At the Scene

Posted on 20 Feb 2024 @ 8:15pm by Captain Bane Plase & Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Lieutenant Commander Stovek & Lieutenant Maralen Seitha & Lieutenant Raviran Dattek-Winters & Lieutenant JG Christina Hartley & Lieutenant JG Delenna Morak

Mission: Enigma Variations
Timeline: Immediately following Bridge Banter

The USS Cygnus dropped out of warp, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Or so it seemed, as they were deep in interstellar space, and the only light source were distant stars. The computer brought up the image of the drifting freighter on the viewscreen - an image that Bast knew was enhanced by the ship’s artificial intelligence algorithms, to provide better visibility.

The Bixilfiz was an odd-looking ship, seemingly made by welding together parts of different ships from many species, sometimes with conflicting aesthetics. Bast thought he recognized the aft section of an Orion scout vessel, and what could be an old Tellarite frigate’s deflector array.

What a piece of junk, thought Bast, though he said nothing out loud.

The starboard section - or at least, what Bast assumed was the starboard section - showed a large hull breach. Sparks of light occasionally lit up the insides of the breach, and a plume of frozen atmospheric gases released from inside the breach trailed the ship.

“Captain Bane, to the Bridge,” called out the First Officer. “Ensign D’Astous, take us to within four thousand meters. Commander Stovek, any life signs?”

“There are twelve life signs,” indicated Stovek. “Nine Bolians, a Klingon and two Betazoids. Main power is offline, and auxiliary is at thirty percent. Stage one EPS taps have been severed; warp drive is not reparable without dry dock facilities.”

The doors to the Ready Room swished open, granting access for Captain Bane from his sanctuary to the Main Bridge. As he strode over to the center seat, he stole a glance at the viewscreen. "Report," he stated simply. He was proud of his crew for making it this far, and pleased with his new First Officer falling into his new role.

Maralen looked up from his console. "Security has been realigned for optimal effect, and a team is prepared to board if ordered, sir," he reported. His tones were crisp but not cold. He was simply Calm Efficiency now, ready and vigilant.

* * * * * * * *

Emergency Sickbay:

Ravi, duly warned, was opening up the "Secondary Sickbay" - what they called "the emergency or Temporary facility” for just such a situation as this.

Partly because she didn’t want to end up having to move the current occupants of her nice sparkling, newly fitted out MAIN Sickbay to the more remote areas for their own protection but secondly because she wanted to be sure whether or not the new wounded might be dangerous if all that was being said about them was remotely true, and the Secondary, would be easier to secure properly without any others around to get hurt as well.

She knew not to be overly judgemental just on the assumptions first made, but some things were just too blatantly obvious not to take evasive action as it approached!

Speaking to her newly elevated ACMO, she explained the incoming information and her ideas about what they *might* expect.

"The Prophets only know if these incoming patients might even be radioactive, Tiana, so please prepare for the worst. We don't want to endanger ourselves or the crew or even our other patients – although they shouldn’t get near those with this set up - even if it's total over-kill. We can always say sorry for over-reacting later, if we have to, but we don't want to be saying sorry that someone was adversely affected because we dropped the ball." she explained as they both worked together, helping to get the Quarantine zones and energy fields set up and ready.

=^= Winters to the Bridge - Secondary Sickbay is prepared and ready to receive any incoming wounded or sick patients, Sir. We have quarantine set up as well, just in case. =^= Ravi reported back via the comm channels.


* * * * * * * * * *
Main SIckbay:

Morak just finished a remote counselling session with her Starfleet Medical Counsellor, and went into Sickbay. "Winters, where do you want me?" called Delenna.

The comm channel shut off and Tiani Miles, the same newly elevated ACMO that had just been talking to CMO Winters on that link, turned to face the incoming Chief Counsellor.

"Dr Morak?" Tiani hadn't been officially introduced to Delanna yet so she didn't feel comfortable going first names just yet. "Dr Winters is set up in the Emergency Sickbay for these particular incoming patients. It's easier to contain them in quarantine there - and for security too if necessary. I imagine she'll want you down there with her."


* * * * * * * * *
Main Engineering:

Christina finished looking at the readings as she stood in the main engine room, before handing the PaDD back to her engineer. "Alright, good, let's keep things at that level," Christina said, before checking the sensor readings of the ship now in front of them.

"Hartley to Bridge. Captain, I've got Engineering team Alpha ready to go aboard that ship and have a look around, with your permission. I'm looking at the sensor readings, and it doesn't make any sense to me right now," Christina said.

* * * * * * * * *

Main Bridge:

Bane tapped his commbadge. "Thank you, Doctor. Keep the channel open so you can keep abreast of the situation." He tapped off his commbadge, then tapped it on again. "Thank you, Lieutenant Hartley." It was good to know she was on top of things down in Engineering. It was very much like her to be so. "Please stand by." He looked to his Chief Tactical Officer. "Hail them, Lieutenant."

“There is no response to hails, Captain,” said Stovek dryly. He realized he had not been asked to send the hail, but he did monitor all incoming and outgoing transmissions.

Plase smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Stovek." He then looked to his right. "Commander Larsen, assemble your away team." There was a pregnant silence for a moment before Bane realized what he had done. He patted Bast's knee. "I apologize about that, Commander. Force of habit. Commander Bast, please assemble your Away Team."

Bast waved away Bane's slip of the tongue and stood, turning to look at Maralen. "Lieutenant, have your team report to Transporter Room One. Doctor Winters, Lieutenant Hartley, stand by until we've secured the ship. Commander Stovek, please work with Lieutenant Hartley and see if you can help her make sense of those sensor readings. It'd be nice to know what we're beaming into."

Christina heard the stand by order, and nodded at her engineers who were gathering. "Understood. We're ready when you need us, Captain," she said. "In the meantime, request permission to beam a sensor probe across, it'll help us get a look inside," she said.

Bane mulled the request over for a moment. Ringing in his head was the law that no ship should be infringed upon needlessly. This included sending sensor probes to the ship. Of course, it also included sending an Away Team needlessly. In the latter case, it was not needless; the crew had requested aid, the Cygnus had responded and found the ship heavily damaged and no response to hails. It would also be prudent to have as much information about what was going on over there for the safety of the team he was sending over, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Bast. Also ringing in his head was the information about their likely course to Son'a-controlled space, and the warning of Admiral Nachayev to watch out for potential friends en route to help as well. The Cygnus could be left in a precarious spot if the crew didn't move things along, and fast. And there he came to his decision. "Yes, Lieutenant Hartley, that would be beneficial. Pipe all incoming information to Lieutenant Commander Stovek and Lieutenant Lisald, as well."

* * * * * * * * *

Emergency/Secondary Sickbay:


=^= Winters to Captain Bane =^= We've set up the quarantine sections down here because if there were to be radioactive other chemical/residual contamination aboard that ship wreck, then we don't want it spreading across the Cygnus or our own crew. Do you have any plans to kit out the Away Team with protective suits and breathers or should we be ready for possible casualties or effects from those crew coming back, Sir? =^=

A simple, 'don't forget to kit out the crew that I've just spent hours doing medical assessments on, to be sure they come back to me just as they left' would have been more blatant and less proper but it said the same thing as her careful words of warning - having set up to avoid cross-contamination of the incoming crew, it made sense to take similar precautions on their own outgoing - one just had to be very, VERY careful about how to 'nag' one's Captain on duty, rather than off! She'd learned that lesson at a relevantly early age!

=/\= We are sending a small probe over before the Away Team beams over, Doctor, to check for dangers and radiation prior to beam-over. We are attempting to be as safe as possible. I wish I could take the credit for that; it was Lieutenant Hartley's idea. Lieutenant Commander Stovek and Lieutenant Seitha are working on that now. Still, this is not a foolproof method. I urge you to prepare, either way. =/\=

Ravi had survived that risky manoeuvre. She replied happily, relieved that it was all under control and had been taken into account already.
She felt she had had to ask. =^= Great thank you. We will belt and braces with our precautions here as well, Sir, we're green to start receiving. =^=

* * * * * * * * *

Main Bridge:

Bane tapped his commbadge off and looked over his shoulder just in time to see the doors to the turbolift doors close, the serious face of Lieutenant Commander Bast the last thing he saw of his First Officer before his first time commanding an Away Team as an Executive Officer.


A post by, well, almost everyone!