She Did What? (Part 5 of 5)

Posted on 04 Jan 2020 @ 3:48pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Ensign Mimi & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Commander Andreus Kohl
Edited on on 09 Jan 2020 @ 4:50pm

2,430 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 1, Conference Room
Timeline: MD 01, 0840 hrs

Previously, on She Did What? (Part 4)...

"I shot him," declared Lake ir-Llantrisant. The words came out in a flat, but precise, timbre. The Romulan Counselor wasn't boasting, but he wasn't exactly ashamed of it either. "I shot the survivor into space," Lake said. He was lurking by the doorway, having just returned from Sickbay a minute earlier. Striding back to his empty chair, Lake explained, "...Not exactly the first contact protocols you had in mind, but he was attacking the away team's shuttle. In his attack, the survivor shed his skin, revealing an entirely crystalline body structure underneath." --Lake looked around to the other faces around the table-- "I can't say I know where he came from, before he reached the shuttlebay..."

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

"I can," Allyndra was still standing and went to put a gentle hand briefly on Lake. She knew that he was hurting both physically and emotionally.

She faced primarily Rasmussen but tried to include Commander Kohl as well as she spoke. "When we arrived at Latari B, we discovered the remains of the Franconia which was determined to have been destroyed by Tholians from the weapons signature. We discovered a few life pods and miraculously sensors indicated there was one person still alive. That patient, patient zero we shall call him, was beamed aboard and into sickbay. There were strange crystalline structures growing off of patient zero. Analysis indicated that the patient was a carbon based form, in fact one of the colonists from record but that same analysis was showing his body and perhaps his mind were somehow being transformed into a silicone based chemistry. I could not even speculate at the time how that might be. Later as the transformation continued, the patient became more agitated and broke out of sickbay displaying an amazing amount of strength and ended up in the shuttle bay. The rest you have heard. Given the limited data, perhaps something with this Genesis device could have lead to that transformation. The Tholians themselves kept using the words quarantine and contamination and hence my earlier assessment that they might have some ideas on the matter which may help. I am now agreeing with their assessment that we need to quarantine the area until the matter is settled."

Rasmussen now appeared slightly upset at the thought of a medical contamination emergency. "You communicated with the Tholians?" he asked before grinding his teeth and looking to his XO. "What exactly did they say?"

"I can replay the message." Sofie said pushing the audio files onto the speaker system. The room was silent for a moment before the eerie shrieking of the Tholian language pierced through the quiet like knives through paper. Sofie cut the volume on the recording down to very low. "This is the transcript from the universal translator," she read aloud from the PADD she was holding "Federation Vessel this system is under quarantine leave now, Federation vessels you are contaminated. The message essentially repeats a bit before we get We will destroy you and proto-Tholian."

Mimi winced as the high pitched Tholian squealing bombarded her more sensitive hearing for a few seconds before Sofie cut the volume.

Allyndra nodded as the message was relayed along with the translation. She presumed the contamination was their patient zero but not absolutely sure but she had to agree that the system needed to be put off limits and a full empidemological assessment had to be made before evacuating any colonists off and she had the feeling that for the colonists time was of the essence. The other thing that caught her attention was the use of the term proto-Tholian. It could be a fluke of the translator trying to call the silicone based creature that but what if it wasn't? The later had implications that would probably blow the senior captain's mind into complete confusion.

She looked to Rasmussen and Kohl. "I stand by my earlier statement," she simply said.

With his eyes creasing in disbelief, Rasmussen listened to the replay of an actual Tholian communication -- the first recorded in over fifty years on Starfleet record. As a species, their reclusiveness was surpassed only by their xenophobia, and Starfleet had no semblance of diplomatic relations with the Assembly. They were both an enigma and a threat, similar to the Genesis debris.

"Kohl! You're a medical doctor," snapped the captain, "Is all of this possible? A man transformed into silicon? Infected by it?!" Granted the aftermath of any battle was a charged atmosphere, but the last thing he needed right now was uppity scientists presenting worst-case scenarios.

Flinching at Rasmussen's outburst, Kohl's gaze cut to Allyndra. Looking to her, Allyndra's eyes looked certain in her statement. He shrugged slightly --as if to say why not?-- because her certainty was good enough for him. Kohl answered Rasmussen with a new level of conviction, saying, "Captain, there are many documented cases of carbon-based life-forms transmogrifying into energy-based life-forms. Turning to silicon would have to be less traumatic than that. If these Genesis particles scare the Tholians and Starfleet... they must be mind-bendingly powerful."

The XO made a convincing argument. There was a good reason why the Genesis files were classified. "Fine," Rasmussen decided. "Begin system contamination protocols... And crew contamination protocols." He glanced at Mimi, Ghoc, then to the bloody chair which Plumeri had been sitting in. "Without knowing more, we must assume we've all been exposed. Especially those two who just encountered the thing."

Allyndra nodded and then turned to Kohl and nodded. It was a grateful nod, she knew his mettle and knew that she could count on his analysis as well as anyone. "Yes Captain Rasmussen," she said without really looking at him.

A chill ran down Sofie's spine. Contamination - the word scared her. She suddenly became very aware of her breathing, of the physical processes going on in her body. Was she going to turn into some crystal lifeform? She hoped not. "This is all speculation," she said, a slight unease working its way into her tone "Avila Drift, its just a theory. An infection that turns people to silicon? That's isn't even a theory yet. Isn't it all the more likely that this is just some Tholian ploy to trick us? Surely this whole thing could be some incident of aggression on their part that they are attempting to cover up." Though even as she was still speaking she felt with an inevitable certainty that this was no trick.

"The Tholians were very serious about trying to stop the silicon creature we met on the planet, much more than they were about the away team." Mimi told Sofie then hesitated slightly a little unsure that her opinion was even sought. "They want to stop what caused this from spreading and to them one of our ships was the cause so they think we started this. We should help them if we can."

The captain listened to the different opinions while finding merit in each. It was a tough call for Rasmussen, one the likes of which he'd never had to make in his boring Starfleet career as a logistics officer. One of their assets, the Trial, was already lost and he feared any further miscalculations would have worse repercussions. The involvement of the Tholians and this new lifeform further complicated matters yet he was ultimately bound by the Genesis Directive to eliminate all traces of the proto-matter.

"You're right, ensign. It is just speculation," he replied to Ullswater while gazing at the LCARS monitor. "That's why you're going to prove your hypothesis and submit a proof. In the event we don't make it through this, Starfleet will need records of our discovery. Get as many people as you need and run the numbers."

Sofie nodded affirmatively with a confident look about herself. The mysteries that they could uncover here could prove to be of great scientific importance. It felt satisfying to finally be doing something like what she'd been promised when she joined Starfleet.

Rasmussen turned his attention to both Kohl and Mimi. "We're not making friends with the Tholians just yet - or that thing on the surface. They destroyed two of our starships in orbit and it devastated a colony site," he cautioned. "Whatever is down there and whatever conflict it has with the Tholians, it's not our problem now. We have to contain it." He spoke in a somber tone which now reflected the gravity of his secret orders. "Starfleet's standing orders upon any detection of Genesis particles are to destroy them immediately with the highest priority...by any means necessary. This is the Genesis Directive, do you understand?"

Whatever hand-wringing confusion Kohl had felt between the competing priorities of this mission gone wrong were quickly evaporating. His eyes cut to Allyndra again, to read her reaction. Kohl's own shoulders had relaxed slightly and he let his arms hang by his sides comfortably. "Understood, Captain," Kohl said in reply, probably the loudest.

Allyndra had sat again but only nodded. "Perhaps not making friends with the Tholians," she finally spoke with a tight control trying to keep professional. "However, if they are in the area I do think we need to work with them to solve this problem. They are undoubtedly aware by now of Genesis after taking over the Trial."

"They probably are," the captain agreed, thinking back to the blonde lieutenant's tense proclamation before he was helped off to sickbay. "But it's not their problem to solve, it's ours. Kohl, how many tricobalt devices do we have in our cargo bay? Eight?"

Squinting his eyes, Kohl stared into the middle distance as he turned his mind back to a report he'd read a few days ago. After he completed the mental math in his head, Kohl cocked his head to one side, and he said, "Nine devices."

"Good. Transfer four to Galileo and install them into torpedo casings," Rasmussen ordered. "Once this ship is repaired, I plan for the task group to enter the system and destroy the colony site on Latari A III. The other ships will provide cover if the Tholians decide to challenge us." The heavyset man took a breath then wiped a light coat of perspiration from the top of his forehead. "Kohl, I'm transferring you here as acting captain until Saalm returns. And you, commander," he looked to Warraquim, "are coming with me back to Lagrange. I need you to monitor the casualties we just evacuated and look for any signs of contamination."

Allyndra thought they were going about things all wrong but she had already made her case and arguing further was not going to help. She looked to Kohl and shrugged slightly and then to Lieutenant Commander Wyatt. She felt sorry for that latter, being put in the place he was and then basically treated like...what was the term, a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed excrement. She doubted there was any further contamination at this point but again arguing was not going to do much good so she just finally said, "Yes sir." It was not hostile but neutral and flat.

For his part, Andreus Kohl nodded in Rasmussen's direction but his eyes were on the down. His gaze landed somewhere around Rasmussen's uniform collar and his four pips. Kohl didn't look around --didn't look to the others. Really, it took all his strength not to appeared shocked or terrified. Acting command, Rasmussen had ordered him, of the Galileo, of all the ships in the fleet. He'd grown up on this ship. He'd been paralyzed on this ship. He'd fallen in love on this ship. His head spinning, his voice catching in his throat, all Kohl could manage to say was, "Aye..."

'Tricobalt devices' Mimi thought. Blowing up the colony site and possibly fighting the Tholians again was certainly not what she expected they were going to do.

"Good. Then get to it," ordered Rasmussen with some pep. "We're on the clock and we have three days to fix this mess. The longer we wait, the more likely Tholian reinforcements will show up and the organism will spread." He then looked to the senior-most Galileo officer. "Commander Wyatt, you've done well getting the ship back but your counter-attack is denied. Your skills are needed helping Kohl and getting this starship back to combat readiness."

Luke didn't like the Rasmussens tone but as was any good soldier he 'follow' order, "Very well, with the help of the fleet and the ship's crew we'll be combat-ready within the specified time frame." He genuinely meant it too, he had no doubt the crew would perform admirably but he also knew that three days was too long, and for anyone to survive they would have to leave as soon as possible. Luke doubted any further contamination even more so and knew when it came to crunch time the crew would do the right thing. So for now, he was willing to roll over.

Looking around the room, Kohl tried to speak, but his throat was dry. He cleared his throat and he took a breath. He squared his shoulders and he took another breath. "We have our orders," he said, a little haltingly. His lightning gaze shifted from face to face --holding until they each returned his gaze-- and then he looked to the next. "It's not the rescue mission we were hoping for... when the Federation lost contact with this colonies," he said more firmly, cocking his head to one side. "Most of you don't know me, but we're in this together. We're going to give those colonies a proper burial. We're going to help them rest; bring them peace," he said and he nodded once.

"Dismissed," Kohl said, having looked to them all. "You can return to your posts. I'll be in... the ready room."

[OFF]

--

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Second and Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

Commander Andreus Kohl
Acting Captain
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC ir-Llantrisant]

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

CAPT Rasmussen
Commanding Officer
USS Lagrange
[PNPC Saalm]

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