Desert Scavenger Hunt {Est, Zay, Uli}

[Cadet Quentin Radley]

Quentin looked over the PADD as he walked towards the fringes of the landing pad. There was an included map that gave them directions towards their destination.

He glanced around his group- three others besides himself. He nodded to them. "Um, so- you all enjoying this so far?" he asked, trying (futilely, probably) to make conversation.

Tag: Est, Zaynah, Uli

[Cadet Uli Elyse]

As Elyse followed Quentin she noticed him looking down at his padd. Naturally she always wanted to have as much knowledge of whatever situation she was about to go into. However she managed to resist the temptation to ask for his padd to transfer the information to her own. He was the leader after all, even though he was clearly in science or medical, so she should just wait for instructions.

"Um, so- you all enjoying this so far?"

In one statement he managed to break down any amount of self control that was holding her back from asking. As going into any situation starting the sentence with um was never a good sign. Pushing down one of her sleeves so it was back below her wrist she took her padd out of her belt. Holding it in one hand she said " Mars seems to be interesting. " making an attempt at conversation.

Normally making an attempt at conversation was not hard for her, except for when she had a task to do. Which in this case was to follow Quentin and retrieve five beacons in a desert. Then after a pause she said " Perhaps we should all transfer the information on you padd to all of ours so we can formulate a strategy. " It was not quite a question sounding more like a suggestion which was good as she knew better than to question someone who was in charge. Mostly as she did not know Quentin, and a Vulcan would not put someone in charge without a good reason.

[Cadet Zaynah]

"Um, so- you all enjoying this so far?"

"I got a few contact numbers from second years while we waited for you," Zaynah laughed, "thanks for that, by the way. If you hadn't been late, I'd never have met them."

"Mars seems to be interesting."

"Better than an asteroid," Zaynah added, nodding.

"Perhaps we should all transfer the information on your padd to all of ours so we can formulate a strategy."

Taking the hint, Zaynah pulled out her own PADD and immediately dropped it in the sand. Making a face, she picked it up, dusting the sand away. Unfortunately, the slight thermal breeze created by the environmental systems carried the sand and deposited it right onto Uli's uniform.

Tag Either

[Cadet Uli Elyse]

She picked the right team for joining without actually originally being called on it. Or actually as it probably was the exactly wrong team due to her dislike of deserts or sand. Mostly because they reminded her of Cardassians, which as she thought about that she realized exactly why she choose this team. No Cardassians, though she had to admit Da'Kar was good to work with, probably one of the better ones in the academy, not that she would ever admit that outloud.

Choosing to say nothing about the Orion's gathering of information on older years. Which could be useful however she partly doubted that was the girls reasons, or intentions. Elyse said " I prefer asteroids to deserts any day. "

Then at least Zaynah took out her padd, so hopefully they would get started on the task. Of course it was her luck that it would be droped and sand would be dusted into her direction. Which considering how bad her luck was going today she did not cover her mouth soon enough so her coughing began. Not to many coughs just a few which as she used one hand with her sleeve covering her mouth to stop.

[Cadet Quentin Radley]

Quentin glanced at the Bajoran girl as she spoke first. Banter between the two girls ensued, and Quentin largely stayed out of it. Then, the Bajoran girl- Uli?- continued, " Perhaps we should all transfer the information on you padd to all of ours so we can formulate a strategy. "

"Yeah." Quentin said, taking refuge in the idea. He quickly transferred the information, relief filling him at the familiar task of manipulating the technology. He paused at the edge of the plaza, and glanced around for the remaining member of their team. "You all seen Est?" he asked.

Tag: Either

[Cadet Uli Elyse]

The information was on her padd which meant she could read it to have some idea what awaited her. After all if she could not even recognize the series of button presses used to navigate a shuttle out of dock, she would need all the information she could get on the task at hand. The fact that it was a federation craft and she had little experience with them took a while to sink in her head. Maybe it was the distraction of sand which she had more than a distaste for that was able to get her mind off her prior self-doubt.

None to soon as she looked down at the padd, while the task seemed easy it would probably take them a good amount of the time if they stayed together. Naturally she would not mind working alone as it always seemed to work out better for her, however starfleet did like team work. Elyse said " They look a bit spread apart, not particularly tough terrain, though we can't wait for Est forever. "

Not that she knew who he was really besides having one of the hardest to pronounce names she ever heard. Taking out her tricorder she looked down at it then at her padd. It was a rather basic tricorder, not that it mattered as tricorder had a few basic functions that were near universal scanning, tracking, and storing data. Taking her padd she transferred the mission data to her tricorder.

Looking between the two she said " I can set the tricorder to scan for our locations using our badges comm signals, so he could find us if he is straggling behind. " As she did not want to run out of time, or spend any more time in a sandy desert than she had to waiting for someone. Not that she was happy to suggest leaving her own tricorder or a team member behind.

[Cadet Zaynah]

" I can set the tricorder to scan for our locations using our badges comm signals, so he could find us if he is straggling behind. "

"Or..." Zaynah suggested, "we can just call K'Pau and tell her that he hasn't joined us and let them handle it. It is their job to look after the cadets, isn't it?"

She shifted her PADD from one hand to the next, "can we just do something? We're losing time." She kicked the sand in frustration. Est was definitely going to have to do some explaining when they got back. If he was even there. "Maybe he dropped out," she added, "maybe after the shuttle flight he got cold feet." She laughed, knowing that Andorians actually liked the cold.

Tag Any

[Cadet Quentin Radley]

Too many decisions. He was totally not the right person for this. The Bajoran once again gave her opinion (she should have been the one in charge, Quentin thought), but Zaynah swiftly offered her own suggestion. Quentin was beginning to feel a bit befuddled.

"Okay, I think I'll call the Lieutenant, like-" what to call her? "-Cadet Zaynah suggested. Let me just-" he tapped his commbadge, and hastily relayed the information. With confirmation, he nodded to Zaynah and Uli. "Alright. Let's go."

Tag: either of the girls

((hope Q. just calling is okay. If not I'll edit.))

[Cadet Uli Elyse]

The only advantage to Zaynah's suggestion was that she would not be leaving her tricorder behind. Which while it was a great advantage it made her happy she was not in charge and Quentin was. Mostly as she would never have called the Vulcan as there was likely little trouble Est could have gotten into trouble here. She especially would not have called the Vulcan before trying to call Est which was probably what she should have suggested. Though if someone did not have the initiative to join the group they were assigned to she probably would not have direct enough to call them on it till later.

As there was no way to know where Est was, and perhaps Zaynah was right in suggesting to call the Vulcan. Though right or not she knew that if she was in charge she never would. As she was a firm believer in only bringing in higher ranking individuals in only when absolutely necessary or they made themselves involved.

Then she caught Zaynah's joke about Est getting cold feet. The fact that she did not even know Est did not stop her from saying " I really hope that wasn't the case as you just got his hesitation on his record. " Then she looked between the two on her team realizing that her estimation of age based on there species was correct they were slightly younger than her. Even if she appeared younger due to Bajorians having a slightly longer lifespan than humans. Elyse said " The academy is going to be hard, and honestly we are all going to hesitate the catch is stick together, and nudge each other through those hesitations. "

It was true as even herself had more than moment of hesitation since coming to Earth. Though her training in the Bajorian Militia prepared for them slightly. Not that she could consider that now really. Quentin was right they should go. Elyse said " I say we go for the closest one to see if there are any catches to this assignment as we lost a bit of time so if there is a catch at least we will get one back. " Then she started walking following Quentin in the direction he was walking which according to her scans seemed to be in the right general direction for an of them at this point.

[Cadet Zaynah]

" I really hope that wasn't the case as you just got his hesitation on his record."

"Oh, like its my fault he's in trouble," Zaynah said, rolling her eyes.

" The academy is going to be hard, and honestly we are all going to hesitate the catch is stick together, and nudge each other through those hesitations. "

"And part of being an adult and being in Starfleet is being responsible and knowing when to ask for help." She turned and looked at Uli, "do you realize how many stupid fatalities occur when students think 'oh, well we're being graded on this... maybe we should just do this dangerous thing ourselves' instead of calling for backup?" She shook her head, trudging after the two of them.

End Zaynah
[please npc zaynah, as I am dropping from this site, thanks]

[Cadet Uli Elyse]

She watched as Zaynah rolled her eyes at her, her face staying rather blank as she watched her teammate. Hesitation was already trouble, and only the fault of those who hesitated. The fact that if that was the case which she doubted to be true, and truly hoped was not true. She was prepared to let it drop until Zaynah mentioned the line about being adult and such.

Her record from her time in the Bajorian Militia was marked with examples of her doing dangerous things when she should have called for back-up. Making her chuckle at the thought even though she did not share it. Instead she said " It is rare one is such a controlled environment like that bay, and sometimes it is about knowing when not to. " her voice rather serious. Then she smiled a rather odd thing for someone saying something as serious as she just did.

Elyse knew she had a definite rebellious tendency when it came to following rules and was more self reliant than many of her former superiors liked. It also kept her alive more than one time, and was part of the reason she was in Starfleet academy in the first place. Elyse said " Probably just as many that are saved by someone taking a chance and not waiting for back-up."

She continued forwards through the dust of the desert looking down at her padd it seeing what direction they were being lead in. At least it was still in the general direction of the nearest one.

OCC: I honestly can't do justice to Zaynah's great character, nor do I want to powerplay a (in)active character. So how about we end this thread and start something else.

[Narrator]

Suddenly, Quentin's PADD chirrups. A message appears on the screen: Return to the shuttleport immediately. This order supercedes all previous orders.

[Cadet Quentin Radley]

Quentin felt as if things were definitely getting out of hand. The girls were at each other's throats, albeit in very different ways, and he really had no desire to have to report that two female cadets had killed each other under such circumstances, and under his leadership...

Just then, the PADD in his hand afforded him a distraction. "Girls?" he asked, addressing both of them. "We have to go back to the landing pad." his forehead was wrinkled in puzzlement. "So, um...yeah."

He turned and started walking back. Well, at least they wouldn't have to walk all over the desert.

End Quentin

[Cadet Uli Elyse]

"Girls?"

That was one way to break up a debate. Especially considering the situation they were in made her slightly nervous. After all, one of there group was clearly missing, and debates aside missing was never a good thing. Hopefully Est was alright, as she would hate for Zaynah to have an I told you so over her head. As she hardly knew her fellow cadet so there was no idea she was going to mention any of the experience she had which lead to her opinion.

Turning around she followed the others back towards the shuttle bay slightly disappointed they barely got started on the mission.

End Elyse