Devastation of the Zyte Colony - Part 2

Posted on Thu May 16th, 2024 @ 7:09pm by Captain James Phoenix & Master Chief Petty Officer Evelyn Bailey & Commander Oscar Vladinchi & Lieutenant Commander Richell Sorenson & Lieutenant Inara Ziro

5,814 words; about a 29 minute read

Mission: Untested
Location: Zyte Colony; On Planet; USS Horizon
Timeline: Current
Tags: 2396, Character Development, Mission Post, Zyte Colony Disaster,

[ON]

Continuing from Part 1...

Oscar found relief to his position as an Andorian Imperial Guardsman approached. They exchanged brief introductions and relayed events before the Commander was relieved. Having the moment, he began towards the main mobile Headquarters to find the Andorian Guard Commander. he approached the command vehicle and, after a brief greeting with the Guard, moved to enter the command vehicle.

The inside of the vehicle was tight, compact, and utilitarian in nature. Once the Commander was allowed entry he was quickly directly to the Guard Commander. The Andorian was old, grizzled, and missing an eye but seemed to have a chipper smile to him.

"Starfleet," he greeted.

Oscar nodded, extending a hand to which the Guard Commander took and shook firmly.

"Your people have helped insurmountably today," the Guard Commander continued. " I am Captain Kir Ch'shollar, but my friends may call me Shollar. And you are a friend."

Commander Vladinchi gave a smile and nod. "Of course, Captain Sholl-"

"Just Shollar," corrected the Captain with an uncompromising stare.

"Of course, Shollar," Oscar corrected, and the Captains demeanour brightened. "I'm Commander Oscar Vladinchi, Executive Officer of the USS Horizon. We're here to help, but I'm also on a mission to find your Governor. Would you happen to have any leads?"

The brightened smile on Shollar's face dimmed, his good eye gazing downward towards a console, then back to the Commander. "No," he said, and his voice echoed his new mood. "There is ... so much damage. Chaos. By the time I gathered the forces to respond, we weren't able to enter the city en force. So we set up our base here and, as you've personally seen, refugees came. This has been a repeating process for the last day. We've heard no word on the Governor. Well-... I may speak prematurely."

Oscar's eyebrow raised. "Prematurely?"

The Captain nodded. "We did have one refugee come by, an Assistant to the Governors Complex. They were badly wounded and barely able to talk. Spoke ... said that the complex was destroyed, but there were people trapped."

"How long ago was this?" Oscar said, alert now at the possibility of a search and rescue.

"Five hours ago," Shollar said. He then reached down, grabbed an Andorian datapad, and handed it to the Commander. "This is the way to the Complex. It doesn't take into account any recent damage. You would be doing us a great service by investigating this issue."

Oscar took the datapad. "Why wasn't this relayed when we arrived?" he asked.

Shollar tilted his head, then motioned his head towards the outside. "Do I have to say why?" the Andorian asked.

The Commander nodded, understanding. "No, Shollar, I should have remembered that. Thank you. Do you have any spare supplies you can spare for myself and my Lieutenant?"

Shollar nodded. "I'll have one of my guardsmen bring them to you."

"Thank you Shollar. Captain. I'll report to you my findings," Oscar said.

After another handshake between the two, the Commander departed and exited the command vehicle. He quickly tapped his combadge as he walked down the retractable steps.

=/\= Commander Vladinchi to Lieutenant Ziro. Inara, we are relieved of our duties here. I've met with Captain Ch'shollar here and he has informed me that five hours ago an assistant from the Governors Complex came through, badly wounded, and said there's still possibly survivors. We've been requested by the good Captain to assist the Imperial Guard in a search and rescue. Meet me at the southern entrance, we'll get additional supplies for the journey there. =/\=

As he continued to walk out of the barriers surrounding the Mobile Headquarters, he tapped his combadge again.

=/\= Commander Vladinchi to Captain Phoenix. I've met the Andorian Imperial Guard Captain and have a possible lead on survivors at the Governors Complex in the city. I've been told the damage is extensive. I recommend we continue to use this Imperial Guard outpost as our relay point, however please inform any additional Officers we'll be on our way into the city. I will attempt to verify the condition of the Governor and the building they were last in. =/\=

=/\=Make it so. Please notify me once you find the Governor or have a lead. Be careful Commander. Phoenix out. =/\=

Oscar confirmed the order and continued forward, intended on meeting up with Inara.

==Zyte Colony - Central Aid Station==

With a huff, Inara set down the last unwieldy box of hurriedly packed medical supplies. A large central pavillion amid the medical tents had at last been opened for ease of travel, and more importantly, for the Horizon and Georgetown's away teams. The latter ship should have arrived by then, she thought.

She was happy to be moving on, but somewhat disappointed that she was called away before Commander Sorensen and her engineers arrived. She had time to study the Imperial Guard's comms network, and had plenty of ideas on how best to patch their own systems in. Best to leave it to the professionals, she supposed.

"Well.." She said, leaning on the precarious pile she'd just finished. "I guess this is it. It's been nice working with you."

Inara smiled as warmly as she could to Nurse Sybir, who'd been kind enough to supervise her moving boxes for the last ten minutes. She held out a customary Iotian gesture of friendship: A hand-shake, which she'd found humans had intuited the meaning of very well, and hoped that he would as well.

"Right." Sybir glared, ignoring the olive branch. "When your away team gets here. If they'll get here... I'll let them know where to find you."

Inara hadn't had a chance to thank him before he walked away. He wasn't the first Andorian she'd met to give her the cold shoulder. She wondered if it was cultural. Or if she was doing something wrong.

With that thought she felt as if her hearts had begun to melt onto her stomach. Breathing deeply, she calmed the monster of guilt once more. She wished she had the chance to say goodbye to Tetho. She wished she could have been there to deliver on her promise of a foreward base to the Captain. She wished she didn't keep upsetting people.

But it was time to go. Steeling herself, she headed to the southern entrance of the camp to meet the Commander.

== USS Horizon - Transporter Room ==

Meanwhile in the transporter room both the Chief of Boat and Chief Engineer were ready to transport down. The Transporter Chief checked the coordinates to make sure they were safe and confirmed the status of the transporters. Better to be safe rather than sorry.

The Chief looked at Commander Sorenson. "Ready to transport you down on your command, Commander."

Looking to make sure everyone was ready, "Energize", she said. Seeing the shimmering and disappearance of the transporter room, Richelle readied herself for the hit mentally of the emotions of the inhabitants of their destination. As they rematerialized on the surface, the shock of the devastation cold smacked her in the face. "OH MY GOD!" was about all she could say as the emotional hit made her head feel like exploding. Dizziness and a wave of sudden nausea hit her making her pale under the emotional hit.

"Commander, are you alright?" Evelyn looked at the Chief Engineer.

An Andorian man in nurse's scrubs rushed to the pair and began scanning the newcomer with a medical tricorder.

"Betazoid?" He asked her, his stern face softening.

Richelle allowed herself to be scanned as she got control of the emotional on slaught. "Yes Evelyn, it has subsided", she said, then looking at the Andorian nurse, "Yes, I can control it for now. Thank you and yes I am Betazoid", she answered the man. =/\=Sorenson to Cmdr. Vladinchi, We have beamed down and the devastation is incredible. Where do we start? I actually don't know where to begin in all this mess=/\=

The Commander quickly tapped his combadge.

=/\= Commander Vladinchi to Lieutenant Commander Sorenson. Commander, I want you to assist with aid efforts and distribution for the time being. There's also a chance they may need help with their portable generators and equipment. Take a gander out there and see if you can help. Commander Vladinchi, out.=/\=

=/\=Sorenson to Vladinchi, Understood. Will work our way to your location. I am reading low level radiation. It might be coming from the power plant. Should we also check it out?=/\=

A moment to think, then the Commander replied.

=/\= Absolutely Sorenson. But be careful, I believe there could be a possible radiation leak, though this is a hunch at the moment.

==Zyte Colony - Imperial Forward Base - South Entrance ==

Inara hurried past half a dozen Imperial Guardsmen studying a holomap of the inner city. She'd hoped to run into Tetho on the way, but there was no sign of her. She did, however, spot Commander Vladinchi waiting for her.

Upon seeing her, Oscar gave a short smile, then nudged his head in the direction of the city as if indicating for her to follow. Wordlessly, he resumed his trek into the broken city. The surroundings were appalling, with destruction visible everywhere. Most of the buildings they passed were complete rubble, however a few of the foundations and first floors of these once tall structures remained.

A common theme began to manifest the more they progressed; dead bodies. Oscar would spot a body and kneel to tricorder it, only to shake his head. Most would clearly be visibly dead, with either traumatic injuries or loss of limbs, but the Commander would still check. The only exceptions were the bodies that clearly had no visible head, crushed by rubble or other factors. The Commander would take a moment to examine it before ushering Ziro on without a word.

Hours passed and they'd enter the city proper. It was clear by now all of the survivors that were capable of leaving already had. The Governors Complex was up ahead, according to the Andorian datapad given to the Commander, and after conferring with Inara he moved forward. It was, as last reported, rubble. The Commander stopped before the mass of debris and sighed.

"Any idea where we should start our search?" Vladinchi asked, half defeatedly.

The journey had taken a toll on Inara. Diffuse pre-dawn light had revealed the true scope of the calamity. Each body relinquished by receding shadow greeted a morning they would never know. When they looked upon the rubble, they found it awash in the deceptively warm glow of sunrise. But she still felt the cold in her bones.

"The power plant must still be running!" Inara lifted her tricorder in the air as if trying to find reception. "I'm getting low-level radiation. Not enough to hurt us, but it's scrambling life signs. We won't be able to transport out of here, either."

Frustrated, she clamped shut the tricorder and pocketed it. She definitely detected something alive down there. But it was just as likely to be Cardassian voles as Andorian politicians. If they were alive, she thought, even low level radiation can add up over time.

"I think I could make out a few air pockets. There should be a big one over here!"

"Understood!" the Commander replied, heaving rubble to and fro. "Good eye, Inara!" he shouted, grabbing the hand of someone and pulling.

A moment for the dust to settle later and the coughing form of the Governess revealed herself. She was bloodied, barely alive, but still intact. Vladinchi immediately reached into his pack and produced the emergency tags and placed one on the broken Andorians arm. Vladinchi quickly tapped his combadge.

=/\= Commander Vladinchi to Horizon. We found the Governness. Medical, one to emergency beam to sickbay. Critical injuries. =/\=

=/\= Phoenix here. We'll transport her up shortly. =/\= James said over the comm before opening a channel to sickbay. =/\=Bridge to sickbay, we have another casualty incoming with critical injuries. It's the Governess.=/\=

"We found her," Vladinchi said, looking back to Inara and giving a firm nod. "Excellent work, Lieutenant. I am very proud of you."

Inara barely registered the praise as she scanned the governess for injuries.

"Thank you, sir." she said, when it finally sunk in what he'd said. It meant a lot to her, though she was so exhausted, she could barely show it.

"You have mild radiation poisoning, Ma'am." She confirmed her suspicions. She wasn't qualified to treat that, but it wasn't yet life threatening, so she focused on what she could help with. "This should help with the nausea for now."

The Governness could barely speak, but she managed to offer a correction.

"Governor," she said in correction to the Commander as the hypospray was delivered. "I am Governor Vyte Zh’Kennis," she confirmed, "And I-...I feel so tired..."

"Stay awake," encouraged the Commander, looking concerningly towards Inara, then back at Vyte. "We need you to stay awake, Ma'am. Inara, any stimulants? Just to assist for keeping her awake."

Inara felt as if she was back at the academy, and this whole night had been a final on triage. She racked her brain for a moment before arriving at the answer.

"Shot of hyronalin!" Inara announced as she injected the governor. It took a minute for the cocktail to begin its work. "Governor, do you know if there is anyone else alive under there?"

"No," weakly replied the elder Andorian woman. "I-.. All I remember .... I just ... the earthquake. Then everything crumbled underneath me. Then darkness. I-...heard screams. Then nothing. I don't know."

"Governor Vyte is our primary objective," offered the Commander as he gently held the Governor. "Anyone else would be secondary, and even if we took the time to search, we'd risk losing the Governor. Do you concur?"

He looked at Inara, though not accusingly or in a way of testing her. It was purely a way to validate his opinion or, if she chose, challenge it.

Inara turned away from her commander, suppressing her instincts. She knew that in her career path, she might find herself making life or death decisions for others. Wounded, poisoned, and exhausted, the one person who could give them answers about what had happened there could slip away from them if they acted rashly.

The radiation in the area would make it impossible to beam out the governor, even with a tag. They would need to escort her at least a mile away. Critical time that could cost the governor her life if they hesitated to set out. It would be the same story if the Horizon beamed down a medic. They would need to hoof it to get to her on time.

What was she prepared to sacrifice for the mission? If anyone was alive under the rubble, their radiation exposure would be fatal within a couple hours. Less, if they were trapped near the reactor.

Unconsciously, the Lieutenant wiped away something that had been on her cheek and found a smear of dried blood on her hand. Human. A little voice echoed in the back of her mind. One that had wormed its way into her subconscious for a week in those cramped quarters.

"No sir..." Inara resolved at last, her voice shaking. "With all due respect... This is the objective."

She paced around for a second, nursing the seed of an idea. "Your transponder tags!" She exclaimed, suddenly.

"They transmit pattern data to the ship's transporter systems, right? Like miniature pattern enhancers? One isn't enough to get through this radiation. But if we set enough of them in a perimeter around the building? The Horizon's computer can use that data to filter out the interference! We could beam the governor out, and an engineering crew in to shut down the reactor.

Oscar held his tongue as his opinion was shot back at him - however professionally. He gave a nod, sighing, as he resigned himself to an addition to his objectives. He listened to the Lieutenant as she offered her solution, then nodded in agreement.

"All emergency transponders I know are designed specifically to intercept a parent signal and utilize its power cell to ensure proper recovery," Oscar said as he recalled his lessons on the devices. "Federation transponders, anyway, but I'm sure the Andorians are similar. So, yes, I agree. If we can set them up in tandem with another, activate them, we could enhance the signal to bypass whatever interference is here."

As he talked he began to grab the transponders from the bag. Counting them mentally as he began to grab five.

"Should this be enough?" he asked.

"As many as you got, sir." She took the five in his hand before adding, softly, "Thank you."

Attaching them high and low throughout the rubble, anywhere she could reach, Inara continued, "We'd be rolling the dice with all fifty. Every data point could be vital." She paused for a moment, considering his comment about the power cells. "That's a good point, actually... Starfleet tags are only really designed to work once per charge, and we're massively boosting the scan threshold... We may only have a short window for both transports."

=/\=Lieutenant Ziro to Commander Sorensen..=/\=

With no time to properly introduce herself, the security officer brought the Chief Engineer up to speed on the situation with the collapsed capital building and the municipal reactor leaking. Then, she proposed her plan to use the transponders to measure the radiation so they could beam in.

=/\= Once we start, we may only have seconds to get you and your team here and the governor to the ship. Do you think the computer can handle this amount of telemetry in real time? =/\=

=/\= Sorenson to Lt. Ziro, The computer should be able to accommodate that amount of telemetry. As long as they are equally spaced to maximize signal strength. We are on our way to you. We can attempt to shutdown the radiation leak first however. You do know that it does accumulate over time=/\=

=/\=Yes, ma'am. Current levels are low enough that we should have enough time to shut this thing down.=/\=

Inara double tapped her comm badge, looping in the Horizion, getting the transporter room up to speed on the mission. She interlinked the beacons with her tricorder and linked their telemetry into the ship's computer.

=/\=Okay, Horizon, Engineering team... prepare for transport. Initiating subatomic scan in three... two.... one... Now.=/\=

With the turn of a dial, all the transponders lit up at once, brighter blue than ever before. Moment of truth...

Success!! The data stream showed real time telemetry of radical particles emanating from the debris. Right on cue, the whirring of the transponders' microcircuitry rose to audible levels and kept increasing. Their lights grew bright enough hurt her eyes. The scan would be good for seconds more! Pressure mounted, but the next step was out of her hands.

=/\= Transporter room. Rad screening coming through clear, Lieutenant. Heisenberg compensators operational. Transporting now.=/\=

Feet first, the Governor began to dissolve into the familiar sparkle. Before her face gave way to the shimmer, she looked at the pair of officers before her. Miserable. Exhausted. But steadfast. She nodded. And disappeared.

A half-second of dread stopped Inara's lungs. The instantaneous translocation from the ground to the sky felt as if she had just sent a dying woman into some vast desert alone.

=/\=We got her, Commander!=/\=

And Inara could breathe. Only the once. The transponders' volume reached ear-aching pitch. She felt her soul shudder alongside the microscopic blip she spotted in her data stream.

There were safety measures at play, of course. The transporter operator was confident with her plan, and could compensate for a loss in screening resolution, up to a point. Together, they were banking on the predictive power of the ship's bio-neural circuitry.

Now that they had transported one person through the radiation, the computer could theoretically guess the telemetry of the emitted radiation with enough accuracy to pull through. Still, it was a serious risk.

=/\= Saw the blip! Narrowing confinement beam to compensate. Transporting Engineering team, now. =/\=

Just as several ghostly silhouettes appeared before them, Inara watched in horror as the transponders blinked out one by one, the diminuendo of their chorus punctuated by faint pops.

The sparkling blue phantoms flickered in and out of reality, as the operator in space scrambled to save them. The seconds stretched to infinity as Inara stood powerless to assist.

Finally, as the last of the transponders gave up the ghost, the specters of the engineering crew resolved into solid form. One of them yelped, patting out a smoldering patch of their uniform.

Inara ran up to them with her tricorder active. No damage. The radiation must've caused a mistranslation in the kinetic energy of a few molecules. Which could be catastrophic if it happened inside a body. But they were okay.

=/\= We got them! Horizon, we got them. =/\=

Inara turned to Commander Sorenson and formally welcomed her to the capitol.

"Such devastation, death, the pain and suffering", Richelle said holding her head again. The emotional out cries were taking a toll as well as the radiation. Pulling out her tricorder, she also scanned for the leak and found it. "Lt. Ziro, I have located the leak, but by my calculations, the leak is getting away to a full melt down in two hours. That doesn't allow much time to shut down, finishing evacuation, and getting away from here. Also the radiation is climbing. So there is that as well," Richelle said.

== USS Horizon - Sickbay ==

The voice of the senior most doctor came over the comm in response to Captain Phoenix. =/\=Aye sir. We're ready to accept the Governess.=/\=

== USS Horizon - Bridge ==

=/\=Acknowledged.=/\= He spoke to Commander Vladinchi again. =/\=We're transporting her now Commander.=/\= James said before nodding to the ops officer.

== Zyte Colony ==

The form of Governor Vyte Zh’Kennis shimmered blue before disappearing. Both Inara and Oscar were left alone, the gentle wind creating an eerie almost apocalyptic atmosphere as fires and carnage existed around them. For a moment, the Commander allowed his internal feelings and emotions to come forward. His shoulders slumped, he almost heaved, then he started to breath heavily. A moment later he managed to put a handle on things.

Coming to a knee, he scanned the surroundings. "So much carnage," he said, eyes distant, gazing at destruction and death. He then turned to look at Inara.

"I'm tired, Lieutenant," he said, and his expression showed it. "I've seen a lot of death in my day, but never so up close and never so many dead bodies. This place is a disaster area."

Inara didn't know what to do. She'd known this man for hours, but somehow the sight of him losing composure shook her very soul. His stalwart visage, for just a moment, faltered, and suddenly she became aware of what they were sacrificing. Did it make a difference?

"I suppose..." she pondered, sinking into a free-standing pillar, "We did our best."

She looked around, more exhausted than she imagined anyone had ever been before. She didn't mind the bits of debris between her and the plinth she was sitting on. In fact she felt lucky, somehow. Wondering if she would be the last thing this pillar would ever support. She looked at her hand... and remembered the face of someone she'd lost, grateful that she had been there.

How many dead worlds had Starfleet encountered, centuries after the fact? How many stories reduced to academic papers? How many disasters did she look away from when she was busy chasing her dreams of adventures in space? When Starfleet turned its back on the Romulans, where was she?

Inara thought aloud, to no one in particular. "Maybe we're here... to remember it? Maybe we owe the survivors that much."

Oscar thought for a long moment, his eyes growing distant as the memories of death, destruction, and war flashed in his eyes. His mind halted as, momentarily, Oscar ceased to be. He was replaced by a shell of a man, one whose color began to drain from his face. However at the conclusion of Inara's words, the color returned, and the Commander blinked.

How many times had he refused promotion? For what? For the war? For the loss of his family? A tear gently swelled at his eye, if but for a moment. He was quick to wipe it, as if wiping away dust from ones eyes. The only hint was a bit of irritation. He then coughed and, instinctively, covered his mouth. When he lowered his hand his eyes went wide.

"Lieutenant..." Oscar began, but his words ceased as his eyes lingered on the very real scene of blood on his hand. There was a momentary pause.

In a very slow tone, clearly one derived from a man who retained composure in stress, he spoke.

"...Please do a radiation scan."

Inara glanced at her commander for a moment. Why would they need...

Shaking herself from her introspection, she hurried over with her tricorder. As she approached, she spotted the trace of crimson on his hand. This was impossible.

"I don't understand. Our exposure shouldn't have been enough to..."

The scanner didn't lie. Acute radiation sickness. But from where? Did the transport destabilize the reactor somehow? She switched to environmental scan on her tricorder. Radiation output had increased considerably.

Oscar rose. It was an impossibly hard task for him as his body slowly succumbed to whatever radiation had positioned the direct vicinity, but he did. His hand grabbed his tricorder and he flicked it open. He began to scan with Inara as he held back a cough.

Along with Inara, Oscar switched his scans to environmental. The tricorder began to show a proximity for the radiation. As it so happened, the two of them were directly in the bubble, with the outer edges just reaching the proximity of the Andorian Imperial Guard outpost. Why was it then that he was getting radiation poisoning so quickly? Then he noticed it.

"I'm picking up the presence of fast neutronium and excess helium," Oscar said, moving, then facing the rubble of the Governors Palace. "I'm also picking up excess amounts of Tritium. I think... I believe this to be source of the radiation."

It was clear the Commander was holding himself to composer. He gently coughed, swallowing, then eyed the reading again.

"We got the Governor out in time, but I think we're in the middle of a fusion core meltdown, Lieutenant," the Commander said. He then quickly motioned to slap his combadge.

=/\= Commander Vladinchi to the Captain. Captain, I'm at the rubble site of the Governors Mansion and I'm picking up excess amounts of heated neutrons and byproduct tritium. The area of high radiation exposure extends from our position to the outer edges of the Andorian Outpost according to my tricorder. Captain, I firmly believe we are witnessing the meltdown of a fusion core. I'm gett- =/\=

It was at this point that the Commander collapsed, unconscious. Inara caught him, but strained to hold up his weight.

'Notgoodnotgoodnotgood!' She thought. She was beginning to feel nauseous herself. She wondered how much longer Iotians take to succumb to radiation sickness than humans.

She wanted to stay, to help dig their way into the reactor. But she had been exposed for as long as the Commander had, and it would likely be fatal for them both if they made it inside. Their only hope was for the newcomers to find a way to shut it down together.

=/\= Captain, the Commander has lost consciousness! =/\= Inara said through the Commander's open comm. =/\= I'm going to try and get him away from the epicenter! =/\=

=/\=Lieutenant, can you get him to a safe location to transport him out?=/\= The Captain asked, knowing where the team was, they couldn't transport out directly anymore.

=/\=I think so sir. There's a mostly-standing building across the plaza. I'll take him there.=/\=

Considering how dire the situation was, she considered adding an 'It was a pleasure serving with you, sir' but thought better of it. It was her first day. And she wasn't ready to give up, yet. God, she was tired, though.

"Commander!!", Richelle yelled running to his side and helped Inara administer to him. "Evelyn...Can you find a way to the fusion reactor?" Richelle asked her asst chief engineer.

Evelyn opened her tricorder. "Checking" she waited a few seconds before her tricorder beeped. "Yes, I've got it!" She indicated towards an opening in a wall. "That opening leads to the reactor."

"Let's go Evelyn, time is against us", Richelle said as she crawled inside. Dark, bad air, and uneven ground led them to a room that had a blue hue around a large cylinder type device. "Evelyn check the readings. I want to know if this is the source", she added.

"Let me give you both this." Inara interjected, injecting Oscar and herself with hyronaline before passing the hypospray to Evelyn. "Double dose for you, Chief. Humans seem to be more susceptible."

Wincing, she pushed herself onto her feet, knees wobbling, just barely managing to get him over her shoulder. She pointed her tricorder in the direction of a relatively intact building across the capitol courtyard, more as a gesture than to aid in the scan.

"I think that building was the Office of Planetary Defense! Its walls are reinforced with-" She paused to swallow some bile. "It might shield us from some of the radiation. Buy us time."

"No we have to shut down the leak. The radiation is out of hand," Richelle said.

"I mean..." Inara quavered, "I mean for the Commander and I. We've both been exposed too long, and I don't know how much more time I've got to move us before I pass out too."

The Iotian hiked the human on her shoulders a little more securely. She wanted to spit the taste of copper out of her mouth, but focused on the two women in front of her.

"I'm sorry, but it's up to you!"

Wincing, she reached out a hand to the Betazoid before her, locking eyes that were completely her own, with the stranger.

"Inara." She declared, offering friendship to her colleagues of all thirty seconds. She had little choice in the matter of trusting these strangers with her life, and the life of her friend. But they were her crew. That was good enough for her in that moment.

"Inara, you go, Bailey and I will shut down the radiation leak and give more time to evaluate those hurt", Richelle said looking at Bailey. "Bailey, let's go. No time to lose", she added.

"Aye Commander" the Master Chief followed the Chief Engineer.

"Let's go Evelyn, time is against us", Richelle said as she crawled inside. Dark, bad air, and uneven ground led them to a room that had a blue hue around a large cylinder type device. "Evelyn check the readings. I want to know if this is the source", she added.

"Aye" she scanned. "It is Commander."

==Office of Planetary Defense==
With one final lurch, Inara dragged Commander Vladinci's body around into the building across from the capitol plaza. Her strength failed her, and she dropped him abruptly.

Inara winced. That would probably when he wakes up. If he wakes up. With the last of her strength, she dragged the sliding door to the building closed and slumped to the ground in front of it. She felt bile well up and just managed lean over on time. Blood. That's not good.

"He doesn't look good, does he?" Said Elliot. But that was impossible.

Her vision was starting to cloud, but Inara could see him kneeling over the body of the commander, only a few feet away. The late Lieutenant Commander Elliot Caldwell. Her Elliot. She knew better than to hope he was real.

She checked the tricorder. It was still actively scanning for radiation. Levels in there were just above normal, for now. Her hunch was right. Switching over to bio-scan confirmed only two lifesigns. One fading fast. Hers. She was hallucinating.

The Commander seemed to be stabilizing. His dose of hyronalin was actually starting to take effect now that he was out of direct exposure. But her... maybe all the exertion of dragging him there was exasperating her symptoms? Maybe it was less effective on her physiology? She wished there was a real doctor around...

"Hey..." Whispered the ghost of Inara's past. "Don't worry about that right now. Just rest." She could feel his hand on her cheek.

"But... the mission-"

"You finished the mission, Ina." Elliot looked down on her on the shore of an island that didn't exist in a city lightyears away. She was lying on a picnic blanket, staring up at his big dumb grin as the sun set behind him. "You did great!"

She closed her eyes, listening to the songs of the city and the gentle waves hitting the harbor across from their little fictitious haven. What a great place for a nap.

Oscar sat up in an instant as the drugs took full effect. He then swiveled to grab Inara - perhaps out of shock at his current situation, being in an unfamiliar place. Inara looked half gone, a cross between living and dead, and the panic in the Commanders tone as he spoke was palpable.

"Lieutenant!" he shouted as he shook her gently. "Lieutenant! Are you okay?!"

The Iotian stirred with a groan. Bleary eyed, she looked up, into the distance. She could hear the faint echoes of Captain Hatfield practicing his guitar again. Elliot stared daggers at Oscar.

"This guy again." He said with contempt, waving his ephemeral arm unnoticed through the Commander's head. "Doesn't he know you've done enough?"

"Just..." Inara mumbled, "Just let me sleep... just a bit longer..." Keeping her eyes open made her head throb.

To Be Continued in Part 3...

[OFF]

Commander Oscar Vladinchi
Executive Officer
USS Horizon

&

Lieutenant Commander Richelle Sorenson
Chief Engineer
USS Horizon

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Lieutenant Inara Ziro
Assistant Chief Security and Tactical Officer
USS Horizon

&

Master Chief Evelyn Bailey (NPC)

Chief of Boat

USS Horizon

 

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