Lt. Commander Foster - Careful Tactics
Jamie LeBlanc
((Planet Peekaboo - Southern Hemisphere))
Rule number one of space exploration was to never put yourself in a bad position if you could help it. Of course the trick here was to be able to recognize what a bad position was and to avoid it when necessary.
Cade, having the advantage of experience, understood that walking into a ditch where an unknown number of people who were not immediately hostile – but who were also not exactly friendly or strongly communicative – was a risk he was utterly unwilling to take.
Foster: This terrain is giving us absolutely no advantages, and we would be foolish to just walk right into a place where we offer ourselves up for attack. It’s clear whoever they are they know the land better than us, but if we’re careful we should be able to find a different route, maybe even meet them on more even ground.
S’Jenes: Agreed. ::quiet, thoughtful:: Withdrawal under observation may itself be informative. ::glancing at the tricorder:: There is a viable route forward along the lower path to the side of the hill. Seismic activity is reduced, and the terrain appears to provide fewer elevated positions overlooking our movement.
Foster: You’re the expert on the scans. Can you find a route?
S’Jenes: ::confirming the projections:: Yes, Commander. I recommend we proceed along the lower flank, maintaining passive scans. It offers the best movement tactically, and provides observation of movement.
Cade offered a nod of assent and he started picking his way forward, his long lanky legs testing the unsteady ground before he looked back towards S’Jenes.
S'Jenes: Thermal gradients are stabilizing. If they were provoking a response, we are no longer obliging them.
Foster: And our friends?
If this was subtle, non-verbal communication the behavior of their unknown ‘friends’ was an important factor in his decision making.
S'Jenes: Observation continues. The mental presence remains...present, but less focused. ::a pause:: Curiosity rather than pursuit?
Foster: I can hope, but would not assume. ::Once again the ground trembled. Not enough to toss them about, but enough to test their balance and awareness.:: This planet is constantly moving, isn’t it?
S'Jenes: Seismic activity remains below threshold. This path is undisturbed.
Pushing away a clump of brush, Cade could make out thin, but natural path through the forest. Perhaps it was trod by animals. Perhaps it was trod by their uncommunicative rock-rolling friends? Either way, it presented a way forward.
The hairs raised on the back of his neck, and slowly – calmly – he drew his phaser, making sure it was toggled to heavy stun. There was just something about this the old doctor did not trust.
Foster: I can see it, the path leads around and eventually up the ridge. That should give us some better ground.
Not just better group to avoid being harassed or attacked, but better ground to be able to see the terrain. That was on disadvantage they had against whoever it was out there. S’Jenes and Cade were seeing all of this for the first time. Their ‘friends’ out there seemed to know every ridge , gully and plateau of the land.
S'Jenes: We are no longer in an optimal position to be... tested. If interaction does resume, it is likely to take a different form.
Foster: I suppose they’re going to have to get creative. And we’re going to have to stay on guard. I get the feeling they are either hiding or protecting something back here.
Which was the same actions but different intentions. The question was always what was the other creature hiding? For example, in war a stock of weapons meant to sell to your enemy was a vastly different thing that a group of refugees of your own people that needed to be evacuated.
On a previously uncharted planetoid, well… it could be almost anything. Intention was important.
And they wouldn’t know intention if they could not talk to these people.
Foster: Any readings on our friends?
S'Jenes: I detect no immediate change in intent... only observation. ::The lower path stretched onward, stable and quiet, carrying them away from the convergence zone.:: This route continues to minimize exposure. Do you want to proceed to the ruins, Commander? or would you rather retreat back to the runabout?
He gave S’Jenes a faint smile. It was safe, and perhaps smart, to retreat. But it was wholly un-Starfleet.
Foster: We’ve come this far. We’re heading towards those ruins.
S’Jenes: ?
Cade nodded, setting their progress position up with tactical care.
Foster: You keep your eye on the scans. I’ll keep watch. ::He kept his phaser low, not prominent, but at the ready.:: I’m not a security officer by any stretch, but you don’t get through the Dominion War without being able to use this thing.
There were reasons that Cade had so many in the field skills. Things that as a young man he disparaged. Once upon a time there was the idea that doctor’s didn’t need to learn security, phasers or tactics. But in war a teal uniform wouldn’t save you.
Knowledge was power. Skills saved lives. Cade had to adapt.
And that adaptation meant he was alive right here and right now, ready to make smart decisions on an unknown planet.
S’Jenes: ?
They came, undisturbed to a rise in the path. Cade crouched low to not present himself as a big, tall flagpole target, gazing at the valley that stretched before them. He could see rocky formations, too regular to be formed through natural chance, at the far edge of his vision.
Foster: Over there. In the distance. I think we found our ruins. Can you get any clear scans?
S’Jenes: ?
Foster: Well, that’s frustrating. But if the natural stone partially blocks out scanners then I suppose it’s a perfectly intelligent place to hide … whatever these people want to hide.
They were intelligent, that was one thing the limited interactions had confirmed.
S’Jenes: ?
Cade considered the options and paths forward, frowning.
Foster: Moving forward we will lose the cover of the forest. We’ll have to be very careful, because we will be exposed.
Not his favorite position to be in. – by far. But if they were to unravel this mystery they would have to press forward.
S’Jenes: ?
~*~
tags/tbc
~*~
Lt. Commander Cade Foster
Chief Medical Officer
~Julian Beck
E239010ST0