Round 1, Lehana "Solving a Puzzle"
	Lehana moved to the front of the small group, as directed. The forest appeared to be quite dark, yet the day was bright, little light if any penetrated to the forest floor. There was no obvious path to follow, no immediate entrance, almost as if the forest hadn't been entered recently. While she waited patiently for the signal to start, she noted idly that Ensign Sato and Dr Callaghan were giving off negative signals about going through the forest, gesturing wildly at times to indicate going around the forest. While she waited for the argument to be resolved, she looked around her at the forest, it was strange she thought, all the trees seemed to be of uniform height and shape, as though they had been cloned from the same source, yet she could make out no signs of intervention. It was like solving a puzzle, first you had to examine all the pieces and then visualise how they might go together before formulating an idea about what the solution might be. Perhaps these trees were the same, there would be a reason for it, it was just a question of finding out way they were like they were. The group walked towards her, Captain Archer had obviously pulled rank on them and had indicated to move forwards. She pushed aside a branch and held it back while the others followed behind. It was fairly tough going initially, then the undergrowth thinned out a bit, making the going a little easier. As they moved further into the forest, the smoke became much denser, and even she found it difficult at times to breathe. A sound of rustling came from her right and she looked, but saw nothing. More rustling, this time from the left, had her baffled, it couldn't be the wind as the trees weren't moving. She stopped, Lt Reed and Mayweather right on her heels. She checked behind her to see Hoshi and Dr Callaghan apparently frozen with fear. Lehana didn't understand, she could see nothing that appeared to be danger, and yet there was a sense of unease in the group. Chief Tucker took out his scanner and proceeded to do a bioscan of their surroundings. He turned rapidly, obviously tracking something, Lehana didn't know what to do. She edged backwards until she was at the edge of the group, she wanted so badly to draw her weapon yet without orders from Captain Archer it would be ill-advised. When Captain Archer pointed upward saying "There" she bent down and picked up a stone from the ground. It felt good holding something tangible in her hand, something that she could use to defend herself if needed and something that wouldn't stand out as a weapon. The alien life-form was small, tan colourd and appeared to be wearing shrubbery as clothing. One of them was holding a stick, or rod with a crystal embedded in it. It chattered in it's own language, but she couldn't understand a word, however Dr Callaghan appeared to translate, "It it the Retti". `What was? The creature or the tribe?' A number of them had appeared and were surrounding the group, with what appeared to be a distinctly unfriendly manner. She was shocked when Dr Callaghan collapsed to the ground, followed moments after by Hoshi, yet no-one had touched them. She took a step forward, as did the others, they were further unsettled by loud shrieks from the trees above and further away, she heard Dr Callaghan say something, but she didn't quite catch what it was for it was then that the creatures advanced on the party. She didn't way for Captain Archer's orders, but took out her weapon and put the setting at stun, but no matter how good a shot she was, it was impossible to hit the creatures. When one of the creatures jumped Captain Archer, she couldn't fire her weapon for fear of hurting him, so instead used the stone she held in her other hand to hit a glancing blow. The creature moved away and Captain Archer turned "Thanks Ensign" before turning to fight off more.It was a brief interlude, once again, one of the creatures had jumped Captain Archer, but before she could intervene, she had her own battle to fight. The creatures had strength that belied their size and she felt them pressing on her windpipe, she struggled to take in air. Feeling herself become dizzy, she allowed herself to collapse on the ground as though unconscious. Almost immediately, the pressure was relaxed, so their intention was not to kill at first sight, so what now? Before she could do anything else, they had bound her feet and hands, and from underneath her eyelids, she watched as one-by-one the group was carried or dragged deeper into the forest. The creatures didn't stop for a break, Lehana wanted to cough, badly, but reminded her body that she could control it if she needed. She didn't want to give away that she was conscious to the creatures, that way she could work out where they were being taken. She had a distorted view of the world as she was being dragged along, she could only catch glimpses every now and again. When finally they stopped, in a clearing, the creatures peered down at their captives. They had dumped the `bodies' in a heap, and moving away slightly, were now conversing in their screeches presumably about what they were going to do with them. Lehana carefully reached down into her pocket, keeping her movements slow and methodical so as not to draw attention. Stealthily, she eased out the small Vulcan dagger, a gift from her grandfather. It was made of some black stone material, and was not usually detected in standard scanning. She cut through her bonds on her wrists, and then reached down and sliced through the bonds restraining her ankles. She looked about her at the rest of the group, Dr Callaghan was looking pale and did not appear conscious, nor did Hoshi. Captain Archer, was quietly lying on the ground, Lehana did not know whether he was awake or not, she slowly edged closer to him, being careful not to attract the attention of the creatures. When she was close enough, she reached out with her hand and tugged at his clothing. His eyes opened slowly and she passed over the dagger to him. Lehana didn't know whether to try and escape, to bring help from the ship or hope there was some other way of overcoming the creatures to allow them to return to the shuttle. While she waited, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. At first she thought it was one of the creatures, but realised that this individual was different, it was taller, with almost white blonde hair, concealed in the main under a greenish covering. When it saw her looking in it's direction, it raised one hand slowly to it's lips, a universal sign for keep quiet. The creature in the woods, withdrew, but somehow, Lehana knew, that he or she would be back, and perhaps, they did stand a chance of being rescued. She turned to face, Captain Archer and quietly, she told him what had just happened, he indicated that she should try and free the others from their bonds in readiness for an escape. Return to Itinerary