Don't Drink the Water - Part V

Posted on 07/30/2020 @ 1:49pm by Captain Cian D'Anvers

Mission: S2E1: The Skunil Incident
Location: Skunil - water source
Timeline: Day 38 at 1530

Accompanied by environmental scientist, Ensign Elijah Krause equipped with a tricorder and a science kit stocked of items and supplied for sample collection and fieldwork, Lieutenant Jodon Joral used his tricorder to navigate them both away from settlement square and through a fairly well-trafficked pathway. J.J. made some recalibrations to his tricorder to help it narrow in on sources of water, bringing it to the forefront of the readouts, pushing everything else to background noise. In a sense, Lieutenant Joral was taking a 24th-century approach to doodlebugging or dowsing; however, his tricorder was far more technological, and his parameters were grounded in hard science rather than pseudo sciences. His rodent companied was traveling along as well, perched on the First Officer’s shoulders, and seemingly enjoying the swift jog that the two Starfleet officers were on.

The trail would go on for a good while. It felt longer than the one from the hangar where Bob sat to settlement square, but J.J. was confident there was water ahead. Confirmation came when his tricorder started to come to life with information that grabbed his attention. “There’s water up ahead, Ensign,” he said to the science officer accompanying him. Finally, they would arrive where Lieutenant Joral wanted to be, the primary source of the settlement’s water.

Ensign Krause was a few steps behind J.J. but sped up a bit, flanking the First Officer on his right. “Sir, I am also detecting some sort of machinery, primitive components, and such, but I suspect it was some sort of water treatment system” reported the environmental scientist. When they both arrived at a clearing ahead, they stumbled upon the raw water source and Krause gestured over to something sticking out of the ground a few meters away from the water source. It was some mechanical looking thing, a pipe of sorts with a sprocket type wheel and a faucet with an attached valve. “That must be part of the system I was detecting. I suspect the rest of it is subterranean” added Elijah with a small smile on his face.

J.J. nodded in agreement with the assessment. It was still a bit of guesswork, and neither of them were engineers. This was probably more up Lieutenant Cash’s alley to determined how their water collection and water treatment system worked. “That certainly makes sense. I would not want to just risk it by drinking the raw water. It would need a thorough boiling before I risked it” J.J. commented as he looked at the faint reflection of himself in the somewhat murky water. “It probably gets filtered or something by the time it comes out of the faucet over there,” he said gesturing to where Ensign Elijah Krause stood.

Ensign Krause wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. It was a bit past mid-day and the trek from settlement square to the water source had been a bit more physically than the ensign was used to. He started turned the sprocket and loosened the valve, causing a bit of the water to turn on. The piping of the mechanism gave a bit of a shake, and the ensign cupped his hands and brought them closer to the water. The coolness of the liquid against his skin felt nice, soothing, and the thought of bringing it to his pursed lips was on his mind; however, it was not meant to be. No sooner had he started to bring his hands towards his mouth did he feel a small freight train collide with him and his back hit the ground.

It was so quick that all Elijah was a flash of red and black. It practically knocked the wind out of him, and it certainly knocked all the water from his hands. Hit back definitely ached from the impact, but the weight was on his chest. Immediately looking upward towards the sky, the light was obscured. They're looking down upon him was the freckled face of the First Officer, his warm brown eyes looking into Elijah’s, but it was a very stern reprimanding look laced with authoritative care like a parent scolding their child and yet deeply worried about their wellbeing.

“Elijah,” the voice of the First Officer said. It had a tenderness to it but was no less commanding than any bridge commander or academy professor. “Don’t you ever be that foolish again or I will make sure that you are never placed on an away mission assignment under my command ever again” J.J. scolded and got up off the science officer. He helped Elijah to his feet as he continued “You do not know that water is safe. You cannot assume that treatment equipment is working properly, there were bodies buried in settlement square” Ensign Krause was quickly and thoroughly reminded of.

Elijah gulped. What did I just do he thought to himself. “I am sorry. I wasn’t thinking” he said apologetically to the superior officer who quite possibly just saved him from now only a costly career mistake, but one that very well may have led to the death of the colonists.

Lieutenant Joral simply shook his head expressing his displeasure. “Just don’t make mistakes like that, Ensign” J.J. responded. “Now, help me collect some water sampled and catalog them appropriately. I want a surface-level collection directly from the source, one deeper down, and then one from the water that comes through that mechanism” the First Officer instructed and watched as Ensign Krause carried out his orders. J.J. was contemplating what he was going to put in his official reports. He could leave some form of reprimand on the ensign’s record or at the very least flag what had just occurred, or he could omit what had happened and hope for the best that the ensign had indeed made a brief error in judgment and it would not become a recurring habit.

“Sir,” Elijah called out only several minutes later as he collected the samples. He was crouched beside his kit and was holding a collection tube with a water sample in some hand and his tricorder in another. “We need to get this to the lab but thank you. You were right to not trust the water source” added Ensign Krause who looked at J.J. “C17H23NO3” he said reading off a chemical formula from his tricorder. “Right, physicist,” he said nodding at the First Officer’s perplexed expression. “The water samples contain detectable amounts of Atropine. It found in some plants native to Earth” explained Elijah. “We will need to do more extensive testing on the Crazy Horse. I’m not sure if there’s enough in the water to kill.”

J.J. was not sure what he was expecting, but this was certainly turning into a bit of a mystery. He tapped his comm badge to make the report to the Captain. “Lieutenant Joral to Crazy Horse,” began J.J. He took a bit of a breath before proceeding. “Captain, I am with Ensign Krause from the science department. We have taken several soil and water samples from the settlement and a nearby water source. We will be on our way back to the shuttle and return to the Crazy Horse shortly, but we have already determined the water source is contaminated with a toxin of Earth origins, something found in a type of plant from what the Ensign has told me.”

"Understood," Cian said quietly. "I'll want a complete analysis once you're back. Crazy Horse out." He sat staring at the screen, thinking about the discoveries made by the away team. A small colony, trying to build a life outside of Federation space. There was a mystery here. One that he intended to solve before the Crazy Horse moved on. Now that the storm was clearing, the ship could help with data collection. "Began scans of the planet and both moons."

J.J. looked at Ensign Krause. "You heard the Captain, pack everything up and let's get back to the shuttle. It's going to be a bit of a hike. I want to be up and out of here before sundown" ordered Lieutenant Joral with a bit of explanation.

A Post by:

Commander Cian D'Anvers
Commanding Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant Jodon Joral
Executive Officer
USS Crazy Horse