LtCmdr Kettick: Hey everyone in the old bazaar

[Darwin Awkward]

((On the way to the Ops Warehouse, The USS Eagle Outpost))

The Remmilian started walking towards the Ops warehouse (ware-shed?).

Kettick: I would suggest we start observing from afar for a while; just to get a feeling of the place. The First Directive may be dead and buried as far as this mission is concerned, but I would rather not find out that the locals are fresh out of a bloody war with the Xindi, and shoot at anything with an exoskeleton.

Letek: So much for my idea of a leisurely stroll through the market.

Remmilians did not snort derisively (what with having no nostrils, for one). But that was a close thing.

Buccheri: If you say so, chief. I'm not very big on getting shot at either. Especially when I don't know who or what's shooting at me, sir.

And that was one big half of the problem, wasn't it.

Kettick: We know that they have radio, and that there is a ship depot on the planet that has been in service at some point but seems to be abandoned right now. As far as anything else is concerned... they might see our salvaged tech as caveman junk or thay may roll around in vehicles made of tree trunks and pulled by dinosaurs for all we know.

Buccheri: If it's the former, sir, I'm pretty sure they'd be the ones breaking the Prime Directive.

The Ensign offered a smile, and Kettick acknowledged the joke with a slight nod.

Letek: Or we'll be welcomed warmly, offered a cup of tea, and be able to make some good trades. But you're right, it's probably best if we tread carefully.

Right. That joke was much better.

Kettick: Good call. Let us keep the careful infiltration as plan A, and only move to plan B when formally invited to high tea.

By that point, the group had joined what was sometimes charitably called the Ops warehouse, and more often tha not the Junkyard. A quick look through the mass of objects stacked on the hoversled that had been prepared for them, and the Engineer nodded approvingly. Nothing too exotic, things that they could have salvaged from a crash site or a derelict depot like the one Adea had mentioned.

Kettick: I suppose that would make us desert scavengers, then. A good thing, desert garb usually comes with head and face covers... Although we will have to study local fashions to make sure.

The Tactical Officer in their midst examined the sled with a critical eye.

Buccheri: Do you think the captain'd let us find and - or cobble together a shuttle if we asked really nicely?

Kettick cocked his head sideways at the hoversled.

Kettick: A cobbled-together or salvaged vehicle would fit the theme. But I'd rather get a feel for the local norms before we commit to anything. 

They packed what little they could take with them, and Kettick was adjusting the straps of his harness when doctor Letek stepped towards the Ensign, hand extended.

Letek: I'm Elor. One of the doctors on the USS Eagle. Nice to meet you.

Buccheri: Response?

The Remmilian nodded quietly, eyes checking the fastening of a last buckle before he covered it with a dust-colored peace of cloth.

It was easy to find dust-colored equipment around here. You just had to leave it outside for a couple of hours. The damnable stuff got everywhere.

Kettick: Kettick, Engineering. :: He looked up at the two men :: Ready to move?

Buccheri/Letek: Response? 

The slog through the desert was about as pleasant as one would have supposed - good company, cumbersome sled, a few reptiles to break the routine. Kettick was chewing on a piece of dinosaur jerky, reflecting that he had discovered he had a taste for it over the week, when they crested a dune and arrived in view of the market town.

At first glance, it was not somewhere a trio of disparate humanoids in somewhat ratty clothes and carting around a sled of salvaged junk would raise eyebrows.

At a second glance, and even at a long look with binoculars, neither.

The sky was getting dark, and the sprawling open bazaar pretending to be a city came alive with bonfires, both to light up their surroundings and to ward away the night's chill. Kettick turned around with his back to the sand dune, and let his binoculars fall around his neck.

Kettick: Ensign Buccheri, I am afraid we will not find any shuttle there to help us on the way back. What do you think one of us stays here with the sled, the other two go scouting, then we rotate to avoid attention? Or do we take the risk to carry it around with us?

Buccheri/Letek: Response? 

Kettick shook his head.

Kettick: We will have to browse for a bit, get a feel for the normal prices our cargo could get us. Then, food, drink, medicine, spare parts. Solar panels or a dew collector and water purificator if we can spring it. Information, above all.

Buccheri/Letek: Response? 

Kettick: I am not against it as long as we do not get caught. As far as I am concerned, there is a word for a crewmember who appropriates survival goods from the field by any field necessary, and that is "quartermaster". 

Tags/TBC

--

Lieutenant-Commander Kettick

Chief of Engineering

USS Eagle

G239107LR0

Your Engineering department kindly reminds you that you are supposed to read the flakking manual.