LtJG Jovenan – Enemy within the mist
Jovenan
((Bridge, USS Artemis))
((Timeframe: 1 hour later))
Jovenan floated gently above her seat by the Science console. An hour had passed, yet the artificial gravity was very much still offline. The sensor pod team had reported that the primary sensor array had taken serious hit during their first close encounter with ignited plasma, and it would need some extensive repairs if they wanted to get out of the Nebula safely.
Jovenan had herself taken the opportunity to check on the bruises she had sustained when the ship had shaken violently. The underside of her knees looked ugly purple, and if the gravity had been online, she might had had trouble walking to the closest medkit. With the help of pain medicine, she could keep working until she could visit the sickbay to have the bruises healed.
Many of the Artemis bridge crew had reassembled there. Looking around, she could see the worrisome faces of the Captain, Lt Silveira and Flint, as well as those of Commander Yalu and Savel. The Berlin team, not even the boarding party, had not made it here. Kole wasn’t with them either, having been called to respond to an emergency in the Engineering. Instead, there was another person Jovenan couldn’t recognize, a blue-shirt Mizarian ensign. Hoping that having another blue-shirt officer to their team could help them with the troubles they were encountering, Jovenan turned to the Captain.
MacKenzie: It would appear we’ve been sabotaged… We don’t yet have an idea of just how bad yet, save that the artificial gravity and the turbolifts are offline. The propulsion is still functional, but we’re limited to a crawl. We’ll be lucky if we make it to the perimeter before we lose the shields and the nebula really starts to have its way with us… Internal and external sensors are down, and so are external comms, so we can’t radio the Berlin for assistance. We have weapons, but no way to target anything. And we’re getting reports of anesthezine gas being released on some of the lower decks. How am I doing so far, are we pretty much up to speed?
Jovenan nodded and looked around at the officers.
Jovenan: Yes, sir. Some of the systems are under repair, including the primary sensors, but it will take time to contact and assemble repair teams and equipment under these conditions. It might take hours to get us moving safely, if things won’t start turning for the better… or worse.
Kader/Silveira: Response
The Captain nodded. This briefing session had a much more serious air to it than the one before they entered the Nebula. If only she could tell her past self not to take the drill too lightly.
MacKenzie: We need to figure out what or who is on board before they totally disable the ship… Doctor Sadar, we need a way to vent the gas down there with only minimal control over the environmental systems. Any ideas?
Jovenan turned to see the new ensign. Ah, a new colleague to Hiro! Too bad he wasn’t here.
Sadar: Y-Yes Captain… :deep breath: I suggest directing the ventilation system to direct the gasses to the Quarantine suites in our Sickbays. In order to neutralize the gas, we need to either flood the gassed area with a big enough concentration of Naloxone to block the gas’ effect on our crewmen or solidify it, but the current area is just too big, not to mention we likely have crewmen trapped inside. Sickbay’s systems have fail-safes in place to protect our medical equipment from failing during ship emergencies, and with some adjustment, we could maybe use those fail-safes are keeping Sickbay's environmental controls running to compensate for the sabotaged ones.
The new ensign’s nervousness could be sensed without a need of telepathic capabilities. Still, the idea was great. In matter of fact, it reminded Jovenan of something. She had done something similar during an evacuation exercise back on DS224, although in much smaller scale. The plan had worked, even if the ending of the exercise still came to haunt her at nights.
MacKenzie: Lieutenant Jovenan, do you think you can assist?
Jovenan: Yes, sir. We can try doing that from here, but I suspect the malfunctions demand us to climb down closer to the actual site.
The idea of going any closer to the danger zone and the unknown real saboteurs made her stomach take a turn. The Captain nodded. It seemed that at least she had the confidence in them, even if they were lacking it themselves.
MacKenzie: We can’t send anyone down there without putting them at risk, too, so we’re all counting on you.
Sadar: We’ll… :hesitant pause: Yes sir.
Jovenan: Aye, sir.
The Captain turned to other matters. Jovenan looked at the new ensign carefully before focusing on the briefing.
MacKenzie: And that brings us to our much larger issue – who’s making a mess of our ship? Did you see anyone down there?
Savel: Only Commander Dakora's team. Though I do not believe they are the cause of these maladies.
Jovenan hadn’t been there, but she concurred. There was no way Commander Dakora and the others could be doing something so reckless and cruel to them, not to mention the technical difficulty of disabling a ship in a specific manner while avoiding phaser beams, real or simulated.
Yalu: Response
MacKenzie: Dakora’s team didn’t do this. Since they’re on board, they’re likely on one of the decks with the gas. We have to find them, and we have to find whoever is trying to disable the ship before our systems are totally useless.
Savel: I can direct patrols to begin recovery efforts for Commander Dakora and his team, and they will all also be alerted of actual intruders on board.
Yalu: Response
MacKenzie: There’s also an important point we’re overlooking: how did they get here? They weren’t on board when we left Meranuge, so they had to have come aboard sometime between then and now… when we weren’t paying attention. This means they must have a ship out there somewhere, and we’re currently flying blind.
That was as scary a thought as having unknown saboteurs onboard. If the real saboteurs only arrived during the drill, they might have utilised them dropping the shields momentarily, like Commander Dakora’s team had. Team Dakora had sent in ploys to fool them, so it was possible some of them were actually the enemy.
Silveira: Response
MacKenzie: ::smirking:: I thought you might. Well, at least we still have shields and a somewhat-functioning weapons system.
The Captain placed her hands on her hips. Their survival relied heavily on this team.
MacKenzie: We need to get the gas neutralized, rescue Dakora’s team, get word to the Berlin, find whoever is sabotaging the ship, and not get blown up in the process. (beat) Any questions?
Sadar: No sir.
Savel: ::without looking up from his console:: None, Captain.
Jovenan shook her head.
Yalu/Kader/Silveira: Response
The briefing was over. It was time for some serious work.
((OOC: We’re still in the same room but broken up to smaller “teams”. Jovenan is not focusing on Savel/MacKenzie conversation or other “teams”, so I’m leaving out the responses not important to her.))
Jovenan waved the new ensign to come to her by the science console. Looking at the ensign as she floated closer, Jovenan turned her face to a smile.
Jovenan: Hello! I’m Jovenan, from the Science department. Welcome aboard!
Sadar: Response
The brief introductions done, she turned to serious yet again and faced the console. She opened a map of Decks 5-7 on her interface. The sight made her feel even worse. It was a large area, with dozens of rooms and corridors. Who knew how many people there were right now, unconscious or fighting against the gas?
Jovenan: This is the, uh, affected area. The computer core runs through across all three decks, with its surroundings occupied by other amenities, including the ship’s lounge, the sickbay, several crew and ::voice crack:: family quarters.
Sadar: Response
While the two blue-shirts were discussing, Savel had been chatting with the Captain and was now addressing the entire bridge crew.
Savel: Until Lt. Osuna can be located and retrieved to assume his position as Chief of Security, I will continue in my capacity as the interim. The Artemis is officially at security condition four. Everyone will need to discard their training phasers and retrieve live weapons. I recommend they be kept on stun until more intelligence can be gathered about our enemy. I have notified the security center of our current situation. All security patrols are currently switching to the same.
Jovenan took the training phaser Lt Silveira had given to her. She hadn’t needed firing it, but the circumstances were changing. The risk of having to engage the enemy in a real live-or-death firefight was not insignificant. She felt liking vomiting.
Jovenan: ::to Sadar:: I’ll, uh, fetch you one as well.
She floated graciously across the bridge to the arms locker before returning with two phasers, one for herself and one for Doctor Sadar. She handed one to Sadar while holstering the other, checking it was set to stun first.
Sadar: Response
Jovenan: So, we’d need to vent the gas to the Quarantine section and solidify it or use Nalo… what was the other chemical you mentioned? I’m not familiar with all medicines, can you tell me more about it?
Sadar: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Jovenan
Science officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11