3. Where to begin
Posted on Thu Mar 23rd, 2023 @ 10:15am by Captain Dirk Taggart & Lieutenant Jennifer Matthews & Lieutenant Adora (Addie) Hart & Lieutenant JG Vespa Kale & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD
Mission: Cost of Survival
Captain Taggart and his team had arrived and met with the station's representatives about an hour earlier. They were given a small room to act as a staging area. Each team had assessed the station based on their strength. Dirk waited in the small antechamber for the the team leaders to check in. He held his Padd and reviewed his notes from SheNang-Tow.
Returning to the small antechamber, Addie couldn't help but feel overwhelming sadness at the state of the station. "Captain," she said quietly with a nod, holding her hands firmly behind her back and willing herself to not give in to the barrage of emotions that seemed to be bothering her more and more.
"Capitaine," said Camille as she came into the room behind Addie. Her hands and her uniform were dirty and a few locks of hair were loose.
One hour. The amount of time was both staggering short and long. A simple glance had told Jenni the state of extreme disrepair, but the more she dug, the more issues she found. Therefore, when she entered the antechamber, she couldn't help but sigh. Jenni glanced at Lévesque and noted that she was not the only person with a soiled uniform. "Looks pretty bad from your end too, Lieutenant?"
“Very bad,” Camille said, using a small amount of water from the canteen on her hip to wash her hands. “The soil in the agricultural areas is in bad shape. It will be drained of nutrients within two growing seasons.”
Dirk looked the three women, "This is a sad situation, we need to make some decisions on how best to help them. Lieutenant Hart, how are things medically speaking?"
"Captain, even with all the supplies the Pennsylvania is carrying right now I'm not sure how much help we can be. Disease is running rampant through the station, poor health and hygiene have exacerbated an already fragile medical situation. I'll set up a triage station but we may need to transport patients to sickbay for the worst cases," Addie replied quietly.
"Lieutenant Matthew's, how are things in your neck of the woods and how can help?" The Captain asked.
Jenni sighed immediately. "Normally, I'd say not too bad considering. These components were designed to last a while, but not under this kind of taxing. The entire system needs overhauled, which would take a month or two." She lifted a padd that she brought with her to the meeting which contained a comparison of the station's schematics and her own notes. "The technology is antiquated, and not really compatible with our technology."
She looked up at the Captain. "But, I believe we can replicate and machine enough parts to build a small fusion reactor, and a conversion unit that can interface with their power grid. It'll restore their systems and stability for them for a few years. We may have to donate some parts from our auxiliary systems, but nothing that will cripple the Penn should we get in a rough spot ourselves."
"Outstanding Lieutenant Matthew's, let's get on that immediately, I think it's a great idea," Captain Taggart replied.
"Lieutenant Levesque, you mentioned a few minutes ago that there were issues with soil nutrient depletion. Is this something that compost or cover crops can fix or do you have something better cooked up for us?" Captain Taggart asked.
“It will take much more than compost, Capitaine,” Camille answered. “But I do have some ideas. I’ll need to access the Penn’s computer to test its viability.”
"You can beam back over there as needed, What specifically did you have mind?" the Captain asked curiously.
“I think we can engineer a bacterium that can bring life back into the soil,” Camille replied. “Something which will generate the molecules necessary for a healthy earth, which will sustain their agriculture. But it’s difficult to get something just right.” She gestured to a bag attached to her uniform. “I have soil samples and scans of the foods they normally grow. It should be enough, but I’ll want to come back and forth to the station to run tests too.”
"These people need food Captain, if we don't start feeding them and treating them everything else we do will be irrelevant," Addie added.
Camille nodded in agreement. "Our replicators should be able to produce something that meets their nutritional needs. Refill their food stockpiles while we also solve their problem sustainably too."
"Would there be any long term social damage from us just setting up a fabricator station on site and having it start working? They need food, so the fastest way to..."
"... feed them would be to bring the food to them, right? We can work out the logistics of soil nutrition and environmental revitalization once we deal with the megacelophad in the..."
"... room." the pair turned towards Camille, "And that is a FANTASTIC idea. The trick will be two things... the bacterium has to be completely harmless to higher life, and..."
"... there has to be a way to end the lifecycle once its task is complete. Maybe limit the RNA replication to a limited number of generations?" she offered, literally throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks at the moment. "But, priority one..."
"... is the big issue. Food, and medical." a pause, "And comfort." she added. She was, if nothing else, a Dalacari at heart. Ship exploding all around her, atmosphere being poisoned by a ravenous fungal infection.... but as long as she had comfy shoes she'd be less prone to panicking.
"Most bacterial life is harmless to higher organisms, but of course we'll make certain this one is too," Camille agreed. "Easiest way is to make it require some specific feed that exists only in the soil, and definitely isn't in their bodies. A property of their soil which the roots of their plants give off naturally would be ideal, which we could replicate as a starter feed. As for life expectancy, I think their soil would benefit from continuous replenishment of nutrients this way. If we mathématiques it right, the bacteria would do its job and then reach homeostasis with the soil and plants, never growing too numerous or too few."
"Both of you have brilliant ideas, as long as we have everything we need to complete both projects without jeopardizing the Penn, I say go for it. In the meantime I'm going to see what I can about their comms array. With the age of the station, I think the basic electronic components aren't too dissimilar from sold old ship systems I trained on as an Ensign many years ago. Is there anything else ladies and gentlemen?" The Captain asked.
Jenni shook her head. She'd only half listened to the discussion about the soil, paying attention enough to see if any engineering needs had come up. Having heard none, she refocused her thoughts on the project she'd been assigned.
"Our focus is going to be on their Medical needs, food and power, let's get to work and we will check in again this evening if nothing comes up before then. If there's nothing else let's get to it," the Captain declared.
#The End
