Lieutenant Kimonzi Lahl - I Don’t Like Sand
Nick Wilcox
(( Cargo Entry Charlie - Garasi District, Argratha Capital City, Argrathi V))
Kimonzi, Woolheater, Ke’Partha, and T’Korva were about to set off on a…“commandeered” cargo hauler and set off on a field trip. The four of them were going to bust some smugglers.
Lahl: Understood. Let’s get rolling.
Ke: Will you be ok out there Commander?
Woolheater: Everybody likes a road trip. ::beat:: Let’s just hope this one ends better than most.
T’Korva: Well put, Lieutenant ::beat:: Onward! ::pointing ahead with her free hand as her other hand stabilized her on the side of the vehicle.
(( Beyond the Gates, Approx. 30 kilometers beyond the Garasi District, Argratha Capital City, Argrathi V))
While Lahl drove the cargo hauler to the transporter site that the Sower and the Butler, she had been talking with Ke’Partha about the various scanners and how best to reconfigure them. She thoroughly enjoyed talking the engineering plans with the Argrathi.
Woolheater: Commander T’Korva? We’re getting close.
T’Korva: Good, let’s slow down and find a place to approach on foot. ::beat:: I am sorry engineer Ke, there is a hike ahead of us.
Ke: No problem here Commander. ::jumping down from the cab.
Kimonzi stopped the hauler and put it in “park.” Afterwards, she hopped down from the cab and stepped towards where Commander T’Korva was. She looked around, some wisps of hair that she hadn’t been able to capture in a bun flying around in the wind. It was much drier than she was used to from home.
Lahl: I needed to get my steps in sir.
T’Korva: Perfect ::to Woolheater:: Do you want to take point?
Woolheater: Aye sir.
T’Korva: I will take up the rear. Lahl, Ke, monitor for life signs and any technology that might surprise us. ::beat:: From here on out, hand signals only. Whisper only if absolutely necessary. We do not know what we are walking into.
Kimonzi pulled one of the Argrathi phasers around her shoulders and pulled out a tricorder. She looked over the displays as she turned in a small circle. This was going to be interesting.
Woolheater: Ke’Partha, ma’am. You’ll be more valuable on the scanners than behind that rifle. ::beat:: I’ll carry it. Stay behind Lieutenant Lahl.
Lahl: I’ll protect you. We should be quiet though.
Ke: ::making a sealing motion with her hands and lips::
Lahl was amused that between the four cultures, it seemed that all of them used the same sealing motion to show that they weren’t going to talk. She smiled at the motion and went back to her scanning as Woolheater did the same. She walked with the team under the moons, crunching along the sand.
Lahl: Well, this is certainly something.
Ke/T’Korva: Response?
Three large masts were ahead of them, as well as a lower structure that could have led them underground. She looked over her reading and crouched next to Woolheater to see what he saw.
Woolheater: (softly) Something’s not right. ::beat:: These power signatures are enough to drive industrial cargo transporters… but I don’t see any pads.
There was nothing that Lahl could see outside of the buildings. However, if she strained her ears, she could hear a faint transporter sounds. Somewhere.
Lahl: Do you hear that though? Something sounds like a transporter beam of some kind. No?
Ke/T’Korva: Response?
Woolheater: Energy patterns could be faked. Staged you know? Just set up an emitter. If this is buried, we’ll only confirm it by getting closer. It’s possible that they buried their operation inside the ground to avoid satellite imagery.
That was a good point. Lahl scratched her spots as she thought about it. If she were an evil smuggler, she’d probably do the same thing.
Lahl: That’s probably the most likely explanation, I think.
Ke/T’Korva: Response?
She started walking with the rest of the team towards the buildings, wondering what would be waiting for them when they got there.
Lahl: So…Ke, do you know anything about this area?
Ke/T’Korva/Woolheater: Response?
She nodded. That made sense then, that the smugglers would choose this location. The wind, the heat, and the dryness would cause plenty of people to not look too hard. She was going to have to moisturize the heck out of her skin when she got back to the Butler.
Lahl: So…what’s our plan when we get there? We should probably have a plan, no?
Ke/T’Korva/Woolheater: Response?
Kimonzi nodded.
Lahl: At the very least, we should have the concepts of a plan.
Ke/T’Korva/Woolheater: Response?
Chief Engineer