Episode 0: The Rescue at Xerxes 4

Through sheer determination, Thyran pulls himself up to a knee, in a shooting stance. His phaser set to stun, he takes aim and fires.

"Land softly, my little blue fuzzy friend."

Thyran makes the shot, but fails to get out of the way as the fuzzy lizard falls face first on his head. Thyran sees a heap of sharp acidic teeth coming towards him before he gets knocked out. Nadim swiftly gatheres the sample from the stunned lizard and revives Thyran, who is a bit roughed up from the fall and being fallen on, but still good to go.

Nadim uses his hypospray to good effect on his Andorrian colleague.

Still hard at work researching each hypothesis and eliminating them one by one, Sevek continues to run simulations and gather more data on how the local flora's strange reaction to the radiation from the storm is related to the devolution dilemma his team is currently facing and, more importantly, how to reverse it.

Sevek's research uncovers it is the unique --and typically benign-- radiogenic properties of the planet that interact with the radiation from the ion storm to produce the devolution. You think you can probably device a cure for it if you could understand the symptoms and effects it has on those afflicted.

Sevek calmly taps his comm badge.

Sevek to Patil, I have made a significant discovery that should prove instrumental in devising a cure for the devolved scientists. Your medical expertise is required in order to proceed. Please respond.

Tromping on the way back from their successful retrieval of specimens, Nadim is quite pleased with himself and Ensign Kaleel. Hearing his comm badge, he jauntily taps it and says, "Very good Mr. Sevek. Ensign Kaleel and I have just completed our collection of specimens for the cure. We'll be back to the compound shortly and I shall be quite excited to assist."

He hikes his bag upon his shoulder more comfortably and strikes forth!

Phenna comes back to the compound first, with all the parts she needs to fix the shuttle. Nadim and Thyran arrives shortly after with the samples. Meanwhile, Martinez convinced Dr. Shipp that she and Dr. Jasper should be restrained for their own safety. You have them restrained to separate tables in the lab, and they are both pacified using delta-wave inducers.

All together again, you are ready to begin studying the symptoms and later hopefully create a cure. But as you all make your reports and start planning your next moves, you hear a great crash near the entrance of the compound. When you investigate the sound you find a small group of primitive humanoids that are trying to force entry --and it seems like they will if they aren't stopped soon--.

"If someone could ensure I'm not disturbed, I'll get to work immediately looking at our patients to see if I can isolate what's going on." Nadim takes out his medical scanner and walks over to Dr. Jasper first as the most advanced case.

Phenna is in the lab, checking out the parts, making sure there are no hidden surprises.

Thyran was in the hall. Having just secured the door from their entry, he was heading to the landing pad door to check it as well when he heard the crash near the main entrance.

"Mr. Martinez! Secure the main door!"

Only hearing activity at the main door, Thyran sneaks out through the storage and the landing pad door. Seeing nobody on the landing pad itself, Thyran continues silently along the wall and peaks around the corner at the main entrance. Four devolved humans have worked themselves up into a frenzy and are pounding on the front door with all their might. Getting back to cover, Thyran reports the finding to the rest of the away team.

"Barricade that door! I'm going back out by the landing bay to see if I can thin them out a bit, and get them to divide their strength. We may even get some more test subjects. Mr. Patil, care to join me?" he offers to his adventuring partner.

He heads out to the same corner he hid behind when he did recon, takes aim and fires at the biggest one.

Nadim demurs, "I need to be here working on this cure. Perhaps Ensign Phenna or Martinez could assist?" He turns to Dr. Jasper and begins his scans.Waving his medical tricorder about and reviewing the readings, Nadim says "Fascinating. Mr. Sevek you should see some of these results. They're quite interesting, really!"

Interpreting Nadim's emotional response as a means to gauge the level of significance of his readings, Sevek peers over the medical officer's shoulder to read the tricorder display. After reading for a moment, he raises an eyebrow.

These results are indeed interesting, as you say. Would you consider this conclusive, or do you believe more data is required before we begin developing a cure?

Nadim considers and responds, "Since we have another case here handy and subdued, it would seem wise to take advantage of the opportunity to review to see if we could find anything before pushing for a cure. Looking at these initial results, having the advantage of Dr. Shipp's less advanced case should help us understand these cellular interactions better and how they evolve over time in the host." He nods, "That should give us a stronger basis for formulating a cure. Where do you think is a good place to focus?"