Lt. Commander Samira Neathler - Locking doors
Samira Neathler
((Corridor - Gibaria Outpost))
Their task was to create a safe passage to the gate and clear the way. Which meant they had to tackle the odd and dangerous fauna and flora that supposedly came through the open gateway. But that was not the only dangerous part of their mission. Not only was there a risk of radiation poisoning, for which each Gorkon crew member on the base had received treatment, but long exposure to whatever was seeping through the gate also presented other medical conditions.
They had to secure eight labs and find an entryway to the gate. So far they knew the vines reacted to touch and didn’t like the subsonic pulse Naledi suggested earlier. Wanting to secure the labs they had access to, before shooting at any of the flora as Sevo suggested, her attention went to the bloody handprint she had discovered at the lab’s door display.
Returning to the corridor, she scanned the bloodprints on the wall, and even briefly stepped into the corridor where they had arrived at, just making sure to keep eye contact with the others. She quickly returned to the others near the first door.
Neathler: These bloodprints are all from the same person.
Someone could be taking shelter in the lab, or they had tried to gain access but had failed and had continued down the corridor. A few more tricorders appeared and the prints were scanned, the picked up data ran through different programs on the different devices. Samira holstered her own tricorder.
Naledi: Crick Snap Pop Hiss… Confirmed, these are identical.
Sevo: Judging by the decay rate, this one was created shortly before the one in the corridor. The owner was heading that way.
Finch: Commander Naledi, can you discern who the blood belongs to?
The vines lay motionless as if waiting what the team’s next move was, so they could react by lashing out and producing their odd sounds. The Commander consulted their small PADD.
Naledi: Pop Pew Snap… These prints belong to outpost scientist “Klair Novau”, a Kantare.
Sevo: Confirmed. ::She read aloud key details about the person. :: Klair Novau, Kantare. Female, 31 years old. Junior scientist studying multidimensional physics.
Finch: If this is where she worked then she might have been a data analyst, or engaged in computational modelling.
Samira had nothing to add, instead she peered further into the corridor, trying to spot more of the bloody prints but for now she didn't see any, unless the vines were draped over the prints, hiding them, making their task more difficult.
Naledi: Crick Chirp Snap Pop… Kantare are well known for creating holographic imagery. Perhaps they used those skills to create a defence against the vines?
Sounds from chirping tricorders joined the ominous sounds coming from the facility itself. Naledi’s remark made her think about the report she had read and heard from Finch’s team after capturing that Borg Sphere in the Borg Universe. Almost unbelievable stories of Borg drones fighting against holographic creatures and cubes. Another image flashed her mind, two crewmembers dressed in blue succumbed to the Borg. She inhaled slowly pushing the image to the back of her mind, where it resided until it would pop up again at the faintest memory.
Sevo: There’s no photonic activity in the area that I can detect; besides, with the power issues — ::She nodded to the lights which were flickering:: — such complex holograms couldn’t be maintained with the current power levels.
Finch: Quite right. Even without power issues, they’d want to conserve as much power as possible. A multidimensional gate doesn’t feed easy.
Samira looked up. A gate needed feeding but plants also needed nutrition. So where did the vines obtain the energy to grow so quickly?
Sevo: What’s bothering me is we haven’t seen a body on our way in. And this Novau hasn’t shown up on the medbay’s patient roster so far. ::She checked the information streaming from the medbay team, making sure.:: So where did she go?
Finch sucked air in through her teeth with a shrug.
Finch: She might have made her way to the experimental wing, getting the doors to the complex closed on her way through.
Neathler: This place should hardly hold any secrets to those working here, maybe she found another way out.
Naledi: Response
Sevo: A mystery for another time, maybe. Right now, we need to focus on getting through these…things. ::Nodding to the vines.:: Best bet is to start in the labs. See what we can find.
Doz smiled with twinkling eyes, gesturing to the door in front of them.
Finch: That’s the plan! Check them out and if there is anyone or anything inside, seal them off. The goal being to create a singular and safe direction to and from the gate so that there aren’t any complications along the way for whoever heads inside.
Neathler: And perhaps along the way discover something that might help to reach our own goal or to help out the other teams.
Naledi: Response
Sevo: This first lab here — ::Gesturing to the wall with the bloody handprint.:: — has a door just around the corner, unblocked by these…things. We might be able to get inside and maybe find a path around as well.
Finch: Very well, we’ll try the other door.
Samira just shook her head and shrugged, following Doz towards the other door further down the corridor that would give them access to the same room.
Naledi / Sevo: Response
The access panel was free of any blood prints and a few taps on the display later, the doors opened with a familiar sound. From her location in the corridor, Samira quickly scanned the room but she saw no movement inside, yet she was prepared to pull Finch out of any harm as the Chief Engineer stepped inside. The first part of the room was void of any vines. A series of computer displays lined the middle of the room, cupboards and shelves dressing the surrounding walls. Only one of the computers appeared to be working..
Finch: There’s no one in here. It’s just us.
The words were merely a confirmation of something Samira had established earlier.
Naledi / Sevo: Response
She let the others work on the only active computer as she made a quick tour of the room, still preferring confirmation with her own eyes and not relying on technology too much. She lingered a bit longer at the other entrance where she had found the print on the display at the other side of the door, but nor her eyes nor her tricorder could detect any of the blood inside the room itself.
Neathler: It doesn’t appear that Novau entered the room.
Finch / Sevo / Naledi: Response
Not that it mattered. Her focus went to the shelves and cupboards along the walls. Several devices lay on the shelves, here and there a PADD lay in between, which she picked up and quickly skimmed through the content, so far she didn’t find anything that could help them or the other teams.
Neathler: Any luck on that computer?
Finch / Sevo / Naledi: Response
She moved to the next wall and picked up another PADD but before looking at it, her gaze moved to the entrance and remained focussed there.
Neathler: Whatever is on that computer, our time is running out, the vines are trying to lock us in.
Finch / Sevo / Naledi: Response