Lt. Commander Tahna Meru - Showtime, As They Say
Tahna Meru
((Medical Laboratory, Gibaria Outpost))
Meru had asked Doctor V’Lar if she needed their assistance in the medbay next door. She was almost certain, based on their earlier conversations and V’Lar’s determination to limit how many people were exposed to the horrors of the medical bay next door, that her answer would be no. But they were Starfleet. This was what they’d signed up for. If she needed their help with the patients, they’d do it. Still...she had to trust V'Lar, as the singular medical professional in the group and the person currently working the crisis next door, to make that call.
V’Lar: =/\= While I must consider the marginal operational benefit you could bring, I must weigh that against the absolute certainty of the psychological trauma you would face. I will leave that cost-benefit analysis to you. Regardless of your decision, I will have the first viable subject prepped for extraction in approximately three minutes and eighteen seconds. =/\=
Tahna: =/\= I’ll let the Gorkon know they’re coming. And doctor? Good work. =/\=
Pace: =/\= Commander Tahna’s right, sir. =/\=
V’Lar: =/\= The outcome remains statistically suboptimal, but we have salvaged what we could. =/\=
Pace: =/\= Aye, sir. Salvaging is still a win though, even if it feels… Well, you know. =/\=
They were both right. When they’d beamed down, Meru had hoped they’d find a solution that could save everyone. She always hoped they could save everyone, didn’t every Starfleet officer feel the same? But it was a rare day that actually worked out. Today was just…worse than many. Too many civilian casualties, and the fact that they’d gone in such a horrible way…
V’Lar: =/\= Are you experiencing any change in environmental readings? =/\=
Meru glanced at Pace, who made a quick scan of their environment on her tricorder.
Pace: =/\= It looks like the ambient temperature has increased in the lab by point six degrees, has it increased for you as well, Doctor? =/\=
V’Lar: Response
Pace: =/\= How odd, I wonder what’s causing this increase… =/\=
Tahna: =/\= Did you check the radiation levels? Speaking of, Pace, V’Lar, please take a moment to inoculate yourselves. =/\=
Meru picked up her own tricorder from the workstation she sat at, running a scan of the environment. Radiation might be a stretch, but given the things they were dealing with, it was worth checking.
V’Lar: Response
Meru frowned slightly, her ears catching on a strange noise. Almost like…the lightest shuffling, maybe? Or a voice, too distant to make out?
Pace: =/\= Did you hear that, sirs? =/\=
Tahna: =/\= Yeah, what was that? =/\=
No radiation increase worth worrying about, according to her tricorder. Meru looked around the room, eventually following Pace’s gaze to the moss behind the force field. It was pulsing faster now, though it hadn’t moved from the vent yet.
Pace / V’Lar: Response
Tahna: =/\= Inoculate yourselves now. =/\=
Pace / V’Lar: Response
Meru grabbed a dose off the replicator, pressed it into a hypospray left by V’Lar’s former work station, and tossed it to Pace as soon as she caught the scientist’s eye. It was impossible, with their limited data, to know what exactly the moss might do—maybe it wasn’t even being threatening at all, and they were projecting emotions onto a moss. But better safe than sorry. And it had been building up energy before…. Meru took another scan on her tricorder, this time of the moss itself.
Tahna: =/\= I think the moss is preparing to use that energy it was building up. =/\=
Pace / V’Lar: Response