S4 E6: 20,000 Leagues

[Lawrie McGellen]

[Sickbay]

Alec was waiting for the machine to finish its tests on the blood, and he was just about to pull the spun down samples from the centrifuge when Lawrie called for his attention.

He quickly joined the other doctor and leaned over to peer at the magnified sample. It took him a moment to register what Lawrie was saying as he tried to make sense of what he was looking at. What the hell... Alec looked in horror toward the biobed where T'Aco was lying. And he...transferred...for lack of a better word, some to Lt. T'Aco. We've got to, I don't know, figure out a way to stop the process. What if we put her in stasis before they kill her? Or could we filter her blood somehow?

They couldn't detect them with any of their scanners, so would their other technology work? Alec had no idea, but they needed to try something quickly before the Vulcan died.

[Sickbay]

"Full blood transfusion??? That's one option.  However, do we have that amount of blood available that she could take I'm wondering, or are there enough Vulcans on this ship to make up any deficit."

Lawrie thought aloud.  "I don't think there's any other sure and certain way to do it to be honest unless..."

The CMO cursed mildly under his breath taking another look at the microscope.

"There's one possibility but I am lacking two things at the moment.  Firstly seeing if these things reproduce at any kind of rate and ... what that rate is, i.e. time.  Stasis might be a good option just while we figure this out, then... find something that kills them that won't kill Lt. T'Aco.  I've got a feeling a certain small person currently munching all my cookies in my office might not be too impressed with us if we let her favourite Vulcan die."

The doctor carefully picked up a clean petri dish, put a dollop of non-contaminated (as in from a blood pack) Vulcan blood in it and then sat it on his hand long enough to have it slightly warm.  He then separated 2 of the micro organisms and dropped them into the blood to see how they reacted.

"I'm going to give them 5 mins, see if they do anything, I think if we keep the rest of the 'gunk' sample at room temp and 'fed' with some blood, either fresh Vulcan or T'Aco's it'll keep the micro organisms alive so we can then... this sounds very evil but I don't want to be sometimes we have be be evil on one hand to be mercurial on the other.  We need some live that aren't in her to experiment on.  So stasis it is.  If you deal with that I'll keep an eye on these wee beasties and start working on how to kill them other than cutting them off from their supply."

He gave a look at the two in the petri dish under the microscope... sure enough they were splitting themselves and there were now 6 in the short time that they'd been talking.

"Well that answers that question... Stasis is the only way we'll save her, we can't move as fast as they can reproduce.  Do it.  I'll start working on something to kill them... which won't kill her, then we inject her with it."

Something was nagging in the back of his mind and then he suddenly smacked his head.

"Alec, belay that about stasis!"  Lawrie practically ran to his office, covering the entire Sickbay in about 3 strides, grinned at Kestra and Elanii and grabbed his personal PADD yelling "Make sure there's one of those biccies left for me!" then ran back to Alec, breathing hard, slightly out of puff.

"Normally I wouldn't allude to anyone's age, but since your species is known for it's longevity it's pretty likely you've been a doctor far longer than me and, come across what I'm going to say." He took several deep breaths to try to steady his heart rate and then let his famous grin fly.

"Mitochondria, Vulcans have mitochondria.  They can be scanned for.  There's every chance that the native mitochondria will fight the new unicellular beasties and while T'Aco might be ill for a while, her body will kill off the new strain itself.  In the meantime get a Mitochondrial Scan done on her.  We have a few new options."

[Felicity Ellis]

[Shuble Nemo]

The former officer continued on his check and making sure everything was in order.  As he finished his Statement he heard the Captain speak back to him.

As they remained alone Jett continued checking the controls and familiarizing himself the retrograde.  The former officer stop for a second and instead of working turned his seat to the Captain.  The next words came rought and hard for him.  As he had to stop and think about it. "I'm sorry, Captain".  Those words came with some hesitation as he was not used to apologizing.  The man stopped his work and instead of multi-tasking he wanted to make eye contact with the Captain.

"Look, I'm not exactly the easiest person to work with.  Hell, I'm probably harder to work with to than a Diva on a Reality TV Show, On E. But....I wanted to thank you, Captain.  You gave me something to do, I have been for months not being able to do anything, which...is frustrating for me.  Thanks for the opportunity.  The man stopped and focused back on the controls.

It was not soon after that Tom, cleared his throat as he observed a person coming in.

Jett turned as he observed the person walking with nonstandard issued Starfleet Weapons.  The former observed and wondered.

What the frack is going on out there?  The man thought to himself as he reminded him that he was paired up with a weird crew.

Jett remained silent for a second and waited until the Captain finished.  They knew each other.  She welcome the Doctor in.  And Jett turned his seat "Doctor,  my name is Thomas Jett, Starfleet Traitor...now I apologize if this comes out as rude but please fasten your seat belt, since it's going to be a bumpy ride.  .  Jett focused on the screen ahead as he waited orders.

The pilot did not hesitate to begin the Start-Up procedures and to warm up the engines.  He knew they had to leave soon if they were going to leave.  "Beginning Star Up procedure....transferring additional power to the engines to account for the extra weight." .  Jett informed the Captain as would a regular helmsman keeping her informed of the major detail.

As the engine and power began he would feel the hum of the ship starting.  "If anyone wants to come in, now it's the time." .  As the officer finished he looked at Flick.  "On your orders, Ma'Am".  He stood on the ready as he was waiting for the doors to open and the Captain to give her orders.

[Bridge]

Aryn had been sitting and waiting for something to happen. She wondered if this was how captains usually felt being left behind on the ship while something major was going on.

=A= Aye, Captain. Commander McKinnson joined the away team that beamed down to the planet's surface, but I'll get engineering on it immediately. =A=

As she spoke, Aryn gestured at the officer at the engineering station who nodded and began tapping away at his console feverishly. I'll have to reroute power from secondary systems, but I can transfer power to the shuttle bay temporarily.

How temporarily?

I'd suggest they have the engines fired up and be ready to exit as soon as the doors open. He shrugged as Aryn raised a brow at him.

=A= Captain, we can transfer power for a short time from secondary systems. Engineering recommends getting the shuttle fired up and ready to go as soon as the doors open. Apparently, the power won't last long. =A=

[Dr. Dugris "Doug" Zaman - Shubble Nemo]

After finishing with the panel, Doug took off running (well, a rather peculiar run with his left arm tucked in, right arm flailing, and small steps, but a run nonetheless), so that he could make it onboard their "Shubble" in time.

At last, he arrived.

"Thanks for waiting," he told the group, out-of-breath, as he adjusted his glasses and fixed his white hair. "Just had to fix that panel. I ran as fast as I could, but I'm not a spry young centenarian anymore."

Doug used "centenarian" almost as though it meant "teenager", almost relishing how that tended to confuse humans.

"What's the plan, y'all?"

"Y'all" was an expression he'd adopted from the American South, a regionalism that the language sorely needed.

[Shubble Nemo]

After everyone left, Lyric took an additional moment to look at the conduits. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than the power having been drained. She would have liked to take more time to figure it out, when the lights flickered back on. Someone must have gotten minimal power restored. It'd likely have to do for now. Dr. Doug had managed to get to the shubble before her, despite his lack spry youthfulness.

The small engineer was unusually solemn as she was deep in thought, and after a nod to the captain, she quietly took a seat to the rear. They would likely only need her help if something went wrong, so that gave her plenty of time to puzzle out what could drain energy without leaving a trace. It was unusual to say the least.

[Felicity Ellis - Shubble Nemo]

Felicity couldn't help but clench her jaw when Jett apologised. She felt as though sometimes they were on completely different wavelengths, and he didn't realise what he was saying half the time. Or that he wasn't in charge anymore, and that his mission wasn't theirs. She shook her head when he thanked her for giving him the project. "I am trying to do everything I can to make this a smooth transition for you. Taking up lodgings in Shran's brig for so long is not a permanent solution I'm willing to accept. We need to work together on something better."

The heated exchange had turned somewhat tepid, with her acknowledgement of his apology coming with a more muted tone and less sharp edges. When Jett introduced himself to Kane, in his own very particular way, she managed to keep the eye-roll in check. As Aryn responded, Dr. Zaman and Lyric McDaniels joined them on board their special shubble.

"Acknowledged, Bridge. Commencing launch now. We'll be in touch as soon as we break atmosphere. Shubble Nemo, out."

With that, she turned to Jett and nodded. "Let's take her out."

Once the pilot had them on the move, and once they were beginning to clear Shran, she would turn to the assembled team and brief them. Literally on the fly. Without bothering to stand, she swiveled in her chair, her eyes roving over each of them before speaking. "Dr. Kane, you will be aware of most of this. Dr. Zaman, Lyric, Jett, this might be a little disturbing for you to hear." She felt that forewarning them against the weirdness that was Miller up and walking out of the bloody morgue might be a decent thing to do.

"I'll try to keep it as brief as possible." She sucked in a breath, and pressed forward. "Ensign Miller was injured off the coast of the LZ we'd chosen on the planet. He was taken back to Sickbay, and appeared to be completely fine. He was released to rest in his quarters, but then was found dead a couple of hours later having suffered heart failure. What alerted us to the problem was an as yet unexplained energy burst, localised on his deck. He was taken to the morgue for post mortem, but there was a power outage, demanding the attention of the doctors present. Unknown to them, Ensign Miller seemed to... reanimate. He left Sickbay and accosted Lieutenant T'Aco. He then proceeded to walk to Transporter Room 1 and beam himself down to the planet."

She paused briefly to allow the others some time to digest the very strange, very bad horror movie motif. She didn't wait too long though, as she wanted them to save any questions for after she was finished telling them ghost stories.

"A Security team has beamed down ahead of us to see if they can locate Miller. Or whatever Miller is at this moment. Our mission will be to find out where he is, what he is, and the nature of the injury he has caused to Lieutenant T'Aco."

[Charles Stratton]

"We've gotten enough samples and I doubt it would help to detect our new group of friends," When Jenna spoke she used the word friend sarcastically. She looked about slowly. She had never seen a crab be this aggressive. "If this were another place and time I would we pissed off a diety because some old dudes bound her soul to a body." She then clutched the necklace that had the photo of Lawrie in it. She moved close to whisper to Peter. "I would think that if this creature is what got to Mister Miller we should make ourselves scarce. I know when an animal has aggression in their eyes and there are way too many looking at us." She had some concern in her voice, but it was for the others around her. She knew that the ocean was not viable for an escape. They weren't cornered at least not yet.

[Earth-like Water Planet - Peninsula]

Stratton looked at the other Security Petty Officer who seemed to agree with him. He was formulating a hypothesis to mention to him, when the Lt. Commander interjected that the water sample was unnecessary.

Subsiding into silence, he absently wondered what else he might have missed. Being a mere crewman, he wasn't privy to all the mission reports.  And the comment about a deity was vaguely intriguing, but he doubted he would ever get a full explanation about it as well.

Forcing his mind back to the task at hand, Stratton had a thought. What if the instrument's sensitivity was too precise, too targeted. What if he needed to scan with much broader parameters. He made an adjustment and scanned the creatures again.

[Thomas Jett]

[Shuble Nemo]
The Pilot of the shuttle focused on the controls and he knew he had a small opening before departing.  It would be a matter of time until they left.  They already had one guest it would be a second until another person came into the Shuble.

"Thanks for waiting," he told the group, out-of-breath, as he adjusted his glasses and fixed his white hair. "Just had to fix that panel. I ran as fast as I could, but I'm not a spry young centenarian anymore."

Doug used "centenarian" almost as though it meant "teenager", almost relishing how that tended to confuse humans.

"What's the plan, y'all?"

"Y'all" was an expression he'd adopted from the American South, a regionalism that the language sorely needed.

As Doctor Zaman entered their vehicle, Jett quickly nodded to the Doctor as he was glad to have him on board.  The Doctor knew the specifications and the Science of the Shuble better than himself.  He was a good person to have on board in case he might need to ask him a question if needed.  After all, Jett was a pilot not a scientist.    He did not respond to much of the plan as it was not his call it was the Captains.

[Shubble Nemo]

After everyone left, Lyric took an additional moment to look at the conduits. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than the power having been drained. She would have liked to take more time to figure it out, when the lights flickered back on. Someone must have gotten minimal power restored. It'd likely have to do for now. Dr. Doug had managed to get to the shubble before her, despite his lack spry youthfulness.

The small engineer was unusually solemn as she was deep in thought, and after a nod to the captain, she quietly took a seat to the rear. They would likely only need her help if something went wrong, so that gave her plenty of time to puzzle out what could drain energy without leaving a trace. It was unusual to say the least.

As Lyric entered, he noticed that she was not very conversive or cheerful.  He wondered if she was ok, or if something was bothering her.  With a place full of people it was hardly the right time to ask her if she was all right.  The former officer left her and did not see what she has seen in the situation once his departure.  It was more critical for him to get this ready than to stay behind with them.

With that, she turned to Jett and nodded. "Let's take her out."

Once the pilot had them on the move, and once they were beginning to clear Shran, she would turn to the assembled team and brief them. Literally on the fly. Without bothering to stand, she swiveled in her chair, her eyes roving over each of them before speaking. "Dr. Kane, you will be aware of most of this. Dr. Zaman, Lyric, Jett, this might be a little disturbing for you to hear." She felt that forewarning them against the weirdness that was Miller up and walking out of the bloody morgue might be a decent thing to do.

"I'll try to keep it as brief as possible." She sucked in a breath, and pressed forward. "Ensign Miller was injured off the coast of the LZ we'd chosen on the planet. He was taken back to Sickbay, and appeared to be completely fine. He was released to rest in his quarters, but then was found dead a couple of hours later having suffered heart failure. What alerted us to the problem was an as yet unexplained energy burst, localised on his deck. He was taken to the morgue for post mortem, but there was a power outage, demanding the attention of the doctors present. Unknown to them, Ensign Miller seemed to... reanimate. He left Sickbay and accosted Lieutenant T'Aco. He then proceeded to walk to Transporter Room 1 and beam himself down to the planet."

She paused briefly to allow the others some time to digest the very strange, very bad horror movie motif. She didn't wait too long though, as she wanted them to save any questions for after she was finished telling them ghost stories.

"A Security team has beamed down ahead of us to see if they can locate Miller. Or whatever Miller is at this moment. Our mission will be to find out where he is, what he is, and the nature of the injury he has caused to Lieutenant T'Aco."

As Jett heard the statement from the Captain that they were ready to depart he quickly began pressing the controls.  With expertise, the crew would have felt the shubble getting up.  With the power situation, the Former Officer  "Initiating flight controls.  Manual control engage...I have manual control" .  Jett took a second and informed everyone to keep them up to date with what was going on.  Some people where comfortable.

From the outside, it can be seen that the shuttle was taking off and that the engines would have been working a little harder than usual. As the take-off took place, the vehicle moved from inside the shuttle bay into the emptiness of space.  From the viewscreen, you could see a big blue planet which was their destination.  The part from space was easy.  The hard part was going to be in the atmosphere.

The former Officer, as it was clear and they began approaching their destination, heard the Captain's explanation.  When he listened to the story, Tom could not help remember that this was similar to the Holodeck meltdown.  AS she heard her explain that it appeared that they were reanimated, it sounded to him that it was a lousy walking dead episode.   The Captain appeared to be in thoughts and worried about her crew.  This was hardly the time to make a joke about the subject as people lives where on the line.

As the flight continued, he noticed that he was approaching the atmosphere of the planet.  Jett took a second and informed the crew "All right, everyone, we are approaching the planet's atmosphere.   Just in case, this might be bumpy with the modifications on the shuttle." .   As he began then Jett looked at everyone.

Mimicking the old airline pilots, Jett tried to relax as he knew it was going to get bumpy. "Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. We do have a special offer that if you join Airlines Nemo  Credit Card today, we will give you complimentary double bonus miles.  Thank you for choosing to fly to Airline Nemo .  HE gave a slight smile as he referred to old airline travel.  The comment was made to help him relax at the atmosphere entry began.

As the entry began, he was feeling of shaking on the shuttle.  It started slowly and it started to increase exponentially.  The balance of the hull of the shubble was off and it took extra power.  It did not take long until it got really bad inside the shuttle.  The trajectory of the Shubble was steeper than recommended and with the added hull everything was off on the computer.    "The added weight is throwing, everything off.  Turning off all auto calculations, switching to manual" .  Jett informed the crew.  It was hardly normal for Officer to turn off the computer, but he was relaying his skills over a computer whose calculations were off.

As the bumpy right continue, he heard the alarm system turned on as it was warning them that something was off.  "Turning off Inertial Dampeners...rerouting power to Engines".  Tom informed the crew as he was trying to lower their decent at a more reasonable rate to prevent crashing.

As the inertial dampeners were off the entire crew would feel the G-forces and the inside of the shuble began shaking.  If a person was not used to the forces could easily been throwing up.  "Hold on!" Jett informed as he tried to correct the decent by rotating the ship and doing multiple barrel rolls.  The alarm sounded louder and louder as the warning was for an imminent crash.  All of a sudden Jett, increased all power to the vehicle and everything began to stabilize.

"All right, systems are stable.  We have a good flight route...waiting for further orders Captain.  Also can someone confirm that we have a stable trajectory" .  Jett informed the crew.  He would not comment but they could have easily crashed.

[Dugris Zaman]

[Felicity Ellis - Shubble Nemo]

Felicity couldn't help but clench her jaw when Jett apologised. She felt as though sometimes they were on completely different wavelengths, and he didn't realise what he was saying half the time. Or that he wasn't in charge anymore, and that his mission wasn't theirs. She shook her head when he thanked her for giving him the project. "I am trying to do everything I can to make this a smooth transition for you. Taking up lodgings in Shran's brig for so long is not a permanent solution I'm willing to accept. We need to work together on something better."

The heated exchange had turned somewhat tepid, with her acknowledgement of his apology coming with a more muted tone and less sharp edges. When Jett introduced himself to Kane, in his own very particular way, she managed to keep the eye-roll in check. As Aryn responded, Dr. Zaman and Lyric McDaniels joined them on board their special shubble.

"Acknowledged, Bridge. Commencing launch now. We'll be in touch as soon as we break atmosphere. Shubble Nemo, out."

With that, she turned to Jett and nodded. "Let's take her out."

Once the pilot had them on the move, and once they were beginning to clear Shran, she would turn to the assembled team and brief them. Literally on the fly. Without bothering to stand, she swiveled in her chair, her eyes roving over each of them before speaking. "Dr. Kane, you will be aware of most of this. Dr. Zaman, Lyric, Jett, this might be a little disturbing for you to hear." She felt that forewarning them against the weirdness that was Miller up and walking out of the bloody morgue might be a decent thing to do.

"I'll try to keep it as brief as possible." She sucked in a breath, and pressed forward. "Ensign Miller was injured off the coast of the LZ we'd chosen on the planet. He was taken back to Sickbay, and appeared to be completely fine. He was released to rest in his quarters, but then was found dead a couple of hours later having suffered heart failure. What alerted us to the problem was an as yet unexplained energy burst, localised on his deck. He was taken to the morgue for post mortem, but there was a power outage, demanding the attention of the doctors present. Unknown to them, Ensign Miller seemed to... reanimate. He left Sickbay and accosted Lieutenant T'Aco. He then proceeded to walk to Transporter Room 1 and beam himself down to the planet."

She paused briefly to allow the others some time to digest the very strange, very bad horror movie motif. She didn't wait too long though, as she wanted them to save any questions for after she was finished telling them ghost stories.

"A Security team has beamed down ahead of us to see if they can locate Miller. Or whatever Miller is at this moment. Our mission will be to find out where he is, what he is, and the nature of the injury he has caused to Lieutenant T'Aco."

[Shubble]

Doug looked rather startled at the description of events, but not quite shocked.
"Wouldn't be the first zombie I've seen," he offered wryly, though he tried not to be too offensive.

[Shuble Nemo]
The Pilot of the shuttle focused on the controls and he knew he had a small opening before departing.  It would be a matter of time until they left.  They already had one guest it would be a second until another person came into the Shuble.

As Doctor Zaman entered their vehicle, Jett quickly nodded to the Doctor as he was glad to have him on board.  The Doctor knew the specifications and the Science of the Shuble better than himself.  He was a good person to have on board in case he might need to ask him a question if needed.  After all, Jett was a pilot not a scientist.    He did not respond to much of the plan as it was not his call it was the Captains.

As Lyric entered, he noticed that she was not very conversive or cheerful.  He wondered if she was ok, or if something was bothering her.  With a place full of people it was hardly the right time to ask her if she was all right.  The former officer left her and did not see what she has seen in the situation once his departure.  It was more critical for him to get this ready than to stay behind with them.

As Jett heard the statement from the Captain that they were ready to depart he quickly began pressing the controls.  With expertise, the crew would have felt the shubble getting up.  With the power situation, the Former Officer  "Initiating flight controls.  Manual control engage...I have manual control" .  Jett took a second and informed everyone to keep them up to date with what was going on.  Some people where comfortable.

From the outside, it can be seen that the shuttle was taking off and that the engines would have been working a little harder than usual. As the take-off took place, the vehicle moved from inside the shuttle bay into the emptiness of space.  From the viewscreen, you could see a big blue planet which was their destination.  The part from space was easy.  The hard part was going to be in the atmosphere.

The former Officer, as it was clear and they began approaching their destination, heard the Captain's explanation.  When he listened to the story, Tom could not help remember that this was similar to the Holodeck meltdown.  AS she heard her explain that it appeared that they were reanimated, it sounded to him that it was a lousy walking dead episode.   The Captain appeared to be in thoughts and worried about her crew.  This was hardly the time to make a joke about the subject as people lives where on the line.

As the flight continued, he noticed that he was approaching the atmosphere of the planet.  Jett took a second and informed the crew "All right, everyone, we are approaching the planet's atmosphere.   Just in case, this might be bumpy with the modifications on the shuttle." .   As he began then Jett looked at everyone.

Mimicking the old airline pilots, Jett tried to relax as he knew it was going to get bumpy. "Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. We do have a special offer that if you join Airlines Nemo  Credit Card today, we will give you complimentary double bonus miles.  Thank you for choosing to fly to Airline Nemo .  HE gave a slight smile as he referred to old airline travel.  The comment was made to help him relax at the atmosphere entry began.

As the entry began, he was feeling of shaking on the shuttle.  It started slowly and it started to increase exponentially.  The balance of the hull of the shubble was off and it took extra power.  It did not take long until it got really bad inside the shuttle.  The trajectory of the Shubble was steeper than recommended and with the added hull everything was off on the computer.    "The added weight is throwing, everything off.  Turning off all auto calculations, switching to manual" .  Jett informed the crew.  It was hardly normal for Officer to turn off the computer, but he was relaying his skills over a computer whose calculations were off.

As the bumpy right continue, he heard the alarm system turned on as it was warning them that something was off.  "Turning off Inertial Dampeners...rerouting power to Engines".  Tom informed the crew as he was trying to lower their decent at a more reasonable rate to prevent crashing.

As the inertial dampeners were off the entire crew would feel the G-forces and the inside of the shuble began shaking.  If a person was not used to the forces could easily been throwing up.  "Hold on!" Jett informed as he tried to correct the decent by rotating the ship and doing multiple barrel rolls.  The alarm sounded louder and louder as the warning was for an imminent crash.  All of a sudden Jett, increased all power to the vehicle and everything began to stabilize.

"All right, systems are stable.  We have a good flight route...waiting for further orders Captain.  Also can someone confirm that we have a stable trajectory" .  Jett informed the crew.  He would not comment but they could have easily crashed.

Then came the flight, which made Doug regret... most of his choices that day. The burritos, the boozing, agreeing to come along, it all seemed like a horrible idea.

He began to quietly look for a bag or other project to barf into, when Jett informed them that they were in - safe. Doug looked and towards the noted criminal...

... which proved to be a mistake as a breakfast burrito and a half, plus two glasses' worth of champagne, escaped the confines of his El-Aurian stomach and went with great force towards the front of the shuttle.

[Peter Dannenberg]

PO1 Peter Dannenberg
[Earth-like water planet - Peninsula - Shore]

Planetside - Peninsula

Having beamed down with the rest of the away team, Mondo eyed the crab-like water creature with suspicion.  An object that he could see, but which did not register on sensors, was worthy of much suspicion.  Stratton suggested that something in the water might be inhibiting scans, and that seemed as good a premise as any.

"It seems like a theory we can test without touching the water," Mondo remarked.

He bent down to find a stone on the ground, taking out his tricorder as he did so.  Mondo was the farthest thing from a science specialist, but the basic operation of a tricorder was a component of security training.  Security crewmen learned to scan for life-forms, as well as scanning for illicit materials and hidden explosives and weapons.  Fortunately, tricorders had handy functions that made the work easier.  Every tricorder was configured with hundreds of common items that one might wish to scan for, and more items could be scanned and added to the list.

Scanning the stone in detail, Mondo stored the scan data in the tricorder's databank.  Although one stone looked very much like another to Hupyrian eyes, the exact composition of silicates, minerals, organic deposits, density, and even shape and surface weathering patterns were like a fingerprint.  No two stones would be precisely the same.

Once the scan was complete, Mondo tossed the stone into the water a few meters away.   Then he tasked his tricorder to perform a pattern match to the recorded data in its memory banks.  At such a short distance, the stone should be readily detectable, just under the surface of the water.

If the tricorder could not detect the stone, it would prove Stratton's theory about something in the water creating interference.

If the tricorder did detect the stone, then something else would be the culprit.

Watching his tricorder carefully, he waited for the result.

[Earth-like water planet - Peninsula]

"Yes Sir, it is strange." Stratton tilted the device so that Dannenberg had a clear view. He wanted to describe chapter and verse just how strange it was, however, now was not the time nor place. Plus the fact, his entire life, it had been ingrained in him that his opinion, even if based on sound scientific fact would be questioned. Lastly, he was also a mere crewman and not at liberty to speak as freely as he wished.

Tapping on the instrument, Stratton quickly scanned the creature hoping to find the right parameters to get a reading. Any reading. Yet with every iteration and combination of scans, there was still no joy. Nothing was showing.

"The water? Miller had been in the water, yes? This thing had just come out of the water.. Perhaps there is a substance in the water that inhibits scanning? We need a sample of the water..."  His words broke off as the single creature was joined by another.
The sample would have to wait, as he turned his attention to the second, then third creature. Scanning each, then en masse and nothing. Not a goddamn thing. The puzzle the creatures were presenting was exciting. This was the type of thing a person could not experience on earth. And here he was, in the middle of scientific discovery.

The creatures now numbered about two dozen, give or take, and there were zero life signs. Stratton schooled his features so his grin of excitement did not show. But his voice may not have been so disguised as he replied to Dannenberg, "No Sir."

[ Earth-like water planet - Peninsula ]

"We've gotten enough samples and I doubt it would help to detect our new group of friends," When Jenna spoke she used the word friend sarcastically. She looked about slowly. She had never seen a crab be this aggressive. "If this were another place and time I would we pissed off a diety because some old dudes bound her soul to a body." She then clutched the necklace that had the photo of Lawrie in it. She moved close to whisper to Peter. "I would think that if this creature is what got to Mister Miller we should make ourselves scarce. I know when an animal has aggression in their eyes and there are way too many looking at us." She had some concern in her voice, but it was for the others around her. She knew that the ocean was not viable for an escape. They weren't cornered at least not yet.

[Earth-like Water Planet - Peninsula]

Stratton looked at the other Security Petty Officer who seemed to agree with him. He was formulating a hypothesis to mention to him, when the Lt. Commander interjected that the water sample was unnecessary.

Subsiding into silence, he absently wondered what else he might have missed. Being a mere crewman, he wasn't privy to all the mission reports.  And the comment about a deity was vaguely intriguing, but he doubted he would ever get a full explanation about it as well.

Forcing his mind back to the task at hand, Stratton had a thought. What if the instrument's sensitivity was too precise, too targeted. What if he needed to scan with much broader parameters. He made an adjustment and scanned the creatures again.

When Mondo scanned for the stone after he had tossed it into the water, his tricorder showed him exactly the parameters of the scan he had fed the device with previously. Everything would be picked up by the scanners - everything but the crabs sitting there in front of them.

Peter had noticed in the corner of his eye that Mondo seemed to be doing some kind of experiment with a stone he had picked up. He assumed it had to do with their current problem. Mondo wasn't the sort to busy himself with meaningless tasks when there were things to solve.

The topic of water samples came up and Jenna intefered to say that samples already had been taken. When she mentioned this creature could be the same one that injured Miller, Peter regarded it with that possibility in mind. The 'crab' did have nippers that looked really sharp. It might be possible that it was this that had 'attacked' Miller and created the stab wound. However, Peter frowned when Jenna said the creatures seemed aggressive to her. To him they seemed to be the opposite really - quite torpid. They didn't move at all since they came on land, they made no threating gesture at all. They just ... sat there.

"Yes, the situation might be too unpredictable", he agreed. "I was just thinking, if this thing really could be what had attacked Miller, we could beam one up to the ship to have it examined by the science department. Under appropriate security measures, of course."

[Aryn Corliss]

[Sickbay]

"Full blood transfusion??? That's one option.  However, do we have that amount of blood available that she could take I'm wondering, or are there enough Vulcans on this ship to make up any deficit."

Lawrie thought aloud.  "I don't think there's any other sure and certain way to do it to be honest unless..."

The CMO cursed mildly under his breath taking another look at the microscope.

"There's one possibility but I am lacking two things at the moment.  Firstly seeing if these things reproduce at any kind of rate and ... what that rate is, i.e. time.  Stasis might be a good option just while we figure this out, then... find something that kills them that won't kill Lt. T'Aco.  I've got a feeling a certain small person currently munching all my cookies in my office might not be too impressed with us if we let her favourite Vulcan die."

The doctor carefully picked up a clean petri dish, put a dollop of non-contaminated (as in from a blood pack) Vulcan blood in it and then sat it on his hand long enough to have it slightly warm.  He then separated 2 of the micro organisms and dropped them into the blood to see how they reacted.

"I'm going to give them 5 mins, see if they do anything, I think if we keep the rest of the 'gunk' sample at room temp and 'fed' with some blood, either fresh Vulcan or T'Aco's it'll keep the micro organisms alive so we can then... this sounds very evil but I don't want to be sometimes we have be be evil on one hand to be mercurial on the other.  We need some live that aren't in her to experiment on.  So stasis it is.  If you deal with that I'll keep an eye on these wee beasties and start working on how to kill them other than cutting them off from their supply."

He gave a look at the two in the petri dish under the microscope... sure enough they were splitting themselves and there were now 6 in the short time that they'd been talking.

"Well that answers that question... Stasis is the only way we'll save her, we can't move as fast as they can reproduce.  Do it.  I'll start working on something to kill them... which won't kill her, then we inject her with it."

Something was nagging in the back of his mind and then he suddenly smacked his head.

"Alec, belay that about stasis!"  Lawrie practically ran to his office, covering the entire Sickbay in about 3 strides, grinned at Kestra and Elanii and grabbed his personal PADD yelling "Make sure there's one of those biccies left for me!" then ran back to Alec, breathing hard, slightly out of puff.

"Normally I wouldn't allude to anyone's age, but since your species is known for it's longevity it's pretty likely you've been a doctor far longer than me and, come across what I'm going to say." He took several deep breaths to try to steady his heart rate and then let his famous grin fly.

"Mitochondria, Vulcans have mitochondria.  They can be scanned for.  There's every chance that the native mitochondria will fight the new unicellular beasties and while T'Aco might be ill for a while, her body will kill off the new strain itself.  In the meantime get a Mitochondrial Scan done on her.  We have a few new options."

[Sickbay]

Alec chewed his lip as his mind raced through possibilities. It's possible that T'Aco's physiology might be different enough that her body can fight off the 'invader', for lack of a better word, unlike a human. I think we ought to draw some more blood and go ahead and put her into stasis so that we can try some different things - filtering the blood, observation to see if her mitochondria can fight it off on their own, and whatever else we can think of to try on it. If the organism can't survive outside a living host, we might be able to cycle her blood out and hold it long enough for the organism to die.

He moved to the biobed to draw more blood. They'd want it even if they didn't pursue the idea of stasis. Alec paused before applying the hypospray that would pull more blood from the Vulcan's veins. Lawrie, what if we're talking about an intelligent species? It may not be able to help its manner of transmission. Maybe it can share the bodies of species on its own planet without harming them and didn't know it wouldn't be the same for a human.

He'd seen so many different alien species in his life, Alec had to bring up the possibility.

[Jenna McKinson]

[ Earth-like water planet - Peninsula - Shore ]

When Mondo scanned for the stone after he had tossed it into the water, his tricorder showed him exactly the parameters of the scan he had fed the device with previously. Everything would be picked up by the scanners - everything but the crabs sitting there in front of them.

Peter had noticed in the corner of his eye that Mondo seemed to be doing some kind of experiment with a stone he had picked up. He assumed it had to do with their current problem. Mondo wasn't the sort to busy himself with meaningless tasks when there were things to solve.

The topic of water samples came up and Jenna intefered to say that samples already had been taken. When she mentioned this creature could be the same one that injured Miller, Peter regarded it with that possibility in mind. The 'crab' did have nippers that looked really sharp. It might be possible that it was this that had 'attacked' Miller and created the stab wound. However, Peter frowned when Jenna said the creatures seemed aggressive to her. To him they seemed to be the opposite really - quite torpid. They didn't move at all since they came on land, they made no threating gesture at all. They just ... sat there.

"Yes, the situation might be too unpredictable", he agreed. "I was just thinking, if this thing really could be what had attacked Miller, we could beam one up to the ship to have it examined by the science department. Under appropriate security measures, of course."

Peter did make a lot of sense. Jenna let her survival instincts get the best of her when she whispered her concerns. Come to think of it, Peter was right. Those crabs did not move. "I agree on that, but the question is how to safely get it on the ship? I mean if it's not being picked up by scans how could we get one of these fellows up there without physically catching. If these beasties got Miller, I think we need to be as cautious as possible." Jenna said. She thought for a moment before she turned to Stratton. "Mister Stratton have you figured out a way to detect these creatures? We may be able to go with Peter's plan if we can get a lock on them." As she spoke her mind was trying to think about the situation.

[Mondo'li Nari]

Planetside - Peninsula

Mondo closed his tricorder and turned to the others, having completed his impromptu investigation.

"I have succeeded in scanning an object that is within the water," he revealed, adding, "whatever is blocking our scans, it cannot be the water itself.  I think it is a property of these creatures."

He frowned, because figuring out a way to scan the creatures seemed to be beyond his talents.  "Perhaps we should treat them like scan-resistant perpetrators smuggling illegal items."

He opened his tricorder again and tried adjusting for various known scan-impeding substances.  There were 42 in the tricorder's database.  He began to cycle through them all.

"I am sure science-minded individuals will have greater success."  Someone versed in the sciences would be able to go beyond the known database of substances, and create new theories based on the previously unknown.

[Felicity Ellis]

[Shuble Nemo]
The Pilot of the shuttle focused on the controls and he knew he had a small opening before departing.  It would be a matter of time until they left.  They already had one guest it would be a second until another person came into the Shuble.

As Doctor Zaman entered their vehicle, Jett quickly nodded to the Doctor as he was glad to have him on board.  The Doctor knew the specifications and the Science of the Shuble better than himself.  He was a good person to have on board in case he might need to ask him a question if needed.  After all, Jett was a pilot not a scientist.    He did not respond to much of the plan as it was not his call it was the Captains.

As Lyric entered, he noticed that she was not very conversive or cheerful.  He wondered if she was ok, or if something was bothering her.  With a place full of people it was hardly the right time to ask her if she was all right.  The former officer left her and did not see what she has seen in the situation once his departure.  It was more critical for him to get this ready than to stay behind with them.

As Jett heard the statement from the Captain that they were ready to depart he quickly began pressing the controls.  With expertise, the crew would have felt the shubble getting up.  With the power situation, the Former Officer  "Initiating flight controls.  Manual control engage...I have manual control" .  Jett took a second and informed everyone to keep them up to date with what was going on.  Some people where comfortable.

From the outside, it can be seen that the shuttle was taking off and that the engines would have been working a little harder than usual. As the take-off took place, the vehicle moved from inside the shuttle bay into the emptiness of space.  From the viewscreen, you could see a big blue planet which was their destination.  The part from space was easy.  The hard part was going to be in the atmosphere.

The former Officer, as it was clear and they began approaching their destination, heard the Captain's explanation.  When he listened to the story, Tom could not help remember that this was similar to the Holodeck meltdown.  AS she heard her explain that it appeared that they were reanimated, it sounded to him that it was a lousy walking dead episode.   The Captain appeared to be in thoughts and worried about her crew.  This was hardly the time to make a joke about the subject as people lives where on the line.

As the flight continued, he noticed that he was approaching the atmosphere of the planet.  Jett took a second and informed the crew "All right, everyone, we are approaching the planet's atmosphere.   Just in case, this might be bumpy with the modifications on the shuttle." .   As he began then Jett looked at everyone.

Mimicking the old airline pilots, Jett tried to relax as he knew it was going to get bumpy. "Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. We do have a special offer that if you join Airlines Nemo  Credit Card today, we will give you complimentary double bonus miles.  Thank you for choosing to fly to Airline Nemo .  HE gave a slight smile as he referred to old airline travel.  The comment was made to help him relax at the atmosphere entry began.

As the entry began, he was feeling of shaking on the shuttle.  It started slowly and it started to increase exponentially.  The balance of the hull of the shubble was off and it took extra power.  It did not take long until it got really bad inside the shuttle.  The trajectory of the Shubble was steeper than recommended and with the added hull everything was off on the computer.    "The added weight is throwing, everything off.  Turning off all auto calculations, switching to manual" .  Jett informed the crew.  It was hardly normal for Officer to turn off the computer, but he was relaying his skills over a computer whose calculations were off.

As the bumpy right continue, he heard the alarm system turned on as it was warning them that something was off.  "Turning off Inertial Dampeners...rerouting power to Engines".  Tom informed the crew as he was trying to lower their decent at a more reasonable rate to prevent crashing.

As the inertial dampeners were off the entire crew would feel the G-forces and the inside of the shuble began shaking.  If a person was not used to the forces could easily been throwing up.  "Hold on!" Jett informed as he tried to correct the decent by rotating the ship and doing multiple barrel rolls.  The alarm sounded louder and louder as the warning was for an imminent crash.  All of a sudden Jett, increased all power to the vehicle and everything began to stabilize.

"All right, systems are stable.  We have a good flight route...waiting for further orders Captain.  Also can someone confirm that we have a stable trajectory" .  Jett informed the crew.  He would not comment but they could have easily crashed.

[Shubble]

Doug looked rather startled at the description of events, but not quite shocked.
"Wouldn't be the first zombie I've seen," he offered wryly, though he tried not to be too offensive.

Then came the flight, which made Doug regret... most of his choices that day. The burritos, the boozing, agreeing to come along, it all seemed like a horrible idea.

He began to quietly look for a bag or other project to barf into, when Jett informed them that they were in - safe. Doug looked and towards the noted criminal...

... which proved to be a mistake as a breakfast burrito and a half, plus two glasses' worth of champagne, escaped the confines of his El-Aurian stomach and went with great force towards the front of the shuttle.

[Felicity Ellis - Shubble Nemo]

"Nor me, come to think of it," Felicity mused aloud following Doug's zombie comment. They'd recently dealt with some holographic zombies on the Shran, and it was likely that each of them had had some sort of encounter with something not quite dead during their travels and Starfleet experiences. The job was never boring, she could say that much.

She turned her chair to face the viewport as Jett began the descent. She'd started out by assisting as co-pilot; re-routing power as appropriate, but soon the accumulative g-forces were staying her hand movements. When the shubble began to shake, pressing her mercilessly back against her seat, an arm lashed out to her side in order to grip something, anything. Her fingers tightened around a handle and her knuckles whitened.

It wasn't the barrel rolls or the bumpy ride that made her feel nauseous, but the sudden stabilisation. She watched as Doug Zaman's stomach contents flew through the air and splattered all over the console between her and Jett. She stared at it for a moment, mouth slightly agape, before shaking herself from her discomfort. The acidic smell was distracting, and more likely to make her puke than the joyride on the shubble, but they had work to do. And a certain Vulcan counselor who would be counting on them to make sure what happened to Miller would not happen to her.

Felicity's eyes moved from the puke, to Thomas Jett, who was requesting a destination. She entered some coordinates into her console, which was thankfully still free of Zaman material. "This is the point where the Security team beamed down. It's the southern peninsula, very close to our original LZ. Unless the other Away Team have a better suggestion, we'll be entering the water in that general area."

Leaving it to someone else to confirm the craft's stability, she took the opportunity to reach out to the other planetside team. "Nemo to Petty Officer Dannenberg. Have you got anything for us?"

[Lyric McDaniels]

[Felicity Ellis - Shubble Nemo]

"Nor me, come to think of it," Felicity mused aloud following Doug's zombie comment. They'd recently dealt with some holographic zombies on the Shran, and it was likely that each of them had had some sort of encounter with something not quite dead during their travels and Starfleet experiences. The job was never boring, she could say that much.

She turned her chair to face the viewport as Jett began the descent. She'd started out by assisting as co-pilot; re-routing power as appropriate, but soon the accumulative g-forces were staying her hand movements. When the shubble began to shake, pressing her mercilessly back against her seat, an arm lashed out to her side in order to grip something, anything. Her fingers tightened around a handle and her knuckles whitened.

It wasn't the barrel rolls or the bumpy ride that made her feel nauseous, but the sudden stabilisation. She watched as Doug Zaman's stomach contents flew through the air and splattered all over the console between her and Jett. She stared at it for a moment, mouth slightly agape, before shaking herself from her discomfort. The acidic smell was distracting, and more likely to make her puke than the joyride on the shubble, but they had work to do. And a certain Vulcan counselor who would be counting on them to make sure what happened to Miller would not happen to her.

Felicity's eyes moved from the puke, to Thomas Jett, who was requesting a destination. She entered some coordinates into her console, which was thankfully still free of Zaman material. "This is the point where the Security team beamed down. It's the southern peninsula, very close to our original LZ. Unless the other Away Team have a better suggestion, we'll be entering the water in that general area."

Leaving it to someone else to confirm the craft's stability, she took the opportunity to reach out to the other planetside team. "Nemo to Petty Officer Dannenberg. Have you got anything for us?"

[Shubble Nemo]

The bumpy shubble ride had been less hard on Lyric than the others. Sometimes it helped not having internal organs. Solids could be so limited and fragile. And leaky, she thought as she tilted her head to look at the distressed Dr. Doug. Her nose did wrinkle, looking at the mess he made, even though she couldn't smell it. Acidic liquids weren't good for the console functions, and that needed to be cleaned up right away. An engineer's work was never done. With a small sigh, she reached into her tool satchel and pulled out a slightly smaller bag that contained specialized cleaning cloths. She took them both out and handed the empty bag to Doug.

"Hey, Dr. Doug, try to feel better. Maybe close your eyes so you have less stimuli? And uh, try to aim for the bag if you've got any left in you." Lyric gave the older man a gentle pat on the back, he seriously did not look well. Unfortunately she was better at fixing machines than people, so that was all the help she could provide. That said she shuffled her way to the front and reached for the console with one of the cloths in her outstretched hand.

"Please don't mind my reach, Cap'n, Mr. Jett. I need to try to get that cleaned up before it gets in the machinery and damages something important." Pointedly, she leaned a little closer to Felicity, as Jett seemed to have taken the worst of the projectile burrito mush. She may not have been able to smell it, but she wasn't going to be thrilled if she accidentally touched it.

"I think this might help clean you up a little. They're made for cleaning up bio-neural gel pack spills, highly absorbent, but I figure they could help with the bio-fluidic leak that got everywhere." Lyric offered a cloth to Jett as well. Her focus remained on the console, it seemed her idea was working well to clean it up, despite the chunks.

"Bleh," she whispered to herself, thoroughly disgusted.

[Thomas Jett]

[Shubble Nemo]

Jett was satisfied that he had regained control of the craft as he made mental notes on how to improve the controls of the craft and the adjustment that needed to be made.  He was happy that he made the recommendation of Level 5 Pilots for this craft as even with the recommended changes, it would be easy to lose control.   As the adrenaline of the atmosphere entry started to wear off, the situation reminded him of his day in training in Starfleet Academy when they were conditioned to blackout so their bodies would be able to handle G forces and turns.

The former Officer remembered his first training in the atmosphere and high gravity that the instructor made him throw up with his hard turns, but it was part of the learning process.  Like seasickness, sometimes the best cure is to get sick in the first place.   As he was taking a deep breath he looked around and felt....

He began to quietly look for a bag or other project to barf into, when Jett informed them that they were in - safe. Doug looked and towards the noted criminal...

... which proved to be a mistake as a breakfast burrito and a half, plus two glasses' worth of champagne, escaped the confines of his El-Aurian stomach and went with great force towards the front of the shuttle.

Around his back and neck area, he felt a moist, gooey sensation.  From the noise coming behind him and the throwing up he felt that someone behind him as sick.  It felt farm in his neck and some of them was in his control.  He looked across and also saw some of it on the Captain's control.  He closed his eyes and asked for patience at first as he wanted to say "Puke!".  Instead of reacting with strength he took a second and responded.  "You ok there Doc?  Don't worry it happens to all of us.  Every pilot has had their guts throw up via G forces on training." .  Jett inquired about the Doctor as he figured it would not be the best time to make any jokes taking into account the seriousness of the situation.    He remembered his own experience and how it might have been embarrassing.

As much as he wanted to clean himself, he could not take his attention from the controls of the craft.  The ship was a prototype and it could be unreliable.  Instead he focused.  He then made the question.  " Captain, I would like to officially request authorization to take a shower before reporting to the brig".  He knew that if he did not report, they might declare him absconder but he felt like he needed a shower after digested part of the burrito was all over his back and neck.

[Shubble Nemo]

"Hey, Dr. Doug, try to feel better. Maybe close your eyes so you have less stimuli? And uh, try to aim for the bag if you've got any left in you." Lyric gave the older man a gentle pat on the back, he seriously did not look well. Unfortunately she was better at fixing machines than people, so that was all the help she could provide. That said she shuffled her way to the front and reached for the console with one of the cloths in her outstretched hand.

"Please don't mind my reach, Cap'n, Mr. Jett. I need to try to get that cleaned up before it gets in the machinery and damages something important." Pointedly, she leaned a little closer to Felicity, as Jett seemed to have taken the worst of the projectile burrito mush. She may not have been able to smell it, but she wasn't going to be thrilled if she accidentally touched it.

"I think this might help clean you up a little. They're made for cleaning up bio-neural gel pack spills, highly absorbent, but I figure they could help with the bio-fluidic leak that got everywhere." Lyric offered a cloth to Jett as well. Her focus remained on the console, it seemed her idea was working well to clean it up, despite the chunks.

"Bleh," she whispered to herself, thoroughly disgusted.

The former officer was relieved that someone began cleaning the mess and focusing on the control.  As she started cleaning it the authorities began smelling a little better. However, he could not help but shake the feeling that he was going to smell like Puke until he took a shower.  As she offered the Cloth Tom nodded and kept control of craft as he responded. "Thanks, but It will have to wait until we are finished the atmosphere portion.  Want to have both hands on the controls.".  The Former Officer informed as he took safety seriously. Tom did not want to relax until it was underwater and then everything would be more stable.

[Felicity Ellis - Shubble Nemo]

Felicity's eyes moved from the puke, to Thomas Jett, who was requesting a destination. She entered some coordinates into her console, which was thankfully still free of Zaman material. "This is the point where the Security team beamed down. It's the southern peninsula, very close to our original LZ. Unless the other Away Team have a better suggestion, we'll be entering the water in that general area."

Leaving it to someone else to confirm the craft's stability, she took the opportunity to reach out to the other planetside team. "Nemo to Petty Officer Dannenberg. Have you got anything for us?"

Jett looked at the coordinates inputed by the Captain.  Without hesitation, he changed the course and heading to the area close to their landing zone.  "Aye, Aye, Captain.".  The former Officer said like a trained Starfleet Officer.   It was clear that they would go underwater. The issue was where.

Changing the controls again, he began changing the entire mechanism into Sub mode.  Jett informed the crew "PreCheck for Sub mode".  He informed the Captain and the crew.  After checking the controls, he reported "All systems green.".  It appeared that they would be able to submerge once they had the coordinates.  Tom waited for further orders and conversations from the away team to hear an update on the situation.

As everything seemed calm, Tom commented to the Captain in a serious tone "Thanks for the assist on rerouting the power.  That helped" .  He mentioned as he waited for further orders.  He planned once they were underwater to give control to Flick for a second as he would want to clean the puke from his back and neck area.

[Lawrie McGellen]

[Sickbay]

Alec chewed his lip as his mind raced through possibilities. It's possible that T'Aco's physiology might be different enough that her body can fight off the 'invader', for lack of a better word, unlike a human. I think we ought to draw some more blood and go ahead and put her into stasis so that we can try some different things - filtering the blood, observation to see if her mitochondria can fight it off on their own, and whatever else we can think of to try on it. If the organism can't survive outside a living host, we might be able to cycle her blood out and hold it long enough for the organism to die.

He moved to the biobed to draw more blood. They'd want it even if they didn't pursue the idea of stasis. Alec paused before applying the hypospray that would pull more blood from the Vulcan's veins. Lawrie, what if we're talking about an intelligent species? It may not be able to help its manner of transmission. Maybe it can share the bodies of species on its own planet without harming them and didn't know it wouldn't be the same for a human.

He'd seen so many different alien species in his life, Alec had to bring up the possibility.

[Sickbay]

"That..." admitted Dr. McGellen with a grim look "...had crossed my mind.  However, they are unicellular micro organisms, I'm not sure that they would have the capacity for intelligent thinking, they don't have brains.  But maybe collectively they do.  Now how to find out if that is so... who knows.  I think for the time being we work on making sure Lt. T'Aco is going to survive, and if we go for filtration keep the beasties contained and alive, that way once we have T'Aco stable we can work on a way of trying to communicate with them!"

Lawrie looked sadly at Alec.

"Dammit Alec I'm a doctor, not a micro-cellular biologist.  I wish John was back here he might be able to shed some light on communicating with them if that was possible."

[Peter Dannenberg]

PO1 Peter Dannenberg
[Earth-like water planet - Peninsula - Shore]

At Jenna's question, Peter rubbed his chin cluelessly. If sensors didn't register it it will be hard for them to beam one of those creatures up.

Turning to Mondo, Peter thought that his explanation was so simple but brilliant in his use of the method of elimination. Recalling Jenna's question and looking at Mondo in his suit, Peter replied: "Could it be possible for us to beam it up if Mondo would take hold of one of the creatures while beaming? He in his safety suit should be protected well enough. As for any contamination on board while beaming, we could establish a force field around the transporter platform until we are sure that there I no danger."

At Felicity's call, Peter tapped his commbadge.  "Captain, there is no sign of Miller as of yet. We did encounter some rather ... strange crab-like creatures that are opposing us at the shore. The strangest thing about them though is that they don't register on our tricorder sensors at all, no matter what we've tried so far. Ensign Stratton is still on it. Petty Officer Nari however found out that it can't be the water that is inhibiting our ability to register them with our sensors. It must be something about the creatures itself or something inside it that is doing that. We are currently discussing the possibility to take one of the creatures up to our ship for analysis and examination."

[Dugris Zaman]

[Felicity Ellis - Shubble Nemo]

"Nor me, come to think of it," Felicity mused aloud following Doug's zombie comment. They'd recently dealt with some holographic zombies on the Shran, and it was likely that each of them had had some sort of encounter with something not quite dead during their travels and Starfleet experiences. The job was never boring, she could say that much.

She turned her chair to face the viewport as Jett began the descent. She'd started out by assisting as co-pilot; re-routing power as appropriate, but soon the accumulative g-forces were staying her hand movements. When the shubble began to shake, pressing her mercilessly back against her seat, an arm lashed out to her side in order to grip something, anything. Her fingers tightened around a handle and her knuckles whitened.

It wasn't the barrel rolls or the bumpy ride that made her feel nauseous, but the sudden stabilisation. She watched as Doug Zaman's stomach contents flew through the air and splattered all over the console between her and Jett. She stared at it for a moment, mouth slightly agape, before shaking herself from her discomfort. The acidic smell was distracting, and more likely to make her puke than the joyride on the shubble, but they had work to do. And a certain Vulcan counselor who would be counting on them to make sure what happened to Miller would not happen to her.

Felicity's eyes moved from the puke, to Thomas Jett, who was requesting a destination. She entered some coordinates into her console, which was thankfully still free of Zaman material. "This is the point where the Security team beamed down. It's the southern peninsula, very close to our original LZ. Unless the other Away Team have a better suggestion, we'll be entering the water in that general area."

Leaving it to someone else to confirm the craft's stability, she took the opportunity to reach out to the other planetside team. "Nemo to Petty Officer Dannenberg. Have you got anything for us?"

[Shubble Nemo]

The bumpy shubble ride had been less hard on Lyric than the others. Sometimes it helped not having internal organs. Solids could be so limited and fragile. And leaky, she thought as she tilted her head to look at the distressed Dr. Doug. Her nose did wrinkle, looking at the mess he made, even though she couldn't smell it. Acidic liquids weren't good for the console functions, and that needed to be cleaned up right away. An engineer's work was never done. With a small sigh, she reached into her tool satchel and pulled out a slightly smaller bag that contained specialized cleaning cloths. She took them both out and handed the empty bag to Doug.

"Hey, Dr. Doug, try to feel better. Maybe close your eyes so you have less stimuli? And uh, try to aim for the bag if you've got any left in you." Lyric gave the older man a gentle pat on the back, he seriously did not look well. Unfortunately she was better at fixing machines than people, so that was all the help she could provide. That said she shuffled her way to the front and reached for the console with one of the cloths in her outstretched hand.

"Please don't mind my reach, Cap'n, Mr. Jett. I need to try to get that cleaned up before it gets in the machinery and damages something important." Pointedly, she leaned a little closer to Felicity, as Jett seemed to have taken the worst of the projectile burrito mush. She may not have been able to smell it, but she wasn't going to be thrilled if she accidentally touched it.

"I think this might help clean you up a little. They're made for cleaning up bio-neural gel pack spills, highly absorbent, but I figure they could help with the bio-fluidic leak that got everywhere." Lyric offered a cloth to Jett as well. Her focus remained on the console, it seemed her idea was working well to clean it up, despite the chunks.

"Bleh," she whispered to herself, thoroughly disgusted.

[Shubble Nemo]

Jett was satisfied that he had regained control of the craft as he made mental notes on how to improve the controls of the craft and the adjustment that needed to be made.  He was happy that he made the recommendation of Level 5 Pilots for this craft as even with the recommended changes, it would be easy to lose control.   As the adrenaline of the atmosphere entry started to wear off, the situation reminded him of his day in training in Starfleet Academy when they were conditioned to blackout so their bodies would be able to handle G forces and turns.

The former Officer remembered his first training in the atmosphere and high gravity that the instructor made him throw up with his hard turns, but it was part of the learning process.  Like seasickness, sometimes the best cure is to get sick in the first place.   As he was taking a deep breath he looked around and felt....
Around his back and neck area, he felt a moist, gooey sensation.  From the noise coming behind him and the throwing up he felt that someone behind him as sick.  It felt farm in his neck and some of them was in his control.  He looked across and also saw some of it on the Captain's control.  He closed his eyes and asked for patience at first as he wanted to say "Puke!".  Instead of reacting with strength he took a second and responded.  "You ok there Doc?  Don't worry it happens to all of us.  Every pilot has had their guts throw up via G forces on training." .  Jett inquired about the Doctor as he figured it would not be the best time to make any jokes taking into account the seriousness of the situation.    He remembered his own experience and how it might have been embarrassing.

As much as he wanted to clean himself, he could not take his attention from the controls of the craft.  The ship was a prototype and it could be unreliable.  Instead he focused.  He then made the question.  " Captain, I would like to officially request authorization to take a shower before reporting to the brig".  He knew that if he did not report, they might declare him absconder but he felt like he needed a shower after digested part of the burrito was all over his back and neck.
The former officer was relieved that someone began cleaning the mess and focusing on the control.  As she started cleaning it the authorities began smelling a little better. However, he could not help but shake the feeling that he was going to smell like Puke until he took a shower.  As she offered the Cloth Tom nodded and kept control of craft as he responded. "Thanks, but It will have to wait until we are finished the atmosphere portion.  Want to have both hands on the controls.".  The Former Officer informed as he took safety seriously. Tom did not want to relax until it was underwater and then everything would be more stable.

Jett looked at the coordinates inputed by the Captain.  Without hesitation, he changed the course and heading to the area close to their landing zone.  "Aye, Aye, Captain.".  The former Officer said like a trained Starfleet Officer.   It was clear that they would go underwater. The issue was where.

Changing the controls again, he began changing the entire mechanism into Sub mode.  Jett informed the crew "PreCheck for Sub mode".  He informed the Captain and the crew.  After checking the controls, he reported "All systems green.".  It appeared that they would be able to submerge once they had the coordinates.  Tom waited for further orders and conversations from the away team to hear an update on the situation.

As everything seemed calm, Tom commented to the Captain in a serious tone "Thanks for the assist on rerouting the power.  That helped" .  He mentioned as he waited for further orders.  He planned once they were underwater to give control to Flick for a second as he would want to clean the puke from his back and neck area.

[Dr. Dugris "Doug" Zaman - Shubble]

As his mind and stomach slowly settled, Doug felt very embarrassed by this mishap, and the attention it was drawing. It was, suffice it to say, not a good feeling.

"I'm sorry, guys," he apologized feebly. "That was probably too much champagne."

And, truth be told, too much burrito as well. He was looking at a lot more salads and rice in the days and weeks ahead.

"Is there anything specific we're looking for? Some particular radiation or form of matter? Miller himself?" he asked, trying his hardest to focus on the task at hand and not what he had done.