LtCmdr Jovenan – I feel someone didn’t want us to find this
Jovenan
((Outside medical facility, New Hope))
Jovenan hadn’t yet pulled out her phaser. Instead, she was armed with her tricorder as she led her team down the dim corridor. Despite the weapon still resting in the holster on her belt, she was ready to draw it if needed; the Boraxians hadn’t yet expressed any kind of aggression towards the Starfleet team, but she was suspicious of the information they were hiding from them.
Her eyes shifted between the corridor and the small scanning device, looking both for any potential attackers and for a change in the readings she was receiving. The figures were shifting, becoming clearer and stronger as they approached their objective. Eventually, she would herself guided by the readings to a door with curious markings on it. For all she knew, they could identify the room behind it as the medical facility the Boraxian team on the lower deck told them about – the tricorder readings certainly supported that.
Jovenan: This looks like the place. Mister Bergmen, open the door. ::gestures next to her:: Imril.
Richards: I’ll be over here ::pointing off to the side:: Close but not too close.
The two goldshirt officers took their positions without a word. Lt Imril’s phaser was already out when they took their place near Jovenan, ready to cover Lt Bergmen, who had stepped closer to the door control panel. Bergmen raised three fingers to the air, making Jovenan finally pull out her phaser. She still kept it low, hoping that any potential people on the other side were not aggressive, but also hoping they wouldn’t be startled by the sight of two armed foreign (para)military personnel rush in. She knew well that people who were afraid could be the most dangerous of them all – the two scientists in the team had done some particularly stupid decisions aboard the Borg Cube, for example.
Bergmen’s fingers disappeared one by one to his fist, and he forced the door open. Jovenan didn’t stay behind to see him lower his head in anticipation of blinding light or whatever the defenders might throw at them. Instead, she and Imril rushed in, like marines or security team taking over an enemy location. Her heart was racing in anticipation of combat, but no one fired a shot at her or even screamed at their sight. She didn’t even see anyone, no matter how much she looked around. The sickbay was dark, but there was no movement or any shapes remotely resembling humanoid body. It surprised her, even if she had hoped something like that to avoid combat; why would the sickbay be completely empty if the ship itself had taken this much damage? Sure, the Artemis had evacuated casualties, but they were working on the triage principles, and the Boraxians would surely want to use all the available resources to avoid further losses.
Jovenan: Imril and I will check the siderooms. Bergmen, try to get the lights and power on. Richards, locate the source of our readings, we’ll join you as soon as possible.
Richards: You got it.
Bergmen: As ordered, ma’am.
While the two unarmed team members started their peaceful work, Jovenan and Imril resumed to the doors that lead to the different other rooms adjacent to the main sickbay area. Opening a door, they’d find an office, a medicine storage, a surgical bay and other facilities one may expect from a shipborne hospital. The repeated shouts “Clear” indicated to the entire team what they found there: no one. As far as Jovenan saw and her tricorder informed her, the team was alone in the sickbay. She didn’t know how many people had been on the colony ship when it had been attacked, but she doubted it had been many.
Richards: ::Mumbling quietly, mostly too herself:: I think I'm getting closer to the source.
Bergmen: Huh, looks like lights are no go, commander. All energy from the backup batteries is locked to something inside here.
As Jovenan and Imril had managed to check all the areas and verify them as empty, she turned back to Bergmen and Richards, both in their work. Walking towards them, she holstered her phaser. It was better this way, not having to fight anyone or even trying to console someone who was got scared by them, but the lack of people and the lack of power puzzled her.
Jovenan: That’s weird. Any idea what it could be?
Before they could figure out what drew so much power from the batteries, Richards’ tricorder was alerting her of a discovery.
Richards: Commander, I think I found the source.
Jovenan turned to the civilian scientist. Richards had turned their tricorder towards a row of what appeared utility closets. She was softly stepping closer to them, continuing to scan them. Bergmen had also turned his scanner towards the assumed source of their readings.
Bergmen: Yeah, it looks like you found our energy thief, Richards.
Jovenan: Can you tell what it is?
Richards: Found it. But there’s no way I am opening it.
As Jovenan walked closer, the text on the door became clearer to her: “Biohazard storage. Do Not Enter”. She tilted her head; Richards’ reaction was fair. Although a sign like that could – at least on the Federation facilities – not signify an immediate danger of exposure but rather the area where the samples were kept in individual, sealed and safe containers, it would be playing a risky game to enter the area proper personal protective equipment or at least a scan. Even if the storage area itself was normally safe, containers could very well have broken and leaked after the attack. Luckily, Imril was already working on the scan.
Imril: I’m reading rows of refrigeration units. Most of them dead, the rest near it. There’s nothing in the air in there that would be harmful to us. No gasses, no problematic energy emissions. The theta radiation will have sterilized any bacteria or microorganisms which may have escaped containment. It should be safe to open.
Although Jovenan trusted the LtJG’s analysis of the contents of the biohazard storage, she wanted to verify their results before authorising the opening of it. The readings kept pouring in to her tricorder, and each figure she received seemed to indicate the same as what Imril had stated. The containers were either intact or died out and become sterile. As much as she would have preferred to acquire them PPE before authorising the entry, the risks were within the away mission safety parameters. She nodded.
Bergmen: Go for it, lieutenant.
Richards: Response
Imril scanned and studied the locking mechanism of the door for a moment while the three other team members were either trying to get a tricorder glimpse of the mysterious contents before they finished their work, or more or less patiently waiting for the opportunity to see it for themselves. Jovenan had expected it would take the Bactrican Engineer at least a few minutes to figure out a bypass to the security measures, but after pondering the code for just a moment, they did something and the door opened without a single sign of resistance. Jovenan raised her eyebrows in surprise of the ease of it as Imril simply ran their tricorder past the sample containers.
Imril: Vials of blood. Tissue samples. Bone marrow. Various other fluids… A few of which my tricorder isn’t translating…
As Jovenan’s tricorder didn’t register any change in the possible biohazards leaking into the air around them, she found herself intrigued enough to step even closer and look at the rows of sample containers. Each box had a transparent side, allowing them to peer in at the various biological samples.
Bergmen: Commander? Any guess for what this can be?
Jovenan: If it weren’t for the mysterious readings we got several decks down and the high battery power consumption, I would guess just your average medical samples waiting for a laboratory study. But now, I’d lean towards biomedical experiments instead.
Richards: Response
Imril: I think I may know where that box is.
Imril and Bergmen had found a gap in the neat rows of sample boxes. Jovenan followed slightly behind as the newly-promoted lieutenant led them to one of the rooms they had cleared earlier. When they had first entered it, Jovenan had assumed it was a standard medical laboratory, but now, without the haste of needing to check there’s no one in there, she realised how bare-bones it was. She recognised several of the equipment scattered on the desk, although their alien design and relative primitiveness didn’t make the work easy for her. The basic lab equipment like the liquid droppers hadn’t changed much in centuries, while the optical microscope was not too asimilar to the ones she had needed to learn to use in the University as an alternative to the more advanced scanners. The others were more distanced from her personal experience.
Imril: Here it is. On a table next to a cyclotron. Based on all the tubes sticking into that big device in the corner over there, I’d say it’s a chemical sequencer. ::scanning:: confirmed. Optical microscope, slide boxes, liquid droppers.
Bergmen: Is there anything usable we can use to figure out what they were up to?
Jovenan: ::to Richards:: Try to scan the samples and any residue from the equipment you can find. ::to all:: We should try if we can find some kind of notes from here. Paper, PADDs, computer interface. The research or medical logs would make our work much easier than trying to guess based on the materials present here
Richards: Response
Imril: Looks to me like someone’s trying to synthesize an organic compound. From all that. ::Points back to the closet contents:: But there aren’t any notes in here. No padds or computer to be taking them down on. Not even any thought boards with equations scribbled on them. ::A bit of poking around in the lab:: No prepared slides. The cyclotron is empty, too. Whatever our missing chemist is working on, they took it with them.
Well, that was a quick end to their investigation. Jovenan frowned. It was never so easy as to reading someone’s log and having them explain what they had been doing. Still, they had found a lot of evidence into something curious, suspicious and shady. It might have made sense for the researcher to abandon their work when the vessel was attacked, but making sure that they left no notes or even prepared samples behind could have been an indication they didn’t want the data to fall into wrong hands. Jovenan wondered if the missing scientist had left when the Yurum faction – who were now seeking asylum – had departed from the rest of the Boraxian society, or if it was a later development.
Bergmen: Ma'am, we should pack this all and send it to Artemis. Hopefully, our advanced labs will be able to extract some sample residue from the instruments or test tubes.
Jovenan nodded slowly.
Jovenan: I agree. Treat this lab and the biohazard storage like they were crime scenes. Scan everything so that we can replicate every detail if needed. Then prepare all the physical evidence to be moved to the Artemis. I’ll contact the Captain.
Richards/Imril: Response
Bergmen: What are you making of this? What purpose could it all serve?
Exhaling deep, Jovenan tilted her head side to side. She didn’t believe the laboratory was merely set up for standard physical checks or even something as simple as studying and curing diseases. The array of equipment used – or at least still there in the makeshift laboratory – was clearly for medical, biological or chemical research, but she couldn’t figure out what was the relevance of the readings they got from the Yurum and from across the ship, not to mention the contradiction of leaving the equipment and some of the samples behind while also cleaning the room from everything that could reveal the purpose of it all.
Jovenan: Biomedical research, perhaps, although there’s something suspicious in this all. I feel like we need to ask for the medical department for further analysis as well.
Richards/Imril: Response
Bergmen: Lieutenant? (beat) Imril… When you opened the door to the biohazard storage… Did that lock have any security backing? Specific authorization codelines similar to our personal codes?
Imril: Response
A frown rose to Jovenan’s face.
Jovenan: Would it be possible for you to copy the programme for analysation on the Artemis? It might as well reveal something of what’s happening and who last accessed the samples.
Richards/Imril/Bergmen: Response
Leaving the junior crewmembers to scan the rooms and to start with the preparations for a closer investigation, Jovenan stepped to the middle of the larger room. Although she had made orders that would move the investigation to the Artemis, she didn’t have the authority to decide that on her own, not even with her temporary assignment as the Acting XO. After all, they were intending to bring potentially dangerous material to the ship… material that belonged to someone else. Suspicious or not, asylum seekers or not, she needed to confirm it with her superior. She tapped her combadge.
Jovenan: =/\= Jovenan to the Artemis. =/\=
Munro: =/\= Response =/\=
Jovenan: =/\= Captain, we’ve found a makeshift laboratory. It looks like someone has been doing biomedical or chemical research, but they’ve been careful to not leave obvious evidence of their work. It’s somehow connected to the readings we got from a Yurum crewmember here. I would like to move some of the material to the Artemis for further study. =/\=
Munro: =/\= Response =/\=
((OOC: If Munro has more to discuss here, I’m open to backsimming.))
Jovenan: =/\= Understood, Captain. Jovenan out. =/\=
After the commlink had ended, Jovenan returned to the biohazards storage. The lines of sample containers had remained neat, despite the ruckus the rest of the ship had gone through. Their contents had suffered from the failures in the equipment, but she still believed they could figure out what they were and, perhaps, what they were for. Following her own orders to her team, she ran her tricorder past the containers, hoping to get a digital copy of everything that could get contaminated or degrade as their investigation continued. She looked at the results she got. Blood, bone marrow, various other tissues and other stuff Imril hadn’t recognised. However, as Jovenan stared at her readings, she could see structures that she had rarely come across among biological samples; hidden among the organic substances, there was also a chunk of something with a crystalline lattice.
Jovenan: Richards, could you come have a look at this? ::waits:: I might have found you a cool rock to study.
Richards/Imril/Bergmen: Response
----
Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Acting XO (Chief Science Officer)
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11