Episode 2.01: Brushfire!

[Renny]

"Aye sir", Cole responds with perhaps a touch too much enthusiasm.
"I'll start gathering my team once we're done here and confirm our mission parameters with you before we beam down."

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Okay, we'll go with Cole, Lt. Lear, Ensign Tann-Tyra, and Specialist Banks and two minor NPCs for the security team.

Obviously, Renny will play Cole. Patrick will play Ensign Tann-Tyra.

Nolmir, who between Mr. Lear and Specialist Banks do you want to run for the scene?

[Nolmir]

OOC: I'll take Lear.

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Okay, we have a landing party of Cole (Renny), Lear (Nolmir), Tann-Tyra (Patrick), Banks (Doug), Chief Dhall, and Specialist Mattin.

The security team meets in the transporter room, wearing native hill garb and carrying their phaser 2s and communicators in leather satchels. Tann-Tyra and Banks are designated to also carry a tricorder. Cole calls to the bridge to confirm mission parameters.

OOC: Patrick, feel free to issue orders.

[Patrick Goodman]

Soon as I come up with some....

[Patrick Goodman]

Treyva's voice came over the intercom. "Start with that cluster of escape pods in the hills, and work your way towards the lifesigns Tobin detected near the Tyreen camps," he said. "Remember that we're still under General Order 1, and minimize contact with the natives as much as possible."

[Doug Burke]

Ally waited with the rest of the team to beam down, once more checking her tricorder, communicator and phaser were charged and secure. She glanced at her teammates and their savage-looking outfits and shook her head with a rueful smile. The things we do for Starfleet, she thought to herself.

[Patrick Goodman]

OOC: I deliberately didn't end the conversation so that questions could be asked and stuff like that.

[Davy, aka GM]

Chief Dhall listens to the captain's instructions and looks thoughtful. "Do we have fire authorization for self-defense, sir?" he asks.

[Patrick Goodman]

A very good question. GO1 would tend to say no, but we know from "A Private Little War" that several of the natives know about phasers from seeing mugatos vaporized before their eyes.

Still inclined to say no, based on GO1, but what do you guys think?

[Doug Burke]

I would say no, or only in the most extreme of cases (Mugato attacks, etc.).

[Renny]

I would also say no, unless we encounter Klingon ground forces with equivalent armament.

[Renny]

Treyva's voice came over the intercom. "Start with that cluster of escape pods in the hills, and work your way towards the lifesigns Tobin detected near the Tyreen camps," he said. "Remember that we're still under General Order 1, and minimize contact with the natives as much as possible."

Cole nods to himself, then aloud;
"Understood sir. We'll do our best."

[Patrick Goodman]

Tann-Tyra cleared her throat. "Pardon me, sir," she said, "but we actually studied this planet in one of my Federation law classes at the Academy." She turned to Dhall. "General Order 1 would, for the most part, say no, Chief, but Neural is a special case. Many of the natives have been knowingly exposed to alien cultures, and several have actually seen phasers in action, as an example."

She paused for a moment, and scratched at her scalp which appeared to be sporting a fine layer of hair,  for a moment before continuing. "We're supposed to keep use of our technology to an absolute minimum, however, in situations where indigenous people might see us. On the other hand, some of the fauna on this planet is man-sized and fairly venomous, use of phasers in self-defense is usually considered warranted. So, if I'm reading everything correctly, the answer is, 'No versus natives, okay versus mugatos.' Klingons are another matter altogether." She turned to the transporter console and the intercom and asked, "How did I do, Captain?"

OOC: At this point, I think I'll turn Treyva over as an NPC for the duration of the recon scene, unless Davy needs me to jump in for something specific.

[Davy, aka GM]

The captain's chuckle can be heard over the comms, and he responds, "That pretty much covers all bases, Ensign. Mr. Cole, you have your orders; be careful down there. Bridge out."

The landing party materializes next to the field of escape pods on the side of a sizable scrub-covered rocky hill; the mid-afternoon sun casts east-leaning shadows toward the summit. The air is warm, and a slight breeze keeps some of the day's heat off the crewmembers. The escape pods stand on the hillside, some embedded in the soil deeper than others, looking like some strange Easter Island sculpture. The few airlocks they can see are closed, and the nearest pod's airlock shows that it has been coded secure.

Chief Dhall gestures to the ridge. "The readings science gave us indicate that the remote concentration of humans is northeast of here, a few summits away," he says. "What's the plan, Mr. Cole?"