The Away Team
Posted on Tue Oct 6th, 2015 @ 12:09pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Lieutenant Commander Orin ch’Valri & Ensign Belle Maryweather & Ensign Kanali Paxton & Chief Petty Officer Jack 'Crow' Addy
1,431 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission: A Civil Act
ON
T'mpest was the first to arrive in the transporter room, ready to beam down to the planet. She carried her cross pack with her notebook and pens, her knife and tricorder. It had been a while since she'd needed them -- not since she'd been given command of the Ranger. She was excited for the chance to go down and explore. And, since the surveys had shown nothing dangerous in the atmosphere or on the planet, she hoped that it would be informative without running into any real problems.
Ensign Kanali Paxton ran through the list in her head again as she approached the transporter room. Science tricorder- check. Canteen- check. Comm unit- check. Sample containers- check. Tool kit- check. Hammer and chisel- check. PADD with the geological information from the last scans and surveys of the planet- check. Additional PADDs for more data recording- check. Cave-pack including lights, headlamp, helmet, thin line for trail marking, and anchors- check. Chalk- check. What was she forgetting? Kali just knew she had to be forgetting something.... what was it? She tugged on her bangs a little, a nervous gesture, but one with a purpose as the rearranging of her hair served to obscure the small blue symbol tattooed between her eyebrows.
T'mpest nodded to the new arrival. "Welcome."
"Good morning, Captain," Kali said as she snapped to attention. "Ensign Paxton reporting."
Belle was very excited. Not just because she could finally put the knowledge which, up till now, was mostly found upon holodeck simulations, but also the simple knowledge she'd be one of the first humans on this otherwise deserted planet. Other than the science equipment T'kaarch loaded on her - Including three rather large signal boosters strapped on her back - her gear also included a holo camera. Jimmy and Jesse would taste the victory of Belle's away mission if she needed to shove it down their throats.
As she entered she wiped the grin about her brother and sister off her face, nodded to Kanali (and noticed she was MUCH better prepared than her... Maybe the holo camera wasn't as necessary as she thought?) then faced Captain Michaels. "Good morning Captain, T'kaarch gives you his regards." And me a pain in the back due to these stupid signal boosters She thought.
Kali nodded back to Belle. They knew each other as passing acquaintances from work but nothing really more than that. Of course, Kali was so new to the ship she didn't know anyone better than that, and she didn't exactly give off the warm fuzzy vibes that encouraged a lot of personal chat at work.
"Good morning," T'mpest said to Belle. "Once Security and Engineering arrive, we'll depart." She, too, was eager to get to the planet and see what was actually down there.
Orin nodded to everyone as he entered and walked over to the transporter pad, finally looking over to T'mpest. "Any second thoughts? Not too late to turn back, you know." He said with a slight smile, almost knowing what her response is going to be from the get go, but still he amused her with asking.
"None whatsoever," she replied, a twinkle in her eye.
"Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am Jack Addy. Your mental patient for this evening and security officer." Crow said as he got onto the transporter pad and removed his phaser from his holster. "I want you all to know that I have everything well in hand and I am a constant professional." He said as he tossed the phaser into the air and watched it spin before coming down and only grazing his fingertips as it fell to the ground. "Crap." He took a second to picked it up and as he was examining it, accidentally hit the button to fire, sending a quick stun stream up to the ceiling. Thankfully, it was sent on the lowest settings so there was no damage, although it forced the alarm to indicate a phaser had been fired to go off. Crow looked around as he heard the alarm and finally looked to Orin. "That's not good."
Orin let out a sigh as he walked off the pad and toward the transporter console. He shook his head as he tapped on the console and sent out a message to Security. "Orin to Security. Please disregard that alarm. Everything is fine." He than tapped the console again and looked over to Crow with a stern look. "We're still on the ship. I am not against pulling you off and getting PO Douglas up here."
"Isn't it funny that you trust a guy whose nickname is Disaster-piece over me?" Crow chuckled quickly as he looked at Orin, whose stern look did no wavier. His chuckle soon stopped abruptly as he cleared his through and nodded his head, slipping his phaser back into its holster. "Right. My bad. I'll behave, Boss. I'll try not to get everyone killed. Only some of them." He paused, raising a brow. "I mean none of them. Absolutely no one on this team will be killed who isn't wearing a red shirt." Jack looked around and stopped at the Captain, who was in her red uniform, and looked quickly back to Orin. "Except the Captain. She will be completely fine." He pointed to a random officer in a red uniform and shrugged. "He's screwed though. Just saying."
"Crow!" Orin shouted quickly as he walked back to the transporter pad.
T'mpest was having second thoughts about allowing more than Orin from security. She wasn't so sure that he could make it back alive from any away mission.
"Shutting up, Boss." Crow replied as he instinctively stood up straight. As Orin stepped back onto the pad, Jack looked over to the same officer he pointed to earlier and whispered. "What do you want on your tombstone?" As he looked back and straight ahead he soon felt the familiar slap to the back of the head that Orin was famous for giving his team when they needed to be reminded to stay in line. "Sorry, Boss. Uh.. Sir. Silent as the dead. As usual."
T'mpest raised an eyebrow at Crow's whispered comment. Sometimes having Vulcan hearing was an advantage. This time, she wasn't so sure. To Orin she added, "I am not sure where he'd be more dangerous, with us on the planet or unsupervised on the ship."
"Most likely on the ship. If you plan on getting back to a ship, at all, we are better off bringing him with us." Orin replied with a slight smirk. "Give him a chance. I know it doesn't seem like much, but he is a skilled field medic, tactician, and my second best set of eyes. When it comes down to business, Captain, I assure you Crow will not fail to impress. It's his mouth that tends getting used to. We haven't found a way to turn it off."
Kali watched the entire display with her mouth open. The look on her face though could not be mistaken for awe. Disbelief, maybe. Horror, quite possibly. And, just perhaps, a tiny hint of... disdain. She really could not believe what she had just seen. Ok, so she was only out of the Academy for a few weeks. But... was this guy actually a member of Starfleet?
Belle actually was vaguely impressed by Crow's entrance... Of course, that all faded away when he fumbled his routine. As it was, she just had an eyebrow raised at the whole spectacle. "Keep practicing," She wanted to add 'loser', but swallowed it as she remembered the captain was in the same room, and maybe that wouldn't give the best of impressions.
T'mpest mentally checked to be sure everyone was there, then nodded to the transporter chief before stepping on one of the transporter pads. "I should not have to remind you to behave like Sarfleet officers," she said.
Kali practically jumped onto the transporter pad after the Captain. Her first away mission was about to start... and she was excited and nervous and eager. She reminded herself to not get giddy and to keep her head, so she kept her smile in check. A deep breath and a quick mental recitation of the tree basic rock types and their properties helped calm her.
____
OFF
Captain T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer
Ensign Kanali Paxton
Science Officer
Ensign Belle Maryweather
Science Officer
Lieutenant Commander Orin ch’Valri
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
Chief Petty Officer Jack 'Crow' Addy
Security Officer
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