Lt. JG. Gnai - No One Said Anything About Having To Drive, Part 2
Lich
(( Command Centre - Grunden Base Camp, Kydon ))
Within the command structure (as far as Gnai presumed, at least, for as far as it knew, they could have been leading the group into a mess hall for all the words shared between the Grunden and Starfleet officers), the air glowed with holographic displays, floating data casting strange shadows across the snouts of some of the focused Grunden who prodded at them with clawed fingers. There was some sort of half-digested drone, gutted across a table underneath the digits of a particularly bespectacled Grunden, the atypically shiny metal innards reflecting some of the holographic displays to dazzle Gnai’s vision. It stumbled slightly across a mesh of knotted cables that snaked across the floor, its focus on the ground minorly distracted by the odd sight of the drone and its coroner.
After they’d been left to stew for a good solid while, a Grunden that cut a far more commanding and imposing figure eventually emerged from deeper within. Gnai’s tendrils dimmed slightly, unsure how obviously alien it should be in front of their hosts. Being in the dimmer conditions made it stand out even more than normal, it was well aware.
Kexxin: Hello and welcome. I am General Kexxin.
Lt. Vailani bowed her head towards the figure, and Gnai wondered if it should attempt to follow suit. It didn’t really have a head, per se, so any replicated gesture would require it to double over, and that could be taken poorly…
Vailani: Thank you General for hosting us.
Sadar: ::twists anxiety band twice:: I-It’s nice to meet you, General. I-I’m Doctor Sadar. ::wrings her hands slightly::
Tho’Bi: ::bowed slightly:: Ensign Tho’bi. I am of the Birev clan. My blood is of the Ice Moon of Andoria. My forebears were Engineers, as am I.
Cole: :: inclining her head :: General.
Well, now was as good a time as any for the new ensign to be introduced to it. Far more efficient than exchanging names back on the ship, only to repeat the process now, it thought. It took one final glance at the data it had gathered on the composition of the metal sheets that had made up some of the walkways in the camp - putting a flag on the isotopic ratios (at the suggestion of Ens. Tho’Bi) to follow up on later with further findings.
Gnai: ::quickly stowing its tricorder, before standing at attention:: Lieutenant Gnai.
Kexxin: Thank you all for coming. It's uh.. ::raising his eyebrows:: been difficult around here.
Sadar: Is that why your medical tent was in such an uproar?
The Grunden general closed his eyes, nodding somberly for a second. Gnai hadn’t noticed anything of the sort, not as it had been focused on its tricorder readings. But there had been commotion, now that it recalled, thinking back to their little march.
Cole: :: with candor :: Hopefully we can help in some way.
Vailani: Of course, General as you know, we are here strictly as observers to the conflict. I do worry our presence so close to the frontlines may be questioned by Kobyar officials? It is important that we are not seen to be taking sides or aiding in the conflict at all.
Kexxin: Your best bet to staying impartial is to be here seeing what those slimy little– ::cutting himself off:: You must witness the atrocities that are being done to us if you want the full picture.
Ens. Tho’Bi seemed to want to do something, stepping forwards before aborting the gesture.
Sadar: W-We sympathize, General, b-but you understand we’ve received our own instructions? W-We were supposed to meet back in your capital city. The situation is hardly ideal.
The ensign stepped back into line with the rest of the Starfleet officers. Was that the extent of his courage for today? Hopefully not, but Gnai didn’t fault him for being somewhat off put by their surroundings.
Vailani: We’d be happy for you to escort us to the Grunden capital city? It would provide a unique opportunity to see more of your world.
Now that had the chance to be plenty interesting. If they were far from the capital, there was no telling what sort of interesting geological features might stand between them and (the Grunden’s) home. And, if it could gather enough data on the isotopic ratios present in the rocks and soil of the world…
Gnai: Oh yes, this in particular would be very interested in seeing more.
Kexxin growled, a deep sound that emanated from somewhere low down in his chest, rumbling in a way that made Gnai think back to some of the stories it had heard passed down amongst the Galadorans of large beasts deep in the oceans of the first Galador, whose booming songs were absent in their modern nights. Saving them hadn’t been a priority when Galador had been evacuated, they weren’t essential to the Galadoran diet, nor were they sentient, so they had been left when the planet cracked. All in all, for as much as Gnai knew a growl was a threatening sound, it wasn’t scared by it, strangely enough.
Kexxin: ::Gruffly:: Fine. But I have to make sure my team is settled first.
He turned and tapped on one of the glowing holodisplays, the flashing lights of indicators playing out across his fur. Gnai wasn’t able to read their language, but it had a fairly good idea of what was being displayed. Locational data was the same across most humanoid species it had observed, primarily sticking to the same two dimensions that it found somewhat limiting. In the water, depth was just as important.
Kexxin: ::Turning back to the team:: Once my Executive Officer arrives, we can depart for the capital. As we head out, you all must understand you are my responsibility, don’t do anything stupid and keep your eyes open.
Gnai wasn’t planning on doing anything stupid, not in an active warzone, thankyouverymuch.
Kexxin: Naru is here now, we can go.
Once more, they were led out of the darkened interior of the command structure, into the brighter day outside. The din from outside rose sharply in volume with their exit as the dampening tent flaps fell back into place behind them. Now that Gnai was paying more attention to the buildings and aliens they were moving amongst, it did notice the particularly busy tent that Lt. Sadar had pointed out before.
Gnai didn’t have a stomach, of course. But even if it had one, it would certainly not have a stomach for what it saw there. Doctors and medics were insane, as far as it was concerned… or they were well on their way to being insane just from exposure to injuries on the regular. It turned away from the sight in its tank, focusing its attention on the back of the Grunden general as he led them further away.
Sadar/Cole/Tho’Bi: Response
Vailani: :: carefully :: This is a very organised set up, is this a permanent location or do you move from location to location?
Racks of rifles and other armaments lined the walls that they passed by, attended to by drones similar to the one that Gnai had seen opened up in the command tent. They were far less polished than that one, even if they were far more lively than their compatriot. The closer Gnai looked as they passed, it could see that these drones had obvious marks of careful repair, thick welds and the hammered-out ghosts of dents, patches covering up what Gnai presumed might have been pockmarks from weapons-fire.
Kexxin: Since I took command here, we have been able to stay put. But we have proper procedures in place if we have to relocate for any reason.
That made sense, with what Gnai had seen of the place. It looked lived-in, but ready to move at a moment’s notice. Nothing had taken root, not the people, not the buildings, not like it would in someplace that was intended for permanent residence.
Sadar/Cole/Tho’Bi/Vailani: Response
They arrived at a depot, one of the more permanent-looking structures in the camp, with a corrugated metal roof overhead (better to funnel away any precipitation that they might get, lest it linger and collapse, Gnai presumed, with its limited knowledge of engineering). Within the structure were a number of wheeled vehicles, reminiscent of ones that it knew Starfleet itself employed on particularly “rugged” planets such as this.
The main difference, as far as Gnai’s uninformed sight could tell, was that Starfleet’s all-terrain vehicles were far less decorated. Blazoned on what Gnai presumed to be armor was the Grunden symbol, and the rest of the chassis was festooned with other symbols and ceremonial ornamentation. All in all, an imposing sight, especially for one that had never taken anything that could be approximated as a driving course.
If it was going to have to pilot one of these, their whole mission was certainly doomed.
Kexxin: These are what we call our grunts. Heavily armored, all terrain and ::smirking:: kind of fun.
Not the kind of fun that Gnai was interested in. It looked around in its tank at the others, flashing with mild distress.
Gnai: ::as quietly as its speakers can go:: Please tell this that one of you took more classes in planet-side survival than the bare minimum at the Academy…
Sadar/Cole/Tho’Bi/Vailani: Response
Kexxin: ::Pointing to one of the grunts:: Can one of you handle one of these?
It attempted to step back, just slightly, to make itself less obvious a choice. The foot of its suit struck another one of the thick, winding cables that calligraphed the grounds of the base camp, presumably for power or some other purpose. That made it pull back, not willing to risk a topple and draw even more attention to itself.
Sadar/Cole/Tho’Bi/Vailani/Kexxin: Response
Thankfully, mercifully, it wasn’t going to be charged with the responsibility of driving one of these beasts. No, it would simply have the displeasure of having to ride in one. The lack of windows and proper means of ensuring that one stayed fully within the moving vehicle at all times was not inspiring to Gnai, not in the least.
With a resigned pulse of light across its many tendrils, and a bit of deflation of its bell, it clambered into the back of one of the accursed vehicles. One pothole hit at an inopportune angle, and it was going to be tumbling across the ground, dignity in shambles.
Gnai: Just how far away is this capital?
It was a dumb question, for as soon as Gnai had seen the mode of transport, it would have chosen to risk walking there on foot. Any distance was too far to travel in these “vehicles” (death traps).
Kexxin: Response
Sadar/Cole/Tho’Bi/Vailani: Response
Gnai: Wait - this didn’t realize that was a concern!!
But no matter how much Gnai wanted to protest, the moment that it had realized just exactly what they were getting into, the engine hidden beneath the armor roared to life, and the Grunden all-terrain vehicle leapt forth like it was on the tail of its prey. The sudden acceleration pushed Gnai’s suit back into the seat, and Gnai back into the suit, shutting its concerns up as quickly as they were drowned out.
Sadar/Cole/Tho’Bi/Vailani/Kexxin: Response
Tags/TBC :)