Flying too close to the Sun (Part I)

Posted on Fri Feb 1, 2019 @ 11:01pm by Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas & Commander Amia Telamon M.D. & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant Commander River Morgan

3,420 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Pangea Research Complex
Timeline: MD 05
Tags: Pangea, Raddon, Medical

[ON]

Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas arrived in the shuttle bay just as the flight crew finished prepping it. He checked his padd to confirm that he had all of the tools he would need. Unfortunately, this was a last minute call and he had to grab whatever he could think of at the moment. From what he had been told, an emergency had taken place on the planet surface and immediate medical, science, and engineering services were needed. He looked up as he saw another officer arrive

Alanna always kept a pack ready, just in case she had to leave quickly for an away mission. Or, in this case, an emergency. "Hi," she said to Kivan. "Do you have any details? All I got was there was an emergency and I had to come here immediately to go down to Pangaea."

"I'm fairly in the dark on this one as well. Considering communication with Pangea is touch-and-go as it is." He replied to the Science Officer. "From what I could gather, there was an emergency at the Research Facility occupied by the Raddon Corporation. I couldn't gather more details, but if they are calling for Engineering, Science, and Medical, then I'm certain this is pretty significant." Lt. Kivan said as he moved out of the way for the designated shuttle pilot to make his way through.

"I think we're just waiting for Doctor River to get here," He added, still not certain if the new Engineering Chief was going to make it. "Do you think this might have something to do with the Romulan Core and its reactions?" He asked.

"I don't know," Alanna admitted. "Anything's possible."

Lt Cmdr River Morgan arrived, med-kit packed and ready but some confusion as to why she had been asked personally. "Is this where I'm supposed to be?" she asked as she approached the other two gathered together at the shuttle and looking as puzzled as she was. "What are we supposed to be helping out with? Do you know what kind of emergency has happened? I wasn't given much detail at all." she explained.

Lt. Kivan looked up. "Yes ma'am, I barely was able to scrape together enough information to know where we're supposed to go." He said as he grabbed his gear and began to head towards the shuttle. "From what I learned, there was an accident at the Raddon Corp research complex. I couldn't get more information on what the hell they were working on, but from the initial report, it seems they need all of our help." As he set his gear in storage and made his way towards his seat.

Alanna stowed her bag and took her seat.

The Tolarian Ensign waited until the final Officer was inside the shuttle before she sealed the hatch and began launch procedures. =/\= "OPS, this is Runabout Horizon Bravo requesting clearance for departure. Estimated time to arrival on Pangea surface is ten minutes, over" =/\= She said into the comm unit.

=^= "Horizon Bravo, this is OPS, you are cleared to depart to Spiral Castle. Please be aware we are tracking an ion storm in the upper atmosphere likely to cross your flight path, so keep an eye out. OPS out"=^=

The Ensign acknowledged receipt and took control of the Runabout as it launched and cleared the station.

Lieutenant Kivan glanced up from his padd. "What in the world could they have been working on down there that would even trigger an explosion? I thought Starfleet had to clear all materials taken down to the surface?" The young Cardassian Engineer asked.

"We're supposed to," Alanna said. "But from what I've heard, this wouldn't be the first time they had things they were found with illegal substances."

The 10 minutes passed uneventfully as the Runabout made its way through the ion storm in the upper atmosphere and began its controlled descent towards the surface. The Runabout traveled past the a series of temporary structures that had been setup 2 kilometers southwest of the main facility. As the Runabout came above to the makeshift site, the full extent of the emergency became evident.

The small site looked as if it had been through an explosion. While most of the structure was still in tact, the wall on the northern side was severely damaged from what appeared to be a energy blast. The smoke coming from the damaged structure billowed in the air.

"I'm getting reports of tachyon radiation concentrated in certain areas." The pilot said. "They've managed to setup temporary triage for the injured, no word on whether the radiation is expanding." The pilot said. "I'm gonna set us down near the medical triage section, you all can figure out where to head to next." She said as she maneuvered the shuttle away and towards the designated landing zone.

Tachyon radiation? Alanna thought. That in and of itself was telling. But what it meant she wasn't sure. Yet. But she would definitely find out what the Raddon corporation was up to.

"That doesn't look like a small accident," Lt. Kivan said. "No other settlement is allowed to have weapons on the surface, so what could have caused that type of damage in such a short period of time?" He said as he tried to research what little information the Raddon Corp had provided to station Engineering. "Once we land, we'll need to split up. Alanna and I will need to check out the scene of the explosion to figure out what caused the radiation and whether it is at risk of happening again. Can you handle the medical, ma'am?" He asked.

"Yes, no worries" River said with confidence. She probably could, but she couldn't be as confident as she sounded until she had an overview of the extent of things. No matter just yet though because whatever the scale of it, she would stay calm and her experience would add to the numbers she could help. If it really was an overwhelming number of casualties with major injuries she would just have to transport them to the shuttle and have them shipped out as fast as possible. She had brought enough gear to set up a 'field hospital' on a very small scale but it ought to be enough to make a start and Triage at least, saving the most critical lives in situ as it were, then expanding out with improvisation.

Once the runabout properly landed, Lt. Kivan grabbed his gear and disembarked from the shuttle. The heavy smell of smoke was thick in the air as he scanned the surrounding area with his tricorder. Although the fire had been mostly contained within the small complex, there were still various employees running to remove the debris and ensure the fire was actually put out.

The initial scans showed that the tachyon radiation was concentrated in the center of the structures. Judging by the damage it seemed as if everything originated from there.

"Over here," Lt. Kivan said to the Science Officer. "If we're gonna find out what is going on, then we'll need to start there." He said as the two approached the outer entrance that somehow had survived the explosion.

Of course it had. Somehow, the data from her tricorder and the fact that one entrance happened to be intact seemed to add up to trouble. Alanna followed Kivan, but she was beginning to suspect that Raddon tried to duplicate the portals, or something like it. She definitely needed to learn more. She had her scanner out, carefully taking in every detail.

River began to unload her field equipment and looked around to see if there was an obvious place to begin, or if she was better served to follow until they found the site. She wasn't looking forward to taking her kit too far from the shuttle and had hoped to set up her makeshift facility nearby but it would have to depend on how far away the casualties were located when they were found?

She continued to unload the shuttle while the others searched, making sure that if the shuttle DID have to take anyone critically ill back, she wouldn't lose all her supplies inside it.

Lt. Kivan and Wells approached the building they were met by several civilians

Alanna had been scanning since she got off the shuttle to get as much data as she could. She lowered her tricorder and nodded to the clump of people. "Can you tell me what happened, please?"

The apparent leader of the group was guiding other individuals out of the building. It was obvious that he and everyone else were struggling to catch their breath as they appeared dazed and still trying to comprehend what happened. His eyes focused on the female Starfleet Officer. It took several moments for him to gather himself to speak.

"We're here from the station, our Doctor is located just past the clearing and she's setting up a medical triage unit!" Lt. Kivan said to the approaching group. He directed them to where they could receive medical attention.

The group of survivors made their way to the medical triage area that Dr. Morgan had setup. However, by the time they made it several had collapsed to the ground, gasping for air and clutching their wounded limbs.

River slid out a couple of hover gurneys and shoved them over towards Lt Tivan and the apparent leader. "Please allocate anyone who is mobile to help up anyone else who can't walk and ferry them over here while I start on the first of the patients." she asked generically out to the crowd of stunned folk, milling around in a bit of a daze still. She then set to work with her medcorder, regenerator and PaDD, assessing, assisting and repairing when she could do so quickly as she searched through for the more seriously injured amongst the throng that were arriving and collecting together.

Of the almost one dozen individuals who made their way out of the complex and towards the medical triage unit, several were bleeding profusely while several others were being carried by their colleagues. As they made their way to the doctor a woman became consumed in a coughing fit as she fell to her knees just before Dr. Morgan. She reached for her mouth and pulled back a hand filled with blood.

River frowned, the only expression she had shown so far. She ran her medcorder over the woman and gently laid her on her side on the nearest free hover-gurney. She brought out a regenerator and used it to try to get to the main area of damage which seemed to be her lungs. The scans of those showed serious damage and River immediately put this patient forward to be taken straight to the first shuttle back to the station with the most urgent casualties. She administered pain relief and stabilised the woman but she was clearly in need of a major operation which would need a proper hospital facility.

River also added a couple more critical patients to the group and these formed the first batch to be sent back up.

With the worst and most endangered patients on their way, the less badly hurt became the next priority and there were a lot of them waiting for her attention. She activated the EMH and they set to work.

---

[Just outside the explosion site]

"I....I am Supervisor Marcel King. I'm the facilities manager here." The man said as he gathered himself. "There...there was a massive feedback surge and it jus...just exploded on us!" The Raddon Corporation employee said.

Lt. Kivan continued to scan the area that was not emitting hazardous radiation. "What caused the explosion? The planet is only supposed to be a basic research facility." The Engineering said. "We detected a massive amount of tachyon radiation while we were in orbit. What was going on that could have generated that?" The Engineer inquired.

"I...I don't know. We're were just working on subspace field coils and were about to test our newest design when out of nowhere there was a spike in the readings and suddenly the container chamber exploded." Supervisor King said in a haggard tone.

Lt. Kivan was still confused by what he was seeing. He turned to Alanna and spoke in a lowered tone, "There is no way that merely a subspace field coil chamber would have caused such extensive damage. . .there has to be something else going on." He said.

"No. The question isn't whether or not something else was going on, but what it was and if these people knew about it." If she could talk to them, she would be able to tell if any of them were lying. She couldn't pinpoint what they were lying about, but it might help her get them to talk. "I want to have a look at the computer to see if I can get any information off of it. Or if it even survived the blast. I also want to get inside and take some readings."

Supervisor King stiffened slightly at the request. He blinked several times before finally responding. "Y-yes, our control systems were in the other portion of the complex unaffected by the blast." He said in an hesitant tone. He led the two officers away from the site of the severely damaged building towards the control access point for the complex.

The noise of the frantic scene outside disappeared once the trio had entered the smaller facility. Once inside Lt. Kivan went to the console and attempted to access the main computer. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I don't see the primary data nodes or any files that should be stored there." The Engineer said as he stared at the console.

Supervisor King nodded. "Pursuant to Raddon Corporation protocol all vital data was immediately retrieved by our technical response unit in order to be preserved and reviewed by the appropriate authorities." He said quickly to the Starfleet Officers.

"I'd like to review that data now, if I may," Alanna asked. "As I am one of the appropriate authorities." She surreptitiously checked to be sure her tricorder was still taking readings and recordings. She might need to refer to the data later. Nothing she'd seen or heard made sense if this supervisor was being honest with her. But he wasn't telling her a deliberate lie, either. His answers, though, were far too evasive for her liking.

"O-of course." Supervisor King responded. "That can be made available to you after our technicians have had the opportunity to review it and complete their initial report." He said.

"In the meantime, we can provide you complete access to our secondary sensor grid for the complex." He offered alternatively.

Alanna cocked her head to one side. "Is there a reason you don't want me to look at the computer?"

"Th--tha--that's not what I said." Supervisor King said quickly. "It's just that we have procedures in place that have to be followed." He tried to explain.

Alanna turned to Kivan. "I think you should take a team in immediately. Just to make sure there's no further damage to the computer system." She did want him to take a team in, but she also wanted to see how Supervisor King reacted to this.

"I was thinking the same thing," Kivan said as he brought up a schematic of the facility. "It appears that the response drones have managed to contain the structural damage in the eastern wall. I should be able to go in through there and access the remaining computer nodes." He said. "However, I'm willing to bet that those are going to be missing as well. . .right Mr. King" The Engineer asked sarcastically.

"We could always lock down the entire facility until we make a thorough inspection and decide it's ready for you and your people to return," Alanna added. "Any nodes or other necessary equipment that seems to be missing will be listed as stolen."

The Supervisor weighed the options in his mind carefully. He knew that having them place the entire facility on lockdown would cause irreparable delays to the project and other plans. Even if it meant letting a damn Cardassian have access to their files. He sighed in resignation as he tapped several buttons on the console.

"Very well, I've just authorized entry into the computer core, at least the section that hasn't be contaminated by radiation or collapsed by the explosion." Supervisor King said in terse tone.

"Thank you," Kivan said angrily as grabbed his gear and quickly made his way out of the control room and towards the entrance of the computer core. He knew that the best way to find out what happened was to review the data that was being transferred and processed prior to the explosion. Perhaps it would give information on what calculations were being handled and give him an idea of what project was so damn important that it put so many lives at risk.

"I'll come with you," Alanna said. "You can make sure the hardware is intact. I want to see those files."

She turned to Supervisor King and smiled. It was not hard to pick up on his animosity towards Ta'Gas. "Unless you have a safer place where I can look at the computer data?"

Supervisor King didn't respond, but instead simply followed the two out of the room and into a nearby adjacent room fill with a console. Lt. Kivan went to the console and began to access the primary interface. It took some effort since the Raddon Corporation had done such an impressive job burying information under various sub-folders. It took him several minutes, but Lt. Kivan was finally able to access the database that compiled information prior to uploading the information to the Raddon headquarters.

"I think I found something," Lt. Kivan said to the Science Chief. "It seems like there was an artificial EMP spike prior to the explosion." The Cardassian said as he skimmed through more files. "The odd thing about it is that the spike was caused by a quantum flux." The Engineer said with a confused looked on his face.

"That makes sense," Alanna said, coming up beside him. It went along with her own suspicions about what they were trying to do here.

"Well, normally a quantum flux was not a naturally occuring phenomena since it is essentially when an objects quantum signature becomes asynchronous with normal matter." Lt. Kivan said.

Alanna was carefully scanning everything and transmitting it to the shuttle so she'd have the evidence she needed when she got back to DS5. She needed proof of what they were trying to do before she could shut them down.

"Well, the only time you'd see something like that would be...." Before he could answer, the screen in front of him began to indicate a certain data file. "Wait a minute...the quantum signature was in flux because they were trying to activate a subspace transporter." Lt. Kivan realized. "They had generated a tachyon dispersion field that was suppose to transport the test subject. . .into a Fae portal." The Cardassian said in disbelief.

It was the proof Alanna needed. While Kivan was talking, she copied the file and sent it to the shuttle, and to her own personal computer if she could get the signal through.

"Whoever was in charge of this clearly didn't realize that the Fae portals don't generate a chroniton or tachyon particles like an Iconian gateway or something similar." He added. "So when they activated the transporting sequence and attempted to transmit the dematerialized test subject, the system was unable to maintain the quantum signature and it went into a state of flux. . .resulting in the explosion." He said with fatal realization in his voice.

While Alanna appreciated the information, she really didn't want the supervisor to know what he did wrong--or that they knew what caused the explosion.

"You idiots were trying to activate the portals remotely! What the hell you were thi---" Lt. Kivan said as he slowly turned towards Supervisor King. Before he could finish his accusation he was struck in the face by a large cylinder that the Supervisor had gotten ahold of. Before Lt. Wells could respond he had already made his way out of the room and away from the facility.



Lt. JG Kivan Ta'Gas
Assistant Chief Engineer
DS5

Lt Cmdr River Morgan
Locum Chief Medical Officer
DS5

Lt. JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
DS5

 

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