Episode 1: Fading Sun

Jiral assists Reiter in lifting up the Commander and begin moving him in the direction of the infirmary.

"Computer, seal the door to the Commander's ready room and lock out all consoles within. Security authorization Jiral-Delta-Echo-Hotel-seven-eight-eight-three."

He looks to Reiter. "I may have been out of line earlier, but I still don't trust her and would rather keep her contained no matter how furious she gets."

"Affirmative." You hear doors closing down the hall, then muffled clanging. "Ready room locked and secure."

Reiter looks at Jiral and cocks an eyebrow. With an exaggerated glance around the command area he says, "Well, I do believe you're the seniormost security officer on the station now. Who am I to argue with your professional opinion?". A smirk is difficult to hide.

Assuming that there's a need to get the Commander somewhere safe, Reiter works with Sabin to gently lift Johansson up and begins the steady trudge towards science and the medical bay. Perhaps he will encounter the rest of the command crew there -- failing that, he can at least ensure Johansson is secured.

Reiter and Jiral gently walks the unconscious commander to the jeffries tube you came from, and lowers him down level by level until you are on the Science Lab level. As you come into the corridor near the labs, you see this area is less damaged than the upper levels. In the lab itself you see a small team of science officers patching up some minor injuries for those that have made their way here by themselves. Mostly broken bones, concussions and minor burns. When they see you coming in with the commander, they immediately clear the biobed for him.

Reiter takes charge and places Commander Johansson under induced coma. He is hooked up to the bio monitors, and a wide field dermal regenerator starts treating his burns.

A few minutes after the procedure is started, Captain Sumek, Junior Lieutenant Cordal and Dr. Mosa walk into the science lab.

Ah, so good to see the rest of you. What has happened to Commander Johansson? Sumek says, casting a glance to the unconscious officer.

Jiral, being ever vigilant, is the first to notice Captain Sumek, Lieutenant Cordal, and Dr. Mosa. Satisfied that Commander Johansson is in good hands, he walks over to the newcomers.

"Captain, we found Commander Johansson in the wreckage of the command center. He's in rough shape, but it looks like we brought him here just in time."

Reiter nods his assent, "With what training I have, we've been able to stabilize him. Perhaps the medical facilities here can do more good than Sabin and I could. How about you Captain? What news do you have?"

We restored some measure of power and discovered through Codral's efforts and my own that there is a major source of triolic radiation in the station's reactor. Something living. We were hoping we'd have enough support here to do a proper modelling and assessment to determine a logical course of action.

Jiral looks from Captain Sumek to Codral and Dr. Mosa.

"How could something living get into the station's reactor?"

Jiral pays special attention to Dr. Mosa's thoughts and emotional state. He can tell something isn't adding up here between the station commander's recent behavior, the accident, and the revelation that there are potentially living beings in the station's reactor.

"A good question, Lieutenant Commander, I hope we can figure out. Even better ones are 'What is it?' and 'Where did it come from?'." Mosa walks up to one of the workstations and brings up the newest scans from the star. She gestures to her team, who go to their own stations and bring up different readings.

"Captain Sumek, do you have any particular direction of inquiry you wish us to start with?" She drags out a chair next to her station and beckons Cordal.

"Captain," Reiter intrudes, "Perhaps we should attempt to raise the Venture and have it return here. We could evacuate the staff aboard, keeping only those here who are critical in the research of the reactor. Moreover we could augment any research with our own staff?"

"Captain, I agree with Commander Reiter," Jiral adds. "We have a responsibility here to ensure the safety and security of the station personnel. I understand the importance of the scientific discoveries being made here, but we need to be prepared to evacuate and scuttle the station if absolutely necessary."

Fully agreed, both of you. I'll see to it to enter commendations in the Captain's log. For now, Commander, hail the Venture and either get her here or have her beam us up. Lieutenant Commander, please work with Dr. Mosa to determine the list of who must stay here and who we can lift.

Jiral approaches Dr. Mosa again. "Dr. Mosa, we are going to be evacuating everyone who is not absolutely vital to your efforts here to stabilize the situation. I need you to help me determine who needs to stay."

Dr. Mosa looks around at her team. "Any of you wish to evacuate to the Venture?" They all shake their heads, and one of them, a young ensign speaks for them. "And miss the biggest scientific mystery of our lifetime? Don't think so."

Mosa nods knowingly. "I'm glad you feel that way too." She turns back to Jiral. "I'd like to keep my team here, but any others on the station should be evacuated if possible. Make sure the Venture knows what we are dealing with though, so they can take appropriate measures to ensure nothing hitches a ride on the transport beam." She frowns a bit, and adds. "Before you ask, Lieutenant Commander, I don't know if that is lightly or even possible, but we should take all precautions we can to avoid this spreading. Of course, they could be dealing with the same issues too, we don't know before we make contact."