SIM:Lael Rosek - Respectfully I Disagree (Veritas)
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Lieutenant Lael Rosek Engineering Officer Starbase 118 USS Veritas NCC 95035 |
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(( Conference Room, USS Veritas ))
::Lael had opened her mouth to comment when the swish of the doors interrupted her. She arched an eyebrow as Luna Walker entered the briefing, casually as though she hadn't been buried under tons of rock a mere couple of hours before, and took a seat. She highly suspected that the Commander had snuck out.::
::Opening a communique on her PADD, she addressed it to both Chythar and Ryan. The message simply read: ::
//
To: Chythar Skyfire, Nikki Ryan
From: Lael Rosek
Subject: ?
Are you missing a patient down there? I'm pretty sure Commander Walker wouldn't be cleared for active duty this soon after being under a pile of crushing rocks.
//
::She sent the message, refocusing her attention on the meeting.::
Rahman: ...political situation seems quite volatile based on your own government's reports. I fear that with only the limited information we have right now, it could stir up even greater problems based on only rumor and suspicion.
Blackhurst: I’ll keep that little gem in my pocket, Captain. As best I can, anyway. I can’t see how it can help anyone down here anyway.
Rosek: ::pauses:: No offense intended, Governor, but from what I've read in the reports, there is a particular faction on Antor II that is dissatisfied with your handling of the situation. You know more about this faction than we do. Do you believe they would target the Veritas itself to prove a point?
Blackhurst: I’m not afraid of my low approval ratings, Lieutenant, though I fail to see the relevance to your question. At this point, I’m willing to believe these people are capable of anything.
Rosek: ::to Rahman:: It's a possibility, ma'am. From what I understand, the tricobalt evidence was found on the body of one of the victims. I find it curious that we haven't found similar evidence on other victims.
Rahman: RESPONSE
Delano: Frankly, most of the other bodies in the vicinity were probably vaporized in the first explosion. I wouldn't be too quick to jump to conclusions about those particular findings. What is it you’re getting at?
Any: RESPONSE
Rosek: ::nods:: As disturbing as it is, we might have unwittingly played right into Jilor's hands.
Blackhurst: To what end?
::Sepek leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. He was intrigued. ::
Rahman: RESPONSE
Blair: If someone is doing that, we have a bigger problem than we thought.
Rosek: ::nods:: The Veritas itself could be a target because of how closely we've been working with the Governor and her staff.
Anyone: RESPONSE
Blair: We need to get a firm hold on any and all tricobalt in the region Captain. It doesn’t take that much to find on sensors so I suggest that we start tracking it all down NOW. We can’t let another attack like this one happen again.
Rahman: RESPONSE
Mei’konda: It’s a possibility. Dependiing on how prevalaant tricobaalt is in the area, it could taake a very long time, though. Perhaps the science depaartment can help to narrow down the source of this particulaar… brand, for lack of a better term. If we use Commander Blair’s suggestion to get an idea of how much tricobalt is in this region, and then further naarrow the search with Ensign Sepek’s data, we maay have something we can act on quiickly.
Sepek: I'm sure if there is any storage housing tricobalt outside of the Shadows we will find it.
Rosek: ::pauses:: I might be able to make a few minor modifications to the scanners to increase their sensitivity to the particular mixture of tricobalt found on the victim's clothing.
Anyone: Responses
Mei’konda: I believe that apparently abandoned listening post is worth followiing up on, as well. Jilor is clever, and I cannot believe that he has an agent on that staation simply sendiing messages. It was liikely a relay point. Perhaps our engineering teams could traack the true location of the signals, though.
Walker: I think one place to check is further into the mine we'd entered.
::Lael tensed. She didn't like the idea of going back there. They'd just barely made it out the last time.::
Anyone: Responses.
Walker: They had these ready for me, and no one was suggesting I stay. :: She cleared her throat and tried to continue:: More to the point, the air remained fresh where I was, and while down there two individuals spoke about our accidentally stumbling onto their base. And the roof where I was remained stable until the explosive went off.
Anyone: Responses.
Walker: I'm willing to bet there was a lot of media around when you pulled me out, right? And I'll go double or nothing that their slant was something about the Governor and Starfleet being ineffective...
Anyone: Responses.
Walker: Once in the mines, it should be as easy as tracking fresh air. Even if they have them sealed with force fields, people moving in and out would pull traces of environmentals. And once we got closer, power sources would give us a solid lock.
Sepek: It wouldn't be too hard to configure a tricorder to find fresh air. We would have to get through the forcefields though, and once we start doing that they would know we were there.
Rosek: Respectfully, it's way too dangerous. Both Lieutenant Thoran and Commander Walker nearly got killed. There has to be another way to find what we're looking for without entering those mines again. I can make those modifications to the scanners aboard a couple of shuttlecraft and those combined with people topside using modified tricorders will be just as effective without risking more lives in that deathtrap.
Rahman: RESPONSE
Blair: RESPONSE
Anyone: RESPONSE
Rosek: Granted, it's not ideal. But it's the safest way. Sickbay has enough on their hands dealing with the victims of the bombings without adding Starfleet Officers to that list. We need to be smart about this. Who knows...there might be more of those bombs down there set to go off.
Walker: Which, unfortunately, is true for any of our suggested paths. Not to put too fine a point on it, they already had at least one suicide bomber. As we get close to the tricobalt detection, it's possible that they'd detonate their device before we captured them. Or that the signal is coming from someone with explosives of some sort, as I'd think it likely they'd have at least someone there to make sure it wasn't damaged or located ahead of time.
Rahman: RESPONSE
Blair: RESPONSE
Anyone: RESPONSE
Walker: No, of course not. Going into danger for others is something we do all the time. And I'm not saying we rush blindly into the mine. However, when we'd initially discussed using it as a safe location, Commander Blair had already worked out the power needs for force field reinforcements and environmental support. Assuming the Captain agrees, we'd bring transport enhancers that we'd place as we moved deeper, and we'd setup fields. Even if they attempted to bring the ceiling down, nothing would happen.
Rosek: ::fights to keep a neutral expression:: It was a safe location before that cave-in. Those force field reinforcements will only do so much good if one of them is destroyed by another cave-in.
Anyone: Response.
Walker: It wouldn't need to be long. But from what they said when they thought I was a goner, there is a base of operations down there. I'd think following up on that will give us a lot of intelligence on what we're dealing with.
Anyone: Response.
Walker: I'm fast enough on these to get around down there. And in a pinch, I could use them to brace up a wall or two. In all seriousness though, it is dangerous to go down there, no question. And as Lieutenant Rosek pointed out, it's not ideal. But I think it's necessary if we want to understand what's going on and put a stop to it.
::Lael's lips formed a thin line. She knew she had a complex all her own when it came to rushing into danger without thinking. She'd done it in those mines a scant couple of hours ago trying to save Commander Walker's and Lieutenant Thoran's lives. But the idea of risking the lives of others so foolishly bothered her immensely.::
Rosek: :: to Walker :: Respectfully, ma'am...I understand that being Starfleet officers, there's a certain amount of risk to what we do. But there's a fine line between doing our duty and taking foolish, unnecessary risks...and this plan toes that line too closely for my liking.
Walker: RESPONSE
Blair: RESPONSE
Rahman: RESPONSE
Anyone: RESPONSE
Rosek: Speaking as someone who's come back from it, dying in the line of duty when it wasn't necessary in the first place isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Walker: RESPONSE
Rahman: RESPONSE
Blair: RESPONSE
Anyone: RESPONSE
Rosek: ::to Rahman:: I believe my suggestion is a legitimate alternative that reduces the risk drastically. If we're able to determine a safe entry point and secure place within the mines from the outside, we can search inside. We need to have a way out in case something does happen. We can't rely on a single exit that's already failed us once.
Walker: RESPONSE
Rahman: RESPONSE
Blair: RESPONSE
Anyone: RESPONSE
Rosek: While time is our enemy in this case, so is risking our lives foolishly. :: to Blackhurst :: The safety of your people is important, Governor. I agree that we need to do everything we can to stop this from happening again. But we need to go about this as methodically as time allows to minimize the loss of life as much as possible.
Blackhurst: RESPONSE
Anyone: RESPONSE
Rosek: :: to Rahman :: If I might suggest, ma'am...perhaps we can have a team follow Commander Blair's suggestion and use the sensors to perform searches of the region while a second team performs the searches on the mines. As I said, we can modify the sensors on a shuttle to do a thorough--or at least as thorough as time allows--search from the outside. We can also modify any number of tricorders for individuals on the ground. We should know as much about what we're getting into as possible when it comes to that mine. Maybe we can even map it from the outside so that in case there is another cave-in, we can quickly and easily find an alternative access route to get people out.
Walker: RESPONSE
Rahman: RESPONSE
Blair: RESPONSE
Anyone: RESPONSE
---
Lieutenant Lael Rosek, Eng.D.
Engineering Officer
USS Veritas NCC-95035
Podcast Team Facilitator
Training Team Member
I238110RH0
https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php/Lael_Rosek