Running Into The Eye Of The Storm (Part 2)

Posted on Mon Mar 27th, 2017 @ 2:38am by Leiddem Kea (*) & Caden Isaacks
Edited on on Mon Mar 27th, 2017 @ 2:39am

Mission: Mission 3 - Negligence
Location: Empok Nor, Central Core - Promenade
Timeline: MD 02:: 13:30
1458 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Previously on “Running Into The Eye Of The Storm (Part 2)” :

"I don't read it I am afraid isn't part of Marine training!" Kea remarked with a small smirk as he picked up the nearest bottle and shook it, the contents moved around sounding congealed. "Caden, did you bring anything to help? I was just told to bring a gun as security."

Caden tapped the phaser pistol he had brought with him and waggled the tricorder in the air to answer Kea's question. "I can read basic Cardassian, but half of this isn't part of the basic level classes from uni. I don't think they expected 'out of towners' at their own station."

Leiddem opened his mouth to say something else about out of towners when he realized the doctor had disappeared from his sight. "Where by the Deities is that man!" He muttered raising his gun to start looking for the Ships Doctor.

And now, the conclusion:


While the two discussed the finer points of dealing with language, the air was pierced by a pronounced structural groan. It grew more and more pathetic sounding until there was a snap and a loud crash off to the right side of the entrance in what passed for the surgical bay. There, Dr. Olsam Mott was standing next to a fallen surgical array that had come detached from the ceiling and smashed into the deck plating. Having quietly slipped away while they were talking, he'd evidently played some role in compromising its structural supports. When the dust settled, he had his hands on his hips in a triumphant pose.

"I found a surgical array," he said, turning his head briefly to glance down at it. "It's a little banged up though."

Leiddem rushed into the room rifle raised but couldn't see a thing with all the dust in the air. He swept out a hand moving it from his eyes so he could look at Mott as he glanced at the array now lying sideways on the deck plating instead of hanging from the ceiling. "Um... I'm sure Jeassaho or Bradon can fix it." He started seeing how smug the Bolian looked about it all. "Do you think it will be okay with our systems?"

"Probably not. Nor-class starbases utilize laser-induced fusion, which means a higher-than-usual plasma flow rate. The ion-energy network, or electro-plasma system, if you will, has completely different step-down conduits for induction-type user equipment at the fifth-stage. That makes it highly incompatible with Federation technology, which has substantially different flow needs for the end user at fifth-stage step-down conduits. That's especially true for older systems, like those aboard the Mary Rose," the doctor said.

He'd rattled it off as if he held an advanced degree in engineering rather than medicine and did so while making an inspecting circuit of the surgical array. The mystery of Olsam Mott deepened as he seemed content to give no indication as to how he knew any of that. When he finally came to a stop, he grinned deviously at Leiddem.

"On Deep Space Nine, they installed a lot of power-conditioning equipment to compensate so maybe we can go there and steal some of it. Or maybe Chief Gordon can just improvise."

"Can't hurt." Caden brushed off a thick layer of dust from the array's console screen, inspecting it for cracks and damages. "Is there a way we could check to see if the thing even works before we lug it all the way back?"

"I don't think we should be stealing from Deep Space Nine." The Betazoid said quickly trying to quell those thoughts before they even got anywhere. He didn't want to steal from Starfleet, they still employed him and didn't look kindly on thieves. "Your tricorder equipped with an Engineering mode?" The Marine wondered thinking back to his basic training.

Caden shook his head. "Nope. If it was, it'd make this a hell of a lot easier, but I didn't think the Rose had anything that would sync properly let alone be compatible with updated tricorder technology."

"If I remember correctly…"

Olsam had begun muttering as he turned and walked away from the problematic array. Before he could complete his thought, his voice became so low and incomprehensible and the distance between them grew so great that he became inaudible. While the pair worked on the surgical array, Dr. Mott disappeared into Sickbay.

And then a gun went off. Not a paltry hand phaser, not a disruptor, not a phaser rifle, but, rather, a gun, the sort that fired single deadly bolts and often found themselves being wielded by criminals and other unsavory sorts operating outside the bounds of the law. Olsam Mott didn’t exactly fit that bill, but he was holding the literally smoking gun in his hands when Caden and Leiddem showed up. His Dai-Matsa Consolidated Polarized Phase Blaster MK IX, also known as "the PPB" or "the Mark Nine," had been on his hip from the moment he stepped on the ship. One needed to be armed while working with people like Rueben Gregnol. Occasionally, one also needed to blast a hole through the wall.

"A gun... an actual real old fashioned gun!" Lieddem muttered clearing now not only the dust but the smoke from the air. "How old fashioned of you." He commented on looking at the hole impressed.

Caden, however, was not as impressed. "Oh good. Something that'll damage a hull. Or a head. I'm seeing death in someone's future. Where did you even pick that up?"

"An arms dealer, of course. It's a very effective weapon! It fires self-contained phased energy ammunition. As you can see, it leaves quite an impact crater. Did you know,” Olsam began to ask in a matter-of-fact tone, treating his discharge of a firearm as a normal, everyday occurrence, “that during the war some people used to call the Cardassians spoonheads? Because of the spoon-like depression in their median cranial ridge.” Fumbling with the Dai-Matsa Consolidated Polarized Phase Blaster MK IX (also known as "the PPB" or "the Mark Nine") he finally managed to get it shoved back safely into its holster. “It was a psychological response to the rigors of war – demean and degrade the enemy, make them seem less intelligent and less capable, and they seem less frightening.”

"So is that why no one on the ship calls you anything but Mott or Doctor they just aren't scared of you with your gun." The Betazoid said with a smirk as he looked at the hole that had been created by the bullet.

“I always thought they were very smart,” the doctor said as he flicked on his LXLM01 hand-light and directed the beam into the hole he’d blasted into the wall of Empok Nor’s sickbay, yammering on like he hadn't even heard Leiddem. “They were strategic thinkers, planners, almost better at planning ahead than the Romulans. But of course, nobody does that… Better than… The Romulans…” His statement was punctuated by grunts of effort as he reached into the hole in the wall and fished around with his hand.

Leiddem stepped back as he was pushed out of the way and the Bolian reached into the hole. He raised an eyebrow at Caden confused at what the Bolian was doing. "What are you doing?" He finally asked.

"I..." Caden didn't finish his thought, insisting upon taking three giant steps back, behind a semi-effective-derelict-console-turned-barrier. Whatever the 'Head Doctor' was planning, the young medic wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

"Ah ha!" Olsam said as he latched onto something. Carefully, he produced a small sealed container from within the bulkhead. And then another. And another and another, so on and so on. "As I was saying, these Cardassians were very smart. They always had supply problems under the Union - the rigors of a centrally controlled economy - so doctors learned to hide supply caches. The Central Command's efficiency experts never understood that just because you aren't using medical supplies doesn't mean you might not need them some day, in case of an emergency. Or in case of a crew trapped on a near-derelict old vessel with a miserly captain that won't shell out the latinum for medical equipment."

Suddenly a cry came over the communications that had been rigged making Leiddem cry out in shock at the sudden noise in his head.

"Guys... we have an emergency." He breathed paling as he heard the details.

OFF::

Olsam Mott, M.D.
Ship's Doctor
SS Mary Rose

Leiddem Kea
Weapons Master / Medic
SS Mary Rose

Caden Issacks
Field Medic
SS Mary Rose