Lt. Cmdr Nathan Richards - Well, That's a Development
Nathan Richards
((Outside “Whispering Wall” Colony, Planet Imza-4521-L, Barossa Nebula))
Computer: Deterrent Field disengaged. Pylons One through Seven powering down.
Richards: Well that’s one problem out of the way. We can get into the colony now. ::Looking down at his tricorder:: Still not getting a very good reading on anything though. The shielding in this building might be blocking scans. ::Looking towards Torvi:: This corridor and stairwell. Does it head in the direction of the colony?
Vanlith: ::Looking down at her PADD:: I think so.
The two other officers exchanged a look while Nathan looked on, waiting for confirmation or denial.
Ylvor: Seems to go in the general direction, they could split. Might just be access avenues.
Safety from the elements? Or was there something else that they needed shelter from if they moved from facility to facility? Or maybe it was nothing. Just ease of access.
Richards: Then I say we do a little exploring, yeah?
Vanlith: urm ::looking between them:: what’s the best order for this?
Ylvor: If the good Commander doesn’t mind, I will take point.. ::She looked at Nathan sternly:: Lieutenant if you could please take the rear. Make sure to look behind periodically.
Nathan put his hands up in defeat, a smirk crossing his face momentarily.
Richards: I’m not going to argue with the one with the bigger gun.
Vanlith: Ok rear. I got the rear.
Ylvor: Stick close, eyes and ears. On contact with anything, find cover. If there are no objections, let us meander.
Nathan gave Torvi an “after you” gesture with is arms and chuckled.
Richards: Meander we shall.
They made their way into the hallway, which ended abruptly with a doorway that simply said ‘storage’, leaving just the stairwell leading downward. Nathan watched Torvi as she slowly and carefully made her way down the stairs, her rifle set low but ready just in case anything lay in wait. As she reached the bottom, she gestured for the others to join her.
Nathan made his way down the stairs, his hand resting on his phaser in its holster. He reached the bottom and found the corridor there lead off roughly 50 meters before appearing to turn off abruptly. He furrowed his brow at the width of the hallway, only appearing to allow one person at a time.
Torvi pushed on, making her way down the hallway. After a few meters, she looked back at Char and Nathan, Nathan giving her a reassuring nod, before looking back forward and stopped in her tracks. Pulling his phaser from its holster, Nathan held it low but ready in the same manner that Torvi held her rifle.
Vanlith: What is it? What do you see?
Torvi moved again, almost as if snapping out of a trance.
Ylvor: I.. thought I heard something, nevermind. Let’s pick up the pace.
Nathan felt uneasy about Torvi thinking she heard something. Or, based on how quickly she stopped and froze, saw something. His grip on his phaser tightened slightly as he clenched his jaw.
Richards: Right. Let’s keep going.
Vanlith: ::quietly:: okay
They finished their trek down the narrow hallway, turning the corner at the end. The corridor finally widened out slightly, making it a touch more comfortable and less claustrophobic. Further down the corridor, it appeared to open up into another, larger chamber.
Ylvor: What do your scans say of the room ahead? Anything?
Pulling out his tricorder, Nathan gave the area ahead a scan.
Richards: Seems all clear to me.
Vanlith: I have nothing different from before.
Ylvor: Unless you have another suggestion sir, you clear left, I’ll take right. Char, follow us after the all clear. If we go down you’d need to contact the rest of the away team.
oO Ever the optimist. Oo Nathan chuckled softly and shook his head.
Richards: We won’t go down. We got this.
Vanlith: Right yeah of course you won’t.
The two officers pushed forward and rounded the corners at almost the same time, Nathan leveling his phaser as he swept left and took in the room before him. The layout reminded him of the SRC’s mess hall. Tables were set out in sort of a grid around the room, chairs neatly set up on the tables, seats resting on the table tops with their legs in the air. Replicators lined one of the walls, with the others occupied with different equipment and appliances that one would expect to find in a break room or mess hall.
Richards: Left clear.
Ylvor: Right clear.
Vanlith: I’m coming in.
Holstering his phaser once again, Nathan moved over to a panel on the wall and brought up the lights for the room. Taking a closer look, it appeared almost as if no one had really used that area either. Everything seemed meticulously clean and organized.
Richards: ::Looking back at the panel:: It looks like this is the first floor of some sort of underground complex. One out of…huh, only 4. I was expecting more. Don’t top secret projects usually have some kind of city hidden away underneath a mansion in the woods? ::Beat:: I think I saw a movie about that once…
An obscure reference, to be sure, but Nathan enjoyed his old movies.
Vanlith: Mansion in the woods?
Ylvor: Is this one of those zoombee films you humans are so obsessed with?
That drew a chuckle from Nathan before he looked back at the console. He accessed the internal sensors of the facility, his brows furrowing at the readings that came back.
Richards: According to this, there is no one here. No life sign readings. No nothing.
Vanlith: And no changes to energy readings either.
Ylvor: Why go to all this effort for no one to be here?
A great question that Nathan wished he knew the answer to. A virtually immaculate facility with no one running it. Someone had to have been maintaining it at least.
Vanlith: the only place I’ve ever seen anymore stack chairs like this was a school. It made it easier for cleaners to clean under desks for the kids.
Maybe that’s exactly why they were up like that. Easier cleaning? Glancing around at the chairs once again, Nathan shrugged.
Ylvor: ::To herself:: I wonder where you go to..
Nathan moved around the room, looking over all of the kitchen equipment that sat on the counters. They must have had some sort of farming in the colony to need all of the different appliances and utensils that were laid about.
Richards: Do you two have anything?
He turned to look back at the others, his arms folded across his chest.
Vanlith: I don’t really know what to think. No life signs, weird energy signatures, creepily clean. ::looking towards Nathan:: and not as big as we were expecting?
The facility they were in wasn’t that big, but there were plenty of other structures further into the colony. There could be more there.
Ylvor: Commander, there’s a turbolift here, looks like it goes up to a landing pad, might be something in the flight logs about comings and goings?
Now there was a solid idea. If there were any sort of craft that come and go from the colony, that might give them some idea as to where the colonists might be.
Richards: Well, it might be better than the nothing we have down here.
Ylvor: If we were to search the whole base we’d need alot more security teams to fan out, with just us it’s slow going. I don’t like leaving uncleared sections behind us, but I feel we need to find something tangible soon.
Nathan couldn’t agree more. They had found virtually nothing but a way to shut off the energy fence. That just didn’t feel good enough.
Richards: Agreed. Maybe a birds-eye-view will help us understand the colony a little more…or something.
Vanlith: Response
The group piled into the turbolift and Torvi pressed the button for the landing pad. The door slid closed and the lift began to move upward. Nathan could only speculate what they would find when they got to the landing platform above, but hopefully some answers.
Ylvor: We should be able to get clear comms to the Indy and the other away teams…
Richards: Depending on what we find up there, it might be a good idea.
Vanlith: Response
The turbolift slowed and came to a stop. There was a brief moment before the doors parted with a hiss and bright light filtered into the lift. Nathan squinted his eyes to try and filter out some of the harsh rays as Torvi exited the lift with her rifle up. As the harshness of the light faded, Nathan stepped off of the lift and took a look around. The lift had dropped them off in a hanger of sorts, the large door sitting open to the larger landing pad outside. There were four allocated bays for craft, two of which were occupied two Talon Class scouts.
Ylvor: ::Nodding to the Talons:: They don’t have registries..
Nathan took a couple of steps closer, looking over the scout’s hulls. They indeed did not have registries. Strange.
Richards: Take a look around and see if you can find any sort of controls for the hanger. Maybe we can find the logs as well.
Ylvor/Vanlith: Response
Nathan made his way out of the hanger, looking up into the sky. Of course he wasn’t going to be able to see the Indy up there, but what troubled him the most, was that they couldn’t see them down there. He reached up and tapped his commbadge, hoping for clear comms.
Richards: =/\= Richards to Independence. =/\=
Ukinix: =/\= Response =/\=
Ylvor/Vanlith: Response
Richards: =/\= We’ve found a landing pad down here with some Talon Scouts. Looks like a couple might be missing. Might explain what happened to the colonists. =/\=
Ukinix: =/\= Response =/\=
Nathan’s brow furrowed.
Richards: =/\= Wait, you what? =/\=
Ukinix: =/\= Response =/\=
Ylvor/Vanlith: Response
TAGS/TBC…
Lt. Cmdr Nathan Richards
Chief of Operations
Amity Outpost
A239905NR1