MSNPC Havun - Blinded by Grief

[LtCmdr Tamio K'Wara]

(( Nascaik Genetic Research Lab - Underground facility, Kurtûl III ))

It all happened so fast... Starfleet was through the door, and Havun knew that they wouldn’t care about Falon’s treatment. As far as they were concerned, he was a criminal who needed to be brought to justice; Falon was a secondary concern.

Not for him.

He was scared. He knew - in theory - what the thalaron radiation beyond the glass, mere centimeters from his hand, could do to a humanoid body if handled incorrectly. The process being used on Falon was highly unstable and needed absolute precision. The computer would do a better job than him. The best he could hope for was to stall them, make sure they couldn’t get to Falon and shut down the treatment before it’d concluded.

Then, they pounced.

Storm: I don’t want to hurt you!

Jovenan: ::fuming:: Lieutenant, what is— Doctor, go help her!

Havun felt fingers lock around his wrist, and he pressed the button on the lower shaft of the hammer almost subconsciously, not realizing fully that he did so.

Storm:  Just release the hammer.  

Jovenan: Ensign, be ready to—

The hammer did the job it had been designed for - break glass in case of emergency - and with the THUMP of the pressure mechanism within, the sharp point spidered the glass in an instant. Havun fell, surprised by the force of the impact, and glass shards exploded around them as a loud siren screamed.

He felt it in the airwaves, the forcefield tracing through the air, rushing to contain the thalaron radiation in a sweep.

Jovenan: Lieutenant! Doctor!

Then, they were cut off. A forcefield had shimmered into being between Havun and the leader of the Starfleet group, with her group split between the two forcefield cells. He felt it immediately, or at least imagined that he did - the tingle in his limbs, the lightness of vision. He imagined he could see it in front of him, his DNA strands being softened and stretched, nucleotides being teasingly pulled apart just enough to allow for something else.

Breys: I’ll try to find out which pockets the thalaron particles are isolated in.

Ikaixar: Lieutenant, how do you feel?

Storm: Surprisingly not dead?  I thought Thaleron killed nearly immediately.

As though through a haze, he heard the Starfleet officers sound off, but he didn’t listen.

oO Falon Oo

Havun: The treatment- it has to start- Computer, begin the treatment!

The siren was still filling the air, and Havun looked around. It wasn’t responding to him. An error in the system as a result of the forcefield? Or was it ignoring him because of some subroutine embedded in the system?

Jovenan: It’s not fully potent thalaron radiation, otherwise you would be dead already. Are you alright? Havun, what is this?

Havun: It’s experimental thalaron treatments used by the Nascaik to supplement their gene therapy. It’s purified and thinned to be non-lethal in small doses. oO Or so I’m told. Oo

For the moment, it seemed true.

Breys: I’m seeing the same thing, how would you even cut it down like this?

Storm: As long as we continue breathing, I’m just thankful he has.

Havun: The Nascaik have very powerful medical technology.

Far greater than that back on Da’al.

He moved away from the two Starfleet Officers, though he was certain they were keeping an eye on him all along, and tried prying his way into the computer system, but it was locked down. ‘Emergency Quarantine Procedure’. Likely a system designed so that panicking patients couldn’t forcibly interrupt their own treatment, or to prevent spread of dangerous contaminants by forcible quarantine lifts.

Breys: It seems like Doctor Ikaixar is safe for now, the other two are right next to the breach, even with the forcefield sealing it, they’re exposed with it already trapped in their field. ::To Havun:: Why would you do this?

Ikaixar: How did you do this? My readings show the radiation was dangerously close to ripping her cells apart, how did you even get it so precise?

Storm: I am sorry your wife is ill.

Starfleet’s pity was wasted on him. Pity didn’t cure her. Pity didn’t cure anyone. Only action did, and this action - so close to completion - had been ruined by their interference. Logically, he knew they’d had no choice, but no. There was no room for logic anymore. He sank to the floor by Falon’s bed, his legs starting to whirr and sting. He grasped for her hand, his one lifeline to sanity.

Jovenan: Response

Havun: After the Great Impact... Everything changed. Our lives were always heading this way, weren’t they, Falon?

Breys: What are you talking about? What does this have to do with The Great Impact? ::gestures to Falon:: What’s wrong with her?

Havun: It’s a rare genetic mutation caused by the Da’allium that the comet released into our atmosphere. ::deep breath as his fingers start to tremble:: The Artemis was able to save those immediately affected... But the long-lasting effects were, unanticipated... Warst Reecras Syndrome. ::shaking voice:: Falon...

It was strange, how sharing that seemed to almost lift a burden on his shoulders. They sagged as his body fell into Falon’s sickbed, all forward momentum drained from him in that moment of admittance.

They’d kept Falon’s condition quiet, telling only the closest friends and family, and then tried to keep it secret from the public while they planned the Afalqi theft. Saying it openly now, it was like puncturing a weighted sack that had been slowly strangling them all for much too long.

Storm:  How long have you been trying to treat her?

Havun: She’s been seeing doctors, participating in clinical trials, taking experimentative medication for over a year now... ‘She’s helping make sure no one else has to die’, they said... No one thought that maybe, there was a way that she didn’t have to die either.

The future didn’t matter if your loved ones wouldn’t be around to see it.

Jovenan: Response

Breys: We still need to get you all out, there has to be a way to mitigate the radiation.

Storm: Hasn’t the inner forcefield lessened it - at least for us? 

Havun ran his fingers over Falon’s skin, feeling how the outer edges of his extremities started losing feeling. It scared him, and yet, there was a certain peace to it. Nowhere near as painful as the conspiracies would have him believe. Hopefully, Falon hadn’t even noticed.

He coughed and tasted blood on his tongue.

Jovenan: Response

Breys: The other team! They were exposed to larger amounts of radiation, maybe they had an inoculant on them. If we can enter safely, we can disable the forcefields and inoculate Havun and Storm as well.

Ikaixar: I inoculated Lieutenant Storm when I beamed down, along with the rest of you. But you ::glancing to Havun:: please tell me you have extras for yourself in the lab.

Storm: You’ve already inoculated yourself, didn’t you?  That’s why you weren’t afraid of using the hammer.  You were never at risk.

‘Not afraid’? Havun tried to laugh, but the wheezing sound that escaped his body as the whirring no longer felt hypochondriac, but truly as though he was being unraveled from within, didn’t do the notion of a laugh justice.

Even now, his fingers were trembling, and he felt shame at himself. Falon had struggled through this bravely, silently, while supporting him, and yet not even a minute into this nightmare, he was so scared he could barely stand on his feet.

Havun: ::heavy breathing:: You must not have met many Da’al over your lifetime, Miss...

Jovenan: Response

Ikaixar: I can help him with what I have, but the radiation needs to be shut off if he, or we, even have a chance at survival. Inoculations won’t stave off the sicknesses for long, especially with how disruptive the doses of radiation can be.

It was strange how here, at the end of things, he found himself thinking he was sorry that Starfleet were in here with him. Just a couple of years ago, he’d have been elated to be working with the finest scientists in the universe.

But everything was darker and more hopeless now.

Breys/Jovenan: Response

Storm: Havun, we can shut it down from in here, can’t we?  Either shut it down or tell me how to do it.

He didn’t have the will to fight anymore. Without access to the computer, Falon’s treatment was impossible anyway, and no one but him and her needed to die today.

Havun: I don’t know... The computer in here has locked us out... ‘Quarantine measures’.

Ikaixar: ::pointing to Falon:: There’s still a chance she can be saved, but everyone here, including you, are my priority. I need you to tell me exactly how you’ve been treating her.

There was a glimmer of hope. A Doctor. Someone willing to look at Falon as a patient, and not as a research subject. Havun tried sitting up, but found that his body couldn’t support his weight anymore.

oO No, not now. Falon needs this. Oo

Storm:  The only way to get her help beyond you - and I’m guessing you’ve done all you can, is to lower the forcefields and let the Doctor through.

Havun: Her... Her patient files, are all in the computer. ::wheezing bloody cough:: Please. Help her.

Breys/Jovenan: Response

He wasn’t sure if his eyes had started closing or if his vision was just melting away, as suddenly, he could no longer focus on the going ons around him. Perhaps, this was what it was like to die? Had Falon already died? Would Starfleet save her, or would she be waiting for him on the other side?

oO ‘Till the end of our lives, and further still. Oo

Ikaixar: It’s calibrated to slow down cell death, keep the prongs pointed at Havun and hold down the button on the top. 

Storm: What exactly does this do?

Had those been real words? They must have been.

Breys/Jovenan: Response

He wasn’t sure if his vision was starting to come back to him, but he could feel his left hand again. Clinging so desperately to Falon’s, which still had a slow pulse. Still hanging on.

Storm: You didn’t have to do this alone, you know. 

He thought back to all their friends and family up on the Afalqi. Were they still waiting for him and Falon to return?

Havun: I didn’t.

Breys/Jovenan/Ikaixar: Response

What were the other Starfleet officers doing? And why did they keep asking questions? He was so tired...

Storm: I know you must have felt alone to do something this desperate.  But why, of all people, did you turn to the Romulans?

Romulans… Why were they important now?

Havun: They... Traded us... Schematics for the... Afalqi test drives. One of them, told me about this place.

Now that they mentioned it, he hadn’t seen any of the Romulans since beaming down. He’d have thought they would be here. Perhaps they’d long since left themselves.

Breys/Jovenan/Ikaixar: Response

Storm: How much of a hand did the Romulans have in all of this?

Havun: They just... Told me where to go.

Breys/Jovenan/Ikaixar: Response

He didn’t understand why Starfleet kept asking him about the Romulans. Were they here? Why hadn’t he seen any of them?

Breys/Jovenan/Ikaixar/Storm: Response

Havun: I won’t try to run. ::weak smile:: D-Don’t think I could if I wanted to. But- But Falon-

Breys/Jovenan/Ikaixar/Storm: Response

Havun: Da’al, we don’t know how to treat Warst Reecras... Please. Help them. Falon, and the others.

Breys/Jovenan/Ikaixar/Storm: Response

TAG/TBC

MSNPC Havun

CO & Chief Engineer

Afalqi

As simmed by

LtCmdr Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Ops

USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1