Ground beneath our feet

Posted on Fri Aug 28th, 2026 @ 2:43pm by Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Veran-Dallas & Commodore Sureth & Commander David Wallace & Lieutenant Commander Croesus Rivers

Mission: SHAKE DOWN IN A NEBULA
Location: ====

ON:

===Ships log: Supplemental===
we're preparing to beam down to this alien planet or moon, still not sure what to classify it as. This should be interesting....

===

--Transporter room--

As the five officers' collected their gear for the mission the most junior of the team Ensign Lydia Powell had just finished getting ready when she saw something that had her somewhere between annoyed and concerned since she was the security officer that was part of the away mission, looked to the the Commander, "Ma'am your drop holster is sitting too low." making a subtle pointing motion too Isabelle's common equipment malfunction.

“Oh you’re right it is” Isabelle offered a smile. “Thank you for pointing it out Ensign. One of my failures in the equipment class at the Academy, I should know better by now.”

Croesus felt almost naked as he donned the back pack and tricorder. He did carry his phaser on his left hip but had opted for a smaller dak'tagh rather than his larger blade. He was science now not strategic operations.

David stepped onto the platform, his long duster coat hung on his shoulders almost like a cloak, as the away team joined him he looked too the transporter chief "Energise"

--Planet side--

Scanning one more time Croesus spied the closest dome a few meters from their position. Surrounding it appeared to be a plethora of native flora and fauna and numerous indigenous life forms.

" Reading a large energy presence on the dome. The rhythm pattern is almost musical in nature." Croesus reported to all.

“Musical?” Isabelle asked curiously. “That’s fascinating, they do say music is a universal language.”

" Well Counselor do you sense anything yet? Croesus asked

“Plenty” Isabelle nodded. “Definitely life forms, whether it’s just nature I’m sensing or whether it’s sentient life is yet to be seen.”

David paused as Isabelle spoke and raised his hand he own senses were suddenly heightened "We're not alone." he said a very obvious shudder in his voice.

Lydia walked over to the captain she was cradling he rifle "I don't....uh..."

David turned back to face the rest of the away team his eyes had gone completely black, he was sweating profusely shaking as if he was feeling very intense emotions "Someone is here..."

Isabelle was surprised to see David in such a state. “Who? What do you feel?”

The hair and skin on Croesus neck arose as he sensed danger. Clutching his dak'tagh.

Outside a sonic shower of glimmering covered the dome and the sound changed as the animals ran away in all directions, not the least of which was a very large reptile that seemed to be annoyed.

Isabelle had little choice, letting her mental defences down she gasped at the same sensation that David was sensing. Her Vulcan half helped temper the emotional response as she looked to David.

Lydia walked over next to her CO, reaching inside his duster coat she pulled out the shotgun he kept hidden under it, "Mr Croesus take this." she said throwing the weapon "Ma'am if you can't get him out of whatever that is I'm hitting the emergency beacon and getting us out of here."

“I can get him out of it” Isabelle responded as she turned her mind towards David, breaking a link wasn’t hard and they were both Betazoids. Reaching into his mind she took a moment to shield his mind as best as she could, her eyes changing to a brilliant shade of violet, her skin rippling between green and bark brown as she kept her own mental defences down. “He’s free now.”

David stumbled as he felt something lift, "What the hell was that?" he staggered to steady himself he felt a flash of some kind.

Lydia looked to the two officers, "Are you two going to be ....." her sentence was interrupted by a beeping noise from her tricorder "Someone is nearby."

“I know” Isabelle added as she returned to semblance of normal. Her skin returned to its normal shade but her eyes remained a vivid shade of violet as she let her senses reach out.

" Damn I want purple eyes too. Let me go out first." Croesus spoke.

David smirked "You aren't the one who was told his telepathic abilities would never fully develop, the question of the day is what caused mine to trigger?"

“That was your first empathic event?” Isabelle asked as her eyes slowly started to fade back to normal colour. “I think finding out is a very good idea as you’ll find the station very overwhelming, actually….I’m sensing a closer presence now, quite a strong one.”

There was indeed a larger than life reptile but walking with was a biped looking being along side it.

“Interesting” Isabelle looked towards Croesus, then at David. “We seem to have company.”

The being looked ancient and posed a familiar tone as its voice filled their comms.

" David and Isabelle come out. As for the ones with weapons please stay aboard. No harm will come to David and Isabelle." promised the voice.

Isabelle looked towards David before nodding, she had no reason to doubt the promise.

David flipped the safety his sidearm and handed it too Ensign Powell, he had his suspicions over the situation, "Let's go see what this is about." he said motioning forward.

< Outside >

The being wore a shroud but clearly his appearance was recognisable as it had the face of Sureth the Commodore.

" I am not your leader I have taken this form to make you relaxed."

Isabelle smiled. “Your efforts are appreciated. You obviously know who we are from our connection.”

David decided to be more direct "How exactly did you and this moon end up here?"

" The destiny of the world you call Crestacia was in danger if the moon stayed over it. In order to save that world it was necessary to remove that moon and save not only the species on the planet but also the humanoid species on the moon. However the moon proved too large for the Temporal bridge and got lodged in there until it worked its way through the corridor. 10000 of your years. Our arrival here was an unusual set of events."

“10000 years?” Isabelle was amazed. “I can’t even begin to imagine that. Will your moon be remaining here now?”

" This Moon was supposed to have returned to Crestacia but a malfunction has placed it here. My concern is why are you here. What are your intentions?" asked the Sureth being.

“You’ve been in both our minds, you’ve taken the form of my father and yet you didn’t see our intentions?” Isabelle asked curiously. “By nature we are explorers, for us meeting you is what we call first contact. It’s very important and most of all we mean no harm, we weren’t sure if this moon was inhabited or not. If you wish you can read my thoughts and learn more about Starfleet.”

David looked too the being, "When this moon appeared it raised many questions, including how it got here, this type of thing doesn't exactly happen every day for us."

" Nor was it supposed to. The savage beings on the home world were to primitive when we arrived but our directive was to preserve what had been placed there by the great architect. I am a descendant of the Preservers before me . Our existence is under the ground beneath our feet. We are small in population as we too were preserved from another place . If you wish you can call me by my given name which is Uriah.

Isabelle nodded. “Uriah is there anything we can do to help you? We obviously don’t possess the technology to displace a moon but we can offer help for you now you’re here.”

" We are in no need of any help Isabella. It is sad there is no sun in this sky but perhaps than can be arranged later. I would ask for now that only yourselves come to this moon as I can not promise the animals will not react negatively. You are the first humanoids to touch this soil." Uriah replied.

David in a rare instance spoke his mind "It might be wise to keep things about this a secret, to avoid drawing attention of peoples who'd exploit and potentially weaponize this place and what it represents."

Uriah smiled with Sureth's face.

" I hope you two will come again. This garden could be an Eden with the right couple. " Uriah added.

David stood there frozen in confusion, "Wait what?!"

Isabelle couldn’t help but blush. “Erm..I’m afraid I already have a husband and two children aboard our station.”

Uriah again smiled with Sureth's face.
" I am intrigued by your arrival. It has been many generations since I have spoken to anyone beside Vad here." Uriah said pointing to the large reptile.

David started to look around, "Because of our location on the nearby space station this moon will get some attention, if you want your privacy we'll respect it, but if you've both read into my mind then you know why I want to proceed with caution." he said hoping that they didn't know everything. ~Please don't ask about it

Uriah nodded.

" We are here. But no one will know of our existence. I ask that you preserve these beasts. They were saved from Crestacia when it was thought it was going to be destroyed."

David looked to Isabelle "We can keep this place a secret, I'll quietly make this moon a protected area for unique flora and fauna reason's so that we don't have a visit from division twelve."

Isabelle nodded. “I agree, but there is one thing. Our memories are there for anyone with a trained mind to find. We both need to lock away our memories of this is there deepest, darkness, place in our mind. Unless Uriah can help us with that.” She gave Uriah a look. “You read our minds, can you help to lock away our memories so that they’re safe?” She looked to David. “Be warned it might not be a pleasant experience.”

Croesus hailed the team.

[ Away team report.]

Uriah then vanished and only Vad remained.

David paused, "We're almost done here." He turned to Vad and Isabelle "I guess we should go."

Vad the giant tyrannosaurus like being sniffed David and then sneezed as it turned to walk off.

“Standby Commander” Isabelle responded to Croesus’ call. “Ohh Vad…wait!” Isabelle wasn’t even sure if the large creature would understand her. “What do we do with all the creatures here David? We can’t just leave Uriah all alone.”

"I don't think he was interested in leaving yet." David said "...and I don't think we've seen the last of him."

“Probably not” Isabelle smiled warmly. “I’ll be burying the memory of our conversation so deep in my mind that no one will ever find it. Do you plan on telling my father or does this stay with us?”

David turned to the opening as it appeared, "I don't want division twelve showing up, so there are things we need to either omit or we need to have a sit down about the stuff you saw when you were in my head."

“We can omit, but I’d still like to talk about what happened back there.” Isabelle offered. “I just need to know what I can and can’t talk to my father about where Uriah is concerned.”

As they exited the portal David spoke, "Far as the mission record goes this mission encountered some unique flora and fauna and this planet is off limits, everything is classified or restricted, the events involving me are equally restricted, I think when we get back we need to talk about a few things." David shot a glance to Croesus "All your scans, any visual records, sensor logs, hell the transporter logs."

“Agreed” Isabelle nodded. “No one will hear anything from me.”

Lydia Walked over too join the rest of the rest of the group, "I'll throw all of the data devices into the lock up when we get back, I assume we're going to have to do one of those meetings when we beam back?"

"Yeah, the new XO gets to bring the whiskey." David said with a smile "Cascade away team is ready to beam up."

Isabelle grinned at the comment as they were all enveloped in the transporter beam.

Aboard the ship Croesus met them on the pad.

" The power sources have vanished. Even a deep scan of the planet reveals nothing but indigenous life forms. What did you see out there?" he asked.

“Just some interesting flora and fauna, as for the indigenous life whatever it is, we didn’t see it.” Isabelle added convincingly.

" Right ! You didn't see a 15 foot giant tyrannosaurus? OK then. The power units we first scanned are no longer showing up on the scanners either. All 6 are gone." Croesus replied with confusion.

“I didn’t see a tyrannosaurus and neither did you Commander.” Isabelle responded. “We don’t want that getting out or that moon will be covered in people wanting to see the dinosaur!”

David handed his coat and sidearm off to the yeoman then didn't hold back, "When you sign on too this ship as part of the crew or for a single mission it's a forgone conclusion that the mission will go one of two ways, it'll be a mission of great importance or it'll end up a classified adventure involving mercenaries hired by some angry marine general or some secret mission that lives may depend on you keeping that secret, this isn't going to be an exception, if anyone asks the moon's bio diversity is too predator laden to safely visit or conduct safe research, discussion is done." He said trying to keep is mindset in check "There are things that happen in this universe that aren't always going to be a major scientific break through, some times the better good means saying nothing."

Croesus stared at both officers and then around the room. He had not been privy to their encounter down there so he was unsure why they were reacting as they were.

" Understood." Croesus replied as he returned to his seat at the science station.

===45 minutes later; Situation room, deck

One of the crew had wheeled the drink service cart into the situation room, David had already poured a drink and was looking out the window, looking down the aft section of the ship, the dark brown liquid swirled a little in the glass as he decided to sit at the end of the table, Ensign Alex bear entered the room picking up a glass for himself, "So what do you think about our two new commers boss?"

"The Commander did fine, she kept her head on her even when it went sideways, I think if she wants she's earned her spot on this crew but..." David paused to take a drink

"Do we tell her about that other stuff?" Alex said completing the thought.

Lydia walked in before David had a chance to answer "You could have waited." she said with a smile "So the Commander, she in or do we wait?"

"Its up to her in reality, I think she'll work out as an officer, the snag is will she be willing to accept the facts about the other stuff that's going on." Alex said shifting into a more relaxed posture in his seat.

"When I talked to her a few days back about the Deveron mission she seemed shocked, if she knew all of the details about it she might join us, the risk is will her husband will spill details to the marines." Lydia said, "I don't want to break up a family over something that might not happen."

David sat back as well, "There's also Mr Croesus."

"He's a harder read." Lydia said

"The wolf in sheep's clothing." Alex said half attempting to make a joke

"Indeed." David said as he took another drink his thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of their expected guests."

Isabelle smiled warmly as she walked into the room, her senses were telling her something was going on but she wasn’t sure exactly what that something might be.

Remaining at his station Lt Commander Croesus completed his scans and catalogued both readings as they were totally opposite. He then saved them on his personal padd and secured it away. His conflict of not knowing the truth grated on his Klingon nature. Wallace was not telling the truth and sad fully so was the Counselor. Had they encountered something or someone down there? Had they altered their memory? There were a lot of factors to consider.

Isabelle was sensing suspicion from Croesus, she just wished she could tell him the truth about what had happened on the surface.

David decided to speak, "Because we don't know if the lunar body is going to end up vanishing for any period of time like Ockmenic nine and to be honest we don't need division twelve pestering the entity or being who was down there, far as what happened, having most of my own dormant and repressed mental abilities suddenly become active isn't exactly an added bonus so we have to ask the question with everything that's going on do we really need Starfleet nosing around?"

Alex spoke next, "After our Deveron adventure our trust of certain Starfleet divisions and other Federation organizations is not high."

Isabelle nodded. “I guess I can understand that.” She looked towards Croesus. “I’m sensing distrust from you Croesus and I can’t say I blame you, but now Commander Wallace has mentioned it. There was a…being down there that we encountered, he just wants interference kept to a minimum and so do we. Now that you know there is to be no further mention of it to anyone outside of this room. Can you do that?”

" It will be difficult to give false readings in my report. However the planet does still possess chronoton and temporal signatures. Perhaps that would explain our initial readings and once we arrived we discovered those readings were in error." Croesus replied to Isabella.

Isabelle looked towards David. “How does that sound to you Commander?”

"It's good." David said.

Croesus had served with numerous CO's and Commander's and knew where Wallace was coming from. Intel guys were wired that way but someone or thing must have been very influencing to effect Wallace.

Returning to his station Croesus scanned the space between the moon and Starbase M-69 as they returned home.