SD 241402.24 PL | "Translations" | Vindicator Crew

Posted on Tue Feb 25th, 2014 @ 12:14am by Captain Landon Neyes & Lieutenant Commander Mathew Caldwell & Lieutenant JG Saia Roswell & Ensign Sina deLaar & 2nd Lieutenant Jasmine Garza

2,978 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: In the Dark
Location: Vindicator Camp
Timeline: The morning of the 2nd day on Notura

=/\= Vindicator Camp =/\=

Slowly closing the distance toward the Noturan group of delegates, or what he hoped were delegates, Neyes could sense his growing apprehension. The group which appeared to be exclusively made up of males, stood just at the edge of camp, a few study looking fellows held small supply packs, and their apparel suited the weather of the planet. Bulky but elegant furs adorned their broad shoulders, and what appeared to be hardened leather armor, with bits of steel riveting the edges. As they approached, some of the senior officers took the opportunity to join Landon and Rochelle. Landon took a moment to check his own features. Pulling at the anxious strain in his face with his left hand, and simultaneously straightening out the wrinkles from the visible parts of his uniform. Thankfully his thermal wear didn't suffer from the needs of formal presentation.

His first 'first contact' situation was about to take place, despite the fact that the Federation had already met this particular people briefly once before. It had been several decades prior however, and was only a two day venture. No contact with the Noturans had been made since then, and Landon was both honored and nervous to be the CO responsible for this mission. Landon only hoped he could keep himself composed the entire mission. It had been several lifetimes since his last official diplomatic endeavor.

"How's my hair look?" Neyes said, half-kidding.

Saia had been looking at the Noturans, but it was hard not to look long and intensively at them. She cast glances, to see if she could see what they did. How did they communicate non-verbally with each other. Seeing the command team approach, she took a sigh of relief, knowing soon they'd get to interact with the planet's natives soon enough and then she'd just have to keep the questions several moments in between. She was so curious, but she didn't want to overwhelm them or cause them to be annoyed with anyone from the Vindicator.

Jasmine hung back with Jason next to her. She knew her snipers had the greeting party in their sights and had their instructions. Jasmine hated greetings like these out in the open but it had to be done this way.

Stepping carefully out of the shuttle, Almar had donned several uniform jackets and a thick, heavy blanket, he hurried along behind the main group, attempting to keep up despite the cumbersome nature of his extra layers and the affect the cold was having on his system.

Closing the distance, the Starfleet personnel stood a few meters away inside their camp. The Noturans simply stood, apparently waiting to see who was going to offer up the first words.

Neyes took a few steps forward. "I am Captain Landon Neyes of the Federation starship Vindicator, it's a pleasure to greet you once again on behalf of the United Federation of Planets."

The Noturans looked to each other uncomfortably, a puzzled confusion buzzed between them. The oldest of the group took a few labored steps forward, and Landon worried the man was about to topple over at the effort.

"H'feaur jyuthwasa de'iknogat."

Half way through the ... sentence? Phrase? She couldn't tell. Saia tilted her head, partly out of natural reaction, partly as the universal sign of innocent confusion.

Caldwell grinned slightly at the peculiar sounding language before looking to the Captain.

Landon's eyes widened slightly, and he turned his head a little toward his shoulder to speak out the corner of his mouth, "...anyone catch that?" He poked at his commbadge a little, his apprehension beginning to yield a full fledged concern.

Pushing his way through the group, the Cardassian deposited himself next to the Captain and fumbled around inside his bundled layers, producing the three commbadges that hadn't been picked up, "Three badges, you forgot, one for me in the shuttle, two for the teams, universal translator offline." he managed to say between chattering teeth, gesturing vagely towards the badge on the Trill's chest.

Taking the offered commbadge, swapping it out for his own, Landon mouthed the words 'thank you'. Almar was truly a life-saver. Taking another deep breath, he clipped the new badge into place.

"Try now," Almar prompted as the bulkier device was affixed to the Captain's jacket, the slimmer model placed inside the Cardassian's jacket to be worked on later.

Neyes maintained his calm composure despite the hiccup, "Greetings. I am Landon Neyes, Captain of the Federation starship Vindicator." He motioned to Ivanova, "This is my first officer Commander Rochelle Ivanona. Can you understand us now?"

"It would seem your device was not functioning for a moment, the scaled one had a solution?" the older Noturan replied with a slight bow of the head. His looked became more awkward and confused when he greeted the first officer.

Rochelle chalked the response up to how men normally felt when they first met her; every man was a little befuddled. "It's pleasure. Thank you coming to greet us."

Neyes sighed with relief as the sound of Federation common quickly followed the words being mouthed by the Noturan. There were six of them, four younger men who looked outfitted for the harsh environment and two older gentlemen who were no doubt the representatives. They carried very little with them, and the younger men were stone-faced. Neyes couldn't tell if they were actively taking part in the conversation at all, or simply there for a show of protective force. Either was fine with him.

"This is my Chief Engineer Almar Dahe'el. He's got excellent timing I'll say for sure." Neyes laughed at his own blunder with the translators, and patted the Cardassian on the back. "The cold doesn't agree with him, though."

"We are honoured by your visit Captain Landon Neyes of the Federation," he continued as a smile crossed his face, "I am Elder Keilhwa, we welcome the Federation back to Noruta."

Reciprocating the smile, Landon nodded to both elderly men, "It's our honor, Elder. Thank you for your welcome. Truthfully I wasn't really sure if you were prepared for our visit. Had another day gone by I think we may have braved the wilderness to meet you in your city. I am impressed your people are able to thrive here on this world. My own planet is a veritable jungle, it very rarely reaches the cold I have felt here since yesterday."

Saia smiled to the Chief Engineer, impressed and grateful. She then held a small smile watching the small talk. She took a deep breath trying to remember Trill, but it had been so long since she was there. Other thoughts came to mind as the smile faded and her mind was having trouble focusing on the situation.

"This is my Chief of Science, Saia Roswell, who is also a member of my world." Landon motioned towards Saia.

"HI!" Saia blushed and bowed her head a bit looking at the Captain apologetically.

Giving each of the named officers a slight nod in recognition, the Elder turned slightly and gestured towards his companions, "May I introduce Second Elder Ctzhol, he is here to see that your needs are met, should you wish to join us in our city," Keilhwa replied as the gesture moved to encompass the four accompanying men, "These are our guards, the Hrakthi'ta." he added, the translators not picking up the last work and leaving it in the native tongue, "Some were concerned that you may not be... friendly, so some measure of protection was provided."

Caldwell eyed the "Hrakthi'ta", and looked to see if they had any visible weapons. He also sized them up. His position required that he be prepared for everything, even possibly engaging one of these beings in hand-to-hand combat. His phaser was concealed, but ready in a second's notice.

"I am glad to find that the precaution was not necessary, I am sure you are not offended such action," the Elder replied with a warming smile, "We should rest in your camp until Midday breaks, it shall make the return trip much easier."

Saia quirked a brow, "Really?" She looked over her PADD at the atmospheric data, concentrating.

Jasmine continuing eyeing the group as she took her place just slightly behind and to the right, while Jason was slightly behind and to the left. They each had their hands inside their coats hands on their type II phasers.

Ensign deLaar watched the scene keeping herself in the background. She didn’t want their guests to feel pressured by everyone closing in on them. But still she wanted to stay within hearing distance. She told herself that this was just to make sure she could be summoned easily by the command team. But she was also terrible curious. This was such a unique moment and she was excited to be part of it.

She noticed with great relief that the Noturan's facial expressions seemed to be similar to the ones of Humans and Cardassians. This was not to be granted.

Sina had once smiled at someone in a space station who took her sudden baring of teeth as a sign of immediate attack, screeched and pointed her dagger at her. They had both suffered the scare of their lives.

Caldwell walked over to Captain Neyes and spoke, out of earshot of the guests: "Sir, recommend that we disarm the Hrakthi'ta before they enter our camp."

Saia furrowed her brows looking at the PADD still and then looked up at the sky, then out toward the wilderness, "Do some predators hunt in the middle of that day?"

"Predators no, Chief of Science Saia Roswell," Keilhwa replied with a slight smile, "However we noticed a rather disturbing pattern in the skies, one that normally accompanies a sudden snowstorm," he added as he gestured towards the cloud cover, "We should wait until it passes, a group traveling light, as we have, would have no problem, but a larger group such as yourselves would find some trouble traversing one of the mountain paths in such conditions."

Saia looked up and then back at them, "I would love to speak to one of your meteorologists!" She then frowned at her tricorder, finding it completely useless. She looked again at the clouds, racking her brain to bring back some universal laws about weather she had learned way back at the academy. She took out her PADD and began making notes, suddenly invested at figuring out how this pattern indicated a snowstorm.

Upon hearing Caldwell mention disarming the Noturans, Landon's eyes looked up to Chief of Security as he silently shook his head in disagreement. To these people, he was sure a blade was as much a tool for survival as it was a weapon. Asking them to hand over their only means of protecting themselves on this harsh world as they meet visitors from another world... wasn't Landon's idea of a good first impression. Nevertheless, he was still a little on edge after the marine's response to the creature's attack. Neyes hoped, for good reason, his officers commanded the self control to keep from firing on a delegate of a friendly world. Finding some way to mitigate the concern for everyone would be his best option.

"My Chief of Security, Mathew Caldwell, is protective. Would you mind leaving two or three of your men to stay outside the camp? We will get them something warm to eat and drink, of course. I'd rather not ask you to disarm, but we had an incident involving one of your larger native animals last night. Everyone is a little tense, unfortunately." Neyes followed it with a smile and a gesture towards the fire. "If you agree I'd love to discuss more with you while we wait for the weather."

Saia tilted her head, "Perhaps I could talk to them more about their culture? Also so they don't feel so left out." Yes, it was two strangers from a strange world, but Saia didn't fear them. If it was only one of them, perhaps. But more than one was not her phobia. Besides, she was far more interested in getting to know about this world and its people than thinking about being betrayed by a people who welcomed them.

"I understand the precaution, we do not believe you to be a threat, the Hrakthi'ta shall remain on the edge of your camp and watch for any wildlife, although the majority are nocturnal." the Elder replied with a nod.

Ensign deLaar, who had been listening in, thought that this was the first time her ever present set of thermos flasks came in handy. The self-appointed tea mistress approached the group of delegates, seeking affirmative eye-contact with the superior officers before coming real close.

“I’m Ensign Sina deLaar.” she said, bowing her head slowly to the Noturans. “As head nurse I’ve been supplying our staff with hot drinks ever since our arrival. The extremely cold air has a drying effect on our respiratory system.” Careful to avoid any motions which might alarm the Noturan guards, she produced some glasses and filled them all from the same thermos flask. “This is herbal tea made from flowers which grow on our home planets during the warmest season. I’d love to offer you a larger variety of drinks but I wanted to be absolutely sure that this drink has a mild taste and that its contents are beneficial to all of us. As different as our bodies might be.” She started passing the glasses around.

The two Elders accepted the glasses and gave slight nods of respect, turning towards Captain Neyes and smiling, "It would seem that we are not so different, our women will serve your drinks too, when we arrive in the city."

Rochelle nearly growled.

Warm tea had just begun it's journey past Neyes' mouth when the Elder's statement reached his ears. Caught off guard by it, he coughed, choking on the tea. "The Ensign was being polite, Elder. She is our Head Nurse on board my ship, so naturally making you comfortable is her priority."

Neyes elbowed Rochelle, who indignantly smiled.

Having sipped her glass of tea, she used the short silence to ask something which had been troubling her for some time. “Before your arrival we had an encounter with a native animal right here in the camp. It was a huge four-legged beast with four tusks. Although it seemed to be herbivore it was also quite irritable.” She looked up, watching if there were any emotions in their faces. “We were able to scare it off. – But is there a chance that we accidentally set camp right on a deer crossing? If this is a path they have been using for ages, it will just be a matter of time until the next one will arrive. The rocky ground around the camp makes it hard to see any footprints. But shouldn't we scan the forest near the tree line if there’s a well-used path? Those animals are so huge the damage they do to trees and bushes must be easy to spot.”

Sina held her breath. She hadn’t meant to be so forthright but there were times when her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own.

"The creature you described is indeed a herbivore, however it is quite aggressive under most circumstances, that is part of the reason behind the Hrakthi'ta accompanying us, each has slain the creature single handed in their growing, the ceremony called the Hrak." Keilhwa replied as he took a sip of the drink he had been presented with.

"What sort of weapon did you use?" Saia had stepped a little closer, looking at the Hrakthi'ta.

Jasmine told his gunny to take guard outside the tent with one of the private's. Removing her outer winter jacket it revealed her flak vest with a Kbar sitting in it's sheaf on her chest. She was also wearing the newest BDUs they were designed to be light but still keep the wearer warm. It was the best in thermal tech. Remaining close behind Landon and Rochelle Jasmine's eyes never left the guests.

"Fire and noise. Those were the only weapons we needed." Replied the elder.

Neyes nodded, the young Ensign's idea coming forward. He found himself pleasantly surprised by the young nurse's energy. Too often officers were afraid to step in and speak up when it came to their superior officers. In this circumstance, though, he welcomed input from the rest of the crew if it would help them learn more about the Noturan's culture and peoples. "How about it, Elder? Some of my officers would be happy to accompany your Hrakthi'ta along the forest as we discuss things here. Perhaps we can mutually benefit from what they find."

The most experienced of the young men, who looked to be all in their early twenties, stepped forward unexpectedly. His shoulders were adorned with somewhat more decorated pauldrons of hardened leather. "Myself and one other will accompany your people, Captain. If it is the wish of the Elders." His dark eyes looked over toward the two older men.

The Elder nodded, after moment of unsure thought. "Agreed. Qip Oken is the finest of our Sentinel Hrakthi'ta."

Landon smiled, "Excellent! DeLaar and Roswell will work on tracking the creatures movements through the forest, and analyzing their patterns. Caldwell and Locke will go to support them. After a few hours they should return and we'll be ready to move out."

Neyes looked to Saia, Sina, Mat and Markus with a playful grin on his face. "Better get ready. You're all going monster hunting."

Qip Oken also smiled.

The Noturans were escorted into the camp with the Captain, as the tracking party prepared their tricorders and equipment for their venture into the wilds.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Noturan Delegation (apb Landon & Mike)

Vindicator Crew

 

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