LT Tamio K'Wara - Disrespecting the Dead may be Necessary in a Very Much-Scarcity Society

[LT Tamio K'Wara]

(( Inside the Cliffs - Callis I ))

Jovenan: Let’s… back away.

An entirely reasonable instinct, given the fact that they’d just come across a rather sizable pile of bones. Bones. Multiple. Like, maybe a skeleton’s worth? Okay, that was definitely reaching, but surrounded by darkness and illuminated only by chemlights did that to a brain. And yet, Tamio couldn’t. Their training was clear: in a situation where safety wasn’t a guarantee, information was how you kept yourself safe.

In this current situation, where they didn’t have phasers or other functioning deterrents to discourage attackers, knowing how to avoid them, and what they were capable of, was the only way to increase their odds of safety.

Tamio took a - hopefully - discrete breath, before looking next to them to Jovenan.

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.

The Commander only considered their suggestion for a few seconds. Tamio thought she’ say no, that it was too dangerous, that they’d better regroup as quickly as possible. However, Jovenan was a scientist, so obviously she would agree... What came next, Tamio should’ve seen coming after their little ‘field test’ in the Sensor Pod.

Jovenan: Thank you for volunteering, Lieutenant.

Tamio hoped their expression was hidden by the shadows of their face.

K’Wara: Mmph... Yes sir.

They approached the bones tentatively, half-expecting something to jump out at them, if only to say “Ha-ha, you walked into my trap!”, but nothing happened. Instead, they knelt down to get a closer look at the skeletal 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.

Jovenan: Maybe the people who lived here used this area to butcher the animals they hunted or raised. It’s away from the water and where they would have lived, after all. ::pause:: Or maybe not.

K’Wara: Yeah... Maybe.

Their voices spoke to what they both thought of that idea.

Jovenan: Can you tell anything about what kind of animal it was?

K’Wara: ::shaky chuckle:: I picked geology, remember? ::focuses:: Judging from the size of the bones, it wasn’t small, at least, but anything beyond that...

Tamio’s hesitance - or maybe just her own curiosity - called Jovenan forwards, and Tamio shifted slightly to allow her easier access to the pile. This time, they were the one waiting for her assessment as she started to lift the parts, examining each bone for clues. Unlikely to be getting any more than she was - she was the expert here - Tamio instead looked around, their felinoid eyes adjusting to the change in the surrounding darkness when Jovenan put down the chemlight.

Nothing.

Jovenan: Uh, whatever it was, it was bipedal.

Tamio did not want to jump to conclusions. They knew of plenty of bipedal animals across the universe, and many sentient alien species that were tri- and even quadrupedal. And yet, it was really difficult to not hear that statement and immediately be gripped with a certain sense of preordained doom.

K’Wara: ::tense smile:: Guess the next step on our list is to find out what our elusive artisté's species looked like...

Jovenan: Response

Tamio looked around, their felinoid eyes drifting over the sparsely illuminated corridors as they thought to themself.

K’Wara: I don’t think it’d be too dangerous, no. We’ve seen no indication that whatever did this currently lives in the caves, but we also can’t completely deny the possibility. ::looks back to Jovenan:: But we need to rest, and that waterfall is the most suitable place we’ve seen ever since crawling out of the pod.

Jovenan: Response

K’Wara: Definitely a guard rotation. ::considers:: Maybe set up an alarm system, if we can find some primitive way of... ::looks down at the bones:: I have an idea. But I don’t think you’re going to like it. If we have the tools for it, we could make some tripwire alarms out of the bones. Give us an early warning in case something walks through?

Jovenan: Response

K’Wara: Yes Sir.

Standing up, Tamio started moving back towards the waterfall cave where they’d left Roy and Olliver. The noise of the waterfall completely covered any smaller sounds like talking, which was why Tamio felt they needed some sort of noisy method of alerting them to any sneaking in the corridors, but it didn’t block out the warm crackling light of the campfire that the two JGs had managed to light, and Tamio grinned as they approached.

K’Wara: A fire? Crackin’! ::looks at the two of them:: That’ll make things easier.

Jovenan/Bancroft/Bergmen: Response

TAG/TBC

LT Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Operations

USS Artemis-A

A240006GS1