Intel Drop
Posted on Sunday 16 December 2018 @ 10:17 by 2nd Lieutenant Bilhana Karki & Commander Cale Llewellyn DSci & Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix & Commander Caroline Miller & Lieutenant Michael Ki MD & Lieutenant Marbim Rejal & Captain John "Apollo" Barstow, M.D.
Edited on on Sunday 27 January 2019 @ 08:10
Mission:
The New Collective
Location: =/\= Sickbay =/\=
Timeline: 23950827 - 2032 hours - limping to research base
4399 words - 8.8 OF Standard Post Measure
Sickbay
Apollo had been in sickbay for an hour and was covered in sweat and blood. It had been a while since he'd been able to play doctor and he was realizing how much he missed it. The CO sighed as he wiped his hands with a towel and took everything in. Sickbay was back in order, triage was down to the green cards, or minor injuries, and most of the medical staff had gotten back up. John looked over at his tunic laying in the chair where he tossed it and the four pips on the collar, "at least I can help clean up my mess," he said and shook his head.
Caroline grinned at the captain looking similarly dischevelled. "It really is just like old times Captain. You get back to the bridge if you need too. I can tidy up," she offered.
"Aye," John replied with a chuckle, "no, I'll be more help here right now, the ships docking and the bridge crew can handle that, besides, I need to see the away team."
"Yes sir," Caroline nodded, "But I'm helping," she insisted.
Shuttlebay One
The away team was back. O'Hara hadn't said a word since she had had broken her link with the Borg. She looked, for want of a more descriptive term, shaken. When the shuttle docked, she was still sitting in the same chair, curled up in a ball, staring at a blank section of bulkhead. Ensign Matthews had tried to get her attention, but to no avail.
"Lieutenant," Matthews said looking over to Karki. "I think there's something wrong with O'Hara. She's unresponsive. I've done everything short of slapping her to get her attention..."
Karki had already stored all her gear and was more or less back in her under uniform. She was for what it was worth fine, giving O'Hara a look. "I know, but I'm afraid this is well out of my area of expertise. I mean unless you want me to slap her? I don't think that is advisable however."
"If nothing else..." Matthews began, shrugging. "...We should probably get her to sickbay."
Miles looks around, "There should have been a medical team here for her and to check us out as well, what the hell!"
"Agreed." Karki hit the com bottom on the shuttles panel. "Merlin, we need an emergency transport to sickbay as soon as possible for O'hara."
Bridge
Cale sat in the command chair as Barstow had gone to Sickbay and Bayushi was nowhere to be found. He was overseeing the repairs to the bridge module at this time. As he surveyed the minor damage to the bridge, he couldn't help but feel the anxiety of the bridge crew as well as the away team. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong or someone had not come through the experience well. Which he couldn't tell. He tapped his combadge and said, "Llewellyn to O'Hara. Come in, Lieutenant." After waiting 30 seconds he repeated his call. "Llewellyn to O'Hara. Respond, Lieutenant." Then he felt it. It was O'Hara who had been, for lack of a better term, 'injured' during the away mission. "Something's wrong, I'm going to the Shuttlebay." Cale said before he dashed off the bridge.
"Commander this is Chief Rejal, something's amiss with O'Hara, and our requested medical team isn't here, can someone beam us all to sickbay please...sir?"
"I'll get on that straight away!" Cale said as he bent over the panel and initiated the transport. "I'll be in Sickbay. Commander Tillatix, you have the bridge," he said as he left the bridge for Sickbay.
Sav had been performing helm checks as they were now parked at the research station for repairs. She called out to Cale as she saw him rushing to the turbolift, "Aye Aye, Sir, I have the Bridge." She dutifully went to the command chair and sat down, then brought up a holographic display of damage and repairs. That cutter beam had really made a mess of things.
............
Leaving Sickbay Miles heads for the nearest lift, 'Bridge' he says as soon as the doors shut. His nervousness shows as he comes close to tearing the doors open to the Bridge trying to make a beeline to Navigation ... and Commander Sav Tillatix. Seeing her at the Con and not nearly as injured as the last Borg encounter he smiles, "I was worried about you. I need to go to Main Engineering and check on the engines, the old girl sounds off, care to join me as Chief O'Hara is in Sickbay?"
Sav's brows wrinkled for a moment, then she nodded to Miles, "I am not sure what help I can be, my forte is not engines. But, I will help where able." She called over to Lt. jg Ryan, "Lieutenant Ryan, you have the Conn." She got up from the command chair and headed to the turbo lift with Miles, saying, "Lead the way, Good Sir."
Lt. jg Ryan called out, "I have the Conn."
Once in the lift Miles explains further, "Something happened to Chief O'Hara. I don't know what but she is in Sickbay and no one is letting her out until they are sure she is still her. I want to get an understanding of how engineering is going to take not having her around, and to see what damage, if any the warp core and the engines may have taken." He clears his throat and runs his finger around the inside of his collar as he adds, "I was also worried about you as I saw the Merlin take several hard hits, and wanted to ensure you were ok."
Sav churred gently as she smiled up at Miles. That was awfully sweet of him, worrying about her. She said, "Thank you, that is very nice, Miles. And, I am happy to see you are ok as well. Now, sadly back about work. The cutter beam sliced through Deck 8, impacting controls and feeds to the upper decks. So, the engines and warp core should be ok, just, not being controlled correctly due to the damage. Once engineering fully switches over to backups, they should be fine... at least, that's my opinion."
Main Engineering
Engineering is in an uproar when Miles and Sav arrive, and it takes Miles yelling at the top of his lungs for everone to "SHUT THE HELL UP!" to get things under control. Stepping to a close terminal Miles punches in a few codes that brings communications to the entire ship, "This is Chief of Operation Rejal. I need all available work teams, both engineering and ops to deck 8. We need to get the damage under control from that Borg cutting beam. Commander Tillatix and I are in Main Engineering getting everything here under control. If you need help speak up, Rejal out."
Turning to Sav he smiles, "Ok, lets see how badly our girl is hurt." Moving to another station Miles spends several minutes switching power around, bypassing the damaged sections and rerouting power to both shields and weapons. All the while he is grumbling under his breath in Klingon, most of it seems to be cursing directed at the Borg and their progenitors.
A smile secretly plays about Sav's muzzle at Miles gentle cursing. She, herself, is engaged in routing auxiliary systems as well as directing DCO crews towards hot spots needing immediate repair. The important thing was to keep the ship operational and supporting crew until they could dock at the research vessel and switch it its life support systems.
Sickbay
The away team arrived with the telltale blue shimmer of the transporter... O'Hara occupying a biobed, and the other three members standing a few feet away. For her own part, the Lieutenant seemed to be completely oblivious to everything that was going on around her. Instead, she just looked... for lack of a better expression, blank... Which, for her was very odd. She was normally so full of life. The biobed began it's readout... All her vital signs were normal. There was no virus, bacteria, infection, abnormal brainwave patterns or anything else that was out of the norm... At least when it was compared to the scans that were taken when she came aboard.
Miles will find whoever is working on O'Hara and fill them in, "When we beamed back to the shuttle, she was screaming about unplugging her from the drone. She then instructed us to get it off the shuttle. Which we did. Since then she hasn't said anything. Do we have anyone who is telepathic or empathic, it might help..."
"How is O'Hara?! What happened to her?!" Cale asked as soon as he walked into Sickbay. He was shocked by the biobed readout as he stepped closer to her side. He didn't know much about medicine so he asked the doctors. "Dr. O'Reilly, how is she doing?"
Matthews looked over at Karki, then over to Miles. "We can still try slapping her..." She offered in the way of a suggestion.
With a smile, Miles adds, "Well, we could always try kissing her, isn't that how spells are broken in the fairy tales you humans enjoy so much?"
Matthews shrugged. "If you're going to try that, at least give me a few minutes to get my holo-imager first. I would like to document the carnage, and the Doctor will need a good picture to work from when he reconstructs the damage to your face."
"O'Rielly was injured," Barstow replied as he moved over, motioning Ki and Miller with him, "what happened?" he asked sternly as he tossed the bloody cloth he'd used to wipe his hands off on an empty tray table and looked at the readouts then pulled out the medical probe to check the biobed, "what the hell did she do? Her brain is nearing a meltdown," he added and looked to the officers from the away team with a critical look.
"Lieutenants, I want to know everything that happened to her during the away mission." Cale said to Lieutenants Rejal and Karki. He tried not to frighten them with his tone of voice but it was difficult for him being an empath.
Snapping to attention, without even realizing it, "Sir, she beamed a drone onto the shuttle as we beamed off. The tranquilzer hypo had been used when we beamed back aboard. She was shouting 'unplug me, unplug me' but did it herself before any of us could assist her. The last thing she told me to do was get the drone off the shuttle and away from her, which I did. The expression on her face was a mix of fear, disgust, and something else. She hasn't said anything since, nor has she replied to anything we've tried to do to communicate with her. We also brought back several biogenic data storage devices, some 'freshly plucked' Borg neural pathways, and what I think is a Borg replacement brain, or a fragment of one."
Barstow's fists clinched as he walked around the biobed. He unclinched them as he came to a stop in front of Miles, "unless you tell me one of you is a trained and certified medical officer I am going to chew some asses," he said in an overly calm voice, "your orders were to return the drone here and this was to be done with medical supervision, what in the hell made either of you think that doing this on a shuttle unsupervised was a good idea?" he asked, looking between the ops and marine officers.
With a very sheepish look on his face, "Well we did get clearance to modify the shuttle with a biobed for this purpose, another layer of safety to protect the Merlin. With Commander Cale's blessing, we got the Doc to sign off on our adventure. O'hara was so sure this would work she was going to go by herself, Karki and I had to almost force ourselves on her. Stubborn engineers are the best, but I'm worried she saw something in the drones head that scared the shit out of her, sir. We aren't medical officers, but I didn't stop her, so I'll take the blame and punishment sir, just find someone to help break her out of whatever funk she is in, the Merlin needs her, sir."
"We'll finish this conversation and the one I overheard when you came in later," Barstow replied then looked at Ki and Miller, "Doctors?" he asked, deciding to take a step back to let them do what was needed.
Michael Ki had been looking at O'Hara lying on the bio bed the wheels of the diagnastician's brain turned as he pondered what could be going on in her head. It was the comment that he agreed to this asinine adventure that brought his gaze up. "Actually I never agreed to it in fact I strictly said she shouldn't go. However I was outvoted by superior officers. Well that's that... Captain it us hard to tell what's going on at the moment. It could be simply shell shock or it could be something far worse. However figuring out what exactly is wrong is what I do. For now i recommend clearing Sick Bay and letting me work. Counselor Miller I would welcome your insight on this." His voice started sharp and softened as he spoke to the Captain.
Karki looked was more then a little miffed, not entirely at the other two mind you, she warranted some of the blame also. She knew damn well that star fleet scientists and engineers where maybe more unreasonably brave then even the Marines. At least when it came to stupid stuff like this. But finally settling on this being a -nothing useful I can do at this point.- situation. "I'll get on the written report right away sir."
As this was going on, Stephanie gasped and sat bolt upright. She looked around and her eyes came to rest on the Captain. "How th' bloody hell'd I get here?" She asked, sounding equal parts bewildered and annoyed. "An' more importantly, why th' bloody hell am I here?"
"Well, that, Lieutenant, is what we're trying to determine here. All we know is you were found on the shuttle screaming for you to be unplugged from the drone and for said drone to be gotten rid of. Can you tell us exactly what happened to you after the drone was beamed to the shuttle," Cale said swiftly and rather tersely.
O'Hara closed her eyes and screwed up her face with the effort of memory. "It's like... rememberin' a dream." She spoke slowly. "I remember bein' attacked," She swung her legs down and stood up, using the biobed to steady herself. "Lot's o' Borg... And I remember comin' aroun' an tellin' Miles t' get it th' hell off th' ship... Then I was here. And th' voice..." She trailed off as her knees buckled. She groaned and clutched the edge of the bed, as if she was determined not to fall. "I need t' analyze th' data from the PoVI," She said flatly. "It'll have recorded everythin'... In theory." She took a couple experimental steps away from the bed and grunted when her legs gave out on her again and she fell to her knees. She cursed at herself under her breath in Gaelic and tried to stand again with a similar result.
"Karki, that can wait, I want you and one other Marine posted here for the time being," John replied then quickly reached out and grabbed O'Hara, "I don't think so, my last act as a medical officer in here, and also as the Captain, is confining you to sickbay until you're cleared by both medical and counseling," he said then helped her back to the biobed, "we'll get you wat you need to extract it all in here, but, until we can be sure you didn't fry part of your brain or pick up a hitchhiker...."
"Captain, I'd like to remain in Sickbay to help with O'Hara. I have a feeling my 'special talents ' may prove useful. If you and the docs and Counselor Miller have no objections of course," Cale said to Barstow.
"If Doctor Ki approves," Barstow replied, looking to the CMO then to Rejal, "Rejal, get her whatever she needs, however, no one is to move forward with extracting anything without medical's supervision, no more no more Mavericks, I don't want to loose Goose," he added.
“Yes sir, I’ll also grab the extra Borg parts and get them locked up in a stasis pod here in sickbay.” Miles’ll head down to the shuttle and grab O’Hara’s device plus his gear bag and hurry back up to Medical.
"I bloody well don' need a Councillor!" O'Hara grouched loudly as she got shakily back to her feet. "An' I certainly don' need an armed guard. I got a little dizzy, that's all. It happens after I use my dataport sometimes... I'll be fine. Besides... You lot broke my damn ship again. I'd be in here climbin' th' bleedin' walls knowin' she needs me."
"I can put you in the brig instead," the CO replied firmly then pointed to the bed, "or you can sit your ass down and follow my orders, Lieutenant, your choice," he added.
Stephanie's features twisted into a frown. "Yes, Sir," she grumbled and muttered under her breath in Gaelic "Agus is féidir leat a ithe mo thóin," as she went to sit on the biobed.
"That comes later when you're explaining just what happened," Barstow replied and walked out of sickbay.
Stephanie floundered as she watched him leave... That is to say her jaw worked on it's hinge and no sound came out, making her look very much like a fish. No one spoke Gaelic any more. It was a language more dead than Latin... So the fact that he understood made color rise in her cheeks. It was a very rare occasion indeed that she was left speechless, and she didn't quite know how to handle it.
"Don't worry," Caroline said, "Nobody ever wants to see the counselor but I won't take offence," she informed the other woman whilst scanning her with her tricorder. She continued collecting data allowing Dr Ki to make the official diagnosis as to her health. "We will talk when the CMO is happy your fine."
By now, Stephanie had recovered herself to the point where her acerbic wit had reasserted itself. She rounded on the Counselor and fixed her with a stare that could have frozen Vulcan's Forge. She spoke in measured tones, careful not to raise her voice. "I'mma tell ya this once, an' only once, Missy." She spoke the next three words very slowly and deliberately. "I. Am. Fine." Somehow she managed to make each word a complete sentence. "I don' need m' head shrunk. I don' need medical attention. Th' only thing I need is t' take m' pasty white Mick arse to th' Engine Room an' get th' feck back t' work..."
Caroline kept her face neutral and her voice just as measured. "Its Commander actually but I'm happy with Counselor. Please don't refer to me as Missy again. You can return back to the engine room once both Dr Ki has signed off your physical health and I have signed off your mental health. So we will be having a little chat Lieutenant, and probably more talk once I have fully examined what whatever you just did, did to your neural pathways," she held up her tricorder showing some very weird and strange reading on her brain activity.
Without asking permission, Stephanie snatched the Tricorder out of Caroline's hand and looked at the readings. She gave a satisfied nod, folded it up and handed it back. "It's t' be expected," She said matter-of-factly. "Yer readin' th' residual neural activity from m' dataport. It'll go away on it's own after a time an' th' readin's'll normalize back t' baseline. If it please ya, I can force purge th' buffer. I don' like doin' it though. It's... uncomfortable."
Caroline only understood about half of what she just said. "I'm sure it is. I don't want anything forcing though," she took her tricorder back off the other woman gently though. Sorry Lieutenant but I will have to put you under observation until this settles down. Like I said, I'll hand you over to the CMO who can hopefully give you something to help with the "uncomfortable" and then we will talk."
"Counselor, let's let our friend, the Chief Engineer, get used to her new surroundings," Cale said as he led Caroline out of the area to allow O'Hara chance to get her bearings.
Caroline turned and nodded at Cale. "Okay Commander, it'll take me awhile to set up the paperwork for a 48 hour observation anyway," she allowed him to walk her away.
Karki has watched the back and forth between Caroline and O'hana finally looking at Cale and the Counselor. "So I just need to ask.. you two can understand O'hara?" She sounded like she was really asking at this point. Karki not having a noticeable accent herself. "Never mind, don't answer that its not important." She hit the com on her uniform. "Karki to armory, send one marine to sickbay for guard detail."
Stephanie scowled at the other officers. "I see what's goin' on here. You lot play dirty," She said. "Under normal circumstances, I'd be impressed. Right now, I'm just annoyed."
Michael let everyone clear out and let Stephanie throw her tantrum, all the while he stroked his chin. There was something going on in her brain but exactly what he was not sure yet. Only when things quieted down did he speak he spoke softly but firmly. "Lieutenant here's the deal. In accordance with Starfleet Regulation 121 I hereby relieve you of duty. As of this moment you are no longer this vessel's Chief Engineer. Computer notate this directive in the ship's log." The computer chimed it's acknowledgment. "This will remain in effect until myself and Counselor Miller ascertain what happened to you. So if you cooperate you're back in engineering quickly, failure to comply will result in this taking longer." He tapped a few commands into her bio bed which sent the data to his office. "Commander Llewellyn, Counselor would you both join me in my office. Then we can get this happy hoedown started."
Cale simply bowed to the doctor acknowledging his greater expertise and authority.
Stephanie began to protest. "Now wait just a bleedin' minute..." She began, before she realized that she was talking to the Doctor's back as he was walking away. She threw up her hands and made a frustrated sounding noise from the back of her throat.
Walking in seeing the CO so upset, Miles wisely keeps his mouth shut until he sees O'Hara floundering, then he mutters to the air, "So the kiss idea did work." He then goes about storing the pathways and brain in bio-stasis units. He will then plug O'Hara's PoVI into a power source so she can start fiddling with it.
"Lieutenant, I certainly know how you feel about being stuck in Sickbay when your ship needs you but you have to understand that you have been through an extraordinary ordeal and that Captain is a trained medical officer and is only looking out for you as he would any other officer on board his ship," Cale said. "Now I would like to have a talk with you later on when you're feeling up to it. I need to know what exactly happened out there. And do I need to remind you that the captain has given you a direct order to remain in Sickbay until you are cleared by the Drs. Miller and Ki?"
Once he's done storing the items and prepping O'Hara's device Miles'll add, "Okay Chief, we know you want to help your lady. Now, since you're going to be stuck in here, what can I do for you to ease you mind that the Merlin isn't going to founder? I do have some skills you know..."
"It's na about th' skills, Mista Rejal. It's a matter o' professional pride at this point. I've an image t' uphold." O'Hara slid off the bed and looked at the PoVI and sighed. "I suppose I can busy m'self with gettin' th' data outta this thing. I don' suppose ya managed t' get m' interface module f'r my dataport."
Attempting to bring some levity to the medical suite Miles smiles as he looks up one sleeve, and then the other and then with a genuflection hands the requested item over, having slyly slipped it out of one of his smaller gear bags, "Indeed dear lady, thy device as requested. Now don't let the Captain catch ya or we'll both be in trouble, you're supposed to be resting, not wrestling with data."
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Don' you start too, ya bloody spoonhead," She groaned. "An' gimme tha' ODN shunt or we'll be at this all day."
Smiling, he adds, "Fine, fine, here's all your toys and doodads. Now, you stay here and play nice, and I'll go check on the warp core and give you an update on how she's doing..." [What he doesn't add is that he is making one other stop prior to heading to Main Engineering]
OFF:
Captain John "Apollo" Barstow
Commanding Officer
USS Merlin
Task Group Commanding Officer
Task Group 47-A
Lt jg Marbim "Miles' Rejal
Chief of Operations
USS Merlin
Commander Cale Llewellyn, DSci
Strategic Operations/Second Officer
USS Merlin
LTjg Stephanie O'Hara
Chief Engineer
USS Merlin
Counselor Caroline Miller
Chief Counselor
USS Merlin
2nd Lieutenant Bilhana Karki
Company Executive Officer
USS Merlin
Lieutenant Michael Ki
Chief Medical Officer
USS Merlin
Commander Save'ena Tillatix
CFCO/Bridge Command Specialist
USS Merlin
