Consultation

Posted on Wed Mar 27th, 2024 @ 12:32pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard & Ensign Kate Kono & Ensign James Phoenix

Mission: Man & Machine
Location: USS Washington

Shran was standing next the Deanna at Ops when the turbolift doors opened and Jon and Sam emerged. Shran looked back, "Excellent. Take a look at what we stumbled upon. Deanna found us something interesting. Can't say if it is inhabited, but it definitely was at one time" Shran said as the two officers made their way down to him. "Looks like they had a recent nuclear war. Assuming you feel it safe Sam, I'd like Jon to take a shuttle down there with an away team, see if he can learn anything beyond what we can tell from here. Radiation levels are too high for us to get clear data, but on the surface, things may be different."

"If the radiation is blocking the sensors, then it's gonna do a pretty bang-up job of blocking biology" Sam remarked as she took a more detailed look at the data they did have on hand. "Hmm, I should be able to formulate an inoculation that may give the person maybe an hour - tops. Failing that an armband emoting a low-level personal shield would block a small amount of radiation, as a failsafe."

Jon had been standing to one side as Shran spoke to Sam. He spoke up at the mention of taking a shuttle to the surface. "I can do that sir. For an away team, I'd like to take Deanna, Sam, Phoenix and Kate."

"Sounds good" Shran replied to both Jon and Sam. "I'll have Kate and Phoenix meet you in sickbay for the inoculations and have a shuttle prepped for your departure. We'll move into a lower orbit and I'm going to have Inara work with Engineering to look into cutting through the radiation so we can get better sensor readings and be able to use the transporters should it be necessary. Admiral Janeway once had to eliminate radiation in an atmosphere, and this is most gamma radiation, so I suspect Inara may be able to come up with a means to eliminate the radiation on a large scale should you find anything worth looking into for longer than Sam's precautions will allow."

Jon nodded at Shran's statement. "Sounds good sir..." Jon answered before turning to Sam, "Alright Sam. time to get out your magics and whip up a potion to inoculate us from the radiation we will be encountering."

"Send me everything we have and give me an hour, I should be able to use the standard radiation inoculation as a benchmark" Sam nodded reassuringly before heading down to sickbay.

Shran watched the trio exit the bridge. He contacted Inara and requested her to report to the bridge, as well as Imik and LeFaye. He continued to review the limited sensor data coming in as he waited for them to arrive.

***
Sickbay

James had read the brief on the away mission and the planet. There were a lot of unknowns, as well as tactical concerns that he had. The planet had been through a nuclear war, like Earth after he had left. James felt the need to be extra prepared in the event of an engagement, due to the fact that even if the nuclear war on the planet below had supposedly ended, there could be those select few who thought the war was still going on. Or it could still be going on.

But that wasn't his only concern. There was the radiation. While it wouldn't affect the away team if there were there for a short time, there was the risk of getting stuck down there. So, he brought with a small medical pack. It couldn't really do much against radiation, but it was better than nothing. Anything Sam had prepared in sickbay would probably be more effective against nuclear radiation.

He entered sickbay wearing a tactical vest, where the pockets consisted primarily of support gear and the med kit. He had a leg holster for his phaser pistol on his dominant side, and an attachment on his opposite leg for his tricorder. On his back he had a special attachment for his phaser rifle, which he was taking with for this. He was probably over prepared, but this was a situation where it was better to be safe than sorry. Seeing as he was the first officer assembled, he found a bulkhead that had nothing blocking it, and leaned against it while waiting for the others.

Kate entered sickbay wearing her Starfleet uniform, with her boots and she also carried a pair of gloves, and she was sticking something into both nostrils of her nose until they vanished. She had replicated them from a medical archive -- it allowed air to be filtered before entering her sinuses for a stretch of eight hours before needing to be thrown away and replaced. Once they were in, she looked just as normal as ever. Kate felt a slight discomfort at first but after a few breaths through the nose, it felt back to normal breathing. She kept a spare few in her carry-bag strapped over her shoulder which also contained a Starfleet Issued Marksman Rifle with a refractor scope, a trauma medkit, extra socks, a spare tricorder, PADD, and several packs of MRE’s. Since the last mission she experimented with growing her hair out a little longer. Her long straight black hair was now almost to her ears now and she even sported a fake clip-on earring; aside from that, she was just as skinny as before despite trying desperately to eat more fatty foods; alas, to no avail - no change other than the hair. She jumped on one of the beds and rapidly kicked her feet back and forth while waiting for the doc to shoot her up with the good stuff.

“I hope this stuff doesn’t make me too high!” Kate joked as she giggled slightly. “I wonder what happened down there. I mean, other than merry bundles of nukes…”

"I suppose you'll find out" Tarja said as she walked by Kate, checking on the tools by the biobed. She looked at Kate laying there, her feet bouncing about, "Perhaps you'd care for a sedative. And, um, not telling you what to do, but that little earring, not regulation. I wouldn't let the XO see you wearing it" she said in a friendly voice.

Kate looked at Tarja and raised a brow. “I don’t need a sedative. I’m going on this mission with a clear head, and I hope I find something to write home about!” Kate started with a high-pitched squeak of excitement. “The last two away missions I went on were scary as all get out, so this one is going to be ‘the one’,” Kate stated. She squinted her dark Asian eyes at the far wall and nodded confidently to herself. “... I can feel it. No dodging arrows, no damned dirty apes, no ghosts! Just ruins of an ancient culture and possible technology and intelligence to gather.”

Kate leaned back a little and smiled at the doctor and to James.
“This will be an easy mission with no PEW PEW! or BANG POW! ” Kate hopped off the biobed suddenly and made pistols with her fingers to emphasize all the things she assumed she wouldn’t be running into on this mission. She spun around on an about-face and half-bowed while pulling the earring off her ear and flicking it into a trash can with a satisfied toothy grin.

Sam leant back and watched the verbal interaction with a smile, remembering when she was that young and keen to get out and see the galaxy. Those were the days.

"When you lot are ready, I have your inoculations ready for you." She said seeing a break in the banter.

James pushed himself off of the wall and looked at Kate. "I hope so. But given the unknowns, I feel that it's better to be safe rather than sorry" he turned to sit on the nearest empty biobed so he could get his inoculation.

Tarja continued to do her normal checks of the nearby equipment. It was something a nurse would normally do, but Tarja preferred to do it herself, make herself feel useful. Being a young medical officer meant she needed to do these sorts of things to try to get herself noticed. It was rare for her to get sent on any sort of away mission, which is why the mission aboard the Hudson had been so exciting, even if that had been weeks ago. She once again moved close to Kate, "The boss is ready for you. Hope you have a good time. We'll keep a biobed ready for you, just in case" she said with a grin.

Jon entered Sickbay as Tarja was talking to Kate. "Excuse me." He interrupted, "I'm here for my inoculation to go down to the planet."

Tarja offered a slight smile. "Yes Commander. Dr. Howard has everything ready. Just over there" she said as she pointed Sam out. "I do hope you all find something interesting."