Sensors and Scientists

Posted on Tue Oct 27th, 2020 @ 5:29pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Saral & Lieutenant Commander Radak & Lieutenant Ronan St. Cyr M.D. & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D

3,718 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: To catch a thief
Location: Kappa 4 research station
Timeline: Concurrent with 'tractor beams at the ready' and 'In the nick of time'

ON:

The station team had assembled in transporter room two and after a quick discussion and delegation of the tasks to be completed before heading over to the transporter pad and momentarily a few seconds later they had materialised on the station.

As soon as Anthony was solid again he said, "I hate that feeling. Atoms bouncing through you and all. I know, why did I come out into space rather than taking up a teaching post if I hated transporter beams. I can only say scientifically the stars hold so much information for me to stay at home."

"Transporters are perfectly safe, Lieutenant. Any discomfort is only in your head," Po Saral remarked as he took in his surroundings. To say the base was attacked, but everything seemed normal, no signs of weapons fire, no damage.

Anthony listened to what Petty Officer Saral said. He knew that what he said was correct. “That might be so Petty Officer Saral, however just because it is a mental thing doesn’t make it non existent. If an Admiral can have the of contemptuous feelings for the machine why not a Lieutenant?” He smiled at Petty Officer Saral to show there were no hard feelings in their discussion.

"Having feeling about an inanimate object is not logical for any rank," the Vulcan calmly responded.

“Yes, Petty Officer Saral, however to qualify your statement, you are a Vulcan, so you repress all emotions. Some time to your detriment. Those points and the fact that Humans don’t lead to many fears that are irrational, like snakes and spiders, clowns, another persons blood and yes having your atoms spread across the universe,” Anthony said with a chuckle. He would always use transporters in the need for speed, though if not he liked having something like a shuttlecraft to touch.

Radak had pulled his phaser, ready for potential confrontation, but their arrival was not quite so exciting, nor were they greeted by station personnel. He tapped his commbadge immedately. =/\= Lieutenant Commander Radak to the captain. We have arrived on the station. There is no one in the commander center. I will keep you informed. =/\= He then looked around at the away team. "Let's remember what we're here to do and please stay alert. We don't know that they haven't been boarded," he cautioned the people around him.

“Understood Commander,” Anthony said using the command center's science station, he started using it to find the workers. After a few minutes working on it to get it to log him in he said, “We have power at least, Commander Radak, and a few pockets of crew working around the place. I expect they are engineers and operations teams patching holes and making repairs. The though largest group are down on deck three. I expect they’re the science and likely command teams.”

"Alright... we need to make contact with those people. Let them know we are here to help and help in any way possible," Radak responded.

A door at the far end of the command centre opened and a man stepped through, seeing the group he immediately ran behind a console thinking they were the mercs from the disabled ship coming back. Gingerly he looked over the top of the console, they didn't look like the mercs. "Starfleet?" he called out to the group.

“Lieutenant Dr Edwards Chief Science Officer of the USS Wolff, and whom might you be?” Anthony answered the nervous young man he had seen duck for cover behind a console.

Slowly the man emerged from behind the console. "Boy, am I glad to see some Starfleet. I'm Dr. Amari."

“Come over here, Doctor Amari and we’ll work out how the ship can expedite repairs,” Lieutenant Edwards said.

Amari headed over towards the away team. "We lost our shields and communications before we even knew the ships were there. Other than that we're not too bad. They didn't plan on destroying the base."

Anthony was a little surprised by that, though being scientist sometimes the could get distracted though, and some private bands could attack in large numbers of small ships so he knew the questions had to be asked to get the information on this particular band of pirates. “Are you saying they attacked fast and hard or were they cloaked as they attacked?”

"At least one of them had a cloak or something similar, there was nothing on our sensors then suddenly a ship was there. It attacked first then several more ships warped in." Amari moved to one of the consoles and activated it. "We managed to get a lot of sensor information during the attack. It's all on here."

Being new to the ship, it wasn't a surprise that the the conversation flowed around him. Ronan remained in the rear of the group and listened as the scientist reported the incident. Shields and communications were targeted, but thankfully, there were no injuries. As a physician, he always appreciated any situation where his particular skill set would not be needed.

Anthony knew there would, if nothing else the Captain would not have just sent the doctor for just a joy ride, and shields had been defeated he hoped the doctor wasn’t needed but thought he should find out rather than assume. “Glad you got a bunch of sensor data for us to work on but first and more importantly were there any injuries more major than your medic could deal with, Doctor?”

"Most of us have only cuts and bruises, we could use some help though. Dr. T'Perro is our medic and we're pretty sure she has a bad concussion. She's really out of it. Without her, none of us have the skill to treat Anton, he's the worst off," Amari replied.

"If you could just show me where I can set up," Ronan said. "I'll get straight to work."

"You're a medical doctor?" Amari asked, though it sounded like he was.

"Forgive me," Ronan said, his expression turning a tiny bit abashed, as he placed one hand on his chest. "I should have introduced myself, shouldn't I? I'm Doctor St. Cyr, Chief Medical Officer for the USS Wolff, and... uh... here to help, however I can."

"I'm glad you're here. Our sickbay is this way." Dr. Amari went to turn and head out of the command centre.

Radak listened and followed closely. "I don't mean to interrupt, but do you know what they were after, Doctor? If they did not wish to destroy the station, what was it they wanted instead? If you don't mind my asking." He knew that sometimes scientists couldn't talk about what they were working on, but he hoped that wasn't the case here.

Amari looked back at the Vulcan and was about to speak when the door to the command centre opened again and another human stepped through. "Dr. Amari I need a..." he stopped when he saw the away team, surprised to see them.

"Ah, Mr. Jenson, your timing is impeccable, as always. Can you take this officer to the sickbay?" Amari told him.

"Sure, this way, Sir," Jenson said to Ronan.

"Right behind you," Ronan answered. He kept one hand on his medical bag as he followed Jenson out of the command center.

"To answer your question, we were working on what we hoped would be the next generation of sensors. If you wanted them to, they could pick up a Denebian wasp buzzing from five light years away." Amari sighed slightly, a lot of work had gone into their project. "They stole our prototype."

“Let me guess, the ship that got the prototype got away and left that ship as a decoy?” Anthony asked, hoping he was wrong.

"We don't know which ship took it, but I doubt it's on the one we stopped. I don't think their friends would have left it behind if it had it," Amari replied.

“That’s what I was expecting. It makes more sense as a decoy to draw attention, as I expect they would have destroyed it to expedite their escape. You said shields and communications are down, and you have pre-attack sensor data, anything post attack?” Anthony looked at Commander Radak. ”Captain Tigran needs this info and that we may need the Wolff to be our sensor to at least find our pirates. The thing I am still worried about is we have limited short range comms, so I guess chasing them down is on a back burner for now.”

"They never took out our regular sensors," Amari told them. "They kept recording data all the way through the attack. I doubt any information about their course would be any use now though. They could be a dozen light years away by now."

Radak nodded in response to Anthony. "Send the information and let the Captain know what we need, but they should also go after the pirates. They might have to do that without us, but it will be up to the captain. The station needs help as well. We are more valuable here."

=/\= Lieutenant Edwards for Captain Tigran. Captain, we have information on what was stolen. The station was testing the next generation of sensors. They have a lot of quite detailed sensor data about the attack. Everything we have found so far screams that that ship out there is actually nothing more than a decoy. Our ship and that decoy may have or be able to find out all he might get. Though that is not the worst of it the only opportunity will be slipping away from us but to run off will leave this station open to attack. =/\= Anthony sent his report as concisely as possible.

=/\= Understood, you have until Lt. Barron's team returns to do what you can on the base, then we're going after these pirates, =/\= came Taliserra's response.

=/\= Understood, Captain. We’ll be ready, though with no shields or comms I am not sure how safe this station will be for those we leave behind. These pirates don’t seem to care about the medical caduceus either, =/\= Anthony said, as he made his way back toward the station that was indicated to have the sensor data. Working quickly, he took what the station had copied to a datapad for the return to the ship. While he was there, he thought he could try working out what he could for Lt. Barron when they both returned to the ship. “Is there anything else you can tell us, Doctor Amari, about these pirates? We think we have had dealings with them before, but anything you can tell us will be a step in the right direction?”

Radak nodded, in agreement with Lieutenant Edwards. His gaze returned to Dr. Amari. He hoped that there was more information forthcoming, but he was afraid that that probably wasn't going to be the case. He wanted to suggest that they leave a team behind to help with repairs while the rest of the crew sought out the pirates. He did not want to leave these people helpless against a second attack.

"We managed to get a good picture of a symbol on the side of the ships, three red daggers stabbed into a white skull," Amari said, though with the ship outside they might have seen that for themselves. "Their initial course out looked to be towards the Tukefra nebula. But it would make sense for them to change course as they got out of our sensor range."

Radak nodded again. "We will have to see if they left a warp trail. Of course, those disappear quickly, so we may have already lost our opportunity. We will do everything we can to find them again and return your lost prototype, Doctor," Radak responded, trying to seem reassuring.

"Outside of being a brand new ship we have some of the best sensors in the fleet Commander, though I do fear as you say that they will be even beyond my teams abilities, we have seen that icon before and unfortunately at that time they got away." Anthony said. Then asked Doctor Amari “It has been a while since the attack what can we do to help get your shields and communications working?”

"I think we're pretty close to getting the shields up and running again. Micheal and M'Ressa are like wizards when it comes to technical stuff," Amari answered. "Communications look like a whole 'nother story, they really didn't want us to get any word out."

"Could you you show me to one of your science stations? I have a feeling that ship out there might have something to do with the communication problems. I mean, there is likely some gremlins part of the comm system, but it is my best guess that your being jammed," Anthony said.

Saral had been checking the bases systems for himself as the officers spoke with the doctor. "Sir, I do not believe they are being jammed, I cannot detect any signs of external jamming. If they are though it is only a part of the problem," The Vulcan replied. "The holes in their communication array are more pressing."

"You know that side of things much better than I do, Petty Officer Saral. Do you think you'll be able to fix the communications problems? And how long do you think it will take?" Anthony asked.

"The Wolff can fabricate the parts," Saral replied. "With a full team, I estimate an hour, two at most."

"Run a diagnostic and make a list of the parts and a team could bring them over with them," Anthony said and then asked, "Is that on the Montgomery Scott sliding rule of engineering?"

"Vulcans do not exaggerate, Sir," Saral simply stated and got to work.

Anthony smiled but let him get on with his work, as a Vulcan and a Petty officer first class with at least twenty two years experience, he also didn't need to be told their job or watched over at every turn. He got to work on the sensor data as Saral started on the communications station.

=== Kappa 4's Sickbay ===

"Here we are," Jenson said as they passed through the doors into the small sickbay. "The cuts and bruises some of us have we can deal with easy enough. Anton got it the worst though and we don't know how to help him."

"Thank you, Jenson," Ronan said. "Is there a nurse on duty or am I on my own?" He took in the scene before him. The facility was large enough for a fully equipped Sickbay which eliminated the necessity of calling down supplies from the ship. He picked up a medical tricorder and turned it on as he waited for the man's answer.

Jenson shook his head. "If you can bring Dr. T'Perro back to her senses she can help you, but otherwise no, it'd just be you. We had a nurse, but she had to go home a few days ago for family reasons."

He found Doctors T'Perro and Miro and did the necessary scans to determine their conditions. As Dr. Miro's injuries were the most serious, he started there. Moving quickly, he brought the surgical frame to the biobed and worked through the settings necessary for the operation he intended to perform. After a review of the doctor's medical file, he set to work correcting vertebral body fractures in the thorocombular region of the back. The task was both simple and complex; repair the damage and ascertain that a burst fracture hadn't sent bone fragments into the spinal canal.

Some time later, though he hadn't a clue how long, the damage was repaired and patient was resting comfortably. From there, he moved on to Doctor T'Perro who was indeed suffering from a concussion. After treatment, he placed an order in the patient's file that would keep her off duty for the next three days and then moved onto the lesser injuries. Fractures and abrasions for the most part.

With the most serious injuries handled, triage became simpler. The most complex of the remaining injuries, complex fractures, were handled first. He worked with quiet efficiency, smiling and making jokes when that helped alleviate stress and sometimes just listening to a recitation of events. Because that was part of it too; most beings had a need to talk, to process, to find common ground with the doctor treating them. It didn't make it easier on the doctor who also needed to maintain a level of detachment but he did what he could and dealt with the emotional aftermath later.

For now, it was just a matter of working. Finish with the next most critical case and move on to the one after that. Next time, he thought, I'm bringing my own assistant because an EMT would sure come in handy about now.

=== Control Room ===

A console suddenly put out an alert and an alarm sounded across the control room. A display screen lit up with what was happening outside. A series of explosions rippled across the pirate ship and it came apart in a shower of debris.

As the emergency alarm went off Anthony called out to Petty Officer Saral. "Petty Officer, now might be a good to get us some shielding. That ship out there just exploded."

Saral checked the station next to him, the sensor display changed to show the Wolff moving to a new position and the image of a shield bubble extending around the base. "The Wolff is already moving, they are extending their shields around us and engaging tractor beams."

"That's certainly going to help, but it is still going to be a little bumpy," Anthony said.

The small station rocked slightly under the impact of the debris against the shields. After less than a minute the rumbling stopped.

"We have sustained no damage," Saral calmly reported. The scene unfolding outside the station had been an interesting sight, but the shields had absorbed everything.

Radak watched the whole thing calmly, his expression never changing. "Do we know why it exploded?" he asked, once the damage report was in.

"The boarding team may have damaged the vessel inadvertently leading to its destruction or the crew may have set the self destruct before they were detained," Saral replied.

Radak nodded. "If we can determine anything from the wreckage. We should try, at least. I would like sensor readings from the explosion." He wasn't sure if the information yielded would be useful at all. Perhaps the boarding team had damaged the ship enough to make it explode, but better safe than sorry, was how he believed the phrase went.

Anthony had started working on the science station in the control room as soon as the shaking had settled down. They were lucky, and he was very thankful that the were still working as often when both comms and shields had gone down so to did sensors. “Working on it sir! Collecting some of the debris might also get us more details of how those ships are put together.”


=== Kappa 4's sickbay ===

=/\= Tigran to St. Cyr, =/\= came Taliserra's voice over Ronan's commbadge.

=/\=St. Cyr here.=/\= Ronan answered. He'd just finished repairing a minor break and delivering instructions regarding care to one of the enlisted. Fresh-faced and brimming with eagerness to return to his duties, Ronan had been wondering just how long it would be before the young man returned with further injuries. Humans are short-lived, he thought, but at a certain age, they really do think they're invincible.

=/\= Report back to the Wolff. The boarding team has injured, one of them critical.=/\=

=/\=On my way,=/\= Ronan answered. =/\=St. Cyr out.=/\= He looked over the Sickbay, now emptied of patients, as he restored order. A few moments later, he tapped his combadge. =/\=St. Cyr to Wolff. Ready for transport.=/\=


=== Control Room ===

=/\= Tigran to away team, what's your status?=/\=

=/\= Edwards responding Captain, firstly thank you for the shielding, it was a little bumpy but without shields it could have been much worse. Petty Officer Saral has has been working diligently on communication and has it back to a point that we could probably leave the station with the parts they need and they could finish it themselves. We started doing some of the science here Ma’am but I would like some of the debris for scientific testing for whatever we might get out of it. It might not give us much but you never know what you can find. =/\= Anthony responded to his commanding officer.

=/\= We're going to bring some of the debris onboard, see if we can get anything useful from it.=/\= Taliserra told them. =/\= How much longer do you need over there?=/\=

Knowing that it had been an hour since Petty Officer Saral had told him an hour or two Anthony knew he could honestly respond with, =/\=Thirty minutes Captain! Petty Officer Saral confidently told me he could have communications on line within the next thirty minutes. The crew here have spent all their time working on shields and I expect they will likely be finished by then too.=/\=

=/\= Good. I'm going to contact SF Intel, see what information they might have, I want you all back here as soon as you can to begin analysing all the data.=/\=

=/\=I am sure HG would like to get her teeth into analysing the debris and you may need to lock her in chains to keep her out of there before I get back. I think to be honest one of the least destructive forces would be to let her get started as soon as you bring it aboard.=/\= Anthony said with a laugh to himself.

=/\= Contact us when you're ready to beam back onboard, Tigran out.=/\=


===Thirty minutes later===

As the team finished in the control room a cheer went up as the continuous buzzing of a communications station that was dead quietened down. "Well done Petty Officer Saral." Anthony said before he tapped his comm badge. =/\=Lieutenant Edwards to USS Wolff. Three to come home.=/\=

OFF:

Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Radak
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Ronan St.Cyr
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant (jg) Dr Anthony Edwards
Chief Science Officer

Petty Officer 1st class
Operations Officer
[npc Taliserra]

 

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