LtCmdr Jovenan – Into the deepest pit
Jovenan
((Peace of Ellet, Boraxian Cityship))
Jovenan: I have power readings. There are some magnetic and particular fields that come with basic medical equipment. Not the fanciest hospital, but they might still have what we’re looking for. What do you read?
Richards: I am getting small spikes of something similar to what we had in the lab on the ship. This is definitely something here.
Jaran: I'm also getting some biological readings. Life signs, maybe? But definitely organic.
K’Wara: Response
Jovenan looked at the building. There was something in there, as they had predicted, but there was no way telling if it would help them in their mission. The danger persisted; although they had not seen it nor any signs indicating it, it could still lurk in there somewhere. It was just a matter of weighting their chances against the risks.
Jovenan: Let’s go in. We need to find a computer with access to research data, or notes, or something similar. Look for chemicals and equipment we could use to make the antidote as well.
K’Wara: Response
The team entered the building built into the heart to the rock. The shadowy, abandoned streets of the sole refuge to the outcasts of the Cityship were left behind, and the door under the emblem of the Lifecarers led them to a room equally barren of life. It was a hospital, not a rich one nor one equipped with the newest technology, but a hospital nonetheless; and this was it’s reception hall. Jovenan could imagine people of the town within the depths of the city coming here, maybe alone, shy, afraid, and being received by a volunteer from above, nurse, doctor, anyone capable and willing to help them. Yet now, there were none. The chairs were empty, no one was manning the booth at the other end. The residents had all gone to hiding, scurried away or stormed the City. What the team were looking for, however, might have still been there.
Jovenan: ::to no one in particular:: If you were conducting illegal biomedical experiments, where in this building would you keep your stuff?
Richards laughed. Jovenan smiled a little in response. Although the task was serious and potentially dangerous, it was better that the team weren’t on the edge.
Richards: I would assume some backroom. ::Beat:: Or a basement. ::Eyes widening:: Oh gods I hope not a basement. We are already underground. I don't want to be even more underground.
Jaran: Unfortunately, that would seem the most likely, if there is a basement. It would hide any signals from being picked up. If it helps, what's the difference between underground and extra underground? Maybe a foot of construction material?
Jovenan could only shrug. They couldn’t see the sky even from the plaza, so there was little difference – although, in fairness, the Cityship’s surface didn’t have a proper sky above it either. She supposed that the difference was the amount of space and the level of confinement; they could jump out of here and rush through the plaza and into any of the buildings around them if needed, but for all they knew, the basement, if there was one, would be dark, crampy and had but one entrance… or exit.
K’Wara: Response
Jovenan: See if you can find which part of the building the readings are coming from. We might need to comb through it all if we don’t find what we’re looking for otherwise.
The scientists and the doctor among them continued their scans, although Jovenan kept her eyes constantly open for anything else that might be moving around there. She kept her tricorder in her left hand in order to keep her right hand open to pull out the phaser if needed. Still, there was not even a sound of a vole skittering around.
Richards: Thankfully this building doesn’t seem too big, it shouldn’t take too long to find where these illegal experiments take place.
Richards stepped closer to a door.
Jaran: Seems to be as good a place to start as any. I'm getting nothing. It really does make me wonder where everyone is. Kind of eerie.
K’Wara: Response
Jovenan: Let’s see what’s in there, then.
They opened the door, revealing a corridor with several other doors to each side. These must have been the doctors’ and nurses’ offices, medical labs, operating rooms. It was all very bare, with little more than what was necessary for a location such as this. Understandably so, considering the nature of the town and also the fact that medical facilities were often barren of unnecessary clutter anyway, both for hygiene reasons and to keep the area clear for patients being moved around in all kinds of beds and chairs.
Richards: I think this is the right direction, but maybe the folks with the phasers should lead the way. I don’t want to put myself face to face with any surprises…
Jovenan: That would be wise. ::pulls out phaser but keeps it down:: Lieutenant.
K’Wara: Response
Jaran: No time like the present.
A phaser pointing to the ground in one hand and a tricorder in the other, pointing towards the end of the hallway but ignored except for quick glances occasionally, Jovenan walked along the corridor. Although she had ordered to keep the phasers away when they had entered there, she had to acknowledge that since the residents had apparently vacated the area, any person they’d run across with was far more likely to be there because of nefarious purposes; guarding the illegal material, perhaps, or just looting the hospital for its medicines. Aggressive, either way.
Jaran: Hey, I got something. It wasn't much, but more than we've seen yet. Over here.
Richards: Which way?
K’Wara: Response
The Doctor indicated one of the doors. It opened with some resistance, accompanied by an awful noise. Behind it, they found a landing to a stairwell below, engulfed in darkness just metres away from the portal. The smell attacked Jovenan’s nostrils as she poked her head inside, forcing her to retreat immediately; it was sharp, artificial, it felt like it had burned the sensitive mucus membranes of her nose.
Jovenan: Do we happen to have any light? ::to Richards:: Can we breathe there?
The Scientist had acquired a medical mask from somewhere. Jovenan supposed it could help with any possible bacteria or viruses that there might be, but she didn’t think it was necessarily fine enough to filter out the chemicals that caused the odour.
K’Wara: Response
Richards: ::I don’t see anything indicating whatever that smell is to be legitimately harmful, but I’ll keep an eye on the air quality as we get deeper.
Jovenan nodded and gave the others a hand sign to move forwards. The smell grew stronger at every step down. In the dim light they could use, Jovenan saw little difference between this stairwell and the one in the manor on Ura Neteos just a year prior; there, in the basement, her team had found the radioactive remains of a ship, but here, she couldn’t tell which horrors might have awaited them. From atomic dangers to biological ones, she guessed.
Except, unlike the underground vaults below the Meirashi leader’s residence, they run into just another door at the bottom of the short stairs. Light shone under the door, and Jovenan raised her finger to her lips. There might have been someone just metres away from them, either expecting them or oblivious of them, both potentially very dangerous for them. Raising her phaser towards the door, she gave a sign to try and break it. After a few pushes against it, the door opened.
No attack came, but instead, they managed to cause a lot of noise opening the door. The sound echoed in the space behind the door as well as in the stairwell. Jovenan lowered her phaser slightly and pursed her lips; there was no way anyone in the building didn’t hear that. They might have just scared away anyone hiding there, or alerted the bad guys of their location. Still, she scanned the room with her eyes. It was full of equipment she couldn’t name.
Jaran: Is that what we're after? It doesn't look like any sort of medical equipment I've ever seen.
Richards: ::Shrugging:: I mean… Maybe? I’m not sure.
Jovenan lowered her phaser all the way to the ground but didn’t holster it. She raised her tricorder closer to her face again.
Jovenan: It does all look very suspicious, but it could all be just old and discarded medical equipment.
K’Wara/Jaran: Response
Richards: I really think we need to check out this whole room. They’ve proven to be secretive, we need to check everything. Be diligent. Take as many scans as you can.
Jovenan: Agreed. Try to identify these equipment or find readings similar to what we got from the New Hope or in your research. Or anything suspicious, really.
K’Wara/Jaran: Response
Led by her tricorder, Jovenan ventured towards the opposite end of the room. She didn’t know what she wished to find. If the equipment were something innocent, medical junk or the hospital’s reserves for a major disaster, they’d need to go back up and search the rest of the building. Then what? Continue with the rest of the town before returning to Commander Munro, to whom she’d need to explain their failure, one that might have caused casualties above the artificial ground. And if they did find the research, would they make an antidote, drug and neutralise the crowds above? An entire population, a reversal of what Andoren had done, but not really, like the Boraxian government had done, but not really. That was what the Captain had told them to do, and Jovenan needed to follow the orders, but…
Richards: Commander? Can you come take a look at all of this?
Jovenan turned sharply towards Richards but took a few seconds to understand what she had said.
Jovenan: Of course. What is it?
K’Wara/Jaran/Richards: Response
It appeared the Civilian Scientist had located a stash of vials and samples, just like on the New Hope. On the old colony ship, the hidden locker was marked with biohazard signs, but there weren’t such things here. Jovenan wondered if there should have been, but in an illegal laboratory in the hidden refuge, the laws and regulations may not have mattered as much in hiding it here. Richards’ tricorder was showing some curiously wild readings. Jovenan replicated what she was doing and scanned what they had found.
Jovenan: You may want to set up your stuff, Doctor. Looks like we’ve found something worth looking at.
She handed a vial to Doctor Jaran and to Richards for closer inspection. Doing so, she had to holster her phaser without even considering if she might need it later. The curiosity was overtaking her caution.
K’Wara/Jaran/Richards: Response
Jovenan leaned in to look closer at the results.
Jovenan: This substance has almost similar molecular structure to the Yurum secretions. Almost. This entire section is missing, almost as if someone had removed it. ::pause, thinks:: What would happen if someone were exposed to it? The receptors wouldn’t read it as the same structure, right?
K’Wara/Jaran/Richards: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Acting XO (Chief Science Officer)
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11