LT Tamio K'Wara - Neatfreak or Glutton; Take Your Pick!

[LT Tamio K'Wara]

(( Inside the Cliffs - Callis I ))

The suddenly and rather rapid whistling grew and grew and grew until it was all Tamio could hear, and they knew - instinctively - that it was bad news.

K’Wara: Wait... Do you hear-

Then, the ghost of Mother Callis - or whatever moniker they would decide to grant that volatile nature of this, their temporary home - made her entrance, smashing into Tamio’s back with all the wrath of a temperamental landlord gone ignored for far too long, and Tamio damn near smacked their head into the floor for the second time today. Instead, they managed to press themself face-first into the cavern wall as the wind buffeted them all, as the banshee shrieks tore into their eardrums.

It was all they could do to look around for their fellow crew, trying to ascertain whether they’d managed to withstand the force of the invasive winds, or if they’d been swept away by the tides.

Thankfully, they were all here, and they saw Roy attempt to summon their attention in spite of every single particle of air fighting against them to carry his voice in the opposite direction.

Bancroft: ::shouting over the wind:: This way!

K’Wara: ::loudly:: Are you sure? The other way seems very inviting!

Obviously a joke, but it was right there, and Tamio couldn’t not take it. The trio of officers started staggering in the same direction that Roy was heading to, trying to hit a nice balance between moving forward and being carried haphazardly around the corridor like one of those pinballs in the old arcade holoprograms their father used to show them.

It was borderline impossible.

Jovenan: ::extending hand to the others:: Keep on!

Bergmen: Response

Tamio had zero qualms whatsoever about grabbing onto Jovenan’s arm so they could help each other remain upright, and they reached backwards to offer the same kind of support to Bergmen as they proceeded forwards. Then, eventually, they turned a corner and the wind just. Ceased? Tamio frowned. No, it didn’t cease. They were moving upwards, and the wind continued up, up and above, up over their heads to somewhere unseen in the darkness. The roar continued though, but it soon became apparent why.

The wind was no longer what was roaring around their head. It was a waterfall.

This was an extremely delightful turnout, obviously, but there was still an element of apprehension. At this stage, believing they’d just casually hit on this kind of luck would be naive.

Bancroft: ::claps once, projecting over the roar:: This might be good news, but nobody drink yet. Give me a minute to be sure it’s actually water and not something that dissolves kidneys on contact.

Jovenan: Carry on then, Doctor. Our lives depend on your assessment.

Bergmen: Response

Tamio’s felinoid eyes vibrated as they looked around the large room, trying to get a sense of the scope of the room. While they could see slightly more than most of their colleagues thanks to their irises, they still couldn’t see the ceiling of this room, nor the top of the waterfall.

oO ... I don’t think it’s open at the top. Maybe there’s a curve? Oo

A movement from further towards the wall made Tamio turn about, and seeing that Jovenan was summoning them and Olliver to her, they approached curiously. More wall etchings, but degraded very differently than the ones in the corridors. The ones in the corridor had been sanded down by continued exposure to the violent winds outside, and evidently the power with which they sometimes invaded these halls, while these ones were eroded in a very different way.

They were more clearly defined, and there were also more of the markings in here.

K’Wara: This may have been our elusive artiste's main campsite.

They didn’t say this to anyone in particular, but they were certain this observation was shared by the others too...

Bancroft: ::half shrug:: Unless the three of you are a particularly vivid hallucination, by the powers vested in me by Starfleet Medical, I hereby pronounce this fluid both ‘water’ and ‘safe to drink.’

Not bad in a day’s work.

Jovenan: That’s good enough for me. We’ll stay here for a while. Doctor, Mister Bergmen, find a dry and shielded spot in here for us to rest. Check your injuries, keep yourselves hydrated, start putting up a camp if you find it suitable, check the inventories. Me and Lieutenant K’Wara will check the entrances of these other tunnels for dangers and will return to you. ::beat:: We won’t go deep into them, promise.

Bergmen/Bancroft: Response

Tamio followed Jovenan dutifully, checking the other entrances to ensure that they were empty, defensible and that they didn’t have any alarming blind spots. The first tunnel was straight, so thankfully unlikely to have any big surprises. The next one though...

Jovenan: Wait. What’s that?

K’Wara: What’s what?

Jovenan was speaking of the next corridor, and Tamio stepped up to her. This one did curve slightly, and that unfortunately meant that basically anything could be hiding just around the corner, but more than that, there was something inside the corridor... They looked at Jovenan, and her face said it all: they were definitely going in there. Jovenan sent a gesture back towards their junior officers, indicating that they would be out of sight for only a second, before they both entered. It didn’t take long for the indistinct objects to become marginally more distinct, and what they saw immediately made Tamio’s blood run cold.

Not exactly what they’d hoped to see.

Bones.

Jovenan: Let’s… back away.

Tamio took a breath, a quiet one, in the hopes of not disturbing anything that may be keeping an eye on their old lunch.

K’Wara: ::quietly:: As much as I’d love to do so, shouldn’t we try to get some information? How old the bones are, if their mangled shapes are evidence of resident carnivore wildlife or of being made into tools? Would help determine if we go back to Roy and Olliver with the order to ‘book it’ or pack out the sleeping bags.

As much as Tamio would like to sleep until this blasted storm was over so they could get more of a lay of the land - and get out of these pitch black halls - they were certainly less enthused about it if they knew there was a 90% chance that they’d get jumped by something mean, rather than it being an even 30%. Those odds were far more manageable.

Jovenan: Response

K’Wara: Mmph... Yes sir.

Jovenan: Response

Tamio slowly approached the bones, bending their knees to bring them more ‘level’ with the pile as they maintained vigilance. If so much as a mouse squeaked, they would hear it. Or that was the intention…

Now, the pile.

K’Wara: Well, they’re ::grim smile:: dry as bone. No biological material still stuck to them either, so maybe they’re very old? It doesn’t look like tools, but they are very sharp. And thoroughly cleaned, so either someone cleaned it, or... ::looks around, slightly concerned:: Something has a very voracious appetite.

They wished they hadn't said that.

Jovenan: Response

TAG/TBC

LT Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Operations

USS Artemis-A

A240006GS1