[snip]

Approaching the fire truck they found that beyond the half dinged up front corner it was in decent operational shape. Indeed if they wanted it probably could be driven or its fire suppression system used for putting out larger fires or something if they wanted. The only evidence of foul play was a marked up seat where two paw or hoof like holes were set near a spot of dried supposedly human blood.

GM CockRoach

“What is that?” Ivo asked as he looked upon the seat that had been damaged.

He unslung and opened his tricorder and began scanning to see if he could identify the hoof marks, as well as to see if the spot of blood could be identified or traced.

– Ivo Cerny, XO/CSO

Hoof marks were like bovine in nature based on the DNA residue so the local cows.....how moooovingly odd! The blood was human, likely a male’s.

GM CockRoach

“The hoof prints belong to the local cows on this planet,” Cerny reported out of habit, though he was sure T’Pria and the two security men would benefit from this information.

Cerny’s communicator chirped. When he opened it, he was linked with the ship and the captain’s landing party.

=^=Captain, this is Chief Black Wolf. Once we were able to get through the interference, we received two messages. A written text coming from the access to the mining tunnels near Cmdr. Cerny’s position. The message said “Don’t trust the cows.” We then received a second message coming from the administration building near your position, sir. This was a vocal message and also cryptically stated to not trust the cows. A ‘mooing’ could be heard in the background.=^=

CPO Black Wolf (Helm)

The Vulcan frowned at the almost nonsensical message being relayed to them from the Sentinel’s helmsman.
“For what reason would we ever ‘trust’ an animal?” she asked nobody in particular. “Is a herd of cows about to appear and offer us assistance?”

Cerny glanced at T’Pria and just shrugged. Good question, can’t really argue with that… he thought.

Smiling somewhat smugly at her own humor, T’Pria cast another glance at her tricorder, her amusement being quickly displaced by a wash of subtle concern.
“Ah, Commander,” she angled her tricorder’s display screen for the XO to gain a view. “It appears as if there is a herd of cows on the edge of the area. Most interesting.”

• Lt T’Pria (CE)

=/\= Captain, we’re picking up a herd nearby our position, =/\= Cerny reported. =/\= Also we’ve found a fire fighting vehicle here, where there is evidence that a colonist was attacked by at least one of these “cows”. =/\=

There might be someone to rescue in the tunnels near by if we received a text from there, he thought.

“Does that suppression system still work?” he asked T’Pria, referring to the fire suppression system of the vehicle they were examining. He actually didn’t investigate it closely so he had no idea what kind of fire suppression system it used.

– Ivo Cerny, XO/CSO

The Vulcan took a moment to scrutinize the conduits leading to and from the suppression system main panel, before turning back to Černý and stating “I see no reason why it should fail to operate, Commander.”

For a moment, she considered performing an operational test of the system herself, then logic finally settled in and her gaze fell on the unfortunate form of NE Frist.

“NE Frist, please display the for Commander the operation readiness of this vehicle’s suppression system,” T’Pria ordered, being sure to place sufficient distance between herself and the vehicle first.

• Lt T’Pria (CE)

NE Frist nodded, “..Aye ma’am..” He said hopping into the truck. The fire truck itself used a system of projected foam and chemical high pressure water from its tanks to put out blazes. It was an older model that lacked the forcefield projection capabilities like newer models. Taking a breath Fritz turned on the truck which after two tries fired up from its fusion batteries. Turning the suppression system on he aimed it at a nearby pile of rubble and sure enough the system worked!

”..Seems we’re good ma’am!” he stated turning off the truck.

GM CockRoach