Lt. JG T’Fearne - Sleeping Beauty (Act 3)
Teayl Thorn
((Torpedo / Probe Magazine Bay, Deck 09, USS Compass Rose))
T’Fearne adjusted the phasers in her thigh holsters and the akai at her hip, letting the familiar shapes ground her. Her mind was still working through the sharp-edged emotions of what had just unfolded: careful removal of the live warheads, reappearance of Kel and Roop, watching paranoia tip into near-betrayal, and physically restraining a superior officer. She didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on it. The mission kept unfurling at greater velocity, and she struggled to regain her equilibrium.
Kel’s gaze lingered briefly on the stasis pod, and T’Fearne followed it to where Kessler lay secured beneath the clear viewport.
Kel: We should have Nakada beam him to the main shuttle bay. He'll be safe there.
Roop seemed to have it in hand, and they had already beamed the restrained and sedated Rose crew members to the triage area of the shuttlebay.
Nakada: =/\= Response =/\=
Winters: ::turning to Kel:: What's the plan Commander?
They followed Kel to the corridor’s internal sensor repeater, its dim display flickering with faint life signs of the area.
T'Fearne: Keep containing and sedating people we find, sir?
Kel: We've got several people in this section. ::beat:: Mr. Roop can we see if the Rose has any stasis pods aboard. We can bring them over, but it might be faster to use what's already here.
Roop: There are five, Sir, in the Sickbay Morgue. All are filled. With Rose crew, it seems.
T’Fearne frowned. She had only seen three biobeds in the Roses’ tiny combined sickbay and life science lab. She wouldn’t have thought there would be as many as five crew stasis pods on the very small Oberth class, but maybe they had started fabricating their own when this plague started.
Her inquisitive mind started whirring faster: Who on the crew had realised stasis pods would slow the plague? Why did they stop at five pods? What happened to one responsible? If they revived someone from one of those earlier pods, could they give them more intel on the situation?
Winters: Doesn't the Ronin have industrial replicators aboard for situations like this?
The security officer nodded thoughtfully, switching gears to peruse her local knowledge of the ship she had served on for over a year. Her duties included clarification and re-cataloguing of Ronin’s various habitation and manufacturing zones, and making them safer and easily navigable for the crew. She swiped her tongue over her dry lips in recall.
T'Fearne: Yes, Ronin has an inorganic replication centre, not far from the shuttle repair bay, if I’m not mistaken. If Ronin can handle the power requirement, we might fabricate enough pods to suspend the worst cases.
She swung a glance at Roop to see if he would disagree, as that was more his workspace than hers, though the interior of the ship was technically all part of her responsibility to secure. Responsibility, she was feeling like she was failing at. Her very new commanding officer, Chief of SEC/TAC, Jack Kessler, was currently falling into a suspended animation, and there was nothing she could do to help. She had possibly contributed to making things worse for the human. She gritted her teeth and pushed the feelings to the back of her mind with difficulty.
Kel: T'Fearne, is the intercom system working? Can we warn the people in the outrigger that we're coming, let them know we're not a threat?
She didn’t know why he was asking her that question; it would be more appropriate for Roop, but then she caught his glance and used it to pull her focus back on task.
T'Fearne: I think they are now, sir. However, considering how the Chief reacted, I’d prefer not to give them a warning.
Winters: And of course that is only assuming the remaining crew are coherent enough to understand we are not a threat.
The Vulcazoid dipped her head in agreement. The paranoia has surely set in for them by now.
The young ensign’s voice broke into the tense silence. T’Fearne and seemingly Winters are having a similar tense reaction, watching him toy with the warhead racks.
Roop: Lieutenant, Captain, your handiwork is certainly to be commended. ::waving the triPADD at the antimatter crate:: What's its disposition?
Winters: Disposition? ::turning fully towards Roop:: They want to go boom. They are trying to go boom. But don't worry Ensign, the Lieutenant here ::gesturing to T'Fearne:: built one hell of a containment system.
T’Fearnes’ slanted brow rose. It was a generous compliment, but she hadn’t done much more than grab the stasis canisters out of the equipment locker. Starships' torpedo bays were required to carry antimatter containment canisters. She supposed she owed a grizzled armoury training officer a drink when she got back to Earth for the practical test on disarming torpedoes, otherwise she wouldn’t have felt confident enough to try it on active ordinance. Pulling the detonation trigger chips and then putting the warheads in their own stasis canisters had helped, but it was not a long-term solution. Even in containment, there was still a risk. From the tension stretching the engineer's uniform over his shoulders, she could see he knew it too. They had bought time, but only some.
T'Fearne: Thank you, but there is an armoury training officer at the academy who is owed the thanks. And SCPO Solana. I’ve worked with her on the torpedoes aboard the Ronin, though these are more primitive. We only really bought some time. They are still a safety issue for this ship, but for now, they seem to be inert.
Winters: The only real way to be sure of that is to get them off the ship.
T'Fearne: Agreed.
Roop: Only the Ronin’s transporters would be capable of beaming it. The less robust transporter systems on the shuttles are not intended for antimatter transport, as I have learned. ::looking at the cracked helmet Chief in his stasis pod as he was transported away to the shuttlebay::
The familiar hum echoed strangely in the cavernous space as the transporter cycle engaged. Motes of light swarmed the stasis pod in shimmering blue as Kessler’s battered form vanished, bound for the main shuttlebay. As he disappeared, T’Fearne’s suit audio and her good ear picked up Michele’s murmured farewell.
Winters: ::softly, more to herself:: See you soon Jack.
She reached out a gloved hand and pressed it gently to the human woman's armoured shoulder.
T'Fearne: ::discreetly:: He is safer in there for now. ::To Kel:: With the antimatter removed from the torpedoes and confined to this crate, it's less mass in fewer locations for the Ronin to transport, and I’ve enhanced the signal with a tag in the crate. I have an odd idea. ::hesitating for a moment:: I’m not sure if it would be possible considering power requirements, but if Ronin were to de-materialise these and hold them in the pattern buffer, they could re-materialise them at a later time when it would be safer to deal with.
Kel: Response
Winters: Ok, Jack is secure. The meter is running, Commander. One way or another, we get through this day.
T'Fearne: Then let’s move. Those sensor dead zones won’t sweep themselves.
Kel/Roop: Response
Winters: ::nodding:: On it. Taking point.
As the armour-suited marine maneuvered out of the racks of inert torpedoes, probes and comms buoys, and made her way to the jefferies tube junction with a slightly echoing clang in the two-deck-high bay. T’Fearne took a final glance back at the racks of warheads, hand hovering near her holstered phaser. Glad of the shield Michele provided for their front, she would serve as a quiet shadow at their backs.
((Compartment D09-12, Deck 09, USS Compass Rose))
The Rose was small, its passages tighter than the Ronin’s. They reached the compartment quickly; there was not much on this level besides the torpedo bay, mostly just sensor processing compartments. Winters leaned in just enough to glimpse inside, then pulled back, holding up two fingers.
oO Two survivors. Oo
T’Fearne’s pulse ticked in her ears. Survivors were good, and that they had found more, lifted her heart, but what condition were they in, physically and mentally?
She had her phaser pistol already drawn, pointed down and set to stun. She nodded and tapped her weapon meaningfully.
T'Fearne: ::switching to internal suit comms with the three others:: Armed?
Kel/Roop: Response
Winters: Both appear unarmed. They appear to be unloading EV suits from a cargo crate sir.
The Vulcazoid tilted her head slightly, trying to clear her hearing inside her helmet. The faint scrape of boots on metal carried through the hatch, followed by muffled voices. Possibly one male and one female. The words were indistinct, but the tone, sharp, clipped, suggested argument.
T'Fearne: ::low, measured:: I recommend not giving them time or reason to react. We enter and stun immediately.
Kel/Winters/Roop: Response
She had to admit, they had a point. Intel was in short supply, and they needed any information on the situation they could get.
T'Fearne: Understood. Ready on your mark.
Kel/Winters/Roop: Response
At the signal, she slipped into the cramped compartment, striding forward swiftly, phaser levelled at the one on the left. Two figures spun toward the sound, both in grimy uniforms, faces gaunt with exhaustion. A Trill clutched the arm of an EV suit, knuckles white and his spots standing out bleakly at his temples. The Human woman’s eyes widened, brown eyes wide with fear.
Human Crew: Stay back! Don’t…don’t come closer!
Trill Crew: ::hoarse:: We’re not infected! We’re not like the others!
The words rang out, desperately. T’Fearne could see no obvious brown goo or lesions on their skin, but that didn’t mean anything.
T’Fearne: ::calm, deliberate:: We’re not here to harm you. We’re from the Ronin, we received your distress call, and we are rendering aid.
The human woman’s eyes darted to Roop’s tricorder, then back to T’Fearne and Winters’ weapons.
Human Crew: That’s what they all said. Before they changed. Before they turned on us.
Kel/Winters/Roop: Response
T’Fearne: ::soft, coaxing:: You’ve been fighting this alone a long time. Let us share the burden. No one survives this by themselves.
The Trill survivor swallowed hard, his grip on the EV suit loosening fractionally. He seemed to be clutching something in his other hand, hidden out of sight behind the suit. T’Fearne didn’t lower her phaser, keeping it trained on his centre mass.
Kel/Winters/Roop: Response
[Tags / TBC]
===============================
Security Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
R240107T14