Daily Logs 2-8-16

I. Brava, Mira, Lev, Molly, and Fallan encounter new friends



I.
[In the bowels of the planet, darkness pervades most everything, save for the occasional glowing blue plant lending an eerie light, like an alien will-o-the-wisp. The team is lost in an area with large flesh plants surrounding them, the air is breathable, warm, and humid, and the ground is damp from condensation and pooled water. So far, nothing has gone wrong on the mission, saving losing the ship, and all is well. The group is kitted out with standard tricorders, basic weapons for self-defense, first aid, and suits in case the environment proved to be harsher than originally expected.]
Molly: *highly put out that she's gotten yet another away team lost/trapped/etc, she just needs to really stop leading away teams* *at the moment she has everyone camped out near a clump of the glowing plants so that they can go over supplies and try to start making some sort of map*
Fallan: *He has been quiet the entire time so far. He's not happy about losing the ship, and the memory of suffocating is still fresh in his mind. He has his scanner and tricorder out, and he's taking the data from the scanner to form a 3d map of the caves they've been through and the structures around those caves.*
Lev: *sitting next to Molly, checking if his medkit satchel is still properly sealed* The next time we should probably take along homing beacons to map the way. *doesn't like the situation, trying to overplay his own insecurities with humor*
Molly: Make a note of that in your report and I'm sure we can make it happen.
[So far for Mira (and Brava) everything seems quiet and still.]
Fallan: I've got a map so far. It shows where we came and what was around us at the time. It's just a lot of data... *Dumb slow tricorder*
Lev: *to Molly* Will do. *to Fallan* It's not precise enough to guide us back, I take it?
Fallan: It would be if it would go faster. *Does some percussive maintenance to the tricorder.*
Molly: *sharply* Don't break it. *in a not-super-great-mood*
Lev: At least it's not dark. *small smile* *or rather not super dark* And the area seems relatively safe. *looks down the path Mira and Brava took earlier, hoping they are alright*
Fallan: It's not broken, it'll be fine. *Grump. Tricorder is doing just fine. it's finally downloaded a workable map that has more data on the composition of the cave walls than it does what's in the cave, but it also shows which paths they took to get here.* There.
Molly: *looks* At this point our best bet will be to backtrack.
[A small sound, halfway between a rustle and a whisper, can be heard off somewhere in the blackness surrounding them.]
Mira: *scouting out the immediate area (possibly with Brava??) for any immediate danger*
Molly: Or maybe it's not. *puts her hand on her phaser*
Brava: *is trying not to get almost killed this time--she's being ultra careful and NOT TOUCHING anything* *to Mira* It looks clear, although it's hard to tell... plants aren't my strong suit.
[The area that Mira and Brava are exploring is darker than where they left the group, though they can still see the blue glow of the plants as a beacon showing them where they came from.]
[For the group, the noise can be heard again, coming from a different direction this time.]
Brava: A good idea. Who knows what could have sneezed on them within the last couple of minutes? *smirks and turns to head back toward the light*
Lev: *gets up up and grabs his phaser, as well* *skeptical at first, but when the noise happens again, and looks in that direction, furrows brows in concern* Didn't the first reports about this area say it was deserted, aside from plants?
Mira: *lets Brava lead and walks behind her, holding her phaser rifle in both hands*
Fallan: *Already filled with a feeling of dread* It should be deserted. *checks his tricorder for life signs real quick*
Molly: *motions to Fallan and Lev* Circle up. Face outwards, phasers ready. Be mindful that the patrol may be returning.
Fallan: *Does the circle thing*
Lev: *does as he's told, pointing his phaser at the direction of the second noise* We should com them. To see if they are alright.
[The leaves and fronds Mira and Brava walk past to return to the group appear to be covered in a slimy sort of mucous that get on them if they brush the plant at all.]
Molly: Go right ahead. *unsure if the comm will even work since they can't contact the ship*
[Short-range comms will work fine.]
Lev: *takes out his communicator* Levrance to Hudson.
Fallan: *Waits to hear from their search group before officially freaking out*
Brava: *doesn't notice the mucous on the plants until she uses her phaser to push aside some of the fronds, and the slime smears across it* Oh, yeechh.
Mira: *very conscious of gross thing and has been delicately avoiding it all* *hits her comm* Hudson here.
[The noise comes again, this time in proximity to Mira and Brava.]
Mira: We're on our way back. Should be just a couple minutes/.
Lev: *keeping his eyes on the thick foliage* What's your status? *aka, are you okay, he be worried*
Brava: *pauses in her efforts to shake the plant-snot off of her phaser and immediately goes into high alert mode* Can plants make noises?
Lev: Good. Because we may have incoming. If you could get back quickly, that would be good. Levrance out.
Mira: Incoming? Lev- *and the call is ended* *and then she processes Brava's question* I... am not sure. Let's keep moving.
Fallan: *aiming phaser at the darkness* I have no life signs. Either it's dead or it's the wind.
Molly: *tries to arrange the three of them so that they have all directions covered*
Brava: *nods to Mira and continues back to their meeting point, phaser raised*
[From three different directions, the noise can be heard again, one after another.]
Fallan: *Time to beam up to the USS Fuck-This-Shit* Do we fire?
Lev: *this is Molly's call so he waits*
Molly: Not until there's a threat.
Fallan: I don't know about you but I'm feeling pretty threatened right now. *much frowning*
[The blue glow of the plants around the main group dims.]
Molly: We don't want to accidentally fire on the scouting team. Hold for now.
Lev: *oh there go the lights* *turns on his helmet flashlight* I'm not seeing anything.
Fallan: *doesn't remember there being /three/ scouting team members in all different directions, but he turns on his light and holds.*
Brava: *slows down when the light fades**calls out as they approach the meeting point* Everything's normal up ahead, is everything okay back there?
Mira: *shines her light backwards to double check*
[Everything looks still, and, well, like plants.]
Molly: *calls back* Sounds like something is approaching us. We're where you left us, come quickly.
Fallan: *Fires, he's feeling too jumpy. The shot goes into the darkness at nothing particular. It's set on stun.*
Molly: *sharply* I said hold your fire!
Lev: Ensign! *Fallan why*
Fallan: *defensively and loudly,* That was an accident!
Brava: *picks up the pace when she hears the phaser fire, and skids to a stop near the others* What was that? Are you getting any lifesign readings?
[Out of sheer magical coincidence, the shot hits something of importance and a whisper that sounds pained can be heard, and then a thud as whatever it is hits the ground. The plants around it shake.]
Mira: *follows closely behind, and seeing the formation joins it, inserting herself between Lev and Molly and hoping that Brava has the presence of mind to take the other side*
Brava: *takes up the side near Fallan, and her face falls* Oh no. You hit something.
Lev: *Fallan actually hit something, oh shit* For your sake I really hope that you only shot down some sort of massive fruit. *damn it Fallan*
Fallan: *Face pales a little, though it's hard to see in dim light.* I did. I'll hit it more if it comes close. *fucking plants.* I'll punch a fruit. I don't care.
Molly: I don't know what this is, but if it wasn't hostile before we can assume it is now. Keep phasers on stun if you can, stay in formation, and we can get through this.
Lev: Ensign, if you want to make yourself usefull, take out your tricorder and see if you can find any kind of life signs, or anomalous readings. *and for the love of god, don't shoot anymore*
Fallan: *he hadn't seen life signs before, besides themselves, but he lets his guard down to check one more time.*
Brava: Is it okay, though? Should we check, or at least find out what it is?
[To the left of the group, something moves and emerges from the cover of its fellow plants. A mobile plant, with no actual features, but a gaping upright flower structure something like a pitcher plant beginning where a head would be on a humanoid, and ending at the waist, with nothing but roots from that point down. The entire plant is about five feet tall. The whispering sound sounds again, coming from within the mouth of the flower.]
Fallan: *Stares at this plant mostly because he's expecting to see someone behind it, moving it around like an ugly puppet.*
Molly: *isn't turned fully towards it but she can still see it, and turns her phaser that direction* Hold your fire until hostility is established. If there's one, there's more, and I don't want this whole place turning on us.
Lev: *sees the plant* *to brava* That might not be necessary anymore... *keeps his phaser up* McAdams, you wouldn't happen to know plant speech, would you? *nervous*
[Two others emerge from the surrounding foliage. Fallan shot the fourth so it is out of commission. They all just lurk there, ominously, roots twitching on the ground for constant balance. For now. ]
Brava: *aims her phaser at one of the plant things, although she's more intrigued than anything else* Well, that's a new one.
Fallan: *frowns at the plants, grumbles* At least we know phasers work this time...
Molly: *why is she the only one stressed out* There's no such thing as /plant speech./
Lev: Well they seem to be saying something. *maybe* *you're the communication's officer Molly, help, this is your thing*
Brava: There is such a thing /now/, apparently.
[As if to deny her claims, all three hiss at once and start moving slowly forward. There's only so much movement you can manage when you're held up by a root ball. A few roots at the top of the ball, looking like a cross between a leaf and a root, detach themselves from their fellows and stretch themselves out horizontally like feelers. They're only about two feet long, so they don't reach very far.]
Molly: *makes a decision* Fire on stun.
Fallan: *fires as rapidly as his hand phaser will allow*
Lev: *fires at one of the creatures* We should go back the way we came, before we get surrounded. *urgency in his voice*
Mira: *waits a split second so that she can cover any missed ground with her own blasts*
[Two of the plants go down with a teeter, falling forward onto their lack of face. The third continues on, drawing closer, now within two meters or so.]
Molly: Cripple the threat, then we move.
Fallan: *fires at the last one*
[The last plant also teeters and falls forward, barely missing Mira and falling at her feet.]
Mira: *shoots it again to make sure*
Brava: *feels really bad about "crippling" anything, especially one they don't know the real motives of*
Molly: Down the way we came, let's go. *double checks the assailants for movements and then tries to herd everyone back the way they came*
Fallan: *more than ready to leave, gets moving*
[The glowy blue plants resume their glowing at their original light capacity. Nothing else seems out of place.]
Lev: *reaches out to touch Mira's upper arm, having wanted to pull her away from the dropping plant, but she's got it covered, as usual* Are you alright? *More quietly, more to Mira personally*
Mira: *slings her phaser rifle over her shoulder and gives him a tight smile* I'm fine. Let's get out of here.
Lev: *nods and gets moving, keeking his phaser in his hand*  
Brava: *keeps looking back as they make their way out, making sure that nothing is following them*
[Nothing is. The plants are down for the count.]