Unaware of the mess on the ship, Ben himself was running on empty. He was in over his head; like the CMO, Ben’s world ran by the Handbook. The perfect specimen of a Starfleet officer, he strove for great things. Right now? He was ankle deep in muddy waters, having the weirdest experience of his life, and wishing he was back on the boat. Why did he feel the need to play the hero? He should’ve gone back with Maggie. Dammit. 

He was deep in a three way conversation with the assistant Counselor, who was translating Terran to…whatever language the plants were using, and back to him. So far, Ben had learned that the the dead man was an unknown race of friendlies-called themselves Sidians-the plant itself was Sides* and all but five of the Sidians had died of a mysterious illness. The other four-one woman and three children-none related-had left the planet to find help, when a mysterious and dangerous storm had swept through, depositing the strange, blood-red Dilithium jewels, that the young woman from the Chemistry lab was currently mooning over. 

The pitcher plant told him that they were ok by themselves; that the only concern was overgrowth. The strange dilithium only seemed to affect humanoids but not plantae or fauna. Ben was forming an idea in his head, and called his people together. They were going to return to the ship, with the promise to come back, but he needed to get a few things in place first. Beaming them back to the Ship was proving to be a bit of a challenge; this planet seemed to push back against their shields but after a few tries, both Engineering and Science had them back in the Ready Room, and he dismissed everyone that was unnecessary while he waited for the Captain to return with the Medical and Science heads. While he waited, he replicated himself some coffee, and, after a moment, decided he didn’t have enough time to change his uniform. He just hoped he didn’t smell. In a moment, Captain Taylor arrived, with Doc Harrison, the assistant Counselor, Maggie, and a few of the Science staff. All but one gathered around the table-the woman he recognized from science-the Astrometrics girl-stood against the wall, silent, unmoving. Weird. He looked to Jamie, who seemed at once irritated and amused, but began when the man nodded his head. “Dr T’shir here says that the inhabitants of the planet are all deceased from an unknown illness, save for five. The man who they called the caretaker stayed behind, presumably to help the flora and fauna and, you know, keep an eye on things. They were called the Sidians*. The Devoran killed the one left behind; no word on where the other four were headed, and I am not sure if the…pitcher plant even knows.” He winced at that final sentence; that definitely was the weirdest thing he’d ever said, and he’d said some pretty awkward things in his day, trying to impress girls and such. The counselor, who had been with him on the planet and was “translating” for him, nodded in agreement, and matched the Commander’s words with his own. Yes. They assure me-us-that they are fine alone, but it is definitely a symbiotic relationship, as much as any biome is. They rely on the…humanoids to keep overgrowth and disease at bay, and the humanoids relied on them for food and clean air. The new Dilithium is causing them to experience plant rust. Elly? The young woman who’d been mooing over the Dilithium nodded, and spoke excitedly. Yes, sirs! See, she pulled her PaDD out of a bag and placed it upright on the table, it’s almost as if it is surrounding their ability to process CO2 and such. Kind of like a filmy barrier, if you will. My proposal is to bring in the worst of them to the labs, and see if we can figure out how to clean them. I am also having my team investigate how to remove the Blood Dilithium. We could really use a few extra hands down there; with both Dr Kovar and Dr Jones out, we’re running on a skeleton crew, and a few of the nurses had to step in, along with Dr. Maccafferty here, who thinks she may be able to figure out at least which way to go to find the missing four Sidians. Things were moving fast and Ben’s head swam. He had a basic, regular understanding of plant science/botany, but it was elementary. Even worse was his understanding of astrometrics, so when the diminutive redhead produced a visual aide, it was welcome. Aye. I’ve got training in physics, though I don’t prefer it, but they didn’t offer other sciences at Vissia U besides chemistry, and that’s boring. Sorry, Elly, but it is. Anyway. Here we are. She paused a beat as a projector made a map of the galaxy shine on the wall behind Taylor’s head. He ducked out of the way. It didn’t escape Ben’s notice, either, that the young Dr. Maccafferty hadn’t unpeeled herself from the wall. If anything, she seemed to retreat further away, into a corner, as if to melt into the structure if she was able. We are here, she used a laser pointer to punctuate her words. Now, the nearest habitable planet, if Dr. Clark’s team is correct and the Sidians are carbon-based beings, is here, another point to the left hand side of the screen. About five hundred nautical miles. We can warp there in three minutes, likely. You may be able to just *transport* there, really, if your machine is good enough. Ben had forgotten that the woman’s file mentioned a lack of tact in her approaches to people, and, after she made the quip, he remembered, and looked to Taylor. The man just shrugged and let Ben take over. “Thank you both. Dr. Maccafferty, please remember that tact is especially important in meetings such as these. Dr. Clark, work with Engineering to do what needs to be done. Is that ok, Commander?” He turned his head to the CEO, a Vulcan man that Ben didn’t know well yet. The man just nodded. To Fee, he spoke again. “Alright, send the coordinates to my PaDD and we’ll send a team. Dr Harrison, do you have anything to add?” The man shook his head, but spoke softly, as he usually did, a soothing undertone to his voice. Ben had figured out pretty quickly that Jamie and Roger were friends, and that Roger was the calm, even-keeled one while the Captain was reactionary and immature. They played off each other well, and he’d, one day, like to watch them interact off the clock. “I’ll let Captain Taylor fill you in; I’d rather get back down to the MedBay as soon as I can. Fill me in if you need my nurses to fill in still-chemistry is a small part of our training but Dr Clark says it’s the most necessary at the moment. Myself and nurse Rutledge can hold the fort for a bit longer.” Ben nodded. “OK, thank you all. You’re free to go. Captain, if you have a few minutes?” Jamie was halfway out the door, but stopped, made a face, and then nodded. 

Only a few, Johnson. Ben winced at the man’s tone, but did realize that they were in a bit of a pickle, so he nodded. 

“I’ll be quick.” He motioned to the captain to sit, which he did. “I heard that you let the Devoran out of the Brig. Do you think that’s a good idea? They aren’t…exactly the most trustworthy race out here.” Ben knew that Jamie’s mood could easily swing one way or the other, so he tried to tread carefully. Sure enough, a stormy look came to the man’s face, but after a moment, it left. I am sure I know what I am doing, but I appreciate your concern. Ben nodded. “Ok, then. Do you want me to take over so you can rest for a few hours? I’ll arrange another team to go back to the plants. Dr. Clark suspects that the best way to remove the foreign dilithium is…physically. I was going to suggest we try to contact other ships in the area-we *can’t* be the only ones finding things like this-and see what they’re doing. I can arrange that, if you like.” It was silent for a moment as Ben watched his boss’s demeanor. Yes, that sounds good. Also, Doc Harrison is going to treat the empaths and telepaths like it’s a quasi-energy microbe. If he asks for help with that, give him what he requests. Any other choices I leave to your discretion. Jamie stopped talking, and let out a sigh. Ben hadn’t realized how much this had impacted the man, but realized he’d been drying out and it was probably affecting him worse than Ben. 

He nodded. “Thank you.” The two men parted then, heading opposite directions. Ben would need to sleep later, but he was still too dumbfounded to really quiet his mind.