Confrontation MISSION END

Posted on Thu May 30th, 2024 @ 8:30pm by Commander Benjamin Jamesson & Lieutenant Darru & Ensign Duncan McManus & Commander William Gerhard & Lieutenant JG Calanthe 'Cal' Diaz & Lieutenant Avira zh'Kenarh M.D. & Ensign Madelyn 'Madi' Moore & Staff Sergeant Nathanial "Nate" Cusack

Mission: Contagion
Location: Base
Timeline: 367
1547 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

A gestational t'Sayxrosia with multiple tributes on board? Duncan was not entirely sure what that was as he glanced around at the rest of the offices that come over from the Atlantis to the base but it didn’t sound like it was going to be a fun thing especially when they were inside of it. He glanced around t asking everyone in and then looked at Cal with a raised eyebrow. It did make sense with what they had experienced the day before with the strange room that tried to make something for both of them and failed to do drastically.

“Sir, this might explain what happened to us yesterday. The room we were in seemed to be trying to appease both of us?” Duncan stated. The Vulcan science officer who was standing looking at O’Connery as she spoke quickly relaying the information that she had heard from the bridge and how a group of armoury officers along with some other people will come over to get them out of there as quickly as possible.

Diaz glanced in surprise towards the engineer before slowly nodding. "And it would explain that pervasive sense of being watched all the time." There was a decided pointedness to the silence emanating from the man standing next to her and Calanthe made the conscious decision to avoid acknowledging Cusack's bloated sense of frustrated validation. She'd never met a guy who could radiate 'I told you so' quite like the marine and it seemed best to make the most of the fact that he'd wisely opted to keep his mouth shut.

“We need to speak to the Luminari Commander Sir,” Darru commented glancing out the window seeing the administrator looking concerned as another member of his species went into a coma.

William had ordered the group to start discretely packing their items and loading them back into the shuttle pods out of sight of the Luminari. The last thing he wanted was for them to turn hostile if they saw that they were preparing to leave. He nodded in agreement with Darru. "Agreed, but how do we broach the subject of evacuation? We didn't see any additional craft docked with this station, and there is no way we can take them with us," he said looking to the Vulcan science officer for advice.

Darru looked at the information that was coming through from the Atlantis. "The Captain and the crew have that in hand." Darru nodded. "But we should not delay getting out of here Sir. We do not want the same fate to come to us as has happened to them." He said logically.

William nodded in agreement before he looked over, and raising his voice, he called out, "Excuse me Veelar, could we have a moment with you?" The Luminari had turned towards him at the sound of his voice and was making his way over to them.

Avira wobbled on her feet. There was a ringing in her ears that didn't seem to go away. She had blamed lack of sleep earlier but it wasn't something she'd had in previous cases of sleep deprivation. Then she blamed the pathogen, but it wasn't affecting anyone else's auditory nerves. Now that they had gotten a quick briefing on what it actually was they were on board of she figured it must be a side effect of the creature's feeding. As soon as the message came through, no matter how out of this world it seemed, they had immediately started packing.

“You okay Doctor?” Duncan hissed to the doctor as he started to help packing up the medical supplies they had been using to try and figure out what was wrong.

"We should focus on getting out of here, Ensign." Avira didn't have time to dwell on the tinnitus.

Duncan narrowed his eyes but said nothing more to the Doctor. He was well aware after a year or more of knowing the woman that she would speak up if she unable to carry on but it did not mean he did not care or notice.

Veelar appeared as he was called over and looked at everyone standing there. “You wanted to speak to me?” He wondered.

"Yes, I'm sorry but I will have to be direct here. Your people are not the native inhabitants of this station correct," William asked his keeping his tone non-accusatory but firm. The Luminari's reaction was immediate as it turned several different shades of color.

Veelar’s body went through a rainbow of colours before settling on a grey. He bowed his head and nodded in a gesture of relief. “Yes, this is not our base. We found it abandoned and it seemed the perfect place for us to start again after the war.” He admitted.

"Then I believe we may have solved the problem regarding what has been happening to your people," William said before he looked over and nodded for Darru to explain the situation.

Darru inclined his head back to the Commander and looked at the Veelar. "This is not a base. This is all a facade and this whole thing is a space flora feeding on us all. It is called a t'Sayxrosia and everything about this base is designed to trap us and want us not to leave. Your people are sick because they are being drained."

Veelar blinked several times as he glanced back to all of his people lying on beds. "We thought... I did not think it would be possible for something like that to happen but we were desperate. Our ships were falling apart. They were generational ships taking us from war. They had sustained us five generations and they could no longer."

Avira pulled her medical pack over her shoulder and looked at the Commander and the Vulcan scientist, she suspected that both of them had seen their fair share of conflict as well. War seemed to be a universal constant, and it seemed to be that it didn't really change from one species to the next. Always about resources or ideology, usually about resources but disguised as ideology. "The war is behind you, Veelar, and the Raelians are coming through to rescue you. Make sure you're ready when they do. The longer you stay here, the closer to critical your friends and family's conditions will become." It was one thing to be out of a war, it was another thing completely to leave it behind.

The Luminari had no idea what a Raelian was but he was sure that if these people thought they would be able to help then he would be ready to leave when they arrived. "We will be ready." He said solemnly bowing to William. "I am sorry that I brought you into our mess and did not tell you," Veelar regretted a lot after the last year but bringing another group into his species troubles was not something he had ever wanted to do.

“It is nothing to apologize for Veelar. It is fortunate that we were able to help you as much as we could,” William said as he returned the bow with a slight nod of his own. “Now, i must apologize, but given the circumstances i must now look to my own crew’s safety,” William said as he looked towards Darry and Avira and nodded towards them. William was glad that the Luminari had not pressed the issue of further help.

"I wish you well and wish we had met under better circumstances," Veelar stated before returning to his species and set about fixing the errors that had been made.

William watched the tall creature go before he turned to his own group. “All right, let’s load up the shuttle pod and get out of here. The sooner we are out of the place, the better i will feel,” he said before he made his way over to where most of their gear was and grabbed a backpack and slung it onto his shoulders.

Duncan hiked up his backpack and looked around. Everything about the base now made sense but he was more than happy to get back to the Atlantis. It might not be what he had ever wanted in a home but it was perfect right then. "Time to go home?" He asked the group.

Avira fumbled a bit with her medical pack, a jitter in her hand preventing her from properly closing the clasp in front of her. She took a moment to take a deep breath, focused on the task and was able to clamp it shut. She immediately looked around to make sure nobody had seen her struggle. Her heart was racing, an irrational response to something so benign. Her antennae curled up in frustration, something most people would barely notice. She made her way over to the front of the group, standing ready to head for the shuttlepod with Nish waiting to take them back to the Atlantis.

William surveyed the group, ensuring that everyone was present with their gear. With a nod to everyone, he pulled out his communicator and flipped it open, “Gerhard to Atlantis, we are all set over here. Have the decon chamber standing by. We will be returning to the ship momentarily.”