Lorena Kael sat in the captain’s chair watching the vessel they’d picked up the medical distress beacon from. In the interest of safety the Doctor had decided that using the shuttle bay as the first triage point would make the most sense. It was isolatable, and entry and exit could be monitored and controlled. Making it the best first treatment point, even though it was so far from sickbay. They circumvented this issue by using the cargo transporters in the shuttlebay to ferry supplies that were too large or bulky to move from the industrial fabricators. 

Lt. Vossk’s station chirped at him, causing his head to cant to the side the way a creature might examine something curious. It wasn’t a plaintive alarm so she wasn’t concerned, but more interested was the correct term. 

“What is it Lieutenant?”

“Unknown. I ordered the ships sensors to conduct narrow band scans of the afflicted areas of the ship and the results are coming in.” 

“And?”

“My analysis is incomplete, but the previous idea that perhaps the organic zones were some of type of spreading infection may not be accurate.”

“How so?”

Vossk sighed. The Saurian disliked guessing, but knew that speculation was required to make partially informed decisions where time didn’t permit for the full execution of the scientific method. “Well, if I had to guess and I very much dislike doing so this prematurely, I would speculate that the organic zones are more like….scabs.”

“That begs further explanation.”

“The cells are forming a lattice work, much like blood platelets clumping together. The material at the edge is what you could call the scab, with the center being what the healthy tissue is.”

“So there’s a portion of the ship that is living, and it’s spreading?”

“I’m hesitant to connect the two conditions but it would appear so at the moment.”

Lorena hit the commbadge at her chest. “Commander Kael to shuttle teams. Let’s pick up the pace people.”

“Understood commander.”

Lorena frowned, chewing at her bottom lip. It was a nervous habit she’d never been able to kick. Mother always told her to stop, but for some reason it just made her dig in and do it more. She just wanted those shuttles to come back ok, and quickly. Everything about this mission made her anxious. She glanced over to Vossk. 

“Can you scan the shuttles? How close are they to coming back?”

The Suarian casually tapped at his console a couple times and glanced back up, “They’ve just finished the loading process are beginning to return.”

She watched as the shuttles formed a small train making their way back orderly. Good, she could deal with that. A pulse of green energy rippled out from the disabled ship and splashed against the shields of the shuttles and the ship. Vossk’s sensor console made several plaintive beeps. Even Lt. Jel’kan’s console chirped angrily. 

“Damage report.”

The Thraarkan shook his scaled head. “None. No systems affected. I believe it might have been some kind of scanning field.”

“That would track with the readings I’m detecting and how they reacted with the ship.” Vossk said.

“Sonar…” Lt. Thorne said from the helm. She turned back to Vossk. “Some nocturnal and aquatic creatures use sonar to scan environments. If what Lt. Vossk says about the ship is accurate. That it’s alive somehow, what if it’s pinging the area to try and find out where it is?”

“That would either indicate a level of sentience or that something within it is guiding this behavior. Either scenario is far beyond the capabilities of the Rubidoux to confirm.”

Lorena frowned. This mission was getting more and more complicated. Of course it had to be complicated. “Monitor the situation for now.”

Vossk nodded and resumed scanning. Jel’kan hissed annoyed from his station. Lorena knew the Thraarkan were known for their aggressive and predatory behavior. Something that would make even the gorn think twice about provoking them. The idea of being passive and sitting back waiting to be attacked likely didn’t sit well with him. 

Lorena watched as the shuttle convoy grew larger on the main screen on their approach back to the ship. She tapped her combadge again. “Bridge to shuttlebay. Doctor, you’re about to have visitors.”

“Understood bridge. We’re as ready as we can be. Please let the captain know. Shuttlebay out.”

The turbolift doors hissed behind her and Tiberius strode briskly into the bridge. He strode around the railing behind the captain and xo’s chairs to face the main screen with a confident nod. He glanced back to Lorena who’d already risen from the command chair to cede it back to him.

”The shuttles are in the process of landing in the main shuttle bay now. The doctor has a decontamination field set up to scrub the hulls free and everyone entering will be required to process through a strict quarantine procedure. All available hands are on deck. Security will be on hand to facilitate patient movement and placement and also to lock down access to dirty zones. Engineering staff will be tasking with monitoring bio filters and ensuring everything stays online. Science and medical staff will be the most directly engaged with diagnosis and treatment.”

Tib nodded. Everyone knew their jobs. Now they just had to execute.

“Outstanding. Now we just need a deck of cards.”

”Why?” Lorena asked, patterns flashing purple and blue.

”It’s a phrase from back home. We’re all ready to play.”

”You have many of those, don’t you?”

He nodded feeling a little deflated at yet another missed reference. “Yeah…” he gestured for her to sit.

”Take a seat commander.  Now comes my least favorite element of command.”

”Which is?”

”Hurry up and wait for something to happen.”

”Sir I think given the situation that’s not what we’d want.”

Tiberius settled down with a sigh. “Unfortunately it’s not up to us if something happens, which it will mind you. So now we just bide our time till it does. We’ve taken every measure possible to mitigate the risks. Now we see how it shakes out.”

”Is that wise? To trust things to work out?”

”It’s not so much about sitting back passively as much as trusting your people to do their jobs so that when the time comes you can do yours. Give it time Commander. You’ll understand eventually.”

Lorena nodded slowly. She’d have to trust him for now. He obviously knew what he was doing if he’d made it this far.