Briefing and a Bit of a Free For All

Posted on Wed Mar 19th, 2025 @ 6:00pm by Commander Zhaan D'Sai & Captain Rylan Gray & Lieutenant Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Daegan Baas & Lieutenant Juliette Barnes & Lieutenant Patrick Ryan M.D. & Lieutenant Ayryn Trynn M.D. & Lieutenant Stormy Knight

2,086 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: A Silence of Friends
Location: Conference Room, Deck 1, USS Thunderbird
Timeline: MD001 - 1600

Rylan wasn't one of those who needed to be the last to enter the room and true to form, he was already seated at the head of the table, a PADD in front of him as well as cup of tea, while he waited for the senior staff to arrive.

Stormy walked in with two PADDS in hand and nodded to the captain before taking a seat. One of the PADDs had information she'd gathered and the other was for taking notes. At least, she hoped she would need to take notes. She didn't have any answers, but she still believed that someone needed to go back to the planet to have a better look at the computers--especially if Striel could translate everything into Federation standard.

Patrick entered the room with a steady, purposeful stride, a medical PADD in hand. His expression was neutral but focused, his mind already sifting through the possibilities of what had happened to the planet’s inhabitants. He offered a brief nod to Rylan before taking his seat, setting the PADD down in front of him.

Daegan entered, a little hurriedly. He wasn't late but had gotten a later start than he was used to after the late night with Jules. Taking his seat he let out a breath letting his shoulders relax.

“Captain,” he greeted, before glancing at Stormy’s PADDS. “Lieutenant.”

Stormy nodded back in greeting.

He glanced at the assembled officers before speaking. “If we are considering another trip to the surface, I’d like to propose strict biohazard protocols before we commit. If this was a medical crisis, we need to be absolutely certain we aren’t exposing ourselves to an unknown pathogen. Striel’s records might help, but we need access to those hospital logs.” He exhaled lightly. “We don’t know what they were fighting, only that they rerouted power in what seems to be a last-ditch effort. That suggests urgency—and possibly desperation.”

He leaned back slightly, waiting for the others to weigh in. “If Striel can translate the records, we might get some answers without stepping foot on the surface just yet. But if a team does go down, I want them medically screened before and after—no exceptions.”

"A bit late, given the entire archeological team was on the surface and has been back and from all accounts, making friends among the crew," Rylan said. "If there was something down there, it's had a lot of time to work its way among the crew."

Entering the room, Lieutenant Trynn nodded in greeting as she took a seat towards the far side of the table, listening while making notes. At this point, from a psychological standpoint, it was little more than guesswork and attempting to complete a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. Which was, in short, frustrating.

Tyler walked in and took a seat. As he walked in he listened to what had been said among those present. "There is something about the idea of trusting an artificial intelligence to translating and informing us that rubs me the wrong way. I mean as much of a longshot as it may be there is the chance that this Striel is responsible for the lack of people here. If that is the case then it can be said that they would not want to give us the correct information. Going there and looking at it all first hand is the only way as I see it."

Lt. Barnes, who had been right behind Malbrooke, held up the PADD she carried as she sat down. “Luckily I’ve got scans,” she said. “Granted, they came from a computer in the factory, but they’ll give us some clues.”

Tyler turned to Barnes as she had spoken with a smirk of sorts. "Now that is the best news I have heard in some time." He wanted to get a look at those scans and hoped that they would prove his theory wrong.

Stormy, too, wanted a good look at those scans and compare them to what little she knew.

"Lieutenant Barnes, if you will, let's see what you have," Rylan said.

Having been not only on the surface with the away team but transported and held in an interior area of the city Daegan was curious as to what information the scan would reveal.

“Well, it may be a bit tricky,” Julie replied, pulling up the information on her PADD. “But I think we’ll get there in the end. I don’t know why, really- probably just paranoia- but I didn’t want to put the data I gathered from the computers in the factory onto the ship’s computer. It felt unsafe. Anyway,” she continued, turning the PADD to show everyone. “I’ve got it on this PADD with sync disabled. It looks like their communications network became disabled and they were using the drones to get it back. They were desperate to reopen communications with Agata. I still don’t know who or what that is, yet. Haven’t quite finished going over the records.”

“The recording we heard mentioned something about restoring or enhancing a connection to Agata…” Ayryn mused allowed. “The individual we heard. Am I alone in assuming he is from the same species who brought the AI and drones to this world - as opposed to one of the original inhabitants? Striel mentioned the creator coming from Guran III, it was specific about that, suggesting the people and the drones were colonists. If so, perhaps Agata is ‘home’. Or a power source. Or admittedly a million other possibilities.”

"The possibilities are difficult to calculate. It could be a person, a new program they brought online once they completed building the city." Stormy shrugged. "It could also be something or someone sent from the homeworld to help them, or to replace or enhance what they already had. Or a new leader, which might indicate internal conflict."

“That’s not all, though,” continued Julie. “Look at this. It’s the record keeping by the Gulani- the factory workers, that is. You can see their numbers declined quickly-“ she pointing out the rapidly decreasing numbers “-and their own record keeping got really sporadic and incoherent. The last few entries are just… gibberish.”

As she had continued he presentation Daegan had leaned forward. "This decrease. Was it life-signs or were the workers physically disappearing?"

“I can’t quite make that out,” admitted Julie. “Nobody seems to mention it in the records, so maybe it was expected? Or at least everyone already understood why the numbers declined, so they saw no need to mention it.”

"The incoherence is troubling," Stormy added. "It could indicate a decline in health or mental faculties. I think it's important to determine if they got ill and died out, left the city because of some health problem to settle the outlying areas, or if some sort of conflict killed them off." She looked around the room. "Did any of you see any written records, or is everything in the computer?"

"Nothing I saw," Zhaan said, her gaze dropping to the report she'd been working on, "though I didn't get much chance to explore. It all looked as though the city were waiting for its inhabitants to show up which makes me think those ball drones do maintenance, even to the point of removing evidence. Might be worth a closer look especially since Striel seems willing to allow it."

"Sickbay to Doctor Ryan." The voice over the com-badge was clear, all business, and managed to convey a sense of urgency in a few short words. Both Zhaan and Rylan turned toward the Chief Medical Officer as they listened to the conversation.

Patrick tapped his com-badge immediately, his tone calm but alert. "Ryan here. Go ahead, Sickbay."

He exchanged a quick glance with Zhaan and Rylan, already bracing himself for whatever was coming next. If Sickbay was calling him directly, it had to be serious.

"Sorry to disturb you, Sir. It's ... the archeologists ... Dr. Rush and a couple of the older members of the team have taken ill. And ... it's not something we've seen before. Thought you'd want to take a look?"

Stormy picked up one of her PADDs and looked through it, then sent the data to her computer to do an in-depth analysis. She didn't have any plant or animal samples, but she did have the scans. "Doctor Ryan, can you find out if they ate or drank anything on the planet? If so, we can focus our search there. If not, whatever made them sick may be airborn and everyone who went down to the planet may be affected."

“Dr Rush was the only one who went near the city, but his team was working and exploring around the beam in site. I can mark up a map to show you where Dr Rush’s team when I found them and send on to you in Sickbay,” Trynn offered the physician. From what she knew of the archaeological team she did not expect they would have ate anything but of course anything was possible- yet it was an entirely alien ecosystem and so any illness could be due to something which to anyone seemed harmless. “And if there is anything else I can help with, please let me know.”

Patrick nodded as he processed the information, his mind already working through possible causes. He tapped his com-badge.

"Understood. Get me a full list of everything they ate, drank, or came into contact with, including environmental exposure. I'll need detailed bioscans on all affected personnel and a comparative analysis with the rest of the team. If this is airborne, we need to act fast. And put them in quarantine."

He turned toward Stormy and Trynn. "Mark that map and send it over. If Dr. Rush was the only one near the city, we might be dealing with something localized. Trynn, if you can, cross-reference those locations with any anomalies in the scans you took. We need to narrow this down before more people start showing symptoms."

His voice remained steady, but there was a sharp focus in his eyes. Unknown illnesses were always dangerous—especially on alien worlds.

"I suggest we do a full scan of the away team as well. Compare the new scans with our most recent ones and see if anything has changed," Stormy suggested. "Because if they're sick now, we could be next. I've got the computer checking the scans I took on the planet for any potential biological anomalies or toxins, but it may not be the same as actual samples."

Patrick gave Stormy an approving nod. "Good thinking. Run those comparisons immediately. If we can catch even the smallest physiological change, it might give us a lead before symptoms develop in anyone else."

He tapped his com-badge again. "Sickbay, begin full scans of the entire away team, symptomatic or not. I want a baseline comparison against their pre-mission medical records. Prioritize any deviations, no matter how minor."

Turning back to Trynn and Stormy, his expression was grave but focused. "If this isn't food or waterborne, and if it is airborne, we could already be exposed. Until we know more, we assume worst-case scenario. Let's move."

"Or they could just have a cold," Rylan said. "Why don't you get down there and see what's going on. And Dr. Pierce, keep me informed. Lieutenant Knight, you already have your orders. Lieutenant D'Sai, ensure that the away team all reports to Sickbay for testing. You're dismissed."

Having been the only one of the away team to have been inside a structure of the city he began to worry, but pushed that worry aside as he headed to sickbay as ordered

“Who else had ‘unknown pathogen’ on their away team bingo card?” Julie asked rhetorically as she stood from the table to head to Sick Bay. “I swear that’s got to make bingo for me.”

"There are a few boxes I haven't ticked off, but I'm in no rush," Stormy said facetiously as she, too, stood and exited the room. They all had a lot of work to do in a very short time if they were to get ahead of this.

Captain Rylan Gray
Commanding Officer
USS Thunderbird

Lieutenant Daegan Baas
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Juliette Barnes
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Stormy Knight
Chief Sciece Officer
USS Thunderbird

Dr Patrick Ryan
Chief Medical Officer
USS Thunderbird

Lieutenant Tyler Malbrooke
Chief Operations Officer
USS Thunderbird

 

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