Down With the Sickness

Posted on 25 Feb 2010 @ 10:00pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Colonel Nelle Skykin

1,612 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M3: Shore Leave
Location: SB 47

OOC - to be posted soon

Nigel tapped his foot as he waited in the specified location. Lieutenant Skykin and Doctor Vanya weren't running late, but he had hoped they would be early. He had activated one of the panels set into the bulkhead, an excuse that he was lost ready should any security come calling. To his dismay, the sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor from him. With purposely steady breaths, Nigel waited for the pair to round the corner, hoping it was the doctor and science officer.

Rico had just gotten on board on a few hours ago. He'd had time to stow his gear in a corner and check the previous CMO's schedule to see what he already had on his plate. There had been an entry to meet with an Ensign Roseman and a Lieutenant Skykin; a notation with the entry was "Hush hush". Whatever was going on was urgent and if it was something that needed to be kept quiet was something that needed to be inquired about over the comm. So after locating this Ens. Roseman he headed off to the station to see what was going on.

He rounded the corner to the cargo bay only to see someone in uniform accessing a panel. From his viewpoint it looked like whoever it was was lost. Either that was Roseman playing a role or this person was actually lost and Roseman hadn't arrived yet.

Approach the individual, though in uniform he couldn't see the person's rank. "Are you lost...", as he turned to face Rico he saw the rank, "...Ensign?"

"Ensign Nigel Roseman, sir," Nigel responded a bit more hastily than he wanted. He could feel the cold sweat breaking out on his forehead and his heart beat so fast, he thought it would jump out of his chest. In a clipped British accent, Nigel added, "I do appear to have lost my way, Commander."

The tapping of Skykin's shoes on the hard floor echoed throughout the corridors as she made her way to the meeting point. She fixed her sleeve and adjusted the shoulder bag she was carrying. It was packed with as much science equipment as she could fit, it also had several masks in case there was an unidentified toxin in the air. As she approached she heard multiple voices. She slowed down her pace to listen carefully... She realized it was the voice of the young ensign. She sped up her pace again and rounded the corner meeting the two gentlemen, "Am I interrupting?" Nelle said politely, flashing a warm smile. She always found it best to greet strangers with a smile, she has always had an innocent face and she has learned to use it to her advantage.

Rico turned at the voice, he recognized Lieutenant Skykin from his review of the Freedom's roster on the way to the ship. "Not at all. I was just speaking with Ensign Roseman here. We had an appointment...or specifically Lieutenant Vanya had the appointment."

Nigel's face was the picture of confused. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand. What happened to Lieutenant Vanya, first of all, and second who are you?" Nigel had completely dropped the facade of the lost ensign.

A smirk formed on Rico's face at the expression on Roseman's face, but he returned to the matter at hand. "Lt. Vanya was unexpectedly transferred. I'm her replacement, Lt Cmdr Montoya; the Freedom's new CMO. Now can you explain why a Medical Officer is needed outside a docking bay?"

Nigel sighed, it was never easy... "Lieutenants Vanya, Skykin and I were going to enter the Romulan ship being held in this bay, Commander Montoya. Two days ago, the crew of this ship was discovered comatose, the ship adrift. Since being transported here, both ship and crew have suffered worse. The ship has shut down and the crew is dying. We were coming to investigate, unfortunately without permission as we don't have the time to cut the red tape. We all agreed entering the ship would be the best idea to lock down the cause of the ship's malfunctions and the crew's illness."

Rico thought for a moment. He was understandably curious as to what the crew had succumbed to. But what would affect both man and machine? "Was the ship adrift in Federation space? Has there been any order NOT to investigate?"

"No," Nigel explained. "No order not to investigate on the ship, but with politics being what they are, I thought it might be better to go with a deniability. The ship was found adrift within the Romulan neutral zone, Commander. It was brought back here once it was discovered the crew needed medical attention."

"Well in the interests of humanitarian aid to the dying crew, we have no choice but to enter the ship to ascertain the cause of their condition. We can let the politician deal with the implications." Adding with a smirk. "Besides, boarding the ship is required to not only try to help the crew but to eliminate any threat to the station."

"Precisely why we should make a move, if anyone was to see us lingering around outside here it may look suspicious, whereas a quick entry may look innocent." Skykin added as she fixed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Right," Nigel responded quickly. "It was bad enough when Doctor Montoya discovered me here, and now that I know he's in on the secret, my heart is still racing. Not sure I could take another shock like that. Let's move inside, shall we? The window of opportunity is short."

Nelle nodded in response and pulled her bag around, she reached in and pulled out an odd looking tricorder. Nelle had adjusted it to be sensitive to any slight toxin in the atmosphere. Adjusting her bag back into its original position she motioned to Nigel, "Lets go" Nelle's ears perked, her head turned sharply, "I hear footsteps."

Activating the door controls, Rico ushered the others. "Lets move."

Leann rounded the corner to exit the freighter, Lieutenant Smith a few steps behind her. As she was about to exit the freighter she heard a noise. She paused, but ignored it. There was no one else in here, it was just in her head. She looked back at Lieutenant Smith, who didn't appear to have heard anything, and as she turned her head back to face forward she let out a little yelp. She had nearly run into a group of officers, none of whom she recognized. She felt nervous, although she knew Commander Ross had okay-ed their exploration of the freighter. She supposed it was just due to her surprise at running into someone else here. "Hello," Leann said calmly, although her heart was still racing. "Lieutenant Ziru, Chief Science Officer," she said authoritatively, despite the fact one of the officers was a Lieutenant Commander. She turned towards Lieutenant Smith, wondering if he knew any of the officers in front of them.

As the senior officer in their 'group' Montoya spoke up as they made their way to the ship, act as it their presence was a given. "Hello Lieutenant, did you find anything that could help explain the Romulan's condition?"

JD decided that he would let the Lieutenant answer, and if need be fill in any gaps that may present themselves.

"Well, we haven't analyzed anything we've found very closely of course, but we found traces of a strange chemical in the engine room but everything else seemed relatively normal. I would have liked to check it out more, but we didn't want to stay much longer than ten minutes or so. I'd start by looking around some more in the engine room if I were you, but of course, there could be something we missed elsewhere on the freighter too, Commander," Leann replied too quickly in one long breath, a habit she was working on breaking.

"Why the ten minute time frame?"

"The environment is pretty toxic. Ten or fifteen minutes of exposure is safe, but we didn't want to risk longer, and didn't want to deal with suits. We figured ten minutes or so would be enough to get a bit of information to start us off."

Rico grinned as he had a small flashback. "Well there is an old fashioned solution for that. Biohazard suits. Much less cumbersome than a EVA suit but should do the trick."

"Right. Even so, we didn't want to deal with them, but if you want to spend a bit more time exploring, biohazard suits should work well."

Skykin was a few paces back from the conversation, she was silent but her hands were working ferociously behind her back. She was calibrating her tricorder and getting as many readings as she could while she was there. She was not hiding her work, but she didn't want to draw attention to herself at the wrong moment.

"Right then," Nigel said, interrupting the group. Perhaps it would be best if we continued to examine the freighter? You lot can join us if you'd like, but we should replicate some biohazard suits if we're going in."

JD at last said something. "We've got to go to sickbay to drop some of our findings off. But keep me posted on anything you find, if you please." JD requested.

"You can count on it," Rico answered. Looking to the lieutenant and ensign accompanying him, "Let's get to work."

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Lt Cmdr "Rico" Montoya
CMO - NPC'd by Chris
USS Freedom


Lieutenant JG Nelle Skykin
CSO
USS Freedom

Ensign Nigel Roseman
SB 47

Lieutenant JG Ziru Leann
SB 47

Lieutenant JD Smith
SB 47

 

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