EPISODE 6 - The Wedge (Part 2)

[tomcat]

Ario opened his eyes.

He felt a wetness on his face and he brought up his hands only to see them become covered in his blood. There was a lot and so he knew that the wound must be significant. The halfling also felt his breathing to be labored and he delicately probed his chest only to regret it when he found the broken set of ribs.

Grabbing a side of the bio-bed, he pulled himself to his feet and began to assess his surroundings. There were many crewmen laying crumpled on the floor around him, both medical staff and wounded crewmen alike; many were not moving. It was hard to believe that not long ago... "How long?" he wondered... that the staff was taking care of the many wounded from the previous attack.

Now he wondered if those that may have been saved before, found their deaths from the new attack. It was an attack surely... was another coming?



[OOC:] First of all, welcome to Episode 6. I hope you guys liked the end of the last episode and I hope this new portion of our story is as exciting.

Next, as you all know, I have not been too giving with XP and advancements since our game commencement so long ago and that is because I started all of these characters with at least 4 advancements - that being said, it is time you all earned some. Each player character is awarded two advancements, or 2,000 XP. As always, please post in an [OOC:] how you will be spending the 10 picks. Congratulations.

Medical crew all need to make a Stamina test TN 10 to awake (obviously no PC is dead... though we may have lost some main character NPC's - I am going to see how I want to play that yet).

Peter, Ario is currently the only one aware in the sickbay. I will want you to do some narrative as to what he wants to do; whether it is to help other crewmen or to check the ship's status. If he helps crewmen, each PC gets a +3 to their stamina to regain consciosness.

Let's have some fun! 

[pgholland]

Ario stood, ignoring the pain; this was one of those moments where he wished he had a Vulcan physiology, there was only so much pain he could ignore with the Kolinhar training. His wounds may have been significant, but they weren't debilitating, he had to go on.

With one deft, fluid movement he pulled his communicator from his belt, flipped it open and said, "Bridge, this is Sickbay, we need emergency power re-routing now or a lot of good people are going to die." While he spoke he groped around for a hypospray filled with a mild painkiller.

Administering the strongest painkiller he could without impairing his abilities he spoke again, this time to the sickbay, "All those staff who are still capable of acting, get to it, most of our equipment is battery powered anyway, treat as best you can, I'm working on getting us power." He opened the emergency storage locker, pulled out the high power emergency lamps and an engineering tool kit.

He made his way back around sickbay, placing lamps about and activating them, before moving to sickbay's EPS conduit, popping open the cover and hoping what little his father had taught him of ship's systems would allow him to make the emergency bypasses and restore emergency power to sickbay.

[tomcat]

[OOC:] Tam's Stamina test TN 10

Stamina +0
Roll(2d6)+0: 1,1,+0 Total:2 -3 = -1 EXTRAORDIANRY FAILURE [Ouch! - this may bode well for our Trill doctor; I will go more into this via narrative]


Around Ario, the medical staff that had regained consciousness began to respond and see to the others around them. They quickly took the lamps from T'Pek as he distributed them around the room and patients were returned to beds.

"Dr. Chan!?" a call went out in the dark. "Yes, here," came a stuttered reply, as the doctor came into the light.

"It is Dr. Tam, sir!" said the nurse. "He is still unconscious and has a really bad head wound."

"Get him on the table!" replied Chan. "Careful his neck..." And so the ship's chief medical officer was given immediate attention.

Ario looked at the cluster of conduit and circuitry boards within the panel. He flashed his lamp back and forth, looking for the emergency throw that would direct auxilliary power to medical. "There it is," he said to himself and pulled down on the red rubber-coated handle.

The sickbay lit up and there was an audible sigh of relief. That task done, Ario looked to his communicator... there had been no reply from the bridge.

[pgholland]

Ario sighed, if the bridge wasn't talking then chances were they were in worse shape than sickbay, he caught hold of one of the junior doctors, "You're in charge, keep following Dr. Tam's triage unless circumstances change and you need to re-order the treatment order. I'm going up to the bridge, we need to find out what's going on. If you can spare them, dispatch emergency teams to all key areas."
With that said he grabbed a med-kit and a nurse, ignoring whatever looks she may have given him- his wounds were unimportant while the rest of the crew suffered; without communications people could be in a lot more trouble than he was right now. "We're going to the bridge, seems we're out of contact with them." he ordered as he pushed the door open, using his considerable strength.
Using his torch to light the way he took the most direct route to the bridge- meaning the Jeffries tubes closest to the main turbolift; and flipped his communicator again, "Sickbay to bridge, please respond bridge." he spoke using a clear tone as he tore a piece from his uniform to keep the blood from his eyes; at least his wound wasn't that bad yet...

[OOC: Sorry, missed the bit about the Stamina test- was that there when you first posted?... Lol

So let's see;
Ario's Stamina Test TN10
Stamina +2
Roll(2d6)+2+3 Courage Total 6+5= 11 [Just passed]
2 Courage Remaining.

Advances:
Advancement 5: 2 Picks: Edge- Psionic Coverage (Empathy); 3 Picks: +1 Savvy
Advancement 6: 1 Pick: 1 Level Influence; 1 Pick: 1 Level Repair; 1 Pick: 1 Level Medicine; 1 Pick: 1 Level Survival; 1 Pick: Speciality Science Social (Exo-Antrhopology)

Guess I should have made a Repair/Eng:Systems test too? Was sorta waiting for a TN for that though...]

[tomcat]

[OOC: Sorry, missed the bit about the Stamina test- was that there when you first posted?... Lol

So let's see;
Ario's Strength Test TN12
Srength +2, Broken ribs -3, Crewmen assistance +5
Roll(2d6)+4+3 Courage Total 6+7= 13
2 Courage Remaining.

Guess I should have made a Repair/Eng:Systems test too? Was sorta waiting for a TN for that though...]

[OOC:]Hey Peter, you did not need to make the Stamina test due to me starting this thread with you the only one awake, and I guess my [OOC:] was a bit vague on that; I just needed it for any other major PC's in the sickbay.

I will keep your roll for the Strength test TN 12 I need from you to get the door open, so you can see what happened with that above. I also am going to impose a -3 to any physical tests from Ario due to his broken ribs.

As far as a Repair/Eng: Systems test roll... I gave that to you because the task was quite simple - all crewmen would know where the override switch would be if the computer was not responding. In fact, if a task is overly simple, we can assume it is done. I will give you test numbers when I need any future tests.

So that being said, please give me an Athletics test TN 10 to make the climb up 7 decks. If successful, I want you to move your posts to the main story line, which is where the bridge is (not the departmental threads). If you have any questions, shout.



With the doors to sickbay now open, some of the medical personnel followed Ario and his accompanying nurse, into the halls to look for any other wounded.

The Columbia's halls were bathed in either white light from the battery operated lamps, or in flashing crimson from the alert panels. As Ario went down the hall, crewmen approached him searching for answers to which he replied for them to assist any wounded to sickbay or to stay at their stations until a ship-wide call from the captain was made.

At last the due made it to the Jeffries tube and began the climb.

[pgholland]

Ario made his way to the Jeffries tube, his ribs burning wildly, he pushed it aside, focused on the danger that the crew were in- he was fast running out of mental strength, his physiology wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.
Ario climbed, hand over hand, agonising rung over agonising rung. He kept his eyes shut tight, his teeth gritted around the medical kit, his mind burning with pain and emotions, he could shut none of it out, so many minds, so many emotions- it was beginning to build, he could feel it.
The medical kit almost dropped from his teeth halfway up the climb, as the scent reached his nostrils- pheremones, female pheremones. His mind wandered, flashes of colour, suddenly he was fourteen again, walking through the streets of Vu'ulkar, like a beast, tracking her by scent; catching glimpses of her; his teeth bared.
Ario shook his head, took a deep breath, cleared his mind for a second. Pushed the feelings away and continued to climb, rising up closer and closer to the bridge.

[OOC: Curses! If only my backstory had had a less feeble man... more sporty...

Here goes:
Athletics Test TN 10
Athletics +2, -3 Broken ribs
Roll(2d6)+(2-3+3 Courage) Total=8+2=10
1 Courage Remaining.]

[tomcat]

[OOC:]

Athletics Test TN 10
Athletics +2, -2 untrained, -3 Broken ribs
Roll(2d6)+(0-3+3 Courage) Total=8+0=8
1 Courage Remaining.

Hey Peter... sorry to be a pain in the ass here, but you forgot your untrained penalty of -2. So your Athletics skill is actually a +0. I am not going to stress this test anymore than already done (you gave up a courage point for it which I think is enough). The nurse will have given Ario any extra aid necessary to make the climb. 

[pgholland]

[OOC: Oops, has been so long since I played I forgot about untrained penalties etc.... 

[tomcat]

[OOC:] I changed your character sheet to reflect the -2 penalty for all skills that may be used untrained; just remember to remove the penalty when you spend a pick in said skill.

BTW, did you update your character sheet for your advancements?

[pgholland]

[OOC: Yup I did.]

[tomcat]

Without Dr. Tam to guide him, Chan took over as chief and directed the sickbay. The wounded and non-wounded were now coming from all over the ship, the latter to assist the former or to carry the fallen. The passageway outside of the medical facility became a makeshift morgue for the dead, each body respectfully placed and reverantly covered with a sheet.

Unfortunately, the ship's medical staff could do nothing for the bodies, instead they focused their energies on the living and the operating rooms had a constant flow for over seven hours. The doctors and nurses worked without rest, some not even tending their own wounds, until the job was done. Many lives were saved but as Tam's team stepped out of the sickbay, to rest at last, the lines of dead bodies sapped any victory that they felt.



[OOC:] Obviously there will be a lot going on around this post through the duration of seven hours. I am not going to demand any specific tests from this department, but will give narrative later of the total casualties to the Columbia.