Predator and Prey Part 1

Posted on Tue Sep 30th, 2014 @ 10:31pm by Captain Tim Williams & Lieutenant Commander Horatio Hawke & Lieutenant Commander Ciaran McIntyre & Lieutenant Ethan Kessel & Counselor Melony Taylor

Episode: Orphans
Location: Dreyas Four
Timeline: MD30 0845hrs

What had only a few hours been a peaceful, untouched clearing on a beautiful cloudless day, was now a frantic hive of activity as buildings were being hastily erected and designs were being put into place by colonists and Starfleet personnel running here, there and everywhere. It was really quite a marvellous thing to witness; the foundations of a new colony being laid and the optimistic way in which the new colonists went about their labours.

Lieutenant Commander Horatio Hawke might have found it a lot more romantic if he didn’t find it so boring. He stood at the top of a small hill to the south of what would soon be the fledgling colony’s school house and watched six colonists and a few of Ethan’s engineers doing a whole lot of pointing around the marked out plot of land. There seemed to be some minor disagreement, but he was confident the folks down there could sort it out. Not being a planner, architect, surveyor or builder, Horatio felt a little superfluous to proceedings and decided to go for a wander around the site to see if he could make himself useful.

Melony was finding it particularly nice to be on the planet, mostly because she felt wanted and useful to the colonists so far, helping a few of them to gain the confidence within themselves that they would be able to handle the challenges presented with setting up a new colony, she had been surprised that Malcolm Kurnow had accepted her help so readily at first but had come to see that he was a very good leader and wanted the colonists to be as prepared as they could be.

So far on the planet’s surface she hadn’t had the chance to have a look around and admire the planet itself, she could do that when everyone else had settled in to their tasks and she was sure she wasn’t needed, the colonists she had spoken to so far were still genuinely enthusiastic about beginning their life here, they had come to understand that it wouldn’t be an easy task, she was confident that they would hopefully settle in to this planet and would after a time make the best of this situation.

After counselling and talking to a lot of the colonists on their journey here she was familiar with a number of them and was making her way through observing the colonists as she went making a mental note of those she thought were a bit edgy reassuring as she went even if it was only a few words, she was on her way to try and find Malcolm Kurnow.

"I don't care about that!" Lieutenant Ciaran McIntyre's voice echoed between the half-constructed cabins. "You stick to your perimeter points or I'll stick you on desk duty for the rest of your tour. You follow?"

His subordinate muttered his acquiescence and trudged off to his post.

Hawke spotted the security chief issuing directions, pointing off in different directions and making sure his troops were where they were supposed to be. He decided to check in with him.

"How's the security situation, Mac?" he asked, not expecting anything but a dry response from his friend.

"If I can get these performing monkeys to stand in the one place and not wander off every time they see some raven-haired colonist with a song in their heart then we might be able to get something sorted." Mac pushed the hair off his forehead as the sun beat down on them before motioning toward a group of colonists. "How are this lot doing?"

Hawke looked at the group, who seemed to be in a lively discussion about the correct interpretation of instructions supplied with a piece of equipment they were assembling. The XO shrugged and said, "They seem to be on top of things."

They spoke for a moment until the interruption came. A blood-curdling scream echoed across the settlement and both men's heads snapped up in the direction from where it came. Without hesitation, they both bolted off in search of the source

"What the hell was that?!" Mac's footsteps pounded in his ears as they sprinted along the makeshift path, phasers in hand.

Kessel looked up from where he stood. He was at a workbench, and schematics and plans were sprawled out in front of him like discarded wrapping paper. He struggled to recall any aspects of his engineering course which assisted in the development of settlements. Fortunately, the planet has been terraformed, and as such, was more than apt for life, without the need for the Biodomes or settlement pods he was used to. Sighing, he was in the process of calling over a subordinate, and asking his perspective, when the scream caused him to look up sharply. Immediately, he tapped his combadge.

"Security - Tell me one of your boys didn't just shoot himself in the foot." As more and more people looked around in panic, he thought back to the fear in the screamer's voice.

"Actually, check that. Tell me one of you boy's did just shoot himself in the foot." He said, not wanting to think of alternatives.

"'Fraid not!" Mac called into his combadge as he and Hawke rounded the corner into the centre of a stramash. He instantly severed the connection to Kessel's com and slapped his badge again, releasing it to a general channel. "Emergency medical team to my location!"

"What's happened? All Tech-Teams, hold to standby. Cease work." Kessel spoke quickly, trying to get a hold of the situation.

By the time Kessel asked, McIntyre and Hawke had happened across a crowd surrounding a corpse which had be torn limb from limb by something deeply and pointedly unfriendly.

"Everybody step back!" McIntyre ordered, going into containment mode. He snapped his fingers at two of his team who looked on in horror at the blood and carnage which surrounded the scene. "You two- form a perimeter."

As soon as she had heard the scream Melony had paused midway though her conversation with Malcolm watching the reactions of those around her, not many people were around the area it came from so panic could be stopped if she acted quickly.

She looked back at Malcolm speaking calmly and quietly "I hope that wasn't anything too serious, perhaps it was just some animal in the woods. Nothing to cause a panic over, but I'd like to go and check out what's happening, I need you to keep everyone busy and distracted away from there if you can." He hovered long enough to nod in agreement smile grimly and walk off to a few colonists wandering closer to them. She hoped that was an animal.

Their stunned faces were still lost in the lifeless form of the woman who had suffered the goriest of fates. Even those at the rear of the ever-growing crowd were able to see cracked bone and entrails littering the ground.

"Now!" Mac barked at his team who immediately snapped back to reality and began shepherding ghostly faces back away from the body. "Who found the body?!"

"I... I did." The woman who stepped forward was one of the engineering staff; fresh out of enlisted training by her age and nervousness; not that anyone could not be forgiven nerves when faced with a mutilated corpse. "She- I saw her stumbling out of the forest, over there." She pointed at the nearest set of trees, only ten metres away from the body. "She collapsed and.. and stopped moving."

"Did you see anything else? Just the woman?" Mac asked, his speech becoming clipped as he craned his neck, trying to see into the forest.

"No... no, I don't think so." The engineer was clearly shocked by what had happened, but seemed clear she couldn't see anything else when she had seen the stricken woman.

"Is everyone accounted for?" Mac asked no-one in particular, hoping that one of his security team would take the initiative.

"There's no-one in the forest, Sir." Petty Officer Stiglitz replied as he closed his tricorder. "Whatever did this, it wasn't one of our personnel."

Melony hadn't been too far away and got there fairly quickly, on first sight of things her instincts made her want to bolt, the place screamed run, anyone seeing the mutilated corpse and entrails would react similarly, she acknowledged and ignored the impulse, and looked at the obviously distressed woman beginning to break down closest to the body, and the shocked and pale crowd surrounding them, damn this shock wouldn't last long, she stepped forward towards the woman closest to the body, she realised that she recognised her, "Stephanie, it's Melony, look at me." She said soothingly putting a hand on her arm, "I want you to come with me, I need you to be strong for a bit longer, we need to know a bit more of what happened." She smiled encouragingly when Stephanie looked up nodding tears already streaming down her face.

Melony began walking away just to be out of hearing range of the crowd, pausing as she passed Mac "We aren't going far, I've asked Malcolm to keep most of the colonists busy, those here need to keep this quiet for a while, I don't think panic would help. I'll find out anything more from Stephanie if I can, but i don't think it will be much." She said quietly.

"Gotcha. Right, you three," McIntyre said, picking out the three security personnel through the ever-growing crowd. "You're with me. Let's go- I've got point."

Mac took the offered phaser rifle and held it to his shoulder as the security team fell into a diamond behind him. He walked with his feet moving a little sideways, giving him a broader arc should he need to discharge his weapon. "Keep the chatter to a minimum." He said quietly, although no-one had said a word.

TO BE CONTINUED