Ensign Jovenan – Can we concentrate on the disaster now, please?
Jovenan
((Sickbay, Deck 7, USS Artemis))
Adea: That’s really not important, Vitor. ::He looked over at Kyle and Jovenan:: What’re my brainwaves looking like?
Morgan: Abnormal – there are some concerning irregularities… Ensign?
Jovenan didn’t turn her face from the computer interface to acknowledge the question. On screen, the Commander’s brainwave seemed to follow a pattern that she had seen somewhere. She opened a file for comparison.
Jovenan: The Commander’s brainwave frequency and amplitude were out of the normal variation by the amount concurrent with fluctuation of the gallium compound.
Adea: You’ll have to forgive me, what does that mean?
Silveira: Does it have anything to do with thallium?
Jovenan: Either the dust synched with the brainwaves, or brainwaves synched with the dust… or both, really, as they are not fitting the typical for either. Does telepathy output enough energy to cause such effect?
She turned to face the two medical experts. Commander Adea had a lifetime of experience in telepathy and, if Jovenan recalled correctly, had written something on the subject. He frowned, and Doctor Morgan seemed to be thinking hard as well.
Adea: It’s not impossible, granted.
Morgan: I don’t know enough about gallium to know what effect it might or might not have, but I agree that it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
Jovenan: Well, gallium alone doesn’t, we would have known that long time ago if it did. But this compound ::checks screen:: Si3Na2Ga5CaO2, the Da’al dust or whatever we’ll call it, it hasn’t been recorded being detected anywhere else, and it shouldn’t be stable anyway…
Jovenan was interrupted by the door opening. She turned her head to see two officers she didn’t recognize. One was a human, or human-looking, and the other was Vulcan, judging mostly by the ears. They were ensigns, and while Jovenan didn’t personally know every single crewmember onboard, she was fairly sure she hadn’t seen either of them on the crew manifest. They didn’t seem to be ill or injured, so maybe they had come to the sickbay for some other purpose.
Adea: You must be Ensigns Kader and Savel, the Captain told me you were coming.
The Commander had been in homicidal rage just a minute ago and was still lying on the biobed in restraints, yet he still conducting the ship’s official business? Doctor Morgan approached the ensigns, and Jovenan expected him to ask them to come later.
Morgan: A pleasure to meet you both and welcome aboard – I’m Lieutenant Morgan, Assistant Chief Medical Officer.
Well then. Jovenan let the senior officer chat with the new junior officers and turned back to the computer interface. She opened a file on Da’al telepathic capabilities. Betazoids had strong telepathic capabilities, but they were uncertain if they could exert enough energy through telepathic means to trigger the dust to act in this manner. Maybe the Da’al had other capabilities?
Savel: Indeed, and thank you, Lieutenant. I'm Ensign Savel.
Kader: Ensign Flint Kader, thank you Lieutenant, ::retracting his hand upon seeing the restraints::, Commander.
Even Lt Silveira waved to the newcomers from his biobed, with the uninjured arm.
Silveira: Welcome. Lieutenant Silveira, your friendly Tactical officer.
Jovenan: ::quick wave:: And I’m Ensign Jovenan, science officer.
Adea: Probably not the best way to meet the first officer, but pleased to meet you.
She couldn’t help but think how bizarre the situation must look like to the new Ensigns. If, on her first day on the Excalibur, she had found Lt Commander Etan strapped to a bed, with Lt Seta and Dakora studying him on the side, but still chirpily welcoming her to the crew, she might have walked out and say she’d come back later.
Savel: Good to meet you as well, Commander. And you as well, Ensign. ::looking to the Edo science officer that was also in the room with them::
Jovenan: ::without turning away from the interface:: You too.
The Da’al had not only telepathic capabilities, but they could also manipulate energy fields with their minds. Not only that, but also in large groups acting in concert, they could muster enormous amount of energy. That ability of theirs could definitely trigger the dust molecules, even over a large area if they all were on it. Maybe the dust activated involuntary reaction where Da’al energy powers fed the dust molecules, causing a vicious loop where the dust molecules and the Da’al minds kept each other from stabilizing…
Morgan: I wouldn’t if I was you. He bites.
The unexpected sentence made Jovenan interrupt her work and turn to see what was happening. One of the ensigns was retreating from Commander Adea, apparently having wanted to shake his restrained hand.
Savel: Excuse me, Lieutenant, was that meant to be humor or a genuine warning?
Jovenan couldn’t help smiling. It was both. The new ensigns had missed many of the exciting parts of the mission, although Jovenan herself had had enough of those already by the time she tried to inform Commander Adea of the dust’s effects the first time. The cane attack, the shooting, the sword attack, her having the Commander shot, it all felt like a bad dream now.
Silveira: Actually that is a mistake, I am the one that bites around here.
Jovenan: ::walking closer:: If you’d come here a few minutes earlier, he might had actually bitten you.
Adea: Response
It was, again, the medical officer’s duty to bring professionality back into the conversation.
Morgan: At any rate, it’s good to have you both here – we’re in the middle of a crisis, both humanitarian and ::pointing his thumb at Genkos:: medicinal.
Savel: How can I be of assistance?
Kader: Right! How can we be of assistance? What are your orders sir?
Silveira: By your colors I will risk to say you're not specialized in chemistry, Betazoid telepathy or mass infection. Right?
Strictly speaking, Jovenan didn’t have full specialisation in any of those fields either, although the redshirts and yellowshirts had probably taken even fewer courses in chemistry and xenobiology than she had. Did they require any of those courses for other majors anyway?
Savel/Kadder: Response
Adea/Morgan: Response
Silveira: Well, to give you the highlights, Ensigns, we were tasked to provide humanitarian aid to the Da’al after they were struck by a meteor. We were delivering supplies when apparently a component from the impact was kind of short circuiting the aggressivity chip of everyone there. And it also affects Betazoids. ::he pointed to Genkos.:: That is why the Commander is in that biobed and I am in this one. The remaining away teams are still on the planet including the Captain. ::He looked around to Nan, Kyle and Genkos:: That’s the short version, you can fill in the blanks
Jovenan: Uh, it wasn’t as much a component but a molecular compound, and they don’t have aggressivity chips, they’re not androids… ::pause:: Anyway, some of the officers on the planet are trying to undo the aggression on the Da’al while being chased by… uh, demolition equipment.
She couldn’t wait to read the report and see what the Captain had meant with that.
Adea/Morgan/Savel/Kadder: Response
Silveira: Anyway, where were we?
Jovenan: Well, it seems the Da’al have some telekinetic capabilities, which could be reacting with the dust molecules…
Jovenan’s explanation of her recent findings was interrupted by the sound coming from the internal communications.
Bridge officer: =/\= Bridge to sickbay. Sickbay, are any of the senior officers there available? =/\=
Adea/Morgan/Silveira: Response?
Bridge officer: =/\= Sir, we have detected an explosion on Ensign Jones' and Lieutenant Yellir's location. =/\=
Adea/Morgan/Silveira/Savel/Kadder: Response
((OOC: If any of you want to swap the generic “bridge officer” for a specific NPC, feel free to do so!))
TAG/TBC
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Ensign Jovenan
Science officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11