230413.1356
RP NARRATIVE
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Evelyn Rieko looked to Sagor and Evan. They seemed to be behaving better after a good talking to by the other Parish Leader Tania Locke and once Doctor Evey Riley reported they just have to test the cure she has found. Also, Ginrai and his Engineering team started working on the Comms system. Evelyn walks over to Ginrai and says, "Lieutenant Commander Yamabushi, give me a report on your progress." She is anxious to get everything done so that they can leave. Her two Betazoid officers had said they sensed hostile intentions from someone or maybe more than one person. Maybe they would try to figure out who they were, before they left. Solve this mystery. We can't leave this unsolved. Try to find some clues by speaking with the Parish leaders about possible suspects... and really the Parish leaders were also suspects. She shook her head and waited for Ginrai's report. Then she will go over to speak with Evey, Zania and Cheryl. And then Sandra.
Evey Riley Finally they could start working and the serum had been replicated. They all had been waiting for good news and a positive reaction and... she was dying for a coffee. She couldn't cross her fingers but she would if she could. She didn't know if it would work as he was in a very bad condition. She had to treat those in worse condition first. She tapped her combadge: "Commodore Rieko, the treatment is in progress, we tried it first in two agonizing patients and we are waiting for the results. The replication has finished and we can start applying it to the rest. I'm waiting for your orders." While waiting for the answer she turned to look at Admiral Turner: "I think it will work. We have been under a lot of pressure."
Ginrai Yamabushi is on his knees in front of the comms console. He pushes down firmly to install the power battery, which begins to light up the boards that are installed. He points at the battery and replies, "I've installed a long-lasting power source for the system. I am working on installing the correct isolinear chips for the system to power up. The next step is connecting to the comms array, then I'll try to connect with our crew aboard the Durant." He twirls a red isolinear chip in his fingers as he looks down at the board.
Sagor Bunig tried to smile at the Starfleet folks, but it was difficult with the impending influx of technology. Sagor had run for office on the platform of removing offworld technology from Macreen. When his district constituents discovered that he had begged Starfleet for technology... and they would, eventually... that would be the end of his time as administrator. He needed a diversion, a new enemy for colonists from every district. He addressed the Executive Officer, who had shown himself to be fair. "You have telepaths among you. Would they be able to scan the minds of the colonists to discover who sabotaged the transceiver?"
Cheryl Skinstad can sense very strongly that all 3 leaders from the 3 Parishes here on the planet are desperate for assistance and want the Comms system repaired or replaced. The words of Commodore Rieko are ringing in her head. ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one’. She turns to Zania and says in a hushed voice: “The sabotage was done to the Comms system before the outbreak of the disease, and now I do not sense anyone in disagreement regarding our repair. The main focus of anger and hostility that we both sensed, used to be toward the Durant away team, for being late and the deaths of many of the colonists. We found the cure for the disease, preventing future deaths, so the animosity should have gone but I am definitely feeling someone still wants to harm us, do you? I wish a scanner had been invented to detect where the animosity was emanating.”
Sandra Lacrima noticed Ensign Mudden entering the room, looking around and as he noticed her, he went straight towards her and, facing the other people in the room, stood beside her. "Welcome back Ensign… I'm excited for your report!“ she said, looking at him for a short moment.
Mudden responded: "Well, Lieutenant, the colonists are not that talkative. Only a few were willing to talk with me, but tenor of those who talked was that they're thankful for our help but also glad when we leave again…"
Lacrima: "Yes I'm not sure what to think of these colonists.. there's a lot of disagreement regarding the presence and use of technology so they seemed to have split up in two or three groups… and the biggest mouth of each are now here.“ She chuckled.
Mudden replied, "Oh well, at least some of them are grateful.. have you seen the buffet table they have prepared for us?“
Lacrima: "What? No?!“
Mudden: "Oh yes… I noticed it when I entered the main hall. Too bad we're stuck in these suits…“
Lacrima: "Eric, you know the rules anyway… don't take from strangers.. unless it's tested.“
Mudden: "Yes, Mommy…“
Giving him a grumpy look, Lacrima noticed his sheepish grin which she returned by sticking out her tongue. "Anyway, I think me and my Tricorder should have a closer look at the culinary offers…“
Zania Turner looks to Cheryl and nods. "I'm feeling it too. It's almost as if they are making a tremendous effort to mask their feelings so nobody will detect who they really are, even though the intention to deceive us is still very much there. Unless we discover their identity soon, I fear that something far worse than the disease may befall the people of this planet and us."
Evan Bravebird had visited the hospital room and saw the doctors hard at work to find a cure. He felt a lot of his anger melt away. Now he has walked back to the Technology room, seeing the engineer Yamabushi working on their Comms system, He suddenly feels regret for calling him the name Yamabushi had called them... 'Patak'.. Evan wasn’t even sure what it meant other than it was an insult. He realized any hostility the engineer felt was justified because of Evan's anger and hostility toward the Starfleet officers. He rubbed his hand across his face. Yes, he had lost his wife and daughter to this skitter outbreak, but still that was no excuse for his behavior, he thought to himself. He walked over to the CO Commodore Rieko, she seemed a caring person and would understand him he was sure, he said, " Commodore Rieko, I want to apologize to you and your crew... I was filled with anger and hostility because I have lost my wife and daughter and I was lashing out at you all. That was wrong. I want to thank you for all you are doing for us.. Thank you."
Ace Watts heard Evan speaking about his anger, but had no comment on this.
Hal Jordan looked at Sagor and tried to think of a way to explain. "That is an excellent question, sir. I have no telepathic ability myself, but as I understand it, Betazoids vary in their telepathic abilities. Some are telepaths, who can sense individual thoughts and even exert mind control, while others are empaths, only sensing surface emotions. I am not sure about the specific talents of our two Betazoid crew members. If they are both empaths, which I believe to be true, then they would have to question each of the colonists and 'sense' their reactions to discover if any of them are lying."
Rieko looked at Ginrai at work as he explained what he was doing to repair the Comms system. Her eyes widened with delight as a panel he was working on suddenly lit up. The boards began to light up. She said "Good work Lieutenant Commander. How much longer do you think before this is completely done, up and running?" She saw Evan Bravebird hovering near her and she turned to him. She listened as he explained himself and then surprisingly he apologized. It was interesting to see this man humble himself and apologizes after all of his loud hostile outburst and anger toward them. She said, "Councilman Bravebird, I accept your apology on behalf of myself and my crew. I understand how you were feeling and your reaction to us. You have lost a lot in a short amount of time, and you must adjust. You have our deepest condolences on the lost of your wife and child. I truly wish we had gotten here in time." She reached out her hand to touch his arm, but stopped herself and said "We are sorry."
A small sound was heard and Riley turned to the other bed. The patient was reacting to the treatment. She looked at him and smiled. Jason Bravebird was alive! Then she realised the name was too familiar. Maybe a relative of ... No, it couldn't be. She dismissed the thought, after all many of the colonists could have that name. His eyes opened, blinking slowly and she got a bit closer. "Welcome back, Jason. You are gonna be alright." His voice was very low but he wanted to say something and she couldn't understand it. She needed Zania, Cheryl, or one of his relatives here, but that could wait. It wasn't as if they had a complot here and he knew some vital information... She scanned him quickly and with a big smile on her face almost shouted while touching the com. "Commodore! He's alive! The treatment worked" Then she regained her composure. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry Commodore Rieko. What I mean is..." She paused, sometimes she wished she had a bit of a Vulcan in her. "The patient Bravebird responded to the treatment. He was practically dead and he's alive." I think we will need a report of all the people here to start immunizing them, but I'm not sure all of them want the vaccine or treatment. I guess that's up to their leaders."
Yamabushi starts working on arranging the isolinear chips, and attaching the wires to the power battery, when he receives a feedback, nearly pushing him back, "Oof..darn.." as he feels it through the gloves. he unplugs the connection before he installs the board, and configures the chips on the board. "The red goes in the red slot," he begins to sing in the sounds of "the leg bone connected to the.." , "blue is true, but only three of a kind." He starts popping in three of the blue in the blue slots. "Green is mean, but it gets the four..." he pulls out the four isolinear chips that are green and looks at them. He then inserts them in two-by-two on the board. He then connects the wire in the power system. The board lights up and he heard the soft hum. He takes a deep breath and beams a warm smile, but then pulls out his tricorder and begins scanning to see if the wavelength patterns would overload the board. The wavepatterns remain stable! He beams a wide smile as he closes the panel. He gets to his feet and begins starting up the booting up process on the console, placing his open tricorder to monitor the progress. He reports, "Working on connecting to the comms array now, Commodore." His fingers dance on the antiquated keypad.
Bunig watched with approval as the Starfleet engineer worked on the subspace radio console. More and more status lights were coming on, and they were all green. The display screen showed that the startup process had begun, and from what he could see from several feet distance, everything was going smoothly. "That's great, we will be in communication with the rest of the galaxy in no time!"
Skinstad looks at Zania, wide eyed, and nods. "That’s it! It's the effort some, not all of them, are making to mask their feelings. That is what I perceive. I can sense subterfuge. If all this is not what it seems, where and how do we begin to unravel the truth from the lies?" Suddenly she senses relief from elsewhere, two crew members. She smiles about their individual successes. She is weary of wearing this EVA suit and longs to get out of it, give her hair a good shaking and wash….and ooh…a sonic shower. Ecstasy!
Lacrima patted Ensign Mudden's shoulder. "I'll have a look at it, I'm pretty sure you can handle it inside here, Eric“. Knowing about his Lieutenant's enormous appetite, he chuckled and said, "Yes, and you better leave some of the food for us… Sir!“ At which she just winked and gave him a cheerful "Maybe!“ and trotted towards the door. As she entered the main hall she looked around and saw the buffet table in the corner left to the main door. The first inspection was visual, she noticed several meals of earth cuisine which was no surprise as the colonists were human. She picked up a bottle of wine and read its label "Chateau Picard…. noice… they must have brought it with them when they colonized that planet… well.. looks all tasty so far… but, let's give it a deeper check..“ she mumbled and drew her tricorder.
Turner nods to Cheryl and agrees. "That's the difficult thing when it comes to those that intentionally try to deceive . . . determining the truth from fiction in their words. But, we do need to try and discover that soon so this mission can reach a successful conclusion, relatively or otherwise, and we can hopefully return to the ship."
Bravebird nods and listens as Evelyn graciously accepts his apology. He then turns to Ginrai and says, "Engineer Yamabushi, I feel I need to apologize to you directly for calling you that name. My anger came from a place of Pain.. I lost family to this disease. I apologize to you." He felt so alone, but happy and hopeful for those that would benefit from the cure the Starfleet doctors were creating. Then he heard the doctor loudly speaking to Evelyn through the Comms button she wore. Evan's eyes filled with tears as he heard the doctor say... patient Bravebird was recovering..."JASON!" he shouted out into the room... then in a normal tone he said, "Commodore, that's my brother Jason Bravebird. I was so sure he would die as well. He was so sick, so weak. It's a miracle he is recovering. Your doctor is a miracle worker! I can hardly believe it's true. I must go to him! See with my own eyes! Thank you Commodore! Thank you!" He walked away fast, anxious to see his brother. Evan found himself short of breath with excitement and relief and had to force himself to inhale and exhale as he left the room to go to the hospital room.
Watts: "Before we know it, we will be back on our ship in no time, I totally feel sorry for the guy."
Yamabushi hears a loud hiss as the booting up process completes and the cycles are starting up. He taps his gloved finger on the console, as he looks over with anticipation. Just then the text on the screen reads:
Connecting to the array....Array Connected.
Yamabushi starts activating the systems and begins outputting the subsystems:
=^= Ground Team to Durant, this is Chief Yamabushi. =^= There is a loud hiss on the comms, as he starts working with the modulator to quiet the hiss. No response.
=^= Ground Team to Durant, this is Chief Yamabushi... please respond =^= There was absolute quiet, but then just then a familiar face appeared, she had short cropped hair and brown eyes.
=^= Read you loud and clear, Chief. =^= Yamabushi gently slapped the console and replied, =^= Good to see you, Green. Yamabushi out. =^= The screen quickly shut off, as he looks back to see Bravebird and hear his words.
Yamabushi picks up his tricorder and closes it and faces Evan Bravebird with a look of understanding. "I know how it is to speak with anger and grief, we all have those moments." He takes a deep breath and nods, "I'm sorry for my outburst as well." He beams a look of comfort to the man, as he walks away.
Jordan decided to check on the rest of the building. Since both Durant's CO and XO were in the same room, it could be that someone else needed supervision. He walked out the door and noticed Lieutenant Lacrima scanning some food with her tricorder. His stomach growled as he realized how hungry he was. The EVA suits contained some basic nutritional snacks, but they were not designed for long term occupancy. A movement caught his eye. He turned toward the meeting room to see a gigantic skitter moving toward him. "Security! Threat!" He drew his phaser and fired as it approached. Apparently the mutations were working faster than expected.
Skitters of all sizes began to emerge from the interior of the building. Hearing the shout, Lacrima turned and began firing. Durant crew members and Macreen colonists gathered in the room, each drawing their own weapons and joining the fight. Phaser beams and blaster bolts poured into the building as skitters exploded, spraying green blood and internal body parts on the floor, walls, and even the ceiling.
"Let's go outside, more room to run and shoot," shouted Rieko, throwing open the building's double doors.
Starfleet and colonists evacuated the building, spreading out in the courtyard and blasting the mutated skitters, who continued to pour out of the building. At one point, Jordan, retreating from a huge skitter, stumbled over a smaller one about the size of a small dog. As he sliced the larger skitter in half with a phaser beam, the smaller one savagely bit into his left ankle. He shouted and kicked it away with his right foot, and Watts blasted it to pieces in midair.
Jordan: "Captain, I'm injured and my suit is breached."
Rieko: "Back to the ship with you, XO. We can handle the rest of these."
And sure enough, as Jordan beamed up to Durant, the others noticed that the flood of skitters emerging from the building dropped to a trickle and finally ceased altogether. Everyone returned to the building, and the wounded had their wounds treated.
=^=
