USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202103.05 Introduction: . The Penumbra emerged from the Rift with significant damage. Fortunately, they arrived near Federation Deep Space Listening Post K-7 whose Commander sent a Steamrunner-class ship to tow them to their station. . After two days, repairs were well under way. A few members of the crew were able to enjoy some R&R on the Station. . The Commodore was wearing a soft cervical collar to help him avoid turning his head too fast but most other injuries sustained from the rough passage through the Rift had healed and the crew were released. . The Penumbra had an umbilical connection to the Station while repairs were being made. Bridge, K-7 Station, Other Locations: Checking In . LtCmdr. Jason Carter, LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke, and Lt. Katarina Hawke, along with several other members of the crew, had pulled their rotations for shoreleave on the Station. . ChfWrnt. "Sandy" Sandoval was on Delta One, continuing to circle the Penumbra to collect data on the exterior, and report progress of the repairs to the hull plating, the ablative armor, the Point Defense Turrets, and the Multiphasic Image Redirection And Graphics Emitters (MIRAGE system). . Col. Travis Patterson and Cdre. Zak Taylor stood at the Master Systems Display at the rear of the Bridge. Cmdr. Relok was the only other person on the Bridge, and he was at the Primary Science Station reviewing the data files on the Kyrathians and the Ivorez. . LtCmdr. T'Lin was in her quarters, meditating in an attempt to slowly rebuild her mental barriers. LtCmdr. Tabeshk Tibris and LtJG. Jackson Carshel had been sent down to Main Engineering to assist with the repairs. . Patterson asked, "MAX, how're we looking so far?"
. It didn't look all that good. The MSD still showed red lights all around the hull, indicating the missing or defective MIRAGE emitters and Point Defense Turrets. Zak muttered, "We got banged up pretty bad when that Heart blew up." . Patterson nodded. "When we dumped the Heart, we lost our shields. If it weren't for the heavy plated, we would've never made it back in one piece." . "Thank the Heavens we made it through the Rift," Zak breathed. "I'd have hated to deal with the Golem or even the Kyrathians in this shape!" He gestured at all the blinking red lights on the MSD. . Patterson turned to face the Commodore. "Any word from Command?" . Zak responded, "I reported in and transferred our logs. But ... the distant Gamma Quadrant isn't much of a concern, I think. Our whole mission was meant basically to placate the Aslans, and maybe as a favor for the Android, who knows?" . Patterson clasped his hands behind his back. "We certainly were able to provide them with a significant advantage. Pushed them back nearly to their homeworld. I think we did enough. What the Aslans do from there ... it's not our war." . Zak turned towards the front of the Bridge and gazed at the aged station outside. He sighed and said, "It's kind of frustrating that a cutting-edged recon ship would be sent out there and just ... forgotten about." He turned back to Patterson, a smirk crossing his face, "Maybe they were just trying to get rid of the two of us?" Contamination . Suddenly, a klaxon sounded and yellow lights flashed around the Bridge, the signal for Yellow Alert. Zak turned, a bit too fast, and flinched at the pain in his neck as he said, "What the ---?" . Relok also looked up, "Yellow alert?" . In her quarters, T'Lin had just ended her meditation and was preparing to return to duty when she sensed rising emotions in Sickbay. When the Yellow Alert sounded, her instincts told her it had something to do with Sickbay, so she hurried that way.
. Patterson noticed the lights as well and called, "Computer, report!" . The ship's computer answered, " Kyrathian Plant fibers detected in Sickbay. Quarantine protocols in effect." . Patterson raised an eyebrow as he gazed at Zak. "Kyrathian plant?" He tapped his commbadge, "Bridge to Sickbay. Shadow, what's going on down there?" . Dr. Shadow K'Trevala responded, "It seems Khal'Gon managed to pick up some fibers from the Ivorez when we got the Heart and the fibers remained in his scars." . Zak flicked his eyes at Patterson, "Better go check it out. Relok, you go too. And get T'Lin down there." . Relok nodded, "Aye, sir." He tapped his commbadge, "T'Lin, report to Sickbay, we have Kyrathian plant detected there." . T'Lin's voice came back, "I am already here, putting on my suit." . Patterson addressed the Commodore, "Take it easy up here, Zak." Ne nodded as Relok joined him at the Turbolift. . "Yeah, yeah," Zak answered as he walked back to the Command Seat and flopped down. He was now the only person left manning the Bridge. . In the Turbolift, Relok addressed Patterson, "Your team must have brought some of the Ivorez with you. But ... it doesn't use spores like the other Kyrathian plant. It shouldn't be corrosive .... I think." . Patterson nodded. "If it was, Khal'Gon would be dead already. Whatever that Ivorez did ... it must've gotten in through the breaches in the suit and went unnoticed." New Mission . A short while later, a hail comes through from the Station. Alone on the Bridge, the Commodore answers it from the arm controls of the Command Seat, "Penumbra here, how can I help you?" . The Commander of the K-7 Station appeared on the main viewer. "Commodore," he began, "we've just received a report from the Gorn Hegemony. It seems their ambassador was captured by some Nausicaan pirates."
. Zak rolled his eyes, "Nausicaans and Gorn, two of the most aggressive species out here. So, why are you calling us?" . "Well," the Commander answered, "We don't have many ships ... hell, any ships, like yours, sir, and ...." . Zak interrupted him, "What about the Klingons? They're right next door!" . "Well, see," the Commander said, "there's the problem. The Klingons think it isn't their problem and won't help the Gorn." . Zak rolled his eyes again. "Klingons and Gorn never have gotten along, huh? So, you want us to go and retrieve this ambassador, then?" . "Well, you'd need to find him first, sir," the Commander said. "That's sort of why I figured you could handle it. That's kind of what you guys do, right, find stuff?" . Zak groaned. "We're not exactly up for a mission right now, Commander." . "Commodore," the Commander urged, "the Gorn Ambassador was intended to work out some kind of compromise in the Klingon High Council. He's kind of important, and ... well, you're all we've got handy right now. Can you pull it off?" . Zak groaned yet again. "We'll see what we can pull together. We're not at 100%, but ... we'll do what we can. Penumbra out." . Zak switched the commlink to call Patterson, "Colonel, we have a mission, sort of. What's the status down there at Sickbay?" . Patterson answered, "It's that damn Ivorez. There's some sort of fungus that got inside Khal'Gon's wounds ... and I think it just did something to Shadow, too. Standby." . Zak grumbled, "Can't catch a break. Ship's a shambles, damn alien ivy infecting my crew, and now Klingon's refusing to aid their neighbor and the local commander wants us to fix their problem."
. As Zak stewed, Tabby stepped out of the Turbolift. "Reporting. Conduits fried or broken have all been replaced and are in working order. Carshel did some hot-wiring for consoles that were damaged." He sat down at the Operations Console as he said, "Checking power levels now." Main Engineering: What do you need? . SgtMaj. Derek Hines entered Main Engineering and called out, "MacArdry, where y'at?" . Almost on his heels, LtCmdr. Tabeshk Tibris and LtJG. Jackson Carshel arrived. Tabby called, "Hon? Where are you? What do you need help with?" . LtCmdr. Bevin MacArdry was up to her elbows in wiring repairs. She hadn't heard the calls. . Tabby called again, "Hon?" He stumbled over a toolkit and some loose wires and banged a knee against the "pool table". "Ow! Frick! Dang table!" . Bevin heard that and answered in her strong Brogue, "Aye, mo croidhe? Whassup?" . "Oh, am I glad to see you are all right!" Tabby said. "The Captain sent me and Carshel to assist." . Bevin slid out from under the console where she was working, stood, and gave Tabby a hug and a smooch on the cheek. "Weel," she began, her Brogue almost indecipherable, "We naid tha kanduit ran thrawaut tha shaip tae raiplice tha whaich barned ip wi yawsin tha Hairt lak we daid." . Tabby stared at her, momentarily confused as he tried to parse her thick accent. "We need to run the conduit through the ship to replace the .... Pardon?" he asked. . Even Hines stared at her a moment, trying to wrap his brain around what she'd said. Finally he asked, "Wait, you mean all the conduits got fried because of the excessive power flow?" . "Aye," she answered, "tha's aixictly wha I main." . Carshel glanced around Main Engineering at all the open consoles and maintenance hatches. "Oooh, yeah, that's beyond me! Anything more simple for me to fix? Like ... hot-wiring or ... coding?"
. But Tabby just gave a slight shrug and said, "Oh, okay, gotcha hon. I'll start working on it, just ... uh ...," he pulled over a random chair and positioned it so he could stand on it to reach the upper access points. "There." He gave a look inside and exclaimed, "Wowie wow-wow! Yikes." . Bevin continued, "Tha waes tha priblim. Tha Hairt gat tae hawt an fried tha wiring." . Carshel tried to translate, "There was a problem? The Heart had that ... fried the wiring?" . Hines grabbed a few of the heavier conduit couplings and threw them over his shoulder. He looked at Carshel and said, "I think it's more that the ship wasn't designed for that amount of power." . "Oh!" Carshel nodded, "That got too hot and fried the wiring! Gotcha!" . Bevin nodded, "Ye gat tha raight, Hinies, an a nimbir o faiktirs." . Carshel moved to one of the fried consoles, "Ouch, yeah, this is some hot-wiring, all-righty. I'll get to work." Wrap it up . As they set to work, suddenly an alarm sounded and yellow lights flashed around the deck as the ship went to Yellow Alert. Tabby noticed and said, "That's not good." . Carshel agreed, "That's bad, isn't it?" . Tabby asked, "Computer, why the Yellow Alert?" . The ship's computer answered, " Kyrathian Plant fibers detected in Sickbay. Quarantine protocols in effect." . Bevin fired off a string of Scot Gaelic profanities. Even though he didn't catch all of them, Tabby gasped, "Hon! Language!" . Bevin set to giving instructions for decontamination drills ship-wide. . Tabby looked at her, "Wait, decon?" In his distraction he touched the wrong spot and received an electric shock, "Ah, frick! That hurt!"
. Hines began moving with a bit more hustle. "We gotta get this ship in working order. They can handle it." He pointed up to a coupling on the warp core. "Hey, Bev? Not sure if that's supposed to look like that or not. Looks a bit ... asymmetrical to me." . Tabby focused on the task at hand and completed the repair. "All right, this one's fixed. I'll test it out before confirming." . Carshel moved wiring, connecting here to there, removing bad wires and replacing with new ones. "All right, time to test this one, too." . Both tests were good, and Tabby and Carshel moved to other consoles to continue working. After a few minutes, Tabby finished and moved to Bevin, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll head out back to the Bridge for further orders." . Carshel checked in with Bevin as well. "You repair whatever else is wrong throughout the ship. I'm headed to the atrium to see what needs fixing." Sickbay: Infection . In Sickbay, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala was going over everything to make sure they were well provisioned for their next foray into the depths of space, including extra seeds for both medicinal and culinary plants so that they could be used, if needed, for either trade or survival. . As Shadow was reviewing the inventory, MstSgt. Khal'Gon stepped through the doors, his face in a grimace of frustration. . Shadow looked up. "Hey, Khal'gon, what can I do for you?" . "Something is wrong, Doctor," Khal'Gon growled. "My scars feel as though they've been freshly burned with scorching plasma." . "OK, let me take a look at them to see what is going on." Shadow studied the cauterized wounds, probing with his empathic abilities. . Khal'Gon moved to a biobed, wincing as he did so. "I've noticed ... a lot of ...," he coughed and blood came up in the sputum. "Bah! Some curse I have, huh?"
. Shadow collected the bloody sputum in a petri dish and began a culture, then examined the wounds. There were signs that Khal'Gon had been scratching them relentlessly. He spoke, "It's going to take a while for these to reveal what we're dealing with, but I'm going to start you on some broad-spectrum antibiotics and antifungals just to make sure to try to knock it out early." . Suddenly, the ship's computer announced, "Warning! Kyrathian Plant detected in Sickbay. Initiating quarantine protocols." Klaxons sounded and yellow lights flickered along the ceiling as the ship automatically engaged Yellow Alert. A Level 10 forcefield sprang up isolating Sickbay from the rest of the ship. . "Figures," Shadow muttered, quickly moving to isolate the cultures he'd taken. . Patterson's voice came over the intercom, "Bridge to Sickbay. Shadow, what's going on down there?" . Khal'Gon coughed again, catching a blob of bloody sputum in his palm. His forehead was drenched with sweat. Locked Out! . Outside Sickbay, LtCmdr. T'Lin had arrived and was already putting on a biosuit. Shadow could just hear her voice as she answered a commlink call, "I am already here, putting on my suit." She stepped to the door and called, "Shadow, you need to get into decon and put your biosuit on." . "All right," Shadow called back, "But I'm already exposed." He went into the decontamination area and cycled himself through ... three times to be sure ... and put on a biosuit. . T'Lin approached the doors but they would not open, quarantine protocol had sealed off Sickbay. "Oh, please," T'Lin groaned, "I am in my suit." She typed in her security code on the door pad. "Come on." . But the computer merely responded, "Unable to comply. Opening Sickbay doors will expand Kyrathian biohazards throughout Deck 5 within seconds."
. Khal'Gon clutched at his chest, sucking in a rasping breath. The infection had reached his lungs, and was beginning to attack his heart. Shadow checked on him, and provided empathic support, as well as a hypospray of Tri-Ox compound. He wracked his brain to figure out any other methods to counter whatever biotoxins the Mirror-Universe Ivorez was pumping into his system. Khal'Gon's eyes remained open, but it was apparent he'd lost consciousness. . Patterson and Relok approached T'Lin, having come from the Bridge. Relok looked at Patterson and said, "If you're going in there, you'll have to suit up." . Patterson gave a slight nod, then tapped the PADD seemingly embedded in his arm, activating his Combat Armor. "Never leave home without it," he said as the armor unfolded from the PADD and enveloped him. As the helmet took shape, the visor slid shut and the eerie holographic skull illuminated on it in full 3D. . T'Lin turned to him. "You need a suit as well, Relok. Just standing by the door would present danger." . Relok responded, "And I won't be going in." . "If it were corrosive, everyone in Sickbay would be dead, and they are not." Restrictions . Relok raised an eyebrow and said, "Logical conclusion, Commander." He lifted his chin slightly and ordered, "Computer, override medical lock. The risk for contamination is minimal. Authorization Commander Relok, Zeta Alpha One Three One." . The computer trilled and said, "Authorization code acknowledged. Dr. K'Trevala, do you concur with Commander Relok in overriding the medical quarantine?" . From inside Sickbay Shadow answered, "Negative!" Then he explained, "We are dealing with an unknown biohazard here that could affect everyone, and particularly those that were on the Away Team and were injured." . The computer trilled again and responded, "Acknowledged. Medical Quarantine remains in effect. Commander Relok, access DENIED."
. T'Lin was valiantly controlling his frustration as she said, "Shadow, if we had been exposed, would we not already be in Khal'Gon's condition? We are in suits, please let me help. I know more of the Kyrathians than anyone else." . Relok gave a "harumph" and stepped back from the door. "I suppose I'll have to find a more secure area." He paused and then said, "Evacuate this section and secure force fields after I've left. Then we can open the door to let you two investigate." . Patterson said, "Computer, extend Level 10 Forcefield to the bulkhead immediately outside Sickbay, and erect a secondary forcefield at the adjoining bulkheads. Execute my order in 30 seconds." He nodded at Relok, "Move, Commander." . The computer trilled and said, "Order acknowledged." . Relok quickly withdrew to the next bulkhead junction and gave a curt nod. The forcefield expanded and shimmered just in front of him. . Shadow was working to stabilized Khal'Gon, setting up potential life-support equipment if needed. He called out, "Computer, ONLY those on the Away Team are to be permitted in Sickbay." As he said this, he sent a telepathic message to his Oath Brother, Relok, over their special mental bond, ~Sorry, Shayana, I don't want anything happening to you if we have anything catastrophic happen.~ . The computer trilled again and responded, "Confirmed. Patterson, T'Lin, Tibris, MacArdry, Carshel, Hines, Khal'Gon, Kyle. Access permitted under quarantine protocol." . "Thanks, computer," Shadow said, subconsciously thanking the non-intelligent computer. It did not respond. Taunting . With the secondary forcefields in place encompassing the area immediately outside the Sickbay doors, the dual forcefields effectively created an airlock of sorts for access to the quarantined area. The Sickbay doors slid open allowing T'Lin and Patterson to enter.
. T'Lin, in her biosuit, rushed over to Khal'Gon and immediately scanned him with her tricorder, then waved it around the nearby area. Patterson followed in his Combat Armor. As soon as he was inside Sickbay he called out, "MAX, need you down here." . Immediately, the face of the advanced Artificial Intelligence manifested on one of the pedestals around Sickbay, "Of course you do," he said. . Khal'Gon's body was slowly beginning to respond to Shadow's empathic and antibiotic treatment. But, he was still in severe condition. The infection rate had slowed, but his biosigns were still at dangerous levels. . "Hi, Maxxie," Shadow called to the AI, "glad you're able to use the circuits!" . MAX answered, "There are quite a few that are unresponsive still. I have access to critical areas only. What seems to be the issue I can assist with?" . Shadow responded to MAX even as he worked on Khal'Gon. "MAX, keep a watch on the culture incubator for me, every 10 minutes should be good for the moment. I need to see what we're dealing with and what would be the best medications to use to knock it out." He continued using both conventional medicines as well as his empathic healing powers on Khal'Gon. . It was then Shadow "felt" a telepathic voice in his head. It was weak and distant, but readily recognizable as the Mirror Ivorez. It said, ~I warned you all that you would die!~ Suddenly, Shadow began experiencing an excruciating pain in his mind, a burning sensation in his temporal lobe, causing his knees to buckle. Shadow's extensive use of his empathic healing abilities, on the injured crew from the Rift passage, and now on Khal'Gon, had weakened him, and then exposed him to the psychic plant.
. T'Lin sensed Shadow's discomfort and quickly stepped over to a medicine tray and selected a Merasha-based compound. While not herself telepathic, and not an empathic healer like Shadow was, T'Lin did have a strong empathic sense. She'd felt something like an echo of the Ivorez's taunt. She injected Shadow with the psionic-nullifying drug and said, "It is telepathic, Shadow. It jumped from him ... to you." . "Thanks, T'Lin," Shadow moaned, leaning on the biobed. "Yeah, we need to get more Merasha into all the telepaths and the like on board." Mentally, he sent back a telepathic image to the Ivorez: the flying fickle finger of fate encased in never-ending fire! . Quickly, the Merasha eased most of Shadow's discomforting pain, but he'd have a "mental rash" for a while that would continue to sting his mind. . Patterson's commbadge chirped as the Commodore called, "Colonel, we have a mission, sort of. What's the status down there at Sickbay?" . Patterson activated the commlink inside his helmet with a flick of his eyes and answered, "It's that damn Ivorez. There's some sort of fungus that got inside Khal'Gon's wounds ... and I think it just did something to Shadow, too. Standby." He turned to Shadow and asked, "How bad is it?" . Shadow's face was flushed and his mouth taut with pain and anger, but he said, "It's implanted a mental fungus in my mind to get back at us. Tell Relok NOT to contact me mentally for as long as I'm having to deal with it!" . T'Lin moved to another counter, pulling open drawers and scanning each ingredient, searching for something in particular. . Inside Shadow's head, just before the Merasha had completely numbed his psychic abilities, the Ivorez cackled, ~It is too late for him ... and soon, it will be too late for you, and the rest of you pests!~