ON:
<<Celtron V, 1412, Day 1>>
"From closer examination, it appears not to be advanced technology. The interior is made up of various gears and mechanisms requiring oil for lubrication and sustainment. However, it has been mixed with something more advanced because of the outter metallic casing. I am unaware of what kind of metal or where it came from," Cheetara explained.
Isabel paused to consider the new information before responding, "Beam up what's left of the reaver and have Lieutenant Barrett look at it, then I want you to go investigate what happened to the runabouts and find Ensign Harrison."
"Of course Captain. We'll get right on it. Cheetara out."
<<USS Malinche, Transporter Room 1, 1414, Day 1>>
Ensign Chris Fields'(NPC) hands ran quickly over the transporter console. He'd just received word that the remains of some 'reaver' were to be beamed up to the ship. Personally, he was a little annoyed that he couldn't beam them directly to engineering so that Jason could look at them there with some of the other engineering officers. For some ridiculous reason, it was necessary to transport them here, then take them to engineering.
Deciding not to waste any more time, he punched in the final sequence, "Energizing now," he reported to Cheetara over his comm badge.
A few moments later, he saw the transporter beam glimmering on the middle of the transporter pad. Indeed there were some rema... All of a sudden, wild fluctuations showed up on the transporter control monitors. 'Oh shit,' he thought to himself.
Tapping frantically at the console in front of him, he tried to stabalize the transporter, but to no avail. Chris' eyes went wide as the damaged reaver suddenly blew up in a roaring fireball that soon extinguished.
At that moment, Mikaela (NPC) came quickly into the room, "What happened here?"
"I was just transporting up these pieces from a reaver and it blew up. At first it almost seemed to be scanning our transporter, then it just exploded," Chris explained.
"Run diagnostics on the transporter immediately. The Captain will want us to be sure it wasn't something on our end that caused this," Mikaela told him. "And don't worry, I'll tell her," she added after seeing Chris' worried expression.
<<Celtron V, 1415, Day 1>>
Isabel turned back to her ever-shrinking group - now all that were left were herself and Soren. Cheetara and Dan were heading to check out the runabout crashes, and Mason, Jaran and... As Isabel saw the shuttle land on the surface, she walked over. Five officers stepped out and headed in the direction of Soren and Isabel.
?Ah Captain there you are, landing party delta ready. What populated areas are we being assigned to. Those in the shuttle are most eager to stretch their legs.? Said Mason helping two security officers carry out equipment.
"Glad to see you Commander. Soren and I were going to scout the area for any locals or more reavers. You're welcome to join us," Isabel replied.
Ryan (NPC) stepped forward, "Are you sure this area is clear?"
Isabel smiled, "Ensign Morris, I assure you it's not. We were attacked not too long ago a short distance away. In anycase, the point here is to find the reavers, or any Celtronians who have been attacked by them, so we're trying to find areas that aren't clear, so to speak."
"Of course Captain," he replied, nodding.
Before Isabel could say any more, she was interrupted by her comm badge.
"Breland to Kersare."
"Kersare here, go ahead," Isabel said. She was rather curious as to what could be going on, though it most likely wasn't good if she was being contacted.
"Captain, we were unable to beam up the remains of the reaver. The transportor logs show some unstable behavior...and actually the signal seemed to almost be scanning our transporter before it went completely unstable and exploded," Mikaela reported.
This was not good. "You've ruled out a transporter malfuntion?"
"Working on that now, Captain. I'm personally going to go over the logs as well. However, I'd suggest that next time you find one, you should bring it up via shuttle instead. At least until we get this sorted out," she suggested.
Isabel sighed, "Very well, thank you Ms. Breland. Keep me updated on your findings, Kersare out."
The others had stood in silence, listening to the latest information. Isabel looked from one to the next, "Well, it seems we're back to where we started from. We'll need to find another reaver, and Mr. Abubakar, it looks like you'll need to take it back to the ship whenever we find one."
Jaran nodded, though didn't seem very pleased with the idea of being a taxi. "Of course, Captain."
"Alright, let's get started taking a look around," Isabel said. "I would like to find another of those reavers that we can actually take a look at before nightfall."
"Which way are we starting off in?" T'serra looked at the terrain around her; forest all around, except for the medium sized clearing in which the shuttle had landed.
Suddenly, Isabel's comm badge chirped, "Darkhelm to Kersare."
"Go ahead," Isabel replied.
"We have a KIA, Lt. Jason Barrett."
Dead...One of her senior officers.. Isabel was shocked, but tried to remain calm. She knew he'd disappeared, but now all of a sudden he was dead. The surprise on the faces of the others was evident as she looked at each of them. They exchanged nervous glances.
After taking a few moments for it to sink in, Isabel responded, "Doctor, what happened?"
"Mr. Barrett and Mr. Grayson were attacked while escaping from Barrett's captors. We tried to save him, but the damage was too extensive," Amanda said.
Isabel's eyes closed briefly before she could speak, "And what about Grayson?"
"He'll be fine, he's being treated," the doctor informed her.
"Alright, keep me informed if anything else happens... We've not located Ensign Harrison yet, so you may have another patient coming. Thundera and Brewer are looking for her now, the rest of us are looking for more reavers." To Isabel's knowledge, there'd been more of her Senior Staff in sickbay during this mission than any other time...not an overly comforting thought.
"Understood. Darkhelm out."
"What do we do now?" Anthony (NPC) looked around at the subdued group of officers.
Soren spoke up, "We keep going. We need to find another reaver to study...It may lead us to who's controlling them, and where exactly they're from."
Isabel nodded, "Exactly. And we'll start in the most logical place."
The others watched her for a moment before Mason said, "The direction they came from when you were first attacked."
"As machines, they probably would use the shortest path to any enemies, so starting in the direction they were seen coming from would be a good idea," T'serra added.
Ensign Stone looked over at her, "But they might not do that...Just because they're machines doesn't mean that they can't do something illogical. Or they could be a form of AI that learns as it goes."
"I hope not...that would rather complicate things," Ryan replied.
Soren nodded, "Though they're already fairly complicated as it stands."
Isabel decided to stop the discussion there, "We won't know til we find one and get a good look. I'd like to solve this mystery as soon as possible."
"Then let's get going already," Jaran stated. "Which way did they come from?"
Soren pointed off the to the southwest part of the forest, and the group started off.
OFF: Tag Crew! FYI, Lylyl, Langly, and Harrison are working on something.... So Thundera/Brewer, you may want to talk with them, or just take a look at the first crash site.. Those on the ship - I'll be PMing you.
Also, I'd like to welcome Chief Petty Officer Brice Thomas as our Chief of the Boat! Some of you may remember him - he used to play Doctor Brad Walker on the Mali.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Couple quick notes...1. I'm going to work on updating Kersare's bio - if any of you would like to update your bios (since your characters would age, have experienced more, and heck, maybe you just want more details), go ahead and do so, then e-mail it to me. 2. I'll also be adding more NPCs to the Manifest, so check the Mali site. 3. We now have an IRC Chatroom interface on the Mali site, so check that out too.