Shedding Light In The Shadows

Posted on Mon Feb 19th, 2018 @ 7:57pm by Captain Remas McDonald & Lieutenant Commander Shadi Zatra

2,856 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: S1:2: Rubicon
Location: Map Room
Timeline: MD 14, 14.30PM

This time the heating was on and the room hummed with life.

The large central hologram projector glowed brightly, displaying a real-time image of the alien wreck. As it rolled slowly over, a small silver mote rode with it: the USS Traveller safely tucked away beneath the shadow of alien guns. Remas watched the hologram, his eyes affixed to the small silver ship that bore all their hopes.

Had whoever manned the wreck built it for this purpose? As a trap to lure the curious? Were those guns firing on the orders of commanders now dust amid the tomes of history? So many unanswered questions, and too few answers to silence the million more arising with each passing moment.

Nervous about taking over the science department while the team recovers, Ensign Lutko was sure to give himself plenty of time to arrive to the briefing. He had been working to try and organize the department, but with over half of them in sickbay, it was a challenge. What was making him nervous, however, was that he would be in a room full of senior staff, but he was the only non-senior officer. Pausing outside the door, he ran a hand through his short, black hair and took in a deep breath before entering.

Not only was he early, he was the second one in the room! At seeing Remas, he stood to attention so fast that it might have given him whiplash if he did it any faster. "Ensign Lutko Onir, reporting f-for the meeting, sir! I-I am representing th-the science department."

Remas nodded and gestured to the station next to him where Tolkath had usually stood vigil.

If Loren had been a mind reader, or more accurately he had not been trying not to use his empathic abilities he could have reassured Lutko that there was one other non-Senior staff member, himself and of course since he was not the one in the hot seat, so he was not at all nervous. He was, however, tired and haggard. He needed to be with his patients in Sickbay, but for now, his duty had brought him to this room.

Briefings were the worst. Shadi preferred actually getting her claws dirty over talking about ways to get one's claws dirty. Still, the captain had tasked her with gathering data about their predicament -- and the late Lieutenant Zark had put his trust in her to take up the reins in his department. Her department.

"I won't let you down," she said to his memory. Intended as a whisper, the words echoed inside the room rather clearly.

Seeing someone else not part of the senior staff helped Lutko relax a little, but his nerves were otherwise still alive and well. He had remained standing until others had arrived and waited to see what they would do.

Despite the effort to make her appearance less dreadful, Rena still had a look of exhaustion about her. Her ponytail was loose, with some stray strands framing her face. Both her scrubs and her uniform had gotten dirty in the past 3 hours, but she ended up changing into the latter because the former had a random pattern of blood and grime on them. There was a smudge on her forehead, hiding what would probably be a bruise later.

What hung over her head, however, was that metaphorical dark cloud. The injured were far from being completely healed, and when she heard of the meeting she almost considered asking someone to represent her so she could stay and keep helping people. Ultimately, and it was rather last minute, she decided to go herself, instructing her assistant chief to call her if something came up. The PaDD in her hand felt heavy, way too heavy for her liking, and she set it down in front of a seat before moving to the replicator and getting a glass of water. Normally she would do something with caffeine, but the headache that was settling in was none other than dehydration, and only one liquid could truly help. When the glass materialized, she restrained herself from downing the entire thing by taking a long and regulated sip, which ended up consuming about a quarter of the contents of the cup.

Victor stammered in, worn out from the hellish situation but still pressing on as duty required. He smiled when he saw the new officer in their midst, "A junior officer huh? Welcome to the big league's kid!" he said slapping him on the back as he walked passed to the replicator, grabbed a raktajino, and threw himself in his seat with a thud.

"We're still waiting for our engineer to make his appearance, but I think we can get the briefing rolling," Remas said firmly into the room, cutting conversation where it was spoken. He then turned to regard Lutko. "I would have wanted your ascension to the role to be on merit and not the fact you were in the hot seat. But you were chosen to join the Traveller young man, and that speaks volumes about your ability and skill. Ensign Zatra has risen to her station, and I have no doubt you will as well."

He then gestured to the slowly rotating hologram in front of them.

"But we have to rise beyond that, and to that end, I open the floor to those who knowledge on this subject," Remas said.

The slowly rotating hologram of the wreckage had taunted Shadi with its secrets. She had professionally sat on her reports this long, but with the floor open, she stood to her feet with barely contained enthusiasm. Though everyone else remained seated, Shadi knew it was always best to be on one's feet, no matter the battlefield.

"Captain, I have collated the data from the probes you ordered me to send." She made a small click with her mouth. If her administrative performance did not please the captain, it wouldn't hurt to remind him she had been following orders. Of course, such subtlety distracted her thoughts away from the report she had just read.

"And..." Shadi quickly referred to her notes. "Ah, yes. Scans measured the beast at six clicks in length. There are multiple craters along the hull with radiation levels which indicate a very high collision speed. With no sign of any deflector capability, it can be assumed the vessel is not warp capable either. So... not the best design..."

Shadi clicked her mouth again as she scanned her notes. "Let's see, what else? Oh! The hull is estimated a solid 500 meters thick, but scanners found a 400 meter crack in the side facing us. A second probe was deployed directly into the jagged crack. It's reading inactive biosignatures and structures inside a large expanse that spans most of the interior, though we're not able to recall it. The probe is, um, stuck, it seems."

With a sigh of relief, Shadi took her seat. "And I think that's all."

Crushed it. She smiled in victory.

"Very comprehensive," Remas nodded, studying the hologram as more details came to light, filling in gaps or assumptions as Shadi's work was added to it. The once smooth hull of the wreck took on a gnarled, weather-beaten look like tree bark. The gash, small by comparison to the remainder of the ship, loomed larger than the Traveller. Reaching out his fingers brushed against the consensual adjustment field of the projection, allowing him to manipulate it physically as he rotated the image and zoomed in to study the opening.

"Probe data suggests the rim of the opening is caked in ice and frozen molecular oxygen..." he mused aloud as little annotations appeared. "...catastrophic hull breach perhaps? Either way, I cannot imagine a better entry point for a landing party. Excellent work Ensign Zatra."

The doors opened with a swish and Arivek Zhuri walked in. His uniform was dusty and slightly grimy and in his hands was a two-foot-long pipe about the width of his forearm. As he walked up to the table, he dropped it in the middle and a metallic purple ooze began to seep from one end.

"Look what I found," he simply stated, standing there with his arms folded over his chest.

A beat passed.

"I'm sure I speak for the rest of the table when I say our curiosity has peaked," Remas remarked dryly, eyeing the purple ooze dribbling from the section of piping. "Though I must admit if you've discovered a new colour it appears to be violet's mortal enemy."

"That," Arivek said, pointing at the ooze, "is warp plasma." He stood there for a moment, waiting for everyone to gasp in shock. but unfortunately he was met with silence. Clearly he had to explain for the lay man. "Typically warp plasma is green and highly corrosive. To be exposed to it would be deadly. But as you can see, we no longer have a plasma, but a viscous liquid. Something has caused our warp plasma to congeal into what you see before you."

Victor grimaced at the scene, "Too bad warp cores don't run on jelly." he quipped "Where did you pull that from exactly?"

"Pardon me for preempting your further explanation Ari, but warp plasma can't just transform like that? No more than I could wish lead to be gold with but a thought put to it," Remas's brow furrowed, and turned to the jittered science intern. "Mr. Lutko? Now would be the time to weigh in with an explanation as to why high energetic warp plasma has become something other than it was."

Onir tensed a little when he was suddenly put on the spot. "Th-the..." He looked down at the PaDD of information that he had brought with him. "Sorry, sir, finding it... there is a field of some sort, but we weren't able to make sense of it when it first appeared, let alone now. I-we... this, uh, this field is something we have never seen before. So far, it only seems to be affecting the ship's plasma."

"Does anyone want to bring good news to the table? Answers or further theories welcome."

Shadi raised her hand. "At least we still have power, although if this is what is passes for warp plasma, then I can't imagine the EPS grid will hold out much longer..."

Arivek glared at the reptilian woman. "It will hold out," he said. "My team is already working to make sure everything else is functioning as intended."

Rena, having taken a seat when the meeting started, pulled out her tricorder and leaned forward enough to scan the plasma. If she could narrow down what is making people sick, perhaps finding a cure would be easier. Reading the data, she looked down at her PaDD and pulled up the information gathered from the sick individuals. She did several looks between the tricorder and her PaDD, the frown of deep thought becoming more evident on her features.

"But without Warp Plasma we are going nowhere, and neither are the freighters or colony barge," Remas said aloud. "Does anyone have data on the extent of this field? Would it be possible to pin point a source, or perhaps a boundary? As much as I'd hate a detour, this is not where we are meant to be."

Shadi glared back at the annoying little blue man before addressing the captain again.

"Sssir, you mentioned an away team. Perhaps the source of the problem is inside the wreckage. I would be happy to lead an away team of competent technicians--" She spared another glare for Arivek. "--into the breach to explore that possibility."

“No worry there Miss Zatra, we came out here to explore and by Blue Fire I intend to make sure no one here does a job I’m unwilling to do myself. You’ll be right behind me as we venture inside,” he smiled warmly at the Saurian. “On that note, Mr. Reynolds, is Expedition Security ready to fulfill its mission statement? Hard vacuum, alien terrain, possible dangers underfoot?”

"Of course Captain, though I do believe it was more so enemy necks underfoot than possible dangers." he said with chuckle, "I'll get a team ready with all the fancy doodads and pew pews so we can ensure our glorious Chief Engineers and friends live to tell another tale of warp plasma turned jelly."

"We come in peace: it's not just a motto," Remas chided lightly, before turning to nod at Ari. "But yes having our best on the ground to guide the engineering portion of the mission will be key. Something on that wreck is keeping us from leaving. So we'll use the Zheng'he to ferry the away team across, that should be enough room for your team and gear? Though I cannot imagine even the most ambitious engineer filling up an Arrow class Runabout."

"And you think having half the senior staff away from the ship is a good idea?" Arivek asked, raising an eyebrow. "I believe Ensign Zatra is more than capable of leading a team with my engineers. And that metallic gel is a much larger issue. It's beginning to seep into the warp coils and we have to stop it before it gets too far. We only have enough reserves to rebuild the warp coils once and I don't think we want to tap into those reserves so quickly into our journey."

Remas looked down at the pipe leaking goo over the table.

"Are you telling me that this is dangerous in its inert state?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "And, also in the same vein, that you are not the wee bit curious about what's over there? A civilisation that made a six-kilometre-long starship sans apparent means of faster than light travel! And not a single grease smeared bone in your engineer's body isn't crying out to poke about?"

He looked at Shadi.

"You any good with a holocam Ensign?"

"What the famine is a holocam?"

Arivek sighed, bringing attention away from Shadi and back to him, "Of course I'm curious and intrigued. But you should appreciate me putting the welfare of this ship and this mission above fleeting emotions." He shifted his weight. "As for the gel, I don't know how dangerous it is. But warp coils are very delicate. Unknown substances can damage the membranes and cause tearing."

"Well we'll bring you back something from the gift shop," Remas said with a tug to the hem of his jacket. "Ari appoint one of your team to lead the Engineering aspect of the away team. Ensign's Zatra and Lukto, Mister Reynolds and an ExSec team will accompany them. We'll board the wreck, and find a way to disable or circumvent this field effect."

Lutko simply nodded, unsure if a verbal response was necessary at the moment.

"And avenge our fallen," Shadi added with slit, narrowed eyes.

Remas didn't rise to the comment but instead turned his attention to the physician in the room.

"Dr Kal? Is there anything you think we need to know about medically concerning this away mission? Would having one of your team along for the ride be of use?" Remas asked.

"Actually, yes," Rena responded, taking another look between her tricorder and the PaDD in front of her before closing it and leaning back into her seat. "Some of the science officers near the hole in the lab have a strange form of radiation sickness, as well as one of my staff. What's odd is that they aren't showing any physical lesions, burns, or blisters on the outside, but they have most of the symptoms that occur on a level not visible to the naked eye."

She gave a nod to the plasma and the pipe. "The transformed plasma has a couple properties similar to what the officers are experiencing, but it's only a small portion of what's causing the radiation sickness." Her attention then turned to Ari. "I would like to get a more detailed report on how the plasma changed and possibly collect some samples to test, if that's alright with you, Lieutenant?"

"I can run those reports if you like, " Loren replied.

Rena turned and nodded to Loren.

"As long as I get a copy," Arivek said. "I'm interested, myself."

"This is not the mission I'd hoped we run into out here, but here we are." Remas stood, tapping the table with one knuckle. "You have your assignments. Away team should report to the shuttle bay in one hour. Full exploration gear for the Engineer's and Op's team, full protective detail for the ExSec. Make no mistake we are not going in there to fight our way free as a first option."

He gave his head a little shake.

"But I will not have us fail before we have begun our good work. Let us be about it."

"Always fun to start a mission into the unknown by having to explore a place with big guns in hand." Vic said with a massive grin as he left the room, PADD and coffee mug in hand.

 

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