals from climbing onto the roof of the House."

The guide moved up the steps towards the large doors of the House - which had the appearance of wood, but something about their finish made Benjamin doubt that they were truly made of this natural material - and progressed at a steady pace towards them, as they began to swing open. "Come, let us get out of the rain," he said, smiling over his shoulder at the Starfleet officers.

----------------
Captain Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Hannah Edroski
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Lianna Vanders
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Chihiro Ogino MD
Chief Medical Officer

Ensign Nessa Jenarian
Chief Science Officer

Chief Petty Officer Narayn Ballard
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Endeavour NCC-86105