Time for Drills: Science Lab 1

Posted on 26 May 2020 @ 8:34pm by Commander Terry Walsh & Ensign Aidan Crehan & Lieutenant Jennin Rhula & Lieutenant Zayna Ryler & Holographic Assistance and Support Avatar HASA

2,465 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Sentience
Location: Science Lab 1, Deck 13
Timeline: MD 2 || 1600 hours

A petite, dark haired, dark eyed Betazoid woman appeared in the Science lab. “Greetings,” said the newly installed HASA. “In accordance with the simulated war games, the ship will sustain simulated damage. As a result of the simulated damage, some personnel will be assigned simulated injuries for the purpose of time trials, testing personnel response, and knowledge of procedure during such events. Others will be responding to damage and medical emergencies. Lieutenant Ryler, you have been infected by an alien pathogen that has escaped a quarantine field due to power fluctuations. Ensign Crehan, you have suffered a cranial injury due to falling equipment. Please act accordingly with your injuries. I will remain as a manifestation of the computer for the duration of this drill.”

"Infected with an alien pathogen? No specifics beyond that?" Zayna grinned a little, "Meaning I can sort of act however I want, depending on the pathogen I choose to be 'infected' with."

"That is correct, Lieutenant Ryler," replied the holographic woman. "The specific pathogen and physical results are left to you."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Zayna stated as she thought for a moment. "There is one contained that could make me overly aggressive...I think I like that one. This could get interesting."

HASA flickered for a moment. "Proceed as planned," it replied.

Aidan had been taken aback by the sudden appearance of the HASA. It hadn't been called for and yet, here it was. After the announcement for the drills were made, he nodded his head. There had been talk of these earlier. "I suppose that the extent of the head injury depends on what equipment has just hit my head?"

"Yes, Ensign," came the reply.

"Then," Aidan said, "I suppose I shall have that piece of equipment fall on me," he said, pointing. It wasn't too large, as Aidan didn't want to completely take himself out of commission. But was good enough to cause some serious damage. He sat down on the floor on the floor and leaned against the wall. "My cranial injury involves a severe laceration and loss of blood. There may be minor skull fractures, but only Medical can tell. Plus, I might be somewhat...loopy." He put his arm against the simulated wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding. "Does anyone else smell french fries? I have this sudden desire for potatoes."

Ryler smirked, "French fries after this is done, Ensign?" She pulled her hair out of the neat ponytail it was in and put it up into a messier one, trying to look the part.

"Sure," said Aidan, continuing to step into the role. "With ketchup. I've seen people eat them with mayonnaise, but I prefer them with...." He paused as he brought his arm down from his head and 'looked' at blood that would normally be there had he actually suffered a head injury. "Ketchup."

"Go for it. Might make it more fun. As for me..." Zayna looked around for some unused equipment that could be easily replaced. Finding a few glass things, she picked up one in each hand. "Who wants to call sickbay on my anger," she asked as she thew one of the items across the lab, letting it hit the wall.

Aidan tapped his combadge. "Ensign Crehan to Sickbay, we've problems in Science Lab One. Problems, problems, problems, oh we got problems. There's ketchup coming from my head and an angry woman throwing things."

Rhula materialized. "What's the problem?" he asked, his voice betraying his irritation at having had to leave Sickbay.

Aidan looked up at the doctor and pointed to the science chief. "She went crazy. And that," he said, pointing to the piece of equipment and staying in character, "fell on my egg and cracked it. Now I'm leaking ketchup all over the place."

"Your egg?" Rhula asked. He looked around at the deck. "I don't see any signs of an egg. No yolk. No white."

Aidan paused for a second and tapped his head. "In character, Doctor. I'm...injured." The science officer then stepped back into character.

"Character," Jennin muttered under his breath. "This is idiotic." He looked at Crehan. "If there is a problem with an egg, I'm not the best person to consult. Now, why are you tapping your head?"

"Well, you see," began Aidan, but then paused and looked at Ryler for a second. This didn't seem to be going too well at the moment.

***

Nasek walked down the corridor, pulling out her tricorder, her mind already on the possible repairs she might have to do. She nearly just walked in but remembered this was the science lab. There might be weird things in there and she knew, from prior experience, senior officers were heartless when it came to training complications. She paused and scanned from the hall

***

Zayna heard the conversations but decided to play her part. She went around the lab table and found another empty piece of equipment. Her eyes turned to Aidan before throwing it where it just passed his head. She smirked but then put on the angry face again.

"See!" Aidan yelled. "Crazy!"

"I am NOT crazy!" Zayna yelled out, deciding this was as good a time as any to let out some frustrations since she got to play this part. "You have no idea what I've been through!" She looked around for anything sharp and grabbed a random tool off a table.

"AHHHH!" Aidan screamed. "She has a carrot and she's going to stab me with it! Stop herrrrr!"

Having not even realized she'd grabbed a carrot, as she was going for the item next to it, Zayna just ran with what was going on. Besides, it was fun. "Why the hell would I stab you?! You didn't do any thing to me." Her eyes looked around the room, trying to find her 'target', though she didn't actually have one.

What in the hell is going on here? the Bajoran physician thought. He wished he had a brought a phaser with him. Then he could stun everyone and be done with it.

"Can we not exploit this incident for violent purposes please?" Jennin implored.

Zayna tossed the carrot onto the table, forgetting it had been part of her lunch. "Just getting into character," she said with a smirk. "Besides, I don't actually plan on hurting anyone."

The internal sensors picked up Ensign Nasek approaching and pausing outside the door. HASA flickered as the computer indicated an active tricorder scanning the room. The Ensign's tricorder began showing readings to match the inside of the science lab. A power drop throughout the entire lab was causing power fluctuations. Quarantine forcefields were randomly dropping and then coming back on.

"Well that's not good." She muttered to herself and not detecting anything else entered the science lab, intending to head for the energy hub she needed to investigate. She paused after entering enough so the doors had closed behind her at what she saw. One officer with red on him on the floor, another one who looked mad wielding a tool, and one of the medical personnel. "Not too at all." she thought wondering if she should call security.

HASA turned when the doors opened. "Ensgin Nasek, welcome. As your tricorder indicated, forcefileds in this lab are randomly dropping and then coming back up. There are power fluctuations due to simulated damage. Your job is to safely find the source, or sources, and repair the problem immediately. And Ensign, don't die."

"Um yes." She replied a little confused. No one seemed to be paying attention to her yet so she kept the medical officer in sight, in case he needed help, and the others as she moved carefully to an interface console. Her feet crunching glass underfoot.

HASA saw that the Chief Medical Officer had not produced a medical tricorder when responding to a medical emergency and noted it for the Command Team's summary review. Along with his decision to not verbally inquire as to medical status. "Doctor Jennin, Lieutenant Ryler has been infected by an alien pathogen that has escaped a quarantine field due to power fluctuations and causes excessive aggression. Ensign Crehan has suffered a cranial injury due to falling equipment. His apparent results include delusions and bleeding. They have been instructed to act accordingly with their injuries as part of the tests."

"Oh shut up," the Bajoran man said to the holographic Betazoid. He didn't think it would work, but it was worth a try. "You stay there, Lieutenant Ryler. If you move, I'll have to contact Security to subdue you."

Glaring at him, Zayna crossed her arms. "It is like HASA said, we're playing the parts. Sorry if you don't like it." She shook her head but leaned against one of the lab tables.

"As am I," he replied. "If you were threatening to advance on me with a deadly weapon, I would alert security."

"Playing parts, not actually expecting to get shot at for real. That isn't how this works." Zayna picked up the carrot again and started to nibble on it.

"And the part you are playing is someone who has a deadly weapon," the Bajoran explained. "If someone was a threat to me or my patients, I would alert Security. Sorry if you don't like that."

"Now, Ensign," Rhula said turning his attention back to Crehan, "I'm going to hold up my hand and I want you to tell me how many fingers you see." He then held up his left hand and raised three fingers.

Aidan looked at the man's hand, "Why Doctor, I never knew you had six fingers on one hand. That must make surgeries a little easier for you."

The Bajoran physician shook his head. "Wrong answer. Try again," he said, raising just one finger.

Unable to contain a chuckle, Zayna picked up another carrot and tossed it lightly at Rhula.

Aidan laughed a little and stood up. "Oh, that many fingers. One, in that case, one finger."

"There you go, Aidan. One finger, not six," Zayna said and wished she could have kept up her fun. But Rhula was making it so that it wasn't as fun anymore.

"That's a conflicting result," Jennin said. "Intermittent visual impairment is not a common response to head trauma." He pulled out his tricorder, even though it wasn't going to tell him anything since this was all fake. "Looks like you need a trip to Sickbay for more tests. Perhaps an exploratory craniotomy. I'm sure Doctor Abrams will get you fixed right up." He reholstered his tricorder. "Prepare for medical transport to a surgical suite, Ensign."

Alora knelt at the wall covering she needed and removed it carefully, scanning for the damaged part. Checking it visually as well. Nodding to herself she spoke aloud since the computer was right there, "Nasek to computer please re-route power from junction 341A Mark 4 to secondary shunt 3E." That should help stabilize while she repaired the affected part, "I need to replace the olin polarity capacitor in this." And would rather not get zapped is the thought she didn't finish outloud.

HASA turned to face the engineer. "Unable to comply. Olin polarity capacitor is operating within normal parameters."

Confused as that is contrary to her previous readings she scanned again with her tricorder.

The tricorder scans began to show the same thing. That is until the computer made a series of beeps and sounds that were out of the ordinary. "Power has been rerouted from junction three-four-one-alpha to secondary shunt three-echo. Proceed with replacement of olin polarity capacitor."

"I what?" She said nonplussed as she looked from her tricorder to the HASA and back. "Was this part of the drill?" She wondered. If she ordered any diagnostic but five because the computer seemed odd it would require talking the system offline and even a level five would take processing power which was not a good idea during a ship wide drill. For a moment she was torn between calling her CEO and just doing the repair. She looked at the Capacitor, it certainly appeared safe and her tricorder was now giving her a steady reading. Maybe it was just supposed to 'be affected' by the flickering power in the room. She put down the tricorder and reached for the tool she would need, preparing to remove the affected part.

Just as the engineer was about to 'work' on the effected part, HASA moved over near her. "This portion of the drill is complete. Science Lab One and all participants have been cleared to either resume previous work or continue with the drills in their sections." And with that, HASA disappeared as quickly as she appeared.

Zayna frowned and took a bite of her remaining carrot. "Aww, that's no fun."

It seemed abrupt. She glanced at the HASA then at the others. After a moment she shrugged and ordered the system she was working on back to normal operation and put the cover back on, cleaning up to go.

"Thank the Prophets," Rhula said. He looked at Crehan. "Watch out for falling equipment. And violent women," he added with a smile in Ryler's direction.

Resisting the urge to stick out her tongue, Zayna pretended to throw what was left of her carrot over at him before taking another bite.

Aidan laughed and looked at Ryler before turning back to the Bajoran. "I shall indeed, Doctor. Falling equipment is one thing, but I cannot imagine attempting to explain violent women to Mila."

"He had carrots thrown at him but that," Zay nodded over to the broken vile that had been empty, "Was me playing the part. Rhula made it no fun because I didn't want to be stunned by a phaser or have security called on me."

"I would have thought that you would have appreciated me playing along with this inane little game," Rhula said. "You seemed interested in having me get 'in character', after all."

Gasping, Zayna shook her head. "Yes yes. Well, I still didn't want to get shot at so..." She went over and started to clean up the mess she made.

The Assistant Chief Science Officer's reaction nearly got a laugh out of Rhula. But he pushed it down and gave simply a, "hrmph," before leaving the room.

Aidan laughed and watched the Doctor leave. "Well, it appears as though it's back to business. I'd say back to life as normal, but I think that's saying too much for where we are at."

Finishing clearing up her gear Alora paused but as others were busy talking so left in that quiet way repair people and some security had.

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