"Computer, begin prelaunch sequence."
< Sequence initiated. >
[Lieutenant Deveraux, I gave you a direct order not to head for the Volax system.] It was Lieutenant Call.
"No worry mon amis, I will ave er back in one piece."
[Lieutenant! Power down the runabout and step back onto the station. Thats an order!]
"No can do mon amis. Deveraux out."
Paul cut the comm channel and piloted the shuttle out through the bay doors, through the decompression field and into the patch. Even if Call did send a ship after him, they wouldn't be able to track him in the patch.
After two days of flight through the patch, and another two hours at maximum warp, Paul finally made it to the Volax system.
"Copmuter, enter standard orbit of Volax IV."
< Orbit achieved. >
"Scan for any life forms."
< No sentient life detected. Many species of insect and small animals detected. >
"Do any pose threat to me?"
< Scans indicate negative. >
"Well in zat case, set me down at le co-ordinates of ze ruins."
< Confirmed >
The Computer began the descent into the planets atmosphere. One thing Paul wasn't too good at was piloting a shuttle. The planet looke an awful lot like the tropical Brazilian reainforests of Earth. It was covered in dense jungle, but Paul could make out some protruding structures throught the forest canopy.
The shuttle set down in a clearing about two kilometers from the ruins. Paul gathered his tricorder, his backpack full of rations and other scientific equipment and a phaser rifle and headed toward the ruins. He pulled his knife out of his backpack that was given to him by his father. He hacked down trees as he went. the trees, were completely unlike those of Earth from the bottom. They looked remarkably similar from above but below they were completely different. For a start, the bark was more green thatn those of Earth and it also seemed to be made of a completely different the flora and fauna as he went. He himself wasn't interested in this information but there would surely be somebody back on the station that would want to analyse it. The animals themselves were also very different. None of the animals Paul saw had any type of fur or hair, but were all reptilian. However, scans showed that they were warm blooded and functioned more like mammals, with the ability to run faster, have heightened senses and be more efficient predators.
Paul came across a small clearing, in the centre of which was a long tunnel way leading into the trees. Paul scanned it and the structure seemed safe. He turned on his wrist light and entered the structure.
The tunnel was very narrow and low, obviously, the inhabitants of this world could not have been too tall or wide. Paul continued but found nothing to signify any culture. There were no hyroglyphs or markings on the walls and the tunnel seemed endless. The entrance where he had come in was now a tiny speck of light. He checked his tricorder and had travelled about three hundred metres inward.
Paul eventually came to an arch way where the tunnel opened into a cavernous room. The room was so huge, an Oberth class vessel could have probably fit in quite snugly.
"Wow" Paul said as he cautiously stepped in. He was well aware of booby traps as when he first began his career as an archeologist, he had fallen a foul of a few and in the most sever case had to have an arm and a leg reattached.
There was a beam of light coming in from the ceiling which was angled around the room by a network of mirrors. Paul turned off his wristlight and walked towards an elevated area in the centre of the room. The room was full of dug out circles one inside the other, getting closer to this area. They almost looked like some form of seat. Could this have been some sort of religious structure where ceremonies took place. Paul started walking up the incline and found a sall table on top. It had numerous holes and troughs in it that led into what were probably pots. Paul instantly recognised this as a sacrifice table. There were inscriptions on it, they showed images of the ancient Volaxians sacrificing each other and what looked like priests feasting upon the blood of the victim. They wore no clothes, but wore head dresses. These head dresses were amazingly intricate in their design, they were made, from what Paul could tell as bird feathers, local plant life, some sort of material and grasses. Even the paintings theselves were amazingly well done. Paul guessed that had this race continued to evolve, they would have been among the best artists the quadrant had ever known. The scans of the table showed it to be at least 700 years old, and for paintings too last this long in such high condition, is a true feat of artistic talent.
Paul took out his holographer and took a few images of the room and in particular the sacrifice table. He kneeld down to get a closer look at the inscriptions when he heard a nose, like a stone dropping in a far corner of the room. He thought nothign of it until he heard another one. He started to sweat slightly as he cautiously stood up. He turned the light of his phaser rifle on and scanned the circular room.
"Whos there?"