Season 2, Mission 2: Light the Way

[Alien Vessel]

"Good work guys." Julia said as she started to look around the ship. It was eerie. There wasn't a person or even the reminder that people were here. The ship was clean. Nothing strewn about. It looked as if it had never been used. She holstered her weapon. "Alright everyone, fan out."

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Alien Vessel]

"Good work guys." Julia said as she started to look around the ship. It was eerie. There wasn't a person or even the reminder that people were here. The ship was clean. Nothing strewn about. It looked as if it had never been used. She holstered her weapon. "Alright everyone, fan out."

[Alien Vessel]

Elena hadn't holstered her phaser straight away, even after she stopped looking about. The ship, one she was certainly not familiar with, was very strange, eerie even, and she certainly didn't feel too safe aboard it, though that could've easily been due to it being her first time in this sort of situation.

What didn't help was the topic about traps being a useful tactic. He was right, of course, but it certainly didn't help Elena feel at ease on this new ground.

Eventually, she did holster her weapon, and followed what the Lieutenant Commander said. She spread out, letting her curiosity take over but kept in mind not to stray too far as it was best not to get lost on her first Away Mission for the Pheonix

[Bridge - USS Phoenix]

After a few more moments of of pacing the length of the bridge, Archangel finally came to a decision. Julia would most likely read her the entire list of rules and regulations when it was all over, but she was finished waiting.

"Opran, you're with me. We're going over there," she ordered, heading for the turbolift. "M'Rai, you have the bridge."

[Bridge]

Arlan's eyes widened as T'Koris gave the order, doing everything he could not to gasp outright. He'd never been assigned an Away mission and now the Captain wanted him to go with her to what appeared to be a derelict alien spacecraft? He didn't know what to make of this woman.

"Um, aye Captain."

He reached down and pulled two phasers from the Bridge weapons locker beneath the Tactical station. He attached one to his belt and handed the Captain the other, his hand shaking visibly with nerves; even though he knew there was absolutely no reason for his trepidation.

Buris was crouched in front of the open panel and suddenly felt a shiver over his entire body. It was unusual for him, as he was comfortable in most climates; and hadn't noticed the temperature before. He looked up toward Leela, raising an eyebrow. "Is it suddenly colder in here, or is it just me?"

He looked a bit paler too, but that could just be a reaction to his sudden chill. He hadn't moved yet and was glad of it since he suddenly felt very unsafe. If it was just him, there was something wrong with him. If it wasn't... cold on a starship usually meant something was about to go very wrong - or just had.

Arlan Opran wrote:

[Bridge]

Arlan's eyes widened as T'Koris gave the order, doing everything he could not to gasp outright.  He'd never been assigned an Away mission and now the Captain wanted him to go with her to what appeared to be a derelict alien spacecraft?  He didn't know what to make of this woman.

"Um, aye Captain."

He reached down and pulled two phasers from the Bridge weapons locker beneath the Tactical station.  He attached one to his belt and handed the Captain the other, his hand shaking visibly with nerves; even though he knew there was absolutely no reason for his trepidation.

[Turbolift]

Seeing the young officer's hand shaking as he handed her a phaser, Archangel resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. He's young and this is his first away detail on this ship. It would probably be kinder to leave him here. Damn that regulation about captain on away missions.

"Calm down, Ensign," she told him. "We're only going over there to make sure they're ok and remind them of protocol."

Arriving in the transporter room, she barked an order to the transporter chief before stepping up onto the pad, waiting only long enough for Opran to join her there before she called for the chief to energise.

[Alien Vessel]

Of course the temperature had to drop, because Kintiss wasn't uncomfortable enough already. When everyone else had fanned out, he'd chosen to remain still. That way, if one of them was injured, he wouldn't have to run as far to get to them and treat their injuries.

As the temperature lowered, he hissed angrily. He had a bad feeling about this place. Granted, he had a bad feeling about most things, but he had a worse feeling about this.

While the temperature was dropping slowly aboard the ship due to the sudden changes from people beaming aboard, the problem, at least for Buris, was a bit worse than that. He slumped against a panel, paling. He tapped his commbadge. "Kejal to Commander Rellek. Commander Rellek, are you there?"

When he heard no response, he didn't know what to do. He felt... distinctly unwell, but he was conscious, and he figured he could at least move if he needed to. What he didn't know was that he had a rash growing along the side of his neck. His voice had a half-asleep or almost drugged quality to it. "Doctor Kintiss? Doctor, come in - I think the others are unconscious." He looked across at Kaz, hoping that she was holding up a little better than him.

He wondered if maybe there was a booby-trap on the bridge - or if they'd triggered something somewhere else.

[Alien Vessel]

Beaming in to the alien vessel, Archangel noticed straight away that something was wrong. The away team seemed to be lethargic and slow to respond. While that would explain the lack of communication, she was still concerned.

She moved closer to Kejal, noting an almost fungus-like rash growing at an alarming rate over his skin.

"Kejal, report!"

[Alien Vessel]

The sudden drop in temperature was beginning to adversely affect Kintiss. He felt sluggish and thick, like a razor-toothed gree worm in a refrigerator. This was going to interfere with his ability to work, he just knew it. When Kejal called for him, he was able to rouse himself enough to hear the Lieutenant’s drowsy voice and respond with an unnecessarily terse =/\=“What? How can you be sssssure of that?”=/\=

Still, it was worth checking out. He supposed he had better start with Kejal.

With more strength than he intended to use, he moved to Kejal’s position, and was a little surprised to find the Captain with him. An even more surprising thing was the strange fungus growing on the Lieutenant.

“Sssstand back,” he hissed at the Captain. “That could be infectioussss.”

[Alien Vessel]

Although she hadn't noticed it immediately, the low temperature on the vessel was quickly making itself known to Archangel. As a species that had evolved in a desert and generally found the standard ambient temperature on the Phoenix to be a little low, it was starting to take its toll on the captain. She tried to keep her shivers to a minimum, but there was little she could do to stop them.

The arrival of Kintiss telling her something she already knew didn't do much for her already frayed temper either.

"I know the regulations on potentially infectious alien agents," she reminded him. "What happened over here? Communication just dropped out."

Arlan was no keener on the whole scenario than the Captain or the Doctor - especially when he saw who was passed out near Buris; Leela. For the... spirited disagreement they'd had, he still had a lot of respect for her. The fact that she wasn't elitist about being Joined helped too. He put a hand over his mouth and took a step closer to her. "Ensign Kaz... Leela. Leela!"

He looked over her spots, hoping like anything that they weren't turning the color of his own, and sighed slightly to see that they weren't. But he saw what was near her, and the possible culprit. He pulled out his tricorder and his worst fears were confirmed; well, partly. The heat signature here was higher than the ambient, meaning they'd touched it recently. "Captain! I, uh... they opened this panel."

He didn't really know what else to say. Of course, given the facts, namely: that everyone on board was being affected by a strange infectious disease, while the ship was completely beyond their control, and the limited life-support systems were failing, nothing else really needed to be said; all they needed now was for the ship to take off with them in it. Thankfully, it showed no signs of doing that - yet.

Elena had always heard stories of someone's first going spectacularly wrong in some way or another, but she tried being realistic, the chances of something bad happening were quite low. Or at least she thought it was.

The drop in temperature had raised too many flags for Elena to feel safe. Having tried staying out of everyone's way, she didn't exactly notice what had triggered whatever just happened. As she tried to move to the group, especially hearing the comms going, she realised that it was harder than it should be, that she was no where near her best.

She took the best decision she could at the time and leant against the wall for support. She sighed frustratedly at herself, knowing this would make her practically useless if whatever had happened got worse.

Buris sat up a bit straighter, his reaction time slowed even as he struggled to stand up and report. He looked up at the Captain, trying with all his strength to do anything other than get out a croaking whisper. His muscles felt like someone had shoved a needle into every one of them, but he fought it. "We opened... the panel. No explosion. No hiss. Just, suddenly, cold, and weak. And no one there... on comm. Thank the Prophets... for you, Captain."

That would probably be enough to clue T'Koris into just how far gone her Ops man was. He'd never once referenced them before in a religious sense (and he'd probably deny this one too), but he was in agony, and when one was that bad off, things slipped - old phrases. Even the hardest of atheists intoned deities when their lives were at stake.

He stared at her, his breathing ragged and pained, but he obviously didn't plan on dying any time soon. There was a defiance in his eyes, one she'd seen rarely - and rarer still, she'd know it wasn't directed at her - it was strengthened by her presence. Like hell he'd die with her watching. She'd seen the father of her children almost die and he'd tried to hide it from her until the last moment. He wouldn't force her to stand aside and watch him die too.

[Alien Vessel]

“I’m not ssssure,” Kintiss said as he analysed the alien fungus. “We powered up the sssship, then the temperature ssstarted dropping, and here we are.” Some protective function of this vessel might have been responsible for cutting out communications, but he couldn’t know for sure. He was a doctor, not a xenotechnician.

As the Lieutenant sat up, the medical tricorder began to bleep shrilly. That movement wasn’t doing Kejal any favours in his current condition.

“Eassssy, Lieutenant,” he said calmly as he prepped a hypospray. “Try not to move too much.” Finding a patch of exposed skin, he quickly administered a low-strength anaesthetic, to dull the pain. The next challenge was to figure out what this fungus was and how to get rid of it. Trouble was, this was an alien environment, so there was no way to properly study its effects.

“If we could get him and the otherssss back to Ssssickbay, I ssshould be able to treat them more effectively,” he mused.

[Alien Vessel]

Seeing the Bajoran starting to fail drew on Archangel's protective nature, strengthening her resolve to help him.  The only problem was how.  She could already feel the drop in temperature starting to get to her, suppressing the urge to shiver and make it known.  This was a time to provide the strength that the others could draw on.

Reaching out to him, she gently squeezed his arm, hoping to convey some sense of reassurance or comfort. "We'll get you help. Just rest for now and conserve your strength."

Her attention turned to Kintiss as he requested a beam out to the Phoenix, quickly starting to consider the implications and consequences that such an action could mean.  For all she wanted to say yes, it wasn't an option.

"I'm sorry, Kintiss, but I can't authorise any of us to go back to the Phoenix unless you can confirm that this isn't an infectious agent.  I can't put the rest of the ship at risk of contracting this."

[Alien Vessel]

"Didn't think sssso. Jussst thought I'd assssk anyway," Kintiss replied as he examined the fungus closely. He was so interested in it, he forgot to reprimand the Captain for touching Lieutenant Kejal when he wasn't sure just how infectious his condition actually was. "It'ssss not like anything on record," he observed. Were it not infecting his crewmate, he would have considered this an incredible find.

As data on the fungus showed itself on the tricorder, the medical officer understood the condition a bit more. From what he could tell, it was not infectious. He made sure to refer this information to the Captain.

"From what I've ssseen ssso far, it'sss a ssspontaneousss reaction, maybe to an unknown element in the air," he said. "I'd need to examine more casssesss before I can confirm thisss, but that'sss my hypothesssisss ssso far."

Speaking of more cases, how were the rest of the team faring? Had they developed a sudden infection as well? There seemed only one way to find out.

"I'll need to examine the othersss."

Kintiss wrote:

[Alien Vessel]

"Didn't think sssso. Jussst thought I'd assssk anyway," Kintiss replied as he examined the fungus closely. He was so interested in it, he forgot to reprimand the Captain for touching Lieutenant Kejal when he wasn't sure just how infectious his condition actually was. "It'ssss not like anything on record," he observed. Were it not infecting his crewmate, he would have considered this an incredible find.

As data on the fungus showed itself on the tricorder, the medical officer understood the condition a bit more. From what he could tell, it was not infectious. He made sure to refer this information to the Captain.

"From what I've ssseen ssso far, it'sss a ssspontaneousss reaction, maybe to an unknown element in the air," he said. "I'd need to examine more casssesss before I can confirm thisss, but that'sss my hypothesssisss ssso far."

Speaking of more cases, how were the rest of the team faring? Had they developed a sudden infection as well? There seemed only one way to find out.

"I'll need to examine the othersss."

[Alien Vessel]

It was difficult to see how the others were faring. Kejal seemed to have taken it the hardest, but she could feel herself starting to shiver slightly despite the extra layers she wore under her uniform. She did glance around the others, but without much of a medical background, there was little she could determine from simply looking at them.

Turning back to Kintiss, she nodded to him. "Do what you need to do."

[Alien Vessel]

The word disorientation did not add the necessary gravitas to Julia's feelings. Her consciousness seemed to escape her body in that moment. She awoke to a slight shiver. She wasn't completely certain what was happening but her thoughts seem to quickly re-form as she glanced around the ship and remembered began to remember why she was in these unfamiliar surroundings. She instinctively called out as she regained her footing. "Report?" She wasn't certain who she was directing the order to. But it was all she could muster in that moment.

Arlan Opran wrote:

Arlan was no keener on the whole scenario than the Captain or the Doctor - especially when he saw who was passed out near Buris; Leela.  For the... spirited disagreement they'd had, he still had a lot of respect for her.  The fact that she wasn't elitist about being Joined helped too.  He put a hand over his mouth and took a step closer to her.  "Ensign Kaz... Leela.  Leela!"

He looked over her spots, hoping like anything that they weren't turning the color of his own, and sighed slightly to see that they weren't.  But he saw what was near her, and the possible culprit.  He pulled out his tricorder and his worst fears were confirmed; well, partly.  The heat signature here was higher than the ambient, meaning they'd touched it recently.  "Captain!  I, uh... they opened this panel."

He didn't really know what else to say.  Of course, given the facts, namely: that everyone on board was being affected by a strange infectious disease, while the ship was completely beyond their control, and the limited life-support systems were failing, nothing else really needed to be said; all they needed now was for the ship to take off with them in it.  Thankfully, it showed no signs of doing that - yet.

She looked to Arlen and then back to Kejal. "I think I'm okay. A little off kilter but okay, nonetheless, thankfully the connection between host and symbiont has a few added immune advantages." She looked back inside the panel. "We must've triggered something. The question is how do we stop it and get off this god forsaken vessel."

Leela accessed the console trying to make sense of it all. Although the controls were dated they felt oddly familiar at the same time. While the others had studied it Leela had lived it, in a sense anyway. As she scrolled through the various controls she made a small but previous error. With the turn of a dial a light began to blink. "Uh oh?" She paused looking to Kejal. "I sincerely hope I'm wrong but I think I just somehow triggered an antique shield grid. It must of been a prototype. Vessels from the era aren't supposed to have this kind of technology?" A small blinking indicator surrounded a crude diagram of the vessel, in her mind she couldn't fathom what else it could be. "Please tell me I'm wrong, Kejal, how the hell to we get out of here now?"

Julia Rellek wrote:

[Alien Vessel]

The word disorientation did not add the necessary gravitas to Julia's feelings. Her consciousness seemed to escape her body in that moment. She awoke to a slight shiver. She wasn't completely certain what was happening but her thoughts seem to quickly re-form as she glanced around the ship and remembered began to remember why she was in these unfamiliar surroundings. She instinctively called out as she regained her footing. "Report?" She wasn't certain who she was directing the order to. But it was all she could muster in that moment.

Having stayed quiet and out of the way as best she could, seeing how she had no expertise in these events, Elena glanced over and moved to the Lieutenant Commander, in an attempt to make sure she was alright and assist her if not.

"Some sort of booby trap released something into the air." She answered her call for a report. "I don't think we know what it is yet though."