Ensign Spelvan - Gotcha!

[Tara Miner]

((Vermillion Wastes, Gateside Dimension))

The Starfleet officers had experienced a landscape shift, followed by a small earthquake, after which a vine had snuck out from under the ground.

Spelvan: Interesting. It appears the vines may have a rhizomatic network - that is, they grow horizontally, unlike trees with a central trunk.

Reynolds: I wonder if they're vines at all, at least in the manner we know them. I have no idea whether they even vaguely qualify as plants, other than looking like one. ::She frowned.:: The nervous system is rhizomatic, too.

Valek: Logic suggests the planet may be a single living organism. Such a prospect is concerning.

Spelvan: Possibly.

It made Spelvan feel a pang of unease to have logic cited at him, even if Valek was right in affirming the Admiral. Not to mention the earlier implication that Valek's superior training and experience had prevented the psychic contact. 

The Admiral herself seemed thoughtful, though - something that Spelvan had learned to look forward to in their short time together as a team.

Reynolds: Do you think there's a way to follow them to the power source? They were particularly interested in the facility's main reactor, especially once the team there interfered with the energy coming through the gate from this dimension.

Valek: I concur, Admiral. The flora and plants we encountered appeared attracted to the station’s power source. It is therefore likely they require a comparable energy source in this dimension.

Spelvan: We will have to see if the vines move along the same energy signature that we are tracking.

Spelvan kept his gaze low to the ground on the vines and on his tricorder. The flora moved fairly consistently in the same direction as their scans were leading them, even joined by a few more strands at several points. He glanced up once or twice to observe rock formations in the distance, getting slowly larger as they approached.

The sudden crackle of his fellow Vulcan's voice in his EVA suit startled Spelvan and he nearly dropped his tricorder. He uttered a Vulcan curse, too quiet to be picked up on the comms... probably. All of the environmental factors were making him more clumsy than was ideal.

Valek: Admiral, Ensign, visual observation indicates possible movement near the rock formation at a distance of approximately 150 meters. ::taking a hand off his phaser rifle and pointing toward the formation::

Spelvan: I did not see anything - did you, Admiral?

Reynolds: Response

The doctor looked up to where Valek was pointing and quickly recalibrated his tricorder to scan for life-signs, though none were immediately forthcoming.

Valek: The figure appeared broadly humanoid, though larger in stature and hunched in posture. I was unable to obtain additional details. We should assume we are under observation.

Spelvan: Intriguing. I am picking up no life signs in that area, though our scans are only short range. If the individual fled, we may not be able to find them.

Reynolds/Valek: Response

Strangely, Valek's find did not unsettle Spelvan quite as much as he would have thought. Perhaps it was because he did not see it himself - it was unverifiable, and therefore easier for his brain to dismiss as a threat.

Their path brought them - and the vines squirming on the ground - closer to the rock formations. Two things then happened at once - his tricorder began spewing complete nonsense, and the vines on the ground quickly whipped in another direction, different than the energy signatures.

Spelvan: Is anyone else's equipment malfunctioning? 

Reynolds/Valek: Response

Though such actions were illogical, Spelvan thwacked the side of his tricorder a few times with his hand, a tried and true method of an engineering major he'd once roomed with at the Academy. It did nothing to improve the situation. He looked up to notice the vines on the ground in front of them had disappeared.

Only to hear the whip of vines behind him on the ground, coming up to grab his ankles, pulling him horizontal as he fell. It hurt, cutting off circulation from his feet. Another grabbed his left wrist, preventing him from being able to pull himself upright. His tricorder lay a few feet beside him, dropped during the attack.

It didn't seem that the vines would be taking him anywhere - it was, Spelvan guessed, restraining him for purposes unknown. Perhaps for something bigger to arrive.

The psychic intrusion grew more pronounced as a hunger that wasn't his gnawed at his stomach. It felt unnatural and alien, a sensation that Spelvan sensed was not something the presence was used to. He was so desperately hungry, so wanting... he was sure he would never be filled.

The Vulcan squeezed his eyes shut, trying to separate the otherworldly desires from his own.

Spelvan: N-no... stop it.. help...

Valek/Reynolds: Response

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Ensign Spelvan

Medical Officer

USS-Gorkon

G240208S11