LtCmdr Jovenan – What we’re looking for
Jovenan
((Corridor, New Hope))
Richards: Wait. ::Looking up at the rest of them:: I’m getting some lifesigns in a room up to the left. Three of them.
The words pierced through other sounds and swept away the fog of whispers and skitters that clouded Jovenan’s mind. She opened her eyes, looked around. The drones were gone. There were no one else in the dark corridor besides the away team. She turned around to face Richards, then towards the direction the scientist had said she had found something. The tricorder emitted a silent hum as she scanned.
Jovenan: Boraxians. Do you read anything else? Energy signatures, weapons?
Imril: No weapons. At least no energy weapons. Loose metal enough to fashion melee weapons out of. And scanner frequencies. They know we’re coming.
Jovenan pressed her lips together. Even if the Boraxian civilisation was peaceful and the Starfleet team’s presence here permitted by the leaders of the ship, they couldn’t know if all the individuals agreed with the sentiment, or even knew about it. If the Boraxians mistook them for the attackers, they could be afraid, and people who are afraid may do things that they wouldn’t otherwise condone.
Richards: Comforting… Let’s just make sure they know we are here to help.
Bergmen: Probably would be good to announce ourselves to everyone we meet in advance.
It was easy to agree with that advice. They and their phasers would win a fight against three Boraxians with improvised sharp objects, but it was better to avoid that altogether. It was concerning to Jovenan that they had so far only found three Boraxians, on a ship that, although not massive, could probably house a few thousand people. She hoped that they had merely been on their way to pick up their colonist when they were attacked, or that the Artemis had managed to already beam up most of the people, rather than the alternative.
Jovenan: Okay. Let’s assume they need our help and do not mean anything bad for us. But remember that they might not realise we’re here to help and may be terrified, so no sudden movements or anything that can be interpreted as aggression, okay?
Imril: Aye, Sir.
Richards: ::Nodding:: Understood.
Bergmen: Understood, ma’am.
Tilting her head to one side, she gave the order to move. They found the correct door easily, but it didn’t open when she approached it. She could imagine it being locked, jammed or held closed by the people on the other side – after all, if they took them for the enemies, the Boraxians would do everything to keep the last barricade up. She looked at each of her teammates. She remembered her own order; what would a non-threatening person do if they encountered a locked door? Shrugging, she raised her hand and knocked the door. A few seconds later, there was still no answer.
Jovenan: Can we open it?
Imril: ::Scanning:: Relatively simple locking mechanism. I should be able to crack it. But before we bust in, let’s try the polite approach. I think I’ve found the door control.
Jovenan watched as Imril approached the control panel – which she had missed in the dark – and tapped it with their knuckle. The panel lit up with a seemingly chaotic assortment of colour, either an indication of malfunction or peculiar design taste of the Boraxians. Lt Imril tried to speak to the panel anyway.
Imril: =/\= Hello? =/\=
There was no immediate answer from the other side, but at least the colours on the panel changed. Jovenan still didn’t know if it worked as intended, but now they knew the device was functional enough to react to voice inputs. The Lieutenant tried again.
Imril: =/\= Hello. I am Lieutenant Imril of the Federation starship Artemis. We come in peace. Your ship sent out a distress call. We’re here to help. =/\=
Richards: Good job Imril. Keep that tone, maybe they are just scared. You’re doing good.
Jovenan followed with her gaze as Lt Bergmen had walked off to test the other doors if their control panels worked any differently. However, the Lieutenant signalled her his results with a nod – they were all like this. Either the damage had caused a similar malfunction to all of them or they were designed to work like that. She turned back to Lt Imril. Although she could have taken their place and do the talking, she supposed letting the Lieutenant finish what they started would help gain the trust of the Boraxians. Besides, if they were like her when she was younger, they’d be afraid of people who considered themselves higher in rank.
Jovenan: Indeed. Ask if they need our help.
Imril: =/\= I’m here with Commander Jovenan, Lieutenant Bergmen, and Scientist Richards. Do you require any assistance? =/\=
Still no answer. Jovenan knew that gaining the trust of terrified, defensive people would take time, but at the same time, the longer they stayed here, the longer it would take before they could resume finding others and investigating the ship. Lt Imril read the results from their tricorder.
Imril: Energy lines and computing hardware in this section of the wall are intact. They can hear us, if they want to. It might help if we tell them we have permission to be here. But in all the excitement, I don't think I heard the name of their leader.
Richards: If I remember correctly it started with an L… I think? ::pausing for a moment:: L…Lori, no. Lurie… No… Luriett! I believe that was it.
Jovenan’s forehead wrinkled as she tried to remember. This is why they should take notes during missions. All officers, constantly a PADD in their hands and writing down what people told them. What a dream.
Imril: If you say so, thanks. What reading I could do, I did on the species in general or the ship itself.
Jovenan: It was something similar to Luriett. Maybe Luirette? I think it’s close enough, just try that, they’ll understand.
Richards: Imril, want to give it another go, let them know we spoke with their leader and we were asked to be here to help?
Richards gave the Lieutenant an encouraging smile and a nod. Imril responded with another nod and turned back to the panel.
Imril: =/\=Our Captain spoke with Luriette, and was granted permission to send repair teams to this vessel. If you don’t require anything, maybe you could help us? We’re sort of lost, and were hoping to find an administrator who could tell us where we’re needed.=/\=
Still nothing. Jovenan was becoming restless. They couldn’t spend much more time with this one door, but they also couldn’t leave the Boraxians in there. Richards was scanning their surroundings, a wise move considering how long they had been there at one place. Lt Bergmen raised his eyes to Jovenan.
Bergmen: Maybe they are trapped or incapacitated. Given the potential emergency, if they still do not answer, I would recommend breach.
Jovenan inhaled deep before speaking again. She pulled her phaser from the holster but kept it down.
Jovenan: Agreed. Lieutenant Imril, in case they hear us, prepare to warn them that we’re coming in. Take cover, I’ll stun them if needed.
There was a brief silence. However, before any of them could follow her order, not even herself, they heard a soft crackle coming from the device on the wall.
Richards: Did anyone else hear that?
Bergmen nodded. They had all heard that. Jovenan found herself holding her breath, as if the sound of breathing could have covered the voice coming from the panel. It could still be a malfunction, wirings voicing their death rattles. That is, until clear words came through.
Boraxian?: Is it breathable outside again?
Relieved, Jovenan holstered her phaser. Those weren’t words of fear or aggression. They must have taken shelter from the lack of breathable air. Lt Imril had managed to get through to the Boraxians and gained their trust. She switched to a tricorder.
Imril: Breathable to us, at least. I’m sorry, I don’t know the particulars of your biology. What you consider breathable. I’m an engineer by trade. I can tell you we’ve already ruled out any gas leaks. ::Looks to Richards for confirmation:: If there was a fire hereabouts, it’s out now.
Fire indeed appeared a plausible explanation, judging by the particles on some of the surfaces. The amount of exhaust gases in the air was noticeable but not particularly high, but it could very well be that the air in the corridor had changed. The environmental controls could still be partially functional, or maybe the pressure had levelled with the rest of the ship after the sections suffering from the hull breaches had been closed off. Jovenan nodded and stepped next to Lt Imril, looking at the panel.
Jovenan: There are some exhaust gases, but new air has already replaced the smoke. You can come out safely.
Jovenan hoped the response was sufficient, but now that they had gained contact with the people inside, she would have expected them to have more questions for them. She was ready to demonstrate their goodwill one way or another, but apparently, none was required, as the door suddenly slid open. A four-armed individual emerged, followed by two others. They were each dressed in jumpsuits with a complicated device connected to the sides of their heads. Jovenan had managed to read from the scarce records they had of the Boraxians that they had some kind of air holes to their lobes, so she figured they were breathing apparatuses. These people were likely an emergency response team or something similar.
Boraxian?: It’s an honor of mine to know and be known, Artemis persons. Know me as Remy ::points to much taller and bulkier Boraxians standing behind:: Know them as Ellise and Aimee.
Remy was visibly different from the two others. At first, Jovenan thought they may be younger, a cadet perhaps, or simply built differently, as she had thought seeing the captain of the colony ship on the screen. But as she observed the Boraxians greet them with their complicated four-armed method, she realised that each Boraxian was different sex. Remy, the small and slender individual not taller than herself, must have been Yurum. Their records had very little information about them, as the previous contacts with them had been rare, and Jovenan had thought that there were simply much fewer Yurum than male or female, or that they were elusive. And yet, they had already encountered a couple. Jovenan smiled at them, trying her best to copy the greeting that was just physically not possible for her to do.
Bergmen: I’m Lieutenant Bergmen. Honor is ours, Remy. Ellise. Aimee.
Imril: Imril.
Richards: Response
Jovenan: And I’m Lieutenant Commander Jovenan. I’m the Acting First Officer of the Artemis. May I ask, what happened to you? How did you get trapped in that room during the fire?
The female Boraxian – Ellise, if Jovenan caught the name correctly – stepped forwards. She was likely the leading member of the team, or at least the person who took the responsibility to talk to the aliens.
Ellise: We were part of the Damage Control team tasked with fighting the fire in this corridor. Unfortunately, the flames were too intense for us to manage, and when the order to evacuate the deck came through, we found ourselves trapped. We advised others to seal off the bulkhead and ventilate the space, and then took refuge in this unaffected quarter.
Jovenan nodded. She wasn’t exactly sure why they couldn’t verify the breathability of the air with their scanners from inside the quarters, after all, a firefighting team would surely have the right equipment for that particular task. In itself, it wasn’t too concerning, though. Besides, once the Starfleet team beamed over, they may have decided to stay inside, just to avoid meeting them. After they learned that there was nothing to be afraid of in them, they could have just been too shy to admit hiding from them. Or maybe they didn’t fully trust them yet.
Imril: Do you have any fire suppressant left? It might yet be useful.
Aimee: Alas, no. It took all that we had to fight our way towards this small bastion of safety.
Remy looked like they were about to say something, but decided against it. Jovenan wasn’t sure what it would have been. They had been ordered here to investigate the ship, and oddly-behaving firefighters was certainly something she’d want to know more about.
Jovenan: Well, I’m glad to hear that you got to safety at all. The Artemis is evacuating the injured, and your leader is there as well to talk with our Captain, but we’re trying to locate everyone else. You’re the first people we’ve encountered on your ship.
Richards/Bergmen: Response
Imril: ::To Jovenan:: I suggest that we should help reunite these folk with their fellows and see what help we can be there. ::To the Boraxians:: If you’d all be so kind as to show us where the rest of the firefighters evacuated to.
Jovenan twisted her lips a little. Did they want that? They could probably help more people by joining forces with the Boraxian damage control teams… but that was only one part of their mission. They were here also to investigate what the Boraxians were hiding, if anything, and they couldn’t exactly do that if there were people they were supposed to investigate all around them. Regardless, she smiled. It wasn’t a genuine smile, not entirely – she wished she had learned intelligence skills from Talos at some point. He wasn’t the type of cold-blooded, mysterious and scary spy she had initially though of him at first, but he for sure would have been more convincing in not being there to look into their stuff.
Jovenan: We’d want to make sure you get back to your team safely. We’ll accompany you. ::pause:: Lieutenant Imril is an engineer, and Lieutenant Bergmen an operations officer. Maybe you could introduce them to your emergency systems and protocols, so we’d know what’s ahead of us as we search for people?
Richards/Bergmen: Response
The female Boraxian had taken the point of her team and pulled out a torch. The corridor grew a lot less dark as each Boraxian activated their light sources.
Ellise: If you would know and be known by my community, follow.
Ellise started their journey, with the Boraxian team following her closely. Jovenan nodded to her teammates and started walking with them herself as well, keeping a bit behind of the last Boraxian. She kept her tricorder out, scanning the people they had just met behind their backs.
Imril: We appreciate the trust you are showing.
Richards/Bergmen: Response
((OOC: Feel free to have a conversation with the Boraxian NPCs while Jovenan focuses on something else.))
The scans had revealed little new so far. Ellise and Aimee were biologically not much different from every other humanoid female and male, especially after one accounted the information they knew about the Boraxian people. The triage team would surely get more interesting and precise readings of the Boraxians with their medical tricorders and other equipment. The breathing apparatuses seemed to be just that, and what remained of their firefighting and damage control equipment had little remarkable to say about. It seemed they were honest about exhausting their fire suppressants, as she didn’t find any of it on them, but their suits were covered in what would have been left from the reaction of using said suppressant.
And then… Then she scanned Remy.
While the goldshirts were talking with their Boraxian counterparts, Jovenan reached out and grasped Richards by her shoulder – she hadn’t forgotten her personal rules about physical contact with people, but this time, it was unavoidable. Gently signalling her to stay behind with Jovenan, they allowed the others to walk a few steps ahead of them.
Jovenan: ::whispering to Richards:: Scan the Yurum.
Richards: Response
Jovenan tried to wave her tricorder around, scanning all around them, without alerting the Boraxians of anything. The readings were peculiar; it was something biological, but not exactly something they would have been familiar with. She felt like they had finally found what they were looking for: a clue.
Jovenan: ::whispering to Richards:: What do you make of it? ::pause:: I get similar readings from somewhere above us, but bigger.
Richards: Response
It was definitely something. Now they just needed to get to there without raising suspicions. Jovenan walked a bit faster, gaining on the others. She wished she was a better liar. The Edo were too easy to read, even without telepathic abilities.
Jovenan: Ellise. I think you can now find your team without us. We can cover more ground if we split up. We could head to the upper decks. Is there a common area somewhere there where we could find other people? A mess hall, sickbay, recreating area…
Ellise looked confused. For a moment, Jovenan considered the possibility that she had seen through Jovenan’s obvious intention to get away from them and go to whatever the source of the mystery readings was. She tried to hide her insecurity behind the mask of authority – she knew what she was doing, and the Boraxians should respect her insight. Ellise hesitated.
Ellise: Our medical facility is two decks up. But know that the lifts do not work.
Jovenan nodded.
Jovenan: We’ll figure a way up. If you find injured people, contact the Artemis, they’ll beam you up. Thank you, and good luck.
Richards/Bergmen/Imril: Response
The Boraxians gestured a goodbye and continued their way. Jovenan led her team back towards where they had come from. As soon as the Boraxians vanished behind the corner, she allowed herself to exhale. She hadn’t even noticed holding it in. She looked at her teammates.
Jovenan: There’s something in the sickbay. We have to get there.
Richards/Bergmen/Imril: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Acting XO (Chief Science Officer)
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11