[Planetside:] On Risa, gearing up to lead his team out

[mr_laforge]

There are a lot of dirty jobs Geordi La Forge ends up doing for the good of the Enterprise. Luckily, this doesn't happen to be one of them. OK, the prospect of walking 32 kilometers over uneven terrain while leading a small team isn't exactly a vacation, but when Captain Picard asked him to beam down to Risa to check out some readings the Enterprise picked up on dilithium crystals, Geordi wasn't about to start complaining.

He's stationed outside one of the resorts, in uniform but with a more comfortable pair of boots on, waiting for his team to arrive. He has a small pack slung over his shoulder, along with his tricorder and phaser on his hip. He has instructed everyone to bring some food and water, and a bedroll in case the unexpected happens and they are forced to camp out for a night before heading back. Hopefully everyone comes prepared.

In the meantime, no one will blame him if he takes in some of the sights, right? And maybe even enjoy an island drink? Virgin, of course. He is on duty, after all.


[ooc: If you signed your character up to go on the Rescue mission (OOC Plotting Post here!), then this is the post for you! You should have hopefully received some instructions for tagging via your preferred means of contact. Geordi will be around to chat with other characters soon!]

Comments

[immutablysam]

Sam pauses in looking over 'his' companions, eyes settling on Samanosuke for a moment, and some hint of recognition dawns. The era may not be quite right, but Sam seems to have dealt with old-style samurai before. 'He' bows formally, and when Sam speaks Japanese, to modern speakers, it would be archaic - to the 'relic', it might well speak volumes about someone coming from much closer to his own time.

"There's always unforseen circumstances, part of the fun of exploring."

'He' shifts back to English and the group in general.
"This is pretty much what I do. Drop me anywhere, and all that. 'Cept I know nothing about tricorders and dilithium. But I've gotten a pretty good feel for the terrain. The bigger animals are well out there - don't go near the resort. There's walking trails for a bit, then it gets rockier. If y'all with the gadgets want to keep an eye out for your whatevers, I should be able to get us to the coordinates quick and safe - well, safe from the terrain. If someone else is after your crystals, or someone brought them, can't speak to that just yet."

[empathic_pathfinder]

"Dilithium crystals are primarily used to handle matter-antimatter injections within a vessel's warp core. I don't think there's another use that's as efficient."

He looks over to Gaheris, offering the man a slight smile. "The appearance of the crystals here is strange, but that's why we're investigating." A pause. "And I wouldn't worry too much. Risa is a Federation world, one that promotes peace and well-being. I don't think we'll find anything to the contrary."

[mr_laforge]

Geordi nods in agreement. He's a good-natured guy in general, but his current smile speaks volumes. If he wasn't confident in this crew before, he is now.

"Thanks Sam, T'Karr," he says, nodding to the two. "It is definitely strange to find dilithium all of a sudden, but that's why I've chosen this team. Everyone here has defense and survival skills, or has been on missions of exploration before. If these end up being false readings, or something else entirely, I'm confident we can handle it."

But there hadn't been anything wrong with the sensors. It's strange, very strange, but Geordi's hopeful they're going to find exactly what they're heading out to find. "With luck, Samanoskue, the only thing we'll have to worry about encountering is a beautiful sunset and a rocky trail ahead. If we're all ready, let's move out."

They've got a long journey ahead of them. Geordi leads the team on a well-beaten path away from the resort, keeping apace of Sam as he shows them the best way out. Given that the scenery is so ideal in this part of Risa, it starts out feeling like a pleasure hike, with plenty of opportunity for everyone to get to know each other.

[sealed_gauntlet]

Samanosuke smiles at the use of formal Japanese, once again a pleasant surprise in this world of vast diversity. Taking in the information shared by the others, he doubts that anyone present is truly a civilian, even if they did not all wear the same uniform. Their words speak of experience that trancends rank, and if fortune favored them, perhaps they would all have a chance to share their stories.

He bows, and falls into step behind their leaders, curious to see more of this new and peaceful world, but alert and ready for anything.

[ltcolonel]

John drops to the back of the group to act as a rearguard with his hand on his gun and he gestures for Jonas to join him. "This is my bread and butter too," he comments to the other as his eyes track their surroundings. "How do you travel between planets at home?"

His voice carries so the rest of the group can join in or at least listen in.

[a_quick_study]

Jonas is noting the details of the conversation, nodding occasionally, but primarily cataloging them for later. There's no telling what he'll need to remember, and Jonas has more interest in this than he otherwise might because of what dilithium does. He wants to learn more about how warp works, and is powered, and its potential to inform what he and Major Carter are working on back on Earth with naquadria hyperspace engines. He'll have to talk to Lt. Cdr. La Forge later.

So he listens, curious, to that part of the conversation before they set out. Jonas has his gun with him, though he's nowhere near as confident in carrying it as some of the others seem with theirs.

He's ... not fond of fighting.

Sheppard catches his eye and gestures towards him, where he's taking up the rear of the team, so Jonas slows his pace for a few steps until he's where Sheppard can talk to him, his expression one of mild interest.

Something about this Sheppard guy reminds Jonas a little of O'Neill. Maybe it's the ease with the weapon, or the way he'd so readily taken up a position where he could defend the group if he needed to. Maybe it's the easy way he walks.

The question makes Jonas pause. Technically, the answer to that question is classified, but in this world, where there is no such thing as a Stargate, it seems useless to try to hide it.

Sheppard might not even be from Jonas' version of reality, or this one. So he replies in a voice that, like Sheppard's, doesn't hide what he's saying from the group.

"We use a device, called a Stargate. It creates a stable wormhole linking it to a Stargate on another planet, and you can go through it. We're explorers."

[truth_is_cold]

"I hope you're correct, and believe me when I say I will school my behavior and you have no need to worry about rash action from me, but I still hope to proceed with utmost caution." Gaheris generally didn't want to take anything in this universe for granted yet- he was extremely grateful for things to do but also this is a strange new place.

Not long after his serious look ebbed to something more thoughtful, and the place reminded him of something. Risa was a beautiful world, much like another.

"It's nice here." Is all he said at the realization, just leaving the rest of it clattering around in his head. Perhaps it's where his paranoia came from, and it meant he would have to be more careful with it. Decide on jumping to less conclusions but be prepared for more ruthlessness if a furry faced Magog aggressor came running at them.

This pristine world reminded him much of Brandenburg-Tor.

[immutablysam]

Unlike Samanosuke, Sam hasn't shown any real signs of adapting to the era's technology. Absolutely no idea what a warp drive is outside of the very basic concept - which also means dilithium means very little, outside of obviously being vital.

There's also no guns involved. Sam doesn't carry one. Instead, 'he' has knives stashed all over, small of the back, in each boot, hip sheaths, a concealed side sheath under the vest - and one carried in the left hand, just in case - and occasionally for clearing the path just a little. Judging by facility and the occasional dextrous fidgeting, twirling the knife between 'his' fingers, Sam is either left-handed or ambidextrous. Also, clearly, trained in knife fighting.

Sam takes to the guide role readily, leading the way, and slipping through the trees with ease and speed, doubling back whenever necessary to make sure 'he' stays visible to the group.

Catching the question on one of those trips back, 'he' replies, "We don't. Airships were only invented in the 1770's, not that far back. Some guy had some theories about rockets, and maybe reaching the moon in fifty years - but they booted him out of Oxford and scrapped all his research when he got caught trying to teach girls medicine. I suspect maybe one or two of the folks I used to know might try and pick up the trail. Still... having more than one planet to explore - that I can get behind."

[empathic_pathfinder]

Terzen is matching steps with Gaheris, tricorder folded out so he can keep an active scan up for any changes as they walk.

"It didn't used to be." He remarks, glancing at the man, before back at his Tricorder. "Risa was rather dismal in the past. It always rained, always had earthquakes... Not exactly ideal. The Risans converted it, with all it's forests and jungles, into a pleasure planet by using a technologically advanced Weather Control Network to manage the rain, and seismic regulators to control the earthquakes."

Sorry for holding everyone up, it was a busy week!

[mr_laforge]

Geordi, keeping a few steps behind Sam, chuckles lightly after he's done talking.

"I'm trying to imagine what our chief medical officer would say if she knew someone had been dismissed under those circumstances," he says, eyebrows arched. Beverly is the best doctor Geordi has ever known, and she takes her role as CMO very seriously. "You're taking to all of this pretty well for your first time off-planet. It must be a big change from what you're used to."

He listens in on the other conversations, glancing back with interest when Jonas starts talking about stable wormholes and Stargates. That's something he really wants to know more about, but he doesn't butt in on the conversation just yet. It's Gaheris and T'Karr who get intruded on.

"Caution is a good thing, my friend," he tells Gaheris. "I know we don't know each other that well yet, but I can promise you one thing: in this team, we've got your back. Hopefully after this is all through you'll have a chance to see more of the planet. 'Nice' is a good word for it."

Geordi doesn't get many vacations. He likes Risa.

[sealed_gauntlet]

"Sometimes change is for the better," Samanosuke mused, in light of how different the customs of this century were than those previous. He knew first hand that women were capable of a great deal more than the roles to which they had often been relegated in the past.

He was also enjoying the respite from the constant battle to which he had been previously accustomed. It was very nice indeed.

[ltcolonel]

John's ears perk up at the mention of the Stargate. "The same Stargates the Ancients created?" he checks. The description sounds right, and John isn't aware of half of the other people working on various Stargate projects. The Atlantis expedition he is on, is far removed from earth and journeys backwards and forwards from the planet are few and far between.

He smiles, "I took the one way trip through the Stargate to Atlantis."

[a_quick_study]

"On my planet, we didn't either, until I came to Earth," he says, raising his voice a little so Sam can hear. "But ... I wouldn't trade exploring for anything."

He'd joined the Stargate Program as a way of trying to help his own people not destroy themselves through ignorance of the world out there, but it turned into so much more. He'd had no idea of the potential that was out there until he saw it.

He grins at Sheppard.

"You're the first person I've met here who's even heard of them."

What Sheppard says next makes him frown, though. "We haven't sent anyone to anywhere called Atlantis. That's out of an Earth myth."

[truth_is_cold]

The conditions of Brandenburg Tor had been similarly modified as Risa's, so it was actually good that the conversation shifted to deviate some darker, more resentful thoughts.

"I've been to nice worlds. I've been to harsh ones, as well."

He knew the attachments to engineering in this universe, but he talked freely anyway. The Augments weren't something that should be allowed to compromise his pride. While similar, there were key points to their histories that were different. His people were their own. The didn't live as Khan's men.

"My people were engineered with the idea that we could settle harsh and distant worlds, to bring civilization with us. Many of our colonies are meant to be homely and comfortable, so this isn't completely foreign to me." Atlantis, though? He knew the Earth tale. "I'm named for a figure in Camelot. Many Earth myths have basis in some historic fact. Even when glorified they have value. 'You, whom I have always loved and never found, you whom I expected to see at the end of the rails beyond the horizon.'"

For a Nietzschean, he far favored Nietzsche and Dawkins over Rand but she still had her moments.

[immutablysam]

Sam glances back at Geordi, 'his' reactions showing signs that Sam is catching everything said, even those typically possibly difficult for human ears to pick up on, given the distance, terrain and noises of them all moving.

"Yeah, I've been reading some of your history logs. Lots of question marks. But according to what I read, women get the right to vote in 1919 on your Earth... I'm from 100 years before that. Midwives are about as close to learning medicine as women get. Far as I can tell, your world and mine ain't quite the same. No dirigibles in 1776 in your history, few other things... but lot of similarities."

And back to the differences and culture shock bits. "Earth was getting a little small. Time off the ship, anyway, I don't mind it. Wouldn't mind going on a lot more of these missions. Drop me just about anywhere. I'm thinking about trying out for your security or something anyway, so I can get my knives back as it is."

Mention of Atlantis gets a quirked brow. "We found some old notes and legends, spent a long time trying to figure out where it might have used to be. Never did find it.

[empathic_pathfinder]

"Atlas Shrugged." Terzen says, to Gaheris, and a smile. "Gaheris... Yes, Sir Gaheris of King Arthur's Round Table, if I remember correctly? Or a squire to his brother, Sir Gawain, depending on where you read."

He glances back at mention of Atlantis, that being a part of Earth Mythology he missed, before his attention goes back to Gaheris.

"Arthurian Legend was one of the pieces of literature I read at Starfleet Academy." He clarifies.