Xa Down Part II
Episode Name: Xa Down Part II
Written By: Spider
Cast: Brin, Chief Theras, Cristobal, Darax, Donavon, Edwards, Gellan, Havaris, Hurley, Idrani, Ivos, Javits, Lace, Medes, O'Carroll, Spider, Torin and Vala.
Produced By: Starfleet
Directed By: Spider
Aired On: Sun Apr 25 01:42:44 2004
Stardate: 54045.3
Time: Sat Apr 24 16:43:23 2004
Stardate: 54044.4
Javits steps into the bustle of Ops from the corridor. The door slides shut with a whisper.
Javits has arrived.
A rather forgettable Axanari Chief sits at the sensors station amidst the bustle of Ops. Her hands slip over the controls, tapping here and there at the panels.
A yeoman leaves the CO's office with a look of relief on his face.
Havaris steps off of the lift and moves at a rapid clip down to the command deck, spinning around twice before making a practiced drop into the big chair. He gives his uniform a tug and asks simply, "Lost contact in what sense, Chief? Did we lose their transponder? Did they drop off sensors? What was their last location and time of report? I thought they were on their way to a relay refit."
Directly behind the Lieutenant arrives Ensign Donavon whose eyes squint with determination and shimmer with concern. One glance directs to Havaris as she stands stiffly before him, hands to her back. There she waits until the Chief can update the senior officer.
Javits, upon entering, doesn't break his stride as he heads for the primary engineering station, though he does manage to pause long enough for the junior nco currently on duty to vacate it.
Javits sits down at Engineering I.
. o O Donavon is having difficulty slowing down her heart rate - each beat counted with fear and concern.
. o O Donavon thinks "Why do my superstitions come true? I'll find you, anamchara."
"Both, sir," replies the Chief. "We lost their transponder first, and then they dropped off of sensors about a minute later. Last location was here," she indicates on the display before her, sending the location up to the Big Chair, "and last report was approximately ten minutes ago. We lost their transponder about six minutes ago, and then four and a half minutes ago, they dropped off of the sensors."
. o O Javits thinks "Great, just great. Not only is an entire crew lost, but one of our experimental shuttles as well. That's not something I'd be inclined to allow to fall into someone else's hands."
"Mister Donavon, find a chair if you're going to be on my deck, please." Havaris nods to Donavon, then turns his attention to the sensor feed coming to his armrest terminal. He nods twice at the display, then pokes at the terminal a bit. "Send long range sensors up my way, Chief. I need to run a deep resonance scan. We're going to check for a debris field, any sign of an explosion, and nearby stellar objects. It's going to take some time. Javits? I want you to pull and double-check the maintenance records for the Levy and Shoemaker, please."
Javits glances back to Havaris with a firm nod, "Aye, sir."
<CONTEST> Donavon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Javits contests his Computer (Research) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
Satisfied in hearing the update and speculative location, Donavon glances once to Havaris with a nod before taking over tactical. Quickly, her fingers fly without a second thought while she whispers a mantra to herself. "Hold on, anamchara." Eyes gloss over the data readouts, teeth grit. All performed while standing.
GAME: Donavon spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Donavon (claiming advantage) contests her Propulsion Engineering (Warp) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
Hurley steps into the bustle of Ops from the corridor. The door slides shut with a whisper.
Hurley has arrived.
"Sent, sir," Chief Theras asserts, tapping a few buttons on her console.
GAME: Havaris spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Havaris (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
GAME: Havaris spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Havaris (claiming advantage) contests his Propulsion Engineering (Warp) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
GAME: Javits spends a courage point.
Havaris nods his head slightly in response to the Chief's statement. He taps a single button, his scan parameters already programmed, and waits for a time, hands folded over his middle. He frowns at the scan results, glances up at the viewscreen, then back down at the terminal on his chair arm. "Mister Javits, how are you with warp engines and warp theory?"
<CONTEST> Javits (claiming advantage) contests his Computer (Data Alteration) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
<CONTEST> Donavon contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
A gold-collared Tellarite steps away from a console, to be replaced by a Trill female in command red who winks, smiles, and gives him a little wave. The Tellarite grunts nonchalantly.
Javits looks back to Havaris with an unsure frown, "Sir, maintenance records appear to be in order." With a shake of his head, he continues, "It's not one of my strong areas, but I can certainly try."
"Sir," Hurley calls as she enters Operations carefully, "do you need me? As well, Ensign O'Carroll is ready to assist in the shuttlebay and Cadet Torin is available for science assisting." Having passed on the information with which she was charged, she remains out of the way, quietly waiting for a response.
"Bad is all I can say, sir. There's a large energy 'smear' around their last known location. Sending data analysis to the chair, but it sounds similiar to what you located." Donavon leans over the console, skimming further out on the sensor grid. Brows furrow together to intrepret the data as breath shortens. "Hunting down the nearest Federation ships in the vicinity."
. o O Javits thinks "An energy 'smear'? That can't be good."
Havaris blows out a deep sigh, rubbing at his face for a brief moment. He nods down to Donavon, absently. "ADF, Merchant Marine, IKDF. Search them all, best times to last sighting." Havaris falls silent again, staring down at his sensor scan for a long moment before tapping the controls. "Forwarding my scan results to you, Mister Javits. Mister Hurley, send O'Carroll and Torin down to the shuttlebay. I want them going over the maintenance records for the Levy and the Shoemaker. I want a theory on why this happened from the shuttle bay, and I want it soon." He plucks his PADD from his hip and sucks up the resonance scan, handing it to Hurley, "Have them compare it to this."
GAME: Javits spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Javits (claiming advantage) contests his Propulsion Engineering (Warp) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
GAME: Donavon spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Donavon (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Javits nods as he taps away at his station, "Thank you, sir." A distinctly concerned frown comes to his features as he leans forward a bit to peruse the data, "Sir, I'm reading a massive energy bleed. Warp engines overstressed and started to breach." He pauses to read more, "However, they may have been able to control it to some degree. I'm reading an impulse trail exiting the opposite side of the energy 'smear'."
Hurley quickly crosses Operations to Havaris' side, collects the PADD and pauses just long enough to ask another question. "Ensign O'Carroll mentioned preparing another ship for departure should a rescue mission be necessary. Would you like her to begin those preparations as well?"
Darax steps into the bustle of Ops from the corridor. The door slides shut with a whisper.
Darax has arrived.
"Got one." Donavon lets out a quiet whoop. Someone's nearby. "The Accountability at top speed will take bout seventy minutes. Ambassador Class from the 230th/17th Fleet under the command of Captain Alice Martin. Shall I make the hail?"
The doors part to admit a blue-shirted sciences NCO, drawing the attention of eyes and antennae all around Ops.
"Martin, Martin, Martin," Havaris is reviewing his brain and the strategic ops manual for Dulcais no doubt. "Martin. She was at Fimdari. Yeah. Yeah. Open a channel, Chief." Havaris gives the hail order down to Operations. He turns in his seat to call down to Javits, "Engineering: See if you can get me a heading off of that Impulse signature. See if it keeps stable. We've lost their transponder and they've gone off sensors. I need to know where they /are/." Havaris then glances up to Hurley, scratching his cheek. He hesitates for only a moment. "We have the Accountability enroute. They'll be there in just over an hour. That won't be necessary just yet. Stand by. It depends on weather or not Captain Martin is at liberty to deviate from her course." He settles back into his chair and notes, "Mister Darax, if that is inded your blessed blue head over there, get down to Ops II."
As he concentrates on his station, Javits nods firmly in response to Havaris' order, "Aye, sir. I'll see what I can discover."
GAME: Javits spends a courage point.
The doors to ops slide open and closed, allowing a certain blue Training Officer entrance into Operations shortly after the NCO makes their entrance. Darax's eyes quickly scan around the various stations before locking on Havaris. Just as he's about to open his mouth and say something, the command is given. "Aye sir." With a quick snap-to, he turns and makes a brisk bee-line for Ops II.
<CONTEST> Javits (claiming advantage) contests his Propulsion Engineering (Impulse) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
With a nod, Ensign Hurley heads back to the entrance on Darax's heels to deliver messages, orders and whatever else people can think of on the way. After clipping the PADD on her belt, she reaches towards her combadge and begins to speak just as the doors close behind her.
"Next closest ships are ours, sir. Can't prep the Paine due to repairs and Lt. Tyler is unavailable to release the Aegis." Donavon winces at the latter. Her tongue stabs against her cheek before teeth grit.
Hurley heads out of Operations and into the main corridor.
Hurley has left.
Chief Theras taps a few times on the console, opens a channel, speaks quickly, and closes it again. "Sir, Captain Martin sends her apologies. The Accountability is not at liberty to divert at this time. They are currently assisting a shipful of Nausicaan refugees. Their /actual/ best time there would be in about seven hours. If this would be of assistance, they will be glad to help us."
The deckplates hum underfoot as the power plants work to provide the station with energy.
The terminal chirrups. "Lieutenant Idrani to Operations."
"The Thomas Paine is being refit, the Aegis is -- as per the usual -- not accessible, the Gharas is being stapled back together with spit and tin. Nausicaa is exploding. The Romulans are in civil war. Kang space is destabilizing. And I've just lost a fireblasted Combat Shuttle. Perfect." Havaris plucks his compin from his chest and stares at it for a moment, "So help me, this had better be good news." He plunks it back to his chest and taps it alive.
Havaris taps the com terminal. "Operations, Lieutenant Havaris commanding, go ahead Lieutenant."
Over the terminal, Idrani says, "There seems to be quite a bit of excitement going on there. Do you need any help?"
Javits scrutinies the displays of his station before turning back to Havaris, "Sir, looks like they didn't make it too far on impulse after their warp systems failed. Their impulse signature disappears in an asteroid field not far from the energy bloom. They may have attempted a landing on one of the asteroids."
Into the com terminal, Havaris says with dripping sarcasm, "Oh, we're fine, Lieutenant. Everything's fine here. We're fine. How are you?" A pause and he amends, "As yet, we've yet to cause a major diplomatic incident. We're working on it, though. That's a joke."
Just to get himself on the same page, Darax sits down and goes quickly over the most recent readings to play a quick amount of catch-up. Quickly his eyes scan over all of the basics.. last known course... point where contact was lost.
. o O Javits thinks "Just another normal day aboard the four one nine."
Donavon isn't the least bit satisfied with the arrangements. Settling down to the seat, she leans over the console and types a text message out quickly. "<TEXT>Commander Edwards. There's a situation in Ops. The Levy with our crew has disappeared from our sensors. The closest rescue ship are ours. Paine is down due to repairs as is the Gharas. All we have left is the Aegis, but Lt. Tyler is out of communications. As RRT's Commander, do you have the power to undock the Aegis and sent out the team to rescue the Levy's crew?"
. o O Javits feels tense and concerned all at once. His friends are out there, after all.
Over the terminal, Idrani says, "Well, Lieutenant, as you've stolen away all of my coffee-drinking company, I'd be happy to provide any assistance. I have been known to work outside of the diplomacy arena, from time to time. I think I remember how to run a console."
Darax sits down at Operations.
. o O Donavon thinks "Rob you better be in one piece when I find you, if not you'll be broken into more pieces"
. o O Donavon thinks "Stay safe"
Into the com terminal, Havaris considers this, or seems to. "If you say so, Lieutenant. I won't believe it, of course, until I see it. Come on up. I may need you to take command of a rescue mission."
. o O Donavon bitterly curses at her husband, but quickly ends such with worry and a hopeful wish.
Over the terminal, Idrani replies in a much more serious tone. "On my way, sir. Idrani out."
The terminal clicks as Idrani drops off channel. The channel closes.
Idrani steps into the bustle of Ops from the corridor. The door slides shut with a whisper.
Idrani has arrived.
Idrani steps into Operations.
"I suppose the asteroid field we're looking at is the sort that removes any hope of accurate long range scanning. Can you find me /which/ asteroid, by chance? Chief, notify the Accountability that we'll try to send a rescue mission, but to hail us once their refugees are aboard. We may need their liberty when it comes. Darax, transfer your terminal to Engineering II. Sit in with Javits, see if you can give him a hand in finding my shuttle, and see if he can't help you in understanding what went wrong. Donavon, contact Flight Deck. Inform them to start prepping the Shoemaker. I'm hailing the shuttlebay."
Havaris taps his com badge. "Lieutenant Havaris to Shuttle Bay."
Over Havaris's com badge, someone says, "Shuttle Bay here."
Into his com badge, Havaris says, "What's the status down there, gentlemen?"
. o O Darax is calm... on the outside. On the inside, his brain works a million miles a minute, taking in the information, storing it. Oh, heck no. There won't be any lost ships while he's sitting in the Ops chair... Not today. You can almost see the Havaris influence setting in... That is if you're inside his head.
Javits glances back to Havaris with a faintly hopeful expression, "Well, sir, there might be some hope in that. There's only one extremely large asteroid in that field, bordering on planetoid sized in fact. If I were them, that's where I'd be heading."
Donavon catches the incoming text message from Edwards. "<TEXT> What's wrong with the station's runabouts?" While hailing the Flight Deck, she replies to Havaris. "Sir, would there be a chance that using the same vessel will repeat similiar issues that occured with the Levy?" She sends out a quick reply back to the Commander. "<TEXT> Runabouts are too far."
Over Havaris's com badge, Hurley says, "Ensign O'Carroll and Cadet Torin are hustling through logs and the scans with which you provided me. Is there anymore information I can offer them?"
Into his com badge, Havaris says, "Yes. I'll have Engineering and Mission Ops here forward you what they're uncovering. At this point, I'm sending a rescue hop. If you can't guarantee me that the Shoemaker is fit for flight, we'll send out one of the Runabouts. But I need a call to be made."
"Aye, sir," Darax replies immediately after the order is given. His hands fly steadily over the LCARS, attention focused on the display in front of him. "Terminal transferred.." Now to look, look, look.
Darax's com badge chirrups. "Lieutenant JG Mulwray to Lieutenant JG Darax."
A security crewman turns aside to quietly answer his compin, before checking his phaser and walking quickly from the room.
Darax's com badge clicks as Mulwray drops off channel. The channel closes.
Over Havaris's com badge, Hurley says, "All... Ensign O'Carroll's checking on it, Sir."
Idrani's com badge chirrups. "Lieutenant JG Mulwray to Lieutenant Idrani."
Idrani's com badge clicks as Mulwray drops off channel. The channel closes.
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Propulsion Engineering (Impulse) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
Into his com badge, Havaris says, "Standing by."
Over Havaris's com badge, O'Carroll says, "Everything on the Shoemaker looks fine, sir. But then, I could say the same for the Levy. Give us a short bit to give her a quick visual look over? If it's now or n'er, I'd say let's do it, sir. But I'd rather look."
Idrani stands at the back of Ops, near the door. She listens to the reports, gathering what information she can about the situation. Not wanting to add to the chaos, she waits for instruction.
Into his com badge, Havaris says without a hint of contradiction, "Take your time. Just be quick about it. Standing by."
Donavon expels a breath at the received message from Edwards, "<TEXT> Use the runabouts. This ship needs to stay here." She taps back, "<TEXT> Request permission to join rescue team. Will request same from Lt. Havaris, on duty senior officer." She swivels around towards the Big Chair. "Sir, requesting permission to join rescue team being fitted for the Shoemaker."
<CONTEST> Javits (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Fails!
Javits transfers all pertinent mission data to Engineering II for Darax' perusal, "Here's what we have so far. Given the data available, we may be able to pinpoint their location from here. If not, we'll at least be able to give a rescue ship a much tighter search grid to work from." Turning back to his station, he taps a short series of the glowing symbols, then shakes his head with a glance back to Havaris, "Sir, I have an impulse trail from the shuttle leading into the asteroid field and up to the largest asteroid, but nothing beyond that. I'm unable to locate the Levy at this time." Turning back to his station, he adds, "I'll keep trying."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Fails!
Havaris puts his com on standby and settles back into his seat, rubbing at his face for a moment as he considers the request. "I'll keep you in mind, Mister Donavon. Mission Operations will send out the orders with my approval, but it's not my place to say yes or now. If they put you on the short list, you have my permission. For now, clear the deck and go get prepped for a mission." Havaris glances aside to Idrani, "You any good at Tactical, Lieutenant?" Havaris rolls forward a bit, eyeing the Javits/Darax duo with a slightly narrowed gaze. The temptation to hop to his feet and poke the controls is evident. "Keep on it."
Idrani glances sideline at the sensor station. "Adequate, but I am better on sensors. Can you squeeze any more power to boost the sensors, or launch a probe?"
Donavon catches sight of the incoming transmission from Edwards, "<TEXT> Permission granted." Eyes look up to Havaris, indicating no matter how long the list, she'll get on that ship. "Already have permission from my Commander. Will prep the potential crew and gather our resources." With that, the Rapid Response Officer steers clear of Operations, bent on a mission which will swing by the Aegis for equipment pick-up before heading down to the Flight Deck.
Darax is way out of his element in the engineering terminal with Javits, but he's going to give it his all. His fingers work furiously over the console, trying to decipher the engineering information quickly. Like his partner, across the room, he goes about trying to follow the trail. "I have nothing as well, sir.."
A senior chief in Sciences blue does a double-take at some readings, before clearing his head and realizing his mistake.
. o O Darax mentally curses. Engineering and sensors.. Not his strong point...
Javits glances back to Havaris with a nod to Idrani, "A probe may be just the sort of thing we need to extend our capabilities." Turning back to Havaris he asks, "With your permission, sir, I can run a quick check of our inventory and select the one best suited for this mission."
Over Havaris's com badge, Hurley says, "Uh. I think Cadet Torin found something.. please hold on a moment."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Darax seems to get a sudden idea. With a grim expression on his face, he adjusts his sensor array ever so slightly so that it can narrow down on the ship's trail. Narrowing them slightly, he tries to make another long range sweep.. Judging from the soft Bolian curse he lets out under his breath, this didn't work either. "Still looking, sir."
"We're running sensors at maximum intensity as it stands. Any more juice, we'll blow a conduit," Havaris admits with a bit of a frown, "as to the probe, we could launch one, but we'd be looking at a fairly impressive delay in return. We should be able to get sensor acuity on this asteroid. The Levy was bleeding energy pretty badly. There should be residuals from that. I'm more concerned by the lack of a buoy at this point. And the loss of transponder." Havaris motions Idrani over towards Operations. "Go ahead and sit in. Right now, we're working primarily on Sensors. So. Go for it."
Idrani sits down at Operations.
<CONTEST> Idrani (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Succeeds!
Over Havaris's com badge, Hurley says, "Lieutenant," she's smiling, though obviously a smile doesn't transmit over a voice communication system. None-the-less, she is smiling. "We have bad news. It seems the Shoemaker requires maintenance repairs before it can safely be used. Would you like a full report?"
Into his com badge, Havaris's voice gets nice and firm as he replies, "Yes. Yes, I would."
Over Havaris's com badge, Hurley says, "The good news is that Cadet Torin believes he can have it running safely in a half hour. The bad news is that he believes that if the ship went to warp, it's possible it can blow up or shoot well off course. I'll have more details from the Cadet in a moment, I'm sure."
. o O Havaris thinks "If those shuttles are malfunctioning due to shuttle bay oversight, so help me /OPAKA/ my wife will have to put them back together in order to tear them apart."
Idrani sits down next to Darax, giving the Bolian a polite nod. She brings up a sensors grid on the Operations console and attempts to scan for the energy signature mentioned by Lieutenant Havaris. Jaylas runs the LCARS much like her diplomacy meetings, she is calm, focused and seemingly in complete control. "Got it." She notes, "The Levy has done an emergency landing on the asteriod in question. She appears to be intact, but there are no life signs aboard." She pauses. "Some systems still have power, but not all. Life support appears to be operational."
. o O Javits thinks "Cadet Torin? Well, I did always say he's a good engineer. Not the best officer, but definitely a good engineer. Good to see him back in action."
Javits glances back to Idrani with an inquisitive expression, then to Havaris with an intensified version of the same, coupled with a concerned frown. Looking back to Idrani, he asks, "Lieutenant Idrani, if you could transfer a copy of that sensor data to me, I might be able to better interpret it from an engineering standpoint."
. o O Javits thinks "Not trying to step on your toes, Lieutenant, but I am an engineer."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Darax returns the nod politely, but quickly, so that he can return to his work. When Idrani finds the ship, he allows himself to crack a small smile. Ship found. That's good. No crew. That's bad. The smile quickly turns into a knotted look of concentration. "I'm going to try and see if they are on the surface of the asteroid..." Beep.tap.. "Noting so far..."
The deckplates hum underfoot as the power plants work to provide the station with energy.
"If they're alive, they're not in the Shuttle. If they're not in the Shuttle, they're EVA. If they're EVA, they have helmet com units. They might be able to pick up a narrow-point broadcast, if we can bounce it off the shuttle's Mission Ops console. If we can do that, we may /also/ be able to use the shuttle's Mission Ops relay to give us their position. Worth a shot." Havaris, finally getting to the point where he can make decisive and useful suggestions, looks much more on his game. "Good work, Mister Idrani. Well done. Go ahead and forward your sensor lock to Engineering. See if he can diagnose it more in depth."
Idrani nods to Havaris. She hits a few buttons on her console, transferring the data to Javits. "Aye sir. Do you want me to attempt bouncing the comm signal, sir?"
. o O Javits thinks "Someone else is working as part of the team to locate them. As part of the same team, I can try and decipher more about the shuttle and its present condition, perhaps even shed more light on what happened to it."
Into his com badge, Havaris says, "We've found the Levy's location. It made it to the surface of an asteroid in tact. It's lost a good deal of its primary and secondary systems from the looks of it. Javits is going to be having a better look at the thing, here, shortly. Keep on top of it down there. Let me know."
<CONTEST> Javits contests his Systems Engineering (Engineering) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Bolians are full of ideas. Darax is no exception.. The best part is, it shows on Darax's face when he has one. "Sir, now that we know where the ship is we may be able to contact the ship's computer and see if we can ascertain what happened to the crew that way. It is conceivable that if I can make contact with the ship that we could use it as a sort of relay station to contact the crew.." He pauses for a moment. "If the communications systems are still in working order." His fingers are working as he says it.
GAME: Darax spends a courage point.
Over Havaris's com badge, Hurley says, "I'm on my way up there to show you something, Sir. I'll see you in a moment."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
"Mister Darax, we are, apparently, having the same idea as one another. In a different scope. Mister Idrani, please try to push through the Com Signal. See if their Mission Ops is operational. If you can, download their blackbox data and flight recorder. I want to know what happened down there, and why Cristobal didn't leave a distress beacon." Havaris eases back into his seat, motioning vaguely at the trio of crewmen, "Do what you do. It's working so far."
Hurley steps into the bustle of Ops from the corridor. The door slides shut with a whisper.
Hurley has arrived.
Idrani nods. "Aye, sir." She starts tapping at her console.
GAME: Idrani spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Idrani (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
Idrani speaks up, "Sir, the signal is getting to the Levy, but the com systems look about completely inoperable. It /might/ make it to the EVA suits, but not likely."
Javits frowns studiously as he pores over the data from Idrani's sensor lock, shaking his head, "Sir, that power surge from the warp systems appears to have initiated a cascade failure in every possible system. The crew was lucky to make it to the asteroid alive and even luckier to make a survivable landing. It's doubtful that many systems, even redundant backups, survived that cascade failure. I'd say that it's almost a definite that comm systems are offline." Glancing back to Havaris, he asks, "Perhaps a probe could be used to provide a stronger communications link? I could have a class eight or nine probe on site in under twenty minutes for that purpose and to reinforce sensors."
. o O Javits thinks "Yes, we need a probe. Yes, it can be there quickly."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Fails!
The doors part to admit a blue-shirted sciences NCO, drawing the attention of eyes and antennae all around Ops.
Alright, so there's no hope from the ship. Darax was prepared for such an eventuality. "I'm going to see if I can't spray the asteroid with communications. If they're there.. and I can get it through.. hopefully they'll hear me..." He taps his console few times, "Crew of the USS Levy, this is Station 419, do you copy?" Listen. "Nothing.." But it can't be because they're not there.. There was a fault in the attempt.. He goes right back to going over his calculations... Looking for his error.
Hurley enters briskly from the corridor, and just barely under her jog pace heads straight for Havaris' chair, PADD in hand. "Sir, the suspicious maintenance logs of the Levy and the Shoemaker. Upon close inspection, you can see the information has been altered. Dates don't correspond and nothing 'maintained' by this Petty Officer has been confirmed." She pauses, bites her lower lip, and states softly, "the altered logs date back about a month."
. o O Darax gets a little more inwardly frantic. Out there. On an asteroid.. Time.. Every second counts... They are there. He -will- get through to them.
"Thank you, Mister Javits. Good work. And you, too, Idrani." Havaris shifts in his seat, perching his chin on a hand, fingers curling around his mouth, eyes narrowed. He's thinking. Darax's report earns a faint nod of the head. He finally nods back to Javits, "Launch a series of probes. One to keystone, however many you may require for relay. We're out of remote options, here." He then turns to eye Hurley, "Which. Petty Officer."
. o O Javits thinks "So we either have a case of poor maintenance practices, including pencil-whipping the logs, or someone actually sabotaged the shuttles. Wonderful. Either way, someone's career just took a nose-dive straight through the deck."
. o O Havaris is boiling with neatly curbed ferocity. Wouldn't want to be that Petty Officer, no no.
Idrani keeps tapping on the console. "That's an excellent idea, Mr. Darax." She makes another 'mass communications' attempt. But as Hurley imparts her news, however, both antennae focus on the human female.
<CONTEST> Idrani (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Succeeds!
Idrani hits a button on her console, "Crew of the USS Levy, this is S419. Come in. What is your status?" She sends her message. She seems to have lost a modicum of her earlier calm detachment, however. Her jaw is tense.
Javits pauses long enough on Hurley to digest the information, which brings forth a brief flash of anger, then turns back to his duties, "Aye, sir. One class ten and one class nine probe launched. Class ten will close on the asteroid which the class nine halts ten minutes out to act as a relay. This should provide a comm link for the crew." This said, he turns his attention to his station's display, "Monitoring probe telemetry. Estimated time to arrival, eighteen minutes, fifty-one seconds."
Hurley clears her throat, currently under the 'eye' of the Havaris. "Mishka Trinachka. I don't believe she's been assigned to 419 long, but I haven't looked up her service record yet. I wanted to get these logs to you quickly."
A petty officer steps in through the doors and sets about tapping things on the console beside the entrance.
. o O Javits thinks "Might want to send her department chief a message too. They might have a UIF on her that happened not to make it here yet."
Finally. Something Havaris is supposed to do. He nods to Hurley, and leans down over his chair arm, poking at the terminal. "I'll bring up her records, check her security clearances, compare them to the manifest, see if I can't ferret out what was done and how. While I'm at it, I'm locking Trinachka out of LCARS. That crewman is officially relieved from duty. If you could contact Security to surreptitiously introduce CPO Trinachka to Brig Three, I'd be appreciative."
Idrani sets the message on 'repeat'. "Sir, I think I'm getting through." She hits a few more buttons, trying to sharpen the signal.
Javits continues to monitor the probes' progress, "Sir, the relay probe has dropped out of warp and is taking up its position. Class ten probe should arrive on site at the asteroid in approximately twelve minutes."
"Petty Officer Mishka Triachka," Darax says while looking for a reading on whether Idrani's attempt got through. "Scored a 2.33 on her Tier I evaluation. Recently transferred. She's 24 years old with no reprimands on her service record. She does, however, have a verbal counselling record for what the superior officer called taking shortcuts." All of this off of the top of his head. "I don't remember if there's anything else relevant, but I just looked at her records the other day to review her."
Before Hurley can respond, Darax gets her attention, then she looks back to Havaris, hoping she's not going to get the eye for Darax spoiling his fun. With a small smile, she states in a tone that's *almost* her normal chipper tone, "I'll head down to security to personally deliver your order, Sir. Anything else I can do?"
<CONTEST> Havaris contests his Computer (Research) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Alternating blue and yellow flashes of light emit from an open Jefferies tube, before a lithe Bajoran swings out and re-seals the hatch, her work complete.
A response, faint and scratchy at this point, comes over the coms. "Station ...ieut... istobal. Diff...ees ... warp ...ced us to land ...asteroid at this location," he proceeds to note the coordinates of their asteroid, "We discov... unregistered sett... broadca... stress call in Morse Code. ... ppears to ... been a pri... mining inst... Hanson ... Com... timates ...at least a century old. ... human corpses ...of death in ... urder. ...discovered ... appears ...nsible, and have stunned ..."
Havaris glances up from his work to frown vaguely at Darax. Yep. He ruined Kusto's fun, he did. His attention returns to his arm terminal all the same, and he keeps right on poking. "Yes. Hurley, get down to Security. No great rush, she can't replicate herself a glass of water now. Inform them to get that crewman into custody. At present, she's being held for Deriliction of Duty and Flasification of Work Records. I want her equipment commandeered. And make certain she knows how and why we found this out. Let her stew. And notify Lieutenant Ivos that I'm breaking his CPO over my knee at my first opportunity." Havaris then flips over his terminal to Flight Deck and service records on his shuttle squadron. "I /hate/ sloth. Hate it." Havaris takes a few more moments before noting down to Idrani, "Lieutenant, I need Workbees One, Five, Seven, and Nine recalled for a full diagnostic and maintenance refits. The Shoemaker, the Cape Fear, and the Lovelace are similarly recalled from service pending similar workups." Havaris shakes his head and stews back into his seat. "That's a solid quarter of our Shuttle Firepower."
Idrani nods to Havaris, "Aye sir, but I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the more... omnious motives. The ability to alter the logs of the shuttle maintence does indicate a level of training that most NCOs wouldn't have access to." She starts sending messages to the Workbees, when the scratchy comm message comes in. "Lieutenant Cristobal, this is Lieutenant Idrani. We are receving you, but the message is garbled. Attempting to clean up the signal." She hits more buttons on her console.
. o O Javits thinks "Shortcuts... do the maintenance, but don't /really/ do the maintenance? Right. Someone's lack of integrity and attention to detail might have just cost us some good officers, not to mention a difficult to replace, if not irreplaceable escort shuttle that's vital to this station's mission. Definitely a poor career choi... Alright, that didn't sound good at all. We definitely need a stronger link. When Thea returns, I suspect that petty officer will need to be placed under protective custody to preserve her life long enough for a trial."
Javits looks up at the sound of the garbled incoming transmission distinct frown. With a shake of his head and a determined expression, he turned his attention back to his station, "Sir, relay probe on station and standing by. Keystone probe on final approach, approximately six minutes out."
<CONTEST> Idrani (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Over Havaris's com badge, O'Carroll says, "Ops, Shuttle bay; The Shoemaker is ready to crew up and get under way."
Darax doesn't see the frown.. or much of anything else that is going on behind him. His attention is focused on the terminal in front of him, trying to do every little thing he can to help out Lieutenant Idrani.. Who really doesn't seem to need the help at all.
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Impossible and Fails!
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!
Into his com badge, Havaris says, "Excellent, O'Carroll. You're my pilot on this one. I'll have Darax pull together a crew. I need work crews on the Lovelace, as well. Idrani should be forwarding work orders shortly. Good work, Flight Deck."
Hurley nods once to Havaris, pulls out her own PADD to make notes and turns towards the entrance once again. In and out in and out. She really wasn't raised in a barn.
A very tense, annoyed and almost whiny voice over the com. Is that Medes? It barely sounds like her. It sounds more like someone turned Thea into a four-year-old severely in need of a nap. "Lieutenant I'm Better Than You wants to know when whether or not someone's coming to get us." A pause. "Or whether we're going to get left here with the corpses."
An operations ensign spins in his chair once before returning to his sensor sweeps.
Hurley heads out of Operations and into the main corridor.
Hurley has left.
"Idrani, relay that signal through the probes. That should pick up the slack. Darax, get a bead on them via the probe scans. Javits, see if you can manage to relay a remote signal down to the Levy. I don't know how much you can remedy remotely, but get on it. I can't leave that shuttle down there. And Darax, when you're done with that, I need a Mission Ops recovery team in the Shoemaker. O'Carroll will fly it. Idrani, I was going to send you out, but I think I need you here. Take Donavon with you if you like." Havaris relays what passes for his orders and pinches his nose for a moment. "Prophets grant me strength. Great gaping firecaves, I tell you."
Over Havaris's com badge, O'Carroll says, "Aye, sir. I'll move the Lovelace up to the top of the list for maintenance. Cadet Torin is on it now, actually. Figure another 30 minutes on it. I'll get the Shoemaker warmed up, L'tenant."
Into his com badge, Havaris says, "Keep on it. Havaris out."
Havaris taps his com badge and terminates transmission.
Idrani nods her satisfaction as the com signal cleans up tremendously. "Ah, Lieutenant Medes, is that you?" she asks, "Yes, please relay to Lt. Cristobal that we're sending a team out to pick you up." She makes an educated guess who 'Lt. I'm Better Than You' might be. "We have your position. What is your status," she asks again, as Medes's uncharacteristic whine has her a little concerned. "Is all your crew accounted for?" At Havaris's words, her antennae flick over toward him. "Understood, sir."
Javits glances up with a faint smile at this latest incoming communication, "Keystone probe on station, taking up a position in relation to the Levy. We should now have good sensor data and a strong communications link." Glancing back to Havaris with a firm nod, he responds, "Aye, sir. I'll see what I can manage."
. o O Idrani thinks "Pidgeon-holed again. This time instead of behind a desk, it's behind an Ops console. *sigh*"
"Aye, sir," Darax replies as his fingers run over hsi console. The display of the communications array is quickly replaced with a roster of officers that he can pull on for the away mission. "I'll have a team together before the shuttle has a chance to get too warm.." Scroll, look..
A voice comes back over the coms. "Skippy, report!" No pause, Cristobal's voice just goes on. "We're just peachy, and if a member of my crew wasn't accounted for, I'd bloody well have mentioned it! You just can't wait to cast aspersions on me, can you Idrani?"
"Oh," Havaris adds offhandedly, "and if we can get a feed from their biomonitors, I'd certainly like to know why that crew is behaving like Pakled graduates of the Romulan Intrigue Academy."
Because timing is everything, Thea's voice comes over the coms at that point. "She asked me, you know, Lieutenant 'Can I shoot them now, can I, can I?'" Pause. "I'm short, but I can damn well talk for myself!" Another pause. "What are you doing, 'I can't even work a tricorder'?"
Havaris's com badge chirrups. "Ensign O'Carroll to Lieutenant Havaris."
Havaris taps his com badge. "Go ahead, Ensign."
Over Havaris's com badge, O'Carroll says, "Sir, the Lovelace is in an exceptionally bad state. If ye want one of'em up, there's prolly one that can be up sooner, sir."
Into his com badge, Havaris says, "We're sending the Shoemaker, Ensign. But we need the Lovelace back and operational. The Thomas Paine is down for refit and repair, the Gharas isn't even ours and still suffering from its own engagements. The 17th Tactical is badly damaged, some of the ships destroyed, and that due to engagement with the Obelisk. We depend on these shuttles for close escort duty, off station missions, and secondary fleet strength at times like this. One of my Combat Shuttles is out there, broken, and I'm about to send the second out to get it back. We just need these shuttles back and operation, ASAP. Prep the Shoemaker for flight, let Torin worry about the Lovelace."
Three soft beeps eminate from the ops console, signaling the completion of someone's scheduled sensor analyses.
"Hey, just watch it, Shorty. Who stacked me with that faulty equipment in the first place!" Now it's Shamash over the open com.
"I'm aware of that, Lieutenant Accident-Prone," Now Cristobal, "It's getting you to shut up that's the problem, and since /I'm/ in command, I answered her question. Just because /you/ got reprimanded on your first away command, doesn't mean you have to try to screw up mine!" A pause, "I think they're still dead, /doctor./ Call it a hunch."
"Sir," Darax chirps in. "From looking at the current roster of available officers..." He does a very quick double check, which slows his speach for a moment. "We have myself, Ensign O'Carroll, and Commander Edwards. I am also, considering the current state of the crew, going to try and contact Dr. Gellan.." He taps once more, "Perhaps Dr. Vala as well."
Javits taps at his console for a moment, then shakes his head in frustration, "Sir, repairs tot he levy will require a properly equipped on site team. It'd probably be preferable to send a ship to collect what's left of it. It's definitely no going anywhere soon." Turning to Havaris, he continues, "Sir, I recommend full decontamination procedures for the lot of them, along with a complete medical workup for each. With all due respect, they sound like a bunch of first year cadets on a training exercise. Either the stress of the mission has taken its toll, or something else is going on out there. They did mention something about an unregistered settlement and corpses."
Over Havaris's com badge, O'Carroll says, "Aye, sir. Lovelace will be up as soon as possible. Don't have a more specific ETA at this time, but Cadet Torin sure knows what he's doin."
A wordless scream of rage. Female, followed by Thea shrieking, "Don't point that thing at me, doctor! I'm JUST. FINE. STOP LOOKING AT ME! I WISH YOU WOULD ALL DIE! LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU'RE NOT BETTER THAN ME, NATHAN! YOU WANTED TO SHOOT THEM ALL! YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN US ALL KILLED!" There's a metallic sound, then, the clang of metal hitting metal, and some ripping.
. o O Javits thinks "What the smegging hell is going on out there?!? Forget a rescue team in a shuttle, we need a ship with a full sickbay, maybe a brig if this keeps up. This does not sound right at all."
"Fine, Darax, fine. Look. Get patched into their biomonitor feeds. I want to know what the hell is going on down there. Idrani, if they start going at it down there with more than words and mean names, see if you can put feedback into their com units sufficient to knock them unconscious. I'm not liking the sound of this." Havaris turns back to Javits and tilts his head a bit, blinking owlishly. "Thank you, Lieutenant. The Accountability can pick up the Levy and, hopefully, drop her off at 419 along with the Nausicaan refugees. We'll work on her back here. Right now I'm more worried abo--" Havaris breaks off as Medes' tirade comes over the line. That's about it for his patience. He pokes his com unit and barks at it, "LIEUTENANT MEDES! YOU WILL STAND DOWN, DO YOU HEAR ME! Get a grip. /ALL OF YOU/. We're sending a rescue party. Sit tight, shut up, and behave yourselves."
Ah hell. "Is there an EMH program on the Levy, sir?" Idrani asks, "And if so, is it operable? And if so, can we bring it online from here and lockout the controls? They might need more immediate medical attention. It could be hypoxia or any number of problems. I suggest we try to direct them back to the Levy and then see if we can get the security measures working, sedate them and lock them inside."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Communications) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
Darax starts doing his Darax thing. His hands work feverishly over the console in front of him and he hunches over a little bit to get his face a little bit closer to the screen. "I've got a patch into their biomonitor and will put it through to Lieutenant Idrani and yourself, sir." Which he goes about doing. Meanwhile, the urgency of getting the team together becomes a little more urgent...
Javits blinks as the tirade comes over the comm system, looking up with a completely dumbfounded expression before turning to Havaris and attempting to speak with a firm tone, "Sir, the probe possesses a full standard sensor pallet. We could use it to gain a better understanding of the crew's situation. Perhaps there's something about that unregistered settlement that's causing this behaviour." Looking to Idrani, he shakes his head, "Even if there is, as far as I can tell, every system aboard the Levy is offline and severely damaged."
Darax taps his com badge. "Lieutenant JG Darax to Commander Edwards."
Over Darax's com badge, someone says, "Commander Edwards here."
Apparently not everyone heard Havaris's words, because over the com comes Shamash's voice, "Take this you freak! SABOTOUR!" followed by the sounds of multiple phaser shots. Chaos.
Into his com badge, Darax says, "Commander, I'm sorry to disturb you, but we have a situation. The USS Levy has crash landed on an asteroid. Currently all of the ship's system's are offline and the crew is on the asteroid. I am putting together a rescue team and require your assistance."
"Don't worry sir, I'll keep them under control!" This is Cristobal's voice, followed by another shot, and a heavy thud.
A yeoman leaves the CO's office with a look of relief on his face.
Darax adds, right after this, "Something is not quite right about their signals. I'm going to patch them through to the Shoemaker so that Drs Vala and Gellan can look them over en route."
Over Darax's com badge, Edwards says, "All right. What do you want me to do?"
At the sound of phaser fire, Idrani starts programming more commands into her console, attempting the unconsciousness-causing high frequency emission, as ordered by Lt. Havaris.
. o O Javits thinks "They've lost it, they've completely smegging lost it. Forget the shuttle, we need a fully functional starship to handle this. That is unless they can keep them all sedated on the shuttle, which means they have to get to them first."
Now Thea's voice. "You tried to SHOOT ME! MUTINOUS CRETIN!"
Into his com badge, Darax says, "Meet me in the Shuttle bay in five minutes, sir."
GAME: Idrani spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Idrani (claiming advantage) contests her Shipboard Systems (Medical) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Into his com badge, Darax says, "I'll brief the crew once we are on the Shoemaker, to save time, sir."
Over Darax's com badge, Edwards says, "All right. Edwards out."
Over Havaris's com badge, O'Carroll begins again, "Sir, we're going to need some higher authorization 'ere. We'll need a slew of warp coils from the Quartermaster, and possible a few more type nines replicated. Also, if this deck is going to be in any kind of shape, we need to pool in more manpower from available engineering personnel. The new ETA on the Lovelace is 2-to-3 hours, but that's with more people then we have available at present. It's looking at an overhaul, sir."
Darax's com badge clicks as Edwards drops off channel. The channel closes.
GAME: Javits spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Javits (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Darax resets his com badge.
Darax taps his com badge. "Lieutenant JG Darax to Lieutenant Gellan."
And over the coms... "NOBODY PANIC!" Cristobal shouts, "I AM IN COMMAND!" A pause, then, "Really now doctor, I'm not falling for that. I'll be back to stun you in a moment, I just need to make sure that Harris isn't planning to kill me and steal my wife."
Darax taps his com badge and terminates transmission.
Darax taps his com badge. "Lieutenant JG Darax to Lieutenant JG Vala."
Over Darax's com badge, someone says, "Lieutenant JG Vala here."
Into his com badge, Darax says, "Dr. Vala. I require your assistance in an away team retrieval. The USS Levy has gone down on an asteroid and there may be wounded. We are meeting in the shuttle bay in five minutes, I'll be briefing everyone en route. There may be wounded."
Into his com badge, Havaris says, "Just get the Levy prepared, O'Carroll, and get on the ship, and let Engineering worry about the Lovelace. Alright? I've got a crew coming down and you need to be where I put you. On the Shoemaker. Havaris out."
Havaris taps his com badge and terminates transmission.
Over Darax's com badge, Vala says, "I'll grab a medkit and meet you in the shuttle bay."
Lace has arrived.
GAME: Lace is joining this location.
Into his com badge, Darax says, "See you in five, Darax out."
Darax taps his com badge and terminates transmission.
Darax taps his com badge. "Lieutenant JG Darax to Lieutenant Gellan."
Javits taps away hurriedly at his station's console, peering at the display all along. Apparently the results of his efforts are unexpected, as he blinks several times with an intensely inquisitive concerned expression before speaking with a hesitant tone, "Sir, I have a sensor report from the settlement compound. The crew is not alone. I read approximately three dozen bodies in the compound and one living human who isn't part of the crew. There are definite signs of fighting, and a recently opened stasis chamber."
Over Darax's com badge, someone says, "Lieutenant Gellan here."
Javits adds with a concerned tone, "A shuttle isn't going to be enough for this."
Into his com badge, Darax says, "Sir, we have a situation with te USS Levy. They have gone down on an asteroid and are behaving oddly. I am putting together a team for retrieval. Considering their behavior, I think your skills are necessary."
Idrani nods in agreement with Javits, "Sir, I agree. I did as you ordered and attempted to incapaciate the crew, for safety reasons. It doesn't seem to have worked. We need to /emphatically/ stress to Commander Edwards and the other Powers That Be that this is an exceedingly urgent situation and the Aegis is the only available craft for the rescue. Speed is of the essence."
Over Darax's com badge, Gellan says, "Acknowledged, Lieutenant. I'll grab a medkit and join the team wherever they're gathering. Shuttle deck?"
Into his com badge, Darax says, "As of right now, yes. Meet us there in five minutes."
There is silence now from the coms. Utter silence, save for the distant sound of perhaps breathing.
Over Darax's com badge, Gellan says, "On my way. Gellan out."
Darax's com badge clicks as Gellan drops off channel. The channel closes.
"According to the biofeeds, the crew is incapacitated." He looks to Idrani and then back over to Havaris. It's the first time he's turned around since he sat down in the chair. "Sir? Shall I contact Commander Edwards?"
An operations ensign spins in his chair once before returning to his sensor sweeps.
"Alright. Mister Darax, get down to the Shuttle Bay. Meet your team there, brief them enroute. Mister Idrani, excellent work. Keep them them that way as long as you're able--" Havaris finally looks to Javits and notes calmly, "We haven't got. Anything. More. Mister Javits, thank you, but we haven't -GOT- anything /ELSE/." Havaris looks back to Idrani. "Desist, if it isn't working. No need to agitate them. Brief the Accountability of the change in our situation and request their assistance, again. It's possible they'll have a change of heart. Negative on the Aegis. It is not cleared for this sort of mission. I can't. Javits, get down to the shuttlebay. They'll need an engineer. They have a medical crew. Darax, on your way down, hail for an emergency biobed or two to be dropped off in the shuttlebay. Bring sedatives, and a medical replicator. Advise your team enroute as to the need for medical quarantine of the subjects. Hopefully Vala and Gellan can figure out the problem based on biomonitor feed. I need to brief the Captain and the Commander. Call in your replacements, this is now a flight op, and I'll be monitoring from Flight Deck Control. Let's get on out."
Javits nods slowly to Havaris with a distinctly concerned frown as he logs out of his station, turning it over to a waiting petty officer, "Aye, sir. Understood. We'll make do as best we can. Doesn't mean we have to like it. On my way."
Spider is carrying a Combadge and a Dk'Tagh.
Darax is out of his seat as soon as the order is given. "Aye, sir." With a brisk pace and a set jaw, he starts towards the door, talking as he goes. "This is Lieutenant Darax." Wow, it feels odd to say that. "I need a pair of emergency biobeds down in the shuttlebay five minutes ago.." No, there's no Havaris influence in there... And out he goes.
... and in the shuttle bay...
Havaris steps into the shuttle bay, the doors clanging shut behind him.
Havaris has arrived.
Darax steps into the shuttle bay, the doors clanging shut behind him.
Darax has arrived.
"The runabout Levy's crashed on an asteroid." Edwards explains, glancing at Gellan and Vala as he waits near the Shoemaker. "Apparently its occupants would like to come home."
Ivos has arrived.
Vala nods to Edwards in return, she tries to stay out of the way as much as possible, her medical kit over her shoulder.
Torin is working around the Lovelace, with nearly two full crews, the remainder of the shuttle bay crew is at hand, working on the rest of the Long-Range shuttles apparantly. Torin seems to be something of a center of attention giving out a variety of instructions to the various crews while doing his own work overhauling the shuttles engines.
Havaris steps through the bay doors, hands folded behind his back, eyes scrutinizing the bustle with some measure of displeasure. Ops Managers tend not to like bustle without merit. This constitutes bustle that didn't have to happen, clearly. He makes his way towards the Shoemaker casually.
Gellan suddenly turns her head and looks around, at the crew, and the shuttlebay itself, with a look of suspicious unease that lasts all of perhaps a second or two. But then she turns to take note of the rest of the rescue crew joining them, and flashes a quick smile.
. o O Gellan thinks "You too?"
Darax, on the other hand, makes his way in, locks on the Shoemaker and begins to make his way directly over towards it. "Did the emergency biobeds make it down here yet?" This is called out to no one in general and an answer isn't waited for before he looks at his crew... Alright, Edwards' crew that he put together. "Do we have sedatives and a medical replicator?" Oh yeah, then as an afterthought of a hurried mind, "Sirs?"
Vala makes her way over to Darax, the person who asked for her services.
O'Carroll is realizing the bustle about her craft, now, and pokes her head out of the Shoemaker to glance at the forming party. "Sirs." she greets the pip wearers.
As if on cue, a crew comes in, bearing biobeds on hoversleds. A Bolian Chief, Byjos by name, leads them toward the Shoemaker. "I'm not sure how you can fit too many of these on there, but... "
Havaris draws up at the aft end of the Shoemaker, eyeing the interior thoughtfully. "Easy," Havaris replies to Byjos, "you strip out the cabin seating. Get on it, Chief." Havaris turns a bit to face the crowd in general, "If I could have your attention, gentlemen. I'll give you the quick briefing, Darax will fill you in on the way."
Edwards quietly looks to Havaris and proceeds to listen.
Vala looks to Havaris
Spider has left.
Spider has arrived.
GAME: Spider is joining this location.
Darax comes to a stop somewhere near Havaris and looks over the crew of mostly superior officers. With nothing to say at the moment, he comes to rest and folds his hands behind his back.
Ivos steps out of the turbolift, a PADD in hand, and immediately stops to survey the area and get an idea of how the situation is unfolding. And then he makes his way towards where the other senior staff members are gathered.
. o O Gellan projects "As did I. And of all the times..I am leaving the station. If you feel it again..notify someone in Operations, would you?"
Gellan nods to Havaris, giving him her full attention.
O'Carroll gets out of the inbound Chiefs way, stepping off the Shoemaker to listen to the short breifing from her Bajoran boss.
Torin doesn't seem overly concerned with the invasion of the variety of officers. He perhaps for better or worse doesn't say much in greetings, or offering explainations for the bustle or take part in the groups briefing. Instead he sticks with the variety portions of the Lovelace's repairs with his typical single minded intensity.
Byjos gives Havaris a brief puzzled look, then shakes his head slightly and notes to one of the crewmen beside him, "He quite takes after her, you think?" before trundling off into the Shoemaker to start pulling out chairs.
"At roughly 15:30, the Station lost the transponder beacon of the USS Levy, enroute to a Subspace Relay Station for standard repair and refit duties. The transponder loss was followed, a few minutes later, by the loss of the Levy on sensors entirely. Long story short, poor maintenance and falsified reports contributed to a fatal cascading power failure aboard the USS Levy. They vented their power but were unable to keep the cascade from crippling their systems. They set down on an asteroid inside of a field not far from their point of lost contact. We were able to bounce a signal off of a pair of probes to reach the away team. They'd discovered a lost settlement of some sort, and appeared to be under the effects of some sort of dissociative, something that causes paranoia. Frankly, we're not certain what it is, but we have biomonitor feeds and the Medical and Counseling officers here are to work on that problem enroute. Unless you are certain you know the cause upon arrival, beam them out to the /Levy/. Not the Shoemaker. And keep cracking. We've been using high-frequency com pulses to keep the team unconscious. But there's another life form down there with them, and if it comes around while they're unconscious, we're going to have problems. The USS Accountability under Captain Miller will be rendezvousing with your flight once they're at liberty from their rescue of Nausicaan refugees fleeing the UNA. Their ETA was roughly seven hours at the start of this call, and they've had some delays, which puts them at /least/ two hours out of being able to assist you. They'll be lifting the Levy off for you, but you are responsible for the crew and first response. Ensign Darax will fill in the holes for you aboard the ship, but if you have any pressing or immediate concerns, now's the time." Havaris, Chief Exposition Officer.
Vala raises her hand
"Doctor," Havaris prompts.
Vala says, "What sort of injuries am I expecting here?"
Gellan doesn't quite control the frown that greets that breifing. So much for simple rescues.
O'Carroll's com badge chirrups. "Ensign Hurley to Ensign O'Carroll."
"Likely a bit of blunt force trauma and phaser burns. There was weapon fire on the ground and we know at least one officer was struck. Lieutenant Medes." Havaris manages to say that without twitching, bless his boyish little body. "But all of them have solid biosigns. No risk to life as yet."
"If I may, sir?" Darax looks to Havaris with that polite, I-know-your-wife-is-in-trouble-again look.
Vala nods quietly.
. o O Gellan sighs mentally. "Rings, the woman is a magnet for injury. She needs full body armor."
O'Carroll looks slightly relieved at the news, but then blushes ever so slightly as her commpin chirps at her. She looks apologetic, "No questions, sir." she offers, taking a step closer towards the runabout to answer the communication quietly.
O'Carroll taps her com badge. "Go ahead."
Over O'Carroll's com badge, Hurley says, "Hey, just wanted to make sure everything was going well, test internal comms briefly and most of all wish you the best of luck, which I know you don't need."
Havaris nods to Darax, "Go for it." He then looks to O'Carroll and makes a none too subtle motion to end the call.
Darax waits until he has confirmation from Lieutenant Havaris that he is clear to speak. "I've had their biofeeds put through so that they may be monitored from the ship. I have also had a log of the conversation with the crew members forwarded for Lieutenant Gellan's benefit." He clears his throat once and looks around quickly. "At the risk of overstepping my bounds, I would like to urge us forward. I feel that time is of the essence here."
Vala nods quietly to Darax, "I'll keep an eye on those feeds."
"With that said," Havaris offers with a puff of a sigh, "any more questions, or can I kick you out of my flight deck?"
Into her com badge, O'Carroll responds softly and easily, "Aye. A little luck n'er hurts. We're gettin under way now, tho. See ye when we get back, lass. Out."
. o O Darax is antsy. Very antsy. Crew down. Unknown entity down. Hopefully.
O'Carroll taps her com badge and terminates transmission.
. o O Darax thinks "Get on the ship... Hope they're safe.. Of course, they're.. Answer any questions... I hope... Try to locate entity..."
Gellan nods to Darax. "I'll review them once we're aboard and underway, thank you, Lieutenant." She spares a quick look and a smile for Havaris. "We'll be back before you know it, and with bells on." And she turns for the shuttle, ready to follow Edwards and the rest inside.
O'Carroll ends the communications link in one fell swoop, returning the two steps she was away from the group. She clasps her hands behind her back, ready to file aboard with the others.
"I'll see you out of your flight path, then. And be your Flight Deck Officer on the station, here. Idrani has Ops at the moment. Good luck, gentlemen." Havaris nods to the team generally, and then to Edwards in particular, "Your mission, Commander." Havaris backs up a step and turns about, heading off for the control terminal at back of the bay.
Edwards nods to Havaris, before the Operations Manager turns around. Then he looks to his people. "Saddle up." He motions them ahead and stands ready to board after they do.
Vala follows to board the vessel.
Darax looks like he'd leave the soles of his boots on the deck if he just let loose of some of the tension in his speed walk to the craft. With a duck of his head, he is in..
Gellan gives Edwards an odd look as she passes him to enter the shuttle. Silent, but humored.
. o O Gellan thinks "Saddle...up? Aren't saddles for those things they call horses?"
The crews exit the shuttle just as the officers enter it, and Byjos goes to stand next to Havaris and watch the Shoemaker go out to save the Levy. Turnabout, after all, is fair play.
. o O Gellan projects "And you.."
O'Carroll files aboard behind Gellan, trying to keep her best poker face about her as she moves into the craft.
Havaris pokes at the controls, which sounds the klaxons. Yellow lights begin flashing from the ceiling. Work crews drop their duties and start scuttling for the safety of the back end of the bay. He speaks calmly, and his voice is amplified over the bay and broadcast over the PA of the Shoemaker. "Lieutenant Havaris, 419 Flight Deck Control. Clear the flight deck and prepare for shuttle debarkation." Once the crews are cleared, he raises the shield before him and drops the shield over the open face of the shuttle bay. "s419-X2 Shoemaker, you are cleared for for debarkation. Engage your guidance thrusters and clear my deck. Proceed at one quarter imulse on a heading of two-four-oh mark one distal of Anomaly, proceed to ten thousand kilometers. You are flight s419-012-Alpha while in my space. Over."
Vala takes her seat near the monitoring console for the lifesigns. She keeps a close eye on it.
Edwards is the last aboard. He moves to take a seat and remarks, "Take us out when you're ready, O'Carroll."
Torin files along with the rest of the bay crew clipping himself to a safety line as things go on. Taking the time to check in with a variety of the crews on their status as he waits for the shuttle to leave.
. o O Edwards thinks "This should be fun."
Darax files into the shuttle and moves to take his seat at the mission ops chair. Alright, time to bring up the information that was forwarded.. location... communications settings.. etc.
. o O Havaris is focussed on what he's doing. On occasion, living by the book is annoyance to those around you, well Havaris knows. At times like this, with your XO and wife unconscious after crash landing your combat shuttle on an asteroid several lightyears away from your location? It's a comfort.
O'Carroll moves to the pilots seat, "Aye, sir." she responds, completing the final checks and a few re-calibrations for the lack of chairs and the biobed cargo. That done, the craft begins hovering above the deck and slowing making it's way for space.
. o O O'Carroll thinks "Should I tell them I've never flown one of these before? Neh."
. o O O'Carroll feels calm, cool, and collected.
. o O Darax is trying to calm himself and get himself back. He's under control, just edgy not icy.
Gellan has found a seat and settled herself in. She glances to O'Carroll..and then decides to buckle into the seat.
Havaris continues to manipulate his console, speaking calmly in the dry monotone of Flight Officers the galaxy over. Once the shuttle is clear and heading off through space, Havaris comes back over the com, "Contine on present course, S419-012-Alpha. You are approaching the end of our flight line." A pause as the Shoemaker clears the 10,000 km mark. He speaks up again, "You are now the USS Shoemaker on a Mission Operations Recovery of the crew of the USS Levy. Bring them home safe, Michael. 419 Flight Deck Control out." Havaris closes the channel, raises the bay shields, returns the atmosphere, and lowers the containment shields. With a final glance to the bay mouth, Havaris offers Torin a glance, "Carry on, Mister Torin." He turns back to her terminal and pokes qutie a bit.
Spider is carrying a Combadge and a Dk'Tagh.
Ivos has arrived.
"Everyone ready to do some rescuing?" Edwards inquires, glancing around at everyone they've managed to fit into the shuttle.
Vala ignores Edwards' comment and keeps her focus on the readouts.
Gellan gives Edwards a nod and a soft "Yessir." Her attention are on those logs Darax had forwarded to her.
"Aye, aye, sir." Darax replies, continuing to go over the readouts.
O'Carroll glances up from her controls and out into dark space, "Aye, sir." she responds evenly.
"Good, good." Edwards murmurs at the somewhat enthusiastic responses. "So, what do we think?" He glances around at the others expectantly.
. o O Vala thinks "I really wish I hadn't come with /him/ on the mission."
Gellan sits back from her perusal of the logs, and lifts her gaze to Edwards. "I think I'd be restating the obvious..that we need to get our people out of there with a quickness. Something is obviously affecting their thought processes, at the least." She gives Darax a glance and a puzzled look. "They are /outside/ the shuttle among .. who?" Evidently that wasn't in the breif log she got.
"Well," Darax replies. "We are going to need to run the crew through decontamination procedures. They may have been exposed on the ship and asteroid. There is some sort of unknown entity on the asteroid with them." He pauses for a moment. "So far as I know, it is currently out of comission as well, but I don't know if that is still true and for how long it will remain so." You can also see the lightbulb go off over his head. "With the relays in place, we might be able to get a better idea of what it is before we get there." He turns and tries while he continues to speak. "I don't know what caused them to leave the shuttle, but it is possible that they may not have been able to stay inside after the landing. Or it is possible that this entity lured them out. We won't know for sure until we know what it is..." Blip. Beep. Blip.
GAME: Darax spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
O'Carroll scans over her system readouts, letting the specialists talk about what's going on. "If the Levy is damaged too severely, we may not be able to move it at all." O'Carroll points out, "The structural integrity might buckle under a tractor beam."
Vala says, "If it's possible we should beam them to this ship, the crew that is, so we can treat them."
Ivos chimes in here, "We were specifically ordered to beam the crew elsewhere. I suspect that was probably for a good reason. And I think the crew is out primary goal here. We don't have the resources to recover the ship. The Accountability does, however."
"Can we use our sensors this far out with the relays?" Edwards inquires, furrowing his brow a bit. "Because a lot of our decision making will have to be done after we survey the scene." He nods at Ivos' words and looks to Vala. "If they're contagious, I'd rather not have us all catch whatever they have."
"We're not supposed to beam them to this ship unless we can contain, control and counteract the threat to them," Darax offers while reading his screen. "Aye, Commander, we can. The unknown on the asteroid with them is a human male of aproximately 130 years in age. From the looks of it, he was in stasis for about 100 of them." He thinks for a moment, "Is it possible that this bahavior is being caused by exposure to something in the ship or on the rock?" He looks to Vala and Gellan for this one. "I've never known a human who could affect people like that."
. o O Edwards thinks "Well now we know who wasn't paying attention to the briefing." JOBS: Comments added to job 197 by Lace.
Vala looks to Darax, "I'm not sure. I suppose it is possible. But I won't know until I see them."
Edwards remarks, "Let me guess, probably an arch-enemy of our Mr. Harris?" He's joking. Sorta. "Scan the Levy, if we can do that. I want to know what shape it's in."
Gellan nods slightly, agreeing with Edwards. "We should try to asertain that the Levy is a secure place to put them though and not a trap of some kind." She pauses, looking to Darax and blinking. "Interesting. It is possible, though I would suspect it to be something external rather than the human coming out of stasis." She looks clearly puzzled, too. "Are they /inside/ the asteroid? And are they wearing EVAs?"
O'Carroll focuses on the starfield in front of her, keeping an ear open to what is being said elsewhere in the cabin.
. o O O'Carroll thinks "Asteroids. In this cow. Hopefully it's not a dense field."
"They are currently underground in their EVAs, though," Darax looks over his station to check the lifesigns of the crew.. Just to make sure. "Though with the knowledge that shots have been fired, it is safe to assume that the suits have been compromised. I'll go over the old data on the Levy and do a fresh scan to make sure that its status isn't deteriorating further."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Darax contests his History (Human) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
Edwards muses, "Right now, I'm thinking that maybe this person was put in stasis and abandoned because of whatever's affecting our people."
"The Levy is in standby, sir," the Bolian command officer. "Someone managed to stop the cascading failure and was apparently in the process of fixing it when they went in for a landing. It would be safe to transport them to" Gee.. Wonder who that was... He falls quiet for a moment to double check something. "Hello there..." he draws out as something catches his attention. "Sir, there is some sort of pulsing energy coming from the mining settlement." His finger taps the edge of the panel, but not on any keys. "That sounds familiar." His attention goes to Edwards, "Something Terran. I remember reading about it at the academy....What was it..."
Gellan nods thoughtfully, again at Edwards. "I would agree, sir. It may be that he was infected with something that has now infected the team. And if there are others there..it could be an ugly situation very soon."
GAME: Edwards spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Edwards (claiming advantage) contests his History (Human) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> O'Carroll contests her History (Human) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
. o O Darax is wracking his brain. If there is a blinking energy emitter in existance, he is thinking of it.. All except one.
O'Carroll begins tapping on the edge of her console, her brows raising slightly in interest, "An old code signal." she realizes with some awe, glancing over her shoulder towards Edwards, "Morse Code?" she offers as a somewhat unsure option, "It sounds about right."
"Sounds about right." Edwards remarks, although he sounds a bit tentative. "Someone look it up in the computer, please. See if we can get a translation."
<CONTEST> Darax contests his Computer (Research) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
Darax get on that. "Morse code! That's it!" He goes back to his terminal and starts quickly looking through programs on a translator. "It's a distress signal. It just says SOS over and over again." Which puts them back at square one..
Vala is just along for the food, wait, no, she's just here to heal people, she hopes. No one better die, or she'll be real upset.
. o O Edwards thinks "Well that was helpful."
Gellan looks interested, at that. "Did the Levy's team report anything like that before they went down? That may be what drew them out of the shuttle to begin with.."
O'Carroll returns her attention towards her instruments, with the occasional glance up into space. She listens quietly to the questions and comments about her.
"All right. When we arrive, we'll transport our people back to the Levy. Hopefully our biofilters will help." Edwards states. "And we'll figure out what the hell's going on."
. o O Edwards thinks "It can't ever be easy, can it?"
"Sir, perhaps we should run a surface and subsurface scan for any atmospheric anomalies, strange gasses or radiations." The Bolian asks while not lifting his head from his staion. "It is entirely possible, since this was a mining community, that they hit a vein of something that caused this. It would also explain the beacon."
Edwards nods and adds, "We'll scan everything thoroughly before we do anything."
And so the theorizing goes on as the shuttlecraft zips along at warp 6.2 toward the asteroid... and as they draw near...
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Edwards clears his throat. "So, what do we have?"
O'Carroll remains monitoring at her station, not having much of anything to add on what is going to happen as soon as they arrive at their destination.
"Alright," Darax replies going through his readout and sensor scans. "There doesn't appear to be anything unusual about the surface. I have several mine shafts below the surface, one with machinery and the corpse of a Terran in its seat. The underground is pretty littered with interconnecting tunnels."
Vala nods quietly.
Edwards stands up, so he can step over to Darax and look over his shoulder. "How old's the corpse?" he inquires.
"Roughly a hundred years in age, sir," replies the blue one.
"Something happened at this mining operation a century ago." Edwards observes. "See if there's anything in the computer about it. If they're human, there should be some sort of documentation. And can we beam our people now? I don't want them stuck down there with the old guy if he could come around."
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
O'Carroll raises a thin red brow at the latest bits of information, gears turning inside her head on random thoughts.
. o O O'Carroll thinks "So one died, and another was in stasis? Did everyone else evac quick or somethin? Why leave someone behind like that?"
Vala looks to be getting into doctor mode, ready to heal those injured with her superhuman abilities... with some help from her medkit.
. o O O'Carroll feels confused.
Darax narrows the scan down to focus on the compound that contains the crew. "Well, that's interesting..." He taps the console a few times. "It would appear that the miner's struck a vein of..." He squints a little bit to make sure he has the name correct. "trihoxinol gas. I don't know much about the effects, though. Doctors?"
Gellan ponders that information, finding it grim. "Commander.." she speaks up finally. "If we /are/ able to transport our people into their shuttle, I think a medic should be there to check them out. I'd like to go down. If it /is/ something artificial..like the gas, it can be neutralized."
Vala says, "In humanoids this gas is a halluciogenic, but non toxic, and causes paranoid delusions, like getting hit with LSD. At first there's more paranoia than hallucinations."
"Just to clarify, sirs," Darax chimes in, "There are a total of about three dozen corpses down there, all of them from the original encampment."
Edwards glances at Vala, then back to the readouts. "We may have found our culprit." he remarks. "Can we tell what killed those people? Are these delusions enough to make them homicidal?"
. o O Edwards thinks "I'm guessing they went nuts, started killing each other. Maybe our survivor had enough sense to SOS and put himself into stasis."
Vala's looking at her console, "IT's hard to tell from this distance, the bodies are really far decomposed. Yes, the delusions are enough to make them homocidial."
"I cannot, sir," replies Darax with a shake of his head. "But I can patch through the information the ship's sensors picked up through to Doctor Vala and..." He presses a few buttons, "There you go."
Edwards asks, "If we beam them to the Levy, will they be all right?"
<CONTEST> Vala contests her Medical Sciences (Toxicology) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
Vala says, "Probably, but they'll need to be deconamin... Brin doesn't have any chemical in his bloodstream. This is fascinating."
Vala says, "He seems to have some sort of immunity."
Vala says, "I'll have to run some tests on him"
Edwards furrows his brow. "Do the rest of them? Including the survivor?"
Vala says, "No, just him"
. o O Edwards thinks "I'll assume she meant the others do have chemicals in their blood."
Edwards rests a hand on the back of Darax's chair and takes to leaning. "Will the transporter's biofilters clean them out?"
Darax doesn't look over his shoulder, he is obviously quite aware of the Commander's presence without needing to acknowledge it. Too much work to be done. "I think so, but I can't know for certain. I may not be the right one to ask, though."
"When I ask a question, I want anyone who has the answer to give it." Edwards glances around. "Just for future reference." His gaze settles on Vala again. "Doctor?"
Ivos considers that briefly, before chipping in, "They'll be partially effective, but not one hundred percent. I'm not sure on the exact figure, though. Perhaps a diluted effect. I'm not sure on the toxicology."
Vala looks to Edwards, "I don't know, sir."
<CONTEST> Vala contests her Medical Sciences (Toxicology) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!
Vala says, "The transporter may help, as was suggested, but the gas bonds with red blood cells. You'll need to put them in a biobed for a short period of time to make sure their systems are fully flushed."
"Good think we brought some." Edwards remarks. "How short a period?"
Vala says, "It depends on the patient sir"
Edwards bites off a sigh. "Can you give me a rough estimate, Doctor?"
<CONTEST> Gellan contests her Medical Sciences (Toxicology) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!
Darax shrinks ever so minutely into his seat before leaning forward to look over his readouts again. "How safe would it be to bring them up here at this point?" He glances to Edwards and then over to Vala. "I mean, with the knowledge that it isn't viral or radioactive, is there still a danger of contamination?"
Vala says, "According to the scans, Lt Medes is worst off, probably due to her small size, but I can't be certain, Shamash is next, followed by Cristobal and last off is Harris. Medes will require an hour, maybe longer. They will need to be in the infirmary overnight once we get back for observation at the least."
. o O Edwards thinks "Medes is the worst. I should've guessed that."
Vala says, "Once we put them through the biofilters of the transporter, they should be decontaminated."
Vala says, "So you can beam the up at this point if the filter is in place"
Vala says, "They will be decontaimated enough not to affect us at the least."
"Then we'll beam them up and treat them." Edwards decides. He straightens, his hand dropping from Darax's chair. "How's the other person?"
Vala says, "It looks like he was shot with a phser on heavy stun and is being incapacitated by some sort of frequency thing, which is keeping everyone else knocked out tool"
"Might as well bring him up too. Command does tend to frown on us not helping people." Edwards remarks. "Mr. Darax, if you would see to the transporting..." He turns to face Gellan. "Looks like you won't have to go anywhere to help out."
"That would be Lieutenant Idrani's doing. Once we have them on board and can sedate them, I can contact her and request that the frequency halt." To Edwards, he gives an "Aye, sir. There is one small problem. We are going to need to enter the asteroid field to get a good lock." There's always one small problem, isn't there?
Gellan smiles breifly and nods to Edwards. "Agreed, Sir." She glances to Vala and stands. "Let me know what you need help with."
Vala prepares and get's off her duff, "I'm ready when you are."
"Always a catch." Edwards mutters. "Ensign O'Carroll, if you would, please? And try not to send us to our fiery deaths."
Gellan promptly sits back down and buckles in again.
O'Carroll glances over her shoulder, Gellan's reaction not really being the best morale raiser for the pilot. But a smart move. "Always a catch, sir." she echoes, directing her attention to the task at hand. Forward!
GAME: O'Carroll spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> O'Carroll (claiming advantage) contests her Vehicle Operations (Shuttlecraft) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!
GAME: Darax spends a courage point.
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Transporter) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
Medes has arrived.
O'Carroll sets the craft into motion, dipping a little here, sliding a little there. The thrusters being put through their paces as she zips about them like she does it everyday. She's even whistling slightly as she does so. Hopefully no one is getting motion sickness from the way the the stars shift on the viewport.
Cristobal has arrived.
Cristobal steps In Character.
Cristobal has left.
Cristobal has arrived.
Brin has arrived.
Vala notices people beaming in and as they do, she goes over to give them a good examination.
A shimmer of blue lights is the prefix to the crew appearing on the deck, as well as the mid-thirties man who apparently was in stasis along with them. Medes is curled up as if she'd been leaned against a wall, and slumps over to her side, coming slowly awake.
Once everyone's aboard, Edwards motions for the ladies to go to the patients. "Have at it." He looks to Ivos and Darax. "Can we tow the Levy, or do we leave it for now?"
. o O Medes comes slowly awake, and as she does so, she's gripped with unreasoning fear. They're all coming for her, they already killed Kusto, she's sure of it, that's the only reason he's not here, they must have killed him.
"I've got them," Darax says with a smile on his face.. A smile that quickly fades into something that best resembles panic. "Oh sweet tides! The biofilters failed mid-transport. They haven't been purged of the gas!" He starts to rise out of his seat, expecting the worst. "They'll still be under it's effects!"
Ivos notes to Edwards, "I think we leave it behind. The Accountability is better equipped." And he calmly rests his hand on his phaser, not drawing yet, but ready to do so. "Stay calm. We don't want to startle anyone. Can we contain or treat them before this goes bad?"
. o O Cristobal thinks "Those bastards... They're going to blame me for all of this! I WON'T LET THEM!"
Cristobal is stretched out face-down. There's some stirring there, his head, still inside his EVA suit's helmet, dented faceplate and all. The fingers in the hand that had held the phaser when he fell tighten around the grip of the weapon.
Medes's hands are closed around her Type II, and as she raises her head, her bloodshot eyes search the shuttle. "Kusto? Kusto!" There's a long rip along the underside of one of her suit's arms, where it looks like she caught it on something and tore it open. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" This is addressed to Edwards. Of course.
. o O Cristobal feels panicked. The paranoid delusions have him completely in their thrall. The exceedingly tenuous thread of logic supporting his belief that his career is threatened has convinced him to act.
Gellan blinks, assailed by the wild and erratic thoughts of the crew beamed aboard. A medical tricorder in her hand as she approached, she freezes in place. "Dear Gods," comes a strangled response, followed by a whispered thought. "Disable the phasers!"
<CONTEST> Darax (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Transporter) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!
Halfway through standing up, Darax slumps himself hard back into his chair. A little bit of Ivos.. A little bit of a realization.. A little bit of enraged wolverine Medes force him back into the seat. With a quick flash of his hands and twist of his torso, he spins back towards his control panel and presses a keys on the console. With one last quick push, the crew of the Levy and the unfrozen miner dematerialize off of the shuttlecraft.
Brin blinks and shakes his head as he starts to wake up. His thoughts are jumbled, like he's just wakign up. At Medes' scream, he becomes alert and scrambles to get away from his away team members. "Quick, sedate them...." his voicebecomes hollow and echoing as he's beamed out mid-sentence.
Vala starts to say something but notices the transporter, "I was just going to suggest that."
"Right." O'Carroll responds, not having taken her eyes off the readouts, vigilant for any possible inbound bumps as she holds a steady position.
The blue sparkles dissipate and then return, leaving an unarmed crew where they were a moment before, though Medes is now holding up empty hands where once a Type II was. Their eyes are still bloodshot, but hey. No phasers now.
Edwards doesn't have much time to react before the crew is slingshotted back and forth by the transporter. "Well." He produces his Type I, just in case. "Okay. O'Carroll? Get us out of the field and take us home. Those of you that are crazy, no sudden moves, or I'll just stun you." He leans toward Darax. "Or did you filter that out with their phasers?"
. o O Medes is just confused now. She wants her Kusto.
. o O Cristobal is noticeably less panicked now than he was just a moment ago. He's still focused on possible damage to his career in Starfleet, and still convinced that this is going to happen, but his hostility is muted. He apparently no longer plans to attack the crew in an effort to rectify that.
. o O Medes is worried, paranoid -- a little -- she thinks perhaps this will keep her from getting promoted. Again. Mostly, however, what she wants is to go home and see Havaris.
. o O Medes thinks "Where is my husband?"
. o O Medes thinks "Why didn't he come?"
Ivos draws his phaser as well, and adds, "And if you didn't filter that out, perhaps we should store them in the buffer for the moment. We can reconstitute them briefly to keep the pattern from degrading before putting them back. Because this is not a good setting for a fistfight."
. o O Ivos thinks "Besides, there aren't enough chairs anyway."
Gellan watches the re-transported crew carefully, while her tricorder takes readings. And she starts to visibly relax, letting out a breath of relief. "I think they'll be okay, Sir."
"I should have gotten both, sir," Darax replies, turning in his seat to watch those newly re-beamed on board for any sudden psychotic movements that could ulimately end with any member of the crew smashing his head into his LCARs.
Cristobal pulls his helmet off of his head and somewhat slowly stands. Growling a bit, he notes, "If that rubric were applied on the daily basis Commander, the majority of the Command staff would spend their entire shifts unconcious." He lets the already-damaged helmet drop to the deck with a thud. He glowers at no one in particular, but makes no moves towards anyone else.
Brin sighs and sits against the shuttles wall. "You got the compound out of their bloodstreams?"
Medes curls up against the wall and puts her hands up over her face. "Oh, Prophets. Oh no. No no no." She doesn't look at anyone, now, just rubs her face wearily. "Oh no."
Vala looks to the patients, "Stay on the biobeds. You all need to be checked out." She says this in her non-typical 'you-must-do-what-you-are-told-or-else' voice. She means business and has the hypospray to prove it.
. o O Cristobal thinks "I'm done. Last service record entry: Who thought it was a could idea to put this officer in command of something? Maybe I can at least sock Brin. Not like they can discharge me twice."
"Aye, sir." O'Carroll chimes from the pilots seat. She spins the craft about and begins the return trip.
"I believe that's an insubordinate comment, Mr. Cristobal." Edwards glances at his people. "It sounds like he's okay." He puts his phaser away. "You'll all be fine. Just cooperate with the doctor."
And so, with the crew safely retrieved (and the unfrozen miner, too), the Shoemaker makes a neat turn back toward the station, and zips off through space, a streak of blue light disappearing through the stars back toward a much larger eye of blue light.
