trans_9 | Archaeology, Natural Disasters and You [Closed]

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Archaeology, Natural Disasters and You [Closed]

The trip down revealed that Taleen was going to be of several things, none of which were pleasant. Arid, pale with a light dusting of red from the rocks, and yellow-white grass that extended in plains all the way towards far off mountains . There was a giant gash in the land near the orb landing area, which resolved itself into a massive canyon as the party drew closer. Spider webbing out across the top of the canyon were signs that a civilization had once flourished here. Traces of broken pillars and half submerged buildings, as well as what looked like a downed ship that had embedded itself in a massive building. There was no movement visible amongst the ruins now. As the dry wind blew through the stonework, it would became clear that they were walking into a mass graveyard.

Not somewhere you'd want to spend your vacation.

For some people, this was going to be a field day.

According to the scans and what little records they had, there hasn't been a sentient being around for hundreds of years. The majority of native wildlife had moved out of the area, seeking refuge. The land looked dead already. In the sky above, several specks of light twinkled in the sky, growing bigger with each passing hour. In a few days, it will be raining fire.

[Closed to Daniel, Eleventh Doctor, Sofia, Jamie, Hoshi, Howard, Billy, the Master, River Song, Cassie, Tom]

Threaded | Flat

Taleen was one of the most desolate planets Daniel had ever been to, and he'd been all across the globe and then some. Then again, most of the planets he'd actually gone to, the Goa'uld had helped terraform it to support conditions for their slaves.

It didn't look like anyone had tried to terraform Taleen. Or if they had, the results were long gone. The initial scans reported back that the planet was a bombarded from orbit by a massive meteor shower, almost like clockwork. If it weren't for the fact that they'd picked up residual energy from the planet, or the ruins, Daniel wouldn't have risked it. The fact that something had survived all these years was enough to make it worth a look. And it would be a downright crime if this site wiped out without any investigation.

Stepping down the ramp, Daniel took a moment to actually look around. He could feel his eyes drying out already in the arid heat, the sun baking the earth under his feet. Not so much endless sand dunes like Abydos, Taleen appeared to be made up of rock and bleached grass plains, and a massive canyon that sliced into the earth. It looked like it could go on for miles. Several cracked buildings and statues, desolate and abandoned, rose up from the ground like silent sentinels. Or giant tombs.

He was all but bouncing on his toes. Daniel could practically smell it. After being swept up as a hostage for a religious fanatic, and then the mess with Galilee and the terrorists, this was like a breath of fresh air. Well... it probably wasn't fresh. It felt kind of thin. Stale. There was a stifling sensation to the air, as if it was trapped in and recycling in on itself, and there was a good chance that he was breathing in hundreds year old remains... but that was neither here nor there. The point was that this was what he lived and breathed. Not tactical maneuvers or getting shot at. Not treating a gun like a loved one. No politicians or officials from the Pentagon breathing down their necks.

Daniel looked back at the alien crew that was starting to pour from the ship, carrying crates. The crew, for lack of a better word (he wasn't sure what they were called, only that the Doctor seemed to have some familiarity with them. He wasn't calling them "bugs") were something Daniel was going to be eternally grateful for. Having extra hands on a dig was always a plus, and especially at this one. The last thing Daniel wanted to do with his limited time was spend precious time on the camp. Unfortunately, he couldn't take off, even though everything in him wanted to get started. Daniel began to help unload.

As digs went, this was going to be the fastest one he'd ever been involved in. Most of the time, the digs he'd been on had been limited to certain conditions, like a dwindling budget, how short the volunteer's patience was, how long those very volunteers were willing to stay, and weather or in some cases, warlords in the area. He'd never had to worry about a meteor bombardment on their heads.

[He can be found at any location wandering around]

Edited 2011-09-16 12:42 (UTC)

The Doctor, in the meantime, didn't quite find the dig as fascinating as Daniel. The fact he was standing at the bottom of the ramp and having a good old-fashioned argument with an eight foot tall mantis-thing probably had something to do with it.

Captain Eneesh mirrored him, her secondary set of arms crossed over her chest as she twitched at him in irritation. "Where's your mate, Jamiemcrimmon? I should be talking to him, not...you."

She looked down at him over her mandibles like he was inferior stock. Apparently all that time apart and her opinion of Jamie's new "mate" hadn't improved seeing as he still hadn't got the hang of shaving off a useless few inches. Considering how long it'd been since they last saw each other, she thought he had no excuse at all, the Too Old For This Captain looking even more her advanced age as she shook and twitched that insect head of hers, weaving from side to side and clicking, agitated that Jamiemcrimmon hadn't whipped this thing into shape yet. The nerve! Talking back to her!

"I'm as good as talking as him! Better, even, especially about dusty old artifacts that are probably a little dangerous and a tiny bit nuclear while they're at it." The Doctor was insistent. He shook a finger at Captain Eneesh as her crew came tramping up and down the ramp, the crew casting looks at the fleshling making a nuisance of itself and then chittering on their way.

The base camp was starting to look more like a camp thanks to the bugs and any of Stacy's crew that might be deciding to help them set things up. There were a few temporary hive-like structures with decent ventilation clustered in a circle on the ledge as a few of the lower ranked bugs began to lay out markers for the most obvious artifacts protruding from the battle site. The others would have to be searched out by Stacy's crew.

Eventually the Doctor gave up trying to reason with Captain Eneesh, wandering off to inspect what looked like some sort of strike fighter sticking nose first out of the wall. The bug captain herself could be found wandering the camp, checking on the progress or nosing out who she thought were the most worthwhile members of their clientele - those who were somehow forward thinking enough to be short and/or bring a decent hat might find themselves suddenly elevated to a higher rank and given a bug's idea of the red carpet treatment.

[[I guess reply to this thread if you want to run into Eleven or run into Captain Eneesh for Day 1. Can be any time of the day or anywhere in the dig. :3]]

Edited 2011-09-16 09:33 (UTC)

The Master hung back from the mostly-enthusiastic archaeology group, his brow furrowed and his body language screaming discomfort even if he'd taken the time to change into suitable clothing for the task. Well, more obnoxiously cliche than completely suitable-- he'd managed to find a near-replica of the Indiana Jones costume in the TARDIS wardrobe, even down to the hat. That it was missing the whip disappointed him a little.

That wasn't what had him upset at the moment, though. It wasn't even entirely that he had signed himself up for what was likely to be a very dull, stupid venture for a Time Lord who wasn't obsessed with humanity. It was hot here, and dusty, and it didn't help the residual throbbing in his head any. He couldn't help looking up at the sky, which clearly threatened another meteoric event any day now.

"Oh, perfect timing, as always," he muttered to himself. Still, he was hoping he could get what he'd come for-- any useful technology to smuggle back aboard Stacy... and another crack at this Daniel Jackson's head.

Tom hung back, uncertain. Allowing the more confident members of the party to get ahead of him, hands wrapped nervously around the straps of his backpack. It has been exhilarating to come down to the planet, but now that he was here he wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't sure why he'd been selected for this mission, or what how he could help when everyone else seemed like they knew what they were doing.

The place looked empty, empty and abandoned. There was a tiny corner of his mind that still wondered if this ruin of a city was what Earth would look like, someday, if the Yeerks got their way. Nothing but a corpse, a remnant of something once full of life and laughter.

Iniss had said he should just..try to make himself useful. Which sounded great on paper, but was lousy when confronted with a lot of people he didn't know.

Sam or Dean would have been better for this, even Kaylee. He knew he'd be lousy for missions.

He scuffed his foot against the sun bleached ground, taking a deep breath of the dry air. He'd try, that was the best he could do. The Doctor was here, and Cassie. He'd be a lousy brother if he didn't look after Jake's girlfriend, and he...still wanted the Doctor to think well of him, just being Tom or not.

The way she was dressed, one would think that the half-Zenithian came more as a bodyguard to the rest of the team than anything else. Truthfully, she had been thinking the past few days on Morgan's words about getting a hobby. One did not chose when Stacy brought you on a planet, but seeing the more enthusiastic of the group into archeology made her curious enough to put the sword behind her and start unraveling all the puzzles that this place imposed.

She was, however, glad to help set up camp first. That gave her enough time to think about her options. Eventually, she ended up overlooking a large cave decorated with the remains of a civilization long gone in a language she could never really hope to understand.

Now it was just a question of what she should do next. Sofia had had her share of venturing into caverns and finding both treasure and lost civilizations, but somehow she had a feeling that this planet was definitely not like her own.

When the mission had first appeared on the screen in front of them, Billy wasn't quite sure what to think. Learning and salvaging as much as they could from a long-past civilization before a meteor shower permanently destroyed the artifacts? It was something he'd expressed some interest in as a child, sure, but his face had always tended to turn to the stars first. What laid beyond, what new ways molecules could combine to form all sorts of life---that was his interest, up there. Besides, as a native Californian, he knew enough about heat to know that digging in a desert all day was not going to be an enjoyable thing.

Yet here he was stationed at the ruins of the battle site, shielding his glasses from the sun's glare with an indented cardboard-like substance and cloth tied together to make some sort of makeshift hat. Its shadow hung over his arms as he worked, steadily brushing and sorting and piling the soil and sands. It was tedious work, as he quickly learned. Every time he discovered a hard object in the dirt that could potentially be interesting, he now calculated that it had a 99 percent chance of being an ordinary rock. His usual work of chemistry and construction was just as tedious, he reminded himself, but at least then he'd been in a slightly chillier laboratory with other objects of interest. There wasn't much of a difference between one clod of dirt and another clod of dirt, as he lacked the tools to do a sophisticated analysis of any molecular traces. Such a shame, that was.

The only trace of a shine he spotted all day was his power coin, safely tucked within arms' reach at all times. Sure, they'd been told that this was just a dig and he wouldn't need it. If the information about the creatures' flight was accurate, he shouldn't need it. But if there was one thing Billy had learned about missions by now: if anything at all could go horribly, horribly wrong, it would. It was just a question of when the disaster was coming, not if.

He charged onward in his work, progressing ever so slowly on what had been a promising-looking location on the battle site. No corners, tips, or sudden bursts of pain yet. That was a positive sign if you preferred no news to bad news, and he could be patient for a while longer. But some eventual news would be nice.

Cassie wandered towards the outskirts of the site, drawn there by a strange noise that she'd heard. She couldn't see anything as she approached, but she bent down to inspect the ground. There were faint animal prints which appeared to head off into the distance, but given how faded they were, she suspected that they were old. More than likely they had been made by some animal fleeing to find shelter from what was to come.

She put a hand down near them as she inspected the prints. They looked almost like they had been made by something with hooves and were fairly small. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of animal might have made them. Cassie surveyed the ground, looking for other clues that might tell her more of the wildlife that roamed this planet. There were more animal tracks, some which looked similar to those that she'd already found, but others that didn't.

Hearing noise back at the site, Cassie turned and bit her lip. As much as she'd have liked to focus more on what she was currently doing, she was here for a reason and she wouldn't let the others down. Standing again, she made her way back to the site where she'd left her tools.

(OOC: Again, if this is awful, then please let me know so that I can fix it. And please feel free to bother Cassie wherever. She's taking the long way back to her tools. :P Thank you!)

Edited 2011-09-17 04:10 (UTC)

|||| DAY 2||||

The crew had managed to unearth a number of artifacts and remains. The bugs, with their supreme efficiency that comes from having multiple limbs and Eneesh at their backs, spent the entire night shipping them up to the ship. They didn't seem to require sleep, but all the sound they make as they move about may have made it harder for some to sleep.

The air, seemed more humid today. Hot and humid. Stale, but now with a mugginess helped along by the overcast sky. For a few hours, the coming meteors were blocked from view. At least the landscape wasn't going to look as blindingly white today.

Some of the straggling native animals, the ones that won't make it out of the impact zone in time, could be seen in the distance from time to time. Some began to stray too close to camp. Most could be frightened off. Most.

From time to time, the earth gave a quiet rumble.

{Conditions are getting worse as the disaster approaches. Animal attacks or intrusions may be more likely to happen today. If you want an animal attack of bug crew NPC in your thread, please note it oocly in your post and one of us will get on it}

{Subthread as normal under here.}

Edited 2011-09-22 20:11 (UTC)

River Song was overseeing one of the crews and really, out side of battle situations, this was where she really seemed to shine. She knew what to do, when to do it, how to do it, why to do it, and how to do it as safely as possibly. So far, her crew had made speedy progress. Unlike some supervisors, she didn't mind getting her hands dirty either. She was down in the arid landscape, excavating with a trowel just like everyone else.

Right now, she happened to be pausing for a small break. Taking a swig from a canteen of water she carries on her at all times. The harsh landscape could really get at a girl.

|||| DAY 3||||

Conditions have steadily gotten worse as the third day rolled around. The air is becoming stifling, more so than before, and had to breath in. The sky is starting to turn red, and those "stars" are suddenly a lot closer.

Eneesh's crew and the rest of the dig site are packing up. Artifacts and sensitive equipment are hurriedly sent to the ship. Stuff that can't be taken down quickly, such as the hives, are left up.

Every now and then the earth gives a violent shake.

{Conditions are at their worst. If you want a close call with any disaster or hazard, feel free to world build any! If you want an animal attack or bug crew NPC in your thread, please note it oocly in your post and one of us will get on it}

{Subthread as normal under here.}

Threaded | Flat

Day 1 || Daniel Jackson (subthreads)

DAY 1 || Eleventh Doctor or NPC Captain Eneesh

DAY 1 || The Master

Day 1 || Tom

Day 1 || Sofia