Star Trek RPG - Mission #2: "Primum Nil Nocere"

Kylah backs into the room, then does a double-take when she sees the carnage on the floor. A bout of nausea hits her and she glances at Collins before returning to look at the phaser. Her hand fairly itches to grab it, but she knows it's not her place. At first, seeing the hatches and the cruelly slaughtered security guards, she thinks this might be some kind of detention area, but then she realizes the door would probably not have been so easy to open if that were the case.

The thought makes her look away from the dead bodies--something she's relieved to do--and return focus to the door. "Can this entrance be secured from this side?" she asks in a low voice, addressing the two men closest to her--Pourtash and Rangin. Speaking more loudly seems disrespectful to the corpses strewn on the ground. She adds, "And those hatches--might they lead to escape pods or shuttles of some kind?"

Collins grabs one of the dead guards' phasers for herself, and tosses the other one to Pourtash. "Okay. That's better." she says "Lieutenant," she addresses Pourtash, "if you're not up to it, please give the phaser to Doctor T'Var. Ensign Kylah, Check the panel. It should tell us which hatch leads where. Everyone, stay alert!"

This is still a hallway, a continuation of the same one you were in before, not a room. There is only the single Sakathian phaser that anyone can see with the naked eye; Rangin's tricorder scan picks up no sign of any other weapon.

Collins also notices scorch marks, probably left by the phaser, on several walls and the floor. The hatches are, indeed, for access to lifepods - or, at least, where lifepods used to be. They aren't there anymore.

Kylah thinks she can seal the door behind the party, between you and the advancing zombies.

T'Var remains fully alert and ready for action as only a Vulcan can be.

The doctor will do whatever is necessary to protect those around her.

T'Var does not relish making a last stand here against the altered Sakathians.

Once Kylah seals the door through which they came, Collins looks at the others. "Doctor," she addresses T'Var, "take this brief time to check on everyone before we move on." Collins turns her walks cautiously towards the corridor through which they will continue their journey. She listens for the breathing of a slime devil or other foe as she visually scans the route. Satisfied that the room they are in is, at least for the moment, she begins searching for other weapons or tools that could be of use.

T'Var does as ordered. She scans everyone -- even those who seem healthy and well -- with her medical tricorder. She continues to provide first aid as necessary.

The doctor then reports her findings to Collins. "I am most concerned with Mr. Fujishiro, though anyone attacked by the altered Sakathians is in immediate need of further medical attention and observation." T'Var sighs heavily. "We must get off this station as quickly as possible."

T'Var's scans and personal observations show that Fujishiro is feverish and even sicker than before. Her blood readings and brainwaves are changing in a very odd way that T'Var hasn't seen before. The young Japanese woman says, though, "I'm fine, Doctor. Let's just keep going." Waite and Pourtash are also both running slight fevers.

Collins hears and sees no signs of a slime devil. None shows up on tricorder scan. She finds no other weapons or tools.

"Right, then" Collins asserts "Onward, same marching order. The sooner we get off this station, the better."

"Excuse me sir, if you don't mind me asking, but where are we heading for?" asks Rangin, "What other ways are there off this station? "

"To the transporters, to get to the shuttle, and then the hell out of here," Collins replies calmly

T'Var is grateful to be moving again. The sooner they are all off this station, the better.

The doctor is eager to provide more comprehensive care to her shipmates in need -- and to study the tissue samples she took earlier.

Kylah is preoccupied staring down at the dead Sakathians. "Excuse me," she murmurs to her superior officers. "I am troubled by our finding only one phaser." She glances up at Collins and T'Var, concerned, and her voice is halting as she continues. "The altered Sakathians--from what I--from what Dr. T'Var and the others have told us--do they seem rational enough to steal and use such a weapon? And why not take both?"

"No, the Saka-zombies seem more the 'crush/kill/destroy' variety" Collins postulates. She looks along the outer wall where the pods used to be. "Ensign," she tells Kylah and points to a control panel, "see if there is any info as to who took the pods" She looks at the group "Pourtash, stay here with the others, I'm going on ahead, just a bit, for recon"

Sakathian weapon in hand, Collins ventures ahead. The hallway goes on for another 20 meters, then turns to the left, ending at another door identical to the one you recently passed through.

Kylah calls up the lifepod database and sees that all of the lifepods along this row ejected in the past half-hour, each within five minutes of each other. She remembers the dull, distant thuds you all heard in the common room during that time, and realizes that those might have been the sounds of the lifepods being ejected. The database does not state who took the lifepods, or how many people were in each; simply that they were operational and ready, that the hatches were opened and resealed, and that the lifepods then departed.

"Can we get moving again, please?" Waite asks, sounding a little strained.

T'Var is concerned that Collins has taken it upon herself to "recon" ahead. In the Vulcan's opinion, it would be better -- and safer -- for all of them to stay together. However, Collins is still in command. T'Var will follow orders unless there is a logical reason not to follow them.

The doctor frowns at Waite. "You are safe, Henry," she tells him. "At least safer than you would be on your own." T'Var's frown deepens. "And we will move again when it is best to do so."

Collins rejoins the group "Everyone ready? Let's move on" When they get to the door, Collins taps the panel next to it to open it, her phaser aimed and ready

Kylah finishes following Collins's command and returns to her position in the line, where she looks past the others to stare down the corridor in the direction her mission leader explored. She ignores the whinging Dr. Waite, of course, though her contempt for him only continues to grow. During the Denebian Slime Devil attack, he'd likely be dead by now if it weren't for her knife throw and Pourtash's quick instincts, and both she and Rangin had nearly been killed fighting the beast in Waite's stead. Not a word of thanks from the human. A coward and an ingrate, as well as a disgrace to his profession. If he survives this, may he receive the full force of punishment he deserves for his involvement in this revolting experiment.

At least her hand feels better. She flexes it automatically and ponders the mystery of the missing phaser among all the other curiosities of this disastrous turn of events. Was the phaser taken by an escaping victim? How did the comm system go down if not sabotaged, or has it something to do with whatever caused the lights to go out as well? Are the altered Sakathians gaining in cunning?

Above all she's wondering about the whereabouts of the two most senior Sakathians on the station. Was it not Chief Porr's duty to form a strategy to quell the attackers? And Director Geb, she should have attempted contact with the rest of her crew before the comm system shut down. Of course there are the lifepods... but surely neither of them would have fled the station without doing all they could to neutralize the threat. Have they been killed--or altered? Or collaborating? she thinks darkly, mulling over the stolen phaser.

We cannot know unless we find them, and cannot find them unless we move forward. Sighing, Kylah clutches the knife for strength and waits for orders.

When at last Collins returns, she gladly follows the crew down the corridor, keeping her senses alert for anything behind the door.

The door opens at once, revealing a hallway with intermittent lighting extending another 30 meters straight ahead. There are several bloodstains and chunks of matted hair on the floor close to the door you just came through, and three evenly-spaced doors on the left wall. Kylah translates the Sakathian door markings as denoting, from first to last, Supply Storage, Machine Shop and Transporter Room.

T'Var's keen ears pick up the indistinct moans and calls of "zombies" somewhere behind and to the left of the Yorktown party.

"Altered Sakathians are very close," T'Var informs the group. "Behind us."

The doctor glances at Kylah, then points at the doors to their left. "Can you translate, Ensign?" she asks.

T'Var hopes at least one of these doors leads to safety.

Rangin pulls put the tricorder and starts scanning to get a better lock on where the altered Sakathians might be.

"The transporters are just ahead. Let's hustle." Collins tells her crew.

After relaying the translations to her superiors, Kylah hangs back near the door and hurries to attempt to seal it behind her, as she did the earlier one. Not that sealing that one seems to have done much, but she hopes any small delay might help them. The machine shop might have tools to weld this shut, she thinks, not to mention something more deadly to use as a ranged weapon...

But if they can get to the transporter room and off the station, no weapons will be necessary. Kylah dismisses the idea and works on the door. Once it is sealed, she'll race forward with the others.

Kylah finds no useful text on or near the doors other than what she already read.

Rangin's tricorder indicates the zombies are within 50 meters, behind and to the left as T'Var's hearing indicated, and closing steadily.

Collins assembles her Starfleet crewmates and Dr. Waite in the hallway near the transporter room's door.

Kylah closes and locks the hallway door though which you just passed.

With a low cry, Fujishiro goes limp in Dr. Waite's arms. She is unconscious. He gently lowers her to the deck.

Collins turns and rushes to Fujishiro's side, aware that if she awakens before they get her back to the Yorktown, she may be zombified. "What can I do to help, T'Var?" Collins asks.

T'Var also rushes to provide whatever help she can to Fujishiro. She does a quick scan, then looks at Collins with a sigh.

"There is not much more I can do while we remain on this station," the doctor tells Collins.

Using a hypospray, T'Var sedates Fujishiro so that she will not regain consciousness until it is medically safe.

"I have sedated Fujishiro until further medical care is available."

Collins checks the supply closet and the machine shop for a cart or a gurney or something similar.
If there is one she helps T'Var load Fujishiro onto it for easy conveyance
If there isn't, she directs Waite to again assist in getting Fujishiro to their destination.

Collins also checks the rooms for additional weapons and supplies, and asks Kylah to assist in that to make it go quickly, since time is of the essence.

Assuming the rooms are unlocked and accessible, Kylah will assist Collins as ordered.

In the meantime, despite the longshot of being able to gauge anything from this distance, Kylah's mind keeps focusing on the transporter room, wondering if anyone has already reached the room and is lying in wait for them. She might be paranoid but it can't hurt to be overcautious in a situation like this. The two dead security guards in the previous area are proof that the altered Sakathians have already made it that far. Is it possible they've already reached the transporter room, too?

Dr. T'Var has no actual medical reason to think that Fujishiro will necessarily turn into a zombie, given her current condition, or that sedating her will keep her from turning into a zombie if that is indeed a danger. As far as T'Var knows, the only zombies seen have been Sakathians. Does she still wish to sedate the unconscious young Japanese officer?

The Supply Storage and Machine Shop doors are both locked.

Kylah knows that, given the layout of the station, it is quite possible that zombies have reached the transporter room by now.

Pourtash asks, "Why don't we just scan the transporter room by tricorder to see if anyone's in there?"

When Pourtash speaks, Kylah turns toward the transporter room. Suddenly she shudders and a soft, involuntary groan escapes her lips. "Something's wrong," she whispers, rushing to the room--both hands now clasped almost prayerfully on her knife hilt to prevent herself from touching the door panel. She knows she can't go inside, she knows the others must go first. Yet her wide eyes cannot look away. "Something's very wrong."

Having found where the creatures are behind the party, Rangin swings his tricorder across to the transporter room and starts scanning for anything unusual.

"Don't worry, Kylah, if something is wrong, I'll see if I can find it before it finds us."

While Rangin scans the transporter room, Collins looks for some sort of control panel to unlock the doors.

Reason T'Var has sedated Fujishiro is not specifically out of a "zombie" concern, but because she feels it might be a good idea to keep her sedated until they can transport off the station rather than have to deal with the possibility of her going in and out of consciousness -- and dividing the focus of the party from their current priority -- which is getting the heck off this darn station! Perhaps I should've been more clear with my post. Sorry about that. If you think T'Var should mention her reasons for her actions, just let me know. Otherwise, we can move on and hope the transporter room is zombie free. Also, please feel free to PM me with any and all ideas/suggestions regarding my character in future. Input is always most welcome and appreciated! Thanks.

T'Var sedates Fujishiro, who slips more deeply into unconsciousness. The Vulcan healer decides this is the least bad option, under the circumstances. She monitors her condition with her medical tricorder.

Pourtash looks oddly at Kylah. "What are you talking about?" he asks.

Rangin's tricorder picks up five humanoid life signs inside the transporter room - two human, three Sakathian. None of them seem to be zombies, although one of the Sakathian's biosigns are unusual.

Collins finds almost-identical small control panels at shoulder level to the left of each of the three doors.

Collins examines the panels to determine which combination of buttons and switches will open the locked doors.






I have a D6 with sixes on each side - could you use that to roll my success?

Kylah helps Collins with the panels, and Waite has a look, too. They seem securely locked. "Some of these doors only open with a palm scan of someone with Sakathian DNA," the Miskatonic researcher says.

Kylah is too distracted to hear Pourtash's question and when Collins asks about the other two doors she reads the panels in a barely audible murmur, still unable to keep her mind from the transporter room.

But when Waite comments about the Sakathian palm print, she aims a vicious look at him and spits out: "Oh, but there will be plenty of Sakathian DNA in a matter of seconds--all we'll ever need is following us outside this hallway! Thanks in large part to you, you pitiful, disgraceful sham of a scientist!"

Something is emanating toward her and from her and she needs to express it, needs to do anything to jettison the current thoughts racing in her mind along with the rush of memories going back to when she first threw the knife at that altered Sakathian. When she stared impotently at the lab just before fleeing and knew, knew, that she and the rest of the Starfleet crew were abandoning the helpless people remaining inside.

She spins to face Collins, then T'Var, who was there with her at that moment and who Kylah feels should somehow understand what she's feeling. "We have to get inside that room now. Someone--not just us--is in great torment!" Her voice is on the razor's edge of hysteria and she backs up to the door, lifting her knife at it wildly. "We left people behind before, running away like rodents from a ship; we left those people to die... or worse! Not again, Dr. T'Var, I beg you!" She returns to plead to Collins. "We five who are able fighters must enter and save who we can, now. Shall we be as guilty as this wretched human and the others who authorized this abominable experiment? For if we delay it will be our fault! Ours!"

The words have just escaped her lips when she regrets them--hardly even knows where they came from. But while her face is aflame, she stands her ground, willing to slam her own hand on the door panel if no one else does so soon.

Rangin can feel Kylah's emotion pouring off her and wonders if she can be distracted or calmed down somehow. Perhaps a few suggestions to be discussed might work.

"Is there any way to communicate with the people inside, maybe they could let us in. Is there anyway to bypass it, get it open remotely. A more gruesome thought, perhaps, one of the hands from the dead guards in the last area, would that work? and..."

He stops for a moment, paused in thought before continuing.

"...if you were in a situation like this and found yourself trapped in the transporter room, wouldn't you be beaming yourself away instead of waiting around?"

"All good points, Mr. Rangin," T'Var says.

The doctor turns to Kylah. "We must try to remain calm, Ensign. We will do what we can in this situation. We must be able to think clearly."

T'Var then addresses the entire group. "What is the best course of action at this point in time?" she asks. "Not what we should be doing or would want to do -- what we actually have the ability to do."

Lt. JG Pourtash's voice takes on a harsher edge. He says to Kylah, "You will calm yourself, Ensign, and treat civilians - even those you don't like - with courtesy. Is that clear? And to repeat: What are you talking about?"

Waite says almost simultaneously to Dr. T'Var, "Mr. Collins is in command here. But I thought we were trying to get off the station? Because that's what transporter rooms are for. Right?"

Rangin hears the moans and cries of the Sakathian zombies getting louder in the distance. Collins can just barely hear them, too.

Collins abandons her attempt to obtain anything from the locked rooms and goes to open the door to the transporter room, phaser at the ready. "Everyone, be ready to get to the pads as quickly as possible"

T'Var prepares herself for whatever they may find in the Transporter Room. She pays particular attention to Fujishiro. The doctor will make sure her crewmate is protected.

Kylah lowers her arm and shifts her angry stare to Pourtash. It is extraordinarily difficult to keep her emotions together, and she moves from the door closer to Dr. T'Var, hoping some of the doctor's controlled demeanor will somehow assist her. "I have just told you all what I meant. There is at least one person in extreme distress in there, while we linger here and do nothing. Mr. Rangin is correct--if they could beam off the station, they would. The transporters might not work, they might not have anywhere to beam to. Or there is something wrong, as I have been trying to tell you!"

When Collins gives the order to prepare for entering the transporter room, Kylah moves into position, ignoring both Pourtash and Waite but clutching her knife more tightly as she passes them by. And then the mission commander's words sink in at last: Go directly to the transporter pads. Kylah wants to scream in exasperation. Will none of these people hear her? Even if they dismiss everything she says, Rangin has confirmed the presence of others in there. Are they to be abandoned for the safety of the shuttle? Do the others not feel responsible for many of the deaths on this station? It is beyond Kylah's comprehension; the guilt is almost choking her.

She stands, breathing hard, but prepared to act however it is necessary.

Pourtash begins to ask Kylah, "How do you...?" but stops when Collins gives her orders to the Yorktown boarding party.

Waite and Pourtash pick up Fujishiro and carry her between them, resting on their interlinked arms, fireman-style. Dr. T'Var stays close by to monitor her condition.

When everyone is in position, Collins hits the Open key on the door control panel. But this door, too, is locked.

T'Var sighs heavily. Were she not a Vulcan, her frustration level would go far beyond that of a human.

Is there not some way off this station? the doctor thinks to herself.

She remains at the ready, awaiting Collins' next order.

Collins checks the charge indicator on the phaser.

If at 60% or greater, she'll shoot the lock so that she and the others can get to the transporter
If under 60%, she'll fire a short burst at the lock, hoping it's enough to do the trick.

Kylah notices Collins checking her phaser and darts a resentful glance at Pourtash. This human cares more for politeness than the possibly ramifications of blasting our way in!

Kylah grits her teeth and tries to keep her emotions in check. "Forgive me, Lieutenant," she says to Collins, her voice strained but low. "The individuals inside are not altered Sakathians ...as Mr. Rangin's scan indicates," she adds quickly with another flashing look at Pourtash. "They are likely to be just as worried for their lives, and far more likely to be armed. If they hear us forcing their door open, they might assume a threat and begin firing at us."

She looks at T'Var, hoping for some backup--the doctor's counsel would carry more weight than a mere ensign, especially one who's considered irrational. "Should we not try to communicate with them--at least, to knock on the door--to let them know we are not the creatures trying to attack them?"

The Sakathian phaser's small function display indicates that it has an approximately 80% charge, Collins thinks, although it's in a technical script that she cannot read.

"I agree with Ens. Kylah," Dr. Waite says. "I wouldn't want to get blasted just as we're about to get out of here."

Collins pauses in her aim and looks at Kylah and Waite. She looks for an intercom panel, or at the very least some sort of doorbell.

"It would not hurt to attempt some sort of communication," T'Var says evenly. "However, if no communication can be made, then 'blasting' our way in might be the only option available to us."

Relieved to see Collins and the doctor approving of the idea, Kylah exhales and looks at the others. Suddenly a thought strikes her, though broaching it with any semblence of calm objectivity will take all her efforts at dissembling. Think of Mother, she tells herself. Her late adoptive mother was cool, even cold at times, yet her opinions had always held great sway over others in the family.

She swallows her distaste and turns to Dr. Waite with as neutral an expression as possible. "Perhaps Dr. Waite would be willing to knock and attempt communication? Thanks to his long service here, he is surely known to them--and as a human, he does not appear to be a candidate for being altered. Thus whoever is inside will not fear he is trying to trick them into opening the door."

Finishing, she realizes in private dismay that if that speech resembled anyone in her family, it would be her obsequious, oily Guardian. Kylah blocks out the unpleasant thought and aims her hopeful gaze at Dr. T'Var. She knows him best. She might be better able to convince him--and Collins, for that matter.