Deck 6 – USS Lorenza – 11:00

Cynndle walked down the halls of the USS Lorenza feeling a sense of uneasiness as he headed toward the bridge. The ship seemed deserted but he knew that the entire crew was still on board spread around the ship.

Glancing down at the PADD in his hand he reviewed the schematics of the New Orleans class vessel as he had never been on one before. “What is the fastest way to the bridge..hmmm” he muttered to himself before looking up and realizing he was very close to the airlock that both he and Longfellow entered through. As if the realization shaped the universe around him a pair of young medical techs, a male Bolian and a female Denobulan, from Bravo stepped around the corner almost walking into him. His sudden appearance caused them both to jump.

Over the open coms, he heard one of the curses, “Bloody hell, where did you come from!?” before realizing he was speaking to a Lieutenant Junior Grade and quickly apologizing.

“Apologise ensigns, I should have been paying closer attention. Where are you headed?” Cynndle asked them as he continued to look over the schematics.

“We have been ordered to sweep the ship and check crew, sir. There will be several other teams coming through shortly for this. The main team has already headed to medical.” the Denobulan said and then looked around the empty halls. “How bad is it sir?”

Cynnlde shook his head, “Cannot say I have much experience in these sort of things but it is not good. Medical is full of crew members who are not in good shape by the looks of it.” he said as he looked around. “Look I am heading to the bridge and will likely come across more crew on the way and there. Do you want to come along? I may need an extra pair of hands anyways when I get there.”

“Yes, sir,” the Denobulan said and the Bolian nodded.

“Enough with the sir. I’m Cynndle.” he said with a smile to which the Bolian said, “Brall Xata” and the young Denobulan said, “I’m Velesa”

Over the next 10 minutes as they walked through the ship they came across several crew members, mostly younger individuals shuffling along the corridors or sitting in the quarters. All of whom showed clear signs of infection though they did now seem as far along as the older crew Cynndle had seen in sickbay.

Every time the three conducted the same routine and received the same response from the crew. All were surprised and excited to see the medical teams from Bravo and seemed to think a cure was not far off now that the medical and scientific might of the federation was being focused. Cynndle reassured each of them that they were there to help and advised them to go to medical as that is where the medical team was going to set up the base of operations. Brall would get their name and check it against the ship’s manifest and Velesa conducted a quick medical scan.

As they approached the turbolift to the bridge a commotion could be heard as two voices sounded to be in an argument. Cynndle rounded the corner to find a young member of the crew, who though infected was the liveliest person he has seen yet. The young woman was having a heated exchange with a young non-uniformed Tellarite who is demanding access to the bridge.

The frustration on the young woman’s face was clearly visible as he once again said, “Sir, I understand you want to see the Captain but you are not authorised to access the bridge. I will let them know and see what can be organized.”

“NO, THAT ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH! I DEMAND YOU MOVE AND LET ME PASS OR ELSE!!” the Tellarite shouted.

“Sir, please,” her voice exhausted from the ordeal of dealing with the situation, “I have explained this. You know you cannot go to the bridge with the ship in lockdown. Can you please return to your quarters.” the woman said causing the Tellarite to shout in rage and pull a knife from up his sleeve. The woman stepped back a look of shock and worry on her face before catching sight of the three officers in biohazard suits which caused a flash of terror across her face before quickly recognizing that it meant Starfleet had sent help.

Seeing the knife Cynndle stepped forward and holds up his hands, “I am Lieutenant Oin’sun. I get your frustration and worry given the situation. Let us try to remain calm. The ship has reached Starbase 4 and the medical and science teams are doing everything they can. What is your name?”

As Cynndle stepped forward the Tellarite waved the knife in from of him. “STAY BACK. I WANT OFF THIS SHIP NOW. I SHOULDN’T EVEN BE HERE!”

“I get that, but the ship is in quarantine. If you leave you could, you WILL, spread the infection and it could kill hundreds, if not thousands.” Cynndle said as both Velesa and Brall stepped up behind him.

“NO, NO, NO. I am not sick, SEE SEE!” the man said as he pulled down his shirt collar and took a step towards Cynndle, “I do not have the black likes or sores on my face! See! So I am not sick.” As he did the sleeve of his shirt slid down showing the edges of a black sore.

Watching the knife the man was waving around Cynndle grew increasingly concerned…’one cut and we could be infected….shit. I need to get that away from him…’ he thought. “That isn’t how this works. The virus infects everything as far as we can tell. Tellarites included; it may present differently but everyone on board as far as we can tell is infected. Look at your arm, it may not be on your face but you are infected. Please I am asking you to drop the weapon.”

“No, No…” the Tellaraite said. His anger fading but he still waved the knife around.

“Sir, please. I need you to drop the knife and go to medical. They can check you out properly. The medical teams of Bravo are there.” Cynndle said. Before he could continue Velesa stepped up past him and held out her hand. “Bravo as some of the best facilities and staff in the fleet. We will look after you and do everything possible.”

During the exchange, the young women had shifted up behind the Tellarite clearly getting ready to attempt to disarm him if needed. See this Cynndle looked at her and shook his head as he put a hand on Velesa shoulder pulling her back. “As my colleague as said, this is the best place to be. If you drop the weapon we can get you looked after.”

With a cry of frustration and despair, the knife clattered to the floor and the Tellarite saged to the floor, tears in his eyes. Cynndle looked to both Brall and Velesa as he stepped forward and carefully moved the knife away. “I’ll take that sir. You won’t want that near your suit.” the young crew woman said. “Is it true, we are at Bravo? The Bridge has been locked down and I haven’t looked out a viewport for a while.”

“Yes, and thank you for the help. Could you escort this man to sickbay?” Cynndle said before turning back to Brall and Velesa, “Can you go with…Sorry I didn’t get your name.”

“It’s Jane, Jane Bond….like that old spy film guy…” she said with a smile that barely hid her worry.

“Well Jane, it is a pleasure to meet you. Wish it was under better circumstances. Brall and Velesa, please go with Bond, Jane Bond…”  Cynndle said with a smile, “…to sickbay with the Tellarite.” Switching to a private come to them both. “Make sure he doesn’t cause any more trouble, search him for any more knives and be careful. Then carry on with your sweep unless otherwise instructed.” They both nodded and moved towards the Tellarite, scanning him and then with the help of Jane got him up and moving the way they had come.

Cynndle watched them go then turned towards the turbolift to the bridge.

Getting to the lift he quickly realized it was completely locked down. “Shit, Jane wasn’t kidding when she said it was locked down.” Quickly pulling up the override code they had been given to access all areas of the ship he cursed as it was accepted but a large red flashing ERROR message appeared on the door control. Pulling out his tool kit he undid the clasps and removed the panel.

Just as he finished opening the access panel on the turbolifts controls and his combadge chimed and S’Atilen’s voice came through the suit’s mic asking for an update. Activating the mic he responded while he tried to manually force the doors open.  “Not there yet but will be in a few minutes just forcing my way into the lift controls. The bridge is locked down….” Looking through the wires he cursed, ‘Damn mess in here’ he thought. “On my way to the bridge, we came across a few younger crew who were more mobile as well as women who seemed pretty normal though was infected. She is on her way to sickbay with a Telllarite who was pretty worked up. That’s it from me for now. I will send an update when I have one.”

With that Cynndle cut the mic but continued to listen to the exchange and acknowledged when needed. He started sorting out the manual release of the door. After a few minutes, he let out a laugh as the door to the lift slid open showing the empty turbolift carriage waiting within. As he stood up he thought, ‘Someone didn’t just lock the bridge down they actually scrambled the manual controls…wonder why…’

He stepped into the lift and said “Bridge”, causing the doors to slide shut and the lift to move upwards.

As he stood there Neva Cordon’s voice came over his coms giving an update on their work with the gel packs. “Thanks for the heads up Neva. It is worrying that the bio-neural gel packs have been infected. Can you tell if they were cleared and then recontaminated after transport such as a latent carrier maybe or do they come across and the filters are unable to remove the contagion?”

Cynndle listened as she responded and keyed his mic.  “Ok, let me think on this for a minute. Maybe the medical team can provide some insight. I am just stepping onto the bridge now and will try to run some scans from this end. It may provide some additional information.”

A moment later the lift stopped and the doors opened revealing the bridge of the New Orleans class ship. Cynndle stepped out onto the bridge and looked around. At first glance, the bridge seemed deserted but as walked further onto the bridge he saw the form of a man slumped over one of the science consoles.  

He move quickly over to the individual and pulled out his tricorder and began the scan. Looking at the individual, it looked like he had a very advanced infection. That and his incredibly still form caused Cynndle to mutter under his breath, “Shit. Please don’t be dead…” but his fears were put to rest as the tricorder completed its scan showing a moderate infection and that the officer was stable and just asleep. Though that was odd for it to look so bad…

Moving over towards the operations console Cynndle pulled up the logs and lockdown reports. Scrolling through them he frowned. It appeared that the individual asleep, a young Lieutenant, had rerouted all controls to the bridge and then sealed the bridge, locking down all turbolifts, airlocks, and transporters to keep everyone on board and limit movement using the acting Captains codes. As he read through the logs and reports it painted an increasingly grim picture. The infection had spread through the ship like wildfire after it first appeared on board and the isolation procedures that had been put in place to hopefully keep the, who were thought to be uninfected Romulans, as well as the uninfected crew failed. “Bloody hell. This is a mess…”

Pulling out a PADD within a hermetically sealed case he placed it on the console. “Computer download all official logs, internal and external sensor reports since the Romulan Refugees arrived on board.” He then turned back to the sleeping Lieutenant. “Sorry friend, but I need to get you up.” Tapping the man on the shoulder caused him to stir and look up his eyes. Upon seeing Cynndle he half jumped and fell out of the chair before catching himself.

“How, How did you get up here? Who are you?” he stammered.

“Easy there, I didn’t mean to scare you. I am Lieutenant Oin’sun. The USS Lorenza made it to Starbase 4. We have medical teams on board doing what we can.” Cynndle said.

“But the virus…” the Lieutenant said as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes.“The ship is in quarantine. Part of what I am doing up here. All SBB staff are in full hazmat gear so we should be clear.” Cynndle said as he stepped up to the console. “I assume you locked the ship down?”

The Lieutenant nodded, “Yeah, everyone was sick and I felt a bit better though that seems to have passed. Feel horrible now. The acting Captain was worried people may try to get off and ordered me to seal the bridge and lock everything down…”

“You did well. The logs show an attempt to beam off the ship. It would have been a disaster. If you give me a minute I am going to add another layer of lockouts to this then we can get you to sickbay, ok?” Cynndle said with a smile through his hazmat suit as he began adding another layer to the lockdown.

After a moment he stood up and looked back to the Lieutenant, “What do you say we get you to sickbay and have the doctors look after you, Lieutenant…Sorry I didn’t get your name?”

“If the doctors think they can cure this,” the Lieutenant said, waving a hand at the marks on his face, “then lead on. I can walk. My name is James Locke by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, James, I’m Cynndle. Let’s get you moving.” Cynndle said as Lieutenant Locke stood up and they headed back to sickbay.