Pottinger stood in the transporter room, waiting and watching for the officers to arrive.  Sorek stood beside her.  She wasn’t able to read him very well.  It didn’t help that he was a Vulcan and not given to showing any of his cards.  All she had going for herself was that she outranked him.

While waiting for the others to arrive, Sorek studied Pottinger, as he wanted to learn for himself what she was really like.  He believed everything Halsey said, but there were always two sides to a story.  So far, he saw that she was very confident, pushy, eager to use her authority, and impatient when things weren’t going her way.  He had no doubt her desire was for the mission to succeed, but not knowing her true agenda made him cautious.  Time would tell.

O’Shea double-checked he had his equipment safely stowed in his backpack before grabbing his phaser and holster, attaching it to his belt. Shouldering the bag he glanced to Dougal, “You set?”

Dougal stared at the phaser in his hand and let out a loud laugh,  “Ya know lad, if these people are as backward as the report says wouldn’t a wee phaser be a bigger problem than a knife?” He shrugged and holstered the phaser, “Aye, as I’ll ever be.”

Not long after, they both arrived at the transporter room and stepped in. O’Shea nodded to the two officers waiting, “Sorek, Captian Pottinger. I hear there has been a snafu. What do we need to know?”

Grace gave him a glance, “We’re unable to locate or confirm our team is present.  We will do a full inspection of the site and discover what we can.”

Lieutenant Beattie walked into the transporter room, followed by two officers in the blue of science and a civilian human male. Adjusting the fit of his ruck and other equipment. “Captain,  Commander. Have we heard anything new since we left the bridge?”

Pottinger gave him a dismissive shake as she took in the additional people he had brought with him, “No, nothing yet.”

“Captain, may I introduce Lieutenant Deika, Tedi,  head of the Mercies Anthropology department, Mr. Maximilian Norfolk, Botanist, and agricultural sciences, and I’m sure you recognize Ensign Linwood, General sciences.”

Pottinger gave an indifferent nod to each, “For our first visit to the facility, I would suggest limiting our presence to the head of department and one other – as we get a better understanding of what is happening, we’ll start the process of expanding teams.”

Beattie nodded. “Ensign Linwood your with me, Lieutenant Deika and Mr. Norfolk return to your departments, continue going through the data and wait for us to call for you.”

Aimee walked in with her medical kit slung over one shoulder and a phaser pistol on her left hip.  She smiled at O’Shea and moved to stand next to her husband.

“Just you lass?” Dougal asked her.

“KISS you, big Scottish lunk,” she said, teasing.  “Keep it simple. Less chance of contamination with less people, and let’s hope my services will not be needed.”

“Aye, but you know how these missions go.”

Aimee let out a long sigh, “Like a damned train wreck.”

Neva walked in and went to one of the transporter pads in the back. She nodded and smiled at everyone there except the Captain. She knew she should acknowledge her by rank, but Neva didn’t care. Even though she was deemed psychologically fit for duty, it still stung her pride. ⁠Pottin’I

Pottinger moved to the transporter pad, and the rest of the crew followed.  The transporter chief clicked through the commands, “Site locked.  Engergizing…”

The light of the transport faded as the transporter bay faded into view.  The power was at a lower level than they’d expected.  Pottinger moved to the console and tapped at the surface, “The facility is in lower power mode for some reason.  There are three levels to the operation.  We are on deck 3 – where personal quarters, kitchen, recreation, and engineering are located – at the mountain’s base.  Deck 2 is the labs, meeting rooms, workrooms, and the like.  Deck 1 is the primary observation station.  Commander Sorek take Lieutenants MacDonald and Ensign Crawford to Deck 1.  Lieutenant Beattie, you take Lieutenant O’Shea with you to deck 2.  Lieutenant Cordon, you’re with me.  We’re going to work on this deck,

“Aye ma’am,” Aimee and Dougal replied, giving each other a conspiratorial glance and moved to stand next to Sorek.

O’Shea stepped over to Lieutenant Beattie, “I don’t believe we have had a chance to meet you.” He held out his hand, “James O’Shea, Chief of Security.”

Cezear gave the security chief a look over, accepting the hand with a firm grip. “Cezear Beattie, no, I don’t think we have had the chance yet. New Chief of Science.”

“Let’s go so see what we can dig up on our missing observation team, shall we?”O’Shea said as he clasped Beattlie’s hand.

Beattie nodded towards the turbo lift. “Let’s go see what we can dig up, deck two seems to be the meat and potatoes of the post. So I would think if there is anything to be found on what happened or why, it would be there.”

Pottinger turned to the chief engineer, “Come with me.”