[snip]

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 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.

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!”

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.”

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.

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.”

“I agree,” Glen replied. It was a good plan. A plan that he had already agreed with, and nothing had altered except for whatever was eating the Security officer. “Do we know what type of rock this is? Is this a kind of rock where dilithium diallosilicate heptoferranide [actually 2<5>6 dilithium 2<:>1 diallosilicate 1:9:1 heptoferranide] would be found?”

‘’Unfortunately its not my expertise , on Earth sure but here I do not know ‘’ Hunter replied in all honesty ‘’But you can count on me as we walk further into the unknown’‘.

“I’m not a geologist either, but I don’t think it’s found any place on Earth,” Glen replied. “I just thought M’Mera might know. It’s not really important. I only wondered why all the new tunnels were dug and they didn’t open the mine nearer to the old tunnels instead.”

M’Mera began to walk as she answered over her shoulder, “I would imagine it iss becausse the olderr tunnelss werre mined out. Ass to the rock configurration, if ourr trricorrderrss werre working we could confirrm it but without that we jusst need to asssume ssso.”
The Away Team made their way through the well formed tunnels. The rocks on either side were not entirely smooth but rough hewn which told of rock that was extremely hard. A good thing really, as it meant that it would unlikely to cave in.
Along the roof there were hanging lights, currently not working. Perhaps because no one was working at the moment. All mining had come to a standstill.
The magnetic rails on the floor of the tunnels were wide enough that it was easy to walk in between them, with enough space on either side of the rails that there was enough room to get out of the way of any ore cars coming down the rails.
It was a 3-4 hour walk to the ancient tunnels at walking pace.

Lt. M’Mera COS

OOC: Shall I assume they have been walking for some time ,as the sim seem to have stopped.

Having been walking to get to the ancient tunnels for some time Hunter asked ‘’Maybe we should rest a bit before proceeding? ‘’ he suggested. For apparently they still had hours to arrive at their destination.

Hunter Dr.

“Seriously? You need a rest?” Glen was incredulous. “You haven’t even broken into a sweat yet! That kit must be weighing you down because you were very keen to go first earlier.”

‘’Suggesting we rest a bit has nothing to do with me being tired ‘’ Hunter replied ‘’We still have a long way to go before reaching the ancient tunnels, I rather sit down here then becoming exausted later on especially since we don’t know what awaits us ‘’.

After the COS’s orders Sharp now kept his phaser in hand, since she told him to stand at the end of the line , the security’s nerves were all over the place,even a crack of a stone that someone had stepped on made him jumpy .He thought it was not fair that Eros was in line with the others instead of being next to him but kept his thoughts to himself for he knew he had already not made a positive impression to the Captain and M’Mera.

“Anyone else want to stop for a rest?” asked Glen. “There is maybe… like a few hours yet, but we’d need to find a place to stop where we aren’t too near these ore cars coming down the rails in the darkness. My own preference would be for us to press on ahead and then stop later. I rather stop than have someone collapse!”

‘’Captain we have enough light ,any cars coming our way would be the least of our problems ..do you have any idea the noise they make on the rails ‘’ he looked around ‘’Not to mention there is enough space by the sides for us to sit down safely ‘’.

Hunter reasoned if a cart came their way they would know they were not alone down there.

Hunter Dr.

Glen wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about stopping in this location, and while they did have torches, he would have much preferred that the overhead lighting was working before making any claim about having enough light. And the ore trains did make a lot of clatter, but they were automatic, running on magnetic track with minimal staffing if any at all.

However, Glen was not the kind of unbending Captain who only gave you two choices - it’s my way or the highway! - but he was instead, willing to listen to his crew, and flexible. and so he would stop if that was what the majority wished. He had found in the past, that being stubborn and unrelenting in his plans, often created a disastrous outcome. So, he would listen to Hunter.

“You want us to save our energy for what might come later,” Glen rephrased. “I understand. Is there anything else that concerns you? What do you think waits us? And couldn’t it meet us just as easily if we stayed here?”

• Glen, CO