Obeliskated

Posted on Wed Oct 28th, 2020 @ 6:39pm by Commander Temperance Zachary & Captain Aviram Drell & Lieutenant Commander Cor Cordale & Lieutenant JG Zerin Rolfe

Mission: Episode 04: "Tempest"
Location: Planet side
Timeline: Day 1 at 0000

There was a sudden crashing sound and Temperance rushed through the door, phaser and tricorder both drawn, glancing around the inside of the broken down building. "Where'd Lieutenant Cordale go?"

Temperance took a few careful steps forward before she turned back toward the doorway, noticing a large'ish opening in the floor in the corner behind them, what looked like floor tiles had decayed over time before breaking down under the weight of footsteps. "Lieutenant Cordale?" Temp asked, approaching carefully. "You okay?"

Cor just got finished unburying himself from a pile of debris, tiles, rotted wood, and who-knew-what else. Dusty, sore, but no worse for wear, the Thux was just picking himself up when he heard Temperance up above. "I'm alright. Just a bit of a bruised ego and some sore spots."

"Right, hold tight Lieutenant, we'll find a way down to you." She turned and looked back toward Zerin and Horis. "We need to find a way down there. Look for a doorway or something. Tread carefully, we don't need anyone else ending up down there."

Zerin nodded quietly, turning to slowly work out an expanding search, hearing Cor state he was okay. He fiddled with his tricorder as he took slow steps.

The rest of team began to spread out, searching for another way down. Horis lingered momentarily near the edge of the hole Cordale had fallen through, trying to get a mental picture of the layout, before following after one of her marines. She took her time with each step, making sure to test her footing before giving it her full weight. Occasionally, she paused and glanced at the tricorder on her wrist to see if it offered any further insight.

"I'm in some kind of chamber. Toss me a light." he called up, catching the offered personal light as it was dropped down to him. Might as well make the most of the situation.

Tossing her own light down through the opening in the floor, Temp heard it hit the ground before Cordale retrieved it. She turned away, moving carefully through the open room. "Over here, it looks like there's an opening and some steps?" Temperance moved across carefully, testing the steps one at a time as she started making her way down. Just watch your step as you come down," she called back to Zerin and Horis.

Finally, the away team found themselves reunited in a large chamber beneath the surface in some kind of basement that appeared in a similar state of disrepair as the building above them. In the center of the room was a large obelisk that looked similarly damaged. Grabbing her tricorder, Temperance opened it and started scanning the device, her brow furrowing at the readings that came back. "I'm not quite sure what this is, it's showing some kind of power source inside, but it's offline. Lieutenant Cordale, what do you think?"

Cordale looked over at the obelisk, examining it visibly first before turning on his tricorder. "Tell you the truth, I have no idea. I mean, I know what it *is*, but I don't know what it is, in relation." he started a scan of the object. "I can tell you what it isn't. It's not just some hunk of rock in a vaguely uncomfortable shape."

Having followed the team near the rear of the pack, Zerin continued to scan as his eyes worked around the place. He wasn’t out of his element entirely, but he wasn’t comfortable with the situation either. “A lot of weird readings even if you ignore the strange rock,” Zerin mumbled to no one in particular.

It started with what sounded like a soft whirring sound that slowly amped up, both in speed and volume until there was a sudden crunching sound and the obelisk shuddered before falling still and silent.

Temperance took a step back, glancing around uneasily before looking back at the obelisk again. "It looks like it's some kind of machine?" she said uncertainly. "I... I'm not sure what it is though. Lieutenant Cordale?" she asked as she looked at him.

"Well, it did *something*... or it damn well tried." Cordale muttered, before turning towards Zerin, "Scan the floor over there and there." he motioned with his living hand. "The Obelisk is a thing, but I'm willing to bet it ain't the whole thing." he instructed, then turned to Temperance. "Best stay back. I don't want to write the report that the commander in the field got obelisk'ed."

Zerin moved slightly to begin scanning the areas indicated for him. "I'm linking my tricorder findings with everyone's for better comparison of readings," Zerin stated as he worked through his areas in a low pattern.

Taking one of the spots Cordale had motioned toward, Temperance took her own tricorder and started scanning. "You're right, I'm seeing signs of a machine under here. I don't know what it is, it's not like anything I've ever seen before... but..." she turned slowly, scanning the floor beneath her as she turned. "It appears to be pretty sizeable, there's...."

Before she could finish speaking there was a sudden violent crashing sound outside, loud enough to rattle the floor and walls, followed almost immediately by the unmistakable sound of heavy rain pelting against the walls and roof of the structure they were in and the sound of wind howling around them.

"Well, it looks like we have some time to figure it out," Temperance said with a slight shrug.