As the meeting was interrupted by the alien vessel's arrival, it was getting harder for Elm to hide her nervosity from leading the survey team. She was glad that the planet had breathable atmosphere, that will make things much easier since they didn’t have to deal with life-support gear outside. [color=82ca9d]“Okay,” [/color]she took a deep breath. [color=82ca9d]“Let’s get ready to go outside. Doctors Daniels and Pearson, grab whatever gear and equipment you think you will need. Lieutenant Ve’tame, please gather a security team. I will leave the size of it and their weaponry completely up to you, but I do suggest that while there might be some dangers outside, we don’t want to look like an invading army. I will contact other science departments and find out who they will want to send with us. Let’s meet in Briefing room 3 in about an hour.”[/color]

[center]-----[/center]

Elm headed to the botany lab to grab a multi-purpose scanner and some equipment to gather tissue samples. She connected her tablet to the ship’s computer and loaded it with all the currently available information about the planet and immediate area around the ship. [color=82ca9d]“Antonio,”[/color] she turned to one of her assistants, a bulky hispanic man who looked more like a bouncer than a botany student, [color=82ca9d]“you can come with me. Grab your gear and go get ready.”[/color] After that she went to her quarters to change into a uniform that was more suitable to wander around in a potentially hostile environment than her current lab coat. Through all this, she was exchanging messages with other science department leaders.

[center]-----
[i]An hour later in Briefing room 3[/i][/center]

Once everyone was gathered, Elm stood up. She had spent a big part of the past hour thinking about what she should say, but it didn’t make her any less nervous. [color=82ca9d]“Okay, let’s start by introducing our science reinforcements from other departments, just in case you haven’t met them before. This is doctor Mizushima Izumo,”[/color] she nodded in the direction of a short and thin man with white hair and long white beard. [color=82ca9d]“Our ship’s expert on alien history, archeology and all things connected to it. And this,”[/color] she pointed to another man, [color=82ca9d]“is doctor Henry Jenkins, leader of Prize’s biology section.”[/color] She hoped that her disappointment didn’t show up in her tone. Henry Jenkins was by far the most arrogant and self-absorbed person on the ship. She was hoping that this kind of field work was too low-level for him and he would send someone else to get the hands dirty instead, but apparently he was in a mood for adventure. Or getting famous by discovering some new animal species and having them named after him.

[color=82ca9d]“This is the initial model of the Prize’s current surroundings, compiled from what scanners were able to pick up while landing. We could launch a survey drone to cover more ground, but that could be viewed as a hostile act, so for now, we are left with just a rough scan of the immediate area. We are on a clearing in the middle of thick forests with no apparent signs of civilization anywhere nearby, except for a group of stone structures a bit north off the ship. They seem very old and have probably been abandoned for a long time, but since this alien civilization seems to be highly religious, we have to be careful in case they are some sort of sacred ground. We will head there first, doctor Izumo will start his research there and the rest of us can use it as a base to explore the forest. Any questions or suggestions?”[/color] she asked and sat down.