Posted by Crewman Richard Sharp (Security Officer) in Colony: Tunnels

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Troy Hunter (General Medical Doctor) in Colony: Tunnels

Posted by Captain John Tiberius Glen (Captain) in Colony: Tunnels
[snip]
Any way Sharp was still infuriated with the COS for bringing him down with her tail in the gym, she cheated plain and simple ,she did not abide by the rules which in turn made him look like a fool in front of Guy .

Richard seemed to be a reputable guy one could rely on,everyone seemed to have forgotten that he got Hunter in trouble by telling him that another ship was near when in fact it was about three days away before reaching the Merrimack . He smiled inwardly the Captain had not been there on the bridge , instead there was that guy about to take his exam as a Cmdr. It nearly cost Hunter the bridge cell but the doctor was not one to get even unlike.....

Both Richard and Troy seemed particularly glum about something today, either the makeup of the team itself or simply the going underground part, but since Troy had told them all ‘the less noise the better’ down in the tunnels, Glen refrained from asking any further questions. In any case, Glen was absorbed with his INS gadget. He’d never used one before, so he was pushing buttons and bringing up menus; trying hard to understand how to make the best use of it, and to set their starting point on it. It didn’t take him that long to figure out the basics of it, and he probably didn’t need all the bells and whistles anyhow.

M’Mera finished studying the map and turned her attention to the gyroscope. She briefly tested it by turning in the four cardinal direction points and testing it against her own internal directional sense. It appeared to be accurate. “Okay, I am rready. Everryone elsse rready? We will go thrrough the tunnelss that the minerrss rrecently excavated sso trravel sshould be eassy. Once we get to the end and find the entrry to the old tunnelss thingss will be harrderr and that iss why we have all thiss safety gearr. We sshould go ssingle file and be awarre of the perrsson beforre and afterr you. Watch out forr each otherr. Captain, if you could go behind me, we can conferr on directionss and ssuch. If the Doctorr can go behind you he can asssisst the rresst of the team. Once we get to an area needing the rropess and ssuch he can come up to the frront.”

“That sound like a plan,” replied Glen, “Please go ahead and lead the way!”

She looked to the Captain to see if he was okay with all this before turning and heading toward the main tunnel entrance that led down into the mines. It was the man sized entrance so not the one for the ore carts. It had the large open elevator that usually went up and down the shaft. Due to the power being off it was not working of course but at the back of it was a ladder enwrapped in a metal cage that had one large opening to allow a person to crawl through and go down the ladder. It was going to a long climb down.

Glen turned back to the rest of the party and told them, “Like M’Mera said, it looks like there are ladders inside the shaft for this first decent, so we won’t need any climbing gear yet! Assume everyone is okay with climbing down ladders? No different to the Jefferies Tubes aboard ship.”

‘’Lets check if the ladders are sturdy enough first ‘’ Hunter suggested, as he looked down to get an idea of how far reaching the descent was .

The descent looked to be about 12 feet to the ground platform and the metal of the ladders looked fairly new. Though due to the high humidity of jungle environment the first 5 feet looked like there was condensation build up on the rungs. Care would still need to be taken.

Sharp was too hyper focused looking behind him to care much about the ladder .He was half expecting to see some kind of beast ready to devour them and it did not help knowing two persons had disappeared or the fact that even the Klingon’s were about to leave .

Now he changed his mind about getting bored standing guard on the Bridge or sickbay .

M’Mera moved over to the ladder head and studied it closely before trusting her weight to it.

“The rrungss arre sslick, sso be carreful. The glovess sshould help.” Her weight was easily held by the rungs and she scampered down like the feline she was. Reaching the bottom she stepped out of the way and shined her light around. Checking out the immediate area at the bottom of the ladder shaft.

It was dark as a tomb and the air shone with dust motes that had been disturbed by her landing. The tunnel walls showed the machine marks of when it had been excavated. The tunnel ran north-south with magnetic tracks on the ground for the ore cars.

Hunter watched as the COS went down ‘’That went fast ‘’ he commented ‘’Guess it’s your turn Captain? ‘’ The doctor asked while putting on his gloves .

Once M’Mera had begun climbing down and the ladders seemed to hold okay, Glen followed her. He had put on his gloves as they had walked the corridor. He wasn’t concerned about using the ladders as the miners must have all used them twice a day, every day.

The doctor then turned to Eros who had been rather quiet up until now ‘’ Every thing okay ?’’ he asked the security Helm officer .

“Just waiting my turn, doctor,” the helmsman replied. And he had been patiently waiting quietly while all was being figured out.

Hunter did not need to ask Sharp for he seemed to be rather anxious and ill at ease .

When it was finally his turn, Eros easily made his way down the ladder to the platform. Reaching the bottom, he looked back up the ladder at Sharp and shook his head. He moved to the front of the group and said quietly to Glen and M’Mera,

“Sirs, I’m concerned about Sharp. He is extremely jumpy, and I am literally more afraid of being shot in the back by him, than anything we might encounter down here.”

“If he’s claustrophobic, it’s only going to get worse, the farther we go. . . .”

M’Mera frowned, though it was an expression hard to tell on a Caitain and growled low in her throat. “Well, ass good ass he iss on the sship, I guesss thiss iss the place to tesst hiss metal.” She said. “I don’t wissh to take his weapon away frrom him herre but I will check to be ssurre it iss only sset on sstun.”

Hunter saw Eros next to the others ‘’I’m now going down Sharp ‘’ he had already turned around to take the ladder . The security was about to freak out knowing he’ll be left alone ‘’Doctor would you mind if I go before you? ‘’he asked ,the good doctor thought about it he was about to say yes but then remembered the rules ‘’Sharp we are following the COS’s orders ,I would not mind letting you go down before me ,on the other hand I don’t want the Captain accusing me of not following orders …come on Richard you’ll be okay ‘’ and with that Hunter got down the ladder and joined the others.

Hunter Dr.

Glen quietly asked Hunter, “Is he really claustrophobic? You would know that is he was, surely? It wouldn’t stop him from being a Security officer, but it wouldn’t help him do his job either, and I’m surprised it had never been a problem before. No, I would think that something else is eating Richard Sharp if I had to lay money on it!”

• Glen, CO

Hunter shook his head ‘’No Captain he’s not claustrophobic but it is his first mission and the fact that we heard people and instruments go missing , not to mention what other things have been said ,most probable has effected him in a negative way ‘’.
The doctor looked up ‘’He’s making his way down ,hope he’ll calm now that he’s with us ‘’.

M’Mera waited until Sharp made it down with them before quietly moving over to him.” Crrewman, check yourr weapon and be ssure it iss only on sstun.” She ordered. “Arre you alrright, crrewman? Arre you claustrrophobic? I had not thought to assk. I need you at the end of ourr line as you arre ourr back line of defensse. I am needed at the frront as that iss wherre the dangerr is at the grreatesst.”

Lt. M’Mera COS
Hunter Dr.

The look of relief on his face was evident ,nothing devoured him up there but M’Mera seemed she was about to do so .

” Crrewman, check yourr weapon and be ssure it iss only on sstun.” She ordered.

‘’Yes Ma’am ‘’ the security responded as he did as he was told ‘’No ma’am I’m not claustrophobic ‘’ in fact if he was ordered to cramp into a hole he would have been more at ease ‘’Yes I understand I’m the back line of defense ‘’ he replied in a steady tone.

Sharp sec

M’Mera looked at him for a moment, puzzled at his behaviour. She didn’t know if he was afraid of her, didn’t like her, or what? Well, she wasn’t here to win any personality contests but to keep everyone safe. She nodded once in response to Sharp, then headed back to the front where the Captain was.

“I ssee cut sstone herre to ass farr back ass we can sssee. The map sshowss that thesse worrked tunnelss go forr sseverral miless beforre we hit the juncturre of the old tunnelss.” She showed him on the map. “If you like I can lead til then, then we sshould brring the Doctorr up frront for the olderr tunnelss. I think we arre going to find things morre challenging then.”

Lt. M’Mera COS