Here we finally go, the next La'ra tale. It's not a usual one: I'll warn you up front there's not even the threat of combat in it (Sorry Grim!)
. I also deliberated over posting it at all; while telling you
which episode I find it very similar too would be quite a spoiler, there's one TNG adventure that, in my mind, is just a little too close to some of the events in the story. I wrote this before I saw that ep, but still...
Nevertheless, I do think I did an okay job on it, and it IS already finished. My transcription speed is rather slow, so I dunno when the next update will be...but here's the first bit. Hope you enjoy it.
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What Remains"Do you know what happened?"
"No."
Commander La'ra sighed. Bits of rough marble decorated the grassy hill. There was a pattern to their distribution; something had stood here, long ago.
"I'm not an archeologist." Leral reminded. She stood next to him, tricorder propped on a leather-clad hip.
"Whatever this place was...it was important." The Commander stated. Ocean waves battered the nearby shore, and from the top of the rise, one could see a truly impressive swath of grassland, distant mountains. No one would've wasted such a view.
"I'm not an archeologist." Leral said again, her mouth quirking.
"I don't need a full history of the planet, Lieutenant. Just tell me what you can."
He took a moment to stare at the ocean.
"I'm curious." He admitted.
Leral committed herself to an entire smile.
"There's probably some sign of what happened." She conceded. She pulled her tricorder up. It whirred and whistled and the science officer stared. "Give me a few minutes, sir."
La'ra nodded. He turned and strolled away. The crest of the hill offered an even better view. Sunlight glinted off the sea.
There were shouts from inland. A Petty Officer was chastising a crewman for some small offense. Three score of La'ra's men were combing the shoreline and surrounding plains, gathering samples of rocks, plants, and fauna as nervous science officers chided their clumsiness. It'd been Woram who'd discovered the scattering of ruins; the young NCO had guessed La'ra might find them interesting.
Woram had been correct. The Commander doubted that Leral's scans would reveal anything; whatever had happened here had happened many centuries ago. Still, it might be the better part of yet another century before the Fleet or the Science Council sent an investigation team, so this small opportunity shouldn't be wasted.
He looked back toward his science officer. Leral paced about the hillside, eyes focused on her tricorder. She was in sleeveless leather - the planet was warm - and La'ra found himself examining her naked shoulders. He was still examining when she looked up at him. He cursed silently.
"I think I've found something, sir!" She shouted, due to distance rather than excitement. Her search probably hadn't borne much fruit. La'ra moved back down the hill.
"Some of this debris..." She indicated the scattered marble. "...has writing...symbols of some kind. Not really noticeable with a visual inspection...there's too much erosion and all of this moss..."
"Enough to translate?" La'ra asked.
Leral shook her head. "No, at least not with our facilities. We'd need a much larger sample.
La'ra nodded. It was something. Not enough to truly sate his curiousity, but something. He frowned, tapped his foot. He groused for a moment before realizing that his science chief's was fending off a chuckle. She had caught him staring, but her amusement at such rarely spread beyond her eyes.
"What?" He demanded.
"We'll need a bigger sample." She explained. "Maybe we'll find one in the tunnels under the hill."
She offered her tricorder; he took it. There was a system of caverns, tunnels beneath his feet, far too uniform to be the work of nature. Leral had located them with seismic pulses.
La'ra looked up at his science officer. He grinned.
Topic: What Remains (Read 10413 times)