Site Exploitation

Posted on 2025, Wed Oct 1st, @ 11:11pm by Rear Admiral Jacob Hawks Esq, SMH PMV & Commodore Bowen Parton & Commander Cormac Situs & Lieutenant Katie Harlow

1,007 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 2 "Demons of the Past, Friends of the Future" - USS Halo
Location: The desert worlds surface
Timeline: Primary

It was a wall of sand. Just like the orbital scans had shown, but they knew there was an entrance to a large underground structure about 50 feet in front of them. The away team currently numbers about 20 people. Some were busy setting up a field camp, and the security teams had set up a perimeter. Situs and Laforge were given the task of organizing the science teams and ops crews to begin clearing the sand from the secret buried entrance and beginning their surface excavations.

Situs was using a PADD to cover his face from the sun. he would usually be excited for expeditions like these. Today, however, his job was to make sure a gaggle of overeager science officers didn't get lost in a desert or inside a cave. He looked over to the tent and then back at his chair. Comparing the schematics of the excavator to the form it started to take as it was being assembled in front of him.

"I don't like the colour of the sand here," he said, handing his PADD to his assistant. "Ensign, take samples of the sand every 3 meters instead of 10. And run the weather simulations again". With the ensign leaving to carry out his orders, Situs tapped his combadge. "Situs to security, I plan to have the excavator started within the hour. Any reason we shouldn't?"

"Copy, I think the faster we get this dug out, the quicker we can get this ended. I'm not really a fan of being on this side of space, no matter any Diplomatic stuff happening." Harlow Replied. She also had to admit she hated the color of the sand.

Ensign Jalurgh(NPC) was a member of the logistics sections of the Ops department. Along with helping to set up a base camp with some modular structures and tents that would serve as rest areas, field labs, replicator huts, and the like. The dig was scheduled to last for 3 weeks, and everyone was hoping they'd make some valuable discoveries. He was also responsible for coordinating the beam-down location for the equipment.

He marked 2 locations for the 2 repulsor excavators to be beamed down and signalled the Halo to be beamed down.

Commodore Parton stood in the wide open desert that confronted the away team. His eye squinted, and his jaw clenched. "Commander Cormac, perform your scans. We need to find this entrance as soon as possible. It's only 1100 hours. If we are still on the surface at 1400 hours, we will fry like a mess of catfish in Memphis. Situs, what is the ETA on getting the Excavator, and the repultion equipment beemed down?" he asked, gripping his hands. One wrong move and it would be weeks before he could get all the sand removed from the mechanisms that made up the prosthetics.

Harlow closed the distance between herself and Bowen, her boots making a soft impression in the sand. She stopped just close enough to make her presence unmistakable, raising her scanner with a steady hand as its faint hum filled the air. Her eyes flicked over the readings before settling squarely on him, her tone clipped but resolute.

"Sir, if I may," she began, angling the scanner slightly toward the perimeter, "I’d like to establish a larger security detail to maintain an around-the-clock watch. Current numbers aren’t sufficient if we want full coverage." She paused, lowering the scanner just enough to meet his gaze directly. "I’m also requesting floodlights to be installed along the perimeter. Once night falls, visibility will be compromised, and I don’t want any blind spots out here. With proper lighting, we can ensure nothing slips past us—no surprises."

Katie’s voice carried the weight of urgency, tempered by professional restraint. She tightened her grip on the scanner as though to emphasize the seriousness of her recommendation.

The commodore looked over at her. "Commander, I am afraid that will be something best taken care of once we are in the ruins. As stated, the planet's surface in this hemisphere has very thin coverage from the magnetosphere. If this takes more than a few hours. We will have to abandon the project and return to the ship till sunup tomorrow. Otherwise, you're going to experience what might be the nastiest sunburn you have ever had. Unless you believe that we have enough Vulcans on the security team to cover the area?"

Katie fixed her gaze on him, uncertainty swirling in her mind. She wrestled with her instincts—part of her wanted to unleash a torrent of frustration, while another part recognized the importance of the task at hand. With a deep breath, she made a decision. "Understood, Sir," she said, her voice steady, masking the turmoil inside.

Situs acknowledged his orders. "I'm pushing the dig up 40 minutes, that means we start in 20. Those who wish to observe can gather on the main tent. I'll be with the excavation crew." He tapped on his combadge as he wore his protective goggles. "Begin preheating, we start excavation vector B on my mark"

The excavator's power source roared, the metallic spiral hollower spun slowly, reflecting the harsh sun. Soon it would begin to to manipulate powerful energy fields in a spiral patterns. Moving enormous amount of sand and debris out of its way without even touching it.

The sand had been blown in over top of a large dune that had formed along a low ridgeline millenia ago. It was lose sand, and the sides were shored up using low powered type 2 phasers on a low harmonic frequency that formers thick glass walls on the side of the excavation. The science crews and engineering teams on the task dud marvelous work and noticed so sand disappearing into a chasm or opening within the first hour. After the second hour they almost had the large ornate entryway fully exposed over 50 ft below the surface where they had started.

One of the scientists noted that symbology on around the entry was consistent with Iconian sites found across the galaxy.

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