Surface Tension - [Exo III away mission] - [Kirk, Chekov, Harris, etc]

[behnd_blueyes]

They had their orders, and they had their away team: Kirk, Chekov, Travis Harris, Gutierrez and Robinson, whom Kirk had never met. Though the Gutierrez woman was hot, in an understated fireplug sort of way. The mission was both simple and deceptively simple: figure out whether Roger Korby was alive down there and, if so, what he was doing

Comments

[nawigationiskey]

Kirk was smirking, still smirking. God knew why, maybe he was touched in the head. Cумасшедший.

Harris had one of his larger rifles. Whether he was carrying it because it was fun and allowed, or likely necessary, Chekov didn't care. Gutierrez and Robinson were more subtle, or less equipped. Once again, Chekov didn't care. Both Kirk and he would have stanard issue, though Chekov always had his knives.

Cмог он спрятать оружия?

Stupid question, of course he could. Whether he had was the important question. Chekov would deal with it when it came. If Korby wasn't a frozen corpse, they might need weapons. Might not.

"Vhat exactly are ve vaiting for?" Chekov prompted sharply and regarded the operators at the controls. The two engineers stared at him nervously and nodded. "Energize."

[shoot4theface]

Harris could watch, wait, and fidget. Subtly. He'd gotten reprimanded pretty hard for showing his nerves when he was getting through basic, and he'd learned to get his fidgeting in where no one could see. Mostly he wiggled his toes inside his boots.

There was something so wrong going on. He wasn't sure what, but he could see that Chekov and happy-skeleton-Kirk didn't like it either. Good, then.

[nawigationiskey]

"You vere thinking...?" Chekov repeated idly as he thought. He was thinking, though the pause was more for dramatic effect.

They were stranded? It was an obvious lie, given how well kept they all appeared, but Korby was quite devoted to it. One did not announce something like that, particularly to armed officers, unless they were prepared to defend it. Chekov offered him a thoughtful frown.

"Zen it is wery fortunate zat ve hawe come," Chekov announced truthfully. "Your communications dewices, they are broken." It was less a question and more a statement of fact. If they were not, defecting and treason would be charges easy to lobby about.

"This vill make my official tasks difficult," Chekov clarified. They were far enough down, far enough out, that it was plausible their communicators were out of range.

[mirrored_npc]

Korby's eyes widened slightly in a play of subtle surprise. "Then this is not officially a rescue mission?" he asked smoothly. The lie was only half--their communications devices had been destroyed, and they had been, effectively, stranded.

Which had been terribly convenient.

"But to answer your question, yes. Much of our equipment did not survive the harsh conditions above; our own survival is due to these caves' existence."

It was as he'd suspected. A check-up from the Empire, a potential claim of treason. Such claims Korby had been careful to rule out in the hopes of just such an event. He might have used more time still, but this fell into his overall plan nicely.

[behnd_blueyes]

He was hiding something--obviously. But everyone was. Truly unthinkable was the idea that everything was exactly as it seemed. Then again, Korby hadn't resisted anything so far. And though their mission didn't specify bringing him back, it would fulfill it. In a way.

Kirk wondered what he'd found down here. Who Andrea was. How long Korby'd planned his neat little "rescue party" line.

[nawigationiskey]

"It is a fascinating geography," Chekov remarked half in honest admiration of the labyrinth around them. "Wery fortunate zat it insulates vell, sough I can imagine it is vhy you did not manage to signal off vorld."

It was a convenient excuse. Chekov was not often in the habit of providing them, but this conversation was growing tiresome and he was curious.

"Vhether or Нeт it vas a rescue mission initially, Doctor, I canнeт imagine ze Keptin' vill leawe you here. If it is нeт to much trouble, perhaps I could see vhat is left of your equipment, Дa?"

[mirrored_npc]

Korby nodded cordially. "Of course," he said. "Naturally, we've mapped the geography, as you say, extensively, but there is not much to show you. There was a former civilization which once used these caves, and has left traces, but none of it useful aside from an archeological perspective."

He gestured to a door, one of three in the room. "Perhaps some of your men would prefer to wait here, and take refreshment?"

[behnd_blueyes]

Kirk did--not because of Andrea, though Chekov might make such a claim, but because there was more to this than met the eye and splitting up seemed to be the only way to figure out what it was before it was too late.

"Wouldn't mind a seat, sir," he said. "It was a long walk."

[shoot4theface]

Harris stepped closer to Chekov without hesitation. Gutierrez and Robinson could stay with Kirk and keep an eye out for him, but he was going to watch over his buddy himself. Also, he preferred this Korby guy to the doll-lady. He was less creepy.

[nawigationiskey]

Chekov didn't bother to eye Kirk, it was an inopportune time for him to start piping up, requesting things in the background, but it had already been done. Offering a glare in response would only harm Chekov's agenda. If Kirk wanted to be killed by the assistant, he was more than welcome to feel her up on his own time.

"Дa," Chekov agreed brightly. "Zis sounds most acceptable." Harris was behind him, it was an inevitability. The security brute would be sufficient protection. "Please, lead the vay."

[mirrored_npc]

Korby very much wondered what this dynamic was about--why one so young was in charge, why one so obviously frail was even on the mission, and what the captain was doing sending such a party. Still. Splitting them up would do no harm, as he trusted Andrea to handle anything that might come up. Dr. Brown was, of course, imperfect

[nawigationiskey]

The caves were an awkward shape, but liveable, Chekov supposed. It was a simple matter, now, to keep track of their route. As Chekov followed, it became increasingly obvious just how they'd been dragged about before.

"Is it? Hawe you determined zee nature them? Of their functions?" Chekov prompted idly. Really, he didn't give a shit about the local archeological state, but if Korby was going to blather on, it might inadvertently provide something of interest.

[mirrored_npc]

"Not very much," he admitted modestly. "We've obviously managed to tap into their power source, and use it to stay alive, but much of their wisdom is lost to us." It was a grating part to play, the humble scientist requiring rescue, but it wouldn't be forever. His name was likely fast disappearing from the roles of Terran geniuses, which had a very short half-life, but this could put him back on the map for good. It already had, in a sense. He just needed to play it a little longer, and after that if no one but the Empress knew just what Roger Korby meant, that would be enough.

"But you can't be interested in these old parts," he said genially. "I've heard such things about the Enterprise. It must be exciting."

[nawigationiskey]

"The Enterprise is the Empire's flagship," Chekov stated evenly as Roger Korby continued to placate him by pretending to be a weakwilled, modest fool. It was rather fun. "Zere is nothing about it zat is not exciting."

They were moving into rooms stacked with parts, brokedn Human equipment, scattered bits of Andorian, even the occasional old relic, likely local. Chekov watched them all with a careful eye as they walked.

"Zere is an inherent poversource here? Zat is still functional? Hawe you studied it?"

[mirrored_npc]

It was fun. There was something about the young man that was more than what he appeared--but that was true of anyone here, or they simply wouldn't be.

Well, perhaps not of the lug behind Chekov.

"I have," he said, because there was no reason not to tell him. "It's thermal, so there wasn't much to getting it running again." Not, sadly, exportable, though some of their solutions had been ingenious. Even more so after he'd improved upon them.

[shoot4theface]

Harris would be happy to show Korby that he was, in fact, exactly as well-suited to winning fights as he appeared to be.

For the moment, he just watched and waited. He knew Chekov's body language well enough to see that he was tense. Korby was tense, though he was trying hard not to look like it. So Harris was tense, too. It was only polite, to follow your host's lead.