[snip]

NE Wilickers and NE Sherry were the assigned security guards. Wilickers adjusted his uncomfortable dress clothes. “..Urgh how are we to move in these things if they go south?” He muttered to Sherry.

”..Pish, better than me? I got to run around in short heeled ‘security’ boots.” Sherry muttered.

“They do say shoes maketh the man!” replied Glen. “Or, that with the right pair of heels, a woman can conquer worlds! Anyway, we are out to make a good impression today, and that means dress uniforms, so no apologies! Now if we can cut out all the gossip and move along to take our places on the Transporter pads, please. Look, the new Cadet has put you all to shame. He’s already waiting on his pad!”

Inola raised an eyebrow and replied with a small smile. “Heels are far too hard to fight in to conquer a whole world. Perhaps a colony.” She walked onto her pad with a bit of play bravado, then smoothed her dress uniform out, returning to her usual respectful stance.

At the CO’s words the two security NEs took their position on the transport pads. “..Yes sir, ready sir.” They intoned.

Kord took a spot on the transporter pad. His dress uniform was the understated gray of his nearly extinct people with all the insignia of a Star Fleet officer.

Once everyone had taken there places on the transport pads, the CO looked to the new Transporter Chief to do the honours. “Beam us down Hunnicutt,” Glen said.

“I hope our welcome on the planet is as welcoming as our welcome on the ship after they knew we were here to help.” Kord said as they dematerialized.

As the transporter dematerialised the Landing Party, a random and localised space-time distortion field briefly interferes with the transport. Just for a moment, the signal lock configuration around Cadet Lucas Coleman loses its tight focus, and as a result he never arrives at his destination. Try as he may, Lieutenant Hunnicutt is unable to reverse the transporter discriminated field and modulate the reverse field to bring the Cadet back to the Merrimack. Hunnicutt tries everything in the book, even an emergency temporal phase discrimination modulation down to 0.004%, and a refinement of the transporter’s targeted annular confinement beam (ACB) before repeated attempts at Coleman’s rematerialisation, but all with no luck. Such are the real and present dangers of transporter technology in the 24th Century.

Hal said, “I’m dismayed that we seem to have lost our cadet! I’ll have security do a complete search of the ship in the event that he re-materialized somewhere else on board.”

Damn! thought Glen, It’s been 287 days since our last transporter malfunction. This will ruin my next Starfleet health and safety report to the Commodore!

Glen did a quick check that the rest of the landing party had made it, “Please make a thorough check for him, and if you can’t find him, then open an investigation and don’t rule out foul play! Do you have a junior officer aboard qualified to do that for you? I’d prefer you to remain with us.”

-Glen, CO

OOC: Altering thread title!

As the away party rematerialized they found themselves in a lush stone lined courtyard with fern like plants growing from the tops down the bottom following cared for lines and thin waterfall path. It was quite lovely a sight, calming and soothing all at once. As they watched a doorway opened in a nearby similar lush stone/plant lined building which matched the old style colorings yet was clearly more modern. There stood four more female Alstair dressed in silver-green jumpers of a more regal nature. They approached with a curious look to their stance while behind them a fifth in even higher regal like garb of silver-green-blue colorings followed. The first four it seemed were an honor guard and dutifully flanked the path to the fifth as they approached. Again the appearance of males seemed quite an interest to the so far female only society, not to mention that many from the ship earlier and here looked shared similarities.

Bowing slightly, the fifth female Alstair spoke through a translation device on their hip. =/\= Greetings to you party members of the USS Merrimack. I am known as First Space Minister Lodu. On a deeply humbled personal note I must thank you and your ship for rescuing the First of our ship. For she and several of the ship’s crew are my daughters..=/\=

GM CockRoach