Mission Log - Something's Shaking

Posted on Sat Jul 18th, 2020 @ 4:05pm by Cadet Freshman Grade Sakar & Lieutenant Commander Kiyrra Iyvanna & Professor Melody Kingston
Edited on on Tue Sep 28th, 2021 @ 6:56pm

Mission: To Tread Cautiously
Location: Montagna Ventose range, Mnt AX
Timeline: 2388/09/01 0855 (Mon. Sept. 01 2388 8:61am)
Tags: Edited to delete a repeat paragraph

[Seventeen Days Ago]

The sun bore down with enthusiasm alongside AX, one of the unnamed mountains in the Montagna Ventose range. And despite the meaning of its name, the windy mountains, the sun was not deterred in the slightest by the cool wind that caressed the archeology team hard at work.

Melody turned a head-sized piece of… something over in her hands. The material was thin, shiny, completely smooth and strong, and according to her scanner an odd mix of metals and alloys. A few of which, she knew were rare and made the whatever it was all the more mysterious.

"Start a new category. AXS56 as the tag, mark for further scientific analysis and send a remark to Ironwood. Being right doesn't make her any less a smart ass." Melody said, smirking as she finished.

Carefully taking the piece, science cadet Sakar replied, "Yes, as you wish Professor," a brow raised in what Melody knew was an acknowledgment of the playful insult towards the mining engineer. She appreciated his lack of Vulcan annoyance in response to her sense of humor.

Bending, Melody began the process of unearthing the next item. The mining team had reported sighting a remnant of some sort of a base spread around Mount AX. It had become a good site for excavation.

Reaching for her tools, she nearly face-planted the ground as a tremor suddenly shook the immediate area. It was over just as quickly as it began.

Melody stood and scanned the camp for damage and any injured. Other than one of her team having lost their balance and a couple of small items falling from the table where they sorted items, there was nothing of concern.

It really wasn't a surprise they would eventually feel a shake or two. Geographically speaking, AX was relatively young and had formed over the remains of an ancient base, and had been and still was slowly settling.

Turning to Sakar, Melody shared a raised brow with the Vulcan intern as he remarked, "I shall add that to the event log."

[Present Day]

"See this here. It's indicative of a pre laser society. " Melody went on explaining the slight marks on the surface of an artifact. Sekar was a good listener and loved the opportunity to share her passion.

Handing him the piece to catalog, Melody made her way across the rocky site to Kiyrra, it was the first time in over a week that the wind brought real relief. Despite the tree coverage on one side and mount AX on the other, the sun was quite intense, and although the weather was technically 'lovely', hours under the sun added up.

Melody had to watch her step, the camp was on a slight slope and rocky uneven ground. She wouldn't complain when they would move on to flat terrain. Even so, she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

"I love it when we find one civilization built on top of another. All that history." She grinned at the former Borg. "exciting don't you think?"

Kiyrra looked up from where she squatted examining a piece of metal that had been uncovered. It was interesting to her in that it was not a metal used by any of the species occupying this section of space. Standing, she tilted her head slightly. "I'm not sure I would use the word 'exciting', Professor Kingston, but it is indeed fascinating." Her tone was calm but not the monotone of the Borg or even the stoic of the Vulcan. She was really trying to integrate and to relearn who and what she was. But sometimes, she realized, she came off... well, Borg-ish.

Moving the conversation forward, she indicated the bit of metal she had been examining. "Take this, for example." She squatted down once more, looking away from Kingston to study the metal again with her ocular implant. "It doesn't appear to be any metal that is known to have been used in this part of the galaxy. It is... alien."

"Yes, I noticed." Melody gave a nod for Sekar to come over. He was good at absorbing, she thought he'd make a good archaeologist if he was inclined to it. "With the amount of rare metals we're detecting, the older more ancient race wasn't native. To be honest, I'm not seeing any evidence either civilization was native. However," Melody picked up a tiny piece of metal that caught her eye, continuing her thought process. "The younger doesn't seem capable of interstellar travel necessary to colonize. It's a fascinating puzzle i hope becomes clearer. " She purposely used Kiyrra's own word for 'exciting'.

Melody liked Kiyrra, thought it was a pity she couldn't befriend her more, it would be fun, as Teri would say, to 'corrupt' her. Doc, though, would never be able to handle prolonged interaction with a former Borg. Like many of the full blooded El-Aurians he held a deep trauma in regards to the Borg. The loss of the homeworld had changed him in many ways. It saddened her greatly, especially as she had no way to help him.

Kiyrra tilted her head, listening to Melody. The woman obviously loved what she did; it showed in the way she talked. But it also showed in how she handled the artifacts, even a simple piece of metal. There was a reverence to how she did these things. It fascinated Kiyrra. She was here because there was a scientific mystery to unravel, and she was good at scientific analysis. But she suspected Melody Kingston was here as much for the love of it as for the science of it. That was an odd but fascinating combination that Kiyrra wished she could truly understand.

A slight smile slid over her lips as the professor used her own word, turned her language around on her. "Yes, it is. But is that not why we are here, Professor Kingston... to solve it?" she teased, or tried to. Humor sometimes eluded her, but she hoped it had come across as teasing.

Melody returned the slight smile, her eyes twinkling with humor as she replied. "Indeed. And please, call me Melody. Professor Kingston makes me feel old. " Which was ironic as she was a great deal older than everyone at the site, but still she didn't feel that old.

With a glance at Sekar who had opened his mouth to speak. Melody only had a split-second sensation of something she could not name before the world around started to shake.

It wasn't like the tremor before, this time it was intense, causing chaos. Despite her usual grace, Melody lost her footing as the earth beneath her shifted sharply. It shook savagely, causing people and items to fall, and the noise was loud, a mix of grinding metal and scraping, cracking and falling rock.
It lasted nearly thirty seconds which was the longest earthquake Melody had ever been through.

She picked herself up and stared wide-eyed in surprise. Yes, it had caused a fair bit of damage at the camp, which sat at the base of one of Montagna Ventose Mounts. There was a split in the ground and a fallen tree both within about 10 feet from the base. The camp had been hit hard yet Melody could see that beyond the camp there didn't seem to be any damage. She turned more towards the mountains. Noting several other shallow cracks and trees who suffered from resting against them.

For such an intense and long quake, the damage seemed confined. Somewhat odd. However, any thought on its peculiar nature was pushed aside as she focused on the living. There were, unfortunately, injuries to tend to. After checking on everyone, she looked at Sekar who appeared to be alright. " report in, we need medics, looks like none fatal injuries at the moment. " She hoped that remained to be true.

When the 'quake' struck, Kiyrra shifted her stance, adapting to the changing environment like the good little Borg Drone she had been for so long. She tried to reach out to steady Melody, but the shaking sent the woman away from her grasp. While part of her mind remained on adapting to the changes in the ground, the rest focused on her other senses. What she could hear, smell, taste, etc. The sound of grinding metal reminded her of machinery that had not moved in so long that it was having trouble doing so now. She could smell something as well, but not having smelled that specific scent before, she could not identify it, so her mind stored it away and moved on to taste. She could definitely taste metal and rock dust, but that was to be expected given what was happening around her.

When it stopped, she helped the scientist up and then cast her gaze over their surroundings. The damage was not only localized but did not seem to be as great as a quake of the magnitude that one had been should have created. She suspected that they were not standing on the epicenter but not on the fringe of the effect either. Something in the planet had moved, but what had it been? Curiosity pushed at her thoughts, but she pushed it back for now.

"Is there any help I can be, Melody?" she asked, using the name the woman had requested her to use.

Melody glanced around the site once again before replying. "Could you help clean up? I'm hoping the quake didn't claim too many of the artifacts." She knelt next to Sophie, one of her assistants, "shh, it's alright. Just stay there. We've got this." The woman didn't argue, giving up on getting up, unsurprisingly since she had fallen into a table fairly hard.

Kiyrra watched the interaction. She still learned much from even the smallest interplay. This one told her that Melody was a kind woman, something she had already assessed to be true. But it also told her that the other woman was in bad shape. Well, that and her ocular implant did. "Are you certain that you do not wish me to take her to medical?" she asked, indicating the woman at Melody's feet.

Melody glanced between the two women, a glance specifically at Kiyrra's ocular implant decided for her. "No, actually I think you should."

Sophie started to shake her head in protest. "No no, Melody that isn't necessary..oh." she finished with a groan, a hand to her head.

"Right." Melody deadpanned. Giving a shake of her own head. "that's a trip to medical for you."

Kiyrra nodded. Moving immediately to the injured woman, she lifted her easily but gently. "I will get her there as swiftly as I can, Melody," she stated before pulling Sophie close so that Kiyrra's movement would jostle her as little as possible by steadying her against her own body. Then Kiyrra took off at a fast walk.

Sakar walked over near Melody to watch them leave and, not for the first time, thought about how unfortunate it was that transporters didn't work there.

With a sigh, Melody turned to Sakar, eyes scanning over the site, glad to see no one looked as hurt as Sophia. "I don't mind surprises, I quite like excitement but this.. how very strange."

She took a step towards a table to right it, knowing Sakar had done as she asked and likely took initiative for anything else that had needed to be done. Loud enough for all to hear Melody announced. "I don't know about the rest of you but I don't have any intentions of letting the miners think we're fragile."

There was laughter from her crew, the ongoing joke between them and the miners eased the tension the strange quake had caused. Which was exactly what Melody had intended.

~End