1st Lt Raisillius -- I Love the Smell of Klingon In the Morning! (TAG: Tatash/Whittaker/Taybrim)

[Trellis Vondaryan]

((SB118 – Combat Information Centre))

::Quintus stood listening to various suggestions on how to deal with the tribble problem. The plan involved spraying essence du Klingon throughout the base. That was going to smell fantastic...::

Tatash: We’ve got access to the Towers super-duper sensors, and still not a single one of them shows up. I’m guessing there’s a purpose behind it, but intel will have to figure that one out. For now, we’ll start our sweep in the convention centre, make sure we stop them coming back. From there ::he pointed to a narrow service tunnel:: we head down three levels, spraying as we go. Then I suppose it’s a case of waiting, any questions?

Ezo: None from me, lead on sir.

Raisillius: No, sir. oO Let's just get this over with. The quicker I can spray these things, the quicker I can get to a shower to get the smell off. I hope. Oo

Tatash: If they have moved beyond three decks, then I’ll be surprised but we’ll go out to six decks. If we get beyond six then we’re in more trouble than these canisters will handle

::Quintus fell into formation, flanking his captain. The new doctor took the other side, all towing canisters. The transporter flashed and, moments later, they were once again back in the convention centre.:: 

((SB118 Promenade Convention Centre))

Ezo: ::coughing:: By The Four...the smell...it's inescapable....

Tatash: Urgh, you’re telling me, smells like… I can’t even describe it, the death of all of creation?

::Quintus tried not to retch. Even wrapped in his full biosuit he could still smell the distilled essence of Klingon. He shuddered.::

Raisilliius: ::to himself, muffled:: I love the smell of Klingon in the morning.

Whittaker: ::calling out:: I need help over here!!

Tatash: Mirra, go help, we got this.

::Quintus barely recognised that the young doctor had moved off, so intent was he on trying not to inhale too much or too often.

::He followed the Captain through to the kitchen.::

Tatash: Give me a hand here

::Captain Tatash handed Quintus his canister, then opened a ventilation grill to a Jeffries Tube. From his utility belt he pulled out a flashlight and peered inside. Over his shoulder -- well, more like through his armpit -- Quintus looked through the shaft. 

::He heard the captain let out a low growl. Quintus followed Tatash's angle and saw the problem. Dozens of of the purring vermin were wriggling around in the shaft. He then heard a horrific shriek as the beasts reacted to the sight of the huge lizard getting ready to hunt them. Quintus offered his own growl in response.::

Tatash: We have a problem.

::Quintus nodded. He had seen. And heard.::

Tatash: Their breeding alright, but we missed this lot. Damned things don’t show up on tricorders, sensors, anything. Must have been one we didn’t spot on the first sweep, one became two, two became four…

Raisillius: What are we going to do about it, sir? ::holding the canisters up:: I don't think these will have much effect on them.

::Tatash paused before gripping the handle of the the Jeffries tube door, lifting it half way.::

Tatash: You’ll have to write me up for this one Lieutenant. ::He paused, tugging an egg shaped device from his belt, twisting a dial:: Incendiary…

Raisillius: ::smiling:: Write you up for what, sir?

Tatash: ::Yelling:: Grenade out!

::Instinct took over. Even though Tatash threw the grenade into the Tube and slammed it shut, Quintus still ducked behind one of the kitchen counters. His training made sure he was safe, even if his curiosity wanted to get the better of him. Moments later, he heard the dull ‘Fwumph’ through the metal. He had expected an explosive charge, but instead there was a solid wall of rapidly expanding flame and a sudden whoosh of the emergency vent fans powering up inside the tube. Quintus imagined he heard the little buggers squealing in pain at the flames, but was sure he couldn't hear that over the ventilators.

::Tatash then opened the hatch. Quintus stood from behind the counter to look in. Yep, there was now plenty of roasted tribble stuck to the tubes. He didn't envy the maintenance team who would have to clean it up..::

Raisillius: Do you think you got them all? ::excited:: Do we need another?

Tatash: I don’t know how far down they went, although we know we’ve got more than a handful to deal with now. That took out a chunk of them, but the survivors… all we’ve done is thin the herd.

Raisillius: I can find another junction to throw in another grenade, if that would help.

::The captain ignored him, instead tapping his badge. He gave a brief report to Commander Taybrim apprising the man of the situation.::

Tatash: =/\= Understood Sir, out.=/\= Well then, what’s our next stop?

::Once done, he turned back to Quintus, who had been looking through other ventilation shafts and tubes looking for signs of infection.::

Raisillius: I haven't seen any more of the things in any of the shafts around here, sir.

::They made their way back to the convention centre main area, where they were greeted by Commander Whittaker. He was friends with a marine, so Quintus didn't think he could be that bad. He offered a nod by way of hello.

Whittaker: Report.

Tatash: The convention center has been cleared out, at least as far as we can tell. The Paladins are continuing to push out the search area but we're trying to stay away from the public eye.

Whittaker: ::sighing:: This is why I find tribbles to be a pestilence. ::beat:: Are we any closer to finding out why they are not registering on sensors?

::Quintus agreed with the man. They were indeed a pestilence to be thoroughly exterminated.::

Tatash: Negative Sir. As far as I know, Intel are trying to figure out that question. ::He paused for a moment, frowning in concern:: You alright Theo?

::As the two friend bantered, Quintus went to check on how the teams were getting on. Satisfied that they were, in fact, pushing out the search area, he returned to the captain. He arrived just in time to hear a report from the engineer he was gaining more respect for.::

Peters: =/\= We're going to beam you some tribble detection assistants so we can locate the little devils and get a transporter lock on 'em. Give me a call when you got them and I will work the transportery magic. =/\=

::Quintus grunted. Help arrived after the marines had done most of the work of expanding the search area already. Typical.::

Tatash: =/\= Sounds promising, we'd need four of them. =/\=

::Obviously the captain had more faith in the general chain of command than he did.::

Peters: =/\= Aye, Cap'n. Inform the Paladins help is on the way. =/\=

Raisillius: oO How very timely of you. Oo ::He might have to re-think his growing respect for the man. He grunted to himself.::

Tatash: =/\= Good job Peters, we'll be glad of it. What are these things anyway? Tricorder type things? =/\=

Taybrim: =/\= Captain Tatash -- you'll be getting a series of interstellar probes that are designed to sense auditory signals. They might be a bit cumbersome, but the range is excellent. They've been modified to key in on the tribble purr. =/\=

::Great. Heavy things for the marines to lug about. Then again, what most people found cumbersome a marine found standard. He growled.::

Tatash: =/\= Roger that, we'll get as clear a reading as we can. Slow and steady deployment? =/\=

Whittaker: ::to himself more than anyone.:: "Good plan."

Taybrim: =/\= As quickly as you can deploy them. =/\= ::a pause:: =/\= Is that Theo with you? =/\=

Whittaker: =/\= Ah... yes, this is he. =/\=

Taybrim: =/\= Theo, we need to very calmly evacuate part of the promenade on decks 1075 and 1076, subsection Gamma. I don't want to spook the locals. Security has been deployed, but if you can assist with getting the probes in that area and getting the civilians calm, we'll avoid a big diplomatic incident. =/\=

::Well, at least they knew where they were going with these 'cumbersome' devices, now.::

Whittaker: =/\= Understood. We'll position it as routine, unscheduled drill. People won't be happy it I can live with their disapproval if it spares us mass hysteria. =/\=

::Indeed. The last thing the base needed was more hysteria. Quintus had already seen some of the effects from the bomb incident and the large monster that had rampaged through sickbay. Sometimes he wondered why civilians actually lived aboard the station with all the trouble that seemed to come their way.::

Taybrim: =/\= I trust you however you choose to get it done. Just get the civilians away from the tribbles safely. Or the tribbles away from the civilians! =/\=

Raisillius: oO Shooting the tribbles would keep them away from the civilians. Sir. Oo

Whittaker: =/\= Leave it with me. Whittaker out. =/\=

::Quintus saw the transporters engage once again, and four blocky tubes with antennae sticking out of them appeared. Each was about four foot long, a small tripod on the base to stand them up poking out awkwardly. They didn't look too heavy, all things considered..::

Whittaker: ::smiling:: Step to it, Marine Captain!

Tatash: ::yelling:: Paladins! Form up on me! Move it people.

::In practiced haste and discipline, the rest of the platoon clanked down the hallways from various directions. Quintus took his position with the rest, standing at attention, awaiting orders.::

Tatash: Listen up! Our mission is simple: four fire teams take one of these probes each and split up. We deploy them at key locations in 1075 and 1076 Gamma,  arm them and hopefully get some eyes on the Tribbles for Engineering to beam them straight out

Sergeant Staddon: Will the Civilians be cleared out?

::The Commander nodded his affirmative. Quintus looked to Staddon, nodding his approval at the man. Smart question to ask.::

Sergeant Staddon: Understood Sir, we'll try and keep it low-key.

Tatash: Teams one and two head to Sector 1075, three and four to Sector 1076. Each team will also take a canister of the Klingon-juice and give the area a sweep with it to be on the safe side. Any more questions? ::pause:: Alright, fall out and grab your gear.

::Quintus fell out, leading team one. Already having his canisters of the vomit-inducing Klingon-juice, he awaited the rest of the team.::

Tatash: We'll take your lead Sir, you give us the orders where to start.

((Time Jump - Thirty Minutes Later))
((Deck 1075 Subsection Gamma))

::The marines had made good time through the base. As if Quintus expected anything less. He watched the team sweeping for more tribbles, deploying the pheromone spray throughout the section.

::If any civilians had remained, the smell would surely have driven them away. Finishing the sweep, Quintus walked to his captain.::

Raisillius: Sweep complete, sir. Awaiting to hear from teams 2, 3 and 4.

Tatash: ?

Raisillius: All tribbles transported to the containment area, yes sir.

::Damn. He had halfway been hoping the modified probes wouldn't work and they'd have to resort to the proven incendiary tactics.::

Tatash: ?

Raisillius: Do we have more orders, sir?

::He hoped he would have an opportunity to shower soon. Though he'd probably smell like Klingon for weeks nonetheless. His skin was drenched in the stuff, despite the biosuit.::

Tatash/Whittaker/Taybrim: ?

tab/tbc

-- 

1st Lt Quintus Lucius Raisillius

Marines

SB118 Ops

Simmed by

Lieutenant JG Trellis Vondaryan

Intelligence

StarBase 118 Ops

O239208TV0