#41 Checking The Iconians

Posted on Sat Jul 9th, 2022 @ 9:43pm by Captain Rogue Green {Meji} & Chief Warrant Officer Niraasha "Nira" Whisperwind & Commodore Cyndi Song & Commander Jamie O'Connell & Lieutenant Tara Herculoid PhD & Rear Admiral Paul Sanderson

Mission: A Patrol and Supply mission
Location: Inner Part Of The Planet
Timeline: current

ON:

With Commander Green away Cyndi was eager to get an away team into the planet to see what the Iconians had left behind. Tapping her com-badge "Paul Sanderson, Commander O'Connell, Lieutenant Herculoid and Doctor Bjorgo find the inner part of this planet and see what is there and report back to me."

Tore gave a response to the call. "Bjorgo here, Commodore. On my way to you now. Bjorgo, out." His transmission ended and off he went to find his old, and new, CO.

O'Connell tapped his Comm "On my way Commodore; we can all meet then leave as an away team."

"I'm still on the surface as is Herculoid and Paul," Cyndi responded


***

With the headband lamp strapped on and the light on her brow, Zenni Kahn had gathered a smaller pack and stuffed it with devices and supplies. On her belt were her lightsaber, tricorder and PADD, as well as, the hatchet and a phaser pistol. The pistol she doubted she would need for combat but it did afford an extra tool with unique abilities she may need once she began to descend into the depths of this planet. Just before entry, standing in the archway of rock and natural stone that led within, Zenni tapped her badge. "Kahn to Song. Can you read me, Commodore?"

Cyndi tapped her com-badge just as Paul and Tara arrived "I read you lieutenant."

Bjorgo entered the transporter room wearing his full away team duds complete with Starfleet fatigues.

Zenni grinned to herself. "Just wanted to report in, Sir. I'm with Cosmo and we're at the cavern entrance the droid discovered, that led him down into the Iconian labyrinth. I've sent the coordinates to the ship for where we are--some 80 klicks from town in an old volcano. The caldera has formed a stadium style valley that is lush and green. We're beginning our spelunking and will contact you in a few hours when we take our first break."

Tore spoke up as he spoke at Song's badge. "Kahn, Bjorgo here. it's just you and that machine?"

Cosmo bleeped with a saddened tone, his head actually seeming to droop. That caused a bit of angst in Zenni. "His name is Cosmo, Doctor. And, yes, it's just us. He is a sentient as much as you are, remember that." Bjorgo looked slightly shocked by the retort, not expecting a machine to elicit such a response from an organic. He raised his hand up defensively to the Commodore, showing her that he was done and she may continue without further interruption.

Cyndi turned to Tara and Paul, head over there and see what is inside. And be careful," Cyndi said

"You worry too much," Paul said giving her a peck on the cheek.

Tara and Paul headed off to meet them.

Jamie materialized on the surface just in time to see Tara and Paul head out as he hustled to catch up to them "Gee, I thought you were going to leave without me" he stated with a chuckle.

"Never commander," Paul replied

"No, we're just eager to get there and see what is gong on," Tara said

Zenni stood within the confines of her walled in camp, the others materializing just outside the opening of her horseshoe shaped garden, the tree overhanging like an oak, the sights and smells prevalent. She could see by their expressions that this was not where they thought they were beaming into since she had sent the transporter operator her coordinates. Kahn couldn't help herself as she gave a smile that went from ear to ear. "Welcome everyone, to Camp Zenni. Make yourselves at home except for the hut. That's mine," she giggled. Cosmo gave his own bleeps in greeting, seemingly excited by having more crew show up for the adventure.

"Cosmo says hello, too."

"This is supposed to lead us into the inner working of the planet," Tara commented pulling out her tri-coder and scanned the area.

"I've seen a lot over the years but this has it beat," Paul remarked.

Zenni needed to correct a statement. "No, Lieutenant Herculoid, this leads to the Iconian complex, which is inside that long entry cavern." She thumbed back over her shoulder since the cavern was behind her as she stood facing everyone. "According to Cosmo's scans all the technology is fed energy by the geothermal activity kilometers below us. All our PADDs have the floor plan for the Iconian facility, as well as, the temple-like structuring of the caverns within to get to it. I waited for backup before I decided to enter, according to regulations." Cosmo gave some bleeps and whistles.

"Cosmo says that someone carved out and built a rough-hewn temple complex before reaching the Iconian spaces. He says that it appears they were servants who gathered resources for the Iconians and brought those resources here to be utilized by their masters." Kahn interpreted.

"Slave labor," said Bjorgo, shaking his head. "I wonder what happened to them all. The colonists made no mention of anyone else living on the planet." Best to keep these people off track, Tore thought to himself. It was bad enough that this new Kahn was already unraveling more than she should, with the aid of that strange beach ball looking mechanical.

"The colonists may not know anyone else lived here," Paul commented "What do you say we head in and see what is there? Lieutenant Herculoid do you think you'll be able to read it once we get there?"

Tara nodded "I should be able to, it might take me a minute or two to understand it. There's not really been a language I've not been able to pick up after a couple of minutes."

Kahn looked to the others as she got them walking towards the entrance to the caverns. "All Iconian translations, to date, are in the Starfleet database. As for any temple structures of ancient design it has been noted that most have something in common with languages currently on record." She entered the archway and as she stepped beyond a clearly defined cut-line across the floor several of the stone blocks that were granite black/grey lit up with an internal soft light. The light had a purplish hue, reminding Zenni of Dominion polaron technology. In her mind she chuckled to herself. ~Nira would love the fact that the light was slightly lavender mixed with purple~

Even as she went forward slowly, with intermittent stone building blocks illuminating as she went, Zenni noted that the hue of light did give her own flesh a Puazi lavender hue. Many Iconian devices had that same color to them even though they had perfected Omega research and development, putting all their tech far ahead of anyone else in the known galaxy.

Bjorgo kept himself stoic, his eyes moving around from place to place taking it all in. All that he had seen over a dozen times as he visited this complex to conduct his own research, escorted by the Governor's personal troops. If done right he could steer them accordingly and avoid their discovery of the hibernation chamber. Even Lucas Jones knew nothing about the being kept within that chamber, a Vulcanoid woman dressed in an all white catsuit and kept in suspended animation by the Iconian technology. How long she had been there had yet to be determined and why Bjorgo had not told anyone of her existence. She could have been there for centuries and why Tore had not allowed the troops to accompany him further into the complex. He had left them to guard the entrance while he himself explored, then falsified his reports to Jones as he made no mention of the strange woman's presence. Like Nira, after her discovery, Bjorgo had taken it upon himself to protect and secure.

tag

***

Kirk had come in low over the terrain, then ascended up over the rocky stone walls of the caldera to descend once again into the valley. She could here Silk behind her as he tapped keys to angle the sensors.

"Dammit! Sensors show that the away team has entered the cavern. But..." Sean's voice trailed off.

"But, what?" Asked Kirk.

"I can't detect them anymore, Kirk." He kept redoing the scans but nothing changed. "Either they went really deep really fast or, the caverns are scan shielded."

"Shit," said Kirk, tapping her combadge. "Kirk to Song. Can you read me? Kirk to Song, respond!" Nothing, not even a fuzzy transmission. Several colorful metaphors were spewed under her breath.

"Land this thing," said Silk. "If nothing else we can join them and see that they're okay, Ensign."

Kirk gave a nod to herself. "Agreed. Starting the landing cycle." Maneuvering the Delta Flyer around to land close to Zenni's borrowed Argo ATV, Jim got the ship to around 500 feet above the valley floor, easing it down. Suddenly all the alarms began to go off aboard the ship, the repulsors and thrusters sputtering and spitting as they tried to maintain power for the descent. Kirk reversed herself, ascending back up and above the 500 feet mark. Everything went back to normal.

Silk was on his feet and opening a weapons cache, pulling free two rifles and two pistol belts, handing one to Kirk. "Looks like we need to land outside the valley and hump our asses through the gap. Methinks the Iconians have built defenses against unwanted aircraft."

Finding a really tight glen Kirk put the Flyer down within it, shutting down and going through post flight. After which she strapped on the belt and added equipment to it, then took up the rifle and slung it over her shoulders. Lowering the ramp they both stepped out and Jim closed it behind them and locked it. Silk took a moment to orient himself and then made a gesture in one direction as he began to move. "That way." Both of them double-timed it.

***

Kahn had her tricorder out as they went, scanning the interior of these temple stone walls. "Cosmo, where is the opening to the Iconian complex?" He bleeped and rolled ahead about 3 meters, then made a right turn down a passageway. She made sure the others had seen where they were going and then she followed her little buddy.

Just as Zenni took another step forward to follow Cosmo, over a dozen transporter signals began to materialize around the entire group. And, even more frightening was the fact that the signal they used had them in place in less than a second, all new arrivals armed with phase rifles, and all pointing them at the Commodore and her entourage.

Lucas Jones was the only one not holding a rifle, but he did have a holster on his right hip, where his pistol still was. "Hiya, Commodore. Seems you found your way to our little secret. Now, you can leave this world and never come back. And, by that, I mean anyone Starfleet." He looked at Tore. "You, of all people, I expected better of."

"Glad to disappoint you, Lucas. I'm here to claim what is rightfully mine, according to our written agreement. Beyond that I will abide by your decision to exile Starfleet from your planet." Bjorgo stood tall before the Governor, unafraid of anything they could throw at him. He may die but Jones would go with him.

Kahn took a step closer to Jones, her voice sincere and unaggressive. "Governor Jones, we were merely curious, Sir. Iconian technology can be quite destructive. This excursion was meant to make sure your people would be safe and secure once we left. Apologies if that offended you, but if it did, that makes you a prick."

Lucas Jones gave a snide chuckle and grin. "A prick I may be, Lieutenant, but this is OUR world, not yours. Did you ask permission to investigate this complex? No, you did not. Instead you chose subterfuge and we watched from afar. The planet itself is growing beyond even our hopes. It will sustain generations to come with what it produces."

"At what cost," asked Kahn. "This is Iconian technology, created by a species that we barely understand, have only scratched the surface of. The Orions once had a prolific, powerful empire that spanned 500,000 light years all told, and yet, it collapsed into civil war, power mongering and criminality. So, now, all they have left is the criminal element. Is that what you seek? Corruption placed upon you by a long dead civilization?"

***

Commander Green had Nira next to her in the co=pilot's seat as she angled the USS Nile into the main hangar bay in the Primary Hull. Passing through the forcefield she then hovered in the center of the hangar, spun the nose around to face outward, and maneuvered the Nile into her parking spot. Once settled the two officer went through pre-flight and shut down all main power. With the runabout now secure and landed they opened the starboard hatch and stepped down to the deck.

"Welcome back, Commander, Chief," said one of the FC junior officers as she began to run a scan of the Nile's exterior.

"Thank you, Ensign Cavender. It's good to be home." Ro gave a grin to the younger woman. "Anything we should know?"

Cavender shrugged. "Not much, really. I've heard rumors about the Commodore and a few others in the top slots going to some complex underground. Someone said Iconian, if I heard right. Matter of fact, Ensign Kirk took a Delta Flyer out just this afternoon to do map of the earth scans of the terrain."

The pair glanced at each other, with Nira speaking first. "Master, the Iconian complex?"

"It has to be," responded Green.

Cavender gave a quirky face as she overheard the word 'master' used in reference to the Commander. ~Ooookaaaay~ she thought. Green was allowed to wear some pretty interesting outfits, and the one she had on now Cavender wouldn't mind owning. It was both utilitarian and a bit sexy with how it was designed, with the leather, form fitting, light armor top. She could go for a uniform like that any day. "The Commodore, the acting XO, Chief Counselor, Doctor Silk, Ensign Kirk, Doctors Herculoid and Long--a lot of people from the command staff all went to the same place."

"Thank you, Rachel." Green then turned to the Puazi. "Nira, drop your things off and then meet me on the Bridge." Nira acknowledged the orders and Ro moved across the shuttlebay with a determined stride. Minutes later she stepped from the starboard lift onto the command deck. The Ensign sitting in the chair stood up as she entered, giving a complete rundown of the past few hours on duty. "Thank you, Ensign. I'll take command now, carry on."

Nira arrived by the aft Bridge turbolift, stepping in and taking over at Tactical. She angled the sensors and scanned the planet. "I have Delta 5 on scanners. Parked just outside of a caldera that is dormant and overgrown."

Green turned to face the main viewport, loving the view out the large panoramic window as they looked own upon that green, lush world. "Topographical overlay, top right corner of the screen, please, Nira."

Nira tapped keys and the map appeared where Green wanted it.

Ro studied the map, seeing it was an exact holographic recreation of what they were seeing thousands of kilometers below. There were two amber dots moving from the Delta Flyer and into the caldera valley, each dot with a name hovering over the display. 2nd LT S. Silk, and ENS J. Kirk. She tapped her badge. "Green to Kirk."

Down on the planet Kirk came to a stop as her combadge sounded, waving for Silk to stop too. "Kirk here. Go ahead, Commander."

"You two return to Delta 5 and get yourselves back to the Amandora. We have enough personnel down there at the moment." Something was wrong she could feel it. Deceit, anger and aggression--but from where. The Core was being reticent.

Silk cut in. "But, Sir, we're right here. Kirk and I both feel that something isn't right so we're going to..."

"You're going to obey my orders, Lieutenant," interrupted Green. "I too feel uneasy about this place suddenly. But, we can't have armed personnel runni..."

The red alert klaxon went off and the ship went into emergency mode. Nira doused the klaxon but left the red alert going. "Multiple power readings from around the city, Commander. There are planetary defense emplacements rising up from underground silos."

Green turned from Nira and looked out the window again. "So, they finally show their hand. Secure from alert status but keep our shields up. Energize our phaser emitters but do not activate them."

"Aye, Sir." Nira did as she was ordered. "Operational status now defensive."

"Thank you, Chief." Green made no move to sit down, instead remained standing between the Ops Manager station and FC, hands clasped behind her back with feet shoulder-width apart. "Silk, Kirk, do not cross me. Do as you are ordered."

Both junior officers acknowledged the order and hung up, heading back to their ship.

***

Bjorgo could take all of these fools with no problem. Sure, he might get popped a few times but what's a little pain when one is on a murder spree. But, his Starfleet training added the element of caution, not for himself but for the Commodore standing behind him as he stood face to face with Lucas Jones. "Are we leaving, Commodore, or should I kill this wretch now?"

Lucas, despite trying to keep up his bravado, suddenly came to realize just how close the Augment male was to him. His eyes looked over in surprise when the science gal added her two bits.

"Say the word, Commodore," said Zenni. "And, I will cut him in half." Her eyes were cold and focused as she stared him down. There was no love lost in that glare.

The Commodore stated she didn't want anyone killed, let alone a firefight between the groups. Jones was satisfied with that, as was Zenni, but Bjorgo took a moment to stare directly into the eyes of the Governor.

"I will go claim what is mine. Try and stop me at your own peril." Tore turned form the man and began to go down the corridor that Cosmo had rolled into. "Commodore, I will beam aboard in a few minutes with a package. Please, vacate these caverns and get ready to warp out. Thank you, Sir." Bjorgo had said that over his shoulder while walking, seeing Cosmo ahead. "You too, beach ball. Time to go." He thumbed back over his shoulder. Cosmo bleeped a few times and rolled away to get back to the others.

Once Cosmo was there Lucas Jones dropped the transporter inhibitors, allowing the Starfleet interlopers to beam out. He was satisfied with their departure, remembering his own time in service. As always the Starfleet personnel treated colonists like idiots, thinking they can't handle themselves or don't understand any skills at all without supervision. Government overreach was never a good idea and led to an eventual totalitarian idealism. Bjorgo had been a friend, had aided his people with the Iconian tech, among other things. So, when the unknown woman was found in a stasis capsule Tore claimed her as part of his payment. Lucas could care less. Once that person was gone then there would be no reason for Starfleet or the Federation to return. Time to find new allies.

***

Green received word from the Commodore that they were beaming back and were unharmed. She acknowledged that and then began issuing orders. "Helm, plot a course out of the system and keep it on standby. Tactical, recall all personnel if they aren't already back aboard." All those who had been addressed got to work.

Nira piped up as she was working on the personnel returns. "Doctor Bjorgo is calling."

"Put him through," said Green.

"Amandora, this is Bjorgo. I have a stasis capsule of foreign design that needs to be beamed aboard. Please, beam myself and this unit to the isolation room, please."

Green nodded to Nira to pass on the message to transporter room two. "You will go through decontamination while inside, Doctor. And, as the Xo, what does this stasis capsule contain?"

"A woman of unknown Vulcanoid origin," stated Tore as he and his prize were beamed to the isolation chamber where the decon began as soon as they materialized. "The capsule is Iconian so it should give McTavish and his people something to toy with regarding their research. But, I'll let you know when decon is over and we get her out of the tube. Bjorgo, out." The channel closed.

Green could not help herself, glancing around at the Bridge staff currently on duty, grinning as her sarcasm and cynicism came out in her voice. "Why is it that every paradise we find has to have an issue?" She chuckled. "Don't answer that, people. Carry on." Going to her XO's chair she sat down and began to fill out her own reports regarding Earth, and the freighter incident. Nile's logs aided greatly with all that.

OFF:

OOC: Apologies, but just wanted to end that since we have an upcoming mission the CO wishes to start. Sorry if it was rushed.