IKC FHew 7C6110
Bug Hunt – On ice
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh HoS Matlh & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene
Post Details
The B'rel class vessel touched down on the icey rocks nearest the great lake. The rear hatch rolled open and four heavy warriors trooped quickly out the door and spread out to guard the four sides of the ship. They were followed by HoS, Hichop and May'bel. Their breath billowed in a small crowd around them, but the heavy, furlined armour protected them from the worst of the cold.
As the three humans came last down the gangplank, HoS was briefing May'bel and HIchop. He indicated a spot on their digital maps.
"There is where the first attack occurred, and the chase continued along this line, until they reached the riverside there. However, we think that the creatures may have come into this area in pursuit of the Koot, same as the hunting parties."
"You each have a tricorder that feeds any findings back to the ship where Jared will coordinate the information. How do you plan to proceed?"
"Proceed? Simple: find it, kill it and put it on the wall as a trophy." muttered Tell. "That's my plan. Though you Klingons would want to try and eat it first."
“Very, very carefully,” Marie said, “preferably with one of you Klingons in front of me and another behind so that you can get eaten first.”
"Now Marie why didn't I think of that too?" sighed Tell "I hate monsters, they think of nothing but ripping you apart, they stink and worst of all they drool, mmm kinda remind's me of someone I know..."
HoS shook his head. Humans. They insisted on talking. He hefted his heavy disruptor and with a few gestures split the team into three:
Germite, with two Klingon marines from the Prometheus station for the west flank, the bank of the river.
May'bel, Marie, and a marine for the centre line.
HIchop, Tell, and their Marine take the East flank along the base of the ridge.
"All groups are within a few Kelicams of each other. To far to see, but easy to reach if you hear weapons fire or get a message out. The FHew will be in low orbit monitoring events."
"Primary objective: Recover the boodies, and tag the for transporter recovery. They are Ranger Izzy, Human, F'ren and D'lan, Flamecats, and Flalalax, Kapular."
"Secondary objective: identify the aggressor, either through sufficient data scan or a dead body."
"Tertiary objective: Keep everyone safe."
“I only drool about you, not over you,” Marie told Hope, adding a lascivious wink for good measure. “Hang on, what was that?” She spun on HoS. “I vote Objective number three gets bumped up to top priority. Objectives one and two aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if we fail in number three!”
"Dr Doom," called Tell. "If you don't do something about Marie, I will and I won't be nice about it either. Can't you at least give her a hypo and make it a large one? I miss the old Marie," feigned the engineer. "You know the one who's as hard as Klingon nails and hasn't gone soft. She never used to drool out the corner of her mouth, well at least not like this one does."
Germite looked at both of them. He shook his head. "I am merely a medic, not a family counselor. I can refer you to a counselor if you need to work through some relationship issues."
"Then you leave me no choice. I'm going to have to kill her and after I've killed Marie you'll be next." Tell replied without a hint of emotion.
River Bank:
There were a group of heaped rocks jutting out over the frozen water only a few yards ahead. It was covered in a strange viscous goo. Germite and two marines approached it cautiously. This was the site where one of the creatures had been killed by the Kapular.
The group moved up the rock carefully. One of the marines pullled his knife to prod the goo. It was hardened in the cold but still sticky enough to hold the point of the knife. The warrior struggled for a moment to retreive his blade.
The other slapped Germite in the chest and gestured up to the far ridge, above Tell's team. A figure could be seen standing on the crest.
Centre line:
May'bel, Marie, and a marine moved down the centre of the ridge. They had lost sight of both groups a few minutes after they moved out.
After a kilometre Marie felt her tricorder start to vibrate. She’d set it on silent so as not to alert whatever was out there. She doubted that would make much difference; an efficient predator would rely as much on smell as sight and sound to track prey, especially in an environment where snow storms could reduce visibility to mere metres and deaden sound in an instant. Still, every little bit helped.
She tapped May’bel on the shoulder. “I’m picking up traces of biological residue,” she informed him in a whisper. “Three distinct points and one much less distinct. All within an area of 20 meters and about 200 meters ahead.”
The marine with them was scanning the surrounds, "There has been snow fall recently. The bodies will be burried. Find us a place to guard so you can start digging."
“What are you looking at me for?" Marie said to May'bel but taking the marine in with her gaze as well. “You’re the brawny ones, start digging.” She checked her tricorder again. “Just over there will do just fine,” she said, pointing vaguely at a spot up ahead.
She headed off down the path. Newly fallen snow crunched under her feet. “Here,” she announced when her tricorder told her there was a particularly dense set of readings.
They did not have to dig far under the light snow covering before they found the frozen carcase. It may once have been a Firecat, but the fires had been extinguished and all that was left was a dessicated skeleton with thin skin covering. However it was enough DNA to identify by tricorder scan as F'ren.
One down, Marie thought. “Tag it and bag it,” she said. “Next dig over here.” She took five paces to her left, checked her tricorder and nodded. “When you’ve finished there you can move over....” One pace back and three to her right. It almost felt like a dance. “....here.” She gouged a rough hole out of the snow with her foot then stepped out of the way.
She didn’t bother to mention that this one was spread over a wider radius. They’ll find out soon enough, she thought.
Just then a flurry of snow blew across them. Marie looked up. The clouds were lower than previously. “I suggest you get a move on,” she said. “Looks like we’ve got a snow storm coming.”
They found the second Firecat, D'lan, his remains also drained of the energy that held their form by the intense cold.
The third signal was of a long snake like being, heavily muscled. A long gouge from his torso up revealed how he had died. This was Flalalax, the Kapular.
"That just leaves the human," the Marine muttered as the blue shimmer of transporter took the body away to the FHew's hold.
He looked to Marie, "Where is the body?"
Marie snarled. "If you kept on digging, you'd find it. There's more traces here."
Ridge base:
HIchop, Tell, and their Marine hugged the lowest places on the ridge. There were precious few area one could climb the steep rise on their right. At the first place where you could consider ascent Tell's tricorder began to beep. A trace of DNA, a trail of ancient blood, now buried by snow and weather. Koot and trace of Targ, leading up the ridge.
"...mmm looks like we start here." said Tell.
She turned around This meant the marine stood guard watching the landscape while the others followed Tell's DNA trace. After a very short dig they found a frozen body. It was difficult to make out, looking a bit like the ofspring between a Targ and a wolf or small bear.
Suddenly the marine kicked Tell. Tell truned to give him a mouthfull but saw he was gesturing to the ridge above them. The outline of a figure could just be seen standing on the ridge watching them.
Tell loosened her knives from her wrists "Can you make out who or what it is?" she asked quietly.
The warrior shook his head once. The sun was rising from behind the peaks making it almost impossible to distinguish. It looked like it was wearing something shiny and a long cloak or robe, but nothing else could clearly be seen.
"One of the colonists?" the marine hazarded.
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh HoS Matlh & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene
Post Details
| Title | On ice | |
| Mission | Bug Hunt | |
| Author(s) | HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh HoS Matlh & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene | |
| Posted | Fri Feb 22, 2013 @ 9:01am | |
| Location | Iapetus -L'Grande Hunting Reserve | |
| Timeline | On arrival |
As the three humans came last down the gangplank, HoS was briefing May'bel and HIchop. He indicated a spot on their digital maps.
"There is where the first attack occurred, and the chase continued along this line, until they reached the riverside there. However, we think that the creatures may have come into this area in pursuit of the Koot, same as the hunting parties."
"You each have a tricorder that feeds any findings back to the ship where Jared will coordinate the information. How do you plan to proceed?"
"Proceed? Simple: find it, kill it and put it on the wall as a trophy." muttered Tell. "That's my plan. Though you Klingons would want to try and eat it first."
“Very, very carefully,” Marie said, “preferably with one of you Klingons in front of me and another behind so that you can get eaten first.”
"Now Marie why didn't I think of that too?" sighed Tell "I hate monsters, they think of nothing but ripping you apart, they stink and worst of all they drool, mmm kinda remind's me of someone I know..."
HoS shook his head. Humans. They insisted on talking. He hefted his heavy disruptor and with a few gestures split the team into three:
Germite, with two Klingon marines from the Prometheus station for the west flank, the bank of the river.
May'bel, Marie, and a marine for the centre line.
HIchop, Tell, and their Marine take the East flank along the base of the ridge.
"All groups are within a few Kelicams of each other. To far to see, but easy to reach if you hear weapons fire or get a message out. The FHew will be in low orbit monitoring events."
"Primary objective: Recover the boodies, and tag the for transporter recovery. They are Ranger Izzy, Human, F'ren and D'lan, Flamecats, and Flalalax, Kapular."
"Secondary objective: identify the aggressor, either through sufficient data scan or a dead body."
"Tertiary objective: Keep everyone safe."
“I only drool about you, not over you,” Marie told Hope, adding a lascivious wink for good measure. “Hang on, what was that?” She spun on HoS. “I vote Objective number three gets bumped up to top priority. Objectives one and two aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if we fail in number three!”
"Dr Doom," called Tell. "If you don't do something about Marie, I will and I won't be nice about it either. Can't you at least give her a hypo and make it a large one? I miss the old Marie," feigned the engineer. "You know the one who's as hard as Klingon nails and hasn't gone soft. She never used to drool out the corner of her mouth, well at least not like this one does."
Germite looked at both of them. He shook his head. "I am merely a medic, not a family counselor. I can refer you to a counselor if you need to work through some relationship issues."
"Then you leave me no choice. I'm going to have to kill her and after I've killed Marie you'll be next." Tell replied without a hint of emotion.
River Bank:
There were a group of heaped rocks jutting out over the frozen water only a few yards ahead. It was covered in a strange viscous goo. Germite and two marines approached it cautiously. This was the site where one of the creatures had been killed by the Kapular.
The group moved up the rock carefully. One of the marines pullled his knife to prod the goo. It was hardened in the cold but still sticky enough to hold the point of the knife. The warrior struggled for a moment to retreive his blade.
The other slapped Germite in the chest and gestured up to the far ridge, above Tell's team. A figure could be seen standing on the crest.
Centre line:
May'bel, Marie, and a marine moved down the centre of the ridge. They had lost sight of both groups a few minutes after they moved out.
After a kilometre Marie felt her tricorder start to vibrate. She’d set it on silent so as not to alert whatever was out there. She doubted that would make much difference; an efficient predator would rely as much on smell as sight and sound to track prey, especially in an environment where snow storms could reduce visibility to mere metres and deaden sound in an instant. Still, every little bit helped.
She tapped May’bel on the shoulder. “I’m picking up traces of biological residue,” she informed him in a whisper. “Three distinct points and one much less distinct. All within an area of 20 meters and about 200 meters ahead.”
The marine with them was scanning the surrounds, "There has been snow fall recently. The bodies will be burried. Find us a place to guard so you can start digging."
“What are you looking at me for?" Marie said to May'bel but taking the marine in with her gaze as well. “You’re the brawny ones, start digging.” She checked her tricorder again. “Just over there will do just fine,” she said, pointing vaguely at a spot up ahead.
She headed off down the path. Newly fallen snow crunched under her feet. “Here,” she announced when her tricorder told her there was a particularly dense set of readings.
They did not have to dig far under the light snow covering before they found the frozen carcase. It may once have been a Firecat, but the fires had been extinguished and all that was left was a dessicated skeleton with thin skin covering. However it was enough DNA to identify by tricorder scan as F'ren.
One down, Marie thought. “Tag it and bag it,” she said. “Next dig over here.” She took five paces to her left, checked her tricorder and nodded. “When you’ve finished there you can move over....” One pace back and three to her right. It almost felt like a dance. “....here.” She gouged a rough hole out of the snow with her foot then stepped out of the way.
She didn’t bother to mention that this one was spread over a wider radius. They’ll find out soon enough, she thought.
Just then a flurry of snow blew across them. Marie looked up. The clouds were lower than previously. “I suggest you get a move on,” she said. “Looks like we’ve got a snow storm coming.”
They found the second Firecat, D'lan, his remains also drained of the energy that held their form by the intense cold.
The third signal was of a long snake like being, heavily muscled. A long gouge from his torso up revealed how he had died. This was Flalalax, the Kapular.
"That just leaves the human," the Marine muttered as the blue shimmer of transporter took the body away to the FHew's hold.
He looked to Marie, "Where is the body?"
Marie snarled. "If you kept on digging, you'd find it. There's more traces here."
Ridge base:
HIchop, Tell, and their Marine hugged the lowest places on the ridge. There were precious few area one could climb the steep rise on their right. At the first place where you could consider ascent Tell's tricorder began to beep. A trace of DNA, a trail of ancient blood, now buried by snow and weather. Koot and trace of Targ, leading up the ridge.
"...mmm looks like we start here." said Tell.
She turned around This meant the marine stood guard watching the landscape while the others followed Tell's DNA trace. After a very short dig they found a frozen body. It was difficult to make out, looking a bit like the ofspring between a Targ and a wolf or small bear.
Suddenly the marine kicked Tell. Tell truned to give him a mouthfull but saw he was gesturing to the ridge above them. The outline of a figure could just be seen standing on the ridge watching them.
Tell loosened her knives from her wrists "Can you make out who or what it is?" she asked quietly.
The warrior shook his head once. The sun was rising from behind the peaks making it almost impossible to distinguish. It looked like it was wearing something shiny and a long cloak or robe, but nothing else could clearly be seen.
"One of the colonists?" the marine hazarded.