“We’ll contact you on the surface, sir.” T’Aria assured Taggart, sensing a familiar pull as the transporter disassembled her atoms and engulfed the away team in a swirl of yellow-white beams.

T’Aria soon materialized in a small clearing with a dull throb in her temples. She rubbed the area and blinked the yellowish haze from her eyes, assuming it was a side effect of the transporter. A prickling sensation disrupted her thoughts and drew her attention to a tuft of thin, dry grass emerging from low-lying fog. Upon closer inspection, the fog seemed to obscure the entire forest floor, giving way to a dense tangle of twisted trees and thorny foliage that surrounded them on all sides.

“Lt Dawson, Lt Hawkins,” T’Aria untangled her tricorder from her hip and calibrated it for a short-distance scan, “we need a route out of the forest. Scan for holes in the foliage. Dr Symar, Dr Kastarak. We are unaccustomed to this environment and its dangers. Scan for possible threats.”

“Cmdr Grey…” she turned, lifting her gaze from her tricorder to find her orders fell not to her team, but plumes of whispy fog that dissipated as soon as she touched them, “…fascinating.”

T’Aria didn’t give herself time to process the surprise, immediately throwing the tricorder over her shoulder and whipping out her communicator to adjust the frequency to contact the rest of the team.

“Commander T’Aria to Away Team,” she adjusted the dial, “do you copy?”

— T’Aria