Mission 1.3: Internal Medicine

[Rachel Deacon]

As the two of them entered the bridge James stayed back for a moment watching as Paige walked off over to Susan. Quickly after he made his way over to the tactical station quietly standing silent nearby for a brief moment. "Report?" He finally asked Rachel in a hushed tone so as not to disturb anyone else on the bridge.

[Bridge]

Having been so focused on trying not to let her visual input overwhelm her and keeping up with the way the console shifted and pulsed under her fingers as it translated its readings into tactile sensations for her to interpret, Rachel hadn't heard her superior officer, the Chief of the Security and Tactical department, as he stepped up behind her on light feet.  Much to her embarrassment, although it didn't show on her face, she jumped, turning her head sharply and feeling a distinct feeling of nausea well up at the sudden movement.

"We are currently above a planet showing signs of sentience," she replied stiffly.  "Not currently posing any active danger to the ship, but I am standing on alert should it make any moves to change that status."

[Levinia Black]

Bridge

Lizzie's head shot up at the mention of hostility.

"Have there been any actions apart from the message Commander?" She queried. "Because I'm reluctant to assume hostility until we have some evidence of it." She turned back to the science station and looked at the readings that were coming in. She gasped in amazement.

"I don't believe it." She said in shock, recognising what she saw but not really believing it. She looked up at the viewscreen then at the Captain. "Captain there is evidence of a network of what appear to be electrolytic strands that connect he majority if not all of the flora and fauna of the planet. The way it's arranged, it looks like a primitive brain."  She stared at the display not really believing her own eyes.

Bridge

Vinnie joined Lizzie and began to read the information herself.  "This is amazing!"  She gasped her blue eyes wide with excitement.  She leaned in and tapped the system to get the readings from the probes.  "Dr. Vaughan is correct, Captain.  The entire planet is one huge symbiotic creature, where it ends and starts will require further research."

Bridge

Suzie had been sitting quietly at the engineering station as nothing that was going on had anything to do with her. She did gasp in shock when the doctor mentioned a primitive brain. This caused her to wonder if this planet had emotions and not just primitive responses. Without thinking too much or really considering the risks, she started to open up her mind. What she felt made her head hurt. Pain, if there was one way to describe it, it would be pain and a great deal of it.

"Captain." She called out in a slightly weak voice. "I don't feel any hostility but whatever this creature is, it is in a great deal of pain. I've never felt so much pain come from one creature before. We need to help it Captain, we can't allow it to continue to suffer." She finished, trying to get her mental barriers back up and only just managing it.

"Well there you go, if it's injured then it could easily become hostile if it senses danger."  Levinia didn't ask how the woman knew that the creature was in pain, "Perhaps upon close inspection we can figure out what's wrong with it.  I'm not opposed to helping a wounded space creature."  She placed her hands on her hips and smiled.  Her first assignment was turning out to be quite an adventure.  She couldn't wait to tell her father about this one.

[Dylan Torngate]

[Sickbay]

Dylan shut off the main viewer, and stopped gaping at the screen. He went to his office and began doing paperwork again, becoming bored quickly but still verifying that the work was done right. He got up ten minutes later and went to the shuttlebay.

[Shuttlebay]

He went over to shuttle Apollo, and opened it up, walking inside, and looking around. It had been his home for a few weeks, and he still felt comfortable in the ship. He did a once-over of the interior, and then went outside it again. He ran his fingers over the hull, feeling for any damage or anything to work on on the craft.

He worked his way to the injector systems for the primary fuel systems, and began working on them, clearing the blockage he found and scrubbing it down to as perfect as it could be for anything other than fresh-off-the line. He hoped his job gave him something to do, but if it didn't he'd just work on the shuttles.

[James Carter]

[Bridge]

Having been so focused on trying not to let her visual input overwhelm her and keeping up with the way the console shifted and pulsed under her fingers as it translated its readings into tactile sensations for her to interpret, Rachel hadn't heard her superior officer, the Chief of the Security and Tactical department, as he stepped up behind her on light feet.  Much to her embarrassment, although it didn't show on her face, she jumped, turning her head sharply and feeling a distinct feeling of nausea well up at the sudden movement.

"We are currently above a planet showing signs of sentience," she replied stiffly.  "Not currently posing any active danger to the ship, but I am standing on alert should it make any moves to change that status."

[Bridge]

"So it's just another Tuesday then?" James quipped back in a joking tone. "A sentient planet? Is it a planet if it's also an organism? What draws the line between species and planet anyways? Size? Or simply the level of intelligence?" James thought to himself before speaking again. "Anyone thought of a way to communicate yet? I mean, there has to be someway to speak with it if it truly is sentient."

[Paige Wardropper]

Bridge

Suzie barely noticed what was going on as she was concentrating too hard on keeping the powerful but primitive emotions out. Soon however a familiar feeling, on top of the others came over her. It was the same feeling she got whenever she met another Betazoid. She focused her attention on what this person was saying.

"My....my name is Suzie. That is Ensign Susan Venator." She managed to get out.

Bridge

"Hello Susan, I think we should move you to Sickbay or your quarters.  I don't think you can cope with this and do your duty here much longer."

Looking to the Captain she said "Could someone be sent to relieve Ms Venator, please. Like I said, I don't think she's going to be able to cope much longer.  It's paining me and I've had a fair bit of practice with controlling my Betazoid side recently.  She really is in a lot of pain.  I don't know that being away from the Bridge is going to significantly improve that but she's incapable of functioning fully and that could put the ship and crew in jeopardy, Ma'am."

[Susan Venator]

Bridge

"Hello Susan, I think we should move you to Sickbay or your quarters.  I don't think you can cope with this and do your duty here much longer."

Looking to the Captain she said "Could someone be sent to relieve Ms Venator, please. Like I said, I don't think she's going to be able to cope much longer.  It's paining me and I've had a fair bit of practice with controlling my Betazoid side recently.  She really is in a lot of pain.  I don't know that being away from the Bridge is going to significantly improve that but she's incapable of functioning fully and that could put the ship and crew in jeopardy, Ma'am."

Bridge

Susan, still unable to fully shut out the powerful emotions, shook her head in lieu of trying to speak again. She did not want her inability to control her empathic ability to prevent her from doing her job. She was however unable to regain her focus and therefore unable to regain control of herself. She sat back in her chair and tried to relax.

[Rachel Deacon]

[Bridge]

"So it's just another Tuesday then?" James quipped back in a joking tone. "A sentient planet? Is it a planet if it's also an organism? What draws the line between species and planet anyways? Size? Or simply the level of intelligence?" James thought to himself before speaking again. "Anyone thought of a way to communicate yet? I mean, there has to be someway to speak with it if it truly is sentient."

[Bridge]

One thing about being raised around Vulcans for the majority of her life and, more precisely, Vulcan doctors, meant that Rachel had never really developed a sense of humour in the same way as a human might see it.  As such, the joke that the Chief tried to make sailed cleanly over her head, evidenced by a slightly baffled expression on her face.

"If this is a typical Tuesday, sir, it hasn't been entered into the logs as such..." she pointed out carefully before moving on to topics she was marginally more comfortable with.  "I don't know, sir.  I'm... I'm just trying to stay on alert."  And keep my head from exploding just looking at it, but he doesn't need to know that.  I need to talk to Engineering about getting another level of filtration for my VISOR.

[Lizzie Vaughan]

Bridge

"Hello Susan, I think we should move you to Sickbay or your quarters.  I don't think you can cope with this and do your duty here much longer."

Looking to the Captain she said "Could someone be sent to relieve Ms Venator, please. Like I said, I don't think she's going to be able to cope much longer.  It's paining me and I've had a fair bit of practice with controlling my Betazoid side recently.  She really is in a lot of pain.  I don't know that being away from the Bridge is going to significantly improve that but she's incapable of functioning fully and that could put the ship and crew in jeopardy, Ma'am."

Bridge

Susan, still unable to fully shut out the powerful emotions, shook her head in lieu of trying to speak again. She did not want her inability to control her empathic ability to prevent her from doing her job. She was however unable to regain her focus and therefore unable to regain control of herself. She sat back in her chair and tried to relax.

Bridge

Lizzie watched the scene unfurl worriedly. She knew how sensitive to emotions Betazoids were and was not surprised that Susan was affected. However she seemed to be more so than Paige. She remembered from reading her file that the young woman was an orphan. Maybe that had something to do with her apparent lack of control. She knew from her time on Betazed that it is a Mother's duty to train her children to control their Empathic and Telepathic abilities. Therefore without one, a child might not get any training at all. However, Paige seemed to have the situation under control so she joined Vinny at the science station again to continue to look at the results of the scans.

[James Carter]

[Bridge]

One thing about being raised around Vulcans for the majority of her life and, more precisely, Vulcan doctors, meant that Rachel had never really developed a sense of humour in the same way as a human might see it.  As such, the joke that the Chief tried to make sailed cleanly over her head, evidenced by a slightly baffled expression on her face.

"If this is a typical Tuesday, sir, it hasn't been entered into the logs as such..." she pointed out carefully before moving on to topics she was marginally more comfortable with.  "I don't know, sir.  I'm... I'm just trying to stay on alert."  And keep my head from exploding just looking at it, but he doesn't need to know that.  I need to talk to Engineering about getting another level of filtration for my VISOR.

[Bridge]

James slowly turned his head to look over to Deacon. Right. Vulcan. Jokes don't always work. He thought to himself quietly. After a brief moment completely silent he finally spoke up just passing over the fact Rachel had missed the joke. "Well. Being that it's the size of a planet, I don't exactly know how we'd get around to communicating with it without it being emphatically. And I don't think that's the safest thing to attempt." The security officer said in an honest tone. "What's your gut tell you on the situation?"

[Constance Lafayette]

[Bridge]

Constance did what she did best and listened to the conversations around her, taking bits and pieces from the brilliant people on her bridge and synthesized them into a workable plan.

She nodded at Lizzie's observation about the neural networks, that was something they'd have to watch out.

Constance returned to gesture to Paige, though she seemed lost in thought. She wondered how it sensed things- of it even could.

The Captain acknowledged Susan's empathic link with the creature, it was nice to know they were, probably, not walking into a trap. It also interested her greatly that the mental makeup of the creature was similar enough for a betazoid's empathy to work. That meant it was at least somewhat similar to them. Just physically very different in terms of scale.

"Ms. Wardropper. I agree- please relieve Ms. Venator. Please ensure anyone with empathetic abilities is dosed to resist the planet's mental influence. I'm sure there are many crew members we have not thought of at the moment." She said, a flare of concern peaking in her voice- though just barely.

It was not that the Captain did not notice Mr. Morgaine's entrance- she just chose to ignore it. If this was a tactical situation- she'd have her flogged, but more insights were never bad. The planet had a neural network, so Constance needed one too. Without turning she said, very directly and forcefully,

"Ms. Morgaine. If you are going to sneak onto my bridge you might very well make yourself useful. What do you make of this?"

After a pause, Leviania broke in, "Then study it Ms. Black. I have a feeling that we will have the chance to examine it up close and rather personally here very shortly."

The Captain's words were accompanied by the data from the medical scans being projected on the main screen.

The scans, treating the planet like a medical subject, were able to ascertain that it had problems with it's blood flow. Just before the creature's massive beating heart, an organ with the mass of a small continent, there appeared to be a clot that was partially obstructing the blood flow. It was buried near the core of the planet.

"That clot must be the size of a ship. The only way to clear a clot that deep down would be to do it with explosives- maybe even photon torpedos. Unfortunately, we will need to travel in there and eliminate it. It's far too deep in the planet to be able to take any other course of action and we might nick something vital otherwise. Do you concur Dr. Vaughn?" She suggested, deferring to the chief medical officer. This was, strangely, her patient.

On the view screen part of the planet's fauna, a patch that had to be 50 miles wide, almost like it understood what the Captain had just said.

"It looks as though it is indicating... and incision point? Tactical. Please target that. If the Doctor agrees, please make an incision and, helm, pilot us into that bloodstream."

This would be the second time in as many missions that the Athena would be breaking atmosphere. Though... to be fair... this time it under very different circumstances.

[Paige Wardropper]

[Bridge]

"Ms. Wardropper. I agree- please relieve Ms. Venator. Please ensure anyone with empathetic abilities is dosed to resist the planet's mental influence. I'm sure there are many crew members we have not thought of at the moment." She said, a flare of concern peaking in her voice- though just barely.

Bridge

"Yes Ma'am.  Come on Susan, down to the Sickbay!" Paige said, "... I know you don't want to but we need to get you seen to."

=/\=Wardropper to any crewmember with telepathic and/or empathic abilities please report immediately to sickbay.  Wardropper out.

Helping Susan to her feet she said "Easy does it..." she put a steadying arm around the Ensign's waist.  "Do you think you can manage it down there under your own steam or shall we beam down?"

[Leonard T. Scott]

[Bridge]
...
"It looks as though it is indicating... and incision point? Tactical. Please target that. If the Doctor agrees, please make an incision and, helm, pilot us into that bloodstream."

This would be the second time in as many missions that the Athena would be breaking atmosphere. Though... to be fair... this time it under very different circumstances.

"Helm standing by," Scott replied eagerly.

He was ready for this challenge. There was a sense of awe and wonder in his expression. This, to his knowledge, would be the first time a ship would be entering a planet-sized complex organism.

[Rachel Deacon]

James slowly turned his head to look over to Deacon. Right. Vulcan. Jokes don't always work. He thought to himself quietly. After a brief moment completely silent he finally spoke up just passing over the fact Rachel had missed the joke. "Well. Being that it's the size of a planet, I don't exactly know how we'd get around to communicating with it without it being emphatically. And I don't think that's the safest thing to attempt." The security officer said in an honest tone. "What's your gut tell you on the situation?"

[Bridge]

"I don't know what my gut is telling me, but my head is telling me to turn this ship around and get out of here at warp 9," Rachel replied, shaking her head and immediately regretting the movement.  At some point, her brain was going to start leaking out of her ears at this rate.  It was going to take a trip to sickbay to sort the headache thundering through her brain.

"It looks as though it is indicating... and incision point? Tactical. Please target that. If the Doctor agrees, please make an incision and, helm, pilot us into that bloodstream."

As the order came through to target a very specific point on the creature, Rachel felt a bubble of panic well up inside her, but quickly suppressed it as she had been taught to do.  She swallowed hard, shifting her fingers on the console in order to try to get a better feel for the situation, but within a fraction of a second, knew that she wasn't up to the task.  Not with her sight playing up like that with all the radiation being thrown around.

"Sir, I need you to take over.  I... I can't see well enough," she said, taking a smart step back with a distinctly shameful look on her face.

[James Carter]

[Bridge]

"I don't know what my gut is telling me, but my head is telling me to turn this ship around and get out of here at warp 9," Rachel replied, shaking her head and immediately regretting the movement.  At some point, her brain was going to start leaking out of her ears at this rate.  It was going to take a trip to sickbay to sort the headache thundering through her brain.

As the order came through to target a very specific point on the creature, Rachel felt a bubble of panic well up inside her, but quickly suppressed it as she had been taught to do.  She swallowed hard, shifting her fingers on the console in order to try to get a better feel for the situation, but within a fraction of a second, knew that she wasn't up to the task.  Not with her sight playing up like that with all the radiation being thrown around.

"Sir, I need you to take over.  I... I can't see well enough," she said, taking a smart step back with a distinctly shameful look on her face.

[Bridge]

James quickly looked over Rachel pausing a moment taking in what she had asked him to do. After thinking he let out a small sigh and spoke up. "No." He responded motioning back to the console. "Ms. Deacon, I have complete faith in you. If I see that you are having trouble's, I can relieve you. But not one moment sooner. I'm not going to leave the bridge. But I do think that you can do this. Now c'mon...prove me right." His tone was warm but firm.

[Christopher McIntyre]

[Bridge]

Constance did what she did best and listened to the conversations around her, taking bits and pieces from the brilliant people on her bridge and synthesized them into a workable plan.

She nodded at Lizzie's observation about the neural networks, that was something they'd have to watch out.

Constance returned to gesture to Paige, though she seemed lost in thought. She wondered how it sensed things- of it even could.

The Captain acknowledged Susan's empathic link with the creature, it was nice to know they were, probably, not walking into a trap. It also interested her greatly that the mental makeup of the creature was similar enough for a betazoid's empathy to work. That meant it was at least somewhat similar to them. Just physically very different in terms of scale.

"Ms. Wardropper. I agree- please relieve Ms. Venator. Please ensure anyone with empathetic abilities is dosed to resist the planet's mental influence. I'm sure there are many crew members we have not thought of at the moment." She said, a flare of concern peaking in her voice- though just barely.

It was not that the Captain did not notice Mr. Morgaine's entrance- she just chose to ignore it. If this was a tactical situation- she'd have her flogged, but more insights were never bad. The planet had a neural network, so Constance needed one too. Without turning she said, very directly and forcefully,

"Ms. Morgaine. If you are going to sneak onto my bridge you might very well make yourself useful. What do you make of this?"

After a pause, Leviania broke in, "Then study it Ms. Black. I have a feeling that we will have the chance to examine it up close and rather personally here very shortly."

The Captain's words were accompanied by the data from the medical scans being projected on the main screen.

The scans, treating the planet like a medical subject, were able to ascertain that it had problems with it's blood flow. Just before the creature's massive beating heart, an organ with the mass of a small continent, there appeared to be a clot that was partially obstructing the blood flow. It was buried near the core of the planet.

"That clot must be the size of a ship. The only way to clear a clot that deep down would be to do it with explosives- maybe even photon torpedos. Unfortunately, we will need to travel in there and eliminate it. It's far too deep in the planet to be able to take any other course of action and we might nick something vital otherwise. Do you concur Dr. Vaughn?" She suggested, deferring to the chief medical officer. This was, strangely, her patient.

On the view screen part of the planet's fauna, a patch that had to be 50 miles wide, almost like it understood what the Captain had just said.

"It looks as though it is indicating... and incision point? Tactical. Please target that. If the Doctor agrees, please make an incision and, helm, pilot us into that bloodstream."

This would be the second time in as many missions that the Athena would be breaking atmosphere. Though... to be fair... this time it under very different circumstances.

[Bridge]

Chris turned to face the Captain "You can't be serious! The ship wasn't designed for...for Internal Medicine. There's no telling what it's insides could do to the Hull or the ship's systems." He shook his head "Belief me Captain, your going to be spending the next six months in Spacedock looking at your ship getting new outer hull segments."