Back to Square One

Posted on 15 Oct 2025 @ 3:31pm by Ensign Ryan Collingway & Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn XMD

570 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Fractured Accord
Location: Tarvik III
Timeline: Afternoon

=/\= Tarvik III =/\=

"Corbin to Lieutenant Flammia, Commander Sorvak, and Ensign Collingway,” the said. “Request a full surface status update. I want your assessments on project integrity, environmental stability, and safety for continued operations.”

Someone had given him a spare communicator. Ryan looked at the mess of jungle in front of him. A status update?? How was he supposed to update after the literal tsunami of crap in front of them? He shook his head and tried to keep his tone professional. "We need to clean up this foliage and do repairs to the machinery. That will essentially put us back go square one. However, our original problems remains. Commander Sorvak reported that the soil has some contamination. The good news is that the ice essentially prevented it from shifting around much during this. Commander Boren estimated it would take a week to clear." He paused. "It is possible that using the nanobot technology from the Newton would make this process faster, but Commander Boren believed the idea was too unsafe. That's where we are at right now." He tried to keep the wheezing out of his voice.

The wheezing might or might not have been audible through the comm, but as Lt Sam Jamison approached, he could hear the struggle to breathe. "Ensign, sounds like you are having a little trouble breathing. Let me take a look." He already had his medical scanner at the ready.

Ryan put the call on mute. "Fine," he said, his irritation plain. "But I need to continue this call with the Captain."

He listened as the Captain gave her next orders also confirming not to use the nanobots, and to enlist the resources on the planet, including the new facilties. He closed the channel. "I guess we're doing it the long way. Hopefully no one else tries to attack us," he said, as the medic continued scanning.

"Security is doing their job," said the medic. "I'm Sam Jamison. You're breathing this air. It's extremely toxic. You need oxygen." He dug in his medical pouch and pulled forth a small canister of breathable air. Attached was a replaceable mask. He attached the mask to the cylinder and handed it to Ryan. "Use this. We need to clear your body of the toxic metal and treat the inflammation of the lungs. I think we should beam you back to the Ship for that. I know Commander Boren has been beamed to sickbay already. Are you indispensable down here? " asked Luis.

It was a good question. There wasn't any indication that they were still in danger, and it would probably take at least a few hours of removing the jungle before any real work could set in. "I suppose I can spare a little bit of time," he said grudgingly, and instructed his staff to start burning away the foliage.

Luis didn't wait until Ryan finished his statement before activating his comm. "Jamison to Sickbay, Beam Ryan Collingway to Sickbay. I'll forward stats from my scanner."

"Affirmative, Jamison. Engaging now."

Ryan disappeared. The rest of the engineers worked tirelessly throughout the day, clearing out the jungle the terraforming device had created. That done, they painstakingly repaired the machine itself, under the careful watch of the security team.

Once they were done, they were essentially back where they started from.

A JL by
Ensign Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn

And

Luis Jamison
Medic apb Kate
USS Arawyn

 

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