Ens. Gnai - This Was Just Supposed To Be A Short Detour!!

[Lich]

(( Cave, Rakantha Province, Bajor ))

Renirs stepping on some sort of explosive device was... not what Gnai had wanted to get out of what was supposed to be a very simple tricorder training. Now they had someone lying out, injured, in the middle of a cave, with who knew how many other possible explosions waiting to happen. How was this any better than the mission?! Wasn't shore leave supposed to be relaxing?

It didn't want to panic too much, yet. Her cussing was hardly helping it think straight, though, and the more she yelled in pain, the more worried Gnai got. At least she was still talking though, that was good. Right? If Renirs had suddenly shut up, Gnai would have been far more worried. It had barely gotten to know her, but from what it had gathered, her being quiet for once would be far more worrying than her swearing a blue streak at it. Swearing was good, then.

At least Lt. Jovenan was here. Or rather, she was at the mouth of the cave, staying far away from the dange. Not only was she the one in charge, but she was also humanoid and would have a far better time of basic triage once Renirs got out, if they needed to do such a thing on the ground. 

Gnai pulsed with light, but as it danced through the water and across Renirs' injured body, it couldn't much get a grasp on what had happened, or what was wrong. She could move, that much was made clear when she rolled onto her back. Nothing looked... broken obviously? But if a joint were out of place, it wasn't certain it would be able to tell.

Sometimes it was a bit glad that it didn't have bones to break or joints to dislocate.

Gnai: Lieutenant Jovenan, there is some sort of defensive mechanism in here it seems! Caution is advised. ::extending a mechanical hand to Renirs:: Perhaps leaving might be wise.

Gnai was... a bit surprised to find that Renirs actually took its hand. It had expected a bit more resistance to the offer of help. She seemed like the sort of person to want to stick it to the man at any cost - even when the man was a jellyfish with barely a pip of rank and hardly any concept of 'gender' - so to wordlessly take it up on its offer of help... it didn't even want to think about how much pain she must be in.

As she was groping around in its dim and shifting light, trying to find parts of Gnai's suit to use for leverage to get into an upright position, Gnai kept kneeling next to her. She could get herself seated, but it didn't seem like she could stand unless it stood as well, despite trying.

Jovenan: What kind of defence mechanism? Are you injured?

Gnai: ::slowly getting up, so as to not throw Renirs off-balance:: Unclear... Renirs is the only casualty.

The whole dance of the two of them getting back to their feet was carried out extremely gingerly. Gnai led, pulling itself up to the full height of its suit: an unimpressive five feet, going by ancient Earth measurements, and around a meter and a half in the Federation standard. Now that it knew of the danger that was actually lurking in the cave, it stood as still as possible. It had no desire to shift around and accidentally set something off again.

Renirs: They’ve got mines in here! Not like, mines with dwarves and coal, but mines that you step on, and it goes boom, and I stepped on one!

Renirs followed Gnai up, and soon was leaning on its tank. It offered a hand again, to stabilize her and keep her from falling over as they stood, waiting for a plan. There was little else it could do, the servos in its arms were strong, but not strong enough to carry another person out. And extra weight would make it top-heavy, and more prone to accident. She'd have to move on her own, with some support, if they were to walk out of the cave without further incident.

Jovenan: Don’t move. If there was one of these traps, there might be more of them, and I don’t want you to trigger more of them by accident. Was there any indication of the trap, like a tripwire?

Lt. Jovenan mirrored Gnai's thoughts exactly. There was no reason to move around and risk triggering another explosion. Gnai had been so incredibly lucky, it presumed, having avoided blowing itself sky high when it had crossed the cave to check on Renirs. But it was a scientist, it wasn't going to assume that its luck would hold.

Even as a scientist though, it couldn't stop itself from wondering if it hadn't just spent all the good luck it had accrued from the chaos that was the recent mission. Every action must have an equal and opposite reaction, right? The universe had been tipped far out of its favor on Romulus and in prison, avoiding whatever unseen danger in the cave thus far had to have been the scales tipping the other way. Hopefully not enough that it was now in debt... Best not to gamble anyways.

Gnai: ::loudly:: Aye, sir! This group will stay here, until there is a plan. No need to worry, sir.

It could at least seem like it was calm. Calmer than Renirs, if anything. But that was a low bar, not at all helped by her being injured.

Renirs: I stepped on something! It was like a button, it moved under my foot and then it exploded!

In the dark of the cave, such a thing would be easily disguised as part of the rough floor or a broken chunk of a speleothem. Just what they needed, during a peaceful tricorder training. Hidden explosives!

Jovenan: =/\= Jovenan to Savel and Chevalier. Terminate the exercise. There’s been a small explosion in the cave, likely some old trap. I need your help in here. =/\=

Gnai let itself deflate a little in its tank, slowly drifting towards the bottom. If it hadn't been distracted by this cave that Renirs had pointed out, she might not have gotten hurt. And the training exercise could have continued as planned. Now it had an injured crewmate that was leaning onto it for dear life, and two more on their way that would likely be displeased, at bare minimum, that this had upended everything.

Savel: =/\= Acknowledged, we are on our way. =/\=

Gnai couldn't help but notice that Renirs was favoring one foot over the other as she leaned onto it. That was... not a good sign. If it remembered correctly, these TR-600s did have medical tricorder functionality, but it doubted that either of the two of them would find that data very useful. Gnai had limited medical knowledge, and Renirs seemed allergic to reading data properly. Maybe someone else could check after they got to safety, before they tried to get back to the shuttle and eventually the Artemis herself.

At the risk of returning to square zero, Gnai did wonder if sitting back down might be more comfortable for the two of them. But Renirs seemed determined to stand, even if she was likely in pain. If Gnai pushed the issue, it probably wouldn't go over very well. Probably.

Renirs: Do we just stand in here until someone comes to get us out? Can’t we use the tricorders to check where the mines are and just not step on them?

Gnai: Yes. It will be best to remain here and not risk more injury.

Renirs' strange movements took a moment for Gnai to parse out. Was more of her injured, or was this just for balance's sake that she only moved her neck? It followed where she looked with her neck twisting around, but saw nothing as well except the dark, damp rocks nearby.

Jovenan: Response

Renirs: I might have lost mine. Mine, my tricorder, not like ::stops, grimaces in pain::

She was determined to leave, that much was evident. Gnai also wanted to leave, but it liked to think that it was being slightly more sensible about the whole thing. Which is easy to do when one is uninjured and has a tricorder. It tried to be gentle in reminding her how they had ended up in such a position. Whether it succeeded was another thing entirely.

Gnai: The mine wasn't detected by you with your tricorder earlier, what is to say that they would be detected now? You are injured, reading a tricorder will be far harder.

Jovenan: Response

Renirs: Okay, but can’t we just walk out the same way we came? And watch out for the slippery parts as well.

oO Was she thinking straight? Oo

Gnai doubted that it could remember what path it had taken in, and it was uninjured and relatively clear-minded at the moment. Renirs was far more shaken up, it presumed, and would also be juggling her pain as she tried to mimic how she had stepped in the first place. Not to mention that she had been thrown quite a distance, and as such, had no clue where it was safe to step.

Savel: That would depend on the nature of the device you have triggered. The Lieutenant advised there was an explosion. Was it a mine, and if so, how far are you from where you initially triggered it?

Gnai: Renirs stepped on something, which then exploded. She said it was a mine. ::directed at Renirs:: The chance that either you or this remember the path taken in here is practically zero.

Renirs/Jovenan: Response

Chevalier: Those wounds do not correspond with open space explosion, plus they mentioned a click sound, so we can discard some kind of wired booby trap. They both are alive, so we can cross out the directional mine as well. Given the fact she still has two functional legs, we can exclude standard land mines. ::smile apologetically:: There is still quite a list of what remains on the menu, but I would go with a pressure plate IED.

Oh, good, someone clearly remembered the tactical training from the Academy. Gnai had not cared for that in the slightest, and had spent many a lecture zoning out to ponder much more interesting topics, dreaming of orbits and stars and comets. Leave the grisly details to those who wanted to get their hands dirty, it had thought.

Savel: Before putting them at further risk, we should evaluate the possibility of the Artemis being able to just beam them away. ::walking back over to Jaseb and Jovenan:: Are either of you aware of any of these minerals being able to prevent a transporter lock on their combadges?

A good point, but wasn't the Artemis... at Deep Space Nine? That was a bit far, wasn't it? They'd taken a shuttle for a reason.

Chevalier: That cave wasn’t on our briefing for this training, Savel. So our orbital sensors did not detect it. If the sensors cannot detect the cave, I doubt they will be able to detect the badges inside it. We will need to go in with the transporter boosters. We can do it. We use ground-penetrating scans to detect IEDs. You, me, we know what to look for. If the boosters will work, that's the best option. ::turns to Jovenan:: Lieutenant, what do you see? You know the science side the best; you are the one in blue. Will transporter boosters help, or will the cavern minerals make this hopeless?

Some of the conversation filtered down to Gnai and Renirs, but there was little it could do to get a better chance of hearing when the others chose to step off and discuss amongst themselves. It caught mention of transporter boosters and minerals... was the cave really blocking any signal? It could be something that it had overlooked, but it hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. Unless... whoever had mined this place had also somehow been able to rig it to block transport?

Gnai: ::louder:: Transport to the shuttle, maybe? Isn't the Artemis far away?

If so, they would have to do some sort of triage in the shuttle, before flying back to the ship. Of the group here, someone had to have some level of medical training, correct? Or at least a passing knowledge of what injuries might need to be treated immediately, and what could wait for Cmdr. Adea or Lt. Jg. Sadar or one of the various other medical professionals also on the ship.

Jovenan/Renirs: Response

Savel: If I am correct, then this cave functions as a storage area for illicit goods of some sort. It is likely that there are additional mines, though they are probably arranged in a pattern that would allow someone with knowledge of their layout to safely navigate the cave in order to retrieve what was stored here. We only need to discover this pattern to give you a safe route to the exit.

That was sensible, but Gnai had no idea what sort of pattern that might be. There were countless patterns, and no telling who had put them there! Bajorans, Cardassians, smugglers, the Dominion... That one might have been useless conspiratorial thinking, but there was no ruling out who might have set up this cave, or what sort of patterns they might have considered memorable enough to use in their layout of mines.

Chevalier: We may not have time to get them out. I will take the transport boosters. Some backup solutions are always better than having none. They can work; if they don't, we leave them there.

Jovenan/Renirs: Response

As they waited for however long it might take Ens. Chevalier to run to the shuttle and back, Gnai lightly nudged Renirs, hoping that talking might help keep her mind from the pain.

Gnai: ::just to Renirs:: Renirs, are you doing okay? Is this position fine?

Renirs: Response

Slowly and carefully, Gnai adjusted itself to better prop up Renirs. It didn't feel discomfort from how its suit stood, or if its suit was at all made to hold awkward shapes.

Gnai: This was a mistake to come in here and split up. Sorry for that.

Renirs: Response

As they spoke, there was a low hum from nearer to the entrance of the cave, which then steadily climbed into a screech. This noise continued for a while, cycling through humming and shrieking as if in pain. The others were doing something, that much was clear. Better the tricorders were yelling than more of its crewmates.

Chevalier: Savel? We have continuous connection to the shuttle. It works.

Savel: Response

Chevalier: Wait! Stay back!

oO Oh no. Oo

That wasn't a tricorder, that was Ens. Chevalier. Had he stepped on another mine? This just kept getting worse. Now there was another potential casualty, he couldn't stand on that mine forever. That silly human saying about curiosity and cats was right.

Savel: Response

Chevalier: ::breathing raggedly:: Savel, you need to continue. I’m okay. I think as long as I keep my feet on it, it will not explode. Go and save Gnai and Renirs. I will analyze that IED and the lieutenant will call support from Artemis...and they will get me out. Okay, Savel? Go!

Gnai: What's going on? Did Ensign Chevalier step on a mine?

Savel/Jovenan/Renirs: Response

Everything was going wrong, this was such a mistake. Had there ever been any trace of the toxins in here that they had been supposedly following? Gnai couldn't recall, but it wasn't certain there had been any. All of this, from just a need to explore into the unknown and poke things that were very obviously dangerous. It had known this had been a bad plan all along, its guts had told it that when it first stepped into the dark cave. Nothing good ever came from places like this.

Gnai: Be careful, Ensign Savel!

oO Losing one pilot potentially is bad, losing yet another would be even greater of a disaster. Oo

Gnai would not be piloting them back. Not with the stress of this happening right now, and the fact that it hadn't touched shuttle controls since its first year at the Academy. That was a recipe for disaster, even more so than the whole situation in the cave right now. Nope. If both Ens. Savel and Ens. Chevalier were injured as well, Lt. Jovenan had better be able to fly them out, or they were stranded for good.

Savel/Jovenan/Renirs/Chevalier: Response

At the very least, it could turn its tricorder to the walls again and send more data to Lt. Jovenan as they waited for their rescue. That might help in diagnosing just exactly what was wrong with this cave, and what other unknown dangers might lie within. It wouldn't put it past whoever set this up not to have hidden other horrible things down here.

Gnai: ::to Renirs:: This is just for a moment, sorry.

It twisted its suit's arms around, reaching for where it had stored its tricorder, before returning to approximately the same position supporting Renirs properly again. The jostling wouldn't be good for her injury, but Gnai needed to do something at least. Sitting and waiting and doing nothing just made it feel like even more of the cause of all of this mess.

Renirs: Response?

Slowly, Gnai scanned over the floor with the tricorder, then the ceiling and anything else within reach. There was too much racing through its mind right now to focus on what the data was saying past just the basics, but its tricorder was still in communication with Lt. Jovenan's. Anything odd that it could find here would be relayed to her for actual analysis.

Gnai: ::louder, to Lt. Jovenan:: Lieutenant, is there anything anomalous in the vicinity of this tricorder?

Savel/Jovenan/Renirs/Chevalier: Response

TAG/TBC

((OOC: Sorry for the wait!))

--

Ensign Gnai

Science Officer

USS Artemis-A

A240102G11