Return to the Medway (Part 1)

Posted on Wed Apr 17th, 2019 @ 10:47pm by Commander M'Mira & Ensign Connor Turner & Lieutenant Kylean Amidok MD, PhD & Lieutenant JG Shannon Cosantior & Lieutenant Srash & Lieutenant Shorish & Lieutenant Leyla Aiman-Tamar

3,604 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Mission 2: Into The Breach
Location: Docking Bay

M'Mira strutted onto the Minotaur. She stroked the consoles and purred contentedly as she felt them. This was her ship! Certainly she would need to make some sort of alterations as Mint did not have the good sense to decorate; however, for now, the sterile Starfleet ship would do.

After parading about the hull, she called out on her commbadge, =^= Ensign Turrrnerrr, Lieutenant Srrrash, Lieutenant Shorrrish, Lieutenant Aiman-Tamarrr, Lieutenant Amidok, and Ensign Cosantior, please rrreporrrt to the Minotaurrr at the docking bay.=^=

Connor appeared quickly. Nervously, he looked at M'Mira and said, "Ensign Turner reporting as requested. We're going back, aren't we?" he asked nervously.

M'Mira nodded. "When the otherrrs get here, I will tell you ourrr mission. Please be patient, Ensign."

Connor immediately averted his eyes and found a seat somewhere that was out of M'Mira's eyesight.

Shorish came up behind Connor. "Turrrrrnerrrr, appearrrs Commanderrr M'Mirrra needs morrre engineerrrrs on...whateverrrr this mission is." He gave a nod to M'Mira and a slight tail swish.

Leyla rubbed the back of her neck and yawned, appearing with a cup of coffee. "Commander, was this necessary at 0600?" Normally, she wasn't one to care, but she was working on both this and the Klingon explosion, and was completely exhausted.

M'Mira growled, "I assurrre you, Lieutenant, this was absolutely necessary."

Stifling a yawn, Leyla shrugged. "I understand it, doesn't mean I enjoy it. This coffee should help though."

Srash came in next. His tail swished happily and his eyes twinkled as he saw M'Mira. He also noted his brother had arrived and gave him a nod. "Commanderrrr," he said with a slight incline of his head to M'Mira before moving to the security console and taking a seat.

Connor nervously nodded at Shorish. He knew what was coming but it was not his place to tell anyone. He then watched Srash come in. Suddenly, he realized that he was a minority. Was every Caitian in this quadrant coming onto this detail?

M'Mira gave Srash a toothy smile, her tail curling around her body. She made sure that her sparkling red nailpolish that Cat had given her the night before was on full display as she acknowledged him taking a seat. Looking around, she asked, "Where are Amidok and Cosanitor?" She looked at a chronometer, as the time clearly read 0600."

Cosanitor ran down the hall, skidding to a halt outside. After taking a quick moment to make sure she was presentable she walked in briskly holding a PADD at exactly 0600 and thirty seconds. Or as her old roommate would say, "Not late." She came to attention front of Lt. Commander M'ira, "Ensign Cosanitor reporting as ordered.". She'd been more properly on time if she'd not fallen asleep at her console again reviewing data on the current case. Fortunately she knew herself and planned three emergency alarm clocks, just in case.

"Glad to see that you could make it, Ensign," M'Mira told her. "Have a seat. We arrre about to get starrrted."

Kylean came in just in time, and took the closest seat available. He gave a look at M'Mira, and hoped she'd be gentle. Of course he new, being late seemed to be a new recurring theme, and one he was sure he wouldn't be forgiven for much more. Even this one could be the last straw.

Once everyone was seated, M'Mira started, "This mission is classified. We arrre to go back to the USS Medway, which was involved in a rrratherrr odd incident." She flashed a holovid of the last trip to rescue Medway, showing the bodies fused into rock or the ship and the ship itself being fused into the rock. "This was not an orrrdinarrry occurrrrrrence. Something happened and we arrre to find out what and to rrrescue anyone that we can. Questions?"

Aiman-Tamar sat forward, looking over the images. She cringed, though the scientist in her couldn't help but be curious what had been being worked on. "No questions, Commander. But based on what I'm seeing there? We need to be extremely careful."

Shorish's tail dropped quickly. "How can therrrre be anyone still alive beyond who the firrrrrst team brrrrought back?"

Cosantior listened, she had questions but mayhap they'd be asked by others. Just in case she mentally ordered them in levels of importance to her as she waited for the reply from Shorish's question.

"Commander," Amidok stood in respect to address M'Mira, "for the record, I am on limited duty. I have to ask, were the lifesign scans able to fully penetrate the hull of the Medway? I mean, are we absolutely certain there are no cavities in the rock and hull where living crewmembers could be isolated?" He then sat down and awaited a response.

M'Mira responded, "Turrrnerrr, would you carrre to answer that question?"

Connor looked at the floor and said, "It, uh, was, um, horrible." He choked up and tried to keep the contents of his stomach down. "The people we could not rescue were fused with the planet. The transporter could not distinguish between where one began and another ended. They were a complete unit." He retched and said, "I don't really want to go back."

Shannon, nearby, looked sympathetic and pulled a small bottle of water from from one pocket offering it quietly so as not to interrupt the flow of conversation or bring more attention to his distress.

Connor took the water without looking at Shannon and tried to swallow some.

Srash furrowed his brow at the holovid and let out a soft sigh. He listened to the other's concerns and waited until M'Mira had addressed them. "What do we know of this planet? Arrrre therrrre any local species that could pose a dangerrr to the team?"

Dr. Amidok rubbed his forehead. He had neglected to get his latest dose of his medication, and adjusting to feeling emotions again was a little overwhelming. He knew he was limited in what he was allowed to do, but perhaps it was someone just like himself needed the most on a mission like this. "Sirs," he said again while rising slowly to his feet. This wasn't his expertise. He was an expert virologist and pathologist, but only mildly skilled as a general surgeon. "Were any of the original crew sent to find victims empathic? I mean, if you are dealing with a complete unknown, it may not hurt to have one along with you. Even if they couldn't help you determine if there were any more survivors, at least they may be able to help you determine if there were any hostile species to deal with. I am a Betazoid. I know there are a few others on this base, and if needed there's at least one on the Farragut," he finished, and just as slowly as he stood, he took his seat.

"We have had a numberrr of people trrransferrr due to the change in command," M'Mira answered simply. "You werrre the best qualified for this mission and yourrr empathic abilities may help in terrrms of deterrrrmining whetherrr we can do anything to assist anyone that might have surrrvived."

Standing up again he replied, "I would have to agree with that assessment, sir. But in order to do so, we're going to have to modify that conversation we had a few days ago. I'd have to request no further medicinal treatment as we discussed. I will brief you later on how best to handle it, if you'd like. I don't like the idea of leaving Starfleet Officers and Non-Comms sitting in the midst of rock and ruins. but if there's even the slightest possibility there could be survivors, at least one empath could be invaluable to the mission."

Leyla spoke up. "Now that one team has already been there, we know what we're working with. The sensors on the Minotaur can be upgrade to get through most of the interference caused by the engines they had and the rock. Tricorders would be a little tricker."

"Do what you can, Aiman-Tamarrr," M'Mira told the Lieutenant.

"Understood, Commander," Leyla stated as she finished off the rest of her coffee, knowing she'd need a lot more now.

"Sir, what is the crew complement of the Medway?" he asked, and then sat down again having finished this round of inquiries. He had a feeling others had questions or ideas that could be very valuable in adding to possibly finding survivors, should any exist.

Shorish looked over to the others, then to M'Mira. "Commanderrrrr, arrrre we to assume we arrrre going to be keeping the ship as stable as we can and digging thrrrrrough the rrrrock to find any morrrre surrrviverrrrs?"

Shannon made notes on her PADD of the relevant data as it flowed around her. She made further notes of information to seek, mentally marking off the questions she had as others asked them.

M'Mira pulled up a manifest of the Medway and passed it along the PADD to everyone. "Turrrnerrr has the Medway stable. He will be in charrrge of keeping the Medway stable. We need to deterrrmine what caused this, though."

"Do we have any data, even piecemeal from the first trip that would help?" Ensign Cosanitor asked politely. Making a note to review that area of space for all current known natural and man made threats.

"We know that they werrre testing a slipstream drrrive. Beyond that, we have verrry little inforrrmation. The prrrevious crrrew was focused on saving the surrrviorrrs."

Srash listened to everyone else's concerns and comments, but continued to think about the best way to secure the crash site. He caught a question about the crew compliment and looked up. "The Medway had a crrrrew compliment of ninety-five. The prrrrevious away team rrrrrecoverrrred twenty-five. Therrrrrre is a furrrrtherrrrr seventy unaccounted forrrr. We know frrrrrom the prrrrrrevious team's rrrreporrrrt that many were alrrrrready dead when they arrrrrrrived," he stated, then looked sheepishly at M'Mira for speaking out of turn on that information.

M'Mira gave Srash an encouraging nod. "It is not likely to smell too good by now," M'Mira confirmed.

Shorish frowned, his tail really not able to go any lower. "I will worrrrk with Turrrrnerrrr to keep the computerrrr stable if that is okay with you, Commanderrrrr."

Leyla looked down, hearing what all had happened. "If they were testing a slipstream and it failed? Even the science behind those is ugly on tests when they fail."

Turning to Shorish, M'Mira told him, "No. Turrrnerrr can do that. I am going to need you to figurrre out what went wrrrong and to work with the doctorrr and see if you can save anyone."

Connor spoke up, but did not look at any of the women. He wondered how in the world the Station seemed to be filled with them. "From what I can tell, they were working on a quantum slipstream drive. So, much could go wrong with them. It is not the first time it was tried but, well...."

Shannon knew of one example, the Pegasus, her memory on why this seemed familiar finally clicking. Under a Captain Pressman. Though somewhat restricted by Starfleet Intelligence, some details had spread. It seemed someone always wanted to be the one who got the bite from the golden apple, "What was different this time that they felt they should risk it?" She asked not knowing of any successful test.

M'Mira answered, "I do not know. I do know that Turrrnerrr therrrre, figured out that much on the first visit."

Shorish waited his turn to speak again. "Underrrrrstood, Commanderrrrr. I will assist the doctorrrrr."

Shaking her head, "Just from the reports I've read, there's no way to know why they risked it. But there might be more in their computers to tell us."

"I will take on the computer," Connor told the group.

"Sir, I keep hearing you all talking about the Medway using a slipstream drive, do you have a firm confirmation on that, or is it just supposition?" Dr. Amidok asked without standing. He racked his brain to try to remember what he had learned about slipstream technology during his time in the Academy years before. The only thing he could remember was how the Borg were able to use such a system, but he also knew the Borg never came up with their own tech.., they just stole it from others and assimilated it into their systems. There was something else, it was just on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite get the memory to come up. He had a feeling it was very important, so until he could get hat memory to surface, it would have to wait.

Shorish looked over at the doctor. “They arrrrre...experrrrrimental,” is all he stated.

Kylean forced himself to keep from rolling his eyes at the response. Instead of responding to Shorish, he turned his attention to Commander M'Mira. "Sir, I believe everyone present has security clearance as you've already stated this mission is classified. While I understand most information about an experimental spacecraft would be on a 'need to know' basis, I would challenge that given the current situation, if we are going to be of much use in trying to recover Starfleet personnel, we have a textbook case of need to know. I'm not asking for details about how the drive works, but I would rather not expose our personnel to harmful substances, radiation or other hazards from an 'experimental' drive system that may pose a danger to them."

"Unforrrtunately, doctorrr, I know little morrrre than I have told you. If Turrrnerrr knows morrre, I'm surrre he could tell you. Unforrrtunately, he was the only one therrrre frrrom last time."

Connor spoke up, "Well, um, see, we, um, went to the last known, um, coordinates of the Medway, and um, well, uh, it was not there but, um, we traced its signature and then, well, I saw that the readings were very, um, unusual. I then saw, um, the Medway stuck in the planet's rock and, well, I was able to figure out that it was, um, a quantum slipstream drive that was in use. So, um, was there something else that was in question?" he asked confused.

It didn't take an empath to tell Connor was speaking the absolute truth. Kylean audibly spat out, "Oh, my dear God!" Then, he sat in stunned silence. 'Quantum,' that was the word he was searching for, but wasn't sure why, or what it meant. "No, I think that's enough. I'm so sorry you had to see it. I'm sure we'll all do our best to recover as many of our comrade's bodies as possible. I know I wouldn't want to be left embedded in rock on some alien planet for all time and eternity." He turned back to the Commander, "I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect."

"Please excuse the stupid question but did anyone turn off the drive safely?" Shannon asked as she worked through the current information.

M'Mira gave a low growl for the start of an answer. "This is not a time forrr humorrr, Ensign. If therrre arrre no furrrtherrr questions, we shall have Lieutenant Shorrrish take us to the Medway."

Kylean was lost in thought when the Ensign spat out the joke, but his ears picked up on that last bit from the Commander. "Now?" he questioned, "You mean now, as in *right* now? I don't even know what kind of medical assets are on this ship, let alone medical supplies. Are we equipped in the event we do find survivors?"

Having not known he would be doing helm, Shorish swished his tail a little. "Errrr, yes Commanderrrr."

Leyla gathered up the PADDs she had for research along the way. From what she understood, it'd be a long flight.

"Doctorrr, arrre therrrre supplies herrre that arrrre lacking? I have always been underrrr the imprrression that this ship is equipped with a standarrrd sickbay. If you rrrrequirrrre additional supplies, I will give you ten minutes to pick them out. Therrre arrre many reasons for a quick deparrrturrre."

Dr Amidok felt a shiver run down his spine, almost like a sense of deja vu, except he didn't think it was something that was real. "Sir, no disrespect, but if you'll recall, I've only been here for a few days. This is the first time I've even stepped foot on the Minotaur, so I have no idea what medical staff or supplies are ready on board. If we're going to be a while in transit, I can replicate med kits to have on standby, but unless there are any medics, nurses or other doctors aboard, they may as well be power converters. No one would really know what to do with them," he said and then realized he was assuming a little too much, "that is, of course, if we find any survivors at all."

Srash's tail lowered, as did his ears, as their quick timeline was announced and the doctor seemed to react negatively to this. "I shall have a small securrrrity team herrrrre asap," he said to M'Mira with a slight nod. He walked toward the Minotaur, going over what weaponry would be best to bring along. First he needed to see what the small ship's armory held.

Cosantior didn't feel that asking if the drive was in a secure, powered down state was a stupid question. What? She was just supposed to assume that had been successfully done? Were they sure? She knew enough to know quantums were tricky things. Shannon did what she usually did in such cases, she leaned back going into listening mode, taking notes but said no more as she attempted to learn what she could while trying to figure out where she went wrong in that interaction.

Kylean stood once again, having forgotten the formality on the last few exchanges. "Sir, I know someone asked, but I don't remember it being answered. What, if anything, do we know about the local population? Will we be violating the Prime Directive taking this ship there? Do they know life exists on other planets? Or, perhaps, are we going to have to fight our way through, in which case it may be proper to equip everyone with a phaser?"

"When the last parrrty was therrre, therrre werrre no indications of any intelligent life on the planet. Of courrrse, we should be prrreparrred for that possibility but it does not appearrr to be a likely concerrrn, Doctor. It was a fairrrly deserrrted arrrea."

"Thank you, sir," the doctor replied. "I'll start prepping emergency medical supplies. If the Minotaur is equipped with an EMH, I think we can manage even a heavy number of casualties, and if needed, I can always utilize the holodeck for more if you have one on board. That would cut out the need to bring in anyone else on an already classified mission."

Kylean decided he was done asking questions. He had no reason to believe anyone was really holding back anything of importance by this point, and was just awaiting the signal from the CO to begin the process of preparing the Sickbay. He also decided it was best not to take any medication for the duration of this mission. If he was going to be of any real help, he needed to keep his empathic abilities at their full power. He nodded to the Commander as he took his seat, ready to stand again should the CO ask anything of him. He felt a surge of adrenaline in his body, he was ready for this. He was completely blindsided by the need to respond to the explosion of the bomb with the Klingon ship, but this time, he had time to mentally prepare, and he was just itching to stretch it to the fullest for his comrades on the Medway. He was fully prepared to receive fatalities, but he'd rather have them, or as much of them as possible so the remains could be returned to their loved ones, or given a proper burial at space, instead of being fused in the breast of the planet. The thought of any Starfleet personnel having that fate sickened him.

"Anything else?" M'Mira asked. "Doctor, we have the EMH. If anyone needs any last minute equipment, you have fifteen minutes. Then we leave."

"One last question, sir. How long will it take us to reach the planet?" the doctor asked. If there was enough time, he could have the EMH replicate the needed emergency medical supplies, and he'd be able to take a nap. Even if it was a short one, it would be just as effective as meditating. If he were to do so, he'd need the equipment requested by the counselor to monitor his brain and empathic activity during his rest. He was sure the Commander probably wouldn't be pleased he was contemplating rest, but he still thought it would be in everyone's best interest that his empathic abilities be at their maximum potential for the mission.

"We should be therrre in slightly overrr half a day," M'Mira told the doctor. The Caitian commander wondered why that was a relevant question to the doctor but let it sit in her thoughts for the time being.

Shorish was ready to go, just wanted to get going and do final flight checks. However, he waited until the questioning was done.

Leyla wanted to get a few more things in the fifteen minutes. She glanced to M'Mira to see if they were dismissed to do so.

Seeing and hearing no questions, M'Mira released everyone. "Be back in 15 minutes. Dismissed."

 

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