To Boldly Go - Roleplay Thread

Returning to a nearby crate, Selvaria caught sight of what Pan was looking through: what appeared to be biology texts. Most likely searching for any records of potential pathogens related to this, she concluded. Wordlessly, she picked up one of the historical records she had been recording earlier with a gloved hand - no point in avoiding contact with these artifacts now that there was a good chance they were all infected with whatever it had brought onto the ship - and went straight to the last chapters, now looking for any records on outbreaks, climate changes, and the weapon that had been used according to the recorded message.

The Medical Bay

The officers quietly followed Nen's orders, stepping into the rooms and calmly waiting for more to happen, apart from the usual sneeze. One of the officers knocked on the door, coughing. "S-sorry, ma'am, I'm feeling really bad... I-I need to throw up... can I go to the bathroom? J-just... five seconds..."

The other officers were looking quite fine, actually. One of them, the one who blamed it on the dust, had already stopped sneezing, his sickness levels having rapidly decreased to zero. As the officer continued to ask to go to the bathroom, a Medical Officer approached Nen with a datapad... and proceeded to sneeze, shaking her head. "Oh, sorry, ma'am." She said. "So, anyway, we've gotten some readings from the area, and it seems like— ATCHOO!.. s-sorry... the cold virus disappears when it— ATCHOO!" The Medical Officer rested her hands on her knees, panting. "Oh, I don't feel so good..."

If Nen were to grab her datapad, she'd find out that the virus expelled from the body by sneezing disappeared almost seconds after being expelled... and it disappeared even faster if they got closer to Nen.

Analysis Room

"Now, now, everybody, calm down!" Zuko said, glaring at Raz for delivering the news of a lockdown in a way that made it seem like they didn't have the situation under control. "We just have a few sick people. Since we have a lot of aliens, we've decided to quarantine the area to make sure nobody else get sick. Now, continue analyzing the artifacts, and if you feel just a little tiny fever, tell us immediately. We're ready to take care of you, alright?

Selvara didn't find anything unusual in the historical records, just a detailed walkthrough of the war that led to the end of K'otaharian civilization.

Pan shrugged and went back to the crates. Zuko's reasoning made sense. She had already been messing with the artifacts for a while now, and was most likely contaminated by now. There was no point in not continuing to work if she still could. Might as well make whatever time she had left before she eventually succumbed to the disease worth it. But she did wonder if she was even able to catch whatever was going around. Was her hybrid immune system enough to defend against it? Or was it just delaying the inevitable for longer than the full humans? She felt okay so far... After running another book through the translator, Pan found something relevant: An Encyclopedia of Common Illnesses. That's what it was titled, at least.

"Hey, I think I found something that might help." She started flicking through the many pages of the thick book, looking for an index. "This looks like a good medical info source. I'm not really sure what it all means though."

While Pan spoke up about her finding, Selvaria skimmed through the section on the fall of K'otahar again, making doubly-sure she didn't miss anything about a potentially-deadly pathogen that may have contributed to said civilization's fall. She also kept an eye out for any mention of changes in the star system's other orbiting planets that K'otaharian astrologists might have picked up.

edited 27th Jun '13 7:17:11 PM by demovere

Jim did his best to follow Nen's explanation as she divulged into the scientific technicalities of it, to his credit understanding most of the general idea. He supposed it would be highly unprofessional to ask her to repeat it 'in English'.

"Uh, alright Doc'. Keep me informed of any significant developments" Jim said, and cut the comm. He then stood and headed to the bridge, glancing over to Meta Knight as he entered. "Knight, we've got a possible situation down in the med bay. The away team got sick with some kind of cold, and the area's in lock down just in case" he informed his first officer, keeping his voice a bit low in hopes to not worry the rest of the bridge crew.

Raz noticed Zuko's glare, but was unsure what it was for so he said nothing about it. "He's right, we've already been exposed so until the doctor figures it out there's little we can do about whether or not we also get sick. In the meantime, we might as well look through these to find anything that might help" Raz said, picking up another stack and flipping through the headings looking for... What, actually?

He stopped as he thought about it, and glanced at Selvaria and Pan after she found the medical book. "You know, maybe to them it wasn't a sickness. Maybe it's something like a special pollen they kept or even an air freshener that we're having a bad reaction to. You look through that, and I'll keep looking elsewhere" Raz mentioned his new thought, and started sifting through the papers again, looking for mentions of any substances or products that were special to the K'otahars, or anything they used in the preservation of their records.

edited 27th Jun '13 7:46:56 PM by FirockFinion

So the virus- or at least the virus's symptoms- dissipated or lessened when within proximity of... something. That was confusing. Was it some antibody that one of her tools unconsciously produced? Or, she realized suddenly, was it... her? Did her physiology have some kind of effect on the spread of the virus, which was so far confined to humans? And, if so, how could she use this to her advantage? Experimentally, she flexed her shaper's hand. From her hand, she felt a twinge of pain as a sharp scalpel-like bone emerged from her skin. Without any hesitation, she nicked her arm with the blade, letting the black blood well up to the surface as she let it drip into a nearby phial. "Hold this for a cycle." she said to the nearest afflicted patient as she dropped the container of blood into her hand.

She tapped the oggzil on her shoulder once again as it reached out to the Einstein's communication network- more specifically, the bridge where Captain Reynor was no doubt trying to keep the situation under control- panic in an enclosed ship could take twice as many lives then most diseases. "Nen Yim reporting from medical bay, Captain. I believe that I have discovered a cure- or at the very least a temporary antidote. It seems that the virus ceases its propagation when in the presence of... me."

Cloud watched all the ensuing chaos without comment, unsure of what to contribute himself. It did seem odd that something like a cold could be found on some alien planet, it made just as much sense to him that they had been sick beforehand, and the planet's atmosphere had merely weakened their immune systems enough for them to sicken more quickly.

Of course, this posed another issue regarding contamination... he resolved to bring it up later to a science officer when everyone had gotten their panties untwisted.

Meta Knight - Bridge

Meta Knight considered there being a virus for a moment. Those could be dangerous if they manage to spread throughout the ship. He spoke in a similarly low voice to Jim. "Understood." Meta Knight silently hit a few buttons and locked down the Bridge exits and entrances. Now only chiefs of staff could get in and out of the bridge, the doors won't open to others. "We'll want to make sure this location stays clean. Better to be safe until we know the situation is stable."

edited 27th Jun '13 10:20:09 PM by StephanReiken

Cid Highwind looked out at the many ice-covered planets in the area. He hadn't gone on the trip down to the planet of bees. Why should he freeze his ass off when he was still adjusting to the idea of being here for six years?

He felt a craving for nicotine, and reached into a pocket of his uniform. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, opened it up...and instead of cigarettes, he found toothpicks.

"Goddammit!" he muttered under his breath. Six years with no smoking? Six years with none of Shera or her delicious tea? He hadn't really thought of those things before he went on this trip. But still, if he wanted his own ship, he'd have to get on without those things for the moment.

Sighing, he pulled out one of the toothpicks, put it in his mouth like it was a cigarette, closed the box, and placed said box back in his pocket, then went back to looking out into the stars.

"There you have your answer," Vice told Zuko after people began sneezing and the captain locked the ship down. "There was something there. Hopefully it's just a cold, but, chances are this probably has something to do with those frozen planets."
He walked around, looking above people's shoulders before settling near Selvaria. "Hey, can I have those when I'm finished? I want to cross-reference them with Storm Raider's data-base."

Jim listed to Nen's report, with a raised eyebrow, not expecting a report to come so soon. "Well, that should make your job a lot easier, right doc'? If you can figure out what's causing you to act like an antidote, should be a sinch to whip up a cure" Jim radioed back, then looked at Meta Knight. "I can appreciate the concern, Knight, but I think in this case it might be a little premature. Besides, things are already locked down down there; don't you think locking down the bridge might just make the crew more nervous?" he pointed out, but did not yet overrule Meta Knight's command.

Meta Knight - Bridge

Meta Knight shrugged. "Any threat that could take down the ship deserves a high amount of caution. Something that got through the security measures to get on the ship could make it farther out. The away team has had free movement and could have spread it all over already. Too much free area and time to spread. However, since we haven't changed shifts the bridge may still be safe." Its a problem Meta Knight hasn't faced often but in the times he did, he had measures that cannot be taken here. Removing air from the entire ship removed the worst vector a virus or bacteria has to spread.

edited 28th Jun '13 5:26:59 AM by StephanReiken

The Medical Bay

Once the patient grabbed the container, Nen would be able to see that apart from the one officer feeling very sick, all the others were now perfectly fine. And while she might have liked that revelation, she didn't have time to analyse it, as a yellow beam flew past her, hitting the patient and knocking him unconscious. As the patient fell down, dropping the container on the ground, three sets of steps would be heard...

... and standing behind her were three Medical Officers, a man and two women, all of them pointing their phasers at Nen. "Put your hands in the air, Doctor." The man said, his eyes sporting a distinctive new color: a bright yellow. "We don't want to hurt you. In fact, we'd very much like to use you. Now, you're going to slowly reach for that oggzil on your shoulder... and you're going to cut communications with the Captain."

The second woman walked over to the sterilized rooms, shaking her head. "Looks like K'etar can't get out."

The third one shruged. "Who cares. Leave him behind. We've found the perfect hosts." She said, smiling as she continued to point her phaser at Nen. "It's a shame, though. Only three. But it'll be enough, as long as the good Doctor here helps us."

Analysis Room

Selvaria, again, wouldn't find anything weird. But looking for changes in the star systems, she did find a mention that the planets surrounding K'otahar have been dead since the first day a K'otahar walked through the planet.

"If you're right, and I hope you're right, then there should be some mention of it in the Encyclopedia." Zuko said, pointing at Pan, who wouldn't find any mention of the common cold on the book.

Cloud glanced up from tugging on his sleeve for the umpteenth time and turned to Meta Knight. "Aren't there quarantine procedures in place for something like this?" he asked.

After what felt like an hour of skimming the alien textbook, Pan closed the book and sighed.

"There's nothing in there that would match the symptoms of a cold. I even checked the section on respiratory problems. Maybe it is an allergen or something non-lethal to them. I'm going to go see if anything other than written work is in these crates..." Pan pushed off the ground with a weak ki burst and hovered in place to dig through the large container for anything else of interest.

Atton Rand — Bridge

A certain ne'er-do-well-cum-Chief-Helmsman kept himself busy with the console in front of him. It was difficult to address somebody as 'sir' or 'ma'am' again, but he was adjusting, as he always did. Admittedly the last time he was part of a group of extremists, but who was keeping count?

They had picked up some cargo from a dead world and now the away team was sneezing. A cold or something, if what he was hearing was true. Wonderful. If the Captain wasn't present he would have let a curse slip out, but he decided to bite his tongue for now.

Cloud's question finally made his thoughts get the better of him and he added, "I certainly hope so, otherwise things are going to go downhill pretty quickly. Of course, I bet the Earth Alliance has thought of every single contingency... right?"

He didn't even turn away from his console to look at the others - he had to keep busy. Letting himself fall idle was just asking for trouble.

Bladewolf — Analysis Room

A muted clicking of metal claws on the floor could be heard in the room as LQ-84i - or "Bladewolf" as he was better known - prowled the spaces between the crates, silently examining each of them before moving on. He listened to the conversations of the humans - and non-humans - as he did so, his electronic brain running through hundreds of scenarios. Though his organic comrades had provided no feedback, it seemed that he had performed adequately for their purposes, something that he was not displeased with.

Eventually he came to a stop near Raz and sat down, looking around the room one last time. " I may not have medical knowledge pre-installed, but I agree with the Chief of Intelligence. An allergic reaction of some sort is a distinct possibility," he said, his voice noticeably distorted in an electronic manner. "Though I cannot say for certain what the culprit is, it may explain the symptoms of those affected. Barring new data, I am 68% confident of my analysis."

edited 28th Jun '13 10:21:29 AM by Flanker66

Engineering Area

Robotnik let out a grunt of acknowledgment and looked away. True, the man had obviously earned his position; they didn’t just hand out the roles of department chiefs like cheap party favors... or at least, the Doctor hoped they didn’t. If they did, then something was seriously wrong with this place.

“I’d guess the crates are some kind of time capsule,” he said at length. “Probably a trove of their people’s most treasured cultural and historical artefacts, or something along those lines.”

Robotnik inclined his head then with a low chuckle, a covetous grin spreading off his face as he adjusted his glasses; the light of the engineering department caught the lenses of his spectacles as he did this, turning them opaque with the reflected glare.

“Perhaps they hold samples of their technology as well,” he went on. “Who knows what secrets they might hold, just waiting to be unlocked?”

edited 28th Jun '13 11:08:18 AM by SullenFrog

"One moment," Selvaria replied to Vice, before flipping the pages back to the first chapters - the prehistory of the K'otahar - and skimming through them. "These records indicate that all the other planets in this star system were already frozen over by the time of the K'otahar," she said to the others in the room. "It makes no mention if a frozen wasteland is the 'natural state' of the planets here, but the initial message about them 'building their world with their technology' makes me believe that it might be the case."

Remembering the mention of the territorial disputes that later plagued the civilization, Selvaria returned to the section on the war, this time focusing on the major players and seeing if there were records on what could have caused the K'otahar to begin fighting each other - possibly forcing one another to use biological weaponry that was related to whatever virus might have infected the away team.

edited 28th Jun '13 11:53:29 AM by demovere

Vice shrugged. Picking up a book at random, he opened it. Swiping his hand on the air, he caused a holographic screen — a Mana construct maintained by Storm Raider — to appear. He started drawing the glyphs in the book on the screen. “Storm Raider, get the script's translation from the ship's computer, please.”
“Yes sir,” the AI replied. Soon, the book's translated text started running on another screen, and Vice started reading it.

edited 28th Jun '13 1:59:26 PM by desdendelle

Analysis Room

The reason the K'otahar had started fighting amongst each other was pure and simple: everyone wanted to have total control over the others. And as result, the planet slowly descended into the frozen wasteland it is today.

Slowly descended into the frozen wasteland it is today.

All the planets were frozen wastelands. The K'otahar built this planet. The K'otahar destroyed it... and turned it into a frozen wasteland.

"Oh, I heard about you." Zuko said, looking down at Bladewolf. "LQ-84i, correct? Haven't got a chance to see you in action, but now that I do..." He whistled, nodding. "It is very impressive. I am Zuko, the Chief of Security, although you may already know that."

The hypothesis, however bizzare, had been nagging in the back of Selvaria's head for a while now. They hadn't detected any lifeforms on the K'otaharian home planet... but extreme cold could sometimes affect even the most sophisticated of scanning systems. Small-enough, practically-microscopic organisms might also be able to bypass certain scans. Could it be that something else wanted K'otahar to become just like the other, dead planets in the star system?...

"Sir," she spoke up, handing the book she had been holding to Vice and then heading towards her superior, Raz, "forgive my rashness, but I think we should check on the afflicted crew members' conditions now." She held up her datapad, which was currently displaying the various bits of information she had been reading and scanning for later cataloging. "It might sound farfetched, but our away team might have been compromised in more than just health..."

Jim thought over Meta Knight's point, his face scrunching up for a moment. "Well, as far as I know, as soon as the away team got back they went right to helping get all the stuff sorted out. They haven't had any free time since then. However I suppose that doesn't rule out the possibility of other people getting infected by them and leaving that area" Jim thought out loud, giving a single nod.

"But, if this does turn out to be something more than the doc' can handle, then we're in real trouble" Jim pointed out, thinking of what they could do in that case. All he could really think of was head back to Alliance territory and hope one of their medical facilities could handle it before most of the crew died.

Raz was continuing his search for anything about the actual repository of knowledge itself; substances or special techniques used to make it last longer, any items besides records that were supposed to be included, and things of the sort. It was while he was still looking that Bladewolf came over and sat by him, giving his 'agreement'. "Sixty eight percent?" Raz couldn't help but scoff slightly. "Glad to know you have such high confidence in me" he said, a bit sarcastically.

Raz then looked up as Selvaria spoke, thinking it over. He nearly said 'yes ma'am', when he remembered that Selvaria was his subordinate, despite being older than him. This made him quickly rethink. "The fact that all the planets of this system are like that and our away team getting sick might have no connection whatsoever" Raz pointed out, placing the latest document down as he considered it himself. "Maybe it's just a problem with the star we haven't noticed yet. I think the doctor would let us know as soon as anything more suspicious came up; better to leave her to her work without interrupting her" he decided, picking the document back up.

Before he started to look at it again though, he looked to Zuko. "But, if you think it's a good idea, I suppose sending someone to peek their head in couldn't hurt" Raz suggested to the security chief, then started looking through the document again.

... Did I just turn down a possible exciting situation, even if it is pretty unlikely, in favor of paperwork? Great, I think this position's starting to get to my head Raz thought to himself after a few moments.

edited 28th Jun '13 10:56:54 PM by FirockFinion

Cloud hesitated before speaking again. "You know, if it is something that they picked up on the planet's surface, and not just some cold symptoms the weather set off, I don't suppose they would have any natural immunity..."

He paused to consider what he just said, then leaned back in his chair a bit, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Week one of our six year voyage, and we're already pissing ourselves over what's either a cold, or something we really, really shouldn't have come into contact with. Neither one of which is exactly the best way to kick things off."

When the one crew member took the phial of blood with visible trepidation on her face, the Shaper watched closely for any visible reaction to a distilled sample of her own blood. She briefly turned away to jot something down on the medical bay's computer to note her own nullifying effect on the disease, but she immediately whirled around when she heard the sound of human firearms and the three amber-eyed crew members pointing a human phaser at her.

Internally, she cursed the cumbersome bureaucracy of the Earth Alliance when they decreed that she could not bring the traditional weapons of ehr race aboard the Einstein. All she had was her shaper's hand; the bone blades more suitable to delicate incisions and exploratory surgery rather than direct combat. Without a healthy amphistaff or even a thud bug by her side, she only possessed a pressurized suit of vonduun armor in her quarters- ostensibly for an emergency hull breach, but its tough and resistant shell was just as useful in a close-quarters scrape. With no way to reach this armor now, however, Nen Yim kneeled in the traditional posture of submission. Her patients did not seem to be in their right minds and she did not want to cause any more undue harm; there was little honor or purpose in killing the sick and weak, particularily when this sickness might be one symptom of a greater mystery.

"I will comply with your demands," said Nen Yim in the slow and calm voice she might use to reassure a particularily deranged biot gone wrong. Slowly, she reacched over to her shoulder and massaged the oggzil, letting it collapse into a fold of puckered skin. "The oggzil has entered its dormant state- it has been turned off." Internally, she hoped that the Captain would pick up on the sudden and conspicuous lack of radio communication from his normally prompt and alert medical officer.

"Now," she said, hardly daring to move off of her knees, "what are these hosts that you require?" Could this be a sign of some kind of parasitic infection, and if so could they be removed?

Vice tapped the screens, turning them off, and put the book back at its pile. It was an unimportant treatise about the merits of a certain style of art, and Vice couldn't make head nor tails of it.
“Well,” he said, “since we can't really go to the medbay right now, let's try the comms. Storm Raider, get me Nen Yim, please.”
For a few seconds the AI was quiet. Then it spoke. “Medical Officer Yim is currently unavailible,” it noted.
Vice grimaced. “Fun,” he said, looking at Zuko. “Kinda not my place... but do we have cameras there? Can we see what's going on?”