Star Trek: Starbase 777

Luckily for T’Asha, she was raised on Vulcan. She was well used to the heat. Hell, she wasn’t awful in humidity either. Lots of her favorite diving sites were in humid places. Like Florida. And unlike during her Florida shenanigans, she had a hazmat suit this time that would not only protect her from deadly pollen, but also from insects! She loved forests, the way the sun shone down through the scattering of leaves, the noises of the animals, the wild natural feel of the place. In any other situation it’d be comforting. But T’Asha had a mission. She looked around her area for any signs of activity, broken branches, footprints, trash.

First there were the rose petals on the forest floor, like drops of blood, which they'd followed until they saw not only the rosebushes, but the pollen in the air, a strange red fog which would stain their clothes if not for the suits. It muddied what little light shone through the thick canopy. The fog moved to and fro from each rosebush, like the inhaled and exhaled breaths of a person, and stained the bark of every tree. Even in the dark, the roses were a bright, saturated red, and looking at them felt like staring at the sun.

"We're in the thick of it... this is probably where the poachers are. Tread lightly. The roses aren't the only dangerous things in this forest."

Looking around, T'Asha would find a cracked mask and a trail of blood. It led underneath a huge rosebush - big enough for something or someone to hide in...

What was probably an instinct instilled in him by the four years spent in the Starfleet Academy, Saren's gloved hand extended just a bit closer to one of the flowers, a scanner clutched in it - the scientist was curious to see what sort of information this reading could bring, for future reference.

Rather snug in her hazmat suit, Essen was on high alert. She had never seen anything like this before. "Jeez... This gives me the creeps," Essen said. The first time she had ever said outright that she was scared in front of her fellow officers! "Whatever this red smoke is, I can't imagine it's healthy for anyone or anything not from this planet." Then it hit Essen. "Something or someone might be using the smoke as a natural camouflage. If I were you I'd watch where I step."

Ten followed the party, letting the more combat capable take the lead. As they entered his tricorder began beeping and vrooping before static came out and silence. He gently pet the side of the tricorder “It okay Tricorder it is not your fault, I think you are going to stay in your pouch for now, I do not want you to get damaged” He gently put the device back into its pouch on his hip. He continued to follow, keeping aware of the surroundings, he hoped he wouldn’t be needed but knew that if he was needed he'd be ready.

The scan lagged and the data was not entirely reliable because the pollen seemed to disturb electronics, but what Saren would gather is that the pollen was more similar to the spores of mushrooms than pollen, and that the flowers had trace elements of phosphor in them. They seemed to light up even more in response to Saren using his equipment, and if Saren watched he would notice that there was a slight rhythmic increase and decrease in the brightness of the roses.

"...You know, if we found a big field of these roses and took a picture from way above, I bet they would look like little red stars."

3

"That smoke, Ensign, are the deadly spores. I doubt anything would use them to camouflage itself, except maybe for the local epohhs," came his slightly muffled response, as he observed the soft pulsation of the peculiar flora. "Huh. Despite looking like flowers, the way this organism reproduces is very fungi-like. They even have phosphorus in them, too. How interesting..." Trust this guy to find curiosity in the deadly. "My scanner is being laggy, so keep that in mind if you decide to use any electronics around these things - or maybe, perhaps, don't." his eyebrow quirked at Ten's voice (not that it was visible behind all the equipment), as he then turned his head towards Bee: "Perhaps after all is done, we could take some aerial shots of this place, yes?" As he was talking, he started to move around - looking for footsteps and disturbances that were not theirs, no doubt - slowly approaching the area where T'Asha was standing, making his search a thorough one: "If anyone discovers anything, please let us know..."

“There is a trail of blood where I am. And a cracked mask. I think something may be inside that rose bush.” She said quietly as to not disturb anything, gesturing to the bush the blood led to. One of the poachers could be exposed to the pollen. Well, she didn’t exactly want people to suffer, but if anyone deserved it, it’d be poachers.

[D] Looking as cute as ever in his protective gear, Nalas has stars in his eye looking around at the scenery. It was really beautiful, even if it could all kill them. That's why they had suits! He followed the others as they attempted to run scans of the area. He didn't flinch when he saw the cracked mask, but he was certainly shocked to see it. Poachers, epohh, yeah, so this was going to have some death. Nothing Nalas hadn't been conditioned to deal with on Cardassia Prime, but certainly not something he saw every day. "Yeah uhh," Nalas spoke up, standing right behind T'Asha. He crouched down so he could get a better look at the blood. "We should follow it," He said as he began to take a few steps closer to the bush, making sure to keep his movements as slow as possible just in case well, zombies had never been proven to not exist. Nalas would be a great cast member on Shaun of the Dead.

T’Asha was tall enough to not want to do any sort of crouching, but she had her phaser out. She was ready for anything that might pop up. Though she wasn’t afraid of death, she still did enjoy her life. Though she figured if her suit got breached somehow, she was quite suited to holding her breath for a while. She also stepped closer to the bush.

It was apparent that the thing that was bleeding was inside the actual bush. Nalas or T'Asha would probably have to move some of the thorny branches out of the way to see what it was...

Being a fearless Cardassian, Nalas reached his hand out to move some of the branches. He made sure to proceed with caution as to not get pricked and risk poking a hole in his protective gear.

Pushing the branches apart, Nalas would find... ...A dead scarlet epohh.

Bob approached and squatted down near them both to see. "Oh, I see. I think this epohh got injured and tried to hide in this bush to escape its attackers, like a clownfish hiding in an anemone. But the injuries must've gotten to it... Poor little guy. Best not to stick your hand in before you know what's -" One of her ears twitched." Hold on. Wait. There's something out there." She looked past the bush, into the foggy darkness. Like in the deep sea, it would be hard to see anything approaching until it was already too close to you, but she could still hear it. "It's hard to tell what it is exactly, but from the way it's breathing really hard, I think it has bigger lung capacity than a small creature like an epohh would... shit! Run!"

But it would be too late. Bursting out of the fog, a Ferengi with scarlet eye-whites and foaming bloody drool ran towards T'Asha and Nalas. It decided Nalas was the easier target and launched itself upon him, trying to bite and tear into the arm that had been moving the rosebush. When discussing Ferengi, people would underestimate them, with their small size and aversion to conflict, but this one was anything but averse, and there was one thing people often forgot about - Ferengi have very sharp teeth.

2

The leathery fabric of Nalas' suit was punctured, enough so that his arm was punctured with the Ferengi's needle-like teeth. It wasn't even that bad a wound, the hazmat suit still preventing the Ferengi from being able to bite with as little resistance as they otherwise would, but in these circumstances, it was enough to doom him.

3

Nalas was about to stick his hands in there until their lovely tour guide said she heard something. Unfortunately for him, he didn't pull away fast enough and ended up being the closest to the rabid Ferengi. Nalas and his single lung gasped as he fell backwards. Despite 'working out' with his boyfriend (which was Nalas just flirting with Eshen in the gym), Nalas had little strength to provide meaningful resistance against the attacker. He gasped for air and cried bloody murder as he attempted to shake the rabid Ferengi off of him. "A-AHHHH I'M DYING!" He screeshed with tears in his eyes and began to wheeze for air. Nalas had at least a shred of a braincell before coming here and had packed his inhaler, but he was in no condition to reach for that now, he was BIT!!! And not in the sexy way!

T’Asha had her phaser out, and it was set to stun, so she attempted to stun the Ferengi. She knew when to run, so she did. Knowing the pollen already got into Nalas’s wound via the saliva of the Ferengi, as far as she knew, he was a goner, and she didn’t want to be around when he started going crazy. But something in her told her not to run too far, she only went back a little bit.

Things, as they tend to do, suddenly started to happen really, really fast - the anticipation of a bad thing happening, then the jolt, the red flash of a rabid body attacking his fellow scientist, and Saren wasn't thinking twice when he pointed a phaser directly at the Ferengi's back, and pressed the trigger - also set to stun, raising the probability of disarming the attacker. The red-eyed one then was unceremoniously grabbed by the scruff of their neck and thrown off of Nalas, to whom Saren lowered himself closer, gently holding the flailing Bajoran by his shoulders and trying to look him in the eye: "Nalas? Nalas, hey, look at me, deep, calm breaths, yeah?.. It's going to be alright." And in somehow keeping him alive, he thought, assessing the puncture wound. Death was out of the question, though. Stubbornly and perhaps stupidly, but he believed in finding a way to fool her. First, though, they needed to ensure that Nalas didn't die of asphyxiation, first - and that, at least, was something the Medical would be able to assist with immediately.

2

3

Ten ran to Nalas with haste pushing Saren to the side a bit “Move please I must work” He set the first aide pack next to him, He pulled out a dermal regenerator and mended the wound on his arm then injected him with a hypospray "To prevent infection” He commented, He then injected him with a second Hypospray “Your asthma medicine distilled into a injectable, Now take deep breaths just as if it was your inhaler it will function the same” He looked at the punctured suit a worried look “The suit requires repair now, did anyone bring any Jeffries tube tape?”

Aggressive as they were, even a rabid Ferengi couldn't withstand the force of two direct phaser stun-blasts, and they flopped onto the ground with one last gurgle. They were unconscious, but their breathing was still rapid and they twitched and writhed unnaturally on the floor, moaning in pain.

Bob, seeing someone of her kind in such pain, stared down at the unconscious feral Ferengi blankly, trying to process just what she was seeing. Then when Ten asked for tape, she blinked a few times, then approached. "Yeah, I have medical tape in my first aid kit, and you probably do, too." It was one of those things a medical officer would be given ahead of time for a mission like this. (edited)

Nalas was hyperventilating at this point, unable to contain the high stress that was making him scream and flail. When his fellow colleague grabbed him his movements became a little less frantic, but panic was clear in the tears welling up in his eyes. Oh what a way to go! "A-Ah!" One minute Saren was trying to steady him, the next the group medic had injected him with a hypo. Well, at least it wouldn't be an asthma attack that got him. "I--Thank.. You," Nalas stopped his movements and just cradled his injured arm. "I... I'm infected now though, right? This is it?"

1

Ten dug around in his bag in the chaos he had mixed things up, it was his first away mission after all “Ah yes I do” He taped up the tear in the suit carefully, pressing on the suit to insure it was airtight, after confirming this he operated a few valves on the back of the suit to equalize the environment inside “A few more deep breaths please” Ten began packing things back into the bag “I do not think you should be, that first hypo should mitigate most known infections, I am unsure if I can scan you though, let me see what she says…” Ten pulled out his tricorder and began scanning Nalas.

Nalas was definitely still infected. This was not most known infections.

Bob had gone back to staring at the Ferengi. "Um... What do we do with them?"

He moved as soon as he felt the medic's push, instead taking the time while the hyposprays were applied and Nalas was calming down, to quell the rushing of his own thoughts that threatened to overwhelm him, into something calm and composed and effective. While one of his own was tended to, the Romulan took a few steps away, closer to the immobilized Ferengi. Stunned by two phaser shots, they still twitched, the infection running rampant in their blood stream. Were they too far gone for any miracle, for any help? What was the most sensible, humane thing to do for them in this situation? And how many other infected people - or animals - were out there? His thoughts then returned to the dead epohh - the one creature here who had managed to adapt to the rose. The Romulan ventured back to the site where the tiny body was found, and, suppressing the shudder after looking at it and being unable to not associate this another red epohh with Chopin, he lowered himself to the ground and started to rummage in his own scientific equipment, bringing out everything he would need for sample taking - fur, saliva, tissue, anything he could get his hands on, picking at the carcass like a vulture. Saren fell silent as he focused on his work - perhaps others could help each other out in the meantime? (edited)

The tricorder beeped a bit as he scanned Nalas “Hmm yes I understand thank you” He put the tricorder away. “It seems you are still injected with an unknown patagin, I will continue to monitor you.”

Ten walked over and scanned the Ferengi. looking for anything in its blood and to see if it was injured/sick in any other way

There was a small wound on their wrist, like they'd been pricked by a thorn, possibly reaching into a rosebush like Nalas had earlier, trying to get to the dead epohh. It seemed these guys hadn't brought the appropriate PPE.

Ten put the Tricorder back away, and grabbed the ferengi's wrist and mended it and gave them the same hypo to mitigate known infections, he then stood back up leaving the ferengi be for now "Without a suit I am unsure if they will last very long out here."

"T-Thank you," Nalas repeated as the medic continued his work to patch up the suit. His whole body was shaking, mostly from his own anxieties that came with being infected. He didn't want to be the first casualty of the mission! He was wearing a blue uniform too, blue shirts never got murked! The tears fell from his eyes as he stared at the now patched up hole in his uniform. "I.... If it gets worse. I give you guys permission to umm.... Do whatever is necessary to protect yourselves. But can you tell my boyfriend I love him? And my mum too, please tell her I miss her," Nalas was way too young to die, but he also didn't want to endanger his fellow colleagues. His attention then turned to Saren who was investigating the fallen epohh. If anyone could save these poor loveable creatures it was the epohh padre.

1

3

[D] Also here was Chyun, pulmenologist. If anyone was going to fight off weird stuff in the air it was the lung man himself. Also a Romulan Republic officer and this was technically his home ground. He let Ten treat Nalas and was on the lookout for any other rabid critters or folk.

"Um... so... are we just going to leave them here? Or?" Bob's dissociation was turning to distress.

Ten knew his oath he couldn't just leave someone to die, he picked up the ferengi with his right cybernetic arm, putting the smol under his arm "No we are not going to leave them, We do not do that. I was stating my theory"

"I think it would be wise to move them for further examination, but we shouldn't risk endangering anyone else," Chyun mentioned, not wanting to leave the Ferengi and the epohh alone just in case someone else came by. At the same time, they had the pollen on them, which would probably not get cleaned away when transported. "We can move them to a safer area? But not out of the forest, it's too dangerous, they are infected."

Bob nodded, still distressed but a little assured now that someone was responding to her and looking after the other Ferengi. "Yeah, we can't let them off this island in this state. They're way further ahead than Nalas is. We've got to keep them unconscious. For now, do you guys wanna keep searching? It's okay to quit and go home if you want."

"No, we came here to help and we are not going to turn back," Chyun replied quickly, trying to reassure Bob that they were going to stick with her to the end. He may not have been a scientist, but he was invested in preserving life and seeing through their mission till the end.

"I wanna help!" Nalas said despite being infected. He was feeling alright for now, but he knew that it was only a matter of time until he ended up like the unconscious Ferengi Ten was now holding like a sack of potatoes.

After he was done collecting samples, Saren returned to others, his precious cargo stored safely in his kit. He squatted down next to Nalas, putting a hand on his shoulder - the Romulan felt like he needed this right now. "We will keep the infection at bay for as long as we can, and the samples I collected will help the Science and Medical department in producing a cure," he stated, slow and calm and factual. "Don't be digging a grave for yourself so soon." As for the Ferengi... * "This means ensuring that they're always unconscious, while we're still on the lookout for poachers. If someone is willing to take that task while still being mindful of other potential dangers..." *he then also looked at Nalas, then back at the group. "I don't like the idea of him moving too much. Movement and strain may make the infection rush faster in his bloodstream. We need to be smart here..."

Nalas certainly felt soothed when Saren touched his shoulder, returning the gesture with a warm smile. "Are ham neck bras," He had been studying Rihannsu, but his pronunciation of 'Arhem mnek'nra' I am alright was a tad off. "I can stay on the lookout? I.. Don't want to go crazy on your guys, or maybe I should stay with the group so you guys can monitor my condition?"

1

"Our ram nick bros? Never mind. No, you can't be on your own - you might get attacked by something else, and then you'll definitely be dead. As long as you're awake enough to be on our side, it's better that we outnumber the threats in this forest as much as possible. You shouldn't even be in regular forests on your own unless you really know what you're doing, let alone this one." Always travel at least in a pair when hiking through the wilderness or in possibly zombie-infested forests!

1

"I belive he meant Arhem mnek'nra, Romulan for 'I am alright', to that I say, hveolhaonn am oelh aeh Ih'ahrrein I am glad, please be cautious" Ten spoke, sounding almost like a native speaker "And yes you should stay back so i can monitor you."

2

Hearing his fellow medic speak his language earned Ten an eyebrow raise and then a smile. "You did your research, your Rihannsu is fantastic," He complimented, surprised that not only was Ten proficient in the language, but could also translate for Nalas who... To be honest, Chyun didn't even realise the Bajoran was speaking Rihannsu, he thought it was just brain fog babble.

"Perhaps I can carry you?" he suggested. "Keeping you with us that way, and preventing you from moving too much." Saren too was not a fan of the idea of leaving a wounded person here, when they had no knowledge on what else could be wandering around the forest as they made decisions. He was also strong enough to be mobile while carrying another person on his back - and, well, if shit did hit the fan and Nalas decided to become a bit more aggressive... Saren would be the first to notice, and first to react accordingly.

"W-Wha-- Actually that sounds good," Nalas said as he glanced over at Ten who was preocupied carring the Ferengi. Saren was probably the second best person to carry him as everyone else had jobs to do that required full mobility or, in Ten's case, was already carrying someone.

Ten nodded "Yes I studied multiple languges at the academy, it is important to be able to comunicate with your patients. Even with the univarsal translaters there can sometimes be instances where one’s own knowledge is needed.” Ten glanced at the ferengi in has arms for a moment then pulled out a hypospray and injected him “A mild sedative, this should keep him subdued, phaser stuns only last a few moments, we can awake him once we need him.”

The Ferengi stopped twitching and writhing in Ten's arms. It seemed they were relaxed by it. Not cured, but they were suffering less. Easier to carry, too.

"I know standard, Ferengi, and I learned Rihannsu when I moved here. Other than that, I don't know many other languages... but I know a lot of bird calls!" Bob started walking again so they could move on and look for other clues.

3

[D] Totally having been there for most of the entire time, just standing somewhere nearby some distance safe distance away vibing and doing as he what he could to keep an eye out until the scream of bloody murder to which he rushed back and rejoined the rest of the group and got himself into speed with the current situation on hand with a look of concern to Nalas and the ZomboFerengi. "I can help keep an eye out." Paco said, pulling out a phaser and a tricorder before he took a deep breath to steady himself. "Prophets, guide us..." (edited)

1

"Prophets guide us," Nalas repeated Paco's words, feeling like as a Bajoran maybe now was a good time to start praying. His mother would surely be happy to hear him say that.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate; rosebushes covered most of the ground, and some sort of romulan squirrel had gotten tangled up in a bush and died. As they all walked along, they began to smell something. Something very stinky. Was it a corpse? Definitely possible. Eventually, on the ground, they all saw it: an absolutely mahoosive poop!

"...shit..." Paco said to himself as he stopped himself before nearly stepping on it. "like literally.... bad omens"

4

Chyun let out a laugh at the commend from the science officer and stopped walking when he saw the poo. It was times like these that he wished his breather would filter out bad smells, but it literally only worked to deliver Barzan gases into his mouth and sadly the gases carried no stench nor could they cancel out the bad stenches of other things. "Yeah, so..... The creature that did this shouldn't be too far. Everyone, stay on your toes-- or well I suppose for the lieutenant, stay where you are," He said, realising that Nalas was very much not on his toes.

With Nalas situated safely on his back in a piggyback carry, Saren trudged through the bushes, very aware of every sound and movement that his cautious mind deemed suspicious. The smell, though, was unexpected - and then seeing the pile itself... "... wait a second," he said, stepping to the front lines closer to the excrement, not believing his own pair of eyes for a second - but, no. There was no mistake here, and for a second there is an almost cowardly idea of turning back, as the Romulan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, the feeling of a hollow pit of concern and fear appearing in his stomach. "... This belongs to a iymn'irhhae. This... please tell me this island does not house a pack of them?.."

2

"is... is that bad?" Paco was about to scan the poop just out of fun curiosity of wildlife, but felt glad he didn't really need to as Saren mentioned it belonged to a iymn'irhhae, or colloquially, 'the Rorse'. He still decided to look it up on his tricorder since he never really saw such a possibly majestic creature from its name, but from how Saren said it, the scientist felt it would be less wholesome than he imagined.

"Iymn'irhhae," Chyun repeated the word and his eyes immediately went upwards and then side to side as if expecting one of the majestic but dangerous creatures to be lurking. "We will be in trouble if they are here," They had quite the away team, but not enough to fight off a rabid rorse. "I am sure the lieutenant can provide a better description than me, but they are bad, very bad," He then looked at Saren with a worried look as if to plead his exobiologist colleague for a magical plan to protect them from what he could only assume was a wild and rabid rorse.

"Noooo not the ill min ray hay!" Nalas said whilst being carried, repeating the word as best he could. He was still feeling pretty weak from the previous attack, but he didn't feel the urge to go feral so.. That was good.

"Yeah. There's iymn'irhhae here, for sure. Look at all this." She gestured to a line of broken branches and destroyed rosebushes, with tracks on the floor. "Those tracks look like it was going at a gallop, like it was chasing something." And this path of destruction... "Look." She pointed at a severed arm; the hand had the blue nails of a Ferengi. "I think it was chasing the poachers, which means they're probably in that direction... and so is the rorse. I'm gonna ask you guys a third and final time: do you want to go back?"

3

"In normal circumstances they are only hostile if you choose to bother them and present yourself as potential hazard or danger to them," he started to explain, as quietly as he could. "But unprovoked attacks on humanoids are rare. They also don't see us as prey, despite their infamous common name. But... I don't know if this one came into contact with the roses. And if it did... an animal of that size is completely, and utterly, unpredictable." The evidence of it's rampage, shown by the Ferengi, only supported that claim. "It didn't cover it's tracks," he nodded, "clearly too winded up with aggression, and... ah, fuck, the arm..." This really was the last chance to turn around - Saren was determined to get to the end of this, though, so his feet stayed firmly planted in the spot where he was standing.

"You could say it was.... Giving us a hand with catching the poachers," Nalas chimed in, still panicked but he had to slip in a comment. He was clinging as best he could to Saren, but to be honest the Romulan was doing most of the work.

"Certainly a nice handout of a clue coming from a Rorse shit situation if you ask me." Paco added as he looked over the severed Ferengi arm, indeed a very unfortunate string of events for both the poachers and now the group as they began to think over their next course of action. "If I may... we currently have an injured officer and a infected Ferengi... we could try communicating with the Eventide in advance for a beam up and quarantine for them both, give medicical and science up there a head start... which would mean turning back to be safe where Nalas could take off the PPE just in case." Paco suggested after giving it some thought over the situation, although the pollen so far has disrupted the tricorders, he felt it would be possible for the ship to have a better chance. "After that we could come back and continue the search where we left off..."

Nalas squirmed in Saren's arms, suddenly feeling a rush of dehydration wash over him. Was this it? Was this how he was gonna go? "U-Uhh, Saren, I think you should put me down," Nalas said as his body began to vibrate again and the hyperventilating was starting up again too.

Bawbee shoook her head. "I'd have to get permission from the higher-ups in Etrheielh Ahiuanai Mol'Rihan before we let two infected people leave this forest, and I don't think I can reach them while we're in here. In fact... I don't think we can beam people up in here, either. You'd have to leave the forest first, which means splitting up. That's... kind of a bad idea. We need to outnumber the poachers and this rorse as much as possible."

T’Asha was watching this all go down, and she wasn’t leaving. She didn’t know if she could handle leaving a job unfinished. But she knew, this was the closest to death she had ever gotten. This would be a way more gruesome end than drowning, that was for sure. She didn’t ever feel much empathy, but as far as she knew, Nalas was going to die painfully, and that did something to her. She knew it only took one suit puncture before she’d end up like him. But she had to stick with the group. There was a little safety in numbers. “I agree, we are better off all-together than split up.”

"I guess that substantially narrows our options then." Paco said with a nod after hearing Bawbee and T'Asha's opinions on the matter, the fact that they would be unable to get much help from outside the forest worried him greatly, especially with the urgency of Nalas' condition, the poaching, and the potential of any of them soon ending up like either the zombie Ferengi, or the unfortunate one who doesn't seem 'all right' at the moment... the thought of it made Paco clench his phaser a bit tighter. It was one thing to get stuck in the turbolift, and another to nearly die twice in the research deck... but this was absolute rorse shit! "Seems the only way out is forward... or wherever the poopy poopoo leads... and we have to do something soon or we'll be deeper in it."

Bawbee nodded. "You're right. Only way out is forward." And move forward they did, walking along the trail of hoof-prints until they came across the #campsite ...

3