Auxillary Cryostasis Bay, Farik and Nalima

Posted on Fri Mar 22nd, 2024 @ 1:39pm by Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant JG Malcolm Beckett M.D. & Commander Maxun Spello & Lieutenant Dr. J.R McEntyre, M.D.

2,797 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Artifact or Artifiction
Location: Serenity
Timeline: Day 3, 1500 Hours

Remy had asked Maxun to come with her to look at the crystasis units that the teams had recovered from the lower decks. These were the lucky ones kept alive among rows of units that had long been shut off and transported up here once the team discovered that the computer for the lower decks was still in preservation mode - one unit almost deactivated right in front of them.

While they waited for Commander Lorut and the medical team to finish in the first bay, Remy began looking at the brief bios enscripted on the units of those who survived. She wiped the grime off one of the units with her sleeve so she could see better. "A laborer, tradesman," Remy read out loud. "Interesting. Were they planning to abandon technology? Or just prepared that it might not be available?"

Maxun looked over the units as he heard Remy speak. "It would be the smartest course of action, to plan that you were going to be awoken in an environment far less advanced than the the one you had come from."

"I wonder how much they'll remember. If they will be willing to share..." Remy wondered out loud. "Commander Lorut said they'd be finishing up in the other bay anytime now."

"So long as they went in without any brain injury, and their cyrotube is undamaged, they should remember everything." He looked over at Remy. "You've never been frozen, have you, Captain?"

"Can't say I've ever had the occasion, no," Remy said absent-mindedly as she continued to read through the names and bios.

"I was once, for about forty years," he spoke about it as if it was a common occurrence.

Remy gave Maxun a quizzical look. "You were? Why?"

Looking over at Remy, Maxun replied, a bit of somberness in his tone. "My people's home world had been in a binary star system. Every three thousand years, the secondary star would expel hundreds of solar flares, the radiation from which would bathe El Auria for nearly thirty years. To survive, we would go into cryostasis for forty years, giving our world time to get clear of the radiation storms. I was ten when the storms hit"

"Couldn't you just leave? Go somewhere else?" Remy asked. "What if the timing was off one cycle?"

Maxun grinned, hearing the Human's question. It had been one that had been asked for millennia. "It was our home. It was where we came to be who we are. The cycles had been the same for nearly four million of your years. It was actually the first problem our scientists started to work on, even before us traveling to the stars."

Remy wanted to ask more but, Vila and Malcolm appeared finally, having cleared out the rest of the alive pods to the Astrea, and assisting the junior officers and civilians in getting set up with the next round. "What do you two have?" She asked Remy.

"I think most of these came from the lower decks, what Nash helped get brought up after our teams scoured the area. There's another bay like this one down the hall. I'm glad we double checked. There were actually quite a few more people surviving down there," Remy stated.

"We've got it down to a pretty smooth process," Malcom explained. "Charlie and Dr. McEntyre should be in shortly to assist, but so far everyone is waking up fairly healthy."

Vila nodded. "Indeed," she said. "I've been able to get some good stuff for the Science team to sort through," she said. That part of her would never die. "Remy, we should consider isolation protocols for the ship. For their safety more than ours," she said. "Yellow alerts, perhaps. No one mills about the ship for no reason, just come and go from your work station, mess hall, etc until we're clear," she said. "Dr. Beckett, what do you think?" She said. "I am simply speaking from experience-as a mother AND a scientist," she said.

"I don't see a need for yellow alert. It is a good idea for the Atarans to remain on their own vessel for the time being, and for our crew to take precautions while we are here," Remy stated. "We've scaled back crew significantly today outside of medical personnel."

"If and when the Atarans come to the Astrea, they will have limited access for a number of reasons. Their safety, but our security. We still don't know who they are, or how they ended up this way," Remy gave a curt nod to Vila. Though they appeared to be victims at first blush, and it was easy to feel sorry for them - they all needed to remember not to let their guard down."

"I agree with the Captain," Maxun spoke up. "While I haven't found any evidence stating these people are dangerous," he paused briefly, shaking his slightly, as he continued. "I still get this feeling that something is familiar about these people, and I don't know if it's a good familiar or a bad."

Vila nodded. "That's fair," she said. "I didn't consider them remaining behind, but of course, that makes the most sense," she said. She wasn't sure-it was...quaint and she'd personally prefer the creature comforts that something like the Astrea could provide but who was she to make that choice for other people? She, of all people, understood being forced from ones home and safety to begin with.

Nurse Dawes walked in behind Dr. J.R McEntyre, the assistant chief medical officer. Both seemed chipper and ready to get started. Beckett was feeling weary from the monotonous process, but was ready to get everyone out of stasis as soon as possible.

"Let's start at the beginning over here, and just work our way down then," Beckett stated directing Dr. McEntyre to the first stasis chamber while he took to the second.

"Agreed. I've hooked in the biomonitors and linked up to the Astrea in case we need to intervene. I don't foresee any issues but can't be too careful," J.R commented, pulling out a medical tricorder from his pack.

As the chambers were vented of their gases, and the the young people coughed their way through the process of taking in their first breath of fresh air in over two millenia, Maxun recognized both faces.

Maxun looked at both Remy and Vila. "Those are the two individuals I saw in the file I watched. His name is Farik, and her name is Nalima. They're married, he was a soldier and she was a nurse or doctor."

Vila nodded. "Do you want to take this one?" Vila asked Remy. She was reaching the limits of her "professionalism" for the day, and it was only 1500. She wasn't sleeping well, even in spite of the new meds, but mostly because she was too excited instead of worrying. Too much going on in her mind. "If not, I can," she said. "I've been doing it for two days, after all," she said.

"Yeah, sure. Take some time if you need it," Remy made a subtle gesture to the door with her eyes.

"I'll monitor Nalima. I think that she might be more comfortable with other medical professionals if she has questions, " J.R said, typing data into his tricorder as he spoke.

Vila nodded. "I just need a minute to use the restroom," she said, stepping out. She needed a nap and a hot bath, actually, but that would have to wait.

"Would you like a sedative, Commander Vila?" J.R commented, not looking up from his tricorder as he shift the device in his hand to retrieve a hypospray from his labcoat pocket.

Vila chuckled. "No, thank you," she said. She glanced at Malcolm, but shrugged. "I think I just need some water and to use the restroom," she said, stepping out.

Dr. Beckett had urged Charlie forward to help Farik and Nalima, and she was doing just that as he watched Vila exit the Bay. Unlike the others, these two didn't seem surprised to see alien faces and uniforms surrounding them.

"What year is it?" Nalima asked curiously as she looked around.

"Stardate 66009.3," Remy answered. "I'm Commander Remira Johansen. We're from an organization called Starfleet. We are part of a United Federation of Planets. We are here to help."

"Nalima looked at Farik, star date?" She shook her head in confusion. "We thought it might be something like this, didn't we Farik? We're not in much of a position to do anything else but trust you. We speak the same language?" She asked.

As Farik regained consciousness, he shook his head slightly, then coughed a bit. Finally, he looked over at his wife and smiled happily, glad to see that they both had been deemed essential by the ship's nain computer. He wondered how many more had survived. "When we had gone into cryostasis, it has been nearly five hundred rotational cycles of our homeworld." Knowing that the time description would be lost on both of them, he added, "How long have the Romulans been in control of the sector of space, located at spacial coordinates, 150 by 45 degrees, relative to the galactic core?"

Remy shook her head apologetically. "If galactic core means to you what I think it means, your world is about to become a lot larger than you thought. Our doctors and scientists believe your people have been in stasis for over 2,000 years. We..." Remy looked over at Maxun. "Found some personnel files that had been made before the crew went into stasis. It gave us some insight."

Farik glanced over at the man that the woman known as Commander Johansen was looking at. Then he seemed to scrutinize him a bit closer, before turning to his wife and asking quietly, "Does he seem different to you? Almost...like the Ancients?"

"Lieutenant, care to introduce yourself?" Remy urged.

"Of course, Captain," Maxun replied politely. He then took a step forward and spoke. "Greetings, I am Lieutenant, junior grade, Maxun Spello. I am El Aurian, and, like you, I feel there s something...familiar to me, about your people. If I may ask, before the Romulans arrived and stole your home, did you know of my people?"

Nalima looked at Maxun and back to Farik. "Of course we knew of your people. Is that how you can understand us?" She decided to test her legs, now that it had been a few minutes, taking a step out of the unit. Charlotte rushed to her side and offered a hand just in case.

Max grinned slightly as he replied, waiting to ensure Nalima was steady. "Actually, that feat being overcome belongs to my shipmates, who uploaded our universal translator into your main computer yesterday. However, as I have expressed to my Capain, there is something very familiar about your people and your vessel. How exactly did you know my people, over two millenia ago?"

"We were visited by the El Aurians a number of times in our history, for trade or news," Nalima said. She looked over at Farik trying to determine if she should say more.

Vila returned to the chambers, refreshed and ready to go. She really had just needed a moment to re collect her wits. She'd only done command track two years ago, because Ben said she COULDN'T. She found Remy and Maxun discussing the El Aurian's with the Pod Duo.

"Interesting. My people did some trading with them, as well, early on," she said. After that, the El Aurian's had lost their homeworld and trade with them decreased. She hadn't met one herself until she was an adult.

Farik caught the look that his wife gave him. After a beat, he nodded his head. "If we are to have any chance of truly rebuilding our society, we must be honest with those who are our friends or allies."

"Tell them then," Nalima urged.

"Tell us what?" Remy prodded.

Dr. Beckett gave them a quick nod and he and the other medical officers went to work on waking the others on the other end of the bay.

"Yes, tell us!!" Vila was a little more enthusiastic.

Farik thought for a moment, then spoke. "Well, Sir, your people are, or were, when we were forced to abandon our world, revered as members of the Ancients, a group of species that were the First Ones in our galaxy. Many believed that each of member race of the Ancients performed different duties in protecting the younger species, like ours. Your people, the El Aurians, were the keepers of the history, as your life span allowed you to see so much. The Organians were the peacekeepers, ensuring no one would bring strife to their neighbor." He grew quiet at that point, then commented, "Clearly, we offended them somehow, that they allowed the Romulans to do what the did." He paused to take a breath, then continued. "The Orginiators are fabled to be the oldest of the Ancients, and that they were the ones to spread life around the galaxy." He looked at Maxun, as if silently asking if he had pleased him in his retelling.

Maxun nodded thoughtfully as he listened. "That's why you seem so familiar. Yours was the first race that the Organians failed to protect. I am so sorry for the hardship that you and your people experienced."

Vila cast a glance at the others. What?! She raised an eyebrow and fought back a quip about not trusting anyone who put themselves above others. "Me, too. I've experienced something similar," the Bajoran replied, and simply moved on to help the next bank of people.

Nalima watched the woman who had said she had experienced something similar walk away, and then turned back toward Maxun. "The first? Why didn't they help? Were there more after us?"

Farik nodded in agreement with his wife's statement. He then asked, "How are your people doing, Sir? Are they still moving among the stars, collecting the histories of the younger species?"

Now Maxun grew somber. "Not as much as they once did. There are only about three hundred thousand of my people left alive. Our home system wad attacked and destroyed by the Borg."

"The Borg!?" Farik exclaimed. "They were but a young race in our time. Though they were very interested in mastering cybernetics."

Remy looked over to Maxun. This was potentially hinting at more than the Federation had heard of the Borg history. "Much has changed," Remy stated. "More of your people have been revived already, this is the second room like this, we've finished the other. We'll debrief everyone of course. The two of you though, you seem less surprised than the others to see aliens. Less fearful."

Farik looked over at Remy and nodded. "Before I was a soldier, I was a cargo pilot. We would trade with our neighbors regularly. Though," his features turned sad. "I imagine that the Romulans either ran out or eliminated them as well."

Others that Dr. Beckett and his team had awakened were keeping their distance, but had started to curiously wander over to where Maxun and Remy were talking to Farik and Nalima.

"The Romulans were once somewhat of a feared empire. Once they had their territory marked - it seems like what was your territory. They were quiet for some time. Reclusive. Though building quite the military armament, an obedient military, and a fearful population," Remy explained. "They once were a feared enemy. Our relationship with them now - for the last 15 years or more has been ... complicated."

"Complicated, how?" Farik asked as he moved to put his left arm around his wife's shoulders, as he kept his attention on Remy.

Remy looked at Maxun. "Perhaps we should give them access to some reading materials about Federation and Romulan history. That might be a good way to disseminate information for now. We can take questions at a more centralized briefing."

Maxun nodded, then pulled out a small PADD. After ensuring there wasn't anything that they could get into that they had no need, He handed the device over. "Everything that you should know is available within."

"Thank you," Nalima responded graciously. "Perhaps we should go see how the others are?"

Farik nodded. "Yes, my love. We have much to discuss as a people." He nodded his thanks to Remy and Maxun, then gently guided his wife towards where their countrymen was gathering.

Remy looked at Maxun. "Shall we mingle as well?"

Maxun nodded in agreement. "Yes, Ma'am. I think that would be appropriate."

~OFF~

Commander Remira Johansen (& Nalima, Dr. Beckett)
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea

&

Lt(jg) Maxun Spello
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Astrea

&

Farik
Military Veteran/Cargoship pilot
(Npc of Spello)

&

Commander Vila Lorut
USS Astrea

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