Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dagen Thor (CE) in Into the Volian’s den (Science and Security team. All reply here to merge threads)
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Dagen was half dozing. The hum of the shuttle was lulling him into sleep and his mind was on what they had gone through and what lay ahead with some thought on what people were saying. He was hoping for more of a briefing on just what ‘they’ were supposed to do. Go in with phasers blasting? He thought of an old holo he saw called the Matrix where the machines simply swarmed their way to overwhelm humanity’s defenses. Only in this case their small group was not a swarm and they could be heading into one. Rest when you can was advice given to him by an old engineer and, before that, with his olympic training. The commander was here and so he wasn’t the ranking person in charge and he wasn’t a combat specialist. He would (hopefully) be told what his part was. The small part of him that connected with Reia was almost too comfortable as he caught himself almost totally drifting off.

Then his head came up when he caught those words against the king. His eyes blinked open and he sought its source, then glanced to the commander then to Reia, this time with eyebrows rising. That was one of the first real statements of dissatisfaction against the ruling party he had heard. He could put it down to it being traveling into a combat situation which was perhaps unnecessary if action had been taken in the past. Would they get phasers? Stun he would suspect; it was not their part to go in blasting to kill when it was not needed - even with critters who wanted to have you for lunch.

“Is there a plan for this operation?” he asked. Besides being dropped in and hope for the best that is ..
- Dagen, CE

“We have been planning and training for this for the last three cycles. The science facility was working on creating a shield to hold them in place so that could not attack or at least bottleneck them for us to attack,” one of the soldier’s commented. “The problem is the shielding wasn’t ready when it was deployed.”

“Would you have had us wait for another three cycles and lose countless people,” the head Beltran scientist spat out. She had been very quiet since the military arrived but now there was pure venom in her voice.”

“No but I would rather no be forced to try and take them out instead of defending our people,” the officer snapped back.

“Enough,” Lago stated firmly. “What is done is done. Battles and babies come at their own times.”

GM Kate

Battles and babies, that saying caught Rhea and she held Lago’s eyes for several seconds. His cause was just and she hoped to have the honor of fighting at his side. Starfleet be damned she had definitely made a connection here.

• Reia, CIO/Comms

Dagen felt Reia tense up but it felt more of an expectation. She had ever been the scrappier of the two of them. Dagen was somewhat more linear in his scope on missions, at least at the start. Once reality hit that scope it tended to be more improvise. He bristled at their response, however. He meant for them, these newcomers into the shuttle speeding along to whatever. It would be nice to have a heads up on the plan beside ‘lets go in and get the good guys out from the voracious critters’.

OOC: I will leave space for people to respond but I am going to move the thread ahead a bit. Also if I have misplaced someone in this thread just add yourself to the correct group receiving equipment.~ Kate

IC: The vehicles moved along for another ten minutes before they came to an abrupt stop. Opening the doors the occupants saw that the smooth-walled passages they had taken to get here were absent. The vehicles had stopped because the tunnel had shrunk from ten feet tall and wide to only about three feet tall and wide. Entering it one would have to probably crawl on their hands and knees. Their would be enough space for the occupants entering to go two by two however this would give little room to move about once they all entered if they choose the two by two formation. If they choose to go single file, there would be more maneuvering room but only enough to spin about and retreat if needed. The passageway was dark and would need artificial lighting.

Lago’s exited the vehicle and began to pass out lighted helmets to only the security individuals that initially started with him. This would include the COS, and XO. Lighted helmets were not given or even offered to anyone who had initially went to the science facility. Beltran weapons were handed out to everyone that wanted one.

GM Kate

Dagen took the weapon and examined it. It felt bulkier than a standard issue phaser and he took what time he had to figure out the switches and settings. Was there a stun here? Was there a wide angle fire? Glancing he pondered whether they would get a brief on order and first contact provisions. They seemed rather more inclined to say ‘we have been planning this so shut up but come along anyway’. Were they then the guinea pigs? The bait? Go ahead first and see what happens? Okay Dagen was feeling prickly, tired and rather left out while at the same time in the thick of it. At least he recognized it. And he did want people rescued.

He glanced at the tunnel thinking of an old vending machine where a single bit of food came out of the slot ..
- Dagen

Thomas’ bad feeling got worse as the tunnel narrowed. Were the Volians capable of patiently marching in single-file through it and then marshalling into their swarm once it widened?

That would put them an intellectual level above the near-mindless drones they’d been portrayed as by the Beltrans. They might even be reasonable… or in league with the Gorn.

COS

Rhea looked at the tunnel in comparison to her small frame and frowned. That did not look good to her.

• Reia, CIO/Comms

Dagen saw Reia’s frown and guessed she was sizing up the tunnel too. She was a better fit than the others but really she was not going first even with a weapon. Too bad they didn’t have any of those first contact suits wherein they could be cloaked. However the rodents could likely smell them or detect the vibrations of their footsteps? He knelt down .. could he hear anything coming from the other side of the tunnel?

‘Don’t everybody rush in to be the first,’ he thought to himself. They were kitted out as much as they would be he presumed. Standing back up and dusting off his hand by rubbing them together he gave a glance over to Reia and the other ‘fleet’ folks.
- Dagen, CE

Tom took one of the weapons and looked it over.

OOC: GM, Please remove the one that doesn’t fit.

IC:
(a) Tom took the weapon. Seeing it was a ballistic projectile weapon system he grabbed a few extra magazines, connected his ‘flashlight’ to the lower tactical rail, and readied himself, walking forward, for a potential fight in the tunnels.

(b) Tom took the weapon. Seeing it was a directed energy system he handed it back. “I’ll stick to this.” he said readying his dart pistol , that looked like a harmless flashlight, and readied himself, walking forward, for a potential fight in the tunnels.

• Tom, IntSec