Discussing Options (part 4)

Posted on Wed Feb 19th, 2020 @ 6:53am by Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Lieutenant JG Ronen Kym & Lieutenant Remy Boudreau & Lieutenant JG Paris Deville

1,518 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Caverns of the mind

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

Boudreau caught the interchange between the two officers and thought a moment, working through the options he knew in his head. Finally he looked at Quinn and said, 'If I imagine things working out the way the should ... perhaps, if Lieutenant Jansum, Doctor Nicoles and Lieutenant Patterson were to return with yourself to the planet, that might be the ideal team - you've all been exposed to whatever's affecting our crew, so it'll minimise exposing more of us.'

[NEW]

He looked at Deville for a few, cool, moments before deciding, 'Lieutenant Paris is mostly right in his assessments ... ' the Cajun decided, 'he'll add value to the team.' Boudreau was unsure whether Deville would consent to any other role other than shuttle pilot, but there was clearly a connection between himself and Quinn.

Paris opened one of his eyes and raised the brow above it as he looked toward Bourdreau. He seemed a bit shocked before closing his eye again and saying aloud. "Careful. That sounded dangerously like a compliment."

Boudreau hoped the El-Aurian had accepted his olive branch. 'You're the chief FCO for a reason,' he shrugged casually, and added sincerely, 'my analyses aren't one-hundred-percent correct. You'll stay with the shuttle and be on standby for emergency evac if it comes to that.'

"I go where they want me to go, Chief." Paris replied with a smile.

"There are three areas that will need further investigation," Amber said to Remy. "The research facility, the caves, and the forest. Both the ship and the shuttle have scanned the planet. Pippa brought you the data. The other two could use another look. I'll leave it to you to decide how you want to proceed."

Trei nodded at the new guy. "I'll take Troilon with me. She went down there with us, she should come down there, too. Hopefully that will keep the spread at a minimum."

"Might Ah interject something?" Nicoles started. "To be tru-lee effective I might need to plant a hid-den sensor; a small relay from a tricorder would be Fine if you'all could help swing it? Then we might have constant scans and not need to be out of the facility az much?"

"That sounds fine. How long will it take you to implant the sensors?" Amber asked.

"I would say if we do it during the tribal sle-epy time maybe an hour." Her eyes were in thought. "The danger of being noticed is naturally a determining factor; might have to do it in stages otherwise."

"Relay Buoy." Paris seemed to say aloud, as if, out of no where. He opened his eyes and took a sip from his mug, before lowing it to his lap, and continuing. "We could drop one, maybe two, relay buoys in the atmosphere." He looked to Amber, then to Nicoles, before back to Amber. "It will help reduce data corruption and communication when contacting the ship. The atmosphere is giving us issues with transporters, but using the buoys like phone lines, we can form a network that may help and provide a backup system." He looked to Nicoles and added. "May even help with your sensor data should you find something you want to record and send up to the ship for further study."

'Every little helps,' suggested Boudreau as he keyed in a few of the ideas into his padd so he could pick them up later.

"If you would like to use the idea, Commander, I can prepare the buoys." Paris said with a smile. "I already have plans we can utilize since I've used some in the past for... various ventures." He smirked a bit before laughing softly and adding. "Alleged ventures."

"We'd only need one," Amber said. "In geosynchronous orbit between the research facility and the caves. It's a good idea, but I think ops would like to prepare one of their own." She smiled at Paris. "Your idea is a good one, but we might be better served to have a Starfleet buoy. We can leave it in place if we need to." She might be overthinking the issue, but to her a Starfleet buoy would be a clear indication that this was a Federation planet.

Paris looked at her, nodding slightly, before smiling as he replied. "You're the boss. Let the Ops people get it ready. I'll place it where you need it." He raised his mug, as if toasting to her, before finishing it.

"That works." She turned to Remy. "As long as you concur? I did put you in charge."

He nodded, 'that's fine - making it a Starfleet one is also a good idea.' Boudreau didn't want to rock the boat too much during his first meeting, and honestly couldn't think of a reason why not to place a buoy.

"Thank you." Amber turned to Pippa. "Make the buoy. We'll deliver it tomorrow when we go back to the planet. In the meantime, Mr. Boudreau, look over the data. Let me know if you have any recommendations."

She looked around at the others gathered. "I also recommend that the away team get scanned by Lieutenant Nichols."

"And I..." Paris said softly before smirking. "... will find something to do in the meantime." He chuckled slightly.

"Ah have a good Base-line for the team you stated." Nicoles stated. "Won't take but a little 'ole minute to get what Ah all need." She smiled brightly.

"How can I be of help?" Kyn asked. She'd been quite up till now, watching how the others interacted, but now that the meeting was coming to a close, she was willing to do what she could.

"That would be up to Mr. Boudreau," Amber said, turning to Remy.

'We have a lot of data to sift - perhaps you could help my team?' suggested Boudreau after thinking for a moment, 'the more heads we have together in the initial stages should make it smoother in the long run.'

"Sure," Kym replied with a smile. "I can sift through data."

He flashed her a smile in return, 'that's great.' Boudreau turned to the XO after consulting his padd, 'I think I have all I need - unless there are any lingering questions?'

“I have one.” Paris raised his hand, smirking slightly. “Is there any chance this ‘Primal Virus’ will have any affect on a small creature?” He held his hand up slightly over the table. “About yay high?” He then held his hands outward slightly. “About wide. Head to tail. Kinda cute and fuzzy. Eats a lot but doesn’t seem to gain weight.” He looked around slightly before smirking. For anyone who knew him well enough, he was referring to his sidekick and pet ferret Gizmo.

'No idea,' Amber replied. "We saw no sign of animals in the caves. I'll let you know if we find out." She looked around at the others. "In that case, dismissed."

Boudreau nodded and got to his feet, 'we'll get to that data analysis right away.'

"Wait... wait... wait." Paris said suddenly, holding his hand out, as he seemed to take a more serious tone. "But their are animals down their, right? I'm not just talking about in the caves, I mean on the planet in general." He paused slightly before adding. "This is important to me. My co-pilot would very much appreciate the data. Quickly, if you please. I'm not gonna endanger his life unless I know for certain."

"There are animals down there, yes. No large predators around the research facility, but there are a number of species on the planet," Amber said.

"Has anyone thought to ask why, or if, those animals are affected?" Paris asked curiously as he looked over to Amber, then to Bourdreau, as if something had just occurred to him. "I'm no science officer, but that's something worth looking into, right? Whether they have something inside of them, or maybe something they consume, that prevents them from going the same way?" He leaned back in his chair and threw his hands up. "Maybe I'm wrong and this thing doesn't affect animals at all because of some brain... thing, but if it could affect them, but doesn't, you could learn something from that. Maybe?"

"We can look into it, but generally things like this don't pass between species. If humans are affected, it is unlikely animals will be; and if they are, their behavior would let us know something is wrong," Amber said. "We noticed nothing amiss, but we can watch on the planet and Mr. Boudreau can watch from the ship, or wherever he feels best."

"Now, if you will excuse me, I will take my leave of you," she said.

____
OFF

Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn
Executive Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Remy Boudreau
Chief Science Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Paris Deville
Chief Flight Control
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Trei Jansum
Chief Security Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles
Medical Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Ralan Kym
Counselor
USS Aurora

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