[snip]

The trip to the drill site was not far as Shanok had indicated, along the way some local wildlife gave sniffing passes at the intruders to their realm but none came within close proximity or seemed dangerous. As the drill came into view again the side panel remained off and awaiting service, as were several early-mid 23rd century tools with the markings of the Vulcan science directorate.

GM CockRoach

Ranlei was sweating by the time she got the cart close enough to satisfy her. She tried the break again and it still didn’t do much she fought it to a stop then moved a stray hair out of her face. The tools left out upset her a bit as the starbases civilian population that had raised her were a proud bunch who believed that a workman was only as good as his tools and despite her having to reject their moral values she had retained a fair bit of their day to day practical practices. “Honestly leaving your tools exposed to weather and wildlife is completely illogical. What kind of Vulcan is that impractical?”, But Ranlei thought to herself you have only ever met Vulcan’s who were members of starfleet. It’s entirely probable that normal stay at home Vulcans were a more relaxed people. Starfleet had a way of making people try to be their best selves or paragons of a species virtues. And she scoffed inwardly, and then theres me. Having cooled off during her self reflection she set up a workstation so could perform maintenance on the drill that time forgot.

Ensign Ranlei Greene. Engineer.

Simon kept his eyes open, even the shorter distance and kept an eye on the various wildlife that did pass. Nothing hostile, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last so remained on high alert. Simon indicated towards Chavez to secure the perimeter around the drill and said “keep an eye out for anything, we don’t know what to expect here,” he said quietly to Domingo before walking in one direction to start doing the same.

Lieutenant (J.G) Simon Starr, CoS

Ranlei scanned the drill again, but this time she set the tricorder to detect life signs or anything that was not a normal component of the drill. She sighed as she did so. She wasn’t happy with herself. It was normal for her to flirt and tease but the fact was she had put a great deal more effort into teasing the COS than was customary for her. It was many small reasons really He had hidden behind the Captain when they cracked the environment suit for a start. He didn’t react to or acknowledge her when she flirted for another. Time she thought to get back to work and stop being childish. She had allowed herself to fall seriously for two other men both had caused her a great deal of misery. John had turned out to be married and had accused her of being a prostitute using her pheromones on him when his wife caught them. She had been so hurt she wanted to be locked away but had said Military Academy rather than prison. That had eventually led her to Star Fleet. William was at the academy with her. They had planned on getting married. It was when he brought her to meet his family things had fallen apart. It still hurt to much to think about. Terms and phrases she had ignored her entire life suddenly had hurt like red hot knives. No never again.

She scanned the drill again after she wiped the tears from her eyes. Her jaw set and determined as she bit down on her feelings so hard that her teeth and jaw ached. This time the tears did not obscure the readings.

Ensign Ranlei Greene. Engineer.

Scans of the drill showed several old power relays had shorted out likely from age and use or dirt getting into the works. Several components were also seen as being placed partly incorrectly likely by Shanok not being fully versed in engineering matters she could figure. But the stand out on the scan was a low band fading energy pattern on the lower left side of the drill. Where once she would get her eyes on it might remind her of a burn scar from a weapon or explosive. Scans confirmed it was only a week or two old to boot!

GM CockRoach