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Rediscovery, Chapter Three: The String of Pearls
Posted By: Smackblasta<Natemeep@aol.com>
Date: 10 February 2006, 7:01 am
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Arla' set down the datapad and leaned back, stretching the kinks out of her back. She had been pouring over data scans for the past three Tx-Units, and had finally come to a conclusion. The windblown, bleak desert planet they were orbiting called for investigation. They had come insystem a day ago, and preliminary scans showed that of the three planets they had discovered, one was a gas giant and the other didn't even have an atmosphere, let alone a viable biosphere. The third planet, actually the second out from the star, had marginally breathable air, and what appeared to be habitat ruins in several places.
Bending back over her desk, she tapped on her communicator, routing a call to the bridge of the Looking Glass. A moment passed before the squeaky, high-pitched voice of the Unggoy at the communications counsel replied. "Yes, Director?"
"Inform Captain Ratharel that I would like to go more in depth with the investigation of Looking Glass Fourteen dash Two. I'll be coming up to the bridge shortly to discuss landing procedures."
There was a moment's delay, and the Unggoy spoke again. "Captain Ratharel says he would be pleased to have you on the bridge, as it has been rather lifeless with you sequestered away in your..." there was a pause. Arla' leaned back in her chair with a grin on her face as the Unggoy came back on, stumbling over his words with obvious haste to finish. "The Captain says helooks forward toplanning the landprocedures with you seeyouon the bridge bridgeout!" The link went dead, and Arla' burst out laughing, unable to contain her amusement. Standing, she left her quarters and made her way to the bridge, chuckling the entire way.
Kihkil bounced up and down in his seat like a child as the Tekkil's Edge maneuvered closer to the planet. The entire bridge was filled with an atmosphere of tense excitement, with Captain Wantesee calling out orders and the bridge crew hurrying to comply. The reason for their excitement was displayed by the main holocrystal as it hung in orbit above Tekkil's Edge 3-3.
Cras' Wantesee glanced at the display again, frowning. "Take us in closer, but I want our forward navigational deflectors kept at full strength." The Tekkil's Edge drifted closer, white flashes forming D-units from her hull as bits of metal and debris bounced off her deflector arrays. After several Tg-units of maneuvering, she matched velocities with her target.
Every person on the bridge had their eyes rivited on the displays, examining the smooth purple contours of the ancient alien ship.
The digsite headquarters was situated outside of one of the ruins, far enough away as to not disturb them while they set up camp. Within two Tx-Units of landing, a small village of tents and prefabricated structures had been placed, and by the end of the day all preparations had been made for the first forays into the ruins. The ten members of the digteam who had volunteered to remain planetside for the night sat clustered around a portable heating device, unable to sleep.
Arla' glanced up at the Unggoy across from her, trying to read his expression behind his respirator mask. The little chemical engineer met her gaze, seemingly completely unperturbed, and she looked back down to her hand. Picking up a pair datachip and a small gemstone, she tossed them into the small pile on the table. "Twentyfive and the green agate I found on TenSeven."
Without batting an eye, the Unggoy matched her. "Drop 'em. Let's see what you've got."
Suddenly nervous, Arla' laid out her hand on the table. "Three eights and a Sangheili Journeyman."
With a flourish, Hickers tossed his cards onto the table. "Three nines and an Unggoy Master!" he crowed, leaning forward and scooping up his winnings. "Supervisor you may be, Arla', but your skills at Tassen need work." He sat back to count his winnings, a satisfied smile behind his mask.
"That's because I work for a living," she shot back, "which means I don't have the time to waste on it." She crossed her arms, irritated that she'd let him get a rise out of her. After a moment, she sighed. "Good game."
"Yes, it was. Just keep remember to keep your mandibles still, your bottom left was twitching like a Klek-Tach caught in the sun. It was a dead giveaway."
She stared at him for a moment, then stood, shaking her head and smirking. "I've got a lot to learn, apparently. Get some sleep, we start early tomorrow." She turned and strode for her tent, hoping to get some sleep herself.
"We've made hard contact with the primary airlock. Interfacing energy cells now."
"Message recieved, Team One." Cras' Wantesee turned back to the main holocrystal display, watching Team One's progress through the team leader's helmetcam. The team, composed of three Sangheili soldiers and an equal number of Sangheili field technicians, was using a specially designed transport vehicle that had magnetically attached to the ancient starship's hull. The alien vessel had no active power sources, so the team had brought a load of portable energy cells to power localized systems, such as the airlock doors. The technicians were busy splicing the cell into the door panel, with the soldiers holding their thermal pulse rifles at the ready.
"We're in, opening airlock now." The airlock door irised open in four sections, and the team stepped through. The door closed behind them, and the red-lit secondary door flashed once before opening. The hallway beyond stood over seven D-units tall and ten wide, dimly illuminated by the flashlights the team waved around. The team moved forward, with one of the techs waving a scanner through the air. "The air isn't breathable, not enough oxygen content. Don't take off your suits. I'm also getting a lot of decomp-hydrocarbons."
Three doors further in, they came across the first body. Four beams of light revealed the dessicated skeleton of a bipedal creature, with rather birdlike features in the shape of it's skull. The technicians quickly documented the find as the soldiers kept lookout. One of the technicians, examining what the creature had been carrying, tapped his communicator. "Captain, please inform Supervisor Kihkil that we've found a duplicate to the energy pistols on the Unggoy bodies at Seven-dash-Four."
Cras' clicked in surprise. "Message recieved. I'll inform the Supervisor, but make sure you include your findings in your report." He cut the comlink and turned to his second in command. "Commander, you have the bridge. Keep me informed of any changes in the situation."
"Supervisor, there's something you should see."
Arla' glanced up irritably from the pile of paperwork on her desk. After a week of work, they'd hardly scratched the surface of the ruins they were exploring. "Yes?"
The Sangheili at the entrance to her tent shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "We found something while we were starting up Dig Three. Monitor Hickers thought that we should show you, and let you make the final decision as to what to do at the site."
Sighing, Arla' walked around her desk, motioning for the worker to lead the way. He lead her past a maze of tents and stacks of equipment, to a two-seater hovercraft. She climbed onto the rear seat as he thumbed it on, and held on as they quickly sped toward the digsite. After a Tg-unit of travel, they reached the digsite, and he pulled up to the group of a dozen workers, all gathered around the small hole that they had already dug out.
Arla' hopped off the hovercraft, making her way to the hole. After a moment of trying to peer over the shoulders of the workers, she audibly ground her mandibles together. "Excuse me." A hole immediately opened up, and she smirked in satisfaction. She moved into the open space, peering down into the three D-unit wide hole. Her mandibles sagged open in amazement, as inside the hole was a small tangle of orange worms, with thin lines across their slimy bodies fluorescing in the weak morning light. "Those are Golo."
She straightened, hitting her communicator. "Arla' Selathas to the Looking Glass."
Captain Ratharel's voice crackled through the communicator. "Yes, Supervisor?"
"Please ask Goro'tesh and Raso'tesh to come down as soon as possible. Schedule a shuttle flight for them if you need to, we're going to need the bond pair down here very shortly."
Arla' bowed her head politely to the Lek'Golo pair standing in front of her. "Goro'tesh, I'm glad you and your bondmate could make it down here on such short notice."
The enormous robed figure bowed in response, and held out one of it's arms. A robotic sounding voice crackled forth from the translator it held. "It is our pleasure to have been asked for assistance, Supervisor Arla' Selethas. Captain Dukat' Ratharel has told us that you have found Golo in the sands of this planet."
"That is the reason I asked for your presence. Any Lek'Golo on this planet would not have the translation technology to understand us." The Lek'Golo in the Consolidation were highly respected for the effort they made to coexist with the Sangheili and Unggoy. Their cultural structure was highly developed, but along completely different lines than the other two races. They communicated through a form of telepathy that was as yet undetectable by any means the Consolidation had tried, and so relied on their own forms of technology to produce biomechanical translation devices.
The Lek'Golo turned away from her for a moment, facing its bondmate. When it turned back, it focused on her, and she could see the orange glow under its deep hood despite the bright sunlight. "Indeed. We and our bondmate will assist with the excavations until we are needed for communicating. Do let us know if another Lek'Golo arrives." The huge creature slowly lumbered off, and Arla' released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Goro'tesh, like the rest of his race, dwarfed the largest of her kind, and Arla' barely came up to the shoulder of the average Sangheili. She shook her head to clear it, going back to her tent to finish the paperwork she still had left for the day.
"Supervisor Thasunee, we've completed scans of the system, the information should be in your datapad now."
Arne' nodded, reading through the data the scanners had collected before tossing the datapad onto the table. "Another one. That's the fourth one in six systems, Bane'."
The Rediscovery's captain nodded. "It can't be a coincidence. Planets don't form with that kind of surface composition."
Arne' sighed, looking back to the main holodisplay. "Log it with the others. Prepare the ship to leave orbit, we'll meet up with the Nappet's Eye at the system she's scouting out." Arne' sighed again as Bane' left to issue the orders, eyes still fixed on the planet in the display. Its glass surface was mirror smooth, shining like a diamond under the light of the system's white star.
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