by Commander Salvek and Vol Tryst
90510.1800
After Not Quite Alone and concurrent with The "Breadcrumb" Trail
-=USS Zenith=-
90510.1800
After Not Quite Alone and concurrent with The "Breadcrumb" Trail
-=USS Zenith=-
Having secured the helm, and leaving two security officers standing guard, Salvek left the bridge for a moment, to try and access the Zenith Captain’s logs from the Ready Room. As soon as he activated the terminal however, he was interrupted by a signal from Lance Hartcort.
[Commander Salvek, could you please come down to sickbay ASAP. There is something you should see.]
“What is it, Doctor?”
[There’s still someone alive here. Severely injured, and in stasis.]
“Acknowledged Doctor Hartcort. On my way.” Salvek answered from the Ready Room. He had been fielding reports from around the ship for some time now, and this was the first time there was anything that he “should see.”
He left the Ready Room, as was surprised to find Tryst, Ryn and Tubman already on the bridge that he had left just a few moments ago. He looked at the PADDs scattered around the room.
“Anything to report?” Salvek asked quizzically.
We just found all these PADDs laying around, sir,” Ryn reported.
“They were not there moments ago,” Salvek said.
“I just reported to the Captain. I’m sure now we are being watched, sir.” Vol stated rather ominously.
“Counselor, I need you in Sickbay right now. Doctor Hartcort has found someone alive. Lieutenant Ryn, please continue your investigation into…” Salvek paused trying to find the appropriate word for the mess of unexplained PADDs surrounding him, “This. You have the bridge. Ensign Tubman, please assist her.”
Ryn took her eyes off the screen she was reading and turned to look at Salvek. “I have the bridge, sir?”
“Yes. Continue what you are doing, and if anyone tries to contact me, inform them I am in Sickbay.”
She had stated she was ready, and Salvek intended to take her at her word. He stepped behind her and towards the turbolift, with Vol Tryst in tow.
When they arrived below the Doctor was already waiting for them at the patient’s bedside. As Salvek approached the bed, where the injured man laid, he could hear only the soft hum of the stasis field that encapsulated the man’s body.
His skin was still badly scarred from the burns he had suffered, and only a blue blanket covered his naked body. The Zenith’s doctors had already done extensive work to repair the man’s injuries but additional healing and cosmetic surgery were going to be required to restore his appearance as it had been before whatever accident had befallen him.
Despite the injuries, and maybe even because of them, Salvek could tell from the tint of his skin and arch of his brow that the man on the bed was much like himself.
“He is Vulcan,” Salvek observed, breaking the silence. The points on his ears were lost in the accident but the fact was obvious to Salvek none the less.
“Lieutenant Silav, Engineering. He was brought here two days before the crew vanished. According to the report there was an unexplainable overload in the power systems feeding the sensors while he was running a routine diagnostic.”
“The sensors?” Salvek snapped his attention away from the man’s face and onto Hartcort’s.
“Was it something I said?” Hartcort replied defensively yet somewhat playfully.
“Were the sensors repaired?”
Hartcort shrugged. “They wouldn’t record that in the medical log.”
Salvek turned his back on the table and took a few steps away from the group.
“Salvek to Dengar, are you busy?”
Rada considered the question carefully. Of course he was busy, but saying so would seem to imply to his Commanding officer that he did not wish to be bothered at the moment. On the other hand, saying he was not busy would be telling Salvek that he was slacking off, quite possibly playing Tiddlywinks on the center console in Engineering with some of the toffees he stuffed into his pocket before leaving the Sera. Salvek would surely relieve him of duty and send him back to the Sera if he believed Rada was not performing his duties.
Captain Zanh would be more than thrilled with Salvek’s orders. No doubt she would feel upset on behalf of her friend, but that would easily be offset by the pure joy she would feel knowing she had an excellent excuse to send Halladay off of her ship and onto the Zenith for awhile.
Halladay would arrive in Engineering, and ask the overgrown hulk of a security officer what Rada had been working on. At this point Jamie would be told the Zenith’s alpha two coefficient was too low, since the security office would be too slow witted to recall that Rada had actually said that, “Their beta three coefficient is much higher than it should be.”
Jamie would then unnecessarily divert power into the structural integrity system, having assumed that if Rada had said the alpha two coefficient was too low, that it simply had to be. The overload in the system would cause the warp core to be crushed like and egg, resulting in the sudden an unexplained destruction of the Zenith.
Captain Zanh would have just enough time to leap out of her chair and exclaim, “HOLY SH…” before the Sera was engulfed in the resulting explosion as well.
So given the two choices, of sounding like he was annoyed with Salvek for interrupting him or causing the destruction of both ships, Rada choice the more tactful reply of simply ignoring the question.
[Go ahead, Commander.]
“Please run a level one diagnostic on the sensor systems. Apparently there was an accident in engineering. I would like to know if the sensors were repaired and functioning.
[I’ll get right on it.]
“Thank you,” Salvek tapped his badge to close the channel. A level one diagnostic would take a few hours, so there were other matters to attend to in the mean time. He would need to report on the discovery of the Vulcan in Sickbay, but not before getting as much information as he could.
“Have you sensed anything yet, Counselor?” He asked Vol.
Vol had thus far been standing away from the patient, the Doctor and the Commander. His hands held behind his back and his head bowed down, what was a little off setting was the scrunching of his face. Vol was either concentrating very hard on his empathic senses, or he was in pain.
"On the patient, I can't report anything helpful. I can't even tell you if he has any brain function. Commander," Vol winced slightly, as he shook his head. "I sense anger, impatience and vengeance coming from multiple locations surrounding both ships. I know we have responsibilities here on the Zenith Commander, as well as to this patient, but I cannot emphasize enough that our departure must take place soon."
Salvek heeded the Counselor’s warning, but knew there were searches in progress that needed to be attended to. The best he could do was ask Tryst to keep him advised in the event that the anger he felt coming from all around them became an immanent threat. His next step was to inform the Captain of his new information.
“Computer please open a secure channel to the Serendipity, Captain Zanh.”
There was a chirp, a beep, and a boop as the computer completed the request.
[This is Serendipity. Go ahead Commander.] Sue Tenney’s voice prompted him through the intercom.
“Captain Zanh, Doctor Hartcort has found a badly injured member of the Zenith here, in stasis. It is likely that the protection of the stasis field coupled with the special distortions in this area obscured our sensor readings. The crewman is a Vulcan from engineering and was working with the sensors when the accident occurred. I have ordered Commander Dengar to perform a level one diagnostic on all sensors.
“Counselor Tryst has sensed intensifying negative emotions surrounding the ship and believes we should not remain here much longer.”
Salvek waited for a reply from the Captain, who do doubt was waiting to see if her always thorough First Officer had anything else to add.
[Is the crewman in good enough health to answer any questions?] She asked.
Salvek looked at the Doctor, indicating he should answer the Captain.
“A few, Captain. I can bring him around for a bit without doing too much damage, but he’ll need to be placed back into stasis. I seriously doubt though that he’ll be lucid enough to understand us.”
[Salvek if that is the case, you will need to perform a mind meld to see if you can get any information.]
Salvek shifted uncomfortably, unsure if the Captain understood the ramifications of the request she had just made. “Captain, to perform a mind meld without the consent of the second party is highly improper unless the life of the individual is in danger.”
[Salvek, Admiral Lassiter is on her way and she’s expecting answers yesterday. That man’s life may not be in imminent danger but his crewmates’ lives are. If you had information that could potentially save the lives of more than eight hundred people, your missing friends and your family, wouldn’t you want someone to meld with you?]
Had the Counselor been present in mind, and not looking over his shoulder and wiping his brow clean of the perspiration that he was beginning to produce, he would've breathed a sigh of relief at hearing the Captain's words. Finally, mother has lost some marbles in response to her son's uncertain safety. About bloody time.
Salvek considered her words for a moment, and replied. “I will perform the meld under the condition that if Lieutenant Silav resists the meld and my presence, that I will terminate the link.”
There was a pause, followed by a rather curt, [Fine,] from Zanh Liis. [Keep an open channel.]
Hartcort got to work, lowering the stasis field and preparing a hypo to bring the man around.
“Counselor,” Salvek began, using his arm around Vol’s shoulders to guide the man towards the bed. “I will need to know when his mind is active enough to be able to even attempt a mindmeld. As Doctor Hartcort administers the medication, I will depend on you to be able to tell if his cognitive processes are functioning.”
"Commander," The Counselor made one last attempt to advise the First Officer. "Can we at least call off the searches, surely you'll gather more information from the mindmeld than anyone else could gather aboard an empty vessel. This ship isn't safe and--"
“Counselor, I have taken your report under advisement, and I will determine if and when the searches will be terminated. Is that clear?”
Vol bit his lower lip and nodded, taking in a deep breath and finding a seat so that he may sit in close proximity to the patient's mind. Vol needed to be here, now, in this Sickbay and nowhere else. He fought the feeling of shivers down his spine and that of someone probing his mind. He had a duty right now and so he did his best to block out all other stimuli. He closed his eyes and focused solely on the Vulcan mind of the patient.
"He is alive, there is brain activity." Vol stated. "His thoughts are sluggish, confused, he's not fully aware of what's happening."
Salvek was less than encouraged by the report, but could not afford the luxury of waiting much longer. He sought out a healthy patch of skin on Silav’s face, and pressed his fingers down to initiate the meld. Silav was barely conscious, making his thoughts difficult to find. Salvek was fully part of the meld, but still very much alone.
Outside the meld, Hartcort eased a small amount of stimulants into Silav’s system, carefully rationing ever milliliter of medicine so as to not endanger the man. Vol winced perceptibly, as Silav mind continued to become more and more active.
“Are you all right, Counselor?” Hartcort asked, dropping hypo he held and rushing to steady Tryst before he slumped over onto the floor.
As Salvek made contact with Silav, he found not the ordered disciplined mind of a Vulcan. There was treachery here, along with hatred and cunning. It was not deep and hidden either. The emotions were right on the surface, and they were expanding quickly as Silav’s mind grew stronger.
“Salvek is in danger!” Vol blurted. He felt himself losing consciousness, but managed to focus his mind on Salvek’s, throwing out a sort of life preserver for Salvek to grab a hold of. Beads of sweat began pouring down Salvek’s face, and an alarm on the biobed warned that Silav’s heart rate had nearly tripled.
“Son of a…” Hartcort swore, as he hastily loaded a sedative into a hypo.
[What the hell is going on over there?] Zanh demanded.
With Vol’s mind as an anchor, Salvek drew himself out of the meld, falling backwards onto the floor with the Counselor. Hartcort rushed to the aid of both of them.
“Are you all right?” Hartcort asked.
“PLACE HIM BACK IN STASIS IMMEDIATELY!” Salvek yelled, pointing at Silav with one hand as he massaged his throbbing temples with the other. The injured Vulcan was now sitting upright.
Hartcort lifted his hypo, and Silav swung his arm to knock it away, but in his condition could muster little strength in the swing. Hartcort knocked the arm aside, and pressed the hypo to Silav’s neck. The Vulcan fell back, asleep, and the Doctor quickly reactivated the stasis field to send him back into hibernation.
[Somebody report, damn it!] Zanh yelled, promising only five seconds more until she flooded Sickbay with security officers.
“We are all right, Captain.” Salvek said, as he lifted Tryst back to his feet.
“What happened in there?” Hartcort asked.
“I was not able to gain any information Captain, except for the fact that this man is assuredly not Vulcan.”
[Romulan?] Zanh asked.
“No, sir. I have never encountered a mind such as this before.”
*******************************
Lieutenant Vol Tryst
Ship’s Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Commander Salvek
First Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Lieutenant Vol Tryst
Ship’s Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Commander Salvek
First Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012