LtCmdr Jovenan – Follow the lead
Jovenan
((Corridor, New Hope))
They had finally found something. Both Jovenan and Richards had scanned the Yurum individual and received results they couldn’t quite explain. Everything that was not immediately explainable was of interest to a scientist, but working now also as the Acting First Officer, Jovenan had to also consider the fact that it was suspicious. Further suspicion and scientific interest was roused by her detection of similar readings at a higher degree coming from somewhere above them. It was definitely something worth having a look at. Now, they just needed to find a way up there, and with the Boraxian damage control team escorting them across the ship, she needed to employ some of the arts that didn’t come naturally to her.
Jovenan: Ellise. I think you can now find your team without us. We can cover more ground if we split up. We could head to the upper decks. Is there a common area somewhere there where we could find other people? A mess hall, sickbay, recreating area…
The Boraxian woman hesitated. It was possible that the damage control team was unwilling to let untrained people to walk around the ship that was barely afloat, not to mention outsiders whose intention they didn’t necessary fully trust yet. Jovenan also considered the possibility that Ellise had figured out why she might be asking that, knowing very well what was up there and wanting to keep it secret.
Ellise: Our medical facility is two decks up. But know that the lifts do not work.
Jovenan nodded. The medical facility it was. Getting there could be a challenge if the lifts were out of order, but it was at the secondary concern for her. Right now, she needed to get rid of the Boraxian team so that they could resume their objective of investigating what they were hiding, and for that purpose, it seemed her partially non-honest story had been effective.
Jovenan: We’ll figure a way up. If you find injured people, contact the Artemis, they’ll beam you up. Thank you, and good luck.
Bergmen: Hopefully see you soon!
Richards: Nice to meet you three.
Imril: Good travels.
Both the Boraxians and the Starfleet team bid their goodbyes, after which they went their separate ways. While the Boraxians resumed forwards and to where they expected to find the other damage control teams, Jovenan and hear team turned back to where they had come from. As soon as the Boraxian team vanished behind the corner, Jovenan allowed herself to breathe again; she didn’t quite trust herself when it came to convincingly pulling a lie like that. Her eyes shifted to each of her teammates.
Jovenan: There’s something in the sickbay. We have to get there.
Bergmen: Agree. I don’t know how you, but I think that Ellise definitely didn’t tell the whole story, whatever that story was.
Richards: Something definitely doesn’t add up.
Looked like she wasn’t the only one who was suspicious of their Boraxian friends and their story. It wasn’t proof enough, but Jovenan was relieved that it wasn’t just her imagination.
Imril: ::To Jovenan and Richards:: Did you two find something while you were talking alone?
Jovenan: Yes. I scanned the Boraxians and got some weird readings from the Yurum. I got those similar readings in larger scale from somewhere above us. It could be in the sickbay, as Ellise told us, but whatever it is, we need a closer look.
Bergmen was scanning the corridor for a way up. Despite her earlier priorities, the question was now crucial; if they can’t find a way to the sickbay, they didn’t have much chances for additional readings.
Bergmen: Ma’am, looks like she didn’t lie. A couple of meters from here is a shaft of proper size, which could be a lift… But I don’t detect any energy in that space. And then… ::pause, and bite his lip:: …is here… how to formulate it… Bad and weird?
Well, it wasn’t much of a surprise the lifts were not operational; as much as they suspected the Boraxians were hiding something, lying about something so easily verifiable would have been reckless of them. Still, “bad and weird” was ominous and unhelpful.
Bergmen: I detect Theta radiation. Nothing critical, the values are quite low—so low, in fact, that they likely aren’t indicative of a warp core breach, plus... the readings are coming from the ship hull inside rather than originating from within.
Theta radiation? Jovenan frowned. Antimatter reactions would produce some theta radiation, so its presence didn’t reveal much about the origin, considering how many uses antimatter had on a starship. If they were exposed to it, they could take only a very small dosage before nausea and fatigue would kick in – and even larger amounts of it would see their deaths, even the disruption of the subspace itself. The way Lt Bergmen informed them of his findings made Jovenan think they weren’t in an immediate danger because of the radiation. Richards raised her hand and shook her head.
Richards: Don’t stress yourself out. Those levels are extremely low. I have noted them and have it set to alert us if they rise even a tiny bit. Let me and the Commander worry about it, you and Imril worry about how we are going to get up two decks.
Jovenan nodded, even smiled a little.
Jovenan: Agreed. Let’s monitor the radiation, and if the levels rise any higher, I want all of your opinions. But right now, let’s concentrate on moving ahead.
Bergmen nodded and resumed with his work. He walked ahead, seemingly finding something of interest on the wall. He looked around for a moment before picking up a pole from the floor. Using the pole, he managed to pry a panel open, revealing a space behind it. Jovenan grimaced as she heard a metallic clang echo through the corridor as he dropped the pole to the shaft.
Bergmen: Looks like we have a way up, but it will not be a pleasant one, Commander!
The grimace on Jovenan’s face deepened as she thought of climbing on the ladders inside a lift shaft, especially without a rope and a harness. It could mean an awfully long drop if any of them were to slip. Especially…
Richards: If you say anything about a ladder you’re going to have to rethink that. ::pointing to her belly:: They make climbing a bit difficult at the moment.
Yeah, that. It was out of the question. Maybe if they had lost contact with the ship and were in serious danger where the shaft was the only escape, she would have ordered them to climb, but seeing that they had little to lose by finding an alternative route, she couldn’t justify the risk to Richards in particular.
Before she could do more than just shake her head, her combadge emitted a quiet chirp.
Munro: =/\= Munro to Away Teams =/\=
Silveira: =/\=Silveira here.=/\=
Jovenan: =/\= Jovenan here. =/\=
Jovenan’s teammates fell silent hearing the Acting Captain’s voice. She tried not to smile visibly as she heard Vitor’s voice; she didn’t expect him to be in danger (yet), but it was always a pleasure to have the confirmation of that.
Munro: =/\= How are things on the colony ship? =/\=
Silveira: =/\= We have made some repairs. Engineer Dariell has been very welcoming and helpful, although I sense they aren’t telling us everything. Ensign Tho’Bi managed to get both of the ship’s computer cores in sync and we are currently in their Main Engineering, although we have detected Theta Radiation above normal values and are looking into it. =/\=
Jovenan: =/\= We made contact with a Boraxian damage control team. Richards and I got some unusual readings from their Yurum member and from the sickbay, we’re heading there now to investigate further. They don’t seem very open about what’s in there. This area is in pretty bad shape, so it’ll take us a moment to get there. ::pause:: We also registered low Theta radiation levels, we’ll monitor that. =/\=
Munro: =/\= The situation seems to be a little more complex than we first thought. The Yurum Sectarian Faction have requested asylum. =/\=
Jovenan’s eyes darted to her teammates. They weren’t merely investigating the possibility of piracy, trafficking or anything so mundane, they were being pulled into the internal politics of another civilisation. No wonder the Boraxians – or the Yurum faction, if that was indeed what this was – were so secretive and suspicious.
Silveira: =/\= Asylum? Are you considering it, Captain? =/\=
Munro: =/\= I haven't made a decision either way. I'm hoping that you can gather more evidence. I don't need to stress the importance of this request to either of you. Thank you, Munro out. =/\=
The Captain ended the commlink. Jovenan held her chin between her fingers as she thought of the implications of the asylum request in silence. Richards swallowed and had a deep breath.
Richards: Do we still want to proceed to the sickbay? That might be the evidence Commander Munro would like to know about.
Imril: Evidence she may need to make her decision regarding sanctuary.
Bergmen: Commander, as much as I dislike saying this, I have to side with them. We need to uncover the answers we sought when we arrived here. Right now, all we have are only lingering questions.
Jovenan nodded with subtle, slow movements. What else they could do now? They had found a lead. It was the only clue they had, the political pressure didn’t allow them to just try and find a replacement for it.
Jovenan: We don’t have the luxury of leaving an evident lead unexplored and expect to find another.
Richards: Alright. Imril, Ollie, can you find if there’s any other way to get up there? If not I need to prepare myself for what will be the worst climb of my life.
Imril: I might have something. This lift runs on mag-lev principles, but the embedded power cells appear to have corroded to the point that the rails couldn’t maintain polarization. Based on the corrosion pattern, I’d say the theta radiation slowly burned out their capacitors. I’m reading a similar sort of batteries nearby, showing similar damage. But the arrangement of the components is different. I’m thinking a circular escalator.”
The suggestion got a raise of an eyebrow from Jovenan. It was not unusual for a ship to have an alternative to lifts in case of a power outage – Starfleet ships had Jefferies tubes, at least, although those wouldn’t have been much more helpful in their current situation – but powered circular escalators was very much a peculiarity.
Bergmen: Sounds good, go on, continue on that idea, Lieutenant…
Jovenan: Indeed. Even if the power has failed, the escalators can still be used at a lower level of functionality. They’re just stairs.
Richards: Response
The Engineer led the team down the corridor to a doorway. Behind it, they discovered exactly what Lt Imril had described, a set of circular stairs that looked like they might move had they been powered up. Jovenan poked her head through the doorway and looked up and down. She couldn’t see much with the stairs blocking the way and casting shadows to the already dark shaft. It was still better than the ladders with nothing up or down for several decks. Richards was her main concern, but Jovenan herself had hated ladders ever since slipping on a set during an Academy emergency training exercise.
Imril: ::scannng:: There’s a landing on every story. It goes down far enough to get to where that lift crashed, and up for several stories past the medbay. The stairs around here are locked in place; the batteries that move the gears are all dead. Panel, too. Up near the floor we need to reach, the stairs might be a bit shaky. I’m reading uneven power surges up there. Batteries still in the process of breaking down, spitting out random bursts of energy.
Bergmen: Looks safer than the shaft with the maintenance ladder. Good work, Imril.
Jovenan turned to Richards, tilted her head and raised her eyebrows as if to ask for her approval.
Richards: Response
Jovenan: Very well then. Volunteers to test that the escalators can take our weight?
Imril was first to enter. The steps creaked under their feet, each noise causing Jovenan’s expression to twitch. It sounded nasty, although she could also see that it didn’t necessarily mean the stairs were unsteady. The escalators were made to move; making sure the locking mechanism prevented any movement when stopped might not have been a priority for the designer or the manufacturer. Besides, all the best wooden stairs could make a sound like that and people would not think about it twice. Eventually, the Engineer reached the first landing above them.
Imril: ::calling down:: You might want to avoid the seventh step!
Lt Bergmen was the next to walk under the doorway. Jovenan allowed the goldshirts to get a bit ahead of them before turning to Richards. She didn’t want to say that she wanted Richards to go next so that should the junior scientist stumble due to the shaky steps, Jovenan could try and catch her. After all, nothing in Richards’ behaviour had indicated she wanted other people to protect her or to treat her differently due to her pregnancy; she wasn’t sick, she was expecting a child and was very much still a functional member of the crew. Still, Jovenan preferred the option of having someone to prevent injury if something happened to Richards.
Jovenan: You go next, I’ll keep the rear.
Richards: Response
They stepped to the staircase. Jovenan watched out for the specific steps indicated by their goldshirt scouts, but besides that and the awful sounds, she had little problems to get to the landing two decks up. Sadly, that didn’t mean they had a direct access to the corridor quite yet: the hatch was firmly closed.
Bergmen: Ok, this complicates things… ::turns to the team:: I take left side, volunteers for the right one?
Jovenan: We can do it together.
Richards/Imril: Response
They pulled the levers that pushed the door open. Jovenan didn’t consider herself to be in poor shape, but most of her athletic abilities were in running, so she had to concede her strength contributed very little to opening the hatch. However, they were soon greeted by the view to the corridor.
Bergmen: One with the phasers first?
Jovenan turned to Lt Imril. Only the two of them had phasers, and although they hadn’t needed to resort to violence, there was a small chance the Boraxians/the Yurum faction were willing to defend their secrets with fire. It didn’t look very likely, but she preferred to be cautious.
Jovenan: I’ll go first this time, you keep the rear. You are free to unholster your weapon if you see that fit, but don’t raise it unless we encounter resistance.
Richards/Imril/Bergmen: Response
With a nod to her teammates, Jovenan stepped out of the escalator shaft and into the corridor. This hallway wasn’t in much different condition compared to the one they had arrived to, although there weren’t as obvious signs of fire as there had been on the lower deck. Jovenan walked slow, constantly scanning the area in front of her both with the tricorder and with her eyes, trying to find people or other moving objects. The lights were in marginally better condition than those two decks below, for which she was grateful; this was not the right moment to start imagining drones everywhere.
The mysterious readings grew clearer as they approached a door. The markings by the door didn’t say much to Jovenan, but she was willing to bet they identified the area behind the doors as a medical facility. Jovenan signalled to her team with the movements of her head.
Jovenan: This looks like the place. Mister Bergmen, open the door. ::gestures next to her:: Imril.
Richards/Imril/Bergmen: Response
Jovenan unholstered her phaser but kept it pointing to the floor. What they were about to do, storming a room and taking control of it or fighting the enemies within, was something that had been taught in the Academy – not as extensively as might have been necessary to do so properly – but it had been a while since Jovenan had actually practised it. She was hardly a marine. As Lt Bergmen worked on the control panel, she hoped that anyone inside would either not see them as a threat or startle so bad they would freeze immobile.
The doors parted, and Jovenan and Lt Imril hurried in. Jovenan’s heart was racing in anticipation of combat, but she ended up only looking around veraciously for someone, anyone. This was the medbay of a ship that had been the subject to an attack, that had a breached hull and theta radiation leaking in. Surely there should have been someone in here, but she saw no one.
Jovenan: Imril and I will check the siderooms. Bergmen, try to get the lights and power on. Richards, locate the source of our readings, we’ll join you as soon as possible.
Richards/Imril/Bergmen: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Acting XO (Chief Science Officer)
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11