Lt. JG Natasha Cole - One Problem at a Time
Natasha Schell
(( Underground Facility, Kurtûl III ))
Jaran: Umm as I was saying, if we don't get trapped, we'll probably be ok? Anyone have a key for this?
For a brief moment Nat considered pulling the same trick she did on Galaris IV, but with the Thalaron radiation, she did want to risk it. She stepped towards the control panel and ran her fingers along the edge. She started to reach for her boot, but stopped.
oO right I stopped carrying that Oo
Cole: ::looking back to the group:: Anyone have a knife or a flat tool?
MacKenzie: ::flatly:: I left my bat'leth at home...
Roy patted himself down.
Bancroft: ::muttering to himself:: Protoplaser… not unless the door has a delicate capillary problem… hypospray… regenerative mesh, definitely not…
Eos stepped back, presumably to let the Starfleet officers work.
Jaran: Really? Nothing? With those big muscles of yours...
It sounded like Jira was either heckling Dota Eos or flirting. She opted to believe the former over the latter, which brought a smile to her face. She held her hand out not looking as she considered hitting the edge of the panel with the butt of her rifle, when someone handed her a tool.
Cole: Thank you.
She carefully slid the tool along the grooved edge of the panel's casing and managed to pry it up enough that she could get her fingers behind it. Giving it a strong pull exposed what her Grandpa Dorian would call a rats nest of wires. No wonder it didn’t open.
She carefully handed the tool back without looking, perhaps it was Dota Eos or someone from her team. She didn’t see, she was too busy sorting out the nest of wires.
Cole: Thanks.
MacKenzie: Can you get it open?
Bancroft: ::sardonically:: Without explosives please, Natasha.
Eos: Explosives are rarely useful. Even a child knows that.
If Dota Eos was trying to motivate Nat, all she was doing was testing her patience. For a species that was presumably a major faction in the Borderlands, she was getting the impression they were nothing more than bullies.
Jaran: Ignore her, Cole. Explosives are great. I try to get at least one in a day, and they always help me.
She had gotten to work pulling wires and tapping them together to override the door controls. Imril probably would have been able to just look at this mess of wire and pin point the wires to do it from the start. After the third set finally she heard what sounded like the gears for the door engaging. As she stood up as the door stopped with a gap of about fifteen centimeters.
Cole: Here, can someone hold these wires together, and someone help me pull these doors apart further.
MacKenzie: ::muttering:: What do I have to lose? Radiation or electrocution...
MacKenzie stepped forward and took the wires from her as she moved over towards the doors gripping the opening with both of her hands branching her right foot on the opposite side of the door jamb. Roy joined her, putting his shoulder into the edge of the door.
Eos made a gesture and her people stepped back, probably concerned one of them might get sweat on them while her and Roy played tug of war with the door. That or she had finally had enough and was planning on ditching them.
Bancroft: ::grunting:: Just so long as it isn’t the cold vacuum of space, ma’am.
Jaran: I'm the only ensign here, Doctor. You're safe.
Nat smirked, she was fairly sure MacKenzie airlocking ensigns was a rumor, at least she hoped it was. She was almost vertical as she used every ounce of leverage trying to pull the doors open with Roy’s assistance. She felt a shower calling her name once they made it off this rock.
Cole: Come on Roy, put your back into ….
She smelled the faint smell of ozone as the doors suddenly gave way with no warning. She, because of her precarious position, found herself flung on her rear end with the momentum layering her out on her back. Roy flew forward, and had it not been for the door jamb, he would have landed on her lap. Instead he smacked his face and dropped to one knee.
MacKenzie: I think I missed my calling.
Bancroft: ::dryly:: In fairness, Captain, I think we loosened it for you.
Eos: Once you’ve finished congratulating yourself I’d like to go forward. The control room is up ahead.
Jaran: ::under their breath:: Well, we'd congratulate you, but you didn't do anything.
Cole: ::low to Jira:: They intimidated the floor to stay put.
Nat stood up and was fairly sure she felt her back cracking a little after that sudden tumble as MacKenzie pointed into the door.
MacKenzie: Lieutenant, I seem to recall you wanting to take point... Let's get a move on before we're all liquidated.
She nodded as she snapped her rifle up again with the precision of someone that was better trained then her appearance might imply. Her muscle memory took over as she led the group forward towards their destination. Keeping her eyes on the shadows cast by the strobing red lights just in case they came across any surprise resistance.
(( Underground Facility - Control Room, Kurtûl III ))
Crossing into the room She was at the center of the room, a large holographic projection hung above a circular dais. A column of green light rose within the projection, massive and pulsing, surrounded by brighter containment rings that crisscrossed one another like luminous sutures around a wound.
Roy already had his tricorder angled towards the hologram, shouting over the klaxon.
Bancroft: I think this might be the control room for the thalaron generator.
Eos: We are. We must shut it down.
Eos moved to the console, she pointed towards another one and the scientist of her team moved and took a position at the console.
Jaran: Excellent. How do we do that?
Cole: Somehow I doubt it’ll be as easy as jamming a wrench into it. ::to Roy:: Does that console give you an idea where the generator is?
Roy moved swiftly to the console nearest the holo-projection, set his tricorder atop it.
Bancroft: Yes – according to this console, the generator is located tens of meters below us – I’m betting that’s the radiation source we detected earlier.
Eos: The Nascaik who’ve been operating this base will feel the full extent of our laws. Let the record state.
Nat blinked at that glancing between Dota Eos and Captain MacKenzie. This explained why the Nascaik were allies, but not members of the Federation. They would have had to halt any and all Thalaron research as per the ban on biogenic weapons. This explained their insistence on handling the matter themselves and complicated things even more so.
Cole: ::walking to a console:: Sir, I’m going to try and locate the other away team.
Bringing up her tricorder she linked it to the console and started running a scan for the other Starfleet personnel. It was going slow thanks to the radiation.
MacKenzie: Response
Jaran: What are you getting, Doctor?
Bancroft: It’s active, and increasing in power, but– ::frowning:: I don’t understand. The radiation this generator is producing is… thinned. Like it’s been diluted somehow. Still very dangerous, but not immediately fatal.
Eos shared a look to their scientist.
Eos: Doctor :: unconvincingly stated :: You have focused on the generator. You don’t even realise the danger beneath your feet. Have another look.
Jaran: Beneath our feet?
She glanced down at her own feet and then back to Jira with a shrug as her scan was continuing.
MacKenzie: Response
Roy had scanned something before tapping the console.
A facility schematic appeared, jagged and incomplete, but coherent enough to follow. A red pulse marked a section approximately three hundred meters away.
Bancroft: We found the source of the containment breach. About three hundred meters away from us, in some place called labeled here as Genetic Research Lab zero-two. It looks like the local systems are trying to contain it with forcefields.
Eos: That’s the location of Havun :: reviews the screen :: They’ll be dead soon. Justice has a way of settling its own debts.
Archivist: Retribution must be paid.
Jaran: Not this way. Not like this. We won't stand by and allow him to die.
When her scan finished, her expression changed immediately. Two Da’al. Two Betazoids. An Ornaran. An Edo. Too many lives in the wrong place.
Cole: Sir, I'm picking up two Da’al life signs in the room… along with two Betazoids, an Ornaran, and an Edo. He’s not in there alone.
MacKenzie/Bancroft: Response
Eos: Look deeper, doctor. In order to dilute Thalaron, you must have Thalaron in its purest form. These tunnels -
Eos pointed to a series of interconnected maintenance tunnels.
Eos: They’ve been filled with pure Thalaron :: points to the lab :: At the rate of exposure, that lab will be consumed, no forcefield will protect them.
Jira looked in horror where Eos was pointing.
Jaran: They must not know. We have to tell them.
She wasn’t sure if their combadges would even work in the facility or not. This was a Life-Threatening Emergency and her Security Mandate allowed her in this instance to supersede standard chain-of-command hierarchy, requiring her to report any immediate threat to a second away team if they were in danger. She could only hope they weren’t too late.
She tapped her combadge.
Cole: ::urgent:: =/\= Lieutenant Cole to Commander Jovenan. We’re picking up critical levels of Thalaron Radiation in your area. Evacuate the area. =/\=
Jovenan: =/\= Response? =/\=
She looked at the display, willing them to move.
MacKenzie/Bancroft: Response
Eos: If your people are in that lab they are in grave danger, Captain. They should leave that area immediately :: turns to the generator ::
Eos: What can be done about this?
Cole: ::to Eos:: Since your people clearly operated this facility, you must have some idea on how to shut it down.
MacKenzie/Bancroft: Response
Jira looked to the generator controls, then back to the display showing where Havun was. Neither problem facing them was one that could be ignored, and they both required a different solution.
Jaran: What are our options here?
Nat kept her attention on the schematic, forcing herself to sort the problem into parts: the generator, the tunnels, the other team. It was too much to solve at once, which meant they needed to break it down in to workable parts. First and foremost the more immediate threat first. After that the rest should start to follow.
MacKenzie/Bancroft/Eos: Response
Jaran: Can we get a lock on the chamber and beam everyone out?
Cole: Not without it likely leading to a catastrophic transport failure.
MacKenzie/Bancroft/Eos: Response
Jaran: Is there any way to flush these tunnels out? Get rid of the waste, or at least get it far enough away that it's not a concern to anyone?
Cole: ::gesturing towards the schematic:: With that natural chasm, wouldn’t that make the planet uninhabitable?
It wasn’t an ideal solution, a concentrated area of Thalaron
radiation in a natural barrier like that might work, and it would be a far alternative to irradiating the entire system.
MacKenzie/Bancroft/Eos/Jaran: Response
Cole: At the very least could it buy our people time? If they're moving, they’re alive.
Until the display told her otherwise, she was going to treat movement as a good sign.
MacKenzie/Bancroft/Eos/Jaran: Response
Cole: Then our first priority is buying them enough time to get clear. We can solve the rest once they’re not standing in it.
MacKenzie/Bancroft/Eos/Jaran: Response
Tags/TBC
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Lt. JG Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240205NC4