Libations (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 10 Oct 2014 @ 12:36pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Norvi Stace & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Amon Mormont & Petty Officer 3rd Class Melinda Clare

3,159 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III/USS Galileo
Timeline: MD 10 - 2350 hrs

Previously, on Libations (Part 2)...

"Keep those crates coming," Dea commented placing her next crate on the pad. It would be good to have the Tribbles off the ship for good. Moving out of the way so someone else could place the next container.

Afraid to say anything now, Wintrow continued to work in utter silence, keeping his eyes, and his mind on the crates. He loaded them up, then carried them over to the transporter, for Dea to delegate down to the planet.

"Prepare to beam down the next lot when the pad is full. Then be ready to fill it up with another load," Dea wanted to keep things moving as smoothly as possible. It would be nice to have the ship back.

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

USS Galileo - Deck 2, Transporter Room 2

Allyndra felt a little miffed as she directed part of the seemingly never ending stream of tribbles. It seemed as if she had gone from ship's chief doctor to delivery person. The only thing it did mean was that she no longer had to be in a suit and down in the confines of the place. Between the internal sensors and isolating the attractant pheromone the little furballs were coming out of the metlawork, tubes, nooks and crannies including Mott's sock drawer. Allyndra was not happy with the decision that had been made concerning the creatures either here on the ship or down below and mostly those down below. This reminded her too much of the A'ksu, just making a decision without looking ahead to see what the consequences might be. It was not only her planet but others as well were hasty decisions had lead to consequences that were in many cases worse than the original problem. It reminded her of an antique shop on Earth where she had seen an old paper poster that had someone fending off large toothy reptiles and saying: 'When your up to your ass in aligators, it is hard to remember the goal was to drain the swamp.' Well it was not her decision and she would go along with it but she could not help but wonder what in a hundred, a thousand or more years would they have unleashed here.

The double-doors opened up, and an anti-grav gurney was pushed into the transporter room by Andreus Kohl. Prolonged lifting wasn't advisable after what he'd done to his back, and there weren't any emergency patients at the moment who would miss the medical equipment. Kohl and the planetary sciences team had crated up the tribbles from their love-song experiments, and it was their dear hope that a couple more of the multi-purpose labs were clear of the furry, cooing creatures. The gurney was close to the ground, and Kohl crouched down to push the crates onto the floor, one by one. As soon as he had done, Kohl stepped out of the transporter room, off to gather more tribbles.

Melinda Clare felt the urge to whistle a jaunty tune, or sing a working song of some sort. It just felt right to do so, but she held back the tune and the whistle. Though she thought it would be fun she had a feeling others would get annoyed, especially since most people were already annoyed. She didn't mind the work and she certainly wasn't going to complain about it. She liked that she was actually doing something now instead of just wading through a sea of Tribbles everywhere she went. Not to mention, she was tired of going from deck to deck trying to reroute power to keep things going. She didn't mind so much the work as she did the long hours that were involved. The crew of the Galileo would need rest and plenty of it.

Once she packed up a few crates of the furry buggers she delivered them to her destination: transporter room two. "Here are more crates for you," Melinda said a little to brightly.

"Just a spoon full of tribble helps us transport them down...transport them doooown, transport them down...." Aria Rice sang to herself as she put the tribbles in the crate. She looked around, smiling gently as she took a deeper breath. She had tied her hair back, removed her uniform jacket and rolled her sleeves up. The bruises she had gotten in the fall down the 'rabbit hole' had now reached that lovely greenish stage. But hey, it was all good. And she was just happy to get rid of these little buggers.

"I will enjoy getting rid of these ones," Scarlet Blake agreed as she tipped the last of the cagefulls of tribbles that she'd brought from her own quarters to add to the larger crate. Well, she was all too eager to get rid of those ones, and she'd decided it was a perk of being the First Officer. Like Aria though, she had quite literally rolled her sleeves up and was helping to carry and empty cages and bags and boxes, mucking in. Her dark hair was drawn back into a ponytail to be out of the way, but her head was pounding and she'd had to loosen it somewhat.

Aria smiled at that, nodding as she moved to her side. "Sure that Lily didn't hide some?" she asked teasingly, picking up one that had decided to coo its way out of there. "Or did my shoe thing really work?"

"Oh no, your zombie shoe thing really worked," Scarlet assured with a laugh, making a sound of effort as she lifted another large bag to tip into one of the bigger transport crates. "She went right from trying to name and keep every single one as a pet to running away and jumping on the table so they couldn't touch her feet."

"That's something! See, I can be useful sometimes..." she teased, watching Scarlet for a moment before touching her arm. "Are you okay? You look a bit tired." But then again, they were all tired, she knew that.

"I think I will be fine once we get to shoreleave," Scarlet whispered with a small smile to her, shaking her head. She moved to grab another crate, lifting it quickly and striding forward to get it to the pile. It felt as if the world was turning in a circular motion around her, or as if her body swayed in an arc. Either way, she faltered back on her left leg, the knee going loose under her weight and the crate starting to tip out of her arms.

Aria saw her falter, rushing to her to grab the crate, saving it just in time. She placed it down before moving to take a hold of Scarlet, to steady her. "You must be exhausted," she said, with concern, her eyes gentle as she touched Scarlet's face. "Come on, sit down for a sec..." she eased her onto the crate, knowing it would support her without hurting any cooing little ones. "I bet you haven't eaten properly either before coming here...what would Lily say?" she said, but with a small smile, wanting to reassure Scarlet.

It took a few seconds for Scarlet to steady herself, pale and clutching then unclutching her hand, shaking it to get rid of the pins and needles. A smile came back to her as she caught her breath and she shook her head gently. "You do a good impression of me with her," she whispered to Aria, shaking her head and pushing herself up. "Thanks, I'm okay though, just lost my footing."

"Sure you did. Lost it with your sleep, your last proper meal and rest..." Aria said and smiled weakly, shaking her head. "Just...drink something, at least. Please? Or have a chocolate bar? Anything?" she pulled back, with a weak smile. "Just worried about you...you're a superior officer, but you're also my friend."

Scarlet gave Aria a half smile. She appreciated her concern, as a friend. Hell, she appreciated having her as a friend, full stop. But she was conscious that others could see them and she didn't want to present a weak image. "After this is done, we can all get a good meal," she promised, moving to grab another box to tip into the large, open crate. "Come on, in you go...."

Allyndra saw the incident and move toward the two, the few still loose tribbles moving away from her like Moses parting the Sea. There was just something about her they did not like. It appeared everything was back under control and she just went back to directing a stream of crewmen.

Returning to the transporter room with another anti-grav gurney stacked with crated tribbles, Kohl pushed the crates towards the far wall of the compartment. As he moved passed Allyndra, he facetiously asked her, "How do you think will it feel to walk into a room and have no living beings run away in fear?"

The comment brought a sudden sting of tears. "It would be a welcome change..." She said quietly and turned away as the comment had brought up all sorts of memories and the fears of being different.

"Whoa, I'm sorry," blurted out Kohl. He released his grip on the gurney, and it went on gliding until it bumped into a bulkhead. He turned towards Allyndra, but remained behind her. He spoke to her over her shoulder. "What's happened? What did I say?" Kohl softly asked.

Allyndra just shook her head. "Nothing, I am sorry. It just...." she felt a welling up feelings. "I feel out of place, lonely, and so different from everyone else." She knew she should not burden him with her problems and apologized, "I think I am overly tired."

Lirha's voice suddenly crackled through static and sounded in the transporter room. "Saalm to Galileo, the entities appear to have accepted the tribbles and have already 'taken' those in the crates we brought with us. You have permission to commence transport of the remaining tribbles on my coordinates. Once all of our storage devices have been filled, use the transporters' bioscanners to locate all tribbles on the ship and send them to our location. Saalm out," she said through her helmet's comm link to Galileo.

Jacob worked hard to prepare the crates and the Tribbles for transport. It was difficult to send them off when the time came as he was a huge animal lover and still in his heart hoped no harm would come to these gentle creatures. The hardest part of all was putting the Tribble he had carried on his shoulder for most of that afternoon into the crate. He remained steadfast in his job even as his heart broke a little.

Having left the transporter room to gather more Tribbles, Melinda pushed in another hovercart topped with bins. Though she was glad to see them go, she couldn't help wonder if there could have been a different approach to the situation. The sad fact was, there probably wasn't. The tiny little starship and her crew just couldn't cope or handle all that they were dealt with. She had told herself this was for the best, her mind had continued to repeat that, her heart however was not accepting that as a solution.

Allyndra just went back to directing the crates and people filing in. The faster this was over with the faster she could just be away from these creatures and everyone else.

=^= Understood, Commodore, =^= Blake confirmed the order, moving to help slide the first pile of crates into place on the pad before taking a few steps back and catching her breath. "Okay, energise," she instructed, letting out a long breath at finally getting the things off the ship, already moving to help shove the next pile of crates closer to position.

Hearing the commodore's voice, following the XO's' lead, Melinda hefted one of the crates off the hovercart and laid it gently onto the transporter pad. This was it, this was the end of the line for the furry guys. A big part of her felt a sense of relief, it meant things could get back to normal but the other part, the part that didn't want to listen to the logic her brain was telling her, felt sad over this. But in Starfleet, duty trumped all, orders were orders and she would follow them as expected. At that, she hefted another crate onto the transporter pad.

Allyndra did feel for the poor things. She did not dislike them, they were made they way they were. She could not help though but wonder what fate the things faced. She hoped the energy creatures could keep them alive but that was another thing that was all too hasty in this whole decision. She could help but wonder if like the A'ksu of old on her own world, that the lure of the next discovery, the next machine, the next whatever their minds lept to but never bothered to think further out what the consequences might be was at work here. She placed a hand on crate even though the little things shuddered trying to avoid her hand and said a small prayer for them.


Lyshan III - Subterranean Cave Network

Tuula was fascinated by the red entities. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The closest thing she could think of were Trill symbionts, but these beings in this cave were pure energy. As another shipment of crates were beamed down, Tuula moved herself closer and held her medical tricorder as close to the tribble as she could. Whatever was happening, it was certainly curious from a medical perspective.

"Well thank goodness we're finally getting rid of those things," Olsam said, entirely too loud, as if they were just all sitting around in the observation lounge. His voice echoed across the cavern - "things...things...things...." - and unceremoniously broke whatever reverence surrounded the transfer.

As a doctor he was sworn to respect all life (generally) but those tribbles had really been pushing their luck, so as far as he was concerned this was just a simple transfer of goods. The Bolian had been battling those tribbles for days, not just in Sickbay but also in his quarters. The struggle to keep his specialized waste extraction unit in good working order against the Furry Horde had begun to grow desperate.

Luke observed the exchange as the tribbles were beamed down and the red entities fascination with the little troublesome furballs and he couldn't help but agree with Oslam. "I second that Lieutenant Mott and it will be the last time I allow tribbles on the ship" He had folded his arms and leant against a earthly structure.

Oren didn't reply, just watched the Tribbles getting picked by the entities before floating away. He wondered what would become of them. He imagined that they tribbles, being alive still, would need nourishment. Was there anything on this planet for them to feed on? Would they just die here eventually? Or would the creatures keep them alive somehow? There were too many questions posing themselves in this entire situation and Oren wasn't sure he liked any of them. Glancing at the rest of the team, he easily saw and felt their relief at the situation seemingly resolving itself. It was understandable, after all, and very lucky that the two problems seemed to be each other's solution. The Universe truly was a strange place.


Three hours and 184 crates of tribbles later...

After watching the last crate of tribbles be carried off into the cave by the mysterious red energy and fathering enough data to fill almost the entire memory of her tricorder, Tuula had one last thing to do before she could leave the planet. Looking around, making sure the last of the energy beings had retreated into the cave, she opened a small metal box about half the size of a shoebox.

"Okay, Gilbert," she said, as she pulled the tribble out and petted it one last time. "A starship is no place for a tribble. There's a whole wide world down in this cave, and there's lots of tribbles and... whatever these weird red energy things are... down here for you to make friends with." Tuula wiped a tear from her eye with one had as she set Gilbert on the ground with the other. "Go on, Gilbert."

Tuula stared out into the cave for a moment. She loved animals, and letting them go was always the hardest part. Since the moment poor little Gilbert showed up in her medical replicator with his fur badly burned, Tuula had cared for him, fed him, petted him, and even performed surgery on him. He had soothed her with his cooing, and had even helped save the ship and get Tuula first authorship on an upcoming medical paper. He was a part of the family, and even though they had only been together a few short days, Tuula would be sad to see him go.

As she was about to turn to leave, she looked down at the floor of the cave and saw none other than Gilbert trying to nudge himself against the boot of her EV suit, dangling from her hoverchair. "Aww, Gilbert, you don't want to leave?"

The tribble at Tuula's feet let out a cooing sound.

"Awwwww, Gilbert, that's so sweet," said Tuula as she scooped him up. "I'm going to make you a little bed, and get you a food dish, and an exercise wheel, and a little tribble house." She put Gilbert back in the box. "You're going to stay with me from now on. Jaana is going to be so happy!"

[OFF]

--

CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

LT Olsam Mott
Asst. Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Janna Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

LTJG Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Luke Wyatt
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Oren Idris Ph.D.
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

LT Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LT Andreus Kohl
Asst. Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Allyndra Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Aria Rice
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

LT Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

MWO Amon Mormont
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Markos]

PO3 Melinda Clare
Operations Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Williams IV]

CDT(SO) Wintrow Paragon
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Murray]

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