riverviewlogs | ( closed ) mystery transmission

Entry tags:

( closed ) mystery transmission

who: James T. Kirk, Leonard McCoy, Poe Dameron, Beverly Crusher, Loki
what: an exploratory mission in search of a vessel
when: from July 10th to July 20th
where: abandoned area, along the river, the delta and waterfalls; between the first and second walls
warnings: monster attacks, probably some injuries/blood, don't expect anything more than that; add any needed warnings on your own threads as needed, please!

After a transmission tower in the Abandoned City was repaired following the storm a few months ago, the Perimeter Guard radio center has been picking up a continuous eerie transmission that sounds like a combination of a sonar ping and a staticky voice saying a long series of seemingly random numbers. The transmission has been tracked to its source, which seems to be some sort of vessel that's under one of the many waterfalls in the delta area of the Abandoned City. It is not known if it is easily accessible or if caving will be required to reach it.

The objective is to follow the signal to its source with specialized equipment and find out whether it is a distress signal, an important piece of abandoned technology, or something else entirely. Besides the usual environmental dangers of traveling for several days by land into the Abandoned City, including monsters and other dangers, there is heavy speculation that whatever is sending the signal is super haunted. Additionally, some caving may be required to reach the signal source.

[ ooc: this is a mingle log, so everyone feel free to write up your own top levels and/or tag around as much as you like! ]

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"We're not gonna do anything like that," Jim says in a tone like it's obvious and matter-of-fact. Poe's idea does get his attention, though, and he looks up, pondering for a moment before lifting a shoulder and tipping his head. "I'm taking several tools with me, just in case. A rope extension for the eventuality that we can't reach the bottom wouldn't hurt. There are knots to make it safe enough to hold our weight."

He doesn't get into details, though. He'd much rather just get it done with, instead of sitting around going through every tiny detail. He'd done a lot worse, more reckless and dangerous than this before, so he's feeling absolutely confident they'll pull it off.

Loki's approach has him pausing a moment, if only so he can shoot a blank stare at the god. "No." Seriously, what sort of question is that, and did he really expect any other answer? Shaking his head and swatting a hand at Loki's arm, he digs out a harness next, starting to put it on before he goes through the proper attachments and security checks to make sure he's ready to start the descent.

"Alright— Loki's lights will help us down on our way, but I'll be taking a few flashlights too. Once down there I'll open a channel so we can decide if it's safe for everyone to go down there or not."

He honest to god hoped Jim wouldn't do something like that. But then, Jim has a knack for just throwing himself into a rash decision. Call it 'covering his bases' more than anything else. He spares an unimpressed look at Poe for his 'brave sacrifice' before sighing.

Angling his head to give Beverly a grateful look, he tried not to think about the idea of knots slipping and giving. Where he knew ways to extend ropes and make loops, that was a different kind of rope. And he really didn't have faith in knots holding on these kind. Still, he manages to bite back a retort and waits for Jim to shoo Loki away before he spoke softer.

"Just be careful and aware. And don't forget I will climb down there after you if you go and get yourself hurt." He only put a hand on Jim's shoulder for a short moment before he pulled away. He sent Poe another look adding in a gruff tone. "And just cause you jump in first doesn't mean ya gotta get hurt first. So you mind yourself, as well and be careful."

Poe raises his eyebrows at Loki's audacity — son, what are you even — but makes no comment and stays on task. He holds his rope towards Jim so he can add it to his own.

"We'll be careful, don't worry." That's what he says to Bones, but can you really trust him though? I mean, look at that face.

"I'm afraid we can't help that. Worrying is part of our job," Beverly says with a small smile. As is keeping you from hurting yourselves by doing something stupid, she thinks to herself. Especially when at the end of the day, this isn't a life or death mission. While she would love to have the ship, it's not something they need either.

She looks between Poe and Kirk. "You will keep us updated on your progress?"

"Yeah, let us know if there are monsters down there. Anyone see that movie where the explorers get attacked by a new species of human, all pasty and Gollum-like? No? So tense!" Loki raises a finger to Jim and Poe to solemnly instruct them on Beverly's heels, "If Hollywood has taught me anything of use to put forward in this dramatic moment, it's that whatever evil awaits you is going to have excellent hearing but will likely be blind.

"On the flip-side, if you meet any dwarves just offer them your tools and make nice. Easy."

He spreads his arms, now carefully out of swatting reach.

"Gentlemen, good luck!"

Of course they'll be careful. Call this a calculated risk, if you will. Jim for one has a feeling Poe is very much like him in that aspect, which is why he likes that it's him taking that trip down that pit with him first. Better than someone who might panic halfway through. Poe can keep calm in a dangerous and risky situation, it looks like, and has enough presence of mind to think of a solution fast.

"Yeah, I know," he nods as he glances at Beverly, then Bones, offering a comforting smile. Okay, not that comforting considering the situation, but still.

"We'll get in touch once we're down there," glancing at Loki. "And thanks for the input. We'll save you a dwarf, if we find any."

Huffing a chuckle, Jim shakes his head and walks towards the edge of the hole. He tugs on the rope to make sure it's secure, then drops the other end down the pit, testing the eight and the carabiner again before he takes a couple of steps down the edge. Nodding at Poe, he waits until he joins him before descending farther down, one careful step after the other.

"Famous last words." He snorted at Poe's assertion and shook his head. He knew it was the doctor's job to patch them back together if they ended up breakin' themselves, but he sure as hell can't control their stupid decisions.

He turned a sour look on Loki, he drawled out roughly. "If you mean that spelunkin' movie called Descent... thanks. I don't like you very much right now." He was trying not to think on that train of thought. Last thing he wanted to deal with were monsters underground that wanted to eat them.

Leonard also doesn't trust that smile on Jim's face, but it's about as comforting as when he said 'it'll be fun'. Sighing, he sets his jaw and just frowns not really willing to say anything else. Not much else input he can add so may as well not say anything at all.

Some of the references they're making are flying right over her head, considering she hasn't actually watched many movies, in her day and age, but she can get the general gist of things. She's been in enough caves that she doesn't need a movie to tell her the dangers that might be waiting for them. Though in all honesty, it's not the threat of monsters that worries her. Rather, it's simply the thought of falling who knows how far.

Fortunately, she's had a good deal of practice in shoving that fear down when she needs to. No one ever said being in Starfleet would be safe. Resting a hand on Leonard's shoulder for reassurance, she nods at Jim and Poe as they start to descend. "We'll be here if you need us."

Smiling benignly at Leonard, he shoots Jim a thumbs-up. Loki braces a boot on the edge of the yawning hole to peer down.

"Yes, as Beverly said, we'll definitely hear the echoes reverberate back up this chasm if you scream."

"Alright, you jerk! Thanks for the support!" Jim's voice lilts, almost singsong-like, as he tells Loki off. Not that it'll produce much of an effect, he's aware, but that's neither here nor there.

During the descent, he makes sure to keep talking to Poe, him and the wall of the cave the only things minimally lit up by the flashlight attached to his head. Since they don't know how much farther down they'll have to go, at the very least he wants to be sure the other man is feeling alright and not in any trouble. They seem to make it down a good while without any issues popping up— that is, until an earlier prediction becomes a reality.

"Kirk here," his voice rings through the comm devices, as he opens up a channel to the group up at the top, waiting to hear from them. "So, uh... bit of an issue which... I think we can work out just fine. But I thought I'd let you guys know we reached the end of the first rope." There's a pause as he peers down. "I can see something below, but it's not too clear yet, so it's still too high to just let go. I'm attaching a second rope."

He stayed back. No point watchin' and givin' himself a heart attack. It was better just keeping back a ways where he couldn't come up with as many scenarios of how this could go very wrong. Not that Jim's mentioning that he'd hit the end of the first roped made that any better. Ducking his head a little, he rubbed at his temples slowly as his lips pressed into a thin line.

Not that he said much out loud. Cause honestly... the idea of tying one rope to another was not high on his list. Cause the weight of two full grown mean on it was a lot for one knot to take. Glancing over at Beverly, he arched a brow at her lightly. "And if the rope doesn't hold, how the hell are we gonna get down there to fix their as-- fix 'em up?" It's not loud... more a soft huff meant for just her.

Poe is chatty enough with Jim as they descend — he's cautious, for sure, but doesn't expect any impending doom to be heading their way. (He's an optimist like that.) Once Jim announces he's going to attach the second rope, he's quick to offer assistance.

"You need any help, buddy? It shouldn't be too much longer now, at least."

"Don't say that." She murmurs back to Leonard. "They'll... they'll be fine." She suppresses a shudder, not wanting to imagine that. Falling down a shaft like this once was one too many times already.

"And well... I am lighter than you, if it comes to that."

Loki keeps to himself as the doctors fret, peering over the edge of the chasm to catch the last echoes of conversation filtering up to his enhanced hearing. Waiting to hear the duo have made it down, attentive as a fox on high-alert because whatever he says and however careless he acts, he really doesn't want Jim to turn into a smear on the cave floor.

"No, I'm alright," he shakes his head, glancing at Poe and offering a sure smile. "I'll try to go lower first. If it works and I manage to reach the bottom, then you join me. Before we're sure we can make it, it's best not to risk both of us getting trapped down there."

While he talks, he starts working on tying the ropes to one another, doing two knots so even if one starts to give out, it won't unravel and he won't fall down the rest of the way. Hopefully.

It takes a bit of wiggling and struggling to get both knots to pass through the eye, but once he manages, he officially moves onto the second rope. That done, he lets the group up above know he's been successful with that, then promptly starts descending the rest of the way, the ground looking closer and closer the lower he goes, and the sound of small streams of running water reaching his ears.

He didn't like that thought. The thought of Beverly going down there alone, but she had a point. "Only if it comes to that." He pointed that out with certainty. He just had to have a lot of damn hope that improvised rope extension held. Not that it made him feel any better.

Glancing over at Loki, it was pretty obvious he wasn't too sure about any of this either. Moving closer to the edge, he tried to squint and look down after the duo. He shouldn't get so close. Ground erosion could drop them all to the cavern floor should it cave under the weight.

"Got it." Poe lets Jim take the lead, keeping an eye on him (the best he can, anyway, what with the hanging from a rope) in case he needs any help. He's eager to get down there, but follows his directions to wait until Jim makes it to the bottom — if Jim makes it to the bottom.

After a few minutes, though, his impatience gets the best of him. "How's it going? Find anything yet?"

Beverly creeps closer, though not so close as Loki and Leonard. It's obvious Loki is trying to sense what's going on down there, so fo a few minutes she remains silent, giving him the time and space he needs to focus. Eventually, however, her worries get the better of her.

"Can you hear anything?" She whispers to Loki.

"They've attached a second rope."

He has two options to get down there and astral projection isn't the safest while his body is up here, alone with two doctors in the wilderness, so he takes the second and reaches for the edge of the cavern where the ropes are braced on the overhang.

"I'm going to take a closer look."

Between one blink and the next his arm appears to lengthen along with the rest of him, and then there's a green snake in Loki's place. He slithers down the rope, coiling around it as he goes.

"Whoaaa, headspin!"

Loki's a little too far up for Jim to see him, though he does hear the voice echoing in the cave. He stops for a moment, glancing up. "Loki? How are you climbing down here?"

He doesn't tell him to stop because he has a feeling Loki wouldn't, not to mention he's likely using some sort of magic to be able to climb down like that. Either way, Jim goes back to gliding down the rope, not wanting to slow down or stop now that he's so close to the ground.

His light reflects on the floor, which looks to be only another fifteen or twenty feet down, at most. He picks up his pace, eager and a little less careful now that he knows he's unlikely to get hurt if he falls, and after a few seconds he finally touches the ground. "Made it!" he calls out to Poe first, then grabs his comm device and sends the same message up to the rest of the group, while he unhooks himself from the rope. "I made it to the ground. I'm waiting on Poe to join me next, and we'll set up some lights and look around for a while. We shouldn't all come down here until we're sure there's another way out, or we might all get trapped down here."

The doctor watched, a little impressed by Loki's change and easy way of sliding down the rope. Not that he showed any pity for the 'dizziness' he complained about along the way. At least he could go down and do so easily without disturbing the weight of the rope too much. Well, at least he hoped he wouldn't weigh too much.

Not that it made him feel any better about Jim being down there. And honestly, he hated waiting.

So when he got that comm message, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. When he let it out, he finally answered. "Glad you made it in one piece. Maybe you oughta check around for other ways in and out before we all climb down. Just don't muss nothin' up and cause a cave in."

Poe is kind of like UHHHHH WTF when he sees a snake starting to come down the rope, but Jim's calling out makes him wonder aloud,

"Uh … I'm really hoping Loki is this snake, because otherwise, we might have a problem."

That said, he starts heading down, excited to be back on some kind of ground and not hang out with a snake that may or may not be Loki. "I'm following Jim to the ground now."

Blinking in some disbelief, Beverly stars at Loki's snake form. Well, all right then. Why didn't they just send him down first, if he could do that and light his own way? Well, what's done is done now, she guesses.

"You're okay. That's definitely Loki," she reassures Poe.

Then she looks at Leonard. "We might be here a while while we wait for them. Might not be a bad idea to set up camp." More importantly, it'll give them something to do, keep Leonard from worrying too much.

"It's not me, he's coming to eat you. Better move fast!"

Slithering his way down the line, he waits until both men have detached and slides to the ground, tasting the air. His magical lights continue to float overhead, dimmer now with him having shapeshifted but still persistent above the explorers.

"This place is more stale than a Starbucks post-weekend leftovers."

Jim rolls his eyes when he hears Loki's voice, that alone enough to let him know it's just the god being a little shit as usual. "Very funny, Loki. And completely believable."

He glances up, trying to catch a glimpse of the snake, but he can't see much more than a vague outline, lit up by the faint lights. He works on setting up some flares and beacons around the floor, more and more of the cave revealing itself to them.

"What's a Starbucks?" Jim asks with vague curiosity, then moves over to one of the ropes. "You need help slithering down the rest of the way, or..."

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legendary_hands - 2017-10-04 00:42 (UTC) - Expand

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