To Dream a Little Dream... Part One...

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 1:47am by Cailus Griffin & Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 2:14pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Research Lab
Timeline: After recent events and before divided we fall

A Mission Post by Lieutenant Katniss Wakefield & Lieutenant Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Kalin 'Shae' Brennan PhD & Lieutenant JG Cailus Griffin
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Research Lab
Timeline: After recent events and before divided we fall
Mon Mar 12th, 2018 @ 10:46am

It was perfectly quiet in her laboratory. Katniss was stood still in the centre of the room, her eyes closed. If she did this, there would be no turning back, it she pressed ahead it would trigger an automatic chain of events, something that would be hard to explain then.

Suddenly her eyes sprang open; her pupils contracted quickly as they adjusted to the light. Her mind was made up; she calmly walked over to a device sat on a workbench, as she slowly began to tamper with the device.

About ten minutes later her modifications were complete, she took in a deep breath and walked over to a console, this was it, all she had to do now was press a button on a console, and this was her last opportunity to back out. Again she closed her eyes and whispered ‘forgive me’ as her index finger pressed the button.

Within seconds the quietness of the lab was gone. Instead, a gentle humming emanated from the device that was now activated, energy was building up, and it was beginning to release radiation. The console began to beep as the computer was warning her that the radiation levels were slowly rising but were still within safe levels. Although she did nothing to attempt to stop the radiation levels she knew that the Chief Science Officer and Operations would be alerted to a radiation warning, that’s why she had tampered with the device, so that the build-up would be quick, triggering the lab's automatic safety protocols any time…

“Warning emergency containment field established, radiation levels in the Research Laboratory increasing, approaching the threshold of safe exposure.”

Shae was in her office working up the work schedules for the next rotation when her desk terminal sounded off with a radiation warning. Who was working with radiation in the labs? There were no scheduled experiments involving radiation now or shortly, so this alert had her on edge as she checked the logs to find out where this radiation was located, then immediately set off to discover what Katniss was doing in her lab.

Standing at the Auxiliary Operations station on the Bridge, Owen noticed a series of alerts suddenly show up with the highest priority being a Radiation alarm coming from one of the Science Labs. Once he realised which lab it was, Owen was concerned and slightly annoyed. "Wakefield..." he whispered. Heading for a turbolift, Owen slapped his combadge once he was inside.

"=/\= Nash To Brennan =/\="

=/\="Brennan here,"=/\= Shae answered as she quickly traversed the corridors.

"=/\= I've picked up a Radiation Alarm coming from Lieutenant Wakefield's Lab, I'm on my way down...could you meet me there, please? =/\="

=/\="I received an alert as well, I'm very nearly at her lab now. I'll see you there shortly,"=/\= Shae reported, then tapped her communicator off.

With the sound of the containment field triggering around the device Katniss smiled. The computer was trying to contain the radiation and maintain safe levels, but she didn’t want to hurt anyone else, and by now she knew people would be on the way, but it didn’t matter, the sound from the device went up a pitch, and the containment field began to fluctuate.

Suddenly the evacuation alarm began to sound in the lab.

“Warning containment breach imminent, radiation exposure approaching unsafe levels, evacuate research laboratory, automatic safety protocols will engage in thirty seconds.” As Katniss was the only person in her lab, there was no need for her to order anyone out, now all she had to do was wait.

Once the Turoblift arrived on the deck, Owen double-timed it towards Wakefield's Science Lab, finding Breannan there when he arrived. Taking a breath, Owen looked towards the lab. "What the hell is going on Lieutenant? Whats she up to now?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Shae said as she worked at the door console. "The door is locked, which is not so terribly unusual, she likes her privacy and wants her research to remain secure, but my Department Head overrides aren't unlocking the door. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt and say it's just interference from the radiation, but I don't like this, not one bit," Shae continued. Failing once again to unlock the door, she hit the chime hoping that Katniss would hear it and open the door for them.

Katniss heard the chime, but there was nothing she could do.

Owen tapped his combadge to try and open a private commline to Wakefield. "=/\= Nash To Wakefield! Lieutenant, please shut down this experiment and let us help you!! =/\="

She reached up to her combadge to reply, her hand shaking, she hesitated for a moment before she gently pressed it. =/\= Wakefield here Commander, a heads up, the door won’t open. It’s an enhanced safety feature designed to protect the rest of the deck; the computer has automatically sealed the lab to try and contain…" she didn’t get to finish her sentence, in the background, the computer interrupted her again “Warning radiation levels will reach lethal exposure levels in four minutes.” "…and you won’t get a transporter lock with radiation levels this high.” =/\=

=/\="A heads up would be submitting your plans and reviewing it with me before hand!" Shae asserted. "Discontinue your experiment, now Lieutenant!" she ordered sternly.

Owen stood back as he realised the possibility that whatever Katniss was up to meant they may not be able to retrieve her form the lab...successfully. He needed another way to try and get her out of the lab. "Whatever it is she's up to in there, its not great for us or the ship," Owen surmised as he looked at Brennan. "If we can't get her out with a Transporter, then we need another way."

Owen then stood back and tapped his combadge. =/\= "Commander Nash to Counsellor Richmond, I need you in the Research Lab area, this is a medical emergency," he requested before trying again with the door controls. The clock was ticking and they needed a solution.

"If you and the Counselor can't talk her down, we may need to prepare for a worst-case scenario," Shae replied, glancing down the corridor in one direction, then the other direction. "The Luna-class is a modular ship, the rooms can easily be moved around in spacedock, meaning we can do an emergency jettison of the lab if it looks like harm might come to the ship and her crew."

Shae always tried to see the good in people and she refused to believe that Katniss would do something so reckless that it would endanger the ship, but accidents had a tendency to disregard peoples' best intentions, and given the current dangers present and the number of unknown variables, it would be prudent to prepare for a minimal-loss action. Although it tore at her to even suggest that they would abandon Katniss to such a fate, but if they could not control whatever was going on in this lab, they had to look at the bigger picture and preserve as many lives as possible! "I can get Security to evacuate this section and prepare to cut power to the lab if necessary."

Owen nodded as he watched the countdown continue from its four-minute mark. Whilst he wasn't happy with the idea that the ship could lose a good crew mate for some unknown reason, if there was a way around it, he wanted there to be a backup ready.

"Ok, we'll call that Plan B... however, if we can't stop Wakefield in under four minutes, Plan B maybe the only chance we have," he agreed. "Contact Security and have them standby to proceed with Plan B...but if this happens, your coming with me Lieutenant."

Owen was just getting to grips with understanding Cailus and the last thing he wanted was to see he and Brennan separated in this way, one of the worst ways whilst out in the unknown. "I'm not having that on my conscience that my friend loses his partner because of the actions of another..." he finished.

"Oh, let's not forget leaving a child with special needs motherless," Shae remarked dryly, then in acknowledgement of her Commander's orders, she stepped away to contact Cailus.

=/\="Brennan to Griffin," Shae said with a tap to her combadge, but she did not wait for his reply before beginning to issue orders. "There's a situation in the Research lab; Nash and I are handling it, but we need Security to coordinate an evacuation of this entire section. Also, we need a work crew positioned in preparation to cut power to the labs, but it's imperative that power remains uninterrupted for the moment! Just have the Engineers at the ready in case they're needed."=/\=

=/\=The evacuation is already underway,=/\= came the cool, professional reply from the Security Chief. Then a low, deep klaxon begin to blare, and yellow lights came on in the corridors. =/\=We’ve gone to yellow alert and the engineers are en route. You have three minutes.=/\=

=/\="Acknowledged,"=/\= Shae replied, then swallowed past the lump in her throat; she wanted to say something to Cailus, something personal, but now wasn't the time, or maybe it was precisely the time if one had no care for professional decorum... No, they were both Officers, they would be professional, and so she tapped her combadge off and returned to Owen.

"Plan B is on standby," she informed Owen.

Owen looked up from the comm panel as Brennan returned back and confirmed there was a backup plan ready and in place. "Very good lieutenant," he answered as he worked away to see if there was a chance of getting Wakefield out of the lab safely. With the minutes counting down, Owen tapped his combadge again in hope.

"=/\= Nash To Wakefield! Lieutenant, I'm asking you one final time please shut down this experiment and let us help you!! =/\="

Katniss was just stood, doing nothing, she knew her crewmates and she knew that they would try to stop her, but it wouldn't do any good, even if they cut power to the lab, the device had its own power source, the doors would still be sealed. She reached for her com badge and pressed it again.

=/\= Sir, the experiment will end in about three minutes, I'm not posing a risk to the ship or crew, just myself. The experiment will end when lethal exposure has occurred, a decontamination sequence will then run and the doors to the lab will open, making it perfectly safe but sadly I will have already been exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, so I'll die in a day or two." =/\=

With that she took her com badge off and threw it onto the floor, there was nothing more to do but wait.

Shae stood gawking at the door, unable to believe what she'd just heard; Katniss was trying to kill herself?!

"Oh bloody hell, Lieutenant, if you wanted to kill yourself, there are easier ways to go about it!" Shae exclaimed in exasperation. Then she reached into her pants pocket, feeling for the data rod she kept with her always; she was trying to keep herself on 'the straight and narrow', she shouldn't use this! But Katniss....

Quite suddenly, Shae reached over to tap Owen's commbadge off so that Katniss wouldn't hear. "Sir, I think I can shut this down, but it's, uh, kind of, um... I think I might get in trouble for this? I'm willing to explain, but time is of the essence, so please keep her talking and distracted so she doesn't notice that I'm trying to interfere with her... experiment," Shae said quickly, but she was loathed to call this an experiment when clearly it was a death-trap! Then she removed her hand from Owen's commbadge and departed for a neighbouring lab to gain access to the computer.

Owen watched as Brennan left the lab and he was certain she had a bloody good plan to execute. However, he had his job to do and he wasn't about to lose a crewman.

Owen worked away at the console knowing that there were less than two minutes left. He began making multiple and random attempts to contact Wakefield to keep her on the hop.

=/\= Lieutenant, I'm afraid I cant accept you giving up on life this way...in fact I wont allow it and because of that I will do everything in my power to shut this down... Hell I've not long been XO but by god I consider you a friend as well as a colleague... Friends dont give up on friends and I'm afraid you've earned a stubborn one here! =/\=

With that, Owen programmed the computer to start running random programmes from outside the lab to try and distract and disturb the systems running in the lab. It was all he could think of as the counter hit sixty seconds. time was running out and he was running short of options. There were two ways left that seemed possible: Hoping that Brennan could access the lab or ejecting the pod for the safety of the ship and remaining crew.

Slapping his combadge once more, Owen contacted Cailus. =/\=Nash to Griffin, prepare to eject this section of the ship on my command...we have an lab experiment thats wildly out of control and endangers the entire crew... Acknowledge.=/\=

=/\=Acknowledged,=/\= came the curt reply. Cailus’ tone was purely emotionless as if he was giving a weather report rather than preparing to eject Shae and Owen into space with an irradiated laboratory. =/\=Ready to eject the section on your order.=/\=

In the adjoining lab, Shae accessed a console to try to learn Katniss' plan. "Katniss, what have you done?" Shae thought aloud as she saw how Katniss had overridden and disabled each and every safety feature within the lab to allow such a build-up of radiation to occur. She had less than a minute left to act, so she tried to reactivate the safeties, watching with dread as she watched the clock on her console count down...

Katniss glanced at the countdown on the display, everyone was reaching out to her, they wanted to help. She also knew they wouldn't stand around and let her do this, what were they planning? Her emotions began to tug at her heartstrings, this wasn't right, something felt off, she wouldn't endanger anyone else if she was going to kill herself. With that Katniss walked over to the device and she begins tampering with it again, but this time with a little more haste and finally with a large sigh, she flicked the device off, "Computer, begin decontamination sequence." she said as she looked over to the doors that would now open as soon as the sequence was complete.


"Decontamination sequence in progress."

She slowly bent down and picked up her com badge from the floor, she gently pressed it.

=/\= Wakefield to Nash, you win, radiation source neutralised. The doors will unseal after the decontamination sequence, I'll then need escorting to sickbay, I'd still advise quarantine procedures, I'm still going to be a little radioactive." =/\=

Shae sighed in relief as she saw the experiment finally shutting down. she ran a hand over her face, rubbing at the bridge of her nose to hopefully ease her growing headache, but with no success; she was not looking forward to what would come next, but she tapped her commbadge to get the ugly part done with.

=/\="Bridge, cancel the order to eject the lab," Shae said in an emotionally weary tone as she left the lab to rejoin Owen; how could Katniss do something like this?! "Send down a Security escort to ensure Lieutenant Wakefield doesn't try anything else reckless, and as a precaution, everyone evacuated from this section should get checked for radiation. Also, have medical prepare to receive three for quarantine and treatment, and Engineering will need to make sure this entire section is properly decontaminated before it can be used again."=/\= If Katniss thought that she got off by only endangering herself, then she was wrong; radiation shielding was only effective under certain levels, and with the levels Shae had witnessed then she and Owen would definitely need to spend a night in Sickbay, possibly two.

=/\=Acknowledged.=/\= There was a brief pause before Cailus’ voice returned. =/\=Decontamination, security and engineering teams are en route and Sickbay is standing by for a site-to-site transport. Doctor Adaestron wants you to stay where you are and continue radiation exposure protocols. A site-to-site transport to Sickbay will be ready in two minutes.=/\=

Now, for the first time, the faintest hint of sorrow entered Cailus’ professional tone. =/\=Captain Temple has been notified.=/\=

Owen looked over at Brennan after she rejoined him in the lab. "Nicely done lieutenant," he said with a grin. "Although we're going to need to get a little rest due to the new suntan we just took in." Owen was glad it was over.

"Perseverance and a lot of luck," Shae said with a sigh.

End