Commander Lia Rouiancet: Coming Back

[Tony Colella]

(( Sickbay, Deck 5, USS Octavia E. Butler ))

Even though the Yinn who had come to Sickbay hadn't been the Bolian Lia had expected, she was still very glad to hear that they could see her, Toz, and Una, and she sighed in relief.

Rouiancet: That's great. (beat; indicating Barney) We may have rescued one crew member from the Dow, but he may be from further afield. Una, can you confirm that he's from the Dow based on their manifest? Toz, Wing, is he still slightly out of phase?

Una: Yes , he's from the Unity Dow. I was just checking the roster. Is the other one, that Wilma that I can't find.

That was good to know, that Barney Nilsen was actually a crew member on the Dow. But, of course, as Una said, the question of yet another Nilsen still remained.

Toz: Barney looks like he’s fully with us and I don’t think there was a ‘Wilma’. I’m going to guess that the being he’s talking with is the Wilma that’s interfering with our issues. (beat) But now I can give him something to help calm him down. (beat) Can we employ Una’s method to bring the rest of the Dow crew back into phase?

Lia looked over to Una to see if she immediately volunteered any reason why they couldn't, then looked over to Yinn -- Qurgh'Loq Yinn, and remembering was very easy when they appeared to be only Qurgh'Loq -- for their assessment, too. There didn't appear to be any immediate red flags, so Lia nodded.

Rouiancet: From what I saw of the process, we should be able to scale it up fairly easily.

However, that didn't resolve all their problems, as Una noted a moment later.

Una: (with analyses of the phasing on her PADD) Alright, so how do we want to proceed with that out-of-phase being that our Barney was talking to?

Yinn: Kovacs and I isolated many, many out-of-phase life signs, more than the Dow's crew complement. But who knows what kind of lifeforms those might be. They might have fallen victim to whatever's happening in this system, or they might be the cause.

Una: I think that I can try to put it back to phase if our Cap want it...

Now, that was a very interesting question. Did Lia want it? Certainly she wanted to rescue the Dow crew, and with all speed -- but who else was currently lost out of phase? Luriaa had said, back when the Butler had first been heading for the system, to stay away at all costs, and their investigations suggested that the UDP had inherited that fear from the Dominion. The choice to rescue the victims of the effect ought to have been clear, but -- just how long had this been going on? If they beamed in, for example, a troop of Jem'Hadar soldiers who didn't know the war had ended decades before, that could be a recipe for disaster. On balance, though, Lia though that it was better to act in the interest of whoever was trapped out of phase, even if they had to do so with security or marines on standby.

Yinn: We beamed him (indicating the biobed) back into phase as a test, but we should be able to beam multiple targets at once.

That clinched it, and Lia gave a clear nod.

Rouiancet: Let's do it. We should begin large-scale beam-backs, locations to be determined, as I'd also like to have teams from security and the marines on hand, as well as (beat; thinking) completing the transports behind force fields.

Una: Yes security and force fields would be a good precaution indeed!

Yinn: I suggest we set up one in sickbay as a further test, and if successful, we enclose a larger area in one of the cargo bays. And we should be ready to reconfigure the field on a moment's notice if we end up beaming back anything hostile.

Toz: I’ll round up a group of nurses to be ready. Head Nurse Miash is busy somewhere. (beat) I haven’t had time to check on things. But we can call in all off-duty medical.

Rouiancet: (nodding again) Good ideas. I'll contact Lieutenant Richards and see what security personnel he recommends.

Una: Response

Yinn: =^=Yinn to Kovacs. I'm in sickbay with the captain. She and her away team are back into phase, and our test was successful. We beamed someone over who seems to be one of the Dow's crew. We're going to set up a containment field here in sickbay and try beaming a few signals at once. Let us know when you're ready on your end. =^=

A moment passed before Ensign Kovacs responded, but Lia was grateful for that moment, since it likely meant that Kovacs was readier than he might've been otherwise. She wanted the engineering staff to be as sure as they could be that this could be done.

Kovacs: =^=  Engineering standing by.  =^=

Yinn: Just give the word, captain.

However, before Lia did so, she glanced around at the rest of the group. Before she contacted Lieutenant Richards and gave her go-ahead, she wanted to resolve as many lingering issues as possible. Toz brought up the same one that Lia was thinking of almost immediately:

Toz: NA Wing, you’ll stay here with me and assist. Commander, let’s say that Wilma is the being in the corner, well, ceiling. When everyone returns to phase, she should disappear.

That was reassuring -- right up until it seemed to trigger a bout of violent disagreement from Barney Nilsen.

Barney: Go! You’ve got to stop! I can’t take any more!

Immediately after he'd finished shouting, he collapsed.

NA Wing: Doctor, our patient has lapsed into a coma. May I suggest glucose? It seems to be a result of trauma.

Toz: Good thinking. Do it. (beat) When we can, we need to bring Lt. Nilsen in. See if he knows this fellow.

Lia glanced over to Una at that. She seemed to know Nilsen's family -- and perhaps those of the whole senior staff? -- backward and forward.

Yinn / Una: Responses

Rouiancet: (another nod) One moment, and we should be good to go. =^= Rouiancet to bridge. =^=

OOC I'm converting to these little comm badge symbols, too. I love 'em.

Richards / Bridge: =^= Responses =^=

Rouiancet: =^= We're going to attempt to beam the Dow crew back into phase, but it seems we may beam back more than only the Dow crew. If that's true, then I'd like to have security and marine personnel on hand. Would you please oversee their assignment to the cargo bays and Sickbay? =^=

Richards / Bridge: =^= Responses =^=

Well, that all sounded good to go, then. NA Wing was seeing to the unconscious elder Nilsen, and everyone else seemed ready. Lia nodded again, this time directly to Yinn.

Rouiancet: We'll proceed. Yinn, if you'd give Kovacs the signal, please?

Yinn / Una / Toz: Responses

Kovacs: =^= All green on my end. You're good to proceed. =^=

Yinn / Una / Toz: Responses

The transporter cycle engaged a few moments later, just after the security team arrived, and once force fields isolated a section of the main Sickbay ward. It resolved, with a similar green sparkling Lia had observed earlier with respect to beaming Barney back into phase, into two unique signatures.

However, things went rapidly downhill from there. The transporter continued to cycle, and when it finally resolved, Lia gasped. Someone screamed.

Kovacs: =^= (panicked) What happened?! =^=

Lia rested a hand on her tricorder, for all the good it did.

Rouiancet: =^= (grimly) One of the two crew we transported didn't make it through the process. It appears that they were alive when the cycle began. =^=

She looked over at her officers.

Rouiancet: Ideas? I would prefer not to repeat that.

Yinn/Una/Toz: Responses

Kovacs: =^= Response

Tags! and TBC!

--

Commander Lia Rouiancet

Commanding Officer

USS Octavia E. Butler

V238208LV0

she/her/hers (this character)