Mission 6: Never judge a book by its cover

[Deleted]

The town was obviously a pretty one. In fact, from all the advertising boards that were scattered around, it was apparent that the whole of the Garden line was very pretty. Appropriate really. However, the appearance was currently lost on everybody but Q2. The entire population was currently housed in a few locations; one holding those showing advanced symptoms, one with those displaying early symptoms, and then an array of what was evidently educational accommodation was holding the rest. Q2 thanked his lucky stars that it was the spring break and the university wasn’t full; that wouldn’t be the case everywhere though.

While it had taken a great deal of arguing with the local politicians to even allow them to set this up, Q2 feared that it wasn’t nearly enough. They were currently encamped in one medium sized town, while most of the rest of the planet was coming down with the same virus. The most important aspect of their work was finding a cure, or at least an inoculation for the virus, but neither was forth coming yet. Dr Storey was working himself into the ground, and to his credit, he was slowing the spread and onset. But as yet, no breakthrough.

[Deleted]

"I haven’t yet been able to track any specific potential routes, but it is being computed at the moment."

Having been sat bolt-upright from the moment Hancock had started to talk, Kanz now stood up and started walking around. "It's definitely a step in the right direction, good work. Keep talking to the away team and the locals down there." She started to head off the Bridge.

"Are you leaving?" Hancock queried, a little confused that Kanz wasn't trying to look over his shoulder as the simulations ran.

"You're doing as much as you can tracking the virus, I think it's time for me to suit up and talk to our guest in sickbay..."


As she entered sickbay, Kanz didn't exactly get an excited welcome - not an unexpected response given she'd confined everyone there with no notice. The EMH seemed to be running some tests in the adjoininglab, while Commander Flanigan and his daughter were sat at opposite ends of a biobed. Moving closer, Kanz saw a small boy sat between the pair. *So you're the reason I'm dressed like an idiot and unpopular with the medical staff* she thought.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, Counselor, but I was wondering if you could introduce me to our young friend here."

The two Flanigan's exchanged a worried glance, clearly they had been trying to reassure the child that he was safe with them. "This is Gerian," Flanigan turned back to the boy, "Gerian, this is L'Ola. She's trying to help you too."

After mentally wincing at hearing someone refer to her by her first name whilst on duty, Kanz stepped closer to the boy. "Gerian, do you remember anything that happened before you came here?"

Gerian seemed to stare intently at the wall, without actually looking at anything. Either he didn't know anything or he was too shocked to say. "I want my brother. He said he'd look after me. Where's my brother?"

Commander Flanigan looked increasingly worried, and Kanz shared his concern. The chances were that Gerian's brother was dead, either from the disease or the radiation. But there was no use telling him this until they could confirm it. "Where did you last see your brother?" Kanz asked, "Maybe we could help you find him."

"We went to the station. Tag wouldn't let me get on the train. He said I had to stay there and he would be back soon to look after me. He said I would be safe if I didn't go with him." Obviously drained from having said so much in a numb state, Gerian curled up into a ball on the biobed.

Kanz nodded a farewell to the Counselor, and then quickly left sickbay. As soon as she had taken her isolation suit off she tapped her comm badge. "Kanz to Q2"

=/\= Q2 here =/\=

"We're going to send you some details of a civilian to look for down there. I know it won't be easy, but we really need to know where he is, and if he's dead or alive..."

[Deleted]

Acknowledging his orders, Q2 waited for the apparent eternity that it took for the profile to be loaded up onto his PADD. It was bewildering that in all his years in Starfleet, this loading time seemed to be the only constant. Instead of using the leaps and bounds they were making in technology to allow the time to be shortened, they decided instead to try and put more and more information in the profiles. The upshot of that was that even with the newer faster technology (which each new version was advertised as) all you ended up getting was the same damned speeds with more useless information. It didn’t even take photos either. Typical.

He glanced down once more to see the small federation logo rotating slowly on its axis, indicating that the PADD was still working, and hadn’t in fact crashed. Underneath the word ‘Loading’ was neatly displayed, and then underneath that were three small dots that periodically flashed, further displaying apparent activity. Perhaps if they didn’t spend so much effort on getting all of that to display, the loading time might be cut down slightly. It probably didn’t help that he’d forgotten to put the blasted thing on charge the previous night and as such the battery emblem was also flashing. He sighed.

The PADD seemed to take this show of resignation as its signal to get a move on and, in a burst of excitement, the details of the person he was to find appeared. They weren’t worth the wait.

Tag, late teens, average height and build, dark hair, dark eyes, possibly brown.

Things had been much simpler in the marines. There someone could have probably told you that kind of information in words. Or at least noises that were nearly words.

The el-aurian slid the PADD back into its pouch, realising too late that he’d failed to lock the screen before he did so. By the time he’d scrambled it back out again, it had already attempted to connect to three different databases, one of which he was sure he’d get some kind of reprimand for merely knowing about. Taking care to lock the screen this time, he replaced it once more within its pouch.

Given the timeframes involved, and the connection with the child on the ship, it was obvious enough to surmise that the infection had started from the village they had initially visited, and was thus travelling away, presumably following the path of this Tag. So all they had to do was work out where he was going next. Or more properly, a few more stops along the line than that. All they had to do to work that out was work out what his motives were. Simple.

New plan maybe. Stop all trains and public transport and then have them all isolated and searched. Come to think of it why, when there was a deadly infectious disease about, hadn’t they already been cancelled? Some governments just weren’t born to govern. He frowned, his eyebrows arching together to meet somewhere a few millimetres above his nose. That would still be too many trains to search; they’d have to narrow the area down still. So back to working out his motives.

[Jamey Gaz]

Rubbing his eyes, Gaz bumped into a fellow crew mate in the corridor almost spilling his coffee. "Excuse me," Gaz said in a sleepy tone. Walking on he felt as if sleep just wouldn't surrender to the inevitable duty shift that was approaching. He didn't understand why his alarm didn't work thus causing the call from the bridge that woke him. He also heard several members of the crew talking about how the whole ship seemed to be slow and drowsy itself.

Sitting behind his station he thought if anything had changed from his last shift - it hadn't. Still in orbit with very little work for a CNO to do, in fact he just wanted to 'call in' if he thought it would work. Checking sensor logs reviled the same boring results. Then he noticed several missing entries where the reason code explained a processing time out for the missing data. He knew something was going on - his first thought was that other stations stealing time from his processors for this test or that. Asking around he learned that all stations had the same problem. In fact the entire PADD system seemed impossible to work with for the past twenty-four hours.

Starting his tasks assigned for this shift he started the first. Testing warp field generator that was customary for long stays in orbit, he took the current ships status and surrounding space readings from sensors and entered all the data into the simulator. All was going well until he noticed the warp field simulated results were not correct. Searching for the answer, he found the cause - theta radiation - sourced from the planet. Looking at the past readings he noticed the amount had increased by 4 in the past seventy-two hours, which explained the ships recent groggy characteristics.

Reporting his findings to the shift commander, "Sir, I believe I know the reason for the ships processing latency. Theta radiation from the planet has increased by 4 times based on the reading from the past 72 hours. I suggest we adjust shields," that were not being used at all in orbit, "to reduce the amount that the ship's crew and our systems are exposed. We may need to scan for any subspace events as this type of radiation may cause. I also suggest we warn the away teams and the Doctor of these findings."

[Deleted]

*So there's a civilian roaming around a planet, potentially trying to kill people by infecting them with a disease or possibly just quite a strange brother. I have two away teams on that planet for whom I am fully responsible and have to hope none of them decide to do something stupid or heroic. The ship's computers are playing up, as they always do when they think there is so much going on they can get away with it. And then to top it all off..*

"SIR!" Hancock shouted, less than a metre away from Kanz. Clearly he had been trying to get her attention for some time. "Commander Flanigan has given me some more background information on the boy in sickbay, places he remembers and such."

"And?" Kanz was still a little distracted and wanted to get back to worrying as soon as possible.

The Science Officer looked a little confused but carried on regardless, "And I was able to add this infornation to my simulation. I believe I can speculate where our Mr Tag has been so far and in what order, therefore I can..."

"Work out where he should be next?" Kanz finished. "How many sites have you narrowed it down to?"

"Four so far"

Kanz nodded, this might actually be a breakthrough. "Get the information to Q2 and the other away team. And someone try to find out more about what this guy looks like!"

[Deleted]

Meanwhile, James and Antoinette had taken 10-year old Gerian down to the mess hall. The counselor studied the boy as he ferociously attacked the plate of French fries, chicken and apple compôte that was set before him. To James, who looked on with a bemused smile on his face, it seemed as though the child hadn't had a decent meal in a long time. Insofar fries constituted a decent meal, of course.

Beside him, his daughter ate at a more sedate pace, graciously dipping a fry in the compôte before sticking it in her mouth. "Gerian, do you have any siblings?" the girl suddenly asked. She looked up at her father, who nodded quietly while sipping his coffee.

Chewing madly, the boy nodded. "Browtew," he murmured around his stuffed mouth.

"What?" The girl giggled. "Swallow first, talking with your mouth full is bad manners. Isn't it dad?"

James nodded. "Quite so. What did you say Gerian?"

The boy swallowed a few times, looking a little guilty. "I have a brother," he replied, "but I haven't seen him in a long while. Not since..." He looked down as tears started to spill over.

"Awww, don't cry. Please don't cry." Tony looked up at her father again. "I'm sorry."

"Nothing you did honey. You didn't know." He pulled the younger child onto his lap, cradling him. "It's all right now. You'll be all right. We'll do our best to save your mother."'

Tony reached out to him. "I don't have a mother," she informed the boy, "and I never knew my mother either."

Now, it was James' turn to swallow. Though eleven years ago now, he still felt the pain. "Your mother still lives but I don't know where she is. If you want, when you're older, we'll seek her out." He sighed. "Tony had two fathers," he explained, "though she was too young to remember him."

"Two fathers?" Gerian looked up. "How's that possible?"

James was aware of the two children staring at him in surprise. He'd never considered telling his daughter like this, but now he seemed to have little choice. She was old enough to know and perhaps understand. "It is possible because I did not have a wife, but a husband," he replied calmly, "and he died when Tony was still very young." He wouldn't tell her like this she also had a twin sister, who had died with her other father. He couldn't do it, no matter how much he desired to. It was best, for now.

"How did he die?" the boy asked, clearly interested. "Was he sick like mother?"

Shaking his head, James sighed and drained the last of his coffee, cradling the mug while still cradling the boy. "No," he replied, "he was killed in a fire." He felt arms being wrapped around him, then another set added to them. He smiled sadly. "Thank you. Tell me more about your brother. Is he like you? Talkative? Inquisitive?"

Gerian giggled following Tony's earlier example. "No," he replied, "he's very quiet, and into himself. Doesn't have a lot of friends but stayed out late every evening. It drove mother to the end of her patience. He's 18, so he can do what he wants, he said to me. I don't know where he is, but he's very smart. He knows a lot about biology, I think he could be a doctor if he wanted to be." Tilting his head back, he stared at the man holding him. "Are you a doctor? You wear the same colour as the doctors who are with my mother."

"Of a sort," James replied, "of a sort. I try to help people in a different way, by talking to them, and having them talk to me, like you are now."

"Oh." He finished his meal. "Can we go play?"

James nodded for Tony to take him to the holodeck. "I'll join you later, I've something else to do first." As the children took off, he headed to the bridge, a worried frown creasing his brow. "Commander, I think we are in serious trouble. Gerian has a brother, and he doesn't know where he is. However, he fits the profile of a stereotype problem child. A true genius at the age of 18, under appreciated, misunderstood, and lonely. Ideal for someone who wants to use someone like that for illegal practices." He sighed. "You should inform Colonel Q2."

[Deleted]

The Operations Officer slid his eyes across his PADD carefully, taking in all the details on the four sites. The first look had been enough to confirm that they would need more men on the planet, while the second and third perusments had made him realise just how many more they would need. Luckily however, one of the sites was only a short distance from his current location. He reflected that generally these things panned out with the 'hero' of the story coincidentally nearby; so maybe it would be his lucky day. Of course, it might turn out that Ensign Jolan Cral was today's hero, and right at this moment a budding author was penning her story. That'd suck, Q2 thought ruefully; Cral wasn't even attractive: she'd make an awful hero.

Despite the lack of captivating features, he placed Ensign Cral in charge of the team to search one of the three other locations. He did however assign her team to the least likely of the three. Of course, by doing so, it was entirely possible that he was increasing her prosaic value. He didn't really care.

Twenty minutes later, the marine's commbadge chirped happily. Q2 frowned at it less happily; he'd had no luck finding Mr Tag. He growled a welcome, and then frowned even less happily: it was Ensign Cral.

“Sir,” she whispered, “We've got a visual on the perp. He's just waiting for another train change. Permission to intercept?”

A brief desire to tell her to wait for back-up was quelled when Q2 remembered that he'd assigned five other members of the security team to her detail, and one of those was a marine. He sighed and made a futile curse to the Great Storyteller in the Sky.

“Permission granted, maintain radio contact.”

“Aye sir.”

There was a slightly pause, during which Q2 could hear fabric noises: they were drawing their weapons.
Then; running footsteps, shouting, some gun-fire. Everything got confused, a couple of screams, a hiss, more gun-fire.

“Sir, he's releasing some gas, he's armed with a small phaser.”

“Take him down, just take him down.”

More gun-fire. Screams. A slight silence. More screams and wailing.

“Target down. Civilians injured, the gas seems to have accelerated effects. Think we were in the target area. Requesting advice.”

Q2 cursed more loudly, and not just to the Storyteller this time. =/\=Q2 to Black Tulip, emergency beam out of Gamma team to holodeck 2. Initiate quarantine procedure and request immediate medical attention, six friendlies have been heavily exposed. =/\=

[Harrias Jira]

Striding along the corridors of the Black Tulip, Commodore Jira held back a small grin at the amusing incongruity of the scene. Alongside him and matching him easily pace for pace the ship’s operations officer was debriefing him on the mission that they had just concluded. On the other side, the ship’s first officer was struggling, switching between a fast walk and a jog to keep pace. Being new to the Black Tulip, Jira had arrived in the final few hours of the hunt for ‘Mr Tag’ and had opted to take a back seat and officially take over from Commander Kanz the following day.

He hadn’t fully approved of the methods used to “take down” the terrorist; being one rung below the Admiralty in the fleet brought with it a greater sense of propriety. Or at least, that’s what he told people. When ‘Mr Tag’ – Jira made a mental note to find out the guy’s real name – had been dealt with, the gas which had been released had infected a number of the Black Tulip’s officers as well as dozens of civilians. The gas had been ‘improved’ from earlier attacks, and along with accelerated onset, it was causing the medical team some difficulties in curing.

“Colonel, what is the word from the planet’s government?”

The marine’s face contorted slightly. “Officially they are acting coolly toward us, and while stopping short of demanding their people back have certainly made implications that we have ‘taken’ them. Unofficially, they are fully supportive of us and have made some requests for additional aid. Their..” He glanced at his PADD, but L’Ola provided the term for him; “Assembly of Fathers”.

“Thank you. Yes, their Assembly of Fathers is meeting at the moment, they’re expected to give emergency powers to the planet’s police department to conduct ‘the required rituals and ceremonies’ for the dead. Hancock is a special guest at the meeting, and we are also expected to get limited powers to aid them.”

“So officially they don’t want us to have their crew and help at the moment, but unofficially they do, and officially they soon will?”

Kanz nodded her head each way and that as she followed the statement. “Yes. Exactly sir.”

“I love aliens.” Jira mused, a Trill standing next to an El-Aurian and a Betazoid.