Star Trek: Starbase 777

Sykes got sent to all sorts of divisions to, for lack of a better term, fuck with their systems for the greater good. And for now, she strayed her way down to engineering to, at the very least, try to help figure out what in the hell is going on, “Ah- Knock knock, anyone home?”

Karavix raised her head from her console. "Here." She gestured vaguely to where she sat, her expression still neutral. "Although, I am not 'home'. This is my workspace. I am keeping the station breathing..." Hm. "She is unwell. A corruption deep in her lungs. We have to be rid of it for everyone's sake, including hers."

“Figure of speech,” She mumbled as she made her way over to Karavix, resting a hand on the back of the chair the Reman was seated in, “Sounds like we got our work cut out for us…you heard from anyone else?”

No, she was about to say, before her combadge rang out with Vanik's voice. "There is your answer," she deadpanned, glancing up at the purple-clad officer looming above and wiggling her nose a little to push up her glasses. "We will be able to better assess the situation with more people present."

Having little to no clue what was going on, Dagis had decided to make her way down from the Operations hub to the Engineering hub to try and find someone who might. Peering into the hub from the corridor, the Ferengi slowly made her way in, PADD in her hands as she looked over some data. Overhearing what was said by the Junior Petty Officer, she both did and didn't get answers to her questions simultaneously. "I don't know 'diddly' or 'squat' about engineering, but I might be able to assist." The Chief Operations Officer commented as she approached.

“Agreed. At least there’s gonna be a couple more heads we can put together,” And speak of the Devil, here’s another head! Sykes nodded toward Dagis, and after she spoke, “I know systems in and out. White-hat hacker from CYSEC. I can assist as best I can, too.”

Vanik entered at that moment, quietly, striding across the room in fewer steps than it would take most to the group of officers. "Greetings," he said. "I was not on duty when the Yellow Alert was called," he said, though he was wearing his uniform. "But I am available now to assist in any way I am able."

So was she the only one actually familiar with the actual technical guts of the station?... Karavix raised a not-eyebrow, but said nothing on the subject, leaning forward in her chair. "Certainly. What do we do?"

Vanik also raised an eyebrow. "Have any scans been run? I have not heard any other communications traffic from the affected areas. Are COMMS down somehow?" He asked, making his way to a console next to Karavix and poising himself to start scans in tandem with her.

Oh, good, another actual engineer. "Ours are working fine, we just cannot make contact with those sealed with the...fog," Fog being present on a Starbase did not make sense. If only the scientists present weren't all trapped in the labs..

“So, we’re runnin’ into this a bit blind, then, huh?” She gently huffed. This was gonna get dicey, quick. Hopefully it didn’t ALREADY get dicey, but given the blindness, who knows, “You think we can send someone down there, figure out what’s goin’ on? Hazmat suit or somethin’?”

"That is...unfortunate." Vanik's eyebrows knitted together for a moment as he tapped away at his screen. "To restate the information that I was not present for upon original findings," *he said." "Communications are working in some areas and not where there is a peculiar fog present. Is there anything else of significance?"

Karavix prompted the computer for a scan of their own systems and the like. "Our systems are still functioning fine beyond communication with those inside. If we.." hmm.. "If we find a way to do so without spreading the fog, we could send someone in to investigate. However, safety is a concern, both to the unaffected areas of the station and the person who would be going."

"I'm not entirely sure how to get someone in, but would an EVA suit protect the person entering the fog?" Dagis suggested. "We could try to transport them in, but if we're unable to transport anyone out it could affect our ability to get someone in as well."

RE the comms: he did, in fact, get on down there! It was a couple of minutes later that Eicran walked into the engineering department, a hefty medical kit slung over one shoulder. He looked around for whichever group had amassed to talk about whatever that message on the comms had been. This place was giant. He was out of place in his white medical uniform. He probably looked so lost and -- oh, there was a group of people huddled together. "Hi," he started as he approached, tentatively raising a hand in greetings. "Am I in the right place to talk about uh - the strange call over the comms?"

"EVA suit would work fine, we would just have to remember to activate the filter to prevent breathing it in." Karavix chewed on her lip, eyes narrowed. "Ah— yes. We have sealed off the affected areas, and are presently working on how to get our people out, while keeping the fog in."

The hacker nodded toward the lieutenant commander, arms folded over her chest as she leaned against the wall, thinking about what the hell they’re gonna do, “Welcome welcome,” She hummed, “We’d still have a comms dead zone to worry about, EVA or no…”

"So - what's the situation with this 'fog' anyway? The first call over the PA was about the science labs, right? Then the medical bay-" where he would have been had he not gotten lost trying to find his way back from running a house call "-to the entertainment sector? So it's what - spreading through environmental systems? I'm sorry if that sounds obvious - or obviously wrong. I'm new aboard. I don't know the station's layout very well." He gave a sheepish smile at that before he swung his medical kit off his shoulder to set it down for the time being. "Do we have any sort of scans on what this fog is? Chemical, biological, radiological and all that?"

Rii had heard from the comms that several Starfleet officers were assembling in Engineering hub. As they approached the group, their head momentarily detached slightly, a subtle sign of their heightened attention. "Greetings everyone, Commander Rii at your service," They said quickly, introducing themselves before falling silent to assess the situation and hear what the group was talking about with the fog.

“You think we can run a scan? I mean- Hopefully it doesn’t get all tripped up, same with the comms, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt..?” She gave a glance to Vanik and Karavix. They were engineers, after all. Not her. Though, her attention is grabbed by the Pandronian. The…nearly headless Pandronian. It dawns on her at this moment she’d never encountered a Pandronian before, “Ah- Hi there, Commander.”

"Chemical in nature, but we are waiting on further details," Karavix had not waited for instructions and had ran another scan. Oopsie. "Including just what it is and what it is composed of."

He had no idea if they could run a scan, nor did he know anything about comms being tripped up. He had just been trying to gather information: and when you were dealing with a hazard, you needed to know what it was before you tried to dealt with the situation. "Chemical in nature, okay... And what's this about the comms? We can't talk to anyone in the areas that have been sectioned off?" Having been looking between the other people gathered, it was only after he had spoken that he turned and saw the XO. Eicran nearly jumped out of his skin, not wanting to deal with what appeared to be a floating decapitation, but then he realised their species. "Welcome, sir," he said with a nod. He was glad that the first officer was there: it meant that they all had someone to defer to for next steps.

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T'She had rushed to the engineering hub when it was mentioned that there were officers meeting there. They were worried... very worried, thinking about their coworkers who had not gotten out in time. Something was happening, and they didn't quite like it. "I apologize... for barging in. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help." They asked as they looked around, feeling a touch useless at the moment -- but they were sure that that would change soon enought -- for better or for worse.

"The analysis is currently pending, but it is not deadly in nature.. however, there is a risk for those involved of running out of oxygen, because it did travel through the environmental systems such as vents, which we had to shut off to contain the fog." she confirmed, nodding to the Commander and the newcomers (who she did not recognize one of as their XO, she did not keep up with station events enough.)

As more officers arrived Dagis quickly noted that her technically being the one in charge was no longer the case, which she was very much so glad about. She never enjoyed feeling like she was responsible for quite so much. Deciding listening was best right now, this circumstance far outside her comfort zone, the Ferengi did just that, paying attention to what everyone was saying, suggesting, and doing.

T'She thought back to a previous instance on the station, one that they had been present for, where the oxygen had been cut off from the medical wing due to... something. In that case, they were able to set up a simple filter that would keep them safe while also allowing oxygen back into their location. Perhaps something similar could work here? It would not hurt to suggest... at the very least. "If we can determine the makeup of the fog / gas, would it be possible to create some sort of filter that would keep it trapped in a certain area while also not impeding the flow of oxygen?" It was just a suggestion, and T'She was not sure if things worked like that but hey... worth a shot!

He had been glad for the suden arrival of another medical officer. Two pairs of hands were always better than just one - as were two brains! "That's a good idea," he mused while he took a step forward, trying to get a look at the console. Not as if he knew if it would show anything, but hey: he liked to be productive. "Would there be a way of uhm... Venting this 'fog' out and restoring the natural flow of oxygen to compensate? Is that something you can do on a starbase?" Starships were venting warp plasma and all sorts all the time, hence his idea... But he was very much a medical officer and not an engineer. He could have just thrown out the dumbest suggestion ever for all he knew. "Or like my fellow medic here suggests - if you can't get it out for now, direct it somewhere else where there aren't any people."

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"Before doing anything, we would have to find the source of the fog and properly dispose of it." It was a very good idea, but there were plot points to hit first. "Otherwise it would only make More Fog, which does not help our situation in the slightest. Problem is, we cannot contact with those who know the source.."

"Then... could we try to figure out the path of the fog from the places it has been and the time it took to get to each place? Kind of like... how pandemics are mapped... if that makes sense." T'She offered again, thinking that maybe if they have a map of where the fog went and when, they could maybe track down what caused it -- or at least... where it came from.

"That's very true," he said firstly to the Junior Petty Officer, "and another good idea!" That part was then given to the other medic. Eicran made a quick mental note to try to get their names at some point. Doing all the conversational nicities like 'hey, what's your name' had never come naturally to him, but he felt bad for thinking people solely by their rank or their job. "Chemical agents do not spawn in from nowhere. Could we find out if there's a log of anything replicated in the area, or anything delivered to there that might have contained this substance? Or even if the Computer recorded anything like chemical reactions - but that's a ehm, shot in the dark, I think they say? I'm not sure how much it actively logs." (edited)

Tappy tappy tappy on the console.... Searching, swiping, etc. Karavix leaned back a little in her seat, her expression set with a glimmer of determination. "Aside from the usual shipments, the only thing out of place is something that arrived earlier. An unknown capsule that was sent to the labs for analysis.." Ah. "Yikes." Very fitting, thank you Karavix.

“Yikes? What’s- What’s yikes?” The agent lifted up from where she was leaning to peek at Karavix’s console.

"Oh, the situation as a whole." Karavix clarified. "I need more information, but we cannot get it without venturing into the fog somehow.."

The medical officer folded his arms while he peered over the console as well. As Karavix said, they needed more information - but his gaze kept flitting back and forth over the console anyway, just in case it suddenly yielded any results. He liked to feel busy. "If a ship couldn't enter something like an ion storm then you'd send in a probe. Could we do that? Do we have... This might sound silly - but some sort of tricorder we could send through a vent? Like a drone?"

"How would we send it through the vent without unsealing the contaminated area?" It was, again, a good idea, but. Well.. "That is the only issue with such a plan that I can find."

“Could do the equivalent of putting it in a box and duct taping the top of the box to the vent we’re opening,” She shrugged, “…or somethin’.”

"Another very true point." He laced his fingers together with the exception of his pointer fingers, tapping them against his chin as he thought. "Can we think of this on a horizontal level?" The idea was there in his head, but it was difficult for him to work out how to put that into words. What had sprung to his mind was progressive horizontal evacuation protocols in healthcare facilities. "We get the drone as close as possible, and evacuate anyone from that section. We seal the bulkhead to there, so if the fog spreads when we open a vent to get the drone through, there would be no casualty and we would be keeping the fog contained."

“Box ‘n duct tape,” She nodded toward Eicran, a grin splitting across her face.

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"Rii absorbed the discussion between the officers. Keeping their body attached the entire time. Just because they were the first officer on the station doesn't mean they have to instantly take command of the situation, especially since many of the officers didn't fully yet know them yet. * *When the suggestions about the box and Eicran's idea arose, a section of Rii's torso lifted slightly, getting an idea, before resettling into place. "Perhaps we could utilize the forcefield systems instead of duct tape to contain the fog,"

Vanik nodded, listening intently to all the officers discussing options. When Cdr. Relem mentioned forcefields, he ran a systems check to see if they were enabled and operational. (edited)

Operational and good to gooo!

Karavix pondered the idea, twirling a pen between her fingers as she thought. "If it is what must be done, so be it," she finally answered, which was her own cryptic way of saying "fuck it we ball". "I do not see any reason it would not work." (edited)

“I have run a systems check. The containment fields are operational.”

Look at this! What good ideas people could produce when they put their heads together. Eicran was glad that his horizontal evacuation-based idea had made sense, and that the others with more technical know-how could expand upon it. Then he realised that a drone tricorder wasn't a normal piece of equipment that somebody would have on hand. "...I guess the next step is one of our fine engineers creating this drone tricorder for us?" (edited)

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“At the very least, I can help out with the programmin’ side of things, and some spot weldin’ here and there. Used to work salvage,” Sykes offered as the plan came together. Bless her, there’s nothing to hack.

1

Karavix's eyes lit up. Just a little, but there nonetheless. They needed something remotely controllable with all the proper parts of a tricorder...okay. Didn't sound too difficult! She booted up a program to start blueprinting. (edited)

Vanik nodded and leaned over to peek at Karavix's blueprinting, and decided to efficiently work on a part she wasn't working on on his own console. Probably the mechanism that makes it GO. Because Vanik was a Warp Core Engineer, basically a glorified Space Mechanic.

Correct, Karavix was mostly focused on the tricorder part for the time being. "Lieutenant," inclining her head to Sykes, "would you mind starting on the program? We can load it into the device after loading the recipe into the replicator." She paused. "When we are not in an emergency, I would like to refine this design in the future with your permission and credit given where it is due, Commander Kehal. I believe we can do some great things with it." For now, it was a prototype. Just had to get it functional. (edited)

"I'm not exactly qualified in drone building or tricorder modifying, but I know how this starbase's systems work and know a few basic things in LCARS if that's of any help." Dagis offered, wanting to offer herself as an extra set of hands and an extra brain, more than anything.

The CYSEC agent grinned when given her weight to pull, grabbing a seat at another free console, “Would I mind? Heh. No, wouldn’t mind at all,” Time to get to work! (edited)

After much poking around, they had, at least, a working prototype. Now to enact the plan..

“Think that oughta do it, y’all,” Sykes stepped back from the prototype after inputting some finishing touches, resting her PADD against her forearm, “Let’s hit this thing outta the park.”

Life was under her fingertips. The drone reminded her of a little baby bird about to learn how to fly; clumsy, misshapen, heartbeat fluttering in her hands. She snapped from her daze to hand off the drone. "Very well. I can control the vent triggers from here, as well as the forcefield.. I believe we can get close to the fog using the vents in the operations hub. If someone wishes to send the call to evacuate the area."

Rii maintained a watchful presence as the experts worked, their mint-green form deliberately positioned to avoid interfering with the engineering teams. While their tactical background might have offered some insights, they recognized this wasn't the time for a command officer to micromanage. * *When the call for evacuation happened, Rii piqued up and announced. *This One will coordinate the evacuation," *Tapping their communicator, they spoke with clear, measured voice: "This is First Officer Rii Pin Relem. All personnel in the operations hub are ordered to evacuate immediately."

She should probably say something, right? Uh.. "Make your way to the operations hub. Give me the signal when you are ready," Karavix said simply.

T'She looked around from their position in the room, most definitely ready to go by this point. They wanted to get to the bottom of this, and they wanted to help those who had become stuck in the strange fog -- whatever it was. And so, when the others were ready, they would follow to the operations hum.

“I’m stickin’ with our friend the drone, just in case somethin’ pops up in the code,” She tapped her PADD, “Should be able to handle it wirelessly…” Keyword ‘should.’ In any case, the agent made her way to OPS.

A sudden Sykes!!! With the drone and forcefield set up, she slid her way back into engineering, ready for the ball to really get rolling, “Let’s hit it.”

Once the room was emptied, everything was in place. The drone had slid into place effortlessly and connection to the PADD was stable. Now for maneuvering through the vent to get to the fog...

Eicran had been milling around in the background while the more technologically-adept officers worked. As much as he'd like to contribute, he had no idea how to turn a tricorder into a drone other than by replicating a set of wheels and gluing it all together. He kept his distance so the others could work, but he did do his best to peer over people's shoulders so he could observe. This was interesting, okay! Once everything had been set up he bounced on his toes, eager to see what the tricorder might yield. "How long until it starts picking things up?" He asked to whoever was driving their funky remote-controlled tricorder. "Can it get a reading on the origin of the fog? Its composition?" He hoped they might be able to get at least a bit of information on the status of the people within the sealed off areas too. The more they knew, the better himself and his fellow medical officer could prepare.

"On it," Karavix reported, promoting the drone for a scan.

And scan the little drone did. The mostly empty hallways were occasionally dotted with a poor soul writhing with the nightmares afflicted on them, but there was nothing to be done for them like this. The fog was composed of hallucinogenic chemicals, and got thicker as they moved through the vents towards the science labs. Peering through the slits of one such vent showed a broken capsule in one of the labs, fog still oozing from it, glass shards and small spots of blood scattered on the floor.

"Hallucinogens," he mused, and found himself wondering if there had been an issue with comms or if the officers were too busy wrapped up in hallucinations to answer. He crept forwards to hover over the console and take a look at the readings in more detail. It must have been some strong psychedelics if that was the case. "So this capsule, whatever it is and where ever it came from, was containing this 'fog'?" The question had mostly been him talking to himself, but he'd definitely appreciate any input from the others too! "Do you think it's doing more than containing it - it's creating it? It feels like that wouldn't be large enough to hold enough fog to spread through multiple decks."

"Creating it... given the proper components and chemical compounds, it is certainly possible," Karavix confirmed with a nod. "I do not see any other reason it would spread so far besides."

"Do we have enough information on the particles to..." Vanik's brows knitted together. He wasn't sure this would work. "feed its chemical composition to environmental controls, so that it can be evacuated or filtered out somehow? Are environmental controls operational at this time?" He asked the room, but immediately started working on his console to check the status of the environmental controls.

"Functional, but the problem of the capsule still remains. We have to find a way to contain or dispose of it before we can flush out the rest of the hallucinogens.." Hmm.

"This seems too simple but can we get a transporter lock on the capsule and beam it...somewhere else? Or maybe erect a barrier around it so that whatever fog is escaping it cannot escape the containment field." His eyebrows were still knitted and he could feel anxiety welling in his throat. It was making his voice hoarse.

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This was the first time he had properly worked together with a group of people from different divisions aboard Starbase 777. Eiran was very happy to find that it was a good first time! Everyone here was so smart, and people of all ranks were coming together to work this out. "That's a good idea. For the capsule... I'm not a master on transporters, but could we, you know - beam it out? Put it somewhere like the uninhabited decks for now, or into a giant sealed container... Or straight to outside the starbase?"

Vanik looked at the Commander and nodded. It was assuring that he'd had a similar thought. "Yes, exactly." Vanik said quietly.

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Karavix ran a scan, and frowned. "Upsetting. At a time like this, our transporter controls are not functional. Something must be shorting them out." (edited)

"Can we... Get them back online?" It was probably a stupid question and the JPO would have been looking into that already. The next thing he could think of was them using their forcefield airlock system and physically sending someone in wearing an EV suit. Then they could, he didn't know... Put the capsule in that sealed container he had thought of before, maybe.

Karavix was about to answer that it would take quite some time to do so, enough that the situation would certainly worsen beforehand, but..!!! Someone contacting engineering through the emergency button on the turbolift!? "Oh. Well, that is certainly something." (edited)

Listening to the comms, the medic's eyes widened at what was said. "Three people killed? Was this person in any of the areas hit by the fog? Could they have hallucinated this..?" The alternative was something that Eicran didn't want to consider.

“Well…hell, this is…” Sykes chewed thoughtfully on her inner cheek. She didn’t imagine it was all gonna be sunshine and roses, but it’s certainly a bit of a blow to hear about nevertheless, “Work cut out for us…” She muttered. She just saw Vovvi a little bit ago, too. God willing it was just hallucination. (edited)

Getting overwhelmed by the amount of comms dropping in, Karavix's expression betrayed just a moment of panic before she steeled her nerves. "I will stay on the line with the civilians. And get in touch with those officers," she said finally. Killed.. Gods. (edited)

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Karavix swallowed, her hands barely shaking where they were braced against the console. The possibility of casualties was low, but not zero. "What else can we do?"

Sykes had been leaning, the back of her head pressed to the wall she was up against. She was doing her best to think. Think, think, think! What else could they do? “…hell in a hand basket, uh-” She cleared her throat, “Could try ‘n get the drone to the science team, so we’ve got some semblance of consistent communication? If the fog’s still trippin’ up the comms.”

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"And the camera isn't affected by the fog beyond slight visual disturbance, so we could lead the way to the capsule.." Karavix exhaled, nodding. "It could work. We couldn't talk to them directly, but it could work."

“But we can lead ‘em in the right direction,” Sykes lifted herself up from her position, steeling herself just a little bit after her suggestion is received well, “We know where we’re goin’, and we won’t be hallucinatin’ anything.”

Karavix sucked in her cheeks. "We should really name that drone..."

"Foghorn," She offered as a name. Definitely not 'Drono...'

"I like Foghorn. Or...something lighthouse aligned." Karavix turned her attention to Kehal, who had the idea in the first place. "It is your decision in the end, Commander."

"Lamb to the slaughter," Karavix mumbled miserably. Their baby was being sacrificed..

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"That was some good work on the comms," he said to the JPO, having been listening how calmly they provided instructions to those within the 'fog.' Trying to get one of them to seal the capsule themselves instead of sending someone else in could well work. "Maybe we should have named it Sacrifice. ...I wonder if the Computer would have time to analyse the fog and synthesise something to combat it: another airborne substance that we could put through the environmental controls. Or if not, we can still be ready to vent all of it out, is that right?"

"Mean. Mean to him," retorted the Engineer, still slightly distraught by the potential loss of their drone. It was better than people being lost, however.. "Nonetheless, thank you, Commander. I'm running the scan now."

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"Mean to him indeed," he agreed and gave a nod. He bounced on his toes at his position near the console. Eicran was so used to being in the thick of the action and working with laser-sharp focus on one thing - it made being away from everything strange, filling him with an adrenaline-fueled energy that wasn't going anywhere. Well. He likes to hope it was going to his brain. Maybe that's why he had started rapidly thinking of things they should do for when the teams were out. "Do we know which areas of medical were hit by the fog? Were there certain wards? I'd like to find more medics to be standing by for when this fog clears, but they all might be in it. Then there's the status of any patients too. The medbay might not even be useable. Maybe a temporary triage zone somewhere..." He was mostly talking to himself now, muttering his thoughts and ideas out loud.

Karavix, once again, fully intended to run a scan and answer the question. She was rudely interrupted by the camera being commandeered by...a fleshy, dog shaped thing, and the feed cut. "What."

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Having snapped himself out of his muttering, he had caught the end of poor Foghorn's life as well. "Wait," he started, brow furrowing. "Did we just see whatever they're seeing? Some... Animal? If they're hallucinating, that shouldn't be on camera." Was there something else going on here that they didn't understand? "...Do we have a log of how this capsule got aboard?" Was it doing more than producing hallucinogens? Was it, he didn't know - technologically tapping into the hologrid and making everything seem more tangible and real than a hallucination would? He didn't know - and he didn't like the fact he didn't know.

T'She had tuned in, their worry getting the best of them. They knew it probably wasn't their place to comment, but they felt the need to nonetheless. "What... do you mean, 'what', what do you think happened?"

“Son of a bitch, you’re kidding.” There goes all their hard work! Up in smoke- Or, fog, more like it. What in the hell just destroyed it?

"It should not be on camera. It should not have been able to interact with the camera." Karavix stared. She could do nothing but stare in horror at the black screen on her PADD. Finally shaking herself off, she went to search for the logs. "It was.. brought on from an away team for analysis in the labs. An audit that they wanted to study. It does not appear to be foul play.."

"Maybe it's some sort of technology... Or maybe it has some sort of defence mechanism that activated when they were researching it." Had the glass smashing been someone accidentally breaking it, or had it broke itself? Maybe his imagination was getting away from him now. "Did the tricorder pick up anything from it, like what's causing the chemical reaction, or if something's powering it?"

"The chemical was trapped inside the capsule itself, but I could not say how they are actually able to manifest in reality." Karavix was searching for something, anything to do, because she had directly put these scientists in danger now, and she had to fix it. How could she fix it. What could she do?

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Sykes was in about the same boat. All of the code she put into that thing was the best she could muster, and now it was sparking and sputtering on the ground and in the gut of some kind of freak dog. The agent started to pace back and forth, trying to get her gears turning, “Devil went down to Georgia…hmhmhmmmhmhmmm…” It was her thought process. Give her a bit.

"Do we know if there is any way to filter the fog and its effects out? I have... an idea... though people might not like it." They said as they tried to put their thoughts together and all that. "Basically... if we can get rid of the effects through a respirator, we can go in there and help."

"We do not have any respirators available to us. And we still risk choking up the rest of the station in fog now that we do not know if they manage to seal the capsule away.." Karavix answered dully, feeling numb.

T'She held back the urge to curse about this. They just felt... useless in this situation.

2

"We could... enter anyway, create another seal, but without respirators we run the risk of becoming victims to the hallucinogen ourselves," Ideas bounced around her head, none of them good. Dangerous ideas were all they had to run on right now. (edited)

“I mean- Have we got much else of a choice?” Sykes asked exasperated, “We at the very least would know it’s a hallucination, it ain’t real, yeah?”

Karavix sucked in her cheeks, squeezing her hands into fists. "I.. suppose." It didn't help with the whole meat flesh dog situation, but..

"What about... Space suits? Things that seal people off from the environment itself?" By this point they were blindly throwing out ideas. "It's a far shot... but this is the engineering hub..."

"We could treat this with full CBRN protocol. Like my medical friend here says," he still didn't know T'she's name, or the name of anyone here, "EV suits. Or - tape up any seals on our uniform, the works. If we could get to an area of medical or science that haven't been hit by the fog, then there should be full HAZMAT equipment there." And with the forcefield airlock system they had made for the vent... If they could move that to over a door, then they should be able to send people in. "If we go in armed then maybe we'll stand a chance against these... Manifestations. At least we'll know that they're not really real. It might give the others the courage to fight back, too."

Okay. Better. Better ideas all around. "How will we stay in contact, to know when it is time to flush the hallucinogen out?" That was her only issue, really..

"We could... make another drone as a guide perhaps? That seemed to work last time. Though... it might take too much time..." They added, thinking about how the drone could guide them when they needed to get out of there.

"Our drone made it in and was still functioning... And we've got people on the comms, but there were issues with them, right?" He thought back to the times when communications had been scrambled by the Klingons, or the Voth, or any other person the Federation had been in a war with. "How about we go old-school? Two-way radio?" He would have provided information on UHF and VHF, but he didn't know it. Another one of this roleplayer's characters would have been able to provide that information, but the roleplayer was too busy trying to decide whether to kill him off or not, so he hadn't been able to be here today.

4

"I don't think that kind of signal got blocked by doors and walls back when that technology was commonplace, but the majority of the doors on this starbase are designed to be blast proof. Would a radio transmission be able to get through?" The Ferengi enquired, having definitely not been t-posing in the corner for the majority of the events that have taken place. She didn't know much about old fashioned communications systems, but you didn't work in Operations without overhearing a few ~~nerds~~ officers talk about 21st century technology. Besides, a certain organisation who will remain unnamed may or may not have put her through additional survival training, and basic technology was a part of that.

A radio signal would probably not work, unfortunately, judging by further poking around.

"We can hope they think to get back to the computer lab to get back in contact with us.." Karavix was beginning to feel hopeless as well, but they just had to push through. There was a solution, right? Had to be.

"So do we go in after them, or let the people in the science lab area get to the capsule himself?" He wondered, looking back and forth between the group. With any luck the science team would manage - and maybe that would give those outside of the fog more time to prepare to help them once they were out.

"I... would feel better knowing that someone outside of the influence of the hallucinations was working on this task, personally," T'She spoke quietly, "Perhaps we can send a small team to help them?"

He nodded in agreement with T'She. "Good idea. Just in case - and to make sure that at least someone gets to that canister."

"I volunteer to go in, if we are taking volunteers for this task." They nodded seriously.

"Then I'll go with you." Not only had he spent almost the entirety of his medical career in the field - including in a CBRN-threat Elachi wasteland zone where he had dealt with HAZMAT scenarios 24/7 - but like he had said earlier. Two pairs of hands were always better than one. If they could treat anyone on scene while getting to this capsule, the two of them working together would give the injured a better chance.

Glancing around at the others, the somewhat short woman decided that now was as good a time as any to ~~volunteer as tribute~~ help out in a way she knew how: Physically. "I can go in instead of you'd prefer, Commander. I know my way around this starbase like the back of my hand, and I'd much rather personally keep one of the more experienced medical professionals aboard the base outside the danger zone. Alternatively, we could all go in, which might if anything increase our chance of success." Wow, way to sound Logical all of a sudden.

1

"Sending in one person means fewer people at risk... But if anything happens, we've got more chance of managing as a team." Abandoning his position by the console, Eicran walked over to where he had set down his medical kit earlier. Despite its heaviness, he soon had it slung over one shoulder again. "Lets go find us some EV suits, will we?"

Karavix hesitantly got up to follow, having some poor off-screen Engineer take her place at her console. "Very well, if we must.."

"That sounds like the best idea at the moment." T'She spoke as they went to follow everyone else.

Vanik watched as the group began to leave, having been running scans and listening mostly. He was only an Ensign...he just wanted to do his best. "Would it be logical for one person to remain here? Or shall we all go?" He asked, nervous.

"Do you want to stay and monitor things? See if you can keep up the comms line with us - or work your engineering magic if it goes down?" The choice was the Ensign's, and he completely understood wanting to stay or wanting to go.

Vanik's eyebrows knitted together very slightly and he nodded at the Lt. Cdr. "I will..remain here in the case that anyone else reaches out on Communications, or so that I can repair things remotely if necessary." (edited)

1

Nodding at the Commander's comment about going and finding EV suits, Dagis stepped forward to follow suit. She was admittedly not looking forward to what might be to come, but she trusted everyone present to do a good job and keep each other safe. Completing the mission was what was important right now, not her concerns or fears.

Sykes had very politely offered to stay behind in engineering, as she realized that she was probably not the best of individuals to head out into Hell when she was nothing but a glorified programmer. At the very least, she could admit her faults. Tensely seated in the chair in front of the console Karavix had left open, Sykes drummed her fingers against the keyboard, “…my names Johnny, and though it might be a sin…damnit all.”

Alright! ALRIGHT! Now she can do things!! Giving a nod to Vanik, she pulled closer up to the console and started clicking vents on, “Here we go, Ensign.”

The fog was vented out, safely lifting off of the affected decks. There would still be some time before those hallucinating recovered their full mental bandwidth, but they were safe at last.