Identity Crisis (part 2)

Posted on Tue Sep 11th, 2012 @ 10:01am by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant T'Lada & Ensign Mandy Lane & Ensign Leee-ee/Maddison Tyler

1,148 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Enemy Within: Lying in Wait
Location: USS Columbia

[CONTINUED]

Maddison's suit flickered for the fourth time. She scowled. "Lieutenant T'Lada, I'm getting an odd power drain on my environmental suit. I can't quite place it, either."

T'Lada nodded, as she scanned the suit. "How odd." She said, with a nod. "Ensign Lane, could you kindly do a proper analysis of myself, and Ensign Tyler, please. As in depth as you can, with your on-hand equipment. Do not use anything from the Columbia."

Mandy nodded, and stepped closer to T'Lada to do the scans with her tricorder. "Just a minute, I want to get both scans before I can say. The tricorder is acting up a bit too, I'm not entirely sure why." She said, her tricorder making a variety of sounds as she scanned, everything from warnings to all clears. When she was done with her scan of T'Lada, she moved on to scan Ensign Tyler, where she received similarly results. "Hmmm..." she mumbled while going over her findings.

T'Lada's combadge chirped. "York to T'Lada. What is the status of your away team?"

"Ensign Tyler's environmental field suit appears to be either reacting to something in the environment, or receiving a power drain. I am uncertain as to the condition of Commander Vance. She has taken it upon herself to depart." T'Lada said. "Unescorted." She added, for added emphasis that she did not believe the idea was intelligent.

"Commander Vance has been sent to sickbay. She's acting ... odd. Stay together. See if you can find something in sickbay or the computer to identify what may be causing the problems. Use the shuttle's transporters if you need to to get rid of any viruses. The last thing we need is an epidemic," Sam said. "I'm sending a couple of Marines to make sure you're protected."

Mandy continued her scans, trying her best not to eavesdrop on T'Lada and Commodore York's conversation. "I'm relatively certain that there is a small power drain on the suit, nothing to worry about in itself, but that the environment has added to things, which is setting off the alert." Mandy's voice showed that she was in no way certain of herself, since her readings were a bit garbled, and the engineering of the actual suits wasn't something she was an expert on. She did know that the power drain was small enough that whatever was causing it might impact how long they could stay here and still be protected, but that it shouldn't cut their time beyond what they already planned on using.

"Ensign Lane?" York asked. "Do you believe it to be safe to continue the survey?"

"It should be fine to continue, since we did schedule not to use up all of the power from the suits in the first place, but I would like to continue to make scans of the suit every five to ten minutes, just incase the draining increases it's pace." Mandy said, hiding her nerves behind an official, and seemingly emotionless tone. Luckily it was not the suit drain that caused her nerves, rather the fact that she was a bit shy, since she didn't know either of the officers she was with very well. Or at all really.

"Acknowledged. Keep together and keep the comm channel open. Report every thirty minutes. York out."

"How long can you go, without your suit?" T'Lada asked.

"I'll have you know I'm a fully amphibious woman." Maddison said, glaring at T'Lada. "I can live just fine without the water. It's just easier to breathe than air, and keeps me hydrated. Do you know how difficult ingesting 9 litres of water in an 8 hour stretch can be? It also permits a greater range of movement, and the suit also assists deflecting impact and energy-weapon damage. It's not a matter of survival, Lieutenant, it's style and functionality."

T'Lada shook her head. "I was warned of you. Regardless, it was a logistical question, about how hazardous your suit being fully compromised would be."

"Well, if we don't have much in the way of water supplies, I'll be a little dry inside an hour, and functionally impaired, in four, maybe less, if the temperature goes about 5 degrees, or down about 10." Maddison said, still glaring at T'Lada. "Now, do you have enough damn intel on the inner workings of a Velurian biology, or shall I go into further detail?"

"ENSIGN TYLER!" Came a surprisingly sharp tone, out of T'Lada. "That is quite. Enough. I have done, nor said, anything to directly offend you-"

"Except steal Daniels out from his promotion to Chief Security and Tactical?" Maddison countered.

T'Lada stopped short. "I was unaware of such an assignment being made."

"It wasn't. Yet. I overheard Stran and Levue discussing it, but that isn't the point! He's not a science type!" Maddison said.

"I do not see how this directly offends you, and you are being exceedingly insolent." T'Lada said, sharply.

"Security isn't the same without him, and Stran. We work better as a team. The new Section Chief hasn't even introduced himself yet." Maddison said, glaring. "And I'm a siren. We're supposed to be insolent, and dastardly."

T'Lada winced. Then she looked back up at Maddison. She tapped her comm-badge. "T'Lada to Calypso, I'm not certain that the power drain on Ensign Tyler's suit is a wise deficiency, as it may impair her productivity, and endanger the lives of all three away team members. I request an appropriate replacement be sent in her place, so that her suit may be given proper maintenance, and she, a full medical work-up, to ensure that she has not taken any illness, that we cannot detect, with our limited equipment."

"Calypso to T'Lada. We can send down more Marines. Or security. Or Security Marines. Or Marine Security." The unfamiliar female voice giggled. "Sorry. Is that an order, ma'am?"

"She's just being a wind-bag." Maddison said, with a scowl.

"Send down..." T'Lada said, thoughtfully. "Someone else. So long as they are capable, and not threatened by this environment."

"Got it. Someone will be there shortly. Calypso out."

Mandy remained quiet as the two spoke, and at several points she took scans of their area, simply because she was bored and curious.

Two minutes later T'Lada's combadge chirped. It was the same female voice as before. "Calypso to T'Lada, we have two Marines ready to beam down. Is Ensign Tyler ready to come up?"

She didn't wait for a reply. The sound of a transporter was heard just as two Marines appeared. "Lieutenant T'Lada? Corporal Peters and Sergeant Major reporting as ordered."

The transporter sounded again and Ensign Tyler dematerialized. "Okay, I think that takes care of things. Have fun. Be careful and good luck." The female giggled again. "Bye bye. Calypso out."

OFF

Lieutenant T'Lada
Chief Science Officer

Ensign Mandy Lane
Medic

Ensign Maddison Tyler
Tactical Officer

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Female Voice
Communications Officer

 

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