ACTC Mission ~ New Drugs

[Deleted]

The days passed as usual while the USS Hope was stationed at Starbase Conqueror. Even tho they were docked, CMDRfc Disasterman required all stations to be manned as if they were during flight. He had learned that the ship could be sent out at any given moment so this was the best thing to do. Looking down at a control panel on his chair he saw that it was almost 1330 hours, time for the daily senior officer meeting. Standing from the center chair he gave control of the bridge to the officer currently manning the Ops position and heading into the meeting. Everyone was there except his FO CMDR Torek. Just as he took his seat at the head of the table, Torek entered the room and took his seat.

Reports seemed to be the same thing that had been said as the day before until they got to Ensign Jonathon Williams, the Chief Medical Officer. He reported that the medical office at Starfleet Command had told him of a new plant that is can be used in a new medical product. They asked him if he might ask his CO to go to the planet in a distant galaxy to retrieve some samples and run tests on the plant to see if it can be transplanted to a closer planet.

Ensign Williams gave Lt Kuragh the coordinates of the planet. After working with the console in front of him and he reported that it would take about 3 days at Warp 7 to reach.

Ensign Williams also reported that all signs point to the planet being uninhabited. Lt CMDR Shris had heard this before and was hesitant about letting an away team go down unescorted. Disasterman ordered the Hope to disembark the spacestation and head towards the planet. He also gave orders to Shris to scan the planet and surrounding space as soon as they were in sensor range. He also told Shris to get security team s ready to go with the away teams "just to be safe".

After 3 days they arrive at the planet and......

<Tag anyone>

[Carl Torek]

Carl had been intrigued at the prospect of going in search of a possible new drug .. It was a change from their previous mission .. Medical advancement, was among the highest priorities of Starfleet ..

The first three days we're taken up getting everything ready for their arrival at the planet .. Cargo bay's had been converted to store and test, the 'hopefully' large amounts of the new plant ..

Shris had been scanning the region since they came in range, confirming the previous report that both the system, and the planet itself, were uninhabited .. He would run more thorough scans of the surface once they were in orbit ..

~~~~~~~~~~

"Standard orbit Mr Kuragh." the Captain ordered, Kuragh complied.

"I want a full scan of the surface." Disasterman said .. He wanted to be more than certain they weren't going to come up against something, or someone, 'unexpected' once his team were down there ..

Torek contacted the doctor ..

=^= Bridge to Sickbay =^=

=^= Sickbay =^= replied the Doctor, almost as if he'd been hovering over the Comms.

=^= We are now in orbit .. But the Captain is double-checking the scans before anyone is allowed on the surface =^=

=^= But .. But we need to get down there .. Ther ..... =^=

=^= I understand your eagerness Jonathon .. But the planet will still be there in an hour .. The Captain needs to be sure .. We will contact you when a briefing is set .. Bridge out =^=

Carl closed the Comms .. Then looked up at the Captain. He'd stood, and was now close to the massive view-screen, scanning the image as if he could see more with his eyes than the sensors themselves ..

What he .. Or the USS Hope's sensors didn't see .. Was the ship ...

It hung, totally motionless, just outside their sensor range .. The occupants were curious about the ship now in orbit. But they had no intention of doing anything about it, yet .. They were more than happy to wait, and see just what the new arrival was planning ..........



< tag : All >

[Deleted]

As Disasterman stared at the odd object in the distant star field he began to worry a bit more about sending groups down to the surface. Turning to Shris, Disasterman said, "Shris, once we start sending teams down, I want double the security to go with them. I have an uneasy feeling that we are missing something with the scans."

He wasn't sure if the distant ship would do anything or if there was something on the surface that they were missing, but he wanted to be extremely careful.


<Tag all>

[Deleted]

Jonathon was getting twitchy. It wasn't that he particularly wanted to get beamed down into a dangerous situation, but everything that they had heard indicated that it was safe to do so. Obviously his superiors had to make sure that it was safe and that their wards didn't get hurt or worse. But sometimes bureaucracy really did seem to get in the way of things. His teams were prepared and ready to go, had been for a good time now.

Himself, Jon had packed and repacked his kit at least three times and now knew off by heart where every piece of kit was within it. He tapped his commbadge in agitation, meaning to ask how much longer it would be, but simply tapped it again. Acting like the kid and nagging at the 'parents' (command team) wasn't going to make anything happen more quickly. More likely it would just stress everyone out.

Then, the call came that he was waiting for;
=/\= Senior staff report to briefing room immediately. =/\=

Like a shot he was out of sickbay and on his way up to the bridge.

[Carl Torek]

Still totally unaware of the ship hanging in space just outside their sensor range. The USS Hope was preparing to send teams down to the surface to gather samples .. Carl could imagine the Doctor, hopping from foot to foot awaiting the order to assemble in the ready room for briefing ..

Lt Commander Shris had scanned a region large enough, that they were certain that no-one, or nothing living, was within two hundred kilometer radius of the proposed beam-down point .. The only down-side, from what Carl could see from the scans, was the vegetation .. It was very thick, there didn't seem to be any 'open' area's. 'Defiantly nothing big enough to land a shuttle in' he thought, pondering the issue .. They would have to clear a landing site if they were going to transport the plants by shuttle. In the quantities they were after, beaming would simply take too long .. The other thing was there could be someone stood less than a meter from you, and you wouldn't know it until they literally tapped you on the shoulder ! The Security teams were going to have their work cut out for them, despite the nagative scan's ...

The Captain would be making safety a priority on this trip, as usual .. Torek was about to double-check the co-ordinates of the best looking beam down point when the Captain requested everyone to the briefing room ..........

[Deleted]

Disasterman called for the senior staff to gather in the briefing room. He entered the room thinking he would be the first there and was surprised to see Ensign Williams already there, granted he looked like he was about to pass out due to being out of breath. Disasterman knew the Ensign had ran all the way from sick bay when he heard the call go out.

"You know you could have walked here. Running could have caused someone to get hurt," Disasterman said with a smile.

As the rest of the staff entered and took their seat, Disasterman took his seat at the head of the table. "Shris, what do you report?"

"Sir, The scans show nothing living on the surface, but the vegetation is so dense, the scans may be wrong. I did boost the signal to get thru it, but Im honestly still unsure," Shris reported

"Good, good. Nothing on the surface to stop us. Can we go now???" asked Ensign Williams.

"Doctor, please be a little more patient. We are going to beam down a small team to clear an area so we can get a shuttle down there. You would like to bring back more than one or two plants, wouldnt you?"

<tag all>

[Deleted]

Disasterman had a small group of terraformers and their security go down to the surface to see about clearing enough space to get a shuttle down on the surface. He told the doctor that he should join the team in the shuttle bay and be patient a little bit longer.

"Doctor, please be patient. As soon as I get the message that the clearing has been made, you will be on the surface so you can start looking for the plant. The area that was selected seems to have a large growth of the plant very close by so you should have enough to run your tests on."

The doctor headed down to the shuttle bay where his kits and scanners were being loaded into the storage compartments. He paced around the cargo bay waiting for the call for them to launch for the surface. After about an hour, the call finally came and he jumped into the nearest seat to the door. He didnt care about how many had to step over or around him, he just wanted to be the first out of the shuttle when it landed. Once his team and more security members were on the shuttle, they launched for the surface. Once on the surface, the doctor grabbed a scanner and he started scanning everything from the dirt to the air. he finally came to what he hoped to be the plant that he was after.

<Tag all>

[Carl Torek]

He watched as the Security teams beamed off the Hope .. Once on the surface, they reported the area secure, and the Terraforming team followed them down .. From Cargo bay twos transporter pad, several industrial cutters, essentially large phasers, mounted on tripods, were beamed down .. Carl was last to go, along with two Security Officers .. When he arrived, he saw that security had set up positions in the dense forest and the terraformers were already at work ...

While called 'cutters', the industrial phasers didn't actually 'cut'. They simply disintegrated anything they targeted. Thus, a clearing of some sixty square meters was cleared in a little under an hour ...

Torek tapped his Comms badge ...

=^= Away team to Hope =^=

=^= Hope .. Report Commander =^= said the Captain.

=^= Sir .. We're secure here .. We have a clearing ready .. You can send the first shuttle down whenever you are ready =^=

=^= I'll release it shortly Carl .. How does it look down there ? =^=

=^= This place isn't about to run out of wood anytime soon Sir =^= said Torek, looking round and shrugging.

=^= OK Carl .. Hope out =^= replied Disasterman smiling, 'maybe this was going to be a simple in and out mission after all' he thought, tapping his Comms and giving the shuttle permission to depart ...

The still unseen ship watched with interest as they covertly scanned both the USS Hope, and people on the surface ..........

[Deleted]

The shuttle raised off the shuttledeck and with a humm edged forward. There was a buzz as it pierced the forcefield but then in a burst of acceleration the pilot plunged the craft down towards the planet.

Williams sat in anticpation. If these plants were what everyone suspected them to be the revolutions in medical science would be amazing... they were for all intents and purposes the holy grail, a panacea for a hundred ailments.

The shuttle punctured the atmosphere and barely noticing the re-entry tempreatures swept into a low course taking them along the length of a valley to wards the landing site. The planet was definetly heavily vegetated. Williams paused to wonder a moment why such a plentiful planet would lack animal life and how a plant evolved on a world with no mammals could produce elements of such benefit. He shoved these concerns aside as the shuttle stopped and then lowered on to the make shift shuttle pad.

The ramp descended and Williams at the head of his medical and science team emerged. Commander Torek stood waiting for him.

"Lets get to work" Williams said with an eager smile rushing past the commander and immediatly heading for the first stand of vegetation.

[Deleted]

Disasterman sat on the bridge watching the viewscreen. His thoughts were torn between what was happening on the surface and that of the ship that he knew was out there, but couldn't yet prove. It was his turn now to get antsy waiting for any reports from the surface. After a couple of hours he tapped the communicator and called his FO

"Commander Torek, please report"

<tag Torek>

As Disasterman waited for Commander Torek to respond he turned to the ensign that currently was manning the Tactical station, "Ensign Morgan, I need a probe sent out to the fifth planet. Have it survey the surrounding space and the planet for any life-forms or ships."

The Ensign programmed and launched the probe. Disasterman was hopeful that the probe would get close enough to pick up on the distant ship so they could get info on their stalker. He also hoped that the probe would not be considered a threat and the distant ship do something that would cause problems.

<tag anyone>

[Carl Torek]

=^= Commander Torek .. Report please =^=

Carl glanced round the compound once again, then tapped his Comms badge ..

=^= Torek Sir .. We're almost ready to send up the first shuttle-load of the plant .. Thirty minutes should see it fully loaded =^=

=^= Any problems Carl ? =^=

=^= Nothing as yet Captain .. The Doctor seems to be running round trying his best to be everywhere at once .. I've told Security to stick with him .. Though he's giving them a run for their money .. No life-sign readings from beyond the parameter .. But my main concern is that if there 'was' someone or something there that wasn't being picked up .. We would only know as they poke one of us in the eye with a very short stick =^= reported Torek, again scanning the tree-line ...

=^= I'll send more Security down there .. Keep everyone on their toes and slow the Doctor down .. Hope out =^=

'No need to inform Carl of my misgivings about the possibility of a ship out there' the Captain thought .. He waited, albeit very impatiently, for the duty Tactical Officer to start getting telemetry from the probe ..........

[Deleted]

Jo sat idly at Ops watching the sensor information begin to flood back in from the probe they had launched. She had it on notation only so instead of a picture the information was displayed in tight rows of numbers. Jo prefered this method of analysis it was purer, no room for mistakes. Not everyone could do it but Jo had been top of her class and was more than capable.

The probe reached the edge of the system and then blinked out of existence.
"Sir we may have a problem"

"Elaborate?"

"We just lost contact with the probe."

"Reason?"

"I m not sure yet." Jo quickly scanned the last few seconds of data recieved. "The probe had encountered a vessel, large in size and then was overloaded. It looks like a highly focued EM field. Must have shorted the probe right out."

DM sat a moment and then opened up the comm,

"Commander Torek, the ship has disabled the probe. I m moving the Hope into investigate. We'll be back for you soon. Okay Kuragh takes us on a casual apporach. No threatening behavior"

"aYE sIR"

"And Merit with Shris planetside I d like you to cover tactical too."

"Not a problem sir I aced Tac scenarios at the Acad"

[Deleted]

Shris was furious when he heard from Torek that the Hope was leaving orbit to investigate a strange ship.

He had beamed down with an additional security team only moments before and was now left behind to babysit the medical and science teams whilst the Hope went into danger.

He stalked around the clearing not trusting himself to talk to anyone.


OOC: I dont appreciate someone else taking Tac thanx Jo...!!!

[Deleted]

Disasterman had the Hope follow the path the probe did towards the fifth planet. He knew that this would not be heading directly toward the ship, but hopefully would get them close enough to get better information on the ship without getting to close. They could scan further than the probe so hopefully the EM field wouldn't affect them.

"Should we raise shields Captain?" Commander Merit asked

"Not yet Commander. Let's just appear to be looking for the probe. They will pick up on our scans, but I dint want to be hostile. All our scans should just be general area ones even tho we know the ship is there, lets try to appear we are just sweeping the space around the planet.

[Deleted]

As the Hope moved closer to the planet it began scanning the surface and the space around it. This of course scanned the ship that at one time was hidden to the Hope's sensors. The alien ship sat there for a while before it did anything. The ship actually moved into the Hope's weapon range and then stopped. Disasterman wasn't real sure why it did this unless it was to test his threshold of tolerance to the unknown.

Disasterman just held his ground and watched the other ship. He knew that Merit and the others on the bridge were getting anxious watching the other ship, but he just stood there watching it. Suddenly Commander Merit said, "Sir, the alien ship is hailing us."

Disasterman was surprised that the aliens were trying to make first contact. He said "Let's see what they have to say. Open hailing frequency]"

The viewscreen suddenly changed to show the alien bridge and its Captain. We are the Enin. Why have you invaded our space and our planet?

"The is the USS Hope, we are on a survey mission to examine some of the vegetation on the planet that can be used to make some new medical treatments on our home world. We did not know that the planet or the star system belonged to anyone. If you would allow us to get our crew members we would be happy to leave."

"Captain, we have just started exploring space and your are our first contact with an alien race. We would be happy to let you continue gathering what you need if you will allow us to help you. We might even be able to help shed light on the plant and why it grows where it does, once we see which one it is you are looking at."

Disasterman thought for a moment and then said,"We would be happy for any assistance. We would like to eventually take some of the plants and try to have them grow on a planet closer to our home world, but I'm not sure how the progress is going on the research to see if that can be done."

The two ships moved back to the original planet. Disasterman contacted Commander Torek and explained what was happening. Torek passed the word around the teams on the ground and everyone was prepared for the alien's arrival. Shris was very apprehensive, but he told his teams to be prepared for anything, but not show any aggression. The aliens arrived on the planet and started working to help the Hope's team learn all they could about the plant.

[Deleted]

Jo maintained her cover of both Ops and Tactical during teh Hopes brief intercept with the Enit vessel.

She waited as Kuragh eased the Hope back into orbit and then joined some of the extra away teams being sent down to teh planet to accompany the new visitors in the hunt for planets.

Jo rarely got to go planetside so she made the most of it. She skipped off into the undergrowth tricorder in hand. It didnt take long for her to pick up something interesting.

Dredging up memories of her med lessons she quickly established that the vast tree like fungi before her could be very beneficial.
"hey over here" she called,

Torek and Williams sauntered over.
"What you got Jo" Torek asked

"Its a cure for cancer. Look at these agglutinated proteins they have a unique signature that if replicated in T- Lymphocyte cells could be used to identify malignant tumourous growths and erradicate them and the resin contains a property that will inhibit the accelerated growth exhibited by most cancerous growths."

Williams looked over and peered at the readings

"Remarkable. I can't believe I missed this. Imust have scanned this fungi 5 times already."

Jo shrugged and peered at his tricorder

"Ah well my tricorder is adapted to detect deep cellular tissues and protein structures. Here hand yours over and I ll modify it" she suggested taking a small tool kit from her belt.

TAG All

[Deleted]

They are the ENIN and not the ENIT

and surely we would have a cure for cancer already by this date.

[Deleted]

yeah I kinda thought that too.


And now what looks like jos found the new drugs?

[Deleted]

I would also think cancer would be cured, but what do I know. If you want this to be the new drug, I will be happy to go with it.

[Deleted]

But its wrong, look: memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Cancer... there IS a cure for cancer, so it makes no sense at all.

[Deleted]

Two small things here:

1. What is the possiblity that this plant could be used to an advantage over the current method? Every cure out there can always have something better come along.

2. Can we please move OCC comments to another thread instead of using the main mission thread?

[Deleted]

A cure is a cure, what is a better cure? Something that stops cancer BETTER?

With drug a, you won't get cancer... but with drug b, you won't get cancer even more! Sorry, but it just doesn't fit really does it? Maybe I'm being a bit overbearing, but I like the story to work, and this just seems silly.

And sorry about continuing the argument here, I didn't know where else to put it.

[Carl Torek]

As Joanne explained her finding's, Carl watched the new-comers ... They seemed, overly curious, about everything the team were doing. They wanted to hold, or examine every piece of equipment they could get their hands on ..

Torek decided to ask Shris to keep more of a wary eye on them ..

Looking round the clearing for the Security Chief, he wondered why there was now 'gaps' in the perimeter that were, a short time ago, covered by Shris's men ...

Stepping away from Jo and the Doctor, not wanting to alarm anyone if there were perfectly reasonable explanations for the gaps, he tapped his Comms badge ...

=^= Torek to Shris =^=

=^= Shris .. What is it Commander ? =^=

=^= What is your present location Shris ? =^= Carl asked.

=^= I'm about one hundred meters into the undergrowth on the west side of the clearing .. Is there a problem ? =^=

=^= Did you take the two men you posted to the north side with you ? =^=

=^= No .. Have they moved ? =^=

=^= They aren't there .. Try to contact them .. Discreetly Shris .. I don't want anyone alarmed or made aware of our concern =^=

=^= Could the Enin be involved ? =^= Shris asked.

=^= We don't know that Commander .. Contact your men and get back to me OK .. Torek out =^=

This was worrying, but no point in panicking just yet, he'd wait for Shris to find his men .. Or at least, confirm they're missing, before contacting the Captain ..........



< tag : Shris >