As I Lay Me Down To Sleep (Part I)

Posted on Thursday, 24 September 2020 - 2:59pm by Captain Barret Stillwater & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant JG Jarin Alexander MD & Lieutenant Talarn Zilth & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Lieutenant JG Maximus Mackenzie
Edited on on Thursday, 24 September 2020 - 3:04pm

Mission: Operation: Dreamweaver
Location: USS Standing Bear | Briefing Room
Timeline: 2393 - MD 4

{ON:}

Commander Stillwater had called for the Department Heads to assemble for an emergency meeting of the Senior Staff; however, there were some additions. Kolani was missing. Soral was missing, and the Standing Bear still had not found a Chief Tactical Officer.

Stillwater need all cylinders firing. This was not a normal mission briefing. He had summoned Talarn, Petty Officer Baciami, Lieutenant Mackenzie, and Dr. Alexander. Their additional support was crucial.

Stillwater had stepped out of the Briefing Room after ordering his Yeoman to summon the necessary personnel. When he returned to the room several minutes later there was a hodge-podge of officers sitting in bewilderment.

Commander Stillwater did not mince words. He did not waste a moment of oxygen. "Lieutenant Commander Soral and Lieutenant Kolani are both missing. There are no indications of struggle, no indication of intruders aboard, and no signs of transporter technology. We believe whatever happened to the Vomnin scientist is happening now... here aboard the Standing Bear."

Adrianna tapped her finger nails lightly on her PaDD. "What do you propose?" She had to find Soral. Eyelaya was in danger and she needed assistance from him.

T’Lanna was sitting quietly, she was waiting to see just what Stillwater had to say in answer to Adrianna’s question. Her thoughts were with Raith wherever he was.

Stillwater had been pacing with his tea mug in hand. He took a seat at the head of the table, practically slamming his mug down. It was the most raw emotional response he had shown since taking over as Commanding Officer. "Excuse the language, Petty Officer, but for once I don't fucking know," he said crisply.

He looked at the table of crew. "We aren't going anywhere until we have our crew back," he said strongly. "We are dropping anchor and not moving a god damn inch until we have answers. I need suggestions. I need options. I need theories and hypotheses. Hell, I'll take conjecture at this point. I need you, all of you at your best."

“Right now we have far too many questions, not enough hard facts,” Lieutenant Kingsley chimed in. “The nightmares and insomnia seem to be a consistent factor but exactly how... yet more people reported bad dreams or insomnia than have gone missing. We had scoured the locations where people were last seen and surrounding space. So far, there is nothing, but we will keep searching.”

Adrianna understood, though didn't appreciate, the response to the question she asked, but managed to swallow her temper. "Aside from nightmares and insomnia, were they clear for duty - mentally?" Adrianna posed what may have not been a positive outlook of a question, but it needed to be ruled out. "Sleep deprivation and inducing nightmares are used as efficient torture methods for a reason, after all."

"They were fine otherwise, to the best of my knowledge," Stillwater said calmly. "Medical may be able to shed more light on this, but I can attest to the insomnia, nightmares, lack of sleep, and yes... the irritability."

T’Lanna looked at both in turn. “Lack of sleep was starting to have an effect on Soral, as it is starting to other members of the crew... myself included.” She stifled a yawn. “But we all keep going. In the short term, Doctor Rose might be able the crew effected with sleep aids but we need clues.” She paused for a moment. “Dreaming... what if I used a technique I normally suggest for those with debilitating nightmares? Directed-dreaming. It helps the person suffering to maintain a conscious memory during their nightmare to find a way out. We could try adapting it to try and learn just what is going on.”

Ryan made a face. Passing out sleep aids like they were candy wasn't something he would like to do. It certainly didn't get to the root cause of the problem, which they'd yet to figure out. "If we can get to the source, we won't have to worry about the after effects," Ryan went ahead and commented.

Stillwater looked at the table. He started taking a mental head count. An empty seat alarmed him and he was disappointed in himself for not catching it sooner. He immediately tapped his badge. "Stillwater to Hobbes," he said, but there was no response. "Computer, locate Lieutenant Hobbes," he said aloud.

"Lieutenant Hobbes is not on board," replied the computer.

The Captain's fear were affirmed. "Computer, when was Hobbes last aboard?"

The Computer processed the inquiry. "Lieutenant Hobbes' bio signs were last detected at 03:00 hours," the computer stated.

Adrianna snapped out of her thinking. "When we were children, our father used to set up a rigged game of hide and seek. He'd use a form of scanner to find us, in the hopes to keep us safe long term. One of my brothers got wise to it and started to hide in this barrel in the cellar, as it used to mask where he was on the scanner. Is there anywhere aboard where a computer may be fooled? For example, if I dream got them sleep walking into a jeffries tube?"

"From time to time, yes," replied Stillwater. "Depending on the starship design and the materials used, the amount of various alloy composites in certain areas especially in jefferies tubes and junctions can make it a little more difficult for ship sensors to detect bio signs or comms," added Stilwater

"May be worth knowing if there are any on the ship before we run out into the black," Adrianna suggested.

Commander Stillwater looked at his Acting First Officer who was also the Chief Science Officer. "We're down our Ops Chief and Chief Engineer," he said shaking his head. "Alex, can we make some modifications to the internal sensors, amplify them as we would with a probe... I want to shed as much like as we can on every nook and cranny of the starship," explained Stillwater.

“I’ll make sure it’s done,” Alex assured him.

"Doctors," Stillwater said looking at the two men. "I want you to activate the EMH after this briefing and bring him up to speed on everything. All your current patients, all research, everything needs to be made known to him. If either of you..." Stillwater could not bring his self to say disappeared. "The EMH may be the only member of the crew who is no interest to whoever or whatever is taking personnel."

Ryan nodded. "I'll bring Emerick up to speed."

"Little green men from Mars..." Talarn mumbled softly.

"We have to be prepared to the possibility of losing power," noted Stillwater. "The information we obtained from our Vomnin friends noted this region of space is full of stellar phenomena including classes 12 and 16 nebulae, and some sort of Cosmozoan which they described as 'space barnacles' which latched onto their hull and began draining their ship's energy" noted Stillwater.

Commander Stillwater cleared his throat "If the E.M.H. were to go off-line and Doctor Rose was incapacitated, Dr. Alexander, I know you do have the surgical expertise and are ready to assume management of Sickbay. So, if it comes down to it...I need you ready."