The Evacuation (part 5)

Posted on Fri Aug 12th, 2016 @ 4:03pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Rylie Cattmor & Ensign Kanali Paxton

900 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Civil Act
Location: The Undercity

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

Settling down to and leaning against the stone, Kali pulled out her tricorder and took a more detailed scan. While that analyzed the exact structure of the stone in this shaft, she got as close to the forcefield as she could and peered out at the signs of wear outside. This shaft must have been facing in the windward, and thus rainward, direction. It showed much more sign of erosion and wear than the others she'd looked at. Rain had flowed down this shaft before evaporating and trickling off. Wind had gusted right down to the forcefield, carrying tiny particles that relentlessly battered the unprotected stone outside the forcefield. These natural forces seemed small, insignificant, weak. But these were the forces that wore mountains down to nothing- carved canyons through solid rock- it might take millennia, of course, but to a geologist time was rather relative, and they knew that these 'insignificant' forces were in fact the strongest and most relentless forces of nature.

[NEW]

She almost stroked the rock where she thought she would place her strike. She could set her chisel here, she pictured in her mind. And then the explosion would drive it in at this angle, causing the flinty stone to shatter just like that, and blow outward past the forcefield where the rock had been compromised by time and nature causing a fissure about so big. It should be enough to crawl out, though it might be a tight for some of the larger members of the party. Kali knew she would be able to wiggle out; an experienced cave diver and spelunker, Kali could worm her way through very small openings, but she also thought she’d be able to get it big enough for the others. Or even just big enough for one or two of them to go for help...

"Just make sure it's wide enough, Ensign." Rylie said reassuringly, picking up Kali's thoughts. "You're the rock expert, I'm not quite sure what the captain expects me to do besides provide some moral support. The forcefield certainly doesn't look like it would have the capacity to adjust to fill the opening; it's already showing small gaps in the field."

[Secondary cavern]

T'mpest was pensive as she walked quietly back to the others. "Did you find a way to make it work?" she asked Kali. "I found out how the others got out, but I don't know if it is still a viable exit."

Kali started at the sudden question behind her. She'd been so engrossed in her plans that she hadn't heard the Captain's approach. She did not, however, jump and hit her head. Spending time underground in tight spaces taught you not to make sudden moves when startled or surprised. "Yes, Ma'am. I... Yes. I just need to double check my calculations. And, well, set the charge." she finished, holding up Cattmor's phaser.

"It should hopefully be good enough, captain, if crude and not too pretty." Cattmor added.

"Did you double-check the data to verify that it will work as predicted?" T'mpest asked both Kali and Rylie. "I do not require pretty, but I also do not want this to cause additional damage. As Commander ch'Valri said, we cannot afford to harm the architecture."

Cattmor raised a brow quickly, sighed and refreshed the data on her tricorder, unbeknownst to the captain, for the fifth time. "If you're asking 'Are you sure it's going to work?', then I'd be leaning heavily on saying yes. 'Is it going to cause half the cavern to collapse on us?', I'd be leaning toward a maybe. According to the readings, and Miss Paxton's expert opinion, we need to put a sizable hole in the tunnel to make the gap viable, and that point there is probably our best shot at it." Rylie took a quick breath, "From there, we can either climb out, or Ranger can get a transporter lock on us. But if we don't get out of here soon, the state of the architecture is going to be the least of our concerns."

T'mpest nodded. She resisted the temptation to glance at Orin to gauge his reaction, but she was fairly certain he would have further objections. She knew Ensign Paxton would not try something if she was not confident in its success, but with Orin being so recalcitrant, she felt the necessity to do something to try and keep the peace. "Thank you."

She looked at the cavern with the critical eye of a scientist, pleased at what she saw. "Even if half the cavern collapses, it should not affect the integrity or architecture of the main cavern," she said, giving one last comment to appease her Chief of Security. As much as she wanted to stay and learn more, she had what she needed by way of information to report back to Starfleet and to add to her own database of information. She would make sure that there was a permanent scientific team assigned here to work with the AIs. There was much the scientific community could learn from them. "You have done well," she said to Paxton. "Start the overload. That will give us time to get to safety before it explodes."

It was definitely time to go home to the Ranger.

____
OFF

Captain T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer

Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer

Ensign Kanali Paxton
Geologist

 

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