round 18 Ensign Asmara & Ensign Foster - Suspicious Acts

[Blueheart]

((Sickbay - USS Atlantis))

::Sickbay was chaos. With new patients arriving at a regular pace, and none being discharged, as well as an ever dwindling medical staff who were healthy enough to work, it was a busy wash of noise, motion and borderline panic.

One more scientist entering the fray didn’t cause anyone to bat an eye. In fact, most just moved out of Tarsii’s way until Vedra finally looked up and saw the man approaching.::

ASMARA: :: He swept sickbay’s interior trying to find the target. He recognized several important officers around, including the Captain, who were receiving great care. With luck he would find his demise without his intervention. :: oO The blue inside EV suit. Target acquired. Oo

VEDRA: I’ll let you know when it’s complete. ::He nodded, then turned when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he recognized the officer just entering the place.:: Well, look who just walked into Sickbay with eyes all glazed like a zombie’s.

FOSTER: Zombie? ::He snapped his head up:: Naw, he’s got too much flesh on his bones to be a zombie. ::His eyes narrowed, a bit clinically and a bit suspiciously:: Not quite sure what that’s all about.

VEDRA: Hmm. He doesn’t look like himself but his appearance doesn’t correlate with the symptoms of the other patients.

:: Tarsii was aware that sickbay would be crowded but he didn't expect to find the Andorian doctor wearing a EV suit. That would complicate things a little since he would be discovered the moment he attempted to kill the physician. He needed to remain stealthy until the last and deadly blow against Atlantis. He demanded an alternative plot to delay the medical efforts to disable the toxin. ::

FOSTER: Wasn’t he the one who was so claustrophobic before? That might be it… ::He trailed off, contemplating the usual fear-reaction responses::

VEDRA: Well maybe we could just ask him. He seems to be headed this way. oO Looks kind of creepy.. Oo

:: The remote controlled Angosian stood up motionless while devising a plan. The doctor was being helped by a green tall man who wear the science collar. They both were near a replication equipment which was processing some calculations and building some bio-chemical structure. He could see an animal from Uzoka 4 near by too. The most logical conclusion was they are trying to synthesize the antitoxin based on data the red hair biped extracted from the device before they had the chance to block it. So, the course of action was clear now, he must sabotage the equipment. ::

FOSTER: Yeah, I called him here. I need his expertise on scrubbing the infected blood supply with the transporter. In hindsight I probably should not have called a claustrophobe into this chaos, but I’ll apologize later. ::he rose and headed over towards Tarsii:: I’ll talk to him, keep an eye on the dragons. ::nearing the scientist:: So, Captain tells me you know your way around transporter physics.

SOMEONE: ~Another power outage is about to happen. Be prepared to act.~

ASMARA: ~Acknowledge.~

:: It was pretty evident now that Tarsii was being fed with information from someone aboard the ship. Besides that, it was pretty evident that he got physical help too. And this unknown person will cause a power outage which would inflict more damage to the already weakened Atlantis. ::

ASMARA: :: Expressionless and googly eyes. :: oO You must hamper his job. Oo Hi Doc. As I said before I have little experience on transport engineering. But I am very proud of my knowledge of physics.

FOSTER: ::Eyes narrowing slightly:: oO He does not look well… Oo Well, a little will have to do. We have a major scrub duty if we want any hope of bringing these crew back from the brink. ::he gave a slight gesture around at the biobeds::

ASMARA: oO I don't want any of them to walk out this place. Oo What do you mean by scrub?

FOSTER: Scrub, as in forcibly separate the toxin from the blood cells using the transporter.

ASMARA: oO How do this people come here with so primitive minds? Oo :: He moved aside preparing for action. :: This must prove difficult to achieve, especially with so little energy available. ::

FOSTER: Yes… ::He paused for a second, watching Asmara with a growing note of suspicion. Something was off about the man, and Wyn Foster tended to trust his gut reactions. They had saved him plenty of times in growing up on a starship, as well as the back alley scraps of his teenage years.:: We’re running out of clean hemoglobin, and the power to replicate it. Therefore we need donations and the donated blood is infected. However now that the toxin is identified, the transporters can be programmed to scrub the toxin from the blood supply. ::He left off, not noting that it also might work with infected people as well. The risks were greater, and far more complicated. Besides, the man didn’t seem with it enough that Foster trusted him with the full scope of the information.::

SOMEONE: ~ Prepare to act in 20 seconds. ~

ASMARA: ~Acknowledge~ :: He tried to keep the doctor distracted. :: If you could provide me some samples for initial tests. :: He pauses to mental calculate his next moves. :: But I would like to work on science lab. I don't feel comfortable here on sickbay. In fact I just came here for a medical evaluation requested by Lt. Skykar. She---

::There was little warning. Just a preemptive flicker and then as quickly as one would flip a switch all light died away, leaving a perfect silent blackness.::

FOSTER: This is not supposed to happen…

::And just like that the panic switch was hit. Sickbay went from a tense yet orderly chaos to a complete cacophony of hysteria. People started moving, screaming, running.::

FOSTER: ::His voice was piercing. Raised among humans, he never had the traditional, soft, lisping tone that so many of his people had. And when need be, the little Andorian could project forcefully:: Everybody stop! Do not panic! Stay in your places, we will get the backups running.

:: Immersed in an almost complete darkness, the angosian found quickly his way to the replicator. Guided by his memory and his ears he avoided all the obstacles. Near the replicator he crawled to avoid the green biped and tapped his device on it. A small but focused pulse of energy was released, frying the equipment and the nearby circuitry. Then he rolled back avoiding the science officer, who had already moved, and some orderlies. He quickly returned to his position and moved a little to the right to avoid suspicious. After that the emergency light came to live showing the complete chaos on the sickbay. ::

ASMARA: What was that?

FOSTER: Unknown power failure ::He was gritting his teeth, dashing to a panel to call up the information while keeping half an eye on his staff. He was worried - very worried - that if the lights had failed, so had the power to the systems keeping those in medical comas still alive. The answers he was getting back were not good. He was already running towards one of the biobeds before Tarsii could speak again.::

ASMARA: Is the ship under attack?

FOSTER: No clue. ::he gritted his teeth, staring at a medical tricorder and uttering a low curse under his breath. Whatever this was it had shorted the backup power. and vitals were falling.::

ASMARA: Could you give me the samples? :: He pauses while receiving more information::

FOSTER: Look, a bit busy here… ::Frustration was creeping into his voice, as he scanned another patient. Captain Blueheart was stable - thank the deities - but Crewman Kand was dangerously close to cardiac arrest.:: Nurse, administer 10ccs of Oxyhavaline and get me a cardiac stimulator. ::he paused long enough to afford the Angosian a glance:: Blood samples are on the table over there, Nurse Ocano can help you sort them out.

ASMARA: Yes, I know Ms. Ocano.

FOSTER: Good. I’ll check in with you as soon as I have this situation stabilized. ::Under his hands Kand started to shudder again, his breathing coming in pitiful little huffs. No matter how fast Wyn’s spindly fingers worked it didn’t seem fast enough. The power interruption had sent the young crewman into a downward spiral, and the internal bleeding came back with a vengeance. Through the hazy [...]tail of drugs the man was on, he fluttered his eyes and gasped for help::

ASMARA: Good luck Foster. oO You will need a lot. Oo :: He gave a wry smile and headed to meet Ocano. ::

FOSTER: Thanks… ::His gaze lift just in time to see Tarsii’s expression and Foster’s own formed into a very dark frown. Something was distinctly wrong with that man, and yet he didn’t have enough time or energy right now to put his finger on what. He turned back to his patient, feeling the sinking feeling of a ship sinking beneath his ministrations as Kand’s eyes rolled back into his head. he reached one hand up, leaving four bloody finger streaks across the faceplate of Foster’s Ev suit, even as he struggled to keep the man alive. With one final gasp, Kand’s heart beat it’s last and one more casualty was added to the ever growing list.::

:: The device which had shown on Tarsii’s hand had just disappeared. There was no trace of it at his palm anymore. Wherever that technology come from, it was something very advanced. Ocano was finishing some reports and checking the medicine stock when Tarsii arrived to talked with her. ::

ASMARA: You seem tired lady. :: He tried to express some compassion. ::

OCANO: Hey you there science boy. :: She shown a weak smile. ::

ASMARA: Foster asked you to give some blood samples.

OCANO: He had told me that. :: He gave her the dishes previously separated. ::

ASMARA: Thank you crewman.

OCANO: Hey! Are you not forgetting something?

ASMARA: :: He got scared. He feared to have been discovered. :: I think not, ma’am.

OCANO: You told me that would like a second chance. Did you forget?

ASMARA: oO Oh! The romance thing. You must acknowledge to avoid raise suspicious. Oo :: Trying to look ashmade. :: I´m a lucky man to have you to remember me. Can I accompany you to your quarters?

OCANO: By all means science boy.

:: As another nurse arrived to relieve Ocano and both headed away from the sickbay which was a complete mess. Ocano was not aware of the danger she was running into and Tarsii will not allow anyone to be between him and his mission. Not even the beautiful Ocano. Tarsii would have to find a way to disable Ocano without raising any suspicions. ::

TBC

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A JP by:

Ensign Tarcii Asmara

Science Officer

USS Atlantis

NCC-74682

And

Ensign Shar’Wyn Foster

Medical Officer

USS Atlantis