Exploring the Ruins

Posted on Sun Dec 31st, 2023 @ 6:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen & Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant Mark Valleroy & Ensign Raven Windancer & Ensign Minerva Delacroix

Mission: Ancient Civilizations
Location: Ruins in Unnamed Class M Planet

The operation was going smoothly.

After setting down, the away team had set up the excavation equipment and began to dig into an area which, according to scanners, sat just above a very large complex. After a lunch break, Commander Espersen ordered the team to split up. Espersen, Valleroy, and Stanson took the Argo buggy out toward another set of ruins ten kilometres South, one which appeared to be smaller but was at surface level. Captain Markova was left in charge of the team which stayed behind, overseeing Ensigns Larson and Delacroix.

As the buggy arrived at second site, Alexander was the first out of his chair. He tapped his commbadge before getting out his tricorder and gesturing for the others to look around. “Espersen to Away Team. We just arrived at Site Beta. How are things going over there?

Kenny clambered out and started sweeps with his tricorder.

"At least this place is drier than back home. Not much to look at though...UMPH! What the heck!?" Kenny'd bumped into a sand dune...that wasn't exactly a sand dune.

"Sir! This things...well, SOMETHING!" Kenny hollered as he began wiping away the sand covering.

Mark came over to where Kenny was while pulling his tricorder out. "It's something that's a good size," he said after a few moments. "Almost looks like it could be a craft of some sort, though it's hard to tell whether it was intended to go into space or was strictly atmospheric or even a ground vehicle of some sort. Commander, you're the engineer here. What do you think this could be?"

“We’d need more scans to be sure,” Alexander said. “At minimum to get the outline. Irol ships were biomechanical wonders but archaeological engineers believe they had limitations in atmosphere. If it’s a vehicle, it’s probably meant to be on the ground, or it crashed.” He pulled out his own tricorder. “Mr. Stanson, do your thing. Mr. Valleroy, why don’t you go explore a bit, see if there’s anything else of interest. And keep your eyes out for anything unusual. We’re not the first here so we might not be alone.”


********

"We're sitting pretty here, Commander." Larson replied, sitting back in the shuttle with the others. Of course, they were looking around at things and he was the comm watch. "Nothing special going on here."

Minerva was taking visual recordings of the ruins and using a tricorder to get carbon dating.

***

Kenny was actually getting a little excited about what might be under the sand...and what it could mean.

[What are you hiding?] Kenny thought as he tried not to scratch the...Kenny squinted...[Blue? Huh...weird color for a vehicle] Kenny thought as he exposed more of the paint job.

The First Officer stood beside the door exobiologist and peered over his shoulder. He also squinted at the intricate work. “Amazingly preserved. Is that pigment?”

"Looks like it, Sir! Although...this is a very strange color!" Kenny was slightly confused...blue hadn't been used on a vehicle in...Kenny did the math...or tried to anyway...and it came to about a few centuries at least!

Mark moved around, scanning things with his tricorder. It was rather on the dusty side, besides being a bit warm, but there was still noticeable clumps of vegetation about, and the tricorder picked up ample indication of smaller (and most likely non-sentient) lifeforms in the area, indicating that there was enough water in the area to sustain at least some life. There were also some indications that there had been other people recently, which Mark guessed shouldn't be too much of a surprise. That weapon that Cmdr. Espersen had come across in the market had to have come from somewhere, after all.

However, despite the fact that there had been others here after the Irol but before the Chimera away team, there were still other indications that not all Irol stuff had been removed from the area, the apparent ship that Lt. Stanson being one item of proof among several that Mark was detecting. Most of it seemed of the pottery shard type - the kind of stuff that would be of little interest to anyone intending to sell off whatever they found and that would only hold any real interest to archeologists and other similar academics. His tricorder beeped, and he noticed it seemed to be detecting something nearby that might be worth taking a closer look at, and he headed in that direction.

"Would you look at that?" Alexander mused to himself more than to Stanson. "It looks like the biological components have deteriorated completely, but the mechanical parts might still work." The Commander's tricorder couldn't read it connected to anything. No live wires. Probably a neuron that rotted away centuries ago at least.

The gears looked almost like clockwork. They could be spun manually.

"Let's see what this does," the XO suggested. He used a small probe tool to nudge a medium sized gear until it did a full rotation.

At which point the gears continued to turn on their own. And the sound of air circulating could be heard.

"YIKES!" Kenny yepled, tripping as he attempted to back up...resulting in him falling on his butt in the sand!

"So...WHAT just happened!?" Kenny sputtered, part of him kinda feeling like he 'should have stayed home today'.

**

Near Markova, Delacroix, and Larson, what had appeared to be a solid surface was opening up to reveal a large internal space.

"Hey, Lieutenant!" James called over to Nat, waving at her and Minerva to get their attention towards the cavern that was opening up in the rock face, "We've got something happening over here! I'm going to start getting some scans in. Make sure to proceed with caution, though. We don't know what to expect here." Putting actions to words, James Larson began to move towards the opening that was still expanding, pulling out his tricorder.

**

Mark's tricorder began beeping almost wildly. He punched several buttons, went over the readings, then tapped his comm badge. "Commander, something is happening. My tricorder just picked up mechanical activity happening in several locations. I recommend that we proceed with caution at this point."

"Agreed," Alexander responded. "Come back to the buggy, we might be retreating to the shuttle." He tapped his commbadge. "Espersen to Markova. Captain, what is happening at your location?"

**

Before Markova, Delacroix, or Larson could respond, the opening of the cavern expanded, and the ground tilted, sending all three deep into the planet.